Resurgent Eldar Empire
Late M37 >Biel-Tan moves to defend various Exodite worlds scattered across several sectors of Segmentum Tempestus. They find themselves drawn into an arduous campaign that feels like putting out fires. Early M38 >Corsair Fleets begin to arrive in the beleaguered sectors in greater numbers, drawn by romantic notions of Biel-Tan's constant struggle. Late M38 >More and more Exodites begin to abandon their lifestyles, joining Biel-Tan in the hopes of defending their homes. The beginnings of industrial capacity sprout across the less conservative worlds. Early M39 >In an unprecedented move, Craftworld Mymeara declares its intent to assist Biel-Tan. It is soon followed by Craftworld Lugganath. Mid M39 >The first rumblings of a resurgent Eldar Empire begin to spread. >Corsairs arrive in greater numbers, and begin the first tentative trade agreements with the Webway Satellites. Late M39 >Stirred by the awakening of Idrias Stern, the Undying Scions launch a crusade across the Segmentum. They crash into the tenuous Eldar territories, resulting a drawn-out, bloody war. >Eventually, the crusade is driven back, but at great cost, Biel-Tan losing well over half its population. Incensed with rage and the swell of victory, Biel-Tan declares a resurgent Eldar Empire. >By now few traditional Exodites remain, their worlds having to advance in order to survive. Massive industrial projects spring up across the Eldar territories and, to make up for their losses, the newborn empire produces wraith constructs on a massive scale, ensuring that every fallen Eldar can fight for their people.
Early M40 >Iyanden, Idharae, Iybraesil, Telennar and Mynathensar join the allied craftworlds. >A Corsair fleet of unprecedented size tears its fangs across the western edge of the Undying Vigil, wreaking a terrible vengeance. >As the Empire fights to secure its borders, Muirthandril, a Seer of Craftworld Mymeara, experiences a vision, and sets out with his fleet. Mid M40 >Muirthandril's expedition recovers an ancient Vaul Engine, known to humans as Blackstone Fortress. Spurred by further visions, the forces of the Empire move to secure various other such stations littered through the Orphus Sector of the Segmentum. >Muirthrandril is not alone in this prediction, and the Eldar find themselves once again faced with the forces of the Undying Vigil. The Orphic Wars begin over the seven Blackstone Fortresses abandoned throughout the sector. There are heroes on both sides - the Vigil will forever remember Brother Estram Yorick, Interred after acting as a lone vanguard to his Brothers, and to this day Hemlock ace Jhainen Khaine-Handed is celebrated for her achievements by the Eldar Empire. >Mynathensar is rendered inhospitable, and its survivors (the living and the enshrined) are evacuated before Autarch Vaeleryss sets the craftworld on a collision course with the nearby world of Provinus IX, annihilating the Vigil forces regrouping there and cracking the planet's mantle >The war concludes with six of the Fortresses in Eldar hands, but the seventh is destroyed in a daring boarding action by Idrias Stern, who fells Muirthandril in the process. The Farseer is saved by the timely intervention of a Solitaire, but much of his body is replaced with wraithbone prosthetics.
Late M40 >The Vaul Engines are stationed on the eastern edge of the Empire. Together, they form a region of veiled space where conventional Warp travel is even more difficult. Without the seventh Fortress, however, there is a small gap in this net. >More and more advanced Commorrite technology begins to reach the Empire, many planets beginning to resemble the worlds of the old Empire >Prince Uriel pushes back Waaagh! Gnarlgut, which proceeds to smash into a sector where the Behemoth Guard are establishing a number of forward bases. Two enemies are dealt with in a single blow, but the Seers fear that Gnarlgut will return with an even greater horde. >A troupe of Harlequins deliver an unknown artifact of the Old Empire into the hands of Lugganath's Seer Council. There is much discussion, but none of it is public. >Farseer Muirthrandil's prosthesis begin to fail, and his spirit is interred in a wraithseer shell.
Early M41 >Waaagh! Gnarlgut returns, savaging several systems before being turned away by a vast ghost legion of wraith constructs. >Many Corsairs begin establishing satellite abodes beyond the established borders of the Empire. They are bawdy and lawless by craftworlder standards, and continually draw the Empire into squabbles with minor powers. They also begin to employ a great many alien mercenaries. >The first forays into the use of automated, non wraith-guided constructs are made in secret, based on designs scrapped together in trade with various Webway States Mid M41 The raiding activities of a Corsair Princedom draw the Empire into yet another conflict with the Undying Vigil. The war quickly escalates, more Corsairs joining the fray, spurred by the ancestral bloodlust of the Eldar. >Wraithseer Muirthandril leads a considerable ghost legion to support the outlier Corsair territories, and once again faces Idrias Stern in battle, this time on an equal footing >The conflict is interrupted when a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan tears through the Tempestus. Both forces find themselves struggling to survive against an utterly alien foe, and ultimately withdraw to reinforce their own borders.