Avantiak, The Ravenous Eye

Avantiak, The Ravenous Eye

Rise to power

Avantiak trod, as many eldar did in those dire times, the Path of the Warrior. Ambitious and skillful, the young Avantiak went from aspect to aspect, always mastering the path and understanding the concept of each, before moving onto the next. He particularly liked the Aspect of the Fire Dragon and the Aspect of the Reaper, whose direct destructive capabilities fascinated the youngster. Particularly disliked was the the Striking Scorpions, which Avantiak felt were too subtle to be applied effectively, in opposition to the more direct destructive power of the other aspects. Avantiak was incredibly gifted despite his innate spite and soon attained the rank of Autarch upon the Craftworld Celyennath. As opposed to many Autarches however, he was generally disliked as a leader. Eldar tactics are ordinarily based upon preservation, aversion and hit-and-run strategies. Avantiak was not in direct opposition to these strategies and acknowledged how their use suited eldar troops excellently. However, no matter from which angle one looked at it, his methods were extremely radical. One incident during the Verakz Campaign tells of how he ordered an infiltrated unit of Striking Scorpions to open fire upon an imperial battle formation in order to slow them down while the eldar host battled a space marine detachment. When the exarch ordered his scorpions to retreat, Avantiak overruled him and ordered them to lay down their lives in the ensuing firefight. The squad was shocked as their mission turned suicidal but obeyed nonetheless. A single survivor returned to the craftworld laying down testimony of Avantiak's actions. The following trial did not find him innocent, but determined that his actions had ensured success in this case and that he would be exscused for now. In extension of his direct tactics, Avantiak was an excellent combatant and could often be found at the forefront of the Craftworld's attacks; power sword and shuriken pistol dancing their deadly waltz. Despite his excellence in the field of combat and his supposed just intentions, the farseers watched carefully over the prominent warrior, because his destiny was omniously clouded to their minds.

The Corpse of an Autarch

It was during the Euthos Incident in 0.173.307.M39 that Avantiak's fate would start to unravel itself. Leading the assault against the Slaaneshi daemon Shin'yal, Avantiak had plunged his strike force deep into the heart of the enemy host, utilising Dark Reapers to cover his personal Banshee assault. The objective was simple: Kill Shin'yal itself, which was acting as both the general of the daemonic forces and the beacon allowing the unholy creatures to invade the planet of Euthos VII. Avantiak's risky rapier thrust was effective. The insertion of his forces had been beyond successful and minimal casualties were sustained despite the best efforts from Shin'yal to coordinate a counter-attack. Victory seemed certain until Shin'yal itself joined the fray. Several banshees were cut apart by the foul creature when it finally eyed up Avantiak. Avantiak had no fears and attacked the demon relentlessly. For Avantiak this was one of his finest moments. The Autarch moved with the grace and certainty of Asuryan himself and fought with the fury of Khaine. But despite his best efforts he was easily bested by the daemons preternatural speed and brute strength. With two swift strikes the warrior was disarmed and in the crushing grasp of the Keeper. With one poke of its immense fingers it pierced the breastplate of the squirming Autarch and his struggles instantly ceased. Now that a hole had been made the slaaneshi daemon inserted its tongue into the lifeless husk, the slithery limb emerging with a small shining object: Avantiak's spirit-stone.

It was as if time stood still for a second, the Greater Daemon carefully running its tongue around its prize caressing it like a lover. The eldar strike force were disheartened from the fall of their champion and all around them the slaaneshi daemons were closing in for the kill, the momentum of the eldar assault gone with the death of their leader. All hope seemed lost until the Dark kin chose to interfere. With a distinct sound of a firing mechanism the greater daemon's tongue was severed from it's mouth and it recoiled in panic and pain. Behind the Dark Reapers covering the assault opened a gigantic webway portal, and through it came innumerable Raider and Ravager craft spitting death down in the midst of the lust-daemons. It wasn't long before several raider craft reached Shin'yal and in an eyeblink riddled the monstrosity with splinter fire leaving it but a penetrated corpse on the ground before it was banished back to the warp. Seemingly the Dark kin came as allies this day, and the craftworld eldar threw themselves upon the daemons with renewed vigour. Denied reinforcements and general from Shin'yal's death, the daemonic forces were banished in short order.

The dark Kin had no intentions of explaining themselves whatsoever. Avantiak's spirit-stone, despite not having been consumed by Shin'yal, had been shattered upon a stone when it fell from the grasp of the daemon. Despite the in-built precision of the hexrifle, the haemonculus firing had not been that accurate with his shot. The dark kin had but one request from the eldar in exchange for this assistance: Avantiak's body.

This came as a surprise to all eldar present there. And an alarming one at that. The defilement of the dead was not a thing to be taken lightly, and the traditional burial rites were yet to be performed back on the craftworld. Eventually, it was agreed upon that the donation of the body was not acceptable, however it was agreed upon that the body could be loaned to the haemonculus, provided it was not disgraced in any way and returned within 2,49 Terran weeks to the craftworld. The haemonculus leading the raiding party readily agreed.

The Days of Defilement

The weeks passed silently. Back at Celyennath word had spread about the absence of their Autarch, and neither the seer council nor the warriors that had returned from Euthos desired to inform the Craftworld of the disgraceful bargain they had struck with the Dark kin. Rumour had it that Avantiak had finally forsaken the Craftworld and gone rogue, but the most popular one depicted him in a glorious battle against the daemonic host ending with his death. But if this was the case, why was there no sign of burial preparations?

Then it was over and the day of Avantiak's return arrived. Contact was established with the Haemonculus revealing himself as Orkzan Kzarta, and they agreed upon meeting upon Celyennath. But what stepped out of the Webway Portal did in no way resemble Orkzan, nor any dark kin. Striding with the elegant grace of a prince, Avantiak finally made his homecoming. It was to be a tragedy.

Dead a hero

The eldar were shocked by the sudden reappearance of their commander. Some could not believe their eyes, and there were cheers and crying around the massive hall, but mostly disbelief from the seers and the warriors for whom the Autarch had been killed in front of their very eyes. Atlar, a warlock from the Celyennath upper council, was the first to take action. Hoisting his witchblade, the warlock leaped up to the Autarch and with a frontal sweep attacked the supposed impostor. Forming a slight smile upon his lips, the noble took up a sword of awesome power to block the attack. The witchblade and huskblade clashed briefly until the Autarch kicked the warlock in the abdomen and sent him sprawling upon the steps leading up to the webway portal. It was then that Avantiak made his speech. He spoke of the way the Dark Eldar had educated him in the true powers of the eldar. How they in the dark city of Commorragh unleashed all of eldar wisdom, all of eldar creativity and finesse to create weapons, armour, vehicles and technology to maximize the destructive potential of their armies. He spoke of the ways he wished to reform eldar-society so that it no longer stood in the way of the path all eldar were meant to take: The Path of Glory.

Atlar, now back on his feet, exclaimed his dissapproval and claimed that the Autarch had gone mad. Tales go that the Autarch at this point once again kicked the unconvinced warlock and, with a foot on the warlocks chest holding him down, explained how he had been ressurected through the immortality that all eldar possessed. That he had been restored to his former glory and even more by the artisans of Commorragh.

Most families aboard Celyennath remained sceptical. Avantiak had always been radical in his approach, and this was far over the line. A few however, those touched most keenly in a positive way from Avantiak's previous leadership, were thrilled at the opportunities of which he spoke. With the family Argvyn taking responsibility, Avantiak regained his former chambers on the Craftworld.

A Canker At The Heart

Despite the support of the noble families, Avantiak was not allowed to lead in battle anymore. Instead, he was supporting the eldar war engine behind the scenes. Noble families with youngsters enlisted for deployment, would often seek him out in his quarters, agreeing that should their child fall in battle they would sacrifice another to Avantiak in return for the warrior's revival. No questions were asked about how Avantiak accomplished this task, but those that inexplicably returned from Avantiak's halls were different. The change wasn't imminently evident, but as more and more squads were revived over the millennia side effects started to emerge.

Squads that wished for their continued existence started capturing prisoners and sending them to Avantiak's rooms regardless of casualties. Weekly, aspect warriors and guardians, who had earlier utilized Avantiak's services, would flock to him like carrions to dying flesh and in the night the screams and moans would pierce the streets of Celyennath. Some of pleasure, some of pain.

As the dead in battle grew, so too did the amount of eldar gathering each night in the autarch's rooms also grow in number. Accusations were made against Avantiak, but the Argvyn family once again took it upon themselves to defend the Autarch. He had saved so many lives and continued to do so. How could the craftworld condemn a hero, whose work was the life-blood of Celyennath itself?

And so Avantiak's work continued in peace.

Retribution

Three millenia after his return to Celyennath, almost every warrior had now been revived in one form or another under Avantiak's supervision; Only the civillians, warlock councils and the farseers remained uncorrupted. The orgies that took place upon the craftworld had spread to almost every level of Celyennath's society and was confined to the halls of Avantiak no more. Young eldar were brought into the folds of this madness and hundreds against their will. Those that were taken to the warrior orgies were either twisted mentally to such a degree that their former personalities seemed but a distant memory, or were never seen again.

Finally having had enough, the warlock councils spurred into action. Lead by farseer Menevor, the warlock conclave cut a bloody swathe through the guards Avantiak had posted on the way to his chambers. But as the last aspect warrior fell to the floor and the doors to Avantiak's personal sanctum swung open the stench of entrails and death filled the delicate nostrils of the eldar. Before them was a scene taken straight from the old tales of the fall. Corpses hung as obscene decorations were all over the walls of the room, weird substances were strewn over the floor, and in the middle of the room surgery tables stood surrounded by exotic devices looking like they were meant only for the infliction of pain as opposed to any medical surgery. Of Avantiak, however, there was no sign. Behind it all was a portal. A portal to the Dark City.

Elsewhere upon the craftworld, at that same very moment, Avantiak was about to finish his preparations to leave. Most of the Aspect warriors under Avantiak's command were male, and so young eldar maidens were rounded up, put in chains and loaded onto the eldar fleet in containment compartments. Story tells of him waiting for the Warlock council to discover him leaving with their ships, before making an elegantly mocking gesture while the door to his flagship closed.