Shadow Spectres

The Shadow Spectres are a recently re-discovered Eldar Aspect Warriors who specialise in the deployment of highly-mobile, infantry-based anti-armour firepower who are experts at striking at enemy vehicles from concealment and extreme long-range. Armed with Prism Rifles, each a potent anti-tank weapon, and equipped with Jetpacks, their mobility allows them to hunt down their chosen targets with the implacable patience of the dead, materialising seemingly from the very air to unleash their overwhelming firepower. The Shadow Spectres represent the Eldar God of War Kaela Mensha Khaine in his aspect as the bringer of unexpected death on the battlefield.

Shadow Spectres are equipped and armed with Jetpacks, Holofield emitters, and Prism Rifles, which are infantry versions of the massive Prism Cannons deployed on Eldar Fire Prism grav-tanks. These weapons release highly focused blasts of laser energy that can vaporise the armour of even the heaviest vehicles. The Shadow Spectres use their Jetpacks to remain highly mobile across the battle space and to find the most advantageous terrain from which to strike against enemy armoured vehicles. Additionally, Shadow Spectre Aspect Warriors are capable of combining the power of their Prism Rifles using a sophisticated targeting matrix known as the Ghostlight. The Ghostlight combines each individual shot from a squad of Shadow Spectres into a single searing blast of energy with a greatly magnified range that allows the Aspect Warriors to destroy an enemy's armoured support from an unseen location far across the battlefield. Instead of firing their Prism Rifles (or the Exarch's Prism Lance) individually the squad may take a single Ghostlight shot of greatly enhanced power which is particularly useful when used against the most powerful armoured targets like Space Marine Land Raiders.

History
Once a disciple of Asurmen, the first of the Eldar Phoenix Lords, the Shadow Spectres' Phoenix Lord Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight, founded the Aspect Shrine of the Shadow Spectres on the Craftworld of Mymeara. Drawn to the small Craftworld in response to a vision of doom and horror, Irillyth gifted the skills of stealth, swiftness and all-consuming firepower to the warriors of Mymeara. After many years, the Phoenix Lord led a great war host to the legend-shrouded world of Bethalmae to destroy an alien race that would, many thousands of Terran years later, arise to threaten Craftworld Mymeara. Neither he nor any of his warhost ever returned to the Craftworld, and with the loss of their Phoenix Lord, the Shadow Spectre Aspect fell into decline until just recently.

The Shadow Spectre Aspect Shrine was believed lost among the Eldar of the Craftworlds until the late 41st Millennium of the Imperial Calendar. It is unknown at this time in Imperial records whether this loss occurred because of the destruction of all known Shadow Spectre Aspect Shrines or the death of all the Shadow Spectre Exarchs. It is equally unknown how the Shadow Spectres were restored, though most likely the armour of one of its Exarchs was recovered, which allowed the establishment of a new Shadow Spectre Aspect Shrine.

Combat Doctrine
The Shadow Spectres are masters of striking at an enemy's heavy armour forces from the unseen, using their Jetpacks, Prism Rifles, Prism Lances and the Ghostlight targeting matrix to destroy armoured vehicles from far across the battlefield where retaliation is almost impossible because the Shadow Spectres will be long gone before the enemy can return fire to their location. The Shadow Spectres' use of shimmering Holofields also makes it very difficult for enemy targeting sensors to get a lock on them even if they can be visually located. Shadow Spectres normally operate in squads of 3-5 Aspect Warriors, not including their Exarch. When the Ghostlight is used to combine a Shadow Spectre squad's fire into a single, long-range anti-armour strike, it is the Shadow Spectre Exarch who makes the determination of target and initiates the attack. In addition to a Jetpack and Holofield emitter, Shadow Spectre Exarchs are also outfitted with the more advanced Exarch Armour for their Aspect, a weapon known as a Prism Lance, which is similar to a Prism Rifle but with a longer barrel and ever greater range, and a Haywire Launcher, which fires a potent anti-vehicle warhead similar to the Haywire Grenades used by the Dark Eldar. This warhead denotes with a small explosion that unleashes a powerful electro-magnetic pulse that overloads Cogitator (computer) systems and blinds Autosenses, disabling them.

Shadow Spectre Wargear

 * Apperceptive Hood - The Shadow Spectres' Aspect Armour incorporates a large armoured hood, the exact function of which remains unclear, although from initial reports it is assumed that it collects and disseminates sensor information. It is also theorised that it may contain thought-activated communications systems, targeting data relayed from the Aspect Warrior's primary weapon and the controls for the Aspect Warrior's holo-field generator. It has been further theorised by Imperial Intelligence that the Apperceptive Hood may also possess a unique function which provides the Aspect Warrior with an enhanced proprioception: the warrior's self-awareness of his bodily position in relationship to itself. Sensory information collected by the helmet is fed directly into the warrior's cerebellum, the area of the brain responsible for coordinating unconscious movements, which allows the Shadow Spectre to swiftly move and react without conscious effort. Such enhancement would allow for very rapid and intuitive control over the armour's Jetpack.
 * Aspect Armour - Like all Eldar Aspect Warriors, the Shadow Spectres are defined by their armour and wargear, which is unique to each Aspect Shrine and worn, unchanged, by many successive generations of the Aspect Warriors belonging to that shrine. The helmet is regarded as the most significant part of an Aspect Warrior's armour, for once the mask is donned, the Eldar within will hide himself beneath what the Eldar refer to as the "war mask." Essentially, the individual's consciousness is subsumed into the gestalt warrior spirit of the Aspect. Also incorporated within the armour's breastplate is the Eldar warrior's Spirit Stone. As the Eldar possess a highly developed appreciation of beauty they will oft times incorporate other gems simply for aesthetic decoration.
 * Insignia - Upon his Aspect Armour's helmet the Aspect Warrior bears the runic symbol of his shrine traced into the forehead, a common practice within all Aspect Shrines. Other tracery includes a vine pattern. Mainly associated with the Craftworld of Biel-Tan, this example is probably a far older design that has been adopted by that Craftworld. Some of the runic symbols witnessed being used by the Shadow Spectres on Betalis III incorporated other designs that have also been adopted by other Craftworlds. Originally these older symbols were probably in wider use amongst the Eldar. It is believed that this particular rune symbolises the twisting path of fate, including attributes such as destiny, fecundity and the journey of the immortal spirit through life and death.
 * Jetpack - The Shadow Spectres make use of a Jetpack which is intergral to these Aspect Warriors' armour. The Eldar's ancient mastery of anti-gravity technology resulted in the creation of this highly advanced flight system. The Eldar's personal flight pack incorporates sophisticated stabilisation and self-correcting controls, allowing the Eldar warrior within to adjust altitude and velocity with his subconscious thoughts via a cybernetic mind-link. The delicacy of such control allows for speed, reactivity and manoeuverability unknown to the other intelligent races of the galaxy. The Shadow Spectres' Jetpack operates almost silently, allowing the user to move with stealth and effect repeated surprise ambushes. The Jetpack's top speed and maximum altitude are currently unknown.
 * Presentient Robes - The Shadow Spectres' robes, whilst seemingly purely decorative, are actually an integral part of this Aspect's disruptive holo-field technology. These robes incorporate billowing, semi-transparent threads that seem to possess a life of their own. The steamers constantly swirl around the warrior, but somehow avoid becoming snagged and do not impede the warrior's actions in combat. These presentient attributes were hitherto unknown until the Shadow Spectres were encountered by Imperial forces during the campaign on Betalis III, and it is likely that even other Eldar Craftworlds do not understand the technologies that animate the Shadow Spectre Aspect Shrine's strange and unique garb.
 * Prism Rifle - Rarely encountered by the Imperium before the campaign on Betalis III, the ritual weapon of the Shadow Spectre Warrior Aspect is the Prism Rifle. This weapon relies upon the same Eldar weapons technology as that found in the far larger Prism Cannon, a vehicle-mounted anti-tank weapon carried by the Fire Prism gravity tank. Prism Weapons are considered a marvel of design even by the sophisticated technological standards of the Eldar.

Phoenix Lord
Like all of the Aspect Warrior Shrines of the Eldar, the Shadow Spectes are led by an Exarch, an Eldar who has been called permanently to the Path of the Warrior. This permanent acceptance of the warrior mask provides Exarchs with enhanced skill and dedication to their craft and entitles them to access their Shrine's oldest and most advanced wargear. The long-lost Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Spectres is Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight, whose origins lay with the compartively minor Craftworld of Mymeara. A former disciple of Asurmen, the first of the Eldar Phoenix Lords, Irillyth was the founder of the Shrine of the Shadow Spectre. During his training under Asumen, Irillyth was gifted with a terrible psychic vision of the future. In it he saw the destruction of Craftworld Mymeara at the hands of the Mon-keigh -- humanity. Mankind, even then, was an intelligent race still only in its infancy as it crawled out from the ruins of the Age of Strife. Still reeling from the near-destruction of his race during the Fall of the Eldar in the 30th Millennium, Irillyth vowed not to allow any more of his kin to be wiped out and he set out to find Mymeara and prepare it for the battle that lay ahead. Thus was a new Warrior Aspect born. Irillyth eventually disappeared and was thought lost to the Eldar race. Millennia passed, and the Phoenix Lord's sacred Aspect Armour remained unrecovered, waiting to be rediscovered so the Shade of Twilight could be reborn within a new form found within the body of one of his Exarchs. Over the millennia after Irillyth's disappearance, the Shadow Spectre Aspect Shrines were soon deserted, one by one on every Craftworld, until eventually the Shadow Spectres Aspect became extinct amongst the Eldar. Or so it was thought. With the discovery of Betallis III (known to the Eldar as Bethalmae) by the Imperium of Man, a mission to find and recover Irillyth's Aspect Armour and the spirit of the Phoenix Lord was led by Bel-Annath, a Farseer of the Mymeara Craftworld. He successfully reanimated the spirit host of the lost Phoenix Lord, and the Shade of Twilight was reborn. Irillyth wields a unique, beautifully constructed Prism Blaster with an in-built Power Glaive (comparable to an Imperial Power Weapon).

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