Fall of the Aeldari

The Eldar were a technologically advanced race, considered one of the most powerful races in the entire galaxy. Their Empire spanned the Galaxy and no other race could challenge them, however their fall came not from the actions of some other race but from within.

Their technoligy having advanced so far that little or no work was required by individual Eldar groups of Eldar formed cults dedicated to the pursuit of expierencing everything that life ahd to offer.

These pursuits became more extreme and depraved as time went on. Groups of Eldar condeming this behaviour began fleeing to the outer edges of the Empire becoming Exodites and forsaking technology as the only way to prevent the degredation of their way of life.

Government within the Eldar Empire soon collapsed and the degeneration of their homeworlds and colonies continued unimpeded. As the pursuit of ever more extreme expierences reached its height death reigned in the streets of Eldar cities, hunter and hunted each being part of a twisted ritual of destruction which abhorred thousands.

The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Eldar in extremely pleasurableand painful ways lead restless souls into the warp this build up caused great disturbances preventing other races from using the warp for travel. The unease within the warp built up to collasel proportions as the psychically charged souls of the Eldar fed a new entity, the Chaos god of Slannesh. Within Eldar society it was only the large generational trading crafts which saw the decay and they were largely ignored as the cults permeated virtually ever layer of society, only a few great seers predicted what was to happen next. Some trading crafts fled from the Eldar worlds isolating themselves from the corruption forming the Craftworlds, completely independent sociteies.

The buildup of pressure within the warp eventually reached a critical point and Slannesh was born, ripping a gaping hole between warp space and real space entered around the eye of terror, the birthing cry of Slannesh ripped the souls of Billions of Eldar all over the galaxy from their bodies as the hungry god fed on its foolish followers. Some of the craftworlds were too late and were sucked into the eye of terror never to be heard from again. While others suffered many loses as Slannesh consumed the souls of their inhabitants.

Slannesh then began to consume the Eldar gods, all but two, the god of War Kaela Mensa Khaine(also Khaine) whose form was pure and uncorrupted by Slannesh's great evil and the Laughing God. It is said that Slannesh and Khaine fought for supremecy while the Laughing god hid behind Khaine for protection. In the end Slannesh proved the more powerful and shattered Khaine into shards which rained down on the mortal world and came to rest at the centre of the craftworlds, and the Laughing god fled to the Webway and continued to hid from Slannesh.

Few Eldar survived the Fall, some Exodites living on far away planets were left mostly untouched while a number of Craftworlds also managed to escape. Groups of Harlequins within the webway under the protection of the laughing god (although whether they first appeared before the fall of after is unknown). Laslty a group of cultists managed to survive the fall by feeding Slannesh the souls of others. They also fled into the Webway where they felt the tug of Slannesh on their souls lessened, but not completely gone, they continued their cults of ecstasy killing and draining the souls of others to feed Slannesh and prevent their own destruction.