Wraithknight

A Wraithknight is an Eldar wraithbone mecha. Dominating the battlefield, the Wraithknight looks down upon its foes like a vengeful god of war. Armed with either massive energy cannons or a colossal blade and shield, this giant ghost warrior can unleash blazing destruction or charge in to carve apart its foes. Inside its wraithbone hull, its pilot communes with the soul of his twin, for this Ghost Warrior is driven by two Eldar, one living and one dead, working as one.

In many ways, the Wraithknights embody the cyclical symbols of the Eldar, the curving discs that show a portion of death within life and a protion of life within death. Their contoured shells house the spirits of the wakeful dead in much the same way as lesser Ghost Warriors, though their armoured chests each hold a living Eldar pilot within. These pilots are normal steersmen such as those at the helm of grav-tanks and Eldar aircraft, but rare and unusual warriors who were each born a twin.

The psychic link between an Eldar and his identical twin is like no other. Whilst alive, these gifted individuals can sense the proximity, the mood, and even the thoughts of their counterpartswith the ease that a normal Eldar could feel the sun on his skin or the wind in his hair. The bond is so strong that should one of the twins die before the other, the surviving brother or sister will often fade away in sympathy.

Sometimes, when such a division has taken place, the surviving twin will sacrifice what is left of his life to pilot a Wraithknight. The essence of the dead twin is transferred into the large Spirit Stone in the chest of the giant ghost warrior, whilst the surviving sibling enters a near-permanent battle trance within the fitted cavity behind its breastplate. The clarity of thought provided by the living twin ensures that the construct moves with the speed typical of the Eldar race, whilst the psychic link between the pilot and his departed sibling allows him to commune with not only the animating forces of the twin, but also the spirits of former incumbents that once controlled the construct's long-limbed form. The great measure of control afforded by this gestalt mind gives the pilot mastery over the construct's psychically-powered weapon systems and affords the war machine an acrobatic garace that belies its massive size.

It is well that each Wraithknight is capable of such feats of heroism, for it is they who are at the forefront of the quest for new spirit stones. By passing through forbidden portals and traversing the shattered spars of the Webway, Wraithknights can emerge onto the surface of Crone Worlds, where the nature of realspace shears with that of the Warp. It is the metaphysical friction of this unnatural union that causes reality itself to bleed, each drop of psychic energy crystallising into a new spirit stone. Only a Wraithknight can endure the Warp-touched environments and daemonic infestations that plague these planets and return with their bounty intact. Those mortals who embark upon such perilous missions risk not only their life but also their eternal soul. Only the Wraithknights have the power and resilience necessary to harvest a clutvh of spirit stones and still escape from the nightmarish denizens of the Crone Worlds.

As the end of days approaches and instances of birth become ever more eclipsed by reports of death, fewer and fewer twins are born upon each Craftworld. A great many Wraithknight pilots are recruited from Revenant Titan helmsmen who have lost their twins in battle and, driven ro regain their kinship whatever the cost, give themselves over to the twilight life of a Wraithknight pilot. As unsettling as it may be, it is whispered that some Craftworld councils are removing the option of choice from such individuals. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all -- should a pair of twins be too attached to the light of the living world, it is possible to steer them toward a darker fate.

Wargear
Looming Ghost Warriors many times larger than even the mighty Wraithlords, the war machines known as Wraithknights are still dextrous enough to run through the ruin of a shattered city, leaping from pillar to spar as their arcane weapons bring oblivion to the enemies of the Eldar. Each carries either a pair of heavy Wraithcannons, their lengthy forms capable of sending their targets straight into the hell-dimension of the Warp; a suncannon, powerful enough to obliterate a platton of human soldiers in a single blast of roiling plasma; or a great ghostglaive and scattershield to engage even the the Daemon Lords of Chaos in single combat.