Asuryani Path

The term Eldar Path designates the rigid codes of behavior that every Craftworld Eldar submits to in his day-to-day life. These behavior patterns act as a form of physical and psychical protection against the Eldar baser nature, and allow any given Eldar to experience emotions without repeating the terrible exesses that led to their cataclysmic Fall in the past. There are as many different Paths as there are roles in Eldar society, but the core philosophy is common to all Paths.

History
The Paths are an extremely rigid, codified and structured social code of behavior, to which all Eldar living inside a Craftworld must adhere to. To understand how the Eldar have been forced to rely on such a system, one must understand something of the Eldar psyche. For all the physiological differences between a Human and an Eldar, they are nothing to the mental differences between the two races. The Eldar are a highly psychic race, and therefore the depth of their emotions and perceptions are much, much keener than those of any other race in the Galaxy. Each experience is for an Eldar a true feast for the senses, to the extent that an uncareful Eldar can die from sensory overload. The extreme gratification the Eldar recieve from any accomplishment inexorably led their Pre-Fall civilization down a spiral where they only searched for ever more intense sensations. This long period of hedonistical debauchery eventually culminated in their cataclysmic Fall and the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh.

The few surviving Eldar realized with horror that this new God would not rest until it had devoured every last Eldar soul, and that they needed some form of protection to ensure their continued survival. The Dark Eldar managed to find a way to absorb the souls of other beings, sacrificing what they steal from others to Slaanesh in order to protect themselves. On the other hand, the Craftworld Eldar found their solace in the Paths. Preventing an Eldar to intensly experience his surroundings proved impossible, so the survivors defined a way to be able to experience their emotions without falling prey to them. Each Eldar chooses a discipline, a role he will fulfill in his day-to-day life, and focusses on perfecting his chosen craft as much as he can. The key point of this development is to induce a mental state of what Humans would call schizophrenia in the Eldar, fragmenting his mind to allow him to call on his emotions while he is busy with his chosen craft, and safely store them away in his mind when he is not. This compartimentation allows an Eldar individual to call on his emotions and experience their heights when they are needed, but not fall prey to the exesses that lead to the Fall and that would attract the unwanted attention of Slaanesh.

Once an Eldar has achieved mastery of his chosen Path, an event that can take up many decades, he will choose another Path to tread. There is no predefined choice, some choose Paths that are closely linked, while other prefer to switch between completely unrelated roles. Each Eldar builds his own personal bagage of experience, with each Path trodden making him a more accomplished being.

Despite the protection they offer against Slaanesh, the Paths are not perfect; and a danger still lurks within them: the Paths only allow an Eldar to control his emotions, it does not rid him of his passions. Despite all their care, some Eldar ultimately fail at storing their emotions away, and become consumed by them. Those Eldar who fail will gradually transform in a living embodiment of their Path, losing their personality in an all-consuming desire for perfection. Such Eldars are said to be Lost on their chosen Path.

Despite the dire warnings of the past, some Craftworld Eldar find the rigid ways of the Paths all too restrictive. Those who cannot bear this burden will leave their Craftworld, and become Errants. These Eldar are at an enormous risk of being consumed by Slaanesh, so they are viewed with suspicion by their peers, and are often unwelcome amongst their Craftworld kin. Their out-of-the-world experience is however invaluable in some situations, and they often assist their fellow Eldar as Ranger when war calls and knowledge of the outlying Galaxy is required. Most Errants manage to slake their wanderlust during a couple of decades of errance around the Galaxy, and eventually return to the safety of the Craftworld and the Paths. For others, the call of freedom is too strong and they become Pirates, little different from they Dark Eldar kin. As astonishing as it may sound, the reverse is also true: there have been instances of Dark Eldar who, sickened by an existence of malice, have sought out the solace of the Paths amongst their Craftworld kin.

Known Paths
This is a list of the known Eldar Paths, and their specialisations:
 * Path of the Warrior - Fire Dragon, Howling Banshee, Eagle Pilot, Striking Scorpion, Dark Reaper, Dire Avenger, Warp Spider, Bright Lance, Swooping Hawks, Shadow Spectre
 * Path of the Artist - Includes all roles related to arts, for instance: musician, writer, singer, sculptor, painter, etc..
 * Path of the Scholar - Includes all roles related to the gathering and transmitting of knowledge, for instance: teacher, researcher, archaeologist, ...
 * Path of the Healer - Includes all different form of healers: surgeon, psychologues,...
 * Path of the Servant - Something of a misnomer, this path include all roles that issue basic services to the community, ie. cooks, clothesmakers,...
 * Path of the Botanist - A specialized role, including gardeners, farmers and all who concern themselves with tending the plants living inside the Craftworld.
 * Path of the Bonesinger - A specialized role, part psyker, part artist and part engineer, the Bonesinger uses his psychical powers to create and mend all Wraithbone constructs.
 * Path of the Warlock - One of the Paths where the Eldar develop his or her psychic powers, the Warlock specializes in powers useable for war.
 * Path of the Seer - One of the Paths where the Eldar develop his or her psychic powers, the Farseer attempts to psychically determine the possible futures, and shape the present to steer it toward the most appealing future. Amongst the Paths, this is by far the most difficult and dangerous one to thread.
 * Path of the Tought Talker - Part scholar and part psyker, a Tought Talker is a telepath who is trained to fuction as a an interpreter and ambassador.