Harlequin

The Harlequins  comprise a sub-group of the Eldar race. They are the keepers of the Black Library and serve the Laughing God. They are welcomed by all other Eldar factions and known for their bright colors, agility, and powerful weapons.

History and Society
The Harlequins are an ancient faction of the Eldar, and the most enigmatic members of that mysterious race. They roam the Webway, fighting Chaos and its influence. Their sole purpose is to seek out Chaos and destroy it wherever they can, and Chaos and its minions are their most hated enemies.

Harlequins must pass a trial known only as "the Ritual" upon initiation into a Harlequin band. This ritual binds them to the Laughing God (the only Eldar God to have survived as an independent entity in the Warp), which is said to free them from the fear normal Eldar have of Slaanesh, the Chaos God of pleasure, stealing their souls away for an eternity of hellish torture in the Immaterium. This is why they need not wear a Waystone when they travel in the Webway, and do not have to endure the tiring soul-draining that other Eldar endure when in the Webway for prolonged periods of time.

The Harlequin lifestyle is very like the life of a roaming mime or troubadour of the medieval times. They wander the Webway and occasionally appear at Eldar settlements: on a Craftworld, on Commorragh, an Exodite Maiden World, or even a human world in the Imperium of Man. They perform dances for the spectators there: Masques, as they are sometimes called. Their artistic works portray the Fall, the legendary decline that destroyed the Eldar empire, the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, and many other tales from the long history and ancient mythology of the Eldar people.

Equipment
The Harlequins are highly accomplished warriors, each Trouper, as their warriors are called, almost a one-man close combat army. They are already graceful and lithe from their lifestyle and dances, they augment their prowess with so-called 'flip-belts' that generate a small anti-gravitic field around them and allow them to leap unnaturally high. They also wear 'holo-fields' and 'masks of fear'. Holo-fields are a sophisticated substitute for armour: whenever the Harlequin moves, their image is shattered into a cloud of crystal shards that dance and swirl around with vigour proportional to the speed the Harlequin is moving.

The Mask of Fear is a small holographic device worn like a mask. It projects daemonic visages and scenes of death onto the mask and has a short-range psychic amplifier which increases enemies' sensitivity to fear and despair. Other versions of the Mask of Fear include the Rictus Mask, which projects an aura of death in the general vicinity of the wearer, or the Dread Mask, which senses an enemy's worst fears and displays them on the mask, along with a more potent psychic amplifier like the ones used on the Masks of Fear.

Harlequins are also noted for their brutal combat weapons. The most gruesome of these is the Harlequin's Kiss. The Harlequin's Kiss resembles a sharpened tube, tapering to a wicked point, fixed to a warrior's forearm. The tube is actually filled with monofilament wires. When the Kiss is punched into a victim, the wires uncoil and flail around, slicing the victim apart from the inside. Less disturbing is the Storm glove (or Riveblades). The Storm glove is basically a Harlequin adaption of the power weapon used by the humans. It is a set of blades worn on the forearm, or more typically, on the hand as a glove.

Although harlequins do not currently use tanks or heavy equipment, when harlequins were first seen, however, they did use heavy equipment of all kinds. This equipment was scavenged by the Harlequins during their travels, incorporated into the troupe and then used without much thought as to its maintenance. Therefore, the earliest known Harlequin armies were equipped with a wide variety of vehicles, brightly colored and bedecked with Harlequin banners, yet prone to sudden, unexpected maintenance problems in the midst of battle, (see: White Dwarf, issue # ???, pages 35-39, and next Issue #???, pages 12-18.) Illustrations include a Harlequin landraider and a Harlequin dreadnought (wraithlord). Harlequins of the time would also often use jetcycles.

Death Jesters
Harlequins have no heavy weapons or tanks, save for the Death Jesters. The Death Jesters are the heavy specialists of the army, carrying an array of weaponry, from the humble Shuriken Cannon of the Craftworld Eldar, to the specialised Firepike, or the morbid Shrieker Cannon. The Shrieker Cannon is the trademark weapon of the Death Jesters, as only they create and maintain them. They are a variant of the Shuriken Cannon, but instead of firing a hail of projectiles, they fire only a single shot. This shot is impregnated with a virulent acid that causes the victim's blood vessels and insides to expand violently. This usually results in a small explosion that showers squad mates with pieces of their companion.

Solitaires
The most chilling of all the Harlequins are the Solitaires. The Solitaires are solitary individuals who roam the Webway, seeking out Eldar they think might be talented enough to join a Harlequin troupe. Their most startling characteristic is that their souls are doomed to go to Slaanesh, although the Laughing God attempts to intercede on the Solitaire's behalf. Whenever Solitaires are with a Harlequin band, they prefer to distance themselves from the others, and one is considered cursed if one exchanges words with a Solitaire. The Solitaires show no sign of emotion, either with other Harlequins or on the battlefield. Psykers are known to be very depressed in the presence of a Solitaire. The mental node of the alien is obviously disturbing to them. Psychic attacks on Solitaires will fall short, and weapons which attack the enemy's mind, such as the neuro-disruptor, will simply have no effect.

Shadowseers
Shadowseers are specialist psykers whose abilities are centred around confusion and fear. During the masques, the Shadowseers act as storytellers, forming scintillating phantoms that dance and duel in the air. In battle, they can force visions of unholy terror upon the foe, or even remove the Harlequin’s presence from their minds altogether.

The Black Library
It is not known where the Black Library is, only that it is a "dark Craftworld". We also know it was very far away from the center of the Eldar Empire, when "She Who Thirsts" was born. Harlequins have a greater understanding of the Webway and its myriad paths and entrances than any other Eldar, so the Black Library is believed to lie within the Webway making it virtually impossible for non-eldar to even know of its existence (although a handful of Enlightened members of the Inquisition have been allowed to enter it under heavy guard).

The Black library has been described as a massive complex, where the Eldar gather all of the information on the Chaos Gods and their servants, possibly to find a way to destroy them. Very few Eldar have ever seen the inside of the library, and even fewer non Eldar have entered. It is said to be guarded by the oldest and most powerful of those who are Solitaire.

In the Thirteenth Black Crusade of Abaddon, Ahriman of the Thousand Sons was able to penetrate the webway into the Black Library, attempting to gain the important documents hidden within. However, a guard of Harlequins and Eldar warriors were able to drive the Chaos Sorcerer back. [[Category:H]]