Asurmen

Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryan and Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers

Asurmen, whose name means the Hand of Asuryan, was the first Eldar Phoenix Lord, those master warriors who lead the Eldar Aspect Warriors and who are the absolute masters of their Aspect's form of combat. It was Asurmen who founded the first of the Aspect Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, the forerunner of the Dire Avengers Aspect. Today, this Warrior Aspect is the most common amongst the Eldar, and their shrines are the largest amongst all the Craftworlds.

History

In the Eldar mythic cycles Asuryan, the Phoenix King, is the chief and greatest of all the Eldar Gods and the king of the Eldar pantheon. Asurmen, also known as the Hand of the Phoenix King, was the penultimate warrior of all the Eldar, for his extraordinary powers placed him at the Pinnacle of Might. Prior to the Fall of the Eldar, Asurmen was the Eldar who led the Craftworlds away from the ancient Eldar homeworlds of their now lost interstellar empire and it was he who founded the first of the Aspect Warrior Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, upon a barren world of the same name his people initially settled. Asurmen found that he could not give up the Path of the Warrior to follow a different Eldar Path, for he desired to use his skills to protect what remained of his species after the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts." From the Shrine of Asur sprang the first Aspect Warriors, and the Path of the Warrior was opened for the very first time to all Eldar. Asurmen then travelled amongst more of the different Craftworlds than any other member of his race, teaching those Eldar who wanted to learn the Dire Avengers' suite of combat skills. Those Eldar learned at the feet of their master, and in turn they assumed the mantle of Exarchs before spreading throughout the galaxy. The first Exarchs, the Asurya, the children of Asurmen, were the greatest of his students and went on to become the Phoenix Lords of the other Aspect Shrines, the first masters of the other specialised Eldar combat disciplines. It was then that the different Warrior Aspects were formalised within the culture of the Eldar Craftworlds, taking as their model the skills and teachings of their founders.

The Eldar world of Asur was destroyed during the Fall and Asurmen's first incarnation ended in battle against the Chaotic legions of Slaanesh, but this was not the end of Asurmen. There would always be anther hero drawn to his mould and who would take up the armoured suit and sacred battle-gear of the Hand of Asuryan once more. Asurmen joined the Asurya in founding Aspect Shrines and founded more shrines on more Craftworlds than any other Phoenix Lord. His shrines were all dedicated to his own varied combat skills, considered the most well-balanced amongst all the Aspects and his Aspect Warriors became the Dire Avengers. Soon he vanished again, but tales of his deeds persisted throughout the passing millennia. He was reported fighting against the forces of the the Eldar's Great Enemy Slaanesh in the depths of the Eye of Terror. He was also seen on the galaxy's rim, and tales of his valour spread from Craftworld to Craftworld.

Wargear

• Ancient Phoenix Lord Armour - Asurmen's ancient suit of Exarch Armour makes use of vambraces that possess integrated Shuriken Catapults. These weapons are connected in such a way that they can be fired by either hand without sacrificing accuracy. This arrangement also leaves his hand free so that he can grasp his Diresword with both hands.
• Sword of Asur - Asurmen carries the first known Eldar Diresword, called the Sword of Asur, which contains the soul of his long-dead brother, Tethesis, who was killed by a daemon, in the blade's Spirit Stone.
• Master Crafted Shuriken Pistol

Sources

• Codex Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 30, 55
• Codex Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 43
• Codex Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 37, 82
• Warhammer Rulebook (5th Edition), pg. 156
• White Dwarf 172 (US), "The Eldar: The Path of the Warrior - Dire Avengers", pp. 5-16
• White Dwarf 138 (US), "Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar Army - Dire Avenger Exarch", pp. 20-29
• White Dwarf 127 (US), "Eldar" by Rick Priestley, Jes Goodwin, William King and Lindsey D. Le Doux Paton, pp. 13-52