Phoenix Lord

Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryan, Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers Aspect Warriors

A Phoenix Lord is one of the greatest warriors of the Craftworld Aeldari and the leaders of one of their particular types of Aspect Warriors.

Each Phoenix Lord founded one of the Aspect Shrines of the Asuryani, and is the embodiment of that aspect of the Aeldari war god Khaela Mensha Khaine.

They have transcended the bounds of normal mortality, in a fashion. The soul of the original Phoenix Lords was infused into a Spirit Stone within their Phoenix Armour, and merges with the current personality of the wearer of that armour, who is always chosen from among the mightiest of the Exarchs of that particular Aspect Shrine.

When the Phoenix Lord falls in combat, another Exarch will don the armour and assume the memories and abilities of the Phoenix Lord and all the Exarchs to have taken up that role before them.

However, many scholars in the Imperium believe that the Phoenix Lords are animated suits of armour possessed by the spirits of the dead Exarchs of that Aspect. This theory, however, is contradicted by the existence of Soul Stone technology, which all Asuryani make use of to protect their souls from being consumed by Slaanesh within the Warp when they die.

Known Phoenix Lords

The known Asuryani Phoenix Lords include:

• Asurmen, "The Hand of Asuryan," Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers

• Baharroth, "The Cry of the Wind," Phoenix Lord of the Swooping Hawks

• Drastanta, "The Tempest of Starlight," Phoenix Lord of the Shining Spears

• Fuegan, "The Burning Lance," Phoenix Lord of the Fire Dragons

• Irillyth, "The Shade of Twilight," Phoenix Lord of the Shadow Spectres

• Karandras, "The Shadow Hunter," Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions

• Maugan Ra, "The Harvester of Souls," Phoenix Lord of the Dark Reapers

• Jain Zar, "The Storm of Silence," Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees

• Lhykis, "The Whispering Web," Phoenix Lord of the Warp Spiders

• Amon Harakht, Phoenix Lord of the Eagle Pilots

Sources

• Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pg. 52
• Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 9, 36-37, 40-41, 44, 55, 82, 84-86
• Codex: Eldar (3rd Edition), pp. 10, 40-43
• Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 30-31, 33, 41, 55-57, 63
• Codex: Tyranids (5th Edition), pg. 28
• Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pp. 131, 138, 142
• Iyanden: A Codex: Eldar Supplement (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 83
• Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse Reload, pg. 32
• Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook (5th Edition), pp. 128, 156
• White Dwarf 127 (US), "Eldar" by Rick Priestley, Jes Goodwin, William King and Lindsey D. Le Doux Paton, pp. 13-52
• White Dwarf 138 (US), "Alaitoc Craftworld Eldar Army - Dire Avenger Exarch", pp. 20-29
• White Dwarf 172 (US), "The Eldar: The Path of the Warrior - Dire Avengers", pp. 5-16
• White Dwarf 287 (UK), "Eye of Terror Campaign: Death By A Thousand Cuts," by Andy Chambers
• Path of the Warrior (Novel) by Gav Thorpe, pp. 130, 402
• Void Stalker (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
• Shadow Point (Novel) by Gordon Rennie, Part One, Ch. 3, pg. 42
• Warhammer Community - World Championships Preview – Aeldari Phoenix Lords step from the webway
• Eye of Terror Campaign, "Death By A Thousand Cuts"