Hi all;

To accompany the pics of my Eldar BFG fleet, I thought I would upload a short piece I wrote that shows some of the backstory of the fleet. It was written with the idea that it would be the intro to a battle report, but I don't actually have a battle with them to report on yet!

Please go easy on me; I'm not much of a writer. :P

Tristan
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“This is the place. Take up whichever positions you deem appropriate.” At Kithrune's words, the pirate prince, Ithelion, nodded and began to give commands to deploy his fleet.

From the bridge of Ithelion’s flagship, The Fist of Kaine, Farseer Kithrune watched the starscape slide past while he meditated. From this vantage, the planet of Ajharran could be seen as a green dot near the southern hemisphere of the closest star. In the days before the fall, it had been graced by towering golden cities, a center of learning and exploration in this sector. Since then, it had steadily grown back to its natural state, and was a cradle for Eldar following the path of purity, surrendering the knowledge of sentience for the serenity of instinct. Though Kithrune did not follow the path himself, there were many seers who felt that the brightest path for the future of the Eldar would emerge from these cradle worlds, and protecting them would be the greatest calling of the time.

To the uninitiated, the Farseer’s ability to read the future was misunderstood to be a form of advance hindsight, either seeing imagery or hearing voices from the future, offering him the knowledge to avoid pitfalls and failures in the present. Students quickly learned, however, that it was not that simple. Time is akin to a rope, created from a myriad of potentialities, eternally being woven together in the elusive ‘present.’ The Farseer’s talent lies in the ability to ‘pluck’ the threads of this potentiality, as the musician plucks the strings of his instrument. The Farseer then interprets the tone of the string, receiving an impression of that possible future. As a seer advances in training, he learns that the strings of potential futures are themselves made up of further strings, endlessly expanding into limitless possibilities. A gifted Farseer can test the tone of threads generations in the future, so far removed from immediate decisions as to be almost purely abstract. Many had devoted their lives to mapping the various threads, seeking any positive path for the Eldar race.

The difficulty for a Farseer was to remain close enough to the present that his interpretations were of any relevance in the moment, the balance between the unstoppable advance of time and the agility of the seer’s mind at testing enough strings quickly.

With effort, Kithrune brought his focus back to the present. Ithelion was there, waiting patiently for him to finish his meditations. “We have isolated the signatures of several starships approaching from the outer edge of the system. As you anticipated, they will need to pass through our ambush to reach Ajharran. The vessels appear to be mon-keigh in origin.”

“Conduct your battle as you will,” Kithrune dismissed the pirate prince, “I will advise as I see necessary.”

The mon-keigh were a nuisance, but Kithrune felt sorry for them. Of all the other races, they had the most potential to be great, but their insistence on the concept of certainty held them back. They were prone to think in terms of absolutes, and it closed their minds to many of the possibilities that exist around them. The universe could be theirs, if only they didn’t think it was destined to be so.

As he watched, the starscape erupted into a vast explosion of light. He could see the sleek shapes of several of Ithelion’s escorts silhouetted against the blast. The Imperial forces had discovered the pirate fleet: the battle was engaged.