Scarab Eldar

The Scarab Eldar have been my primary 40K project since 2001.  I am beginning a major revamp starting with the Fire Prism in the Heavy Support section on Page 2.  An army background piece is located at the bottom of this page.  The awesome black and white image on this page was painted by Paul Carrick based on the Scarab Eldar and is used with his permission.

The counsel of Warlocks are led by Rahut (Choosen of Ra).

Ranun (Child of Ra) is Rahut's young apprentice.  The Avatar of Ra is summoned in times of need to inspire the Scarab Eldar in battle.

Nefet’s elegant fingers deftly brushed the dust off the biofact. It was the third she’d uncovered at this depth and segment of the dig. The last two had tested negative. She gazed fixedly at the mineralized skeletal fragment, her brow furrowing, and reached for her biopattern analyzer. With a fluid motion she brought it into contact with the fragment and intoned a prayer to Ra.

Nearly a century later and many light-years away, Nefet stood at ready on the blasted earth of the tomb world, the face beneath her helmet unblemished by age. The weight of the years was carried by her heart alone and only a few thin strands of fate kept it from plunging into despair. Before the War, a biopatterner such as Nefet would never have been called upon to bring war to the Necrontyr. But that was over sixty million years ago, recalled only in the crystalline hieraphs.

Nefet turned her lily-like neck and directed her dark irises at the proto-Slann. Her emotions spun in his presence: pride, hope, and a limitless sense of loss. Invoking her psi-training, Nefet forced her mind to focus only on his appearance. He floated, partly cloaked by the condensing warm, moist air that allowed him to survive in this lifeless place. She could picture him in the steaming jungles of Luustor, his green-striped hide glistening like the verdant plant life. That is as long as she blocked out the wires running to his cerebral implants and the sleek blue anti-grav palanquin he sat astride. The cannons at his side floated gently on a cushion of subconscious telekinesis as the proto-Slann’s mind focused elsewhere.  

Eyes narrowing as she concentrated, Nefet tried to trace the biopatterns that allowed such a primitive creature to have evolved hundreds of millions of years ago into the mighty Slann, the very Old Ones that had created her people. As she stood lost in her muse, the palanquin rotated slightly and the proto-Slann turned his golden eyes to her. And his mind. The effect was devastating. She shook under the sheer, raw psi-power. With a slow blink of heavy green lids, he his eyes broke away and Nefet doubted no more. The seers were right. They would restore the Slann to their former glory and, with their aid and guidance, banish the soulless Stargods once and for all.

The Scarab Eldar, as dubbed by Alcossix Planetary Guard during the Alcossix Theta Campaign, are a unusual breed of Exodites. In the days before the War of the Heavens that pitted the Slann against the Necrontyr and their Stargods, the Scarab Eldar had a very close connection to their Old One/Slann uplifters, serving as guardians of the Slann home world of Luustor. At that time, Luustor was an exotic paradise brimming with life. From this biodiversity many ancient races such the Jokaero had been uplifted by the Slann.

As the Stargods turned the tide against the Slann they directed the Necrontyr to the Slann home worlds, hoping to annihilate them for all time. In the final days of the war, the Scarab Eldar fought valiantly to defend the birth world. Following the strands of fate, the Slann could find but one way that they could save themselves and the galaxy. In the ultimate display of faith in their auguries, the Slann ordered their children, the Scarab Eldar, to leave and fight another day. With sadness, they complied. The Necrontyr razed all life from Luustor, scouring it down to bare rock.  

Shortly after the Necrontyr went dormant, the Eldar visited the Luustor and saw that there were only two organisms that survived the purge - a fungus in cracks deep beneath the planet surface, and a hearty beetle that lived on it. Impressed by the beetle's survivability and symbol of life on Luustor, the Eldar adopted a stylized image of the beetle to represent their people.  

For the next sixty million years, the Scarab Eldar lived apart from the rest of their kind, only trading occasionally with Craftworlds and Exodites. They waited and remembered, keeping the traditions of the Old Ones alive and staying ready to battle the Necrontyr on their return. Coming from a different uplift stock, and with tens of millions of years to separate them, the Scarab Eldar have many differences from Craftworld Eldar – even physical characteristics such as darker skin and some facial hair on the males. As a result of their distance and differences from their kin, the Scarab Eldar were largely unscathed during the fall of their brethren despite their unusually high numbers of psychers. This great betrayal of the Slanns' trust in uplifting the Eldar was noted and there is little love lost between the Scarab Eldar and others of their kind who do not follow their path.

Now the Necrontyr are arising on a level that the Scarab Eldar know they cannot contend with. Their most brilliant farseer, Rahut, has seen a faint trail for a future that could lead to the rebirth of the Old Ones, and the salvation of the Galaxy. Returning to Luustor, the Scarab Eldar began to search for the biopatterns of the Slann and other races that had been their allies in ancient days. If they could find complete patterns, they could use their biopsionics to create new, living creatures. Sadly, the scouring was thorough and nothing was found. In this dark hour despair threatened to break million-year resolve. Even in this darkness, Rahut saw a glimmer of hope on their path, and, redoubling their efforts, the Eldar looked within the rock itself for biopatterns. After years of painstaking work they found what they were looking for - the biopatterns of the forbearers of the races that had become the Slann, the Jokaero, and other ancient allies.  

With the Scarab Eldar’s biopsionics, the Slann have been reborn, but in a more primal state - needing help and uplifting from their former children. The Scarab Eldar are working as fast as they can to return the proto-Slann to their former glory even as they fight the Necrontyr on every front possible.