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Something one of our guys is maintaining is that the Dark Eldar would campaign with other races they would normally fight in the name of wiping out a more hated foe. Now, I'm no expert of fluff. The few books I've read have all been fairly IG/Ork centric, but it seems to me as though (at least the old) Dark Eldar wouldn't really ally with anyone else, and for that matter, no one else would have much to do with them. The one exception I see to this is the possibility of Eldar and Dark Eldar joining forces to take out something that endangered the race as a whole. I mean, they're pirates and slavers. I would think they would run from anything they couldn't themselves fight, and since they hide in the Webway, they remain fairly well protected. I would imagine that even if they did, they would turn on their ally at the first sign of opportunity.

Can anyone justify to me why DE would side with the Imperium, or even one of the other Xenos races? Has it happened before in any of the books?

The only one I can think of would be other Eldar. I suppose they might side with followers of Khorne or Nurgle as those gods hate Slaanesh as well. It's a bit tenuous but might work.

There's a reference to the Dark Eldar working with IG against daemons in hammer of daemons but i think it turns out they were pretending to be Eldar and it was a trick because they then turn on the IG but get wiped out by nearby Grey Knights.

from my understanding, DE are just an extention of the eldar race, again, that is only what i have been told...it just another "aspect" someone please correct me if i am horribly mistaken

You're horriby mistaken...

Ok, i was just parroting what i was told by a guy who i assumed knew a lot of fluff...oh well...

Eldar and Dark Eldar hate each other a lot (though they will ally for survival) they have different cultures and one likes to toture the living hell out of anyone they capture... i'll let you guess which one


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Just remembered in one of the soul drinker novels there is a part where a Dark Eldar warband has allied with chaos mutants/marines to fight the Imperium can't remember the book name though.

You could find many fluffy reasons for DE to side with other races-

SM variants, IG- rebels, traitors, renegade chapters that are as depraved as the DE are (or an IG slave army).

Orks- Orks like to fight, and with enuff swag thrown in to a deal, could be tempted to fight alongside Wyches and Harlequins.

Tyranids- Om nom nom nom nom nom *burp* Om nom nom nom nom...

Tau- No.

Inquisition- This could be interesting as the DE are normally not Chaos affiliated and with dissident factions of the Inquisition going to great lengths to fight Chaos, they might just strike a deal with the Dark Eldar to secure an artifact or alliance of some sort in return for knowledge only the Dark Eldar know and the Inquisition wants.

Eldar- Well, rogue Eldar succumbing to their banal and basest instincts could go rogue and start to become Dark Eldar.

Chaos- See above post.

also mentioned is a DE spacecraft assisting chaos in one of the gaunts ghost novels


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athough it is just a 1-man fighter...

Wow, all pretty interesting ideas guys. Thanks for the input. I'm going to have to check out the Soul Drinker books and see if I can get a copy of Hammer of Daemons.

As a faction they look upon the galaxy as their plaything. To plunder and pillage at whim. Even then within Dark Eldar society they are a fractious lot. With Kabal ties and mercenary tendencies ruling supreme. I can imagine though even Kabals seemingly working for other races would turn on them the instant it was more profitable to do so. So imagine say a chaos force enlisting the help of a mercenary Kabal force. Then once the battle is over and the chaos forces are weakened they call on more of their brethren to strike them!

I thought deldar hated chaos as much as normal eldar since Slaanesh still eats their souls. I always thought DE wanted to eat their cake and have it too. That is to say they want to party hard but don't want slaanesh screwing with them.

On a side-note are there such thing as chaos eldar? Seems like it would be pretty counter intuitive but maybe some would join Slaanesh in hopes of having their soul spared?

purplefood wrote:You're horriby mistaken...

About a great many things - emperor palpatine

do we degenerate to the stage where 40K gamers have to quote star wars??!!!! is this not wrong????

asimo77 wrote:I thought deldar hated chaos as much as normal eldar since Slaanesh still eats their souls. I always thought DE wanted to eat their cake and have it too. That is to say they want to party hard but don't want slaanesh screwing with them.

On a side-note are there such thing as chaos eldar? Seems like it would be pretty counter intuitive but maybe some would join Slaanesh in hopes of having their soul spared?

There are but they are extremely rare. Possibly more of them in the eye of terror from the fall? It's a subject approached less than Dark Eldar background fluff unfortunately. But in general most Eldar. Due to Slaanesh calling dibs on every Eldars soul. Seem to steer away from chaos. The Dark Eldar using captured slaves souls to revitalise their own and stave off Slaaneshes hunger. I agree it seems a little short sighted. But you could say that about their entire society. Propping up a culture that caused the downfall and near extinction of their race. Yet still believing their way is the right way. Even after having to flee into the webway to escape Slaanesh.

My take on DE allies.

Ally with the peasant races when they choose.

Inevitabily betray the peasant races.


Ally with other craftworld eldar.

Watch them squirm.

Cackle in a superior manner, kidanp some choice eldar on the way home.



Harlequins *brofist* (talk behind their back about how Incubi are a better unit.)

The best fluffy reason I could think of is that some corrupt Imperial governor is hiring the Dark Eldar as mercenaries. Of course, they'll turn on him soon enough, but until then....they'll fight with his force.

Thats about the best ive heard

DE would ally with Eldar Harlequins and possibly, alongside them, their craftworld cousins.

They may hate each other, but they hate the mon'keigh races more.

Sort of a "The enemy of my enemy is still not my friend, but our differences will keep for now.".

I the new DE codex there is a story about the DE saving the Tau. Rakarth (or however you spell it) offers to save a Tau word from invasion in return for a "cultural exchange". The Tau are desperate and accept the offered aid, believing the DE simply want to exchange ambassadors or something similar. After the Tau are saved, Rakarth asks for 60 members of each of the Tau casts. The Tau comply but refuse to send any of the etherials. Things don't turn out to well for the Tau after this. Lets just say the DE launch an attack spear headed by a hord of blue skin raks.

Eldar of both luminosity ally to defend exodite worlds frequently.

Yes, they hate each other, but they're still family.

DarknessEternal wrote:Eldar of both luminosity ally to defend exodite worlds frequently.

Yes, they hate each other, but they're still family.

That's like saying loyalist and chaos marines will collaborate. They are the antithesis of each other. Since when have they joined forces to save a maiden/exodite planet?

That's like saying loyalist and chaos marines will collaborate. They are the antithesis of each other. Since when have they joined forces to save a maiden/exodite planet?

Actually as a long time eldar player ill tell you its nothing like chaos and loyalists joining forces. Eldar and dark eldar are an alien race and are vastly differet from humanity. The Astartes were split by a great betrayal, one actively seeking to wipe out the other. Eldar were split because of the birth of slaanesh leading to many different lifstyle choices (Craftworld, exodite, dark eldar).

The very nature of DE society means that they will attack and feed off the souls of pretty much any other race. BUT when it comes to common enemies the DE and eldar would most assuredly join forces. All eldar have an ancestrial hatred for chaos and the yngir so would unquestionably join to fight these foes then prolly attack each other afterwards. I can't see them ever joining any imperial force for any reason. Far better for them to retreat from the battlefield, let the nids, necron, chaos guys duke it out with the imperials, then swoop back in and finnish off who ever is left.

Now allies I could see haveing a stable partnership with that lasted more than one battle would be: non slannesh chaos, orks if they were being manipulated (not hard) or paid... and thats really all I could think of. lol

IIRC in the first Ultramarine novel Nightbringer the chaos forces on that planet were working in concert with the DE.

I like the idea of the guard-slave army.

Dark Eldar are pirates. They dont have a home world, just swift ships in space.

They wouldnt team with anyone, nor would they ever fight something directly. Pirates dont defend anything they just stay alive.

As far as eldar and dark eldar teaming, thats like Chaos and Space Marines teaming, it wont happen. They are opposites.

Other then as a trick I cant see why they would ally, or if the other army was plotting to do the same thing as them, betray each other.

Oh then there are Harlequins but they work with all variants of Eldar and I am pretty sure they are equally feared too.


And as for no home world,all eldar have no home world.But Dark eldar have a home city, try Commorragh. And SM and CSM are in a completely different situation.

Smitty0305 wrote:
As far as eldar and dark eldar teaming, thats like Chaos and Space Marines teaming, it wont happen. They are opposites.

Where does this belief come from? No notion of the background material ever suggests it.

Cripes, they aren't even opposites, just differently motivated towards the same goals.

DarknessEternal wrote:

Smitty0305 wrote:
As far as eldar and dark eldar teaming, thats like Chaos and Space Marines teaming, it wont happen. They are opposites.

Where does this belief come from? No notion of the background material ever suggests it.

Cripes, they aren't even opposites, just differently motivated towards the same goals.

Also, Laughing God totally just debunked that idea. Read his post; you'll see why DE and Eldar team up on occasion.

Shaman wrote:My take on DE allies.
Ally with the peasant races when they choose.
Inevitabily betray the peasant races.
Ally with other craftworld eldar.
Watch them squirm.
Cackle in a superior manner, kidanp some choice eldar on the way home.

Exactly! I can see them temporarily allying with anyone just for 'the lulz'. Except for maybe necrons who are no fun.

Laughing God wrote:That's like saying loyalist and chaos marines will collaborate. They are the antithesis of each other. Since when have they joined forces to save a maiden/exodite planet?
Actually as a long time eldar player ill tell you its nothing like chaos and loyalists joining forces. Eldar and dark eldar are an alien race and are vastly differet from humanity. The Astartes were split by a great betrayal, one actively seeking to wipe out the other. Eldar were split because of the birth of slaanesh leading to many different lifstyle choices (Craftworld, exodite, dark eldar)...

Well actually, I am eldar...
I mean really people, it's fiction.