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I'm reading the Dark Eldar codex and in the fluff section it discusses why the DE do their torture and power through pain because their souls are slowly being sucked away by Slaanesh and in order to keep their souls intact they indirectly feed it the pain and torment of their victims. The Eldar deal with Slaanesh's hunger by using the soul stones, infinity circuits and changing into passionless beings so as not to attract its attention.

Now the DE are in essence bargaining for time. They are feeding Slaanesh and hoping they can stay ahead of it indefinately. But they are also making it stronger by feeding the god all this pain and misery. The Eldar seem to have a "you do leave us alone we leave you alone" kind of policy towards their dark kin but in light of their long term goals of trying to stop Slaanesh through a variety of means including trying to incubate a new Warp God wouldn't the activities of the DE run in contradiction to their plans? In fact the DE can be categorized as allies of Slaanesh in a way.

So why are the Eldar not more confrontational and try to oppose or manipulate their fallen kin? I understand they probably don't have the numbers to just outright attack Commoragh or anything silly like that but if they can mess around with a million world empire like the Imperium surely they can spare some time to plot and maneuver against the DE who are actively assisting Slaanesh as opposed to the IMperium which is blundering about and not really interested in assisting any Chaos gods.

That's an interesting analysis...

Maybe the Eldar think that while their dark kin "feed" Slaanesh with alien (ie. human, tau, ork, whatever) souls, it keeps the Lord of Pleasure's attention away from them...

I imagine it's because of the eEdar's small numbers, and are not risking to start such a large confrontation. If they began a war with the Dark Eldar, they would suffer large casualties.

Thats an interesting analysis

My thinking would be that the Craftworld guys are already on the brink of extinction, and even though their dark brothers are crazy, they are still Eldar. Some might say that the Dark Eldar are more like "pure" Eldar than the Craftworld fellas.

So if they started a war upon their own kind, then they could very well exterminate their entire race from the galaxy, and I dont think anyone wants that.

I think both sides crave vindication in their chosen path, and that requires their kin admitting that they were right all along. Wiping each other out wouldn't help this along.

It's also worth remembering that, with some obvious major exceptions, much of the stuff that the Dark Eldar get up to, while rather questionable and certainly contrary to their own strict path, is not evil in the way that humans perceive it to be. Sure, they do some pretty messed up stuff to planet-loads of humans just to get their rocks off, but then it's not like humans are really people are they? If they raided craftworlds for torture victims that would be one thing, but who cares about a few hive cities here and there?

Oh and I'm sure that attitudes differ considerably among the various craftworlds.

1.) Their soul leeches to the warp, not Slaanesh specifically.
2.) As does every Eldar soul during webway travel, esp. Harleqin souls. The soulstones only catch what is left at the time of death.
3.) Dark Eldar may be bad, but they are family

Kroothawk wrote:1.) Their soul leeches to the warp, not Slaanesh specifically.

To be fair, Slaanesh is pretty quick to get the pickings of it.

3.) Dark Eldar may be bad, but they are family

This. Even though they are fallen, they are still kin. The Eldar won't attack their dark kin unless they have to, the same way they choose most of their confrontations. However, there was a reference in the previous WD issue that mentioned a Kabal that held a special contempt for their Craftworld and Exodite brethren, singling them out in their attacks as much as possible. I suppose there could be a Craftworld with the reverse view, one that actively pursues Dark Eldar as they are the cause of the Eldar fall.

Bear in mind the DE can be just as manipulative and tricksy as their lighter brethren *cough*Vect/Malys*cough* they just spend more time infighting

2.) As does every Eldar soul during webway travel, esp. Harleqin souls. The soulstones only catch what is left at the time of death.

I thought harlequins' souls are relatively safe since The Laughing God claims/protects it.

If you read the fluff about eldar craftworlds, in specific the biel tan, you'll see that the Eldar are just as cruel as their dark cousins. Plenty of xeno-phobic and horribly violent Eldar out there :p Just like Space marines. Ive always just assumed the Eldar dont care because its just humans, which are a lower life form. Also, as stated, wiping out your cousins is a bad idea for a dying race (DOnt even get me started on why Guardians are basically cannon fodder)

Mr Nobody wrote:I imagine it's because of the eEdar's small numbers, and are not risking to start such a large confrontation. If they began a war with the Dark Eldar, they would suffer large casualties.

Thats if the Craftworlds decided to work together for a prolonged amount of time too. They seem to have some trust issues IIRC

From what i know, the Eldar sort of follow the farsights of thier seers and choose thier battles carefully, maybe these farseers have not seen any urgent need to attack the DE?
Also, do the Eldar actually know Ynnead is forming, is it not just a belief?

Eldrad has had a prophecy regarding Ynnead, it's by no means a definite occurence and it's certainly not a widely-held beliefe (even though Eldrads prophecies are generally regarded as relatively accurate, even by other Craftworlds). Although it has to be said that he has never tried scrying this far in the future, and if he really was always accurate then he wouldn't have wound up dead.