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Does the eldar craftworld Saim-Hann have anything to do with Samhain, the pagan holiday? Because after listening to some old horror punk (not sure how many people actually know of the genre) I got thinking about making a Halloween themed 40k army. I figured Chaos would be the best fit (I want a serious, very creepy looking look), adorning them with skeletor heads and maybe a few jack-o-laterns atop standards and tanks, etc, with a predominantly black color scheme with orange mixed in. I also was kicking around the idea of naming them the Samhain Legion, but I was worried this would seem too much like a rip off of Saim-Hann, so I was kind of wondering about the fluff behind the craftworld.

No. Eldar and human pagans have nothing to do with eachother.... except that the concept of human sized elves is stolen from LotR and Tolkien stole it from norse/germanic mythology... so that's pagan. That's about it though.

If all of your chaos were modeled with jack-o'-lantern heads I'd love you forever.

It does, but only in name-

You will find a number of craftworlds are named after particular pagan festivals / cosmological events- Biel Tan comes to mind.

And from memory the eldar cosmology is roughly based around a particular epic. I'm sure someone will be able to elaborate on this...

Yup, Craftworlds are named after Pagan holidays, although the spelling is usually different.

Biel Tan = Beltane for example

I dont think there would be any fluff conflict, & its a cool idea, so just roll with it!

Sothas wrote:No. Eldar and human pagans have nothing to do with eachother.... except that the concept of human sized elves is stolen from LotR and Tolkien stole it from norse/germanic mythology... so that's pagan. That's about it though.

If all of your chaos were modeled with jack-o'-lantern heads I'd love you forever.

Eldar Pagans? do you just mean Eldar seeing as all Eldar are non-monothestic?

As Saim Hann are described as 'wild' among the other craftworld Eldar then the links with the holiday Samhain are easily seen. Pagans being described as wild by external viewers and the fact that Samhain was quiet a party.

GW, especially old GW, use alot of references to pop culture and historical elements.

Wow, i stand corrected. I never actually heard about that connection before.

Fluff wise they're not connected, but now that you say it, I can see it. I still think jack o' lantern chaos would be awesome though.

Anyway, it makes even more sense when you look at all the othe mythological refferences. There's tons of christian, jewish, and babalonian stuff hidden all through out 40k. Baal pretators, tons of SC names (like DA characters, Abaddon, Mephiston just to name a few).


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Crap, now I'm seeing it everywhere. The harvest festival of Lughnasagh is strikingly similar to craftworld Lugganath!
Or maybe, this one's a bit of a reach. Craftworld Yme-Loc = Imbolc?

Well yeah that was my main concern, I was wondering if the fluff behind the craftworld actually had anything to do with the traditional beliefs to Halloween-the dead walk the earth again, must wear scary masks to ward them off, etc. And I will build this army if I ever finish my Guard...I can tell they're going to take me forever :/

Nope, GW just needs to get names from somewhere and there are tons of places/people/things in 40k named after real world counterparts that have little if anything to do with them. It's why I feel sorry for Star Wars expanded universe, as they make all those names outta nothing.

Harriticus wrote:Nope, GW just needs to get names from somewhere and there are tons of places/people/things in 40k named after real world counterparts that have little if anything to do with them. It's why I feel sorry for Star Wars expanded universe, as they make all those names outta nothing.

That is a load of rubbish, they are called references, so many names of characters and entities are references to something in the real world or history.

I've always thought that Imperials with names, or places with names exactly the same or similar to "old earth" stuff wasn't an issue. We do this now-a-days with names. There are cities/towns named Jericho. People are named Adam. Old names continue through the ages, even if they do get altered. Always seemed apropriate to me that one of the Emperor's Angel's of Death was named Azrael.

Cool idea, maybe a Halloween themed dark eldar army?

I think they are named after pagans, but it has no effect on the fluff.

Sothas wrote:
Crap, now I'm seeing it everywhere. The harvest festival of Lughnasagh is strikingly similar to craftworld Lugganath!
Or maybe, this one's a bit of a reach. Craftworld Yme-Loc = Imbolc?

Yep, and not forgetting Iybraesil (Hy-Brasil) the mythical island to the west of Ireland.