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Dark Eldar society is byzantine and back-stabbing, with endless plots, conspiracies, assassination, etc. But how is life like in the Dark City? What and where do they get food? Social life?

There seems to be vast markets of plundered goods by they material or souls. Social life depends, as ever on who you are, with the Lords and Ladies trying to find things to stop being bored to death and the the rest surviving.

The Salamanders triology has some good bits and pieces of fluff form the Dark Eldar perspective.

I can imagine food beasts being grown in really unpleasent conditions - they might even have whole worlds that are food in pocket dimensions and they can enjoy ripping apart. Dark Eldar require souls as much as food - more and more as they get older.

Dark Eldar has access to some of the highest technology in the 40 universe to produce food and enjoy life......

I always think of Drow Society, in a more futuristic approach, when I imagine life in the Dark City.

Sasori wrote:I always think of Drow Society, in a more futuristic approach, when I imagine life in the Dark City.

This sums it up I I think, its pretty hard no mather who you are

To paraphrase Hobbes: "Nasty, brutish and indefinitely prolonged".

A gakky struggle to survive unless you're higher up in the Kabal or some kind of wealthy cutthroat.

Sasori wrote:I always think of Drow Society, in a more futuristic approach, when I imagine life in the Dark City.

Similar but I think Melniboneans

Mr Morden wrote:

Sasori wrote:I always think of Drow Society, in a more futuristic approach, when I imagine life in the Dark City.

Similar but I think Melniboneans

I'd be pretty sure the later (albeit turned up to eleven) were what Games Workshop were thinking of.

So basically Commoragh is a bit like renaissance Italy, with lots of intrigue, plots, and conspiracies, not to mention ships from all over the Webway bring loot, souls, and tributes to the Dark City, a LOT like Sodom and Gomorrah, where horrific 'pleasures' are considered normal and perfectly acceptable, and just a bit like hell, with its insane architecture and nightmarish conditions.

Wonderful place...

There's basically no information about the non-political or martial organization of the city, but there are multiple references to non-eldar races using it as a trade hub too, and given the level of tech there must be agriculture of some sort, probably hydro/aeroponic, not to mention food imports. The society in the Malus Darkblade series, about the Dark Elves of Warhammer Fantasy, probably translates pretty well to Commoragh.

Calling it Renaissance Italy is too much of a compliment. There's lots of political intrigue, assassinations, conspiracy, backstabbing between powerful Kabals/Gangs but it's a city whose cruelty greatly surpasses any in human history.

Sasori wrote:I always think of Drow Society, in a more futuristic approach, when I imagine life in the Dark City.

Same here. It really is almost the same thing, innit? A bit more chaotic, perhaps, given that the controlling aspect of a deity and a set of divine commands is missing from the Dark Eldar. That said, given that this thread is about their daily life, and that even the differentiation between male and female drow breaks down once you look at the commoners, I suppose it would still be much the same.

I think Melnibone is a close match:

extract from Wiki:

The Melnibonéans are a humanoid race, but their psychological distance from humans is stressed throughout the series. With the exception of Elric, they lack a moral sense. Their actions are determined by tradition and by the search for pleasure and new sensations. Meerclar, Mistress of Catkind, compares the Imrryrian nature to the nature of her own kind in their sophistication and their love of cruelty and pleasure. Torture of slaves and prisoners is a common amusement. The otherness of the Melnibonéans is manifest in their aesthetics. They naturally prefer a mix of colors and elaborate, baroque decoration and architecture. The tall spires of Imrryr are every color of the rainbow. Their self-centered ways are held in check by rigid adherence to tradition. The society is devoted to elaborate rituals that few Imrryrians have the courage to ignore.

Add super high technology to the mix plus a desperate need to avoid having your soul drained by She who Thirsts.

I don't think food will be an issue - their tech level is so super advanced they can probably have living planets to eat and the like They also probably eat choice bits of slaves and prey animals. Most Dark Eldar are now vat grown rather than born so sex is also purely for recreation/punishment/exercise of power and most family links will be removed. Those feelings that remain are so concealed and twisted they can have difficulty rembering softer emotions.

The Salamanders novels are quite good at capturing the twisted relationships of the Dark Eldar -

[/spoiler]Even the Archon can't bring himself to admit he misses his Wych lover....... shutting Dark Eldar away from sensation is worse than death - something that both the Salamanders and the Dark Eldar themsleves employ.[spoiler]

I always imagined it to be one big dark alley.

Also, 2011th post on the last day of 2011.

Commorragh is basically a seedy underbelly of a city full of drug addicts, murders and rapists.

Commander Ice Shade wrote:Commorragh is basically a seedy underbelly of a city full of drug addicts, murders and rapists.

Perhaps that would be too great a generalization.

I'm actually kind of surprise that the dark Eldar of Commoragh even manage to form any kind of order to a city of complete anarchy.

Chaotic order, I guess. After all, too maintain a steady supply of souls and slaves to indulge on, a certain order must be imposed.

everyone is probably too high to care about the essentials but there are probably some dark eldar who coordinate the efforts of basic needs somehow. whatever hierarchy there is, i guess it works since they are still alive.