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I see the "you can do anything you want in your own fluff" as an argument against reasoned points all the time. It's a terrible way to circumvent good points based on published material. The only reason I included it in my original post was to prevent someone from responding "OP can do whatever he wants, it's his army."

A Chaos Worshiper admits, whether he likes it or not, that there is something out there more important than him. Even those who worship the Chaos Gods only to advance their own power must--as you pointed out--loyally serve. And I can't see the DE being willing to do this. This is what I meant by "atheist": a self-centeredness that deconstructs every other concept to prioritize it below oneself, including the "godhood" of Slaanesh, et al.

I can't speak to the all or none incidence of Chaos-worshiping DE. Maybe there could be one. By that same token, I guess it is also not impossible that one DE might passionately believe in the Greater Good.

Manchu wrote:I see the "you can do anything you want in your own fluff" as an argument against reasoned points all the time. It's a terrible way to circumvent good points based on published material. The only reason I included it in my original post was to prevent someone from responding "OP can do whatever he wants, it's his army."

They OP CAN do whatever he likes. I made the distinction between discussing examples of what has already happened in the fluff and talking about what is possible from a modeling/gaming perspective. You can model your army in any way you like with any background fluff you like because there are no rules governing that. If we're talking about what has happened in the fluff there are absolutely zero khorne-worshiping eldar/dark eldar. If we start discussing what COULD be possible in this universe it really comes down to making a logical argument/using your imagination because anything is possible and the official fluff writers have shown us this.

Manchu wrote:
A Chaos Worshiper admits, whether he likes it or not, that there is something out there more important than him. Even those who worship the Chaos Gods only to advance their own power must--as you pointed out--loyally serve. And I can't see the DE being willing to do this. This is what I meant by "atheist": a self-centeredness that deconstructs every other concept to prioritize it below oneself, including the "godhood" of Slaanesh, et al.

Dark eldar live in a world of anarchy, ie the strong rule. The less strong dark eldar are ruled over by the stronger archons/etc. To gain power I could easily see a dark eldar offering his devotion to a chaos god (whether he is truthfully giving himself up or not, there are plenty of csms that receive gifts from chaos without truly giving their entire selves over to them, ahriman being a prime example). On the other hand I think the ruling elite of the dark eldar hierarchy would have such inflated egos as to think they are equals with the chaos gods and might be less inclined to bow to them for power because they already have immense power. I do think the less powerful dark eldar are willing to do ANYTHING to gain more power, and going to the chaos gods is definitely a possibility.

As I also said, there is the matter of dark eldar potentially going to slaanesh to avoid having their own souls taken by bringing them juicier souls of fellow dark eldar/eldar/etc. They are perfectly fine with betrayal(if they would even see it as such) and would have no trouble doing this if they could gain more power and live without the intense fear of having their souls taken by slaanesh. Of course it would be a tenuous relationship at best because of how fickle slaanesh is, but if we're talking about what COULD happen it could happen and is logical based on how they have acted in the past.

Manchu wrote:
I can't speak to the all or none incidence of Chaos-worshiping DE. Maybe there could be one. By that same token, I guess it is also not impossible that one DE might passionately believe in the Greater Good.

Exactly. The official fluff writers have shown us time and time again that there are these little pockets unknown to almost anyone in the universe that can turn up whenever the writers feel like to show us something that we thought would be impossible. Necrons aiding space marines for instance(not truly aiding, but fighting for the same cause at the time), or the "dark foundings" so space marines could have more elaborate mutations and be able to make their own chapters. That is why if we steer away from what is clearly written into the codexes/rulebook fluff we enter into a world of infinite possibilities. Space is a big place afterall and even though we know so much about space marines, there are so many races/planets we know next to nothing about that could be hiding an enormous army of khorne-worshiping dark eldar that comes to the fore and supports world eater legions in battle in some future engagement.

They never worshipped Slaanesh, they helped create Slaanesh. Big difference. If I managed to unleash something that terrible I'd be avoiding it and anything related to it too. Especially if it slowly drained my soul.

I think that last bit might be key, the eldar know their souls are so very highly prized that they are unlikely to put themselves in a situation where a reasonable sized group could have dealings with chaos; they don't want to risk getting eaten. Tempting does require contact. And given the situation with Slaanesh I think most eldar would be leery of serving because they already know that interacting with chaos tends to cost you, and getting anything back comes only at a price. At least they've learnt some measure of protection against She Who Thirsts.


Individuals here are there? Sure, they might serve. Kabal as a whole? No, getting them all over would be impossible and preventing any from finding out difficult. Once you're found out you're dead. Khorne will not stop a pissed off alliance of bloodthirsty DE coming to rip you limb from limb. If you can't get yourself out than you don't deserve help and that blood shall flow whether it is yours or your enemies'.

Morgrim wrote:
the eldar know their souls are so very highly prized that they are unlikely to put themselves in a situation where a reasonable sized group could have dealings with chaos; they don't want to risk getting eaten. Tempting does require contact. And given the situation with Slaanesh I think most eldar would be leery of serving because they already know that interacting with chaos tends to cost you, and getting anything back comes only at a price. At least they've learnt some measure of protection against She Who Thirsts.

The eldar souls are very highly prized. That is exactly why it would be very profitable/fortuitous for a dark eldar raiding party to get together and collectively bargain with slaanesh to gain power from her in trade for dark eldar souls. She would of course also not suck out their souls while they serve successfully. Risks? Of course, but there are risks in the dark eldar hierarchy as well. Anything below(and sometimes even including) an archon are subject to death at any moment if they displease a higher-up member of the kabal. This is yet another reason dark eldar would be inclined to worship chaos in order to gain power and gain control over their own raiding party/kabal.

Morgrim wrote:
Individuals here and there? Sure, they might serve. Kabal as a whole? No, getting them all over would be impossible and preventing any from finding out difficult. Once you're found out you're dead. Khorne will not stop a pissed off alliance of bloodthirsty DE coming to rip you limb from limb. If you can't get yourself out than you don't deserve help and that blood shall flow whether it is yours or your enemies'.

Read the above response. I also don't agree with your scenario of how worship comes about. Normally, a charismatic worshiper of a chaos god goes to an area/group and seduces those in need of quick power gains or otherwise keen to fall to chaos. He then sets up a cult(could be a few members, could be hundreds or even thousands) and when they are fully trained in the ways of his patron god he departs and leaves the most promising members in charge to fulfill their goals (whether that is to cause havoc, gather new members and spread, to serve as living shields to other forces, or whatever).

I see some high-up member of slaanesh's followers (enhanced with all manner of slaaneshi mind-altering abilities/aromas/visuals/etc) with a small band of slaanesh warriors meeting up with an isolated group of dark eldar that are either down on their luck with their raids or otherwise in need of aid. The slaanesh forces then do battle with the dark eldar and subdue as many as they can. After which they start to brainwash/seduce them. Once they are fully in the sway of slaanesh (whether of their own will to gain power as I've said before, or simply through slaanesh' powerful forces of seduction) they are given a leader who is the most promising out of the group and sent on their way to enslave other dark eldar to feed to slaanesh. It would be a great bond because those dark eldar would be safe from slaanesh's soul eating and would in turn be better at catching other dark eldar than any other force because they would know the ins and outs of how the dark eldar tech works, where they are located, and they would be completely unsuspecting of their fellow dark eldar to offer them up to slaanesh of all beings.