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Hope this isn't too many posts from me... Further to my reading up on the Eldar, I had a couple more questions, specifically regarding Guardians:

-How do Guardians avoid the touch of Khaine if they don't have Aspect Warrior war-masks? I get that some Guardians will have pursued the Path of the Warrior in the past and can presumably draw on that training, but what about the rest? Is it just that they're called upon to fight rarely enough that it's ok, or at least that they can have some kind of psychological treatment in between battles that helps them cope?

-Ulthwe's Black Guardians are a standing army. So what Path are they on? Is there a Path for standing army soldiers that aren't 'Warriors'? Or are they on other Paths and just have to pursue them in their time off?

Thanks in advance for your Dakka wisdom!

Technically, Eldar Guardians aren't protected from the touch of Khaine (at least those who never were warriors at some point which isn't all that common considering the Path of the Warrior is considered one of the most if not the most common Path for Eldars). They are protected from the touch of Khaine by not being exposed to the thickest of combat and not being deployed as often. The Black Guardians are a bit of an exception in the sense that they are so commonly at war that they are actually never demobilised. I have no idea as to if they have a form of War Mask to protect them.

All Eldar have a war mask. It's not an aspect specific phenomenon. It's a psychological compartmentalization to protect them from the mental damage of the horrors of war.

Aspects are a war focus, not a mask. They do use it a lot though, as they are on the path of the warrior they will be submerged behind their war mask for protracted periods of time.

epronovost wrote:They are protected from the touch of Khaine by not being exposed to the thickest of combat and not being deployed as often.

That makes sense, I'd wondered if that might be part of it.

Hellebore wrote:All Eldar have a war mask. It's not an aspect specific phenomenon.

Ah I hadn't realised that. I just read 'Path of the Warrior' and the main character in that didn't have a war mask (and in fact didn't know what it was - when the concept was first brought up he was confused and thought it meant a literal helmet) until he started training as an Aspect Warrior, but I guess it wouldn't be the first inconsistency in a BL novel.

recaf wrote:

epronovost wrote:They are protected from the touch of Khaine by not being exposed to the thickest of combat and not being deployed as often.

That makes sense, I'd wondered if that might be part of it.

Hellebore wrote:All Eldar have a war mask. It's not an aspect specific phenomenon.

Ah I hadn't realised that. I just read 'Path of the Warrior' and the main character in that didn't have a war mask (and in fact didn't know what it was - when the concept was first brought up he was confused and thought it meant a literal helmet) until he started training as an Aspect Warrior, but I guess it wouldn't be the first inconsistency in a BL novel.

Iirc that craftworld almost never fought, so they may never have needed to pull out guardian units.

Hellebore wrote:

recaf wrote:

epronovost wrote:They are protected from the touch of Khaine by not being exposed to the thickest of combat and not being deployed as often.

That makes sense, I'd wondered if that might be part of it.

Hellebore wrote:All Eldar have a war mask. It's not an aspect specific phenomenon.

Ah I hadn't realised that. I just read 'Path of the Warrior' and the main character in that didn't have a war mask (and in fact didn't know what it was - when the concept was first brought up he was confused and thought it meant a literal helmet) until he started training as an Aspect Warrior, but I guess it wouldn't be the first inconsistency in a BL novel.

Iirc that craftworld almost never fought, so they may never have needed to pull out guardian units.

Alaitoc has a long history of fighting agains tthe Necrons, so that definitely isn't true, though they are more isolationist than most other Craftworlds.

Where did you read that all Guardians have a War Mask? I mean it makes sense to train them in that way but I've never come across it before.

While I do think there is a difference between the "war-mask" that Aspects use and anything similar for Guardians, in general the "Path" system of CWE is designed to compartmentalize each role that an Eldar walks over their centuries long lives. Once a Path is switched, most Eldar don't seem to remember much of their prior Path (or rather it's harder for them to "recall" specific aspects of that Path)

So between that mental compartmentalization and not really being placed in the "thick" of battle, Guardians are somewhat protected

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I thought they remembered what they did but didn't have the emotional component? So if they were a poet they'd remember what they wrote about but not the feelings. Like reading a wikipedia page on their own work.

by getting killed before their fragile little elf minds go off the rails

My take is that guardians kind of DON'T avoid the touch of Khaine. Which is part of why they're considered a (too often necessary) last resort. Every time a craftworld sends a large number of guardians out to fight, I imagine that a significant portion of them start eyeballing the path of the warrior not long after.

Guardian training seems like part of the basic citizenship training all craftworlds get. Sort of like how they all learn to put locks on their own psychic abilities (you have to learn how to unlock it again when you become a seer). So with that in mind, I get the impression that guardian training itself probably comes with a sort of low-grade baby's first war mask (though not referred to as such based on a line from the Path series), but that said war mask isn't nearly as... effective as the one you develop when you walk the path of the warrior.

They give all craftworlders the basic theoretical knowledge for not going bonkers with blood lust, but it's just that: theoretical. The mask you get when you walk the path of the warrior has to be refined and actively used more often because you're eating, sleeping, and breathing war while you walk that path. It's not a weekend purging some orks because the aspect shrines were busy; it's an obsession that you commit to for years or even centuries.

A guardian can be shoved out the door, handed a gun, told to put on his low-grade war mask, and probably come through the weekend event mostly okay, but then he gets to go home and start writing poetry again. The warrior's war mask is the thing that lets him avoid acting like an axe murderer when he goes to the food court. He has to use that thing daily.

My take on it is much the same as Wyldhunt.
I would just add that any NCOs are likely retired from one of the warrior aspects, and so is a bit more capable due to remembering some of the training and a more developed warmask, even if its not up to what it was when they were warriors.