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When Eldar pirates (corsairs and Craftworld renegades) raid from imperial shipping lanes, what exactly do they intend for the cargo ? On that note, why would they want anything the Imperium has if they supposedly make better and more advanced things ?

On that same note I notice Yriel has a long list of captured ships to his name. What do Eldar pirates want with the ships of "less advanced" races or for that matter, the tainted hulk of a chaos ship or the poorly made, ramshackle buckets that compose an Ork ship ? Are these destroyed or pressed into service ?

Is there the possibility an Eldar corsair prince is out there leading bands of Orks, Humans, Tau, (and maybe) Chaos Space Marines around as gang-pressed labor or does the madness stop at Eldar only for a corsair force ?

It may have to do more with the thrill of the hunt rather than purely economic or commercial reasons for a lot of their piracy. You have to realize that a lot of the Eldar Corsairs are outcasts that have rejected or strayed from the Path system of the craftworlds and therefore are pretty much indulging in their lust for adventure and power that isn't present or promoted in Craftworlds that make you channel all of these emotions in a much more organized and boring way.

I would guess as a result that the lanes they plunder are more like trophies or signs of prestige/prowess rather than serving any real practical service. Beyond maybe general resources or goods I can't see them using other races simply because of their pride.

I would imagine the ships are rendered down for components, or ransomed off. There has to be things the Imperium use on their ships that can be used by corsairs. Components, foodstuffs, and the like.

As to a composite crew, I think that's highly unlikely. If Eldar are any one thing, it's racist. The reason Eldar and Dark Eldar are battle brothers is that their disgust and loathing for other species, their intent racial arrogance, transcends the legacy of the fall of their race. It's more powerful than millennia of hate between them. You might encounter an Eldar or two who would overcome that, like the rare Farseer who tutors an Inquisitor (and even then, they likely think the Inquisitor is the exceptional one, not himself) but I don't think there could ever be a whole pirate crew that would go along with ideas like that.

Depends on the corsair I suppose. it could be solely for the thrill of combat, or they could be bartering parts and supplies with corrupt imperial governors or generals. In the Path of the outcast book they raided ships for the crew to sell to dark eldar.

The Eldar wouldn't want Imperial tech.

Gems, food, slaves, animal hides, raw materials, however....

Path of the Outcast shows an example of a trading post in the Webway where Eldar from various branches of the Eldar race mingle and trade. So commodities and raw materials could theoretically still have some value for Eldar corsairs.

Also it seems many corsairs at least part of the time act on behalf of Craftworlds. It could be that they attack certain areas or convoys in order to nudge fate, and in return the Craftworld provides goods and services to the corsairs (like ammunition and ship repairs).

In Path of the Renegade, during an Archon's dinner party, every plate, table, every piece of cutlery and tablecloth was something stolen (or made) from the lesser races. Not because it was better then the Eldar stuff, not because the Eldar couldn't be bothered to make it, but because the simply fact the Archon HAD stolen this much showed he had great influence.

It's less the fact that the Eldar need what they take, sometimes it's a simple matter of proving they can take it. Yeah, Eldar are like toddlers, deal with it.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
Yeah, Eldar are like toddlers, deal with it.

If there's any line that sums up pretty much every faction in the 40K world, this is it. ^^^

 Coldstream wrote:

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
Yeah, Eldar are like toddlers, deal with it.

If there's any line that sums up pretty much every faction in the 40K world, this is it. ^^^

except maybe orks. they seem more like sport jocks for some reason.

The corsairs are much closer to privateers than true pirates. I imagine there is some sort of spoils system where they sell the human crew to the dark eldar for currency/dark light equipment/ haemonculus respawns or whatever and then they get a credit from the craftworld they are employed by for every hull they destroy, which would let them buy more vehicles, wraitbone, upgrade their ships, or whatever.

Otherwise it doesn't make sense seeing as the Eldar have a post-scarcity economy.

 Silverthorne wrote:
The corsairs are much closer to privateers than true pirates. I imagine there is some sort of spoils system where they sell the human crew to the dark eldar for currency/dark light equipment/ haemonculus respawns or whatever and then they get a credit from the craftworld they are employed by for every hull they destroy, which would let them buy more vehicles, wraitbone, upgrade their ships, or whatever.

Otherwise it doesn't make sense seeing as the Eldar have a post-scarcity economy.

What you just described would make an amazing video game.

Even though they weren't "pirates" per se, I always viewed the Corsairs' behavior as something along the lines of the old Conquistadors. They may "deal" with indigenous species they run into, but typically prefer to simply beat them into submission to facilitate an easier transaction, and never view them as being anywhere on the same level of intelligence or cultural refinement. No way you'd see Cortes sacking an Aztec settlement and throwing all his soldiers the Aztec's spears or boats, same as the Corsairs could care less about trying to find a use for Lasguns, Gellar Field Projectors, or the like.

But on the other hand...

Gold. Lapis. Spices. Maize and potatoes. Young women ripe for conversion to Christianity. Without these things, there wouldn't really be much of an interest in Aztec lands for the Spaniards. It didn't matter that the society where these things came from was seen as barbaric due to human sacrifice and lack of clothing. They had things that weren't readily available to Europe.

Same goes for Corsairs, in my opinion. Despite the "primitive" nature of the makers of the items, it's indisputable that there would be all manner of things to be looted from an Imperium ship that you couldn't find anywhere in the Eldar "empire." The Imperium is XBOX HUGE. There's bound to be some neat stuff that only comes from a few Imperial worlds. I hear that Ratling foot hair makes fantastic extensions for the rare Eldar with slightly curly hair.

So moral of the story is, next time you eat a meal with canned corn and mashed potatoes, make sure you also tear out your buddy's heart to thank the sun god for these foods.

Got to be something they can use, rare ores, metals etc, the eldar no longer have a vast empire to feed there need for materials.

Not everything can be built of wraithbone.

you know I wonder if some eldar nobel of either variety puts out a request to captains when they crave something...

"You know what I could go for... twinkies. send word to a pirate captain to fetch me some." or something like that.

Looting is partly to gain the spoils for yourself - it's mainly to DENY the resources to your enemy.