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So, for whatever reason, be it Tau, Tyranids, or the imperium, all the eldar go extinct, even the dark eldar. What happens then? Do the imperium sieze the webway? Do the Eldar gods die?

Well the Eldar Gods bar Cegorach and Khaine (and I believe Isha) were already consumed by Slaanesh at his/her birth so they're already largely gone.

The webway would still largely be inaccessible, at least for the Imperium given that they have no real interest or understanding of it after the Emperor's project to make a man-made version failed. The disappearance of the Harlequins would, however, allow Ahriman and other knowledge seekers into the Black Library, assuming it remained intact.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean much. Technically one less thorn in the Imperium's side but they were a dying race already so it wouldn't radically alter the status quo.

The removal of tyranids or orks would make a much greater impact on the affairs of the galaxy.

With the Eldar dead, the Necrons modify their stern faces into smiles. The universe continues as normal.

Well the Eldar already one foot in the grave, so there wouldn't be a huge difference. Especially since its both eldar and dark eldar. It's like losing one bad guy and one kinda good guy. Now if say, the orks got wiped out. The orks are a huge race, that would be a severe change to the galaxy.

The extinction of the Eldar would change more in game then in fluff i think

I don't know, I think we're underestimating the role the Eldar still play.

Ulthwé plays a key role in fighting Chaos and Iyanden was important in stopping Hive Fleet Kraken. The Eldar also actively try to prevent Tomb Worlds from waking up.

The Eldar still retain significant power, as seen during The Great Exodus, when six Craftworlds unite and extinguish all prime suns within sixty light years (imagine if this happened near Terra!). It's in the codex timeline but I've just copied this from the wiki:


Then there's also the Battle of the Blood Nebula, where the Imperium loses an entire Battle Fleet attacking one Craftworld (course there's also cases of other Craftworlds being destroyed much more easily). http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Battle_of_the_Blood_Nebula

They also orchestrated the rise of Ghazghkull to prevent losing 10,000 eldar lives.

Anyway, the point is the Eldar are still a force to be reckoned with, with a much longer reach than the fledgeling Tau Empire, and still have the power to influence events on a galactic scale.

And there's the Dark Eldar with their galaxy-spanning raids. These aren't exactly the average "kidnap a village" raids. These guys kidnap entirely planetary systems at times and can capture suns, so if they wanted to, they could be even more devastating.

Oh and the Harlequins too, of course. Imagine if Ahriman had access to all knowledge of Chaos ever collected. You don't think he'd be able to do some damage with that? He's spent the most part of 10,000 years trying to get in after all. And the Harlquins also guard the Webway. Without the Eldar using and maintaining it, it'd probably become entirely daemon infested.

We're not saying they're not a potent force. It's just that in comparison to the threat of Chaos and the damage dealt by other factions they seem to be largely are on par or less damaging, therefore their extinction wouldn't shake things up enough for the Imperials to recover nor significantly alter the standings of the other factions. The Necrons are still divided even without Eldar intervention (though it might mean they might link up to together a midge faster), Ork WAAAGH!'s will continue to occur (and from what I know the Beast was the greatest Ork threat short of the wars against the Orks at Ullanor during the Great Crusade and the Eldar had nothing to do with it as far as we know), Eldar/Imperial alliances against Chaos don't happen enough on a common and united basis for their extinction to be considered the loss of a major ally (especially since Eldar seem to like backstabbing after saving Imperials), and the Tau are almost entirely unaffected.

Dark Eldar do damage with their raids but again theirs is but another cut on the thousands still being etched by other factions onto the Imperium.

Their loss would tip the balance in the Necrons' and Chaos's favour. Craftworlds like Ulthwé, Iybraesil, and Il-Kaithe are constantly fighting Chaos. It's not like they stop what they're doing and only fight Chaos when they ally with the Imperium. Ahriman would gain access to the Black Library (unless it disappeared with the Eldar).

And yes, ultimately life would go on in 40k universe. You could say the same thing about the disappearance of the Necrons, Tau, and Tyranids. What really changes if they're gone? The Necrons and Tyranids are significant threats but if they're gone... then they're not.

 EngulfedObject wrote:
Their loss would tip the balance in the Necrons' and Chaos's favour. Craftworlds like Ulthwé, Iybraesil, and Il-Kaithe are constantly fighting Chaos. It's not like they stop what they're doing and only fight Chaos when they ally with the Imperium. Ahriman would gain access to the Black Library (unless it disappeared with the Eldar).

Even with the Eldar dead, the Black Library has its defenses

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Even with the Eldar dead, the Black Library has its defenses

The Black Library is a Craftworld. What's an empty Craftworld going to do to stop Ahriman?

 EngulfedObject wrote:

 Squidmanlolz wrote:
Even with the Eldar dead, the Black Library has its defenses

The Black Library is a Craftworld. What's an empty Craftworld going to do to stop Ahriman?

The library defends itself against the weak and those who would misuse its knowledge by refusing entry to all except those who have acknowledged and tempered the Chaos within themselves. The immature, who are still vulnerable to the promises and seductions of Chaos, find that they are unable to pass through its gateway. As a result, only the Solitaires of the Eldar Harlequin troupes are allowed to come and go freely. The Craftworld itself is sentient and psychoactive, full of ever-shifting labyrinths

Wait until he's on board, and then self destruct?

Craftworlds are semi-sentient after all...

Black Library would have to change their name

Would probably do more good for the imperium than harm. Though they do fight chaos, often times its largely at the expense of everyone but the Eldar themselves.

 Jollydevil wrote:
Would probably do more good for the imperium than harm. Though they do fight chaos, often times its largely at the expense of everyone but the Eldar themselves.

It's a bit more complex than that. The Eldar don't care if they hurt humanity, but they're also much wiser to the threats of the universe as a whole. Servants of Imperium wakes up tomb worlds. The Eldar work to keep them asleep. Citizens of the Imperium dig up daemonic artifacts and unleash untold horrors. The Eldar kill everyone near the artifact and seal it up where it can't do harm. Eldar can see the future and take action against threats before they even happen, making them effective far beyond their numbers. They can be in the right place at the right time, (almost) every time. They know what the enemy's evil master plan is, and what steps need to be taken to thwart it. The Imperium can't even come close to that.

So while the Eldar dying off may be a short term win for the Imperium, the long term effect is a big win for the Necrons and the forces of Chaos, as they no longer have to deal with their most knowledgeable foe. And a big win for Necrons and Chaos is a big lose for humanity. Heck, even the Tyranids will greatly benefit, without Farseers foreseeing where they'll enter the galaxy and manipulating things so there's some force there to counter them. Not good. Not good at all. Also, Ahriman getting into the Black Library could be a game changer.

 The Internet is for Khorn wrote:
So, for whatever reason, be it Tau, Tyranids, or the imperium, all the eldar go extinct, even the dark eldar. What happens then? Do the imperium sieze the webway? Do the Eldar gods die?

Players stop worrying about Serpent spam.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 EngulfedObject wrote:


Oh and the Harlequins too, of course. Imagine if Ahriman had access to all knowledge of Chaos ever collected. You don't think he'd be able to do some damage with that? He's spent the most part of 10,000 years trying to get in after all. And the Harlquins also guard the Webway. Without the Eldar using and maintaining it, it'd probably become entirely daemon infested.

Well... the rest of the galaxy would get time to regroup as Ahriman bent Tzeentch over the Eye of Terror and went all Deliverance on him/her/it.

 fallinq wrote:
It's a bit more complex than that. The Eldar don't care if they hurt humanity, but they're also much wiser to the threats of the universe as a whole. Servants of Imperium wakes up tomb worlds. The Eldar work to keep them asleep. Citizens of the Imperium dig up daemonic artifacts and unleash untold horrors. The Eldar kill everyone near the artifact and seal it up where it can't do harm. Eldar can see the future and take action against threats before they even happen, making them effective far beyond their numbers. They can be in the right place at the right time, (almost) every time. They know what the enemy's evil master plan is, and what steps need to be taken to thwart it. The Imperium can't even come close to that.

So while the Eldar dying off may be a short term win for the Imperium, the long term effect is a big win for the Necrons and the forces of Chaos, as they no longer have to deal with their most knowledgeable foe. And a big win for Necrons and Chaos is a big lose for humanity. Heck, even the Tyranids will greatly benefit, without Farseers foreseeing where they'll enter the galaxy and manipulating things so there's some force there to counter them. Not good. Not good at all. Also, Ahriman getting into the Black Library could be a game changer.

Thanks, this is actually what I was trying to get at but I couldn't quite put it in words as well!

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Well... the rest of the galaxy would get time to regroup as Ahriman bent Tzeentch over the Eye of Terror and went all Deliverance on him/her/it.

It might just end up benefiting Tzeentch as his quest is repeatedly described as a vain one. Maybe he just overtakes Magnus as Tzeentch's favored servant and unleashes pain on everyone else.

The world would be a better place.. and not the grimdark one, this one!

There would be no one to clean up Imperium's mistakes anymore.

The IoM is largely a reactive entity. The massive bureaucracy is not particularly flexible. Sure, they have massive forces, but they just kinda bumble along blindly through the universe. If there is a problem, eventually they will get the forces over there to crush it.

The Eldar are proactive. They scry the future and take plans to make sure it works out in their favor. "A stitch in time saves nine” is their strategy; nip things in the bud when they are just small problems. The Eldar do a little preventative mending, while the IoM will just set up sweatshop fabric shops.

Working together they are actually more then the sum of their parts, fighting against the evils of the universe. The master manipulating Eldar have a very nice blunt instrument in the form of the Imperium. They don’t have the man power to do everything they need to, but humans are easily pointed in the right direction (even if their bumbling also causes problems). Humanity is too sluggish and short sighted to figure out where to apply their massive military might. “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” might be a nice philosophy, but sometimes a scalpel is nice.

If all the Eldar die?

Another eye of Terror forms, this time in the average location of all the Craftworlds (so probably somewhere near the galactic core) as Yneath is born. Yneath (or however the God of Dead Eldar is called) then kills and absorbs Slaanesh, as prophesied, and creates a stalemate battle between the remaining three Chaos Gods that leaves their mortal followers unsupported...

The Eldar have weaponry that they regard as unforgivable to use, some of it hidden in the webway or tech they don't build.

The Wrathfighter is such a thing, but they have worse stuff available.

The Eldar would become more and more dangerous taking more and more of a toll on the galaxy as they died.

Furyou Miko is right, though I had the spelling down as Ynnead, the Eldar are building their god of the dead in their infinity circuits and once the amount of souls reach critical mass he will be born into the warp.

Oh right, the whole Ynnead thing. I got so caught up in the discussion of the Eldar being irrelevant that I forgot one of the most compelling aspects of their fluff - that they have the potential to be reborn and challenge the dominance of the Chaos gods in the Warp.

Now if Ynnead teamed up with the Star Child... okay that would be taking it a bit too far I guess

One thing I don't understand is how Ynnead could defy all of the other chaos gods without getting owned in something like 5 seconds. The only one he can absorb is Slaanesh right? And surely the one thing the others can agree on is probably "let's not let a new entity who wants to kill us all, win".
Anyway, wouldn't Nurgle immediately fight it to stop it freeing Isha? And Khorne would probably try to kill it because, you know, RAGE

If he can absorb Slaanesh, why not the others? They're all just sapient warp storms when you really get down to it.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
If he can absorb Slaanesh, why not the others? They're all just sapient warp storms when you really get down to it.

Well, we also have no evidence to even suggest that the Ynnead will succeed, not to mention Slaanesh violates causality on many, many levels.

Plus on a shear scale size, Ynnead would be much weaker then Slaanesh. Slaanesh is formed from trillions upon trillions of Eldar, whereas Ynnead is formed only from billions. He's exponentially smaller in scope.

 The Internet is for Khorn wrote:
So, for whatever reason, be it Tau, Tyranids, or the imperium, all the eldar go extinct, even the dark eldar. What happens then? Do the imperium sieze the webway? Do the Eldar gods die?

No one notices, and Eldar gods cease to exist. Probs about it.