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Made in us
Dakka Veteran






Backwoods bunker USA

Just wondering, why do the Biel Tan have Vine designs on their units?

Does it symbolize something in particular?
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




"Biel-tan" means "Rebirth of Ancient Days" (i.e. restoring the Eldar to their former glory). Perhaps the vines symbolize fertility, and thus rebirth?

Or perhaps they really like wine...
   
Made in us
Hoary Long Fang with Lascannon





Kalamazoo

The vines are thorns. The Biel Tan are the rose, bringing the beauty of the eldar empire back, but they do so via violence and war, the thorns. The thorn motif is a symbol of that aggression.

It also doubles as a kill marker, each thorn equalling the death of a hated enemy. According to the warhammer40k wikia.
   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

On a real-world note, the original Craftworld names were based on Celtic festivals. One of the Irish traditions of Beltaine (summer festival) was to decorate a thorn bush with flowers and trinkets.


 
   
Made in us
Screaming Shining Spear





Northern California

This. The Eldar have a heavy Celtic influence in them. Many Eldar names are taken from Celtic, but with letters altered.

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Made in us
Fixture of Dakka



Chicago, Illinois

Huh did not know the Celtic influence for the Eldar.

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Made in us
Mysterious Techpriest







Oh man. The Eldar are Celtic as heck. I know Saim-Hann comes from the festival of Samhain and Lugganath from Lughnasadh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year

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Made in us
Dakka Veteran






Backwoods bunker USA

I wonder if it would be weird to paint small yellow flowers on my Biel Tan then.

Thanks for the info all, btw.
   
Made in us
Lesser Daemon of Chaos





Huh, never knew they had so much Celtic influnce outside of more obvious Saim-Hann, which I only really knew about because of Danzig... don't judge, it was a darker time...
   
Made in nl
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






IA XI has a short bit about the vine pattern.
It says that the pattern was once probably in wider use (beyond the Biel-Tan Craftworld) and likely represents "the twisting path of fate, including attributes such as destiny, fecundity and the journey of the immortal spirit through life and death".

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Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

Durandal wrote:
It also doubles as a kill marker, each thorn equalling the death of a hated enemy. According to the warhammer40k wikia.
Does that wikia provide a source for that?

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Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




The latest Eldar Codex says the following about the vines:


An apt symbol, the tangled vines evoke new life, though with the potential to wound any who would threaten it. To the people of Biel-Tan, the regrowth of the Eldar empire will be nurtured only by the spilled blood of their enemies.

p.65, 7th ed. Eldar Codex
   
 
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