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Hi guys I wanted to get your opinions on something I had in mind for the lore on my personal Kabal. Since I couldn't find the answer elsewhere I figured I'd post it here and see the responses.

First question/explanation: I understand that there are rare cases of Dark Eldar being exiled from Commoragh and forming exiled communities in realspace. I wanted to make my Kabal the remnants of a Noble House which fled Commoragh when they realized they were going to lose to Vect. I wanted them to form a colony or city in an asteroid belt in an unknown region of realspace. How plausible is this? Is it a good idea or are there serious contradictions with existing fluff I haven't found?

Second question/explanation: I understand that in Commoragh Psykers are the equivalent of Heretics in the Imperium. With good reason, from what I've read since the webway is in between realspace and the warp, its sort of like inviting Slannesh to your backyard for a rib cookoff.
However, what would the effects be if the Kabal was permanently exiled to realspace, would the risks be the equivalent to a regular eldar, or more severe since they don't have spirit stones?

Obviously since the Kabal went into exile prior to Vect's rule, and fought against him to retain their aristocratic society, I intended to make some changes to the social structure in my lore, because of these changes I wanted to figure out whether having Psykers among their ranks would be plausible or not?

Of course I have no intentions of adding Psykers to tabletop, I just wanted to know fluff wise if any of this is feasible?

Sounds plausible, and somewhat similar to how Eldar Corsairs operate, hiding somewhere hard to locate with access to either the webway or warp capable ships, obviously the webway is the safer option for any Eldar

The psyker idea also seems fine, but much like the Corsairs psykers without access to Craftworld training and equipment (Runes, Ghost Helms etc) the risk of drawing unwanted attention from She Who Thirsts and other warp nastys is much higher and can have far more dangerous outcomes

As above. What you are describing is basically one variant of the forgeworld eldar corsair list. Hierarchies of commander, optional psykers even amongst the nobility and exisisting more in real space than web space. Fluff wise it fits nicely as lots of noble households did go into exile during Vect's ascension. The corsair list would be a nice list to use for you if you get the opportunity.

The codex actually mentions several Kabals that exist outside of Commoragh so it's a very plausible idea.

As for Psykers, there seems to be actually a greater danger of attracting the attention of Slaanesh in realspace than there is in the Webway, though the consequences could be worse in Commoragh given that it's built in the Webway. I think the Doom of Mymeara Corsair list does a really good job of showing the perils that Eldar Psykers that lack the defenses and training of Farseers face. At it's worst they can turn into a Demon of Slaanesh and at it's best they get away unhurt but are now under close scrutiny from Demons and are at a much greater risk of being turned into a Demon from there on.

Hey thanks for the replies, it's been really helpful! I think I've got an idea of how to make this work, thanks again!

zentmeister wrote:
Hey thanks for the replies, it's been really helpful! I think I've got an idea of how to make this work, thanks again!

Just be careful around the psychic dark eldar issue.

DE outside the webway, yes
DE with psychic powers, no

unless you are thinking to move well beyond the idea of them still being DE

Yes, there are several exiled Kabals outside of Commorragh named in the Dark Eldar fluff, and an exiled Kabal would pretty much be the same thing as a group of Eldar Corsairs, so I would read up on their fluff too to see how non-Craftworld Eldar in realspace operate.
The DE could definitely use their psychic powers outside of the Webway, but this would still be dangerous due to lack of protective equipment and measures. As DE, they will also be totally untrained in their powers, so that would make it even more dangerous for them.

Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

pm713 wrote:
Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

No, they are still Eldar. All Eldar have innate psychic ability. But due to lack of training and use, the powers in a Dark Eldar are virtually absent. The potential is still there though.
Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

No, they are still Eldar. All Eldar have innate psychic ability. But due to lack of training and use, the powers in a Dark Eldar are virtually absent. The potential is still there though.
Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

So basically they CAN use psychic powers but due to their environment they choose not to?

pm713 wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

No, they are still Eldar. All Eldar have innate psychic ability. But due to lack of training and use, the powers in a Dark Eldar are virtually absent. The potential is still there though.
Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

So basically they CAN use psychic powers but due to their environment they choose not to?

No, they can't use psychic powers because they chose to never learn to use those abilities. Once outside of Commorragh however they may be able to learn how to use those abilities and then they would be able to use psychic powers.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

No, they are still Eldar. All Eldar have innate psychic ability. But due to lack of training and use, the powers in a Dark Eldar are virtually absent. The potential is still there though.
Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

So basically they CAN use psychic powers but due to their environment they choose not to?

No, they can't use psychic powers because they chose to never learn to use those abilities. Once outside of Commorragh however they may be able to learn how to use those abilities and then they would be able to use psychic powers.

Actually, the language analogy is really apt, because past a certain age, feral children who never learned a language never do. I think it's 21 or 25, but maybe it's younger. Obviously these cases are rare, so there's not a lot of data to study, but there it is. I imagine Eldar would be the same. Too long letting your psychic powers atrophy and that part of you just doesn't work anymore. Of course, if the younger Dark Eldar could still learn...

 fallinq wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Haven't DE lost their psychic powers due to complete lack of use?

No, they are still Eldar. All Eldar have innate psychic ability. But due to lack of training and use, the powers in a Dark Eldar are virtually absent. The potential is still there though.
Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

So basically they CAN use psychic powers but due to their environment they choose not to?

No, they can't use psychic powers because they chose to never learn to use those abilities. Once outside of Commorragh however they may be able to learn how to use those abilities and then they would be able to use psychic powers.

Actually, the language analogy is really apt, because past a certain age, feral children who never learned a language never do. I think it's 21 or 25, but maybe it's younger. Obviously these cases are rare, so there's not a lot of data to study, but there it is. I imagine Eldar would be the same. Too long letting your psychic powers atrophy and that part of you just doesn't work anymore. Of course, if the younger Dark Eldar could still learn...

My understanding is that they can still learn a little but they do have a very basic grasp and revert to whatever communication they used before sometimes for example if they get stressed.

I'd guess whatever psychic power the Dark Eldar have is mostly used to boost their awareness and reactions so they don't get killed by their own. Not conscious use like their Eldar cousins, just basic (and according to CW Eldar crude) techniques that don't require drawing on the Warp for power.

someone wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 fallinq wrote:

Compare it with the Human ability of language for example. Learning any language is an innate ability of every Human, but it does require practice in order to make use of it. If a Human child would be unable to practice this ability due to lack of contact with other Humans (this happens with feral children for example), he would also not be able to speak a language. The potential for learning a language however would still be there.

Actually, the language analogy is really apt, because past a certain age, feral children who never learned a language never do. I think it's 21 or 25, but maybe it's younger. Obviously these cases are rare, so there's not a lot of data to study, but there it is. I imagine Eldar would be the same. Too long letting your psychic powers atrophy and that part of you just doesn't work anymore. Of course, if the younger Dark Eldar could still learn...

My understanding is that they can still learn a little but they do have a very basic grasp and revert to whatever communication they used before sometimes for example if they get stressed.

The studies are mostly inconclusive. Genie, the arch study, learned words eventually but was incapable of comprehending grammar. However, due to the nature of her confinement, it was impossible to tell whether the inability to learn grammar was due to her isolation or due to brain damage.

No other 'feral child' type stories have been conclusively proven. Most of them have actually been proven to be fake.

Returning to the original question, there are two other issues:

1) Dark Eldar psykers wouldn't have access to the training that Craftworld Eldar psykers do. I guess maybe they could have some kind of written records, but actual teachers are out.

2) Dark Eldar don't have the kind of discipline that Craftworld Eldar do, quite the opposite in fact. This would make their psykers much more unstable and dangerous.

They'd basically be Corsair psykers wouldn't they? In terms of safety at least.