Red moons waxed and waned above the heartlands of the Eldar; the sands of time fell.
The Harvester of Souls came to the place of his
death, once-fair Merichen, maggot-world, but his
people had been destroyed or scattered on the
tides of the warp.

His cry was felt in the dreams of all
---
The Harvester of Souls swore a dark and bloody vengeance; he was too late.

A great and desperate gamble had failed to bear
fruit, he told his acolytes, and we must pay the cost.

But blade-swift Saroniel had found the Way.
---
A Gatewraith, ancient and forgotten portal to the
Children of Asur; forgotten no more.
---
They arrived on the hex-world of Belial the
Crone as an avenging comet, into the black heart
of battle.

The evil ones ahead were without number.
---
The Maugetar spat death: it was an invisible
god wielding a scythe.

Alirienne sent blossoming clouds of fire into
red-hued flesh; Saroniel killed like quicksilver,
taking a life from one unworthy of such a gift
with each heartbeat.

The horde faltered and turned as one.

Excerpted from "The Pilgrimage", an Eldar mythic cycle

(From WD 284)

The Birth of the Reapers

When Asurmen, the first and oldest among the Phoenix Lords, taught his brethren the arts of war it was the Harvester of Souls that fell furthest from the fold. He recognised the fact that the Fall had decimated the Eldar race, and that their numbers could never reach the peaks that they had once scaled. Together with one of his brothers who is now lost to even the long memeory of the ELdar, he believed that no matter their skill, the Eldar could not match the teeming hordes of Ork and Human, man for man and blade for blade. With this in mind, he fashioned great baroque weapons from purest wraithbone, just as Asurmen had taught him. But these were not the swords or scimitars of his brothers. Each of the weapons Maugan Ra created were great cannons capable of spitting death into the ranks of the foe from leagues away. As his craft progress, Maugan Ra learnt that even a great cannon could be used as subtly as a scalpel, and strove for power twinned with precision. This led to the creation of the Maugetar, and later to the philosophy of the Dark Reaper Aspect [as] (sic) a whole.

The Maugetar

Maugan Ra carries an ancient weapon called the Maugetar. Loosely translated as the Harvester in the Eldar tongue, this powerful relic is so large only the strongest of the phoenix Lords can wield it. It consists of a shuriken cannon fashioned from darkest wraithbone, augmented with a deadly scythe-shaped power blade. THis blade, when combined with the supernatural might of the Harvester of Souls, can cut through the hull of a battle tank. Such is the Phoenix Lord's skill with this cannon that he can send a single shuriken ricocheting through a building into the throat of its target, or slice through hordes of enemies with a sweeping stream of bladed discs. The number of souls which have been reaped by this ancient weapon over the millennia are beyond counting.

Many of the features built into a Dark Reaper's armour enables him to mimic the father of their Aspect and the supernatural abilities that have made him a legend in Eldar society. It is said that Maugan Ra is so attuned to the ancient Maugetar he sues that he can feel and see as if he were the weapon itself. Similarly, the helmets of the Dark Reapers contain a receptor linked directly to their reaper launcher, allowing them to see exactly where their weapon is pointing. Maugan Ra is said to be able to become immovable at will, standing resolute even as a tide of enemies breaks around him. To this end, the heavy lower leg armour and boots of the Dark Reaper are fitted with sensitive stabilisers, as well as clamps which secure the Aspect Warrior to the ground. In this way they echo their forefather's implacable nature, lending their shot's pinpoint accuracy even in the confusion of battle.

...

The Defence of Iyanden

Perhaps the least known of the legends that surround Maugan Ra's millennia-long lifespan is the tale of his part in the defence of Iyanden against the all-consuming alien menace of the Tyranids. Shortly before first sightings of the countless bio-ships of Hive Fleet Kraken drifting toward Iyanden, Maugan Ra stepped through the webway portal at the rear of the craftworld with a massive bodyguard of Dark Reapers. He was present at the great conclave called to discuss Iyanden's course of action in the Place of Answering, but kept his own counsel, preferring to observe. His only contribution was a slow nod when the Eldar of Iyanden finally decided to fight rather than attempting to flee.

Days later, the first wave of Tyranids hit the stranded craftworld, and the war that began against the innumberable tide of alien monstrosities was desperate and intense. The Harvester of Souls and his hundred-strong bodyguard established a permiter around the greatest of the shrines of Iyanden, for if it were to fall, the spirit of the craftworld's defenders would be broken and they would be consumed. Every one of the reaper host knew they could not retreat, could not give an inch despite the horrific odds they faced.

The black tide of Tyranids that came pouring across the Fields of Sanctuary would have frozen those of lesser resolve, the noise of a hundred thousand chittering, screaming beasts blending together into a deafening roar. Maugan Ra uttered a single word into the minds of each of his disciples.

As one, the Dark Reapers opened fire, a bright fan of reaper missiles streaking across the acres of open ground into the Tyranid lines. Before the first salvo of missiles had struck home another was lossed, then another. A roiling inferno white fire erupted across the crest of the enemy advance, blasting clear great chunks from the Tyranid lines. With each detonation, a spray of chitin marked yet more deaths, but still they came. The wall of fire burst into life again, then again, each nearer than the last, for the aliens showed no sign of stopping . Each Exarch, armed with long-barrelled missile launchers of ancient design, sent precise strikes into the monstrous, armoured craniums of the larger creatures with inhuman speed, reloading and picking new targets with the ease another might draw breath. Maugan Ra himself stood at the foremost point of the line, the Maugetar's low wail cutting through the din of the screaming aliens as he mowed down brood upon brood of hissing Genestealers and slithering Raveners. And on they came.

As the aliens drew closer, their numbers barely thinned, Maugan Ra sent a pulse-thought to his warriors. Another devastating salvo was launched, the missiles arcing gracefully across the ever-shortening gap between the Eldar and the foe. But the resultant line of explosions did not take a single alien life. Instead, the detonations sent up great clouds of earth as they opened a gaping trench across the battleground. The smaller Tyranid organisms crossed effortlessly, some flying, some leaping, but the behemoths lumbering amongst them were slowed, easy pickings for the krak missiles of the Exarchs. The Dark Reapers shifted their fire back to the swarm, for Maugan Ra knew that without the proximity of the larger organisms the smaller Tyranids would falter and retreat. But they did not pause, not even for a second.

A shortening gap of barely a hundred metres lay between the battlelines. In desperation, Maugan Ra became a blur, each shuriken spat from the mighty cannon in his hands accounting for a Tyranid life. Under the sussuration of the swarm, Maugan Ra could hear a low rumbling. WIthout warning, the ground in front of the Reapers burst open in a shower of verdant earth. A serpentine beast so vast it blotted out the sky reared over the Eldar line, curling back down to spit twin streams of pus-coloured bile into the ranks of the Reapers. Maugan Ra felt the agonising deaths of his charges as they spasmed and boiled, the alien ichor reducing them to skeletons in seconds. Maugan Ra put a pair of shuriken into each of its six segmented eyes, and began to run.

In the space of a few heartbeats, Maugan Ra had sprinted around the massive trunk of the alien behemoth and , slinging the Maugetar over his back, began to climb the chitinous plates ridging its back. Below, the alien horde crashed into the Eldar lines, and desperate hand-to-hand fighting ensued as the Reapers desperately tried to fend off the wave of Gaunts that had reached them. The snake-beast reared up once more, twisting and shuddering, scrabbling claws trying to dislodge the Phoenix Lord as he climbed laboriously up to its back. Maugan Ra swung with one hand, desperately trying to bring the blade of the Maugetar to bear. Suddenly, a taloned claw whipped across from the monster's midsection and speared Maugan Ra through the chest. He lost his grip as the serrated claw ripped free, and fell into the sea of aliens belwo.

The alien beast reared up once more, filling Maugan Ra's vision as its fang-ringed maw plunged toward him. Faster than thought, the Phoenix Lord rolled aside, stood and swung the Maugetar so its blade faced upward, directly in the path of the beast. Uttering a single syllable, the Harvester of Souls became as immovable as rock. Down the monstrosity plunged, straight into the blade of the Maugetar and burrowing into the ground beyond, its momentum and colossal weight carrying it down under the earth once more. Maugan Ra remained immovable, and the beast ripped itself open on the ancient, powered blade of the Maugetar. It shuddered, screamed, and died.

All around th Phoenix Lord, the small knot of surviving Dark Reapers gave a great shout, for the smaller aliens were fleeing in panic at the psychic shockwave caused by the death of the great beast. Once more, they took up their reaper launchers, and began to drive off the remainder of the swarm with methodical, disciplined volleys.

Hours later, when reinforcements were able to arrive from the main battlefront, the once-verdant Fields of Sanctuary were covered by a sea of alien bodies that stretched almost to the horizon. Ultimately, Iyanden was saved, although the cost in Eldar lives was great indeed. The craftworld has never recovered, and despite the valour of its inhabitants, still heads towards a slow, painful extinction.

The reason this lesson is little known is simple, for it raises more questions than it answers, and none wish to blaspheme against the Phoenix Lords. Nevertheless, it is thought by many Eldar seers that the presence of the Harvester of Souls precedes a great disaster. Many of the greatest laments in Eldar history have a mention of Maugan Ra arriving with a bodyguard of chosen Dark Reapers, and some have hinted that his connection with death is closer than the Eldar race imagines. In the long hours of the night, some of the oldest Eldar have asked themselves whether it is only the souls of the enemy that the dark Phoenix Lord reaps.

WD 284