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So I've been reading into the lore of the Eldar, and if I read their history correctly, their empire fell in the 30th millennium. Does this mean that in 2018, the Eldar are still running their galaxy spanning empire? Or have they gotten onto their craft world's by now?

 Jazzylee wrote:
So I've been reading into the lore of the Eldar, and if I read their history correctly, their empire fell in the 30th millennium. Does this mean that in 2018, the Eldar are still running their galaxy spanning empire? Or have they gotten onto their craft world's by now?

the craftworlds won't become a thing until M 40 or so. so... 28 thousand years away

They are still running an Empire, but their Empire has gotten backward and won't be posing a threat to anyone aside from themselves. Even the Dark Eldar back then mostly prey on other Eldar since there were still so many of them around.

bibotot wrote:
They are still running an Empire, but their Empire has gotten backward and won't be posing a threat to anyone aside from themselves. Even the Dark Eldar back then mostly prey on other Eldar since there were still so many of them around.

That is incorrect. The timelines in the Dark Eldar and Craftworld Eldar codices show that the decline into decadence did not start until M19 or so, and it took another 11,000 years before things got to the state of the Fall. We are in M2. So the Eldar empire is still at its peak of power in 2018 and will remain so for another 17,000 years.

There wasn't really "Dark Eldar" vs "Craftworld Eldar" until the Fall. There was the Eldar Empire.

Then, some Space Amish left the decadence and crazyness they saw, to settle on other worlds (Exodites).

Then, quite a long time later, some Space Puritans (future Craftworlders), decided they wanted none of the over-the-top hedonism of the Empire, and set off on their crafted world-ships. This was not a single exodus, but different Craftworlds left at different times.

In fact, Uthwe left so late, they were still in the Eye at the fall. It's why they're so much more preoccupied with Chaos than many of the other Craftworlds.

After the Fall, those Eldar who were in the Webway, or could escape into it, continued with their hedonism, but had to hide from Slanesh. They could not use the Warp without attracting her notice, so all their hardware - which they interacted with psychicly - was now worthless to them. They had to rebuild their tools and tech from new materials (Wraith-bone/steel/etc are psykic constructs), and with different engineering (needs a physical interface now!). These are now called the Dark Eldar.

Where the Empire ended and the Dark Eldar began could be debated (Immediately after the fall? After the retreat to the webway/discarding of psyker powers? Vect's realignment of society?), but placing it pre-fall seems inaccurate.

So, if some Eldar shows up and demands something, remember that they are still, currently, soverign over this galaxy. Be thankful that it isn't the Dark Eldar. But that doesn't mean they don't have the same desires.

Indeed the Aeldari Empire is currently at its peak.

FWIW, the Craftworlds were being built PRIOR to the fall in M30. They were specifically being build by those Aeldari that predicted the fall and were probably thought of as "chicken little doomsayers" that few other Aeldari believed.

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Nobody listens when you build an Ark.

You'd think if the Eldar were so powerful and whatnot, they'd have foreseen the rise of Humankindand "accidentally" farted on an asteroid to make it move to the left by 0.00000001% extra per century and have it "accidentally" hit some back-water planet.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You'd think if the Eldar were so powerful and whatnot, they'd have foreseen the rise of Humankindand "accidentally" farted on an asteroid to make it move to the left by 0.00000001% extra per century and have it "accidentally" hit some back-water planet.

Given what happened to their empire it's reasonable to assume the Elder weren't at the time as forethinking as they are now

 Galef wrote:
Indeed the Eldar Empire is currently at its peak.

FWIW, the Craftworlds were being built PRIOR to the fall in M30. They were specifically being build by those Aeldari that predicted the fall and were probably thought of as "chicken little doomsayers" that few other Aeldari believed.

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Craftworlds were made after the Exodites left right? Which is during the Fall but before Slaanesh fully came out.

The 4th (IIRC?) edition Necron codex implied that after the War in Heaven and before the Fall, the Eldar valued life for its own sake and deliberately chose not to interfere with the evolution of Earth.

That turned out well for them, didn't it?

pm713 wrote:

 Galef wrote:
Indeed the Eldar Empire is currently at its peak.

FWIW, the Craftworlds were being built PRIOR to the fall in M30. They were specifically being build by those Aeldari that predicted the fall and were probably thought of as "chicken little doomsayers" that few other Aeldari believed.

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Craftworlds were made after the Exodites left right? Which is during the Fall but before Slaanesh fully came out.

Yes and no, while the Exodites where the first to leave and settle in the Maiden worlds and the Craftworlds began to be repurpoused or built later (some of the Craftworlds are generational Trade ships that the Eldar used as a way to see how their society evolved between hundred years travels).

It's mostly a kind of choosing a way of life, Exodites choose to focus in hardwork and simple lifes (hence why people refer them as space Amish) while the Craftworlds attempt to retain all their might and glory from before the fall but apart from the depravation it befell their race. So there was a time when Eldar were leaving the empire and still choosing different ways of life.

Broadly speaking, Exodites were Luddite reactionaries, while Craftworlders were moralistic conservatives. The Exodites believed that a reliance on technology was leading their species into decadence. The Craftworlders believed that a loss of traditional moral values was leading their species into depravity.

 Duskweaver wrote:
Broadly speaking, Exodites were Luddite reactionaries, while Craftworlders were moralistic conservatives. The Exodites believed that a reliance on technology was leading their species into decadence. The Craftworlders believed that a loss of traditional moral values was leading their species into depravity.

I think the Exodites were more Space Amish than Space Luddites. They will use technology, just not become reliant on it. After all, they used the Webway to escape and protect maiden worlds.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 Duskweaver wrote:
Broadly speaking, Exodites were Luddite reactionaries, while Craftworlders were moralistic conservatives. The Exodites believed that a reliance on technology was leading their species into decadence. The Craftworlders believed that a loss of traditional moral values was leading their species into depravity.

I think the Exodites were more Space Amish than Space Luddites. They will use technology, just not become reliant on it. After all, they used the Webway to escape and protect maiden worlds.

No they didn't. They took starships to their planets, built their settlements out of the spaceships and use whatevers around for almost everything except weapons.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You'd think if the Eldar were so powerful and whatnot, they'd have foreseen the rise of Humankindand "accidentally" farted on an asteroid to make it move to the left by 0.00000001% extra per century and have it "accidentally" hit some back-water planet.

The foresight they make such heavy use of now is explicitly something they have mostly refined in the aftermath of the Fall. Prior to that, the ones with the knowledge of how to see into the future were the followers of Morai-Heg, and not only do we know that the Empire had mostly turned away from the gods, we also know that the priestesses of Morai-Heg were not as accurate as Farseers of the Craftworlds - it was actually Eldrad who was at least partially responsible for improving the mysticism and religious practices of the Priestesses into the system we all know and get relentlessly frustrated by.

 Robin5t wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You'd think if the Eldar were so powerful and whatnot, they'd have foreseen the rise of Humankindand "accidentally" farted on an asteroid to make it move to the left by 0.00000001% extra per century and have it "accidentally" hit some back-water planet.

The foresight they make such heavy use of now is explicitly something they have mostly refined in the aftermath of the Fall. Prior to that, the ones with the knowledge of how to see into the future were the followers of Morai-Heg, and not only do we know that the Empire had mostly turned away from the gods, we also know that the priestesses of Morai-Heg were not as accurate as Farseers of the Craftworlds - it was actually Eldrad who was at least partially responsible for improving the mysticism and religious practices of the Priestesses into the system we all know and get relentlessly frustrated by.

That makes sense really. You don't need to look into the future if you're sure you'll win no matter what.