curran12 wrote:
While they are not psychic, they are still Eldar, and thus experience everything at a vastly higher level than a human ever could. I think you're pretty close in that proximity to extreme emotion, such as what you get in torture and terrified slaughter, re-energizes them. It's like a drug, all Dark Eldar need their fix, but it never lasts.

 curran12 wrote:
I think it comes back to the nature of Eldar.

I'm sure at some point, you've experienced or witnessed something that left you emotionally charged. Whether it be positive or negative doesn't matter. The thing with Eldar is that they experience many, many, many times more intensity than you could possibly feel, which in turn would mean that emotional charge would be just as highly amplified. I think it isn't a far leap that a charge that big, and since it is Dark Eldar here it needs to be huge, could re-energize them. You need to remember that an Eldar soul is strong and cognizant enough to still be aware of itself and conscious after death, which makes those charges to the spirit far more intense and gives them much stronger effects.

Couple that with living in the Webway, where things are already a bit screwy on the whole time and space department and there you have it.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
They are all really Slaaneshi Worshippers in disguise.

Dean_G117 wrote:

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
They are all really Slaaneshi Worshippers in disguise.

Are you saying that the dark eldar are more like noise marines, in that its there own extreme emotion they get from being around pain that feeds them rather then it being them somehow leeching that pain directly of others?

Yes. They are just super sadistic and being super sadistic keeps them alive because they get off on people suffering.

Dean_G117 wrote:

Yes. They are just super sadistic and being super sadistic keeps them alive because they get off on people suffering.

This does seem to contradict some lore, such as the spirit probe on the cronos:

"A spirit probe is a conductor for agony; a device that ensures no scrap of pain or misery escapes the Cronos’ contra-empathic net. Running hot on tides of excruciation, it boosts the resilience of nearby Dark Eldar, allowing them to stride laughing amid volleys of fire and rains of blows that would otherwise tear them apart. "

and the power from pain rule:
"As Dark Eldar feed on the souls of their foes, they become imbued with supernatural might, eventually turning into killing machines. "

seems to imply that they do directly feed on the pain essence of other people somehow

 GKTiberius wrote:
They don't use intentional or overt psychic powers, but they are still inherently psychic beings with psychic abilities, both conscious and unconscious. I think the emotional vampirism would most likely be a passive and involuntary psychic trait the race has. The craftworld eldar are also probably capable of it.

Dean_G117 wrote:

 GKTiberius wrote:
They don't use intentional or overt psychic powers, but they are still inherently psychic beings with psychic abilities, both conscious and unconscious. I think the emotional vampirism would most likely be a passive and involuntary psychic trait the race has. The craftworld eldar are also probably capable of it.

I see, so you argue that it is an emphatic trait the Eldar race have. Could very well be, havent seen anything stating Eldar emphatic ability's though.

 GKTiberius wrote:

Dean_G117 wrote:

 GKTiberius wrote:
They don't use intentional or overt psychic powers, but they are still inherently psychic beings with psychic abilities, both conscious and unconscious. I think the emotional vampirism would most likely be a passive and involuntary psychic trait the race has. The craftworld eldar are also probably capable of it.

I see, so you argue that it is an emphatic trait the Eldar race have. Could very well be, havent seen anything stating Eldar emphatic ability's though.

The word you are looking for is empathic, and I think by being a psychic being that experiences emotion at a higher degree than humans do, would mean that Eldar, of the both vanilla and dark varieties would be very, very empathic. In fact the reason the craftworld Eldar limit themselves to their "paths" is because the emotional empathy is so strong that it can force them to become obsessed and over indulge in the weird psychic-emotion things and cults that caused the original fall of the Eldar and gave birth to Slaneesh.

Galef wrote:I think it is a trait that DE gained by the atrophy of their psychic powers combined with the slow leeching of their own energy by Slaanesh.

As mentioned, all Eldar are psychic to some degree. DE just choose not to use psychic powers because it would invite the attention of "She who Thirsts". CWE protect themselves with spirit stones, but DE prefer to live in the Webway and "refill their soul cup" with the pain and suffering of others.

DE are far from Slaanesh worshipers, but they are inevitably tied to Slaanesh. If anything, since Eldar "created" Slaanesh. the Eldar race is the god that Slaanesh should worship