Webway

Template:ElPort The Webway is a labyrinthine dimension utilized by the Eldar for faster-than-light travel. It exists between the material universe and the warp, part of both but not fully within either

Within the Webway are countless gates or portals leading to many areas across the galaxy. Each Eldar craftworld is connected through the Webway system. Reaching a certain destination through the Webway makes a guide or map necessary.

The Webway is a fairly safe method of travel compared to warp travel, as it doesn't involve traveling through the completely unpredictable and hostile warp dimension. There is still danger, however: the Webway consists of countless paths and tunnels in which it is profoundly easy to become lost in. Many portals of the Webway also lead to hostile areas of the galaxy, such as former Eldar worlds consumed by the Eye of Terror and turned into Daemon ruled Chaos worlds. Ignorantly entering a portal within the Webway could lead to certain and immediate death.

Much of the Webway was destroyed or found itself uncharted after the Fall of the Eldar and the associated loss of knowledge. As well, the technological knowledge used to build the Webway was lost during the Fall, and intact Webway gates are some of the Eldar's most treasured artifacts. The Webway's arterial passages are large enough for spacecraft, though most tunnels only allow Eldar strike forces on foot or small vehicles to pass. It is the Webway that allows Eldar to be highly mobile.

A map made many thousands of years ago is rumored to exist within the protection of the Black Library of Chaos. Although such a map could no longer be completely accurate, it shows many secret ways that have now been lost or forgotten. It is kept within the Black Library to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.

There are Webway gates on many Imperial worlds, hinting at the Eldar's former power and dominance of the galaxy. There is a gate on Terra, suggesting the Eldar visited the human homeworld sometime in the distant past.

The Dark Eldar city of Commorragh is located somewhere deep within the Webway. The Webway is exploited by the Dark Eldar to make the race incredibly mobile, allowing them to make devastating and unsuspecting slave-raids, before retreating before any significant defense can be brought to bear against them.

As well as Commorragh, the Black Library of Chaos is hidden and virtually inaccessible within the Webway.

The White Scars Space Marines Chapter believes that their Primarch, Jaghatai Khan, is lost somewhere in the Webway, forever cursing the Dark Eldar that lured him into it, although after 9,000 years of wandering, it seems unlikely.

Usage in Dawn of War

In the real-time strategy computer game Dawn of War by Relic/THQ games, one of the 9 playable races, the Eldar, make use of webway gates as constructible buildings. Their primary in-game ability is as a means of instant transportation. They can also allow the player to cloak other Eldar buildings in a set radius around them, an ability which is very effective for the Eldar given their preference for stealth and trickery, as well as very annoying for the attacking player. Additionally one well used tactic is to build up a substantial base at the start point on a battle map and also build a webway gate in a very secluded part of the map, away from enemy listening posts and commonly travelled paths. If the enemy manages to overrun your primary base, you can simply teleport all essential buildings to the distant webway gate and mount up a counter-attack to annihilate the enemy base from behind.

Sources

• Warhammer 40,000: Compendium
• Codex: Eldar (4th Edition)
• Inquisition War Trilogy (Novel Series)