Altansar

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Eldar.png
 Eldar Portal
Craftworld Altansar
Rune-Altansar.jpg
The Broken Chain, the rune symbol of Altansar[2a]
Meaning: The Broken Chain[2a]
Current Location: Segmentum Obscurus
Main Colours:

Deep red with black details[1b]
Favoured Unit: Dark Reapers[5]
Speciality: Fighting Daemons[5]
Reputation: Shadowy, under suspicion
Main Enemy: Chaos
Altansar Guardian.jpg
a Guardian in the colors of Altansar


Altansar,[2a] or Altanzar[8], is an Eldar Craftworld that was caught in the Eye of Terror, until it was saved after the great odyssey of the Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra[6], thought for many years to be the Craftworld's only survivor.[2a]

Overview

Aeldari of Craftworld Altansar[6]

The Eldar of Altnassar are paler, quieter, and appear almost deathly to their Asuryani brethren, who regard them with distrust and spread rumours of their ordeal in the Eye of Terror: that they were tainted irrevocably by the Eye itself or perhaps by a dread pact with Ynnead[6], for how could any Eldar remain untouched by the predations of Chaos for so many millennia?[2a] The truth of their time imperilled is known only to Maugan Ra and the Eldar of the doomed craftworld themselves.[6]

Altansar is a highly militarised craftworld, with almost all roles seen as secondary to those related to war, relying heavily on infantry as many of its vehicles have been destroyed over the millennia in the Eye of Terror where it was difficult to replace them. Due to their diminished population, the Altansari are also heavily reliant on Wraith Constructs and have lost the revulsion to using them, mostly resigned to the reality that their death will offer no rest. A significant population of its warriors are Dark Reapers, in honour of Maugan Ra, and many others are Swooping Hawks to honour Baharroth, who is himself close in bond to Maugan Ra's.[5]

History

The Fall of Altansar

Altansar was one of the many Craftworlds that survived the Fall of the Eldar race.[5] The Craftworld was shortly involved with the early Imperium of Man, entrusting the site of the Etiamnun Reclusiam and its hidden Webway Gate to human protectors.[8] Altanasar joined Ulthwé in patrol of the Eye of Terror, hoping to guard the galaxy against whatever horrors might emerge from it.[10]

A half-millenia after the Fall of the Eldar,[10] Altansar was caught in the gravity well of the Eye of Terror[5] as it suddenly expanded.[10] Although the Eldar of Altansar struggled valiantly against the encroachment of Chaos by erecting increasingly twisted runes to seal their Webway portals from Daemons,[5] their doom was inevitable. Within five hundred years of the Fall, their Craftworld was swallowed into the Warp. Daemonic outbreaks immediately erupted as the runes collapsed, and it fell to the famed Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra and his Dark Reapers to lead the defence against them. But not even raising the dead of the Craftworld into Wraith Constructs or awakening an Avatar of Khaine could hold back the endless Daemonic tides. The struggle took the form of decades of near-constant Daemonic invasions from Altansar's Webway Portals, grinding down the Craftworld's numbers and seeing the dead outnumber the living.[5]

As the years passed, the time between Daemonic incursions got shorter and shorter and Eldar casualties mounted as the Craftworld was turned into a grim warzone. With the Eldar slowly ceding more and more ground, it had become clear to Maugan Ra that Altansar was doomed. The Phoenix Lord proposed splitting the link between the Craftworld's Webway gates and the Warp, and the desperate ploy was approved by the Craftworld's Seer Council. Maugan Ra took a mixed force of Aspect Warriors to the Webway Gates, battling Daemons and taking grueling losses. They eventually reached the gates, and Maugan Ra had Fire Dragons plant fusion charges on the structures. When the charges detonated, the Daemonic invaders were cut off from their Warp source and quickly dissipated. However, the Craftworld was now cut off from the rest of the Eldar race, potentially for millennia.[5]

Maugan Ra and a handful of other survivors were welcomed back as heroes as the Daemonic armies remaining within the Craftworld were slowly ground down to nothing. However Maugan Ra would not be there to see the final victory, as Altansar's Seer Council had constructed a Wraithbone vessel for the Phoenix Lord to escape the Eye of Terror. The leaders of the Craftworld knew they could not allow a disciple of Asurmen himself to be lost with them. Though the Phoenix Lord protested, the Autarch and former Dark Reaper Elithinel Ullathani persuaded him by stating he could one day return to rescue them. After five-hundred years since its first Daemonic outbreak, Maugan Ra left Altansar and escaped the Eye of Terror.[5]

The Craftworld, crippled beyond repair, settled into orbit around the Crone World of Merichen, where it launched a desperate offensive against the Daemons of the world to recover the dormant arsenal of the once-powerful Crone World. In time the Craftworld became trapped, unable to escape the orbit of the world below.[9] It is unclear how the Altansari survived this ordeal,[9] although its traces fled off the planet through a Gatewraith to the Crone World of Belial[10] but it is believed by many Farseers that it may have been through entering a terrible pact.[9]

Rediscovery

Nearly ten thousand years passed. Maugan Ra could not discover the location of Altansar despite searching over many millennia. That all changed during the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler. As the Chaos armies spilled from the Eye of Terra, an area near the Eye where realspace and the Warp quickly formed. The Phoenix Lord led an expedition into this zone to discover the fate of Altansar as Chaos and Imperial armies waged their war around him. Maugan Ra was the only survivor of the subsequent search, which encountered many foul threats within the Eye. However, at long last, the Phoenix Lord discovered the remains of Altansar.[5]

To Maugan Ra's surprise, the Craftworld endured, its people navigating the Eye of Terror and avoiding Chaos raiders. The survivors were very different from the Eldar he had left, however, broken down by ten millennia of fighting for their survival. Their rediscovery was not celebrated, nor was the fact that the Phoenix Lord was able to guide them out of the Eye and helped construct a new Webway Gate for the Craftworld.[5] Just as a Daemon horde led a counter-attack against the consolidating Asuryani forces on Belial IV, Craftworld Altansar drifted above and hundreds of pallid and ghost-like Eldar silently joined their brethren to keep back the Daemon tide all but reclaiming the Crone World from the Neverborn.[11]

Other Eldar reacted to the rediscovered Craftworld with mistrust, with some being disgusted with Altansar's preference for pragmatism over tradition and others even whispering that their allegiances may be with Slaanesh. Most Altansari Eldar refused to remove their helmets, and those that did were deathly pale. This led some to speculate that Altansar may have made some sort of deal with the god of the dead Ynnead. This rumour has gained some traction, fueled by clues from Ulthwe that a Warlock of Altansar had made a bargain to have the Craftworld shrouded in Ynnead's embrace to survive. The legend goes on to say that this Warlock dedicated her soul to Yvraine before taking her blade to her own throat. Whatever the truth, it is known that Altansar has thrown its weight behind the Ynnari cause.[5]

Altansar in M41

Altansar is now a shadow of its former self, with 2/3rds of its space remaining quarantined from Chaos taint by rune-shielding. Warriors remain vigilant at all times for any signs of Daemonic encroachment.[5] Despite escaping from the Eye, sporadic Daemonic invasions still erupt due to lingering Warp-Taint. Thus the Craftworld is completely militarized to confront the Chaos threat, and all other roles are seen as secondary to war.[5] This war is waged in secret, for Altansar knows how the rest of their kind would react to such a revelation.[5] Only a select few of the Ynnari have been allowed to return to Altansar and witness this dark truth. This includes their Bonesingers, which are vital for Altansar's reconstruction.text-middle[Help]

Fracture of Biel-Tan

Altansar later allied with Yvraine and her Ynnari, helping to recover the Crone Swords in the attempt to resurrect Ynnead.[3]

War Zone Laevenir

Altansar sent forces to aid their kin against the Tyranids in War Zone Laevenir. However, their presence caused divisions amongst many other Eldar, who don't trust the Craftworld due to their exposure to the Warp.[4]

Rune Symbol

The craftworld's symbol is a broken chain, referencing the escape of Kurnous and Isha from the dungeons of Khaine, but also the shattering of the links that bound Vaul to his anvil.[2a]

Notable citizens

Notable Aspect Warrior Shrines

Images

See also

Sources


Craftworlds
Major
Minor
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