Craftworld

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Craftworlds are vast craft populated by Eldar and home to the Asuryani, the greater remnant of the Eldar race after the Fall of their civilisation. Each Craftworld is a continent-sized[8a] self-sufficient independent realm with its own culture and is capable of housing tens of millions.[8b]

Overview

Eldar Craftworld by John Blanche[10]

Craftworlds were, during the Eldar Empire, trading vessels and they travel through the void of space and through the Webway. Typical trading missions would take centuries and travel thousands of lightyears beyond Eldar space before turning home. Craftworlds in their hayday were self-contained communities housing hundreds of families.[4c] These Craftworlds would be constructed in titanic star docks, which themselves were crafted by the legendary Bonesingers of Ceith-Cailli.[19] Their populations were often isolated from the other Eldar of their planet (for which the vessels would be named) affording their societies ever more apparent glimpses into the decline of their civilization upon every return. In the final voyages before the fall, seeing the ruins of their civilization, the Craftworlds opened their doors to those still-sane Eldar of their planets opting most often to flee into the depths of space – not every craftworld escaped the birth of Slaanesh, those that did not were destroyed in the psychic overspill and consumed by the dark prince.[4c]

Since the Fall the original ships have grown considerably in size, now ten or a hundred times larger than the trading vessels at their cores,[18] nearly all have parts that now lie at least partly ruinous awaiting reclamation.[4c] Craftworlds are in many ways living entities, powered by psychic energy from its Infinity Circuit and responding in an organic way to the stimuli of its resident Eldar's psychic forces.[8b] An additional power source and means of propulsion for a Craftworld are its massive Solar Sails, which absorb the energy of nearby stars.[21c]

Craftworld interiors exist to some capacity within a fourth spatial dimension, such that every level sits beneath another, even the great spires and ports that, by their design, seem as if they should be the top.[22] Every craftworld has an artificial sun[21d] and is a self-contained bio-system with zones that contains forests and other natural flora as well as lakes, beaches, and wildlife[21a][21d] which together act as green lungs to furnish the breathable atmosphere and provide renewable resources for the Eldar.[18] Their insides are described as quite beautiful and include centres of recreation for its population such as concerts.[21b] Craftworlds also contain vast space docks, often housing fleets which carry Eldar armies through the Webway to the rest of the galaxy.[18] The power within a Craftworld can be expended as light or heat, and most Craftworld technology could not function without this psychic power grid.[8b]

Each craftworld is its own independent society which conducts its own affairs and wages its own wars.[4c] In most cases, management of a Craftworld is left to two primary bodies: its Seer Council, which consists of the Craftworld's leading Seers and decides upon the course of action a Craftworld should take based upon their divinations of the future, and its High Council which consists of Autarchs and other prominent Eldar within its Craftworld.[20]

History

Before the Fall

Craftworld Theminarae, before its destruction.[26]

Prior to the Fall, Craftworlds were vast trading ships, effectively whole self-contained communities housing hundreds of Eldar families. Trading missions could take the Craftworlds thousands of light years beyond Eldar civilisation, separating the community from its homeworld for centuries. This meant the Craftworld communities had already developed a strong sense of independence and self-reliance, so they remained mostly separate from the increasing decadence of their species. Because a Craftworld might return to the rest of Eldar civilisation only three or four times in a thousand years, it was easy for them to see the degeneration of Eldar society, while to the Eldar as a whole the slow corruption was too gradual to recognise.[1a]

As the final weeks leading to the cataclysm approached, the returning Craftworlds' crews founding their worlds in ruin. Taking with them any Eldar who still remained sane, the Craftworlds fled the Eldar civilisation. Some Craftworlds were caught and consumed by Chaos along with the Eldar worlds as the Eye of Terror tore open reality, others survived for thousands of years before their people finally faded and died, while others endure to this day.[4b]

Recent History

Craftworld View

For thousands of years after the Fall to the current day, the Craftworlds have carried the greater part of the surviving Eldar. Craftworlds contain Webway gates, linking each other as well as to millions of planets, allowing the dispersed Eldar civilisation some measure of cohesion. Because the Webway is labyrinthine and impossible to map, many Craftworlds are effectively lost, unknown and cut off from the greater part of Eldar civilisation. They have grown greatly in size since the Fall, when they became the sanctuary worlds of the Eldar race. They are now approximately 10 to 100 times bigger in volume than they were before the Fall. Thus, Craftworlds are effectively worlds in space, each a self-contained biosystem, with forested and natural areas as well as urbanised ones. These natural areas provide a breathable atmosphere to the Craftworld and renewable resources. There are often sections that are uninhabited and awaiting reconstruction. Vast space docks located outside the Craftworld house fleets of spacecraft. These fleets are capable of travelling through Warp tunnels, allowing Eldar of the relatively slow-moving Craftworld to bring their forces to areas of the galaxy thousands of light years distant.[4b]

Every Eldar of a Craftworld is a highly trained warrior: in battle these citizen-soldiers are known as Guardians, forming the Craftworld's defensive militia. Craftworlds are independent realms, sometimes acting mutually, combining military forces, acting together to achieve a common objective, and trading or exchanging knowledge. Exodites often trade with the Craftworlds, but believe that the Craftworld Eldar are too close to the old ways of decadence for their own good. The militarily-stronger Craftworld Eldar grant some protection to Exodite Eldar.[1b]

A Craftworld Eldar fleet[25]

Since the fall many Craftworlds have established Colonies connected to their Craftworld with Webway Portals which remain a part of their society and governance and provide the craftworld raw materials and garrisons of Guardians – quite distinct from the colonies of the Pre-Fall empire among the Exodites and their Eldar Knights. Craftworld colony planets number in different amounts per each Craftworld, although they commonly sit at about a dozen worlds: the most extreme number in the hundreds while the most conservative have only one or two.[4c]

It is known that the last Imperial assault against a Craftworld ended as a disaster at the Battle of the Blood Nebula, which saw the loss of an entire sector fleet thus leading to the Imperium adopting the stance of dealing with individual threats of the Eldar rather than provoke an entire nest of them.[5]

Notable Craftworlds

Main article: List of Craftworlds

Major Craftworlds

Craftworld Biel-tan[4b]

Minor Craftworlds

Other Craftworlds

Images

See also

Related videos

Sources

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This article or article section is based on information included with miniatures showcased in Warhammer: Visions. These showcases regularly featured miniatures submitted with written content by the hobbyist that made them and, as such, their content may or may not be in contradiction to established background lore.

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Craftworlds
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