Eldar Knight
Eldar Knights are a kind of Titanic Knight warmachine utilized by the Exodites.[1]
Contents
Overview
Eldar Knights are most commonly used by Exodite populations to defend their homeworlds, and are complex machines made of Wraithbone. In battle, Eldar knights are rapidly-moving war machines able to swiftly advance and lay down heavy fire to devastating effect, and fight together in Knight Hosts with their Knight Clan[1] and with the Exodite ground troops, Harlequins, and Craftworld Eldar allies[4] they frequently march to aid, forging ahead of the main formation of a force to attacking to secure an important position.[1]
Eldar Knight suits are controlled by single pilot via a direct mind-link much like Eldar Titans, a modification fitted after the Fall of the Eldar, in which the Spirit Stone of a long-dead hero supplies the machine with a personality and any Eldar which enters the Eldar Knight "suit" exchanges a portion of their consciousness with those in the stone, and thereon are said to speak in ancient archaic ways, and refer to past ages with unnerving familiarity.[1] Knight suits do not make new memories without their pilots – the spirit inside the machine has been brought into constant war for centuries or millenia as every new pilot is marked by its spirit and themselves gain a bloodlust uncommon among the Exodites. For this reason, great discipline is required of the Eldar of the Knight Clans.[4]
History
Eldar Knights were war-machines were brought from the Aeldari Dominion during the Exodus to help the new Exodite colonies on Maiden Worlds to herd Megasaurs and to help to survive against the hostile and grim conditions they faced. Soon after the Fall of the Eldar, these war machines would be fitted with Soul Stones which allowed their pilots to share a portion of their soul and bond with the machine in a lineage of Eldar Knights.[1]
Since the Coming of Men during the Dark Age of Technology, when humans first settled upon Maiden Worlds, Eldar Knights have been deployed through Webway portals to raid the herds of the Knight Worlds (herds which humans themselves learned to care for from observing the Eldar during the Age of Strife) and defend against mankind's further expansion.[1]
Exodite Eldar Knights would come to the aid of Craftworld Iyanden during the Doom of Iyanden.[3]
Equipment
All Eldar Knights are always equipped with a Psychic Lance in their visor, a powerful Psychic weapon designed to herd the tremendous Megasaurss[1] which – when channeled to maximum effect employing the spirit energies of the Soul Stone – is capable of sundering the body of troops and tunneling through defenses to dislodge the brains of vehicle and titan operators.[4]
Eldar Knights are defended by datheidi Holo-fields, akin to those of Eldar Titans and Harlequins,[4] and are commonly armed with Lascannons, Scatter Lasers, Pulse Lasers, Bright Lances, and Sonic Weapons.[1]
The Maelstrom Laser is a weapon unique to the Eldar Knights, although not all wield one, with a history which dates back to the Exodus it is feared throughout the Knight Worlds for its ability to punch holes in even the most heavily armoured of opppnents.[4]
Variants
Fire Knights
A catch-all term for the many smaller varieties of Eldar Knigths which afford their pilots ease of use and its high degree of customability, Fire Knight are a easily the most common variety in Knight Hosts.[4]
- Fire Gale[1] – Designed lethality at its size, the Fire Gale carries both a scatter laser for pacifying troops and a powerful Maelstrom Laser for destroying Knights and Titans.[4]
- Fire Reaper – Designed for close combat, the Fire Reaper sports both a Lascannon and a Power Fist.[4]
- Fire Storm – Designed to maximise firepower, the Fire Storm carries twin Shuriken Cannons and Multi-launchers which launch barrages of missiles.[4]
Bright Warrior
Four legged knights whose swiftness and grace is the epitome of ancient Eldar walker technology, bettered still by their pilots which spend years taming herds of wild horses and gazelles in the plains of the Maiden Worlds to achieve the coordination required to mount a Bright Warrior and to trample een the largest of foes beneath the front hooves of these titanic machines.[4]
- Bright Stallion[1] – Designed to take on armies in their own right, the Bright Stallion is equipped with a Scatter Laser and the deadly Maelstrom Laser.[4]
- Bright Stalker – Designed to overtake heavy targets, the Bright Stallion is equipped with both a Maelstrom Laser and a Lascannon.[4]
Towering Knights
The mental fortitude required to control the largest of the Eldar Knights requires centuries of learning which has rendered Towering Knights the rarest variety, but their four armed frames give them tremendous detructive power rivaling even the strongest Titans and leveling armies and strongholds.
- Towering Destroyer[1] – The Towering Destroyer sports a Power Fist and Maelstrom Laser, but fights best as it tears through infantry and vehicles with a Power Glaive and Scatter Laser.[4]
- Towering Fury – Designed to engage with Titans, the Towering Fury sports a Power Fist and Power Glaive as well as the Maelstrom Laser and Lascannon which are fired together to punch holes into the heaviest of armours.[4]
Knight Clans
Much like Imperial Knight Houses, Eldar Knights are divided into knightly Clans, aristocratic rulers who earn their rights through battle. It is the duty of the clan to defend their planet, as well as other planets in their system connected by the webway, from harm.[1]
The majority of Eldar Knights are decorated with brass accents, to show their status as a fledged knight having slain at least one opponent. Those who have yet to acheive this status are gilded with gold accents. The highest status, only acheived through legendary heroics, is that of the Lords whose silvered knights entitle them to begin a clan of their own.[1]
The motifs of clans, painted on their Knigths and raised on their banners, are often based upon animals which hold a spiritual significance to the Lord which began it and the clan writ large.[1]
Known Eldar Knight Clans:
Images
Sea-Talon Clan Fire Gale[1]
Sea-Talon Clan Towering Destroyer uses its Psychic Lance to destroy a Human as Fire Gales march beside[1]
Night-Fury Clan Towering Destroyer leads a charge.[1]
Miniatures
A Bright Stallion Eldar Knight[1]
A Fire Gale Eldar Knight[1]
A Towering Destroyer Eldar Knight[1]
Armorcast Towering Destroyer, (Warhammer 40,000-scale)[2]
See also
Sources
- 1: White Dwarf 126 (UK), pgs. 28–45
- 2: Armorcast Warhammer 40,000 Model Archive (saved archive page, dated November 2001, last accessed 20 March 2025)
- 3: Doom of the Eldar (Game), pg. 21
- 4: The Citadel Journal 1, pgs. 32-43
| Craftworld Eldar Vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Light Vehicles | Jetbike (Raptor Jetbike) • Hornet • Vyper |
| Walkers | War Walker • Wasp Assault Walker • Scout Walker |
| Wraith Constructs | Wraithblade • Wraithguard • Wraithknight • Wraithlord • Wraithseer |
| Artillery | Anti-Aircraft Platform • Support Weapon Batteries (D-Cannon • Vibro Cannon • Shadow Weaver) |
| Grav-Tanks | Falcon • Fire Prism • Firestorm • Night Spinner • Warp Hunter • Wave Serpent |
| Super-Heavy Grav-Tanks | Cobra • Lynx • Scorpion • Storm Serpent • Void Spinner |
| Super-Heavy Walkers | Eldar Knight • Eldar Titan (Revenant • Phantom • Warlock) |
| Aircraft | Hemlock • Nightwing • Nightshade (Crimson Hunter) • Phoenix • Vampire Raider • Vampire Hunter • Dawnsail • |
