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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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{{main|Slann}}
[[File:Slanni.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A Slanni warrior as depicted in the [[Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition Rulebook]].{{Fn|10}}]]
The Old Ones did not appear in the first edition material of Warhammer 40,000. There was a similar race in their place in the form of the [[Slann]] or Old Slann that featured in [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader]] and [[Codex Titanicus (1st Edition)]], in which they made early contact with the Eldar and taught them the technology to create the Webway. The former source also states that the Slann were responsible for the genetic manipulation of various races and suggested that the Jokaero are one of their creations. In third edition material, starting with [[Codex: Necrons]], the Old Ones are first mentioned and their backstory elaborated by stating they genetically manipulated early life and fought the an ancient war against the Necrons. Future material such as [[Codex: Eldar (4th Edition)]] and [[Codex: Chaos Daemons (4th Edition)]] also stated that the Old Ones had a hand in teaching the Eldar to make use of the Webway whilst [[Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition)]] claimed that they actually created it in the first place.
The Old Ones also get a partial mention in the [[Liber Chaotica]] "[[Slaanesh]]" in the chapter ''"Echoes of the Birth"'' where they are called the ''"First Ones"''. This section covers the Eldar race, stating that they were raised by figures of shadow and light that were an ancient as well as powerful race. These First Ones are said to be the first to have reached into the starry night and to be older than gods yet mortal as well as subject to time. They are said to have left the Eldar and returned to the sky in order to allow their charges to develop over millennia. Afterwards, they returned in strange, vast vessels that were worn and scarred whilst light dim along with their shadows dispersing. This is because they were engaged in an unending war against the Yngir with the First Ones returning to inspect the Eldar and determine whether they were fit for the battle that lay ahead. The First Ones are known to have encouraged their younger race to focus their psychic abilities in order to create warp-derived beings as weapons against the vampiric gods of starlight. The battle that continued was long and the First Ones dwindled in number to the point that they lost influence among the Eldar. Without their creators' wisdom, the Eldar's warp-beings changed from sentient weapons into living gods of the Immaterium who were the first of their kind. After the absence of the First Ones, the Eldar heroes [[Eldanesh]] and [[Ulthanash]] proved to be the only beings that could harness the power of the warp gods to battle against their foes until they fled from a daemonic plague. In the aftermath, the Eldar are said to have adapted, refined and perfected the First Ones' skill in measuring the Warp and predicting its movements.
