Changes

|align=center|In the spring storms of youth, it is common amongst our people to question the validity, and indeed sanity, of our ways, most especially the pursuit of perfection in but one field of endeavour at a time: the Path, as it has been called since our ancestors created it. While the young are intellectually capable of studying the tragic lessons of the Fall and the Great Enemy unleashed by our ancestors, their view of the universe is too narrow to truly see the lessons intrinsic in the terrible event which destroyed our home worlds and drove forth the survivors to wander the stars. It is true of all that in youth there is great bravery and great foolishness in equal measure, an abiding belief that no obstacle is too great to overcome. no foe too mighty to defeat, no problem so complex that it cannot be solved. Conversely it may be said that those who survive the galaxy's tumult for long enough come to believe that all obstacles, foes and problem may not be resolved, only allayed for a brief sliver of history, which in turn is but an instant in the slow dance of the universe.{{Fn|7}}<br>

Thus it is that young and old clash incessantly over the necessity of the Path. The young rail against the restrictions it imposed upon them. Much as out doomed forebears did, they wish to taste every sensation, every emotion within their new-found world as soon as possible. They do not fear the Great Enemy that was created by the desires of our ancestors, for their whole conception of her evil is gleaned from distant tales and legends, and that which brought fear in the nursery is spurned and ridiculed in adolescence. Only with time can they begin to feel the terrible thirst which we gave her and begin to understand that she is a mirror image, a reflection of our worst excesses given life by the debauchery and depravity which preceded the Fall.{{Fn|7}}<br>

Long ago our race realised that the only way to elude the Great Enemy was to shatter the reflection, to live a life of denial and focus upon but one aspect of life, pursuing it unto perfection. This is anathema to the young, just as it is to the Great Enemy.{{Fn|7}}The young do not desire the discipline of the Path, but rather their curiosity drives them to try every fruit from the tree. Thus it is that so many take the Path of Wandering or the Path of Damnation in their first years of adulthood, and so the great tragedy of our kind is played out again and again as the number of our people shrink from generation to generation.{{Fn|7}}{{Fn|5}}

*{{Endn|6}}: [[Codex: Craftworlds (8th Edition)]], pg. 6 *{{Endn|7}}: [[Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition)]], pg. 45