Dark Eldar Armour and Building Materials

Hi All,

I asked this question over on Warseer but no-one was completely certain on an answer. What is Dark Eldar armour made from? Is it the same as Wych armour? Is it the same for Warriors and Trueborn? Also, what are Dark Eldar vehicles made from?

Specifically, I'd like to know if any of these would rust. I have a terrain and army paint scheme in mind but it's really contingent on DE materials and whether they would age like metals. Cheers

Edit - I would link to the Warseer question but forum rules wont allow it. If you search for the same thread title, "Dark Eldar Armour and Building Materials", you will find it.

In the book it describes the armor being placed on, as to what it is its probably close to their Craftworld cousins, a thin wraithbone esque mesh, but the DEs allows for sensory overload, while the Craftworlders deafens the senses.

As for their tanks, its probably just normal metal. I think the best thing describing our vehicles is that they are like the old pleasure barges before the fall, just "with guns" Hence why they are lightly armored. Easier to go through the Webway with

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As for their tanks, its probably just normal metal.

I dont think they use "just" metal for it....more like some wierd and hi-tech materials, when you can play with sun ect you propably use somthing more than metal. Wich ofc is just my look on mater.... Isnt wraithbone psy active material? since DE try to get rid off psykers it would be hard to make armours ect.

I don't think it will be anything based on wraithbone - as GrenAcid said, that's psychically grown so would be banned in you know where. I noticed that the official GW colour schemes for the Kabals feature dark colours with a very bright trim, which makes me wonder whether this is just a painted effect the Kabalites think looks cool, or whether it is actually integral to the armour. If it were the latter it would mean any chips or scars on the surface may see more of the same colours showing through (i.e. the black armour with a red trim shown on the Obsidian Rose would mean patches of Red would shine through)

I think they would use some sort of crystalline carbon fibre material. It would of course have complex circuitry running through it to transmit pain better.

Your all wrong. Its made of cardboard

Wet cardboard

I think I mostly conceptualize it somewhere around like how Gmartin does - it's probably more than just metal and stone (heck, even the Imperium doesn't quite use just metal and stone) so polymers, crystals, strange super plastics, super glass, all are more likely to my mind.

I always figured high-tech plastics/latex would be the material of choice for our assorted armor.

Several bits of fluff mention the Dark Kin's weapon factories...

I imagine that some of the toys of the Haemonculae being fashioned from a form of wraithbone; I mean, psykers are considered playthings in Commoraugh, and I can easily see a Haemonculus torturing a warlock into shaping the armor plates and the like for a Talos (maybe, after he's broken he even ends up as the controlling mechanism of the horror he's built).

Deneris wrote:

I always figured high-tech plastics/latex would be the material of choice for our assorted armor.

Several bits of fluff mention the Dark Kin's weapon factories...

Ditto.
DE manufacture their stuff so I guess most of their stuff is mechanical - so probably plastics, metal and chemicals. Probably some sort of biotechnology too, like virus that change it's victim in glass statue. Maybe some nanotechnology.

Not quite convinced about Wraithbone, aren't psykers necessary to make it work or even exist? But "psyker workers" sounds ok, if they are drugged/lobotomised.

All eldar are somewhat psychic, but they need training to unlock there abilities. Like anyone can kick a table over, not everyone can kickk box. The training bring out the abilities is not done in the dark city, or people with training tolerated. I think training to sculpt wraithbone may be an ability that would require to much psychic training.

Some other psychically shaped materials may be used, like the clay the main scorpion in path of the warrior used to make small statues in the aspect temple. Could be the DE form of rapid prototyping before making a cast in exotic metal?

Nanotech assemblers made of protein would be easy for the haemounculi, perhaps they do the organic "hands on", and the boring mechanical is made with nanites. So they have more time for torture.

It mentions the statues of khaine in the incubi shrines are obsidian in the codex. Bit of trivia, in real life some medical tools use obsidian blades. They can be made only a few atoms thick at edge, even with ancient technology. Problem is they lose the edge quickly. If the dark eldar had a system to constantly resharpen, and mass produce synthetic obsidian, it would make a grade blade material. Its even a black crystal, very fitting.

We know they have weapon factories, and slaves producing their equioment though. Well, slaves doing the unskilled work, with actual Commorites doing the stuff that only the True Kin could ever properly do. Personally, I'm siding with the "advanced plastics and ceramics" for their equipment, as it's lighter than metal, which is always a plus for lightning-raids.

The new Imperial Armour Apocalypse book has a small quota in the Dark Eldar section describing a typical exchange of commerce in the Dark City. It's not clear what the merchant is selling (altough judging from the fact it's on the page of a new Dark Eldar vehicle, I quess it's a vehicle of some type), but it's made out of "tortured metal", and annointed with blood and stuff.

I just noticed in the codex, the towers of High Commorragh are made of stone(with dark eldar tech it could be melted and cast, carved mountains, or grown like a crystal from solution, or quarried normally), alloy, resin (there is the high tech plastic, Aroshamash), flesh(probably mainly coven), and glass(obsidian is a type of glass, there are many kinds beside what people think of as normal glass).

It could be a dense crystal - light and strong. It could be woven membranes from peoples souls (the husks of the soul so to speak!) It could be anything.

I imagine it to be some sort of high tech bio-organic polymer.

I'm definitely on the crystalline carbon fiber side. It's light and tough.

wych suits are probably made from nano fibre which can stop bullets explaining the 6+ armour save while not slowing movement. Warrior armour is probably very thin wraithbone with mixed steel

It can't be wraithbone though, as the Commorites have no means of creating it. We can capture it, and mould existing wraithbone, but I doubt the Kabals loot enough wraithbone to outfit every single Kabalite with wraithbone armour, especially given that the Dark Eldar will create 1000 of an item to produce 1 acceptable one (according to the designer videos).