A thought for the Dark Eldar, Ynnari, Slaanesh and the Empyrean

So, as my understanding goes, the Dark Eldar were once as psychically in tune as the Craftworlders and Harlequins are now, but out of fear for retribuition - both from Slaanesh and their fellow Commorites - these abilities have been denied and ignored for such a length of time that they have atrophied and twisted into something else.

A head cannon of mine, one I’ve shared with a few of my fellow Denizens, is that the psycho-emotional vampirism Dark Eldar society is built on is in fact the last tattered remnants of their psychic might.

Their abilities aren’t gone, simply out of practice and unused for fear of retribution.

This fear stems from two sources, the potential to draw down Slaanesh’s eye and thus open yourself up to her wrath alongside the fear of Vect’s retribution for going against the one singular and universal rule of the Dark City: No Psykers.

Ynnead supposedly provides his follower’s protection from Slaanesh, much like Cegorach provides protection for the Harlequins. And an Archon storming across Realspace alongside the cult of the god of the dead may reasonably expect never to return to Commoragh.

Such an Archon would not have reason to fear either of these retributions (to a degree), and so I pose a question to my fellow patrons that is both of Fluff and of Crunch.

What would you say to an Archon of the Ynnari dusting off his psychic might and taking to Warp-Craft once more?

1 cast, 1 deny, knowing Smite and 1 Power from Revenant.

Available as a 15 pts / 1 PL upgrade for DRUKHARI HQ’s that have the YNNARI Keyword.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about taking powers from the Revenant discipline, but given the current state of the fluff I'm pretty supportive of the idea of the Dark Eldar getting psykers.

I really like the idea.

Maybe even give Succubus psychic abilities as well.

I was going to say haemonculus as well and then i remembered the whole regeneration and Ynnari thing don't exactly mix.

The cheapest an Archon can get is 58 points right? so basically that's 73 points for a psychic Archon. Not a bad deal at all, and not overly powerful. Would be fun if he had a half-ynnari half-Dark Eldar power. Like any unit or character he kills can be used for a soul burst up to 14" or a self buff, similar to the old soul traps.

I mean, we could totally have Haemonculi get necromancy powers, being able to raise dead enemy units as generic zombies.

Doesn't even need to be psychic, could just be wargear.

For me, the true kin turned their psychic abilities inward - so rather than reaching out to the warp with their minds to doom a foe or deflect a bullet, they use their formidable mentalism to boost their own selves, in a kind of 'mind over matter' experience.

Rather than using warp-fuelled precognition, the archon focuses his mind on byzantine scheming and manipulating events the old fashioned way, through cunning and second-guessing his foes. The old psychic remnant of the Eldar inheritance is harnessed as a boost to his intellect.

Rather than channelling the warp to speed and strengthen her blows, the Succubus focuses her mind and overcomes the limits her body would otherwise impose, moving faster and with greater strength than seems possible.

And, of course, the whole psycho-vampirism thing .

At its zenith, I'm thinking of the scene where Lady Malys cuts her own freaking heart out, just so she can use her newest loot to full effect. So there must have been some span of time where she was standing, with no heart at all, preparing to insert the new one - no support crew, no med support, no blood flow, and nothing to keep her alive beyond her insane will to succeed. If that is the kind of willpower an archon can bring to the fight (granted, Malys is likely exceptional amongst her kind), how the hell do you put them down?

So, for me personally, I'd rather see mechanics that showed the character in question using their strength of will to achieve some internal effect. Say, rather than lolSmite!, the character exerts their will to ignore a mortal wound, make extra or harder attacks, cow or dominate those around them... something that you could pass off as iron will, true grit, or sheer bloodymindedness, rather than overt warp manipulation.

How about bring back some form of "Deny the witch", which only applies to non-Ynnari units:

Whenever a Dark Eldar unit is targeted by a Psychic power, roll a d6. on a 5+ that power has no effect. If the unit is a Dark Eldar HQ, then the roll is a 4+

Problem is that I usually feel that at least half the good powers are self buffs (extra movement, 5++ feel no pain, bonus on saves, bonus to hit/wound) thus while you might lose out on some good powers (doom etc) psychic defense does not do much, (same goes for the 1d6 denies that some other armies get).

we do not have any of the all eggs in one basket units anyway that usually make psychic powers that target enemies much better.