Notes from Dark Eldar: Designer Round Table Videos

This is a detailed list of the background notes from Phil Kelly and Jes Goodwin. In watching the three background video discussions, some topics are referenced multiple times and then linked back to later. I’ve compiled the notes into a streamlined fashion for easier digestion.

Background
The Eldar race as a whole, pre-Fall, were able to terraform planets, create paradises and at the same time, completely quench suns. The Craftworld cousins are considered to be fools for denying themselves their nature.

The Webway has been retconned as a third dimension of existence: Realspace, the Warp and the Webway. Before the Codex: Dark Eldar, the Webway has perceived as an amalgamation of tunnels connecting the various portals throughout the galaxy. There are many settlements located within the Webway. Commorragh is the greatest of the webway realms. Dark Eldar do not spend too long of periods of time in realspace. The Webway’s innate properties slow Slaanesh’s drain on their souls. To the Dark Eldar, all races are prey-races.

Dark Eldar exude arrogance. Dark Eldar raid for riches, weaponry, plunder and more importantly, souls. Dark Eldar warriors face high rates of attrition. Dark Eldar take their dead with them after a realspace raid. The menials are simply rendered down into flesh pastes and used by the haemonculi.

Dark Eldar breed faster than their Craftworld kin. This is done by accelerated genetics. There are more “hybrids” (does that mean half-breeds) than true Dark Eldar. Dark Eldar regeneration and cloning technology blows away anything the Imperium has ever seen.

Commorragh is teeming with several species of xenos, both mercenaries and slaves. Kabalite warriors are a small percentage of the population of Commorragh.

Dark Eldar technology is some of the best in the galaxy in regards to fleshcraft and soultech. Most weapons are made in the thousands by slave-labor, roughly 10% of the weapons made are deemed worth keeping. Dark Eldar technology is borderline supernatural to the lesser races, especially in instances of soul-technology.

Haemonculi rarely trade in coin. They prefer more esoteric prices, such as a set of eyes, a child’s laugh, etc.; very much horrific fairy-tale style prices. Only a single piece of a dead Dark Eldar, such as a finger bone, is needed to regenerate a Dark Eldar.

Kabal structure functions like a cross between noble houses and mafia-styled gangs. If you were to kill someone in a rival Kabal, it has to be political and be done in a manner as you won’t get caught. Kabalite warriors are the cream of the crop. Smaller Kabals are patroned by larger Kabals in a pyramid effect until they reach the largest of the Kabals. Some of the larger Kabals rival the size of small Craftworlds. Dark Eldar scheming takes centuries to come to fruition.

Undeniably good to have it compressed, though I feel much of this was already to be found in the codex.

This, however

Quote :

Commorragh is teeming with several species of xenos, both mercenaries and slaves. Kabalite warriors are a small percentage of the population of Commorragh.

was sort of a new to me. I always felt they are the main warriors and guards, though i guess I should have understood that there are millions of slaves there.

Yeah. Most of the info is old hat, but for someone who hasn't seen the videos or has the time to listen to 45 minutes of rambling and backtracking, I figured it was a good post.

Saintspirit wrote:

was sort of a new to me. I always felt they are the main warriors and guards, though i guess I should have understood that there are millions of slaves there.

Think about ancient Rome. How many slaves were there to Roman citizens? I used to know the ratio but have since replaced such knowledge with useless gaming stuff. Like the stats for a commoner in Pathfinder.

I need an upgrade for my memory banks. *sigh*

I've enjoed reading the background material in the codex. It was good to have Commorragh explained further as to its exact nature.

I always imagined it somewhat similar to the black library. A giant craftworld somewhere within the webway.

However, according to the codex, commorragh is not technically one location, but many nodes scattered throughout the webway. Its just that there is portals linking them in such a way as it seems as though the place is a whole - rather than a fragmented city over many thousands of lightyears. I thought that was a nice and unique touch.