Trueborn or Halfborn?

So I've been mulling over this question - do Dark Eldar who are born from the womb of a Halfborn female count as Trueborn or Halfborn? The only requirement I've seen from the Codex is that they need to pop out of from the womb to be called Trueborn.

I'd say that anything that comes from the womb is Trueborn, ignoring family history. They would likely have a better place in society if their whole family were Trueborn nobles, though. I don't think these half-Trueborn would have the same excesses in life as the noble Trueborn.

My thoughts.

So these Trueborn, if they're the issue of Halfborn, they would be the ones who serve as soldiers in the Kabals? Or are those minor nobles?

I would say that any Trueborn could serve in a Kabal if they wanted to. I think that the Eldar that was made from a tubeborn mother would have lesser standing within the squad.

The only fluff we have is trueborn and tube born, theres no middle ground

I'm not sure DEldar familial relationships cast a strong enough net for it to matter a great deal in any event.
Are you going to tell Drazar because he's tube born he's not allowed in this meeting?
Or hand the keys to your kingdom over to dim witted but true born cousin egbert over The Duke?

Quote :

I'm not sure DEldar familial relationships cast a strong enough net for it to matter a great deal in any event.

But I find logic in this mattering. The Noble Houses once ruled the Dark City, and their are those Eldar that still hold onto bloodlines quite strongly. The three Archons in Path of the Renengade being the most notable of them all. Who would you rather have to be an emissary for your Kabal; a Trueborn born of Tubeborn, or a Trueborn of a noble family that has been in your Kabal for millennia?

Afterall, Commorragh is a meritocracy, so it would be whoever is best for the job, but if they were both equally matched? I would go for the Trueborn of a noble family in that situation.

Everybody’s method of Archonage is different, though.

DominicJ wrote:

The only fluff we have is trueborn and tube born, theres no middle ground

I agree, no matter what, if you're born naturally, you're a trueborn. NAturally just says from a womb, can have some articifial help, for example transplant the child into another womb, to make it easier for the mother, imagine a female archon beign pregnant, she wouldn't want to walk aorund weaker because of her baby.

The process is just a start, but it's the difference in quality or life that matters. first, naturally is just better and easier, you could say, this is spoiling the kid from the start. Better training, better protection, it can lead to a better warriors, but it's not just the training, having more money: means access to better weapons. Apparently money is a big deal in Commorragh somehow, or else they wouldn't mention this in the codex.
A truebborn that doesn't lose his family is garanteed to have a good life, a normal dark eldar on the other side is screwed from the start.:
He is born, has no parents, nobody cares about him, nobody will train him, nobody will protect him. Chances of making it to a higher welfare state are low. Remember only the elites join the ranks of the Kabalite warriors, you can assume a lot of dark eldar just become lowlife parasites that never have any major significance in this big dark city.

How would a Kabal recruit its warriors from the Half and Trueborn?

Since Halfborn are born from tubes, I imagine that they'd have to commission someone to create some Halfborn. Would they pop out as fully grown adults with personalities and such before being shipped off to the Kabal for training? Or are they popped out as children and then trained from childhood like Spartan kids.

With Trueborn, I'd imagine that it would be more of a matter of pedigree. If they're not connected to the people running the Kabal, I imagine that they'd be trained for jobs within the Kabal.

Correct me if i'm wrong.

With halfborn it would be the same as tubeborn. They would cme out as fully grown adults, yet to develop a personality. I believe that was said by PK himself in one of the Dark Eldar Round Table interviews.

Based on the description in the codex, Halfborn Dark Eldar come out as the equivalent of young adults, and are just kind of dumped on the streets. The weak ones are quickly killed off, while strong will survive and may eventually be recruited by the Kabals. Although I don't think that is how it always works. I can see a Kabal comissioning a Haemonculus to send them a batch of fresly grown Halfborn to replenish their numbers, or some noble who can't afford to have a Trueborn child getting a Halfborn heir grown for him (and faking some paperwork to make it appear he is Trueborn).

Also, the whole reason why Trueborn and having Trueborn children is seen as a status symbol is precicely because it is needlessly risky and time-consuming. Eldar pregancy takes several years and in the Dark City everybody is just waiting for you to show some sign of weakness so they can drive a (probably poisoned) dagger in your back, and even after the child is born it will take years before they can defend themselves. So why would anybody go through all that trouble, rather than having their child grown in a tube and aged to adulthood in a few months? The answer is of course to show that they have enough wealth and power that they can afford to do things the hard way, and to make themselves appear better than all the plebeians who have to get their kids grown in tubes. Incidentally, give the societies tendency to associate signs of wealth and power with attractiveness, we could draw some... intresting colcusions, but perhaps it's better thta we don't go there.