Dark Eldar Worlds and Psykers

So I was reading the Dan Abnett Brothers of the Snake collection of stories (or novel). It mentions two things which our Codex currently denies ever having existed.

1) Worlds occupied by the Dark Eldar

2) Dark Eldar psykers

While I realize that his book was published years before Phil Kelly made the current Dex, I am curious to know if people think that these two contradictory points can be reconciled with the current fluff. Because, otherwise, Brothers of the Snake as a story becomes silly. Like how the Librarian gets taken out by DE psykers, who aren't supposed to exist.

Can we have worlds that we own and use as slaving depots? Forward outposts from which we can conduct raids? Can we have psykers whom we hide under our beds, either in the Dark city or in Real Space?

I really didn't like that book. It contradicted a lot of our fluff and portrayed marines as immortal gods, where a single unit of marines killed hundreds of kabalites in a single hallway...

Not read the book, but I don't think what you've mentioned is necessarily contradictory with current fluff.

1. Dark Eldar worlds: The main reason for being in the Webway originally was to engage in debauchery out of the sight of others, so if there was pleasure cult that found a planet where they could do so in private, they wouldn't feel the need to be in the Webway.

2. Dark Eldar psychic abilities have atrophied due to Vect prohibiting their use within the Webway to avoid She Who Thirsts, so any DE who haven't lived in the Webway since/before Vect's rise to power should still have psychic abilities.

Additionally on the psychic nature of the Dark Eldar, in the 'Path of the....' Books - specifically the Dark Eldar trilogy I should add - it's clear that some Dark Eldar have had and maintained their psychic potential - usually in their own little sections of the webway hiding from the scrutiny of Vect - and beyond that it does explicitly state - unless my memory has completely failed me - that along side the constant doses of vaccine for the glass plague Dark Eldar are on a constant regimen of psychic-suppressant drugs to. Ensure they don't manifest or can tap into their ability. Whilst over time this would probably lead to a loss in ability it does imply that at least the latent spark of psychic potential the burns so brightly in the Eldar race is still apparent in the true kin.

I suspect there are a lot of DE who have come down with psychic powers and have had to leave.

Well Dark Eldar are still as Much of the eldar race as the craftworlders. This implies that a psychic potential is within them at the time of Birth. We don't know Much about how psychics get Their power but maybe if it is deliberatly avoided and shuned, 999 out of a 1000 DE children Will never manifest psychic powers and the ability is simply lost to them. Whoever the (un)lucky few that Discovers Their psychic powers Will leave commorragh and hide in a shadowrealm, a distant part of the webway (like in path of the outcast) or try his Luck in Real Space. But since this individual has no psychic barriere like the craftworlders and Their spiritstones or the protection of the webway, he would most likely end up possesed or otherwise consumed by She who thirst.
Just My 2 cents

Jehoel wrote:

I really didn't like that book. It contradicted a lot of our fluff and portrayed marines as immortal gods, where a single unit of marines killed hundreds of kabalites in a single hallway...

How does that contradict fluff? Its close to what Space Marines are supposed to be, Gods of War, designed for one purpose. Same type of Portrayal they recieved in the Space Marine Game (Drop 3 marines on a planet and call it won). It's the tabletop game that portrays them wrong, because you need to be able to sell whole armies and the game needs to be more balanced etc etc (Though I do have the rules for Movie Marines somewhere...). And I've noticed the more recent fluff is starting to water them down as well, which I find disappointing.

But even that fluff contradicts itself! I remember reading a story (the name escapes me) were a single Space Marine is shooting at some Chaos Space Marines, his bolt shells tearing through them while they shot back and , as they described it, the shells bounced ineffectively off of his armour. THEY WERE BOTH USING THE SAME GUN!

The Space Marine game was a terrible portrayal of a Space Marine, they gained health by stomping heads for feth's sake. Those 3 Space Marines shouldn't of accomplished even a third of what they did, as each one should of died from the first Bloodletter that got a clean hit in. On the other hand, Dark Eldar have always, without exception (We are ignoring C.S Goto here...) been shown to be ridiculously fast. As in, put craftworlders to shame fast. The old codex tells a story of how imperium vid captures had to be slowed x4 to even see the Dark Eldar, and they were shown dodging Las bolts and kicking a Grenade out of the air! Sometimes you have to understand that certain books are, for lack of a better phrase, Bolter Porn. Nothing wrong with it, everyone wants some now and then, but it gives a bad representation of Wome...Space Marines

The current Dex says that all DE live in the Webway domains of Comorragh, iirc. And that they don't make a home outside the webway to avoid the attention of She Who Thirsts. Same reason why there are no psychic powers developed in or out of the webway.

I can see DE setting up outpost worlds if they are particularly bold. But it is the psyker bit which is tremendously contradictory. The only way I could see the DE having Psykers is to use Corsair Eldar psykers rather than their own, homebred ones.

I believe the official Black Library line is "Nothing is Sacred. Everythi..." I mean "Nothing is True. Everything is True". The fluff does and will contradict itself in places, technically this is it working as intended. I think if I'm being pedantic, who am I kidding of course I'm going to be pedantic, the line should technically be "Everything is potentially True", but that's by the by.

Consider all the narrators in the books to be 'unreliable' and the inaccuracies to be part of the give and take of a galaxy where there is only war. You want psychic Dark Eldar, there is enough fluff to verify the potential of their existence. You don't think they exist, also true.