Captured Waystones

Hey all, Merry Christmas first and foremost! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday with your families!

So, on to the evil stuff. For those who like to get to the point, here's the gist:

If the DE were to come across a bunch of Waystones (Eldar spirit stones), what do you reckon they would do with them? For the purposes of this discussion, the DE did not kill their cousins, merely 'happened' across them. There are 3 possibilities I've thought of:
1) They preserve the stones, possibly even return them to the Craftworld (thereby stopping Slaanesh from growing stronger). Possible, given that they helped Iyanden out that one time... probably not likely.
2) They destroy the stones for the sake of pleasure/spite. Seems suitably evil, right? But maybe too evil?
3) They take the stones for themselves, using them to replenish their own draining souls. This seems the foremost likelihood to me; it's a good cross between self-serving and cruel, which fits the DE perfectly. I think. But I can't even speculate as to how they'd go about harnessing the souls inside the stones.

Which would it be? Are there other possibilities I haven't thought of?

For those who're as bored as I am, here's the reason I ask...

I'm reading Path of the Warrior, which is one of the most compelling 40k books I've read in a while. I'm feeling a distinct urge to write an Eldar-themed book. My idea: an Eldar artisan is captured by a Wych Cult. The Wyches bring her to Commorragh and make a sick pastime out of slowly corrupting her, under the guise of opening her eyes to the pleasures her people have denied her. In reality, they just want the satisfaction of seeing one of their high-and-mighty kin devolve into a creature as twisted and depraved as they are.

I'd like this protagonist to escape at some point and return to her Craftworld. But I need a trigger event--something that convinces her that she needs to take that risk. Part of my plot is having a particularly nasty Wych smash her Waystone to bits upon capturing her. This serves the purpose of making the Eldar want to stay in Commorragh--to save her immortal soul. I think a suitable catalyst for her escape would be discovering that the DE did something horrible to her brothers' and sisters' waystones, without her knowledge.

Hello, maelstrom, and have a merry Commorrite Christmas.

Quote :

If the DE were to come across a bunch of Waystones (Eldar spirit stones), what do you reckon they would do with them? For the purposes of this discussion, the DE did not kill their cousins, merely 'happened' across them. There are 3 possibilities I've thought of:
1) They preserve the stones, possibly even return them to the Craftworld (thereby stopping Slaanesh from growing stronger). Possible, given that they helped Iyanden out that one time... probably not likely.

This one seems to me likely if Harlequins were to be involved somehow. If Harlequins turned up and reprimanded the stones then the DE would be in no position to argue.

2) They destroy the stones for the sake of pleasure/spite. Seems suitably evil, right? But maybe too evil?

This seems to me the most likely. They hold their Craftworld kin in contempt for the fools that they are. Why bother to spare such an insolent creature?

3) They take the stones for themselves, using them to replenish their own draining souls. This seems the foremost likelihood to me; it's a good cross between self-serving and cruel, which fits the DE perfectly. I think. But I can't even speculate as to how they'd go about harnessing the souls inside the stones.

I have never liked this idea and do not find it achievable in DE society. I have thought about it many times and come up with many conclusions. It would not safeguard your soul at all. You would need a spirit circuit to hold the souls in, but there are a few issues with this. I do not know what they are actually made out of, but I speculate Wraithbone for its natural psychic powers. It would conduct souls well. DE are not psychic and have no way of constructing such a thing (Their lack of psychic abilities would make it far too difficult to maintain and protect, too). Also, DE are selfish. They’d have no reason to preserve their own kind when they could just smash a stone and consume the soul within. Yes, it might seem logical to us, but they are all scheming sociopaths. Kabals would raid each other for their stones, making the whole idea a bit useless when they could have continued to raid lesser races and suffer far fewer fatalities.

These are just my thoughts, though.

Your story sounds interesting, and if you ever get around to writing it I will be sure to read it.

Merry Christmas.

Spirt stones with no souls inside them would be of no value to the Dark Eldar, other than for the fact that Craftwordlers value them quite highly. They could probably sell them to a corsair band or use them as a bargaining chip when dealing with Craftworld Eldar.
Filled up spirit stones are a different matter entirely. Cracking the stone without breaking it completely causes the soul inside to remain bound, but in a state of constant pain for the Dark Eldar to feed on (Incubi also weaponise the souls to create tormentors and bloodstones). According to Soul Reaver, breaking the stone and devouring the soul is a very pleasurable experience so when Dark Eldar force captured Eldar fight in the arenas (rather rare, as usually any Eldar slaves become playthings for Archons or raw material for the Hameonculi) they let them keep the stones so that when a Wytch kill them, they can take the stone as a prize.

Have any of you read path of the outcast? Gives an interesting way of spirit stones being collected. Going by the theory from path of the outcast they are extremely dangerous to get and definitely worth something in trade!

I don't think it beyond the realms of possibility for a DE to feed off of one but I think a canny DE would be able to trade for more than a single soul ... Though maybe not as gratifying as a craftworlder

the only way they would return spirit stones are either for trading, or the harlies made them.

Normally they would probably feed off of them (if they are filled)

Thanks for the replies, all.

Cavash, destroying the stones would make a lot of sense for my plot, so the option is definitely one on the table.

Nomic, thanks for bringing the Incubi point to my attention. I thought I'd read the codex cover to cover, but apparently I skipped through the Incubi background somehow. Shattering a stone to build a weapon--now that is the height of cruelty right there.

Feeding off an Eldar's soul by breaking the Waystone seems to be the greatest possibility. How would DE go about doing this, though? Do they simply crack open the stone, or is there more of a process to it?

Incubi weaponize them

Cavash wrote:

3) They take the stones for themselves, using them to replenish their own draining souls. This seems the foremost likelihood to me; it's a good cross between self-serving and cruel, which fits the DE perfectly. I think. But I can't even speculate as to how they'd go about harnessing the souls inside the stones.

I have never liked this idea and do not find it achievable in DE society. I have thought about it many times and come up with many conclusions. It would not safeguard your soul at all. You would need a spirit circuit to hold the souls in, but there are a few issues with this. I do not know what they are actually made out of, but I speculate Wraithbone for its natural psychic powers. It would conduct souls well. DE are not psychic and have no way of constructing such a thing (Their lack of psychic abilities would make it far too difficult to maintain and protect, too). Also, DE are selfish. They’d have no reason to preserve their own kind when they could just smash a stone and consume the soul within. Yes, it might seem logical to us, but they are all scheming sociopaths. Kabals would raid each other for their stones, making the whole idea a bit useless when they could have continued to raid lesser races and suffer far fewer fatalities.

If they are all scheming sociopaths that don't bother looking out for each other, then why do they bother reclaiming their dead at all?

Regarding the creation of soul stones, answer can be found in Path of the Outcast. The horrible truth is that they are the remains of Eldar that died during The Fall. With this in mind, I think that the Dark Eldar do not seek out way stones because there are simply too shenanigans to manufacture en mass and that there is a viable substitute in the form of sadism. Another topic was brought up in an earlier thread dealing with soul division. From what I understand, it is actually possible to divide your soul/psychic power almost infinitely provided that you can make some sort of wraithbone/flesh construct.

I also do no think the waystone theory posed in Path of the Outcast is a theory at all because there were a bunch of Harlequins there and they basically said that waystones are the remains of dead Eldar.