Dark Eldar Soul Vampirism

After the fall the Dark Eldar retreated into Commorragh. Without the Infinity Circuit or soulstones the Dark Eldar had no means with which to stop Slaanesh's siphoning of their souls. As a stop gap measure the Dark Eldar began to harvest and consume the souls of themselves and other living creatures, to top up any essence leeched by the Dark Prince.

What I want to know is what you guys think of this vampirism?

Did the Dark Eldar evolve to have this trait, or is this a trait innate to the Eldar that only the Dark Eldar are debased enough to consider?

What are the mechanics? If Guardsman Bob has his soul stolen, does his soul still retain his identity or is it converted into "generic" soul energy? If not, does the identity of a consumed soul affect the consumer in any way? If a Dark Eldar eats the soul of a garrulous man does he lighten up?

What about souls pledged to the Dark Gods? If a Dark Eldar kills a devotee of Khorne does the Berzerker's soul go to the Dark Eldar? And isn't their the risk of corruption? (Well, in the Dark Eldar's case more corruption)

What about the soul's of psykers? Or the destruction of daemons? Is "soul energy" just another name for "warp energy"? Or can it be transmuted into warp energy? Or is it just a type of warp energy?

If you have any further questions or answers post away!

Okay, here we go, an attempt expressing myself after a margarita and 6 beers. I believe, simply, Dark Eldar rejuvenate and gain "power from pain" just as the codex expresses. They aren't consuming souls but rather feeding off the vibes of a soul in torment. Torment being pain. A soul is an individual no matter if it goes to the dark gods or consumed by the astronomican it produces energy that ripples through the warp (as it is manifested by pleasure/anger/death/and change) and ripples through reality and the dark eldar are able to feed off of this.
Going way back in the time of the FALL of the Eldar when the excesses of the Eldar race reached a critical mass in the warp, resulting in the birth of Slaneesh, half of the Eldar population dropped dead as their souls were sucked away by newborn God of pleasure. The rest scattered in fear to the craftworlds while the debaucherous few left who were not sucked dry by slaneesh, but still "touched" nonetheless by his/her hunger were left alive but only a "half life". Think of a dark eldar soul as a leaky bucket. Slaneesh, a hole in the bucket, constantly siphons the essence of the dark eldar; to FEED themselves as they are being FED upon dark eldar invoke similar pain and misery upon other species to keep the bucket full. It says in the fluff that dark eldar appear younger and more lithe when they are freshly fed and nothing feeds the anguished soul better than the pain of others.
We can look at this as not so much a "soul" with individual characteristics is being consumed in this process, slaneesh is still slaneesh after siphoning the souls of the Dark Eldar, but we can consider the "vibes" or "resonating energy" that results from inflicting pain and misery as the source of "currency" between Slaneesh and Dark Eldar and Dark Eldar and Everyone else.
Gave it my best shot... anyone else?

sounds pretty much spot on to me as far as the "power from pain" element goes. but i'd go further.

i believe the eldar race as a whole have the ability to remove and store souls.

the eldar do it with spirit stones, wraihbone and the infinity circuits. the dark eldar have soul traps and soul syphons, etc.

i think in these cases the idea of removing the soul is pretty much clear cut, rather than just being "vibes".

with the dark eldar they have the technology to convert those souls into potent energy sources and to use the energies to manipulate their own selves.

IMO

I agree with adesapere and rider.

Its the vibes thing. They are not taking a piece of a soul, they are taking some of the souls energy in the form of emotions (which is warp energy). Just as slaanesh in turn takes their energy. Kinda like Chaos God middle men. haha.

This is based solely on opinion, other eldar cannot function as vampires because they are still psychic. And unprotected psychic eldar don't last long.


IIRC dark eldar don't bring chaos or psykers back to commarggh. So I think they just kill those types in realspace.

But overall alot of this is a grey area.

It might be easier to draw on the negative emotions. Or perhaps the negative emotions are more powerful? I dunno.

I've been watching this thread because I didn't have any answers (I know a surprise right).

In the dark depths of the 41st millennium it probably is so much easier to create pain and agony. Imagine a Dark Eldar raid on a Imperial Guard column, it is easier to kill, maim, torture and defile them or to become all buddy buddy with them?

Without restraint the darker side will always dominate or destroy the lighter side. So the cult of amusing deaths will easily overpower the cult of relaxing massage. The exception to this is when a powerful figure owns both cults, which is the basis of Kabalite politics. In High Commorragh there is order because the dark artists are at a stalemate, meaning the "good" artists (good being the wrong word but you get the point) can survive. Its not surprising that they have a darker twist though. Living in such a dangerous culture makes one prepare for all odds, which is why Lhamaeans can make love and war. Lower Commorragh on the other hand does not have this stability, so the darkest stay dark until they find relative safety. In conclusion I wouldn't say its because pain is easier to get power from, but because its necessary for most to act that way. I'm sure there are a few young aristocrats who are comfortable enough to buddy up with guardsmen, as I'm sure there are a few fanfics covering that Its still bestiality though.