Anastari Amaleari

Craftworld Eakiisian
Among the Craftworlds that fled before the terrible ruination of The Fall that all but destroyed the Ancient Aeldari Empire, Craftworld Eakiisian was among the last that escaped.

Where most other craftworlds sought to distance themselves completely from the spreading calamity, the Eakii aeldari sought a different, desperate path. In an effort to cope with their immense grief, the Craftworld plotted a course back towards the fallen Crone Worlds in search of survivors who may yet be stranded.

Craftworld Eakiisian lost contact with the other craftworlds as a result, and had been presumed lost in the aftermath of The Fall; its people, story, and mission lost along with it.

However, as fate would design, the craftworld was rediscovered a century or two ago from present day by Craftworld Ulthwe. The massive vessel had inexplicably resurfaced from the Eye of Terror, which Ulthwe perilously orbits, prompting the asuryani to investigate.

Ulthwe immediately enacted a Bailic-fen--an operation to search for and recover stranded Spirit Stones--lead Autarch Novi Ishar. While their forces met with and dispatched the Neverborn that they anticipated to encounter aboard the vessel, they found little else. No bodies, no spirit stones, and even the Infinity Circuit laid barren.

Craftworld Eakiisian was a ghost ship.

Only after searching much deeper within the vessel, did the Ulthwe patrols notice a peculiar phenomenon. The dead craftworld's warp spiders--small, psycho-active creatures who serve as the Infinity Circuit's security system--were heavily infesting a small, sealed-off portion of the ship.

After much toil in disabling the security and wards set in place to keep intruders out, the Ulthwean warriors discovered a most precious prize: a cache of inhabited spirit stones, and two living aeldari children held within a stasis chamber. It seemed that the psychic influence of one of the girl's subconscious had attracted the spiders, and their innate ability to ward off daemonic influence had managed to keep the Neverborn from breaching the chamber after all this time--though clearly not from lack of trying.

With the survivors rescued, the spirit stones recovered, and any data and resources scoured from the remains of the craftworld over several years, Craftworld Ulthwe towed Craftworld Eakiisian into the gravity of a nearby star, consigning its remains to an honorable burial for its efforts during The Fall.

Recovery and Childhood
Understandably so, Ulthwe was hungry for answers surrounding the many mysteries of Craftworld Eakiisian, from its original mission to the full nature of its fall. The attempts of Ulthwe's Spirit Seers to commune with the Eakii Spirit Stones ended rather poorly, as the traumatized souls within them were simply too incoherent to study or interrogate. As such, the stones were kept segregated from Ulthwe's Infinity Circuit, and any hope for answers fell squarely upon the two children that were rescued from the late craftworld.

After scrying several possible outcomes, the Ulthwean Seer Council ultimately decided that the most opportune fate for the unlikely survivors of the Eakii people was for them to be kept under their care. As the twins were still technically part of Novi Ishar's Bailic-fen, the autarch was given responsibility over their up-bringing. Though the military commander initially balked at this assignment and spent much of the time during the girls' recovery delegating the task to those on a path better suited to being caregivers, Novi gradually became more invested in such activities between her other duties. After all, due to the irreparable damage that had been done to the aeldari people's reproductive cycles, raising children was an experience that few were able to engage in.

The girls and question faced a lengthy recovery. Though they both were fortunate enough to have been thawed safely from the stasis chamber they shared, the prolonged strain that had pulled upon the young girls' subconscious had left them all but comatose. Still, over the years, progress was made with both of them through the use of aeldari medical technology, and by the time they were on the verse of adolescence they had recovered most of their mental and physical faculties.

During this time, Novi had decided to name the girls Ilya and Anastari, and granted them the title "Amaleari," Spider-Blessed, in honor the warp spiders who had played a role in their survival.

Anastari seemed to recover faster than her sister Ilya, who was plagued with nightmares and reoccurring fits of mental trauma. It was Ilya whose psychic influence attracted the warp spiders aboard Craftworld Eakiisian and allowed them to shield her sister and herself from daemonic influence, but ultimate such strain came to exact a heavy toll on her mind.

Ilya's sister, in turn, appeared to be merely plagued by amnesia. Anastari could not remember her former home or what had happened upon it, much to the dismay of her guardian and the autarch's investigators. Though the truth of her history had been presented to her, the girl could not provide any memory of it. The amnesia seemed to have at least spared Anastari from the same traumas that faced Ilya, which enabled her to comfort and assist with her sister's recovery in what small ways she could.

Ultimately, like all asuryani, the twins were eventually exposed to the ideals of The Path and given the education befitting any child of Ulthwe. Despite their aberrant pasts, there exists an unspoken bond between each member of the dying aeldari race, and the Amaleari siblings were accepted by both their peers and teachers with little issue.

Divergent Paths
In an effort to cope with her physic prowess and mental traumas, Ilya quickly adopted the Path of the Seer early on. Though all asuryani are psychically inclined, it is those among the Path of the Seer that seek to refine and obtain mastery over such talents. The education, techniques, and tenants of the path helped her stabilize the scars left upon her mind--though it was a long, painful road through such a process.

Over time, when Ilya's thoughts were finally able to break free from her pain, they wandered to her past. She was very young when she and her sister were still aboard Craftworld Eakiisian, and as such, her memories were mere blurs upon her psyche... but after hearing what had happened to it and her former people, her heart yearned for closure on the mysteries that surrounded her original home.

In the meantime, Anastari tread the Path of Awakening. Early on, she expressed interest in the natural world and an inherent sense of curiosity and exploration. The Path of Awakening teaches the art of perceiving the physical world around one's self on an acute, almost supernatural level. Many who walk such a path go on to become great artisans or explorers.

However, before Anastari could complete her designated Path, fate had decided to once again intervene. As Ulthwe teeters along the brim of the Eye of Terror, the Craftworld necessitates that all of its denizens be prepared for war. When the Seer Council began to foresee the tides of conflict rising in the imminent future, the Amaleari twins, too, were brought to muster. The two women were given training as Black Guardians and eventually deployed to a handful of engagements. Each coordinated strike was issued based on the portents of the future that the Seer Council had plucked from the skeins of fate. Though lives were sacrificed in each attempt, their actions served to sway the fate of their entire race away from certain disaster.

Despite their many harrowing ordeals, both siblings came to agree that not only did they owed a level of responsibility toward Craftworld Ulthwe, but likewise they could do no better than to honor their late craftworld's legacy than by fighting to preserve their people as a whole. As such, the Amaleari sisters sought to more adequately serve amongst Ulthwe's warriors.

Ilya's fascination with both her psychic acumen and her desperate search for answers surrounding her original home drove her to become a Spirit Seer. It was her hope that through the mastery of such a Path, she could eventually safely commune with the volatile souls residing within the Eakiisian spirit stones. Until then, she learned to broaden the senses and potential of the soul-animated wraithbone constructs under her charge.

Anastari's deference for traveling the stars lead her to walk the Path of the Warrior, and found herself studying within the craftworld's Crimson Hunter Shrine. The shrine's keeper, an exarch known as Lorinth Rhianthari, was as strict as he was skilled in the pilot seat of his aerospace fighter-craft. Together as one, the Crimson Hunters were responsible for protecting the craftworld's fleets and securing air superiority within the atmosphere of more surface-based attacks.

Both sisters excelled in their respective disciplines, and for many years, they served admirably amongst Ulthwe's warriors. But yet again, fate had far more in store for the both of them...

Revelations
Grown confident in her prowess, it was not long before Ilya attempted her first communion with the mad Eakiisian Spirit Stones. In order to protect her mind from the raving souls within, she dared not speak with them without first entering into the trance of her War Mask. Even with this added barrier, however, the ordeal was mentally grueling. While no success came with her first few attempts, some small progress was made each time. This small glimmer of hope only drove Ilya to delve deeper into her resolve with her subsequent attempts.

It took years. But finally, between her ceaseless study and honing potential, Ilya finally managed to break through with one of the spirit stones. Like crossing through a hurricane of fury, spite, and regret into the fragile calm of its eye, she managed to glimpse the memories of this fallen aeldari soul...

...and what she found within horrified her.

Between the shocking revelations, the mental stress of the communion ritual, and the scars of her past yet haunting her, Ilya's surge of hatred and remorse saw her fall prey to Khaine's call, and she was made unable to remove her battle trance, consigning her to the tragic fate of a Farseer.

Through their empathic sibling bond, Anastari felt the sudden, disturbing change in Ilya mental state during one of her patrol flights and rushed to her sister's side at the first available opportunity. She learned from the healers that had tended to the fallen seer that her sister had collapsed from exertion presented from one of her communions and was urged to allow her to rest, but Anastari barged in to the infirmary despite their insistence. It only took one look into her twin's eyes to realize what had truly happened to her.

The Ilya that she knew was gone, and only her mask remained.

No words were exchanged between the two, but Ilya presented Anastari with a hastily inscribed message, which she took and hid away before the healers and guardian staff escorted the brazen crimson hunter away. Anastari returned to her private quarters as fast as her legs could carry her and hastily poured her eyes over Ilya's missive.

Within it was her revelation: a list of names, all connected to one penultimate crime. There was no thing that lead to Craftworld Eakiisian's demise. It was who. And worst of all, many of those responsible yet lived.

In the long, pensive months that followed, Ilya and Anastari found themselves less connected by their sibling bond and more bound by their building desire for retribution. In these trying times, the two sisters gathered and compiled information. Gone were their fond meetings of familial affection and mutual support--replaced now with callous pre-meditations and murderous intents. The culmination of their planning was put into motion just a few years before the coming of the Dathedian--the Cicatrix Maledictum.

Ulthwe's Seer Council had long predicted the potential for The Great Rift to expand across the galaxy; even Ilya met with such horrific visions. But more importantly to their plans, an obscure skein of fate coincided with this event. After scrutinizing this particular possibility for every possible detail and outcome, Ilya presented Anastari with a time and a set of target coordinates.

When the day arrived, Anastari volunteered herself to join a patrol flight through one of the main webway tunnels that connected to Craftworld Ulthwe. The patrol progressed normally until her flight traveled homeward. Then, at the fateful moment, Anastari feigned a flight control malfunction and threw her Nightshade Interceptor off course, punching the craft through one of the webway's exits into real space. With only a moments to spare before her wingmates arrived to support her, Anastari fired an anti-ship torpedo toward deep space, matching exactly with the coordinates her sister provided.

This torpedo would have long lost its propellant before reaching its intended target. In fact, it would be several years before it did. But without anything within the vacuum to stop it, the torpedo would continue on its course, and any deviating influence upon it had already been considered by Ilya's portents. Years later, the torpedo's momentum would carry it within engagement range of a drukhari vessel having just finishing a raid after surfacing into real-space. Whether the torpedo was intercepted and destroyed before reaching its target or it bounced off the ship's shadowfields, it mattered not. What was important was that the confusion regarding the torpedo's mere existence would cause the drukhari to hesitate--and in that hesitation, they would be swallowed and destroyed by the suddenly encroaching Great Rift.

Aboard that vessel was one of the names on the siblings' list.

But before then, there were more immediate ramifications of Ilya and Anastari's actions.

Exile
[Still editing. To be continued.]

Shelwe'ionn


Aeldari Long Rifles are the favored weapons of asuryani rangers. These reliable weapons psychically interface with their wielder to allow for precise, long-range engagements. Long Rifles fire high power las bolts augmented with monomolecular crystalline "splinters," making up for their their lower rate of fire with lethal potential.

The reliability of these weapons is not the only merit they provide to their rangers. Each one of these rifles are unique relics in their own right, and carry their own individual histories as long and bloody as the aeldari people. Every Long Rifle has its own individual name, and each carries a record of their deeds and accomplishments embellished upon a colored ribbon that hangs from the weapon.

The asuryani are zealously protective of these weapons, and have been known to engage in armed recovery operations to recover any that have been lost or stolen.

Anastari's long rifle, Shelwe'ionn, is unique in that, while it exhibits a long white ribbon and the weathering of its appearance suggests it is an old specimen that has traded hands over thousands of years, there is no writ of accomplishments on the fabric.

The reason for this is detailed here in Anastari's final meeting with her former exarch:

Lorinth Rhianthari.

''This was not his first name, but the path that was once his was lonst amongst the echoes of ghosts and dust. Nor was this his place; since he had taken the name and mantle of the Exarch of Craftworld Ulthwe's Crimson Hunter shrine, he was either at war or always to be found within one of several large, transparent atriums that served as the aspect's shrine. The grizzled asuryani seemed determined to live as he would one day die: in the pilot seat of his Nightshade Interceptor.''

''But now, Lorinth was here, walking the corridors that connected to a residential district within the craftworld, carrying an object bundled up in cloth of mourning. Displaced as he might have been, the exarch was immediately recognized by a young aeldari woman. Lorinth was, after all, her exarch. Her mentor. Or... perhaps formerly so.''

''This woman bore the mark of shame upon her robes, damning her to exile for her crimes against the craftworld. This day was to be her last within the continent-sized vessel... at least until the day came that Ulthwe was desperate enough to recall its outcasts for war.''

''"Exile." Lorinth knew her name, but refused to speak it. The moniker he used instead was as cold and hard as his voice. He had been taken by Khaine long ago, and since then, his War Mask refused to yield. The old personality, desires, dreams, and aspirations of his former self were permanently sealed away behind the trance, effectively killing the man he once was. Now he was only Lorinth Rhianthari--The Nebula-Clouded Star. Such was the name of his shrine's first exarch, the name of every exarch before him, and the name of those who could come after. Such was their curse.''

''The soon-to-be outcast reacted out of practiced habit. She placed her palm over her heart, bowed her head, and lowered herself down to one knee. She was no longer a Crimson Hunter so the display had no meaning, but it had come to be instinct to her; a gesture as necessary as breathing.''

The exarch merely watched in silence for a moment, and then continued.

''"Rise," he ordered, just as terse as always. The young woman obeyed.''

''"By what honor am I graced by your presence, teacher?" the disgraced asuryani asked bitterly. "Have you come to offer kind words and a parting lesson?"''

''"I come bearing no words of comfort, child. But I bring you this." Carefully, the exarch unfurled the cloth in his arms, presenting an old Aeldari Long Rifle. Its wraithbone structure was chipped away in spaces and marred by the scuffs, scrapes, and burns consistent of use in countless battles.''

''"A gift?" the woman dared to ask, looking up from the weapon to her former mentor's cold eyes.''

"A curse," he replied.

“It is tradition among the asuryani,” he continued, “that such weapons that are carried by those on the Path of the Outcast are given names, and upon ribbons their tales of victory and woe are enshrined for eternity.”

''With a small adjustment to the coil of fabric dangling beneath the rifle’s barrel, the exarch unfurled the weapon’s ribbon. A streak of white, faded fabric draped down in the still air, offering room for thousands of years worth of conflict and glory. But… the ribbon was blank; featureless save for ancient stains and frayed strands.''

''“This one is called Shelwe’ionn--The Song Unsung. It will never bear the mark of legacy. It will never sing of you nor your story. To arm oneself with this weapon is to strike one’s name from all memory.”''

''Lorinth’s student immediately narrowed her eyes and gripped her teeth together in anger. She dared not lash out against an exarch--her’s, least of all--but she bore the fangs of contempt clearly. The Crimson Hunter was not fazed by this display in the least.''

''“...However, the same shall be true for your enemies. Shelwe’ionn cares not for their names, their horrid deeds, nor the magnitude of their fall. It thirsts for nothing, speaks of nothing, and pities nothing. It is the sword that strikes its wielder and its victim in the same cut.”''

The exile’s eyes widened in sudden realization as Lorinth went on with his grim revelation.

''“With it, you will cosign others to your selfsame fate: to die without being remembered. It is a weapon of utter destruction to all it touches. When you fall, there will be nothing left behind in your wake, save for Shelwe’ionn--as it was many times before, and as it will be many times after.”''

''The outcast lowered her head again… this time to shield the agony on her face from the exarch’s icy glare rather than to show respect. Those responsible for bringing ruin to Craftworld Eakiisian, she and her sister’s original home, were still out there somewhere in the galaxy, relishing in their ill-gotten gains and remorseless gratification. Hate was the most powerful of the aeldari’s thousands of emotions, and she hated them with every fiber of her being. Even falling prey to the cruel clutch of She Who Thirsts was too good for such scum. They deserved a fate worse than death.''

“...Will you accept this curse, Anastari Amaleari?”

Trivia
Some details and plot elements were intentionally left vague for GM interpretation.

Many of the names used for the characters involved here are generated from the "official" eldar lexicon.

Eakiisian = Without Wrong-doing (roughly translated).

Anastari = Raven.

Shelwe'ionn = Removed from Song.

Novi Ishar = Floating/Flying Mother.

Rhianthari = "The Star Clouded by Nebula."

Ilya was the name of a random customer that ordered online from the restaurant I worked in. I occasionally tend to write down interesting-sounding names that I find during day-to-day experiences, and on a whim decided to pull this name from the "name bank" I have.

"Amaleari" was a name I generated using a random "Dark Elf" name generator back when I was designing a Drow character in D&D 5e. According to that name generator, it meant "Blessed by the Spider Queen."