Aeldari // Craftworlds

A work in progress post. Nothing original here currently, this info is all over the internet. But my ultimate goal is to create a more in-depth page for each craftworld and attempt to paint at least one figure for each one. Got a fan-made Craftworld? Tell me the name and I will add it to the list if you have a blog or Instagram account tag in the comments so I can check it out.

Let us dive in a learn about Craftworlds:

Craftworlds are vast crafts populated by Eldar. They travel through the void of space at sub-light speeds, carrying the greater remnant of the Eldar race after the Fall of their civilization. Each Craftworld is a self-sufficient, independent realm with its own culture. Craftworlds are in many ways living entities, powered by psychic energy from its Infinity Circuit and responding in an organic way to the stimuli of psychic forces. The power within a Craftworld can be expended as light or heat, and most Craftworld technology could not function without this psychic power grid.

Before the Fall

Prior to the Fall, Craftworlds were vast trading ships, effectively, whole self-contained communities housing hundreds of Eldar families. Trading missions could take the Craftworlds thousands of light-years beyond Eldar civilization, separating the community from its homeworld for centuries. This meant the Craftworld communities had already developed a strong sense of independence and self-reliance, so they remained mostly separate from the increasing decadence of their species. Because a Craftworld might return to the rest of Eldar civilization only three or four times in a thousand years, it was easy for them to see the degeneration of Eldar society, while to the Eldar as a whole the slow degeneration was too gradual to recognize.

As the final weeks leading to the cataclysm approached, the returning Craftworlds' crews founding their worlds in ruin. Taking with them any Eldar who still remained sane, the Craftworlds fled the Eldar civilization. Some Craftworlds were caught and consumed by Chaos along with the Eldar worlds as the Eye of Terror tore open reality, others survived for thousands of years before their people finally faded and died, while others endure to this day.

The Current Age

For thousands of years after the Fall to the current day, the Craftworlds have carried the greater part of the surviving Eldar. Craftworlds contain Webway gates, linking each other as well as to millions of planets, allowing the dispersed Eldar civilization some measure of cohesion. Because the Webway is labyrinthine and impossible to map, many Craftworlds are effectively lost, unknown and cut off from the greater part of Eldar civilization. They have grown greatly in size since the Fall when they became the sanctuary worlds of the Eldar race. They are now approximately 10 to 100 times bigger in volume than they were before the Fall. Thus, Craftworlds are effectively worlds in space, each a self-contained biosystem, with forested and natural areas as well as urbanized ones. These natural areas provide a breathable atmosphere to the Craftworld and renewable resources. There are often sections that are uninhabited and awaiting reconstruction. Vast space docks located outside the Craftworld house fleets of spacecraft. These fleets are capable of travelling through Warp tunnels, allowing Eldar of the relatively slow-moving Craftworld to bring their forces to areas of the galaxy thousands of light-years distant.

Every Eldar of a Craftworld is a highly trained warrior - in battle these citizen-soldiers are known as Guardians, forming the Craftworld's defensive militia. Craftworlds are independent realms, sometimes acting mutually, combining military forces, acting together to achieve a common objective, and trading or exchanging knowledge. Exodites often trade with the Craftworlds but believe that the Craftworld Eldar are too close to the old ways of decadence for their own good. The militarily-stronger Craftworld Eldar grants some protection to Exodite Eldar.

It is known that the last Imperial assault against a Craftworld ended as a disaster at the Battle of the Blood Nebula, which saw the loss of an entire sector fleet thus leading to the Imperium adopting the stance of dealing with individual threats of the Eldar rather than provoke an entire nest of them.

Major Craftworlds

• Alaitoc - Renown Craftworld, who interacted with the Imperium the most. The main unit is the Rangers. Paint Guide.
• Biel-tan - Partially destroyed and hyper-aggressive. The main unit is the Aspect Warriors.
• Iyanden - The Light in the Darkness. Ruined by constant war and on the brink of extinction. Protected by its silent guardians who stalk the Ghosthalls.
• Saim-Hann - Jetbike-riding warriors, the clans of the Wild Riders, are renowned for their savagery and their preference for fast, mobile warfare, striking as a serpent before falling back beyond the reach of retaliation. Paint Guide
• Ulthwé - It is whispered by those of other craftworlds that the Asuryani of Ulthwé has been damned and tainted by their world ship's proximity to the eastern rim of the Eye of Terror in the Segmentum Obscurus, exaggerating their psychic potential.

Other Craftworlds

• Altansar - Paint Guide
• Arach-Qin
• Aringhe
• Black Library - No standing army but will visit here at some point
• Furta-Rith
• Idharae
• Ila-Manesh
• Il'sariadh
• Il-Kaithe
• Invincible
• Iybraesil
• Jielthwa
• Kaelor
• Kal'raktri
• Kalth'se
• Kinshara
• Kher-Ys
• Lan'edin
• Lugganath - Paint Guide
• Lu'Nasad
• Magc'Sithraal
• Malan'tai
• Meros
• Meud-Wyaid
• Miandrothe
• Miel Carn
• Mor-rioh'i
• Muirgaythh
• Mymeara
• Mynathensar
• Nacretineï
• Nebreith
• Os'tara
• She'enshar
• Sethoywan
• Stel-Uit
• Taial'shara
• Telennar
• Theminarae
• Thuyela
• Tir-Val
• Tuonoetar
• Ul-Khari
• Ulthwé-Na-Daan
• Varantha
• X'amot
• Yme-Loc
• Zahr-Tann
• Zaisuthra
• Zandros
• Zu'lasa

Destoryed/No Info

• Alurmen - Destroyed Fleeing a Chaos Warfleet. Used Necron Technology and now both are frozen out of time compared to the rest of the galaxy.
• Anuiven - Located near Ulthwe. A long-standing feud that almost caused the destruction of the two Craftworlds. It was only stopped by the Pheonix Lords' intervention.
• An-Iolsus - Made an alliance with the Imperium against Chaos during the Gothic War.
• Anaen -There is no information on this lost Craftworld in Imperial records other than the fact that it once existed.
• Aon'tai - Aon'tai was an Eldar Craftworld that was destroyed in a battle with the Craftworld Biel-Tan in what is known to the Eldar as the Era of Tears.
• Bel-Shammon - Destroyed during the Gothic War.
• Ctho - Lost Craftworld
• Lanimayesh - Dead Craftworld infested by Khorne Daemons.
• Dolthe - Starred in Gaunt's Ghosts but no real info.
• Dorhai - Considered one of the strangest and most bizarre Craftworlds in terms of behaviour, Dorhai refuses to deal with any other Eldar Craftworlds at all, believing themselves the only untainted survivors of The Fall and maintaining that other Craftworlds are corrupted by the influence of Chaos
• Eyslk-Tan - No info
• Féin-Cineál - was an Eldar Craftworld that was the home to Achillrial, who became one of the first Autarchs. Achillrial served his Craftworld well, as he was never able to be bested in combat until he met his end through treachery. This signified the end of Féin-Cineál, as Achillrial's death led to the downfall of the Craftworld, and now nothing remains of it except the fabled Autrach's helm

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