Craftworld Utash'Te: the history of a lost craftworld

The Craftworld of Utash'e was one of the last to begin it's great journey to the Maiden Worlds before the Great Fall, sadly this led to their imprisonment within the Warp. During the long journey toward their new homeworld, they encountered an object never before seen by any Eldar in living memory, a metallic sphere of such immense size, the craftworld was like a gnat next to it. Deciding to investigate this immense artifact, or leave it behind, was not an easy choice, however it was decided to investigate in the hopes that new technology would be discovered. Many explorations were sent to the surface of the Sphere during the following decade, especially around an area that resembled a huge iris. As time passed the craftworld began to despair that anything would be discovered, until one day a young Eldar named I'liasha finally decrypted the runes that covered the surface of the Sphere, and in doing so discovered an entranceway into the interior of the artifact. Further exploration discovered layer upon layer of habitable space inside what was now, obviously a Dyson Sphere as the records of the Imperium of man label such creations. The people of Craftworld Utash'Te had another name for it. Sanctuary.

Seven layers in all made up the interior of the sphere with an eighth layer forming the outermost shell, this shell being the thickest of all. Measured at just over 300 meters thick, this shell protected the interior habitats from meteor strikes that would normally be devastating. Each layer contained a separate temperature habitat that ranged from arctic to tropical, with the arctic regions inhabiting the layer that was furthermost from the captured sun that at the center of the artifact. Exploring further, revealed numerous herds of grazing beasts and predators, but no intelligence above that of animal. Eventually a consensus of elders and scientists agreed that the Sphere Artifact had to have been built by the Ancients or rather many groups of Ancients, and then sent on it's way, but for what purpose and why would forever remain a mystery, or so it was thought.

Colonization of the sphere would take another 5 years as the craftworld was finally moved inside the sphere via the outside iris which was now known to be an airlock utilizing a forcefield, that would give passage to any of the interior layers, including the very center. It was decided that here, the craftworld would be merged with the inner shell to forever protect the spirits of those who had departed. It was during this time that the people began to call their new home Utash'Te, which in the Eldar language is translated mean 'Seven World Shell'. Three years after the complete colonization of the Sphere, it purpose was discovered, for various instruments now showed that the sphere had changed course to a nearby system of planets and that it had picked up speed. Within the next three months the sphere fell ever closer towards the sun of this system, and it was feared that the sphere would fall into the sun itself, forcing another evacuation, when once again it changed course to orbit the second planet in the system, after two orbits of the planet the sphere then moved on to orbit the 7th planet in the system, a gas giant. The sphere made several orbits of the gas giant, before suddenly shooting off into the depths of space at near light speeds, this time carrying new additions. It was finally clear as to what the purpose of the sphere was. It was an immense Ark, programmed to seek out life, and transfer it to a similar habitat within it's interior. Less than two weeks after leaving the system behind, now shrunk to the point that it was merely one star among many, albiet brighter than the rest, the sun of the system suddenly imploded into itself and became a dark quasar.

Ten years after the discovery of the Sphere, the Fall of the Eldar Empire occurred and the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh tolled the bell of the demise of the Eldar. Warp Storms rippled out from the center of what was the Eldar Empire and is now known as the Eye of Terror. One such storm the largest ever recorded collided with Sphere initiating the Ark's self defense mechanisms. Unfortunately, the Warp Storm and the technology of the Ancients was not a good mix. Defenses fell and the giant airlock leading to the interior of the sphere blew out. Three levels were suddenly and catastrophically exposed to space, before interior defenses came online sealing the remaining four levels. These defenses also shut down the gravity tubes that led throughout the various levels, but with foresight the people had erected webway gates on each level, so travel through the realms was still possible.

The Warp Storm also had another effect that was not apparent right away, it had thrown the Ark into a pocket dimension within the warp itself. and had contaminated the webway gates within the three lost levels of the sphere, allowing the forces of chaos to make incursions there. For fifteen thousand years the people of Craftworld Utash'Te an ever desperate battle against the forces of darkness. Hope came in the form of the Phoenix Lords, the first of course was Asurman, who fought for many years alongside his fellow Eldar, while teaching them the Path of the Warrior, until one day he was simply gone. Over time other Phoenix Lords appeared helped in the fight of this great battle, always teaching their deadly martial arts. Then too, there were the Ark's defenses itself, originally arrayed around access points like the gravity tubes, they had mysteriously relocated themselves around the webway gates, as these gates were now the only access points into and out of the Ark. When Chaos forces would pile through the gates, these weapons would rain down destruction from the unimaginable heights of the great sky roofs overhead, and while the forces of Chaos tried their utmost to find and destroy them, it was to no avail. Many Chaos incursions defeated by these weapons, but the forces of darkness would launch ever larger attack forces, planning for the eventuality that the few who survived would be able to open more of their own foul gates. Thus it was that while the people fought bravely, they would have been overrun if not for the Ark's defenses, the battle prowess of the Phoenix Lords, and the forces of the Harlequins and Craftworld Ulthwe.

Within the real time realm of the universe, time passed, at a different speed than for those of Craftworld Utash'Te locked away inside a pocket dimension of the warp. Thousands of years passed, until one day, a mimic within the great library stumbled across and ancient text describing the Ark and it's subsequent colonization. His curiosity peaked, over the next fifty years this Mimic searched tirelessly through among the books and scrolls of the library for any further information concerning the Ark, and was finally able to locate the regions of space that was the Ark's last known location. Using this information, another twenty years of searching finally granted the possible locations of the webway gates located within the sphere. Bringing this knowledge to his master, the information passed through many hands until it was finally brought forth to the Great Harlequin, who deemed that a search would be made to see if this craftworld still existed. The Great Harlequin planned to salvage the craftworlds inifnity circuit to protect those souls within it, since nothing had been heard of or from this craftworld for many lifetimes. After much searching through the webway, what the Harlequins found, was a Choas incursion of immense size within the webway itself, and a grat battle took place for the next two years as every last taint of the enemy was sought out and destroyed, but the harlequins had also found the webgates that led to Craftworld Utash'Te, but was prevented from accessing them due to the effects of the warp storm.

On Craftworld Ulthwe, the greatest of Eldar seers, Eldrad Ulthran was searching among the myriad paths of the future when he noticed that a new pathway had appeared whithin his vision. Studying the showed two possible outcomes, One that led to the dead end and the destruction of the webway as well as several craftworlds, and the another that reunited a lost craftworld to their people. Looking further down the pathways it was apparent that in several places the new future path of this lost craftworld would possibly intersect with that of many of the other major craftworlds, but whether for good or ill was something that was unknown. Howeever, the chance to save a craftworld and unite it's people with the rest of their race was something that could not be ignored, and therefore it was with the help of the seers of Ulthwe that that the Harlequins were able to push back the tide of Chaos in the webway. Unknown to them, they had help for the battle still raged on within the warp pocket that the Ark was trapped in. Shortly after the last tainted gate was shut down, the Warp Storm dissipated and the ARK dropped out of the warp and back into normal space and time.

For the first time in fifteen thousand years the people of Craftworld Utash'Te laid eyes on brethren not born of the Ark as Harlequin and Ulthwe forces stepped through the gateways that were still functional and untainted by chaos. There followed much mourning and lamentation for the fall of the Eldar and all those who were lost, but mingled with the sounds of sorrow, there was also the sounds of celebration for a people united once more. Discussions with the leaders of Iyanden, Ulthwe, Saim-Hann, Biel-Tann, and Alaitoc, finally revealed a possible reason for the creation of the Ark in the form of the Tyranid, and the Necron, as one devours life and the other annihilates it, where the Ark was apparently intended to preserve such life, possibly for the purpose of seeding new worlds after the threat had passed. Whatever it's original purpose, a couple of things were clear, the first being that the the Ark's engines and programming were destroyerd by The Warp Storm, locking it into a path that will skirt the galactic center and send it straight into Hive Fleet Kraken, and possibly into behemoth as well. the second is that once the Necron have learned of the existence of the Ark, they will spare nothing to ensure it's destruction. To that end many Eldar have undertaken to try and repair the engines of the Ark, in the hopes that it may one day actually carry them from this galaxy and safely deliver them into another galaxy far away from the threats that loom across this one more and more. It is unlikely however that this will ever happen, for the technologies of the Ancients are as mysterious to the Eldar as Eldar technologies are to the humans of the Imperium.

In honor of those Harlequin and Ulthwe Eldar who gave thier lives in the battle to reunite Craftworld Utash'Te with their brethren, the peoples of Uatsh'Te have changed their craftworld colors and armours from the emerald green and sapphire blue combination and have incorporated the black of Ulthwe, as well as adopting a pattern similar to the Harlequins themselves. Thus their armour now carries a green and black counter-change pattern highlighted with purple and blue, the only exception to this being the Aspect Warriors who have one breastplate that is colored in such a way as to represent their warrior shrine as well. It is also not uncommon to see older styles vehicles and armour, as well as unique designs mixed in with the more prevalent and modern styles. being locked away from others of their kind the people of Utash'Te were forced to use what they could find within their new home, and thus their armour contains more crystal content than wraithbone, since crystals grow to immense sizes within the Ark, while the more rare psychoplastic known as wraithbone was reserved for vehicles. With contact established once more and trade routes open again the newer vehicle and armour designs are becoming more and more prevalent, but they are still being designed with crystal as the most common material in thier makeup, since the singers of Utash'Te have become quite skilled in forming the crystal to the shapes they desire, and it is highly doubtful that the people of Utash'Te will ever give up their crystal armour.

One thing that is known is that the Eldar of Utash'Te have made it thier purpose in life to take onto themselves the mission that was the Ark's before they were trapped, and to this end they plan to visit every last planet that has detectable life that thier technology will alow them to visit, and restock the Ark with all the myriad lifeforms in this galaxy. This along with repairing both the engines and the Ark, as well as continuing to study the Ark, makes for a very busy people, but they have not and never will forget their vow to destroy the forces of darkness wherever they may be found. In taking this vow so seriously the Eldar of Utash'Te have actually forced the supernova of several suns known to have Necron Tomb worlds in orbit around them, as well as flinging huge deathspinner nets the size of worlds into the paths of the Hive fleets in the hopes of killing many of the Tyranid Hive ships. Their corsairs often sit in the dark between worlds and watch the hive fleets until they spot a hive mother, whereupon they frequently launch devastating attacks, slipping away at the last minute, preventing the tyranid the ability to mount a reprisal, by using a new and much larger version of the warp spider's warp generator. But nowhere, is their presence felt so fiercely as it is in those areas where Chaos dares to raise it's foul flags, as these forces are hunted down and destroyed with a ruthlessness that would make even one of their dark kin cringe with remorse for the victims.

From the archives of the imperium, intercepted data servitor on it's way to Adepticus Mechanicus stronghold at Mars Prime. The weapons of this particular faction of Eldar do not use the psychoplastic known as wraithbone like those of other Eldar craftworlds, instead they use crystal shards to much the same effect. their armour also incorporates the crystal within it's structure, utilizing a honeycomb pattern that absorbs incredible amounts of kinetic force before fracturing. In combat these crystal armours act in a similar fashion as the Harlequin holo suits, but instead of using the wearers kinetic energy to create a nimbus of fractured images, it instead acts like a mirror, reflecting blinding rays of light flashes that disorient their enemies making it harder to target the wearer. These suits are worn all the Eldar of Craftworld Utash'Te, with a few exceptions as noted, Striking Scorpions, Rangers and Assassins, as these armours destroy the stealth that these units rely so heavily on. It is of note that the vehicles and the constructs known as Wraithlords and Wraithguard are of opposite makeup, while they do contain some crystal in their structure 75% or more is constructed with the so called wraithbone. Theory suggests that it is easier to shape the crystal in smaller forms than it is for such larger items such as their vehicles, or that the material is more conducive their psychic abilities than the crystal is, but this second school of thought is small due to evidence that the handheld weapons of this faction have a very high content of crystal and yet still seem to function in the same manner as other factions of Eldar technology.

special rules: All eldar infantry of Craftworld Utash'Te with the exception of Striking Scorpions, Rangers, and Pathfinders, have an increase of +1 to their armour saves against light based weaponry, Ie: laspistols and such. The crystal of their armour also affords them an invulnerable save of 6+ against light based weaponry, against ballistic weaponry such as Bolters the armour save of crystal armor is reduced by 1. When any enemy unit targets an infantry unit wearing crystal armour their respective balistic skill is reduced by 1 to a minimum of 3, so for example Orks with a BS of 2 would be unaffected by this rule. If mission parameters are night fighting or dawn of war, the opponent does not have to roll for night vision as the crystal constantly winks and flashes due to ambient light making it easy to target the enemy, only units wearing crystal armour are affected by the rules listed above, all other units are treated as normal. Striking Scorpions on this craftworld are rare due to the stealth negating aspects of this armour and therefore no more than one unit of Scorpions may be fielded and that unit is limited to a unit size of 5, including the Exarch. Since Striking Scorpions and Rangers do not wear the crystal armour of this craftworld they must use the normal rules for their units listed in the codex.

Craftworld Utash'Te also has a higher than normal ratio of Harlequins than any other craftworld, thus one unit of Harlequins in the army may be designated as a troops choice, and therefore does not count as an elite choice.