Forewarned is Forearmed

In the Hall of the Crystal Seers of ancient Ulthwe, silence held sway. Other than the moan of an occasional breeze drifting through the frozen forms of ancient, crystal-rimed trees, no sound was heard. No motion was to be seen in the forms of the crystal-bound Eldar standing around the inner glade nor in the form of Eldrad Ulthran, standing in the center of the glade. Nonetheless, in the Infinity Circuit just beneath the surface of the hall, a constant thrum of ethereal conversation was passing back and forth, between the spirits of the council that resided within the circuit and their still-breathing colleague.      "He is un-disciplined, Eldrad - you've seen the signs of his brashness. With but a week's consideration, he strikes out on his 'adventures', taking Ulthwe's warriors away from guarding hearth and home. You know our concerns - we've certainly voiced them to you often enough."      "Undisciplined? Brash? Driven, perhaps, maybe even unfocused at times. But never have his concerns not borne dark fruit. Were we not all content to let the Imperials pursue their reclamation of Istvan IV and tear themselves apart against the orks that resided there? Had Elandrieth not disregarded our wishes and struck against the Imperials before they made planet-fall, they surely would have found and awakened the slumbering Necron temple at the south pole. The relics that Elandrieth brought back were clear enough to us then, were they not? But now, you speak out against him again. Is it you doubt his Sight? We all welcomed him to the Council of Seers after he had tread the path of the Warlock for more than a hundred cycles. Do you question our past judgment? Could it be that you have other concerns?      "There are rumors - some say that his restraint is faulty, that he may be straying towards the old ways. Surely, you have seen the morbid way he adorns himself and allows, even encourages his followers to don the skull-rune of Death. Many of the Council wonder if he is drifting towards a darker path, even abandoning the paths entirely. We must consider this, Eldrad - word has reached us through the Webway that our reputation with the other Craftworlds suffers for his excesses. We are already cast under suspicion for our proximity to the Eye - we can ill-afford to have one of the Council going rogue - we loose face with each 'expedition' that he mounts. How much longer will you tolerate him and his following? The children of Ulthwe number too few to indulge him and his cult of personality"      Eldrad was un-swayed. "They follow him freely, do they not? If they wish to remain in his service, do we do them a service to question their loyalty? Hardly. The QuasKaran WarHost has proven itself many times over. While we have spent whole cycles probing the threads of probability and mulling over each threat, Lord Elandrieth has assembled his forces and struck without warning. Does it surprise you that our people flock to a leader who chooses the offensive when it shows promise? As for his embrace of the Skull rune, I asked him of it recently. He said that he and his WarHost wear it as a tribute to you, our ancestors who preceded us and now guide us. He and his warhost regard the flesh as but a temporary condition - they know that the Infinity Circuit of Ulthwe is the destination that lies before us all. He said that in wearing the Rune of Death, he puts himself past the loss of life and frees himself and his followers to pursue their goals without fear."      Silence held sway even within the Infinity Circuit for a moment. Eldrad knew that none of his ancestors had been swayed, but that they would acquiesce and allow him and the living their say...for awhile, at least. As fewer and fewer Seers survived to stand within the Hall, the Dead would become harder to persuade to consider change. After the horror that was Slaneesh, this was perhaps the true curse the remaining Eldar faced - that the dead would come to out-number the living and would lock the Craftworlds into an unchanging Path of Remembrance. Then, truly, the Eldar would disappear from a galaxy that cared not to remember them.      Eldrad roused himself from the glade and strode stiffly out from the Hall to seek out Lord Elandrieth. Once again, Elandrieth QuasKaran may rouse his Warhost and remind the galaxy that the Eldar yet haunted the paths of the living and would visit upon Ulthwe's enemies word of their imminent Doom. End.

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