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The Path of the Warrior calls to all Eldar at some time during their long lives. This path, unlike others, is divided into many separate Warrior Aspects representing the Eldar war god Kaela Mensha Khaine. This month we take a look at these Warrior Aspects and what draws the Eldar onto the Warrior path.

The Eldar are extremely long-lived by human standards, commonly surviving for over a thousand years unless a premature death in battle or an accident takes them. They also live at a pace and pitch of intensity many times greater than even the most talented and determined humans. It's hard for a human to understand the incredible potential of the Eldar mind. To an Eldar all of life's experiences are available to a heightened degree: the intellectual rewards of study, the exhilaration of battle, the creative impulses of art and music, and every imaginable pleasure or sensation. No creature, not even an Eldar, can taste of such fruits in an uncontrolled or undisciplined way. For an Eldar to yield absolutely to his desires would destroy him. Such was the fate of the ancient Eldar, who succumbed to the temptations of intellectual conceit and physical pleasure, and whose depravities brought about the fall of the Eldar worlds themselves.

The survivors, the Eldar of the craftworlds, have developed a way to control their own inner natures. Every Eldar chooses for himself a discipline which he then makes it his task to master. Each discipline is rightly called a path, and each path may necessitate further choices and specialisations. For example, the Path of the Warrior has many Aspects, and whilst all enable the Eldar to master the skills of combat, each Warrior Aspect brings with it its own special techniques and abilities. There are innumerable paths, some chosen but rarely, each offering its followers a complete way of life. Amongst the most arduous of all paths is that of the Seer, for the Seers manipulate psychic forces to foretell the future, and Seers of great accomplishment have fearsome powers.

Once an Eldar has mastered a path he then chooses another, and in this way builds up a repertoire of abilities over which he has complete control. An Eldar will travel many different paths in his life, and the skills he learns in each path serve to enrich further accomplishments. A few Eldar may be drawn so deeply along their chosen path that they can never leave it. This is a frightening fate for the Eldar, for anyone who is trapped in this way can never choose another path, but must live out the rest of their life as a living icon of achievement. Such individuals slowly deny the broad range of experience, concentrating increasingly on their path, until their self identity disappears and they become pure expressions of their path. In the case of the Warrior Aspects, these individuals are known as Exarchs.

The Path of the Warrior calls to most Eldar at some time in their long lives. Unlike some of the other Eldar paths, that of the Warrior is divided into many separate ways. Each of these is called a Warrior Aspect, and represents a different facet of the Eldar war god Kaela Mensha Khaine. Every Aspect differs in its methods of warfare, and many offer specialist skills designed for specific battlefield roles. Exactly what draws an Eldar onto the Path of the Warrior is uncertain. Perhaps it is the recognition of an innate destructive impulse in their soul which only ritual training and combat can purge.

Each Warrior Aspect on a craftworld is represented by a shrine. Within these shrines the Aspect Warriors are trained in the lore of combat. Their minds and bodies are honed with endless exercise, both physical and spiritual, until they become suffused with the Aspect of Kaela Mensha Khaine that their shrine represents.

The Aspect Warriors do not live in the shrines, and when they put aside their ritual masks and uniforms they can walk at peace through their craftworld. Only the keepers of the shrine live within them. The Exarchs - the lost ones - are Aspect Warriors who have become so wholly one with their Aspect that they cannot leave the Path of the Warrior. Exarchs emerge from their shrines only in times of war or' conclave, and are held in a mixture of fear and awe by other Eldar.

Although there are many different Warrior Aspects there are some which are common to all, or at least to most craftworlds. These are the Aspects of the Dire Avengers, the Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Shining Spears, Swooping Hawks, Fire Dragons, Dark Reapers and Warp Spiders. Each Aspect has its own warrior costume, a form of ritual battle suit, and distinctive weaponry. When the Eldar go to war, the Warrior Aspects fight in a predetermined role associated with their shrine.

All Aspect Warriors wear a flexible armoured suit of Aspect armour. This is fashioned from a psycho-sensitive material which reacts to the movements of its wearer, moulding and reshaping itself to fit like a glove as the warrior moves and fights. The material itself is quite rigid when the warrior is still, and its surface is reactive to impact so that it stiffens even further if subjected to a blow. Some suits also include inflexible bone-like plates to protect vulnerable areas.

Each of the Warrior Aspects is associated with certain colours and themes which are reflected in the uniforms of their shrine. No shrines use exactly the same uniform, and some shrines have so many warriors that they have varied uniforms so that each fighting squad of warriors is visibly different.

The Dire Avengers represent the Aspect of the war god as noble warrior - merciless to his foes and unstinting in his devotion to his people. They are the least specialised and the most tactically flexible of all Warrior Aspects. They are also the most common, and their shrines are the largest among all of the craftworlds. Their ritual weapon is the shuriken catapult in the use of which they are highly skilled. Of all weapons, this one is most distinctively Eldar and it is a fitting armament for the Dire Avenger as the most archetypal Eldar warrior.

This Warrior Aspect is modelled upon the dragon of Eldar myth, the writhing, sinuous fire-breathing reptile which represents wanton destruction and devastation. Their armour is the colour of fire and flame, and they carry the powerful fusion guns which spew deadly fire. Fire Dragons are experts at close-quarter fighting, where their fusion guns and melta bombs can destroy any foe no matter how well armoured.

In Eldar legend, the Banshee calls the dead spirit into the warp, and its eerie howl is said to be a certain premonition of death. The Banshee's call has an even more sinister implication, for it is said to call spirits from their spirit stones and lure them into the arms of the Chaos gods. Certainly the release of a spirit is often accompanied by a strange call, felt rather than heard, and it has been known for spirits to disperse unexpectedly into the warp when transferring into the spirit stones.

Unlike most other Aspects, the Howling Banshees are almost always female Eldar, for the Banshee is said to be a female spirit. The Howling Banshees are fast and mobile, and their warrior training is in swiftness of foot and mobility. Death, they say, will find you when your time has come, no matter where you may hide, and the same may be said of the Howling Banshees. These Aspect Warriors are armed with shuriken pistols and power swords, weapons of the close-quarter fighter, and it is in hand-to-hand combat that they excel. Their other weapon is the banshee mask, an enclosing death's head helmet which contains a psychosonic amplifier. This device intensifies the warrior's battlecry into a howling shriek of psychic rage. By means of their banshee masks, the warriors focus their enmity, flooding the central nervous system of their adversary with psychic energy and causing temporary paralysis.

Though small, the scorpion is deadly and may sting and kill a creature many times its size. The Warrior Aspect of the Striking Scorpion epitomises the deadly attributes of its namesake, and they are one of the most potent of all close- quarter fighting Aspects. Only the strongest and toughest of the Eldar join this Aspect. Although not as swift as the Howling Banshees, the other common close-quarter fighting Aspect, the Striking Scorpions are more heavily armoured and excel in dense terrain.

The Striking Scorpions' Aspect armour is reinforced with rigid plates that offer more protection than most other Aspects. Their costumes are primarily green, but may incorporate bands of strongly contrasting colours such as black, yellow and orange. Their weapons are the shuriken pistol and chainsword, a combination which is deadly in its own right, but it is reinforced by the Striking Scorpions' unique mandiblaster.

The helmet of the Striking Scorpion incorporates a pair of weapon pods positioned and shaped much like the mandibles of a scorpion. Each pod houses a mandiblaster weapon, an extremely short-ranged weapon, useful at a distance of only a few metres or so. It is fired by means of a psychic node within the helmet.

When fired, the mandiblaster discharges a hail of tiny psycho-conductive crystals, like tiny needles only a few millimetres long. These needles can tear and lacerate exposed flesh, but this is not their principal damaging effect. The deadly sting is actually a psychokinetic laser charge which energises the crystals and creates a tightly controlled plasma discharge. This sting is delivered as the Striking Scorpions enter combat, and can often kill their opponent before they have a chance to fight back.

The Warp Spiders take their name from the tiny creatures which may be seen within the Dome of Crystal Seers amongst the wraithbone trees. These minute sparkling creatures can move anywhere within the craftworld by means of the wraithbone core, melting their bodies into the infinity circuit and crystallising a new location. They have evolved from the psycho-plastics of wnich the craftworld is made, and are therefore able to meld with the Eldar's physical environment, moving through the infinity circuits much like the souls of dead Eldar. In theory, it would be possible for a Daemon of Chaos to find its way into the wraithbone core, although such a thing would be immediately apparent. The tiny warp spiders ensure that this doesn't happen, hunting and destroying alien psychic fragments much as white blood cells in the human body attack and neutralise foreign bacteria.

The Warp Spider Aspect Warriors epitomise the doctrine of aggressive defence. Their costumes and weaponry reflect the tiny warp spiders after which they are named. By means of a compact warp-generator within their armoured shell, the warriors are able to make short warp-jumps, disappearing and reappearing some metres away. This enables them to make sudden and totally unexpected attacks upon their foes. Their ritual weapon is the Death Spinner, which projects a deadly cloud of mono-filament wire ensnaring and contracting around their victims the more they struggle.

The Dark Reapers are the most sinister and most lethal of the Warrior Aspects. They portray the war god as destroyer, and their skull-encrusted costume embodies death as the dark reaper of souls. Their Aspect armour is black or a midnight shade of blue, and it incorporates interlocking plates and heavy limb supports to increase stability when firing the deadly reaper launcher. The Dark Reapers' armour also incorporates sensory and range-finding equipment. This enables the Dark Reapers to lock onto a fast-moving target, and increases their already deadly accuracy still further.

The tactical role of the Dark Reapers is to provide heavy, long-ranged support. Dark Reapers usually take up positions in cover, often behind the main Eldar line of advance, from where they direct their deadly weapons against suitable enemy targets. Their unerring accuracy enables them to dominate the battlefield, pinning down enemy forces before they can advance, and destroying selected targets at will.

In Eldar mythology, the war god Khaela Mensha Khaine carried a great spear that could kill any foe with a single blow. Aspect Warriors of the Shining Spear shrines take this weapon as their inspiration. Uniquely amongst the Aspect Warriors they ride jetbikes, allowing them to strike with the speed of a coiled snake. The laser lance that they carry is designed to fire a powerful laser bolt into enemy ranks, reducing the odds against the Shining Spears before they close to impale their foes.

They are particularly suited to leading massed assaults or pouncing on isolated units. The small size of Shining Spear squads means it is unwise to commit them by themselves, but if they are well-supported they will be more than a match for nearly any foe.

The Swooping Hawks take their name from the wild hunting birds of the Eldar myths which are portrayed as birds of vengeance and retribution. In ancient times the Eldar believed that the spirit of a murdered person would pass into a hawk, in which form it would seek out the murderer, hovering above his head as a mark of guilt for all to see.

The Swooping Hawks are the most mobile of all Aspect Warriors as they have the ability to glide or even to fly high into the air. Their wings are made from vibrating feather plates and incorporate small jet motors and gravitic reaction lifters. When they fly, their wings vibrate with such speed that they turn into a blur of colour and emit a characteristic shrieking note. Their Aspect costumes are coloured like the sky, whether blue and clear or dark and grey, with contrasting bands of colour.

The Swooping Hawks' ritual weapons consist of the multi-barrelled lasblaster and a special pack of grenades. These grenades are contained in a pack strapped to the warrior's leg. Grenades can be removed from the pack and thrown by hand, or discharged directly from the pack whilst in flight, scattering lethal charges over the enemy below. This combination of weapons is especially suited to the Swooping Hawks' role. They often attack the enemy ahead of the main Eldar army, flitting over their foes' heads and discharging grenades, and then attacking in close combat or retiring into cover to use their lasblasters.

The Eldar mind is capable of depth and understanding which goes beyond the concept of mere human obsession. Such obsessions are likened to traps or nets, waiting to catch the unwary upon the Eldar path and hold him fast forever. When an Eldar's mind becomes so tightly focused upon one thing he can no longer make the change to another path. This is a terrible thing for all Eldar, as it is a fate which can befall any of them despite all of their discipline and training.

An Eldar who is lost upon the Path of the Warrior is called an Exarch. Such a fate does not befall an Aspect Warrior quickly, but the repeated exhilaration of battle can act like a dangerous drug upon a warrior's psyche. Aspect Warriors learn to control their warrior-selves, putting on and casting aside their warrior-self as they don or discard their ritual costumes. An Aspect Warrior who becomes an Exarch loses this ability to dissociate himself. This has serious consequences because upon his death an Exarch's soul cannot be freed into the infinity circuit, for its only impulse is to wage war; all other feelings are subordinated to that single deadly desire. When an Aspect Warrior becomes an Exarch he adopts an armoured suit from his shrine, often the very suit worn by one of the shrine's founders. Once put on, the suit is never removed and becomes a permanent part of the Eldar, its psycho-plastic form meshing with his own body tissues. If slain, the warrior's costume will be found to be empty, the body having long since been consumed within the suit itself. Exarch suits are studded with the spirit stones of all the Eldar who have ever worn the suit. Their spirits continue to circulate throughout the suit, like a miniature version of the infinity circuit of the craftworld. It is the presence of this spirit-pool of raw psychic energy that gives the suit and warrior (for the two are indistinguishable) their special warrior powers.

Once he has become an Exarch, a warrior is known by the ancient name associated with his armoured suit. The warrior's personality flows into the spirit-pool of the suit and is conjoined with the personalities of all the other Eldar who have ever worn it. Their lives and experiences meld with his own, and his name is added to the long list that constitutes the suit's full title. It is the first Exarch whose name alone denotes the warrior within, and whose personality remains strongest within the spirit-pool. Thus an Aspect Warrior who becomes an Exarch is reborn as an ancient warrior hero.

Exarchs do not leave their shrines except in times of war or high conclave. Even the smallest shrines are extensive structures with areas dedicated to training, instruction and ceremony. Each shrine has its own armoury, and its own inner sanctum where the Exarchs administer the rites of war before the altar of the Bloody-handed God. It is here that the Exarchs recite the battle songs of old and mark the warriors' bodies with runes of blood before they don their Aspect's armoured suits in readiness for war. In this way, the Exarchs are the priests and guardians of the shrines, as well as armourers and instructors who will guide their fellow Eldar along the Path of the Warrior.

The Exarchs' ritual armoured costumes and weapons are unique and incredibly ancient. Invariably their weapons are extremely potent and their abilities are far more developed than even the finely-honed warrior skills of the Aspects. The spirit-pool of each armoured suit combines the lives and abilities of all the Eldar who have ever worn it, a sum total of energy which far outstrips that of any ordinary Eldar. The Exarchs' skills reflect the Aspect of the shrine to which they belong. Their armoured suits to some extent resemble those of their shrine's uniform.

A few of the most ancient Exarchs have no shrines and no craftworld to call their home. They wander from world to world, instinctively driven by war, attracted by places of great danger and need. These Exarchs are known as the Phoenix Lords and they are great heroes amongst the Eldar race. During moments of desperation they appear, sometimes just one but often several depending upon the perils faced. Following in the path of the Bloody-handed God, their names are well known throughout the craftworlds, and their deeds form part of the legends of the Eldar.

No one knows exactly how many Phoenix Lords there are, for some are seen but rarely, while others disappear for millennia only to reappear suddenly and unexpectedly. Some have undoubtedly perished far away, their suits lying upon some hostile world awaiting discovery by some predestined Eldar warrior doomed to don the armour and become the ancient hero for another cycle of his existence.

Some of the Phoenix Lords are as old as the Fall. They were heroes during the cataclysm, and were the first to bear the spirit stones of the Warrior Aspects. Perhaps they never reached the craftworlds and so never founded their own shrine as others did, or maybe their shrines have since been destroyed along with their craftworlds. Whatever their past, they are the most fearsome of all Exarchs, and the most powerful warriors of all the Eldar.