Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Harlequin

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Jump to: navigation, search

The Harlequins, as you may or may not know, are a faction of the Eldar race to whom the responsibility of remembrance falls. They travel from Craftworld to Craftworld, keeping the legends and ancient history of the Eldar race alive through their dance, drama and martial performance. The Harlequins are both servants of the Laughing God - the only deity of their race to survive the mighty Fall - and custodians of the hallowed Black Library of Chaos.

For the Harlequins there is no distinction between art and war; they are the archetypal warrior poets, travelling the labyrinthine expanses of the Webway, bringing enlightenment to their audiences and certain death to the servants of darkness.

High Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak, Letters to the Casophilians.[12]

The Harlequins, or Rillietann[1a], are a unique subset of the Eldar race, who split their time between being talented battlefield fighters and theatrical performers. They exist outside of normal Eldar society and hold no allegiance to any Craftworld, Kabal, or other form of authority other than to their own belief in the Eldar deity Cegorach, the Laughing God.[1a]

Harleq.jpg

History

Harlequins battle Daemons

Harlequins date back to the ancient Eldar Empire. They first appeared amid the hedonistic debauchery of the pre-Fall Eldar to perform their ancient mythic dances. These acts sought to remind their people of all that they were throwing away. However, many amongst their audiences reacted with hostility, forcing these early Harlequins to become proficient in combat.[14c]

During the Fall of the Eldar, the Laughing God Cegorach managed to escape destruction at the hands of Slaanesh. The followers of Cegorach were hidden safely away within the Webway and survived the disaster intact. Yet immediately after the Fall, the Harlequins vanished into the Webway to prepare for a war that would consume their future utterly. After centuries of isolation, the Harlequins made their spectacular return in M33 when the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow burst from the Webway upon the world of Llayen Nuadh to drive back a horde of Slaaneshi Daemons, rescuing Ulthwe forces in the process.[14c]

Ghosts of the Webway

Harlequins carry out several self-appointed duties since their first reappearance after the Fall of the Eldar, the most central of which is putting on theatrical performances of Eldar History. Their belief system is intertwined with the Fall, as Cegorach is one of the few Eldar deities reckoned to have survived it in some way. The Harlequins believe that his intrinsic light-hearted personality ensured he kept his distance from the depravity and corruption that became Slaanesh and that he survives to this day, often taking the form of a Harlequin himself - with those that meet him in this guise only becoming aware of his presence after he has left.[1a]

As the Eldar are a scattered race, Harlequins constantly tour the domains of their species (as well as other places; Harlequins believe other species should be told the stories of the Eldar as well) in their duty to perform. The dual-aspect of their nature serves them well when abroad in the galaxy, as Harlequins are reckoned to be the deadliest combatants of all the Eldar. Their acrobatic and deceptive skills, as well as their unique weapons and equipment, render them such mystifying and terrifying enemies that some of the less-developed races of the galaxy have incorporated them into their mythology as magical spirits or eldritch monsters.[1a]

Recruitment

No Eldar is born a Harlequin, all of their number are recruited among greater Eldar society, be they Craftworlder, Dark Eldar, or Exodite. Some are supposedly drawn from amid bustling crowds, beckoned into the shadows by a masked figure only they can see. Others simply vanish from their personal chambers. Others are swept up in a Harlequin performance and stolen away, lose a wager with a Troupe Master, or follow mysterious laughter into a Webway Gate. Every Eldar culture has strange and cautionary tales regarding the Harlequins as a result.[14a]

Whatever the means of becoming a Harlequin, to become one means erasing all that has come before including friends, family, and purpose. However it happens, once an Eldar becomes a Harlequin, every aspect of their old identity is erased. Each joins a Light, Twilight, or Dark Troupe and assumes a new role at the direction of their Troupe Master. These roles - each known by a ritual character name such as the Sun Prince or Shaimesh the Poisoner or Webway Witch - inform every facet of the Harlequin's new personality. Just as the Eldar on the Craftworlds funnel every aspect of their psyche into a single Path, so the Harlequins turn their minds absolutely to playing their allotted role. Known as the Theyldh, this process of becoming their "true" self is far more intense than anything experienced by any other performer in the galaxy.[14a]

As the 41st Millennium comes to a close, more and more Eldar vanish into the Webway, forsaking their past lives and taking up a Harlequin mask.[11b]

The Harlequins fight alongside us, that much is certain. But do they fight with us? For us? That, I have less faith in. Whatever they once were is gone, subsumed by their masks, their saedath, their Laughing God and his enigmatic agenda.

So must I wonder; are we aught more than tools to them? Or do the servants of Cegorach use us and our Drukhari and Exodite cousins just as we manipulate and direct the younger races of this troubled galaxy? If so, to what ends? Their strength is welcome, but their intentions trouble me deeply.[14f]

- Farseer Gaeloch of Craftworld Iybraesil

The Great Stage

The Great Stage

Harlequins are able to move across the galaxy by traversing the Webway, the quasi-dimensional creation of the race known as the Old Ones. It is said that Cegorach is the only being in existence who knows every single path through the webway. This might explain how his disciples possess such an intimate knowledge of its twists and turns, for the Harlequins walk the webway without fear, appearing and disappearing at will. So well versed are they in the webway’s secret routes that many other Aeldari have credited the servants of the Laughing God with supernatural powers. The Harlequins utilize their knowledge of the webway’s hidden paths to outmaneuver their foes and strike from unexpected quarters. In this way, entire masques of Harlequins can position themselves in ambush, guaranteeing the element of surprise.[14e]

The Black Library

The Harlequins, along with other mysterious guardians, watch over and protect the Black Library inside of the webway. It's said that they use its vast collected secrets to aid them in the war against Chaos.[11b]

Since the Fall of the Eldar, a crystal tome bounded with chains of light has rested upon an obsidian plinth at the heart of the Black Library. As fabled events came to pass, so those chains faded one by one until the tome opened shortly before the opening of the Great Rift. Revealed within were writings said to have been written by Cegorach itself, telling of a final act that changed utterly the tale of the Fall. Instead of the ultimate victory of Chaos in the Rhana Dandra, the final act tells of Cegorach's ultimate jest that would trick Slaanesh into expending all of her energies to save the Eldar instead of destroying them. How such an event could come to pass remains unclear.[14c]

The Dance Without End

Eldar Harlequin[4]

"The Dance" is the greatest of the Harlequins' works, telling of the Fall of the Eldar. It is performed only rarely as only a Solitaire (who often stay distant from even the rest of the Harlequins) is capable of playing the role of Slaanesh. Nine troupers dance the part of the old race, while three Avatars dance the part of the Fallen gods. As the dance reaches the climax of the Fall, the Solitaire leaps into view, appearing as Slaanesh. One by one, seven figures appear behind Slaanesh to mingle with the old race. First, four Mimes, appearing as daemons who pass their sensual and disturbing movements to the rest of the dancers. Secondly come three dark figures, the Death Jesters, their suits displaying skeletons as they leap and slay among the fallen gods, bringing their inert forms to the feet of Slaanesh. As the last god falls, the Warlocks emanate a psychic scream that echoes through the minds of the audience. The scream becomes a laugh of madness and depravity. As the High Avatar enters, there is within the laugh, another, ironic laugh. As the Laughing God, he strolls casually onstage, laughing at the cosmic folly of the fallen. For a moment he is lost among Slaanesh's servants, but leaps clear of their tumbling to face them. One of the dancers he drags free of Slaanesh, the writhing figures on the dancer's suit dissolving and taking on the lozenge pattern of the Laughing God. The rest of Slaanesh's servants fall or flee, at which point Slaanesh confronts the Laughing God. The battle, which seems to go on forever, ends suddenly, unresolved.[1d]

The Masque

Harlequins have no formal leaders, being a collective of like-minded players each of them profoundly aware of its role.[14b]

Organization of a Harlequin Masque

They perform around the galaxy as masques. A masque is both an army and a company of Troupers that are accompanied by specialist performers.[1a]

The Masque[14d]

The Soloist

A Troupe is a number of ordinary Harlequins referred to as Troupers who have chosen a Light, Twilight, or Dark role, and are led by a Troupe Master.

Harlequin masques function with brutal efficiency, able to operate with extreme cohesion and coordination despite lacking a formal military chain of command and having little direction upon the battlefield.[14b]

Saedath

Each of the Masque's mythic plays has a battlefield counterpart, known as the Saedath or Masque Form. Essentially a strategic battle plan with an allegorical aspect, these inform target priority, overall strategy, and by which troupe division the conflict will be led. The appropriate Saedath is chosen based upon mythic cycles, ritual significance, or even the time of day.[14b]

  • The most famous Saedath is Cegorach's Revenge, the military counterpart of the Fall of the Eldar that values high-speed sorrow-driven slaughter over subtlety or cunning.[14b]

Some Saedath's are closely associated with a Masque :[14f]

  • The Art of Death (Midnight Sorrow)
  • Riddle-Smiths (Veiled Path)
  • Hysterical Fury (Frozen Stars)
  • Sombre Sentinels (Dreaming Shadows)
  • Dance of Nightmares made Flesh(Silent Shroud)
  • the Serpent's Brood (Soaring Spite)

Other famous Saedath can be performed by any Masque :[14b]

  • the Hundred Swords of Vaul
  • the Torments of the Fiery Pit
  • Isha's Weeping.
  • Heroes Path (which sees a Death Jester and Shadowseer play the roles of Ulthanash and Eldanesh and a Solitaire embodying their pride)
  • Faolchu's Blade (which sees a formation of Skyweavers and Voidweavers scream down upon the enemy to embody the Great Hawk's consort as she bore the sword of Anaris to Eldanesh's hand)
  • Cegorach's Jest (which sees Voidreakers and Skyweavers blasting a path to a "prize" to evoke the Laughing God's efforts to humble Kurnous)

Known Harlequin Masques

Famous Masques

Other masques

Technology

Harlequins posses several distinctive pieces of costuming/equipment, most notably their Agaith; false-faces. These masks come with various Eldar forms of auto-senses and respirators, and, with the exception of the blank Shadowseer masks, are highly ornamented. Avatars typically possess a more advanced version equipped with holo-generators that allows it to not only adopt numerous styles, but record and replay whatever the Harlequin has seen. This is normally used to replay the death-agonies of enemies... to other enemies. These morale-breaking devices are called marathags ("Face of Death").[1e]

Even compared to other Eldar, Harlequins are graceful and lithe; they augment this natural prowess with so-called 'flip-belts' that generate a small anti-gravitic field around them and allow them to leap unnaturally high.[1a] They also wear holo-suits; sophisticated substitutes for armour that also aid theatrical performance. When set to battle-conditions, whenever the Harlequin moves, their image is shattered into a cloud of crystal shards that dance and swirl around with vigour proportional to the speed the Harlequin is moving.[1e]

Harlequins are also noted for their exotic and deadly combat weapons. The most gruesome of these is the Harlequin's Kiss, which resembles a sharpened tube, tapering to a wicked point, fixed to a warrior's forearm. The tube is actually filled with monofilament wires. When the Kiss is punched into a victim, the wires uncoil and flail around, slicing the victim apart from the inside.[1e]

Spirit Stones

Harlequins, unlike Craftword or Exodite Eldar, do not wear or use spirit stones to preserve their souls from being devoured by Slaanesh upon their death. Instead, the Harlequins posses a secret that allows their souls to escape Slaanesh's jaws. However, it's not a secret they're willing to share with their wider Eldar kin.[11a]

Notable Harlequins

Images

Related Articles

Sources

Uncited


Harlequin Forces
Command High AvatarHigh Warlock
Specialists ShadowseerDeath JesterSolitaireWarlockMaster Mime
Troops TrouperTroupe MasterMime
Vehicles SkyweaverStarweaverEldar JetbikeVenom
Heavy Support Voidweaver