Lyanna Narésiel

*"Why do we, as a people, continue to derive such a meaningless existence across the stars we once owned? Why do we subject ourselves to the tyranny of the Path? The oppressive needs of wanton sadism to extend our own lives? We Aeldari are meant to live free, unbound by rules or petty politicking. That is what I offer you, my kin; I offer you the opportunity to truly live, not just survive."*

-Lyanna Narésiel, Corsair Princess of the Stardancer Corsairs addressing new recruits to her fleet and philosophising on the nature of the Aeldari race.
Lyanna Narésiel is a young Corsair Princess originally from Craftworld Ithyl-Loc, now leading her own Corsair fleet known as the Stardancer Corsairs.

Possessing an uncanny gift of personal magnetism and charm, she built her fleet from almost nothing, drawing more to her cause with every passing victory. She conducted covert raids on small targets to gather the resources to expand and word quickly spread of their successes.

She can be rash, headstrong and hot-headed, traits ascribed to her constant struggle to get out from the shadow of her mother, Thalinia Narésiel, an Autarch whose military conquests almost single-handedly saved the Craftworld from certain doom, culminating in slaying a Tyranid Hive Tyrant in single combat.

Nevertheless, for her faults she has proven herself a capable leader over the Stardancer Corsairs currently brief existence, showing a great deal of empathy for those under her command and never sending her Corsairs into battles she is not willing to stand shoulder to shoulder on the front lines with them for.

## History

*"I want to craft my own legacy, win my own fame, gain my own glory. I simply cannot do that if I remain on the Craftworld. If I ever want to cast my own shadow, I must step out of the ones cast by my family."*

-Corsair Princess Lyanna Narésiel
### A Privileged Upbringing

Lyanna was born during a time of prosperity for Craftworld Ithyl-Loc. The Craftworld had recently enjoyed a string of military victories and conquests across the galaxy, with very few losses of Aeldari life and their population growth had moved into a position where they were no longer a Craftworld in decline, a rarity for their people. Not only this, Lyanna was born to the Craftworld's hero who almost single-handedly won this time of prosperity for them, Autarch Thalinia Narésiel.

However, this proved both a blessing and a curse for young Lyanna. She wanted for nothing as she grew up and first embarked upon the Path of the Artisan, following her father's footsteps as she developed her skills as an artist over many years. It was only when she left the Path of the Artisan and moved onto the Path of the Warrior where it started to dig into her psyche. Everything she achieved was met with quiet expectation. Whatever happened, she could not seem to impress or gain any measure of fame herself. She constantly strived for perfection, developing very impressive skills as part of the Howling Banshee temple, but she learned that all of her accomplishments were simply compared to those of her mother. There were no opportunities to step out of her mother's shadow, since the Craftworld was enjoying a time of peace there were no chances to prove herself in battle.

### Forging Her Own Fate

After leaving the Path of the Warrior, Lyanna had a falling out with her mother. It was expected that Lyanna would follow in her mother's footsteps and become an Autarch, however Lyanna simply did not wish to. She expressed her thoughts to her mother and the two had an argument; Thalinia called her daughter a petulant brat, which Lyanna did not take well. She sought solace with her aunt, Farseer Lireia Narésiel, and opened up about her feelings and talked of her concerns for her future; she also asked Lireia what the skeins of fate had planned for her. Casting the runes, the Farseer said that there are countless branches for the fate of an individual, but reassured Lyanna not to worry and that she would have many chances to prove herself as she was still very young for an Aeldari.

The first step of her plan was to join the Path of the Mariner, learning to steer capital class ships. The second part of her plan took many years to fully realise, allowing her time to master her craft as a steersman as she attended social gatherings and maintained connections to those she had practiced alongside during her time as a member of the Howling Banshee shrine. She planted whispers in the ears of her fellow Asuryani, sowing seeds of discontent with Craftworld life and implanting a desire for freedom of its shackles.

Word of this reached Thalinia, who used her own influence to keep the topic from Craftworld leadership, as she knew that such actions would constitute a temporary exile of Lyanna in the form of walking the Path of the Outcast. When she confronted Lyanna about it, hoping that Lyanna would see reason and stop sowing dissent among other young Aeldari of the Craftworld, it backfired and Lyanna instead enacted the plan she had been working on since their last argument.

Stealing a ship and rallying those discontent with the constraints of the Path and the authoritarian discipline of the Craftworld, Lyanna fled the Craftworld. However, while she had planned for a pursuit from her act of larceny, none came. In truth, it was Lireia, her aunt, who persuaded the Craftworld leadership not to stop her, warning that the Craftworld would need her as much as she would need the Craftworld in the future.

### Birth of the Stardancers

Having left the strict rigidity of the Craftworld life behind, the collection of mostly young Aeldari were at a loss for what to do with their newly acquired freedom. They had lived under the Path system for so long that none of them really knew what to do now that they were unconstrained, so Lyanna provided direction for them: piracy. There were many targets small enough for them to hit and ripe for the taking, with many more targets available once they grew in size and power. They targeted indiscriminantly, any non-Aeldari target they could realistically hit was potential for profit and they found raiding to be quite profitable. Lyanna named their newly formed Corsair band the Stardancer Corsairs and their flagship, the Song of Lileath, after the Aeldari goddess of fortune, dreams, psychic energy and innocence.

As they were only a single ship, Lyanna chose to conduct her raids through stealth, opting to avoid conflict where possible. Her Corsairs would covertly land on a planet, make their way on foot to their target, sneak in and steal whatever they wanted before bugging out and leaving the target baffled at why items were missing. She conducted many successful raids this way, stealing large quantities of supplies, artworks, alien relics and more over the years. She even attracted a few more ships to her banner, as word of her success reached far and wide as the Stardancer Corsairs lived their lives to the fullest.

Once they had filled their cargo holds with plunder, the Corsairs needed to find a place to trade it. They all knew where they could go, but there was a growing unease among the crew about actually making the journey.

### Captive in Commorragh

Lyanna set course for the dark city of Commorragh, knowing it was the best place to trade their plunder for various supplies and hired hands that they would need if she wanted to expand her fleet, however she was well aware of the dangers that the dark city held. When she docked in the dark city, she told her second in command, a Corsair Baron and former Shining Spear named Aryn Nerelith, that nobody was to leave the ship without her permission. She explained her reasoning, since everything she had heard about Commorragh as a child was awful and she did not wish to needlessly endanger her crew, who she believed were not hardened enough yet to survive the streets of Commorragh.

Her trading was successful, thanks in no small part to her personal magnetism and charm, though it soon became apparent she grossly underestimated her own abilities to survive on Commorragh. As she headed from one meeting to another, she was plucked from the streets by what appeared to be a roving band of Hellions, swooping in and grabbing her off her feet to carry her up and up into the skies of the dark city. They laughed and made jokes about dropping her and seeing how long it would take for her to hit the ground, occasionally letting go and letting her fall only for another to catch her a hundred or so metres below. Though they joked, they never fully dropped her. With her heart pounding from the numerous near-death experiences at the hands of the Hellion pack, she was deposited in front of an armoured individual. He stood up, examined the terrified young Corsair and slapped chains on her with a sadistic grin on his face.

### Fighting in the Gladiatorial Arena

Her time in Commorragh would go from bad to worse as she was dragged before an Aeldari woman with the appearance of a Wych. Lyanna was traded to this woman as payment for an upcoming realspace raid, though this had Lyanna confused. From what she knew of Drukhari culture, a single slave for cooperation of an entire realspace raid was typically unheard of, so she mustered up the courage and asked as she was being led away by the Wych. The woman laughed and confessed that Lyanna was a very special captive to her, and she wanted to see how well she'd perform in the arena. Any further questioning was met with silence and an ever-present grin on the Wych's face. As she was tossed into the arena pit of the Cult of the Crimson Dance, the Wych whispered in her ear. *"I want to see if greatness runs in the family."*

Training as a Howling Banshee was a definite advantage as she dodged and weaved around opponents sent to fight her. She fought a group of humans armed with crude weapons while she was only equipped with her bare hands, though after besting them she picked up two of the crude swords they had been equipped with and proceeded to cut her way through Tyranids, Kroot, more humans including an unarmoured Space Marine, and a variety of creatures she had never seen before. Eventually, she was pitted against a single Wych, a Hekatrix known as Lerian Andaryn, one of the Wych Cult's up and coming gladiators.

It was clear she wasn't a match for him. She was already bleeding from wounds sustained in her previous battles, she was tired, bruised and battered, having lost count of how long she had been fighting by this point. Lerian was toying with her and it was clear he could have killed her at any moment. As she lay defeated, agoniser barbs cutting into her neck and toxins mostly paralysing her body, fate intervened as a huge Tyranid Carnifex started to rampage through the arena. Sensing the new challenge, Lerian leapt at his chance to fight the Carnifex, leaving Lyanna on the ground. Lyanna managed to crawl from the arena in the commotion, willing herself on through sheer stubbornness and desire to not die in this arena.

Once she got through the gate the Carnifex had busted through, she was immediately grabbed and dragged onto a jetbike as she blacked out from the venoms coursing through her veins as well as blood loss and general trauma. She was awoken on the Song of Lileath by Baron Nerelith, saying there was something she had to deal with before they could leave. Shakily, she made her way to the bridge and saw a large coalition of Drukhari around their ship, weapons at the ready and Hekatrix Lerian Andaryn at the front.

She confronted him in front of the ship, expecting a fight and giving Baron Nerelith orders to escape if the opportunity presented itself, however Lerian expressed his wish to join her, along with the Drukhari warriors present. Confused, Lyanna asked why, to which he replied that he wanted to see where these Corsairs would go and how their fleet would develop. Plus, he found it comical that Lyanna was the granddaughter of the Master Succubus of his Wych Cult and wanted to see Lyanna grow stronger to depose her, then he could take power. He also expressed that if she didn't accept his offer, her ships would never leave Commorragh. While she didn't trust him, his threat was not an empty one and she agreed, though she instructed Baron Nerelith to keep an eye on them.

### The Great Rift

With the substantial reinforcements and supplies from their stop in Commorragh, Lyanna directed her Corsairs back to raiding, which they did most successfully. She started to hit larger targets and her fleet started to swell more, as more flocked to join her cause and it was this time she met Anatheia Telastren, a potent psyker who became the fleet's primary Void Dreamer, as well as Lyanna's closest advisor. The older, more experienced Aeldari woman was the perfect counterbalance to Lyanna's hot-headedness, often guiding her away from foolish actions. Furthermore, it seemed that Lerian was proving his worth on the fleet, providing a figure of leadership for the Drukhari members of the fleet. At the suggestion of Void Dreamer Telastren, Lyanna appointed Lerian the title of Baron, to provide a stable point of leadership for the Drukhari and prevent unrest among a now sizeable chunk of the fleet's population.

Though with all the successes came a huge setback when the Great Rift tore through realspace. Lyanna's Corsair fleet was caught too close and countless daemons materialised onboard their ships. Unfortunately, Lyanna was bogged down defending the bridge of the Song of Lileath as the daemons swarmed in and threatened to overtake the ship. She fought for what felt like hours cutting through daemonettes until their leader presented itself and a duel formed in the middle of the bridge. All the while, Lyanna was trying to get into a position to direct her fleets, but every time she tried, the Herald of Slaanesh was there to stop her. She lost many ships, but fortunately while Lyanna was holding the bridge along with her Bladesworn bodyguards, Anatheia managed to guide the fleet's psykers to construct wards to cut off the daemonic reinforcements.

With the reinforcements cut off, Lyanna and her Bladesworn managed to cut down the remaining daemons and guide the fleet away from the Great Rift. However, a large chunk of the fleet had been wiped out in the fighting.

### Returning Home

After taking inventory and gathering the soulstones of dead Corsairs who used them as protection, Lyanna was faced with a dilemma. She had a large collection of soulstones and nothing to do with them. She could not simply hold onto them, for the risk of their destruction would be far too great and this would condemn every one of the souls to Slaanesh's possession. She would have to deposit them into an Infinity Circuit. She had to return to her Craftworld.

When the Corsairs arrived on the Craftworld, nobody wanted to set foot outside their ships. Only Lyanna herself left their ships and made her way to see her parents again, fully expecting the largest dressing-down of her life, particularly from her mother. However, when they met, Thalinia simply embraced her daughter, confessing she had been worried after she heard about what happened to the fleet and agreeing that the Craftworld would accept these souls into their Infinity Circuit. Lyanna wept for the lost souls of her crew, though her mother informed her of the creation of Ynnead, the new Aeldari God of Death. Explaining that it was still a contentious topic within even the Craftworld, Thalinia explained that they finally had a chance of fighting back against Slaanesh, as well as gaining some security for their people after death. When asked if she would also join the Ynnari cause, Lyanna agreed in a heartbeat, but said she would not force her crew to follow her on this path.

After saying their goodbyes, and leaving on far better terms this time, Lyanna addressed her remaining Corsairs, explaining that she intended to fight under the Ynnari banner and that anyone who wished to leave could do so. However, much to her surprise, none of the survivors jumped ship. They had all experienced a very real reminder that She Who Thirsts was still out there and still hungry for their souls, so the idea of finally fighting back was an idea that appealed to them.

### The Ardraxian Campaign

The first campaign the Stardancer Corsairs participated in since fighting under the Ynnari banner took them to the Ardraxis Sub-Sector, a large, industrial Imperial sub-sector. When Lyanna arrived, she found the sub-sector already the site of a massive conflict between the Imperium, the forces of Chaos and a splinter fleet from Hive Fleet Kraken.

The Corsairs have been aiding the Imperium from the shadows, raiding Chaos fortresses and eliminating Tyranid threats while remaining hidden. Their plan was to stay out of sight and out of mind, especially wary of the Tyranid infestation, though learning of the reasons for the Imperium's desperate defence of the sub-sector, Lyanna's priorities shifted. Instead of simply impacting the campaign from the shadows, Lyanna made it one of their objectives to loot the Inquisitorial caches so that they could later extort the Imperium. If whatever was in these vaults was truly so valuable that the Imperium wouldn't just proclaim Exterminatus on such an infested sub-sector, Lyanna was sure she could command a great price from the Imperium, especially if she could sell the idea that she had liberated them from the forces of Chaos.

## Wargear

* Corsair Jet Pack - Corsair Jet Packs are wargear used by Eldar Corsairs. These differ from the crude solid fuel Jump Packs used by more primitive races, instead utilizing sophisticated gravitic vanes and pulse impellers to enable the wearer to maneuver with grace and ease. Corsairs often use these jet packs to carry out surface raids and ship-to-ship boarding assaults, able to operate them psychically without conscious thought. These jetpacks, however, do not have the ability to cover large distances, unlike those worn by Swooping Hawks.
* Shadowfield - A Shadowfield is a rare defensive item that surrounds any person in a dark miasma of energy that Lyanna secured during her second visit to Commorragh. The field requires a great deal of concentration to activate, and a massive amount of self-confidence to maintain. On top of that it can hide the wielder at will in aura of darkness. However it is not indestructible and can be overloaded with enough damage, leaving the wielder vulnerable.
* Forceshield - Forceshields are force field generators worn by Aeldari warriors, most commonly Autarchs, though some fall into Corsair hands, such as the one wielded by Lyanna. The force field generator is a wrist-mounted device, setting it apart from the more clunky and restrictive armour used by other races.
* Void Sabre - Void Sabres are archaic weapons seem most frequently among Aeldari Corsairs. Crafted from wraithbone interlaced with a rare anathemic crystal found upon Dead Worlds orbiting the edge of the Ghoul Stars, Void Sabres are considered by some within the Aeldari race to be accursed. However in many Corsair bands these weapons are considered status symbols.
* Fusion Gun - The Fusion Gun is a melta weapon developed by the Aeldari and commonly used by the Fire Dragon Aspect Warriors, as well as Storm Guardian units. This powerful weapon has a short range, but is capable of reducing an enemy battle tank to a pile of molten slag or vaporize an enemy soldier in under a second. Lyanna prefers the powerful, yet short range of the Fusion Gun, since it cuts through the heavy, clunky armour of many enemies she encounters, as well as threatening vehicles or monsters of the same.
* Fusion Pistol - The Fusion Pistol is an Eldar Fusion Weapon. The Fusion Pistol is the compact pistol version wielded by Harlequins. The weapon has a short range, but its elegance is matched only by its potency. This is Lyanna's sidearm of choice as pulling it out during a melee fight has been the end of many opponents where its short range is incredibly devastating.