Eldar Gambit

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## Synopsis

In this alternate universe, Eldrad Ulthran meets the Emperor the day before the final assault on Horus' flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, offering assistance in exchange for closer Aeldari/Human cooperation later on. The basis of the pact is that instead of taking the mortal blow that Horus throws at Him on accident, the Emperor absorbs it deliberately, and uses the energy of His own death to attack the Chaos Gods directly, specifically Slaanesh. He steals the stomach of Slaanesh and incorporates it into Himself, so now all Aeldari souls will go directly to Him when they die, keeping them safe from the depredations of Chaos. There are Space Marines with Soul Stones to keep them protected from Chaos, a fractured Adeptus Mechanicus (with three factions - Traitor, Loyalist, Machine God fanatics) and much more.

## Timeline

Near the end of the Horus Heresy, the Emperor laid broken and dying, having just obliterated his favored son, Horus. His hubris has led to this, the culmination in all the follies of man.

However, days beforehand, he was contacted one last time by Eldrad, prime farseer of the Eldar. Though no amount of time could make up for the willful ignorance he had shown throughout the entire civil war, he knew that he could at least deny the Chaos gods a universe of souls to fall slowly to corruption and a stagnant, crumbling empire.

In his final battle with his son, the Emperor allows a single blow to pierce his armor, and find itself deep within his arm. The Ruinous Powers glory in their puppet's strike, only to find out all too soon what the Emperor has planned. Instantly, the Emperor strikes at the Dark Gods through his own son, the mental strain immediately shattering his soul apart as the Eye ripples in agony. Billions of Daemons shriek as they are annihilated beyond recovery, and their masters themselves feel a terrible blow across them. But none more than Slaanesh. For the Emperor has fulfilled his part of the deal with the Xeno Arch-Witch, and with such force and command that only he could muster, the Emperor rips his hands into the Prince's gut, and pulls out the Daemon-God's stomach. In an act of barbarity dating back to the Emperor's very birth, he devours it.

The Emperor finally falls to the ground, dying. Desperately, he is brought to the Golden Throne, with hope that in the future, he might be saved.

But the Emperor is not yet dead, or unable to speak. Mustering all his strength to give one last coherent order to his people, he explains the pact made with the Eldar. After devouring the stomach of Slaanesh, he now inherits all the souls of the Eldar who die from this point onwards. Their souls shall join with his for all eternity, safe and able to help him project his will. With such an influx of powerful psyker souls, only a handful of human psykers meditating with him will be needed to maintain the Astronomicon he had hoped to perfect.

The Eldar, with their souls secure, will now devote themselves to the preservation of Man, as was agreed. The Imperium's cause is now their own, and shall remain so until the Emperor can rise up once more to defeat Slaanesh forever. As such, they are now a major faction of the Imperium, and the worship of their gods is just as allowed and open as Machine Cult's own religion.

This action altered the course of the future in drastic ways. Initially, many within the Imperium were opposed to working with the xenos, and vice versa, but being the last degree of the Emperor the remaining loyal Primarchs upheld it. The Imperium of Man was quickly restricted in a similar fashion as in the OTL, but this time the Craftworld Eldar are included into a new Grand Imperium.

Over the next centuries, the Imperium began to reassert itself. With the death of so many daemons and the severe weakening of the Chaos Gods meant that many of the fallen space marines were hunted down and their traitor Primarchs mostly hid within the Warp. Those they remained were captured by wraithbone thanks to the Eldar, imprisoned in the Black Vaults on various worlds. This did come at the cost of many of the loyal Primarchs, who all died or disappeared over the ages.

The Eldar grew to become good allies with the Imperium, though a little stand off-ish. They began settling many worlds and experienced a new revitalization of their culture, while providing technology and military aid to the Imperium. The Eldar became soldiers, guardians, teachers, and in some cases even friends with humanity.

However, not all within the Imperium got along with the alien race. Butting heads with Eldar, the more zealous adherents of the Machine Cult become increasingly insular, distrustful of the xenos and their heretical technology. Other factions, such as the Inquisition, had issues as well, and the Eldar themselves had to fight several conflicts with other craftworlds to finally bring them under Imperial rule.

Despite these grievances, the Imperium prospered. The Age of Apostacy never occurred, though the Kindred War, the Xenocide Wars, and the Midnight Crusades all shook up the Imperium during this time. The greatest of these was the Age of Wrath, a century long period when many portions of the Imperium began genocides of the Eldar and openly fought against them. In addition, the forces of chaos began to regroup and launched several major incursion and campaigns against the Imperium in its weakness. Ultimately, the conflict ended with the Eldar firmly established as the Imperium’s allies and the forced recognition of their rights to exist.

It is been 10,000 years since that Horus Heresy, and in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war. But it is war where Man and Eldar stand united and victory does not too seem far away. Things are changing across the galaxy, and the Time of Ending has begun. But this is not an ending to the Imperium, but rather the end to its foes. New evils and factions have arisen, such as the necrons and tyranids, while old foes are uniting and organizing, such as the forces of chaos and the dark eldar. But the Imperium is not yet defenseless. Ancient Primarchs are being returned, while the gods of the Eldar are reemerging. And above them all the God-Emperor churns in his endless sleep, and many anticipate his awakening as a true god, one capable of finally ending chaos forever. All prepare for the final war and the final battle, when the fate of the grim darkness of the far future will be determined.

## Factions

### Forces of Imperial Order

#### Craftworld Eldar/Asuryani

Thanks to the efforts of Eldrad, most of the Craftworld Eldar allied with the Imperium. While many had apprehensions, in the modern day the remaining Asuryani have formed an old bond with mankind. While less populated, the craftworlds are still important parts of Eldar society, and have even become home to many humans as well. They often function as living battlefleets, capable of moving and attacking enemies of the Imperium, great mobile military fortress of doom and destruction. They mostly consists of military and warrior Eldar.

Some craftworlds did not want to join the Imperium, most notably Biel-Tan, but after the Kindred War they were given little choice, and many Eldar now revere the Emperor of Mankind.

• Alaitoc

• Black Library

• Biel-Tan

• Iyanden

• Saim-Hann

• Ulthwé

• Altansar

• Il-Kaithe

• Iybraesil

• Kaelor

• Lugganath

• Mymeara

• And many more

#### Imperial/Exodite Eldar

Many Eldar started leaving their homes and colonized worlds, expand freely and openly, due to their overwhelming protection thanks to the Imperium. They settled or colonized some Imperial Worlds granted to them and settled newer ones as well. They have their own distinct culture but interact with humanity to varying degrees, ranging from distant to nearly inseparable. The original Exodite Eldar were converted by the Imperium and their lands were given to their space-faring kin.

The Eldar population has exploded, and most now try to live simple and disciplined lives, following various paths throughout their lives. They still worship their own gods, most notably being Khaine (whose avatars now fight for the Imperium) and Isha, and also the Emperor, whom they call Ynnead. Many Eldar believe that with enough power the Emperor could grow strong enough to free Isha from Nurgle’s control. This has made them surprisingly quite pro-humanity and prp-Imperium, to varying degrees of course. High Farseer Eldrad, one of the High Lords of Terra, himself believes that there will come a day when the God-Emperor is reborn and a new pantheon will be created, one that will unite humanity and the Aeldari to finally crush chaos forever.

#### Harlequins

The Harlequins are still around, and worship Cegorach, who has somewhat allied with the Imperial Emperor. They remain largely neutral, but are the sworn enemies to Chaos and Slaanesh in particular, and are quite common among the Imperium, though still viewed with suspicion.

#### The Grand Imperium

The Imperium was born after the Horus Heresy, and has changed over the 10,000 years. While still pretty brutal, xenophobic, totalitarian, and fanatical, it not as bad as the original canon, more open to some xeno species, though this is still rare, and far more advanced and capable of fighting off the various threats to the Imperium.

From Holy Terra the Emperor is a bit more active, and does not require as many psykers. He is able to impart his will a bit more clearly, but needing something to keep humanity united the Imperial Cult was allowed to form, with a few changes. Whenever any Eldar dies its soul joins his, and with the faith of trillions of humans and Eldar, his power has grown exponentially, causing grave concern for the Chaos Gods. Though hard to confirm, many now believe that the Emperor is working with the Eldar gods, and will one day be reborn as a true god, capable of defeating the Chaos Gods and bringing about a new golden age for mankind and the Eldar.

The Imperium itself is structed like the OTL, with segmentums, a High Council of Terra, and governors of planets, but is more scientifically advanced and less fanatical, though there are exceptions. Barring some variations, humanity mostly only trades and interacts with the Eldar, though 10,000 years of working together has brought them close, and many are starting to and do see themselves as one people.

The Imperial Guard, Navy, and Inquisition are still around, as is the Ecclesiarchy, though its power has been changed. The Emperor is still worshiped as a powerful divine figure, but mankind is also taught to put its faith in humanity itself, and many worship the Eldar gods as well. Religion is a bit more mellow as a result. In addition, the beliefs of trillions of humans has affected the Warp, making it a bit more stable and empowering the Emperor, the Eldar Gods, and humanity itself, making mankind more resistant to chaos.

The space marines still exist, and while they might have overarching legions they are divided into chapters to prevent another heresy. They sport highly advanced armor and weapons, and wear soul stones to protect themselves from the Warp and its denizens. They often function as shock and special tactics troopers, but in recent years are amassing into legions once again under their returning Primarchs. The Asuryani often work with them, and there even exists a very unique and rare Eldar space marine chapter.

There are also a few other special orders worth note. The Grey Knights are still around on Titan and patrol both the Adeptas Astartes and the Craftworld Eldar for corruption. The Sisters of Silence have been reformed, and their Warp-rebuffing abilities means they have proven invaluable against the forces of Chaos. There is also the Sisters of Battle, who employ tactics, gene-hacking, and weaponry from the Eldar Howling Banshees.

Thanks to the xeno technology, AI are more advanced and so is technology as a whole, and the Imperium is able to employ more powerful titans and war machines. In addition, they are able to use the Webway, and have even repaired and rebuilt large portions of it. The Astronomicon is also far more powerful and space travel is much safer.

#### Adeptus Mechanicum

Pretty much the same as its canon version, but without the Void Dragon Cult and more faithfully believing the Emperor is the Omnissiah. The Cult of the Machine God has dwindled, and they are more progressive and have created powerful machines based off old and xeno tech.

### Forces of the Xenos

#### Dark Eldar/Drukhari

Although they no longer need to feed off the pain of others to starve off Slaanesh, the Drukhari grew spiteful towards the Asuryani, and began a cycle of violence and war with them. In the 41st millennium both sides hate each other very much, and the Dark Eldar have sunk to levels of depravity and evil that all factions hate them. Commorragh is a big target for the Imperium and most Aeldari.

#### Tyranids Hive Fleets

With a more powerful Astronomican large hive fleets have been drawn to the Milky Way. Despite brutal fighting and their advanced genetic adaptations, the Imperium has managed to fight them off with the Aeldari in the many Tyranic Wars. Despite this, more fleets continue to arrive, and while the Tyranids have been fought back so far, even used to weaken opponents of the Imperium, some worry that they face a never ending threat to existence.

#### Necrons

The Imperium learned of the threat of the necrons, and so for 10,000 years made every considerable point to wipe out any tombs they found. While the Great Reawakening has seen the return of many necron dynasties, they so far remain disunited and far smaller in number and size.

The Silent King has returned, however, and is beginning to unite his people. So far, he has been willing to work with the Imperium against threats like the Tyranids, but most are wary of the undead race. Some necron lords work with the Imperium or against them, and some even actively fight the Silent King.

#### Orks

About the same. They have started amassing in alarming numbers under a great ork leader, but the Imperium has wisely lured several Tyranid fleets, chaos armies, and local necrons against them, holding the orks at bay for the moment and keeping them in check. If the Imperium can get enough time and defeat its other opponents, it could finally wipe the orks out for good. If not, the Green Tide just might overtake the entire the galaxy.

#### Necron Mechanicum/Necronicum

Fed up with the heretical non Omnissiah approved Xeno Tech, many of the Adeptus Mechanicus gathered in their anger. Soon many of the most faithful of the Omnissiah confide to each other of visions of the Machine God's will, all but confirming the Eldar as charlatans who had wormed their way into the Emperor's good graces so they could strike down the Machine God.

In secret they took to building their god a holy vessel guided by holy revelations, a machine worthy to house their god in Materium. Centuries passed as they toiled in secret, hiding their work from the Inquisition, the Eldar, and their less faithful comrades of the Mechanicum.

In 998.M41, 5 Necron cruisers enter the Sol system without warning on a direct path to Mars, punching through the defensive line and landing on the surface at the Noctis Labyrinth. While it was publicly announced that the incursion was swiftly destroyed with the upmost firepower, the upper echelons of the Imperium know that the resulting crater of several dozen miles in diameter was not caused by their bombardment. The entire area of the Noctis Labyrinth has vanished along with the 5 necron cruisers and almost the entirety of the Cult of Omnissiah. All attempts to question the few that remained proved useless as they would only babble on about the return of the Machine God.

This second, lesser, “Necron Heresy”, was fought for the Omnissiah instead of the Emperor, and they stole the Void Dragon, believing it to be the true Omnissiah. They worship the necrons and serve a rogue necron dynasty, and represent a grave threat to the galaxy. If the Void Dragon can ever be awoken, it could perhaps spell the doom of all of reality.

### Forces of Chaos

#### Traitor Legions

Fewer chaos space marines survived, but under their Daemon Princes they formed the Traitor Legions from the weakened Eye of Terror. The nine legions mostly fight amongst themselves and raid the galaxy, divided into warbands and only united under their fallen Primarchs. Mutated and horrifying, they have begun to unify, as the Chaos Gods have chosen Abbadon as their new champion and he prepares one last Black Crusade to finally attack the Imperium. Thanks to the efforts of the Eldar, the Imperium has imprisoned several of the fallen Primarchs.

#### Dark Mechanicum

Pretty much the same, they are committed to the forces of Chaos and serve to only bring about death and ruin.

#### Chaos Gods

The gods themselves have been weakened, but are still big threats to the galaxy, constantly trying to bring about the end of it all. Thanks to the war of the 41st millennium they have fed off of the pain and suffering of mortals, but the Emperor keeps them at bay and remains their biggest Anathema. Nurgle is especially weak, starved from his supply of Eldar souls, but the Ruinous Powers have begun to put aside their bickering to work together and strike against the Imperium. Daemons and more are being brought under the rule of Abbadon, and they hope to begin one final Black Crusade, to finally strike down the Imperium once and for all.