Harlequin - Harlequin Forces: Troupe Master - Troupe Masters, also known as Avatars and called athair in the Aeldari Lexicon, are the officers of the Harlequins, with each troupe being led by a Troupe Master. Troupe Masters are choreographers of war, directing their comrades’ reactions to the changing fates of battle, and ensuring the Harlequins’ performance in the theatre of war is as perfect as it can be. By consent of their peers, the Troupe Masters become focal points for the successes and failures of entire Troupes of Harlequins. In many conflicts, the most talented will even be entrusted with directing the performance of their entire masque. Troupe Masters are closer to the lead Players of a cast than formal commanders; they are elevated by the will of their brothers and sisters, playing their role until it is time for another to take their place. Troupe Masters act as exemplars for all their Troupe's key characteristics, embodying everything it means to be Light, Dark or Twilight writ large. Thus Troupe Masters of the Light will hurl themselves into battle like the headstrong heroes of ancient myth, adopting such aggressive, protagonist roles as the Duke of the Hidden Realm, or the Eldanari Prince. Troupe Masters of the Dark, by comparison, are sinister and vindictive, always seeking some way in which to flamboyantly finish off the foe. Troupe Masters of the Twilight, meanwhile, see cycles of transition in everything, often seeming obsessive or insane in their attention to nuance and detail until the precise moment their true genius reveals itself. In performance, the Avatar dances the part of the Laughing God. Some Avatars are known to wear long coats to indicate their rank. An Avatar is usually armed with two close combat weapons (one of which is often a Shuriken Pistol), and equipped with a visual disruption Holo-field and Conversion Field emitter. In addition, some Avatars may have psychic abilities. In combat, an Avatar may be armed with Vortex Grenades, which he delivers on-target by running forwards alone while the rest of the troupe supplies covering fire. The Avatars of some Harlequin troupes carry a number of lightweight batons, which unfold into a flag bearing the symbol of their masque. This is commonly left as a "calling card" after the destruction of enemy units and installations.Harlequin Troupe - In battle, Harlequin Troupes move fast and hit hard, relying on speed and skill to annihilate the enemy before they even have time to raise their guns. Preferring to evade harm than endure it, every Player is equipped with a holo-suit that fragments their outline into a storm of coloured shards, confounding the foe's aim. Once in combat, the Harlequins are in their element, performing a lethal dance of death while their masks shimmer with the foe's worst fears. The Players cut their panicked victims to pieces using an array of horrific, yet strangely beautiful weapons, every pinpoint blade thrust and whipcord kick an act of worship to the Laughing God. Harlequin Masques are comprised of three distinct Troupes: the Light, the Dark, and the Twilight. Each contains a different cast of characters, grouped by outlook and symbolism. The Light, for example, is especially associated with swift action, the heroic protagonist, the sky and the day. By comparison, the Dark represents villainous antagonists, violent endings, and the night, while the Twilight is transitory, like the Webway or the fateful journey, comprising characters that bestride multiple or shifting worlds. This structure ensures that each member is aware their fellows' roles, upon both stage and battlefield.Players - Harlequin Players, called rillietann in the Aeldari Lexicon, form the backbone of a Harlequin force. In performance they dance the chorus roles, and in battle they form the rank and file of the Harlequin troupe, if such a term is appropriate to the unique and free-wheeling structure of Harlequin society. The typical wargear of a Trouper consists of two close combat weapons (one of which is often a Shuriken Pistol), a visual disruption Holo-field and a holographic Refractor Field.Shadowseers - Shadowseers, known in the Aeldari Lexicon as esdainn, are powerful Harlequin psykers whose abilities are centred around spreading confusion and fear. They use manipulation of the mind as their foremost weapon. In battle, they turn their victims' senses against them, blinding eyes, driving brave men mad, or gouging fatal psychosomatic wounds. At the same time, they shield their allies from harm, wreathing them in veils of illusion until the moment comes to strike. Enigmatic masters of trickery and misdirection, the Shadowseers' prodigious psychic abilities are a powerful tool in the ongoing war against the servants of Chaos. In the Harlequins' performances, the Shadowseers play the role of Fate. They act as narrators, speaking in monologue, song or rhyme while their fellow Players whirl and spin around them. It is the Shadowseers' subtle psychic abilities, coupled with the hallucinogenic creidann grenade launchers they wear upon their backs, that provide diverse illusions for their shows. Blasts of multi-coloured light, glowing swirls of blinding mist and white-hot illusory flame -- all are conjured forth with consummate showmanship. Shadowseers are skilled in reading the skeins of the future. However, their second sight is differently honed to that of Farseers; they are concerned less with the literal manipulation of events, but rather the fulfilment of the mythic roles that others unknowingly assume. Concealing their identities with stage names, Shadowseers act as envoys to their craftworld or Commorrite kin, their faceless masks revealing nothing of their thoughts or intentions. It is believed that every Shadowseer works to their own, private agenda, giving or withholding information in whatever way best suits their needs.Death Jesters - At the present time, most Harlequins make no use of heavy weapons or heavy armour like grav tanks, save for the Harlequins called the Death Jesters. The Death Jesters or Deathheads, called in the Aeldari Lexicon the margorach, are the heavy weapons specialists of the Harlequin. They make use of a wide-array of heavy weaponry; from the humble Shuriken Cannon of the Craftworld Aeldari, to the specialised Firepike, or the morbid Shrieker Cannon. The Shrieker Cannon is the trademark weapon of the Death Jesters, as only they can create and maintain them. They are a variant of the Shuriken Cannon, but instead of firing a hail of projectiles, they fire only a single shot. This shot is impregnated with a virulent acid that causes the victim's blood vessels and insides to expand violently. This usually results in a small explosion that showers enemy squad mates with pieces of their companion, thus earning the shrieks that give the weapon its name. These sinister warriors stand apart from their fellow Harlequins, for they play Death in the masque and thus must walk aloof from their brethren. They often perform daring stunts of escapology and risk -- "dicing with Death," as they are fond of saying. Their costumes feature skulls and death's head masks, decorated with the bones of their predecessors. Their morbid sense of humour is appreciated throughout the Dark City, for they are as every bit as inventively cruel as the most black-hearted Commorrite. To a Death Jester, the madness of the battlefield presents infinite inspiration and boundless opportunities for lethal practical jokes. A Death Jester may wait until an enemy squad believes themselves safe within a bunker, before placing a single shot through the closing door with his shrieker cannon. The explosive effects of the weapon turn the haven into a tightly packed death trap, eliciting screams that are music to the Death Jester's ears. In the name of sating their desire for morbid amusement, these strange sadists have been known to dress up unconscious foes in the charred skin and bone of their fallen comrades. They have arranged the bodies of the fallen in bleakly amusing positions, and perpetrated any number of other awful acts of inexplicable humour. Even the Death Jester's own troupe find his antics distasteful, but they understand the role that he plays.Solitaires - The most chilling of all the Aeldari Harlequin are those individuals known as a Solitaire, called in the Aeldari Lexicon the arebennian. The Solitaires, as their name implies, are solitary individuals who roam the universe alone for most of his life, occasionally joining a masque for a single performance or battle as the fancy takes him. He speaks and is spoken to only in ritual form, and when he is not performing he rarely communicates with the other Aeldari. The most startling truth of the Solitaires is that, unlike other Harlequins, who are protected by their faith in Cegorach, their souls are doomed to be devoured by Slaanesh, although the Laughing God attempts to intercede on the Solitaire's behalf after their death and force the Prince of Chaos to compete for his or her soul. Whenever Solitaires are with a Harlequin troupe, they prefer to distance themselves from the others, and one is considered cursed if one exchanges words with a Solitaire. A Solitaire never shows any sign of emotion, either with other Harlequins or on the battlefield. Psykers of every race, even other Aeldari, are known to be very depressed in the presence of a Solitaire. The mental landscape of the Solitaire is obviously disturbing to them. Psychic attacks on Solitaires will almost always fall short, and weapons which attack the enemy's mind, such as the Neuro Disruptor, will simply have no effect. During the performance of the great Harlequin performance or Masque that dramatises the ancient Fall of the Aeldari known simply as The Dance, Solitaires are the only Harlequins that can play the role of the Chaos God Slaanesh who brought the Aeldari low. Various stories exist of other Harlequins who tried to perform the role, and were driven mad by the experience. In battle, Solitaires almost always fight as individuals. A Solitaire may live unknown among the Aeldari (or even members of another intelligent race) for years or decades, and there are many rumours and folk-tales telling of Aeldari who have met a Solitaire, and realised only later that this was actually the Great Harlequin, Cegorach himself. Solitaires represent the pinnacle of the Harlequin ideal, and are truly formidable foes in combat.Skyweavers - Skyweavers descend upon the enemy like a prismatic storm, trailing cloaks of hallucinatory colour and light as they punch through the enemy ranks. Skimming dangerously low, their pilots whoop with glee and an eerie moan fills the air as the Players spin their star bolas in rapid arcs before letting the weapons fly. Guns blazing, the Skyweavers tear onward, the thumping concussion of plasmic blasts lighting their wake. Where the traditional jetbikes of craftworld Guardians or Commorrite Reavers are single-seat craft, Harlequin Skyweavers accommodate both a pilot and a rider, each playing a specific role. While the Skyborne Prince steers the arrow-fast craft and fires the main gun, the Great Falcon fights from the jetbike's rear. Many wield Star Bolas: weighted plasma charges that are hurled to wrap around necks, limbs or gun barrels. The ferocious detonations of these wicked devices can easily tear a Space Marine in two, or sever the leg of an armoured walker. Though star bolas are undeniably powerful weapons, their main disadvantage is that they can be hurled but once, so some Players choose to go into battle bearing long-bladed Zephyrglaives instead. These weapons are wielded with consummate skill, carving arcs through the air as they lop heads from shoulders or bisect torsos in fans of blood. In Aeldari mythology, the Skyweaver was the youngest and most capricious of the Cosmic Serpent's brood. Depicted as a gestalt being composed of hundreds of small flying serpents, the Skyweaver spoke always in riddles, and was forever hurried and distracted by his myriad desires. As a boon to the Laughing God, the Skyweaver is said to have scattered himself across the heavens, each facet telling a subtly different tale of Cegorach's deeds. Thus did the Skyweaver spread confusion amongst the Laughing God's foes, striking down many with its fiery bite when their backs were turned.Starweavers - Starweavers streak across the battlefield as a storm of shattered light, relying upon a mixture of velocity and misdirection to confound the enemy's aim. The craft swoop and spiral effortlessly through incoming fire, anti-grav engines screaming as they bear their Harlequin passengers unerringly into the maelstrom of combat. These craft are lightly armoured and incredibly nimble. Further protection is offered by flickering layers of holofields and mirage launchers that reduce the craft to little more than a technicolour blur when on the move. Alongside these cunning countermeasures, the Starweaver packs a hefty punch, mounting multiple shuriken or haywire weapons that provide supporting fire for the Harlequins once they have leapt into the fray. Echoing the sky chariots of the ancient Aeldari, these swift attack vehicles have a transport platform at their rear capable of bearing a Troupe of Harlequins into battle. Such is the skill of the Harlequins that they can leap over the sides of the Starweaver directly into battle, or vault back onto its platform in a heartbeat should they be needed elsewhere. Even once their passengers have joined the melee, Starweavers remain potent attack craft, spinning and jinking as they pour a storm of firepower into the bewildered foe. The Starweaver is named for the first and greatest son of the Cosmic Serpent. The Cosmic Serpent is a significant totem to the Harlequins, for he is said to have existed in both the material and psychic universes at the same time, and his strange and capricious young acted as occasional allies to Cegorach. Starweaver was the most noble and courageous of his serpentine brood, and swiftly made common cause with the Laughing God. The serpent freely gave his aid to Cegorach and, in tales such as the Humbling of Eldanesh or the Flight from the Grave of Stars, even suffered the Harlequins' deity to ride through danger upon his back. So do the Harlequins mount their Starweaver transports with reverence, for their actions echo those of Cegorach himself.Voidweavers - Sleek and sinister, Voidweavers swoop into battle with balletic grace. Considering their lightweight build, Voidweavers carry an extremely heavy loadout of firepower. However, their lightweight psychoplastics and gravimetric weaves ensure that Voidweavers are in no way encumbered by their arsenal. Instead, the potent combination of versatile heavy weapons, hypervelocity attack runs and polychromatic camouflage make these streamlined vehicles exceptionally dangerous. A full squadron can easily rip apart a heavy battle tank, or reduce a squad of the foe to smoking offal with a single volley. Operating as ambush hunters, they strike before the enemy realises their danger, and scream away before return fire can be brought to bear. An unusual feature of the Voidweaver is its rear-facing shuriken cannon, which can either be operated manually by the Harlequin gunner or left to follow reactive patterns under the guidance of its targeting matrix. The weapon’s placement allows it to guard the Voidweaver's rear, laying down sawing arcs of fire against any foe foolish enough to pursue the gunship. The howl of heavy weapons heralds the arrival of the Voidweavers, as enemy positions erupt into flames and confusion as the sleek gunships scream overhead. Cannons blazing, they plunge deep into the heart of the foe before blasting their way to freedom again amid welters of blood and showers of actinic sparks. Their every salvo sees enemies punched off their feet in sprays of blood as storms of shuriken scream through the air. Armoured vehicles that catch the attention of the craft's gunner are vaporised in conflagrations of prismatic light, or suffer sudden catastrophic systems failure under a barrage of haywire energy. Even those enemies who avoid the violent fury of the Voidweaver's attack run are not safe, for its aft cannon lays down a withering hail of fire to butcher those left cowering in its wake.