+++Subject & Author+++
Ulthanash, the great hope - Alan Brilly
+++Thought for the day+++
Altansar floats through the warp, its skeletal structure ravaged by a 500 year long war with chaos, its fleets destroyed, its people slaughtered, it is a dead world. Occasionally, it has been known to re-materialise in real space for a matter of days, even then, the place is the domain of warp creatures and daemons the likes of which humanity has never encountered.
Often, Harlequins and dark Eldar do battle with the daemons of the warp in those few days, seeking to reclaim their race's honour and remove traces of the great enemy from their ancestral homeland.
The great Eldar Prophet Marethe in the 32nd millennium predicted the second incarnation of the "bastard son of the Emperor", who would lead a great crusade against the Mon-Keih. This son would Create a vessel through which the great enemy can become one with the material universe, and the Eldar race shall be slaughtered at the Rhana dandra between the avatar of Slaanesh and the C'tan. Yet there was hope, He prophesised that a descendant of the ygnir, the Eldar demigods that fought against the C'tan, born in the years after the crusade, as the Eldar species teeters on the brink, shall be able to travel back in time and alter vents in the past.
How he was to travel back in time was through the Webway, in a location un-known to the Eldar, but similar to the Cross roads of inertia (a location where warp tunnels come together and the forces of the warp are stable), by using the theory of uigebealach, which dictated that somewhere like the cross roads of inertia must exist, but as time flows forwards at the cross roads, so time is said to flow backwards at this location.
To this end, the Harlequins were contacted to locate the junction, so that the entire race might be saved, bands of rangers scoured entire sectors looking for the gateway. Eldar armies attacked man and xenos alike to find the answer, but alas, none was to be found.
Chaos Smashed through the Cadian gate and the Avatar of Slaanesh was born of Fabius Bile's machinations. The Eldar race was pushed back to the brink of extinction by the combined efforts of the Necrontyr, the C'tan and the Chaos Gods. It was at this time that the child Ulthanash was born. Descended from the House of Ulthwe, he was gifted with precognitive psychic powers, which manifested themselves as a gut instinct, but not the massively offensive forces that most of the ulthwe psykers used.
By this time, Ulthwe had been destroyed, its descendants retreating through the Webway to Bail-tan, where they sought refuge under the court of the young king. The child was identified as the prophesised saviour of the Eldar people, although he showed the hallmarks of a ranger, rebelling against enforcement of the path system to their people, but desiring to be at one with his heightened emotional nature.
For the next 50 years, he roamed the galaxy, under the tutelage of the Farseer Marethe, and learned of his destiny. He fought as both a guardian and a ranger, but showed most proficiency with the ways of the ranger. At this time, the war against chaos showed no sign of stopping. The Imperium was in pieces, Terra having been destroyed. The Tau had been ripped asunder and the Tyranid threat had increased, as a new hive fleet approached from the halo worlds, a fleet that made hive fleet leviathan look like a pebble in comparison to a mountain.
At this time, Marethe discovered the location of the Webway entrance, but that it was only accessible through the web-portal of Altansar. A strike team of 200 Eldar was launched towards the eye of terror, awaiting the emergence of the craftworld from the warp. As the craftworld emerged from the warp, they encountered little resistance from chaos fleets, a sole Eldar escort meaning little when Leman Russ, new leader of the Imperium, was still alive.
As they arrived, the craft world was silent, its monumental hulk dwarfing the tiny escort ship. Marethe and the warband made their way to the bridge of the craft world, in doing this, they were able to gain access to the Infinity Circuit of the craftworld, and thus determine the location of the web way portal. Marethe then implored the spirits in the infinity circuit to animate the craftworld's remaining wraithguard and wraithlord structures, to aid them in the capture of the web portal. In total, 100 Wraithguard and 5 Wraithlords joined the warhost, slowing them down somewhat but adding firepower and durability to the 100 aspect warriors and 90 guardians.
On their way to the web-portal entrance, they fought running battles with daemons of the warp. Hideous constructs of Slaanesh controlled by the Avatar of Slaanesh, who was, at that moment, on the way to the craft world, fought against them, accompanied by flocks of Chaos furies, who fought Arial skirmishes with the 20 swooping hawks.
As they entered the warp portal chamber a great warhost of daemons was assembled. Thousands of Daemonettes and Chaos spawn rubbed shoulders with daemon princes and flocks of Furies that darkened the roof and rafters of the ancient hall. 10 keepers of secrets formed a vanguard around a human, who's psychic backlash made the Eldar recoil in terror. The avatar of Slaanesh had arrived with his warhost.
Suddenly the warp portal bust into activity and several Harlequin troupes emerged from the warp to aid in the Eldar in the salvation of their race. They fought against the servants of Slaanesh, the Daemonettes cut through the Eldar guardians accompanying the small warhost, while hundreds of newly arrived harlequins smashed into a large phalanx of Daemonettes. The swooping hawks were shredded by the Thousands of furies, while the greater daemons charged into battle with the wraith constructs.
The avatar of Slaanesh rose up on pinions of steel and punched a fist through one of the Wraithlords, its frame shattering under the force of the blow. The others were dragged down by the greater daemons, who themselves were felled by the guns of the wraithguard, who were in turn were swarmed by Daemonettes and fiends of Slaanesh.
Marethe dragged Ulthanash to the web portal and cask a psychic rubric to keep the forces of chaos away from them until he had explained the full extent of Ulthanash's mission. Marethe explained that there were several events that had triggered the creation of the Avatar of Slaanesh and had allowed Abaddon to destroy Terra. He told him that there was a daemon in the past, one named as Tak, who some in the Mon-Keih race were attempting to install as the new god of humanity, so that humanity may be saved from the worst machinations of chaos. In order for this to happen, things needed to be done in the past to prevent this reality from occurring. These things were:
Locate the Being known as the Judge Child. He will be a massively powerful psyker, the first in humanities new step towards total psychic dominance of the galaxy. He will be hailed as the vessel into which the Emperor's psyche can be channelled, but he will be possessed by daemons, many at a time, which shall corrupt his pure form and thus render him susceptible to the machinations of chaos. In the years after the 13th crusade, he will fall into the possession of Fabius Bile, who shall channel his God's essence (he was an emperors child after all) into him and create the avatar. He must be protected from Chaos at all costs
By installing Tak as the new god of humanity after the 13th black crusade, there will be a psychic entity created that will be able to fight against the chaos Gods. Thus Inquisitor Hlokk was to be aided in his quest, either covertly or overtly.
After this has been done, the Eldar master plan shall fall into place. Ulthanash was to travel to each of the major craftworld and tell them that the time of the Eldar to rise up and reclaim the galaxy will occur soon.
To find the artefact known as the Unity of Isha. The idea being that, when the time is right, the Eldar will declare war on the galaxy, the Unity of Isha will serve to unite the Infinity Circuits of the craftworlds into a giant Infinity circuit, the eternity circuit, which will unite all dead Eldar psyche, giving rise to the creation of Ynnead, the Ancient Eldar God of the dead. Through him, the Great enemy shall be defeated, as shall all the Chaos Gods, Tak as well, and the Eldar shall reclaim the galaxy in the name of the Old ones.
After this, the Hero Elronhir shall be born and shall cleanse the Galaxy of all trace of the Mon-keih.
After this is done, the Old ones shall return from their sleep in a place beyond reality and restore order to the galaxy.
With that, the Avatar of Slaanesh was upon them, tearing Marethe's head from his body and slaughtering the Striking scorpion bodyguard. Ulthanash fought his way through Daemonettes and daemons, flanked on either side by aspect warriors, all of who knew the importance of Ulthanash's mission. He saw spirit stones broken open and their souls drained, their spirits screaming to him for redemption. He saw Daemonettes feasting on cracks in the infinity circuit, and the avatar smashing into the circuitry and feasting on the souls of billions of dead Eldar.
It was the Avatars howl of triumph that forced him to dive through the portal, with some of his compatriots, a striking scorpion and 3 dire avengers, all of whom were thrown to different points in the past, the scorpion exarch vowing to go back in time and destroy Arha. What became of any of them was unknown.
But Ulthanash emerged in the 38th millennium and spent the next two millenniums weakening the advance of Abaddon, through destroying Cults and strengthening the resolve of the Eldar peoples. He is regarded as a saviour by some, and evidence of chaos gone mad by others. Currently working with Hlokk to locate the Judge child, and install Tak as the saviour of humanity, however temporary that might be in the long scheme of things.
Fighting with an Eldar long rifle and an ancient sword from the future, he is responsible for the assassination of several of Hlokk's adversaries and rivals in the inquisition, as well as several chaos cultists and their magi. He is even said to be responsible for the assassination of the self-proclaimed high lord of the ecclesiarchy. Although it tears at his soul to work close with daemons and creations of chaos that will destroy his people in the future, he knows that his personal suffering will eventually, thousands of years in the future, will bring piece to the Galaxy.
