Good day Warhammer fans and random passers-by to another Warhammer 40k lore post! Today we will deal with a faction that exists in the lore but is NOT a playable faction in the tabletop... unless you invent your own stuff and play fun games with them.
I am talking about Aeldari Exodites!
Now, if you do not know, Aeldari and Space Elves and you get them in the Light (Asuryani) and Dark (Drukhari) varieties. Technically, besides the Exodites discussed in this post, there are another THREE varieties, but we will discuss them later (So a total of six varieties of Space Elf, or are there more?)
The History of the Exodites
Right, in the Drukari post, I pretty much outlined this already. The super-advanced Aeldari race had automation do all the boring work and that meant that every single citizen was highborn and could focus on art, creation and hedonism.
The rise of pleasure cults sent the Asuryani away from the rest of the Aeldari who caused the Fall.
But LONG before this, the Exodites left the other Aeldari because they said: A - Automation is making you weak and lazy and B - The path you on will cause the downfall of the then, all mighty Aeldari Empire that had control of the entire Galaxy!
Turns out, they were right but not by accident. The entire Aeldari race are nascent psykers and among the Exodites were those able to scry the future or that were beset by dreams that told of the future.
Thus the Exodites settled in what was called Maiden Worlds.
Exodites in the 41st Millenium
The Exodites do not travel much and they do not advance much. They actually possess most of the knowledge and technology that Craftworld Eldar have with them, but they CHOOSE not to use it!
Instead, they keep their worlds as wild as possible and hunt and farm on these worlds and follow the herds of wildlife as the seasons change. Thus there is not much in the way of settlements or cities among the Exodites.
Once in a while some Imperial explorer or other Imperial force will accidentally land up on a Maiden World. Without Cities, buildings or roads, it might be difficult to know that the world is inhabited.
Then these explorers might come under attack by feral Aeldari Rangers and Dragon Knights - Riding on carnivorous raptors.
The Exodites also use a variety of animals called Megadons who the Exodites use to as pack animals. These range from donkey size to way beyond elephant sizes. (Sort of sounds like Elf Gungans to me)
This would be a pretty cool faction to see come to life in Warhammer 40k.
Their concept and image has inspired plenty art:
And some people will make their own models:
I will be dealing with the other Aeldari factions soon... I need to because there are BIG things to talk about in 40k and I need to lay out the context for this!
Until then...
