Ruoult History Part Ten: Age of Sorrow
Before the Fall, during humanity's Dark Age of Technology, the Eldar had an immense galaxy-spanning empire comprising thousands of worlds. The Eldar lived in relative peace -- barbarian races such as the Orks were kept at easily manageable numbers and never had the strength to threaten the might of the Eldar Empire. Life on the Eldar worlds was idyllic, with fantastically sophisticated machines that took care of all the labor and manufacturing required to keep an advanced society functioning, leaving the Eldar free to indulge in other, more aesthetic pursuits. They began to explore more deeply the arts of pleasure, delving ever deeper into hedonism. This descent into decadence spanned millennia.
Among the pleasure-seekers and the interminably curious of the Eldar were those whose pursuit of excess became ever more extreme. These included a great proportion of the aristocracy of ancient Eldar society, who possessed the wealth and time to truly explore the meanings of decadence. One by one, the leaders of the Pleasure Cults that were becoming the centrepiece of Eldar society became obsessed with their own power. They relocated their headquarters to the Labyrinthine Dimension known as the Eldar Webway, for so great was their political influence that they could command the construction of entire extradimensional sub-realms just for themselves.
This process lasted for thousands of standard years, as depravity riddled every aspect of Eldar society, the Pleasure Cults sought ever more violent thrills. Before long the streets of Eldar cities ran with their blood. The elegant architecture of their palaces became battlegrounds as the Eldar preyed upon each other, reveling in the cruelest of crimes. Their insanity and tainted passions poured into the Warp until it finally achieved critical mass. With an apocalyptic bellow that tore the heart out of the Eldar empire, a new Chaos God was born, Slaanesh the Dark Prince of Excess. An almighty psychic shockwave scythed across the galaxy, destroying countless billions of Eldar souls as Slaanesh's birth cries echoed through the material realm.
The change that was wrought upon those Eldar sealed within the Webway was far subtler. Rather than having their psychic essences, their souls, consumed in one great draught by Slaanesh, their souls slowly drained away into the Warp, taken over time by She Who Thirsts. Where the Eldar of the Craftworlds learned to deny Slaanesh's hold upon them by using the mystical Spirit Stones, the Infinity Circuits and the philosophies of the Eldar Paths to safeguard their souls from consumption by She Who Thirsts, the Eldar of the Webway became exceptionally good at ensuring that other beings suffered in their place. As long as they steeped themselves in the evillest and savagely decadent acts, the Eldar of the Webway found that the curse of Slaanesh upon their race could be avoided. The agony of others nourished their diminished souls and kept them vital and strong, filling their spare frames with unnaturally robust energies. An Eldar Noble named Ucharit was first to discover this fact, and he needed test subjects to support this theory and Ruoults were his first choice as test subjects. He was observing Ruoults for a long time and he was thrilled by their passion, potential, and unbending willpower. To him, they were prized cattle's waiting to be butchered for his benefit and the siege of Muliv finally gave him the opportunity to do just that.
Even though the Ruoults had lifted the siege of Muliv, there were still many Orks left in Ruoult space, but they were not the only threat the Ruoults were facing. Sensing weakness, the Ucharit, and his Armada had gathered and started raiding weakened worlds within the Empire, pillaging and enslaving anything they find. There were very few worlds within the Ruoult Empire left to stand up to this threat. Usually, the Eldar would start their assaults not long after an Ork horde was defeated. Such attacks were many and sometimes, entire worlds would succumb to these dark piratical marauders. The Ruoults believed that a true warrior must fight his enemies head-on with all his might, but the those Eldar preferred trickery and deceit, skulking in shadows, finding weak points and commencing ambushes. Such tactics were seen as cowardly and dishonorable by all Ruoults and thus they began to hate the Eldar almost instantly.
No world was safe from the Eldar, not even the strongest of footholds or the mightiest of fortresses. Only a few months after the First Siege of Muliv was ruined and the Orks were expunged from the planet, the Ucharit attacked viciously, taking down many outlying defenses and beginning to spread their forces further. It was like this that the Second Siege of Muliv begun. It seemed as if every single outpost, city, and stronghold was assailed by this new enemy. The attackers were in fact from various Pleasure Cults, but they were all coordinated by Archon Ucharit.
To meet this threat, Empress Out'Rargth, followed by Overlord Zen'Shriel had rallied the Clanguards and went to battle once more. Unlike the First Siege, where Orks and Ruoults would meet each other headfirst into bloody combat of attrition, the Second Siege was more of a series of ambushes and guerrilla combats. The Proto Dark Eldar preferred to utilize the compact streets and alleys of the Celestial Cities to their advantage and the Ruoults could only be ever so vigilant to where to step. Out'Rargth thought that instead of searching for their enemies, they should make the enemy come to them. She told her warriors to gather everything worth of value and pile them up in fortified positions. The Ruoult Clanguards would form around these "pockets", which would be stationed on strategically valuable positions. Eventually, Ucharit saw no choice but to attack the Ruoults right there. Finally, the Ruoults could fight on their own terms and victory was in their grasp. After seven years of war, Ucharit finally mustered enough forces to attack the Empirical Royal Palace, but the Ruoults were ready. The heavy fortifications of the Palace and the numerous warriors that had assembled had weathered the raids and crushed any offensive the Eldar could launch.
Eventually, They saw that they had no other choice but an all-out assault. Seeing this, Out'Rargth decided that she and her Royal Guard shall finish this war themselves. The Archon and his Incubi fought against the Empress and his Retinue, while Overlord Zen'Shriel led the Clanguards in a counter-attack to destroy the remaining invaders. Ucharit and Out'Rargth faced against one another in single combat. The Ruoult Empress was clearly larger and stronger, thus she was physically superior, but the Archon had speed and agility to his side. Ucharit had dodged blow after blow from Out'Rargth's sword. Out'Rargth wanted to land a single decisive blow when suddenly Ucharit grasped a knife and stabbed her neck. The blade was tipped with deadly poison and Out'Rargth collapsed to the ground, struggling to breathe as blood gushed from her throat.
The Royal Guard could not react fast enough and Ucharit had managed to retreat before the mass of Ruoult warriors descended upon his Incubi and furiously butchered them in a blind rage. Overlord Zen'Shriel quickly picked up Out'Rargth's body and entered the inner sanctum of the Palace, with the Empire's best healers desperately trying to save their Empress, while the Royal Guard stood to watch over the Palace entrance. But as much as they tried, the poison was too strong and Out'Rargth had lost too much blood already. On that day, The Sixth Sovereign Empress of the Grand Ruoult Empire died. Overlord Zen'Shriel of the Gaan'Lak Clan had sworn revenge upon Ucharit and his vile kin. It was not long before the very last of the Eldar were expunged from Muliv, but the Archon and the survivors of his Armada managed to escape. Zen'Shriel had then picked up what remained of the Ruoult fleet above Muliv and went in pursuit. Meanwhile, the Royal Augurs tried to contact the Great Spirits once again, to find out who will lead the Ruoults in this great time of need.
As all this transpired, more worlds of the Ruoult Empire would fall silent, either due to Ork warbands or Eldar raids. Many can agree that this was the climax of Nak'Qrakag, the Age of War. The day of Out'Rargth's death would spread both lament and rage to every last Ruoult in the Empire.
