# The War Council - An Iybraesil Eldar Short Story



## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Quickly she made her way to the council hall. The call had just gone out to all members of the Cicon’il to arrive there as quickly as time. The breathe was stolen from her lungs and her heart was beating so hard that she feared with would burst from her chest. Al Caedr Ill had been summoned to her first war council, for that was all it could be for such a rushed meeting of all members. In her short few years of being a member, there was scant a time when all members had been called. 
She knew her brother, also members of the Cicon’il, would be at the meeting. Being Triplets they had all been appointed quickly your and to the surprise of many of the senior Exarchs who believed that the position should have been theirs and not to some young upstart who had lineage. It had proven difficult to win the confidence of many members of her temple but eventually they agreed that she really had been promoted on skill, though grudgingly in many cases.
Finally before her appeared the council hall. It was a large structure and circular in construction. Large crystals were affixed in the walls to allow sun and moon light to enter. A large done covered the entire structure. It was large but not gaudy; its design was not typical of many of the slender Eldar buildings.
Many of the council members stood outside waiting for more of the council to arrive. Many different colored robes fluttered in the light winds. Al Caedr shivered from the thin film of sweat that had formed on her body, though it was not particularly cold that evening. She looked around, trying to spot her two brothers in the sea of bodies. She spotted a person wearing a green robe, the same as her brother wore, but when he turned she realized that is was another member of the Striking Scorpions, one she recognized but did not know the name of.
She would have to wait for the council of war was about to begin and the members began to move into the meeting hall. Quickly she found a place in line and streamed into the chambers.

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The starlight filtered in through the tall windows in the walls of the domed structure. A great many figures sat in the rows of chairs, all facing the back of the rounded building where four seats were located. They were arranged with three seats in front of a larger throne like seat, they all faced the audience. Gems of all types were imbedded in the ornate seats. That looked to have been constructed of a turquoise colored stone. Three figures sat up on the front seats all dressed in ornate robes adorned with soul gems and other gems glowing with power. 
In the middle seat sat a female of stunning beauty, her blond hair pulled back and tucked in behind her pointed ears, her lithe face framed her turquoise eyes and upon her head sat a crown of fine gold and imbedded colored wraithbone crafted in the shape of the glyph for Autarch. Her name was Alreien’ial Autarch Iy Landr Ean and she was the supreme commander of the forces of the Iybraesil craftworld, a military genius beyond approach even in the supremely intelligent Eldarian race. She served at the voice of the council and of the Matron Crone. 
To her left, in robes of the same hue that also included a cowl which was pulled over her head and face sat Alreien’ial Farseer Al Yon On. She was one of eldest of all the Eldar on the craftworld. Her face was hidden behind the shadow of the cowl. Clutched in her hand was her Farseer’s staff, an artifact of great power and inlaid with many runes and glyphs. Embroidered upon her robes in warp silk, a material that shifted in hue and translucency as she moved was other runes and glyphs. Her powers as a psyker was rumored to be almost equal that of Eldrad Ulthran of the Ulthwe craftworld. 
To Alreien’ial Autarch Iy Landr Ean left sat another female, whose beauty was only out shadowed by her deadliness Alreien’ial Exarch Jae Fuith Is. Her blood red hair was cascading down her shoulders and back unrestricted. She also had turquoise colored eyes but the robe that she wore was colored the same as wraithbone. She was the senior priestess of the temple of the Howling Banshee, the senior temple of the Iybraesil. Even in the meeting hall she wore two finally crafted and seemingly unadorned swords upon her waist, her deadly mirrorswords. 
The doors slowly began to swing open silently upon its hinges, and once it had fully opened, a cadre of Howling Banshee Exarchs filed into the meeting hall and positioned themselves evenly down each side of the walkway. Once in position an elderly Eldar walked into the room. Everyone present in the meeting hall quickly raised to their feet is honor to the person who had just entered. 
Her once blood red hair was now streaked with silver and while still graceful and any measure of the word, her movements were slow and deliberate. In her right hand she clutched her staff, a powerful artifact rumored to be older then the great fall. Upon the top was the glyph for the craftworld, a five fingered hand with lithe fingers open and spread. A diamond was cut from the center and superimposed over the wrist. It glowed in the same color light as the color of her robe. She kept her left arm, with its missing hand, in full view, for it was not an injury or an accident in which she had lost her hand, but in the ritual when she had taken over as the Matron Crone of the Iybraesil craftworld. In her many centuries of life she had followed many of the warrior paths as well as the path of the warlock. She had been the senior temple priestess for the howling banshee temple and an Autarch of cunning tactical knowledge. She was Ci Fsh Os, leader of the Iybraesil craftworld. When she had finally made her way to her seat in the very back of the meeting chamber and was seated, the rest of the attendees sat down.
While the details of the meeting were still unknown, the many Exarchs, Farseers, and Autarchs knew that this was a war council. The chairs of the meeting hall were placed in two columns of five, with the senior priest or priestess from each temple seated on the front row. 
In addition to the priests and priestesses sat a figure dressed in a robe or a dark green material that seemed to shift and attempted to blend in with all of the surroundings. Pathfinder Fy Fuith Is was a mysterious man and very rarely spoke. Senior leader of the band of rangers and pathfinders his involvement showed the severity of the issue, for he and his kind were outcasts in the society of the Eldar. Still valued for their skill they were normally excluded from meetings of a normal nature.
Sitting next to him was the Great Harlequin Thri’Eru. His multicolored robes constantly shifting in a dazzling pattern of colors that threatened to hypnotize anyone who watched it for to long. His leering facemask was plainly visible, for the face of the harlequin was never shown. The travelers of the webway rarely attended council as well and the Great Harlequins appearance was the most surprising of all.
Once again rising to her feet, the Crone Mother Ci Fsh Os and began to speak “All members of the Cicon’il and Alreien’ial I bid you welcome to this meeting in these great halls.” With this the meeting was formally started. 
The first to rise was Alreien’ial Autarch Iy Landr Ean. Her turquoise eyes seemingly blazing with the anger that she was keeping within herself. Her warpsilk robe clinging to her lithe form as she began to address the council in a stern voice, used to lecturing troops and warrior Aspects in the ways of war. “Cicon’il, we have dire news to share with you. On the long range scanners we have detected what we first though was an anomaly. It now appears that several attach barges of the chaos scum are in route to a planet that is located in this very system. Their purpose there is unknown but we know that they must be stopped. If they would gain a foot hold there they would have a strong foot hold to cast the blasphemous powers towards several of the Eldarian craftworlds and once they are rooted, it would be difficult to exterminate this weed.” The Autarch smoother her robe out and sat down.
Alreien’ial Farseer Al Yon On rose to her feet with the aid of the staff in her hand. A wisp of silver blond hair slipped out from under her cowl as she began to speak in a musical voice, “I have used my powers to look at the planet in question. There is a small disturbance in the warp under the surface of the planet. I do not know the origin of the source but I do know that if it is important enough for our enemies to break deep into the Eldar space that it is more important that we keep it from the.” By the end of her speech the Farseer’s eyes were visibly glowing from under her cowl, casting a dim turquoise light in the cowl of her robe, showing what still would be considered by many a beautiful face, only slightly aged by the time that had passed. She returned to her seat.
Alreien’ial Exarch Jae Guith Ath stood next, her red hair cascading down her face, her wraithbone colored robe, cut short to above the knee to aid in quick moment if the need came about, for a moment her milk white upper leg was exposed before the robe slid back into place. The deadly razors of her mirrorswords reflecting light from their highly polished blades. Her voice was somewhat shrill, “The Cicon’il Exarchs are needed to form expeditionary teams to travel to the planet in question. Keep in mind that we must maintain the security of our craftworld so keep this in mind as you prepare your forces. We will give you 30 hours to return here with the names of which squads you have chosen. Alreien’ial Ar Ran Ill, we need for you to prepare the armory for transport. We also need the names of which vessels you have chosen for this task in 30 hours as well. We do not know what they will be bringing but the ships and their holds are quite large and we must not forget the bastard powers they control to open gates to the chaos.” Jae Guith Ath paused for a moment before continuing, “Cicon’il Bonesinger, you will be traveling to the planet ahead of the main party to begin setting up the warp portals on the surface of the planet. Ten of you plus two squads of Guardians as well as me and my Howling Banshees will be traveling with in the next 40 hours by Vampyre Raider with several gunship escorts. We will meet in 30 hours to finalize the plans. If anyone has any questions please voice them now.”
Even though the Eldar are a highly civilized race, they knew and trained for war for their entire lives. Though many thoughts ran through each of the Cicon’il head, the Alreien’ial had spoken and they knew the only thing to do now was to act, and that is exactly what they did.
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OK this is what I have "finished" so far. I adding more after the coucil meeting and should be posting that soon. It is already at 5,000 words on my copys so I hope to keep you entertained for a while. If you see something wrong or have any suggestions I am opened to them.


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## sea dragons (Jan 14, 2008)

hey buddy, sweet start lookin forward for the next part.

one thing split it into smaller paragraphs makes it easyer to read.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Moved to 40K Fiction

Dirge Eterna,
Heresy High Council


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Opps. Well the fluff was going to come in later and was mingled into the story since the Iybraesil doesn't have alot of info about them, but alright, has this been here for a while? if so my bad I missed it.

Well, it is going to be novella length by time I get done with it so that is about as small as the chapters are going to get but I will see what I can to. Eventually I will fill in more on that as well.


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## Silar (Mar 19, 2008)

Cool story, not many about eldar so its a nice change


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

I am still working on it, I have the net part done in skeleton format but i am in the process of writing a book and my co author is keeping on that project pretty tight .


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## brutus (Apr 7, 2008)

Fantastic beginning, the description was thrilling and engaging. Really looking forward to dipping into the next installment. Great work.
Brutus.


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## Luciferi (Mar 2, 2008)

Nice, I'll be expecting more, relativley soon ;]

As was said above, try splitting it into paragraphs. text is obnouxious to read in HD and it's all the harder when I keep losing place in the one massive paragraph xD.


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