Sien-Creis started life as a Craftworld like all others, floating through space as a trade ship. Like the other surviving Craftworlds, they had foreseen the emergence of ‘The e Eye of Terror’. They sought shelter in a binary star system with a dense cluster of planets and asteroid belts. Hoping that this would protect them, they selected the larger of the planets in the system and closed into a low orbit. There they waited the ‘fall’ in the shadow of their great planetary shield.

As the shockwave of the partial collapse of the physical world rocked the Craftworld, they watched the surface of the planet below peeled away in a giant fireball. They truly realised their good fortune after witnessing a neighbouring planet crack like an egg over the surface of their own planetary shield. As they stood witness to the awesome power of the initial blast the main shockwave hit the planet. The wave parted as it hit the immovable and seemingly indestructible planet sheltering the craftworld in its wake. In awe of the physical strength of their protector the inhabitants of the great ship watched as the rest of the wave swept away the beating heart of the planetary system, its pulsating binary stars.

With the entire system carried away on the great blast, they counted their blessings and began to ask why or how they had been saved. They turned to the now solitary survivor of the star system, the unbreakable planet that had survived the impact of one of its kin.

Before they could begin their investigation, great numbers daemons of the chaos forces sprang forth from the tears in warp space. Determined not to allow such a treasure to fall into their hands, they sent countless war parties to stem the flow of the chaos filth. Years past before the daemon filth lost the taste for their own blood and fled to more bountiful planets to decimate. The constant battle had taken its toll. Very few Eldar were left that had not taken the path of the warrior. With the threat of chaos temporarily subsided, they turned to planet once more to see if they could unlock its secrets.

The results of the surface scans gave them nothing. Trying to penetrate deeper resulted in the scans being bounced back. The most powerful of scanners or focused of scrying from the might of the Seer council itself could not penetrate more than a kilometre under the surface of the planet. Only after using a continuous blast from the Craftworld’s defence battery itself could the planet begin to reveal its secrets.

Under its near impenetrable crust, the planet is made up of complex maze of crystalline caverns tunnels, the smallest of which could contain a small settlement. Centuries of investigation and mining passed before a great presence was felt deep within the planet’s core. It is likened to the voice of the infinity circuit upon the Craftworld only fragmented and significantly larger.

Determined to unlock its secrets, they sent their most experienced and powerful spiritseer to make contact with the entity or entities trapped within. The slightest of psychic touches sent him beyond the brink of sanity. Rather than risking another incident the creftworld’s Farseer looked into the tormented mind of the seer and were able to discover who or what was locked within this planet sized infinity circuit. His heart wept as he understood the truth. So great was his sorrow that all activities on the craftworld stopped as every Eldar reached out to comfort his heavy heart. The truth as he described it to the Council was that every single conscious life caught up in this sector of the shockwave had been plucked from its wake and stored within the crystalline core of the planet.

After lengthy deliberations the Craftworld as a whole vowed to never to allow this unique and precious gift to fall into the hands of the great devourer. The Craftworld itself was lowered within the protective crust of the planet’s surface. At this time the wandering planet itself adopted the name Sien-Creis and the standing army colour scheme took on the appearance of the iridescent blues of the crystal core itself.

The lone planet, not being tied to a central star, has been allowed to wonder free throughout galaxy of its own accord. Only the slightest of course corrections can be made using the original Craftworld’s gravity drive. As such, along with its impenetrable outer skin, the army of Sien-Creis has not seen a major conflict since the adoption of the planet. Despite this, a Sien-Creis army stands ready to defend. To remember its tumultuous past, all Sien-Creis Eldar paint their helms to resemble the fire that swept all life form the surface and the wrath that cleansed the chaos filth.

The extended period of time without conflict has led to some technological developments that would never have been achievable without the unique properties of the planet’s crystal core. Warp Spiders found their jump packs were easier to control within and on the planet’s surface. Crystalline targeting matrixes made from the planet’s core reacted faster and allowed pilots to lock onto targets far quicker than before. Holofields seemed to interact with the cavern walls to create a dramatic blur of psychedelic colours.

With the removal of the unpredictability of their jump pack, combined with the necessity of being able to travel through the solid walls in the complex maze of caverns, the Warp Spider’s shrine has grown in popularity to outnumber all the other aspects combined. As such nearly all patrols are taken by small, but free moving squads of Warp Spiders. To represent their vast numbers and small patrol squads, Warp Spider squad caps are changed to 3-10. Also, at least 2 squads of Warp Spiders must be taken as troops in a Sien-Creis army (this does not count towards the minimum troops choices in an army list.) To represent the aspect’s extensive shared knowledge of the complex caverns and tunnels networking throughout the planet all Warp Spider squads can deep strike regardless of whether or not an Exarch is purchased.

The limited contact with their own species has left the ranks of the other aspects thinned but highly trained. All aspect warriors are limited to between 0-3 squads per army. Also, Swooping Hawks have become a highly specialised aspect due to the fact that they are so limited to how much they can fly within the cavern walls. As such Swooping Hawks count as an elite option in the force organisation chart and are limited to 0-1 squads per army list.

To help keep the pilots of Sien-Creis war machines safe inside the cramped space of the planet’s caverns, all vehicles are fitted with Vectored Engines and a Spirit Stone as standard and at no additional cost. However, no vehicles can be given the Star Engines upgrade and jetbikes cannot use the turbo-booster special rule.

In the few circumstances where the Eldar of Sien-Creis have had to defend their planet, the confines of the planet core and vastness of the planet’s surface have created some very challenging conditions. The following rules only apply when a battle occurs on or within the planet itself:

-The enhanced ability of the Warp Spiders to control their jump pack allows them to attempt to save themselves from falling into the warp. If a double is rolled when using the jump packs in the assault turn, the warp spider may take an unmodified leadership test to see if they can control their jump pack.
-The psychedelic effect of the combination of the crystal walls and a vehicle’s holofield allows the use of an additional D6 when rolling on the damage tables (3D6 in total).
-The infiltrator, deep striking or flanking special rules cannot be used when inside the planet core. Also, when rolling for reserves, all units (with the exception of units with personal teleporters) receive a -1 modifier to thier reserve roll.
-To represent the limited height of the caverns, jump troops and skimmers are unable to pass over terrain and must therefore pass through all terrain by making a dangerous terrain test. Vehicles cannot finish their movement ‘over’ a piece of terrain.
-To represent the cramped and very difficult flying conditions within the caverns all skimmers suffering a crew stunned result (after the effect of the soul stones and other upgrades) counts as being immobilised.
-Due to the constant glow of the crystals within the planet, night fighting rules never apply.

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I like the background, it's nicely written and fits within the flavour of the system; in fact, the general increase of people writing background is great.

However, I feel that background should never modify the rules, other than people taking more or less of particular things to fit the background (while remaining within the rules). This is because these games are competitive, and the balanced by the authors - changing of rules can easily result in imbalance (or perceived imbalance), which can lead to bad blood during the game.

Before I start I will say that I admire anybody who puts in the time to write background and I like what you have done. However....

While the Adept and I differ on our opinions in certain fields of gaming I do agree with what he is saying. The rules are the rules and you shouldn't go all "Bobkaye" and start making up unfair rules to suit your own ends and justify it by saying it is fluffy. The rules are the rules and you should trust in the wisdom of those that craft them (they know more than you or I).

Good rules that effect all armies and add a feel for the background and the specific terrain.



No, sorry, these don't seem overly fair to me.

Good job on the fluff though.