The Lileathean Cascades

A secret domain of the Eldar of Craftworld Il-Kaethe.

May the Eldar rue the day when the Warrant Traders of the Imperium discover it's untrammelled beauty and resources.

Well Done Sir. A work of Beauty. I shall genuinely weep when the RT finds this.

Great stuff, Cognizar. Do you happen to have anything written for this domain or the craftworld?

Nothing at all Marwynn. I'm offering this verdant domain for the community to use and embellish as each GM see fits. Just let me know anyone who does use this material what they did, so we can share stories in the Lileathean Cascades! =D

A cool-looking map; nice job. Is there some interesting phenomenon that is keeping it secluded, or does it just rest in an area where the RTs have yet to tread? If it's perimeters were laced with vast nebulae, or something, something that makes voidships leery of crossing, then that could be cool. While i have no doubt that the Eldar COULD repel intruders, they can only do so so many times before it becomes obvious, and then everyone else will come to find out what they are hiding.

As an offshoot, since people here might be interested in Eldar, why do the Eldar so protect their Maiden Worlds? I can sort of get that they are arrogant, sometimes selfish beings, occasionally reliving glory days of when they ruled, and also that they poured copious amounts of effort into terraforming such planets, but they never seem to have Exodite populations, and the space-faring Eldar never seem willing to give up the Craftworld life, and settle down on a stationary home. Many of the Eldar are supporting the Ynnead Plan, where they will all drink the spiked punch, and cease to be, so that their newest god can defeat Slaanesh, and then the Eldar maybe believe that they will be reincarnated into a new universe. That means that, other than vanity, the Eldar have next to no value for their Maiden Worlds they currently have no plans to colonize, and other than vanity, sort of no real reason to risk their limited resources to quarrel with people who would otherwise occupy them. What's up? Opinions?

To keep it tangentally associated with this thread, so that I'm not just pirating it, what here is so important that the Eldar of Il-Kaithe are willing to risk so much, when they mostly just live on their Craftworld, that might not even be drifting through this area?

Vanity is a perfectly good Eldar reason. We created this for ourselves. No one else can have it, and it's pretty and you wouldn't understand how complex it is anyway.

It's not like they think highly of the mon-keigh who are only one of the races that'd try and settle those worlds.

Well, that and the fact that a Maiden World was created to be a colony for their own kind. Another race taking it, or sullying it, only rubs in the fact that they'll never truly settle those worlds again. Each one is a monument to an Eldar future that could have been were it not for Eldar nature itself.

That said, they are slowly recolonizing the Maiden Worlds. At least, in some versions of the fluff.

I suppose I can see all of that and even rather agree, but while i know there are more than a few thousand Eldar left, all together, it still seems an unnecessary risk, from a people who avoid those a lot, and who usually use other people as weapons.

I've never read anything about them actually LIVING on their current Maiden Worlds; Exodite Worlds are possibly different, and Craftworld Eldar live in space, Corsairs on ships, and Dark Eldar hide their tainted faces in Commoragh. That said, I don't pay nearly enough attention to the myriad books of 40k: I do barely well on the codices, and they do allow a wide assortment of different authors to write pretty much whatever they want, so maybe I just missed it.

A cool-looking map; nice job. Is there some interesting phenomenon that is keeping it secluded, or does it just rest in an area where the RTs have yet to tread? If it's perimeters were laced with vast nebulae, or something, something that makes voidships leery of crossing, then that could be cool. While i have no doubt that the Eldar COULD repel intruders, they can only do so so many times before it becomes obvious, and then everyone else will come to find out what they are hiding.

It's more or less protected by the turblence of remote sectors (Askellon, Pandemonium), its vast spatial properties, and its location amidst the Halo Stars that has so far proved a formidible shield against intrusion from the Imperium. With the constant war of attrition occuring in the Cadian Gate (Eye of Terror in general) drawing attention, and the lesser heresies of the Ixiniad and Calixis sectors, the lure of the Koronus Expanse, and other such distractions few would dare venture so far from the guiding light of the Astronomican.

As an offshoot, since people here might be interested in Eldar, why do the Eldar so protect their Maiden Worlds? I can sort of get that they are arrogant, sometimes selfish beings, occasionally reliving glory days of when they ruled, and also that they poured copious amounts of effort into terraforming such planets, but they never seem to have Exodite populations, and the space-faring Eldar never seem willing to give up the Craftworld life, and settle down on a stationary home. Many of the Eldar are supporting the Ynnead Plan, where they will all drink the spiked punch, and cease to be, so that their newest god can defeat Slaanesh, and then the Eldar maybe believe that they will be reincarnated into a new universe. That means that, other than vanity, the Eldar have next to no value for their Maiden Worlds they currently have no plans to colonize, and other than vanity, sort of no real reason to risk their limited resources to quarrel with people who would otherwise occupy them. What's up? Opinions?

Exodite populations are, by their origins, worlds populated pre-fall by the first colonist who abandoned the hedonistic decline of their civilization. Thus, any maiden world that was settled by the exodites, is considered an Exodite world (which by most accounts found in the setting were settled on immature-Not ready Maiden Worlds).

However said, the Eldar are fiercely jealous of their Maiden Worlds - they are known by canon to attack simply to remove civilizations that have settled on their worlds, often giving them the option to choose exodus from the world, or face death - even in situations where the settlers have devolved into feral societies with no potential way to escape.

Not to mention that the most famous Craftworlds have defended and attacked Imperial interests on (un)sullied Maiden Worlds even when they have had no intention of colonizing such worlds. While the Ynnead theory might be circulated widely by Craftworld Ulthwe, as of yet the majority of the Eldar are fighting against their demise in various forms.

Tl;dr: Lexicanum article for Maiden Worlds http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Maiden_World

To keep it tangentally associated with this thread, so that I'm not just pirating it, what here is so important that the Eldar of Il-Kaithe are willing to risk so much, when they mostly just live on their Craftworld, that might not even be drifting through this area?

Maiden Worlds that have not been settled by other species, are still viable, and accessible to the Eldar are phenomenal resources. They are also growing rarer through every millennium. The Lileathean Cascades are, without a doubt, a great and bountiful resource the Il-Kaethe are loath to allow to be spoiled.

While Craftworlds are often thought of as self-sufficient (which for the most part they are), they cannot exist within a vacuum without outside resources. The Craftworld Eldar do make efforts to maintain relationships with the Exodites (particularly Biel-Tann If I recall correctly...or one of the other ones), and the Eldar do need materials besides Wraithbone to funciton as a society. They get these materials from their own worlds.

The Lileathean Cascades, thus, provides the Eldar of Il-Kaethe a precious commodity - and a safe haven. A place where, these now verdant Maiden worlds can be colonized without having to take up the 'Exodite' lifestyle. These worlds are ready for the pre-existing mantle of Eldar Civilzation (or the remnants of it) to grow from the warp portals connecting them to their craftworld.

And while the Craftworld Il-Kaethe may not always be present in the system, they always will be. Not to mention the corsair fleets of Nelfyrios the Worldbreaker, who strikes the Imperium from this save haven across the Scarus, Calixis, and other sectors.

Really nice work, Cogniczar. I will definitely use this in either an RT campaign or perhaps even OW. I could see this being really cool for the latter as I find there's not enough Eldar v. IG conflicts.

Please, share me with the details when you do! I can certainly update the map for an Imperial Crusade version! =D

So, I see its in Segmentum Obscurus... do you have any idea what Imperial sectors/worlds it might be nearest to?

I set it to border Askellon (DH 2.0), beyond the scope of the Pandemonium. You can see that on the lower right corner. =D

The idea being, that the Imperials have long been ignorant of the Cascades because:

a: The warp storms making travel within the sector near improbable already.

b: The 'empty space' beyond is the Halo Stars, that only the bravest of Rogue Traders would dare explore anyway. The corsair fleet also helps to detour them. =D

c: its general position allows it to be 'relatively near' any of the other official sectors/expanses as well, as they are all grouped in a general area (again, relatively...)

Ok, so based on that, my thought is the Corsair Fleet gets ballsy and starts raiding into the Askellon Sector, eventually hitting a Shrine World there - I see the Corsairs having a recent change in leadership to a far more militant figure. After a decade or two of these predations, with the destruction of a Shrine World being the last straw, an influential Ecclesiarch pushes for a Crusade of Retribution, the High Lord eventually grant it as they see it being a way to further stabilize the Askellon Sector.

Queue the Imperial Guard.

I like all your maps Cogniczar, but I puzzled over where to place them relative to Koronus.

Then I remembered the lesson of Khan Noonian Singh . . . Space Is 3-D.

they are "above" or "below" Calixis/Koronus; IMHO.

(unless you've put location info or landmarks on them and I missed it.)

Indeed. I left it intentionally vague of course, its there to be used accordingly to desire. =D

Heh, I didn't notice that it bordered Askellon either. I just saw that it bordered the Halo Stars, assuming it was somewhere in the Drusus Marches.