A pict taken by a recon drone before it was shot down. Although military authorities are uncertain, the uniforms of the Eldar warriors are somewhat similar to those worn by warriors of the Craft World Biel-Tan, but this craftworld was last observed half a galaxy away. The two large xenos are believed to be bio-engineered constructs of heretical nature.

Imperial Voxcast (6 437 744.M41)—The Planetary Defense Force (PDF) of the planet Calypso has repulsed a small Eldar military force that landed in an isolated region of the planet.

“Six xeno voidcraft, including two cruiser-equivalent vessels, entered the Hochschild System and made course for Calypso, a civilized Imperial world of 540 million citizens, Captain Jamol Wythe, public liaison officer for the Imperial Navy, said in a news conference today.

The planet’s fleet of System Defense Boats moved to intercept the Eldar flotilla but were swept aside and destroyed by the xenos. Free to take orbit above Calypso, the xenos launched scores of aircraft that descended upon the Varenbel Forest, a largely unpopulated area on the planet’s northern hemisphere.

Xeno aircraft, accompanied by jetbikes, move to intercept PDF gunships on the attack.

“A military force of approximately 5,000 Eldar warriors landed in the forest,” Wythe said. “PDF troops  were dispatched immediately to the landing site and met fierce resistance from the xenos. After several days of fighting, the Eldar suddenly abandoned their position and returned to their orbital warships and left the system.”

Approximately 300 PDF troops were killed, and another 540 were wounded, in the fighting. No xeno remains were recovered, indicating the xenos took their dead with them.

Imperial authorities could offer no explanation for the xeno incursion. “A search of the landing site revealed a number of xeno excavations, including one that broke into an underground system of caverns,” Wythe said. “But a preliminary search of the caverns has revealed nothing unusual.”

A Wraithbone Staff of the Eldar found on the battlefield of Calypso. Its purpose is unknown, although some speculate it is a weapon, while others suggest it is a ceremonial icon related to the xenos’ religious beliefs.

Members of the Ecclesiarchy insist that it is heretical to seek to understand the twisted and perfidious mind of the xenos, but one opinion was offered by Mandevel Hoth, a scholar of exobiology and xeno anthropology at the Lyceum of Military Studies, a prestigious education center for the  Schola Progenium on Belliose III.

“The mind of a xenos is beyond human comprehension, but even the lowest of species act in response to their needs,” he said.

“Obviously the xenos were digging for something. The question is: did they find it? I think a thorough exploration of the cavern system—with careful examination of where the xenos went and a search for any signs of anything being disturbed—might shed light on their purpose.”

Wythe expressed little interest in such speculation.

“What matters is that the xenos were driven off,” he said. “Planetary authorities will be expected to rebuild—and expand—their military resources in these troubled days. No xeno, traitor, or heretic should ever be allowed to set foot on one of the God-Emperor’s worlds. Any taint to our blessed worlds must be met with extreme violence and annihilation.”

* The photo of the Eldar army was taken at Adepticon this spring. I don’t have an identity of the owner of this nice-looking army, but it certainly sparked this article.—TheGM

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.