In the dirty future of the 41st Millenium, the Space Marine is the M16 assault rifle of races. They’ll always be there, but with familiarity comes a little boredom. We’ll always love the Imperium of Man and its nutty techno-god beliefs, but sometimes tanks dressed in gothic architecture isn’t enough to satisfy our sci-fi cravings. We want flying tanks, exploding minds, and towering avatars sweeped in flame. It’s not something Space Marines, nor their usual adversaries the Chaos Marines or Orks can provide.
Luckily the Edar have enough shuriken rifles and Wraithguards to fulfil our needs for brightly coloured particle effects. They’re the latest addition to Eternal Crusade, the MMOFPS in development at Behaviour Interactive.
The Eldar are elves from the future, suffering on the brink of extinction and living on massive, planet-sized spaceships known as Craftworlds. Whilst they wear light armour and fire weapons with more finesse but less punch than the Imperium’s finest, the Eldar are nimble, crafty, and all-importantly mentally linked to the Warp (that dark, twisted place where the Chaos gods hang out). This means the Eldar have access to a bunch of powerful psychic abilities, which will be well-represented in Eternal Crusade.
In class form, the Eldar will be fielding Dire Avengers, Dark Reapers, and Warlocks. The Warlocks in particular will be very interesting to take control of, with them being able to make use of the Wraithguard: robotic warriors made of bone. Yeah, the Eldar really are that cool.
At launch Eternal Crusade will offer four different Craftworlds (the Eldar equivalent of Chapters or armies), with Ulthwe, Saim-Hann, Iyanden, and Biel-tan on offer. A fith Craftworld will be selected by the community later next year, a system that is being offered by Behaviour for all of Eternal Crusade’s races.