Eldar Craftworlds (Warhammer 40,000) - Black Library

The Black Library of Chaos or just Black Library, is a unique Craftworld situated in ever changing locations of the Webway. As a so-called dark craftworld, its actual location at any given time is unknown, and the craftworld itself is invisible even to psychic senses. The Craftworld is psychically active, defending itself against detection and intrusion. It is the Eldar's repository of knowledge about Chaos, holding Chaos-related items from every race and time period. It also acts as a vault, a place for safe-keeping knowledge and implements too dangerous to be anywhere else.

Eldar Guardian-Scribes, custodians of the Library, are its only permanent residents, charged with cataloguing, analysing, and securing its contents. Eldar Harlequins are the Library's defenders, providers and procurers of items from all over the Galaxy. The Harlequins (or perhaps just certain members of that group) are the only persons outside of Eldar Farseers who may know its actual location at any given time. Technically, the Harlequins are considered a distinct third branch of the Eldar race, separate from the Craftworld Eldar and Dark Eldar within the storyline. For in-game mechanics, however, the Harlequins are treated as special Eldar units, not a distinct faction.

The only other group known to be able to enter the Library at will is the Black Council, consisting of Eldar Farseers from all major Craftworlds. The Council, which convenes within the Craftworld, is its governing body as well as an informal advisory body for the whole Eldar race. Otherwise entry to the Library is strictly regulated, and usually allowed only when the Council deems it advantageous to its aims. Members of the Illuminati, a human pro-Imperial organization, are known to have been allowed entry to the Craftworld. The powerful Chaos sorcerer Ahriman has tried for millennia to find the Library, without success. Imperial Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak was "invited" into the Library, presumably as part of complicated Eldar plans to thwart Ahriman. Czevak eventually managed to escape his fate, taking the Atlas Infernal (a living map of the Webway that is a psychic "null" or "blank" item) with him. Another Inquisitor, Jaq Draco, managed to find and enter the Craftworld, stealing another valuable tome, the prophetic Book of Rhana Dhandra which supposedly foretells the end of the Galaxy.

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