Per Usual: Images and links are from Lexicanum or the Warhammer 40k wiki 

I thought I would give you a quick introduction to the Dark Eldar tonight (quick because I am way behind and like the Devil I am willing to make a deal) plus a good video for learning more about the different chapters of the Space Marines.

So, the Dark Eldar or Drukhari are basically the really evil versions of the Eldar (Space Elves), kinda like the Drow from DnD, but their pursuit of the ultimate in pleasure and pain gave birth to Slannesh, ended the Eldar’s immortality, and caused the death of billions of their own race.

The Eldar are a race created and nurtured by the Old Ones for the war against the Necrons.  The Eldar eventually defeated the Necrons, sent them to hide and hibernate within their tomb worlds, and went out to basically rule the galaxy.  As immortals they lived forever, even if their bodies were destroyed their souls would survive and allow them to be reborn in a new body.  Cool huh?  Well after several million years or so, eternity was getting a bit boring so some of the Eldar started experimenting with pain and pleasure, always trying to get that ultimate high or move on to a new plane of existence.  Whelp, they went a little too far, at one of these little soirees – you know the scene – chips, dips, chains and whips.  The monumental feedback of all this pleasure/pain fed into the warp and birth Slannesh, and like all births there was some pain and blood, mainly the pain and blood of over half the Eldar race as they died and their souls sucked out to feed the newborn god.  Baby godlings gotta eat and Gerber don’t make no baby ambrosia with a side of souls sticks.

This cataclysm basically caused the Eldar to split into two groups, one being the Eldar who decided to move towards a more nature oriented lifestyle and the other the Drukhari who basically said fuck this, let’s party and fuck some shit up.  After this split, the Drukhari were no longer able to subsist on granola and yogurt, nope, they needed to feed on the horror, despair, pain, and agony of some unlucky bastard (or a lot of them).  And they have found ways to prolong these emotions for as long as possible.  Torturers are their artists and chefs at the same time.  The good ones may torture one person for weeks, drawing out every last bit of pain and suffering while keeping the victim alive and sane.  These “feasts” are held in great coliseums in their city of Commoragh hidden in a pocket dimension of the webway.

Both Eldar and Drukhari still have prolonged lives and can even be reborn in new bodies.  The Eldar use soulstones to capture their souls on their death, and if the soulstones are returned to the Eldar, the individual can be reborn.  Drukhari are a bit different.  The are reborn by the arts of the flesh artists, the Haemonculi who use the flesh of their captives to create monstrosities to do their bidding, they are the ones who regenerate the bodies of slain Drukhari – as long as enough of the body is returned to them.  Slaneesh still feeds on the souls of both, either eating Eldar soul stones like popcorn or breathing in the soul of a slain Drukhari and both races fear the god.  The Haemonculi form the various covens, each coven has it’s own view of reality and their place in it.  We will cover those later, as well as some of the Drukhari weapons, like the Agonizer, the Amputator, the Macro-Scalpel, the Flesh Gauntlet, and the Punisher.  Fun, fun, fun.

Also, there is a really good introduction to the Space Marine Chapters:  You will have to click the link as they age restrict it for some reason.

And for those who loved the Assassins of Warhammer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQv1HuPdKAI