Alaitoc was a medium-sized Craftworld Eldar world. It was little-known among the Eldar, but had some renown among other races.
As a newcomer, back in the 30k era, Alaitoc had been nothing more than a small Craftworld, with a few little ships at most. It couldn't compare to those established Craftworlds at all; it had been downright poor.
But opportunity always favored the prepared. After the Horus Heresy, the Imperium of Man had fallen into chaos, and all sorts of Xenos forces had risen from the ashes. Seizing the chance, Cordelia took her Craftworld into the piracy business and started taking on odd jobs.
When they ran into a major Kabal, they would dutifully do the legwork, cheering from the sidelines. If they came across a weaker Xenos force, they would look for an opportunity to swallow it up and use it to develop their own world.
Compared with their kin, Alaitoc was even rather democratic. They didn't care who was on the other side—they'd rob their own kind, too. Conversely, they didn't care who they were dealing with, either. As long as there was profit to be made, they could cooperate even with humans, and they could even pledge loyalty to the Imperium.
In short, under these circumstances, the Craftworld led by Cordelia had grown from a tiny, bottom-tier force into a second-rate power with some substance over the course of ten thousand years. Its development had been extraordinarily rapid.
Don't think a second-rate power was weak. In the grand scheme of the Galaxy, any group that could be considered a power had a few tricks up its sleeve. At the very least, they all had unusual ways of thinking, and could be called carriers of world-shaking wisdom. They didn't have to be competent, but they had to bring