The Rise of the Machine Again

Spirit Stones held Aeldari souls. They were a Craftworld's most important strategic resource.

After Slaanesh was born, any Aeldari who died had their soul seized by Slaanesh in an instant.

Later, the Craftworld Aeldari discovered Spirit Stones, and every one of them wore one.

When an Aeldari wearing a Spirit Stone died, the nearby stone would immediately draw in their soul, keeping it from Slaanesh.

Surviving comrades would bring the Spirit Stone back to the Craftworld and place it in the Infinity Circuit. There, the soul could be preserved, and new Spirit Stones would slowly grow from it.

The first Spirit Stones had formed deep underground during the ancient Aeldari's fall. Countless Aeldari souls had been tortured by Slaanesh, forced to relive their deaths again and again, until their psychic anguish crystallized.

Those original stones could be found only on the Crone Worlds of the fallen Aeldari Empire, now Slaanesh's domain. Craftworlds sent elite expeditions through the Webway into the Eye of Terror to mine them, but few returned alive.

These days, the Craftworlds mainly replenished their Spirit Stones by cultivating them.

Bonesingers used Wraithbone techniques to cultivate the raw stones brought back from the Eye of Terror, allowing them to multiply slowly.

Old Spirit Stones holding souls were placed in a Craftworld's Infinity Circuit. Nourished by its psychic energy, they slowly grew and divided into new stones for the next generation of Aeldari.

To the Craftworld Aeldari, Spirit Stones were the one light they still held in their hands through the long night of impending extinction.

For the Aeldari, death was not the end but the beginning of endless pain. Swallowed by an evil god and tortured until their souls faded away, many would rather have their souls destroyed outright.

Destroy the Biel-Tan Aeldari's Spirit Stone Mine, and their