Asdrubael Vect sank into deep confusion.
He had never imagined things would develop to this point.
Commorragh had not never been invaded before. Throughout its long history, there were even more than a dozen recorded incidents of Warp daemons invading it.
Yet, relying on the Webway's natural repulsion of Warp daemons and the Dark Eldar's ancient foundations, they had always held out until the end and forcibly driven the Warp daemons back to The Empyrean.
But this time, things were completely different.
Vect dared swear before the pantheon that he had only wanted to use those human monkeys to eliminate a few rivals he disliked. He had never intended for humanity to occupy Commorragh.
Commorragh belonged to the Dark Eldar. It was the capital and homeland upon which the most legitimate heirs of the Eldar Empire depended.
It was precisely because Commorragh existed that the Dark Eldar could mock the Craftworld Eldar without restraint as destitute refugees sailing shabby ships across the galaxy, fleeing for their lives; they could sneer at the Exodites as primitives who had only regressed further and now played in the mud on savage worlds.
And without Commorragh, where were they supposed to go?
The Dark Eldar knew that hiding within the Webway would not spare them Slaanesh's covetous gaze, but they could lessen Slaanesh's influence through continued indulgence and excess, through tormenting other lifeforms.
Torment and pleasure were not merely noble traditions inherited from the ancient Eldar Empire. They were also how the Dark Eldar prolonged their lives.
Without Commorragh, how could they maintain a complete system of hunting, enslavement, and indulgence?
A civilization needed sufficient living space to sustain its own existence.
The Webway was vast, but places as enormous, stable, and secure as Commorragh were exceedingly rare.
The Dark Eldar did not lack