Sylandri Veilwalker

Overview

Sylandri Veilwalker is a Harlequin Shadowseer who has woven herself into the Imperium's revival. She urged Cawl on, freed Guilliman, and shapes destiny for the Laughing God.

As a Shadowseer, she wields psychic illusion and hallucinogenic projections to confuse and terrify her enemies. She serves Cegorach, the Laughing God, whose Harlequins guard the Black Library and perform the sagas of Aeldari history. Her role in Guilliman's return makes her one of the most important xenos agents in the Imperium's recent history. Sylandri is the Shadowseer of the Masque of the Veiled Path. She is one of the strangest manipulators in the setting. Fabius Bile even suggests that "Veilwalker" may be a title held by more than one Harlequin. She has advised Yriel, guided Belisarius Cawl, steered Cadian survivors into the webway after Cadia's fall, and helped Cypher in the events that freed Roboute Guilliman. Her methods are simple and pitiless: she places one group of beings in front of another so that Aeldari are spared.

Origins

Her origins are hidden behind her mask. She serves the Laughing God and has been involved in Imperial affairs for centuries.

Like all Harlequins, she gave up her former identity to serve the Laughing God, so nothing is known of her life before her mask. Her repeated meetings with Imperial figures suggest she has studied them for a long time. Every intervention she makes appears to follow a design that only she, or her god, can see.

Key events

1. In M34, steered Oleander Koh into recruiting Fabius Bile and the Radiant King for an attack on Craftworld Lugganath, apparently to prevent greater Aeldari losses later.
2. Guided Cawl to Eriad VI and encouraged him to unlock the secrets of the Cadian pylons.
3. Met Prince Yriel when he took up the Spear of Twilight and again on his resurrection.
4. Freed Guilliman from the Maelstrom with the Fallen Angel Cypher.
5. Took part in the battle against Magnus during the Terran Crusade.
6. Posing as an alien ambassador, lured T'au colonists to Maudlin III and then diverted a Hive Fleet Kraken tendril there, sacrificing thousands of T'au to save an important webway portal.
7. Worked with Eldrad Ulthran to guide surviving Cadian defenders into the webway after the planet fell.
8. Sealed the webway portal on Luna after Guilliman drove Magnus back.

Her appearances in the Iyanden material follow Prince Yriel. In the Iyanden supplement (p. 48), she appears to him when he takes up the Spear of Twilight and then vanishes. She returns only when he tries to give the spear back and die. She tells him that his work is not done and shows him a vision of Aeldari gods reborn and daemons loose among the stars. He takes the spear up again, and the illusion fades, beckoning him into the shadows of the shrine. Gav Thorpe's Valedor tells that her troupe fought for Iyanden against Hive Fleet Kraken and that all but she had died by the time Yriel's corsairs arrived. She also helped guide Taec Silvereye to his destiny at the Battle of Dûriel, and afterwards Yriel followed her away from the craftworld. In 988.M41, the Time of Ending material says, she manipulated Xander Krast into stopping an Ork Waaagh! bound for the Exodite world Selesti.

Battles & campaigns

• Iyanden: Her troupe died to the last except her.
• The Fall of Cadia: She directed Cawl and helped Cadian survivors through the webway.
• The Terran Crusade: She sealed a webway portal on Luna after Magnus was forced back.

Personality

Enigmatic, theatrical and playful.

She is theatrical and playful, yet deeply serious in her purpose. She enjoys riddles and the performance of destiny, never revealing more than she must. Her allies trust her guidance only so far, sensing that she may be playing a part in a story much larger than theirs.

Weapons & Vehicles

Singing Spear & WitchbladePsychic Weapon

The psycho-crystalline force-blades and hurled Singing Spears of Craftworld Farseers and Warlocks, humming with resonant Warp-harmonics…

Shuriken Catapult & Shuriken PistolRanged Weapon

The graceful wraithbone gravitic-accelerator firearm of the Craftworld Aeldari, slicing targets to ribbons with silent, monomolecular s…

Power SwordMelee Weapon

A master-crafted blade sheathed in a crackling molecular disruption field that parts ceramite, bone and steel with effortless lethality…

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (3)

• 
  Roboute Guilliman ally · Ultramarines

  Sylandri helped free Guilliman during the Terran Crusade.

• 
  Eldrad Ulthran ally · Craftworld Aeldari

  Sylandri worked with Eldrad to save Cadian survivors.

• 
  Prince Yriel guided by · Craftworld Aeldari

  Sylandri guided Yriel when he took up the Spear of Twilight.

Factions

• Harlequins primary faction

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Sylandri is a Shadowseer of the Harlequins whose interventions shaped the Era Indomitus. Her guidance of Cawl and her role in freeing Guilliman show how the Harlequins play a long, hidden game on behalf of the Laughing God. Her motives are never fully explained, and both her allies and her enemies are left to wonder what part they are playing in her performance. Her schemes show how the Harlequins trade the lives of others, including many T'au, for outcomes that only they can foresee. Sylandri reminds the galaxy that a Harlequin's smile can be a death sentence for another species.

Appearances & sources

• The Gathering Storm I–III
• Fabius Bile: Primogenitor (Josh Reynolds)
• Harlequins painting guide