Harlequins units · Lore of the Warp

Masked warrior-performers of Cegorach, the Laughing God, who guard the Black Library and walk the Webway freely.

4 units. Jump to: Character Types · Troops. See also the Harlequins faction page and its characters.

The Black Library of Chaos — Masques of Cegorach & The Saedath

The Harlequins ('Rillietann') belong neither to the Craftworlds nor to Commorragh; they are the warrior-troubadours of 'Cegorach, the Laughing God'—the sole deity of the Aeldari pantheon to survive the Fall intact by hiding behind Khaine during his battle with Slaanesh and slipping into the labyrinth of the Webway. Operating from the 'Black Library of Chaos' (an artificial Craftworld-sized vault hidden deep in the Webway protected by psychic wards that only those who have mastered their inner terror can pass), the Harlequins travel through hidden Webway gates to perform acrobatic 'Saedath' dances that simultaneously recount mythic history and decapitate enemies with monofilament 'Harlequin's Kiss' wires.

Sub-Factions, Secret Orders & Classified Relics

Masque of the Midnight Sorrow, Frozen Stars, Silent Shroud & Soaring Spite — Great Masques dedicated to fighting Chaos across the Webway or restoring the Aeldari Empire.
The White Seers (Guardians of the Black Library) — Enigmatic librarians and Shadowseers who curate the Cegorachian 'Book of Fate' (Tome of Rhana Dandra) inside the Black Library.
The Solitaires — Lonely outcasts who walk in complete silence (anyone who accidentally speaks to a Solitaire off-stage is cursed), playing Slaanesh in the Dance of the Fall.

Forbidden Archives & Deep Cuts

Inquisitorial & Forge World Dossiers

The 'Harlequin's Kiss' is one of the most gruesome weapons in the 41st Millennium: a wrist-mounted bracer containing a hundred meters of coiled monofilament wire; when punched through a Space Marine's breastplate, the wire unspools at supersonic speed inside the torso, liquefying every internal organ and bone into red soup in less than a second before retracting. Source: Warhammer 40,000: Compendium (1989), 'Harlequins'; Codex: Harlequins (7th Edition)
Inside the Black Library rests a crystalline plinth holding a book bound in chains of light that have slowly faded over ten thousand years; when the Fall of Cadia tore open the Great Rift, the final chain snapped and the book opened on its own, revealing Cegorach's 'Final Joke': a secret script in which Slaanesh will be tricked into expending all of its power to save the Aeldari instead of destroying them. Source: Codex: Harlequins (7th & 8th Editions), 'The Final Act'
Only a tiny handful of humans in ten thousand years have ever been permitted by the White Seers to enter the Black Library of Chaos and live—most famously Inquisitor Bronislaw Czevak, Inquisitor Jaq Draco, and Ephrael Stern ('The Daemonifuge'), while Ahzek Ahriman has spent millennia burning worlds trying to steal its map. Source: Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders; Daemonifuge by Jim Campbell & Kev Walker
During the War of the Beast in M32, a small Harlequin Troupe led by Shadowseer Lhaerial Rey infiltrated the Imperial Palace on Terra itself—cutting through dozens of Adeptus Custodes in the throne-room approaches solely to deliver an urgent warning from Eldrad Ulthran that Chaos, not the Orks, was the true threat. Source: The Beast Arises Book 5: Throneworld by Guy Haley

Character Types (3)

Death Jesters

Character Types

Harlequins

Shadowseers

Character Types

Harlequins

Solitaires

Character Types

Harlequins

Troops (1)

Harlequin Troupe

Troops

Harlequins