Why do people, in this case the authors of netEpic, think the Dark Eldar are in any way devoted to Chaos?

I know they enslave, torture, mutilate and generally engage in Slaaneshi-esque debauchery, but they aren't Chaos worshipers, they don't mutate or accept favor from daemons. They call Slaanesh 'The Great Enemy' and 'She Who Thirst' just like their snooty, craftworld cousins.

They do capture and torture daemons and psykers and stuff their souls into their arcane devices though. ^^

Nice guys really.

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Fear is for the enemy, fear and bullets.
-James O'Barr, the Crow

There is the odd oblique reference to Chaos and corruption but I'm not really sure what you are talking to.

I do however beleive that there is a widely held theory that the Dark Eldar must have made a compact with Slaanesh to ensure their ongoing survival.

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Fire bad, tree pretty - Buffy

There are heavy references to the Wych cults toying with Chaotic gods, check out Warrior Coven.  But as for the run of the mill Dark Eldar I'd say not so much.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

The Dark Eldar in most every official story are noted as having the ability to consume the souls of other creatures, mostly humans, and using that energy to fill the void that Slaanesh's Hunger leaves.

Asdrubael Vect himself (from the story on the 40k DE site) was a slave meant for sacrifice in the corrupt Eldar cults and escpaed on the very day of the Fall along with many other slaves. They fled into the Webway and there learned to eek out a miserable existence as parasitic pirates.

Wyches do make Warp Beasts out of daemons somehow. They don't summon them, but instead forge them into useful forms.

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Fear is for the enemy, fear and bullets.
-James O'Barr, the Crow

I suggest you read Warrior Coven then, since the entire plot revolves around a Wych Queen trying to summon a Chaos god.  Not the best I've read but its a short read.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

I think I'd rather read my own obituary. Novels set in the 40k universe are almost always as awful as Star Wars one.    

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Fear is for the enemy, fear and bullets.
-James O'Barr, the Crow

I don't read them for their quality - just for the fluff.  Regardless, you have an answer now at least on the Chaos-Dark Eldar link.

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author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Bit of a dead post, but I prefer the theory that the Dark Eldar are substituting the souls of slaves for their own.

It is a far more interesting background than 'wee be Space Pirates of the 80's, yarr'.

It makes their plight almost tragic if it had not been brought on themselves, they must capture and enslave others, sacrificing them to Slaanesh in place of their own souls.
Presumably the exquisite torture and suffering involved is to appease Slaanesh, who is notorious for enjoying such things.

The more tortured the soul, the brighter it is to Slaanesh, and so the more 'time' it buys the DE doing the torturing.


The alternative, that they are 'just' more Chaos worshippers seems dull in comparison.