Jain Zar

Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence, Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees Aspect Warriors, wielding the Blade of Destruction and the Jainas Mor

Jain Zar, called "the Storm of Silence," is the Phoenix Lord and founder of the Eldar's Howling Banshees Aspect Warriors.

History

Asurmen, the "Hand of Asur," was the first of the Phoenix Lords, and it was he who founded the first of the Aspect Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, and trained the other Exarchs who would become the first of the other Aspects' Phoenix Lords. Prior to the Fall of the Eldar, Asurmen was the Eldar who led the Craftworlds away from the ancient Eldar homeworlds of their now lost interstellar empire and it was he who founded the first of the Aspect Warrior Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, upon a barren world of the same name his people initially settled. Asurmen found that he could not give up the Path of the Warrior to follow a different Eldar Path, for he desired to use his skills to protect what remained of his species after the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh, "She Who Thirsts." From the Shrine of Asur sprang the first Aspect Warriors, and the Path of the Warrior was opened for the very first time to all Eldar.

In the time after the Fall of the Eldar, Jain Zar was the first warrior of her race chosen to serve at the side of the first Phoenix Lord, Asurmen, and the first to become an Exarch, those Eldar who can never leave the path of the Warrior for they can never take off the war mask of Khaine. Jain Zar was a passionate Eldar swordmaiden famed for her speed and ferocity. She and her brother-in-arms learned well at the feet of their master, and in their turn they assumed the mantle of the Asurya, the children of Asurmen, spreading their own teachings across the stars and founding the shrines of the Warrior Aspects. It was during this time that the first Aspects were formalised, taking as a model the specialties of their founders. Those Eldar who wanted to follow this new path learned at the feet of their master, and in turn they assumed the mantle of Exarchs before spreading throughout the galaxy. Great shrines were built on the Craftworlds as they took to deep space so the skills of the Asurya could be conserved for all time.

Once her training was complete, Jain Zar travelled the Webway extensively, perfecting the abilities of her devotees and leading ever more Eldar along the Warrior Path. Soon enough, there were shrines practicing her arts on every major Craftworld -- shrines that she still frequents to this day, nurturing her spiritual descendants. Of all the Phoenix Lords, Jain Zar remains the most devoted to the shrines of the Warrior Aspects throughout the Craftworlds. An acrobat at heart like the Harlequin, Jain Zar (which translates into Low Gothic from the Eldar Lexicon as "The Storm of Silence") is the fastest of all the Phoenix Lords save for Baharroth, the Phoenix Lord of the Swooping Hawks. Jain Zar's astonishing swiftness and mercurial temperament are echoed by her Howling Banshee daughters, and it was she who first perfected the Scream that Steals -- though the psychosonic barrage that emanates from her mask can not only stun the foe but liquefy their brains in the process.

The Storm of Silence is the most active of all the Phoenix Lords in the war against the forces of the Great Enemy. She has led hundreds of Howling Banshees to war on countless occasions, even mustering them from several Craftworlds at once should she deem it necessary. She still travels the labyrinthine corridors of the Webway, spreading her particular martial knowledge to all but the most remote of the Eldar Craftworlds. Although she might disappear for standard centuries at a time, she always returns, and her shrines maintain a constant vigil for their deadly mistress.

In 838.M41 in the campaign that became known as the Pyre of Kiliak's Bane, Imperial xenologists began to plunder buried Eldar artefacts on the Maiden World of Kiliak, bringing about a devastating retaliatory assault from the nearby Craftworlds of Biel-Tan and Ulthwé. A sighting of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar, accompanied by one hundred of her Howling Banshee disciples, was confirmed before the entire Imperial force was slaughtered and incinerated, their ashes scattered to the winds in retribution for their assault upon the Eldar's lost patrimony.

In the late 41st Millennium, Jain Zar hunted the Chaos Space Marine Talos Valcoran, the commander of the 1st Claw of the 10th Company of the Night Lords Traitor Legion, due to a vision by Eldar Seers that foresaw that a prophet of the VIII Legion would unify the Night Lords and lead them against the Ulthwé Eldar in the future, and in so doing kill enough of the Craftworld's population to push it beyond its ability to recover its losses. When Talos' warband of Night Lords laid waste to the Imperial colonists of the world of Tsagualsa in the Eastern Fringe, they were ambushed by Eldar of the Ulthwé Craftworld looking to again kill the Soul Hunter before he could become a threat to their race. In the ensuing battle, nearly every member of Talos' warband was slain and he himself became embroiled in a desperate single combat against the deadly Phoenix Lord who had led the Ulthwé Aspect Warriors. In the ensuing battle, Jain Zar took grievous injuries and Talos sacrificed himself by detonating a grenade. The blast stopped short of killing the Phoenix Lord, whose crippled and barely-alive body was finished off by the Night Lords' Chaos Dreadnought Malcharion.

Jain Zar's armour was later recovered by the Eldar, and the Phoenix Lord would eventually return when a new Exarch was chosen to take up the burden of the Storm of Silence. Similarly, Talos Valcoran's gene-seed was recovered and used on a specially-selected Astartes candidate, who some decades later would become the foretold prophet who would begin to unite the VIII Legion in preparation for the 13th Black Crusade. This prophet advocated assaulting the Ulthwé Eldar to keep them from offering their assistance to the Imperium during Abaddon the Despoiler's great assault.

Wargear

• Phoenix Armour - The legendary Phoenix Lords wear ancient, invaluable Aspect armour so finely wrought it is proof against almost any weapon.
• Mask of Jain Zar - The first and greatest of all Howling Banshee masks, this artefact has the power to turn its wearer's warcry into a devastating barrage that robs the mind of all those who hear it.
• Zhai Morenn - Known as the "Blade of Destruction" in the Eldar Lexicon, this long and elegant polearm was made in the distant past, yet retains much of its original power. It is amongst the most potent of blades to survive from the time of the Fall, yet it is light and easy to wield with blurring speed.
• Jainas Mor - Known as "Silent Death" in the Eldar Lexicon, this triple-bladed throwing weapon possesses sharpened edges that were forged in the anti-flame of the Warp. Black fire licks around its keen surfaces as the Silent Death describes an elegant loop through the air, leaving decapitated bodies in its wake before returning to its mistress.

Sources

• Codex: Eldar (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 189-192
• Codex: Eldar (6th Edition), pp. 57, 65
• Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 31, 63
• Codex: Eldar (3rd Edition), pg. 10
• Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 9, 86
• Planetstrike (5th Edition), pg. 55
• Void Stalker (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Gallery

Jain Zar stands at-the-ready, to lead the Howling Banshees into battle

Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence in battle.