The Rhana Dandra or "End of All Days" in the Eldar Lexicon, is the legendary final battle of the Eldar race against Chaos that will end with the destruction of both, as prophecied in Eldar mythology. An account of the battle is given in the sacred Eldar text called the Asuryata, which predicts the destruction of the Eldar and their remaining Gods in the battle. Through the Asuryata's verses, the Eldar learn the legends of the Phoenix Lords, the greatest warriors of their race. Each of the Phoenix Lords of the Aspect Shrines plays an important role, and their actions are reflected in the methods and approaches of the Aspects made in their image. It is Fuegan, the Phoenix Lord of the Fire Dragons, who will gather together the others of his kind for the final battle, and it is he who shall die last of all, burning brightly until the final moment. It is said that Baharroth of the Swooping Hawks Aspect will also fall during this apocalyptic final battle. All Eldar secretly fear that the long foretold events of the Rhana Dandra will be played out within their lifetime. Given the portents of the Farseers, and the frequency with which the Phoenix Lords have been sighted in recent years, their fears may yet prove well placed.
However, after this battle, it is prophesied that within the Infinity Circuits of the Eldar Craftworlds, the souls of all the surviving Eldar will merge to form a new God in the Warp -- Ynnead, the Eldar God of the Dead, who will be powerful enough to defeat Slaanesh once and for all and bring about the end of the reign of She Who Thirsts over the souls of the Eldar. After the Rhana Dandra, the Materium and the Immaterium will once more fuse into a single reality and a new Eldar race will be born to seek out a better destiny. It is unknown whether any of the other younger species will take part in the Rhana Dandra or even where it will occur, but it is a continuing and potent theme in Eldar mythology since the Fall. It is also rumoured by Eldar Outcasts that the oldest amongst them, Illic Nightspear, wanders the galaxy, pursuing some hidden agenda that his acolytes whisper is the only thing staving off the Rhana Dandra.
The Final Act
At the very heart of the Black Library, the secret Eldar Craftworld that serves as the Eldar's repository of forbidden lore concerning the Ruinous Powers that exists somewhere within the labyrinthine passages of the Webway, there lies a silver-lit vault. Therein stands a plinth made of finely graven obstinite, upon which rests a crystalline book said to contain the words of the Laughing God Cegorach himself. Since the Fall, the tome's covers have remained closed, sealed shut with flickering chains of light. Yet now, long-awaited portents have come to pass. A fallen sorcerer seeks the lore of the library. A king stirs in his court of death and silence, preparing to rise once more. Within madness' eye, the champion of the Ruinous Powers prepares to seize a realm long denied. As the signs have come to pass, so the bands of light about the tome have flickered and died.
Now, at last, the tome has fallen open. Within its pages the Harlequin Shadowseers have found a script, a secret final act that changes utterly the tale of the Fall. Penned in inks of light and shadow, these words present a slender hope, detailing an intricate, galaxy-spanning performance with the potential to change the fate of the Eldar race. Always, the strands of fate have pointed toward the victory of Chaos during the last, mythic battle known to the Eldar as the Rhana Dandra. Yet within the pages of the crystal tome is recorded Cegorach's ultimate jest, a way to trick Slaanesh into expending all her power not to destroy the Eldar, but to save them. How such an impossibility could come to pass is unclear, for on this matter the final act is infuriatingly vague. Yet the Harlequins take their god's words on faith alone, for their devotion to Cegorach is total and his methods beyond question or reproach. Thus they have begun the steps of this final dance, and will see it completed, or else face absolute destruction in the attempt.
Sources
- Codex: Eldar (6th Edition), pp. 36, 55, 59-60
- Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 56-57
- Codex: Eldar (2nd Edition), pp. 84-85
- Codex: Harlequins (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 21, 32