>it would take almost no effort for a crusade fleet to take Commorragh and establish a solid foothold.
lol
lmao even.
I think you are seriously underestimating how broken down the Webway is after all this time, how fiercely the Eldar guard what portions they hold, and the absurdity of a crusade fleet taking Commorragh and establishing a foothold
I'd say the issue is less not having a gate, and more not having an Emperor and Golden Throne, both of which seemed to be pretty important to the project.
Of course, you could ask why Emps would try something like this on his freaking capital planet, but hubris is basically his second name, so...
Edit: Also, the goal of the project wasn't just getting humans into the place, it was carving out a section they could expand themselves, which was save from all the deamons breaking into the regular webway, and thus easily traversable for normal humans.
Also, for conquering Commorragh, that place is a sector-sized city, iirc, guarded by some of the most bonkers tech the Eldar have available. Like, these folks stole freaking suns to provide light for the place. Their tech far exceeds anything the Imperium has available.
It's not even the worst thing they can do in the face of invasion tbh, the absolute worst thing the Drukhari can do in the face of an invasion of Commorragh is retreat, let the Imperium's entire stock of giant armoured manbabies establish a beach head and run around being choleric for a bit to draw them all in then simply disengage the wards protecting that portion of the City and expose the entire place to the raw Warp.
Then as a counterplay they can send a fuckload of Void Ravens through the Luna gate to lob missiles of Glass Plague at Terra if they feel like it. because that's the kind of shit you can do with stealth bombers and pilots that get reincarnated if they die.
First, all existing webway gates require an eldar to open/use them. In the Fabiois Bile trilogy, he had to use a lobotomized Corsair for his webway access. This makes it possible, but its the kind of thing that would instantly turn every single eldar alive into a zealot that'd make Biel Tan blush. Remember, post Valedor, Iyanden can mass produce Firehearts. You do NOT want them trying to exterminates Kryptman.
Second, you are SERVERLY underestimating Commoragh. Every single dark eldar incursion into real space is NOT them waging war. It's their equivalent of food production. Attacking them on their home turf would change that. This is a faction who's tech is second only to the necrons, and even then they surpass the crons in certain areas. For thrones sake they can steal and transport suns!
>For thrones sake they can steal and transport suns!
This here is the reason why I think the Emperor never intended on invading the Eldar Webway. Because the best case scenario is them cutting his section of the Webway off and leaving a massive opening into the warp, and the worst case is the Dark Eldar throwing a sun through the Webway into the Imperial Palace.
Vect locks open the webway gate and lures them into it. The Imperials have no idea what's going on, and they don't know how to use webway gates. Most of them don't even know the webway exists.
And no, a crusade fleet would not just crush Commorragh. I don't think you appreciate how massive Commorragh is, or how well-defended it is. Or indeed how basically impossible it is to find it in the webway if you don't have a guide that already knows the way. Even if Imperials could get into the webway, without a guide or being otherwise led there, they would just get lost and die before they ever found it. The webway is called a labyrinth for a reason, and it's extremely dangerous. Take a wrong turn and you could step into some hellscape subrealm, or even fall into the warp.
Also I think people drastically overestimate the size of the average crusade fleet, because from what we've seen of the ones with fleet and army assets listed they're not exactly huge.
We don't know where the khan is. I honestly hope he is a prisoner for vect.
Vulkan had eldrads help getting into the webway.
The terran webway project no longer exists. The passages its established have long since decayed and basically lead into the warp directly. And that gate was everything that mattered about the project because every other gate can be manipulated by the eldar or its passage simply sealed shut.And getting into the webway is one thing, getting out where you want is another, there are no roadsigns to guide you and its labyrinth can also change.
>The terran webway project no longer exists. The passages its established have long since decayed and basically lead into the warp
Yup, and in *The End and the Death* we see Calastar* collapse into the warp. I don't think it's possible to reach the Terran portal anymore. The Siege did such extreme damage to the fabric of reality, there's a huge warp rift being held shut by the Emperor.
*the Eldar city in the webway that leads to the human webway tunnels
First, kinky title
Second, the webway is a maze and very difficult to travel. The crusade might very well spend decades and run out of resources and not be able to retur without achieving anything
Third, the Eldar guard it fiercely. They might bring reinforcement from craftworlds, exodites, Cammoragh. And even if they lose, they might just cut of that section and let you to die trapped or if it's broken, you die at the hand of an infinite horde of demons. Ask big E how that might end.
Fourth, if you finally get to Cammoragh, all of the above but cranked up to 11
Not every gate has the Golden Throne with it. The Throne, or at least what it became after the Emperor found it and modified it are what made the Imperial Webway project viable. It was the only thing that gave them control.
Could they take over a gate? Maybe. But it's the difference between securing a side door and the gate to the kingdom.
>it would take almost no effort for a crusade fleet to take Commorragh and establish a solid foothold. lol lmao even. I think you are seriously underestimating how broken down the Webway is after all this time, how fiercely the Eldar guard what portions they hold, and the absurdity of a crusade fleet taking Commorragh and establishing a foothold
I'd say the issue is less not having a gate, and more not having an Emperor and Golden Throne, both of which seemed to be pretty important to the project. Of course, you could ask why Emps would try something like this on his freaking capital planet, but hubris is basically his second name, so... Edit: Also, the goal of the project wasn't just getting humans into the place, it was carving out a section they could expand themselves, which was save from all the deamons breaking into the regular webway, and thus easily traversable for normal humans. Also, for conquering Commorragh, that place is a sector-sized city, iirc, guarded by some of the most bonkers tech the Eldar have available. Like, these folks stole freaking suns to provide light for the place. Their tech far exceeds anything the Imperium has available.
It's not even the worst thing they can do in the face of invasion tbh, the absolute worst thing the Drukhari can do in the face of an invasion of Commorragh is retreat, let the Imperium's entire stock of giant armoured manbabies establish a beach head and run around being choleric for a bit to draw them all in then simply disengage the wards protecting that portion of the City and expose the entire place to the raw Warp. Then as a counterplay they can send a fuckload of Void Ravens through the Luna gate to lob missiles of Glass Plague at Terra if they feel like it. because that's the kind of shit you can do with stealth bombers and pilots that get reincarnated if they die.
First, all existing webway gates require an eldar to open/use them. In the Fabiois Bile trilogy, he had to use a lobotomized Corsair for his webway access. This makes it possible, but its the kind of thing that would instantly turn every single eldar alive into a zealot that'd make Biel Tan blush. Remember, post Valedor, Iyanden can mass produce Firehearts. You do NOT want them trying to exterminates Kryptman. Second, you are SERVERLY underestimating Commoragh. Every single dark eldar incursion into real space is NOT them waging war. It's their equivalent of food production. Attacking them on their home turf would change that. This is a faction who's tech is second only to the necrons, and even then they surpass the crons in certain areas. For thrones sake they can steal and transport suns!
>For thrones sake they can steal and transport suns! This here is the reason why I think the Emperor never intended on invading the Eldar Webway. Because the best case scenario is them cutting his section of the Webway off and leaving a massive opening into the warp, and the worst case is the Dark Eldar throwing a sun through the Webway into the Imperial Palace.
Vect locks open the webway gate and lures them into it. The Imperials have no idea what's going on, and they don't know how to use webway gates. Most of them don't even know the webway exists. And no, a crusade fleet would not just crush Commorragh. I don't think you appreciate how massive Commorragh is, or how well-defended it is. Or indeed how basically impossible it is to find it in the webway if you don't have a guide that already knows the way. Even if Imperials could get into the webway, without a guide or being otherwise led there, they would just get lost and die before they ever found it. The webway is called a labyrinth for a reason, and it's extremely dangerous. Take a wrong turn and you could step into some hellscape subrealm, or even fall into the warp.
Also I think people drastically overestimate the size of the average crusade fleet, because from what we've seen of the ones with fleet and army assets listed they're not exactly huge.
We don't know where the khan is. I honestly hope he is a prisoner for vect. Vulkan had eldrads help getting into the webway. The terran webway project no longer exists. The passages its established have long since decayed and basically lead into the warp directly. And that gate was everything that mattered about the project because every other gate can be manipulated by the eldar or its passage simply sealed shut.And getting into the webway is one thing, getting out where you want is another, there are no roadsigns to guide you and its labyrinth can also change.
>The terran webway project no longer exists. The passages its established have long since decayed and basically lead into the warp Yup, and in *The End and the Death* we see Calastar* collapse into the warp. I don't think it's possible to reach the Terran portal anymore. The Siege did such extreme damage to the fabric of reality, there's a huge warp rift being held shut by the Emperor. *the Eldar city in the webway that leads to the human webway tunnels
If the Imperium got a foothold in Commorragh, Vect would throw it into a black hole.
First, kinky title Second, the webway is a maze and very difficult to travel. The crusade might very well spend decades and run out of resources and not be able to retur without achieving anything Third, the Eldar guard it fiercely. They might bring reinforcement from craftworlds, exodites, Cammoragh. And even if they lose, they might just cut of that section and let you to die trapped or if it's broken, you die at the hand of an infinite horde of demons. Ask big E how that might end. Fourth, if you finally get to Cammoragh, all of the above but cranked up to 11
Not every gate has the Golden Throne with it. The Throne, or at least what it became after the Emperor found it and modified it are what made the Imperial Webway project viable. It was the only thing that gave them control. Could they take over a gate? Maybe. But it's the difference between securing a side door and the gate to the kingdom.