40K: GW Puts Out the Aeldari Catnip
Nottingham is up to something frisky and psychic these last few days. What do you make of this purring mystery?
I’m just going to lay out a bunch of images and teases GW has put out in the last couple of weeks:
Remember this teaser a couple of weeks back? Those look like Eldar Waystones and the detail on the far left looks like the deck mesh plating on a Dark Eldar vehicle.
Then Duncan throws out this painting video on Friday the 13th…
Yup, that’s a Gyrinx… What the heck’s a Gyrinx you ask? Let’s consult Lexicanum – because these cuties are as old as the the original Rogue Trader book:
Gyrinx
The Gyrinx (also Grynix) is a cat-like creature used by both human and Eldar psykers as a familiar, augmenting its user’s psychic abilities.
A Gyrinx resembles a large cat, with very thick and fluffy ginger or orange fur and bright blue eyes. They can grow to as much as a metre in length. Gyrinx are not intelligent as such, but they have an astounding ability to empathize with other creatures, forming a mental bond with their owner which is comparable to true friendship. This mental empathy is of great benefit to the creature’s owner, whose own speed of thought and action are actually improved while the Gyrinx is in close proximity. What benefit the Gyrinx obtains from the relationship is unclear, but there is plainly some deep-seated need being fulfilled, because an owner-less Gyrinx will actively seek out and adopt another creature. Oddly enough, Gyrinx show a slow metabolic change so that they can come to resemble their owner physically, temperamentally and in habit.
If a Gyrinx’s owner dies, it will defend the body, and eventually either run away or allow itself to be adopted by one of its former owner’s friends or associates. It takes a period of several weeks to establish a complete relationship with the new owner, but might be less if the old and new owners were close friends or relations.
Obviously, these are creatures of great value, and unlikely to be owned by ordinary people. Gyrinx are highly prized as pets by psychic Inquisitors, Rogue Traders and high-ranking members of the Adeptus Terra. Evil aliens, such as Dark Eldar, may also own Gyrinx, which become as nasty and vicious as their owners.
AdvertisementSome Harlequin Shadowseers will take on a Gyrinx as a companion.
You may remember them from the 4th Edition rulebook seen standing next to an Eldar Warlock. Exactly why a pet has a Waystone is best not lingered upon.*
And way back in Rogue Trader
Then today GW kicks out this image just to rub it in:
Again, the Waystone…*
Some Thoughts
- GW is teasing us with an Eldar psychic space cat
- You will note the large oval base it is glued to when Duncan is painting it up. Hmm…
- Add in the mystery Eldar-ish teaser mini, and the Mystery mini from Fall of Cadia
- Add in the Eldar tease for the next phase of the 2017 narrative.
I think it’s totally obvious the Eldar are the stars of the next book and it’s coming soon. I would expect to see a set of Eldar characters to correspond to the Triumverate we got with Fall of Cadia.
One of them has a cat!
…a psychic space cat.
~The internet will be powerless to resist…
*Because this implies there are CATS in the Infinity Circuit – which takes us directly to WRAITH-CATS!
