The first post

I started this blog mainly in order to show off my latest project, as it comes into being. Eldar scenery is the word of the day and I ran into several problems directly after I decided to build some. The first one is: What does Eldar stuff look like? Kinda technical / organic, ok, but elvish! They are elves.
 

Sounds like H.R.Giger on a sunny morning in spring.
 

I googled around a bit and searched for some input, finding quite a few things, but only stuff that other players built. There seem to be no concept arts or GW-pictures out there actually showing Eldar buildings. The exception to that are the Dawn of War games, but let's be serious... The game rocks, the design of its Eldar buildings stinks. If you go about it logically you run into problems with these things. Take for example the main building: What purpose does it serve? Are there people in there? What are they doing in there? Standing very close to each other, walking around in very small circles? If not, could it be a teleporter beacon or a webway entrance or something like that? Then why does it have to be that big? Does the triangular form serve any purpose?

I think my problem here is that I assume that the creed of Form Follows Function is valid for Eldar, too. But why should it not be true for them? Look for example at a shuriken catapult. It seems to me that this weapon is very similar to a human rifle. The only thing that is different is the shape of the barrel, but fluff states that it shoots discs by accelerating them with magnetism. That would mean that you need more stuff near the handle (is it called that?) to get the initial power, than at the end of the barrel. If you now give it a case, it looks just like the shuriken catapult does.
 

So I think even if it is not necessary to actually know what the purpose of a building or terrain piece is, you should have at least one or two ideas about what the purpose could be. I have great difficulties imagining what the purpose of a Soul Shrine could be. Especially if it should be relatable to making equipment available on the battlefield.
 

But do not get me wrong. A few of the buildings are great and will be stolen used. If you take a look at the support portal, you will see, that it aktually makes some sense. I can imagine some bonesingers working on a falcon in there, playing their flutes, the sounds amplified and directed by the three ... lets call them "thingies" around them. Makes sense to me.
 

But the biggest question is the following: What does a webway gate look like? I think this is the most important question, as the design of the gates will heavily influence the rest of the terrain. It is the single best known building ever made for Eldar. It kind of symbolizes them.
 

I'll post some of my concept drawings scrawlings later.