GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade Profile Preview - The Eldar and the Orks

Find out why the eldar and the orks are battling to the death on the planet Kronus in this upcoming stand-alone expansion for 2004's popular real-time strategy game.

63 Comments

Warhammer 40,000's rich sci-fi universe came to life like never before with 2004's Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War, a real-time strategy game that gave you command of some of the fiercest armies in the galaxy. In the upcoming stand-alone Dark Crusade expansion, you'll be given command of those armies once again, but now you've got a goal: conquer an entire planet. Like the Total War games, Dark Crusade will let you plan your moves on a large map and then engage in real-time combat to determine the winner of battles. The planet you're fighting for is Kronus, and each of the game's races has a special reason for wanting it. To continue our look at the factions in the expansion, we've got details on the eldar and the orks. Dark Crusade will ship later this year.

Farseer Taldeer absolutely hates necrons. It's a good thing she leads the eldar forces on Kronus.
Farseer Taldeer absolutely hates necrons. It's a good thing she leads the eldar forces on Kronus.

Eldar

The eldar are one of the oldest of the space-faring races, and long ago they fought a bloody war with the necrons, the soulless machines that capture the living and sacrifice them to their star gods, the C'tan. The eldar won the war, imprisoning the C'tan and forcing the necrons to flee to tomb worlds, such as the planet Kronus, to hide and await the day the living returned.

When the necrons emerged on Kronus, the eldar went into action, dispatching the eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe to destroy the necron threat. The eldar forces conceal themselves in the wastes of Tyrea, an icy artic region on Kronus. From Tyrea, the eldar maintain the three webway gates that transport troops and supplies from the eldar space vessel, located somewhere in the Kronus star system. The eldar's goal is to crush the necrons, as well as all the other races whose presence allowed the necrons to rise once again.

The leader of the eldar forces on Kronus is Farseer Taldeer. She has spent her life tormented by visions of the necrons returning, and now she has a mission to crush the necrons once and for all. Like all hero units in the game, Taldeer can be outfitted with potent war gear to make her a powerful force in battle.

The ork warlord Gorgutz knows how to party.
The ork warlord Gorgutz knows how to party.

Orks

The savage orks are the barbarians of the galaxy. These mighty warriors pillage system after system in their quest to crush anyone who would stand in their way. That's how the orks arrived on Kronus. After learning that the necrons, space marines, tau, and other factions were caught up in battle, the orks rushed to the planet to partake in the fun.

The ork stronghold is located on the Green Coast, an area of lush jungles. This is where the ork warlord Gorgutz leads his mighty waaagh, or tribe, of warriors, and where the ork asteroid ships crash-landed on the planet. If another faction can capture the Green Coast, the orks would be defeated. However, defeating Gorgutz won't be easy. He's a cunning leader who recruited his warriors from many ork tribes. This includes the almost feral orks of Kronus' deep jungle.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 63 comments about this story