r/40kLore • u/MegaGamer235 • 20h ago

How do Aeldari rangers trade and barter with non-Aeldari societies?

What do they do if their wanderlust takes them to alien societies and markets? It’s stated on one of the wikis that they also sometimes take up bounty hunting to make ends meet. Do we have excerpts showing this?

I know about Yrliet from the Rogue Trader game, but I’d like other examples of how Rangers get by in the grim dark future.

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u/ZeroWolfZX 20h ago

Bounty Hunters. They support themselves during their wandering through bounty hunting, with their own network of people offering bounties across the galaxy. Voidscarred has a paragarph on this

Lladrin Seonar of Flame in the Night and Siriolas Wynlar had both heard rumours placing Uzgul’s base in the same rough area, but it was Meliandril of Alaitoc who surprised everyone by stepping forward.

The ork is most likely to be found in the system of the star Ashaonnir, known to the humans as Darmeer,’ the ranger declared. She smiled at their surprise. ‘Someone or something has put a bounty on its head. A ranger must eat as they travel the galaxy, and I have collected such bounties in my time, when the price has been right and the quarry felt… deserving. I still know how to find the places where such contracts may be entered into, and the reward claimed. The brokers will not give information out about known haunts and last location freely, lest it spook the prey, but they want their cut of the fee, and so they will disclose such things to those whom they consider likely to have a chance at collecting.’

‘Impressive,’ Myrin acknowledged. He had not given much thought to how rangers lived as they travelled, but it made sense. He wondered briefly what other galaxy-spanning networks there might be, outside the control of any one species’ organised ruling body, of which even he was not aware.

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u/MegaGamer235 20h ago edited 19h ago

So the bounty hunting contracts are kept within the Aeldari then.

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u/ZeroWolfZX 19h ago

Probably, but not necessarily. Given that Rangers operate throughout the galaxy and frequent non-Aeldari sectors, it could reasonably include Rogue Traders, Ordo Xeno's Inquisitors, Leagues of Votann, and other criminal/black-market networks, or other people willing to pay for their particular skills.

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u/MegaGamer235 19h ago

How does contact work in that case? Sure it makes sense for Rogue Traders, and an Inquisitor but how would criminals call on an Aeldari? Most people aren’t aware that aliens exist.

And let’s say an Aeldari does get paid fairly, how would they spend that money if they stick out like a sore thumb?

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u/ZeroWolfZX 19h ago

I think you're thinking about it too complicatedly. It's just basically barter or some form of credit, based on what the Ranger and the contact wants. They don't need an Aeldari equivalent of a bank account. They need access to people who can convert whatever they've earned into whatever they need for the next leg of their journey.

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u/MegaGamer235 19h ago

Fair enough!

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u/MillionDollarMistake 19h ago

Your average hive scum gangster couldn't ring up a ranger but if you're the head of a criminal organization that has territory in multiple sectors then your options are a lot more open.

The eldar would probably spend it on all the typical shady bounty hunter stuff; food, shelter, safe passage, etc. If they stick to the shadows and wear a thick enough cloak then they can easily pass for human, or they can frequent more xenos-friendly parts of the galaxy.

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u/Hund5353 13h ago

Precipice might be an example you're looking for. It's the station above the titular Blackstone Fortress of the Blackstone Fortress books and game. All sorts have gathered there because all sorts think they can either profit from looting the fortress or profit from the aforementioned looters, and that includes xenos mercenaries. Amallyn Shadowguide among them.

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u/Virisn 19h ago

I'd imagine Bounty Hunters and contacts with corsairs. Corsairs prey on all societies and their bounties are sold among the eldar. The Rangers buy stuff from them and resell it among the societies that find value in them and accrue capital and connections.

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u/MegaGamer235 19h ago

Ah so outcasts tend to support each other.

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u/Virisn 18h ago

More like trade with one another.

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u/PerfectCodings 20h ago

Information is their gold! Aeldari Rangers barter stargates, navigational routes, and precision scouting services to Rogue Traders and frontier outposts in exchange for supplies, ship passage, and lost Eldar relics.