u/MrS0bek

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my latest and for now last entry in my series “Fun with Flags Gods” It is the last for now because I am running out of deities I wish to discuss. Not because there are no interesting ones left (I could talk about Kragnos and Teclis for ages). But because I want to take a break and return with a fresh mind. And maybe GW will release interesting new lore eventually.

That said when I worte a concept pitch for the Root Kings (See here), I mentioned Valaya a lot. And Valaya encompasses a divine archetype I wish to discuss dearly, as it is one of the most important ones but also one that is frequently overlooked in modern pop culture. Of course, with the rumored return of the Khazalid Empire we may have a lot more material for her at the end of the year. But as Valaya is occupying my mind so strongly, I want to release this piece now.

If you are interested in the other entries in this series, you can find the entries here: Kurnoth Morghur, Behemat, Dracothion, Sigmar, Mathlann, Morathi-Khaine, Hashut, Nagash, Alarielle, Grungni Tyrion/Myrmidia, Great Horned Rat

And if you have interesting gods in your mind, which may make me reconsider the break, please let me know.

Otherwise let us start without further ado!

 1.      The gods the myth, the legend

l. Agni (indian painting 18th cent), c. Hestia (Age of Mythology Retold), r. Hera (AoMR)

When talking about gods, we have the evergreens. Such as gods of cosmological importance controlling the elements, abstract concepts, or universal cycles. And then there are the odd-job gods people frequently joke about. A god of doors? A god of beer fermentation? Who needs that? However, what we know think of as odd-job gods may have been some of the most important deities’ period to regular people back then. But due to a cultural shift we cannot relate to why these things were so important that gods existed for them.

One such deity group are gods of the hearth, who were very prominent. For example, Hestia, the Greek goddess of the hearth, sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera and Demeter and one of the twelve Olympians. But why care for the hearth, when another god controls the cycle of life and death or the ocean?

This has a proper reason behind it. Because to us the hearth is an outdated concept. We have central heating; we have electrical cooking spots. And thus, the hearth has vanished from our everyday life as an important structure. At best we use chimneys as luxury comfort, not as something essential. But just a century ago this was different. The hearth was the first thing you plan and build when constructing a new house. And it was the centre of any activity in the household. You would cook on the hearth, you would eat around the hearth, during nighttime you would sleep around the hearth as it is the warmest spot. It keeps you warm during the winter; it keeps the darkness and the dangers of the night away. It was the area where stories were told, where arrangements were discussed, games were played, where you would gather in times of need or plenty. And not just you but everyone living in your house. Parents, children, other relatives, servants, guests. The hearth was the nucleus of your home and of the concept of family, the centre of your social life and by extrapolation of civilization itself. The family is the smallest unit of any society. And indeed, across the world, states and societies modelled themselves after the concept of the family. Because it was the best analogy to describe positions, duties, and responsibilities of societal systems. E.g. the ruling classes frequently styling themselves as the parents of society. Such as how ruling councils often styled themselves after the elders/heads of families. This is where the term senator comes from, literally an “old man,” referring to the wise and respected elder of a family. So, the idea of village elders coming together to discuss matters for the villages was transplanted unto state politics and an elected senate. Even today we have this mindset of using family as analogy for society/politics. Such as when we talk about Founding Fathers or similar categories.

But these political allegories were still secondary to the intimate and prominent position the hearth played in everyday life. You could live without horses, without beer, without ships. But you could not live without a hearth. Even as a merchant or a soldier the campfires you built would be proxy hearths. This control and use of fire is what makes us humans, what separates us from animals. Something people were aware back then too. And the human connections built around such a shared fire were sacrosanct. Sacred Hospitality is a concept which is similarly lost to us in our modern world. Long distance travel is easy, hotels exist everywhere, we have GPS, we can stay in contact with everyone over the world. But in the past the opposite was true. Travelling could turn dangerous very quickly. Next to the thread of robbery and dangerous weather you could simply not know which road was the correct one. Because of foreign maps were rare and only showed the capital streets. And you only knew the space around your village/town. The world 20-30km away was unknown. Also, inns were irregularly placed. If you wanted to get to your destination alive and well, you needed the help of others. You would show up at random houses at evening or nighttime, or if you hurt yourself or ran into another problem and had ask for help. Complete strangers, whom you had to trust with your live and livelihood. In turn, the housekeepers had to trust you, that you didn’t hurt or rob them once they invited you.  This dilemma created the rules of sacred hospitality. Guests are sacrosanct and must be supported to the best ability of the household accepting them. In turn the guest had to mirror this treatment by showing themselves of the best of their behaviour, by leaving presents as thanks if possible, by promising similar care if the positions are reversed etc.pp.

This sacred hospitality was important in everyone’s daily life in a way we cannot really comprehend in our modern society. And for this reason, every religion or mythology is full of stories of how to treat your guests, how to protect them, how to care them. From the oldest sources from Sumeria, over ancient Greece or the bible, all across Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas etc.pp. Such as how in the bible angels meet Lot and his family in Sodom. The people of Sodom ask Lot to release the strangers, so that they can torture and kill them. But has the guests of Lot, he must protect them. Going as far as to ask the Sodomites to torture his daughters instead of his guests. Even then was extreme, but it represented the ideal of how far a host may go to protect people under his roof. Showing how “noble” of a character Lot was by the standards of his time, as he tried everything within his options to keep his guests safe. Indeed, the very idea of asylum arises from this duty of protecting your guests.

And the gods were very adamant about sacred hospitality. Much like you have lots of stories on how to treat your guests properly, there are also aplenty of stories where sacred hospitality is harmed, and what catastrophes arise from this. To us Zeus is the ruler of the gods, the lord of thunder and weather and a notorious womanizer. But in ancient Greece in everyday life and religion his position of Zeus Xenios was arguably more important. Zeus, the protector of sacred hospitality. Many stories have Zeus deal with breaks in sacred hospitality. Such as how Zeus heard about King Lycaon, who was a horrible person mistreating his people. So, Zeus appeared as a poor person asking for a night’s rest. And as a meal Lycaon gave him a plate with meat from a butchered child. Human sacrifice was a huge NO to ancient greeks, and such behaviour broke many sacrosanct rules. So, Zeus killed Lyacon and his adult sons instantly with lightning bolts. In another story Zeus and Hermes travel as poor wanderers and are refused by many rich households. In the end, they turn to a poor home with an elderly couple which tries its best to feed them, despite having barley enough for themselves. The rich people refusing the disguised gods have their homes and livelihood destroyed as punishment, whereas the elderly couple gets blessed. And IIRC as a wish the elderly couple asks to die at the same time, so that no one must live without the other. And the gods grand this request by turning them into two trees at the hour of their death, their branches meeting. Even in medieval/early modern fairy tales this motive still shows up, such as in Beauty and the Beast or Frau Holle. In the former a rich man refuses hospitality and gets cursed for it, in the latter the bad sister refuses to be a proper guest and gets punished for this as well.

 I hope that this explains a bit different the mindset of people from earlier ages or distinct cultures. And through this lens, gods of the hearth make much more sense. To explain Hestia with this background: She is one from the most important generation of Olympians, sister to Zeus and the other heavy hitters, she shows up in some official lists of the twelve Olympians. But she has no important stories and no grand temples. Because Hestia does not need great stories to explain why the stars exist. Instead she is active in your everyday life, protecting your home and family instead. And she does not need great temples. Because every hearth in every house is her altar. She is the most personal and closest goddess of them all. Always right by your side, caring for you.

Hestias latin counterpoint is the goddess Vesta and she is also interesting. In the roman mindset the importance of Vesta to the state and civilization itself is played up even more. Perhaps because Rome is more of a proper nation than the individual Greek city states. Unlike Hestia, Vesta had proper Temples and a proper priesthood. The vestelian virgins were female priestess who swore an oath of virginity. They tended the Eternal Flame in Rome, which represented the hearth fire for the entire city and roman civilization itself. If this flame stopped to burn, Rome would fall. The priestesses of Vesta were sacrosanct. Touching them was taboo, harming them was a death sentence. And a vestilian who lost her virginity was similarly punished with death. Sacrosanct was also Vestas temple. Because it was so sacred and only the priestesses had proper access to it, it became a storage for the most important or sensitive documents and objects of Rome. E.g. important romans, like Julius Caesar, would store their last wills and testaments in them.

In vedic/hinduistic relgions Agni is the god of the hearth fire. The hearth fire itself was a representation of the god. And much like Hestia/Vesta he is an intimate personal god sitting in every house. He also has the position of messenger between mortals and gods, as he “consumes” the tribute and delivers it to the deities. People ask him for wishes, blessings, protection of harm and similar things. Which either Agni grants himself or delivers to the responsible deity. Indeed, that the hearth fire can grant wishes or contains a protective, benevolent entity may be an indo-european myth that survived well beyond Christianity. Because in Europe even in medieval times people would throw small pieces of food into the fire asking the spirit within for luck and else.

And this may be where Loki comes from. The norse god is not the god of lies and trickery. That is his character, not his divine office. As norse sources rare and influenced by Christianity, we cannot say things with certainty. Hence what Lokis job in the everyday life of the people was, is unknown. But some scholars associate Loki with the figure of the ash-lad, a lazy boy tending the hearth all day and helping out with trickery and guile. Indeed, some surviving folk customs or sayings connect Loki with the hearthfire too. And in every surviving story about Loki has him as a duplicitous but ultimately helpful and positive figure. Except Ragnarök and the killing of Balder. But both may have lost context which may also portrayal Loki in a positive light in the end. Loki is lazy and cause lots of chaos, but he is also the one with the ideas to solve this chaos again. And he is the first one the gods go to if they want to wiggle themselves out of an issue too. In short Loki may have started an offshoot of Agni or a similar archetype. Now this does not have to be true, as many different figures are called Loki without being related. Such as Utgard-Loki, a giant sorcerer and illusionist. Because Loki may not be a singular name but a title or description meaning entangler in the sense of trickster. Much like how Satan in original Hebrew is just a description for anyone, not an individual. It translates as an accuser, a prosecutor or an opponent. So technically there is no singular satan in the Old Testament, but multiple. Often an angel with the job to evaluate the faith of mortals on Gods behalf. But due to translation issues all these different characters were fused into a single evil force.

Also, I want to quickly mention Hera, as she is also important to Valayas archetype. Hera is the queen of the gods, and her divine position included the patron of marriage and family. Much like Hestia this may not sound that important. But the details are. Because Hera represented the entire female part of human society too, including all the importance women held in society. She is mostly known as harassing Zeus kids, but she had to do this, as the sanctity of marriage fell into her divine office. But at the same time, she could not punish Zeus, as he was her husband and the king of the gods. So, as a compromise of these two issues she went after the illegitimate children or the spouses instead. On the contrary any husband mistreating their wife would surely be the target of Heras wrath. In addition, as queen of the gods she represented rulership too and had a strong impact on civilization as large, as protector of cities, armies and nations. She could grant prosperity, wealth and power. Such as when she promised Paris rulership of a great empire if he declared her the fairest goddess. Indeed, Hera was the most powerful goddess in the Greek Pantheon, almost rivalling Zeus in divine might and in wisdom. And much like her husband she, or her roman counterpart Juno, had many epithets or aspects for a variety of specialize jobs. Juno Moneta is the goddess of memory and wisdom. As Juno Curitis she is the armed protector. As Juno Mater she is the goddess of fertility and motherhood. And so on. As divine ruler and divine mother Hera shares has lots of aspects the goddess Ishtar. The main difference is that Hera is all about sex and fertility within marriage, whereas Ishtar is a general love goddess as well. And this free love aspect was later imported into Greek via Aphrodite.

2.      Hearth is an awesome power

Depiction of Valayas Face in WFB

In WFB the ancestor gods are slightly set apart from the other divine entities. Because the dwarfs are deep into ancestor worship. Which means every dead dwarf is in theory an ancestor god. But this term is used exclusively for the first known dwarfs Grungni, Valaya and Grminir, as well as some of their direct children, like Morgrim and Thungi. These first dwarfs had special powers and abilities which they learned in the “glittering realm”. One common fan conception is that the ancestor gods were designed and/or tutored in this place by the Old Ones. Essentially to act as dwarfen primarchs. And they used their extraordinary skills and abilities to tutor the dwarfen kind in turn and to establish their society. However, when the Great Vortex was set up and magic was drained from the world at large, the ancestor gods vanished/retreated into the glittering realm.

In WFB Grugni and Grimnir are the most prominent ancestor gods of the dwarfen people in the game. Because WFB is a war game and the two gods are the most strongly associated with warfare. Much like how Sigmar is the most prominent god of the Empire on the tabletop, when Taal and Ryha were the most important gods of the empire period. And for dwarfs this applies to Valaya, who is much more important than her brothers. Because everything, that was not related to smithing or fighting was part of Valayas domain. Officially she is the goddess of hearth and home. But Valaya represents every aspect of dwarfen society.

First of she is the mythological mother of all dwarfs. Whether this is true can be debated. But every dwarf believes him or herself to be a descendant of Valaya. She was married to Grimnir and Grungni simultaneously, but dwarfs frequently claim to be only from either side. Such as entering clans claiming descent of Grimnir via his son Morgrim, whereas only those with the blood of Grungni can become runesmiths. But Valaya is the mother of everyone, at least according to dwarfen religion. Second, she is the primary protector of dwarfen kind against all kinds of threats, including spiritual and invisible threads. Much like the hearth grants warmth and protection, so does Valaya grants warmth and protection. She represents and ensures the sanctity and safety of dwarfen holds. Valayas influence is that of a mother who cares for her sick and hurt children, who keeps the house safe. In this regard Valaya is a healing goddess caring for the wounded and sick. This strengthens the already strong resistance of dwarfs against diseases further. But she also offers protection against spiritual and supernatural maladies. For example, a special rune representing her stops evil magic and chaotic influences. But even beyond this she is frequently represented with armaments IIRC and thus is also a physical protector. Third Valaya designed almost every aspect of dwarfen society. She founded several holds by herself. Such as Karak-Eight-Peaks, the 2^(nd) most important hold after the capital of Karaz-a-karak. She designed the social system of the dwarfs with their clans and guilds. She invented their writing system. And as these runes are used in rune magic too, she had a hand in that as well. She invented the dwarfen legal system and how governorship should work. Whatever kind of agriculture dwafs utilize, she invented it. And she also invented brewing, which is an extremely big thing in dwarfen society. Again, everything not related to mining, smithing and fighting can be attributed to her. In this regard Valaya is a mixture of Hestia and Hera. Like Hestia she is all about the safety and comfort of home. But much like Hera/Juno she had a plethora of different jobs as queen of the gods. Not just being a mother but also representing political, societal, and even martial power. Indeed, dwarfs could well be a matriarchal society. This is largely because female dwarfs are greatly important and are held in so high esteem. (They were rarer than male dwarfs because GW does not know basic population mechanics work). Typically, a female dwarf was worth her weight in gold, if a male wanted to invest in the dowry. And female dwarfs held the greatest respect within dwarfen society. Indeed, it is easy to say that female dwarfs always had the last saying in almost any matter, and that the queens or wives of guild masters were at least equally important to their husbands, if not more. Indeed, dwarfs may very well be a matriarchal society due to the enormous respect and high positions women have in their society.  Which is likely also based on Valayas importance. As such Valaya is worshipped and venerated in every dwarf hold. Indeed, one of the primary arguments the chaos dwarfs had for abandoning their old lifestyle was that Valaya didn’t answer their prayers when their children were sick and dying. They singled out her specifically in her grudge.

In the End Times Valaya is also the only ancestor god to make any sort of appearance. The runesmith Thorek Ironbrow finds the glittering realm, in which Valaya rests. He wants to wake her up, so that she can lead the dwarfen people again. But Nagash comes by and consumes the goddess. This being the End Times, it isn’t just ludicrous by WFB standards but also ignored by AoS as we will see later.

There are a few other deities who represent the hearth and its safety too or share other attributes with Valaya. Most prominently may be the kislevite sun deity Dazh. As Kislev is a cold country with long and dark winters, the sun and fire are important. However, as Dazh as to rest during the winter, he gifted humans with fire. In turn he is also the god of sacred hospitality of sorts. Because in the cold oblast every campfire is a lifesaver. And you shouldn’t really push strangers away if they want to warm themselves, because very soon you could be the one who needs one.

Also, a kisletive goddess is Salyak, who is the goddess of healing and comfort. She has no strong association with the hearth but otherwise fills many of the nurturing positions of Valaya. However, she also has a darker side to her. For example, Salyak also represents cold mercy. If someone is too wounded or you do not have the tools to save them, then killing the person with a painless poison or else is an option this goddess favors. This is the main difference from her imperial counterpart Shallya. Shallya is the imperial and southern goddess of healing and compassion. She is worshipped in every human nation in the Old World. Again, she has no association with the hearth but has an overlap with the comforting side of such gods. It is her primary task to heal the wounded and the sick. As such she is popular with everyone. She is also a pacifist, which her followers also express. Which does not mean harmless, however. Her miracles bring a soldier back into the fight, he can slay the threat still. And this pacifism stops with any follower of Nurgle. Someone who knows every trick in the book to keep you alive is also aware how to best cut you down.  In the End Times Shallya was held prisoner by Nurgle and so a ragtag band of humans and elves entered the Realm of Chaos to free her, so that the human gods could join the battle against chaos more actively. Shallya was freed, but then the plotline about the human gods was ignored and forgotten. Yay End Times writing.

However, there is also one more proper hearth goddess: the halfing goddess Esmeralda. Due to how important cooking and eating is to halflings, Esmeralda’s position as the tender of the hearth and of cooking is very prominent. But she also represents the comfort of a warm fire in the house, and nurturing care of a mother/grandmother. Like many halfling gods she does not have many strict doctrines and is primarily celebrated by cooking and eating well.

3.      This queen slays (according to the helsmiths)

Statue of Valaya

In AoS we learned recently that the dwarfen gods awoke long before Sigmar and divided the realms amongst themselves. Hashut, now an ancestor god of kingship, wanted two realms, as he thought it is his right. But Valaya was distrustful of him, and he was talked into just taking Ghur, because only a dwarf of his caliber could handle it. From there Valaya was the strongest opposition to Hashut it seems. Hashut could smooth talk and trick Grungni and Grimnir, but he could not trick Valaya. Indeed, when Grungni and Girminr were imprisoned by Hashuts machinations, Valaya lead the untied army of all duardin and remaining ancestor gods against him. And apparently, she was able to slay a chaos-infused Hashut, even though she falls in this battle too. Think Gandalf vs the Balrog but with dwarfs perhaps. Which realm Valaya controlled is not stated, but many fans assume it was Ghyran, as she has the most connections to nature of all ancestor gods, with brewing and healing and such.

Valaya is not acting like a hearth goddess in these tales. Which granted, is because we have not many other accounts of her deeds and actions. But instead, she acts more like Hera. A powerful queen of gods, whose wisdom sees through manipulation and who leads armies into battle. A powerful force by her own right, as she shattered Hashuts physical form, even after he good boons of chaos power.

Among the various duardin she is a figure of comfort and healing too, such as the disposed. And according to the lexicanum she also has a group of female warriors dedicated to her, the Valikraz. But beyond this Valaya is not mentioned yet. However, as we all know, dead gods do not tend to stay dead.

4.      Beware, Mother comes home

Queen Thurma WFB Roleplay 4th edition

As always, the question is how we could continue form here. We learned that Valaya is a goddess with lots of inspirations and manifold of office. As such her influence could radiate throughout the duardin cutlures of AoS. Such as:

-          Valaya makes a proper return with the release of the Khazalid Empire. It has been rumoured for so long that we will get an AoS faction for the classical archetype of dwarfs. And given how important Valaya has been to dawi culture across the system, it may be natural to see her return. Especially as we could then see her perspective on Hashut and co. But beyond that, her returning to Grungnis side with other ancestor gods could create all kinds of interesting dynamics for duardin society and Grungni. E.g. Grungnis main task of uniting all groups of duardin could work much better if the metaphorical mother of them all supports his business.

-          However perhaps even more interesting would be if Valaya speaks out against uniting all the duardin. Or perhaps that she has her own view on how it should be done differently. That instead of a proper unification as Grungni may see it (smelting different ores into one alloy), she may prefer different cultures to stay independent and only form a loose alliance. Because she may see this rich diversity as more important. If she truly is a ghyranite goddess, she may see it as a forest being most healthy if lots of different tree species grow in it.

-          In addition, it could also be that Valaya gets her own duardin culture if GW follows this trend. Currently it seems each major duardin culture has its own patron, or none. Hellsmiths of Hashut, Fyreslayers for Grimnir, khazalid empire for Grungni and KO have none. In this sense we may see Valaya getting her own duardin faction. Perhaps the root kings? This would help how the duardin and aelven cultures in AoS have counterparts. E.g. Fyrelsayer and DoK share many similarities, both being warrior cults and mercenaries on a quest to revive their dead god. Idoneth and kharadon too, who are godless people who had to invent new technology and magic to survive an inhospitable environment. And Lumineth and the reforged khazalid empire would also share the similarty of being the AoS version of a classic fantasy archetype that was broken in the Age of Chaos but reinvented by their patreon deity. Maybe we could then get Root kings as a mirror to the Kurnothi aelves or the Sylvaneth at large? A dead nature god returning to aid his/her people prosper after being reduced so strongly?

-          Also, it would be interesting to see how non-duardin see Valaya. Because gods in AoS are gods for everyone, and Grungni has many non-duardin followers already. As a goddess of mercy and healing and the comfort of home Valaya could be an important goddess for people, especially those on a dawnbringer crusade. Because said crusades are all about finding a new home. In addition, we have no Shallya or similar as far as I am aware. So, this spot is left open to be filled by Valaya.

 

5.      The End

So, this is my short overview over Valaya. I wanted to make it as a bonus episode, as not much is known about her in AoS, but then The Horned Rat would not have been entry 13 and this could not happen. In any case I hope you liked reading all of it. And I am interested to hear what your thoughts on Valaya are and how she should be introduced in upcoming stories.

As mentioned, I will take a proper break for now, but this series will continue soon enough. Either because GW releases new material, or someone of you gives me a very good reason to cover another deity. Until then thank you all for staying with me through 14 issues of me rambling about fictious deities :)

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Part 13 of this series called “Fun with Flags Gods”. Befitting this 13^(th) entry, we will today talk about the Horned Rat, or Great Horned Rat or Mr Whiskers or however you want to call our maniacal rodent mess. Like with most other series we will talk about the RL background and inspirations and what this silly rat and its kin have been doing since WFB.

In my previous post I talked about Tyrion, Myrmidia and Sun deities. And especially Myrmidia has some close ties to the Horned Rat, in case you want to revisit that. It can be found here

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this entry as much as the last one. And I am looking forward to see what discussion may arise.

So, without further ado, let’s start:

1.      The gods, the myth, the legend

L. The four apoloacpytic Horseman (Wasnezow 1887), depiction of a Rat King (1668), Plague in Marseilles (Serre 1720)

To be frank, the Horned Rat has no direct counterpart or archetype in history or mythology. This makes it difficult to discuss in this series. But there are several influences and some similarities to concepts or beings which may have influenced this deity in Warhammer.

It is likely that rats and mice have been with humans since we first started agriculture. Because we grew the food these animals like so much. And rodents are small, easy to hide, very smart and quick to reproduce. They could hide close to humans and close to the food they hoard. On that note I may say that real rats are very social animals with complex and cooperative behaviors, unlike their many fictious counterparts. In fiction rats are often evil antagonists, whereas mice get some better qualities. See, for example, the Great Mouse Detective. It is easy to see how rats have got this reputation. If your entire livelihood depends on having different kinds of crops stored safely, then anything that threatens your food stocks is a threat to your life. Especially if it happens stealthily. A wild bear or pig entering your cabin to feast on your stocks is something you can avoid simple. But mice and rats are much more difficult to keep out and to remove, as they can hide in even the smallest holes and are smart enough to create their own entries. But they do not just eat your food, they spoil it too. Rodent feces can cause allergies and deadly infections. And they make crops inedible.

For his reason protection against rats was critical. One of the best repellents was other animals. Because lots of creatures feed on rats and mice. The ferret was domesticated from the weasel in antiquity and primarily used to get rid of rats and mice. For similar reasons cats were domesticated in Egypt. There they were even worship as protectors of the household. By keeping rats and mice away egyptian cats were also associated with keeping evil or bad things away in general. And the romans spread the cats throughout their empire later. Though which animal gave good luck and which was also hated is a bit random. In antiquity cats and owls were venerated, in medieval times they were associated with evil powers. Foxes, who feed primarily on mice and rats, were hunted. Meanwhile birds of prey like hawks and falcons were trained by nobles or generally accepted. And Storks, who also love to feed on mice in the field, become charms of good luck if they nest on your roof.

However, there are cultures in which the rat is seen more positively. E.g. in the Indian culture of the Rajputs it was believed that the demigod Karni Mata declared everyone of her line should be reborn as rats instead of going into the underworld. And if they die as rats, they should be reborn as members of the Charan caste. And so on and so on.  Due to this decree the temple of Karni Mata is a sacred site full of rats which are venerated. Meanwhile in the chinese animal zodiacs system the rat has the first position and represents honesty and creativity according to my short research.

 But the thing you most likely associate with rats is the bubonic plague, which swept through Europe. Many may think of the great epidemic in the 14^(th) century. However, the bubonic plague was active for many centuries afterwards too. It happened on a more local scale then. Through bigger outbreaks still cost thousands if not millions of lives. The latest bigger outbreak was the Great Northern War plague outbreak in the 1700’s which ravaged eastern Europe and Scandinavia. But the disease vanished from Europe around the 1770 and no one really knows why. Indeed, what caused the bubonic plague was also largely unknown. Only around 1890 was the bacterium Ysernia pestis discovered by science and connected to rats. Prior to this the main belief was that the pathogen was airborne or relied on human-human contact. So that we associate rats with the plague very recent. Though it was not the rat who delivered the plague, but the flea of the rat. The rodents themselves were passive carriers, as they were immune to the disease and couldn’t spread it by themselves. Still even if the association with the plague is new, rats were often related to epidemics. Because of humans dying and society not working properly anymore, rats multiplied. Guarded food stores are now unguarded, and people are too busy surviving to remove trash and other things. Hence rat populations grew in times of crisis. So rats were early on associated with bad times in general. And of course, rats were also seen as dirty creatures. They would feed on garbage and live in dirty or cramped environments. Because they settle any space as long as it offers cover and food. So, they would live even in dark cellars or sewers.

Of note are also the rumours of a rat king. From time to time people reported that several rats were found with their tailes entangled. Which may have been caused by too small living conditions. People believed that these rats would form the "throne" for the ratking to sit upon. But the hypothisized rat king was never found. Hence most depictions focus on his "throne". Such discoveries were a curioustiy to be reported in early forms of newspapers and often claimed to be a very bad omen.

Next to the proper plague, the Horned Rat is also associated with diseases in general. Real gods represent all aspects of human life. And plagues and hunger have been a hard fact since time immemorial. Hence, we have lots of gods that are associated with hunger, plauges and else. However, the idea of purely evil gods/entities is rare in polytheistic societies. Even gods with harmful jobs often had neutral or positive attributes too. For example, plague gods were often also gods of healing. Because the god who causes the disease would also be the first address to remove it. In Greek myth Apollo was such a god. He and his sister Artemis could spread plague by shooting arrows at people. But this fact also made Apollo one of the gods of medicine and healing. For similar reasons the Asklepios Snake is also a symbol of healing even in modern day. Asklepios was the son of Apollo and the greatest healer of them all. He could even cure death. But as this would disrupt the natural order, he was killed in some myths by divine decree, whereas in others he became a god too. In either way Asklepios carried a staff around which a snake curled. And to this day this staff is a symbol of apothecaries and pharmacies. Snakes can cause death via their venoms. But the snake is also a symbol for rejuvenation due to skin shedding. And their body parts were also part of many medicine recipes. Some of which were shown to have antibiotic properties in modern testing and thus were helpful. So, a duality of disease and healing.  This trend of disease deity with positive aspects continues. Mesopotamian god Nergal (inspiration for Nurgle) is also associated with diseases, as he is a death god of inflicting sudden, large-scale death. As such he causes plagues, droughts and similar catastrophes. But even he had positive aspects. For example, he was also a god of warfare against foreigners and could enforce peace.  In addition, much like Apollo, he too had associations with medicine. Similarly in Aztec mythology there is the god Tlaloc who is a god of rain and fertility, but also of drought and again of diseases too. Essentially a god of the good times as much as the bad ones.

Hunger and starvation were also something the majority of humanity was familiar with. And it is one of the main things the skaven are known for. The hunger to endlessly consume and plunder until nothing of value remains. Even today hunger is a great threat in many regions of the planet. And of course, we had gods and beings personifying this concept. But again, these were not evil entities as we would understand them today, but as moral as any other ancient gods. For example, there is the myth of Erysichthon, who cut down a sacred oak of Demeter and thus killed one of her favored dryads. In revenge Demeter went to the god of hunger and famine, Limos (or Fames in latin). This god then breathed endless hunger into the sleeping king. He spends all the wealth of his kingdom on food, even selling his own daughter into slavery multiple times. But no matter how much he ate, the black hunger within him could not be stopped. He ultimately died as he ate himself.  In this myth Limos isn’t an “evil” entity but is on good terms with the other gods and helps them out. Even their total opposite, in this case Demeter. Limos is just doing his divine job. In addition, much like how gods associated with disease were associated with healing too, so where many agricultural deities frequently associated with droughts and starvation. Such as the previously mentioned Tlaloc. 

Hungert and Disease are important because both lead to the Ruination of Empires. And they empower each other. A population weakened by hunger has less resistance against diseases. Meanwhile if a significant part of the population is incapacitated, then farms cannot be worked, the harvest may rot, local trade systems collapse and soon the production and distribution of food is in shambles. Such events happened throughout history and could trigger a plethora of effects. From dynastic struggles, civil war, hostile takeovers or the complete collapse of civilization. These aspects where so common and well known in antiquity, that they became a motive in Christianity. With the four horsemen of the apocalypse of which two are often called plague and hunger/death. And for an RL example**, around 500 AD classical Maya culture collapsed, as a series of bad harvests triggered a spiral of negative effects. Indeed, the same is true for the American population after the Europeans arrived.** Prior to the European arrival an estimated 100 mio people lived in the Americas. Comparable to the other continents at the time.  But one or two centuries later 90% was gone. The many European diseases spread out far quicker than the Europeans did. Firstly, they killed off a significant number of natives. But equally important was the societal breakdown, which is often ignored. Governments failed, social order broke down, trade systems collapse, people starved to death, cities and settlements were abandoned. Etc.  The Aztecs were able to throw out Cortes and the Conquistadors, but the city’s population then collapsed from diseases and was too weak to resist the Spaniards and their native coalition further. The incan empire was also wreaked by plagues before Pizarro arrived. Without this continent-wide collapse, I would argue that the Europeans could have never conquered the Americas but would have acted more like in Africa or Asia at the same time. I.e. establishing trading outposts and minor settlements.

One last influence I may add are the orcs of Tolkien’s Legendarium. Now in Tolkien’s works their most prominent background has them being elves who were tortured and transformed by the dark “god” Morgoth into a parody of Illuvatars children. They are misshapen creatures whose hearts were filled with evil by their miserable existence. Whether they serve Morgoth or Sauron, they do this primarily out of fear rather than loyalty. Indeed, orcs tend to be cowardly in addition to being prone to backstabbing and infighting. But at the same time, they are also industrious and somewhat tech-savvy. For example, in the Hobbit the quality of the tunnels worked out by the goblins/orcs of the misty mountain is mentioned. And they man the forges of Isengard and Barad-dur. And in some earlier draft orcs were seemingly also using war machines not unlike tanks during the first age. So, a race that is a perversion and mockery of another species, wo are enthralled by a tyrannical overlord whom they serve only out of fear, who are undisciplined and rely on greater numbers, who are cruel and backstabbing, who live in massive tunnel systems underground and have a knack for technology. That fits the skaven much more than the greenskins IMO.

2.      The rats, the rats. We’re rats: Skaven and the Horned Rat in WFB

Horned Rat as depicted in a cutscene in TWW2

Skaven are one of the few “original” creations of GW. And of their original creations they are by far the most popular and prominent. These devious little ratmen proved to be very popular. More so than other “originals” like Zoats. This is in large part due to the dark comedy they exemplify, whilst also being more diverse as characters than greenskins are for example.

 For the origin of the skaven there are multiple in-in-universe theories in Warhammer Fantasy. For example: Manann cursed sailors who displeased him, turning them into the first skaven. Alternatively, after the gods, led by Taal, banished the chaos gods from the world, rats were feasting on the corpses of demons. And thus, they were transformed into skaven. As demons do not leave corpses behind, this may be a metaphor for warpstone perhaps. Or as some dwarfs claim, the ancestor god Skavor created them as mockery of the dwarfen people. Because Skavor was untalented in shaping stone and metal but had a talent for shaping flesh. I may add that the chaos dwarfs are also dwarfs who are able to shape flesh in WFB. Because they were able to create an artificial orc subspecies as well as creating bull centaurs via artificial means. So shaping flesh may have indeed been an older talent of dwarf kind that the main WFB dwarfs renounced. But of course, the most famous story is the Doom of Kavzar. Therein the city of Kavzar/Tylos is cohabited by humans on the surface and dwarfs below. The humans want to build a huge tower to rival the gods but fail to finish it. Then a stranger appears and finishes the tower but adds a bell as his own tribute to the gods. The bell rings 13 times and lots of chaos ensues. The humans ask the dwarfs for aid repeatedly, which they deny. After more catastrophes the humans violently enter the dwarfen area, only to find gnawed dwarfen bones and skaven, who fall unto the humans and then turn Kavzar/Tylos into Skavenblight. Of note in this tale is that the dwarfs suffered the skaven invasion of the city first, despite the humans accepting the strangers’ offer to finish the tower. Which could fit together with the Skavor version. But in none of these background stories is the Horned Rat mentioned. Indeed, it could well be that the Horned Rat is younger than the skaven species. Because in Warhammer Fantasy gods are atheric beings living in the aether, of which the Realm of Chaos is a part. And much like the chaos gods are created from mortal emotions and thoughts, so are the other gods. Indeed, in the final battle of the Vortex Campaign in TWW2 the Slann Mazdamundi describes the Horned Rat as “the collective conscious of the rat-spawn, which they believe a god”. Which means the skaven created the Horned Rat in the aether. But who created the skaven then? Who was the stranger in Kavzar? Skavor? A renegade Old One as some fans speculate? An agent of Tzeentch? Someone else? Personally, I find it fitting that the skaven have no definite origin story. And skaven themselves do not care where they come from.

But enough of the skaven themselves, this is about their godThe Horned Rat is an embodiment of everything the skaven are. It is an aggressive, paranoid, cowardly, hateful, jealous creature and lords like a tyrant over skavenkind. In short, it is all the skaven fear and aspire to be within a single deity. The Horned Rat is the sole god of the skaven and demands all their worship and sacrifices. Interestingly the Horned Rat is rarely described as a chaos god in WFB. It is often called related to the four chaos gods but also set apart. Much like how Hashut is called a “demon god” instead of a minor chaos god or else. Indeed, skaven are not automatically incorporated into major chaos invasions. Most of their involvement required deals made with chaos leaders. And otherwise, they fight chaos worshippers as much as anyone else. And unlike the majority of gods the Horned Rat can manifest in the physical world. On several occasions it had been summoned. Last time to end the second skaven civil war. At this event the Horned Rat feasted on thousands of skaven, but it also left behind a thirteenth sided pillar inscribed with rules and commands on how to take over the surface world. And in TWW2 the entire masterplan of the skaven was to weaken the Vortex and steal magical energies by building a space ship everyone confuses for the twin tailed comet. The Vortex and Energy are then supposed to be used to allow the Horned Rat to physically enter the world. That the Horned Rat has such an impact on the physical world is also noteworthy. Because in WFB all gods are aetheric beings residing in the Aether, of which the Realm of Chaos is the most prominent domain. But very few gods manifest in the physical world. Either they work indirectly via miracles or chosen people, or in rare occasion act via an avatar, like Ariel and Orion for the Wod Elves. The chaos gods sent their armies through and have a much greater corrupting influence of course. But neither Khorne nor Tzeentch will manifest physically on the Warhammer World. But the Horned Rat seems to be different in this regard.

The main servants of the Horned Rat are the Greyseers. These skaven are marked by their grey fur and by the horns growing out of them, making them heralds looking like their dastardly deity. There are always 169 greyseers, because 13x13 (not counting apprentices/replacements/exiles of the order/etc). They are the unofficial leaders of skavenkind and demand the highest respect. Greyseers act as wizards and priests of the Horned Rat and are important political leaders. They are still the target of assassination and sabotage, especially from other grey seers, but they can easily force their will on any group of skaven nearby. The Greyseer Clan also holds the first position in the council of thirteen.  The Council of Thirteen is the primary ruling body of skavendom, as dictated by the Horned Rat. Any skaven can try to get a seat at the council. But first they must touch the holy obelisk of the Horned Rat and survive. And then they have to challenge a sitting member of the council and kill them. Suffice to say it hasn’t happened since the 2^(nd) skaven civil war ended. Prior to this event the seats were much more dynamic. The council members have the blessing of the Horned Rat and live vastly longer lives than regular skaven for a variety of reasons (magical drugs, cybernetics, mutation). In addition, the Horned Rat symbolically attends each council meeting.  The thirteenth place is empty, as is the Horned Rats seat. And the seat closest, 1 and 12, are the most important ones. But even a place at the council does not mean, that any skaven is save for the Horned Rats’ fickle nature. At one event the Horned Rat destroyed the entire sitting council after they came up with a plan to kill Nagash.  Because the HR was proud of the achievement and disgusted by their cooperation. So, it took all council members and imprisoned them deep within its domain within the aether. There they fused into a singular being the Verminlord Skreech Verminking.

Verminlords are the skaven counterparts to demon princes or greater demons. And like other chaos demons, they can only manifest if enough magic is in an area. This makes them rare sights, but if they show up, then they take command of all skaven around them, including grey seers. But even though they are manifestations of the HR itself, the typical skaven attitutude of fearful compliance and backstabbing applies to them. Yes, a greyseer will fear the verminlord, but he can get rid of it to increase his own station, he will gladly do so.

Now next to the main cult of the Horned Rat enforced by the Grey Seers, there is also the Pestilent Brotherhood. The version of the cult of the Horned Rat is enforced by Clan Pestilence. It is one of the few real cases of heresy in Warhammer. I.e. a deviant interpretation of the main religion. In this cult the Horned Rat is worshipped as a bringer of diseases which will sweep away all enemies and non-believers so that the world can be inherited by Clan Pestilence. Due to heresy and paranoia Clan Pestilence is hated by other skaven, especially by the grey seers. But Clan Pestilence is a force to be wreaking with, as they almost conquered the domains of the Lizardmen by themselves and were at war with the rest of skavendom in the two skaven civil wars, where their armies of frenzied, plague-ridden soldiers, and their hostile diseases made them very hard to deal with. Now each clan has its own view of the Horned Rat, but Clan Pestilence is the most religious faction right after the Grey Seers. And surely, they are inspired by the theme of rats as plague carriers. Clan Pestilence was even responsible for the WFB version of the bubonic plague. But Pestilence is also noteworthy as we already have a big plague god in Warhammer, Nurgle. And how pestilence relates to him is dubious. Indeed, in older editions Clan Pestilence was founded by a greater demon of Nurgle if I do not misremember. And to this day each head of Clan Pestilence takes the title of Lord Nurglitch. However, the Horned Rat is tolerant of Clan Pestilence and with Verminlord Corrupters they even have a verminlord counterpart. So, the Horned Rat must accept Clan Pestilence as one of its own. Then on the other hand we have dozens of war and murder gods in WFB without infringing Khorne apparently. So who cares if too gods like plagues?

And Warhammer would not be Warhammer, if we had not had the odd idiot cult working on their own demise. For this we have the Cult of the Yellow Fang. A cult of human worshippers of the Horned Rat and the Skaven. They think the world is doomed and it’s best to be on the winner’s side. Even though the skaven will kill and enslave them like any other in the end. They are just used as useful idiots.

Now up to the (horrible) End Times. It went well for the skaven. The Horned Rat demanded the skaven to unite and appointed Thanquol as its mortal representative. The skaven then destroyed the near everything on the planet. They pulled the chaos moon Morrslieb closer to the planet, until it ruptured. The slann, including Mazdamundi, did all they cult to neutralize this impact, but ultimately, they saw the planet as a lost cause and ordered an evacuation. The majority of meteorites bombarded Lustria and the lizardmen fled on spaceships. Lustria and much of the Southlands are thus destroyed. And they blew up Nagash black pyramid, a feat the Tomb Kings could not achieve despite millennia of trying. Also, they kill off all the “minor” nations. Which are only minor because they are not playable, but they rival the playable ones in power an ability lore wise. Araby, a powerful desert nation of powerful sorcerers and alchemists who resisted the Tomb Kings for millennia? Eaten by Skaven. Tilea and Estalia, who fight the skaven for untold centuries and have some of the most diverse and experienced armies in the world, plus da vinci esque war machines? Eaten by the Skaven. Cathay (back then also a foot note empire)? First ravaged by orcs then eaten by skaven. Skaven pretty much destroy 75% of the planet by themselves. And most of it is offscreen. But then they suddenly become unimportant, because the writers remember that Archaeon is supposed to bring the Apocalypse. But really, he is just a kill-stealer after all the havoc Lileath and the skaven caused. Ah End Times writing….

 3.      I am the giant rat that makes all of da rules

Great Horned Rat now as part of the proper chaos gods

Of course, the End Times was not the end of it. The Horned Rat took Skavenblight and brought it into its domain in the aether/realm of chaos. And here the skaven learn a new trick to tunnel through reality itself. Which is how they first arrive in the Mortal Realms. The Horned Rat supposedly also joins the other chaos gods in the invasion of multiple other realities and universes. And it gained a stronger association with a base emotion too. In this case desperation and the selfish acts that grow out of it. In either case the Horned Rat became an official member of the chaos pantheon and now calls itself the Great Horned Rat. Though no other chaos god really likes the GHR and even Archaeon initially refused its blessing. Otherwise, the Great Horned Rat proceeds with her business as usual. It is the tyrant god of the skaven and plans to turn the realms of the living, as well as those of the other gods, into its own ruined wasteland to rule over.

Noteworthy is that Skavenblight, now blight city, is within the realm of the Great Horned Rat. Not unlike Azyrheim it is/was a mostly secluded area as the gnawholes where the primary routes in and out. And no one but skaven is suicidal enough to use them. And here we still have the council of thirteen, though over the millenia the seats shifted a lot around. Especially as we now do not have clan pestilence, moulder etc. but clanS pestilence moulder etc. I.e. multiple skaven clans share a similar culture and are thus grouped together. And there is another council of 13, which is manned by Verminlords instead of mortal skaven.

In AoS we also learn more about how different clans venerate the Great Horned Rat, than in WFB. Threre only the doctrine of the Greyseers and Clan Pestilence were the main stream cults. But here each major collection of cults has their own interpretation of the GHR. Clans Verminus worship it as the Great Conquerer, a warlord who lead his worshippers to victory to feast on the corpses of their foes. Clans Moulder have it instead as the Writhing Broodsire, a monstrous almagation flesh. Clans Skrye meanwhile as a mechanical creature known as the Dark Innovater. And Eshin as the Shadow of Murder. And of course for the weird non-skaven followers of the GHR we have Good King Gnaw.

The Great Horned Rat has been very active during the Age of Chaos, aiding the other chaos gods in their invasion, whilst also participating in the Great Game and backstabbing its rival chaos gods. Of note are two events. First the GHR used its forces to stop Nagash ritual. And indeed, Skaven were successful in sabotaging the death god again, stopping Nagash great victory by killing and raising all life in the mortal realms. Instead, he was forced to just unleash the Necroquake. And second the GHR had its minions enacting a plan of sabotaging leylines and knots of magical energy. This sabotage would ultimately create the Hour of Ruin, when Blight City would be pulled into the realms itself. The main centre was Ashqy, where the entire eastern continent would be reshaped into the Gnaw. An area so corrupted by warpstone and chaos energies that few beings but the skaven could thrive there. But splinters of Blight City appeared in other realms as well. And from there the skaven lead a new great invasion, spearheaded by Vizzik Skour, a newborn greater demon of the GHR. This agent claims to be the prophet of the GHR and can inflict a suicidal zeal within his followers. Which removes the greatest weakness of the skaven, their innately cowardly nature. With this great attack the forces of Order can barely hold the Adamantine mountains as the primary line of defense. And other chaos forces strengthen their attacks too in the wake of this attack. But most notably may be that Archaeon finally accepted the blessing of the GHR.

4.      What else but more rats?

GW Artwork of the skavetide

Now having talked about the GHR the question remains how we could continue from here with this rodent god. IMO some of the more interesting ideas could be the following:

- One of the most obvious outcomes for the GHR rise to ascendency is a massive chaos civil war. None of the four main chaos gods (and Hashut) like the GHR and it is the natural cycle of chaos deities to gang up unto the rising deity. And this is before we go into the duplicitous, backstabbing nature of the skaven and the GHR themselves. So, we could see how the armies of chaos break themselves as skaven and other chaos forces focus on each other instead of order. This may happen because Archaeon is out of the picture or busy with Belakors plots. So, the Everchosen may not be able to focus the chaos hordes as he used too. This chaos civil war may also be how the skaventide is utliamtly broken, as it could be the breathing room Order or Death needs to strike back.

-          Speaking of Death, given how Nagash was beaten 3 times by the skaven it would be interesting if the Great Necromancer could reverse this trend once. He has yet to return properly after his duel with Teclis, as he is still regenerating in Nagashizhar. Mayhap he has a skaven continuity plan he wants to enact once he has fully recovered himself. Perhaps he finds the skaven afterlife and destroys it, sending shockwaves through the skaven collective psyches that breaks any magical frenzy driving them on. Or he just unleashes a major death spell. Or something else.

- In my previous post about Tryion and Myyrmidia I mentioned how the GHR is the polar opposite of Myrmidia and that the two gods are more strongly opposed to each other than most others. So it may be interesting whether Myrmidia/Mirmidh or a deity with similar associations (Sigmar/Tyrion) would lead a counter offensive against the skaven which could break the skaventide. There is a variety of ways how this could be achieved, and different gods could have different methods.

- And of course: Thanquol messes things up big time. Beacuse we all know and love our favorite failure rat, and how he ruins things for his comrade. The easiest thing I can see this getting done (perhaps with Gotreks involment?) The Gnaw is likley a very unstable creation and sits in one of the most volatile realms. So either Gotrek tapping into his Grimnir reborn powers, Thanquol messing up a massive spell or having a great device malfunction, or a combination of this could cuase the Gnaw to break apart and sink into Ashqys magma. With said magma then also flodding Blight City proper. It would not be the first time Thanquol did something like this in AoS. He already put an entire zombie-ocean into it.

- Lastly with the hinted return of the khazalid empire and the odd ancestor god, it would be interesting to see how the dwarf gods react to the GHR. Especially if Skavor really existed and really had a hand in creating the skaven, who then created the horned rat. What happened to Skavor afterwards? But even without Skavor, the main myth of the doom of Kavzar already hints at a relation between Skaven and Dwarfs. Not that skaven get a definitive origin. But it would be very interesting to see more about the relationship and shared history between the two groups. 

5.      The End

Thanks everyone for reading through this essay. I hope you enjoyed it as much as the previous ones. After my work on the Root Kings I do want to make another entry about Valaya soon. And after that I may want to take a break from this series, as I run out of gods to talk about. But until then I am very interested in your views on the GHR and Skaven overall.

Hi everyone,

In lots of media I often find the bad guys having needlessly convoluted plans or doing things which make no sense either in short or in long term. Because often it is not a natural plan but a series of events to make the story happen. Which often reduces the antagonist and may make him look dumb. Which is bad if the antagonist is actually supposed to be a smart guy. And in the beginning I thought that Tzecalopocas Plan in the aztec campaign was such a thing. Why go all the way to Greece? Why capture Iztaccíhuatls? Why summon Cipatli? Etc.pp

But the more I think about it, his plan makes sense. Beacuse unlike so many other villains, he does not just want to take over but stay in control. What does he need for this? No competitors and legimitacy in the eyes of his subject and other nations.

After ruining Atzlan Tzecalipoca has the issue of Huitzlipochtli being his rival whom he may not be able to beat. In addition, his reputation as a duplicious deity does not give him much legimitation to rule, even if noone knew that sabotaged Quetzalcoatl.

However by retreating from Mexiko and letting Hutzlipochtli run his course, he achieves two things: First, Hutzlipochtli will built a new power base which he can easily usurp. And second, he creates a villain as his war mongering makes Hutzlipochtli and his followers the enemies of various cities and villages. So if Tezcalipoca returns to beat his brother, he will be the saviour of the region. The noble brother who removes his monstrous relative from power. And he takes Iztaccíhuatl with him, because as a well known local princess she also has the authority and legimitacy to rule as Tzecalipocas mortal mouthpiece.

However why go east then? For one this allows Tzaclipoca to strenghten his own forces with foreign allies, making a victory much more likley. And secondly, it grants Tzecalipoca further legimitacy and recognition from other nations and pantheons. And the best part in this? Like many great lies it is not about straight up lying. The best lies are as close to the truth as possible. And Hutzlipochtli is indeed a warmogner who wants to built an empire on suffering. So basicly everything Tzecalipoca does seems to be justified.

And why release Cipatli? Becuase it creates further chaos, so that no other power bases can form in Mexiko which through a wrench in his plans. Like how it stops Popocatlpl from uniting the other peoples. They are too busy to just surive. And he may use it as a force multiplier or as an additional scape goat to blame any missfortune on. If Tezcalis forces banish it, it would again be him as the liberator and hero of Mexiko.

Only due to Iztaccíhuatls constant mistrust of him does this plan eventually fail. But given how villanious plans are frequently written, I was quite surprised to have one that made sense and had some quality behind it.

This, combined with his charismatic nature, makes me think of him as the second best antagonist I encountered in AoM thus far. Position number 2 right behind Gargarensis. And I want to congratulate the AoM wiritng team for constantly improving the narrative quality of their campaigns. The chinese campaign was very stiff and had lots of boring characters. The japanese campaign had better hero characters, but the villain was very weak and the campaign lacked dynamics. But the aztec campaign is the best campaign since Fall of the Trident and The Titans.

Hi everyone

I was reading seasons of war thondia again (still sad that it was discontinued). But within this book there is a section in which freak ghurish magic transforms stormcast into bestial creatures. Hammers of Sigmar gain scales and dragon claws, whereas Astral Templars get wolf/bear like fangs and furs. At least temporarily.

This had me thinking; We have had Stormcast influenced by certain magic during the reforging. Like Aventis Firestrike or Yndrasta. But these are minor notes to the main azyrite theme. But since then we have stormcast being stationed in specific realms or being exposed to large quantities of magic. Especially as armies use elemental incarnates. Perhaps such transformed or realm touched stormcast are a bit more common. If they are, would you like to see that as units or specialist?

So would you like if veterans of the Astral Templars grow fur and fangs? What do you think would a stormcast look like if they are strongly infused with Hysh or Ghyran or Ulgu? Which stormhost do you think could or should have such characters/units? Etc.pp

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my newest entry in this series of „Fun with Flags Gods“. In this series I try to explain the cultural and real life background of Warhammer gods and how they changed in between WFB and AoS. Today I want to focus on Tyrion, who is the god of light and of skilled warcraft in AoS, as well as Myrmidia, the goddess of skilled warcraft and often associated with light in WFB. Because it seemed fitting to put these two together.

As always, I would like to know what you think of the topics I address here and would like to have a discussion in the comments.

So, without further ado, let’s start:

1.      The gods the myth the legend

l. Ra (Age of Mythology Retold), c. Hutzlipochtlii (AoMR), r. Athena (AoMR)

It is difficult to quickly explain how important the sun is. Even if you have no scientific education the sun is THE most important celestial body and the great influence on your life. The very concept of duality can be determined via the sun, as its presence literally creates night and day. Without its light plants wither and everyone freezes. At the same time great heats and droughts can create catastrophise. Its position also dictates the cardinal directions and thus it is critical for orientation. Not to mention its importance in time keeping, not just for days but for the seasons or the year as a whole. To this day we use the “solar year calendar” after all.  In short, I cannot in a single introduction mention how critical the sun was to any human society and live as a whole on our planet. And these calculations and observations were very precise. In antiquity Erasthones was able to accurately predict the circumference of the earth with the suns aid. He knew of a position in southern Egypt where a pillar does not cast a shadow at a specific hour of the year as the sun is straight above it. By measuring the length of a shadow of a similar ca 500km north he could calculate the circumference of the earth with basic geometry. And was only off by a thousand km if I am not mistaken. Quite a feat and one never forgotten. Even in medival times people knew roughly how large the world was. One reason why Columbus was laughed at was that he used a wrong conversion and thus thought the world was smaller. But everyone else knew he was wrong and no one knew the Americas existed.

Hence people studied the sun since before civilization was a thing. To just go back to the neolithic era, to get a starting point: People needed to track time now more than ever before. Because the best times for sowing, harvest and other fieldworks was extremely critical. Therefore, people built large structures as “walkable calendars” all over the world. Stonehenge in Great Britain is the most famous example, but remnants of similar structures were unearth all across Europe. Many built from wood and thus not long lasting. Essentially depending on the time of year specific parts of the structure would be illuminated and thus exact time points for agricultural or religious events could be pinpointed. Critical information for all societies. In ancient Sumeria huge ziggurats and observatories were built to follow and calculate the sun and the stars for similar reasons. Knowledge of calendars was one of the key functions of religious authorities throughout most of human history, up until the renaissance. Indeed, even the Greogian Calendar we still use today was established by pope Gregror XIII in 1528.

Next to this, and the obvious summer and winter connections of the sun, it was frequently associated with the cycle of life and death itself. After all, where does the sun go if its sets? In many stories, such as the Egyptian or Sumerian myths, it enters the underworld before it returns to an eastern gate to the surface. To this day someone passing his “zenith”, i.e. the high point, or experiencing the sunset of their life are expressions in various cultures and languages. But of course, because the sun rises repeatedly, we also have themes of rebirth associated with the sun too.

And because the sun is such a powerful, dictating celestial body it became normal for rulers to associate themselves with it. Infamous is for example Louis XIV., who called himself the sun king and made the sun his personal symbol. Because the sun reflected how he saw himself as an absolute monarch. The central body in his system of government around which every other celestial body has to find its place and without which France would perish. And of course the Pharaos of ancient Egypt also claimed to be related or chosen by the sun god(s) too. And to this day the ruling house of Japan claims to be descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu.

I could continue this list even more or go into more detail on each point. But let’s just say that the sun is important. And the deities associated with the sun reflect this. In many religions the sun is one of if not the central deity. I mentioned Amaterasu before. At the same time, you had Hutzlipochtlii in Aztec mythology. The hummingbird of the south was a god of warfare and the sun and the main patron of Technochtlilan.  To the South American Incan Empire the creator god Virachocha and the sun god Inti are sometimes conflated. The latter is the second being in creation and critical for shaping the world too. Inti is also the ancestor of the ruling incan dynasty. And of course, we have Ra and the various other sun-related deities in ancient Egypt. Ra is in various myths the main creator deity and of the first beings in creations. And he was the literal sun. If an ancient Egyptian looked upwards, they saw Ra himself traveling the sky in his barque. During the nighttime he would pass through 12 different levels of the underworld where he would die and be reborn to bring the next day.  The inversion of importance is how in many indo-european cultures the sun god did not have a central position and was overall less important than the skyfather for example.

However, sun gods may switch jobs. For example, in ancient Egypt Ra was often fused with whatever other deity a certain dynasty wanted to sponsor. As such we get entities like Amun-Ra, which is the combination of the sheep-headed Amun and Ra. And indeed, many other gods were often associated with Ra or the sun itself. The pinnacle of the practice of lobbying your own sun gods came with pharaoh Echnaton established the sun god Aten (Ras aspect of the sun disc) as the sole god of Egypt. Which was hugely unpopular and ended with priests trying to erase Echnaton from all records. And in Aztec mythology we have myths about different worlds being created and destroyed. With a different god being the sun in each of them. Quetzacoatl, the feathered snake, God of the winds, arts and else, was the sun in such a previous world. In Chinese mythology there were once five to ten suns, until the divine archer Yi shoot the superfluous once out of the sky. And in roman mythology it seems that Apollo and Diana took over the job of Sun and Moon gods from Greek Helios and Selene. I say roman mythology, as this information comes from a text from Cicero IIRC around 50 BC, and in the Greek world Helios and Selene continued to be worshipped. Still this attributed is frequently associated with the two gods today. Which again shows that things we today may think of generally true may have been the fringe beliefs of a small group and not the mainstream. But because said small groups writings survived, it is a prominent idea for modern scholars.

Next to sun gods I also want to talk about gods representing both war and culture. Since the bronze age we saw the establishment of warrior elites, whose martial skill was the main legitimation for their position in society. But these elites were not just skilled in martial arts. They would also spent lot of their time creating works of culture and education. To be proper knight or a samurai you had to be more than just skilled with the blade. Education and knowledge in poesy, in courtly manners, in dance and administration were very important skills to become a proper member of high society. In addition, the growing complexity of human societies established new groups of people, who could be grouped up as intellectuals. I.e people who spent most of their time thinking and planning. You cannot build a pyramid without an architect to plan the construction, without logisticians to figure out supplies in materials and workers, for overseers to control the work etc.pp. States could only be organized on might makes right for so long. And after that you needed people knowledgeable in laws and the structure of the state. And so on and so forth. As mentioned, the jobs of these intellectuals and of the warrior elites did overlap. Because a duke should have many intellectual skills to keep their castle running or to organize a campaign. And he has the time to spent and resources on various pursuits. 

In modern times the primary archetype behind this kind of god/concept is Athena. Athena is the goddess of culture, craftsmanship, intellectual arts and sciences as well as warfare. However, whereas her brother Ares is all about the chaotic and bad aspects of warfare, Athena represents the “good” sides. Strategy, discipline, ordered combat and so forth. She is most famous as the patron goddess of Athens and has many myths shaping political systems of the city. Such as creating Athens legal system to see whether Orestis deserves to be harassed by the vengeance goddesses known as furies.  The romans did interpret her differently. Her counterpart Minerva lost her associations with warfare. These were instead given to the Ares counterpart Mars. And there, Mars was one of the key deity structuring and guiding roman society as well. The ancient celts seemed to have a goddess which may have been related to Athena. The goddess Brigantes was worshipped by some British celts and may have been known on the mainland as well. She was a young maiden with a helmet and armour, but her exact function is not known, as not much of ancient celtic mythology survived.

We have lots of other goddess associated with war and the state/rulership across the middle east. Such as the goddess Ishtar, who much like Athena was the goddess of rulership and warfare. However, she was also a goddess of love and fertility as well, whereas Athena is often depicted as a virgin. Ishtar has many other deities associated with her. The same applies to the earlier mentioned Huitzilopochtli. Next to being a sun god, he was also a war and culture deity critical in founding Tehnochtitlan and the Aztec realm as a whole.

2. Oh no s/he is hot: Tyrion, Myrmidia and solar deities

Artwork of the phoenix guard in battle

In WFB there is a plethora of sun or light gods who share characteristics in between themselves. Most prominent in this regard is Asuryan. Asuryan is the king of the elven pantheon and the main creator of the world as well as the god of the sun. His seat is a pyramid from where he oversees the balance of the world. He takes a lot of elements from Egyptian creator gods like Ra as well as Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism connected with universal balance, creation and fire. According to elven myth Asuryan created the continent of Ulthuan from the corpse of the great father of dragons, Draugnir. He was invited as equal to Asuryans court but was killed by the goddess Anath Raema. Asuryan is also a god of foresight and destiny, though not to the degree of Morai Heg. He led the battle of the elven pantheon against chaos and has a great plan to stop chaos once and for all. However, this plan only has a 50:50 chance to work. But even if the plan works, dragons will go extinct.  

Asuryans main presence of the world lies within the Shrine of Asuryan. It is a great pyramid on an island within Ulthuans Inner Sea. It is the headquarters of the phoenix guard. The phoenix guards are elite warrior monks of asur who were chosen by Asuryan himself. They were given secret knowledge about his plans and the future of the world. Including knowledge of their hour of death. To not spill out Asuryans secrets they a bound to silence by a magical vow. But they have sign language for regular communication. As these elves know exactly how and when they die, they fight without any fear. Because either they know it’s not their time to die, or it is, but his is fine because Asuryan planned it as such. The most holy object of Asuryan are his sacred flames within his temple. Each phoenix king candidate must pass through the flames. Either they are accepted by Asuryan or rejected. Accepted candidates are infused with his divine energies and become his earthly representatives, the phoenix kings. The first one was Aenerion. His son Malekith/Malerion was rejected in old lore. In the End Times it was instead claimed that he just didn’t walk all the way through and that he was Asuryans ideal candidate and all other PK are frauds Asuryan cursed. Which is ludicrous for to many reasons to list, but most aspects of End Times fluff are. The End Times also seemingly forgot that Asuryan has a master plan for this battle, as he plays next to no role in it. Much like many teased prophecies or hinted outcomes were ignored.

Asuryans sacred animals are phoenixes. They primarily nest around his shrine and are seen as embodiments of his power. Through them Asuryan represents death and rebirth. There are three kinds. Flamespire phoenix are young phoenixes full of fire who can be reborn if they die. After many, many years flamespire phoenixes have spent most of their heat and turn into frostheart phoenixes. Chilly cold beings who become more and more stiff, until they turn into statues in death. But until they are fierce and hardy combatants. As they are near the end of their life and cannot be reborn, they are even more dangerous in combat. And then there are arcane phoenixes, the most rare and sacred breed. They are venerated as omens and harbingers of Asuryan himself.

In earlier WFB editions Asuryan is also a human god, venerated as the phoenix. There is old imperial story of the human gods fighting against the chaos gods. In this story one of these gods, the phoenix, dies early in the war, but is reborn and gives the human gods the strength to banish the chaos gods. This phoenix is obviously Asuryan. So, in older material he was a god of the pre-empire humans too. 

This trend continues with Ptra, the main sun god of Nehekhara. Ptra (combination of Ptah and Ra), is a curious god. He is the god of the sun and the main creator deity, whose primary symbol is a pyramid. In short, he is basically the nehekarian version of Asuryan. Prior to the End Times it was heavily implied that the various elven and human gods are just the same entities under different name, much like how Jupiter, Amun and Zeus were seen as the same being.  Ptra is a ruthless deity, much like the desert sun. He can give live but also punish mortals. To get his god graces Settra sacrificed his own children. Ever since then Settra was a champion of Ptra and the other gods.

The other proper sun god is Dazh, the sun god of Kislev. Due to Kislev being a very northern and cold country, the sun and summer are very important concepts, and its deity is highly venerated. Dazh is likely also an offspring of Asuryan but lost his king of god’s position. Instead, Dazh is the god of the sun, fire, summer, hospitality and else. In this position he is somewhat similar to the germanic god Freyr, who was also a ruler of seasons, fertility and else. In kislevite myth he rides across the sky on his be the sun. But he cannot ride continuously and has to rest. Therefore, he gifted humanity fire to keep them warm during his absence. Given how important fireplaces are in a cold country like Kislev, granting travellers access and adhering to the laws of hospitality is critical in Kislev too. Miracles related to Dazh seem to focus a lot on fire and heat. Such as a regiment of renown devoted to him in Total War Warhammer having burning blades.

The last of the proper gods I want to mention is the goddess Myrmidia. And she is objectively more important than Sigmar in WFB. Because Sigmar is just the state god of the Empire and even there his cult is disputed. Myrmidia however is the patreon goddess of the realms of Tilea (renaissance italy city states) and Estalia (minor spanish/protugise kingdoms), as well as being worshipped in the southern areas of the Empire and in some regions of Bretonnia too. As well as wherever tilean/estalian mercenaries’ fight. So, she is venerated on a much larger scale and for a much longer time as well. However, as Sigmar is the mascot deity of the mascot human faction, Myrmidia didn’t receive the focus she deserved.

 Myrmidia is the daughter of Morr, god of death, and Verena, goddess of Knowledge. Myrmidia herself is the goddess of war, strategy and tactics, scholarism and civilization building.  In short she is WFB Athena. She is the goddess of orderly, strategic and honourable warfare with disciplined armies and skilled commanders. In the Empire this is contrasted with Ulrics berserker and lone warrior style. Therefore, she is more popular with commanders and officers. Her main symbols are spear and shield and the sun (though as far as I know she is not a solar deity), the eagle and the lion. Her priesthood similarly is all about cultivating civilization as well as providing tactical insights. In the Empire the Knightly Order of the Blazing Sun are her primary followers. These knights wear black and gold armour and are famous for their skill in battle and their tactics as well as administrative talents.

And much like Sigmar, Myrmidia was once a human too. According to Myrmidias to her cult, she reincarnated as a human woman in the Southern Realms, long before Sigmar was alive. Being orphaned at an early age she was sold into service of a cruel lord. After many abuses she killed him with a spear. Afterwards she became a uniter and state founder, uniting the Southern Realms into one empire. However, she was assassinated and poisoned and upon death returned to the gods. In her absence rivalries broke out and her lands were split into Estalia and Tilea and then into various petty kingdoms and city states. In addition, both Tileans and Estalians are in conflict about where Myrmidia was born IIRC.

Myrmidia also has a strong connection to the Horned Rat. Now as the Southern Realms were not the focus of WFB lots of this is unexplored. But in many ways the Horned Rat is the devil of the Southern Realms and the total opposite of Myrmidia. And at the same time, it is a very personal foe to her. The most prominent backstory for the skaven is that the ancient city of Tylos/Kavzar wanted to build a tower to rival the gods themselves. But they could not finish it. So a mysterious stranger offered to help, if he could add his own tribute to the gods. Said tribute was a cursed bell and the city was taken over by skaven and became Skavenblight. Now Tylos was once the ancient capital and nucleus of Tilea itself. And in tilean myths its king was blessed by Myrmidia and Myrmidia herself helped to build the walls of the city. But the king wanted to exceed even the elven splendour and thus began construction of the tower. Sensing the kings hybris, Myrmidia pulled back her favour from the city. In short Skavenblight, the capital of the skaven, was once the core city of the southern realms and a holy place to Myrmidia herself. And now it is a hell on earth and core of skaven civilization right in between Estalia and Tilea, who suffer from its neighbourhood. And even as a deity the Horned Rat is either the opposite or subverts all of Myrmidias virtues. Myrmidia is a goddess of cooperation, of building a progressively better future, of honour and courage. The great horned rat encourages extreme selfishness, plans ruination for everything and creates a paranoid society of cowards and backstabbers. Even Myrmidia thirst for knowledge is turned evil, as the rats are well into science. But its all about causing misery and self-destruction, rather than enlightenment. Few other gods have such strong opposites as Myrmidia has with the Horned Rat. If we would have had greater focus on the Southern Realms, we may have heard more stories of her fighting the skaven and the HR fiercely. 

The last and only mortal in this round is Tyrion, the defender of Ulthuan and heir of Aenerion. Tyrion existed in WFB as a mortal elf. He and his twin Teclis were in a dual relationship with each other. Which means that both weaknesses reflect on the other’s strengths. The two elves were born from the line of Aenerion and thus suffered the family curse, that plagued this line ever since Aenerion drew the Sword of Khaine. This curse resulted in Teclis being physically very frail and weak. To the point where he required magical potions just to stand upright. This made other elves scorn him and turned Teclis into a pariah in most elven circles. Tyrion was the opposite. A handsome specimen of an elf who effortlessly excels in most physical tasks, a social butterfly with charisma to become everyone’s darling. In short, the opposite of Teclis. Tyrion contained so many qualities that people called him Aenerion reborn, including skill in combat, leadership and strategy. This familiarity is helped by Tyrion wearing the legendary armour of his ancestor. Tyrions fathers’ passion project was to bring it back into order. Despite his young age Tyrion also has many important deeds under his belt and his more or less openly rumoured to be a candidate for the next phoenix king. Among these things is him and Teclis being able to defeat Nkari, one of the most powerful greater demons of Slaanesh multiple times, as well as killing some of the greatest dark elven warriors in single combat and protecting the Everqueen during a massive dark elf invasion.

Tyrion is also a womanizer and is the consort of Alarielle the Everqueen. With whom he has a daughter, Aliathra. The scandal is not that Alarielle has other lover or even other children.  The marriage between phoenix king and everqueen is only political and only important to produce the everchild,. i.e the heiress to the Everqueen. What happens before or after is not important to anyone. However, in older fluff Finubar was also Alarielles father IIRC, and timeline wise it would also make more sense if he was. So, from this angle it also makes some sense for Tyrion to be the father. Next to this little scandal, Tyrion has other more important downsides too. Whereas his brother Teclis is compassionate to other species and cultures, and is seeking cooperation with the various non-elves, especially humans, Tyrion is as much your standard Ulthuani bigot as you can be. To him only Ulthuan and the lives of fellow high elves on it are important. The outside world and everyone in it could burn. As long as Ulthuan is safe everyone else can screw themselves. In addition, Tyrion suffered the mental curse of Khaine. Even if he tries to be the paragon of asurdom and wants to be that noble hero, within his psyche are the dark urges present to become an incarnation of murder and bloodshed. Something that did not happen in main WFB thus far. But in TWW you can choose between staying Ulthuans defender or embracing Tyrions dark urges, even if you do not draw the Sword of Khaine.

Now the End Times are not good WFB lore. But within it Tyrion reacted more appropriately than many others to the nonsense around him. After losing his daughter to resurrect Nagash, his liege dying and being a fraud like all phoenix kings before, learning that the arch enemy and scourge of his civilization is supposed to be his true king, that the love of his life sided with said monstrous tyrant and that his own twin brother helped orchestrated these events because a duplicitous goddess told him too, Tyrion snapped. Some WFB fans may argue that this is quite the sensible reaction. Anyhow Tyrion drew the sword of Khaine and led his own faction of dark and high elfs in a civil war. However, he was killed, Ulthuan was destroyed and Tyrion was resurrected by Teclis sacrificing the flame of Ulric. Which ultimately doomed Middenheim, which was protected by this flame. Then he became the incarnate of Light, fought a lot and the world went boom.

 3. Like a phoenix from the ashes: Tyrion in AoS

Artwork of Tyrion from WFB

Tyrion did not have many appearances thus far in AoS. But the lore he has is still important. Tyrions story starts of him awakening alone in Hysh and traveling the realm. He encounters many things and has great adventures. Ultimatly he ventures to the edge of the realm itself, where the light magic is so intense, that even a god of light is turned blind. Still, this and other courageous acts impressed the elemental spirit of Hyshs blinding edge. And through this spirit actions Tyrion awoke blind but reunited with his brother. And through his brothers’ eyes Tyrion can still see. Being blind however is not a big deal for Tyrion. Indeed, with this is he is very similar to a previous iteration of Eltharion the Grim, who was also blinded by Malekith in an earlier WFB edition. But Eltharion trained with the Swordmasters of Hoeth to become an excellent swordsman despite his handicap. And this applies to Tyrion as well.

After reuniting with his brother Tyrion joined Sigmars pantheon and was important in teaching the armies of mortal kind in the Age of Myth. And together with his brother, Malerion and Morathi he chained Slaanesh and extracted souls to revive the elves consumed by the chaos god. Tyrion did not revive any elves himself but gave his share to Teclis. And he held Teclis back, after the later wanted to kill the Idoneth during their flight. From there Tyrion taught the Lumineth all he knew and Hysh was split between tyrionic and teclian nations. The former embracing Tyrion and try to mimic his deeds and virtues. Then during the Spirefall and the Age of Chaos Tyrion led the front lines against the forces of chaos. A job he continues into the Age of Myth, though we do not see him. However, he seems to plan a war or proxy war with Malerion, as both try to mark their claims at the Pits of Carthalla. An area where a magical catastrophe caused Hysh and Ulgu to fuse with each other in a unique way. As Tyrion and Malerion cannot enter the others domain physically this offers a unique opportunity to bypass this handicap. In Dawnbringers he made his first proper appearance in a sidetext, where he ordered the luimineth twins Ellatha and Ellarior to save a spark of the Ur-Phoenix and bring it to Hysh.

Beside this not much is known about Tyrion but a lot can be inferred. For example, his main symbol on lumineth heraldy is the sun, contrasted by Teclis symbol being the moon. IN addition, much like Celennar the lunar sphinx is Teclis companion, so does Tyrion seem to be connected to the spirit of Hysh outer edge. Again, lumineth heraldy shows a phoenix or griffon-like creature as Celennars solar counterpart. But we have no proper insight into this creature thus far.

Now Tyrion himself is very different from his old WFB counterpart. Much like Alarielle, Teclis or Sigmar are distinct from their WFB counterparts. For example, Tyrion and Alarielle are no longer in relationship despite being close lovers before. Indeed, the two gods seem to be very removed and unknown to each other. In addition, Tyrions negative traits such as his bigotry, arrogance, elf-centrism and his lack of compassion for others are downplayed or seem to have been transferred to Teclis for some reason. In WFB it was Teclis who was the morality chain for Tyrion by contrast. But in a white dwarf magazine Grombindal mentions how Tyrion is responsible to keep Teclis in check.

Asuryans phoenix associated traits reappear with the Ur-Phoenix, a god beast and mother of all phoenixes. But the entity itself has nothing to do with Asuryan as far as we know. Instead, it is a godbeast, a different divine category. It primarily existed to give the phoenix guard a reason to reappear in AoS with the phoenix temple. An institution whose centre lied within the city of Phoenicium. Any elf broken physically or mentally could join to fight against chaos and other threats. After passing the tests the aspirants would be healed and become members of the phoenix guard. Phoencium was also quite the unique and interesting city for a variety of reasons. From its elf-centric population to its intriguing esoteric defences to it being essentially AoS Pompeji but resettled, which should have given it quite unique aesthetics. The Ur-phoenix has a strong connection to Hysh, where the Pyre of the Phoenix lies. There the Ur-phoenix dies and is reborn anew. The Ur-Phoenix and Phoenicium were destroyed during the dawnbringer crusade when Abraxia attacked and conquered Phoenicium and consumed the essence of the Ur-phoenix. I have my own strong thoughts on this event. But prior to its end, Tyrion had ordered the Ur-phoenix to be returned to Hysh and a fragment of the godbest could be saved, to be potentially reborn.   

Myrmidia seems to be now primarily known under the name of Mirmidh in AoS. She retains attirbutes of beign the goddess of strategy, scholarism, humourful and ordered warfare and else and was venerated by warrior-aristocrats of Hysh, many of which became stormcast. She is also the patreon deity of the Tempest Lords, the primary stormhost in Hysh. But beyond this not much is known about her.

Asuryan himself also makes an indirect appearance. Because in one of many cases where AoS contradicts and retcons the End Times we learn that all the phoenix kings after Malekith were not cursed but instead contained remnants of Asuryans divine essence. And Morathi consumed the souls of these phoenix kings in her trip into Slaanesh gullet to transform into a proper goddess.

4. The sun may rise tomorrow

Priestess of Myrmidia from Cucible 7

Having talked all about sun gods and scholary warrior gods and different beings in Warhammer fantasy the central question remains where could we go from here? Well, I have some thoughts on this. For example:

• Tyrion could make his grand appearance in AoS. In this case he would probably come with his own companion, who would represent the light at the edge of Hyhs and may be the personification of the sun of the mortal realms, much like Celennar is the main moon. However, given how all aelementor spirits are very strongly mammalian coded (even the wind spirit is a fox not a bird), I would expect Tyrions companion to have some mammalian traits too. If /when Tyrion comes back it would likely be at the spearhead of a great lumineth campaign against one or multiple enemies. Currently all lore seemingly points to Tyrion and Malerion clashing. This could result in an order vs order conflict, which could have many intrueging possibilities. But he could also lead the charge in an attempt to liberate Hysh from chaos or destruction, whereas Teclis has his rivalry with Nagash.
• With Tyrion we may also see the Zenith Temple. We know that these aelementor temples worship the spirits at the very zenith of Hyhs and that their temples are extremely high up. Said light spirits are likely the suns of Hysh. The realm was mentioned to contain multiple suns in arcane cataclysm for example. Persionally I like the idea of these light spirits migrating across the sky only to be absorbed by the great light of Hysh edge at the end of their life, only to be reborn at the opposite side to start their journey anew. This orderly rhythm fits Hysh very well and mirrors Sumerian stories of the sun refuelling itself in the underworld, or Ras passage through the sky.
• With Tyrion (and Malerion) making an appearance it would also be interesting to see Nkari return. Nkari was/is slaanesh greatest greater demon and an arch enemy of the elves. After he was defeated by Aenerion he swore vengeance upon his bloodline and killed all mortal descendants except Teclis, Tyrion and Malerion. (He ignored the Everqueens line for some reason). But both Teclis and Tyrion did manage to defeat it multiple times, which turned the demon into an arch enemy of the twins. Granted Nkari is just a demon and thus leagues behind the twin elven gods. But this handicap would make Nkaris vengeance just more creative. For example, I have the strong head canon that Nkari was the main driving force behind the Spirefall. To get vengeance by proxy by destroying all the things the twin elven god’s love.
• Regarding the Ur-Phoenix, the being is currently in stasis. Officially it is gone, but GW kept enough doors open to have it reappear whenever they thought to use it again. I think its position as a deity for the CoS is more fitting than with the lumineth, who already have quite the number of supernatural allies. So I would like to see a renewed phoenix temple for the CoS, if GW decides to bring out more elf and dwarf kits for this faction.
• Myrmidia could come back in some fashion as Mirmidh. She could be her own independent warrior goddess allied with Sigmar. However personally I entertain the idea that she is Tyrions spouse in AoS. This is interesting for several reasons. War gods did have spouses that also happened to be war gods. For example, the roman war goddess Bellona was frequently seen as the wife of Mars. Furthermore, having a union or a relationship between a “human” and an “elven” god would better illustrate how the gods have more responsibilities than their mascot faction. That the gods are important to everyone, no matter your species. Also, Tyrion and Mirmidh would have very similar interests and traits. Of course, this is just my left field theory, and this is highly unlikely. Especially as this could interrupt the brotherly dynamic Tyrion already has with Teclis. But this has never stopped a fan to ship characters, has it?
• However, as both Mirmidh and Tyrion represent similar traits, it would be interested to see how both deities react to the Horned Rat. As I mentioned before the horned rat is the complete antithesis of Myrmidia. Therefore, it would be great to see how heir AoS counterpart gets all the lore development and conflict her predecessor was denied. But as Tyrion occupies similar responsibilities it would be interesting to see how he reacts as well.

5. The End

This has been my excursion into Tyrion, Myrmidia and other deities. I hope you enjoyed reading through it and that you have a bright future ahead of you. Also, the next entry, the 13^(th) one in this series, will focus on the Horned Rat.

I dunno when I can get it out. But until then I would like to hear your thoughts on Tyrion, Myrmidia or else.

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to talk about something very dear to my heart. I like dwarfs a lot. They are among my favorite fantasy species. But I was always soured by the way they were written. Whereas you can get elves in more flavors than ice cream, and orcs can range from malicious evil monsters to noble savages, dwarfs are pretty much the same in every setting. Bearded gruff miners and smith living in european-esque mountains deep underground. They drink beer, carry axes and badmouth elves. If you are lucky, you get evil dwarfs too, who tend to do the same things but eviler. For this reason, I love AoS depiction of dwarfs. Not only do we have multiple dwarfen cultures, but the ones playable also have very interesting backgrounds. Such as the Fyreslayers, who are mercenaries instead of miners and who are on a religious quest to revive their dead war god. In addition, they have formed a close companionship with dragons of all things (too bad GW gave them such a broad and rich background and then ignored their actual models). Meanwhile the Kharadon Overlords are flying high up with air ships and living in floating cities, formed a meritocratic plutocracy and are essentially a steampunk faction lost in a high fantasy game. And with the Helsmith we got our evil chaos dwarfs back.

But I want to talk about another interesting group, the Root Kings. The Root Kings are currently a background faction of duardin living in Ghyran, the realm of life. As their name suggests, instead of living deep in the mountains, these duardin live in or rather below the many forests of Ghyran. And instead of working primarily with metal, they also craft plants, fibers and wood into tools and weapons. Sadly, not much is known beyond this. Which is why I want to step in here and explore what could be done with this faction in this “what if”- pitch.

The following is just my own personal interpretation based on pre-existing mentions and my somewhat deranged mind. Anything I write here is just for fun and not meant to be taken seriously. Any idea is free to use, however you like it, and if you have your own thoughts on the Root Kings, I would be pleased to hear them.

By the way I did some things like this before and talked about the Gororians and the Abholon as destructions factions, as well as fan concepts for a frankenstein faction and undead pirates for the Grand Alliance of Death as well as a human destruciton faction

EDIT: Please note that I had to chop up the essay and put the military/unit part in the comments. Sorry for the inconvience

Now without further ado, let’s start digging:

1.      Why nature loving dwarfs make sense:

Artwork of a Dwarf Druid (by Vanette Cossman)

Why are dwarfs always stuck in mountains as miners? To answer this question, we would have to look at how the concept of dwarfs shifted through the last millennia. But the short version is, that they were originally earth spirits in older folk tales. There are many stories about dwarfs inhabiting caves or small natural holes in the ground. However, lots of these older folk tales about dwarfs had them as fay nature spirits, similar to old tales about elves and others. Dwarfs were great craftsmen yes, but many of their habitats lay in small hills or even flat plains, and they often had control over rivers, springs and groundwater too. They were also highly magical in general, able to curse or transform people. Only recently, within the last 200 years or so, did dwarfs transform into being industrious miners living primarily in the tallest mountain.

Mountain dwarfs existed previously too of course. But even then, they had a connection to plants and magic. For example, in the sagas of Dietrich von Bern, a medieval german hero. In his sagas there is the story about his fight with the dwarf king Laurin. And a key component is that this dwarf king has an enchanted rose garden. The stories differ on how or why Dietrich and Laurin clashed. In many accounts the dwarf king kidnapped a princess and wanted to forcefully marry her. Dietrich and his companions stormed his rose garden on the surface of his mountainous kingdom. There Laurin used a magical belt that gave him the strength of 12 men but still lost against Dietrich. Then he used a hood of invisibility to escape into the roses. But by seeing the moving flowers, the heroes could guess where the dwarf hid himself and take him prisoner. On their way-out Laurin spoke a spell to hide his mountainous kingdom and his rose garden, so no mortal could access it. Still when the sun shines on the Alps you can still see segments of the mountains glowing red or rosé which is then where Laurins Garden and kingdom lie. As mentioned, there are many versions, like with most old tales. E.g. in another version I heard the roses were beautiful but deadly. Any men touching them would die, and any women touching them would be enslaved by the dwarf king.  And still in another the heroes actively start the struggle with the dwarf king for bragging rights. In either way the beautiful and magical nature of this rose garden is always important, as are the magical items of the dwarf king.

Dwarf King Laurin at the Court of Diedrich von Bern (Ferdinand Leeke 1926)

King Laurin aside I also want to mention that dwarfs during medieval times were much different beings from our modern interpretation. As mentioned, they were seen as fay-like creatures that could be great allies but also great threats. And whilst they were great craftsmen, this was not their primary attribute. Rather they were innately magical, able to do all kinds of shenanigans like speaking curses or transforming themselves into dragons (see tales about Siegfried/Sigurd). And in later medieval times dwarfs were still heavily associated with natural places. Because they were not mountainous folk primarily, but underground dwellers. So, any suspicious hole in any area could be the home of a medieval dwarf. And as such there are plenty of stories of dwarfs associated with springs or water ways too. Indeed, dwarfs lost these major nature connections very late in the English-speaking world. There a split happened and nature focused dwarfs are now called Gnomes, whereas the term dwarf is used for the mountainous, industrial people. Though this is primarily an anglosphere thing. German for example calls all small, bearded beings dwarfs. Such as Gartenzwerg (i.e. Garden Dwarf, eng. Garden Gnome).

Now medieval stories about dwarfs are fine, but what does this have to do with modern dwarfs? How can nature themes fit well into a group of industrious miners? Well, if we look at the history of mining, we see how important forests and knowledge in botany were in every step of the way.  Before you even drove your first mine into the ground, knowledge of plants was helpful. Because plants react sensitively to certain elements in the soil. This makes them markers for the minerals below. A good prospector could look at the landscape and see the plants growing there, or their absence, where a good spot for a mine could be. Then during the mining operation lots of wood was needed of course for construction purposes. To stabilize the mine, to build scaffoldings. But also, to construct dams and water pipes. Because prior to steam power, water and wind power were the only external energy sources for any mechanical device. Therefore wind- and water mills were so common and used for a variety of manufacturing purposes. Not just grinding corn, but also for sawing, paper production and many other things.  Of these two power sources, water power was more reliable as you could build dams and built-up lakes to power your machines at a controllable rate. Such systems were used for all kinds of purposes, including water pumps to get ground water out of mines, or lifts for the ore containers. And finally, you needed coal to smelt the ore and to make metal and metal items.

This last process needed the greatest amount of wood. Not for the furnace directly but for charcoal. Because wood can only burn up to a certain temperature, which is not enough to melt iron or other metals. Coal can burn much hotter. But mineral coal is difficult to mine without industrial technology in most regions. And it’s even more tedious to carry over large distances. Therefore, charcoal was the get go resource, as it could be created locally by coaling wood. This is a tedious and intensive process. But one so important, that a charcoaler does not have to wash his face if they meet a king, according to some stories. And indeed, many family names come from this job. Such as the german Kohl and Köhler. As you can see lots of wood was needed. The demand was so great that in the 16^(th) century many regions of Europe were deforested. This caused great ecological issues affecting the livelihood of people as well as driving the price for wood very high. For this reason, the first proper forest recultivation laws were established around this time, especially in mining intense regions. So, the reason why many European countries have forestry laws about recultivation and use of forests comes from mining**.  By extending this story one can easily see dwarfs who act as foresters and charcoalers. It would add up very well with the other attributes of dwarf kind.** Indeed, it is arguably more than for humans. Because trees take a long time to grow. A planted tree may take 60-150 years to be harvested, depending on the kind of tree used. So, if you are a forester, you grow trees for the next generations to harvest. But for a dwarf, this may happen well within his lifetime.

Making of Charcoal (Museumsdorf Hösseringen)

Then there is also another inspiration from Tolkien. He is essentially the Godfather of modern fantasy and essentially any modern fantasy trope can be found as a default in his books first. Treemen/Ents, hobbits/halflings, elves and orcs and dwarves of course. But there is one fantasy species Tolkien created which did not transition into pop culture. The Druedain, also called Wasa, Pukel-men or Wooses. Granted, they only appear in two chapters. But their impact is still important. They were once enemies of the Rhoirrhm who used to think of them as animals and hunted them. In turn many men learned to fear their poisonous arrows and their stealthy guerilla tactics. In addition, the Druedain were also skilled craftsmen creating statues. And appearance wise they looks misshapen and were small. Essentially you can imagine the Druedain as a mixture of a hobbit and a dwarf, which are then placed in an old forest next to the mountainside. However, in Tolkiens works are not a unique species but a sub-breed of men, like hobbits are. Now there is more to them, but for overview purposes this is enough. Their role in the story is that they show the Rhorrim a shortcut through their forest, thereby evading Mordors scouts and defensive lines, so that they can take Mordors forces by surprise in Minas Tirith. A second time they are the focus when Aragorn, now king, rides north with his entourage and comes by their forest. He promises the Druedain that no one but them has a right to their forest and that they will be left alone by other men. The Druedain, hidden in the forest, happily accepted this decree. It makes sense that the Druedain are forgotten, as this is not a big showing. But they are still an intriguing and interesting concept and one worth exploring IMO.

2.      Society:

Having talked briefly as to why naturalistic dwarfs are not out of character, the question remains how the Root Kings should be organized as a society. And in this regard, I want to mention two things. Firstly, that dwarfs in WFB were always kind of a matriarchal society. This is a bit confusing perhaps, as we only hear about dwarfen kings and male dwarfs doing stuff in WFB. But this is largely because female dwarfs greatly important and held in so high esteem (and also, they were rarer than male dwarfs, because GW does not know basic population mechanics work). Typically, a female dwarf was worth her weight in gold, if a male wanted to invest in the dowry. And arguably female dwarfs held the greatest respect within dwarfen society. Indeed, it is easy to say that female dwarfs always had the last saying in almost any matter, and that the queens or wives of guild masters were at least equally important to their husbands, if not more. Related to this is how Valaya is also the most important goddess period. Sure, Grungni and Grimnir are important, but Valaya is the most important dwarfen deity as she is important to everyone, as every dwarf claims to be her descendant. No matter your status, no matter your craft or guild, Valaya is there for you. And she is responsible for every aspect of dwarfen society except for mining, smithing and warfare. Which covers a lot of things. For example, she is the mistress of brewers, she is the spiritual protector of the Karaks, she designed the social structure of dwarfen society from singular families and clans over guilds to entire kingdoms. Indeed, she founded various important Karaks herself and had unique runes of healing and protection in WFB.

In AoS Valaya is rumored to have once been a ruler of Ghyran. And the Root Kings live in Ghyran it would make sense that they embrace the matriarchy aspect even more. Therefore, I would design the Root Kings as matriarchal society, making their name misleading. But this is still on point. Because Root King could then be the name outsiders use to describe this dwarfen culture, ignoring the inner workings of their culture. This is not without precedent in RL. Much like how the Iroquois call themselves Haudenosaunee, which means “people of the longhouse”. And I would use the Haudenosaunee as one of several inspirations for the Root Kings. Because the Haudenosaunee had a very intriguing political system. Broken down in loose terms, each clan of Haudenosaunee was ruled by elder women. This council could appoint chiefs, who acted essentially as ministers for specific jobs. A chief for trade, a chief for diplomacy, a chief for war. And politically all of Haudenosaunee society was designed after families living in a longhouse. Much like how senior and junior families organized their life together in a long house around a central fireplace, so were the tribes of the Hadenosaunee organized in the Haudenosaunee Confederation. A short introduction to this style of politics can be found here: https://youtu.be/S4gU2Tsv6hY?is=3keFBJ530VjSERM2

IMO this model works very well in tandem with Valaya being the goddess of Hearth and Home. As such I would include it for the Root Kings as the core of their society. Root Kings are organized into Root Holds, huge underground constructions below certain sacred trees or whole forest. Each Root Hold contains multiple chambers, but all are organized around the central Root Hall, which is the most important section where most of public life takes place. Including a council of matriarchs meeting, around a special altar wherein a Sacred Flame of Valaya is constantly burning. The literal hearth fire at the center of their hold and society. This matriarchal council consist of the eldest dwarfen women, often literal grand-x-grandmothers themselves. As with all dwarfs, the Root kings value seniority above all. Therefore, the oldest members of the matriarchal council have the greatest prestige and influence. With the Rootmother, the oldest female of the hold, being seen as a representative of Valaya and a living ancestor herself. She stands before the clanmothers of the various families and clans that inhabit the hold and is the primary mediator between them.

This venerable position does not mean that these councils are free of politicking and strife, however. Because the matriarchal council is the legislative and judiciary body. They create laws and rules and are the ones who oversee the final punishment. And the matriarchs have the power to appoint the afromentioned Root Kings for specific tasks. A Root King for War, another for diplomacy or internal security or for specific projects etc.pp. It takes many roots to feed a tree after all. And thus every “root” of society is overseen by its own “root king”. And the root kings must justify themselves before the matriarchal council, who can take their office away, or punish them for misdeeds.

3.      Religion:

Statue of Valaya in AoS

The Root Kings would venerate all duardin gods, but none more as Valaya. She is worshipped in all her important aspects, especially as the goddess of hearth and home. As such each new settlement would be founded in her name and asked for her blessing. This foundational act begins with an artificial mount (a memory of their old mountainous holds). On top of the mount a Hearth Tree is planted. This is a kind of tree sacred to Valaya. Below its roots the main Root Hall will be built. The Hearth Tree is supposed to grow together with the hold below it. As such newly founded outpost will have a small Hearth Tree, but the oldest one will have enormous, towering world trees grown over many millennia. And as the hold spreads, so will the hearth Tree spread, with its roots spreading outwards and growing smaller offshoots, which mark important districts of the hold. Due to the cultural importance of this tree, which symbolizes Ghyran, Valaya and the identity and cohesion of the hold itself, its wood is only used for the most significant of items and projects. As oaks are omnipresent in AoS as of now (fireoak, ironoak, silveroak, staroak, gnarloak to name a few), as they are used as short-hand term for any kind of wood. Which I dislike, as trees have tons of interesting species and oaks are a very specific group of trees. So given how diverse AoS is a setting, labelling any kind of tree as an oak is unfitting. So, whilst I like oaks a lot, I do not want this Hearth Tree to be another kind of oak. Instead, we could take the mythical world tree Yggdrasil as an example which was an ash tree. (ash is also a linguistical joke, because of the hearth containing ashes).

Tree also play an important role for the death of the Root Kings. When they die, their bodies are supposed to be given to the earth and stone. But not in an eternal tomb, but in a way that reconnects them to the weave of life and death. Therefore, their bodies are given to the earth and a sapling is planted ontop. Preferably a tree that bears fruit, so that the deceased dwarf can in this way ensure his relatives are fed. This way the death is not just a loss but also brings new life to the hold. If the trees grow large enough, the names and faces of the dwarfs are carved into them. Over time these Gardens of Gazul form sacred forests/orchards.

But not just Valya is important. The Root Kings also pay their respect to a variety of other spirits and gods of nature. Among them is of course Alarielle, who may be seen in different ways by different Root Kings. Some Root Halls see may see her as a former companion or as the sworn sister of Valaya. Others may not see her as a proper goddess, but accept her importance, for which she should be venerated. Meanwhile Root King Rangers venerate Kurnoth and Sigmar is well spoken off too, since his return. In addition, the Root Kings also venerate various other local spirits of nature, such as earth, wind and water spirits, that can be found in various realms.

4.      Economy:

The root kings are great craftsmen as would be expected. Even if they do not live within mines, their ability to shape stone does not stand behind that of any other dawi. In addition, they are awesome wood crafters. And they have an uncanny skill in fusing stone and wood together. Such as making long lasting hammers with heads of stone or even realm-stone. But whilst they use less metalwork, it is still an important feature for them. Like their relatives, they mine ore from the ground and smelt it. For this and other manifold purposes the Root Kings grow their own forests. These forests can stretch for miles around the central Root Hall. Next to wood they also provide huntable game, and the glades are used to raise animals or farm fields.

Animals are a key component of the Root Kings. Normal dwarfs in WFB were not portrayed to keep animals, except for the occasional mine or ale pony. The two primary exceptions here are the fyreslayers with their magmadroths and the chaos dwarfs from WFB with their Great Taurus and Lammasu. But the Root Kings have embraced husbandry and hold herds of various beings.

The Root Hog is a large boar looking like fantastic version of the RL African warthog. It is larger than the real-life pig, able to carry a dwarf at least, and is used as a beast of war and burden by the Root Kings. Warthogs spent part of their life in subterranean burrows, where they raise their piglets. This made the underground halls of the Root Kings attractive resting spots and over time they were domesticated by the duardin. In Warhammer boars are already associated strongly with greenskins, but IMO they are also befitting for dwarfs. Stout powerful and unrelenting creatures who always burrow through the earth. By the way, pigs are very intelligent and these warthogs are no exception. As pigs prefer soft ground, these boars are primarily found in lowland root holds.

Next to the warthogs are the Rams of Grugni. If dwarfs are depicted with mounts and cavalry it is typically with rams or ibexes. And these animals are supposed to represent this. Like the warthogs they are also used as beasts of burden and war and are valued for their steadfastness in difficult terrain. Much like their real-life counterparts they excel in mountainous or rocky terrain. As a result, they are primarily by more mountainous holds.

Also, I figured bears would work very well. much like the warthog bears also like to rest in caves. And have a fondness for honey and perhaps mead too. Over time a peculiar breed of bear entered the holds and became adopted. Especially as beers like honey, and I see the root kings being great bee keepers and mead makers. In this iteration the species is called the Grimbeorn. It is a massive species of bear that is seen as an avatar of Grimnir for its strength and ferocity. A powerful being that is especially dangerous when its home or relatives are under threat. It could be modelled after the RL cavebear, the largest known species of bear, but with more fantastical elements.

In addition, other animals are possible as companions. Such as ferrets (burrowing mouse/rat catchers), llamas/alpacas (mountain camels for alpine groups) or else.

Next to all these animals the Root Kings are also experts in creating fabrics and using various plant materials. E.g. the main protection of the Root King would not be suits of chainmail, but linothoraxes. Across humans’ history we have had various kinds of cloth armour, not unlike modern Kevlar and similar things. They could protect you very well against most kinds of impacts, especially blunt hits.  Even under a proper plate you would typically have layers of thick cloths to avoid the impact of the blow harming your body. In ancient Greece this type of linen armor became dominant for a time, as it was cheaper than a curass of bronze armor but similarly effective.

Mosaik of Alexander the Great with a linen armor

And in west Africa around modern Mali you had an entire culture of “knights” where horse and rider were covered in this kind of cloth. This fabric armor I can see these dwarfs use as well, especially in Ghyrans humid environment and dense vegetation, which makes steel not very efficient.

Fabric amour as used in western Africa (by Hasani Claxton)

Also brewing is a highly important aspect for duardin. And of course, those dwarfs have the deepest insight into the natural world and plants and herbs would arguably also be the best brewers. Hence the Brewmisstress’ of the Root Kings could brew and distil a variety of different drinks and tonics, depending on the herbs and ingredients they used. Things which can invigorate dwarfs, keep them alive on long marshes and harsh conditions or perhaps even increase their strength for a short amount of time (not unlike the magic potion from Asterix and Obelix).

Lastly, I want to mention magical artefacts. Because the making of magical items is a standard for dwarfs, both in RL and in Warhammer Fluff. Therefore, the Root Kings continue this trend. Out of the various magical materials, realmstone and runes they can create phenomenal items. Such as cloaks which adapt to the environment and may turn the wearer almost invisible. Or magical horns, whose sound can send forth avalanches. Or what have you.

5.      History and Relations:

 The foundations of the Root Kings were laid in the long distant past. Before Sigmar and the other modern gods walked the realm, the duardin gods had their won pantheon and divided the 8 realms between them. It is rumored that Valaya took over Ghyran, the realm of life. So, her followers went there, long before Alarielle created the first Sylvaneth. And the realm of life changed the duardin. They learned to appreciate the plants and to use them in a manifold way. Especially as shelter and home. And within these homes they venerated Valaya, their mother and protector of home and hearth. However, when Valaya declared war upon Hashut and was seemingly destroyed in a duell with him, the Root Kings were devastated. So, they retreated into their holds, keeping Valayas Flames alive and observed how new gods took over Ghyran, like Alarielle and Kurnoth. Most duardin followed Grugni and Grminir in these times, though Grimnir would perish soon as well. But the Root Kings stayed adamant to their old traditions.

But with the Age of Chaos they were put under enormous pressure. The duardin were forced to make impossible choice. Many abandoned their holds, flying into the sky or into the realm of heavens. Others rediscovered Hashuts blasphemy and turned into demon-slaving warmongers. But the Root Kings could not leave their holds. For their entire identity as a culture was bound to the sacred flames and hearths within them, and to the oaths they swore to their ancestors. As such the Root Kings suffered, especially against Nurgles forces in the War of Life. But with the coming of Simgars Storm and the rebirth of Alarielle, the tides finally changed. Many holds had fallen, but those surviving ones dared to prosper again, seeking trade and contact with Sigmars and Alarielles growing domains. Especially the Rite of Life was a blessing, strengthening the Hearth Trees and forests of the Root kings and strengthening the Sacred Flames of Valaya. 

But with the Age of Ruin and the Skaventide these better years have turned into renewed hardship. Not only are the Root Kings holds assailed by skaven and nurgle forces again, but the Helsmiths reappeared under the dark banner of their deity. To the Root Kings it is an affront, that the servants of their mother’s murderer show themselves again. So, with a mixture of spite, bravado and the earnest desire to carve their own legacy anew, the Root Halls open. Out of the woods of many realms strange duardin march, holding their sacred hearth fires and followed by various beasts. The seasons shift and the season of vengeance and reckoning has come for the Root Kings.

5.1 Relations:

Order: The Root Kings have good relations with most order factions. However, Sigmar’s growing empire requires enormous amounts of resources. This makes even the homestead of the Root Kings a fitting bounty. As such it is not unheard of for sigmarites to “steal” from the Rootkings. Elsewhere industry like Greywater Fastness may poison the landscapes for many miles, also affecting the domains of the Root Kings. This has led to several conflicts. Indeed, the Root Kings are also not very keen about the Kharadon Overlords for similar reasons, as the chemical downpour of their cities caused great harm. By contrast, they are strong allies of Alarielle and her Sylvaneth, as both are brothers in arms and in spirit for millennia.

Death: To the Root Kings the undead are abominations, as the cycle of life and death is sacred to these duardin. The ancestors shall become one with the earth again and return to the weave, not being stripped from their rest to become undead puppets. Therefore, the Root Kings fight the undead at any turn and their sacred fires have proven very dangerous to ghouls and gheists.

Destruction: Gloomspite Gitz, Kruelboyz and gargants are a thorn in the Root Kings flesh since time immemorable. Gloomspite flood their tunnels, Kruelboyz turn the landscapes into their toxic swamps and gargants destroy large swathes of land without thinking about it. But the Root Kings have semi-good standings with various ogers who made their home in Ghyran.

Chaos: Among the chaos factions Skaven, Nurgles forces and the Helsmith are the most despised ones. Nurgle is an archenemy since he first invaded Ghyran in the Realm of Life. Many Hearth Trees and holds have fallen to his plagues and forces. And the Skaven have attacked the Root Holds frequently too, wrongly assuming that these duardin would be easier pickings than their other relatives. But no enemy is more hated than the Helsmiths of Hashut. Not only do they destroy the lands without second thought, but the Root Kings never forgave Valayas demise and see their estranged kin as complicit in murder of their sacred goddess. A dire fate befalls any Helsmith that gets captured by the Root Kings.

5.2 Subfactions:

Zhuftdromi: The Zhufdromi are a peculiar group of Root Kings as their primary holds exist in Ashqy. Plants are not foreign in the realm of fire, as its manifold jungles can attest. And since the Age of Myth the Root Kings have created their holds there. However, due to water being a scare resource in the realm of fire, these dwarfs have become masters in irrigation and created complex systems of cisterns, canals and else to have ready access to this resource. In such an environment water is more valuable than gold. And whoever controls the water, controls life itself. And they show off this wealth freely. A core tradition of theirs is to soak their beards in water before battle, hence the name of their kind. Of course, the artificial oasis’s these dwarfs create attract many merchant caravans and dawnbringer crusades, which make their holds important waystations in the Parch and elsewhere. Sometimes these groups are welcome as guests, but ashqies resources are scarce and its fire runs hot in dawi veins. So it happens from time to time that their clans marshal under the red blue colors of their holds to fight against order factions, sometimes even other duardin. Then their enemies will see that they not only mastered water, but fire as well.

Gorriki: The “beast kings” are root kings settled within the Realm of Ghur. As their name suggests they adapted very well to their new environment. No duardin is more skilled in shapeing and using bone, claw and horn. Even though other root kings may call them savages, due to their many “unhinged” behaviors and traditions they are still following the primary lifestyle of all root kings. And unlike the Helmsiths, who claimed to conquer and dominate Ghur in Hashuts name, these root kings tried to adapt and to find a niche within their brutal ecology. For example, the Gorriki plant Gnarloaks within their forests as additional defenses and to repel other bigger monsters. But the very same gnarloaks are conditioned to ignore certain odours with which the duardin cover themselves and their animals. It is an active process that does not work on wild gnarloaks, but the gardeners take special care to selectively breed the plants within their domain. In addition, the Gorriki also have the greatest amount of warbeast and can rival orc waaghs in their savage charges.

Brynthingazi: The “Golden Forests” of the Brynthingazi are a sight to behold. Miles upon miles of woodlands whose very leaves are set within copper, silver or gold. These Root Kings settled Chamon and they thrive in the realm of metal like few other groups. Their cultural affinity for plant life and their inborn talents as smiths and metalworkers combine into a great symbiosis in this realm. As such they are the master craftsmen among the Root King clans. They forged a great friendship with the Ironbark Sylvaneth, especially after they sheltered the local clans of the Khazalid Empire during the Age of Chaos. It is not uncommon to see Ironbark Sylvaneth settle in their Root Halls and even have a place at the matriarchal meetings.  As a result, warriors of this hall frequently carry weapons similar in style and material to that of tree revenants.

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to welcome you to entry 11 of this series of “Fun with Flags Gods” where we dive into the RL and fictious background of various gods and entities from Warhammer Fantasy and AoS. After hitting the 10-anniversary last time with Alarielle, people suggested to focus on Grungni today. So this time we are taking a look at our all-welcome smith Grungni and we will also peak a bit into his dwarfen lackeys. Because dwarfs have quite the long history in our folktales and sagas. Please note that I will use the term dwarf/dwarfs in this write up, instead of duardin or else for simplicities sake.

Otherwise I can only assume that you already know the drill, as we have reached entry 11 already. Thanks for your support and for the various comments and discussions, that arise from my mad ramblings :)

As always, you can read up the previous entries here if you are interested: Kurnoth, Morghur, Behemat (and giants), Dracothion (and dragons), Sigmar, Mathlann, Morathi-Khaine, Hashut, Nagash, Alarielle

As I assume you know this series by now I have not a lot to say anymore except have fun : )

 

1.      The Background: The gods, the myth the legend

L. Wayland killing Ämillias (Wilhelm von Kaulbach 1848), C. Hephaistos (Age of Mythology Retold), R. Ptah (AOMR)

Metalworking has been one of the most important discoveries in the history of humanity. So much so that we named entire periods after them, like the Iron and Bronze Age. Because with metal tools and items have so many benefits. Not are they much longer lasting but they also allowed for tools with entirely new processes such as ploughs and pickaxes or hollow structures like pots and pans which were great for heat transition. Among many other things. It was a life changer for sure. But at the same time, it also disrupted human society. Because the skill to work with metals is rare and requires a lot of training and effort. Similarly, it required special resources, which are often not locally available and need to be gathered from faraway places. This created new classes of people. Smiths and miners, who had to be supplied by farmers with food, and merchants and administrators to oversee and distribute the various resources. Long distance trade existed before as well, but it was far less organized and far less critical to a society than we see with the arrival of metal working. Such as the tin and copper routes of the Bronze Age. Copper is rarer than iron already, but tin is roughly as rare as uranium. The only larger mines able to feed the demand for tin in these times were on the British Island and in the Persian Hinterlands. A transcontinental trade network with norms for weight and sizes of tin units was established to fuel the bronze age societies in the Eastern Mediterranean. Due to the importance of these new resources control over them became also more important. In addition, metals were great to create weapons made solely for human vs human conflict. All this shifted society and created new elites, especially warrior elites. Which show up all over the world since metal weapons are introduced. Be it the princes of the myceneans, the Kshatriya caste in India, warrior nobles in germanian and celtic cultures and elsewhere. And this continues almost ‘til the modern day, such as with feudal systems of knights and samurai. This is reflected in lots of myths where various smith gods have the main job of supplying weapons or magical items to heroes and warriors.

However please keep in mind, that technology is not a straight line and lots of technologies employed relied on circumstances and economic incentives. We know of various highly organized cultures with astonishing buildings and technology, who did not or rarely use metal items. Like the Incan Empire or the various Mesoamerican cultures. Meanwhile various peoples in western Africa seemingly skipped bronze altogether and jumped straight to iron. And indeed, even though many history books and especially video games treat iron as an update to bronze, in reality it was not. Bronze has many benefits over iron, such as being much easier to shape, much easier to recycle/reuse, far more resistant to oxidation and being able to mass produce in great numbers. We have found remnants bronze workshops that could create hundredths of bronze items per day. By comparison iron is much more difficult to work with prior to industrial plants. Lots of complex objects like bells and cannons or statues could not be made out of iron prior to the industrial revolution in any economically feasible way. If both are in equal supply, bronze is a better material for most things. But as mentioned tin is rare and with the bronze age collapse many of these tin trade routes broke. Arguably the people then switched to iron out of necessity, which existed almost everywhere. But as mentioned it is hard to work with and difficult to make. So, people back then may even have seen it as a downgrade. And likely the knowhow to make iron existed before, but no one bothered. Due to making iron from ore being so difficult, meteoric iron was an often-used source, as the impact transformed the iron into an almost usable shape already. I heard stories about inuit using Iron tools for this reason, despite having no proper metallurgy, as several meteorites fell down in Greenland. On the opposite side we have Japanese forging techniques to make their famous blades and else. These were so complicated and tedious because the local iron in Japan is rare and of very poor quality. So, to get anything useful out of it, it has to undergo an even more tedious forging process.

This real-world history out of the way, I already mentioned how smith/craftsman characters are often reduced to providing armaments for heroes in many stories. This is true for lots of gods and beings. Most prominently is probably Hephaistos, the misshapen Greek god of the forge. His smithy was supposed to lie in the Vulcan Aetna in Sicily. And he had various groups assistants. One of these were the cyclopses. The first cyclops were children of Gaia and Uranos, much like the Titans. They were imprisoned in Tartarus by Uranos but freed by Zeus when he rebelled against Kronos. As thanks they crafted Zeus thunder bolts, Hades helmet of invisibility and the Trident of Poseidon.

Hephaistos has a main theme of being a disfigured being. Accoutns differ as to why but one of the most well-known stories is that his mother Hera was enraged by his baby looks and threw him of Olympus. The impact scarred him for life. There is another interesting, crippled smith in European folklore/mythology. Wayland the Smith, a character from various Germanic cultures who is also able to forge mighty weapons and even a flying machine to escape his captor. Among Waylands weapons are for example as a kitchen knive that effortlessly cuts the plate and the table too, if you use it for your breakfast. Or as you see in the picture above a sword effortlessly cutting through a helm and skull, without the smith even trying hard. The flying escape is something shared with the Greek inventor Daedalus, whose stories I assume you to be familiar with. There is also the first king of Attika Erichthonios, who a son of Hephaistos, but also crippled (he has snake legs and cannot walk). But he is an inventor too, as he developed the first chariot. There seems to be a mythological tradition in European cultures to associate smiths/craftsmen with crippled features and/or being imprisoned. The imprisoning part is easy to guess, as metalworking is a rare skill any ruler wanted to monopolize. Hence they take the craftsmen as a prisoner to not loose thier service. The cripple part however is unclear. Some people assume that some fumes and gases released by ores and forge fires may have created health issues which are represented this way in the stories. Such as working with arsenic copper (a predecessor to bronze) releasing small amounts of arsenic into the air. But we do not know whether this is the case for this motive.

However, craftsmen and smith characters are not just providers. They can be greedy, duplicitous and dangerous if feeling or being wronged. For example, Hephaistos does trap gods who wrong him and he once tried to force himself on Athena in one attican story. Meanwhile, Wayland the Smith has various stories. But the core is that another king traps and cripples him to be the sole beneficiary of his services. In turn Wayland kills the kings’ sons, turns their heads into golden drinking cups, and impregnates the king’s daughter before fleeing.  And Daedalus the inventor has similar dark sides to his story. Not only is he a complicit in creating the Minotaur and that resulting nastiness, but Daedalus also killed his own nephew when the young lad showed signs to surpass him.

Another famous god of smith and craftsmanship is the Egyptian god Ptah. In his main center of worship, Memphis, he is also attributed in some text to be the ultimate creator of the world itself, bringing it into existence by word and will. This idea of a created world ex nihilo is something we find in various semitic cultures, including in Abrahamic faiths. Otherwise, the world is usually created circumstantial as features appear and are then put into place by gods. Despite this important position Ptah did not become a primary state god like Ra. Because his cult was gathered around Memphis and Egypt had many such local variants of gods and goddess, each with another top deity and myths to support it. Instead, Ptahs most common position was that of the patron of smiths and craftsmen, and his symbols were found in various workshops across Egypt. Including the Valley of Kings and in the villages that crafted these graves.

Other important smith gods include Ogun, of the west African Yoruba people, Ame-no-Mahitotsu, the japanese kami of metal smiths, or the largely forgotten celtic god Gobanos. And for craftsmen themselves we also have other gods. Such as Athena/Minerva, a goddess who is good at weaving.

One keynote is that metalworking is often associated with magic. Because to outliers it is a very magical craft. With fire you can turn rocks into a substance that does not naturally occur in the world. And this substance can then be transformed into various useful tools and weapons. Objects with which you can plow your fields, slay your enemies or become nigh invincible. To a laymen this is as close to real magic as it gets. For this reason, metal objects were associated with lots of magical abilities. And this extended to the smiths themselves too. In eastern Africa there are various stories of smiths doubling and mages. With some being able to transform themselves into were-lions or were-hyenas. And smiths were responsible for creating both protective talismans as well as curse tablets and other items used in day-to-day magic. Next to properly important items for religious processions and else.

Now some of the most infamous smiths in mythology are giants and dwarfs. E.g. only a sword crafted by giants was able to kill Grendls Mother in Beowulf. Meanwhile even as far back as norse mythology dwarfs were infamous for being great craftsmen, with lots of stories about it. Such as Brokkr and Sindri creating the Hammer of Thor, a self-duplicating gold ring, Sifs new hair, Fenrirs unbreakbale chains or the golden boar for the god Freyr. However, dwarfs underwent a strong evolution since the norse times to our modern fantasy tropes. For example, to us terms like dwarf, troll and else are fixed categories. But for a norse person these were very vague terms. A troll could be a monster, or a hostile force or a personal enemy. A wolf attacking sheep could be a troll, as could be a highwayman or a murderer. Similarly, the line between elf and dwarf was fluid to norse. Down to many scholars arguing that the term svartalf (dark/black elf) is just a synonym for dwarf. But in some stories even a sentient needle was called a dwarf and had two dwarfen brothers. In addition, dwarfs were highly magical. Not just in their skill in craftsmanship, but in general. Dwarfs could curse people or treasures or transform themselves into dragon, like the dwarf Fafnir. So, dwarf did not have a definition as we would recognize it. The only larger unifying theme was that they were chthonic beings, i.e. creatures from the earth or below. Likely they started as earth spirits or minor gods, much like how nereids are minor ocean goddesses.

Around the late Middle Ages, we largely settled on dwarfs as small people with beards who live underground. But they could live anywhere underground, not just mountains. Any suspicious hole could be the home of a dwarf. Therefore, we have lots of stories all across Europe of local dwarfs and similar beings. And whilst they could be smiths, they still had strong naturalistic elements as well. Dwarfs could have powers over plants or flowing water in various stories. And they could be mischievous fay-like beings, both a danger and an aid depending on the tale. Only much later did we have a split, at least in the english-speaking sphere. The classic, naturalistic dwarfs are now called gnome. And the mountainous, industrial dwarfs stayed that way or were called dwarves, due to Tolkiens influence. Again, this is true for the anglosphere. German for example does not differentiate. Hence the garden gnomes are still called Gartenzwerge (garden dwarfs). And Tolkiens Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit largely determined our modern fantasy definition of a dwarf. Great craftsmen and miners who dwell in deep mines and mountain fortresses, digging into the earth, holding sacred oaths and disliking elves. His decision to place the naturalistic themes of woods and nature unto the elves created the gnome/dwarf divide I’d argue.

2.      Hear the hammer fall: Smith gods in Warhammer Fantasy

Thorek Ironbrow and his assistant Kraggi (Total War Warhammer 2)

Grungni is arguably only the second most important god of the dwarfs (after Valaya the mother goddess of all of dwarfenkind.) But certainly the most prominent one. Now in WFB ancestor gods work a bit different from regular gods, as dwarfs are deep into ancestor worship in general. Essentially any dead dwarf could be an ancestor god. But the term is usually used for those ancestors who are venerated by every dwarf. This includes Grungni, his bother Grimnir, their sister/wife Valaya and some of their first gen offspring (but not all like Grombindal/Snorri Whitebeard). These first ancestor gods gained their divine powers form the “glittering realm”. What this realm is, is not known, but one common fan conception is that it’s a special place where the Old Ones taught the ancestor gods all the things’ dwarfs should know. This made the ancestor gods far more powerful and magical than regular dwarfs. One could argue they are essentially dwarfen primarchs. Grungni was the first king of the dwarfs (that we know off) and created their entire lifestyle. He is claimed to have started the tradition of dwarfs living underground as he foresaw the coming of chaos. And Grungni started the migration of dwarfs to the north, spread the dwarfen empire from the non-africa regions of the Southlands all the way north into non-Scandinavia of Norsca, along the Worlds Edge Mountains. This empire is known as the Karaz Ankor, the everlasting realm. Various holds, especially Karaz-a-Karak, are said to have been founded by him. Grungni himself is the god of mining, crafting and smithing and has created various important items. Among them is the Throne of Power, the seat of the dwarfen high king and the only item containing the Rune of Eternity. As long as this rune endures, so do due dwarfs as a people. Other items include Ghal Maraz or the Axes of Grimnir. Grungni is worshipped by almost any dwarf, even by imperial ones in the empire. Indeed, some human smiths also venerate him. And he has temples in every Karak.

Two of Grungnis sons are also important ancestor gods. First Smednir, the god of ore refinement, i.e. turning ore into proper metal. And second the god Thungi, the god of rune crafting.  He discovered the process in Ankor Bryn, the glittering realm, and later taught his father too. Rune magic is a very special and unique process in WFB. Because in WFB dwarfs cannot do magic, unless they are heavily changed and corrupted, like with the chaos dwarfs. And they suffer the unique issue of turning to stone slowly if they cannot use their magic properly.  Indeed, dwarfs are largely resistant to magic, though to what extent depends strongly on the author. So instead of using magic like spellcasters, they instead trap magic into magical runes which they etch into various items. This is a tedious process as even minor mistakes could either violently unleash the trapped magic or worse create in a substandard product. But they are tremendously powerful items in turn. Runes also follow special rules. Some seem to be universal, but others are more the result of a dwarfen mindset. For example, no single item can hold more than three runes. Otherwise, the power would be too large, and the item would be destroyed. In addition, only one of the same runes can be placed on the item. It is called the rule of the jealous rune, but it could similarly mean an overcharge in magic for technical reasons. Also, no rune smith worth their ore would create a duplicate of the same item, because each one is a singular masterpiece beyond compare. Even if logic would dictate to have rune smiths churning out shields and helmets by the dozens with a rune of protection, they refuse for prideful reasons. Speaking of pride, Runesmiths are very, very tedious and hold their secrets tight. If they find no apprentice worth bestowing their secrets unto, they prefer to take the knowledge of their runecraft to the grave. Even if this knowledge would be critical to the dwarfen realm as a whole. This, doubled with the loss of many holds and the violent death of runesmiths, resulted in the loss of a lot of knowledge. Best that can then happen is that some runesmiths uncover old artefacts and try to relearn how to craft these runes. I mention this runesmithing, because only descendants of Grungni can cast runes in WFB. Runesmiths also tend to grow older than regular dwarfs, with Kragg the Grimm, Runelord of Karaz-a-Karak, being the oldest known dwarf with ca 1600 years. When dwarfs normally live around 300-400 years. This age, direct descent from Grungni and their critical skills and knowledge makes runesmiths/runelords as venerated as kings in dwarfen society.

Grungni himself ruled as king of the dwarfen empire before and during the first coming of chaos. It was his decision to hunker down in their holds, much to the charging of this brother Grimnir. And at the end of the Great War against Chaos, he abdicated the throne to his son Snorri Whitebeard, who would later become Grombrindal. Why Grugni and the other ancestor gods departed after the creation of the Great Vortex is not known. But it could be that they required a certain amount of magic to stay earthly and active, much like demon princes or the various dwarfen constructs like Rune Gholems. And the magic levels dropped to low after the Vortex was set up. Grugni himself does not appear in person from then on. But in the End Times the Runelord Thorek Ironbrow tries to find the Glittering Realm and to bring the ancestor gods back. He gets beaten by Nagash who consumes Valaya. And Grimnir has a cameo in the last Gotrek novel. As always, the End Times leave much to be desired.

However, to address the elf in the room, Grungni is not the only smith god of prominence. The other the elven god Vaul. And Vaul is basically Hephaistos but as an elf. Much like Wayland the Smith, Vaul is blind and crippled. Because Vaul challenged Khaine. In 40k lore it was to protect Isha and Kurnous, but in WFB this “war in heaven” among the elven gods is not that detailed if I recall. Anyhow Vaul is blinded and crippled and chained to his anvil, forever tasks to churn out weapons for Khaine. But Vaul accepts this fate, as the elves will need Khaine in the upcoming battles and they will need the weapons he provides. One of the most important weapons he forged was the Widowmaker, a ludicrously powerful item forged in the fire of the Father of Dragons Draugnir. This act of forging took a lot of Draugnirs essence and bonded the fates of dragons and elves together. There are many other artefacts of prominence as well. And the Priests of Vaul are the very best elven smiths there are. They ritually blind themselves too, losing their earthly sight but instead gaining divine/magical senses to become the greatest craftsman west of the Worlds Edge Mountains. They created various masterpieces. This includes Malekiths/Malerions armor, which was crafted by a Malekith supporter among the priesthood. This suit saved Malekiths life after he was rejected by Asuryans flames, but he cannot take it off even millennia later.  Vaul is also valued by all elven people. The wood elves know that you need good tools for your hunts. The dark elves also obviously like weapons, much like the high elves, albeit for different reasons. And each elven culture is said to contain a piece of him. Vauls original smithy is supposed to lie in the volcanoes of Caledor (much like Hephaistos), the dark elves carry has anvil and the wood elf Daith is rumoured to be his avatar, like Ariel and Orion are to Isha and Kurnous, (Hence in TWW we have three settlements called Vaul’s Anvil). Sadly, Daith is a loreblurb entity without much lore behind him. But his anvil of note is that the Swordmasters of Hoeth have no direct connection to Vaul but are themselves required to forge masterful blades. Teclis did this too.

3.      We are the smiths of our own destiny: Grungni in AoS

Artwork of Grungni in Age of Sigmar

In AoS Grungni returns in force. Due to the Helsmith story we now know that the dwarfen gods arose first among the order deities and separated the realms between them. With Grungni getting Chamon and Grimnir getting Aqshy. However, both gods were tricked by Hashut with cursed artefacts that drove them made and they chained themselves unto a mountain top until Sigmar freed them. As thanks both wanted to repay this debt with a service. And Grungni chose the long service to Sigmar.  Over the Age of Myth, he created various wondrous works, whilst his dwarfs created the Khazalid Empire across all the realms, but especially in Chamon. I could list the lots of Grugnis masterworks, but this would probably be too repetitive as lots of these entries focus on single sentence loreblurbs.

Also of note is that Grungni, like Teclis and Tyrion, had a very hands-off approach of his followers. He taught them all he knew and then wanted them to be creative and productive by themselves and craft their own wonders and societies.  And much like the two elven gods, this decision came to bite him in the back. With the coming of the Age of Chaos Grungni retreated into Azyr, leaving most of his dwarfs behind. Again, believing they had all the tools to take care of themselves. The short answer was that they didn’t. Either majority of holds were destroyed or abandoned for safe spots in Azyr. Many others turned to Hashut or were abandoned as its dwarfs fled to the skies to become the Kharadon Overlords. Some also survived by allying with the Sylavneth, like the dwarfen friends of the Ironbark Grove. But the central theme is that just believing/following Grungnis teachings seemed to have been insufficient to survive. And you had to adopt a new way of life to survive. Here we have another parallel between Grungni and Teclis of sorts. Both their people caused their ultimate doom themselves. The elves had the Spirefall, whereas the debacle with the Lode Griffon caused the main Tzeentch invasion of Chamon. But the reaction of the two gods was different. Teclis searched for an answer, contacted the aelementors and then taught his people new ways of life and reinvented their society. But the dwarfs of the khazalid empire had no such divine aid. And as mentioned before, those dwarfs who stuck to Grungnis teachings seem to have been the ones with the lowest chances of survival. Now Grungni knows this has been his greatest mistake and he tries to make amends for it in AoS. But I find this foil between Teclis and Grugni to be interesting.

Anyhow Grungni aided Sigmar by helping him establish Sigmarbulum, creating the Six Smiths and helping him establish the reforging process as well as designing most of the stormcast armaments. Again, here we have the theme of the smith gods primary role being to craft weapons for heroes and other gods rather than being the focus of a story themselves. But thankfully it does not stay this way. During the first parts of the Age of Sigmar Grugni disappears. Essentially, he makes a great tour of the realms, sulking over his past mistakes, making observations and plans to fix everything. He returns first to my knowledge in Broken Realms, where he secretly aids the Kharadon fleet over Vindicarum and later speaks on Morathis behalf during her trial. Afterwards he calls a great council to unify the various dwarfen peoples of the mortal realms, but this does not bear fruit thus far. Though he acknowledges that this process will be long and tedious, much like a piece of iron needs to be hit many, many times.

IMO Grungni is more powerful in AoS than he ever was in WFB. Not only does he craft some ridiculous, mind-boggling things (such as a fantasy space station), but also demigods (the six smiths) or an entire race (cog people of Odsin, though they have little to now lore). What is of note here is that his creations seem to function by themselves and seem sentient. By contrast Grungnis counterpart of Hashut as to use the essence of demons and godbeasts for his infernal machinery. This showcases Grugni as a greater craftsmen IMO. Also, Grungni seems to have control over all kinds of magic. Such as being able to reverse Teclis enlightenment eninges into penumbral enginges, i.e. turning a light-magic machine into one seemingly fed by shadow-magic. Or all the azyrite-infused armaments of the stormcast, or the seeds of iron for the sylvaneth. In short, he can seemingly craft everything, including new types of plants.

In turn Grungni is worshipped by almost anyone. His domain, the First Smithy, is open to anyone wanting to learn craftsmanship. And he counts not just dwarfs among his followers, but also elves, ogers and others. This broad worship makes Grungni one of the most “classical” gods, who are worshipped by everyone, because they are important to everyone. If you are a craftsman you venerate the main craftsman deity. In addition, Grungni is the 2nd most important god of the Stormcast, right after Sigmar. And arguably he has an equal if not greater influence on the Stormcast themselves as he had his hands in everything about their creations and equipment. He even returns during the Age of Beast to refine the stormstrike chariots or make thunderstrike armor the new standard.

But Grungni is no longer the straightforward dwarf he once was. He did do some shady things no proper dwarf from WFB would have done. Such as perverting the invention of another craftsman for duplicitous reasons, like turning Teclis Enlighenment Engines into the Penumbral Engines. Similarly, he was defending Morathi in a court secession, after she had arguably declared war on Sigmar by taking a city from him, risking the lives of thousands of stormcast and underwent a ritual that could have created havoc among the realms if it went wrong. This kind of politicking and protecting a traitor is not what any dwarf in WFB would have done. Then there is the abandonment of his people during the Age of Chaos which broke several things dwarfs in WFB hold sacrosanct. How correct or justified these things are is something people can and do debate a lot. But it is apparent that Grungni is a much more complicated and morally more ambiguous figure than he, or dwarfs in general, where in WFB.  Which interestingly befits many mythological smith/craftsmen characters, who I mentioned to have dark sides to them too. So AoS Grungni is no longer the honor-before-reason fantasy dwarf, but seemingly takes on more traits of smith gods, both positive and negative ones.

And to again mention Vaul for continuities sake, he has no appearance or proper mentioning’s in AoS as far as I am aware. Like the other elven gods, he is likely eaten by Slaanesh but with Morai-Hegs escape his essence could return too and the god could reform at one point.

4. Always have several irons in the fire

Picture fo the first smithy (AoS Soulbound core rulebook)

Having talked about Grungnis character and action in AoS central question would be where his story, and that of his followers, could continue. For this I think the best story beads would be the following:

-          Grungni refounds the Khazalid Empire and creates a new “classic dwarfen” faction. His objective of reunification of the various dwarfen people has been his main motive in 3^(rd) edition and continues. And various rumors claim that we will soon get a reinvented classic dwarf faction, with other rumors claiming that the Fyreslayers join them. Personally, I am not a fan of the latter, as I like the background fluff of the Fyreslayers a lot (even if their models are very boring). But whether and how this happens remains to be seen. In either way if we get the classic dwarf faction, then I hope it will work like the Lumineth. As in we get a new version of a classic fantasy faction (high elves) but reimagined with new lore and designs, rather than slightly changing the faction to make it work in AoS. Here I see quite the potential for a dwarfen faction, especially given how rune golems were a fan favorite part of dwarfs in WFB lore but never appeared on the tabletop. But given how much more frequent magic is in AoS and how Grugni already created several artificial races, we could see a return of golems or clockwork automata next to dwarfs, next to crazier powerful or esoteric weapon systems (anvil of doom 2.0 for example) or powerful rune magic.

-          As mentioned before, Hashut and Grungni are foils to each other. Both are deities of leadership, both create powerful technological constructs and both reshaped and attempt to reshape dwarfen cultures in AoS. With the release of the Helsmith it would be great if we could get Grugnis perspective of the Hashut stories we received, and to get some interplay between the two gods or priests of the two factions.

-          In the same vein it would be interesting to explore the relationship of Grungni with other gods. We know he is good buddies with Sigmar, but as of now Grungni is the only dwarfen god of the pantheon, as his brother is dead and the other dwarfen gods are missing. In this regard he is an isolated if not lonely deity. And whilst there are gods he shares many similarities, he also made rivals out of them. Such as when he reshaped Teclis invention. Other gods he aided, despite their obvious duplicity, like Morathi. It would be interesting to see how Grungni plays his own game of politics among Sigmars allies and gods and either tries to hold the pantheon together, even if the cost is high, or may fail to do so.

-          And I think it would be very important and interesting to explore how Grungni is worshipped in general by various people. Such as the Lumineth of Syar, who are great craftsmen and hold regular competitions were al kinds of sentient beings are invited to show of their craftsmanship. I am pretty sure that these lumineth hold Grungni in high regard. Same for the Ironbark sylvnaeth of Chamon, who are not only expert smiths themselves, but also have a close relationship with their local disposed, taking these dwarfs in a sheltering them during the Age of Chaos. To the point that both groups see the other as brothers. These are but two examples. Ogres are mentioned to be among Grungnis followers too. How does that look? How do all these different beings view Grungni? Still as a dwarf or as a syncretism of dwarf and whatever form they prefer? Etc.pp

-          In the same regard we may get to see monstrous apprentices of Grungni. In the myth we have the cyclopses and telchnids (seal-people), who are assistants of Hephaistos. And in AoS we have a plethora of monstrous creatures highly skilled in craftsmanship and smithing, such as the goronians (destruction minotaurs turned to chaos), or the Formoroids (cyclops-like natives of the Eightpoints. Former builders are now enslaved by chaos and destroying buildings instead of creating them). Perhaps some of these beings or other groups of creatures followed Grungni and found safety in Azyr or his First Smithy. And mayhaps they are now returning as allies of Stormcast, or the Cities of Sigmar or the refounded Khazalid Empire?

-          Of lastly course, Grungni is still employed by Sigmar too, and he could create new tools and armaments for the stormcast and their allies whenever they get an expansion. I mentioned in my Sigmar part how the logister and covenant chambers could have some very creative units. Especially the covenant chamber, who I like to think of as non-stormcast auxiliaries integrated into stormhost. For example, what kind of armament could Grungni invent for giants fighting next to stormcast?

 

5. The End

So, this has been our excursion into Grungnis forges. I hoped you enjoyed reading everything. For the next entry I decided on a double feature for both Tyrion and Myrmidia. Because the position of both gods is eerily similar between the settings. So, I guess there is a bright future ahead. With this pun I see myself out. Because I have to figure out what to say about the Horned Rat as well...

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to entry number 10 of this series called “Fun with Flags Gods”. I didn’t think I would go this far, so thank you all for your interested. Having talked about death last time, I think it is time to talk about life now. And for this anniversary it is also thematically sensible to talk about Alarielle, as the very first entry in this series was about her husband Kurnoth (all previous entries can be found here: Kurnoth, Morghur, Behemat,Dracothion, Sigmar, Mathlann, Morathi-Khaine, Hashut, Nagash

First off, I want to say that Alarielle is my favoritte god in AoS. Not only is she a very intrueging character, but the way she acts to various peoples and how various peoples rever her in turn makes me think the most of her as a classical god. Someone who is important to everyone, whether you are a human, a sylvaneth or even a beastlclaw oger.

But Alarielle is part of a very long legacy. Which I will now explore without further ado. As always have fun reading!

1. The Gods, the myth, the legend:

L. Rhea (Age of Mythology Retold), C. Gaia (AoMR), R. Demeter (AoMR)

The archetype behind Alarielle is very old. The Earthmother is one of the oldest divine archetypes and still present today. If we talk about “Mother Earth” we still invoke this kind of deity, albeit in a metaphorical way when talking about the natural world or the planet Earth itself. However, to people in the past this was not a metaphor. Believe in an earthmother, and her male counterpart the sykfather, shows up all across indo-european cultures and those influenced by them. For those not aware, many languages from Spain to northern India are part of the same language family. These are therefore called indo-european. And these first indo-europeans likely lived in the steppes around the northern Black Sea and were likely the first ones to ride horses and make great use of carriages. With this mobility they spread over a large area and brought not just their languages but also their myths and beliefs with them. This means not just language share the same roots, but also stories. Such as a Stormgod slaying a dragon (Zeus defeating Typhon, Thor killing Jormungandr, Indra defeating Vritra). Another common motive is the aforementioned duality of Skyfather or the Earthmother. (by contrast in ancient Egypt, who were not indo-europeans, Nut was the sky goddess and Geb the earth god for example).

Now myths shift and change and are not exactly the same in every culture. Still due to commonalities a pattern for this archetype emerges. Goddesses related to this archetype are for example the anaotolian goddess Cybele/Magna Mater and the Greek goddesses Gaia, Rhea and Demeter, the latin goddessesTellus, Ops and Ceres, norse Freya/Frigg or the indian godesses Bhumi and Sita amongst many, many others. But even in fables this archetype still appears. E.g. some scholars suggest that Frau Holle of Grims fables is a carryover from a pre-Christian nature and fertility goddess, due to her various powers over the seasons, wealth and crops.

Common attributes for the Earthmother are amongst other things an association with the natural world. Especially the fertility of the soil and of cultivated lands. Before the industrialization 90+% of all people lived in rural areas like villages and worked in agriculture. Agriculture was important to everyone’s everyday life. Something we may forget today when food is always available in the nearby shop. Hence gods and goddess associated with differences aspects of this field of work existed, such as gods for sowing, reaping, brewing beer and baking etc. And the Earthmother was the most prominent figure among this collection of gods. As such her symbols were often certain types of crops or farming tools and her worship and festivities focused on important agricultural dates and events.

Now as I pointed out in my first entry about Kurnoth, the natural world was divided in the minds of ancient peoples. You had the cultivated nature, i.e. the fields, orchards, meadows and else humans frequently use. And you had the wilderness outside of the borders of the civilized area. This does not mean that the wilderness is an alien place. Especially shepherds, hunters, foresters and travelers entered it frequently and were very familiar with it. But in the minds of ancient peoples this area it was a different domain and thus a different god ruled over it. An entity I label as the Horned god of which Cernuous and Pan are well known representatives. Still the Earthmother is frequently associated with the wholistic nature too. For example, there are plenty of myths which grant her control over the seasons. Such as when Frau Holle is able to let it snow in the mortal world, or when Demeter creates winter by decreeing all plants to stop growing. 

In addition, these goddesses are frequently associated not just with fertility and abundance of the soil and of plants, but fertility in general. Be it animal or human fertility. As such they are also always important mothers themselves. Most famous is for example Demeters daughter Persephone, who was fathered by Zeus, the skyfather figure. This connection between the skyfather and the earthmother spans across generations. Zeus and Demeters mother, Rhea, was also a fertility and agriculture focused entity. And her mother in turn was the earth goddess Gaia. And Uranos, the literal sky, fathered Rhea and Kronos with Gaia. And after Uranos is exiled Kronos takes over as the archetype only to be usurped by his son Zeus, another skyfather. This association of a mating earthmother and skyfather is simple. Because it is the rain falling from the sky that fertilizes the ground and allows crops to grow. Quite like semen impregnating a woman and lets her give birth.

Due to the association with life and the cycles of nature the Earth Mother was also frequently related to stories of death and rebirth or given authority over the dead. Again, I may point to Demeter and Persephone. In Mycenean Greece (ca 800-1200 years before what people think ancient Greece is) Demeter and Persephone were already worshipped as the “Mistresses” and were associated with the Underworld. And Persephone, who is the dread queen of the underworld, also ventures back into the realm of living at the end of winter to be with her mother. So, she enters the underworld with autumn/winter and exits it with spring.

And indeed, due to how dependent everyone was on agriculture, any drought or any bad harvest could indeed lead to starvation and death. Same for a winter too long or a summer too cold. As such the Earthmother was also not a goddess to be trifled with and could be dangerous and/or cruel too. Again, Demeter is the easiest figure to point out, due to how relatively well-preserved Greek myths are. In one Demeter cursed a King with endless hunger until he consumed himself as vengeance for striking down a sacred tree. Meanwhile Gaia would give birth to lots of monsters or raise gods against the current ruling generation of the heavens. And working in the fields can be a dangerous activity too. E.g. working under the scorching sun on a hot summers day without respite can lead to hallucinations, illness and even death. This has caused lots of stories about demons or ghosts stalking the fields, who are also in command by the earth goddess. So, the deity was not just about bounty but could also be dangerous and scary.

In addition, there were lots of powerful mystery cults around such divine figures, due to how broad and manifold and important the domains were. For example, in ancient Rome there existed the cult of Bona Dea (the good goddess), which is likely an offshoot of the Magna Mater cult. Her priestesses kept the true name of the goddess hidden however, same for the cult activities themselves. If the cult gathered all male beings, including animals, had to be removed from the area. And breaching such as meeting was a sacrilege most outrageous. So logically we know of one idiot who tried. Publius Clodius Pulcher tried to sneak himself into a meeting of this cult when they were gathering at Julius Caesars house (he had to leave and his wife led the procession if I recall correctly). That was the scandal of the decade to say the least.

So overall the Earthmother is arguably one of the most important kinds of god period. Her various cults and versions of worship crop up repeatedly and even in modern day we still use symbolism associated with this archetype.

1. The seasons turn forevermore: Isha, Ryha and co

Concept Art of Ariel (Total War Warhammer 2)

In WFB we have several gods and characters strongly aligned with the Earthmother archetype. First off, we have the human goddess Rhya, wife of Taal, mother of Manann and the goddess of fertility and life in general as well as crops and greenery specifically. Obviously, she is named after her Greek counterpart Rhea. She is worshipped by human cultures all over the Old World. And indeed, she is arguably the most prominent or second most prominent goddess of the Empire. Because outside of the few industrial hubs like Nuln or Altdorf the Empire is still an agrarian society and the vast majority of its populations live in villages and small towns. As such Rhya is prominent in these areas a lot. Not to mention her aspects of fertility and childbirth. Indeed, as Taal is the King of the Gods in the Old-World Pantheon and Rhya is his wife, this makes her the Queen of the gods. Her importance far outshines that of Sigmar in the daily lifes of the people. Now this may come as a surprise to some who haven’t read the Sigmar or Kurnoth entries, but Sigmar is far from being the most important god in the Empire. He is the state mascot deity yes, but in everyday life his importance was very reduced, and his cult disputed in many areas of the Empire itself. But in a wargame a war god like Sigmar is more prominent than a goddess of crops and fertility, even though Rhya is not to be trifled with like other nature goddesses. Her cult is also very widespread, even though politically it is fused with the Cult of Taal.

However, in WFB it was often implied that the elven and human gods are same entities viewed through different lenses. Much like Zeus and Jupiter were seen as the same deity by Greek and Romans. And Rhyas counterpart as the goddess of life, agriculture and fertility from the elven side was the elven goddess, Isha. Who, much like Rhya, was also married to a horned god of the wild lands. With Isha the mother role is especially pronounced as to her the entire elven species are her children. Her center of worship rested in the province of Avelorn, which was an idyllic place of beautiful gardens and somber landscapes. But she is also highly revered by the Wood Elves, who place her and her spouse Kurnous above Asuryan as the most important gods of their society. And even the Dark Elves, who prefer the Cythai i.e. darker elven gods like Khaine, tolerate Isha. Now in 40k Isha is an eldar goddess trapped by Nurgle, who tests every pox on this life goddess. But this is not the case in WFB, far from it. Because Isha is one of the most active deities in the setting, due to her having not one but two mortal representatives.

First is the Everqueen, a position taken on by Alarielle in WFB. The Everqueens are one of the two ruling positions of all High Elves and indeed they predate the post of Phoenix King by untold years. They are the most prestigious and most important position in Asur society. An Everqueen is an incarnation of Isha and has several special powers and abilities, such as life blooming around her or unnatural beings perishing by her touch, next to some of the most powerful magical abilities. The position is inherited from mother to daughter, with the princess’s title being that of the everchild. Ever since Asuryan was crowned Phoenix king every a newly crowned phoenix king is symbolically married to the current Everqueen. This is a ritual marriage, and its only aim is supposed to produce a new heiress to the Everqueen. What both partners do after this deed is done is unimportant. The current Everqueen in WFB is Alarielle the Radiant. IMO her lore is a bit murky as timeline wise it would work better if she was the daughter of Finubar, the current Phoenix King. And indeed, I recall correctly she was the daughter in earlier editions too. In any case Alarielle is the current Everqueen of Ulthuan and one of the most powerful elves on the planet, both politicly and regarding her magical powers. Previous Everqueens used this position to nurture and care for Ulthuan itself and rarely go involved into wars. But Alarielle is the exception. She actively defends Ulthuan and is ready to lead armies against dark elf and chaos invasions. In this she is guarded by the Handmaidens of the Everqueen, elite bodyguards’ female elves, as well as the Sisters of Avelorn, supreme archeresses from Avelorn. Also, Alarielle has a love affair with Tyrion, which is unorthodox as her firstborn child and heiress, Aliathra, is not Finubars daughter but Tyrions.

The second incarnation of Isha is Ariel, the Queen of Athel Loren and wife of Orion. Whereas the Everqueen is an incarnation of the goddess, Ariel is a proper demigoddess. She is an immortal being whose throne is in the Oak of Ages. Unlike Orion, who died and was reborn each year, Ariel was eternal and was overseeing and controlling his rebirths. Again, here the queen position is more important than the king position. Ariels war aspect is a huge elven being with large buttlerfly wings. Ariel is so connected to Athel Loren, that she can control the entire forest, and her powers exceed even that of most ancient tree spirits. In a ranking of the strongest magic users, she is likely one of the top contenders and is most likely the most powerful mage in the Old World itself. This is not just life magic, for whilst this type of magic is strong in Athel Loren, all 8 winds flow through the forest, and the Oak of Ages reacts accordingly depending on which wind is strongest. And indeed, Ariel is able to use all major lores, including High Magic (all 8 winds together in harmony) and even Dark Magic (all 8 winds together in disharmony, powerful but very dangerous). Ariel herself is a fickle entity much like the forest she rules over. And as she has only Athel Lorens survival in mind. But this dedication causes some issues, such as when she forces Morathi to teach her Dark Magic and this nearly corrupts her. Or when she attempts to consume Morrghurs essence. Morghur is her mortal enemy, because every incarnation of Morghur sooner or later tries to invade Athel Loren to kill Ariel. Ariel may also have children of her own with Naestra and & Arahan, special elven twins and her personal envoys. These elves have different rumors regarding her origins. Ranging from a single elf being split into two beings by Athel Lorens weirder magic to them being the children of Orion and Ariel. Ariel also has her own elite cadre of elves with the Sisters of the Thorn who are her handmaidens and bodyguards. The sisters of the thorn are very fay like in their manners and abilities and are feared as much as they are respected by the other wood elves. They are also very hard to kill, as a dead sister can be interred in the Oak of Ages and arise reborn in the new season.

These four characters are all very familiar to the earthmother concept I introduced before. The only greater divergence is that they are not married or in a relationship with the skyfather figure. Instead, the Everqueens are in consort with the Phoenix King, who represent Asuryan i.e. the sun. And Rhya, Isha and Ariel are in a relationship with their Cerunnous counterparts Taal, Kurnous and Orion. This is noteworthy as the the Earthmother and the Horned God are not seen in this kind of relationship in our folklores, even if it is fitting from a thematic point of view.

In the (horrible) End Times Ariel and Alarielle suffered a bad fate. Ariel, arguably the most powerful elf, was written out of the story with her being poisioned and drained by Lileaths machinations. And Alarielle absorbs Ariels powers into herself, even though her responsibilities lied on Ulthuan and she had never a strong connection to Athel Loren. Also, Aliathra, Alarielles daughter, was killed to resurrect Nagash. Random idiocy ensues which results in Alarielle, now in consort with Eternity King Malekith and the incarnate of Life, flees the destroyed Ulthuan for Athel Loren to set up shop there. Much to the dismay of the local forest spirits, who had already issues with the Wood Elves, but now dark, high and wood elves run around the woods. A rebellion ensues and is put down and the incarnates fail to stop the End of the World.

3.     Those who seed wind will harvest storm: Alarielle in AoS

Alarielle reborn during the Realmgate Wars

Now in AoS Alarielle is a much different character compared to her old WFB self. Indeed, it is easier to say that AoS Alarielle is more Ariel than WFB Alarielle. Where WFB Alarielle was focused on her fellow high elves and Ulthuan, AoS Alarielle seemingly does not care much for her elven followers, at least compared to the other elven gods. She did not partake in the rescue of elven souls and the binding of Slaanesh and instead focused primarily on the Slyvaneth as her children. In addition, she focusses a lot on Ghyran. And after her great Ritual of Life and the resurrection of the Oak of Ages she even thinks of Athel Loren, which was a place Ariel was the queen of and had her essence interwoven with, whereas Alarielle visited it only briefly during the End Times as far as I am aware. Next her winged appearances also bring to mind Ariels wings too. And also, she has no longer any relationship with Tyrion or even Malerion, but instead chose Kurnoth as her consort, much like Ariel had Orion as her consort. Though on the counter side Alarielles powerset has been limited. As Everqueen she had knowledge of High Magic and thus all 8 magical lores, but AoS Alarielle focusses more or less exclusively on life magic.

Despite this different characterization Alarielle is one of the most interesting and most active divine characters of the setting. For a quick rundown she created the sylvaneth and helped Kurnoth reform proper. She also sacrificed her hand to form the Lady of Vines, her demigod daughter. Notable is that she and Kurnoth do not seem to have children in the traditional way, which is otherwise expected of the Earthmother and was the case with her previous incarnations too. Also, unlike Ariel, Alarielle is not an eternal being but undergoes shifting cycles, similar to Orion in WFB. These cycles do not end in a dead state typically, but during the Age of Chaos exactly this happened and a soulpod of Alarielle had to be planted for the goddess to be reborn again.  In the narrative of the setting Alarielle and Kurnoth defended Ghyran against Nurgle. But when Kurnoth was killed, the main defenses were broken and Alarielle fell into a deep depression. Only after her rebirth did she start a counteroffensive with the stormcast and other order factions. From then on Alarielle was always at the forefront of important events, such as aiding the stormcast in Broken Realms Mortahi, aiding Teclis in Broken Realms Teclis or starting her ritual of life in Broken Realms Kragnos. Said Ritual of Life was the predominant influence over the 3^(rd) edition, with various factions strongly benefiting from it or suffering the consequences, as life magic rushed through the cosmos and reinvigorated everything. Then she was also the only active goddess in the dawnbringer series, helping the dragon twins and kroak to capture Kragnos again, as well as having some major story developments in 4^(th) edition sylvaneth book.

Alarielle is also important as she is seemingly on good terms with everyone in order and with some other factions. Next to Sigmar, she opens the realmgate to the Eight points for Morathis invasion. She is familiar not just with the dragon twins but also with Lord Kroak and holds an audience with them. Despite the Idoneth raiding the souls of the Sylvaneth, she recognizes their help and value in the War of Life. This goes so far as to sending her envoys into the capital of the Briomindar and blessing their chorrelium with life magic. And this despite the Idoneth officially being a godless people abandoned or ignored by divine entities. The Lumineth, especially those of Illatha, also highly venerate her. She also grows the Living City and is highly worshipped by the mortals of Ghyran and she even goes so far as to protect Greywater Fastness from the wrath of the Sylvaneth. And even among the ogres she is popular. Because the Beastclaw Raiders have a story of Alarielle blessing the ogers with the friendship of their great beasts, as the ogres ate some dangerous winter spirits and were cursed with the Everwinter ever since. In short, Alarielle behaves like a proper goddess. Even if a deity has a favored people, she is important to everyone and she blesses/interacts with everyone. Much like how Athens is supposedly Athenas favorite spot, but Athena is the goddess of war and knowledge for everyone.

Still the Sylvaneth are her primary concern, with whom she communicates via the Spirit Song. The spirit song is a magical field with which the Sylvaneth can share their innermost thoughts and be in turn influenced and shaped by others. Sylvaneth depends on this song that being cut off from it is like losing a massive part of themselves. Which can cause madness or trauma.  It is a semi-hivemind of sorts. Much like any computer is its own thing but can upload and download data from the Internet. And Alarielle has near absolute control over it can manipulate her “children”. This is indeed one of Alarielles has many dark sides. Not only is she without mercy when striking at the enemies of Ghyran, but she may also have created her own set of “wrong monsters” with the Outcast. These Sylvaneth are mad and murderous and cannot properly interact with the spirit song except with harmful tones of hatred and violence. No one knows where they come from as Alarielle was able to remove all memories of their creation from the minds of the Sylvaneth. So, this life goddess brainwashed and entire race of beings to forget something.

As of now in 4^(th) edition Alrielle has entered her autumn aspect and is now weaker than before, but far from powerless. Still the great acts of the past, such as the Rite of Life and lately an massive cleansing of the southern Everspring Swaithe have drained her a lot and she has to rest in Athelwyrd, her reclaimed capital, in regular intervals. To not leave Ghyran unprotected she is now demanding Kurnoths rebirth to be speed up.

4.      Spring, Summer, Atumn, Winter - the seasons never stop

Alarielle on her Wardroth Beetle

Having talked a lot about Alarielle and various life goddess in WFB where could this story go from here?

-          First and most likely Kurnoth will return in the near future. And eh brings with him the Kurnothi, a lot of beastmen-elves like satyrs and centaurs.  These will very likely be the new AoS version of Wood Elves and be an subfaction of the Sylvaneth overall. As we do not know who Kurnoth is in AoS, it would be very interesting to see how he and Alarielle will interact with each other.

-          Linked to Kurnoths return may be that Alarielle enters her winter aspect. Which could be a critical time for Ghyran, given how she was almost killed last time she was in it, and how Nurgle surley would want to take advantage of his and destroy all the good work she as done since AoS started. Which would cause another hot phase in the War of Life.

-          Alarielle could also create new kinds of Sylvaneth. This is something she has done throughout the lifespan of AoS frequently. Of note hereby is that the Sylvaneth were originally created from soulpods containing the essence of Athel Loren. Which meant forest spirits like Drycha could be reborn, but various Sylvaneth also contain souls from the Wood Elves, whose souls fused with Athel Loren after death. This is why several Sylvaneth are so elf-like in appearance. But there were lots of other beings who had their souls bound to Athel Loren, such as Great Eagles/Hawks and especially the Forest Dragons. I wonder how a Sylvaneth could look like whose soulpod was formed from a former dragon’s soul.

-          The secret of what or who the Outcast are could also be revealed in the future. Depending on what kind of reveal it is, this could create Sylvaneth who break off Alarielle and form an opposition to her. This could be the birth of an AoS version of Coedill and his lots. In WFB Coedill was Drychas master but sadly never had a model. He was an ancient treemen of equal rank to Durthu but hated the Wood Elves and wanted to kill them all. Therefore, he was imprisoned in Cythal, a dark and dangerous prison part of Athel Loren. A hot take: The Outcast could have been created when Alarielle wanted to revive one of the ancient Treelords (Durthu, Adanhu, Coedill) proper but sadly caught Coedill. And Coedills madness and wrath infected the spirit song and other sylvaneth, creating the first Outcast. Which would be another reason for Alarielle to be hesitant to plant Drychas soulpod, as she was very aligned with this ancient treemen.  (Sorry I just think Coedill is a cool character and want to see more of him).

-          Due to Alarielles importance for so many factions, including the CoS, it would be cool to see CoS units or characters dedicated to her. Such as CoS life wizards using her symbols, or various cults and priesthoods dedicated to her specifically.

-          If Kragnos makes a return at some point it would be interesting to see how he and Alarielle interact with each other. Because Alarielle was responsible for his first release and for his second imprisonment. In addition, the Sylvaneth of the heartwood glade were dedicated to killing this god. So out of all the divines, she has the most connective tissue with Kragnos and it could be interesting to see how my four-hooved darling would interact with her.

-          Indeed, due to Alarielles prominent position among all factions, including destruction once, it would be interesting to see how groups like ogers and giants view her. For the beastclaw raiders we already know a story where Alarielle is seen positively. But what about the Gutbusters, who are also benefiting highly from the abundant food of Ghyran?  Or those Darkoath tribes who only have a superficial understanding of chaos and thus may be open to venerate her too as a life giver? (There were several norscan tribes who worshipped gods of the Old-World pantheon next to their variants of the chaos gods for reference).

 

5.      The end

So, this has been it for Alarielle. As always, I hope you enjoy these kinds of essays. And I would like to know which deity you would like to see in the next entry, because I am out of ideas for now. Some people want the Horned Rat but it would be a great entry 13 and we need to fill the space until then :)

Hi everyone,

I welcome you back into another entry of my series “Fun with Flags Gods”. We have already reached entry 9 in this series. So, thank you all for your support and interest in these mad ramblings of mine.

Today I want to talk about Death. Because I am going to die. And you are going to die. We are all going to die eventually. It’s one of the great fix points in existence after birth and taxes (and germ layer differentiation if you ask developmental biologist). And people were always aware of it. Therefore, death gods or various believes about death and the afterlife played a huge role in various religions and cultures. So today I want to talk about Nagash yes. But due to how large the field of death is in RL and in Warhammer, I will also include the other death deities.

Also, for the 10^(th) entry I will discuss Alarielle, Rhea/Isha and the various gods that inspired them, in case you are curious.

Having said all these things, I hope you enjoy this entry. And if you are interested in previous ones, you can find them here: Kurnoth, Morghur, Behemat, Dracothion, Sigmar, Mathlann, Morathi-Khaine, Hashut

With this all said, I hope you have a lot of fun reading through today’s topic :)

1. The Gods, the myth, the legend:

L.: Mictlantecuhtli (Age of Mythology Retold), C.: Osiris (AoMR), R.: Hel (AoMR)

As I mentioned before death is a universal constant and as such death gods exist in every culture. And death is usually a topic people like to avoid talking about in our modern society. It is an “issue for later” and in our everyday life it is indeed a rare event to have someone you know die, especially if you are younger. But in the past death was much more common. For example, the ratio of children dying was a lot higher. Depending on the era and culture it was common that 50% of children die before their 3^(rd) birthday and then another quarter or so dying before their 16^(th). And this is the reason for the myth that no one got old back then. When people say that humans in the past didn’t get older than 30 years old, it is the average life expectancy. Much like how the average life expectancy in modern industrialized countries is somewhere between 70 and 80 years old but was just around 60 years half a century ago. This does not mean there are noone older than 60 back then, just that many young people died too. And in ancient and medieval times this high child mortality was a major driver as to why the average age limit was so low. Next to other additional sources of death at a younger age of course, such as hunger and diseases. But it is still an important one. So old people in their 80s were a thing too in medieval times and else, just rarer than today.

In any case you can see how much more common death used to be in such times and how different cultures had their own mechanisms to deal with it. For example, it is very common to treat young children as “not fully human” or still “connected to the spirit world” or you have stories about child-killing gods/demons or else to explain the huge children mortality and deal with the issue psychology. This difference in treating young children and older people often resulted in different funeral rites for children too. E.g. the myth of Carthage sacrificing children may have been hostile propaganda for Carthaginians having different funeral rites for dead children than for adults. And people who hated Carthage and its punic homeland (romans, greeks, isrealites) interpreted as sacrifices instead for propaganda reasons. But in other cultures, children were not given proper names before their fifth birthday or were only christened after three years or else. To avoid strong attachments to better deal with the trauma of losing a child.

Having talked about dying children a lot, lets focus on death gods instead. These gods usually come into various categories: First are the death gods, who are personifications of the concept of death itself. These entities include among others Thanatos, the Greek personification of death itself, or Lamaschtu, a Sumerian goddess responsible for killing children.

Then are the underworld gods, who are responsible for running the afterlife itself. These gods include among other Hades from Greek mythology, Osiris from Egyptian mythology, Hel from norse mythology, or Ereshkigal from Sumerian mythology, Mictlantecuhtli in Aztec mythology etc*.* These gods are running the underworld themselves.

Then you had psychopomps, gods and beings whose job it was to guide you from the realm of the living unto the afterlife. This job was frequently given as extra features to other gods, especially those associated with traveling or with crossing barriers. Such as Pan/Hermes or Artemis, or the roman god Janus. Beacuse death is the final journey and also the ultimate crossing.

And of course, you had gods responsible for different aspects of death like funeral rites. For which Anubis is a prominent example as the god of mummification. Or how the ferrymen Charon deamnded drachmen as payment for bringing people to the underworld. Hence the greek custom to place a coin unto the dead body.

As death is a scary thing in our modern society, and Christian influences on our culture push Satan as the ruler of hell, it’s easy to fall into the “Hades is Satan” trope, in which such underworld deities are evil gods. But to ancient cultures this was not the case. Indeed, it is rare to find outright hostile death gods. Most of the time they are not more (im)moral than any other god but instead are just trying to do their job. They frequently appear as antagonists in stories, but this is primarily because the protagonist ventures into the underworld to take something from there or to establish dominance over it. Things the underworld deities naturally object to, because it is their job and their cosmic domain that is infringed upon. But besides that, underworld deities seem to be mostly chill and content, unlike other kinds of gods.

But of course, death is a scary thing too. And if your underworld was not a pleasant place (like the Asphodian Meadows, Niflheim or the sumerian underworld), then you didn’t look towards it. But even if your culture had an overall positive view on the afterlife, dying prematurely is something you do not want either. Therefore, you would avoid getting the attention of a death/underworld deity. E.g. by not having huge temples or by avoiding saying their name. For this reason, the Greeks liked to use euphemisms for Hades or Persephone to not invoke their attention such as the Dread Queen or the Mistress for Persephone. And because the underworld and the regular world are often meant to be separated this also means that death gods do not play strong roles in many mythologies beyond underworld related stuff. For example, we have the story of Osiris death and him becoming the ruler of the underworld. But afterwards his focus is solely on underworld business and only once is he phoned in by the other gods to settle the succession dispute between Horus and Seth. And Hades rarely appears outside of underworld/death centered tales too.

Regarding underworlds themselves it is also quite common for cultures to have multiple ones. For example, in norse mythology you had an afterlife with Valhalla for the glorious dead, and Niflheim for the unworthy dead. But you also had the afterlife ruled by Freyr/Freya, who could also invite their chosen ones there, in addition to Ran and Aegir, who claimed the souls of all those who drowned. Meanwhile in Greek mythology Hades was another term for the whole underworld, but the area had sections. E.g. the asphodel meadows were for all those souls who were neither great nor bad but ordinary. They lived as bodyless shades. Meanwhile Elysium is a paradisal area where the souls of great heroes and virtuous people reside. And Tartarus was then the area where the most wicked and evil people are punished. In Aztec myth you Mictlan, which had 9 levels. It would take years and trials to go from the lower ones to the better upper ones. Though warriors dying in battle, women in childbirth and people drowning had other afterlives or maybe started at higher levels.  Similarly, the Egyptian underworld, the duat, also had many layers. Most prominently are 12 levels of the underworld Ra passes by during his journey of the night. With one, the Aaru the fields of reed, being the are most people wanted to end up. There people would be given a position like the one they had in life. Such as a farmer being a farmer in the afterlife, a king a king and so on. But with the bonus that it was a pleasant afterlife without the burdens of the mortal world. And one where certain jobs could be done by Ushabti, small statues people placed in tombs. If you had a proper sent off with various artefacts, you could relax in this afterlife.  And typically, the deceased soul would be judged before being out into one of these levels. In Greek myth King Minos was one of these judges, whereas in Egyptian mythology Osiris was the judge, Anubis presented the evidence (i.e. you heart) and put it on a scale, the god Thoth often was the scribe taking notes, and the goddess Ammit would devour your heart, and thus soul, if you were too evil to be granted entrance, erasing you from existence.

And of course**, rebirth and reincarnation are also things which show up again and again**. This is most famous among Hinduism and Buddhistic-inspired faiths but also appears in some shamanistic cultures. But this concept also existed in various middle eastern cultures or in some Greek cults. Especially mystery cults centered around Dionysius.

Of course, whilst death is scary, the dead can be as well. As such there have been lots of stories about the dead returning in one shape or another to wreak havoc. In this context it should be mentioned that Necromancy means summoning the dead spirits for communication originally. It expanded over the ages into different fields. But the idea of humans being able to revive the deceased into an undead state is something that became popular much later. Especially the novel Frankenstein established how we today think of necromancy, as in it a corpse is revived via *scientific* means. And essentially all modern depictions of Necromancy and the creation of undead are based on this story in one way or the other, even if its magic and not science making the undead. Other influences such as Voodoo or previous folk beliefs play a more reduced role. But originally undeath was more of a random state of being caused by improper burials, specific circumstances of the death or unfinished business in life. For this reason, and because certain afterlives demand care and attention from their relatives, proper funeral rites were especially important in most cultures. Also, funeral rites are an important psychological tool to deal with the loss of someone.

1. Of gods and a man: Morr, Morai-Hag, Nagash and co

Pre End Times Artwork of Nagash in WFB

In WFB we have various death and underworld gods. Most prominent is for example Morr, the god of death in the Old World. He is the god of death but also the underworld and, of ravens and of dreams, through which he can sent prophetic dreams. He is also the husband of Verena, goddess of truth, justice and knowledge. His main job is keeping the souls and corpses of humans safe from necromancers and chaos. For this reason, his cult created Gardens of Morr, i.e. cemeteries, in which the souls and corpses are safe from necromancers if treated accordingly. Indeed, the priests of Morr and various knightly orders dedicated to his name are premier anti-necromantic units. They are especially active in Sylvania in the Empire. With various prayers and miracles of Morr being specifically meant to harm or nullify undead. Overall Morr fits the Hades archetype quite well, as he is not an evil deity, but one focused on his job and adamant about the living and the dead being separated. In addition, his association with dreams/sleep is also something shared frequently with other stories about death. Sleep is often referred to as the small brother of death, which is reflected in stories and gods about them. E.g. the hero Gilgamesh, on a quest to reach immortality, is asked to first defeat sleep. Which he fails at. Also of note is that Morr is a god worshipped far beyond the empire’s borders. With the center of his cult sitting in Tilea, but him being worshipped all over to Kislev.

In ancient Nehekhara you instead had Usurian as the main death god. And it seems that Usurian was much more open to let souls back into the world of the living. Because even prior to Nagash the nehekharians had already created lots of magical rites to imbue the souls of warriors into statues or animate corpses to a degree. Indeed, people of noble descent could make bargains with Usurian. Such as the character Apophas, who was a cruel murderer. He was able to reach an accord with Usurian. The serial killer could return to the living, if he found a soul of equal value to himself. But now soul is equal to another and thus he is roaming the world as an undead assassin with a body of flesh-eating scarabs. During the (horrible) End Times Usurian was consumed by Nagash which also seemingly ended Morr, implying that the two gods are the same. It also added further lore that the mounts Manfred, Neferata and Arkhan use are beasts of Usurian who stalked his underworld to punish horrible people and to keep it safe, before they were enslaved by Nagash.

Elves have two death-related goddesses. First Morai-Heg is the goddess of fate, dreams, ravens and death. Essentially all that Morr does minus running the afterlife. It could very well be, that the two gods are the same but under a different name, as many deities in WFB are suggested to be. That later job of underworld ruler belonged to Ereth Khial, the pale queen, the elven goddess of the underworld. Once Ereth tried to become Asuyrans consort but was rejected. As a result, she is bitter and harasses things Asuryan likes, like elves. Therefore, her afterlife is a tortures place, and elven souls are enthralled as slaves and soldiers, with whom she one day plans to conquer Asuryans throne. I dunno about you but an army of ghost elves attacking Asuryans main domain sounds epic and awesome. But like so many other cool plot points it was completely forgotten by the End Times… Anyhow if an elf dies unprotected, they have three options. First and most likely, Slaanesh finds his souls and eats him. Second-most likely Ereth Khial gets you and you get enslaved in her realm. And third and most unlikely another elven god gets your soul and protects you. As both Slaanesh and Ereth Khial are not good options in the minds of Asur and Asrai, the former binds their souls into waystones upon death, and the other become one with Athel Loren. Ereth Khial is obviously based on Ereshkhigal. And she is weird insofar as she is “hades is satan” played straight, whereas Morr and Usurian are more in line with real world death gods. Also, personally I find it weird that she isn’t prominent among the dark elves. Her backstory (being rejected by a ruler, exiled into a distant land, planning to take back what is hers by “right”) is just the Dark Elf backstory. And the dark elves have no proper protection against death unlike Asur or Asrai. So, them worshipping Ereth Khigal extensively should be there way to protect themselves against Slaanesh. Probably with he hopes of getting senior positions in Ereths underworld ghost army. But no, the goddess rarely shows up, because why give the Dark Elves a complex, semi-sensible culture if we can focus instead even more on Khaine, murder and slaves!

Gazul meanwhile is the death god of the dwarfen ancestor gods. It is important for him that he may be a brother of Grimnir, Valaya and Grugni. Though as he started the practice of ancestor worhship among dwarfs, it would make more sense if he was a son of Grimnir IMO. Because then he would have actual ancestors to start venerating and a death god being the son of a war god makes thematic sense. First comes war, then death. In any case Gazul is something of a weird dwarf in his depictions. For example, he is the only dwarfen character commonly depicted with a sword instead of an axe. And he and his cults are the protectors of dwarfen tombs, which are sealed off chambers within the mountains, protected by powerful anti-necromantic runes. But Gazul seems to allow dwarfen ghosts to return too. First, we have Grombrindal, who is Snorri Whitebeard return from the dead in WFB, after Malerion broke his promise of friendship between dwarfs and elves and caused the dwarf/elf war. And second, we have other dwarfen specters appear in various media, most prominently in Total War Warhammer.

Finally, Nagash. The Great Necromancer, the first Necromancer. To cover his basics, which are big: Nagash was born in ancient Nehekhara. Which was WFBs non-egypt. A collection of city states ruled by the primary capital of Khemri. And it was obsessed with death and resurrection, as the primary magical institution of Nehekhara, the Mortiary Cult, had promised generations of kings and queens they could be resurrected after their death in an eternal, everlasting body and rule forever as living gods. Over the millennia this cult grew into a state within the state and the firstborn son, in this case Nagash, was handed over to the cult a an apprentice whereas the second one, Nagash brother, became the heir of Khemri.

Nagash, even as a mortal, was an narcistic and envious dude and found this especially unfair. However, by combing the teachings of the cults with Dark Magic he learned from Dark Elf prisoners he created first Necromancy as we know it. Necromancy is a subset of Dhar, i.e. Dark Magic. If two or more winds are put together without harmony (very difficult) you get Dhar immediately. Dhar is very powerful but also a corruptive form of magic that can do great physical and mental harm to its wielder as well as harming the environment its cast in. Death Magic is the prime counter to necromancy, as death magic is all about preserving the natural order of life and death. But at the same time many necromancers learn death magic too, as many of its elements show up in necromancy in an inverted or corrupted form.

Nagash also created the Elixir of Immortality. And then he killed his brother and took over the kingdom (there is a book series about Nagash mortal life, but as with many other Black Library novels it is infamous among fans for being loose/contractionary with the lore of the main series). Nagash bled Nehekhara dry to build his Black Pyramid until a revolt forced him out of the country. Nagash went east to found Nagashizzhar and crafted many powerful artefacts in this exile, such as his crown. Around this time, he also cast a great ritual that cursed every human on the planet to become a ghoul, if they ever engaged in cannibalism.  Nagash then returned to Nehekhara with vengeance and in a massive war he slowly broke down the defenders. He cursed the not-nile to become a toxic, life draining water, and then cast a ritual that would kill every living being on the planet. He was stopped by the Skaven, who armed the last living nehekharan and king, Alcadizzar, with the Fellblade. A weapon so potent and dangerous even holding it could kill you. Alcadizzar managed to slice Nagash to pieces and the skaven then picked up all body parts they could find and burn him in a warpstone furnace to never have him show up again. But they overlooked his hand.

Nagash was thus not fully dead. Whether he was tortured in the afterlife or something else happens when he is out of the picture, depends on the edition. IIRC in earlier editions this torture or the Fellblade are also the reasons why he showed up weaker, after being a god in all but name in his battle with Alcadizzar. But Nagash reformed molecule by molecule in his Black Pyramid, which no Tomb King (undead nehekharians resurrected by Nagash last spell) could break. However, the Tomb Kings were very angry at Nagash and he fleed before Settra. At the same time his crown has found its way to Sigmar, who got influenced by it, as if it were the One Ring. Nagash wanted his crown back but lost and was struck down by Sigmar.

Nagash then made his strongest return in the End Times. And his story started promising. He consumed Usurian and Valaya and became a proper god. He could easily have been the second main threat to the planet after chaos. But instead of having an interesting storyline, the Skaven blew up his pyramid, seriously depowered him and Nagash was forced to ally with the other factions against chaos. Then the world went boom.

3.      The more the merrier: Death gods in AoS

AoS Artwork of Nagash

Now in AoS the underworld is a very established place with Shyish containing every underworld any culture believes in, be they paradise or hell or something in between. Which for some reason means we only see stereotypical gothic horror places instead of elysian fields, Valhalla the Field of Reeds or else. The underworlds of real life are very diverse but Shyish seems not to be. In the background perhaps but not in the parts people engage with.

Now each underworld has its own death god and thus there are lots of background deities like the Prince of Cats, Lauchon the Soulseeker, Hadrax and many more sprinkled in here and there. But the most important death gods in AoS are IMO the following:

First of Morrda is Morr 2.0. But he is a different entity in AoS. He is still associated with Ravens, but now he is not the caretaker of dead souls as in WFB. Instead, he is about death as peaceful oblivion. An element best exemplified by the Ruination chamber and their ritual of permanently killing a stormcast too damaged to be reforged. This could be important with Shyishs original purpose, as the dead souls would dissolve into nothingness at the edge of the realm, before Nagash broke it. So Morrdas original purpose could have been to oversee this procedure. But speculation aside Morrda was supposedly killed by Nagash and absorbed. Hence Nagash is also worshipped by some as Nagash-Morr. But Morrda seems to have survived, as his powers and relics still influence the realm. Not only with the Ruination chamber, but also with the prayers and miracles of his priesthood the raven priests. He is again also an anti-undead deity.  In addition, Morrda is the primary deity of Lethis. Morrda also has Morr-Gryphs and Gryph-Stalker as associated creatures next to the classical raven.

It is also true that Morai-Heg is still considered the goddess of fate and death. How/if she is still related to Morrda (who is himself a changed character) is up to debate. Though they still share elements, especially the raven motive. And Morai-Hag has not done much thus far except choosing Krethusa as her prophet and seemingly working on a plan to revive the various elven gods. Which she may have set in motion long ago, as “raven worshipping monks” from Shyish convinced Teclis/Tyrion, Malerion/Morathi to chain Slaanesh and to extract souls. Something a raven-asscoated death goddess who can see the future could arrange. IMO this is a better plotline as “tzeentch did it”. Though we have no information on Ereth Khial as of now.

Ouboroth is named after the Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail and thus symbolizing infinite cycles. But this snake god is the opposite, as it is all about the definitive end and hard cut cessation of existing, in contrast to Morrdas peaceful oblivion. In this regard it is close to the goddess Ammit. Ammit was a chimera with the body of a hippo, the paws of a lion and the head of a crocodile. And it was her job to consume the heart (which also contained the soul in Egyptian mythology) of anyone who failed the judgement in the afterlife. Which would cause the person to cease completely. Ouboroth was such a powerful deity, that Nagash apparently could not slay him directly. Instead, the vampire Sekhar weakened him over time. Still a fragment of this deity is still hanging around as Sekhars personal assistant. With the threat being that this fragment of the god could reform the proper deity if it were to get enough power, i.e. feed enough on mortal souls. It could be, that a similar fate befell Morrda. I.e. the main god was destroyed by Nagash, but a fragment survived and was since then able to reform into proper godhood or is close to be. Still, it is interesting that Ouboroth is part of a trend were vampires get animal companions/mounts who are more interesting and unique as characters than the vampires they serf.

An honorable mention also goes to Gazul, who is not only part of the setting, but apparently was also able to hide away most of the dwarfen afterlife’s in AoS, so that Nagash cannot access and enslave them. He was also active during the time of Valaya and co before Sigmar arrived in the setting, but what he did back then or since has not been explored indepth, like with most other ancestor gods.

And last but not least we have Nagash again, who is now more prominent than ever before. He does not need a proper introduction, as he is one of the primary entities in AoS and the entire Grand Alliance of Death runs around him and his Mortarchs. Nagash reappered in AoS being trapped under a huge burial mount and was rescued by Sigmar after some deliberation. How did Nagash end up there and who/what trapped him we do not know. But Nagash then went on a merry journey with Sigmar bringing order to the realms and slaying tyrant gods and worse creatures,  whilst his undead creations helped establish civilization. However he also went on an about and killed, consumed and enslaved various other death gods until he remained the prime deity of Shyish. But Nagash stayed true to his ways and secretly wished to dominate all of creation. Which led to him breaking up with Sigmar, being beaten by Archaeon and showing his triumphant return in the Necroquake. Which didn’t work as intended due to Skaven, but it did pervert Shyishs nature, much like how Nagash necromancy perverts the spirits of the dead. He was then defeated by Teclis and his allies and is since then waiting to reform his body and to return to the realms at large.

 Important is that Nagash is not the god of death/the dead but the god of undeath in AoS. The dead are the natural inhabitants of Shyish. So, all the mortals who died and reform as spirits, ghost and what have ya in the various underworlds of Shyish. By contrast the undead are those same entities enslaved and corrupted by Nagashs necromancy, which is itself a corrupted form of death magic, as far as I understand. But Nagash wants to be the sole ruler of Shyish and has consumed, killed or enslaved a lot of other death gods. But death gods are hard to kill, new afterlife’s spring into being and Nagashs claim for Shyish is very fragmentary. So, whilst Nagash is as of now the prime deity of the realm, there are plenty of other death gods running around too.  Furthermore, worship of mortals shapes gods in AoS. And as Nagash wanted to be the sole death gods, various very distinct cults and believes started to affect him. Which caused different aspects of Nagash to form and act differently from Prime Nagash from time to time. Such as Nagash-Morr or the Black Child. Still Nagash is interesting insofar as he is a god but does not represent any of the duties death gods normally have. Yes, he is the de facto ruler of the underworld, but he does not care for the natural order of life and death or the sanctity of death and instead perverts it to his own liking.  He is more in line with your typical dark lords such as Sauron or other beings from fantasy settings rather than any real death gods.

Interesting for all the death gods I mentioned thus far is that in AoS a strong focus lies on oblivion/ the cessation of existence. Such was with Morrda and Ouboroth, but also with the story line of the Stomrcast Eternals and the message of eternal life being a burden. Even gods such as Sigmar and Teclis long for the day where they can shed their mantle as gods and become one with the realms. So, an important theme of AoS seems to be the issues of immortality and the benefits of a finite life. By contrast classical death gods that govern underworlds and afterlife’s are absent or exist as lore blurbs as of now.

4.      Death comes for all

Settra and Nagash clash in the End Times

Having introduced the various gods of death from WFB and AoS the question is where we could go from here. Talking just about the story potentials of Nagash and his servants could fill the entire thing. So, I will try to be more broard.

-          As of now Nagash is still reforming his body after his physical form was destroyed in a battle with Teclis and his allies. Prior to the recent “leaks” it was rumoured that Nagash would go on the offensive against the skaven once he reformed. So that he can finally get a win against the ratmen and strike out his losses.  In this regard it is always possible to introduce new death factions and new mortarchs as his servants and to explore his relationship with the realm of Shyish and the various factions through this lense. I made my own fan-concepts for such occasions (which can be seen here if you are interested (Undead Pirates, Frankenstein Undead). In any case there is lots of room for new undead factions and mortarchs and we could perhaps also see a return from old WFB concepts but refreshed for AoS. I prefer original AoS characters over WFB returnees for example and I think we have way too many vampire mortarchs too. But Azhag the Slaugtherer was basicly an honorary Mortarch in WFB and Virion the Grim also has a cool idea behind him. Such concepts could be well worth reinterpreting for AoS IMO.

-          Morrda could make a proper showing, bringing us a proper death god on orders side. This would be interesting, as the CoS have a lot of “undead” influecnes around them. Not only do the dead live side by side with the living in CoS in Shyish, but even the other cities have these influences. Such as the Soul Shepherds whose job it is to guide the dying mortals of the CoS into an afterlife safe from Nagash. Their Corpus Somni servant is very undead coded. Same for the relique bearers, who carries the mortal remnants of previous commanders. Through these remains the previous commanders can provide strategic information (or nonsense). So talking to deceased, i.e. original necromancy. With Morrdas proper return these “undead” elements of the CoS could be reinforced, adding to the diversity of these places.

-          With the rumored release of a reworked “old school” dwarfen faction for AoS we could see the various ancestor gods making a proper entry in AoS, including Gazul. As mentioned even in WFB/Total War Warhammer the ancestors of the dwarfs could become avatars of vengeance to aid their fellow dwarfs. Given how much more common such things are in AoS, I could see Gazul releasing the souls of dwarfen warriors from their tombs as units or advisors for the new dwarfen faction. Which would highlicht the ancestor worship, as the ancestors would not just be distant beings to venerate and emulate, but beings who could aid you in the now.

-          Due to Morai-Hegs focus on reviving the elven gods of old we could see a return of Ereth Khial. Which would be an interesting topic, as she would have to find herself a place in Syhishs underworlds. In addition, her main motive (her jealousy/desire of Asuryan) is not present in this setting. So, she could have an entirely new motivation, perhaps even becoming a more benevolent deity or simply the desire to usurp Nagash as the new tyrant of Shyish. Either way perhaps we are now able to see the army of ghosts she has been building up for all of WFBs lifespan joining an apocalyptic battle.

-          Whether Morai-Heg revives Ereth Khial, Gazul and Morrda come out of hiding or new death gods arise or old ones are repowered, chances are that we may see divine opposition against Nagash arise in the not so distant future. Which would likely cause a war for the afterlives, in which Nagash fights these order-aligned/independent death deities for dominion over Shyish itself.  Essentially a great war of the dead vs the undead.

-          Lastly as an honourable mention, as per the 4^(th) edition core book we have a depiction of Shyish with multiple levels in a downward spiral. Essentially more realm discs below the primary discs we know and love. Future additions could further explore these new and unknown aspects of Shiysh itself and how various factions try to get dominion over these regions.

 

5.      The end

So, this is the end of my essay for Nagash and the other major death gods in Warhammer. What is your opinion on death, death gods and the afterlifes in Warhammer?

I for one would love to see more creativity and diversity in Shyish. For a realm where every afterlife is possible, I find it very monotonous to have all afterlifes focus on gothic horror worlds and even for the positive death gods like Morr to be gothic horror figures. I would wish for more cheerful or friendly afterlives and deities, like many death gods are.

But what do you think? How do you like the various death gods and especially Nagash? And where do you think could they go with these entities in the future?