To the north, far away from the civilized realms of man, the Chaos Wastes churn and howl as waves of unrestricted Warp Energy flows over the lands of the world. Rumors and hushed whispers speak of a time of reckoning as diseases run rampant, horrifying beasts stalk the shadows, cults spread their vile corruption through every level of society and wars become more and more common and bloody. Kings and nobles try their best to quell any unrest, but they too share the fear of their subjects for they know what is to happen; the Chaos Gods have selected their new champion, a new Everchosen. He who leads the hordes of unspeakable horrors. He who possess blessings of the Warp. He who intends to bath the world in bloody ruin. He who begins the end of time.
And they tremble at his coming, for he sounds the Call of Chaos
- = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = -
Welcome! If you couldn't tell, this RP is set in the Warhammer Fantasy Universe with players taking control of an existing faction. Twist is that you change certain aspects of the lore and the people in charge at your whim. Basically get creative, change units, government, some bits of culture, etc. Just don't think that directly copy pasting a canon faction completely is going to be accepted. If you wish not to play a canon race and make your own, that is also acceptable but some more talking might have to be done to fit them in as we are using the Warhammer Fantasy map. Its also why I am not putting a map up in this OP at the time of writing this since I'm lazy.
As for how the story will be going, the Winds of Chaos are strong in the world causing all kinds of strife and mutations and other general bad things that most are trying to cover up or fight against. Those who aren't aligned with the forces of Chaos are going to be having a hell of a time while those who are will benefit greatly. With the whispering of malevent Gods, rulers may find their subjects willing to rebel against them and old alliances crumble as the world strains at the coming of a new Everchosen. In the interest of the RP, I will be playing said Everchosen and the Forces of Chaos although I will be giving people fair chances.
Now about something called "subfactions" I'm using in this NRP. There's always the chance that more than one people want to play the same thing. Normally this would involve one person ending up with control of the entire race/faction/etc and the other having to do something else. To counter act this, players can opt to be a subfaction within someone else's nation: a dutchy of Bretonnia, an Elector Count of the Empire, another tribe of Greenskins, etc.
People playing as a subfaction will mostly be able to use their liege's culture and military although they can have some difference. Ultimately, the one in charge of the main faction will be in charge of most of the lore and stuff behind it but the subfaction is at the end of the day, able to act independently. Like in Crusader Kings, two subfactions can go to war with each other without drawing the attention of the main faction unless the main faction wishes to join in but subfactions will automatically join their liege in any great conflicts in most cases, special cases do exist.
Any additional questions and concerns and comments I will answer on an individual basis to keep this "short". If you want some ideas, I recommend checking out the Warhammer Armies Project as it has some really cool fan-made units that can spice up existing armies and even introduces some new factions like Albion, Estalia, Amazons, non-Chaos Norscans, etc.
- = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = - = : = -
Derpy lil' NS thing. REMINDER: You do not need a 5 page essay for each section to submit for approval; be laconic and terce for your first draft to submit to me and then bulk it up later or something.
NAME: Take a guess
OVERVIEW: Quick run down/summary of your nation, important points and who you are based on if at all and stuff.
RACE AND CULTURE: What kind of people inhabit your lands? What are they like? Who do they worship? How do they normally act or are portrayed?
GOVERNMENT: How are you lead and who leads you?
INDUSTRY: Basically what technology do you have and whats your economic situation? Are you well off, stagnant, don't use currency at all and just use sheep and insults to barter?
MAGIC: What kind of magic do you people have access too? Use Warhammer Lores of Magic as a base, if you have anything custom, please do run it by me first.
MILITARY: Putting the War in Warhammer; divide into Core, Elite and Rare, each on becoming more and more elite while also becoming more and more rare or expensive. Also put down Heroes, Lord and Name Characters if you want.
Example NS here:
Name: Grand Kingdom of Bretonnia
Ovreview: A land of chivalry and knights and very much a reflection of Authorian legends starkly contrasted with the oppression of its common masses. Its nobility is large and extordinarly wealthy compared to the peasants. Worship of the Lady of the Lake is widespread with many noble knights going out on Grail Quests to earn the Lady’s favor to drink from the blessed Grail Chalice. But centuries of traditions are being challenged by a new king, unlike any before him. Blessed by the Lady herself, their current king is actually of peasant blood with no noble lineage to speak of, he was ordained to be King of Bretonnia and all his descendants to be counted as noble. While popular with the peasants, the nobility only begrudgingly follow their King out of honor and respect for the Lady’s choices but the realm is far from unified.
Race & Culture
Humans make up the vast majority of peoples in the Kingdom, although some other races and cultures can be seen in the few urbanized cities of the realm.
Nobles tend to live in splendor and opulence while the peasantry is treated little more than like cattle or livestock at best by most. Anyone who isn’t a noble knight or a lucky merchant likely lives in
Worship of the Lady of the Lake is compulsory for the nobles who often undertake Grail Quests to earn her favor and be able to sip from the Holy Grail. Worship of the Lady is encouraged for even the peasantry by the nobles, but for the most part little thought it given to what they worship so long as its not Chaos entity.
Government
Britannia relies on the old ways of feudalism with a King ruling all of the Dukes and their Duchies. In law, everything in Bretonnia is the King’s but in particle sense, it doesn’t work like that. Noble blood is everything and only males can inherit titles. To be considered a noble, both of your parents and grandparents must have been noble, making anyone becoming a noble nearly impossible and their line will die out quickly after that. The King must confirmed by the Fay Enchantress for his rule to be validated and technically the Fay Enchantress has greater power than the King and can overrule him, but she rarely gets involved in politics. Kings must also must have complete a Grail Quest and drunk from the Holy Grail meaning there’s always a goo chance the king is competent.
This is why the current monarch, King York Gallowgoth, is so unique and controversial. He is not born of noble blood at all, yet the Lady of the Lake herself appeared and ordained the peasant as king and allowing. When the nobles boldly protested this break of tradition saying that he wasn’t a Grail Knight, the Lady simply gave York a blessed blade and sent him on his quest. Everyone thought he would die quickly, but instead he would complete his quest three years later after the Battle of Elmburough where he managed to hold down and entire flank with but a few Men-At-Arms who held their ground and even personally bested the enemy commander in single combat where the Lady appeared before him, allowing him to drink from the Grail. While the nobles do not respect him completely, they are none the less obedient to his rule, if not because of the Lady more than the man himself.
Industry
Bretonnia is backwards and perhaps the least advanced of all human nations. They have firmly resisted industrialization and have completely shunned the advent of gunpowder. Many things are still made by hand by skilled crafted by artisans although mills and simpler machines powered by wind and water are common.
The vast amount of wealth is held by the nobility with the peasant handing over 90% of their harvest and goods which is then handed back out and distributed by the nobility. There are the lucky peasants who have some how become merchants and are significantly better off the the peasant who are in a constant state of poverty, but still pale in comparison to the nobles. While “Crowns” are the official currency, produced in copper, silver and gold (hamlets are luck if they can manage to produce a few copper crowns a day; any peanuts who posses a single silver is considered to be extremely wealthy by most of his kin
Magic Lore of Life Lore of Heavens Lore of Beasts Lore of Fire
Army
Core:
Man-At-Arms - Entering the military is one o the few reliable ways of getting ahead as a peasant is to join the ranks of the local lord’s men-at-arms who often grant those who sign up a large and desirable sign on bonus. Only to reveal that said bonus has to be spent by the individuals on buying equipment for themselves. They wear chainmail with flat-top or kettle helmets and carry swords, spears and halberds along with shields that they can form into a Roman Testudo like formation.
Auxiliary Archers - By law, all Bretonnian peasants are required to know how to use the bow as to serve as levied archers in his lord’s army. Any who survive the entire campign are rewarded with a single copper crown as payment for their service. They use various types of longbows and war bows with several types of arrows ranging from fire to pox to heavy armor piercing but only have crude hand weapons and tools and no armor.
Knights Errant - Young, brash nobles who have yet to prove themselves and try to make up any shortcoming in skill and discipline with enthusiasm. Along with Knights of the Realm, they form the bulk of the army’s cavalry contingent. Their armor is always the flashiest as they try to show off their colors, much to the chargrain of the most experience soldiers. They charge forth with lance, blade and shield.
Knights of the Realm - The backbone of the armies of the Lady, these are knights who have proven themselves and have earned the right to own land having officially being inducted into the ranks of the nobility. They too have lance and shield and ride atop barded warhorses but tend to favor maces and war hammers over plain swords as their experience has taught them the blade is not great against armor.
Elite:
Battle Pilgrims - Either feral or fanatic peasants who have a zealous devotion to the Lady and her servants and unlike traditional Men-at-arms, they are willing to die to hold the line. They are often based out of a Grail Chapel or other holy sites and will use any weapons and armor that have been discarded by the knights and often make their own equipment by hand. They weird large shields, hand weapons and their distinctive high collar shoulder guards. Battle Pilgrims are not an official army unit, but no commander would ever turn down men and women willing to die for the Lady.
Grail Relique - When a Grail Knight dies, his arms, armor and even very body still hold holy magics imbued within them. Battle Pilgrims will often carry their hero on their shoulders, acting as the horse to the skeleton of the dead knight. Its very presence inspired all around it and those carrying the Relique would sooner die than drop it. This also holds a second purpose as their zealous guard of the body means that it cannot be touched by necromancers.
Foot Squires - Young men who are not yet old enough to mount a horse and act as Knight Errants, squires are essentially apprentices to older Knights to learn the ways of chivalry and battle, accompanying them to battle with great sword in hand. Every squire wishes to be a knight and every knight wishes for a better squire.
Questing Knights - Those who hear the clarion call of the Lady are driven to seek her favor and become Questin Knights. They ride out around Bretonnia and even the world doing chivalrous deeds and preforming brave, selfless acts in the hopes of being granted the Lady’s Blessing. Although their quests may take years and many die in their noble quests, there will always be those who seek the favor of their goddess.
Mounted Yeomen - Men at arms who have survived for so long and have become so experienced that they gain the limited right to ride lame or crippled horses. Yeomen are divided between being sergeants of Men-At-Arms regiments and being mounted scout cavalry with shield and spear or being mounted bowmen. Many of these Yeomen are as experienced and capable of the noble knights they fight with but the nobles have either ignored or even surpassed these boasts.
Pegasus Knights - Wild flying herds of pegasi are not uncommon in the lands of Bretonnia but it takes a particularly skilled hand to tame them, a brave (or foolish) heart to ride them and a wealthy bank to afford them. As such, only the wealthiest of nobles can ride to battle upon such steeds but they form the best flying warriors of the Old World.
Rare:
Grail Knights - Living incarnates of the Lady’s will, these knights have been granted favor of the lady and have drank from the Holy Grail making them near demigods with extraordinary strength, vigor and vitality as well as prolonging their effective lives greatly. They almost glow with an ethereal air about them and are the paragons of Bretonnian society, riding into battle with flaming lance or blade to destroy those who threaten the realm.
Trebuchet - The go-to siege engine of Bretonnia that has been around for generations. The trebuchet is never built to be transported and in the past only the important parts where kept and transported and most of the frame was built on site given the lack of people who can actually build and aim the damn with nobles having distain for such things and peasants being too stupid otherwise. However in recent years, the few engineers have found a way to make a “collapsible” trebuchet allowing for fast quicker transport and set up.
Skaal Guard - Once a tribe of northern raiders who built a settlement on the shores of Bretonnia, the Skaal Guard are a very recent formation where King Gallowgoth offered them an alternative to being put to the sword, acknowledging their press in battle. They’re a strange mishmash of both Bretonnian herald and tabards over Norscan bodies wielding norther great axes. Its said that the true reason why the King created the Skaal Guard was out of fear that having a more traditional bodyguard would open himself up to the plots of the nobles who wish to see him gone and that having a guard loyal to him first and not Bretonnian traditions would protect him. While many question their loyalty, they have served with unwavering courage and ferocity unseen in Bretonnia as they charge into the frey.
Lords: Paladins Grail Maidens
Heroes: Knight Champions Damsels Battle Pilgrim Abbot
Named Characters: King York Elmhart Duke Montepier Duke Louis Fay Enchantress The Green Knight William Woods
As you can probably see I've worked some of my HFY tropes in there to make the fleshy humans have a chance against the many beasties inhabiting the world. It's nowhere near done and all but I'm proud. I've kept the Teutonic theme/aesthetic whilst having a somewhat Roman (or "Holy Roman" though both had a funny system of elections) means of governing by """electing""" a leader. I've replaced the Empire's steam tanks with holy steam mechs and shit. I've also made some history for the faction, but if anyone wants to work on some common history hit me up with a PM or ping here.
NAME: The Divine Confederated State of Zvagheldt and Iorge: Zvageorg.
OVERVIEW: The State of Zvageorg is a massive confederation of smaller states and territories under a single Tyrant being responsible for a lot of the current balance of power by it's size and connection to water as well as very large border. The Confederation has a very large army that is constantly expanding, re-arming and training because the days it was at peace are very few.
RACE AND CULTURE: Humans are the only ones who populate the Empire without fear of ending up as a citizen's lunch, though via anointment in the Holy Rivers the men of Zvageorg have gained the strength to conquer many of their neighbors. The State has an ancient history; it all started in the geographic area known as Zvagheldt. There were plenty of villages of man, but what there was in common between them was that they were ruled by foreigners with different appearance and odd tongues, or even non-humans. One day however, this all seemed to change when a hero said to have been anointed at birth in the blessed rivers to give him his great stature, strength and wisdom. He slayed many of the outsiders but with each village he brought some of the rulers before the villagers, and told them that either they vow to lead lives of goodness to their fellow man, and to also anoint themselves and children in the blessed rivers or he would let the horrid enemies go who would inevitably think up a punishment for the peoples.
Eventually the hero let his name "Iorge" be known and after single-handedly slaying almost all which presented threat to local human hegemony he came to rule as Tyrant (for that was the only name known to use for governors to the people) of the people, creating a golden age full of advancement and prosperity, and making a large family as example to his people. Eventually, the relatives of the foreigners he slaughtered plotted against him, and convinced the peoples under his rule that he was truly oppressive, and that he himself was going to steal some hidden treasure of the land and run off with it. Thanks to their vile sorcery, it worked. Eventually the people banded against him and under the guise of a feast tied him to a stake which they lit on fire to the glee of the conspirators about. Miraculously, the gag that the tricksters recommended be put on him burned before Iorge himself did, and he uttered a final defiance telling the people to hate the alien, the sorceror, and the traitor or enemy within. Angrily turning around, the people launched the first ever Crusade and rapidly expanded the territories of their lands wholly exterminating many a race in their path. After nearly a decade, they were war weary and in their hero's name established a state and religion, Zvageorg for the former and the grand cult of the Crusader for the latter. Old Gods were put on "the choir of the Saints" and more or less forgotten, and ever since then people have anointed children or conquered humans in the rivers of the state whilst launching great Crusades to expand it's land quite often.
Recently, after having a massive growth the Empire has slowed down it's expansion with Crusades and now wages the "long war." Slowly it expands by building a few villages here and there, by building roads into borders that didn't have them before; it spreads like a disease to surrounding areas into which the culture, religion and ideas go and eventually, they snap to soundlessly annex territories. This has already happened to an island territory just off of the mainland's coast called "Varjengrad," several foreign villages, and a whole city state was swallowed up in the last decade.
The culture is very reminiscent of 14-1700 European culture with a language comparable to Viennese German (the cockney British of the time/area).
GOVERNMENT: The State is an ultra-authoritarian autocratic theocracy with a single, more or less monarchic leader. While governing is obviously delegated to various smaller rulers across the state the ruler, known as "the Tyrant" (ironically this has no negative connotation in the Reichspiel) always has the last word. He is generally picked by a secret meeting of Priests across the nations, and will usually be some sort of hero, though they are careful to make sure he isn't all brawn. That said, he is also largely a puppet for the secretive Religious order. Zvaghalf does have a nobility but nobles can rarely if ever wriggle out of military service, and have limited equity to the lower classes (meaning, that the government makes sure they too get a decent dose of oppression). Entering lower nobility is also very easy, one simply has to enlist for a military position with a very high mortality rate like a cuirassier or sapper and survive after six years of service.
INDUSTRY: The Empire is arguably the most advanced nation of the world, and if not then almost surely the most advanced of the human ones. This, combined with a very large expanding area and a moderate but swiftly growing population (that has a “live to serve” mindset) means that even with 90% of the usual workforce at war the Empire still has a production capability to be reckoned with. Additionally, the Empire is rich in both minerals and fertility of soil, and while the society adamantly clings to traditional gender roles it is not scared of putting women into the workforce when men are working; in fact it more or less forces them to do so.
MAGIC: Magic is forbidden on penalty of death in Zvageorg but there is heavy use of Clerical powers of all sorts, not to mention anointment the strengths given to the peoples by being anointed in the holy rivers of the land.
MILITARY: Unlike most human nations, the state does not make use of arquebuses and gunpowder and pike and shot to quickly arm a deadly force, and instead delegates this matter to mechanical crossbows. The reasoning behind this is that crossbows are quick to train with and the Empire has many veterans willing to teach. As such, remaining stores of gunpowder allow it to amass a large armada, huge reserves of artillery and all sorts of interesting new weapons with the black stuff. Their military can largely be described as being extremely practical and efficient, having had it's art perfected by necessity over a very long time.
Jaegers/Hunters/Skirmishers
Hunters and other likely lads rounded up and given a paper saying they’ve willfully enlisted, they’re more or less the only common infantry units to use rifles in the Imperial Army (and they’re usually their own). However these men make excellent irregular infantry that carry out nighttime raids with explosions of light and lead hail followed by these men disappearing into the night. Their nimbleness also allows them to quickly get around open battles and make up for the short range of their armament with speed, whilst bear-traps from home and other useful implements let them quickly create unfavorable grounds for the enemy. While still very much conscripts these men are drilled in kneel-fire, firing by rank, reloading whilst moving, and are perhaps the only riflemen in the world to have bayonets; while originally these were supplied by the hunters themselves, seeing their utility Zvageorg has made them standard issue. If bayonets do not suffice, they carry nasty axes that while made as tools will more than suffice if needed to hack off a plated arm.
Reiters/Cuirassiers
These men have a blunderbuss, two pistols, some sort of grenade or clay bomb, a heavy cuirass and helmet, a great big horse and nothing to lose but what little sanity they have left. These are the recruits who are considered just a little too enthusiastic, and who are subsequently given a place to vent this. They are expected to ride right up to the enemy putting less than two metres between themselves and the target before blasting their firearms at them and riding off, or right into the devastated foes.
Conscripts: Halberdiers, Pikemen, Crossbowmen
These men have their assigned primary weapon, full plate, a falchion and zeal. This is given in the hopes that being extremely well equipped and very faithful shall compensate for these men's nonexistent experience with battle. Pikemen are generally placed at the front of Imperial forces whereas pikemen at the flanks. Crossbowmen are placed behind these melee forces, shooting over their kneeling comrades until the melee begins and they then make mad dashes to find good spots to fire upon the enemy that is not blocked by an ally. The crossbows of Zvageorg are almost exclusively mechanical ones, with a massive pull that makes them take nearly a minute to reload. However this gives them very long range and deadly force even upon monstrous foes. If their equipment fails them, then the colossal amount of these men will surely compensate.
Cannons and Mortars
This is the standard artillery of the Tyranny, of which it has a massive collection of thanks to not making heavy use of rifles in their rank and file troops. Usually they fire a single solid shot but some experiments are being made with canister shot, quicklime, anti-magical or blessed shots, and if worst comes to worst one can load miscellaneous items for grapeshot.
War Beasts
These are trained animals of all sorts that are barely controlled by their masters and are typically released to chase down and massacre routing armies but occasionally are sent into open combat, particularly against weak, not very numerous or ill-disciplined troops. These are either typically nasty mongrel dogs and wolves, bears or large cats like lions and tigers (though these are far few and more expensive). It is not rare for them to be some sort of horrid mutants or deviants with two paws per leg, an extra head or tail, razors implanted in the mouth. Occasionally, they will also be given some light armour like chainmail or boiled leather to close the distance better.
Sword Brothers (unmounted)
These men are those who wish to one day become full-fledged crusaders, they make up a considerable portion of the Tyranny’s assault troops being unbreakable in faith. They are given heavy plate, chainmail and leather for formidable protection against nearly any sort of attack. They are armed with a shield, and any other hand-weapon including but not limited to a mace, short-sword, side-sword, arming sword, mace, axe, or spear. Usually their armament will be uniform but some have a mixture of all of these weapons for versatility in an engagement.
Sword Brothers (mounted)
Much like their unmounted comrades, these men have the same equipment with the addition of a barded warhorse, and either a long spear for anti-cavalry actions or a big lance for anti-infantry maneuvers. They aren’t particularly fast but they have the courage to charge even pike formations and the skill as well as strength to come out of it alive or even victorious.
Repeater pellet throwers
These are pieces of artillery invented in the Tyranny of Zvageorg usually applied to grind through enemy elite or monstrous troops and to greatly soften the charge of opponents into the infantry on either side of it. These guns have eight rotating cylinders that are entirely disposable and replaced with every shot producing a rate of fire of nearly a shot per second. Each cylinder is filled with a lot of powder and large grapeshot about twice the size of a rifle ball per pellet. These weapons are placed at the very front of the Zvageorg Army’s ranks usually between every 60-150 pikemen or halberdiers who are there as much to defend it as be defended by it. The weapon is very rarely used in offensive battles due to the short range of it and difficulty to transport it but if an expert general can get it close it can usually make short work of any entrenchment, barricades or even light fortifications like houses and upturned carts.
Engineers/Sappers
Men perhaps even braver than any Crusader, they have a variety of near-suicidal jobs. Most typically they are used to bring down enemy fortifications by making a mad dash for them, and applying all sorts of explosives or simply taking bits away with a pick. They are also responsible for all sorts of clever siege methods like drilling horses to charge gates with wagons of explosives (that naturally have a protected roof to prevent pre-mature explosions) and then leave the carts as they roll for the gates. Of course, they do have purpose in open battle too where they construct impromptu defenses like entrenchment or barricades, or set traps ranging from bear-traps to experimental mines. Worst comes to worst, they can act as grenadiers and riflemen. Taking a note from hunters, the rifles of these men are also equipped with the new-fangled bayonets.
Penitentiary Legions
Heretics, criminals, prisoners of war, non-humans and other undesirables these troops have been brainwashed by Clerics of Iorge to have a hate for themselves surpassed only by a hate for the enemy. They wish to go to paradise with their God and to redeem themselves by fighting. While sent out at first unarmed they are allowed to scavenge from dead enemies and allies alike, and are willing to go so far as to use limbs of dead comrades as weapons. While their primary purpose is to provide a frightening and disposable shock troop, they are not to be underestimated as many have experience with murder in the most clandestine manner and some even have magical powers that they will unleash in uncontrolled and typically self-harming bursts, whilst some go as far as strapping explosives to themselves. In theory, if one of these Legionaries fights long and hard enough they can earn an amnesty but there are less than a dozen such men and women alive in Zvageorg today, half of them over fifty.
Pavise Riflemen
While most like the idea of pavise crossbowmen or giving shields to riflemen, the Confederation has had the idea "why not both?" Wearing full plate, carrying long bayoneted rifles and their famous pavises, they in battle will deploy these portable fortifications and then their square will fire by rank often timing it so that by the time the last has fired the first has finished reloading. Their usefulness comes in that with their pavises and bayonets charging them is not a good idea, whilst not charging them is not a good idea for otherwise you get shot; the enemy has no choice but to go at a disadvantage when fighting these men. Generally, they will however be deployed with halberdiers or pikemen on either side since cavalry flanking is a very big danger.
Warrior Monks
Men who aren’t initiated to be full Clerics, they go to battle chanting prayers and hymns, most with some sort of hand-weapon (axe, mace, long or arming sword, flail, hammer, spear, etc.) in one hand and a staff representing the stake Iorge was burned on or scripture in the other. They have no armour but their robes however they do not need it; the holiness of these men makes mortal wounds scratches and it gives them incomprehensible strength and zeal to compensate for inexperience.
Carts
These are carts carrying riflemen, crossbowmen, blunderbussers or some piece of artillery, they are drawn by horses with heavy barding and some slight roofing and protection on either sides. Carts are used similarly to Cuirassiers to provide heavy volleys and then retreat though with heavier firepower. Occasionally they also stop and use their carts as temporary fortifications for in battle if it is defensive in nature.
Auxiliaries
These are whatever roles that the State's standard troops cannot fill in. Either mercenaries, local militias with unique skills or something else these are nonetheless a very valuable asset with various roles; shock troops with great axes or greatswords, shielded javelin throwers, pavise crossbowmen, archers, or simply standard riflemen who are neither sappers nor skirmishers.
Crusaders (unmounted)
Carrying the heaviest armour of the state’s troops, Crusaders have four layers of protection given all sorts of Godly blessing in plate, then scale-mail, then chain mail and finally leather; however they run quickly and unimpeded as though they were naked thanks to their Divinations. They are armed with longswords and massive shields carrying similar blessings to that of their armour. They are as close to monstrous infantry as Zvageorg can get, perhaps even qualifying or surpassing the necessities for the role. The presence of these unbreakable men inspires all allies around them.
Crusaders (mounted)
These are identical to their unmounted brethren except for the fact that are mounted. Their mounts are massive beasts that could be horses if not for its size and muscularity, and the fact that they carry their heavy barding as though it is nothing. These men also have lances that have similar blessings to the rest of their gear. They are as close to monstrous cavalry as Zvageorg can get, perhaps even qualifying and surpassing the necessities for the role.
Steel Saints
The result of cooperation between Engineers and Religious personnel, Steel Saints are massive metal machines in the shape of a Knight working on steam but given fluidity and life to their movements thanks to blessings, prayers and enchantments of various Clerics. These are difficult to make and are costly so there are naturally few of them but their sight upon a battlefield makes all men of Zvageorg rejoice for a giant iron man is sure to turn the tide of battle. These constructs have a massive sword that cuts through mountains, a device throwing flaming tar from where it’s “mouth” is and a batter of rifles on either shoulder to deal with attacks from above. There are in fact only nine of them at a time, each representing one of the Saints or great figures after the death of Iorge.
Incarnations
These are manifestations of the Old Gods, now part of the choir of Saints in a physical form. They have a mixture of pre-historic and modern appearance, though they all are generally appearing as Angels and with their respective symbols be it a staff, sword, bow etc. There are twelve different Incarnations that may appear when summoned, each representing one of the Old Gods worshipped in the land of Zvagheldt. It is difficult to summon them but gets considerably easier when Zvageorg is at threat; at such times they may even appear at their own volition.
Great Bombards
Cannons or mortars but simply much, much bigger. A single blast from these devastates whole regiments, brings down walls, or turns giants into red paste.
Alaric Coils
Great big spheres with metallic coils around them mounted on a pole and finally a cart, these are ingenious creations (think Tesla Coils from Red Alert) that make massive bursts of electricity to decimate foes; if a formation is very densely packed they can fry nearly the whole of it with one flare of energy. These contraptions are somewhat fragile though they can fry many projectiles coming at them into ash and enemies trying to charge it will be electrocuted severely and relentlessly.
The Lost and the Damned
These are various dead soldiers reincarnated; sometimes like mere undead as walking corpses though at other times only their soul remains and they will be as walking suits of armour with naught within. These warriors are terrifying to the enemy with their ghostly otherworldly moaning and tireless persistence; their main value comes in the fact that over their great time dead they have somehow honed their skills unimaginably so that they can rival the greatest warriors of the world despite great numbers. However, the fact that they are already dead also makes them fearless, very durable (needing to be almost wholly destroyed to stay down) and if given some "respite" those who have fallen will rise again within the same battle. Due to their fearsomeness and nature as veterans of specific armies (as well as ethereal inter-connectedness) there simply cannot and never will be more than one division of them in an army, though the size of it can be massive to compensate. They will generally be armed with whatever they died with making them all purpose shock-troops and fighters. Some divisions of them will be mounted one skeletal, ghostly or even living steeds if they died as cavalrymen.
Greater Noble
A King, Prince or General this is a very prominent individual in the Confederation; they will arm themselves with whatever their coin and fancy allows from magic swords to vicious meat-cleavers. They are generally good leaders since one has to be one to get an army.
High Priest Inquisitor
High Priest Proselytizer
Crusader Patriarch
Someone very high in the Order of Crusaders, these men are no less than eight feet tall and huff with steam like a bull; they are great leaders and draconian disciplinarians that might be perhaps just a little too demanding of the men they have that are not Crusaders though admittedly they are usually generalized as one man armies taking on huge monstrous foes and coming out with naught a scratch.
Lesser Noble
Barons, Counts, and other Nobles not quite eligible to lead a whole army these men are nonetheless useful since their coin lets an army be much better armed and they are capable in improving moral if not leading. They just like their more rich and powerful counterparts are armed with whatever they like from blunderbusses to massive greatswords.
Lord Crusader
These are fearsome men though not quite like their Patriarch superiors, they are still good leaders and provide great relief to allied troops when seen. Just like the Crusader Patriarchs they are often categorized as one man armies and rightfully so for they charge to single-handedly slay everything from giants to demons to regiments.
Cleric - Firebrand
Cleric - Preacher
Lord Dieter von Weissburg
The current Tyrant of Zvageorg, Lord Dieter is a noble that was chosen to be the next Tyrant for his well-rounded skill-set. Quite tall and imposing he is a great statesman, diplomat, religious model and while he has few have seen him in open combat the only person he has lost a duel against is the previous Master of Crusaders. He has five children, though his wife was assassinated not long ago. He is armed with a powerful magic sword rumoured to be what the Old God Valkhyr carried in his mortal form, whilst for armour he has a suit of plate which when asked about the origins of he merely smiles and refers to it as the crystallized tears of Iorge.
Aleksander von Weissburg
First son of the current Tyrant, he is ironically the least mature and brash. He became a Sword-Brother at 20 and is now a Lord-Crusader in rank though it is obvious he will soon become a Crusader Patriarch in the near future. He is an expert fighter and good leader if not as great a general as his father. He makes sure to never take advantage of his position and has learned fighting himself, as well as taking the same gear as others of his position. His only unique item is his shield - while looking to be a normal shield albeit with no wood it is soon revealed to be much more when a cannon ball had glanced off of it and Aleksander remained unharmed.
Johan von Weissburg
Second son of the Tyrant he is a quiet, pessimistic and cryptic man that has much more tact and cleverness than his brother. He is responsible for a lot of the more devious plots of the Confederation and for turning down many ideas due to their unreliability and trustworthiness. While he is best used as a leader he meets the expectations needed to be a good warrior though he fights much like how he thinks; he goes in with ambushes, or even disguises himself as a common soldier to suddenly slay a great opponent with some relic weapon who was hoping to just crush an ordinary conscript.
Olga von Weissburg
Daughter of the tyrant, she became a nun at an early age but yet wanted to be near him in his endeavors. As such, she progressed quickly to become the head of her convent and eventually a prominent figure in the nation. It wasn't long before she was travelling around and outside Zvageorg doing clerical and humanitarian deeds. Perhaps most astonishing was that she has joined every Crusade so far raised and has even went directly into battle to save injured soldiers or even banish otherworldly creatures.
Master of Crusaders Phillip Augustus
A giant, awkward and easily angered man, the master of Crusaders rarely if ever takes his armour off for the sheer amount of it that there is; his sword and shield have both more than a year of constant divination in them as befits someone of his rank. He is a great commander just like he is a warrior though he is at times over-demanding of his men and expects normal soldiers to have the same efficiency as Sword-Brothers or even full-fledged Crusaders. It was said one time that he was challenged and ridiculed by a great daemon and said that he would not be able to resist it's lures; to prove he was, he killed it and now wears it's skin and chitin for armour over his standard Crusader gear with not a hint of corruption in him.
Arch-Cleric Josef van Nachtliche
Greatest Religious figure in Zvageorg, he manages the worship of all of the old-Gods and making sure that they are still only kept as part of the Choir of the Saints, and that there is no herest within the Confederation. He can sense any magics or magical items from miles away and is perhaps the greatest user of super-natural powers not associated with magic in the world.
King Brunner Bulow
Obese, rambunctious and lazy this close friend of the Tyrant is not to be underestimated; under the massive beer gut and chins is a maddened beast that - while possibly described as "simple" - is unrelenting and very methodic in planning and battle, who's mind is not clouded by anger and merely driven if needed.
OVERVIEW: The Ogre Kingdoms is based off of the faction of the same name in canon, and naturally, it is inhabited by ogres, very large humanoid creatures whose culture primarily revolves around food, and the ways in which one can acquire more food in the future. As a result, they often fight for prime sources of good eats, meaning the "kingdoms" are more like maniple warring clans who happen to be able to cooperate with one another at times, though even then, many of their number strike out as mercenaries for other factions and adventurers in the wider world.
RACE AND CULTURE: Ogres are humanoid creatures of significant size - their infants tend to be the size of a full-grown dwarf shortly after birth, whilst they easily stand at twice an adult human's height in their own adulthood at minimum, with plenty of bulk to back that height up. Their most notable appearance trait, however, is the massive gut each ogre cultivates like they would a personal garden, typically by eating as much food as they can get and adorning it with a thick metallic gutplate; this gut is not composed largely of fat, but of many layers of powerful muscle that can crush even rocks from the outside in, allowing ogres to eat nearly anything if they feel like it, though sustenance is another matter. Indeed, they are also able to live nearly anywhere where there is sufficient food, and the greatest concentration of ogres in the modern age is the Mountains of Mourn, peaks that are half-volcanic and half-arctic, and filled with enough giant creatures to at least attempt to sate the ogre's hunger. Their heavy focus on food and their guts is the result of a significant event in the past - as a result of events that are now lost to them, their former homelands were obliterated by what they believe to be an angry god, along with most of their race; the resulting crater is believed to be the god's mouth, giving it the name of the Great Maw, and it is this that has cursed the Ogres with an eternal hunger, unquenchable even when they are full to bursting. Thus, they were forced to travel from there to elsewhere in the world, reinforcing a prior nomadic tendency that persists to this day, though it has coalesced into more stratified levels of hierarchy within tribes. Despite its origin as their nemesis, the Great Maw is also worshipped as the chief deity of the Ogres, and indeed the Great Maw's priests are also the Ogre race's chefs and butchers, gaining automatic status in ways that most Ogres can't otherwise hope to acquire in their lifetimes. It helps that ogres are mostly immune to the ravages of Chaos, though some still manage to succumb to its wiles for whatever reason. Other than this, the ogres have a small coterie of mostly minor deities, largely believed to be bastard children or offshoots of the Great Maw itself; the next most important of these is the Magma Maw, supposedly the offspring of the Great Maw with the sun, and the cultists who worship this deity as their wargod are considered mildly strange in their own right. Outside of the Ogre Kingdoms themselves, ogres are considered to be savage brutes who will gladly murder you and eat your corpse... and in fairness, this is not typically wrong, seeing as how they semi-frequently eat each other after a match in the fighting pits, their primary source of entertainment. The ogres outside of the Kingdoms proper, however, tend to at least try forging themselves into somewhat more civilised forms, at least enough so that they can participate in the society they have encountered, be it the Warriors of Chaos or the nations of the high elves. Their more intelligent members can even teach themselves to read reasonably well, and in doing this to integrate and so dine with polite society. Hopefully on polite society, if they are challenged to a duel in the meantime.
GOVERNMENT: At the bottom of the scale in the Kingdoms are the ogre's mutated Greenskin slaves and servants, the knoblars, which are summarily mistreated beyond measure, and taste so bad that even ogres are loathe to consume them, save the ears and nose, which are considered a tasty delicacy. They are lorded over by all ogres, though depending on whether a high-ranking ogre remembers their name, or Maw forbid decides he likes them, they may gain some preferential status compared to their fellows. Above a regular ogre is an Irongut, an ogre strong enough to retain their own armour and weapons, who may then acquire some particular role such as the gun-toting Leadbelcher or beast-wrangling Tenderiser, as well as additional names describing their deeds the more prowess they show off. The leadership proper of the Ogre Kingdoms is divided into the religious and political spectrums, as loose as those spectrums are amongst ogres, each a self-contained tribal hierarchy. Politically speaking, the most powerful ogres are the Bruisers, those with the size and strength to beat up any lesser ogre, and therefore doing what they like to their inferiors so long as they do not insult their social equals or superiors. Likewise, the Bruiser with the most strength is the clan's Tyrant, a mighty ruler in both strength and reputation, with the best gear, the most names, and the most children within his tribe. Yet regular challenges are made for these positions, Tyrants often falling to one of their Bruiser inferiors, in both lethal and non-lethal fights for the positions, though a Bruiser can also be promoted to the position by a well-pleased Tyrant. By contrast, the priests of the Great Maw suffer no such in-fighting, for they are also the mages of the Ogre Kingdoms - young ogres with even a hint of magic or blessing are taken into the shamanhood, fed copious quantities of meat throughout their childhoods, as well as poison and other inedible substances even by ogre standards, and are never allowed to bear gutplates, for the resulting Butcher is considered a direct channel between ogrekind and the Great Maw itself, with the greatest size among all other ogres and the essence of the Great Maw itself in their bellies (or so they say). Though a Butcher is technically on par with a Bruiser in their respective fields, Tyrants will rarely if ever dare to offend one, for they would quickly lose the rest of their tribe out of fear of a comet dropping on their heads. The oldest and most powerful Butchers are deemed Slaughtermasters, taking the seat of honour next to the current Tyrant and sharing in only the choicest morsels of meat among the tribe. Ogre tribes are constantly bickering and fighting with one another, in search of the highest locations to rule from and the best sources of meat throughout their homelands. Rare is the case that a singular ogre tribe will manage to subdue every other tribe in the mountains, but when they do, the result is typically a sort of ogrish Golden Age, where every tribe unites its efforts to produce the best meat for every ogre, and even some well-favoured knoblars, and the Kingdoms United in such a manner may even consider a rampage or two in the wider world to expand the territory they rule over under the right circumstances. The Tyrant and Slaughtermaster leaders of the foremost tribe in these cases will be crowned Overtyrant and Maw Charnellist respectively, holding the Great Maw's personal favour and reigning as such for as long as they can hold the loyalty of each other tribe; ultimately, however, the Golden Age will end (usually with the death of one or the other of these leaders), and the tribes will once again devolve into infighting, returning to their endless nomadism and squabbling as is usual. The current Golden Age has been spurred on by Chardtagh and Magnohn Gutwrencher, a pair of ogres who essentially had a lucky realisation and cheated their way to domination, and now seek to use this to advance their agenda.
INDUSTRY: Ogres have a strange, almost schizophrenic relationship with technology. On the one hand, their own in-roads into advancement are practically non-existent, and in particular nearly all of their herding, farming and hunting is done by hand, or at best with the weapons on their person, which is a good thing under the circumstances because all they farm are massive animals, either for slaughter or as warbeasts. On the other hand, they have no problem whatsoever with stealing and adapting the equipment and technology of other nations as their own, leading to quite the excess of battlefield loot in the form of armour, blades, and guns of various sorts. The latter in particular is well-loved for its ability to kill things from far away, so they can be approached and eaten relatively safely later on, leading to the development of way bigger guns for Leadbelchers to use on large targets, or large groups of targets. Money, on the other hand, is very well-known amongst the ogres, both within and without the Mountains of Mourn. The range's tribes vary from dirt poor to exorbitantly rich, generally depending on how powerful the clan is, and whether or not one of them has thought to take a location of great value from the previous owners. A particular rule of thumb for whether or not one owns a location depends on whether the area's ruling tyrant can see it from where they sit upon their throne, making the peaks of tall mountains extremely sought after for their immense field of view. By contrast, even the dimmest ogre mercenaries and adventurers often make it a point to learn exactly what any given currency is worth in any given nation, as well as how much any given job they perform will pay them, though they may forget to do so until after the job has been paid for, only to return to their former employer with their minds set on eating the poor sod who decided to so blithely underpay them for their work.
MAGIC:Lore of the Great Maw - The prime magical style of the Butchers and Slaughtermasters, though certainly not the only one; its main focuses are ensuring the caster's fellow ogres can better destroy their enemies, ranging from increasing strength or toughness to outright regeneration of wounds on both themselves and their allies. Most significant among these is The Maw, a spell opening a chasm in the ground itself that can harm the Butcher's allies just as readily as their foes if miscast. Lore of Death - Represents the all-consuming nature of the Great Maw; spell focuses largely involve targeting individual beings for destruction, though some support spells also exist. Widely praised is the spell called the Purple Sun of Xereus by other races, for few other powers represent so effectively the hunger of the Great Maw, even when it consumes the caster's own allies in combat. Lore of Beasts - Represents the creatures the ogres live to consume, relying largely on boosting the power of the Butcher's allies and in particular the creatures they use as mounts, as well as a few significant attack spells. Most notable is the Transformation of Kadon, literally allowing the shaman in question to transform into whatever monster he desires, be it a chimaera or a full-blown dragon. Lore of the Heavens - Represents the comet brought down upon the ogres so very long ago; this is a lore that is a sort of jack of all trades, though the comets that powerful Butchers can call down are certainly one of the biggest threats that any enemy can face. Lore of Fire - Unique to the Firebellies that worship the Magma Maw's might, this lore's spells are considered to be its wrath made manifest, and focus on sheer firepower over all else. Though the Fulminating Flame Cage is a particularly nasty manifestation, trapping foes within what are believed to be the Magma Maw's own teeth, even a basic Fireball can be overcharged to destroy entire platoons or even armies, if the Firebelly can handle that much of the Magma Maw's power without themselves being consumed by it.
MILITARY: Ogres are typically quite limited in numbers when engaging foes other than themselves, and their military might often focuses on this aspect, utilising their significant bulk and that of the beasts they control to overwhelm their more numerous foes without being destroyed themselves.
Ogres in general have a somewhat bullyish mentality - if they want something, they will try to take it, and if you aren't showing them enough respect, or they feel they haven't reminded people to respect them lately and see you as an easy target, they will rough you up or worse. The only way to stop them is to prove you are better than them - and simply being bigger is only likely to make them attempt to eat you so they can be the biggest, meaning they prize skill just as much as strength. That said, many ogres are incredibly dense, and those with the capacity to learn lessons tend to advance out of this category sooner rather than later. To wit, "bull" technically refers to male ogres only, but can apply generically to all combat-fit ogres, which is the vast majority.
Ogres with permanent equipment, be it modified farmhand tools or dwarf-crafted gear handmade for a mercenary. Naturally, such an ogre tends to be quite skilled or physically fit, since lesser ogres would otherwise have successfully challenged them for their goods, and they are therefore looked up to by the average bull. That said, charismatic ogres may also be able to persuade the Bruisers or Tyrant of their clan to grant them Irongut status by default, since they are the ones who tend to divvy out the spoils of war.
The indentured mutant slaves of the ogre race, knoblars were once goblins, but have since been rendered down to little else than big-nosed thralls to the beings they now see as living gods and eternal masters. Naturally, they are rarely if ever seen as better than servants, if that, and their numbers are practically legion, marking them out as cannon fodder in battle to distract foes from the oversized beasts that all but control their very fates.
During their nomadic pasts, some ogres found themselves stuck in very cold locations, and over time and generations evolved into a form that is not only white-furred, but even less intelligent than the average ogre, their minds more instinct than intellect. Even so, the ogres do see some use out of their mutant cousins, for their speed and low cunning are often surprising to foes, and they possess a unique affinity to the cold that allows them to freeze flesh, and even harm supernatural opponents.
Weak ogre children, those lacking either strength of limb or the signature paunch of their race, are maligned by all "real" ogres, and are summarily tossed into the caverns beneath the Mountains of Mourn to die. In spite of their supposed weakness, a rare few do manage to make themselves live for an extended period of time, desperately eating whatever scraps they can find, and in the process mutating and degenerating into blind, feral freaks with distendable jaws and a powerful sense of smell. These Devourers are sometimes lured out of the caverns they developed in for more sturdy ogres to use as rampaging shock troops, and are frequently mistaken for some form of ghoul by those who don't know any better.
The logical conclusion of the interest ogres have in long-ranged death: if a small gun can kill one thing really well, a bigger gun, such as a looted hand cannon, can kill lots of things really well, or one big thing really well. This tends to be hampered by the fact that ogres like to shove in whatever jagged object they can find as ammunition, as well as the use of the cannons as clubs and the tendency for Leadbelchers to become heavily scarred by their own recklessness, but only marginally so.
When you hear tales of ogres wandering the world, adventuring in service of human nobles or acting as mercenary soldiers in exchange for food, this is usually the type of ogre being referred to: typically the very smartest of their tribes, who realised there were better eats elsewhere than the mountains and promptly ventured out to get their fill of the other nations, taking the tribe name of a famous ogre warrior for their own. They are skilled in many ways, the particular skillset and their appearance often depending on where their travels have taken them, and are somewhat uniquely the only type of ogre that is as liable to appear in the armies of other nations as in those of the Ogre Kingdoms.
Sabertusks are essentially what you would get if you took a tiger, put it in the mountains, then gave it massive lower canines and the mindset of a wolf. A pack of these is therefore terrifying to behold, for they are experts when it comes to harrying their prey, and incredibly strong beasts even disregarding their bone-crushing jaws; yet like the wolves they emulate, they can be intimidated, or even bred, into the allegiance of a more intelligent or just plain stronger creature, and ogres often use pairs or individuals to kill the crew of large and otherwise-threatening war machines, or at least get the workers to waste some shots on the creatures bearing down upon them so that the ogres themselves can finish the job up close.
The mournfang seems to represent a blend of the sabertusk and the rhinox, a large and ferocious beast whose charge can break even an ogre in half, prefers to fight in packs like the sabertusk, and in many cases will continue to bite and slash even after its brain ceases to function. Naturally, the ogres have noticed how strong they are, and at great risk of their own lives often use it as a rite of passage to Ogrehood to try and tame one to their will, the general process involving striking when they are weakened from one of their territorial disputes or battles for pack leadership, followed by repeated clubs to the head to normalise the ogre in the saddle. Failure means certain death; success means great fame amongst other ogres, as well as a combination of steed and rider powerful enough to make even Chaos Knights fear for their lives.
The Magma Maw as a deity is a strange thing, supposedly taking the form of a volcano and acting as the ogre's war god. The cult it has spawned is stranger still, and its adherents are often either insane, or in search of magical ability, for the tests of the Firebelly are numerous and terrible to behold. A Sparkspitter is but an initiate, one who has passed but the first and least dangerous of these tests: consuming a chilli pepper hot enough to act as a substitute for boiling oil, as well as a horribly strong laxative. Survival is but the first step, and most Sparkspitters are essentially ogres equipped with naturally-produced fire in some form or another, not yet possessing magic of their own.
Unsurprisingly, even tougher to tame for combat than any mournfang are the beasts known as rhinoxen - though not carnivorous in their own right, they are significantly larger than their mournfang counterparts, have especially bad tempers and stubborn outlooks, and compensate for poor eyesight by possessing keen senses of smell and the instinct to charge at anything that doesn't smell like another rhinox, leading to legends that no obstacle in existence can hope to stop them once their minds are set on getting somewhere. Naturally, it is slightly easier for a normal ogre to "ride out" a rhinox's initial rampage, but far, far harder and more tedious to convince them to accept the ogre as a rider outright. Lingering success marks the ogre's eternal glory as "one who has crushed the greatest challenges of the Mountains of Mourn", or at least until the ogre's verbal history regarding the individual fails to pass between generations.
Sometimes, groups of knoblars decide they don't like being lorded over by the bullys that are ogres, and promptly strike out in search of a way to make themselves a legitimate threat. They do not usually succeed in this regard, being killed either by their foes or by the first ogre they annoy; once in a while, however, they will manage to "acquire" a pre-tamed rhinox, attach a chariot to it, place a catapult on that chariot, and then be bullied into using it to fight for the ogres anyway, forming what is typically called a scraplauncher on account of having no ammunition other than the copious quantities of scrap the ogres throw away. It is more effective than some may think, given what ogres generally consider to be "scrap".
An ogre once saw a knoblar scraplauncher unit and thought "I could do better than that". He tamed a rhinox, attached an especially sturdy chariot to it, and then placed on that chariot an extremely large cannon. Thus were born the Ironblasters, both a tribe lasting to this day and a warmachine utilised by just about any ogre tribe that can loot or afford to purchase a cannon, the larger the better. Naturally, this object of war finds use as both a charging chariot and a piece of mobile artillery, and is all the more terrifying to face down as a result.
Some people find it hard to believe that beings even larger and more dangerous than the rhinox exist within the Mountains of Mourn, and yet the stonehorn is a prime example of exactly such a being. They are huge, strong, violent, and rock hard - that is, their bones are literally composed of ultra-dense rock, down to their horns and skulls, the latter of which is rarely more than bone by adulthood. Naturally, ogres treat them with much more respect than most other beasts of war, as they are everything an ogre aspires to be, but they still find ways to trap, train, and eventually master these monstrosities, generally thanks to a Tenderiser taking out one of their eyes and forcing them to follow them back to the ogre's camp by yanking on the spear giving them their first taste of pain.
Once, the entire world was sheathed in ice. Natural and unnatural evolution alike has led to beasts that are, in essence, throwbacks to these times - walking, mammoth embodiments of winter itself, that have adapted to the increasing temperatures of modern times by emitting a permanent field of sub-zero chill around themselves, cold enough to congeal blood, that. This chill can even be condensed into orbs of Warp energy and arctic ice that, when flung at distant opponents with the sound of a thunderclap, detonate on impact into wide sprays of deadly icicles and eldritch lightning. They make great meals for hungry ogre tribes, but are considered to be even better when it comes to both eradicating their foes and keeping their meat fresh and frozen on long journeys - the rise of the term "fridgerated" amongst ogres comes from an ancient thundertusk named Fridge.
It is believed by ogrekind that they once fought beings called sky titans - far greater than any modern giant whose ancestors they are believed to be, it is said their solitary nature led to their downfall at the ogre's hands, bringing them low and leaving the survivors to devolve into the giants of today. Naturally, a tribe that manages to defeat a giant at all often celebrates the reprisal of their history with a feast of many weeks and much giant flesh, but they are considered by most ogres to be perhaps superior to their own ancestors if they instead succeed in enslaving the giant, chaining it both physically and mentally, and forcing it to fight for the glory of their tribe.
A full member of the Firebelly cult is rather an interesting sight, clad in items evocative of flame and lava as they are, and often bearing skin seared ashen grey or even coal black by their trials. Most notably of these is the test needed to achieve their full magical prowess: in the caverns of the volcanic peaks of the mountains is a type of insect as large as any ogre, whose association with flame is intense enough to use as self-defense, even lasting well beyond its death by heating its body to beyond the melting point of iron. A Firebelly must have found, killed, and consumed such a beetle, and in a process of uncertain origins will consequently take in the beetle's magic as their own permanently, granting them magical flames of various sorts.
Bruisers in the Ogre Kingdom are the equivalent of another nation's bourgeoisie. The difference is that Bruisers, being innately superior to their inferiors, can effectively do what they like, so long as they don't upset their Tyrant or other Bruisers, as they typically wind up fighting to resolve the matter, frequently to the death if the insult is grave enough. It is evidently rare to see a Bruiser without a multitude of scars in all sorts of locations, most notably their immense and muscular bellies.
The priests of ogre society, trained to bear the Great Maw's essence from childhood, and so obligated to both the holy implements of their deity (which happen to double as chef's tools) and the best cuts of meat from any given kill, making them the largest members of their tribes by default. Though they are technically equivalent in rank to a Bruiser, no Tyrant dares to risk offending them, as the entire tribe may then desert them for fear of a comet dropping on their head, or worse, as the magicks of the ogre shamen are many and varied, ranging from simple worship of the Great Maw to command over the beasts themselves. Furthermore, unlike most mages, they are just as capable of holding their own in close combat as any other ogre, being that they are enormous brutes in their own right, though a fair few do lack dedicated close combat weaponry.
Sometimes, the animals ogres have farmed are not enough to sustain their tribe, and one of their number must be sent out to hunt, for food or for new broodbeasts. This is the field of the Tenderiser: either trained by another of their number, or innately keen when it comes to mastering the creatures of the world, or both, a Tenderiser is hunter and beastmaster alike in the Ogre Kingdoms, just as able to kill the toughest creatures alone as they are to cow them to their will, and perhaps one of the few with the will and skill to break creatures like the Stonehorn under them. Indeed, whilst they have their pick of creatures to use as mounts, the Stonehorn is typically the mount of choice for a great variety of reasons, and they may well be accompanied by groups of lesser creatures in the process. For the same reason, they usually get enough respect from their fellows that challenges to their position are unnecessary, though along the same lines they rarely feel the need to actively challenge either Bruiser or Tyrant for the respective positions, and mostly shy away from actually leading their fellow bulls into combat even if they'll join it as readily as anything.
The leaders of the Firebelly cult, these ogres are hardly recognisable as their original selves, in some cases even seeming to be made of solid black rock themselves. Such a brute is named very literally indeed: the final test of a Firebelly of this degree involves being dunked into the very volcano they worship, consuming a mouthful of magma from it, and coming out alive, a feat requiring nigh-impossible durability, incredible control over fire magic, or both. Naturally, they are quite rare to behold, but nonetheless extremely dangerous foes capable of searing the flesh from any lesser foe's bones as well as rending them apart in combat proper.
Occasionally, a firebelly decides they want to skip all the hassle involved in making themselves immune to magma consumption, or simply craves more power even after becoming a Magmagorger, and decides that the simplest way to do this is to kidnap a young dragon (a foolhardy task in and of itself, bear in mind), decapitate it, then use a powerful magical ritual to merge their body into the stump, in theory becoming an avatar of the Magma Maw itself in the process. Alas, they tend to lose much of their magical ability and the classic ogre gut in the process, which is replaced with merely a set of shredded abs just above the join between skin and scale, but in exchange, the resulting dragon ogre is rendered incredibly strong - not only do they cease to age, merely growing bigger as they grow older, but they also become functionally immune to heat from any source, even absorbing it in sufficient quantities instead of needing to eat, though they still greatly enjoy doing so.
The Tyrant rules their tribe through strength, skill, and reputation, acquired through constant challenges to his position by lesser bulls, always "guts out" in nature, sometimes literally. It is said that a Tyrant's territory extends as far as he can see from his seat of power, and so it is that ogre tribes are constantly spurred to combat for control over the tallest peaks, or else for locations of extreme value that they can use to extort money, food, and other tributes out of their fellow tribes, such as the Challenge Stone or the passage into the ex-homelands of the Ogres, where the Great Maw itself now resides. Logically, Tyrants have the most names, the best gear, and the most children of any other ogre in their tribe.
A Slaughtermaster is a leader among Butchers, equivalent to their Tyrant and in many ways superior, though as far as ogre society goes they are content to allow the Tyrant to do the actual ruling, even if they are prone to cutting up lesser ogres for offending them, or simply if they need specific cuts of meat for their dishes. Evidently, one does not become Slaughtermaster for being weak: as what amounts to a high priest, they are also the most magically skilled members of their tribe, capable not only of assisting their allies with magic, but also of dispelling the magic of lesser mages almost on their own, and alongside fellow Butchers having the ability to do so almost casually.
As a dragon ogre ages and grows larger, it also requires more and more energy to keep itself awake. Therefore, they take to resting in lava pits for increasingly long periods of time, absorbing the heat of the molten rock to eventually use up in extended battles against the enemies of the ogre kingdoms. Though the Shaggoths, the very largest of their sort, are worshipped by the Firebelly cult as a minor deity in their own right, these beasts rarely care overmuch for the praise, their time-warped minds merely seeking out the next good fight whilst awake, or else to be left alone when inactive; few beings exist that can provide the former, and many ogres believe they are even a match for the legendary Greater Daemons of Chaos, titanic in form and with renewed flame-wielding prowess.
An ogre's status is generally determined by the size of beast they can take down alone, for a larger creature requires more strength and skill to defeat. The ultimate embodiment of this would be a dragon: rarely do the two races interact, as the dragon usually just gets a free meal of ogre as a result, but sometimes a Tenderiser, Bruiser, Tyrant, or even an entire ogre tribe is mad or overconfident enough to give it a try, and winds up actually beating the dragon into submission in the process. The ogre who takes control over a dragon typically finds themselves in charge of their tribe and others, for there are few who can challenge a dragon being directed by an ogre. Rarer still are those ogres who, inexplicably, succeed in gaining a dragon's respect and even trust, for most ogres do not particularly exude these qualities, but such a combination is far more dangerous as a result, the bond of near-friendship giving them a much greater synergy in combat which usually proves the bane of all lesser foes.
One day, the Tyrant and Slaughtermaster of the Gutwrencher tribe, so named for the founder's habit of disembowelling ogres in combat and leaving them to die slowly and horrifically painfully, spied a dragon's cave, and promptly avoided it because no sane ogre fights a dragon. They did, however, happen upon the same idea at the same time as a result: why would they need to fight a dragon, when one of them could in theory become a dragon? Training for long periods of time, Magnohn gradually learned not only how to transform into a dragon with his mastery of the Lore of Beasts, but also to prolong the time he could stay transformed for to near-indefinite, and to ease his ability to transform until it became second nature. Once his practice was done, Chardtagh promptly began to use Magnohn as his personal mount, and with their combined strength promptly subdued the entirety of the Mountains of Mourn in a matter of months, becoming the first Overtyrant and Maw Charnellist of a brand new Golden Age of the Ogre Kingdoms United. With their newfound power, enchanted gear of incredible quality, and a question on some lips as to who really controls the tribes, the Overtyrant declared that they would not be limited to the Mountains of Mourn for long, and so initiated a sort of crusade into the wider world, all but leading the charge Westward to test their might on the nations that would soon oppose them.
It is mildly rare that any ogre possesses habits of both magic and beastlore. Radzmus Ironbelly was one such ogre, and though he was put through the full training of a butcher, he always felt drawn to the role of a Tenderiser, respectable as they were... and it occurred to him that he could, or even should, merge the two roles into one, and that such an ogre would surely be a master over his own kind. What actually happened was that his tribe declared him a heretic, forcing him to flee into the caves before they ate him alive, and promptly found that his magic worked especially well not only on the native creatures of the mountain, but also on the feral Devourers that had long since been left to die by their tribes, and later still upon the Yhetees that were the cousins of the ogres. Mildly insane by ogre standards at this point, he promptly declared himself Monsterlord, master of a tribe whose only truly sapient member was himself, and whilst he and his ever-growing pack are often appreciated when they show up to a fight, they are rarely appreciated afterward when they insist on dining with the tribes they fought beside, since it usually also involves dining upon the tribes as well.
Most Maneaters, whilst particularly intelligent, are not especially notable as anything other than very skilled amongst ogres, for they rarely acquire exceptional status within a tribe. Grunsha is the exception that proves the rule, so to speak, largely because he returns to the Mountains regularly, almost completely unscarred despite minimal armour and many long years of fighting throughout the world. Some ogres believe that he is faking his many exploits. The truth, as those who have challenged him learn, is that he is simply far too agile for a creature of his size, moving with grace and speed that seems almost precognitive by ogre standards, and by the standards of most other races at that; those who watch him fight believe this may have something to do with the weird two-handed greatsword he carries, a weapon that inexplicably glows bright white and pitch black and every other colour of the rainbow at various times, and which is generally believed to have a tightly-bound daemon inside of it, for any other truth would surely be stranger by far.
Most Magmagorgers appear to be made of volcanic rock, but bleed just like any other ogre when cut deeply enough. Kroll Smashmouth may therefore be the only member of the Firebelly cult who truly is made of volcanic rock, for his eyes and mouth glow with volcanic heat, and when he is cut, the only thing that bleeds out- spews, actually, with significant heat and force- is more molten rock, quickly hardening into a new outer layer of craggy "skin" and "muscle". Lesser Firebellies believe he has been blessed with this form by the Magma Maw itself, a purer avatar of its wrath than the dragon ogres themselves; other merely believe he has cast a unique protective spell upon himself, but nonetheless treat him with quite a bit of respect, for he is certainly one of the most accomplished Firebellies the Ogre Kingdoms have ever seen.
"I am he that you seek. The original dragon ogre. The very oldest and largest Shaggoth in existence, consequently. If memory serves, I created that ritual out of foolish pride and a desire to outdo my peers in serving the Magma Maw, and I watch it now in common demand with ever-dawning horror... I think the Mawpyre has done a better job of becoming our god's avatar than I, all things considered. Kroll's view of the world is less bleak than mine. Less clouded by the fog of ages, for his relative youth. I don't think Krakanrok was even my original tribe's name, let alone whatever other names I accumulated. But it hardly matters, for my awakening means that I am bound to once again seek my doom in the name of my race and the Maws. I think I'm unlikely to find it this time around, either."
OVERVIEW: Deep beneath the nations of the world a mass of furred bodies writhe as a tumultuous sea. Dark hearts and darker minds plot meticulously. Final victory will be theirs, the children of the Great Horned Rat will one day blanket the surface, it is prophesied.
RACE AND CULTURE: The cruel treacherous Rat Men of the Under-World, the Skaven seethe below the world of men building their tunnels and plotting. A Skaven's place in society is determined at birth by their fur. White or Light Grey Skaven are taken aside to become Grey Seers, Warlock Engineers, and the like. Black Skaven are taken aside to be warriors of their tribe. Brown Skaven are slaves from birth, with but little hope to improve their standing in their short lifespans. However they are born the Skaven that survive into adulthood plague the surface world.
Power must be taken. Whether by sheer force or cunning the old must die for the new to come to power. The victor will likely consume the vanquished. Power is kept through fear, watch as the new Overlord crouches over his dying predecessor, hear his labored final breaths then never forget what comes next. If your New Warlord could do that to the Old One what chance do you have against him. Set your rivals upon each other, cloud their minds, gather support by laying claim to your victories, kill any who question you. Any threat to your power must be met ruthlessly. Remember as you rise in power that you become a bigger target. Those you have left behind will envy you and your rivals for that next position are now that much stronger. Do what you must to survive. Lie, betray, murder, betray, show the others that you are to be feared. This is how we bring about the prophecy of the Great Horned Rat, this is the road to the Great Ascendancy.
GOVERNMENT: The Council of 13, also known as the Lords of Decay, have long guided the Under-Empire on it's path to dominion. Composed of representatives from the 11 strongest Skaven clans, the greatest Grey Seer of the time, and the Great Horned Rat himself, they work together to avoid a third Civil War that might delay their ultimate conquest of the surface world.
INDUSTRY: Skaven are both very advanced and very rudimentary in much of their technology. With little regard for the safety of their littermates and no willingness to take responsibility for any accidents, much of their weaponry tends to stop development once it is anywhere near functional. This hasn't stopped them from creating marvelous and horrifying weapons of war, some near as likely to kill their operators as their targets. While Skaven are capable of being competent builders they are more likely to simply take over or sink a human or dwarf city, then section it off haphazardly to house their voluminous brood.
MAGIC: Skaven do not have access to any of the standard lores, instead they have two of their own.
Lore of Ruin - The province of the Grey Seers, the Lore of Ruin allows Skaven to harness the power of Warp energy itself. Including Howling Warpgale, Warpstorm, Death Frenzy, Scorch, Cracks Call, and potentially the Curse of the Horned Rat.
Lore of Plauge - The Lore of Plague is a foul magical technique. Specializing in matters of disease and decay this lore is repellent and thoroughly evil. Including Pestilent Breath, Bless with Filth, Weeping World Sores, Vermintide, Wither, Cloud of Corruption, and Plague
MILITARY:
The Under-Empire draws from each of it's clans, as the Great Horned Rat has decreed, to bring ruin to the realms of man and spread Skavendom across the surface world. From Clan Legere comes an ancient approach to war, From Clans Moulder and Riktus come the Stormvermin and Rat Ogre warriors, Disease and filth follow in the footsteps of the Plague Monks of Clan Pestilens, Sorcery and Science are joined with unholy ingenuity by the Warlock Engineers of Clan Skrye fielding various abominations and intricate mechanisms. Core
Skavenslaves
Whatever race Skavenslaves come in they are above all other things expendable. Captured humans do not tend to last long, but may in their short time prove some use if only as food or sacrifice. Ranks swell by the thousands due to breeding rates and interclan wars. In the Under-Empire a slave with the slightest injury will likely be detected and devoured by his own kind, on the warpath slaves are whipped to the frontlines to act as fodder. In the aftermath of a battle they may well serve as food for larger Skaven exhausted from the effort.
Clanrats
This vast verminous horde make up the bulk of the infantry of any Skaven war party. Lithe, scrawny, often little more than four to five feet tall, the clanrat is not a fearsome opponent on it's own. Often armed with little more than light armor and scavenged weapons, alone they will likely only attack when their opponent is injured or otherwise weakened. Together, driven forward by the beat of terrible drums or the simple screeching of thousands of their ilk, they will ruthlessly hurl themselves into the frey against even obviously superior forces. Lined up in ranks or surging forth as a verminous tide they attack in great blocks to overwhelm their foes with sheer numbers, then immediately feast upon the dead whether friend or foe.
Stormvermin
Readily distinguished from their scrawnier clanrat littermates. One head taller and darker in color, their powerful builds and thick necks allows them to ably wield the best equipment available to the Skaven. Selection begins from infancy, ratlings starving out their weaker siblings for food sometimes turning their appetites to those siblings themselves. After battle they are awarded first choice, of weapons, of gear, and of food. Any clanrat fool enough to try to eat first may himself be eaten. Particularly effective regiments of Stormvermin may be traded to other Clans. In battle they often form up behind the Skavenslaves and Clanrats, moving to the front only when the tide is turning hard against the Skaven or when the disposable lower castes have spent their number on the battlefield.
Rat Swarm
Knowingly or not the hordes of swarming rats that heavily infest most human cities perform a service for the Skaven. As a Skaven army marches the masses of these tiny bodies will congregate in a tide beyond numbering. Swarms will burst forth from the sewers, pouring across the streets and overpowering man sized creatures. Lowly and desperate Skaven will eat them as they march, Clan Pestilens will infect them in their tousands, and soon a sea of red light will weave in and out of the cities of man, bathed in flickering light as their cities burn.
Giant Rat
Long ago Clan Moulder learned to breed, mutate and surgically alter rats. These foul and unnatural creatures are the most common and cheapest creation Clan Moulder has to offer. From a distance they may be mistaken for large dogs, but as they rapidly close distance the eyes of man will quickly make out their hairless tails and a variety of mutations. Additional heads, limbs, or tails. Bony spike-like or armor-like growths, tusks, exposed ribs, oversized incisors or claws, gruesome boils. Some even walk upright or lope wildly, their rear legs attached to crude wheeled carts their tails fused with maces. Clans Mortkin and Karrion often dye their hides and brand them with clan symbols.
Night Runners
When unfortunate armies of men engage with Skaven and suddenly find themselves surrounded it is often the work of Night Runners. A blade in each hand and only lightly armored this core unit of Clan Eshin slink around the flanks of enemy formations, hoping to lure pursuit into an ambush. They cannot stand long against heavily-armed or armored opponents, and as such often face high casualties as they work deep in enemy territory. It is not uncommon for them to utilize a Warp Grinder to burrow under enemy lines and surface as a distraction, throwing themselves into the fray their lives sacrificed en masse.
Elite
Rat Ogre w/ Packmaster
The Rat Ogre is the most infamous monstrosity of Clan Moulder. One of the largest and most fearsome of their creations these beasts are literally stitched together using Warpstone Balm. Standing as tall as any two men, they carry the speed and ferocity of the Skaven and the brawn of the Ogre, the desperate hunger of both somehow magnified. A Rat Ogre has the strength and the mindset to fight an entire company of soldiers single handed. Incapable of almost anything save killing, wholly consumed by the instinct to rip and tear, they require a Pack Master to steer them during battle and afterwards to separate and chain them. Each Rat Ogre bears countless scars, some from their creation, some from battle, and some of self-harm.
Packmasters are the specifically trained handlers of these and other foul beasts. Fierce warriors are needed to guide these ferocious half-mad creatures, packmasters must be half mad themselves to risk becoming another meal for their merciless pack. Clan Moulder thus will often sell the packmaster alongside his pack, by necessity and at great price.
Plague Monks
Zealots, utterly dedicated to the spread of corruption and decay, the Plague Monks are entirely consumed by their devotion to creating the ultimate disease. Knowing they will likely not be alive to see the ultimate glory of the Skaven, the Plague Monks shamble forward none the less under their singular banner, the Half Rotted Corpse of one of their fellow Skaven crudely mounted atop a banner pole. Filthy tattered robes display their failing bodies beneath. Covered in blisters, rotting bandages fused to their bodies by the foetid fluid of weeping sores, surrounded by the sickly sweet smell of putrefication and accompanied by a cloud of flies.
Near death as they seem they chant the Rites of Infection, their pace quickening as they near the battlefield. Finally hurling themselves into the frey amongst their verminous brethren. Eyes bulging, mouths foaming, the monks enter a fanatical frenzy. Immune to pain after years of suffering, they stab wildly with rusted words and staves encrusted with filth. Their utter devotion and decent into madness allows them to survive injuries that would kill a normal Skaven, often fighting on until wholly dismembered.
Plague Monk Censer Bearers
The most insanely devoted of the Plague Monks march amongst their verminous horde bearing this, a hollow spiked metal ball attached to a length chain. Within the cavity is a large shard of warpstone, as the Plague Censer Bearer nears the front lines he pours the vile contagions of Clan Pestilens upon the warpstone shard, releasing foul green noxious fumes. Contact with the flesh of their victims causes the skin to erupt with sores and weeping blisters. Rhythmically swinging their censer, never faltering nor retreating they are fearless in combat, continuing on their rampage until they are all cut down. As their flesh screams in ruin their ecstatic minds are focused only on the duty at hand.
Gutter Runners
The best of the Night Runners become Gutter Runners. Eschewing even the Light Armor of the Night Runners they sacrifice any ability to survive enemy blows in favor of absurd speed and acrobatics, allowing them to bring more death more quickly to the enemies of the Skaven. Gutter Runners are often used to assassinate enemy commanders or destroy key enemy artillery pieces. Elite skirmishers and scouts their attacks are quick and effective, frustrating their enemies by quickly appearing, striking, and then dissolving into the darkness once more. Working on behalf of the Council of 13 these masters of stealth are responsible for many suspicious deaths and acts of espionage throughout the realms of man and occasionally even amidst Skaven society. They bear some large portion of the responsibility for the destruction of the Empire's history of Skaven attacks.
OVERVIEW: West of the Elven Forests are the Paganlands, a stark contrast to the beautiful groves and meadows, instead filled with infested wealds and misty taiga's. The Paganlands were once the grand and majestic land of Lomillar before being corrupted by The Pagans, otherworldly malevolent forest spirits. The Wood Elves currently living in Lomillar were thus bound to their service, for promise of great power. Now, that the Paganlands have bolstered, a great crusade against the outside world is bound to occur.
RACE AND CULTURE: The main races of the Paganlands are the Pagan Elves and Furbolgs, though outcasted and criminalized members of all races may walk amongst the various Circles.
The Paganlands worship Pagans, alien spirits of Chaos that have overwhelmed and devoured the Spirits of Lomillar, taking their places as the Forest's guardians. While the old spirits were kind and benevolent, the Pagans were harsh and selective, electing only their most devout worshippers power. Each Pagan varies in power, with a Circle, an entire tribe of Pagan Elves or Furbolgs, that worship and serve them.
Pagan Elves were once Wood and High Elves, until the Touch of the Pagans permanently scarred them, warping their mind and contaminating their soul. Nearly all Pagan Elves are insane by the standards of most mortals. While most of them are naturally born, hundreds are made each year as entire pilgrimages of outcasted Elves journey to the Paganlands. Pagan Elves need not be naturally born. So long as an Elf submits to the power of the Pagan, they will be born once the Paganistic power corrupts their soul and mind.
Furbolgs are bearlike Beastmen, once peaceful, until the day the Pagans came and devoured the forest spirits. Since then, the jovial Furbolgs have become grief-filled and angry, grinding away at their axes. Yet despite their hatred for The Pagans, they can do naught but heed their will, as they pledged their lives to the Forest Guardians, which, technically, the Pagans have become.
GOVERNMENT: The Paganlands are divided into individual Circles, all bound by a treaty. The Head Shaman of each Circle has leadership of each circle, though as long as a member of the circle can overpower the current Head Shaman, it is declared that their Pagan was in their favor, and they are given new rulership. Should one Circle go to war with another, the first Pagans themselves battle in The Warp. Should a Shaman of either circle be killed, the Pagan they respect will suffer a backlash, as they devote much of their power into their followers. Yet if one Pagan defeats another, the power of their Shamans will weaken significantly. Usually when a circle is defeated, all members are slaughtered without mercy. If absolutely no followers of a Pagan are alive, they will fade into nothingness.
The sovereign body of the Paganlands goes to the Circle of the strongest of the Pagans, known as the Apex. The current Apex is Ysolnir, the devourer, a massive beast that continuously feasts on bloodshed and sacrifice. His Shaman, Irrich, has been pressured by him to carry out a crusade to continue his blissful feasting.
INDUSTRY: In the days of Lomillar, nonindustrialization was acceptable, as the forest spirits generously contributed to the well-groomed forests. Yet with the dark and nearly impartial Pagans, the entirety of the Paganlands is in a severe depression. Most structures more formidable than a ramshackle hut are abandoned fortresses. Farming is practically impossible, as the Pagans constantly devour life from the earth. Most food sources are from hunting the aggressive wildlife, or picking small berries. Some Furbolg tribes also practice cannibalism of defeated duelists for delicacies.
The only real way to attain resources beyond the scarcity of the Paganlands, Pagans occasionally provide resources in return for sacrifices, be it of their own followers or prisoners of war.
MAGIC: Lore of Shadow Lore of Death Lore of Beasts(Furbolgs only) Daemonology -- Pagans
MILITARY: The Pagan army's lower and more plentiful ranks are more adaptive in surviving landscapes, making it easier for them to hold down positions in natural environments over fortifying cities and fortresses. Many of the Core soldiers are weaker than most other armies, and less plentiful. The reason for such is that Pagan Daemonology requires sacrifice, be it of their men or others, to make contracts with Pagans that grant them the ability to manifest in the physical world.
Without Pagans, however, Pagan armies are still plenty capable. Their mortal soldiers often break conventions of others of their type, such as Dark Rangers, with more melee power for less infantry, or the Werebear Barbarian, which gives up its clarity and thought for raw power. A weakness of the Pagan army is it's reluctance to retreat and be controlled, as several soldiers live for the chaos of battle, making what would be small defeats for other armies into catastrophic failure on the Pagan armies.
Core: -Dark Ranger Plentiful ranged units, which give up some of the power other armies' ranged units possess, in exchange for melee strength and stealth. -Crazy In their normal state, Crazy's are weaker than the average soldier, due to their poor armaments. Yet they can enter a battle fury, surrendering mental control for speed and strength. -Mara Cavalry In the Paganlands, Mara's were once proud and majestic horses, until the Pagans warped them into bloodthirsty predators that eat flesh. They are difficult to control, and hard to mobilize after the intial charge as the Mara gorges on fresh corpses, while the rider attempts to stab enemies with a spear. -Mara Archer Riders of Mara's trained not to devour flesh. They shoot arrows at a distance. However, once the rider dies, the Mara gives in to it's instinct, charging across the field to consume flesh. -Black Hound Wolves that have been warped by the Pagans dark power. Each Black Hound provides a morale bonus to all Black Hounds near it. If a large enough pack forms, then they'll create a fast-moving swarm. -Heretic The Heretic specializes in demoralizing the foe through shouting obsceneties towards the gods. They are exceptionally vulnerable, as many devout soldiers are more than willing to slit their tongues.
Elite: -Cultist of War The first Caster of the Pagan Armies. The victims of this soldier are sent directly to his master, earning him more favor as a battle continues. However, they start off weak early on, meaning they either end up trampled as the first blood, or a god on the battlefield. -Child of Black Soil Those who are buried in the Paganlands blighted soil do not stay dead. They return from the other side, having visited the Pagans, acting in thrall to send them a feast. They are slow and extremely durable, and should they die, they will spawn a Shambler, a root of Paganic flesh that grapples any who come near. -Blight A Treant, once proud and mighty, stripped of it's soul, rudely replaced by a Pagan. Mushrooms and dead bark cover them, making them slow but durable. The more damage they take, the faster yet softer they become as iron and fire tears towards their exposed bark. -Furbolg Barbarian A holy warrior sent from the Furbolg Tribes. They can tap into their inner rage, charging into the enemy column with no control. -Furbolg Shaman A Druid of the Furbolg who reveres the Pagans. Whether exiled or willingly left their tribes to fight for a Pagan, they are able to induce other soldiers into mindless battle rage, as well as summoning their corrupted ancestors.
Rare: -Champion of the Pagans A knight who swears loyalty to the Pagans. He can cast an assortment of abilities, and possesses high defense and power. He has abysmal speed, however. -Pagan Brute A lesser Pagan summoned to the battlefield in the form of a bearlike monstrosity. After slaughtering a fixed number of units, he will return to the Warp. -Elder Blight One of the Treant Kings, possessed by a Pagan. Like the lesser Blight, it has high defense, yet also has spikes protruding from it's skin, damaging any who harm it. -Black Golem A golem summoned from the black soil of the Paganlands, If killed, it has a chance of dropping anywhere between 1 and 3 Children of Black Soil. -Black Hound Alpha A Black Hound that has asserted itself as an alpha. In battle, it provides an even greater ferocity to other Black Hounds. Yet should it come across another Black Hound Alpha, the two and their packs will instantly fight each other.
Lords: -Pagan Knight A Pagan summoned to the physical world in the form of a menacing knight atop a Giant Mare. While it has devastating attack and defense, should it not be in the front lines for too long it will attempt to devour soldiers of it's own side. -Psychopath A Crazy who has survived far too many battles to be considered mortal. When it enters it's battle frenzy, all nearby Crazy's also enter, creating a massive, unstoppable horde. -Shadow Assassin An assassin born in shadows. They are capable of turning into mist and reappearing in an area where convenient. While they are powerful and quick, they are incapable of surviving one on one combat. -Paganmaster A Shaman who has tricked two lesser Pagans to his will, turning them into two Pagan Brutes. However he dies, the Pagans will take revenge upon their own armies. When no "friendly" soldiers are within short range of them, they will return to the warp. -Furbolg Warlord One of the Furbolgs chieftans, wielding two spears. Capable of activating a "Last Stand" stance, where they do not move, but gain a significant damage and defense boost. When they enter Last Stand, they die regardless in 30 seconds.
Heroes: -Master Shaman The leader of a Shamanic Circle, who takes to the battlefield for the Pagans. They can cast practically any spell within the Pagan Daemonology school. -Speaker of the New Gods A man who permits his voice to be used by the Pagans. While he has abysmal combat stats, he occasionally casts a Pagan Spell. He has absolutely no control over this ability, and many spells harm as much as they help. -Pagan Avatar A follower of a Greater Pagan who allows his body to be a vessel to his master. They take the form of a tall, lean monstrosity, wielding a massive sword capable of slicing a hole through enemy ranks.
Named Characters: -Irrich the Clare: General of the Pagan armies, who possesses an unnatural clarity amongst Pagan Elves. While several of his equals talk behind his back, he is respected as the best military genius to carry out the inevitable conquest. -Tanglebane: Once king of the Treants, Tanglebane is a pessimistic Blight, who passes by his boredom through killing those who enter his domain. -Eireth of Sprawl: Queen of Sprawl, an overgrown city that is continuously being reclaimed by nature, despite the best efforts of the Pagan Elves to survive. Yet despite her city's state, she has claimed dominance over a single Blight, which begrudgingly carries her upon its head. -Duth Rageheart: The prophet of the Furbolgs, believing that "rage shall set us free". -Samia The Shifter: The master assassin of the Paganlands. Myths state that she can quite literally turn into shadow.
Here it is, the Warhammer Britain, as written by me. I'll be refining it.
NAME:
The Kingdom of Andemarc
OVERVIEW:
The Kingdom of Andemarc is a feudal monarchy composed of several former independent kingdoms and nations that have been conquered by military means or by marriage. The kingdom is divided into duchies, counties, shires and protectorates, and is ruled currently by King Arthur the First, also known as the Hammerer.
RACE AND CULTURE:
Andemarc is mostly populated with humans, and elves and dwarves are small minorities. Culture is agrarian, meaning most of the people in Andemarc work in farms and agriculture. The population shares the common tongue of Andemaric, but there are local dialects and some remnants of old languages present locally.
The population is divided into four distinct classes: the peasants, the aristrocracy, the clergy and bourgeousie. The peasants are the most numerous, and the aristrocracy the smallest class. Peasants are free men and women, since slavery and serfdom has been abolished, and they work on either on their own farms or as tenant farmers to a landowner. The aristrocracy owns most of the land, and they often have banners, sigils and mottos to promote their status. Their position is hereditary, and once a man has become a noble, his noble rights and privilages can only be revoked by the king or by trial in the case of serious crimes.
Lords, counts, margraves, dukes and knights to the aristrocracy, and they denoted from the rest of the population by major landownership. Peasants often own a farm and enough land to support a family, but the aristrocracy often claims overlordship over these lands. The nobles provide knights and levies to their liege lords as part of a feudal contract. The king can call the banners in the time of war to defend the realm as a whole. Margraves are often given border castles and marches to protect the vital roadways and other strategic regions from hostile forces.
The clergy, shortly put, pray to gods, preach, hold official records and teach the population. The majority of the population believe in the four gods (Leofri, Maar, Fredda, Dagon), who represent the four elements (air, fire, earth, water) of the world. The religion was founded by Saint Catriona, the wife of King Hakon the Red, the third king of Andemarc centuries ago. The religion spread throughout the kingdom, and now is the most adhered religion in the kingdom.
REGIONS & IMPORTANT LOCATIONS
The Duchy of Mormount Under the rule direct rule of the king. The capital city Tremerlay is located here Population: 50 000 humans, elves and dwarves The Duchy of Roussillon Under the rule of Duke Edward Narville of Kirkwall A region known for making wines, the bread basket of the kingdom Kirkwall is a major town with 25 000 inhabitants built around the River Kirk The town has been besieged many times by the realm's inner and external enemies, but it has never fallen. The Duchy of Narmy Under the rule of Duke John Carmichael of Cole's Keep Cole's Keep is the major castle of the duchy, and it is sais that it was founded by the elves in the times past. The Highland Baronies A collection of multiple independent-minded baronies and castles The Princibality of Crey The home of the infamous knight Mordred le Crey, the Black Knight of legend, the Kingslayer, who killed Hakon the Red's father. Nowadays the princibality is held by the heir apparent of the kingdom to teach them skills of government. Major castle is Ornstein Keep by the Orn River The Protectorate of the Valminy Valley The Valminy Valley holds many small communities, that have sought protection from many a threat. County of Fairfax County of Harkland The Free City of Gulftown The Grey Hills The Kingswood
GOVERNMENT:
The king is the head of state, and below him is the feudal aristrocracy, represented in the Royal Council. The Royal Council is the upper house of the reprsentive system, and it advises the king in the stately matters, and can decide on taxation. The king needs the approval of the Royal Council to raise new taxes to fund his projects. The Common Council is the lower house, and the as the name suggests, represents the common people, and towns, shires and guilds can send representives to the Common Council. The Speaker acts as the leader of the Councils of the Realm, and presents new law proposals and such things to the king.
INDUSTRY:
The economic situation of the realm is based heavily on agriculture. The peasant work on the land, and produce all kinds of products to the market, ranging from simple wheat and other foodstuffs to tar and other raw materials. The craftsmen, like the blacksmiths and weavers, make all kinds of goods mostly to domestic use, but Andemari wool is a wanted resource in neighbouring kingdoms and nations for its quality. The kingdom produces the best wool and tar in the known world, or at least the Andemari producers are proud of them.
MAGIC:
In Andemar, magic is seen as a gift from the four gods, and although Andemari wizards, druids and spellsingers are scarce, they mostly rely on the Lore of Life to affect the battlefield.
MILITARY:
As the kingdom is still feudal in nature, the armies of Andemarc are comprised of feudal levies and retinues. The retinues are bands of soldiers led by a captain, who makes a contract to a noble for loot in exchange for their services. Basically, they are mercenaries. The size of a retinue can vary from a few people to few hundred.
The armies are often composed of well-armed infantry and longbowmen, with support from light cannons, bombards and howitzers. The cavalry is often a side-note in a Aedmari army, mostly used for scouting and skirmishes. Heavy cavalry is rare and often are used to protect nobles. The most common infantry unit is a company (100-250s soldiers), and the most common cavalry unit is a squadron (30-50 soldiers). Artillery is often deployed in batteries (3-6 guns).
Gunpowder in Adermarc is often in low supply thanks to the constant wars, but local alchemists have maintained a sound level of quality over the years and decades.
Nobles are required by law to field, maintain and arm a certain amount of their levies at arms at all times. There is a system of allotment in place, where villages and towns provide an amount of soldiers to the king every year for a term of service. They gain a lesser tax burden, but have to provide the soldiers training and equipment in return.
The marches, ruled by margraves, act as the first line of defence agaisnt external foes. The castles are at a central place in a march, and they adjacent countryside mostly supports the castle as a strategic stronghold. They dot the borders of the kingdom.
COMMON UNITS
Longbowman A peasant man hired from a shire or county, the longbowman is a professional hunter and has no qualms of killing nobles or knights if it means survival. They are often armed with a longbowmen, armoured in light armour (leather or chainmail), and forage what they can from the countryside and battlefields. Often situated in high ground or wooded ground to counter the effieciency of cavalry charges and to hide from sight.
Halberdier Halberdiers are a common sight as melee soldiers in Andemar. They are lightly armoured, but are armed with a long halberd to face the charge of the cavalry. They often protect the longbowmen from cavalry charges, and as infantry, if they can take a position and dig in, can be hard to dislodge. Often recruited from the peasant population. Their level of training and displine can vary greatly.
Highlander axeman Axemen from the Highlands have long and curious traditions. They fight in kilts and paint their faces blue with woad. Often clad in leather and chainmail armour, the axemen fight on foot. They wield greataxes
Mounted archer Simply an archer on horseback. They often scout and skirmish with the enemy before retreating to friendly lines, relying on speed and mobility than muscle to achieve their mission. They can also act as messengers between units and commanders.
Sergeants Sergeants are common household soldiers of a noble, acting as more heavily armed and armoured foot soldiers. Their equipment vary from soldier to soldier, but often they are armed with heavier weapons and partial plate armour
Sappers Sappers are the engineers of the army, and they know how to work wood and other materials, build siege engines and operate them.
Howitzer A simple cannon firing projectiles in a parabolic arc. Heavy to operate, but often drawn by horses when marching. In battle they often operate behind the friendly lines, offering fire support for infantry. They can fire crudely shaped rocks or metal balls.
Bombard A heavy siege cannon, rarely used outside of a siege due to weight.
Minion A light cannon, often used agaisnt infantry.
ELITE UNITS
Lancer With the invention of gunpowder and firearms, the knightly class has dwindled and the main focus of the army has shifted towards infantry. Knights still have a part to play as bodyguards and as the leaders of a shire. They often act as lancers, armed with a long lance and a sword to engage the enemy, concebtrating on chasing retreating enemies or ambush marching columns.
Cavalier Cavaliers are cavalry armed with pistols and muskets called carbines. The carbine is a shorter version of your average musket. Muskets are hard to come by in Ardemac, and thus there are only a few cavaliers armed with it. They are more likely armed just with the pistols and are clad in a light plate armour.
RARE UNITS
Royal Guard / The Knights of the Griffin The Royal Guard use a griffin banner and serve to protect the king as his personal bodyguard and companions. The Order of the Griffin is both a honorary and military order, where only the best knights of the realm can be taken in. Their numbers are thus very small (in the few dozens), but they are fiercely loyal and deadly against human opponents.
Spellsinger Spellsinger are the most common magic-users in Andemarc, often reciting old songs and spells, which act as the way to affect the world with magical energies. They often act as healers and medics.
HEROES & LORDS
King Arthur I the Hammerer King Arthur wields the legendary sword named Dawn that has passed from king to king for generations. It is said to be a bastard sword that Mordred le Crey used to combat King Hakon the Red. He has spent many years in different fronts and battlefields, and has earned a reputation as a masterful defender.
Prince Morgan The heir apparent to the throne of Andemarc.
Duke Edward II Narville A distant cousin to the king, Duke Edward's forebears were granted the Duchy of Roussillon as a gift from the king. Duke Edward is an elderly man, nearing his fifties. He has been one of the most renowned commanders of the kingdom, inspiring loyalty in those who have served with and under him.
Duke John I Carmichael Duke John rules the Duchy of Narmy, and is one of the best political advicers in the country. He often has acted as an ambassador to the outside world.
Sir Roland Marsten The captain and commander of the Royal Guard. Sir Roland is a knight of fame and renown, but his character is humble and introverted compared to the tales of his deeds on the battlefield.
@Legion02 Of course! I was actually going to ask if anyone wanted to do that. What do you have in mind? Another tribe? Host of demons? Herd of Beastmen?
@Oak7ree Maybe an idea for one of your Elite units could be like Fireloque Knights? Basically knights who carry handguns or have special lances that have like a blunderbuss or something mounted on them as well.
@ClocktowerEchos I have changed knights into lancers, dropped the men-at-arms and added cavaliers - cavalry armed mostly with rudimentary pistols and in some cases carbines.
For referance: Blue is Bretonnia, Light Blue is Kislev, Red is Empire, Orange is Telia, LIght Green is Wood Elves, Dark Green is Orks and Grey is Dwarves.
