In the pits we were broken, Through slaughter we were remade, By Archeon's will we shall ascend!
WE ARE HIS CHOSEN!
For countless centuries the forces of Chaos cut a bloody swathe across the Mortal Realms, destroying and corrupting all that they touched. Unable to stand against such an overwhelming opponent the God-King Sigmar bided his time locked behind the gates of Azyr, there he channelled his energies into the construction of an army, one that would rain down his divine judgement upon the forces of Chaos.
As years passed Sigmar’s rage grew until he could contain it no longer, unable able to watch on as the realms were crushed by the ever tightening grip of Chaos, Sigmar unleashed his Stormcast Eternals, warriors reforged into the living embodiment of the God King’s ire. He will know no rest until evil has been driven back and the Mortal Realms returned to their former glory.
For the so called 'free peoples' of the realms, and the long shattered civilizations of Aelves and Duradin, It was the dawn of hope and salvation, The Age of Sigmar had begun.
To the forces of chaos, numberless and ever thirsting for greater challenges to overcome and glory to be earned, This was merely a rebellion against their already proven supremacy, and the god king's thunder-born abominations would find that the age of chaos would not fade into the annals of history so easily.
*****************
OOC:
Welcome one and all to what very well may be this site's first warhammer rp set in the Age of Sigmar. And it's a chaos themed one to boot! For you will all be playing as chaos marauders, reivers, gladiators or whatever you want to call yourselves. Not quite the status of chaos warriors with their magic infused weapons and rune etched warplate. You would still be viewed as mere 'chaff' by such esteemed killers. But that is also what you all hope to change.
You are all going to be playing members of a motly band of marauders drawn from the ranks of the spire tyrants. For those who don't know, the spire tyrants are a catch-all name for former slaves who have been thrown into the infernal crucible that is the Varanspire's fighting pits and against all odds emerged hardened & reborn. You've endured tortures and trials beyond the limits of mortal imagination and endurance, and after who knows how many years of ceaseless pain & slaughter you have now earned yourselves a quasi freedom, you are still undoubtedly Slaves to darkness, but you are no longer slaves to the arena. You have the rare opportunity to leave the Varanspire and venture into the wider realms in search of glory for yourselves, for Archeon and for the dark gods! Or you might die unremembered in some backwater ditch, your bones picked clean by feral cannibals. Just another failed aspirant of chaos. Your fates for better or worse, are you own to forge.
So, with all that out of the way i'm sure many people are still wondering, “Well that's lovely and all, but what the hell are we actually going to be doing?” A fair question. For the start of this game you will be exploring the eightpoints. In particular a region known as the Bloodwind spoil, which is a land of the Eightpoints between the Arcways that connect to Chamon, the Realm of Metal and Ghur, the Realm of Beasts. For the most part your goal is simple survival. You are common servants of chaos no different from millions of other chaff and would-be petty tyrants. You might dream of greatness and becoming true champions of the dark gods but that is a future you have to earn through blood, pain and trial. You will have to prove yourselves both too and against your fellow slaves to darkness. You will fight other servants of the dark gods just as much, if not more often than you would those of the god king and his allies. Sacrifices must be made, relics both profane and holy need to be secured and shrines to false gods desecrated. In short you will do anything and everything within your power to secure the patronage of powerful warlords, daemon princes, sorcerers and the like. Perhaps even earn a nod of recognition of the everchosen himself.
This is based heavily on the lore and factions introduced in the AoS skirmish game 'Warcry' if anyone is familiar with that you've probably already seen all the connections. If you're not familiar with it it's basically the fantasy version of kill team, but faster paced and more three dimensional.
I have no doubt that most people on this site aren't too familiar with AoS. That's fine, if you have any questions or want any clarification on things just ask. One of the advantages of doing this rp in AoS and with the spire tyrants in particular is players have more race options than just being human. Dwarves (There aren't anymore chaos dwarves as you knew them from WFB, that was something very specific. You would just be a dwarf who turned to chaos), any variety of beastmen & the visibly mutated, and elves of all stripes. Other races might be permissable, you just have to have a good pitch.
If you have any questions, comments or queries than please fire away.
*****************
The Bloodwind Spoil:
As stated above, the Bloodwind spoil is the stretch of realm specifically laying between the two major realmgates leading to Chamon and Ghur respectively. It is a heavily populated region rife with feuding chaos tribes, packs of feral greenskins, flocks of demons, and innumerable other terrors. The blood of nearly every species and peoples in the realms has stained it's blighted soil at one point or another.
These days The bloodwind spoil mostly serves as a series of expansive, albiet dangerous trade highways. Along which moves truly staggering number of slaves, resources and even whole armies. All flowing to or from the Varanspire to keep the great war machine of chaos churning ever forward.
In the age of myth It was home to mighty cities of dwarven ingenuity and Aelven culture. Once famed throughout the eightpoints for it's artisans and great libraries. Following the Age of Chaos, None of those cities or the architectural wonders they proudly boasted still stand. Archeon's generals made certain of that when he swept through and made the eightpoints his personal blightened domain. The black walled Varanspire stands taller and more imposing than anything previously built by the forces of order in these lands. And from it's terrible peak Archeon's rule over this realm is undisputed. Only the most insane would dare to defy the Everchosen's authority, and not even the most brave or capable warrior would survive such a boast.
While one might assume that over the course of many centuries these ruins have been picked clean time and again by scavangers and thrill seekers. It still proves true that no matter how many times one looks, there always seems to be new treasures just waiting to be discovered by those willing to look, and fight to keep them. The petty tribes of chaos literally clamour and butcher each other for even the meanest of these trinkets. For few outside of the sorcerer's of the Varanspire know if they are truly valuable. These sorcerers and warlords have a permanent bounty placed on and such treasures, which only spurs further violence and competition, for those who return with them often receive generous rewards and patronage.
There are other rewards to be earned of course. Long buried and forgotten secrets to satisfy the subtlest or most grandiose of ambitions, None of these should be pursued by the feint hearted or the weak of mind. Each of these rewards must be paid for in blood and agony. Many greater warriors than you have tried and failed to secure them.
*****************
Character Sheet:
This is what some typically armed pit fighters might look like for reference sake. Your character can be more lightly armoured than this but this is about as heavily armoured as anyone will be getting. No one must dress exactly like this, but it's a great reference for the type of equipment you would have. Crude, but effective.
** A note on weapons & equipment, I'm allowing a fair degree of freedom to personalize your character's weaponry and armour. You are all gladiators, and gladiators are both warriors and performers. They develop styles, flairs and attachements to particular weapons. I'm happy to permit a degree of flamboyancy in this regard. Just don't go into anime territory, and don't just plop down someone wearing a full freeguild uniform or some such either. There should still be some visible chaos influence. Also keep in mind that you are all still on the bottom rung of the chaos ladder, barely above common slaves in the eyes of your masters. So magic weapons and rune-eteched plate are not something you would have. Think more leather, bronze and iron. Even steel blades could be seen as a waste to be given to such lowly warriors as yourselves.
**** Many will notice that I don't have sections for personality or history. As a DM I prefer the elder scrolls approach to character backstory. That is for two reasons, the first being that I personally find writing and reading those blurbs to be tedious if not outright pointless. The second is for more narrative reasons, i.e Who your character was before they were broken and remade in the fighting pits of the varanspire means less than nothing to anyone. Two facts unites all the pc's, first you were all once slaves that were thrown to the crucible of the blood pits.
Second, you all emerged victorious and earned your quasi freedom. Who, how, why or when isn't important, What's important now is who you will become and what you are willing to sacrifice to sate your current ambitions.
That's not to say you can't come up with some deeply intricate and personal backstory and post it with your cs. But it's not strictly necessary and I wont hold anything against someone who doesn't want to write out a novella's worth of backstory. As far as i'm concerned, your character's transformation into a bloodthirsty gladiator of chaos could have left them mentally scarred with no recollection of their pathetic existence before the pits. That actually sounds pretty cool.
1x Thank
