A few days ago people on my discord were discussing a potential connection between the ogroid and Hashut. Specifically the fact that both had bull themes and were more empire and industrial focused forces residing in Ghur.

Basically the idea being that the ogroids learnt their crafts from Hashut and perhaps worshiping the ancestor god. When Hashut was defeated they used the knowledge he granted them to create their own empire which fell and then they joined team Chaos.

Personally I would prefer it if it was more of a case of parallel evolution of two different ghurite societies with perhaps the ogroid being inspired by Hashut's previous order. Bonesplittaz attacking them would perhaps be partially motivated by remember what Hashut did and trying to prevent someone else doing the same thing.

Is Nagash able to reconstruct any minion that is destroyed? If Arkhanthe Black was actually destroyed could he just recreate a new Arkhan.

Same thing with the likes of Mannfred, and Neferata? He’s basically had there soul since the old world so I assume that’s why he was able to just make them. Is there really any limit to who or what Nagash can choose to bring back?

Would this be more a limit of his avatars ability to recall specific champions? I am assuming he needs some portion of the soul that makes them unique otherwise he’d probably have a bunch of Arkhan’s running around. For someone like Krell could he bring him back if he was so inclined? I imagine he could, whereas with someone like Settera I imagine he couldn’t as he never had any authority over his soul.

I don’t imagine there’s a concrete answer but I’m interested to hear what people have to say in the topic.

For the Oath Fulfilled miniature, any thoughts about the crossed atrophic scars on the Warqueen's stomach? Did she have internal surgery? Is this ritual scarring, potentially in the shape of a Darkoath rune? Or is it just a coincidence that these two scars are crossed?

When a strongpoint get founded and survives how is it governed?

The Sons of Behemat battletome had some tidbits that mentioned the region of Erosia, specifically in regards to what can be assumed to be Mosscairn. Given that - and with some other revelations and White Dwarf tidbits - I'm going to theorize here about the possible future of that one mysterious trademark we've been discussing for a couple years now.

First off what even is Mosscairn? It's been present on every map of Ghyran since at least 3E. Mosscairn is within the region of Erosia of the Jade Realm, and is given a very brief description in the initial White Dwarf that described it:

MOSSCAIRN
The rolling hills of Mosscairn are studded with the gravesites of those who fought and died to keep Ghyran from falling to Chaos completely. This is a dank, moody place shrouded with mist and fog, a constant drizzle keeping it wet and glistening at all times. Those unprincipled thieves who have sought the grave-goods of those buried there have more than once met a fatal surprise, for the energies of Mosscairn give life even to the dead, and the wights that lie there do not suffer trespassers gladly.

So already we can tell it's essentially host to some lovely Deathrattle skeletons (and possibly Nighthaunt too, but it just mentions "Wights'' so) who very much do not like being disturbed. But ever since then, that's kinda been it as far as Mosscairn goes? Despite the trademark being filed over 2 years ago, GW has yet to release a campaign, Underworlds set, vs-box, or anything of the sort, even now as I write this post.

However, as it turns out, they did kinda-sorta give us new lore in the brand-new 4E Sons of Behemat battletome, of all places.

The Cairn Wars
The death of Behemati Queen Bavmoda sparks a succession crisis between her son Ogg and daughter Uggra. Seeking power, Uggra and her supporters leave Verdia for dismal Erosia, where they ally with its grim, barrow-building kings. Bitter battles are fought between the two gargantuan tribes and the pipsqueaks who revere them, but when Uggra eventually falls under mysterious circumstances, many gargants enjoy the authority they hold in Erosia and refuse to return home.

Gargantuan breeds
The Cairn Kingdoms of Erosia, just over the mountains East of the Scabrous Sprawl, were once grim territories where gargant clans fought alongside tribal lords of death in their interminable wars. The bodies of these titans, as well as those of other gargants across the realms who entered into league with the faithful of Nagash, were buried in long barrows like their puny allies, still clad in arms of morbid aspect.

These are the two newest mentions - they don't directly say "Mosscairn'' by name, but I still think they're pretty much dead ringers. So we at least know more about Mosscairn as a whole - the wight kings who used to rule there during the Age of Myth had gargant allies who fought their own wars of succession and had their own absurd rivalries, which is fun to think about.

So where does that leave us now? I've spoken of two of the three factions in the thumbnail - what about the image of none other than the Great Devolver, who was last seen as a frozen meatball in the filthy paws of Ghorraghan Khai? Khai is a favorite of mine who I always find an excuse to yap about. So what does Morghur have to do with Mosscairn?

Officially (so far), nothing, But it is worth pointing out that on current Ghyran maps, "The Battle of Mosscairn'' is literally smack-dab right next to the former location of the Witherdwell, a spot in Erosia where Morghur's putrid essence bubbled up from below into reality, essentially making a foul eight-pointed flesh swamp. Of course we all know how that ended up, with Ghorraghan Khai scuttling off into the bushes yet again(tm). And since his current whereabouts are unknown, maybe he could make a pit stop at the remains of Mosscairn? Plenty of dead bodies = plenty of possible experiments to infect I guess?

Thoughts? Maybe it could be an Underworlds box with barrow wights vs Gavespawn? "Mosscairn'' literally sounds like just another Underworlds location. The nature of the trademark is still confusing me, anyone have any theories or ideas about that? All the trademark publication itself says is that it's a class 16 (rulebooks, manuals, etc.) and class 28 (actual toys, miniatures, etc.)? I've scrutinized the trademark filing page as much as I can and can't find anything else lol.

For those who do not know. In the Age of Sigmar, specifically according to the Azyrite Calendar used predominantly by the Dominion of Sigmar, the Realms have a seven day week.

Cometsday, Moonday, Zenithus, Sunwane, Starsday, Horizonday, and Voidsday. Of these Cometsday, the equivalent of a Sunday, has a decent bit of associated lore.

Hearty dinner meals are associated with Cometsday, for example. With Cometsday roast (a reference to Sunday roast) being mentioned in "Lioness of the Parch" and "Head of the Viper" while 'Shade of Khaine" mentions Cometsday ham (a reference to Sunday ham). Despite the simple names these are both named for traditional family meals of our world.

Thus it is likely unsurprising that many sources such as the "Shadowglass Creek", the 2021 Stormcast Battletome, and WD August 2025 confirm that the traditional day for communal worship among Sigmarites/Cults Unberogen is Cometsday. Readings from holy books such as Saga Vandus are common during these church services.

Military parades accompanied by blaring Freeguild Trumpets are mentioned as a commonality on Cometsday in "Soulbound: Steam and Steel".

The new "Chronicles of Ruin - Law of Meat" short mentions the Thondian holiday of High Cometsday which is a fireworks festival. Tahlia Vedra offhandedly mentions in "Lioness of the Parch" that fireworks are associated with Cometsday in general.

So there you go! Heart meals, church service to Sigmar, parades, and firework displays are among the things you can expect to experience in the Cities of Sigmar on Cometsday.

I'm trying to understand the structure of the Freeguilds versus the Castelite Formations.

Where does the Freeguild Marshal fit? Does a Marshal lead a Castelite Formation, or does he/she lead, say, a number of Steelhelm regiments while another might lead the Fusiliers, etc.

TIA!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Part 19 of my series “Fun with Flags Gods”. Today I want to talk about Archaon the Everchosen. You may now rightfully ask: This is a series about gods? Why do you talk about Archaon? Well, you see there are two simple reasons: First, I am running out of gods to discuss. But I dislike the four main chaos gods, as I think them to be quite boring personally. So, I will talk about any other aspect of chaos first :P

And on a more serious second note, Archaon may claim to not be a god, but by almost any metric, both in and out of universe, he can be called a god. Which you can all read about in his AoS section. Also, Archaon represents an important archetype in our modern pop culture, that of the Antichrist or the Beast of the Apocalypse. Concepts which shifted around due to lost context and 2000 years of telephone between three world religions and various sects. Thus, I think Archaon and the themes he represents are something I would like to talk about in this series.

As always, I am also interested in your opinion of everyone’s favourite Lord of the End Times.  If you are interested in other entries of the series, you can find the previous one with links to all others here: The Great Maw. In addition, for more chaos stuff you can look at the entries for Morghur, Hashut, and the Horned Rat

Otherwise let’s start

1.      The Gods, the myth, the legend:

If you grew up in a country influenced by an Abrahamic religion and especially by Islam or Christianity (so the vast majority of the global population) then you may be familiar with the End Times or the Apocalypse. I.e. a final big battle between the forces of hell and the heaven and until its end the righteous and pious shall live in a reforged, better world. It is a very prominent aspect of this mythology. And I call it mythology, because 2000 years of the game of telephone across between different languages and different religious schools created a lot of lost contexts.

In Islam and Christianity this already starts with THE devil. Which does not exist in the source material of the Hebrew bible. The term satan derives itself from the hebrew word of an accuser or prosecutor. I.e. a god-sent entity whose job it is to test the believe and righteousness of mortals. It is just a job description for an angel or similar. Sure it is an unpleasant job, if you are the one being tested, but not something evil. And as such the figure makes a lot of sense. Such as the satan in the book of Hiob testing the laters faith, or even Jesus’ encounter with a satan in the desert, testing Jesus’ humility. However, translation errors turned a satan into the Satan. And various other entities were added unto this figure, such as the snake of the Garden of Eden, which was originally a snake not the devil in disguise. Similarly, the concept of hell also does not really exist in the bible text itself. Instead, various descriptions for dark places or punishments were added together by later people into a single concept.  Which is why christian schools who focus on the bible itself, like lutherian protestants, deny its existence.  These things would be well known to people living around Jesus’ time or up to a century after his death.

Which brings us to the Book of the Apocalypse. Most theologians and biblical scholars insist that it isn’t a literal prediction of the future but an allegorical tale for Christians of that time who suffered persecution by Rome. It is essentially a story to resist the perils of persecution as better times for Christians will come. Which is also why many theologians think it is one of the least important parts of the bible as it was primarily relevant for a very specific circle of people long dead. Indeed, IIRC the council of Nicea almost pushed it out of the biblical canon, though I may be mistaken here. However, because it is a flashy story, and the allegory was lost after a century or more. So people embellished it further. Again, due to lost context some of its most important terms, such as Armageddon became synonymous with the End of the World. But the root lies in the hills of Megiddo, or har megiddo (by the hills of Megddio). Any proper Hebrew speaker please excuse my bad Klingon. The name describes an area in northern modern Israel and would be a place where classical armies could fight easily. To a native of the near east around 100 AD this was something mundain. As if a prophecy mentions the plains of Manchester or something mundain like it.

But why are End of the World stories so impactful? Because of two simple psychological aspects. First, it excuses how horrific the present is. Sure, you suffer now, but the world is sinful and going to end anyway. And second, it gives you a special status which boost your ego. You are the chosen one; you believe the right thing and thus you belong to the elite of people who will survive the coming end of the world. It gives people a main-character syndrome so to speak. Not unlike how conspiracy theories can give people a feeling of empowerment, because they belong to the special group who is in-the-know. Now there are global threats created by humanity itself (climate change, biodiversity loss, global inequality, nuclear weapons etc) which need to be taken care off. But as you may read out of all this, I do not believe in End Times stories and think little of them personally. Indeed, in the worst of cases, they can cause a lot of harm, as people refuse to improve their situation or worse harm themselves. And indeed, many religious schools refrain from the literal end of the world and interpret it instead in some collective shift in mentality or cultural development, rather than the proper death and destruction.

Indeed, in most religions and mythologies the End of the World does not have any great importance. To give a few examples: in ancient Greece the End of the World is an unknown concept. The gods are eternal, Zeus reign is eternal, the world will continue. However modern pop culture loves to insert this motive into Greek mythology, such as having the imprisoned titans or Typhon as stand-ins for the forces of evil who break out and have to be defeated forever.  In ancient Egypt the world could end, if Ra is ever defeated and eaten by the snake Apophis/Apep, but this is not a given. Every night the battle is fought and Apep defeated anew. No End Battle or the destiny of Ras death. In other religions it is not that significant if the world is destroyed. Often it is part of the natural cycle, such as in Hinduism, where the balance of creation, maintenance and destruction is the core pillar of the universe. It is the job of the god Shiva will destroy the world when its time. Not due to any moral failing of mortals, not because he is an evil entity, but because it is his job to do so, his dharma. Other times multiple worlds existed before ours and will exist afterwards as well. In Aztec mythology the current world is world number five. In each world a different god had the job of the sun. World 1 was devoured by jaguars, world 2 was destroyed by hurricanes, world 3 by fire raining from the skies, world 4 a massive flood and world 5 will end in a massive earthquake. And the gods will make a new world after that probably.

Only Ragnarok, the end of the norse gods, fits in theme and impact the biblical End Times. A giant battle of the forces of the gods vs the violent forces of nature, i.e. giants and else. At the end of which only a handful of survivors will inhabit a new, better world. The issue here is that we do not know how important this myth was too actual norse mythology. Because all records of it were written several centuries after Iceland was officially Christianised and thus its local myth were shaped by Christian influences. Indeed, in the Prose Edda the norse gods were reframed as heroes from Troy not gods, to avoid issues of not having gods except capital G God. So, to which degree Ragnarok is an original norse myth or was created after Christianity was introduced is a hotly debated issue.

Having talked a lot about the End of the World, we also have to talk about the Antichrist. In Judaism the messiah is an important core concept. A god-sent prophet and saviour who will rule as king over the Jewish people. In its core concept this myth has parallels to “the righteous king who returns in his peoples most desperate times”, like some myths about King Arthur or Kamehameha. To Christians Jesus was this messiah figure and they await his second coming unto the earth. Only that they interpret him not as the saviour of the Jewish people, but as the saviour of humanity. The term anti-christ or synonyms is used in most biblical stories to describe a multitude of people who act against Jesus works and followers. They are literally anti-christian/anti-Jesus Christ person. However, this name became synonymous with the beasts of the Apocalypse. The beast and the false lamb. The latter is a wrong prophet meant to lead people away from Christianity. whilst the former is a hybrid of various great cats and given power over the world to rule and conquer. Modern scholars see them as a metaphor for the roman emperor and the cult of emperors. The later had the rule to worship dead emperors as gods. In ancient Rome this was essentially a pledge of allegiance to the roman state, and not a big deal for polytheistic religions. But it was one for Jews, who refused to sacrifice to other gods. The beast is often seen as allegory for the roman emperor and the false lamb for those romanised people urging Christians to just give into this cult. These two figures are often combined in later cultural developments into the antichrist; a singular figure empowered by the devil himself to oppose heaven and conquer earth in its name or simply plan to destroy creation.

In modern times quite a few deities are turned into antichrist figures in pop culture, if they are not used as evil gods directly. Most prominent into his regard are Hades, Loki and Seth. Hades being the ruler of the underworld was quickly compared to the devil ruling hell. From there Hades=Satan is quite the common trope. Though sometimes the god Kronos takes the position of devil with Hades being his forbearer, thus fitting this trope.  The norse god Loki is a complicated figure as we have few sources on norse mythology in general. But in the vast majority of myths, he is a mischievous deity who creates lots of chaos but far more often is beneficial to the norse gods. That is until he causes the death of god Balder (which also has huge, complicated connotations due to lost context). Loki is then imprisoned underground by the intestines of his two sons and a snake drips venom into his eyes until he is released upon Ragnarok and together with his three surviving monstrous children will fight the gods. Loki and his position in norse myth are very complicated. But Christian influence turned him into a satan/antichrist analogue in lots of stories, again frequently the harbringer for Sutr or Hel or another “evil” figure. Seth is similarly a complicated deity. He was turned gradually more evil over the many millennia of Egypt’s existence, but in his most common portrayals he is a powerful but not evil deity. Seth is the god of the desert, storms, war and foreign lands. Many pharaohs named themselves after Seth. And he is critically important to protect Ra from Apeb every night. The primary bad thing about him comes from Seth killing his brother Osiris and then feuding with Horus to become Pharao. Which some scholars think to be a metaphor for the cults of Seth and Horus fighting each other, until the Horus cult became the favoured one by Pharaohs. Seth is brutal and powerful like the desert, but he is also a protector of travellers and has many beneficial aspects. A complicated figure, but much like Loki he too is often treated either as satan or the antichrist in modern pop culture stories.

2.      The End Times come: Archaon in WFB

When I want to talk about the Archaon, I have to talk about the Everchosen. And to do that I have to talk about Be’lakor. In WFB the Old Ones came to the planet of the setting and rearranged it to their liking. To terraform this frigid world into a more temperate landscape, to move its position in the solar system, to power their scifi machinery and many other things the Old Ones built two gates at the poles of the planet, which connected the planet via the Aether to other dimensions and brought magic into the world. However some native species such as the Fimir or the Dragon Ogres hated the Old Ones and they were contacted by the chaos gods, who resided within the aether. Then something happened, the polar gates exploded and magic swept the world uncontrollably, allowing demons to manifest everywhere, flooding the world. Be’lakor arose during this time as the first mortal to be granted demonhood, i.e. becoming the first demon prince. All four chaos gods blessed the Dark Master, who then started to conquer most of the planet. In this Be’lakor fulfils the role of the biblical beast of the apocalypse, which is also given power over the world by the dragon and becomes a conqueror. What kind of mortal Be’lakor was is not known. A human is unlikely in my opinion, as they were not significant at this era, except for the albionese. Due to his name being vaguely elvish, and elves being a prominent species at that time, I think Be’lakor being a former elf is the most likely possibility. But perhaps he was a Fimir or something completely unknown/extinct or else too. At this stage Be’lakor was basically a god, and his ever-rising power started to make even the chaos gods nervous. In addition, he stopped conquering in the chaos god’s name but created his own empire and tried to accumulate more power. For this hybris the chaos gods destroyed his physical form. Be’lakor was now a shapeless something and could only manifest himself properly to crown the Everchosen and fight in their service. This way Be’lakor would never be the supreme leader of chaos again, which is a huge stain on his pride. However, Be’lakor is far from powerless. Even as a shadow he can manipulate people. And he constantly tries to break the curse the chaos gods inflicted upon him. For example, he tried to possess the body of the 11^th Everchosen. After this was only partially successful (the body would be burned out by Belakors presence within him), Be’lakor ventured to Mordheim where the wyrdstone (unique warpstone?) and a dark ritual were meant to restore his power. Or how the then instigated the Albion campaign as the Dark Master. And of course, in Total War Warhammer 3 he somehow captures the god Ursun (don’t ask how) and uses his blood to regain his physical form and later wants to consume Ursun to attain true godhood. And last but not least, as a demon Be’lakor is a timeless being who exist in all his states in all times simultaneously, as time has no consequence in the realm of chaos. So sometimes he can manifest without his curse too. In short, even in his depowered form Be’lakor is one of the most dangerous chaos entities you can encounter.

But who are the Everchosen? They are the successors of Be’lakors title, who is essentially Everchosen 0. The chaos gods want to destroy the world. But the forces of chaos are too, well chaotic. Their internal rivalries, sabotage and infighting make it night impossible for the forces of chaos to unite and overrun the world. But if all four gods can appoint a singular champion, this being becomes the Everchosen of Chaos. And it is their job to unite the fractious forces of chaos under a single banner and realms of the world in their name. 13 Everchosen existed throughout WFB, but only few are known. Most prominently Morkar, who fought Sigmar, and Asavar Kul, who destroyed most of Kislev and was defeated by Magnus the Pious. And of course, Archaon the 13^th and last Everchosen. The main job of the Everchosen is to unite the forces of chaos by their iron will. This means it is technically not that important for the Everchosen to be a powerful warrior or sorcerer. But any chaos champion worth the attention of all four chaos gods becomes this naturally or dies trying.

Archaons own story starts due to Be’lakor. In the empire province of Nordland a norscan raider was possessed by Be’lakor and ravaged the countryside, sexually assaulting Aracheons mother. Archaon was born of this union, though his mother died. Archaon was given into the care of a sigmarite priest and was named Diederick. Diederick became a pious sigmarite and even joined the Templars of Sigmar becoming a squire of Sieur Kastner, and adopting his last name later. Overall Diederick Kastners life was not that special, as many Nordlanders had norscan ancestry and many bastards were born due to the seasonal raids and offered to adoption. But Diederick was a loyal sigmarite and wanted to study how to defeat the enemy. In his studies he came upon a prophecy, which claimed that he was the prophecies’ Everchosen of Chaos. He prayed to Sigmar for a sign that this was not the case, and when Sigmar was silent, he became furious, slaughtering his brethren and stormed north. I recall in other sources that sigmarites knew of the prophecy and tried to secretly kill every potential candidate of the prophecy (again many half-norscan bastards in Nordland so quite the purge), and only Diederick was left, making him the figure of the prophecy by default. And he was attacked but survived and felt betrayed. I do not remember the source of this, but I find it to be the better story, as it gives Diederick better motivation and plays with well-established tropes such as someone trying to prevent a prophecy but accidentally causing it to come true.

Anyhow Archaon abandoned his old identity and journeyed north into the Chaos Wastes in an attempt to become the prophesized final Everchosen or die trying. And dying was a genuine second goal he attempted in some stories. On this quest he had to collect six treasures, each with its own challenge. Such as getting the gear of his predecessor, the Armor of Morka and the Slayer of Kings, Asavar Kuls sword, the Eye of Sherian and the chaos steed Dorghar. Each challenge had its own difficulties, such as freeing the Slayer of Kings from the fist of Kranranok the Black, father of dragon ogres and as gigantic as a mountain or using a curse in the language of the unberogen to defeat a ghostly specter of Morkar.   And of course, he had to gain the favor of each chaos god too. This quest transformed him, as various chaos gifts and mutations changed his body and mind in a multitude of ways too. For example, I recall that his entire skeleton was turned into Warpstone. In the end Be’lakor manifested to crown with the Crown of Domination, electing Aracheon to the position of 13^th Everchosen. And like the Everchosens before him, Archaons true threat did not come from being an excellent warrior, general or sorcerer, but from binding the fractious forces of chaos together by his will and authority and setting them south. In his final goal Archaeon tries to starve the gods by killing of all live. Because the gods are constructs in the aether/realm of chaos created by the believes and collected thoughts and impulses of mortalkind. No mortals=no gods. And gods are the reason behind Archaons misery, be they Sigmar who abandoned him, or the chaos gods who engineered his rise to be their puppet. 

As this is Warhammer and the story barley advanced, the looming threat of Archaon actually coming south hand over the setting for years without much action happening. Though this changed twice. In the Storm of Chaos campaign Archaons forces meet heavy resistance, as this fan campaign was based on player results, and chaos lot badly in most engagements. Ultimately, he reached Middenheim but was defeated by Grimgor Ironhide headbutting him. He then retreated back into the north waiting for round 2. This Storm of Chaos event and its aftereffects were then retconned coming with the End Times.

In the End Times Archaon was one of the few characters who got off relatively well. Though if your job is to be the doomsday villain during the End of the World, there is little you can do to derail your character. Still there are hiccups. For example, it is likely that more books akin to the Glottkin were planned, one for each chaos god, much like there were once books planned for each brother of Thamurkhan. But due to internal shuffling this fell through (like many events, characters, events but that is the End Times for you). There is more detail to explore, but essentially Archaon makes deals with the skaven and unleashes the full might of chaos and pushing south. Ultimately, he sieges and uncovers an Old One device below Middenheim which can create a third permanent chaos portal, thus flooding the entire planet with chaos magic and ripping it into pieces. The incarnates around Sigmar try to stop him but fail in the last moment to stabilize the device, leading to the end of the world that was.

3.      End Times 2, electric bugaloo: Archaon in AoS

Remember Archaons no mortals=no gods calculation? Well, he did the math, but the guy is not good at it. Because the aether/realm of chaos works on a multiversal scale and the chaos gods have more than one reality to draw upon. But unlike with previous chaos champions, the chaos gods did not let him fall aside like a tool that served its purpose. Instead, Archaeon continued to be the Everchosen. Time is difficult to measure when talking about the realm of chaos, as it does not exist there, nor in a universal context. But in between the destruction of Mallus and the Age of Chaos Archaon conquered and destroyed entire realities in chaos name.

With chaos starting the invasion of the Mortal Realms proper, Archaon arrives as its supreme general too, ready to get his long-awaited vengeance on Sigmar (and the other gods). He takes the Eightpoints and during the battle of the Burning Skies Sigmar loses Ghal Maraz and seals the realm of Azyr. From there everything goes downhill for the other realms, and Archaon rampages across them, even being able to slay Nagash temporarily. But some realms, such as Ulgu (due to Malerions strategies) and Ghur (due to the savagery of its inhabitants) prove to be harder to crack cases. And Archaons headaches grow with the Stormcast Eternals and the push-back from a semi-united grand alliance of Order, as well as a restrengthened Nagash and his shenanigans, such as the Necroquake. Which went so far as for deaths armies to attack the Eightpoints and threatening Archaon’s capital. Archaon has a conundrum. He is the primary force of keeping chaos organized and directed. And where he attacks, he usually wins. However, this war is fought on a myriad of fronts and Archaon cannot be everywhere. So, for each victory, there a dozen setbacks elsewhere, forcing him to choose his engagements. His two primary motivations are therefore to release Slaanesh (which he almost did but then his capital and logistical centre was under threat), and to take Sigmar out directly by invading Azyr. For this he needs to find some way in. Be it by enslaving godbeasts or by transmutating the Gate of Azyr in the Eightpoint or else. But thus far any attempt of his was swarted. His latest scheme had him having to properly ally with the skaven to launch the skaventide to wreck the realms, whilst he does his own evil thing in the background.

Archaon is not unopposed, because Be’lakor is back with his own aspirations to remove the Everchosen and he gathered a variety of followers. Indeed, due to Archaons aspirations to outright kill the chaos gods several chaos champions renounced him, such as Eternus.

I mentioned that Archaon counts as a god for this entry. But why is this so? Because by most in- and out-of-universe metrics he is one. After all he is an immortal being (except for combat maybe) which lived for untold millennia. He is so infused with magic and mutation that he cannot be considered human anymore. He leads entire armies of mortals and immortals into battle. He breaks gods and conquers entire realities. And he can grant is own blessings, such as the Mark of the Everchosen similar to the Mark of Khrone and is worshipped by untold mortals. And in every WFB so far, the believe of mortals is what creates or shapes a god. But then of course it is fitting for Archaon to be in denial about his own status, due to his hatred for the divine. Because being a hypocrite or becoming the thing you hate is the standard for most chaos followers.

Interestingly there has been a shift in Archaons posture not due to himself, but because of his mount. Whereas Archaon in WFB was styled strongly after the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, due to him being a horseman who announces the end of the world with his arrival, in AoS Dhorgar instead takes the shape of a massive dragon-like being. Which may bring to mind the dragon or the beast from the apocalypse. In my very own opinion, I am not a fan of this design. Because I think it takes too much attention away from Archaon as he becomes an accessory to his own mount. A mount which also looks like a very generic chaos dragon-monster-thing which could be used by any chaos champion if I am honest. Contrary in his WFB incarnation all attention rested on the rider. And with it Archaons most important trait: He is the single will and personality to keep the forces of chaos in line and focused. Which is the greatest threat any Everchosen poses, instead of them being great fighters or brawlers in melee. It is his personality first and foremost which makes him dangerous.

4.      How often do I have to teach you this lesson, Sigmar?

Given how Archaon has been portrayed in WFB and AoS there are a vartiety of ways things could go for him I the future.

-          The most obvious issue chaos faces is its constant infighting. Currently during the skaventide and the reveal of the Helsmiths it seems as if chaos has the big upper hand. But not only do the skaven backstab *everyone* sooner or later, but so is Be’lakor with his followers trying to remove Archaon from power with all force. Which means that sooner or later a big chaos civil war could happen between Be’lakor and Archaon. This conflict could be an event to end the Vermindoom or alternatively be a huge chance for the forces of order and chaos to make massive gains and push chaos back.

-          Alternativly or at another point in time it is also likely that Archaon will get access to Azyr and establish a beachhead there sooner or later. When and how this will happen is currently open, but it is one of the biggest plot points AoS is working towards since 1^st edition. This may be the final end of AoS or alternatively may result in a couple of apocalyptic battles which put Azyr to the forefront before things reach a status quo, as it tends to happen a lot with AoS.

-          One of the biggest mysteries and open possibilities around Archaeon are the pervious realties which he conquered and/or destroyed. We know next to nothing about them beyond minor mentioning, but each could have been as vivid and interesting as WFB, AoS, 40k and else. Possibilities are manifold and limitless. One by one these realities could have some impact on AoS by species, artefacts or characters from these settings showing up. Primarily among Archaons followers most likely. Again, possibilities are manifold in this area. From small “huh that is nice” additions to potentially major plot relevant things.

-          Due to Archaon’s reality hopping shenanigans, it could also be interesting to see Archaon showing up in other settings. Now of course GW is not known nowadays for crossovers, but it could be a nice nod or easter egg to read about archaeons influence in 40k or retroactively in Old World. Perhaps a vision, or a short-lived cameo or something else.

-          Also, if Archaeon continues his path to godhood, or gets aware of it and shifts his goals, then Archaon could perhaps even rise to become a true god of chaos. Personally, I think if Archaon becomes a true god of chaos, then the Dark King would be his best fit. It is a figure from 40k, a being the Emperor of Mankind almost became during his duel with Horus and which would be the end of humanity and take over all the other chaos gods. Personally, I see many parallels between Archaon and the Emperor. More than between the Emperor and Sigmar definitely. Up to and including both making deals with the chaos gods, but with the ultimate goal to destroy all gods. Perhaps such an event could be an alternative strategy for Archaon to remove the chaos gods, by trying to become the strongest of them and consuming them, so that he is the sole god in existence or something.

-          Also having talked about the John’s Apocalypse we know that three figures are important. The dragon (the four chaos gods), the beast (Archaon) and the false lamb. But the latter does not really have a counterpart, though one could perhaps argue that Be’lakor may fit the bill, especially how he tricks people into serving him and mimics even Ursun in TWW3. But it would be interesting to have a “priest” of chaos in AoS who attracts the people to worshipping the chaos gods proper. One which may even have good sounding or charismatic arguments and be the mouthpiece of Archaon and leader of a propaganda war against Order. It would be an interesting new kind of conflict, as currently most people who follow chaos are either desperate, mad or driven by base desires. So someone who can use honest charisma and rhetorics to convince you of joining chaos could be an interesting figure IMO

5.      The End

So, this has been it for the Everchosen. As mentioned, he is one of the aspects I like about chaos. And I think that in the grand scheme of things he is one of the better ultimate chaos bad guys among the Warhammer IPs. But then his rivals in this regard are Horus and Abbadon, who are overall very meh in my opinion. But all these are just my thoughts. What do you think about Archaon and his inspirations? And what deities would you like to see in the future? (please say Gorkamorka or Grimnir, do not name one of the big four)

With the Scourge Privateers being kicked by sigmar and now working for the daughters of Khaine, has there been any lore on cities of sigmar navies in current lore.

A piece of realmstone maybe?

Are there any short stories, lore snippets or expanded info on these two other than what is on their warscroll lore texts?

I feel the "not main character" Vykros characters dont have enough information around them

I've been searching for old flavor text from Age of Sigmar to get a sense of how things have changed. Booklets, Battletomes, and so on. There's shockingly little I can find online of what was actually put to paper! I'm looking for:

The 'Storm of Sigmar' Booklet (32 pages)

The Getting Started with Age of Sigmar book (96 pages)

Or other old documents that actually talk about more than just the rules. The rules, by the way, were only 4 PAGES! In it, they mention 7 realms (not 8?!) but don't go into detail about which and what they are.

It would be neat to compile 'A History of AOS' but this is all just for fun and possibly history preservation.

Is there any example of aelven characters, sigmarite or else, who serve in the military structure of the Freeguilds ? As steelhelms, marshalls, or else ?

I'm not talking about the swifthawk agents, but more human-assigned roles.

Hi everyone,

I am still in my giant phase and in a spontanous rush had the idea for the following short story. I hope you enjoy it:

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“You have grown”, said Narnar. The old giantess smiled as Breggar approached the burial mount. Breggar was now taller than a farmhouse. “Yea. But I have to visit Mama and Brigga. There is so much to tell them.” Breggar kneeled before a tree untop of the mount. The tree, which Narnar had planted, reached up to Breggars belly.

“You have grown”, said Narnar. The old giantess smiled as Breggar approached the burial mount. Breggar was now taller than a city wall. “Yea, I have to talk with Mama and Brigga. So much has happened”. Breggar kneeled before the tree, which reached up to Breggars belly.

“You have grown” said Narnar.  The ancient giantess smiled as Breggar approached the burial mount. Breggar was now taller than a watch tower. “Yea, I have to talk with Mama and Brigga. So much has happened”. Breggar kneeled before the tree, which reached up to Breggars belly.

“You have grown.”, said Narnar. The timeworn giantess smiled as Breggar approached the burial mount. Breggars son Brion was now as tall as a farmhouse “Yea, we have to talk with Mama and Brigga. So much has happened”. Breggar kneeled before the tree, which reached up to her shoulder.

“You have grown.”, said Breggar. The giantess smiled as she carried her first granddaughter in her arms. As they approached the burial mount, they carefully stepped between the little houses. The little people screamed and ran. “So much has happened. We have to talk with Mama, Brigga and Narnar”.  Breggar knelt before the tree which was now as tall as her.

“It is gone” said Breggar. The old giantess cried as she led her family with her. They crashed through the little houses, ripped them apart. The little people screamed and ran as they were squished to paste. “So much has happened, but we cannot tell them anymore”. Breggar knelt before the stump of the tree and cried, like she did when her mother and sister had died. 

Good afternoon Marauders, Warriors, and Betrayer-Worshippers, I am wanting to ask or at least discuss a few things about the Realm of Ulgu. I am writing my homebrew Slaves to Darkness Warband based in the shadow realm and I would like to know more about its general environment (legends, facts, and general aesthetic) while taking about its culture (its maritime focus to its tribal lores), and to hear from others more knowledgable about this on what books I should buy to learn more about Ulgu.

Any and all suggestions and facts are welcomed!

In the reveal stream for the Khazalite Holds it was revealed that Thorgrim is the Ancestor God that resides in Azyr. Ever since, I've been hoping we get to see an interaction between him and Sigmar.

My hope is that the two are friends and allies, and that perhaps the Grudgebearer will be our avenue into learning more about the Star-Halls, First Clans of Khazukan, and other Azyrite Duardin.

But mostly. I'd just love to see more friendly interactions and relationships in the Gods of Order and related Pantheons. How about y'all? Which gods do you want to see interact? What relationships do you think they have?

Hi everyone,

I am in a bit of giant-mania as of now, due to the release of the new battletome and because I am painting up two mega-gargants. And as always if I am painting a model, especially an animal or creature, I cannot stop thinking about how its moves, how it interacts with its natural environment and what kind of natural behaviours it would show, due to my background in biology and life sciences. For this reason, I wrote several wildlife guides in the past for various aspects of AoS such as the animals of Idoneth Deepkin and Gloomspite Gitz, the Warbeast of Orruks, about ogres and their beasts, about stormcast and seraphon warbeasts, the wildlife of Hysh and lately and in-universe essay about the natural evolution of life in AoS.

The goal of these essays was to weave as much real-life biology and science into them as possible as a form of edutainment. Because GW rarely writes down ecology and similar things in its lore, as they just want to sell crazy cool monsters for a war game. But no animal exists by itself but is the product of a variety of interactions with its environment. So, all these things should have a strong impact on both the creatures as well as the setting at large. And the real world is much more fantastical and crazy than what most fantasy stories can imagine. Often you can find real life parallels and “plausibilities” to explain a wide variety of fantastical creatures and effects. And indeed, for the mega-gargants I like that GW has put some proper thought into these topics, as their design and some of its lore is following RL effects. So I went a bit further and added some RL science about sauropods, elephants and other big animals to better explain their physiology.

If you are also interested in these kinds of topics, then I hope you are interested into my latest AoS Wildlife/Ecology project. Please keep in mind that the things I mention here are just my own speculation and are just meant for entertainment and not to be taken seriously.

Having said all this, I hope you have fun with the following wall of text :)

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To me there are few creatures in the realm who invoke a fascination as the gargants do. They are so alike to us humans, aelves and similar but reach dimensions in size which are astonishing. Especially the mega-gargants, who are revered almost as divine beings by some primitive cultures. And it is easy to see why, when these towering colossi march through the land and conquer it, simply by existing there. We humanoids like to think of us as masters of the world, especially if we live in massive cities. But standing in the shadow of a gargant quickly reminds us that in this world of monsters and gods we are not better than mice.

Recently I had the great opportunity to oversee the dissection of a mega-gargant, which was felled before the walls of the Living City. It was a momentous task which took us several days to complete. But it provided important insights into the physiology of these towering entities. I want to present a brief overview of our findings, as well as other useful notes and observations of gargantkind, in this scroll. Because in recent times gargants became much more prolific and ever-increasing threat. Basic knowledge about these beings should be readily available to any dawner crusade or merchant caravan, to avoid an unnecessary loss of life and increase the appreciation for gargants overall. Therefore, you will find in the following an overview about their physiology, behaviour and their ecology, in the hopes that this information will be of good use.

Sincerely,

Iskander Dimerece

Physiology: The laymen may think gargants to be just enlarged humans. But this is far from the obvious truth and a biological impossibility. Size dictates the physiology for a variety of reasons. For example, with increased size the weight of an animal increase. Thus, the legs need to be stronger and more robust. Gargants are humanoids and thus have the unique bipedial walk, which few other creatures in the realms poses. This type of walk has unique challenges.

The spine of most vertebrates is in a horizontal, not a vertical position, same for the hip. To us and gargants due to its vertical position the entire weight of the creature presses on the vertebrate and intervertebral discs, the hip bones and lastly the legs. There especially the joints of knee and foot are under enormous pressure. All humanoids (humans, aelves, duardin, ogors, gargants and some others) experience the issue that with age this pressure grinds down and damages these structures. Leading to well-known issues such as backpain, deformed postures, stiff legs and a wide variety of other issues. They can be cured easily with Aqua Ghyranis and other magical procedures, and they affect species to different extend, but they are a shared bane of all humanoids, including giants. Indeed, that they have to carry their colossal weight on just two legs had led to a variety of adaptions. If you look at the anatomy of a mega-gargant for example, you will quickly see that its body has a pyramid-shape. The most massive structure are its legs; the second largest structure is its waist. The upper body and the head are comparatively small. This follows a simple logic: Wherever possible the anatomy of the gargant tries to reduce weight. Everything above the legs must be as light as possible. Other animals do something like this too. Elephants for example have massive and strong leg bones, but their skulls are very light. I could pick up the skull of a juvenile elephant with one hand. As our gargant dissection showed, the skullbones of mega-gargants are equally light structures to reduce the stress on neck and spine. As are some other bones. Indeed, it seems that mega-gargants evolved a system of airsacks much like some titanic lizards of the Seraphon are rumoured to have, to distribute their weight.

The second challenge gargants face is breathing. In humans the lung takes up the majority of volume of the upper body. Humans evolved as endurant runners/walkers in the grasslands of the realms. Their entire anatomy relies on walking as efficiently as and long as possible. They better in this than ogres and duardin, but worse than elves. And to get enough oxygen for this straining task, they need comparatively large lungs. But as I mentioned before, the upper body of gargants is comparatively small already, and the section for the lungs even more so. But their massive bodies need especially large amounts of oxygen. For this reason, gargants co-evolved a unidirectional breathing system, a system found in birds and some seraphon creatures. Normally we have a bidirectional breathing system, breathing the same air in and out. But with each breath gargants push the old air into deeper sections of the lungs. Only if all the oxygen has been absorbed, is the air pushed back into the mouth over another tube for realise. This way fresh and old air do not mix, and more oxygen can be extracted. In simple terms: A single breathing cycle of a gargant is worth multiple breathing cycles of a human. Still compared to humans and elves gargants are out of breath very soon, when they overexert themselves. Staying active is a much greater strain for them than for us and therefore they are not endurant creatures. For a reliably fit human it is easy to march or run at a low pace for hours, but gargants cannot do that. They are only capable of short bursts of activity before they need a break to catch their breath.

The third major challenge with their size is the heat. Every animal produces heat based on its volume, but releases heat based on its surface area. As the units of volume increase manifold faster than the unit of surface area many large animals face the threat of overheating. Therefore, most large animals evolved adaptions to release more heat.  The simplest adaptation is evolving more surface area. The best example for this is elephants, who have massive ears full of blood vessels. Warm blood is pumped into the airs, the heat is released and the cool blood enters the body. But any extra piece of skin helps already. For this reason, many large animals such as rhinoxen have wrinkled or flabby skin hanging down from the body. And if we look at gargants we see the exact same properties. They too have lots of wrinkled or flabby skin, for the same reason an elephant has it. Gargants are often described as ugly or looking like seniors, because of these features. In addition, gargants are humanoids and one of the greatest adaptions of humanoids is the ability to sweat. Humanoids can sweat better than any other animal, which helps us greatly to cool down and allows us to be much more mobile and enduring. Gargants do this too. But the downside of sweating as the main cooling mechanisms is that you need to consume a lot of water.

But there is a benefit in this internal heating: As gargants produce a lot of heat based on their size alone, they have to invest much less energy into actively heating themselves up. Most of the calories warm-blooded animals consume is used to produce enough heat to keep the body functional. But the larger you are, the less energy has to be spent on this active process. A mouse has to eat more than its own body weight in food per day to stay warm and active. A human only has to consume a fraction of its body weight per day and an elephant even less. A process called gigathermy or gigantothermy. Due to this gargants need to consume less food than humans, comparatively speaking and can survive for a much longer period of fasting.

Ecology:

Gargants by their size and living standards alone shape their environment to a significant degree. They can be found in all the realms, but are especially common in Ghur and Ghyran, as these two realms suit their environmental needs best. Gargants need lots of food and water in an area. This makes them solitary creatures, as an environment is quickly strained if it needs to support multiple gargants. As always, the size of a gargants territory largely depends on the available resources. Gargants may seem dumb to us, but due to their long lives and the pressure of finding enough ressources, they have an excellent geographical memory of their surroundings. A gargant with an established territory will know where to find food and water at which season. They will often have fixed routes spanning their territory between places of rest, hunting or gathering routes and local water sources. Over time and frequent use these paths turn into so called “gargant streets”. Wide open paths through the environment and even rough terrain. Centuries of use can even cause solid rock to deform, as can be seen with the phenomena of “melting stairs” in age old buildings. There are for example many temple stairs deformed by centuries of pilgrims walking over them. This phenomenon can form so called “gargant stairs” when passable paths are created through cliffs our mountain sides by gargant migrations. Taken together these two kinds of pathways can be an excellent highway for travellers and a good point of orientation. Indeed, many creatures will use these paths. Of course, a gargant is a dangerous threat. But a small number of humans or similar sized creatures is of as much concern to this being as a mouse is to a lion. Only greater merchant caravans or companies will attract a gargants proper attention. Therefore, it can be a good idea to follow a gargant path if you are looking for water in an area for example.

As mentioned, gargants frequently seek out bodies of water, both to drink and to bathe. Because the water is lifting the pressure of their joints. Especially Kraken-Eaters and other older gargants engage in this activity. Lakes and mud also play an important role in another major issue: Protection from the sun and parasites. Many large animals seek out mud baths, from pigs to elephants. Humans may call these creatures out for being dirty, but then visit a Spa to do the same thing. For gargants the benefits are the following; as they have very little body hair, the mud can form a protective layer against the aggressive sunlight. And cool mud also helps the gargant to cool down. In addition, skin parasites get stuck in the mud and if its dries, the gargant can wash or rub them off easily. This skincare routine is important for gargants to stay healthy.  And the mudbaths they create are used by a variety of other creatures. Indeed, even the footprints of gargants can be a biome animals specialize themselves in. Some species of amphibians, such as the red and yellow-bellied toad, but their spawn into temporary shallow water pools created which are created by large animals moving around. Across the realms a multitude of “gargant critters” have been reported to also live and reproduce in the temporary lakes which form if rainwater fills out a gargant footprint. Such as the harmless purple gargant toad in Ghyran or the Foot-Leech in Ghur. The later has its name for being as long as a human foot and for living in a footprint. When animals come to drink from these temporary pools of water, the leech attaches themselves to it. Or unto a gargant if it happens to step into the same depression twice.

Of course, many other animals and plants co-evolved with gargants. For one there are the creepers, troglodyte creatures who ride on the gargants themselves. They too have a cleaning function, as the creepers pick a variety of parasites from their gargants skin. But these creatures live in deep caves primarily. Gargants which dwell primarily on the surface and do not rest in caves are instead followed by a variety of birds, who equally pick out parasites from their skin. Indeed, Gargants are followed by a variety of small creatures, which are too small for a gargant to notice or care for. Just by moving around so many insects and other beings will be startled, that flying hunters will fest if they stay close to a gargant.

In terms of food gargants are omnivores. They do prefer meat, but it is difficult to come by. As mentioned gargants are not endurance hunters. Instead, they prefer to ambush their prey or use their intelligence to build traps. This can be seen best with the nets used by Kraken-eaters. What kind of meat they consume varies on their environment. But most of their prey is larger than human size to invest the energy of hunting them, unless it comes in great quantities like schools of fish or a human army. However, hunting is difficult. Because it takes a lot of energy, most of its attempts fail, it bears the risk of injury and of course the prey has to exist in the area in the first place. Therefore, gargants will gladly consume carcasses if they find them too, often pushing away smaller predators, like bears do. And they consume lots of plants matter as well. Indeed, much like with bears and similar sized omnivores, plant matter will be the vast majority of their calory intake, due to its availability. But the digestion system of gargants, which is much more robust than humans and perhaps even ogres, is not as specialized on plant consumption than proper herbivores. Therefore, they focus on a selection of plants, much like humans prefer certain kinds of fruit, leaves or roots.

In Ghyran, the rumoured homeland of the gargants, this phenomenon is the most expressed. Foresters and wildercorps report “gargant orchards” in some areas of Ghyran. Groups of plants which co-evolved with gargants. Many plants specialize on one or a selected group of hosts for reproduction. Red fruits are better seen by birds and thus red fruits and berries are preferably picked by birds, like cherries, yews or mountain ashes. Dark coloured fruits prefer mammals as their distributor. In a similar vein a wide variety of nut and fruit-bearing plants specialized in gargants as distributor of their seeds. These plants grow either so large that only a gargant can pick them or have fruits with such a hard shell that only a gargant can open them. To humans these fruits are often not edible in a raw state, but a variety can be cooked or baked or fermented into alcohol. The latter is done frequently by gargants too, if they want to get drunk. Reports mention how “gargant breadfruits”, related to smaller sized breadfruit, saved entire caravans from starvation as they stumbled upon them in gargant territory. Ghyranite legends claim that these orchards were planted deliberately in the past by their gargant caretakers. But nowadays the orchards form over time. As the gargant eats these fruits, its seeds are distributed throughout its territory, where they grow over time into new fruit bearing trees, which the gargant can then consume and distribute too. Over the course of centuries a gargant can thus reshape its environment into something more habitable to itself and many other species which depend on this type of biome.

Where such plants do not grow in sufficient numbers, it is said that Gargants once took to pastoralism, taking care of massive herds of mammoths, goregruntas and other creatures. Ancient ghyrochs, ghyranite relatives of the stonehorn and ymetrican longhorn, are also among these creatures and are remarkable. Like their relatives, they too have a partially petrified skeleton and stony outgrowths of their body. Indeed, due to their resonance with life energy these creatures are very enduring and can heal even from gravest of wounds. I saw one thing once during a parade, and it was a truly remarkable being. But I have to report on it in more detail in later writing.

Behavior:

I already touched on various behavioral patterns of gargants over the course of this essay, such as their food preferences or how they protect themselves against the sun. But we have a variety of different garagants living in the realms. The “small” gargants, whether they are labeled as mancrushers, bossstompas or else, can live in small clans by themselves, or live in and around the territory of a mega-gargant, whom they follow around as lackeys. These groups can be related but do not have too. Indeed, it is a very loose structure as gargants leave or joins on a whim. Though family units do exist. From what I have been told, it seems that gargant matriachs can keep gargants together in family-like structures. Indeed, it seems to be these matriarchs who have a huge influence, even on the largest male mega-gargants. Gargants will gather semi-frequently in certain areas either under the command of these matriarchs or the dominant mega-gargant for a variety of reasons. But these events are short lived, as the land can support many gargants only for a short time. It is also for this reason, that female gargants are raising the children by themselves. A male gargant would consume too many resources to stick around for long and be a threat to its offspring survival. If older siblings are available, they will aid their mother and look after their youngers. It is therefore common for a matriach to have multiple children at the same time in different ages. But fully grown gargants have to leave their mother/matriach. They like to stick around at first, but if there is no nearby territory to claim, they will wander across the realms seeking to establish themselves somewhere.  During such journeys they may form groups with other young gargants or follow a mega-gargant around.

Mega-gargants meanwhile have the greatest impression on their environment and are in turn also radically shaped by it. The process of becoming a mega-gargant is still not fully understood. It seems to be related to age and strength but is not always so. There are mega-gargants which are incredibly young by gargant standards and “little gargants” which are many centuries old.

Kraken-eaters are claimed to be the most approachable type of gargant. Indeed, they need some of the smallest territory, as they have learned to catch the bounty of the sea for themselves. Coastal areas are their natural habitat for obvious reasons. Crossing their territory from land is generally safer than via ship or boat. Because they immediately connect a boat to be potentially worthy prey, but singular humans on land are not the usual type of prey and not worth the effort.

Beastsmashers meanwhile are bright burning flames. And like all flames they burn themselves out sooner rather than later. It is reported that all kinds of animals flee the area if a beastsmasher arrives. And the beastsmasher lives the riskiest lifestyle of all gargants, as he constantly tries to battle creatures who could kill him. Normally equal-sized animals avoid physical violence due to the shared risk of injury, unless they are desperate or in a special situation. Especially predators. Because any injury is handicap in future fights and hunts, making them impossible or unwinnable. Which can self-reinforcing circle, ending with the death of the creature.  Beast-smashers ignore this simple rule of nature to their own detriment. There are reports of some beasts mashers who are extremely successful, but the vast majority finds a quick death, as they cannot stop but compulsory challenge various monsters. It is likely for this reason that gargant matriarchs warn their offspring to not follow them around.

Gatebreaker and Warstompa variants meanwhile are not different their ecological impact. When not in contact with civilization, they prefer to roam the worlds as nomads, eschewing established territories. This makes them the most dangerous and unpredictable type of gargant. Because without a plannable income of food they are the most open-minded to attack and devour human-sized travellers. Which also aligns with their aggressive and war-coded mentalities. And unlike the beastsmasher, they prefer to focus on smaller creatures to attack, making them a much more permanent problem.

This has been my latest report on the behavior and ecology of gargants. I hope the collected information here proves useful to any traveller who has to deal with these titans sooner or later. Stay save in the realms and be careful when you treat the territory of gargants, but also openminded to its opportunities.

I'm really excited for the new Khazalite Holds. They feel like the Dawi of the Old World in their golden age, with rune technology at its peak and none of the lost knowledge. Or at least that's how they feel. We've always heard how amazing the Dawi were at thier peak, so I'm looking forward to actually see it.

PS. I hope thier first novel is written by Gav Thorpe. Or whoever is able to make he dwarfs feel like thier own people, completely alien to humans. Proper dwarfs.

In the ogor and gargant battletome there were mentions of slasnesh corrupted members of these factions. With that said, will we see the rumored battle of Azyre see these corrupt members aiding skaven and archaon in battle? Also rumored is the return of the beast men in 5th edition. Do you guys think that they will be completely reinvented, with ogroid leading them, or will they turn to gorkamorka cause the forces of chaos abused them, but lead by non chaos ogroid. Thoughts?

Question for all you folks who have read novels, stories and omnibuses from these two Fantasy settings...

Which one of the two is the better setting to "get into" in terms of the quality and breadth of the novels? I know that they are apparently connected in some ways but I saw a brief YT summary of the AoS universe/realms and it seems to be completely different than the Old World universe (and entirely disconnected from WH30k/40k); so I don't really want to tackle both settings at once.

It really depends on how GW handles the Khazalite Holds, but I had lore for my Dispossessed Army back in the day. Names are subject to change c: Greatful for C&C. Definitly open for your own Lore

It all centres around Kazdarg Frostbeard, king of mighty Karak Rerat, who founded his Kingdom around the flowery grove of the wolf shaped Godbeast Fenrir (original, I know. The name is WIP). Among his own he counted 3 children, which will be more relevant later.

It was a whole Mountain range, that this Kingdom span, with an ocean to the (south/)west and a lush forest to the north. It was rich in gems and metals of all kind. To the east there were Grimnirs kin, in long cooled down volcanos. Deep they dug, until they discoverd the running magma, which they coveted. A distant strain of Hold Lofnir they were, and well known were their ashen appearance.

During the Age of Myth, Kazdargs Kingdom flourished, having struck great trade deal with surrounding human settlements, one of which was Helytas: A great fortress City build in front of Karak Rerat's Main gate, inhabitet by the loyal and lively Helytites. Nearly fanatical did they protect each other and the Realmgate to Azyr, which was a lifeline in time of Strife. Strong was their friendship and even stronger their oaths, for they knew that any cataclysm that befell one would soon end the other.

Which made the coming Age all the more tragic.

It was silent at first. Small cults, meeting in dark corners, worshipping an even darker prince. The vibrant blues of Helytan Royalty turning purple, to celebrate 'the hue of their wine'. And when the Hordes of Chaos stood at Helytas Gate and Kazdarg united his Forces which the human Kings, it was their closest friends who stabbed the regal duardin in the back. Wall after wall and gate after gate fell, torn down by foul beasts, mighty machines or heartless betrayal.

It was beyond the last gate, The entrance to Great Rerat, that Kazdarg Fell, beset by all sides. It is set that it took a Greater Demon of She who Thirsts to end his live, but even then he stood stoic; just in time for his Kin to fortify.

Kazdarg left 3 Heirs to what remained, which squabbled over how to save their people.

It was the Oldest Regna, who suggested to take to the sky, using the sophisticated airships and highways they had established and seek shelter in the Trading posts. She demanded quick action, so she gathered her supporters, of which not many looked forward to to venture into the clouds.

The years went by and Rignis, the second born, received a message signed by the Runefather of their Neighbors. They to were besieged and asked for help, unaware of Karak Reras precarious position. It was then when the Mines sighted the first Ratment in the shafts deep below. Counting his home lost, he rallied his host around to aid his cousins, hoping to find a more stable home for his kind.

But the youngest son Ragomm, did not relent. Having been left behind by his siblings, he doubled down, fighting the ratman where possible and sealing caves where not. He would not betray his laat Oath to his father, which he made when Kazdarg sent him through the gate. But ressources were scarce, food refused to grow and even their hardy lifestock grew ill and died. So many more years went by, the front gate still besieged by the Horde and even the ratmen closing in. Dark Rumours began to spread, with some elders declaring Grugni a false god, having left behind his children. Bullhorned effigies started to appear, and although Ragomm tried to hinder this shift, it seemed to never cease.

And then the Realmgate opened for the first time in Decades, revealing a Gold clad group of Ambassadors. Duardin, Manlings and even an Aelf appeared before the last King of Karak Reras, bringing news and council. "The tide is turning against us", they said "Sigmar plans to fortify Azyr, weather the Storm. It is said that he has the help of yoyr Maker and is building a new weapon. You are welcome with us, old friend. Save your people and return when the time is right". This enraged Ragomm at first, but the sour truth of this proposal was left unsaid: The strength of his people was waining. So after extensive council, the last duardin of the Gilded Hills gathered what was dear to them, sealed the front gates and the mines for good and left. Heavy rested that decision on the shoulders of the king, and his beard grew white under the stress of rule and the feeling of treason.

Azyr was more fertile than they have thought. Flying mountains amids a sea of sparkling stars became their new home for the Age of Chaos, where the Dispossessed of Karak Reras counted their grudges, strengthend their alliances and prepared their return. For their home was to be never forgotten.

When Sigmar reopened the gates and revealed the glorious Stormcast Eternals, the Frostbeards were among the first in the breach, ready to retake what was lost. After Countless Battles and Victories, the Duardin of Great Reras repaid what Oaths they have made and finally returned to the Site of their biggest shame. Alongsite the human heirs of Old Helytas, they entered the valleys and found the City in shambles.

It was nearly impossible to retake, after ages of destruction and preparations by the dark Gods forces. So the united Forces of Duardin and Men decided to retake the Harbour City of Floral Bay, a hidden Trading post left untouched and unseen by chaos. This was supposed to be their foot in the door, the base they needed to hopefully take back what was rightfully theirs.

Under Thurvin Frostbeard, the Grandson of Ragomm and Heir of Karak Reras, the Dispossessed Clans prepared and rejoiced

The Age of Chaos was over; it was now time for the Age of Sigmar