Spawn of Chaos
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I’m lucky that my FLGS has a pretty even mix of fantasy and 40k players, but the fantasy games (which I prefer) were starting to lose way to 40k. To help people become more interested, I decided to try and shake things up in the fantasy world and progress the story line a few more years in the future with some major changes. Maybe even start a campaign regarding it. A major catastrophe changes the way every race will live, some races will be pushed to the brink of extinction and several major characters are killed. I’m not saying this is where the world will go in the next couple of years, but it certainly is possible. I tried to keep is as close to warhammer lore as I could, but had to create one or two new bits. I want people to enjoy it, and I added information for every race, so please let me know what you think and if it could be improved. Thanks.
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Warhammer Fantasy: The End of Times
Many wars have been waged in the past. Good versus evil, life versus death, Mankind versus annihilation. Always, the forces of Good, the forces of Life, and the forces of Mankind have prevailed. Sure, evil wins a fight or a battle, but ultimately the forces of good come out on top. Many have been the face of the enemy; ravenous greenskins, horrifying undead, minions of the dark gods and demons. Even when pressed from all sides, the forces of good somehow manage to eek out success.
The great hordes of Northmen, minions of chaos, threatened to raze the Empire to the ground, and have been stopped. Vicious and cunning Dark Elves attempt to wrest control of Ulthuan from their hated cousins, and have always failed. Innumerable armies of greenskins constantly assault the dwarven holds, and though they have captured some, ultimately are held back by the stoic warrior race. Undead often wage war against the Empire and are always sent back to the grave. The noble knights of Brettonia are beset by abominations from the forests and drive them back with devastating charges. Though the forces of evil are many, they are kept in check.
That is… most of them. Underneath the surface of the world, a living nightmare infests vast labyrinthine tunnels. Most races are blissfully unaware of the sheer vastness of the numbers of the verminous hordes. In fact, most humans don’t even believe the Skaven exist. Only the Dwarves are aware of the threat they pose, for they have lost many holds to them. The Skaven have lairs underneath almost every major city and every dwarven hold. The only land untouched by Skaven tunnels is Ulthuan.
The only thing keeping the Skaven in check were their constant civil wars. Every Skaven wanted a world where they ruled over every other race, but they would never be able to agree which clan would rule such a world. Almost 95% of all Skaven wars were against each other.
Part 1: Humans on the Verge of Extinction
When the Skaven finally attacked, the humans of the Empire were caught completely off-guard. Humans have weathered many storms, but none like this. Before the Skaven attacked, they let loose their swarms of rats. All across the empire rat swarms ate stored food supplies and crops and spread contagion and disease. They even grew so bold as to attack lone individuals and devour them alive like piranha. While the Empire was weakened, the Skaven attacked. Innumerable hordes poured into the heart of cities from sewers and tunnels. Humans could defeat many times their numbers if they had walls to hide behind and cannons and mortars to shoot into their foe, but the Skaven invasions all started within the very cities the humans tried to hide in.
In the alleys and sewers of the city, the humans could not bring their heavy artillery to bear and had no walls to hide behind. It was actually quite easy for the Skaven to succeed. Panicked citizens fled, only to be captured by Skaven slave-masters who had set up outside the city. The city of Nuln was the first major city to be razed, despite the heroic intervention of Karl Franz himself. Swooping through the ranks of Skaven on his mighty griffon, Karl Franz accounted for dozens of rat-men before a volley of jezzails from Clan Skryer troops killed his griffon, sending him plummeting into a horde of Skaven. With the emperor dead, the remaining human leaders did the worst possible thing they could, they began bickering and vying for power. Even in the face of annihilation, civil wars broke out as people fought for power. One lord would watch as a rival lord’s lands were overrun before committing his own troops. Many cities fell within the first year. And within ten years, most human settlements were gone. This doesn’t mean humans were wiped out.
In the face of a constant assault, some cities still stand. These are cities on the outskirts of the empire, for everything in the heart of the Empire belongs to the Skaven now. A lucky few cities kept up the practice of the Sewer Guard; a practice set up a long time ago when the Skaven last attacked en masse. These cities had prior warning and managed to hold back the invading Skaven. With the lands all around teeming with vermin, these cities have become completely self-sufficient with entire farms inside their walls to feed their citizens. Other humans fled to the holds of the dwarves, who welcomed the humans as allies. The, holds, however, were not safe. And desperate warfare against the Skaven was a daily way of life in every remaining hold. Like the High Elves, a few humans became nomadic, traveling as far from civilization as they could. Remote villages remained relatively safe, as the concentration of Skaven attacks were in the most densely populated villages, and some extremely remote villages don’t even know the peril that has befallen the Empire.
With the vast majority of humans dead, free humans are now an endangered race. Deep in the tunnels and cities of the Skaven, however, hundreds of thousands of humans are bred as slaves, and for food. Their lives are miserable and often short, but they will always have hope. There have been more than one slave revolt in the undercities, and one has even managed to wrest control of a Skaven city from their grasp and they hold it as a slave-sanctuary, a meeting ground for rebellion. In typical Skaven fashion, the survivors all claimed there was a “cave-in” so none of them would be responsible for losing a city to the humans. This has worked in the slave’s favor, since the Skaven believe the city is destroyed. The slaves have re-named this city Hope. Corny, yes, but a symbol that there just may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
The lands of Brettonia have only faired slightly better. When the Skaven attacked, they focused most of their assaults on the Empire and Dwarven holds. This gave Brettonia a chance to fortify. Still, every single Brettonian city is under siege, and the lands of the peasants are completely ravaged. Starvation is the largest threat the Brettonian’s face right now, with many refugees in their cities and very few farms left to feed them. Their walls are holding, but it’s only a matter of time before they starve to death. Aid comes from an unusual source. The coastal towns are being aided by pirates. It would seem the peril of the entire species has brought out the best of the pirates, who fight to ensure their race survives. This is an odd contradiction to the way the lords and nobles of the Empire acted. These pirates smuggle in food from island farms and punish Skaven with broadside fire whenever they get the chance.
The combination of a broadside by pirate ships to scatter the Skaven, followed by a powerful charge from the ranks of cavalry of the Brettonian Knights has spelled doom for several Skaven armies. Coastal Brettonian towns are fairing relatively well, but the inner cities are doomed.
Even with these few survivors and victories, the age of humans is over. The Skaven are the dominant race now, and outnumber the free humans thousands to one. Is there still hope for them? Yes, but when surviving day to day takes more and more effort, it seems that faint glimmer of hope dulls every day.
Part 2: The High Elves Subjugated
When the Skaven attacked in force, the armies of humans and dwarves were being overrun fairly consistently. The High Elves knew if they did not intervene, both humans and dwarves would be wiped out. The Dark Elves have been relatively quiet as of late, and the High Elves had recently launched their own assaults against Naggaroth, so it seemed the Dark Elves had been subdued from their constant failed attacks on Ulthuan. Deeming it safe, the High Elves sent most of their army to assist the humans and dwarves.
It was several weeks after the High Elves landed on the main land that they got the message. Ulthuan was under siege. Malekith’s white-hot anger had been significantly cooled when he was cast into the realm of Chaos. Where before, if his land was attacked, he would immediately fly into a rage and launch an ill-advised counter attack, now he had learned to temper his fury and hatred to a fine edge. Naggaroth was not spared the Skaven’s attack. The rat-men were a foe completely different from what the Druchii were used to, and the Dark Elves put up a spirited defense that failed to hold the Skaven back long. When dark elven spies informed Malekith that Ulthuan had sent off most of its warriors, Malekith decided it was time to strike. The Skaven were threatening to overtake all of Naggaroth, so Malekith had little option other than attack the High Elves and escape doomed Naggaroth.
He devised a clever plan. The Druchii put all of their resources into building ships, working the majority of their slaves to death. When their navy was complete, every Druchii available boarded these ships and Black Arks and sailed for Ulthuan. Just in time, it seemed, because the Skaven had broken through their defenses and were running rampant around Naggaroth. Malekith invaded Ulthuan with only a small portion of his army. Panicked at the prospect of invasion while their forces were away, the leaders of Ulthuan recalled their armies. As the armies of Ulthuan hurried back, they were ambushed by the overwhelming navy of the Dark Elves. The High Elves were better at naval combat than Dark Elves, but the Druchii had more numbers, as well as the savage ocean beasts they had tamed to serve them. The High Elven army was defeated and the remaining Dark Elves landed on Ulthuan so the invasion could begin in earnest.
Malekith himself lead the invasion, and since Ulthuan had nothing left but farmers, bakers and other civilians, they were no match for the trained Druchii warriors. Fortunately for the High Elves, however, they still had Tyrion and Teclis. The two brothers lead many brave counter-assaults. They won several battles, but it seemed there was no chance for hope. The Druchii literally had no place to retreat to; their only option was to win this war. Tyrion and Teclis’s victories were painfully few compared to the victories by Malekith. Faced with annihilation, the two brothers formed a plan to route the armies of the Druchii for good. Malekith marched with the elite portion of his army across the Fierel Plains, and here Teclis would finish the job he started when he nearly killed Malekith with a powerful spell during the last invasion. And this time he would assure Malekith doesn’t escape.
But Malekith’s spies had infiltrated many High Elven courts, and he was aware of their plan. As the two armies met on the plains, Teclis began his magical assault on the Druchii leader, but his spells were weakened and never seemed to hit their target. Though Teclis is the single most powerful mage in the lands (humanoid mage at least), he wasn’t powerful enough to overcome the trap Morathi had prepared. Only the most audacious plan could weaken a mage of Teclis’s power. But that is where Shadowblade, the master of Druchii assassins, excels. Teclis uses potions of his own design to keep his weak and sickly body strong enough to fight and cast spells. Shadowblade managed to spike the potion with his own blend of subtle poisons. The poison couldn’t be strong enough to kill, for Teclis would quickly receive magical healing, and it couldn’t be strong enough to stop his magic, or he would notice the difference and drink a cure. No, it had to be so subtle a poison that he wouldn’t notice it until it was too late. Shadowblade succeeded. With the poisoned potion and Morathi focusing solely on countering Teclis’s magic, the master mage could not kill Malekith. Through genius tactics, the Druchii managed to separate Teclis and his guards from the rest of the High Elven army, and Malekith personally slew the master mage.
Tyrion flew into a fit of rage and slaughtered many Dark Elves, but his army was crumbling around him. The Druchii had won the decisive battle. The remaining High Elves fled, and Tyrion had no choice but to flee the battle as well. He would be no use to his people dead. With the army of the High Elves shattered, the Druchii butchered and enslaved any High Elves they found. There were still a few High Elves of note that Malekith sought. The King of the High Elves, Tyrion, and the Everqueen. The king was slain in combat, much to the chagrin of Malekith, who wanted him alive. When word got to Malekith regarding the location of the Everqueen, he sent a kadre of followers from the Temple of Khaine to capture her. Though her defenders fought to the death to protect her, it seemed she had no chance for escape. That is, until Tyrion charged onto the battlefield, slaying dozens of Druchii in his zeal to reach the Everqueen and escape with her. He was reluctant to let the rest of her followers die, but she was more important.
The Druchii went on to conquer the entire island; their ancient home was finally theirs once more. The High Elves met one of four fates. Most were chained and turned into slaves, or simply killed on the spot. Some elves who managed to evade the armies of Malekith formed guerilla bands that hid in the forests and took vengeance on the Druchii whenever they got a chance and plotting any sort of strategy they can to recapture their home, including inciting the slaves to rebel or ambushing Druchii trade lines. Finally, the remainder of the elves fled Ulthuan to the main land to start over. They either lived in the few remaining human towns, sought out the wood elves, or lived nomadic lives.
Malekith’s victory is short lived, however, as the Skaven have begun arriving on Ulthuan on massive, ramshackle ships. More than once, a Druchii fortress has been overrun by Skaven thanks to a well-timed sabotage by high elf guerilla warriors. Clan Moulder has claimed ownership of Naggaroth. The Dark Elves had captured and tamed a large variety of fearsome monsters and massive beasts in those chill lands, and Clan Moulder’s leader saw the land as rich for experimentation, and soon hydras with the heads of giant rats were seen roaming the lands. Their greatest accomplishment so far has been the fusion of giant rats with cold ones, creating monsters with the strength and toughness of cold ones and the quickness and alertness of rats. They are still incredibly stupid.
Part 3: The Last Holds of the Dwarves
The Dwarves have been under attack by Skaven for uncounted years, and have lost more to Skaven than to any other foe. When the great attack from the Skaven came, it focused mainly on the Empire, but they also redoubled their attacks on any dwarven hold currently under siege. Dwarven holds made fantastic cities for a Skaven clan, and any Skaven warlord that could claim a Dwarven hold as his seat of power was assured a place of dominance in this new world. Furthermore, the finely crafted dwarven tunnels provided excellent roads for the Skaven to travel all over the world.
The Dwarves refused to go quietly, however. Though they knew their end was imminent, they fought with as much fury as their race ever had. When a hold seemed lost, the dwarves would collapse it in upon itself, crushing thousands of Skaven, as well as denying them a fortress from which to wage their wars upon other dwarves. The Dwarves are a very proud race, and most would die rather than abandon a hold. However, these were desperate times. In a decision that was quite radical for dwarven kind, the high king called for a general retreat. It wasn’t a full flight, but more a consolidation. It would be easier to hold a few well-defended strongholds, than many small ones. Though it pained the dwarves to do so, they consolidated to the three strongest, most well-defended holds the dwarves had.
Many brave dwarves lost their lives holding off the Skaven so the survivors could flee to safety, but there are no artisans to carve their names in history, for ever single dwarf has been conscripted into the army. The three remaining holds vary quite greatly. One is a marvel of dwarven technology; it’s armies armed with guns, cannons and bombs. Another is of the old ways, hammers, crossbows, pick-axes. The third is the hold of the runesmiths, their troops armed with runic gear, their gates sealed with warding runes, and anvils of doom causing ruin to their foes.
Even so fortified, it seems all they can do is delay the inevitable. Skaven tunnels open behind dwarven gates and nigh-infinite numbers of the rat-men batter down barriers and swarm ever closer to the hearts of the holds. There is another faction of dwarves that remains; the Heralds. These are dwarves that spent much of their time on the surface. With the great invasion of the ratmen, the Heralds traverse the landscape looking for lost dwarven holds from millennia back when the dwarves split apart. Perhaps, if they find help, the dwarves will have a chance. The armies of the Heralds are quite different from most dwarves. Their numbers are made up mostly of rangers and slayers, as well as gyrocopters zipping through the air. They are masters of setting up tough, impromptu defenses wherever they may be in case of Skaven ambush.
There is one bit of good news, and that is their new (though unwitting) ally in the war against the Skaven, an ally they hate just as much, the Orks.
Part 4: The Orks United
As much suffering and pain as the Great Skaven Invasion has caused the other races, the Orks couldn’t be happier. They had a never ending supply of enemies. These enemies could be stomped under their foot like a goblin, and a single swing of their axe could disembowel half a dozen of them. If the orks wanted a bigger challenge, a way to show their strength, then they could go toe-to-toe with a massive rat ogre, or some other mutated beast. The strongest of ork war bosses actively sought out the massive hell-pit abominations, for slaying one of those was a true sign of strength, and that they were favored by Gork (and possibly Mork).
This has been a boon to every other race in the world, as the Skaven are the sole target of the Orks. Night goblins have been pulled out of tunnels fighting the dwarves, roving bands of orks that normally preyed on human settlements have banded to fight the Skaven, and forests around Athel Loren and Brettonia are clear of Orks as they have all marched toward Skaven-held cities. Not only are the Skaven a fun enemy to face, they embarrassed the orks by achieving what the orks have been fighting their entire existence for, domination. The orks, for the first time, are (somewhat) united against a common foe.
The orks believe this is the time of Ragnarock, when the orks would raze the world in an inferno of destruction. The only thing standing in their way is the Skaven. Unfortunately for the orks, they are losing this war. Slowly but surely their numbers are dwindling. As numerous as the orks are, the Skaven are far more numerous, and much craftier. The greenskins aren’t retreating though. Since they all believe this is the end of the world, retreat would be pointless. They will conquer the world, or every last ork will die trying, and those sneaky Skaven sure as heck aren’t going to steal their glory!
Part 5: The Forests in Chaos
When the Skaven attacked, the forests around the empire were relatively quiet. There were no sewers under the forests to exploit, and other than lumber, there are few resources to fight for. The Wood Elves were content to let the races outside the forest fight their war, and any forces that spilled over into Athel Loren were quickly dispatched.
The beastmen were not as happy to sit idle and let the war pass. The entire existence of the beastmen revolved around despoiling the creations of man. What humans built, beastmen strived to tear down. The Skaven presented a problem. Cities that should have been desecrated by the beastmen were instead razed by the Skaven. In the eyes of the Chaos Gods, the beastmen were failing. This drove the beastmen into a frenzy. Their hatred of the Skaven for embarrassing them almost matched their hatred of the humans. Now bands of beastmen roam the empire searching for still-standing empire structures for them to desecrate, and they will travel as far into Skaven territory as they have to to find a single temple still standing to befoul.
Because of this they have all but abandoned the forests that once were their home. Those beastmen that sat idle in the forests were seen as cowards and were either slain by more zealous beastmen, or mutated into ruin by the fury of the chaos gods. All of their efforts are directed now to seeking one last chance to prove themselves to their gods. They only hold their massive feasts when a fortunate clan finds a city to despoil, and they have all but ceased breeding, so their numbers are falling fast. Though filled with rage, they aren’t stupid. They only attack the Skaven when there is a chance for victory, or no hope of escape; for to lose to this hated foe only increases their shame and embarrassment.
The wood elves fared well at the start of the war. Athel Loren was seen as a haunted place with few resources, so the Skaven mostly stayed away. The few that did scout the forests were quickly ambushed and slain. As the Skaven bring more of their numbers to the surface, however, more are sent into the forests, and the wood elves are having a harder and harder time keeping all the rat-men back. Athel Loren isn’t guarded by elves alone though. The spirits and trees themselves have awoken to drive back the invaders, and this only leads to the superstitious fear the Skaven have of the area. Though Athel Loren is relatively safe, the Skaven surround the forests more and more, and a concentrated push into the forest would easily destroy it.
Tragically for the wood elves, a Skaven scouting expedition found a large chunk of warpstone just inside the forest, and if the Skaven determined that more warpstone could be in Athel Loren, innumerable hordes would invade. Because of this, whenever a Skaven finds warpstone in Athel Loren, the wood elves dispatch their very best hunters to kill every last Skaven to keep the secret safe.
Part 6: The Undead in Disarray
One of the first non-human nations targeted by the Skaven were the ancient kingdoms of the Tomb Kings. In the past, the two were bitter enemies and fought a brutal war that ground both down to a stalemate. The Skaven seem to care little that the tomb king empires now-a-days were the hated enemies of the ancient armies of Nagash the Skaven fought in the past. Motivated more by profit then revenge, the Skaven have invaded the desert cities and plundered any temples and catacombs they could get their paws on.
The rat-men had tunnels under the majority of tomb king cities, and every one of those cities has fallen. The greatest cities, the most ancient cities, the wealthiest cities, all were swiftly plundered and captured. However, only the largest cities were held for very long. The greatest cities were seen as status symbols, and made very efficient strongholds, therefore they were held by the stronger Skaven clans. The smaller cities, were abandoned. There were a couple factors accounting for this quasi-liberation of the smaller cities.
First, cities occupied by the walking dead instilled a level of fear in the Skaven, and they simply didn’t want to be around them unless they had to. Even when the Skaven numbered in the hundreds of thousands, this primal fear caused them too much stress. Secondly, their racing metabolisms did not mix well with the blistering heat of the desert. Supplies were very few in the desert, which wasn’t a problem for the undead, but the Skaven require a lot of food and water to survive. Parties dispatched to scour the countryside almost all died from the heat, and when they had to leave their tunnels to search the city for undead, many more dropped dead from the sun.
Not all the tomb king cities had fallen. Some of the smaller, more obscure cities did not have any tunnels under them for the Skaven to exploit, and still stand. Furthermore, they have noticed this weakness of the Skaven, and the greatest liche priests chant incantations on the tops of their pyramids designed to cause the sun’s rays to burn brighter. The deserts around the tomb king’s empires are now a deathtrap to all but the most seasoned desert nomads. The tomb kings plot to recapture their fallen cities, and their armies never die.
Though things seem to be going their way, all is not well for the tomb kings. Time would be one thing the undead would seem to have in abundance, but not here. The Skaven tunnels are ever expanding, and every now and then, they hit upon a hidden tomb king city and a brutal fight breaks out. In almost every case, the Skaven are the victor, with only a handful of instances where the tomb kings won and buried the tunnels with sand. The only chance for the tomb kings, it seems, is for them to finish their great spell, their spell that would bake the desert under the sun like a furnace, which would snuff out all life, even in the Skaven tunnels. The irony isn’t lost on them how similar this is the great spell Nagash once attempted to cast.
One would think with the greatest war in the history of the world, the vampires would have nearly limitless corpses for their armies and would easily rule the world. This didn’t end up being the case. Skaven, it seems, are highly resistant to being raised as undead. The vampires aren’t quite sure, but they suspect it’s the level of warpstone the Skaven are associated with. Even the poorest Skaven, who never see warpstone, may breathe in warpstone particles from warpstone forges. It took much more energy to raise much fewer corpses, and the corpses of Skaven weren’t very good, even by skelton standards. Furthermore, the Skaven had a habit of not letting any “food” go to waste, and the humans or elves they did slay were often devoured, leaving the vampires even fewer corpses to raise.
The only real weapon the vampires had going for them was fear, and when Skaven outnumbered them a thousand to one, not even that helped very much. The vampires put up a spirited defense when the invasion hit, and for a time were the human’s greatest ally. For if the humans were wiped out, who would the vampire’s feed on? Drinking the blood of a Skaven was like a human eating a rat; it was possible, but far from preferable.
The vampire counts have been mostly wiped out now. The necrarchs have isolated themselves from any civilization and bury themselves in lost tomes of knowledge, seeking any information they can on the history, and weaknesses, of the Skaven. They are convinced there is at least one tome that will give them the secret to defeating this foe.
The VonCarsteins and Lahmians have seemingly vanished from the world. However, in the nomadic tribes of humans or remote outskirts of civilization, there are stories of people vanishing in the night, only to appear days later drained of all their blood. The frightened citizens are assured these are attacks by Skaven, but these assurances come from a soft spoken, pale skinned noble lord or lady.
The Blood Dragons, like the rest of the vampires, were mostly wiped out. As skilled as they are, they can only kill so many Skaven before a spear is thrust into their back. Less than five are known to exist, and they spend their time fighting as mercenaries for any race in conflict with the Skaven. Their purpose isn’t to make money, though, it is to seek out the most horrid abominations the Skaven have to offer and to defeat it in a duel. Perhaps that will be to prove themselves to their reclusive (possibly dead) patron.
Of all the bloodlines, the Strigoi are by far doing the best. This is the kind of environment they thrive in. Masters at stealth and masters of the hunt, the Strigoi vampires can remain hidden from the Skaven and ambush a straggler, dragging the victim back it’s lair without being noticed. They are feeding better now than they ever had since food is abundant, and they have no compunctions about feeding on the blood of Skaven, which is actually better than the cold blood of corpses they are used to.
The Strigoi are now the dominant vampire bloodline, and they eagerly vent their hatred on their vampire brethren whenever they meet one. Since they thrive so well in this environment they are always flush with power from all their feeding, while vampires of other bloodlines are starved and wasting. Blood Dragons alone are still a real challenge for the Strigoi.
Part 7: Against the Plan of the Old Ones
Looking to get revenge for their previous defeat many years ago, Clan Pestilens spearheaded the attack against the Lizardmen. As always, their main weapon was the myriad diseases they brought with them. It didn’t go according to their plan. A few Lizardmen fell to the plagues, but it seemed they had grown resistant to the diseases the Skaven carried. The Slaan had foreseen another attack by the Skaven and newer generations of Lizardmen had been spawned with hyper-active immune systems for just this reason. Mighty kroxigors smashed dozens of Skaven with every swing of their weapon. Massive stegadons crushed countless Skaven under their heavy feet. Ancient Slaan caused the very tunnels of the Skaven to collapse in on them and crush thousands. If it were not for the sheer ferociousness and zeal of the plague monks and plague priests, the Skaven would have been defeated easily.
Unfortunately for the Lizardmen, the Skaven were indeed a fanatic bunch. A dozen rat-men would fall for every saurus warrior, but the Skaven were used to those odds. The war was fierce, but the Lizardmen seemed to hold the upper hand the whole fight. Finally, the Skaven were broken, and though the Lizardmen had lost most of their armies, they survived.
Clan Pestilens was an influential and powerful clan, but it is only one clan. There are over a hundred Skaven clans, and when Clan Pestilens fell back, half a dozen other Skaven clans took the opportunity to attack. Battered from war, the Lizardmen could not handle such a huge influx of Skaven. The armies of the Old Ones swiftly fell before the horde and it seemed as if they were going to be wiped out completely. Ancient cities fell one after another until there were only a few left.
The Slaan had done incredible things in the past, and now they needed a miracle more than ever. Their remaining armies fell back to these few remaining cities, and each had a couple Slaan defending it. After a very brief consultation between the Slaan of the remaining cities (telepathically, as they could not meet in person), they had an idea. If the ground was overrun with Skaven, they would no longer remain on the ground.
Their plan was to raise these ancient cities into the sky. The Slaan gathered around their city’s greatest temples and began to chant their spell. It would take time and the Skaven were not about to sit around and wait. The surviving Lizardmen warriors gathered around their cities to keep the Skaven at bay long enough for the Slaan to finish their spells. Slowly but surely, the ground surrounding the cities began to rumble as great islands of rock began to lift up from the earth. Four of the five cities ascended into the sky, but the fifth was not quick enough. Just as the ground started to rumble, the Skaven overran the Lizardmen defenders and murdered the Slaan.
Now, four ancient cities remain. In these flying cities the Lizardmen still have their spawning pools, so their forces slowly grow. Skinks on terradons take messages back and forth between cities and swoop down to the jungle to steal food and water. Slaan and skink priests rain magic down on the Skaven from their sky cities, and large floating rocks move between city and jungle floor in case the Lizardman armies need to meet the Skaven head on.
The Skaven aren’t sitting idly by though. Clan Skryer itself has taken over and the engineers toil away at new inventions and devices. Warplock Jezzails take pot shots at the flying island, and warp lightning cannons fire fruitlessly into the sky. Eventually the engineers created a massive tower that crackled with warp electricity. Based on a massive carriage, it was rolled through the jungle (with an army of Skaven hacking down trees in front of it) towards a floating city. The head engineer cackled with glee as arcs of warp lightning shot towards the city. Showers of rock fell from the city as bolt after bolt of lightning slammed into the sky island and soon the entire island began to slowly fall.
Knowing their cause was lost, the Slaan saw only one option. The massive shadow of the floating city covered the Skaven’s tower, and the Slaan ceased the spell keeping the city in the air. The head engineer’s cackles turned to a scream as the floating city fell and crashed onto the Skaven, crushing the tower and killing all who knew just how to build it. This sacrifice ensured that, for now at least, the other floating cities would remain safe. However, it’s only a matter of time.
Part 8: Chaos in Decline and Nurgle Ascendant
The emergence of the Skaven has been a terrible blow against the forces of Chaos. Filled with ambition and dreams of riches and power, entire clans of Skaven marched into the Chaos Wastes where they assumed there would be vast stores of warpstone. Warpstone is a physical manifestation of Chaos; therefore would the Chaos Wastes not have an abundance of it? It was an incredibly dangerous area, though, so only the poor, desperate clans typically went to the wastes to seek their fortune. Therefore, it was mostly poorly armed and trained Skaven clans that marched on the North. Being hardened, trained, vicious warriors, the men of the North had little trouble repelling these invasions.
All would not be well for long, for two problems struck the north men. They were raiders and Vikings, stealing supplies from weaker lands. They were very good at this, so good in fact they didn’t need to grow their own food or make their own supplies. The Skaven invasion threw the lands they used to pillage into ruin. With no more lands to pillage, the north men soon had to turn on each other, stealing supplies from one another to survive.
The other problem was with the gods themselves. Humanity was being exterminated, and the chaos gods drew most of their strength from humans. A church may grow powerful if it has a thousand parishioners donating money, but if that same church only had ten parishioners, it would be far less powerful. Such is how the strength of the chaos gods fell. They could no longer grant their followers as many powerful blessings or grant the aid of as many demons. This sudden change in dynamics caused the gods to immediately plot to usurp power from each other. The mortals were almost abandoned as the chaos gods unleashed their demons against each other’s realms. It was about this time that Nurgle started gaining dominance.
Throughout the Empire and Brettonia, people were dying of plague, starvation and lived in fear of the Skaven. Death seemed to be around every corner and many believed their gods had abandoned them. When afraid of death, it is to Nurgle people turn. The jovial, fatherly chaos god protects his children from disease and starvation, and makes them tough enough to resist the Skaven. Citizens see few signs that they are heard when following Sigmar or Ulric, but Grandfather Nurgle happily blesses those who call for him. New followers flocked to Nurgle and he soon became the dominant chaos god.
In the north, the warriors of chaos began to falter. With very few supplies, an apparent abandonment by their patrons and unending attacks by Skaven, the warriors of the north were faced with three options. They could stand and fight, and though they would die in the face of innumerable Skaven, they would at least die with honor. They could retreat further north where the Skaven feared to venture; they would live but at considerable cost to their pride. Their last option was to gear up and attack the Empire. There was little left for them to destroy, but perhaps this way they would once more gain the attention of their gods.
The followers of Nurgle face a different situation. Nurgle always did involve himself with his mortal followers more than the other chaos gods, and that has not changed. Nurgle’s followers still receive his blessing and are strengthened because of it. Furthermore, with their poor sanitation and crowded numbers, the Skaven are highly susceptible to disease. If just one Skaven got sick, it could bring the disease back to tens of thousands of Skaven in the tunnels. It got so bad, paranoid Skaven leaders would kill every last clanrat they sent to do battle with followers of Nurgle to prevent the spread of disease. All of this disease, in turn, strengthened Nurgle, and there are a lot of Skaven to infect.
Even so, if a hundred thousand Skaven die to plague, three hundred thousand will replace them seeking warpstone from the north. The sorcerers of Nurgle pray to their god, seeking a perfect plague to unleash upon the Skaven, and ironically enough, Chaos is one of the tiny points of hope to save mankind from extermination. That is, unless the priests of Clan Pestilens make there way up north, for they can survive most diseases and grows stronger from them, and their numbers would swell exponentially…
The chaos demons are mostly locked in battle in the realm of chaos fighting for their patron deities against the other gods, but they relish a chance to cause chaos in the real world, and should they get the chance, they will happily invade. Until their deities call them back at least.
Part 9: Mercenaries without a Cause
Ogres aren’t stupid…… Ok they are stupid, but they’re cunning. When the Skaven attacked nearly every race was begging the Ogre Kingdoms for mercenary aid. It was clear to the ogres that no one stood a chance against the Skaven, and to ally against the Skaven would be to invite attack. The Ogre Kingdoms are so far untouched by the Skaven. Party because they are so far out of the way, and partly because they have few resources to plunder. To preserve their own well-being, the ogres fought as mercenaries for the Skaven. The Skaven didn’t need help, but ambitious warlords saw a way to kill their rivals without expending their own soldiers, so they jumped at the chance to hire mercenaries.
Skaven, however, are notoriously poor at honoring a contract. Not a single ogre mercenary unit actually got paid for their services. Worse, many ogres were captured and taken to the experimental pits of Clan Moulder. Soon, Ogre Rats found alongside Rat Ogres, as well as many other bizarre creations. After this betrayal by the Skaven (who saw that coming?) The ogres retreated to their homelands to consolidate their forces and plan for the future.
The ogres have encountered invaders into their land, but it isn’t the Skaven. Refugees trying to flee the Skaven-infested lands have started encroaching on the ogre’s territory. The ogres are having a hard enough time keeping themselves fed and supplied and they violently attack anyone who comes anywhere near their border. This little dilemma has actually provided the ogres with a decent food source. Whenever Skaven scouting parties are encountered they are slaughtered to a man (rat).
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so as not as many Chaos worshippers (if any) would be dying in the Imperial cities, so in my opinion the Chaos god's wouldn't really be getting weaker.
may work.
