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Okay I continue my efforts to make sense of the lore of this setting. Questions mostly relating to the Free People.

1) Free Guilds, is there more information about them anywhere except the tiny blurb in the Grand Alliance Order book? What do they actually do, who rules them where are they located? How they relate to the cities? Some names and examples? Anything really. In my head they're some mix of noble houses and mercenary companies, but I really know nothing about them...

2) Governments. Are there kingdoms? Are free cities independent city states? Who rules them?

3) Realmagates. Who made them? How common they are? Are there any limitations about their use? Do Stormcast need them or can Sigmar just lightning teleport them from Azyrheim to their destination?

4) Azyrheim and Sigmar. Is Sigmar physically present in Azyrheim? Is he a literal bloke like Thor in Marvel? Does he stoll around and can you interact with him? Does he personally rule things? Is he in fact the leader of all humans? And how is life in Azyrheim? It must be a literal paradise, why would anyone want to leave? Seem to be pretty safe, so why conquering the other realms is such a big deal?

5) Wanderers and Sylvaneth. In FB wood elves and dryads used to be pals, but not anymore. So what's the relationship here? Apparently the aelves fled from Ghyran to Azyrheim, which Alarielle didn't like... All of them fled? This seems unlikely, there were humas remaining in the realms during the years chaos was freely stomping around, right? One would imagine some aelves would have stayed as well...

1) The Freeguilds are regiments of soldiers, originally founded in Azyr and which have now spread out to the rest of the Mortal Realms and the foundling cities following the dawn of the Age of Sigmar. There isn't that much information on them individually afaik, but they're certainly associated with certain cities.

2) Yes, there are all of these things. The free cities are independent, ruled over by councils of nobles, merchants, priests etc. but also depend on one another for trade and mutual defence. Think Renaissance Italy.

3) They seem to be natural parts of the Realms. There are a lot of them, but they're not common, which is why they're fought over so fiercely. Remember that the Realms are big! Sigmar can send the Stormcasts where he wants in the Realms, but they can't get back to Azyr without a Realmgate, or without dying.

4) Sigmar is physically present, but I don't think he leaves Sigmaron very often. Azyr is the only Realm free of Chaos, it's true, but I don't think it's a paradise: from the descriptions, it seems quite an austere place, mostly consisting of cold mountains outside of the vast, ancient cities. There are also some slightly strange things that happen with time there, like eddies that cause whole quarters of Azyrheim to be stuck in ancient time periods. This is really an excuse to include Old World stuff in AoS, and also so that people who actually fled the Realms in the Age of Chaos are still around, hungering for revenge. Basically, it's a safe place, but it might not be a very nice place. Plus, another factor is that reclaiming the Realms is treated as a kind of religious calling, so even if life is better in Azyr, there's a lot of motivation to go out there and fight Chaos.

5) Some aelves probably did stick around, but the old Wood Elf range now specifically represents the Wanderers, who didn't. For that reason, there's some bad blood (sap?) between them and the Sylvaneth, but I don't think that means they don't ally occasionally.

 Crimson wrote:

5) Wanderers and Sylvaneth. In FB wood elves and dryads used to be pals, but not anymore. So what's the relationship here? Apparently the aelves fled from Ghyran to Azyrheim, which Alarielle didn't like... All of them fled? This seems unlikely, there were humas remaining in the realms during the years chaos was freely stomping around, right? One would imagine some aelves would have stayed as well...

Dryads and Wood Elves were never really "pals". The Forest Spirits could be roused to fight alongside the Wood Elves in the World That Was, but it was more like the way a horde of Chaos followers would work. They're just kinda 'there' with each other.

The two factions can still ally with each other, but Sylvaneth are their own deal now. There has been mention made of Wanderer clans that stayed in Ghyran and fought to the death but Alarielle just kind of considers them as having 'betrayed' her and Ghyran itself.

We don't really know what was happening during the Age of Chaos with the Aelves. It seems like during that time and the time before the Age of Myth that Slaanesh and its followers really went out of their way to exterminate the Aelves. Idoneth Deepkin's battletome gives us a bit more of a look at things but it's still in the nascent stage for Aelf fluff it seems.

Alarielle is really judgy about the NuWoodelves for an elf...

pm713 wrote:
Alarielle is really judgy about the NuWoodelves for an elf...

Worth bearing in mind that she isn't technically an aelf now - she's Sylvaneth, and a demigod. It's never been quite clear how much the ascended Incarnates of the world-that-was remember of their previous mortal lives. In particular, the Sylvaneth only dimly remember they had any connection to the Asrai at all, with some of them modelling their physical forms on the legendary 'Protectors'. Alarielle hasn't seen fit to explain who those Protectors really were, so it's debatable whether she even knows herself now.

Another slight nuance with Age of Sigmar is that not all of the Mortal Realms versions of the old armies are intended to have a direct lineage from their previous incarnations. The Wanderers aren't necessarily descended (biologically or culturally) from the Asrai; they're just a group of aelves who, by dint of living in a similar environment, ended up looking and fighting like their distant forebears. The Freeguild aren't Empire State Troops that have passed on their culture for thousands (?) of generations or something - they just coincidentally have similar puffy sleeves...

Or not, you know. The thing about time moving strangely in Azyrheim and the vague nature of the setting in general means you can transplant your army wholesale and it can still work. If Mannfred can be around despite being on the literal edge of the abyss when Middenheim blew and being the whole reason the good guys lost at all, anyone can.

The Firestorm supplement has some good fluff on free cities if you can get ahold of the little rulebook.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
The Firestorm supplement has some good fluff on free cities if you can get ahold of the little rulebook.

Yeah, I have it. It is the best source of Free City info I know, though still hella vague. For example I have no idea what the relationship of Free Guilds and Free Cities is. Is Free Guild just an army of one Free City, or do the guilds operate in several cities? Or are there many Free Guilds in one city?

Each city has it's own freeguild companies, larger cities may even have more than one. They serve as city guard and standing army.

Presumably freeguilds are also responsible for guarding the surrounding area and smaller settlements.

 Crimson wrote:
Okay I continue my efforts to make sense of the lore of this setting. Questions mostly relating to the Free People.

1) Free Guilds, is there more information about them anywhere except the tiny blurb in the Grand Alliance Order book? What do they actually do, who rules them where are they located? How they relate to the cities? Some names and examples? Anything really. In my head they're some mix of noble houses and mercenary companies, but I really know nothing about them...

2) Governments. Are there kingdoms? Are free cities independent city states? Who rules them?

3) Realmagates. Who made them? How common they are? Are there any limitations about their use? Do Stormcast need them or can Sigmar just lightning teleport them from Azyrheim to their destination?

4) Azyrheim and Sigmar. Is Sigmar physically present in Azyrheim? Is he a literal bloke like Thor in Marvel? Does he stoll around and can you interact with him? Does he personally rule things? Is he in fact the leader of all humans? And how is life in Azyrheim? It must be a literal paradise, why would anyone want to leave? Seem to be pretty safe, so why conquering the other realms is such a big deal?

5) Wanderers and Sylvaneth. In FB wood elves and dryads used to be pals, but not anymore. So what's the relationship here? Apparently the aelves fled from Ghyran to Azyrheim, which Alarielle didn't like... All of them fled? This seems unlikely, there were humas remaining in the realms during the years chaos was freely stomping around, right? One would imagine some aelves would have stayed as well...

Hi ! So as TGA is ... sleeping for now, I'll try to answer you here :

1) Freeguild :
Indeed, the basic is in Grand Alliance : Order. If you want a book about them as main characters, I highly recommend "City of Secrets".
In Warhammer Quest : Shadow Over Hammerhal, the first book is 75% a novel about Hammerhal. You have a great description of its inhabitants, including Freeguilds.
The novel "Hammerhal & Other story (the Black library book, not WHQ) also deals with them.
In this Malign Portents short story, you have some Freeguild actions outside the city :
https://malignportents.com/story/the-offer/
In those stories and novels you'll find names and history of Freeguilders, officiers, regiments, etc.

2) Gov. :
Here too, the basic is in Grand Alliance : Order, about Azyrheim's Grand conclave.
Hammheral's got one too (see the two references above).
I also recommend : https://malignportents.com/story/cause-celebre/
(Where the Great conclave of Hammerhal politics with... You'll see !).

3) Realmgates :
We don't know. They were already there when Sigmar arrived and found the eight Realms already formed (and inhabited by savage mortals and great beasts and monsters, including the Godbeasts). They seems common, but maybe like 1-3 by kingdoms. They are of vital strategic importance. Some Gates are only linked to one other, but some may have "optional" destinations. One such is the Silver Way in Chamon. The most important Realmgates are the Allpoint. It's a subrealm where eight giant gates connect the eight Realms. The people of the Realms (and even the Denizens of the Warp) totally need the gates to travel. For Sigmar, notably the Gates between Azyr and the 7 other realms, because he couldn't teleport everybody at once, nor could he teleport his other armies (of Free people, etc.). For travel inside the 7 other realms, you absolutely need them (unless you are a powerful mage, a Slaan in a spaceship, or Skaven seers / top scientists with their gnawholes magitek).

4) Azyrheim :
It is a giant metropolis build across mountains and valleys in Azyr. It was the first city to be founded in the Realms.
It was also the last big city to stand during the Age of Chaos (many many refugees lived in Azyrheim during the 500 years of this Age, etc.). There is fluff about it in Grand Alliance : Order.
Above Azyrheim float four bodies : 1. the High Star Sigendil. 2. Mallus, the core of the world that was. 3. Sigmaron, the palace of Sigmar, 4. the Sigmarabulum, the artificial ring around Mallus where the Stormcast Eternals (and their weapons) are created, live and are trained.
Sigmar resides in Sigmaron. He very rarely goes to Azyrheim, sometimes to the Sigmarabulum to meet his armies.
We don't really know about life in Azyrheim but the general aspects in GA:O, but the people from Azyrheim (many of them are refugee's descendants) wants to conquer back the Realms. They also want to rescue all those survivors that couldn't make it to Azyr before the Gates where shut. Also, they want REVENGE against Chaos.
And it's not that much a literal paradise, it's a magical metropolis, where different races work (for once) together in the name of Order.
Here is an example of Azyrheim citizen : https://malignportents.com/story/the-clockmakers-tale/

5) Sylvaneth :
As Kanluwen said, in WFB already the relation was tense. It was still the case during the Age of Myth, but now indeed it's quite worst, but for some new Free cities (mainly Hammerhal Ghyra and the Living city) ; there the humans, duarfin and aelves (inc. wanderers but mainly more "civilized" aelves, in fact) are trying to live alongside the Sylvaneth).
During the end of the Age of Myth the vast majority of ghyranite Aelves indeed fled to Azyr but ofc there is no reason why there couldn't be some exceptions.



Hope that helps. Feel free to ask more.
And really : check the Malign Portents website (mainly the Travelers guide to the mortal realms, the Timeline summary, and the short stories - they really flesh out the setting !)

Thommy H wrote:

Another slight nuance with Age of Sigmar is that not all of the Mortal Realms versions of the old armies are intended to have a direct lineage from their previous incarnations. The Wanderers aren't necessarily descended (biologically or culturally) from the Asrai; they're just a group of aelves who, by dint of living in a similar environment, ended up looking and fighting like their distant forebears. The Freeguild aren't Empire State Troops that have passed on their culture for thousands (?) of generations or something - they just coincidentally have similar puffy sleeves...

Or not, you know. The thing about time moving strangely in Azyrheim and the vague nature of the setting in general means you can transplant your army wholesale and it can still work. If Mannfred can be around despite being on the literal edge of the abyss when Middenheim blew and being the whole reason the good guys lost at all, anyone can.

I don't have exacting quotes, but there have been mentions from the studio staff that yes, the Wanderers are the descendants of the Asrai both biologically and culturally.

Shadows over Hammerhal offers a more nitid picture on how the cities work, or at least in the case of hammerhal.

Thank you everybody.

I really wish the information was somehow concisely presented in the actual game books instead of scattered in the novels... I already read one BL novel in order to learn about the setting (Gates of Azyr.) It was utter suffering, literally the worst novel I've ever read. I hope the other novels are better (they cannot be worse.)

 Crimson wrote:
Thank you everybody.

I really wish the information was somehow concisely presented in the actual game books instead of scattered in the novels... I already read one BL novel in order to learn about the setting (Gates of Azyr.) It was utter suffering, literally the worst novel I've ever read. I hope the other novels are better (they cannot be worse.)

Gates of Azyr is the worst one by a large margin. Like at least twice as bad as any of the other ones. And yes, it would be good if they released a 'rulebook' that detailed the fluff and story thus far, along with a selection of good narrative scenarios from the various supplements and 1-3 times of war for each realm. Maybe throw a few battalions in there with point costs for matched play players.

Agreed. The spider web that is AOS fluff makes things difficult.

Oh one more thing. Day and night are apparently formed by Hyish an Ulgu moving in front of each other. So there is no sun or moon? Except there are sun and moon in some of the iconography in the AOS buildings and Stormcast shields. Are Hyish and Ulgu sun and moon?

 Crimson wrote:
Oh one more thing. Day and night are apparently formed by Hyish an Ulgu moving in front of each other. So there is no sun or moon? Except there are sun and moon in some of the iconography in the AOS buildings and Stormcast shields. Are Hyish and Ulgu sun and moon?

Finally an easy one. Yes.
As for the novels the first book is unfortunately the worst which put a lot of people off. The book was commissioned as a novelisation of the battles in the starter book which was a stupid idea. City of Secrets, spear of Shadows and the Hammerhal novella are all great and cover different parts of regular human society.
The free stories on the malign portents website are also great and fill in little pieces of lore as they go.

Crimson wrote:Oh one more thing. Day and night are apparently formed by Hyish an Ulgu moving in front of each other. So there is no sun or moon? Except there are sun and moon in some of the iconography in the AOS buildings and Stormcast shields. Are Hyish and Ulgu sun and moon?

Don't forget the space station. Or is that in another realm? I always get the names mixed up. Yup Age of Sigmar fluff has a space station.

It's just a floating city, like many other floating cities in fantasy settings.

 Crimson wrote:
Oh one more thing. Day and night are apparently formed by Hyish an Ulgu moving in front of each other. So there is no sun or moon? Except there are sun and moon in some of the iconography in the AOS buildings and Stormcast shields. Are Hyish and Ulgu sun and moon?

Yes, you are right.
The Malign Portents campaign book + website (with the Traveller's Guide of the Mortal Realms*, the map of a part of Shyish (including the ruins of Shadespire) and the Timeline summary) are doing a good job putting lot's of thing together.

But GW really need to release a book replacing / updating "Mighty Battle in an Age of Unending Wars" - with the new starter rumors we may have a boxset with a big book in it like Dark Imperium. Maybe the new rule book / magic supplement coming in June may do the trick too. Or, falling that, the AOS RPG from Cubicle7 latter in 2018.

About Hysh and Ulgu : as "celestial objects", they are Realmspheres*. That's a very big sphere of magic and matter. Inside there are planes, like giant flat earth, and floating continents, micro planets, suns and moons.

For example, one floating continent in Aqshy (not one of the main, central land masses) is called the Ashlands. There was Ignax, a godbeast the size of a little sun. Or in Azyr, as mentioned, above Azyrheim floats Mallus, basically a planetoid. Or Golgeth in Chamon. So those kind of bodies may influence some regions inside the Realms, but not a given realm as a whole. Only the dance of Hysh and Ulgu really brings day and night to the Realms.

 HorticulusDK wrote:

 Crimson wrote:
Oh one more thing. Day and night are apparently formed by Hyish an Ulgu moving in front of each other. So there is no sun or moon? Except there are sun and moon in some of the iconography in the AOS buildings and Stormcast shields. Are Hyish and Ulgu sun and moon?

Yes, you are right.
The Malign Portents campaign book + website (with the Traveller's Guide of the Mortal Realms*, the map of a part of Shyish (including the ruins of Shadespire) and the Timeline summary) are doing a good job putting lot's of thing together.

But GW really need to release a book replacing / updating "Mighty Battle in an Age of Unending Wars" - with the new starter rumors we may have a boxset with a big book in it like Dark Imperium. Maybe the new rule book / magic supplement coming in June may do the trick too. Or, falling that, the AOS RPG from Cubicle7 latter in 2018.

About Hysh and Ulgu : as "celestial objects", they are Realmspheres*. That's a very big sphere of magic and matter. Inside there are planes, like giant flat earth, and floating continents, micro planets, suns and moons.

For example, one floating continent in Aqshy (not one of the main, central land masses) is called the Ashlands. There was Ignax, a godbeast the size of a little sun. Or in Azyr, as mentioned, above Azyrheim floats Mallus, basically a planetoid. Or Golgeth in Chamon. So those kind of bodies may influence some regions inside the Realms, but not a given realm as a whole. Only the dance of Hysh and Ulgu really brings day and night to the Realms.

Not quite. Day and Night are determinated by Ulgu and Hysh but it seems that they are marking more the tempo of the sun's realms (meaning that the flux of hysh and ulgu is the thing that makes the stars turn) bar in the Realm of Beasts, where its sun is "fiercely independent, just like the rest of the realm" according to Hamilcar Bear Eater.

Thommy H wrote:

pm713 wrote:
Alarielle is really judgy about the NuWoodelves for an elf...

Worth bearing in mind that she isn't technically an aelf now - she's Sylvaneth, and a demigod. It's never been quite clear how much the ascended Incarnates of the world-that-was remember of their previous mortal lives. In particular, the Sylvaneth only dimly remember they had any connection to the Asrai at all, with some of them modelling their physical forms on the legendary 'Protectors'. Alarielle hasn't seen fit to explain who those Protectors really were, so it's debatable whether she even knows herself now.

Another slight nuance with Age of Sigmar is that not all of the Mortal Realms versions of the old armies are intended to have a direct lineage from their previous incarnations. The Wanderers aren't necessarily descended (biologically or culturally) from the Asrai; they're just a group of aelves who, by dint of living in a similar environment, ended up looking and fighting like their distant forebears. The Freeguild aren't Empire State Troops that have passed on their culture for thousands (?) of generations or something - they just coincidentally have similar puffy sleeves...

Or not, you know. The thing about time moving strangely in Azyrheim and the vague nature of the setting in general means you can transplant your army wholesale and it can still work. If Mannfred can be around despite being on the literal edge of the abyss when Middenheim blew and being the whole reason the good guys lost at all, anyone can.

Look at her. She's pretty clearly still got a significant elf bit in her. Although I'd love her to be much more treeish.

I know. NuWoodElves seems to suit the Wanderers as they're the reincarnation of Wood Elves and GW likes putting things like Nu and Ur in front of things. Which isn't silly at all.

I basically did port my armies over just in a different way.