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So I know almost nothing about AoS lore, mostly just snippets of how some people came from the old world and (made?/arrived at?) different realms, so I was wondering what's the deal with Alarielle and the Sylvaneth? I know she was part of the high Elves beforehand, but are they still friendly anymore or?? Feel like I should know this as I move to collect and paint up an army of them ahaha
Thanks guys ♥

I remember reading somewheres that Alarielle disliked/hated the Wood Elves now, due to them retreating from war against Chaos rather than joining her call to war with the Sylvaneth.

I don't remember exactly the source however. Haven't read anything with regards to the remnant high elves, Daughters of Khaine, Idoneth or Lumineth. I imagine she's on decent terms with IDK, High Elves and Lumineth. DoK is... questionable, because Alarielle and Morathi were once enemies but, that may have been smoothed over. The betrayal from the wood elves was fairly recent.

 Luunar wrote:
So I know almost nothing about AoS lore, mostly just snippets of how some people came from the old world and (made?/arrived at?) different realms, so I was wondering what's the deal with Alarielle and the Sylvaneth? I know she was part of the high Elves beforehand, but are they still friendly anymore or?? Feel like I should know this as I move to collect and paint up an army of them ahaha
Thanks guys ♥

Alareille is the Goddess of life/nature and seems to have little connection to or interest in Aelves more than the any other creature. She was part of the Pantheon so has had contact with the other Aelf gods (her ex husband, ex lover etc) but there seems to be little real connection to her past life.

The Wanderers (Wood Elves) are considered traitors by many Sylvaneth as they abadonned Gyran.

That being said many Aelves now live in her realm again and are considered, for the moment allies

Alarielle is very different to what she was before. In general right now she has a very powerful bond with the forests and tree folk. Thing a bit like a Tyranid Hive Mind - a great linkage of minds but not quite as refined, its a more emotional/raw bonding.


This is important to understand because she isn't just the ruler or godly patreon of her people, she is bonded to the woods. As they grow she grows; as she rejoices so do they ;as they are cut so is she cut.



So when Aelves abandoned the woods and fled they were abandoning her directly. As the woods were blighted by Nurgle; twisted and burned and corrupted it hurt her directly. In fact of the 500 years or so of the Age of Chaos she was in hiding, basically driven part mad with pain and fear beyond her ability to process.

Even when awakened by the Stormcast from her hiding, she is still half insane. Her mood can be very fickle and moments of what we could consider sanity, inter-spaced with almost a primal rage and fear mixed together.




Some Aelves are returning to the woods and are tolerated as allies, but not as part of her forces or her armies. The Kurnothi appear to be a potential source of non-treekin allies within her forces; but as yet are a very minor element (just one Underworld Warband). But pure Aelves are not part of her forces, her people or army. She is one with the forests. This means she's a very fickle ally for any non-treekin folk.



The old Aelves of Sylvaneth are long gone, exiled/outcast to the Free Cities with the remains of the High and Dark elves as well as the dwarves dispossessed from their holds as the Chaos forces overran the realm of metal and drove the dwarves out.

Awww reading this lore kinda makes me a little sad :.( But I still do like the idea of her being bonded with the forests and such ♥

I wouldn't go so far as to put her at half-insane. As a god she was always cyclical in nature with her mood & mentality changing over time into different seasonal aspects.

More like, a quarter insane.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I wouldn't go so far as to put her at half-insane. As a god she was always cyclical in nature with her mood & mentality changing over time into different seasonal aspects.

More like, a quarter insane.

I think she was quarter unstable before Chaos; after I think she's closer to half insane. Then again I've not read many Sylvaneth stories from longer after the Age of Sigmar began (not that GW makes it easy to work out just when some stories happen unless they happen to reference something like the necroquake etc...); and stories where you deal with the sylvaneth as either enemies or a neutral force - which often presents things a little out of sorts to the factions own internal viewpoints

 Overread wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I wouldn't go so far as to put her at half-insane. As a god she was always cyclical in nature with her mood & mentality changing over time into different seasonal aspects.

More like, a quarter insane.

I think she was quarter unstable before Chaos; after I think she's closer to half insane. Then again I've not read many Sylvaneth stories from longer after the Age of Sigmar began (not that GW makes it easy to work out just when some stories happen unless they happen to reference something like the necroquake etc...); and stories where you deal with the sylvaneth as either enemies or a neutral force - which often presents things a little out of sorts to the factions own internal viewpoints

She does have a chat with Sigmar in the short stroy Pantheon which is interesting.

https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Pantheon_(short_story)

The Sylvaneth are also highly variable - some are relatively benign - others extremely hostile. Some of this depends on their "mother" current state of mind/emotions.

Agreed - I really wish they had had a timeline!

Yep and her mind/emotions seem to flex and shift depending on both the general state of affairs and the regional variation. Almost as if her mind is in many parts; with large areas of forest almost having their own mini-version of her thoughts and emotions.


That said the line between the local group mind and her might be a very blurry one. Where its hard to really tell what is her instinctual thoughts and what is simply the result of loads of forest minds all linked together thinking the same way - ergo the forests subconscious. Which might add a layer to the whole "variable instability" element if its not actually "her" but simply the forest itself.

Which makes sense for a deity. I'd say any od that still clings to trying to think like a mortal is the insane one.

Hm, I think we can agree that she is one third insane.

The whole Wanderers/Alarielle+Sylvaneth dynamic is really weirdly worded. Early on, it was still hostile-ish but it made it clear that the Wanderers didn't abandon Ghyran but rather had sent for aid to the other Realms and the Wanderers there...and then got 'locked out' because the Allpoints was taken by Archaon and his forces, with the Wanderers still in Ghyran dying of Nurgle's pestilences there.

I think in general Alarielle's bond with the Sylvaneth meant she was closer to them than the elves even though she was once an elf. So when they didn't save her and when Sigmar also abandoned her she withdrew more and more into the link with the woods - which was being corrupted by Nurgle and chaos.


So some of her hate might well be influenced by chaos itself. Dividing once allies to make them weaker and easier to destroy.


Then again a lot of the early lore is a bit sketchy and lacking in depth. I suspect because of the super secret launch and huge change to setting and armies leaving authors very little time to actually try and work out what the heck they were doing. So we get simpler stories that don't put meat on the bones - like a lore for an ancient saga that covers the points but not the detail.

I'll definitely need to read the (books?) that describe the transition from old world to AoS world. I preferred WHFB Alarielle, but still like AoS Alarielle anyways :p

That is mostly in the core book, and some spread around battletomes.

 Luunar wrote:
I'll definitely need to read the (books?) that describe the transition from old world to AoS world. I preferred WHFB Alarielle, but still like AoS Alarielle anyways :p

Worth glancing through these pages but: https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Sylvaneth and https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Alarielle

Age of Myth
Alarielle was awakened by Sigmar and wandered alone through the wilds of Ghyran for a very long time, exploring its lands and wonders spoke with its many plants and creatures. She desired no companions and found solace in nature alone, nurturing life as she went along. But eventually she grew tired of her solitude and sowed her most treasured artefacts, seeds she had kept from the World-That-Was.[9b]

These seeds gave birth to the first of the Sylvaneth, growing into different creatures depending on the condition of the sowing. Under her guidance these nature spirits grew to maturity. After their creation she thanked Sigmar properly, joined his Pantheon and shared the gifts of life magic with the other realms

NinthMusketeer wrote:That is mostly in the core book, and some spread around battletomes.

Oh I bought the full core book the other day luckily, so I'll have a read through that when I can :p

Mr Morden wrote:

 Luunar wrote:
I'll definitely need to read the (books?) that describe the transition from old world to AoS world. I preferred WHFB Alarielle, but still like AoS Alarielle anyways :p

Worth glancing through these pages but: https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Sylvaneth and https://ageofsigmar.lexicanum.com/wiki/Alarielle

Age of Myth
Alarielle was awakened by Sigmar and wandered alone through the wilds of Ghyran for a very long time, exploring its lands and wonders spoke with its many plants and creatures. She desired no companions and found solace in nature alone, nurturing life as she went along. But eventually she grew tired of her solitude and sowed her most treasured artefacts, seeds she had kept from the World-That-Was.[9b]

These seeds gave birth to the first of the Sylvaneth, growing into different creatures depending on the condition of the sowing. Under her guidance these nature spirits grew to maturity. After their creation she thanked Sigmar properly, joined his Pantheon and shared the gifts of life magic with the other realms

I'll have to give those a read for sure ♥ Thanks!

You can also read the Realmgate Wars books. These will have the stories you're looking for about the gods and their fight against chaos.