Editing Warhammer: Age of Sigmar (section)

====[[Stormcast Eternals]]====

[[File:Open-another-chamber.png|400px|thumb|right|We know what you're thinking- no, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9daI6m4KsM this is actually not fanmade...]]]

Sigmar forged his Realm out of Azyr, Wind of Heavens, into the realm of Azyrheim. He then took small mortal tribes which had been hiding from Chaos in the Warp and with the help of Grungni forged them into immortal beings of flesh and blood clad in armor made of a pure refined metal called... [[Derp|Sigmarite]]. These beings were dubbed the Stormcast Eternals (prepare yourself for facepalm lore writing, as the Stormcast Eternals storm things stormingly with their stormhammers just as much as [[Space Wolves]] wolf things wolfishly with their wolfguns, and—to make it even worse—this is coupled with GW's boner for fauxus-Latinarium), and were created to be the perfect defense against the Chaos Warriors and similar opponents, who run roughshod over regular human settlements.

The Stormcast are truly immortal, as upon dying Sigmar reforges them back to life in Azyr. Each time they're reforged, however, their soul is weakened like brittle metal: they lose intelligence, emotions, and memories in small increments, which is later revealed due to Sigmar not fully perfecting the reforging process, [[Raven Guard|as he had to rush them to have them finished in time to save the realms]]. Thus, on their way back to Azyr, Nagash (who covets these very strong souls) tears at them in an attempt to bring them back down to Shyish, tearing away bits of them in the process. This is then coupled with the reforging process itself, which is highly traumatic to the soul itself, with some not even surviving the reforging process. It is shown that Stormcast that are resurrected more than once begin to lose their personality and individuality and start to become cold and unfeeling. In addition, the reforging process takes longer with each reforging and new sigmarite is needed to craft new equipment if it is lost, slowing the process down even more. This forces the stormhosts to make gains against their enemies, if only to allow time for reforged Stormcasts to be sent back to reinforce their allies. On the other hand, Sigmarite itself is actually mined from the metal core of Malus (the old Warhammer world, and also the Latin for “apple”), and while in theory it is a limited resource, the fact that the supply is basically the size of a planet and Sigmar (being a god) could likely find more if needed means that for all practical purposes it is in limitless supply. Assuming the reforging chambers in Azyr remain intact, of course. Additionally, it ''is'' possible for their souls to be lost to the Warp if something obstructs the recall process, at which point their only hope is for a [[Apothecary|Relictor]] to try [[Geneseed|reclaiming it]]—and even then, it's a toss-up whether they actually catch the free soul before [[Nagash|Big Daddy Skellington]] (or whatever else is blocking things, like Chaos) gets them.

They travel from Realm to Realm via [[Drop Pod|lightning bolts]] that strike the ground and makes the 'Casts appear in a brilliant flash of light.

Each group of the Stormcast belongs to one of the Stormhosts, which we don't know exactly how many there are. Although it seems there are more than 8, since each realm is unimaginably vast, and only 3 Realms have been covered so far. Unless Sigmar is ignoring those Realms till later... Each Stormhost is somewhat analogous to a well-known [[Warhammer 40,000|40k]] [[Space Marines|chapter]] of Space Marines. Foremost amongst them are the poster child faction, [[Ultramarines|the Hammers of Sigmar who bear the regal blue and gold]] and the [[Blood Angels|Astral Templars]] who are the monster-killer Stormhost, the cursed and brooding figures called the [[Raven Guard|Anvils of Heldenhammer]] who were born as a faction of emo kids, the [[Grey Knights|Hallowed Knights]] which are the spiritually consecrated warriors immune to Chaos and so horrifically mangled they are still battle-scarred underneath their armor even after being reforged, the [[Black Templars|Celestial Vindicators]] who sport a spiffing turquoise armor which somehow ties into their role as Sigmar's new [[Witch Hunters]], the gold with purple [[Dark Angels|Lions of Sigmar]] whose power is that they are dreadfully mysteeeeeeerious, and the silver and green [[White Scars|Knights of the Aurora]] are chosen for speed and rapid deployment (and have a warrior chamber called "Borealis" lead by one [[Indrick Boreale|Arturo Boreas]]).

According to [[Josh Reynolds]], the Eternals were not all human men, and were forged out of all mortals Sigmar found. Under the armor could be a woman (and, indeed, there are now explicitly female Stormcast miniatures), an Aelf, an Orruk (ok maybe not, but it would cool though!), or anything else not aligned to Chaos or a Daemon (and even that can be changed with a good wackin' with Ghal'Maraz)—although it’s still unclear whether they all just end up with a human-looking body after being forged. Still, this does raise a few interesting questions, like whether some red Stormcasts might be faster than the others...

Only formerly Undead Sigmarines seem to serve as "Relictors", flag-bearers who draw slain Stormcast souls back to Sigmar. In one story, a Relictor hears Nagash's words "A tithe for a tithe, a soul for a soul" during a battle, which suggests the Skelepope has something nasty up his sleeve for the Stormboys. See, Nagash doesn't like it one bit that people who die doesn't go to him, and sees Sigmar as a liar and a cheat, who tries to take power from him, which isn't all wrong, when it comes down to it.

Thanks to their bulky appearance, massive fucking bodies, and design that's obviously meant to get the attention of Space Marine players, they are known to most of the fanbase as "Sigmarines".

The Stormcast Stormhosts are all led by the "Celestant-Prime", a former righteous king who was granted part of Sigmar's own essence upon becoming the first Sigmarine and gifted with Ghal Maraz once it was reclaimed. He is stated to "slay a Daemon with one blow, setting the spirit within free to make its way to Azyr". The implications for this are interesting, the most obvious being Sigmar is recruiting Daemons by purifying them [[Saint Cuthbert]] style. In Balance of Power, One of Nurgle’s Champions is struck with Ghal Maraz and ultimately reforged as a Stormcast Eternal, after being judged by Sigmar himself (making Sigmar's Judge Hammer a literal hammer).

There are a few theories as to the past identity of this figure, the most likely being Karl Franz. Before anyone says "but he was EMPRAH, NOT KING!", the Stormcast Eternals battle tome refers to Sigmar's old empire as a Kingdom, and thus would consider Franz to be its King. It's probably NOT Settra, since Settra is now strongly implied to be leading a Stormhost named the Imperishables, under a slightly modified name and with no knowledge of his previous life (which is good for Sigmar, since if he did, he’d promptly attempt to take over, or at least go rogue and refuse to be commanded). Seeing as how, while most reforging quirks are unintentional, negative traits like "thinking ill of Sigmar" are deliberately scrapped during the reforging process, it's very likely Settra's refusal to serve others would be the first thing to go.

Although it is (very) easy to hate on them, it is only fair to say GW may have had "good" intentions regarding their purpose in the game. They appeal to 40k players, yes, but also have maximum "your dudes" options while also not requiring going into very much detail or put in a lot of thought ("These are the {two words, from a thesaurus} and they are {two colors}. They {basic behavior} and originated {cool quirk, or favorite race/faction from Fantasy}"). In fact, so long as they have that bulky armor and praise <strike>the sun</strike> Sigmar while hating Chaos you are fully in acceptable range of plausible lore. They are easy to paint, and their immortal nature means there isn’t a sense of picking a losing or dying-out race. Furthermore, they give non-villain sides a faction to whom death is laughable. Only the similarity to 40k—along with the fact they came bundled with massive changes to existing lore and disappointing rules—causes the hate to really pile on so easily. Well, that, and the fact that the word “storm” has lost all meaning to those reading their fluff. Had they been introduced in 8e or End Times, it's possible they would be much less scorned among the general fanbase.

Despite many fans and critics saying that the Stormcast eternals are carbon copies of the Space Marines, Black Library writer Josh Reynolds had this to say: 

:'' "Well, for starters, Space Marines are chosen as children, tortured by SCIENCE!, and then drafted into an eternity of being monastic murder machines whose sole purpose is to hold up the crumbling foundations of an omnicidal dystopia in the name of a rotting carcass that eats psykers like chiclets. They're emotionally stunted orphans who were brainwashed and weaponized before being unleashed on a galaxy where EVERYTHING is trying to kill them. They never even had a chance to be people before someone turned them into a gun instead.''
:''Stormcast, on the other hand, are dead heroes, chosen for their valour and faith, resurrected and sent to free the Mortal Realms from the abominations currently running the show, on behalf of a benevolent God-King (Though benevolent is seriously up to debate). They're traumatized heroes who had lives, personalities and histories prior to being crammed into primary colored hulkbuster armor and filled full of lightning so that they could go save their descendants from the eldritch horrors of a nightmare dimension. They endure death after death, losing a bit more of their soul each time, in order to prevent anyone else from suffering the fate which befell them.''
:''One group are so far removed from humanity as to be utterly alien. The other group are so human it causes them pain. One group feels little in the way of emotion, the other group feels emotion as strongly as they did before death. One group hates and fears the alien. The other group allies regularly with space-lizards, skeletors and green monster-men. One group is the personification of the grim future in which they live. The other is a thing born of hope.''
:''The similarities are cosmetic: big guys in easily paintable armor sell better than little dudes with fiddly bits. But the context for those cosmetic similarities is quite different. Think of it this way...Space Marines are Batman and Stormcast are Captain America. Both are super-heroes, both wear costumes, both punch bad guys, both save people. But they ain't the same, are they?" ''

Really makes you think. Sadly, GeeDubs bit the hand that fed them by telling Josh to shut up and state that anything he says outside the books he writes for them is not canon.

More recent lore from novels and books has begun adding some interesting angles to the Stormcasts, and how they think of themselves and their mission. Apparently, regardless of how much lightning and awesome they've been pumped with to become a Stormcast, they are, in many other ways, still like mortals in armor. They feel all the feelings a mortal person would, they eat and sleep, and they fear death and pain just like any other warrior. In fact, the novels makes it a point that no one has yet to see a Stormcast regenerated more than three times, and many fear how they'll be, since twice regenerated Stormcasts are noticeably grimdark and detached (mirroring the personality of Astartes), and have even started developing mutations (not unlike gene-seed flaws). Sigmar apparantly sees this issue, and wants to correct it, but has no means to do so without risking an all-out war with Nagash. In any case, it seems that by attempting to move them away from Noblebright, GW has made them more like Space Marines than ever before. Oops

Grimdark Sci-fi Superwarrior versus Noblebright Fantasy Superwarrior. Dark versus Light. God versus Man. The gladiatorial match of the worl- Wait no that's something else.

It's noticeable that with more muted metallics, they are not as unappealing. Dull silvers or coppers with dark washes and earth tones appeal to many more than the gaudy gold and high-contrast coloration, and many have taken advantage of the "any race" lore to clip off their Persian 300-style helmets and replace them with Dwarf, Orc, Elf, and skeleton heads.

<gallery>
Image:AgeOfSigmar.jpg|Hope you stocked up on gold, blue, and white paint because you don't really need any other colors.
Image:Ugh Oaf Ziggy Scale.jpg|They're Sigmarines alright.
Image:Sigmarine.jpg| 
Image:Sigmarine Codex Approved Chapters.jpg|[http://youtu.be/_-MzNpMD1K8 SIGMARINES, HO!]
Image:Sigmarine Stormbolters.jpg|.
Image:Sigmarine Logical Conclusion.jpg
Image:Gold Knights.jpg
Image:sigultramarine.jpg|Looks about right
Image:Sigmarine Shield Wall.png|Silly Sigmarines, you don't need to be in formation! Just run at them and start flailing, that's how real war is fought.
Image:Its All Over, Lovehammer Is Dead.jpg|
Image:Warhammer Persians.png
Image:Hanzbur Anvilhelm 1.jpg|[[Forgesworn Eternals]]: the first /tg/-approved <strike>Chapter</strike> Stormhost.
Image:Warpgate Boner.png|BEHOLD, MY SIGMARECTION!
Image:Stormcast Against Khornates-Winning.png
Image:Stormcast Victory.png|Not pictured: the unit musician playing the guitar solo this album cover goes with.
Image:Stormcast VS Nurgle.png
Image:Sigmarine Stormbanner.png|Because it isn't a victory unless you destroy the entire countryside with lightning before the fight even begins.
Image:Stormcast Troops.png|They ride wingless dragons like horses and use wingless gryphons as dogs...
Image:Sigmarine Jetpacks.png|... because they kept all the fucking wings to themselves, the selfish fucks.
Image:THIS IS SIGMARON!.png|Now where have I seen this before?
Image:Bravery.jpg|This is definitely their plan.
Image:Sigbrarian.jpg|Nothing like saying "fuck you" to Khorne like having a man with a skull for a head carry your standard. Note how the Khorgaron's arms have switches places. They're the opposite on the model and in other pics.
Image:Sigmarine by kimplate-d92h94a.png|Here's some SIGMARINES!!!
</gallery>

=====Extremis Chamber=====
Sigmarines that ride the hermaphrodite children of the hermaphrodite star god Dracothian. Now folded into Stormcast Eternals as a singular faction, the idea is basically this: the stormcast are angels, and no horses can carry their heavy asses, so only three other species are willing to rub backs with stormcast groins: stardrakes, dracoths, and gryph-chargers.

Stardrakes are dragons. No, they're more awesome than dragons, because they're elemental lightning given form. They spew lightning and are totally noble creatures in the fluff, and usually gets laughed off the table in actual play in the hands of all but the greatest of tacticians. Dracoths are mini-stardrakes that serve as heavy cavalry that shits cheese with every step they take. Gryph-charges are chocobo theropods that serve as light cavalry and can teleport across the table because obviously the stormcast need more mobility options on top of their deepstrikes.

While gryph-chargers are not part of the extremis chamber (they are part of the vanguard chapter), they represent the rapier of the stormcast army, trusted to hit deep into enemy territory and leave before their foes know what hit them. When in a proper battlefield, dracoths are called upon to break lines and shatter flanks with their thunderous charges (both in fluff and on the table), and when shit hits the fan, stardrakes are called down to even the odds, usually by smashing everything and then teabagging the corpses of daemon princes and chaos behemoths.

=====Sacrosanct Chamber=====
The Sigmarines' wizards. Normally they guard the Anvil of Apotheosis, but following the Necroquake Sigmar has seen fit to have them join the rest of the Stormcasts in battle.