Kislev
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"Land is Kislev, Kislev is land." - Kislevan proverb
"THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED" - Sabaton
Kislev is the northenmost civilized state in the Old world, and the first line of defense against the hordes of Chaos that regularly spill out of Norsca to the far north.
Historically, Kislev is the result of the inter-mingling of main tribal confederations; the native Ungols of the north, the Gospodars in the south, and the long dead Roppsmenn tribes. The former two are in fact the off-shoots of the Kurgan tribes of the northeast. To this day, the Ungols maintain good relationship with those Chaos marauders, who have such wonderfully well thought out names such as "Dolgan", "Khazag" and "Kul".
In case you can't tell, Kislev is like Tsarist Russia. But only in the weak, decadent south. In the strong, manly north, it actually turns into Mongolia and the Turkic countries (Khazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc). And the Kurgans who dwell east of the Norsemen are basically Siberians.
In essence, Kislev is Russia before Peter the Great got rid of everything in Russia that was Russian. Also if people didin't notice it's also very Polish, but thanks to the fact that nobody cares. It's also named after Kiev, as in the old Ukrainian kingdom and the current capital city of Ukraine, all GW did was tack on two letters in the middle of Kiev. Or is a reference to third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar, perhaps reflecting Western ideas of Russia's jewish influences.
Also, Kislev is no more according to the whole return of Nagash thing GW has planned. At last, Archaon has done that which Napoleon, Hitler, the USA and the EU could only dream of -- the annihilation of Russia.
History of Kislev
The Ungol people have populated the land of Kislev since the empire was founded and even helped support Sigmar in his first days of being the Emperor which created a bond between the empire and Kislev that lasts to to this day. They promise each other to help each other if one or the other was invaded.
Kislev as it is known now got started about 1500 IC when the Gospodar Tribe fled the encroaching Chaos wastes. The native Ungol people where not match for the wealth, arms, and magic of the Gospodar Tribe.(The Empire at this time was going through a civil war and could not help the Ungols) The settlement of Praag grew in size as the Gospodars used the Lynsk to launch incursions into Ungol territory, eventually forcing the Ungol to accept Gospodar rule (who were now beginning to be called Kislevites after their capital city). Eventually the Ungols settled on the northern border of modern day Kislev where their people still reside mainly as the first line of defense against Chaos marauders. The south of Kislev is considered more civilized and even has some influence from the Empire.
Over the past 750 years the two people have basically intermingled so that now almost everyone sees themselves as people of Kislev.
The Gospodar people have virtually all the power in the nation with the Tzars all being descended from the first Gospodar emperor and almost all the nobles are Gospodar. This is changing lately because Tzarinas Katrarin has been uplifting more and more Ungol men into leadership roles to further tighten her grip on the nation.
In order for the Warriors of Chaos to get to the Empire on foot they have to go through Kislev. So the horde that shows up in the empire is actually a hell of a lot smaller than when they marched out. Kislev has been on the forefront of the chaos wastes since its inception and not once has the nation fallen. That basically means these guys have balls of steel on par with the Imperial Guard. At least thats how it was until the end times. In current fluff, Archaon has finally destroyed Kislev and only one city still stands.
Religion in Kislev
Like the Empire to the south the people of Kislev have multiple deities but the main one is the Cult of Ursun the Father of Bears. Other common gods in Kislev are Dazh, Tor, Taal, and Ulric.
Collecting Kislev
In Warmaster, Kislev used to have both an official army list and a nice line of miniatures. In WHFB, things are a little more complicated. While there is no official army book for them there are good fan made ones which do include Bear Cavalry which in turn makes all other human armies seem pathetic (except for the Warriors of Chaos, who are motherfucking Vikings). (Honestly that's easily debatable. These manly fuckers fight giant chaos monsters with a bow, rocks, and an axe. And you think they ask for help?)There are even a few official models made for them and a small White Dwarf list for them but that is out of date. Additionally, the Privateer Press line of Khador models for Warmachine give off the nice fantasy/russian look, if going only for infantry, with the Doom Reavers, Kossite Woodsmen, and Greylord models. If you need bears, you can grab their Brun and Lug set
Links
- Here is a link to the current fandex [1]
- Good song to listen to while working on a Kislev army [2]
- Good video for modeling Kislev armies from [3]
Gallery
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Kislev Minis for Warmaster. Those were the days...
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Map of Kislev
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The Famed Winged Lancers of Kislev