Slaves to Darkness

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Grand Alliance Chaos Slaves to Darkness

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It took a while but now the Age of Sigmar has its own brand of marauding Chaos worshippers. The Slaves to Darkness is a collective term used by the forces of Order to describe the myriad rabid warbands and violent tribes that fell under the influence of the Ruinous Powers following or during the Age of Chaos. Their model range is mostly that of the Warriors of Chaos, with a few new units and the Warcry war bands sprinkled in.

Origins

Generally speaking, the STD fall into two groups in regards to how they were formed.

The first group is much in line with Fantasy‘s Norsca; primitive societies who willingly or unknowingly worship the Dark Gods. During the Age of Myth, there were many tribal cultures lay scattered about the Mortal Realms. They weren’t under the authoritarian thumb of Sigmar and thus allowed to spread out and create their own religions and beliefs. Usually these cultures had simple traditions and gods that inadvertently fell in line with Chaos (I.e. a warrior culture revering a god of war for his honor and martial prowess fuels Khorne). When the Age of Chaos rolled around, these tribes were either press ganged into servitude by the hordes of daemons, willingly followed them as loyal servants, or were slowly corrupted and fell to Chaos.

The second group is a bit more tragic. When Sigmar closed off the gates to Azyr, he left entire continents and civilizations to fend for themselves against the swathes of Chaos. Some human worshippers of other gods were also left in a vulnerable position as their gods left them to fend for themselves. These people turned to Chaos either to spite their former gods or save their own skins. Still more turned to Chaos because they genuinely thought the Chaos Gods offered a better deal (such as several nations of Shyish preferring them to Nagash - which is almost understandable given Nagash's character). Of course, some of these people would still remain opposed to Chaos and fight on, their descendants becoming known as the Reclaimed and having a tense rivalry with the Cities of Sigmar, seeing them as privileged goody two-shoes.

Types of Chaos Warbands

There are five broad classifications for types of hordes.

• Ravagers: These most common type of hordes are led by rival champions of the Dark Gods, always in competition with each other to earn more favor from their masters. Usually these groups are comprised of many smaller tribes and other cultures, which in turn makes them prone to fracturing and creating more warbands.

• Cabalists: Always centered around a powerful Chaos Sorcerer or maybe a coven of them. Their warriors are little more than thralls for the magic users to draw magic from and sacrifice for their dark rituals. The number of Cabalist warbands has recently spiked when Nagash’s Necroquake completely flipped the way magic functioned in the Mortal Realms.

• Despoilers: The rarest kind of warband and often regarded as the most dangerous. Each one is led by a Daemon Prince who has returned from the Realm of Chaos to his original tribe and claimed leadership. Their arrival brings many warped monsters and twisted magics to the Realms as well. On even rarer occasions, these warbands will be led by multiple Daemon Princes, but understandably, they are very likely to separate given their megalomaniacal natures.

• Host of the Everchosen: Archaon’s personal army of lackeys and worshippers who follow the Everchosen like a god among men. His mere presence amidst the Slaves to Darkness has a magnetic effect that draws all other tribes and cults towards him. Additionally, there is a subset of this group called the Knights of the Empty Throne, who are tasked with defending the Eightpoints whilst daddy is away trying to cave in Nagash’s skull...again.

• Idolators: Introduced in Broken Realms: Morathi; Idolators are comprised of the more zealous and devout among the worshippers of Chaos. Led by fiery orators riding Chaos Chariots or Gorebeast Chariots, they specialize in laying waste to non-Chaos priests and monuments, and spreading the taint of the Dark Gods wherever they tread.