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Sons of Behemat

2020-12-04T15:16:07Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Religion and Culture */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Sons of Behemat|Logo=Kraken-eater.jpg|Alliance=Destruction|Motto=Big and friendly these giants are not...}}

{{Topquote|We had common cause once, little man. No more. Now the Sons of Behemat march. Kraken-eater. Warstomper. Gatebreaker. Mancrusher. Bonegrinder. All as one. Behemat calls.|The Kraken-eater Baran to a Freeguild Captain and former ally.}}

{{Topquote|Disasters are called natural, as if nature were the executioner and not the victim.|Eduardo Galeano}}
The '''Sons of Behemat''' are the offspring of the titular [[Godbeast]] Behemat; forces of nature that terrify foes and (their few) friends alike. They are driven by their wanton need for inflicting mass carnage and proving themselves as the true champions of Gorkamorka. Despite this, other factions will often hire the services of the Sons of Behemat as living siege weapons.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4RyrcmRUNM&feature=share This is likely what a gargant invasion would look like.]

==History==
[[File:Behemat teaser.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Note that the [[Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast]] are literally immortal, yet they're still scared shitless by this absolute unit. Then again, Warham’s giants tend to stuff smaller foes in their trousers, so it's understandable]]

In the beginning, there was a titanic godbeast known as Ymnog, Grandfather of Gargants. According to the Gargant Matriarchs (no model exists cause no one wants to see what saggy Gargant tits look like in plastic), Ymnog created the Mortal Realms when he threw a punch so hard that he shattered reality into earth, sea, and sky. After drinking and eating entire sections of the cosmos, Ymnog laid down to take a nap, where his drool would flow down into the Realms and become the first rivers. Inside his stomach was born Behemat, who brewed a lake of moonshine in his father's guts, causing him to retch him into his mouth, where Behemat then broke his father’s teeth to escape, the shards of his teeth supposedly becoming the first mountains. Behemat landed in the Mortal Realms and became the progenitor of the Gargant race and personal right hand to the god of destruction [[Gorkamorka (Deity)|Gorkamorka]] (mostly because the Greenskin god was the only thing bigger than him), while Ymnog would end up being killed by Sigmar cause he was a titanic monster and the Hammer god wasn’t gonna let him roam around his new home.

It is said the gargants were created from Behemat's vomit after he went on a binge-eating spree that caused the extinction of several species of cattle. Countless deeds are attributed to Behemat by his Sons, most of which double as their explanation for the different races (known collectively as “pipsqueaks”, “little men”, or any other short demeaning term), like the [[Idoneth Deepkin]] being an Aelven civilization that Behemat drowned after causing a massive flood, the [[Fyreslayers]] being born when the World Titan stomped out some volcanos and saw these angry short guys come out to yell at him, and the denizens of Shyish being mostly skeletons because Behemat ate all the meat in the Realm of Death. Naturally this is all just mythical nonsense passed down by the Gargants, but they serve as a good example of how they view the world around them, a product of Behemat’s achievements.

Trouble started to brew for the Gargants during the tail end of the Age of Myth. Trying to find a way into the Mortal Realms, [[Tzeentch]] whispered lies to Gorkamorka, making him envious of his champion, as Behemat enjoyed so much freedom under the green god’s rule, while Gorkamorka himself was stuck under Sigmar’s thumb. So Big G ordered Behemat to recreate some of the god of destruction’s greatest feats...and he did, though some were by accident. Then came the big one; Behemat had to recreate the duel between Sigmar and Gorkamorka. So after armoring himself with an entire mountain, Behemat bellowed a challenge to the Hammer God...and nothing happened. So he started stomping on the local sigmarites which caused the Lord of Azyr to come rocketing down from the heavens and knocked Behemat out cold, putting him in a millenia-long coma in the region known as the Harmonis Veldt in Ghyran. While he was asleep, his body would become covered by earth; his skull becoming the mountain of Tor Crania, his mouth becoming the Titansmawr (from which more gargants would occasionally crawl out), the Sweatswamp forming around the location of his left armpit, and so on. This pretty much makes him the [[Mythology#Norse_Mythology|Ymir]] of the Mortal Realms.

Despite their forefather taking a big snooze, the Gargants were mostly unfazed, continuing their own isolationist lives or rampaging in the hordes of Gorkamorka. This would not last, as with every single Age of Sigmar backstory you eventually reach the point where the Age of Chaos happens and everything gets ruined. The Ruinous Powers and their servants were quick to fall upon the Gargants, seeing them both as prestigious monsters to slay for glory and destructive weapons of mass mayhem. The ones that weren’t slain in droves or hid themselves away become Chaos Gargants (willingly or otherwise) who tromped alongside the Slaves to Darkness in agony.

The Age of Sigmar proved to be one of the most important parts of the race’s history. During the Realmgate Wars, as part of Archaon's plan to corrupt the godbeasts to Chaos, he sent the Maggotkin of Nurgle and the Skaven to corrupt Behemat, whose sleeping place was already corrupted by Nurgle into what is now known as the Scabrous Sprawl. The plan was for the Skaven to drill into his bones to awaken him, the Maggotkin to corrupt him with Nurgle's taint, and for him to be persuaded to join Archaon's side by being told half-truths about Sigmar killing his father Ymnog (which he technically did). Although the Stormcast Eternals attempted to stop this, they were too late and were forced to invoke the power of the Great Bolts (the same weapon Sigmar used to kill Ymnog) to put down Behemat before he could be fully corrupted. Many of the gargants native to the Sprawl felt lost after witnessing the death of their god-progenitor, and were taken in by the Oakenbrow Sylvaneth and became eventual allies of them. Meanwhile countless more became solitary drunkards called Aleguzzlers, and found “employment” with the [[Gloomspite Gitz]], on account of the Grots’ copious amounts of fungus booze and cold dank caves to sleep off their roaring hangovers.

Since the death of Behemat, his Sons have been noted to have been getting bigger, more violent and more intelligent, leading to the evolution of so-called "Mega-Gargants", colossal both in size and aggression. Just the thunderous sound of a Mega-Gargant’s footfalls will draw even the most reclusive of Gargants from miles around to join together. Tribes will form around these massive warriors who then proceed to mold the Gargants under his command into terrifying natural disasters.

And with the Mega-Gargants seemingly becoming bigger and bigger with each day, it seems likely that there will come a time when a new World-Titan will emerge...

==Religion and Culture==
[[File:BehematStormcast.jpg|800px|thumb|center|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OkpRK2_gVs/ SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JAEGER!!!!!]]]

Like all Destruction factions, the Sons of Behemat worship [[Gorkamorka (Deity)|Gorkamorka]], whom they call the Godstompa; a massive foot that crushes whole cities with ease. Watching the orruk shamans cast the Foot of Gork only strengthens this notion for them. When the Godstompa is split into “Gorkfoot and Morkfoot”, the Gargants state that one is “stompy but kicky” and the other is “kicky but stompy”. This fixation on feet forms the cornerstone of Gargant culture and how they view other races (Example: they’re not fond of the [[Slaves to Darkness]] not cuz they’re Chaos worshippers, but because their spiked armor makes them unpleasant to squash).

This foot fetishism also bleeds into their tribal organization. A tribe of Gargants is called a Stomp (most civillized races call them Catastrophes, but the average gargant can't pronounce that word), with the leader being known as the "Big Heel". Subordinate Mega-Gargants are thus "under the heel", while the tribe's Mancrushers are referred to as “footsloggas” (larger Mancrushers who lead their fellows are said to be "toeing the line").

Since Behemat was the Champion of Gorkamorka, his Sons now strive to fill the gap left by their forefather’s death. This is best exemplified by their correlation of size equaling strength, or “Mightier makes Rightier” as they say. The biggest have the authority to boss around those smaller than them and (most of) the giants just accept it as fact. Though when two Mega-Gargants meet, they are bound to begin wrestling with each other to assert dominance. Gargants won’t give anyone smaller than them (meaning everyone) the time of day unless they are at eye level with the beasts, usually standing on a cliff or some tower/war machine. Though this can prove a successful means of diplomacy, it’s just as common for the Gargant to mindlessly grab the diplomat and casually devour them.

Gargants have a vague sort of connection to the various [[Orruk Warclans|greenskin]] [[Gloomspite Gitz|factions]], likely due to Gorkamorka’s role in their origin. Whenever a Waaagh! is called or the Bad Moon looms in the sky, it’s quite common to find the lumbering giants following the greenskin hordes. The maniac energies that swell during such times is contagious to the Gargants, though not to the same extent as Orruks and Grots. It’s described as the Gargants wanting to show the yelling hordes at their feet who’s really the biggest and baddest. At the height of their fervor, tribes of Gargants will break out into a full on sprint and crush entire battlelines with their feet alone before crashing into battlements with club and girth.

Most other realm-shaking events that defined entire factions weren’t acknowledged by the Sons of Behemat, deeming them as quite literally beneath them. Only three events have shaken their race as a whole, the Age of Chaos, Behemat's death, and after that the arrival of the [[Nighthaunt]] processions. The Mortarch of Grief [[Lady Olynder]] effortlessly slew a Mega-Gargant and his Stomp, and allowed the survivors to tromp away to spread fear of her legions. Sure enough, rumors spread across the Gargant race of ghostly beings that couldn’t be stomped on but could kill them. Confusion led to terror, and terror became a reality when similar battles occurred where the Sons of Behemat, now dreading the Nighthaunt, found that their foot falls and club swings held little purchase against the ghosts. Things have gotten better though as new tales spread amongst the tribes of how the Bjarl Stomp worked with the ghost-hunting [[Bonesplitterz|Drakkfoot Warclan]] to put down an army of Nighthaunt at the Asp River.

===Gargants as Mercenaries===
Starting in the Age of Chaos, Gargants began to sell their bulk to various warring factions for the promise of food, loot, and a good scrap. This can be traced back to the very first Gargant Mercenaries, a trio of hairy bruisers called the Grugg Brothers. They were in an alliance with the Ogors of the Meatfist Mawtribe at the time, and started to take note of how the Ogors worked for other races and were getting paid for it. The Grugg Brothers were further tutored by the Maneaters of the Gutstuffers company, teaching them rudimentary tactics such as attacking early in the morning when enemy forces are tired and making battle plans before hand. When the Gargants inevitably parted ways with the Mawtribes, they spread their knowledge to the other Stomps and word quickly spread of a new lucrative way of life. This knowledge has since been known to the more cunning Gargants as the “Great Secret”.

===Favored Pastimes/Gargant Games===
*'''Horse-punting''': Players kick a horse and see which one goes the farthest. Bonus points are awarded to the horse that lands on an unsuspecting pipsqueek.
*'''Boar-scoffing''': Pig eating contest...with full sized hogs.
*'''Wakebelching''': A game played by more “civilized” Gargants (meaning the ones who work for Order factions). Each player takes turns burping loudly in the dead of night in the middle of a settlement. The Gargant who woke the most people/gets the most angry shouts of protest wins.
*'''Manskittles''': Bowling on the battlefield. Gargants will take a boulder, dead animal, or whatever else is on hand and hurl it at a shield wall to see how many bodies are sent flailing about.
*'''Tank-tipping''': Like cow tipping, but with Steam Tanks. It was first played by the Warstomper Nagbog and his Stomp who fought against Commodore Bonn Jensen’s Iron Squadron of Greywater Fastness. Onlookers of the massacre could’ve sworn they saw flying Steam Tanks that day.

==Types of Gargants==
Each “species” of Gargant has a very fairy tale like name, likely given to them by the terrified victims of their rampages.

*'''Mancrusher''': The OG Giant is now the most commonly seen species of the giant race, as well as the shortest (keep in mind that a ‘short’ Gargant can still punt a Sigmarine like a football). Mancrushers were originally wayward Aleguzzler/Chaos Gargants who happened to find a Mega-Gargant to follow around. When in the presence of a Mega-Gargant, they become eager (if a little clumsy) followers, ready to take orders and do whatever their bigger bosses want. This tiny level of “discipline” arguably makes them more dangerous as they can now make unified charges with their fellow Gargants and throw boulders at enemies in a crude firing line. They’re also oddly sober when compared to other Gargants, though this is because their bosses hog most of the booze they come across. In a strangely wholesome twist on the normal method of Destruction aligned recruitment (the weak being subjugated by the strong), Mancrushers will often willingly join the Mega-Gargants cause they admire them as big brothers in a sense. They will wait for the big lugs to fall asleep and then camp out around him. So when the Mega-Gargant wakes up, he’s got a full tribe of loyal bruisers ready to please him...get your mind out of the gutter [[Slaanesh]].

*'''Kraken-eater''': A sea faring variety known for their greed and territorial natures. Granted, what they deem as “their territory” is everything in seeing distance. They like lugging around ship cannons to use as blunt instruments as well as colossal fishing nets stuffed full of hapless victims and fish. Lots of fish. Kraken-eaters are also noted for being older than most gargants, being basically grouchy senior citizens who yell at everyone to get off their lawn. Though the more “tame” ones are capable of holding a “pleasant” conversation with other factions that hire them, making them the prime choice for Order factions when they want a Gargant mercenary. This still won’t prevent them from working with another faction to stomp on their former allies though. They lead pseudo crime-syndicates called ''Taker Tribes'', where they boss around Mancrushers to steal all the loot they can find and fight against anyone who comes onto their turf.

*'''Warstomper''': The epitome of the Gargant race and warmonger by any other name. Above all other sub-species, Warstompers love collecting trophies and trinkets from their flattened foes, using them to decorate their grotesque forms. The most intelligent of their kind display a malevolent level of cunning, actively trying to stop wars from ending so they can keep on fighting. To do so, they will join the losing side to drag out the war, kill surrendering troops, and hunt down and consume peaceful ambassadors. This makes them very popular among Chaos hordes who see the Warstomper as a gift from the gods. Expectedly, as they accumulate chaos runes and other mutations, Warstomper can slowly be warped into fully Chaos aligned creatures. Gargants led by a Warstomper are referred to as a ''Stomper Tribe'' and act as walking natural disasters who live only for the thrill of active combat.

*'''Gatebreaker''': These bitter big boys have an obsession with tearing down strongholds, and then using the wreckage as armor and weapons (some even appreciating the irony in these makeshift armaments). This obsession originates from a [[Beasts Of Chaos|loathing of all civilized life]], seeing them as the reason why Behemat is dead. Gatebreakers often wear crudely made cowls out of looted flags and banners in the style of an executioner’s mask, as they see themselves as the executioner of the cities they destroy. Gatebreakers are commonly found among the processions of Death armies, as they often leave the best spoils to the Mega-Gargants, though staying around a bunch of smelly necromancers and vampires will occasionally twist the Gatebreaker into a thoughtless thrall who can survive on little to no sustenance. They lead the aptly named ''Breaker Tribes'', cults of personality where the Mancrushers seek to emulate their boss’ loathing of civilization and specialize in tearing down fortifications and other symbols of order.

*'''Bonegrinder''': The largest and rarest of all Gargants. These absolute behemoths see themselves as the reincarnations of Behemat and try to bully everyone into serving on them hand and foot. So why don’t they lead the Sons of Behemat? It’s unclear, though a likely explanation is a combination of their supreme levels of clumsiness and being incredibly dull, even for a Gargant. The few times they do show up though, it’s a sure fire sign that this Gargant Stomp means business.

==Named Gargants==
*'''King Brodd''': The self-professed “Last True Son of Behemat”, King Brodd is the absurdly strong and intelligent master of the Gargant Stomps native to the Scabrous Sprawl. He claims to have crawled out of the Titansmawr fully grown and declared himself leader. After pulverizing all belligerent challengers, he has cemented his rule and stated his ambition to reclaim his ancestral home of Tor Crania from the vile Cygors and other [[Beasts of Chaos]] that toppled it. Brodd never goes anywhere without two things; a crown made from the skull of a mouldragon he killed bare-handed, and a massive granite pillar that serves as his personal weapon and symbol of his right to lead the Sons of Behemat. During the Realmgate Wars, Brodd was caught up in a massive explosion which slew Stormcast, Gargants, and Beastmen, for miles. Though it is heavily implied that he survived and is continuing to lead his tribe in a quest to avenge Behemat's death, which will undoubtedly bring him to blows with the Stormcast Eternals.

*'''Bundo Whalebiter''': Mercenary Kraken-eater who can ally with the forces of Order. The Idoneth artifact that hangs from his ear is filled with Aetherquartz and increases his intellect to where he can use ancient strategies like “patience” and may even be able to read. He’s even smart enough to know when he’s being cheated in a deal by the [[Kharadron Overlords]]. Bundo’s now signature ear piece has since been mimicked by other Gargants...to varying levels of success. He has his own tribe called the Rondhol Stomp that has terrorized its way across the continent of Rondhol in Ghur.

*'''One-Eyed Grunnock''': Mercenary Warstomper who can ally with the hordes of Chaos, who in turn highly seek after him to aid them in battle. Originally known as Grunnock Battle-krasha, he decided to try and topple the Ivory Citadel of the Ossiarch Bonereapers. Not too long after his initial (and failed) attack, he witnessed the Bonereapers trying to make peace with the Kharadron Overlords. Outraged by the prospect of no more fighting, he bulrushes the two parties and squashed the Arkanaut Admiral and Liege Kavalos in charge of the two armies. He took a full fusillade of aethershot to the face that destroyed his eye, and from then on he became One-Eyed Grunnock, seeking endless war to subdue his roaring headache. Grunnock has a crude understanding of how important regiments and formations are in combat, so he specializes in disrupting said ranks with earth shaking stomps and jumps.

*'''Big Drogg Fort-Kicka''': Mercenary Gatebreaker who can ally with the processions of Death. A native of Hallost in the Ossiarch Empire, his main reason for allying with Death armies is that he hopes to gain the attention and trust of Nagash...so he can club him in the back when the god of death isn’t looking. Despite this, Big Drogg is still seen as a traitor and outcast by other Destruction factions, especially after he turned on an Orruk horde when Mannfred von Carstein bribed him with three barrels of royal blood. His oral hygiene is so atrocious that his rotten breath has become its own form of attack, wiping out hordes of enemies that dare to stray too close to him.

*'''Brawlsmasha''': Mercenary Bonegrinder who can only ally with fellow Destruction factions. It’s rumored that this Titan was found as a baby by an Ironjawz Warclan and decided to raise him as a living weapon. Now fully grown, he wields the gargantuan Mega-Club of Gork to flatten entire regiments and inspires all Orruks around him to greater acts of violence.

*'''Argol Brightfist''': A mysteriously benevolent Mega-Gargant native to the fallen continent of Donse in Ghur. Those who have seen him will take note of the mish-mash of colorful rags that adorns his body. He leads a motley Stomp of Gargants against the forces of Chaos that decimated their home millennia ago and slew their ten elder Gargants. On occasion, he will lend a stomping foot or two to anyone who is assailed by the Slaves to Darkness. Because of his unique disposition, the Grand Conclave of Excelsis has petitioned many adventures to go in search of Argol in hopes of securing his services in the fight against Chaos.

*'''Baran''': A Kraken-eater who once helped the Freeguilders and Kharadron hunt down a lake monster that was scoffing down ships. Pretty cool and bro-tier for a Gargant, explaining a bit about his people to a Freeguild captain and even giving the guy a sword for "helping" kill the kraken (the dude leaped off a Kharadron Ironclad and stabbed the Kraken in the eye, losing his sword. So no surprise the Kraken-eater thought he was a cool dude). Baran later met the same Captain on the other side of the battlefield, and ignored a heartfelt plea for friendship to prevail in favour of picking up said Cpt and squashing him like an overipe grapefruit. [[Grimdark|The power of friendship at work people.]]

==Music to Listen to While Playing these Big Lads==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRja4HUsRu0&ab_channel=GerzamT= Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest - The Kraken]: Hans Zimmer doling out a healthy serving of goosebumps once again.
*[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oULBLox0zLg= Neon Genesis Evangelion “Decisive Battle”]: For the madman who will undoubtably paint some Evangelion Gargants.
*Anything from the Godzilla films, the Heisei era and GMK specifically stand out.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:BoL0PjL5oXMduBJl.jpg|The Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant, or Bundo Whalebiter, the first confirmed Gargant special-character.
</gallery>

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Idoneth Deepkin

2020-12-04T15:01:06Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Why play Idoneth Deepkin? */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Idoneth Deepkin|Logo=Fucking_Idoneth.jpeg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters.}}

The [[Idoneth Deepkin]] are a faction which sees [[GW]] re-envision sea elves for the [[Age of Sigmar]] setting. Tragically lacking souls (so they've come to steal yours), the Idoneth are an army that rewards careful placement of models, a variety of units that provide rapid mobility and negative modifier shenanigans and some of the best allegiance abilities in the game.

==Why play Idoneth Deepkin?==

They are elves unique to AoS, and a rare example of sea elves with fleshed out lore and playstyle.

For more points:

'''Pros'''
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because you want to play with [[Dark Eldar]] in a fantasy setting. Or you like the [[Dark Eldar]] playstyle but want a group that aren't [[Asdrubael Vect|huge]] [[Haemonculi|assholes]].
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because you want to copy 40K's system of character protection (one of which is the, here ironically named, [[Fish of Fury]]).
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because you love sea life!
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because you love an army built around speed, speed and '''MOAR SPEED'''! An all-cavalry army not only benefits those who like all-cavalry armies, but every unit has the fly special rule. Combine this with the right Enclave and you'll outrun everybody but [[Nighthaunt]].
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because you wanted more Dark Souls in your Age of Sigmar.
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Nearly all of your melee units hit like a runaway freight train.
* They are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters]].
* Because [[Teclis]] wasn't a big enough [[Eldrad| dick]] already.
* Did I mention they are [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters?]]
* You saw the 2018 Aquaman movie and like how the Atlanteans' armies look in battle.
* Uh, [[Awesome|Soul-Hunting Pirates riding Sea Monsters!]]

'''Cons'''
* Namarti are quite fragile.
* Their bravery is mediocre, and they mostly lack the high wounds count or saves to take the lumps and keep going unlike their equivalents in other armies.
* Mediocre spellcasting unless you shell out the points (and money) for an expensive Eidolon of the Sea.
* The Eidolons are expensive.
* Your army is mostly monobuild; you will not have a competitive list without the eel riders.
* Your Battletome is from before AoS2, and whilst it's still in decent shape, you are still behind other armies.

==Rulebooks==
{{AOSRulebooks|tome=Idoneth Deepkin|points=Generals Handbook 2020}}

The Idoneth Deepkin Battletome was released in April of 2018, and as such, this is the fourth-oldest active Battletome and thus relatively due for an update (Maggotkin of Nurgle, Legions of Nagash, and Daughters of Khaine all predate this one). That said, it was also the last new battletome released before AOS 2.0, so they very likely had the upcoming game changes in mind when designing this book. It'll be interesting to see which will end up coming first, a new Idoneth Deepkin battletome or a new edition of AOS.

==Allegiance Abilities==

===Battle Traits===

*'''Forgotten Nightmares:''' Your '''Idoneth Deepkin''' units can only be targeted with Missile Weapons if they are the closest visible target. Keeps your Heroes safe from shooting, though not from magic. Also note that you can use allies to shield your Deepkin with this as the rule stated that the Deepkin unit must be the closest unit. If there are no Deepkin units in range, then the attack must hit the non-Deepkin unit.

*'''Tides of Death:''' Each round, you get a different ability. After the fourth, it cycles back to 1.
*#'''Low Tide:''' Your units count as being in cover. Helps you advance without making you scramble to terrain.
*#'''Flood Tide:''' After running, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).
*#'''High Tide:''' Units with this trait fight <s>before everyone else in melee</s> At the start of the combat phase now. Get Shipwrecked, Gristlegore. Also, there's a bunch of abilities that activate during this turn.
*#'''Ebb Tide:''' After falling back, your units can either shoot or charge (but not both).
**It's worth noting here that there are two alternate army list choices that can be made to alter this sequence's order (including taking both together for a third option):
***reversed order (via Tidecaster as General)
***Ebb replaced with Flood Tides (via the Fuethán enclave)
***both options (meeting both conditions)

*'''The Ethersea:''' You get to place up to two Etheric Vortex terrain pieces. Currently, the only existing Etheric Vortex terrain piece is the Gloomtide Shipwreck, which you can either split into two or buy and place two full ships of. The shipwrecks give your units a 6+ Save-after-the-save and have a chance to deal damage to enemies, so they are fairly useful, though less so in a pure Akhelian army. Errata'd so that the shipwreck must be placed more than 6" away from objectives or any other shipwreck.

===Command and Mount Traits===
==== Command Traits ====
#'''Merciless Raider:''' Can reroll run and charge rolls. Interesting for Steed of Tides shenanigans.
#'''Hunter of Souls:''' Reroll 1s To Wound. Shame this doesn't work on a mount's attacks, but still nice.
#'''Unstoppable Fury:''' During High Tide, your General adds +2 to his attacks. Again, shame this doesn't work on mounts, but it still makes an Akhelian King terrifying.
#'''Born From Agony:''' Your general has 2 more Wounds. Always nice to shrug off an additional Arcane Bolt.
#'''Nightmare Legacy:''' Enemy units within 12" take -1 Bravery. Not a strong effect, but in a fairly large bubble, so it evens out.
#'''Lord of Storm and Sea:''' +2 Bravery for Idoneth Deep in units wholly within 12". Since your units aren't exactly blessed with great Bravery, this is pretty nice.

==== Mount Traits: Deepmare ====
With Broken Realms, we got Mount Traits for Deepmares. Yes, Volturnos' mount Uasall can take one. One Deepmare may take one trait, for every battalion one additional Deepmare may take a different trait, so no trait twice and nobody gets two traits.
#'''Swift-finned Impaler:''' If the roll on the Deepmare Horn ability is 6, you do D6 instead of D3 Mortal Wounds.
#'''Savage Ferocity:''' Both Deepmare attack profiles get 1 extra attack.
#'''Voidchill Darkness:''' We got a winner lads, as every enemy model within 3" get to subtract 1 from their hit rolls.

==== Mount Traits: Leviadon ====
Also from Broken Realms, one Leviadon may take one trait, for every battalion one additional Leviadon may takea different trait, so no trait twice and nobody gets two traits.
#'''Ancient:''' You ignore rend of -1, but not -2 or more. This makes the Leviadons shiny new shell even harder to crack.
#'''Denizen of the Darkest Depths:''' One extra free Mortal Wound for the impact damage. Specifically states that you still do this extra Mortal Wound if you failed the roll to trigger Crushing Charge.
#'''Reverberating Carapace.''' Increase the Void Drum's range from 12" to 15".

===Artefacts===
'''Akhelian Artefacts''' 
Can be given to an Akhelian Hero (so only the Akhelian King, because Volturnos can't get one):
#'''Sanguine Pearl:''' Gives a 5+ save after the save in melee
#'''Potion of Hateful Frenzy:''' Once per game active in the hero phase to get + 1 to hit and +1 to wound for a round. Then they take 1 mortal wound in the following hero phase. Your personal super sayajin mode. Combine with ''Unstoppable Fury'' to make your King utterly terrifying for one turn. And don't forget to draw your Falchion to make the most out of it.
#'''Ankusha Spur:''' +3" to movement and the mount rerolls 1s <s>to hit</s> To Wound after the Errata because someone realized that the King's aura already gives him the 1s To Hit thing regardless
#'''Armour of the Cythai:''' Enemy gets -1 to hit if they target the bearer in melee. You're probably better off with the pearl.
#'''Bioshock Shell:''' Once per battle at the start of the combat phase you can inflict D3 mortal wounds on each enemy unit within 3". You have so few ways of dealing Mortal Wounds that this is interesting. That said, is it really worth running this on a 240 point King?
#'''Abyssal Blade:''' You can improve the rend characteristic of 1 weapon carried by the bearer. Also increase the damage of that weapon by 1 if targetting SLAANESH. Too situational, but interesting.

'''Idoneth Artefacts''' 
Can be given to any Idoneth Deepkin Hero:
#'''Rune of the Surging Tide:''' Use at the start of hero phase once per battle. It has 2 modes: adds 1" movement to all friendly deepkin or takes 1" from all enemies until your next hero phase. Neither a big buff nor a big debuff.
#'''Black Pearl:''' It is the fastest ship with Johnny Depp usually as the captain. Oops, wrong universe. I mean it gives a 6+ save after the save.
#'''Lliandra's Last Lament:''' Once per battle you can have all friendly deepkin completely within 18" skip their battleshock test. Very interesting, especially when running a big unit of Allopexes.
#'''Terrornight Venom:''' Pick a weapon. You can reroll wound rolls of 1 for that weapon. Also gives a permanent -1 to bravery to things wounded by that weapon. Not many weapons worth using it on.
#'''Cloud of Midnight:''' Once per battle at the start of any phase the bearer cannot be targetted for attacks, spells or abilities for that phase. They also cannot use attacks, spells or abilities that phase either. It could pair great with ''Forgotten Nightmares'' against a shooty heavy army - put the bearer at the front of your army and activate this in your opponent's shooting phase. The bearer can't be targeted because of the Cloud, and the rest of your Deepkin can't be targeted because they're not the closest unit.
#'''Whorlshell:''' Once per battle at the start of your hero phase you can pick an enemy HERO within 9" and roll 2d6. If you beat their bravery they get -1 to all hit rolls for the rest of the game. Since most Heroes you'd want to do that to have high Bravery... just take Brain Barnacles instead.

'''Isharann Artefacts''' 
Can be given to any Isharann Hero:
#'''Steelshell Pearl:''' Gives a 5+ save after the save against missile weapons. Interesting if you want a cheap sacrifice to soak up fire thanks to ''Forgotten Nightmares'', but other than that, it's useless precisely because of ''Forgotten Nightmares''.
#'''Mind Flare:''' Once per battle at the start of combat pick an enemy unit within 3". They get -1 to hit for that phase. Meh.
#'''Dritchleech:''' All Wizards except Idoneth Deepkin get -1 to casts while within 18". Interesting, but remember that this will affect allied Wizards as well.
#'''Auric Lantern:''' At the start of your shooting phase pick an enemy within 18" in cover. They dont get cover until your next shooting phase. Not too great, since your shooting isn't exactly stellar. Except the debuff is not limited to ranged attacks; it is just applied in the shooting phase!
#'''Disharmony Stones:''' Once per battle at the start of your hero phase you pick up to 2 enemy heroes within 12" and then the opposing player must make a choice. 1) they roll a dice for each hero picked on a 3+ they take a mortal wound. 2) They roll a dice for each hero picked and on a 5+ they take d3 mortal wounds. 3) Each hero picked takes d3 mortal wounds. Then roll a dice, on a 4+ the bearer of this artifact takes d3. Be very careful with these, as they might end up doing nothing or doing something and hurting you as well. Also worthless against armies without many Heroes.
#'''Brain Barnacles:''' Once per battle at the start of your hero phase pick an enemy hero within 12" and roll 2d6. [[Awesome|If the roll is equal or greater than the distance between them then that Hero gets -1 to hit and spell cast for the rest of the game]].

'''Arcane Artefacts''' 
Can be given to any Idoneth Deepkin Hero who's also a Wizard, so Tidecaster and Aspect of the Sea only:
#'''Arcane Pearl:''' Gives a 5+ save after the save against mortal wounds. Combines nicely with both the Aspect of the Sea's inherent toughness and the Tidecaster's Spirit Guardians. If you dont need another realm, pick Aqshy and get the 4+ mortal wound save item from there.
#'''Sands of Infinity:''' Once per battle you can make a spell last for 2 rounds instead of one. You must use this before the cast and unbind roll. Very nice.
#'''Coral Ring:''' Gives 1 reroll for casting and 1 reroll for unbinding for the game. More reliability is never a bad thing.
#'''Bauble of Buoyancy:''' Gives fly and doubles their run roll. Just in case you want a Tidecaster to keep up with an Akhelian army. Consider picking up the Thermalrider Cloak from Aqshy instead.
#'''Kraken Tooth:''' Once per battle in your shooting phase pick an enemy unit within 12" and visible. Roll a dice and: 1: bearer suffers d3 mortal wounds, 2-5: enemy suffers D3 mortal wounds, 6: Pick 1 enemy model in the unit. If the wound characteristic is less than 10 they are slain. If it is 10+ they take 2d6 mortal wounds. The kraken does not mess around.
#'''Augury Shells:''' Once per battle at the start of the hero phase you can roll 2d6. You can choose to use that result for your casting roll or your enemies unbinding roll on spells cast by the bearer during that phase. You must choose to substitute the roll before rolling for the spell/unbind. Very nice. A terrible roll you can give to the opponent and a good one you keep to yourself. Again, more reliability.

===Lore of the Deep===

#'''Steed of Tides:''' Casting Value 5. Pick a friendly hero that is not a monster within 6". Remove them from the table and set them up within 24" of their original spot and outside of 9" of enemies. This counts as their movement in the movement phase. The Hero does not need to be an Idoneth Deepkin.
#'''Abyssal Darkness:''' Casting Value 5. Friendly deepkin are treated as being within cover while wholly within 9" of the caster until your next hero phase. Entirely worthless on your first turn and worthless on any other turn if you have a Leviadon. That said, if you go heavy on Namarti and don't use a Leviadon, fairly good.
#'''Vorpal Maelstrom:''' Casting Value 6. Pick a spot within 18" of the caster that they can see. Roll for each enemy unit within 3" of that spot, if the dice is less than or equal to the number of models in that unit they take d3 mortal wounds.
#'''Pressure of the Deeps:''' Casting Value 7. Pick an enemy they can see within 12" and roll a dice. If you beat their wound stat they are slain. Interestingly you pick a ''model'' with this, not a unit. So just point at that icon bearer in the Pink Horror unit to seriously piss your opponent off.
#'''Tide of Fear:''' Casting Value 6. Pick an enemy the caster can see within 12". Until your next hero phase that unit gets -1 to hit and to bravery. Nice, but remember that your Aspect of the Sea can do that to D6 units. Better yet, combine the two to make sure one enemy unit in particular is utterly screwed.
#'''Arcane Corrosion:''' Casting Value 6. This auto targets the closest enemy. Measure the distance between the caster and that unit. If the distance is: 12" or less: 1 mortal wound. 13-24": 2 mortal wounds. 25-36": 3 mortal wounds. 37-48" 4 mortal wounds. Such a weird spell. Interesting in that it is a damage spell that can be used turn 1, as most damage spells have too short a range for that to work, but ''Arcane Corrosion'' can't just be used turn 1, it's practically guaranteed to do quite a bit of damage then.

===Isharann Rituals===
Deepkin can cast 1 ritual a turn. At the start of your hero phase you declare which ritual you wish to cast, pick an ISHARANN HERO that is more than 9" away from an enemy and roll 2d6. On a 10+ the ritual succeeds and if not then nothing happens. You get +1 if the caster is within 1" of a Gloomtide Shipwreck, +1 if the caster is a PRIEST (i.e. a Soulscryer), +1 for each non priest Isharann heroes within 3", and +2 for each priest Ishaaran hero within 3". This is not a spell and cannot be unbound. They have no range, they simply affect the game. Be aware that mathematical your have to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-4-gLlF0uw fish] for at least a +3 for a better then 50/50 chance. So if your planning on needing a ritual to go off try and get at least two priests and keep them close to keep a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-4-gLlF0uw floating] +3 to cast them that can be further increased by more heroes or a Shipwreck if you desire.

The 3 Rituals are:

#'''Ritual of Erosion:''' Until your next hero phase your enemy does not get a cover bonus. Your go-to if you don't have an Eidolon around. No cover does horrible things to bulwark armies like Eternal Guard-Wanderers and Freeguild.
#'''Ritual of Rousing:''' Heal 1 Wound on each EIDOLON and they can reroll all failed hit and casting rolls until your next hero phase. In case you didn't realize, this is horrifying on an Aspect of the Sea with his two spells per turn.
#'''Ritual of Tempest:''' Until your next hero phase enemy models cannot fly. Unless the table is littered with terrain, this really only helps against Kharadron,gloomspite (squigs) and Nighthaunts, but it can be very good against. Although, shutting down your opponents ability to fly over your units means that they are going to have to fight through the rest of your army.

==Warscrolls==
===Named Characters===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Volturnos.pdf Volturnos, High King of the Deep]:''' An Akhelian King +1. For a measly 40 points more, Volturnos gets another swing with his weapons and far better buffs, such as the reroll-aura being extended to 18" and all Deepkin within that bubble also getting +1 to Bravery. But the real kicker is his shield: Whenever he's affected by any spell, you can choose to roll a D6 and on a 3+ that spell doesn't affect him (but works normally on everything else). Not only does that keep him relatively safe from enemy debuffs and damage spells, it also means you can drop ''Vorpal Maelstrom'' on top of him when he's surrounded by enemies.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Lotann.pdf Lotann, Warden of the Soulledgers]:''' Aka Octobro. With a fairly standard Hero statline but slightly above-average damage output thanks to the Ochtar, he's not too shabby on his own. Especially his 5+ Save-after-the-save is appreciated since he can't take Artefacts. But what you really take him for is his buff, giving Deepkin in general +1 Bravery and Namarti in particular the ability to reroll 1s To Hit in a <del>massive</del> completely within 12" bubble. Note that his bubble doesn't specify melee, so feel free to use it to boost those Reavers' shots. That said, if you play mostly Akhelians, then the Akhelian King does the buffing better.

===Heroes===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Akhelian_King.pdf Akhelian King]:''' As mentioned above, the generic Akhelian King pales in comparison to Volturnos, but that doesn't mean he's bad. He's worse at everything, but can take Traits and Artefacts, which can combine to make him either tougher or killier or supportier than Volturnos, though never all three (there is also nothing stopping you from taking one alongside Volturnos if you really want to). Whatever you pick, the Akhelian King is always a fast, reasonably tough and extremely killy Hero who provides good support to your Akhelians. His main weapon is either a Greatsword or a Bladed Polearm; the latter is better provided you can keep charging (perfect time to take advantage of Ebb Tide): 2", -2 Rend, and trades one attack for dishing out 3 damage instead D3 when he charges. If you can't reliably charge each time, the Sword and Spear actually mathhammer out to very similar damage (we are talking fractions here). One other thing he has over Volty is that you can stow the Shield and Draw the Falchion. This lowers his Save to a 4+, but gives you 3, 3+/4+/-/1 Attacks when when you really want to make sure something is dead.
**Make Volturnos jealous of your prowess by giving your Akhelian King the Ethereal Amulet. Worried about using your Falchion in combat because putting away your shield gives you a -1 to save modifier? WORRY NO MORE, GENTLE SEA ELF. Having a 3+ unrendable save PLUS an extra attack profile that can be buffed by either the King's own Command Ability or the Unstoppable Fury command trait (in High Tide only) will please you.
*^Doesn't work any more thanks to the 2020 GHB getting rid of realm artefacts

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Isharann_Tidecaster.pdf Isharann Tidecaster]:''' A fairly survivable support caster with access to a number of very interesting spells. All in all, you only pick the lass for two reasons: One, you want a Wizard but don't have enough points for an Aspect of the Sea. Two, you take her as your general, because she can reverse Tides of Death. Combined with the Fuethán turning ''Ebb Tide'' into ''Flow Tide'', this will give you a very fast, very aggressive army.
**Another use, that pairs well if your going to have her sit out of combat and only included because of her ability to flip the tide, is to give the Arcane Corrosion spell, and use her as a little impromptu artillery piece. Putting her in the back corner and spamming the spell makes her an effective choice for throwing some MW downrange.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Isharann_Soulscryer.pdf Isharann Soulscryer]:''' Count von Count here is a support character through and through. Fragile, with only milquetoast attacks, but blessed with a combo of bonus effects in that he can outflank along with 2 other Deepkin units (3 if you choose the Briomdar enclave) and on top of that the ability to add 3 to Deepkin charge rolls so long as they charge the one unit he points at. Also allows for some targetting shenanigans with ''Forgotten Nightmares'', as you can force your opponent's backfield fire support to shoot your nigh-invulnerable Ishlaen Guard. Be aware that his special rule, seeker of souls, makes it so that Idoneth units within 12” have to charge the unit marked with this ability if they are going to charge anything this turn. You cannot opt out of this bonus, as every unit within 12 of the target must add 3 inches to their charge.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Isharann_Soulrender.pdf Isharann Soulrender]:''' The Soulrender wants to be a hybrid Hero killer/buffer. The latter role he pulls off remarkably well, reviving D3 plus however many models his Hook killed that turn Namarti models at the end of your battleshock phase. The former role... eh. His two hook attacks are fairly decent, with a rule that makes it better against Heroes, but it will take some prior damage for him to take down any Hero with 2 damage 2 attacks, even with the fish pitching in.

===Troops===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Namarti_Thralls.pdf Namarti Thralls]:''' (Battleline, NAMARTI, 120/360, Min:10, Max:30). Namarti Thralls are the quintessential aelven infantry: Extremely fragile and insanely killy. Seriously. Wildwood Rangers wish they were this scary. They attack with the standard elite infantry profile of 2 attacks 3+/3+/-1/1, but with the bonus of adding another attack against 1 Wound models and adding 1 to the damage against models with 4 or more Wounds. However, they also run around with 1 Wound, a 5+ Save and a paltry Bravery of 6. They also have Icon Bearers who gain one more attack and lets them reroll battleshock. Updated FAQ states that you can have 1 Icon bearer per every 10 models. The only thing that holds them back is that their weapons only have 1" of range, so you need to be careful with how to place them.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Namarti_Reavers.pdf Namarti Reavers]:''' (Battleline with an Isharann Hero as general, NAMARTI, 120, Min:10, Max:20). Namarti Reavers are fast (8" and rerolls run) and equipped with really weird bows. At 18", they get one shot at 4+/4+/-/1, which isn't exactly stellar. At 9", they instead get three shots at the same profile. Still not incredible, but that sure is a lot of shots. And if they get into melee? Each of them has a Sword-Liberator's worth of attack. So these are Archers that are only effective at extremely short ranges. Think of them as less versatile but more killy Shadow Warriors and you're not far off.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Akhelian_Ishlaen_Guard.pdf Akhelian Ishlaen Guard]:''' (Battleline with an Akhelian Hero as general, AKHELIAN, 140, Min:3, Max:12). Defendy cavalry. Huh. Ishlaen Guard is fast and has decent damage output, but their true strength lies in their shields. [[Awesome|They ignore Rend]] and gain +1 to their saves when they charge, which they will since they move 14" and reroll charges thanks to their musician. So the opponent has to throw Mortal Wounds at them just to reliably get past their saves and even then each of the buggers has 4 Wounds.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Akhelian_Morrsarr_Guard.pdf Akhelian Morrsarr Guard]:''' (Battleline with an Akhelian Hero as general, AKHELIAN, 170, Min:3, Max:12) Same basic profile as the Ishlaen, but with 1 less attack on the weapons and no ability to ignore Rend. This seems lacking, especially considering they cost twenty points more. But then you notice that their spears gain Damage 2 and -2 Rend on the charge and that they can, once per game, drop 0.83 Mortal Wounds per rider on whatever pisses you off and you realize that they are wall breakers instead of walls. That said, just because they're missing the defensive abilities of the Ishlaen, that doesn't mean they're frail, as they still rock 4 Wounds with a 4+ Save. Got jacked up to 170 points in GHB 2019, not enough to make a massive difference.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Akhelian_Allopexes.pdf Akhelian Allopex]:''' (AKHELIAN, 110, Min:1, Max:3, Website Warscroll no longer up to date.) DUUNNN DUNNN… DUUUUNNNN DUUN… DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN... Chariots in all but name. 14" flying, 8 wounds, 4+ save and no longer a Monster, so let's get to cover. Each has two riders, one who swings a sword and one of which mans the gun. One option is the Razorshell Harpoon, blasting away four shots 3+/3+/-1/1 Damage. The other is the Retarius Net Launcher, who slings out 1 shot 3+/3+/-/1. While that damage is worse than the Harpoon, you only need to hit your target for the prize - your fancy new rule "Entangled" triggers and the hit unit cannot pile in this turn. This means you get to take a nice old bite out of their flank with basically no return. Nice. The ranged options can be mixed within one unit now. In Melee the Crew stabs and prods the enemywith 6 attacks, hitting and wounding on 3s bcause you are aelves, but no rend. The shark itself doesn't have fins anymore and the bite changed a lot. It is now 3 attacks, 3+/3+/-2/2 Damage. If any enemy unit within 3" has suffered wounds or lost models this turn you get an extra bite, so let the crew swing first if you failed your shooting. Very nice with a Soulscryer. Finally, they can be taken in units of up to 3, which is very risky due to Bravery 6, but with a potentially huge payoff. In exchange, units of them make for an incredible target for the Akhelian King's Command. It'd be wasted on a single Allopex but on a unit of three? Oh dear. Just make sure you use Inspiring Presence on them until ''High Tide'' rolls around. Now at 110 points, so you can consider this living cruise missile.

===Behemoths===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Akhelian_Leviadon.pdf Akhelian Leviadon]:''' Sea turtles, mate! Blessed be Morathi's treacherous ways, because finally the Leviadon has a warscroll that wasn't left in some half baked beta state! The warscroll on the Website is currently not up to date. A fixed 10" flying move, a massive 16 wounds and a initial save of 2+ make this a though shell to break. "Initial save?" you ask? Why yes, for as long as he only suffers 8 wounds this turtle now has a 2+ save, after which it starts to degrade increasingly fast to a 3+, when he has suffered 12 wounds it's a 4+ and on it's last fin it's save is a sad 5+, but at this point he is dead anyway. The weapons that this beast can bring to bear however will make damn sure that whoever breaks it's carapace will pay dearly for it. Its Razorshell Harpoon Launchers buffed to 8 Attacks 3+/3+/-1/1, delivering Dakka from 24". It's crew rather inconsequentially poke six times with no rend, and the real hurt comes from the turtle itself. It's fins cleave four times with 2" 2+/3+/-1/ starting at four damage a swing, thats sixteen wounds you can punch in somewhere. Its bite decided that it's old swingy ways are for losers, so it got a two attacks, hitting on 2s, degrading as the Monster takes damage, wounds on a fixed 2+, -2 rend and three damage. No more sadness with a D6 roll for the damage done. In addition if you roll an unmodified hit roll of 6, you do 3 Mortal wounds now, or 6 if the target is a fellow Monster. And the Attack sequence actually ends now! Amazing! After you make a charge move you already do damage. Like the Deepmare of your Kings, you roll a D6, on a 2+ the charged unit suffers D3 Mortal Wounds or D6 if the unit's models only have 1 wound. This butchers small models, so Clanrats beware. We are not done yet. The old useless cover of the Void Drum is gone, now instead everyone with 8 wounds or less and wholly within 12" just get +1 to their save. This is better than cover and stacks with it. If your Ishlaen Guard are here Turn 1, they have a 2+ unrendable save. Closeby Namarti benefit even more, gaining +1 to hit in the Void Drums bubble, which is clearly intended to make them more of a viable choice. 340 points, Monster and a Behemoth.

===Eidolon of Mathlann===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Eidolon_of_Mathlann_Storm.pdf Aspect of the Storm]:'''With Broken Realms the Eidolons were finally revamped and since GW doesn't like updating the warscrolls on their site, that one is now out of date. The Aspect of the Storm remains the melee fighter he already was and his tricks are essentially the same. With 12 Wounds and a 3+ save he is happy to get stuck in there and with his two weapons in hand he is sure to bring the hurt. On the charge he is allowed to heal D3 Wounds, gains a fifth attack and one extra damage on his Spear and for the kicks he gets to retreat and charge again. His Stormshoal fish keep their attack, but now also provide him with a 5+ shrug. Pulling an enemy hero into the deeps no longer makes that hero worse at hitting and instead allows the Eidolon to hit on 2s with his own weapons and the Stormshoal on 3's. Why make the return of the enemy worse, if you can finally kill him outright? Lastly, his Drenched with Hate ability allows to add 1 to all wound rolls for friendly Idoneth wholly within 18". At 330 points, this Eidolon is finally playable, blends lesser units and Heros with 8 or less wounds will fold before his awesome power.
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads//ENG_Eidolon_of_Mathlann_Sea.pdf Aspect of the Sea]:''' You guessed it, this warscroll is now also out of date. Like his more murderous brother he got blessed with a 5+ shrug. He retains his vital +3 Bravery bubble, now as wholly within 18". Still very important to keep those Namarti where they are ought to be. The new Dormant Energies rule finally allows rerolls for all his magic rolls instead of only one, and if you don't use any of these rerolls in your hero phase, he gets D3 wounds back. Nice. His Weapons remain untouched, so while he wont kill as hard as the Aspect of the Storm, he still makes a good account of himself. As a Wizard, he casts and unbinds twice and boasts two spells. One either puts D3 Mortal Wounds on an enemy heals a Idoneth unit for D3 wounds, not bringing anyone back from the dead though. The other punishes D6 enemy units with a -1 to hit and Bravery until your next hero phase. He too dropped down to 330 points. Yes, this does indeed mean that since he was released he dropped by 110 points, a full quarter of his original cost. He too is finally playable, his biggest weakness being the short range of his spells.

==Battalions==
===From Battletome Idoneth Deepkin===
*'''Royal Council:''' (610pt. min.) [Battalion: 140pt.]
''Requires an Akhelian King (Or Volturnos), a Tidecaster, and a Soulscryer. ''

Adds a new Command Ability, if the Akhelian King is the general. You can add 3" move until next hero phase for 3 friendly Idoneth Deepkin within 12" of the Akhelian King. The Soulscryer and the Tidecaster have to be within 3" of the Akhelian King to use this. Effectively nerfs the Soulscryer's ability to outflank because he needs to be within 3" of the King to use the Ability of this Battalion (unless you take an extra Soulscryer via the Ionrach enclave). Either way, taking the King as general means you can't reverse the tides with the Tidecaster.

*'''Akhelian Corps:''' (790pt. min.) [Battalion: 100pt.]
''Requires a Akhelian Leviadon, 2-4 units of Akhelian guards and 1-2 units of Akhelian Allopexes''

You can reroll a hit, a wound, a save, a run or a charge roll for one unit of this battalion wholly within 12" of the big turtle per phase.

*'''Namarti Corps:''' (700pt. min.) [Battalion: 100pt.]
''Requires a Isharann Soulrender, 2-6 units of Namarti Thralls and 2-4 units of Namarti Reavers''

The Soulrender resurrects 3 models instead of D3 with his Lurelight ability.

*'''Alliance of Wood and Sea:''' (1420pt. min.) [Battalion: 140pt.]
''Requires (deep breath....) a Isharann Tidecaster, 2 units of Akhelian guards, a unit of Akhelian Allopexes, a unit of Namarti Thralls, a unit of Namarti Reavers, and some Sylvaneth - a branchwych, 2 units of Dryads and a Treelord Ancient''

The Sylvaneth in the Battalion benefit from Emissary of the Deep Places regardless of your chosen Enclave.

Essentially a full Start collecting box of Sylvaneth, plus 4 more dyads. Also smart to buy one Awakened Wyldwood since the Treelord Ancient's ability Silent Communion gives you one per battle despite your Sylvaneth otherwise not having access to tree generation. Ideal for an existing Sylvaneth players wanting to ''branch'' out to something new (pun intended). But does it work as an useful army?

You could add two units of Kurnoth Hunters as allies (given anyone playing this will most likely have some lying around), but they wouldn't get the Tides Of Death (unless you went Ionrach).

===From Battleforce Boxes===
*'''Deepsurge Raiding Party''' (660pt. min.) (not legal in matched play)
''Requires an Isharann Tidecaster, 1 unit of Akhelian Allopexes, 1 Unit of Akhelian Morrsarr Guard or 1 unit of Akhelian Ishlaen Guard, 1 unit of Namarti Thralls, 1 unit of Namarti Reavers ''

This gives the Tidecaster the ability to negate the first wound allocation to a model from the battalion instead of itself.

==Super-Battalions==
===From Battletome Idoneth Deepkin===
*'''Phalanx:''' (3710pt. min.) (30810pt. max.)!!! [Battalion: 120pt.]
''1 Royal Council, 2-4 Akhelian Corps, 2-4 Namarti Corps''

The big one. Once per battle you get an additional High Tide.

==The Enclaves==
They are akin to the Daughters of Khaine Temples. Each has unique special rules for your army and allows you to upgrade one of your Warscroll Battalions
*'''Ionrach:''' The enclave of magic and allies. +1 to cast and unbind rolls for your Wizards, which, as you know, is invaluable. However, your Command Trait is locked into the Ionrach-exclusive ''Emissary of the Deep Places'', which provides your allies access to the ''Tides of Death'' rules. Great if you have allies (or mercenaries), worthless if you don't. On the flip side, seeing as Volturnos' main drawback as a named general is that he can't take a command trait, if you're already not bringing allies, this is the perfect time to bring him along and minimize that drawback. Doesn't really fit the lore so well, but it is what it is... Also your ''Royal Council'' can have up to 2 Soulscryers and Tidecasters. Also note that with Ionrach, your allies DO NOT gain the benefit of forgotten nightmares (they still screen your Idoneth units however).

*'''Dhom-Hain:''' The enclave of more elite, monster-killing soldiers. Akhelians and Namarti reroll 1s To Hit on the charge. <s>Relatively meaningless as Lotann and the Akhelian King respectively do the same whether you charged or not, but nice if you find yourself outside the relevant bubbles.</s> Lotann and the Akhelian King only do it for units that are WHOLLY within 12 inches of them, and this rule applies to anything not an Isharann or an Eidolon. So if you want to keep your entire, very mobile, army inside a 12 inch bubble, this rule is meaningless, otherwise it's very good. Your Akhelians also reroll Wound rolls against Monsters (not just in melee, so feel free to reroll those wounds on your Allopex and Leviadon's shooting attacks when firing at a monster). Interesting against some armies, worthless against others. Also your ''Akhelian Corps'' can have up to 6 units of Akhelian Guard. Dhom-hain is notable as one of the Enclaves that have no restrictions whatsoever.

*'''Fuethán:''' The most aggressive enclave (including the mounts). You reroll 1s To Wound with your mounts. Also, during ''Flood Tide'' all your units reroll 1s To Hit and ''Ebb Tide'' turns into another ''Flood Tide''. You'll really miss that fall back + charge on turn 4, but in exchange, a Tidecaster can make you super fast by giving you ''Flood Tide'' on turn 1 and ''High Tide'' on turn 2. The Tidecaster has to be the general for that, which locks you out of Akhelians being battleline and lets you not use the command abilities of the Akhelian Kings. Also, your ''Phalanx'' can contain up to 6 ''Akhelian Corps''. Not that you will ever use a ''Phalanx''.

*'''Mor'Phann:''' The death enclave. Your Soulrenders raise an additional 3 models. This is huge and out-Death's Death armies. However, your Tidecasters can't take Lore spells and instead get ''Freezing Mists'', which drastically lowers an enemy unit's Pile In move. Also, your ''Namarti Corps'' can have 6 units of Reavers (errata'ed due to redundancy with 2-6 Thralls already being the base amount for the Battalion).

*'''Nautilar:''' The most defensive enclave.' Your units reroll all failed Hit rolls if they were charged that turn. Not that your opponent needed more discouragement from charging your Namarti. Their Tidecasters lose access to lore spells and instead get ''Protective Barrier'', which targets a friendly unit and lower the Rend of any enemy attacking them. Also your ''Akhelian Corps'' can have up to 2 Leviadons.

*'''Briomdar:''' The enclave with the most mobility. Your Soulscryers can take up to 3 units along and place them 18" away instead of 12. Also, your units can move over terrain (but not enemy units) as if they were flying. Not too great since most of your army already flies. Also your ''Namarti Corps'' can take up to 6 units of Reavers. Again, it is notable that the Briomdar have no restrictions to their name.

==Allies==
*'''Darkling Covens''': Eldritch Council and your Reavers do what they do better, but Word of Pain from a Sorceress does help with -1 to Hit spam in a mage heavy list.
*'''Daughters of Khaine''': The best option by a long shot. What they bring are cheap and expendable units of 90 points per 5 Harpies that can Deep Strike in, and help block shots for the rest of your army via ''Forgotten Nightmares''. 2 Units of Javelin Harpies, or one unit of Sword Harpies is pretty likely to one shot a 5 wound hero to boot. Doomfire Warlocks are also solid allies for a Cavalry army and easily able to keep up as well as providing good shooting and a source of mortal Wounds. Your best bet here is probably a unit of Khinerai, seeing as how they can deepstrike independently from any other unit, and offer a decently strong enough attack to help shift an chaff unit off a back field objective. It doesn't hurt that they are cheap points wise too.
**'''Alternate Opinion:''' While Daughters of Khaine are indeed an extremely powerful force on their own, they don't make very good allies for a number of reasons. They excel at being an extremely aggressive force when you pile on their faction bonuses (escalating table, 6+FNP, Temple abilities, extra prayers, their NUTS spell lore, not to mention any number of internally consistent abilities and rules) on their own without those they tend towards being overpriced or fragile. While you might get some mileage out of a unit of Khinerai or Doomfire Warlocks, you'd probably be better off with some more Idoneth.
*'''Eldrich Council''': Loremaster dropping Hand of glory on a King, or Storm Eidolon can do nasty things to the enemy. Archmage on Horse can keep up with the army and protect you from Mortal Wounds. Archmage on Dragon is always nice to have plus Dispel Magic is a very useful spell to have access too. Just remember that Loremasters and Archmages are susceptible to being sniped out.
*'''Order Serpentis''': More expendable cavalry to soak up fire for your Akhelians could be nice. Or, you know, just add a Dragon or Hydra and go Ionrach so it profits from ''Tides of Death''.
*'''Scourge Privateers''': Other than being great thematically, these aren't all too useful. On the flip side, Idoneth Deepkin make amazing allies for the Privateers. Also, with their 12" move, a single Scourgerunner Chariot isn't the worst way to spend those last 60 points, as your only other choices for that exact amount would be a random Black Ark Fleetmaster, a unit of 5 Spite-Revenants, or an Endless Spells or two.
*'''Shadowblades''': An allied Assassin could be interesting but really, Daughters of Khaine do everything they do but better. Shadow Warriors can deepstrike, and (if in cover) outshoot Reavers from afar (though they're less mobile once on the field).
*'''Stormcast Eternals''': For a Namarti-heavy army, Liberators or Sequitors make fantastic cannon fodder when combined with a Lord-Castellant and ''Forgotten Nightmares''. Other than that, Vanguard-Raptors make for some nice budget shooting. Fulminators are a nasty addition to any Cavalry heavy army, and combined with ''Tides of Death'', will get your opponent to flip the table fast. A Knight Azyros can give your units a reroll 1 to Hit for enemies in 10". Also, a Knight Vexillor might use his redeploy ability to make your Stormcasts keep up with your Idoneths. A Celestant-Prime waiting in the heavens to boost his Attacks characteristic and then dropping in on turn 3 in High Tide (if Ionrach) can do all kinds of work. Turn 2's not bad either so that you can take advantage of another Cometstrike.
*'''Sylvaneth''': The only things worth considering here are Kurnoth Hunters for some additional shooting and Tree Revenants in case you want to go Warmachine hunting without investing hundreds of points into a Soulscryer and an escort. Additionally, you might want to consider their Outcasts Battalion (3 units of Spite-Revenants), which at 280pt for the minimum-sized battalion, will likely remain the cheapest way to squeeze an extra battalion in. That said, it's currently impossible to field this in a Deepkin list in Vanguard and meet all of the faction-units-per-allies-units requirements, so save this for your Battlehost-and-larger games.
*'''Wanderers''': Fitting a unit of 20 Glade Guard in your army provides you with a highly reliable "remove lynchpin" button. Combining them with the Deepkin is going to make people even more angry than usual, though. Sisters of the Thorn are an awesome addition to Cavalry army and provide a very nice spell to boot. Eternal Guards are rerolling saves of 1 and 2, if they are in cover. With the Ionrach rule, they will profit from the cover of the Tides of Death. Also, they are as fast as Namarti Thralls and cost 70 point per 10 models. A Waywatcher has the invisible hunter rule, which gives shooting units, that target him -1 to hit. He can give this to other Wanderer units within 18" for 1 command point.
*'''Gotrek:''' Despite costing 520pts, Gotrek can be brought as an ally in any Order faction even if that's more than the usual allies allowance. It's worth mentioning for the Ionrach enclave because he'll get the benefit of the Tides. Gotrek's an absolute beast in melee but is let down by his low movement and the fact he can never be teleported/ambushed onto the board etc; however, he would love to be able to run and charge, and retreat and charge, and Ionrach lets him do that.
*'''Bundo Whalebiter''': A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls. If you want a big monster that isn’t the Turtle, then this is your pick.

===Lethisian Defenders===
From the Forbidden Power expansion, this odd army coalition of Idoneth, Stormcast, Kharadron, Fyreslayers, and a random Excelsior Warpriest (w/Gryph-Hound) offers you new Allegiance Ability synergies on a level somewhere between those of the regular faction-only perks and the super basic list for Grand Alliances. By choosing this allegiance, all of your units gain the keyword LETHISIAN DEFENDER and gain access to a couple unique Battle Traits, a Command Ability, 3 Command Traits, 3 Artefacts of Power, and 3 Prayers (arguably the focal point of the Allegiance). Unlike simply taking allies in an otherwise Idoneth list, which is limited by the 1:4 unit ratio rule and (in Pitched Battles) the ≤ 20% pts rule, this allegiance allows you to take basically whatever you want from the four armies (two of which you previously had no access to without pulling back to basic Grand Alliance: Order), with the following exceptions:

*no Hammers of Sigmar (most Stormcast named heroes) [notable exception being the Celestant-Prime]
*no Vostarg units (Fyreslayers) [but Kharadron named characters are legal]
*not Volturnos [though you can take Lotann]
*Battleline is restricted to the armies' vanilla offerings (Arkanaut Company, Liberators, Vulkite Berzerkers, and Thralls) since you can't take the other options without allegiance to the specific factions). One notable exception here that might (but hopefully won't) be errata'ed is that Kharadron Endrinmasters (w/Dirigible Suits) as your general can currently grant you access to Skywardens and Endrinriggers as Battleline w/o KO allegiance, allowing you the potential to make an all-flying army with balloon-boiz and your Akhelains/Eidolons (plus whatever scattered Stormcast units you like).

Otherwise, all other units from the four armies are legal, though of course it makes sense to lean in on priests since all priests in your army gain a free prayer that, like most prayers in the game, goes off on a 3+ and can't be unbound. Also, one of the Command Abilities makes your general into a priest as well, or gives a priest as general access to another prayer. Currently, in addition to the Excelsior Warpriest (a fantastically efficient option with a solid prayer of his own and able to unbind one spell per enemy hero phase), the four armies offer us access to the following priests:

*Stormcast: Lord-Relictor, Lord-Veritant (the superior option by far, super anti-Wizard)
*Fyreslayers: Auric Runemaster, Auric Runesmiter (able to deepstrike 1 Fyreslayers unit), Auric Runesmither on Magamadroth
*Idoneth: Isharann Soulscryer (notably lacking a prayer of his own)
*Kharadron: unfortunately no priests (though an Aetheric Navigator really should be)

The Battle Traits for the Army are as follows:
*all units can re-roll Battleshock tests (sadly mostly redundant for all Idoneth squads except Allopexes)
*all Human and Duardin units get +1 to-Hit in melee against enemies that charged them (on that turn)
*all Akhelian units get +1" Move and +1 on charge rolls (eels and the King are now 15"! turtles and sharks 13") [sadly doesn't help non-Akhelians]
*Command Ability: only works for Liberators wholly within 12" of a Stormcast Hero (gives them +1 Save in exchange for not being able to pile-in) [meh]

Drawbacks:
*you no longer benefit from any of the army's Allegiance-specific synergies (most-notably here, Tides of Death and Forgotten Nightmares), but you get to have fun allying with Dwarfs, more Stormcast, and have some Priestly fun!
*there's no specific lore to the army (besides the prayers), but if you want Wizards, you can always take Endless Spells or use the vast Realm Lores (7 per realm) [albeit limited to agreeing with your opponent about location before the game]
*if your 3 artefacts aren't suitable, claiming that your army is from a specific realm opens up the choices nicely (though this isn't exactly lore-accurate, but whatever)
*unfortunately, there's no fix if you don't like the 3 Command Traits
*no new Warscroll Battalions, but you're allowed to use any of the existing ones

Ultimately, though most-likely not powerful enough to be competitive, I hope that GW will make more coalition allegiances like this, as it not only mixes things up, but it creates opportunities for you to collect and learn other armies, and it's super fluffy lore-wise. Plus, the Grand Alliances really don't have enough going for them, so this kinda makes up for that, meeting halfway between.

==Army Building==
There aren't a ton of options for building diverse armies since the Idoneth model line consists of 8 Leaders, 5 units with only one unconditional battleline and a behemoth. However with the addition of Enclaves your army will perform a bit differently and allows for a small but not insignificant level of specialization.

===What to start with?===
* As the name suggest, the Start Collecting! kit is a great way to start your collection, giving you 10 Thralls, 3 Eels and one Soulrender.

* Battleforce box being released for Holidays 2018. $170 (USD) will net you a Tidecaster, 10 Namarti Thralls, 10 Namarti Reavers, 3 Eel guard riders of your choice, and 2 Allopexes. Not a bad variety to start with, and is over a hundred dollars in savings, if you can somehow get your hands on it.

*Grab an Akhelian King kit and build either Volturnos or the stock King model. Both are fine, though Volturnos outperforms his nameless counterpart before taking Artefacts and Command Traits into consideration. Either model is a fine addition to your army.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Kharadron Overlords

2020-12-04T14:55:43Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Why Play Kharadron Overlords? */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Kharadron Overlords|Logo=Kharadron-Overlords-Hero-1.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Top hat, robotic monocle, curled mustache guns, and steam technology; the true essence of steampunk.}}

Get ready to play some [[Dwarf Fortress]] in the sky! The [[Kharadron Overlords]] is one of the first truly new factions introduced to Age of Sigmar since the [[Stormcast Eternals]], and are also one of the most radically different from other AoS armies in play style, with a big focus on vehicles, guns, and tech.

==Why Play Kharadron Overlords?==

'''PROS:'''

*Because you want to bring mad science and a [[dakka|''lot'' of guns]] to the Age of Sigmar swords and sorcery fight.

*Because you want to laugh maniacally while you bomb melee armies to oblivion with an air navy, while the passengers fill the survivors with lead.

*Because you've waited over 20 years for [[Squats]], and you're gonna take what you can get.

*Because you enjoyed the Iron Man films, but thought they'd be better if Tony Stark was a 4-foot-tall sky-pirate.

*Because you loved Studio Ghibli films like ''Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind'', ''Porco Rosso'' and ''Castle in the Sky'', and wanted to relive that sense of epic aeronautical adventure.

*Because you love your Imperial Guard, and want to play essentially the same thing in the Age of Sigmar. Only with [[awesome| flying]] [[baneblade|Baneblades.]]

*You Love to be the Strongest Shooting Faction. Your shooting is not only accurate, every single model in your army has some form of shooting attack, from your crummiest Arkanaut Company to your biggest, angriest ships, and almost all of it has rend -1 or better. In fact, Kharadron are one of the best anti-armor factions simply because almost every attack they care about has rend. Maggotkin, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Stormcast Eternals, and any other army that relies on their heavy armor to protect them will be very sad when your bullets just penetrate straight through.

*If you use your Fly High and Disengage abilities, you're fucking '''''FAST'''''. Any Skyvessel that's above roughly half health can just leave combat anytime and redeploy via deep strike, and then shoot. The Frigate and Gunhauler have a 12" move, and the mighty Ironclad has a respectable 10". Your jump troops have move 12" as well, meaning that they can be where they need real damn fast. Get in an annoying fight with fast skirmishes hoping to tie you down while the real threats sprint up? Just leave combat while still shooting all your guns.

*You like having a near criminal number of aces up your sleeve to really screw with your opponent, in the form of a HUGE variety of gadgets, artifacts, command traits and one use items. Want a flying dwarf that has the potential to do continual MWs on a 2+ until you roll a 1? You got it with Phosphorite Bomblets! Want a hammer that stacks massive amounts of bonuses against chosen targets? Take a Grudgehammer and give the finger to that pesky Bloodthirster!! Want to use any Endless Spell in the friggin game, with no restriction!?!? Say hello to the Spell in a Bottle!!!

*You like playing with Transports in Fantasy games, and they have gunports. Every ship that can transport troops is effectively Open-Topped, meaning that everyone inside gets a lovely day at the shooting range while they get scooted around the board. Even if the ship flies out of combat, both the ship and the people inside can still shoot no problem.

*Because (and this is the important one) they are [[awesome|'''steampunk power-armored sky pirate dwarfs''']].

'''CONS:'''

*The average steam-dorf absolutely SUCKS in melee. For some reason, using knives and gun butts against daemons or giants in magic suits of armour isn't quite cutting the mustard. Despite your greatly improved armor across the board, a 4+ ain't gonna save you if you get charged by Blood Warriors or Ironguts.

*Even with some of the best mobility options in AoS, you'll always be in danger against fast units or faster-than-average factions like Nighthaunt, Beastclaw Raiders, some of the Legion of Nagash units, etc. You can't run forever, and if you spend the game trying all you'll end up doing is giving the opponent the run of the board. Also, if you ever get in melee with flying enemies, you lose your ability to Disengage, but you can still Fly High, since only the Disengage rule checks to see if there were flying units around.

*Even if you have the best shoota, other armies' ranged weapons can be really dangerous, especially if they have artillery with heavy rend. You'll see that battleship going down hard in no time.

*If you can't cheat on movement, you're actually somewhat slow. Any dwarf caught shuffling on foot has a piddly 4" move, and if your Skyvessels take damage they not only lose their ability to redeploy via deep strike, they also get reduced movement, and a ship that can't bail on a bad fight is a dead ship.

*No wizards for you, although you do have a lot of spell unbinding options, and with the introduction of the Sacrosanct Chambers, Stormcast allies can fill this hole. You'll still struggle to keep dangerous debuffs off your troops, and any Endless Spell that creates a LoS-blocking wall or grants cover will put a crimp in your perfect gunlines.

*Your mortal wound output is mediocre to poor. Few things put out mortals, and you can't really spam mortal wounds like heavy magic armies or the Stormcast can. That being said, your rend makes up for it most of the time, but when you're fighting Nighthaunt or that one dickhead who brings Neferata and makes a Terrorgheist immune to rend, you'll wish you had more reliable mortal wounds to pass out.

*Your defense against mortal wounds is nonexistent. There's maybe two things in the book that give any sort of protection against mortal wounds, and one's a situational buff granted by Gunhaulers, and the other's a middling artifact for Admirals, and they both grant 6+ feel no pains.

*Being this elite is a double edged sword. Every model has high quality armor, weapons, and abilities, but you're paying for that quality, and the only real exception is Arkanaut Company, who are still 9 points per model. Even at 2000 points, you're probably unlikely to break 50 models, and will have a very hard time challenging hordes for control points unless you just kill them all. Almost any game you play, you'll have a 2-to-1 ratio of enemies to skydorfs.

==Rulebooks==
{{AOSRulebooks|tome=Kharadron Overlords (2020)}}

==Allegiance Abilities==
===Battle Traits===
An army that has {{AOSKeyword|KHARADRON OVERLORDS}} allegiance can use the following rule:

'''STICK TO THE CODE:'''
When you choose a Kharadron Overlords army that isn't a Sky Port (more on that in a bit) Can choose an Artycle, Amendment, and Footnote from the tables below, Alternatively you can roll a dice for each table.

'''Artycle:'''
#'''Honour is Everything:''' You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlord Heroes}} that target a {{AOSKeyword|Hero}} or a {{AOSKeyword|Monster}}.
#'''Master of the Skies:''' You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly {{AOSKeyword|Skyvessels}} that target a unit that can fly.
#'''Settle The Grudges:''' After armies are set up but before the first battle round begins, pick 1 enemy unit. You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlord}} units that target that unit.

'''Amendment:'''
#'''Always Take What You Are Owed:''' Pick up to D3 different {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlord}} units in your army. Each of those units starts the battle with 1 share of Aether-Gold in addition to any they normally receive.
#'''Prosecute Wars With All Haste:''' On your first turn, friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlord}} units can run and still shoot later in their turn.
#'''Trust To Your Guns:''' Add 1 to the Bravery characteristic of friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlord}} units while they are more than 3" away from enemy units.
'''Footnote:'''
#'''There's No Reward Without Risk:''' Once per battle, you can re-roll a charge roll for a friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlords}} unit.
#'''There's No Trading With Some People:''' Once per battle, a friendly {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlords}} unit that have run and/or retreated in the same turn can still shoot and/or charge.
#'''Without Our Ships We Are Naught:''' Once per battle, you can heal up to D3 wounds allocated to a friendly {{AOSKeyword|Skyvessels}}.

'''AETHER-GOLD:'''
Each {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlords Hero, Skyvessel}} and {{AOSKeyword|Kharadron Overlords}} unit with 10 or more models starts a battle with 1 share of Aether-Gold.
Once per phase, you can say that 1 unit from your army that has any shares of Aether-Gold will spend 1 of them. If you do so, subtract 1 from that unit's Bravery characteristic for the rest of the battle, but you can pick a Triumph it is eligible to use and immediately apply its effect.
*Alright this is where all gets tricky. The negative effect does affect greatly the capacity for the Kharadron in exchange for a situational benefit. It doesn´t mean its bad, its just handy for your units to have an extra punch or survivability.
*Mind when you choose any triumph to be applied immediately to consider the odds of such benefit vs the penalty for the bravery (''or just play Barak-Urbaz and don't worry about that''). On the good side, this army won't lack on the capacity to have things like: re-roll to hit, re-roll to wound, re-roll save rolls, <STRIKE>immunity to battleshock or a cheeky command ability for free</STRIKE> (no more since GhB 2020, just reroll to hit, to wound or save). Think of all situations where these might come handy and you´ll see how greatly improved the units will be for a short period of time.

===Command Traits===
A {{AOSKeyword|KHARADRON OVERLORDS}} General in a {{AOSKeyword|KHARADRON OVERLORDS}} allegiance and has chosen to take the {{AOSKeyword|KHARADRON OVERLORDS}} abilities can choose one of the following command traits.

All leaders (save for the Navigator) share the first three traits. Navigators have the first two.
#'''Wealthy:''' Gain 2 Aethergold instead of 1.
#'''Tough as Old Boots:''' +2 wounds
#'''[[Thorgrim Grudgebearer|Grudgebearer]]:''' Pick an enemy hero before the first round, and your General deals double damage against them.

'''Lords of the Sky:''' {{AOSKeyword|Arkanaut Admiral}} Only
#'''Cunning Fleetmaster:''' one Skyvessel can make a normal move, or a non-ironclad can Fly High before the first round. Lets ships claim objectives first turn, or bring your FLYING TRANSPORT into broadside range.
#'''War Wound:''' roll a dice each hero phase, 1s: -1 to his hit rolls until next hero phase, else gain a CP. Don't need to explain how Admirals like more CP.
#'''A Scholar and an Arkanaut:''' your army can take 2 footnotes instead of one.

'''Senior Endrineers:''' {{AOSKeyword|Endrinmaster}} Only
#'''Grandmaster:''' General heals Skyvessels an extra +1W.
#'''Great Tinker:''' Endrinmaster's Gaze of Grungni now has 3 attacks. This can be combo'd with Barak Zilfin's artefact that gives a +1 on the bearer's ranged weapon pretty interestingly, giving you 3 attacks that hit on 2+ and do D3 damage each.
#'''Endrinprofessor:''' Once in each of your hero phases, this general can use his warscroll command ability for free.

'''Reader of the Guiding Winds:''' {{AOSKeyword|Aetheric Navigator}} Only
#'''Stormcaller:''' you can reroll Aetherstorms, to help guarantee an enemy flyer gets slowed or fish for mortal wounds.
#'''Ride the Wind:''' A Skyvessel with this general in its garrison gains +3" Move.
#'''Skeptic:''' +1 dispel/unbinding.
#'''Diviner:''' After both armies are set up, pick 1 terrain feature or objective. Kharadron units wholly within 12" of that terrain feature or objective don't take battleshock tests.

'''Alchemical Innovators:''' {{AOSKeyword|Aether Khemist}} Only
#'''A Nose for Gold:''' Each hero phase, Aether Khemist gains Aethergold on 3+.
#'''Genius in the Making:''' Aetheric Augmentation has a range of 18" instead of 12".
#'''Collector:'''If this hero gets an artefact, you can give one to another hero as well.

===Artefacts of Power===
One {{AOSKeyword|HERO}} in your army (+1 per battalion) can take a relic from the following tables:

'''Perks of Rank:''' {{AOSKeyword|Arkanaut Admiral}} only
#'''Masterwrought Armour:''' Ignore wounds and MW on 6+. Solid and good, even if the Admiral doesn't really have the sheer health pool to really notice this a lot.
#'''Hammer of Aetheric Might:''' One melee weapon deals an additional MW on an unmodified hit roll of 6. Your hammer doesn't have a ton of attacks, so it's unlikely to net you big returns, but melee is where your Admiral wants to be so sure.
#'''Gattlesson's Endless Repeater:''' +2 attacks to volley pistol. 5 Shots make you put out almost half as much firepower as a minimum squad of Thunderers, at half range! Kinda alright, but there are more impactful artefacts.
#'''Rune of Mark:''' Before first battle round, pick an enemy Hero. If they are slain the 3 closest Kharadron Overlords units gain one Aethergold share. Weird and surprisingly good. There's essentially no range requirements on this, meaning that you can pick an enemy hero hiding in a corner and if he dies, whatever three closest units, even if they're all the way on the other side, get the Aether-Gold. Do you like gold? Of course, you do, now shoot that Chaos Sorcerer to death.
#'''Flask of Vintage Amberwhisky:''' Once per game during the hero phase, Admiral can heal 2 wounds or gamble with d6 wounds. Big healing potion, either take the safe 2 heal or risk a big ass full heal. You'll be unlikely to live at 1 health, but if you roll that 6 you're probably safe for the rest of the game.
#'''Proclamator Mask-Hailer:''' Once per round, Admiral can use one CA without using a CP. This one's fantastic, as the Admiral's got 4 different command abilities and wants to use them all. The Kharadron aren't really that command-ability centric, but this makes their biggest command point sink (the Admiral's wide array of CA's) much more efficient.

'''Aethermatic Instruments:''' {{AOSKeyword|Aetheric Navigator}} only

#'''Cyclonic Aethometer:''' +1 to Aetherstorm rolls. Piss off every flyer your opponent brings by being 83% reliable on the slowing effect, and 33% reliable on the damage. Still reliant on the opponent bringing flyers in the first place, but if they are, you'll punish the shit out of them for it.
#'''Svaregg-Stein Illuminator Flarepistol:''' The first time the bearer's Pistol hit something, re-roll all hit rolls for Kharadron Overlords against that unit for rest of phase. Note that this is the first time this weapon hits ANYTHING EVER, meaning that you can't hold on to it for later while still firing that dinky ranging pistol. Save your markerlight for the perfect moment.
#'''Voidstone Orb:''' Once per battle, can auto-unbind/dispel using Aethersight. Hey, the Dispel Magic scroll from Warhammer Fantasy battles escaped into the Age of Sigmar!

'''Ingenious Gadgets:''' {{AOSKeyword|Endrinmaster}} only

:'''Endrinmaster with Endrinharness:'''
:#'''Cogmonculus:''' Once per <s>turn</s>phase, you can re-roll a single hit, wound, or save roll for the bearer. The Footslogging E-Master gets Master-Crafted everything. You like re-rolls? You get tons of them. Make 'em count!
:#'''Aetherquarz Monolens:''' Increase range of Gaze of Grungni to 18". Turn that lovely short-ranged shot into a long-range one! This lets an E-Master shoot out of a ship from long distance, as he's unlikely to have the range on anything he's not in melee with already without this artifact.
:#'''Seismic Shock-gauntlets:''' After charging, one enemy takes D3 MW on a 2+. Cool, deal some mortals during a boarding action. Make that Frigate with 10 Arkanaut Company and your E-Master actually a threat!

:'''Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit:'''
:#'''Aether-injection Booster:''' When retreating, the user has the Disengage and Fly High ability.
:#'''Phosphorite Bomblets:''' once per battle in the shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 6" and roll a dice, on a 2+ inflict a mortal wound and roll again, stop when you roll a 1 or target unit is destroyed.
:#'''Miniaturised Aethermatic Repulsion Field:''' ignore the effects of spells/endless spells on 3+. The E-Master in balloonsuit is expensive as hell, and burning to death under a torrent of arcane flame or shriveling under the weight of a vicious curse isn't a great way to die. Ensure he lives with this handy powerup.

'''Aether-Gold Inventions''' {{AOSKeyword|Aether-Khemist}} only
#'''Emergency Ventplates:''' Once per battle, during the enemy shooting phase, all friendly units wholly within 6" are -1 to hit. Note that you can use this while in a garrison, so if the opponent's bringing great firepower too you can protect the ship you're on.
#'''Caustic Anatomiser:''' Once per battle, each the start of combat, each enemy model within 6" suffers an MW on a 5+. Like the Ventplates, nothing says you can't use this while garrisoned, so fart out that caustic cloud from the frigate's giant base size when you're charged by a big horde of infantry and cut their numbers down a bit.
#'''Spell in a Bottle:''' You can take an Endless Spell from any faction that can’t be unbound (but can still be dispelled in a subsequent turn) and can only be used once per battle. You still need to pay the point cost for the spell but for all the utility this can provide, it is very much worth your time. The endless spell ignores any of its normal casting restrictions, so feel free to pick the Stormcast Everblaze Comet, Skaven Warp Lightning Vortex, etc. (how you throw a bottle on the ground and a comet appear 5 kilometers away is everyone's guess). If you use it to cast Burning Sigil of Tzeentch, you can hypothetically end up with a Chaos Spawn of Tzeentch in your army. Not sure why you'd do that, but it's probably just as planned. Try using one of the Ossiarch Bonereaper spells in this thing. As the soul-linked ability is part of the spell's warscroll (unlike, say, the bound endless spells the Serapohon can use), no-one can move the spell but you.

===Great Endrinworks===
One {{AOSKeyword|Skyvessel}} (+1 per Battalion) in your army can be equipped with the following endrinwork:

'''Ironclad Major Installations:''' {{AOSKeyword|Arkanaut Ironclad}} only
#'''The Last Word:''' When enemy ends charge within 3", it can shoot its main gun at it. This is so fucking good. The main guns on the Ironclad are already its best weapon and letting them shoot for free before the charging unit gets to actually fight makes them seriously scary to approach.
#'''Hegssons Solutions 'Old Reliable' Hullplates:''' +2 Wounds. Basic as shit, but making a supertough and easily healable ship have even more health is always good. Plus, nothing crushes the enemy's spirit like 20 wounds on a 3+ save backed up an Endrinmaster or two.
#'''Ebullient Buoyancy Aid:''' Ignore Garrison Limits for using Fly High or disengage. Become King of the Clown Cars! Hold truly impressive numbers of Bioshock dwarves and huck them into the meat grinder of war even faster! You probably don't want to have ''this'' many eggs in one ship-shaped basket, but if alpha strikes and the idea of redeploying 800+ points around the battlefield at will sounds fun, go for it. Note: this does not undo the halving of the Ironclad's movement characteristic, so being over-encumbered (currently) still reduces movement. Might also need errata addressing why disengaging was even brought up in the text, because there's nothing in the Flying Transport or Disengage rules that would seem to indicate that you can't disengage if over-encumbered.
#'''Prudency Chutes:''' If destroyed, you don't need to roll to see if the passengers die. Impossibly boring, and probably a waste of a Great Endrinwork. Bringing items that only affect minor things when you die is usually not great. Instead, bring something that makes the ship tougher or more dangerous!
#*Alternative take - sometimes it's hard to foresee bad stuff happening, and as each model is rolled for individually when a vessel is destroyed, this could potentially save a character or a unit's special weapon from an ignominious death.
#'''Magnificent Omniscope:''' +2" Move. Basic as shit again, but on a ship as slow as the Ironclad this is still respectable.
#'''Zonbarcorp 'Dealbreaker' Battle Ram:''' Ogre charge. roll dices equal to charge roll, one enemy suffers MWs equal to each 4+. "I charge the Bloodthirster," you say. Your opponent smiles. ''You fool,'' he whispers, ''melee is exactly where I want to be!'' You smile back, "I roll for charge, adding two for my Great Skyhook. That's a total of thirteen, now to roll for impact hits." Your opponent isn't smiling any more.

'''Frigates Refittings:''' {{AOSKeyword|Arkanaut Frigate}} only
#'''Magnificent Omniscope:''' +2" Move. Still basic as shit, but a little nicer than on the Ironclad as this makes you superfast, rather than turning a mediocre speed into a good one.
#'''Prudency Chutes:''' Same as for the Ironclad. Still boring as shit and probably a waste. Just unload your troops before the ship dies, Admiral.
#'''Malefic Skymines:''' Once per battle, at start of combat phase, one unit that can Fly within 6" suffers D3 MW on roll of 2-3 or D6 on 4+. I sure hope you fight a lot of flyers that want to charge you! Otherwise this thing's totally worthless.

'''Gunhauler Modifications:''' {{AOSKeyword|Grundstok Gunhaulers}} only
#'''Iggrind-Kaz Surge-injection Endrin Mk.IV:''' Add +d3" to its normal move, or +2d3" but suffers a MW on doubles. Quite good, honestly. Worth the risk of mortal wounds because of the easy access to healing that the Kharadron have. The question still stands as to whether "rolling doubles" means a normal D6 double (i.e. rolling say two 5's), or a D3 double (i.e. rolling a 5 and a 6 both count as a D3 value of 3, effectively doubling your chance of triggering the mortal wound). This needs to either be errata'ed or addressed in a designer's commentary update.
#'''Zonbarcorp 'Debtsettler' Spar Torpedo:''' Once per game, after the first charge move, one enemy within 1" takes D6 MW on a 2+. Deal some mortals on the charge, plus your bombs for some fairly reliable mortal output. As far as once-per-game artifacts go, this is pretty good.
#'''Coalbeard's Collapsible Compartments:''' Gunhauler can Garrison 5 models. Better in smaller games to move heroes or get buffed by admirals, or deliver a 5 man Thunderer squad with all special weapon options (giving them +1 to hit) right onto some poor unsuspecting cluster of enemies. Or plop a beefed-up Admiral loaded down with Aether-Gold to spend inside for a nasty melee punch.

=== The City-Ports ===

Alternatively, a player with the {{AOSKeyword|KHARADRON OVERLORDS}} Allegiance can instead choose to represent one of the Six Major Sky-Ports. Each one has their own fixed interpretation of the code, however, the player is given access to:

*A unique ability
*A unique command trait and artefact/endrinwork ''(now mandatory)''
*The '''<Sky-Port>''' keyword
*some Ports unlock additional battleline units

----

'''Barak-Nar:''' ''Specializing in unbinding, passing battleshock, generate CP, and spamming Thunderers''

*'''Artycle - Respect Your Commanders:''' re-roll battleshock test for Barak-Nar unit wholly within 12" of a Barak-Nar hero.
*'''Amendment - Trust Aethermatics, not Superstition:''' Each Barak-Nar hero can unbind +1 spells each turn.
*'''Footnote - Through Knowledge, Power:''' +1 unbinding roll for Barak-Nar Heros
*'''Ability: Scholars and Commanders:''' At the start of the battle, roll a dice for each friendly '''Barak-Nar Hero''' on the battlefield or garrisoned. For each 4+ you receive an additional command point.
*'''Command Trait: Champion of Progress:''' (General must take) Do not take battleshock for friendly '''Barak-Nar''' units while they're wholly within 12" of this general.
*'''Artefact of Power:''' '''Aethercharged Rune:''' Once per battle you can change either 1 hit roll for an attack made by the bearer or 1 save roll for an attack that targets the bearer to the roll of your choice.
*Barak-Nar unlocks Thunderers as battlelines.

'''Barak-Zilfin:''' ''A Skyvessel specialist port, with Speed, extra endrinwork, and destroying sky rivals''

*'''Artycle - Master Of The Skies:''' Re-roll hit rolls of 1 made by '''Skyvessel''' against flying units.

*'''Amendment - Don't Argue With The Wind:''' Running Barak-Zilfin units add +6" instead of rolling +d6".

*'''Footnote - There's Always a Breeze if you look for it:''' Once per battle during hero phase, one Barak-Zilfin unit can make a normal move (can run, retreat or Disengage).

*'''Ability: Magnificent Skyvessels:''' You can choose 1 extra '''Skyvessel''' in your army to have a great endrinwork.

*'''Command Trait:''' '''Master Commander:''' ''(Arkanaut Admiral only and must take if the general is one)'' Each time you spend a command point to use a command ability on this general's warscroll, roll a dice. On a 5+, you receive 1 extra command point. Given your Admiral is going to be spending command points like they're on sale in this new book, the value of this Command Trait cannot be overstated.

*'''Artefact of Power: Staff of Ocular Optimization:''' Pick 1 of the bearer's missile weapons. Add 1 to hit rolls for attacks made by that weapon.

Barak-Zilfin unlocks Arkanaut Frigates as battleline.

'''Barak-Zon:''' ''Turn SKYFARERs into better fighters. Makes Skywardens really good.''

*'''Artycle - Honour is Everything:''' Barak-Zon heroes re-roll hits of 1 against Heroes and Monsters

*'''Amendment - Leave No Duardin Behind:''' +2 bravery to SKYFARER if wholly within 12" of Skyvessel

*'''Footnote - Show them your Steel:''' Once per battle, in the hero phase, one of your units that are garrisoned in a vessel can immediately disembark. However the disembark is only 3" and must be more than 9" from any enemy which rather badly limits its effectiveness. Sure it has its uses - you can disembark an Aether-Khemist and still use their abilities, and most of your troops will get an extra 1" of movement that turn as they should be able to move in their movement phase too - and if you are running them that turn, the extra movement may be considerable - but generally you won't get a huge amount of extra flexibility from this.

*'''Ability: Deeds, Not Words:''' +1 to wound rolls if a SKYFARER and add +1 to hit for Skywardens during melee if they charged that turn. Gotta make sure that alpha strike hurts!

*'''Command Trait: Bearer of the Ironstar:''' (General must take) first time general is slain, on a 2+, he is not, heals d3 wounds, and remaining allocated wounds are negated.

*'''Artefact Of Power: Aethersped Hammer:''' One user melee weapon gains 2 attacks.

'''Barak-Urbaz:''' ''They are swimming in Aethergold and you should be spending some every phase''

*'''Artycle - Seek New Prospects:''' Barak-Urbaz units re-roll battleshock while wholly within enemy territory.

*'''Amendment - Always Take What You Are Owed:''' At the start of the game, D3 Barak-Urbaz units gain +1 Aethergold.

*'''Footnote - Where There's War, There's Gold:''' Once per battle, at end of combat, one SKYFARER unit that fought gains an Aethergold.

*'''Ability: The Market City:''' Ignore the -1 bravery penalty for using Aethergold.

*'''Command Trait: Khemist Supreme:''' (an Aether khemist General must take this) The general's Aetheric Augmentation effects two units.

*'''Great Endrinwork: Breath of Morgrim:''' During the shooting phase, pick an enemy unit and roll a dice for each model within 6" of this unit, inflict a MW for each 6.

Barak-Urbaz unlocks Gunhauler as battleline.

'''Barak-Mhornar:''' ''Blitzers, getting right into enemy faces to decimate them.

*'''Artycle - Seek New Prospects:''' Barak-Mhornar units re-roll battleshock while wholly within enemy territory.

*'''Amendment - Prosecute Wars With All Haste:''' During the first turn, Barak-Mhornar units can run & shoot

*'''Footnote - Who Strikes First, Strikes Hardest:'''Once per battle, a Barak-Mhornar unit can fight at the start of combat phase instead of normally.

*'''Ability: Fearsome Raiders:''' -1 bravery for Enemy within 6” of a '''Barak-Mhornar''' unit. Awesome.

*'''Command Trait: Opportunistic Privateers:''' (General must take) the Skyvessel the general is in can redeploy anywhere (more than 9" from enemy units and more than 1" from objectives) before the first battle round but can't move or disembark that turn.

*'''Artefact of Power: Galeforce Stave:''' (Navigator only) At the start of enemy charge phase, halve charge roll for one unit within 12".

'''Barak-Thryng:''' '' The most Dawi port, having grudges, revenge killing, and having classic dwarf units + Magmadroths.''

*'''Artycle - Chronicle of Grudges:''' pick up to 3 enemy units before the first battle round, Barak-Thryng re-roll hit rolls of 1 against the chosen units.

*'''Amendment - Take Help Where You Can Get It:''' 1 in 4 units can be any DUARDIN unit, (become Barak-Thryng units, can't be general, don't count for battleline). Very flexible and are a lot of different DUARDIN units to pick. Remember that even though they don't get the Faction Allegiance, they're not counted as allies according to GW's official army builder.

*'''Footnote - Honour The Gods, Just In Case:''' Once per battle, in any phase, hit rolls of 6 by 1 Barak-Thryng unit score 2 hits.

*'''Ability: Incredibly Stubborn:''' Each slain SKYFARER model within 3" of an enemy can fight before being removed on 4+.

*'''Command Trait: Supremely Stubborn:''' (General must take) Incredibly Stubborn triggers on 2+ instead of 4+

*'''Artefact of Power: Grudgehammer:''' (Skyfarer only) +1 to hit for one melee weapon, and unmodified wounds rolls of 6 with that weapon against a Grudge target also inflict D3 MWs.

==Warscrolls==
The common keywords for these warscrolls are: '''ORDER''', '''DUARDIN''', and '''KHARADRON OVERLORDS'''

===Leaders===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Brokk-Grungsson-en.pdf Brokk Grungsson]:''' (SKYFARER 220pts) 220 points of angry, overpowered dwarfen pain. Eight wounds, a 3+ save, three guns, and with a flying movement value of 12" he's much faster than most of your other heroes who can only footslog 4". He can hit hard in melee - four attacks at -2 rend d3 damage, inflicting d3 MW on a 6 to-hit instead. His command ability lets all your nearby '''Barak Nar''' dudes reroll charges. Interesting to note is that while he's the Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar, feel free to run him in whichever Skyport you like (you just won't get their port abilities for him).

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkanaut-Admiral-en.pdf Arkanaut Admiral]:''' (SKYFARER, MARINE 120pts) His melee weapon has good hit and wound rolls (with re-rolls of 1 against heroes or monsters), 3A, -2 rend, 2 Damage. His attacks are quite reliable. While he has a ridiculous four Command Abilities, only one of them can be used on foot, letting one '''Skyfarers''' unit re-roll a charge. The rest require him to hide in a Skyvessel to boost it (letting it run and shoot, re-rolling 1s to hit with the ship's guns, or letting the ship and anyone inside it add +1 to hit in combat). Putting him on an Ironclad is going to see that expensive ship punch even harder. Also useful is that he lets all friendly units within 12" ignore Battleshock, and those within 3" with at least 5 models <s>can</s> must also be used as bodyguard fodder on a 5+.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Aetheric-Navigator-en.pdf Aetheric Navigator]:''' (SKYFARER, MARINE 100pts) He has the ability to cut the movement of one enemy flying unit within 36" into half, there is also a 1 in 6 chance they suffer D3 mortal wounds. He could be handy to mess with enemies like Nighthaunt, and big flying monsters will hate you. The Navigator is also a source of spell and endless spell unbinding without the use of a relic or Code amendment, and he allows Skyvessels to re-roll run or charge rolls if he didn't use his Aetherstorm ability. He also has access to a pretty good selection of artefacts, all of which make him much more useful than he was in the previous book.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Aether-Khemist-en.pdf Aether-Khemist]:''' (SKYFARER, MARINE 90pts) The main reason you take this guy letting a '''Skyfarers''' unit re-roll wound rolls of 1. The Khemist has a defensive ability too - in melee, enemy models within 3 inches of him suffer -1 to hit with any attacks. He'd rather not be in melee though. Lastly, his shooting weapon is 3d6 attacks on average hit and wound, and -2 rend, a brutal anti-infantry weapon, and just all-around nasty to approach. Stick him in a Skyvessel with some Thunderers and laugh at your opponent's tears. (You can't use his abilities while on a skyvessel though)

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Endrinmaster-with-Endrinharness-en.pdf Endrinmaster with Endrinharness]:''' (SKYFARER, MARINE 100pts) A foot engineer that can heal a Skyvessel for D3 wounds every hero phase, a nice addition to any Ironclad. Besides that he's a decent combat character with a respectable hammer that can deal 3 MWs if he rolls an unmodified 6 to hit and d3 Damage at -1 Rend otherwise. His command ability also lets a unit of Endrinriggers re-roll their chances to heal. Between his hammer and gaze of grungni, an Endrinmaster can put out up to 12 wounds with -1 rend a turn, not bad for 100 points.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Endrinmaster-with-Dirigible-Suit-en.pdf Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit]:''' (SKYFARER 190pts) Now you have a stuntie on a man-sized hot air balloon. This gives the guy a straight upgrade, repair now heals a straight 3 wounds and has two new weapons (a rapid-fire weapons suite and a stronger Aethercannon), as well as a saw that's got a better rend than the hammer, but lacks the chance for MWs. What he gets instead is the ability to hitch a ride with any Skyvessel when they Fly High, making him way more mobile and thus more useful as a direct support HQ. Interesting potential quirk with getting Skyriggers as Battleline if he's your general: unlike virtually every other Pitched Battle Profile out there, this ability doesn't explicitly say it depends on having Kharadron Overlords allegiance. Though this might seem like an insignificant detail, if you are running either a Grand Alliance: Order or Lethisian Defenders army (from the Forbidden Power expansion) or Tempest's Eye (Cities of Sigmar), this Endrinmaster's ability gives you the rare option of having more choices for Battleline than the standard vanilla options. Again, not that this comes up very often, but I wouldn't be surprised if GW errata'ed this in the future (fingers-crossed they don't though, because having more options is always nice).

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Downloads/aos-warscroll-thundriks-profiteers-en.pdf Bjorgen Thundrik]:''' (SKYFARER, MARINE 140pts) The Shadespire Warband but is legal for use in AoS too. You get Bjorgen and his unit of four Profiteers. Bjorgen is similar to a regular Khemist but his buff gives re-roll 1s to hit, not to wound. He has one extra attack with his melee weapon over a normal Khemist, but he's still not good in melee. More importantly, he is a named character, so he can't be given an artefact or command trait.
**His Profiteers are a unit of four: you get a motley crew of one (single wound) Thunderer with a buffed up aethershot rifle, one Skywarden with skypike, and two Arkanaut Company dudes one of whom has a volleygun. Given that a standard Aether-Khemist is 90pts, you're basically paying 50pts for this unit of four mismatched dudes. However, given the lack of +1 to hit in our book, their rule is one of the only way to have guns on 2+ to hit. 50 pts for 14 shots (6 on 2+) is not that bad. They and Bjorgen do fit neatly in a Gunhauler with the collapsible compartments endrinwork if you want to have some fun with that (they are all marines so even the skywarden will fit inside).

===Battleline===
*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkanaut-Company-en.pdf Arkanaut Company]:''' (Battline; Skyfarer, Marine Min:10 Max:40 90pts) Always battleline no matter which skyport or who the general is. They're rather average in combat and human Bravery, but are a reasonably cheap option for holding objectives since they reroll battleshock and get +1 to hit if wholly within 9" of an objective (and not in a garrison). Their pistols are okay, although short-ranged, and you can also include one of each following heavy weapon per ten dwarfs - Skypike (2"/2/4+/4+/-1/D3), Light Skyhook (18"/1/4+/3+/-2/D3), and Aethermatic Volleygun (12"/6/5+/4+/-1/1).

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Grundstok-Thunderers-en.pdf Grundstok Thunderers]''': (Conditional battleline: Barak-Nar Army; Skyfarer, Marine Min:5 Max:20 120pts) Unless going all rifles for the decent range, Thunderers rely on the synergy between the special weapons to do their damage at a 12" range - having at least one cannon, mortar and decksweeper gives those weapons +1 to hit. The unit still puts out a respectable weight of fire, and if everything clicks they can shred pretty much anything that doesn't have a 3+ base save. Their defenses aren't amazing, with a 4+ armor save and 2 wounds apiece, but honestly, it doesn't matter because they're not supposed to be in combat, but if they do they gain +1 attack to their ranged weapons if they risk sticking it out and having Fumigators will help them survive.
** They are good candidates to have min unit armed with only Aethershot Rifle backfield or placed in skyships with mixed weapons to give them more firepower, as it will get them within 9" (but unit bonuses won't work when garrisoned).
*** Combine the -1 to being hit from the fumigators with the -1 that the Khemist provides and this guys will be durable enough in CC to make use of their 3" ability. It's something worth considering.
****This particular combo can be used to save other high-value units in your army. Remember, they inflict -2 to hit on the opponent. Ironclad too wounded to retreat? Have the thunderers and khemist hop out, and inflict that glorious -2 to hit on whatever is punching your boat.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Skywardens-en.pdf Skywardens]:''' (Conditional battleline: General is Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit; Skyfarer, Min:3 Max:12 100pts) DUARDIN warriors with a balloon strapped to their backs. Are armed with Vulcaniser Pistol (better Arkanaut pistols with rending) and skypikes (2"/2/4+/3+/-1/D3d). Skypikes' 2" range lets you fight in two ranks, so you can bunch up and present a narrower frontage to the enemy, maybe taking fewer attacks back from them. They can also be armed for shooting with 1 in 3 can get a Volley gun and 1 in 3 can get a Drill Launcher, Grapnel Launcher or Skyhook (all hits hard and either: have extra rend and could deal MW, prevents enemies from fleeing, or add +1 to charge rolls). Skywardens also inflict MW when they retreat or get charged by flyers. Amusingly, it doesn't matter if you only have one left in the unit, their skymines will still roll to damage every enemy model in the unit. Most importantly, like other Balloon DUARDIN, they can redeploy with a ship when it Flys High to get into charge range first turn (Skyhook will help with this of course). They may not be that survivable with 2W and 4+Sv but are good shock assaulters especially when they pop an Aethergold and they can potentially inflict a lot of damage with their 2 attacks that deal d3 damage.
**Skywardens are melee specialists, so loading them with ranged weapons may not be the most effective use of units with normally 2 attacks, though the mortal wounds they can cause may help discourage enemies.
**take a unit of 6+, with Grapnel Launcher and Skyhook, charging and holding in melee is easier.
**Having one surviving Skywarden retreat from combat can potentially hit every close by enemy unit for D3 mortal wounds. If you're reduced to one model in melee, it may be worth burning a command point or aether-gold to auto-pass battleshock just for this chance.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Endrinriggers-en.pdf Endrinriggers]:''' (Conditional battleline: General is Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit; Skyfarer, Min:3 Max:12 100pts) They ensure that your boats stay up in one piece, and are armed well enough to discourage the enemy - each Endrinrigger has a 12" range 3 shot pistol, and [[Rip and Tear|Aethermatic Saws]] which, compared to the skypikes, are 1 attack but has better to-hit, wound, and -2 rend, making it easier to land those attacks and better statically better than skypikes when fighting 4+Sv. Endrinriggers would prefer to stay near boats and may range it out by taking the same 1 in 3 option as Skywardens. You may want to range things out and stay with the boat with a Rapid-fire Rivet Gun, Drill Launcher and Aethermatic Volley Gun. So broadly speaking, you have two good ways to run this unit: either kit them out for melee, keep the saws and maybe add a grapnel launcher for elite fighting, or tool them up for shooting by giving one-third of them drill cannons, another third of them volleyguns. This will give you a very mobile unit with 24" range guns. Finally, as their main role, Endrinriggers have a chance for each model to repair a wound on a skyvessels if the unit is within 1" of the boat.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Grundstok-Gunhauler-en.pdf Grundstok Gunhauler]:''' (Conditional battleline: Barak-Urbaz Army; War Machine, Skyvessel, 130pts) A supporting corvette for your airfleet, has a good damage output and movement value and neither are affected by wounds taken, which is good because this thing can negate damage on any other non-Gunhauler Skyvessel within 3" on a roll of 6 (subsequently drawing the fire). It can be armed with either a Skycannon (a rapid fire or big accurate shot option) or a Drill cannon (36"/1/3+/3+/-3/D3d, and on a 5+ to hit will inflict 3 MW), both are equally good choices so just pick whichever you think your army needs most. Like all other SKYVESSEL, they have MW bombs thrown at an enemy that tries to tie it down, able to retreat from anything without fly and still shoot, and they can Fly High, redeploying anywhere 9" away from enemies.

===Behemoths===

A note on garrisons - the rules for garrisoned units are... lacking in detail, but consider the following. According to the core rules, garrisoned models "can attack or be attacked, cast or unbind spells, and use abilities". Notably lacking from this description is if they can be affected by spells or abilities. In particular, certain spells and abilities require you to check how many models in a unit are within a certain range, which is impossible to check with a garrison. RAW therefore seems to indicate they cannot be the target of spells or abilities unless specifically stated - such as the admiral's Repel Boarders! command ability (although even that ability targets the skyvessel rather than the garrison). Possibly to make up for this, several Kharadron abilities state they can't be used by a garrisoned unit. However, the FAQ's say that, unless stated otherwise, all ranges that would normally be measured to and from a model are instead measured to and from the vessel they are garrisoned in, and confirms that the Look Out Sir rule does apply (although note that is a rule, not an ability) - so does this mean that as long as part of the skyvessel is within range then every single garrisoned model also is within range? This seems to be the way it plays at the moment, but it could definitely be clearer.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkanaut-Frigate-en.pdf Arkanaut Frigate]:''' (Conditional battleline: Barak-Zilfin Army, War Machine, Skyvessel, 220pts) The bulk of any Skyfleet, a basic transport, and gunboat. It can carry up to 15 Duardin, but going over 10 halves its movement, heal one wound each hero phase, and reroll run rolls. Armed with hull-mounted Aethershot Carbines (12"/4/3+/3+/-1/2D). And it can take a heavy weapon on its forecastle, you can choose between a Heavy Skycannon (have a horde killing and monster-slaying option), and Heavy Skyhook (same as Heavy Skycannon's monster-slaying shell except for shorter range, but also add +2 to charges, so your passengers can drive closer and hit them with their swords and then pull back to rapid-fire them). With Sky High, it can relocate 9" from any enemy models and because Garrisoned units can shoot, you can let several contingents of Grundstok Thunderers devastate first turn with their 12+" weapons. Getting into close combat isn't as much of a death sentence as it has been before. It has six 4+/4+/-/1 attacks and it can generate D3 mortal wounds every close combat phase (so twice per round), and now has a shiny 4+ save. Sure, its not a close combat monster but this and the attacks from the crew inside should be enough to survive until your own movement phase, where you can just disengage and start blasting them!
**Note that the frigate and Ironclad can only disengage and fly high if they haven't taken too much damage. An Endrinmaster or some Endrinriggers can offset this as they get to fix a skyvessel before it moves, and of course they get a built in heal of one wound a round nowadays too, but don't get cocky, kid.

*'''[https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls//aos-warscroll-Arkanaut-Ironclad-en.pdf Arkanaut Ironclad]:''' (War Machine, Skyvessel, 480pts) [[Awesome|A flying Baneblade.]] This ship has everything: guns, armour, health, troop capacity, this ship makes the Adeptus Mechanicus shit themselves in envy. Carries up to 25 infantry in its hull, with 16+ models slowing it. Of all the clown cars the Kharadron have, this one is the slowest (only a 10-inch move, degrading with damage), but also the toughest and hardest hitting armed with Torpedoes, Carbines and one of three choices of hull-mounted turret: either the Great Sky Cannon, as above, the Great Skyhook, as above, and the Aethermatic Volley Cannon, essentially a [[Dakka|minigun Cannon]], with 4D6 shots hitting on 3s, wounding the same, and rend -1, a fantastic dakka option. The great skycannon also has its use. Unlike its smaller cousin on the frigate, the one on the Ironclad always hits for 6 damage. 30" range and -2 rend means you can threaten those squishy backfield wizards. GW finally realized that something called "Ironclad" shouldn't die to a stiff breeze and gave it a 3+ save.
**This beefy motherfucker can party down with the baddest things the enemy can throw at them, and barely feel a scratch. Mangler Squigs, Slaughterbrutes, Gryphons, Manticores, the Ironclad will kick the shit out of all of them and hardly feel the tickle of their ineffective claws. Hardly any of this monster's combat capability is decreased by taking wounds, and it loses absolutely none of it's artillery firepower, meaning it can sit there firing all five hundred and ten points of guns at anything it damn well pleases until it's lost every wound.
**The Great Sky Cannon is probably the best overall option as it's the most versatile with two firing modes. The Single-Shot cannonball is useful for popping those tiny, shitty heroes that sit in the backline, and for pretty much everything else, the Grapeshot Mode will mow down opponents. It's notable that the Cannonball has a 30" range, and the grapeshot has 24", so fire away from long distances without fear.
**The Great Skyhook does just as much damage as the Sky Cannon's Cannonballs, but has only a 24" range and adds two to charge rolls instead. Most ironclad probably don't care about charging into melee (having pretty mediocre melee attacks) but if you bring the '''Zonbarcorp 'Dealbreaker' Battle Ram''', you can live a truly hilarious meme. -For lolz add a few Endrinmasters for self-healing and mortal wound output and go demon hunting.
***Another little thing in favour of a Skyhook since this thing can be garrisoned this can be an effective way to get a big squad into combat faster since they can fight from inside the Ironclad, thus turning two separate charge rolls into just one with +2 to charge. Something to consider.

==Battalions==

===Grand Armada===
'''(90pts, Min: 3090pts Max:)''' ''1 Arkanaut Admiral or Brokk, 1 Iron Sky Command, 1 Iron Sky Attack Squadron, and 1 Grundstok Escort Wing''.

"Constitutional Experts", Keep your Admiral/Brokk Hero from this battalion on the battlefield you can re-use your footnotes once per battle.

===Grundstok Escort Wing===
'''(120pts, Min: 810pts Max: 2780pts)''' ''2-3 Grundstock Gunhaulers; 1 Arkanaut Frigate or Ironclad; 1 Grundstock Thunderers, & 0-3 units of Skywardens.''

"Focused Fire", at the start of your shooting phase choose an enemy unit. Re-roll 1s to hit for this battalion against that unit when shooting this phase.

===Iron Sky Command===
'''(110pts, Min: 1100pts, Max: 3100pts)''' ''0-1 Arkanaut Admiral or Brokk Grungsson; 1 Arkanaut Ironclad; 3 heroes in any combination (Aether-Khemist, Aetheric Navigator, and either Endrinmaster); 1 Arkanaut Company; 1-3 units of Endrinriggers''

Kharadron Overlords wholly within 18" of the Arkanaut Ironclad from this battalion does not take battleshock tests.

===Iron Sky Attack Squadron===
'''(100pts, Min: 720pts, Max:)''' ''2+ Arkanaut Frigates & 1 Arkanaut Company for each frigate in the same battalion.''

When an Arkanaut Company disembarks from a Frigate from the same battalion it can decide to leave before or after the vessel has moved. In addition, roll 3D6 instead of 2D6 when charging for Arkanaut companies that disembarked from Frigates of the same battalion in the movement phase during the same turn.

*For what is worth this Battalion might be extremely important for a few reasons.
**1- Got frigates that are worthy vessels to take in for their point cost.
**2- Gives the Kharadron the much-needed flexibility of moving around and disembark wherever the winds take to profit from the maximum use of the boat speed + the capacity to: disembark and take objectives, allowing the short-range weaponry to be within range. And as of last resort, you can make quite some impressive charges that despite Arkanauts not being ideal shock troops, it hurts no one if that charge help finishes some unit off to allow your Arkanauts to capture points. (probably this is the main reason this battalion is really good).

Intrepid prospectors: this battalion was removed in GHB 2020.

==Tactics==
===General Tactics===
* The name of the game is mobility and objective taking. With the ability to take an entire army that flys and flies high every turn, it is possible to be anywhere you want, whenever you want to be there. Combined with some wargear and tactics that help to slow your opponent and the long(ish) range of some of the weapons in the army, you should be able to wear down your opponent and grab objectives when you need them most.
* Learn to love your clown cars. You can stuff a surprising number of duardin in each vessel. Stuff 15 thunderers in an ironclad will give you at will deep striking and a wall of dakka to anything within range. Garrisoned units don't count toward holding objectives, but you can still land all over the board, open up the clown car, have the shooty soldiers pile out with the skyvessel between them and their enemies, and freely shoot through your own vessel because it's flying, while being nice and safe from charges, who will have to go through the tough skyvessel first, essentially a less shitty and unbalanced version of the [[Fish of Fury]]. (note: units cannot disembark after a ship has flown high unless otherwise stated by a faction ability or artifact; so counting those models toward an objective would be delayed a turn)- with the exception of Iron Sky Attack squadron.(see above)
**As a sub-note, bringing empty ships is an option, but even stuffing a single squad of min-size Arkanauts or Thunderers into a ship immediately improves the ship's overall performance, especially in melee. The ships have far better range than your foot soldiers, but enemies will be wary of approaching your ships too close or risk being unloaded on by pistols or Thunderer special weapons. No one wants to take Aethercannons to the face.

===Barak Nar Tactics===
*All heroes may unbind spells, which they do with a +1. Once per game, all heroes may unbind an additional spell. Goodbye spell-casting; if I don't have any wizards, my opponent isn't gonna have any either!
*May also bring additional navigators, which is of dubious usefulness.
*Plenty of abilities that enhance your Battleshock tests, too. This makes Barak-Nar one of the better Skyports for never failing battleshock tests. [[Dakka|You're still probably better off blasting your opponent into quivering jelly before they even get a chance to force Battleshock tests on you.]]
* Best models for Barak Nar: Heroes of any type (They get to freely try to dispell, and they gain leadership-enhancing auras), and big blobs of Arkanaut Company.

===Barak Zilfin Tactics===
*'''Aetherspheric Endrins''' has been replaced with '''Magnificent Skyvessels''' so there goes deep-striking a fully loaded-up Ironclad. Always take at least two Skyvessels and pimp them both, you are taking more than a single Skyvessel in a Kharadron Overlord list right?
*'''There's Always A Breeze If You Look For It''' then gives you the ability to move another Skyvessel up the field incredibly quickly to support your Deep Striking Skyvessel (Bringing a Gunhauler 24" up to support your badass Ironclad seems like a good plan all around). Alternatively, you can use this to get your important ship way the fuck out of danger, or into a better tactical position. Never underestimate the power of rocketing your Frigate across the board to somewhere your opponent thought they were safe. Models can also Disembark after TAABIYLFI normally, making it great for quick tactical jumps from which your Endrinriggers can hop out and fuck some shit up.
*Zilfin is the thinking man's Barak. None of Zilfin's powers directly increase your army's survivability, only their mobility, making Zilfin incredibly fast, to the point that most people won't expect it.
* Best models for Barak Zilfin: Any Skyship. All your powers revolve around them. Endriggers and either Endrinmaster are essential support.

===Barak Zon Tactics===
*'''Show Them Your Steel:''' Once per battle, in your hero phase, one embarked SKYFARER can immediately disembark and attempt to charge as if it were the charge phase. Not sure why this rule even exists, really - why not just move first and then charge in the charge phase?
* Barak Zon's abilities all revolve around aggression. Their heroes get to reroll 1s when targeting '''Heroes''' or '''Monsters''', you reroll 1s to wound after a charge, and you can take a magic item that gives you Always Strikes First.
* Best models for Barak Zon: Endrinriggers, Arkanaut Company with Skypikes, Arkanaut Admirals, and Endrinmasters.

===Barak Urbaz Tactics===

*Using '''Khemists Supreme''', This lets your Khemists double up on their buffing, making them very useful in a gunline. Sit him next to 20 Arkanauts and 10 Grundstok Thunderers. Buff them both, and let the monster-killing shots fly while anything in range gets shredded. If you like Gunlines, this is the Barak for you, as even in the biggest armies you'll probably need no more than 1 or 2 Khemists to buff your best units.

*You can also completely forgo the Khemist since his nerf and you wont be that bad off without him. One of the great thing about this city is that you don't have to use the master khemist command trait (wether you have a khemist or not, you only are forced to use it if your general is a khemist) and there's no forced artefact either, just an exclusive underwhelming great endrinwork).

*Seemingly the generalist Barak, almost anything works well with extra no-drawback Aethergold.

*Best models for Barak Urbaz: Aether Khemists, Thunderers, Arkanaut Company, Gunhaulers.

===Barak Mhornar Tactics===

*Make sure you're getting the most out of '''Opportunistic Privateers'''. In your '''shooting''' phase you select one enemy unit and any of your units who target that unit and are within 3" of your general can re-roll misses. This ability is amazing. It makes weapons that seem underwhelming such as Volley guns much more viable. For example, your Arkanaut Company targets a hero or Monster giving them +1 to hit (now on 4+) then re-rolling those misses with the command trait and suddenly your 18 shot -1 rend 1 damage are going to do some serious damage. This translates well to other units, of course, Skyships normally have weak to-hit rolls, but rerolling misses makes them more reliable, and Thunderers get much more reliable if you take the full weapon array or even just Rifles.
*Our Artycle '''Seek New Prospects''' allows you to re-roll battleshock tests while in your opponent's territory. This ability is very dependent on what you are facing. Against other ranged armies, this may be useful as you move up or if you need to secure an objective on the other side of the board. Most of the time, however, it will not be very useful. Luckily we are the only Barak with access to '''These are Just Guidelines''' allowing you to swap your Artycle in the hero phase. Some people are saying you must roll for it while others say you may pick so its a bit up in the air at the moment. Either way, it gives you the opportunity to potentially get something more useful. (Note: the 2020 Battletome changed the way Footnotes work).
*'''Prosecute at all haste''' allows your units to run and shoot in the first turn. Add in an Iron Sky Squadron battalion for +1 to the attacks of all missile weapons on the frigates. You now have 2 frigates with the firepower of 4 for a turn. Add in the command ability from your general and you have some reliable and dangerous shooting for a turn.
* Best models for Barak Mhornar: Aether Khemists further your Alpha Strike and Target Deletion style very well, letting you enhance your unit's weapons with both an extra attack and rerolling failures to hit against your target. Thunderers, Skyships, and Endrinriggers all get a ton out of this.

===Barak Thryng Tactics===
* '''Settle Your Grudges''' lets you pick an enemy unit after everything's been set up, and for the rest of the game, you reroll 1s to hit against it! Hey look, we have a Grudge to settle with Nagash/Archaon/Alarielle/Celestant Prime/Morathi/That forty man blob of Tzaangors. Great for helping troubleshoot that one thing you know will be really obnoxious, but obviously makes you a little less flexible, and if the enemy knows you're going to bully that one target, they can simply hide it all game and deny you your power (whoever wrote that said it like it's a bad thing)
**Oh wait, you thought you could only pick ONE target for '''Settle Your Grudges'''? '''Log of Grudges''' lets you pick 3 GRUDGES INSTEAD! I'm sure that one of those 60 zombies bite off the finger of my grand-grand-grandfather, while that freeguild general refuse to pay a bet after he loses at dices and that fucking cygor is looking mean at me!
*GYROCOPTERS! Always thought that those diabolic and insecure skyvessels make the ancestors grumbling? Go back into the skies with proofed and secure gyrobombers or gyrocopters. Quite perfect for kharadron armies, these little guys moves fast, shoot good and have a really terrifying possibility for deal a lot of mortal wounds. Grab 6 bombers for absolutely flat everything in your way, and finish the rest with frigates and heavy firepower.
• Fyreslayers are also useful. Especially with that deepsteike trick. Note that you need at least eight units to get a combo going which can suck in low level games (not quite true. You can still use Ally points to take the runesmith). All those melee tricks become heinous in the hands of teleporting Hearthguard.
* '''Honour The Gods, Just In Case''': ... This is a little gem. Once for battle, in any phase, you can activate this footnote and for the rest of that phase every unmodified hit rolls of 6 deal two attacks instead of one. Really good for make your shooting phase even more shooty, but considering that you can bring some really good brawlers (like a warden king with a unit of hammers or ironbreakers, that deal 3 attacks each this way) can be useful to use it in the combat phase too, especially for the...
* '''supremely stubborn''': If a SKYFARER model dies, roll a dice. On a 4+ he can attack if he is at 3" from an enemy. This makes the footnot even more dangerous, because you will attack again in the phase when you activate it, making your dwarfs dangerous even if dying.
* Lastly, you get the unique Artefact: '''Grudgehammer'''. This lets the hero it's equipped to add +1 to hit for one melee weapon, and unmodified wound rolls of 6 with that weapon that target a Grudge target also inflict D3 MWs. Pretty nice on an Admiral or an Endrinmaster, but probably a little weak on anyone else.
* Best models for Barak Thryng: Barak Thryng doesn't really specialize in any one thing, and is a decent all-arounder who's power isn't necessarily enhancing certain units. Play what you like with this one.

==Allied Armies==
*'''Cities of Sigmar:''' Tempest Eye allows Kharadron units to be part of their army, However we can only ally with units from the Dispossessed and Ironweld Arsenal. The Dispossessed has access to a very solid melee and the Runelord can help counter MORE magic. Meanwhile the Ironweld Arsenal provides cheaper artilery and flyers, as well as the occasional steam tank to help protect those gunlines. Battlemages can be good too, with their generic lore's spells for making your units faster/more durable or just deal mortals wounds.
*'''Stormcast Eternals:''' They have Spellcasting, elite melee troops, and can help fill in some gaps in your army. The Sacrosanct Chamber in particular has access to some powerful spellcasting and solid melee troops
*'''Fyreslayers:''' Not only can you get some good melee troops, but you can force your opponent to choose between the looming Ironclad or the massive Magmadroth coming straight at them.
*'''Bundo Whalebiter''': A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls.

==Building an Army==
The 2020 Battletome gave these guys a much needed update that makes building an army much easier.

Originally the Start Collecting box wasn’t an overly useful place to actually begin your own fleet, but now with the arrival of conditional battlelines for the various Skyports, this box now serves as a decent starting point for your army. You’ll most likely build an army around one of the aforementioned ports, but as a good rule of thumb, Arkanauts and Frigates will be your best friends and you can’t go wrong with having a couple of them in your fleet.

{{Age_of_Sigmar_Tactics}}

Edgy

2020-12-04T13:59:33Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Literature */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!|The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

{{Topquote|Make it [[World of Darkness|dark]], make it [[Grimdark|grim]], make it [[ANGRY MARINES|tough]] but then, for the love of God, [[Comedy Marines|tell a joke]].|Joss Whedon giving a nice example on how to avoid being edgy even while creating a dark world}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (or too aggressively) to make things more [[grimdark|tragic, violent]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain for whoever "the establishment" is, rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes a specific type of self insert or wish fulfillment character; brooding loners skilled at violence who hate anyone else having authority over them, are anti-conformist and have a troubled past - all without the nuance or skill to actually pull it off (with their opponents often being stand-ins for whoever the edgelord considers "The Man™" such as big business, law enforcement or organized religion). The end result is they makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, institutions are the villains unless the edgelord made them and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. In writing, edgelords will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was of a predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of any NSFW picture with his own sick fantasies, surely adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on — people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive connotations marketing execs desired and closer to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based off of some vague recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape alone does not get you the functional item.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered mess. Someone with (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one with gothic/emo tendencies, commonly embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex, etc.) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind), torture, forced labor (they draw the line at commercialized chattel slavery, but un-unionized indentured servitude is fair game), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming dæmon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

At the level of narrative, the fact that things are very very bad is a core thematic element of this world. As pointed out there are reasons why things are so miserable in this world which flow logically and despite this there can be points of contrast. Imperials still have the same potential to love and be kind like modern real world humans do. The Tau are hopeful despite the evils of this world. Occasionally pragmatism can overcome the deep seeded prejudices to overcome greater evils, if only for a while. And even if it is preformed by Conscript Guardsmen, Commissars or Space Marines, each the product of horrendous military institutions, can fight to achieve acts of genuine (if still typically brutal) heroism.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

===Comics===
* The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer. The ultimate example being in Garth Ennis' professionally published Hate Fic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe"] (and Ennis himself is quite the edgelord, for example, see below).
* Billy Butcher from The Boys, being Garth's anti-superpowers power fantasy (he even recycled Punisher's story arc from the comic linked above).
* The title character from the Marshall Law comics.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!
* Livewire from DC comics. An edgelord from the get-go being a shock jock whose targets included Superman for no good reason. Then after Superman tried to save her life in an accident she caused through her carelessness, she became a murderous supervillain bent on killing Superman.
* The Joker, depending on the writer.
* Adversary from DC comics is a parody of edgelord characters and their fans. Always smoking, cusses a lot, wants to kill Superman to build his reputation, works for a demon named Lord Satanus and is actually a kid in a wheelchair.

===Film===
* Common in live-action adaptations of The Joker.
** ''The Dark Knight'' version (Heath Ledger version) was "edge with a point"; exploring human evils regarding terrorism (minus ideological baggage).
** The ''Joker'' (the 2019 Joaquin Phoenix version), though another "edge with a point" Joker; exploring the origins of evil (also minus ideological baggage).
** Jared Leto's Joker in "Suicide Squad" is an almost textbook example of pointless "edgelord".
* Tyler Durden from "Fight Club".
* [[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. The writers were doing it on purpose, to play up the First Order's dogmatic North Korea in space schtick, and to that end made Kylo an incredibly unsubtle Darth Vader pastiche. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit. Also his edge is undermined by fact that he never won a fight against [[Mary_Sue|Mar-Rey Sue Palpatine]] which doesn’t help things either.

===Live Action TV===
* Stargate's Sohkar- It's hard to get more edgelord than literally masquerading/cosplaying as Satan.

===Video Games===
* [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: An edgy game about a cartoon hedgehog shooting enemies, yet ESRB rated for Everyone 10 and up.
** The villain Infinite from ''Sonic Forces'', as a parody of edgy Villain Sue characters.
* Illidan Stormrage, Deathwing and Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft franchise, to name some.
* Reaper from Overwatch.
* Caesar's Legion and Caesar himself in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] (along with some of their fans and the writer who created them).
* Not Important aka The Antagonist aka The Crusader from Hatred. Imagine every trope related to edgy nihilistic spree shooters, push them to their uncomfortable extremes and then plop the result in a monochromatic mess of a game. What you get is the story about a very unlikable man with dialogue written by less likeable people (including an edgy as fuck death metal band) going around and killing everyone because...fuck you, it's edgy.

===Literature===
* [[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
* Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]].
* Hamlet (yes, THAT Hamlet), possibly an example that predates Elric. After his father dies dies, he starts wearing black, becomes foreboding and dramatic and revenge obsessed for at least 6 months. Has monologues with skulls and murders his friends and the harmless father of his girlfriend.

===Tabletop Games===
* [[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer settings have too many to list;
** 40k is the worst offender in that regard, so let's just say the [[Black Templars]], the [[Marines Malevolent]], the [[Dark Eldar]] and most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] for this one.
** For Warhammer Fantasy there's [[Valnir the Reaper]], [[Nagash]] and most Dark Elves.
** On that note, [[Malal]] among the Chaos Gods.

===Fan Works===
* [[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
* Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
* Ambience: A Fleet Symphony. A Fallout KanColle crossover fanfic that thinks it's a regular KanColle fanfic. It revolves around rape and eugenics, and when the story was posted to a forum and scorned, the writer went ballistic against their critics.
* The whole "*teleports behind you* Nothing personal kid. *stabs you*" meme originated as a parody of edgelord characters.

===Anime===
* Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is [[Isekai]], triple points if there's a harem involved.

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2020-12-04T13:46:04Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Comics */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!|The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

{{Topquote|Make it [[World of Darkness|dark]], make it [[Grimdark|grim]], make it [[ANGRY MARINES|tough]] but then, for the love of God, [[Comedy Marines|tell a joke]].|Joss Whedon giving a nice example on how to avoid being edgy even while creating a dark world}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (or too aggressively) to make things more [[grimdark|tragic, violent]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain for whoever "the establishment" is, rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes a specific type of self insert or wish fulfillment character; brooding loners skilled at violence who hate anyone else having authority over them, are anti-conformist and have a troubled past - all without the nuance or skill to actually pull it off (with their opponents often being stand-ins for whoever the edgelord considers "The Man™" such as big business, law enforcement or organized religion). The end result is they makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, institutions are the villains unless the edgelord made them and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. In writing, edgelords will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was of a predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of any NSFW picture with his own sick fantasies, surely adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on — people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive connotations marketing execs desired and closer to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based off of some vague recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape alone does not get you the functional item.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered mess. Someone with (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one with gothic/emo tendencies, commonly embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex, etc.) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind), torture, forced labor (they draw the line at commercialized chattel slavery, but un-unionized indentured servitude is fair game), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming dæmon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

At the level of narrative, the fact that things are very very bad is a core thematic element of this world. As pointed out there are reasons why things are so miserable in this world which flow logically and despite this there can be points of contrast. Imperials still have the same potential to love and be kind like modern real world humans do. The Tau are hopeful despite the evils of this world. Occasionally pragmatism can overcome the deep seeded prejudices to overcome greater evils, if only for a while. And even if it is preformed by Conscript Guardsmen, Commissars or Space Marines, each the product of horrendous military institutions, can fight to achieve acts of genuine (if still typically brutal) heroism.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

===Comics===
* The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer. The ultimate example being in Garth Ennis' professionally published Hate Fic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe"] (and Ennis himself is quite the edgelord, for example, see below).
* Billy Butcher from The Boys, being Garth's anti-superpowers power fantasy (he even recycled Punisher's story arc from the comic linked above).
* The title character from the Marshall Law comics.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!
* Livewire from DC comics. An edgelord from the get-go being a shock jock whose targets included Superman for no good reason. Then after Superman tried to save her life in an accident she caused through her carelessness, she became a murderous supervillain bent on killing Superman.
* The Joker, depending on the writer.
* Adversary from DC comics is a parody of edgelord characters and their fans. Always smoking, cusses a lot, wants to kill Superman to build his reputation, works for a demon named Lord Satanus and is actually a kid in a wheelchair.

===Film===
* Common in live-action adaptations of The Joker.
** ''The Dark Knight'' version (Heath Ledger version) was "edge with a point"; exploring human evils regarding terrorism (minus ideological baggage).
** The ''Joker'' (the 2019 Joaquin Phoenix version), though another "edge with a point" Joker; exploring the origins of evil (also minus ideological baggage).
** Jared Leto's Joker in "Suicide Squad" is an almost textbook example of pointless "edgelord".
* Tyler Durden from "Fight Club".
* [[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. The writers were doing it on purpose, to play up the First Order's dogmatic North Korea in space schtick, and to that end made Kylo an incredibly unsubtle Darth Vader pastiche. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit. Also his edge is undermined by fact that he never won a fight against [[Mary_Sue|Mar-Rey Sue Palpatine]] which doesn’t help things either.

===Live Action TV===
* Stargate's Sohkar- It's hard to get more edgelord than literally masquerading/cosplaying as Satan.

===Video Games===
* [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: An edgy game about a cartoon hedgehog shooting enemies, yet ESRB rated for Everyone 10 and up.
** The villain Infinite from ''Sonic Forces'', as a parody of edgy Villain Sue characters.
* Illidan Stormrage, Deathwing and Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft franchise, to name some.
* Reaper from Overwatch.
* Caesar's Legion and Caesar himself in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] (along with some of their fans and the writer who created them).
* Not Important aka The Antagonist aka The Crusader from Hatred. Imagine every trope related to edgy nihilistic spree shooters, push them to their uncomfortable extremes and then plop the result in a monochromatic mess of a game. What you get is the story about a very unlikable man with dialogue written by less likeable people (including an edgy as fuck death metal band) going around and killing everyone because...fuck you, it's edgy.

===Literature===
* [[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
* Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]].
===Tabletop Games===
* [[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer settings have too many to list;
** 40k is the worst offender in that regard, so let's just say the [[Black Templars]], the [[Marines Malevolent]], the [[Dark Eldar]] and most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] for this one.
** For Warhammer Fantasy there's [[Valnir the Reaper]], [[Nagash]] and most Dark Elves.
** On that note, [[Malal]] among the Chaos Gods.

===Fan Works===
* [[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
* Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
* Ambience: A Fleet Symphony. A Fallout KanColle crossover fanfic that thinks it's a regular KanColle fanfic. It revolves around rape and eugenics, and when the story was posted to a forum and scorned, the writer went ballistic against their critics.
* The whole "*teleports behind you* Nothing personal kid. *stabs you*" meme originated as a parody of edgelord characters.

===Anime===
* Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is [[Isekai]], triple points if there's a harem involved.

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Edgy

2020-12-04T13:39:25Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Notable Edgelords */

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!|The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

{{Topquote|Make it [[World of Darkness|dark]], make it [[Grimdark|grim]], make it [[ANGRY MARINES|tough]] but then, for the love of God, [[Comedy Marines|tell a joke]].|Joss Whedon giving a nice example on how to avoid being edgy even while creating a dark world}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (or too aggressively) to make things more [[grimdark|tragic, violent]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain for whoever "the establishment" is, rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes a specific type of self insert or wish fulfillment character; brooding loners skilled at violence who hate anyone else having authority over them, are anti-conformist and have a troubled past - all without the nuance or skill to actually pull it off (with their opponents often being stand-ins for whoever the edgelord considers "The Man™" such as big business, law enforcement or organized religion). The end result is they makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, institutions are the villains unless the edgelord made them and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. In writing, edgelords will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was of a predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of any NSFW picture with his own sick fantasies, surely adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on — people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive connotations marketing execs desired and closer to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based off of some vague recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape alone does not get you the functional item.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered mess. Someone with (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one with gothic/emo tendencies, commonly embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex, etc.) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind), torture, forced labor (they draw the line at commercialized chattel slavery, but un-unionized indentured servitude is fair game), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming dæmon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

At the level of narrative, the fact that things are very very bad is a core thematic element of this world. As pointed out there are reasons why things are so miserable in this world which flow logically and despite this there can be points of contrast. Imperials still have the same potential to love and be kind like modern real world humans do. The Tau are hopeful despite the evils of this world. Occasionally pragmatism can overcome the deep seeded prejudices to overcome greater evils, if only for a while. And even if it is preformed by Conscript Guardsmen, Commissars or Space Marines, each the product of horrendous military institutions, can fight to achieve acts of genuine (if still typically brutal) heroism.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

===Comics===
* The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer. The ultimate example being in Garth Ennis' professionally published Hate Fic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe"] (and Ennis himself is quite the edgelord, for example, see below).
* Billy Butcher from The Boys, being Garth's anti-superpowers power fantasy (he even recycled Punisher's story arc from the comic linked above).
* The title character from the Marshall Law comics.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!
* Livewire from DC comics. An edgelord from the get-go being a shock jock whose targets included Superman for no good reason. Then after Superman tried to save her life in an accident she caused through her carelessness, she became a murderous supervillain bent on killing Superman.
* The Joker, depending on the writer.

===Film===
* Common in live-action adaptations of The Joker.
** ''The Dark Knight'' version (Heath Ledger version) was "edge with a point"; exploring human evils regarding terrorism (minus ideological baggage).
** The ''Joker'' (the 2019 Joaquin Phoenix version), though another "edge with a point" Joker; exploring the origins of evil (also minus ideological baggage).
** Jared Leto's Joker in "Suicide Squad" is an almost textbook example of pointless "edgelord".
* Tyler Durden from "Fight Club".
* [[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. The writers were doing it on purpose, to play up the First Order's dogmatic North Korea in space schtick, and to that end made Kylo an incredibly unsubtle Darth Vader pastiche. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit. Also his edge is undermined by fact that he never won a fight against [[Mary_Sue|Mar-Rey Sue Palpatine]] which doesn’t help things either.

===Live Action TV===
* Stargate's Sohkar- It's hard to get more edgelord than literally masquerading/cosplaying as Satan.

===Video Games===
* [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: An edgy game about a cartoon hedgehog shooting enemies, yet ESRB rated for Everyone 10 and up.
** The villain Infinite from ''Sonic Forces'', as a parody of edgy Villain Sue characters.
* Illidan Stormrage, Deathwing and Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft franchise, to name some.
* Reaper from Overwatch.
* Caesar's Legion and Caesar himself in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] (along with some of their fans and the writer who created them).
* Not Important aka The Antagonist aka The Crusader from Hatred. Imagine every trope related to edgy nihilistic spree shooters, push them to their uncomfortable extremes and then plop the result in a monochromatic mess of a game. What you get is the story about a very unlikable man with dialogue written by less likeable people (including an edgy as fuck death metal band) going around and killing everyone because...fuck you, it's edgy.

===Literature===
* [[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
* Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]].
===Tabletop Games===
* [[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer settings have too many to list;
** 40k is the worst offender in that regard, so let's just say the [[Black Templars]], the [[Marines Malevolent]], the [[Dark Eldar]] and most [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] for this one.
** For Warhammer Fantasy there's [[Valnir the Reaper]], [[Nagash]] and most Dark Elves.
** On that note, [[Malal]] among the Chaos Gods.

===Fan Works===
* [[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
* Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
* Ambience: A Fleet Symphony. A Fallout KanColle crossover fanfic that thinks it's a regular KanColle fanfic. It revolves around rape and eugenics, and when the story was posted to a forum and scorned, the writer went ballistic against their critics.
* The whole "*teleports behind you* Nothing personal kid. *stabs you*" meme originated as a parody of edgelord characters.

===Anime===
* Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is [[Isekai]], triple points if there's a harem involved.

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Religion

2020-12-04T13:10:44Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Role in Society */

{{flamewar}}
{{topquote|Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.|Martin Luther King, Jr}}

:'''Dracula''': ''I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!''
:'''Richter Belmont''': ''Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!''
:'''Dracula''': ''Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.''
::--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in [[Castlevania#Castlevania:_Symphony_Of_The_Night_.28Castlevania_9.29|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.]]

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure [[skub]] that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

==Definition of Religion==
Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:
* "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
* "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one [[God|god]] and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods or its own idea of the cosmos' origins but has afterlives and the existence of the eternal soul (unless a persons achieves nirvana), and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife in the conventional sense but is pantheistic and has supernatural beings. Religions with a God/god/gods fall under monotheistic (one God) or polytheistic (more than one god), though some of the latter have a variant called henotheistic (multiple gods but only one of them is served). Interestingly, most polytheistic religions have an all-powerful Creator God as the supreme authority in the cosmos who also created the other gods (such as Ptah from Egyptian mythology, Brahma in Hinduism and Nyame from West African mythology for Ghana's Akan people).

Like other terms for heavily [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of religious people (like being preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical).

==List of Real-Life Religions==

Too many to list, even without debates about the term. In lieu of a list on this site, here are two complied lists that should cover everything that fits the bill. Otherwise, check out the [[Mythology]] page.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions Wikipedia's list of religions and spiritual traditions]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups For a simplified version from Wikipedia that focuses more on major religions]

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions add rituals, practices and hierarchies that link those mythologies directly to the lives of their believers in one form or another, typically by describing how to properly serve to a god (or multiple gods, it depends) a significant role in the mythology a given religion is derived from. [[Skub|Whatever the source]], the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|ways]], depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and how humans should relate to the supernatural, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|if it involves going against the religion's teachings]]; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics- both in fantasy and in the real world.

==Role in Society==
{{skubby}}
At least as long as human civilization has existed, religiosity has existed and has almost always been interconnected (there is no human civilization in real-life where religion was never part of its development; every society that pursued secularization started off at least mostly religious).

A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

In many societies throughout history, medicine and religion were interconnected. In numerous parts of the world today, numerous hospitals were based around specific religious people or founded by people from a specific religious group. Some religions have codified the concept of charity; for these religions, religion and charity have been inextricably entangled throughout their long history. For example, the three Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism each have doctrines that require their members to do good for others in various ways such as caring for the destitute or those in need.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally. Historically, these and other religions were frequently enshrined in law as the "state religion", giving them special privileges such as extensive influence over the government or tax exemptions. In some cases, the clergy or a religious institution are the government (usually on behalf of the Powers-that-be for the religion in question) in a system known as theocracy. While they have become uncommon since the 20th century, theocracies still exist such as Vatican City and Iran.

Within the last few centuries, due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). For the most part, a combination of people identifying more with their culture or nation than their religion and the concept that religion and functions of state should not interfere with each other has turned into more of a "live and let live" mentality that doesn't really support or oppose any one religion and only reacts when said religions begin actively defying the state or the state starts bringing the boot down on religion. Most of the world's population is religious, with the amount of piety varying from country to country, and of course there are plenty of non-religious people who don't necessarily oppose religion despite not following any themselves.

Throughout history, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions. This is usually because religious teachings put the figure/object of worship before the state in a conflict of interest and most religions' teachings condemn tyranny or [[Slaanesh|the vices tyrannical leaders indulge]]. Other reasons include tyrants dislike being answerable to anyone besides themselves and a tyrant may have some form of anti-religious prejudice. While nations have usually tried to block specific religions deemed "false" (read: religions opposing the state-sponsored religion in any way), several nations (usually [[Communism|Communist]] states which took Marx's "religion is the opiate of the masses" quote out of context as a call to arms rather than a passive theory) have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists results] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_persecutions each] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_atheism#Human_rights time]. Best case scenario, they sidegrade from one set of problems to another as cults of personality (commonly ones based on the ruler in charge) spring up to exploit the newly created power vacuum while believers who survive the regime try to continue their activities in secret. Worst case scenario, the society crumbles as the people degenerate into a [[Commorragh|violent, fractious and nihilistic mass]].

Aside from the aforementioned theocracies, the most religious nations are countries such as Brazil in South America or Zambia in Africa (Zambia even has a state religion alongside a law that allows for freedom of religion). China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country (the situation around North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]], since even though they violently suppress religions [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution], they also have the Kim Cult blended with the Marxist offshoot ideology Juche).

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways. Since most if not every society in real-life has had religion either be the basis for its founding or play a role in it - in addition to the various roles religion continues to have in society - religion is just as involved in the backstory or current lore of settings. There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
* Purely functional use of religion as a story device. (What we might call "Functionalists")
* Endorsement of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Good" types)
* Criticism of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Bad" types)
For ease of categorization, writers who use these modes will also be called proponents, detractors or functionalists (who can be pro, anti or neutral).

===Religion as a story device/Functionalists===
Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world [[Mythology]] and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
* The [[Standard Fantasy Setting]] default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God more powerful than all the others, and maybe the in-universe creator of everything who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in [[Exalted]] just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are the guys who were made specifically to do whatever the gods needed them to do for reasons inherent to the setting, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do ''almost anything'', except '''avoid the consequences of doing that anything'''".

===Religion as a Bad Thing/Detractors===
There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad", having an axe to grind (sometimes warranted, sometimes not) with either one or more specific real-life religions. This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of such writers, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that. Despite that, the view is found among some fantasy authors as well, such as Philip Pullman (who wrote the "His Dark Materials" series as atheistic pushback against C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series). Whatever the genre, this comes in flavors of "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that below), "The Gods Don't Exist" or "The Gods are Evil". Cosmic Horror also tends to use the latter two or combine them into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens" ([[H.P. Lovecraft]] himself was an avowed anti-religious atheist - which is why cults are recurring villains in his stories). This also has the side effect of inclining science fiction towards an atheistic perspective.

Another major component is personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. A writer could resent a specific religion or even the higher power a religion reveres (though opposition to a god or gods is called anti-theistic, not anti-religious), and single them out in their works due to personal bias or promoting an agenda. Worst case scenario, the story is an anti-religious wish fulfillment story or power fantasy - such as Frank Miller's "Holy Terror" comics against Islam and Garth Ennis' "Preacher" comics (and their live-action adaptation) against Christianity.

Whatever the motivation, writers saying this message either model their fictional religions on the worst excesses of real world religious people, use a distorted version of the actual religion or a fictional stand-in (the former is occasionally exaggerated and the latter two are often strawmen). The most frequently targeted religions are Christianity, Islam, any faith that practiced human sacrifice (such as the Aztec religious practices) and Scientology. Cults, especially those with beliefs that mainstream religions consider unorthodox or outright heretical, are especially fertile ground for this message, albeit running the risk of being misapplied to tar other groups with the same brush.

===Religion as a Good Thing/Proponents===
There are several Science Fiction and Fantasy writers who either are religious themselves and want to promote their worldview, look upon religion positively and put that into the story or both. This is more common in Fantasy than Sci-fi, partly because with the supernatural being THE fundamental element of the genre, this gives opportunities to explore many aspects of religiosity. This is less common in science-fiction, but not unheard of, such as Carl Sagan's novel "Contact" where God's signature is found in the digits of pi. These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"; that is, resemble real-life religions but with a few details changed), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

Some people make a fictional setting with figures from real-world religions, either in the real-world or [[CS Lewis|an alternate world like Narnia]]. Others use fictional religions that either visually resemble real-life religions or figures from them. Religions that often get this treatment are the Abrahamic faiths (most often Christianity), Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology (albeit often a sanitized version of the latter three). In other cases they all but abandon any form of subtlety, with the fictional religion being distinguished from the real-world religion by only a handful of minor changes. Naturally, those kinds of works tend to come off as preachy, to say the least.

Another route this uses is the route that faith itself provides the power as per "[[Belief Function|Belief Function]]" (think Morpheus' "your mind makes it real" quote, but applying at the cosmological level). In fact, Warhammer often goes the route that the gods are powered by faith as well as from their sphere of influence which has either [[Sigmar|caused some people have risen to godhood]] or [[Ynnead|caused new gods to be born in the setting]]. In fact, this has proven the greatest weapon against Chaos in every Warhammer setting (and why the Emperor's plan to starve the Chaos Gods with atheism was doomed to fail from the start).

===Somewhat special cases===

One somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology and/or the various Abrahamic religions. They also often draw from those found in the writings of H.P Lovecraft. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity to be some form of destructive activity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:

* All three types need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality-of-killing fodder (based on the idea that everyone in is group is evil because you have to do evil to be part of the group).
* Religion is Bad types tend to use them to say either "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", that "Religion can be used to justify anything", use it as a strawman to tar all with the same brush or they have a personal axe to grind (either against an entire religion, a group within that religion or specific religious people the author dislikes).
* Religion is Good types or the sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism, criticize Real World cults, compare different beliefs or deal with negative aspects of religion (occasionally making jabs at competitive religions, or fellow believers the author disagrees with). Another approach is to have a Religion of Good fighting against a Religion of Evil - either as the heroes of the story or a valued ally - to say "there is good religion, so don't tar all with the same negative brush".
** As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as [[Always Chaotic Evil]] races (questions of whether this fosters prejudice against real-life groups and audiences and authors demanding more motive for their villains). While there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights. Popular options are for them to be an off-shoot/subset of another religion and/or be taking vengeance for an injustice (real or perceived, both of which have '''plenty''' of real-life precedent).

[[Urban Fantasy]] writers are another special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. As a result, they can take one of a few routes:
* The most common route is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible ([[True Faith|Faith]] being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
* The second most common route (albeit rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is the "Religion as a Bad Thing" route. The story is straight up [[Imperial Truth|atheistic/"Religion is Bad" propaganda]] for the more preachy (pun intended) anti-religious writers. It's also frequently used by writers going for [[Edgy|"edgy"]] stories with religious subject matter; in practice, both most often target Christianity or any contemporary cults. On that note, any fictional religions or cults are usually thinly-veiled stand-ins for real-life ones.
* Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].
* The fourth route, taken most notably by [[Supers|DC and Marvel comics]] among others, is to take an "All Myths are True" approach: All religions are sort of true, but none have any exclusivity to the Truth, so Thor and Athena might have the Archangel Michael on speeddial when the Orochi teams up with Apep to get up to no good and start making trouble in their neighborhoods (because "Mikey really likes kicking serpent tail, and gets annoyed when we don't at least try to invite him to an evil serpent ass-kicking."). Differs from the "vague things up" route by being clearer on some details, and also much more gonzo. The Abrahamic God is the exception here: He's usually kept especially vague, albeit more powerful (and yet infinitely less accessible) than anyone else in the setting, and only referred to by some codephrase (Marvel likes "The One Above All", DC generally goes for "The Presence" or "whatever is behind the Source Wall").

===Miscellaneous Observations===

Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available since if that wasn't the case there wouldn't be anything for the adventurers to do.

If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their personal views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses. A recent example is [[World of Warcraft|the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe]] and the morality of its fundamental forces/dominant higher powers, the Light and the Void. If the story doesn't get focused on a pro-religion or anti-religion message, it may end up swinging back and forth between both sides or settle in a mid-point which doesn't take a strong stance either way.

Note that members of the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will get involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents. Often history buffs will throw their hat into the ring as well.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
===Warhammer 40k===
* The [[Imperial Truth]] was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to wean mankind away from Chaos and being a firm member of the "Religion is Bad" brigade, the Emperor proclaimed there are no gods, and religion had to be abolished willingly or by force while science or reason are to be used for explaining the universe and morality. Everything transpired according to his design, except theistic religiosity in the 40k universe is the best weapon against Chaos so Emps' interstellar state atheism policy gave them a major opening. Things went from bad to worse when people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself, [[Exterminatus|he responded accordingly]], and the Chaos Gods got a new tool in the form of [[Lorgar]]. After the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's removal from galactic politics: the Imperial Truth was slowly shelved in favor of the Imperial Cult, to the point that espousing the teachings of the Truth is ironically considered heresy. Only a few practitioners of the Imperial Truth remain, most notably the Custodes and the Space Marines (both of whom know The Emperor better than anybody to worship him as a god. Plus, their religious autonomy.).
** The [[Imperial Cult]] is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions along with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by [[Lorgar]] pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he ''must'' be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. It's unknown whether the Emperor still abhors godhood and religion and would abolish it the moment he could, or if he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against for mankind to persevere in these trying times. Whatever the case, he didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
** The [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Cult Mechanicus]] (Machine Cult) is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God called "The Omnissiah" Officially, the Omnissiah is The Emperor, which allows the Mechanicus to sidestep the more puritan pundits of the Imperial Cult (we worship The Emprah, just not how you do it). Unofficially, the Omnissiah may or may not be the C'tan god: The Void Dragon. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine God's works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

* Chaos is a violent and complicated henotheistic (believing in multiple gods but only worshipping one) or polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations. Even then, there's more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else among followers of the Big 4. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and [[Malal]]. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are either based on commands from the god/s or up to the imagination of the cult.
** Interestingly, there is a Space Marine of the Chaos faction who follows the Imperial Truth, and that is [[Fabius Bile]].

* All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]] do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. The closest thing they have to tenants is that Gork favors violence, Mork favors cunning. Greenskins have gotten into fights over this, but violence is part of their nature and that of their gods. While they fight over religion, they also fight over almost any dispute anyway, and may even start a religious argument just to enjoy a good fight among themselves (though the only theological argument they can formulate is "is Gork the god of cunning or is Mork?" or vica versa). On the surface, religion does not play a big-enough role in Ork society compared to other races, being just another outlet for Orks to fight about. But if [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] is any indication: religion can have a great impact on Orks, with him being becoming one of the greatest Warlords in the galaxy, primarily because he thinks he's personally blessed by Gork and Mork themselves. So if you throw in the Orks' gestalt field into the mix, its likely that its not that religion doesn't matter to them, it's under-utilized.

* The Tau's creed "The [[Greater Good]]" is a specie-wide philosophy that was adopted ever since the initial unification of the Tau in the olden days. In a nutshell, the Greater Good emphasizes the co-existence of all Tau and sapient life in general into working together for a common goal to further the Tau's progress, seeing everyone's potential and hoping to utilize that for an, ahem, greater good. Personal religion isn't forbidden, but it must not contradict or override The Greater Good, and must be disregarded if it ever does so. Technically, this means Tau can be religious or non-religious, as the Greater Good is not a religion (due to lacking an afterlife and supernatural aspects, with the closest things to figures of worship being the Ethereals). This sounds all fine and dandy, but the Ethereal class, who are responsible for maintaining The Greater Good, have been shown to be less benevolent than believed and have been using their unnaturally powerful charisma to subtly oppress the Tau and use them to further their own agendas.
**The Farsight Enclaves, who have thrown off Ethereal rule, are the exception in that they have rejected The Greater Good, seeing it as the method of oppression used to keep the T'au under complete control of the ethereals. Due to this, if one considers the Greater Good a religion, The Enclaves are irreligious.
**As of the 4th Sphere Expansion disaster, Chaos Tau are starting to become a thing.
**At one point, the Earth Caste gathered Genestealer-infected Tau and studied them to see what would happen. Of course, a Genestealer cult developed and naturally they violently escaped control and surveillance. According to rumors, they've even produced a Genestealer-infected Ethereal.

* The Eldar have varying views on religiosity depending on their type. Their religion is polytheistic, with henotheistic offshoots, and Ausryan was the highest ranking god. However all of the Eldar gods were murder-raped to death by Slaanesh except for Isha (taken by Nurgle), Khaine (shattered and flung into realspace), Cegorach (hiding in the Webway) and Ynnead (born long after Slaanesh's birth). Their Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. With most of their gods out of commission, Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent.
** Craftworlders and Exodites almost exclusively worship the original Eldar pantheon, though some engage in henotheistic worship of only one of the gods. Asuryan is more popular among Craftworlders while Isha is among Exodites, though nearly all give Khaine some tribute during war.
** Corsairs are all over the place, though Khaine is a popular choice given their more militant nature.
** Being agents of the Laughing God himself, the Harlequins' worship is centered around [[Cegorach]], whilst still paying minor tribute to the other gods.
** The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, is rapidly growing but have yet to establish teachings or rituals.
** Unique among the Eldar, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part and while they believe some gods exist they're too self-centered to worship them (this is canon). They're often also anti-religious to boot; a major landmark of Commorragh is a landfill of religious icons called Iconoclast's Mound, and one Wych cult - the Pain Eternal - revolves around killing religious people and destroying shrines and holy sites. The sole exception, except for Dark Eldar who stop being Dark Eldar, are the [[Incubi]] who hold [[Khaine]] in high regard.
** The Ynnari have encountered atleast one ancient Craftworld that turned into an entire Genestealer cult in a misguided attempt to avoid getting their souls consumed by Slaanesh as their ship had no infinity circuit present. We're not sure if this worked to any capacity (if at all, given the Hive Mind does not absorb souls), but they were taken down by the Ynnari for obvious reasons.
** There are numerous rumors of a very small number of Chaos Eldar, but these are barely fleshed out and heavily classified in-universe. There have been verified Nurgle-worshipping Eldar and persistent rumors that some have embraced Slaanesh without becoming soul-food. Apart from this, some Dark Eldar have been willing to summon Chaos Daemons or work with Chaos worshippers ([[Fabius Bile|or allies of Chaos]]) to further their own ends.

* While the Necrontyr had religions before certain [[C'tan|star entities]] [[Necrons|roboticizied them]], those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand. With the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them, any Necrons who can comprehend faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

* The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but understand at least a few of the advantages of religion. [[Genestealer]]s infect people and together they establish cults on targeted worlds, such as one worshipping "Children of the Stars", a perversion of the Imperial Cult (such as one that worships a [[Swarmlord|four-armed]] version of the Emperor) or something else like "Celebrants of Nihilism" (yes, that's a canon Genestealer cult name). Psychic influence is often involved and, notably, the Genestealers do not consider themselves gods. Once the Tyranids arrive en-masse, the cult-gets assimilated along with all non-Tyranids willingly or not. An interesting tidbit is that the Hive Mind stops the Tyranids from attacking the cultists in early stages of the invasion and leads them on, only to later override the Genestealers' wills and and make them slaughter the cultists.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, [[Planescape]], [[Eberron]], and [[Pathfinder]] are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
** Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
** Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The [[Blood of Vol]] seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the [[Path of Inspiration]] seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The [[Path of Light]], [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Becoming_God|Becoming God]] and [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Reforged|Reforged]] all seek to ''create'' a deity. Even some interpretations of the [[Sovereign Host]], like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
** There's a handful of religions on [[Golarion]] that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the [[Prophecies of Kalistrade]], which is basically fantasy [[Star Trek|Ferengi]].

* [[D20 Modern]]'s [[Urban Arcana]], unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a <s>cleric</s> "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

===Star Wars===
* [[Star Wars]] is inconsistent on if the [[The Force]] is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith ''could'' both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. On the other hand, there's the Imperial officer in ''"A New Hope"'' who disses Vader's ways as "sad devotion to ancient religion", only to get [[Meme|chided for his lack of faith with a Force choke]]. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|disagreements over the teachings of that creed]]. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
** There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

===Star Trek===
* Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a low opinion of religion and in his vision humanity had done away with it and was better off for it and he had no interest in adding it to the aliens. However, some of the cast and crew disagreed and occasionally references and religions found their way into the show, which increased after Roddenberry's death. The Federation's culture is distinctly humanistic (extending the concept to alien species) in it's outlook in which religion is regarded as a thing of the past.
** While there are plenty of "Godlike" entities in Star Trek, almost all are treated as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens in the Arthur C. Clarke sense--and in particular, in ST:TNG, the flip side, that Picard and his crew are frequently shown to look like Gods to sufficiently primitive aliens, is gone into in more than one episode.
** The primary religion of the Federations main frenemies, the Klingons, is a deistic religion where a Klingon warrior killed their gods, and in their belief Klingons who live according to those tenants get to live in a pseudo-Valhalla.
** The Bajorans are a highly religious alien race, with the majority following peaceful teachings and a minority of violent extremists.
*** Of some note, the Bajoran religion is of interest because their "Gods" actually exist, and can be (somewhat incomprehensibly) talked to (a rarity outside of [[Science Fantasy]]). In other words, they were frequently a method of having some religion vs. science debates where the divine entity (A) explicitly exists, (B) is explainable as "sufficiently advanced and unusual aliens", and (C) aren't jerks, just bad at communication with those of us who experience time linearly--in other words, with a deck that wasn't quite as badly stacked. The religiosity was meant to be as a way of contrasting the Starfleet personnel with the native population and to draw a parallel between Bajorans under the Cardassian Occupation and various real world recently freed oppressed religious-slash-ethnic groups.
** <s>In the fifth Star Trek movie, ''"The Final Frontier"'', some of the crew steal the Enterprise to look for God and instead find a powerful alien being impersonating God in the center of the universe</s> '''Just like there is no live-action movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is totally no Star Trek 5!'''

===World of Darkness===
* Very large books could be written about religion and [[World of Darkness]]/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
** From [[Vampire: The Requiem]], there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
** [[Hunter: The Vigil]] has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies, some very similar to real world ones, others...not so much.
** [[Mage: The Ascension]] has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]
* [[True Faith]], a common mechanic to weaponize religion in [[Urban Fantasy]].

[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:History]]

Religion

2020-12-04T13:06:27Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Role in Society */

{{flamewar}}
{{topquote|Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.|Martin Luther King, Jr}}

:'''Dracula''': ''I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!''
:'''Richter Belmont''': ''Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!''
:'''Dracula''': ''Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.''
::--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in [[Castlevania#Castlevania:_Symphony_Of_The_Night_.28Castlevania_9.29|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.]]

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure [[skub]] that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

==Definition of Religion==
Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:
* "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
* "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one [[God|god]] and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods or its own idea of the cosmos' origins but has afterlives and the existence of the eternal soul (unless a persons achieves nirvana), and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife in the conventional sense but is pantheistic and has supernatural beings. Religions with a God/god/gods fall under monotheistic (one God) or polytheistic (more than one god), though some of the latter have a variant called henotheistic (multiple gods but only one of them is served). Interestingly, most polytheistic religions have an all-powerful Creator God as the supreme authority in the cosmos who also created the other gods (such as Ptah from Egyptian mythology, Brahma in Hinduism and Nyame from West African mythology for Ghana's Akan people).

Like other terms for heavily [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of religious people (like being preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical).

==List of Real-Life Religions==

Too many to list, even without debates about the term. In lieu of a list on this site, here are two complied lists that should cover everything that fits the bill. Otherwise, check out the [[Mythology]] page.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions Wikipedia's list of religions and spiritual traditions]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups For a simplified version from Wikipedia that focuses more on major religions]

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions add rituals, practices and hierarchies that link those mythologies directly to the lives of their believers in one form or another, typically by describing how to properly serve to a god (or multiple gods, it depends) a significant role in the mythology a given religion is derived from. [[Skub|Whatever the source]], the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|ways]], depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and how humans should relate to the supernatural, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|if it involves going against the religion's teachings]]; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics- both in fantasy and in the real world.

==Role in Society==
{{skubby}}
At least as long as human civilization has existed, religiosity has existed and has almost always been interconnected (there is no human civilization in real-life where religion was never part of its development; every society that pursued secularization started off at least mostly religious).

A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

In many societies throughout history, medicine and religion were interconnected. In numerous parts of the world today, numerous hospitals were based around specific religious people or founded by people from a specific religious group. Some religions have codified the concept of charity; for these religions, religion and charity have been inextricably entangled throughout their long history. For example, the three Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism each have doctrines that require their members to do good for others in various ways such as caring for the destitute or those in need.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally. Historically, these and other religions were frequently enshrined in law as the "state religion", giving them special privileges such as extensive influence over the government or tax exemptions. In some cases, they even took over the functions of the government entirely (usually on behalf of the Powers-that-be for the religion in question) in a system known as theocracy. While they have become uncommon since the 20th century, theocracies still exist such as Vatican City and Iran.

Within the last few centuries, due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). For the most part, a combination of people identifying more with their culture or nation than their religion and the concept that religion and functions of state should not interfere with each other has turned into more of a "live and let live" mentality that doesn't really support or oppose any one religion and only reacts when said religions begin actively defying the state or the state starts bringing the boot down on religion. Most of the world's population is religious, with the amount of piety varying from country to country, and of course there are plenty of non-religious people who don't necessarily oppose religion despite not following any themselves.

Throughout history, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions. This is usually because religious teachings put the figure/object of worship before the state in a conflict of interest and most religions' teachings condemn tyranny or [[Slaanesh|the vices tyrannical leaders indulge]]. Other reasons include tyrants dislike being answerable to anyone besides themselves and a tyrant may have some form of anti-religious prejudice. While nations have usually tried to block specific religions deemed "false" (read: religions opposing the state-sponsored religion in any way), several nations (usually [[Communism|Communist]] states which took Marx's "religion is the opiate of the masses" quote out of context as a call to arms rather than a passive theory) have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists results] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_persecutions each] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_atheism#Human_rights time]. Best case scenario, they sidegrade from one set of problems to another as cults of personality (commonly ones based on the ruler in charge) spring up to exploit the newly created power vacuum while believers who survive the regime try to continue their activities in secret. Worst case scenario, the society crumbles as the people degenerate into a [[Commorragh|violent, fractious and nihilistic mass]].

Aside from the aforementioned theocracies, the most religious nations are countries such as Brazil in South America or Zambia in Africa (Zambia even has a state religion alongside a law that allows for freedom of religion). China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country (the situation around North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]], since even though they violently suppress religions [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution], they also have the Kim Cult blended with the Marxist offshoot ideology Juche).

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways. Since most if not every society in real-life has had religion either be the basis for its founding or play a role in it - in addition to the various roles religion continues to have in society - religion is just as involved in the backstory or current lore of settings. There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
* Purely functional use of religion as a story device. (What we might call "Functionalists")
* Endorsement of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Good" types)
* Criticism of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Bad" types)
For ease of categorization, writers who use these modes will also be called proponents, detractors or functionalists (who can be pro, anti or neutral).

===Religion as a story device/Functionalists===
Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world [[Mythology]] and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
* The [[Standard Fantasy Setting]] default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God more powerful than all the others, and maybe the in-universe creator of everything who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in [[Exalted]] just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are the guys who were made specifically to do whatever the gods needed them to do for reasons inherent to the setting, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do ''almost anything'', except '''avoid the consequences of doing that anything'''".

===Religion as a Bad Thing/Detractors===
There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad", having an axe to grind (sometimes warranted, sometimes not) with either one or more specific real-life religions. This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of such writers, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that. Despite that, the view is found among some fantasy authors as well, such as Philip Pullman (who wrote the "His Dark Materials" series as atheistic pushback against C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series). Whatever the genre, this comes in flavors of "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that below), "The Gods Don't Exist" or "The Gods are Evil". Cosmic Horror also tends to use the latter two or combine them into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens" ([[H.P. Lovecraft]] himself was an avowed anti-religious atheist - which is why cults are recurring villains in his stories). This also has the side effect of inclining science fiction towards an atheistic perspective.

Another major component is personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. A writer could resent a specific religion or even the higher power a religion reveres (though opposition to a god or gods is called anti-theistic, not anti-religious), and single them out in their works due to personal bias or promoting an agenda. Worst case scenario, the story is an anti-religious wish fulfillment story or power fantasy - such as Frank Miller's "Holy Terror" comics against Islam and Garth Ennis' "Preacher" comics (and their live-action adaptation) against Christianity.

Whatever the motivation, writers saying this message either model their fictional religions on the worst excesses of real world religious people, use a distorted version of the actual religion or a fictional stand-in (the former is occasionally exaggerated and the latter two are often strawmen). The most frequently targeted religions are Christianity, Islam, any faith that practiced human sacrifice (such as the Aztec religious practices) and Scientology. Cults, especially those with beliefs that mainstream religions consider unorthodox or outright heretical, are especially fertile ground for this message, albeit running the risk of being misapplied to tar other groups with the same brush.

===Religion as a Good Thing/Proponents===
There are several Science Fiction and Fantasy writers who either are religious themselves and want to promote their worldview, look upon religion positively and put that into the story or both. This is more common in Fantasy than Sci-fi, partly because with the supernatural being THE fundamental element of the genre, this gives opportunities to explore many aspects of religiosity. This is less common in science-fiction, but not unheard of, such as Carl Sagan's novel "Contact" where God's signature is found in the digits of pi. These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"; that is, resemble real-life religions but with a few details changed), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

Some people make a fictional setting with figures from real-world religions, either in the real-world or [[CS Lewis|an alternate world like Narnia]]. Others use fictional religions that either visually resemble real-life religions or figures from them. Religions that often get this treatment are the Abrahamic faiths (most often Christianity), Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology (albeit often a sanitized version of the latter three). In other cases they all but abandon any form of subtlety, with the fictional religion being distinguished from the real-world religion by only a handful of minor changes. Naturally, those kinds of works tend to come off as preachy, to say the least.

Another route this uses is the route that faith itself provides the power as per "[[Belief Function|Belief Function]]" (think Morpheus' "your mind makes it real" quote, but applying at the cosmological level). In fact, Warhammer often goes the route that the gods are powered by faith as well as from their sphere of influence which has either [[Sigmar|caused some people have risen to godhood]] or [[Ynnead|caused new gods to be born in the setting]]. In fact, this has proven the greatest weapon against Chaos in every Warhammer setting (and why the Emperor's plan to starve the Chaos Gods with atheism was doomed to fail from the start).

===Somewhat special cases===

One somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology and/or the various Abrahamic religions. They also often draw from those found in the writings of H.P Lovecraft. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity to be some form of destructive activity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:

* All three types need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality-of-killing fodder (based on the idea that everyone in is group is evil because you have to do evil to be part of the group).
* Religion is Bad types tend to use them to say either "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", that "Religion can be used to justify anything", use it as a strawman to tar all with the same brush or they have a personal axe to grind (either against an entire religion, a group within that religion or specific religious people the author dislikes).
* Religion is Good types or the sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism, criticize Real World cults, compare different beliefs or deal with negative aspects of religion (occasionally making jabs at competitive religions, or fellow believers the author disagrees with). Another approach is to have a Religion of Good fighting against a Religion of Evil - either as the heroes of the story or a valued ally - to say "there is good religion, so don't tar all with the same negative brush".
** As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as [[Always Chaotic Evil]] races (questions of whether this fosters prejudice against real-life groups and audiences and authors demanding more motive for their villains). While there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights. Popular options are for them to be an off-shoot/subset of another religion and/or be taking vengeance for an injustice (real or perceived, both of which have '''plenty''' of real-life precedent).

[[Urban Fantasy]] writers are another special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. As a result, they can take one of a few routes:
* The most common route is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible ([[True Faith|Faith]] being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
* The second most common route (albeit rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is the "Religion as a Bad Thing" route. The story is straight up [[Imperial Truth|atheistic/"Religion is Bad" propaganda]] for the more preachy (pun intended) anti-religious writers. It's also frequently used by writers going for [[Edgy|"edgy"]] stories with religious subject matter; in practice, both most often target Christianity or any contemporary cults. On that note, any fictional religions or cults are usually thinly-veiled stand-ins for real-life ones.
* Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].
* The fourth route, taken most notably by [[Supers|DC and Marvel comics]] among others, is to take an "All Myths are True" approach: All religions are sort of true, but none have any exclusivity to the Truth, so Thor and Athena might have the Archangel Michael on speeddial when the Orochi teams up with Apep to get up to no good and start making trouble in their neighborhoods (because "Mikey really likes kicking serpent tail, and gets annoyed when we don't at least try to invite him to an evil serpent ass-kicking."). Differs from the "vague things up" route by being clearer on some details, and also much more gonzo. The Abrahamic God is the exception here: He's usually kept especially vague, albeit more powerful (and yet infinitely less accessible) than anyone else in the setting, and only referred to by some codephrase (Marvel likes "The One Above All", DC generally goes for "The Presence" or "whatever is behind the Source Wall").

===Miscellaneous Observations===

Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available since if that wasn't the case there wouldn't be anything for the adventurers to do.

If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their personal views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses. A recent example is [[World of Warcraft|the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe]] and the morality of its fundamental forces/dominant higher powers, the Light and the Void. If the story doesn't get focused on a pro-religion or anti-religion message, it may end up swinging back and forth between both sides or settle in a mid-point which doesn't take a strong stance either way.

Note that members of the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will get involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents. Often history buffs will throw their hat into the ring as well.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
===Warhammer 40k===
* The [[Imperial Truth]] was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to wean mankind away from Chaos and being a firm member of the "Religion is Bad" brigade, the Emperor proclaimed there are no gods, and religion had to be abolished willingly or by force while science or reason are to be used for explaining the universe and morality. Everything transpired according to his design, except theistic religiosity in the 40k universe is the best weapon against Chaos so Emps' interstellar state atheism policy gave them a major opening. Things went from bad to worse when people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself, [[Exterminatus|he responded accordingly]], and the Chaos Gods got a new tool in the form of [[Lorgar]]. After the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's removal from galactic politics: the Imperial Truth was slowly shelved in favor of the Imperial Cult, to the point that espousing the teachings of the Truth is ironically considered heresy. Only a few practitioners of the Imperial Truth remain, most notably the Custodes and the Space Marines (both of whom know The Emperor better than anybody to worship him as a god. Plus, their religious autonomy.).
** The [[Imperial Cult]] is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions along with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by [[Lorgar]] pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he ''must'' be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. It's unknown whether the Emperor still abhors godhood and religion and would abolish it the moment he could, or if he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against for mankind to persevere in these trying times. Whatever the case, he didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
** The [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Cult Mechanicus]] (Machine Cult) is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God called "The Omnissiah" Officially, the Omnissiah is The Emperor, which allows the Mechanicus to sidestep the more puritan pundits of the Imperial Cult (we worship The Emprah, just not how you do it). Unofficially, the Omnissiah may or may not be the C'tan god: The Void Dragon. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine God's works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

* Chaos is a violent and complicated henotheistic (believing in multiple gods but only worshipping one) or polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations. Even then, there's more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else among followers of the Big 4. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and [[Malal]]. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are either based on commands from the god/s or up to the imagination of the cult.
** Interestingly, there is a Space Marine of the Chaos faction who follows the Imperial Truth, and that is [[Fabius Bile]].

* All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]] do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. The closest thing they have to tenants is that Gork favors violence, Mork favors cunning. Greenskins have gotten into fights over this, but violence is part of their nature and that of their gods. While they fight over religion, they also fight over almost any dispute anyway, and may even start a religious argument just to enjoy a good fight among themselves (though the only theological argument they can formulate is "is Gork the god of cunning or is Mork?" or vica versa). On the surface, religion does not play a big-enough role in Ork society compared to other races, being just another outlet for Orks to fight about. But if [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] is any indication: religion can have a great impact on Orks, with him being becoming one of the greatest Warlords in the galaxy, primarily because he thinks he's personally blessed by Gork and Mork themselves. So if you throw in the Orks' gestalt field into the mix, its likely that its not that religion doesn't matter to them, it's under-utilized.

* The Tau's creed "The [[Greater Good]]" is a specie-wide philosophy that was adopted ever since the initial unification of the Tau in the olden days. In a nutshell, the Greater Good emphasizes the co-existence of all Tau and sapient life in general into working together for a common goal to further the Tau's progress, seeing everyone's potential and hoping to utilize that for an, ahem, greater good. Personal religion isn't forbidden, but it must not contradict or override The Greater Good, and must be disregarded if it ever does so. Technically, this means Tau can be religious or non-religious, as the Greater Good is not a religion (due to lacking an afterlife and supernatural aspects, with the closest things to figures of worship being the Ethereals). This sounds all fine and dandy, but the Ethereal class, who are responsible for maintaining The Greater Good, have been shown to be less benevolent than believed and have been using their unnaturally powerful charisma to subtly oppress the Tau and use them to further their own agendas.
**The Farsight Enclaves, who have thrown off Ethereal rule, are the exception in that they have rejected The Greater Good, seeing it as the method of oppression used to keep the T'au under complete control of the ethereals. Due to this, if one considers the Greater Good a religion, The Enclaves are irreligious.
**As of the 4th Sphere Expansion disaster, Chaos Tau are starting to become a thing.
**At one point, the Earth Caste gathered Genestealer-infected Tau and studied them to see what would happen. Of course, a Genestealer cult developed and naturally they violently escaped control and surveillance. According to rumors, they've even produced a Genestealer-infected Ethereal.

* The Eldar have varying views on religiosity depending on their type. Their religion is polytheistic, with henotheistic offshoots, and Ausryan was the highest ranking god. However all of the Eldar gods were murder-raped to death by Slaanesh except for Isha (taken by Nurgle), Khaine (shattered and flung into realspace), Cegorach (hiding in the Webway) and Ynnead (born long after Slaanesh's birth). Their Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. With most of their gods out of commission, Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent.
** Craftworlders and Exodites almost exclusively worship the original Eldar pantheon, though some engage in henotheistic worship of only one of the gods. Asuryan is more popular among Craftworlders while Isha is among Exodites, though nearly all give Khaine some tribute during war.
** Corsairs are all over the place, though Khaine is a popular choice given their more militant nature.
** Being agents of the Laughing God himself, the Harlequins' worship is centered around [[Cegorach]], whilst still paying minor tribute to the other gods.
** The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, is rapidly growing but have yet to establish teachings or rituals.
** Unique among the Eldar, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part and while they believe some gods exist they're too self-centered to worship them (this is canon). They're often also anti-religious to boot; a major landmark of Commorragh is a landfill of religious icons called Iconoclast's Mound, and one Wych cult - the Pain Eternal - revolves around killing religious people and destroying shrines and holy sites. The sole exception, except for Dark Eldar who stop being Dark Eldar, are the [[Incubi]] who hold [[Khaine]] in high regard.
** The Ynnari have encountered atleast one ancient Craftworld that turned into an entire Genestealer cult in a misguided attempt to avoid getting their souls consumed by Slaanesh as their ship had no infinity circuit present. We're not sure if this worked to any capacity (if at all, given the Hive Mind does not absorb souls), but they were taken down by the Ynnari for obvious reasons.
** There are numerous rumors of a very small number of Chaos Eldar, but these are barely fleshed out and heavily classified in-universe. There have been verified Nurgle-worshipping Eldar and persistent rumors that some have embraced Slaanesh without becoming soul-food. Apart from this, some Dark Eldar have been willing to summon Chaos Daemons or work with Chaos worshippers ([[Fabius Bile|or allies of Chaos]]) to further their own ends.

* While the Necrontyr had religions before certain [[C'tan|star entities]] [[Necrons|roboticizied them]], those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand. With the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them, any Necrons who can comprehend faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

* The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but understand at least a few of the advantages of religion. [[Genestealer]]s infect people and together they establish cults on targeted worlds, such as one worshipping "Children of the Stars", a perversion of the Imperial Cult (such as one that worships a [[Swarmlord|four-armed]] version of the Emperor) or something else like "Celebrants of Nihilism" (yes, that's a canon Genestealer cult name). Psychic influence is often involved and, notably, the Genestealers do not consider themselves gods. Once the Tyranids arrive en-masse, the cult-gets assimilated along with all non-Tyranids willingly or not. An interesting tidbit is that the Hive Mind stops the Tyranids from attacking the cultists in early stages of the invasion and leads them on, only to later override the Genestealers' wills and and make them slaughter the cultists.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, [[Planescape]], [[Eberron]], and [[Pathfinder]] are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
** Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
** Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The [[Blood of Vol]] seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the [[Path of Inspiration]] seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The [[Path of Light]], [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Becoming_God|Becoming God]] and [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Reforged|Reforged]] all seek to ''create'' a deity. Even some interpretations of the [[Sovereign Host]], like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
** There's a handful of religions on [[Golarion]] that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the [[Prophecies of Kalistrade]], which is basically fantasy [[Star Trek|Ferengi]].

* [[D20 Modern]]'s [[Urban Arcana]], unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a <s>cleric</s> "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

===Star Wars===
* [[Star Wars]] is inconsistent on if the [[The Force]] is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith ''could'' both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. On the other hand, there's the Imperial officer in ''"A New Hope"'' who disses Vader's ways as "sad devotion to ancient religion", only to get [[Meme|chided for his lack of faith with a Force choke]]. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|disagreements over the teachings of that creed]]. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
** There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

===Star Trek===
* Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a low opinion of religion and in his vision humanity had done away with it and was better off for it and he had no interest in adding it to the aliens. However, some of the cast and crew disagreed and occasionally references and religions found their way into the show, which increased after Roddenberry's death. The Federation's culture is distinctly humanistic (extending the concept to alien species) in it's outlook in which religion is regarded as a thing of the past.
** While there are plenty of "Godlike" entities in Star Trek, almost all are treated as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens in the Arthur C. Clarke sense--and in particular, in ST:TNG, the flip side, that Picard and his crew are frequently shown to look like Gods to sufficiently primitive aliens, is gone into in more than one episode.
** The primary religion of the Federations main frenemies, the Klingons, is a deistic religion where a Klingon warrior killed their gods, and in their belief Klingons who live according to those tenants get to live in a pseudo-Valhalla.
** The Bajorans are a highly religious alien race, with the majority following peaceful teachings and a minority of violent extremists.
*** Of some note, the Bajoran religion is of interest because their "Gods" actually exist, and can be (somewhat incomprehensibly) talked to (a rarity outside of [[Science Fantasy]]). In other words, they were frequently a method of having some religion vs. science debates where the divine entity (A) explicitly exists, (B) is explainable as "sufficiently advanced and unusual aliens", and (C) aren't jerks, just bad at communication with those of us who experience time linearly--in other words, with a deck that wasn't quite as badly stacked. The religiosity was meant to be as a way of contrasting the Starfleet personnel with the native population and to draw a parallel between Bajorans under the Cardassian Occupation and various real world recently freed oppressed religious-slash-ethnic groups.
** <s>In the fifth Star Trek movie, ''"The Final Frontier"'', some of the crew steal the Enterprise to look for God and instead find a powerful alien being impersonating God in the center of the universe</s> '''Just like there is no live-action movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is totally no Star Trek 5!'''

===World of Darkness===
* Very large books could be written about religion and [[World of Darkness]]/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
** From [[Vampire: The Requiem]], there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
** [[Hunter: The Vigil]] has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies, some very similar to real world ones, others...not so much.
** [[Mage: The Ascension]] has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]
* [[True Faith]], a common mechanic to weaponize religion in [[Urban Fantasy]].

[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:History]]

Religion

2020-12-04T13:05:46Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1524:129A:EE4A:1FCD: /* Role in Society */

{{flamewar}}
{{topquote|Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.|Martin Luther King, Jr}}

:'''Dracula''': ''I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!''
:'''Richter Belmont''': ''Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!''
:'''Dracula''': ''Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.''
::--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in [[Castlevania#Castlevania:_Symphony_Of_The_Night_.28Castlevania_9.29|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.]]

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure [[skub]] that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

==Definition of Religion==
Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:
* "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
* "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one [[God|god]] and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods or its own idea of the cosmos' origins but has afterlives and the existence of the eternal soul (unless a persons achieves nirvana), and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife in the conventional sense but is pantheistic and has supernatural beings. Religions with a God/god/gods fall under monotheistic (one God) or polytheistic (more than one god), though some of the latter have a variant called henotheistic (multiple gods but only one of them is served). Interestingly, most polytheistic religions have an all-powerful Creator God as the supreme authority in the cosmos who also created the other gods (such as Ptah from Egyptian mythology, Brahma in Hinduism and Nyame from West African mythology for Ghana's Akan people).

Like other terms for heavily [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of religious people (like being preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical).

==List of Real-Life Religions==

Too many to list, even without debates about the term. In lieu of a list on this site, here are two complied lists that should cover everything that fits the bill. Otherwise, check out the [[Mythology]] page.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions Wikipedia's list of religions and spiritual traditions]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups For a simplified version from Wikipedia that focuses more on major religions]

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions add rituals, practices and hierarchies that link those mythologies directly to the lives of their believers in one form or another, typically by describing how to properly serve to a god (or multiple gods, it depends) a significant role in the mythology a given religion is derived from. [[Skub|Whatever the source]], the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|ways]], depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and how humans should relate to the supernatural, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|if it involves going against the religion's teachings]]; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics- both in fantasy and in the real world.

==Role in Society==
{{skubby}}
At least as long as human civilization has existed, religiosity has existed and has almost always been interconnected (there is no human civilization in real-life where religion was never part of its development; every society that pursued secularization started off with at least some religious bedrock).

A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

In many societies throughout history, medicine and religion were interconnected. In numerous parts of the world today, numerous hospitals were based around specific religious people or founded by people from a specific religious group. Some religions have codified the concept of charity; for these religions, religion and charity have been inextricably entangled throughout their long history. For example, the three Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism each have doctrines that require their members to do good for others in various ways such as caring for the destitute or those in need.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally. Historically, these and other religions were frequently enshrined in law as the "state religion", giving them special privileges such as extensive influence over the government or tax exemptions. In some cases, they even took over the functions of the government entirely (usually on behalf of the Powers-that-be for the religion in question) in a system known as theocracy. While they have become uncommon since the 20th century, theocracies still exist such as Vatican City and Iran.

Within the last few centuries, due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, which regards religion as at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). For the most part, a combination of people identifying more with their culture or nation than their religion and the concept that religion and functions of state should not interfere with each other has turned into more of a "live and let live" mentality that doesn't really support or oppose any one religion and only reacts when said religions begin actively defying the state or the state starts bringing the boot down on religion. Most of the world's population is religious, with the amount of piety varying from country to country, and of course there are plenty of non-religious people who don't necessarily oppose religion despite not following any themselves.

Throughout history, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions. This is usually because religious teachings put the figure/object of worship before the state in a conflict of interest and most religions' teachings condemn tyranny or [[Slaanesh|the vices tyrannical leaders indulge]]. Other reasons include tyrants dislike being answerable to anyone besides themselves and a tyrant may have some form of anti-religious prejudice. While nations have usually tried to block specific religions deemed "false" (read: religions opposing the state-sponsored religion in any way), several nations (usually [[Communism|Communist]] states which took Marx's "religion is the opiate of the masses" quote out of context as a call to arms rather than a passive theory) have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Militant_Atheists results] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia#Religious_persecutions each] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_atheism#Human_rights time]. Best case scenario, they sidegrade from one set of problems to another as cults of personality (commonly ones based on the ruler in charge) spring up to exploit the newly created power vacuum while believers who survive the regime try to continue their activities in secret. Worst case scenario, the society crumbles as the people degenerate into a [[Commorragh|violent, fractious and nihilistic mass]].

Aside from the aforementioned theocracies, the most religious nations are countries such as Brazil in South America or Zambia in Africa (Zambia even has a state religion alongside a law that allows for freedom of religion). China is - at the time this was written - the world's least religious and most atheistic country (the situation around North Korea is [[Skub|debatable]], since even though they violently suppress religions [https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-some-for-videos-or-bibles-report-says to the point that merely having copies of religious texts can be grounds for execution], they also have the Kim Cult blended with the Marxist offshoot ideology Juche).

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways. Since most if not every society in real-life has had religion either be the basis for its founding or play a role in it - in addition to the various roles religion continues to have in society - religion is just as involved in the backstory or current lore of settings. There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
* Purely functional use of religion as a story device. (What we might call "Functionalists")
* Endorsement of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Good" types)
* Criticism of religion and/or religious people. (What we might call "Religion is Bad" types)
For ease of categorization, writers who use these modes will also be called proponents, detractors or functionalists (who can be pro, anti or neutral).

===Religion as a story device/Functionalists===
Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world [[Mythology]] and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
* The [[Standard Fantasy Setting]] default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God more powerful than all the others, and maybe the in-universe creator of everything who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in [[Exalted]] just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are the guys who were made specifically to do whatever the gods needed them to do for reasons inherent to the setting, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do ''almost anything'', except '''avoid the consequences of doing that anything'''".

===Religion as a Bad Thing/Detractors===
There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad", having an axe to grind (sometimes warranted, sometimes not) with either one or more specific real-life religions. This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of such writers, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that. Despite that, the view is found among some fantasy authors as well, such as Philip Pullman (who wrote the "His Dark Materials" series as atheistic pushback against C.S Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series). Whatever the genre, this comes in flavors of "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that below), "The Gods Don't Exist" or "The Gods are Evil". Cosmic Horror also tends to use the latter two or combine them into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens" ([[H.P. Lovecraft]] himself was an avowed anti-religious atheist - which is why cults are recurring villains in his stories). This also has the side effect of inclining science fiction towards an atheistic perspective.

Another major component is personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. A writer could resent a specific religion or even the higher power a religion reveres (though opposition to a god or gods is called anti-theistic, not anti-religious), and single them out in their works due to personal bias or promoting an agenda. Worst case scenario, the story is an anti-religious wish fulfillment story or power fantasy - such as Frank Miller's "Holy Terror" comics against Islam and Garth Ennis' "Preacher" comics (and their live-action adaptation) against Christianity.

Whatever the motivation, writers saying this message either model their fictional religions on the worst excesses of real world religious people, use a distorted version of the actual religion or a fictional stand-in (the former is occasionally exaggerated and the latter two are often strawmen). The most frequently targeted religions are Christianity, Islam, any faith that practiced human sacrifice (such as the Aztec religious practices) and Scientology. Cults, especially those with beliefs that mainstream religions consider unorthodox or outright heretical, are especially fertile ground for this message, albeit running the risk of being misapplied to tar other groups with the same brush.

===Religion as a Good Thing/Proponents===
There are several Science Fiction and Fantasy writers who either are religious themselves and want to promote their worldview, look upon religion positively and put that into the story or both. This is more common in Fantasy than Sci-fi, partly because with the supernatural being THE fundamental element of the genre, this gives opportunities to explore many aspects of religiosity. This is less common in science-fiction, but not unheard of, such as Carl Sagan's novel "Contact" where God's signature is found in the digits of pi. These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"; that is, resemble real-life religions but with a few details changed), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

Some people make a fictional setting with figures from real-world religions, either in the real-world or [[CS Lewis|an alternate world like Narnia]]. Others use fictional religions that either visually resemble real-life religions or figures from them. Religions that often get this treatment are the Abrahamic faiths (most often Christianity), Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology (albeit often a sanitized version of the latter three). In other cases they all but abandon any form of subtlety, with the fictional religion being distinguished from the real-world religion by only a handful of minor changes. Naturally, those kinds of works tend to come off as preachy, to say the least.

Another route this uses is the route that faith itself provides the power as per "[[Belief Function|Belief Function]]" (think Morpheus' "your mind makes it real" quote, but applying at the cosmological level). In fact, Warhammer often goes the route that the gods are powered by faith as well as from their sphere of influence which has either [[Sigmar|caused some people have risen to godhood]] or [[Ynnead|caused new gods to be born in the setting]]. In fact, this has proven the greatest weapon against Chaos in every Warhammer setting (and why the Emperor's plan to starve the Chaos Gods with atheism was doomed to fail from the start).

===Somewhat special cases===

One somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology and/or the various Abrahamic religions. They also often draw from those found in the writings of H.P Lovecraft. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity to be some form of destructive activity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:

* All three types need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality-of-killing fodder (based on the idea that everyone in is group is evil because you have to do evil to be part of the group).
* Religion is Bad types tend to use them to say either "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", that "Religion can be used to justify anything", use it as a strawman to tar all with the same brush or they have a personal axe to grind (either against an entire religion, a group within that religion or specific religious people the author dislikes).
* Religion is Good types or the sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism, criticize Real World cults, compare different beliefs or deal with negative aspects of religion (occasionally making jabs at competitive religions, or fellow believers the author disagrees with). Another approach is to have a Religion of Good fighting against a Religion of Evil - either as the heroes of the story or a valued ally - to say "there is good religion, so don't tar all with the same negative brush".
** As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as [[Always Chaotic Evil]] races (questions of whether this fosters prejudice against real-life groups and audiences and authors demanding more motive for their villains). While there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights. Popular options are for them to be an off-shoot/subset of another religion and/or be taking vengeance for an injustice (real or perceived, both of which have '''plenty''' of real-life precedent).

[[Urban Fantasy]] writers are another special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. As a result, they can take one of a few routes:
* The most common route is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible ([[True Faith|Faith]] being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
* The second most common route (albeit rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is the "Religion as a Bad Thing" route. The story is straight up [[Imperial Truth|atheistic/"Religion is Bad" propaganda]] for the more preachy (pun intended) anti-religious writers. It's also frequently used by writers going for [[Edgy|"edgy"]] stories with religious subject matter; in practice, both most often target Christianity or any contemporary cults. On that note, any fictional religions or cults are usually thinly-veiled stand-ins for real-life ones.
* Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].
* The fourth route, taken most notably by [[Supers|DC and Marvel comics]] among others, is to take an "All Myths are True" approach: All religions are sort of true, but none have any exclusivity to the Truth, so Thor and Athena might have the Archangel Michael on speeddial when the Orochi teams up with Apep to get up to no good and start making trouble in their neighborhoods (because "Mikey really likes kicking serpent tail, and gets annoyed when we don't at least try to invite him to an evil serpent ass-kicking."). Differs from the "vague things up" route by being clearer on some details, and also much more gonzo. The Abrahamic God is the exception here: He's usually kept especially vague, albeit more powerful (and yet infinitely less accessible) than anyone else in the setting, and only referred to by some codephrase (Marvel likes "The One Above All", DC generally goes for "The Presence" or "whatever is behind the Source Wall").

===Miscellaneous Observations===

Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available since if that wasn't the case there wouldn't be anything for the adventurers to do.

If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their personal views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses. A recent example is [[World of Warcraft|the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe]] and the morality of its fundamental forces/dominant higher powers, the Light and the Void. If the story doesn't get focused on a pro-religion or anti-religion message, it may end up swinging back and forth between both sides or settle in a mid-point which doesn't take a strong stance either way.

Note that members of the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will get involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents. Often history buffs will throw their hat into the ring as well.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
===Warhammer 40k===
* The [[Imperial Truth]] was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to wean mankind away from Chaos and being a firm member of the "Religion is Bad" brigade, the Emperor proclaimed there are no gods, and religion had to be abolished willingly or by force while science or reason are to be used for explaining the universe and morality. Everything transpired according to his design, except theistic religiosity in the 40k universe is the best weapon against Chaos so Emps' interstellar state atheism policy gave them a major opening. Things went from bad to worse when people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself, [[Exterminatus|he responded accordingly]], and the Chaos Gods got a new tool in the form of [[Lorgar]]. After the Horus Heresy and the Emperor's removal from galactic politics: the Imperial Truth was slowly shelved in favor of the Imperial Cult, to the point that espousing the teachings of the Truth is ironically considered heresy. Only a few practitioners of the Imperial Truth remain, most notably the Custodes and the Space Marines (both of whom know The Emperor better than anybody to worship him as a god. Plus, their religious autonomy.).
** The [[Imperial Cult]] is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions along with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by [[Lorgar]] pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he ''must'' be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. It's unknown whether the Emperor still abhors godhood and religion and would abolish it the moment he could, or if he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against for mankind to persevere in these trying times. Whatever the case, he didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
** The [[Adeptus Mechanicus|Cult Mechanicus]] (Machine Cult) is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God called "The Omnissiah" Officially, the Omnissiah is The Emperor, which allows the Mechanicus to sidestep the more puritan pundits of the Imperial Cult (we worship The Emprah, just not how you do it). Unofficially, the Omnissiah may or may not be the C'tan god: The Void Dragon. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine God's works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

* Chaos is a violent and complicated henotheistic (believing in multiple gods but only worshipping one) or polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations. Even then, there's more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else among followers of the Big 4. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and [[Malal]]. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are either based on commands from the god/s or up to the imagination of the cult.
** Interestingly, there is a Space Marine of the Chaos faction who follows the Imperial Truth, and that is [[Fabius Bile]].

* All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the [[Gretchin Revolutionary Committee]] do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. The closest thing they have to tenants is that Gork favors violence, Mork favors cunning. Greenskins have gotten into fights over this, but violence is part of their nature and that of their gods. While they fight over religion, they also fight over almost any dispute anyway, and may even start a religious argument just to enjoy a good fight among themselves (though the only theological argument they can formulate is "is Gork the god of cunning or is Mork?" or vica versa). On the surface, religion does not play a big-enough role in Ork society compared to other races, being just another outlet for Orks to fight about. But if [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] is any indication: religion can have a great impact on Orks, with him being becoming one of the greatest Warlords in the galaxy, primarily because he thinks he's personally blessed by Gork and Mork themselves. So if you throw in the Orks' gestalt field into the mix, its likely that its not that religion doesn't matter to them, it's under-utilized.

* The Tau's creed "The [[Greater Good]]" is a specie-wide philosophy that was adopted ever since the initial unification of the Tau in the olden days. In a nutshell, the Greater Good emphasizes the co-existence of all Tau and sapient life in general into working together for a common goal to further the Tau's progress, seeing everyone's potential and hoping to utilize that for an, ahem, greater good. Personal religion isn't forbidden, but it must not contradict or override The Greater Good, and must be disregarded if it ever does so. Technically, this means Tau can be religious or non-religious, as the Greater Good is not a religion (due to lacking an afterlife and supernatural aspects, with the closest things to figures of worship being the Ethereals). This sounds all fine and dandy, but the Ethereal class, who are responsible for maintaining The Greater Good, have been shown to be less benevolent than believed and have been using their unnaturally powerful charisma to subtly oppress the Tau and use them to further their own agendas.
**The Farsight Enclaves, who have thrown off Ethereal rule, are the exception in that they have rejected The Greater Good, seeing it as the method of oppression used to keep the T'au under complete control of the ethereals. Due to this, if one considers the Greater Good a religion, The Enclaves are irreligious.
**As of the 4th Sphere Expansion disaster, Chaos Tau are starting to become a thing.
**At one point, the Earth Caste gathered Genestealer-infected Tau and studied them to see what would happen. Of course, a Genestealer cult developed and naturally they violently escaped control and surveillance. According to rumors, they've even produced a Genestealer-infected Ethereal.

* The Eldar have varying views on religiosity depending on their type. Their religion is polytheistic, with henotheistic offshoots, and Ausryan was the highest ranking god. However all of the Eldar gods were murder-raped to death by Slaanesh except for Isha (taken by Nurgle), Khaine (shattered and flung into realspace), Cegorach (hiding in the Webway) and Ynnead (born long after Slaanesh's birth). Their Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. With most of their gods out of commission, Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent.
** Craftworlders and Exodites almost exclusively worship the original Eldar pantheon, though some engage in henotheistic worship of only one of the gods. Asuryan is more popular among Craftworlders while Isha is among Exodites, though nearly all give Khaine some tribute during war.
** Corsairs are all over the place, though Khaine is a popular choice given their more militant nature.
** Being agents of the Laughing God himself, the Harlequins' worship is centered around [[Cegorach]], whilst still paying minor tribute to the other gods.
** The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, is rapidly growing but have yet to establish teachings or rituals.
** Unique among the Eldar, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part and while they believe some gods exist they're too self-centered to worship them (this is canon). They're often also anti-religious to boot; a major landmark of Commorragh is a landfill of religious icons called Iconoclast's Mound, and one Wych cult - the Pain Eternal - revolves around killing religious people and destroying shrines and holy sites. The sole exception, except for Dark Eldar who stop being Dark Eldar, are the [[Incubi]] who hold [[Khaine]] in high regard.
** The Ynnari have encountered atleast one ancient Craftworld that turned into an entire Genestealer cult in a misguided attempt to avoid getting their souls consumed by Slaanesh as their ship had no infinity circuit present. We're not sure if this worked to any capacity (if at all, given the Hive Mind does not absorb souls), but they were taken down by the Ynnari for obvious reasons.
** There are numerous rumors of a very small number of Chaos Eldar, but these are barely fleshed out and heavily classified in-universe. There have been verified Nurgle-worshipping Eldar and persistent rumors that some have embraced Slaanesh without becoming soul-food. Apart from this, some Dark Eldar have been willing to summon Chaos Daemons or work with Chaos worshippers ([[Fabius Bile|or allies of Chaos]]) to further their own ends.

* While the Necrontyr had religions before certain [[C'tan|star entities]] [[Necrons|roboticizied them]], those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand. With the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them, any Necrons who can comprehend faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

* The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but understand at least a few of the advantages of religion. [[Genestealer]]s infect people and together they establish cults on targeted worlds, such as one worshipping "Children of the Stars", a perversion of the Imperial Cult (such as one that worships a [[Swarmlord|four-armed]] version of the Emperor) or something else like "Celebrants of Nihilism" (yes, that's a canon Genestealer cult name). Psychic influence is often involved and, notably, the Genestealers do not consider themselves gods. Once the Tyranids arrive en-masse, the cult-gets assimilated along with all non-Tyranids willingly or not. An interesting tidbit is that the Hive Mind stops the Tyranids from attacking the cultists in early stages of the invasion and leads them on, only to later override the Genestealers' wills and and make them slaughter the cultists.

===Dungeons and Dragons===
* Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, [[Planescape]], [[Eberron]], and [[Pathfinder]] are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
** Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
** Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The [[Blood of Vol]] seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the [[Path of Inspiration]] seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The [[Path of Light]], [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Becoming_God|Becoming God]] and [[Warforged_Mysteries#The_Reforged|Reforged]] all seek to ''create'' a deity. Even some interpretations of the [[Sovereign Host]], like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
** There's a handful of religions on [[Golarion]] that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the [[Prophecies of Kalistrade]], which is basically fantasy [[Star Trek|Ferengi]].

* [[D20 Modern]]'s [[Urban Arcana]], unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a <s>cleric</s> "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

===Star Wars===
* [[Star Wars]] is inconsistent on if the [[The Force]] is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith ''could'' both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. On the other hand, there's the Imperial officer in ''"A New Hope"'' who disses Vader's ways as "sad devotion to ancient religion", only to get [[Meme|chided for his lack of faith with a Force choke]]. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|disagreements over the teachings of that creed]]. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
** There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

===Star Trek===
* Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a low opinion of religion and in his vision humanity had done away with it and was better off for it and he had no interest in adding it to the aliens. However, some of the cast and crew disagreed and occasionally references and religions found their way into the show, which increased after Roddenberry's death. The Federation's culture is distinctly humanistic (extending the concept to alien species) in it's outlook in which religion is regarded as a thing of the past.
** While there are plenty of "Godlike" entities in Star Trek, almost all are treated as Sufficiently Advanced Aliens in the Arthur C. Clarke sense--and in particular, in ST:TNG, the flip side, that Picard and his crew are frequently shown to look like Gods to sufficiently primitive aliens, is gone into in more than one episode.
** The primary religion of the Federations main frenemies, the Klingons, is a deistic religion where a Klingon warrior killed their gods, and in their belief Klingons who live according to those tenants get to live in a pseudo-Valhalla.
** The Bajorans are a highly religious alien race, with the majority following peaceful teachings and a minority of violent extremists.
*** Of some note, the Bajoran religion is of interest because their "Gods" actually exist, and can be (somewhat incomprehensibly) talked to (a rarity outside of [[Science Fantasy]]). In other words, they were frequently a method of having some religion vs. science debates where the divine entity (A) explicitly exists, (B) is explainable as "sufficiently advanced and unusual aliens", and (C) aren't jerks, just bad at communication with those of us who experience time linearly--in other words, with a deck that wasn't quite as badly stacked. The religiosity was meant to be as a way of contrasting the Starfleet personnel with the native population and to draw a parallel between Bajorans under the Cardassian Occupation and various real world recently freed oppressed religious-slash-ethnic groups.
** <s>In the fifth Star Trek movie, ''"The Final Frontier"'', some of the crew steal the Enterprise to look for God and instead find a powerful alien being impersonating God in the center of the universe</s> '''Just like there is no live-action movie of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is totally no Star Trek 5!'''

===World of Darkness===
* Very large books could be written about religion and [[World of Darkness]]/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
** From [[Vampire: The Requiem]], there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
** [[Hunter: The Vigil]] has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies, some very similar to real world ones, others...not so much.
** [[Mage: The Ascension]] has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]
* [[True Faith]], a common mechanic to weaponize religion in [[Urban Fantasy]].

[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:History]]