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Broken Realms Saga

2021-06-13T15:28:51Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Book Four: Kragnos */

Under Construction...

'''The Broken Realms Saga (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AoS)''' is the current ongoing narrative event in Warhammer [[Age of Sigmar|Age of Sigmar]]. Consisting of four main books, as well as a series of short stories published on the Warhammer Community website, this narrative leap bears a lot of similarities to Warhammer 40,000's most recent story series, the [[Psychic Awakening|Psychic Awakening]]. However, Broken Realms has something that Psychic Awakening failed to give its readers: '''Actual Stakes!!'''

Indeed, in every book released so far, there are massive and dramatic shifts in power that fundamentally affect the direction of the Mortal Realms. [[Morathi|A manipulative and subversive quest for divinity]], the two biggest [[Teclis|egotistical]] [[Nagash|nerds]] in all of Warhammer going at each other, [[Sigvald|old characters]] [[Lord Kroak|reemerging]] and [[Grombrindal|making their mark]], [[Glutos Orscollion|new]] [[Kragnos|characters]] and [[Soulblight Gravelords|factions]] making their appearances, the very nature of the Realms being dramatically altered, [[Sigmar|Sigmar]] and his [[Stormcast Eternals|golden bois]] getting taken to the cleaners, [[Be'lakor|BE'LAKOR]] [[Awesome|BEING AN ACTUAL THREAT]], etc.

We are keeping the spoilers low but we recommend you read the books, they are actually very fun and help flesh out a lot of Age of Sigmar characters and their interactions.

==[https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/sl18JWIGkGvsrxxL.pdf Story: The Clobbering]==
Megaboss Bokkrog fights a challenger and loses, only to be knocked out instead of killed. When he wakes up, a shaman is preparing him for the coming of a god (later revealed to be Kragnos).

==Story: Cursed Gift==
Morathi learns about the properties of the realmstone of Chaos - now dubbed "Varanite" - and decides its just what she needs for her plans after testing it on a few Witch Aelves.

=Book One: Morathi=
The first book of the saga kicks things off by having [[Morathi]] decide to finally realize her aspirations of godhood. After "collecting" an ancient artefact used to collect souls from [[Slaanesh]]'s gut from the Idoneth, she decides to sic her old "buddies" [[Sigmar]] and [[Alarielle]] as well as the vengeful [[Katakros]] at the Varanspire, [[Archaon]]'s special hideout, while she picked up some of the realmstone.

She uses the realmstone and the artefact to open a rift right into her ancient enemy's gut, and managed to eat the souls of all the Phoenix Kings...except for Aenarion. She hesitated eating him because of their past, but he wasn't having any of it and split her in half, one half being her elf wizard self and the other being a monstrous serpentine thing. She hops out of her portal and then fuses with the essence of [[Khaine]], essentially becoming her own god.

With this power in hand, she forces the Idoneth, who sought to reclaim their trinket, to join her in raiding the city of Anvilgard. She takes it over and renames it into Har Kuron, marking a definitive end to her alliance with the God-King. The stormboys fought back, but they eventually fell back after Morathi and the Celestant-Prime had a parley and he agreed to let her keep the city in exchange for...something.

==Story: The Price of Treason==
In Har Kuron, formerly Anvilgard, a group of humans are rescued by a group of Scourge Privateer elves from being executed by the Daughters of Khaine. This is because some of the humans and elves there are loyal to Sigmar and don't like Morathi.

==Story: Thicker Than Water==
Akhelian King Sythus Nemmetar reflects on the Idoneth's newfound alliance with the Daughters of Khaine during a battle against humans and Lumineth... and doesn't like it. Even moreso for Sythus since he's forced to fight alongside the Hag Queen Nyrithia, who mutilated half his face in a battle ages ago (it doesn't help that Nyrithia trolls Sythus about it mercilessly).

==Story: In The Deep Dark Mountain==
Three brothers hiding in a cave are found by an Ogor Mawtribes army and drafted into Gordrakk's growing WAAAGH! Also, the three brothers are Mega-Gargants.

==Story: The Hateful Stasis==
Slaaneshi Chaos Lord Gestharyx gets tired of waiting while battling against the forces of Khorne, and is reassured of Slaanesh's latest plan by the daemon herald Glavia Sinheart.

==Story: The Squint==
Skragrott tries to make sense of the prophecies from his Fungal Asylum as he marches alongside Gordrakk's Waaghh in Ghur. One of his captives, a magister of Tzeentch, attacks him while giving some major prophecies, but Skragrott takes him down with the help of the Bad Moon itself.

==Story: The Golden Son==
Sigvald and Glutos battle against the Fyreslayers and try to outdo each other, only stopping their bickering when a certain pair of daemons introduced in the Broken Realms saga tell them to go to Excelsis in preparation for a "feast".

==Story: Enlightenment==
An account of the Lumineth Realm-lords working with humans in the city Settler's Gain from the POV of a human university professor. They give the humans totally-not-second-rate accommodations and magical gear and also educate them... which is definitely not "re-educating" them with magic.

==Story: The Path Of Futility==
Mannfred von Carstein binds a Nurgle daemon and attempts to interrogate it, but the daemon breaks free, forcing Mannfred to kill it. Mannfred also makes his own plans and believes that Nagash will fail.

==Story: The Joust Of Kings==
Ossiarch Bonereapers Tithemaster Vokmortian and Liege-Kavalos Horrek play Age of Sigmar's version of the board game 4D chess. During the game, they discuss about Nagash's latest plans. The story reveals quiet a bit about what the Bonereapers do in their downtime (and that they actually get downtime).

=Book Two: Teclis=
Deciding that the whole Necroquake business was going on for too long, that Sigmar was dragging his feet and that Nagash's harassment of the realms was getting too much, Teclis warned Nagash to stop it or be stopped. Nagash predictably told Teclis where to shove his threat.

After surviving a literal gheist tsunami, the forces of the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] rallied under Teclis to stick it to the boney asshole. The Lumineth invaded Shysh in flying islands, made much property damage to the Ossiarch Empire and then called it a moral victory. Nagash attempted to get payback and to show he is in control by sending his Mortarchs to expand the influence of the Shysh Nadir to other realms. Mannfred was in Ghyran double-dealing as usual, Neferata met some <s>meddling kids</s> Lumineth twins in Chamon, and Eltharion dueled Arkhan in a long-awaited second round at Hysh.

After some dubious results, Skelepope makes the brilliant move of trying to beat Teclis on his home turf while attempting to kill Mount Avelanor. The resulting duel between the two nerds included lots of spells, actual sword fighting, teleportation through the Aetheric Void Dragon Ball-style and no less than six super-powered Luminarks firing their lazors and rolling lots of sixes.

There is also a sweet scene of Teclis and Alarielle contemplating the fate of the Realms and giving some light to the grimdarkness of AoS 2nd edition.

==Story: Dark Offerings==
A group of Skaven assassins vie for Be'lakor's patronage, until one of them wins his favor by discreetly but messily killing the others. Be'lakor's target is also a theoretically immortal being, likely Lady Olynder.

==Story: Marked For Death==
Neferata attempts to have a Kharadron Admiral assassinated, but Lumineth twins Ellania and Ellathor save her.

=Book Three: Be'lakor=
Tired of being second fiddle to Archie-chan and not being noticed by the Chaos God senpais, Be'lakor has been working a long term plot to block the Stormcasts Reforging process while plummeting the Mortal Relams into a widespread Chaos Storm, in order to do so he engages in 4D chess with none other than Lord Kroak, all while ensuring both a major setback against Archaon's own domains and plans and Sigmar and his allies.

Highlights of the book include a space battle between an armada of Seraphon temple-ships and a Silver Tower, widespread nuclear explosions destroying scores of Realmgates, Be'lakor forcing Lady Olynder to work with him, Gardus Steel-Soul having an astral fly with Kroak, the last stand of the Sigmarite Brotherhood and finally a massive battle between the entire army of the Dark Master vs the Free City of Vindicarum and a massive airfleet formed by all the major city-ports of the Kharadrons united by certain white dwarf and much aether-gold.

==Story: Sacrifice==
A group of Stormcast seek to free the souls of their brethren that have been captured by the Nighthaunt, with mixed results.

==Story: To Cast A Long Shadow==
Morathi has a chat with her son, the god formerly known as Malekith. After some back-and-forth sassing, he warns Morathi that Sigmar's preparing to get back at her for taking Anvilgard, and Morathi brushes it off. Tyrion is mentioned to be making moves and the two have an almost wholesome mother/son moment.

==Story: The Turnskin's Tale==
A Beastlord invites a mysterious warrior, who's a POV character for the audience, to hear his story due to a shared cause. The Beastlord talks about his exploits and the rising power of the Sylvaneth and Alarielle. The story ends with the POV character mutating into a Gor, just as the Beastlord once did.

=Book Four: Kragnos=
With the end of the Necroquake and Nagash's temporary imprisonment in Nagashizzar, Life goes into ascendance and Alarielle steps in to spread a non-lethal version across the realms known as the Rite of Life. Alarielle's own power, and that of the Sylvaneth, swelled in response but there was a major unintended consequence.

While the spell succeeded in resurrecting the remnants of the oak of ages, combined with the residual effects of the Necroquake, Alarielle's Rite of Life broke the prison of Kragnos, an ancient, destructive god sealed away by Lord Kroak in Ghur during the Age of Myth. Enraged by his captivity, the loss of his people and the fact that human cities have been built on his ancestral lands, Kragnos rampaged across the realm until he reached Excelsis, which is already in the process of being corrupted by followers of Slaanesh.

Kragnos joins Gordrakk's army and they manage to smash their way into the city and start wreaking havoc despite Lord Kroak doing his best to mystically reinforce the cities defenses. The end result is Excelsis is nearly destroyed and Kragnos finds himself at the other end of Ghur.

There is an epilogue for the four big players of the Saga; Teclis is meditating in space with Celennar when Nagash speaks to Teclis through the curse, promising vengeance for his actions in the Soul Wars. Be'lakor meets the twin Newborn daemons in Slaanesh's realm and warns them that Grungni's return threatens their plans. Kragnos is found by an isolated Orruk tribe that worships him. Morathi is put on trial for betraying the forces of Order by the Celestant Prime and nearly executed before the newly arrived Grungni points out that Morathi's ascension to godhood saved Excelsis and they bigger problems to worry about such as the spreading storms of chaos unleashed by Be'lakor.

[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]

Broken Realms Saga

2021-06-13T15:25:51Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Book Four: Kragnos */

Under Construction...

'''The Broken Realms Saga (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love AoS)''' is the current ongoing narrative event in Warhammer [[Age of Sigmar|Age of Sigmar]]. Consisting of four main books, as well as a series of short stories published on the Warhammer Community website, this narrative leap bears a lot of similarities to Warhammer 40,000's most recent story series, the [[Psychic Awakening|Psychic Awakening]]. However, Broken Realms has something that Psychic Awakening failed to give its readers: '''Actual Stakes!!'''

Indeed, in every book released so far, there are massive and dramatic shifts in power that fundamentally affect the direction of the Mortal Realms. [[Morathi|A manipulative and subversive quest for divinity]], the two biggest [[Teclis|egotistical]] [[Nagash|nerds]] in all of Warhammer going at each other, [[Sigvald|old characters]] [[Lord Kroak|reemerging]] and [[Grombrindal|making their mark]], [[Glutos Orscollion|new]] [[Kragnos|characters]] and [[Soulblight Gravelords|factions]] making their appearances, the very nature of the Realms being dramatically altered, [[Sigmar|Sigmar]] and his [[Stormcast Eternals|golden bois]] getting taken to the cleaners, [[Be'lakor|BE'LAKOR]] [[Awesome|BEING AN ACTUAL THREAT]], etc.

We are keeping the spoilers low but we recommend you read the books, they are actually very fun and help flesh out a lot of Age of Sigmar characters and their interactions.

==[https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/sl18JWIGkGvsrxxL.pdf Story: The Clobbering]==
Megaboss Bokkrog fights a challenger and loses, only to be knocked out instead of killed. When he wakes up, a shaman is preparing him for the coming of a god (later revealed to be Kragnos).

==Story: Cursed Gift==
Morathi learns about the properties of the realmstone of Chaos - now dubbed "Varanite" - and decides its just what she needs for her plans after testing it on a few Witch Aelves.

=Book One: Morathi=
The first book of the saga kicks things off by having [[Morathi]] decide to finally realize her aspirations of godhood. After "collecting" an ancient artefact used to collect souls from [[Slaanesh]]'s gut from the Idoneth, she decides to sic her old "buddies" [[Sigmar]] and [[Alarielle]] as well as the vengeful [[Katakros]] at the Varanspire, [[Archaon]]'s special hideout, while she picked up some of the realmstone.

She uses the realmstone and the artefact to open a rift right into her ancient enemy's gut, and managed to eat the souls of all the Phoenix Kings...except for Aenarion. She hesitated eating him because of their past, but he wasn't having any of it and split her in half, one half being her elf wizard self and the other being a monstrous serpentine thing. She hops out of her portal and then fuses with the essence of [[Khaine]], essentially becoming her own god.

With this power in hand, she forces the Idoneth, who sought to reclaim their trinket, to join her in raiding the city of Anvilgard. She takes it over and renames it into Har Kuron, marking a definitive end to her alliance with the God-King. The stormboys fought back, but they eventually fell back after Morathi and the Celestant-Prime had a parley and he agreed to let her keep the city in exchange for...something.

==Story: The Price of Treason==
In Har Kuron, formerly Anvilgard, a group of humans are rescued by a group of Scourge Privateer elves from being executed by the Daughters of Khaine. This is because some of the humans and elves there are loyal to Sigmar and don't like Morathi.

==Story: Thicker Than Water==
Akhelian King Sythus Nemmetar reflects on the Idoneth's newfound alliance with the Daughters of Khaine during a battle against humans and Lumineth... and doesn't like it. Even moreso for Sythus since he's forced to fight alongside the Hag Queen Nyrithia, who mutilated half his face in a battle ages ago (it doesn't help that Nyrithia trolls Sythus about it mercilessly).

==Story: In The Deep Dark Mountain==
Three brothers hiding in a cave are found by an Ogor Mawtribes army and drafted into Gordrakk's growing WAAAGH! Also, the three brothers are Mega-Gargants.

==Story: The Hateful Stasis==
Slaaneshi Chaos Lord Gestharyx gets tired of waiting while battling against the forces of Khorne, and is reassured of Slaanesh's latest plan by the daemon herald Glavia Sinheart.

==Story: The Squint==
Skragrott tries to make sense of the prophecies from his Fungal Asylum as he marches alongside Gordrakk's Waaghh in Ghur. One of his captives, a magister of Tzeentch, attacks him while giving some major prophecies, but Skragrott takes him down with the help of the Bad Moon itself.

==Story: The Golden Son==
Sigvald and Glutos battle against the Fyreslayers and try to outdo each other, only stopping their bickering when a certain pair of daemons introduced in the Broken Realms saga tell them to go to Excelsis in preparation for a "feast".

==Story: Enlightenment==
An account of the Lumineth Realm-lords working with humans in the city Settler's Gain from the POV of a human university professor. They give the humans totally-not-second-rate accommodations and magical gear and also educate them... which is definitely not "re-educating" them with magic.

==Story: The Path Of Futility==
Mannfred von Carstein binds a Nurgle daemon and attempts to interrogate it, but the daemon breaks free, forcing Mannfred to kill it. Mannfred also makes his own plans and believes that Nagash will fail.

==Story: The Joust Of Kings==
Ossiarch Bonereapers Tithemaster Vokmortian and Liege-Kavalos Horrek play Age of Sigmar's version of the board game 4D chess. During the game, they discuss about Nagash's latest plans. The story reveals quiet a bit about what the Bonereapers do in their downtime (and that they actually get downtime).

=Book Two: Teclis=
Deciding that the whole Necroquake business was going on for too long, that Sigmar was dragging his feet and that Nagash's harassment of the realms was getting too much, Teclis warned Nagash to stop it or be stopped. Nagash predictably told Teclis where to shove his threat.

After surviving a literal gheist tsunami, the forces of the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] rallied under Teclis to stick it to the boney asshole. The Lumineth invaded Shysh in flying islands, made much property damage to the Ossiarch Empire and then called it a moral victory. Nagash attempted to get payback and to show he is in control by sending his Mortarchs to expand the influence of the Shysh Nadir to other realms. Mannfred was in Ghyran double-dealing as usual, Neferata met some <s>meddling kids</s> Lumineth twins in Chamon, and Eltharion dueled Arkhan in a long-awaited second round at Hysh.

After some dubious results, Skelepope makes the brilliant move of trying to beat Teclis on his home turf while attempting to kill Mount Avelanor. The resulting duel between the two nerds included lots of spells, actual sword fighting, teleportation through the Aetheric Void Dragon Ball-style and no less than six super-powered Luminarks firing their lazors and rolling lots of sixes.

There is also a sweet scene of Teclis and Alarielle contemplating the fate of the Realms and giving some light to the grimdarkness of AoS 2nd edition.

==Story: Dark Offerings==
A group of Skaven assassins vie for Be'lakor's patronage, until one of them wins his favor by discreetly but messily killing the others. Be'lakor's target is also a theoretically immortal being, likely Lady Olynder.

==Story: Marked For Death==
Neferata attempts to have a Kharadron Admiral assassinated, but Lumineth twins Ellania and Ellathor save her.

=Book Three: Be'lakor=
Tired of being second fiddle to Archie-chan and not being noticed by the Chaos God senpais, Be'lakor has been working a long term plot to block the Stormcasts Reforging process while plummeting the Mortal Relams into a widespread Chaos Storm, in order to do so he engages in 4D chess with none other than Lord Kroak, all while ensuring both a major setback against Archaon's own domains and plans and Sigmar and his allies.

Highlights of the book include a space battle between an armada of Seraphon temple-ships and a Silver Tower, widespread nuclear explosions destroying scores of Realmgates, Be'lakor forcing Lady Olynder to work with him, Gardus Steel-Soul having an astral fly with Kroak, the last stand of the Sigmarite Brotherhood and finally a massive battle between the entire army of the Dark Master vs the Free City of Vindicarum and a massive airfleet formed by all the major city-ports of the Kharadrons united by certain white dwarf and much aether-gold.

==Story: Sacrifice==
A group of Stormcast seek to free the souls of their brethren that have been captured by the Nighthaunt, with mixed results.

==Story: To Cast A Long Shadow==
Morathi has a chat with her son, the god formerly known as Malekith. After some back-and-forth sassing, he warns Morathi that Sigmar's preparing to get back at her for taking Anvilgard, and Morathi brushes it off. Tyrion is mentioned to be making moves and the two have an almost wholesome mother/son moment.

==Story: The Turnskin's Tale==
A Beastlord invites a mysterious warrior, who's a POV character for the audience, to hear his story due to a shared cause. The Beastlord talks about his exploits and the rising power of the Sylvaneth and Alarielle. The story ends with the POV character mutating into a Gor, just as the Beastlord once did.

=Book Four: Kragnos=
With the end of the Necroquake and Nagash's temporary imprisonment in Nagashizzar, Life goes into ascendance and Alarielle steps in to spread a non-lethal version across the realms known as the Rite of Life. Alarielle's own power, and that of the Sylvaneth, swelled in response but there was a major unintended consequence.

While the spell succeeded in resurrecting the remnants of the oak of ages, combined with the residual effects of the Necroquake, Alarielle's Rite of Life broke the prison of Kragnos, an ancient, destructive god sealed away by Lord Kroak in Ghur during the Age of Myth. Enraged by his captivity, the loss of his people and the fact that human cities have been built on his ancestral lands, Kragnos rampaged across the realm until he reached Excelsis, which is already in the process of being corrupted by followers of Slaanesh.

Kragnos and a Greenskin army manage to smash their way into the city and start wreaking havoc despite Lord Kroak doing his best to mystically reinforce the cities defenses. The carnage is only ended when Slaanesh's twin demons are defeated and Morathi unexpectedly shows up. Working with Lord Kroak, the two trick Kragnos into being teleported away from Excelsis.

There is an epilogue for the four big players of the Saga; Teclis is meditating in space with Celennar when Nagash speaks to Teclis through the curse, promising vengeance for his actions in the Soul Wars. Be'lakor meets the Newborn daemons in Slaanesh's realm and warns them that Grungni's return threatens their plans. Kragnos is found by an isolated Orruk tribe that worships him. Morathi is put on trial for betraying the forces of Order by the Celestant Prime and nearly executed before the newly arrived Grungni points out that Morathi's ascension to godhood saved Excelsis, that they bigger problems to worry about such as the spreading storms of chaos unleashed by Be'lakor.

[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]

Kragnos

2021-06-13T15:20:28Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Broken Realms */

[[File:Kragnos.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
'''Kragnos''', the god of earthquakes and a central leader for the warmongering tribes of destruction.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
Kragnos was born a mortal member of a race of [[centaur]]s living in Ghur called the Drogrukh. The Drogrukh carved caves and made a nation of mountain-sized cities called Donse. They were a fierce yet honorable people, only taking what they needed, and while proclaiming themselves the lords of Ghur, they formed ties with the Draconith Empire; the civilization of the Draconith, a race of reptilian humanoids - separate from the Seraphon - renowned for working with dragons, worshipping Dracothion and their prowess with magic. Together, the Draconith and the Drogrukh won a war that drove the Dragon Ogors out of Ghur before going their separate ways peacefully.

Being a greedy, short-tempered guy even then, Kragnos one day beat the shit out of his brother for the right to the same Drogrukh mare they were both down for. When the Drogrukh elders reprimanded him for it, Kragnos got fed up and decided to strike out with his four best bros, and thus began his violent path that unintentionally led to godhood.

Over the years he accomplished many legendary tasks, some by himself, some with his companions. Among which were crafting the Dread Mace out of the heart of a mountain (which knowing all the living mountains that are in [[Ghur]] is probably literal), climbing the Beastgrave peak and claiming the legendary Shield Involatile, which he made from a disc of rock that [[Gorkamorka (Deity)|Gorkamorka]] himself had broken a tusk on, leaving it with the power to eat spells. His actions earned him the attention and admiration of the Orruks, who named Kragnos "Da Boss Trampla" and his shield "Tuskbreaker". As Kragnos and co. wandered Ghur, he also started killing and eating every big and tough critter he encountered and wiped out any of the nascent Empires that were starting to emerge in Ghur, thus earning him the title of "The End of Empires".

The few local human tribes who survived his rampage began to see him as a god of Earthquakes, while the numerous races of Destruction quickly decided he was a pretty cool guy and began worshipping him in addition to Gorkamorka (aided by the fact that Gorkamorka himself developed a healthy respect for the guy after Kragnos' attack on the Draconine Empire, see below). Given how the power of belief works where Orruks are concerned... Kragnos being the god of Earthquakes became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Humans and Orruks started killing monsters and leaving them as sacrificial offerings to Kragnos - which he happily accepted, as Kragnos actually absorbed more strength from eating the remains of beasts along with offerings of Amberstone. He was happy to be worshipped as a god and co-exist with the greenskins, because the greenskins like him believed that "might makes right". The fact that this stopped the greenskins from attacking his kin back in Donse was lost on Kragnos.

Kragnos and his companions later arrived at the Draconine empire. While they'd never made an alliance, following the defeat of the Dragon Ogors there was a non-aggression pact between them and Kragnos' father Gorgos, along with mutual respect.

But at that point the proud and headstrong Kragnos didn't care about the accord anymore. He saw the Draconith as a challenging foe worthy of his new power. He and his four companions waged war on them, the act of aggression winning the approval of the belligerent god Gorkamorka. The war waged on, with many Draconith dying and Kragnos and his companions taking many wounds. Eventually the Draconith fell back before Kragnos' might... but they gathered their remaining strength to kill Kragnos' four companions, then withdrew from the ruins of Draconith empire to wipe out the Drogrukh cities of Donse in revenge. Ignorant of the destruction of Donse, Kragnos was devastated and enraged by the deaths of his four companions and destroyed everything he could find of the Draconith, determined to erase them from history for the deaths of his friends. This reached such a boiling point that he even smashed Draconith eggs into scrambled abortion.

Kragnos' attempted genocide of the Draconith was the last straw for the forces of Order. Several Draconith sorcerers made contact with the legendary Lord Kroak and, in exchange for giving Kroak the last of their eggs, Lord Kroak helped them deal with Kragnos. Kragnos was sealed away in a mountain, which was then isolated from time by an alliance of sorcerers led by Kroak himself. They had the backing of the godbeast Dracothion as well, who personally restrained Kragnos in his coils as the sorcerers and Kroak wove their spell.

===Soul Wars===
The only notable thing that happened at this time was that Nagash's Necroquake left residual energies that, when combined with their opposite in life, would have devestating consequences on Kragnos' prison.

===Broken Realms===
During the [[Broken Realms Saga|Broken Realms crisis]], the energies of Alarielle's Rite of Life reacted with the energy of the Necroquake and unintentionally broke the spell of Kragnos' prison, allowing him to smash his way free.

Unaware that any time had passed since his imprisonment Kragnos emerged to discover his race had been wiped out entirely. He also discovered that the mortal city of Excelsis had been built on his tribe's former lands. He then began a rampage across Ghur fueled by his anger at captivity and the loss of his people.

Along the way, Kragnos encountered a tribe of five Mega-Gargants, the two immediately attacking each other; the first of several Mega-Gargants to join Kragnos did so after he killed the other four. Then Kragnos ran into Gordrakk's WAAAGH! along with some Gloomspite Gitz lead by the Loonking Skragrott. The armies fight for a bit, with Kragnos fighting Gordrakk and his Maw-Krusha Bigteef before Kragnos triggered a rockslide that buried the three of them. After fighting their way out, Kragnos shrugged and invited the Orruks to help him on his quest to destroy Excelsis...something they were more than happy to do given they were already on their way to do just that when they ran into him.

When they get to the city, Gordrakk jumped off Bigteef to ride his godbeast-skull battering ram as it smashed into the gate... only for Lord Kroak's enchantment to shatter the battering ram and hurl Gordrakk so hard he lost consciousness for a moment. But then Kragnos charged the wall. Kragnos proceeded to smash his way through the Southern Wall of the city while the defenders are distracted by Gordrakk's attack on the North Wall, then he reached the main gate, reared up and hit it with his hooves and club simultaneously. Lord Kroak's enchantments couldn't withstand Kragnos' raw might, and the gate shattered with explosive force on impact. This combined with the city’s Ogor mercenaries revealing themselves to be agents of the Loonking and turning on the defenders allowed the Orruk's and their allies to flood into the city.

Things were looking bleak for the city until help unexpectedly arrived in the form of Morathi who rolled up in a Black Ark along with an army of Daughters of Khaine. After dealing with some Mega-Gargants attacking the city docks, Morathi sicced her second serpentine body on Kragnos to distract him while her elven body sought Lord Kroak who was trying to help out the city with his magical powers.

Finding Kroak, Morathi realized Kragnos is too powerful for any of them to kill as she watched him beat down her serpent body. Barely saving herself from death at Kragnos' club, Morathi convinced Kroak to send Kragnos away where he can be someone else's problem. Kroak opened a massive portal which Morathi cast an illusion on to trick Kragnos into thinking it was a city of his sworn foes, the Draconith Empire (who Morathi knew about from studying their ruins in the Age of Myth). Being about as dumb as he is big, Kragnos fell for the illusion and charged through the portal, which proceeded to drop his ass on the far side of Ghur. Without his presence in the city the Orruk lines begin to crumble allowing the defenders to force them into retreating.

Meanwhile Kragnos, upon realizing he'd been duped, proceeded to take out his frustration on the local Chaos fortress while a bunch of local Orruks, who happened to be an isolated tribe of Kragnos worshippers, looked on in awe at the spectacle.

==Worship==
All the Destruction races have a reverence for Kragnos, some bordering on full on worship. The easy explanation for this being Gorkamorka’s own respect for the End of Empires, which flows down to his children. However each subculture/faction will have additional reasons for following him.

* Orruks of all breeds are the most common followers of Kragnos, who love getting into a good scrap alongside him. Ironjawz in particular follow him as the dead ‘ardest warboss around. The feral Bonesplitterz venerate his beastial appearance and how his godhood was attained via eating the bones of great monsters, literally the cornerstone of their own faith. The Kruleboyz meanwhile are an opportunistic lot who revel in the madness and chaos that ensue following Kragnos’ rampages. A perfect chance for their own sneaky schemes.
* The Grots of the Gloomspite Gitz have a similar mindset like the Kruleboyz; capitalizing on the insanity of Kragnos’ murder spree to pillage and backstab everything in their way.
* Troggoth minds are simple. They see Kragnos, and they know there’s gonna be food wherever he goes. Thus they follow him.
* Ogors of all sorts respect Kragnos’ “eating till you become a god” feat, especially the Gutbusters. The Beastclaw Raiders however focus on his many hunts of great beasts and draconic monsters.
* Gargants respect size above all else. And although most Mega-Gargants are still head and shoulders taller than Kragnos, they recognize his ability to break their knee caps or spines pretty easily.

==Tabletop==
Kragnos can be taken by any {{AOSKeyword|DESTRUCTION}} aligned army.

This big boy is the epitome of the term "mighty glacier". He has a 2+ save, 18 wounds and his shield Tuskbreaker to keep himself alive. Tuskbreaker makes it so if he beats the spells casting value on a 3D6, the spell won't work on him. Note, that’s casting ''value'', not casting ''roll'', so Teclis, Nagash, Kroak? None of their bonuses matter.

Despite his slow speed he hits like a runaway train, fitting for the god of earthquakes. His weapon, The Dread Mace, hits harder than Ghal Maraz itself, wounding on 2's, -3 rend and does 4 damage with each attack, and he has six attacks which doesn't diminish if he takes damage. He can also bash enemies with his shield for three Rend -2, D3 damage hits and hit with his hooves for 2 damage at -1 rend up to six times. He also re-rolls charges and hit rolls against units with the Stardrakes, Drakes, Dracoths and Dracolines keyword due to his hatred of dragons (but somehow not Zombie Dragons).

And then there's his ultimate ability "Rampaging Destruction". After the charge, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 1" or an enemy monster within 1"; if the former is chosen, on a 2+ each unit suffers D6 Mortal Wounds, but monsters get it worse if you choose a the latter. On a roll of 7 nothing happens, otherwise the monster suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the numbers rolled on the dice multiplied... meaning a monster could potentially suffer '''36 MORTAL WOUNDS, AND THAT'S "BEFORE" KRAGNOS ATTACKS IN COMBAT!'''

As the god of earthquakes, he has a roar that can burst eardrums, level buildings and make Bloodthristers look like they have laryngitis. Whenever he suffers wounds, roll a dice for each unit and defensible terrain feature within 6". If the number is equal to or greater than the score on the table (the required score decreasing as Kragnos takes wounds), enemy units within 6" suffer D3 Mortal Wounds and that defensible terrain feature is demolished and no longer defensible (any models garrisoning it are slain if they roll a dice roll of 1).

He also buffs the bravery of all {{AOSKeyword|DESTRUCTION}} units within 12" by 1.

[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]]

Necrarch

2021-06-13T13:07:06Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Distinctive Traits */

The '''Necrarchs''' are a Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] who are notable for worshiping [[Nagash]] and being focused on inventing new spells and other magical shit. They are basically the "Wizard Vampires" of [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

==History==
The Necrarchs descend from W'Soran, the only one of the first vampires who was genuinely loyal to Nagash. When the Father of Necromancy fell in battle, W'Soran and his acolytes gathered as much of Nagash's lore and studies as they could and fled Nehekhara. W'Soran became consumed with the vision of the whole world delivered into undeath, where his children would rule for all eternity over an unliving planet, but knew that the need for living blood made this an impossibility - his experiments in learning to subsist on Dark Magic over blood were partially successful, but cursed the bloodline to hideous forms and broken minds.

W'Soran was betrayed and killed by his foremost apprentice, Melkior, after which the Necrarchs scattered across the world, unable to control their paranoia any longer. They have since become a race of scattered schemers and mad dreamers, working towards the day when W'Soran's vision will become reality.

==Distinctive Traits==
Necrarchs are unusually adept at magic, in no small part due to their love of [[wizard|actively studying how to use necromancy]], in comparison to other vampire Bloodlines, who tend to [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|rely on their instinctual affinity for necromancy spells]]. However, perhaps due to this, Necrarchs suffer an unusual level of physical degeneration; whilst still stronger, tougher and faster compared to a normal human, they are outdone in all of these capacities by the other Bloodlines - way back in 6th edition, the drawbacks for taking the Necrarch Bloodline were that your vampire couldn't use mundane armor or weapons, and suffered a -2 to Weapon Skill, in exchange for their +1 bonus to casting rolls and Thralls gaining the ability to use Arcane items.

Related to this, Necrarchs are also one of the two most hideous Bloodlines of the Vampire Counts, next to the [[Strigoi]]. Although immortal, a Necrarch's body withers and decays, reducing them to gaunt, almost [[lich]]-like figures of leathery skin stretched taut over frail bone, shrouded by the stink of decay and rot. Of all the vampires, Necrarchs need to feed the least frequently - as little as once a year, and often conduct experiments seeking to free themselves from bloodthirst altogether.

The Witchsight - the ability to perceive the Winds of Magic - is overwhelmingly strong for a Necrarch vampire. The material world in which they inhabit is a misty, foggy, unreal-seeming place to their eyes, whilst the spirits of the dead, corpses, and places abounding in Death Magic are all crystal clear and realer-than-real to them. This only adds to their propensity to seem, if not be, raving mad.

The Necrarchs are characterized by an unusual fixation on the notion of fate and prophecy, and by a level of paranoia considered out-of-hand even by other vampires.

==Relations==
The Necrarchs are the most isolationist of all the vampires. With little need for blood, and gripped by a Bloodline-wide sense of paranoia and possessive jealousy, they shun the company of all others, creating new Necrarchs rarely and reluctantly. A Necrarch typically dwells in a forbidding tower or crypt somewhere in the deep wilderness, surrounded by the undead; the only living beings willing to coexist with Necrarchs are usually [[mutant]]s, madmen, outcasts or [[necromancer]]s. They look down on the other Bloodlines, and trust them even less than they do each other. They believe that their kinsfolk will be destroyed when the world undergoes its "rebirth", since they are too foolish to learn to subsist without blood like the Necrarchs do.

==Necrarchs at War==
Necrarch legions are typically much larger than those of other Vampire Counts, since the Necrarchs are more adept at raising the dead. They heavily bolster their forces with necromantic constructs or the more powerful breeds of undead monster, such as Zombie Dragons and Terrorgheists, due to that self-same greater affinity for studied and controlled magic.

==External Link==
* https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Necrarch

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Vampire Counts]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-06-13T12:58:42Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Forces */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the [[Stormcast Eternals|fuckboys]]!}}

{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}
{{topquote|Debt, an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.|Ambrose Bierce}}
{{topquote|The bones of the skeleton which support the body can become the bars of the cage which imprison the spirit.|J. Ruth Gendler}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes (designed and sculpted by [[Maxime Corbeil]], a former dentist), the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers'''
(Also known as '''The Boney Boys''', '''Bonecast''', '''Tomb Kings 2.0''', '''Bonechads''', '''Nagash's Taxmen''', '''The Boney Bean Counters''', '''Ossiarch Bean Counters''' or '''The IRS''') are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, making them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs priest characters, architect characters and skull-throwing catapults... they're currently the closest thing we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

They also carry out the Bone Tithe; in addition to going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements they encounter a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Being unable to pay or even being rude to them also provokes a slaughter.

Visually-speaking, they're what happens when Games Workshop decides to mix [[Tyranids]], [[Tomb Kings]], and [[Necrons]] into one army.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
[[File:Slaves to Darkness vs Ossiarch Bonereapers 01.jpg|right|300px|thumb|SKULLS FOR <s>THE SKULL THRONE</s> Nagash! And all the other bones too!]]
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly began experimenting on undead, combining their bones and souls into newer, stronger undead warriors; the [[Morghasts/Hammurai|Morghasts]] and the first Bonereapers. Most were put into massive underground crypts Nagash secretly built beneath the cities of Order, but others were kept on the surface and brought into battle with the armies of the other gods.

The other gods saw the Bonereapers and really didn't like them because of how unnatural they were, even for undead. In response, Nagash sent these Bonereapers to the edge of Shyish to lay low until he called on them (these Bonereapers who would go on to form the Null Myriad). He also sent at least twenty of them to wander the Realms on a long-forgotten mission (these would go on to become the Petrifex Elite).

Strangely, none of the Order groups noticed until however long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts full of undead warriors beneath their cities. Especially since they know about and need to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]]

===Age of Chaos===
The Age of Chaos only affected the Bonereapers garrisoned at the edge of Shyish. By that time they had become resistant to magic, and they fought against demonic armies, their actions blunting the assault of Chaos on Shyish. During this time, Katakros led an army against Sigmar himself on Nagash's orders while the former was pursuing the latter for his betrayal. The battle resulted in the loss of Katakros' army, the Mortarch's defeat and subsequent confinement to a Stormvault.

===Age of Sigmar===
In the lead-up to the Soul Wars, Katakros was freed from the Stormvault by fellow Mortarch, Lady Olynder. The Bonereapers on the edge of Shyish acted as a military force protecting the skeletal work crews who carried grains of Shyishan realmstone to Nagashizzar for Nagash to use to build the Black Pyramid.

===Soul Wars===
After the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seemed to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar had strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|said Mortarch]].

When the Bonereaper legions arrived in Shyish, Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and perfected the process. This involves taking souls and distilling them down to their most choice elements. This involves ripping apart their identity and keeping parts considered useful (such as skills and knowledge) while discarding the parts that aren't useful (such as fear and loyalty to anything but Nagash) and replacing those parts with something better (like loyalty to Nagash), with the strongest-willed soul among them becoming the identity of the new Bonereaper. Then these fragmented souls are put into specially crafted bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

The Bonereapers subsequently had a meteoric rise, making their mark - and several enemies - across the realms. After establishing their powerbase in Shyish, the Ironjawz Warclan the Kryptboyz have focused their efforts on fighting the Bonereapers due to wanting to destroy their settlements and wear their bones as trophies. In Chamon, the Null Myriad encountered the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizard Constellation and got embroiled in wars for control of the realm's edge. The Ivory Host legion gained a foothold in Ghur - Katakros' realm origin, and in building their cities they've positioned themselves for conflict with several Mawtribes and the free city of Excelsis. The Ivory Host also clashed with an [[Sons of Behemat|infamous Mega-Gargant who went on to become the mercenary known as One-Eyed Grunnock]].

This was followed by the Bonereapers most notable conflict; the War for the Eightpoints. Katakros led the Mortis Praetorians and detachments from other Legions into the Eightpoints alongside Olynder and a Nighthaunt army to take the Eightpoints for Nagash. They succeeded in capturing and fortifying the realmgate leading to Shyish, and established a fortified citadel around it as a base of operations. However, Katakros' campaign was halted by the return of Archaon, who personally defeated him in battle. Following Katakros' restoration, the conflict became a stalemate and a war of attrition.

===Broken Realms===
When Morathi entered the Eightpoints in her plan to secure Varanite, she secretly sent an envoy to Katakros, giving him several tonnes of bones infused with the magic of Ulgu in exchange for a Bonereaper attack on Archaon's holdings to distract the forces of Chaos. Knowing the forces of order will take losses in their unknown (to Katakros and the Stormcast) endeavor, Katakros accepted the bargain.

Shortly after this, Teclis confronted Nagash, and unsuccessfully tried to threaten him into backing down. Then, he and the Lumineth launched an invasion of Shyish to end the Soul Wars and make Nagash pay for the Necroquake. They proved a force that could match the Bonereapers in battle, winning numerous conflicts and destroying citadels before <s>fleeing</s> going back to Hysh, as the battles were to send the message that the Bonereapers aren't unbeatable. But the Bonereapers used the dead of both sides to replenish their losses, and were now eager for payback. A Null Myriad army led by Arkhan himself invaded Hysh and press-ganged the Mordant Courts hiding in Avalenor's mountains to join Nagash and <s>give the Lumineth a right proper boning</s> help conquer Ymetrica by setting up a mini-Nadir in Hysh.

End result, the Bonereapers got worfed like a 40k Avatar of [[Khaine]] fighting Ultramarines. While Mannfred and Neferata merely failed and fled, Arkhan got slain/banished off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion. The Lumineth burned their dead to limit the Ossiarch’s recruitment, forcing them to harvest the bones of their own ghoul allies, causing more trouble as the Flesh-Eater Courts fought back. Then Nagash personally arrived in Hysh to create a mini-Nadir by sacrificing Avalenor, but was forced to do battle against Teclis, with each god’s respective armies doing battle beneath their feet.

Despite managing to mark Teclis with some unspecified death magic, Teclis won due to some unexpected allies in Alarielle and several Luminarks, culminating in the destruction of Nagash's books, Nagash himself being beaten and imprisoned in Nagashizzar and Teclis personally undoing the Necroquake, with the remaining Bonereapers put to the blade.

With Nagash imprisoned (for the time being), Arkhan deader than ever before if not gone for good, and the other forces of death likely to splinter off and carve their own trails of carnage, the Ossiarch are the only remnant of their master’s will. There is also a looming Slaaneshi invasion on the horizon, as the reborn [[Sigvald]] seeks to avenge his Shadeglass imprisonment by destroying Nagash's beloved pet project. Since then, Nagash has been slowly regaining his power and awareness and already begun working on his vengeance, even interruption Teclis' meditation to promise reprisals.

Meanwhile, Katakros has become fixated on the campaign in the Eightpoints, dismissing Olynder's working with Be'lakor because it hurt Sigmar. But he remains aware of the politics of the death factions, as shown when he called out Neferata when she disparaged Olynder, accusing her of trying to discredit Olynder to raise herself up further.

==Society==
[[File:Ossiarch Bonereapers Society.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "pyramid scheme".]]
All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, then Mortarchs Katakros and Arhkan, then the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath and various ranks beneath that. The Bonereaper caste system has a cartouche representing each caste (though Nagash's is just to symbolize him). While there is a Mortarch cartouche, only Katakros wears it because Arkhan predates the Bonereaper system (and everyone but Nagash) by several eons, and despite their alliance he's too proud to wear Katakros' symbol. While they're all obedient to Nagash and fearless, the Bonereapers used in battle are sapient and the characters at least have enough individuality to have names and some personality, though they tend to be pragmatic, work-oriented and elitist. Having said that, they are still capable of doubt and camaraderie which can make them question, regret or even challenge their orders.

While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of groups such as crafters and preachers. There is movement between castes, but only downwards, and as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider. If the offense was major, they might get remade as a steed. The lowest caste are the exiles collectively referred to as Parrha, consisting of the worst offenders who get broken and remade into warped skeletal aberrations incapable of fighting and the Bonereapers value them less than the Imperial Guard values the life of its rank and file soldiers (for the uninitiated, that's really saying something).

The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the majority of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories. Apart from Shyish, the largest concentrations of Bonereapers are in Ghur and Chamon.

The Ossiarch Bonereapers build according to principles laid down in the Principia Necrotopia, a set of guidelines that ensure optimal construction:

In the first stages of colonizing a new region, the Ossiarchs will establish tithing sites. Presumably, this involves mapping out surrounding settlements and segments of the region into their own tributaries, with each section's inhabitants made to sign a contract to begin paying the Tithe. They contruct shrines known as Bone-Tithe Nexus, which act as locations for vassals to dump their bones and are enchanted to give out powerful curses to ward off any scavengers seeking to steal from it.

Next, they will fortify key territories with small fortifications, following up with a number of Mortisan workshops to fuel the next stage of their expansion. These small holdings will eventually develop into vast and imposing fortresses, growing ever upward as the Bonereapers’ numbers grow. These are not just barracks, but places of culture for the Ossiarchs.

Ossiarch scholars will endlessly study scrolls in charnel libraries, recording the details of cultures in the Mortal Realms they have subjugated and those they seek to subjugate. These vast citadel-states eventually resemble Nagashizzar itself.

===The Bone Tithe===
[[File:Bone tithe.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Put your spines into it. Literally!]]
The Bone Tithe is instrumental to their society and Nagash's way of setting himself up as mob boss of the realms. Upon arriving in an area, the Ossiarchs send out scouts to get the lay of the land. When they find a settlement they want tribute from, a representative - in practice usually a Mortisan - approaches and makes them an offer they can't refuse; give "x" by the deadline at regular intervals, or we kill you all now and take what we want. To communicate, the Bonereapers draw on prior research for the local language; it doesn't matter if the vernacular's out of date by a few centuries or so, as long as they can be understood. If that doesn't work, the Bonereapers use other means, including killing a local and using their spirit as a translator if all else fails. If the locals refuse, attack them or are rude enough, [[Grimdark|the Bonereapers make good on their threat, slaughtering everything in the settlement that has bones, right down to the last child and stray animal]]. If they are feeling "nice", the Bonereapers might only kill the dissenters.

When demanding the Bone Tithe, what/who the bones come from and the required amount depends on the situation and Bonereaper legion. Human bone is the most widely used, with ogor bones a close second; duardin bones are liked for their durability but aren't common enough, aelf bones are slightly more common but don't replenish fast enough and greenskin bones are very common but coarse, porous and prone to spontaneous fungal growth unless treated properly. While animal bones are also used - such as for Kavalos steeds or Gothizzar Harvesters - that's not always the case and it depends on the animal (Rhinoxen and Bleaklake crocodiles are popular choices). How the bones are acquired is irrelevant, the most common options ranging from emptying the local cemetery to [[Grimdark|having everyone eligible give a limb or holding a lottery where those chosen are killed and the bones taken from their corpses]].

The Bonereapers (though inbuilt or learned ability, it's not clear) CAN tell the difference between what race or species a specific bone comes from, so trying to cheat them with different kinds of bone doesn't work. They also respond to trickery the same way they respond to failure or refusal - immediate slaughter (as a human town learned to their cost when they tried to trick the Bonereapers by mixing pig bones in with human bones). Even other Death factions aren't exempt from the Bone Tithe, as the Bonereapers' laws consider their charge from Nagash to supersede any commonalities with his other followers (callous elitism isn't good for alliances, reflected in the rules by the Bonereapers not being able to take allies outside Drogg Fort-Kicka).

Sometimes things are even worse than the above. A particularly war-horny leader, most often from the Stalliarch Lords (more on them below), will give nigh-impossible demands to increase the chance of failure. What kinds of demands? How about asking a city's population for detailed records on everyone's family lineage going back to the founders and the condition of every bone in the city ''including bones still inside the living inhabitants''. Or maybe they ask for just one ton of bones ''every day'' (for extra lulz, the offer is made at night and has to be completed the next day). They might instead, or also, [[That Guy|arrive early to extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it]]. However it ends, the bones of the Ossiarch's victims are sorted through, the good bones taken for future use the sub-par ones discarded (same with their victims souls). Strips of skin and flesh from these unfortunates are hung from the Bonereapers' spears as a warning to anyone who considers not paying the Tithe.

Ultimately, they have a term related to the Bone Tithe called the “Terminus Concept”. This refers to the point where a society can't provide enough bones so they get slaughtered and their bones are taken. For the truth is that the Bone Tithe is ultimately unsustainable for the payers, and the Bonereapers know it. This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a <s>boner</s> [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick]] about it.

==Forces==
[[File:Bonereaper army.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]
*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, they have the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons. Their primary role is to create massive shield walls to protect their leaders.
*'''Morghast Harbingers and Archai:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was now served as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). Harbingers are your chargey bois, while the Archai are bodyguard bois.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Four-armed skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters with four faces, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly. Their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other. Like the Morghasts, Immortis are the bodyguard bois to the Stalkers' chargey bois.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Bony heavy cavalry rivalling Blood Knights for the position of "best undead cavalry", each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant. They have undead birds roosting on their banner poles that act as spies and messenger birds. For added creep factor, these guys normally walk at a slow and ominous trot, only sprinting when going into a headlong charge and don't bother to clean themselves while hunting a target.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. In addition to flaming skulls, it can also hurl a cauldron of Death Magic that works based on bravery or a cursed stone that gets more powerful the more damage the Crawler takes. It's also powered by a bone-made hamster wheel and multiple legs.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and half a skeleton for a codpiece that helps harvest bones. The Harvester uses them to make new constructs on the fly or repair damaged ones. Their weapon arms come with either enchanted maces or scything blades for hands.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:''' Your offensive caster for the Bonereapers with a scythe that doesn't like hordes.
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers/builders of the Bonereapers. Formed from the souls of artists, they’re in charge of building the extravagant bone cities and other architecture of the legions. They all possess a friendly rivalry with each other that pushes them to one up another’s artwork.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans with four arms who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

===Famous Legions===
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The 10,000 strong personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life. They have gained a fearsome reputation for their tactical acumen, especially in Shyish. [[Ultramarines|The poster boys who are a jack-of-all-trades, big on tactics and led by an ancient leader who was the basis for future generations]]. They also have the only two Bonereapers with a single original soul; Katakros himself and Zandtos.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Made up of nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, they are known for being slow-moving and a near impenetrable wall of bone. While fossilized bone tends to be fragile, the Petrifex Elite enchant them to be tough and also include already supernaturally tough bones among them (ie; the bones of godbeasts). Led by Mortisans, [[Necrons|they only exist to slay and find ancient bones to build more of themselves and make themselves even deadlier]]. They have forgotten why Nagash wants them to do this, and their leaders eschew personal identity to the point of using titles instead of names, as mandated by their leader and most senior Mortisan, the Grand Necromystic.
* '''Null Myriad''': The first Ossiarch Bonereapers made during Nagash's experiments in the Age of Myth. The Null Myriad were later refined and bolstered using the bones and souls of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid and the best of Arkhan's Black Disciples. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were given to Arkhan to be his personal legion; they're so loyal to Arkhan that they defer to him even over Katakros himself. Their resistance to magic extends to the power of Chaos, so they're used to inhabit the most inhospitable parts of the realms. Recently Arkhan made an alliance with Katakros, and the Null Myriad's job is to secure magic-heavy locations in the realms so Katakros can control the sources of their magic. The Null Myriad forces in Chamon have come into conflict with the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizards Constellation who also dwell there.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slavering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones. Tasked by Nagash to conquer Ghur, they overcompensate for their bestial anger by being meticulously clean and making everything of theirs as much of a work of art as possible. Also known for [[Tomb Kings|being the only Ossiarchs who build ships, use the color gold regularly in their attire and are led by a monarch]]. Currently they’ve claimed the realmgate of Greedmouth and established the Ivory Citadel in the southwestern corner of the Ghurish Heartlands, putting them awfully close to numerous [[Ogor Mawtribes]] and the [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] of Excelsis.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who are [[Creed|skillful tacticians]] and like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities and slaughter people (on the rare occasion that someone meets their outrageous demands they keep their word... but remember the Terminus Concept). They take the freshest remains whenever possible to maximize how much they're infused with essence of the slain, which gives them more speed and vitality than other Bonereaper Legions and often a blood-slicked appearance. Basically [[That Guy]] as a cavalry-loving undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them have recently realized that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that. In fact, their leaders [[Noblebright|have made pacts of friendship to repair each other if any of them are destroyed and the chief Liege-Kavalos scours the libraries of everyone they encounter in the hopes of finding a way to undo their fiery curse, and is implied to be on the verge of a breakthrough]].

==Significant Skeletons==
* '''[[Katakros|Orpheon Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants; the Liege-Immortis, the Aviarch Spymaster, the Gnosis Scrollbearer, and the Prime Necrophoros.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos has been Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. In life he was a refined, death-obsessed assassin who treated killing as a sacred art that should be as clean as possible and thus hated the loud, messy butchery of battle. In undeath, through the manipulations of Nagash and Katakros, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle. Though officially he’s under Katakros and Arkhan in the OBR hierarchy, he’ll only receive/carry out orders from Big Bone Daddy himself...which might be a bit difficult now that Nagash was sealed away by Teclis.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one. While he has his own private legion in the Null Myriad, his authority is recognized by all the Ossiarch legions. He was recently thrown off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion, with him and his Dread Abyssal disappearing in a burst of light magic. While it's unlikely that Arkhan is gone for good, he's deader than ever before.
*'''Xaramos''': A Mortisan Boneshaper of the Mortis Praetorians, skilled in both diplomacy and keeping the legion operating at full efficiency. He assisted Arkhan in his counter invasion of Ymetrica in Hysh, where he put his diplomatic skills to use in acquiring the assistance of the [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Vertigon Court]] to defeat the Lumineth aelves and formed an unexpected friendship with the Ghoul King Varshorn. When relations turned sour over the Bone Tithe, the personal forces of Xaramos and Varshorn battled amidst the gore-caked caverns of the Starfang Mont in a conflict later the Charnel War, with hints that Xaramos regretted fighting Vashorn. Xaramos died permanently in the last battle, personally decapitated by Vashorn.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DsZivjop_s Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5n5qo8b1pA March for the Tithe!]

==Trivia==
* The architecture of the Ossiarch Bonereapers was likely inspired by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary Sedlec Ossuary] in the Czech Republic. The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic church where the bones of thousands of people have been artistically arranged to form the decorations and the furnishings of the chapel (it's also called "the Bone Church"). This was done several centuries ago for creative interment reasons with many dead and not enough space to bury them on holy ground.
* On a comical note, "Kavalos", the name for Bonereaper cavalry, translates to "crotch" in Greek (the Greek word is "kaválos"). Makes more sense when you think of [[Katakros]]' defining trait lookswise, and how his name even sounds like the Greek word.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bonereaper vs Kharadron.jpg|Sky Pirates vs Bone Golems.
File:Cavalry-bonereapers.jpg|As if Blood Knights weren't bad enough, Bone Daddy brings out Kavalos Deathriders too.
File:Gothizzar Harvester.jpg|"Oh those bones, oh those bones, oh those skeleton bones. Oh mercy how they scare! With the toe bone connected to the foot bone..."
File:Bonereaper city.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Welcome to Necrotopia. Please remember to remove all skin and flesh before you reach customs.
</gallery>

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

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

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-06-13T12:57:17Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Broken Realms */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the [[Stormcast Eternals|fuckboys]]!}}

{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}
{{topquote|Debt, an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.|Ambrose Bierce}}
{{topquote|The bones of the skeleton which support the body can become the bars of the cage which imprison the spirit.|J. Ruth Gendler}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes (designed and sculpted by [[Maxime Corbeil]], a former dentist), the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers'''
(Also known as '''The Boney Boys''', '''Bonecast''', '''Tomb Kings 2.0''', '''Bonechads''', '''Nagash's Taxmen''', '''The Boney Bean Counters''', '''Ossiarch Bean Counters''' or '''The IRS''') are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, making them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs priest characters, architect characters and skull-throwing catapults... they're currently the closest thing we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

They also carry out the Bone Tithe; in addition to going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements they encounter a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Being unable to pay or even being rude to them also provokes a slaughter.

Visually-speaking, they're what happens when Games Workshop decides to mix [[Tyranids]], [[Tomb Kings]], and [[Necrons]] into one army.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
[[File:Slaves to Darkness vs Ossiarch Bonereapers 01.jpg|right|300px|thumb|SKULLS FOR <s>THE SKULL THRONE</s> Nagash! And all the other bones too!]]
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly began experimenting on undead, combining their bones and souls into newer, stronger undead warriors; the [[Morghasts/Hammurai|Morghasts]] and the first Bonereapers. Most were put into massive underground crypts Nagash secretly built beneath the cities of Order, but others were kept on the surface and brought into battle with the armies of the other gods.

The other gods saw the Bonereapers and really didn't like them because of how unnatural they were, even for undead. In response, Nagash sent these Bonereapers to the edge of Shyish to lay low until he called on them (these Bonereapers who would go on to form the Null Myriad). He also sent at least twenty of them to wander the Realms on a long-forgotten mission (these would go on to become the Petrifex Elite).

Strangely, none of the Order groups noticed until however long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts full of undead warriors beneath their cities. Especially since they know about and need to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]]

===Age of Chaos===
The Age of Chaos only affected the Bonereapers garrisoned at the edge of Shyish. By that time they had become resistant to magic, and they fought against demonic armies, their actions blunting the assault of Chaos on Shyish. During this time, Katakros led an army against Sigmar himself on Nagash's orders while the former was pursuing the latter for his betrayal. The battle resulted in the loss of Katakros' army, the Mortarch's defeat and subsequent confinement to a Stormvault.

===Age of Sigmar===
In the lead-up to the Soul Wars, Katakros was freed from the Stormvault by fellow Mortarch, Lady Olynder. The Bonereapers on the edge of Shyish acted as a military force protecting the skeletal work crews who carried grains of Shyishan realmstone to Nagashizzar for Nagash to use to build the Black Pyramid.

===Soul Wars===
After the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seemed to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar had strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|said Mortarch]].

When the Bonereaper legions arrived in Shyish, Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and perfected the process. This involves taking souls and distilling them down to their most choice elements. This involves ripping apart their identity and keeping parts considered useful (such as skills and knowledge) while discarding the parts that aren't useful (such as fear and loyalty to anything but Nagash) and replacing those parts with something better (like loyalty to Nagash), with the strongest-willed soul among them becoming the identity of the new Bonereaper. Then these fragmented souls are put into specially crafted bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

The Bonereapers subsequently had a meteoric rise, making their mark - and several enemies - across the realms. After establishing their powerbase in Shyish, the Ironjawz Warclan the Kryptboyz have focused their efforts on fighting the Bonereapers due to wanting to destroy their settlements and wear their bones as trophies. In Chamon, the Null Myriad encountered the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizard Constellation and got embroiled in wars for control of the realm's edge. The Ivory Host legion gained a foothold in Ghur - Katakros' realm origin, and in building their cities they've positioned themselves for conflict with several Mawtribes and the free city of Excelsis. The Ivory Host also clashed with an [[Sons of Behemat|infamous Mega-Gargant who went on to become the mercenary known as One-Eyed Grunnock]].

This was followed by the Bonereapers most notable conflict; the War for the Eightpoints. Katakros led the Mortis Praetorians and detachments from other Legions into the Eightpoints alongside Olynder and a Nighthaunt army to take the Eightpoints for Nagash. They succeeded in capturing and fortifying the realmgate leading to Shyish, and established a fortified citadel around it as a base of operations. However, Katakros' campaign was halted by the return of Archaon, who personally defeated him in battle. Following Katakros' restoration, the conflict became a stalemate and a war of attrition.

===Broken Realms===
When Morathi entered the Eightpoints in her plan to secure Varanite, she secretly sent an envoy to Katakros, giving him several tonnes of bones infused with the magic of Ulgu in exchange for a Bonereaper attack on Archaon's holdings to distract the forces of Chaos. Knowing the forces of order will take losses in their unknown (to Katakros and the Stormcast) endeavor, Katakros accepted the bargain.

Shortly after this, Teclis confronted Nagash, and unsuccessfully tried to threaten him into backing down. Then, he and the Lumineth launched an invasion of Shyish to end the Soul Wars and make Nagash pay for the Necroquake. They proved a force that could match the Bonereapers in battle, winning numerous conflicts and destroying citadels before <s>fleeing</s> going back to Hysh, as the battles were to send the message that the Bonereapers aren't unbeatable. But the Bonereapers used the dead of both sides to replenish their losses, and were now eager for payback. A Null Myriad army led by Arkhan himself invaded Hysh and press-ganged the Mordant Courts hiding in Avalenor's mountains to join Nagash and <s>give the Lumineth a right proper boning</s> help conquer Ymetrica by setting up a mini-Nadir in Hysh.

End result, the Bonereapers got worfed like a 40k Avatar of [[Khaine]] fighting Ultramarines. While Mannfred and Neferata merely failed and fled, Arkhan got slain/banished off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion. The Lumineth burned their dead to limit the Ossiarch’s recruitment, forcing them to harvest the bones of their own ghoul allies, causing more trouble as the Flesh-Eater Courts fought back. Then Nagash personally arrived in Hysh to create a mini-Nadir by sacrificing Avalenor, but was forced to do battle against Teclis, with each god’s respective armies doing battle beneath their feet.

Despite managing to mark Teclis with some unspecified death magic, Teclis won due to some unexpected allies in Alarielle and several Luminarks, culminating in the destruction of Nagash's books, Nagash himself being beaten and imprisoned in Nagashizzar and Teclis personally undoing the Necroquake, with the remaining Bonereapers put to the blade.

With Nagash imprisoned (for the time being), Arkhan deader than ever before if not gone for good, and the other forces of death likely to splinter off and carve their own trails of carnage, the Ossiarch are the only remnant of their master’s will. There is also a looming Slaaneshi invasion on the horizon, as the reborn [[Sigvald]] seeks to avenge his Shadeglass imprisonment by destroying Nagash's beloved pet project. Since then, Nagash has been slowly regaining his power and awareness and already begun working on his vengeance, even interruption Teclis' meditation to promise reprisals.

Meanwhile, Katakros has become fixated on the campaign in the Eightpoints, dismissing Olynder's working with Be'lakor because it hurt Sigmar. But he remains aware of the politics of the death factions, as shown when he called out Neferata when she disparaged Olynder, accusing her of trying to discredit Olynder to raise herself up further.

==Society==
[[File:Ossiarch Bonereapers Society.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "pyramid scheme".]]
All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, then Mortarchs Katakros and Arhkan, then the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath and various ranks beneath that. The Bonereaper caste system has a cartouche representing each caste (though Nagash's is just to symbolize him). While there is a Mortarch cartouche, only Katakros wears it because Arkhan predates the Bonereaper system (and everyone but Nagash) by several eons, and despite their alliance he's too proud to wear Katakros' symbol. While they're all obedient to Nagash and fearless, the Bonereapers used in battle are sapient and the characters at least have enough individuality to have names and some personality, though they tend to be pragmatic, work-oriented and elitist. Having said that, they are still capable of doubt and camaraderie which can make them question, regret or even challenge their orders.

While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of groups such as crafters and preachers. There is movement between castes, but only downwards, and as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider. If the offense was major, they might get remade as a steed. The lowest caste are the exiles collectively referred to as Parrha, consisting of the worst offenders who get broken and remade into warped skeletal aberrations incapable of fighting and the Bonereapers value them less than the Imperial Guard values the life of its rank and file soldiers (for the uninitiated, that's really saying something).

The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the majority of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories. Apart from Shyish, the largest concentrations of Bonereapers are in Ghur and Chamon.

The Ossiarch Bonereapers build according to principles laid down in the Principia Necrotopia, a set of guidelines that ensure optimal construction:

In the first stages of colonizing a new region, the Ossiarchs will establish tithing sites. Presumably, this involves mapping out surrounding settlements and segments of the region into their own tributaries, with each section's inhabitants made to sign a contract to begin paying the Tithe. They contruct shrines known as Bone-Tithe Nexus, which act as locations for vassals to dump their bones and are enchanted to give out powerful curses to ward off any scavengers seeking to steal from it.

Next, they will fortify key territories with small fortifications, following up with a number of Mortisan workshops to fuel the next stage of their expansion. These small holdings will eventually develop into vast and imposing fortresses, growing ever upward as the Bonereapers’ numbers grow. These are not just barracks, but places of culture for the Ossiarchs.

Ossiarch scholars will endlessly study scrolls in charnel libraries, recording the details of cultures in the Mortal Realms they have subjugated and those they seek to subjugate. These vast citadel-states eventually resemble Nagashizzar itself.

===The Bone Tithe===
[[File:Bone tithe.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Put your spines into it. Literally!]]
The Bone Tithe is instrumental to their society and Nagash's way of setting himself up as mob boss of the realms. Upon arriving in an area, the Ossiarchs send out scouts to get the lay of the land. When they find a settlement they want tribute from, a representative - in practice usually a Mortisan - approaches and makes them an offer they can't refuse; give "x" by the deadline at regular intervals, or we kill you all now and take what we want. To communicate, the Bonereapers draw on prior research for the local language; it doesn't matter if the vernacular's out of date by a few centuries or so, as long as they can be understood. If that doesn't work, the Bonereapers use other means, including killing a local and using their spirit as a translator if all else fails. If the locals refuse, attack them or are rude enough, [[Grimdark|the Bonereapers make good on their threat, slaughtering everything in the settlement that has bones, right down to the last child and stray animal]]. If they are feeling "nice", the Bonereapers might only kill the dissenters.

When demanding the Bone Tithe, what/who the bones come from and the required amount depends on the situation and Bonereaper legion. Human bone is the most widely used, with ogor bones a close second; duardin bones are liked for their durability but aren't common enough, aelf bones are slightly more common but don't replenish fast enough and greenskin bones are very common but coarse, porous and prone to spontaneous fungal growth unless treated properly. While animal bones are also used - such as for Kavalos steeds or Gothizzar Harvesters - that's not always the case and it depends on the animal (Rhinoxen and Bleaklake crocodiles are popular choices). How the bones are acquired is irrelevant, the most common options ranging from emptying the local cemetery to [[Grimdark|having everyone eligible give a limb or holding a lottery where those chosen are killed and the bones taken from their corpses]].

The Bonereapers (though inbuilt or learned ability, it's not clear) CAN tell the difference between what race or species a specific bone comes from, so trying to cheat them with different kinds of bone doesn't work. They also respond to trickery the same way they respond to failure or refusal - immediate slaughter (as a human town learned to their cost when they tried to trick the Bonereapers by mixing pig bones in with human bones). Even other Death factions aren't exempt from the Bone Tithe, as the Bonereapers' laws consider their charge from Nagash to supersede any commonalities with his other followers (callous elitism isn't good for alliances, reflected in the rules by the Bonereapers not being able to take allies outside Drogg Fort-Kicka).

Sometimes things are even worse than the above. A particularly war-horny leader, most often from the Stalliarch Lords (more on them below), will give nigh-impossible demands to increase the chance of failure. What kinds of demands? How about asking a city's population for detailed records on everyone's family lineage going back to the founders and the condition of every bone in the city ''including bones still inside the living inhabitants''. Or maybe they ask for just one ton of bones ''every day'' (for extra lulz, the offer is made at night and has to be completed the next day). They might instead, or also, [[That Guy|arrive early to extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it]]. However it ends, the bones of the Ossiarch's victims are sorted through, the good bones taken for future use the sub-par ones discarded (same with their victims souls). Strips of skin and flesh from these unfortunates are hung from the Bonereapers' spears as a warning to anyone who considers not paying the Tithe.

Ultimately, they have a term related to the Bone Tithe called the “Terminus Concept”. This refers to the point where a society can't provide enough bones so they get slaughtered and their bones are taken. For the truth is that the Bone Tithe is ultimately unsustainable for the payers, and the Bonereapers know it. This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a <s>boner</s> [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick]] about it.

==Forces==
[[File:Bonereaper army.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]
*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, they have the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons. Their primary role is to create massive shield walls to protect their leaders.
*'''Morghast Harbingers and Archai:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was now served as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). Harbingers are your chargey bois, while the Archai are bodyguard bois.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Four-armed skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters with four faces, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly. Their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other. Like the Morghasts, Immortis are the bodyguard bois to the Stalkers' chargey bois.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Bony heavy cavalry rivalling Blood Knights for the position of "best undead cavalry", each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant. They have undead birds roosting on their banner poles that act as spies and messenger birds. For added creep factor, these guys normally walk at a slow and ominous trot, only sprinting when going into a headlong charge.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. In addition to flaming skulls, it can also hurl a cauldron of Death Magic that works based on bravery or a cursed stone that gets more powerful the more damage the Crawler takes. It's also powered by a bone-made hamster wheel and multiple legs.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and half a skeleton for a codpiece that helps harvest bones. The Harvester uses them to make new constructs on the fly or repair damaged ones. Their weapon arms come with either enchanted maces or scything blades for hands.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:''' Your offensive caster for the Bonereapers with a scythe that doesn't like hordes.
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers/builders of the Bonereapers. Formed from the souls of artists, they’re in charge of building the extravagant bone cities and other architecture of the legions. They all possess a friendly rivalry with each other that pushes them to one up another’s artwork.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans with four arms who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

===Famous Legions===
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The 10,000 strong personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life. They have gained a fearsome reputation for their tactical acumen, especially in Shyish. [[Ultramarines|The poster boys who are a jack-of-all-trades, big on tactics and led by an ancient leader who was the basis for future generations]]. They also have the only two Bonereapers with a single original soul; Katakros himself and Zandtos.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Made up of nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, they are known for being slow-moving and a near impenetrable wall of bone. While fossilized bone tends to be fragile, the Petrifex Elite enchant them to be tough and also include already supernaturally tough bones among them (ie; the bones of godbeasts). Led by Mortisans, [[Necrons|they only exist to slay and find ancient bones to build more of themselves and make themselves even deadlier]]. They have forgotten why Nagash wants them to do this, and their leaders eschew personal identity to the point of using titles instead of names, as mandated by their leader and most senior Mortisan, the Grand Necromystic.
* '''Null Myriad''': The first Ossiarch Bonereapers made during Nagash's experiments in the Age of Myth. The Null Myriad were later refined and bolstered using the bones and souls of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid and the best of Arkhan's Black Disciples. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were given to Arkhan to be his personal legion; they're so loyal to Arkhan that they defer to him even over Katakros himself. Their resistance to magic extends to the power of Chaos, so they're used to inhabit the most inhospitable parts of the realms. Recently Arkhan made an alliance with Katakros, and the Null Myriad's job is to secure magic-heavy locations in the realms so Katakros can control the sources of their magic. The Null Myriad forces in Chamon have come into conflict with the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizards Constellation who also dwell there.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slavering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones. Tasked by Nagash to conquer Ghur, they overcompensate for their bestial anger by being meticulously clean and making everything of theirs as much of a work of art as possible. Also known for [[Tomb Kings|being the only Ossiarchs who build ships, use the color gold regularly in their attire and are led by a monarch]]. Currently they’ve claimed the realmgate of Greedmouth and established the Ivory Citadel in the southwestern corner of the Ghurish Heartlands, putting them awfully close to numerous [[Ogor Mawtribes]] and the [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] of Excelsis.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who are [[Creed|skillful tacticians]] and like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities and slaughter people (on the rare occasion that someone meets their outrageous demands they keep their word... but remember the Terminus Concept). They take the freshest remains whenever possible to maximize how much they're infused with essence of the slain, which gives them more speed and vitality than other Bonereaper Legions and often a blood-slicked appearance. Basically [[That Guy]] as a cavalry-loving undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them have recently realized that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that. In fact, their leaders [[Noblebright|have made pacts of friendship to repair each other if any of them are destroyed and the chief Liege-Kavalos scours the libraries of everyone they encounter in the hopes of finding a way to undo their fiery curse, and is implied to be on the verge of a breakthrough]].

==Significant Skeletons==
* '''[[Katakros|Orpheon Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants; the Liege-Immortis, the Aviarch Spymaster, the Gnosis Scrollbearer, and the Prime Necrophoros.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos has been Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. In life he was a refined, death-obsessed assassin who treated killing as a sacred art that should be as clean as possible and thus hated the loud, messy butchery of battle. In undeath, through the manipulations of Nagash and Katakros, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle. Though officially he’s under Katakros and Arkhan in the OBR hierarchy, he’ll only receive/carry out orders from Big Bone Daddy himself...which might be a bit difficult now that Nagash was sealed away by Teclis.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one. While he has his own private legion in the Null Myriad, his authority is recognized by all the Ossiarch legions. He was recently thrown off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion, with him and his Dread Abyssal disappearing in a burst of light magic. While it's unlikely that Arkhan is gone for good, he's deader than ever before.
*'''Xaramos''': A Mortisan Boneshaper of the Mortis Praetorians, skilled in both diplomacy and keeping the legion operating at full efficiency. He assisted Arkhan in his counter invasion of Ymetrica in Hysh, where he put his diplomatic skills to use in acquiring the assistance of the [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Vertigon Court]] to defeat the Lumineth aelves and formed an unexpected friendship with the Ghoul King Varshorn. When relations turned sour over the Bone Tithe, the personal forces of Xaramos and Varshorn battled amidst the gore-caked caverns of the Starfang Mont in a conflict later the Charnel War, with hints that Xaramos regretted fighting Vashorn. Xaramos died permanently in the last battle, personally decapitated by Vashorn.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DsZivjop_s Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5n5qo8b1pA March for the Tithe!]

==Trivia==
* The architecture of the Ossiarch Bonereapers was likely inspired by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary Sedlec Ossuary] in the Czech Republic. The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic church where the bones of thousands of people have been artistically arranged to form the decorations and the furnishings of the chapel (it's also called "the Bone Church"). This was done several centuries ago for creative interment reasons with many dead and not enough space to bury them on holy ground.
* On a comical note, "Kavalos", the name for Bonereaper cavalry, translates to "crotch" in Greek (the Greek word is "kaválos"). Makes more sense when you think of [[Katakros]]' defining trait lookswise, and how his name even sounds like the Greek word.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bonereaper vs Kharadron.jpg|Sky Pirates vs Bone Golems.
File:Cavalry-bonereapers.jpg|As if Blood Knights weren't bad enough, Bone Daddy brings out Kavalos Deathriders too.
File:Gothizzar Harvester.jpg|"Oh those bones, oh those bones, oh those skeleton bones. Oh mercy how they scare! With the toe bone connected to the foot bone..."
File:Bonereaper city.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Welcome to Necrotopia. Please remember to remove all skin and flesh before you reach customs.
</gallery>

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

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

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2021-06-13T12:54:21Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Broken Realms */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the [[Stormcast Eternals|fuckboys]]!}}

{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}
{{topquote|Debt, an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.|Ambrose Bierce}}
{{topquote|The bones of the skeleton which support the body can become the bars of the cage which imprison the spirit.|J. Ruth Gendler}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes (designed and sculpted by [[Maxime Corbeil]], a former dentist), the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers'''
(Also known as '''The Boney Boys''', '''Bonecast''', '''Tomb Kings 2.0''', '''Bonechads''', '''Nagash's Taxmen''', '''The Boney Bean Counters''', '''Ossiarch Bean Counters''' or '''The IRS''') are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, making them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs priest characters, architect characters and skull-throwing catapults... they're currently the closest thing we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

They also carry out the Bone Tithe; in addition to going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements they encounter a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Being unable to pay or even being rude to them also provokes a slaughter.

Visually-speaking, they're what happens when Games Workshop decides to mix [[Tyranids]], [[Tomb Kings]], and [[Necrons]] into one army.

==History==
===Age of Myth===
[[File:Slaves to Darkness vs Ossiarch Bonereapers 01.jpg|right|300px|thumb|SKULLS FOR <s>THE SKULL THRONE</s> Nagash! And all the other bones too!]]
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly began experimenting on undead, combining their bones and souls into newer, stronger undead warriors; the [[Morghasts/Hammurai|Morghasts]] and the first Bonereapers. Most were put into massive underground crypts Nagash secretly built beneath the cities of Order, but others were kept on the surface and brought into battle with the armies of the other gods.

The other gods saw the Bonereapers and really didn't like them because of how unnatural they were, even for undead. In response, Nagash sent these Bonereapers to the edge of Shyish to lay low until he called on them (these Bonereapers who would go on to form the Null Myriad). He also sent at least twenty of them to wander the Realms on a long-forgotten mission (these would go on to become the Petrifex Elite).

Strangely, none of the Order groups noticed until however long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts full of undead warriors beneath their cities. Especially since they know about and need to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]]

===Age of Chaos===
The Age of Chaos only affected the Bonereapers garrisoned at the edge of Shyish. By that time they had become resistant to magic, and they fought against demonic armies, their actions blunting the assault of Chaos on Shyish. During this time, Katakros led an army against Sigmar himself on Nagash's orders while the former was pursuing the latter for his betrayal. The battle resulted in the loss of Katakros' army, the Mortarch's defeat and subsequent confinement to a Stormvault.

===Age of Sigmar===
In the lead-up to the Soul Wars, Katakros was freed from the Stormvault by fellow Mortarch, Lady Olynder. The Bonereapers on the edge of Shyish acted as a military force protecting the skeletal work crews who carried grains of Shyishan realmstone to Nagashizzar for Nagash to use to build the Black Pyramid.

===Soul Wars===
After the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seemed to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar had strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|said Mortarch]].

When the Bonereaper legions arrived in Shyish, Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and perfected the process. This involves taking souls and distilling them down to their most choice elements. This involves ripping apart their identity and keeping parts considered useful (such as skills and knowledge) while discarding the parts that aren't useful (such as fear and loyalty to anything but Nagash) and replacing those parts with something better (like loyalty to Nagash), with the strongest-willed soul among them becoming the identity of the new Bonereaper. Then these fragmented souls are put into specially crafted bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

The Bonereapers subsequently had a meteoric rise, making their mark - and several enemies - across the realms. After establishing their powerbase in Shyish, the Ironjawz Warclan the Kryptboyz have focused their efforts on fighting the Bonereapers due to wanting to destroy their settlements and wear their bones as trophies. In Chamon, the Null Myriad encountered the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizard Constellation and got embroiled in wars for control of the realm's edge. The Ivory Host legion gained a foothold in Ghur - Katakros' realm origin, and in building their cities they've positioned themselves for conflict with several Mawtribes and the free city of Excelsis. The Ivory Host also clashed with an [[Sons of Behemat|infamous Mega-Gargant who went on to become the mercenary known as One-Eyed Grunnock]].

This was followed by the Bonereapers most notable conflict; the War for the Eightpoints. Katakros led the Mortis Praetorians and detachments from other Legions into the Eightpoints alongside Olynder and a Nighthaunt army to take the Eightpoints for Nagash. They succeeded in capturing and fortifying the realmgate leading to Shyish, and established a fortified citadel around it as a base of operations. However, Katakros' campaign was halted by the return of Archaon, who personally defeated him in battle. Following Katakros' restoration, the conflict became a stalemate and a war of attrition.

===Broken Realms===
When Morathi entered the Eightpoints in her plan to secure Varanite, she secretly sent an envoy to Katakros, giving him several tonnes of bones infused with the magic of Ulgu in exchange for a Bonereaper attack on Archaon's holdings to distract the forces of Chaos. Knowing the forces of order will take losses in their unknown (to Katakros and the Stormcast) endeavor, Katakros accepted the bargain.

Shortly after this, Teclis confronted Nagash, and unsuccessfully tried to threaten him into backing down. Then, he and the Lumineth launched an invasion of Shyish to end the Soul Wars and make Nagash pay for the Necroquake. They proved a force that could match the Bonereapers in battle, winning numerous conflicts and destroying citadels before <s>fleeing</s> going back to Hysh, as the battles were to send the message that the Bonereapers aren't unbeatable. But the Bonereapers used the dead of both sides to replenish their losses, and were now eager for payback. A Null Myriad army led by Arkhan himself invaded Hysh and press-ganged the Mordant Courts hiding in Avalenor's mountains to join Nagash and <s>give the Lumineth a right proper boning</s> help conquer Ymetrica by setting up a mini-Nadir in Hysh.

End result, the Bonereapers got worfed like a 40k Avatar of [[Khaine]] fighting Ultramarines. While Mannfred and Neferata merely failed and fled, Arkhan got slain/banished off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion. The Lumineth burned their dead to limit the Ossiarch’s recruitment, forcing them to harvest the bones of their own ghoul allies, causing more trouble as the Flesh-Eater Courts fought back. Then Nagash personally arrived in Hysh to create a mini-Nadir by sacrificing Avalenor, but was forced to do battle against Teclis, with each god’s respective armies doing battle beneath their feet.

Despite managing to mark Teclis with some unspecified death magic, Teclis won due to some unexpected allies in Alarielle and several Luminarks, culminating in the destruction of Nagash's books, Nagash himself being beaten and imprisoned in Nagashizzar and Teclis personally undoing the Necroquake, with the remaining Bonereapers put to the blade.

With Nagash imprisoned (for the time being), Arkhan deader than ever before if not gone for good, and the other forces of death likely to splinter off and carve their own trails of carnage, the Ossiarch are the only remnant of their master’s will. There is also a looming Slaaneshi invasion on the horizon, as the reborn [[Sigvald]] seeks to avenge his Shadeglass imprisonment by destroying Nagash's beloved pet project. Since then, Nagash has been slowly regaining his power and awareness and already begun working on his vengeance, even interruption Teclis' meditation to promise reprisals.

==Society==
[[File:Ossiarch Bonereapers Society.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "pyramid scheme".]]
All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, then Mortarchs Katakros and Arhkan, then the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath and various ranks beneath that. The Bonereaper caste system has a cartouche representing each caste (though Nagash's is just to symbolize him). While there is a Mortarch cartouche, only Katakros wears it because Arkhan predates the Bonereaper system (and everyone but Nagash) by several eons, and despite their alliance he's too proud to wear Katakros' symbol. While they're all obedient to Nagash and fearless, the Bonereapers used in battle are sapient and the characters at least have enough individuality to have names and some personality, though they tend to be pragmatic, work-oriented and elitist. Having said that, they are still capable of doubt and camaraderie which can make them question, regret or even challenge their orders.

While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of groups such as crafters and preachers. There is movement between castes, but only downwards, and as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider. If the offense was major, they might get remade as a steed. The lowest caste are the exiles collectively referred to as Parrha, consisting of the worst offenders who get broken and remade into warped skeletal aberrations incapable of fighting and the Bonereapers value them less than the Imperial Guard values the life of its rank and file soldiers (for the uninitiated, that's really saying something).

The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the majority of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories. Apart from Shyish, the largest concentrations of Bonereapers are in Ghur and Chamon.

The Ossiarch Bonereapers build according to principles laid down in the Principia Necrotopia, a set of guidelines that ensure optimal construction:

In the first stages of colonizing a new region, the Ossiarchs will establish tithing sites. Presumably, this involves mapping out surrounding settlements and segments of the region into their own tributaries, with each section's inhabitants made to sign a contract to begin paying the Tithe. They contruct shrines known as Bone-Tithe Nexus, which act as locations for vassals to dump their bones and are enchanted to give out powerful curses to ward off any scavengers seeking to steal from it.

Next, they will fortify key territories with small fortifications, following up with a number of Mortisan workshops to fuel the next stage of their expansion. These small holdings will eventually develop into vast and imposing fortresses, growing ever upward as the Bonereapers’ numbers grow. These are not just barracks, but places of culture for the Ossiarchs.

Ossiarch scholars will endlessly study scrolls in charnel libraries, recording the details of cultures in the Mortal Realms they have subjugated and those they seek to subjugate. These vast citadel-states eventually resemble Nagashizzar itself.

===The Bone Tithe===
[[File:Bone tithe.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Put your spines into it. Literally!]]
The Bone Tithe is instrumental to their society and Nagash's way of setting himself up as mob boss of the realms. Upon arriving in an area, the Ossiarchs send out scouts to get the lay of the land. When they find a settlement they want tribute from, a representative - in practice usually a Mortisan - approaches and makes them an offer they can't refuse; give "x" by the deadline at regular intervals, or we kill you all now and take what we want. To communicate, the Bonereapers draw on prior research for the local language; it doesn't matter if the vernacular's out of date by a few centuries or so, as long as they can be understood. If that doesn't work, the Bonereapers use other means, including killing a local and using their spirit as a translator if all else fails. If the locals refuse, attack them or are rude enough, [[Grimdark|the Bonereapers make good on their threat, slaughtering everything in the settlement that has bones, right down to the last child and stray animal]]. If they are feeling "nice", the Bonereapers might only kill the dissenters.

When demanding the Bone Tithe, what/who the bones come from and the required amount depends on the situation and Bonereaper legion. Human bone is the most widely used, with ogor bones a close second; duardin bones are liked for their durability but aren't common enough, aelf bones are slightly more common but don't replenish fast enough and greenskin bones are very common but coarse, porous and prone to spontaneous fungal growth unless treated properly. While animal bones are also used - such as for Kavalos steeds or Gothizzar Harvesters - that's not always the case and it depends on the animal (Rhinoxen and Bleaklake crocodiles are popular choices). How the bones are acquired is irrelevant, the most common options ranging from emptying the local cemetery to [[Grimdark|having everyone eligible give a limb or holding a lottery where those chosen are killed and the bones taken from their corpses]].

The Bonereapers (though inbuilt or learned ability, it's not clear) CAN tell the difference between what race or species a specific bone comes from, so trying to cheat them with different kinds of bone doesn't work. They also respond to trickery the same way they respond to failure or refusal - immediate slaughter (as a human town learned to their cost when they tried to trick the Bonereapers by mixing pig bones in with human bones). Even other Death factions aren't exempt from the Bone Tithe, as the Bonereapers' laws consider their charge from Nagash to supersede any commonalities with his other followers (callous elitism isn't good for alliances, reflected in the rules by the Bonereapers not being able to take allies outside Drogg Fort-Kicka).

Sometimes things are even worse than the above. A particularly war-horny leader, most often from the Stalliarch Lords (more on them below), will give nigh-impossible demands to increase the chance of failure. What kinds of demands? How about asking a city's population for detailed records on everyone's family lineage going back to the founders and the condition of every bone in the city ''including bones still inside the living inhabitants''. Or maybe they ask for just one ton of bones ''every day'' (for extra lulz, the offer is made at night and has to be completed the next day). They might instead, or also, [[That Guy|arrive early to extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it]]. However it ends, the bones of the Ossiarch's victims are sorted through, the good bones taken for future use the sub-par ones discarded (same with their victims souls). Strips of skin and flesh from these unfortunates are hung from the Bonereapers' spears as a warning to anyone who considers not paying the Tithe.

Ultimately, they have a term related to the Bone Tithe called the “Terminus Concept”. This refers to the point where a society can't provide enough bones so they get slaughtered and their bones are taken. For the truth is that the Bone Tithe is ultimately unsustainable for the payers, and the Bonereapers know it. This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a <s>boner</s> [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick]] about it.

==Forces==
[[File:Bonereaper army.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]
*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, they have the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons. Their primary role is to create massive shield walls to protect their leaders.
*'''Morghast Harbingers and Archai:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was now served as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). Harbingers are your chargey bois, while the Archai are bodyguard bois.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Four-armed skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters with four faces, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly. Their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other. Like the Morghasts, Immortis are the bodyguard bois to the Stalkers' chargey bois.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Bony heavy cavalry rivalling Blood Knights for the position of "best undead cavalry", each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant. They have undead birds roosting on their banner poles that act as spies and messenger birds. For added creep factor, these guys normally walk at a slow and ominous trot, only sprinting when going into a headlong charge.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. In addition to flaming skulls, it can also hurl a cauldron of Death Magic that works based on bravery or a cursed stone that gets more powerful the more damage the Crawler takes. It's also powered by a bone-made hamster wheel and multiple legs.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and half a skeleton for a codpiece that helps harvest bones. The Harvester uses them to make new constructs on the fly or repair damaged ones. Their weapon arms come with either enchanted maces or scything blades for hands.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:''' Your offensive caster for the Bonereapers with a scythe that doesn't like hordes.
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers/builders of the Bonereapers. Formed from the souls of artists, they’re in charge of building the extravagant bone cities and other architecture of the legions. They all possess a friendly rivalry with each other that pushes them to one up another’s artwork.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans with four arms who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

===Famous Legions===
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The 10,000 strong personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life. They have gained a fearsome reputation for their tactical acumen, especially in Shyish. [[Ultramarines|The poster boys who are a jack-of-all-trades, big on tactics and led by an ancient leader who was the basis for future generations]]. They also have the only two Bonereapers with a single original soul; Katakros himself and Zandtos.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Made up of nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, they are known for being slow-moving and a near impenetrable wall of bone. While fossilized bone tends to be fragile, the Petrifex Elite enchant them to be tough and also include already supernaturally tough bones among them (ie; the bones of godbeasts). Led by Mortisans, [[Necrons|they only exist to slay and find ancient bones to build more of themselves and make themselves even deadlier]]. They have forgotten why Nagash wants them to do this, and their leaders eschew personal identity to the point of using titles instead of names, as mandated by their leader and most senior Mortisan, the Grand Necromystic.
* '''Null Myriad''': The first Ossiarch Bonereapers made during Nagash's experiments in the Age of Myth. The Null Myriad were later refined and bolstered using the bones and souls of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid and the best of Arkhan's Black Disciples. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were given to Arkhan to be his personal legion; they're so loyal to Arkhan that they defer to him even over Katakros himself. Their resistance to magic extends to the power of Chaos, so they're used to inhabit the most inhospitable parts of the realms. Recently Arkhan made an alliance with Katakros, and the Null Myriad's job is to secure magic-heavy locations in the realms so Katakros can control the sources of their magic. The Null Myriad forces in Chamon have come into conflict with the Seraphon of the Thunder Lizards Constellation who also dwell there.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slavering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones. Tasked by Nagash to conquer Ghur, they overcompensate for their bestial anger by being meticulously clean and making everything of theirs as much of a work of art as possible. Also known for [[Tomb Kings|being the only Ossiarchs who build ships, use the color gold regularly in their attire and are led by a monarch]]. Currently they’ve claimed the realmgate of Greedmouth and established the Ivory Citadel in the southwestern corner of the Ghurish Heartlands, putting them awfully close to numerous [[Ogor Mawtribes]] and the [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] of Excelsis.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who are [[Creed|skillful tacticians]] and like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities and slaughter people (on the rare occasion that someone meets their outrageous demands they keep their word... but remember the Terminus Concept). They take the freshest remains whenever possible to maximize how much they're infused with essence of the slain, which gives them more speed and vitality than other Bonereaper Legions and often a blood-slicked appearance. Basically [[That Guy]] as a cavalry-loving undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them have recently realized that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that. In fact, their leaders [[Noblebright|have made pacts of friendship to repair each other if any of them are destroyed and the chief Liege-Kavalos scours the libraries of everyone they encounter in the hopes of finding a way to undo their fiery curse, and is implied to be on the verge of a breakthrough]].

==Significant Skeletons==
* '''[[Katakros|Orpheon Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants; the Liege-Immortis, the Aviarch Spymaster, the Gnosis Scrollbearer, and the Prime Necrophoros.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos has been Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. In life he was a refined, death-obsessed assassin who treated killing as a sacred art that should be as clean as possible and thus hated the loud, messy butchery of battle. In undeath, through the manipulations of Nagash and Katakros, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle. Though officially he’s under Katakros and Arkhan in the OBR hierarchy, he’ll only receive/carry out orders from Big Bone Daddy himself...which might be a bit difficult now that Nagash was sealed away by Teclis.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one. While he has his own private legion in the Null Myriad, his authority is recognized by all the Ossiarch legions. He was recently thrown off the edge of Hysh by the Light of Eltharion, with him and his Dread Abyssal disappearing in a burst of light magic. While it's unlikely that Arkhan is gone for good, he's deader than ever before.
*'''Xaramos''': A Mortisan Boneshaper of the Mortis Praetorians, skilled in both diplomacy and keeping the legion operating at full efficiency. He assisted Arkhan in his counter invasion of Ymetrica in Hysh, where he put his diplomatic skills to use in acquiring the assistance of the [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Vertigon Court]] to defeat the Lumineth aelves and formed an unexpected friendship with the Ghoul King Varshorn. When relations turned sour over the Bone Tithe, the personal forces of Xaramos and Varshorn battled amidst the gore-caked caverns of the Starfang Mont in a conflict later the Charnel War, with hints that Xaramos regretted fighting Vashorn. Xaramos died permanently in the last battle, personally decapitated by Vashorn.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DsZivjop_s Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5n5qo8b1pA March for the Tithe!]

==Trivia==
* The architecture of the Ossiarch Bonereapers was likely inspired by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary Sedlec Ossuary] in the Czech Republic. The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic church where the bones of thousands of people have been artistically arranged to form the decorations and the furnishings of the chapel (it's also called "the Bone Church"). This was done several centuries ago for creative interment reasons with many dead and not enough space to bury them on holy ground.
* On a comical note, "Kavalos", the name for Bonereaper cavalry, translates to "crotch" in Greek (the Greek word is "kaválos"). Makes more sense when you think of [[Katakros]]' defining trait lookswise, and how his name even sounds like the Greek word.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bonereaper vs Kharadron.jpg|Sky Pirates vs Bone Golems.
File:Cavalry-bonereapers.jpg|As if Blood Knights weren't bad enough, Bone Daddy brings out Kavalos Deathriders too.
File:Gothizzar Harvester.jpg|"Oh those bones, oh those bones, oh those skeleton bones. Oh mercy how they scare! With the toe bone connected to the foot bone..."
File:Bonereaper city.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Welcome to Necrotopia. Please remember to remove all skin and flesh before you reach customs.
</gallery>

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

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

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Cities of Sigmar

2021-06-13T07:07:33Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Trivia */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Cities of Sigmar|Logo=Empire.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=For the <s>Empire</s> God-King!}}

The '''Cities of Sigmar''', also known as the '''Free Cities''' or '''Azyrites''', are essentially the “normal” people of the Mortal Realms under Sigmar's rule, although a minority when compared with the vast population of the territories taken by Chaos, they are probably the most numerous representatives of the Grand Alliance of Order. Humans who haven't become immortal due to having lightning jammed up their ass. Duardin who don't go into battle half naked and on fire or live in steampunk sky cities. Aelves who don't live underwater and eat souls, don't come from a misandric murdercult or aren't made of light and maths.

Each City itself is MASSIVE, comprised of numerous districts and subcultures, to the point where some could be considered their own nations. So while each City maybe known for a particular thing, it is very likely that there is an aspect of each race active in every city.

==History==

===Origins===
The story of how humans, Duardin (dwarves) and Aelves (elves) of various allegiances and creeds are somehow living together in massive cities without murderising each other is a long and expansive story that traces its way back to the closing days of the Age of Myth. Right before Chaos kicked in the proverbial door and began running rough shod across the Realms, the various mortal races lived in their respective golden ages. With the help of primarily Grungni, Teclis and Alarielle, Sigmar established countless human kingdoms and cities, with innovation, learning and cultural development blossoming at an exponential rate. The Duardin had a healthy relationship with humans as always, with a portion living alongside them, but most still taking up residence in their mountain fortresses or splitting off as the newly emerged children of Grimnir, the Fyreslayers. The Aelves enjoyed a resurgence from their initially minuscule numbers when discovered by Sigmar, and began to slowly thrive once again when the various Aelven gods joined the pantheon and began the work to restore their race to its former glory.

Of course, all of this was not to last once Chaos got wise to what was going on in the Mortal Realms. The Gods of Chaos began to secretly bore their way into the kingdoms, cities and tribes across the Realms, slowly influencing portions of the population with promises of power and immortality, and piece by piece sowing discord. When the time came to strike, the Mortal Realms were taken completely by surprise and nearly buckled under the sudden upheaval. However, the armies of Order managed to rally and held the forces of Chaos at bay for a time...That is until Archaon made his entrance into the Realms. The forces of Order began to falter and little by little they gave ground to the ever intensifying onslaught. The final blow for Order came at the Allpoints, at the disastrous confrontation that became known as the Battle of the Burning Sky. Here, the gods of Order fractured through betrayal, panic and mistrust and by the end of the slaughter Sigmar had lost Ghal Maraz, his pantheon and the most strategically important location in all the Mortal Realms. Thus, the Age of Myth came to a catastrophic end, bringing forth the Age of Chaos.

===Exodus===
With the Allpoints granting the armies of Chaos access to all of the Mortal Realms save Azyr, it did not take long for their ravenous hordes to overrun the land. The following collapse of civilization across the Realms can only be described as not falling apart, but disintegrating in its own terror.

The last of the Duardin Karaks in Chamon were overrun as the forces of Tzeentch swept across the land, the survivors reluctantly fleeing to the Gates of Azyr, with a small contingent escaping to the highest peaks of the Realm of Metal to an [[Kharadron Overlords|uncertain fate]]. Many Duardin Kings, prideful and stubborn in their sense of honor, refused to evacuate and chose to remain in their Holds, sealing their fate when the doors to Azyr were finally sealed. It is said that Grungni cried tears of molten lead when he saw how few of his children had managed to escape. Thus, the Dispossessed came to be.

The Aelven devotees of Alarielle desperately held on with their Sylvaneth comrades as Nurgle's rot and pestilence began to seep into Ghyran. However, as the Sylvaneth groves outside the Realm of Life began to be wiped out, their numbers and their reinforcements began to dwindle. As their defenses reached the breaking point, the Aelves had to make a choice; either stay with their beloved Goddess and her children and face almost certain annihilation, or abandon them in their direst hour and try to flee to Azyr before the gates closed. They chose the latter, and from that day, Alarielle and the Sylvaneth have never fully forgiven the Wanderers for their abandonment.

All the remaining human, duardin and aelf empires that were not already destroyed or besieged made a bee-line toward any realmgates to Azyr that were still open. Many didn't survive the journey, being butchered by chaos armies along the way. Many others however managed to reach Azyr and safety, others were unfortunately stranded in the other realms when Sigmar finally closed the gates as the forces of Chaos were getting too close to breaching them. These unfortunate souls either swore fealty to Chaos in return for their lives, died fighting against the maruading hordes or were forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle for the remainder of the Age of Chaos, always on the run or in hiding from the legios of Chaos. This wasn't the end of tribulations for the survivors who have reached Azyr however. Chaos cultists and double agents had managed to slip into Azyrheim among the refugees, forcing Sigmar's witch hunters to route them out (with often lethal results). Around this time the Aelven order of the Shadowblades is believed to have first become active, systematically purging Azyr further of potential threats to Sigmar's rule.

Sigmar realized that many of the refugees themselves, having malice or deception in their hearts, could be susceptible of falling to Chaos in the future. This moved the God-King to take the uneasy task of leading a mass purge of many of the peoples that had fled to Azyr. Countless supposedly innocent souls that Sigmar deemed corruptible were slaughtered by the agents of Azyr, even those that could be suspected of treachery were not spared. Only after this extermination campaign did Sigmar deemed that Azyr was safe from further corruption. Whether he did the right thing or not is up for debate, but the fluff continuously mentions that Azyr was the only Mortal Realm free from the taint of Chaos.

For the next 500 or so years the peoples of Azyr went along with their lives, but whether they be from the various cultures of the armies of the Free Guilds or the Sinister Knights of the Order Serpentis they now all shared a united goal. Which was to rebuild their forces for a counter-invasion against Chaos. After centuries of preparation and having the Stormcast Eternal infraestructure mostly finished, the various armies of Azyr were ready to reopen the realmgates and retake their ancient territories. For many this was indeed almost a relief, as while Azyr was definitely a better place to live than any of the other Mortal Realms, life under Sigmar's rule wasn't all perfect. Sigmar fearing potential Chaos infiltration kept a rather draconian amount of control on the various cities and settlements in Azyr. From constant fear of the Order of Azyr and potential knives in backs from the Shadowblades, not to mention strict legal codes, many of the peoples from the other realms chafed somewhat in this highly ordered society. So when offered a chance to retake their old homes many were happy to give it a try.

===Reconquest===
With Sigmar's Tempest opening the Gates of Azyr what followed a massive undertaking as the combined might of all the peoples of Azyr began preparations for Sigmar's reconquest of the Realms. The sheer level of planning, logistics, training and dealmaking that went down in this period cannot be understated. Whether it was noble families looking to reclaim their ancestral homelands, outcasts going to wherever offered a fresh start, or perhaps a deal made between various parties for certain benefits in the reclaimed territories in exchange for assistance. The Regiments of the Freeguild were raised and assigned to accompany settlers to their new homes in the Realms. Duardin of the Ironweld Guilds and the Dispossessed Clans offered up their expertise in engineering as well as firepower, often in exchange for trading or mining rights in the charted territories. Wanderer Enclaves saw much demand for their knowledge of scouting the wilderness, and in turn requested territory to settle and roam freely in.

The initial areas for the first cities formed around the stormkeeps established by the Stormcast Eternals after the Realmgate Wars. From these intial settlements cities began to form around them. One obvious example being Hammerhal, which would go on to be the largest city and defacto capital of Sigmar’s growing empire. Other cities were subsequently founded usually near realmgates or areas of great strategic/economic importance (I.e Hallowheart, Tempest Eye, Excelsior and Vindicarum). The Living City was established sometime later by Allarielle herself after great victories against Nurgle’s forces and stands as a testeament to her renewed alliance with Sigmar. Later would come the establishment of industrial hub Greywater Fastness would become a seat for many of the Ironweld and Disspossesed clans, and Phoenicium, one of few Aelf dominated Cities of Sigmar. These expansions did not come easy however. Millions gave their lives in their foundation and the subsequent wars to maintain these great bastions.

Roughly 100 years after the Stormcast Eternals first set down in the Realms, these initial cities have greatly expanded upon themselves, managing to carve out their own territories in the Realms. However even with all this, much of the realms have not yet been liberated. It is estimated barely a tenth of the pre-Age of Chaos territory has been reclaimed thus far, with the rest either in Chaos hands, heavily contested, held by neutral parties, or no one, with none yet claiming these wild areas. Due to this, the cities must fight hard for any territorial gains they can manage, along with sending colonists (both willing and otherwise) out to found new cities. These cities tend to be on frontier zones, forcing them to often deal with more heavier chaos or destruction incursions, along with the deadly native wildlife or even native peoples who aren't necessarily happy with newcomers trying to colonize their ancestral lands that they defended all through the Age of Chaos. In fact, an unfortunate result of this has been the occasional Stromcast or Freeguild force having to do the uncomfortable task of subjugating or even wiping out native tribes that would refuse to compromise on these cities’ foundings. Some examples of these frontier cities include Anvilgard in Aqshy, which has quickly amassed a dark reputation from its internal dealings, or Izalend in Ghur which has to be on constant alert due to the dangerous area it inhabits. Not all of these frontier cities survive, most are either destroyed from invaders or some other calamity and must be abandoned. More than one city has suffered this fate since the first cities were established.

However many others continue to prosper and continue to expand their territory to slowly retake the realms from Chaos' grasp. Due to the dangerous nature of the realms, the mere act of traveling can be dangerous. Thus while all cities are nominally under Sigmar’s domain, many often have to rely on governing themselves for the most part, as communication with the capital Hammerhal can be slow and unreliable and Stormcast sometimes not being able to lend assistance due to being stretched thin expanding the God-King’s borders. Many have to establish their own form of government and trade zones. All cities follow the government structure laid out by Azyrheim, however many make variations to how a city’s government is made up and how they conduct warfare due to local stigmas and situations. This leads to each city developing unique cultural identities, and since not all cities actively coordinate with each other, entire wars and new city foundings can occur without some nations even being aware of it, even if they are technically on the same faction. This is why organizations such as the Swifthawk Agents are so important to the cities, as speedy communication can often mean the difference between annihilation and salvation for threatened cities.

===Broken Realms===
Two free cities played an important part in [[Morathi]]’s ploy for godhood. Misthåvn lent its Black Ark fleets to defend the High Oracle from retaliating Idoneth Deepkin and Hedonites of Slaanesh while she enacted her ritual. As expected though, the Scourge Privateers were merely pawns to Morathi, and to their credit they recognized this and split the second things looked dire. The second city was Anvilgard, where the now goddess Morathi-Khaine made her appearance to the ruling council of the city. She coerced the local Darkling Covens and other “dark aelves” to overthrow their masters, leading to Morathi’s annexation of the city and renaming it to Har Kuron. Sigmar did of course learn about this deceit and was just about to besiege the city and reclaim it when Morathi parlayed with the Lord of Azyr. What they agreed upon is unclear, but the city is still called Har Kuron presently.

In Hysh, Settler’s Gain was ground zero for Nagash’s assault against the Lumineth Realm-Lords, sending spectral waves of Nighthaunt to crash against the city’s defenses. They were only saved when [[Teclis]] arrived and [[Grimdark|restored life to the Nighthaunt while they were flying so they would die again when they fell back down.]] Later on, the city supplied a battery of Luminarks and Hurricanums in the final duel between Teclis and Nagash, their magical attacks distracting the great necromancer just enough for the mage god to win the day and reverse the effects of the Necroquake.

Vindicarum is besieged by the forces of [[Be'lakor]] shortly after the First Prince collapsed every Realmgate in Chamon and released dark storms of chaos energy. The siege is a brutal affair that decimates the Hallowed Knights and Celestial Vindicators stormhosts, which is exactly what [[Be'lakor]] wants. He didn’t want to conquer the city, but to raze it and send its occupants’ souls into the Realm of Chaos where eternal torture awaited them. It took the combined fleets of every Kharadron skyport led by the mysterious white-bearded Duardin called Gromthi. The First Prince was repelled...but at a heavy cost. Vindicarum’s population was obliterated, Chamon is now separated from the other Realms, and the dark chaos storms that loomed over the lands were growing.

The Ghurish city of Excelsis after suffering a Tzeentchian demonic plot, followed by an anti-magical/anti-eleven pogrom/mini-civil war in retaliation, and a Skaven invasion finds itself severely weakened. It then nearly gets destroyed when ANOTHER incursion of demons this time lead by the Newborn of Slaanesh undermines their defenses further and helps the newly awakened god of Earthquakes [[Kragnos]] and his Orruk allies to breach the cities defenses. The only thing that stops them from stomping the city flat is the banishment of the demonic twins and the unexpected arrival of a Black Ark with the newly ascended goddess [[Morathi]] whose serpentine half distracts Kragnos. She later tracks down [[Lord Kroak]] whose been trying to help the city with his magic and the two of them manage to trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops his ass on the far side of Ghur and allows the defenders to finally force the besiegers out of the city.

==Subfactions==
The Cities of Sigmar are by their nature cosmopolitan places, as many different cultures across the realms fled to Azyr only to recolonize the lands when the Age of Sigmar arrived. As such, when war comes they have a vast diversity of military forces.

*'''[[Stormcast Eternals]]''': Yes, they're here too. Most Free Cities are built around a Stormkeep, and many are named after their founding Stormhost (Hammers of Sigmar in Hammerhal, Anvils of the Heldenhammer in Anvilgard, etc.). Have a bad habit of going too far when trying to purge Chaos from the city, leading to anti-Stormcast resentment, which in turn leads to more purges. But in the nicer cities like Brightspear they can be [[Salamanders|pretty chill and hang around with civillians]].
*'''Freeguild''': The core of the old [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|Empire]]'s forces, chiefly soldiers and Demigryphs. They are the standing armies and militias of the Cities, each descended from twelve military companies that originally fled to Azyr. A City can possess multiple Freeguilds, each one with their own specialties and strategies in warfare, making them sorta like the Imperial Guard for AoS. Lore mentions that their ranks include Duardin and Aelves as well, meaning you easily use squatted High Elf/Dwarf units as proxy Freeguild units (Swordmasters as Greatswords, Thunderers as Handgunners, etc).
*'''Devoted of Sigmar''': The Old "Church of Sigmar" faction now reduced to only the [[flagellant]]. It’s incorporated into the city with quite some critical roles. Priests of Sigmar tend to the moral and spiritual health of the human population, and when a internal threat arises, it is the work of the witch hunters from the Order of Azyr to root it out, while flagellants have to process around the city countryside, spilling their blood to destroy the chaos corruption in the land and let the city expand. Unfortunately only the latter are usable on tabletop (in a Cities of Sigmar list. The warpriests, war-altars and witch hunters have their own faction ; The Devoted of Sigmar.)
*'''Dispossessed''': Duardin who have lost their old Karaks in the Age of Chaos and have to live with the umgi and elgi now. Their primary goal in the greater Cities is providing defensive fortifications for the other factions, using their legendary shield walls and stubbornness to hold the line at all costs.
*'''Collegiate Arcane''': All the Empire's Wizards, including their giant engines. Sadly, no High Elf wizards made the cut, nor did their dragons. They are essentially a souped up version of the Colleges of Magic, comprised of powerful Battlemages who have trained for decades in eight floating towers called the Towers of the Eight Winds (I see what you did there GW), each one focused on a certain Realm’s variety of magic. However, humans are no longer restricted to one color only and can learn all, in particular a Battlemage spending a decade in each is deemed a Grandmaster who is licensed to create new spells and magical items. The Grandmasters built a specialist sub order named the Order of the Chained Flame that functions as a bounty board that hands out Spell Hunter licenses to those who dispell and capture rogue Endless spells.
*'''Ironweld Arsenal''': All the Dwarf and Empire war machines and vehicles. This includes letting people ride those tanks. It was revealed that they can build some really freaking shit nowadays, like a fortress with legs that was so powerful in Morathi book that it decimated hindreds of dark aelves and almost won the battle single handedly.
*'''Darkling Covens''': Cults of Sorceresses and their brainwashed Aelven minions. Rumored to have brainwashed more than just aelves so they can secretly manipulate cities from the shadows.
*'''Phoenix Temple''': Yes, these silent dead 'ard bastards are still around. They now worship the Ur-Phoenix instead of Asuryan. They were once broken Aelves (physically or mentally broken) who received the healing warmth of a phoenix, thus they were reborn as devout warrior monks. Members can come from any Aelven faction, there are even some Phoenix Guard who were former Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Order Serpentis''': An ancient order of tyrannical dragon-riding Aelves who lost most of their dragons in the Age of Chaos. Undaunted by this, they started hiring Sorceresses of the Darkling Covens to genetically engineer hideous part-dragon monsters to act as replacements.
*'''Wanderers''': Nomadic wood aelves from Ghyran who fled to Azyr. Upon returning they seek to restore balance to the nature they abandoned, even if many of their Sylvaneth allies despise them as traitors. Their role in the CoS army is to be pathfinders and vanguard forces, scouting ahead of the main fighting bulk to chart secure passages.
*'''Shadowblades''': Secretive Aelf assassins who worship Malerion and usually function as a secret police force within the cities.
*'''Scourge Privateers''': Descendants of a cruel slaver empire that once terrorized the seas. Now that they have to coexist with the civillians they once preyed upon, they cooled down a bit and became beast tamers who regularly hunt monsters and then sell them (whole or in pieces) to their allies. Still enjoy doing shady pirate stuff under the books, though (not that anyone is complaining when its fucking Chaos scum who are on the receving end of it for once). They still live on Black Arks, much like their Old World counterparts, except these Arks are made from binding together the bones and shells of colossal sea creatures.

==Relations with Other Order Factions==
While not part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance, almost every Order race tends to have some sort of outpost or embassy in the Free Cities. If not, they’re still likely to have a relationship to them given the Free Cities’ nature as safe havens for the enemies of Chaos.
*'''Daughters of Khaine''': The Daughters of Khaine host temples in every major City. While they're subject to all sorts of (entirely justified) rumors about dark blood rituals, they're tolerated due to being formidable allies in the war against Chaos. When not at war they perform gladitorial games and blade dances to simultaneously praise Khaine and entertain the masses. Of the various sects, the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sisters, are the most commonly seen. They are known to the Freeguilds as the Executioners Cult due to their blunt and forward style of combat, as well as their penchant for decapitation. No real word if the situation in other cities has changed after the takeover of Har Kuron.
*'''Kharadron Overlords''': Kharadron Overlords are an important part of the Cities of Sigmar economy. With travel over land being incredibly dangerous due to the hordes of chaotic marauders, deathly thralls, and destructive hooligans, airships are the most efficient way to trade between cities, and while the Cities of Sigmar have their own airships, they're nowhere near as good as the Kharadron's. The Kharadron for their part look down on the Cities of Sigmar as being primitive rubes, and only sell them their most outdated technology (which is still more advanced than the average thing the Ironweld Arsenal makes).
*'''Seraphon''': The Fangs of Sotek Seraphon often end up setting up embassies in the Cities of Sigmar. When they're around, often people turn up mysteriously dead, with the investigation discovering the victims were secret Chaos cultists. These vigilante killings are inevitably blamed upon the Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Fyreslayers''': Fyreslayers often set up local branches of their Lodges in Free Cities to offer their services as mercenaries. In addition to being hired by the City itself, they're also commonly hired by merchants; as already mentioned, travel over land is incredibly dangerous, so if you are forced to do it you're gonna need a regiment of angry pyromaniac dorfs to protect your caravan.
*'''Sylvaneth''': The forest folk who are willing to work with quick-bloods will establish embassies in the free cities. Said embassies appear as small woodland groves or parks, where the Sylvaneth presumably keep a scrutinizing eye on anyone who ventures too close.
*'''Lumineth Realm-Lords''': In their stalwart quest to defeat Chaos at all costs, the scions of Tyrion and Teclis are coldly pragmatic towards the Free Cities. Small cities are in danger of being completely wiped off the map if the Realm-Lords need its territory for some rune carving. The larger ones (or the ones they can’t nuke) are simply seen as primitive strongholds by the Lumineth and could really benefit from their guiding light. Understandably, this makes many of the Hysh Aelves rather unwelcome among the Cities of Sigmar.

==Notable Cities==
===With rules===
*'''Hammerhal''': Hammerhal is technically two cities, Hammerhal Ghyra and Hammerhal Aqsha, linked as one by the Stormrift Realmgate. The Ghyran side exports crops and lumber to Aqshy, and lava is channeled from the Aqshy side to form a protective moat. As it is home to the Hammers of Sigmar, [[Ultramarines|GREATEST OF THEM ALL]] among stormhosts, so too the people of Hammerhal seek to prove themselves as the most eminent of the Free Cities.
*'''Greywater Fastness''': Despite hailing from the Realm of Life, this city is pretty choked with smoke and industry, as they focus heavily on war machines. Literally the entire outer regions of the city are just glorified testing grounds for their weapons, riddled with craters and no vegetation aside from withered skeletal trees. This makes them rather friendly towards the [[Kharadron Overlords]], but not so much with the [[Sylvaneth]]. They were nearly starved out by the Sylvaneth until Alarielle herself arranged a compromise, and she only tolerates them because they hate Chaos and are great at bombarding them back to the Warp. What few people know though is that the city’s lead designer, Valium Maliti, is actually the Changeling in disguise, and purposely created this industrial wasteland in Ghyran to cause tension between the Sylvaneth and Sigmar.
*'''Anvilgard''': [https://youtu.be/SYExETbLL1E?t=84 In a nutshell, basically.] Port city in Aqshy by a constantly erupting volcano and a constantly burning-down-but-rapidly-regrowing jungle. To hold off the jungle from reclaiming the city's territory, they spray mass amounts of basically weedkiller everywhere (which doesn't seem - thus far - to have any long-term consequences on people), which covers the city in a gloomy grey atmosphere. Y'know, the kind of shadows where criminal syndicates thrive - and thrive they do. As in, anyone who's anyone has underworld connections, though it's kept just enough on the down-low so Lord-Veritants and other inquisitorial types don't raise a stink. In recent years, [[Morathi]] has annexed it (renaming it to '''Har Kuron'''), splitting the frontier city in half between those who sided with the [[Daughters of Khaine]] and everyone else who remained loyal to Sigmar. Sigmar learned of the treachery and sent a Stormcast army to liberate the city, but a surprise parley between the Celestant-Prime and Morathi led to the Stormcast withdrawing and ceding the city to Morathi in exchange for... something.
**On its own, Har Kuron is completely devoted to Morathi with only her most bloodthirsty and zealous followers rising to prominence in the city. Every major sect of the DoK has a temple in Har Kuron where they regularly cull and cleanse the population of the weak or unfaithful. Essentially, it’s now the AoS equivalent to Har Ganeth from Fantasy. What’s funny though is that despite the city’s fervent zealotry to her, Morathi loathes Har Kuron for the repugnant stench it still carries thanks to the copious weed killer and sees it as a poor throne for a goddess. To her, this city is less of a wanted conquest and more of a statement to her former allies and a staging ground for future expansion.
*'''Hallowheart''': The wizard's city. Being founded by the Hallowed Knights at the bottom of a gigantic crystal cave (where lived a mutated gigantic dragon of Tzeentch, who got hammered) this city has an magical focus and the central core of Collegiate Arcane. Don't mind the continuous daemon invasion perpetrated by Tzeentch and company, or the strange whispers that promise you great power and wealth, but report those facts to the Devoted of Sigmar for a handsome reward. {{BLAM}}
*'''The Living City''': A city shaped from trees and rock by [[Alarielle]] herself that symbolizes the alliance between her and Sigmar. As such, this city allies itself with [[Sylvaneth]] capable of putting aside their grudges towards everything that isn't a tree. Also where Alarielle pardoned the Wanderers for their cowardice during the Age of Chaos, so this is their home base.
*'''The Phoenicium''': The main city of the Phoenix Temple, it's at the foot of a big tree-mountain with a goofy name that avalanched sap over the area, trapping warriors in amber. In the Age of Sigmar, a host of phoenix birds thawed the sap into a golden mist that persists ever since - and if enemies that get too close enter the mist, they get trapped in amber, which then becomes another block on the ramparts. So, yeah, picture an amber wall filled with "oh crap"-faced Chaos warriors, greenskins, and spooks - that's how The Phoenicium do. Why nobody already tricked Archaon to attack this city, turning him into a statue and win the war is anyone's guess... but then again Archaon is a god so it would only weaken him and not by much (It is great at keeping Thanquol away)
*'''Tempest's Eye''': A city on top of a mountain that has close trade and military ties to the Kharadron Overlords. Since the Tempest Lords stationed there were all recruited from former nobility, they're the only city that is directly ruled by its Stormcast Eternals.
* '''Misthåvn''': The “City of Scoundrels” was created in Ulgu from a collection of massive ships from varying races all lashed together. This unique design means that Misthåvn can divide into its various components and move along the coast of Cape Tendbrax. Rather than having districts, the city is comprised of different armadas, each overseen by a Scourge Privateer Fleetmaster/Admiral. It’s infamous among the Azyrites for its corrupt policies, underhanded combat strategies, and a very lucrative illegal narcotics market. The native populace takes a spiteful pride in this reputation, though they still do their best to make sure Sigmar doesn’t call for the city’s purging.
*'''Settler's Gain''': Located in the continent of Xintil in [[Hysh]], where all the Sigmar-praisers are given their own little society away from the rest of the realm. Settler's Gain notably has solar-powered automata doing all the menial labor, freeing the populace to focus on intellectual pursuits. The city is run by a meritocratic caste system where your status is based on passing philosophical, theological and arcane tests. Truly the most utopian of all Free Cities. Pay no attention to the fact that passing these tests requires so many years of study that only Aelves can live long enough to ascend to the highest ranks, resulting in a ruling class of Lumineth reigning over the mostly-human peasants. The peasants live in simple but well-designed houses neatly grouped together which are totally not second-rate housing commission to create a ghetto for humans and human sympathizers. Those questioning the perfect society of <s>Settler's Gain</s> Yllurai Xhen will be assigned to Lumineth-owned Enlightenment Prisms for re-education.

===Without rules===
*'''Azyrheim''': The largest city in [[Azyr]] and de-facto capital of the entire the Grand Alliance of Order. Azyrheim's also has a fantasy IN SPACE look, further reinforced by some fluff which states Azyr has no day but an eternal night filled with stars, moons and other astral phenomena, another important feature of the city is the Towers of the Eight Winds, massive floating structures where the Collegiate Arcane train mages and research magic. Sigmar's obsession with keeping Azyr free of the taint of Chaos has lead to this place being rather authoritarian, as in if they catch you performing crimes they implant you with runes that burn out all thoughts of disloyalty out of your mind. On the other hand, it’s not like the freaking gods don’t know if you’re guilty and if you don’t want to be implanted then just follow the law set by one of the few deities that isn't a complete sociopath. They aren’t crazy or stupid under Sigmar so there isn’t really a reason not to.
*'''Brightspear''': A city near the coast of [[Aqshy|The Great Parch]] that was built on top of an ancient realmgate that could travel to any of the nine realms. Above the city are orbs that each contain a college of magic dedicated to one of the winds. The one dedicated to chaos was destroyed, but the echoes still remain. This city is expanded upon in great detail in the Soulbound starter set.
*'''Excelsis''': A [[Ghur|Ghurish]] city built around the Spear of Mallus, an big ass shard of the World-That-Was that fell into Ghur. Shards broken off this object can be used to see the future, and the resulting "Glimmerings" have become the local currency. Too bad they have to live in terror of the Knights Excelsior, one of the most brutal and authoritarian Stormhosts. Too bad the Knights are doing huge crackdowns after a big Tzeentch cultist insurrection (detailed in the book City of Secrets). Too bad that all the fortune teller guilds are discovering from the Glimmerings that a gigantic army of all Destruction races lead by Gordrakk himself is heading towards them. Too bad that the ever mounting volume of hurt about to befall the citizens of Excelsis is about to expand, as [[Sigvald| Sigvald the Magnificent]] and [[Glutos Orscollion]] are now leading their Slaaneshi hordes towards the city, intending to make it their new personal playground of debauchery.
*'''Vindicarum''': The city of the Celestial Vindicators in [[Chamon]]. If you thought Excelsis was bad, Vindicarium is worse. How worse? When the citizens rioted in protest of the Celestial Vindicator's harsh laws, the Stormcast ended up killing three quarters of the city's population. Keep in mind every City of Sigmar is fucking massive, so its quite possible literally millions died. All the remaining survivors became super pious members of the Devoted of Sigmar, equally terrified of the taint of Chaos and the wrath of their overlords. Suffice to say the reports of this incident have only served to even further increase the fear and distrust the common man has for the Stormcast. Be’lakor’s siege of the city has wiped out more than ninety percent of their population, so although he was pushed back, it came at a high cost. Vindicarum is less of a city now and more of a township in the low hundreds.
*'''Lethis''': Technically has rules in the form of the “Lethisian Defenders” list from Forbidden Power, but not actually part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance. This city is based in Shyish next to Lake Lethis, a lake whose waters are cursed to take away memories. This water is actually one of their most valuable exports, as a lot of people in the Mortal Realms have [[Grimdark|traumatic memories they'd rather forget]]. Also home to a Stormvault which held [[Katakros]], who was released when the city was invaded by [[Lady Olynder]]'s Legion of Grief.
*'''Edassa''': Mentioned during Gotrek's adventures in “Realmslayer” and “Ghoulslayer”, and the home city of the character Jordainn. An African themed kingdom located in Aqshy, it sits at crossroads with two other kingdoms and city states, all of them part of a mutual pact funding the garrisons of forts and towns that run the length of the region's roads. [[Celestial Lions|Have a Lion motif in their armor as well as in their battlecry.]]
*'''Westreach and Eastdale''': Twin cities built on an island in Shyish. Westreach is populated by Azyrites while Eastdale is controlled by the Reclaimed. Both cities work with each other though the former’s haughty attitude and the latter’s superstitions has lead to tension between the two. Both cities were built over the ruins/tombs of an ancient town called Belvegrod, and since this is Shyish both cities have a terrible [[Nighthaunt]] infestation. A warding protected the city from [[Lady Olynder]]’s full wrath, but through machinations that’d make Neferata proud, the Mortarch of Grief broke the wardings and razed the Twin Cities, her undead hordes consuming the living.

===Soulbound===
Considering the diverse natures of the cities, it also makes no surprise that they also hold a diverse number of archetypes in [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]]. Naturally, these Free Peoples are descendants of those who holed up in Azyr during the Age of Chaos as well as those who managed to weather the mayhem that ensued. As the gates of Azyr opened up again, many joined hands in their great cities, some out of total loyalty while others see this as merely an opportunity. Of course, those who become Soulbound do so for an equally vast number of reasons, though all are hailed among the cities as heroes and champions of the gods, perhaps equal to the Stormcast Eternals.

The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook introduces the various cities for a Free Peoples hero to hail from:
*'''Anvilgard:''' Initially founded on the Charrwind Coast of Aqshy and employed defoliant mists to keep the rampant vegetation at bay. Before long, it fell victim to the manipulations of a powerful criminal syndicate called the Blackscale Coil. Though it first acted through subterfuge and blackmail, it eventually escalated to more direct means of murder and espionage with such brazenness that many questioned whether or not they actually ruled the city...and then the city got steamrolled by Morathi and turned into Har Kuron. Heroes from Anvilgard start with either two contacts to benefit from or one contact with better contacts to benefit from.
*'''Brightspear:''' This city has suffered much despite its relative youth. This relative recency has made surviving the Necroquake much harder, and when combined with the constant invasions by Tzeentch's forces, who seek to plunder both its supply fleets and its walls, it makes for a nigh-impossible situation. Those who hail from this city don't live in luxury, but live knowing that they fought tooth and nail for all that they own. Heroes from Brightspear can ignore any tool requirements for tests or endeavors, but the tests become more difficult. During any downtime, they can also swap their training and focus from one skill to another, even if this is a skill they lack any training or focus in.
*'''Hammerhal:''' The greatest of cities, split between both Aqshy and Ghyran. It is here that the god-king Sigmar claims is his capital in his ambitions of clearing the taint from the other realms. However, this is something of a gilded dream, as the rich often live in lofty palaces while the rest are left in slums and ghettos. Hammerhal Aqsha is an industrialized haven, home to several military guilds and the most famous militant academy, the Acadamae Martial. Hammerhal Ghyra are stubborn in seeking their goals, filled with the vigor that comes from living in the realm of life. Heroes from Hammerhal Aqsha double their training in any skills involving military acumen, including when undertaking the Fortify endeavor, and have the Tactician talent available to all archetypes. Heroes from Hammerhal Ghyra can always undertake the Industrious endeavor regardless of species, and reduce the complexity of Death checks by 1 - Any instant-kill abilities instead renders them mortally wounded.
*'''Greywater Fastness:''' An industrial haven residing in Ghyran, much to the hatred of the neighboring Sylvaneth. This place is driven by its military might, as it houses a great many stores of weapons and powder that they supply to other cities. Often, there is no freedom from the constant labor. Heroes from Greywater Fastness always possess a firearm (be it a blunderbuss, a pair of pistols, a rifle, or a repeater pistol). In addition, any time they undertake the Crafting endeavor, they can always auto-pass the tests needed, though doing so comes with peril as Doom is increased by 1.
*'''Excelsis:''' This city is split between fortune-tellers who entered the city with open eyes who hail from Azyr and those hunters who have always resided in Ghur during the Age of Chaos. Though the city is under constant watch of the Knights Excelsior, their greater threat comes from the realm itself, filled with many menaces and threats that are all too immediate, unmoored from past or future. Heroes from Excelsis carry Glimmerlings, valuable magical items that can be expended to tell the future. These can always be bought from any marketplace, though not for cheap. Later during the Broken Realms Saga a mini-civil war breaks out in the city after some Tzeentchian demons manifest and a reactionary force of magic haters called the Nullstone Brotherhood starts to gain power. Unknown to everyone the leader of the group is actually a Slaanesh worshipper. The Newborns of Slaanesh later hire some Skaven to undermine the defenses of the city and to summon them into the city just as Kragnos and his Orruk allies begin to assault the city. In the end, the leader of the Nullstone Brotherhood is killed, the twin Newborn demons are banished and Morathi arrives with reinforcements in a Black Ark and helps Lord Kroak trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops him on the opposite side of the Realm of Ghur. Thus, the city is left severely damaged but still intact.
*'''Lethis:''' Residing in the realm of death, the citizens of this city revere an obscure god rather than the great necromancer who rules here - though it is debated whether this god still exists or was devoured by Nagash in a past age. Regardless of the truth, they utilize talismans to war themselves from evil. Heroes from Lethis all carry such talismans, making their weapons and armor count as magical when facing the undead and daemons.
*'''Misthåvn:''' This city is just as shady as the realm as it claims as home. It is a bleak and dismal colony, populated by pirates, conmen, and other duplicitious individuals in search for a good time - and often, there are secrets behind the façades, usually hiding something far worse. This is what the inhabitants embody, much to the consternation of the Azyrite members of the city. Heroes from Misthåvn start with a False Identity and can always undertake this endeavor at any time. They also have one dose each of three particular narcotics, which they can always seek more of when needed.
*'''Settler's Gain:''' A seeming utopia in Hysh, where automatons manage all of the manual labor so the citizens can pursue more intellectual pursuits. That said, it is not-so-subtly manipulated by the Lumineth, who are the abiters of progress and lawkeepers and seek to discipline and re-educate those they deem their lessers. Heroes from Settler's Gain can re-arrange their environment during their rest, having a chance of adding +1d6 to either Mind or Soul tests for the rest of the day.
*'''Vindicarum:''' This city is a veritable fortress, stationed atop a mountain and guarded by the Celestial Vindicators. Though it is a devout place, it is constantly imperiled by the machinations of Tzeentch and as a result, its Stormcast protectors are often merciless with their persecution. Heroes from Vindicarum add their training in Theology to Insight, Awareness, or Survival checks made to determine the traces of Chaos. In addition, the Theology skill is available to all archetypes.

Because of their diverse natures, there are archetypes available to Human, Duardin, and Aelf members of the Free Cities. Any of these races can select the '''Trade Privateer''' archetype. Humans can select the '''Battlemage''' and '''Excelsior Warpriest''' archetypes. Aelfs can select the '''Black Ark Corsair''' and '''Darkling Sorceress''' archetypes.

==Trivia==
*The dominant currency in the Cities of Sigmar is Aqua Ghyranis, which is water infused with the life magic of Ghyran, typically stored in vials or globes. This happened mainly because of two reasons; the majority of Free Cities are in Aqshy (where Aqua Ghyranis is naturally an incredibly valuable commodity) and Ghyran (which produces it) and the founders of Cities realized that if they used gold as the currency that would just mean they gave complete control of their economy to the Kharadron Overlords due to their monopoly on Chamon's mineral resources. The uses of Aqua Ghyranis are considered worth having the economy controlled by the people of Ghyran and the goddess Alarielle.

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

Cities of Sigmar

2021-06-13T07:04:35Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* Without rules */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Cities of Sigmar|Logo=Empire.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=For the <s>Empire</s> God-King!}}

The '''Cities of Sigmar''', also known as the '''Free Cities''' or '''Azyrites''', are essentially the “normal” people of the Mortal Realms under Sigmar's rule, although a minority when compared with the vast population of the territories taken by Chaos, they are probably the most numerous representatives of the Grand Alliance of Order. Humans who haven't become immortal due to having lightning jammed up their ass. Duardin who don't go into battle half naked and on fire or live in steampunk sky cities. Aelves who don't live underwater and eat souls, don't come from a misandric murdercult or aren't made of light and maths.

Each City itself is MASSIVE, comprised of numerous districts and subcultures, to the point where some could be considered their own nations. So while each City maybe known for a particular thing, it is very likely that there is an aspect of each race active in every city.

==History==

===Origins===
The story of how humans, Duardin (dwarves) and Aelves (elves) of various allegiances and creeds are somehow living together in massive cities without murderising each other is a long and expansive story that traces its way back to the closing days of the Age of Myth. Right before Chaos kicked in the proverbial door and began running rough shod across the Realms, the various mortal races lived in their respective golden ages. With the help of primarily Grungni, Teclis and Alarielle, Sigmar established countless human kingdoms and cities, with innovation, learning and cultural development blossoming at an exponential rate. The Duardin had a healthy relationship with humans as always, with a portion living alongside them, but most still taking up residence in their mountain fortresses or splitting off as the newly emerged children of Grimnir, the Fyreslayers. The Aelves enjoyed a resurgence from their initially minuscule numbers when discovered by Sigmar, and began to slowly thrive once again when the various Aelven gods joined the pantheon and began the work to restore their race to its former glory.

Of course, all of this was not to last once Chaos got wise to what was going on in the Mortal Realms. The Gods of Chaos began to secretly bore their way into the kingdoms, cities and tribes across the Realms, slowly influencing portions of the population with promises of power and immortality, and piece by piece sowing discord. When the time came to strike, the Mortal Realms were taken completely by surprise and nearly buckled under the sudden upheaval. However, the armies of Order managed to rally and held the forces of Chaos at bay for a time...That is until Archaon made his entrance into the Realms. The forces of Order began to falter and little by little they gave ground to the ever intensifying onslaught. The final blow for Order came at the Allpoints, at the disastrous confrontation that became known as the Battle of the Burning Sky. Here, the gods of Order fractured through betrayal, panic and mistrust and by the end of the slaughter Sigmar had lost Ghal Maraz, his pantheon and the most strategically important location in all the Mortal Realms. Thus, the Age of Myth came to a catastrophic end, bringing forth the Age of Chaos.

===Exodus===
With the Allpoints granting the armies of Chaos access to all of the Mortal Realms save Azyr, it did not take long for their ravenous hordes to overrun the land. The following collapse of civilization across the Realms can only be described as not falling apart, but disintegrating in its own terror.

The last of the Duardin Karaks in Chamon were overrun as the forces of Tzeentch swept across the land, the survivors reluctantly fleeing to the Gates of Azyr, with a small contingent escaping to the highest peaks of the Realm of Metal to an [[Kharadron Overlords|uncertain fate]]. Many Duardin Kings, prideful and stubborn in their sense of honor, refused to evacuate and chose to remain in their Holds, sealing their fate when the doors to Azyr were finally sealed. It is said that Grungni cried tears of molten lead when he saw how few of his children had managed to escape. Thus, the Dispossessed came to be.

The Aelven devotees of Alarielle desperately held on with their Sylvaneth comrades as Nurgle's rot and pestilence began to seep into Ghyran. However, as the Sylvaneth groves outside the Realm of Life began to be wiped out, their numbers and their reinforcements began to dwindle. As their defenses reached the breaking point, the Aelves had to make a choice; either stay with their beloved Goddess and her children and face almost certain annihilation, or abandon them in their direst hour and try to flee to Azyr before the gates closed. They chose the latter, and from that day, Alarielle and the Sylvaneth have never fully forgiven the Wanderers for their abandonment.

All the remaining human, duardin and aelf empires that were not already destroyed or besieged made a bee-line toward any realmgates to Azyr that were still open. Many didn't survive the journey, being butchered by chaos armies along the way. Many others however managed to reach Azyr and safety, others were unfortunately stranded in the other realms when Sigmar finally closed the gates as the forces of Chaos were getting too close to breaching them. These unfortunate souls either swore fealty to Chaos in return for their lives, died fighting against the maruading hordes or were forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle for the remainder of the Age of Chaos, always on the run or in hiding from the legios of Chaos. This wasn't the end of tribulations for the survivors who have reached Azyr however. Chaos cultists and double agents had managed to slip into Azyrheim among the refugees, forcing Sigmar's witch hunters to route them out (with often lethal results). Around this time the Aelven order of the Shadowblades is believed to have first become active, systematically purging Azyr further of potential threats to Sigmar's rule.

Sigmar realized that many of the refugees themselves, having malice or deception in their hearts, could be susceptible of falling to Chaos in the future. This moved the God-King to take the uneasy task of leading a mass purge of many of the peoples that had fled to Azyr. Countless supposedly innocent souls that Sigmar deemed corruptible were slaughtered by the agents of Azyr, even those that could be suspected of treachery were not spared. Only after this extermination campaign did Sigmar deemed that Azyr was safe from further corruption. Whether he did the right thing or not is up for debate, but the fluff continuously mentions that Azyr was the only Mortal Realm free from the taint of Chaos.

For the next 500 or so years the peoples of Azyr went along with their lives, but whether they be from the various cultures of the armies of the Free Guilds or the Sinister Knights of the Order Serpentis they now all shared a united goal. Which was to rebuild their forces for a counter-invasion against Chaos. After centuries of preparation and having the Stormcast Eternal infraestructure mostly finished, the various armies of Azyr were ready to reopen the realmgates and retake their ancient territories. For many this was indeed almost a relief, as while Azyr was definitely a better place to live than any of the other Mortal Realms, life under Sigmar's rule wasn't all perfect. Sigmar fearing potential Chaos infiltration kept a rather draconian amount of control on the various cities and settlements in Azyr. From constant fear of the Order of Azyr and potential knives in backs from the Shadowblades, not to mention strict legal codes, many of the peoples from the other realms chafed somewhat in this highly ordered society. So when offered a chance to retake their old homes many were happy to give it a try.

===Reconquest===
With Sigmar's Tempest opening the Gates of Azyr what followed a massive undertaking as the combined might of all the peoples of Azyr began preparations for Sigmar's reconquest of the Realms. The sheer level of planning, logistics, training and dealmaking that went down in this period cannot be understated. Whether it was noble families looking to reclaim their ancestral homelands, outcasts going to wherever offered a fresh start, or perhaps a deal made between various parties for certain benefits in the reclaimed territories in exchange for assistance. The Regiments of the Freeguild were raised and assigned to accompany settlers to their new homes in the Realms. Duardin of the Ironweld Guilds and the Dispossessed Clans offered up their expertise in engineering as well as firepower, often in exchange for trading or mining rights in the charted territories. Wanderer Enclaves saw much demand for their knowledge of scouting the wilderness, and in turn requested territory to settle and roam freely in.

The initial areas for the first cities formed around the stormkeeps established by the Stormcast Eternals after the Realmgate Wars. From these intial settlements cities began to form around them. One obvious example being Hammerhal, which would go on to be the largest city and defacto capital of Sigmar’s growing empire. Other cities were subsequently founded usually near realmgates or areas of great strategic/economic importance (I.e Hallowheart, Tempest Eye, Excelsior and Vindicarum). The Living City was established sometime later by Allarielle herself after great victories against Nurgle’s forces and stands as a testeament to her renewed alliance with Sigmar. Later would come the establishment of industrial hub Greywater Fastness would become a seat for many of the Ironweld and Disspossesed clans, and Phoenicium, one of few Aelf dominated Cities of Sigmar. These expansions did not come easy however. Millions gave their lives in their foundation and the subsequent wars to maintain these great bastions.

Roughly 100 years after the Stormcast Eternals first set down in the Realms, these initial cities have greatly expanded upon themselves, managing to carve out their own territories in the Realms. However even with all this, much of the realms have not yet been liberated. It is estimated barely a tenth of the pre-Age of Chaos territory has been reclaimed thus far, with the rest either in Chaos hands, heavily contested, held by neutral parties, or no one, with none yet claiming these wild areas. Due to this, the cities must fight hard for any territorial gains they can manage, along with sending colonists (both willing and otherwise) out to found new cities. These cities tend to be on frontier zones, forcing them to often deal with more heavier chaos or destruction incursions, along with the deadly native wildlife or even native peoples who aren't necessarily happy with newcomers trying to colonize their ancestral lands that they defended all through the Age of Chaos. In fact, an unfortunate result of this has been the occasional Stromcast or Freeguild force having to do the uncomfortable task of subjugating or even wiping out native tribes that would refuse to compromise on these cities’ foundings. Some examples of these frontier cities include Anvilgard in Aqshy, which has quickly amassed a dark reputation from its internal dealings, or Izalend in Ghur which has to be on constant alert due to the dangerous area it inhabits. Not all of these frontier cities survive, most are either destroyed from invaders or some other calamity and must be abandoned. More than one city has suffered this fate since the first cities were established.

However many others continue to prosper and continue to expand their territory to slowly retake the realms from Chaos' grasp. Due to the dangerous nature of the realms, the mere act of traveling can be dangerous. Thus while all cities are nominally under Sigmar’s domain, many often have to rely on governing themselves for the most part, as communication with the capital Hammerhal can be slow and unreliable and Stormcast sometimes not being able to lend assistance due to being stretched thin expanding the God-King’s borders. Many have to establish their own form of government and trade zones. All cities follow the government structure laid out by Azyrheim, however many make variations to how a city’s government is made up and how they conduct warfare due to local stigmas and situations. This leads to each city developing unique cultural identities, and since not all cities actively coordinate with each other, entire wars and new city foundings can occur without some nations even being aware of it, even if they are technically on the same faction. This is why organizations such as the Swifthawk Agents are so important to the cities, as speedy communication can often mean the difference between annihilation and salvation for threatened cities.

===Broken Realms===
Two free cities played an important part in [[Morathi]]’s ploy for godhood. Misthåvn lent its Black Ark fleets to defend the High Oracle from retaliating Idoneth Deepkin and Hedonites of Slaanesh while she enacted her ritual. As expected though, the Scourge Privateers were merely pawns to Morathi, and to their credit they recognized this and split the second things looked dire. The second city was Anvilgard, where the now goddess Morathi-Khaine made her appearance to the ruling council of the city. She coerced the local Darkling Covens and other “dark aelves” to overthrow their masters, leading to Morathi’s annexation of the city and renaming it to Har Kuron. Sigmar did of course learn about this deceit and was just about to besiege the city and reclaim it when Morathi parlayed with the Lord of Azyr. What they agreed upon is unclear, but the city is still called Har Kuron presently.

In Hysh, Settler’s Gain was ground zero for Nagash’s assault against the Lumineth Realm-Lords, sending spectral waves of Nighthaunt to crash against the city’s defenses. They were only saved when [[Teclis]] arrived and [[Grimdark|restored life to the Nighthaunt while they were flying so they would die again when they fell back down.]] Later on, the city supplied a battery of Luminarks and Hurricanums in the final duel between Teclis and Nagash, their magical attacks distracting the great necromancer just enough for the mage god to win the day and reverse the effects of the Necroquake.

Vindicarum is besieged by the forces of [[Be'lakor]] shortly after the First Prince collapsed every Realmgate in Chamon and released dark storms of chaos energy. The siege is a brutal affair that decimates the Hallowed Knights and Celestial Vindicators stormhosts, which is exactly what [[Be'lakor]] wants. He didn’t want to conquer the city, but to raze it and send its occupants’ souls into the Realm of Chaos where eternal torture awaited them. It took the combined fleets of every Kharadron skyport led by the mysterious white-bearded Duardin called Gromthi. The First Prince was repelled...but at a heavy cost. Vindicarum’s population was obliterated, Chamon is now separated from the other Realms, and the dark chaos storms that loomed over the lands were growing.

The Ghurish city of Excelsis after suffering a Tzeentchian demonic plot, followed by an anti-magical/anti-eleven pogrom/mini-civil war in retaliation, and a Skaven invasion finds itself severely weakened. It then nearly gets destroyed when ANOTHER incursion of demons this time lead by the Newborn of Slaanesh undermines their defenses further and helps the newly awakened god of Earthquakes [[Kragnos]] and his Orruk allies to breach the cities defenses. The only thing that stops them from stomping the city flat is the banishment of the demonic twins and the unexpected arrival of a Black Ark with the newly ascended goddess [[Morathi]] whose serpentine half distracts Kragnos. She later tracks down [[Lord Kroak]] whose been trying to help the city with his magic and the two of them manage to trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops his ass on the far side of Ghur and allows the defenders to finally force the besiegers out of the city.

==Subfactions==
The Cities of Sigmar are by their nature cosmopolitan places, as many different cultures across the realms fled to Azyr only to recolonize the lands when the Age of Sigmar arrived. As such, when war comes they have a vast diversity of military forces.

*'''[[Stormcast Eternals]]''': Yes, they're here too. Most Free Cities are built around a Stormkeep, and many are named after their founding Stormhost (Hammers of Sigmar in Hammerhal, Anvils of the Heldenhammer in Anvilgard, etc.). Have a bad habit of going too far when trying to purge Chaos from the city, leading to anti-Stormcast resentment, which in turn leads to more purges. But in the nicer cities like Brightspear they can be [[Salamanders|pretty chill and hang around with civillians]].
*'''Freeguild''': The core of the old [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|Empire]]'s forces, chiefly soldiers and Demigryphs. They are the standing armies and militias of the Cities, each descended from twelve military companies that originally fled to Azyr. A City can possess multiple Freeguilds, each one with their own specialties and strategies in warfare, making them sorta like the Imperial Guard for AoS. Lore mentions that their ranks include Duardin and Aelves as well, meaning you easily use squatted High Elf/Dwarf units as proxy Freeguild units (Swordmasters as Greatswords, Thunderers as Handgunners, etc).
*'''Devoted of Sigmar''': The Old "Church of Sigmar" faction now reduced to only the [[flagellant]]. It’s incorporated into the city with quite some critical roles. Priests of Sigmar tend to the moral and spiritual health of the human population, and when a internal threat arises, it is the work of the witch hunters from the Order of Azyr to root it out, while flagellants have to process around the city countryside, spilling their blood to destroy the chaos corruption in the land and let the city expand. Unfortunately only the latter are usable on tabletop (in a Cities of Sigmar list. The warpriests, war-altars and witch hunters have their own faction ; The Devoted of Sigmar.)
*'''Dispossessed''': Duardin who have lost their old Karaks in the Age of Chaos and have to live with the umgi and elgi now. Their primary goal in the greater Cities is providing defensive fortifications for the other factions, using their legendary shield walls and stubbornness to hold the line at all costs.
*'''Collegiate Arcane''': All the Empire's Wizards, including their giant engines. Sadly, no High Elf wizards made the cut, nor did their dragons. They are essentially a souped up version of the Colleges of Magic, comprised of powerful Battlemages who have trained for decades in eight floating towers called the Towers of the Eight Winds (I see what you did there GW), each one focused on a certain Realm’s variety of magic. However, humans are no longer restricted to one color only and can learn all, in particular a Battlemage spending a decade in each is deemed a Grandmaster who is licensed to create new spells and magical items. The Grandmasters built a specialist sub order named the Order of the Chained Flame that functions as a bounty board that hands out Spell Hunter licenses to those who dispell and capture rogue Endless spells.
*'''Ironweld Arsenal''': All the Dwarf and Empire war machines and vehicles. This includes letting people ride those tanks. It was revealed that they can build some really freaking shit nowadays, like a fortress with legs that was so powerful in Morathi book that it decimated hindreds of dark aelves and almost won the battle single handedly.
*'''Darkling Covens''': Cults of Sorceresses and their brainwashed Aelven minions. Rumored to have brainwashed more than just aelves so they can secretly manipulate cities from the shadows.
*'''Phoenix Temple''': Yes, these silent dead 'ard bastards are still around. They now worship the Ur-Phoenix instead of Asuryan. They were once broken Aelves (physically or mentally broken) who received the healing warmth of a phoenix, thus they were reborn as devout warrior monks. Members can come from any Aelven faction, there are even some Phoenix Guard who were former Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Order Serpentis''': An ancient order of tyrannical dragon-riding Aelves who lost most of their dragons in the Age of Chaos. Undaunted by this, they started hiring Sorceresses of the Darkling Covens to genetically engineer hideous part-dragon monsters to act as replacements.
*'''Wanderers''': Nomadic wood aelves from Ghyran who fled to Azyr. Upon returning they seek to restore balance to the nature they abandoned, even if many of their Sylvaneth allies despise them as traitors. Their role in the CoS army is to be pathfinders and vanguard forces, scouting ahead of the main fighting bulk to chart secure passages.
*'''Shadowblades''': Secretive Aelf assassins who worship Malerion and usually function as a secret police force within the cities.
*'''Scourge Privateers''': Descendants of a cruel slaver empire that once terrorized the seas. Now that they have to coexist with the civillians they once preyed upon, they cooled down a bit and became beast tamers who regularly hunt monsters and then sell them (whole or in pieces) to their allies. Still enjoy doing shady pirate stuff under the books, though (not that anyone is complaining when its fucking Chaos scum who are on the receving end of it for once). They still live on Black Arks, much like their Old World counterparts, except these Arks are made from binding together the bones and shells of colossal sea creatures.

==Relations with Other Order Factions==
While not part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance, almost every Order race tends to have some sort of outpost or embassy in the Free Cities. If not, they’re still likely to have a relationship to them given the Free Cities’ nature as safe havens for the enemies of Chaos.
*'''Daughters of Khaine''': The Daughters of Khaine host temples in every major City. While they're subject to all sorts of (entirely justified) rumors about dark blood rituals, they're tolerated due to being formidable allies in the war against Chaos. When not at war they perform gladitorial games and blade dances to simultaneously praise Khaine and entertain the masses. Of the various sects, the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sisters, are the most commonly seen. They are known to the Freeguilds as the Executioners Cult due to their blunt and forward style of combat, as well as their penchant for decapitation. No real word if the situation in other cities has changed after the takeover of Har Kuron.
*'''Kharadron Overlords''': Kharadron Overlords are an important part of the Cities of Sigmar economy. With travel over land being incredibly dangerous due to the hordes of chaotic marauders, deathly thralls, and destructive hooligans, airships are the most efficient way to trade between cities, and while the Cities of Sigmar have their own airships, they're nowhere near as good as the Kharadron's. The Kharadron for their part look down on the Cities of Sigmar as being primitive rubes, and only sell them their most outdated technology (which is still more advanced than the average thing the Ironweld Arsenal makes).
*'''Seraphon''': The Fangs of Sotek Seraphon often end up setting up embassies in the Cities of Sigmar. When they're around, often people turn up mysteriously dead, with the investigation discovering the victims were secret Chaos cultists. These vigilante killings are inevitably blamed upon the Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Fyreslayers''': Fyreslayers often set up local branches of their Lodges in Free Cities to offer their services as mercenaries. In addition to being hired by the City itself, they're also commonly hired by merchants; as already mentioned, travel over land is incredibly dangerous, so if you are forced to do it you're gonna need a regiment of angry pyromaniac dorfs to protect your caravan.
*'''Sylvaneth''': The forest folk who are willing to work with quick-bloods will establish embassies in the free cities. Said embassies appear as small woodland groves or parks, where the Sylvaneth presumably keep a scrutinizing eye on anyone who ventures too close.
*'''Lumineth Realm-Lords''': In their stalwart quest to defeat Chaos at all costs, the scions of Tyrion and Teclis are coldly pragmatic towards the Free Cities. Small cities are in danger of being completely wiped off the map if the Realm-Lords need its territory for some rune carving. The larger ones (or the ones they can’t nuke) are simply seen as primitive strongholds by the Lumineth and could really benefit from their guiding light. Understandably, this makes many of the Hysh Aelves rather unwelcome among the Cities of Sigmar.

==Notable Cities==
===With rules===
*'''Hammerhal''': Hammerhal is technically two cities, Hammerhal Ghyra and Hammerhal Aqsha, linked as one by the Stormrift Realmgate. The Ghyran side exports crops and lumber to Aqshy, and lava is channeled from the Aqshy side to form a protective moat. As it is home to the Hammers of Sigmar, [[Ultramarines|GREATEST OF THEM ALL]] among stormhosts, so too the people of Hammerhal seek to prove themselves as the most eminent of the Free Cities.
*'''Greywater Fastness''': Despite hailing from the Realm of Life, this city is pretty choked with smoke and industry, as they focus heavily on war machines. Literally the entire outer regions of the city are just glorified testing grounds for their weapons, riddled with craters and no vegetation aside from withered skeletal trees. This makes them rather friendly towards the [[Kharadron Overlords]], but not so much with the [[Sylvaneth]]. They were nearly starved out by the Sylvaneth until Alarielle herself arranged a compromise, and she only tolerates them because they hate Chaos and are great at bombarding them back to the Warp. What few people know though is that the city’s lead designer, Valium Maliti, is actually the Changeling in disguise, and purposely created this industrial wasteland in Ghyran to cause tension between the Sylvaneth and Sigmar.
*'''Anvilgard''': [https://youtu.be/SYExETbLL1E?t=84 In a nutshell, basically.] Port city in Aqshy by a constantly erupting volcano and a constantly burning-down-but-rapidly-regrowing jungle. To hold off the jungle from reclaiming the city's territory, they spray mass amounts of basically weedkiller everywhere (which doesn't seem - thus far - to have any long-term consequences on people), which covers the city in a gloomy grey atmosphere. Y'know, the kind of shadows where criminal syndicates thrive - and thrive they do. As in, anyone who's anyone has underworld connections, though it's kept just enough on the down-low so Lord-Veritants and other inquisitorial types don't raise a stink. In recent years, [[Morathi]] has annexed it (renaming it to '''Har Kuron'''), splitting the frontier city in half between those who sided with the [[Daughters of Khaine]] and everyone else who remained loyal to Sigmar. Sigmar learned of the treachery and sent a Stormcast army to liberate the city, but a surprise parley between the Celestant-Prime and Morathi led to the Stormcast withdrawing and ceding the city to Morathi in exchange for... something.
**On its own, Har Kuron is completely devoted to Morathi with only her most bloodthirsty and zealous followers rising to prominence in the city. Every major sect of the DoK has a temple in Har Kuron where they regularly cull and cleanse the population of the weak or unfaithful. Essentially, it’s now the AoS equivalent to Har Ganeth from Fantasy. What’s funny though is that despite the city’s fervent zealotry to her, Morathi loathes Har Kuron for the repugnant stench it still carries thanks to the copious weed killer and sees it as a poor throne for a goddess. To her, this city is less of a wanted conquest and more of a statement to her former allies and a staging ground for future expansion.
*'''Hallowheart''': The wizard's city. Being founded by the Hallowed Knights at the bottom of a gigantic crystal cave (where lived a mutated gigantic dragon of Tzeentch, who got hammered) this city has an magical focus and the central core of Collegiate Arcane. Don't mind the continuous daemon invasion perpetrated by Tzeentch and company, or the strange whispers that promise you great power and wealth, but report those facts to the Devoted of Sigmar for a handsome reward. {{BLAM}}
*'''The Living City''': A city shaped from trees and rock by [[Alarielle]] herself that symbolizes the alliance between her and Sigmar. As such, this city allies itself with [[Sylvaneth]] capable of putting aside their grudges towards everything that isn't a tree. Also where Alarielle pardoned the Wanderers for their cowardice during the Age of Chaos, so this is their home base.
*'''The Phoenicium''': The main city of the Phoenix Temple, it's at the foot of a big tree-mountain with a goofy name that avalanched sap over the area, trapping warriors in amber. In the Age of Sigmar, a host of phoenix birds thawed the sap into a golden mist that persists ever since - and if enemies that get too close enter the mist, they get trapped in amber, which then becomes another block on the ramparts. So, yeah, picture an amber wall filled with "oh crap"-faced Chaos warriors, greenskins, and spooks - that's how The Phoenicium do. Why nobody already tricked Archaon to attack this city, turning him into a statue and win the war is anyone's guess... but then again Archaon is a god so it would only weaken him and not by much (It is great at keeping Thanquol away)
*'''Tempest's Eye''': A city on top of a mountain that has close trade and military ties to the Kharadron Overlords. Since the Tempest Lords stationed there were all recruited from former nobility, they're the only city that is directly ruled by its Stormcast Eternals.
* '''Misthåvn''': The “City of Scoundrels” was created in Ulgu from a collection of massive ships from varying races all lashed together. This unique design means that Misthåvn can divide into its various components and move along the coast of Cape Tendbrax. Rather than having districts, the city is comprised of different armadas, each overseen by a Scourge Privateer Fleetmaster/Admiral. It’s infamous among the Azyrites for its corrupt policies, underhanded combat strategies, and a very lucrative illegal narcotics market. The native populace takes a spiteful pride in this reputation, though they still do their best to make sure Sigmar doesn’t call for the city’s purging.
*'''Settler's Gain''': Located in the continent of Xintil in [[Hysh]], where all the Sigmar-praisers are given their own little society away from the rest of the realm. Settler's Gain notably has solar-powered automata doing all the menial labor, freeing the populace to focus on intellectual pursuits. The city is run by a meritocratic caste system where your status is based on passing philosophical, theological and arcane tests. Truly the most utopian of all Free Cities. Pay no attention to the fact that passing these tests requires so many years of study that only Aelves can live long enough to ascend to the highest ranks, resulting in a ruling class of Lumineth reigning over the mostly-human peasants. The peasants live in simple but well-designed houses neatly grouped together which are totally not second-rate housing commission to create a ghetto for humans and human sympathizers. Those questioning the perfect society of <s>Settler's Gain</s> Yllurai Xhen will be assigned to Lumineth-owned Enlightenment Prisms for re-education.

===Without rules===
*'''Azyrheim''': The largest city in [[Azyr]] and de-facto capital of the entire the Grand Alliance of Order. Azyrheim's also has a fantasy IN SPACE look, further reinforced by some fluff which states Azyr has no day but an eternal night filled with stars, moons and other astral phenomena, another important feature of the city is the Towers of the Eight Winds, massive floating structures where the Collegiate Arcane train mages and research magic. Sigmar's obsession with keeping Azyr free of the taint of Chaos has lead to this place being rather authoritarian, as in if they catch you performing crimes they implant you with runes that burn out all thoughts of disloyalty out of your mind. On the other hand, it’s not like the freaking gods don’t know if you’re guilty and if you don’t want to be implanted then just follow the law set by one of the few deities that isn't a complete sociopath. They aren’t crazy or stupid under Sigmar so there isn’t really a reason not to.
*'''Brightspear''': A city near the coast of [[Aqshy|The Great Parch]] that was built on top of an ancient realmgate that could travel to any of the nine realms. Above the city are orbs that each contain a college of magic dedicated to one of the winds. The one dedicated to chaos was destroyed, but the echoes still remain. This city is expanded upon in great detail in the Soulbound starter set.
*'''Excelsis''': A [[Ghur|Ghurish]] city built around the Spear of Mallus, an big ass shard of the World-That-Was that fell into Ghur. Shards broken off this object can be used to see the future, and the resulting "Glimmerings" have become the local currency. Too bad they have to live in terror of the Knights Excelsior, one of the most brutal and authoritarian Stormhosts. Too bad the Knights are doing huge crackdowns after a big Tzeentch cultist insurrection (detailed in the book City of Secrets). Too bad that all the fortune teller guilds are discovering from the Glimmerings that a gigantic army of all Destruction races lead by Gordrakk himself is heading towards them. Too bad that the ever mounting volume of hurt about to befall the citizens of Excelsis is about to expand, as [[Sigvald| Sigvald the Magnificent]] and [[Glutos Orscollion]] are now leading their Slaaneshi hordes towards the city, intending to make it their new personal playground of debauchery.
*'''Vindicarum''': The city of the Celestial Vindicators in [[Chamon]]. If you thought Excelsis was bad, Vindicarium is worse. How worse? When the citizens rioted in protest of the Celestial Vindicator's harsh laws, the Stormcast ended up killing three quarters of the city's population. Keep in mind every City of Sigmar is fucking massive, so its quite possible literally millions died. All the remaining survivors became super pious members of the Devoted of Sigmar, equally terrified of the taint of Chaos and the wrath of their overlords. Suffice to say the reports of this incident have only served to even further increase the fear and distrust the common man has for the Stormcast. Be’lakor’s siege of the city has wiped out more than ninety percent of their population, so although he was pushed back, it came at a high cost. Vindicarum is less of a city now and more of a township in the low hundreds.
*'''Lethis''': Technically has rules in the form of the “Lethisian Defenders” list from Forbidden Power, but not actually part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance. This city is based in Shyish next to Lake Lethis, a lake whose waters are cursed to take away memories. This water is actually one of their most valuable exports, as a lot of people in the Mortal Realms have [[Grimdark|traumatic memories they'd rather forget]]. Also home to a Stormvault which held [[Katakros]], who was released when the city was invaded by [[Lady Olynder]]'s Legion of Grief.
*'''Edassa''': Mentioned during Gotrek's adventures in “Realmslayer” and “Ghoulslayer”, and the home city of the character Jordainn. An African themed kingdom located in Aqshy, it sits at crossroads with two other kingdoms and city states, all of them part of a mutual pact funding the garrisons of forts and towns that run the length of the region's roads. [[Celestial Lions|Have a Lion motif in their armor as well as in their battlecry.]]
*'''Westreach and Eastdale''': Twin cities built on an island in Shyish. Westreach is populated by Azyrites while Eastdale is controlled by the Reclaimed. Both cities work with each other though the former’s haughty attitude and the latter’s superstitions has lead to tension between the two. Both cities were built over the ruins/tombs of an ancient town called Belvegrod, and since this is Shyish both cities have a terrible [[Nighthaunt]] infestation. A warding protected the city from [[Lady Olynder]]’s full wrath, but through machinations that’d make Neferata proud, the Mortarch of Grief broke the wardings and razed the Twin Cities, her undead hordes consuming the living.

===Soulbound===
Considering the diverse natures of the cities, it also makes no surprise that they also hold a diverse number of archetypes in [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]]. Naturally, these Free Peoples are descendants of those who holed up in Azyr during the Age of Chaos as well as those who managed to weather the mayhem that ensued. As the gates of Azyr opened up again, many joined hands in their great cities, some out of total loyalty while others see this as merely an opportunity. Of course, those who become Soulbound do so for an equally vast number of reasons, though all are hailed among the cities as heroes and champions of the gods, perhaps equal to the Stormcast Eternals.

The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook introduces the various cities for a Free Peoples hero to hail from:
*'''Anvilgard:''' Initially founded on the Charrwind Coast of Aqshy and employed defoliant mists to keep the rampant vegetation at bay. Before long, it fell victim to the manipulations of a powerful criminal syndicate called the Blackscale Coil. Though it first acted through subterfuge and blackmail, it eventually escalated to more direct means of murder and espionage with such brazenness that many questioned whether or not they actually ruled the city...and then the city got steamrolled by Morathi and turned into Har Kuron. Heroes from Anvilgard start with either two contacts to benefit from or one contact with better contacts to benefit from.
*'''Brightspear:''' This city has suffered much despite its relative youth. This relative recency has made surviving the Necroquake much harder, and when combined with the constant invasions by Tzeentch's forces, who seek to plunder both its supply fleets and its walls, it makes for a nigh-impossible situation. Those who hail from this city don't live in luxury, but live knowing that they fought tooth and nail for all that they own. Heroes from Brightspear can ignore any tool requirements for tests or endeavors, but the tests become more difficult. During any downtime, they can also swap their training and focus from one skill to another, even if this is a skill they lack any training or focus in.
*'''Hammerhal:''' The greatest of cities, split between both Aqshy and Ghyran. It is here that the god-king Sigmar claims is his capital in his ambitions of clearing the taint from the other realms. However, this is something of a gilded dream, as the rich often live in lofty palaces while the rest are left in slums and ghettos. Hammerhal Aqsha is an industrialized haven, home to several military guilds and the most famous militant academy, the Acadamae Martial. Hammerhal Ghyra are stubborn in seeking their goals, filled with the vigor that comes from living in the realm of life. Heroes from Hammerhal Aqsha double their training in any skills involving military acumen, including when undertaking the Fortify endeavor, and have the Tactician talent available to all archetypes. Heroes from Hammerhal Ghyra can always undertake the Industrious endeavor regardless of species, and reduce the complexity of Death checks by 1 - Any instant-kill abilities instead renders them mortally wounded.
*'''Greywater Fastness:''' An industrial haven residing in Ghyran, much to the hatred of the neighboring Sylvaneth. This place is driven by its military might, as it houses a great many stores of weapons and powder that they supply to other cities. Often, there is no freedom from the constant labor. Heroes from Greywater Fastness always possess a firearm (be it a blunderbuss, a pair of pistols, a rifle, or a repeater pistol). In addition, any time they undertake the Crafting endeavor, they can always auto-pass the tests needed, though doing so comes with peril as Doom is increased by 1.
*'''Excelsis:''' This city is split between fortune-tellers who entered the city with open eyes who hail from Azyr and those hunters who have always resided in Ghur during the Age of Chaos. Though the city is under constant watch of the Knights Excelsior, their greater threat comes from the realm itself, filled with many menaces and threats that are all too immediate, unmoored from past or future. Heroes from Excelsis carry Glimmerlings, valuable magical items that can be expended to tell the future. These can always be bought from any marketplace, though not for cheap. Later during the Broken Realms Saga a mini-civil war breaks out in the city after some Tzeentchian demons manifest and a reactionary force of magic haters called the Nullstone Brotherhood starts to gain power. Unknown to everyone the leader of the group is actually a Slaanesh worshipper. The Newborns of Slaanesh later hire some Skaven to undermine the defenses of the city and to summon them into the city just as Kragnos and his Orruk allies begin to assault the city. In the end, the leader of the Nullstone Brotherhood is killed, the twin Newborn demons are banished and Morathi arrives with reinforcements in a Black Ark and helps Lord Kroak trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops him on the opposite side of the Realm of Ghur. Thus, the city is left severely damaged but still intact.
*'''Lethis:''' Residing in the realm of death, the citizens of this city revere an obscure god rather than the great necromancer who rules here - though it is debated whether this god still exists or was devoured by Nagash in a past age. Regardless of the truth, they utilize talismans to war themselves from evil. Heroes from Lethis all carry such talismans, making their weapons and armor count as magical when facing the undead and daemons.
*'''Misthåvn:''' This city is just as shady as the realm as it claims as home. It is a bleak and dismal colony, populated by pirates, conmen, and other duplicitious individuals in search for a good time - and often, there are secrets behind the façades, usually hiding something far worse. This is what the inhabitants embody, much to the consternation of the Azyrite members of the city. Heroes from Misthåvn start with a False Identity and can always undertake this endeavor at any time. They also have one dose each of three particular narcotics, which they can always seek more of when needed.
*'''Settler's Gain:''' A seeming utopia in Hysh, where automatons manage all of the manual labor so the citizens can pursue more intellectual pursuits. That said, it is not-so-subtly manipulated by the Lumineth, who are the abiters of progress and lawkeepers and seek to discipline and re-educate those they deem their lessers. Heroes from Settler's Gain can re-arrange their environment during their rest, having a chance of adding +1d6 to either Mind or Soul tests for the rest of the day.
*'''Vindicarum:''' This city is a veritable fortress, stationed atop a mountain and guarded by the Celestial Vindicators. Though it is a devout place, it is constantly imperiled by the machinations of Tzeentch and as a result, its Stormcast protectors are often merciless with their persecution. Heroes from Vindicarum add their training in Theology to Insight, Awareness, or Survival checks made to determine the traces of Chaos. In addition, the Theology skill is available to all archetypes.

Because of their diverse natures, there are archetypes available to Human, Duardin, and Aelf members of the Free Cities. Any of these races can select the '''Trade Privateer''' archetype. Humans can select the '''Battlemage''' and '''Excelsior Warpriest''' archetypes. Aelfs can select the '''Black Ark Corsair''' and '''Darkling Sorceress''' archetypes.

==Trivia==
*The dominant currency in the Cities of Sigmar is Aqua Ghyranis, which is water infused with the life magic of Ghyran, typically stored in vials or globes. This happened mainly because of two reasons; the majority of Free Cities are in Aqshy (where Aqua Ghyranis is naturally an incredibly valuable commodity) and Ghyran (which produces it) and the founders of Cities realized that if they used gold as the currency that would just mean they gave complete control of their economy to the Kharadron Overlords due to their monopoly on Chamon's mineral resources.

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

Cities of Sigmar

2021-06-13T07:04:04Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8440:C0DD:4905:7869: /* With rules */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Cities of Sigmar|Logo=Empire.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=For the <s>Empire</s> God-King!}}

The '''Cities of Sigmar''', also known as the '''Free Cities''' or '''Azyrites''', are essentially the “normal” people of the Mortal Realms under Sigmar's rule, although a minority when compared with the vast population of the territories taken by Chaos, they are probably the most numerous representatives of the Grand Alliance of Order. Humans who haven't become immortal due to having lightning jammed up their ass. Duardin who don't go into battle half naked and on fire or live in steampunk sky cities. Aelves who don't live underwater and eat souls, don't come from a misandric murdercult or aren't made of light and maths.

Each City itself is MASSIVE, comprised of numerous districts and subcultures, to the point where some could be considered their own nations. So while each City maybe known for a particular thing, it is very likely that there is an aspect of each race active in every city.

==History==

===Origins===
The story of how humans, Duardin (dwarves) and Aelves (elves) of various allegiances and creeds are somehow living together in massive cities without murderising each other is a long and expansive story that traces its way back to the closing days of the Age of Myth. Right before Chaos kicked in the proverbial door and began running rough shod across the Realms, the various mortal races lived in their respective golden ages. With the help of primarily Grungni, Teclis and Alarielle, Sigmar established countless human kingdoms and cities, with innovation, learning and cultural development blossoming at an exponential rate. The Duardin had a healthy relationship with humans as always, with a portion living alongside them, but most still taking up residence in their mountain fortresses or splitting off as the newly emerged children of Grimnir, the Fyreslayers. The Aelves enjoyed a resurgence from their initially minuscule numbers when discovered by Sigmar, and began to slowly thrive once again when the various Aelven gods joined the pantheon and began the work to restore their race to its former glory.

Of course, all of this was not to last once Chaos got wise to what was going on in the Mortal Realms. The Gods of Chaos began to secretly bore their way into the kingdoms, cities and tribes across the Realms, slowly influencing portions of the population with promises of power and immortality, and piece by piece sowing discord. When the time came to strike, the Mortal Realms were taken completely by surprise and nearly buckled under the sudden upheaval. However, the armies of Order managed to rally and held the forces of Chaos at bay for a time...That is until Archaon made his entrance into the Realms. The forces of Order began to falter and little by little they gave ground to the ever intensifying onslaught. The final blow for Order came at the Allpoints, at the disastrous confrontation that became known as the Battle of the Burning Sky. Here, the gods of Order fractured through betrayal, panic and mistrust and by the end of the slaughter Sigmar had lost Ghal Maraz, his pantheon and the most strategically important location in all the Mortal Realms. Thus, the Age of Myth came to a catastrophic end, bringing forth the Age of Chaos.

===Exodus===
With the Allpoints granting the armies of Chaos access to all of the Mortal Realms save Azyr, it did not take long for their ravenous hordes to overrun the land. The following collapse of civilization across the Realms can only be described as not falling apart, but disintegrating in its own terror.

The last of the Duardin Karaks in Chamon were overrun as the forces of Tzeentch swept across the land, the survivors reluctantly fleeing to the Gates of Azyr, with a small contingent escaping to the highest peaks of the Realm of Metal to an [[Kharadron Overlords|uncertain fate]]. Many Duardin Kings, prideful and stubborn in their sense of honor, refused to evacuate and chose to remain in their Holds, sealing their fate when the doors to Azyr were finally sealed. It is said that Grungni cried tears of molten lead when he saw how few of his children had managed to escape. Thus, the Dispossessed came to be.

The Aelven devotees of Alarielle desperately held on with their Sylvaneth comrades as Nurgle's rot and pestilence began to seep into Ghyran. However, as the Sylvaneth groves outside the Realm of Life began to be wiped out, their numbers and their reinforcements began to dwindle. As their defenses reached the breaking point, the Aelves had to make a choice; either stay with their beloved Goddess and her children and face almost certain annihilation, or abandon them in their direst hour and try to flee to Azyr before the gates closed. They chose the latter, and from that day, Alarielle and the Sylvaneth have never fully forgiven the Wanderers for their abandonment.

All the remaining human, duardin and aelf empires that were not already destroyed or besieged made a bee-line toward any realmgates to Azyr that were still open. Many didn't survive the journey, being butchered by chaos armies along the way. Many others however managed to reach Azyr and safety, others were unfortunately stranded in the other realms when Sigmar finally closed the gates as the forces of Chaos were getting too close to breaching them. These unfortunate souls either swore fealty to Chaos in return for their lives, died fighting against the maruading hordes or were forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle for the remainder of the Age of Chaos, always on the run or in hiding from the legios of Chaos. This wasn't the end of tribulations for the survivors who have reached Azyr however. Chaos cultists and double agents had managed to slip into Azyrheim among the refugees, forcing Sigmar's witch hunters to route them out (with often lethal results). Around this time the Aelven order of the Shadowblades is believed to have first become active, systematically purging Azyr further of potential threats to Sigmar's rule.

Sigmar realized that many of the refugees themselves, having malice or deception in their hearts, could be susceptible of falling to Chaos in the future. This moved the God-King to take the uneasy task of leading a mass purge of many of the peoples that had fled to Azyr. Countless supposedly innocent souls that Sigmar deemed corruptible were slaughtered by the agents of Azyr, even those that could be suspected of treachery were not spared. Only after this extermination campaign did Sigmar deemed that Azyr was safe from further corruption. Whether he did the right thing or not is up for debate, but the fluff continuously mentions that Azyr was the only Mortal Realm free from the taint of Chaos.

For the next 500 or so years the peoples of Azyr went along with their lives, but whether they be from the various cultures of the armies of the Free Guilds or the Sinister Knights of the Order Serpentis they now all shared a united goal. Which was to rebuild their forces for a counter-invasion against Chaos. After centuries of preparation and having the Stormcast Eternal infraestructure mostly finished, the various armies of Azyr were ready to reopen the realmgates and retake their ancient territories. For many this was indeed almost a relief, as while Azyr was definitely a better place to live than any of the other Mortal Realms, life under Sigmar's rule wasn't all perfect. Sigmar fearing potential Chaos infiltration kept a rather draconian amount of control on the various cities and settlements in Azyr. From constant fear of the Order of Azyr and potential knives in backs from the Shadowblades, not to mention strict legal codes, many of the peoples from the other realms chafed somewhat in this highly ordered society. So when offered a chance to retake their old homes many were happy to give it a try.

===Reconquest===
With Sigmar's Tempest opening the Gates of Azyr what followed a massive undertaking as the combined might of all the peoples of Azyr began preparations for Sigmar's reconquest of the Realms. The sheer level of planning, logistics, training and dealmaking that went down in this period cannot be understated. Whether it was noble families looking to reclaim their ancestral homelands, outcasts going to wherever offered a fresh start, or perhaps a deal made between various parties for certain benefits in the reclaimed territories in exchange for assistance. The Regiments of the Freeguild were raised and assigned to accompany settlers to their new homes in the Realms. Duardin of the Ironweld Guilds and the Dispossessed Clans offered up their expertise in engineering as well as firepower, often in exchange for trading or mining rights in the charted territories. Wanderer Enclaves saw much demand for their knowledge of scouting the wilderness, and in turn requested territory to settle and roam freely in.

The initial areas for the first cities formed around the stormkeeps established by the Stormcast Eternals after the Realmgate Wars. From these intial settlements cities began to form around them. One obvious example being Hammerhal, which would go on to be the largest city and defacto capital of Sigmar’s growing empire. Other cities were subsequently founded usually near realmgates or areas of great strategic/economic importance (I.e Hallowheart, Tempest Eye, Excelsior and Vindicarum). The Living City was established sometime later by Allarielle herself after great victories against Nurgle’s forces and stands as a testeament to her renewed alliance with Sigmar. Later would come the establishment of industrial hub Greywater Fastness would become a seat for many of the Ironweld and Disspossesed clans, and Phoenicium, one of few Aelf dominated Cities of Sigmar. These expansions did not come easy however. Millions gave their lives in their foundation and the subsequent wars to maintain these great bastions.

Roughly 100 years after the Stormcast Eternals first set down in the Realms, these initial cities have greatly expanded upon themselves, managing to carve out their own territories in the Realms. However even with all this, much of the realms have not yet been liberated. It is estimated barely a tenth of the pre-Age of Chaos territory has been reclaimed thus far, with the rest either in Chaos hands, heavily contested, held by neutral parties, or no one, with none yet claiming these wild areas. Due to this, the cities must fight hard for any territorial gains they can manage, along with sending colonists (both willing and otherwise) out to found new cities. These cities tend to be on frontier zones, forcing them to often deal with more heavier chaos or destruction incursions, along with the deadly native wildlife or even native peoples who aren't necessarily happy with newcomers trying to colonize their ancestral lands that they defended all through the Age of Chaos. In fact, an unfortunate result of this has been the occasional Stromcast or Freeguild force having to do the uncomfortable task of subjugating or even wiping out native tribes that would refuse to compromise on these cities’ foundings. Some examples of these frontier cities include Anvilgard in Aqshy, which has quickly amassed a dark reputation from its internal dealings, or Izalend in Ghur which has to be on constant alert due to the dangerous area it inhabits. Not all of these frontier cities survive, most are either destroyed from invaders or some other calamity and must be abandoned. More than one city has suffered this fate since the first cities were established.

However many others continue to prosper and continue to expand their territory to slowly retake the realms from Chaos' grasp. Due to the dangerous nature of the realms, the mere act of traveling can be dangerous. Thus while all cities are nominally under Sigmar’s domain, many often have to rely on governing themselves for the most part, as communication with the capital Hammerhal can be slow and unreliable and Stormcast sometimes not being able to lend assistance due to being stretched thin expanding the God-King’s borders. Many have to establish their own form of government and trade zones. All cities follow the government structure laid out by Azyrheim, however many make variations to how a city’s government is made up and how they conduct warfare due to local stigmas and situations. This leads to each city developing unique cultural identities, and since not all cities actively coordinate with each other, entire wars and new city foundings can occur without some nations even being aware of it, even if they are technically on the same faction. This is why organizations such as the Swifthawk Agents are so important to the cities, as speedy communication can often mean the difference between annihilation and salvation for threatened cities.

===Broken Realms===
Two free cities played an important part in [[Morathi]]’s ploy for godhood. Misthåvn lent its Black Ark fleets to defend the High Oracle from retaliating Idoneth Deepkin and Hedonites of Slaanesh while she enacted her ritual. As expected though, the Scourge Privateers were merely pawns to Morathi, and to their credit they recognized this and split the second things looked dire. The second city was Anvilgard, where the now goddess Morathi-Khaine made her appearance to the ruling council of the city. She coerced the local Darkling Covens and other “dark aelves” to overthrow their masters, leading to Morathi’s annexation of the city and renaming it to Har Kuron. Sigmar did of course learn about this deceit and was just about to besiege the city and reclaim it when Morathi parlayed with the Lord of Azyr. What they agreed upon is unclear, but the city is still called Har Kuron presently.

In Hysh, Settler’s Gain was ground zero for Nagash’s assault against the Lumineth Realm-Lords, sending spectral waves of Nighthaunt to crash against the city’s defenses. They were only saved when [[Teclis]] arrived and [[Grimdark|restored life to the Nighthaunt while they were flying so they would die again when they fell back down.]] Later on, the city supplied a battery of Luminarks and Hurricanums in the final duel between Teclis and Nagash, their magical attacks distracting the great necromancer just enough for the mage god to win the day and reverse the effects of the Necroquake.

Vindicarum is besieged by the forces of [[Be'lakor]] shortly after the First Prince collapsed every Realmgate in Chamon and released dark storms of chaos energy. The siege is a brutal affair that decimates the Hallowed Knights and Celestial Vindicators stormhosts, which is exactly what [[Be'lakor]] wants. He didn’t want to conquer the city, but to raze it and send its occupants’ souls into the Realm of Chaos where eternal torture awaited them. It took the combined fleets of every Kharadron skyport led by the mysterious white-bearded Duardin called Gromthi. The First Prince was repelled...but at a heavy cost. Vindicarum’s population was obliterated, Chamon is now separated from the other Realms, and the dark chaos storms that loomed over the lands were growing.

The Ghurish city of Excelsis after suffering a Tzeentchian demonic plot, followed by an anti-magical/anti-eleven pogrom/mini-civil war in retaliation, and a Skaven invasion finds itself severely weakened. It then nearly gets destroyed when ANOTHER incursion of demons this time lead by the Newborn of Slaanesh undermines their defenses further and helps the newly awakened god of Earthquakes [[Kragnos]] and his Orruk allies to breach the cities defenses. The only thing that stops them from stomping the city flat is the banishment of the demonic twins and the unexpected arrival of a Black Ark with the newly ascended goddess [[Morathi]] whose serpentine half distracts Kragnos. She later tracks down [[Lord Kroak]] whose been trying to help the city with his magic and the two of them manage to trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops his ass on the far side of Ghur and allows the defenders to finally force the besiegers out of the city.

==Subfactions==
The Cities of Sigmar are by their nature cosmopolitan places, as many different cultures across the realms fled to Azyr only to recolonize the lands when the Age of Sigmar arrived. As such, when war comes they have a vast diversity of military forces.

*'''[[Stormcast Eternals]]''': Yes, they're here too. Most Free Cities are built around a Stormkeep, and many are named after their founding Stormhost (Hammers of Sigmar in Hammerhal, Anvils of the Heldenhammer in Anvilgard, etc.). Have a bad habit of going too far when trying to purge Chaos from the city, leading to anti-Stormcast resentment, which in turn leads to more purges. But in the nicer cities like Brightspear they can be [[Salamanders|pretty chill and hang around with civillians]].
*'''Freeguild''': The core of the old [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|Empire]]'s forces, chiefly soldiers and Demigryphs. They are the standing armies and militias of the Cities, each descended from twelve military companies that originally fled to Azyr. A City can possess multiple Freeguilds, each one with their own specialties and strategies in warfare, making them sorta like the Imperial Guard for AoS. Lore mentions that their ranks include Duardin and Aelves as well, meaning you easily use squatted High Elf/Dwarf units as proxy Freeguild units (Swordmasters as Greatswords, Thunderers as Handgunners, etc).
*'''Devoted of Sigmar''': The Old "Church of Sigmar" faction now reduced to only the [[flagellant]]. It’s incorporated into the city with quite some critical roles. Priests of Sigmar tend to the moral and spiritual health of the human population, and when a internal threat arises, it is the work of the witch hunters from the Order of Azyr to root it out, while flagellants have to process around the city countryside, spilling their blood to destroy the chaos corruption in the land and let the city expand. Unfortunately only the latter are usable on tabletop (in a Cities of Sigmar list. The warpriests, war-altars and witch hunters have their own faction ; The Devoted of Sigmar.)
*'''Dispossessed''': Duardin who have lost their old Karaks in the Age of Chaos and have to live with the umgi and elgi now. Their primary goal in the greater Cities is providing defensive fortifications for the other factions, using their legendary shield walls and stubbornness to hold the line at all costs.
*'''Collegiate Arcane''': All the Empire's Wizards, including their giant engines. Sadly, no High Elf wizards made the cut, nor did their dragons. They are essentially a souped up version of the Colleges of Magic, comprised of powerful Battlemages who have trained for decades in eight floating towers called the Towers of the Eight Winds (I see what you did there GW), each one focused on a certain Realm’s variety of magic. However, humans are no longer restricted to one color only and can learn all, in particular a Battlemage spending a decade in each is deemed a Grandmaster who is licensed to create new spells and magical items. The Grandmasters built a specialist sub order named the Order of the Chained Flame that functions as a bounty board that hands out Spell Hunter licenses to those who dispell and capture rogue Endless spells.
*'''Ironweld Arsenal''': All the Dwarf and Empire war machines and vehicles. This includes letting people ride those tanks. It was revealed that they can build some really freaking shit nowadays, like a fortress with legs that was so powerful in Morathi book that it decimated hindreds of dark aelves and almost won the battle single handedly.
*'''Darkling Covens''': Cults of Sorceresses and their brainwashed Aelven minions. Rumored to have brainwashed more than just aelves so they can secretly manipulate cities from the shadows.
*'''Phoenix Temple''': Yes, these silent dead 'ard bastards are still around. They now worship the Ur-Phoenix instead of Asuryan. They were once broken Aelves (physically or mentally broken) who received the healing warmth of a phoenix, thus they were reborn as devout warrior monks. Members can come from any Aelven faction, there are even some Phoenix Guard who were former Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Order Serpentis''': An ancient order of tyrannical dragon-riding Aelves who lost most of their dragons in the Age of Chaos. Undaunted by this, they started hiring Sorceresses of the Darkling Covens to genetically engineer hideous part-dragon monsters to act as replacements.
*'''Wanderers''': Nomadic wood aelves from Ghyran who fled to Azyr. Upon returning they seek to restore balance to the nature they abandoned, even if many of their Sylvaneth allies despise them as traitors. Their role in the CoS army is to be pathfinders and vanguard forces, scouting ahead of the main fighting bulk to chart secure passages.
*'''Shadowblades''': Secretive Aelf assassins who worship Malerion and usually function as a secret police force within the cities.
*'''Scourge Privateers''': Descendants of a cruel slaver empire that once terrorized the seas. Now that they have to coexist with the civillians they once preyed upon, they cooled down a bit and became beast tamers who regularly hunt monsters and then sell them (whole or in pieces) to their allies. Still enjoy doing shady pirate stuff under the books, though (not that anyone is complaining when its fucking Chaos scum who are on the receving end of it for once). They still live on Black Arks, much like their Old World counterparts, except these Arks are made from binding together the bones and shells of colossal sea creatures.

==Relations with Other Order Factions==
While not part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance, almost every Order race tends to have some sort of outpost or embassy in the Free Cities. If not, they’re still likely to have a relationship to them given the Free Cities’ nature as safe havens for the enemies of Chaos.
*'''Daughters of Khaine''': The Daughters of Khaine host temples in every major City. While they're subject to all sorts of (entirely justified) rumors about dark blood rituals, they're tolerated due to being formidable allies in the war against Chaos. When not at war they perform gladitorial games and blade dances to simultaneously praise Khaine and entertain the masses. Of the various sects, the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sisters, are the most commonly seen. They are known to the Freeguilds as the Executioners Cult due to their blunt and forward style of combat, as well as their penchant for decapitation. No real word if the situation in other cities has changed after the takeover of Har Kuron.
*'''Kharadron Overlords''': Kharadron Overlords are an important part of the Cities of Sigmar economy. With travel over land being incredibly dangerous due to the hordes of chaotic marauders, deathly thralls, and destructive hooligans, airships are the most efficient way to trade between cities, and while the Cities of Sigmar have their own airships, they're nowhere near as good as the Kharadron's. The Kharadron for their part look down on the Cities of Sigmar as being primitive rubes, and only sell them their most outdated technology (which is still more advanced than the average thing the Ironweld Arsenal makes).
*'''Seraphon''': The Fangs of Sotek Seraphon often end up setting up embassies in the Cities of Sigmar. When they're around, often people turn up mysteriously dead, with the investigation discovering the victims were secret Chaos cultists. These vigilante killings are inevitably blamed upon the Daughters of Khaine.
*'''Fyreslayers''': Fyreslayers often set up local branches of their Lodges in Free Cities to offer their services as mercenaries. In addition to being hired by the City itself, they're also commonly hired by merchants; as already mentioned, travel over land is incredibly dangerous, so if you are forced to do it you're gonna need a regiment of angry pyromaniac dorfs to protect your caravan.
*'''Sylvaneth''': The forest folk who are willing to work with quick-bloods will establish embassies in the free cities. Said embassies appear as small woodland groves or parks, where the Sylvaneth presumably keep a scrutinizing eye on anyone who ventures too close.
*'''Lumineth Realm-Lords''': In their stalwart quest to defeat Chaos at all costs, the scions of Tyrion and Teclis are coldly pragmatic towards the Free Cities. Small cities are in danger of being completely wiped off the map if the Realm-Lords need its territory for some rune carving. The larger ones (or the ones they can’t nuke) are simply seen as primitive strongholds by the Lumineth and could really benefit from their guiding light. Understandably, this makes many of the Hysh Aelves rather unwelcome among the Cities of Sigmar.

==Notable Cities==
===With rules===
*'''Hammerhal''': Hammerhal is technically two cities, Hammerhal Ghyra and Hammerhal Aqsha, linked as one by the Stormrift Realmgate. The Ghyran side exports crops and lumber to Aqshy, and lava is channeled from the Aqshy side to form a protective moat. As it is home to the Hammers of Sigmar, [[Ultramarines|GREATEST OF THEM ALL]] among stormhosts, so too the people of Hammerhal seek to prove themselves as the most eminent of the Free Cities.
*'''Greywater Fastness''': Despite hailing from the Realm of Life, this city is pretty choked with smoke and industry, as they focus heavily on war machines. Literally the entire outer regions of the city are just glorified testing grounds for their weapons, riddled with craters and no vegetation aside from withered skeletal trees. This makes them rather friendly towards the [[Kharadron Overlords]], but not so much with the [[Sylvaneth]]. They were nearly starved out by the Sylvaneth until Alarielle herself arranged a compromise, and she only tolerates them because they hate Chaos and are great at bombarding them back to the Warp. What few people know though is that the city’s lead designer, Valium Maliti, is actually the Changeling in disguise, and purposely created this industrial wasteland in Ghyran to cause tension between the Sylvaneth and Sigmar.
*'''Anvilgard''': [https://youtu.be/SYExETbLL1E?t=84 In a nutshell, basically.] Port city in Aqshy by a constantly erupting volcano and a constantly burning-down-but-rapidly-regrowing jungle. To hold off the jungle from reclaiming the city's territory, they spray mass amounts of basically weedkiller everywhere (which doesn't seem - thus far - to have any long-term consequences on people), which covers the city in a gloomy grey atmosphere. Y'know, the kind of shadows where criminal syndicates thrive - and thrive they do. As in, anyone who's anyone has underworld connections, though it's kept just enough on the down-low so Lord-Veritants and other inquisitorial types don't raise a stink. In recent years, [[Morathi]] has annexed it (renaming it to '''Har Kuron'''), splitting the frontier city in half between those who sided with the [[Daughters of Khaine]] and everyone else who remained loyal to Sigmar. Sigmar learned of the treachery and sent a Stormcast army to liberate the city, but a surprise parley between the Celestant-Prime and Morathi led to the Stormcast withdrawing and ceding the city to Morathi in exchange for... something.
**On its own, Har Kuron is completely devoted to Morathi with only her most bloodthirsty and zealous followers rising to prominence in the city. Every major sect of the DoK has a temple in Har Kuron where they regularly cull and cleanse the population of the weak or unfaithful. Essentially, it’s now the AoS equivalent to Har Ganeth from Fantasy. What’s funny though is that despite the city’s fervent zealotry to her, Morathi loathes Har Kuron for the repugnant stench it still carries thanks to the copious weed killer and sees it as a poor throne for a goddess. To her, this city is less of a wanted conquest and more of a statement to her former allies and a staging ground for future expansion.
*'''Hallowheart''': The wizard's city. Being founded by the Hallowed Knights at the bottom of a gigantic crystal cave (where lived a mutated gigantic dragon of Tzeentch, who got hammered) this city has an magical focus and the central core of Collegiate Arcane. Don't mind the continuous daemon invasion perpetrated by Tzeentch and company, or the strange whispers that promise you great power and wealth, but report those facts to the Devoted of Sigmar for a handsome reward. {{BLAM}}
*'''The Living City''': A city shaped from trees and rock by [[Alarielle]] herself that symbolizes the alliance between her and Sigmar. As such, this city allies itself with [[Sylvaneth]] capable of putting aside their grudges towards everything that isn't a tree. Also where Alarielle pardoned the Wanderers for their cowardice during the Age of Chaos, so this is their home base.
*'''The Phoenicium''': The main city of the Phoenix Temple, it's at the foot of a big tree-mountain with a goofy name that avalanched sap over the area, trapping warriors in amber. In the Age of Sigmar, a host of phoenix birds thawed the sap into a golden mist that persists ever since - and if enemies that get too close enter the mist, they get trapped in amber, which then becomes another block on the ramparts. So, yeah, picture an amber wall filled with "oh crap"-faced Chaos warriors, greenskins, and spooks - that's how The Phoenicium do. Why nobody already tricked Archaon to attack this city, turning him into a statue and win the war is anyone's guess... but then again Archaon is a god so it would only weaken him and not by much (It is great at keeping Thanquol away)
*'''Tempest's Eye''': A city on top of a mountain that has close trade and military ties to the Kharadron Overlords. Since the Tempest Lords stationed there were all recruited from former nobility, they're the only city that is directly ruled by its Stormcast Eternals.
* '''Misthåvn''': The “City of Scoundrels” was created in Ulgu from a collection of massive ships from varying races all lashed together. This unique design means that Misthåvn can divide into its various components and move along the coast of Cape Tendbrax. Rather than having districts, the city is comprised of different armadas, each overseen by a Scourge Privateer Fleetmaster/Admiral. It’s infamous among the Azyrites for its corrupt policies, underhanded combat strategies, and a very lucrative illegal narcotics market. The native populace takes a spiteful pride in this reputation, though they still do their best to make sure Sigmar doesn’t call for the city’s purging.
*'''Settler's Gain''': Located in the continent of Xintil in [[Hysh]], where all the Sigmar-praisers are given their own little society away from the rest of the realm. Settler's Gain notably has solar-powered automata doing all the menial labor, freeing the populace to focus on intellectual pursuits. The city is run by a meritocratic caste system where your status is based on passing philosophical, theological and arcane tests. Truly the most utopian of all Free Cities. Pay no attention to the fact that passing these tests requires so many years of study that only Aelves can live long enough to ascend to the highest ranks, resulting in a ruling class of Lumineth reigning over the mostly-human peasants. The peasants live in simple but well-designed houses neatly grouped together which are totally not second-rate housing commission to create a ghetto for humans and human sympathizers. Those questioning the perfect society of <s>Settler's Gain</s> Yllurai Xhen will be assigned to Lumineth-owned Enlightenment Prisms for re-education.

===Without rules===
*'''Azyrheim''': The largest city in [[Azyr]] and de-facto capital of the entire the Grand Alliance of Order. Azyrheim's also has a scifi IN SPACE look, further reinforced by some fluff which states Azyr has no day but an eternal night filled with stars, moons and other astral phenomena, another important feature of the city is the Towers of the Eight Winds, massive floating structures where the Collegiate Arcane train mages and research magic. Sigmar's obsession with keeping Azyr free of the taint of Chaos has lead to this place being rather authoritarian, as in if they catch you performing crimes they implant you with runes that burn out all thoughts of disloyalty out of your mind. On the other hand, it’s not like the freaking gods don’t know if you’re guilty and if you don’t want to be implanted then just follow the law set by one of the few deities that isn't a complete sociopath. They aren’t crazy or stupid under Sigmar so there isn’t really a reason not to.
*'''Brightspear''': A city near the coast of [[Aqshy|The Great Parch]] that was built on top of an ancient realmgate that could travel to any of the nine realms. Above the city are orbs that each contain a college of magic dedicated to one of the winds. The one dedicated to chaos was destroyed, but the echoes still remain. This city is expanded upon in great detail in the Soulbound starter set.
*'''Excelsis''': A [[Ghur|Ghurish]] city built around the Spear of Mallus, an big ass shard of the World-That-Was that fell into Ghur. Shards broken off this object can be used to see the future, and the resulting "Glimmerings" have become the local currency. Too bad they have to live in terror of the Knights Excelsior, one of the most brutal and authoritarian Stormhosts. Too bad the Knights are doing huge crackdowns after a big Tzeentch cultist insurrection (detailed in the book City of Secrets). Too bad that all the fortune teller guilds are discovering from the Glimmerings that a gigantic army of all Destruction races lead by Gordrakk himself is heading towards them. Too bad that the ever mounting volume of hurt about to befall the citizens of Excelsis is about to expand, as [[Sigvald| Sigvald the Magnificent]] and [[Glutos Orscollion]] are now leading their Slaaneshi hordes towards the city, intending to make it their new personal playground of debauchery.
*'''Vindicarum''': The city of the Celestial Vindicators in [[Chamon]]. If you thought Excelsis was bad, Vindicarium is worse. How worse? When the citizens rioted in protest of the Celestial Vindicator's harsh laws, the Stormcast ended up killing three quarters of the city's population. Keep in mind every City of Sigmar is fucking massive, so its quite possible literally millions died. All the remaining survivors became super pious members of the Devoted of Sigmar, equally terrified of the taint of Chaos and the wrath of their overlords. Suffice to say the reports of this incident have only served to even further increase the fear and distrust the common man has for the Stormcast. Be’lakor’s siege of the city has wiped out more than ninety percent of their population, so although he was pushed back, it came at a high cost. Vindicarum is less of a city now and more of a township in the low hundreds.
*'''Lethis''': Technically has rules in the form of the “Lethisian Defenders” list from Forbidden Power, but not actually part of the Cities of Sigmar allegiance. This city is based in Shyish next to Lake Lethis, a lake whose waters are cursed to take away memories. This water is actually one of their most valuable exports, as a lot of people in the Mortal Realms have [[Grimdark|traumatic memories they'd rather forget]]. Also home to a Stormvault which held [[Katakros]], who was released when the city was invaded by [[Lady Olynder]]'s Legion of Grief.
*'''Edassa''': Mentioned during Gotrek's adventures in “Realmslayer” and “Ghoulslayer”, and the home city of the character Jordainn. An African themed kingdom located in Aqshy, it sits at crossroads with two other kingdoms and city states, all of them part of a mutual pact funding the garrisons of forts and towns that run the length of the region's roads. [[Celestial Lions|Have a Lion motif in their armor as well as in their battlecry.]]
*'''Westreach and Eastdale''': Twin cities built on an island in Shyish. Westreach is populated by Azyrites while Eastdale is controlled by the Reclaimed. Both cities work with each other though the former’s haughty attitude and the latter’s superstitions has lead to tension between the two. Both cities were built over the ruins/tombs of an ancient town called Belvegrod, and since this is Shyish both cities have a terrible [[Nighthaunt]] infestation. A warding protected the city from [[Lady Olynder]]’s full wrath, but through machinations that’d make Neferata proud, the Mortarch of Grief broke the wardings and razed the Twin Cities, her undead hordes consuming the living.

===Soulbound===
Considering the diverse natures of the cities, it also makes no surprise that they also hold a diverse number of archetypes in [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]]. Naturally, these Free Peoples are descendants of those who holed up in Azyr during the Age of Chaos as well as those who managed to weather the mayhem that ensued. As the gates of Azyr opened up again, many joined hands in their great cities, some out of total loyalty while others see this as merely an opportunity. Of course, those who become Soulbound do so for an equally vast number of reasons, though all are hailed among the cities as heroes and champions of the gods, perhaps equal to the Stormcast Eternals.

The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook introduces the various cities for a Free Peoples hero to hail from:
*'''Anvilgard:''' Initially founded on the Charrwind Coast of Aqshy and employed defoliant mists to keep the rampant vegetation at bay. Before long, it fell victim to the manipulations of a powerful criminal syndicate called the Blackscale Coil. Though it first acted through subterfuge and blackmail, it eventually escalated to more direct means of murder and espionage with such brazenness that many questioned whether or not they actually ruled the city...and then the city got steamrolled by Morathi and turned into Har Kuron. Heroes from Anvilgard start with either two contacts to benefit from or one contact with better contacts to benefit from.
*'''Brightspear:''' This city has suffered much despite its relative youth. This relative recency has made surviving the Necroquake much harder, and when combined with the constant invasions by Tzeentch's forces, who seek to plunder both its supply fleets and its walls, it makes for a nigh-impossible situation. Those who hail from this city don't live in luxury, but live knowing that they fought tooth and nail for all that they own. Heroes from Brightspear can ignore any tool requirements for tests or endeavors, but the tests become more difficult. During any downtime, they can also swap their training and focus from one skill to another, even if this is a skill they lack any training or focus in.
*'''Hammerhal:''' The greatest of cities, split between both Aqshy and Ghyran. It is here that the god-king Sigmar claims is his capital in his ambitions of clearing the taint from the other realms. However, this is something of a gilded dream, as the rich often live in lofty palaces while the rest are left in slums and ghettos. Hammerhal Aqsha is an industrialized haven, home to several military guilds and the most famous militant academy, the Acadamae Martial. Hammerhal Ghyra are stubborn in seeking their goals, filled with the vigor that comes from living in the realm of life. Heroes from Hammerhal Aqsha double their training in any skills involving military acumen, including when undertaking the Fortify endeavor, and have the Tactician talent available to all archetypes. Heroes from Hammerhal Ghyra can always undertake the Industrious endeavor regardless of species, and reduce the complexity of Death checks by 1 - Any instant-kill abilities instead renders them mortally wounded.
*'''Greywater Fastness:''' An industrial haven residing in Ghyran, much to the hatred of the neighboring Sylvaneth. This place is driven by its military might, as it houses a great many stores of weapons and powder that they supply to other cities. Often, there is no freedom from the constant labor. Heroes from Greywater Fastness always possess a firearm (be it a blunderbuss, a pair of pistols, a rifle, or a repeater pistol). In addition, any time they undertake the Crafting endeavor, they can always auto-pass the tests needed, though doing so comes with peril as Doom is increased by 1.
*'''Excelsis:''' This city is split between fortune-tellers who entered the city with open eyes who hail from Azyr and those hunters who have always resided in Ghur during the Age of Chaos. Though the city is under constant watch of the Knights Excelsior, their greater threat comes from the realm itself, filled with many menaces and threats that are all too immediate, unmoored from past or future. Heroes from Excelsis carry Glimmerlings, valuable magical items that can be expended to tell the future. These can always be bought from any marketplace, though not for cheap. Later during the Broken Realms Saga a mini-civil war breaks out in the city after some Tzeentchian demons manifest and a reactionary force of magic haters called the Nullstone Brotherhood starts to gain power. Unknown to everyone the leader of the group is actually a Slaanesh worshipper. The Newborns of Slaanesh later hire some Skaven to undermine the defenses of the city and to summon them into the city just as Kragnos and his Orruk allies begin to assault the city. In the end, the leader of the Nullstone Brotherhood is killed, the twin Newborn demons are banished and Morathi arrives with reinforcements in a Black Ark and helps Lord Kroak trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops him on the opposite side of the Realm of Ghur. Thus, the city is left severely damaged but still intact.
*'''Lethis:''' Residing in the realm of death, the citizens of this city revere an obscure god rather than the great necromancer who rules here - though it is debated whether this god still exists or was devoured by Nagash in a past age. Regardless of the truth, they utilize talismans to war themselves from evil. Heroes from Lethis all carry such talismans, making their weapons and armor count as magical when facing the undead and daemons.
*'''Misthåvn:''' This city is just as shady as the realm as it claims as home. It is a bleak and dismal colony, populated by pirates, conmen, and other duplicitious individuals in search for a good time - and often, there are secrets behind the façades, usually hiding something far worse. This is what the inhabitants embody, much to the consternation of the Azyrite members of the city. Heroes from Misthåvn start with a False Identity and can always undertake this endeavor at any time. They also have one dose each of three particular narcotics, which they can always seek more of when needed.
*'''Settler's Gain:''' A seeming utopia in Hysh, where automatons manage all of the manual labor so the citizens can pursue more intellectual pursuits. That said, it is not-so-subtly manipulated by the Lumineth, who are the abiters of progress and lawkeepers and seek to discipline and re-educate those they deem their lessers. Heroes from Settler's Gain can re-arrange their environment during their rest, having a chance of adding +1d6 to either Mind or Soul tests for the rest of the day.
*'''Vindicarum:''' This city is a veritable fortress, stationed atop a mountain and guarded by the Celestial Vindicators. Though it is a devout place, it is constantly imperiled by the machinations of Tzeentch and as a result, its Stormcast protectors are often merciless with their persecution. Heroes from Vindicarum add their training in Theology to Insight, Awareness, or Survival checks made to determine the traces of Chaos. In addition, the Theology skill is available to all archetypes.

Because of their diverse natures, there are archetypes available to Human, Duardin, and Aelf members of the Free Cities. Any of these races can select the '''Trade Privateer''' archetype. Humans can select the '''Battlemage''' and '''Excelsior Warpriest''' archetypes. Aelfs can select the '''Black Ark Corsair''' and '''Darkling Sorceress''' archetypes.

==Trivia==
*The dominant currency in the Cities of Sigmar is Aqua Ghyranis, which is water infused with the life magic of Ghyran, typically stored in vials or globes. This happened mainly because of two reasons; the majority of Free Cities are in Aqshy (where Aqua Ghyranis is naturally an incredibly valuable commodity) and Ghyran (which produces it) and the founders of Cities realized that if they used gold as the currency that would just mean they gave complete control of their economy to the Kharadron Overlords due to their monopoly on Chamon's mineral resources.

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