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Lord Kroak

2021-04-25T13:23:54Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:E0B4:2438:DCF4:F1E0: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Kosmic Kroak.jpg|thumb|400px|right|ribbit ribbit motherfucker]]
Before the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Elves]], inheritors to the magic of the world, were even conceived of and before the continent of [[Ulthuan]] was raised from the seafloor, before the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] were even a sparkle in the eyes of the Creators, before [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|mankind]] first walked the Earth, there was <s>Pepe, Prophet of Kek</s> Lord Kroak, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Qq31ucGy0 Mightiest Toad].

==The Legend==
Lord Kroak (or Lord Kodak as autocorrect calls him) was the firstborn of the [[Slann]], the first race created by the [[Old Ones]] (in their own image) to aid them in shaping the planet to defeat the eventual coming of [[Chaos]]. In time, the rest of the [[Lizardmen]] were created and served under Kroak. It's possible that Kroak was the one who taught the first Elves magic at the command of the Old Ones, but it could have been any or even all of the Slann.

[[File:Kodak-graduate.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Lord Kroak giving a speech during his graduation ceremony, the man just wanted a quiet job as an Old One's clerk]]
Kroak did little in the fluff until Chaos first entered the world with the collapse of the Warp Gates, which [[Anal circumference|made the world as accessible to Chaos]] as a planet sucked into the [[Eye of Terror]]. After holding a city-spanning forcefield up for decades during the Great Catastrophe against a literally neverending tide of Daemons, he got fed up of that and turned the field into a titanic explosion that vapourised a hundred thousand of them. As the daemons promptly pulled another infinite horde out of their asses and kept coming, Kroak proceeded to pull his sleeves up and bring out the titanic apocalypse magic that should really have been reserved for the Old Ones themselves. The army book describes it as goddamn time stopping as reality itself struggled to accommodate the tide of bullshit emitting from Kroak's mind, the world around his city folding in on itself to stem the tide of daemons.

They penetrated his defences regardless, and Kroak was ripped to shreds by no less than a dozen Bloodthirsters. Doesn't matter though, as at this point he's too goddamn powerful to give a shit about being dead, and his unstoppable spirit continues to defy them. He basically becomes the singularity at this point, as the world turns blindingly bright and the daemonic horde pretty much just stops existing altogether.

The sacrifice of Kroak is what kept the bulk of the Daemon invasion from facerolling the Elves in one day, and as a result [[Caledor the Dragontamer]] had time to set up the Vortex in the center of Ulthuan. Kroak's solo efforts freed up the rest of the surviving Slann to channel their own power into Caledor's spell, hastening the weakening of Chaos. Without his efforts the Warhammer World would have been consumed in it's infancy, before man had even left their caves and discovered agriculture.

His spirit lives on to this day, thousands of years down the line, the ghost of his old body now just echoing the titanic destruction he unleashed upon the world. The lizardmen kind of wheel him out on his hoverchair now and then if they need to nuke somebody. The mummy of his favorite Skink rests on his throne, and even in death defends his beloved master (handling all the Close Combat for him).

Kroak's Oracle from the days when he was alive, the Skink Priest Ten-zlati, is the voice of Kroak among the Lizardmen and outranks even young Slann as he knows secrets of the Old Ones not known even to [[Lord Mazdamundi]].

tl;dr Kroak is the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] if Emps wasn't a complete and utter fail——{{BLAM|HERESY!}}.

===The End Times===
Come [[The End Times|the apocalypse]] Kroak makes the ultimate sacrifice after the Skaven, in their foolishness, destroy the warpstone moon [[Morrslieb]] and send its remains hurtling down to crash on the planet below. After Mazdamundi dies crushing most of the fragments of Morrslieb, [[Awesome|Kroak wills himself back to life. He isn't resurrected, he doesn't escape from the afterlife, he just decided to not be dead anymore and reality obliged.]] And no, he didn't use a phylactery or necromancy either (suck it, Nagash!)

Then his spirit invokes all of his power, ensuring that the devastation only affects Lustria and the Southlands; the former holdings of the Lizardmen [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|are burnt to slag and cinders and everything dies]], but the rest of the planet survives instead of being blown to bits. He also teleports some of the Lizardmen away to safety, but in the process he gets obliterated by the flames and shockwave from the impacts.

In doing this, he postponed the prophesied end of the world for a few years and, while the planet was already doomed, it may have allowed the Lizardmen temple-ships to escape safely instead of getting vaporized by the blast wave of planetary destruction. This also may have ensured the Incarnates and the core of the planet survived the Apocalypse, allowing Sigmar and the surviving Slann to colonize the Mortal Realms and eventually make the Stormcast Eternals. So yeah, Kroak probably bet for the long term.

Pretty badass for someone whose name is a frigging awful frog pun.

=== Age of Sigmar===

And in keeping with the tradition of death being only a speed bump for Kroak... He came back in Age of Sigmar and scares Chaos and Skaven players, because that's just how Kroak rolls. Ribbit ribbit you chaos bitches.

[[File:Lord Kroak AoS.jpg|thumb|400px|right|Kroak's back, baby! After eons of stagnating as a stout resin blob, GW has finally pimped out Kroak's throne to more properly suit his station.]]

As part of the Broken Realms, Kroak is not only returning to the scene as a fairly major player in Broken Realms Be'lakor and Broken Realms Kragnos, but he is snapping back in style. He's got a massive new model decked out with all the fineries a dead slann truly deserves and some rules (hopefully to remind Teclis who is THE wizard of the setting in case Teclis gets cocky after beating Nagash).

==On The Tabletop==
=== Warhammer Fantasy===
Given that Lord Kroak is, well, dead, you kind of don't want to let him anywhere near a fight. He's got lackluster stats for Movement (4), Strength (3), Toughness (5), Wounds (6), and Leadership (9). Oh, and anything we didn't mention is all 1's. He's an Infantry Special Character and a level 4 wizard who knows only one signature spell; The Deliverance of Itza. This is a casting value 12+/18+/24+ direct damage spell that affects all enemy units within 12/18/24 inches and inflicts 2D6 S4 hits (3D6 for Daemons and Undead of either kind). He '''cannot''' lose this spell by any means; if it is somehow swapped, stolen or forgotten, he immediately gets it back, and an enemy caster who stole it forgets it.

He's Cold-blooded, causes Fear, is Flammable, rides a Mage-priest Palanquin and is Unbreakable.

Eternity Guardians means he makes Temple Guard Unbreakable.

First Generation Spawning means he can cast his signature spell as many times per turn has he has the dice for, and he can choose to roll a D6 when he miscasts, with a 2+ meaning he takes a S6 hit and loses D6 power dice instead of having to roll on the miscast table. An Arcane Vassal he was using when it happened also takes an S6 hit.

The Spirit of Lord Kroak means he cannot drop below being a level 1 wizard.

His Supreme Shield of the Old Ones gives him a 3+ Ward save and his Golden Death Mask is a magical talisman that inflicts a -1 penalty on all To Hit rolls made against Kroak or a unit he has joined.

On the whole, he's a fun character hamstrung by his [[Overcosted|exorbitant points cost]].

==Age of Sigmar==
He is still kind of dead, but now he is dead for immeasurable ages which means in the battleshock phase you'd roll a d6 and add how many wounds he has taken, subtract the bravery and if it's less than 1 he is fine, if it is more than one he is dead. Not only on less than one he is fine, but he heals all of his wounds which means the only way to confirm a kill on him it to do 10 WOUNDS IN 1 TURN; and for anything that could insta-kill him - looking at you Archaon and Nagash - it only does 2D6 Mortal Wounds, so you need to roll 10 or more to kill him. He also loses his Deliverance of Itza but gets celestial deliverance which is quite similar. On a 8/9/10 (he can do the spell up to 3 times) you select 3 units, on 2 ups then they suffer d3 mortal wounds (d6 if a daemon). he's not half bad in combat doing 2d6 attacks which are fairly ok, but in spells he can really go ham. 4 spells and dispells per turn, and not half bad spells at that. Also he can summon in units of seraphon (its usually skinks) and will basically never die. He is super good and nothing can stop my little toady boy.

== Total War: WARHAMMER ==
He is finally playable!!! However, he is not a Legendary Lord but a Legendary Hero, meaning we won't be seeing him leading an army but he is sure powerful as hell. He has powerful unique spells wherein he nukes shit out of the foolish warmbloods daring to go against the Great Plan ''without'' harming his allies. This simple-but-effective spell list is: Deliverance of Itza I (powerful but weak against armor, still does a shit tons of damage) & II (much larger range and ignores armor, EVEN BIGGER DAMAGE) & III ('''''OH LORD HE CUMMING!!'''''). He also has the Supreme Shield of the Old Ones as an ability that gives your units in an area a sexy 44% all-round damage resistance, protect them from magic, missiles, physicals you named it! Oh, did I mention it's also has no winds cost? Passive effects he can get include a 5 more leadership bonus from his leadership aura than most others can get, resistances to pretty much everything aside from fire, -wound recovery time, 5% damage resistance for the entire army, causes terror, regeneration, +28 power reserve and -15 to the enemy because fuck them, and while he can't wound other agents (he instead can boost troop XP, replenish, growth or income), he can still get the ability to not only damage a settlement walls, but at rank 20 also its buildings and the settlement's level ''itself'' so even the hardiest capital daring to stand in Lord Kroak's way will become easy pickings - follow the Great Plan or get croaked, bitches

Lizardmen players who pick [[Gor-Rok]] as their faction get to play the game on faceroll mode because he starts with Lord Kroak and so the dynamic duo will plow a [[rape]]train through everything that's against the Great Plan as [[Gor-Rok]] mocks armies' pathetic attempts to kill him as Kroak fucking explodes them to atoms.

Another thing to note about him is that whenever he is doing an action, like spell casting, [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|his spirit can be seen smacking down on the foolish enemy]] even in melee combat. The only bad thing that can be said about his execution in Total Warhammer is his favorite mummified skink from the tabletop is sadly nowhere to be seen.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:6D01B275-73C4-4106-879C-072A134B73B2.png|thumb|400px|right|Deliverance of Ratteroni Pitza
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Lizardmen (Warhammer Fantasy)]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Seraphon]]

Sons of Behemat

2021-04-25T13:03:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:E0B4:2438:DCF4:F1E0: /* Religion and Culture */

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

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

{{Topquote|Disasters are called natural, as if nature were the executioner and not the victim.|Eduardo Galeano}}

{{Topquote|There is only power. Power is of the individual mind but the mind's power is not enough. Power of the body decides everything in the end and only might is right.|T.H. White, "The Once and Future King"}}
The '''Sons of Behemat''' are Gargants (known as Giants outside of copyright speak), the offspring of the titular [[Godbeast]] Behemat; colossal forces of nature that terrify foes and (their few) friends alike. They are driven by their wanton need for inflicting mass carnage and proving themselves as the true champions of Gorkamorka. Despite this, other factions will often hire the services of the Sons of Behemat as living siege weapons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Religion and Culture==
[[File:BehematStormcast.jpg|800px|thumb|center|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OkpRK2_gVs/ SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JAEGER!!!!!]]]
The Sons of Behemat don’t really worship [[Gorkamorka (Deity)|Gorkamorka]], whom they call the Godstompa, as they do “highly revere” him. In fact, they only seem to acknowledge the green god because Behemat did, who seems to be the real center of Gargant society. The Godstompa himself is said to be a massive yellow-nailed bare foot that flattens entire cities where ever he treads (watching the orruk shamans cast the Foot of Gork spell only strengthens this notion for them). When the Godstompa is split into “Gorkfoot and Morkfoot”, the Gargants state that one is “stompy but kicky” and the other is “kicky but stompy”. This fixation on feet forms the cornerstone of Gargant culture and how they view other races (Example: they’re not fond of the [[Slaves to Darkness]] not cuz they’re Chaos worshippers, but because their spiked armor makes them unpleasant to squash).

This foot fetishism also bleeds into their tribal organization. A tribe of Gargants is called a Stomp (most civillized races call them Catastrophes, but the average gargant can't pronounce that word), with the leader being known as the "Big Heel". Subordinate Mega-Gargants are thus "under the heel", while the tribe's Mancrushers are referred to as “footsloggas” (larger Mancrushers who lead their fellows are said to be "toeing the line"). Wherever a Stomp roams, the Gargants will leave their mark in the trails of ruin and destruction they leave behind. Frontier towns and outposts are reduced to rubble. Holy forests are uprooted and turned to splinters. All of which they do out of boredom and complete disregard for anything made/honored by the pipsqueaks. Such devastation is most commonly found in [[Ghur]], where Gargants are so common that all the natives have learned to recognize and fear the tell-tale thumping of their footprints that can be heard for miles around. Gargants won’t give anyone smaller than them (meaning everyone) the time of day unless they are at eye level with the beasts, usually standing on a cliff or some tower/war machine. Though this can prove a successful means of diplomacy, it’s just as common for the Gargant to mindlessly grab the diplomat and devour them.

Since Behemat was the Champion of Gorkamorka, his Sons now strive to fill the gap left by their forefather’s death. This is best exemplified by their correlation of size equaling strength, or “Mightier makes Rightier” as they say. The biggest have the authority to boss around those smaller than them and (most of) the giants just accept it as fact. Though when two Gargants of similar size meet, they are bound to begin wrestling with each other to assert dominance. Sometimes they will instead do a series of “strength challenges” to determine who’s in charge, though this often still leads to the participants grappling on the ground. The aforementioned challenges are usually done in large open area or the ruins of a nearby city that was stomped flat by the Gargants to serve as their playing field.

Gargants have a vague sort of connection to the various [[Orruk Warclans|greenskin]] [[Gloomspite Gitz|factions]], likely due to Gorkamorka’s role in their origin. Whenever a Waaagh! is called or the Bad Moon looms in the sky, it’s quite common to find the lumbering giants following the greenskin hordes. The maniac energies that swell during such times is contagious to the Gargants, though not to the same extent as Orruks and Grots. It’s described as the Gargants wanting to show the yelling hordes at their feet who’s really the biggest and baddest. At the height of their fervor, tribes of Gargants will break out into a full on sprint and crush entire battlelines with their feet alone before crashing into battlements with club and girth. As for the other destruction race, the [[Ogor Mawtribes]], Gargants have a healthy respect/fear of them. They acknowledge their larger size and strength compared to other pipsqueaks, and have seen more than a few of their kind be consumed alive by the ravenous gluttons or blasted apart by their cannons.

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

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

===Favored Pastimes/Gargant Games===
*'''Horse-punting''': Players kick a horse and see which one goes the farthest. Bonus points are awarded to the horse that lands on an unsuspecting pipsqueek.
*'''Boar-scoffing''': Pig eating contest...with full sized hogs.
*'''Wakebelching''': A game played by more “civilized” Gargants (meaning the ones who work for Order factions). Each player takes turns burping loudly in the dead of night in the middle of a settlement. The Gargant who woke the most people/gets the most angry shouts of protest wins.
*'''Manskittles''': Bowling on the battlefield. Gargants will take a boulder, dead animal, or whatever else is on hand and hurl it at a shield wall to see how many bodies are sent flailing about.
*'''Tank-tipping''': Like cow tipping, but with Steam Tanks. It was first played by the Warstomper Nagbog and his Stomp who fought against Commodore Bonn Jensen’s Iron Squadron of Greywater Fastness. Onlookers of the massacre could’ve sworn they saw flying Steam Tanks that day.
*'''Rumble''': Football/soccer but with explosive volcanic boulders. Unusual for including willing participants from other races. The Ogors of the Boulderhead Mawtribe regularly migrate through the Adamantine Mountains in Aqshy, where they encounter the native Aridian Stomp. Both sides agree to play this game of Rumble (throwing and/or kicking boulders towards the opposing team’s side) to determine if the Ogors can pass through for free, or if they have to kill half of their beasts and mounts as payment to the Gargants.

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

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

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

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

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

*'''Bonegrinder''': The largest and rarest of all Sons of Behemat, twice as tall as the common Mancrusher and still head and shoulders bigger than the other Mega-Gargants. These absolute behemoths see themselves as the reincarnations of Behemat and try to bully everyone into serving on them hand and foot. So why don’t they lead the Gargant Stomps? It’s unclear (aside from a lack of official tabletop rules), though a likely explanation is a combination of their supreme levels of clumsiness and being incredibly dull, even for a Gargant. The few times they do show up though, it’s a sure fire sign that this Stomp means business.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*'''The Murgg Brothers''': Broguph, Slorgo, and Mangor are a trio of Warstompers hired by [[Skragrott|Skragrott the Loonking]] to aide in his siege of the Tuskvault, a Stormvault rumored to contain a shard from Gorkamorka’s own club, a weapon intended for the eldest of the brothers Broguph. Skragrott had amassed a massive contingent of different Destruction factions, so much so that he convinced the Fist of Gork [[Gordrakk]] himself to lead it. The siege was thwarted by a combined effort of Sylvaneth, Fyreslayers, and Stormcast, with an enraged Mangor unintentionally bringing down a whole mountain that buried the Tuskvault once more. Shortly thereafter, Gordrakk (forcefully) recruited the Brothers for his own campaign; marching on the free city of Excelsis.

*'''Old Ropey''': A horrifying and enigmatic Mega-Gargant that stalks the blighted isle of Decrepita in Ghyran. He’s named so for the ropes of mouldering flesh that hang from his belly and drag along the ground where ever he roams. The unfortunates who are caught by Old Ropey are wrapped up in these rotting muscles where they are slowly absorbed into the Mega-Gargant like an undead fungus. Alarielle has sent numerous Glades to put down this living(?) ghost story, but no one can ever seem to find Old Ropey...unless he wants to be found.

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

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:BoL0PjL5oXMduBJl.jpg|A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant.
</gallery>

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

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Daughters of Khaine

2021-04-25T12:00:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:E0B4:2438:DCF4:F1E0: /* Society */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Daughters of Khaine|Logo=Daughters_of_Khaine_battletome_art.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Much bloodier and less NSFW than it appears.}}
{{topquote|She could never take an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The weak and flaccid parity would make her nearly puke. She wants an eye for a tooth, and a life for an eye.|Helen Zahavi - Dirty Weekend}}
{{topquote|Let's show the gutless pigs how the warriors of Pah-Dishah can fight! By Tarim, we'll give the devils scarlet wine to drink this dawn...|Red Sonja}}

The '''Daughters of Khaine''' are a nation of aelves (though closer to a collection of scattered religious communes than a nation) led by Morathi who combine the Khainite religion with shadow magic.

They are an army, with a few exceptions, of [[PROMOTIONS|armed aelven women and monstergirls in bikinis]]. As they worship Khaine, to them the clash of arms is the height of their religion, holy rites practiced and perfected with all the high-level skill and grace of aelf-kind. As blades flash, they shed their visage of cold and distant beauty, how they tend to be when not in battle, their ecstatic faces lighting up with each fresh kill. In contrast to even other aelves, especially the Idoneth Deepkin, many Daughters of Khaine have lived far beyond the average aelf lifespan, which is already longer than that of other races (except the males - see below).

==History==
===Age of Myth===
Being a theocracy founded by [[Morathi]] and given her character, Morathi is behind or involved in every pivotal moment of the Daughters of Khaine in history. After leaving the Great Alliance because [[Nagash]] outed her true monstrous form, Morathi sought to establish her own dwellings in Ulgu. Her son Malerion cruelly rejected her suggestion of splitting the rule of the thirteen Dominions, for he claimed of all Ulgu as his own. Morathi persisted until, as either a joke or a plot to get rid of her, Malerion granted his mother a small parcel of land in the middle of the Umbral Veil. This was the darkest and most impenetrable region in all Ulgu, so dangerous that only Malerion himself had ever returned from those cloying mists with their sanity intact. Morathi went there and exceeded her son's expectations. She bent the shadows into a protective shroud around her new land and led settlers there.

Her only followers were the aelven witch-cults that had maintained their worship of [[Khaine]]. While Morathi knew Khaine was dead, since the blood rituals no longer rejuvenated her, she supported the religion to get people to help her. To ensure their loyalty, Morathi built a temple to Khaine, naming it Hagg Nar, and over time a city grew up around it. Morathi taught them the secrets of navigating the murky currents. Hagg Nar began as a pitiful kingdom, and Morathi brooded over her mean existence.

As she sought power, she soon found a hint of Khaine's power in her dreams while scrying. Though Khaine was dead, she knew the elven gods were cyclial and could be reborn given enough power. Morathi began a secret quest that was long and difficult, but eventually brought her to the literal heart of Khaine himself. The heart was intact and throbbing with resurgent power, but it was guarded by Kharbytr, the godbeast father of Kharibdysses. Morathi suspected Kharbytr would be resistant to sorcery, and was despearte to claim the heart before anyone else could, so she used seduction instead (yes, really), but angered Kharbytr when she tried to grab the heart. The fight between them was an epic clash that lasted thirteen days and ended when Morathi constricted Kharbytr in her coils. The godbeast dealt her a lethal blow before losing consciousness, but Morathi survived by drawing energies from Khaine's heart to sustain herself.

Heading back to Hagg Nar with her prize, Morathi declared herself Khaine's High Oracle, claiming that she spoke for the god of murder and that she was his voice in this world. With that she solidified her hold over the Khainites and reshaped the society into the Daughters of Khaine. The Daughters of Khaine would often be sent out to hunt for fragments of their missing deity on Morathi's orders (unbeknownst to them, these were snipe hunts for the most part).

She continued this way for a time until Malerion arrived. He said that he and the other aelf gods had had, at last, found the lost aelf-souls from the world-that-was, and they needed her shadow magic and knowledge of Slaanesh in their grand plan. For the first and only time, Morathi spoke of the unspeakable horrors inside Slaanesh and how she'd escaped. Using this knowledge and themselves as bait, the four lured Slaanesh into a trap and started extracting elven souls from the deity.

For her role, Morathi was allowed to take souls for herself to shape into elves, who went into swelling the numbers of the Daughters of Khaine. However, some of them had been [[monstergirls|altered by their time with Slaanesh]]. There were those with [[Lamia|serpentine mutations akin to Morathi]], these became the [[Medusa|Melusae]]. Others had bat-like wings and long tails, these became the [[Harpy|Khinerai]]. Around this time Morathi reintroduced the Cauldrons of Blood and created the Mathcoir, the master cauldron, in Hagg Nar. Secretly, she made it as a repository of power only she could access. To start this, Morathi [[Drow|cursed every male born to the Daughters of Khaine to have part of their soul siphoned away and stored in the Mathcoir]].

Unbeknownst to her erstwhile allies, Morathi had added her own deceptive magics to the undertaking, so that the soul division was skewed slightly out of the agreed proportions, with extra spirits siphoned to Hagg Nar. This subterfuge was subtle, but slowly, inevitably, [[Not as Planned|altered the eldritch balance that kept the Dark Prince perfectly imprisoned between Hysh and Ulgu]].

===Age of Chaos===
As Chaos invaded the Mortal Realms, the Daughters of Khaine marched out from Hagg Nar to ambush them, using shadowshifting magics to reach Realmgates to travel anywhere the forces of Order needed them. Although Morathi and her followers weren't liked, beggars could not be choosers and they were one of the few allies the Sigmarites had during this time. To keep the more mutated members of her coven secret, the spellcasters and priestesses of the Khainites used shadow glamors to make them look like ordinary elves (how this worked when the Khinerai were flying is anybody's guess).

The Daughters of Khaine were bold and fearless in battle - willing to cross blades with any enemy, no matter how numerous or monstrous. Despite heroics by Khainite forces at many battles, the forces of Order were on the backfoot, the final retreat happening after Nagash betrayed Sigmar at the Battle of Burning Skies.

As the Chaos invasions set about their task of destroying and enslaving entire civilisations, the Shadowlands of Ulgu suffered the least after Azyr. Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch all devoted the greater portion of their forces to different realms, the minions that were sent into Ulgu boasted none of the most fearful greater daemon commanders and Malerion himself sent Archaon packing with his tail between his legs. This gave the Daughters of Khaine plenty of time to prey on the Chaos forces that made it to their realm; reavers of Khorne, magic-seeking conclaves of Tzeentch or followers of Slaanesh tracking calls from their god that only they could sense. They reaped a large harvest of Chaos minions, leaving mass graves from all the sacrifices (this would come back to haunt them - pun intended - in the Soul Wars, see below).

But Morathi's trickery with the soul extraction came back to bite her. Taking too many souls caused Slaanesh's prison to drift towards Ulgu and weaken it. This enabled Slaanesh's most faithful servants catch the scent of their missing god/dess. More and more Slaaneshi armies penetrated the Shadowlands searching for their lost god. So began what the aelves of Ulgu named the Cathtrar Dhule - the War of Shadows.

For the major battles of the War of Shadows, Morathi led the Daughters of Khaine from the front. She cast down the Keeper of Secrets Glittus and his Legion of Excess, and the whip-handed Krulla Sha'vhr and her Flayerhost. Battle was not her only recourse, however, for against the unbeatable six warhosts of the betentacled Bovaxx the Despoiler, Morathi's coven of Medusae summoned a gaiste-maze - a shadow labyrinth that still covers part of the Umbral Veil, a dark cloud in which those hordes presumably still wander.

Yet the Daughters of Khaine did not win every battle. As larger and more-powerful armies invaded, Morathi called the first of the Caillich Covens - the gathering of forces from all the sects. This was required to defeat Luxcious, a Keeper of Secrets so powerful that many Slaaneshi considered her a replacement for the missing Dark Prince. The daemon was defeated, but not until after the exalted fiend destroyed the Temple of Druchxar.

===Age of Sigmar===
Luxcious may well have continued her scouring search of Ulgu had Sigmar not begun his war to reclaim the Mortal Realms, drawing off many Chaos forces. The Cathtrar Dhule paused, before once more erupting anew in the bitterly fought War of the Shadowpaths.

The Daughters of Khaine win more allies during this time, for despite their brutality in battle (and occasional team-killing among their allies) they're just ''that'' good at kicking Chaos. The Stormcast, Idoneth and Sylvaneth to name a few ally with the Daughters of Khaine.

During this time, some elves start to [[Heresy|worship Morathi alongside Khaine, which causes dissent]] (an uncommon case of a heresy charge in a warhammer setting that fits the actual definition). Ironically, those who disapprove get [[Blam|quickly silenced]] by Morathi or the Medusae as [[Heresy|heretics]] (usually by a knife in the vitals or getting turned into living crystal by a Melusai).

===Soul Wars===
Prior to the Soul Wars there are increasing build-ups of death magic. Whenever there is a large gathering of Scathborn, the spirits of the dead rise up and attack them. Also, remember those mass graves full of sacrificed Chaos worshippers? Now they're fodder for armies of vengeful skeleton warriors and/or ghosts who attack the Khainites. When Nagash sent vamires and necromancers into Ulgu as a diversion tactic, they were all too happy to exploit these mass graves for armies.

The Daughters of Khaine were also called on by the forces of Order in other realms to help fight off the increasing undead attacks. Morathi herself extolled the Daughters of Khaine to greater zeal, for she remembers the taste of Nagash's pimp hand and is eager to avenge the slight.

===Broken Realms===
The Daughters of Khaine worked with Scourge privateers to get information about the Idoneth Deepkin the same way as their kin in the World-That-Was; lots of torture and mind-invading magic. From this they learn the location of a valued Deepkin artifact, the Ocarian Lantern; made by - and stolen from - Teclis, it acted as a lure for souls. Morathi sent sixty of her best soldiers to get it from its heavily guarded underwater temple; two survived, one now an Idoneth prisoner and the other returned to Morathi with the lantern.

She fused with Khaine's heart and became the goddess Morathi-Khaine. Thus Khaine as he was is gone forever, and Morathi - now Morathi-Khaine - is their goddess instead of just their High Oracle (albeit now split into two bodies, Morathi-Khaine and the Shadow Queen after [[Aenarion|her hubby's soul]] [[Rip and Tear|took exception]] to Morathi's plan while in Slaanesh).

Morathi's first action was to broker an alliance with the [[Idoneth Deepkin]], offering Volturnos the souls of his fellow Cythai elves to sweeten the deal. She then ended her alliance with Sigmar by launching a coup that brought Anvilgard under her rule and renaming it Har Kuron. The Daughters of Khaine/Morathi-Khaine now fight with a newfound zeal as they launched a <s>crusade</s> <s>jihad</s> holy war to expand Morathi's empire. When Sigmar found out, he sent a Stormcast army to re-take Har Kuron, the fighting raging until the Celestant-Prime arrived and offered to parley with Morathi. The two disappear for a night, and when they returned an agreement had been reached. Morathi was allowed to keep the city, and what she promised in return is unknown. Morathi's also [[1984|slowly re-writing the Daughters' scriptures and records of history to put herself at the center of everything]].

==Religion==
[[File:Morathi,_the_Shadow_Queen_from_DaughtersofKhaine_.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"Charge, Daughters of Khaine! For my...uh, I mean, for Khaine's glory!"]]
Unlike some other factions within Age of Sigmar, but very much like others, the Daughters of Khaine are a theocracy. There are many sects of Daughters of Khaine, each worshiping a different aspect of the aelf god of battle and bloodshed. Although the rites and rituals might differ, all the Khainites follow a strict hierarchy in their organisation. They worship Khaine and Morathi is his High Oracle, the one who discerns his will and their overall leader. Though they know about the other gods of Order, they pay no homage to them. Beneath Morathi are the High Priestesses, which include the Slaughter Queens, Hag Queens and Bloodwrack Medusae. They are the keepers of each shrine’s most sacred artefacts, and commanders of the Sisterhood of Blood. The degree of authority held by each of these figures, along with their specific title, varies between the sects, but a single word from Morathi can alter the influence of any other ranking.

Of all the warriors of the temples, the Scáthborn – the Melusai and Khinerai – are closest to Morathi herself, yet they often remain hidden from those outside the cult. The Medusae are made from Aelves converted by Morathi herself; though this is seen as an immense honor Morathi binds them with the most binding of magical oaths, but none among the Khainites would dare question her in this. This is partially due to their forms resulting from daemonic taint which would cause negative sentiment among their allies and the fact that Morathi uses them as something of a secret police. The most public-facing Khainites are the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter. Their most important shrines are the Cauldrons of Blood, gifts from Khaine himself (at least, what Morathi’s claims each time she gifts one of the great iron cauldrons to the temple of a newly founded Khainite sect). The covenites see it as a sign of their god’s favour that the cauldrons never seem to overflow, no matter how much blood is poured within them following a battle – all assume Khaine himself takes the surplus as an offering.

War covens are the most important organisations to the Daughters of Khaine, their structure laid out by Morathi herself. It is through violence that the Khainites expand their territories, defend their temples and worship their god. Weapons practice and mock duels take up the majority of their daily lives, yet these are not mere military drills, but religious ceremonies, treated with all the gravitas that others might use when reading their most holy of tomes or offering prayers to their god. From their temples in various realms, the Daughters of Khaine scour the Mortal Realms for blood sacrifices. At Morathi's edict, they also search for the shards of their god, scattered across the Realms. They do this for the glory of Khaine and to see him reborn.

[[Just As Planned|But they are nearly all of them deceived]].

Morathi claims to speak for Khaine, and she does wield his unbreakable iron heart, but none know that Morathi’s power is a lie and that Khaine is dead. While their devotions to Khaine could one day lead to his rebirth, Morathi is deliberately preventing that. The reason for this is that she is siphoning the power - either by co-opting it before it reaches the heart or pulling it from Khaine's heart - to reach godhood herself. The prayers that her daughters scream and the ritual offerings they make only serve to enhance her own power, not Khaine’s. Outside Morathi herself, only a handful of the "altered" members of the Daughters of Khaine are aware of this deception, and they, willingly or otherwise, are bound by the most binding of oaths and magic to serve Morathi and keep this secret. Also, the blood surplus poured into the Cauldron's doesn't go to Khaine. It flows back to Hagg Nar through Morathi’s magics, to the Mother of all Cauldrons, the Máthcoir, from which The High Oracle absorbs and repurposes the blood’s energies for her own nefarious gain. Which came to fruition when she used the energies and the Máthcoir in a ritual to merge with Khaine's essence to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine. However, the Máthcoir was broken by the energies of the ritual and Volturnos' actions, and Morathi has secretly been trying to repair it, but has yet to succceed.

==Society==
Their society is brutal, especially given that it's leader is [[Morathi]] and they worship [[Khaine]]. They serve Khaine with fanatical devotion, which is especially problematic considering that Khaine is the god of murder. While the Daughters of Khaine crave bloodshed and murder, they serve alongside the forces of Order – albeit tenuously. Given their tendency towards collateral damage (and rumors of kidnapping innocents and gruesome rituals), they are less respected allies and more tolerated because they're useful. Their views on the other major groups are varied. As builders of cities and civilizations, the Daughters of Khaine are at odds with the forces of Destruction. While it is said that they have an aversion to the Death faction because of a dislike for anything death-related since they nearly went extinct, it's more likely that this due to Morathi's personal grudge against Nagash for striking her and outing her true from to the rest of the pantheon. Despite their distaste for the other two, the one faction they truly hate is Chaos; they could give the Stormcast Eternals a run for their money in hating Chaos, and prosecute their crusades with particular violence against the servants of Slaanesh.

If you're wondering why Morathi is mentioned so often that's deliberate; Morathi keeps as much of a stranglehold on Khainite society as she can. It would be out-of-character for her to do anything less (she kind of a control freak). All Khainites are either warriors that serve in their religious order, or they are leathanam (see below). Temples are found only in some realms; confirmed realms are Ulgu, Azyr and Ghyran. When they are not fighting, the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter usually participate in ritualized gladiator matches or shady pit fights. They also partake of a form of bladed dancing for the entertainment of others. Despite being a theocratic society, the Daughters of Khaine don't proselytize or win converts; the adherents are themselves the result of a breeding program, choosing their partners in line with the aims and desires of their leaders.

If you're wondering "where are the men? They have to reproduce somehow", well... remember that leathanam class mentioned earlier? Apart from the Doomfire Warlocks, this class is made up exclusively of '''all''' the males in this faction; disregard menials, worker drones who do the non-fighting stuff that keeps society going in a literal gender-based [[Slavery|slavery]] system (we know what you're thinking. Something, something, feminist fantasy... and we know how [[SJW|certain groups]] would react if the genders were swapped). While the women outnumber the men, this is not the paradise [[/d/|some]] think it would be; Morathi deliberately made only a few male aelves, and then only from the weakest and most broken of souls retrieved from Slaanesh. Even male aelves a Daughter of Khaine gives birth to are literally cursed with weakness as Morathi siphons part of their souls to power the Cauldrons of Blood... and yes, Morathi instituted the rule that the males are slaves. Surprisingly, the women are usually not misandrists or female supremacists; as a society, the Daughters of Khaine respect strength above all else and a lot of the mistreatment of their own males is based on their innate weakness. But on the other hand, their males are weak because Morathi deliberately handicapped and enslaved them, so female supremacy and/or misandry could still be at work. While in theory they worship Khaine, who is male, this is superficial; Khaine is limited to his heart had no actual say over their actions, and with Morathi merging to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine he might be gone for good.

Among the men, the Doomfire Warlocks are an interesting case. They're stronger due to their mastery of shadow magic, but receive limited training, and Morathi has them branded with mind-control runes ([[Grimdark|while deceiving them into thinking they're protection against Slaanesh]]). They are treated far better than other leathanam and actually join the females in battle, but are still lower status purely because they're male, and are rarely seen by - or acknowledged to - non-Khainites.

They're also a rare example of a Warhammer society whose attitude towards sex is actually fleshed out (ironic, since Slaanesh is their greatest foe), all from the anthology novel ''Covens of Blood''. Contrary to expectations, they're mostly open about it. They can "mingle", are also fine with bisexuality, polyamory and homosexuality plus rank's not an issue. There are a few caveats; it can't interfere with their duties, males can neither proposition nor reject a female on pain of death, and if two women want the same man/men, they bargain or duel each other. Naturally, this gives females near-complete choice over who fathers their children. The women can even fuck outsiders and captives if they choose ([[Grimdark|the captives don't get a choice]]), but affection towards them or having a child with them is considered shameful (the novella also heavily imply human/elf hybrids are possible in Age of Sigmar). Plus, sex is a popular way to celebrate or spend their downtime.

The female aelves tend to dye their hair with blood and, in a throwback to Warhammer Fantasy, have rituals of rebirth keep the covenite sisters youthful in appearance and supple in body. Even among their ranks, there are some who are considered extremists; the Sisters of Slaughters' are members who graft masks of living metal to their faces with boiling blood. While the aelven members are accepted by others, the Melusae and Khinerai are not. When fighting alongside, they are concealed by a glamour so they too appear to be aelves; this could also explain some of their teamkilling tendencies among alliances with other Order factions, as they're keeping the existence of these mutated elves secret. After Morathi's apotheosis, the Melusai and Khinerai have openly appeared, and are touted as proof of Morathi's divinity.

tl;dr: They're a scheming, ruthless, misandric, theocratic elven matriarchy originating from a dark realm whose ultimate leader sometimes mutates her followers to resemble her. [[Drow|Sound familiar]]? (especially since Morathi successfully became a goddess).

==Sects==
The Daughters of Khaine are divided into Sects (previously known as Temples in past lore), in a manner similar to Stormcast Chambers or Sylvaneth Wargroves.

* '''Hagg Nar:''' Hagg Nar lies deep in the Umbral Veil, the darkest region of the Shadowlands. The first and largest of the Daughters of Khaine temples, it was built atop the Hellelux, a geyser of shadow magic that spews shrouding mists. It is home to hundreds of warcovens that are [[Drow|always at each other’s throats for the attention of Morathi, who encourages this “rivalry” as a means of weeding out the weak]].
* '''Draichi Ganeth:''' Draichi Ganeth, which translates as ‘the bladedkillers’, are the Khainite Aelves most commonly seen by other Order factions. Their main temple is found in the northern barrens of Fuarthorn in Ulgu, but their war pilgrimages and lesser shrines can be found across the realms. Every [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] has seen or is host to a small troupe of the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sister sects. 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.
* '''The Kraith:''' The sect known as the Kraith, also called the Crimson Cult, are true disciples of slaughter, and have earned a reputation as the least compromising of all the Daughters of Khaine. Arrogant and nomadic, they have no true temple home, instead traveling from one war to the next as they believe Khaine’s one and only temple is the blood stained battlefield.
* '''Khailebron:''' This sect has learned well the arts of concealment, stealth and obfuscation. Those who worship at the temples of Khailebron revere the assassin and the unseen killer, and strive to be masters of ambushes and sudden strikes. Where these temples are is known only to Morathi and the Khailebron themselves. Otherwise, they masquerade as wandering performers who showcase an elegant “bladed-dance” for the local populace, while their top killers secretly slit the throats of their targets (including anyone who shows too much disrespect to the dancers).
*'''Khelt Nar:''' Khelt Nar has become the fastest growing of the sects established by Morathi. It began as Ironshard, a single Khainite shrine founded by the High Oracle atop a flat-topped mountain of iron known as the Rothtor. Since then it has expanded to other Realms, including a stronghold in Ghyran, and have been tasked by the High Priestess with clearing out the rampant [[Orruk Warclans|Bonesplitterz]] that plague their territories. Khelt Nar is best known for being composed of deliciously brown dark aelves.
*'''Zainthar Kai''': This reserved sect was born in the Age of Chaos when Morathi (desperate to get a leg up on the Ruinous Powers) decided to infuse a new brood of Scáthborn with three drops of Khaine’s blood. The result is a temple of veritable demi-gods who can call upon the god of murder’s strength in haze of battle, becoming the Shadow Queen’s go-to temple for making her more despised enemies disappear. The temple is mostly led by/comprised of Scáthborn, but there are contingents of Witch Aelves who function as (disposable) work horses (also maybe getting a little taste of what they put the Lethanamn through).

==Soulbound==
In [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], it's established that Daughters of Khaine are selected to become Soulbound when Morathi decides that a potentially stray from the ranks of her faithful is too dangerous or too useful to just dispose of outright. Soulbound Daughters are selected from the overly ambitious, those who secretly yearned for freedom, and even those who had begun to doubt Khaine's divinity, basically serving as a way to remove potential threats to Morathi's control over the faction. Despite their origins, though, Morathi often goes out of her way to maintain a good relationship with "her" Soulbound (in fact, the Binding actually servers the magical restrains that Morathi uses to control the Daughters as a whole), because, whatever else they may be to her, they are both useful as powerful yet neutral arbiters and as ambassadors of her "good intentions" to the other powers of Order.

Normal Daughters of Khaine are unsure of how to regard their Soulbound "sisters", since they are simultaneously very dangerous, but not rivals due to being forever outside the hierarchy of the temples, apparently favored by the High Oracle but yet also deeply connected to and regularly traveling alongside "outsiders" who shouldn't be privy to the secrets of Khaine's temples. They tend to default to "respectful suspicion" when interacting with Soulbound Daughters.

The Daughters of Khaine have the fewest dedicated Archetypes in the Age of Sigmar Roleplay corebook, with only the '''Hag Priestess''' and the '''Witch Aelf''' open to them.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Medusae Shrine.jpg|<s>Boobflash</s> Bloodwrack Shrine in all its glory.
File:Temples of Khaine.jpg
File:Daughters of Khaine Slaughter.jpg
File:Daughters-of-khaine-4.jpg|Dark Elves, now with 50% more [[Snek|Sneks]].
File:I might you never know.jpg
File:Drkelf.png|A typical Khelt Nar aelf.
</gallery>

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

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Eltharion

2021-04-25T11:43:52Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:E0B4:2438:DCF4:F1E0: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Eltharion the Grim 2.jpg|thumb|400px|High Elf Batman. "WHERE'S GROM?!?"]]
{{topquote|A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.|Francis Bacon}}

{{topquote|In the end, the only good goblins are the ones who never come out of their holes|[[Goblin Slayer]]}}

Eltharion, known either as "the Blind" or "the Grim" depending on if you're going by pre or post retcon fluff, is a named character from the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] universe in the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]] army. He is the Prince (AKA governor) of the kingdom (province) of [[Ulthuan|Yvresse]], which is perhaps the most fucked up and depressing place in the world you can be in charge of short of taking a trip through the Warp to the 41st millennium.

==The Legend==
Eltharion grew up a privileged Prince groomed for his position with ample training at the hands of Sapherian historians and tacticians including Loremaster Belannaer, and schooled in the arts of war expected of a warrior of the High Elves including archery, fencing, and mounted combat. His homeland, one of the less populated kingdoms in the modern age which had nonetheless held onto its heritage as the cultural and commerce center of the eastern lands of the Elves, was continually covered in fog and had a brisk coolness in the air compared to most of the rest of Ulthuan which was in a state of perpetual summer climate. In these conditions Eltharion was toughened, learning about survival and the importance of community in a hostile land.
After becoming a full grown <strike>man</strike> elf, he set about recapturing the lost glory of the Yvressians with a spectacularly arrogant goal; invade [[Naggaroth]]. To everyone's surprise however, he actually had a fucking PLAN to do so other than "Be more fabulous and pray to Asuryan" which had been the keystone of every prior attempt. His strategy was disrupting the messages of the Dark Elves by using his light cavalry and rangers to nail any dispatches for aid that were sent which ensured every attack was against an unsuspecting foe, as well as utilizing infiltration methods to weaken the defenses of the Dark Elves.

He was poisoned during a raid against the captial city - Naggarond itself, forcing him and his troops to flee. While he lay dying he was visited by the spirit of his dead father who told him that a [[WAAAGH]] had done the impossible and landed on the shores of Ulthuan, desecrating [[Waystone|Waystones]] and slaughtering everyone within reach including himself. Tor Yvresse had been completely destroyed and it was time to kick ass and take names. He awoke fully healed from his wounds, and got his army to immediately rush home to Ulthuan.
Once there, he gathered as many troops as he could from the rest of Yvresse and marched on the capital. There, he found that the [[Orcs & Goblins|Goblin]] named [[Grom the Paunch|Grom the Paunch of the Misty Mountain]] had sent his shamans into the tallest tower in Tor Yvresse for unknown reasons. Riding his personal Gryphon companion Stormwing and bringing two Mages with him, he entered the tower. The spell that the Shaman was casting backfired, and Eltharion used his adept knowledge of magic to attempt to dispel the misfire effect. He received a vision while doing so, although what it entailed was never revealed by him to anyone. He exited the tower alone and from that point on never smiled, never joked, and was cold and strict while before he had been a class clown (according to Tyrion's sad recollections of their boyhood adventures).
At some point after the battle he captured Grom, tortured him, chopped him into tiny pieces, and fed him into a magical furnace from which the magically regenerative Goblin couldn't recover (this was revealed by author [[Josh Reynolds]], and since there is no official end to Grom this is the closest we get).
Shortly after the battle subsided, the armies of [[Finubar the Seafarer|The Phoenix King]] finally arrived to assist him. He told them to fuck off, swearing that Yvresse would stand by itself from then on as the 'ardiest kingdom. In the days after, Eltharion was elected to lead Yvresse and he immediately set about eradicating the greenskins from his lands to the last, cleansing every valley of every <strike>Orcgina</strike> spore left by the tribes.

The Waystones had been toppled, and would take many years to rebuild. As a result [[Daemon|Daemons]] had begun manifesting out of the raw and stagnant magic around the kingdom, born out of pure Chaos and [[Chaos Undivided|free from the will]] of any of the [[Chaos Gods]]. These horrors, coming in all possible shapes and forms, ambled towards settlements and before long only Tor Yvresse remained as the primary inhabited location in the entire region. What few scattered villages existed soon became more outpost and garrison than farming community, as an attack from horrors almost unimaginable could come at any moment.

===The Blind===
After rushing to aid the Nagarythe in defense against a Dark Elf invasion, [[Malekith]] defeated Eltharion in a fight and took him alive as the Dark Elves won the battle (no word on what happened to Eltharion's griffon Stormwing). First, Malekith had all of Eltharion's surviving soldiers lined up, with a Har Ganeth executioner standing over each one, and made an offer. Eltharion could swear allegiance to Malekith, or Malekith would have Eltharion's soldiers killed. Eltharion refused, and Malekith made good on his threat but he didn't stop there. Malekith had Eltharion taken back to Naggaroth and tortured in the most mind-breaking ways possible, although Eltharion held onto his sanity in the most stoic badass way imaginable.

Malekith, frustrated, had his eyes removed then sent what remained of Eltharion back to Ulthuan to strike fear into the hearts of the High Elves. He made a full recovery however (as this was the older lore where the Dark Elves didn't do REALLY cruel shit like make flags out of the skin of one of their own, tied to the flagstaff itself to scream in harmony with their cavalry bugles), perhaps aided by healing magic, and became a badass swordsman. He trained with the Swordmasters of Hoeth and applied the heightened hearing/smelling/tactile senses to it. While back in the early editions High Elves looked down on Dark Elves as brutish and vile cousins, Eltharion was one of the few to actually HATE them and dream of genocide against their race. He encountered Malekith in another battle and managed to wound him, the first person to do so without a magic weapon when Malekith had the Armor of Midnight. Since then Eltharion made it his life's goal to destroy Malekith.

===The Grim===
In later editions, the Blind story was retconned. Eltharion's plot dropped the Dark Elf hate and reserved that for [[Alith Anar]], instead using him as the High Elves anti-greenskin character.

After Grom was defeated and Yvresse cleansed of his race, Eltharion became reclusive. Every visitor to Tor Yvresse was viewed with suspicion regardless of why they had come. The bulk of the city was abandoned, being reclaimed by nature while only the defensible locations underwent regular upkeep. Tor Yvresse became nothing short of a [[Kobold]] Den, full of traps and ambush points which were regularly patrolled by paranoid and hateful elves that had survived the attack.
Daemons constantly invaded from every direction, appearing in the oceans and swimming to the coastal city or even within its walls.
Loremaster Belannaer and his Mages attempted to restore the Waystones of Yvresse, but the process was slow and many were forever damaged. As an alternative, the Mages set up magical defenses comparable to those of Saphery; ones that lead you in circles forever if you approached with ill intent, ones that fractured the mind of those who went off-trail, and so forth.

Even during the darkest hour of the High Elves, when [[Defenders of Ulthuan/Sons of Ellyrion|a fuckhuge force lead by Malekith, Morathi, and Slaaneshi Warrior invaded Ulthuan]] he refused to aid another kingdom, answering a personal call from Finubar to save Lothern entirely by himself riding Stormwing (where he fended off Malekith and gave the dragon and rider a fair number of wounds before exiting the fight to let [[Imrik]] take over). He left unceremoniously after the battle was over without a word to anyone, to the disappointment of his boyhood friends who were also at the battle and hadn't seen him since before his invasion of the Dark Elves.

After eventually feeling that Tor Yvresse was secure enough for him to leave his city, he lead an army of his most disciplined and trusted Yvressians to Cothique to catch a ride to the [[Old World]]. Here he set about attempting to wipe out all Orcs and Goblins or to cause them to fear his race and never bother Ulthuan again, using fire magic to incinerate the earth after each battle to prevent another group from rising again. He destroyed WAAAGHs that began thousands of years ago and had battered at the doors of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfen]] Holds in all that time, allowing the Dwarfs of many locations to regain their strength and lend it to [[Thorgrim Grudgebearer]] as well as causing their race to gain a (slightly) higher opinion of the <strike>dandelion eaters</strike> Elves. WAAAGHs that had begun forming to wipe out humanity were assaulted and annihilated to the last. Everywhere the army of Eltharion marched, peace came to the land. But no matter how many he killed every day a new force of greenskins would appear on the horizon, marching into certain death.
After putting a larger dent in the greenskin population than any army or single being had ever accomplished (besides Gotrek and Felix), Eltharion discovered that the reason the greenskin hordes had seemed endless was purely because THEY were now coming to HIM. WAAAGH after WAAAGH had pounded against his forces, and he had beaten them all. Knowledge of this had somehow spread throughout their race, and according to a Warboss he had captured almost every greenskin in the world now believed "Pointy-'eads give a proper fight." and had put fighting High Elves high on their To Do list.

Eltharion returned home, content that the bulk of the greenskin race would be lost at sea as Ulthuan is protected both by magic (intentional spells, and the raw energy surrounding it) as well as natural hazards (sea monsters even demigods can't kill, sentient islands that move to cause shipwrecks, and chaotic storms) that only (lucky) Elven navigators utilizing magic can navigate with assured success. Beyond that, the greenskins would have to fight unending Daemons to reach the shore. Then penetrate the defenses of Tor Yvresse.
There at home in his beloved city, Eltharion the Grim waited in the tallest tower of the only large settlement in his cursed region waiting for one final WAAAGH to break itself upon his knee.

===[[End Times]]===
In the End Times event, Eltharion was a major character, when he was chosen to lead the forces of Ulthuan against [[Nagash]]'s forces in an attempt to save [[Everqueen|Aliathra]] since Tyrion was needed to defend Ulthuan from surprise Slaanesh buttsex. Despite being grim and suspicious as ever, he tried to be considerate to his non-elven allies at Eldyra's and Belannar's request. In the battle he proved he was more skilled at leading an army and nearly as skilled in combat as Tyrion, kicking Mannfred's ass being his most notable accomplishment (and that's without the help of his griffon, Stormfang, who was killed by Mannfred when the filthy vampire tried to cheat and use magic). He broke through the magical barrier around [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan's]] Nagash-summoning ritual with his Fangsword, destroying the sword in the process.

Even without it, he was still a powerful elven warrior with a gem that made him a level 2 wizard. But Arkhan was a level 4.5 wizard, so Eltharion grabbed Arkhan and slammed him against the cauldron's edge to try and break his neck. Badass as it is, taking on a lich with only one's bare hands is not the wisest idea. Arkhan grabbed Eltharion's wrist and used his Curse of Years spell to Thanos-Snap Eltarion.

Fuck.

Since Arkhan and Nagash either couldn't or wouldn't claim Eltharion's soul, his ghost was able to give his niece and nephew his necklace and (fully restored) sword some years after the bone daddy's resurrection. This would be a good "Take up my sword" scene, but both of them <strike>worfed</strike> were unceremoniously murdered by [[Malekith]] and his right-hand minion Kouran during the Elven civil war only two books later because both of them disliked the idea of a Druchii being Phoenix King.

Many old-time High Elf players were offended and horrified at the completely shitty end to one of the original Warhammer Fantasy major characters. Most of them didn't blame Eltharion's killer Arkhan (who's another original Warhammer Fantasy character despite being added to the setting one year after Eltharion), but the writers.

===[[Age of Sigmar]]===

In Age of Sigmar [[Tyrion]], [[Teclis]], and Malerion ([[Malekith]] now a dragonman, because changing his name was easier and more likely to succeed than suing Marvel comics) attained godhood and managed to capture Slaanesh who at the time had eaten so many Elf souls from End Times that he was hiding out in a cave, too bloated to move, digesting them. These three chained up Slaanesh in the space between the realms of Light and Shadow and then disemboweled her/him/it in order to release all the delicious elf souls.
This, essentially, is why all the major elves from the world-that-was, including the 'T' twins, Caligula-dragon, [[Morathi]], and [[Alarielle]], have their own elf factions, albeit repackaged as "aelves".

Teclis tried to recreate the High Elves a few times, [[Idoneth Deepkin|with varying degrees of success]], but eventually managed to hit the mark with the [[Lumineth Realm Lords]]. With this success, Teclis then decided to try and resurrect Eltharion. Remember Arkhan's curse of the years? Eltharion got cursed so hard that even after being resurrected in a new body he turned into dust, so Teclis had to shove him into [[Rubric Marine|an animated suit of armor that will never feel anything]] as he works a solution. As it stands, Eltharion's spirit is considered the paragon of balance between the two castes of Lumineth (named "inventively" as Tyrionic and Teclian) , being a mage as well as a warrior. He's also now gifted with two swords, representative to the two gods of Hysh.

Also for those of you who were upset about the End Times, don't worry, Eltharion does get his revenge! (On Arkhan, not the writers.) During Teclis's war against [[Nagash]], Arkhan was order to lead an Ossiarch invasion of the kingdom of Ymetrica. Long story short, the war didn't go well for him and he was forced to fall back into the realm of Haixiah as Eltharion took and army in pursuit. Arkhan tried cursing him again, but the light ended up just burning him and Eltharion yeeted Arkhan off the edge of Hysh where he disappeared into nothingness.

==On The Tabletop==
Over the years, Eltharion has remained a questionable option to put on the tabletop. His Blind stats were much more impressive, as he was designed as a character who could fit into a unit of Swordmasters similar to the current Loremaster of Hoeth with his low level magic and high offensive stats.
Eltharion the Grim by contrast is overpriced, only ever really useful on Stormwing but thanks to cannonfire being a liability. His magic items make him durable enough to take some damage and dish it back out, although not as well as a proper generic Prince kitted out could do. In addition, his weak spellcasting does not make up for lacking a Mage or Archmage and you run into the problem of the fact you're paying for a combination melee/magic Lord while you want that split between two characters for safety and prioritization reasons.
As a result, Eltharion has spent many years mostly as a proxy model for a generic counterpart simply called "Eltharion" for narrative reasons.

The army of Tor Yvresse is similarly defeatist and confusing. His kingdom lacks any kind of unique signature unit or combination, instead relying on models from other kingdoms which is ironic given his attitude to asking favors (or answering them). His Blind version simply blended Nagarythe tactics with Saphery ones, relying on Shadow Warriors and Swordmasters with high magic and the typical Elf core to deal megafuck damage fast. The Grim seems to rely heavily on magic as well, although even in the Yvresse entry of the 8th edition High Elf Heraldry book only Spearmen, Archers, Silver Helms, Princes/Nobles, and Archmages/Mages are described as Yvressian troops. Whether this means an Yvresse list (supposedly small forces of depleted and shellshocked troops) are almost entirely Core and characters is the intention of Games Workshop or not is unknown. A list like that may explain why Eltharion was killed so quickly in End Times however...

As of Age of Sigmar, whilst the Lumineth Battletome release was delayed due to Papa Nurgle’s shenanigans, his rules have been revealed in the new Lumineth book, and he is a ''monster'' in combat, with 2+ to hit and 3+ to wound on both weapons (!), 6 Attacks overall, and -3 to saving rolls with one of them, D3 damage each. Not only that, he ignores ALL modifiers when making saving rolls, and halves ALL damage. Oh and he ignores negative modifiers to hit, all of his 6s explode into 2 hits, he can get +1 damage on 2 of his attacks on a hero, can get +1 damage on the other 4 if he charged AND he can throw mortal wounds in the shooting phase. The downside is he does very little to boost the rest of the army (just a command ability that lets him share his Bravery, but Lumineth have better tricks to ignore Battleshock) but that doesn't matter, what matters is Eltharion is a nearly peerless blender in his points category.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]] II==

His rivalry with Grom ain't over yet, as he and the thicc green lad have come to Total War Warhammer 2 in The Warden and The Paunch DLC, where he leads Yvresse against Grom's second invasion. Not only does he bring new units to the High Elves but he also comes with a prison mechanic for enemy Lords and Heroes, an ability to spread the Mists of Yvresse and the ability to rebuild Tor Yvresse and Athel Tamarha and make them so impenetrable it would make [[Rogal Dorn]] envious. He also looks like Henry Cavil for some reason. He also looks like Karl Franz, making people believe Eltharion is just Karl Franz and Deathclaw doing their cosplay part-time job as an Elf (his table top model also shares the similar appearance with the Karl Franz on deathclaw model, some say it might be a homage).

Eltharion starts all the way over in the fucking Badlands meaning that as soon as you start the Campaign it's a clusterfuck and your forces are split up. Although his early campaign can be a bit hard it is important to note that the Miststalker units he gets are fucking OP and can change the tide of most Battles. It is noted however, Mistwalkers do not receive benefits from a lord's red skill tree, meaning they might not be suitable in the late game for other lords.

In combat, Eltharion can use high magic. High magic is often overlooked by many people, but it has received a recent buff, especially its "soul quench", which can now make the units it hit suffer a short duration of direct damage when hit. This work especially well when Eltharion is mounted on his Stormwing, where he could freely shoot any orc shit from above, even using it for lord sniping. He also has the ability to shower magical arrow bombardment around him, effectively making him a tarpit breaker when he is in a blob of units. It isn't a wise move however since he wasn't built to be tanky and he'll lose health quickly in a long fight, and has to rely on his magic spell "Apotheosis" to heal himself.

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
Image:Eltharion and Belannaer.jpg|Artwork for Eltharion the Blind, sparring with Belannaer.
Image:Eltharion the Blind Model.jpg|Eltharion the Blind's model.
Image:Eltharion VS Shadowblade.jpg|Eltharion the Blind fighting motherfucking Shadowblade himself.
Image:Eltharion Fan Art.jpg|Fan art depicting Eltharion the Blind.
Image:Eltharion the Grim TCG.jpg|Eltharion and Stormwing art from the Warhammer Trading Card Game.
Image:Eltharion Fabulous.jpg|80's style Army Book art depicting Eltharion.
Image:Eltharion and Stormwing.jpg|Eltharion's current model, riding Stormwing.
Image:Eltharion vs Magic Barrier.jpg|(spoiler alert)... Eltharion's final moments.
File:Eltharion AOS.jpg|His new Age of Sigmar model
File:Eltharion's_essence.jpg|Eltharion after a very effective weight-loss plan from Arkhan.
File:Stupid Sexy Eltharion.PNG|As he appears in Total War Warhammer 2, sporting Karl Franz's face and not giving Grom as well as other Elven Princess their consent.
</gallery>

{{Template:High Elves}}

[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]

[[Category: Lumineth Realm-Lords]]

Be'lakor

2021-04-25T11:43:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:E0B4:2438:DCF4:F1E0: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Be'larkor First Greater Daemon.png|350px|thumb|right|Between this guy and [[Abaddon]] the Chaos gods sure have a sick sense of humour when choosing their champions.]]

'''Be'lakor the Dark Master''' is the first (and debatably only) [[Daemon Prince]] of [[Chaos Undivided]]. Of course, this claim of "Only" is suspect with the unclear status of [[Lorgar]] and [[Perturabo]]'s alignments, as well as whether [[Nemeroth]]'s still alive. Bellator means warrior in <s>Latin</s> High Gothic.

Due to his nature as a daemon prince of chaos, he's been sighted in both [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]] as well as [[Warhammer 40,000]]. In both, he began as an ancient warlord from ages past who fought in the name of the [[Chaos Gods]] before they decided to elevate him as a Daemon Prince. Then he got cocky, thought himself better than his four owners, and then got royally bitchslapped back into line.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
Be'lakor was one of the earliest Chaos warlords, leading vast hordes of Daemons to ravage the world long before the Elves rose up against them. He impressed the Chaos Gods so much they turned him into a [[Daemon Prince]], the first time they ever did that to a mortal follower of Chaos Gods. However, his four parents began bickering for ownership, each offering some presents in exchange for his loyalty. He decided to then take all their presents and fled to the mortal realms without doing any of their favors. He came during the First Great War Against Chaos, bending many to his will and carving a warpath - unwittingly carrying out the tasks the four set before him. As time carried on, more Daemon Princes were raised, siphoning the power and attention that was once exclusively his and eventually sparking a great war as these new princes sought to carve out territory. This distracted team Chaos from stopping the elves in [[Ulthuan]] from creating the Great Vortex, thus stemming the tide of badstuffs spilling into the world.

As punishment, the big four made him become the one to crown Everchosens of Chaos while never getting to become the Everchosen himself, which pissed him off to no end. This is a retcon though, as originally Be'lakor got arrogant and thought he was better than the Chaos Gods, so Tzeentch served him a big piece of humble pie by denying him a physical body and forcing him to crown each Everchosen. At one point Be'lakor co-opted this by possessing one of the Everchosen candidates (who became known as the Shadowlord), but Be'lakor's power destroyed the host body and he was stuck back in the role. In the expansion Shadows of Albion, Be'lakor was the main bad guy there, manipulating people to take the power and artifacts of Albion for himself, before failing and abandoning that plan.

With the latest Everchosen, [[Archaon]], Be'lakor was once again forced to crown the Everchosen of Chaos with the final artifact. Be'lakor played a big part in the [[Storm of Chaos]] campaign, but that has since been retconned. Although he still shows up from time to time, he no longer appears to be quite as powerful as he once was, although he is still a Daemon Prince of [[Chaos Undivided]], which is a massive accomplishment in and of itself. In newer lore, he also took the form of a Norse warlord who conducted a raid on a Nordlander town where he raped a woman and fathered a child who would go on to become [[Archaon]].

During [[The End Times]], Be'lakor was all set to return to his former glory and then some, plotting to become the fifth Chaos God by breaking into ''Kazad Drengazi'', the Fortress of the First Slayer ([[Grimnir]], natch), a temple containing the Chaos Gate that Grimnir used to get to the Realm of Chaos in the first place. Be'lakor used the power of the Chaos Gate to break Tzeentch's curse, regain his physical form, and summon four greater daemons, one of each of the Chaos Gods; two of them had had their shit ruined by [[Gotrek_%26_Felix|Gotrek and Felix]] once before. Be'lakor and his posse planned to backstab Grimnir from behind, at which point Be'lakor would take all of Grimnir's power and ascend to become the fifth Chaos God, but Gotrek and Felix showed up and wrecked Be'lakor and the Bloodthirster, while Grimnir kicked the asses of the Keeper of Secrets, Lord of Change, and Great Unclean One. It looked like Be'lakor and Gotrek's duel could go either way at first, then Gotrek ''hit Be'lakor with the Bloodthirster'' and kicked all their asses back to the Realm of Chaos, ruining Be'lakor's plans.

He later caused mischief in Athel Loren by manipulating the Khainites and the more xenophobic forest spirits to attack the elves, but got driven away by the elves armies and the new Incarnate of Light - Tyrion. Though he did play a major role in dooming the world by freeing Mannfred von Carstein from his imprisonment and ensuring the Chaos Gods learnt of Lileath's haven. During his attempt to slay Lileath and consume her divine power, he got captured by Malekith, interrogated under threat of being Nagash's guinea pig if he didn't co-operate and was then trapped in a magic ruby by [[Alarielle]] for the rest of eternity. One true Everchosen my ass!

==Age of Sigmar==
Somehow he managed to escape into [[Age of Sigmar|the new world]]. While there are hints that he ruled Ulgu before the god formerly known as Malekith rose to power, Be'lakor's first appearance had him get his ass royally handed to him by the [[Lizardmen]] dive bombing him with Pterodactyl riders. Embarrassed by this poor showing, he has since taken into hiding from the spotlight once more. That said, [[Archaon]] seems to be following his footsteps, as Archie's been elevated to the "High Marshal of Chaos", which gives him almost free reign to control or kill the champions of Chaos while still claiming no exclusive loyalty to any of the four (now five with the [[Horned Rat]]'s ascension) - the only difference being that he's still arguably human. In Wrath of the Everchosen, it's revealed he's the Starscream to Archaon's Megatron, forming his own faction of Chaos followers with the (kinda-secret) goal of (eventually) overthrowing Archaon. Despite that, Bea'lakor worked with Archaon to defend the Eightpoints against the armies of Nagash, managing to personally slay the Mortarch Lady Olynder (As much as one can slay a Mortarch), sending her soul back to Shyish.

Be'lakor's had some big plans brewing, as revealed in the Broken Realms book revolving around him. But there is a catch. When he killed Olynder in the Eightpoints, she put a potent curse on Be'lakor that would kill him when the sands in her hourglass ran out.

Be'lakor found Olynder, coping quite well with the defeat of her master from the last Broken Realms book. Having figured out how to destroy Olynder - by destroying her body in its tomb in Dolorum, he held his blade over her corpse and the two struck a bargain; he would give Olynder the souls of an entire Stormhost and she would free him from the curse. They attacked a city around a realmgate in Chamon, and he summoned a Chaos storm that stopped the souls of Stormcast from travelling back to Azyr. The entire Stormhost was wiped out, with their souls being caught in the Chaos storm. When the Kharadron used their fleet to evacuate the surviving civilians Be'lakor himself went to wipe out the fleet's leaders, but the sight of a dwarf steeped in ancient godlike power made him decide to retreat (either being Grungni or Grombrindal the White Dwarf himself). Be'lakor gave the Stormcast souls to Olynder, who removed the curse from him and left him to his machinations.

==Warhammer 40,000==
[[image:Old_Be%27lakor.png|thumb|right|300px|Be'lakor Classic. A fan favourite (his model not the character)]]
In [[Warhammer 40,000]], Be'lakor was the first Daemon Prince, as well as the first (and allegedly "last", but there have been plenty more since) Daemon Prince created through the action of all four Chaos Gods ([[Derp|apparently]] [[Lorgar]] and [[Perturabo]] were special exceptions or something (though knowing Pert, I wouldn't be surprised if he was 75% Khornate or something and 0% Slaanesh considering what the [[Emperor's Children|Emperor's Cunts]] wanted to do with Pert)), and quickly proved to be difficult to control even at the best of times. Apparently his creation gave him the Daemonic equivalent of daddy issues and now he spends most of his time trying to kill all other Champions of Chaos, including other Daemon Princes. The Chaos Gods tolerate him mostly because his wild-card status makes him an excellent pawn in their power struggles, something Be'lakor himself is completely unaware of (as he thinks he still has free will and just wants to cement his position as Chaos' sole champion).

Recently, he's shown up to "help" with [[Abaddon]]'s [[Black Crusade]]s by giving him [[Troll|seemingly helpful advice that often leads to unexpectedly heavy losses]], all in an attempt to undermine his credibility (well, more so than he does on his own). In a stunning display of insight, Abaddon saw through his ruse, but allowed him to remain within the Black Legion in order to keep tabs on him and better prepare for his sudden but inevitable betrayal. The Imperium isn't even that aware that he exists, as Be'lakor has been very careful about concealing his presence from history (with the unwitting help of a Magos who learned just enough about him to know that he exists, but not enough to realize that he's a Daemon Prince).

He's also been shown to be in contact with [[Ahzek Ahriman|Ahriman]]. No word on whether Ahriman has accepted his offer of being made his greatest champion in exchange for his service, however, but seeing as Ahzek rejects even Tzeentch's own offerings to be HIS chosen champion, still thinks he's independent of any god (despite having Tzeentch's mark on the tabletop), and actively tries to become the fifth Chaos god himself, it's a good bet he told Be'lakor to go fuck himself with someone else's force sword.

During Gathering Storm Be'lakor helped the [[Iron Warriors]] invade the [[Imperial Fists]] star fortress the Phalanx, attempting to upstage Abaddon by using it to attack Terra directly. The Imperial Fists turned the Phalanx's own weapons on the chaos-tainted regions, destroying them and killing most of the Iron Warriors, then the Legion of the Damned arrived. Be'lakor himself got his ass kicked by [[Tor Garadon]] (before he was even given a model!). This abject failure was unfortunately the only time Be'lakor was ever really relevant to Warhammer 40k's plot. In general Be'lakor never really is shown doing much and seems to only exist in 40k because daemons in both settings have to cross-over.

==Table Top==
===Warhammer Fantasy===
A 500pt Monster (literally), Be'lakor is a very expensive but very solid choice for either a Warriors of Chaos or Daemons of Chaos army. He's an upgraded winged Daemon prince with Lore Master in the Lore of Shadow and a 4+ Ward save and any thing shooting at him suffers -2 to hit him to keep him out of the way of any cannons aimed at him. He is very good at making units run for the hills as he has Terror and Unbreakable like a regular Daemon prince but he also reduces the leadership of all enemy units with 12" of him by -1 and if they fail a panic or break test Be'lakor gets an extra D3 power dice for his next magic phase. Finally his sword, '''The Blade of Shadows''' is the standard but extremely nasty no armour saves allowed against wounds dealt by it. Over all if you use Be'lakor he'll take up your entire lord slot (unless you play using the last 8th edition FAQ and/or End Times in which case he uses half of it) but he can be very effective at scaring off hordes of enemies will pile driving your opponents lords while also being quite hard to pick off from usual monster killing methods, like artillery.

===Age of Sigmar===
[[image:RYM7hNcBNGhu01we.jpg|thumb|right|300px|New Be'lakor, now with 70% more base and 40% more wings]]
Be'lakor's combat capabilities aren't really anything special. Sure, his melee capabilities are slightly better than your standard Daemon Prince, and ignoring rend is a neat gimmick (even if its offset by him having a lower save than the standard Daemon Prince. meaning its only really an advantage against Rend -2 weapons). He also heals himself when enemy models flee, but with battleshock being so easy to ignore its not much to speak about. His magic capabilities are better, having a good warscroll spell and being one of the few wizards that can cast twice in Slaves to Darkness. The real thing that makes Be'lakor a good pick, however, is his special rule "The Dark Master".

Be'lakor can secretly pick one unit at the start of the game, [[Just As Planned|which he has secretly been manipulating the entire time]]. At any time he can reveal his manipulations, causing the selected unit to be unable to cast spells, move, charge, or attack unless they roll a 5+ for the rest of the turn. And of course, you're going to use this ability on the enemy's strongest unit. Need that Frostlord on Stonehorn to kill that one unit on the objective? Need Nagash to cast that combo of spells you need? Too bad.

Be'lakor also has his own subfaction for the Legion of Chaos Ascendant army list called The Legion of the First Prince. It allows lesser daemons to act as meat shields for him and also allows him to reroll hits and wounds if he's surrounded by at least one lesser daemon of each god, but you mainly take it for the command ability which allows him to restore dead models to every Plaguebearer, Bloodletter, Daemonette and Horror unit on the battlefield. Which, due to the way keywords work, include big multi-wound cavalry units like [[Bloodcrushers]] and [[Plague Drones]].

===Warhammer 40k===
His 40k rules are a reworked version of his Fantasy rules which were then super charged. A winged Daemon Prince he has a 4++ invuln save and is Shrouded, and he also has fucking [[Awesome|Eternal Warrior]] so he's pretty hard to kill. The Blade of Shadows is in it's best incarnation as it's a monstrous S+1, AP2, Fleshbane, Armourbane, Master crafted murder stick, he is also a level 3 Psyker with powers from the Telepathy Discipline and he gains a bonus D3 warp charge points when enemy units fail moral tests. For 350 points he's expensive but he's a god damn steal with how killy he can be.

===8th/9th edition===
Be'lakor is pretty good in 8th edition. He's very speedy with a 14" movement and gives buffs to all Daemons so works round the restrictions of a regular Daemon prince. He has a -1 leadership debuff and he has 6 attacks. Stack that with his S+1 ap-5 D3 kill sword, he can carve his way through pretty much anything. He also has access to the Dark Heretics discipline which he knows 2 powers from (you will take Death Hex and you will like it) so he is a pretty good all rounder. The only problem is that he needs to be put in his own detachment as he doesn't have any marks of chaos (for some reason) so he can't join a god specific detachment without gimping the rest of the detachment.

==Total Warhammer 3==
It is implied that Be'lakor is going to be in Game 3 representing the Daemons of Chaos Undivided, considering that the existence of nine legendary lords was confirmed - 4 of them will probably be for [[Kislev]] and [[Cathay]], another 4 will represent [[Chaos Gods]], and the other one is currently unknown, but come on. "A shadowy source of great evil building its armies" has Be'lakors self stroking ego written all over it.

As he will (most likely) lead the Undivided Subfaction (if it will be in the game), he will presumably have access to all Daemons from 4.5 (included the few Undivided Daemons) rosters.

==Trivia==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOiQOOrj-fY He has a kickass band]

==Gallery==

<gallery>
image:UoSvSRO7D7TAZNNF.jpg|His new model...BUT IN SPESS!
File:DINOSAURS_ROCK_CHAOS.png|Techinclly this happened to a different Daemon prince who looked like Be'lakor, but that hasn't stopped people from dunking on him all the same.
File:Run Belakor Run.png|Ascended by all 4 gods. Brought low by a piece of granite.
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}