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Pygmies (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-09-19T06:03:29Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:9CD3:42F1:521E:D2F9:

{{Fail}}
[[File:Pygmy models 4.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Even the Grogs must admit that some changes were for the better.]]

Oh, boy.

The genesis of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] is that of an excuse to sell overstocked [[Dungeons & Dragons]] models which evolved into its own setting under the guidance of number-crunchers who took and passed the early torches of modern tabletop gaming outside of the roleplaying medium as well as loremasters who combined their degrees in history with their love of then-contemporary fantasy like [[Tolkien]], [[Michael Moorcock]], and [[Conan the Barbarian]].
Also, they were all British.

Early Warhammer was wild and combined just about whatever the writers wanted, lacking a unified setting as it was just a cluster of ideas designed to inspire people to make their own continuity among each other.

One of these ideas wound up unfortunately being one of the only depictions of black or Latino peoples in the setting. Most of the game takes place in "dialed up to 11 largely for the sake of comedy" Renaissance eras, both early and late, although it also has [[Tomb Kings|bronze age]], [[Orcs_&_Goblins#Varieties|stone age]], and [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|magic douchebag Atlantis types]] mixed in for flavor. So of course having a large chunk of the game taking place in eastern or southern Africa isn't entirely fitting, but the game doesn't have a distinct zoomed-in focus as [[Ogre Kingdoms|Mongols]] and [[Lizardmen|Aztec scalies]] get a fair amount of spotlight as well.

This makes the presence of the Pygmies fairly embarrassing since they were a shockingly racist expy of Africans straight out of the colonial representation of the Congo (although to be fair, the highly parodical nature of many of the elements of Warhammer could indicate mockery of this concept rather than playing it straight).

Pygmies first appeared in the second edition of Warhammer (it is worth noting that Warhammer didn't even have a true complete setting until 3rd edition) in the [[Warhammer Battle Bestiary]] supplement in 1984. They had the same stats of ordinary humans barring one point less of Strength and Toughness, but their point cost was so low that they were arguably one of the best options in the entire game at the time since you could easily create a huge horde of them that can outmatch almost anything. They appeared in the 2e scenario [[The Magnificent Sven]] in which they had successfully defeated a [[Warriors Of Chaos|Norse]] (bear in mind this is before Chaos existed in Warhammer) warriors consisting of 120, and the 121st was the guest of honor (unironically, as in he was given choice cuts and as much beer as he wanted) at a feast where they had cooked his companions (and his amputated leg) before letting him go free. These Pygmies live in [[Lustria]], or at least the 2e prototype of it. The artwork was stereotypical, but not completely offensive. They looked like dark-skinned Dwarfs dressed in a combination of Aztec and Zulu styles.

For context, the term "Pygmy" first appears as an ancient Greek creature called the "Pygmaeus", a type of short human-like monster which the Greek poet Homer said came from the region we now know to be India. It also referred to the distance between the fist and elbow for the purpose of measuring clothes/armor. The term was (much) later used during the time period where European superpowers aggressively colonized the world in all directions (but north obviously), being applied to various societies that were still in the stone or bronze age which due to less nutritious diets were usually shorter than the explorers. The term is considered racist, but there's no real alternative word that's caught on in the mainstream so seemingly the rule is that any group who has enough internet access to complain about it can't be called Pygmies anymore, for everyone else its fair game. Although the term was applied to South American tribes, today it only refers to groups in Africa and southeastern Asia.

While that last bit could be theoretically used to excuse the concept since it wouldn't apply towards a real people, Citadel released models in 1985 by [[Alan and Michael Perry]] accompanied by artwork of the same minis in the Spring 1985 issue of [[Citadel Journal]]. This newly revised version of the Pygmies eschewed the defensible older artwork with the "Pickaninny" (or maybe "Gollywog" is a more fitting term, since GW came from the UK) style of highly exaggerated features. Who thought this was a good idea is unknown, particularly since not only were the models and artwork embarrassing but their status as a powerful faction with a supporting role in a major story was gone as well. While the visual style of the 3rd edition they were released for was to amp up the exaggeration in order to create unique models that stand out when viewed from a distance (as armies had gotten bigger in 3e) and to create a more signature style to help the Citadel brand, the rest of the models to get this treatment weren't based on ethnic stereotypes (at least since we stopped considering belligerent Irishmen a different race anyway).

Pygmies were only mentioned a handful of times after 1985. The first, and only major appearance, came as a timed scenario for [[Games Day Convention]] 1997 written by [[Basil Barrett]] which was published in the 100th issue of [[White Dwarf]]. The scenario, entitled "[[The Hanging Gardens Of Bab-Elonn]]", gives Pygmies a new origin as an alien race that arrived alongside the [[Old Ones]], also in giant floating pyramids from another dimension/outer space. The Pygmy culture devolved since then until now they were a stone age race of short cannibal humanoids who share Lustria with the [[Lizardmen|creations of the Old Ones]] who have similarly lost most (but not all) of the advanced super magic science they came to the world with. In the campaign, the Pygmy players explore one of the pyramids of their ancestors...which will blow up in 2 hours due to a self-destruct mechanism they accidentally triggered.

Since then Pygmies have only been mentioned very sparingly, once in the [[Blood Bowl]] comics as being the team that the Amazons beat (and ate) in order to qualify for the Old World tourney. While the other highly racist Warhammer race, [[Hobgoblins (Warhammer Fantasy)|Hobgoblins]], simply had the more overt tones dropped and continued to be active in canon, Pygmies are more or less a relic of neckLongbeard Warhammer.

Technically speaking they could be used today as they were never actually retconned thanks to surviving references, and their statline and use of blowguns as a main weapon pretty much makes them [[Lizardmen#Skinks|Skinks]]. Their models are not known for being particularly expensive on the secondary market unless buying a complete set, although their original packaging will increase the value substantially.

As unlikely as it is, the idea of a fantasy race based off of African culture is still pretty interesting,what with Scottish-Viking Dwarfs and Mongolian Ogres, and as such, a very small minority of fans have wished that instead of pretending the Pygmies don't exist, that they would be rewritten with lore from actual Mbuti African Pygmy mythology and culture, being instead victims of cannibalism rather than practitioners of it, having a realistic appearance with being of actual human status, and having allies & enemies of actual creatures from the Mbuti Pygmy mythology, including Obrigwabibikwa, reptilian red Dwarfs capable of shapeshifting into any reptile, and the Negoogunogumbar, albino, cannibal ogres with reptilian features.

Oh yeah, did we forget to mention? Actual Mbuti pygmies, the little folk of Africa who are the biggest inspiration for them, aren't cannibals. Rather, they are the victims of both cannibalism AND slavery by the warring, split majority ethnic group of the Congo called the Bantu, who aren't even native to the Congo. Thanks, GeeDubs.

== Age Of Sigmar(?) ==

Due to increased non-white representation in Games Workshop's sequel to Warhammer Fantasy called [[Age of Sigmar]], some have joked that the Pygmies finally evolved (and managed to knock up some Dark <strike>Aelves</strike> Elves). This is obviously not canon in any way, not only because it would be a PR nightmare for Games Workshop but also because its canon that the only things in Lustria that survived the destruction of the Warhammer World were what the Slann loaded onto their ships.

That being said...its canon that the Slann have recreated Lustria as constructs of light magic in their realm, which they send on raids against the enemies of Order. While the Slann and their obsession with the designs of the Old Ones may not have considered the Amazons worth creating construct copies of (although for all we know they have already), the fact that in the most current canon the Pygmies predate the Slann might mean that they would see them as just a natural and intended part of the Warhammer World. So...maybe they do exist still? At any rate it would give Games Workshop the chance to make some humans/humanoids to sell in the South American styles without the baggage of the current design of the Pygmies.

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
File:Pygmy models 1.jpg
File:WH pygmies 1.jpg
File:WH pygmies 2.png
File:WH pygmies 3.png
File:WH pygmies 4.png
File:WH pygmies 5.png
File:WH pygmies 6.png
File:WH pygmies 7.png
File:WH pygmies 8.png
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]

Mordiggian

2021-09-19T05:58:01Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:9CD3:42F1:521E:D2F9: /* Warhammer Fantasy */ Mordig The Great Ghoul

{{Topquote|. . . [A] colossal shadow [appeared] that was not wrought by anything in the room. It filled the portals from side to side, it towered above the lintel – and then, swiftly, it became more than a shadow: it was a bulk of darkness, black and opaque, that somehow blinded the eyes with a strange dazzlement. It seemed to suck the flame from the red urns and fill the chamber with a chill of utter death and voidness. Its form was that of a worm-shapen column, huge as a dragon, its further coils still issuing from the gloom of the corridor; but it changed from moment to moment, swirling and spinning as if alive with the vortical energies of dark aeons. Briefly it took the semblance of some demoniac giant with eyeless head and limbless body; and then, leaping and spreading like smoky fire, it swept into the chamber.|Clark Ashton Smith, ''The Charnel God''}}
'''Mordiggian''', also known as ''The Charnel God'', is a [[Yog-Sothothery|Great Old One]] associated with [[ghoul]]s, [[necromancer]]s and death created by [[Clark Ashton Smith]] for his [[Zothique]] stories, where he debuted in the story "The Charnel God" as the primary god of the city-state of Zul-Bha-Sair, attended to by a mortuary-cult of ghouls dressed in long, hooded robes of purple paired with silver skull masks. Although capable of ferocious acts of wrath when roused to anger, he is generally a peaceful, amiable god who genuinely respects his faithful worshippers and who merely asks to be fed with the bodies of the dead. This makes him a true minority amongst the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos.

He has appeared in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Malleus Monstrorum. Creature, Gods, and Forbidden Knowledge, and in [[Pathfinder]].

==Warhammer Fantasy==
References are made to a "Cult of Mordig" of Ghouls existing in Warhammer Fantasy's Araby. Mordig is obviously a shortening of Mordiggian's name. The Ghouls in Araby worship this "Mordig,The Great Ghul", and are actually considered rather civilized. The Cult of Mordig has recently been infiltrated by Neferata's Lahmian Bloodline, and serve as a form of respected Praetorian Guard for her, being rewarded with the freshest cuts of human meat and best armor.

==Pathfinder==
[[File:Mordiggian SA2 2.png|left|300px]]
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Mordiggian
|Symbol = [[File:Mordiggian symbol.png]]
<center>Bloody Fangs Surrounded By Darkness</center>
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Great Old One
|Pantheon = Cthulhu Mythos
|Portfolio = Darkness, Ghouls, Voices of the Dead
|Domains = Chaos, Darkness, Death, Evil <br> '''Subdomains:''' Entropy, Loss, Night, Undead
|Home Plane = Dreamlands
|Worshippers = [[Ghoul]]s, Undertakers, [[Necromancer]]s, Anatomists
|Favoured Weapon = Scimitar
}}
Mordiggian appears in [[Pathfinder]] as a Great Old One, making him a god worshipped by NPCs, or even the PCs if you're running that sort of campaign. Both of his appearances so far have been in "Strange Aeons"; the [[H.P. Lovecraft]]-themed adventure path. Stats for Mordiggian appeared in the second adventure module, "The Thrushmoor Terror", whilst a profile of him as a deity appeared in the first adventure module, "In Search of Sanity", as part of the article "Elder Mythos", a revamp of the article "Cults of the Dark Tapestry", which had appeared in the earlier module "Wake of the Watcher", part 4 of the horror-themed path "Carrion Crown".

{{NotFunny Sourcebook}}
His writeup from that article reads as follows:

''In ancient times, Mordiggian was the god of ghouls, yet as these undead spread throughout the countless worlds, many of them lost their way and fell into decadence. These ghouls have forgotten the Charnel God, and only pockets of those from Leng who have not degenerated maintain the ancient rites today.

''Mordiggian’s primary worshipers in the modern era are humans who venerate him as a death god, yet to the untrained eye, these men and women are little more than ghouls themselves. Using vile rituals and surgical practices, they transform their limbs and visages into ghoulish countenances. In cities where such grotesqueries would cause incident, his worshipers wear heavy cloaks and silver masks to hide their shapes. Mordiggian’s temples are grand mausoleum-cathedrals placed in positions of prominence in their cities. Cities that host such temples have no graveyards of their own, for the priests of Mordiggian collect the bodies of the dead and place them, free of charge, into their sacred vaults for “disposal.” As such, undead and corpse-borne disease are rare contagions in cities under Mordiggian’s care, yet sometimes his priests are too eager in gathering the “dead,” and have been known to take away those in comas or deathlike trances from which they could have recovered.

''Mordiggian is a living cloud of darkness, capable of congealing and coalescing all or portions of his form within the inky depths to serve his needs, whether he’s manifesting a long, grasping limb to pluck a ripened morsel from a coffin-platter, or visiting his wrath upon those who dare to tread upon halls where only the dead may walk. The Charnel God’s favored form is that of an immense worm with a set of grasping tentacles arrayed around a central maw; this fanged maw appears often in the god’s symbology.''

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Mordiggian SA2 1.jpg
</gallery>
{{Pathfinder-Demigods}}
[[Category: Pathfinder]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Undead]] [[Category: Cthulhu Mythos]]

Mordiggian

2021-09-19T05:49:51Z

2601:188:C300:64B8:9CD3:42F1:521E:D2F9: Warhammer Fantasy's Cult of Mordig

{{Topquote|. . . [A] colossal shadow [appeared] that was not wrought by anything in the room. It filled the portals from side to side, it towered above the lintel – and then, swiftly, it became more than a shadow: it was a bulk of darkness, black and opaque, that somehow blinded the eyes with a strange dazzlement. It seemed to suck the flame from the red urns and fill the chamber with a chill of utter death and voidness. Its form was that of a worm-shapen column, huge as a dragon, its further coils still issuing from the gloom of the corridor; but it changed from moment to moment, swirling and spinning as if alive with the vortical energies of dark aeons. Briefly it took the semblance of some demoniac giant with eyeless head and limbless body; and then, leaping and spreading like smoky fire, it swept into the chamber.|Clark Ashton Smith, ''The Charnel God''}}
'''Mordiggian''', also known as ''The Charnel God'', is a [[Yog-Sothothery|Great Old One]] associated with [[ghoul]]s, [[necromancer]]s and death created by [[Clark Ashton Smith]] for his [[Zothique]] stories, where he debuted in the story "The Charnel God" as the primary god of the city-state of Zul-Bha-Sair, attended to by a mortuary-cult of ghouls dressed in long, hooded robes of purple paired with silver skull masks. Although capable of ferocious acts of wrath when roused to anger, he is generally a peaceful, amiable god who genuinely respects his faithful worshippers and who merely asks to be fed with the bodies of the dead. This makes him a true minority amongst the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos.

He has appeared in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Malleus Monstrorum. Creature, Gods, and Forbidden Knowledge, and in [[Pathfinder]].

==Warhammer Fantasy==
References are made to a "Cult of Mordig" of Ghouls existing in Warhammer Fantasy's Araby. Other references to Ghouls who worship Mordig exist as well, including a few ghoul tribes around a stale, deathridden lake.

==Pathfinder==
[[File:Mordiggian SA2 2.png|left|300px]]
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Mordiggian
|Symbol = [[File:Mordiggian symbol.png]]
<center>Bloody Fangs Surrounded By Darkness</center>
|Alignment = Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = Great Old One
|Pantheon = Cthulhu Mythos
|Portfolio = Darkness, Ghouls, Voices of the Dead
|Domains = Chaos, Darkness, Death, Evil <br> '''Subdomains:''' Entropy, Loss, Night, Undead
|Home Plane = Dreamlands
|Worshippers = [[Ghoul]]s, Undertakers, [[Necromancer]]s, Anatomists
|Favoured Weapon = Scimitar
}}
Mordiggian appears in [[Pathfinder]] as a Great Old One, making him a god worshipped by NPCs, or even the PCs if you're running that sort of campaign. Both of his appearances so far have been in "Strange Aeons"; the [[H.P. Lovecraft]]-themed adventure path. Stats for Mordiggian appeared in the second adventure module, "The Thrushmoor Terror", whilst a profile of him as a deity appeared in the first adventure module, "In Search of Sanity", as part of the article "Elder Mythos", a revamp of the article "Cults of the Dark Tapestry", which had appeared in the earlier module "Wake of the Watcher", part 4 of the horror-themed path "Carrion Crown".

{{NotFunny Sourcebook}}
His writeup from that article reads as follows:

''In ancient times, Mordiggian was the god of ghouls, yet as these undead spread throughout the countless worlds, many of them lost their way and fell into decadence. These ghouls have forgotten the Charnel God, and only pockets of those from Leng who have not degenerated maintain the ancient rites today.

''Mordiggian’s primary worshipers in the modern era are humans who venerate him as a death god, yet to the untrained eye, these men and women are little more than ghouls themselves. Using vile rituals and surgical practices, they transform their limbs and visages into ghoulish countenances. In cities where such grotesqueries would cause incident, his worshipers wear heavy cloaks and silver masks to hide their shapes. Mordiggian’s temples are grand mausoleum-cathedrals placed in positions of prominence in their cities. Cities that host such temples have no graveyards of their own, for the priests of Mordiggian collect the bodies of the dead and place them, free of charge, into their sacred vaults for “disposal.” As such, undead and corpse-borne disease are rare contagions in cities under Mordiggian’s care, yet sometimes his priests are too eager in gathering the “dead,” and have been known to take away those in comas or deathlike trances from which they could have recovered.

''Mordiggian is a living cloud of darkness, capable of congealing and coalescing all or portions of his form within the inky depths to serve his needs, whether he’s manifesting a long, grasping limb to pluck a ripened morsel from a coffin-platter, or visiting his wrath upon those who dare to tread upon halls where only the dead may walk. The Charnel God’s favored form is that of an immense worm with a set of grasping tentacles arrayed around a central maw; this fanged maw appears often in the god’s symbology.''

===Gallery===
<gallery>
Mordiggian SA2 1.jpg
</gallery>
{{Pathfinder-Demigods}}
[[Category: Pathfinder]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Undead]] [[Category: Cthulhu Mythos]]