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Chaos Dwarfs

2021-10-26T08:25:34Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* The Tower of Gorgoth */

[[Image:Dorf hats.jpg|thumb|right|NO [[Hat|HAT]] SHALL BE GREATER THAN MINE!]]
{{topquote|One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep.|Boromir}}
{{topquote|I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.|James Baldwin}}
{{topquote|You can leave your hat on.|Joe Cocker}}

The ''Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr'', as they refer to themselves, or Dawi-Zharr (Dwarfs of Fire) in Khazalid, are the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]]' dark kin, who have been corrupted by the influence of [[Chaos]]. They were a [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer]] faction up until 5th edition but were always treated as some kind of stepchild and did not have a proper standalone army book. Their background, rules and army list were released in a series of articles in [[White Dwarf]], eventually collected into a quasi-army book, ''White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs''. Despite how awesome these guys are, they were ditched by GW because they weren't selling as much as vanilla Chaos, Orcs & Goblins or Elves were to newbie players. For ages they existed only as a dim fond memory to the veterans of the hobby; GW did one new model set (the Hellcannon and its attending Chaos Dwarf crew) but little else. Lo and behold, Forge World has flown to the rescue! You can buy some brilliant new Chaos Dwarf models, and there are now official rules to use: [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos]].

==History==

At the height of their empire, before the coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs spread far and wide across the Old World. Ever-diligent workers and miners, they followed the [[Worlds Edge Mountains]] north and dug their holds deep into the rock of the earth. Along the way, they reached a place they called [[Great Skull Land|Zorn-Uzkul]], the Great Skull Land, after all the ancient bones (and especially skulls) scattered throughout. While it was very rich in minerals, most decided that this place was best left alone. But a few were so stubborn - even compared to their fellow Dwarfs - that they decided to live there to prove that they could.

===An ancient schism===

These northernmost holds kept close contact with their kin in the World's Edge Mountains as the Dwarf Empire grew, and the Dwarfs enjoyed an age of prosperity not seen before or since. With the coming of Chaos, the dominion of the Dwarfs over the Old World was about to dwindle. As devastating earthquakes brought about by the careless machinations of the [[Lizardmen|Slann]] magepriests shattered the world, the Dwarfs closed themselves up in their mountain holds to weather out the storm, as has always been their way. There were those amongst the Dwarfs, lead by their fiercest warrior god Grimnir, who argued that Chaos needed to be fought, not endured. And when Chaos was eventually driven back by the actions of the Dwarfs and their [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|High Elf]] allies, the Dwarfs looked at their wounded domain and thought their northern cousins lost. Surely nothing could have survived the raw Chaos energies unleashed upon the northern wastes. Tragically, they were wrong. The Dwarfs of Zorn-Uzkul suffered greatly, and in their anguish they cried out to their western kin for support and their ancestor gods for salvation, but they did not perish.

Though the Dwarfs that chose to live in the blasted wastes were hardy, even they were not immune to the corrupting influence of Chaos, and they slowly changed over time. For many long years they only barely survived as they abandoned or were abandoned by their own ancestor gods, but eventually they found favor with [[Hashut]], the bull-like Father of Darkness, learning the secrets of daemon-smithing in exchange for blood sacrifices. Soon their bodies showed signs of the growing corruption within their souls: their flesh turned grey, their eyes red and many sported horns from their temples while their teeth turned into vicious tusks. Dwarfs have a natural suspicion for unchecked magic and tame the raw energy by binding it to their mighty runes. The Dawi-Zharr were released from these traditionalist shackles and embraced the secrets about working terrible magic taught to them by their new patron god. Their Daemonsmiths soon learned to combine this arcane knowledge with their own mastery of binding magic and began working marvels of engineering into blasphemous amalgams of machine and daemon.

The Dawi-Zharr may have survived the coming of Chaos, but their numbers were greatly diminished. From the Zorn-Uzkul they marched eastwards across the [[Plain of Zharr|Zharrduk]], the Plain of Zharr, to the [[Mountains of Mourn]] and the [[Sea of Dread]] in the south. These are the [[Dark Lands]], the lands of fire, smoke and ash, and the Dawi-Zharr claim them as their domain. They were never a numerous people though, and the [[Blasted Wastes]] are home to many [[Orcs & Goblins|Greenskin]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]] tribes. At the heart of the Dawi-Zharr empire they built their great city, ''Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund'', the obsidian City of Fire and Desolation, in the Plain of Zharr. The Blasted Wastes are dotted with fortress-citadels, garrisons and watchtowers, from where the Dawi-Zharr venture forth to subjugate all living beings to work for them as an endless stream of slaves.

[[File:400px-ChaosDwarf.jpg|300px|thumb|left|100% Chaos, 100% Dwarf, 100% Hat, 300% trouble.]]

===A twisted parody of Hearth & Oath===

While few would describe Dwarfs as a particularly friendly people, their unshakeable code of honour, respect for their ancestors, and undeniable craftmanship and ingenuity are admirable values and make them loyal to a fault. The present-day Dawi-Zharr are only a twisted mockery of these noble ideals: they are tyrannical and merciless, cold at heart and driven by a need to subjugate all the lesser races before them while retaining their mastery of craftsmanship and industry backed by their natural stubbornness. Where the human followers of Chaos are always driven by thoughtless slaughter and are inevitably doomed to fail in their rampant destruction, their forces spent, exhausted by infighting and stretched thin against too many foes at once, the Dawi-Zharr employ their ruthless determination and natural propensity for flawlessness for a slow but grinding dominion across the Dark Lands and beyond. Every Dwarf with a mind set on a goal is relentless in its pursuit, but a Dawi-Zharr will stop at nothing and will relinquish no cruelty to see it fulfilled.

Like regular Dwarfs, their armies are composed of small, elite units backed by powerful war machines, but Chaos Dwarfs employ Hashut's sorcery where their cousins instinctively distrust magic. Chaos Dwarf machines often have [[daemon]]s bound inside, and their ammunition may be charged with dark alchemy. To round out the army, Chaos Dwarfs employ legions of slaves, especially [[Orcs#Warhammer|Orc]]s and [[Goblin#Warhammer|Goblin]]s, both as meat-shields in battle and as an expendable workforce in the mines and forges. [[Wulfrik the Wanderer|And yet, a group of six Norscans and a sorcerer led by a Chaos Champion can easily slaughter their way through one of their cities]] (only because the writer of that story gave the Norscans EXBAWKSHUEG [[Plot Armor]]).

Unlike regular Dwarfs, they make use of terrible magical powers, gifts from their bull-god Hashut. However, because Dwarfs were never meant to use magic, its power slowly but inevitably turns their sorcerers to stone. At first, they regard these changes with pride, glorying in them as badges of honor celebrating their victory over the very forces of nature; as time goes by, though, they start to worry more and more about it. In-game, the rules mirror this; miscasting with a Chaos Dwarf requires a toughness check. At first, failure means ''gaining'' a permanent point of toughness for a wound lost, but as time goes by the side effects stop being cool.

The Chaos Dwarfs, while evil and all, are not really expansionist and have more than enough slaves as it is. They make their way economically by selling weapons and armour to the Norse and Warriors of Chaos in exchange for more slaves to top up their supply. From time to time, a Chaos Dwarf host will be assembled to leave the Dark Lands in search for a valuable treasure, specific sacrifices for their ever-hungry deity, or simply more slaves if the regular hunting grounds are exhausted. Alas, the Daemonsmiths like to test their newest creations against the defenses of the lesser races to optimise their catastrophic potential. They also got a Mesopotamian thing going for them.

===At World's End===

The cataclysmic events of the [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|End Times]] obviously didn't exclude the Dawi-Zharr. Eventually [[Grimgor Ironhide]] led a mighty [[Waaagh|Waaagh!]] against the Chaos Dwarfs, toppling their cities and crushing their empire to dust, finishing what started when the Black Orcs revolted against their masters (according to the novels, Grimgor himself was a former Black Orc slave of the Chaos Dwarves making him Black-Orc-Spartacus).

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

[[Image:Choas_Dorf_is_back.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Well how about that, thanks to [[Warcry]], some of the little bastards (right) are back in the Mortal Realms]]
Like most of the factions, Chaos Dwarfs are reborn in the Mortal Realms (although Forgeworld has recently squated the official models) under the trademark friendly name “Chaos Duardin”. The largest known contingent of these chorfs live in the realm of [[Aqshy]] in the Ashcloud Mountains, are back at worshipping a somehow-still-around-Hashut and use Realmstone in their armour. That's about all we know. 
Apart from these descendants of the Legion of Azgorh, apparently there are more duardin worshipping Chaos in the Mortal Realms, e.g. as a part of the Iron Golems and Spire Tyrants warbands. As revealed in ''Wrath of the Everchosen'', quite a number of these chaos duardin work for [[Archaon]] within the industrial district of the [[Varanspire]]. There is also a massive daemonic oil platform in the seas of [[Shyish]] called [[Zharr Vyxa]] causing grief for [[Nagash]] and the local tribe of [[Sons of Behemat|Kraken-eater Mega-Gargants]] who besieged the fortress in the past, only to be pushed back by the dawi-zharr and their black armored Chaos Gargants.

Also in Ulgu, a [[Fyreslayers]] lodge is in constant conflict with the Black Fortress of the Legion of Azghor, to [[Malekith|Malerion's]] joy, as he gets to watch two dwarven factions beat each other sensles.

If rumors are to be true then the Chaos Dwarves will return with full force as the "Oathbreakers" faction, with brand new models, this time not Forgeworld Exclusive (hopefully).

==The Domain of the Dawi-Zharr==

Between the World's Edge Mountains in the west, the Mountains of Mourn in the east and the Sea of Dread in the south lie the Dark Lands, a barren wasteland of ash and dust, devoid of plants or sunlight, the air thick with volcanic smoke, and the Dawi-Zharr claim dominion over it. Most Chaos Dwarfs dwell within this godforsaken realm, but some clans have established exclaves in further regions, like [[Norsca]] and the [[Chaos Wastes]]. In other words, rather than living in [[Empire|not-Germany]], [[Lustria|not-South America]] or [[Nehekhara|not-Egypt]], the Chaos Dwarves have made [[Mordor|not-Mordor]] their home. What they eat is a mystery as unlike Mordor there is no Nurn equivalent.

===The Dark Lands===

[[File:Darklands.png|300px|thumb|right|Home, sweet barren Home]]
The Dark Lands are a vast area of nothingness and not even a force as mighty as the Dawi-Zharr could ever hope to truly dominate it.

====Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land====

In the north, the High Pass from [[Kislev]] leads through the Worlds Edge Mountains into the Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land, where the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr first settled. Here, the Road of Skulls to the Chaos Wastes leads through a great plateau littered with bones, many of them skulls of mighty beasts long perished, giving the forbidding area its name. The Dwarfs discovered rich deposits of ore in the ground, but most of them ultimately abandoned the obviously tainted region and returned west. Those who stayed and founded Uzkulak in the north or went on eastwards to the Mountains of Mourn were eventually corrupted by the increasing influence of Chaos and became the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr. Today, Zorn-Uzkul is the northernmost part of the Chaos Dwarf empire, and to follow the Road of Skulls in the shadows of haunted Uzkulak is a very dangerous endeavor.
{{anchor|Plain of Zharr}}
====Zharrduk, the Plain of Zharr====

When the waters of the River Ruin roar down the Falls of Doom from Zorn-Uzkul, they first enter the Plain of Zharr, a vast meteoric crater in the north-east of the Dark Lands and the heartland of the Dawi-Zharr empire. The earth is rich in minerals and precious resources, and the Chaos Dwarfs have turned the whole of Zharrduk into one gigantic industrial complex. The ground is riddled with pools of boiling oil and molten metal, rivers of steaming lava crisscross its broken crust, the sun is hidden behind a thick layer of smoke and ash; no living thing is to be found as far as the eye can see. At its center the Dawi-Zharr have erected Zharr-Naggrund, their great capital, and the plain of Zharr is littered with smaller outposts, workshops, foundries and forges. Unabating is the sound of mighty steam-driven forgehammers and the anguished cries of the tortured slaves throughout Zharrduk as the Dawi-Zharr mold their atrocious empire day and night.

====The Blasted Wastes====

The Blasted Wastes in the west of the Dark Lands, between the World's Edge Mountains and the Gates of Zharr, are a vast desert and sustain very little life. They are mostly home to nomadic Goblin tribes and other ravaging hordes, but they also house a great number of Black Orc tribes, most notably Grimgor Ironhide and his elite clan, Da Immortulz. Needless to say that the Chaos Dwarfs view the area mostly as hunting grounds for their slave pits.

====The Howling Wastes====

East of the road from Zharr-Naggrund to the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Howling Wastes. Where the Blasted Wastes are a sparse desert, the Howling Wastes are covered by an eternal mist, carrying thin voices and a wailing clamour of an forgotten age. The ground is mostly marshes and swamplands, and traversing it is almost guaranteed to get the unwary swallowed by the land, if not accompanied by an experienced guide.

====The Desolation of Azgorh====

Before the age of Chaos Dwarfs, the mighty volcano of Azgorh erupted with such a mighty crescendo that it split the mountain and rent the ground around it asunder. The ash cloud could be seen in distant Khemri and the elves in their Old World colonies registered the resulting earthquakes. The great upheaval reformed the landscape into an almost impenetrable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks and vents of toxic fumes, but it also unearthed a most precious mineral wealth, which a near infinite number of slaves now dig out of the rock in the mines around the Tower of Gorgoth.

[[File:Warhammer Chaos Dwarf Symbol.png|center|200px]]

===Dawi-Zharr Strongholds===

Many are the fortress-citadels, garrisons and strongholds of the Dawi-Zharr empire. Most of them are found on the Plain of Zharr, some are more remote, but the greatest and most important one is Zharr-Naggrund, the gruesome capital of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation====

At the heart of the Plain of Zharr lies Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund, the great capital of the Dawi-Zharr empire. It is a gigantic ziggurat of black obisidian, bristled with armed towers and the chimneys of thousands of furnaces and forges. Incessant are the clouds of black smoke and ash vomited from the workings deep in the bowels of Zharr-Naggrund, where untold numbers of slaves toil unremittingly for their cruel masters. The lowest ranks of the Chaos Dwarf society live at the bottom of the ziggurat, whereas the higher echelons are found closer to the top, where, at its pinnacle, lies the great Temple of Hashut. Huge gates are found at the four sides of each step of the great ziggurat, their battlements studded with great engines of destruction and guarded by a fearsome battalion of elite warriors. The northern gate allows in the River Ruin, re-routed through the city by the Dawi-Zharr to cool their forges and to siphon away the toxic industrial waste and the corpses of dead slaves through the southern gate. So heavy is the pollution from the city, that nothing can live in the River Ruin beyond it. Broad streets plated with gold and brass lead from the eastern and western gates throughout the Plain of Zharr to the Dark Lands and the Mountains of Mourn. Inside the citadel the Dawi-Zharr live and work in the perpetual twilight of their furnaces.

====Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull====

Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull, is the seat of the ancient Dwarf settlement in the Zorn-Uzkul, before the coming of Chaos. It is the northern most Dawi-Zharr stronghold and the most important slave port. Uzkulak sits at the southern branch of the Sea of Chaos, where the slave ships of the Dawi-Zharr sail forth to far away places to still Zharr-Naggrund's insatiable hunger for slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs have greatly expanded the vast underground tunnel connecting the Sea of Chaos with the River Ruin by the Falls of Doom and installed a sophisticated lock to allow ships to traverse it in both directions. Uzkulak is a strange and haunted place, even by Dawi-Zharr standards, and its shunned lower levels are forbidden grounds, except as punishment for oath-breakers and blasphemers.

====The Tower of Gorgoth====

The massive Tower of Gorgoth sits at the junction between the Blasted Wastes, the Howling Wastes and the Desolation of Azgorh. The tower itself stands on the plateau of a volcanic mountain range, harboring the greatest network of mines in the domain of the Dawi-Zharr. As the seams reach deep in the rock, over the centuries more and more slaves were needed to excavate the precious ore from the unyielding mountains. Over time, more and more slave trading clans have made base around the Tower of Gorgoth, which also serves to replenish the hordes of slave fighters in the Chaos Dwarf armies. Since the Tower of Gorgoth is quite remote from the Plain of Zharr and the might of Zharr-Naggrund, it is regularly attacked by Skaven, Greenskins or Ogres, who think it an easier target. However, the Tower of Gorgoth is manned by a sizeable garrison of Dawi-Zharr and the citadel has never fallen to the enemy. On the contrary, most assaults in the end only serve to swell the number of slaves in the endless mines beneath the Tower of Gorgoth.

====The Gates of Zharr====

Halfway between Zharr-Naggrund and the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Gates of Zharr, a massive archway of black stone and iron. Thousands of slaves in endless streams are forced through it every day, the shouts bellowed by their overseers harsher and the lashes of their whips even stronger in the shadows of the towers flanking the mighty testament of the Dawi-Zharrs' claim to the Dark Lands. Passing the Gates in neither direction would mean an end to the suffering for the poor souls, they are either herded towards the Tower of Gorgoth to spend the remainder of their lives, usually a short and painful one, in the mines beneath the volcano, or their destination is Zharr-Naggrund, where they will meet a much quicker end but under even greater agony. A warhost from Zharr-Naggrund to raid the lands beyong the Mad Dog Pass or Death Pass will also march below the Gates of Zharr, the rhythm of their beating drums and blaring horns mirrored by thousands of warriors beating their weapons on their armor, their standards held high, so the world shall know no respite from the wrath of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====The Black Fortress====

The eastern entry into the Dark Lands, south of the Mountains of Mourn, is guarded by the Black Fortress. In a land already blessed with a surplus of bleak desolation, the Black Fortress still stands out as place of hopelessness and grim determination. Unlike the Tower of Gorgoth, the Black Fortress does not oversee huge mining activities or large groups of the ever valued slaves, its purpose is purely militaristic and the deployment to the Legion of Azgorh is often viewed as a punishment and exile. In fact, the Black Fortress is home to the Infernal Guard, a warrior-cult for dishonoured Dawi-Zharr who have to redeem themselves in the eyes of their harsh society or find solace in death. Their names and past deeds are shorn away, as are their faces sealed shut behind hot-iron and bronze helmets.

==Notable Characters==

===Lord Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut===
[[File:Chaos-Dwarf.png|300px|thumb|right| Some people are dog-people, some people are cat-people. Chaos Dwarfs are bull-people ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])]]

Astragoth is the oldest living Sorcerer-Prophet and once the greatest of their kind, but now his power begins to fade and his body bears the unmistakable marks of the long use of the terrible powers granted to him by Hashut. His legs, torso and arms have already petrified, and a decade ago he constructed a mechanical device which allows him to still move and continue to perform his perverted rituals. It was Astragoth who assembled the conclave of Sorcerer-Prophets to hear of Hashut's vision, foretelling them their eventual [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|downfall]] if they would not amass more power by the might of their armies and the potency of their dark rituals. Although there is no nominal leader of the Chaos Dwarfs and their fate is steered by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, like their western kin the Dawi-Zharr respect age and experience above all else, which makes Astragoth the most influential voice in the Temple of Hashut.

===Drazhoath the Ashen, Lord of the Black Fortress===

As a young Hellsmith, Drazhoath fell from grace with the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets in Zharr-Naggrund and was sent into exile to the Black Fortress by Astragoth himself. Driven by his innate cunning and ruthless ambition, he quickly rose through the ranks and is now a wizard of considerable strength and mighty warrior in his own right. Drazhoath rules with an iron grip over the Legion of Azgorh, but the Black Fortress is a remote place and being its commander ultimately an impasse, so his gaze is always directed back at Zharr-Naggrund, where he dreams to return to triumphantly and claim his rightful position as one of the most powerful Sorcerer-Prophets. The power of his old rival Astragoth is waning and Drazhoath feels his time has come, so he is determined to make a name for himself through brutal campaigns and acquiring large hordes of new slaves to be used to buy him favour with influential members of the ruling caste at the Temple of Hashut.

===Ghorth the Cruel and Zhatan the Black===

Ghorth the Cruel is the most potent of all Dawi-Zharr Sorcerer-Prophets and it is said that the cries of his tortured victims are only drowned out by the evil laughter of Zhatan the Black, his trusted commander. Zhatan serves as Commander of the Tower of Zharr at the behest of Ghorth and has led many slaving raids against the humans and greenskins in the west, and every Goblin tribe between Zharrduk and Mount Grimfang has been subjugated.

===Gorduz Backstabber===
{{Topquote|Yunno what they say, Tarka. Lucky at dice, unlucky at gettin' back to your own tent without 'aving a nasty accident.|Gorduz Backstabber, moments before a surprising turn of lucks}}
A legendary Hobgoblin chieftain, Gorduz has already lived longer than most Hobgoblin Khans. This is party because he is naturally distrustful of his fellows, as any righteous Hobgoblin should be, but also unusually lucky, as the many hardened scars criss-crossing his bony shoulder humps can testify. So far he has not shown enough ambition for leading any of his slaves to a revolt to arouse distrust in his Chaos Dwarf superiors, which just further shows his cunning: better to be a living slavemaster than a dead revolutionary.

==Forces of the Dawi-Zharr==

{{Topquote|Stick 'em wiv arrers', Stick 'em wiv knives, 'an swords, and spears. Stick 'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts. But most of all, stick 'em when they's looking the other way.|Gorduz Backstabber, epitomizing what it means to be a Hobgoblin}}

===The might of Zharr-Naggrund===
[[File:Chaos_Dwarf.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Dawi-Zharr 101: Tall hat, braided beard, spiky armour, wicked weapon, evil mind.]]
Unlike the human and bestial followers of Chaos, the Dawi-Zharr rarely send full armies to the lands of the Old World and beyond. Consequently, most common folk think them a myth, for only few can imagine that any of the proud and unyielding Dwarfs should have succumbed to the calling of the dark gods. Those who know better have come to fear the armies of Zharr-Naggrund as they are a merciless foe on the battlefield. Survivors of battles against the Dawi-Zharr tell tales of clouds of ash and sheets of fire engulfing the screaming remains of fallen soldiers, of cloven-hoofed monsters rampaging through their helpless victims and the very ground opening under them through foul magic. Traumatized and driven insane by what they have witnessed, they claim that it is better to die in battle than fall alive into the hands of the Chaos Dwarfs and their cruel torturers.

Although the Dawi-Zharr have fallen far from the common ideals of their western kin, they are not so far apart in warfare. The Dawi-Zharr favour the same build of large infantry blocks, their warriors clad in heavy plate and wielding axes and hammers. Chaos Dwarf troops wear tall hats, denoting their social status, and usually braid their black beards. Their armament and weaponry is of superior quality and they share their western kin's martial prowess. For ranged warfare the Chaos Dwarfs favour black powder weapons and field warriors equipped with fireglaives and the infamous hailshot blunderbuss, a weapon that strikes fear in the hearts of the their opponents like none other. While all Chaos Dwarfs show physical manifestations of the corrupting influence of Hashut, some are blessed beyond developing horns and tusks and are utterly transformed into the hellish Bull Centaurs, a fate which is seen as a sign of high favour bestowed by Hashut. Bull Centaurs are charged with guarding the Temple of Hashut and act as brutal shock troops on the battlefield.

Chaos Dwarfs are a rare breed, even more so than the Dwarfs of the Karaz Ankor. To bolster their forces, the Dawi-Zharr employ large numbers of slave troops. The Dark Lands are an unforgiving place and spawn resilient fighters, all of which the Chaos Dwarfs are all too eager to subjugate into service. Most numerous among their slaves are [[Hobgoblin]]s, a notoriously fiendish kind of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskin]], even considering that very low bar. Hobgoblins are distrusted and hated by all other greenskins and are totally reliant on the Chaos Dwarfs' protection, which makes them perfect fighters and overseers for the other slave troops. The Dawi-Zharr are also known to press other, larger greenskins into their service, or even the occasional [[Ogre]] tribe. At some point their demand for able fighters for their armies and their frustration with the unreliability of the regular greenskin livestock led them to create the [[Black Orc]]s, an experiment that ultimately proved to be such a great success, it almost toppled the Dawi-Zharr empire. Only the treachery of the Hobgoblins saved the sons of Hashut from extinction, a deed which cemented the Hobgoblin's position at the highest slave tier for the Chaos Dwarfs and eternal outlaw among the greenskins.

The Dark Lands are roamed by greater dangers than greenskins and ogres, and many monsters and unnatural creatures are likewise caught and enslaved for the Dawi-Zharr armies. Among the most notable monsters bound to service by the Chaos Dwarfs are the Great Taurus and the Lammasu. Some believe the Great Taurus to be an incarnation of Hashut's divinity, while others claim they are actually Chaos Dwarfs particularly blessed with his gifts, similar to the Bull Centaurs. Whatever their nature, they are highly revered and sought after as mounts by the most powerful of Sorcerer-Prophets. Whilst the Great Taurus is a fuming beast of pure rage and destruction, the Lammasu is a more enigmatic being with a keen mind, and some of the less reckless Sorcerer-Prophets prefer them as a mount over the rampaging might of a Great Taurus.

The Dawi-Zharr society is ruthlessly dominated by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, who steer the fate of the Chaos Dwarf empire as the vessels of Hashut's divine will. Most of the Sorcerer-Prophets are found in Zharr-Naggrund, but some rule over one of the small fortress-citadels and garrisons throughout the Dark Lands; however in most cases this is rather seen as banishment from the capital. Although the Sorcerer-Prophets and by extension the Daemonsmiths, their disciples and aspiring mages-engineers, rule supreme and often accompany Chaos Dwarf warhosts to battle, Overlords and Castellans are dedicated commanders and heralds for the armies and serve purely for the conduct of wars; also the eldest Bull Centaurs, Taur'ruks, hold authority in Chaos Dwarf armies. Out of necessity the Dawi-Zharr even allow exceptionally gifted slaves, like Hobgoblin Khans, to hold commanding positions in their armies, although only with authority over other slaves and only up until the point where such a commanding slave has amassed anything remotely resembling something like a reputation. At this point, he will usually be ... relieved of his duty and replaced with a fresh aspirant, whose fate will likely go in a very similar direction.

While the troops in Dawi-Zharr armies are admirable foes and can hold their own against any force on the battlefields of the old world and beyond, their truly terrifying power lies within their war machines, hellish abominations of daemonic sorcery melded with infernal engineering. The Chaos Dwarf arsenal is replete with a wide array of mortal artillery, from earth-shaking cannonades over fire-spewing flamethrowers to dreadful steam-powered tanks. Oftentimes these war machines are imbued with daemonic entities, as the Chaos Dwarfs still retain some form of the typical dwarven mistrust of unfettered magical energies and therefore learned how to bind them in their abominable creations. Where the Daemonsmiths work to further the coalescing of daemon and machine, some Sorcerer-Prophets sought to directly enslave even the malevolent beings from beyond the veil of reality; they summoned and bound them with powerful magic, creating the K'Daai, half daemon and half raging fire. Unleashed upon the world, these mindless forces of destruction will stop at nothing from destroying anything in their path until their eldritch fiery being is consumed by their own burning wrath.

===The Legion of Azgorh===

The most up-to-date ruleset for Chaos Dwarfs, sadly, is the [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Legion of Azgorh]] found in Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos, but it's fairly extensive and has some nifty units, so it can stand up on its own. The book itself suggests they work best incorporated into a [[Warriors of Chaos]] army, as part of the [[Chaos Great Hosts]] ruleset provided in the book, or as allies.

The Legion of Azgorh is garrisoning the Black Fortress and represents a distinct sub-faction of Chaos Dwarfs. The mainstay and principal core troop of the army is the Infernal Guard; regular Chaos Dwarfs are only found in crewing the war machines. Infernal Guard are the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Slayers: Chaos Dwarfs who have suffered dishonor and seek to atone for it. To do this, they forsake their names and identities, strap mask-helmets of bronze and iron heated red-hot over their faces, and fight for the glory of Hashut. Unlike Slayers, the Infernal Guard is not a death sentence - in theory, anyway. They aren't frenzied fighters like Slayers, and an Infernal Guard who wins great renown has his mask formally removed and is discharged, his old shame forgotten. They go into battle sporting Blackshard Armour, a unique Chaos Dwarf-devised armour that is proof against flame. Infernal Guard should be considered midway between core and elite troops and have both higher strength and better armour than regular Chaos . Their default armament are hand weapons and shield for a solid infantry role, but they also have access to all the options you would expect for Chaos Dwarfs, including the ingenious fireglaives and hailshot blunderbusses. Infernal Ironsworn are the elite version of Infernal Guard with an improved profile and ensorcelled hand weapons.

[[File:Dwarf_abomination.jpg|200px|thumb|right|With all the typical Chaos generosity, you'd not be surprised if you saw this while walking down to the grocery store one day.]]

Other famous elements of Chaos Dwarf armies can also be found in the Legion of Azgorh, namely the formidable Bull Centaurs, giving the army a degree of mobility unachievable for regular Dwarf armies. The dreaded Chaos Dwarf artillery is also represented in the Legion of Azgorh: The Magma Cannon, Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher (replacing the classic Death Rocket) and the unique Iron Daemon War Engine, as well as the Dreadquake Mortar (replacing the classic Earthshaker cannon) and Hellcannon, familiar from the Warriors of Chaos army list.

As it is only a sub-faction, the army list does not include Chaos Dwarf Overlords but only has Sorcerer-Prophets (Lords who use the Lores of Hashut, Fire, Death or Metal) as the highest commanders. They and Daemonsmiths (Heroes who use the Lores of Fire, Death or Metal) are both wizards and engineers, granting bonuses to your war machines and having a lot of special tricks and gear. Several twisted beasts are further added to the Chaos Dwarf armies: daemonic bull-things of living magma called the K'daai, burning winged daemon-bulls known as Taurus, magic-eating monsters called Lammasu, and armor-plated Giants modified for use as living seige weapons.

Befitting for a Dawi-Zharr army, all Chaos Dwarf units are fairly expensive, as they are considered rather rare. The Legion of Azgorh therefore has access to Hobgoblin slaves in the form of fleet-footed wolfriders, great mobs, and even conniving Khans as Hero-grade characters. They are very cheap in order to act as the cannon-fodder they are treated as by the Chaos Dwarfs, and naturally their destruction does not cause panic in Chaos Dwarf units.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]==
[[Image:Dawi_Zharr_Artillery_Crew.jpg|thumb|right|Chaos Dwarfs in their (small) appearance as infernal artillery crews]]
So far the Chaos Dwarfs have not been added to the base game as a faction, though a group of Chaos Dwarfs serve as the artillery crew for the Hellcannon unit. No hats, but lots of sausage beards and some horns. They're also mentioned during the second quest battle for Grimgor Ironhide's Blood-Forged Armour -- some Northman traded with them for goods, his armour included, and he wants to take it from them.

With the release of a trailer for the third game, the main factions will be the Daemons of Chaos (divided up into separate races for each of the four Dark Gods), Kislev and Cathay. The poor Dawi-Zharr have been overlooked yet again. Fortunately, the possibility of them as a DLC down the road seems certain due to the presence of an army book and the third game's map centering on the eastern part of the Warhammer world.

==See also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Tactics/Legion of Azgorh]] 
* [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com Chaos Dwarfs Online], a repository for all things Chaos Dwarf.

==References==
* [https://www.abebooks.com/9781872372808/Chaos-Dwarfs-Rick-Priestley-Robin-1872372805/plp White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs], by Rick Priestly & Robin Dews; Games Workshop, 1994; ISBN 978-1-87237-280-8
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20942304-tamurkhan Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos], by Alan Bligh; Games Workshop, 2011; ISBN 978-1-90796-465-7

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Dwarfs]]

Chaos Dwarfs

2021-10-26T06:47:30Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation */

[[Image:Dorf hats.jpg|thumb|right|NO [[Hat|HAT]] SHALL BE GREATER THAN MINE!]]
{{topquote|One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep.|Boromir}}
{{topquote|I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.|James Baldwin}}
{{topquote|You can leave your hat on.|Joe Cocker}}

The ''Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr'', as they refer to themselves, or Dawi-Zharr (Dwarfs of Fire) in Khazalid, are the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]]' dark kin, who have been corrupted by the influence of [[Chaos]]. They were a [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer]] faction up until 5th edition but were always treated as some kind of stepchild and did not have a proper standalone army book. Their background, rules and army list were released in a series of articles in [[White Dwarf]], eventually collected into a quasi-army book, ''White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs''. Despite how awesome these guys are, they were ditched by GW because they weren't selling as much as vanilla Chaos, Orcs & Goblins or Elves were to newbie players. For ages they existed only as a dim fond memory to the veterans of the hobby; GW did one new model set (the Hellcannon and its attending Chaos Dwarf crew) but little else. Lo and behold, Forge World has flown to the rescue! You can buy some brilliant new Chaos Dwarf models, and there are now official rules to use: [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos]].

==History==

At the height of their empire, before the coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs spread far and wide across the Old World. Ever-diligent workers and miners, they followed the [[Worlds Edge Mountains]] north and dug their holds deep into the rock of the earth. Along the way, they reached a place they called [[Great Skull Land|Zorn-Uzkul]], the Great Skull Land, after all the ancient bones (and especially skulls) scattered throughout. While it was very rich in minerals, most decided that this place was best left alone. But a few were so stubborn - even compared to their fellow Dwarfs - that they decided to live there to prove that they could.

===An ancient schism===

These northernmost holds kept close contact with their kin in the World's Edge Mountains as the Dwarf Empire grew, and the Dwarfs enjoyed an age of prosperity not seen before or since. With the coming of Chaos, the dominion of the Dwarfs over the Old World was about to dwindle. As devastating earthquakes brought about by the careless machinations of the [[Lizardmen|Slann]] magepriests shattered the world, the Dwarfs closed themselves up in their mountain holds to weather out the storm, as has always been their way. There were those amongst the Dwarfs, lead by their fiercest warrior god Grimnir, who argued that Chaos needed to be fought, not endured. And when Chaos was eventually driven back by the actions of the Dwarfs and their [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|High Elf]] allies, the Dwarfs looked at their wounded domain and thought their northern cousins lost. Surely nothing could have survived the raw Chaos energies unleashed upon the northern wastes. Tragically, they were wrong. The Dwarfs of Zorn-Uzkul suffered greatly, and in their anguish they cried out to their western kin for support and their ancestor gods for salvation, but they did not perish.

Though the Dwarfs that chose to live in the blasted wastes were hardy, even they were not immune to the corrupting influence of Chaos, and they slowly changed over time. For many long years they only barely survived as they abandoned or were abandoned by their own ancestor gods, but eventually they found favor with [[Hashut]], the bull-like Father of Darkness, learning the secrets of daemon-smithing in exchange for blood sacrifices. Soon their bodies showed signs of the growing corruption within their souls: their flesh turned grey, their eyes red and many sported horns from their temples while their teeth turned into vicious tusks. Dwarfs have a natural suspicion for unchecked magic and tame the raw energy by binding it to their mighty runes. The Dawi-Zharr were released from these traditionalist shackles and embraced the secrets about working terrible magic taught to them by their new patron god. Their Daemonsmiths soon learned to combine this arcane knowledge with their own mastery of binding magic and began working marvels of engineering into blasphemous amalgams of machine and daemon.

The Dawi-Zharr may have survived the coming of Chaos, but their numbers were greatly diminished. From the Zorn-Uzkul they marched eastwards across the [[Plain of Zharr|Zharrduk]], the Plain of Zharr, to the [[Mountains of Mourn]] and the [[Sea of Dread]] in the south. These are the [[Dark Lands]], the lands of fire, smoke and ash, and the Dawi-Zharr claim them as their domain. They were never a numerous people though, and the [[Blasted Wastes]] are home to many [[Orcs & Goblins|Greenskin]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]] tribes. At the heart of the Dawi-Zharr empire they built their great city, ''Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund'', the obsidian City of Fire and Desolation, in the Plain of Zharr. The Blasted Wastes are dotted with fortress-citadels, garrisons and watchtowers, from where the Dawi-Zharr venture forth to subjugate all living beings to work for them as an endless stream of slaves.

[[File:400px-ChaosDwarf.jpg|300px|thumb|left|100% Chaos, 100% Dwarf, 100% Hat, 300% trouble.]]

===A twisted parody of Hearth & Oath===

While few would describe Dwarfs as a particularly friendly people, their unshakeable code of honour, respect for their ancestors, and undeniable craftmanship and ingenuity are admirable values and make them loyal to a fault. The present-day Dawi-Zharr are only a twisted mockery of these noble ideals: they are tyrannical and merciless, cold at heart and driven by a need to subjugate all the lesser races before them while retaining their mastery of craftsmanship and industry backed by their natural stubbornness. Where the human followers of Chaos are always driven by thoughtless slaughter and are inevitably doomed to fail in their rampant destruction, their forces spent, exhausted by infighting and stretched thin against too many foes at once, the Dawi-Zharr employ their ruthless determination and natural propensity for flawlessness for a slow but grinding dominion across the Dark Lands and beyond. Every Dwarf with a mind set on a goal is relentless in its pursuit, but a Dawi-Zharr will stop at nothing and will relinquish no cruelty to see it fulfilled.

Like regular Dwarfs, their armies are composed of small, elite units backed by powerful war machines, but Chaos Dwarfs employ Hashut's sorcery where their cousins instinctively distrust magic. Chaos Dwarf machines often have [[daemon]]s bound inside, and their ammunition may be charged with dark alchemy. To round out the army, Chaos Dwarfs employ legions of slaves, especially [[Orcs#Warhammer|Orc]]s and [[Goblin#Warhammer|Goblin]]s, both as meat-shields in battle and as an expendable workforce in the mines and forges. [[Wulfrik the Wanderer|And yet, a group of six Norscans and a sorcerer led by a Chaos Champion can easily slaughter their way through one of their cities]] (only because the writer of that story gave the Norscans EXBAWKSHUEG [[Plot Armor]]).

Unlike regular Dwarfs, they make use of terrible magical powers, gifts from their bull-god Hashut. However, because Dwarfs were never meant to use magic, its power slowly but inevitably turns their sorcerers to stone. At first, they regard these changes with pride, glorying in them as badges of honor celebrating their victory over the very forces of nature; as time goes by, though, they start to worry more and more about it. In-game, the rules mirror this; miscasting with a Chaos Dwarf requires a toughness check. At first, failure means ''gaining'' a permanent point of toughness for a wound lost, but as time goes by the side effects stop being cool.

The Chaos Dwarfs, while evil and all, are not really expansionist and have more than enough slaves as it is. They make their way economically by selling weapons and armour to the Norse and Warriors of Chaos in exchange for more slaves to top up their supply. From time to time, a Chaos Dwarf host will be assembled to leave the Dark Lands in search for a valuable treasure, specific sacrifices for their ever-hungry deity, or simply more slaves if the regular hunting grounds are exhausted. Alas, the Daemonsmiths like to test their newest creations against the defenses of the lesser races to optimise their catastrophic potential. They also got a Mesopotamian thing going for them.

===At World's End===

The cataclysmic events of the [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|End Times]] obviously didn't exclude the Dawi-Zharr. Eventually [[Grimgor Ironhide]] led a mighty [[Waaagh|Waaagh!]] against the Chaos Dwarfs, toppling their cities and crushing their empire to dust, finishing what started when the Black Orcs revolted against their masters (according to the novels, Grimgor himself was a former Black Orc slave of the Chaos Dwarves making him Black-Orc-Spartacus).

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

[[Image:Choas_Dorf_is_back.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Well how about that, thanks to [[Warcry]], some of the little bastards (right) are back in the Mortal Realms]]
Like most of the factions, Chaos Dwarfs are reborn in the Mortal Realms (although Forgeworld has recently squated the official models) under the trademark friendly name “Chaos Duardin”. The largest known contingent of these chorfs live in the realm of [[Aqshy]] in the Ashcloud Mountains, are back at worshipping a somehow-still-around-Hashut and use Realmstone in their armour. That's about all we know. 
Apart from these descendants of the Legion of Azgorh, apparently there are more duardin worshipping Chaos in the Mortal Realms, e.g. as a part of the Iron Golems and Spire Tyrants warbands. As revealed in ''Wrath of the Everchosen'', quite a number of these chaos duardin work for [[Archaon]] within the industrial district of the [[Varanspire]]. There is also a massive daemonic oil platform in the seas of [[Shyish]] called [[Zharr Vyxa]] causing grief for [[Nagash]] and the local tribe of [[Sons of Behemat|Kraken-eater Mega-Gargants]] who besieged the fortress in the past, only to be pushed back by the dawi-zharr and their black armored Chaos Gargants.

Also in Ulgu, a [[Fyreslayers]] lodge is in constant conflict with the Black Fortress of the Legion of Azghor, to [[Malekith|Malerion's]] joy, as he gets to watch two dwarven factions beat each other sensles.

If rumors are to be true then the Chaos Dwarves will return with full force as the "Oathbreakers" faction, with brand new models, this time not Forgeworld Exclusive (hopefully).

==The Domain of the Dawi-Zharr==

Between the World's Edge Mountains in the west, the Mountains of Mourn in the east and the Sea of Dread in the south lie the Dark Lands, a barren wasteland of ash and dust, devoid of plants or sunlight, the air thick with volcanic smoke, and the Dawi-Zharr claim dominion over it. Most Chaos Dwarfs dwell within this godforsaken realm, but some clans have established exclaves in further regions, like [[Norsca]] and the [[Chaos Wastes]]. In other words, rather than living in [[Empire|not-Germany]], [[Lustria|not-South America]] or [[Nehekhara|not-Egypt]], the Chaos Dwarves have made [[Mordor|not-Mordor]] their home. What they eat is a mystery as unlike Mordor there is no Nurn equivalent.

===The Dark Lands===

[[File:Darklands.png|300px|thumb|right|Home, sweet barren Home]]
The Dark Lands are a vast area of nothingness and not even a force as mighty as the Dawi-Zharr could ever hope to truly dominate it.

====Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land====

In the north, the High Pass from [[Kislev]] leads through the Worlds Edge Mountains into the Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land, where the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr first settled. Here, the Road of Skulls to the Chaos Wastes leads through a great plateau littered with bones, many of them skulls of mighty beasts long perished, giving the forbidding area its name. The Dwarfs discovered rich deposits of ore in the ground, but most of them ultimately abandoned the obviously tainted region and returned west. Those who stayed and founded Uzkulak in the north or went on eastwards to the Mountains of Mourn were eventually corrupted by the increasing influence of Chaos and became the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr. Today, Zorn-Uzkul is the northernmost part of the Chaos Dwarf empire, and to follow the Road of Skulls in the shadows of haunted Uzkulak is a very dangerous endeavor.
{{anchor|Plain of Zharr}}
====Zharrduk, the Plain of Zharr====

When the waters of the River Ruin roar down the Falls of Doom from Zorn-Uzkul, they first enter the Plain of Zharr, a vast meteoric crater in the north-east of the Dark Lands and the heartland of the Dawi-Zharr empire. The earth is rich in minerals and precious resources, and the Chaos Dwarfs have turned the whole of Zharrduk into one gigantic industrial complex. The ground is riddled with pools of boiling oil and molten metal, rivers of steaming lava crisscross its broken crust, the sun is hidden behind a thick layer of smoke and ash; no living thing is to be found as far as the eye can see. At its center the Dawi-Zharr have erected Zharr-Naggrund, their great capital, and the plain of Zharr is littered with smaller outposts, workshops, foundries and forges. Unabating is the sound of mighty steam-driven forgehammers and the anguished cries of the tortured slaves throughout Zharrduk as the Dawi-Zharr mold their atrocious empire day and night.

====The Blasted Wastes====

The Blasted Wastes in the west of the Dark Lands, between the World's Edge Mountains and the Gates of Zharr, are a vast desert and sustain very little life. They are mostly home to nomadic Goblin tribes and other ravaging hordes, but they also house a great number of Black Orc tribes, most notably Grimgor Ironhide and his elite clan, Da Immortulz. Needless to say that the Chaos Dwarfs view the area mostly as hunting grounds for their slave pits.

====The Howling Wastes====

East of the road from Zharr-Naggrund to the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Howling Wastes. Where the Blasted Wastes are a sparse desert, the Howling Wastes are covered by an eternal mist, carrying thin voices and a wailing clamour of an forgotten age. The ground is mostly marshes and swamplands, and traversing it is almost guaranteed to get the unwary swallowed by the land, if not accompanied by an experienced guide.

====The Desolation of Azgorh====

Before the age of Chaos Dwarfs, the mighty volcano of Azgorh erupted with such a mighty crescendo that it split the mountain and rent the ground around it asunder. The ash cloud could be seen in distant Khemri and the elves in their Old World colonies registered the resulting earthquakes. The great upheaval reformed the landscape into an almost impenetrable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks and vents of toxic fumes, but it also unearthed a most precious mineral wealth, which a near infinite number of slaves now dig out of the rock in the mines around the Tower of Gorgoth.

[[File:Warhammer Chaos Dwarf Symbol.png|center|200px]]

===Dawi-Zharr Strongholds===

Many are the fortress-citadels, garrisons and strongholds of the Dawi-Zharr empire. Most of them are found on the Plain of Zharr, some are more remote, but the greatest and most important one is Zharr-Naggrund, the gruesome capital of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation====

At the heart of the Plain of Zharr lies Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund, the great capital of the Dawi-Zharr empire. It is a gigantic ziggurat of black obisidian, bristled with armed towers and the chimneys of thousands of furnaces and forges. Incessant are the clouds of black smoke and ash vomited from the workings deep in the bowels of Zharr-Naggrund, where untold numbers of slaves toil unremittingly for their cruel masters. The lowest ranks of the Chaos Dwarf society live at the bottom of the ziggurat, whereas the higher echelons are found closer to the top, where, at its pinnacle, lies the great Temple of Hashut. Huge gates are found at the four sides of each step of the great ziggurat, their battlements studded with great engines of destruction and guarded by a fearsome battalion of elite warriors. The northern gate allows in the River Ruin, re-routed through the city by the Dawi-Zharr to cool their forges and to siphon away the toxic industrial waste and the corpses of dead slaves through the southern gate. So heavy is the pollution from the city, that nothing can live in the River Ruin beyond it. Broad streets plated with gold and brass lead from the eastern and western gates throughout the Plain of Zharr to the Dark Lands and the Mountains of Mourn. Inside the citadel the Dawi-Zharr live and work in the perpetual twilight of their furnaces.

====Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull====

Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull, is the seat of the ancient Dwarf settlement in the Zorn-Uzkul, before the coming of Chaos. It is the northern most Dawi-Zharr stronghold and the most important slave port. Uzkulak sits at the southern branch of the Sea of Chaos, where the slave ships of the Dawi-Zharr sail forth to far away places to still Zharr-Naggrund's insatiable hunger for slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs have greatly expanded the vast underground tunnel connecting the Sea of Chaos with the River Ruin by the Falls of Doom and installed a sophisticated lock to allow ships to traverse it in both directions. Uzkulak is a strange and haunted place, even by Dawi-Zharr standards, and its shunned lower levels are forbidden grounds, except as punishment for oath-breakers and blasphemers.

====The Tower of Gorgoth====

The massive Tower of Gorgoth sits at the junction between the Blasted Wastes, the Howling Wastes and the Desolation of Azgorh. The tower itself stands on the plateau of a volcanic mountain range, harboring the greatest network of mines in the domain of the Dawi-Zharr. As the seams reach deep in the rock, over the centuries more and more slaves were needed to excavate the precious ore from the unyielding mountains. Over time, more and more slave trading clans have made base around the Tower of Gorgoth, which also serves to replenish the hordes of slave fighters in the Chaos Dwarf armies. Since the Tower of Gorgoth is quite remote from the Plain of Zharr and the might of Zharr-Naggrund, it is regularly attacked by Skaven, Greenskins or Ogres, who think it an easier target. However, the Tower of Gorgoth is manned by a sizeable garrison of Dawi-Zharr and the citadel has never fallen to the enemy. On the contrary, most assaults in the end only accomplish to swell the number of slaves in the endless mines beneath the Tower of Gorgoth.

====The Gates of Zharr====

Halfway between Zharr-Naggrund and the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Gates of Zharr, a massive archway of black stone and iron. Thousands of slaves in endless streams are forced through it every day, the shouts bellowed by their overseers harsher and the lashes of their whips even stronger in the shadows of the towers flanking the mighty testament of the Dawi-Zharrs' claim to the Dark Lands. Passing the Gates in neither direction would mean an end to the suffering for the poor souls, they are either herded towards the Tower of Gorgoth to spend the remainder of their lives, usually a short and painful one, in the mines beneath the volcano, or their destination is Zharr-Naggrund, where they will meet a much quicker end but under even greater agony. A warhost from Zharr-Naggrund to raid the lands beyong the Mad Dog Pass or Death Pass will also march below the Gates of Zharr, the rhythm of their beating drums and blaring horns mirrored by thousands of warriors beating their weapons on their armor, their standards held high, so the world shall know no respite from the wrath of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====The Black Fortress====

The eastern entry into the Dark Lands, south of the Mountains of Mourn, is guarded by the Black Fortress. In a land already blessed with a surplus of bleak desolation, the Black Fortress still stands out as place of hopelessness and grim determination. Unlike the Tower of Gorgoth, the Black Fortress does not oversee huge mining activities or large groups of the ever valued slaves, its purpose is purely militaristic and the deployment to the Legion of Azgorh is often viewed as a punishment and exile. In fact, the Black Fortress is home to the Infernal Guard, a warrior-cult for dishonoured Dawi-Zharr who have to redeem themselves in the eyes of their harsh society or find solace in death. Their names and past deeds are shorn away, as are their faces sealed shut behind hot-iron and bronze helmets.

==Notable Characters==

===Lord Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut===
[[File:Chaos-Dwarf.png|300px|thumb|right| Some people are dog-people, some people are cat-people. Chaos Dwarfs are bull-people ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])]]

Astragoth is the oldest living Sorcerer-Prophet and once the greatest of their kind, but now his power begins to fade and his body bears the unmistakable marks of the long use of the terrible powers granted to him by Hashut. His legs, torso and arms have already petrified, and a decade ago he constructed a mechanical device which allows him to still move and continue to perform his perverted rituals. It was Astragoth who assembled the conclave of Sorcerer-Prophets to hear of Hashut's vision, foretelling them their eventual [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|downfall]] if they would not amass more power by the might of their armies and the potency of their dark rituals. Although there is no nominal leader of the Chaos Dwarfs and their fate is steered by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, like their western kin the Dawi-Zharr respect age and experience above all else, which makes Astragoth the most influential voice in the Temple of Hashut.

===Drazhoath the Ashen, Lord of the Black Fortress===

As a young Hellsmith, Drazhoath fell from grace with the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets in Zharr-Naggrund and was sent into exile to the Black Fortress by Astragoth himself. Driven by his innate cunning and ruthless ambition, he quickly rose through the ranks and is now a wizard of considerable strength and mighty warrior in his own right. Drazhoath rules with an iron grip over the Legion of Azgorh, but the Black Fortress is a remote place and being its commander ultimately an impasse, so his gaze is always directed back at Zharr-Naggrund, where he dreams to return to triumphantly and claim his rightful position as one of the most powerful Sorcerer-Prophets. The power of his old rival Astragoth is waning and Drazhoath feels his time has come, so he is determined to make a name for himself through brutal campaigns and acquiring large hordes of new slaves to be used to buy him favour with influential members of the ruling caste at the Temple of Hashut.

===Ghorth the Cruel and Zhatan the Black===

Ghorth the Cruel is the most potent of all Dawi-Zharr Sorcerer-Prophets and it is said that the cries of his tortured victims are only drowned out by the evil laughter of Zhatan the Black, his trusted commander. Zhatan serves as Commander of the Tower of Zharr at the behest of Ghorth and has led many slaving raids against the humans and greenskins in the west, and every Goblin tribe between Zharrduk and Mount Grimfang has been subjugated.

===Gorduz Backstabber===
{{Topquote|Yunno what they say, Tarka. Lucky at dice, unlucky at gettin' back to your own tent without 'aving a nasty accident.|Gorduz Backstabber, moments before a surprising turn of lucks}}
A legendary Hobgoblin chieftain, Gorduz has already lived longer than most Hobgoblin Khans. This is party because he is naturally distrustful of his fellows, as any righteous Hobgoblin should be, but also unusually lucky, as the many hardened scars criss-crossing his bony shoulder humps can testify. So far he has not shown enough ambition for leading any of his slaves to a revolt to arouse distrust in his Chaos Dwarf superiors, which just further shows his cunning: better to be a living slavemaster than a dead revolutionary.

==Forces of the Dawi-Zharr==

{{Topquote|Stick 'em wiv arrers', Stick 'em wiv knives, 'an swords, and spears. Stick 'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts. But most of all, stick 'em when they's looking the other way.|Gorduz Backstabber, epitomizing what it means to be a Hobgoblin}}

===The might of Zharr-Naggrund===
[[File:Chaos_Dwarf.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Dawi-Zharr 101: Tall hat, braided beard, spiky armour, wicked weapon, evil mind.]]
Unlike the human and bestial followers of Chaos, the Dawi-Zharr rarely send full armies to the lands of the Old World and beyond. Consequently, most common folk think them a myth, for only few can imagine that any of the proud and unyielding Dwarfs should have succumbed to the calling of the dark gods. Those who know better have come to fear the armies of Zharr-Naggrund as they are a merciless foe on the battlefield. Survivors of battles against the Dawi-Zharr tell tales of clouds of ash and sheets of fire engulfing the screaming remains of fallen soldiers, of cloven-hoofed monsters rampaging through their helpless victims and the very ground opening under them through foul magic. Traumatized and driven insane by what they have witnessed, they claim that it is better to die in battle than fall alive into the hands of the Chaos Dwarfs and their cruel torturers.

Although the Dawi-Zharr have fallen far from the common ideals of their western kin, they are not so far apart in warfare. The Dawi-Zharr favour the same build of large infantry blocks, their warriors clad in heavy plate and wielding axes and hammers. Chaos Dwarf troops wear tall hats, denoting their social status, and usually braid their black beards. Their armament and weaponry is of superior quality and they share their western kin's martial prowess. For ranged warfare the Chaos Dwarfs favour black powder weapons and field warriors equipped with fireglaives and the infamous hailshot blunderbuss, a weapon that strikes fear in the hearts of the their opponents like none other. While all Chaos Dwarfs show physical manifestations of the corrupting influence of Hashut, some are blessed beyond developing horns and tusks and are utterly transformed into the hellish Bull Centaurs, a fate which is seen as a sign of high favour bestowed by Hashut. Bull Centaurs are charged with guarding the Temple of Hashut and act as brutal shock troops on the battlefield.

Chaos Dwarfs are a rare breed, even more so than the Dwarfs of the Karaz Ankor. To bolster their forces, the Dawi-Zharr employ large numbers of slave troops. The Dark Lands are an unforgiving place and spawn resilient fighters, all of which the Chaos Dwarfs are all too eager to subjugate into service. Most numerous among their slaves are [[Hobgoblin]]s, a notoriously fiendish kind of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskin]], even considering that very low bar. Hobgoblins are distrusted and hated by all other greenskins and are totally reliant on the Chaos Dwarfs' protection, which makes them perfect fighters and overseers for the other slave troops. The Dawi-Zharr are also known to press other, larger greenskins into their service, or even the occasional [[Ogre]] tribe. At some point their demand for able fighters for their armies and their frustration with the unreliability of the regular greenskin livestock led them to create the [[Black Orc]]s, an experiment that ultimately proved to be such a great success, it almost toppled the Dawi-Zharr empire. Only the treachery of the Hobgoblins saved the sons of Hashut from extinction, a deed which cemented the Hobgoblin's position at the highest slave tier for the Chaos Dwarfs and eternal outlaw among the greenskins.

The Dark Lands are roamed by greater dangers than greenskins and ogres, and many monsters and unnatural creatures are likewise caught and enslaved for the Dawi-Zharr armies. Among the most notable monsters bound to service by the Chaos Dwarfs are the Great Taurus and the Lammasu. Some believe the Great Taurus to be an incarnation of Hashut's divinity, while others claim they are actually Chaos Dwarfs particularly blessed with his gifts, similar to the Bull Centaurs. Whatever their nature, they are highly revered and sought after as mounts by the most powerful of Sorcerer-Prophets. Whilst the Great Taurus is a fuming beast of pure rage and destruction, the Lammasu is a more enigmatic being with a keen mind, and some of the less reckless Sorcerer-Prophets prefer them as a mount over the rampaging might of a Great Taurus.

The Dawi-Zharr society is ruthlessly dominated by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, who steer the fate of the Chaos Dwarf empire as the vessels of Hashut's divine will. Most of the Sorcerer-Prophets are found in Zharr-Naggrund, but some rule over one of the small fortress-citadels and garrisons throughout the Dark Lands; however in most cases this is rather seen as banishment from the capital. Although the Sorcerer-Prophets and by extension the Daemonsmiths, their disciples and aspiring mages-engineers, rule supreme and often accompany Chaos Dwarf warhosts to battle, Overlords and Castellans are dedicated commanders and heralds for the armies and serve purely for the conduct of wars; also the eldest Bull Centaurs, Taur'ruks, hold authority in Chaos Dwarf armies. Out of necessity the Dawi-Zharr even allow exceptionally gifted slaves, like Hobgoblin Khans, to hold commanding positions in their armies, although only with authority over other slaves and only up until the point where such a commanding slave has amassed anything remotely resembling something like a reputation. At this point, he will usually be ... relieved of his duty and replaced with a fresh aspirant, whose fate will likely go in a very similar direction.

While the troops in Dawi-Zharr armies are admirable foes and can hold their own against any force on the battlefields of the old world and beyond, their truly terrifying power lies within their war machines, hellish abominations of daemonic sorcery melded with infernal engineering. The Chaos Dwarf arsenal is replete with a wide array of mortal artillery, from earth-shaking cannonades over fire-spewing flamethrowers to dreadful steam-powered tanks. Oftentimes these war machines are imbued with daemonic entities, as the Chaos Dwarfs still retain some form of the typical dwarven mistrust of unfettered magical energies and therefore learned how to bind them in their abominable creations. Where the Daemonsmiths work to further the coalescing of daemon and machine, some Sorcerer-Prophets sought to directly enslave even the malevolent beings from beyond the veil of reality; they summoned and bound them with powerful magic, creating the K'Daai, half daemon and half raging fire. Unleashed upon the world, these mindless forces of destruction will stop at nothing from destroying anything in their path until their eldritch fiery being is consumed by their own burning wrath.

===The Legion of Azgorh===

The most up-to-date ruleset for Chaos Dwarfs, sadly, is the [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Legion of Azgorh]] found in Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos, but it's fairly extensive and has some nifty units, so it can stand up on its own. The book itself suggests they work best incorporated into a [[Warriors of Chaos]] army, as part of the [[Chaos Great Hosts]] ruleset provided in the book, or as allies.

The Legion of Azgorh is garrisoning the Black Fortress and represents a distinct sub-faction of Chaos Dwarfs. The mainstay and principal core troop of the army is the Infernal Guard; regular Chaos Dwarfs are only found in crewing the war machines. Infernal Guard are the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Slayers: Chaos Dwarfs who have suffered dishonor and seek to atone for it. To do this, they forsake their names and identities, strap mask-helmets of bronze and iron heated red-hot over their faces, and fight for the glory of Hashut. Unlike Slayers, the Infernal Guard is not a death sentence - in theory, anyway. They aren't frenzied fighters like Slayers, and an Infernal Guard who wins great renown has his mask formally removed and is discharged, his old shame forgotten. They go into battle sporting Blackshard Armour, a unique Chaos Dwarf-devised armour that is proof against flame. Infernal Guard should be considered midway between core and elite troops and have both higher strength and better armour than regular Chaos . Their default armament are hand weapons and shield for a solid infantry role, but they also have access to all the options you would expect for Chaos Dwarfs, including the ingenious fireglaives and hailshot blunderbusses. Infernal Ironsworn are the elite version of Infernal Guard with an improved profile and ensorcelled hand weapons.

[[File:Dwarf_abomination.jpg|200px|thumb|right|With all the typical Chaos generosity, you'd not be surprised if you saw this while walking down to the grocery store one day.]]

Other famous elements of Chaos Dwarf armies can also be found in the Legion of Azgorh, namely the formidable Bull Centaurs, giving the army a degree of mobility unachievable for regular Dwarf armies. The dreaded Chaos Dwarf artillery is also represented in the Legion of Azgorh: The Magma Cannon, Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher (replacing the classic Death Rocket) and the unique Iron Daemon War Engine, as well as the Dreadquake Mortar (replacing the classic Earthshaker cannon) and Hellcannon, familiar from the Warriors of Chaos army list.

As it is only a sub-faction, the army list does not include Chaos Dwarf Overlords but only has Sorcerer-Prophets (Lords who use the Lores of Hashut, Fire, Death or Metal) as the highest commanders. They and Daemonsmiths (Heroes who use the Lores of Fire, Death or Metal) are both wizards and engineers, granting bonuses to your war machines and having a lot of special tricks and gear. Several twisted beasts are further added to the Chaos Dwarf armies: daemonic bull-things of living magma called the K'daai, burning winged daemon-bulls known as Taurus, magic-eating monsters called Lammasu, and armor-plated Giants modified for use as living seige weapons.

Befitting for a Dawi-Zharr army, all Chaos Dwarf units are fairly expensive, as they are considered rather rare. The Legion of Azgorh therefore has access to Hobgoblin slaves in the form of fleet-footed wolfriders, great mobs, and even conniving Khans as Hero-grade characters. They are very cheap in order to act as the cannon-fodder they are treated as by the Chaos Dwarfs, and naturally their destruction does not cause panic in Chaos Dwarf units.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]==
[[Image:Dawi_Zharr_Artillery_Crew.jpg|thumb|right|Chaos Dwarfs in their (small) appearance as infernal artillery crews]]
So far the Chaos Dwarfs have not been added to the base game as a faction, though a group of Chaos Dwarfs serve as the artillery crew for the Hellcannon unit. No hats, but lots of sausage beards and some horns. They're also mentioned during the second quest battle for Grimgor Ironhide's Blood-Forged Armour -- some Northman traded with them for goods, his armour included, and he wants to take it from them.

With the release of a trailer for the third game, the main factions will be the Daemons of Chaos (divided up into separate races for each of the four Dark Gods), Kislev and Cathay. The poor Dawi-Zharr have been overlooked yet again. Fortunately, the possibility of them as a DLC down the road seems certain due to the presence of an army book and the third game's map centering on the eastern part of the Warhammer world.

==See also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Tactics/Legion of Azgorh]] 
* [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com Chaos Dwarfs Online], a repository for all things Chaos Dwarf.

==References==
* [https://www.abebooks.com/9781872372808/Chaos-Dwarfs-Rick-Priestley-Robin-1872372805/plp White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs], by Rick Priestly & Robin Dews; Games Workshop, 1994; ISBN 978-1-87237-280-8
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20942304-tamurkhan Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos], by Alan Bligh; Games Workshop, 2011; ISBN 978-1-90796-465-7

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Dwarfs]]

Chaos Dwarfs

2021-10-26T06:03:48Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* An ancient schism */

[[Image:Dorf hats.jpg|thumb|right|NO [[Hat|HAT]] SHALL BE GREATER THAN MINE!]]
{{topquote|One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep.|Boromir}}
{{topquote|I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.|James Baldwin}}
{{topquote|You can leave your hat on.|Joe Cocker}}

The ''Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr'', as they refer to themselves, or Dawi-Zharr (Dwarfs of Fire) in Khazalid, are the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]]' dark kin, who have been corrupted by the influence of [[Chaos]]. They were a [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer]] faction up until 5th edition but were always treated as some kind of stepchild and did not have a proper standalone army book. Their background, rules and army list were released in a series of articles in [[White Dwarf]], eventually collected into a quasi-army book, ''White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs''. Despite how awesome these guys are, they were ditched by GW because they weren't selling as much as vanilla Chaos, Orcs & Goblins or Elves were to newbie players. For ages they existed only as a dim fond memory to the veterans of the hobby; GW did one new model set (the Hellcannon and its attending Chaos Dwarf crew) but little else. Lo and behold, Forge World has flown to the rescue! You can buy some brilliant new Chaos Dwarf models, and there are now official rules to use: [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos]].

==History==

At the height of their empire, before the coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs spread far and wide across the Old World. Ever-diligent workers and miners, they followed the [[Worlds Edge Mountains]] north and dug their holds deep into the rock of the earth. Along the way, they reached a place they called [[Great Skull Land|Zorn-Uzkul]], the Great Skull Land, after all the ancient bones (and especially skulls) scattered throughout. While it was very rich in minerals, most decided that this place was best left alone. But a few were so stubborn - even compared to their fellow Dwarfs - that they decided to live there to prove that they could.

===An ancient schism===

These northernmost holds kept close contact with their kin in the World's Edge Mountains as the Dwarf Empire grew, and the Dwarfs enjoyed an age of prosperity not seen before or since. With the coming of Chaos, the dominion of the Dwarfs over the Old World was about to dwindle. As devastating earthquakes brought about by the careless machinations of the [[Lizardmen|Slann]] magepriests shattered the world, the Dwarfs closed themselves up in their mountain holds to weather out the storm, as has always been their way. There were those amongst the Dwarfs, lead by their fiercest warrior god Grimnir, who argued that Chaos needed to be fought, not endured. And when Chaos was eventually driven back by the actions of the Dwarfs and their [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|High Elf]] allies, the Dwarfs looked at their wounded domain and thought their northern cousins lost. Surely nothing could have survived the raw Chaos energies unleashed upon the northern wastes. Tragically, they were wrong. The Dwarfs of Zorn-Uzkul suffered greatly, and in their anguish they cried out to their western kin for support and their ancestor gods for salvation, but they did not perish.

Though the Dwarfs that chose to live in the blasted wastes were hardy, even they were not immune to the corrupting influence of Chaos, and they slowly changed over time. For many long years they only barely survived as they abandoned or were abandoned by their own ancestor gods, but eventually they found favor with [[Hashut]], the bull-like Father of Darkness, learning the secrets of daemon-smithing in exchange for blood sacrifices. Soon their bodies showed signs of the growing corruption within their souls: their flesh turned grey, their eyes red and many sported horns from their temples while their teeth turned into vicious tusks. Dwarfs have a natural suspicion for unchecked magic and tame the raw energy by binding it to their mighty runes. The Dawi-Zharr were released from these traditionalist shackles and embraced the secrets about working terrible magic taught to them by their new patron god. Their Daemonsmiths soon learned to combine this arcane knowledge with their own mastery of binding magic and began working marvels of engineering into blasphemous amalgams of machine and daemon.

The Dawi-Zharr may have survived the coming of Chaos, but their numbers were greatly diminished. From the Zorn-Uzkul they marched eastwards across the [[Plain of Zharr|Zharrduk]], the Plain of Zharr, to the [[Mountains of Mourn]] and the [[Sea of Dread]] in the south. These are the [[Dark Lands]], the lands of fire, smoke and ash, and the Dawi-Zharr claim them as their domain. They were never a numerous people though, and the [[Blasted Wastes]] are home to many [[Orcs & Goblins|Greenskin]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]] tribes. At the heart of the Dawi-Zharr empire they built their great city, ''Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund'', the obsidian City of Fire and Desolation, in the Plain of Zharr. The Blasted Wastes are dotted with fortress-citadels, garrisons and watchtowers, from where the Dawi-Zharr venture forth to subjugate all living beings to work for them as an endless stream of slaves.

[[File:400px-ChaosDwarf.jpg|300px|thumb|left|100% Chaos, 100% Dwarf, 100% Hat, 300% trouble.]]

===A twisted parody of Hearth & Oath===

While few would describe Dwarfs as a particularly friendly people, their unshakeable code of honour, respect for their ancestors, and undeniable craftmanship and ingenuity are admirable values and make them loyal to a fault. The present-day Dawi-Zharr are only a twisted mockery of these noble ideals: they are tyrannical and merciless, cold at heart and driven by a need to subjugate all the lesser races before them while retaining their mastery of craftsmanship and industry backed by their natural stubbornness. Where the human followers of Chaos are always driven by thoughtless slaughter and are inevitably doomed to fail in their rampant destruction, their forces spent, exhausted by infighting and stretched thin against too many foes at once, the Dawi-Zharr employ their ruthless determination and natural propensity for flawlessness for a slow but grinding dominion across the Dark Lands and beyond. Every Dwarf with a mind set on a goal is relentless in its pursuit, but a Dawi-Zharr will stop at nothing and will relinquish no cruelty to see it fulfilled.

Like regular Dwarfs, their armies are composed of small, elite units backed by powerful war machines, but Chaos Dwarfs employ Hashut's sorcery where their cousins instinctively distrust magic. Chaos Dwarf machines often have [[daemon]]s bound inside, and their ammunition may be charged with dark alchemy. To round out the army, Chaos Dwarfs employ legions of slaves, especially [[Orcs#Warhammer|Orc]]s and [[Goblin#Warhammer|Goblin]]s, both as meat-shields in battle and as an expendable workforce in the mines and forges. [[Wulfrik the Wanderer|And yet, a group of six Norscans and a sorcerer led by a Chaos Champion can easily slaughter their way through one of their cities]] (only because the writer of that story gave the Norscans EXBAWKSHUEG [[Plot Armor]]).

Unlike regular Dwarfs, they make use of terrible magical powers, gifts from their bull-god Hashut. However, because Dwarfs were never meant to use magic, its power slowly but inevitably turns their sorcerers to stone. At first, they regard these changes with pride, glorying in them as badges of honor celebrating their victory over the very forces of nature; as time goes by, though, they start to worry more and more about it. In-game, the rules mirror this; miscasting with a Chaos Dwarf requires a toughness check. At first, failure means ''gaining'' a permanent point of toughness for a wound lost, but as time goes by the side effects stop being cool.

The Chaos Dwarfs, while evil and all, are not really expansionist and have more than enough slaves as it is. They make their way economically by selling weapons and armour to the Norse and Warriors of Chaos in exchange for more slaves to top up their supply. From time to time, a Chaos Dwarf host will be assembled to leave the Dark Lands in search for a valuable treasure, specific sacrifices for their ever-hungry deity, or simply more slaves if the regular hunting grounds are exhausted. Alas, the Daemonsmiths like to test their newest creations against the defenses of the lesser races to optimise their catastrophic potential. They also got a Mesopotamian thing going for them.

===At World's End===

The cataclysmic events of the [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|End Times]] obviously didn't exclude the Dawi-Zharr. Eventually [[Grimgor Ironhide]] led a mighty [[Waaagh|Waaagh!]] against the Chaos Dwarfs, toppling their cities and crushing their empire to dust, finishing what started when the Black Orcs revolted against their masters (according to the novels, Grimgor himself was a former Black Orc slave of the Chaos Dwarves making him Black-Orc-Spartacus).

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

[[Image:Choas_Dorf_is_back.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Well how about that, thanks to [[Warcry]], some of the little bastards (right) are back in the Mortal Realms]]
Like most of the factions, Chaos Dwarfs are reborn in the Mortal Realms (although Forgeworld has recently squated the official models) under the trademark friendly name “Chaos Duardin”. The largest known contingent of these chorfs live in the realm of [[Aqshy]] in the Ashcloud Mountains, are back at worshipping a somehow-still-around-Hashut and use Realmstone in their armour. That's about all we know. 
Apart from these descendants of the Legion of Azgorh, apparently there are more duardin worshipping Chaos in the Mortal Realms, e.g. as a part of the Iron Golems and Spire Tyrants warbands. As revealed in ''Wrath of the Everchosen'', quite a number of these chaos duardin work for [[Archaon]] within the industrial district of the [[Varanspire]]. There is also a massive daemonic oil platform in the seas of [[Shyish]] called [[Zharr Vyxa]] causing grief for [[Nagash]] and the local tribe of [[Sons of Behemat|Kraken-eater Mega-Gargants]] who besieged the fortress in the past, only to be pushed back by the dawi-zharr and their black armored Chaos Gargants.

Also in Ulgu, a [[Fyreslayers]] lodge is in constant conflict with the Black Fortress of the Legion of Azghor, to [[Malekith|Malerion's]] joy, as he gets to watch two dwarven factions beat each other sensles.

If rumors are to be true then the Chaos Dwarves will return with full force as the "Oathbreakers" faction, with brand new models, this time not Forgeworld Exclusive (hopefully).

==The Domain of the Dawi-Zharr==

Between the World's Edge Mountains in the west, the Mountains of Mourn in the east and the Sea of Dread in the south lie the Dark Lands, a barren wasteland of ash and dust, devoid of plants or sunlight, the air thick with volcanic smoke, and the Dawi-Zharr claim dominion over it. Most Chaos Dwarfs dwell within this godforsaken realm, but some clans have established exclaves in further regions, like [[Norsca]] and the [[Chaos Wastes]]. In other words, rather than living in [[Empire|not-Germany]], [[Lustria|not-South America]] or [[Nehekhara|not-Egypt]], the Chaos Dwarves have made [[Mordor|not-Mordor]] their home. What they eat is a mystery as unlike Mordor there is no Nurn equivalent.

===The Dark Lands===

[[File:Darklands.png|300px|thumb|right|Home, sweet barren Home]]
The Dark Lands are a vast area of nothingness and not even a force as mighty as the Dawi-Zharr could ever hope to truly dominate it.

====Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land====

In the north, the High Pass from [[Kislev]] leads through the Worlds Edge Mountains into the Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land, where the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr first settled. Here, the Road of Skulls to the Chaos Wastes leads through a great plateau littered with bones, many of them skulls of mighty beasts long perished, giving the forbidding area its name. The Dwarfs discovered rich deposits of ore in the ground, but most of them ultimately abandoned the obviously tainted region and returned west. Those who stayed and founded Uzkulak in the north or went on eastwards to the Mountains of Mourn were eventually corrupted by the increasing influence of Chaos and became the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr. Today, Zorn-Uzkul is the northernmost part of the Chaos Dwarf empire, and to follow the Road of Skulls in the shadows of haunted Uzkulak is a very dangerous endeavor.
{{anchor|Plain of Zharr}}
====Zharrduk, the Plain of Zharr====

When the waters of the River Ruin roar down the Falls of Doom from Zorn-Uzkul, they first enter the Plain of Zharr, a vast meteoric crater in the north-east of the Dark Lands and the heartland of the Dawi-Zharr empire. The earth is rich in minerals and precious resources, and the Chaos Dwarfs have turned the whole of Zharrduk into one gigantic industrial complex. The ground is riddled with pools of boiling oil and molten metal, rivers of steaming lava crisscross its broken crust, the sun is hidden behind a thick layer of smoke and ash; no living thing is to be found as far as the eye can see. At its center the Dawi-Zharr have erected Zharr-Naggrund, their great capital, and the plain of Zharr is littered with smaller outposts, workshops, foundries and forges. Unabating is the sound of mighty steam-driven forgehammers and the anguished cries of the tortured slaves throughout Zharrduk as the Dawi-Zharr mold their atrocious empire day and night.

====The Blasted Wastes====

The Blasted Wastes in the west of the Dark Lands, between the World's Edge Mountains and the Gates of Zharr, are a vast desert and sustain very little life. They are mostly home to nomadic Goblin tribes and other ravaging hordes, but they also house a great number of Black Orc tribes, most notably Grimgor Ironhide and his elite clan, Da Immortulz. Needless to say that the Chaos Dwarfs view the area mostly as hunting grounds for their slave pits.

====The Howling Wastes====

East of the road from Zharr-Naggrund to the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Howling Wastes. Where the Blasted Wastes are a sparse desert, the Howling Wastes are covered by an eternal mist, carrying thin voices and a wailing clamour of an forgotten age. The ground is mostly marshes and swamplands, and traversing it is almost guaranteed to get the unwary swallowed by the land, if not accompanied by an experienced guide.

====The Desolation of Azgorh====

Before the age of Chaos Dwarfs, the mighty volcano of Azgorh erupted with such a mighty crescendo that it split the mountain and rent the ground around it asunder. The ash cloud could be seen in distant Khemri and the elves in their Old World colonies registered the resulting earthquakes. The great upheaval reformed the landscape into an almost impenetrable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks and vents of toxic fumes, but it also unearthed a most precious mineral wealth, which a near infinite number of slaves now dig out of the rock in the mines around the Tower of Gorgoth.

[[File:Warhammer Chaos Dwarf Symbol.png|center|200px]]

===Dawi-Zharr Strongholds===

Many are the fortress-citadels, garrisons and strongholds of the Dawi-Zharr empire. Most of them are found on the Plain of Zharr, some are more remote, but the greatest and most important one is Zharr-Naggrund, the gruesome capital of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation====

At the heart of the Plain of Zharr lies Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund, the great capital of the Dawi-Zharr empire. It is a gigantic ziggurat of black obisidian, bristled with armed towers and the chimneys of thousands of furnaces and forges. Incessant are the clouds of black smoke and ash vomited from the workings deep in the bowels of Zharr-Naggrund, where untold numbers of slaves toil unremittingly for their cruel masters. The lowest ranks of the Chaos Dwarf society live at the bottom of the ziggurat, whereas the higher echelons are found closer the top, where, at its pinnacle, lies the great Temple of Hashut. Huge gates are found at the four sides of each step of the great ziggurat, their battlements studded with great engines of destruction and guarded by a fearsome battalion of elite warriors. The northern gate allows in the River Ruin, re-routed through the city by the Dawi-Zharr to cool their forges and to siphon away the toxic industrial waste and the corpses of dead slaves through the southern gate. So heavy is the pollution from the city, that nothing can live in the River Ruin beyond it. Broad streets plated with gold and brass lead from the eastern and western gates throughout the Plain of Zharr to the Dark Lands and the Mountains of Mourn. Inside the citadel the Dawi-Zharr live and work in the perpetual twilight of their furnaces.

====Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull====

Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull, is the seat of the ancient Dwarf settlement in the Zorn-Uzkul, before the coming of Chaos. It is the northern most Dawi-Zharr stronghold and the most important slave port. Uzkulak sits at the southern branch of the Sea of Chaos, where the slave ships of the Dawi-Zharr sail forth to far away places to still Zharr-Naggrund's insatiable hunger for slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs have greatly expanded the vast underground tunnel connecting the Sea of Chaos with the River Ruin by the Falls of Doom and installed a sophisticated lock to allow ships to traverse it in both directions. Uzkulak is a strange and haunted place, even by Dawi-Zharr standards, and its shunned lower levels are forbidden grounds, except as punishment for oath-breakers and blasphemers.

====The Tower of Gorgoth====

The massive Tower of Gorgoth sits at the junction between the Blasted Wastes, the Howling Wastes and the Desolation of Azgorh. The tower itself stands on the plateau of a volcanic mountain range, harboring the greatest network of mines in the domain of the Dawi-Zharr. As the seams reach deep in the rock, over the centuries more and more slaves were needed to excavate the precious ore from the unyielding mountains. Over time, more and more slave trading clans have made base around the Tower of Gorgoth, which also serves to replenish the hordes of slave fighters in the Chaos Dwarf armies. Since the Tower of Gorgoth is quite remote from the Plain of Zharr and the might of Zharr-Naggrund, it is regularly attacked by Skaven, Greenskins or Ogres, who think it an easier target. However, the Tower of Gorgoth is manned by a sizeable garrison of Dawi-Zharr and the citadel has never fallen to the enemy. On the contrary, most assaults in the end only accomplish to swell the number of slaves in the endless mines beneath the Tower of Gorgoth.

====The Gates of Zharr====

Halfway between Zharr-Naggrund and the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Gates of Zharr, a massive archway of black stone and iron. Thousands of slaves in endless streams are forced through it every day, the shouts bellowed by their overseers harsher and the lashes of their whips even stronger in the shadows of the towers flanking the mighty testament of the Dawi-Zharrs' claim to the Dark Lands. Passing the Gates in neither direction would mean an end to the suffering for the poor souls, they are either herded towards the Tower of Gorgoth to spend the remainder of their lives, usually a short and painful one, in the mines beneath the volcano, or their destination is Zharr-Naggrund, where they will meet a much quicker end but under even greater agony. A warhost from Zharr-Naggrund to raid the lands beyong the Mad Dog Pass or Death Pass will also march below the Gates of Zharr, the rhythm of their beating drums and blaring horns mirrored by thousands of warriors beating their weapons on their armor, their standards held high, so the world shall know no respite from the wrath of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====The Black Fortress====

The eastern entry into the Dark Lands, south of the Mountains of Mourn, is guarded by the Black Fortress. In a land already blessed with a surplus of bleak desolation, the Black Fortress still stands out as place of hopelessness and grim determination. Unlike the Tower of Gorgoth, the Black Fortress does not oversee huge mining activities or large groups of the ever valued slaves, its purpose is purely militaristic and the deployment to the Legion of Azgorh is often viewed as a punishment and exile. In fact, the Black Fortress is home to the Infernal Guard, a warrior-cult for dishonoured Dawi-Zharr who have to redeem themselves in the eyes of their harsh society or find solace in death. Their names and past deeds are shorn away, as are their faces sealed shut behind hot-iron and bronze helmets.

==Notable Characters==

===Lord Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut===
[[File:Chaos-Dwarf.png|300px|thumb|right| Some people are dog-people, some people are cat-people. Chaos Dwarfs are bull-people ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])]]

Astragoth is the oldest living Sorcerer-Prophet and once the greatest of their kind, but now his power begins to fade and his body bears the unmistakable marks of the long use of the terrible powers granted to him by Hashut. His legs, torso and arms have already petrified, and a decade ago he constructed a mechanical device which allows him to still move and continue to perform his perverted rituals. It was Astragoth who assembled the conclave of Sorcerer-Prophets to hear of Hashut's vision, foretelling them their eventual [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|downfall]] if they would not amass more power by the might of their armies and the potency of their dark rituals. Although there is no nominal leader of the Chaos Dwarfs and their fate is steered by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, like their western kin the Dawi-Zharr respect age and experience above all else, which makes Astragoth the most influential voice in the Temple of Hashut.

===Drazhoath the Ashen, Lord of the Black Fortress===

As a young Hellsmith, Drazhoath fell from grace with the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets in Zharr-Naggrund and was sent into exile to the Black Fortress by Astragoth himself. Driven by his innate cunning and ruthless ambition, he quickly rose through the ranks and is now a wizard of considerable strength and mighty warrior in his own right. Drazhoath rules with an iron grip over the Legion of Azgorh, but the Black Fortress is a remote place and being its commander ultimately an impasse, so his gaze is always directed back at Zharr-Naggrund, where he dreams to return to triumphantly and claim his rightful position as one of the most powerful Sorcerer-Prophets. The power of his old rival Astragoth is waning and Drazhoath feels his time has come, so he is determined to make a name for himself through brutal campaigns and acquiring large hordes of new slaves to be used to buy him favour with influential members of the ruling caste at the Temple of Hashut.

===Ghorth the Cruel and Zhatan the Black===

Ghorth the Cruel is the most potent of all Dawi-Zharr Sorcerer-Prophets and it is said that the cries of his tortured victims are only drowned out by the evil laughter of Zhatan the Black, his trusted commander. Zhatan serves as Commander of the Tower of Zharr at the behest of Ghorth and has led many slaving raids against the humans and greenskins in the west, and every Goblin tribe between Zharrduk and Mount Grimfang has been subjugated.

===Gorduz Backstabber===
{{Topquote|Yunno what they say, Tarka. Lucky at dice, unlucky at gettin' back to your own tent without 'aving a nasty accident.|Gorduz Backstabber, moments before a surprising turn of lucks}}
A legendary Hobgoblin chieftain, Gorduz has already lived longer than most Hobgoblin Khans. This is party because he is naturally distrustful of his fellows, as any righteous Hobgoblin should be, but also unusually lucky, as the many hardened scars criss-crossing his bony shoulder humps can testify. So far he has not shown enough ambition for leading any of his slaves to a revolt to arouse distrust in his Chaos Dwarf superiors, which just further shows his cunning: better to be a living slavemaster than a dead revolutionary.

==Forces of the Dawi-Zharr==

{{Topquote|Stick 'em wiv arrers', Stick 'em wiv knives, 'an swords, and spears. Stick 'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts. But most of all, stick 'em when they's looking the other way.|Gorduz Backstabber, epitomizing what it means to be a Hobgoblin}}

===The might of Zharr-Naggrund===
[[File:Chaos_Dwarf.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Dawi-Zharr 101: Tall hat, braided beard, spiky armour, wicked weapon, evil mind.]]
Unlike the human and bestial followers of Chaos, the Dawi-Zharr rarely send full armies to the lands of the Old World and beyond. Consequently, most common folk think them a myth, for only few can imagine that any of the proud and unyielding Dwarfs should have succumbed to the calling of the dark gods. Those who know better have come to fear the armies of Zharr-Naggrund as they are a merciless foe on the battlefield. Survivors of battles against the Dawi-Zharr tell tales of clouds of ash and sheets of fire engulfing the screaming remains of fallen soldiers, of cloven-hoofed monsters rampaging through their helpless victims and the very ground opening under them through foul magic. Traumatized and driven insane by what they have witnessed, they claim that it is better to die in battle than fall alive into the hands of the Chaos Dwarfs and their cruel torturers.

Although the Dawi-Zharr have fallen far from the common ideals of their western kin, they are not so far apart in warfare. The Dawi-Zharr favour the same build of large infantry blocks, their warriors clad in heavy plate and wielding axes and hammers. Chaos Dwarf troops wear tall hats, denoting their social status, and usually braid their black beards. Their armament and weaponry is of superior quality and they share their western kin's martial prowess. For ranged warfare the Chaos Dwarfs favour black powder weapons and field warriors equipped with fireglaives and the infamous hailshot blunderbuss, a weapon that strikes fear in the hearts of the their opponents like none other. While all Chaos Dwarfs show physical manifestations of the corrupting influence of Hashut, some are blessed beyond developing horns and tusks and are utterly transformed into the hellish Bull Centaurs, a fate which is seen as a sign of high favour bestowed by Hashut. Bull Centaurs are charged with guarding the Temple of Hashut and act as brutal shock troops on the battlefield.

Chaos Dwarfs are a rare breed, even more so than the Dwarfs of the Karaz Ankor. To bolster their forces, the Dawi-Zharr employ large numbers of slave troops. The Dark Lands are an unforgiving place and spawn resilient fighters, all of which the Chaos Dwarfs are all too eager to subjugate into service. Most numerous among their slaves are [[Hobgoblin]]s, a notoriously fiendish kind of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskin]], even considering that very low bar. Hobgoblins are distrusted and hated by all other greenskins and are totally reliant on the Chaos Dwarfs' protection, which makes them perfect fighters and overseers for the other slave troops. The Dawi-Zharr are also known to press other, larger greenskins into their service, or even the occasional [[Ogre]] tribe. At some point their demand for able fighters for their armies and their frustration with the unreliability of the regular greenskin livestock led them to create the [[Black Orc]]s, an experiment that ultimately proved to be such a great success, it almost toppled the Dawi-Zharr empire. Only the treachery of the Hobgoblins saved the sons of Hashut from extinction, a deed which cemented the Hobgoblin's position at the highest slave tier for the Chaos Dwarfs and eternal outlaw among the greenskins.

The Dark Lands are roamed by greater dangers than greenskins and ogres, and many monsters and unnatural creatures are likewise caught and enslaved for the Dawi-Zharr armies. Among the most notable monsters bound to service by the Chaos Dwarfs are the Great Taurus and the Lammasu. Some believe the Great Taurus to be an incarnation of Hashut's divinity, while others claim they are actually Chaos Dwarfs particularly blessed with his gifts, similar to the Bull Centaurs. Whatever their nature, they are highly revered and sought after as mounts by the most powerful of Sorcerer-Prophets. Whilst the Great Taurus is a fuming beast of pure rage and destruction, the Lammasu is a more enigmatic being with a keen mind, and some of the less reckless Sorcerer-Prophets prefer them as a mount over the rampaging might of a Great Taurus.

The Dawi-Zharr society is ruthlessly dominated by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, who steer the fate of the Chaos Dwarf empire as the vessels of Hashut's divine will. Most of the Sorcerer-Prophets are found in Zharr-Naggrund, but some rule over one of the small fortress-citadels and garrisons throughout the Dark Lands; however in most cases this is rather seen as banishment from the capital. Although the Sorcerer-Prophets and by extension the Daemonsmiths, their disciples and aspiring mages-engineers, rule supreme and often accompany Chaos Dwarf warhosts to battle, Overlords and Castellans are dedicated commanders and heralds for the armies and serve purely for the conduct of wars; also the eldest Bull Centaurs, Taur'ruks, hold authority in Chaos Dwarf armies. Out of necessity the Dawi-Zharr even allow exceptionally gifted slaves, like Hobgoblin Khans, to hold commanding positions in their armies, although only with authority over other slaves and only up until the point where such a commanding slave has amassed anything remotely resembling something like a reputation. At this point, he will usually be ... relieved of his duty and replaced with a fresh aspirant, whose fate will likely go in a very similar direction.

While the troops in Dawi-Zharr armies are admirable foes and can hold their own against any force on the battlefields of the old world and beyond, their truly terrifying power lies within their war machines, hellish abominations of daemonic sorcery melded with infernal engineering. The Chaos Dwarf arsenal is replete with a wide array of mortal artillery, from earth-shaking cannonades over fire-spewing flamethrowers to dreadful steam-powered tanks. Oftentimes these war machines are imbued with daemonic entities, as the Chaos Dwarfs still retain some form of the typical dwarven mistrust of unfettered magical energies and therefore learned how to bind them in their abominable creations. Where the Daemonsmiths work to further the coalescing of daemon and machine, some Sorcerer-Prophets sought to directly enslave even the malevolent beings from beyond the veil of reality; they summoned and bound them with powerful magic, creating the K'Daai, half daemon and half raging fire. Unleashed upon the world, these mindless forces of destruction will stop at nothing from destroying anything in their path until their eldritch fiery being is consumed by their own burning wrath.

===The Legion of Azgorh===

The most up-to-date ruleset for Chaos Dwarfs, sadly, is the [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Legion of Azgorh]] found in Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos, but it's fairly extensive and has some nifty units, so it can stand up on its own. The book itself suggests they work best incorporated into a [[Warriors of Chaos]] army, as part of the [[Chaos Great Hosts]] ruleset provided in the book, or as allies.

The Legion of Azgorh is garrisoning the Black Fortress and represents a distinct sub-faction of Chaos Dwarfs. The mainstay and principal core troop of the army is the Infernal Guard; regular Chaos Dwarfs are only found in crewing the war machines. Infernal Guard are the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Slayers: Chaos Dwarfs who have suffered dishonor and seek to atone for it. To do this, they forsake their names and identities, strap mask-helmets of bronze and iron heated red-hot over their faces, and fight for the glory of Hashut. Unlike Slayers, the Infernal Guard is not a death sentence - in theory, anyway. They aren't frenzied fighters like Slayers, and an Infernal Guard who wins great renown has his mask formally removed and is discharged, his old shame forgotten. They go into battle sporting Blackshard Armour, a unique Chaos Dwarf-devised armour that is proof against flame. Infernal Guard should be considered midway between core and elite troops and have both higher strength and better armour than regular Chaos . Their default armament are hand weapons and shield for a solid infantry role, but they also have access to all the options you would expect for Chaos Dwarfs, including the ingenious fireglaives and hailshot blunderbusses. Infernal Ironsworn are the elite version of Infernal Guard with an improved profile and ensorcelled hand weapons.

[[File:Dwarf_abomination.jpg|200px|thumb|right|With all the typical Chaos generosity, you'd not be surprised if you saw this while walking down to the grocery store one day.]]

Other famous elements of Chaos Dwarf armies can also be found in the Legion of Azgorh, namely the formidable Bull Centaurs, giving the army a degree of mobility unachievable for regular Dwarf armies. The dreaded Chaos Dwarf artillery is also represented in the Legion of Azgorh: The Magma Cannon, Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher (replacing the classic Death Rocket) and the unique Iron Daemon War Engine, as well as the Dreadquake Mortar (replacing the classic Earthshaker cannon) and Hellcannon, familiar from the Warriors of Chaos army list.

As it is only a sub-faction, the army list does not include Chaos Dwarf Overlords but only has Sorcerer-Prophets (Lords who use the Lores of Hashut, Fire, Death or Metal) as the highest commanders. They and Daemonsmiths (Heroes who use the Lores of Fire, Death or Metal) are both wizards and engineers, granting bonuses to your war machines and having a lot of special tricks and gear. Several twisted beasts are further added to the Chaos Dwarf armies: daemonic bull-things of living magma called the K'daai, burning winged daemon-bulls known as Taurus, magic-eating monsters called Lammasu, and armor-plated Giants modified for use as living seige weapons.

Befitting for a Dawi-Zharr army, all Chaos Dwarf units are fairly expensive, as they are considered rather rare. The Legion of Azgorh therefore has access to Hobgoblin slaves in the form of fleet-footed wolfriders, great mobs, and even conniving Khans as Hero-grade characters. They are very cheap in order to act as the cannon-fodder they are treated as by the Chaos Dwarfs, and naturally their destruction does not cause panic in Chaos Dwarf units.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]==
[[Image:Dawi_Zharr_Artillery_Crew.jpg|thumb|right|Chaos Dwarfs in their (small) appearance as infernal artillery crews]]
So far the Chaos Dwarfs have not been added to the base game as a faction, though a group of Chaos Dwarfs serve as the artillery crew for the Hellcannon unit. No hats, but lots of sausage beards and some horns. They're also mentioned during the second quest battle for Grimgor Ironhide's Blood-Forged Armour -- some Northman traded with them for goods, his armour included, and he wants to take it from them.

With the release of a trailer for the third game, the main factions will be the Daemons of Chaos (divided up into separate races for each of the four Dark Gods), Kislev and Cathay. The poor Dawi-Zharr have been overlooked yet again. Fortunately, the possibility of them as a DLC down the road seems certain due to the presence of an army book and the third game's map centering on the eastern part of the Warhammer world.

==See also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Tactics/Legion of Azgorh]] 
* [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com Chaos Dwarfs Online], a repository for all things Chaos Dwarf.

==References==
* [https://www.abebooks.com/9781872372808/Chaos-Dwarfs-Rick-Priestley-Robin-1872372805/plp White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs], by Rick Priestly & Robin Dews; Games Workshop, 1994; ISBN 978-1-87237-280-8
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20942304-tamurkhan Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos], by Alan Bligh; Games Workshop, 2011; ISBN 978-1-90796-465-7

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Dwarfs]]

Chaos Dwarfs

2021-10-26T05:59:26Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* An ancient schism */

[[Image:Dorf hats.jpg|thumb|right|NO [[Hat|HAT]] SHALL BE GREATER THAN MINE!]]
{{topquote|One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep.|Boromir}}
{{topquote|I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.|James Baldwin}}
{{topquote|You can leave your hat on.|Joe Cocker}}

The ''Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr'', as they refer to themselves, or Dawi-Zharr (Dwarfs of Fire) in Khazalid, are the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]]' dark kin, who have been corrupted by the influence of [[Chaos]]. They were a [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer]] faction up until 5th edition but were always treated as some kind of stepchild and did not have a proper standalone army book. Their background, rules and army list were released in a series of articles in [[White Dwarf]], eventually collected into a quasi-army book, ''White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs''. Despite how awesome these guys are, they were ditched by GW because they weren't selling as much as vanilla Chaos, Orcs & Goblins or Elves were to newbie players. For ages they existed only as a dim fond memory to the veterans of the hobby; GW did one new model set (the Hellcannon and its attending Chaos Dwarf crew) but little else. Lo and behold, Forge World has flown to the rescue! You can buy some brilliant new Chaos Dwarf models, and there are now official rules to use: [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos]].

==History==

At the height of their empire, before the coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs spread far and wide across the Old World. Ever-diligent workers and miners, they followed the [[Worlds Edge Mountains]] north and dug their holds deep into the rock of the earth. Along the way, they reached a place they called [[Great Skull Land|Zorn-Uzkul]], the Great Skull Land, after all the ancient bones (and especially skulls) scattered throughout. While it was very rich in minerals, most decided that this place was best left alone. But a few were so stubborn - even compared to their fellow Dwarfs - that they decided to live there to prove that they could.

===An ancient schism===

These northernmost holds kept close contact with their kin in the World's Edge Mountains as the Dwarf Empire grew, and the Dwarfs enjoyed an age of prosperity not seen before or since. With the coming of Chaos, the dominion of the Dwarfs over the Old World was about to dwindle. As devastating earthquakes brought about by the careless machinations of the [[Lizardmen|Slann]] magepriests shattered the world, the Dwarfs closed themselves up in their mountain holds to weather out the storm, as has always been their way. There were those amongst the Dwarfs, lead by their fiercest warrior god Grimnir, who argued that Chaos needed to be fought, not endured. And when Chaos was eventually driven back by the actions of the Dwarfs and their [[High_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|High Elf]] allies, the Dwarfs looked at their wounded domain and thought their northern cousins lost. Surely nothing could have survived the raw Chaos energies unleashed upon the northern wastes. Tragically, they were wrong. The Dwarfs of Zorn-Uzkul suffered greatly, and in their anguish they cried out to their western kin for support and their ancestor gods for salvation, but they did not perish.

Though the Dwarfs that chose to live in the blasted wastes were hardy, even they were not immune to the corrupting influence of Chaos, and they slowly changed over time. For many long years they only barely survived as they abandoned or were abandoned by their own ancestor gods, but eventually they found favor with [[Hashut]], the bull-like Father of Darkness, learning the secrets of daemon-smithing in exchange for blood sacrifices. Soon their bodies showed signs of the growing corruption within their souls: their flesh turned grey, their eyes red and many sported horns from their temples while their teeth turned into vicious tusks. Dwarfs have a natural suspicion for unchecked magic and tame the raw energy by binding it to their mighty runes. The Dawi-Zharr were released from these traditionalist shackles and embraced the secrets about working terrible magic taught to them by their new patron god. Their Daemonsmiths soon learned to combine this arcane knowledge with their own mastery of binding magic and working marvels of engineering into blasphemous amalgams of machine and daemon.

The Dawi-Zharr may have survived the coming of Chaos, but their numbers were greatly diminished. From the Zorn-Uzkul they marched eastwards across the [[Plain of Zharr|Zharrduk]], the Plain of Zharr, to the [[Mountains of Mourn]] and the [[Sea of Dread]] in the south. These are the [[Dark Lands]], the lands of fire, smoke and ash, and the Dawi-Zharr claim them as their domain. They were never a numerous people though, and the [[Blasted Wastes]] are home to many [[Orcs & Goblins|Greenskin]] and [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]] tribes. At the heart of the Dawi-Zharr empire they built their great city, ''Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund'', the obsidian City of Fire and Desolation, in the Plain of Zharr. The Blasted Wastes are dotted with fortress-citadels, garrisons and watchtowers, from where the Dawi-Zharr venture forth to subjugate all living beings to work for them as an endless stream of slaves.

[[File:400px-ChaosDwarf.jpg|300px|thumb|left|100% Chaos, 100% Dwarf, 100% Hat, 300% trouble.]]

===A twisted parody of Hearth & Oath===

While few would describe Dwarfs as a particularly friendly people, their unshakeable code of honour, respect for their ancestors, and undeniable craftmanship and ingenuity are admirable values and make them loyal to a fault. The present-day Dawi-Zharr are only a twisted mockery of these noble ideals: they are tyrannical and merciless, cold at heart and driven by a need to subjugate all the lesser races before them while retaining their mastery of craftsmanship and industry backed by their natural stubbornness. Where the human followers of Chaos are always driven by thoughtless slaughter and are inevitably doomed to fail in their rampant destruction, their forces spent, exhausted by infighting and stretched thin against too many foes at once, the Dawi-Zharr employ their ruthless determination and natural propensity for flawlessness for a slow but grinding dominion across the Dark Lands and beyond. Every Dwarf with a mind set on a goal is relentless in its pursuit, but a Dawi-Zharr will stop at nothing and will relinquish no cruelty to see it fulfilled.

Like regular Dwarfs, their armies are composed of small, elite units backed by powerful war machines, but Chaos Dwarfs employ Hashut's sorcery where their cousins instinctively distrust magic. Chaos Dwarf machines often have [[daemon]]s bound inside, and their ammunition may be charged with dark alchemy. To round out the army, Chaos Dwarfs employ legions of slaves, especially [[Orcs#Warhammer|Orc]]s and [[Goblin#Warhammer|Goblin]]s, both as meat-shields in battle and as an expendable workforce in the mines and forges. [[Wulfrik the Wanderer|And yet, a group of six Norscans and a sorcerer led by a Chaos Champion can easily slaughter their way through one of their cities]] (only because the writer of that story gave the Norscans EXBAWKSHUEG [[Plot Armor]]).

Unlike regular Dwarfs, they make use of terrible magical powers, gifts from their bull-god Hashut. However, because Dwarfs were never meant to use magic, its power slowly but inevitably turns their sorcerers to stone. At first, they regard these changes with pride, glorying in them as badges of honor celebrating their victory over the very forces of nature; as time goes by, though, they start to worry more and more about it. In-game, the rules mirror this; miscasting with a Chaos Dwarf requires a toughness check. At first, failure means ''gaining'' a permanent point of toughness for a wound lost, but as time goes by the side effects stop being cool.

The Chaos Dwarfs, while evil and all, are not really expansionist and have more than enough slaves as it is. They make their way economically by selling weapons and armour to the Norse and Warriors of Chaos in exchange for more slaves to top up their supply. From time to time, a Chaos Dwarf host will be assembled to leave the Dark Lands in search for a valuable treasure, specific sacrifices for their ever-hungry deity, or simply more slaves if the regular hunting grounds are exhausted. Alas, the Daemonsmiths like to test their newest creations against the defenses of the lesser races to optimise their catastrophic potential. They also got a Mesopotamian thing going for them.

===At World's End===

The cataclysmic events of the [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|End Times]] obviously didn't exclude the Dawi-Zharr. Eventually [[Grimgor Ironhide]] led a mighty [[Waaagh|Waaagh!]] against the Chaos Dwarfs, toppling their cities and crushing their empire to dust, finishing what started when the Black Orcs revolted against their masters (according to the novels, Grimgor himself was a former Black Orc slave of the Chaos Dwarves making him Black-Orc-Spartacus).

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

[[Image:Choas_Dorf_is_back.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Well how about that, thanks to [[Warcry]], some of the little bastards (right) are back in the Mortal Realms]]
Like most of the factions, Chaos Dwarfs are reborn in the Mortal Realms (although Forgeworld has recently squated the official models) under the trademark friendly name “Chaos Duardin”. The largest known contingent of these chorfs live in the realm of [[Aqshy]] in the Ashcloud Mountains, are back at worshipping a somehow-still-around-Hashut and use Realmstone in their armour. That's about all we know. 
Apart from these descendants of the Legion of Azgorh, apparently there are more duardin worshipping Chaos in the Mortal Realms, e.g. as a part of the Iron Golems and Spire Tyrants warbands. As revealed in ''Wrath of the Everchosen'', quite a number of these chaos duardin work for [[Archaon]] within the industrial district of the [[Varanspire]]. There is also a massive daemonic oil platform in the seas of [[Shyish]] called [[Zharr Vyxa]] causing grief for [[Nagash]] and the local tribe of [[Sons of Behemat|Kraken-eater Mega-Gargants]] who besieged the fortress in the past, only to be pushed back by the dawi-zharr and their black armored Chaos Gargants.

Also in Ulgu, a [[Fyreslayers]] lodge is in constant conflict with the Black Fortress of the Legion of Azghor, to [[Malekith|Malerion's]] joy, as he gets to watch two dwarven factions beat each other sensles.

If rumors are to be true then the Chaos Dwarves will return with full force as the "Oathbreakers" faction, with brand new models, this time not Forgeworld Exclusive (hopefully).

==The Domain of the Dawi-Zharr==

Between the World's Edge Mountains in the west, the Mountains of Mourn in the east and the Sea of Dread in the south lie the Dark Lands, a barren wasteland of ash and dust, devoid of plants or sunlight, the air thick with volcanic smoke, and the Dawi-Zharr claim dominion over it. Most Chaos Dwarfs dwell within this godforsaken realm, but some clans have established exclaves in further regions, like [[Norsca]] and the [[Chaos Wastes]]. In other words, rather than living in [[Empire|not-Germany]], [[Lustria|not-South America]] or [[Nehekhara|not-Egypt]], the Chaos Dwarves have made [[Mordor|not-Mordor]] their home. What they eat is a mystery as unlike Mordor there is no Nurn equivalent.

===The Dark Lands===

[[File:Darklands.png|300px|thumb|right|Home, sweet barren Home]]
The Dark Lands are a vast area of nothingness and not even a force as mighty as the Dawi-Zharr could ever hope to truly dominate it.

====Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land====

In the north, the High Pass from [[Kislev]] leads through the Worlds Edge Mountains into the Zorn-Uzkul, the Great Skull Land, where the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr first settled. Here, the Road of Skulls to the Chaos Wastes leads through a great plateau littered with bones, many of them skulls of mighty beasts long perished, giving the forbidding area its name. The Dwarfs discovered rich deposits of ore in the ground, but most of them ultimately abandoned the obviously tainted region and returned west. Those who stayed and founded Uzkulak in the north or went on eastwards to the Mountains of Mourn were eventually corrupted by the increasing influence of Chaos and became the ancestors of the Dawi-Zharr. Today, Zorn-Uzkul is the northernmost part of the Chaos Dwarf empire, and to follow the Road of Skulls in the shadows of haunted Uzkulak is a very dangerous endeavor.
{{anchor|Plain of Zharr}}
====Zharrduk, the Plain of Zharr====

When the waters of the River Ruin roar down the Falls of Doom from Zorn-Uzkul, they first enter the Plain of Zharr, a vast meteoric crater in the north-east of the Dark Lands and the heartland of the Dawi-Zharr empire. The earth is rich in minerals and precious resources, and the Chaos Dwarfs have turned the whole of Zharrduk into one gigantic industrial complex. The ground is riddled with pools of boiling oil and molten metal, rivers of steaming lava crisscross its broken crust, the sun is hidden behind a thick layer of smoke and ash; no living thing is to be found as far as the eye can see. At its center the Dawi-Zharr have erected Zharr-Naggrund, their great capital, and the plain of Zharr is littered with smaller outposts, workshops, foundries and forges. Unabating is the sound of mighty steam-driven forgehammers and the anguished cries of the tortured slaves throughout Zharrduk as the Dawi-Zharr mold their atrocious empire day and night.

====The Blasted Wastes====

The Blasted Wastes in the west of the Dark Lands, between the World's Edge Mountains and the Gates of Zharr, are a vast desert and sustain very little life. They are mostly home to nomadic Goblin tribes and other ravaging hordes, but they also house a great number of Black Orc tribes, most notably Grimgor Ironhide and his elite clan, Da Immortulz. Needless to say that the Chaos Dwarfs view the area mostly as hunting grounds for their slave pits.

====The Howling Wastes====

East of the road from Zharr-Naggrund to the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Howling Wastes. Where the Blasted Wastes are a sparse desert, the Howling Wastes are covered by an eternal mist, carrying thin voices and a wailing clamour of an forgotten age. The ground is mostly marshes and swamplands, and traversing it is almost guaranteed to get the unwary swallowed by the land, if not accompanied by an experienced guide.

====The Desolation of Azgorh====

Before the age of Chaos Dwarfs, the mighty volcano of Azgorh erupted with such a mighty crescendo that it split the mountain and rent the ground around it asunder. The ash cloud could be seen in distant Khemri and the elves in their Old World colonies registered the resulting earthquakes. The great upheaval reformed the landscape into an almost impenetrable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks and vents of toxic fumes, but it also unearthed a most precious mineral wealth, which a near infinite number of slaves now dig out of the rock in the mines around the Tower of Gorgoth.

[[File:Warhammer Chaos Dwarf Symbol.png|center|200px]]

===Dawi-Zharr Strongholds===

Many are the fortress-citadels, garrisons and strongholds of the Dawi-Zharr empire. Most of them are found on the Plain of Zharr, some are more remote, but the greatest and most important one is Zharr-Naggrund, the gruesome capital of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation====

At the heart of the Plain of Zharr lies Mingol-Zharr-Naggrund, the great capital of the Dawi-Zharr empire. It is a gigantic ziggurat of black obisidian, bristled with armed towers and the chimneys of thousands of furnaces and forges. Incessant are the clouds of black smoke and ash vomited from the workings deep in the bowels of Zharr-Naggrund, where untold numbers of slaves toil unremittingly for their cruel masters. The lowest ranks of the Chaos Dwarf society live at the bottom of the ziggurat, whereas the higher echelons are found closer the top, where, at its pinnacle, lies the great Temple of Hashut. Huge gates are found at the four sides of each step of the great ziggurat, their battlements studded with great engines of destruction and guarded by a fearsome battalion of elite warriors. The northern gate allows in the River Ruin, re-routed through the city by the Dawi-Zharr to cool their forges and to siphon away the toxic industrial waste and the corpses of dead slaves through the southern gate. So heavy is the pollution from the city, that nothing can live in the River Ruin beyond it. Broad streets plated with gold and brass lead from the eastern and western gates throughout the Plain of Zharr to the Dark Lands and the Mountains of Mourn. Inside the citadel the Dawi-Zharr live and work in the perpetual twilight of their furnaces.

====Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull====

Uzkulak, the Place of the Skull, is the seat of the ancient Dwarf settlement in the Zorn-Uzkul, before the coming of Chaos. It is the northern most Dawi-Zharr stronghold and the most important slave port. Uzkulak sits at the southern branch of the Sea of Chaos, where the slave ships of the Dawi-Zharr sail forth to far away places to still Zharr-Naggrund's insatiable hunger for slaves. The Chaos Dwarfs have greatly expanded the vast underground tunnel connecting the Sea of Chaos with the River Ruin by the Falls of Doom and installed a sophisticated lock to allow ships to traverse it in both directions. Uzkulak is a strange and haunted place, even by Dawi-Zharr standards, and its shunned lower levels are forbidden grounds, except as punishment for oath-breakers and blasphemers.

====The Tower of Gorgoth====

The massive Tower of Gorgoth sits at the junction between the Blasted Wastes, the Howling Wastes and the Desolation of Azgorh. The tower itself stands on the plateau of a volcanic mountain range, harboring the greatest network of mines in the domain of the Dawi-Zharr. As the seams reach deep in the rock, over the centuries more and more slaves were needed to excavate the precious ore from the unyielding mountains. Over time, more and more slave trading clans have made base around the Tower of Gorgoth, which also serves to replenish the hordes of slave fighters in the Chaos Dwarf armies. Since the Tower of Gorgoth is quite remote from the Plain of Zharr and the might of Zharr-Naggrund, it is regularly attacked by Skaven, Greenskins or Ogres, who think it an easier target. However, the Tower of Gorgoth is manned by a sizeable garrison of Dawi-Zharr and the citadel has never fallen to the enemy. On the contrary, most assaults in the end only accomplish to swell the number of slaves in the endless mines beneath the Tower of Gorgoth.

====The Gates of Zharr====

Halfway between Zharr-Naggrund and the Tower of Gorgoth lie the Gates of Zharr, a massive archway of black stone and iron. Thousands of slaves in endless streams are forced through it every day, the shouts bellowed by their overseers harsher and the lashes of their whips even stronger in the shadows of the towers flanking the mighty testament of the Dawi-Zharrs' claim to the Dark Lands. Passing the Gates in neither direction would mean an end to the suffering for the poor souls, they are either herded towards the Tower of Gorgoth to spend the remainder of their lives, usually a short and painful one, in the mines beneath the volcano, or their destination is Zharr-Naggrund, where they will meet a much quicker end but under even greater agony. A warhost from Zharr-Naggrund to raid the lands beyong the Mad Dog Pass or Death Pass will also march below the Gates of Zharr, the rhythm of their beating drums and blaring horns mirrored by thousands of warriors beating their weapons on their armor, their standards held high, so the world shall know no respite from the wrath of the Uzkul-Dhrath-Zharr.

====The Black Fortress====

The eastern entry into the Dark Lands, south of the Mountains of Mourn, is guarded by the Black Fortress. In a land already blessed with a surplus of bleak desolation, the Black Fortress still stands out as place of hopelessness and grim determination. Unlike the Tower of Gorgoth, the Black Fortress does not oversee huge mining activities or large groups of the ever valued slaves, its purpose is purely militaristic and the deployment to the Legion of Azgorh is often viewed as a punishment and exile. In fact, the Black Fortress is home to the Infernal Guard, a warrior-cult for dishonoured Dawi-Zharr who have to redeem themselves in the eyes of their harsh society or find solace in death. Their names and past deeds are shorn away, as are their faces sealed shut behind hot-iron and bronze helmets.

==Notable Characters==

===Lord Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut===
[[File:Chaos-Dwarf.png|300px|thumb|right| Some people are dog-people, some people are cat-people. Chaos Dwarfs are bull-people ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])]]

Astragoth is the oldest living Sorcerer-Prophet and once the greatest of their kind, but now his power begins to fade and his body bears the unmistakable marks of the long use of the terrible powers granted to him by Hashut. His legs, torso and arms have already petrified, and a decade ago he constructed a mechanical device which allows him to still move and continue to perform his perverted rituals. It was Astragoth who assembled the conclave of Sorcerer-Prophets to hear of Hashut's vision, foretelling them their eventual [[The_End_Times#Chaos_Dwarves|downfall]] if they would not amass more power by the might of their armies and the potency of their dark rituals. Although there is no nominal leader of the Chaos Dwarfs and their fate is steered by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, like their western kin the Dawi-Zharr respect age and experience above all else, which makes Astragoth the most influential voice in the Temple of Hashut.

===Drazhoath the Ashen, Lord of the Black Fortress===

As a young Hellsmith, Drazhoath fell from grace with the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets in Zharr-Naggrund and was sent into exile to the Black Fortress by Astragoth himself. Driven by his innate cunning and ruthless ambition, he quickly rose through the ranks and is now a wizard of considerable strength and mighty warrior in his own right. Drazhoath rules with an iron grip over the Legion of Azgorh, but the Black Fortress is a remote place and being its commander ultimately an impasse, so his gaze is always directed back at Zharr-Naggrund, where he dreams to return to triumphantly and claim his rightful position as one of the most powerful Sorcerer-Prophets. The power of his old rival Astragoth is waning and Drazhoath feels his time has come, so he is determined to make a name for himself through brutal campaigns and acquiring large hordes of new slaves to be used to buy him favour with influential members of the ruling caste at the Temple of Hashut.

===Ghorth the Cruel and Zhatan the Black===

Ghorth the Cruel is the most potent of all Dawi-Zharr Sorcerer-Prophets and it is said that the cries of his tortured victims are only drowned out by the evil laughter of Zhatan the Black, his trusted commander. Zhatan serves as Commander of the Tower of Zharr at the behest of Ghorth and has led many slaving raids against the humans and greenskins in the west, and every Goblin tribe between Zharrduk and Mount Grimfang has been subjugated.

===Gorduz Backstabber===
{{Topquote|Yunno what they say, Tarka. Lucky at dice, unlucky at gettin' back to your own tent without 'aving a nasty accident.|Gorduz Backstabber, moments before a surprising turn of lucks}}
A legendary Hobgoblin chieftain, Gorduz has already lived longer than most Hobgoblin Khans. This is party because he is naturally distrustful of his fellows, as any righteous Hobgoblin should be, but also unusually lucky, as the many hardened scars criss-crossing his bony shoulder humps can testify. So far he has not shown enough ambition for leading any of his slaves to a revolt to arouse distrust in his Chaos Dwarf superiors, which just further shows his cunning: better to be a living slavemaster than a dead revolutionary.

==Forces of the Dawi-Zharr==

{{Topquote|Stick 'em wiv arrers', Stick 'em wiv knives, 'an swords, and spears. Stick 'em quick and stick 'em where it 'urts. But most of all, stick 'em when they's looking the other way.|Gorduz Backstabber, epitomizing what it means to be a Hobgoblin}}

===The might of Zharr-Naggrund===
[[File:Chaos_Dwarf.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Dawi-Zharr 101: Tall hat, braided beard, spiky armour, wicked weapon, evil mind.]]
Unlike the human and bestial followers of Chaos, the Dawi-Zharr rarely send full armies to the lands of the Old World and beyond. Consequently, most common folk think them a myth, for only few can imagine that any of the proud and unyielding Dwarfs should have succumbed to the calling of the dark gods. Those who know better have come to fear the armies of Zharr-Naggrund as they are a merciless foe on the battlefield. Survivors of battles against the Dawi-Zharr tell tales of clouds of ash and sheets of fire engulfing the screaming remains of fallen soldiers, of cloven-hoofed monsters rampaging through their helpless victims and the very ground opening under them through foul magic. Traumatized and driven insane by what they have witnessed, they claim that it is better to die in battle than fall alive into the hands of the Chaos Dwarfs and their cruel torturers.

Although the Dawi-Zharr have fallen far from the common ideals of their western kin, they are not so far apart in warfare. The Dawi-Zharr favour the same build of large infantry blocks, their warriors clad in heavy plate and wielding axes and hammers. Chaos Dwarf troops wear tall hats, denoting their social status, and usually braid their black beards. Their armament and weaponry is of superior quality and they share their western kin's martial prowess. For ranged warfare the Chaos Dwarfs favour black powder weapons and field warriors equipped with fireglaives and the infamous hailshot blunderbuss, a weapon that strikes fear in the hearts of the their opponents like none other. While all Chaos Dwarfs show physical manifestations of the corrupting influence of Hashut, some are blessed beyond developing horns and tusks and are utterly transformed into the hellish Bull Centaurs, a fate which is seen as a sign of high favour bestowed by Hashut. Bull Centaurs are charged with guarding the Temple of Hashut and act as brutal shock troops on the battlefield.

Chaos Dwarfs are a rare breed, even more so than the Dwarfs of the Karaz Ankor. To bolster their forces, the Dawi-Zharr employ large numbers of slave troops. The Dark Lands are an unforgiving place and spawn resilient fighters, all of which the Chaos Dwarfs are all too eager to subjugate into service. Most numerous among their slaves are [[Hobgoblin]]s, a notoriously fiendish kind of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskin]], even considering that very low bar. Hobgoblins are distrusted and hated by all other greenskins and are totally reliant on the Chaos Dwarfs' protection, which makes them perfect fighters and overseers for the other slave troops. The Dawi-Zharr are also known to press other, larger greenskins into their service, or even the occasional [[Ogre]] tribe. At some point their demand for able fighters for their armies and their frustration with the unreliability of the regular greenskin livestock led them to create the [[Black Orc]]s, an experiment that ultimately proved to be such a great success, it almost toppled the Dawi-Zharr empire. Only the treachery of the Hobgoblins saved the sons of Hashut from extinction, a deed which cemented the Hobgoblin's position at the highest slave tier for the Chaos Dwarfs and eternal outlaw among the greenskins.

The Dark Lands are roamed by greater dangers than greenskins and ogres, and many monsters and unnatural creatures are likewise caught and enslaved for the Dawi-Zharr armies. Among the most notable monsters bound to service by the Chaos Dwarfs are the Great Taurus and the Lammasu. Some believe the Great Taurus to be an incarnation of Hashut's divinity, while others claim they are actually Chaos Dwarfs particularly blessed with his gifts, similar to the Bull Centaurs. Whatever their nature, they are highly revered and sought after as mounts by the most powerful of Sorcerer-Prophets. Whilst the Great Taurus is a fuming beast of pure rage and destruction, the Lammasu is a more enigmatic being with a keen mind, and some of the less reckless Sorcerer-Prophets prefer them as a mount over the rampaging might of a Great Taurus.

The Dawi-Zharr society is ruthlessly dominated by the cabal of Sorcerer-Prophets, who steer the fate of the Chaos Dwarf empire as the vessels of Hashut's divine will. Most of the Sorcerer-Prophets are found in Zharr-Naggrund, but some rule over one of the small fortress-citadels and garrisons throughout the Dark Lands; however in most cases this is rather seen as banishment from the capital. Although the Sorcerer-Prophets and by extension the Daemonsmiths, their disciples and aspiring mages-engineers, rule supreme and often accompany Chaos Dwarf warhosts to battle, Overlords and Castellans are dedicated commanders and heralds for the armies and serve purely for the conduct of wars; also the eldest Bull Centaurs, Taur'ruks, hold authority in Chaos Dwarf armies. Out of necessity the Dawi-Zharr even allow exceptionally gifted slaves, like Hobgoblin Khans, to hold commanding positions in their armies, although only with authority over other slaves and only up until the point where such a commanding slave has amassed anything remotely resembling something like a reputation. At this point, he will usually be ... relieved of his duty and replaced with a fresh aspirant, whose fate will likely go in a very similar direction.

While the troops in Dawi-Zharr armies are admirable foes and can hold their own against any force on the battlefields of the old world and beyond, their truly terrifying power lies within their war machines, hellish abominations of daemonic sorcery melded with infernal engineering. The Chaos Dwarf arsenal is replete with a wide array of mortal artillery, from earth-shaking cannonades over fire-spewing flamethrowers to dreadful steam-powered tanks. Oftentimes these war machines are imbued with daemonic entities, as the Chaos Dwarfs still retain some form of the typical dwarven mistrust of unfettered magical energies and therefore learned how to bind them in their abominable creations. Where the Daemonsmiths work to further the coalescing of daemon and machine, some Sorcerer-Prophets sought to directly enslave even the malevolent beings from beyond the veil of reality; they summoned and bound them with powerful magic, creating the K'Daai, half daemon and half raging fire. Unleashed upon the world, these mindless forces of destruction will stop at nothing from destroying anything in their path until their eldritch fiery being is consumed by their own burning wrath.

===The Legion of Azgorh===

The most up-to-date ruleset for Chaos Dwarfs, sadly, is the [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Legion of Azgorh]] found in Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos, but it's fairly extensive and has some nifty units, so it can stand up on its own. The book itself suggests they work best incorporated into a [[Warriors of Chaos]] army, as part of the [[Chaos Great Hosts]] ruleset provided in the book, or as allies.

The Legion of Azgorh is garrisoning the Black Fortress and represents a distinct sub-faction of Chaos Dwarfs. The mainstay and principal core troop of the army is the Infernal Guard; regular Chaos Dwarfs are only found in crewing the war machines. Infernal Guard are the Chaos Dwarf equivalent of Slayers: Chaos Dwarfs who have suffered dishonor and seek to atone for it. To do this, they forsake their names and identities, strap mask-helmets of bronze and iron heated red-hot over their faces, and fight for the glory of Hashut. Unlike Slayers, the Infernal Guard is not a death sentence - in theory, anyway. They aren't frenzied fighters like Slayers, and an Infernal Guard who wins great renown has his mask formally removed and is discharged, his old shame forgotten. They go into battle sporting Blackshard Armour, a unique Chaos Dwarf-devised armour that is proof against flame. Infernal Guard should be considered midway between core and elite troops and have both higher strength and better armour than regular Chaos . Their default armament are hand weapons and shield for a solid infantry role, but they also have access to all the options you would expect for Chaos Dwarfs, including the ingenious fireglaives and hailshot blunderbusses. Infernal Ironsworn are the elite version of Infernal Guard with an improved profile and ensorcelled hand weapons.

[[File:Dwarf_abomination.jpg|200px|thumb|right|With all the typical Chaos generosity, you'd not be surprised if you saw this while walking down to the grocery store one day.]]

Other famous elements of Chaos Dwarf armies can also be found in the Legion of Azgorh, namely the formidable Bull Centaurs, giving the army a degree of mobility unachievable for regular Dwarf armies. The dreaded Chaos Dwarf artillery is also represented in the Legion of Azgorh: The Magma Cannon, Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher (replacing the classic Death Rocket) and the unique Iron Daemon War Engine, as well as the Dreadquake Mortar (replacing the classic Earthshaker cannon) and Hellcannon, familiar from the Warriors of Chaos army list.

As it is only a sub-faction, the army list does not include Chaos Dwarf Overlords but only has Sorcerer-Prophets (Lords who use the Lores of Hashut, Fire, Death or Metal) as the highest commanders. They and Daemonsmiths (Heroes who use the Lores of Fire, Death or Metal) are both wizards and engineers, granting bonuses to your war machines and having a lot of special tricks and gear. Several twisted beasts are further added to the Chaos Dwarf armies: daemonic bull-things of living magma called the K'daai, burning winged daemon-bulls known as Taurus, magic-eating monsters called Lammasu, and armor-plated Giants modified for use as living seige weapons.

Befitting for a Dawi-Zharr army, all Chaos Dwarf units are fairly expensive, as they are considered rather rare. The Legion of Azgorh therefore has access to Hobgoblin slaves in the form of fleet-footed wolfriders, great mobs, and even conniving Khans as Hero-grade characters. They are very cheap in order to act as the cannon-fodder they are treated as by the Chaos Dwarfs, and naturally their destruction does not cause panic in Chaos Dwarf units.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]==
[[Image:Dawi_Zharr_Artillery_Crew.jpg|thumb|right|Chaos Dwarfs in their (small) appearance as infernal artillery crews]]
So far the Chaos Dwarfs have not been added to the base game as a faction, though a group of Chaos Dwarfs serve as the artillery crew for the Hellcannon unit. No hats, but lots of sausage beards and some horns. They're also mentioned during the second quest battle for Grimgor Ironhide's Blood-Forged Armour -- some Northman traded with them for goods, his armour included, and he wants to take it from them.

With the release of a trailer for the third game, the main factions will be the Daemons of Chaos (divided up into separate races for each of the four Dark Gods), Kislev and Cathay. The poor Dawi-Zharr have been overlooked yet again. Fortunately, the possibility of them as a DLC down the road seems certain due to the presence of an army book and the third game's map centering on the eastern part of the Warhammer world.

==See also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Legion of Azgorh|Tactics/Legion of Azgorh]] 
* [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]

==External Links==
* [http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com Chaos Dwarfs Online], a repository for all things Chaos Dwarf.

==References==
* [https://www.abebooks.com/9781872372808/Chaos-Dwarfs-Rick-Priestley-Robin-1872372805/plp White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs], by Rick Priestly & Robin Dews; Games Workshop, 1994; ISBN 978-1-87237-280-8
* [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20942304-tamurkhan Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos], by Alan Bligh; Games Workshop, 2011; ISBN 978-1-90796-465-7

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Dwarfs]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T05:32:32Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Characters */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed up as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th edition changed it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They are able to tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mine reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Be'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T05:24:07Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Cities */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed up as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th edition changed it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They are able to tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mine reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T05:04:43Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Society */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed up as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th edition changed it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They are able to tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mined reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T04:53:16Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Society */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed up as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th edition changed it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They were able tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mined reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T04:51:55Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Society */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed up as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th change it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They were able tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mined reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T04:48:27Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* The End Times */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big horde of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th change it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They were able tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mined reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)

2021-10-26T04:46:48Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* Dim history to modern day */

[[File:Dark Elves.jpg|right|350px|thumb|An example of elves who are neither pansies or mary sues (It helps that they're surrounded by corpses and the leader is riding a [[Awesome|dinosaur]]). ]]
{{topquote|Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill each other if it is not done.|George Bernard Shaw}}

The '''Dark Elves''' (or '''Druchii''' in Druhir) of [[Naggaroth]] are one of the major races/civilizations of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and the dark kin of the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]]. They're also the Fantasy counterpart to the [[Dark Eldar]] of 40k.

Unlike most elves, these elves usually get approval of /tg/ for a variety of reasons. This includes taking their arrogance to its peak and seeing non-elves as slaves/vermin, using technology, scantily clad women (for the fa/tg/uys), not being nature-lovers but being able to tame awesome monsters (including the aforementioned dinosaur mounts) and using ranged weapons other than bows.

== Dim history to modern day ==
Once upon a fucking time, there was an elf named [[Malekith]], who was the child of the King Aenarion and the Sorceress Morathi. When Aenarion died attempting to fuck a Daemon of Chaos, there was a debate amongst the Princes of Ulthuan as to who would become the next Phoenix King. Now Malekith expected the princes to choose him, but they instead chose Prince Bel Shanaar of Tiranoc, because they (rightly) feared that Malekith would militarize Ulthuan and go about destroying and conquering shit around the world. Now of course, this decision made Malekith have a huge temper tantrum and vowed to take his rightful place as ruler of [[Ulthuan]].

So after a series of events that involved lots of lying, backstabbing, secret bargains and other douchebaggery, Malekith poisoned Bel Shanaar (specifically, he grabbed him and forced him to drink a goblet of poisoned wine after being offered it but tried to politely refuse), and killed many of the Princes gathered in the Shrine of Asuryan. When Malekith stepped into the Flame of Asuryan
to prove he was the true king of Ulthuan, the flames burned his ass and spat him out because it didn't like the taste of his dickery. So after his followers escaped with their charred leader, Morathi saved her son from death and commissioned a renegade priest of Vaul to create the Armor of Midnight and welded it to Malekiths flesh.

So after a long civil war, Malekith and his followers were banished from Ulthuan and sailed to a new land, via the city-sized Black Arks, which they named [[Naggaroth]] and renamed themselves the Druchii (Dark Elves). To this day, Malekith and the Druchii continue fighting the Asur in order to take revenge against their hated kin (because daddy's little prince can't be happy being king of a race and a new land, no he has to have the one particular crown after all...kind of being a bit spoiled there Malekith me old chum).

== The End Times ==
So Games Workshop decided to end the canon stalemate that the Dark Elves and High Elves have enjoyed for the last fifteen or so years by pressing the big red button and activating complete destruction on the Warhammer world. The sheer amount of changes are staggering but for the Dark Elves it primarily means this:

*It seems Malekith was meant to be the one true Phoenix King all along and only didn't get the crown because he didn't stay in the flames one second longer (wut?) but this is now corrected and now he is not the Witch King but Eternity King Malekith, all hail!
*Naggaroth got invaded by a big hordes of stinky Khornates who pretty much destroyed the country. Malekith though couldn't care less about it and left along with his people after salting the earth and wrecking the cities so the Chaos hordes won't have any plunder.
*Morathi was left to rot in her tower by her son after he finally tired of her slagging figure and now she has been picked up by grand pimp Slaanesh. Cue lolz for the epic just desserts for the spiteful bitch.
*Malus got ripped apart by his own inner daemon as it grew strong enough to escape thus causing many fan powers of Darkblade to grief and gnaw on their fingernails in fury.
*The Dark Elves are no more as Malekith becomes rightful king of all elfkind and merges the three kinds (dark, high and wood) back into one flavour and sets up his new kingdom in Athel Loren.

All in all the Dark Elves don't really exist any more. We just now have Elves. Cue the arguments among elf players over the fact they now have to be besties with races they considered their arch-foes in the past. Enjoy!

== Age of Sigmar ==

The transition into the Mortal Realms saw the Dark Elves unnecessarily splintered up into many tiny factions. Of these, only the [[Daughters of Khaine]] truly took off as its own independent thing, with the rest of the former Dark Elf range being among the many that were subsumed into [[Cities of Sigmar]]. Strangely enough, with the majority of High and Wood Elf units being squatted, this results in the majority of the aelven representation in Cities consisting of units that were murderers, criminals, and edgelords.

Broken Realms has seen a pseudo-rebirth of the Dark Elves, introducing a new faction of Har Kuron that can only take the former Dark Elf units but also has access to Daughters of Khaine units. Lore-wise this represents Morathi conquering the city of Anvilgard and starting a new Khaine-worshipping aelven empire.

In addition to this, there are also various hints at a new faction of aelves (thought to be called Umbraneth after an accidental mention on Warhammer Community) lead by Malerion (the AoS rename of Malekith), which will likely be to Dark Elves what [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]] were to High Elves. Except presumably they'll have [[Mandrakes|badass shadow dragons]] instead of battle cattle.

== Society ==
Dark Elf society can be summed as pretty much fucked up.

Druchii love raiding, pillaging, enslaving and killing the lesser races but especially their hated kin. May whatever God have mercy on the bastards that have been unlucky enough to be enslaved by them. Chances are that they'll inflict such horrific tortures upon the slaves that it will make Ramsay Bolton's torture of Theon Greyjoy look like a picnic (funnily enough Ramsey now voices a Druchii by the name of Rakarth). Alternatively they will gruesomely sacrifice them to Khaine. Doing slave labor isn't any better, since they'll be continuously whipped or beaten to work until exhaustion, after which they'll still be tortured or sacrificed (and on the rare occasions they do get fed, you don't want to know what the food is or where they got it).

The Druchii also have this fun little event called "Death Night", a ten-day (8th change it to just one) orgy of bloodshed where the Witch Elves go door to door and kill some people in sacrifice to Khaine and kidnap children. Females are sent to become Witch Elves <s>or Sorceresses</s> (Witch Elves and Sorceresses hate each other) whilst males are thrown into a boiling cauldron of blood, and any lucky enough to survive are trained to become Assassins. All the inhabitants can do during this particular night is to blockade their homes and pray for the best, for if the Witch Elves decide to choose theirs, tough luck for them (unless they can bribe the temple with a HUGE slave donation, then they might be spared). The next day, it's customary for families spared the attentions of the Witch Elves to sacrifice a member of their household to Khaine in gratitude (in practice often a slave or an elderly relative). Recently, a number of Dark Elf social commentators have complained that Death Night these days is far too commercialized, what with Death Night cards and Morathi costumes going on sale as many as six months in advance. Honestly, Elflings these days have quite forgotten about the true meaning of Death Night. Back in my day, it was all about Khaine! The slaughter! The tradition! Don’t forget the reason for the season, folks!

How the fuck they get anything done is anyone's guess. It's odd that they seem to still outnumber the High Elves (despite High Elves almost always inflicting far heavier casualties then they do), although their constant sexual orgies may be a contributing factor to their population size. Also, some parts of the lore have implied they kidnap High Elf children and babies to raise as Dark Elves. Then there's High Elf and Wood Elf defectors. In reality, it's because Games Workshop has admitted they just write whatever numbers they want at the time and there are as many Elves as the plot demands.

Druchii believe that the strong should rule over the weak. They plot against each other on a daily basis in order to advance themselves in the noble hierarchy (just think the great houses playing the game of thrones in a Song of Ice and Fire except with Dark Elves and dialed to eleven). The only ones above them all are Malekith and Morathi.

Because of a prophecy which states that Malekith will be killed by a Sorcerer, males have been forbidden to practicing magic. 7th edition does state that male spellcasters exist, they just have to keep their practices a secret. 8th edition shows the ones who were alive when Malekith came to power are still around, only Malekith sold their souls to Slaanesh so they're too busy trying not to get their souls raped to try and murder his ass.

Dark Elves have a hobby of taming vicious monsters to serve as beasts of war (though with great difficulty depending on what they are). They were able tame Cold Ones, Manticores (though their bloodlust leads to temporary losses of control as the Manticore goes LEEROY), sea monsters including the Kharibdyss (though they're so ravenous and primeval the Dark Elves occasionally lose control of them with mass Dark Elf casualties, starting with the handlers), fire breathing Hydras and Black Dragons (though the dragons are intelligent enough that it's as much an alliance as taming). But for some reason, they are unable to control Harpies.

== Cities ==
Due to the End Times canon, you can consider this list of cities now outdated because at the last count they are now all salted and burned to the ground.

* '''Naggarond''', the Tower of Cold, capital of the realm: A ECKSBAWKSHUEG city (the gates alone are fifty feet high, and the wall is double that), Naggarond has everything a Dark Elf could want. Sacrificial altars, barracks, a citadel in the middle and even shops (many that sell BDSM attire). At the top of the citadel is the Witch King's throne room where he can (via magic) view anywhere in the entire world (watch his armies march, obsess over Ulthuan, spy on people in the shower, that sort of thing).

* '''Ghrond''', the North Tower: Less a city and more a fortress, it's proximity to the chaos wastes lets Dark Elf sorceresses see the future in the magical auroras or something.

* '''Karond Kar''', the Tower of Despair: Pretty much the main city for all the Dark Elves beastmasters, and where they keep their zoos. Since Dark Elves view non Elves as little better than animals, it's also the first place in Naggaroth that most of the slaves who survive the journey will see.

* '''Hag Graef''', the Dark Crag: This delightful place is a slave's worst nightmare. Hag Graef is a city located in a valley where the mountains reach so high that it blots out the sun (hence the name "The Dark Crag"). Slaves are forced to work day and night without rest or else feel the sting of the whip or (of course) something even worse. And if the slaves are lucky to die, the Warpstone mined reanimates their corpses. Hag Graef was also the site of one of Malekith's dickeries where he poisoned the rebelling lords and only gave them the antidote if they swore fealty to him... Yeah, what a dick.

* '''Har Ganeth''', City of Executioners: This is the last place you want to be, since this is the HQ of the Cult of Khaine. If you are a resident, be prepared to fight for your life on a daily basis, since your neighbor or the local priest/priestess of Khaine will want your blood running in the streets. If you are a slave, prepare to be sacrificed to Khaine by hot, sexy and psychopathic Witch Elves in the most gruesome way imaginable.

* '''Clar Karond''', the Tower of Doom: Naggaroth's primary shipyard. Surrounded by forests and near the entrance to the underground sea the Dark Elves use to travel to kingdoms worth plundering safely. Regular passtimes include hunting escaped slaves, monster hunts, and gladiator matches between those same slaves and/or monsters. [[Matt Ward|Now rivals of Karond Kar in place for the beastmaster roles]].

[[Matt Ward|The following was added in 8th Edition]].

* '''Har Kaldra''', the Forgotten City: Little is known about it, except Morathi covertly incited them to rebel against Malekith's rule to make him stop spending all day in front of his computer in the basement and get shit done again. Malekith destroyed the city in a night with magic, but went right back to his usual business. A theory is that Har Kaldra was Naggaroth's breadbasket and the city's destruction reduced the harvest enough that it's the reason the Dark Elves turned to piracy to sustain their nation, but GW wasn't clever enough to come up with that.

==Religion==
See [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods]] for further details on just who's who in the Dark Elf religious circles.

== Characters ==
* '''[[Malekith]]''': The Witch King of Naggaroth and ruler of the Dark Elves who still lives with his mother. Scratch that, he is now the pimped out Eternity King Malekith, kicker of asses, particularly his mother's since he left her to Slaanesh's sweet graces.
* '''[[Morathi]]''': Hag Queen of Naggaroth, Mother of Malekith and leader of the Sorceresses of Ghrond. Often tried to undermine him and manipulate him. She got swallowed by Slaanesh during the End Times but she's back now, and she recently became the new Goddess of Murder.
* '''[[Malus Darkblade]]''': A champion of the Witch King and lord of Hag Graef who is cursed with the Daemon Tz'arkan inhabiting his body. He is also the wielder of the Warpsword of Khaine. As part of the character cull in fantasy he is dead, very dead, after Tz'arkan gained a great deal of power during the recent Chaos uprising and ripped Malus's body apart from the inside to escape. Ouch!
* '''[[Hellebron]]''': Second oldest of the Hag Queens and leader of the Cult of Khaine. Daughter of Alandrian, one of Malekith's lieutenants during the Sundering, and super-hot in her prime (Malekith called her more beautiful than Morathi, who was herself a candidate alongside Alarielle and Neferata for most beautiful woman in the Warhammer world). She loathes Morathi because she has locked her into an addictive cycle of taking age rejuvenating bloodbaths (no pun intended) in the Cauldron of Blood which are temporary since Morathi kept the best for herself. Also a cradle-snatcher secretly banging Tullaris. After Malekith became Eternity King and Khaine died Hellebron had a crisis of faith and was corrupted by Bea'lakor. At Middenheim she got into a catfight with Alarielle, where the former cured Hellebron of her psychosis then stabbed her in the heart.
* '''Ebnir Soulflayer''': Most trusted general of Malekith. Tried to unite the Druchii in the Witch King's absence against the Bloodied Horde at the onset of the End Times. Wasn't easy. Didn't work.
* '''Tullaris Deathbringer''': Champion of the Har Ganeth Executioners. Like older women because he was secretly banging Hellebron (then again, Hellebron was super-hot when she was young and periodically looks that way again thanks to the rejuvenating bloodbaths) Actually managed to critically wound Phoenix King Tyrion in close combat, at the battle of Reaver's Mark and would have killed him had it not been for Nagash's earth shaking ritual of undeath. Point for Dark Elves. Well liked by everyone really.
* '''Kouran Darkhand''': Master of the Black Guard of Naggarond during the End Times. Took overall command of the city's defenses when the Chaos forces broke into the realm in their millions. Held the city for three months until Malekith's return (He’s actually loyal to the guy). Fought Valkia the Bloody to a stalemate on more than one occasion. Royal boss.
* '''Drane Brackblood''': Admiral of the Fleet on the last assault on Ulthuan.
* '''Lokhir Fellheart ''': Pirate Lord. Defended the ports of Karond Kar.
* '''Drusala''': Sorceress Bitch. <s>Agent of Morathi</s> Morathi in disguise, see above.
* '''Urian Poisonblade''': The best warrior Malekith had ever commanded. Killed everyone who taught him how to fight, and was said to know 10,000 ways to kill a person and 10,000 more to cripple them. After some of Urian's prisoners said it'd be better to choke to death on their tongues than get tortured by him, [[Grimdark|he made sure they didn't have tongues to choke on when he found out]]. Fought Tyrion to a standstill (in a duel that lasted over an hour while Urian's previous opponents lasted less than a minute, and that Urian would've won if not for Morathi's trickery and Tyrion wearing Aenarion's near-impenetrable armor), then got killed by Tyrion with a cheap blow.
* '''Lurhan''': Assistant to the ruler of Hag Graef. Malus' father. Horrible father (though an excellent one by Dark Elf standards). Hates Malus and wants him dead, and the feelings mutual. Tries to have him killed covertly because a direct attempt on his life would provoke the wrath of Malus' mother. Killed by Malus on Malus' quest.
* '''Eldire''': Dark Elf Sorceress and Malus' mother. Violated her oath to Malekith in a gambit for power by having a child with Lurhan. Malus is the closest thing she has to someone she loves, and vica versa (Malus seems to love Spite, but Spite is a pet and steed).
* '''Bruglir''': Oldest half brother of Malus. In an incestuous relationship with his sister Yasmir. Renowned captain of a Corsair fleet, though not that renowned otherwise he would've been given a Black Ark. Has a moustache in the books, making him one of those rare elves with facial hair besides eyebrows. Killed by Malus.
* '''Isilvar''': Half brother of Malus and an entrepreneur among Dark Elf merchants. Covert Slaanesh worshipper and in an incestuous relationship with his sister Nagaira.
* '''Yasmir''': Half sister of Malus and the most beautiful woman in Hag Graef. Was in an incestuous relationship with her brother Bruglir. Called the Bride of Ruin, while Malus is the Lord of Ruin.
* '''Nagaira'''" Half sister of Malus, a sorceress of some power and very curvy, which makes her fat by Dark Elf standards. Had an on-again off-again incestuous relationship with Malus, an ongoing one with her brother Isilvar and she was also a secret Slaanesh worshipper until she failed to conquer Ghrond quickly enough so the Chaos Gods consumed her.
* '''Urial''': Half brother of Malus. Born crippled because Malus' mother poisoned him during pregnancy. He was given as a sacrifice to Khaine for being a cripple, but a miracle occured and he became a rare male priest of Khaine. Lusts for his sister Yasmir.
* '''Urian''': Agent of Malekith within Ulthuan (no relation to Urian Poisonblade above).
* '''Hauclir''': Malus's bro.

== Trivia ==
* According to the map, Naggaroth takes up part of what is the United States. Goes to show what GW thinks of the colonies.

== See Also ==
*[[Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves]] Tactics page

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Elric

2021-10-26T04:38:47Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* /tg/ Relevance */

[[File:Elric.jpg|349px|right|thumb|Doing what he usually does.]]
'''Elric of Melniboné''' is the famous [[Sword & Sorcery]] character invented by [[Michael Moorcock]] for his [[Eternal Champion]] novellas, first published in 1961. Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné, is a member of a race of [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|decadent, amoral, hedonistic, demon-worshipping, Chaos-aligned]] [[elf]]-like beings whose empire spans a weird alternate earth. Unfortunately he suffers from conditions that leave him both an albino and very physically frail; Elric is so sickly that he depends on regular doses of alchemic medicine just to be able to get out of bed. Despite this, he is an incredibly powerful [[sorcerer]]/[[warlock]], with a particular covenant to a Lord of Chaos named Arioch, the patron of all Melnibonian emperors.

Unlike most others of his race, Elric has a conscience; he sees the decadence of his culture, which once ruled the known world, and worries about the rise of the Young Kingdoms, populated by humans, and the threat they pose to his empire. Because of his introspective self-loathing of Melnibonéan traditions, his subjects find him odd and unfathomable, and his cousin Yyrkoon (next in the line of succession, as Elric has no heirs) interprets his behavior as weakness and plots Elric's death.

An aspect of the [[Eternal Champion]], Elric eventually comes to possess the rune-blade known as Stormbringer; a sapient, soul-eating sword that seeks to devour all things. From that moment, he is doomed to tragedy and loss, as everyone he ever knows and loves is ultimately consumed either by fate or by Stormbringer itself. In his final tale, after having used Stormbringer to destroy the Lords of Chaos and Order and create a new universe, Stormbringer plunges itself into Elric's chest, devouring its master in its final act of betrayal before taking its true demonic form to go and corrupt the new universe. Not unlike how Turin Turambar ended his life by way of the Mormegil, but Moorcock hates when you point that out.

Elric was envisioned by his creator as an antithesis to [[Conan the Barbarian]]; whereas Conan is a mighty warrior of a primitive culture who shuns magic and ultimately becomes a king despite his humble birth, Elric is sick and frail, hails from civilisation in all its corrupt, decadent, soul-destroying malice, and a mighty sorcerer who depends on alchemy and the dark blessings of his daemon-blade to even walk, never mind fight, and is a born emperor who ultimately dies alone, unmourned, and unloved, having destroyed his entire empire.

==/tg/ Relevance==
In the beginning, there was the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] Law/Neutrality/Chaos [[alignment]]. This wore Moorcock's Law/Balance/Chaos conflict on its sleeve. [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] added a more explicit Good/Evil axis to this basis, thus forming the [[Great Wheel]] ... and removing that Moorcockian conflict. Then [[Planescape]] (re)instituted the [[Blood War]] "but just for the bad planes" (well, that's what the clueless berks ''say''). Elements of this still sputter around later editions and [[Pathfinder]].

Meanwhile, whether involved in the law/chaos dustup or not, Moorcock's notion of multiple planes in a multiverse has been consistent in the D&D and post-D&D settings. For the latter, we have [[Beyond Countless Doorways]].

Elric (along with Stormbringer) was listed in the first printing of that AD&D Deities & Demigods rule book. However, Chaosium already had a role playing series in the works based on Elric & Stormbringer and the initial AD&D printing was not fully authorized. A mutually beneficial deal was worked out between Chaosium and TSR, yet TSR chose to remove Elric from later printings of Deities & Demigods. Didn't stop [[White Plume Mountain]] from ripping off the sword for [[Blackrazor]].

The world of Elric's Young Kingdoms was the setting of the [[Stormbringer]] role-playing game by the publisher [[Chaosium]] (Hawkmoon has also been so treated, as has Corum). After a disagreement between Moorcock and Chaosium, the Stormbringer line was discontinued. In 1993 Chaosium released Elric! which still used their BRP system. Its main difference was in the way magic through demon summoning was detailed and the allegiance system that saw characters lean either towards law, chaos or the balance, themes that underscored the books. Subsequently, a new version called "Elric of Melnibone" was published by Mongoose Publishing under their [[Runequest]] system.

[[Dragon Lords of Melnibone]] is a [[d20 System]] adaptation of the aforementioned "Elric!" game.

Elric's nickname "the White Wolf" inspired [[White Wolf]], Inc. Founders Steven and Stewart Wieck were fans of the character, and named their roleplaying game magazine, and later their company, after him. Before that company collapsed into its own arsehole.

Elric himself inspired the Black Blade [[Magus]] archetype in [[Pathfinder]], and two aspects of the [[Warlock]] (the [[Hexblade]] patron and the Pact of the Blade class feature) in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

The metaphysical battle between the forces of Order & Chaos went on to inspire the [[Chaos]] faction in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] (and its subsequent [[Warhammer 40,000]] spin-off). Although the dual Egyptian godesses of Ma'at and Isfet do predate the books by several thousand years, so the idea was already in the public domain.

The [[Elves]] of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] were clearly based on the Melnibonians, mostly by splitting up different aspects. The [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]] have the basic "gray" aspects of Melnibonians, being long lived, pointy eared expert magic users on a mysterious island, with a crazy powerful navy, caverns of sleeping Dragons waiting the last battle against Chaos, and an aloof deploring attitude towards the upstart young races. However, the [[Chaos]]-worship (downplayed in WFB compared to Elric), obscene decadence, rampant cruelty, use of black magic, and overarching sociopathy is the purview of the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]].

[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category: Roleplaying]]

Eternal Champion

2021-10-26T04:28:57Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:8915:6268:B7AF:6403: /* /tg/ Influence */

The '''Eternal Champion Saga''' is the informal name for the vast and sprawling [[Sword & Sorcery]] [[multiverse]] created by [[Michael Moorcock]]. These books were a huge influence on both [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. The name derives from the use of "archetypical characters", the idea that different beings in different [[plane]]s can be different incarnations of the same fundamental soul; the Eternal Champion is the archetype employed by the Cosmic Balance to ensure that the war between Law and Chaos can never end.

==The Multiverse==
The Eternal Champion multiverse is technically [[Sword & Sorcery]], but is closer to [[High Fantasy]] than [[Low Fantasy]]; magic is very real and comparatively abundant, whilst the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos battle it out, seeking to completely consume each world in the multiverse - because this would lead to ultimate annihilation, as complete Order would create a static realm of nothing and complete Chaos would result in a tumultuous yet equally static primordial soup, a third entity seeks to keep the multiverse in balance. It allows worlds to tip one way or the other, but always stops them from being ultimately consumed. Despite this outright pursuit of their individual goals, Law, Chaos and Balance are seemingly non-sentient - or at least their minds are beyond the ability of humans to understand.

If you are at all familiar with the [[World of Darkness]] setting, this is the Weaver, the Wyld, and the Worm (in its original purpose). Order, chaos, and the entropic force that balances their power.

As part of the setting's "weird fantasy" basis, it's also a [[Science Fantasy]] metasetting, with individual worlds varying from fantasy worlds ruled by sorcery, to sci-fi worlds ruled by technology, to worlds where both coexist.

==The Character==
The Eternal Champion, as established above, is the archetype wielded as an agent by the Cosmic Balance. Whenever Law or Chaos is gaining too much strength, the Eternal Champion will be sent to defeat it and restore the balance. As such, this soul exists on every world and in every time period, each individual version doomed to a life in which they will be surrounded by strife and destruction... although, admittedly, they do often see peace for stretches - sometimes pretty long ones, at that. Their loneliness is somewhat abated by the fact that the Cosmic Balance has established two other archetypes to grant them aid and succor; the Eternal Companion, destined to aid and assist the Eternal Champion, and the Eternal Consort, destined to be their lover. (The Dark Tower, anyone?)

Of course, this series leaning somewhat towards the [[grimdark]], an Eternal Champion doesn't necessarily know what their purpose is, which can bring them much suffering as Law and Chaos seemingly both turn on them for no reason. And then there are the poor dumb bastards who learn their destiny and try to fight it...

Regardless of incarnation, the Eternal Champion is always a mighty warrior, as well as being adept in strategy and tactics. They are usually adept leaders of fighters, if often unwilling to do so. The Eternal Champions often wield swords with black blades, but this is more an affectation; some Champions have wielded Black Swords that were powerful entities in their own right, such as Stormbringer.

Normally, the incarnations of the Champion do not interact and are treated as serial incarnations for facets of a single consciousness, but various cataclysmic events (such as the end of a Cycle of Cycles of the multiverse's progression, or an invasion by hostile entities from an entirely separate multiverse) may bring them together in various ways. This is very dangerous (it causes strains on the fabric of the multiverse as well as mental issues for the Champion), but amplifies the Champion's power enormously.

The most famous Eternal Champion is [[Elric]].

==/tg/ Influence==
A LOT of shit can be directly placed on the existence of this saga. Two of the most obvious? Well, [[alignment]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] was literally based on Moorcock's Law/Balance/Chaos trinity, before [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] stratified it further with a Good/Evil axis. And then there's [[Warhammer Fantasy]]... fun fact: you know what the symbols for Law and Chaos are in the Eternal Champion's multiverse? Law's symbol is an arrow pointing in a single direction. Chaos's symbol? Multiple arrows pointing in different directions, most elaborately in the form of a wheel with eight arrows coming out of it like spokes... sound familiar?

[[Category:Literature]]