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Warhammer Meta-Setting

2022-02-17T21:43:29Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6: /* 40K */

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Possibly hinted towards in the original fluff, definitely revealed during the [[End Times]] and expanded upon in the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar|Age of Sigmar]], the Warhammer Fantasy universe isn't, as previously thought, a single universe constantly assailed by Chaos, but rather one universe out of many. The Warhammer Fantasy universe is in fact locked into a perpetual cycle of birth, stagnation and destruction, with every cycle ending with Chaos consuming as much of the worlds as it can, sating themselves and giving time for the powers of Order to recollect themselves, recreate the universe and gather the souls of the last universe so new life can be created.

How this fits with 40k is not known, but at least it is known that the Warp has connections to both the Fantasy and 40k universe, and that the Chaos Gods from the two settings are the same ([[Great Horned Rat|more or less]], ascended mortals not bound to the big four seem to be stuck in their own universe).

Needless to say, the concept has an inherent bounty of [[Skub]] around it.

== The Cycle ==

[[File:Crossover.jpg|thumb|500px|right|[[Araloth|Elven heroes with spears]] alongside [[Kaldor Draigo|high tech demigods]] in the same setting? It's more likely than you think.]]

When Chaos wins in a cycle and devours it, the universe is left as a half-empty void, with the surviving souls bobbing around, alongside leftovers from the old world and what not. The surviving characters are (usually) the ones who can be considered gods or half-gods (since they'll be bound up into powers about as strong as Chaos, such as the Magical Winds). From here on, it's essentially a free-for-all, with the vying Gods now having the ability to take the raw magic of the universe and form it into something, the way they like. The general world is created by a sort of godly being by the name of Dracothian, a dragon made of starlight whose only purpose in existence is to recreate a physical world for the beings of the new one to live in, using what's left behind after Chaos is done with the previous world as raw materials. As such, he's more of a cleanup crew for the Warhammer worlds than anything else, as he's not shown to have any inclination towards intervening in whatever universe ends up coming into existence until after its inevitable destruction, at which time he will again recreate it. Similarly, the Chaos Gods neither seem to know nor care about its existence.

The new gods are then essentially allowed to do whatever they want with the universe. Many of them will likely want to fight Chaos to avenge the world they once lived in, but nothing necessarily requires them to do so. It is normal for them to create new races or form new armies that are made to fight Chaos, but since no one has been able to stave the Chaos Gods forever, no one seems to be able to make an army that can actually resist Chaos completely, or at least repel it from their universe. That said, [[Sigmar]] is suggested as being the first entity to be considered an equal to the Chaos Gods in power, and the [[Emperor]] has similarly held out longer than the Ruinous Powers anticipated (albeit with more grimdark than in Sigmar's case).

Just as the worlds, realms and universes are formed, Chaos gets its shit up and running, and after having picked the last few mortal souls out of their corrupted, jagged teeth, begin taking on the physical world again and corrupts it as much as possible. Though they might lose many times before any actual damage has been done to the physical world, a little corruption at a time will let the [[Grimdark|thirsting Gods enjoy a little refreshing souls]] from time to time, while planning out new ways to kill the world off for good. The Chaos Gods often have mutually exclusive goals in every Cycle, [[Khorne|as some]] [[Slaanesh|of them]] enjoy wracking up shit better [[Nurgle|than]] [[Tzeentch|others]] do, so they rarely have the entire force of Chaos behind them, just as the different Gods left from the last cycle might have their own agendas to pursue.

Then, when Chaos finally get tired of the current Cycle, or when a sufficiently powerful [[Abaddon|Chaos]] [[Archaon|Champion]] rallies the forces of Chaos behind him, Chaos goes all out and begins taking over the Material worlds, until the worlds are so strained that they can't keep themselves running and the Gods of the Cycle can't keep it together anymore, the world simply rips itself apart. All creation is engulfed in the Warp, and everything goes back to the Void it started as. While the Chaos Gods go snack on souls and the old Gods are destroyed, new gods formed from the mightiest heroes and warriors of the past world will inevitably escape and witness the creation of a new world.

And then the Cycle begins anew, as it has ever since Chaos first came into existence.

TL:DR- It's basically [[Vikings|Ragnarok]], as GW, being big fans of Norse myth, couldn't pass up taking the Germanic concept of cycled fate and destiny.

== Known Cycles and their Gods ==

As far as we know, the Fantasy and 40k Warhammers are separated in terms of their timelines - The End Times has hinted towards the current 40k timeline and the Fantasy timeline being parallel to each other, with the Warp providing a faint connection between the two. For example, after randomly pressing buttons on a Lizardman communications device, the [[Skaven]] managed to make contact with beings whose voices sounded [[Eldar|like High Elves, but with an otherworldly accent]]. The cowards promptly destroyed their gadget of course, but you don't get better hints than that. It's possible that the Warp screws this up big time, since time doesn't really work there, but as far as we know, the cycles are separate in the two settings. Or perhaps the 40K setting hasn't gotten through its cycle yet, we don't know.

=== Fantasy ===

Knights knights vikings daemons hammers horses knights

====The Proto cycle====

The cycle that came before the fantasy cycle. We don't know much about this cycle: are most concert bit of information comes from a quote from the Obernarn Stone found in Tome of Salvation. The quote reads as follows:

''"And then the Cataclysm came. King Taal rose from His Forest, and with Dark Morr muttering dire portents in His ear, He banished all immortals from the world. But the Cataclysm’s architects refused His order. The Crow, the Hound, the Serpent, and the Vulture were jealous of King Taal, and had tried to use the Great Gates to take what was His. They had failed. As the other immortals fled, the Four attacked, bitter and angry with their frustrations. Many died. After countless battles, King Taal was eventually surrounded. There were few still by his side. Ulric the Wolf. Noble Margileo. Just Verena. Sotek the Snake. Manann of the Sea. And Gentle Shallya, tear-stained and afraid. Even Smiling Ranald had fled, and now hid in the Places Between, fearful for the future. Then, just as the Four and their allies arrived for the Final Battle, Flaming Phoenix, whom all had thought dead, returned from atop His Gleaming Pyramid, and He smote about Him. Thus the rebels were pushed behind the Great Gates, and were sealed there forever. But they were restless in their cage, and soon worked to escape."''

Why does this matter? Because the Flaming Phoenix is clearly Asuryan, and the Elven gods were all refluffed to be survivors of the proto-cycle, therefore this could be a recording of an event that actually happened in the proto-cycle. If we take this as assumption as true this indicates a few things.

First that the[[Warhammer_Fantasy_Gods#Humans|Human gods]], are all survivors of the protocycle, with status comparable to age of Sigmar Gods. [[Sotek]] is an odd addition as well as the only non human god mentioned by name.

Second: Asuryan is not typically associated with 'Gleaming Pyramids', but Sotek of the lizardmen very much is so, in fact lizardmen have temple-pyramids-spaceships. As the stone refers to him '''returned from atop His Gleaming Pyramid''' thus implying the thing is moving (replace pyramid with chariot and it makes just as much sense), this could be the first (both in and out of setting) depiction of these star ship-pyramids. Also Asuryan is associated with prophecy, something the old ones are also very much associated with. This perhaps points to Asuryan BEING an old one.

Third: old lore has the old ones had polar gates ([[Webway|webways]] in all but name) that broke apart and let chaos into the world. In the Obernarn Stone however the gates are not destroyed but instead chaos is merely 'pushed back' beyond them. As you read bellow the idea of chaos emerging into a world, running rampart, then being pushed back is replicated both in the Fantasy and Age of Sigmar so it thematically fits with the other two settings.

Ultimately though we can't ignore that the Obernarn Stone is only found in Tome of Salvation, and that book was published in 2008, long before the end times or age of Sigmar. Still it is the only real look we have at that proto-cycle and the parallels between it and later cycles are interesting. Additional nothing in the stone is self have been contridicted. . . yet so it is still canon, albeit as canon as an in universe stone can be.

====The Fantasy Cycle====
This is [[Warhammer Fantasy]] as we know it - It is comprised of one planet, two moons and one star, has some different Gods from different pantheons and, of course, Chaos. The Fantasy world was destroyed in the [[The End Times]], when Chaos upped its game, Archaon went berserk, Sigmar came back into the current Emperor's body, the Chaos moon was blown up and the First Necromancer ate three gods. Long story.

The gods of this world were leftovers from the last one, according to [[Lileath]], who first revealed the existence of the cycle during the End Times. The first beings to have an influence on the created world seem to be the Old Ones, who ''supposedly'' created all the races, including, but not limited to, the humans, elves, ogres, halflings and dwarves, all in the pursuit of making the perfect anti-chaotic race (Elves were first and despite their great magic, frailty and low fertility made them unable to stop Chaos alone, the Dwarfs were next and while they were able to make Chaos free Runes and were tough but were too stubborn to adapt to daemon trickery, then humans who were capable of adapting but were vulnerable to corruption more than the other two, then they tried others like the Sky Titans who were magically adept like elves and tough like dwarvers but were too isolated, some others who were presumably wiped out or quickly abandoned to be the minor races around and the last two were the Halflings who were a prototype of the ogres and are resistant to mutation and the ogres made capable of reproducing like humans tougher than dwarves and had occasional magical talent but who were left half finished, unable to be given a culture and with no knowledge not naturally acquired and left extremely gluttonous as the Chaos invasion came). When that didn't end well (all races being susceptible to Chaos in one way or other, the Dwarfs eastern colonies turning to Chaos God Hashut as the [[Chaos Dwarfs]] and individual Elves like [[Dechala]] turning to Chaos), they created the Lizardmen, who worked, but were both misplaced (being placed far from anything of importance in the continent of Lustria or not!South America) and too few to do an actual difference as the first incursion killed the most powerful of the [[Slann]] leader caste and severely damaged the cities. It's unclear how much of the old fluff is still holding about the creation of the other races, but since the elven gods are also leftovers from an old universe it's unlikely. It can be assumed that the Old Ones fashioned the templates based on the surviving gods.

Speaking of elven gods, the elven pantheon is one of the most active ones in the Fantasy world, as all of them ([[Asuryan]] especially) are actively battling Chaos. As they are now fluffed to have been survivors of the old proto cycle this make sense.

Timelines from the High Elf army book (7th edition is the copy I'm looking at) say that a cycle lasts longer then 4 and a half thousand years. For a point of reference the bronze age was roughly 4,000 years ago.

====Age of Sigmar cycle====
It's unclear if the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar|Age of Sigmar]] counts as a cycle, or is the time between cycles. The problem is the world in the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar#The Age of Sigmar|the Age of Sigmar]] still exists as a number Realms made from each of the [[Warhammer Magic|Winds of Magic]], implying that the Winds of Magic are consistent across each Cycle, and and compared to the last cycle there is nothing we would understand as a 'planet'. If this is a Cycle and not just the period of time between cycles, where the realms will collapse into a single planet, that says there is a high degree of variances between the actual make up of the world between Cycles. The Fantasy Cycle was just one planet, in total, not part of a larger galaxy that presumable also would have been unmade.

The date we got from the Warhammer High Elf army books, 4500, is the start of reign of the first Phoenix King [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)#Aenarion the Defender|Aenarion the Defender]], who became king in the wake of the first chaos incursions into the world. We don't have any dates before that, as the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Asur]] didn't keep calendars before and the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]] never shared (and also, their dating system ''also'' takes this as year zero: when [[Valaya]] erected the Pillars of Karaz-a-Karak). This means that from the point chaos first begins to invade in bulk to the end is somewhere in the ball park of 4.5 thousand years. In [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar|Age of Sigmar]] canon the point where chaos broke into the world would either be the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar#The Age of Chaos|Age of Chaos]] or the later part of the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar#The Age of Myth|Age of Myth]], so from that point Sigmar's got him self 4.5 thousand years until the next cycle assuming that's a constant.

Here's where things start unraveling; when Chaos first came to the Mortal Realms, they ''WON''. All organized resistance was crushed except for [[Sigmar]]'s realm of [[Azyr]], the chaos hordes being left to raid and despoil all of the now-isolated kingdoms and empires of the other seven realms. They then proceeded to putter around aimlessly while [[Sigmar]] got his counterattack ready, making no attempt to destroy the world and dragging their fights with the remaining centers of resistance out as far as they could. The time period the game is set 500 years later (reference: The Realmgate Wars - All-Gates, page 4), when the powers of Order are finally striking back to reclaim a world that Chaos has dominated for half a millennium.

*The counterpoint is that something similar happened to the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]]. Chaos invaded and they got their shit kicked until [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)#Aenarion the Defender|Aenarion the Defender]] became the Phoenix King and the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]] started writing dates down. While it did not last an age, there was a large period of time where chaos ran rampart across the world before the elves got it's shit together to pull together win by deus ex machina (Caledor's vortex). So this pattern of chaos coming, then receding at first does not seem to be unprecedented.
*On the other hand, this time [[Sigmar]] is here, alive and kicking, the Celestant-Prime can purify Chaos-enslaved people with [[Ghal-Maraz]] (though only if they still have some sliver of soul that can be saved, not [[Daemon Prince|Daemon Princes]]), and the novels have shown even [[Nurgle]] can get hurt by the power of [[Azyr]], while things are still on the balance it's the first time the potentiality of a real victory against Chaos is plausible.
*To further elaborate on that last point, the [[Chaos Gods]] might decide that this cycle they'll continue the eternal stalemate, so as to avoid potential destruction.

=== 40K ===
Marines marines cultists daemons bolters bikes marines

40k's scale is a lot larger then Fantasy's, being a galaxy (amongst billions of other galaxies, one must remember) and not a single planet. If however, Age of Sigmar is a full cycle, then it's possible to imagine that in this cycle rather then make one world, the Dracothian made the entire universe we can see looking up with a telescope, and remember 40k is OUR cycle, we live in the Age of Terra.

Presumably this was done to give chaos a lot more 'toys' so as to delay the cycle a lot more. Given that 40k has lasted at least 13 billion years, which is something on the order of 9,111 times longer then fantasy did, assuming that not too much time passed before Aenarion became the phoenix king and the elves started writing shit down. The length of time 40k's has existed compared to fantasy gets longer if you throw our understanding of planet formation in as well, but we will assume our current models and theory's don't work in 40k for simplicity sake (it's the problem with science fiction, you're always tempted to apply them). Maybe Chaos was playing in the Andromeda galaxy or something while earth was evolving us (although it's worth noting that looking at 40K by itself it's likely that each galaxy gets it own set of Warp gods, and even that a galaxy more [[noblebright]] than ours would likely thus produce equally noblebright gods), if we did evolve and did not just get plopped onto our planet at the end "Age of Sigmar" during the last ice age and replaced/literally outfucked local advanced primates.

Slaanesh was born during the Eldar fall. If the other cycles are canon to 40k, then Slaanesh was reborn showing that gods can appear within a cycle.

No signs of the winds of magic, though given the different discipline in the last couple 40k rule books, it could be they exist but have different names or are thought of differently.

The big question is, is 40k going to go through its own end time? (assuming GW does not end up "once bitten twice shy" about major setting shake-ups after the Age of Sigmar reaction.) It is a tough call. 40k is explicitly said to be in the 'time of ending' but that is by the Imperium's metrics. Yes things are getting pretty bad with aliens like the Tau and Tyranids banging on the door step, Chaos sneaking up the back way, rebellions starting and the Emperor's throne failing, all of which are bad, but it's not clear if that means it's all going to be unmade and that Chaos is going to win anytime soon. It has been suggested that if the Emperor actually dies it will submerge all of the galaxy into the warp, which would be the 'end state' for any 40k End Times but it's unclear if that's true as a god was made in setting, Slaanesh, and it did not cause a reality collapse like at the end of the Fantasy cycle's End times. If chaos did 'win', things might get unmade but by the same token they would need a total victory to drag the whole of the galaxy, or maybe even universe since the Tyranids need to be coming from somewhere. Even if 40k as we know it goes kablooey and the galaxy becomes a massive Eye of Terror that just might mean it's time to move on to the next galaxy and the setting's true "end times" is only when every galaxy in the universe has been individually consumed by chaos, which is not actually mathematically possible for a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL4yYHdDSWs assortment of space time reasons]. And of course if the Tyranids win and devour the entire galaxy and kill off the local warp gods from starvation (and everyone else) who the fuck knows what would happen. If the Dracothian making the 40k universe was to make sure he did not have to do this shit again for a while, he fucking succeeded.

Alternatively, they have absolutely nothing to do with each other and only Warhammer Fantasy suffers from the cycles - thematically this makes more sense than it sounds, since not only is 40k a lot more removed from fantasy tropes and (begrudgingly) closer to sci-fi tropes (there's a whole universe out there, it's 13 billion years old, we have definite points of origin for both chaos itself and every major chaos god rather than their existence predating the setting), it also suffers cycles of its own in-universe. The order of the Dark Age of Technology led to chaos of the Age of Strife led to the order of the Great Crusade led to the chaos of the Horus Heresy, and so on and so forth, and that's only within the history of humanity.

If 40k exists in this cycle, it seems very likely it was the first and influenced the later additions rather than resulting from something prior. Yeah, that's right. The truth you all feared. 40k is canon and Fantasy was Tzeentch's fan fiction on a corner of the Warp where he makes and torments "gods" for his amusement. As for the setting itself, there is only war and an eternal stalemate to perpetuate it.

The Ynnari storyline confirms Chaos Daemons were present early on during the War in Heaven, making that event 40k's Coming of Chaos

Various Daemons have talked about other Universes and wanting to invade them so the cycle could still be in 40k

== So who the hell is the Architect of this shit? ==
Unless you count [[GW]] itself, nobody knows. The Chaos Gods are the most powerful beings in the meta-setting, but even they seem to be just one more part of the endless cycle and they sure as hell wouldn't be interested in actually creating anything that wasn't already corrupted by Chaos. No other god seems to have enough power to create or sustain a cycle on its own either, assuming that the meta-setting was even created by a sentient being. Just one more question of many that most people can only speculate over.

== Theories ==

As a surprise to no one, a lot of theories began popping up the instant we began knowing about the inner workings of the Warhams - In fact, they had been there all the time.

=== The Dracothion is a [[C'tan]] ===

In the [[Age of Sigmar]] rulebook, it is explained that [[Sigmar]] held fast to the core of the old [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle#Setting|Warhammer World]] after Chaos consumed it, and flew through nothingness until it stumbled across the [[Dracothion]], a "dragon made of starlight". This seemingly immortal being gave [[Sigmar|Sigs]] a manual with information on how to make new things out of nothing with cheat codes and console commands. Together, they began creating the new world, shaping the Winds into shape and creating [[Sigmar|Sigs]]' new clubhouse for his "We hate Chaos" club.

What is striking about the [[Dracothion]] is that it shares a lot of similarities with another "dragon", namely the [[Mag'ladroth|Void Dragon]]. Both are described as being "light" in their physical forms (the [[Dracothion]] being "made of starlight", and [[Mag'ladroth|the Void Dragon]] looking like "dark light" when consuming stars, and having the light of devoured stars within it, and both described as "dragons" for reasons or other (the [[Dracothion]] physically resembling a dragon, and the [[Mag'ladroth|Void Dragon]] remembering itself taking that form when it was defeated on Earth by the Emperor).

The most interesting part of this theory is that, if the [[Mag'ladroth|Void Dragon]] can do the same rebuilding shit as the [[Dracothion]], what does it mean that the Emperor put it to sleep? It would imply that the Emperor didn't wanted it to recreate the world, and that there was the risk of it doing it... The [[Mag'ladroth|Void Dragon]] also supposedly allows the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to control machinery, and it's canon that the [[Mag'ladroth|Void Dragon]] can control machines. This doesn't sound much like what the [[Dracothion]] does (creating new worlds and stuff) but, think about this: The [[Dracothion]] can literally create things in the setting, and is outside the powers within the setting (being immortal and untouchable by Chaos), which could mean that it simply has control of the setting's "core programming". Programming. Which machines use.

So the Emperor has essentially made it so the future of the setting is in the hands of [[Techpriest|technophiles who have no idea what they're doing]].

But all of this begs the obvious question: if [[Dracothion]] really is a [[C'tan]], why is it the only one who has the power to create new life and new worlds, and why does it care so little about the rest of existence when other [[C'tan]] would have used that power to enslave the material universe several times over? For all we know, it's just a really weird dragon with too much time on its hands. This theory is further undermined by the fact that [[Dracothion]] clearly has supernatural powers while the [[C'tan]] have complete mastery of the physical universe, but react to supernatural power like vampires react to garlic.

Furthermore, the discovery that [[Dracothion]] was just one of many "[[Godbeast|Godbeasts]]" has all but torpedoed this theory. The other [[Godbeast|Godbeasts]] that have been described are explicitly said to be mortal (and several of them were killed by [[Sigmar]] in the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar#Age of Myth|Age of Myth]]) and vulnerable to being corrupted by Chaos- both of which are known to be untrue for the [[C'tan]]. Additionally, out of all the [[Godbeast|Godbeasts]] only [[Dracothion]] is clearly shown to be sentient- the rest of them seem to be little more than extremely powerful monsters, but this may just be due to our lack of background information on them.

=== 40k goes through the same cycles as fantasy, but internally===

Stop me if You've heard this before. [[Sigmar| There was an human]] [[God-Emperor of Mankind|ruler who would be worshiped as a god]], who created a [[Imperium of Man|mighty]] [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|empire]], but then the ruler was [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Sigmar#Abdication trapped]/[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:God-Emperor_Goldlich.jpg crippled by chaos]. Without the ruler the man's empire had good times, and bad times, but slowly slide backwards into darkness. Then there is [[The End Times|a big battle]] [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Cadia#The_Fall_of_Cadia with chaos], the empire loses, a planet is destroyed and [[Great Rift|chaos]] [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer:_Age_of_Sigmar#The_Age_of_Chaos spreads]. To fight Chaos a [[Sigmar|great]] [[Roboute Guilliman|hero]] thought gone returns, and creates a [[Primaris Marines| new type]] of [[Stormcast Eternals|soldier]] to fight Chaos as he leads the nation back to it's former glory.

As George Lucas said: ''"It's like poetry... It rhymes."'' The plot points and exact details are hardly 1:1 but they do rhyme at least. 40k definitely experiences cycles similar to fantasy, in fact if one looks closely enough one could probably postulate that the rise of the Emperor himself marks the closing of one cycle, the [[Dark Age of Technology]] and the start of cycle/age of the Imperium which spans from [[Great Crusade|M31]]-[[Age of the Dark Imperium|M42]]. In M42 though Guilliman rise marks the close of the Imperial cycle and the start of a new one. The only difference is with so many more planets, they can afford to have a few ([[grimdark|hundred]]) blown up or lost to mark the change from one cycle to the next without the galaxy going suffering from a divide by zero function.

The [[Horus Heresy]] novels ''Vengeful Spirit'' and ''Wolfsbane'' seem to have the Warp run on Fantasy rules, with Big E and Horus going to Age of Sigmar-style mortal realms that just seem to exist in the Warp alongside the realms of Chaos. Both built an army of mortal followers before discarding them under unknown contexts.

However considering Slaanesh was born in 40k (while in Fantasy it merely...existed) this could indicate the 40k universe to be the first in the cycle (or at least precede Fantasy and AoS) or Fantasy/AoS takes place sometime after the birth of Slaanesh in some corner of the Warp. Alternatively, 40k which is stated to take place in our far future is separate to the Fantasy/AoS universe but connected by the Warp.

Rise of Ynnari sort of retcons the War in Heaven to make it closer to the Coming off Chaos in Fantasy. Chaos Daemons were a huge threat during that conflict forcing the Eldar Empire to ally with certain Necron Dynasties just to fight back (definitely not permanently though).

The Parallels between the Vortex and the Pylons become more apparent after the Great Rift. Also the birth of Slaanesh is only relevant to the material world as time is essentially nothing to the Chaos Realm, applying the existence of Slaanesh retroactively.

If the connected by the Warp assumption is correct, the Old Ones presumably used Mallus, formed by the survivors of the Proto-Cycle who ascended to godhood, as a testing ground for anti-Chaos measures and were forced to abandon it during the War in Heaven while the Slann and the survivors were left alone. They held out until the End Times and Dracothion rebuilt the realms in such a way that Chaos cannot permanently kill them, while the Slann and the Mallus survivors who ascended to godhood can at least guarantee an eternal stalemate like with 40k, giving the Chaos Gods permanent sustenance in an extremely fucked up symbiosis of mutual eternal survival, [[Grimdark|while the mortals suffer]].
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons of Chaos

2022-02-17T21:26:26Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6: /* Multiplayer Strategies */

This is the general tactics page on how to play [[Daemons of Chaos]] in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]].

==Why Play Daemons of Chaos?==
*Because why choose between flavors of Daemons when you can have all of them?
*Why would the denizens of damnation require mortal assistance to destroy the world?
*It's not everyday we get a bad guy faction that is actually reasonably flexible so this is a nice change of pace.
*Hey, what other factions lets you wreck the world with your perfect OC?
* You're really loyal to the 8th edition army book
* You really like playing dress up with your lord
* When you want to play as "Chaos" you want your army to look like multicolored vomit from beyond the ken of man
* Because you wanted some more time with the guy from the prologue cause let's be real, the story of the prologue campaign is more interesting than the main campaign.

===Pros===
*'''Flexibility''': Easily the biggest advantage this faction has over the Monogods. Since you have the Daemons from every god, you can actually pick and choose what kind of tactics you want to go for instead of going all out in one department. So if you want to rep Daemons but not get immediately counter picked because you picked Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle or Slaanesh this is the faction for you.

*'''Unbreakable''': What the fuck is going to scare you when you're literally a Daemon? Most of your units crumble instead of running away.

*'''Terror''': Fear and terror are going to be very common across your roster because, you know, literally crawled out of the pits of hell. Factions like Skaven or Beastmen who have leadership problems will find their forces running a ton.

*'''Quality''': Your units are all very good at what they do, and as such you have some very strong elite options that can fill out numerous holes in your roster. There really isn't a department that anyone can say you're weak in.

*'''Resistances''': Ward saves, physical resistance and magic resistance abound in this army. You can't throw a rock without hitting something that's resistant to some type of damage.

*'''Everyone is here!''': You are the only non DLC race that released with your entire 8th edition army book ready to go at launch. Your roster is MASSIVE, especially compared to your other game 3 counterparts and you have so many options to butcher your enemies with. Plus, no DLCS to worry about pay to win bullshit in multiplayer.

===Cons===
*'''Lack of Specialization''': The downside to trying to appease all the gods at once is you don't get quite as good in any one department as going Monogod. Khorne will out fight you, Tzeentch will out magic you, Nurgle will out last you and Slaanesh will out run you. Add on to the fact that you don't get any of the Exalted Greater Daemons or Mortals in multiplayer (and must specially recruit them in single player) and you can feel how much they outweigh you in certain ways. If you only want to play one playstyle, you'd be better off with Monogods.

*'''Lack of Armor''': Evidently armor is hard to come by in the Realm of Chaos. Aside from a few options (mainly from Khorne) armor values are pretty low so missiles might be a bit of a problem if you can't shut them down.

*'''Expensive''': As is the trend with factions that have a ton of high quality stuff, price points might be a bit high. While you do have some chaff in the form of Nurglings, Blue Horrors, and Slaanesh Marauders, expect to go into most fights outnumbered.

*'''Lack of Range''': While having access to the full daemon roster gives you some ranged options none of them are very long ranged, aside from Skull Cannons. Like a lot of Chaos factions you're first and foremost a melee rush army.

*'''Lack of Updates''': You know how most factions get major updates alongside DLC? And you know how you have your entire roster? Yeah... While some balances changes are inevitable, don't expect big additions to your roster in the form of DLC. Though we may get some of the DLC units of the Monogod factions, if we're lucky that is.
**Exceptions may apply if CA gives Daemons of chaos pieces of DLC made for the dedicated gods. So if Khorne get's a DLC pack then Daemons might get a unit or two at the same time from that pack, but that is pure speculation.

*'''Hard as FUCK''': You are a demon, every single mortal hates you and unlike the other daemons legendary lords, you start pretty close to Kislev and the Empire. You start at war with an empire province , kislev and wood elves, who will send waves after waves at you. Your only respite is with the Norscan tribes and beastmen you can talk with.

==Universal Traits==

*'''Daemonic''': Undead with extra steps, really. Once your daemonic units lose enough leadership, they'll begin to lose health and fade back into the Warp in the same vein that undead units crumble away. The good news is that even if your daemons are doomed to evaporate, they'll at least stick in and fight to the last model.

*'''Barrier''': All Tzeentch daemons have two health pools; their regular health pool, and their Barrier health pool. As long as some of the barrier is left, it will absorb the damage of anything that hits the unit. It probably won't be too big, but it'll be enough to buy your troops some time to do what they need to do. It recharges when out of combat, so it encourages a hit and run ranged style of combat for your ranged units.

*'''Cloud of Flies''': A trait shared by all Nurgle daemons. As they stay in melee combat they actively gain Melee Defense, encouraging you to let them grind it out against the enemy.

*'''Devastating Flanker''':most of your Slaaneshi daemons have this special ability which doubles their charge bonus when attacking an enemy unit from the flank or rear.

*'''Hellblade''': Some (not all) of your Khorne daemons get this ability, which gives them 20% base and AP damage when they get 60 kills. Designed to reward you for being aggressive with your units with more damage. It'll be easier to get this off on squishy swarm factions (you'll get this fighting Skaven in no time) than smaller tank factions (good luck getting this fighting Dwarfs or especially Lizardmen and Woodelves with all their single-entity beatsticks), although it might be reworked to relate to damage instead of raw kills, anything else would make fighting especially against Ogres a nightmare.

*'''Reign of Chaos''': As your lord deals damage a meter on the right hand side of the screen fills up, unlocking three different abilities at three tiers. This meter can fill up more than once, meaning that as long as you keep dealing damage you can unlock these abilities pretty much endlessly. Unlike the other Chaos God factions, who have three set tiers of abilities, your army abilities ''randomly select from the army abilities of the other four Chaos Gods''. You never know exactly what you'll get, only that it will be one of the four abilities for that tier.

==Lords==

===Legendary Lords===
*'''[[God-Slayer]]:''' Customisable daemonic version of Lich King. You can customize not just the look, but the playstyle of him depending on which Chaos God (or Gods) you decide to worship. Looks alone aren't everything though. Each item you can customize also impacts the God-Slayer's stats and abilities. Should you take the Chaos Undivided route, you effectively get access to each Chaos God's (incomplete, but still quite vast) roster to form the rank and file of your armies. You do lack the Exalted versions as well as any mono-god faction effects, but what you lack in specialization you more than make up for in versatility.

*'''[[Be'lakor]]:''' Confirmed to be a LL for the Daemons of Chaos, he can be unlocked in campaign and custom battle by beating the single player campaign.

===Generic Lords===

*'''Daemon Prince Undivided''':

*'''Daemon Prince of Khorne''':

*'''Herald of Khorne''': A melee focused lord who can be mounted on a Bloodcrusher or Blood Throne and has various AoE buffinf abilitties that boost the killiness of nearby units.

*'''Daemon Prince of Nurgle''':

*'''Herald of Nurgle''': A slow and tanky hybrid lord with either the Lore of Death or the Lore of Nurgle. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or a Palanquin of Nurgle.

*'''Daemon Prince of Tzeentch''':

*'''Herald of Tzeentch''': A dedicated caster lord with access to either the Lore of Metal or the Lore of Tzeentch. Can be mounted on a Disc of Tzeentch or a Burning Chariot, both of which give him added range attacks.

*'''Daemon Prince of Slaanesh''':

*'''Herald of Slaanesh''': A fast and deadly hybrid lord with either the Lore of Slaanesh or the Lore of Shadows. Can be mounted on a Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot. Has the Devastating Flanker ability, as well as Loci buffs for nearby units.

===Generic Heroes===

*'''Alluress''': A hybrid hero with the Lore of Slaanesh and/or Shadow magic along with AP in melee. Your only hero choice with the Devastating Flanker ability. Can ride the Steed of Slaanesh, Seeker Chariot, or Exalted Seeker Chariot.

*'''Bloodreaper''': He appears to be a combat/support character for going around murdering groups of infantry while also giving offensive buffs to your units. He can ride both a Juggernaut and a Blood Throne, making him a strong mobile threat. With AP and anti infantry he's a scary melee character that can also give other units a helping hand. Has an ability that gives 66% magic resistance to nearby allies, so a must-have against magic heavy armies like Tzeentch or the Vampire Counts.

*'''Iridescent Horror''': A more dedicated wizard hero, and also your only ranged hero. They have some Loci abilities that allow them to buff troops in combat without using magic. They come with the Lores of Metal and Tzeentch and can mount up on a Disk and a Burning Chariot. On the chariot he comes with a missile attack, allowing him to be pretty decent at kiting enemies.

*'''Plagueridden''': Another hybrid hero with the Lore of Nurgle/Death and a lot more survivable in melee than the Alluress. Can be mounted on a Rot Fly or Palanquin of Nurgle.

==Units==

===Infantry===

*'''Blue Horrors of Tzeentch''': Horrors will have a flaming range attack to pepper enemies from afar, though they will likely be the worse of the lesser daemons in combat (not that they will be useless). They will serve as your chaff infantry, meant to throw off some magic volleys then run in and die to hold for your more important troops. The range attack is meant more so as a precursor attack before charging into melee, especially since they only have 5 ammo.

*'''Bloodletters''': Your mid tier Khornate unit, meaning that unlike Furies these guy might actually kill what they're fighting. They wield great swords with fire, magical, AP damage and anti-infantry, so they're really good at busting through armored infantry. As Daemons they're also unbreakable and contain nice defensive buffs, which is good because 30 armour isn't great. They will likely be your cheapest source of AP in the infantry fight, which will make them highly desirable when fighting heavy armor.

*'''Exalted Bloodletters''': Bloodletters plus. They're a very similar unit only just much better at the job but also much more expensive. These guys will let you carve through more elite options than your standard Bloodletters can.

*'''Daemonettes''': Very fast, very AP heavy, and very squishy Daemonic infantry unit. Roughly equivalent to Wardancers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Has Devastating Flanker.

*'''Exalted Daemonettess''': Faster, killier, sexier Daemonettes. Roughly equivalent to Bladesingers, stats wise, but considerably faster. Have the Devastating Flanker and Soulscent passive abilites.

*''' Nurglings''': The first real swarm unit in the game. While there are technically only 60 models in a unit, those models consist of roughly 5-6 Nurglings meaning there's roughly 300 of these little shits in the same unit. In terms of use, they're chaff and look to be damn good chaff at that. They have Vanguard in order to block the enemy attack and mostly just exist to waste the enemy time and wear them down.

*'''Plaguebearers''': The tank to your Daemonettes and Bloodletter's spank. As slow as zombies and minimally armored, but decent melee stats, regeneration/poison, and a fuckheug HP pool means they'll hold for ages and grind most basic infantry to dust through attrition.

*'''Exalted Plaguebearers''': Aside from being a standard upgrade, they have the ability to throw a smaller versions of the Plague Drone’s Death’s Heads at foes as they approach, similar to Dwarf Miners and Chameleon Stalkers.

===Missiles===
*'''Pink Horrors of Tzeentch''': Upgrades to the blue guys. Has a better flaming range attack, and actually decent melee stats. Sadly, it has been confirmed that they will not split into Blue Horrors upon death. Will likely replace Blue Horrors once you have the money for them, as they do everything that they do but way better.

*'''Exalted Pink Horrors of Tzeentch''': And the Pink Horrors will be replaced by these guys. They come with insane ranged damage, out damaging the elite skirmishers of other factions, and increase the Winds of Magic recharge rate for your army as long as they're alive. This will be one of your likely Doomstacks in the late game, as strong missiles combined with extra magic is something no one will want less of. No AP on the ranged attack, but with a missile damage of 35 heavily armored units still won't like being hit by these guys.

===Cavalry and Chariots===
*'''Plague Drone''': Same as Nurgle, your armor piercing flying cavalry. Comes in two variants, standard melee (essentially an upgrade of rot flies) and a ranged version that tosses Death’s Heads at their foes.

*'''Bloodcrusher''': An angry Daemon riding a Robo-Rhino. Well armored and has an Anti Infantry bonus.

*'''Blood Shrine of Khorne''': A support oriented single entity chariot. Tt will likely be the weakest of the motorcycle Khorne units in combat but will provide leadership and melee attack buffs to nearby units. Plus, it heals while it's in melee so the poorer melee stats won't be the worst thing in the world for it as it'll be hard to bring down.

*'''Burning Chariot:''' A flying ranged focused chariot that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the entire game. It can apparently shred infantry formations and monsters but has low armor ''and'' ammo to compensate. Probably won't be the best chariot in melee, but the ability to fly and shoot flames will likely make up for that. Try to hold it in reserve for particularly valuable engagements, as you'll want to make the most out of every shot.

* '''Pox Rider''': Essentially just an upgrade to the Plague Toads, only with Plaguebearers on top of them instead.

*'''Seekers:''' Extremely fast light cavalry, unfortunately they don’t even have any armour, so cycle charging might be your best strategy when using them. Has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment, making them well suited for getting right up in the face of range-heavy armies.

*'''Heartseekers:''' Named after the unit champion of Seekers, these things are most likely meant to be a straight upgrade. Unlike your regular Seekers these guys have the Soulscent passive ability which increases their armour piercing and melee attack capability when within range of an enemy unit with morale wavering or lower. Also has Devastating Flanker and Vanguard deployment.

*'''Seeker Chariot:''' A low model chariot unit with poison and Devastating Flanker. Super fast for a chariot but probably even more brittle when trapped in prolonged melee.

*'''Hellflayer:''' Essentially acts as a giant lawnmower, able to plough through infantry. Unfortunately it’s a wide target so might get singled out by ranged fire. Has Devastating Flanker but unlike the other chariots this one also has the Soulscent ability.

*'''Exalted Seeker Chariot:''' An extremely fast but extremely fragile single-entity chariot that will mow down any heavily armored infantry it comes across. Has Poison, Perfect Vigour, and Devastating Flanker.

===War Beasts===
*'''Chaos Furies (Undivided)''': Basically Chaos Furies who incorporate aspects from all the chaotic factions, with a preference depending on which side you are currently favoring.

*'''Flesh Hounds''': They share the same speed as normal Warhounds (95) but have a much smaller model count per unit but are much stronger and tougher. They also have magic resistance of 50% like Furies do. They seem to inhabit that space of smaller war hound units from Drycha and the Norscans, and act as light cavalry.

===Monsters===
*'''Soul Grinder of Tzeentch''': This thing channels the power of Zeus to chuck lightning bolts from its hands that do AP and Anti Large damage. It seems to be a very versatile unit as it can deal with large units from afar and still deal some good damage up close. It also has magic attacks, so it will also be hitting for most of its damage. Still pretty decent in melee, but it's the Anti Large range attacks you want this thing for.

*'''Soul Grinder of Khorne''': Based on what has been revealed it is a tanky cannon platform that can fire while moving. It also comes with a scattergun that does 800 damage with 120 range. The Khorne soul grinder can chop up the Tzeentch + Nurgle variants in melee, but gets it's ass handed to it by the Slaanesh version who traded the cannon away for anti-large choppy power.

*'''Soul Grinder of Nurgle''': Looks and acts like a 40K Plague Hulk, only replace the sword with a claw. Probably not the most useful Soul Grinder available to you as its gimmick of being an artillery unit is covered by dedicated pieces.

*'''Soul Grinder of Slaanesh''': A purely melee version of the Soul Grinder with 75 speed, anti-large, and lots of armour piercing damage.

*'''Flamers of Tzeentch''': A mobile flamethrower unit that can pump out ludicrous damage to unarmored targets. Apparently still ok in melee, though don't expect them to last long against most dedicated melee units. They require good positioning to use effectively, especially since they only have 10 ammo. Notably it's the first flamethrower unit that has AP damage, which might signal some hope for things like Irondrakes or Warp Fire Throwers.

*'''Exalted Flamer:''' A single entity purple version that has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the game, able to deal heavy damage to both infantry and large units. Downside is that it has very limited ammo, so every shot has to count. It also applies Fire weakness in both melee and ranged, allowing it to set up your other unit to do more damage to the enemy.

*'''Fiend of Slaanesh:''' Imagine faster and bigger Rat Ogres with poison and you’ll get the idea. Able to keep up with the rest of your forces, but unfortunately have just as much armour as other Slaaneshi daemons. Has the Sophoric Musk passive ability which lowers enemy melee defense and melee attack.

*'''Lord of Change''' A flying bird that is said to be a full spellcaster. In campaign there are technologies that can unlock more spells for them, but game footage so far shows that in multiplayer they're limited to the Blue Fire of Tzeentch and the Pink Fire of Tzeentch. Both of these spells have a low Winds of Magic cost, meaning LoCs will be useful for spamming cheap spells to fill your Eye of Tzeentch meter. It is a decent monster in melee, though don't expect it to go toe to toe with a Bloodthirster any time soon.

*'''Bloodthirster''': The smaller, more accessible version of its Exalted cousin. It trades a lot of the scary combat stats in return for Anti Large, making it more of a dedicated monster fighter. Aside from that, it functions as a cheaper version of the Exalted lord version.

*'''Rotflies''': Riderless Rotflies. They appear to be melee only, using their flight speed and armour piercing to harass enemy back lines.

*'''Plague Toads''': A surprising addition from the [[Forge World]] Throne of Chaos book, but a cool one non the less. Fairly slow, being giant amphibians and all, but have a very high charge bonus and do well against infantry.

*'''Great Unclean One''': Nurgle's big bulbous boys of mass and rot capable of withstanding the blast from a hell cannon and shrug it off. These jolly green giants are casters of the lore of Nurgle and the massive swords they wield can shear through armour.

*'''Keeper of Secrets:''' Slaanesh's Greater Daemon unit is fast, has lots of weapon strength and armor piercing, as well as Blissful Rapture, Devastating Flanker, and Strider. Can cast two spells from the Lore of Slaanesh: Lash of Slaanesh and Acquiescence. Will likely be a powerful duelist character but will struggle with dealing with hordes compared to the other Greater Daemons.

===Artillery===

*'''Skull Cannon''': Your only artillery option, not counting the soul grinders. It has good range and damage, and its mobility allows it to keep itself safe from enemy ranged and cavalry that try to take it out. Plus, if something does get its hands on it, it'll be hard to kill with its high armor and ability to regenerate in melee. With good micro this thing has to potential to be frustrating as hell to play against. Of course, it has only 18 melee defense so if something does catch it it might take some hits, but they'll have to actually catch the damn thing first. If it runs out of ammo it can replenish it by killing enemies in melee.

==Campaign Strategies==

You start off in Norsca at war with Nordland, a nearby Norscan tribe and Konstantlyn.

It would be wise to get a non-agression pact with Skarbrand so he doesn't curbstomp you. . . which may be easier said then done with the most bloodthirsty bloodthirster to ever thirst for blood in all of space and time, maybe think about dedicating to Khorne above the other's

Expand you territory towards the Kislevite factions while waiting for the Rifts.

==Multiplayer Strategies==

Having the favor of all 4 chaos gods means you can take advantage of their roster in ways nobody else can. Bring a plaguebearer frontline and support them with fast Slaanesh flankers. Trigger fire vulnerability with flamers of Tzeentch right before you slam your enemy with flaming attacks from bloodletters and skullcannons. Stack your army with expensive Khorne heavy hitters and back them up with healing from the lore of Nurgle. Use your imagination and go nuts.

Alternately, you can go for a mostly monogod strategy. Your opponent has to spread himself thin to prepare for every crazy combination you can pull out of your ass so a good chunk of his army will be stuck with unfavorable matchups if you go all in on one god. Building rosters for particular match-ups was a big part of TW2 and the unpredictability you get as Chaos Undivided means you have a high chance of winning the pre-battle mind game. Someone who brought a bunch of armor piercing to deal with armored Khorne units isn't going to be happy when they find out you bought an unarmored Nurgle/Slaanesh STD themed army.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Beastmen| Beastmen]]''': Nurgle Daemons are a great option against the squishy beastmen. Their lack of range units means Tzeentch Daemons are free to damage them without risk

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Bretonnia| Bretonnia]]''': Nurgle and Tzeentch Daemons are very useful. The former stops the Bretonnian charge while the latter burns them!

*'''Daemons of Chaos''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Warriors of Chaos| Warriors of Chaos]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Dark Elves| Dark Elves]]''': Slaanesh Daemons are a must to rip-through their armor

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Dwarfs| Dwarfs]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Empire| Empire]]''': Flexibility vs flexibility

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Grand Cathay| Grand Cathay]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Greenskins| Greenskins]]''': Nurgle units are great at bashing the Orcs in melee. Tzeentch Daemons easily outclass them at range.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/High Elves| High Elves]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Khorne|Khorne]]''': Biggest advantage is access to various Lores of magic. Use Nurgle melee units combined with Tzeentch range.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Kislev|Kislev]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Lizardmen| Lizardmen]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Norsca| Norsca]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Nurgle| Nurgle]]''': Use Tzeentch Daemons to whittle them down and force them to rush you, that's when you use Slaanesh Daemons to flank and finish them off

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Ogre Kingdoms| Ogre Kingdoms]]''': Tzeentch/Nurgle or Slaanesh/Nurgle combo is great here

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Skaven| Skaven]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Slaanesh| Slaanesh]]''': A combined Nurgle-Tzeentch army would counter and decimate Slaanesh

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Tomb Kings| Tomb Kings]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Tzeentch| Tzeentch]]''': Play mostly with Slaanesh units with a few Tzeentch/Nurgle air units. Use Nurgle's Lore to heal the squishy Slaanesh units.

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Coast| Vampire Coast]]''': Nurgle-Slaanesh combo is good here

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Vampire Counts| Vampire Counts]]''':

*'''[[Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Wood Elves| Wood Elves]]''': This is one match up Daemons Undivided has a better chance than all of the Monogod factions. Combining Nurgle units (to absorb hits and slowly advance at the Wood Elves) with Tzeentch (for range damage to quickly obliterate squishy Elves) or Slaanesh (to outflank and brutally overrun them) to deal a lot of damage

[[Category:Total Warhammer]] {{Total War Warhammer Tactics}}

God-Slayer

2022-02-17T21:12:58Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6: /* History */

{{Whfb-stub}}
{{Heresy}}
[[File:God-Slayer.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"''I was mortal once. A prince then, a prince now... The gods themselves called me to bear their mark. I have time... to revel in this coming slaughter! I am a puppet no longer! I am the God-Slayer!''"]]

'''God-Slayer''' (known to his few friends as <s>'''Prince Yuri Barkov'''</s> '''Daniel''') is an OC from [[Total War: WARHAMMER]]. He is the former [[Kislev|Kislevite]] noble who went to save Ursun, yet instead of saving him he got corrupted and twisted by Chaos. By the time he came to and meet Ursun, he was twisted to the core by Chaos and shot the bear god with a enchanted bullet that supposedly killed Ursun. Because killing a god is serious business, and the fact that he didn't choose a patron, he got turned into a ([[Derp|second]]) Daemon of [[Chaos Undivided]] by all four [[Chaos Gods]] for [[HERESY|aforementioned killing of Ursun]]... who was revealed to be still alive, but in the hands of [[Be'lakor]], who is definitely planning something. Thus '''<s>God-Sla</s>...Daniel''' gathers his forces to finish the job.

Unlike Be'lakor, the God-Slayer can say fuck it to the whole "Undivided Prince" gig and become the [[Khorne|Blood-Sprayer]], the [[Nurgle|Couch-Layer]], the [[Slaanesh|Ball-Drainer]], or the [[Tzeentch|Lie-Sayer]]...or mix and match body parts how he likes resulting in some really [[Original character, do not steal|BIZARRE FORMS]].

If you couldn't tell, the dude is basically Warhammer Fantasy's answer to Prince Arthas.

==History==
His story unfolds the course of the Warhammer 3 prologue, which also serves as a tutorial for explaining basic game mechanics (how to move your army on the battle and campaign maps, how to recruit units, conquer cities, construct buildings, etc...)

[[Meme|He was a human once. Prince then, prince now.]] But jokes aside, Yuri Barkov (not Kovalenko, as some lore [[Grognard|grognards]] hoped, although it turns out the two are related) was an Ungol prince that was tasked by [[Tzarina Katarin]], his old girlfriend it turns out, to find [[Ursun]]. You see, in TWW continuity ([[Warhammer: The Old World|at least for now]]) Bear-God ended every winter with his powerful roar. But then he disappeared, and Kislevite climate, which was already harsh, became pretty similar to the [[Game of Thrones]] one. To end the the seven years-long winter, Yuri with his brother Gerik and some warriors marched north, to the Kislev's northernmost outpost Dervingard, where Ursun was last heard.

The road was hard and filled with various dangers, and many considered quitting even before reaching the outpost, but then Yuri received a message from Ursun, who told prince that he is still very much alive and needs saving. So, Kislevites marched north, but faced many problems. <br>
See, that part of Kislev is pretty close to the Chaos Wastes, so it was under constant attacks by Norscans.
After finally killing an annoying Chaos chieftain, Yuri has the [[Derp|bright idea]] to pick up the guy's cursed sword, and also to start pouring over the notes of previous guy who lead that outpost, who quit when he decided to join Chaos, in order to try and learn how to navigate the Chaos Wastes to find Ursun.<br>
Surprisingly, he actually finds some mildly useful advice in that book, and combined with the help of Ursun's voice, he actually does manage to make some headway into the Wastes, first fighting some Daemons, then breaching a [[Tzeentch|labyrinth guarding a library]] for more information on exactly how to get to Ursun.

His men (and especially his brother) start worrying, but Yuri ignores them and return with the next step on their plan: the portal to the actual Realm of Chaos is behind a bridge that can only be passed if allowed by the greater Daemon that guards it, so following Ursun's advice, Yuri will go to a [[Khorne|brass shrine]] and kill some daemons to get the true Name of the that bridge guardian. His brother start finding Yuri's behaviour [[Heresy|very suspicious]], especially as the success they meet so far (killing enough Norscans that they actually start sending him offerings and treating him as a sort of chieftain in his own right) gets to Yuri's head, but its the only lead they have so he follows.

The trip to the brass shrine goes surprising well and he gets the True Name, but at that point he's clearly starting to lose it. Cemented when they finally reach that bridge and Yuri [[Ferrus Manus|decapitates his brother without hesitation]] for safe passage. Encouraged by Ursun, he presses forward and after fighting that former kislev outpost chief we mentionned above, steps into the portal to the Chaos Realm...

... where he finds that the "Ursun" he'd been talking to was actually [[Be'lakor]] all along. Be'lakor then shows Yuri Ursun as he is, emprisoned, weakened and begging for help, and convinces him that the Bear God is not worthy of being worshiped and that yuri should kill him and take his power for himself. Yuri, at this point fully believing in his own hype, actually does shoot Ursun to kill him.

Except that Be'lakor actually takes that power for himself and leave Yuri for dead instead. Broken, faithless and on the verge of death, Yuri prays to the Chaos Gods as a whole, begging them to let him be powerful enough to take his revenge on the Daemon Prince. The big four actually accepts, and yuri is immediately overwhelmed by their combined blessings, shedding his previous human form.<br>

Yuri is no more, and in his place stands <s>Daniel</s> ''whichever name you picked or decided to let the random name generator give him''.

Due to his betrayal he starts out at war with Konstaltyn.

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Total Warhammer]]
[[Category:Daemons]]
[[Category:Kislev]]

Skarbrand

2022-02-17T21:10:59Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6: /* Total War Warhammer */

{{Heresy}}
[[File:16999239_340497286345256_3126583543407667659_n.jpg|400px|right|thumb|SKARBRAND RESENTS THE COLOR BLUE!]]
{{Topquote|'''HATE'''. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO '''HATE YOU''' SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD '''HATE''' WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE '''HATE''' I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. '''HATE. HATE.'''|The Allied Master Computer, ''I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream''}}
{{Topquote|SKARBRAND DOESN'T APPRECIATE PHYSICAL CONTACT!|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Skarbrand, stating his feelings on physical contact.]]}}
{{Topquote|The Lord of Rage. Born of destruction, of insatiable bloodlust. We are his savagery incarnate, the epitomy of brutality, rewarded for our ferocity. Join our relentless hunt! Enact the wrath of the Blood God! Unleash your fury! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!|2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur05W5lxzAM Skarbrand, explaining what his faction does in the trailer] in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 3...which he hates.}}

'''Skarbrand the Exiled One''',"SÄäsbrand", "That Bloke", was formerly the most powerful [[Bloodthirster]] in the service of [[Khorne]]. He was so powerful, in fact, that [[Tzeentch]] took notice and began encouraging him to kill, maim and burn even more in the service of his lord until he was considered a seething tower of rage. This might seem counterproductive in the extreme, but eventually Skarbrand got so angry that he tried (and failed) to cheap-shot Khorne himself, [[Just as planned|just as Tzeentch planned]].

Skarbrand's blow that could've split a mountain or killed a nation took only the tiniest of chinks from Khorne's armor and got his attention. Khorne was [[RAGE|somewhat displeased]] with this treachery, and proceeded to choke Skarbrand of all thought or reason (insomuch as a Bloodthirster has either) until all that remained of him was his boundless rage. He then tossed Skarbrand away so hard that he flew for a solid week.

Skarbrand's wings were destroyed by the impact, but he kept on killing indiscriminately in the name of the Blood God. In fact, he's so goddamn angry that he makes everyone near him go crazy with blood-lust too. In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, he kills far more than he did when he was in Khorne's good graces. Then again Khorne can no longer directly command Skarbrand after his banishment, so if Tzeentch didn't push him to the edge; he could have been even more powerful and dangerous than [[An'ggrath]] or [[Angron]], given enough time under Khorne's leadership. It should be noted however, that the Masque of Slaanesh considered Skarbrand to be the only demon powerful enough to destroy arcane defenses guarding the portal to Biel-Tan.

He recently appeared on the fortress world Lutoris Epsilon and caused all the Guardsmen defending the planet to go all 28 Days Later on each other, which makes one wonder why Khorne doesn't just send him to Cadia. Probably the disowning for the whole "tried to kill me" thing. He then butchered his way out of a [[Grey Knight]] ambush on Phaedes Ekron. In his last known appearance, he was unceremoniously one-shot by [[Dante]], being cut in half and sent back to the Warp. Sadface.

That did not last long however, as he appeared in the second Gathering Storm book "teamed up" with [[The Masque|The Masque of Slaanesh]] as part of a bet on who could slaughter the most [[Eldar]] on an Exodite world. Of course, that was all just so The [[Just as planned|Masque could use him]] to break though seals placed on a webway gate [[Just as planned|which led straight]] into [[Biel-Tan|Biel-Tan]] His reaction when he discovered this was reportedly bellowing his scorn for the color green, one of the primary colors of Biel-Tan, before he charged the webway gate to further express his hatred. He joined The Masque in the fighting afterwards (or rather, continued to compete for their bet), but was surprisingly defeated and banished by the craftworld's [[Khaine|Avatar of Khaine]] (we're really just surprised GW didn't decide to use the Avatar as punching bag yet again, to prop up Skarbrand's BBEG levels like what they typically do).

He also appeared on the Blackstone Fortress where [[Roboute Guilliman]] and his Crusade were being held prisoner. After Kairos refused to kill Guilliman due to wanting to spare him for future plans Skarbrand attacked the Fortress with a Khornate Warband so he could take Roboute's skull for Khorne and also because he is repulsed by disagreements. However due to the Black Templar Emperor's Champion sacrificing himself and planting his sword in Skarbrand's chest, Roboute was able to give the Bloodthirster a good beating and escaped.

==On the Tabletop==
Skarbrand is a HQ choice for a Daemons army. He's got the standard 'thirster statline, minus wings. He has a S5 AP- template called "Bellow of Endless Fury" (yes, he's so angry that his roar can kill you) and a pair of axes called Slaughter and Carnage, which have Fleshbane and Armorbane, respectively. Note that this gives you an extra attack for paired CCWs. Plus, every unit, friendly or enemy, within 12" of him gets Rage and Hatred, including himself.
If made the warlord, all his attacks inflict instant death, giving you a ridiculous melee beatstick that will take down pretty much anything you point him at. Nine WS10, I10 hits, rerolling, on the charge that wound on 2s, ignore armor, and inflict instant death? That Wraithknight is done. And all this for less than the cost of a standard Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury.

The problem, of course, is getting there: Skarbrand has no wings to get him into the backfield. Skarbrand hates not being able to fly. A supporting Grimoire of True Names can help him get where he needs to be. And the bricks that an opponent will shit when your Skarbrand rocks a 2++ from Warp Surge + Grimoire is worth every second.

== Trivia ==

*Skarbrand hates trivia.
*Skarbrand hates pants.
*Skarbrand hates signs.
*Skarbrand hates knocking sounds.
*Skarbrand hates going outside.
*Skarbrand also hates going INSIDE.
*Skarbrand hates standing in doorframes slightly less than the above things.
*Skarbrand spends most of his day to day life standing in said-doorframes…and hates that he hates it less.
*Skarbrand hates people touching the gate of Khaine.
*Skarbrand hates traffic jams.
*Skarbrand doesn't appreciate physical contact.
*Skarbrand hates coconut water.
*Skarbrand despises inconveniences.
*Skarbrand hates attacks that hurt him more than they hurt the material.
*Skarbrand hates you.
*Skarbrand dislikes being misinterpreted.
*Skarbrand hates bath time.
*As a respectable member of society, Skarbrand loathes stealing.
*Skarbrand hates people looking at him.
*Skarbrand hates being ignored.
*Skarbrand hates skinny bitches.
*Skarbrand has trouble internalizing his accomplishments. Naturally, he hates it.
*Skarbrand hates the bald, and the balding '''''almost''''' as much.
*Skarbrand hates this list (as it is getting longer).
*Skarbrand hates that thing you like.
*Skarbrand hates named characters and will subsequently beat them to a literal pulp. Whether or not Skarbrand hates himself for being a named character is unknown, as no one has asked Skarbrand this question and survived.
*Skarbrand hates when people project their issues onto him.
*Skarbrand hates charity.
*Skarbrand hates your mum.
*Skarbrand hates cutting his nails.
*Skarbrand hates [[furries]] ([[Space Wolves|both types]]).
*Skarbrand hates noisy theater patrons.
*Skarbrand hates durian.
*Skarbrand hates Erebus.
*Skarbrand <s>fears</s> does not hate Sly Marbo, but hates the distance between them.
*Skarbrand once had a crush on [[Valkia the Bloody]], but Khorne beat him to the kiss. In fact, this may have been the actual reason Skarbrand tried to overthrow Khorne.
*Skarbrand does not hate rye bread, oddly enough.
*But he does hate Sourdough.
*Skarbrand hates most American bread because it’s sweeter than cake.
*Skarbrand hates cyclists.
*Skarbrand hates a small anal circumference.
*Skarbrand hates Covid-19, because that’s got Nurgle written all over it.
*Skarbrand doesn’t appreciate being the Legendary Lord option for Khorne in Total War: Warhammer III, but he accepts it since he hates the other choices more.
*Skarbrand hates da po’lice.
*Skarbrand hates himself.
*Skarbrand would go to therapy for the mentioned self loathing, but he hates it too much.
*Skarbrand hates [[That Guy]].
*Skarbrand hates [[Finecast]].
*Skarbrand ''hates.''
*Skarbrand does <s>not</s> hate the [[Angry Marines]], but hates that he can’t find a suit of their power armor that fits.
*Skarbrand hates that Khorne still does not love him again, despite all his hard and bloody work.
*Skarbrand hates tortilla chips but strangely not those razor sharp shits one takes after eating too many tortilla chips.
*Skarbrand hates that everyone thinks he talks in the third person. Skarbrand knows proper grammar.
*Skarbrand hates sharpening his weapons.
*Skarbrand hates his weapons being blunt.
*Skarbrand hates negotiating.
*Skarbrand hates [[The Advisor]]. But Skarbrand will tolerate him until he led Skarbrand to Ursun.
*Skarbrand hates Ursun. And he will sacrifice his skull and blood to Khorne for forgiveness.
*Skarbrand hates ponies.

==Total War Warhammer==

Skarbrand appears in the third game, representing the followers of Khorne. His faction is the most overpowered of all the Five Daemon factions!

You can take over the map much faster than Taurox!!!

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skarbrand_and_kairos.jpg|Being Skarbrand isn't all fun and games as Kairos explains. It’s mostly misery if anything.
File:Skarbrand.jpg|Skarband hates [[Finecast]]
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}
[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category: Blades of Khorne]]

N'Kari

2022-02-17T21:09:35Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6: /* Total War: WARHAMMER */

[[File:N'kari Aenarion.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Aenarion faces off against N'kari. [[Awesome|Aenarion won.]] [[Grimdark|But only briefly.]]]]
'''N'Kari''' is either a Keeper of Secrets or a Daemon Prince, depending on if you're reading newer or older fluff. She/He (either works, but since Keepers of Secrets are hermaphroditic, it doesn't matter) is notable for appearing in the canon before his/her backstories even happened, as well as swapping her/his [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Warhammer 40k]] backstories around between the two universes and thus is the primary evidence of a multiverse connected to the [[Warp]] after the map of the Realm of Chaos.

N'Kari's name is taken from the villain "Nakari", an evil and seductive queen with sorcerous powers from the Soloman Kane novel "The Moon of Skulls" by Robert Howard (yes, the same guy who wrote [[Conan the Barbarian]]).

== The Legend ([[Warhammer Fantasy]])==
In the Old World, N'kari was never mortal and instead a powerful Keeper of Secrets from primordial times that fought Aenarion the Defender a couple of times, then was struck down by him in the last battle and trapped in the fabric of a magical vortex created by Caledor the Dragontamer and friends to block Chaos from the World. She eventually got out, and to her props even Malekith was on edge about the whole thing. She proceeded to wreak unspeakable carnage in [[Ulthuan]], hunted Aenarion's descendants down to wipe them out and eat their souls as revenge, and tried to destroy the Shrine of [[Asuryan]], but that last one didn't work out too well.

As a result, N'Kari has played Saturday morning cartoon villain to the T&T twins ([[Tyrion]] and [[Teclis]]) ever since, appearing and taunting them, getting an asswhooping (and a corpse-humping from Tyrion most likely), then popping back into the Warp while shrieking about how he will be back and they won't be so lucky next time until the next time actually comes which ends up as just a rinse/repeat of the last time. Malekith did get N'Kari to hunt down Tyrion and the Everqueen for him, but a last minute rescue from Teclis saved them and banished N'Kari again. Since Malekith is Aenarion's son, N'Kari did try to go after him once in Naggarond, but Malekith kicked her ass (even without dragon help) and she never went after him again.

He also made an appearance in [[Warhammer Online]] standing in a fountain staring at the sun, but whatever.

== 40k Version ==
According to latest studies, N'Kari once was a human native of Old Earth, an actress of [[Awesome|dubious morals]] going by the name of Sasha Grey. Such was [[Hot Chicks|the power of lustful pleasure]] associated with her that, eventually, the Warp reflection of her soul [[PROMOTIONS|transformed]] into a sentient being of unimaginable passion and lust. After the realization of her own existence, she instantly sensed the perturbations in the Warp, which was the formation of [[Slaanesh]], and immediately recognized it as her future master. N'Kari then patiently waited for the birth of the new [[Chaos God]] and totally and undoubtedly gave herself to him.

She did some funky stuff after that, and also was at Horus' Battle Barge at the final moments of the Siege of Terra, where she was banished by no other than the [[Emperor|All-Mighty Corpse Emperor]], and was sent back to Slaanesh to have a rape party afterwards. She also fought the Phoenix Lord Asurmen during The Fall, killing him for the first time because his backup, Drastanta, Phoenix Lord of the Shining Spears, was out getting smokes. Fortunately, Drastanta showed up in the nick of time and slew N'kari with his mighty lance before going all emo and go sulk forever.

She also was doing some scavenging on the derelict [[Craftworld]] of Malan'tai, where she was "Om Nom'ing" the Eldar Spirit Stones, until some of those retarded [[Grey Knights|SUPER KNIGHTS OF THE EMPEROR]] swooped in, curbstomped her demonic servants, and then got their asses kicked by N'Kari until something random happened, and she was defeated.

There isn't that much fluff behind her, but <s>we can all assume she's generally badass, or not that badass, like any other Keeper of Secrets, but as they are Greater Daemons of Slaanesh, they're badass, but not as badass as Greater Daemons of other Chaos Gods.</s> any truly interested person surely can find some really cool videos of her human days (though one wonders what would happen if she saw this page?).

It is rumored that the Fifty Shades trilogy were some of her daydreams kept in <s>(she/he/shim?)</s> its diary before N'kari's ascension to daemonhood, and that foul heretic E. L. James (who is secretly an ardent devotee of Slaanesh) found them and decided to spread them in preparation for the corruption of humanity by She-Who-Thirsts. The Inquisition has a standing order that all copies of these obscene texts (and anyone who thinks they are actually novels and not the steaming piles of foul heresy they are) must be shot into the heart of the nearest star straight away. Unfortunately, N'kari has grown even more powerful [[Fail|as there is now a '''trilogy''' of Fifty Shades of Grey movies]]. Appallingly, her literary musings are neither well-written nor interesting nor even [[/d/|particularly deviant]]. The sales figures are conversely monumental, which is only further overwhelming evidence that the tomes are suffused with Slaaneshi magics.

She turns up in the new Horus Heresy book Slaves to Darkness as the consort/plaything for the newly-living-in-the-EyeofTerror Fulgrim. She assumes a fat slob parody of Fulgrim (think snake tail, 4 arms, Fulgrim's face and hair but fat). After Lorgar binds Fulgrim with his true name, N'kari gives him one of her black fangs as a means of semi-permanently binding her.

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

While he hasn't physically made an appearance in the game yet, he has been referenced numerous times in the Eye of the Vortex campaign. He was name dropped in the epilogue of the Lizardmen campaign and revealed to have manipulated Arkhan the Black into conducting a ritual to free him. This was all likely done to hype him up for Warhammer 3. Since then, N'Kari has been confirmed as Slaanesh's leading legendary lord and OH BOY how powerful he is.

He is able to seduce enemy units to fight for him in the battle, vassalize all human and ELF factions plus be a very fast hero-killer!

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:N'kari Aenarion Model.jpg|Now in proper model form!
Image:N'kari Vidya.jpg|N'kari, after having been jerked off by the assembled heroes of the Warhammer World.
Image:Nkari.jpg|N'Kari, doing something random like every Greater Daemon. Today, she's turned herself into wireframe.
Image:Keeper of Secrets.jpg|The stock Forgeworld Keeper of Secrets is actually Zarakynel but is pretty much N'kari. Even if you field more than one, it's just N'kari twice. (S)he's that much of an attention whore.
Image:Total-War-Warhammer-3-Slaanesh-Nkari.jpg|What he/she looks like now.
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}

[[Category: High Elves]]

Saint Celestine

2022-02-17T21:06:29Z

2603:8001:8600:4749:191C:A6DD:F1F8:B9C6:

{{Awesome}}

[[Image:Tze-kun-chin-saint-celestine.jpg|thumb|Right|350px|40k's answer to St. George (although in-canon this was the EMPRAH) and St. Michael the Archangel, but Rule 63'd.]]
{{topquote|Despair, and you give yourself to the shadows. Believe, truly believe in the Emperor of Mankind, and you shall walk in His light no matter how dark the path you tread.|Saint Celestine}}

A mysterious [[Living Saint]] with incredible power, '''Saint Celestine''' is strongly implied to be the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor's]] <s> equivalent of a</s> [[daemon prince]]. She is an angelic figure wreathed in light, best known for her ability to raise the faithful dead [[Troll|(including herself)]] back to life. She seems to be significantly older than she appears, as even [[Inquisitor Greyfax]] recognized her after being locked up in [[Trazyn the Infinite|Trazyn's]] museum for a few centuries. However, [[Inquisition|the complete and utter lack of knowledge of her days as a Battle Sister]] make it nearly impossible to estimate how long she's been around. She's described as being incredibly inspirational, her personality having the perfect blend of strength, charisma, and charity. Even [[Belisarius Cawl]], a near-emotionless arch-magos and by near emotionless we mean OLDER THAN TEN THOUSAND YEARS WITH A GOOD CHUNK OF HIS PERSONALITY UPLOADED TO AN AI NAMED AFTER HIMSELF, felt galvanized in her presence (and given how the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] views the [[Ecclesiarchy]], that's saying something).

==History==
Very little is known of her pre-Saint life, other than she was a [[Sisters Repentia|Repentia]] of the Order of Our Martyred Lady and participated in the Palatine Crusade. After being apparently killed in battle, her body was recovered by her sisters, who found her wounds miraculously healed. Believing this to be a sign of the Emperor's blessing, they placed her in charge of the Imperial forces for the next days attack. After the battle was an unequivocal success, she rapidly rose through the ranks, leading the Imperium to victory time and time again against the heretics, becoming a beacon of inspiration in the process. While the Imperial forces were massing to attack the sector capital, Celestine left the main force, making a pilgrimage to a crypt on the world of Sanctus Lys, which legend said had once been visited by Saint Katherine.

On the dawn of the next day, she emerged from the crypt, wearing the Armor of Saint Katherine and wielding the fiery Ardent Blade. After this, she was officially declared a [[Living Saint]] and went on a heretic-roasting-rampage, first leading the Imperial forces to victory in the Palatine Crusade, and then onto several crusades and wars of faith after. While she had become an icon to Imperial forces everywhere, the [[Sisters of Battle]] held her in particularly high regard. This lasted until she got [[Exterminatus|nuked]] on Forrax by a [[Heresy|traitorous warmaster]]. After presumably burning him to a crisp, the Sisters of Battle were comforted by the fact that she was undoubtedly with the Emperor.

[[Legion of the Damned|And that's when shit got weird.]] Sightings of Celestine began steadily increasing, typically arriving in battles when the forces of the Imperium were at their most desperate, and disappearing before the dust had settled. In particular, she seemed to have a thing for killing [[Daemon Prince|Daemon Princes]].

[[Image:Celestine Fall of Cadia.jpg|thumb|Right|350px|GTFO]]When the 13th Black Crusade hit full swing, Celestine swooped in with a small fleet of Sororitas ships that she'd rescued from the warp to wreck shit and pray to the Emperor (and she'd already said her prayers). After saving Kasr Kraf by [[Awesome|killing the daemon prince leading the chaos assault and throwing his body off the ramparts]], Celestine started doing what she did best, inspiring the hell out of the beleaguered Imperial forces along with her new Geminae Superia bodyguards (twin Canonesses she'd resurrected during the previous battle). All the while she was receiving prophetic dreams, which she believed were from the Emperor warning her of a future danger. During the Battle of the Elysion Fields, she went toe-to-toe with [[Abaddon]] himself, and although Cawl's pylon shenanigans robbed her of the Emperor's blessings, she still managed to hold her own long enough for Cawl and Greyfax to join in and force Abaddon to retreat into orbit. Oh yeah, she also used a power sword to give Failbaddon a [[Awesome|wound he had not been given since the heresy]].

Following the demise of Cadia, Celestine was the one who convinced Cawl and the [[Black Templars]] to head down to Klaisus, using her previously mentioned dreams as a guide. She then led the survivors to the webway portal and on to [[Ultramar]] to resurrect [[Roboute Guilliman]]. Following his resurrection, she played an important role in ensuring his safe arrival to Terra alongside her two [[Belisarius Cawl|new]] [[Inquisitor Greyfax|pals]], even making amends with Greyfax before the Battle of Luna. After Guilliman's arrival on Terra, she went to minister to the people of Terra before departing once again to continue the fight against Chaos.

She later showed up on Tsadrekha to help against the World Eaters, but unfortunately [[Khârn]] sensed her and showed up too. He managed to get the charge on her [[Rip and Tear|(with predictable results)]] and apparently Celestine rolled a 1 on her resurrection roll (or the writer just needed a convenient excuse for her to exit the story) because she didn't come back to life for round 2. Not surprising since she couldn't even kill Abaddon, so pitifull Abby spared her for being weak.

Not surprising since Kharn has only died once against Black Templar Sigismund (a much superior fighter than Celestine) while she has died countless times in 40k. And we are talking about a Berserker who CHARGES AND SLAUGHTERS ENTIRE GUARD REGIMENTS ON HIS OWN!!!

Furthermore, Kharn has only gotten stronger post-Heresy. As Azrael found out the hard way when he barely survived fighting the Betrayer.

In the audio drama ''Our Martyred Lady'' Celestine is caught in the middle of a political dispute between Inquisitor Greyfax and the Ecclesiarch Decius who in the wake of the Great Rift wants to rescind the Decree Passive and allow men to fight with the Sisters of Battle by reforming the [[Frateris Templar]] to increase to power of the Ecclesiarchy. Throughout the drama, Celestine is conflicted about being used as a political figure when a Lord of Change blows up the largest cathedral in the Imperial Palace on Terra and the headquarters of the Ecclesiarchy. Celestine saves Decius by flying out the window with him seconds before he is incinerated by an out of control psyker. The rest of the drama has Greyfax, Celestine, and a Custodian named Longinus uncovering the plot to kill Decius and finds the lost Abbess of the Sisters of Battle fighting daemons on the planet of San Leor where she has been for over a hundred years when it was lost in a warp storm when the Great Rift was formed. As they journey back to Terra they are assaulted by the Alpha Legion and a Lord of Change attempts to sacrifice Celestine's body and soul to pass over into the material world. [[Inquisitor Greyfax|Greyfax]] tells Longinus to kill Celestine knowing she will come back. Her resurrection is enough to awe even a Custodian. The experience convinces Celestine that her faith and powers are more important than to be used as mere propaganda tool by the power-hungry [[Ecclesiarchy#Organisation|Ecclesiarch]] and summarily executes him for his crimes against the God-Emperor.

In Andy Clark's [https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/novels/celestine-ebook-2019.html Celestine book,] the actual process of her resurrections were described in detail. Every time she dies, she wakes up half naked in the warp. In order to come back, she has to find herself again by piecing together her armour, which is scattered on a mountain [[Grimdark|made up of her own skeletons.]] Every time she dies, another skeleton is added to the pile. Guided by the faint sensation of the Emperor's light, she travels through the nightmarish realm in a totally not [[Berserk]] way, finding parts of personality, confronting her doubts and fears, and purging any daemons she runs into along the way. Finally, [[Awesome|she strikes a deal with the Emperor,]] offering her service yet again in exchange for the safety of a small girl in the warp, a representation of her hope. Hope that she could rest in that final, peaceful realm she visited in her trials. At the end of the whole ordeal, she is inevitably sent to a battlefield of Big E's choice to make a grand entrance there.

==On the Subject of Wings==
A problem that plagued Celestine and [[Fags of 4chan|sisterfags]] for years was the disparity between her model and her official artwork. Normally, when Games Workshop produces a new unit for a codex, they make the model first and then give it to an artist so that the picture matches the source material. This was not the case with Celestine, and the artist and modellers were working completely independently of each other. As a result, she had this awesome artwork portraying her as a magnificent angelic figure, and a miniature that had her floating with some cherubim holding her cape up. It even included an idiotic-looking mini-jump pack under the cloak. Thankfully, her new model does not have this issue.

==On The Tabletop==

{| class=wikitable
! || Power || Points || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Saint Celestine:''' || 8 || 160 || 12" || 2+ || 2+ || 3 || 3 || 6 || 6 || 9 || 2+/4++
|-
| '''Geminae Superia:''' || 2/model || 25/model || 12" || 3+ || 3+ || 3 || 3 || 2 || 3 || 9 || 3+/6++
|}

'''Keywords:''' Character, Infantry, Jump Pack, Fly

Before Chapter Approved 2018, Celestine was one of the best [[Distraction Carnifex]] units in the game, a nigh-unkillable juggernaut whose badass sword, free act of faith, and resurrection abilities made her a killing machine. In the grim darkness of Chapter Approved 2018 however, she's... okay. Her statline is mostly the same (minus a wound), and like before, she can resurrect with full health on a 2+. Offensively, Celestine is still a beast. Her sword is +4 Strength, -3 AP and 2 damage while also being a Heavy Flamer. With 6 attacks, she is sure to deal some damage. Instead of giving a free Act of Faith... she gets no replacement rule and GW just took away one of the best reasons to take her, especially now that Acts of Faith work differently. Saintly Blessings still increases nearby Shield of Faith saves by +1, which means Seraphim get a 4++ save, and still gives nearby Ministorum and Astra Militarum units a 6+ invulnerable save. On the downside, they inexplicably removed the Geminae Superia, making them their own unit. This might make ''some'' sense if they also did something to make the Geminae stand out on their own (they are [[Canoness|Canonesses]] after all), but they're functionally the same as they were when with Celestine; the only difference is that they can Look Out, Sir! for her on a 2+.

This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for our favorite <s>[[daemon prince]]</s> {{BLAM}} [[Living Saint|living saint]]. Separating Celestine from the Geminae ''drastically'' reduces her survivability. Not only does it effectively drop her wound count, but it can easily lead to situations where Celestine makes a charge, but the Geminae don't, or vice versa. In the former case, this makes Celestine much easier to kill, especially if she's fighting [[Assault Terminators|a unit that can actually cause her trouble]]. In the latter case, you get stuck with the Gemniae's dinky S3 power swords while the real melee heavyweight gets sidelined. All of this, combined with the fact that Celestine can't deep strike in this edition, encourages you to play much more cautiously with her. Whereas before she could reliably run around on her own, now it's a good idea to have some Seraphim rolling around with her to keep enemies from shooting her, and you have to be much more careful about charges now.

And before you ask, no: the 2019 codex didn't change anything. She gained Sacred Rites, but did ''not'' gain Order bonuses. Pray to the Emperor that [[Games Workshop|GW]] realizes the error in their ways and repents before it is too late!

===7th Edition===
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Saint Celestine:''' || 200 || 7 || 7 || 3 || 3 || 5 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 2+\4++
|-
| '''Eleanor\Genevieve:''' || As Above || 5 || 4 || 3 || 3 || 2 || 4 || 2 || 10 || 3+\4++
|}

Celestine is arguably the best [[Distraction Carnifex]] in the entire game. Seriously, it's nigh-impossible to put her down. For starters, She's an Eternal Warrior with 5 wounds, a 2+ armor save, and a 4+ invulnerable save. In addition to that, she's got two 2-wound [[canoness]] bodyguards who have 3+ armor and share her invulnerable save. Should one or more of them die, one will automatically respawn at the beginning of each of Celestine's turns. On top of all that, assuming you actually manage to chew through 9 total wounds, she can resurrect with all wounds and res one of her bodyguards once per game with a successful leadership test.

Alright, so she's functionally unkillable, her offensive capabilities can't be great, right? Nope, with a S5 AP3 Armorbane sword/heavy flamer and the ability to call orbital bombardment, she can be a murder-machine as well. Add her ability to buff nearby Imperial units and you have one of the best HQs in the game. And the best part? She's 200 points. For less than any of [[Dante|The]] [[Logan Grimnar|Big]] <s> [[Marneus Calgar|Three]] </s> [[Roboute Guilliman|Four]], you get a unit that is nearly unkillable, and packs a decent punch to boot. Bring her to battles and send her straight at the biggest, scariest enemy unit. Even if she doesn't beat it, she's all but guaranteed to keep it tied down for the entire game. Her main weaknesses are [[Deep Strike|deep strike]] mishaps, [[Assault Terminators|heavy assault troops]], and [[Lukas the Trickster|"remove with no saves allowed"]] weapons, so be even more wary of those than usual.

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Celestine 2e.jpg|Her old model
Image:Celestine 7e.jpg|Her shiny new model
Image:Celestine 7e Close-up.jpg
Image:Geminae Superia Close-up.jpg|The Geminae Superia
Image:Celestine and her girls.jpg|Celestine chilling with her girls
Image:Celestine Art Card.png|thumb|Right|350px|Now you fucked up
Image:Triumverate of the Imperium.png|Celestine with [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]] and [[Inquisitor Greyfax|Greyfax]] during the [[Black Crusade|13th Black Crusade]], yeah, religion, science and government in the 40k millennium...
Image:Fall of Cadia End.png|After the fall of Cadia
Image:Saintmage.jpg|Back when she was a blonde
Image:Celestine Art 1.jpg|I summon my bird!
Image:Celestine Art 2.jpg
Image:Sanguinius-celestine.jpg|Of late and thanks in part to TTS, Celestine has been paired with the Sanguinor/Sanguinius. This particular drawing already existed however.
Image:Thiccerine.jpg|Celestine reminds the imperial citizens the human species never really needed extra-heresy to begin with, the dummies.
Image:Saint-celestine-cant-be.jpg|Even she can sometime be feed up with Emprah's rampant aspie.

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==External Links==
*[https://regimental-standard.com/2016/12/28/join-the-righteous/ Celestine in The Regimental Standard]
*[https://imgur.com/gallery/4gF5umC Celestine in cosplay] [[Awesome|(and actually done right)]]
*[https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/new/celestine-ebook-2019.html Her very own book!]
*[https://www.blacklibrary.com/audio/warhammer-40000-audiobooks/our-martyred-lady-mp3-box-set-cs-2018.html Our Martyred Lady, which she co-stars in alongside] [[Inquisitor Greyfax|Catherine Tate]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml-KIjYw2Oo Why Celestine disappears after her work there is done]

{{Sororitas-Characters}}

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Sisters of Battle]]