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Chaos Cruiser

2020-09-23T14:39:27Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD: /* Slaughter */

Making up the majority of [[Chaos]] fleets, '''Cruisers''' are medium-sized warships known for their speed and maneuverability. Able to function independently for long periods, Cruisers usually function as raiders for the Traitor fleets, striking deep into Imperial territory to cause havoc. As opposed to the rest of the Chaos ships, which usually function as raiders for the Traitor fleets, striking deep into Imperial territory to cause havoc.

During fleet actions Cruisers will screen the approach of their fleet in conjunction with their Escorts. Once the battle starts in earnest however, these ships will join the battle line, and contribute their firepower to single out targets of opportunity.

==Cruiser Classes==
===Basic===
====Murder====

[[File:BFGAMurder.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Replace me not.]]

Once the Cruiser of choice before the ''Lunar''-class went into production, the '''Murder'''-class was armed by the best Plasma cannons that the Mechanicus could provide. Formidable at range, and equipped with powerful engines, a disproportionate number of ships of this class went Traitor in the millennia leading to the [[Gothic War]], ''what a coinkadink!''

In battle, the Murder class is a formidable foe. The Murder is armed with powerful mid-ranged Macro plasma broadsides, while a long-ranged [[Lance]] battery is mounted on the prow. The Murder-class is even more deadly when working in groups, as the combined firepower of several ships is enough to bring down even a Battleship, such as when three craft destroyed the Relentless Persecution near the end of the Gothic War.

It is armed overall, with 1 Double-Barrel Heavy Lance Artillery and 4 Macro Battery Weapons.

*'''Length:''' 5km

====Emasculator====
[[File:15099678_f1024.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Otherwise known as the Cuck Ship.]]
The funnily-named Emasculator is a mix-weapon Cruiser whose name wouldn't be out of place for the cuckoldry of [[Slaanesh]].

Weapons wise, it's really not that different from the Slaughter, just instead of having the merged weapon bays, they are distinct and separate, which seems to somehow drop it's overall damage output somewhat. In addition, not having the merged weapon bays, while making things easier to read stat wise due to the way info is displayed in-game, you lose some redundancy with the Emsaculator compared to the Slaughter, since destruction of a weapon bay here means losing all Lances or Macros on one side of the ship, as opposed to the loss being an even split with the merged bays.

On the plus side, the Emasculator is the only Chaos Cruiser with a heavy armored prom section, granting any hits that come from the front a better damage reduction. This comes at the cost of engine speed however, and might not be as useful of a trade-off to most people, since Chaos ships like to spend most of their time making circling broadside attacks at long ranges, and not presenting their front armor.

It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Macro Battery Weapons, 2 Double-Barrel Lance Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.

*'''Length:''' 5km

===Carrier===
====Devastation====

[[File:BFGADevastation.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Death from afar.]]

A Carrier class, the '''Devastation'''-class carries two Launch Bays, which are supplemented by long-ranged [[Lance]] broadsides, and a prow Macro Weapons battery. A fairly versatile and self-sufficient class that is more in line a with a Carrier-Battleship than a true carrier.

In the games, the Devastation takes the spot for your "lance-heavy" Cruiser while also bringing launch bays for squadrons, which if you aren't aware, Bombers can penetrate armor with their attacks too, complimenting your lances as long as you can get another carrier to deploy interceptors or otherwise find a way of guaranteeing their safety to their target.

Without the benefit of reload orders affecting your lances, keep this ship in lock-on orders to give its macros greater range so it can engage with its full compliment at 13,500 points.

It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Launch Bays, 2 Double-Barrel Heavy Lance Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.

*'''Length:''' 5km

===Ordnance-boat===
====Carnage====

[[File:BFGACarnage.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Not unlucky at all, nope.]]

A ship with a ''very'' bad rep and considered a sign of ''very'' bad luck for loyalists.

Designed as support ships, the '''Carnage'''-class' role was to provide fire support for other ships with its long-ranged guns. The Carnage class was ill-fated from the start. First, much division was caused within Battlefleet Obscurus by the myriad technical problems with its weaponry, such as the difficulty providing power to its weapons.

What's more, the very first Carnage class cruiser, the Relentless, would earn the new name Initiate of Skalathrax after [[Heresy|turning traitor]] during the Skalathrax Landing and [[Extra Heresy|destroying half of the convoy it was guarding.]] Due to this cursed reputation, the ship made it an object of contention within the [[Imperial Navy]].

An Ordinance-boat, the Carnage was armed with mid and long-ranged Macro Weapons Battery broadsides, and carried another Macro battery on the prow.

It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Macro Battery Weapons, 2 Heavy Macro Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Super Heavy Missile Turret.

*'''Length:''' 5km

====Slaughter====
[[File:BFGASlaughter.jpg|300px|thumb|right|KILLFRENZY KILLFRENZY KILLFRENZY.]]
The Lamborghini of Chaos Cruisers.

The fastest Cruiser-class available to Chaos forces, the '''Slaughter'''-class gets its speed from the Scartix Coil, an experimental drive system. When one of the ships went Traitor, the engine designs were destroyed, leaving the Imperium unable to replicate it.

The Slaughter is armed with short-ranged [[Lance]] and Macro cannon broadsides, and a Macro weapons battery mounted on the prow. Configured as a close-ranged brawler, the Slaughter takes advantage of its high speeds to close into its foes, unload its guns, then quickly escape any return fire.

It is unknown if the Dark Mechanicus could still replicate and create more of these Scartix Coils, however.

It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 4 Merged Macro Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.

*'''Length:''' 5km

===Lance-boat===
====Inferno====
[[File:InfernoClass.jpg|300px|right|thumb|More troubled than it looks.]]

The Inferno Class Cruiser is a class of Cruiser used by the Forces of Chaos.

It is a troubled ship like most Great Crusade-era ships.

Believed to be an early design and a later counterpart of the Carnage-Class, it was marred by technical difficulties including maintaining and powering its long-range weaponry. As a result, the class was quickly supplanted by more modern designs in the Imperial Navy.

A small number of these crafts turned renegade before they were removed from service in M35, and have since joined Chaos-affiliated fleets. Chaos probably got around the technical issues with Space [[Bullshit]].

*'''Length:''' 5km

==In Battlefleet Gothic==

Cruisers are the backbone of any player's fleet. Modestly-priced points-wise, there's enough variety among the ships available to Chaos to fill any fleet role. In general, Chaos Cruisers are much faster than their [[Imperial Navy Cruiser|Imperial counterparts]] and, barring the Slaughter-class, have longer weapon ranges.

As with all things related to Chaos, Cruisers may be commanded by [[Chaos Lord]]s, which grants access to Marks of Chaos. In turn, they can also be crewed by [[Chaos Space Marines]] for additional cost (which ''then'' allows access to Chaos Terminators).

A fleet can include up to a dozen cruisers as part of its list.

==In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2==

As a bit of a counter to Imperial vessels, Chaos Cruisers are much faster, and lean more toward longer-ranged attacks. Their Boarding capabilities are... decent, as far as Chaos goes, but don't write home about it.

That little detail aside, much like in the tabletop game, Cruisers are cheap and are used to mostly fill out your fleet list.
{{40k-Chaos-Ships}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Battlefleet Gothic]]
[[Category:Chaos]]
[[Category:Fleets of Chaos]]
[[Category:Chaos Space Marines]]

Hoplite

2020-09-23T12:22:45Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD:

[[Image:300Leonidas.jpg|300px|right|thumb|What [[/tv/|300]] thinks hoplites looked like]]
[[Image:HopliteArt.jpg|300px|right|thumb|What they actually looked like]]
'''Hoplites''' (pronounced hop-li-tes, not hoplights) were ancient Greek Citizen soldiers. In your average ancient Greek City State (Polis), every citizen who could afford weapons was required to buy weapons and practice with them. Poor people either became rowers manning oars or Peltasts, light soldiers armed with slings, bows and Javelins to harass enemy formations or they were shunted to the rear of a formation leaving the richer and more well equipped soldiers to be up front and bear the brunt of the enemy attack. Rich people became light cavalry who scouted things out and chase down Peltasts and fleeing soldiers. Middle class people became Hoplites, the main force of the Army. When a war was declared or an enemy decided to attack some of these guys would gather up, vote on a leader and march off to war.

The main exceptions to this rule were the [[Spartans|Spartan]] Spartiates and the Sacred band of Thebes, both being forces of professional full-time Hoplites. For Spartans, every single citizen was expected to be a full-time professional soldier trained from childhood (they had LOTS of slaves to do all the other work), allowing them to be widely feared despite not having the biggest armies. The Sacred Band, meanwhile, was an elite shock unit of 150 [[gay|male couples]] - the logic being that you'd fight harder if your lover was in the same unit as you. Apparently it worked, as they were able to go toe-to-toe with Sparta, and it took the new Macedonian armies to defeat them. In both cases, they held the advantage because, as professional soldiers, they were disciplined as hell, which is pretty crucial when you're playing the world's deadliest game of chicken. Most battles between hoplites were rarely to the death; the battle would end as soon as one side lost their nerve and broke ranks to rout, rarely resulting in more than 20% casualties. If your side doesn't flinch and just walks right up to the enemy, there's a good chance that the enemy will just chicken out and run.

== Greek Weapons and Tactics ==
Hoplites got their name from the Hoplon, a round wooden [[shield]] with a bronze covering about a meter in diameter. Their main weapons were a three meter long [[spear]], a short [[sword]], and a dagger. Hoplites usually wore bronze [[helmet]]s and had breastplates made of leather, padded linen or bronze, as well as having grieves and bracers. Poorer hoplites had lower quality armor than their better off counterparts.

Hoplites fought in tight square formations called phalanxes, each man protecting the other two guys to his side while being highly resistant to the projectiles since the greeks did not have longbows or high powered crossbows that were man portable. Running into a phalanx meant running into a wall of spears held by well defended guys, and was generally considered suicide unless you were in a bigger Phalanx. In phalanx on phalanx fights, they would ram into each other until one side broke formation either through casualties or a few guys panicking and deciding to run away. If that happened the rest of them would very soon run away as quickly themselves as possible and they would have lost. That was how most battles ended and usually one side broke before more than 10% losses were inflicted. As such two most important qualities for hoplites are discipline and fortitude.

== Macedonian Weapons and Tactics==
However the masters of Phalanx warfare were the Macedonians under king Philip II and his son son Alexander the Great. Under Philip the Macedonia Phalanx did away with the Hoplon and instead doubled the size of the spear to six meters, thus turning it into a pike, they also wore lighter armor for more speed. These longer spears allowed men in the ranks behind the front row to also bring their spears to bear, meaning that if an enemy got past the first spear, he still had four more spears to get past to even reach the man in the first row. The Macedonia's were armed with a Kopis short sword if, somehow, the enemy got though the wall of pike heads to get to them. The difference were so great that the Macedonia's pikemen were not called Hoplites, but "Sarissaphoroi", named after there weapon the Sarissa, but most modern accounts just call them pikemen since that's what they are.

Much more importantly than better gear, however, the Macedonian Phalanx was not used as the only formation on the field but as a part of a wider formation in an antique demonstration of combined-arms tactics. Under Macedonia tactics the heavy phalanx would lead the way and hold the enemy in place while heavy cavalry in wedge formation would swing into the flank(s), break the enemy formation and allow the Hypaspists (smaller formations of elite infantry who were armed like greek hoplites who were stationed to either side of the Phalanx to defend its flanks) to charge forward and break the enemy once and for all. The Hypaspists themselves were supported by lighter infantry and/or bowmen and slingers on their sides whose job was to keep the enemy from flanking the heavy hitters.

Additionally the Macedonians were fast. The Macedonian pike men marched in a loose formation, then came together only when the enemy was near, they wore lighter armor and this was coupled with a minimal baggage train. This meant that the Macedonians could cover ground much faster than other armies, and they could often make an enemy surrender simply by arriving to a battlefield days before they were expected.

This combined forces tactical approach would later be perfected after being abandoned for over 1500 years by the Spanish who combined pikemen with early handguns, combining firepower to harass the enemy at range and scare away its outriders with the fearsome wall of pikes to keep the heavy hitters at bay. The Spaniards used their ''tercios'' to dominate European land warfare until cannons precise enough to reliably hit the infantry squares were fielded and compact formations became suicidal.

==The Problem with Hoplites==
There are four, or rather five, issues with Hoplites. First is like any nonprofessional army there are some times of the year they just will not fight, namely fall when the citizens need to go home to harvest crops or starve (or in the case of Sparta, who were professional soldiers, they couldn't go too far away from home to prevent slave revolts, as slaves were always in higher abundance than Spartiates even when all Spartiates were at home). The second issue with Hoplites is that the Phalanx has trouble keeping formation over rough ground, and without the formation a Hoplite is almost completely out matched by most other infantry types since the other guy can just get within the spears reach and use his axe to split a Hoplite in half. The third issue with the Phalanx is that it disintegrates if flanked, the spears become useless and the tightly packed formation means it's hard for the men to escape or readjust facing to combat the new threat (think about how hard it is to swivel a pole taller than you while trying not to bump into a dense crowd). Fourth issue is that due to the phalanx being designed around not only protecting yourself but also the one on your left with your shield (hence their size), the right side of the phalanx is vulnerable as naturally, the guy on the right only has his own shield to protect himself with. The fifth really big problem with the Hoplites, and their biggest issue, was nothing with the Hoplites themselves, and more their commanders. After Alexander the Great's 8 year whirlwind tour of the known world, the Macedonian combined arms approach to warfare was dropped in favor of just having big phalanxes, and since everyone was just using Phalanxes this was not a problem. But when the Roman manipular system of battle (80-man companies who can make independent calls on the battlefield famously called "''A phalanx with joints''") came into fruition, along with the revolutionary quinqux formation (checkerboard formation that allows reserves to fill in the gaps created by lines, and for entire units to cycle through with the reduced risk of fatigue), the unsupported phalanxes found themselves outmaneuvered and outmatched.

==Hoplites in Speculative Fiction==
Despite the issues with hoplites in real life, their badass aesthetic has led to continued appearances in multiple [[/tg/]]-related properties.

*The Unsullied from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] were armed like Hoplites and fought in a Hoplite manner, though instead of being citizen militia they are Eunuch slaves [[Death Korps of Krieg|trained from childhood be unflinchingly loyal to their masters and extremely disciplined]]. The Legions of New Ghis are closer to Hoplites, being armed in the same way but being citizen soldiers.
*The Phalanx Soldier is a [[Fighter]] Archetype from [[Pathfinder]] which tries to emulate real hoplites' style of combat by allowing the fighter to wield a two-handed spear or polearm one handed while using a shield. This makes the fighter very good at striking enemies before they even have a chance to attack him in close combat while staying very well defended.
*In [[Warhammer 40,000]], the [[Titans]] of the [[Adeptus Titanicus]] are protected from enemy infantry by a special division of [[Skitarii]] called the [[Secutarii|Secutarii Titan Guard]]. One of the troops they field are called Secutarii Hoplites, which are brainwashed cyborg-soldiers with [[Awesome|mag-inverter shields and arc lances]], making them formidable opponents to any who might try to [[Orks|loot a fallen titan]].
*Additionally, pretty much any spec fiction setting that involves Greeks or Greek-inspired aesthetics is almost guaranteed to have at least a few elements of hoplites in their soldiery. In particular, [[Amazon]]s are often portrayed with this aesthetic when [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles|they're not being portrayed as savages who live in the jungle]].
* Both the [[Arkadia]] and [[Odyssey of the Dragonlords]] settings have a Hoplite themed subclass for the [[Fighter]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], with Odyssey also having one for the [[Monk]] as well.

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
Image:Hoplites 1.jpg
Image:Hoplites 2.jpg
Image:Hoplites 3.jpg
Image:Hoplites 4.jpg
Image:Hoplites 5.jpg
Image:Hoplites 6.jpg
Image:Hoplites 7.jpg
Image:Hoplitearmor.jpg
Image:Hoplites 8.jpg|A hoplite fighting some [[centaurs]]
Image:Athena.jpg|The Greek goddess Athena wearing hoplite-inspired armor
Image:Amazons Greek.jpg|[[Amazon|Amazons]] [[Rape|doing what they do best]]
Image:Phalanx2.jpg|A Macedonian phalanx viewed from the side, showing how it was organised and illustrating the main strength and weakness of the Phalanx. No, the length of the sarissae is not exaggerated.
Image:Phalanx.jpg|As you can see, the best way to deal with these was to charge from the front
Image:Hoplite Helmets.jpg|Some ancient Greek helmet designs
Image:Unsullied.jpg|The aforementioned Unsullied as they appeared in [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]
Image:Secutarii Hoplites.jpg|[[Secutarii|Secutarii Hoplites]] from [[Warhammer 40,000]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[category:history]]

Classical Period

2020-09-23T12:13:29Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD: /* The appeal of the Classical Period */

[[File:Life in ancient rome.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Life in Ancient Rome]]
In the Mediterranean world/fertile crescent the [[Bronze Age]] is often said to have ended rather abruptly in a massive calamity called ''The Late Bronze Age Collapse''. Advanced civilizations which had cities, written language, mathmatics and fine products that had stood for thousands of years were swept away or faced major setbacks rather suddenly around the 12th century BCE. Exactly why this happened is [[skub|a matter of contention]] and probably not just one thing (crop failure, foreign invaders [often called "The Sea People"], civil unrest and compounding breakdowns were most likely part of it) but regardless the result of which was that society took a fair number of steps back. But things bounced back as a new set of civilizations came about, though considerably different ones from what came before in Greece, the Levant and Italy around 800 BCE or so. Thus began the '''Classical Period'''.

The Classical Period is the time of the Greek City States and the [[Roman Empire|Roman Republic and Empire]] and lasted to about the fifth century CE. What started out as a few minor city states here and there grew into civilizations which would flourish in art, philosophy, engineering, architecture, medicine and more. While many of these states would have Kings at various points in their history, there was also a fair deal of experimentation with various forms of elected government. Even as the classical period would come to an end with the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

The Classical Period is firmly the '''Iron Age'''. Iron had been worked before, Meteoric iron had been worked every now and again for thousands of years and occasionally a few skilled craftsmen in the Bronze Age could make a few bits of it even though it was brittle and expensive and mostly used as a sign of status (king Tut was buried with an iron dagger for such reasons). Near the Bronze Age Collapse the Hittites had begun smelting and working iron on a larger scale for more practical purposes such as tools and weapons, but it was only after the collapse that Iron Working really became common. Iron has a higher melting point than copper and the wood fired furnaces of the Bronze Age just were not up to the task of processing it in meaningful amounts. If you make a large tube furnace, feed it charcoal, iron ore and oxygen with bellows, you can get it just hot enough to end up with lumps of semi-molten iron goo that can be forged. Regular iron was comparable to bronze in quality for many purposes, but unlike bronze which required two rarer metals that you often had to trade for, iron ore was common as muck. Even so, bronze still found a fair bit of use well into the classical period. After all, the big deal about iron swords is not that they are ''better'' than bronze ones absolutely speaking, but now everyone in your army can easily have one.

== Notes ==
* This whole deal is a western thing. In [[China]] and India and so forth things were going along their own paths removed from all this. Though it should be pointed out that roughly around the same time that Rome existed, the Qin and Han dynasties United China for the first time, being their equivalent of a “foundational” regime that would set political and cultural precedents for centuries to come. Before the west was done with this era though, the Han collapsed and China entered the bloody Three Kingdoms period before being formed into the Jin dynasty.
* During this time in Japan the Yayoi peroid (starting around 1,000 BCE) happened as migrating people from the mainland came to the island chain assimilating the earlier semi-agricultural Jomon peoples and is considered the start of Japanese Civilization as we'd know it.
* Writing became more common during this time period. Beforehand in the bronze age literacy was the domain of scribes and a few priests and nobles and existed primarily for purposes of administration first and religious purposes second. In the classical world it was fairly common for men and women of some means to know their letters and using them much more widely. Probably because the Phonecians developed the basics of phonetic writing during the Dark Age and it's easier to learn a few dozen symbols that represent short sounds than hundreds of symbols which represent syllables and words. Literacy would decline after the classical period
* Navies emerged as states realized the advantages of traveling over water as opposed to land.
* Philosophy and political science were at the fore. Every conceivable society was attempted, from Athenian democracy, to monarchies and oligarchies, Rome's landed citizen republic, the theocratic dynasties in Egypt, and the brutal warrior-communes of Sparta. Every society was aware of the growing masses in the cities and the need to keep the populace placated, whether through expanding franchise, brutal tyranny, manipulative privation, brazen demagoguery, ''panem et circenses'', or a combination thereof.
* The iconic marble statues were originally painted with colorful paints. The paints have just decayed much quicker than the stone they covered.

== The appeal of the Classical Period ==
Frankly the modern world has a serious Boner for this period. The link we have to the Bronze Age cultures is a bit tenuous at best, but The West sees the Greeks and the Romans as our fore bearers. People like the idea of Greek Philosophers discussing and debating the nature of the world and morality, of Romans forging order from chaos, spreading civilization and building magnificent buildings that stand to this day, Athenian Democracy and Spartan military excellence. Of course that view is overly romantic and overlooks the nastier side of the period, from [[slavery]] to rampant xenophobia and sexism (especially with the Greeks) to the fact that this could be a rather brutal period with a lot of pig headed stupidity at the time. Many people have tried to emulate the better notions and build on them.

It helps that we actually have a fair bit of information about this time from first hand accounts. Historians have to parse through a smattering of tablets and decorations on walls for the Bronze Age, much of which they can't read. In this period we have a good index of this time period, from Greek poems and plays to biographies and histories. Even if said writings aren't very objective, they makes filling in the blanks a hell of a lot easier and gives us insights into a lot of different people which means we have a lot of characters to get insights on how people got along back then.

Finally there is something of a mix the modern and the ancient in the Classical Age that you don't get in the medieval period. In Rome people lived in apartment blocks, had sewers to take away their filth, had theaters and coliseums to keep them distracted, and (if they had said status) had a conception of their role in society as citizens with legal rights and listened to political rhetoric and heard satire that's not too different from what someone in a first world country would hear as opposed to how a medieval peasant or knight would. Bob-every-Roman puts in a hard day's work selling olive oil so that when game day comes around he can go down to the arena with his bros, drink wine and bet on the gladiators.

Mind you this stuff existed in a world where slavery was a normal part of life, having criminals fight to the death was seen as prime penology (and good entertainment) and people sacrificed sheep so that next years' grape crops would yield a prime vintage was a regular part of religious life.

== Classical Period inspired Games, Factions and Settings ==
The Elder Scrolls: The Cyrodiilic Empire is inspired, mostly, by that of Rome, right on down to the naming customs and military organization. Their government, however, appears to be much more of a centralized absolute monarchy as opposed to Rome's forms of government even in the late Imperial era, as there were very few cases of Emperors being created by right of birth (the ones that were almost always sucked as a rule)

== See Also ==
* [[Roman Empire]]
* [[Hoplite]]

{{Skub}}
{{Time Periods}}
[[Category: History]]

Classical Period

2020-09-23T12:10:48Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD:

[[File:Life in ancient rome.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Life in Ancient Rome]]
In the Mediterranean world/fertile crescent the [[Bronze Age]] is often said to have ended rather abruptly in a massive calamity called ''The Late Bronze Age Collapse''. Advanced civilizations which had cities, written language, mathmatics and fine products that had stood for thousands of years were swept away or faced major setbacks rather suddenly around the 12th century BCE. Exactly why this happened is [[skub|a matter of contention]] and probably not just one thing (crop failure, foreign invaders [often called "The Sea People"], civil unrest and compounding breakdowns were most likely part of it) but regardless the result of which was that society took a fair number of steps back. But things bounced back as a new set of civilizations came about, though considerably different ones from what came before in Greece, the Levant and Italy around 800 BCE or so. Thus began the '''Classical Period'''.

The Classical Period is the time of the Greek City States and the [[Roman Empire|Roman Republic and Empire]] and lasted to about the fifth century CE. What started out as a few minor city states here and there grew into civilizations which would flourish in art, philosophy, engineering, architecture, medicine and more. While many of these states would have Kings at various points in their history, there was also a fair deal of experimentation with various forms of elected government. Even as the classical period would come to an end with the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

The Classical Period is firmly the '''Iron Age'''. Iron had been worked before, Meteoric iron had been worked every now and again for thousands of years and occasionally a few skilled craftsmen in the Bronze Age could make a few bits of it even though it was brittle and expensive and mostly used as a sign of status (king Tut was buried with an iron dagger for such reasons). Near the Bronze Age Collapse the Hittites had begun smelting and working iron on a larger scale for more practical purposes such as tools and weapons, but it was only after the collapse that Iron Working really became common. Iron has a higher melting point than copper and the wood fired furnaces of the Bronze Age just were not up to the task of processing it in meaningful amounts. If you make a large tube furnace, feed it charcoal, iron ore and oxygen with bellows, you can get it just hot enough to end up with lumps of semi-molten iron goo that can be forged. Regular iron was comparable to bronze in quality for many purposes, but unlike bronze which required two rarer metals that you often had to trade for, iron ore was common as muck. Even so, bronze still found a fair bit of use well into the classical period. After all, the big deal about iron swords is not that they are ''better'' than bronze ones absolutely speaking, but now everyone in your army can easily have one.

== Notes ==
* This whole deal is a western thing. In [[China]] and India and so forth things were going along their own paths removed from all this. Though it should be pointed out that roughly around the same time that Rome existed, the Qin and Han dynasties United China for the first time, being their equivalent of a “foundational” regime that would set political and cultural precedents for centuries to come. Before the west was done with this era though, the Han collapsed and China entered the bloody Three Kingdoms period before being formed into the Jin dynasty.
* During this time in Japan the Yayoi peroid (starting around 1,000 BCE) happened as migrating people from the mainland came to the island chain assimilating the earlier semi-agricultural Jomon peoples and is considered the start of Japanese Civilization as we'd know it.
* Writing became more common during this time period. Beforehand in the bronze age literacy was the domain of scribes and a few priests and nobles and existed primarily for purposes of administration first and religious purposes second. In the classical world it was fairly common for men and women of some means to know their letters and using them much more widely. Probably because the Phonecians developed the basics of phonetic writing during the Dark Age and it's easier to learn a few dozen symbols that represent short sounds than hundreds of symbols which represent syllables and words. Literacy would decline after the classical period
* Navies emerged as states realized the advantages of traveling over water as opposed to land.
* Philosophy and political science were at the fore. Every conceivable society was attempted, from Athenian democracy, to monarchies and oligarchies, Rome's landed citizen republic, the theocratic dynasties in Egypt, and the brutal warrior-communes of Sparta. Every society was aware of the growing masses in the cities and the need to keep the populace placated, whether through expanding franchise, brutal tyranny, manipulative privation, brazen demagoguery, ''panem et circenses'', or a combination thereof.
* The iconic marble statues were originally painted with colorful paints. The paints have just decayed much quicker than the stone they covered.

== The appeal of the Classical Period ==
Frankly the modern world has a serious Boner for this period. The link we have to the Bronze Age cultures is a bit tenuous at best, but The West sees the Greeks and the Romans as our fore bearers. People like the idea of Greek Philosophers discussing and debating the nature of the world and morality, of Romans forging order from chaos, spreading civilization and building magnificent buildings that stand to this day, Athenian Democracy and Spartan military excellence. Of course that view is overly romantic and overlooks the nastier side of the period, from [[slavery]] to rampant xenophobia and sexism (especially with the Greeks) to the fact that this could be a rather brutal period with a lot of pig headed stupidity at the time. Many people have tried to emulate it's better notions and build on them.

It helps that we actually have a fair bit of information about this time from first hand accounts. Historians have to parse through a smattering of tablets and decorations on walls for the Bronze Age, much of which they can't read. In this period we have a good index of this time period, from Greek poems and plays to biographies and histories. This makes filling in the blanks a hell of a lot easier and gives us insights into a lot of different people which means we have a lot of characters to get insights on how people got along back then.

Finally there is something of a mix the modern and the ancient in the Classical Age that you don't get in the medieval period. In Rome people lived in apartment blocks, had sewers to take away their filth, had theaters and coliseums to keep them distracted, and (if they had said status) had a conception of their role in society as citizens with legal rights and listened to political rhetoric and heard satire that's not too different from what someone in a first world country would hear as opposed to how a medieval peasant or knight would. Bob-every-Roman puts in a hard day's work selling olive oil so that when game day comes around he can go down to the arena with his bros, drink wine and bet on the gladiators.

Mind you this stuff existed in a world where slavery was a normal part of life, having criminals fight to the death was seen as prime penology (and good entertainment) and people sacrificed sheep so that next years' grape crops would yield a prime vintage was a regular part of religious life.

== Classical Period inspired Games, Factions and Settings ==
The Elder Scrolls: The Cyrodiilic Empire is inspired, mostly, by that of Rome, right on down to the naming customs and military organization. Their government, however, appears to be much more of a centralized absolute monarchy as opposed to Rome's forms of government even in the late Imperial era, as there were very few cases of Emperors being created by right of birth (the ones that were almost always sucked as a rule)

== See Also ==
* [[Roman Empire]]
* [[Hoplite]]

{{Skub}}
{{Time Periods}}
[[Category: History]]

Settra the Imperishable

2020-09-23T10:47:01Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD: /* Life */

[[Image:Badass Settra.png|400px|thumb|right|Doctor Doom bends to one knee when a depiction of Settra is in his presence.]]

{{Topquote|There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it - let none dare oppose my will.|Settra the Imperishable}}

{{Topquote|The last enemy to be destroyed is death.|1 Corinthians 15:26}}

{{Topquote|If there's anything more important than my ego on this ship, I want it caught and shot right now!|Zaphod Beeblebrox}}

The one who made Nehekhara a unified kingdom, first king of the first dynasty, greatest badass of the [[Tomb Kings]] and he with the most magnificent beard outside Dwarfs.

Though he was a tyrannical ruler, '''Settra the Imperishable''' is regarded as Nehekhara's best king. This is because he united the cities of Nehekhara into one kingdom and rebuilt the realm after it had been devastated by civil war, plague and drought. While he was ruthless dealing with dissenters, he was generous when his people came through, doing things such as praising the peasants and slaves when they did well and giving lots of rewards

In essence, he had mastered one of the most famous [and the most widely misunderstood] of Machiavelli's ideas - a ruler should be both feared and loved, only choose fear if they can't have both, and always avoid being hated. In practice, Settra is Warhammer's answer to Qin Shi Huang - the man who united China and became its first Emperor and even searched for immortality before he died, Alexander the Great - being a guy who tried to rule the world and was mad when he couldn't, and a bit of Seti I. He's probably best friends with Zod (Terrence Stamp Zod obviously)

==Personality==
{{Topquote|Think your arrogance can match mine, Elf? I am Settra!|[[Total War: Warhammer II]]}}

Originally Settra was a powerful king, but a vain and egotistical tyrant as well. He actually renamed Nehekhara Khemri in his vanity. He was the founder of the city of Khemri and the first Priest King to have his body buried in a pyramid. When Settra died, the people rejoiced but preserved his body out of tradition. When Nagash's magic inundated the land, Settra rose and rallied armies of undead to make an anti-Nagash resistance, the other kings joining him due to their shared hatred of Nagash. But after Nagash and Arkhan were driven out, the other kings refused to obey Settra. Furious, Settra led his armies to war waged war against them, but the other kings united against Settra and he was forced to retreat and turtle up in Khemri, vowing revenge. Settra then sent his army to raid other lands and bring back living captives who be killed in horrible rituals to bolster his army, with the goal of bringing all Nehekhara under his iron-fisted rule.

In later editions, some of this is still true with several major changes. Settra became a very skilled - albeit tyrannical - ruler who, while hard on dissenters and failures, was generous with people who succeeded which is unlike most Nehekharan monarchs. He also founded the Mortuary Cult as a way for him to achieve immortality because he didn't want to die. Newer lore also made Settra the king who successfully unified Nehekhara through cleverness, strength and the blessings of their gods.

He was ruthless towards anyone who challenged or even questioned his rule, from bandits to leaders of other kingdoms who thought they were "equal", having them [[blam|dealt with]] [[Inquisition|loudly and publicly]]. In undeath, he became strong enough that he can tear anyone who invites his wrath limb from limb, [[Fist of the North Star|with his bare hands]]. The combination of brutal efficiency and effective rule brought about an unequaled golden age for Nehekhara that trumped everything humans (and came close to the height of elves) that had ever been before or after. He also considered ruling the world to be his destiny, to the point not even his own sons were considered worthy to take up the mantle of all that he has wrought.

He is also a textbook example of the Knight Templar trope (doing terrible things to get his point across for a greater goal, seeking the best for people, self-righteous, bonus points for being religious too). The man sacrificed his own children without a second thought to the gods to prove his devotion to them (whether this makes him a dedicated ruler or an evil zealot is [[Skub|a matter of debate]]).

In all fluff, Settra wound up with more titles than an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre Tyrant]] and had servants whose entire job was reciting them (punishment for those who fucked up) all day, every day. It took his heralds nearly two hours to say them all. Unlike many people with a ton of titles, [[Awesome|he earned most of them]]. They include:

* Khemrikhara
* Mighty Lion Of The Infinite Desert
* Emperor Of The Shifting Sands
* He Who Holds The Sceptre
* Great Hawk Of The Heavens
*King of Kings
*Monarch of the Sky
*Majestic Emperor of the Shifting Sands
*High King of Nehekara
*Ruler of the Four Horizons
*[https://www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7sjs6l/for_your_copypastin_pleasure_setttras_titles/ and many, many, more...]

==The Legend==
===Life===
Of all the kings of Nehekhara, none could match the splendor, cruelty and arrogance of Settra, first King of Khemri (<s>Except Nagash</s> Usurpers don't count, and Settra made Nehekhara a splendid unified kingdom while Nagash fucked it over). Before he became king Settra saw a lot of shit as Nehekhara was a desolate place torn apart by wars between cities. Wanting his subjects to love him, Settra listed to the advice of his priest who stated only a king with the gods on their side could command the respect of their people. So, alone amongst the kings, Settra rebuilt the gods temples, made statues of them, attended sermons, prayed to them nightly all that stuff. On the first anniversary of his coronation, Settra organized a huge ceremony where he prayed for an end to the drought and asked them to bless the kingdom [[Grimdark|sacrificing his own children to show his dedication to the gods]]. The next day there was a huge rainstorm, the Nile-equivalent river flooded, washing away plague and the farmer's harvest was the best in history (at the time), proof that the gods favoured Settra.

Settra had fought alongside his father's legion for many years before ascending to Khemri's throne. As a result, he had the skill of a ruthless warlord, and his keen tactical and strategic sense was matched only by his courage and martial skill. From there he started reunifying Nehekhara under his rule, [[Blam|giving a beatdown]] to anyone who even slightly challenged his authority. He sent envoys and armies across the world, promoting trade or taking plunder, making Nehekhara a rich kingdom in material wealth, intellectual drive and faith, Nehekhara became the pinnacle of human civilization that has rarely been equaled (maybe Cathay) and only surpassed by the Elder races, such as the High Elves, at the height of their power. At some point he got his herald, Nekaph, a man (implied to be of [[Warriors of Chaos|Norsii]] descent) strong enough to crush a person's skull with his fists but smart enough to remember everything important about Settra. Nekaph may have been like a replacement son to him, as Setty gave Nekaph an awesome hand-me-down, his old weapon the Flail of Skulls.

When he was forty (or in the fortieth year of his reign; thank you very much vaguely-worded fluff), he grew vexed with the idea that he would grow mortal and die, as there would be lands left unruled by him. Even worse, death would rob him of all of his achievements in life. He gathered the priesthood and demanded they find a way to stop him dying. While their views on the matter were unknown, the priest agreed searching far and wide across the world. Various methods, including so-called immortality elixirs, rejuvenating treatments and even skin creams, were tried. Those attempts did slow down the king's ageing, but were ultimately unsuccessful at granting him the true immortality he craved. As time went on the Priests discovered a lot and extended their own lives as well. There were limits but they didn't tell Settra that [[Blam|for obvious reasons]].

After living for several hundred years beyond a human's natural span (even among the long-lived Nehekharans), Settra became frail enough to be said to be on his deathbed. During this time the priests came forth and told Settra that while they could not prevent his death ''right now'', they could find a way for him to return to life later and then reign for eternity (sweetening the deal with the mention of an immortal, immaculate gold body). Pissed off that he was going to die but, for once up against an enemy he couldn't defeat, Settra agreed to their plan. He ordered a HEUG pyramid tomb complex built for himself and his army and gave a last speech to the Khemrians. After that, Settra died with a curse on his lips that would do an [[Angry Marine]] proud.

A boss to the end.

===Death (and all the bullshit that happened when he wasn't around to keep the peace)===
After his death and burial (including the customary ritual suicide of his army to serve him in the afterlife; <s>by the way, Nehekhara must have been full of carefree sex if they can afford to keep the population up despite sacrificing an army every time the reigning king dies</s> remember "there are as many elves as the plot requires." [[Derp|Consistency and logic can take a back seat to rule of cool, it's all good]]), another king took the throne. This continued for generations, bringing the kingdom of Nehekhara further into contact with the outside world. Each king built a grand tomb for when they died, but none of them (except the Usurper mentioned below) dared make one bigger or better than Settra's. In the first version of Settra's lore, back in 4th edition when Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings were just Warhammer: Undead, Settra was a tyrant and his death was met with much rejoicing throughout the land. Suffice it to say the newer lore has been better received.

The Mortuary Cult went on to become more powerful, even harnessing magic. Despite various types of kings Nehekhara remained strong until the reign of king Thutep. While his older brother was given to the Priesthood as is traditional, Thutep was a diplomatic but overly accommodating king, leading to the kings of other cities trying to get one over on Khemri. Despite that, the worst-case scenario would have been a change in Khermi's socio-political position; Nehekhara would likely still have thrived.

Unfortunately for Nehekhara and much of the world, that aforementioned older brother of Thutep was [[Nagash|a certain someone we all know and love to hate]].

After the fall of Nehekhara, the now-undead Kings had regained their will they realised that the Mortuary Cult's preservation methods were not 100% perfect; they had succeeded in keeping their souls in their corpses but their bodies had nonetheless shrivelled up and decayed somewhat, with the most decayed being almost mindless. Naturally, one can imagine that this was a depressing situation for them. Many generations of kings from each city had to decide who got to hold the throne they all had at some point. Weaker kings who had sat on the laurels of stronger kings now had to contend with those stronger kings. Countless generations of dynasties took one look at having to spend the rest of eternity alongside each other and started beating the shit out of each other, trying to figure out who could be top dog. Throughout it all Settra and his forces were still resting in the peace of death, the wards on Settra's pyramid protecting the occupants from the necromantic magic that had inundated the land.

===Return===
The Liche Priests eventually despaired that the incessant fighting between the returned dynasties was Not Good. In fact, there was a very real chance that the Tomb Kings would destroy each other out of sheer pride. Finally, the head of the Mortuary Cult, Grand Hierophant [[Khatep]], decided he would get shit done. He broke the seals on Settra's pyramid, scurried inside, and deliberately awoke Settra, who promptly rode out like a sandstorm from nowhere and smashed heads together until all of the other lesser Tomb Kings agreed to sit down and shut up. Even [[Arkhan the Black]] was driven back, although his sorcerous powers are mighty enough that even Settra can't beat him permanently and he has to give Arkhan the occasional pimp-slapping to make him keep his nose out of Settra's business. Unfortunately the question of why he didn't order the other Tomb Kings to join in the war so that he could permanently kill Arkhan is never answered, aside from author favouritism for Arkhan.

After he finally had a chance to sit down and hear what happened during the two thousand years he was dead, Settra was pissed. Seriously pissed. In his rage, he declared Khatep an exile, forbidden to ever set foot in any of the great cities until such a time that he can fulfill the Mortuary Cult's ancient promise and reinstate the golden age of Nehekhara. At first he declared the kings return to their sleep and await his call; he vowed never to sleep again lest his kingdom fall to ruin. Ever since, Settra focused on trying to restore his former empire, rebuilding damaged structures, taking back stolen treasures and driving out occupying enemy forces and bandits. Throughout he kept a particular watch for the inevitable return of [[Nagash]], determined to kill the Liche Lord and ensure only one undying monarch would rule over Nehekhara; he also had the side project of trying to destroy Nagash's Black Pyramid in older lore but every attempt, be it by war-machine or magic, failed.

Along the way, Settra had many legendary exploits that undoubtedly earned him new titles. At one point, a mad liche priest accidentally opened a rift to the realm of chaos, allowing a vast daemon legion to spill right into the heart of Khemri. Settra returned from campaign, furious that the daemons DARED set foot in his city, and went on to solo a [[Great Unclean One]] (who was likely bummed that the dead can't be made to sicken) that was leading the invasion. He then grabbed the idiot liche priest that caused this in the first place and threw him into the rift, sealing the breach forever. Another daemonic invasion occurred elsewhere later which was defeated when Settra, in a generous mood, accepted the help of a nearby group of High Elves led by Prince Althran, who were allowed to leave with their dignity afterwards.

One of his shining moments came after an army of Chaos Warriors, led by Valgar the Butcher, invaded Nehekhara to loot it. Settra led an army against and fought Valgar, but it ended up being a mutual kill. The Tomb Kings army was defeated but there were only the twelve survivors from the Norsii. Those survivors had rallied under Valgar's lieutenant, Khagul Bloodfist, and fled with as much Nhekharan treasure as they could carry, including Settra's crown which Khagul himself took. When he came back a decade later, Settra was filled with RAGE over the whole thing (most of all them taking his crown), and swore that he wouldn't return to Khemri until he'd killed the survivors and reclaimed all the stolen treasures right down to the last coin. [[Awesome|He proceeded to do just that. He mustered the mightiest of Nehekhara's troops into a massive army and tracked down the twelve survivors via magic and his spy network]] (since they'd become stinking rich from the loot, each one had become powerful and well-known and thus easy to find). Using Zandri's fleet as transport, [[Awesome|Settra and his army traveled to the Northern Wastes and wiped the twelve men out along with their tribes and mutated monsters in a long campaign of battles that ended with Settra retaking his crown and Khagul killed by Prince Apophas]] (High Elves wanting the Phoenix Crown back, takes notes).

Many years passed, then Settra woke all of the other kings up. He declared an age of expansion and massed the armies to expand Nehekhara beyond its previous boundaries and make the name of Settra once again feared (but not hated) across the world.

==The End Times==
[[File:Settra Rules.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king."]]
Before Settra can begin his expansion, he finds out that Nagash has returned. Death magic runs rife through Nehekhara, and many Tomb Kings hear whispers in it; the voice of Nagash entreating them to serve. Undaunted, Settra commands the Tomb Kings to make the most of it. The forces he was going to use to spread his rule instead were mobilized to defend Nehekhara. He commissioned all the best troops from various cities to defend Khemri, knowing Nagash would seek his Black Pyramid, and ordered Nehekhara's best architect, Rahmotep, to get some skeletal work crews and build walls around the city. When Nagash used magic to shroud the land of Nehekhara in darkness the Tomb Kings did not despair, they just worked harder.

During the final battle for Khemri, Khatep broke his exile to tell Settra about the Destroyer of Eternities, a weapon that may be able to permanently stop Nagash. Settra listened then executed him for breaking his exile. He didn't find the blade in its place, as unknown to him Apophas stole it (at the behest of a Skaven assassin) to kill Nagash and claim his soul for Usirian. He later fought Arkhan and, sick of his nonsense, chased Arkhan down and bifurcated the snarky lich. Chaining Arkhan's halves to his chariot, Settra took his remains to priests who had a ritual to stop Arkhan from being reanimated. But one of the priests was a traitor who paralyzed the others with a spell, and Nagash emerged from inside Arkhan's ribcage. It turned out Arkhan's capture was a plan to smuggle Nagash into Khemri without him having to wear himself down fighting.

Settra and his forces were on the verge of defeating the forces of the Vampire Counts when Nagash emerged from his Black Pyramid. Nagash, super powered after nomming Nehekhara's death god Usirian and taking over the underworld, turns the tables. Eventually the two face off, trading blows before Settra loses his chariot and charges Nagash. The two engage in a battle of wills with Nagash discovering that Settra's willpower is still equal to his own, despite Nagash's divine supercharge. So Nagash decides to cheat and Settra doesn't even land a hit before Nagash sends swarms of spirits to restrain Settra and lift him into the air. Nagash complimented Settra and offered him a place as one of his Mortarchs, threatening destruction if he refused. In response Settra looked Nagash in the eye and said:

'''"SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE" he shouted, trembling with rage, "SETTRA RULES!"''' [[Awesome|Utterly badass]].

This doesn't phase Nagash, who just says "fuck it" and casually blows up Settra and scatters his bones across the sands of Khemri before claiming leadership of the Tomb Kings from Settra. As a final insult, Nagash destroys Khemri, forcing Settra's still-animate head to watch helplessly from the sand, and makes everyone leave Settra stuck there with the ruins of his city. After fuck knows how long, and getting tired of yelling to scare off hungry vultures, Settra reached his lowest point, and started to wish he were mortal just so he could truly die. Then, four unknown beings (revealed to be the Chaos Gods, though it's obvious in hindsight) put his body back together and fill him with new power, to Settra's surprise. Speaking as one they tell him his battle with Nagash doesn't have to end this way and that he can be a king again. Settra doesn't answer.

While there isn't a peep about him in the subsequent End Times armybooks, not even the last one "End Times:Archaon", Josh Reynolds comes to the rescue. According to Reynolds; After being put back together and having a moment of introspection Settra '''walked all the way from Khemri to Middenheim''' and approached Archaon as an ally (before he started digging for the Old Ones artifact beneath the city). To test his worth, Archaon ordered Settra to kill Kholek Suneater as Kholek was so arrogant as to be uncontrollable, and thus no use to Archaon. Settra and Kholek battled for four days, leveling much of the forest around Middenheim. But Settra was victorious, decapitating Kholek and dragging the head back to Archaon's throne room. He encountered Mannfred at Middenheim after the latter betrayed Nagash but gave no acknowledgement of this. At some point before the Incarnates arrived, Settra went his own way unbeknownst to anyone. When the Incarnates attacked Middenheim, Settra confronted Nagash during the final battle. He pointed his khopesh (his awesome sword) at Nagash, and calls him a usurper then explains the Chaos Gods (Settra refers to them as the "howling jackals" here) resurrected him to kill him. (There was a scene where Settra saw the Troll King [[Throgg]]'s dead body near Nagash, which foreshadows the fate of all chaos worshippers, as well as his fate if he were to kill Nagash) Settra then performs a flip and beheads a [[Dragon Ogres|Shaggoth]] that was about to attack Nagash, points his khopesh at him again informs him that '''"NOBODY COMMANDS SETTRA!"''' Settra called Nagash a "prince of Khemri" as if Nagash serves him, then told tell Nagash that he will temporarily forgive his past actions if he were to make the Chaos Gods suffer for DARING to offer him immortality and the chance to conquer all realities in exchange for ''servitude''. He finishes by saying that after he's done killing the Chaos Gods, Nagash is next with a promise to take Nagash's skull and retake rulership of the Nehekharans, right before charging into battle against the Chaos monsters by himself, killing a giant for good measure. He's last seen fighting them as the world is consumed.

For those keeping score at home, that makes Settra the ONLY being in any Warhammer setting who was offered literally everything there is to be offered (everything that someone could want from the Chaos Gods such as money, power, even immortality and worship via becoming a Daemon Prince or even true Godhood as a minor Chaos God like the [[Horned Rat]] to name a few; he might even have gotten that immaculate living gold body and had the option of sex again he was promised), and instead chose to give Chaos the middle finger in response.

Because Settra does not serve. Settra rules.

Settra the Imperishable, Settra the Incorruptible, Settra Da Best.

==GUESS WHO (isn't) BACK! (Age of Sigmar)==
At first, there was no confirmed sign of Settra in Age of Sigmar, which fueled no end of speculation. Many were convinced that the Celestant-Prime (first of the Stormcast Eternals) was Settra brought back by Sigmar, as he fit the description, however later evidence challenged that, and now we're back to square one.

Despite this, fans of Settra still held a torch for the Khemrikhara, and their faith was eventually kicked in the balls because the different writers/editors at GW don't bother speaking to one another and are more comfortable retconning what they write than planning anything out.

To get into this fully, in the novel [[Hamilcar Bear Eater|Hamlicar]]: Champion of the Gods there is a mention of a Lord Celestant Settrus of the Imperishables warrior chamber. It is said he has a special loathing for Nagash, and has a reputation for getting shit done and commands the respect and obedience of guys like Hamilcar Bear-Eater through sheer gravitas and force of will alone. So, yeah, it looked like Settra did indeed get Sigmarined; it may not be as the Celestant-Prime, but hey, at least the man was back. As you could predict, most WFB fans raged at it while AoS players either were excited at the possibility of <strike>Thousand Sons</strike> Khopesh-wielding Sigmarines, or just shrugged at a reference they didn’t get and don’t care about. At any rate, David Guymer indicated he was not done with “Settrus” yet.

It soon came out that Settrus really was Settra as a Stormcast... BUT GW's higher-ups told David he could not bring Settra back as Settrus, so they tried to sweep this whole misstep under a rug by perma-killing Settrus, but not before [[Mannfred von Carstein|Man-child von Carstein]] made fun of him, saying he would be already dead if Settrus was really Settra. In order to stop the world's bitchiest Mortarch from looting a Stormvault for some edgy named weapon, Settrus overloaded the Penumbral Engine that concealed the vault, which in turn consumed him. Hamilcar himself stated that he felt in his gut he was truly gone as not even [[Grugni]] would have managed to extract what fragments may remain from the orrery. Of course, Hamilcar is frequently wrong/hyperbolic, so who knows if Settrus will return - unlikely, for now. Farewell Settrus, whoever you were.

==GUESS WHO'S BACK! (The Old World)==
In [[The Old World]] Settra will return, alongside just about everyone else.

<gallery>
File:GW_meme.jpg|Because you can't keep a good undead down ([[Awesome|GW made this, by the way]]).
File:Perish not.jpg|GW made this too. Pandering, maybe. True, yes.
</gallery>

==On the Tabletop==
Settra has had a model since [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|the days Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts were just Warhammer: Undead, which looked like he was pulled from the Boris Karloff mummy movies]]. In gameplay, his only notable features were being slow (footslogging like a Dwarf with movement 3 and a lower initiative), Toughness 6 and Settra carried the Flail of Skulls as his weapon instead of the Blessed Blade of Ptra (guess which Ancient Egyptian god he's based on; subtlety, what's that?)

He got a new model when Tomb Kings became their own army, and it's absolutely MAGNIFICENT. From his pose to the details on the chariot, he epitomizes the look of the army and if you are trying to proxy something else as him you should be prepared for other Tomb Kings players to remove your head and use your still-living skull as artillery to fire at Games Workshop headquarters after updates. He's fairly expensive point-wise, but unlike most named Lords is actually worth considering outside large-scale games (to the point that, along with Khalida, he is actually the only other truly competitively viable choice when named characters are allowed). Between 4th and 8th Edition Settra got a huge boost in rules (including terror, ward saves, an ASF sword that blinded people and arguably his best item; The Chestplate of Golden Magnificence that gave him a 2+ Armour Save which couldn't be reduced to worse than a 4+ even if hit by attacks that ignore armour saves). This is also where he gained his chariot, a super pimped out one called the Chariot of the Gods.

In the latest edition, going by his profile Settra's also the strongest man in the Warhammer World; he has a basic strength of 6. That's right 6, meaning he could beat a Chaos Lord or an Ogre Tyrant in an arm-wrestling match! He can be fielded without his chariot (which can now burn things with magical fire when it hits or runs over them), but he becomes less effective as he's somewhat fragile without the bonuses from it.

Besides that however, the best fluff and crunch army for him is a full chariot charge anyways with him at the front. Screaming Skull Catapults are also advised, as they are Settra's main method of dealing with uppity <strike>boneheads</strike> Tomb Kings who think they don't have to salute when he passes or jump when he commands.

==Total War: Warhammer II==
[[File:OkQNjvO - Imgur.jpg|thumb|right|400px|"No Kneeling"]]
In Total War Warhammer II, the Tomb Kings have returned as DLC, though appear on both campaigns whether you buy it or not. Even better, Settra returned with his shiny chariot of the gods. He is the Tomb Kings faction leader who this time planning to put the kibosh on Nagash's return. Rather than bother with the Vortex, he's hunting the Nine Books of Nagash. Several quotes in-game reflect the fact that he DOES NOT SERVE.

In a hilarious turn of events, and a deviation from the game's lore, if the Tomb King's win it's revealed that the priest who narrates to the player is Thutep, Nagash's younger brother. After being sealed into a tomb to die (and appearing as a ghost to tell off Nagash), Thutep gets his body back and somehow becomes a Lich Priest. The funny part is that in this scenario, the Black Pyramid is under Settra's control, who puts it under Thutep's control, once again putting Nagash under his brother.

==Fan Tributes==
"''Good morning. In less than an hour, Entombed Necropolis Knights from here will join others from around Nehekhara. And you will be launching the largest ground battle in the history of the Old World.''
''Tomb Kings. Those words should have new meaning for all of us today.''
''We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.''
''We will be united in our common interests.''

''Perhaps it's fate that today is my birthday, as it is every day, and you will once again be fighting for my crown, not from tyranny, oppression, or that bastard Phar, but from annihilation.''
''We're fighting for our right to unlive, to exist.''
''And should we win the day, my birthday will no longer be known as a Nehekharan holiday, but as the day when the master race declared in one voice:''
''We will not go quietly into the night!''
''We will not vanish without a fight!''
''We're going to unlive on!''
''We're going to survive!''
''Today, we celebrate our Imperishable Day!''"

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Setty's original model.jpg|Settra's first model. Note the crown and weapon.
Image:Settra Model.png|Settra's new model. The hardest thing about painting it is resisting the urge to kiss his tiny feet long enough for the paint to dry.
Image:Settra Chariot.jpg|Settra riding his pimped out chariot.
Image:Settra V Nagash Dawn of Boner.jpg|Settra popping wheelies around Nagash's broke bus-riding ass.
File:Settra's return.png|"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBAmLm_jYyY| As the gods are my witnesses, I'll never serve]."
File:Settra Titles.jpg|Settra's achievement list.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Karn

2020-09-23T09:51:48Z

2A02:1811:5180:A200:11BB:C805:F8D2:44FD:

[[File:Karn Walker.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Karn, pictured here during the third turn of the game.]]

''Not to be mixed up with [[Khârn|this swell guy]] under pain of [[rip and tear|brutal dismemberment]]!''

Karn is one of the recurring characters in [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Originally a golem built by [[Urza]], in an effort to make a fully sentient creation Urza equipped Karn with a 'gubbinz' that allowed him to develop a personality which would grow and evolve and make decisions on his own should the need call for it. Oh, and the fact he's 100% artificial allows hime to time-travel, which can come in handy at times.

[[skub|Interestingly enough]], amongst a cast of [[Chandra Nalaar|poorly]] [[Urza|written]] [[Barrin|characters]] and/or [[Jace Beleren|tending]] [[Nicol Bolas|toward]] [[Eldrazi|full-blown Mary Sue-dom]], he's arguably one of the more likeable ones: He's not stupidly OP and untouchable, he makes mistakes and he learns and 'grow' from them.

==Cards==
In addition to his planeswalker card, '''Karn''' has a creature card. A 4/4 that gets -4/+4 if he gets blocks or becomes blocked (Because he was a pacifist at the time, but eventually got over it). He can turn a non-creature artifact into a creature for 1 mana.

Karn has 3 planeswalker cards. True to his roots as an artifact creature, he is colorless. Karn was the first colorless planeswalker card. Karn shares the spot for most third most expensive (CMC wise) planeswalker with Garruk, Apex Predator. Still, the cost of 7 generic mana is deliberate; this is the exact amount of land produced by all three "Urzatron" lands combined. Turn-3 Karns are a selling point of Modern 'Tron decks, much to the [[rage]] of many other players.

Anyway, Karn's first 2 abilities are exiling stuff. Karn's first ability has a "cost" of giving you FOUR planeswalker loyalty counters. The only other planeswalker with a loyalty ability that gives more than 2 is Nicol Bolas. Karn's plus ability (cost aside) is not too exciting on its own. "Target player exiles a card from his or her hand." His next ability is exiling a permanent at a cost of -3. His final ability is unprecedented. He ''restarts the game'' except the non-aura permanents exiled by him start under your control. Enemy Emblems, Taken [[Magic_Formats#Commander|commander damage]], Have poison counters? Poof, its all gone! Karn's planeswalker card is ''so weird'' that entire '''pages''' of the '''Comprehensive Rules''' are dedicated to this single card[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/fate-reforged-update-bulletin-comprehensive-rule-changes-2015-01-15] If you take a look at [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214350 it's gatherer page], you'll see that it has ''13'' rulings on it and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM relates to his third ability in some way.

His second incarnation as the Scion of Urza dials back on the unprecedented power of the first Karn walker and is much more suited to a support role. He's a 4 generic mana walker and starts with 5 loyalty. His +1 reveals the top two cards of your deck, and your opponent gets to choose which one to give to you. The other one gets exiled with a silver counter on it for later. This effectively gives you the worst of two draws, but hey, card draw is card draw. His -1 lets you nab any card from your exile zone that has a silver counter on it, just in case you really need that spell that got exiled earlier. His "Ultimate" is a -2 ability that plops down a little Construct artifact creature token that gets bigger the more artifacts you own. So yeah, VERY far from his Liberated form in terms of power, and is more in line with his pacifist nature. If your deck needs a little bit of extra support, and you don't mind getting the worst of two draws for a while, then he can be inserted into most decks without hassle.

His third incarnation, Karn the Great Creator, combines a little bit of both of his previous planeswalker abilities into one 4 generic mana Rare walker. With 5 starting loyalty, his static effect is in the form of a one-sided Null Rod, turning off all of the activated abilities of your opponent's artifacts. Sol Ring? Turned off! Sundial of the Infinite? Turned off! Ashnod's Altar? Turned off! Things get really weird if you happen to have Mycosynth Lattice out, which turns everything into an artifact. Because your opponent's lands are now artifacts, and mana abilities are also covered in the errata for Null Rod, you've effectively turned off your opponent's lands until Karn leaves the board, while your lands are safe and sound! This combo proved to be so oppressive, they had to ban Mycosynth Lattice out of Modern. His +1 animates non-creature artifacts with power and toughness equal to their CMC until the end of your next turn, letting you protect Karn for a turn. His -2 lets you tutor for any artifact card you own outside of the game or in exile and puts it into your hand. This makes it trivial to nab any win condition you want, so long as it's artifact based.

==Amusing Combo==
Perhaps the most amusing way to win a game of Magic (and arguably has a 100% win rate, ''technically'' speaking) is to Ultimate Karn Liberated with the Barren Glory as the only non-Aura permanent exiled by his loyalty abilities. Proceed to ''MULLIGAN TO ZERO'', and then '''win on your upkeep'''. If you actually took the time to read Karn's ''13'' rulings, you would know that his Ultimate puts you on the play (meaning more than likely the opponent won't get to do anything 'the entire game').

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Karn the Great Creator.jpg
File:Karn Scion of Urza.jpg
File:Corrupted Conscience.jpg
File:Pacifism.jpg
File:Sift.jpg
File:Karn treasure.jpg
File:Karn Silver Golem.jpg
File:Karn miscalculation.jpg
File:Jaded Response.jpg
File:Karns Touch.jpg
File:Legacy Weapon.jpg
File:Karn 1.jpg
File:Jeopardy.jpg
</gallery>

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