Editing Old Ones (Warhammer) (section)

== Warhammer Fantasy ==
In [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], the Old Ones are psychic frog-men from beyond the stars (big silver space-ships are mentioned even in the latest main rulebooks). 
Knowing [[Chaos]] would one day appear in this reality and attempt to consume it (how they knew is unspecified) they decided to create a race of beings capable of keeping Chaos at bay forever, or even beat them (we don't know how ambitious they were). They reshaped the world, during which they created the [[Lizardmen]] races to aid them. The [[Slann]] were simply less intelligent reproductions of themselves, the Saurus were their bodyguards and had very few thoughts in their head other than whatever their current task is and the general calm reverence of the Slann and Old Ones (so born Space Marines), and the Skinks as the tiny frantic servants to the Slann. Requiring more magical power, they established [[Age of Sigmar|Realm Gates]] at the north and south poles of the world, through which they were able to travel freely between the world and wherever they came from. They also siphoned pure (AKA formless raw potential, pre-Chaos God alignment) Chaos magic into the world [[Derp|in order to protect the world from Chaos]], which worked exactly as well as you'd imagine. They made peace with the local natural intelligent life, the dragons, and educated them as best they could. This knowledge would later pass onto the first created race of the Old Ones as the two races would become BFFs. Old Ones noticed the presence of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskins]] around this time, the Old Ones [[Fail|brought to the world unknowingly]] in the form of spores which grew up to be the greenskins. They tasked the slow-reproducing Lizardmen with wiping them out, again with predictable results.

First, they created [[High Elves|Elves]]. They shaped a continent called [[Ulthuan]] which actually floats above the ocean like a giant ship for them to dwell on, and instructed the Slann to teach the earliest of them magic (it's unknown if the [[Warhammer Fantasy Elf Gods|Elven gods]] were formed by the Slann or Old Ones, or if they came later out of belief; evidence supports the former as [[Isha]] is the mother of all mortal elves with [[Kurnous]] and as such the gods may have been proto-elves). As they surveyed the Elven race, they decided the Elves could not beat Chaos alone due to being frail and having a low birth rate despite potential for mastery of magic and a VERY strong resistance to the Warp.

Next, [[Dwarfs]] were created. The Dwarfs actually resisted magic innately and in their presence it shifts back into formless current and seeps back into the Warp. The Dwarfs were hardy, and could physically bully magic into doing what they wanted it to (hence becoming great smiths of magic weapons free from Chaos taint using runes). However, the Dwarfs were stubborn and would not adapt fast enough in the face of demon trickery. The Old Ones abandoned yet another of their creations.

The next race created was humanity (<s>in the heart of Africa</s> in the fertile crescent, which wraps around the South Eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and a little inland at Syria and Iraq), which combined the magical aptitude of the elves (to a lesser degree) with the durability of the dwarves (to a lesser degree). Humanity's short lifespan with rapid reproduction along with ambition and lust not seen in their elder races combined would enable humans to have time to adapt and overcome anything Chaos could send at them. But humanity was too malleable. While the great ambition and adaptability could be a great strength against Chaos, it also made them more susceptible to the influence of Chaos than elves or dwarfs (as proven later when humans - including Beastmen - make up the majority of Chaos' forces).

The Old Ones created [[Halflings]] next, although nobody really knows why. They were resistant to mutation but that's about it. Small, frail, cowardly and unassuming, they were an abysmal failure as Halflings aren't really good at much other than cooking and eating. In a way they were the proto-Ogres.

Various other races were created, more or less filling the gap of both anything added to the game down the road as well as anything fans can come up with. The sky titans were one such race, having the magical aptitude and intelligence of Elves, and the durability of the Dwarfs. However, they were too isolated and too solitary, and were likely just an artistic project. There may have been others, but it is likely that many of these proto-races were wiped out by the Lizardmen or if too much of a failure by the Old Ones themselves, with only the most "stable" being allowed to exist (men, elves, dwarfs).

Finally, the [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogres]] were created by combining the best aspects of Man, Elf, Dwarf and Halfling. They were highly resistant to Chaos yet still possessing magical talent, having a long lifespan like elves, with a fast reproduction rate they'd be able to outlast Chaos, being highly durable, being able to cooperate with just about any race and quickly adapt to their customs, and finally stubborn enough to not fall to Chaos willingly in most cases. In addition to this, they are able to survive on just about any food, from meat to tree trunks to rocks. Their only drawback was their [[Tyranids|enormous appetites]]. As the Old Ones prepared to educate their newest masterpieces, endow them with gifts and try to fix that kink, the Warp Gates collapsed and Chaos entered the world. The Ogres, left with a growing population in a relatively stable environment, were not gifted with any taught culture. As a result, despite being fairly intelligent creatures on par with dwarves, elves or humans, the ogres were not unified, and had to grow as a natural race, unaware of and unwilling to engage in the purpose they were designed for. They thus became tribes of increasing size which spread out across the world and served every faction (including Chaos and its servants) as mercenaries.

Why the Old Ones never looked at their failed creations and thought about putting them together in a lizardmen-style caste system is unknown. Dwarfs as the industrialists, artillery and infantry, Elves as artisans, scholars, cavalry, archers and mages, Ogres as the shock troops and heavy lifters, halflings as cooks, and humans to fill in anywhere they were needed and provide individual great heroes would have worked out perfectly.

Instead, Chaos ran amok as the Four and their allies got off their collective asses, gained followers and physical influence in the world, and started fucking shit up. It's worth noting there's a subtle disconnect from 40K in that Chaos and the Old Ones were there ''all along'', <s>as Fantasy Chaos has no Genesis</s> true, kinda, but there's less metaphysical difference between the two settings than at first glance because, you know, warpfuckery; different worlds, same warp, so a few of the rules are different (what rules? It's the fucking ''warp''), same Gods, too. As for the "emergence of the Gods" in 40K, they ''do'' coalesce psychically but also aren't bound by the rules of time (cf. the 40K Old Ones were against Chaos ''way'' before any of them were said to be "born"; and though [[Slaanesh]] is the edgy youngster "born" fairly recently it has been stated canonically to have influenced events ''before'' the Fall of the Eldar in 40K; it's probably the same for the others--imagine the time Tzeentch is having.) The exact nature of the Old Ones, the gods, and how the world got to where it is now is a subject of [[skub|endless debate]] and conjecture among fans.

It's unknown what happened to the Old Ones. It's possible that they fell into the Warp and were consumed. It's possible they fled the world, leaving it to its fate as they tried again elsewhere. It's also possible they remain in hiding, either guiding the mortal races to grow in strength and thwart Chaos or watching as their master plan unfolds leading to true victory. Either way, they're gone.

Lizardmen began worshiping the Old Ones as gods, with Slann pondering the messages left by their masters on golden tablets (which is apparently how all Old One communications were relayed, just like [[Heresy|the Mormons]]) to the smallest detail, and acted on interpretation. At times this has resulted in [[Lawful Stupid|counter-productive things]] like an attempt at world recreation which caused most of the Dwarf race to die and greenskins take over their fortresses and breed in numbers never before seen. At other times great things have happened according to plan, such as when they have prepared for and beheld the coming of a [[Sotek|god]] prophesied by the Old Ones, who immediately consumed the [[Skaven|minions]] of a [[Horned Rat|rogue Greater Daemon/minor Chaos God]] and drove him from the material plane.

At [[Defenders of Ulthuan/Sons of Ellyrion|some point]], one of the resident non-Chaos [[Malekith|villains]] learned the words the Old Ones used to shape the world. With it (at GREAT physical and spiritual taxation of himself) he reduced fortresses the size of modern cities into atoms.

In older canon, the Old Ones did not create or predate the other races (in fact, one [[Drachenfels|old lich]] mentions remembering the coming of the Old Ones with disdain as something that came long after his first death). Instead they were simply space travelers, and the Slann were their retarded and decadent inbred descendants.

The end times revealed that this warhammer world was not the first, but just one in an eternal cycle. While men, elves and dwarfs all seem to fit in with this cycle, the old ones do not. It has been suggested that the Old ones were actually the surviving slann from the last world, and that the slann who managed to escape the destruction of the warhammer world will return to the next one as the new old ones.