Editing Slayer (section)

==Warhammer Fantasy==
[[File:Warhammer_Age_of_Reckoning_art.jpg|600px|thumb|right|TIME TO DO SOME AVENGEANCE!!!]]
In [[Warhammer Fantasy]], Slayers are [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] who feel too ashamed to live with themselves after committing a sin. The manner of the sin differs from Dwarf to Dwarf as they tend to be obsessive about just about everything of importance (and dismissive of all else) especially gold and any oaths made, be it one who accidentally kills the wife of his friend in the dark after mistaking her for an enemy to simply losing a substantial amount of currency in a bet. Such Dwarfs can't keep living and want to end themselves, but at the same time Dwarfs are psychologically incapable of committing suicide. So the solution is to take up a ceremonial pledge to the Dwarf warrior god Grimnir, who was the first Slayer (who occupies a gigantic Hold of one, single-handedly fighting all of the forces of [[Chaos]] which reduces the amount of Daemons able to manifest in the world). They tattoo themselves, dye their hair red and spike it into a huge mohawk, grab the biggest weapons they can, and set off to redeem themselves through dying in battle all while dressed merely in something between striped boxer shorts and a man-thong. 

Of course, letting themselves be killed would be committing suicide, something impossible for a Dwarf. They have to fight as hard as they can and to the very best of their abilities, until they fall against a nasty legitimately too mighty for them to overcome. Sort of like a super-metal [[paladin]], or a non-[[weeaboo]] dishonored [[samurai]]. 

Slayers are a massive wildcard among the Dwarf race while also simultaneously being the most dependable of the Dwarfs. They wander all the world as the most prevalent [[murderhobos]] the forces of Order can find. They pop up unexpectedly to bolster the armies of man in their darkest hour after the sounds of battle reach the local tavern, they will fight among even [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|the more martial races of Elgi]], and they can generally be counted on to launch themselves at any [[Beastmen|monsters]], [[Skaven|furries]], [[Vampire Counts|Undead]], [[Warriors of Chaos|Chaos beings]], or [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|uppity knife-eared fuckers]] they encounter. As [[The Grudge Of Drong]] showed, Slayers will be the last Dwarfs to abandon any cause that even the most devout of other Dwarfs show and may even end up switching sides after their oaths as they see fit. 

Slayers, unfortunately for themselves, oftentimes have a rather impressive success rate against foes before they manage to tangle with something powerful enough to kill them. As a result, there are subcategories of Slayers based on their usual kills. All Slayers start by hunting trolls, thus being called Troll Slayers. If a Troll Slayer survives way too often any encounter with trolls, he will set himself to search for something bigger, which in this case is a giant. Such individuals become Giant Slayers if they manage to kill one of them. 

Sometimes, though, even giants aren't sufficient to give a Giant Slayer the death they seek, so he goes out to look for something even more dangerous, like a dragon. These Dragon Slayers are even less numerous than the two former Slayers and are already starting to go mad, since their continuous failure to die even to a beast as dangerous as a Dragon weighs heavily on their minds. If not trolls, not giants nor dragons can give them what they want, then there is one thing that might: FUCKING [[Daemon#Warhammer|DAEMONS]]. 

Daemon Slayers are the smallest group of Slayers. These guys are completely bugfuck nuts, driven to functional madness by their failure to find an honourable demise, but at the same time they're some of the most dangerous fighters that walk the lands of the Warhammer world; anyone who can slay daemons and live to tell the tale is a 100% certified badass and someone who should not be trifled with. And Daemon Slayers are very good at what they do, much to their [[Rage|frustration]].

The Slayers have their own kingdom, Karak Kadrin, which functions as an ordinary Hold that also has the largest enclave of Slayers, specifically Troll Slayers, who gather to function as an army in one of the most monster-infested parts of the world in order to keep it safe for all races of merchants in exchange for tolls. Its here that all Slayer Oaths are now taken, and the walls of the temple record the names of all modern (by Dwarf reckoning) Slayers. Despite having committed no sins, the royal family of Karak Kadrin must take a modified version of the Slayer Oath where they enable other Slayers to find rest, lodgings, and supplies so that their final battle will be all the more glorious (although in any actual war where the Slayer King happens to be a participant they have a right to seek out the most dangerous thing on the field and fight it alone and bare-chested). Karak Kadrin also has a standing army, made of Slayers who seek death but less immediately. This is particularly favored by Slayers whose sin was caused by dereliction of duty.

The most famous Slayer is the top billing titular star of [[Gotrek & Felix]]. In [[The End Times]], Gotrek replaced the original Grimnir, but came back in time for [[Age of Sigmar]]. He is also noted to make [[Teclis]], greatest High Elf mage and Loremaster of Hoeth since Caledor Dragontamer, actually uncomfortable. [[Awesome|Yes, the powerhouse that is Teclis was actually careful not to upset the Troll Slayer.]]

In [[Vermintide 2]] one of Bardin Goreksson's three career paths after the fall of Ubersreik is a Slayer, giving up hope of ever returning home and throwing himself into battle in pursuit of honourable demise. He can only use melee weapons and throwing axes, but that's enough to turn him into a deceptively durable, rat-slaughtering, chaos-carving angry midget of death.

In [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], Slayer is a career path that Dwarves can enter, but it is a one-way trip; other than the more powerful levels of Slayer, they cannot ever change out of that career. Mechanically, it's a brutal combat machine, but utterly useless at anything else - its only non-combat skills are Dodge, Intimidate and Consume Alcohol. You're also expected to ''act'' like a Slayer RP-wise (a heavy-drinking, ax-crazy asshole with a deathwish who actively starts fights when they can't find any) so god help your poor party if the DM decides to throw in a diplomacy segment or anything to do with social skills.

===Origins of the Slayer Cult===

There are a few origin stories of the cult's founding, but were either retconed or filled with [[skub|skubs]] of contradictions. 

Grimnir was the first slayer no doubt. It was he who began his journey to seal the realm gate in the chaos wastes after he had his iconic makeover by having his body tattooed, hair dyed in orange and shaped in Mohawk (which now all Slayers took after). There are sources claimed Karak Kadrin being the birthplace of Grimnir. His action were memorable among the Dwarfs, but it did not encourage them to follow his path and established a cult for it, nor did Grimnir journey to close the gate out of personal shame.

In the 6th edition Dwarf rulebook, there was a tale about the first slayer who started the cult. '''Gudrun''' was his name. He was once best friend to King '''Snorri Morgrimson'''. He swore an oath to protect the king's son, '''Furgil''', but failed after a band of night goblin with a troll ambushed the the escort party and killed the prince. Enraged by the sight of the prince's mutilated body, Gudrun took the prince's rune axe and beheaded the troll. Gudrun's shame upon failing to protect his best friend's son was so deep that he knew he could never return to Karaz-a-Karak and face the king. Before his murder, Prince Furgil sported a fiery red beard that was the envy of his peers. Out of respect, Gudrun dyed his own hair orange and proceeded to wander the mountains, hunting down and slaying every troll he could find. His later fate was lost in time, but to this day slayers dye their hair orange and wield an axe out of respect of Gudrun and Furgil.

'''Baragor Ironfist''' was the founder and first Slayer king of Karak Kadrin and took the name '''Ungrim''' meaning "oath-bound/unfulfilled oath" after some misfortune he caused, which is even in-universe only possibly the death of his daughter at the hands of a dragon while on her way to her wedding. He founded the largest temple to Grimnir in his Hold, and lead his armies to any battle that can possibly be justified, just as all his descendants have done. '''[[Ungrim Ironfist]]''' is the current king (because that's what all Karak Kadrin kings are called). Despite what you might expect, Baragor Ironfist wasn't the founder of the Slayer cult; it was long established before his action. He was, however, the first Slayer king and was responsible for turning Karak Kadrin into a Slayer haven.

In the [[War of the Beard]] novel trilogy, it placed the cult's founding during the war, and the existence of Karak Kadrin's Grimnir shrine predates not only Baragor's action, but also the war itself! (Baragor's shrine was built on -650 IC, and the war took place around -2000 IC~ -1600 IC. This means the shrine might be even older than these two events). Its founder was a former ambassador named '''Forek Grimbok'''. Grimbok was a skilled diplomat for the Elves, yet he and his companion were the one that suffered '''Caledor II''''s abuse where the Elgi king ordered to have their beards shaved (to make it more painful for the Dwarfs, one of the companions was a Runesmith). Since the cult was not founded yet, these shaved Dwarves hid their shame by wearing steel masks, and called themselves '''Steel Beards''', and wielded powerful rune axes that were made for killing Elgi. 

Grimbok would often lead the Elgi hunting parties in the forest with many other angry Dwarfs, but would also lose many of them in the process to Elgi attacks. What finally broke Grimbok was the death of his buddy '''Rundin''', known for his dragonslaying/daemonslaying fame. Already too shamed by his own dishonour, the shame of failing to assist his buddy in his time of need drove Grimbok to travel to '''Karak Kadrin''' and swear an oath to the statue of Grimnir. After that, he proceeds to abandon his mask, shave his hair, tattoo himself and go out to kill any Greenskins and monsters he could find -- becoming the very first Slayer in doing so. 

Inspired by Rundin's heroic action, Grimbok hoped to cancelled out his shame by achieving an achievement equally as great upon death. After Grimbok killed a troll named '''Yvnir''' near '''Karak Drak''', he became the first '''Trollslayer''' and inspired other dishonoured Dwarfs, as well as the remaining Steel Beards to do the same. A cult was founded by his action, which would further encourages by the Dwarfs of the new generation after the war, who are now more hateful and vengeful than ever, to atone their shame by die fighting instead of actually fixing them.

===On The Tabletop===
Slayers have unfortunately been a terrible option for Dwarf players for most of their history, much to the chagrin of players who want one of the options with the most personality that any Warhammer has to offer. In particular, the Gotrek & Felix series is seen by many as the essential guide to the Warhammer universe and having the Chuck Norris of Warhammer be a representation of a terrible option on the tabletop is a cruel irony. Unfortunately the slow movement speed and mediocre melee potential of Dwarfs has resulted in them being notoriously non-fun to play against as all battles wind up a Napoleonic war against a [[Fish of Fury|bunker of assholes with guns behind cover]] with artillery support that can somehow cannonball snipe a mosquito that steps too far out of a unit of twenty men. 

To put it bluntly, the way to gauge the Dwarf meta of any given edition (or [[The 9th Age|alternative]]) is the current strength of Slayers. The weaker the Slayer, the more any player wanting to be competitive loads up on Thunderers, Quarrelers, and Cannons. 

While female Slayers are stated to exist (rarer than other Dwarf females, meaning less than one in ten) Games Workshop (to nobody's surprise) never produced models for them. Luckily, not only have other miniature gaming companies (such as [[Hasslefree Miniatures]]) produced alternatives for males but also for females. Thanks to the general rarity of finding Slayer models in fact, Dorfy players intend on avenging all the Grudges without sissy Elgi tactics are better off looking to alternatives in the first place. 

<gallery>
Image:Slayer Of Slaanesh.jpg|FUCK YER DAEMONS!
Image:Slayer Female.JPG|FUCK YER -4 STRENGTH!
Image:Celt Slayers.JPG|FUCK YER UNCONVERTED MODELS!
Image:Blood Bowl 2 Slayer.jpg|FUCK YER PASSING!
Image:Human Slayer.jpg|FUCK YER MINIATURES!
Image:Female Slayer 2.jpg|FUCK YER BRAS!
Image:Slayer Tattoo.jpg|FUCK YER COMMON SENSE!
Image:Grudges.jpg|AND FUCK YOU!
</gallery>