Editing Warhammer: The Old World (section)

===And later, the [[Empire]]===
In January 2023, GW showed off some Empire art and a couple of maps. More importantly, they've shed a bit of light on the situation the Empire is in. Now during this time, the Empire was an empire in name alone, and its shit was getting kicked in by just about everyone, ''especially'' itself due to the unremitting civil war that followed the death of Mandred Skavenslayer. By the time that The Old World is set, four major provinces of the Empire have all laid claims to the imperial throne:

*'''The Barony of Westerland''', ruled by Baroness Elspeth Magritta VI. Its capital is [[Marienburg]].
*'''The Osterland''', ruled by Count Sigismund Ulric. Its capital is [[Middenheim]].
*'''The Principality of [[Reikland]]''', ruled by Prince Wilheim I. Its capital is [[Altdorf]].
*'''The Grand Duchy of Talabec''', ruled by Duke Ludwig XII. Its capital is [[Talabheim]].

As an interesting note, the heraldry of Osterland, Reikland, and Talabec all correspond to three different deities ([[Ulric]], [[Sigmar]] and [[Taal]] respectively). While this is not surprising since the capitals of these factions are located in some of the most religiously zealous parts of the Empire, it does suggest that over time the religious divisions in the Empire grew much wider during this time. And while these four are going at each others' throats, the Beastmen are fucking up the forests, the Orcs and Goblins are pillaging anything in reach, and the Tomb Kings are plotting to reclaim their old lands. And of course, there's [[Asavar Kul]] preparing to make his big push towards Kislev. We already know that the Empire will end up rallying around [[Magnus the Pious]], but needless to say the path the Empire looks like it'll take to get there will be quite a bumpy one indeed. While they didn't say anything explicitly, it might be possible that the Empire's army book might be split between the claimants.