Great War Against Chaos

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The greatest battle in the recent Imperial history. If it even happened anyway*BLAM*

The Great War Against Chaos, or just Great War, is quite possibly the greatest Chaos invasion in the Imperial history since the age of Sigmar (at least before two more skubs happened). It happened in the year 2301 and led to the ruination of Kislev, but also to the restoration of the united Empire. Simultaneously, Malekith's big invasion of Ulthuan is also listed as part of Great War, although it has almost no connection to the Kul's invasion with some exceptions like the help of Teclis and participation of some Chaos warbands in an attack on Ulthuan.

The Beginning

It all started as usual, with Kurgan chief Asavar Kul (most likely from Kul tribe, but who knows) gathering the mighty host of Daemons, Beastmen, Trolls and badass Chaos vikings. Kislevite outriders immediately spotted the legions and requested the Imperial help... and only Ostland armies arrived, as other Elector Counts were too busy arguing for the title of Emperor. In the end, despite the furious attempts of Kislevites to stop Kul, they were shattered and butchered by northern barbarians, and the mighty Gryphon Legion was destroyed by Dragon Ogres. The remnants retreated to the south, and the victorious Chaos horde besieged Erengrad and Praag, the biggest cities after the Kislev City itself.

Most of the attention, however, was on Praag, since it was laying on the closest road to the capital of Ice Realm. For nine months brave Kislevites defended Praag, but in the end, the town fell, and monstrous Daemon horrors entered, forever changing the city from just regular one to a living nightmare of raw Chaos power, to a grim warning of what would be if Chaos will be victorious.

In Ulthuan

On the other side of the pond, Druchii struck a pact with Ruinous Powers to invade the heartland of Ulthuan. The High Elves were unprepared - the fleet was destroyed, and the armies suffered defeat after defeat, as Malekith and his Nurglite allies advanced further. Only luck saved Everqueen Alarielle from death, as Tyrion managed to rescue her and escort her to safety. Eventually, only three kingdoms (Caledor, Saphery and the city-state of Lothern) remained under Asur control, and Malekith almost won, but...

The Witch King was dissatisfied. He wanted to see the corpses of his enemies, not just hear rumours, and sent assassins to kill both Tyrion and Alarielle. They failed. Then Malekith summoned N'Kari to kill them, but young mage Teclis, the brother of Tyrion who was still unknown at the time, banished the Daemon. The time was lost to the invaders, and High Elf armies managed to recover, regroup and strike at the enemy. Despite some achievements, Asur were outnumbered again (thanks to Chaos armies) and eventually retreated.

In the Empire

Despite the Tzar sending messages to each one of the Elector Counts begging for help, most of them declined any due to the lack of trust and rivalry between nobility, which would prefer Chaos to rule over the world than to have the neighbouring Count as an Imperial Marshal. Same situation was with the High Priests, as Non-Pope and Viking Pope argued who must lead the army. And in all of this chaos, only one man was sane enough to stop the skirmishes and led humanity against their enemy.

He was Magnus the Pious, a minor young noble from Nuln and a priest of Sigmar. Inspired by a twin-tailed comet, he started the crusade in the Empire, marching from city to city, gathering attention and love of common folk through his rousing speeches. He eventually managed to convince even some nobles, but most importantly, Ar-Ulric Kriestov by walking through Sacred Flame (which separates pure from unpure) unharmed. Eventually, Magnus gathered enough men to defeat the invasion...

The Battle for the Kislev Gates

At the same time, Chaos forces finally reached Kislev City. Magnus heard the news and marched north. Teclis also joined, in an effort to help defeat the main Chaos army and eventually save the Ulthuan. Magnus saw him and his magic as pretty useful, so he accepted him into his army. Dwarfs also intervened. The united army gathered behind the Kislev gates, surrounded by a much stronger enemy. After several assaults, defenders retreated, Chaos breached the gates and flooded onto the city streets....

What next?

While the forces of Order were definitely losing, Chaos army forgot their discipline and started to ravage and kill everything with no orders. The Everchosen, Asavar Kul, was found lifeless soon, and with no leader the completely disorganised horde was defeated by another Imperial attack, saving Kislev from the doom.

But what really happened?

Some say, that while charging against the enemy, Magnus found himself face to face with Everchosen himself. He challenged the champion of Sigmar to a single combat, to test the strength of their Gods. Magnus accepted, and while initially losing, managed to fuse with some sort of Sigmar spirit, defeating Asavar and killing him.

Newer editions Others say that Magnus and Asavar never met at all, and that the latter was killed by an opportunistic lieutenant who was possibly bribed by Magnus*BLAM*... or was a tool of Chaos Gods to get rid of an obvious failure. As you can see, it's pretty skubby, as fans of both versions clash sometimes.

Aftermath

Kislev was completely fucked. Praag was rebuilt by the remaining Ungols, but the Chaotic influence is still strong there, slowly driving lesser men mad. The Cult of Ursun mostly died as a religion, and Tzar's authority was extremely weakened. Only the actions of Boris Ursus and his daughter managed to somewhat restore the might of the country, and even then it's still far from pre-Great War glory. Chaos warriors were also driven back to their homeland, and they abandon most of the big invasion strategies until Archaon showed up.

For the Empire, however, Great War had much more positive consequences. It was finally united into one country, ending the age of endless civil war. Magnus also brought the magic knowledge from Teclis to the people, establishing Imperial Colleges as a new weapon against the enemy.