Everwinter
The Everwinter is strange destructive magical weather phenomenon which folks in the mortal realms aren’t quite sure what to make of but some believe is a god of destruction and all rightly fear. A perpetual cold front of epic proportions it constantly seems to follow after certain Ogor Mawtribes specifically the ones known collectively as the Beastclaw Raiders, who have come to name their leaders the Frostlords since its emergence, and freezes damn near everyone who comes into contact with it eventually although the Ogors can withstand it longer than others due to being EXTRA THICC and chonky. What makes it even weirder is that its manifestation seems to vary from one raider clan (or Alfrostuns in the Ogor tongue) to another, for example for those in the Boulderhead Mawtribe it manifests as a furious barrage of fist-sized hailstones while the ogors of the Winterbite march to war enveloped in a blanket of white fog and the Thunderbellies bring a booming gale that drives their foes inexorably backwards.
As to why the cold front follows these tribes no one is quite sure and a variety of tales have sprung up to try and explain how it began. Some lay the blame on Baergut Vosjarl, the first Frostlord from way back during the Age of Myth. Before his time the Beastraiders were simply known as Gorkamorka’s favorite scouts and hunters. That all changed when Baergut became clan chief and betrayed Gorkamorka by bragging about how the Ogors held ascendency over all beasts which to him included the Orruk Warclans. Angered by this, the god’s kunning but brutal half Mork decided to punish the Ogor for his arrogance by leading Baergut into a wasteland, where no food existed, on the promise of a great battle. When the ogor eventually stumbled upon the lair of Jorhar the ur-bear, Baergut was almost mad with hunger and attacked it. After a savage fight, the Frostlord hacked open Jorhar and greedily ate its innards, including the monster’s still-beating frozen heart. The organ however was so powerful it refused to be digested, and from that day, with each beat a cold wind was called to Baergut and the Raider clans. Frostlords claim that on the wind’s howl, the sound of Jorhar’s heart can still be heard, summoning winter to the Beastclaws.
Others claim it was Sigmar who cursed the Beastclaw tribe for their excessive gluttony – that the God-King created a winter storm to deny the ogors prey, though they learned to stay ahead of its killing cold. There are also legends of how the ogors opened the Icefell Vaults of Shyish, unleashing the dreaded Winter Gods from the prison Nagash had crafted for them. Others consider the storm an aspect of Gorkamorka made manifest, namely his bellowing shout from the highest mountain tops, and pray to it for power. The Gutbuster ogor clans meanwhile consider the Everwinter to be a curse that haunts those who have failed to properly appease Gorkamorka and many Tyrants and Overtyrants openly scorn the Beastclaw Raiders for this great shame, and more than one brutal civil war has been initiated as a result of just such an unwise insult. Others just think it’s just an Endless spell that the Beastclaws accidentally unleashed with a botched magic ritual back in the Age of Myth.
Out of all the myths it’s probably the ones linking the storm to Gorkamorka which have the most evidence supporting them as the lesser tribal chiefs known as Huskards who enforce the Frostlord’s will and act as Beastclaw priests to Gorkamorka, seem to be able to channel the Everwinter’s power to some degree through prayer, and can summon and communicate with the simian creatures known as Icefall Yhtees. The highest ranking Huskards known as Torrs are said to be chosen by a call from the Everwinter itself and also get a boost to their casting thanks to aid from their Thundertusk mounts, creatures who according to legend were created in the Age of Myth from Gorkamorka when he climbed up the highest peak in all the Mortal Realms, the Alvagr, so he might bellow from its summit. Supposedly as he neared the top of the mountain, ice formed on his fingers and between his knuckles, and the shards he brushed off fell into the Realm of Beasts, becoming the Thundertusks – creatures forever filled with the cold of that impossibly high peak.
Regardless of whether the beasts actually came from Gorkamorka or not it is definitely true that the beasts help to channel the storms power. This is especially great for one clan, the Jarkan Alfrostun lead by a Frostlord and former Huskard Torr named Asger, who have become especially skilled at manipulating the Everwinter. Their aptitude for manipulating the storm can supposedly can be traced back to a battle with Tzeentch arcanites which killed the Jarkan’s previous Frostlord and unleashed a magical mutation which tinted the skin of the clan and their mounts a glacial blue and caused ice to constantly fall off them. Combined with the power boost from the Thundertusks they have become especially nightmarish to fight.
Following the Shyish Necroquake unleashed by Nagash the pattern of the Everwinter has become ever more erratic. As the immense surge of deathly magic birthed in the aftermath of Nagash’s spell swept across the lands, it battered against the blizzard’s fierce storm front. This resulted in a series of intense supernatural tempests that devastated great portions of the realms. Swirling ice blended with clouds of ethereal matter, and wherever the black clouds gathered, hosts of ice-taloned gheists spawned. Worse still, many Alfrostuns found their hunting grounds stripped of prey and rendered barren and lifeless by the spectral tempests. Forced to divert, they ranged across new frontiers, the damage wrought upon the ogors’ migratory trails bringing the Gulping God’s children into conflict with new prey.
While several Alfrostuns and warglutts were entirely consumed by the raging deathstorms of the necroquake, frozen in the final throes of death, other Frostlords looked behind them to find the skies were bright and clear in all directions and the Everwinter’s grasp had loosened. However, the Huskards of these Alfrostuns have warned that this is merely a temporary reprieve – Gorkamorka’s hunger is eternal, and even death cannot quench it. What makes this receding of the storm in places even more troublesome for people is the fact that in many cases its retreat has lead to a great thawing. As a result, many imprisoned Beastclaw Raiders have at long last been freed from the icy prisons they were trapped in during earlier ages. Driven entirely mad by their long existence without the taste of fresh meat and gore upon their lips, these ogors – and in some cases entire Alfrostuns – have embarked upon a desperate search for food which is bad news for anyone who crosses their paths.
As to what’s happened to the Everwinter storm since the Age of Beast began, following Teclis spanking Nagash to end the Necroquake and Alarielle resurrecting the Oak of Ages with the rite of life and unleashing a wave of Ghyran life magic everywhere, that remains to be seen.
| Gods of Destruction |
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| Bad Moon - Fire Mouth - Gorkamorka (Gork - Mork) - Everwinter - Gulping God - Kragnos - Spider-God |