History Characters / Warhammer

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[[folder:Bretonnia]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WarhammerBretonniaArmy_854.jpg

->''"Honour is all. Chivalry is all..."''

Bretonnia is a feudal kingdom situated to the west of The Empire and seperated from the latter by the Grey Mountains. It was founded nearly a thousand years after the Empire when Gilles le Breton managed to united the people of the land and drove the orcs away. Thematically, it's essentially high medieval France meets the [[KingArthur Arthurian mythos]]. In Bretonnia, they worship the Lady of the Lake, whose religion is implied to have been engineered by the Wood Elves in order to have the humans of Bretonnia act as a buffer against outside threats, primarily the Orcs.

The pride of Bretonnia is its knights, who receive the best possible training available in Bretonnia. Aspiring knighs would, as they come of age, first of all start out as Knights Errant; eager young knights, still unproven in combat. Should they prove themselves, they will become Knights of the Realm, full-fledged knights of Bretonnia. Most stop there, but some knights discard their possessions and take up a greatsword as they embark on a quest for the Grail, becoming Questing Knights. Few ever succeed, but those who do and get to drink from the Grail become the almighty [[ThePaladin Grail Knights]], the greatest knights in all of Bretonnia. The current king of Bretonnia, Louen Leoncoeur, went on the quest himself and got to drink from the grail, before he took the throne.

In contrast to the knights, the peasantry of Bretonnia are downtrodden and mistreated, with heavy taxes levied upon them. In battle, they primarily aid the nobility by providing archers, as ranged weapons are regarded by the knights as the weapons of cowards. However, some peasants receive minimal training by their lieges and provide infantry in the form of Men-at-Arms. Compared to the knights, they're little better than cannon fodder, but they can provide valuable support.
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* {{BFS}}: Questing Knights discard their lances in favour of a greatsword.
* TheDungAges: Most definitely, at least for the commoners.
* FantasyGunControl: [[HonorBeforeReason Gunpowder weapons are illegal]], other ranged weapons are spurned by knights.
* {{Hero Worshipper}}s: Grail Pilgrims, who worship the Grail Knights and follow them around so as to share in the Lady of the Lake's blessing. It's also deconstructed as the pilgrims loot the corpses of Grail Knights for any idols of the Lady, but sometimes they even end up accidentally killing wounded, but still alive, Grail Knights by running them over. Sometimes they even loot an entire Grail Knight's body and load him up on a Grail Reliquae.
* HonorBeforeReason
* KnightErrant: Surprisingly not the Knights Errant, who are just young knights eager to prove themselves in battle, but actually the Questing Knights, who discard everything in search of the Grail. They can however, should they drink from the grail, take back the lands and titles they gave up before, but most choose not to.
* KnightInShiningArmour: What the Bretonnian nobles for the most part are, with some exceptions. Also subverted with their treatment of the peasantry.
* LeeroyJenkins: Knights Errant, young knights who are so eager to prove themselves in battle that they will often charge their foes without care and without orders.
* LosingYourHead: Several accounts speak of the Green Knight being decapitated and picking up his head once again.
* MedievalStasis
* OlderThanTheyLook: Louen Leoncoeur, the current king of Bretonnia, looks to be in his prime, but is apparently about 90 years old, presumably due to drinking from the Grail.
* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: Hippogryphs.
* ThePaladin: The Grail Knights, knights who have finished the quest and drunk from the Grail. The Paladin is also a hero choice unit, but is used more in the meaning of a particularly mighty knight, than this trope.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuys: The nobles of Bretonnia ''revel'' in battle.
* TheQuest: The quest for the Grail is a central institution in Bretonnian culture. Those who find it tend to become really {{Badass}}.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The kings of Bretonnia are ''required'' to be great knights before they can take the throne.
* ShroudedInMyth: The Green Knight, the sworn enemy of the Questing Knights. It is speculated that he is Gilles le Breton, the uniter of Bretonnia.
* WeHaveReserves: Knights don't really care about commoners fleeing (though unusually for this trope this is more a case of ProudWarriorRaceGuy disdain than simple evilness.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Chaos Gods''']]
Beings of incalculable power, the Four Great Gods of Chaos are the personifications of the various thoughts and emotions of all living creatures given sentience by the psychic energies of their home realm, the Realm of Chaos. Though by almost every measure of the word, gods, they are by their nature monomaniacal and completely single-minded (formed completely of a single emotion or concept) as well as being completely dependent on the emotions of mortal and immortal creatures for their power and continued existence. The interplay of the various concepts they embody leads to all of the 4 Gods coming into a great rivalry with one another. This conflict is mirrored in the material plane by the combat that takes place between the mortal and immortal servitors of the Dark Gods, which is the reason for the constant civil war the Chaos Hordes find themselves ensnared in. For as victory in these battles lends greater influence to their patron God, the champion will find himself rise in favor in his Patron's eyes. For despite the myriad differences, the Gods all desire total domination. And absolute power cannot be easily shared - especially not among Gods. Thus, this eternal struggle for dominance is known as ''the Great Game''.

Despite their labeling as beings of fathomless evil, the Chaos Gods represent both the highest and most base aspects of sentient thought. The Great Powers personify Rage, Scheming, Despair, and Lust, but also Bravery, Hope, Perseverance, and Love.

!!Tropes applying to the Chaos Gods as a whole:

* AnimalMotifs: BigBadassWolf for Khorne, RavensAndCrows for Tzeentch, and FliesEqualsEvil for Nurgle (even his symbol is a stylized fly).
** These are just the most easily recognized motifs; background material, especially the older ones, note that many Chaos cults can be disguised as animal totemists because there are many possible animals that can be revered as befitting one or more of the Chaos Gods. For example, snakes can be seen as symbols of both Slaanesh and of Tzeentch, bulls as symbols of Slaanesh or Khorne, toads and slugs of Nurgle, etc.
* BigBad -- the Chaos Gods are the biggest threat to the world in Warhammer Fantasy.
* Bigger Bad -- they are also a textbook bigger bag.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: All of them, being the embodiment of abstract concepts, are prone to this.
* CosmicPlaything -- They view ''everything that has ever existed'' as this.
* DealWithTheDevil -- The Gifts of Chaos are this, giving you power but at a horrible price:
** The Gifts of Khorne will make you among the most powerful warriors in the world, but you'll be in constant pain the longer you go between slaughters, eventually driving you to madness.
** The Gifts of Tzeentch will give you magical powers and arcane knowledge that can allow you to walk unchallenged against your opponents, but the knowledge is of [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow things you cannot know]], eventually driving you to madness.
** The Gifts of Nurgle will give you the ability to overcome death itself, but you will be a walking corpse plagued with disease, [[RuleOfThree eventually driving you to madness]].
** The Gifts of Slaanesh will make you faster than ever, and pain will not be a detriment any longer, but you will develop a need for sensation that becomes all consuming, [[RunningGag eventually driving you to madness]].
* EldritchAbomination - Physical descriptions of the Chaos Gods.
* EnemyCivilWar -- Though they have some interest in the material world, the [[ForeverWar Great Game]], the struggle for dominance in the Realm of Chaos, is the main priority of the Chaos Gods. It's also [[HopelessWar unwinnable]], because when one becomes stronger, the others gang up on him. And if one were to succeed, Chaos would ultimately stop being, well, Chaos.
* ExiledFromContinuity - Malal, the Renegade God - so called for being the antagonist to all other factions of Chaos, the embodiment of Chaos' self-defeating tendencies- was dropped from continuity because no one could figure out who held the rights for him.
* FantasyPantheon: A very dark example.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Khorne corresponds to [[HotBlooded Choleric]] and Slaanesh to [[TheHedonist Sanguine]] pushed to their logical extremes, while Tzeentch and Nurgle respectively twist [[ByronicHero Melancholic]] and [[TheStoic Phlegmatic]].
* GodIsEvil -- And there's ''[[FourIsDeath four]]'' of them.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly -- Chaos feeds off the emotions of sentient races, but otherwise doesn't need it directed at them specifically. It simply helps to focus the energy they receive.
* TheHeartless - Even positive emotions such as Hope or Acceptance feed the Chaos gods.
* MadGod -- [[FourIsDeath All four]] fit the gold standard, but Tzeentch is especially... inexplicably illogical.
* TheOmnipotent: Within their own planes of existence. Their influence in the real world, while still extremely palpable, is very limited by comparison.
* OurGodsAreGreater -- Probably the most powerful deities in Warhammer canon.
* PureIsNotGood
* RedBaron -- The Dark Gods, the Ruinous Powers. And that's what their ''own followers'' call them.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork -- Once in a while, the Chaos Gods will stop their infighting and work together. Fortunately, it never lasts long.
* TopGod -- What the Chaos Gods are constantly competing for. It's generally accepted that the top contenders are Khorne (given the [[ForeverWar state of the world]]) and Tzeentch (given that he has the least defeats).
* UltimateEvil -- The very first edition of the game had pictures of them, but later additions only describe them rather than portraying them in artwork.
The major Chaos Gods are as follows:

!!'''[[BloodKnight Khorne]]'''
[[quoteright:132:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Khorne_mark_6672.png]]

-->''Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!''

The Blood God, the Brass Lord of Battle, Arkhar, Kharnath. Khorne is the most renowned, widespread and powerful of the Chaos Gods, he is the embodiment of hate, rage, wrath, violence and the urge to kill... but he is also comprised of martial pride, courage, the will to protect others, and honor. Khorne's commandments are simple; death and violence are what he exists for, and those who worship him strive only to kill in his name. The most common saying about Khorne is that he cares not from where the blood flows, only that it flows.

Khorne is described as resembling an impossibly huge and muscular warrior clad in bronze armor and wielding a monstrous waraxe, though he is sometimes portrayed as having the head of a monstrous horn-sprouting wolf. His sacred number is 8.

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!!Notable tropes include:

* ArchEnemy:
** Khorne is fundamentally opposed to Slaanesh. Where Slaanesh is self-centered and its followers kill and torture to satisfy their own desires, Khornate dogma teaches spreading death and spilling blood freely for its own sake and that one should take no pleasure in anything. Khorne is also not big on torture, which is meaningless postponing of the kill.
** Khorne also hates Tzeentch because he considers sorcery and manipulation to be cowards' weapons.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: This is a deeply held Khornate tenant. In a Khornate warband, you achieve prestige by proving you're the deadliest warrior, and by no other method.
* AtopAMountainOfCorpses: [[NothingButSkulls SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!]]
* AxCrazy: Khorne is the living embodiment of hate and rage -- words don't '''exist''' to describe just how furious he is at any given moment of the day.
* AnAxeToGrind: As functionally the first real weapon of war created, the axe is symbolically very important to Khorne and his worshippers. He's often described as wielding a massive battleaxe, as well.
* {{Badass}}: Khorne and his followers are all supremely badass. Not only are his Champions often the mightiest warriors of Chaos and the deadliest fighters of the setting, Khorne himself is probably the most powerful of all the Chaos Gods and is thus the most powerful being in all of Warhammer.
** BadassGrandpa: Technically the first to achieve sentience.
** BadassInCharge: By default, he's sorta the de-facto TopGod of Chaos.
** [[RedBaron Badass Titles]]: The Blood God, the Lord of Skulls, the Lord of Battles, the Father and Inheritor of all Rage, the Brass Lord of Battles, the God of War, etc, etc.
** BigBadassWolf: The wolf is Khorne's sacred animal, he's is often described as having a wolf's head, his flesh-hounds are very lupine in appearance and one of his title's amongst the vicious Norse tribes is 'the Blood Wolf' or the 'Wolf-Father'.
** FourStarBadass: Khorne himself, being a God of War, is probably the originator for every tactic and stratagem of war ever created. Khornate Chaos Lords are also often this in ADDITION to being [[OneManArmy unstoppable]] [[TheBerserker berzerkers]].
* BattleCry[=/=]{{Catchphrase}}[=/=]MadnessMantra: Khorne has what may be the most famous example of all three in the setting: BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
* TheBerserker: Not only Khorne, but his daemons and followers.
* BerserkButton: Khorne may be very easy to anger, but he is ''especially'' angered by the following :
** Cowards. If one of the followers of Khorne displays cowardice, let's say he won't live long.
** Presenting him with the skulls of unworthy foes.
** Slaanesh. That is all.
* {{BFS}}: He has a sword too. He once took it in a mighty rage and smote an endless, screaming crevasse in the Realm of Chaos that has never healed. Given that the Warp is an immaterial place of emotion that constantly shifts and turns and that this scar is one of the few things that has remained constant should go a slight way towards preparing you for how powerful Khorne is.
* BigRedDevil: Khorne's daemons fit this archetype, and Khorne himself is sometimes implied to also fit the archetype.
* BloodKnight: Khorne may care not from whence the Blood flows, but he does put appreciation on it flowing from hard won sources. So, both he and Khornate worshipers always love a good fight.
** Offering the skulls of the weak for his throne is certain to get you brutally killed.
* BlackKnight: Khorne is described as resembling one of these.
* BloodSplatteredWarrior: BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Can a being of such power truly be judged by mortal ethics? Khorne is the embodiment of rage, to judge him harshly for killing and destroying is like judging a forest fire evil for burning.
** In particular, it would be a fatal mistake to think that he has something against slaughtering civilians ''en masse'' because of some ethic: It's simply that he prizes more fights against a WorthyOpponent.
* BrutalHonesty: Khorne looks down on deception and trickery as weak. As such, his daemons are one of the few daemons whose claims can be taken for granted (or with less salt than other daemons), for they are brutally honest when speaking, with extra emphasis on the "brutal" part.
* {{Determinator}}: Khorne isn't kidding when he says he'll give you a will to dominate all others.
* DoesNotLikeMagic: In a nutshell, it's for pussies. On the other hand, Khorne has no qualms with bequeathing enchanted weapons and armours to his followers to further increase their already incredible killing power. Daemon summoning is also okay. In essence, Khorne permits sorcery so long as you're not using to fight your battles for you. Pointing out that this might be hypocrisy will see you die a death more violent than any can imagine. Khornate units are one of the few chaos units innately blessed with some form of magic dampener and Khorne does not possess his own lore of spells (he's the only god whose mark ''prevents'' its bearer from becoming a spellcaster).
* EvilIsBurningHot: Khorne and his daemons are frequently depicted as wielding flaming weapons and occasionally being on fire, going with the whole {{Hellfire}} motif.
* EvilIsHammy: In a WorldOfHam, Khorne and his followers (well mainly his followers) manage to out-ham '''everyone'''. Just hear this: ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-gSJW3sHXE Ye gods...]]''
** Beware, the end of this video may cause you to have an indigestion from pork overdose.
* {{Expy}}: To an extent, of [[NorseMythology Odin]]. Both of them are ferocious war-gods who embody berserker rage and battle-thirst and are both associated with the exhilaration of combat. It also helps that Khorne's worshiper's in Fantasy Battle actually ''are'' a FantasyCounterPartCulture to the Vikings. Khorne also has a personal pet known as Karanak which acts in a similar capacity to him as Freki and Geri do to Odin. It also helps that Khorne has his very own Valkyries in this continuity of Warhammer; foremost being Valkia the Bloody. In addition, one of his names; the Axe-Father, is very similar to 'All-Father'.
** We got to see Khorne's Realm of Chaos in the ''Valkia'' novel. It was basically 'Chaos Valhalla'.
* FlamingSword: The weapons of the Bloodletters, his lesser daemons, carry this effect. Combined with their ability to suck the blood from anything they cut, and it's easy to see why they're called "Hellblades".
* {{Flanderization}}: While he is still the god of martial pride and excellence at arms, early editions of Fantasy (and 40K) emphasized that his followers would spare the weak or even non-combatants, he has slowly evolved into a god of mindless slaughter, who "cares not from where the blood flows, only that it flows." This aspect has been revised to Khorne being indifferent to the weak and helpless and ultimately thinking they are unworthy of his scorn, and sometimes even out gambitting Tzeentch when he feels like thinking. He also sends his hounds upon those cowards who flee from battle, abandon their brothers, or kill non-combatants (sometimes).
* FeelNoPain: Played with. In battle, Khorne Berserkers will be filled with such UnstoppableRage that nothing short of death will stop them (severed limbs will just slow them down). However, accepting the Gifts of Khorne requires one to kill without question, so the longer one goes between slaughters, they will start to feel intense, unbearable pain.
* ForTheLulz: Any expression of anger, no matter how small or for whatever reason will serve Khorne. And instance of killing will serve him, whether it is done by his followers or by those who think they oppose him.
* HairTriggerTemper
* HatesEveryoneEqually: As the embodiment of hate.
* {{Hellfire}}: His daemons often have weapons that burn with divine fire.
* HornyVikings: Out of all the Chaos Gods, the Norse tend to revere him the most.
* IHaveManyNames: Arkhar, Kharneth, Khorghar, the Blood-Wolf, the Wolf-Father, the Axe-Father, for starters. In addition to his well deserved titles.
* KillEmAll: His modus operandi.
* LargeHam: See EvilIsHammy.
* MightMakesRight: General Khornate philosophy.
* NamedWeapons: His sword has been called '[[RedBaron Warmaker]]' and '[[NamesToRunawayFromReallyFast The End of All Things]]'' at various points.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Everything that has ever been associated with him ever has this. And very deservedly so.
** Not everything, but let's say 99% of things. The other 1% are simple [[RedBaron Badass Nicknames]].
* OddJobGods: Khorne's portfolio covers Death, Violence, Murder, Hatred, Rage, Destruction, Warfare and Bloodshed... but also Courage, Honor, Martial Pride, Protection and, one could argue, Compassion (do not kill those who are weak or unable to fight).
** [[CanonDiscontinuity Not anymore.]] Now Khorne [[KillEmAll cares not from where the blood flows]], only [[BloodKnight that it flows.]] Compassion has now been handed over to Nurgle, who puts his own special spin on that particular portfolio.
* OminousFloatingCastle: The Fortress of Khorne, where the Blood God resides upon the Skull Throne.
* ThePowerOfHate
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: His followers embody the archetype among Chaos. Khorne himself is pretty much the God of Proud Warrior Race Guys.
* RatedMForManly: He's a [[WarGod god of war, rage, strength, martial honour, battle and single combat]], and is depicted as an impossibly muscular warrior with a horned, wolf's head sitting atop a massive throne of skulls floating in an endless sea of blood and his plane of existence is basically a site of never ending conflict. And his worshipers are giant, axe brandishing, war loving {{Blood Knight}}s who also tend to be the best melee combatants in the setting.
* TheStoic: When not foaming-at-the-mouth furious or hateful, Khorne is this. Khorne exists only to fight and slay, and is indifferent to anything else, which is part of the reason why he hates Slaanesh so much.
* '''UnstoppableRage''' : Very frequently. He ''is'' the god of rage, after all.
* WarGod: One of the best examples in all of fiction, really.
* WarriorHeaven: Khorne's realm is basically one for the men who worship him, being great halls where they fight for all eternity. Warriors who died in their beds are cursed and shamed by the Blood God and punished by being chained to forges and made to make weapons for his legions.
* WouldNotShootACivilian: Originally, his followers would not harm innocent civilians out of honor, but as time went on, it started to be more about ignoring civilians because they present no challenge, and Khorne desires worthy kills. ''After'' the {{Worthy Opponent}}s are out of the way, all bets are off.

!!'''[[PlagueMaster Nurgle]]'''
[[quoteright:133:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Nurgle_mark_3375.png]]

-->''There, feel the glory of necrosis, and rejoice! Nurgle loves you all!''

The Fly Lord, Neigel, Nierg, Nieglen. Portrayed as a being horrifically bloated and deformed by the ravages of disease and decay, pustular guts falling through his torn skin, pus and blood and bile and other filth oozing from every pore, Nurgle is the eldest of the Chaos Gods, and may be the most disgusting and terrifying of them. Ironically, he's also the nicest, maintaining a caring and loving manner. Nurgle claims to love ''all'' creatures -- that just happens to include viruses, bacteria, fungi and other disease-causing organisms. Nurgle's followers spread disease and decay across the galaxy, forced to sing the songs of gratitude to "Grandfather" or "Papa" Nurgle. He is is born from the world's fear, despair, fortitude and the will to live no matter what.

Nurgle's sacred number is 7.

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!!Notable tropes include:

* ArchEnemy: Of Tzeentch. Is also none too fond of Slaanesh, since Slaanesh is the god of self-indulgence and pain whereas Nurgle is the god of endurance and (in his own twisted way) community.
* BeneficialDisease: Nurgle's followers regard every disease as being a blessing from their lord. More literally, this is often the form that Nurgle's boons take when granted to his favored children.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Maybe. He claims his horrific plagues to be gifts, and that the despair they cause you are your way of saying thanks to him.
* BodyHorror: Nurgle's physical form, and what frequently happens to his followers and their victims due to his "gifts".
* CoolOldGuy: How his followers seem to view him , as he is the oldest chaos god.
* DeadWeight: Though not necessarily technically "dead", many of Nurgle's more "blessed" followers and the most favored of his daemons otherwise fit into this trope. Taking the form of bloated abominations, their skin bursts with open wounds and sores they do not tend to, the stench of rot surrounds them, pus and maggots squirming within their oversized flesh, and they can take one hell of a pounding without being discouraged.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Twisted in a way only Nurgle can. No matter how hard you resist him, he will "love" you all the more, so that when you finally give in, you ''really'' have his attention.
* '''DespairEventHorizon''': The god of this. When you have passed it, you are Nurgle's.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Nurgle maintains a caring, cheerful manner. While infecting his followers with disfiguring ailments and horrific diseases and plagues.
* FeelNoPain: The boon of Nurgle is that he will comfort all pain. Follow him, and you never have to worry about getting hurt again, Papa Nurgle will kiss it and make it "better".
* FriendToAllLivingThings / EnemyToAllLivingThings: Nurgle has the attitude of the former coupled with the function of the later. The juxtaposition of the two is one of the things that makes Nurgle as creepy as he is.
* GardenOfEvil: The Garden of Nurgle is this. Mostly cause it's where he gets the ingredients for his plagues.
* GracefulLoser: Nurgle's followers view death as a natural part of the cycle that will nurture rot and decay, and thus view their own defeats as inevitable.
* LackOfEmpathy: Maybe subverted, as Nurgle is the only Chaos God that ''seems'' to care more about his followers than himself. Although you really don't want his help.
* TheNecromancer: Ironically, despite the fact you'd expect this to be Tzeentch's dominion, given his fixation on changing (life into death being "one of the most meaningful changes") and mastery of magic, Nurgle is the Chaos God most associated with TheUndead. This is less so in WarhammerFantasy, however, where necromancy has become increasingly associated with "evil order".
* NietzscheWannabe: Nurgle and his followers are all about this, even if they're all very cheerful about it. Their only purpose is to spread disease and misery further, and having abandoned all hope and ambition they have nothing explicitly to live for other than to die and feed the cycle of rot. On the flip side, they also have the endurance and willpower to not just [[EmptyShell lay down and die]], which makes them all the more dangerous. Put another way, Nurgle is Tzeentch's Last Man.
* OddJobGods: Nurgle's portfolio covers Disease, Decay, Poison, Fear, Despair, Entropy, Endurance, Willpower, and Healing.
* ThePatriarch: Nurgle views himself as a loving, generous, playful parental figure to his followers, and his followers adore him for it, lovingly referring to him as "Grandfather", "Grandpa", "Papa", "Father" or "Uncle" Nurgle.
* ThePigPen: Why clean up? You will just get dirty again. Besides, Nurgle loves you just the way you are, no matter how filthy you get, so why not let yourself get filthy and have a bunch of friendly bacteria and maggots on your body to keep you company?
* {{Plaguemaster}}: Obviously.
* RedBaron: The Plague Lord, the Fly Lord, the Plague Father, the Lord of Decay.
* StepfordSmiler: And HOW!
* TheSwarm: Expect these anywhere near Nurgle. Many of his daemons are surrounded by swarms of flies, disease-spreading bloodsuckers, filth-spreading roaches, and carpets of maggots born from the carrion his followers leave in their wake. The newest Chaos Daemons codex has {{retcon}}ned the Beasts of Nurgle into being the maggots of monstrous fly-beasts, which are ridden by plaguebearers to form Nurgle's Plague Drones.
* TheVirus - The "gifts" of Nurgle.
* WalkingWasteland - Disease, decay, rot, and corrosion are all Nurgle's domain, and his daemons and followers will spread them where ever they go to further honor Papa Nurgle.
* TheWormThatWalks - Some of Nurgle's daemons (such as the [[HazmatSuit Plague Savants]]) are so full of maggots and other carrion breeders that they are practically animated by them.

!!'''[[SexIsEvil Slaanesh]]'''
[[quoteright:125:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Slaanesh_mark_3677.png]]

-->''Long shall be your suffering. Joyous be your pain.''

The Dark Prince, the Serpent, Lashor, She Who Thirsts. The youngest of the Dark Gods of Chaos, and the physically weakest of the Dark Gods, Slaanesh is perhaps one of the most popular to worship, as it preaches the indulgence of every whim and the seeking of every pleasure, and so it has a very wide power base. The Dark Elves, while officially dedicated exclusively to Khaine, also have a strong underground of Slaanesh worshippers; Morathi herself is a Champion of Slaanesh in all but name, and not only was her creation of the Dark Elves inspired by her dedication, she still seeks to bring them all to Slaanesh's worship. It is the embodiment of {{Squick}}, love, lust, pleasure, pain, excess, hubris, pride and desire.

Slaanesh's sacred number is 6.

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!!Notable tropes include:

* TheAce: One could make the case. Slaanesh is the God of Pleasure, so anything that one derives pleasure from falls under its domain, and it encourages you to find pleasure in absolutely anything, and in turn Slaanesh itself enjoys cultivating new skills and experiences. This includes ''losing''.
** It's actually noted that many Slaaneshi cultists turned to Slaanesh's worship to cultivate their skills to new heights. The desire to be the greatest duelist, painter, singer, sculptor, etc is just as welcome to Slaanesh as sheer hedonism.
* AllMenArePerverts[=/=]AllWomenAreLustful: Slaanesh is one or the other, or both of these at the same time.
* AmbiguousGender: Slaanesh's traditional depiction is as an impossibly beautiful creature that is a man on its left side and a woman on its right side. The confusion is often played up for humor within the fandom.
* ArchEnemy: Of Khorne, whose mindless barbarism contains no thought of the self. Also a lesser enemy of Nurgle, who is similarly 'selfless' and focused on spreading his blessings to others instead of sating oneself. Slaanesh also tends to regard Nurgle and his followers as ugly, smelly and disgusting.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Subverted. Slaanesh is perhaps the cruellest, most callous and most self-centered of all the Dark Gods.
* CharmPerson: Those who gaze upon Slaanesh can do nothing but fall down and worship its inhuman beauty. This extends to its daemons, though a powerful mind can resist their presence. With Slaanesh itself, however, it doesn't matter how powerful your mind is -- unless you are a god or something equally powerful, you will falter and fall before it.
* CirclesOfHell: Slaanesh's castle in the Realm of Chaos is surrounded by six circular regions devoted to the six forms of desire; Avidity, Gluttony, Carnality, Paramountcy, Vainglory, and Indolency.
* DepravedBisexual: There are fewer more depraved.
* DrugsAreBad: {{Inverted|Trope}}, as Slannesh considers anything which heightens sensory experiences to be ''good''. Many of its followers will experiment with a wide variety of substances to better experience all the pleasures they can offer. Such followers are also one of the Chaos factions most likely to use combat drugs when going into battle.
* EvilFeelsGood: Or, rather, "if it feels good, then it's not evil". Slaanesh encourages his followers to ignore all morality, sanity and any other impediments to feeling pleasure.
** Alternatively, if you gain pleasure by recognising something as evil and perverse and doing it anyway, or even doing it ''because'' it is evil and thats how you get your jollies, come join in the fun.
* ExtremeOmnisexual: Anything that moves and many things that do not. If it provides a physical or emotional thrill, it goes for Slaanesh's followers, no matter what it is.
* TheFightingNarcissist: Something of a [[PlanetOfHats hat]], Slaaneshi warriors tend towards inhumanly fast reflexes with all the arrogance it entails, especially as they're opposed to the brutal berserkers of Khorne.
* GenderBender: Slaanesh can freely switch between male, female, hermaphrodite, and any other blending of gender features one can imagine. Some of its followers acquire this as a "gift" as well.
* '''TheHedonist''': Slaanesh is the embodiment of all desires and exists only to sate those desires.
* {{Hermaphrodite}}: More conventional portrayals of this are certainly within its grasp. Most of its worshipers end up like this as well.
* HornyDevils: Slaanesh and all its daemons are basically this.
* [[ItAmusedMe It Pleased Me]]: That they might receive pleasure from the act is the only reason followers of Slaanesh need to do anything.
* ItsAllAboutMe: It really is.
* LoveGoddess: In a RapeIsLove kind of way.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: It does when it is the love offered by the Prince of Excess...
* OddJobGods: Slaanesh's portfolio covers Excess, Depravity, Pain, Perversion, Pleasure, Love, Lust, Desire, Mastery and Beauty.
* OutWithABang: Slaanesh has a destrubing amount of ways to do this, not all of which are literal sex as ''we'' know it. Slaanesh is also said to grant [[PronounTrouble his/her/it]]'s foes one moment of ultimate esctacy before snuffing their life out. That this is also a gift offered to Slaanesh's own followers is one of the things that makes them [[DeathSeeker willing to die]] for their patron when their creed otherwise emphasizes self-serving behavior instead of self-sacrifice.
* ThePerfectionist
* [[PleasurePlanet Pleasure Palace]]: The Palace of Slaanesh. Where every possible depraved act thinkable (and some that are unthinkable) are performed.
* PowerPerversionPotential - Slaanesh is arguably an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. The powers he grants to his followers are intended to be used for perverse purposes, but in a pinch can be repurposed to serve more pragmatic needs. Perfumes that [[LoveIsInTheAir cause bliss to inhale]] can incapacitate and fog the minds of foes, extra long tongues for tasting and stimulating can be [[TentacleRope used to ensnare]], etc.
* PronounTrouble: Often used as a joke by the fandom.
* RedBaron: The Dark Prince, the Serpent, She Who Thirsts.
* SafeSaneAndConsensual: [[AvertedTrope Completely averted]] and ''rejected''. The followers of Slaanesh consider [[SafeWord safety]], [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity sanity]], and [[QuestionableConsent consent]] to be blasphemous concepts for getting between them and [[ItsAllAboutMe what they want]].
* SenseFreak: Taken UpToEleven. Long time, hyper-desensitized followers will literally ''immolate themselves'', just to feel ''something'' new.
* SexIsEvil: An incarnation of this is the simplest way of viewing Slaanesh.
* SexIsViolence: Slaanesh honestly seems to be unaware of the difference.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Slaanesh is described as so beautiful that merely glancing at it can make you fall in love with it, to the extent you will sell your soul to Slaanesh right then and there without hesitation. Slaanesh, of course, does not view this as a curse.
* WickedCultured: Slaanesh is not just about physical sensations such as sex and torture, but also enjoying such things as art and music. Generally, though, Slaanesh and his/her followers gradually move more towards the "wicked" part than the "cultured" part as time goes on.

!!'''[[TheChessmaster Tzeentch]]'''
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/100px-Tzeentch_mark_9487.png]]

-->''Do not ask which creature screams in the night. Do not question who waits for you in the shadow. It is my cry that wakes you in the night, and my body that crouches in the shadow. I am Tzeentch and you are the puppet that dances to my tune...''

The Changer of Ways, the Great Conspirator, the Architect of Fate, Tchar. The manipulative one, the Dark God who sees all things that may be and redirects the future to serve his own inscrutable whims and goals. Tzeentch is the lord of Change, and considered the second most powerful of the Chaos Gods, for Change and Chaos are synonymous. Born as the collective embodiment of the galaxy's hope and envy, Tzeentch is the patron of all who would seek change, in any form -- but they may get more then they desired. Tzeentch exhorts his followers to bring change, in any form, to anyone and everyone, and psykers/sorcerers owe him particular allegiance.

Tzeentch is rarely described, but they tend to vary, which is fitting for the Lord of Change. One ancient portrayal is as a ghastly, dwarfish thing, with horns arcing up from either shoulder over a head sunken into his neck and many whispering mouths crawling over his body. Another is a serpentine figure with bird like features. His sacred number is 9.

----
!!Notable tropes include:

* ArchEnemy: Of Nurgle. Nurgle is the god of cycles, despair, rot and stagnation. Tzeentch is the lord of change, hope, mutation and optimism. The two are fundamentally opposed because they want the opposite thing (endless stagnation into despair and rot vs. constant evolution).
* TheArchmage: Tzeentch is the most powerful manipulator of sorcery and psionics in the ''Warhammer'' canon. He has since fallen from grace, but is still one of the undisputed masters of magicks. His staff, upon shattering, became not material pieces but rather ''individual spells'', hence Tzeentch is literally the inventor of magic.
* BatmanGambit: Tzeentch basically does this as a thought exercise, every moment of every day for all eternity.
* BodyHorror: Of all the Chaos Gods, Tzeentch is the freest in doling out [[{{Mutants}} mutation]], simply because constant, perpetual change is his reason for existing and his followers should embrace this in mind, soul and ''body''.
** CombatTentacles: Sometimes it's one of your two arms, sometimes it's an entirely new limb.
** EyesDoNotBelongThere: If Tzeentch feels you [[ExtraEyes need more eyes]], you damn well are getting more eyes.
** MultiArmedAndDangerous: Though whether or not it's helpful depends on where the extra-arms pop out of.
* BrightIsNotGood: Sky blue and gold are his favoured colours. Of course, he can change into any colour if he wills it.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He really has a problem with this. A significant number of his own daemons would freely desert or double cross him if given the chance, save for the fact he's the only one who [[IKnowYourTrueName knows their true natures]]. The other Gods are wary of him because of it. Ironically, he's also the one who usually forms alliances between the Chaos Gods.
** This is probably the ''biggest'' reason they are wary of him.
* ConsummateLiar: He is called the Liar God for a reason.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: Tzeentch is basically fuelled by the same energies that drive evolution, and seeks to force evolution upon others, hence the readiness with which he dispenses physical transformations. The problem is, Tzeentch doesn't comprehend moderation, and instead causes his worshippers and victims alike to evolve and mutate and change and change and change until they become indescribable horrors or die (or both).
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Taken to its extreme. Tzeentch will '''die''' if '''any''' of his myriad plans succeed, thus every one of his plans will fail because he sabotages them, and he has several plans that run completely contrary to his other plans by design (though, of course, not as the end). This is the ''real'' measure of his [[TheChessmaster chessmastery]] skills, the fact that he has ''millions'' of these running, most extremely complex and many spanning centuries, and not one of them succeed even by ''accident'' because he is that damn good.
* ForTheLulz: Tzeentch cannot be foiled, simply because he doesn't actually have a plan ''to'' foil. If Tzeentch ever actually "won", then he would probably cease to exist, because that would mean that nothing would ever be able to change any more.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Tzeentch is the keeper of all knowledge, and may grant that knowledge to those who supplicate it from him. However, those who do so do not always have minds capable to accepting the horrible truths Tzeentch has to offer, and this is an all too common result.
* GreatGazoo: A villainous exemple.
* HopelessWar: One could theorize that thanks to his inherent self-defeating disorder and the fact that he is the most Magnificent of all {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, because of him the cause of Chaos is [[EvilWillFail doomed to fail]] because he can never allow it to succeed. Instead it is in his interest and integral to his nature to maintain a ForeverWar. Still, that is small comfort for the Imperium, especially since they aren't the only ones fighting Chaos and some other horrid race could easily replace him.
* JackassGenie: ''Beware'' his [[ItAmusedMe sick sense oh humor]].
* MagicalLibrary: The Hidden Library of Tzeentch. It holds every magical spell, every prophecy, every piece of knowledge one could hope to find. Just two small problems: the books are alive, and they're pure evil.
* MagnificentBastard: [[invoked]] Tzeentch is the literal god of Magnificent Bastards. Whatever you do, he will benefit, [[AllAccordingToPlan Just As]] [[MemeticMutation Planned]].
* MobileMaze: The Maze of Tzeentch, which shifts and contorts to trap any who enter it.
* OddJobGods: Tzeentch's portfolio covers Hope, Envy, Treachery, Transformation, Change, and Magic/Psionics.
** Tzeentch is basically the patron god of anyone who hopes to pull off [[ThePlan any kind of plan.]] ''However'', he's ''also'' the patron god of {{Gambit Pileup}}s, anyone who is a SpannerInTheWorks or UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, and ensuring you DidntSeeThatComing.
* TheOmniscient: It comes with being the god of knowledge. It's implied, however, that one thing eludes his grasp, the future. He can see the general direction of things, but it's one of the few uncertainties to him. It is this that caused him to throw Kairos into the Well of Eternity.
* RedBaron: The Architect of Fate, the Changer of Ways, the Great Mutator, the Lord of Change.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Ironically for a god of Change, he is the greatest enforcer of this trope in-universe.
* TheTrickster: Basically the Trickster of the Chaos Gods, given his favor of deception and deceit. Although what he considers a practical joke, only he would consider funny..
* {{Ubermensch}}: Tzeentch is the patron god of these: He constantly seeks to change, evolve, and discard old laws and restrictions in favour of making your own way based purely on your own will and vision. Nurgle, who wants to decay in the existing world, serves as the Last Man.
* XanatosGambit: When the plot itself is the payoff, ''any'' of Tzeentch's schemes become this by default. The question is only which one of his pawns reaps their payoff.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Tzeentch is basically pulling this constantly against everyone else in the world. Simultaneously.
** Tzeentch is pulling this constantly against ''himself''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Warriors of Chaos]]
->''"Call us savages because we strike at you. But know this -- it is we who are the closest to the Ruinous Powers. We most favoured of the gods shall raid your lands, revel in your suffering and destroy you. Despair! For all that remains for you is the taste of northern steel and the end of your world. Such is the will of the gods.."''

The Lands claimed by the Tribes who have pledged to the 'True Gods' are vast, far larger than even the Empire, the people who inhabit these lands are tougher and more resilient than any other race of men, where other human civilizations revile the worship of Chaos and it's 'Gifts', these people have embraced it, from their ranks are the armies of chaos drawn and champions raised up.

Tough, strong, fanatical, the Tribesmen of the wastes are technologically backward and extremely disunited, which may be the sole reason the Warhammer has not yet fallen...

It is the Northmen who rule the Northern lands. And they are divided into three races bound together by ancestry and, most importantly, shared faith in the wrathful gods of the North.

To the immediate north of the Old World lie Norsca and the Norscans. Mighty and bloodthirsty warriors, savage, cruel and devoted to the Chaos Gods in mind, body and soul. Who take to their longships to raid and pillage the Southern lands and to make of them sacrifices to their apocalyptic masters. To the Imperials and Kislevites they show no mercy, for Southmen hearken and kneel to soft, weak gods and thus deserve only doom. Hard-bitten and war-like, they are the very epitome of the Warriors of Chaos. It is the grim warriors of the northern tribes who are the fiercest of the Northmen, and the most likely to bear the dark gifts of their gods.

East of Norsca, and beyond the Frozen Sea lie the Eastern Steppes and the roving Kurgan nomads. Dark-haired and copper-toned, they are people wholly of a different breed than the other human races of the Old World, though it is said that they share some kinship with the Kislevites... Masters of horses, they come gladly when the gods command, for they are a numerous people who feel the call of battle in their blood.

To the north of the Great Bastion are the tribes of the Hung. Faithless marauders and horse-brigands, they are lithe of build and quick of hand. But their like is not often seen in the Old World, for their lands are far from the Empire or Kislev. The brutal tribesmen of the Hung horse-clans are more willing to instead wage war upon the people of Cathay and the foul Dark Elves of the west... Though many of them have found common cause with the vile Pleasure Cults of Naggaroth.

* AntiChrist: The Everchosen is this for the whole setting. The most significant have been Morkar the Uniter - a Norseman, Asavar Kul - a Kurgan, and Archaon - former Imperial. They have all come close to annihilating all that exists. So far, the only people who haven't produced an Everchosen are the Hung.
** In an interesting subversion, he is essentially TheMessiah for the Northmen while being essentially the same being to the south as to them, also.
* AxeCrazy: Come on, they worship the Gods of Chaos.
* AwesomeMcCoolName: So common. Cormac Bloodaxe, Asavar Kul, Morkar the Uniter, Wulfrik the Wanderer, Haargroth the Blooded, Melekh the Changer, Archaon, Valkia the Bloody... etc, etc.
* AristocratsAreEvil: In two general flavors.
** Firstly, Southern Nobles among the Imperials, Kislevites, Brettonians, Cathayans and so forth. Most covert Chaos cults are usually made up of nobles or other ''sophisticated'' types within the civilized societies like wealthy merchants. Most of these people tend to believe that they're just worshiping their native gods under a new set of rituals and a doctrine that claims to have the 'true story'. Or maybe they want to make a difference in their society and want to use the power of the Chaos Gods to galvanize change. Or maybe they just like the way Chaos worshipers sell their goods. Whatever the case, they usually have ''no'' idea what they're getting themselves into and while either end up driven completely insane, sacrificed to the Gods, killed by Witch Hunters, killed by daemons, or can gain enough favor to become a true servant of Chaos and travel north to Norsca and the Chaos Wastes to join a Northman clan.
** And secondly, [[BarbarianHero assuming you don't think they're not polished enough to be counted as nobility]], many Chaos Champions and Lords tend to be raised up from the mightiest warriors of Norse and Kurgan nobility, Jarls and Zars, respectively. On a lesser scale, Jarls and Zars also end up as the chieftains[=/=]warleaders of roaming Marauder warbands intent on rapine slaughter. Both of these would imply that these barbarian leaders would have a) killed many thousands, b) be very well favoured by the uncaring Gods of Chaos, c) carry several horrific mutations, d) [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity be insane]].
* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Becoming a Daemon Prince is more or less synonymous with becoming a demigod. And the difference between a God and a Daemon in Warhammer largely depends on where one is standing at the time anyway.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: How Chaos Lords and Marauder Chieftains get their positions.
** AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Norscan Jarls and Kings are almost always Chaos Champions.
* {{Badass}}: They're daemon worshiping Vikings! They're the most badass things in Warhammer, and by [[WorldOfBadass virtue of that]] some of the most badass villains in all fiction!
** BadassArmy: The Northern Hordes are made up of warriors without equal. Their defeats have come to be only by the world itself uniting to beat them back, and even then only barely. The armybooks also take great pains to emphasize that the Northmen are simply superior to the Southern races when it comes to war.
** BadassBeard: They are very serious about beards.
*** BeardOfBarbarism: Because, you know, they're Vikings.
** BadassBoast: Numerous, but the page quote is a fine example.
** BadassCrew: Your average Chaos warband is gonna be the most badass group of people in Warhammer. Primarily due to the fact that they probably killed everything else that was within a hundred mile radius, but they're still inherently uber badass.
** BadassGrandpa: The Champions of Chaos are immortal and the successful ones tend to be centuries old masters of war.
** BigBadassWolf: They're Vikings, so this motif would be common. In particular, the Norse raid the Empire with massive black longships called 'wolfships'. Also, the Norse have some Chaos mutants in their ranks called Weres, who were mentioned in 6th edition as being fallen Chaos Champions. Khorne is also sometimes associated with a wolves.
** BarbarianLonghair: A lot of the models have long hair, topknots and scalp-braids.
* [[BarbarianHero Barbarian]] [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protoganist]]: If there's a story that features them as the main characters, they're gonna be like this.
* BarbarianTribe: Dozens, each with it's own unique culture and pantheon.
** Main Norscan tribes are: Skaelings, Baersonlings, Bjornlings, Sarls, Graelings, Vargs and Aeslings.
** Main Kurgan tribes are: Aghols, Tong, Kul, Khazags, Dolgans, Tahmaks, Yursak.
** Main Hung tribes are: Chi-an, Tu-Ka, the Dreaded Wo, Mung, Kuj, Man-Chu.
* BaldOfEvil: Chaos Champions sometimes have these.
* BeardOfEvil: Very common. See BadassBeard above.
* BearsAreBadNews: Back in the old Regiments of Renown days, there was a Chaos Warband called the "Bearmen of Urslo". Their leader, a Chaos Lord called Beorg Bearstruck, could literally turn into a massive, feral, mutant werebear.
** Also, one particular background character by the name of Valmir Aesling was a Chaos Lord who rode a chariot pulled by 7 giant ''skinless, daemonically-corrupted'' bears.
* BlackMage: Chaos Sorcerers. Ironically, despite the fact that [[BlackMagic Dark Magic]], the lore of mashing together all of the Winds of Magic into one unstable whole, is synonymous with Chaos, Chaos Sorcerers instead use ElementalPowers -- Dark Magic is exclusively the province of [[OurElvesAreBetter the Dark Elves]].
** The precise array of powers varies from army book to army book; in 6th edition's "Hordes of Chaos", their first new codex in some time, they only had access to the Lores of [[{{Necromancer}} Death]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire]] and [[CastingAShadow Shadow]]. In 6th edition's "Warriors of Chaos", Sorcerers could only cast Death or Fire magic and Exalted Sorcerers could cast Death, Fire, Shadow or Heavens magic. As of 7th edition's "Warriors of Chaos", they can all use Death, Fire, [[ExtraOreDinary Metal]] or Shadow.
** In all army books, however, a Chaos Marked Sorcerer can use magic of their patron god; only Champions could bear Tzeentch's Mark (and thus cast Tzeentchian spells) in "Hordes of Chaos", but this changed afterwards. Pre-7th Edition, Marked Sorcerers ''had'' to use their Patron Magic spells, but 7th edition allowed them to instead use one of the elemental powers based on their patron god (Metal for Tzeentch, Death for Nurgle and Shadows for Slaanesh).
* BloodKnight: Warriors of Khorne, particularly. It should be noted that all Northman tribes are pretty much comprised of this, as every tribe's warriors logically venerates Khorne. Also, being a BloodKnight is practically a survival mechanism in the North.
** In particular, the Norscans see war as a way to earn the Chaos God's favour.
* BornInTheSaddle: The Hung and Kurgan. Horses that are fed on human flesh and watered down blood no less. The Kurgan are also said to be some of the greatest horsemen in the setting and are as comfortable as fighting from horseback as they are on foot.
* BodyHorror: Spawn, mutations.
* BlondeGuysAreEvil: [[OverlyLongGag Because they are evil Vikings- Oh, you get it already.]] But Sigvald the Magnificent in particular. Sigvald is Slaanesh's greatest mortal champion. He appears as a comely lad of 16 who would look laughably effeminate were it not for his hardy physical build. Very charismatic, very refined and very, very vain and hideously cruel and sickening. He is the product of incest between a tribal chieftain and his own sister and was fed with every debauchery he asked, as his tribe worshiped Slaanesh. [[EvenEvilHasStandards He was only banished from the tribe by his father on account of his cannibalism]], he later murdered his own father in his sleep anyway. After going to the Wastes and receiving his patron's mark, Sigvald burned down an Imperial city and put its inhabitants to the sword... [[DisproportionateRetribution simply because the wine brewed their was not to his taste]].
* TheBerserker: Warriors of Khorne again. Most of Khorne's followers tend to be Norscans also, true to their historical inspiration.
* BigBad: On a mortal scale, Archaon the Everchosen is the current BigBad of the Warhammer world. He's quite something.
* BrightIsNotGood: Followers of Slaanesh (Chaos god of hedonism and excess) are {{Sense Freak}}s who wear hideously garish clothing and choking perfumes at all times, being so blasé it's the only way they can feel anything.
* {{Challenge Seeker}}: Wulfrik [[FlyingDutchman the Wanderer]] is forced to challenge people due to a curse from the gods. He, being a [[BloodKnight Norscan]], does not see it as a curse.
* CoolHelmet: Those war-helms the Chaos Warriors wear are ''awesome''.
* TheDreaded: Without doubt, ''the'' most feared race of humans in the setting. Fitting, they have come perilously close to destroying the world several times, after all.
** The Aesling and Kul tribes get this treatment from the Norse and Kurgan respectively.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Predominantly, the army has a very heavy Germanic/Nordic feel to it as the resident Viking culture, the Norscans, are the most heavily featured in the canon. At least half of the Warrior special character list is made up of Norscans as well. And the universal Dark Tongue of Chaos used by all servants of the Gods is heavily influenced by Elder and Younger Furthark. That said, the Warriors are actually culturally diverse, being a coalition of various barbarian human races drawing upon influence from both Northern European and Eurasian warrior cultures.
** The '''Norscans''', as you can probably tell, are daemonic Vikings, with the Vikings' bloodthirst and war-like nature and general badassery dialed UpToEleven, with some Anglo-Saxon thrown in there as well. They are the fiercest and most devout of Chaos. And they often lead the Chaos Hordes into battle because of that. Khorne is seen as an Odin-like figure among the Norse who presides over a warrior afterlife. The Norse thus tend to be Khorne's greatest and most numerous followers due to this. The Norscans also have some Scottish influence.
** The '''Kurgan''' are daemonic Northern Asian people, Turkic and Mongolian mostly. With some Slavic influences and with those people's savagery exaggerated to an extent that would be comical if it wasn't so horrifying. Filling a sort of HordesFromTheEast dynamic to the Warriors. They are also fiercely devoted to Chaos and form a great deal of Northman Hordes.
** The '''Hung''' are daemonic Huns. Unsurprisingly. There's not much known about them, as they are furthest from the Old World and where the action goes on. They're busy waging war against Cathay on the other side of the world, or fighting the Dark Elves. They are notable as ardent followers of Slaanesh.
* FantasticRacism: The order of the day in Warhammer. But they don't hate the South due to race as much as they do due to religion. As far as they're concerned, anyone who doesn't worship Chaos must die.
* FantasyPantheon: The Chaos Gods are the state religion for the Northmen. But each tribe has its own spin on them. Some of them even go so far as to worship a single god as their patron (often whatever god the chieftain worships) to the exclusion of the rest. But it's also stated that they rotate their worship of the gods as it becomes practical. For instance, when plague comes, Norse and Kurgan tribes start worshiping Nurgle to get him to stop sending them.
* GrimUpNorth: In general, Norsca is this to the South, being the birthplace of the merciless Chaos barbarians who want to rape and pillage down the coasts of civilized realms. Norsca also gets progressively worse and worse the further north you go. Not for a lack of the south's trying, mind you.
** But subverted for the Kurgans, who are actually TheSavageSouth. Oh sure, they're north of anyone who doesn't worship Chaos, but the absolute ''worst'' Kurgan tribe are the Kul. Who are located in the absolute south of the Eastern Steppes and are in fact the most southerly of the Kurgan tribes. If not the most southerly of all Northmen in general.
* HADToBeSharp: Thanks to living so damn close to the Chaos Wastes and thus, HELL, the Norse, Kurgan, and Hung have become the fiercest warriors to walk the Old World.
* HornyVikings: They can be best described as 'hulking, heavily armoured, demonic, superhuman Norse barbarians'.
* TheHorde: And nothing shall stay their wrath.
* HorseArcher: The Kurgans are described as having something like this as a hat.
* HumansAreWarriors: The best fighters in Warhammer canon, especially those who follow Khorne. Come on, what did you expect? It's in the name.
* HumansAreSpecial: Played with, humanity isn't favoured by Chaos because they're special, the traits that set humanity apart from other races in most fantasy fiction (adaptability, industriousness, adventure, etc, etc) is because Chaos ''has'' blessed them.
* {{Irony}}: Their current leader used to be an Imperial Templar of Sigmar, this is both ironic for them and the Empire they fight. That the greatest servant of Chaos in the Old World is not a Norscan, Kurgan or Hung warlord but a one-time worshiper of Chaos' greatest enemy.
* NorseMythology: Relentlessly plundered for names and archetypes. For instance, Valkia the Bloody and her spear ''Slaupnir''.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: What do you expect, exactly, from ''Vikings who worship Khorne?''.
* RatedMForManly: [[RunningGag They're Vikings who worship Kho]]- [[OverusedRunningGag oh wait, you probably got this already]].
* ReligionOfEvil: Subverted. They don't see the Chaos Gods as evil. The Norscans reasonably maintain that such powerful entities are rightfully beyond human judgement and should be venerated and respected for their power. Whether or not you agree depends on your point of view.
* ReligionIsMagic: Norse, Kurgan and Hung holymen tend to be Chaos Sorcerers of some kind. Or tribal shamans who gained some divine power from the Dark Gods. Averted by followers of Khorne's faith, who slaughter any sorcerer or magician as a matter on principle. Averted by Khorne's actual priests called Bloodfathers, who are not magicians as much as they are incredible warriors who bear Khorne's mark and are blessed with the ability to foresee great carnage. When an Aesling Bloodfather came to their lands, the various Kurgan tribes were more or less scared shitless of him. It's also said that Khorne has taught them every skill of war; but that's just conjecture.
* ScaryImpracticalArmor: Dear Sigmar, the warriors of Chaos are decked from head to toe in such. Then again, the guys wearing them are super-strong, demonic warriors so it's not impractical for them at all.
* ScreamingWarrior
* ShroudedInMyth: The Norscans (who make up the backbone of any Chaos incursion) are debated by Imperial theologians and historians as being half-breed spawn of men and daemons. In truth? They are simply a race of men who migrated south from the Chaos Wastes and briefly lived in the Reik Basin, raiding and slaughtering all the surrounding tribes in the name of Chaos before Sigmar united said tribes drove them back to the North. This act has left them with a grudge against the Empire so great it makes the hatred [[WarHammer40000 Chaos Space Marines have for the Imperium look like a tiny ember]] in comparison.
* SkeletonsIntheCoatCloset: They are very fond of putting severed heads and skulls on their...
* SpikesOfVillainy
* ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil: Anyone who worships Chaos deeply will end up all kinds of wrong in the head.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink[=/=]TheNeedForMead: They like drinking mead, so much so that it is even brought up in their codex descriptions. [[OverlyLongGag Because they're Vikings]].
* UnstoppableRage: The standard state of mind for Warriors of Khorne. But they sprinkle it with a ProudWarriorRaceGuy mentality and a little HonourBeforeReason.
* {{Valkyries}}: The [[SarcasmMode creatively named]] ''Valkia the Bloody'' of the Norse is a Daemon Princess and servant of Khorne who acts in this capacity to the Lord of Battle, it is even explicitly stated that she chooses great warriors who die on the battlefield in Khorne's name to fight on the Blood God's halls. In case you weren't convinced the Warriors of Chaos are crazy Vikings.
* VitriolicBestBuds: The Kurgan and Norse have this kind of relationship. Both peoples have had their cultural rivalries at times, but both are also brothers in the service of Chaos and respect each others' fighting skill. When the Chaos Gods give the call to war, the Norse and Kurgan often join forces without complaint. Their devotion to the Gods and mutual respect outweighs their suspicion of eachother.
* WarriorHeaven: Khorne's domain in the Realm of Chaos is implied to be something like this for worthy warriors who die in battle, once again playing off the heavy Nordic flavour of this army. Of course, this is more like War '''is'' heaven.
* WeaponOfChoice
** AnAxeToGrind: The models are frequently depicted as brandishing large axes.
* WolfMan: It's a type of Chaos mutation. The Baersonling clan however has a similar, exclusive Chaos mutation that turns them into werebears.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Beasts of Chaos ]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/m790109a_LP_WH_Beastmen_6424.png

->''"And in that time of darkness, Man became Beast, And Beast became Man."''

The Beastmen lurk in the darkest places of the world, they are the true children of chaos, monstrous, numberless and fractious, they are reviled and hated by all and the feeling is very much mutual.
-----
* ALoadOfBull: Minotaurs act as heavy infantry for the Beastmen.
* BeastMan: The {{Mooks}} start at this, and further up the chain they get more monstrous.
* BeastOfBattle: The Beastmen use assorted mutant animals and monstrosities as living war machines.
* TheBerserker
* EnfanteTerrible: Some Beastmen are born of human mothers whose children are corrupted by Chaos in the womb. They invariably kill their mothers at birth.
* FaunsAndSatyrs: Gors, bestigors, ungors, centigors, and cygors are all goat/human hybrids with varying degrees of bestial traits who run around in forests worshipping dark gods.
** This is something of a retcon from the older fluff, where they could be a lot more diversely anarchic in form -- particularly when you brought in the tendency for beastment who worshipped particular gods to take on the traits of animals associated with those gods. Justified on a meta-level; it was easier for Games Workshop to produce models if they stuck to a single "set" of racial traits. Lampshaded by notes in the in-verse fluff.
* FullBoarAction: Tuskgors, which are mutated boars, and Razorgors, which are GIANT mutated boars.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The centigors are like goat-bodied centaurs with horns and clawed feet instead of hooves. The are raging alcoholics, and will [[DrunkenMaster randomly receive bonuses]] according to their level of intoxication.
* OurGiantsAreBigger: The Beastmen often press giants into service.
* ScreamingWarrior
* ShoutOut: One of the more exotic creatures in the Beastmen army, the jabberslythe, is a reference to the Jabberwock from ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]''.
* TheUnfavorite: In the first Beastman army book to be marketed as that, it was explained that Beastmen must work much harder to attract favorable attention from the Chaos Gods, because they are born from Chaos and so have no ability to do anything but serve Chaos -- the Dark Gods thusly favor their human worshippers more, because they chose to offer their faith to Chaos. This was done to explain why the Beastmen lost a number of Chaos-related abilities and units that they originally had (such as being able to bear Chaos Marks and wield Chaos Magics) back in the "Beasts of Chaos" army book.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Daemons of Chaos]]
The physical manifestations of Chaos itself, recently given their own codex. They are inhuman monsters made of pure magic, incredibly powerful and utterly merciless, delighting in slaughter and depravity. Once the four Chaos Gods would frequently be at each others' throats, but now they seem to have set aside their differences to terrorise the world.

They were only recently given their own codex as a separate army, in both this game and ''Warhammer 40,000''. As a result, you can use most of the army models for both games whenever you want, which is quite handy [[CrackIsCheaper for saving money and time]].

* AsteroidsMonster: Horrors.
* EldritchAbomination
* FantasyPantheon
** Slaanesh: EvilIsSexy, SenseFreak, NightmareFetishist
** Khorne: BloodKnight, {{Hellhound}}, AtopAMountainOfCorpses, AxCrazy
** Nurgle: AffablyEvil, ThePigpen, SinisterScythe, EnemyToAllLivingThings, PlagueMaster
** Tzeentch: TheChessmaster, [[TechnicolourFire Technicolour]] {{Hellfire}}
*** There's also several minor chaos deities, like [[DarkIsEdgy Obscuras]], or [[EnemyCivilWar Malal/Malice]].
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: Screamers of Tzeentch--flying stingrays.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous
* OurDemonsAreDifferent
[[/folder]]

!Ogre Kingdoms
Hulking, brutal humanoids who began as members of the Dogs of War but were expanded into a full-fledged army in their own right in late 6th edition.

* [[Characters/WarhammerOgreKingdoms Ogre Kingdoms]]

[[folder:Ogre Kingdoms]]
Massive war-like creatures that hire themselves out as mercenaries in order to earn gold and food to satisfy their enormous appetites. Sometimes assemble ramshackle armies to take what they want. Coexist with Gnoblars, an offshoot of goblins.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Or possibly below it; they have no real concept of morality whatsover.
* AdiposeRex: [[OverlyLongName Tradelord Greasus Tribestealer Drakecrush Hoardmaster Goldtooth the Shockingly Obese]] is this trope UpToEleven.
* TheBeastmaster: Hunters
* BigEater: Pretty much the whole shtick of the army. They eat everything they can find, seeking special delicacies. Their ''religion'' is founded upon such principles.
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign "Yhetee"]], ''actually''.
* BizarreAlienBiology: The first Ogre Kingdoms army book includes some investigation of Ogre physiology as part of its fluff material. Among other things, it genuinely is a sign of good health for an Ogre to have a huge paunch. Whereas a "gut" like that on a human is caused by deposits of fat, on Ogres, the paunch is actually a set of very large, very powerful and very developed musculature, used for grinding up the contents of the stomach. The Skin of an Ogre was found to be very thick, speculated to have lacking much, if any, feeling, which explains why they don't really care about the loss of limbs or frequently piercing their skin with hooks or horns.
* {{BFG}}: The Ironblaster.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: Actually the name of one of the above mentioned Greasus' special rules.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Many examples, but the top contenders at first glance are the Ironguts; elite Ogres who regularly eat stone and metal for the bragging rights. But the Firebellies, Ogre priests of their fire god, have them beat. The initiation rite? ''Drinking molten lava and surviving''.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: They're kinda like big fat Mongols.
** Though the current army book adds a fair bit of Prehistoria to the mix.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: Ogre ninjas.
* ImAHumanitarian: And they eat just about everything else too.
* LightningBruiser:
** Despite their looks, they're actually one of the fastest armies in the game. The author of the most recent army book likened the army's general style to ''rolling a gaint bowling ball at your opponent's units.'' Not that surprising when you consider how the long the legs on a ten-foot monster are.
** In the first book there was the "Big Name" upgrade, one of which was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Longstrider]]. Only Tyrants can buy big names and Tyrants tend to be the strongest Ogre in the army. If marching, a Longstrider can ''jump halfway across the board'' in one turn.
* OurOgresAreHungrier: ''Much'' hungrier.
* PlayingWithFire: The new book gives them Firebellies, ''fire-breathing'' Ogres who somehow gained the ability to use fire magic by ''worshipping a freaking volcano.''
[[/folder]]


!Greenskins
Big and mean or small and mean, these green-skinned monstrosities exist in a permanent state of war against anything and anyone they can see.

* [[Characters/WarhammerGreenskins Greenskins]]

[[folder:Orcs & Goblins]]
->''"I'm gonna stomp 'em to dust. I'm gonna grind their bones. I'm gonna pile 'em up inna big fire and roast 'em. I'm gonna bash 'eads, break faces and jump up and down on da bits dat are left. An' den I'm gonna get really mean."''

Standard fantasy greenskins. Orcs are big, tough and vicious but rather stupid, while goblins are smaller and weaker but much more cunning.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking goes both ways. The most powerful orcs tends to become the leaders, but they also absorb more Waagh! energy ''because'' they are the leaders, and grow bigger because of it.
* AxCrazy
* TheBerserker: Night Goblins. They imbibe fungus-potions that turn them into raving madmen.
* {{Badass Boast}}: "I'm gonna stomp 'em to dust. I'm gonna grind their bones. I'm gonna burn down dere towns and cities. I'm gonna pile 'em up inna big fire and roast 'em. I'm gonna bash 'eads, break faces and jump up and down on da bit dat are left. An'den I'm gonna get really mean" Grimgor Ironhide, black orc warboss and considered to be the manifestation of Waaagh itself.
* BloodKnight
* GrievousHarmWithABody Goblin Doom divers. They fire goblins. With catapults. Then they use wings to steer themselves...
* FunetikAksent: most orc-speech is rendered thusly.
* EnemyCivilWar the orcs are in a constant state of this. Which is often stated to be the sole reason they haven't conquered the world... yet.
* TheHorde
* JunkieProphet: Night Goblin Shamans, as well as being Junkie Wizards.
* KlingonPromotion
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent
* OurOrcsAreDifferent
* PowerIncontinence: Orc shamans are prone to this.
* PsychopathicManChild: An entire species of them.
* ShorterMeansSmarter: Goblins are marginally more intelligent than Orcs. However the trope isn't played entirely straight; while Goblins are smarter than Orcs, in many ways their minds are [[WeakWilled much weaker]], reflected in the game partly by their woeful leadership and partly by their lack of psychic strength (on the battlefield Orc Shamans can draw mental energy from the massed Orc troops while Goblins' minds provide far less power.)
** Inverted by Snotlings, who are smaller than Goblins but barely even sentient.
[[/folder]]

!Skaven
A scheming, treacherous race of rat-men whose warrens ring the underworld, constant enemies of the dwarfs, the night goblins, and all non-Skaven races. And each other, if we're honest.

* [[Characters/WarhammerSkaven Skaven]]

!Other Factions
Comparatively minor elements of the Warhammer setting, these factions may have had army books/codexes of their own in past editions, but currently do not have that kind of support and survive mostly through the support of older fans and knowledge.

* [[Characters/WarhammerOtherFactions Other Factions]]

----

* Characters/WarhammerTheEmpire
* Characters/WarhammerBrettonia

[[folder:The Empire]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WarhammerTheEmpireArtwork_3641.jpg

->''"The softest part of a castle is the belly of the man inside"''.

Founded by warrior-turned-god Emperor Sigmar Heldenhammer, who united the tribes of humans in the region into what would become the greatest nation of men in the world, TheEmpire towers in size and military power over its neighbors. Extending from the World's Edge Mountain kingdoms of the Dwarfs to most of the eastern Old World, it is comprised of ten grand provinces, each ruled by an elector count, who vote on who takes the throne after the death of each Emperor.

The Empire is comprised mostly of humans, with a few Dwarfs, Halflings (who control the province of the Moot), and Gnomes within its borders. It is expansionist (when it can be) but also open to trading and diplomatic relations with other nations, which resulted in it gaining both the semi-renaissance steampunk technology of the Dwarfs, and being taught magic from the Elves, both of which they have adapted for human use, resulting in one of the best all-round equipped armies.

Though better than the wilderness, it is still a pretty terrible place to live. Peasants from the northern regions are forced into conscription to beat back the never-ending tide of Norse warbands, Orc tribes, and Beastmen. Templars of Sigmar, better known as Witch Hunters, prowl the villages and cities, eradicating even the smallest taints of heresy with extreme prejudice. And amongst the nobility, it seems only the Emperor himself, Karl Franz, cares for the fate of the nation and not just his own well being.

As for cultural themes, it's mainly Germanic, with a dash of the British Empire thrown in for good measure. In essence, it resembles the Holy Roman Empire, only larger and more zealous.

* AncestralWeapon: The most famous being the nine (although many are lost) Runefangs and the Emperor's hammer Ghal-Maraz.
* {{BFS}}: They're not called "Imperial Greatswords" for nothing.
* BladeOnAStick: The empire likes fielding halberdiers.
* ChurchMilitant: Warrior Priests and Witch Hunters
* DarkIsNotEvil: Amethyst wizards harness the wind of Shyish, death, but are no more evil than any other wizard. Same applies to the Grey Wizards, that actually use the Lore of Shadows; [[AllTheOtherReindeer distrust ensues.]]
** TheSacredDarkness: Their magics are different from those used by necromancers and chaos worshippers. The ignorance prevalent in the setting means most people are unaware of this however, just seeing a magic user with a scythe in both cases.
* DropTheHammer: Ghal-Maraz, which is also the warhammer that the title of the franchise refers to.
* TheEmperor: Karl Franz, who is also the Elector Count of Reikland and Prince of Altdorf. The title is not hereditary, rather the Elector Counts all vote on who is to be emperor. Usually they each vote for themselves, but the Church of Sigmar also has a vote, which is almost always used in favour of the Elector Count of Reikland.
* TheEmpire: Though it doesn't get many chances to expand its territory. (That said, Kislev after the storm of chaos...)
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of the Holy Roman Empire. Their religion is basically Norse Paganism crossed with the Catholic Church, also.
* GatlingGood: Imperial Hellblasters are gatling ''cannons''.
* {{Hobbits}}: The Halflings of the Moot, a client state of the Empire, are very strongly based on Tolkien's hobbits. Their traits are taken to an extreme, however—they're gluttonous and chronically lazy, with a penchant for burglary and other vices.
* KnightInShiningArmour: The nobles of the Empire still ride into battle as knights.
* KnightTemplar: The Church of Sigmar for the most part, especially the Witch Hunters. Appropriately, the Witch Hunters are also called Templars of Sigmar.
* TheOrder: The knights of the Empire belong to different knightly orders. These knights are also referred to as templars of the order they belong to.
* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: The Empire breeds 'Imperial Griffons' which are bigger and stronger (though slightly slower) than the regular wild Griffons. A subtype seemingly popular as a mount for wizards has two heads. Then there are the Demigryphs, a small (compared with other Griffons - they are still bigger than a horse) wingless variety used as elite cavalry mounts.
* HornyVikings: Not ''nearly'' to the extent of the Warriors of Chaos, but the Ulrican order has a very Nordic flavor about it.
** The ancestors of the modern Empire, the various tribes that were united by Sigmar, are pretty much Vikings crossed with ancient Germans.
* SteamPunk: Steam driven ''tanks''.
* {{Uberwald}}: Sylvania, while technically a part of the Empire, is ruled by frickin' Vampires.
* WizardingSchool: The Colleges of Magic in Altdorf. Though, rather than the schools that you might find in other fantasy universes, the Colleges of magic are more or less {{Weird Trade Union}}s that offer advanced training. In essence, Warhammer basically treats its mages like professional adults rather than high school students.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bretonnia]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WarhammerBretonniaArmy_854.jpg

->''"Honour is all. Chivalry is all..."''

Bretonnia is a feudal kingdom situated to the west of The Empire and seperated from the latter by the Grey Mountains. It was founded nearly a thousand years after the Empire when Gilles le Breton managed to united the people of the land and drove the orcs away. Thematically, it's essentially high medieval France meets the [[KingArthur Arthurian mythos]]. In Bretonnia, they worship the Lady of the Lake, whose religion is implied to have been engineered by the Wood Elves in order to have the humans of Bretonnia act as a buffer against outside threats, primarily the Orcs.

The pride of Bretonnia is its knights, who receive the best possible training available in Bretonnia. Aspiring knighs would, as they come of age, first of all start out as Knights Errant; eager young knights, still unproven in combat. Should they prove themselves, they will become Knights of the Realm, full-fledged knights of Bretonnia. Most stop there, but some knights discard their possessions and take up a greatsword as they embark on a quest for the Grail, becoming Questing Knights. Few ever succeed, but those who do and get to drink from the Grail become the almighty [[ThePaladin Grail Knights]], the greatest knights in all of Bretonnia. The current king of Bretonnia, Louen Leoncoeur, went on the quest himself and got to drink from the grail, before he took the throne.

In contrast to the knights, the peasantry of Bretonnia are downtrodden and mistreated, with heavy taxes levied upon them. In battle, they primarily aid the nobility by providing archers, as ranged weapons are regarded by the knights as the weapons of cowards. However, some peasants receive minimal training by their lieges and provide infantry in the form of Men-at-Arms. Compared to the knights, they're little better than cannon fodder, but they can provide valuable support.
-----

* Characters/WarhammerDwarfs
* Characters/WarhammerHighElves
* Characters/WarhammerDarkElves
* Characters/WarhammerWoodElves
* Characters/WarhammerLizardmen

[[folder:Dwarfs]]
->''"No Rest until the Blood of Greenskins flows like Dark Ale upon the Earth!"''

A dying race modeled on the [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Tolkienian archetype]]. Gruff, insular, long-lived, prefer to live inside mountains, excellent miners, smiths and masons, they have had mostly good relations with the Empire since Sigmar saved a Dwarf king from an Orc ambush. They introduced iron working and later gunpowder and cannon construction to the Empire. Many of their mountain strongholds have fallen to Skaven and Orcs over the years. The Dwarfs tend to be slow (and almost completely lacking in cavalry) but very sturdy, capable of shrugging off arrows and bolts and responding with devastating fire from their own weapons and war machines. The three most important things in Dwarven society are revenge, wealth and beards.

* BadassBeard: Duh, they are Dwarfs. Most notable are the Longbeards. Their beards are actually serious business, since one foolish Elven lord decided to send a dwarven messenger back sans facial hair, which resulted in a massive war between the two races.
* BadassGrandpa: The Dwarf Longbeards, veteran dwarf warriors.
* BestServedCold: The Dwarfs do not forget their grudges. Not when they pretty much regard vengeance as a ''sacrament''.
* TheBlacksmith: Dwarfs are renowned for the quality of their craftsmanship. It has been said that they are ''physically'' incapable of cutting corners or doing a shoddy job, so proud are they of their work.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Grudges have set conditions for fulfillment, usually disproportionately high. Once that is fulfilled, as far as they're concerned the matter is settled, sometimes abandoning the fight and just going home secure in their success. There are all sorts of side issues as well; if a grudge target is killed by a human it's shameful, but if the human used a dwarf-made weapon it still counts as a dwarven kill.
* DeathSeeker: Dwarf slayers, having been dishonoured somehow, try to seek death by fighting the biggest, baddest monsters they can find.
* DisproportionateRetribution: What the Dwarfen obsession with grudges can lead to. Classic example; a White Dwarf battle report depicting a seige of Dwarf attackers vs. Empire defenders that sees hundreds dead was caused by the fact that, six years ago, the owner of the castle was twelve gold coins short in his payment for dwarven construction workers.
** This is typically caused by ValuesDissonance between Dwarfs and their erstwhile allies. In the above case, we (and the castle owner) see it as just a matter of a dozen coins. To the Dwarfs, you have just ''cheated them out of money'', which in and of itself is SeriousBusiness, no matter the amount.
*** An even worse example of this makes its way into the canon; according to the latest Empire sourcebook, in 2410 of the Imperial Calander, the Elector Count of Ostermark has Dwarf craftsmen from Karak Kadrin construct Fortress Kreighof in exchange for twelve dozen wagonloads of gold. Finding they haven't received a "full payment", the Dwarves promptly rally an army and raze the fortress to the ground. They were only missing ''two and a half pennies''!
**** In the Tomb Kings book its mentioned that there's a long-ongoing war between the dwarves and a Tomb King [[SillyReasonForWar over a hammer inset with a single gold coin that belongs to the king]]. Said hammer has passed between the two about a dozen times so far.
*** In what can only be called the ultimate example of this; in the Orcs sourcebook, in 2315 during the battle of Grimspike pass an Orc Shaman became too powerful and exploded. Causing the pass to collapse and kill about ten thousand dwarf warriors. After this the Dwarves declare vengeance against... the pass and won't stop till the the pass is "mined to exhaustion and the rocks of the pass are as dust"
* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: The Anvil of Doom, Doomseekers...You have to admit that it reflects their fatalistic nature.
* DrunkenMaster: Notice how a lot of dwarf technology seems to be based on alcohol?
* [[GrumpyOldMan Grumpy Old Men]]: The Longbeards.
* HermeticMagic: Rune magic.
* KillItWithFire: Alcohol-fueled flamethrowing cannons
* MightyGlacier: They possess no cavalry, and their only other means of transportation are stumpy little legs, so speed is definitely not their forte. However, their excellent armour, very high leadership, tenacity and tough physiques make [[YouShallNotPass shifting them from a location very difficult]]. On the offensive, they have powerful ranged attacks in the form of artillery, crossbows and muskets, and in melee, they carry devastatingly powerful runic weaponry.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Though the extensive use of cannons and muskets is new, and the focus of revenge is taken over the top.
* RevengeBeforeReason: To the extent that they veer into TooDumbToLive territory. They are forever taking even the most minor offense against them and writing it down into a "Book of Grudges" so they can one day demand recompense.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: What happens when they set out to set those grudges a-right.
* SteamPunk: Alcohol-fueled helicopters.
* StoutStrength: They are ''Dwarfs'', after all.
* UltimateBlacksmith: Runesmiths, and their forge god Grungni.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:High Elves]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/High_Elves_9607.jpg

->''"We are the chosen of Asuryan, beloved of the gods and heirs to the world. Our armies are the finest in creation; swift where our foes are lumbering, cultured where they are barbaric. Give no thought to failure, nor defeat – we are the Children of Ulthuan and we shall prevail."''

Calling themselves Asur, they are a dying race also similar to their Tolkien counterparts. Long-lived (more so than dwarfs), refined, strong with magic. Haughty and insular, mostly sticking to their island home of Ulthuan. The arch-mage Teclis helped the Empire found colleges of magic in order to train and regulate spellcasting in the Empire. High Elf armies tends to be diverse and precise, but lacking in staying power. The High Elf armies are based on a system of conscription which allows them to field much larger armies than their dwindling population would normally encompass: All elves are in some capacity trained in the arts of war. The baseline high elf units are very capable spearmen, but they also have a wide variety of both light and heavy cavalry, skirmishers and some warmachines.
-----
* AnAxeToGrind: Atypically for elves in fiction, the White Lions wield great axes.
* TheAtoner: Naggarythe. The elves from Malekith's home state who refused to join his civil war.
* AHouseDivided: The elven civil war has pretty much doomed the elven race as a whole.
* AutomaticCrossbows: The Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower is a repeating ''ballista''.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Shadow Warriors.
* {{Determinator}}: Especially in combat with the Dark Elves.
* DragonRider: In days past, this used to be a major source of High Elf strength, but most dragons have fallen asleep and can only be woken with great difficulty.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: The Everqueen.
* GoodIsNotNice: While the High Elves are certainly noble, overall good-hearted beings, they are still major assholes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: There main hat, yes they're pricks (who isn't?) but they have the world's safely in mind.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: The Everqueen again. She kills demons just by being near them.
* KnightInShiningArmour: The Silver Helms, essentially the elven knights.
* MasterSwordsman: The Swordmasters of Hoeth, duh.
* NemeanSkinning: The White Lions wear the skin of a white lion.
* {{Ninja}}: The Shadow Warriors.
* OurElvesAreBetter: These particular ones are arrogant dying militarists.
* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: Elven Griffons are smaller and weaker than the Empire equivalent but slightly more agile.
* PantheraAwesome: ''Lion Chariots''.
* {{Retcon}}: At one point, there was a fourth Elven subrace--the Sea Elves, who lived in Ulthuan's Outer Kingdoms while the High Elves inhabited the Inner Kingdoms. Eventually, though, they were {{Retcon}}ned into a subculture of High Elves.
* SiblingYinYang: Tyrion and Teclis: One is the greatest warrior of the High Elves, with charisma and power to beat most, the other is a sarcastic cripple who needs magical potions to even function. Oh, and he's one of the greatest magicians of the world.
* TheSpeechless: The Phoenix Guard, whose stoic silence in combat is so eerie to their foes that they cause fear in them.
* StateSec: Swordsmasters double as elite infantry and SecretPolice.
* SwordBeam: Sunfang, Tyrion's sword. It shoots [[KillItWithFire fire]]
* WhiteMagic: Elven (and Slann) High Magic is the "least corrupt" form of magic, and draws upon the full spectrum of the Winds of Magic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dark Elves]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DarkElves_9782.jpg

Cruel, sadistic elves descended from exiles that left Ulthuan in the wake of a civil war. Their leader Malekith is actually the original leader of the losing faction and has [[ImmortalityImmorality kept himself alive and healthy for 5000 years by nefarious means]]. Their entire existence is based around raiding for goods and slaves, and they have such charming habits as making sails and cloaks from the hides of lesser races like dwarfs and humans. Unlike your typical dark elves they neither have dark skin, nor do they live underground (except for one city). Dark Elves tends to be dark mirror to the High Elves, often fielding pretty much identical units.
-----
* AutomaticCrossbows: The Dark Elves signature weapon.
* BaseOnWheels: The Black Arks are actually castles kept afloat using sorcery.
* BloodKnight: Witch Elves, all Dark Elves to some degree.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Dark Elves are marginally less fratricidal than the Skaven or the Orcs. ''Marginally.''
* {{Determinator}}: Dark Elves hate everyone. Literally. It's a game rule.
* DragonRider: Malekith rides a black dragon.
* TheEvilPrince: Malekith the Witch King started out as this. Then he found out that the crowning ceremony wasn't just a formality but a SecretTestOfCharacter.
* EvilSorcerer: All women, all bad news.
** Malekith is one himself, but he's the only male sorcerer at the moment. The reason for this is because a [[ScrewDestiny prophecy indicates Malekith will be killed by a male sorcerer]].
*** That said, in the 7th edition fluff, illegal male sorcerers are said to exist... they just have to keep their heads down or be killed for the aforementioned prophecy aversion.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Naggaroth is covered in these.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The queen mother Morathi is a Slaanesh worshipper and had a hand in corrupting her son the Witch-King.
* GrimUpNorth: their homeland, ''Naggaroth'' means "The land of Chill" On the world map they are the equivalent of ''Canada''.
* KickTheDog: They like to enslave animals rather than taming them the High Elf way.
* NameOfCain: Khaine, their chief god.
* {{Pirates}}: How the Dark Elves make their living.
* ReligionOfEvil: The High Elves worship two pantheons, one of "good" gods that should be worshipped and served, and one of "bad" gods that should be appeased and kept at bay. The Dark Elves give themselves over to the Bad gods, most notably the God of Murder.
** Invoking Khaine to win a battle isn't a bad but worshipping him as the only god is a no-no.
* SocialDarwinist: Malekith generally encourages the ChronicBackstabbingDisorder going on to make sure his society stays strong.
* SpikesOfVillainy: The Dark Elves seems to like them, provided [[{{Stripperiffic}} there's enough space for them]].
* TheStarscream: While Malekith doesn't take any crap from any of his followers, get below that and you'll find that every other entry on the list of ways to advance in Dark Elf society is "kill the guy above you."
* TheVamp: Morthai, as befits a worshipper of Slaanesh. She's even trying to bring the society back to Slaaneshi worship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wood Elves]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wood_Elves_Artwork_595.jpeg

->''"Athel Loren shall not suffer the presence of Men, nor Orcs, nor Dwarfs, nor Beastmen. If a foe takes a single step upon such sacred soil, they shall not take another."''

Descended from elves that refused to heed the call to return to Ulthuan from the mainland elven colonies in the wake of a devastating war with the dwarfs, these elves hide themselves in the forests on the north coast of the Old World and viciously attack any unwelcome intruders. Aside from being excellent archers, they are also allied with various nasty forest spirits, like dryads that transform themselves into walking trees in order to attack their enemies. It is implied that they engineered the Bretonnian religion venerating the Lady of the Lake in order to manipulate humans for their own purposes.
-----
* DefectorFromDecadence
* TheFairFolk
* ForestRanger: All of them, but Waywatchers in particular.
* GaiasVengeance
* TheLostWoods: Where else would they live?
* NobleSavage: Subverted or played straight, depending on edition.
* NatureHero: For a given value of "hero"
* WhenTreesAttack: Or at least, when spirits possessing trees attack.
* TheWildHunt
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lizardmen]]
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lizardmen_8913.jpg

->''"Before Elves, before Dwarfs, before Men, the Old Ones arrived upon this world. Then came Chaos and the Great Plan of the Old Ones was unmade. We are the last of their servants, and only by our hand shall the Great Plan be restored, with the total defeat of the usurping younger races."''

Sentient LizardFolk found in the jungles of the equivalent of South America, they are [[{{Mayincatec}} based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures]]. The most truly ancient race in the setting, servants of the [[{{Precursors}} Old Ones]] and archenemies of Chaos. They come in four kinds; the small, skittish Skinks, the tough and warlike Saurus, the massive and strong Kroxigor, and magical Slann overlords.
-----
* BerserkButton: Hard-wired into the minds of Temple Guards, who will kill you if you even look at a Slann funny, even if you didn't actually have murderous intent as some Skinks have learned the hard way.
* DecadeDissonance: The Brettonnians may be medieval, but these guys are barely out of the Stone Age. Not that they let that stop them.
** That is because said stone is every bit as nasty as steel, and Lizardmen don't even need it to kick your ass.
* {{Determinator}}: Don't get between the Lizardmen and a goal.
* DumbMuscle: Sort of, the Saurus are are knowledgeable in the art of warfare, but [[CripplingOverspecialisation lack much skill with anything else]], to the point where their dialect is entire war-related. The Kroxigor seem to play it more straight; while they're useful as both workers and shock troops, they're not known for intelligence (though they may understand more than they appear to).
* DyingRace: Until the sixth edition {{retcon}}ned this, no new Slann had been spawned since the Old Ones left (i.e. in the last millennia) and the species was (very, very slowly) dying out.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Mounts and [[BeastOfBattle Beasts Of Battle]] include variants of Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops/Ankylosaurus, Deinonychus, and Pteranodon.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Many of the targets of Lizard Men genocides were/are exceptionally evil creatures.
* LizardFolk
* TheMagocracy
* {{Mayincatec}}: In all kinds of ways.
* PoisonedWeapons: Skink skirmishers are GoddamnedBats thanks to this and their blowpipes.
* ReligionIsMagic: All of their (very powerful) spellcasters are referred to as Priests. The Slann ''Mage''-Priests are basically {{High Priest}}s.
* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying: The Stegadon may be a unique creature, but is explicitly an omnivore leaning towards carnivore, despite being based off of the Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus rolled into one. Also, their Ankylosaurus-type monsters fire spikes, and there's also reptiles that shoot fiery napalm. (This is kind of the reason that they use [[{{Slurpasaur}} fictional dinosaurs rather than real ones]], so they don't have to adhere to such norms.)
* ThemeNaming: The Skink heroes are named after references to their small size (Itzibitzi, Tenehuini etc). The dinosaur mounts for special characters are named after the [[{{Transformers}} Dinobots]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Slann are kinda lost after losing contact with [[{{Precursors}} the Old Ones]], so they try to salvage whatever of their plans remain. Those plans involve returning ''all'' the Elves to Ulthuan, ''all'' the humans to the Old World, and ''all'' the Dwarfs to the mountains, and exterminating pretty much everything else. Yeah, good luck with that.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: The Lizardmen do see some value in gold, considering it a good way of storing information for a long time, but they can't quite understand why the other races are so eager to get their hands on it. However, the Old Ones wrote their messages down on golden plaques. [[BerserkButton You do not want to steal one of these plaques]].
* VestigialEmpire: Most of their temple-cities are in ruins, flooded, sunken or otherwise uninhabitable, and they've long lost the magical network that once connected them to the Southlands and other parts of the world. However, they're on the way back up.
[[/folder]]

* Characters/WarhammerVampireCounts
* Characters/WarhammerTombKings

[[folder:Vampire Counts]]
->''"Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death."''

Vampires are powerful beings, fiercely independent and incredibly individualistic, even the weakest one has power far beyond that of any human, to them humans are little more than cattle to be harvested, and yet they hide in the shadows of human society, parasites that stalk the night.

The Vampire Counts have a complex relationship with the other factions, they would dearly love to see the world eclipsed in darkness forever - but they would hate to have to share any of it with their fellows, they have fought grand wars to destroy the Empire - and yet, when the Skaven had overrun it or when the forces of Chaos ran rampant throughout it, [[EnemyMine it was the armies of the Vampire counts that]] [[VillainousRescue saved the Empire in it's moments of direst need]].

* BackFromTheDead: well they * are* undead. More specifically the Carstein Ring lets vampires who wear it come back from even stuff that would normally kill vampires.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Nagash, the lord of the undead, has not just an evil tower, but an entire mountain that's been turned into a gigantic fortress of evil!
* FurAgainstFang: Averted: The closest things in the game to shapeshifter-type werewolves are Von Carstein vampires with the "Wolf Form" ability, and the closest thing to the WolfMan type are vampires who have lost all sense of humanity and devolved into shaggy, ferocious beasts.
** Some of the books imply that there are more traditional werewolves (alongside other [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent werebeasts]]) in Norsca and Kislev, but they don't have anything against vampires that we know of.
* GameFace: Always sculpted with theirs on in the models.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Krell has a manticore as a signature mount he always uses in fluff, but this isn't even an option on the table.
* ManipulativeBastard: Manfred Von Carstein.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: from each other even;
** Blood Dragons: BloodKnight, ''[[ThePowerOfBlood Blood]]'' Knight, Blood ''[[BlackKnight Knight]]''
** Lahmians: TheVamp, DeadlyDecadentCourt, EvilIsSexy, HornyDevils
** Necrarchs: LooksLikeOrlok, MadScientist, ImmortalitySeeker
** Von Carsteins: ClassicalMovieVampire, VampireVords
** Strigoi: CannibalClan, OurGhoulsAreCreepier, TheCorruption
* SuicideBySunlight
* TheUndead: Well, duh.
* UnholyMatrimony: Vlad and Isabella Von Carstein. They do genuinely love each other, and if you kill Isabella Vlad [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge goes fucking nuts]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: This was the general idea of Vlad von Carstein, who aimed to take over the Empire and convert it to undead to end its corruption and internal power struggles once and for all, a task which he [[NearVillainVictory almost managed to succeed with]] before he was betrayed by Mannfred on the evening before the final decisive battle. His son Konrad did, however, try to pick up his father's ambitions, but did so for a far less noble purpose. And, LikeFatherLikeSon, he too trusted Mannfred a little too much for his own good...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tomb Kings]]
An empire of liches with armies of skeleton warriors (the royalty and the elite guards are [[{{Mummy}} mummified]], and still fully sentient) at their beck and call. Unlike the Vampires, however, they are mostly content to remain in their mostly lifeless desert homeland, only manoeuvring their armies to counter intrusions from outside.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of AncientEgypt.
* {{Living Statue}}s: Ushabti
* ThePunishment: The Tomb King's Curse
* SoulJar; SealedEvilInACan: The Casket of Souls
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Will launch massive invasions if someone takes even a coin from them.
* TheUndead
** BigCreepyCrawlies: Tomb Scorpions.
** DemBones: Common skeletons are CannonFodder.
** {{Golem}}: Ushabti and Bone Giants.
** {{Mummy}} / OurLichesAreDifferent: They take inspiration from both tropes.
[[/folder]]

* Characters/WarhammerChaosGodAndDaemons
* Characters/WarhammerWarriorsOfChaos
* Characters/WarhammerBeastsOfChaos

* Characters/WarhammerGreenskins

* Characters/WarhammerSkaven

[[folder:Skaven]]
->''"All decent folk find the common rat repulsive. Harbinger of disease, it scavenges on our waste-heaps and frightens our children. How immeasurably worse then is the foul Skaven - standing on its hindlegs in foul parody of a human. Rats as tall as man, and blessed with the most vile intellect and cunning. They are the dark side of our souls, come to destroy us for our sins."''

Vicious, cunning Ratmen found in great numbers in tunnels stretching across the Old World. Prone to infighting and considering their own troops utterly expendable. With the aid of warpstone, a highly magical mineral, they make highly advanced weapons that often blow up in the face of the user.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil
* AppliedPhlebotinum: Warpstone.
* BalefulPolymorph: Grey Seers and Vermin Lords can cast "the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell", which turns its targets into Skaven.
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: DependingOnTheWriter, male Skaven are bipedal man-sized rats of vaguely human intelligence (they think they're smarter then they really are, but are still quite intelligent) while female Skaven are humungous, bloated, normal female rats that literally do nothing but lounge around, eat and produce litter after litter of new Skaven. In the oldest fluff, females were more like males physically, but were either unintelligent or treated as simple baby-making factories, depending on how far back you go. The most recent fluff seems to be leaning towards the two genders being functionally identical in terms of appearance and social status.
* BodyHorror: Clan Moulder loves inducing horrific mutations in their warbeasts.
* BreathWeapon: The aptly named "Pestilent Breath" spell.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Thankfully for everyone else.
* TheEngineer: The warlock engineers qualify, but the most badass of them all, Ikit Klaw, has invented a mobile hamster wheel the size of a car that can shoot lightning.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: With the [[StupidJetpackHitler crazy technology]], {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s, DeadlyGas and [[EliteMooks "Stormvermin"]], there's more than a little resemblance to ThoseWackyNazis.
** Clan Eshin has a lot of Eastern elements as well.
* FantasticCasteSystem: The Clans.
** Eshin: MurderInc; {{Ninja}}; TykeBomb
** Moulder: RodentsOfUnusualSize; TheSwarm; TheBeastmaster
** Skryre: {{Magitek}}; {{BFG}}; ShockAndAwe; MadScientist; GasMaskMooks
** Pestilens: TheCorruption; NauseaFuel; PlayingWithSyringes; PlagueMaster
* GodOfEvil: These guys worship the Horned Rat. This wouldn't be a problem, except the Horned Rat is ''real'', and it has its own Greater Daemon. Even the Council of Thirteen is afraid to call on the Vermin Lords...
* HurricaneOfPuns: Beginning with ''ratling guns'' and getting worse from there.
* IAmAHumanitarian: Due to their extremely high metabolism, Skaven often feed on the corpses of their own fallen after a battle.
* LightningGun: Lightning ''cannon''. ''Magic'' lightning cannon.
* MonowheelMayhem: The Doomwheel.
* {{Playing with Fire}}: The warpfire thrower (a two man flamethrower that tags along with other units), the Scorch spell (perfect for panic tests).
* ProperlyParanoid: Every skaven is out to get every other skaven, and they all know it.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: Even discounting the Rat Ogres and "Giant Rats", the Skaven themselves are only a little smaller than humans.
* RuleOfCool / RuleOfFunny: Why on earth ''do'' they have hamster wheels with lasers? Because it's cool and absolutely hilarious on the battlefield!
* SicklyGreenGlow: Due to the amount of Warpstone they use, this shows up all over the place.
* WeHaveReserves: Even moreso than any other army in either formats, since they are the only ones allowed to shoot into combat (which even the Chaos Gods frown upon). They also are the only faction that have things that cost a fraction of a point, because they expect you to buy so many that you'll always end up with a whole number.
* SwarmOfRats: Of course.
* ZergRush: Pretty much the tactic most Skaven Warlords use, who send waves of troops forward and lead from the back.
[[/folder]]

* Characters/WarhammerOtherFactions


[[folder:Dogs of War]]
->''"Yes my son, Tilea is where you must go!' my father said, 'For from the city of Miragliano, the famous freebooter El Cadavo sets sail this very week upon a voyage to the west, to win new kingdoms and explore lands no man visited before. Flee Fleugweiner, my boy, before the Knights of the White Wolf discover what you have done this day and bring shame upon us all!"''

A barely-official line of mercenaries from all over the setting and every faction and race. Primarily centred on Estalia, Tilea, and the Border Princes, as well as some mercenary ogres and hobgoblins.

* BladeOnAStick: The signature weapon of Tilean mercenary companies is the Pike, which is considerably longer than the pole arms used by the troops of The Empire, Bretonnia, or indeed anyone else for that matter.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Estalia and Tilea are based on CityStateEra Spain and Italy, respectively.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Have a tendency to rout if the Paymaster character is killed.`
* OutOfFocus
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Not as badly as Chaos Dwarfs - they even got some flashy new units in 6th edition - but they've definitely been sidelined as an army in recent years.
* TheSquad / SquadNickname: Regiments of Renown.
** FlyingDutchman: The Cursed Company
** NinjaPirateRobotZombie: [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Long Drong's]] [[{{Ronin}} Slayer]] {{Pirates}}
** PsychoForHire: Menghil's Manflayers
** WingedHumanoid: The Birdmen
** BashBrothers: The Giants of Albion
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gods of Law]]
Less known and present than the Chaos gods (to the point that everyone forgets them), [[http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Gods_of_Law they still exist]]. Out of three (it seems they were more in the past; at least Obscuras has joined Chaos), only one of them is considerably active, as another is trapped and another one doesn't do a lot because of his dislike of change.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Worship of Alluminas resembles in some ways Buddhism (the fact he is more popular in the East doesn't help matters), and he has angel-like daemons and a holy book. Solkan's cult is pretty much akin to millitant religious groups, with his temples/shrines being akin to [[ClassicalMythology hellenic]] ones.
* EldritchAbomination: All of them, especially Alluminas.
* KnightTemplar: Your average Solkan worshipper as well as the big man himself.
* LightIsNotGood: The Gods of Law are just as bad as the Chaos Gods and arguably even more inhuman, but are less dangerous because of their relative lack of influence. If the Gods of Law held sway, they would eliminate all progress, effectively creating a stillborn world.
** Alluminas is pretty much opposed to change, even if for the better, and may grant his followers the ability of casting a light that makes anything it touches unchanging and unmoving. Cue AndIMustScream.
** Solkan is both the god of the Sun and Revenge. He and his followers are notable for their KnightTemplar ways.
* LightEmUp: Alluminas, unsurprisingly. Solkan to a lesser extent, being a solar deity.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Alluminas' daemons are angel like and named after angel classes in christian theology.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The signature move of Solkan.
* SealedGoodInACan: Whereas Arianka is more sane than her fellow gods of order is unknown, but she is trapped anyway.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: Solkan, although by now its no surprise.
* WhiteMagic: For Alluminas' followers. For Solkan's its technically more [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Dragons]]
Not actually a ''faction'' as such, dragons are still a fairly important part of the setting and are available as monstrous mounts to several of the armies. They are the oldest sentient beings native to the Warhammer world, predating even the arrival of the Old Ones (see Lizardmen) but these days most of them are busy hibernating and only the younger, less powerful ones are around to fight.

* BreathWeapon
* GiantFlyer
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Well they are all big, winged and scaly but apart from that:
** Sun, Moon and Star Dragons: Breathe fire and are used by the High Elves. They are all the same species with Sun Dragons being the youngest and most common and Star Dragons the oldest and strongest.
** The Imperial Dragon: An apparently unique creature, it also breathes fire and is available to the Empire - though only Karl Franz is {{Badass}} enough to dominate its iron will.
** Black Dragons: Corrupted versions of the High Elf dragons used by the evil Dark Elves. They breathe noxious gas.
** Forest Dragons: Weird dragons than are more like extensions of Athel Loren than individual creatures. They are used by the Wood Elves and breathe a poisonous green vapour.
** Zombie Dragons: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Undead dragons]]. Equipped with 'pestilential breath' and under the thrall of the Vampire Counts.
** Chaos Dragons: Hideously mutated, two headed abominations popular amongst the Warriors of Chaos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kislev]]
A small kingdom of proud mounted warriors that lies to the northeast of the Empire, ruled by the powerful sorceress Tzarina Katarin. Kislev is the last frontier before the Chaos Wastes, molding its people into hardy defenders of the southern lands. Recently, during the Storm of Chaos, Kislev was overrun by a massive invasion from the Chaos Wastes, but still hangs on to civilization by the skin of its teeth.

* AnIcePerson: Katarina is a master of ice magic.
* BaseOnWheels: The War Wagon.
* BearsAreBadNews: They use trained bears in battle.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of Imperial / TimeOfMyths Russia. The indigenous Ungol people were vaguely like the Huns.
* GrimUpNorth: Though compared to Norsca and the Chaos Wastes, it's downright pleasant. Except in Erengrad and Praag, where the Norse constantly launch devastating attacks to sacrifice the Kislevites to the Chaos Gods. The Kislevites bear these tribulations with remarkable grit.
* HadToBeSharp / MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
* HorseArcher: Ungols have this as a hat.
* OutOfFocus: Kislev has never been a "full" faction, but in former editions some of their troops and characters were available for use in an Empire army and later GW published an army list for them, allowing them to supplement other factions. As of the most recent edition they are no longer officially legal and even their models have [[PutOnABus vanished]] from the GW stores.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Kvas, a type of very strong alcohol that is used in everything. [[AluminumChristmasTrees It actually]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass exists.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chaos Dwarfs]]
An offshoot of the Dwarfs who have been corrupted by Chaos. Whereas common Dwarfs shun magic, Chaos Dwarfs are ruled by a caste of wicked sorcerers. However, because Dwarfs are not meant to wield magic, they slowly succumb to a curse that turns them to stone. The Chaos Dwarfs have a vaguely Babylonian culture, making great use of chariots drawn by monstrous bulls; they also use blunderbusses and massive cannons. The Chaos Dwarfs are backed up by Orc and Goblin slaves, and their willing servants, the nefarious Hobgoblins.

* BadassBeard: To a similar degree as the Dwarfs.
* BornInTheSaddle: Hobgoblins, with [[HorseOfADifferentColour wolves]], although they do have infantry as well.
* DirtyCoward: The Hobgoblins. This is why the Orcs and Goblins hate them so much--they use subterfuge, which is taboo to other Greenskin races. Hence "Sneaky Gits".
* EquivalentExchange: Since Dwarfs aren't supposed to use magic, Chaos Dwarf sorcerers gradually [[TakenForGranite turn to stone]].
* EvilCounterpart: To the Dwarfs, natch.
* EvilSorcerer: Their [[TheMagocracy rulers]].
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Babylonia. And a bit of Soviet Russia.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Like Tolkien's Goblins, Hobgoblins ride wolves into battle.
* ALoadOfBull: Thematically, and also in the form of [[HalfHumanHybrid Bull Centaurs]], Lammasu, and the Great Taurus.
* TheMagocracy
* NiceHat: Probably due to being TheNapoleon.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Averted. They are very different from the stereotype.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The Hobgoblins are found only in this army (and the Dogs of War). Because of their natural cowardice and inherent malice, they are shunned even by other Greenskins.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Went several new editions of the game without any updates at all. An official Chaos Dwarf list (The Legion of Azgorh) was finally included in the ''[[http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/TAMURKHAN-THE-THRONE-OF-CHAOS.html Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]'' book, and [[http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/CHAOS_DWARFS Forge World have some models]].
* SlaveRace: Hobgoblins. The Black Orcs were created by them to control their other slaves, but they rebelled themselves pretty quickly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kislev]]
A small kingdom of proud mounted warriors that lies to the northeast of the Empire, ruled by the powerful sorceress Tzarina Katarin. Kislev is the last frontier before the Chaos Wastes, molding its people into hardy defenders of the southern lands. Recently, during the Storm of Chaos, Kislev was overrun by a massive invasion from the Chaos Wastes, but still hangs on to civilization by the skin of its teeth.

* AnIcePerson: Katarina is a master of ice magic.
* BaseOnWheels: The War Wagon.
* BearsAreBadNews: They use trained bears in battle.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Of Imperial / TimeOfMyths Russia. The indigenous Ungol people were vaguely like the Huns.
* GrimUpNorth: Though compared to Norsca and the Chaos Wastes, it's downright pleasant. Except in Erengrad and Praag, where the Norse constantly launch devastating attacks to sacrifice the Kislevites to the Chaos Gods. The Kislevites bear these tribulations with remarkable grit.
* HadToBeSharp / MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
* HorseArcher: Ungols have this as a hat.
* OutOfFocus: Kislev has never been a "full" faction, but in former editions some of their troops and characters were available for use in an Empire army and later GW published an army list for them, allowing them to supplement other factions. As of the most recent edition they are no longer officially legal and even their models have [[PutOnABus vanished]] from the GW stores.
* TrademarkFavoriteDrink: Kvas, a type of very strong alcohol that is used in everything. [[AluminumChristmasTrees It actually]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass exists.]]
[[/folder]]

*** In what can only be called the ultimate example of this; in the Orcs sourcebook, in 2315 during the battle of Grimspike pass an Orc Shaman became too powerful and exploded. Causing the pass to collapse and kill about ten thousand dwarf warriors. After this the Dwarves declare vengeance against ... the pass and won't stop till the the pass is "mined to exhaustion and the rocks of the pass are as dust"

[[folder:Chaos Dwarfs]]
An offshoot of the Dwarfs who have been corrupted by Chaos. Whereas common Dwarfs shun magic, Chaos Dwarfs are ruled by a caste of wicked sorcerers. However, because Dwarfs are not meant to wield magic, they slowly succumb to a curse that turns them to stone. The Chaos Dwarfs have a vaguely Babylonian culture, making great use of chariots drawn by monstrous bulls; they also use blunderbusses and massive cannons. The Chaos Dwarfs are backed up by Orc and Goblin slaves, and their willing servants, the nefarious Hobgoblins.

* BadassBeard: To a similar degree as the Dwarfs.
* BornInTheSaddle: Hobgoblins, with [[HorseOfADifferentColour wolves]], although they do have infantry as well.
* DirtyCoward: The Hobgoblins. This is why the Orcs and Goblins hate them so much--they use subterfuge, which is taboo to other Greenskin races. Hence "Sneaky Gits".
* EquivalentExchange: Since Dwarfs aren't supposed to use magic, Chaos Dwarf sorcerers gradually [[TakenForGranite turn to stone]].
* EvilCounterpart: To the Dwarfs, natch.
* EvilSorcerer: Their [[TheMagocracy rulers]].
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Babylonia. And a bit of Soviet Russia.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Like Tolkien's Goblins, Hobgoblins ride wolves into battle.
* ALoadOfBull: Thematically, and also in the form of [[HalfHumanHybrid Bull Centaurs]], Lammasu, and the Great Taurus.
* TheMagocracy
* NiceHat: Probably due to being TheNapoleon.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Averted. They are very different from the stereotype.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The Hobgoblins are found only in this army (and the Dogs of War). Because of their natural cowardice and inherent malice, they are shunned even by other Greenskins.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Went several new editions of the game without any updates at all. An official Chaos Dwarf list (The Legion of Azgorh) was finally included in the ''[[http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/TAMURKHAN-THE-THRONE-OF-CHAOS.html Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]'' book, and [[http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/CHAOS_DWARFS Forge World have some models]].
* SlaveRace: Hobgoblins. The Black Orcs were created by them to control their other slaves, but they rebelled themselves pretty quickly.
[[/folder]]

The most powerful of the factions, much of the Warhammer world is defined by the struggle against Chaos.

!Other Factions

[[folder:Dogs of War]]
->''"Yes my son, Tilea is where you must go!' my father said, 'For from the city of Miragliano, the famous freebooter El Cadavo sets sail this very week upon a voyage to the west, to win new kingdoms and explore lands no man visited before. Flee Fleugweiner, my boy, before the Knights of the White Wolf discover what you have done this day and bring shame upon us all!"''

A barely-official line of mercenaries from all over the setting and every faction and race. Primarily centred on Estalia, Tilea, and the Border Princes, as well as some mercenary ogres and hobgoblins.

* BladeOnAStick: The signature weapon of Tilean mercenary companies is the Pike, which is considerably longer than the pole arms used by the troops of The Empire, Bretonnia, or indeed anyone else for that matter.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Estalia and Tilea are based on CityStateEra Spain and Italy, respectively.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Have a tendency to rout if the Paymaster character is killed.`
* OutOfFocus
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Not as badly as Chaos Dwarfs - they even got some flashy new units in 6th edition - but they've definitely been sidelined as an army in recent years.
* TheSquad / SquadNickname: Regiments of Renown.
** FlyingDutchman: The Cursed Company
** NinjaPirateRobotZombie: [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Long Drong's]] [[{{Ronin}} Slayer]] {{Pirates}}
** PsychoForHire: Menghil's Manflayers
** WingedHumanoid: The Birdmen
** BashBrothers: The Giants of Albion
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gods of Law]]
Less known and present than the Chaos gods (to the point that everyone forgets them), [[http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Gods_of_Law they still exist]]. Out of three (it seems they were more in the past; at least Obscuras has joined Chaos), only one of them is considerably active, as another is trapped and another one doesn't do a lot because of his dislike of change.

* CrystalDragonJesus: Worship of Alluminas resembles in some ways Buddhism (the fact he is more popular in the East doesn't help matters), and he has angel-like daemons and a holy book. Solkan's cult is pretty much akin to millitant religious groups, with his temples/shrines being akin to [[ClassicalMythology hellenic]] ones.
* EldritchAbomination: All of them, especially Alluminas.
* KnightTemplar: Your average Solkan worshipper as well as the big man himself.
* LightIsNotGood: The Gods of Law are just as bad as the Chaos Gods and arguably even more inhuman, but are less dangerous because of their relative lack of influence. If the Gods of Law held sway, they would eliminate all progress, effectively creating a stillborn world.
** Alluminas is pretty much opposed to change, even if for the better, and may grant his followers the ability of casting a light that makes anything it touches unchanging and unmoving. Cue AndIMustScream.
** Solkan is both the god of the Sun and Revenge. He and his followers are notable for their KnightTemplar ways.
* LightEmUp: Alluminas, unsurprisingly. Solkan to a lesser extent, being a solar deity.
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Alluminas' daemons are angel like and named after angel classes in christian theology.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The signature move of Solkan.
* SealedGoodInACan: Whereas Arianka is more sane than her fellow gods of order is unknown, but she is trapped anyway.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: Solkan, although by now its no surprise.
* WhiteMagic: For Alluminas' followers. For Solkan's its technically more [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dragons]]
Not actually a ''faction'' as such, dragons are still a fairly important part of the setting and are available as monstrous mounts to several of the armies. They are the oldest sentient beings native to the Warhammer world, predating even the arrival of the Old Ones (see Lizardmen) but these days most of them are busy hibernating and only the younger, less powerful ones are around to fight.

* BreathWeapon
* GiantFlyer
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Well they are all big, winged and scaly but apart from that:
** Sun, Moon and Star Dragons: Breathe fire and are used by the High Elves. They are all the same species with Sun Dragons being the youngest and most common and Star Dragons the oldest and strongest.
** The Imperial Dragon: An apparently unique creature, it also breathes fire and is available to the Empire - though only Karl Franz is {{Badass}} enough to dominate its iron will.
** Black Dragons: Corrupted versions of the High Elf dragons used by the evil Dark Elves. They breathe noxious gas.
** Forest Dragons: Weird dragons than are more like extensions of Athel Loren than individual creatures. They are used by the Wood Elves and breathe a poisonous green vapour.
** Zombie Dragons: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Undead dragons]]. Equipped with 'pestilential breath' and under the thrall of the Vampire Counts.
** Chaos Dragons: Hideously mutated, two headed abominations popular amongst the Warriors of Chaos.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: So common. Cormac Bloodaxe, Asavar Kul, Morkar the Uniter, Wulfrik the Wanderer, Haargroth the Blooded, Melekh the Changer, Archaon, Valkia... etc, etc.

* NamedWeapons: His sword has been called '[[BadassNickname Warmaker]]' and '[[NamesToRunawayFromReallyFast The End of All Things]]'' at various points.

** But subverted for the Kurgans, who are actually the SavageDownSouth. Oh sure, they're north of anyone who doesn't worship Chaos, but the absolute ''worst'' Kurgan tribe are the Kul. Who are located in the absolute south of the Eastern Steppes and are in fact the most southerly of the Kurgan tribes. If not the most southerly of all Northmen in general.

*** BeardOfBarbarism: Because, you know, they're Vikings.

** BigBadassWolf: They're Vikings, so this motif would be common. In particular, the Norse raid the Empire with massive black longships called 'wolfships'. Also, the Norse have some Chaos mutants in their ranks called Weres, who were mentioned in 6th edition as being fallen Chaos Champions. Khorne is also sometimes associated with a wolves.

* TheDreaded: Without doubt, ''the'' most feared race of humans in the setting. Fitting, they have come perilously close to destroying the world several times, after all. The Aesling clans of Norscans also get this treatment.

* GrimUpNorth: And ''how''. Norsca and the lands of the Kurgan are the closest places to the literal portal to Hell that is the Chaos Wastes and thus causes horrific mutations and corruption to infect the Northmen, turning them into even greater killers. That's to say nothing of how the very wildlife and soil of the North is irrevocably mutated and twisted into unnatural monstrosities. Or even of actual flesh and blood demons that prowl the lands.

* ShroudedInMyth: The Norscans (who make up the backbone of any Chaos incursion) are debated by Imperial theologians and historians as being half-breed spawn of men and daemons. In truth? They are simply a race of men who migrated south from the Chaos Wastes and briefly lived in the Reik Basin, raiding and slaughtering all the surrounding tribes in the name of Chaos before Sigmar united said tribes drove them back to the North. This act has left them with a grudge against the Empire so great it makes the hatred [[Warhammer40000 Chaos Space Marines have for the Imperium look like a tiny ember]] in comparison.

** AnAxeToGrind: Warriors of Khorne and Norscans in general and [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Norscan Warriors of Khorne]] in particular have a fondness for axes and halberds.

East of Norsca, and beyond the Frozen Sea lie the Eastern Steppes and the roving Kurgan nomads. Dark-haired and copper-toned, they are people wholly of a different breed than the other people of the Old World, though it is said that they share some kinship with the Kislevites... Masters of horses, they come gladly when the gods command, for they are a numerous people who feel the call of battle in their blood.

** Getting screwed over by Tzeentch, hell even Tzeentch in general.

** BadassBeard: The Norscans in particular are notable for these. But the Northmen in general have them. They in fact contend the position for Manliest Beards with the Dwarfs. Averted with the Hung, who's traditions of ritual facial scaring causes beard growth to b stunted, causing them to appear as stunted, beardless eunuchs. They can grow some pretty cool mustaches though.

** BadassCrew: Your average Norse warband is gonna be the most badass group of people in Warhammer. Primarily due to the fact that they probably killed everything else that was within a hundred mile radius, but they're still inherently uber badass.

* BarbarianTribe: Dozens, each with it's own unique culture and pantheon. The main tribes are: Aeslings, Graelings, Vargs, Hastlings, Kvelligs, Skaelings, Baersonlings and Bjornlings.

* BloodKnight: An entire race of Blood Knights, but particularly worshippers of the Blood God Khorne. This concept does play a great deal into Norscan religious belief also. They believe that the material world is a lie created by the Chaos Gods to test them, and only the hereafter, the Realm of Chaos, is real. So, in an attempt to prove their worthiness to the Gods and their forefathers, they constantly seek to 'find the truth'. Which basically involves fighting and dying. Some speculate that this is because the Norse live so damnably close to the Chaos Wastes, where the laws of physics are knocked to the ground and perpetually assraped 'til death. Who can blame them for not trusting foolish things like empirical evidence when they worship Gods who cause them to grow crab claws in their sleep?

* BodyHorror: Spawn, mutations. In particular however, is Scyla Anfinngrimm. An extremely powerful Khornate Chaos Champion who, well, let us simply say that he took to his many new gifts somewhat recklessly. It should be emphasized that this a very gradual thing, he didn't even realize the mutations were overtaking him before it was too late. Now he's basically a glorified attack dog for his warband. And you thought Tzeentch was a dick.

* TheBerserker: What do you expect, exactly, from ''Vikings who worship Khorne?''. In fact, the Norscans lend themselves well to this method of fighting, because of all the tribes they are most devout of Khorne since the Norse are the most likely Chaos marauders to attack the Empire, they have ''ample'' opportunity to show their devotion.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Predominantly, the army has a very heavy Germanic/Nordic feel to it as the resident Viking culture, the Norscans, are the most heavily featured in the canon (and are very well favoured by Chaos). At least half of the Warrior special character list is made up of Norscans as well. And the universal Dark Tongue of Chaos used by all servants of the Gods is heavily influenced by Elder and Younger Furthark. That said, the Warriors are actually culturally diverse, being a coalition of various barbarian human races drawing upon influence from both Northern European and Eurasian warrior cultures.

* FantasyPantheon: They have the Big 4, but while extremely devout (''everyone'', be he Norse, Kurgan or Hung worships the Chaos Gods with all their being, their existence is simply a fact of life, as is the activeness in the lives of those who live in the North) their approach to religion is quite a bit more nuanced than you would expect. Firstly; the Norse, Kurgan and Hung know the Chaos Gods by various different, but universal names. These tend to be the Gods' other names in the tongue of Chaos. For instance, the Norse, Kurgan and Hung know Khorne as Kharnath, Khorgar, Arkhar and so forth, and which is used depends on the tribe. Many names, but ultimately meant to invoke the same god, and the gods listen. They also worship various lesser daemon gods, which tend to be powerful Chaos Champions, Greater Daemons, and Daemon Princes as well. This once again depends on the tribe. The Norse for instance, tend to incorporate various Chaos Champions into their pantheons as lesser deities who are servants to the Four Great Gods to whom the Norse owe their highest fealty. They also incorporate a form of ancestor worship through this.

* TheGoodKing: Ugh, okay, maybe 'good' is too strong a word. And honestly, whether or not he qualifies as such largely depends on which tribe you're talking about and which god(s) they worship. For example, Hrafn Untam - an extremely powerful and cunning Khornate Chaos Champion and member of an Aesling clan who after having his clan attacked by rival South Norscans, rallied the Aesling, Graeling, Baersonling and Varg tribes to crush his enemies, see them driven before him and hear the lamentations of their women (before he killed them too, anyway). Then after, crushing the Imperials and Kislevites in various wars he was crowned as High King of Norsca. Most Norscans, especially those who follow Khorne, see him as one of the greatest heroes of their land and a great king. In closing, it should be noted that almost every Norse High King has been a ridiculously badass Chaos Lord, so any barometer of judging a good king that isn't that of a Norscan or Chaos worshipers in general is not going to rank them very high.

* ReligionOfEvil: The Norse, Kurgan and Hung worship the Chaos Gods. So it should be fairly obvious. But the Gods are seen as very positive forces amongst them, also. The Norse especially, who see their legendary strength and prowess and being gifts from the Gods.

* ShroudedInMyth: The Norscans get this a lot, being the most favoured of the Chaos Gods and the epitome of the Warriors of Chaos (indeed, Morkar the Uniter, the first Everchosen of Chaos, was a Norseman). Imperial scholars and theologians have all come up with various stories for their creation: the halfbreed spawn of Men and Daemons, creatures formed from ice, the descendants of giants, etc, etc. The truth, however, is only slightly off. Their ancestors, the Norsii, immigrated in some numbers from their ancestral homeland of Norsca in the Northern Wastes and lived in the lands that would later be known as the Empire. The Norsii were the most merciless and bloodthirsty people who inhabited the southern lands, even dreaded by the Teutogens. Even in those early days, the ancestors of the Norscans were devout and powerful worshipers of Chaos (hey, at least somethings remain constant, eh?) and were fond of making of sacrifices to the Dark Gods out of entire villages. The Norsii tribes that remained in Norsca were called the Lost Tribes and would often raid the lands of the Imperials with their cousins from massive longships known as wolfships. Needless to say, the Norse were and are amongst the most monstrous and unholy races of men to walk the Earth and the Chaos Gods are truly with them. So, calling the Norse half-daemons is a forgivable leap.

* VitriolicBestBuds: The Kurgan and Norse have this kind of relationship. Both peoples have had their cultural rivalries at times, but both are also brothers in the service of Chaos and respect each others' fighting skill. When the Chaos Gods give the call to war, the Norse and Kurgan often join forces without complaint. Their devoution to the Gods and mutual respect outweighs their suspicion of eachother.

** BadassLonghair: Common, at least when they're not bald or wearing top-knots.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Estalia and Tilea are based on medieval Spain and Italy, respectively.

* PunchClockVillain: Have a tendency to rout if the Paymaster character is killed.

* TheEmperor: Karl Franz, who is also the Elector Count of Reikland and Prince of Altdorf. However, the title is not herediatary as Elector Counts all vote who is to be emperor. Usually the Elector Counts all vote for themselves, but the Church of Sigmar also has a vote, which is almost always used in favour of the Elector Count of Reikland.

* FantasyCounterPartCulture: Of the Holy Roman Empire. Their religion is basically Norse Paganism crossed with the Catholic Church, also.

**** In the Tomb Kings book its mention there's a long on going war between the drawves and a Tomb King over a hammer that has an single gold coin that belongs to the king, said hammer has passed between the two about a dozen times so far.

* UglyGuysHotDaughter: Deep in his mansion, Nurgle keeps a beautiful goddess named Iasha imprisoned. This beauty is apparently Nurgle's daughter, and he uses her as a test fodder for all the plagues and diseases he invents. She then whispers cures to them to mortalkind.

* RatedMForManly

*** An even worse example of this makes its way into the canon; according to the latest Empire sourcebook, in 2410 of the Imperial Calander, the Elector Count of Ostermark has Dwarf craftsmen from Karak Kadrin construct Fortress Kreighof in exchange for twelve dozen wagonloads of gold. Finding they haven't received a "full payment", the Dwarves promptly rally an army and raze the fortress to the ground. They were only missing ''two and a half pennies''!

* TheTrickster: Basically the Trickster of the Chaos Gods, given his favor of deception and deceit. Although what he considers a practical joke, the Inquisition would consider grounds for Exterminatus.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Tzeentch is basically pulling this constantly against the whole galaxy.

* RatedMForManly: He's a [[WarGod god of war, rage, strength, martial honour, battle and single combat]], and is depicted as an impossibly muscular warrior with a horned, wolf's head sitting atop a massive throne of skulls floating in an endless sea of blood and his plane of existence is basically a site of never ending conflict. And his worshipers are giant, axe brandishing, war loving BloodKnights who also tend to be the best melee combatants in the setting.

* '''AxCrazy''': Khorne is the living embodiment of hate and rage -- words don't '''exist''' to describe just how furious he is at any given moment of the day.

* '''{{Badass}}''': Khorne and his followers are all supremely badass. Not only are his Champions often the mightiest warriors of Chaos and the deadliest fighters of the setting, Khorne himself is probably the most powerful of all the Chaos Gods and is thus the most powerful being in all of Warhammer.

* '''MagnificentBastard''': [[invoked]] Tzeentch is the literal god of Magnificent Bastards. Whatever you do, he will benefit, [[AllAccordingToPlan Just As]] [[MemeticMutation Planned]].

* NamedWeapons: His sword has been called '[[BadassNickname Warmaker]]' and '[[NamesToRunawayfromReallyFast The End of All Things]]'' at various points.
* NamesToRunAwayFromVeryFast: Everything that has ever been associated with him ever has this. And very deservedly so.

* TheLibraryOfBabel: The Hidden Library of Tzeentch. It holds every magical spell, every prophecy, every piece of knowledge one could hope to find. Just two small problems: the books are alive, and they're pure evil.