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Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Main Character Index
Grand Alliance of Order | Grand Alliance of Chaos
Grand Alliance of Death | Grand Alliance of Destruction

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The varied forces of Order may differ in their philosophy, morality, and their ultimate goals but they are all united in their desire to oppose the followers of Chaos.

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General Order Tropes

A Lighter Shade of Grey: Against the horrors of Chaos, compassion and morality are often seen as dangerous luxuries; Order is not synonymous with good. Yet they advance the cause of civilisation, and in doing so, bring harmony.
The Federation: Sigmar's empire; all its subjects acknowledge the God-King as their sovereign but how closely they cooperate with each other and follow any dictates is highly variable outside of Azyr itself. Notably, unlike its mostly monospecies predecessors in Fantasy,^note Sigmar's subjects come from all Order species and every ethnicity within those species, all living side-by-side in the Free Cities.
Land of One City: The Cities of Sigmar, though as shown in sources such as the Dawnbringer Crusades, each city actually rules a considerable amount of surrounding land and smaller settlements to support themselves. The main urban area just shares the name with the state and contains almost all of the industry and leadership.
We ARE Struggling Together: Though ostensibly on the same side, many of the Deities that make up the Order pantheon prefer to focus on their own projects instead of acting as a whole. This is what led to the Age of Chaos and only recently are they trying to act as amore unified front.

God-King Sigmar Heldenhammer

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Back to settle the score.

The once mortal founder of the Empire who ascended to godhood, having returned and rebuilt the many Worlds once lost to Chaos. But now, the battle against his eternal foes resumes once more after The End Times.

Angelic Transformation: Using Sigmarite and the process of Reforging (pioneered by his good friend, the duardin smith god Grungni), he can turn humans into Stormcast Eternals.
The Anti-Nihilist: He watched everything he built be destroyed by Chaos, twice, and is still giving everything he has to make sure it never happens again. When Allarielle suggests the possibility that endless cycles of victory and defeat may simply be the natural course of things (something the End Times strongly implied to be true), he acknowledges that may be so, but he's not going to just go along with it.
Sigmar: Maybe war and Chaos are the only constants of reality. But I do not have to accept it, and I will fight it for all time if I must. I cannot believe this is how the realms were meant to be.
Big Good: Sigmar is the greatest, mightiest force once responsible for holding together all of existence and restoring what was once destroyed by the Forces of Chaos. Now he leads the charge to drive back the invaders.
Came Back Strong: He barely avoided destruction by holding to Mallus, the core of the world-that-was, when Dracothion found him he was nearly comatose, he got better after that.
Comes Great Responsibility: After becoming a physical god, Sigmar travelled across the realms bringing order and civilization to the human tribes he finds, created a pantheon of gods to establish a golden age of peace and prosperity and created the Stormcast Eternals to save the Eight Realms from the dominion of Chaos.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Kinda, though the fact that Sigmar came first complicates it. Either way, he and the God-Emperor of Mankind could not be more different. The God-Emperor was never a normal person, whereas Sigmar started out as a human before becoming a god. The God-Emperor had many children and was a horrible father, whereas Sigmar intentionally avoided having children, but consider all civilized races to be his children. The God-Emperor was filled with a genocidal hatred for other races and religions, while Sigmar has diverse subjects and allies. The God-Emperor was a raging narcissist, whereas Sigmar dislikes power and longs for the simpler days where he wasn't the center of an empire. The God-Emperor had a serious god-complex, but denied his own godhood, whereas Sigmar dislikes being a god, but accepts it out of necessity.
Deity of Human Origin: He started off as a prince of a tribe of warriors before eventually obtaining godhood.
Founder of the Kingdom: He founded Sigmaron, the great city in Azyr, the Realm and Wind of Heavens.
A God Am I: If grudgingly, he really doesn't like the responsibilities and prefers to be a good ruler rather than the object of fearful adulation, but he seems to rejoice in his powers.
God-Emperor: Right there in his title. He was literally worshipped even before the destruction of the Old World and the creation of the new one, and now he's a literal god as well.
God of Thunder: As the God-King of Azyr (the Celestial Realm associated with wind, the stars and lightning) Sigmar has mastery over storms, lightning and thunder. Sometimes known as the Thunderer, Sigmar is able to cast lightning at his enemies and lightning is one of his most prominent symbols. Sigmar's greatest warriors, the Stormcast Eternals, are also heavily associated with thunder and lightning, able to travel between realms using his celestial lightning to appear in a blinding flash of light and a peal of thunder.
Good Is Not Nice: He's still a Barbarian Hero after all, but the millenia of imprisonment in the wind of Azyr and Godhood have calmed him down a bit.
Heroic Second Wind: Him and the entire realm of Azyr, he is currently reverting the dominion of Chaos over the other mortal realms.
Hidden Depths: The Pantheon short story gives us an interesting insight: he's still a human in terms of mindset and yearns for the days where he didn't have to do the duties of a god. Further driving home the fact that he's the Emperor's Foil, he abhors the concept of Godhood, but because it chaffs his personal freedom (he's VERY busy) and is a whole set of responsibilities he just doesn't want. Still he takes on the job and allows for him being worshiped.
Hope Bringer: to the Mortal Realms, saving them has become the work of his existence.
Infinity +1 Sword: Ghal Maraz, the titular Warhammer, which has acquired new powers plus to the ones it had.
Manly Tears: Before he could finish the devices which spirited away mortal champions to be turned into Stormcast Eternals he witnessed many being tortured to death by the forces of Chaos.
Physical God: Now more than ever, having combined with Azyr, the Wind of the Heavens, and gaining powers over lighting and thunder.
Pragmatic Hero: He would certainly like to be the Ideal Hero, but he isn't stupid, and knows when he'll have to ally with morally dubious entities to hold the much greater threat of Chaos at bay. It's why he was willing to work with Nagash, and continues to work with Morathi, despite neither of them making any illusions about their true natures. It's also why he went through with utilizing the Stormcast, despite the toll the Reforging exacts from their souls, and the kinds of atrocities some of his more Knight Templar servants enact. He's not happy about any of it, but he's unwilling to take any chances where Chaos is concerned purely for the sake of his ideals.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: The God-King of Order's empire, and he can go toe-to-toe with Archaon who the Chaos Gods themselves are stated to fear.
Real After All: During the Age of Chaos, some of the descendants of the left-behind tribes almost forgot Sigmar was more than a legend. Enter the Age of Sigmar, where he is making every bit clear that he is here to stay.
Reasonable Authority Figure: You have to give credit the man for having managed to hold such a disparate alliance for that long, including Nagash and Gorkamorka. The novels further build up on this, with him understanding (if not being pleased) people holding views opposed to him, and not wanting to force them or else he'd become a tyrant.
The Redeemer: He fully believes that many of the mortal worshippers of Chaos can still be saved, recognizing that many only turned to the Dark Gods out of desperation while the Pantheon of Order were too busy feuding amongst themselves. Since the Realmgate wars, many a champion of Chaos has been recruited into the ranks of the Stormcast as The Atoner.
Retired Badass: No longer fights anymore due to his temper costing the Battle for the All-Gates.
Saintly Church: Most of his followers actually try to live to his standards of bravery and honor, and many share with him the belief of giving Chaos worshipers and corrupted people second chances, things unheard of in any other Games Workshop production.
Seers: Can see what is happening in the Mortal Realms, what he saw during the Age of Chaos wasn't pretty.
Time Abyss: Sigmar predates the current world as one of the few survivors of a previous one.

Dracothion

Dracothion, the Great Drake, is the divine dragon that discovered the remains of the world-that-was and rescued Sigmar. The Celestial Drake is now one of the God-King's closest friends.

Big Damn Heroes: He found Sigmar clinging to the remains of the World-That-Was, and took him to the Mortal Realms.
Dragons Are Divine: Dracothion is the greatest drake of all, mighty enough to travel through the void alone, could casually carry around the remains of the World-That-Was, and awoke Sigmar from his slumber.
Kaiju: This guy is MASSIVE, as in filling the sky massive.
Monster Progenitor: The Dracoths and Stardrakes are noted to be the children of Dracothion.
Number Two: He is by far the closest and one of the most important of Sigmar's lieutenants.
Real After All: It's implied that he's Sotek, the Serpent God worshipped by Skinks in the World-That-Was.

Malerion

The Shadow King Malerion is an aelven god and the son of Morathi. He is the ruler of Ulgu, the Realm of Shadow.

Anti-Hero: He's described as being "a creature of Order at heart" but at the same time "darkness and lies are like meat and drink to him." He's as opposed to Chaos as any of the other gods, and unlike Nagash seems to have given up his world-conquering ambitions from the World-That-Was. He even helped save the elven souls from Slaanesh. That said, he's still manipulative and deceitful by default, and had been spying on his fellow gods even before the breaking of the Pantheon.
Casting a Shadow: His realm of power.
Deity of Human Origin: He was a mortal elf in the World-that-Was, but in its dying days merged with the Wind of Shadows to become an Incarnate and became a full deity in the next world.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He aided in the capture and imprisonment of Slaanesh along with Tyrion and Teclis.
Draconic Humanoid: His art depicts him as a twisted aelf with the wings, spines and scales of a dragon.
The Dreaded: All but the most fanatical of Morathi's strongholds still pay homage to Malerion out of fear.
Enemy Mine: Teamed up with Teclic and Tyrion in order to capture Slaanesh and draw out the Elf souls.
Master of Illusion: His mastery of the illusory arts is second to none, and he gifted Sigmar the Gladitorium, a magical arena which can generate any terrain and conditions desired, for the training of Sigmar's champions.
Shrouded in Myth: What exactly Malerion's current activities and aims are have been something of a mystery, besides that his power kept Ulgu from being overrun even during the Age of Chaos.
Sudden Name Change: In old Warhammer Fantasy, Malerion was once named Malekith. The rename, initially made in the transition to Age of Sigmar, was backported when Warhammer Fantasy was re-released in the form of The Old World.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: REALLY did not want to work alongside his mother Morathi again, but they really needed her knowledge at that point. His relationships with Tyrion, Teclis and Sigmar are similarly fraught.
That Man Is Dead: In a sense, it's true.

Gotrek Gurnisson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotrek_aos.png

The Slayer Returned

A near peerless monster slayer and a survivor of the world-that-was, Gotrek Gurnisson is a demigod of war that has left a trail of destruction through the enemies of Order while searching for his old axe and his lost companion.

NOTE: This entry is for Gotrek's appearance in the Tabletop Games. Tropes relating to events in his novel series should go on those pages.

The Berserker: Gotrek is famous for possessing a near unstoppable rage that will totally consume him until all enemies in the immediate vicinity are dead. In 2nd Edition, he has the Unstoppable Battle Fury ability that allows him to fight twice if there are enemy models nearby.
Fashionable Asymmetry: He wears a plate pauldron on his left shoulder, the side once covered by the missing Felix Jaeger.
Mercenary Units: Gotrek's warscroll, available for free on Warhammer-Community, does not have any faction keywords. Instead, he can be included as an ally in any Order army, even if his points cost exceeds the amount allowed for allied units.
Purposely Overpowered: Gotrek’s rules for the Warcry Gaiden Game, published in the December 2019 issue of White Dwarf, are intentionally too powerful for players to use in regular games with high stats alongside unique abilities and artefacts that make him a monster in combat. Instead, Gotrek was designed to be used solely with the special challenge battle scenarios The Wandering Slayer (where the forces of Order fight alongside the Slayer to slay powerful monsters) and The Worthy Kill (where the forces not aligned to Order attempt to kill the Slayer), also published in the issue.

Stormcast Eternals

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A golden soldier for a golden god.

"This night, we ride the storm!"

—Lord-Celestant Vandus Hammerhand, of the Hammers of Sigmar

The Stormcast Eternals are Sigmar's greatest weapon in his war of reconquest against the dominion of the nigh-omnipotent Powers of Chaos. They are the reforged spirits of fallen tribesmen and warriors of the Mortal Realms, snatched from death at the axes of Chaos at the last moment by Sigmar's intervention. Girded in armour of purest Sigmarite — the last remnants of Mallus, the World-That-Was, long since slain by the Forces of Chaos — and wielding mighty hammers and blades forged by the Priest-Smiths of Azyrheim, they stand ready to strike out against the very legions of hell itself and to bring the light of a new age upon the Mortal Realms.

The Stormcast Eternals are divided into various Stormhosts, self-contained armies that each perform their God-King's bidding, and who are each renowned for myriad heroic deeds. Amongst these Stormhosts are the Hammers of Sigmar, the Anvils of Heldenhammer, the Astral Templars and the Celestial Vindicators.

General Tropes

Amazon Brigade: Stormcasts have women in their ranks and some chambers are female only.
Angelic Transformation: Every Stormcast Eternal was originally a mortal from across the Mortal Realms who died spitting in the eye of the Forces of Chaos. This includes both combatants and civilians, meaning that even a noblewoman who just helped shelter refugees from Chaos before giving her life to save them from a rampaging host of Chaos Warriors or a simple baker who helped feed said refugees and fought the warriors on his own with only a butcher's knife until he bled out could both become Stormcast.
The Armies of Heaven: Commanded by the main benevolent deity of the setting, come from Azyr, the Realm of the Heavens, functionally immortal, they even have a winged variety of troops, and they will stop at nothing, not even Death, to defeat Chaos once and for all.
Armored Dragons: The Stardrakes, immense magical dragons used as steeds by Stormcast Eternals, wear armor plating on their chests and legs.
Astrologer: Lord-Ordinators observe the movements of the stars, using mathematics, science and seer-craft to determine the future.
The Atoner: The Redeemed, consisting of former Chaos champions who were purified by Ghal Maraz and sent to the heavens to be Reforged, are laden with guilt for their crimes, and fight with remorseless fury to absolve themselves.
Badass Army: They are exactly as badass as they needed to be to oppose the works of violent gods directly, being people who were already badass reincarnated into nine foot tall musclebound immortal soldiers who can teleport, but most importantly have no need to fear for their lives, because fatal wounds just send them back to Sigmar to be reforged back into peak fighting potential.
Badass Cape: Lord-Celestants on foot are equipped with a Sigmarite Warcloak that unleashes a barrage of magical hammers at the Lord-Celestant’s foes.
Barbarian Hero: Many of the Stormcast were the heroes of Barbarian Tribes who were defeated, or died, defending their people from the forces of the Dark Gods during the Age of Chaos only to have their souls reforged as Sigmar's elite warriors.
Beauty Equals Goodness: The Stormcast Eternals are (for the most part) heroic paladins fighting for the soul of the Mortal Realms against the vile machinations of the Forces of Chaos. Virtually all of them are also either described or depicted as looking like immensely attractive, with most of their male characters being Hunks and their female characters being Amazonian Beauties.
Black-and-White Insanity: Some Stormcast who have had to be reforged too many times had lost much of what it is to be human and any sense of judgement or discernment regarding right and wrong. Only an existence of black and white remains, of Order and Chaos, with no shades of morality inbetween.
Blessed with Suck: Many of them have come to this conclusion, given how little personal goals or rest they're given, and how often they lose themselves.
Bling of War: Clad in golden armour with sigils of Ghal Maraz, the Twin-Tailed Comet, lightning bolts, Griffons and such embossed upon their plate. It gets increasingly more elaborate as one goes up the ranks, from the rather functional and utilitarian-seeming Liberators to the ridiculously ornate Lord-Celestants.
Blood Knight: They live only to slaughter Sigmar's enemies down to the last man.
BFS: Grandblades—massive enchanted runeblades forged from sigmarite.
Came Back Wrong: Not after first reforging, when they become Stormcast Eternals in the first place, but each subsequent reforging is noted as stripping away a piece of their personality. Those that have been killed twice after their first reforging tend to become The Stoic to the extreme in that they seem almost robotic — and what happens if a Stormcast were to be reforged after that has yet to be seen...
Cast from Hit Points: Lord-Arcanums and Knights-Incantor carry spirit flasks that can be shattered to deal wounds to all units near them, including the Lord-Arcanums or Knights-Incantor themselves.
Chain Lightning: Chain Lightning, a spell in the Lore of the Storm available to Stormcast Eternal Wizards, summons a torrent of lightning that leaps from foe to foe.
Church Militant: Not an actual church of course, but their faith in Sigmar is a source of all of their resolve and determination, they also get along well enough with the actual priests of Sigmar.
A Commander Is You: Elitist/Generalist. The Stormcast Eternals are easily one of the most elite regular factions in the game (only the unusual likes of Sons of Behemat and Ogor Mawtribes will have fewer models on the table), and their roster is extremely well-rounded and can take on a variety of roles, helped by various Stormhost specialties (Hammers of Sigmar Dracoth and Draconith, Knights Excelsior Paladins, etc).
Deader than Dead: Any Stormcast who falls in the Realms of Chaos is gone for good, their souls unable to return to Sigmar. Additionally, there are some Stormcast who have taken so poorly to the process of Reforging after enough times that their soul must be completely obliterated (lest they turn into dangerous Lightning Gheists).
Death from Above: Skyhosts. Additionally, since the Stormcast are typically sent into battle in the form of lightning bolts, some Stormcast have hit upon the idea of having themselves deployed right into the middle of enemy forces, effectively unleashing a Bolt of Divine Retribution right upon their foes.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The recurrent flaws caused by the Reforging process among certain Stormcast (i.e., the loss of valuable memories from their mortal lives) are occasionally portrayed as essentially the fantasy version of being inflicted with a chronic disease/disability. Most notably, Vagria, one of the main Stormcast characters in Broken Realms: Kragnos, is repeatedly shown to be struggling with what can only be really described as body dysmorphia (i.e., she never feels comfortable looking at her reflection, as she always sees it as someone else and not precisely "her"). This is later revealed to be due to how Vagria was originally just a seven-year-old girl who had been saved by Sigmar and put through the process of Reforging when she had accidentally stumbled into an angry Saurus while fleeing from the Khornate forces that had killed her entire civilization. As she had never got the chance to grow into an actual adult before she was Reforged, Vagria can't help but see a stranger when she looks at her "current" face in the mirror because it's the face of someone she technically never was.
Dragon Rider: Some Eternals go to battle on the backs of immense magical dragons known as Stardrakes.
Energy Ball: Lightning Orb, the exclusive spell of the Lord-Arcanum on Tauralon, is a storm of pure Azyrite force.
The Engineer: Lord-Ordinators oversee the construction of new cities, walls and Stormkeeps, working in tandem with Dispossessed work gangs.
Faceless Mooks: An entire army of them — badass though they may be. Averted for the significant characters, who actually do take off their helms at certain points.
Foreseeing My Death: The Celestial Warbringers claim to each know the hour of their death.
Four-Star Badass: The Lord-Celestants, each of whom leads a Chamber of Stormcast Eternals, are universally mighty warriors and inspiring leaders who often personally lead their warriors.
Healing Factor: It's generally noted that Stormcast Eternals can heal from injuries much faster than ordinary mortals can. Complicating matters is how the Stormcast will occasionally "cheat" through using Magitek (i.e., the special lanterns of the Lord-Castellants, which can instantaneously heal both grievous bodily wounds and damage to Sigmarite armor) to rapidly speed up the healing and repair processes. And as noted under Stronger with Age, in many ways the resilience and healing abilities of the Stormcast seems to be as random among themselves as they are among humans in real life.
Heroic Build: As noted below under Sculpted Physique, following Reforging each Stormcast is designed to be incredibly strong and formidable, often resulting in them becoming very muscular.
Hope Bringer: The other main reason for why Sigmar created them was to be this for the oppressed denizens of the Mortal Realms. Their Modus Operandi specifically is to slay the "tyrants" of the Mortal Realms and free people from the Warriors of Chaos.
Horn Attack: While they prefer to avoid combat, the Tauralons ridden by some Lord-Arcanums sport a set of ram-like horns that they can use to gouge and smash their opponents. It is said that when at full charge, a Tauralon's horns can demolish a fortress wall.
Horse of a Different Color: Mounts used by the Stormcast include Gryph-chargers (large flightless birds with two extra legs), Dracoths (small wingless dragons) and Stardrakes (large magical dragons).
Hunter of Monsters: Candidates for the Astral Templars are recruited from barbarian tribes who have to fight monsters for daily survival, and retain these skills after they have become Stormcast.
IKEA Weaponry: The Celestar Ballista is constructed in such a way that it can be broken down and carried by its two operators.
Implacable Man: While they are the good guys, each one of them is a resurrectable killing machine, and so they just come back after being slain. For instance, there is one story where they nearly overwhelmed a Chaos host composed of Chaos Champions lead by none other than Archaon himself; this was because they had portals directly opened to Azyr, which allowed them to pour fresh formations of Stormcast Eternals to the fight, have the fight been prolonged for some more time this would have allowed the Stormcast to launch recently killed forces into the fray. While they lost because the portals were closed, it's still remarkable that they almost beat Chaos at their own game. In fact, an entire chamber of Stormcast Eternals can get killed and brought back to Azyr just to be Reforged and redeployed a few days later to finish the job.
Light 'em Up:
- The Lord-Castellants carry lanterns heavily implied to be imbued with Hysh, the wind of Light Magic. As such, they can cast their light on their allies to defend them, or on enemies to set them on fire, especially if the enemy is a daemon.
- Lord-Veritants channel the magic of their own lanterns to unbind spells and hurt enemy wizards. In one of the novels, City of Secrets, what is quite possibly their lanterns' primary use gets shown off, and that is to illuminate the truth of a person, forcing them to recall any misdeeds they have ever committed, and letting the Lord-Veritant know all about it.
Luke Nounverber: A Stormcast's last name (if they have one) almost always consists of a noun and an adjective or another noun: Vandus Hammerhand, Ionus Cryptborn, Tarsus Bullheart, Thostos Bladestorm, Hamilcar Bear-Eater, and so on.
Made of Iron: All Stormcast Eternals are described as being far stronger and more formidable than "mere" ordinary mortals.
Mage Killer: The job of Lord-Veritants is hunting out and systematically destroying evil magic-users, with all of their special rules being tailored to counter enemy wizards in some way.
Magic Knight: Sequitors and Evocators, the line infantry of the Sacrosanct Chambers, have a few magic powers of their own.
Meaningful Rename: Some Stormcast have abandoned their birth name in favour of another one; Vandus Hammerhand used to be Vendell Blackfist; Aventis Firestrike used to be Avante Fireson and so on.
Mirroring Factions: To the Adeptus Astartes.
- Both of them are elite Super Soldiers crafted by a powerful God-Emperor associated with the color gold that are used as elite shock troops against the enemies of their god while also commonly fighting against the forces of Chaos. Both of them even look vaguely similar (in terms of being bulky, intimidating humanoids clad in Powered Armor), are organized into similarly small armies (Stormcast have their Stormhosts, and Space Marines have their Chapters) and are mostly intended to be self-contained. Both of them are also technically transhumans, though the Space Marines achieve this through incredibly advanced technology while the Stormcast achieve it through (literal) divine intervention and Sufficiently Analyzed Magic.
- However, from there the two factions differ quite significantly; while their Science Fantasy counterparts are made from children often forcefully taken to be psycho-conditioned and genetically augmented to serve a doomed dystopian Imperium, the Stormcasts are all heroes saved from last stands where they fought to the very end against Chaos, then are magically empowered, and their main goal is to liberate the Mortal Realms from the grip of the Ruinous Powers. Space Marines are recruited into Chapters and then are forcibly indoctrinated into the specific standards of combat and ideologies of said chapter, while Stormcast are inducted into Stormhost that best fit their specific personalities. The Space Marines play their transhumanism to the hilt in that they usually tend to be considered as removed from humanity (by themselves and others), while the Stormcast were once normal people (and in many ways still remain so, aside from how they're a lot more powerful than they were before). Stormcast have lost everything, know full well of the stakes (since they have personally experienced them), and the concept of losing what they hold dear terrifies them, unlike the Marines who will wantonly throw away their lives. Or, to paraphrase Josh Reynolds (one of the main lore writers and creators behind the Stormcast at Games Workshop), "Space Marines are Batman and Stormcast are Captain America."
Musical Assassin: When needed, a Knight-Heraldor can use his battle-horn as a weapon whose reverberations can fell trees and shake buildings alike.
The Needless: Heavily downplayed; While Stormcast still feel the need to eat, drink and sleep like ordinary mortals, they don't need to do so nearly as much as said mortals.
Noble Bird of Prey: Aetherwings are birds of prey that ally themselves with the Stormcast Eternals and will attack their enemies while the Vanguard-Raptors shoot from afar.
No-Sell: The Idoneth Deepkin cannot sever the souls of the Stormcast, leading to an alliance between them during their first contact.
Old Soldier: That "Eternal" thing in their name is not a metaphor or a boast. Some of them, such as Vandus Hammerhand, can dimly remember the age before the Age of Chaos, making them many thousands of years old. In fact, it's even implied that some of the Stormcast Eternals are the ancient ancestors to thousands of modern human tribes from across the Mortal Realms.
Older Than They Look: Most of the Stormcast stop aging after they are Reforged for the first time, and since they have Resurrective Immortality, this results in many of the older Stormcast to look either relatively young or just middle-aged while in reality being centuries old.
Our Angels Are Different:
- They are made from mortal warriors taken by the God-King Sigmar Heldenhammer, augmented with mystic energies and given fancy new weapons and armour made of Sigmarite, and are now sent out from the heavens to oppose Chaos whenever it appears. Certain types and characters have wing-shaped devices that allow them to fly, further strengthening their angelic imagery.
- However, aside from that, Stormcast aren't actually all that holy or magical when it comes down to it; they're about as powerful physically as a Chaos Warrior, aside from the "cannot completely die" thing. Unlike Chaos Warriors, who are fanatically devoted to Chaos, Stormcasts are still very much human, or whatever race they were before. They need to eat, to sleep and have desires as anyone else. The Eternal part of their name is rather relative: their souls are constantly coveted by Nagash, and the supply of Sigmarite is limited, with each Reforging taking more supplies and more of the Stormcast's memories, feelings and general personality is lost.
The Paladin: The lore refers to them as paladins in a few places and thematically they're right on the mark: divinely-empowered knights of the Big Good god clad in shining armor, wielding holy powers and often armed with hammers and swords. The capital-P Paladins meanwhile are the elite of the Stormcast Eternals, utterly dedicated to cleansing the corruption of Chaos.
Powered Armor: Stormcast Eternals all wear large sets of Sigmarite armor, a Nigh-Invulnerable metal forged from the core of the World-That-Was that can transform into celestial energy (along with the Stormcast themselves) when they are sent onto the battlefield by Sigmar. Their armor and weapons can also be additionally enchanted through mortal magic to allow for even more benefits for a specific Stormcast.
Power Creep: The Stormcast Eternals are the franchise's primary "poster boys," serving as one of the stronger factions in the game and regularly getting increasingly powerful wargear and units.
The Power of Hate: They run on hatred for the Forces of Chaos, seeing as how their followers destroyed their realms, slaughtered and subjugated their people and killed all of them. Sigmar himself encourages this, considering that he opposed Chaos for thousands of years prior to the beginning of the setting and ultimately lost to them during the End Times.
Really 700 Years Old: Some Stormcast Eternals have been in action for a long time, as in some Stormcast have been fighting for literal centuries. Heck, some are all but directly stated to have had their origins as mortal heroes in the World-That-Was untold eons ago, placing them within Time Abyss territory.
Resurrective Immortality: Stormcast cannot die under normal circumstances. Upon death, they are warped back to Sigmar's side, Reforged upon the Anvil of Apotheosis, and then sent back.
Sculpted Physique: Male Stormcast Eternals' breastplates clearly were made to look they have defined pectoral muscles. The female ones instead have their breastplates shaped like a top over their breasts with defined abdominal muscles underneath.
Shock and Awe: During the End Times, Sigmar (in addition to being a human war-god) also became one with Azyr, the magical Wind of Heavens. As a result, he gained mastery over lightning and thunder, which seems to have been passed on to the Stormcast Eternals. There's a noticeable exception with the Lord-Relictors, though, as they seem to fall back more on Shyish than Azyr.
Shoulders of Doom: A common thread with all of their armor is massive spaulders emblazoned with the Stormhost's colours and various Sigmarite iconography.
Sigil Spam: The Stormcasts seem to enjoy spamming Sigmar's hammer and twin-tailed comet emblems everywhere on their armour.
Strong as They Need to Be: A common thread throughout the lore is how the Stormcast Eternals' individual power is very much Depending on the Writer. Arguably justified in that they derive their might from a divine power, and thus their strength is dependent on how much favor they have earned in their god's eye. Furthermore, it's occasionally shown in the game's lore that the Stormcast are exceptionally varied in how "strong" each one is, with each being dependent largely on individual factors.
Stronger with Age: It's implied that, even putting aside the process of Reforging turning them into divine Humanoid Abominations, they grow stronger and more formidable with age. As an example, in Yndrasta: The Celestial Spear, the eponymous demigod swiftly heals from some pretty horrific injuries after a battle over the course of only a few hours (or even minutes). Meanwhile, in Memories of Blood and Sand, the significantly younger (when compared to Yndrasta) Stormcast Paladin Rostus is forced to recuperate in a town for a few days after getting hit with a boulder.
Super-Strength: Many Stormcast are described as having incredible strength, easily on a level beyond that of a normal man. In fact, Sigmar once claimed that each Stormcast is "as strong as twelve warriors" (though granted, only the Tempest Lords among the Stormcast are shown to have interpreted Sigmar as being completely literal). Probably one of the higher examples of superhuman strength among the Stormcast is the Tempest Lord Maklav, who once famously slew a drake by beating it to death from inside its mouth with only his fists.
Super-Speed: Stormcast are often described as being able to run and move much faster than ordinary mortals. Special mention should be given to the Knights-Zephyros, who take in part of the essence of a "Wolf Godbeast" during the Reforging process, allowing them to move with incredible speed (which greatly helps them excel in their role of being Sigmar's assassins).
Super-Senses: Stormcast are generally described as having far more acute senses than their mortal counterparts, such as having considerably better eyesight (making them better marksmen).
Superpower Lottery: As Stormcast lose more and more of their original mortal souls to the process of Reforging, they get increasingly close to becoming divine Humanoid Abominations and can gain odd attributes or even abilities. Some of the flaws that emerge from multiple Reforgings include being unable to speak above a whisper, having lightning literally arcing out of their eyes, bleeding lightning in lieu of blood when cut, etc.
Skull for a Head: The Lord-Relictors, who are culled from tribesmen from Shyish — the realm of Death and domain of Nagash.
Sword and Gun: All Vanguard-Hunters wield a Boltstorm Pistol, with some being equipped with Storm Sabres as well.
Talking Animal: The Stardrakes and Dracoths, who have their own language and can also understand the tongues of the other Order-aligned races.
Theme Naming: As the elite warriors of a god of thunder and lightning, the Stormcast Eternals are armed with weapons and equipment that follow this theme such as Lightning Hammers, Stormstrike Glaives and Thunderaxes.
Tragic Hero: A lot of tragedy and drama is gained from how the Stormcast Eternals seem to be doomed to lose the very humanity they originally had and which earned them their status as Stormcast with sufficient Reforgings. Furthermore, they also seem to be trapped in a Hopeless Forever War with the Forces of Chaos and other foes of the Mortal Realms. Despite all of this, however, they continue to soldier on.
True Companions: Having trained for ages in Azyr, each Stormhost forms a link of camaraderie and friendship among their ranks and sometimes between them. There is one instance where a Lord-Celestant received the mission to make his chamber reinforce the beleaguered forces of another Stormhost whose Lord-Celestant was being deployed for the first time against Chaos, and he was promptly goaded by members of the other Stormhost to bring their inexperienced brother alive unless they demand a satisfaction, instead of getting angry at them he promised to do his utmost to bring him back as he was his friend too.
Was Once a Man: The Reclusians of the Ruination Chamber have undergone so many reforgings that they have lost much of their humanity and are said to be no more than a handful of reforgings away from losing themselves completely. They may have forgotten their friends, family, homeland or biography.
Warrior Monk: They're giant, hammer-wielding murder-machines and their faith in Sigmar (and occasionally other gods) is constantly reinforced as a major aspect of their character & general aesthetic.
Weapon of X-Slaying: Sequitors' Stormsmite Greatmaces and Castigators' Thunderhead Greatbows can release a burst of celestial energy upon hitting their targets, dealing extra damage to Daemons and Nighthaunt.

Characters

Celestant-Prime, the Avenging Angel of Azyr, the Bearer of the World-Hammer, the First Scion of Sigmar.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sigmarini.png

Taking flight against Chaos one more time.

The first of the Stormcast Eternals, the Celestant-Prime was formerly a great king from a darkening age, a guardian of mankind chosen by Sigmar himself to be the first of his new army in the war against Chaos. Wielding the Cometstrike Sceptre and Ghal Maraz, the hammer of Sigmar itself, the Celestant-Prime is the god's will incarnate, and a terrifying force to behold on the battlefield.

Back from the Dead: It's strongly implied that he's Emperor Karl Franz reincarnated.
Big Damn Heroes: He arrived just in time to battle Torglug and save Alarielle's soulpod.
Colony Drop: His Cometstrike Sceptre can call comets to crush into the battlefield.
Combat Clairvoyance: He can foresee events in battle thanks to the Orrery of Celestial Fates.
Convenient Color Change: The colour of the Celestant-Prime's armour can change to fit with whichever Stormhost to which he's currently assigned.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His most common being Ghal Maraz.
Sealed Good in a Can: After creating him, Sigmar wasn't able to power him enough to make him function until he took back Ghal Maraz.
Super Prototype: He was the first Stormcast to be created, and he's still the most powerful of their number.
Try to Fit That on a Business Card: He has quite the number of titles, as you can see above.
Winged Humanoid: He has wings reminiscent of the Prosecutors.

Lord-Celestant Vandus Hammerhand

Commander of the Hammerhands Warrior Chamber of the Hammers of Sigmar, Vandus Hammerhand was the first Stormcast Eternal to step foot outside Azyr.

Arch-Enemy: Vandus desires little more than to settle his blood debt with Korghos Khul, the leader of a Khornate warband that destroyed his tribe, killed his sons, ended his mortal life and was featured as his nemesis in the first edition starter set.

Neave Blacktalon

Knight-Zephyros of the Shadowhammers, Neave Blacktalon is a master huntress who slaughters her foes with twin axes. She has recently been placed in charge of a team of handpicked Stormcast specialists called The Blacktalons.

Amnesiac Lover: Neave is this to Shakana. It's clear in Blacktalon that she has forgotten their romance, even though she's clearly still attracted to Shakana, and that Neave's amnesia is hurting Shakana.
Battle Couple: With her teammate Shakana. Kind of.
Dual Wielding: Neave's pair of Whirlwind Axes can cut down characters in a flurry of blows.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: The rest of her body is fully armoured, but you can choose to have her wear a full helm or not.
I Did What I Had to Do: Neave repeatedly tells herself this over the course of Blacktalon, which increasingly crumbles under the weight of the things she has to do.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: At several points Neave forgets extremely trauamatic memories that might interfere with her job. It's implied in Dawnbringer III that Lorai's secret job is to stragetically remove those negative memories with more accuracy and specificity than Reforging.
Lightning Bruiser: Neave is fast enough for it to appear almost like teleportation and hits hard enough to carve her axes through full armor.
The Musketeer: Neave is armed with Whirlwind Axes to fight enemies in close combat and a Boltstorm Pistol to strike them from range.

The Blacktalons

Neave's team of handpicked specialists who assist her with her Sigmar directed assassinations, concisting of Hendrick the Silver Wolf, Shakana Goldenblade, Rostus Oxenhammer and Lorai, Child of the Abyss.

Anger Born of Worry: One of Neave and Shakana's main sources of contention is that Shakana thinks that neave is too eager to throw her life away in her mission, when other less dangerous options might be available. She's also afraid that constant reforgings will make her forget their romance.
Badass Crew: With the requisite archetypes:
- The Leader: Neave
- Eccentric Mentor: Hendrick
- The Big Guy: Rostus
- The Heart: Shakana
- The Sixth Ranger: Lorai
Battle Couple: Shakana and Neave. Kind of.
Boisterous Bruiser: Rostus is the archetypical boisterous bruiser
Cold Sniper: Zigzagged with Shakana. In combat she's the archetypical detached sniper hero, out of combat she frets about her team's safety and fell in love with Neave.
Dark and Troubled Past: Rostus lost his family to a Chaos attack before his reforging, Lorai lost a child, Hendrick seems to have a history with half the people they slay.
Everyone Can See It: Dawnbringers III states that the entire team can see that Neave and Shakana are attracted to each other, but so long as it doesn't interfere with their duties, they let them continue their relationship.
Evil Mentor: Evil is debatable, but Hendrick is clearly keeping things from the team, especially his own history with many of the targets they slay.
Loyal Animal Companion: Shakana's star eagle Anda.
Tragic Keepsake: Shakana keeps a glass from her first night with Neave in the hopes that Neave will remember it enough that they can actually talk about it.

Gavriel Sureheart

A Lord-Celestant of the Hammers of Sigmar, Gavriel Sureheart is a peerless warrior who was a slave-gladiator in his former life.

Born into Slavery: He was born as the son of two slaves in a Khornate arena, and he was soon inured to the lash as a child.
Gladiator Games: Upon coming of age, Grub was forced as fodder into the arena.
Gladiator Revolt: He led an armed revolt against the Khornate rulers of the Ratspike arena which ultimately ended in failure.

Aventis Firestrike

A powerful magic user, Lord-Arcanum Aventis Firestrike of the Hammers of Sigmar was made Magister of Hammerhal for his many great achievements.

Cool Crown: He wears the ornate Thunderhead Crown, which renews him even in the thick of battle.
Eat Dirt, Cheap: Upon the destruction of his homeland, Avante transmuted his body into fire in order to consume the Everburning Coal, a shard of primordial realmstone, and use it as a source for devastating magic.
Hot-Blooded: Aventis is famously known for his foul temper.
Playing with Fire: Aventis is capable of combining the magics of Aqshy and Azyr with his unique spell Pyroelectric Blast.

Astreia Solbright

Lord-Arcanum of the Shimmersouls, Astreia Solbright constently searches for a means to cure the Stormcast Eternals of the flaw in their reforging.

Anime Hair: Since her second reforging Astreia has been surrounded by a corona of electricity that causes her flaxen hair to stand out around her head.
Immortality Seeker: Astreia has hunted countless ostensibly immortal creatures to unlock their secrets in search for a cure to the slow erosion of the souls of the Stormcast Eternals.
Light 'em Up: She was originally a magus of light from Hysh.

Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear

Yndrasta is one of the most storied champions of Sigmar, charged with leading the God-King's forces across the beast realm of Ghur and serving as his ultimate beastslayer.

Dual Wielding: Yndrasta carries two weapons into battle: a two-handed sword in one hand, and an enormous spear in the other.
Off with His Head!: She has a whole thing with decapitating her enemies and taking their heads as trophies.
Power Gives You Wings: One of Yndrasta's standout features are her feathered wings. Even the Knight-Azyros and Prosecutors use wings made of light.
Taking You with Me: Her first death happened when she stabbed a daemon of Khorne with her spear while praying to Sigmar to annihilate them both with his lightning. Sigmar did so, but then lifted her soul to Azyr where he personally reforged her.

Tarsus Bull-Heart

Morality Pet: To Mannfred Von Carstein of all people. Granted Mannfred still betrays him but he actually feels bad about it, which is almost unheard of. Mannfred even goes back to save him in a later story.
Warrior Prince: Was this in life.

Cities of Sigmar

Defenders of the Mortal Realms

Though it is the God-King's champions, the Stormcast Eternals, who earn the greatest glory and renown through their valorous deeds, Sigmar's empire is built on the blood and sacrifice of millions of humble humans, duardian, and aelves. These heroes will not be remembered by name, save for those engraved upon scattered and time-worn monuments, but they do not fight for recognition. They fight to protect their families, friends, and way of life.

Cities of Sigmar Battletome (2nd edition)

The Free Cities of the Mortal Realms were built around Realmgates captured by the forces of Order during the Realmgate Wars. Populated by humans, aelves and duardin, each city has developed its own culture but all are bastions of Order within hostile realms. Outside of the Azyrites, the inhabitants of the Free Cities comprise the vast majority of Sigmar's empire. Each of the larger Free Cities is effectively a state onto itself, ruling vast amounts of surrounding land and smaller settlements.

General Tropes

Freeguilds

The majority of forces that make up the armies of the Cities of Sigmar come from the Freeguild Regiments. Consisting of humans descended from the tribes that followed Sigmar into seclusion during the Age of Chaos, the Freeguild Regiments are disciplined warriors that share the culture of the city in which they are based. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the Empire of Man (and, to a far lesser extent, the Kingdom of Bretonnia) of Warhammer Fantasy.

The Artifact: Pre-Dawnbringer, the Cities of Sigmar mostly served as a way to carry over old models from Fantasy.
Badass Normal: The Freeguilds are composed of completely normal humans, aelves, duardin and ogors with no special powers in a fantastical setting where humanity is severely outclassed by almost everyone else. And they hold the line against Chaos with completely normal weapons, armour, and the occasional gryphon.
Big Guy, Little Guy: The Fusil Major on Ogor Warhulk is a regular human commander riding atop a crow's nest that is mounted on the shoulders of an Ogor.
Church Militant: Freeguild Steelhelms enter battle accompanied by Battle Priests, who purge Chaotic taint from the land and consecrates it in the name of Sigmar.
Grenade Launcher: A few Freeguild Sharpshooters carry grenade-launching blunderbusses.
Horse of a Different Color: Freeguild Generals often ride griffons into battle, while Demigryph Knights ride smaller, wingless demigryphs.
Medieval Stasis: Thousands of years have passed and a world has ended, but the Free Peoples are still dressing in the exact same fashion their ancestors in the Empire of the World-That-Was once did, and there's been little cultural shift in that time. Admittedly, this can be at least somewhat justified in that the Age of Chaos effectively caused a mass extinction event across the Mortal Realms, and much knowledge from before that era has still been lost and is being rediscovered.
- One of the more ridiculous examples is their gunpowder weapons. They've had the technology to make rifles for thousands of years, but for some reason still use smoothbore barrels for everything but sharpshooter weapons. They seem to have stalled out sometime between flintlock mechanisms being introduced and matchlock ones being phased out; just the right spot to make guns common but also have melee-armed troops still a relevant presence on the battlefield.^note In our world this period lasted about a century and a half (early 16th to mid 17th centuries), and the flintlock era itself lasted about as long (late 17th to early 19th centuries). In Europe, anyway; this period extended into the mid 19th century in most of Asia.
The Medic: Most Freeguild Command Corps include a War Surgeon, who acts as a battlefield medic, seeking to keep their comrades fighting for as long as possible.
Mighty Roar: The griffons used by some Freeguild Generals as mounts can unleash a piercing bloodroar to frighten enemies.
We Have Reserves: They're (usually) well-trained and effective soldiers, but against the higher-tier factions, what makes them most useful is their sheer numbers. Every distrinct in every settlement in the Sigmarite empire has to provide a set number of Freeguild recruits, and some Free Cities are so populous that they've deployed Freeguild armies millions-strong (keep in mind that the old Empire would've been lucky to scrounge up half a million, and considered armies in the mid tens of thousands to be massive).

Devoted of Sigmar

Fanatical worshippers of the God-King of Azyr, the Devoted of Sigmar spread the words of their faith to the peoples of the Mortal Realm.

The Berserker: Flagellants launch themselves at the enemy with rabid fervour, heedless of their own survival.
Demoted to Extra: When first introduced, the Devoted of Sigmar included rules for Warrior-Priests of Sigmar and Witch Hunters. Despite still appearing in some lore, however, the release of the 2nd Edition Order Battletome: Cities of Sigmar removed these Heroes as playable units.

Collegiate Arcane

An organization of human magic users, the Collegiate Arcane was set originally up by Sigmar to preserve the arcane knowledge and skills of humanity. Originally based in the eight magical towers that float above Azyrheim, the Collegiate Arcane have since built more towers throughout the realms to support the Free Cities with their magical might.

Amplifier Artifact: Human wizards cannot instinctively wield magic, and must use a variety of physical foci such as staffs, amulets and the like to focus and channel their sorceries. A Celestial Hurricanum can also act as a focus for magical energies for the benefit of nearby wizards.
The Archmage: Wizards who have mastered all eight winds of magic — a lengthy process, as each wind takes a decade of study to wield — are considered some of the greatest human wizards alive and titled Grandmasters of the Collegiate.
Cast from Hit Points: The Ritual Dagger, one of the arcane trinkets that Battlemages can carry into battle, allows its owner to draw blood, suffering a mortal wound in the process, in exchange for an extra casting attempt in that hero phase.
Chain Lightning: Battlemages with the Heavens specialisation have access to the exclusive Chain Lightning spell, a lightning bolt that can jump to other units near the original target.
Combat Clairvoyance: Soldiers standing near a Celestial Hurricanum can see visions of the imminent future which allow them to predict the actions of the foe and attack with uncanny accuracy.
Horse of a Different Color: Amber wizards often use their magic to bind ferocious creatures to use as mounts. These can include any number of outlandish monsters, but the most commonly seen ones are two-headed griffons from Ghur.
Mage Tower: The Collegiate is based in the Towers of the Eight Winds in Azyrheim, eight magically floating spires that drift above the city's surface, where wizards study and experiment with each wind.
Multiple Head Case: The griffons used by some Amber Battlemages as mounts have two heads to bite enemies.
Wave-Motion Gun: The Luminark of Hysh is capable of unleashing a blinding, destructive beam of soulfire through its arcane optics that vaporises anything in its path.
Weather-Control Machine: The magical orrery mounted on a Celestial Hurricanum can be used to summon a Storm of Shemtek to batter the foe.

Ironweld Arsenal

A coalition of human and duardin smiths, engineers and metalworkers, the Ironweld Arsenal produce the war machines used by the Cities of Sigmar. Alongside the regular weapons and artillery, the Ironweld Arsenal create more esoteric machines such as Gyrocopters and Steam Tanks.

Car Fu: Steam Tanks can simply crush enemy soldiers beneath their ironclad bulk.
Heal Thyself: A Steam Tank's commander can attempt to repair it in the midst of a battle.
Helicopter Blender: Gyrocopters and Gyrobombers can use their rotor blades as a melee weapon in a desperate situation.
Macross Missile Massacre: Helstorm Rocket Batteries are capable of launching an earth-shaking cascade of shrieking, explosive rockets.
More Dakka: Organ Guns and Helblaster Volley Guns can fire volleys of shots at once.
Multinational Team: The Arsenal was initially formed to facilitate knowledge exchange between human and duardin engineeers.
Siege Engines: The Ironweld Arsenal is composed of all artillery manufactured by humans and dwarfs.
Tank Goodness: Steam Tanks are monstrous, smoke-belching tanks that rumble towards the enemy, firing deadly cannonballs from their steam-powered guns.

Phoenix Temple

An Aelven warrior-cult dedicated to the Godbeast known as the Ur-Phoenix, the Phoenix Temple are dedicated to purging the Chaos from the Mortal Realms. As of the 3rd edition book, the Phoenix Temple has been totally removed, although some oblique references to them remain (mostly in the Phoenecium).

Hostile Weather: Enemies near a Frostheart Phoenix are caught in a blizzard which reduces their wound rolls.
The Phoenix: Come in two flavours — the Flamespyre Phoenix, which is young and fiery and able to come back from the dead in a shower of flames, and the ancient Frostheart Phoenix, which trails ice and chill rather than flames, and has lived so long it is no longer able to resurrect itself.
Playing with Fire: The Flamespyre Phoenix terrorises its enemies by engulfing them in flame.

Darkling Covens

Founded by insular aelven sorceresses and their followers who fled to Azyr from the Realm of Shadow, the Darkling Covens are hidden magical cults that practise dark sorcery and mind manipulation. While they are mistrusted by some of the other sub-factions of Order they nonetheless fight against Chaos, as long as they feel they have something to gain by doing so.

The Chessmaster: The Covens often seek to manipulate the forces and society of Order while keeping their hand in things carefully concealed, using layers of misdirection, extensive spy networks, great numbers of duped pawns and unwitting agents and direct magical enthrallment to subtly steer the free cities to the Sorceresses' design.
Deadly Gas: Black Dragons can breathe clouds of noxious fumes at enemies.
Dead Man Switch: If its wearer is slain in the combat phase, the Heart of Woe inflicts mortal wounds on each enemy unit within 3".
Dragon Rider: Sorceresses can enter battle on the back of a Black Dragon.
Evolving Weapon: The Shadesliver, an artefact of the Darkling Covens, gets permanently and cumulatively more powerful every time it inflicts a wound.
Flechette Storm: Bladewind, a spell exclusive to the Sorceress on a Black Dragon, conjures a cloud of ethereal blades to cut the enemy.
Human Sacrifice: A Sorceress can sacrifice a member of the Covens to temporarily enhance her magical power.
Praetorian Guard: Utterly loyal, the Black Guard are the personal protectors of the coven's leader.
Slave Mooks: Normal members of the Darkling Covens are ensorcelled thralls under a spell of the ruling Sorceress.
Sorcerous Overlord: Most Darkling Covens centre around a single powerful Sorceress; these despots may have apprentice spellcasters and captains, but their rule is absolute.
Stripperiffic: Sorceresses don't wear much in battle, but they are not supposed to sit near the frontline at the first place.
Training from Hell: Black Guard upbringing is harsh, with constant drill and deadly gladiatorial training against captured monsters and thralls.
You Have Failed Me: If a Darkling Coven unit has to take a battleshock test when they are within 3" of their general, you can choose to inflict a mortal wound (heavily implied to be the Sorceress' doing) on the unit so they wouldn't have to take the test.

Order Serpentis

An order of aelven knights originally from Ulgu, the Realm of Shadows, the Order Serpentis ride into battle atop draconic and lizard-like beasts. While their culture of slavery and living sacrifice is despised by many other sub-factions of Order, the sheer power of the Order Serpentis and their beasts on the battlefield makes them a great weapon against the forces of Chaos.

Breath Weapon: The War Hydra can incinerate enemies with its fiery breath, while Black Dragons can exhale a noxious breath.
Creating Life: The Order's Drakespawn and War Hydra were originally created from dark sorcery as a replacement for dragons.
Dragon Rider: The Order Serpentis used to be an order of Black Dragon riders, but the dragons' number has declined to the point that only their Dreadlords can still do it.
Healing Factor: Each time a foe chops off one of the War Hydra's many heads, another swiftly grows back in its place.
Horse of a Different Color: The rank-and-file of the Order rides Drakespawn, reptilian predators bred to make up for the dwindling numbers of true dragons.
Knightly Lance: Drakespawn Knights charge into battle with a barbed lance.
Multiple Head Case: The War Hydra has six in total.
Raptor Attack: The Order Serpentis' Drakespawn bear a strong resemblance to real life dromaeosaurid dinosaurs.
A Taste of the Lash: A War Hydra's handlers are armed with a lash to keep the beast in check.
You Have Failed Me: If an Order Serpentis unit flee in the presence of a Dreadlord, he'll ruthlessly cut them out as an example for those who would disappoint him.

Scourge Privateers

Piratical aelven raiders, the Scourge Privateers raid coastal settlements and hunt great sea monsters throughout the Mortal Realms. While officially subjects of the God-King Sigmar, the highly independent the Scourge often attempt to use loopholes and other devious means to work around the laws of Azyr.

City on the Water: The Scourge Privateers' Black Arks are immense fortress-cities floating on the sea.
Combat Tentacles: The Kharybdiss snatch up its victims with its fanged tentacles.
Hunter of Monsters: The Scourge Privateers are among the finest hunters in the Realms, seeking misshapen and deadly sea monsters to capture.
Hyperactive Metabolism: The Kharybdiss has a chance to instantly regain a Wound when it eats an enemy model.
Kraken and Leviathan: Scourge Privateers make use of the Kharibdyss, a creature dragged from the depths of the oceans.
Nemean Skinning: Black Ark Corsairs and Fleetmasters wear a cloak made from sea dragon pelt.
Pirate: The Scourge Privateers ply their bloody trade across the seas of the Realms, seeking out fresh slaughter and loot.
Seadog Peg Leg: The model of the Black Ark Fleetmaster has a sword for a leg.
A Taste of the Lash: A Kharybdiss' handlers are armed with a lash to control the beast.

Shadowblades

A cult of aelven assassins, Sigmar tasked the Shadowblades with purging Azyr of the hidden taint of Chaos after the gates to the Celestial Realm were sealed. No that the forces of Order are attempting to reclaim the Mortal Realms, the Shadowblades continue their work to destroy Chaos from the shadows.

Bow and Sword in Accord: Dark Riders are armed with deadly repeater crossbows and barbed swords; Shadow Warriors are able to cut to the heart of the enemy with either bow or blade.
Poisoned Weapons: Assassins coat their weapons with the deadliest poisons.
Secret Police: For many years the Shadowblades serve Sigmar in this role by rooting out Chaos cultists, spies and other traitors from the city of Azyrheim without revealing themselves to the populace.

Wanderers

Aelven followers of Alarielle the Everqueen who fled to Azyr at dawn of the Age of Chaos, the Wanderers returned to the Mortal Realms alongside the other forces of Order during the Age of Sigmar, fighting Chaos with woodcraft and nature magic. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the Asrai/Wood Elves of Warhammer Fantasy. In the 3rd edition update to the book, the Wanderers have been completely removed.

The Atoner: Wanderers seek to redeem themselves for having abandoned Ghyran and the Sylvaneth to Nurgle's infestations during the Age of Chaos.
Eye Scream: Nomad Princes have pet hawks which can gouge out the eyes of enemies.
Green Thumb: Sisters of the Thorn can cause crawling brambles to burst from the ground and form a living barrier around their allies.
Hit-and-Run Tactics: Wanderers are difficult to lock in combat, melting away to strike from afar. A Wanderer unit that retreats can shoot in the shooting phase of the same turn, encouraging players to make maximum use of Glade Guards' mobility while retaining their effectiveness when it comes to shooting.
Horse of a Different Color: Wild Riders and Sisters of the Thorn are borne into battle on mystical, stag-like steeds.
Living Weapon: The Splinterbirch Blade is made of still-living wood that can regrow itself if struck against armour.
Punny Name: One of the Wanderers' artefacts is a chain of florets called the Forget-me-Knot.
Walking the Earth: The Wanderers have travelled the realms for generations and know many hidden paths.
Weapon of X-Slaying: Wildwood Rangers' draichs inflict more damage against monstrous creatures, while the Sisters of the Watch's arrows are more effective against Chaos units.

Dispossessed

Duardin refugees who fled the fall of the Khazalid Empires, the Dispossessed keep the ancient durdin culture alive in Azyr throughout the Age of Chaos. Great builders, the Dispossessed helped construct many of the Free Cities and continue to fight the in their defence. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the original Dwarfish Holds of Warhammer Fantasy.

Anti-Magic: The Runic Icon gives units with the icon a 5+ save against casting attempts on them.
Elaborate Underground Base: Most of the Dispossessed kingdoms are found in great caverns under the city of Azyrheim.
The Musketeer: The Dispossessed's heavy gunners, Irondrakes, are not awful in close combat, being only slightly worse than their melee-focused counterparts, Ironbreakers.
Throw Down the Bomblet: Ironwardens and Ironbeards can be given a Cinderblast Bomb to throw at the enemy.
Weapon of X-Slaying: Irondrakes can be equipped with Grudgehammer Torpedoes which deal more damage against enemy monsters.
When I Was Your Age...: Longbeards are always grumbling and complaining about something, from how expensive beer is, to the hardships they endured during their youth, to how the young do not respect their elders and so on.

Characters

Tahlia Vedra, Lioness of the Parch

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tahlia.jpg

Ambiguously Gay: Literally the only person Tahlia seems to trust is her "Partner," Katrick, who follows her without a second thought and provides her with emotional support and, in their only interaction, Tahlia calls her "My dear." Make of that what you will.
Four-Star Badass: Vedra is perhaps the best general within the armies of Sigmar's cities, capable of formulating decisive plans in the heat of battle and having the guts to see these orders carried out to the end.
Horse of a Different Color: Vedra is famous for her steed, the great manticore Infernadine.
Off with His Head!: On the Eve of Four Killings, Vedra uncovered a quartet of conspiracies against her, and beheaded the plotters before mounting their skulls on the back of her saddle.
True Companions: With Ketrick, although their diferent roles apparently keep them apart often.

Pontifex Zenestra, Matriarch of the Great Wheel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pontifex.jpg

Ambiguously Human: Zenestra's palanquin also carries a skeleton that closely resembles her, right down to the cut they both carry on their face. Inquiring into this is strictly forbidden.
Rapid Aging: The attendants who carry Zenestra's palanquin are aged into infirmity after just a month at the job and have to be replaced after every expedition. Nonetheless, there is never any shortage of faithful willing to step forward.
Too Important to Walk: Since the Great Wheel is sacred above all and should not be dirtied by the filth of battle, Zenestra's palanquin is not wheeled or steam-powered, but instead carried by the raw muscle and stamina of a pair of attendants.

Grombrindal, the White Dwarf

A legendary duardin, Grombrindal was ancient when the world-that-was was destroyed. Now the venerable ancestor walks the realms, fighting the forces of Chaos and defending his people.

The Artifact: Even after his race was renamed, Grombrindal retains the title of White Dwarf rather than being called White Duardin, due to his status as the mascot of the White Dwarf magazine.
The Cavalry: Grombrindal is infamous for his tendency to appear on the battlefield without warning.
Palette Swap: To celebrate White Dwarf magazine being relaunched in September 2016, Grombrindal was given rules so that he could be used in Age of Sigmar. This version of Grombindal doesn’t have his own model, instead he is represented by a Duardin Unforged model painted in a specific colour scheme.

Daughters of Khaine

Fanatic Servants of the Bloody-Handed God

"For the blood to speak it must first flow. Ten cuts is better than one, save for the deft slash that opens an artery. For almighty Khaine, let your blade drink deeply and often."

The Red Invocation

Fanatical worshippers of the ancient aelven deity of war and murder, the Daughters of Khaine are a matriarchal cult that originated in Ulgu, the Realm of Shadows, but has since spread across all the realms. Ruled over by the ancient and cunning Morathi, the Daughters of Khaine fight for the forces of Order due to their hatred of Chaos, and Slaanesh in particular, but they are often feared by their allies as much as by their enemies. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the Druchii/Dark Elves of Warhammer Fantasy.

General Tropes

Affably Evil: While they still worship murder, perform blood rites and sacrifice living beings to their deity, some temples, such as Draichi Ganeth, are on friendly terms with populations of the cities of Order that they inhabit. These temples typically put on Gladiator Games and shows of martial skill to entertain the local population.
Agony Beam: The scáthmre mirror carried atop every Bloodwrack Shrine transforms the hatred of the Bloodwrack Medusa shrinekeeper an pain inducing aura so strong that it can inflict mortal wounds against any enemy in the area.
Amazon Brigade: With the exception of the highly controlled Doomfire Warlocks, the Daughter of Khaine war covens consist entirely of female aelves, Medusae and Scáthborn due to Morathi's arcane curse that drains the souls of most male aelves born to her followers.
Amplifier Artifact: The Shadow Stone is a magical artefact cut from the purest realmstone of Ulgu which enhances the arcane skills of its wielder, granting bonuses to their casting rolls.
And I Must Scream: The victims of a Melusai Blood Sister's crystallizing sácath touch are still fully aware of their fate and surroundings. The Blood Sisters find particular satisfaction in crystallising their foes in the few agonizing moments after having their hearts ripped, so they feel the agony of dying for all eternity.
Anti-Magic: The Amulet of Dark Fire artefact covers those that wear it in harmless flame that burns magic and gives the bearer a chance to ignore wounds caused by enemy spellcraft.
Arch-Enemy: As with all aelves, the Daughters of Khaine consider Slaanesh to be their greatest enemy due to the Dark Prince's insatiable thirst for their souls, and his servant's numerous attacks against their holdings during the Age of Chaos.
Armour Piercing Attack: The Shade Claw Artefact of Shadow is able to slip in and out of reality as its wielder wishes, allowing it to pass through armour to materialise within the target’s flesh, and giving it an improved Rend characteristic.
Battle Trophy: Once a battle is over, Melusai Blood Stalkers will seek out those they slew and cut out their hearts, which they hang from their belts, displaying fatal holes inflicted by their enchanted arrows.
Bloody Murder: When animated by the Blood Rites Battle Trait or the Wrath of Khaine prayer, an otherwise inert Avatar of Khaine can unleash a Torrent of Burning Blood at the enemies of the god of murder.
Casting a Shadow: Daughters of Khaine magic users have learned the secrets of shadow magic from Morathi herself and are capable of using spells that create steeds of pure shadow to ferry themselves across the battlefield, create paths through the shadows and call down depressing darkness to sap the will of their foes.
Chainmail Bikini: Due to their acrobatic fighting style and their role as gladiators, the traditional outfit of the Daughters of Khaine consists of little more than a metal bikini, a loincloth, and a pair of thigh-high boots with armoured kneepads that nonetheless give them a very basic Save characteristic.
Church Militant: As worshipers of the ancient aelven War God, the Daughters of Khaine are an army of religious fanatics who consider battle to be the greatest act of worship they can perform, and are thus often in the forefront of the forces of Order.
Clingy Costume: Daughters of Khaine who wish to join the Sisters of Slaughter — a sub-cult considered extreme even by other Khainites — must permanently graft a mask of living metal onto their heads as a mark of devotion to their god.
Cool Crown: The Crown of Woe is a magical coronet created with metal taken from the very first altar dedicated to Khaine, and exudes a tangible aura of dread.
Cool Mask: When they go to war, Melusai Blood Sisters wear hideous war masks with protrusions styled as snake hair so that, when combined with their serpent-like bodies, they resemble the Bloodwrack Medusae that lead their Temple Nests.
Counter-Attack: Many Daughters of Khaine wield shields with razor-sharp edges that they can use to block an enemy attack before slipping through their guard as they overreach themselves. Whether they are Bladed Bucklers or Heartpiercer Shields, a Daughter of Khaine can use these shields to cause mortal wounds on their enemy when they make a successful save in close combat.
Critical Existence Failure: Unlike most Behemoth^note units in the game, the Avatar of Khaine does not get slower or weaker as it loses wounds and remains fully operational until it is destroyed. This is to balance out the fact that the Avatar is unable to do anything until the later stages of the game unless a Priest unit uses a Prayer to make it move.
Cruel and Unusual Death: The hate-filled gaze of a Bloodwrack Medusa can cause an enemy's blood to burst from every pore, causing a mortal wound.
Death from Above: The winged Khinerai Heartrenders use the momentum of their diving attacks to increase the penetrating power of their Barbed Javlins. Known as Death From Above, this ability improves the chances of the Heartrender's weapons when they deploy onto the battlefield during the game.
Dual Wielding: Slaughter Queens fight with a pair of magic swords: the Blade of Khaine represents the god of murder's love of battle, while the Deathsword is said to imbody the hatred of Morathi.
Energy Absorption: The realmglass blade of the Mirror Glaive is able to absorb arcane energy that threatens its wielder so that they can use it to create magical shields or bolts of destructive magic outside of the usual turn sequence.
Everyone Has Standards: While the aelven members of the Daughters of Khaine are fanatically devoted to their bloody god, even they consider the Sisters of Slaughter to be extremists, due to the ritual masks that they graft directly to their heads with boiling blood.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Bloodwrack Medusae do not cover their humanoid torsos with the traditional skimpy outfits worn by the Daughters of Khaine, going into battle naked except for a single armoured shoulder pad that covers their left breast but not their right one.
Fictionary: The writing in the Daughters of Khaine battletome is peppered with words in the aelves' language, some (but by no means all) of which bear suspicious resemblance to the Irish language, for example leathanam (meaning 'half soul'), scáthborn (one of whose alternate names is Shadowborn; scáth means 'shadow' in Irish); or sciansá (scian meaning 'knife' and sá being the nominal form of the verb saigh meaning 'stab').
Fireball: Domefire Warlocks are able to unleash small bolts of black fire that burn their foes to cause Mortal Wounds.
Fountain of Youth: As well as being mobile altars to Khaine, the Cauldrons of Blood are used for rituals of rebirth that bless the covenite sisters with youth beyond their years. The effect of these rituals is so powerful that even the most ancient of Hag Queens will look like she is still in her prime for as long as she is able to undergo these rites.
Gladiator Games: The public face of the Daughters of Khaine is that they are gladiatrices who put on shows of ritualistic gladiatorial combat and martial skill for the populations of cities controlled by the forces of Order. Some of the less subtle Temples also perform gladiatorial executions of criminals and enemies to honour their bloody god.
Harping on About Harpies: Khinerai Harpies are winged Scáthborn^note who serve Morathi as the airborne spies and assault troops. The Khinerai are cruel and vindictive warriors who enjoy inflicting as much pain and destress on their enemies. In form, the Khinerai subvert the traditional monstrous look of classical Harpies, instead looking like beautiful aelf maidens with bat-like wings growing from their shoulder blades.
Have You Seen My God?: Despite their faith, Khaine is completely missing from the Mortal Realms. The truth is Morathi is siphoning off the Khainites' worship to keep herself immortal. It's theorized that if she wasn't Khaine could actually return.
Healing Hands: The Crimson Rejuvenation Khainite prayer allows Hag Queen or Slaughter Queen to summon a mist of blood that can heal the wounds of friendly Daughters of Khaine except Morathi.
Hit-and-Run Tactics: The quick but fragile Khinerai Harpies prefer to torment weaker foes with hit-and-run attacks instead of getting involved in a protracted combat against strong opponents. Heartrenders have the Fire and Flight ability, and Lifetakers have the Fight and Flight ability, which allow them to instantly move away from the foe after attacking.
Homing Projectile: The arrows unleashed by Melusai Blood Seekers are enchanted to unerringly seek the heart of their targets, giving them a chance to cause mortal wounds during a game.
Horse Archer: The Doomfire Warlocks, who serve Khainite war covens as scouts, are light cavalry equipped with doomfire crossbows. In battle these aelves use prefer to use the speed of their dark steeds to keep out or range of their opponent's attacks, all the while peppering them with crossbow bolts and fireballs, before shattering their foes with a fierce charge once they have been suitably weakened.
Human Sacrifice: As they fight, the Daughters of Khaine offer their enemies as sacrifices to their deity for increased power.
Increasingly Lethal Enemy: The Daughters of Khaine's Blood Rites Battle Trait provides stacking bonuses every battle round. By the final couple of rounds, those Khainites still on the table will have access to five different re-rolls, among other special abilities.
Javelin Thrower: The signature weapons of the Khinerai Heartrenders are viciously barbed javelins, using the momentum of their dive to increase the penetrating power of their attacks to such an extent that is hits with like the bolt from a ballista.
Lady Land: Female aelves make up an overwhelming majority of members of the Daughters of Khaine, and the ruling priests of their cities and temples are universally female. Those few male aelves born from Daughters of Khaine, or created from souls rescued from Slaanesh, are made weak and feeble through curses, and are used as slaves for manual labour or sacrifice. Those few males that avoid this fate (such as the Doomfire Warlocks) are instead branded by runes of control.
Last Ditch Move: The Martyr's Sacrifice prayer of Khaine causes friendly Daughters of Khaine to deliver one last blow, granting them a chance to deal a mortal wound when slain while in combat.
Living Statue: Whether it is freestanding or situated behind a Cauldron of Blood, the Daughters of Khaine often bring large iron statues of their god to the battlefield so that he can witness the carnage. Once battle is joined, Khainite priestesses can bring these great statues to life with the Wrath of Khaine prayer so that their bloody god can join the slaughter.
Longevity Treatment: As well as granting a youthful appearance, the Cauldrons of Blood are able to expand the lifespan of any Daughters of Khaine that undergo the correct rituals. Should these rites stop, however, the aelf's true age will quickly catch up with them.
Malevolent Masked Men: The fanatical Sisters of Slaughter and Melusai Blood Sisters wear horrific masks in the image of Khaine and Bloodwreck Medusae respectively to show their devotion to their bloody handed god and the Shadow Queen herself.
Painful Transformation: While it grants her great power, the transformation that a Daughter of Khaine undergoes to become a Bloodwrack Medusa is so agonising that it leaves her filled with hatred and wracked by constant pain.
Pieces of God: Morathi is constantly searching for any surviving shards of Khaine to maintain her divine nature.
Poisoned Weapons:
- The Bloodbane Venom Artefact of Power is a toxin with such a powerful anticoagulant effect that a blade coated with it will causes even the tiniest wound to bleed so profusely that they could die within seconds.
- The Slaughter Queens of the Kraith sect are renowned for coating their weapons with the dreaded Venom of Nagendra, a rare powerful toxin that can cause the blood of its victim to explode and deal multiple mortal wounds.
Power Tattoo: Every Doomfire Warlock is branded with a painful rune on his forehead so that their Khainite mistresses can control them as needed. The Warlocks themselves are often unaware of this, however, as they are told that such marks are wards against Slaanesh.
Really 700 Years Old: As long as they undergo regular rejuvenation rituals, Daughters of Khaine can live many times the lifespan of the average aelf, which is already longer than that of other races, while still retaining a youthful appearance. The Hag Queens priestesses in particular are thought to be some of the most ancient aelves alive, yet rarely look older than the average witch aelf.
Sexy Packaging: The cover for the Daughters of Khaine’s Battletome prominently depicts a witch aelf wearing thigh-high armoured boots, a loincloth and a small bronze bikini. While this is the traditional outfit for the faction, the is on the skimpy side, even for them.
Snake People:
- Bloodwreck Medusae were originally powerful sorceresses and champions blessed by Morathi and transformed into hideous snake women. From the waist down, Bloodwreck Medusae have scaled, serpentine bodies with multiple tails, each of which ends in the head of a poisonus snakes, while their torsos are more aelf-like (although usually coloured similarly to their scales), while their heads are crowned with hair of living snakes.
- The Scáthborn Melusai were created from freed aelven souls and given were given snake-form lower bodies, but still possess the torsos and faces of beautiful aelves.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation:
- The Mindrazor spell, from the Lore of Shadows, allows the caster to create ghostly blades from their allies' fanatical faith in the God of Murder. These wickedly sharp blades are capable of slicing through armour far easier than a regular blade, and are particularly damaging to the weak minded.
- Khinerai Heartrenders are able to create new javelins from arcane mists so that they always have weapons with which to pelt their prey.
Stealth Expert: The Khilerbron temple specialise in secrecy, assassination and concealment, using shadow magic taught to them by Morathi herself to shroud their war caverns with mist and illusion that make it more difficult for their enemies to target them.
Supernatural Fear Inducer: The aura of dread that surrounds the wearer of the Crown of Woe makes it far more likely that enemies will flee in fear from wearer, and this power grows stronger after the wearer has made a kill.
Taken for Granite: The Melusai Blood Sisters are able to channel their tainted soul into their attacks to perform a special sácath touch that can turn enemies into crystalline statues, doing additional mortal wounds on the victim.
Technicolor Fire: The Doomfire Warlocks use the magic of the Realm of Shadow to manifest their Doomfire spell, resulting in fireballs of black flame.
Whip of Dominance: The traditional weapon of the Sisters of Slaughter is the kruip-lash, or barbed whip, a long, corded whip with a sharp hook on the end. It is said that the Sisters are so skilled with these whips that they can use them to cut a gloomfly in half with a simple flick of their wrist, while in battle they are just as dangerous as the razor-sharp sacrificial knives used by Witch Aelves.

Characters

Morathi the Shadow Queen, High Oracle of Khaine

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morathi_aos.png

"Too long have I been shunned, no longer will I be denied!"

An Aelven demigoddess and the Shadow Queen of Ulgu, Morathi was once an ancient sorceress who was consumed by Slaanesh before the destruction of the world-that-was. After aeons of torment, Morathi was freed from the grasp of the Prince of Pleasure but found her body twisted into a hideous snake-like form. After the aelven gods captured the Dark Prince, the High Oracle took some of the souls freed from Slaanesh's grasp and moulded them into the Daughters of Khaine.

The Archmage: She's not nearly at Nagash's level of power, but there are few spellcasters in the Mortal Realms capable of putting out as many spells per turn as she can in her High Oracle form (even Arkhan the Black and Kairos Fateweaver fall short there), and fewer still who exceed her. She also doubles the range of any spell she casts while in that form.
Deity of Human Origin: As of Broken Realms: Morathi she has succeeded in her quest to attain godhood, having merged with the remnants of Khaine and become the Aelven Goddess of Murder.
Discard and Draw: Before her rules were reworked in Broken Realms: Morathi, Morathi started the game in her High Oracle of Khaine form. Once Morathi suffered enough damage (or voluntarily) she could transform to her Medusa-like form, the Shadow Queen. In doing so, Morathi loses her command ability and enhanced powers of sorcery in exchange for turning into a melee powerhouse. Both versions are now on the board at the same time, although she now costs 600 points, tied with Alarielle as the 4th most expensive hero in the game.
Does Not Like Men: Heavily implied. Morathi deliberately made only a few male aelves in the faction, and then only from the weakest and most broken of souls retrieved from Slaanesh. Even those born naturally are cursed by Morathi to the same fate so she can siphon part of their souls. They're also deliberately restricted to serving the most menial roles where only the strongest are allowed to live, such as the Doomfire Warlocks... but even they are deceitfully branded with mind-control runes.
Face–Heel Turn: The Broken Realms saga sees Morathi willingly turn against the rest of the alliance in a bid of power, forcefully annexing Anvilgard in the process. This then gets downplayed when she then almost immediately forms an Enemy Mine with the rest of Order against Kragnos and Chaos due to recognizing them both as the greater threat.
False Prophet: Despite claiming to be the Prophetess of the War God Khaine, Mortahi is in actuality funneling her cultists' faith into herself to keep her pseudo-divinity.
Game Face: Morathi starts the battle in a humanoid form, but can change to her true form, a larger winged version of basic form, with a snake tail and snakes for hair.
Glamour: Morathi is a mighty sorceress who is a master of shadow magic and illusion. The incredibly vain Morathi uses these magical abilities to disguise her loathed, Slaanesh-tainted, true form.
Glamour Failure: When wounded, there is a chance that High Oracle Morathi’s rage will cause her disguise spells to fail, automatically transforming her into her true, monstrous Shadow Queen form.
Gorgeous Gorgon: Morathi's true form does nothing to diminish her attractiveness.
Interspecies Romance: Morathi has taken her shadow daemons as lovers and also tried to seduce (in failure) Sigmar, Nagash and Kharybtar, the Father of Kharybdisses.
It's Personal: When Morathi was part of Sigmar's pantheon, she tried to seduce Nagash. Insulted by her seduction spells, Nagash struck Morathi, revealing her true serpentine form. Humiliated, Morathi fled and would never forgive or forget what Nagash did.
Lightning Bruiser: The Shadow Queen (Morathi's former true form and now alternate who is controlled by, and takes damage for, the real one) is a huge winged snake woman with a 12 inch movement and the ability to fly. She's also got some of the most brutal close combat stats in the game, capable of going toe-to-toe with the likes of Archaon and Nagash and coming out on top (not least because her rules mean she can't take more than 3 wounds a turn).
Monster Lord: Morathi is served by mist elementals and shadow daemons who haven't made an appearance in-game yet, along with the Bloodwrack Medusae, Melusai, and Khinerai. Their monstrous forms, including her own, are all because of being twisted by Slaanesh before escaping (in Morathi's case) or being forcibly torn from him and reborn.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her deceptive magics to skew the soul division between herself and Malerion, Tyrion and Teclis altered the eldritch balance that kept Slaanesh perfectly suspended between Hysh and Ulgu, leading to vast armies of Slaanesh followers to invade Ulgu in search of their god and may mean that Slaanesh will be able to free itself if said imbalance becomes worse.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her ritual to merge with the shards of Khaine had the unintended side-effect of releasing a sliver of another Elven god from Slaanesh's stomach: Morai-Heg, the crone goddess. That sliver empowered the heretic Daughter of Khaine, Krethusa, to become Morai-Heg's first oracle since the fall of the World That Was, and she's been using that power to lead a rebellion against Morathi.
No-Sell: Even in her squishier High Oracle of Khaine form, she is ridiculously hard to kill, thanks to the Iron Heart of Khaine preventing her from taking more than three wounds in any given turn, and she retains the item and its effects in her true Shadow Queen form. Originally, only outright One-Hit Kill abilities could bypass the need to wear her down over multiple turns but after her ascension to godhood in Broken Realms: Morathi make her no-sell even harder, making her immune to One Hit Kills and making it so that wounds done by Endless Spells count towards her 3 wound per turn limit. You want her off the board, you have to grind her out over 4 turns.
Odd Friendship: Has one with Alarielle of all people. When Sigmar asks Alarielle to open a realmgate, she refuses but agrees when Morathi asks.
Path of Inspiration: Not that she tries to pass off the Khainite cult she leads as benevolent, but she is actively preventing Khaine's return and consuming the power that would be going toward him in her own quest for Godhood.
Psychic Link: Her Broken Realms: Morathi rules put both noramal Aelven Morathi (now named Morathi-Khaine) and her Shadow Queen form on the board at the same time, with the Shadow Queen taking all the wounds for Morathi-Khaine (with her 3 wound limit still in place). The lore makes it clear that Morathi-Khaine has complete control over the Shadow Queen. Except that after Broken Realms: Kragnos, the Shadow Queen briefly broke free of Morathi-Khaine to pursue a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Kargnos for defeating her, and Morathi is frequently heard arguing in her personal chamber, proving her control isn't quite as absolute as she thinks it is.
Randomized Damage Attack: Morathi's unique spell is Arnzipal's Black Horror, which stands out for having its damage determined by two separate die rolls.
Razor Wings: The ornamental wings that Morathi wears in her High Oracle form are sharp enough to lacerate her foes in combat.
The Resenter: The Arc Words of the preview videos for the faction's Battletome were, "Too long have I been shunned, no longer will I be denied!" She resents her son for being rather ungrateful, the other Gods of Sigmar's alliance for distrusting, looking down on, and even pitying her, and outright despises Nagash for outing her true form to the rest of the pantheon. All of that combined doesn't hold a candle to the sheer hatred she has for Slaanesh, though, for obvious reasons. This is also the essence of her argument for why the Idoneth Deepkin should join her in Broken Realms: Morathi; They're the Aelves that all the other Aelves look down and shun, so they should stick together.
Scaled Up: She can swap between her true, monstrous form, and how she looked in the world-that-was, though in-game she always starts in the latter, until the player chooses to have her change, or fails to keep her concentration on her prior form when taking damage. The primary author of the faction's Battletome mentioned that she reverts to her true form when particularly angry or passionate.
Symbolic Wings: Morathi's High Oracle outfit sports a pair of ornamental, blood-dripping, golden wings. These wings not only add to the impressiveness of her costume, giving her a look sutable for an aelf demigoddess, but are a nod towards her true winged form.
Tail Slap: In her Shadow Queen form, Morathi can crush foes to death with her tail.
Tamer and Chaster: Her outfit is much, much less revealing than her Fantasy getup.

Idoneth Deepkin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deepkin_art.png

The Soul-Shriven Predators of the Depths

The Deepkin are a race of aquatic aelves who live deep below the seas of the Mortal Realms. They were created from the souls of those aelves who were devoured by Slaanesh during the End of Times, and then rescued by the forces of Teclis, Tyrion, and Malerion.

Teclis molded these aelven souls into the Cythai and taught them magic, intending to recreate the High Elven empires that existed in the World-That-Was. However, having been cursed to be born without souls, the Cythai rebelled against Teclis, and fled to the seas when he tried discovering their true nature. There, they renamed themselves as Idoneth, a word meaning "seclusive".

The Deepkin are defined by a hierarchy based on which of them had souls — those born with souls occupy the higher parts of society as the Akhelian warrior-kings, and the magically-inclined Isharann. These two castes are the leaders of Deepkin society and share a symbiotic relationship as either one couldn't work without the other's skills. The large majority are the Namarti, bald, eyeless aelves born without souls. These aelves conduct raids on settlements to gain souls for themselves, leaving nothing behind.

General Tropes

Action Pet: Each Soulrender employs a Rakerdart bond-beast that glides at its master's feet and stabs prey with its sharp bill. A Tidecaster has a bunch of phantom fish that protect her, the Soulscryer has a shoal of fish it can use as a ranged weapon and Lotann has an Ochtar who floats around him, fighting on his behalf.
Arch-Enemy: They do not tolerate the presence of Slaanesh's followers, even gaining one extra point of damage when pitted against them.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Akhelians are strictly meritocratic – lines of succession don't mean much when most of their children will be Namarti.
Back from the Dead: Isharann Soulrenders can use their mystical lures to capture the souls of enemy dead and use them to resurrect fallen Namarti.
Big Eater: Allopexes are ferocious predators of the deeps that are always hungry.
Casting a Shadow: One of the spells in the Deepkin's exlusive Lore of the Deeps is Abyssal Darkness, which shrouds the caster and nearby allies in shadow.
Conscription: All Akhelians, regardless of gender, perform obligatory military service.
Death of a Child: Namarti children only survive beyond infancy if they receive a new soul.
Deflector Shields:
- The Ishlaen Guard can channel their Fangmoras' bioelectricity into their shields, where it manifests as an arcing energy field that turns aside enemy blows.
- The Black Pearl projects an aura which can protect the bearer from any harm.
- Nautilar Tidecasters know the spell Protective Barrier, which creates arcane barriers to protect their comrades from harm.
Early-Bird Cameo: The Idoneth Deepkin are first mentioned in the Daughters of Khaine battletome in the backstory (where they're described as 'mysterious sea-beings') and as one of the possible armies that the Daughters of Khaine can ally with, before their formal introduction into the game.
Enemy Mine: They hate Chaos as much as anyone else right-thinking, and will preferentially attack Chaos before anyone else.
Evil Counterpart: The Deepkin can be seen as this to the Lumineth Realm-lords. The Lumineth are a magically-inclined race who tend to be Noble Bigots that look down on the younger races, yet still help them against the forces of Chaos. The Deepkin has none of that, and they selfishly sustain themselves and their empire at the expense of others.
Eyeless Face: The Namarti Deepkin do not have eyes, their eye sockets being covered in translucent skin. This is justified, as it is a trait to differentiate them from those who were born with souls.
Fantastic Caste System: The Deepkin are divided into several castes, though unusually there is a meritocratic aspect to them caused by the fact that the curse that causes most of their number to be born without souls strikes families at random. The Namarti are the aforementioned soulless aelves and typically serve as the lowest caste, performing menial work for Deepkin society, and serve as infantry in battle. The Akhelians are the dedicated warriors and ride into battle upon tamed sea creatures in emulation of the Dragon Princes of the World-That-Was, and the Isharann are the mages of the Deepkin, both of these latter castes being composed entirely of aelves born with souls.
Flying Seafood Special: When the Idoneth Deepkin fight, they summon a magical ocean called the Aethersea (heavily implied to be the "ghost" of the original oceans from the World-That-Was) around themselves, allowing their troops and sea monsters to "swim" in the air and take advantage of their underwater training.
Four-Star Badass: An Akhelian King must be swift and strong, able to best any of his comrades in single combat. Yet martial skill is not enough, for a King is first and foremost a leader and his mind must be as deft as his swordplay.
God Is Dead: They all still revere Mathlann, the elven god of the sea from the World-That-Was and who was killed by Slaanesh during the End Times. However, thanks to most magic and divinity in the greater Warhammer franchise working on Clap Your Hands If You Believe, it is strongly implied that they will be able to bring their god Back from the Dead given sufficient time and worship.
Gratuitous Foreign Language: The Idoneth Deepkin enclave of Dhom-hain means deep questors in their language. Remove the hyphen, and you get the lenited form of the Irish word domhain, meaning deep or depth.
Hidden Elf Village: The Idoneth Deepkin live in cities hidden far beneath the waves, and have isolated themselves to such an extent that they're barely known by the other inhabitants of the Mortal Realms.
Horn Attack: Every Deepmare has a spiral horn which it uses to gore foes when charging into combat.
Horse of a Different Color: Mounts used by the Deepkin include the Fangmora Eel (an electric eel), Allopex (a shark), Deepmare (a hippocampus) and Leviadon (a six-flippered giant turtle).
Hot-Blooded: The Fuethán are militant, aggressive, impetuous, bold and are quick to anger, especially after a long exposure to the realm of Aqshy.
Hunter of Monsters: The Dhom-hain's Akhelians are experts at fighting the savage beasts that live near their home in the realm of Ghur.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Deepkin use memory magic to make the surviving victims and/or witnesses of their raids forget about them, so they come across as nothing more than a dimly remembered nightmare.
Magic Music: Upon the back of each Leviadon, a Namarti pounds a void drum, sending forth rippling currents that refract light in strange ways around the creature and making it hard to see and aim at despite the Leviadon's massive size.
Making a Splash: The Isharann are powerful wizards in service to the Idoneth, and are described as being "masters of the crushing, abyssal power of the seas."
Meaningful Name: In-universe, "Idoneth" means "extreme seclusion", which is rather apt for a culture of aelves who concealed themselves in the ocean depths and avoided contact with the rest of the world.
Mobile City: The city of Galanaur rests on the back of a colossal sea monster called a Great Scaphodon, which slowly moves across the seafloor and takes the city with it. Galanaur was originally built in Ghyran, but the Scaphodon's movements have long since caused it to move into Ghur.
Mirroring Factions: In many ways, they can be seen as a "nobler reflection" of the Drukhari/Dark Eldar.
- Much like the Drukhari, the Idoneth Deepkin are a mysterious and terrifying race of elves descended from a more ancient form of their race (the Drukhari as survivors of the Fall of the Eldar who fled into the Webway, and the Idoneth as the successors to the Cythai from the World-That-Was) who live far from normal civilization in secret enclaves that are inaccessible to virtually every other faction (the Drukhari live in Commoragh within the Webway, and the Idoneth live in various special Enclaves deep below the oceans of the Mortal Realms), and regularly rely on raiding mortals for the sake of harvesting their souls to keep their civilization from falling apart (the Drukhari capture mortals to torture them so as to prevent themselves from being slowly devoured by Slaanesh, and the Idoneth regularly need mortal souls to supplement their own "weak" souls so they can have viable offspring). Both also generally show a large amount of Fantastic Racism and nigh-insufferable level of arrogance towards other mortal races, and also seem to be experts in Organic Technology (what with the Idoneth having tamed and bred various different sea beasts to use as mounts in battle, and the Drukhari being the "home culture" to the infamous Haemonculi). The two factions even play similarly on the tabletop, both being largely made up of Glass Cannons and Fragile Speedsters focused around rapid-fire raids before quickly skedaddling as soon as the enemy forces bring in their big guns. Both groups also have cultures based around lots of complex Decadent Court politicking, backstabbing and jockeying for power through earning status via successful raids on "ordinary" mortals. Finally, both factions are also heavily tied to the fact that the gods they used to worship had been killed by Slaanesh in the distant past.
- However, the Idoneth are overall significantly more sympathetic than the Drukhari are. While the Drukhari are needlessly cruel and monstrous sadists obsessed with indulging every single vice under the Sun (and then some), the Indoneth are generally presented as an arrogant but stoic race who understandably view their actions as a Necessarily Evil. While the Drukhari fundamentally don't have a good excuse for their atrocities since the Craftworld Aeldari exist and showcase an entire other possible working lifestyle where they can still avoid Slaanesh, the Idoneth literally need mortal souls so that 99% of their infants don't die just a few weeks after being born. Furthermore, while the Drukhari still act as rampant hedonists, the Idoneth colonized the deep oceans at least in part specifically so that they could further deaden their emotions and sensory input, encouraging them to live a more ascetic and practical lifestyle so as to help stop themselves from falling into depravity. The Drukhari will intentionally prolong the horrific tortures they inflict upon "lesser races" For the Evulz, and also openly regard it as entertaining and make no long-term plans for securing themselves as a greater culture and species from the hunger of Slaanesh. The Idoneth, in sharp contrast not only try to make their raids as quick, merciful and painless as possible, but also hate the fact that they need to harvest souls in the first place and have continuously been performing research (admittedly unsuccessfully) into completely eliminating their regular need for additional mortal souls. While both factions do admittedly fall into Decadent Court politicking, the Drukhari have an incredibly "messy" society essentially based on Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and Might Makes Right where everyone is ultimately only in it for themselves. This is all in sharp contrast to the Idoneth, who have a far more rigid Fantastic Caste System where the inner turmoil is better managed through each caste being given specific goals to achieve so they can all one day be free of ever needing to raid the Mortal Realms ever again. Finally, while the Drukhari's arrogance, cruelty and Fantastic Racism is simply all built off of their xenophobia and pride, the Idoneth's arrogance, cruelty and Fantastic Racism is built off of a mix of Cultural Posturing to help distract themselves from the constant Sword of Damocles being held over their whole race, needing to perform Necessarily Evils for the survival of their species (and even then, the Idoneth at least try to be relatively merciful), and being Properly Paranoid about revealing themselves to the outside world and getting attacked by their numerous enemies respectively.
Mysterious Mist: When the Deepkin enter battle, their presence generates a disorienting magical mist as part of the Aethersea that lets them and their mounts act as though underwater.
Necessarily Evil: When it comes down to it, the Idoneth aren't a fundamentally evil people; they're just trying to ensure their people survive and avoid a terrible fate, and even when on soul raids they aren't sadistic; they just take the lives they need to support the latest batch of Namatari for a few decades and move on.
Our Hippocamps Are Different: The Deepmares used as mounts by Akhelian kings are based on hippocampi, only leaning more towards the fish half than the horse half in looks and sporting clawed forelimbs. They also have long horns resembling those of unicorns or narwhals that they can put to devastating use when they charge into combat.
Playing with Fire: The Deepkin's forges are powered by the molten discharge of the fuiadon bond-beasts.
Poisoned Weapons: Terrornight venom can be used to coat a weapon, so the smallest cut will cause severe pain and nausea and fill the victim with a feeling of impending doom.
Pragmatic Villainy: They are out to keep themselves alive, not For the Evulz. They're happily ally with anyone against Chaos, knowing full well Chaos would make the problem worse.
Shock and Awe: Fangmora Eels possess the ability to harness biovoltaic energy.
Slave Collar: The Namarti's iron collars serve as a mark of their low status.
Slave Mooks: The Deepkin's bond-beasts are magically enslaved by the Embailors, a specialised sect of the Isharann. If not previously blinded, they risk slipping their bonds and escaping in a murderous rampage. There are some exceptions: a few Ochtar and Deepmares have proven loyal.
Soul Jar: When the Deepkin die, their spirits are interred in a coral reef called a chorrileum.
Tail Slap: Fangmora Eels and Deepmares can batter enemies with their lashing tails.
Threatening Shark: Allopexes are vicious sharks known for their voracious appetites, savage blood frenzies and a bite force capable of severing the arm of a gargant.
Turtle Island: The Nautilar's city of Galanaur was established on what appeared to be a submarine desert, but was in fact the back of a continent-sized Great Scaphodon. The Nautilar have formed something of a symbiotic relationship with their colossal host in a manner compared to fish living within an anemone, shaping their city from its shell and following its slow, meandering path across the seas of the Realms.
Underwater City: The Idoneth Deepkin build their cities beneath the oceans of the Mortal Realms.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: The Idoneth Deepkin's Leviadons are giant turtles with six flippers instead of four.
Weapon of X-Slaying: The Abyssal Blade, one of the Akhelian artefacts, is especially deadly against those dedicated to the ancient enemy Slaanesh, dealing 1 more damage to all models with the Slaanesh keyword.
Wolverine Claws: Soulscryers defend themselves with claws made from razor-sharp Allopex teeth.
Would Hurt a Child: Unlike most other enclaves, the Fuethán do not avoid harming children and withdraw only when all their foes are dead.
Your Soul Is Mine!: The Deepkin steal the souls of sentient creatures and use them to extend their lives and grant new souls to their Namarti.

Characters

Mathlann

The old god of the sea worshipped by the elves, Mathlann was killed by Slaanesh before the destruction of the world-that-was. He's nonetheless widely worshipped by the Idoneth, who were formed from the souls of his old worshippers and can summon echoes of his power to aid them in battle.

Badass Cape: The Eidolon of Mathlann rides on a crashing wave that extends far longer than his height and is worn like a cape.
Dual Mode Unit: The Eidolon of Mathlann can be built and fielded as either the melee-oriented Aspect of the Storm or the magic-wielding Aspect of the Sea.
Dual Wielding: The Eidolon of Mathlann wields a Spear of Repressed Fury and a Crulhook in its Aspect of the Storm, or a Psi-trident and Deep-sea Sceptre in its Aspect of the Sea.
Ethnic God: Mathlann is the most-worshipped figure by the Idoneth Deepkin, who were originally created out of the souls of his followers rescued from Slaanesh.
Forced Sleep: One of the exclusive spells of the Eidolon of Mathlann's Aspect of the Sea is Cloying Sea Mists, which send foes into a slumber from which they'll never awaken.
Fusion Dance: Each Eidolon of Mathlann is formed as a gestalt consciousness from the portions of the souls of deceased Deepkin.
Healing Factor: The Eidolon of Mathlann can heal D3 wounds per round, either by not using a re-roll for casting rolls in the Aspect of the Sea or by charging enemies in the Aspect of the Storm.
Posthumous Character: Mathlann himself is gone, killed by Slaanesh, but his Deepkin followers can still create the Eidolons of Mathlann, summoned visions of Mathlann as he once was. While they tried many times to resurrect him, none of these attempts succeeded.
Supernatural Fear Inducer: The Eidolon of Mathlann in its Aspect of the Sea has an exclusive spell named Tsunami of Terror. This spell sends forth invisible waves of fear that force enemies to cower.

Volturnos

The High King of the Ionrach Enclave, Volturnos is one of the original Cythai created from the aelven souls rescued from Slaanesh's stomach. Though time and wars had whittled away at the Cythai's numbers, only he remained.

Anti-Magic: Volturnos' shield Cealith protects him from malign magic.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He is regarded by the Deepkin as the most powerful warrior, so naturally he got to lead them as their High King. It's not unwarrented, given his long list of accomplishments.
The Cavalry: The Nautilar tell the tale of how Volturnos arrived at the head of a coalition to break the Siege of Grystleback, the greatest threat to ever beset their city.
Eyepatch of Power: Volturnos wears an eyepatch over an eye which he lost during a fight against the Masque.
Gratuitous Foreign Language: The great gift of learning and magic that Teclis bestowed upon Volturnos is called eolas (which means knowledge in Irish). His deepmare mount is named Uasall, which is very similar to uasal, the Irish word for noble.
Last of His Kind: Volturnos is the last surviving member of the original Cythai created by Teclis.

Lotann

A Soul Warden of the Ionrach Enclave, Lotann's obsession with his duty to tally souls leads him to accompany Idoneth armies into battle.

Dual Wielding: Lotann's familiar Ochtar carries a knife and a club with its tentacles.
Familiar: Lotann is protected on the battlefield by the octopoid familiar Ochtar.
The Pen Is Mightier: If forced to fight in close combat, Lotann uses his Bone Quill to stab enemies.

Lumineth Realm-lords

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lumineth_art.png

The Luminous Guardians of Hysh

The Lumineth Realm-lords are the most stable and pure Aelf souls recovered from the belly of the Chaos god Slaanesh and shaped by Teclis to be the perfect recreation of the Elven civilization from the World-That-Was. Often mistaken for angelic beings of pure light, the Lumineth are a scholarly and precise people, regarding themselves as being the most advanced civilization in the Realms. Their once shining and bright civilization fell to in-fighting and civil war during the Age of Chaos, only to reunited by the brother gods Teclis and Tyrion. Now they go to war in all the splendor of bygone days, fighting alongside the towering avatars possessed by the spirits of Hysh itself. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the Asur/Annulii/High Elves of Warhammer Fantasy.

General Tropes

Athens and Sparta: Played With. Hysh is divided between the Tyrionic and Teclian nations, the former embodying the sun, brilliance, purity and quick action, Aelves who come from these nations are usually skilled athletes, fearless explorers, and cunning warriors and they are best represented by the Vanari warhosts. The latter, meanwhile, embodies the moon, philosophy and craftsmen, and Aelves who come from these nations are typically mages, philosophers, and artisans. They are represented by the Scinari mages. Rarely, there are Aelves who keep both halves in balance. These Aelves, called Eclipsians, combine magical and martial mastery to serve as champions of the Twin-Gods.
Blow You Away: The Hurakan Temple specializes in wind magic and bond with wind spirits.
Can't Argue with Elves: Both Subverted and Played Straight; back in the Age Of Myth, the Aelves of Hysh lived down to the worst stereotyped of the High Elves: haughty, superior, and convinced thier magical might made them superior to all the other races. Spirefall was a massive reality-check and the modern Lumineth are a lot more humble regarding their own capabilities, and try to avoid the same pitfalls... which leads them to be highly suspicious of human mages trying to learn Hyshian magic, since if they couldn't wield it without succumbing to hubris and lust for power, there's no way mortals can handle it.
Critical Existence Failure: Downplayed. An Alarith Spirit of the Mountain, no matter how many wounds it has taken, can still fight at its fullest potential (until it dies) if there's an Alarith Stonemage nearby.
Dishing Out Dirt: The Alarith Temple are Lumineth who bond with the spirits of the mountains, and gainearth-and-stone related magics from it.
Elemental Embodiment: The Lumineth fight alongside various elemental beings of Hysh, such as the Alarith Spirits of the Mountain and the Hurakan Spirits of the Wind.
Elemental Weapon: The High Wardens who command the Vanari Auralan Wardens channel the magic of Hysh into their men's spears, causing them to flare with solar energies, tearing through armour, flesh and bone alike.
Emotion Suppression: The Lumineth harness the unique properties of aetherquartz to empower the mind, body and soul. As it offers illumination, the aetherquartz eventually grows dim and drains the bearer's emotions to restore its inner light. The Lumineth, who sought perfection in all things, see this as a worthy sacrifice, for emotion was a path to Chaos corruption. With each gem discarded, the Lumineth become more mentally, physically and spiritually gifted, as well as colder and more aloof.
Fox Folk: The Hurakan Spirit of the Wind resembles a masked fox archer.
Fragile Speedster:Vanari Dawnriders and Hurakan Windchargers are incredibly fast — they also can only take two Wounds a model before being slain, and thus are incredibly fragile.
Gravity Master: The Alarith Stonemage's exclusive spell, called Gravitic Redirection, redirects gravity around the caster to a nearby foe, allowing the Stonemage to fly while weighing down the victim.
Great Bow: The weapons for the Hurakan Spirit of the Wind.
Horse of a Different Color: The Vanari Lord-Regent and the Hurakan Windchargers ride these, the latter resembling kangaroos.
Humongous-Headed Hammer: The Alarith Spirit of the Mountain fights with a great Stoneheart Worldhammer, which is big enough to crush walls and knock down enemies with its shockwave.
Last Chance Hit Point: The Phoenix Stone, which is available to Scinari Heroes, has a chance to activate once per game when a nearby friendly Hero would be slain. If it does so, the killing blow is nullified and that Hero is healed instead.
Light 'em Up: As they hail from the Realm of Light, they naturally specialize in this.
Our Elves Are Different: They're more or less the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the High Elves from Warhammer Fantasy.
Our Minotaurs Are Different: The Alarith Spirit of the Mountain resembles a gigantic masked minotaur with mountains growing out of its back.
Our Sphinxes Are Different: As a realm of knowledge and hidden import, Hysh and the Lumineth who live there are associated with sphinxes and sphinx-like creatures. The Hyshian moon spirit Celennar, for example, takes the form of a tawny sphinx-like beast with a face covered by a white mask adorned with a pair of large horns, and Chaos' Mindstealer Sphyranxes were once Hyshian sages.
Rock Monster: In dire times, Alarith Spirits of the Mountain march forth in war-forms, which are carved from realmstone-laced rock.
Solar and Lunar: Tyrion and his followers are closely associated with the sun, while Teclis and his flock are represented by the moon. Those rare Aelves that balance both are referred to as Eclipsians.
Ultimate Final Exam: The final test of bonding with an aelementor involves putting yourself at the mercy of your chosen element, and relying on the spirits to save you; for instance, a lumineth trying to bond with a river spirit must tie themselves to a rock and jump into a body of water, while for the air spirits it's throwing yourself off of a deadly height. If the spirits deem you worthy, they save you; if not...

Characters

Tyrion

A god of the aelves and brother to Teclis.

Deity of Human Origin: He was a mortal elf in the World-that-Was, but in its dying days merged with the Wind of Light to become an Incarnate and became a full deity in the next world.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Alongside Teclis and Malerion, he managed to defeat and imprison Slaneesh, although it helped the Chaos God was so glutted with Elf souls from the End Times he could barely move.
God of Light: He's the blind god of light.
Handicapped Badass: Apparently, he's blind. But he can see through his brother's eyes, so that's okay.
War God: The Lumineth nations that follow his teachings over his brother's are described as being more militaristic and martial, which makes sense as he was the "sword" half of the brothers' Sword and Sorcerer.

Teclis

The Mage God & the Spirit of Hysh

The twin brother of Tyrion, the god of light. In the World-That-Was, he was one of the most powerful elven mages to have lived, but a terrible family curse left behind by his ancestor Aenarion made him sickly to the point where he relied on medicinal potions to even stand. Through a mystical bond, he allows the blind Tyrion to see through his eyes.

He is the creator of the Idoneth Deepkin, a monstrous race of aquatic elves whose majority are born without souls. Teclis deeply regrets being involved in their birth.

The Archmage: He's still the most powerful mage in Warhammer lore. Becoming a satellite god for his blind brother boosted his magic even further.
Blessed with Suck: No longer the case. Unlike his mortal counterpart in the World-That-Was, being a god means that he's not so sickly and reliant on medical potions to keep himself living anymore.
Deity of Human Origin: While he never merged with a Wind in the World-that-Was, his connection to his brother, who did, caused him to ascend to godhood in the Mortal Realms.
Didn't Think This Through: Teclis truly meant well when he claimed the freed Elven souls of the Children of Mathlann, reincarnated them as the Cythai, built a city for them, and tutored them in the arts of magic. But not once did it occur to him, until it was too late, that any soul that's been partly digested by Slaanesh is already irredeemable. As a result, Teclis accidentally created the Idoneth, a race that is doomed to be parasitic by nature due to the permanent damage suffered by Slaanesh before being reincarnated.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He aided in the capture and imprisonment of Slaanesh along with Tyrion and Malerion.
Familiar: Cellenar is the Sphinx-like Spirit of the True Moon of Hysh. He and Teclis have been inseparably bonded to one another, mirroring the relationship between the Realm-Lords of the geomantic spirits of Hysh.
God of the Moon: Teclis is often associated with the moon and his companion, Cellenar, is the spirit of Hysh's moon.
Gone Horribly Wrong: He sees his creation of the Idoneth Deepkin to be this.
Lunacy: The Lunar Staff he wields controls celestial magic.
Magic Staff: The Lunar Staff he wields allows him to access vast celestial magic.

Lyrior Uthralle

The Warden of Ymetrica and Voice of the Lord Phoenix, Lyrior Uthralle is the supreme Vanari Lord-Regent and the figurehead of all Tyrionic nations. He speaks with the authority of Tyrion himself.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: A lifetime of warfare and battle has led to Lyrior being the champion of the Tyrionic nations.
Beneath the Mask: Though Lyrior appears cool and logical on the outside, inside he is hurting and full of grief from failing to protect his family and home of Muavheil from an Orruk invasion.
Byronic Hero: Outwardly sullen and level headed, Lyrior is privately full of self-loathing for his perceived failures.
Cool Horse: Lyrior rides into battle atop Fareal, his Tree runner steed.
Fantastic Racism: Against the Orruks, for good reasons.
Four-Star Badass: As a Lord-Regent, Lyrior commands entire warhosts of Vanari soldiers.
Jousting Lance: Wields Daemonbane, an arcane lance that sends out a beam of exorcising light that inflicts terrible damage on the daemonic minions of the Chaos Gods.
My Greatest Failure: Lyrior can never forgive himself for not being able to save his family and city from the Orruks.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Eltharion. An Elven warrior and warden of a great city who lost his family and home to a race of Orc-like Blood Knights. Strangely enough, Eltharion himself still exists in Age of Sigmar, albiet as sentient suit of armor, but still.

The Light of Eltharion

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/light_of_eltharion.png

The reconstructed soul of a great hero of the world-that-was, the Light of Eltharion now walks the mortal realms a spirit bound to a suit of armour.

Animated Armor: Eltharion's soul resides in Yvressian-styled armor, as Arkhan the Black's curse prevents him from fully inhabiting a body of flesh and bone.
Legendary Weapon: One of the dual-blades that he wields is his old sword, reforged from the World-That-Was: the Fangsword.
Master Swordsman: The Light of Eltharion is one of the greatest swordsmen to have ever lived.
Wound That Will Not Heal: During the End Times, Eltharion was killed by Arkhan the Black's spell Curse of Years, which caused him to age to dust. Though his soul has been mended, the curse still affects him, as when Teclis attempted to create a living body for Eltharion's soul to inhabit, the body quickly crumbled to dust. Teclis seeks to break the curse and fully restore Eltharion to life.

Avalenor, the Stoneheart King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avalenor_aos.jpg

Animated from the Vertiginous Peaks of Ymetrica, the being known as Avalenor is an exceptionally powerful and unique Spirt of the Mountain. What makes the Stoneheart King so distinct is that no living being or soul truly knows his origins - he came to the Alairth temples fully formed and willing to fight for civilization, having been convinced so by Celennar. Whatever his past may be, when Avalenor enters combat, he brings the fury and frost of the mountains with him, wielding his dual hammers known as the Firestealers, turning his victims as black as if they frostbitten bodies had been left on the mountaintops for years.

Genius Bruiser: Though a devastating combatant, Avalenor's true power is said to be his knowledge and wisdom and any who ask a question worthy of him will be given the secrets of the very cosmos.
An Ice Person: Is able to channel blizzards through his Firestealer hammers.
Mysterious Past: His true origins have long been forgotten, all that is known is that it was the Moon-Spirit Celennar that convinced him to fight for order.

Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sevireth_aos.jpg

Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind, is a Hurakan Spirit of the Wind. He is the Seventh of Hysh's seven regal winds — Aelementors that are immortal and unstoppable, going whenever and wherever they please — and is known for being particularly for his searing anger — even by the standards of his fellow wind spirits. As such, he has acquired titles such as the Scourer, the Red Gale, and the Killing Sandstorm.

The Wind Spirit was not always filled with such seething hatred - in the Age of Myth he blew wildly and freely across the Desert of Illuminations in Haixiah, teaching the mysteries of the desert to any travellers brave enough to enter, even conferring the power of flight upon them. This changed when a Slaaneshi sect, fearing his power, sought to entrap the spirit. Their Infernal Enrapturess patron lured him into a cave by making a cave's tunnels create the most beautiful music when blown through. When sufficiently entranced, the cultists trapped him in, leaving the wind to rage impotently until he was released by Teclis at the beginning of the Reinvention.

Upon leaving his prison, he was filled with a searing rage towards those who would seek to harm Hysh, his gales scouring flesh from bone and eroding the statues of tyrants with his passing. So great is his rage that even other Wind Spirits fear his half-mad howl.

Ax-Crazy: His centuries-long imprisonment has left Sevireth wild and vicious, even other Harukan Wind Spirits fear his half-mad howls.
Fantastic Foxes: His avatar greatly resembles a fox and Sevireth was once a clever, wandering mystic.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Even by the standards of other Wind Spirits, Sevireth is infamous for his fury.
Sand Blaster: He's the spirit of desert winds, and his gales carry all the tearing, burning force of a sand storm.
Sealed Good in a Can: During the Age of Myth, a Slaaneshi sect trapped the Spirit within a cave until he was freed centuries later by Teclis.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Sevireth was once kind and carefree, traveling the deserts of Hysh and teaching his secrets to any brave enough to traverse the sands. Now he is a half-mad spirit of vengeance, flaying the flesh of any who would bring harm to Hysh.

Fyreslayers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ginger_dwarf.jpg

There are grudges to settle and gold to gather!

With each strike of the hammer,

You are tested with pain,

The runes shall ignite your rage,

And fury shall be your armour."

—Hammerchant of Runemaster Althar

A duardin culture that originally arose in the Salamander's Spine mountain range of Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, during the Age of Myth, the Fyreslayers are a fierce, warrior race that regularly hire themselves out as mercenaries willing to fight for almost anyone for the right price. Worshipers of Grimnir, the lost duardin god of war and vengeance, the Fyreslayers are driven to seek out ur-gold, a mystical substance containing fragments of their god's divine essence.

General Tropes

Addictive Magic: Releasing the divine power stored within the ur-gold runes hammered into their flesh gives Fyreslayers a sense of connection to the god and an intense rush of power. The power of the runes doesn't last forever, however, and some Fyreslayers begin to crave more of Grimnir's power, entering a state known as glimmerlust. Fyreslayers lost to glimmerlust can become quite unstable, with some even attacking their fellows so that they can steal their ur-gold runes for themselves.
Amplifier Artifact: The Volatile Brazier magical artefact invigorates any member of the Zharrgrim priesthood that bathes in its heat, enhancing their spellcasting by making it easier to summon magmic invocations.
Ancestral Weapon: The Vosaxe is a mighty Artefact of Power of the Vostarg Lodge that has been carried by the best fighters of the lodge for centuries uncounted, a position currently held by the Grimwrath Berzerker Arngard the Fearless.
Anti-Magic:
- The 1st Edition Artefact, the Ash-plume Sigil, and its 2nd Edition replacement, the Ash-cloud Rune allow their bearer to call forth a column of soot that briefly clogs the flow of magic on the battlefield, preventing enemy Wizards from casting spells. In game terms, the Sigil could only be used once per battle but automatically stopped a spell from being used. The Rune meanwhile gives the bearer the ability to stop two spells a turn in the same manner as a Wizard.
- The Nulsidian Icon of Grimnir is capable of siphoning the magical energies manipulated by enemy spellcasters and diffusing it into the earth. In 2nd Edition, the bearer of the Icon has a 50% chance of ignoring any spell cast upon him or a nearby friendly unit.
Armor-Piercing Attack: The Vostarg Lodge's Vosaxe gives the wielder a bonus to the Rend^notearmour penetration characteristic and a chance to do extra Damage.
Badass Cape: The Salamander Cloak, an Artefact of the Forge-Temple, is made from Magmadroth scales that still smoulder with the power of their progenitor Vulcatrix, the Mother of Salamanders, and is so tough that it can protect the wearer from even mortal wounds.
The Berserker:
- The rank-and-file Vulkite Berzerkers and the elite Hearthguard Berzerkers of the Fyreslayer lodges are renowned for throwing themselves into the maelstrom of battle with reckless abandon, hacking apart their enemies with little thought to their own defence in imitation of their lost god. In the game, they can attack enemies multiple times and can survive enemy attacks that should kill them.
- Grimwrath Berzerkers are the greatest warriors of their Lodge, the living incarnation of the wrath of Grimnir. Highly antisocial, Grimwrath Berzerkers are only able to find joy on the battlefield, entering into a state of absolute fury, his great axe becoming a blood-spattered blur as he cleaves his way through his foes. In the 2nd Edition of the game, the Grimwrath Berzerker has the highest base number of melee attack of any model in a Fyreslayer army, and can ignore wounds and make even more attacks under the right conditions.
Booze-Based Buff: Magmelt ale is a fiery drink that energises those Fyreslayers that drink it and can send them into a brief frenzy. In 2nd Edition, drinking a Draught of Magmalt Ale increases the number of Attacks a Fyreslayer can unleash in the combat phase.
Deadly Disc: Some Vulkite Berzerkers are equipped with Bladed Slingshields. These small, buckler-like shields offer some protection to the Berzerkers that carry them, and can be thrown like a discus while charging, giving them a chance of scoring mortal wounds against the target unit.
Delinquent Hair: In honour of their lost War God Grimnir, the violently aggressive Fyreslayers wear their hair in large mohawks that can be nearly as tall as they are that are held in place with special wax, and often propped up by the design of their helmets. To further emulate Grimnir, the Fyreslayers will also normally dye their hair and beards a fiery orange, although some will often add the colours of their lodge as well.
Dragon Rider: Some Auric Runefathers, Runesons and Runesmiters fight from the backs of Magmadroths with the relationship between the two being close to one of camaraderie than that of rider and mount. The Lofnir Lodge are said to raise the largest and fiercest of all Magmadroths among all lodges, and it is rare for their Fyrds to go into battle without at least one of the children of Vulcatrix.
Early-Installment Weirdness: The very first Age of Sigmar starter book and the game's introductory White Dwarf article refer to mercenary duardin known as Red Slayers. The name didn't last long and all subsequent publications have used the term Fyreslayer.
Elemental Embodiment: Since the Shyish Necroquake, Zharrgrim priests have been able to summon Molten Infernoths, elemental beings of blazing magma that destroy the enemies of the Fyreslayers with torrents of lava and chunks of molten metal. Introduced in 2nd Edition, these beings are summoned via a Magmic Invocation, and move across the battlefield causing mortal wounds to any non-Fyreslayer unit nearby.
Fiery Redhead: Fyreslayers are the most warlike of all the duardin cultures, being warlike mercenaries who throw themselves into battle with abandon. As part of their religious nature, the Fyreslayers also dye their hair at least partially red or orange in honour of their founder, the War God Grimnir.
I Gave My Word: While they may be pragmatic and often lacking in empathy, Fyreslayers are as serious about fulfilling their oaths as dwarfs have always been, willing to do almost anything to fulfil a contract to the letter as an untrustworthy mercenary is unlikely to acquire much work.
High Priest: Auric Runemasters are the oldest and wisest of their lodge's Zharrgrim priests, revered for their wisdom, skill and unsurpassed connection to their god. Auric Runemasters are typically one of the closest advisers of their lodge's Runefather, counselling their leader on mercenary contracts, oaths and anything involving ur-gold. It is also the lodge's Runemaster who is in charge of crafting the runes that are hammed into a Fyreslayer's flesh and they are so attuned with the divine power of Grimnir that they are able to sense its presence from great distances.
Javelin Thrower: Auric Runesons often go into battle armed with Wyrmslayer Javelins that can be both thrown and used in melee combat.
Magma Man: Due to their exposure to the volcanic energy of Vulcatrix that merged with the divine energies of Grimnir in ur-gold, Auric Runemasters and Runesmiters have developed the ability to control magma. With the correct prayers and rituals, members of the Zharrgrim Priesthood can, amongst other things, call upon the powers of Vulcatrix to cause scalding magma to spout from the ground or to create tunnels through which their fellows can march. These abilities are represented, to different extents depending on the edition, by various Abilities, Zharrgrim Blessings and Magmic Invocations.
Massive Numbered Siblings: One of the duties of a Runefather is to ensure the continuation of his bloodline and to pass on the leadership of his lodge to the most worthy successor. Due to the violent nature of a Fyreslayer's life, however, death is never far away for an Auric Runeson so most Runefathers will sire more than a dozen sons who will compete with each other to inherit kingship of the lodge.
Mix-and-Match Weapon:
- The magmapikes wielded by Auric Hearthguard are arcane, two-handed cannons that fire clods of scalding magma. Each magmapike is also fitted with keen blades on their hilts and heads so that the Hearthguard can engage their enemies should they survive the Fyreslayer's incendiary volleys.
- Some Hearthguard Berzerkers carry flamestrike poleaxes into battle. These two-handed axes have a brazier tipped flail attached to the axe head that can be used to set enemy warriors ablaze.
My Greatest Failure: Millennia ago, the Vostarg Lodge vowed to defend the Shyishan city of Shadespire from all threats but were unable to stop Nagash, the God of Death and the Undead, from destroying and cursing the once great metropolis. Even after so many years, the Vostarg Fyreslayers have never forgiven themselves for this failure and, once a century, send a fyrd of warriors to the cursed Mirrored City in an attempt to reclaim it.
Only in It for the Money: Most Fyreslayers won't work for anyone, not even Sigmar or fellow duardin, unless they are paid in gold for their services. The sole exception is the Hermdar Lodge, who are more than willing to fight against tyrants, slavemasters and despots for free, something other Fyreslayer Lodges consider foolish at best.
Our Dragons Are Different: Magmadroths are flightless, dragon-like creatures who are said to be the children of the god-beast Vulcatrix and their eggs are often found near to seams of ur-gold. With scales as tough as stone, the ability to spew burning bile over their foes and magma-like blood in their veins, Magmadroths are creatures of flame and fury, who are powerful allies of the Fyreslayers.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: As a major duardin^notethe setting's name for dwarves culture, Fyreslayers share many of the traditional dwarven racial traits with their more distant kinsmen including thick beards, a highly developed sense of honour and a reverence for their ancestors. Where they differ is in their attitude towards the traditional occupations of mining, blacksmithing and craftmanship. While they are still highly skilled in such activities, the Fyreslayers see such work as secondary to their primary purpose, the waging of war and the collection of ur-gold. Some Lodges, such as the infamously militaristic Greyfyrd Lodge, forgo such things entirely so that they can focus solely on warfare.
Playing with Fire: Some Magmadroths are able to use their blazing anger to surround their claws with deadly flame, allowing their attacks to easily penetrate armour with an improved Rend characteristic.
Poor Communication Kills: The Fyreslayers will do absolutely anything to retrieve ur-gold and the divine essence of Grimnir that it contains but refuse to speak about this to outsiders, least they seek their god's power for themselves. This has led to many to believe that the Fyreslayers search for gold and their, sometimes questionable, mercenary activities to be motivated by simple Greed or Gold Fever.
Portal Network: The background material for the Greyfyrd Lodge mentions that the Gateswold, their primary magmahold, is famous for its multiple Realmgates that allow the particularly warlike Lodge to quickly deploy fyrds to any of the Mortal Realms where they have been hired.
Power Tattoo: The Zharrgrim priests of the Fyreslayers turn forge the ur-gold their Lodge acquires into runes and hammered into a warrior's skin. During battle, the Fyreslayers are able to activate the power of Grimnir stored within these runes to boost their already considerable fighting powers. In 2nd Edition, their Ur-Gold Runes Battle Trait grants the Fyreslayers one of six bonuses to various characteristics or dice rolls for a turn each.
Private Military Contractors:
- Their desire to gather ur-gold, and release its power in battle, has led to the Fyreslayers becoming some of the most widespread mercenaries in the Mortal Realms. Most Fyreslayer Lodges will fight for anyone and against anything as long as they are paid enough and the contract doesn’t conflict with any oaths they may hold. Some Lodges will even take contracts from the forces of Chaos to fight against the forces of Order.
- The Fyreslayers of the Greyfyrd Lodge are infamous as one of the most mercenary of their kind. While the Fyreslayers of other Lodges may mine and forge weapons between battle, the Greyfyrd Fyreslayers fight non-stop, going from contract to contract and war to war.
Religious Bruiser: While they do act as mercenaries, at their heart the Fyreslayers are essentially an order of religiously-motivated warrior monks, and their primary goal is ultimately in service to their god, Grimnir. Thus, engaging in battle isn't just a way to make money, it's an act of worship.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: While they are mercenaries, a number of Fyreslayer lodges — such as the Tangrim Lodge — will refuse to work for some factions (most often the forces of Chaos) for reasons of honour and/or pragmatism. The Hermdar Lodge take this even further, eagerly facing down tyrants and slavers even when they know they will gain little to no pay for their efforts.
Sibling Rivalry: As rulership of a Lodge is decided by deeds rather than birth order, competition between Auric Runesons can be intense as they attempt to outdo each other to earn the right to succeed their Runefather, although it's rare for such rivalry to turn into outfight violence between brothers. In 2nd Edition, the Vying for Glory ability grants a reroll to attacks for any Auric Runeson in close proximity to one of his brothers.
Sprint Shoes: When activated, the bust of energy granted by the Rune of Relentless Zeal Battle Trait increases the Move characteristic of all Fyreslayers, and there is a chance it will increase their charge range as well.
Super-Toughness: The Helm of Obsidia, an Artefact of Power belonging to the Greyfyrd lodge, is an ornate helmet of incredible toughness that has been enchanted to greatly increase the durability of those wearing it, increasing their Wounds characteristic.
Tail Slap: The Magmadroths that some Fyreslayers ride into battle use their spiked tails to pulverise their enemies.
Taking the Bullet: It is the sworn duty of the Auric Hearthguard to protect the leaders of their lodge, with their lives if necessary. In 2nd Edition, the Sworn Protectors ability allows a Hearthguard unit to take wounds in place of nearby Fyreslayer Heroes.
Taking You with Me: Even when mortally wounded Grimwrath Berzerkers and Vulkite Berzerkers will continue to fight so that they can bring down as many enemy warriors as possible before they succumb to their wounds. In 2nd Edition, they have a chance to attack before their models are removed as casualties.
The Unfettered: The highly militaristic Greyfyrd Lodge will fight for anyone without question, even the followers of the Chaos Gods, as long as their price is met in ur-gold, prioritising the release of their god's power above any concerns about morality. Despite their lack of scruples, however, there are things that the warriors of the lodge are not proud of and there are deeds that their Battlesmiths, the keepers of the lodge's oral history, refuse to recount.
Weapon of X-Slaying: The long, barbed Wyrmslayer Javelins have been designed specifically to slay monsters and deal extra damage to foes with the Monster keyword.
Weapon Specialization: The Fyreslayers imitate their patron god, who preferred axes, to the point that there are no duardin models in the army that aren't armed with an axe of some sort, usually a fyresteel throwing axe.

Characters

Grimnir the Furious, the Burning Berserker

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grimnir.png

Brother to the duardin creator-god Grungi, Grimnir is the ferocious god of battle and, it is claimed, the literal father of all Fyreslayers. After being rescued from captivity by the Sigmar, the honourable Grimnir set out to pay his debt by slaying the mighty godbeast Vulcatrix, a quest that resulted in the destruction of both mighty beings and the creation of ur-gold.

Flaming Hair: Legends say that, during the climactic battle between Grimnir and Vulcatrix, the hair and beard of the mighty War God burst into crimson flame due to the fury of the godbeast's attacks.
Mutual Kill: Grimnir's battle with Vulcatrix, the Mother of the Salamanders, ended with the Burning Berserker felling the godbeast, only to be slain himself by her death throes and poisonous blood. The death of two such mighty beings is said to have resulted in a cataclysmic explosion that levelled the mountainous region the pair were fighting in, creating the Plains of Aqshy and scattering fragments of both throughout the Mortal Realms.
I Owe You My Life: After being saved from captivity by Sigmar, the rage filled Grimnir demanded the God-King name a foe for him to defeat so that he could pay off the debt owed. Sigmar chose the most difficult monster he could think of, the godbeast Vulcatrix, because he didn't want to insult the honourable War God.
Pieces of God: The explosive climax of their duel resulted in Grimnir's divine spirit and Vulcatrix's metallic blood merging to form ur-gold, which was scattered across the realms. The Fyreslayers believe that if they can release enough of the energy bound within ur-gold, it will resurrect their lost god.
Posthumous Character: Grimnir's fatal battle with Vulcatrix took place during the Age of Myths, aeons before the game's timeline. Since discovering the remains of his divine power within ur-gold, Grimnir's Fyreslayers have been on a mission to resurrect their god by releasing his power during battle.
War God: Grimnir was the duardin god of battle, patron of warriors and father of the Fyreslayers. A bellicose and violent god, Grimnir was able to temper his fury with his highly honourable nature, a trait his followers attempt to emulate.

Bael-Grimnir, Runefather of the Vostarg Lodge

"Hear me, my scions, and I will tell ye the same as I heard from my own forebear. Only one can bear the lodge's grandaxe. I shall name as heir he whose deeds prove best – he who fells the mightiest foes and brings before the proud name of Vostarg the greatest tribute to Grimnir. May the blaze of battle burn bright within you all".

The stern ruler of the Vostarg Fyreslayers, Bael-Grimnir is widely considered to be the greatest Runefather to lead his Lodge since the legendary Thorgar-Grimnir. Bael has held the position for centuries, siring more than fifty children and leading the warriors of the Vostarg to countless victories. In the wake of the Shyish necroquake, Bael has begun making preparations for a great expedition, with many believing that the mighty Runefather will soon attempt to retake the Vosforge, the ancient home of the Vostarg Lodge, from the forces of Chaos.

Ancestral Weapon: Bael wields Hrathling, an ancient latchkey grandaxe that has been carried by generations of Vostarg Runefathers. In the Tome Celestial rules for Bael^note, Hrathling has the stats of a regular latchkey grandaxe with more Attacks and a greater chance of destroying an enemy's weapon.
Breath Weapon: Like others of its kind, Bael's mighty Magmadroth mount, Flamespitter, is capable of unleashing a stream of flaming bile on its enemies. Such is its power, however, Flamespitter is able to unleash its Roaring Firestream at a greater range than any other Magmadroth if it remains stationary.
Determinator: Bael-Grimnir's toughness, and his determination to continue fighting despite his injuries, is legendary. In-game this is represented by the Furious Endurance ability that gives Bael a chance of ignoring any wound or mortal wound inflicted upon him.
Praetorian Guard: The Vosguard are Bael-Grimnir’s personal bodyguard of Hearthguard Berzerkers, consisting solely of those sons that the Runefather thinks are unworthy of commanding their fellows in battle. While there are no special rules for the Vosguard, the unit is represented on the tabletop by the unit of Vostarg Hearthguard Berzerkers that are part of the Lords of Vostarg Warscroll Battalion.
Promoted to Playable: Bael-Grimnir began as a character only mentioned in the background material until the Tome Celestial article about the Vostarg Lodge in the June 2019 issue of White Dwarf released rules so that he could be represented on the tabletop using a generic Runefather on Magmadroth model.

Kharadron Overlords

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1_1492204610183137616.jpg

Masters of the skies.

One of several duardin factions, the Kharadron Overlords descend from dwarfs who migrated to the mountains of Chamon, the Realm of Metal, and who escaped the Age of Chaos by first fleeing to the peaks of the mountains and then above them. Using arcane sciences, they learned to siphon "aether-gold", a magical floating metal that normally exists as a gas but which can be processed into a solid with the right treatments, they built enormous flying cities, converting their culture from one that mined the peaks to one that mined the clouds. Out of reach of the vast majority of their enemies, they have prospered, waiting for the proper time to make contact with the other races again.

General Tropes

Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Each sky-port possesses a number of massive Grundcarriers for when the need arises.
Animal Mecha: A unit of Grundstok Thunderers can be accompanied by an aethermatic bird known as a Drillbill.
Artificial Limbs: If they have the money, those Kharadron duardin who have lost a limb can get it replaced with a custom made aether-powered Steampunk augmetic.
Awesome, but Impractical: The Ironclad is not the biggest ship the Kharadron Overlords can build — it is only the largest vessel that can be propelled by a single buoyancy endrin. Massive craft with multiple endrins exist but are ruinously expensive to build and maintain, and are only built in small numbers for when the need arises.
Awesome Personnel Carrier: Skyvessels are bristling with weaponry and armour, and their cargo holds can be loaded with Arkanaut Companies or Grundstok Thunderers who are transported into battle in relative safety.
Bling of War: None take more pride in their uniforms than do the Kharadron from Barak-Zon. Their armour and ships are bright, so that all foes might see them coming and know who it is that shall defeat them.
Cool Airship: They make heavy use of steampunk airships, ranging from the Grundstok Gunhauler, a two-man gunboat small enough to be included in the old Kharadron starter set, to the massive Arkanaut Ironclad, an airship so cool that some fans have compared it to a "flying Baneblade". Even bigger ships are stated to exist in the fluff, but they are considered Awesome, but Impractical in-universe and so are rarely used.
Deadly Gas:
- Aether-Khemists can fire pressurised gouts of noxious aether to smother enemies with their atmospheric anatomiser.
- With a spoken command, a Balebreath Mask issues forth a pressurised cloud of gas infused with toxic metals.
Does Not Like Magic: Kharadron aren't fond of wizards, mainly because they view science and technology as the answer to everything.
The Engineer: The Endrinriggers and Endrinmasters of the Endrineers Guild are talented combat engineers whose job it is to keep their sky-vessels flying as well as defend it from any enemies and monsters that would attack it.
Faceless Mooks: Due to them operating at high altitude and in hazardous atmospheres, the Kharadron Overlords go into battle wearing elaborate helms that incorporate air filtration systems.
The Federation: Kharadron Overlords are a fairly loose confederacy but ultimately they all, up to a degree, pay heed to their ruling body: the Geldraad, consisting of 19 representatives adjudicated by the sky-ports.
Floating Continent: The Kharadron Overlords live in floating sky-port cities in the skies of Chamon, the Realm of Metal, held aloft by the mystical science of the aether-endrins. These sky-ports are centres of commerce and culture with the six greatest ports of Barak-Nar, Barak-Zilfin, Barak-Zon, Barak-Urbaz, Barak-Mhornar and Barak-Thryng forming the Geldraad, a council of representatives that act as the Kharadron government.
Gatling Good: Gattleson's Endless Repeater houses an aether supercharger that gives it a tremendous rate of fire.
Grappling-Hook Pistol: Endrinriggers and Skywardens can be armed with Grapnel Launchers, which can be used to snag on a terrain feature or unit so the Endrinriggers or Skywardens can reel in.
Hit-and-Run Tactics: Skywardens are practised at striking hard and then retreating quickly amidst timed explosions.
Jet Pack: The most fearless of the Kharadrons use personal aether-endrins. These small dirigible backpacks allow the Arkanauts to clean and repair their sky-vessels while still in flight, as well as acting as a form of airborne cavalry during battle.
Long-Range Fighter: The Kharadron Overlords make use of a wide variety of ranged weapons from Privateer Pistols through Aethershot Rifles and Aethermatic Volley Guns, to the Great Sky Cannons and Heavy Skyhooks. The Kharadrons are so reliant on firepower that there isn’t a unit in the army that doesn’t have some form of ranged attack.
Machine Empathy: The Endrinmasters are the greatest members of the Endrineers' Guild, able to find and fix a single broken element in an aether-endrin on intuition alone.
Magic Is a Monster Magnet: The mystical substance known as aether-gold, that is essential for powering the technology of the Kharadron Overlords, has the unfortunate side-effect of irresistibly attracting monsters and other dangerous aerial fauna. As a result, every Kharadron duardin of the sky-fleets has to be heavily armed and a skilled warrior despite not being professional soldiers.
Magitek: Although the Kharadron themselves think of what they do as science, in reality, it's essentially just Metal Magic developed to a whole new level and arguably mixed with Heavens Magic. Given the use of aether-gold, it also qualifies as Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk.
Magic-Powered Pseudoscience: Kharadron "technology" is just a new, mass-producible form of the "Metal" branch of magic, focused on creating enchanted physical devices.
Mook Commander: As the flagship of the Kharadron fleet, the Ironclad buffs all skyvessels in line of sight in the Hero phase.
More Dakka: They're basically the only source of dakka (that being, massed repeating firepower as definied by the game's sci-fi cousin) available in the Mortal Realms. Where most other factions get by with bows, crossbows, cannons, and the odd flintlock or musket, the Kharadron Overlords can kit every arkanaut and every skyvessel with enough firepower to level a city. The only faction that might be their match are the Skaven, and even then the Skaven rely far more on their mad science wonder-weapons than reliable repeating small arms and rifles.
The Mutiny: The Kharadron Code approves of the removal of a ship's Captain if they're not turning a profit. The process is far more formal than most examples; the former Captain is still a part of the crew in whatever capacity their skills allow, and may potentially regain command on strict meritocratic grounds.
Nail 'Em: Endrinriggers use rivet guns to repair their skyvessels in the midst of battle. When threatened, the Endrinriggers will quickly turn these rapid-fire rivet guns on their enemies, peppering them with white-hot bolts that can punch through armour and pulverise flesh.
The Navigator: With signal flashes of their zephyrscopes, Aetheric Navigators can help steer any Kharadron airships into prevailing currents.
Naytheist: The Kharadron have lost a lot of their religious faith. Superstition was seen as detrimental, a remnant of an old age that had almost brought them into extinction. Statues and busts are more a secular matter of fashion than one of religious devotion. How they deal with the more pious factions, or what happens if they come face-to-face with an Incarnate, has yet to be explored.
Nominal Hero: This is actually part of their personal code: they only intervene in the war against Chaos when they find a valuable trading partner (such as the Stormcast Eternals) who needs protection; after all, dead people can't trade with you. There's actually a bit of history behind this: during the time that Chaos invaded the realms, no one came to the Kharadron Overlords' aid. Those who survived the war were forced to flee and developed quite a large chip on their shoulder. They're also plutocratic, meritocratic rationalists.
Only in It for the Money: The main reason for the Kharadron Overlords to affiliate themselves with the Order alliance is because Order provides them with the best business prospects. Neither the undead, the followers of Chaos or the barbarians of Destruction make good customers.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Downplayed. They still retain a lot of traditional dwarfish traits; they're obsessed with gold (although this time for the practical reason that aether-gold is not only their sole building material, it's actually integral to the devices that keep them afloat), they're strong and tough, they shun magic and prefer science and technology (although in this they're hypocrites who actually practice Magic Powered Pseudo Science), etc. However, there are many other traits that are also different. First and foremost, they live in the sky and mine clouds rather than burrowing into the earth. Secondly, they've forsaken their old culture with its focus on clans and kings; instead, Kharadron culture is a sort of plutocratic meritocracy. All duardin start at the bottom, and work their way up by successfully helping their sky-vessels haul in successful loads of wealth from aether-gold "veins".
Phantasy Spelling: The Kharadron Code is composed of 'artycles', spelt with a Y. Their chemical experts are called 'Aether-Khemists'.
Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk: Their steampunk magitek is powered by aether-gold, a substance from Chamon's clouds that is basically "magical metal that exists as a gas, but can be both burned for fuel and converted into physical metal".
Private Military Contractors: The Grundstok Company, also known as the Grundcorps, are a group of professional mercenaries who hire out their services to the mercantile Kharadron sky-fleets to protect them from the vicious aerial monstrosities of the Mortal Realms, as well as any other threat they might face. Highly trained and outfitted with advanced weaponry, the Grundcorps are well worth their high price.
Rags to Riches: In Kharadron society, no one is born into nobility and privilege, and everyone has to rise through the ranks through hard work and gumption – from being a humble deckhand to a Captain of his own vessel, or even an Admiral rolling in gold.
Ray Gun: Endrinmasters wear a God's Eye that can unleash a beam called the Gaze of Grungni.
Sky Pirates: The Kharadron Overlords have a number of airships in their arsenal and greatly value profit, though most of them are more akin to sky merchants or privateers at the very worst. The Kharadron of Barak-Mhornar, however, play this trope much straighter, though to hear them tell it, they simply have a more liberal interpretation of the Kharadron Code than most.
Steampunk: Full suits of aether-gold-and-steam Powered Armor, lots of guns, jetpacks, and airships.
Sword and Gun: The majority of Arkanauts are generally equipped with aether-powers pistols and close combat weapon known as an Arkanaut cutter that release a burst of energy when they cut their target. The more successful Arkanauts often wield elaborately designed and decorated versions of these weapons.
Taking the Bullet:
- The Grundstok Gunhauler, tasked with ensuring the safety of larger ships, can choose to willingly suffer a wound in place of them.
- When an Arkanaut Admiral chooses the Protect the Admiral! ability, he can have friendly Skyfarer units nearby take mortal wounds in place of him.
Those Magnificent Flying Machines: The aesthetic of their airships, being literal ships lifted by steam engines.
Utility Weapon: Unlike their Fyreslayer relatives, Kharadron Overlords don't have many dedicated warriors; instead, most of their troops are actually mundane workers. Fortunately, their tools are all designed so they make handy weapons in a pinch — rivet-guns that shoot white-hot rivets can easily bore big, steaming holes in flesh.
Weather-Control Machine: Aetheric Navigators can redial their gear's settings to summon raging aetherstorms that force airborne foes to the ground.

Characters

Brokk Grungsson, Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brokk_grungsson.png

An enterprising and hard working duardin, Brokk Grungsson worked his way up from Arkanaut to Captain in less than ten years. After leading the fleet that saved Barak-Nar from Greenskins, Brokk was named Lord-Magnate of the sky-port but aims even higher, hoping to earn a seat on the Admirals Council.

Ace Custom: Brokk's dirigible suit is custom-built, commissioned from the Master Endrineer Durek Coghammer of Barak-Zilfin.
Chainsaw Good: In close combat Brokk Grungsson fights with an Aethermantic Saw.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Brokk has perfected the art of landing amidst a melee, dropping the not-inconsiderable weight of his one-duardin flying suit right on top of his target whilst slashing around him with the whirring blade of his aethermatic saw.
Frontline General: Always one to lead from the front, Brokk’s natural aeronautical skills and aggressive nature have led him to many glories.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: He wears a top hat (which doesn't count as proper armour) in place of the helmets worn by the other Kharadron. He still wears a head-engulfing mask as part of his pressure suit, though.
I Coulda Been a Contender!: Not Brokk himself, but his father had this mindset. It's part of what made Brokk what he is.
Unusual Weapon Mounting: He's armed with two aetherblasters mounted on his moustache. It's good to be Brokk Grungsson and get some of the coolest equipment and fashion statements in the Realms.

Seraphon

Immortal Masters of the Stars

The Seraphon are a race of intelligent reptilian humanoids who are the eternal foes of Chaos and champions of Order.Older than memory, existing for aeons unrecorded, the Seraphon have ever waged an unending, savage war against the forces of Chaos. Descending to strike a vengeful blow against the Dark Gods for the destruction of their beloved World That Was aeons ago, as the Age of Sigmar dawns, they seek to bring order to the Mortal Realms. Summoned by the incredible power of the Slann Starmasters, they materialize from the energy of the stars themselves - nimble Skinks, predatory Saurus and hulking Kroxigor, each intent on destroying the forces that have corrupted and darkened the Mortal Realms almost beyond repair. Wrought of purest star-magic, the Seraphon are true beings of Azyr. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the Lizardmen of Warhammer Fantasy.

General Tropes

One-Steve Limit: Previously, Seraphon was the dragon of Malekith. It is unclear if in setting if anyone remembers that was her name, or who Malekith even was for that matter.
Absurdly Dedicated Worker: Kroxigor Warspawned are single-minded even by the Seraphon's standards—if left to their own devices, they'll simply guard the position where they stand. Tales speak of Warspawned left behind when their constellation's skinks have been slain; for decades, they endure in suspended animation while moss or dust gathers on their body, before suddenly roaring back to life when they smell prey.
Arch-Enemy: The Seraphon have deep, intense hatred for the forces of Chaos (particularly the Skaven) and are perhaps the most zealous among the forces of Order in ridding the cosmos of its influence.
The Archmage: The Slann are among the most powerful magic users in the setting, with mortal mages being mere children compared to them.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Saurus who survive many wars begin to grow in authority and grasp of combat tactics.
Blinded by the Light: The Coronal Shield can blind enemies standing before its carrier by the light of suns.
Chameleon Camouflage: Chameleon Skinks are possessed of curious abilities and can blend into their surroundings at will.
Cool Chair: Each Slann Starmaster enters battle on a grand throne of jade, outfitted with a plethora of accessories and in-house Skink attendants.
Dumb Muscle: Kroxigors' immense strength comes at the cost of intellect. They can crush an ogor's head with their jaws, but most can only speak the guttural rumbles of their own names and little else.
Javelin Thrower: Meteoric javelins are a very common weapon used by the Skinks.
Hostile Terraforming: The land surrounding a Coalesced temple-city is magically reformed into a primeval wilderness, deadly to outsiders yet the perfect habitat for the lizardfolk.
Lizard Folk: The Saurus and Skinks are traditional lizard men, while Kroxigors are large crocodile men.
Made of Iron: The Bastiladon, an enormous creature covered entirely in impregnable armoured scales, can shrug off all but the strongest attacks.
Mix-and-Match Critters: The Stegadon has a ceratopsid's body plan, horns and bony frill; a stegosaur's vertical plates; and an ankylosaur's armour and spiked tail.
No Body Left Behind: The Seraphon are creatures of star magic, have no corpse to speak of and simply dissipate when 'killed'. The Bonesplitterz do not like how their prey disappear before they can eat them.
Our Angels Are Different: Seraphon are fundamentally creatures of flesh and blood, with celestial magic glimmering in their veins. The first of them dwelt within temple-ships amid the aetheric void, and were more akin to heavenly beings than living creatures as most mortals would understand them. After being drawn to the uppermost reaches of Azyr, some Seraphon, known as Starborne, continue to be infused with the magic of Azyr and still exist on a slightly different wavelength from other realms. The Starborne can interact with the tangible world, but their deep connection to Azyr prevents them from achieving true physicality. As the centuries pass, some Seraphon settle in the Mortal Realms and eventually gain true permanence. Known as the Coalesced, they trade their celestial nature for Lizardman savagery.
Power Floats: Slann Starmasters and Skink Starseers sit on palanquins that float around a metre over ground.
Randomized Damage Attack: The Engine of the Gods is a wildly unpredictable device whose exact effect is randomised by a die roll every time it's activated.
Ray Gun:
- The Solar Engine, mounted on Bastiladons, radiates the staggering power of a sun, casting forth searing beams that turn armour to molten slag and incinerate anything alive extremely quickly.
- The Prism of Amyntok, an Artefact of Power available to Starborne Slann Starmasters, can blast the bearer's foes with a beam of pure white energy.
Spike Shooter: Barbed Razordons are large creatures covered in spines, which they shoot by way of powerful muscular spasms.
Summon Magic: Slann can summon every single Seraphon unit except for other Slann: not only troops, but also specialist units like Chameleons, and even things like Carnosaurs.
T. Rexpy: The Carnosaur is based on the large theropod dinosaurs (most notably Tyrannosaurus). Their jaws can swallow a soldier whole and rip the throats out of dragons, their limbs easily pin prey down, and their roar can freeze the soul.
Time Abyss: The Slann are survivors from the World-that-was and were witnesses of the birth of the Realms.
Weapon of X-Slaying: The light of a Solar Engine is lethal to Chaos Daemons, which take extra damage from it.
Whateversaurus: One of the Seraphon subraces is simply called Saurus.

Characters

Lord Kroak

Once a powerful Slann, Lord Kroak now exists as a spirit bound to his ancient, mummified corpse.

The Archmage: Kroak is considered this among the Slann. Many of his spells and magical feats have been described In-Universe as the preserve of Gods.
The Chessmaster: Kroak's greatest strength, even more so than his magic, is his intelligence. He subtly manipulates every piece on the board from Constellations to Gods to mortals alike, all to the purpose of the Great Plan.
Colony Drop: One of Kroak's unique spells is Comet's Call, which causes a cluster of comets to drop on enemies' heads.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: In lore, Kroak is the most powerful wizard who exists or had ever existed in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle world outside of Tzeentch. Protected a city for decades against a daemonic horde, cast a magical nuke which killed hundreds of thousands of daemons, then when they kept coming he did something... stranger as a last-ditch defense. He finally got killed and, after he was dead cast an even more powerful spell which melted daemons across the entire world, saving it from imminent destruction by Chaos. He also brings himself back to life and saves the world, again, for a few years in the End Times. In-game, Lord Kroak is an extremely powerful wizard, but not quite as powerful as in lore.
I Have Many Names: Lord Kroak has variously been called Quorac, Cro-Akk, Kribhet and a hundred other variations across the aeons of his existence.
Manipulative Bastard: How Kroak defeats Kragnos in Excelsis. He conjures an illusion of a group of Draconith, enraging Kragnos and sending him through the Realmgate, unwittingly sending him to destroy a major Chaos Fortress.
Mummy: After Kroak died in the first war against Chaos, his servants collected his remains and mummified him as the first Relic Priest. Even though his body is but bones and embalmed flesh, his spirit remains so potent that he has lingered on the veil between life and death and remained capable of awe-inspiring magic.
Punny Name: He's a giant, dead, frog-like creature named Kroak.
Time Abyss: Lord Kroak is the first slann, who was shaped by the Old Ones in the depths of prehistory, and might be the oldest soul in creation—even Sigmar's pantheon are like children to him.

Sylvaneth

The native inhabitants of the Realm of Ghyran, the Sylvaneth are the children of Alarielle, the Goddess of Life and Everqueen of the Jade Kingdoms. These otherworldly creatures are great enemies of the forces of Chaos, opposing their perversion of the natural order at every turn. They serve as (more or less) the Age of Sigmar counterpart to the forest spirits of Warhammer Fantasy.

General Tropes

Absolute Xenophobe: While all Sylvaneth have some issues getting along with other races because of their Blue-and-Orange Morality, the Dreadwood Glade actively despise all non-Sylvaneth, and only begrudgingly cooperate with them on Alarielle's orders; even that's fractious, as many are noted to swear loyalty to Drycha first and foremost.
A Commander Is You: Balanced, Guerilla and Technical. The Sylvaneth strike a healthy balance between numerous Dryad and Revenant troops along with few but powerful Kurnoth Hunters and Treelords of various types. They aren't generally the strongest in a straight up fight, but their Awakened Wyldwoods lend them a range of bonuses such as Sylaneth being able to freely see through the normally obscuring terrain while their enemies can't, potentially dealing mortal wounds to nearby enemies, and allowing Sylvaneth units to teleport into them from across the table, giving the army some of the best mobility in the game and very strong tools if positioned properly.
Arch-Enemy: They despise the followers and armies of Nurgle for permanently scarring their world and temporarily killing Alarielle.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Compared to other mortal races, the Sylvaneth place much more emphasis on the natural cycles, not just life and death, but the literal changing of the seasons, and believe all life works on similar endless cycles. They aren't interested in amassing wealth, or in expanding their borders, just in making sure everything progresses according to its own natural cycle.
Decomposite Character: A metatextual case; The forest spirits of Warhammer Fantasy were previously part of the greater Wood Elf faction. Here in Age of Sigmar, the forest spirits are now grouped under their own faction as the Sylvaneth and the Wood Elves themselves are now the "Wanderers" and are technically part of the Cities of Sigmar.
The Dreaded: Spite-Revenants are rightfully feared for their cruelty against enemies.
Friend to Bugs: Many of their models incorporate insect-companions; Branchwyches have insect-like spites as familiars, and some Revenants ride giant flying-beetles into battle.
Horse of a Different Color: Spiterider Lancers and Revenant Seekers ride giant flying insects into battle.
Magic Music: All Sylvaneth are connected by Alarielle's song, which they can hear anywhere they go in Ghyran; outside Ghyran, however, they need the presence of a Warsong Revenant to carry her song with them. It acts as a kind of telepathic bond which allows them to communicate and coordinate quickly, and those who are disconnected from it for the first time tend to Freak Out at the sudden loss.
Naïve Newcomer: The Harvestboon Glade are the youngest Glade by far, and also the most exuberant, friendly, and idealistic, for good and ill. In their zeal for their Allarielle-given mission of spreading new life throughout the Realms, they sometimes plant their forests in such a way that they severely damage or even destroy nearby Sigmarite settlements, though they're just as quick to swear oaths to make amends to the inhabitants when they do. It marks them as very different from the isolationist Ironbark, or the actively malicious Dreadwood.
Natural Weapon: Spite-Revenants need no weapons other than talons and claws.
Nature Spirit: The Sylvaneth are an entire race of nature spirits, the living embodiments of life magic that have a deep connection the natural cycles of the Mortal Realms.
Non-Mammal Mammaries: Despite being plants, Dryads, Branchwraiths and Branchwyches have breasts like mammals.
Plant Person: All Sylvaneth are creatures of plant matter, save Alarielle, who is a High Elven woman merged with the magic of life and ascended to godhood.
Shockwave Stomp: Treelords can stomp the ground to push enemies off their feet.
Time Abyss: Some of them were ancient even in The-World-That-Was. Examples include Alarielle, Drycha and (maybe) some of the Treelord Ancients.
When Trees Attack: The Sylvaneth count a number of animated trees among their armies, in addition to being able to temporarily animate regular trees in battle.

Spirits of Durthu

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spirit_of_durthu.png

A band of Treelord rootbrothers named after their honored ancestor Durthu, one of the greatest Treemen of the world-that-was, who serve as Alarielle's bodyguard

Bodyguarding a Badass: Seriously, they're the elite personal guard of the Goddess of Nature.
Degraded Boss: Durthu, a special character in the original Warhammer, was replaced in-game by the Spirits of Durthu, who are generic heroes that share his model in Age of Sigmar.
Generation Xerox: They're alternately referred to as the Sons of Durthu, as Alarielle specifically created them in Durthu's image, and they seek to live up to their predecessor.
Heroic BSoD: After Alarielle exiled them, most of the Sons of Durthu reacted badly. Some just kind of shut down from depression, others sought battle against the most horrible things they could find, and others took up wandering the Mortal Realms.
Praetorian Guard: The Spirits of Durthu were created to act as bodyguards, advisers and heralds for Alarielle protecting the Goddess of Life, and her chosen followers, from all harm. In-game this is represented by the Solemn Guardians ability that gives a Spirit the chance to take wounds in place of a nearby Sylvaneth Hero.
Undying Loyalty: Unfailingly loyal to their queen and their duty to her. Even during their exile, they fervently hoped she would call for them once more.
Walking the Earth: After Alarielle exiled them from her side for an unknown offense, many took to wandering the Mortal Realms, fighting Chaos and hoping to one day be called back to their Queen.

Characters

Alarielle

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/everqueen_2.png

Forget the bugspray or the weedkiller. It's not going to save you.

Before the End Times, Alarielle was the Everqueen of the High Elves, a beloved and adored leader who also served as the high priestess of the elven mother goddess Isha. Having ascended to Godhood after becoming one with the Wind of Life, she created the Sylvaneth to populate her new realm and became part of Sigmar's pantheon, but continued to pine for the lost World-that-Was. She was forced to return to her realm during the Age of Chaos when the forces of Nurgle attacked Ghyran, and came to resent Sigmar and the other gods for abandoning her land and people to their fate. In the modern day she willingly fights alongside the other forces of Order to repel Chaos, but has no interest in reforming the pantheon or, indeed, in doing much more than focusing on destroying the stranglehold that Nurgle's armies have established in her lands.

Back from the Dead: Once more than most characters, seeing as she was once killed by Nurgle's daemons while a goddess and was then brought back by the Stormcast Eternals with her new wooden arm and branch-wings.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: She rides into battle on the back of a Wardroth Beetle, a giant-sized combination of a stag and Hercules beetle.
Broken Bird: The radiant personality she had before the End Times is pretty much gone after all the crap she and her people went through.
Deity of Human Origin: She was a mortal elf in the World-that-Was, but in its dying days merged with the Wind of Life to become an Incarnate and became a full deity in the next world.
Fertile Feet: Alarielle's body is overflowing with life magic, her presence causing vegetation to burst into bloom with even the Wardroth Beetle she rides into battle sprouting shoots and fungus from its carapace.
Fisher King: As the goddess of life magic, Alarielle's condition and mental state is reflected by the Realm of Ghyran, withering as she becomes lost and withdrawn, and bursting into life as she is reborn and leads the War of Life against the forces of Chaos.
Godzilla Threshold: Alarielle crossed this by causing Drycha's rebirth. She resisted replanting Drycha's soulpod due to Drycha's mercurial, berserk nature making her too unpredictable as an ally. However, when the war against Chaos pushed Alarielle's forces to the brink so Alarielle planted Drycha's soulpod, and Drycha was reborn to take the fight to Chaos.
Good Is Not Soft: The non-Sylvaneth in her realm of Ghyran hold her in high regard and she mostly benevolent and well-versed in healing magic. She has also destroyed at least one settlement by rousing the surrounding trees to smash it to pieces, as well as fought two Bloodthirsters with only her Wardroth steed and won. In one story, she destroyed a foundry of the Free Peoples that was polluting a glade and whose inhabitants were in conflict with the local Sylvaneth. Alarielle made sides to stop fighting and work together against a greater enemy, but not before promising the Free Peoples they would later answer for the harm they caused.
Lightning Bruiser: Alarielle has a massive pool of 16 Wounds with a 3+ Save and yet she still rocks a 16" Flying Move stat. She also regenerates and can heal all Sylvaneth models around her, including herself, even more.
Make Them Rot: When equipped for war Alarielle wears the Talon of Dwindling on her left arm, a weapon representing the withering of vegetation as winter approaches that is capable of turning enemies into lifeless husks with the slightest touch.
Mother Nature: What now Alarielle practically is, after merging with Isha (or at least her power) and Ghyran, the Wind of Life.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Rite Of Life, which she conducted after Nagaash's defeat by Teclis, was intended to reverse the effects of Nagaash's Necroquake by spreading massive amounts of Life Magic throughout the entire Mortal Realms. It did, but it also had the side-effect of causing things like monsters, predatory plants, and even regular predators to start breeding out of control. Worst of all, however, was that it woke up Kragnos.
Odd Friendship: Despite their very different personalities, Broken Realms: Morathi indicates she has this with Morathi, as the Daughters of Khaine have been staunch allies of the Sylvaneth during the War of Life. Notably Alarielle refuses to open Gyrhan's realmgate to the Eightpoints when Sigmar asks, only agreeing when Morathi asks.
Took a Level in Jerkass: While still heroic, her traumatic experiences during the End Times have left her considerably more jaded, cynical, and willing to use brute force against her enemies.
Transflormation: Alarielle is able to cast Metamorphosis, a spell that causes the target's arms to twist into branches and their feet to form roots until they become a tree. In the game, if this spell kills the last model in a unit then the player can replace the model with a wood.
Winged Humanoid: Alarielle has a pair of branch-like wings with leaves for feathers growing from her back.

Drycha Hamadreth

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dryca_hamadreth.png

Even her bark bites.

A rage-filled creature of destruction, Drycha sees all non-Sylvaneth life as a threat, no matter their motives or allegiances. Gathering a band of similarly minded outcasts around her, Drycha wishes to see the Sylvaneth rule the Mortal Realms and will fight anyone who stands in her way.

Absolute Xenophobe: She wages an eternal omnicidal war against anything non-Sylvaneth and makes no difference between Fyreslayers, Ironjawz, Chaos Warriors or the undead.
Ax-Crazy: In addition to being The Berserker, lore depictions of her show that she is not entirely sane, even apart from her pathological xenophobia.
The Berserker: To the point where some would believe that Khorne finally took a hand in gardening and created the most pissed off tree of all time.
Emotion Bomb: Drycha can stoke the anger of Spite-Revenants or unleash a howl that causes enemies to be filled with fear.
Large and in Charge: Drycha is now as big as a Treelord.
Pest Controller: Drycha's body plays host to swarms of insectoid spites (either the beetle-like flitterfuries or the centipede-esque squirmlings) that she can command to attack her foes.
Sadist: Her lore shows that while she is eager to kill any non-Sylvaneth, she is not above toying with them first. It's also fitting, given how she keeps company with the aptly-named Spite Revenants.
Token Evil Teammate: Drycha is this in the Sylvaneth faction. While she will fight alongside non-Sylvaneth, she hates them all and only does so when she thinks it will lead to the fulfilment of her genocidal plans in the long term. Only her love for her fellow Sylvaneth and a grudging loyalty to Alarielle keep her on the side of Order.
Unstoppable Rage: She can't calm down. Ever. Not as long as anything other than Sylvaneth still lives somewhere in the realms.

Belthanos

The Wild Hunt: He is in charge of keeping the Evergreen Hunt going.

Characters / Warhammer Age Of Sigmar Grand Alliance Order

Edit Locked

Stormcast Eternals

Celestant-Prime, the Avenging Angel of Azyr, the Bearer of the World-Hammer, the First Scion of Sigmar.

Lord-Celestant Vandus Hammerhand

Neave Blacktalon

The Blacktalons

Gavriel Sureheart

Aventis Firestrike

Astreia Solbright

Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear

Tarsus Bull-Heart

Cities of Sigmar

Freeguilds

Devoted of Sigmar

Collegiate Arcane

Ironweld Arsenal

Phoenix Temple

Darkling Covens

Order Serpentis

Scourge Privateers

Shadowblades

Wanderers

Dispossessed

Tahlia Vedra, Lioness of the Parch

Pontifex Zenestra, Matriarch of the Great Wheel

Grombrindal, the White Dwarf

Daughters of Khaine

Morathi the Shadow Queen, High Oracle of Khaine

Idoneth Deepkin

Mathlann

Volturnos

Lotann

Lumineth Realm-lords

Tyrion

Teclis

Lyrior Uthralle

The Light of Eltharion

Avalenor, the Stoneheart King

Sevireth, Lord of the Seventh Wind

Fyreslayers

Grimnir the Furious, the Burning Berserker

Bael-Grimnir, Runefather of the Vostarg Lodge

Kharadron Overlords

Brokk Grungsson, Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar

Seraphon

Lord Kroak

Sylvaneth

Spirits of Durthu

Alarielle

Drycha Hamadreth

Belthanos

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