Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound is a tabletop roleplaying game is a counterpart of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay set in the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar universe.
During the Age of Myth, just as the deities Sigmar, Alarielle, Tyrion, Teclis, Grungni, Malerion, Nagash and Gorkamorka worked together to shape the Mortal Realms into a place where life could flourish, they sponsored parties of adventurers to act on their behalf as champions, imbuing them with divine might so they could battle the forces of Chaos. Though the Order of the Soulbound fell to the wayside as the Pantheon of Order was sundered and the Mortal Realms descended into the Age of Chaos, Sigmar never forgot its creation. Now, in the turbulent era of the Age of Death, in the wake of the Necroquake unleashed by Nagash, the Soulbound have been revived; cells of divinely sponsored champions whose very souls have been interlinked, imbuing them with the power to take on the worst that the Realms can throw of them. But Nagash and Gorkamorka have taken note of what Sigmar has done, and they too have created their own Soulbound to champion their causes instead.
Players take the role of a Binding, a collection of individuals who have undergone the divine ritual of becoming Soulbound, which transforms them into a spiritually linked collection of immortals. Though they forfeit the comfort of the afterlife, their spiritual bond grants them a pool of divine might that can empower them to do great things in times of need, and also shields them from many of the spiritual maladies of the Realms.
Compared to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Soulbound has a much more optimistic, High Fantasy feeling. Soulbound are invariably exceptional individuals and great champions in their own right; when their collective powers are brought to bear, they can achieve monumental feats. Despite this, the odds are still stacked against them, and the world is dark and hostile.
This game includes examples of:
- Cessation of Existence: Nobody actually knows what happens to the spirits of individual Soulbound when they die, not even Nagash, and the dominant theory is that their blended spirit simply fades from existence. Of course, since the afterlife is known to be real and under the undisputed control of Nagash, many Soulbound consider that possibility a step-up. Renegade Undead members of a Binding actually considered the fact that dying will truly leave them beyond Nagash's reach to be a bonus.
- Another theory, one notably held by the duardin god Grungni, is that the souls will "knit themselves back together" in time and rejoin the world. Like the above, there's no evidence to confirm or deny this - despite whatever Nagash may say - but it's as valid as any other belief.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It's not especially good either, but Order Soulbound can easily gain Death-aligned creatures such as Necromancers and the undead if they break free of Nagash's control. It's difficult as such alliances come with their fair share of challenges - the stigma against necromancers, Soulblight bloodthirst, a Nighthaunt's antipathy for the living, etc - but it's far from impossible, and being part of a Binding does make it easier.
- Evil Counterpart:
- The Death and Destruction Bindings essentially exist as the Evil Counterpart to the Order Bindings of the corebook.
- Ossiarch Bonereapers are a dark mirror of the Stormcast Eternals; both are Artificial Humanoids created by and directly loyal to a patron god who cannot actually be a spiritually linked part of a Binding, but instead merely find common cause with a binding.
- Fire-Forged Friendship: Not all Soulbound will like each other, certainly not when they first start out, but over time, a Binding can become surprisingly loyal to each other, even overcoming the natural divide fostered by being different races.
- Full-Boar Action: Gruntas, massive, foul-tempered, predatory boar monsters native to Ghur. Orruks love them as they're one of the only creatures in all the Mortal Realms as savage and bloodthirsty as they are, leading to many orruks using them as mounts.
- Genetic Memory: The Sylvaneth pass down their memories to their offspring, which is why becoming a Soulbound is regarded as such Serious Business by them; a Sylvaneth who becomes Soulbound can no longer pass on their specific memories, resulting in a true, final death for an individual from a species that instead views life and death as merely an endless cycle.
- Good Is Not Nice: Even in the Order races alone, the potential members of a binding range from Humans (generally heroic, but not guaranteed to be), to Sylvaneth and Seraphon (generally benevolent, but with alien sensibilities), to Kharadron and Fyreslayers (hailing from cultures that regard pragmatism as a virtue and mercenary as a respectable profession), to Witch Aelves (religious fanatics who regard murder as a holy sacrament) and Idoneth Deepkin (soul-eating xenophobes).
- Harping on About Harpies: Khinerai, a subrace of the Daughters of Khaine who have large, leathery wings and long, skinny tails, are a playable race offered in the "Era of the Beast" sourcebook. Though technically aelves, they've been so thoroughly changed after their souls were eaten by Slaanesh, saved from Slaanesh by Morathi's shadow magic, and mixed with Morathi's blood that they've become their own distinct race.
- Heroic Willpower: An integral characteristic of any Nighthaunt which has managed to become part of a mixed-faction Binding without being assigned to one by Nagash. Doing so requires the ghost to wrestle against the mental stagnation universal to undead, break free of its imposed desire to hate and revile the living, then escape the prison-like realm of Shyish to seek out a God of Order and beg them to make the Nighthaunt a Soulbound. It's noted that the gods typically accept such a plea on the spot, because any Nighthaunt who can pull that off is exactly the kind of Determinator that the gods want in a Binding.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Whilst becoming a Soulbound guarantees immortality (of the "no longer age" variety), it comes at the cost of incurable sterility. This makes becoming Soulbound an extremely big deal to both Fyreslayers, whose patriarchal culture exhorts men to father as many sons as possible, and to the Sylvaneth, whose reproduction is somewhere between Reincarnation and Resurrective Immortality thanks to their Genetic Memory. It's such a big deal that the Gods of Order agree that only Alarielle has the right to ask a Sylvaneth to become Soulbound.
- Insanity Immunity: One of the subtler perks of becoming Soulbound is that it provides immunity to many spiritual maladies native to the Mortal Realms, including the insane paranoia caused by aether-gold, the bloodthirsty avarice provoked by ur-gold, and the eternal phantom pain that afflicts the Idoneth.
- Lizard Folk: The Seraphon, which are divided between smaller, smarter Skinks and larger, more brutish Sauruses. In the World-That-Was, they were essentially Flesh Golems in the shape of lizardfolk. In the Mortal Realms, Seraphon are divided into two "breeds"; the Starborne are made of living celestial energy and emphasize the artificial nature of their origins, whilst the Coalesced have somehow transcended (or descended) to become creatures of flesh and blood, which makes them more aggressive and less intelligent.
- Loads and Loads of Races: Compared to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Soulbound offers a much wider variety of playable races, including Humans, Aelves, Khinerai, Melusai, Duardin, Sylvaneth, Stormcast Eternals, Skinks, Sauruses, Draconith, Hobgrots, Ogors, Orruks, Grots, Troggoths, Vampires, Nighthaunts, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Wights and Ghouls. And that's before you get into the distinct cultural splits that run so deep as to be borderline genetic subraces, such as the distinction between Fyreslayers and Kharadron Overlords, or Daughters of Khaine and Idoneth Deepkin.
- Note that a Binding can contain any of these races in any combination. For a Warhammer game, that's practically unheard of.
- Our Elves Are Different: The Aelves are largely divided into the Daughters of Khaine, the Idoneth Deepkin, and the Lumineth Realm-Lords. Taken to the extreme with the Sylvaneth, who were wood elves in the World-That-Was, but are now closer to Plant People, being a fusion of elf spirit and living wood.
- Our Orcs Are Different: The Orruks are divided into three major races; the Ironjawz, Bonesplitterz, and Kruleboyz. Ironjawz are fairly standard brutish warriors, valuing strength and toughness above all else whilst revering Gork (god of brutality) as their patron. Bonesplitterz are deeply spiritual orruks whose faith and self-confidence are so strong they can repel weapons through the sheer power of belief; they review Gorkamorka, the conjoined form of Gork and Mork. Finally, the Kruleboyz are sadistic but cunning and manipulative orruks who inhabit swamps and marshlands, and who have turned to Mork (god of cunning) as their patron god.
- Plant Person: The Sylvaneth. As a species, they can look like anything from vaguely aelvish folk with some wooden bits to actual Treants. They can communicate with each other over long distances via telepathic song, their reproductive cycle is complex and strange, and they have some very alien views of the world.
- Resurrective Immortality: The Stormcast Eternals have a flawed version of this. They can never truly die due to their bond with Sigmar and his Anvil of Apotheosis, but every time they suffer a "Reforging," they lose a bit of themselves - memories, aspects of their personalities, and even basic human essentials like empathy. Being Reforged too many times reduces a Stormcast to a cold, unfeeling automaton fulfilling its orders to the letter.
- Snake People: Melusai, a subrace of the Daughters of Khaine who have the lower bodies of giant serpents, are a playable race offered in the "Era of the Beast" sourcebook. Also, contain elements of Medusa and Gorgeous Gorgon as they are beautiful aelf women from the waist up and have a nasty tendency to rip out people's hearts and petrify their bodies.
- Square Race, Round Class: In general, races tend to have very limited Archetypes (the class equivalent for Soulbound), which usually represent distinct roles within a specific subculture. For this reason, most Archetypes tie into the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar armies — there are duardin Archetypes associated with the Kharadon Overlords and the Fyreslayers, but no "generic duardin" Archetypes, for example. Taken to the extreme with the Seraphon, who currently have a grand total of two Archetypes; one for skinks and one for sauruses.
- Reaches an extreme with the Draconith introduced in the Era of the Beast sourcebook with a whopping one Archetype, the Errant Draconith. Then again, you're getting to play as a dragon, so...
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A Binding is compelled to work together, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they like each other.
- Token Evil Teammate:
- In general, an Aelf of one sort or another will typically serve as this for a Binding of Order. Daughters of Khaine worship the God of Murder and perform Blood Magic, the Idoneth Deepkin harvest souls to extend their lives, and the Lumineth are elitist zealots whose anti-emotion convictions border on The Evils of Free Will.
- In a mixed-faction Binding with an Order majority, the Death or Destruction member will probably serve as this.
- Cairn Wraiths are loathed even in all-Death Bindings, because they are typically single-minded murder machines that care only about killing and their next kill. So, naturally, Nagash likes to force them on Bindings to be a dick.
- Kruleboyz are regarded with the greatest general loathing of all the Destruction races, due to their pronounced racial tendency towards sadism and cruelty.
