Races and nations of Warhammer Fantasy

In the fictional Warhammer Fantasy setting by Games Workshop, there are a number of different races and nations. The most important of these feature are individual armies in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle table top game.

Realms of Men

All of the featured human nations are based in the Old World.

Bretonnia

Bretonnia is based on real-world medieval France; its name is clearly derived from the French province of Britanny and it draws heavily from Arthurian legends which are associated with Medieval Brittany; for instance with The Lady and The Green Knight who both have parallels in Arthurian lais.

Brettonia was founded when the knight Giles drove the hordes of orcs and chaos out of Brettonia in the name of the Lady, the goddess the Brettonians place their faith in.

Bretonnian armies rely on powerful charges from their many heavily armed and armored knights in order to achieve victory. Bretonnian knights are arguably the best heavy cavalry in the game, along with being the most varied. Bretonnian armies can also contain cheap and expendable units of unskilled peasant longbowmen and men at arms to serve as fodder.[1]

The Empire

Smaller states of the Old World

The North, East, and South

There is an island just off shore of Ind, the equivalent of Sri Lanka, mostly covered by forests on which a High Elf fortress known as the Tower of the Sun is situated. A collection of smaller islands are bunched up close to Ind, one of which has another High Elf outpost known as the Tower of Stars. Separating the Kingdoms of Ind from Grand Cathay is a leg of mountains from the Ogre Kingdoms, the equivalent of the Himalayas, where the Land of the Celestial Dragon Monks is. Just inside the nation of Ind is a coastal city called the City of Spires. The rulers of Ind are said to be attended by many servants and slaves, as well as being wealthy and generous.

The Sea of Claws is roughly equivalent to the real world Baltic Sea. The Sea is mentioned in the many of the settings sourcebooks and maps. Its name comes from its abundance of sea creatures. On the shores of Sea of Claws are Empire, Kislev, Bretonnia, Norsca and also the great city of Marienburg roughly equivalent to 17th century Amsterdam. On the shores of sea is located Norsca city of Olricstaad.

Elves

The Elves were the third civilized race to walk the world. Brought from creation by the Old Ones, the Elves showed an adeptness to magic. Torn asunder many thousands of years ago by a great civil war, there are three major nations of Elves.

In the first edition of the game, there were two other Elven armies noted: the "Sea Elves" and the "Night Elves". Sea Elves were essentially the Elves of the more practical and worldly Outer Kingdoms of Ulthuan, and the Night Elves are now considered part of the Dark Elves.

Dwarfs

The Dwarfs live in city fortresses dug into the mountains of the Old World. Their Chaos brethren occupy one huge towering city in the lands to the south east of the Old World.

Lizardmen

In recent editions they have been reimagined to have been originally created by the Old Ones, thus being the second civilization to come to the warhammer world. Preceded by the old ones and succeeded by the elves to aid in their great genetic works, the Slann now lead the Lizardmen through prophesies containing ancient instructions from their gods, who may or may not some day return. Lizardmen are also based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures and are in the New World corresponding with South America.[10]

Orcs and Goblins (Greenskins)

Main article: Orcs and Goblins
A Goblin

The tribes of Orcs, Goblins and other Greenskins are spread across the Old World and into the east. They are mostly referred to in general as 'Greenskins' due to obvious reasons. The magic they use is called Waaagh! magic and is drawn from the power and energy of fighting Greenskins. A large horde led by a great Orc Leader (or sometimes a Goblin one) of Orcs and/or Goblins is called a Waaagh![11]

Another relative of the Common Goblin is the Gnoblar, which is found living with the Ogre Hordes in the Mountains of Mourn.[12] East of the Mountains of Mourn, upon the borders of Cathay, live the Hobgoblins; a race of greenskins somewhere between the size of a Goblin and an Orc, but more cunning than either. Hobgoblins can also be found as slaves of the Chaos Dwarves.[13] Smallest in size of all the Greenskin races are the Snotling. They are considered the lowliest of greenskins and are most often bullied around by their larger, greener cousins.[11]

The toughest and most disciplined of the Orcs are the Black Orcs. These mean beasts are 'armed to da teef' and are covered in heavy black armour. This is one reason why they are called Black Orcs, the other being their unusually dark skin. The most unusual thing about these Orcs is that they take care of their weapons and armour (to an extent), cleaning them after each battle.

Another form of Orc are the Savage Orcs, who, rather than use the modern technology of armour, language, and crafted weapons, stayed in their previous savage form. Using mainly stones as their weapons, the Savage Orcs go in to battle madly, some clinging off wild boars with only their feet. The Savage Orcs put so much faith in their warpaint that it works for intimidation.

Chaos

The phrase "Slaves to Darkness" is used to cover all those who have fallen under the control of, or pledged themselves to, the Forces of the Chaos gods. While the energies of chaos touch all things magical, there are those who fully give themselves to the deities of this realm, and seek to conquer not just the works of the Old Ones, but the very fabric of reality itself.

There used to be a combined Chaos Army in the early 1990s, which was later split into the Beasts of Chaos and Hordes of Chaos army books. These books then subdivide the armies of Chaos further into Bestial, Mortal (humans), and Daemonic armies.

Skaven

Skaven or "Children of the Horned Rat", are a Chaotic mockery of Man's nations. Inventive and insane, the ratmen live in a vast network of tunnels beneath all the Warhammer World, referred to as the Under-empire. Many human denizens of the Old World do not believe the Skaven exist, much to their detriment. The crazed mechanics of Clan Skyre create powerful yet unreliable weapons to aid their rampages. It is said that one day the Grey Seers will unite them and take over the Old World. The Skaven have a general Steampunk motif, in that the Skaven use primitive and magic-driven science similar to alchemy and medieval proto-science.

Some Skaven concepts might be inspired by the Old World's view of technology as imbalanced, or knowledge/science not held in check by morals. This is a theme which runs through the background of The Empire, in which wizards, gunpowder manufacturers and Sigmarite priests all try to limit or free themselves from the others influence.

The Undead

Main article: Undead (Warhammer)

All undead in the Warhammer world are a result of the black sorceries devised by the first necromancer, Nagash, in the long distant past. The Undead are effectively split into two distinct armies: that of the Tomb Kings which has a strong ancient Egyptian feel with mummies and chariots driven by skeletons, and the army of the Vampire Counts which features vampires, zombies and so forth. They are colloquially known as "dry" and "wet" undead, respectively.

The Ogres

References

  1. Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (Games Workshop, 1998) ISBN 1-869893-08-5
  2. Warhammer Armies: The Empire (Games Workshop, 2000) ISBN 1-84154-059-5
  3. Warhammer: Dark Shadows, (Games Workshop, 2001) ISBN 1-84154-198-2
  4. Warhammer Rulebook (Gamesworkshop, 1996) ASIN B000QGG4SA
  5. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (main rulebook, 1986, reprint 1995)
  6. Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (Nottingham: Games Workshop Ltd., 1998) ISBN
  7. Warhammer Armies: High Elves (Nottingham: Games Workshop, 1993) ISBN 978-1-872372-63-1
  8. Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (Nottingham: Games Workshop, 2006) ISBN 1-872372-45-7
  9. Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (Nottingham: Games Workshop, 2000) ISBN 1-84154-066-8
  10. Warhammer Lizardmen (Nottingham: Games Workshop Ltd., 2005) ISBN 1-84154-644-5
  11. 1 2 Warhammer Armies: Orcs and Goblins (Games Workshop Lts, 2000) ISBN 1-84154-060-9
  12. 1 2 Warhammer Armies: Ogre Kingdoms (Games Workshop Lts, 2004) ISBN 1-84154-531-7
  13. White Dwarf Presents Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs (Games Workshop Lts, 1994) ISBN 1-872372-80-5
  14. Jøn, A. Asbjørn (2003). "Vampire Evolution". mETAphor (3): 22. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  15. Jøn, A. Asbjørn (2001). "From Nosteratu to Von Carstein: shifts in the portrayal of vampires". Australian Folklore: A Yearly Journal of Folklore Studies (University of New England) (16): 97–106. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
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