I have recently rekindled my interest for warhammer, I have been playing warhammer pc games and been reading many warhammer novels.
This is when I found out about the end time and the age of Sigmar.
If I ever acquire enough money to buy Warhammer this is how I would change Warhammer Fantasy.
I was going to post this on warhammer.org.uk as well, but just last week they disabled the ability to register new accounts, just my luck
Anyway tell me what you think
Each paragraph is stand alone and can be removed or changed as seen fit, nothing is written in stone.
The World
I would bring back to the old warhammer fantasy world. That does not mean that age of Sigmar would be thrown out. Just as there is warhammer 40k and warhammer age of Sigmar, there would be warhammer fantasy of the old world in addition to that.
Unlike GW who constantly made everything darker and more grim because it is ”cool”, I want to install a bit more light and hope. Because I understand that you can not only have darkness and corruption with more corruption and darkness there needs to be light, there needs to be hope.
There would be less of the corruption and oppression that is currently described in the warhammer universe in the lands of men, because people who oppress others would surely be tempted by chaos and many of those who are oppressed would turn to chaos to gain power so to strike down their oppressors.
Time
The current year would be around 1525 not 2525, because the Empire could barely survive 300-400 years without magic, so the war against chaos that was 200 years ago was around 1300 not 2300.
Religion
I would possibly decrease the number of human gods, since there are so many and modify, change some of the current gods. All the old world human deities would have the same name in all the old world nations. Affariche, Haendryk, Kalita, Mercopio, O Prospero who are all merchant gods would be merged into one god, female. Albaluea, the god of farming would change name and would be a male god.
The Farming God
A farming god would be the number one worshiped god of all humans everywhere including the Empire, Sigmar would be worshiped by the nobility in the Empire, but for the common man the farming god would be the predominant deity.
The farming gods priests would bless the land and crops giving many more harvests per year, possibly 5 in comparison to 1. Life (nature) magic wizards can do the same, however one needs to make sure they also ”heal” the soil so that one doesn’t get soil depletion, ”healing” soil is more magically difficult than ”speed growing” crops. The farming god is relatively ”new” something like maybe a few hundred years since the first peasants began worshiping him and first priests appeared or possibly less and maybe a few decades ago was when he became ”mainstream” and surpassed all other human deities as the nr 1 human god. And with him came the potato a revolutionary crop which increased food supply several times and most importantly of course booze, but only the people of Kislev know how to make booze from potatoes and possibly some Norsca farmers too. (In the real worlds history the potato changed everything because not only does it yield more food per planted square yard than grain, it also makes more potent alcohol, so in the real world a farmer needed to use more of his crops to get completely blastered but with potatoes he could get blastered on far less crops thereby allowing his wife and children more food so that they grow healthier and survived longer and in greater numbers. This is how the Nordic countries advanced.)
The Farmers of Kislev learned about the Potato before the Farming god was known, perhaps 50 years. And the people learnt to make Vodka long before the farming god came. Maybe 300 years before the first farming god priests were beginning to spread the word of the farming god.
The Merchant God
The merchant god would have temples that operate like banks anyone could deposit money and withdraw money, it would be safe and guaranteed, the ownership would be checked with acolytes/priests sensing the aura of a person. This sensing would work for almost everyone without problems except magical users both arcane and divine who’s aura would grow/change, however skilled priests would be able to identify the aura. There would be almost no theft or alteration of records within the ”church” and those few who did usually did so because they had turned to chaos. With enough spells and prayers the real numbers can be recovered.
When depositing or withdrawing money from the merchant gods temple, the owner has a small ledger book where the acolyte / priests writes down the transaction. These ledger books are only formalities since the temple magically records the numbers. These records are then, somehow I don't know the details yet, transferred to other temples so a person can withdraw their money anywhere they like and deposit in any temple and it all adds up.
The merchant god does not offer magical transfer services between different people, so if a person wants to give money to another person, the money has to physically be transported. And one can not say I wish to deposit X amount into Y persons account. Each account is unique and can only be accessed by the owner.
The merchant gods temples would usually have marketplaces / squares, where traders, sellers and merchants could set up stands and sell their goods. Small sections would be free and larger ones would be charged a ”reasonable” rate. Sometimes around these squares shops will be established and that is how a merchant district grows, sometimes.
The merchant gods priests and acolytes also goes after people who shave, mill or in other ways damage coins with the purpose of fraudulent behavior.
Verena
Possibly splitting Verena into two gods, one would be Justice the other knowledge and learning.
Priests and acolytes of Verena would form a ”police force” where allowed, seldom in the Empire with its corruption, but quite often in Kislev, almost every large town in Kislev has at least one ”House of Verena”.
Shallya
Shallya would have both male and female priests, there would be more female acolytes with lower level of power than men, and more female clergy overall however at the upper levels of divine magical power it would be equal. So more females overall in the organization, more females with low amount of power, then as the power each individual increases so does the amount of men , and equal amount at the top tier of power.
Temples of Shallya are where people go to learn about healing and medicine, anyone who wants to learn about treating sick people and curing people with non magical aid, studies in a temple of Shallya. Basically temples of Shallyas do what medical schools do today, plus of course divine magic for those who can wield it. And possibly the temples teach arcane magical healers as well.
Priests of Shallya do not weep in their sleep.
Sigmar
Sigmar priest are split something like 70/30 or 80/20 between male and female priests
Priest of Sigmar may wear helmets which should not cover the face. Could be a big backstory how the
Priests of Sigmar reached this decission. (Not sure about this one)
Male Priests of Sigmar do not have to be bald (Not sure about this one)
Morr
No clergy or any warriors of Morr be they Templars, Initiates and Grand Masters of Morr do not take vows of silence, and do not cut out their tounges. ( I see no tactical or logical reason how this would help in fighting the undead.)
The Clergy and warriors of Morr bodies are the most difficult to raise as undead when dead.
All buildings related to Morr can close their doors completely, be it temples, monestaries or any type of building.
Myrmidia
Myrmidia would have both male and female priests, 50/50 split.
All Religions
All clergy and all warriors of each religion are more difficult to raise as undead, in comparison to people who are not clergy or warriors of a religion, the clergy and warriors of Morr being the most difficult.
Money
The money system would be changed, 100 coppers would be 1 silver and 100 silvers would be 1 gold, not how it is now with 12 coppers being 1 silver and 20 silver being 1 gold as described on page 103 in the 2 nd edition of warhammer fantasy roleplay.
Dwarf coins would be the most difficult to shave, mill or damage, second would be elven coins, then after that maybe Kislev or Estalian coins, and Empire coins being the ”easiest”. The coins would be protected in different degrees by special manufacturing techniques that makes them very damage resistant, especially dwarven coins.
An average peasant who doesn’t get magical aid, divine or arcane, revenue per year is 1.25 gold, and that is revenue not profit. The profit is something like 5-15 silvers depending on skill and equipment. The peasant can feed his family and the ”profit” is how much he has left after that expense is factored in as well. So the profit is coin in hand so to speak. When you factor in the farming gods aid the revenue increases but market forces of supply and demand fight back so even though they get 5 harvests the profits ”only” increase 2,5 or so times. And that if he is not planting potatoes, potatoes give him even more revenue and profit and booze! These are just market theories and would need way more refinement but it is a start.
Magic
Magic would be a bit different, there would be a clear difference from when The Empire didn't allow magic and now when it does, a significant difference in fighting ability.
Anyone can join any priesthood, if they are of the correct alignment and spirit, however some are more naturally gifted with divine magic than others so some will progress further with divine magical abilities than others.
Some people are born with a gift for magic and they are the ones who can learn arcane magic, unlike now where anyone can learn but some better than others.
Acolytes in collages of magic are taught minor spells and as one advances one is though more complicated spells, but everyone is taught spells, unlike now where an acolyte can possibly never be taught a single spell.
Less chance of magical miscast, once a person knows a spell he can cast it as much as he likes, the problem comes when trying to cast a spell the requires more power than one can control or summon forth, that is when there is a risk of miscast. Not how it is described in the warhammer fantasy roleplay rulebook with a 1 in 10 chance of miscast for a lower level mage and then rolling on the miscast table risking corruption and whatnot. Because with the 1 in 10 chance basically it is guaranteed that the wizard will become severely damaged after casting only 1000 spells which might sound like a lot until you think how often one most practice per day to just master 1 spell, if you only cast 3 times a day well after 1 year you have reached 1000, basically it might be good for an rpg adventure where the character only ”lives” during that adventure but not for the back story of warhammer.
Light magic would offer healing like it has done in 7 th edition and earlier versions of warhammer and it would not be as ”magically expensive” to cast as is described but the same amount of effort as other schools of magic. Life magic which is nature magic would possibly have some healing spells but far less potent that light magic spells, more in the line of thinking that you can achieve the same result by 2 different means. Example you can cast a fireball on a tree and the tree will start burning, you can cast a lighting bolt on a tree and it might start burning, same end result but different ways. Life magic would have abilities to ”heal” trees and plants restore their functions etc, and this could be used to heal people but far more magically expensive and less effective than light magic spells, and light magic spells could ”heal” trees and plants but less effective than life magic.
Healing magic both divine and arcane can regrow limbs and teeth, of course it takes time and is somewhat difficult, but possible. So to regrow an arm that has been cut at the elbow would take 3-4 hours for an average skilled acolyte who has studied magic for about 3-4 years. Reattaching the cut off arm however is much easier, even if it has been a few hours since it happened or even days, just even having the bones help. However one can not attach a body part from another person or creature the magic doesn’t work that way, it needs to be the persons own body part, the blood vessels don’t line up and the “auras” aren’t the same. That type of magic would be necromancy and dark magic to do such things. Not certain however about internal organs such as livers kidneys could be put from one person into another, but external parts, definitely no.
Gold/Metal magic cant change one metal into another. Also possibly the removal of metal magic.
Not only can a wizard access the winds of magic but he also generates his own magic and this is of course one of the 8 if he is a human wizard, or several if elven wizard, not certain yet about elves.
Arcane magic is not spoken but quiet, divine magic is spoken and in uses specific words, possibly the language of the gods or language of that specific deity. The better you know and pronounce the language the better ”connection” you get to the good and the stronger your spells are.
All magic wizards ”heal” themselves a little, basically they can function on less food than a normal person, a wizard will live longer than a normal person and recover from wounds a bit faster, light magic wizards are the ones who heal the fastest can go the longest on less food and live the longest. A non light or life wizard will live to an average of 130 years, a life wizard average of 170 and an average light wizard can live to 300. A light wizard can theoretically live forever however that would require serious skill and of course not dying in battle which is the far more common cause of death for a wizard than high age.
Because all mages “heal” themselves a bit, they grow taller, healthier and stronger than an average person, because the magic helps them a bit to cover not eating optimal food, not sleeping at optimal intervals etc etc. Therefore light magic wizards are often tall and physically strong individuals.
Most if not all light mages are good or neutral, a majority good, a minority neutral. Don't know the %.
Most if not all life mages are neutral and good, a majority neutral a minority good. Don't know the %.
Light magic can not cause earth quakes those spells belong to Jade and of course its sub category Earth magic.
The more magic a wizard uses the more tired he gets, so casting many spells or powerful spells makes a wizard feel drained and fatigue. However if a wizard does not cast or practice any spells he would require less sleep, than a normal person, because of the wizards ”natural healing”. Practice, skill and natural ability determine how much a wizard can cast per day.
Fire magic is by far the most common magic type for humans.
Magical schools are free and there is no 40 gold debt when a wizard begins to adventure like now in the Empire.
Human wizards are ”specialists” and can theoretically exceed elves in their specific field of learning. For example a human wizard of average ability can become better than an average elf if they studied for the exact amount of time. However since elves live longer and have a far greater collection of written magical lore and a more established teaching system, than this seldom happens, but theoretically it could.
Human magic before Teclis taught would be a mix of elamentalist magic as described by ”mad albert” and the warhammer fantasy supplement from 1995, Realms of Sorcery, plus a splash of how warhammer magic works now, possibly healing schools, defensive schools, something half similar to how the 8 split is done but not exactly like it.
The collages of magic in Kislev have always studied the nature of magic to understand it better than the Empire and Marienburg collages and the Kislev wizards have a deeper understanding of the essence of magic that all other nations of the old world with the possible exception of Albion.
The collages of magic in Marienburg have always studied the nature of magic to understand it better and they have made some progress towards understanding it, less than those in Kislev, but more than those in the Empire.
The collages of magic in Altdorf have begun to study the nature on magic, not as much as the mages of Kislev and Marienburg have done but more than the current warhammer world describes.
The schools of magic that existed in the empire before Teclis can basically be seen as sub categories of the 8 collages of magic. With the exception of fire magic which is fire magic.
Wind magic is sub specialization of some of the celestial magic.
Water magic is a sub specialization of some of Jade magic
Earth magic is a sub specialization of some of Jade magic, earth quake spells are very difficult to cast and very very few mages posses that ability, and when they do manage to cast them they are ”reasonable” earth quakes, the earth quakes do not shake the tectonic plates but possibly just the tops soil of the ground maybe a foot or maybe less down, but the ground does shake.
Healing magic a sub category of some of light magic.
Death magic mages or Priests of Morr can not communicate in other peoples dreams.
Death magic mages telepathy would possibly be removed or weakened a bit.
Possibly only the Slann are capable of telepathy.
Necromancy would be a bit different, currently a necromancer or vampire can raise a limitless amount of bodies if only they are close enough and instantly, this for me is much to powerful because all that he needs to do is raise and attack raise and attack continuously and do serious damage, even if he is defeated then the next necromancer or vampire that comes around a few years later could do the same thing. My changes would be that an ok skilled necromancer needs about 8-10 days to create 1 walking corpse, if he works about 10 hours a day and if there are “raw materials” available. So after 10 years of work he would have about 300-400 corpses and could with that army and his own magic he could harass several villages and do serious damage. A skilled necromancer can maybe create a corps in 3-5 days but he can also create bigger “constructs”.
Possibly removal of all teleportation spells, except when a daemon is destroyed, and possibly allow Slann to be able to teleport some distance away if they are about to fall in battle.
Possibly the removal of the Skaven escape teleportation spell, or have it be a mix of arcane and divine spell which the Horned rats sometimes grants its servants if they prey for it.
Nations
Marienburg
The Marienburg split happened when magic was outlawed in the empire and the mages emigrated to Marienburg, this all happened under the Emperor Goldgather who rules around year 1000 or so, maybe 900, the mages and the armies there inflict huge losses on the magic-less Emperors armies. When the Marieburg split happened or some time after, some of the humans were able to convince some elves with some magical ability to teach them some things, so Mareinburg would have 8 collages of magic, plus their sea magic collage.
When Magic was forbidden in the Empire, mages would emigrate, usually to Merienburg or Kislev, but sometimes even further, and this would continue until magic was allowed again.
The Marienburg navy is mostly defensive and has some merchant vessels which trade in the old world and as far as Araby an average of one ship every few months or so travel there. Sometimes, very rarely, a ship will make a trip to the far east but it happens rarely since the trips is very dangerous and the far is east is far away. Maybe once every 5 years a captain decides and succeeds in traveling there and coming back.
Kislev
Kislev would have magical colleges in Erengrad, 8 collages and the conclusions for the 8 different would have come from the Kislev people themselves who figured it out and then after had some help and confirmation by some elves. The College of Ice Magic would be in Kislev and there would be both male and female ice mages. The God Ursun would have chain mail armor and not like now where he is in his underwear. They would have bear riders who wield well made 1handed axes and shields and would wear mostly chain mail, and sometimes full plate if they could afford it. Very few would be ”evil”, there would mostly be good and neutral people there. Kislev would have some type of power sharing where there was a Tzar and Tzarina and some form of noble representation in some type of “assembly” who could vote and have some power.
In Kislev all mages are called either acolytes, wizards with some title before or after the word wizard or mages. There are no official titles “witches”, and no mage would tolerate being called a witch, and no normal person would call a wizard that because of both respect of their talents, and fear of what a mage might do to them.
Kislev would be completely different than it is now, the people of Kislev would be mostly “good stable” people, there would be no serfs or slaves, vastly less corruption and oppression because Kislev on the border with chaos could simply not afford any of it.
Since Kislev is so close to the border of chaos some of those who would be susceptible to chaos would be drawn to chaos before they have children, thereby leaving those who are a bit more chaos resistant to have more children than those who are susceptible.
Since Kislev is so close to the border of chaos, there would be magics both divine and arcane developed to check if someone is tainted by chaos and there would be regular checks both magical and non magical to see if one is tainted, for example once a week or two citizens need to undress together with the other villagers in the village hall or in a temple with all other members of the same gender in front of the village elders, or something like that. Regular checks. If done properly won't take more than maybe half an hour or less.
Because of these regular checks both magical and non magical there are few chaos people who can live hidden in society thereby forcing them to move, thereby allowing individuals who are less chaos susceptible to have more children than those who are chaos susceptible thereby increasing the % of individuals who are less chaos susceptible, which has given the current population mix in Kislev of “good stable” people. Because of these checks basically a somewhat less chaos susceptible population has been bred forward, as in won't easily worship the chaos gods or turn towards chaos.
These checks, “breeding”, tradition and history has given a population that is neutral and good, with a very few evil individuals and those who are evil are a bit less susceptible to chaos than those humans who are evil in other lands. That does not mean the evil people are less evil, just they wont turn to chaos as often but some of course do.
To clarify, the “breeding” is not something mandated or ordered, it just happened by itself because of the rules that made it harder for a chaos susceptible person to stay in Kislev, thereby leaving those who are less chaos susceptible thereby increasing the % of less chaos susceptible people.
In Kislev peasants do not ”own” the land. They are allowed to build houses and work the fields as if it was their own but they can't sell or borrow against the land. How much land each peasant is given is determined by the quality of land and how much a 10 strong household could work if they worked full time, so the possibility of making profits is quite high. Kislev has no shortage of workable land, any person can go to the ”land bureau” and be given a ”plot”. Usually when children come of age they can claim a piece of land but there might not be any available land near where they live so they might have to move a considerable distance. When the ”owners” of a piece of land dies it is given to the children if they still live there usually the eldest who is still living there, if none of the children still live there or want to return or have children of their own which can take over, then the land reverts back to the ”land bureau” and is given to some other peasant who requests land. The piece of land is not divided among the children, a household much take over the whole thing.
Larger ”plots” of land are available the more to the north, not only because the land is of lesser quality but also to compensate for living closer to chaos.
In Kislev anyone can join ”the army” both male and female and sign up for X amount of years at a time, there is always a need for soldiers. Male and Females fight almost always in separate battalions, priests, and mages being the exception.
Kislev is constantly at war, every few years a band of somewhat considerable size will launch an attack on the land of Kislev. Every few decades a pretty serious sized army will attack, and every few hundred years there are these big incursions of chaos.
Because Kislev has good and stable people, they can handle these wars and the population despite the constant warfare was actually growing but marginally. If Kislev could however bee free from war even for just a single generation it could become the strongest nation in the old world.
With the establishment of the farming god and the potato, the population of Kislev has actually increased to a bit more than marginal.
Kislev has far better ”medical” care than the Empire and hygiene is far higher because a long tradition of magic, few evil people, respect for the healing sciences and religion, few children die at an early age many survive, which means large families of 8 being the normal but 17 or more not unheard of.
Even though Kislev invented Vodka the soldiers and the people drink far less than the people of the empire, and it is considered a dishonor to be drunk before a battle. If one is not in control of senses one is making it easier for chaos to win and ones friends, family and countrymen of dying. The people of Kislev drink and celebrate when they are safe and secure, when they do not have to do battle for at least a couple of days. This could be one
Kislev does not attack the Empire but sometimes has to protect itself from corrupt nobles of the Empire who launch attacks against Kislev’s southern border. Kislev has never lost any of its land for long to an Empire invader and has always reclaimed lost land, eventually.
Bretonnia
The Bretonnians would be like they were in the 5 th edition with true noble ideals and pure leaders, not the corrupt oppression that is now. The lady of the lake would be a pure human deity and not the elven god Lilieath using the humans as a meat shield for the wood elves. Bretonnia would have collages of magic and both male and female wizards.
The Empire
The Empire could be almost as corrupt at it is now because Kislev protects it from the North, Bretonnia and Mareinburg from the West and mountains with Dwarfs to the South and East, thereby allowing the Empire the luxury of corruption and incompetence.
When a corrupt noble assumes power they usually kick out priests of Verena.
Estalia
Estalia is somewhat united land in a lose confederacy under a Myrmidian theocracy and it is a stable and ”fair” rule, the priests are not corrupt or evil. Estalia still has different somewhat independent provinces with different laws and traditions but they very rarely war against each other and will respond to a call from the Myrmidian leadership.
The Estalian “unification” happened anywhere from 50-10 years ago, I am not certain.
The Estalians now, somewhat, united have declared “a crusade” against the skaven to reclaim the lost city of Kazavar also know as Tylos now know as Skavenblight and its surrounding land. Since they found out what happened possibly by cross references of old books and divine guidance.
The Eastalian navy is mostly defensive and has some merchant vessels which trade in the old world and as far as Araby a few ships a year travel there. Sometimes, very rarely, a ship will make a trip to the far east but it happens rarely since the trips is very dangerous and the far is east is far away. Maybe once every 10 or 15 years a captain decides and succeeds in traveling there and coming back.
After the “unification” of Estalia and the declaration of the crusade against the Skaven to get back Karzavar all expeditions into other lands have been called back, and no more ships travel to Lustria. Ships have instead increased trade with the old world and now a few travel to Araby every 6 months or so, an average of about 1 every 2 or 3 months.
The Estalians had before unification some hedge wizards and some type of elamentalists and healing schools in some of the different “states”. But since the unification they have begun establishing collages of magic with some help from Kislev and maybe something from Marienburg, the Empire, and maybe even some elves giving some minor help.
Because Kislev wizards and guidance played a somewhat significant role in helping establishing organized magic, there could possibly a sub section of the Jade collage of ice magic with a few Esalian ice mages.
Since Marienburg also helped somewhat and because Estalia is somewhat of a seafaring nation another sub section of the jade collage is devoted to sea magic.
Estalia has to now and again fight off dark elven invasion/ slave raids. The dark elfs come now and again to loot, pillage and raid the Estalian coasts, mostly for slaves.
After Estalia became somewhat united it has also tried to establish a better rapport with Tilean states and some in Estalia are even considering a unification with its neighbor but such and act would possibly require the reclaiming of Kazavar.
Tilea
Inspired of the unification of Estalia at least 2 Tilean states have merged.
The farming god has become quiet popular in many of the fertile lands have stopped declaring war as often on each other and have begun building up their own states instead. Myrmidia is still however the primary deity of the nobility and upper classes.
The Border Prince, Human nation
The Creation of a very new ”country”, 20- years old or so maybe even much younger, somewhere in the Border Prince region starting out with maybe nothing more than a town. A light magic mage who was feed up with the corruption and bull in the Empire, tired of witch hunters burning the innocent and bowing to the guilty, tired of ”nobles” oppressing the weak and the nobles constant infighting, establishes this ”land” where he is king but where there are no nobles and all citizens can vote for a representative, so a form of constitutional democracy.
In this new land, all the human deities, of the old world, who are either good or neutral are given one guaranteed seat, if of course they have a priest and/or worshipers. Depending of the age of the country the ”house” might not be fully representative of a normal human population because simply there aren’t enough people living there. Most people usually vote for someone from the clergy so the ”house” is almost completely filled with representatives from different religions. If the country had been old like maybe 100 or 200 years then the farming god would have the largest representation and Morr the god of death only having his one guaranteed seat, because not many would vote for the god of death. But since it is a new country the seat distribution might be different. And of course in the warhammer world where there are actual gods, these priests are stable people who are not easily corrupted.
The new country which is/was not much more than an empty piece of land that grew/ will grow into a small town/ hamlet was established by; the light mage, a priest and a few acolytes of Verena, a few priests, 2-3, and a bit more acolytes of Shallya, a priest and a handful of acolytes of Myrmidia, and a single priest of Morr, in addition to that maybe some acolytes of the farming god were also there from the beginning or joined a bit after 1-2 years. At about 1-2 years after the establishment a priest of the merchant god arrived.
This new country in the Border Prince also has magic with the help of Verna and possibly also Shallya, that can detect the alignment of a person, and in addition to that has 3 rules. No individual naturally evil may become a citizen of the land, no individually naturally evil may permanently settle in the land, no individually naturally evil may be born into the land. Which means that almost everyone is either good or neutral.
In this new country priests and acolytes of Verena operate a ”police force”.
In this new country with the help of Verena the establishment of collages of magic has begun.
In this new country there will be and/or is far fewer death magic and grey magic wizards than in the Empire in proportion to its population. There will be and/or is however more light magic wizards in proportion to its population than in the Empire.
The Border Prince, a Dwarven hold
Somewhere in the border prince a dwarf hold with expatriate dwarfs is established or a dwarven hold lets in many expatriate dwarfs and in this hold dwarven mages are let in, with some back story how a dwarven mage together with some human mages helped in the defense of the hold against attackers who surely, without the magic, would have killed many of the dwarfs but because of the magic the dwarfs lost very few lives and possibly not a single one.
This hold also allows female dwarfs to assume any profession just as expatriate dwarfs do and this hold starts with the dwarf program of 1 child per year per woman, more about that later under races.
This hold is also somewhere relatively close located to the new human “town” maybe at most 20 miles, not certain about the distance, but “close”. Less than a days walk.
This Dwarven hold could be Karak Grom as described in Nathan Longs novel the battle of skull pass with some modifications to the story.
A Vampire Nation
I am not certain about this one if it fits into the warhammer world, it is something I have been thinking about in general fantasy terms.
A vampire nation that is ruled by vampires but treats their people like a farmer treats their cattle. Not like how Sylvania is described now where the people are half starved, mentally retarded and the very definition of idiocy. But instead where the people are well feed and there is almost no crime or corruption. The vampires do not oppress or harass the people but instead provide real security, every criminal is sentenced to being drained, perhaps not completely but significantly for several days, or perhaps completely, not sure if there are degrees depending on crime or if all crimes are sentenced with death, and that is how the vampires keep themselves fed. If you do not break the laws which are perfectly normal laws not oppressive corruption or anything like that you can live a perfectly normal life.
In addition to that I would add “a hierarchy of blood” where dragon blood is the most potent for the vampires, then elven and dwarven, then hippogriff and unicorn blood, then humans and halfling blood, then lizardmen and pegasi blood, then ogre and orc blood, then goblin and skaven blood, then animal blood with its own hierarchy. Not exactly sure about the order could require some tweaking.
The vampires themselves prefer to drink higher quality blood since proportionally it gives the most power for the least amount, but the vampires will when needed drink animal blood as well, larger quantities are of course required and one can not get the same type of power but it is enough to be “alive” and operate at an “ok” capacity.
The vampires of the nation also drain people just before the people die of high age or when people are about to die from sickness or injury.
All dead bodies, from any type of death are then take by the vampires and used as “raw materials” for the vampires creations.
The would be some type of “rules” for who gets which body, who gets to drink and a market where blood rights, bodies and body parts were sold.
All religions are forbidden in the land since “holy” objects damage the undead.
Maybe making silver illegal to use in coinage and creation of any items. And maybe not, am uncertain about this one.
This vampire nation could be anywhere possibly Sylvania and possibly not.
This nation could possibly be close to the dark elves, possibly on the same continent as the dark elves somewhere on the border with chaos, making an interesting story how some human slaves who escaped did so by either being turned by a vampire or making some deal with an evil “spirit / higher power that is non chaos” And this “deity” is “worshiped” by the vampires who offer sacrifices to it.
Or somewhere in the world that has been attacked by the dark elves or somewhere along the sea raiding routes of dark elves.
In this vampire nation dark elves are held prisoner sometimes intact, sometimes with their eye plucked out, tongues, feet and hands cut off, fed and kept alive to be drained by the vampires possibly for eternity unless the dark elf somehow escapes or dies.
The vampire nation is ruled by a Vampire male who has some pretty ok skills in magic and fighting but is a bit unstable, since only an unstable vampire could create such a nation with these laws. Or it could be ruled by the vampire female Neferata who studied humans for several millennia, and this nation and its laws is the conclusion of those studies.
The vampires as I wrote do not hurt or oppress the human “subjects” and instead by following the “vampire laws” are quite well fed and have plenty of “raw materials” to “create” with. Since this is the Warhammer world the vampires always have a supply of orc and skaven blood, because there is always an orc or skaven attack somewhere or the vampires can just go down in the earth and find skaven tunnels and get all the blood and “raw materials” that they need. Plus of course the dark elves that they have captured, and continue to capture when the opportunity presents itself.
The vampire Nation could be Lahmia.
The vampire nation does not actively attack dwarfs or high elves, the vampires will of course defend them selves if attacked but do not actively seek out and attack dwarfs and high elves. If for some reason a dwarf or high elf is involved in some sort of fight, then the vampire/s take them back to vampire/s “home” and drain their blood of course but they do not use the bodies for “constructs” they destroy the bodies so that no evidence of them ever being there is removed.
The vampire nation does not attack other human nations unless someone there is threatening an attack on the vampire nation or is planing a raid or some form of attack.
The vampires only actively attack dark elves, greenskins, skaven, forces of chaos and other type of “aggressive” forces. However the vampires will avoid attacking the forces of “order” if possible.
Because of how the system works, the vampire nation could possibly be the strongest vampire nation for several thousand years, even rivaling Lahmia at its height of power, and if things continue as they have, then this vampire nation could possibly become the most powerful vampire nation ever, and possibly the strongest “human” nation ever.
Many vampires do not approve of how things are run, even though the results are far greater than anything any other vampire could achieve under any other type of system, however as long as the “leader” is in charge the vampires keep their opinions to them selves and follow the laws.
Albion
Albion would have two Islands on big and one small, the isle of wights where few or no people live.
The different factions of Albion have united under one ruler possibly recently, possibly when Gotrek and Felix visited, because they came to the realization that if they constant attack and steal from each other they will forever be poor and weak but if they work together and build they can reclaim their lost land and keep the dark elves at bay.
Also with the unification came the establishment of the farming god who helps with the weather and constant rain despite the mists, without affecting the protective abilities of the stones. So the mists form a barrier around the Islands but there would be sun in the middle. It would still rain more often than it does in the Empire, but not as often as it does now, and it would be possibly to plant and cultivate crops.
The truthsayers have now gathered together and constructed a “college/s” because they are now more organized than before they have begun purifying the stones.
The farming gods magic plus the now gathering of truthsayers into a “college” has begun to purify the land.
Once the people are numerous enough and developed enough they can remove the mists that surround Albion and take their land back from the rain.
After Gotrek, Felix and Teclis visited the Island, Teclis returned with a group of mages who helped close down and purify the passage ways of the old ones, and purify and stabilize the Oghma stones.
The elves also helped in the establishment of the “collage/s” of magic.
The lizardmen at some point arrived and took each and every magical item and anything that wasn’t part of a stone building, so all items, tablets, treasure, everything, except the temple/s it / them selves were taken. And then the Lizardmen left.
Possibly the removing of the Oghma stones from Albion altogether that they never were placed there never existed and the mists came from some other source and the Giants might never have been there or were placed to protect the Temple/s of the old ones. Possibly only having one temple of the old ones and it is now almost completely destroyed / gone. Possibly having the Turthsayers protecting the passageways of the old ones and the one temple now with the destruction of both they instead now have a new purpose.
Technology
No gunpowder or steam power, since in my mind it can't be fantasy if there is gunpowder, again nothing is written in stone.
Races
Humans
All Humans in the old world speak ”common” with some mild variations, very rare just some words here or there and possibly pronunciation.
Dwarfs
Dwarfs have flamethrowers ”cannons” which can fire ”on and off” and not needed to be firing constantly, powered by runes and have a ”ammo load” of about 30 seconds up to 5 minutes depending on quality of rune before a few days of recharging is required. The runes recharge themselves over time. Range is from an average of 50 yards up to 200 or so for high quality runes. (During ww2 the average range was 20-40 yards and 10-20 seconds was about what a flamethrower soldier had in his tube and he could inflict a lot of damage with that.)
Not certain about this one; Dwarfs are more carbon dioxide resistant than any other race, so they can sometimes burn away some of the oxygen thereby chocking an opposing force, if properly done. They have special runes that burn away oxygen. And they have runes that create oxygen. Defensive passages usually have ”low ventilation” And only the ”main road” has a good stable amount of oxygen. I don't know if this tactic is new or has been used for many years.
Not certain about this; Dwarfs also have runes that can drain all magic of any type except other runes, of magic. So a powerful rune could drain away even a divine magic items or a very corrupt magic item. Different runes for different types of magic. There are runes that drain away all types of magic, and there are specialists rune that drain specific types of magic. These type of runes prevent undead from simply overrunning dwarf holds. But of course the runes can only drain so much magic per minute there are limitations of course. But they don’t drain ”the winds of magic” that naturally flow over the world.
Dwarfs have runes that strengthen rocks and earth, thereby making it almost impossible to dig under Dwarf holds or attack them by breaking through their walls. Preventing the ever nagging theory of why goblins and skaven simply don't just dig a big hole under dwarf holds and simply have it fall.
Dwarfs have runes that can ”heal” rocks, thereby rearing cracks and fissures
Dwarfs have special boxes where on puts magical items and the runes then drain away the magic from the items. The runes can be removed relatively ”easy” for an average rune smith. Then other boxes with other runes that convert that magic to ”neutral rune magic” and finally other runes that convert this neutral rune magic to specific rune magic needed for a rune. So a rune is made with both or either capturing the winds of magic into a rune and or transferring magic into it from one of these collector runes.
Dwarfs rune masters do not have the ”rule of pride” this might be good in a tabletop game but not in the whole back story of warhammer. Of course there are copies of rune and rune combinations on many runic weapons, since obviously there are only so many different type of runes.
Dwarfs have very few ”thieves” even expatriate dwarfs are very very rarely if ever thieves.
Slayers: As I see it Slayers in warhammer usually don't have armor because of 2 reasons, 1 was that in the tabletop game it would have made for a very expensive and powerful unit for the dwarfs to have an unbreakable, undamagable unit. Secondly they most likely weren't given armor because of how it looks; shirtless dwarfs shouting and making faces is an esthetically different thing from fully armored dwarfs. So in my version slayers could of course have armor however, when a dwarf becomes a slayer he doesn’t want to burden the family more by walking of with an heirloom and expensive piece of craftdwarfship, so he takes only what he needs, a slayer can of course buy an armor or if his whole clan was slain use the family armor, in addition to that the wear and tear of a slayers armor would be greater than a normal dwarfs because the slayer constantly seeks out battle.
I want at some time in recent history around 20 or 30 years ago have the Dwarfs re-evaluate their birth system. Currently a female dwarf usually has 4 children, there are 3 males born for each female, a net zero birth rate. A female is pregnant for 9 months just like a human. and has1-3 husbands. However I want there to be some big back story where the dwarfs were forced to answer and do a proper calculation on why they didn't simply have one child per year and how many Dwarfs would be born if they had one child per year per married female and how many lost holds that could be reclaimed with such an increase in numbers. Upon seeing the numbers after the proper calculation made by Dwarfs, at least one hold began having more children.
Dwarfs, who are not chaos dwarfs, and mages are very rare as described in the Warhammer fantasy roleplay supplement Dwarfs Stone and Steel. To what is written their I want to add some things. Dwarfs who do study magic are expatriates, usually learn elamentalist magic, Fire, Earth, as described in the book, and maybe Wind and Lightning. Dwarfs know far fewer spells, their magic is less powerful, but they make far fewer mistakes and are very corruption resistant. Because they make less mistakes and usually live longer than humans the net effect can still be some pretty ok magic. Dwarfs also have higher endurance than human wizards and can cast longer and require less time to recover after casting many spells, in comparison with human wizards.
Dwarfs do not pass on grudges made against human on their descendants. Dwarfs do not judge humans by dwarven stndards. A Dwarf is a Dwarf and a Human is a Human. Possibly some back story to this a grudge being made againsta a human and his descendant/s making a good case infron of the high king that one can not judge human by dwarven standards.
Dwarfs have good teeth that do not suffer often from diseases.
Elves
The Elves of Ulthan hearing about the dwarven birth program also started having more children, not as many as 1 per year, but more than they currently do, and greater than their death rate. The Dark Elves did not because of how their society is constructed.
Elves have good teeth that do not suffer often from diseases.
Halflings
Halflings are more kind than the current warhammer version and less obnoxious,c loser to how they are described in the Fantasy Roleplay rulebook excluding roleplaying hint section, so no slang or invention of new words and less rude gestures. They do fight and have skilled archers and possibly crossbow units, cross bows bought from humans and maybe dwarfs.
Halflings are much healthier than human and rarely get sick. Halfling teeth are also much better than human teeth and rarely if ever suffer any problems.
Vampires
Vampires rarely make mistakes, and have strong memories.
Vampires learn “slower” in everything both magic and fighting, but because they make few mistakes have strong memories then once they learnt it they know it. Factor in that they live for a long time and you have a powerful creature indeed.
Greenskins
Orcs don't have to eat nearly as often as humans, but the bigger an orc is the more often he has to eat. An orc that is 1,5 meters tall would need to eat 2 pounds per month to survive of normal ”food”, however an orc can if needed eat trees and grass to survive but he needs far greater quantities. Greenskin feel hunger yes but they can survive longer on less food. An orc who is 2 meters tall needs to eat about 10 pounds of food every 2 to 3 days to survive, not certain about the numbers lots of fine tuning needed, but basically orcs can live on less food, that is how there are so many of them. Same goes for goblins they can eat less than humans and survive longer but proportionally they need to eat more than orcs if their weight were the same.
The more an orc eats and fights the bigger he grows, the bigger he grows the more he needs to eat.
I don't know exactly how I would handle orc birth, if there are females or if orcs are created by ”spore” or something else.
Skaven
Skaven also need less food to survive and function than a human if they weighed the same.
Skaven do not have many of their machines but they do have some type of warpstone lightning cannons, that are very unreliable.
Lizardmen
At some time in recent history, maybe 20 years ago, a human or elven wizard of great healing ability by some reason arrives in Lustria and because of some big back story he is able to heal the mummified body of Lord Kroak of Itza a little bit, healing not reanimate, and because of the healing plus the magic of the Lizardmen Lord the body will now over the next few thousand of years heal itself completely. Already with this small amount of “life” Lord Kroak Itza is able to take a more active role in the lizardmen society.
At some time in recent history the Slann, possibly Lord Kroak, discover how to spawn other Slann, or the spawning pools are activated by themselves some old directive by the old ones kicking in, however these Slann vary in power most will be weaker of strength than those of the fifth spawning but a few will be stronger one possibly as strong as the Slann of the second spawning. They spawn at a rate of possibly one every few years or maybe slower.
At some time in recent history no more than 150 years ago maybe even just 20 years ago, the Slann got knowledge of a theory that perhaps the Old Ones did not have a final plan as a sculpture how the different races and the world would evolve but instead as a gardener would guide and cultivate them. Also the idea of that possibility the Old Ones are gone and now we who are left must try and make the best of the situation. To fight chaos and its servants is of course one the Lizardmens goal, and they now understand that other races, or at least individual of other races also fight chaos.
History
The ancient city of Kazavar, known also as Tylos, Til, Tilea, never used slaves or had slaves.
The Old Ones were here between 15000 years before Sigmar until about 5600 years before Sigmar, not like in the newest edition only 200 years. Maybe not 10,000 years but much more than 200.
Edited by GoldenIslandsonYouTube
And don't forget it's the hope that kills you
