Warhammer: The End Times

A long-prophesied cataclysm, an apocalypse destined to destroy the known world, heralded by the Twin-Tailed Comet—a sign of both hope and destruction. Its appearance heralded the ascension of Archaon, the 13th and final All-Chosen of Chaos Undivided. "The Three-Eyed King," "Lord of the End Times," "Herald of the Apocalypse"—he bore many names as he led the hordes of Chaos upon the human kingdoms of the Old World. And while the world writhed in its death throes, the mortal races of the Old World fought to their last breath against the all-consuming darkness.

The Winds of Magic have gone out of control, creating monsters and changing the landscape.

As the title suggests, the end of this world is somewhat predictable. The world that was will cease to exist in 2528 IC.

A world similar to Earth, but warped by magic and war. Major continents:

The Old World is the heart of civilization, analogous to Europe.

Ulthuan is the local Atlantis, the homeland of the elves, a magical island fortress in the ocean.

Norsca is a harsh northern land inhabited by Vikings and a constant staging ground for Chaos raids.

The Chaos Wastes are a frenzied wasteland in the north where the laws of physics break down, home to the Chaos Gods and their minions.

Naggaroth is an analogue of North America, inhabited by Dark Elves and Chaos.

Lustenia is a continent similar to South America, inhabited by lizard people in the jungle.

The Far East is a vast land (analogous to China, Japan, and the Mongolian steppes), including Cathay, Nippon, India (Hind), and the Ogre Kingdoms.

The Southern Lands are a continent similar to Africa, ranging from equatorial jungles to southern deserts.

Beneath all this lies a global network of caverns, the Underdark, home to the Skaven (rat-men) and renegade Dwarves.

A manifestation of the unstable energy of Chaos, flowing from its realm into the world through the polar rifts. It is a dangerous force, capable of altering reality, but also distorting the sorcerer himself.

The basis of systematized magic is the Eight Winds (Colors), each of which is associated with a certain aspect of existence and emotions:

· Akshi (Red) - fire magic. · Azir (Blue) - magic of the sky, wind and foresight. · Gur (Amber) - the magic of animals, instincts and transformation. · Hamon (Golden) - the magic of metals, alchemy and fortitude. · Ulgu (Grey) - magic of shadow, illusion and diminution. · Shaish (Amethyst) - the magic of death and repose. · Giran (Green) - the magic of life, nature and growth. · Hish (White) - light magic.

Humans cannot safely use raw magic and are trained to control only one Wind at the Empire's colleges of magic, lest they suffer mutation or demonic possession. High elves are capable of more complex sorcery, combining several Winds into higher magic.

Using magic always carries risk: the sorcerer constantly battles its flow, and failure threatens a dangerous "manifestation" (from an explosion to the summoning of demons). Magical artifacts and runes help focus and stabilize the energy.

Thus, magic is a powerful, but deadly weapon in the fight against the forces of Chaos and other enemies, requiring an iron will and knowledge.

(Prototype - Holy Roman Empire, 15th century) The largest and oldest country in the Old World and humanity's most reliable defense against the constant threat of Chaos, it stretches from the Sea of ​​Claws and Kislev in the north to the Worlds Edge Mountains in the east and south and the Grey Mountains in the west. Almost the entire Empire is covered in ancient, dense forests—a breeding ground for wild and evil creatures. Cities and villages, like islands of civilization, stand amidst this impenetrable wilderness, and the people of the Empire constantly struggle with the diverse dangers that surround them. Its territories encompass vast forests, towering mountains, and bourgeois cities of learning and culture, where the art of war and science coexist. However, it is also a dangerous and grim land of superstition and fear, where peasants cling to talismans to protect themselves from evil and the corrupting power of Chaos. Since its founding by the legendary warrior Sigmar, the Empire has endured wars, plagues, and internal strife, overcoming them all thanks to the bravery of its troops and the steadfastness of its people. Yet evil still lurks deep within the land, like boils, lurking in the darkness, behind the mountains, and gathering strength in ancient forests and abandoned fortresses.

At the moment, the Empire is disunited and on the brink of collapse. The Emperor is Karl Franz. The backbone of the Empire's army is infantry and artillery. Archers with bows or arquebuses stand guard under the protection of halberdiers and swordsmen, while the cavalry distracts enemy troops or delivers the main blow, and the artillery destroys crowds of enemies with its fire.

Gods: Sigmar is the patron god of the Empire and its founder. He is the patron of the Empire's warriors and defenders. He is the chief god of the pantheon. Ulric the Wolf is the god of war and destruction, the master of wolves and winter. Taal is the god of nature, the ruler of animals, mountains and forests. Raya is the goddess of family life, fertility and childbirth. Manann is the god of the seas and oceans. Morr is the god of death and dreams. Myrmidia is the goddess of war and strategy. Shallya is the goddess of healing, mercy and compassion. Verena is the goddess of knowledge, law and justice.

An all-pervasive force of destruction and perverse creation, emanating from the Warp (primordial chaos). Its purpose is to consume the material world.

Source: Emanations of the lower emotions and instincts of intelligent races, penetrating into reality through the polar rifts in the North and South of the world.

Gods of Chaos (Elder Gods):

· Khorne: God of blood, war, rage and murder. · Nurgle: God of plague, death, perseverance and decay. · Tzeentch: God of magic, change, hope and intrigue. · Slaanesh: God of excess, pleasure, vice and perfection.

Manifestations:

1. Warp energy (Chaos magic): Distorts reality, creates mutations, demons and monsters.
2. Barbarians of the North (Chaos Tribes): Human tribes of Norsca and Kuri, living along the Northern Rifts, worshiping the Chaos Gods.
3. Chaos Host: Chosen mutant warriors possessed by daemons or wearing cursed Chaos armor. Includes Chaos Knights, Mages, Beastmen, and Marauders.
4. Daemons: Embodied entities of gods that inhabit the Warp.

Chaos Cult: Secret cults across the world that seek to weaken states from within through corruption, subversion, and the worship of dark gods.

The armies of Chaos regularly descend upon civilized lands in the form of terrifying Plagues, led by legendary chosen ones such as Archaon the Almighty. Their ultimate goal is to bring the world to the End Times.

The Dwarves (Davi) are an ancient race that dwells in mountain strongholds. Their civilization, a once-mighty Empire, fell into decline after the Elven War and the invasion of the forces of Chaos, but they steadfastly hold on to their traditions and holdings.

Society and Culture: Extremely conservative and clannish. The highest values ​​are craftsmanship, honor, keeping one's word, and an unbridled thirst for revenge. Their entire way of life revolves around crafts, mining, and the keeping of Books of Grudges, which must be avenged even generations later. Dwarven magic is runic, woven into metal and stone.

Technology and Engineering: Dwarves are the greatest engineers and blacksmiths in the world. They create complex mechanisms, powerful artillery (organs, catapults), steam engines, and unrivaled weapons and armor. Their underground fortresses are masterpieces of architecture and fortification.

Military Strength: Dawi armies are slow, but incredibly resilient. Their strength lies in their disciplined, heavily armored infantry (shieldmen, fighters), devastating artillery, and engineering marvels (helicopters, steam tanks). They rarely retreat and fight to the last.

Essence: Dwarves are a tragic and majestic race, living on the glory of the past and the weight of grievances. Their greatest enemies are time, oblivion, and those who dare insult them. They can be allies, but their stubbornness, long memories, and literal sense of honor make them difficult partners. They are the embodiment of resilience, mastery, and unyielding vengeance.

Chaos Dwarves (Davi-Zharr) are the degenerate descendants of the dwarves, consumed by the influence of Chaos during the Catastrophe of the Rift. They dwell in the depths of the Dark Lands, their capital being Zharr-Naggrund.

Society: A rigid hierarchy based on strength, cruelty, and an obsession with craftsmanship. Clans are led by powerful Chaos Lords. Chaos Dwarves have retained the basic cultural traits of their kind—stubbornness, a love of craftsmanship, and a long memory—but they are twisted by dark forces. They are driven by hatred for all former allies and a thirst for revenge for their exile.

Cult and Changes: They worship dark gods, primarily Hasht, a deified traitorous ancestor. The constant influence of Chaos has mutated them: stone skin, burning eyes, twisted bodies. Their souls are seared with hatred.

Technology and Troops: The pinnacle of their craft is the creation of daemonic engines and infernal weaponry. Their artillery (lead throwers, flamethrowers) and steam tanks, often imbued with daemonic essence, are more powerful and monstrous than their Imperial or standard Dawi counterparts. Their troops are fanatical infantry armed with firearms and axes, as well as monstrous creatures and mechanisms fueled by daemonic energy.

The gist: Chaos Dwarves are a dark parody of traditional dwarves. They have taken their core traits—intransigence, mastery, and a thirst for vengeance—to absurd and nightmarish extremes. Instead of honor, they embrace maniacal cruelty; instead of preserving traditions, they create daemonic technology. They are a living reminder of how the greatest virtues of a race, corrupted by Chaos, become its greatest vices.

Bretonnia is a vast, powerful, and extremely conservative kingdom, inspired by the French and Arthurian Middle Ages. Its foundation is a strict feudal system and a cult of knightly valor.

Society: Rigidly divided into two classes. The nobility (knights and lords) live by a code of honor, dedicating their lives to war, tournaments, and service to the Lady of the Lake—the kingdom's patron goddess. The vast majority of the population are disenfranchised peasants, burdened with exorbitant taxes and hardships, whose lives are worthless in the eyes of the nobility.

Religion and Ideal: The central figure is the Lady of the Lake, a mysterious goddess who granted King Gilles a magical sword and blessed the creation of the kingdom. The ideal of the Bretonnian knight is the Grail, the chalice of the goddess. Those who drink from it become superhumanly powerful Knights of the Grail, the spiritual leaders of the nation.

Military Strength: Bretonnia's strength lies in its heavy cavalry. Knights at arms on mighty steeds are the main striking force. The infantry consists of poorly trained and equipped peasant militiamen, whom the knights consider "cannon fodder."

The gist: Bretonnia is a world of stark contrasts: glittering castles and impoverished villages, lofty ideals of honor and brutal social injustice, noble knights and oppressed peasants. This kingdom lives in the myth of its past greatness, ignoring internal ills in favor of external glory and crusades against its enemies.

The greenskins are not separate races, but parts of a single fungal organism. They are born from spores that germinate in the soil. Their existence is driven by the instinct for aggression and expansion.

Orcs are large, strong, dim-witted, and extremely warlike. They live for combat, considering war the meaning of life. The stronger the orc, the higher their status. Orcs love loud battles, fast rides on war boars, and anything that makes a lot of noise (especially gunpowder). Goblins are smaller, more cunning, and more cowardly than orcs. They prefer mass attacks, sneakiness, poisons, and the use of dangerous fauna (such as arachnarok spiders or trolls) over fair combat. They are often led by orcs, but can also act independently in large hordes.

Their society is built on brute force and fear. When, under the influence of an inexplicable "WAAAAAGH!" force (a psychic field that intensifies with their numbers and aggression), numerous tribes unite under the command of a mighty Warboss, the WAAAAGH! is formed—a gigantic horde that sweeps away all in its path.

Greenskins are one of the greatest threats to the civilized world, an eternal force of chaos and destruction, yet comical and grotesque in their primitive cruelty. They do not serve the Chaos gods; they are a natural disaster born of the very nature of this world.

The Wood Elves are a mysterious and isolated race, descendants of High Elven colonists who merged with the spirits of the magical forest of Athel Loren on the Old World continent. They are a wild, cruel, and deeply spiritual people, alienated from other races.

Society and Nature: Their society is divided into two main peoples: the elves (asur, descendants of the high elves) and the dryankh (ancient forest spirits in elven bodies). They live in complete symbiosis with Athel Loren—a living, sentient forest that protects and guides them. Their cities are giant trees, palaces of living vines, and hidden glades. Their way of life is hunting, song, war, and the worship of nature spirits.

Religion and Magic: They do not worship the classical elven gods, but revere the local forest spirits and the Hunter King Orion (an elven embodiment of the forest spirit) and the Eternal Queen Ariel (a demigoddess who guards the magic of Lorena). Their magic is the magic of life and nature (Lorena), controlled by the Sorceresses.

Military Might: Their army embodies speed, stealth, and deadly precision. They do not fight linear battles. Their strength lies in their maneuverable light infantry (Everwaiters), assassin-archers (Borderguards), legendary flying cavalry on eagles and stags, and powerful forest spirits (Treeheads, Dryankh). They lure the enemy into forest ambushes and destroy them using the landscape.

The gist: Wood Elves are not romantic defenders of nature, but its ruthless and cunning embodiment. They are deeply xenophobic, seeing any outsider as a threat to their forest. Their world is the beauty and horror of the wild, combined in one. They do not strive for imperial grandeur, like the High Elves, or domination, like the Dark Elves; their goal is absolute dominance and the sanctity of their magical home, Athel Loren, at any cost.

The Skaven are a race of mutant ratmen who secretly inhabit vast dungeons beneath the Old World. Their civilization is built on treachery, alchemy, dark magic, and deranged technology.

Society and Religion: The Hierarchy is determined by strength, cunning, and the favor of the Horned Rat—their patron deity, possibly one of the Great Old Ones of Chaos. At the helm are the archtraitors of the Council of Thirteen. The clans wage endless wars for influence. Their society is a mixture of cultism, genetic experimentation, and slave labor.

Technology and Magic: Skaven combine primitive brutality with dangerous technologies powered by warpstone (an unstable substance from Chaos). They create rapid-fire crossbows, deadly flamethrowers, walking war machines, and biological weapons such as disease catapults and poisonous gases. Their magic focuses on corruption, disease, and mutation.

Military Doctrine: Tactics are based on sheer numerical superiority. They bombard the enemy with waves of cheap Skaven slaves to wear them down, after which elite units (Burezovites, Plaguebearers, Eshin Assassins) and monstrous mutants—Rat Ogres and Stormvermin—enter the fray. Their strength lies not in resilience, but in sheer numbers, panic, and dirty tactics.

The gist: The Skaven are a parasitic, all-pervasive threat. They embody cowardice, lust for power, and unbridled ambition, coupled with mad ingenuity. Their greatest weapon is secrecy: most inhabitants of the Old World consider them a myth until they encounter their hordes from beneath the earth. They do not conquer the world openly—they undermine it from within, corrupting cities with cults, disease, and intrigue. It is a grotesque satire on the most rotten elements of society: unscrupulousness, corruption, and a willingness to do anything for power.

undead states ruled by ancient vampire aristocrats. Sylvania is the most famous of these, but not the only one.

Society and Power: Immortal vampire lords rule, possessing strength, magic, and centuries of experience. Beneath them, there exists a semblance of a normal feudal society: living peasants, artisans, and burghers, but they are oppressed "cattle," paying taxes in blood and fear. The true power and "nobility" of the vampire counties are the undead: skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and ghouls.

Culture and Nature: They are a parody of the Imperial or Bretonnian aristocracy, but with a Gothic twist. Vampires cultivate manners, art, music, and chivalric ideals (especially the blood of the Lamia), but their essence is undying hunger, boredom, intrigue, and monstrous cruelty. They worship the gods of death (Morr) and themselves.

Military Might: The armies of the Vampire Counties know no fear, tire, or need no supplies. Their backbone is endless regiments of cheap and expendable walking corpses (skeletons, zombies), which bind the enemy. Elite undead units (pallbearers, black knights), monsters (wargs, ghouls, zombie dragons), and the magic of the vampire commanders themselves, capable of raising the fallen en masse and causing terror, play a decisive role.

Bloodlines: Counties differ in their style of government depending on the vampire lineage:

· von Carsteins (classic vampire commanders and necromancers). · Necrarchs (bony archnecromancers, emphasis on magic and skeletons). · Lamia (aristocratic "knights" with the illusion of life and Breton style). · Strigoi (feral monsters who rule through brute force and hordes of ghouls). · Blood of Bloody Dracula (especially powerful and insidious).

The gist: The Vampire Counts are Gothic horror embodied in statehood. They are an eternal, fading aristocracy, ruling a kingdom of death among the living. Their strength lies in their immortal leaders, magic, and endless hordes of the undead. Their weakness lies in endless internal intrigue, a thirst for power, and an innate vulnerability to light, faith, and fire.

Elves:

High Elves: A seafaring power, the most powerful mages and archers. Defenders of the world from the forces of Chaos with magical Gates and a fleet. Aristocratic, but experiencing internal decline. Dark Elves: Technically a force of Chaos, their constant war with their kin distracts and drains the forces of Chaos. Brutal slavers, pirates, and murderers.

People (other nations):

Kislev: The Northern Kingdom, the "shield of the Old World." Hardy warriors, cavalry, and ice mages. They are the first to bear the brunt of Chaos from the north. Arabia and Border Principalities: Cultures based on Arab and Ottoman influences. Merchants, mercenaries, and exotic weaponry (djinns, camel cavalry). Indus, Cathay, Nippon: Powerful eastern empires, largely uninvolved in Old World affairs. They possess unique magic, technology, and armies (samurais, monkey warriors, dragons). Tilia and Estalia: Analogues of Italy and Spain. Renowned mercenaries, sailors, artillerymen, and duelists.

Other races:

Lizardmen: An ancient race of world-keepers, living according to the Great Plan. Powerful mage-priests, dinosaurs in their ranks. They inhabit the Southlands and Lustria. They act independently, rarely forming alliances. Ogres: An unpredictable force. They can be either brutal mercenaries or (rarely) bearers of a rough nobility. Their power is a valuable, but unreliable, resource. Halflings: Part of the Empire, but with their own way of life. They are the finest scouts and cooks, and surprisingly brave in defending their home.

Chaos Tribes: The main "human" force consists of various tribes of Norsca, Kurgans, Bisons, and others. Their elite are the Knights of Chaos and Champions, marked with the seals of the gods. They form the core of any invasion army.

Legions of Chaos: Purely daemonic armies of each god (Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, Slaanesh). They exist in their own dimension and are summoned by mages or during the empowerment of Gates.

Beastmen: Savage mutant tribes who hate civilization. They live in forest thickets across the world, raiding. Their version of Chaos is primitive and bestial. They have no permanent cities.

Chaos Cultists: Secret organizations within the Empire, Cathay, and the human kingdoms. Often led by Dark Chaos Mages. Their goal is corruption from within, assassination, and the summoning of demons.