Kragnos
 | |
| Titles | End of Empires[2] God of Earthquakes[2] |
| Domains | Earthquakes |
| Type | Ascended Deity |
| Status | Active |
| Home | Donse (formerly) Thondia |
| Relatives | Drogrukh (Species)[2] |
| Affiliation | Destruction |
| Followers | Kruleboyz |
Kragnos is a deity of earthquakes and upheaval. He was a member of the mortal race known as the Drogrukh that ascended to godhood during the ancient Age of Myth, but was magically sealed into a mountain, due to the intervention of Lord Kroak. After Alarielle performed her ritual of life, he was released into the realms, triggering the Era of the Beast.[1a]
History
Pre-Age of Myth
During the primeval era of Ghur, there were a race of beings called the Drogrukh of the nation Donse, which were massive centauroid creatures. Kragnos, born to the tribal elder Gorgos, wanted more than the rest of his people and was known for his temper. He was exiled from his tribe after beating his brother to a pulp over the right to court the same mare. With his five closest companions, Kragnos roamed across Ghur and becoming skilled in the arts of war, fashioning weapons from the streams of magma that exuded from mountains split by their hooves. The Orruks began to venerate him, with tales of ‘Da Boss Trampla’ spreading across their kind and becoming more exaggerated. As the legends grew more impressive, he grew in stature and power. Kragnos even retrieved the disc of the Shield Inviolate from a deep gouge in Ghur’s crust, which had been previously thrown away by Gorkamorka after he tried to bite it and chipped his tooth. Called Tuskbreaker by Kragnos’ orruk followers, it could now easily repel even the strongest of magic.[1a]
The orruks, believing Kragnos to be a god, offered to him the bones of those monsters they slew and amberbone, the realmstone of Ghur, as tribute, which empowered him even further. Kragnos and his kin destroyed many barbarian nations earning him the epithet 'the End of Empires', with a favoured tactic of Kragnos and his companions to rear high and strike down with all the force of their combined mass at the same site, causing walls to crumble and even split open the earth. Where his hooves slammed into the ground, the earth would yawn open and when he bellow at the top of his lungs buildings of bricks and mortar came tumbling down. [1a]
Eventually, the culling of humanoid prey became worthless to him and Kragnos' roamings eventually took him to the Draconith stronghold situated in the mountain range of Vexothia. Kragnos' father Gorgos had brokered a non-aggression pact between the two nations, as a war between the two elder races could only end in disaster. But Kragnos, now at the height of his ambition, saw the Draconith simply as a new and challenging foe. Together with his companions he climbed the serried peaks and called out their challenge to the Draconith lords. He knocked down the statuary they had raised to Dracothion and killed the giant mountain lions they kept as pets to send a threat the Draconith could not ignore, an act that would ultimately see the end of both elder empires. Kragnos himself led a genocide of the Draconith hunting down dragonkind across all of the western heartlands and destroying their lairs and eggs.[1a]
The last living drakes of Vexothskol knew of another race that revered Dracothion, and entering a trance-like state they met the being known as Lord Kroak. The drake-lords agreed to hand over their remaining eggs to the temple-ships of Kroak and his fellow mage-priests and in return, the mage-priests would defeat the Earthquake God in whatever way they could. At the Twinhorn Peak the alliance confronted Kragnos, whose power had grown to the point the sides of the mountain sloughed away under his hooves as he climbed high. He killed two Slann before the mountain shuddered, and he realised that the peak on which he stood was a hollow granite horn of some colossal, long-dead creature. A swirling vortex of magic cascaded from the talons of mage-priest and drake alike, and Kragnos was lowered downwards into the gullet of the mountain’s opening maw. A dozen mage-priests, each borne upon a palanquin of gold, concentrated their immense arcane might on holding Kragnos fast for a few vital moments. Then the mountain closed, entombing Kragnos in a hollow core of timelessness beneath hundreds of feet of granite. The spell of entrapment was woven of time itself, removing the god from the cosmic tapestry entirely by the magic of the Great Drake and his allies.[1a]
Age of Sigmar
Millennia had passed since Kragnos’ incarceration, and although he had been rendered comatose by the spell that bound him, on some level his destructive impulses could not be quenched. He dreamt of wreaking havoc on all who sought to escape his mace, smashing cities and stamping fissures in the earth to tumble the works of those who would oppose him. As the Drogrukh god languished within the rocky womb of Twinhorn Peak, empires rose and fell across the Mortal Realms, as the Ages of Myth, Chaos, Sigmar, and the Soul Wars passed by. [1b]
The Ritual of Life performed by Alarielle, however, prompted him to awaken. The life magic prompted the many trees around the mountain to dig their roots into it, with them penetrating Kragnos' prison. It then seeped into him, filling him with vigour and vitality enough to burst through the mountain in an act of elemental savagery. The thump of his hooves echoed in the minds of Greenskins - specifically Bonesplitterz - across Ghur, causing them to instinctively gravitate towards him. [1b]
Upon awakening, Kragnos resolved to find what was left of his people and to destroy the city of Excelsis, for daring to occupy his homeland. As he did so, he amassed a small horde of Gargant followers. Upon finding that Done was destroyed, he flew into a rage, seeing only the WAAAGH! gathered by Gordrakk to test his godbeast battering ram. He took this as an insult, and fought the Ironjaw leader. Upon winning against Gordrakk, he assumed leadership of the horde and lead them to Excelsis. [1c]
Kragnos lead the WAAAGH! to the city, which had only just been the victim of an assault by the Skaven. He intervened personally in the later stage of the siege, followed by a horde of Gore-grunta cavalry. He proceeded to create a hole within the walls of Excelsis, which had been weakened previously due to the Skaven attack and the efforts of the WAAAGH! itself.[1d] Upon entering Excelsis, Kragnos wrought great havoc upon the city [1e], before being tricked by Morathi and Lord Kroak, who conjured an image of the Draconith. Enraged, he charged at them, unknowingly being teleported across Ghur to the swamps of Thondia, wherein he was sighted by a tribe of Kruleboyz.[1f]
Relationships
- Kruleboyz: Some Kruleboyz Orruks nominally worship Kragnos. However, they do this either to avoid his ire or because they see him as a means to an end. The Kruleboyz of Thondia seek to poison the continent, causing the land that once held Kragnos' home-nation of Donse to be drawn apart and causing the God of Earthquakes to enter such a rage that he would start a WAAAGH! that would lead them across the realms. [3]
Sources
- 1: Broken Realms: Kragnos
- 2: Get to Know Kragnos, the Grumpy God Who Tried to Rage-smash All the Eggs in the Mortal Realms]
- 3: War at Amberstone Watch (booklet)
