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Age of Sigmar - Lexicanum β

Rictus Clans

The Rictus Clans were humans that rose as a power during the Age of Myth in the Realm of Shyish, however they dared match themselves against Nagash and were struck down by him in the Great Awakening. They now serve him in death guided by their High Queen, Tamra ven-Drak.[1]

History

The lands claimed by the Rictus Clans for many thousands of years lay beyond even the northernmost cities and principalities of the Realm of Shyish. Harsh lands that clung to the frozen coasts of the Shivering Sea and until many centuries into the Age of Chaos no enemy had ever come so far north and survived.[1a]

The clans were devestated by Nagash when he fought the six brother-kings of the Rictus. He had smashed their great fortress and city port - the mandible first, destroying the fleet so that none could escape his wrath. Only those vessels which had already been at sea had escaped him and of those, few survived the animated merwyrms and frost-drakes called forth by the Undying King which even hundreds of years later were said to still lurk beneath the Shivering sea.[1e]

Nagash imprisoned the six kings as an example to all those who would rebel against his rule.[1e]

The Rotbringers led by the Order of the Fly were different and easily endured conditions which had killed the frenzied worshippers of the Blood God, Khorne, they marched north, and left nothing larger than a barrow-marker standing in their wake, driving the Rictus before them. [1a]

The last remnants of the Clans gathered at the Mandible to face the oncoming hordes of Nurgle, living and dead fought together with the flesh-eater court of the Prince of Crows and two Mortarchs but they could not prevail. Finally in desperation Tamra ven-Drak released the Broken Kings from their imprisonment, breaking the law of Nagash and the forces of Nurgle were finally defeated by the arrival of Nagash himself. Following the entreaties of Neferata and Arkhan, Nagash showed "mercy" and slew those of the clan that still lived and reanimated them under the command of Tamra. [1g]

Society

  • They were once ruled over by kings and queens but in the Age of Chaos each highclan is ruled by a Voivode.[1a]
  • The Highborn of the clans are able to feel the flicker of soulfire animating each of the fleshless warriors that guard the living.[1a]
  • Their skeleton warriors were armoured in bronze and carried weapons and shields of the same. Steel was precious, and carried only by the living.[1a]
  • They occasionally consumed the flesh of enemies, but only in ritual fashion and at certain times of the year. [1d]
  • They had shamans and root-witches, whose powers were aligned with life rather than death. [1e]

Highclans

Locations

Notable

  • Arun last living Voivode of the Ung: His face was little more than a skull wrapped in parchment and he had seen a hundred winters more than any other man of the Rictus. His staff was made from the bones of his predecessors and he wore a helmet made in the shape of a swooping bat and a cuirass of tarnished bronze.[1b]
  • Bolg last living Voivode of the Fenn: A big man, broad and thickly built. He wore a cuirass of banded bone, marked with necromantic sigils, and the scars of old battles disfigured his heavy features. [1b]
  • King Elig ven-Fennice: Famed for his Ice fleet which sailed to the Rime Isles and beyond the very edge of the realm itself. [1d]
  • Queen Isa the Wise She ruled the Clans after the defeat and eternal imprisonment of the Broken kings, she was taught necromancy by Neferata. [1d]
  • Myrn last living Voivode of the Wald: A frail looking woman, all skin and bones, her face tattooed with the tribal markings of the Wald. [1b]
  • Rikan the Handsome: Brother to Isa and son of Arek ven-Drak, he would later become an Abhorrant Ghoul King known as the Prince of Crows. [1d]
  • Tamra ven-Drak last living Voivode of the Drak, later High Queen of the Clans.[1]

Quotes

And Nagash spake unto me, and he said, “Child, can these bones live?” And I spake unto Nagash and said, “Yea, my lord, if thou wish it, they shall live. Thou knows the ways and means of bone and marrow.” And Nagash spake unto me and said, “I know them.” And lo, did the bones stand, for after life comes death, and after death come life-in-death. All that lives must die...’ ‘And all are one in Nagash,

~ Arun.[1]

Notes

Voivode: in Old Slavic, literally "war-leader" or "war-lord" is a Central and Eastern European (Slavic, Hungarian, and Romanian) title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force.

Sources