Talk:Age of Myth

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VICTORY, NO MATTER THE COST A vast army of warrior tribes from Morthaven, Hallost and Cadavaris, forced into an alliance by the pitiless deconstruction of their independence as a result of Katakros’ campaigns, descends on the outland holdings of the foundling Ossian Empire. At the time, Katakros is absent, conquering his way through the horse tribes of Equuis Main. Yet via the Aviarchs, a network of spymasters that use fast-flying birds to convey information from one commander to another, a message is sent winging toward him as soon as the Cadavaran Alliance’s armies appear on the borders of Necros. Katakros sends back a scroll in return, ordering the Graven Tutors to put into practice that which they had taught for so many centuries. If they did not comply, it read, their bodies would be exhumed and their spirits banished or enslaved by Katakros’ pet necromancers. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

THE STUDENT BECOMES THE MASTER The Graven Tutors go to war the next day, each of the solemn generals leading a legion of spectres behind them. They fight hard alongside the garrison forces left by Katakros, employing every nuance of their accumulated experience, but they are sorely outnumbered. Slowly, over gruelling months of war, the land of Ossia is beaten into submission. Each dawn the Graven Tutors look to the horizon, hoping to see the sails of Katakros’ fleet growing near; each day they are disappointed. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

On the twelfth week, just as the last Ossian garrison is overrun, Katakros’ army returns from Equuis Main, a nation of horsemen at its back. At full strength – having replenished its numbers across Praetoris, the underworld of faithful guardians – the Katakrosian legion hits the Cadavaran Alliance with crushing force. The butcher’s bill is high indeed, with the alliance’s army put to rout in a single day and then hunted to extinction in the wilderness around Thetzar. Only one of the Graven Tutors survives to debrief Katakros on the war effort, tell the tragic tale of his fallen brethren. Beset with grief, he censures Katakros for his late return. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

Once he is certain that he has absorbed all knowledge of import from his former tutor, Katakros orders the banishment of the elder spirit, followed by the systematic dissolution of the entire Ossian aristocracy outside the Echelon itself. He installs his battlefield generals as the overseers of the underworld, renaming his ruling body as the Ossiarchs and staging a military coup that sees him take rulership of the entire country. Some amongst his detractors believe he had deliberately been absent at the time of the Alliance’s attack, and that he let his enemies cut down those who could claim power in his stead, but with the Graven Tutors gone there is no one to gainsay him. On that day Katakros becomes the ultimate lord of Ossia – yet there is one in Shyish who claims kingship above even him. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

THE FIRST FALL OF OSSIA Though the cultures of Ossia and Necros do not have gods from whom to siphon power, Nagash seeks to conquer both regions, for they are not too distant from his power base of Nagashizzar. As he has done in a dozen underworlds across Shyish, he sends in his numberless hosts, but does not commit to battle in person. For a time, the spectres of the Ossian Echelon hold back the Deadwalkers and Deathrattle legions that assail them, even uniting on several occasions with the living tribespeople that have made their homes there. So long does the Echelon hold out, so many thousands of undead do they destroy, that the defiant Ossians provoke a visitation from Nagash himself. When the Great Necromancer assumes direct command of the Nagashizzar army to personally ensure the conquest of Ossia, even Katakros’ masterful defences begin to crumble, and within a month the High General of the Ossian Echelon is forced to concede defeat. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

A FATEFUL TREATY In the cold calculus of war, Katakros sees that he can no more triumph against Nagash than a sandstone cliff can remain whole against the eternal crashing of waves. He approaches the Great Necromancer with a proposal: he will fight for rather than against him, uniting the empires of death. To hold out for a full month against the armies of Nagashizzar is unheard of, and the Great Necromancer is impressed by Katakros’ skills. He defers his judgement, sequesters Katakros’ library and has the military and philosophical treatises within brought to his throne one after another. After long nights of poring over the documents, Nagash comes to a decision, having reasoned that the mindset of this Ossiarch general is very similar to that of his former mortal self. He grants Katakros’ request, content that he has found the general he needs to lead the finest undead army in all creation, but whose military obsessions mean that he poses no real threat to the throne of Shyish. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

THE MAKING OF A MORTARCH In the dark heart of Nagashizzar the spectre of Katakros is remade utterly, his new body of magically sculpted bone mixed with the finest Shyishan alabaster to transform him into a gleaming, statuesque demigod over twelve feet tall. He strides from the laboratories of Nagashizzar with his head held high, clad in the full raiment of war. No ghastly revenant has he become but a monarch of the dead, an emperor and icon for the new order that Nagash intends to impose upon the Mortal Realms. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

Bestowed the title of Mortarch of the Necropolis, Katakros is given the glaive Inda-Khaat and the Shield Immortis, the former a blade able to cut through a marble pillar with a single swing, the latter an ensorcelled aegis that makes the bearer almost impossible to harm. Though his physical form is changed beyond recognition, Katakros’ razored mind remains much the same, its lethal focus only intensified by the promise of an eternity in which to perfect his military strategies. (Ossiarch Bt 2019, p. 18-21)

The story goes that the god Tyrion awakened in Xintil, at the heart of Hysh, after the devastating demise of the world-that-was.H aving being soul-bound with the Wind ofH ysh in his former existence, Tyrion had absorbed much of its power, and though his last days spent in the World Before Time had been troubled indeed, he had been reborn as a phoenix from the flames. His mortal frailties were long gone; to all intents and purposes, he had become a god of light and brilliance. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

Long and lonely did Tyrion wander across the Ten Paradises, marvelling at one glorious sight after another but with a great sense of disquiet that he was alone - a hollow feeling in the soul that only a twin bereft of their sibling could hope to understand. Here was a domain he had only glimpsed in dreams, a realm that was unfolding its secrets before him, league by league. Just by being there, he felt his mind sharpen and come into focus. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

As he roamed the Ten Paradises, he took in every detail, reading much into the symbolism and symmetry of the landscapes stretching before him. Again, he felt a pang ofloss, for he knew his brother would have thrilled to see such geomantic splendour. At times, when he concentrated hardest, he thought he could hear his brother's voice upon the wind. It urged him onward, pushing him to travel further away from the heart ofHysh and on towards the Realm's Edge. The lands he encountered became ever more exotic, the beams of magical light in the sky lancing into his eyes and causing his vision to fill with kaleidoscopic shards of meaning. Still he travelled, his sword laying low every eldritch beast that took him for prey, his brother's voice spurring him on from the back of his mind. Fear of the unknown was pointless for one who had died and been reborn a god, and distance had lost all meaning. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

After crossing the Luminaris Sea, that body of liquid light that girdles the edge of the realm, Tyrion came to Haixiah. There, many of the lands were geometrically perfect. Their plains were as level and flawless as mirrors and their fjords were fractal-edged, their shapes repeating even at the tiniest level. The closer to the Realm's Edge he roamed, the more reality faded; washed out by the sheer intensity of the ligh t that shone there, it became little more than a pencil sketch, then a cluster of dots, then nothing more than a concept or wave of thought. Still Tyrion pushed onwards, heedless of the dangers ahead. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

It was too much, even for him. Though he ventured miles further than any mortal could have done and uncovered many revelations about the nature of mind, body and spirit, he stared at the raw light of Hysh for so long that his eyes melted within his skull. Yet in doing so, he piqued the curiosity of the Realm's Edge itself - the elemental spirit of brilliant light that occupied the Perimeter Inimical and shone as the blazing sun across all the realms. It appeared to Tyrion in all its blinding splendour, but as the Lord of Lumination had already lust his eyes, he did not look away. There, aelf and spirit found common cause. Tyrion remembers nothing of the encounter, but he awoke once more at the realm's heart. There, lying next to him, was the recumbent body of his brother Techs - still weak of limb as he had been since birth but with a lambent glow pouring out of him. The two had become twin halves of the same godly power, which, instead of being divided or lessened, became reflected and magnified. Tyrion found that he could see through the eyes of his brother, and, over time, Teclis taught him to assess the realms around him through extrasensory perception. Together, they walked the lands ofHysh as gods. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

Tyrion and Teclis wandered the Ten Paradises for many years, looking high and low for their kin. To their bottomless disappointment, they found not a soul. There was no remnant of the World Before Time in this new and scintillating land; for all its glory, it was strange and foreign - even to Tyrion, who had roamed far and wide before losing his sight. It was not until the twin gods found the God- King Sigmar that they encountered an echo of the world-that-was. Glad was that greeting, with much laughter and rejoicing. Here were three godlike beings with a fresh chance at creating an existence free from the taint of the Chaos Gods. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

The gods made common cause swiftly, for they would all see order and justice rise anew, and they took joy in their limitless potential. Yet that joy turned to sadness when Sigmar confirmed that he had encountered scant few aelven souls as he had fanned the flames of civilisation across each of the Mortal Realms - and with those few gladly seeking refuge in Azyrheim, there were likely no more to be found. The vast majority of their race had been consumed by Slaanesh. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

Reluctant to admit the truth, and readier to trust their own far-scrying vision than that of a god they had long considered a barbarian, the twin deities broadened their search. In deepest Haixiah, they climbed the highest dune in the Desert of Ending, the shimmering heat haze at its crest a portal to Shyish, for they reasoned that if their kith and kin were dead, they may have emerged in an aelven underworld. They descended the other side into the Realm of Death, but after years of searching, found nothing. To their dismay, their lost kin were absent even there. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

However, their search was not entirely fruitless. In Shyish, they found a group of strange monks who informed them that a being known as Malerion also sought the souls of the lost aelves. Malerion was of Ulgu just as the twin gods were of Hysh, and just as they could not venture into the Shadow Realm, he could not step into the Realm of Light. But here, in Shyish, they could co-exist. Teclis recognised his description as an old compatriot from the world-that-was, and, with a mixture of hope and trepidation, he and his brother followed the monks to Malerion's location. There, as the reincarnated aelven gods; regarded each other warily, an accord was struck over the course of long debate. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

In combining the twin gods' knowledge of Hysh with Malerion's knowledge of Ulgu, they deduced that the two realms were inextricably linked - and that there was theoretically a penumbral sub-realm between the two. It was a leap of meta-logic that led them to Uhl-Gysh, the Hidden Gloaming, where they found common ground. This was the first step in a massively ambitious plan that would end in a loose alliance - and, more importantly, the eventual entrapment of the Chaos God who had doomed their race. The imprisonment of Slaanesh was the crowning glory of the alliance between the aelven gods. It was a work of such impossible scale and ambition that, for the aelves, it defined the Age of Myth. As well as ensnaring their nemesis, it allowed both the twin gods and their Ulgu dwelling counterparts to rescue souls, one by one, from within the god that had consumed them. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

The first of those aelven souls to be siphoned from Slaanesh 's essence became known as the Idoneth, which means 'extreme seclusion' in the aelven tongue. They were so badly scarred by their incarceration - both physically and spiritually - that they were close to madness, and the vast majority of their offspring were born with swiftly withering souls. In his grief, Teclis nearly destroyed them all, but at the last, Tyrion stayed his hand. The Idoneth fled to the deepest, darkest places they could find and there began a new life, one day to rise again. Other groups of aelven souls were saved from within Slaanesh, ranging in appearance from the monstrous to the angelic. The most stable and sane of all these races were the Lumineth. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 8-9)

THE FIRST TO BE RESCUED Teclis bends his almighty intellect to the business of rescuing the lost souls of his former people from the essence of Slaanesh. By carefully extracting their spirits into Hysh at the same time that Malerion and Morathi extract them into Ulgu, the arcane binding of light and shadow that holds Slaanesh in chains of paradox is kept in balance. Thousands of souls are retrieved, and through Teclian magic, a new aelven people is born - the Idoneth. They prove dangerously unstable, however, and flee their maker's wrath to the bottom of far-flung oceans. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)

A RADIANT PEOPLE A combination of painstaking experimentation and leaps of faith sees many more types of aelf rescued, yet all prove to be flawed in some manner. When Teclis creates the first Lumineth, hope shines bright in the Ten Paradises as they settle the lands. Thriving on the illumination of Hysh, they grow more intelligent and capable with every passing year. In the decades that follow, a glorious civilisation is born. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)

THE FIRST FORAYS The beauty and potential of the Realm of Light is stunning, so much so that aelves who travel through its Realmgates find the other realms to be dull and grubby by comparison. Spending time around the primitives of the lesser realms makes the ambassadors of Hysh feel as if they are becoming tarnished - as if, day by day, they are slowly losing their birthright of enlightenment. Their intellects no longer blossom, forced as they are to simplify their thoughts and deeds so they can fit in with the denizens of the other realms. The people of Hysh take any excuse not to visit those whom they see as beneath them. With the exception of the Sigmar-worshipping human cultures that have settled in Xintil, the Hyshians tend not to stray from the Ten Paradises unless there is not her choice. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)

THE FIRST WARS Dilemmas that seem impossible to the denizens of other realms are seen as laughably simple by the Hyshian ambassadors, who present the solutions as if speaking to children. When the problems of founding new nations cannot be solved with logic or arcane artifice, the Lumineth prove more than capable in the arts of war. The Hyshian soldiery outclasses that of their would-be enemies with expertly enacted feints, traps and false fronts to leave their foes stumbling and ripe for the kill. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)

All this unbridled excellence does not go unnoticed amongst Sigmar's burgeoning civilisations. The Lumineth earn a reputation for being arrogant and elitist. For their part, the aelves care little about the opinions of those they see as jealous yokels - as long as they could return to sup from Hysh's endless font of illumination, they are content to leave the other realms to their own meagre preoccupations. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)

THE CRACKS APPEAR As with all things of beauty, the Hyshian utopia does not last forever, especially given that such wonders have a habit of attracting the ravenous attentions of the Dark Gods. With a whisper in the dreams, a suggestion borne on the wind, the captive deity Slaanesh gradually tilts the nature of Hyshian society towards a darker reflection of itself. (LRL Bt 2020, p. 28-31)



The Age of Myth is one of the three Great Epochs of the Mortal Realms, one shrouded by legend and remembered in song and tale. It was a Golden Age when great alliances were formed, colossal cities founded and mighty works of magic constructed. It was succeeded by the Age of Chaos. It started when Sigmar started exploring the realms and ended with the Battle of Burning Skies and the dominion of chaos over the Realms.[1][14b]

Events

  • The Sowing: Alarielle plants soulpod glades across the Realm of Ghyran from these come the first Sylvaneth, the Oakenbrow Glade and Gnarlroot Glade.[2]
  • The Fall: Morathi crashes into the Umbralic Sea in the Realm of Ulgu she conjures mist elementals and shadow daemons for company.[11a]
  • The Awakening: Tyrion awakens in the Realm of Hysh with his brother Teclis and they begin to explore that realm. Malerion also awakens in the Realm of Ulgu and discovers his mother, Morathi.[1]
  • The Journey: Sigmar explores the Mortal Realms[1]
  • Grimnir strides forth to repay his debt to Sigmar by slaying the fire wyrm, Vulcatrix, mother of Salamanders, both seem to perish in the ensuing battle.[1]
  • Brothers in Arms: Sigmar and Nagash wage war together and defeat many powerful entities including The King of Broken Constellations, the Devouring Light, The Abyssal Dukes and Symr, the First Fire.[13a]
  • Wars of the Dead: Nagash and his Mortarchs conquer the Realm of Shyish.[4]
  • The Banishment of Shadespire: Nagash is angered by the cities Katophrane rulers avoiding death and banishes the city to the void between the Realm of Hysh and the Realm of Ulgu.[5]
  • The Conclave Sigmar returns to the Realm of Azyr and levels the summit of mount Celestain to provide a venue to gather the Pantheon - gods, demi-gods and zodiacal monsters.[1]
  • The Accords: The eight mortal realms are each appointed a protector.[1]
  • Mirror of Bayla: The most powerful mage of Realm of Ghyran Sanasay Bayla quests for Realm's End aided by many of the Pantheon. At the end of his long journey he discovers the growing threat of Tzeentch and crafts a magical mirror for the gods to view anywhere they wish.[6]
  • The Blood Rose Prince: The first Abhorrant Ghoul King fell from favour in Shyish, his mind broken he is transformed into a monster by Nagash, he rampages across the Nightlands before being confined in the Shroudcage.[3]
  • Morathi revealed: Attempting to seduce Nagash, Morathi is struck down by the enraged god and her true form revealed - she flees from the Pantheon.[11a]
  • The Great Waaagh!: A campaign of destruction that wrecks the Mortal Realms is started by Gorkamorka after he grows tired of the order and laws of the Great Alliance.[1b]
  • Alarielle becomes disenchanted with the Pantheon and retreats more and more to her Realm.[1][14b]
  • Malerion, Morathi, Teclis, Tyrion and several cabals of sorcerers capture Slaanesh and imprison him in the Hidden Gloaming and begin to extract aelven souls[1]][11b]
  • Urrgrak Bonefist becomes the first champion of Gorkamorka and is given the magical axe Worldchoppa.[8]
  • Teclis uses the reclaimed aelf souls to create a new race - the Cythai in the Realm of Hysh but they flee from him into the depths of the Gealus Ocean[12]
  • The Bonebark March: The undead and sylvaneth march to war together to crush a horde of beastmen at Sunderstone Peak[7]
  • The three remaining Chaos Gods take an interest in the mortal realms and incursions led by their greater daemons including Kairos Fateweaver and the Ghorgrax begin.[1]
  • Coastlines across the Mortal Realms are raided by the Idoneth Deepkin, the descendants of the Cythai - however most attacks are blamed on the forces of Chaos.[12]
  • Many signs of the Everchosen's arrival could be seen and heard and seen across the Mortal Realms, like whispers heard in the night saying "the Everchosen comes!" or dreams of a great blade cleaving the realms plaguing the sleep of seers and wise men[9]
  • The End: A mighty rent is torn in the barrier between realms, the realmgates themselves shuddering, as a vast horde of Chaos led by Archaon invade reality from the Realm of Chaos.[1][9]
  • Archaon leads the hordes of Chaos, mortal and daemonic from the Realm of Chaos through breaches in reality to the Mortal Realms.[1]
  • The Nexus Wars begin as the forces of Chaos attempt to capture the bridge between the realms - Allpoints.[1]
    • The Shyish Arcway is taken by Chaos as it appears Nagash switches sides to aid the forces of entropy.[1]
  • Sigmar invades the Realm of Shyish in retaliation and begins the War of Heaven and the Underworlds[1]
    • The Skaven attack the strongholds of Nagash and begin the War of Bones.[1]
    • Sigmar releases the first abhorrant king from the shroudcage, now known as the Carrion King he spawns many flesh-eater courts across the realms.[3]
  • The Allpoints falls to Chaos and becomes a route from the Realm of Chaos to the other realms.[1]
  • Sigmar returns to fight Chaos which is ravaging the other realms.[1]
  • Battle of Burning Skies: Gods and mortals alike unite under Sigmar to fight Chaos. [4a][10]
    • Sigmar duels the mighest Daemon Lords of the Chaos gods, defeating An'ggrath (Khorne), Feculox (Nurgle), Luxicious (Slaanesh) and Kiathanus (Tzeentch)[4a]
    • Archaon confronts Sigmar and during the duel, he conjures an illusion that results in Sigmar throwing Ghal Maraz into a warp rift where it is lost.[4a][14b]
    • The forces of the Great Alliance retreat before those of Chaos.[1c]

Sources