Realm of Aqshy

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Mortal Realms: AqshyAzyrChamonChaosGhurGhyranHyshShyishUlgu
The Realmsphere containing Aqshy

The Realm of Aqshy, also known as the Realm of Fire or the Bright Realm, is one of the eight Mortal Realms. Aqshy contains lands of passions untold and volatile landscapes, its people have a fierce outlook on life with invective and harsh cultures. A realm of blazing heat and sulfurous fumes.[1a][3][20b]

Aqshy has been under the rule of Chaos for a long time, especially Khorne's.[3]

Symbol

The Key of Secrets

The Rune that is used to represent the Realm of Aqshy is the Key of Secrets, it is often to be found on items carried by inhabitants of the realm or as lucky charms - many magical items and artefacts are also keys or have their power unlocked by them. [22]

Characteristics

A reality of burning passions untold, The realm of Aqshy is a place of emotion and sensation. The embodiment of literal and non-literal fire, aggression, ambition, passion and energy. This is reflected in the very lands themselves, the earth rumbles with barely contained energy and volcano ranges are more common in this realm then any other, spewing volcanic ash across the lands, while rivers of lava pool into great lakes of magma. Jungles are infused with the realm's endless energy, growing so aggressively that overnight entire segments of barren land will be dominated with dense vegetation. In other places, vast boreal forests will be hammered by violent ice storms of incredible intensity.[20b] [20a] [22]

Aqshy is composed of dozens of continents that hang suspended in the Aqshyan Realmsphere. Before the Age of Chaos these continents were joined by bodies of water; afterwards the energies of chaos had splintered many of them. It is mostly impossible to reach these islands of reality without access to a Realmgate. There are no maps that detail them all.[20b]

Aggression is born and carried on hot, gusting winds.[20b]

Culture

The peoples of Aqshy are aggressive, competitive, passionate and courageous. Life is lived in the moment, love or lust are aggressively pursued and emotions run hot. Home to many tribal peoples, trials of combat or strength are well loved. But, due to the influence of the God-King Sigmar, as well as to the competitive and ambitious nature of the realm's people, great and magnificent civilizations arose across the lands during the Age of Myth, and once again rise in the Age of Sigmar.[20b] [20a] [22]

Fashion in the realm is represented with the colors often associated with Aqshy, red and yellow. But there are many colors, from white that represents white-hot flames, to pink another color associated with passion.[20b] [20a] [22]

History

Age of Myth

  • At the dawn of the Age, Ignax the Solar Drake duels Nagendra, the father of serpents. Although she wins, she is weak enough that Grimnir is able to catch and chain her to provide eternal light and fire for the Duardin.[20a]
  • Sigmar overthrew the Volc-Giants, freeing much of the realm from their tyrannical rule.[6a]
  • After being freed by Sigmar, Grimnir repaid his debt immediately by slaying Vulcatrix in the Hills of Aqshy. The tumultuous clash flattened the lands into the Plains of Aqshy, created the Earthwound Archipelago and resulted in the demise of both god and beast. The hot coals of the Mother of Salamanders hatching new volcanoes where it landed and the remains of the duardin god turned into Ur-Gold. The scorching of the lands cleansed them from the sulphurous dusts that had once made them barren.[6b][20a]
  • Great cities are raised in the Great Parch but some tribes are so belligerent that they revert to savagery, worshipping Sigmar as the god of strength.[20a]
  • A tyrant rules in Dromm for eight bloody years before he is overthrown by his sons and devoured, the Drommsend continue this practice to gain their enemies strength.[20a]
  • Two great nations arise in the Great Parch, Bataar ruled by Merchant Kings and Aspiria by Wizard Lords, avoiding direct conflict by trade, negotiation and athletic competitions.[20a]
  • The city of Aqua Ghyranis thrives, built around the Realmgate that will in another age will see Hammerhal constructed around it. Using the gate, it supplies life giving water from the Realm of Ghyran to the nearby nations.[20a]
  • Bataar continues to rise in power, creating a seabourne trading city as one of many wonders, its alchemical waste turns the sea to the north of the empire into a riot of colours, renaming it the Polychromatic Sea.[20a]
  • The Kindling Forests are ignited by Aspirian mages to deal with Orruk warbands invading the land bridge to the middle lands of the Great Parch.[20a]
  • A cold war errupts between Aspiria and the Necromancers of Golvaria, the Aspirians trade with the smiths of the Direbrand Tribe and the Duardin of Vostargi Mont for magical weapons.[20a]
  • Attacked by Aspirian magical undead hunters, the Golvarians retreat to the Isle of Ghouls, making an alliance with the inbred cannibal dynasty that rules there.[20a]

Age of Chaos

  • A challenge is called by Threx Skullbrand of the Vanxian Warband - many tribes send warriors and the contest becomes increasingly bloody, Korghos Khul of the Aridian tribe becoming the champion. However when 888 champions are slain, a hole is torn in reality and the legions of Khorne come flooding through. This event was known as the Red Feast, and was the beginning of the Blood God's attack on Aqshy. [20a]
  • Aspiria and Bataar retreat behind their formidable defences and leave the barbarian tribes to fight the invaders alone. As the slaughter continues, however, many tribes turn to worshipping Khorne, notably the Goretide led by Khul.[20a]
  • Nurgle sends his own daemons to secure the icy realm of Cotha and it's hidden frozen realmgate to Ghyran.[20a]
  • A vast Plague Fleet attacks and destroys the Floating Market of Bataar.[20a]
  • The Red Pyramid of Khul is built. It uses millions of skulls from the tribes north of the Brimstone Peninsula.[20a]
  • The Magisters of Tzeentch wage war against the mages of Aspiria, who are driven back when Khorne's Legions join the fray and seal their fortress cities behind magical wards to surivive.[20a]
  • The surviving merchants of Bataar are forced to carry their riches under the whip and barefoot along the once proud trade road - the Gilded Track, it quickly becomes known as the Bloodied Track.[20a]
  • The Bonesplitterz tribe dwelling in the Klarikkkaz Earthscar wage a successful guerilla war against the Daemonic hordes.[20a]
  • The Prismatikon is unleashed against the forces of Khorne, destroying an entire army but now enraged the Blood God himself smashes the floating island form the sky.[20a]
  • Korghos Khul, champion of Khorne begins to build a massive pyramid of skulls to mark the Gate of Wrath - a realmgate to the Realm of Chaos, he surrounds it with eight mighty skull clad towers. These towers anchored and feed the gate itself.[6]
  • A rain of stars fall from the sky, while strange lights glow on the horizon. After these celestial phenomena, the only thing that remained of a dozen chaos fortresses is rubble.[16]
  • Near the end of the Age, The Goretide under Korghos Khul seeks to wipe out the last vestiges of resistance on the Brimstone Peninsula, amongst the last to fall are the Direbrand Tribe led by Vendell Blackfist who would be reforged as Vandus Hammerhand.[6]

Age of Sigmar

  • From the first strikes the Stormcast retake vast swathes of Aqshy from the forces of Chaos. Every reclaimed gate becomes a fortified town, created by Dispossessed and the Ironweld Arsenal, which would later expand into cities.[20a]
  • Flames of Conquest: With the closure of the vast, fortified All-gate known as the Brimfire Gate, Khorne's iron grasp upon Aqshy was sorely weakened. The forces of Sigmar set about fortifying their conquered territory. First the great city of Hammerhal Aqsha was built, followed by Hallowheart, Tempest's Eye and Anvilgard. Colonists from Azyrheim and the surviving scattered tribes of Aqshy flocked to these new strongholds, the fires of hope rekindled in their hearts.[13]
  • The Blazing Crusade: Supported by the strongholds of Aqshy raised in his name, Sigmar launched the next stage of his expansion in Aqshy. A series of lightning assaults across the lands of Aridian and Capilaria paved the way for Sigmar's forces to push into the Flamescar Plateau and other key regions. With the great city of Hammerhal acting as the fulcrum, the God-King's armies advanced outwards in all directions, seeking to crush several major threats bordering Sigmar's territory, and clear a path for the conquest of new lands.[13]

Locations

Moons

The Realm has three moons:[26ba]

  • Evigaine, the First Spark. [26b]
  • The Orb Infernia: Long ago this orb was populated by proud people who sailed sky oceans and traded with other nations of Flamesword. After coming of the Age of Chaos[7d] it became a cadaverous and broken world claimed by daemons, its oceans boiled away long ago leaving a patchwork of five regions hanging in the void. Four daemon princes rule four of the Orb's lands,[7a] while a Slaan Starmaster dwells upon the fifth, preventing the daemons from unifying and escaping.[7d]
    • Beubilos - pestilent woodlands and festering valleys of this lands belong to Glurtos the Flyking - Daemon Prince of Nurgle
    • Ghorddro - this jagged lands ruled by Skinskein Lord of Khorne. This Daemon Prince lives in a palace hung with flayed hides and raising chalices of gore to Blood God.[7d]
    • Issthyss - the main name of ruined continent fallen to fragments after the capture of Slaanesh. Still this scattered islands ruled by Slaaneshi Daemon Prince Synnistra and his followers, that continued to seek their lost patron amongst the chains of shattered land.[7d]
    • Nugatoria - a vast continent which centered between four Chaos infested continents. There located a God's Eye, a Realmgate to Ashlands below[7d], more specifically - to the Land of the Chained Sun[7g]
    • Xzaratch - this ensorcelled continent ruled by Zyrrak Mirrorkin - daemon sorcerer of Tzeentch[7d]
  • Thaquia, the Fireheart. [26b]

Flameworlds

A series of sub-realms that lie in the midst of Aqshy's cosmic sprawl.[7a]

The Ashlands

The Great Parch
Overview of the Great Parch
For more information see: Great Parch

The Great Parch is a sprawling continent inhabited by bombastic and reckless people that love to fight, feast and love.[20a]

It is here, in the Brimstone Peninsula, that the first battle of the Age of Sigmar started and here that many of the Cities of Sigmar, like Hammerhal Aqsha, Tempest's Eye, Hallowheart and Anvilgard were built after the Realmgate Wars.[20a][3][1b] The city of the Brightspear, is the newest City of Sigmar built in this region.[26a]

Other

  • Tauroi Archipelago: Fragments of the Ashlands that broke away in the past. They have been imbued with a kind of aggressive sentience by the winds of Chaos and corrupted by Khorne. With each seasonal cycle this fragments crunched into the nearby region of Asphyxia, disgorging the bullgors warherds and allowing them to spill across. [7a]
  • The Unreachable Mountain[7a]
    • The Crystal Henge: A region dominated by megaliths of bloodquartz crystals. Anyone standing within the Henge has their strongest emotion greatly amplified and broadcast across all the Flameworlds.[7c]

Tephra Crater

Tephra Crater contains many kingdoms collectively known as the Crater Kingdoms.[2][4]

The Fellbarrens

Once the heartland of Aqshy, where the Twelve Tribes of Bellicos had formed a great city-state. The Brimfire Gate is located in this region, protected by a series of fortresses collectively called an All-Gate.[9]

  • Alkatar, the Castle of Screaming Death: A castle protecting the Brimfire Gate. Rage daemons are bound into its walls.
  • Black Abyss: A vast chasm cut into the land by Khorne's own sword as part of the defenses of the Brimfire Gate.
  • Bloodcombe: A castle protecting the Brimfire Gate. Its massive walls are made of magma bound by flaming coils.
  • Bloodskull Fastness: A castle protecting the Brimfire Gate.
  • Brass Mountains: Raised by Khorne to surround and protect the Brimfire Gate.
  • Dreadgate: A castle protecting the Brimfire Gate.
  • Great Skullhold: The eighth and final castle protecting the Brimfire Gate. Khorne bound the bloodthirster Skarbrand here to defend the Arcway when the Stormcast Eternals marched to seal it.
  • Keep of Skrathax: The second castle protecting the Brimfire Gate. Its walls are brass that run in rivulets of molten metal The bloodthirster Skrathax reigns from this fortress.
  • Pyrevault Redoubt: The first of eight castles protecting the Brimfire Gate. It lies immediately across the Black Abyss
  • Vulkstroya Keep: The third castle protecting the Brimfire Gate. It is set amongst active volcanoes.

Other Locations

Realmgates

  • Argental Gate: Gate between Aqshy and Ulgu. [27a]
  • The Bridge of Fire: Once connected Aqshy to Shyish, but now it burned with multicoloured and sentient flames, growing off course solidifying into a prismatic path that lead directly to the edge of Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch in the Realm of Chaos.[6c]
  • Gates Below: A gate that leads to the Realm of Shyish[19]
  • God's Eye - a Relamgate located on continent of Nugatoria inside the Orb Infernia. It connected to the Ashlands[7d], more specifically - to the Land of the Chained Sun[7g]
  • The Stormrift Realmgate: A realmgate that connects the Realm of Ghyran to the Realm of Aqshy. Before the Age of Sigmar, many Orruks tribes used the realmgate in their savage migrations, until the Hammers of Sigmar purged the surroundings lands of greenskin influence during the Realmgate Wars. A City of Sigmar grew on both sides of this gate and was named after the heroes that made this possible, the Hammerhal.[5]
  • Helmaw: A gate located in the Magmaric Sea that leads to the Realm of Shyish.[21]
  • Hellhaze Realmgate: Connects Godskull Mesa to the Copper Falls in Ghyran.[28a]
  • Hengegate: Portal between the Asphyxia and the Unreachable Mountain[7e]

Inhabitants

The inhabitants of Aqshy are fiery and volatile, and no matter how much they try to hide it, Aqshyian always emotion simmers beneath. Their lives are said to burn bright and short.[20a]

The tribes of Aqshy believe in the philosophy of burning brightly and well, that life should be lived hard, violently and fast. This is exemplified best in the dangerous coming-of-age rituals, like cliff diving and sulphur running, that see many young killed and the survivors hardened into better warriors. The young see those that reach old age with pity and scorn, a view not shared with the more mature which believe they should be celebrated for surviving and being tempered by the fires of conflict. This also applies to who these tribes chose as leaders, with gnarled and scarred warriors being preferred.[20b]

Many of the civilisations of the Great Parch have been laid low during the Age of Chaos, but not able to completely extinguish them. The return of Sigmar, through his Stormcast has reignited the hopes and dreams of its inhabitants.[20b]

Trade

Flora and Fauna

  • Cats[25a]
  • Lava Seraphs: Elemental creatures that dwell in the lava under Furios Peak. They can be called forth to inflict terrible burns on enemies despite the fact that they can only survive for seconds outside the magma that is their natural environment.[10]

Magic

The Realmsphere Magic and spells associated with the realm of Aqshy are known as Bright Spells.[26d][26e]

Terminology

  • The adjective for Aqshy is Aqshyan.[5]

Maps

Sources