Age of Myth

The Age of Myth is the first Great Epoch in the history of the Mortal Realms. Long ago, Sigmar, the god of civilisation and progress, ruled over the realms for millennia during a period of relative peace and advanced mortal civilisation, before the coming of Chaos brought all to ruin.

This age began when Sigmar discovered the existence of the Mortal Realms born from the magical energies and physical matter unleashed with the destruction of the World-That-Was and ended when Sigmar's alliance with the other gods of the Pantheon of Order was fractured. The forces of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos proceeded to assault the Mortal Realms, eager to again conquer the mortal plane, and the destruction that resulted led to the birth of a new and terrible epoch, the Age of Chaos.

In this long-ago age, the various intelligent mortal races of the realms lived in civilised harmony. It was in this time that Sigmar first raised up to civilisation the primitive men he found already living among the realms, much as he had once done on the World-That-Was.

The foundations of the Age of Myth were laid with the death of another world -- the breaking of the World-That-Was, the Great Victory of the Chaos Gods, the End Times -- that forgotten epoch has many names.

Only the gods of yore and the inhuman Slann now remember it vividly, and the truth of the ancient world of Mallus' demise is buried in the dust of history, little remembered or even imagined by the current inhabitants of the Eight Realms. Yet there are those who still abide from that time, their essence or soul having survived the cataclysm that swallowed their world, or been resurrected by the magical powers bound to their soul at the time of that world's ending.

The ancient God-King Sigmar is foremost amongst them. His original world was shattered, the core of Mallus hurtling through the Aetheric Void, but he clung onto it still for long ages, and was eventually borne toward the Mortal Realms in the time after their creation. In them he found a set of new realities crystallised from the physical remnants of his lost home and the scattered magical energies that had once composed and later unmade his world.

It is said Sigmar was awakened from his aeons-long slumber in the void by the Great Drake, Dracothion. Introduced by that zodiacal beast to the Eight Realms, the God-King embarked upon many great voyages of discovery, exploring each new realm in turn. He journeyed long and far, finding enclaves of native mortals of every intelligent race and overcoming the monstrous beasts that preyed upon them. Sigmar taught the scattered tribes of mankind many things, and soon they worshipped him as a deity above all others, just as they had once before in the World-That-Was.

The light of civilisation was conjured from the stuff of the lands by the efforts of Sigmar. Over the course of a few generations, nomads with flint-tipped weapons ceased their wanderings and instead learned to build. At first their efforts produced just rough huts, but as the centuries slid past, they built townships, cities and eventually teeming metropolises. Trade flourished, and spires eventually pierced the skies in every one of the Mortal Realms.

Guided by inner knowledge and fate itself, Sigmar located and awakened other Ascended gods -- those individuals reborn into divinity that he recognised from his former life -- with mixed consequences. Using strength as much as wisdom he formed a new Pantheon of Order around himself. Amongst its ranks were the duardin gods Grungni, the Great Maker, and Grimnir the Furious. They were joined by darker presences -- Malerion the Shadow King, and even Nagash, the Great Necromancer, for they too desired worlds of order and progress over which to rule. Alarielle the Everqueen saw the hope of new life in Sigmar, and the twin-headed brute Gorkamorka was won over to the God-King's cause after a duel that flattened mountains.

Each gave unto Sigmar a godly gift in return for giving them new life, and Azyr, the realm the God-King had chosen as his own, thrived like no other. But so disparate were these gods in nature and portfolios that their common causes did not bind them for long. Over time, the fractious alliance of the Pantheon of Order faltered and broke apart. Worse still, another, far darker pantheon had set their covetous eyes upon these fertile lands.

Slowly, insidiously, the whispers and promises of these fell powers, the Chaos Gods, so eager to spread their corruption to new worlds, sowed division and treachery throughout the mortal lands until they were ripe for conquest.

Sigmar, bearing the light of civilisation ever on, did not see many of the dangers that coiled in its shadow until it was too late. Though that much-diminished light can still be seen in the present whenever some relic or crumbled architecture is uncovered, the secrets of such ancient splendours have since been crushed beneath the heel of Chaos oppression -- or else hidden away by the gods themselves.

History

It was Dracothion, the Great Drake, that first beheld Sigmar. The God-King was clinging, unconscious for long ages, to a lustrous sphere of sigmarite that hurtled unchecked through the Aetheric Void, all that remained of Mallus, the World-That-Was. Entranced by its gleam, Dracothion chased the careening orb, seeking to capture it and set it in the heavens to better admire its beauty.

Only then did the zodiacal beast notice the battered form of the Ascended god Sigmar gripping the pitted metal. Sensing a kindred spirit, Dracothion revived the god from his long slumber with a warming breath. Sigmar thanked his saviour, and bestowed gifts upon the Great Drake in gratitude. In turn, Dracothion showed Sigmar the star bridges and crystalline passageways that led to each of the Eight Realms. Thus began the fabled Age of Myth of the Mortal Realms.

The Age of Myth is shrouded in legend, remembered in song as a time of great alliances, mighty works of magic, the taming of zodiacal beasts and the founding of colossal cities. Sigmar's claim to godhood was unassailable, his twin-tailed mark made upon domains still covered in the dew of creation. Yet he encountered much that was ancient even then.

He wandered the new mortal planes in amazement, finding portals between the realms and exploring each in turn. There are many tales of his supremacy: his slaying of the Hydragors that guarded the gates to Shyish, the Realm of Death, his overthrowing of the Volc-giants that once ruled the Great Parch region of Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, and the smiting of Ymnog, grandfather of Gargants and sire of the godbeast Behemat. Even Auroxis the World Beast fell to a blow from his divine warhammer, Ghal Maraz.

Despite their differences an accord was struck between the gods in those early days. Each of the Eight Realms was appointed a divine protector, and various oaths of domain and allegiance were sworn. Grungni, the god of smiths, taught mankind of metalcraft, and Nagash, god of death, imposed order upon the spirits of the dead whilst his lifeless thralls laboured ceaselessly to build even grander edifices.

Trade between the Mortal Realms flourished by means of the portal-like Realmgates. Even savage Gorkamorka, the god of destruction, worked long at his own task -- to clear the wilds of monstrous things -- for it suited him well, though ultimately his quest was consumed by the random violence so beloved of orruk-kind.

Whilst exploring Chamon, the Realm of Metal, Sigmar climbed the Iron Mountains and there freed two duardin gods enchained. Of how crippled Grungni and raging Grimnir, the god of war and fire, repaid their debt to Sigmar, many songs are sung.

Grungni joined Sigmar in his quest to forge a world free of evil, but Grimnir wished his debt settled then and there, and demanded Sigmar name a foe worthy of his blades. That same night Grimnir tracked Vulcatrix -- the Mother of Salamanders and the mythic creature that first birthed flame into the worlds -- to her lair. Endlessly, the wyrm uncoiled from her molten abyss.

Grimnir hefted his axes and charged. The titanic clash that followed flattened hills and created the Plains of Aqshy in the Realm of Fire, but neither would submit. The foes smashed into one another until god and godbeast alike rained down as a hail of blazing meteors.

The cities of that time were raised high, and the people that dwelt within their walls as numerous as the stars. For a while, those born into these worlds of wonder and possibility knew paradise. The God-King's might was beyond question, as was that of his immortal allies from the World Before Time.

In Grungni's fair city of Elixia, in the Realm of Metal, the streets rang to the hammers of a thousand gifted artisans. On the balconies of Thyria's arboretums in the Jade Kingdoms, the flowers of the goddess of life Alarielle's magic bloomed in every archway.

Grimnir's great lodges burned hot with the fires of passion, his duardin people hunting down monstrous beasts until the lands were safe. Even the metropolis Nagashizzar in Shyish, the Realm of Death, was a place of order and progress, a city where anarchy and warfare were but distant memories.

In that era, many a weather-torn skald made the bold claim that he had visited each of the Great Wonders of the Mortal Realms in person. Through the magic of the Realmgates it was thought possible for a man to achieve such an odyssey over the course of a hundred years. The Crystal Spires of Thrense, the Spear of Mallus jutting from the Coast of Tusks, the Bone Pillars of Antghor, the peak of Deific Mons in the Shyish Prime Innerlands, the Sky Bridges of Ghur, the Realm of Beasts -- all these and more were visited by the traders and travellers of that halcyon age.

The Dark God Slaanesh, glutted on countless aelven souls after the demise of the World-That-Was, was chained by the magic of the aelven gods Tyrion, god of light and war, and Teclis, god of light and knowledge. Trapped between the Realms of Light and Shadow, no more could Slaanesh seduce the mortal civilisations that sprung up across the lands.

His lustful worshippers cried out in fear and anguish, for no longer could they feel their direct connection with the god that gave them meaning. But Tyrion, Malerion, the god of shadow, and their allies did not consider their work complete.

By means of painstaking ritual, they used the arcane bindings that held the Dark Prince to siphon from his foul essence the souls of many of the aelves he had consumed, cleanse them of Chaos' taint, and take them into the mortal lands of Ulgu and Hysh to be reborn.

But unfortunately, the hearts of mortals are rarely free of the darker passions -- hatred, fear, desire and ambition -- and so in time, slowly but certainly, the Ruinous Powers of Chaos found ways to influence the Mortal Realms. Before Sigmar or the slowly disintegrating Pantheon of Order ever noticed, the forces of Chaos were ready to conquer the mortal plane once more and unleash a dark new era upon the Eight Realms -- the Age of Chaos.

Dating

The reader will note that there are no dates listed for the events described in the chronology below. This was done deliberately by the lore writers at Games Workshop for two reasons.

The in-world reason is that with years and seasons varying from realm to realm, and mortal civilisation only just being re-established in the Mortal Realms during the Age of Sigmar, there would be little common frame of reference to act as a foundation for specific dates to make sense between the peoples of the different realms.

The real-world reason is that in the past Games Workshop found hard and fast dates can be restrictive in creating new stories, and breaking those restrictions can lead to many a quandary. Instead, they now prefer to measure time in looser terms like centuries and generations.

This gives the writers more wiggle room for manoeuvre, and it lends more of an epic feel than a scientific one to a high fantasy setting like Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

Chronology

It should be noted that the stories of gods and monsters related below typify these early years of the Mortal Realms so many millennia ago, but are often apocryphal, originally related only as oral history, or are mostly true historical events that have changed or grown more epic in the telling.

Before the Ages

Formation of the Realmspheres

After the destruction eons ago of the World-That-Was by Chaos, the Mortal Realms slowly formed in the Aetheric Void left behind in the Cosmos Arcane. The eight various kinds or "winds" of magic that emanated from the Realm of Chaos through the rift where that world once existed clustered together, crystallising and combining with the matter of nebulae, cosmic dust and the remaining debris of the former world and its solar system to form new realities.

Contained in spheres of magical power known as "realmspheres," much of this material eventually hardened into vast discs of matter whose nature was shaped by the specific Wind of Magic that contained them, each fringed with archipelagos of solidified magical energy of the dominant type.

Also created at this time were the realmgates, examples of god-like Old Ones technology that provided passage between the eight new-formed realities that were named the "Mortal Realms."

Many millennia later, tribes of humans emerged on the new mortal planes and established themselves on many of the realmspheres by travelling through the realmgates, though their culture at this time was universally uncivilised, barbarous and base.

Dominion of the Godbeasts

The godbeasts were at large in the Mortal Realms at this time. Ymnog, the First Titan and Grandfather of Gargants, was amongst the greatest. The oral histories of the Gargants say that he drank fully half of the First Ocean, broke the newborn reality into land, sea and sky with his club, and that the godbeast Behemat, the Father of Gargants, and his two brothers grew from stones in his belly.

Behemat was eventually able to escape from Ymnog's stomach, though his siblings are devoured by their father. It is said among their kind that the first Gargants crawled in turn from Behemat's mouth as he lay sleeping.

Time of the Bray

The Beastmen Greatfrays thrive at this time, preying upon the barbaric human tribes of the realms with savage fury. Legends of their ravages are later enshrined in the folklore of the primitive cultures of the men of the Mortal Realms.

The Seraphon temple-fleets, having unwillingly fled the destruction of the World-That-Was before Chaos' final victory, were drawn to the newborn Mortal Realms at this time. They were encountered by the godbeast Dracothion, who -- moved by their plight -- led them to the upper vaults of Azyr, the Realm of Heavens. Here the reptilian Seraphon began to absorb the celestial magical energy that defined that realmsphere into themselves, becoming the Starborne.

Sigmar Awakened

The godbeast known as the Great Drake Dracothion observed the remnants of Mallus, the rocky core of the World-That-Was, streaking through the heavens, and chased after it. Upon doing so, he noticed Sigmar, the god of civilisation, clinging insensate to the core of the broken world, a grim divine survivor of all that had been lost.

The godbeast sensed a kindred spirit in Sigmar and revived the unconscious deity, who in turn bestowed "gifts" such as a necklace of sigmarite upon Dracothion. Sigmar was shown the Star Bridges and Realmgates for the first time by the godbeast, and began his exploration of the Mortal Realms in earnest, eager to learn more about these new mortal planes.

Age of Myth

Travels of Sigmar

After his encounter with Dracothion, Sigmar began to explore the Mortal Realms in earnest, marvelling at the many strange and wondrous things he discovered.

His deeds at this time became legendary, from slaying the volc-giants of the Great Parch on Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, to besting great Ymnog, the godbeast who was the Grandfather of Gargants.

The Dragon Ogors were cast out of Azyr, the Realm of Heavens, at this time, leaving them embittered and searching for Krakanrok the Black, the mightiest of their race.

Wanderings of Gorkamorka

Gorkamorka, the twin-headed god of destruction, another deity once worshipped on the World-That-Was, reemerged among the Mortal Realms and roamed the realmspheres alongside his right-hand (or foot) man Behemat, the father of the Gargants, searching for the best fights around.

The god of destruction eventually bit off more than he could chew, however, when he got into a brawl with Drakatoa, the godbeast known as the Living Avalanche. The mountain of primordial amber soon absorbed Gorkamorka, leaving him trapped and raging in his confinement.

Rulers of Shadow

Morathi, once a mortal Dark Elf of the World-That-Was, awakened in the Mortal Realms hurtling from the skies of Ulgu, the Realm of Shadow, to land in the Umbralic Sea.

Coming ashore in the Helleflux region, the former sorceress -- transmuted by her reincarnation into a hideous serpentine form that better matched her true nature -- began to travel across the mysterious realm. Gradually she started to piece her shattered mind back together, learning many secrets and consorting with the Shadow Daemons that were born from the Dharroth a moon of Ulgu.

Eventually she was reunited with her son Malerion, now also reborn in Ulgu as the god of shadow. Their meeting is a bitter one, but the two agree to work together, using their combined magic to raise up the citadel of Druchiroth in Greater Ulguroth.

Awakening of the Everqueen

Alarielle the Everqueen, once a mortal High Elf of the World-That-Was but now the aelven goddess of life and nature, was discovered and awakened by Sigmar in Ghyran, the Realm of Life.

Enraptured by Ghyran's natural beauty but eventually tired of wandering alone, Alarielle planted soulseeds saved from the World-That-Was. These grew into the first sylvaneth glades, Oakenbrow and Gnarlroot.

The Dreadwood were planted soon after in moribund Decrepita, beginning their rivalry with the youthful Oakenbrow of Neos. The sylvaneth children of the Everqueen soon spread far beyond the Realm of Life.

Deeds of Grimnir

Grimnir, the god of war and fire, awakens in Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, surrounded by his duardin kin, those folk once known as Dwarfs in the World-That-Was. Grimnir had been lost for a time in the Realm of Chaos after the destruction of the World-That-Was but eventually found his way to the Mortal Realms.

The Burning Berzerker performed many great feats, such as capturing the godbeast Ignax -- weakened from its recent battle with Great Nagendra, Father of Serpents -- and shackling it to the Land of the Chained Sun.

However, after the mysterious event called the Thagduegi ("Great Betrayal"), Grimnir and his brother deity Grungni, the god of smiths, were left chained atop the highest peak of Chamon -- the greatest of the Realm of Metal's Iron Mountains.

Rulers of Light

Tyrion, god of light and war and Lord of Lumination, a former mortal High Elf of the World-That-Was before its destruction, awakened in the Paradise of Xintil, having bonded before his death with the magical energy of Hysh, the Realm of Light.

Tyrion travelled across the Ten Paradises of Hysh, marvelling at all he found but disheartened to be so alone. Eventually he made his way to Haixiah, pushing towards the Realm's Edge. It proved too much, and even Tyrion was blinded by the power of pure magical light, though his sheer willpower drew the respect of the spirit of the Realm's Edge.

Tyrion awoke in Xintil once more, rejoicing to find his twin brother and fellow Ascended deity Teclis, the god of light and knowledge, now by his side. The two learned to work together as twin halves of the same godly whole, though they were greatly dismayed to find no Elves, now called aelves, wherever they looked in Hysh.

Encounter of the Gods

During Sigmar's travels through the Mortal Realms, he encountered the twin gods of light Tyrion and Teclis in Hysh. They were brought from their lonely realm to Azyr, the Realm of Heavens, at the God-King's invitation, where they finally discovered to their great relief a limited number of aelves, their native people of old.

Tyrion taught the people of Azyr much concerning warfare, athletics and philosophy, while Teclis offered his encyclopedic knowledge of magic and science.

Freeing of Nagash

After casting down the Hydragors that guarded the gates of Shyish, Sigmar travelled the Realm of Death, uplifting its people and granting them civilisation's arts and sciences.

Eventually, he discovered a Realmstone cairn that entrapped the now-divine form of his old enemy from the World-That-Was, the Undead Nehekharan necromancer Nagash, now incarnated in the Mortal Realms as the god of death because of his binding with the magical wind of Shyish.

Though trepidatious of what might happen given his old enemy's tendency to seek domination, the God-King freed the Great Necromancer from his resting place. Nagash agreed to aid Sigmar in the settlement of civilisation and established many cities on Shyish, amongst them his capital of Nagashizzar.

Labours of Grungni

The duardin deities Grimnir, god of war and fire, and Grungni, god of smiths, are released from their bondage by Sigmar as the God-King explored Chamon, the Realm of Metal. Grateful, Grungni created the Nineteen Great Wonders of Chamon, of which the perfectly straight Godwrought Isles are one.

He also founded the duardin Khazalid Empire before travelling to Azyr to forge the Sigmarabulum and Anvil of Apotheosis out of gratitude for Sigmar's aid.

The Realmstone called Chamonite is discovered in great abundance throughout the Godwrought Isles of Chamon. This encourages trade and technological development across the realm, with the nations known as the "Brothers Adamant" -- Sigyorn, Azgal and the Crucible Prongs -- profiting most.

Doom of Grimnir

Grimnir, the duardin deity, demanded to repay his debt to Sigmar for his freedom more immediately. Amused, Grimnir was charged by the God-King with slaying the godbeast Vulcatrix, Mother of Salamanders.

The Burning Berzerker headed into the Hills of Aqshy, where he engaged Vulcatrix in a mighty duel. The battle ended with the mutual deaths of both divine combatants. The resulting magical conflagration levelled the Plains of Aqshy, created Vostargi Mont through the falling embers, and left the worshippers of Grimnir an orphaned people.

The divine energies released by the death of the two deities were unleashed across the realms and fused with normal veins of gold underground, creating the magical metal later known as ur-gold by the duardin Fyreslayers.

Duel of the Gods and the Birth of the Pantheon of Order

Riding atop the Great Drake Dracothion in Ghur, Sigmar spotted Gorkamorka, the twin-headed god of destruction, trapped within the living amber form of the godbeast Drakatoa. The God-King bid his companion swoop down before delivering the amber godbeast a mighty blow with his warhammer Ghal Maraz.

The energies of the storm that was unleashed by the strike compelled Drakatoa to expel Gorkamorka -- who immediately smote Dracothion with a mighty blow from his club. An incensed Sigmar soon engaged Gorkamorka in a duel that lasted for many days and nights.

On the twelfth night, the two gods came to an understanding. Gorkamorka agreed to serve as a divine beast hunter in Sigmar's growing Pantheon of Order, for the Hammer God was the only being ever to fight Gorkamorka to a standstill.

Soon after, Alarielle, the goddess of life, and Nagash, the god of death, were independently approached to join the Pantheon of Order. They agreed, though both retained their primary focus on ruling and nurturing their "home" realms -- Ghyran and Shyish, respectively -- above all.

The Golden Centuries

With the Pantheon of Order finally assembled and united, Sigmar truly began his mission to spread civilisation across the Mortal Realms. Among the first of his efforts was to oust the Beastmen Greatfrays from their ancestral hunting grounds and force them to the periphery of mortal civilisation.

Under the tutelage and protection of the Pantheon of Order, great cities of many different peoples rose from Aqshy to Shyish. It soon proved to be a golden age for the Mortal Realms and a time of relative peace and prosperity among all the mortal races.

Chaos Stirs Beyond the Veil

Yet, even as the mortal peoples rose to new heights of civilisation, within the Realm of Chaos the Dark Gods once more began to stir, eager to devour new planes of existence. They fixed their hungry eyes upon the Mortal Realms, an even vaster mortal plane than the World-That-Was. The Ruinous Powers began to work their sinister influence on the emergent mortal civilisations, corrupting them from within as has always been their way.

The Great Horned Rat, the newest of the major Chaos Gods, fostered his mortal children, the ratmen known as the skaven, in Blight City, a sub-realm formed around the ruins of an ancient, half-real subterranean metropolis rescued by the foul deity from the World-That-Was that had once been known as Skavenblight. Here the ratmen rapidly multiply and learn the secrets of creating gnawholes.

The Slann Starmasters detected the machinations of Chaos within the Mortal Realms and began to manipulate the development of mortal civilisations believed to have a role to play in the wars to come, either subtly aiding them or wiping them out. The first nodes of the Seraphon Astromatrix, a great web of arcane power, were connected across the Eight Realms at this time.

Common Enemies

Tyrion and Teclis, the twin aelven gods of light, meet with the shadow aelven deities Malerion and Morathi in Shyish, the Realm of Shadow, aided by an order of raven-worshipping monks -- secret disciples of Tzeentch, the Chaos God of change.

They are united only in their desire to free their people's souls from Slaanesh, the Chaos God of pleasure and excess who devoured the majority of the aelven race long before when the World-That-Was fell to Chaos. Thanks to Morathi's knowledge, a daring plan is put into motion to free the souls of their people from the engorged substance of the Dark Prince.

Rise of Empires

Bataar and Aspiria become the principal nations of the region of Aqshy known as the Great Parch -- at the expense of the Capilarian, Aridian and Flamescar tribes of men.

Meanwhile, in Chamon, the Realm of Metal, the duardin steamhead pioneers of Chamon's Godwrought Isles, ancestors of the Kharadron Overlords, begin experimenting with extracting and refining the lighter-than-air metal known as aether-gold.

Foundation of the Fyreslayer Cult

The duardin worshippers of Grimnir, god of war and fire, form the first-forged lodges, centred around the Salamander's Spine of Aqshy, the Realm of Fire. They discover that the divine essence of Grimnir has mingled with that of his final foe, the godbeast Vulcatrix, Mother of Salamanders, forming ur-gold and Magmadroth eggs. Fyrds are dispatched to recover the ur-gold, and the Fyreslayers' reputation as great mercenaries across the realms is established.

Doom of Shadespire

The Katophranes of the city of Shadespire earn the god of death Nagash's ire by creating shadeglass. The Great Necromancer works a spell to transport the essence of the city into the Hidden Gloaming, creating the Mirrored City.

Labours of Behemat

Needled by the Chaos Gods Tzeentch's whispers and Khorne's taunting laughter at his weakness and subservience, the god of destruction Gorkamorka begins to resent his position within Sigmar's Pantheon of Order -- especially since his former companion the godbeast Behemat is still free to roam and destroy as he pleases.

The Twin-headed God sets the godbeast many tasks, culminating in a duel against Sigmar. Behemat is knocked unconscious in his fight with the God-King, his body forming the greater mass of the Scabrous Sprawl in Ghyran, the Realm of Life.

A Plan Immortal

The god of death Nagash, as is his treacherous nature, begins to scheme for ultimate dominion over the Mortal Realms. His Mortarch, the Deathlord Arkhan the Black, is charged with moving Shyishan realmstone to the realm's centre, one grain at a time.

A score of lesser death gods are devoured by Nagash, and myriad underworlds of the Realm of Death are conquered. Cities built by the Undead hosts in service to the Great Necromancer are founded atop secret underground caverns, in which Nagash intends to conceal his mightiest armies.

Fall and Rise of Orpheon Katakoros

Orpheon Katakros, a human military genius from Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, is slain. His soul awakens in the underworld of Ossia in Shyish, the Realm of Death, where he swiftly rises through the nation's militant ranks. Several underworlds are annexed by his peerless command.

When Nagash's hosts descend upon the Ossian Empire, he is intrigued by Katakros' skills and eventually agrees to remake the general as a Mortarch.

Birth of the Carrion King

The vampiric champion and Deathlord Ushoran loses favour with his master Nagash and is remade as the Carrion King, the first of the Abhorrant Ghoul Kings. He ravages the Nightlands of Shyish for a time before being dragged before the Great Necromancer and imprisoned within the Shroudcage.

The Everwinter Cometh

The Everwinter comes into being, pursuing the Beastclaw Alfrostuns; some say it is a curse set upon them by Gorkamorka himself.

The Frostlord Braggoth Vardruk searches Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, for the Golden Hunting Grounds, which he believes to be beyond the grasp of the Everwinter, but he is tricked by a coterie of aelven wizards and frozen solid, along with much of the Boulderhead Mawtribe.

Heavenly Gifts

Malerion, the aelven god of shadow, gifts Sigmar the Gladitorium, through which he can secretly observe the God-King's armies; with this done, he largely retreats from the Pantheon of Order.

Teclis, the aelven god of light and knowledge, gifts Sigmar the Enlightenment Engines; the God-King soon sets Grungni, the duardin smith god, the task of reversing their effect to shroud the first of the eldritch caches known as Stormvaults.

Disappearance of Grungni

After completing his tasks for Sigmar, the god of smiths Grungni disappears, leaving his people -- the duardin -- to fend for themselves against their multifarious enemies.

Binding of Slaanesh

The Chaos God of excess, Slaanesh, is lured from the Realm of Chaos and captured by the four aelven Incarnate gods -- Tyrion, Teclis, Malerion and Morathi-- and imprisoned in Uhl-Gysh, the Hidden Gloaming, a twilight demi-realm encapsulated by the realmspheres of both Hysh and Ulgu and comprised of their intermingled magical substance.

The Chaos God's physical corpus is wrapped in a magical binding known as the Chain of Purest Hatred which was fashioned of a fusion of shadow and light magic, had no true physical form and was composed of pure and unsullied magic taken from the edges of the respective realms of Hysh and Ulgu.

The process of extracting the devoured souls of the aelves from the divine energies of Slaanesh begins using the artefact called the Ocarian Lantern.

Tyrion and Teclis also begin to distance themselves from the Pantheon of Order at this time, as they become obsessed only with saving their lost people from Chaos.

Birth of the Cythai

Using aelven souls extracted from the essence of Slaanesh by the Ocarian Lantern, the god Teclis creates the Cythai, but he fails to expel the lingering taint of Slaanesh in their souls. Though Tyrion stays his brother's hand from destroying his new aelven creations, the Cythai flee beneath the waves of Hysh's Gealus Ocean, to escape retribution, becoming the aquatic aelves known as the Idoneth Deepkin.

With them they take the stolen relic of the Ocarian Lantern being used by the gods to extract aelven souls from Slaanesh, and they hide it in the chasm of Sarr Danoi. Soon after, the disconsolate Teclis becomes aware of Sigmar's perversion of his Enlightenment Engines.

Foundation of the Cult of Khaine

Spurned by the other Incarnate gods due to her lack of truly divine status and granted only a sliver of land in Ulgu, the Realm of Shadows, to rule by her son Malerion, the god of shadow and true master of the realm, Morathi leaves the Pantheon of Order to begin crafting her chosen aelven people.

She is accompanied by minor cults of Khaine, the ancient aelven deity of war Morathi once served as a mortal. Morathi rules over these cults in the guise of the long-dead god Khaine's chosen prophet. The temple of Hagg Nar dedicated to Khaine is established in the Umbral Veil of Ulgu.

Scattering of the Idoneth Deepkin

Discontent between Idoneth Deepkin factions in the First City of Gealrachi sees the enclaves spreading across all of the Mortal Realms from Hysh. Only the Ionrach, who establish the city of Príom in Ghyran's Maithnar Sea, attempt to keep in contact with their kin.

The Idoneth begin raiding for souls, having learned the various magical arts required for their continued survival.

Creation of the Lumineth

After several more false starts, the twin gods of Hysh, Tyrion and Teclis, succeed in creating the Lumineth, a new aelven race born of extracted aelven souls from Slaanesh that seems to embody their ideals.

Their patronage of this new race sees them further abandon the goals of the Pantheon of Order.

Descent of the Lode-Griffon

The Chaos God Tzeentch lures the godbeast known as the Lode-Griffon to the Godwrought Isles of Chamon, the Realm of Metal, its potent, highly magnetic blood distorting the geography of the region. Straight landmasses begin to ripple and twist into the Spiral Crux, undoing the states of the "Brothers Adamant."

The tribes of Odrenn, Ayadah and Viscid Flux are furthest from the centre of the Spiral Crux and begin to surpass the Brothers Adamant. The city of Prosperis is founded by settlers from Viscid Flux.

First Great WAAAGH!

The god of destruction Gorkamorka suddenly snaps, violently resigning from Sigmar's fraying Pantheon of Order. The resulting Great WAAAGH! he unleashes is said to ravage from one side of the Mortal Realms to the other.

The original Grot tribes diverge, scattering and forming their distinct subcultures. Orruks conquer the land bridge linking Aspiria and Bataar to the heart of the Great Parch of Aqshy, the Realm of Fire. Though they are eventually forced out by a mighty Aspirian spell that creates the Kindling Forest, the influence of the civilised nations is further removed from the middle reaches of the region.

Over the years, the goddess of life, Alarielle the Everqueen, becomes disenchanted with the Pantheon of Order due to the continued transgressions against nature and living things by Gorkamorka and Nagash, the god of death. She chooses to focus ever more of her efforts on Ghyran, the Realm of Life, alone.

Ascension of Volturnos

After a long campaign against the orruks culminating in the destruction of the ramshackle Flotsam Isles, Volturnos is named high king of the Idoneth Deepkin.

Mountains Arcane

In Ghyran, the Realm of Life, the sap volcano of Quogmia Mountain erupted, burying the city of Aelfgrove -- that will later become the Phoenicium -- in a tidal wave of mystical amber sap.

In Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, the Silent People disappeared into the living mountain of Beastgrave.

Meanwhile in Hysh, the Realm of Light, the sentient mountain Avalenor watched the aelven Lumineth's rise with distant interest.

Kinstrife

As Morathi's aelven Daughters of Khaine expanded beyond the temple-city of Hagg Nar in Ulgu, tensions between the sects blossomed into civil war. Morathi allowed these conflicts to run their course, weeding out the weakest of her followers and those who would contest her rule or would unintentionally empower Slaanesh through their obsessive bloodlust.

The Idoneth Deepkin of Dhom-hain launched raids along the coast of Ghyran's Tendril Sea. In doing so, they earned the ire of the goddess of nature, the Everqueen Alarielle, and lost the Bánmhar -- the White Sword -- enchanted by their creator god Teclis himself.

Opening of the Sky-Rifts

The nations of Azgal, Sigyorn, Patina, Prosperis and Viscid Flux of Chamon, the Realm of Metal, come together to work a grand ritual of transmutation to kill the godbeast known as the Lode-Griffon of the Spiral Crux.

Though they succeeded in slaying the godbeast, the ninth mage of their coven was revealed to be a Gaunt Summoner of the Lord of Change who had altered the ritual, killing the other wizards and opening tears in reality across the Spiral Crux. The daemonic and mortal forces of Tzeentch began to pour into the region, marking the start of the Chaos invasion of Chamon.

The Red Feast

In Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, the Vanxian warlord Threx Skullbrand challenged the warring armies of the Flamescar, Aridian, Capilaria and Demesnus tribes of human barbarians to a contest of arms in the Clavis Isles.

Athol Khul fought his way to the top, but as the eight hundred and eighty-eighth barbarian champion fell, a grand, sorcerous ritual was completed. The Clavis Isles' Realmgate imploded, opening a gateway to the Blood God Khorne's home domain in the Realm of Chaos, and daemons poured through.

Athol Khul swore himself to the service of the Blood God, becoming known as Korghos Khul, the mightiest of the Lords of Khorne.

As daemons and the mortal devotees of Chaos began to unleash their assaults upon the various civilisations of the realms, the terrible new Great Epoch known as the Age of Chaos fell upon the Mortal Realms. The forces of the Dark Gods soon swept across the Cosmos Arcane once more.

See Also

• Age of Chaos
• Age of Sigmar

Sources

• White Dwarf 458 (November 2020), "Worlds of Warhammer" by Phil Kelly, pp. 10-13
• White Dwarf 459 (December 2020), "Worlds of Warhammer" by Phil Kelly, pg. 10