The Celestant-Prime is nothing less than the Storm of Sigmar itself. Those who meet the Celestant-Prime in battle face first hand the full brunt of the God-King’s wrath, for he is the Avenging Angel of Azyr, the Bearer of the World-Hammer, and the First Scion of Sigmar.[1a]
When Sigmar first reforged a mortal into a Stormcast Eternal, he laboured long and hard at the arcane process. Many were the mysteries employed in the creation of this warrior, one who was to be an answer to the greatest champions of Chaos. When this great work was completed, however, Sigmar’s creation would not rise. He simply lay inert, as if in slumber.
Sigmar was not deterred, as he understood that even the greatest warrior was incomplete without the appropriate weapon. So it was that, when Sigmar’s Tempest broke, he sent his warriors to find and retrieve his own hammer, Ghal Maraz, lost in the Age of Myth. The quest was difficult, and costly for those who fought the lords of Chaos guarding the resting place of the great warhammer. Nonetheless, it was returned to the God-King, and the Heavens thundered in approval. When Sigmar bore the weapon to the Forbidden Vault and placed it in the hand of his creation, the warrior’s eyes opened, and he rose on blazing wings to meet his destiny.
From the Celestant-Prime’s first strike into the realms, those Chaos warlords that matched themselves against him have been found wanting. Torglug the Despised, Gerhart the Unshriven and Salacia Everseeking were all blessed with great power by their gods. All met their end upon the blunt face of the warhammer Ghal Maraz – or felt the crushing impact of the Cometstrike Sceptre, a weapon imbued with so much celestial power it can pull meteors from the firmament and send them crashing into the enemy. Around the Celestant-Prime swirl the energies of his creation. These gifts from Sigmar form a mystical orrery that lends him insight into what lies ahead.
Though he is a figurehead to the Hammers of Sigmar more than any other Stormhost, the Celestant-Prime’s armour will manifest the livery of whatever warriors he aids. Around him the Stormcasts fight all the harder, for they know that Sigmar has sent his mightiest champion to help them accomplish their mission.
The warhammer Ghal Maraz is an icon of divine might as much as a weapon, yet its purpose is not to sit idle. Sigmar has entrusted it to the Celestant-Prime as a tool of deliverance as much as of domination. Struck with runes of justice, the hammer is a bane to Chaos, and only the most powerful of the Dark Gods’ minions can bear to look upon its radiance. Trailing twin comet-tails of celestial energy when swung with sufficient force, the hammer can blast an evil man to scattering ash.
Yet its powers are not merely destructive. At the battle of the Blackstone Summit, the Celestant-Prime struck the warlord Torglug the Despised with a blow that slew his plague-riddled body, but sent his soul – or at least the part of it that was still noble – winging to High Azyr to be reforged. So was Tornus the Redeemed given life. Since that day, the Celestant-Prime has freed many others from the yoke of Chaos, and a new breed of warrior has been introduced into the glorious armies of the Heavens.
Overview[]
He was the most heroic of mankind’s champions, a great king and guardian of men from an age rapidly growing darker. When he was chosen as the first by Sigmar, the God-King poured into him a prodigious portion of divine might. Yet the process was not fully concluded – this greatest of aspirants remained in stasis in the storm-wracked dome of the Forbidden Vault. Without Sigmar’s hammer, Ghal Maraz, the first Stormcast was incomplete.[1a]
When the Stormcast Eternals at last reunited Sigmar with Ghal Maraz, the Celestant-Prime arose, shimmering and resplendent. In that moment thunder rolled across the Realms – its intensity shaking skulls from the foundation of the Brass Throne. In the most brilliant of bolts the first of the Stormcast Eternals joined Sigmar’s armies on blazing wings, his gleaming armour flickering with chains of lightning, always appearing to match that of the Stormhost he was fighting alongside. With each arcing hammer swing, the Celestant-Prime smote the wicked, the bludgeoning force sweeping away ranks of oncoming foes at a time.[1a]
Full of the energies of the Celestial Realm, the Celestant-Prime’s hammer blows can slay a greater daemon with a single thunder-cracking impact, breaking its body, and banishing it utterly. Yet such is the power of the Celestant-Prime that there is yet more than sheer destruction within those mighty concussions. If there is the slightest kernel of uncorrupted soul left in the smitten, then the blow frees the spirit even as it crushes the tainted form. Those who are redeemable are purified. Spirits loosed in such a manner are not dragged into the Realm of Chaos, nor do they dissolve into the Underworlds ruled by Nagash. Instead, the spirits wing their way to Azyr, there to be presented before almighty Sigmar. The final judgement is his, and his alone, for a place in his armies awaits the few who are found worthy.[1a]
Thus did Sigmar’s new War against Chaos bring the corrupting ways of the Dark Gods back full circle.[1a]
Wargear[]
The Celestant-Prime wields Ghal Maraz, the Hammer of Sigmar, and carries the Cometstrike Sceptre.[1b]