Free Peoples

"Each realm is a hundred kingdoms, built upon the bones of a hundred more."

—Ogwell Mancini, Azyrite sage

The Free Peoples are mortals of every species from all across the Mortal Realms who are uncorrupted by the power of Chaos and who live within Sigmar's empire in Azyr and Sigmarite settlements established elsewhere in the realms.

The term is particularly applied within those Sigmarite colonies founded after the opening of the Gates of Azyr at the start of the Age of Sigmar that have become known as the Cities of Sigmar or the Free Cities.

The Free Peoples are made up of the descendants of those mortals that fled to Azyr, the Realm of Heavens, with Sigmar and his armies when the rest of the Mortal Realms fell to Chaos during the Age of Chaos. Their ranks contain members of many species and cultures -- human, duardin, aelven, and others.

There are many factions found within the Free Peoples, some more powerful than others; the one force that unites them all is a hatred of the Dark Gods and all their works.

Not all have faith in Sigmar, with a few, such as the Darkling Covens of the aelves, regarding the forces of the God-King only as allies of convenience. Nevertheless, all serve willingly under his banners, at least for now.

The Free Peoples have returned to the realms in the wake of Sigmar's Tempest, some to found and fortify the gleaming new Cities of Sigmar first established by the Stormcast Eternals' conquests, while others attempt to reclaim what was once theirs, such as the duardin Warden Kings who direct their Dispossessed folk in retaking the holds and territories of the long-dead Khazalid Empire.

The Free Peoples' ranks have expanded with those courageous few who managed to survive the horrors of the Age of Chaos in the Mortal Realms. Together, all live in hope and strive to bring about Sigmar's vision for what the Mortal Realms could be.

Men, duardin and aelves come in many different forms. Every human tribe, kingdom and city is different in culture and dress, usually speaking a regional variation of the Azyrite tongue. While some commonalities exist, thanks to the increasing influence of Azyr, there are still more differences than similarities.

The aelves are much the same, with the relative paucity of their population lending itself to greater differences among individuals. There are noble but fierce clans of nomadic wanderers, families of mystically-attuned scholars, and monastic warrior conclaves, bound together by oaths as old as the realms themselves.

In contrast to humans and aelves, duardin are, by and large, duardin, wherever they choose to make their home. While a variety of minor cultural differences exist between Dispossessed clans, they are often only noticeable to the duardin themselves.

Goals and Ideas

The Mortal Realms are home to a nearly infinite array of peoples and civilisations. Humans, duardin and aelves have all carved out a place for themselves in the wake of Sigmar's return.

Azyrite colonists pour into the lower realms to pursue wealth and adventure in newly-taken territories, even as the human kingdoms of those self-same territories attempt to reassert their hard-fought independence.

The duardin clans of the Dispossessed seek to retake and restore their ancestral holds, even as they help humanity build new cities to replace those lost to Chaos.

And the most enigmatic of all, the aelves, whose purpose in the realms is as mysterious as their origins.

The goals of the Free Peoples are as varied as the peoples themselves. Azyrite colonists seek to expand beyond the original beachheads established by the Stormcast Eternals, creating opportunities for themselves in newly reclaimed territories.

Merchants seek to re-establish ancient trading routes as new cities and townships are created on the bones of the old. Scribes and wizards attempt to gather the forgotten knowledge of the lost empires of the Age of Myth, even as duardin mining concerns plumb the mineral wealth of the realms.

The aelves are wanderers and sages who seek to regenerate the lands beyond Azyr by restoring ancient ley-lines.

Despite these disparate motivations, the Free Peoples are united in the face of their common foes, upholding the ideals of Sigmar -- order and progress in the face of entropy and darkness.

There are many opportunities to be found among human societies of the Free Peoples. Freeguild regiments are always in need of fresh recruits, whether to fill out a battle-line or patrol the streets of a city. Merchants are in need of guides. Sages require the help of adventurous souls to investigate forgotten temples and ruined cities.

The Dispossessed often employ mercenaries to explore the fallen holds of their ancestors, or to recover the lost treasures of their clans.

Certain aelven families residing in Hammerhal and Bataar are said to hire sellswords and scholars to search for signs of their lost kin and ancestral roots in Hysh and Ulgu.

Society and Structure

Thousands of different societies and cultures make up the Free Peoples. Azyrite settlers populate the Cities of Sigmar, mingling with the surviving native human tribes of the Mortal Realms that have found sanctuary within the city walls.

The Dispossessed duardin clans have their own cultural practices which diverge significantly, depending on the clan. While the Excelsis-based Grunndrak Clan hold to the traditional values of the ancient Khazalid Empire, for instance, the Gazul-Zagaz of southern Shyish are a dour, death-obsessed people.

The aelves are even more dissimilar, for they are a people fractured into many different cultures and ways of life. Some are nomadic wanderers, while others seek solace in lives of monastic solitude. Others ply the seas, hunting great beasts or band together in warrior brotherhoods, devoted to the eradication of Chaos.

Notable Free Peoples Factions

The most notable factions associated with the Free Peoples currently include the following:

• Cities of Sigmar
• Collegiate Arcane
• Darkling Covens
• Devoted of Sigmar
• Dispossessed
• Eldritch Council
• Freeguild
• Ironweld Arsenal
• Order of Azyr
• Order Draconis
• Order Serpentis
• Phoenix Temple
• Scourge Privateers
• Shadowblades
• Soulbound
• Stormcast Eternals
• Swifthawk Agents
• Wanderers

Sources

• Warscrolls Compendium: The Empire
• Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Soulbound: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 47, 191