Sigmar

"Seven steps took Sigmar, striding as a giant; none could stay him, nor stand before his wrath. Again and again his foe-cracking hammer wrought crimson wreckage."

—Anonymous

Sigmar (The God-King)
Sigmar, God-King of Azyr, wielding his divine warhammer Ghal Maraz.
Gender	Male
Species	Ascended Deity (Currently) Men (Formerly)
Faction	Order Free Peoples Cities of Sigmar Stormcast Eternals
Position	God of Civilisation and Progress God-King of Azyr, the Realm of Heavens
Status	Active

Sigmar, also known as Sigmar Heldenhammer and the "God-King," is the Ascended god of civilisation and progress, the patron deity of men, the lord of the Realm of Azyr and the Free Peoples of the Cities of Sigmar that he has seen settled all across the Mortal Realms. His honorifics include the "Man-God," "The Thunderer," Zahg-Mar, "The Great Roaring One," and "Chaosbane."

It was Sigmar who ordered the creation of the Stormcast Eternals to serve as his primary champions in retaking the Mortal Realms from the servants of the Ruinous Powers and it is in honour of the God-King's efforts to restore mortal civilisation that the current Great Epoch of the realms is named.

Sigmar stands as the greatest foe of Chaos in the Mortal Realms and the former leader of the deities who comprised the Pantheon of Order which once ruled over the Eight Realms in the Age of Myth.

History

Origins

During the Age of Myth, Sigmar slew one of the first Godbeasts.

At the end of the final battle of the End Times for the World-That-Was against the forces of Chaos, the ascended human deity Sigmar fell into darkness.

Only by clutching onto the last remnant of his dying world as it was consumed and unmade by the energies of Chaos did he escape destruction. Only by his unyielding will did he hold onto that metal core of sigmarite, later called Mallus after the lost world whose heart it had once been. Long was Sigmar's unconscious journey through the sea of stars of the Aetheric Void, lasting many aeons. At last he was saved by Dracothion the Great Drake, Godbeast and father of the Star Drakes.

Many are the tales that recount how Dracothion befriended Sigmar, helping him hang the metal core of Mallus in the sky above the Realm of Azyr. It was Dracothion that showed Sigmar the wonder of the Eight Realms which had come into existence from the remains of the World-That-Was during his long journey through the void, and so began what is now known as the Age of Myth.

Many legends are told of Sigmar's deeds during this period, such as when he felled Ymnog, Grandfather of Gargants, hunted down Great Nagendra, the shape-shifting Realm Serpent, and bested the Greenskin god of destruction Gorkamorka in feats of strength.

Indeed, Sigmar found and awakened many other gods who had also once known life as mortals on the World-That-Was, creating a new Pantheon of Order over which he ruled. Cites were founded and mortal civilisations flourished. Yet Chaos came once more, to plague the new realms, bringing war and plague, corruption and ruin. After long wars and many defeats, Sigmar's pantheon broke, and he retreated with his servants and all who sought to escape the dominion of Chaos to seclusion in the Realm of Azyr, sealing the gates behind him.

Loss of Ghal Maraz

"So great was that battle, it set the skies aflame; so began the red dawn, the sword time, the wolf age."

— Excerpt from the Saga of the Burning Skies

Sigmar after becoming the God-King of Azyr, the Celestial Realm.

Few tell the tale of how Sigmar came to lose his rune-enchanted warhammer, Ghal Maraz, because so few survived the Battle of Burning Skies that began the true dominion of Chaos in the Mortal Realms and marked the dawn of the terrible Age of Chaos.

In the early years of the Age of Chaos, there was a time when the lands and peoples of the realms were besieged by the forces of Chaos, but not yet corrupted. Tomorrow was still a promise and not yet a threat. But everywhere dread was taking hold, for the power of the Dark Gods waxed mightily. Although Sigmar's alliance among the other Ascended gods, the Pantheon of Order, was breaking, still the God-King fought on, alone when he must.

The first Chaos incursions cut deep into the Eight Realms. Cities fell before the onslaught of the Daemons and worshippers of the Chaos Gods, yet always Sigmar, or one of the other allied deities of his pantheon, led a counter-attack to drive off the invaders. Each of the Greater Daemons that led the Dark Gods' armies was defeated in its turn. Sigmar personally cast down the Khornate armies of the Bloodthirster An'ggrath.

Sigmar smote Feculox, most immense of the Great Unclean Ones, within the City of Branches. Through the power of his immortal soul, the God-King fought off the magicks of the Lord of Change Kiathanus. Luxcious the Keeper, a Keeper of Secrets, the first to call herself Ur-Slaanesh, the replacement for the missing Chaos God of pleasure, pain and excess, withered in the face of his unbreakable resolve. In Aqshy, Sigmar led the twelve tribes of Bellicos to victory, clearing their lands for a time.

In response, Archaon, mortal commander of the forces of Chaos, was enraged by Sigmar's successes. The Everchosen united the forces of the four major Chaos Gods to assail Aqshy's heartlands once more, bringing the daemonic champions together upon the Fireplains. As a great host of Chaos assembled in the plains of the Burning Realm, the God-King gathered his tribes once more.

The legions of the daemon champions covered the lands. Their combined armies stretched to every horizon, reaching into the sky itself -- for they had torn a rent in reality, from which poured nightmares beyond count. The gods of Sigmar's Pantheon of Order and their respective worshippers opposed that fell host, and the ruinous slaughter that followed shook the realms.

Thus began the Battle of Burning Skies. It was a great conflict that the worshippers of Khorne later called the "Battle of Skulls," for so many foes were killed that the amassed skull pyres were as mountains, blotting out the sun. Indeed, so great was the slaughter that, for a year after that battle, the seers of other realms still looked upon blazing Aqshy and saw only a burning death's head.

From above the advancing legions, Nagash, god of death, summoned necromantic armies of the undead, while Gorkamorka rampaged unstoppably, clubbing gaping holes into the oncoming Chaos hordes. The burning light of the aelven god Teclis banished foes unnumbered, yet it was mighty Sigmar, always at the pantheon's fore, that truly turned the tide.

Crowned by thunderheads, titanic in his rage, the God-King could not be stopped. Each swing of Ghal Maraz hit with meteoric force, the hurricanes that swirled from each impact sweeping foes aside in waves. Seven times Sigmar led the charge, his barely united coalition crashing deep into the enemy ranks that passed beyond the horizon. Seven times they threw back their Chaos foes, reaping a great tally with each clash.

On the eighth time, Sigmar shouted his world-shaking warcry and charged forth to meet the Four Foes he had defeated long ago -- the daemon kings of Chaos known to their legions as the Tetrarchs of Ruin.

Sigmar bore down on the daemon commanders, a killing light blazing in his eyes. One after the other the Tetrarchs tasted the wrath of Ghal Maraz, for in their pride they would not fight as one. When Archaon himself rode to oppose Sigmar, the God-King hurled Ghal Maraz, for he knew the Destroyer of Worlds was deadliest in a duel.

Yet in his battle rage, Sigmar was deceived. Tzeentchian illusion had tricked him into hurling his matchless warhammer not at Archaon, but into the very rent in reality from which poured the daemon hordes. Reality cracked and boomed as the warhammer ploughed from one realm to the next, waves of destruction unleashed in its wake. Archaon's laughter was loud and cruel.

Through space and time Ghal Maraz hurtled on, lost to Sigmar's sight. The God-King despaired as the gloating of the Dark Gods rang in his ears, knowing that without his mighty warhammer, the battle was all but lost.

Great was that day's slaughter, so great that it ushered in a new era for the Mortal Realms, the dark Age of Chaos. The disasters of the Nexus Wars ensued soon after, following which Sigmar retreated, shutting the Gates of Azyr behind him.

For long years Sigmar dwelt upon his losses, his rage simmering as he brooded on how best to reclaim his own. The Dark Gods of Chaos were triumphant at last.

Rivalry with Archaon

"Yet Archaon, the Three-Eyed King, the World-ender, had united Four Foes of Old, the greatest of their kind. Across the aeons Sigmar had vanquished each before, as well they remembered."

—Anonymous

Sigmar, the God-King, upon his throne in Azyr.

The Chosen of Chaos Archaon and Sigmar are ancient enemies dating back to the time of the World-That-Was, and their past is marked by the ruins of civilisations and the corpses of empires.

Sigmar is a champion of light and Order, a great, warhammer-wielding god who long ago in the Age of Myth united the peoples of the Mortal Realms and ushered in a golden age.

In many ways, Archaon is Sigmar's dark reflection. Both are great generals and masterful warriors, and both unify the forces under their command. Where Sigmar forges new communities and defends civilisations, however, Archaon seeks only to destroy and corrupt, just as he long ago was responsible for destroying the World-That-Was.

The enmity between the God-King and the Everchosen is bitter, stoked by millennia of war. Relics dating back to the late Age of Myth depict the two fighting over whole worlds -- a glowing figure with warhammer held high doing battle against a horned shadow that grips a snarling sword.

It is a motif still found upon ruins and in ancient texts, a memory of a long-lost time of war between the champions of Order and Chaos. As the Age of Sigmar begins, this bitter rivalry between Archaon and Sigmar seems set to play out once more, a champion of light and a champion of darkness battling for the fate of the Eight Realms.

Dogma

• Oppose Chaos and its servants in all their forms.

• Spread the faith of Sigmar, by any means necessary.

• Treat fairly with the servants of other gods who oppose Chaos.

• Uphold the tenets of civilisation and progress across the Mortal Realms.

See Also

• Sigmar (Warhammer: The Old World)

Sources

• Order Battletome: Stormcast Eternals (1st Edition), pg. 7
• Chaos Battletome: Everchosen(1st Edition), pg. 16
• The Realmgate Wars: Quest for Ghal Maraz (1st Edition) , pg. 84
• Hammerhal (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
• Warhammer Age of Sigmar Roleplay - Soulbound - Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 230-231