"See him stride swiftly and surely across slaughter-sodden soil, seeking savage serfs to slay with sublime sword strokes! Sigh sincerely as he searches for spectacular and sordid sensations! Scream sinful songs of supplication to the salacious Sigvald, supreme son of Slaanesh!’"
- — from the Sixty-Six Stanzas of Sigvald
Sigvald, sometimes called "Sigvald the Magnificent," is a Champion of Slaanesh devoted to his own narcissism and pleasure. He takes the form of a perfectly-formed, beautiful, blonde-haired human man clad in golden plate armour.
Though his form is beautiful on the outside, within he is completely consumed by pettiness, vanity, and all the corrupt selfishness and hedonistic excess that delights his patron Chaos God.
History[]
Origins[]
Sigvald was originally a Champion of Chaos in the World-That-Was, born in the frozen northlands of the land called Norsca as the incestuous offspring of a warlock and the warlock's sister.
Beautiful from the moment he was born, the only feature to mar his perfect skin was a single horn mark on the back of his neck signifying that even at this early age he was already pledged to the Dark Gods.
He grew up strong and beautiful, and was spoiled by his father, given whatever he desired. Until one day it turned out that his gourmet tastes had refined so fully that he had begun to sample human flesh.
This was a bridge too far even for his loving sire, and his father banished him from the tribe. In a rage, Sigvald slew his father and left for the Chaos Wastes in the far north, communing with Slaanesh and quickly becoming one of the Dark Prince's favorites.
After some time, he emerged from the Chaos Wastes with an army of warriors at his back. His personal bodyguard carried mirrored shields to allow Sigvald to preen himself at any time, even in battle, and he directed his army at anything he considered ugly, distasteful, or offensive to his delicate sensibilities.
His demeanor and his fighting skill delighted Slaanesh, and Sigvald was rewarded with blessings that fit his character. He never found himself soiled, for even when filth approached his body in the heat of battle it was not allowed to blemish him. At the same time, he always floated a few inches above the ground at all times so that his feet were never sullied by the soil.
Additionally, he was given the magical weapon Silverslash, a silver rapier, and the Mirrorshield by his divine patron to protect him, which was literally a great mirror that he used as a shield so that he might continue to admire himself even in the heat of battle.
He fought in many battles all the way up to the End Times of the World-That-Was, with his final battle being a duel with Krell, a former Chaos Lord raised after death as a servant of the undead lord Nagash.
Though Sigvald won the battle, he took a severe blow to his perfect face, and in the aftermath of the duel, with battle still raging, he sat in the snow gazing at his Mirrorshield and weeping at his loss.
Though his enchanted golden armour would soon heal him and restore his perfection, he was utterly distraught that his beauty had been marred for even a moment. Seeing the distracted Champion of Slaanesh, Throgg, the king of Trolls, bashed his head in and urinated on his body. It was a humiliating end for the proudest of Slaanesh's champions.
Sigvald's Awakening[]
Despite how faithfully Sigvald served Slaanesh in life, the Dark Prince of Chaos is far too vain to accept a soul into itself which had suffered so degrading an ending.
And so Sigvald's soul was allowed to drift through the Cosmos Arcane unclaimed after the destruction of the World-That-Was rather than being taken into the Realm of Chaos until it was recovered by Nagash, now the god of death of the Mortal Realms, who decided to torment the former servant of Chaos by encasing him in an artefact, the Magnificent Mirror, which allowed anyone who looked upon it to see an idealised form of themselves, preventing anyone from ever seeing the former Slaaneshi champion encased within.
The Magnificent Mirror was left to rot in Shadespire, but as Shadespire moved to Uhl-Gysh, near where the god Slaanesh lay imprisoned, the trapped Sigvald was able to leach a measure of power off his patron.
It was greedy duardin, a Kharadron expedition from Barak-Zilfin, who came across the Magnificent Mirror, a prize so great it made all others fade from their sight and distracted them utterly from their quest, wasting away in the deserts of Penultima as soon as they had gotten it free of Shadespire.
It was here that a Godseeker warband called the Scarlet Cavalcade discovered the mirror, and by now the soul of Sigvald had gained enough power to exert a measure of control over his prison.
When the war leader of the Godseekers gazed into the mirror, Sigvald twisted the image so that instead of presenting an idealized reflection of the leader, it showed a horrible mockery. The war leader smashed the mirror in rage, but did not expect the perfect form of Sigvald the Magnificent to rise from the shards.
So beautiful was he that the Scarlet Cavalcade fell to their knees in worship of the reborn Champion of Slaanesh, for Sigvald had achieved ultimate communion with Slaanesh at the moment his imprisonment ended. He then slaughtered one in six of the warriors of the Scarlet Cavalcade, overwhelmed by the nearly-divine strength and power he felt flowing through his resurrected body.
His next priority was to get a new weapon, as his old, beloved rapier Silverslash was lost, and in any case no longer a perfect-enough weapon for his new, ascended status.
He struck a deal with the daemon-artisan Gyll'Falai, exchanging six of his beautiful hairs, and with them a portion of his soul, for a sword forged of the very prison that had caged him, which he named Shardslash.
Wargear[]
- Shardslash - Shardslash is a magical sword forged from the shards of Sigvald's prison, the Magnificent Mirror. Not only a keen blade wielded by an expert swordsman, it also retains the properties of its former prison. The slightest nick can capture a soul within the blade for Sigvald to torment later at his leisure.
Sources[]
- Battletome: Hedonites of Slaanesh (2nd Edition)