Introduction
I remember walking past the Nottingham Games Workshop store on many occasions and admiring all the viscerally painted citadel miniatures. As shown on display inside the many glass cabinets. Brutish looking orcs with jutting jaws and tusk like fangs seen grasping crudely fashioned and bloodied battle axes. Dread like Chaos warriors, whose black and bronze armor encrusted with glowing archaic runes. Upon their heads they wore horned helmets. Adorned by a gruesome trophy of their latest kills, comprising of a collection of fleshless and tied severed heads. The more heads gained, the greater the favor bestowed upon them by the blood god Khorne. The chaos god of violence and war. Next to the chaos horde stood armies of The Empire, brave men clad in shining armour and dressed in the coloured regalia of their province. Huge Battle standards pointed to the sky, emblazoned with eagles, wolves and imperial crosses. All the miniatures shown on display, were part of the roll playing game called Warhammer.
Having no real interest in playing the game, it was the lore and aesthetics that fascinated me. Inside the Warhammer setting, there was a realm called The Old World. A habitat which conveyed a darker and grittier image than the high fantasy of J._R._R._Tolkien, or the Dungeons & Dragons roll playing game.. A land aesthetically similar to Medieval and Renaissance era Europe. Enveloped with the violence and extravagance reminiscent of a Conan comic. John Blanche captured much of this imagery in his artwork. His illustrations adorning the front covers of White Dwarf magazine during the 1980’s and 1990’s. He also curated one of the best undead diorama scenes in existence, as shown on display at Warhammer World, in Nottingham.
The Undead
Looking ahead to Halloween each year, or Samhain as it traditionally known. When for many centuries those within the Germanic and Celtic regions of Europe, carved ghastly faces into turnip lanterns each autumn. It was the imagery and lore of The Undead that appealed to me.
Under stormy skies, vampires and necromancers lead skeletal hordes beyond their gothic spires. To pillage towns and villages. And march with uneven gaits across the green pasture lands and leafy suburbs of the border regions between Stirland and Sylvania. Where wraiths stalked abandoned mist enshrouded graveyards, and zombies consumed the marrow from the bones of the recently buried dead. Transylvania in Romania believably influenced the eastern provinces of the Empire in places such as Stirland and Mordheim. Transylvania also being a land dominated by jagged mountains and tales of werewolves. Where the dead stir unquiet beneath their graves.
Characters of The Undead include The Red Duke of Aquitaine, a vampire who resides within a neighboring realm called Bretonnia. To ride upon his jet black horse in red and black of armor. And Dieter Helsnicht, known as the Doom Lord, a once great and respected wizard. Forced to flee from the city of Middenheim for his dabbling and conjuring in the dark arts.
Books Collection
So far I have collected and read a total of seventy five Warhammer fictional books. With titles such as The Enemy Within. A story for where the celestial wizard Dieter Schumann, becomes blackmailed by a witch hunter. And Shadowbreed where fighter and mercenary Konrad battles his way through hordes of chaos.
Dan Abnett, William King and Graham Hill are just a few of the authors that write for the Games Workshop book publishing division called the Black Library. Each author has his own unique style. To adhere to themes or subjects they are most familiar with. William King for example, has even invented his own characters called Gotrek Gurnisson and Felix Jaiger. Gotrek, a dwarf looking to atone for a past wrong doing. Who treads the most treacherous paths in the old world, in the search for an honourable death. His human friend Felix Jaeger, fighting by his side. The poet to transcribe an epic poem of remembrance for when Gotrek finally succumbs in battle to a greater foe. Gotreks spirit finally ready to enter the halls of his ancestors.
Chaos
Regardless of topic. Chaos is always lurking among the shadows. Whether it be black hooded cultists infiltrating the higher echelons of society. Or beastmen waiting for their next victim to wonder deeply inside the most isolated forests of the Empire. The threat of nightmarish mutated creatures sweeping down from the twisted realms of the far north is very real. Despite this, those within the Empire who lead relatively quiet and sheltered lives compared to soldiers, scholars or wizards. Do not believe in Chaos. Or anything considered beyond natural, and dismiss such talk as drunken tavern foolery.
Chaos shares indistinguishable traits to what H.P. Lovecraft created with the Necronomicon. Himself influenced by occult grimoires of daemonology, The Lesser Key of Solomon. As an example. Comparing all the chaos gods attributes, Khorne is the most merciless and violent. Devoid of pity and empathy, whose only indulgence is both violence and war. Legend has it, the realm of Khorne constantly flows with volcanic rivers of blood. Pillars of flame light up the towers of skulls that penetrate the crackling sky. The booming laughter of the dark gods only becomes stifled by sounds of clashing steel. Reverberating with the roars and hellish screams of Daemonic creatures. Pitted against one another and used as pawns for mere entertainment.
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~ Meresburg ~ 2024.
Meresburg 