Oh damn, this is why I hate being late for updates, I miss the critical part of the discussion.
All right, all right, this can still be solved logically, lessee...
Here's the base facts
So lets take it step by step.
- The magic flowing to Karak Vlag was uncorrupted, which you're fairly sure would not have been the case if the Hold had been conquered by Beastmen.
- There is less ambient Dhar here than other parts of the Chaos Wastes Mathilde has seen, though still more than outside of it.
Whatever this is, it ISN'T chaos, despite how it looks. If it was a mega chaos thingy, it would have corrupted everything, even bound or contracted or friendly. So the Dawi have not fallen to chaos.
- As far as Mathilde can tell, none of this is an illusion.
Which means what it means. It is real, regardless of whatever else it is. Even if we were fooled, charging Kurgans aiming to battle/get mutated wouldn't.
- Morghur is said to have been 'born' three hundred years ago, but there's stories of beings identical to him stretching back throughout recorded history.
Meaning this could be a being other than Morghur, and in fact...
- From your very limited knowledge, Morghur was last seen being pursued by High Elves in Bretonnia shortly before the Great War Against Chaos.
- Borek's reaction to Morghur did not seem surprised.
It most likely is, because this defense would have to be prepared before Borek left for him to recognise it and for it to recognise him, and Dum fell during the war of chaos, while Morghur was last seen elsewhere after the end of the war. He couldn't have moved either, because
- From what the Yusak said, and what the banners you passed seem to attest, Kurgan tribes have been fighting or 'testing themselves against' Morghur for some time.
Ergo, occam's razor, this is a different being.
- Morghur did not attack Borek, instead greeting him with what to Dwarves is a very intimate gesture.
Said being is friendly to the Dawi to an extreme degree.
- The landscape around Karag Dum has changed, including the disappearance of the smaller mountains around it, the growth of a forest around its base, and the appearance of a desert around the forest. It is also hotter here than anywhere else in the Steppes. Apart from the forests covering the lower parts of it, the exterior of Karag Dum appears unchanged.
The area around Dum got changed, but Dum itself did not. It was, however, changed in a symmetrical manner, unlike what chaos would do. Finally
- The forest is inhabited by Beastmen, who seem to be obeying Morghur.
Which seems to imply that whatever this is, beastmen or something resembling them are loyal to it.
Those are the facts and the most reasonable inferences, but... a few clues seem to be missing for a definite answer. That said, It doesnt matter.
[X] [Theory] All we know is that it is friendly and non chaotic. That is enough for now.
[X] [Action] wait nearby and observe. It shouldn't be nearly as dangerous as it seems, and that allows us to gather additional clues.
