Lords of Darkness (WHF CK2-Ish Quest)

Magnus raised his hammer and struck it down upon the skull of a Warrior Khorne, crushing his skull and killing the servant of ruin. This one had come dangerously close to killing him, his axe having been nearly burrowed on his side. But again he had prevailed, not that it would help that much, anyway.

He could see that his forces alongside the ones provided by the Dwarves were being overwhelmed, even with the reinforcements he received from the Empire would not be enough. But he knew that if they couldn't stop the horde right here and now, then the Empire, his home, would burn and bleed like never seen.

Then why you don't join us, Magnus?

Magnus would have rolled his eyes had he known that even that action would have cost his life as he dueled against another warrior of the Blood God. These whispers had been a constant ever since he stepped foot in Kislev, always trying and failing to corrupt him. He couldn't say it to others, but to Magnus it was very easy to simple ignore them, much to their fury. Sometimes he could honestly say that the Forces of Ruin acted like children.

Join us, become a warrior of the Blood God. And he will grant you strength and power beyond your wildest imaginations. Strength to save your home from the slaughter that awaits it.

'By Sigmar, are you ever going to give up?' Magnus thought as he blasted the Warrior in front with the power that Sigmar granted to his Warrior Priests, before striking him down. Honesty, it definitely sounded heretical, but he was glad that it was a servant of the Blood God and not of the Great Changer that was trying to corrupt him, as the latter were more subtle in their attempts at corruption.

Attempts that Magnus couldn't say if he would triumph against.

You doubt yourself Magnus, only the power of the Blood God can help you triumph against your enemies. You know that, so why, why do you still attempt to resist?

"Because Daemon, it is what I choose to do.," His answer caused the daemon to become infuriated. But their presence in his mind was only their whispers and nothing more. He knew he saw what corruption did to men and how it made them act. No, he served Sigmar, and only Sigmar.

Then you and your home will burn in the flames of- The Dragon?

Magnus stopped not because of what the Daemon said, but because of what he saw on the horizon. Millions of armed black armored warriors marched to their position, and Magnus knew who these warriors belonged to. He tightened his hold over his hammer and started uttering a prayer to Sigmar. Hearing was one thing, but seeing it was another. The army of Wallachia dwarfed the Empire's own by several orders of magnitude. Even if all the Imperial Provinces combined their forces, it wouldn't be enough.

And this was just the Undead. It wasn't the hundreds of thousands of Dragons and Dark Beasts that had been left in the dark empire to safeguard it. Seeing the military might of Wallachia made him double down on his more Progressive ideology. The times were changing, and the Empire needed to change as well.

That is why he would even attempt to threaten the Elector Counts if they would go against his reforms that he would try to install. After all, the Empire needed to advance and fast.

---

The Army of Death
- Undead: 5,354,025 Skeleton Warriors, 5,322,614 Zombies, 14,210,705 Grave Guard, 16,896,673 Black Knights, 153 Undead Giants
- Magical Forces: 90 Necromancers

The Empire of Man
- Infantry: 85,000 Swordsmen; 70,000 Spearmen; 50,000 Halberdiers, 10,000 Greatswords.
- Ranged: 30,000 Archers; 20,000 Crossbowmen; 10,000 Handgunners.
- Leader: Magnus The Pious.

Dwarves
- Infantry: 59,000 Dwarf Warriors; 500 Daemon Slayers; 10,000 Ironbreakers.
- Ranged: 35,000 Quarrellers, 5,000 Irondrakes.
- Artillery: 500 Dwarf Cannons, 200 Dwarf Bolt Throwers.
- Leaders: 20 Longbeards

The Forces of Khorne
- Infantry: 500,000 Cultists; 800,000 Warriors of Khorne
- Daemon: 300,000 Bloodletters; 100,000 Flesh Hounds; 10,000 Bloodcrushers.

Attack Plan

[] Full Frontal Assault: Attack the center of the horde directly with a frontal assault. This will ease the pressure upon your 'Allies', but will make you face the full might of the Chaos Horde.

[] Focused Assaults: Split your forces and make them attack where the fight is thickest.

[] Write-In

QM: Votes are closed on Wednesday.

Omake: Black Magics 2

Runes: Not all sorcery is flashy displays of power. Sometimes it can be incredibly subtle. This form of sorcery is evidence if this.

Runecraft as it is called substantially deviates from the norm. Rather than take the fight to the field they hang back. Their craft revolves less around violence and more around creation. In fact some tech priests say runecraft is more akin to programming. As unpleasant as the idea is.

Each symbol has some sort of meaning that resonates with the Warp. Once it is applied properly the process begins. Psychic energy is sent through it and gathers within. From there it stabilizes and begins to to exert a certain effect on the area. The effect varies depending on the construct and the nature of the rune. Runes are by far the most stable form of Sorcery known to man. With only truly grand surges of uncontrolled power serving to damage them.

It is something out enemy has learned to use well. As shown by their substantial use of it.

It can be found across the breadth of the Ascendancy and it's armies. Vast monoliths rising into the air covered in thousands of such sigils. All coming together to form a potent psychic effect on the area. To great war machines made far more durable than their materials suggest and given the power to regenerate. To the blasphemous weapons used to capture the souls of those they kill.

Rune crafters are to be targeted if at all possible. Though it is unlikely to work as they rarely leave the fully corrupted Undead worlds. Not only that, but I am uncertain if it would have any substantial effect. The Ascendancy has long learned to automate the creation of simpler runes en masse in their factories.


Geomancy: This form of sorcery is perhaps the back bone of the Undead heretics. One that provides most of the energy they use. It is built straight into the very earth beneath their feet.

Paradoxically geomancy is based off of the natural world. Rather it is built to exploit certain facets of the Materium. A clever and heinous work on the heretic's part.

Geomancy at it's basis revolves around planets. Though in it's later stages it covers all celestial bodies. In essence it taps into the energy of a planet. Everything falls under its influence. The movement of the plates, the heat of the core, the push and pull of the tides, the movement of the air, and even the footfalls of those that walk on it. Eventually it grows to cover the entire planet. The very rotation of the world providing vast amounts of power.

The tech priests tell me there is too much energy. They suspect there is some level of warp craft involved. Greatly amplifying the amount of energy produced by this method. I suspect that they are right on that front.

This art can also be used in other forms. Such as forming vast reservoirs of power for enemy psykers to draw from. Or create vast tides of necromantic energy. Even creating short lived suns on planetary surfaces.

Thankfully Geomancy is slow to take effect. Requiring precise building and mathematics to make itself possible. Part of why it takes years for Undead worlds to truly be converted.

@Alucard Vampiry
War rolls.

Lileath never felt lost as she felt now, even after the first loop, or even before that. After all, she always had a plan in mind, even if they took centuries to pay off, as it was the case of Bretonnia. Who she had created to serve as a shield to the Asrai. But then, as always, it all came crashing down, but this time it wasn't because of the Chaos Gods. But because of an unknown element that she could never had foreseen.

The second Father of Dragons was different and, at the same time, the same in personality and in power as with the first. Draugnir had been amongst mightiest of all the gods, his only equal being Asuryan as both Phoenixes and Dragons were both mighty beasts. And both were the representation of their might and grace given form.

The Asur like to boast that Asuryan was the first god to be born, but they are wrong, he is the second. Draugnir was the first according to him he was here even before the Old Ones came and reshaped the world and seeded it with new races. When Chaos had first come to the world, Draugnir had been at the forefront of the war, and only the mightiest of the Daemons of the Chaos Gods could fight against him and not be immediately destroyed by his breath or claws.

She was sure that had the forging of Widowmaker not weakened him, he would have crushed Anath Raema, like a mortal crushes an annoying insect. But that was not to be, and to add salt in the wound, he could not be saved no matter how hard Asuryan tried, he always died and always at the hands of Anath Raema, even if Widowmaker was never forged the Goddess of the Savage Hunt still weakened him enough so she could kill him.

The only reason the Dragons and those that were still their kin didn't reduce the entire world into piles of ashes and dust out of spite was because Asuryan convinced them it wasn't what Draugnir would have wanted, and even them only a few Dragon Breeds stayed in Ulthuan alongside Kalgalanos The Black, the mightiest of Draugnir's children and rival of Krakanrok, the majority migrated towards various locations across the world after that some slumbered, others destroyed everything around them in their rage, others built their hoards with anything that caught their eyes, etc.

Maybe that was why the Phoenix King forbade any member of the Cadai to interfere with the newborn Dragon-God. Maybe he hoped his friend had returned in some form.

Personally, Lileath believed that both the last echoes that composed what was left of Draugnir and the Vampire had merged and Dracul was simply the result. His taking over Bretonnia had hurt her plans and weakened her by the loss of worship, not even considering the loss of the Grail Knights and the ascension of Gilles into the most powerful of the Dragon Knights in the Dragon God's service.

At least she had kept the Enchantress away from his grasp, though she had to keep her in a magical slumber. She knew that she already suspected her true origins, and disliked her own form of immortality, and would go towards Dracul in search of destined death.

But she couldn't allow that, the Asur are already an Empire in the decline, through now that the Cadai have taken a more directive approach, they are slowly but surely returning to what they once were, through will take centuries at the very least for that to happen. And many factors can still ruin their chance, for even if the heroes of the Asur have all been born early - not that it wasn't much of a surprise, in some loops they were born even earlier or too late to make a difference, but the result was always the same - their own pride may destroy them, or even Malekith can once again invade them.

Lileath wanted to say that she had a plan, but in this new age where Old Gods were returning from the grave, and the future once more was so bright. But she didn't know what to do. She is a lost goddess in unfamiliar land, because the land and its inhabitants once more hoped for the future, but Lileath knew that even if they won and the Great Enemy was banished forever. She wouldn't be welcomed in the new world.

Dracul hated her for allowing the Knights of Bretonnia to hunt his children, especially since the majority did nothing against Bretonnia and were simply in their lairs. Sigmar and the Pantheon of The Empire hated her for causing widespread misery upon the peasants of the old kingdom of Bretonnia, and for using millions of human lives as a shield for the Asrai. Even most of her own Pantheon hated her, as her actions isolated them from any allies they could have had. And that was not even with other Pantheons and gods that cared for their world.

If there is a goddess that was universally despised thanks to her own actions, it was Lileath and the worse part was that she had only herself to blame.