Oh right one fun fact I forgot is that the Bad Moon has its own little satellite flying around it, and while no one is exactly sure what it is, one in-universe myth is that it is the spirit of one of the greatest Loonbosses to ever exist, who got it as a reward for conquering 8 great peaks in ages past (refering to Skarsnik from WHFB)
I assigned the Sidestory threadmark to that @Soulboundplayer's excellent post. Anyone who wants to make effort posts about Age of Sigmar, from book reviews to lore analysis to gameplay mechanics explanations is welcome to do so. I'm currently quite busy, but I do plan on going back to posting at some point, and I'm more than happy to have people join in.
The "Sun" is the realm of Hysh, which is the source of light present in all the realms. It is intrinsically linked to the realm of Ulgu, which is the shadow cast by Hysh. They represent day and night, and in between they represent dusk and dawn. Between the two realms is Uhl-Gysh, realm of Twilight, where Slaanesh is imprisoned. The passage of time in the realms is measured by the cyclical rotations of Hysh and Ulgu around each other, and which one is ascendant at the moment is dependent on where they are in the cycle.
It is perhaps likely that the Gitz anthromorphise Hysh into the form of Glareface Frazzlegit. It is sometimes mentioned that the Gloomspite Gitz tend to gravitate and blend in well with Ulgu, although most of their forces tend to be in Ghur thanks to their association with the forces of Destruction.
While Hysh is indubitably the "Sun" sun that lights up the other realms as Codex say, and the one the Moonclan model Glareface Frazzlegit on, based on what I've been told there's also some examples of localized suns as well. Ignax the Solar Drake acted as a second sun while chained up in aqshy, and there is apparently some sort of local sentient sun hanging around in the Ghurish Hinterland from a Hamilcar novel. Supposedly, Azyr also has a lot of suns and stars and moons, being the realm of heavenly objects
It's all very fascinating though pretty unclear, and probably at least partially a result of black library writers taking "initiative" or just not being told what's up. Still, makes for an interesting setting detail imo
While Hysh is indubitably the "Sun" sun that lights up the other realms as Codex say, and the one the Moonclan model Glareface Frazzlegit on, based on what I've been told there's also some examples of localized suns as well. Ignax the Solar Drake acted as a second sun while chained up in aqshy, and there is apparently some sort of local sentient sun hanging around in the Ghurish Hinterland from a Hamilcar novel. Supposedly, Azyr also has a lot of suns and stars and moons, being the realm of heavenly objects
It's all very fascinating though pretty unclear, and probably at least partially a result of black library writers taking "initiative" or just not being told what's up. Still, makes for an interesting setting detail imo
Yesterday I spoke about the calendar. Today I will talk about the Moons of the Mortal Realms. I've spent a bit of time talking about the metaphysics of the Realms and their nature, and it is known by now that the Realms are therefore each their own individual pocket of reality. Surrounding these pockets, however, are celestial objects in orbit, often a reflection of the Realm they are orbiting. Their exact nature is unknown. Were they a section of the Realms that split from the main body? Or are they a fragment of the Aetheric Void which solidifed in orbit surrounding the Realmsphere it inhabits? These questions are not answered, but the Cosmos Arcane section on the 3rd Edition Core Book for AoS does give some interesting information.
As a refresher, here is the map of the Mortal Realms once again so you can visualise the moons I'm talking about:
In terms of each individual Realm:
Azyr: Azyr has far too many stars to count. Some of the most important are Dharroth, a moon of ill aspect, Mallus, the broken core of the World that Was, and Sigendil, the star from which Sigmar draws his power to release his lightning across the Mortal Realms. The firmament of Azyr holds many creatures and celestial objects, and it is home to many Starborne Seraphon and the Dracothian's Children.
Hysh: Hysh's passage and power determines the light and seasons across the realms, and it possesses many Ethereal Moons. Hysh only possesses one true moon, Celennar, whose spirit is entertwined with Teclis who she would teach the principles of the Aelmentiri. The remaining moons become corporeal when waxing and insubstantial when waning, the brightests of which is Leoth. The Great Nation of Zaitrec revere these Ethereal Moons.
Ulgu: Ulgu has four dark moons whose orbit is fickle and unpredictable. Attempting to follow their patterns as a guide is to become hopelessly lost. The Twin Moons, Nocta and Obta, hurl meteors against each other in a ceaseless celestial barrage. Oliatrus, the Liar's Moon, is the patron of liars and decievers. Untruths told under its shade becomes all the more convincing. The Orb Duplicita, on the other hand, is host to a race of Shadow Daemons who have a non-aggression pact with Morathi and Malerion.
Shyish: Shyish has one moon, Lunaghast. It is a skull faced moon made of dark matter which feeds on secrets and empowers betrayers and madmen. It is the ghost of Morrisleb from the Old World.
Aqshy: Aqshy's blazing surface is so bright that it's seen as a second sun by those Realms closest to it. It has three moons: Thaquia the Fireheart, Evigaine the First Spark and Orb Infernia. Thaquia and Evigaine hurtle across the outer limits of the Realm, blazing across the skies and painting them in a warm orange glow. The Orb Infernia, however, is a collection of four hollow continents connected together and fought over by four warring Daemon Princes of each of the Chaos Gods, hanging lower in Aqshy and occasionally raining blood. It plays a part in the Realmgate Wars. Also speaking of the Realmgate Wars, there also used to be a low hanging sun made from the chained and imprisoned body of Ignax the Solar Drake, daughter of Vulcatrix and a Godbeast in her own right, who was captured by Grimnir and bound using chains of Grungni to a floating piece of rock to form the Land of the Chained Sun. Long story short, Archaon frees her and binds her to his will during the Realmgate Wars, but a Runemaster of the Austarg Lodge (a vassal of the Vostarg Lodge) carved a Rune into her body that freed her of Archaon's posession at a pivotal battle at the All-Gates that led to her lashing out then escaping. She is still as large and the Runemaster who bound the rune to her was teased as alive and leading a Cult of Ignax in the Realm of Fire.
Chamon: Chamon has two moons of living metal known as the Gholem Moons. They are Alembus the Alchemist and Entillian the Chameleon, a moon that changes shape and hue as it hurtles across the void. Both moons have been altered by Tzeentch's flux magic and are prowled by monstrous metallic forms.
Ghur: The moons of Ghur are known as Koptus and Gnorl Half-Eaten. Legends say that the both of them keep a safe distance from Ghur to keep from being devoured by their "parent realm" (exact wording), as is said to have happened to the now extinct moon Dronsor. Also, Gnorl Half-Eaten is known as such because Ghur took a chunk out of it. Ouch.
Ghyran: Ghyran has a large jade mother moon known as Ghalea and a smaller yellow hunter moon named Kurnalhune that orbits Ghalea. Both were infected by Nurgle across the Age of Chaos.
Da Bad Moon: Gitz legend states that Gorkamorka tried to take a bite out of Da Bad Moon and his tusks broke, landing into the Realms and forming the mountain ranges that from the Gitz' dank homes. Da Bad Moon is a malevolent planetoid that hurtles through the cosmos seemingly at random, and hurls shards of Loonstone from its surface down towards the realms, forming new portions of the Everdank and leading the Gitz to the area to collect the stones and begin farming and harvesting mushrooms, often from the corpses of the dead.
Those are the major moons, but it should be noted that novels and supplementary materials and expansions and obscure sources apply new stuff all the time. For example, in one of the Blacktalon novels, there are the Hungering Moons in Ghur. They're a pair of moons found in the skies above the Coast of Tusks in Thondia, with one following the other like a predator chasing prey. There's the Goremoon of the Eightpoints mentioned in Warcry Tome of Champions 2019. There are the yellow Beast Moons of Ghur that host twisted followers of chaos who became mockeries of wolves mentioned in the Spear of Shadows novel, visible from the Amber Steppes. There's Arghus the Plague Moon from the Plague Garden novel within the Realm of Nurgle. There are the Whisper Moons of Shyish mentioned in a White Dwaf, and in the Vulture Lord novel there is a Shyishan moon by the name of Shyish's eye, according to the city of Lament, which is a bone white orb blazing pulsing aethereal white flame.
Beyond that there is also a random phenomenon that can overcome any of the moons known as the Blood Moon, where the light of the moon becomes read and projects a malefic light that empowers Chaos and Death. It's primarily from the 2018 General's Handbook narrative play section.
I should mention that the Mortal Realms operate more on metaphorical lines rather than literal ones. The "stars" in Azyr may well not be considered "Suns", because that falls in the realm of Hysh, not Azyr, which is the Realm of Heavens. Normally this wouldn't make much sense, but it is important to consider that the Mortal Realms were created from the ruins of the Broken World, which spawned the Winds from its own particular conceptions of reality. The Old Ones are also mentioned in the Mortal Realms and the space between the Realms is often described as a void similar to outer space. There may well be an entire universe outside the Mortal Realms.
In Soulbound - Champions of Order, you get a bonus depending on what sub-faction you pick. Page 65 has this for the Harvestboon Glade:
A Brighter Dawn: You believe there is a brighter future ahead for your people and for all of the Mortal Realms, and your belief fills others with hope. When you undertake an Endeavour to reduce Doom, Doom reduces by 1 more. Additionally, you have Advantage on Tests to inspire others and shake them from malaise.
I really liked the whole constellation they made up that Hra belongs to. Like, the conclusion they reached that to have peace in the Mortal Realms they must not only fight defensive wars of their own, but also every defensive war of everyone else as well is so ridiculous and alien that it feels spot on to something Seraphon could come up with. The fact that they're actually able to supportively fortify both sides in any conflict so well that fighting becomes impractical just enhances their otherworldliness. And frost-wreathed Seraphon upon whom shadows lie deeper than on other people, occasionally broken by glittering stars, just sounds really cool.
I also think their Eternity Warden Nhekogu has some really interesting lore, and his quote is really funny:
'Honoured one says, "Condemn aggression." I kill ones who disagree.'
As Sufficient velocity has now become Sufficient Skeletons due to the skellington uprising, it is only right and proper that we give praise to the mortal realms own great Elder Bones, Mr. God of all who are dead, the Undying King Nagash himself! 💀
It is also proper to take the time to reflect on how great your calcium intake is, and if you can increase it by drinking more milk. As lord Nagash has shown, having strong bones lets you go from the left model to the right in just the span of 20 short years (1994-2014).
New animated Age of Sigmar show Blacktalon released its first 23 minute episode today on Warhammer+. It's the first solely AoS-focused show there I believe, going to be a six-episode series focused on named tabletop character Neave Blacktalon, a Stormcast Knight-Zephyros. Since it's locked behind a paywall I haven't seen it yet, but reviews thus far seem to be rather positive, which is nice because the warhammer+ shows have had a bit of varying quality thus far. If the show doesn't show up on the vast static seas after all the episodes are released I might get a quick subscription for review purposes, but the concept art and some of the teaser stuff they released looks rather cool.
Blacktalon's always been an interesting character to me, primarily because I believe she's the first female Stormcast model to be released. I think it was after her release that the floodgates were opened and Stormcast models began to be cast in more diverse body types. While initial models had the classic issues regarding boob armor, later versions of female Stormcast armor were probably designed with proper armor, most notably Yndrasta.
Only real issue I have is that the majority of Stormcast content is focused on a singular Stormhost, the Hammers of Sigmar. They really need to diversify their focus.
I definitely agree. While I'm not super knowledgeable about the stormhosts, I do go back to this one white dwarf spread I think it is that shows various colours of stormhosts whenever I need inspiration. Half the hobby is assembling and painting your figures in ways you think look cool after all, I believe GW would stand to gain by leaning in on it more heavily in promotional material
Gold's nice and all, but they look really great when painted in different colours
I really like the individual designs of each of the Cavaliers there. It really feels like you're looking at characters rather than soldiers, with each of them possessing a personality and personal embellishments, just like you'd expect from the patchwork nature of the Freeguilds.
So if, theoretically, somebody wanted to collecting, hypothetically, Lumineth, which models would you suggest keeping in mind he has never made a model before?
So if, theoretically, somebody wanted to collecting, hypothetically, Lumineth, which models would you suggest keeping in mind he has never made a model before?
The Lumineth Vanguard box is probably one of the more cost efficient ways of starting the army. The models are also relatively simple for the Lumineth thanks to them all being infantry and not having some of the more complex bits and bobs that comes from the big Cows and Foxes, despite those models being the coolest.
The Vanari Dawnriders are probably up your alley since you like Bretonnia, but fair warning that cavalry is more finnicky than infantry and you probably shouldn't jump right into them. They're also not the best units for the army, but that doesn't matter if you're looking into collecting.
You should probably look into Teclis eventually, but he is expensive and he is very hard to attach properly onto Celennar, so you'll probably have to find a way to magnetise him. Not beginner friendly. It's also a pretty complex model building process.
Relatively simpler is Light of Eltharion, but the problem with him is that he's hollow. Hollow models have their own issues.
Overall, I suggest getting the Vanguard box and starting from there. If you enjoy the process and think you're getting relatively decent at assembling, you can try your hand at something more complex. If you're starting to buy things, however, keep in mind that third party stores will sell the models at a cheaper price. I know that the store I bought my models from offered something like a 20% discount, which is a hefty amount considering how much I bought. The downside is that their stock is variable and tends to be older than the more modern and up to date stock from GW, although their online store is pretty... eh.
Seems like the Marshal comes in the flavours of Sword & Board, Big Ole' Hammer, and Frank Reynolds. The Envoy seems really interesting to me due to the fact that the head on a stick they carry around is seemingly able to communicate tactical advice, which is just the sort of fantastical magical shenanigans I've been waiting to see more in the new Freeguild. Can't very well let valuable experience get lost just because of a minor issue like death, now can they?
What I find interesting is how these guys really aren't that different from Old World soldiers. To be fair, I certainly didn't expect them to be wielding futuristic magitech weapons, even though I know some people who wanted that to create an arbitrary distinction between Fantasy models and the new Freeguilds, but these guys are pretty Empire.
Also, I'm not a Gun nut, but there's something odd about that gun. That looks like a straight up cannon attached to a stock. And it seems to be front loaded or something? That literally just looks like a single shot per gun before you have to reload it. The technology level of AoS is heavily variable, but I'm pretty sure most of the Free Cities can do better than that.
head on a stick they carry around is seemingly able to communicate tactical advice, which is just the sort of fantastical magical shenanigans I've been waiting to see more in the new Freeguild
