Warhammer Fantasy: A Dynasty of Dynamic Alcoholism

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I...don't know about that one so much. No source I've seen has ever said anything like that. They just say that these [12 Runefangs with names] were what Alaric presented to the Empire once he was done with them, even though it was like, decades after the Clan Chieftains they were supposed to be made for were dead.

All the 'original names' were given in a White Dwarf article.

Mother's Ruin also got a second name in the Sword of Justice novel by Chris Wraight, but I'm pretty sure it's like, Mother's Ruin, also known as the Sword of Ruin, not the other way around.

Also, for some reason, in the Enemy Within campaign for the 4E, they outright call the Middenland Runefang as [Peak Leveller] which...okay? I feel like White Dwarf 325 was a lot earlier than 4E.

And really, the only reason that Grudge Settler has a freaking hell of a lot of names is because of the Sword of Justice Novel where I guess Chris Wraight decided it needed them. Grudge Settler was what it was called when Alaric gave it to the Empire, but [Grollhalter (meaning "the Grudgebearer"), Lightshard, Helbringer, Warpsbane and Klingerach (meaning "the Sword of Vengeance")] are all from Chris Wraight.

So it's like....eh?
 
If I remember right, Total War went with legbiter and Mothers Ruin. The White Dwarf names of the ones you're talking about. Hmm, wonder if their in game descriptions might provide any insight.
 
Well, my thoughts on the esoteric properties of the various Runefangs is essentially:

Names have POWER.

And if a blade is names "Troll Slayer" people will start to believe it is particularly effective against said trolls and after centuries the accumulated faith/belief will start to strengthen them in various ways.

Not allways in so blatant way as Troll Slayer but the effects should be there especially considering what world they exist in.

*Edit*
Ofc my thinking doesn't work well for the blade like Rock Breaker as no-one would use a sword against rocks but I think I got the gist of it?
 
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torroar said:
I...don't know about that one so much. No source I've seen has ever said anything like that. They just say that these [12 Runefangs with names] were what Alaric presented to the Empire once he was done with them, even though it was like, decades after the Clan Chieftains they were supposed to be made for were dead.

All the 'original names' were given in a White Dwarf article.

Mother's Ruin also got a second name in the Sword of Justice novel by Chris Wraight, but I'm pretty sure it's like, Mother's Ruin, also known as the Sword of Ruin, not the other way around.

Also, for some reason, in the Enemy Within campaign for the 4E, they outright call the Middenland Runefang as [Peak Leveller] which...okay? I feel like White Dwarf 325 was a lot earlier than 4E.

And really, the only reason that Grudge Settler has a freaking hell of a lot of names is because of the Sword of Justice Novel where I guess Chris Wraight decided it needed them. Grudge Settler was what it was called when Alaric gave it to the Empire, but [Grollhalter (meaning "the Grudgebearer"), Lightshard, Helbringer, Warpsbane and Klingerach (meaning "the Sword of Vengeance")] are all from Chris Wraight.

So it's like....eh?
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Well yeah, thats sort of what i mean. How the names were acquired is never really specifically mentioned i think. So we have to think about how they got their names, and i think that its more likely that their owners named them at some point of acquiring depending on one of the three reasons i mentioned.

That might, of course, be wrong. Maybe Alric really did name them. But the name selection is all kinds of ecletic, so my bet, personally, is that the EC´s named them. You don´t have to agree of course, its just my personal opinion.

Unless someone comes swinging in with the source saying exactly how they were named lol.
 
A lot of the RPG 4E stuff was written by Andy Law and close associates of his (as-in they're playing the game together in table-top now). He was with GW for like 30+-ish years and had his own ideas for varies things.

For example, Andy Law wrote the Realm of the Ice Queen book, and used it to push lore into the setting for hag-witch-craft, as well as to imply that that kind of magic might exist else-where.

Fairly often, there will be hints of setting ideas he had in other works in the series, which he couldn't quite get approval to put in out-right before.
-then later, someone else might add it or he might get the chance to put it into a later book.

One of his head canons, that he tended to imply when he had the chance, was that the-
1. There were likely more than 12 Rune Fangs.
> The idea that some were lost over time isn't especially shocking considering that the Solland Runefang had once been lost.
>> The implication builds on the idea that there were more than 12 Tribes who joined Sigmar at Blackfire Pass, which in some editions is outright confirmed with the Ungols sending their famed horse archers.

2. He suggests that the Rune Fangs aren't all held by their original province.
> That's backed up by the Nordland Runefang clearly originally having been from Marienburg (thus the historic claim to rulership.
> One of his main suggestions was that 'Dragon Tooth' was originally the 'Drakwald runefang, while Beast Slayer was once the Riekland Runefang.

3. He suggests that the Runefangs are likely called by multiple names, and have had other names over the 2000 years humans held them.
> Considering one of the most famous magic sword in our mythology: 'Gram', is also called 'Balmung', and additionally called 'Nothung', that's also fairly likely.


In the end though, Warhammer Fantasy is setting fiction. Making your own calls for the grey areas of the setting is one of the things that makes stories in it fun.
Even if you asked him about it, he'd probably tell you that his Runefang head-canon should be left as 'possibly implied in canon', so people can take what they like, and shape the setting to their preferences.
 
For what it's worth, in the Grudgebearer novel Runelord Arbrek of Karak Zhufbar presents a runic axe to King Barundin Stoneheart, and says that he should come up with the name for it. This would, if nothing else, indicate that there is precedent in the Runesmith letting the recipient name the weapon they've made for them.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Alaric named the Runefangs, but even then that doesn't necessarily mean that those are the names that the Runefangs, or at least all of them, are still known by. For an example, Peak Leveler is pretty clearly a reference to Ulric flattening the Fauschlag, but the dwarfs specifically don't believe in that legend, and call the Fauschlag the Pillar of Grungni, so it would be really weird for them to name the sword that way. Hence, I would posit that Legbiter is the original dwarven name, and Peak Leveler the name that the Middenlander Elector-Counts came up for it.

Likewise, there's a clear naming scheme that can be observed for the majority of the Runefangs: they're called "X Y-er". Beast Slayer, Blood Bringer, Brain Wounder, and so on. But three of them don't fit the pattern: Goblin Bane, Dragon Tooth and Mother's Ruin. Perhaps those are Runefangs that had alternative names that became more popular than the original ones given by Alaric. After all, we know that some of the blades had multiple names.

Of course, Alaric was mad, so it's also plausible that he just did whatever he wanted. Personally my instinct would be that all of the Runefangs have multiple names, and the list provided in White Dwarf 325 is just the ones that are most famous and the ones that they are most commonly known by. But there is plenty of room in the lore to do whatever you want.
 
My headcanon now is that each strike of brainwounder makes the target dumber, get hit too many times and it reduces you to a vegetable!
 
torroar said:
"Indeed," you tell her, putting your own cutlery down now that the food is totally gone from the dish. "She is a welcoming Goddess, Esmeralda. Not as grand and looming as most other Gods, admittedly, but then, that's not the sort of Goddess she is. Frankly, I'm happy enough that there is one who champions hospitality, good food, and ensuring the hungry are fed."

"It seems so. I do not know if I call upon any of the Cadai, specifically, for blessing food. We beseech Isha that the harvest is good and Kurnous that our hunts are well, that the beasts slain for our gain are clean and in good health and honored in turn…but…hmm," she looks down at the now cool iron skillet as she places her knife and fork within next to yours. "It is interesting to consider, if nothing else."
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You know, I would find it highly amusing to have Gwen turn to Esmeralda, if only to see how much it'll gall Khaine to see his avatar be subverted into Granny E's greatest chef to date!

A fitting Jest that even Loec will highly rate… right up there with Tullaris getting gored by "cattle".

MasterDrakus said:
My headcanon now is that each strike of brainwounder makes the target dumber, get hit too many times and it reduces you to a vegetable!
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With how much headshots and decapitations said runefang's been doing in Freddy's time, it's not a far off take.

But really with how much frequently (and with the quality of opponents it has been going through) this has happened- I'm pretty sure Brain Wounder has a vorpal effect specifically going for it.
 
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torroar said:
Yeah, I mean...just look at that. Alaric named it Mother's Ruin. Orc Hewer, Goblin Bane, many of these make sense for a dwarf to make. Breaking stone and what not, going after specific crippling strikes.

But greenskins don't really have mothers, they got spores.
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He may have been thinking of other enemies that do have mothers, perhaps? Elves in general or druuchi in particular? Chaos and non-Chaos renegade humans? Chaos Dwarves? Wild beasts? I don't remember if that was too early in the timeline for skaven. A magic sword that when it kills a skaven somehow curses or injures that skaven's mother would actually be pretty effective against skaven given how they seem to run on a quasi-eusocial arrangement with a relatively small minority of the female population being (ghoulishly) turned into brood mothers.

Or it could just be a bit more poetic as a way of saying "this sword is specifically for killing things really good and then your mama's gonna cry because you're dead." Just because some of the swords have very straightforward naming schemes doesn't mean Alaric wasn't allowed to use kennings.
 
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The Name of Brain Wounder
  • Informational
    • For DoDA Canon Purposes:

    "It is called...Brain Wounder!" The Runelord proclaimed.

    "Got it," Wolfila Hohenzurn said.

    FIFTY YEARS LATER

    "But why did he call it Brain Wounder?"

    "Because he did. That's the name."

    "After slaying the beastlord in such glorious fashion, it should have been named-!"

    "It's name is Brain Wounder."

    "But my lord!"

    torroar said:
    a bull God named Guvaur - a literal God of stubbornness.
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    torroar said:
    Even now, one can find stubborn Ostlanders debating the spelling, with years of precedent supporting either one of the spellings
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    torroar said:
    s the Hohenzollerns did not spend on trying to stubbornly hold onto their Kislevite claims
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    torroar said:
    At their best, Ostlanders are considered to be coolheaded in crisis, practical, and not given to airs and graces. They are proud survivors, and teach their offspring to hold their heads high, no matter the circumstances. At their worst, however, Ostlanders are overly stubborn in the extreme, irrepressibly proud, and intolerant. They hate waste of all sorts, as well as "needless ostentation."
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    "IT'S CALLED BRAIN WOUNDER, END OF DISCUSSION."

    500 YEARS LATER

    "Hah! And they're calling it Orc Hewer over there! Why, after the Count slew that Warboss, we ought to grant the Runefang of Ostland the name of Orc Slaughterer! Or-,"

    "It's called Brain Wounder."

    "Come now, my lord Hohenzollern, surely-,"

    1000 YEARS LATER

    "But father, I've heard that the Runefang of Solland is called so many different things, but-,"

    "And all that is a waste of ink on paper and a waste of air in the lungs. That kind of frivolousness isn't needed here. It's called Brain Wounder, it is the name given by Alaric, and it has served perfectly well as such in the entirety of its existence! My father slew a trio of troll hags, do you see me demanding everyone write down 'Hag Cutter' into their books and scrolls? No!"

    "Still, wouldn't it be worth it to-,"

    "IT'S BLOODY NAME IS BLOODY BRAIN WOUNDER!"

    MANY MANY MANY MANY YEARS LATER

    "What was that?"

    "Ah, manling, nothing. Just...tasting the name of one of Alaric's masterworks on my tongue."

    "But that wasn't it's name."

    "It was, just in Khazalid."

    "But it wasn't named in Khazalid."

    "....aye, I suppose so..." (backing away)

    "Alaric said it was called Brain Wounder. That's its name."
     
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  • Informational
    • I didn't like the name Brain Wounder before this.

    Now I love it. Pure stubbornness distilled. And the irony that it could be implied that the sword name is reference to the Ostlanders stubbornness.
     
    It's called Brain Wounder because that's what it does to anyone trying to name it something else, got it.

    Edit:
    "Do you see this?"
    "It's your sword."
    "What kind sword?"
    "Runefang."
    "And what does that make me?"
    "Elector count."
    "Yes it does. And what does that make this?"
    "Brain Wounder?"
    "Bingo."
     
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    @torroar sort of wondering, have gun smiths began to organically emerge in Ostland ?

    like for example Bob the average Ostlander has a gun a lot of them do as Freddy has been spreading them in his province for decades now and one day his gun broke and he didn't want to go all the way to the capital to have it fixed as that would take a while and travel is dangerous ,so he though what if I go to the local smith as he is pretty skilled , so the smith takes a look at it and he has a another working gun to compare the damaged parts against , from there with some trial and error he manages in few days to fabricate a replacement part and install it

    this repeats itself a few more times with the smith to the point that he is now familiar with each of the individual parts that make up the most common guns in area and he even made some specialized tools to help him work on guns better then with time and more practice servicing guns he got more confidant with his understanding and tried his hand at building his own gun and thus a gun smith is born

    there are other ways gun smiths would develop in Ostland for one I am pretty sure not all the collage engineering graduates stay on to work for Freddy, I am sure plenty over time left the collage and went back home and founded their own workshops seeing the tidy sum that can be made servicing all the guns in the area and taking the occasional custom commission job from some rich noble or merchant
     
    IN AN OFF-SCREEN MOMENT IN ONE OF THE ELECTOR

    "Perhaps we should return to more pressing matters..."

    "No my Emperor, I'm sick and tired of this discussion always popping up and I'm going to settle it once and for all!! It's called Brain Wounder because that is it's bloody name!! It doesn't NEED to have a reason for having that name!! And why you're all so insistent about it, you don't see anyone asking Stephan why his Runefang is called Crow Feeder?!"

    "Frederick, you know I agree with you but please I don't want to get into this argument."

    "Of course you can't even properly defend your sword's name Hohenzollern."

    "Like you're one to talk Gunthar! Peak Leveller, now that's an stupid name! Can you level a peak with the sword uh Gunthar?! Can you??!!"

    "It's real name is Legbiter..."

    "WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING THEN, IT'S THE SAME KIND OF NAME AS BRAIN WOUNDER!!!"
     
    mmgaballah said:
    there are other ways gun smiths would develop in Ostland for one I am pretty sure not all the collage engineering graduates stay on to work for Freddy, I am sure plenty over time left the collage and went back home and founded their own workshops seeing the tidy sum that can be made servicing all the guns in the area and taking the occasional custom commission job from some rich noble or merchant
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    Mmmm, you're underestimating the kind of nationalism/patriotism that is involved in the education of the workshop, plus things like secrets and such. The Ostland School was founded by a dwarf engineer, a drunken failure slayer of one, but a dwarf engineer nonetheless. So they absorbed a good junk of the Engineering Guild of the dwarfs in terms of culture, like things about secrets, teachings, etc. They would not, necessarily, be super chill about someone going and doing their own workshop all on their lonesome and what not. Guild fees and membership stuff is already a major thing in the Empire, so unauthorized going off wouldn't be the nicest thing to attempt.

    Are there some quasi-independents out there? Quite possibly, but they'd be few in number. The School provides board, food, drink, colleagues, interesting projects, regular work, and a generally held to be prestigious position to be in. That's a lot for a lot of people, and most of the big sales go right back into the College/Hohenzollern coffers, so they wouldn't actually be so swift to 'see how much a pretty penny' can be made on that sort of thing.
     
    mmgaballah said:
    @torroar sort of wondering, have gun smiths began to organically emerge in Ostland ?

    I am sure plenty over time left the collage and went back home and founded their own workshops seeing the tidy sum that can be made servicing all the guns in the area and taking the occasional custom commission job from some rich noble or merchant
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    One big problem I see here is the question of where are they getting high quality steel from? Like in preindustrial revolution times making good quality steel is really hard. And what does get made is already spoken for by the big workshops and guilds so any gunsmith who wanted to make their own workshop would be using substandard materials which would make for a shitty end product. So most people would rather go to a big city and buy a more expensive gun that is less likely to take their hand off.
     
    Stephen9001 said:
    Still leaves the question of who maintains and fixes the guns of the people across the province then.
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    Militia are issued guns, and then expected to come to the local garrison's location for training, because they have better facilities and more than likely an engineer group on hand who works on the local cannons and guns as well, to help the patrolling Army of the Forest/Ostland as they come through at different times. Practicing with swords/halberds/bows is easier to do in small blocks just outside of town, but guns would require a bit more expertise. That leads to localizing gun making/smithing/maintenance in the local garrison bases/forts/castles, with the engineers being such valuable and employed individuals that they are lodged almost always in the most secure location in the immediate area.
     
    Ah. Right then. Fair enough. So there are at least some engineers around the province, not all of them are in the city.

    Now the nitpicky part of my brain is going "but what about people who bought guns with their own money and aren't part of the militia or army?"
     
    Then they go to the local engineers who are with the local garrison, because everyone knows that's where the gun people are, that's where they always are, they helped the people with guns who are in the militia who are a solid chunk of every town's population so the information spreads that the local engineer who is a School member with the mohawk and everything and therefore is under the direct master control of Anna von Hohenzollern, who will help you with your gun. And may even provide some minor information on how to perform basic fixes as needed, but anything more extreme, come to the local garrison.
     
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