Excerpts from 'The Reign of Thorfin I, High King of Heimgard'
By Benedic Baehrn, Official Chronicler of the Empire of Man
Chapter 1: The Nature of the Man
"He wasn't that bad, for a Norscan."
-Hildebart Adolphus I, Emperor of Man
Thorfin, the first High King of Heimgard formerly known as Norsca, has many epithets: the Holy, the Eye of the Allfather, the Everslayer, and so on. Perhaps, the most appropriate honor-name of all is 'Thorfin of the Tree." In many ways, his greatest accomplishments all revolve around a particular ash tree. He first bound himself to this tree while he united his realm. He later transformed this tree, then known as Yggdrasil, into the Titan Tree of Centraland. Lastly, he returned to that tree one final time during the darkest moments of the Gentle Storm…
Chapter 3: A United Norsca
"They may not be the most well-mannered people, but I would much rather trade with Heimgard than be raided by Norsca."
-Nicholas Douwel, Merchant Adventurer of Marienburg
After conquering the lands of the Vargs, Bjornlingers, and Skaelings, the war seemed all but won. Then, to the surprise of all, an Everchosen of Chaos emerged from central Norsca with an army of abominations.
The forces of Order gathered to face this foe and Emperor Adolphus nobly sent Imperial knights to fight the Everchosen.
At this point, Thorfin first encountered the ash tree that would play such a significant role in his life. Thorfin and ten of his shamans underwent an ancient and bloody ritual from their homeland of Jotunheim. Thorfin and the rest offered up their lives and their very souls as sacrifices to their brutal god. (Author's Note: While many people have called Jotunheimer's 'civilized Norscans,' this savage and longstanding ritual proves that they were at best only half-civilized, at the time.) For seven days, Thorfin and the others were kept bound to ash trees with spears buried in their sides. They were only set free after the final battle with the Everchosen, in which Thorfin is said to have magically slain the Everchosen himself. Of the eleven to be willingly sacrificed, only Thorfin survived.
Thorfin took his survival as a sign of divine favor and soon dubbed himself the first High King of a united Norsca, which he renamed Heimgard. In their barbaric tongue, the new name meant 'Home Fortress.' The change symbolized his intent to turn his nation into a bulwark against Chaos, much like the noble land of Kislev whose wise rulers have long fought Chaos and thereby benefited all of humanity. The eternal war against Chaos and Heimgard's close ties with Kislev would eventually come to define Thorfin's rule…
Chapter 5: The Calm Before the Storm
"It worked! It worked! It actually f___ing worked!"
-Sayble, learned adviser to Thorfin I
… and in this way the shamans of Heimgard helped the Asur mages, the Slann, and the College of Magic raise a great Counter Storm against the Storm of Chaos. In those days, the Counter Storm is said to have left great glowing lines that flowed through the sky. All seemed to be going quite well for Heimgard, but still Thorfin rightfully feared Chaos's inevitable counterattack.
Thus, in the second year of the Gentle Storm (2443 by the Imperial Calendar), the ash tree from Thorfin's sacrifice enters history again. This tree, having acquired the name 'Yggdrasil', served as the focus of a great ritual that took advantage of a quirk in how the winds of magic flowed through Heimgard. This ritual transformed Yggdrasil into the enormous tree commonly known to Imperials as the Titan tree. Reportedly, all observers were amazed by the ritual's success, particularly Thorfin's adviser Sayble.
The enlarged tree greatly magnified the primitive magic of Heimgard's shamans such that they became more than a match for any other human mage. Since the tree's transformation, there have been countless reliable reports of Jotunheim's God-Ancestors appearing to people in the area that became Heimgard's capital. These Ancestors are said to offer advice and legend their power to the nation's defense.
These divine defenses were put to the test by the Chaos Storm ironically called 'the Gentle Storm.'
Chapter 6: The Wrath of Khorne
"I will drown his lands in blood and make a mountain of their skulls. I will make him watch as I butcher his family. And then I will bring Thorfin's skull back to Khorne."
-U'Zuhl the Skulltaker, Sacred Executioner of Khorne
Thorfin and Ashi had dealt Khorne many defeats over the years. It is said that they even killed his champion, Wulfrik the Wanderer, completely by accident. Many believe that it was this last indignity that drove Khorne to never before seen heights of rage.
Just as few months after the transformation of Yggdrasil, a dreadful cold fell over the waters north of Heimgard. They grew so frigid that the very sea itself froze solid, creating an enormous ice bridge between Heimgard and the Chaos Wastes. This incredible event frightened the people of Heimgard for they knew it signaled a massive invasion from the Wastes.
As soon as the ice grew thick enough to support their weight, an enormous horde erupted from the Wastes. An uncountable number of Khornates charged south. Even the conservative estimates say that this one army outnumbered the entire population of Heimgard.
The Old World rallied to Heimgard's aid. The Tzarinah Elizaveta personally led her armies and Ice Witches to said her neighbors. The elves sent every soldier, mage, and dragon they could spare, although many of their forces were kept busy by the Druchii civil war in Naggaroth. The Dwarfs sent every warrior and cannon north, along with their sole combat dirigible. Marienburg sent some of their forces to fight alongside thousands of barbarians that Heimgard had recruited from Albion. Emperor Adolphus sent the army of Nordland, his home region, north to Heimgard.
Even the vampires of the Dead Lands tried helped fight the Khornate horde, but, in those days, the Dead Lands covered a very small portion of the Wastes. The Khornate army simply flowed around the vampires, refusing to engage the undead in their single-minded focus on slaughtering Heimgard. The undead were reduced to harrying the horde's rear.
The courageous cavalry archers of Heimgard, led by the former Jarl Bahbahk, rode out onto the ice and engaged the Khornates in running skirmishes. They were assisted by Ice Witches led by the legendary Tzarina Katarina, who had returned yet again to fight Chaos. The Kislevite mages shattered the frozen bridge into icebergs, sending Khornates into the sea to either drown or be crushed in its depths. These brave warriors suffered heavy casualties, but their lives bought Heimgard time to prepare.
As the horde drew near, the allied forces took position along the coast. Fortunately, Thorfin had foreseen this attack and prepared by heavily fortifying the northern coast of Heimgard and preemptively gathering all civilians into defensible positions.
When the Khornates finally reached Heimgard, onlookers from Heimgard's coastal keeps swore that the Khornate army stretched to the very horizon. They saw a living ocean of Marauders punctuated by huge islands of armored Chaos Warriors. So many Chosen of Khorne had gathered that they would have formed a massive army all on their own, even ignoring the regiments of Chaos Knights. It would take days to truly describe the number and variety of Chaos Spawn, Dragon Ogres, Shoggoths, berserker Giants, and other mutant horrors.
If the vast Chaos army had a single weakness it was it shared its god's disdain for ranged combat and magic. This proved to be a great weakness. Sleipnir cavalry and dragon riders attacked the horde with impunity. The Khornates could hardly take a step without being blasted by artillery and magic spells from hundreds of cannons and dozens of mages. The Khornate casualties only increased as they drew within range of the all the archers, gunners, and other ranged attackers.
Thousands upon thousands of Khornates died before even one of them so much as touched the soil of Heimgard, but such was the fury of Khorne that the horde kept on charging. Eventually, they reached land, and the battle truly began.
This battle was far too large to capture with words. It raged across the entire northern coast of Heimgard, and it went on for weeks without break or pause. A legion of heroes fought and died on that shore, and every last one of them deserves a book of their own. It would take to long to even recount the acts of only the most famous participants, like Teclis, Katarina, Tzarina Elizaveta, the Supreme Patriarch, Thorfin, Ashi, Kreugar the Damned, and Ingemar the Wolf of the North, who earned that title through his leadership of the Ulrican crusade. In this conflict, even extraordinary figures like Zogzag, the largest giant ever recorded who waded into battle wearing armor adapted from the shell of a Dwarf ironclad, is only one amongst many similar heroes.
However, despite all the heroics and all the forces raised against them, the Khornates kept coming. They died in such number that piles of their corpses reached the top of the defenders' walls, and more of them clambered over the fallen so that they might reach their foes. Meanwhile, the allied forces grew low on arrows, bolts, bullets, and cannonballs. Their mages exhausted themselves and sometimes died from their over-exertion. Exhausted troops were forced to fight fresh Khornates.
Reliable sources no less than the Supreme Patriarch himself insist that the Counter Storm that still blazed over the battlefield sapped much of the blood god's power. In fact, they say it drained away so much dark power that the Counter Storm glowed as brightly as the noon sun. However, Khorne poured out so much power that thousands of demons burst into the world to commit massacres for their god.
The allies' only reinforcements were the miracles that streamed out from Centraland and Yyggdrasil. Heimgards' soldiers fought with divine strength and courage, and each shaman wielded enough power to kill a hundred other mages. Most shockingly, many of those who fell rose again as divine warriors called einherjar.
Yet, for all that, it wasn't enough.
Everywhere, the allies were slowly pushed back, and soon they all knew that they stood on the brink of annihilation.
So, Thorfin returned to Yggdrasil one last time.
Chapter 6: The Second Sacrifice
"In that moment, looking at him, I think I felt the way most humans feel when they look at me."
-Teclis, High Loremaster of the Tower of Hoeth.
Just as he had during the battle with the Everchosen, Thorfin bound himself to the ash tree, and, once more, he drove his spear into his own side.
In his sacrifice, Thorfin was only a chief and a shaman. The second time, he was a High King and a demigod, and his reward increased accordingly.
Heimgard doctrine holds that the Sacrificed serve as a bridge between the Ancestors and mortals, and it says that Centraland is only a hair's breadth from the divine realm to begin with. By Sacrificing himself in the center of Centraland, upon Yggdrasil itself, it is said Thorfin brought the Allfather fully into our world.
Lightning lanced down upon the Khornates. The ground split beneath their feat. Mountain sides fell down upon them. It was as if Heimgard itself waged war upon the invaders. Ten thousand witnesses hailing from every nation of the Old World all claim to have seen an enormous glowing figure looming over the battlefield, dwarfing the entire Heimgard peninsula. Over and over again, this figure hurled a spear larger than the largest tree down at the Khornates, striking down a thousand with every blow.
In return, every Khornate roared at once, bellowing with rage in a single inhuman voice. They lost all concern for their own survival, throwing themselves onto enemy weapons just to advance a little faster. Every last one of them raced to get to Yggdrasil and end Thorfin's ritual. At least a dozen demon princes took the air and fought their way to that enormous tree. There, they met Thorfin's last line of defense, which included an enormous giant mage who could somehow use magic, and his wife, Ashi.
When the dust settled, the demon princes were all banished. Some claim those demons were somehow truly slain and would never rise again, but that is doubtful. All that is know is that the Khornates were slaughtered to the last. The allies had suffered terribly, but they'd won against the full force of the blood god himself. However, Thorfin laid dying.
There are countless versions of the last moments of Thorfin's life. Some tales include such unlikely events like the Asur's Everqueen somehow appearing at his side to offer advice and comfort in his last moments. However, when gods take to the battlefield, who can say what is impossible?
All that is known for certain is that Thorfin did not survive his second sacrifice, although some people make the ridiculous claim that Thorfin lives on as a god like Sigmar himself. After Thorfin's death, his daughter and heir, Alya, suddenly displayed the incredible magical power that Thorfin had possessed ever since his first sacrifice. Many say his power flowed into her, raising her to demigodhood even as he died.
Ashi wept over her husband's body, and such was her grief and her rage that none dared to try to move her or bury him. When her tears finally dried, Ashi rose to her feet and faced the crowd that had gathered around Thorfin's body. One can only guess at what motivated Ashi to do what she did next. Perhaps, the goddess within her moved her. Perhaps, it was an all too human desire for revenge. No one knows. Regardless of her reason, Ashi called out to those who'd gathered. She said, "If Khorne had an warriors left, they'd be attacking. But they aren't. His armies are slain and his power depleted. Right now, Khorne is weaker than he has ever been and likely ever will be. So, I will go north. I will go into the Wastes itself. For myself, for Thorfin, for everyone who has ever suffered because of Khorne, I will take vengeance." She surveyed the crowd one final time and added, "Come with me, if you wish."
Word of this insane plan quickly spread through Heimgard, and, shockingly, many stepped forward to join Ashi. There were many Dwarf Slayers who thought it a fitting doom, but they were outnumbered by human volunteers. Many of them were fanatics of any one of a dozen different faiths who believed their god demanded they volunteer. Many others were simply mad with grief at all their losses, and, like the flagellants, they sought the peace of death in battle. The most notable example of the latter category is Richter Kreugar, who sought a permanent death in the Wastes. Some say Katarina also joined Ashi, but that is unclear. It cannot be known exactly how many went north with Ashi, for the group departed before the bodies from the previous battle were even counted.
Regardless of their number, Ashi and her mad crusade crossed back over the ice bridge into the Wastes. They were last seen by the Dwarf zeppelin which followed the High Queen as far north as its captain dared. He last glimpsed Ashi crossing over the horizon, heading ever northward, seeking Khorne himself.
They most likely all died horribly. Worse, they may have been damned to fates worse than any living soul can imagine. However, this would be an incomplete chronicle if I did not at least mention the other theories.
A few claim that Ashi succeeded in her crazed quest and wounded or, as some claim, even killed Khorne. I should not have to provide evidence to refute such a ridiculous idea, but it appears I must.
Admittedly, ever since Ashi went north, there has been almost no Khornate activity. However, that could merely be because Khorne is exhausted from his attack on Heimgard. Or, even more likely, Khorne is embroiled in a war with the other three Chaos Gods, who are always quick to fight amongst themselves.
Others claim that Ashi is still traveling northward. They say that reality is so warped and time so fluid in the Wastes that it may take Ashi a century or longer just to find Khorne. Opinions vary on what will happen next. The most fanatical followers of Ashi Doombringer insist that she will slay all the Chaos Gods and usher in a paradise for the sufficiently devout.
Regardless of the fate of his wife, Thorfin most definitely died, and Alya definitely took over afterwards. Therefore, it is only appropriate for me to end here the chronicle of Thorfin the Holy, Thorfin of the Tree, Thorfin Three Lives, Thorfin the First, founder of Heimgard.
Im curious how the world tree would have been but it was a really fun ride. Good luck in the future!
