Warhammer World

The Warhammer World, also known among certain astronomers of the Empire by its most ancient name, "The Fated Place," and sometimes referred to as the "mortal world," the "Known World," or just "the world," is the planet, fourth in orbit of the star Söll, that served as the primary battleground in the cosmic battle between the forces of Order and those of Chaos.

According to the earliest mythology of the Dwarfs, Elves and Lizardmen, millions of years ago a race of beings known as the Old Ones, strange creatures possessing almost god-like powers, reshaped the climate and geography of this world into its current state.

These creatures were said to be alien to the world and were crafters and engineers. They looked upon this newly discovered world and found it good, and knew that it would play the central role in the destiny of the universe, so they took to steering its path closer towards the warmth of the sun, and forged the shape of its continents in accordance with their patterns of ancient prophecy.

To aid in their ordering, they created the so-called Polar Gates at the northern and southern extremes of the planet which allowed them to travel instantaneously through the vast space that separated their various colonised worlds.

The Old Ones would later pay the price for their arrogant intrusions. For their Warp Gates at the poles of the world, each dwarfing the greatest mountains in size, were destroyed as the spirit realm beyond the veil of reality writhed and boiled with the changing of the mortal plane.

The Warp Gates collapsed in an epoch-shattering explosion, flattening continents and replacing the constructions with massive seas of boiling Chaos where reality and the aethyr overlapped. Hordes of daemonic creatures charged into the world and slaughtered the Old Ones, bringing their shining civilisation to its knees.

Whatever the truth of its origins, the mortal world is a temperate planet whose surface is covered by several great continents, each with their own distinct civilisations and native creatures.

The Known World is orbited by two moons -- the white moon Mannslieb and the dark green moon Morrslieb, which is said to actually be a giant chunk of Warpstone -- condensed, solidified magic -- ejected into orbit of the world long ago when the Old Ones' Warp Gates first collapsed and began spilling the power of raw Chaos into the material world.

The Old World

The Old World, called Elthin Arvan in the Eltharin language of the Elves, is the northwestern region of the Known World's sprawling eastern continent. It is the region of that great landmass where most of the realms of Men are located and is usually defined as the area west of the Worlds Edge Mountains, north of the Blood River and the Dwarf sea fortress of Barak Varr and south of the Troll Country. To its south lies the Badlands and the Southlands and eastward stretches the vast and mysterious Far East.

The isle of Albion lies off the coast of the Old World and is similar to the dread land of Norsca, in that it is neither a part of the Old World or entirely separate from it.

The Empire

The Empire is a land dominated by deep, dark forests strewn with spider webs and the moss-covered remains of the fallen. Its heartlands are infested with all kinds of evil, from the savage Beastmen to marauding Greenskins. These forests are punctuated by the spires of wizards' towers and the ruins of once-elegant Elf cities destroyed during the ancient War of the Beard, many of which are now the lair of fierce beasts, bandits, or mutants.

The southern and western lands of the Empire are more civilised, with numerous fortified cities built along the magnificent River Reik. The Reikland is the heart of the Empire, and houses the current greatest city of the Old World, Altdorf. The briar-choked wilderness that rises into the Worlds Edge Mountains is far more dangerous. Its wild and untamed places breed hardy fighters who form the backbone of many of the Empire's armies.

Bretonnia

Bretonnia lies to the south and west of the Empire, between the Grey Mountains and the endless reaches of the Middle Sea. Each of Bretonnia's provinces are ruled over by the dukes whose weather-stained castles rise into the air in imitation of the abandoned Elf towers along the realm's northern coast. Like much of the country, they are under constant repair and reconstruction.

Compared to the wealthy cities of the Empire, the settlements of Bretonnia are parochial, rundown and impoverished. The land boasts no seats of learning and its castles are decorated with mouldering tapestries of past glories. The pox-stricken peasantry live in shanty towns and hovels gathered about the castle walls, as the greater part of the country's wealth is spent on the splendour of its knights, for whom a fine appearance is just as important as the keen edge of sword and lance.

Kislev

Kislev is the most northern of the lands of the Old World proper and the closest to the Daemon-infested Chaos Wastes. It is a cold land bordered to the east by the Worlds Edge Mountains, and by the Sea of Claws to the west, whose provinces are known as oblasts. In these northlands every town and village is heavily defended because their lands are infested with Chaos warbands and marauding monsters like Beastmen. The plains of the eastern regions of the realm are sparsely inhabited by nomadic horse tribes; expert riders and archers born to the saddle. The western and southern tundra regions of the kingdom is more densely inhabited with many fortified settlements.

Kislev is ruled by great warrior-mages titled as tzars and tzarinas, who have potent magical powers rooted in their own elemental Ice Magic. The Kislevites are long-standing allies of the Empire. In times of great danger the two realms unite to overcome the perils of Chaos.

This relationship has lasted for many centuries with only the occasional dispute that has set the two nations against each other. The warriors of Kislev are amongst the finest cavalry in the Old World, with the resplendent Winged Lancers considered experts with horse and lance, aided by Ungol Horse Archers from the eastern tribes. Those are supported by Kossar infantry drawn from all across the oblasts of Kislev, trained to fight with bows and axes.

Troll Country

The area north of Kislev is a malign wilderness known as Troll Country. No tribes of Men or Greenskins dwell here, for the predators that stalk its untrammelled wastes are beyond counting. No other realm in the mortal world harbours as many monsters, the most common of which are Trolls of all breeds -- from the slime-covered and scaly beasts that wallow in the fish-stink of its polluted rivers to the unblinking, two-headed horrors that lie in wait within its mist-wreathed haunts. The mutating power of Chaos has touched more than Trolls, however.

Packs of ice-wolves hunt down and pounce upon those who stray into their territory, their mournful howls piercing the night. Cockatrices dwell within cavernous lairs and Manticores soar high above mountain ranges in search of fresh prey. Frost Wyrms make their lairs across the frozen tundra, still as death until the footfalls of trespassers trigger a murderous burst of activity. Though the sane men of the Old World abhor Troll Country as a frozen purgatory from which few return, the Champions of Chaos frequently brave its dangers. For where better to seek eternal glory than in a land that harbours more monsters than men?

Norsca

Lying close to the borders of the Chaos Wastes, the northlands of the Old World are saturated with malefic forces. It is a frozen wasteland stalked by all manner of gruesome monsters and roving barbarians. No crops survive there, for the ground is as hard as iron and the howling winds cut like daggers of purest cold. A network of fjords and mist-shrouded islands wreath the coastline, and it is here that the Norsemen build and tether the longships with which they terrorise the shores of the Known World.

In the lands of Norsca, lying between the Sea of Claws and the Sea of Chaos, scattered coastal settlements provide some respite from the cruel elements, yet they are often attacked by bloodkrakens and other horrors. Further inland, the ice gives way to frozen steppes and eventually to open plains, where the savage Norscan tribes of Chaos Marauder warriors and horsemen hunt and stay clear of bone-carpeted Ice Dragon lairs. It is a grim and shadowy land where the weak do not live long, and living means a constant fight for survival, supremacy and a chance to appease the Dark Gods who enslave the hearts of Norsca's people.

Albion

Albion is a small, windswept island off the coast of Norsca in the Great Ocean. It is said that it rains every day in Albion, that the islands are shrouded in mist and heavy fog while the land is predominantly bogs, marshes and fens. This damp and gloomy environment is inhabited by tribes of woad-wearing Men, led by Truthsayers, guardians of the island's many mysterious Ogham Stones, and inhabited by creatures such as Giants and the strange Fimir.

By absorbing much of the Chaos energy emitted by the northern Polar Gate, the soil of the island of Albion became tainted and once fertile fields quickly changed into quagmires where a man could sink without a trace. The thick woods and forests became wild places where hawthorn and poisonous plants choked the life from the trees. Many feared to enter this once beautiful glades, and many of those who did were never seen again. Even the creatures of Albion were not able to escape the mutating effects of Chaos and after only a short period of time the Human tribesfolk of the island told tales of terrible monsters lurking in the darkest reaches, emerging at night to prey upon the unwary.

Worlds Edge Mountains

East of the Empire rise the snow-capped peaks of the Worlds Edge Mountains. Amidst the heights and valleys, unseen by Men and Elves, the Dwarfs have chiselled vast architectural wonders. These are nothing less than underground cities -- nigh-impregnable strongholds built to house the race of Dwarfs at the height of their power and skill.

All of these underground mansions -- known as Dwarf Holds -- contain impressive fortifications, lower mining levels, great forges and workshops, and stone-hewn streets with living quarters. Although far below ground, these great Karaks are not darksome; they are illuminated by shafts cunningly wrought into the mountainside to allow in daylight. This, along with well-placed glowgems and great braziers, ensures that everywhere sparkles brightly with the glint of gold, the gleam of bronze, and the flash of gems.

Sylvania

Never has a land been more forsaken by the gods than Sylvania. Close to uninhabitable, Sylvania's forests are dingy copses of twisted, half-rotted trees that claw what nourishment they can from the thin soil. Lonesome moorlands and craggy hills punctuate the yellow-leafed woods, windswept and shrouded by the gloomy clouds that seep down from the Worlds Edge Mountains.

It is well that the land of Sylvania lies in the farthest east province of the Empire, for since the coming of the Vampire Counts who rule there, no sane man would want to claim dominion over its reaches. Nominally it is part of Stirland, but the notorious Vampire patriarch Vlad von Carstein left such a legacy of sorrow at the heart of Sylvania that it is considered a realm apart, and those peasant villagers who remain there live in perpetual terror of the night.

Athel Loren

Athel Loren is not as other forests of the Known World. Its ancient trees long ago found vigour and voice, and they learned to hate the lesser beings who swarmed about the forest's eaves, gnawing at their verdant majesty with axe and flame. Few intruders survive unbidden within Athel Loren's bounds, for its tree-spirits' vigilance is matched only by their intense loathing of interlopers.

That the Wood Elves were not consumed by the vengeful spirits of Athel Loren is one of the peculiar accidents of history. The alliance between Elvenkind and living forest was born out of a shared peril, for at the time the Dwarfs of the Grey Mountains pressed hard upon the forest's borders, felling trees to feed hungry furnaces and slaying Elves as payment for their past grudges. The Elves of that region were few and the Dwarfs many. Only through combining their forces could the Elves and tree-spirits hope to survive for long -- and so they have, under the wise rule of the Master of the Wild Hunt Orion and his consort Ariel, the immortal Queen in the Woods and avatar of the Elven goddess of nature Isha in the mortal world.

Estalia

The kingdoms of Estalia lie far to the south of the Old World, where the threat of Chaos seems very remote. Estalia is a southwestern penenisula of the Old World that is a collection of petty kingdoms. However, Estalians face no threat such as those from Orcs and Goblins so they mostly fight amongst themselves.

At present, the two most powerful Estalian kingdoms are the city-states of Bilbali and Magritta. Both are strong because of trade and access to the sea, a fact that causes much jealously amongst the poorer kingdoms of the Irrana Mountains. There is little evidence of the influence of Chaos in the Estalian kingdoms, but it is there -- not the brute power of the raging Beastmen, but the hidden plotting of secret societies and Chaos Cults which is slowly eating away at distant Estalia.

Tilea

Tilea is a sunny land southwest of the Empire. Unlike Bretonnia and the Empire, Tilea is not a unified kingdom of its own but a collection of rival city-states. It is bordered by three mountain ranges -- the Apuccini Mountains to the east, the Irrana Mountains to the north, and the Abasko Mountains to the west -- and the Tilean Sea. Due to these impressive natural barriers, Tilea never suffered Chaos or Greenskin invasions as did the Empire, Kislev, and even Bretonnia.

While this boon has allowed Tilea to develop a highly advanced culture, perhaps the most advanced among the Men of the Old World, it also has kept the region politically divided. With no outside threat to unify the city-states, a true sense of shared nationhood has never developed.

Border Prince Confederacy (Borderlands)

Separated from the Empire by the Black Mountains, the lands of the Border Prince Confederacy are places of constant skirmishing and instability as local feudal warlords struggle endlessly for a few more hectares of their own dismal realm. Despite that, it is an ideal place for unscrupulous individuals to make some money selling their skills and ingratiating themselves with the would-be nobility.

The Borderlands, as the region is also known, are well-supplied with ruins, many of them dating from just a few years ago. Indeed, the areas ruled by the Border Princes often have more ruins than living settlements. The most common ruins in the Borderlands are simply the remains of the most recent attempts to settle the area.

These can be destroyed in many ways and often are. Sometimes the neighbours resettle the site, but often it is simply abandoned, as no one has the resources to take over. As a result, these ruins are almost always above ground and almost always badly damaged in some way, even if only by the weather.

Most of these ruins were left behind from the sultan of Araby's attempts to invade the Old World. As a result, they are not among the oldest, and they are recognisably Human in origin.

Badlands

The Badlands, as their name suggests, are harsh terrain, full of boulder-strewn moors and arid steppes. Ancient ruins, barrows and cairns testify that once the land was more fertile, but now they are just a grim tribute to some mysterious, long-gone civilisation of Men. These days the main inhabitants of the Badlands are Orcs and Goblins, with all manner of Greenskin tribes fighting for living space.[11a]

The Greenskins roam the plains, make ramshackle camps, and establish strongholds in a constant battle over territory. The ever-shifting borders are marked with picket lines of spiked skulls, gory battle trophies or vast tribal symbols carved into the rocky outcroppings. All across the Badlands effigies of the Greenskin gods Gork and Mork cast long shadows over the plains. Some are sculpted in stone or shaped out of piled bones, but most often the crude idols are fashioned from the heaped dung of countless Greenskins.

Marshes of Madness

The Marshes of Madness are generally considered to be the southern border of the Badlands. It is a mist-covered swamp that is trackless and virtually impossible to cross. Despite its treacherous nature, many Goblin tribes live there, building great tilted huts or bidding their shamans to raise islands from the deep mire.

Further south, the quagmire turns into a series of low hills before becoming dry plain and finally desert. This is the northernmost tip of the Land of the Dead and many Savage Orcs can be found in this barren region. A barrier of great stone idols stands at the edge of the shifting sands. These statues were raised there by the primitive Greenskins to ward off the foul spirits that plague the cursed realm to the south.

Southlands

Far to the south of the Old World, beyond the mysterious realm of Araby and the Land of the Dead, lies the continent known as the Southlands. Its northern land mass is a barren wasteland of deserts, studded with dusty and deserted tomb-cities, while further south, it is a land of unspoiled jungle and swamp, isolated from the realms of Men, Elves and Dwarfs for uncounted centuries though home to several temple-cities of the Lizardmen.

Many brave or foolish explorers and treasure hunters -- though the two are often indistinguishable -- have attempted to penetrate the thick jungles that make up the majority of the southern region of this land, but almost all have never been seen or heard of again.

Land of the Dead (Nehekhara)

The Land of the Dead is a fiery land of bone-dry sand and the jagged remnants of the once-mighty ancient empire of Men called Nehekhara. The rolling dunes are punctuated only by the bones of a dead civilisation, half-submerged cities that are slowly devoured by the sands over the aeons, and listing pillars that proclaim the greatness of dead kings. No oases can exist here, for the punishing sun glares down like the eye of an angry and suspicious god.

At the heart of this realm lies Khemri, the Great Necropolis, many times the size of the largest Human city of the present Old World and still awe-inspiring despite the vagaries of the millennia. Truly the majesty of the Nehekharan king Settra was such that it can never truly be erased. The God-King, now one of the Undead Tomb Kings who rule this bleak land, has vowed that his realm will be restored to its former glory, even if it takes the blood and sweat of all the nations of the mortal world to accomplish it.

Araby

The land of the Men of Araby lies along the north-west coast of the Southlands between the Atalan Mountains and the Great Ocean. To the east is the Great Desert that separates Araby from the Land of the Dead. Although the climate is dry and hot the western winds carry moisture-laden clouds that give up their water as they are suddenly forced upwards by the tall Atalan peaks.

The resultant rain falls upon the mountains and gives rise to numerous seasonal streams that, in winter at least, form substantial westward-flowing rivers. Although much of the land is dry, the rivers bring the water needed to survive by Arabyan cities, towns and villages, and there are also numerous oases even in the arid regions to the south.