There’s a new edition of Warhammer Age of Sigmar on the way, and it’s ridiculously exciting – but if you don’t yet know your Realmgates from your Rotbringers or your Eightpoints from your Endrinriggers, where do you begin? The Mortal Realms have a long and rich history, so to get you started, we’ve picked out some of our favourite books for dipping your toes into the four Grand Alliances fighting for supremacy.
Start Reading… Death – The Hollow King
Most of the undead legions that march under the banner of Nagash do so with undying loyalty, but some few rage against their fate. Cado Ezechiar is one such maverick – the former king of a lost nation, now gripped by the vampiric Soulblight Curse and forced to endure for eternity with only the souls of his long-dead kinsmen for company.
In The Hollow King by John French, Cado walks a path of revenge against the Chaos cult that destroyed his home, and gets caught up in the desperate machinations of a Free City struggling to survive in the Realm of Death. It’s the perfect book for discovering how the concept of death impacts a world where spirits and souls exist side-by-side with living beings, and quite what a deathless existence in thrall to the Great Necromancer does to someone with an unquenchable desire for personal vengeance.
Start Reading… Destruction – Bad Loon Rising
When you think of Grand Alliance Destruction, you may picture rampaging hordes of hulking orruks, ravenous ogors, and stomping gargants, but the savage children of Gorkamorka aren’t just guileless beasts. The Great Green God prizes cunning just as much as brutality, and none corner the market on conniving chicanery quite like the Gloomspite Gitz.
To see just how far devious plans and a spot of fungal magic can take one born at the bottom of the barrel, you need only witness the tale of Loonboss Zogrot in Bad Loon Rising by Andy Clark. Strength and a love of violence will get you almost everywhere within the ranks of Destruction, but as the foolish fiends who stand in Zogrot’s way discover, there’s much more to this seemingly single-minded alliance than meets the eye.
Start Reading… Order – Yndrasta: The Celestial Spear
The forces of Order are as varied as the Mortal Realms themselves – a grand coalition of humans, aelves, duardin, and more that surge out from their fortified cities to reclaim the realm from Chaos. Yet it’s the Stormcast Eternals who most directly represent Sigmar’s will, and for all their humanity and selflessness, they are still held at arm’s length by many.
How the flesh and blood citizens of Sigmar live and die alongside their semi-divine protectors is a major theme across their Grand Alliance, and never has the difference been more evident than in Yndrasta: The Celestial Spear by Noah Van Nguyen. Here, Sigmar’s Prime Huntress – the winged warrior Yndrasta – must work with the mortal Njda to hunt down a rampaging monster, and the interplay between these two strong-willed characters is a fascinating microcosm for how mortal and immortal interact across the entire Age of Sigmar.
Start Reading… Chaos – Godeater’s Son
It’s easy to write the forces of Chaos off as cruel barbarians and downright evil monsters, but as the Age of Sigmar has only just begun to drive the Dark Gods out of the Mortal Realms, many living under their yoke are simply normal civilisations who did what they could to survive the hellish Age of Chaos. As Sigmar’s return pushes armies of zealots and promises of ‘order’ across long-abandoned lands, many of these hardened tribes – such as the Darkoath – want nothing to do with the god who forsook their ancestors.
Others simply want to be left alone, like Heldanarr Fall in Godeater’s Son by Noah Van Nguyen. His story is a unique take on the relationship between Chaos and Order, showing that not all that glitters is gold in the Age of Sigmar, and how many who live beyond the safety of walls and cannons see the will of Sigmar as simply one divine tyrant replacing another.
There’s lots more to learn about the Mortal Realms nestled between the pages of countless Black Library books, and you can relive the defining events of the Age of Sigmar – from the Realmgate Wars that saw Order begin to reclaim its foothold in the Mortal Realms, to the savage conflicts spurred on during the Era of the Beast – in the new omnibus War for the Mortal Realms, coming to pre-order this Saturday.
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