Ever since Sigmar closed the gates of Azyr like the coward he is, Chaos has owned the Mortal Realms. But now the Heldenhammer has convinced his feeble followers to strike out once more in the Dawnbringer Crusades, and the worshippers of Chaos are not happy about it.
It’s time for Archaon and Be’lakor to muster their forces, raise their banners, and stake their claim to the souls of those who worship them – or at least, those they’ve crushed underfoot. Alas, there’s trouble brewing in the dark lands – these two titans of Chaos don’t get along.
It’s tough to exist in the Mortal Realms without being drafted into the eternal war between Chaos and Order, so which of these infernal despots comes out on top? Let’s find out.
Archaon the Everchosen
Neither a daemon nor a Daemon Prince, Archaon is nevertheless older than the Mortal Realms themselves, a mortal who has positioned himself perfectly between each of the great Chaos Gods. Everchosen is a pretty cushy rank to hold – if you can hold onto it – and has left him swollen with unholy power and magical artefacts.
Archaon’s crib is the Varanspire, a towering bastion constructed by loyal ogroids. Sitting at the centre of the Mortal Realms, this dark edifice pierces the Realm of Chaos itself. From here Archaon looks out over the Eightpoints, commanding his personal Varanguard and untold thousands of armoured Chaos Warriors. Life under Archaon is that of a well-armed and ambitious cog in a brutal machine, designed to subjugate the Mortal Realms. A soldier of the Everchosen cannot be shy about getting their hands dirty. When their master rides to battle atop the chimeric beast Dorghar, they must follow and fight – to the death, if necessary.
Be’lakor, The Dark Master
While the Exalted Grand Marshal of the Apocalypse boasts a dark grindset to engender fear in all mortals, he’s picked up more than a few haters along the way. Chief amongst these bitter rivals is Be’lakor, who rejects his power and status entirely.
Be’lakor was the first Daemon Prince, a champion raised to immortality by the entire pantheon of Chaos Undivided. Unfortunately, he was cruelly cast down by the ungrateful Ruinous Powers – it might have had something to do with his ambitions of becoming a fifth Chaos God – and his former patrons chose to invest their energy elsewhere, eventually settling on the Everchosen.
Spurned but not defeated, shadow and terror are now Be’lakor’s primary weapons. Every agent he recruits, every enforcer he bribes, every traitor he turns – all work to undermine his successor and advance his own agenda. Serving the Dark Master is a dizzying dance of deception, where every friend may be an enemy – or another sleeper agent in an endlessly nested warren of schemes.
Okay, But Who’s the Best?
Whether your commander is the greatest mortal champion of Chaos or the original Daemon Prince, being recruited for the Slaves to Darkness is generally quite bad for life expectancy.* Your time in the Mortal Realms will likely be short and bleak – so why not spend it in thrall to someone you truly respect?
To figure out who that might be, here’s a handy list of pros and cons.
Regardless of to whom you pledge yourself, you’ll want to pre-order Battletome: Slaves to Darkness this weekend. Inside its profane pages are rules for raising damned legions for each of these mighty generals – and plenty more besides.
* Unless you impress the gods enough to win immortality, but those are long odds.