The launch of Dominion has pushed the ever-evolving timeline of Warhammer Age of Sigmar forward once again as the narrative of the Mortal Realms officially enters the Era of the Beast.
It got us thinking about the very beginning of the Age of Sigmar, way back when the Stormcast Eternals hadn’t hit anything with a hammer yet, and the Realms were full of skull piles and Chaos corruption as far as the eye could see. Ah, memories.
The Warhammer Vault – one of many features of the essential upcoming Warhammer+ service – will include extensive lore sections from the original Warhammer Age of Sigmar Core Book and the first Realmgate Wars book, so we thought we’d look back to where it all started and discover what has happened since.
The Storm Breaks
The first Core Book, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Mighty Battles in an Age of Unending War, kicked off with the sudden arrival of Sigmar’s chosen warriors, the Stormcast Eternals. It was these hand-picked champions, reforged with a portion of the God-King’s own divine might, that Sigmar entrusted to launch his campaign to free the Mortal Realms from the dominion of Chaos. Their voltaic descent from the Heavens heralded the end of the Age of Chaos and the birth of the Age of Sigmar. It looked a little bit like this.
The first battles were fought at the Brimstone Peninsula in Aqshy, the Realm of Fire, a land that had long been oppressed by bloodthirsty tribes of Khornate warriors. These wars saw the stalwart Stormcast Eternals of Vandus Hammerhand (and his awesome Dracoth mount) clash with the Khornate warband of Khorgos Khul (and his cute-but-ultra-violent flesh hound). It’s particularly worth reading the Realmgate Wars so you can follow the journey each general takes in the years that follow – especially Khul’s.
The Realmgate Wars
What began as a handful of skirmishes and small-scale battles soon escalated as Sigmar sought to rally his allies of old to his cause. Yet even as the Stormcast Eternals consolidated their control of several key realmgates, the God-King received news that the location of his legendary hammer had been discovered!
During the climactic Battle of the Burning Skies long ago, Sigmar had been tricked by Archaon into hurling Ghal-Maraz at his hated foe, only to discover that, in his battle fury, he had fallen for an illusion and cast his greatest weapon into the void.
Sigmar, who totally meant for this to happen, no follow-up questions please, began the Quest for Ghal-Maraz. The first of the Realmgate Wars books takes up this storyline, in which a great crusade of Sigmar’s finest warriors ventures into Chamon, the Realm of Metal, to recover the God-King’s mighty weapon.
The quest cost the Stormcast Eternals dearly as they fought their way across the metallic landscape to the fortress that had been built around the hammer to shield it from Sigmar’s gaze. At its climax, Vandus Hammerhand, Lord-Celestant of the Hammers of Sigmar Stormhost, tore free the God-King’s legendary hammer from its bondage, and with it, smote its gaoler Kairos Fateweaver to ruin.
The return of Ghal-Maraz enabled Sigmar to finally call upon the first and greatest of the Stormcast Eternals, the Celestant-Prime, to lead his armies. Without the hammer lending him its divine power, one so mighty as the Celestant-Prime could not exist.
The God-King now had a vassal that could bear his hammer into the direst of battles to mete out his celestial fury upon his greatest enemies. Sigmar’s actions also charged Warhammer Age of Sigmar hobbyists with their greatest challenge yet: to paint all of the stars on the celestial orrery on the Celestant-Prime’s amazing miniature.
Just the Beginning
The Age of Sigmar hasn’t let up since. Three more books in the Realmgate Wars saga followed – The Balance of Power, Godbeasts, and All-gates – and a terrifying period of dark omens and malign portents that preceded Nagash’s Necroquake.
The magical fallout of the Great Necromancer’s gamble for power gave rise to a form of self-sustaining, malign sorcery often imbued with cruel sentience, known as endless spells, and ushered in the Soul Wars.
The seismic events that took place in this year’s Broken Realms series saw nothing less than Morathi achieving divine apotheosis, Teclis battling Nagash to restore magical balance to the realms, Be’lakor darkening the skies with his baleful shadow, and the return of Kragnos, god of earthquakes.
The Era of the Beast Awaits
With the rise of the Kruleboyz and the events in Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, continuing to escalate, Dominion has well and truly ushered in a deadly new era for the Mortal Realms.
All of which brings us to Warhammer+, which promises to usher in a new era for the Warhammer hobby, too. You can read all the incredible narrative from the earliest days of the Age of Sigmar in the Warhammer Vault when Warhammer+ launches, and you can expect the vault to get bigger and bigger as more Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 lore is added over time.
Sign up to our dedicated Warhammer+ newsletter, and we’ll keep you posted about the incredible features coming to the service when it launches on the 25th of August.
