Long before the Mortal Realms ever existed, a mysterious race of god-like beings known as the Old Ones designed an impossibly complex scheme to reshape reality. To ensure this Great Plan was carried out appropriately, they created the Seraphon, a race of cold-blooded reptilian vassals guided by powerful amphibian arcanists known as the slann. To this day, untold millennia later, the Seraphon tirelessly battle to ensure that this Great Plan is fulfilled, no matter the cost, no matter what is forgotten.
The Seraphon have their origin in the World-that-Was, where ancient temples and technologies built by the Old Ones sat largely inert as the slann patiently followed their masters’ plan. When it finally fell to Chaos, these same temples awoke and rose into the heavens, taking with them their precious cargo of mage-priests.
They sat in the firmament for an age, but eventually the swirling energies of the universe coalesced into the Mortal Realms, and when the time was right the slann emerged from their temple ships, spawning pools churning with fresh soldiers, all ready to carry out the next stage of the Great Plan. Some of these ships landed, creating bustling cities from which the Seraphon march to war, while others stayed in the heavens as their slann look to the stars to scry the future. Much has changed since their arrival, and the Seraphon now resist the renewed vigour of the Chaos Gods and their acolytes, the tyrannical legions of the God of Undeath, catastrophes wrought by the forces of Destruction, and even the well-meaning interference of their allies.
Overview
The Seraphon are not a single species, instead a collection who form a society governed by a rigid caste structure. At the top sit the slann. These large, toad-like creatures were birthed long ago during five spawnings, and they are uniquely privy to the machinations of the Old Ones, doling out obscure prophecy and divination to their skink attendants. They inspire great reverence in the rest of their kind, and are peerless spellcasters, wielding eldritch might in order to scour their foes and summon warhosts from the aether.
Foremost among their number is Lord Kroak. The last of the first spawning, he is an ancient being who has foregone his physical form and surpassed death itself to defend reality against the ever-growing pull of Chaos. His power is such that even the spirit clinging to his mummified form can split heaven and earth alike.
It is the skinks who are tasked with running Seraphon society, ensuring that the great temple ship and the sprawling temple cities can function without pause. Skink attendants are devoted to serving the needs of the slann, while others are tasked with tending to the mighty kroxigor labourers. Skink Cohorts go to war as skirmishers and scouts, while bold skinks ride atop soaring terradons and ripperdactyls, or master more imposing beasts of war such as bastiladons, stegadons, and the Spawn of Chotec, fiery salamanders used as living artillery.
Saurus Warriors are the muscle, bred for one singular purpose – to dominate the battlefield. They pursue this task with a ferocity that masks their calculating cohesion, for saurus are not mindess machines, but possess a battle-focused intellect that is so dedicated to the completion of the Great Plan that they will sacrifice themselves to destroy any who threaten it.
Saurus are commanded by their Oldbloods and Scar-Veterans, grizzled beasts who tame apex predators such as aggradons and carnosaurs. When the Seraphon engage, it is as an expression of that ineffable yet axiomatic plan that the Old Ones rendered into being, a carefully considered balance of brute strength and thaumaturgical might that is wielded with cosmic precision. To face the hosts of star and scale is to face the will of an intellect beyond reckoning.
Battle Traits
The Seraphon act according to The Great Plan once laid out for them by their inscrutable ancient masters. They look to the stars to divine a single ASTERISM which will guide their approach to the battle ahead – Itzl the Tamer blesses their savage mounts with Crit (2 Hits), for example, while Tepok the Seer empowers spellcasters with cosmic energy.
On top of this initial ASTERISM, a second ability is unlocked at the start of the third battle round if the Seraphon have acted to Further the Great Plan by fulfilling the conditions related to the first ASTERMISM. Drive enemies out of friendly territory to please Quetzl the Preserve, or slay the enemy general to satiate Sotek the Deliverer.
Battle Formations
There are many ways to enact the Great Plan in war, and the Seraphon come with four battle formations to represent them. The Sunclaw Starhost carry celestite weapons supercharged with energy that reifies the Vengeance of Azyr. With this power, up to three SAURUS or KROXIGOR units can lash out at the end of any turn, launching themselves forward to deal mortal damage.
Other formations capitalise on the indomitable Seraphon war-beasts, tap into celestial energies to teleport key units around the battlefield, or exploit the natural swiftness of the nimble skink hosts.
Arcana and Incantations
Slann Starmasters are some of the greatest magical conduits in all of existence, surpassing even the Lords of Change that serve Tzeentch. Bolstered by the immortal Lord Kroak they have access to two Spell Lores. The first focuses on the manipulation of cosmic power, and its disciples can unmake their enemies’ weapons in their very hands through Mystical Unforging.
Other stellar sorceries invoke the wrath of the heavens through showers of comets, and call on the speed and grace of Huanchi, the predator god. The Lore of Primal Jungles instead invokes the power of the sun god Chotek to heal his children, stirs up the realms themselves to cause violent earthquakes, and empowers the celestite ore found within Seraphon weapons.
Unit Focus
The slann are the arbiters of the Old Ones’ Great Plan, mediated via mysterious proclamations recorded by their numerous Skink attendants. Each Slann Starmaster is a powerhouse of the arcane, able to tear down the very heavens themselves with a gentle wave of their webbed hands.
Floating into battle on ornate palanquins, they are Masters of Order who call on the arcane powers of the firmament to boost their own spellcasting, and snuff out enemy magic and manifestations all across the battlefield.
They can choose a SKINK WIZARD to become an Arcane Vassal, channelling their mighty spell casting through an agile proxy, and once per turn they can attempt to will Celestial Reinforcements into being to ensure the Great Plan is executed.
The magical might of the Slann is backed up by the scaled muscle provided by veteran warriors like the Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur. Taller and broader than their kin, these venerable beings are survivors of countless battles, ferocious combatants that ride into battle atop carnosaurs. These apex predators descend into a Blood Frenzy when preying on wounded MONSTERS, asserting their dominance with the STRIKE-FIRST keyword.
Few armies in the Mortal Realms can hold their ground against the Terror these primordial monsters inflict, deep-rooted fight or flight responses causing even the bravest warriors to abandon their plans. The Oldbloods are always on the Spearhead of the Charge when leading their brethren into battle, their warcry adding 1 to charge rolls for friendly SAURUS units.
The raw power of the saurus is backed up by the more agile skinks, who have a kinship with a number of similarly quick-witted reptiles. Terradon Riders soar ahead of the Seraphon warhost and Attack From on High, often beyond the reach of ranged weapons.
They carry a Deadly Cargo into battle, meteoric rocks carved with arcane glyphs which they drop on enemy units as they wheel above, dealing mortal damage and sending their targets into disarray.
Seraphon employ all manner of hulking reptilian beasts of war, such as the formidable stegadons, which are fitted with howdahs and ridden by quick-witted skinks. Arcane relics known as the Engine of the Gods can be leashed to these beasts to deliver reality-warping effects to the battlefield.
This Cosmic Engine can defy the natural laws of the universe, triggering a Healing Light that reknits wounds, Starlight Summons to return felled warriors, or even make it so that Time Slows and allies can STRIKE-FIRST. These powers aren’t entirely reliable, but you can reserve a cosmic power token instead of using one, allowing you to boost the dice roll when you finally activate the Engine.
The Word from the Studio
Jimbo: “The Seraphon are beholden to pursuing the Great Plan laid down by the mysterious Old Ones. Asterisms now allow a Seraphon player to tune their army on the battlefield to deal with specific threats in their opponent’s army, or to enhance the already formidable abilities of their own army.
“In fact, with such a wide variety of units available to them, a Seraphon player can build almost any kind of army that they can think of, whether that is a plethora of monsters such as Bastiladons and Stegadons, a thundering cavalry charge of Aggradon Lancers, Raptadon Chargers, and soaring Terradon Riders, or an infantry march of Saurus Warriors and Skinks. Asterisms typically benefit from focusing on one strategy, but you can always Further the Great Plan to unlock an extra buff for the second half of the battle.”
Spearhead Spotlight
The Great Plan is not always furthered by an all-consuming war effort, but by the surgical application of lesser force. A Starscale Warhost is often deployed when the slann have determined that an enemy warlord must be killed, or a crucial geomantic nexus needs to be defended, but to dispatch a full-sized army would disrupt the careful balance of the cosmos.
This small force is no less savage however. The Saurus Oldblood who leads the warhost rides atop a truly terrifying Beast of the Dark Jungles, which can set about enemies each turn with its Gargantuan Jaws, or scare them off objectives with a bestial Roar.
It is the Saurus Warriors that make up the sturdy backbone of the Seraphon war effort in engagements large and small. Their commanders dispatch them as Ordered Cohorts to rank up on objectives, where they hold fast and weather incoming attacks before counterattacking with their lethal celestite weapons.
Tomorrow we are shifting focus to the servants of the Seraphon’s mortal enemies, the Slaves to Darkness – uncompromising mortal warriors who walk the blood-slicked Path to Glory.
