After a short wait, the Dwarfen Mountain Holds have arrived in Warhammer: The Old World, axes sharpened and beards waxed. On Monday we spoke to the Warhammer Studio about how the Dwarfs play on the tabletop, and today we’re going to find out what the Karaz Ankor – that’s the entire Dwarfen realm to you, beardling – is up to during this time period.
Danny: The Dwarfs are making strides at the moment, looking at the lost holds and figuring out what they can do to honour the ancestors and start reclaiming them. They are uncovering ancient technologies that had been buried in these holds, and they’re trying to bring back the golden era, really.
JTY: Since the Time of Woes, the Dwarfs have been scattered. A lot of the old holds have been lost, and they’ve always wanted to reclaim them. This is a time of positivity and opportunity. Chaos is a distant threat – there are other dangers out there, including the Orcs and Goblins, but the Dwarfs are of a mind to expand and reclaim. That said, they’re still Dwarfs, so some don’t think it’s possible – what’s lost is gone – but others want to get out there and get it done. You might notice a Dwarf icon over Eight Peaks on the map – the Dwarfs think they’ve reclaimed it, though it’s really only a few of the top levels…
The story in this Arcane Journal is of the reclamation of Khazid Vosk, a minor hold lost a long time ago. It was an outpost of the Engineers Guild, and the Dwarfs are moving towards reclaiming it, alongside one or two others.
Danny: The Dwarfs are still playing an active role in what’s going on in the Old World – they’re not focusing on themselves and digging down in their own holds. They have had a pretty incredible relationship with the Empire of Man for a few centuries now. They’re still coming to terms with the fact that the manlings are currently fighting amongst themselves. Why are their allies doing this? Dwarfen diplomats are trying to smooth those relations over – they’re not going to take sides, but they want to act as arbiters and trading partners for everyone. They’re trying to be steadfast friends and allies, no matter what bickering is going on.
JTY: It’s quite a hopeful time period, but we know that’s not going to last… The High King is Alrik Alriksson, ruling out of Karaz-a-Karak. As many fans of the Old World will no doubt be familiar, he will eventually be mortally wounded during the Great War against Chaos, and his sons will be killed, but he survives long enough for his Thanes to go out and perform mighty deeds to prove themselves worthy of the throne. That’s when Thorgrim – a well known name whose mother is the High King’s sister – proves his worth and, in the fullness of time, is crowned High King.
He’s the first of our three characters in the Arcane Journal, but he’s not earned the name Grudgebearer yet – he’s still Thorgrim Ulleksson. He’s a prince, and he is the Kharl of the Great Book of Grudges – a scholar of grudge law. There’s a fair bit of foreshadowing in the character description for what’s to come….
Danny: For anyone familiar with him, it’s worth noting that the Thorgrim of our period is a much younger Dwarf, one who hasn’t been quite so jaded by the rigours of rulership and who does not yet own most of the items later associated with him. He is armed instead with magical or runic items appropriate to his current station as a prince.
JTY: He has an item called the Grudge Stone, which is an Oathstone that makes him incredibly tough to shift – he and his unit become Unbreakable, and he dishes out Hatred for Orcs and Goblins. He retains the Armour of Skaldor, but he has a different weapon and he fights on foot.
Ungrim Ironfist is also around, and he’s a lot more aggressive in this period. He doesn’t have the Dragon Cloak yet, but does possess the Slayer Crown and the Axe of Dargo. It’s his duty to clear the curse of the Slayer Vow from his bloodline. He has two vows that are in complete opposition that the royal line can’t reconcile. The vows of kingship – to continue his bloodline and protect his people – cannot exist side by side with the Slayer Vow, and this contradiction drives every king of Karak Kadrin slowly mad trying to find a balance. Ungrim’s solution is to find a queen whom he believes is more qualified to rule than he considers himself to be, so that once he’s met his doom and the Slayer Vow is dispensed, she can rule in his stead, until such time as his sons assume the throne.
Danny: The trouble is he’s really struggling to find a doom worthy of a king!
JTY: Karak Kadrin ramps up its activity during this period, and it’s taking part in a lot of battles. If there’s a battle they can reach, Ungrim wants to be part of it.
Danny: Burlock Damminson is our third character, and he is the one who reaches out to other holds to inform them that there’s going to be an attempt to reclaim Khazid Vosk. It’s the Slayer Hold who answer the call. Alongside all these wonderful Engineers Guild contraptions, there’s a host of Slayers – and Ungrim is on his way.
One of the things people know about Burlok is that he nearly got kicked out of the guild on a number of occasions for being a bit wild in his youth. What we’ve got here is, well, experimental Burlock. He is field-testing inventive weapons. He famously loses an arm at some point in his adventures – and both of the weapons the new model is carrying certainly look as though they could blow off a limb…
He’s got a hammer with a furnace in the end of it and a steam-powered pistol – either of which could go catastrophically wrong. It’s actually most of the reason he ends up leading the reclamation of Khazid Vosk. He makes one too many mess-ups at the Engineers Guild…
JTY: … and he’s given a choice. Do something significant to prove your maturity, to prove that you aren’t totally reckless – “your father’s a good engineer, which is why we’re putting up with you” – or you’re not an engineer any more. He completely misunderstands the objective and says ‘right, we’re going to reclaim the lost hold of Khazid Vosk. This isn’t really what the guild wanted, but if he goes ahead he either doesn’t return – which deals with the issue of his experiments blowing up workshops – or he might actually succeed. So they give him the resources and send him off on his merry way through the underway. Because it was an outpost of the guild, it’s thought to be full of workshops and inventions. However, it’s been fallen for a long time – and it’s full of Orcs. We follow the story of his arrival and assault on the upper levels.
This is a different proposition for Dwarfs, because it puts them in the role of attacking a fortified enemy, rather than sitting back and firing cannon in defence. They do reclaim the upper levels – and we may return to Khazid Vosk in future…
Thanks again, guys. There’s a lot more to uncover about the Dwarfs during this period, and you can check back on Warhammer Community tomorrow, when we’ll be examining some of the new and classic models.