Back when the world was young, and long before the Empire of Man and the Kingdom of Bretonnia had formed, the High Elves ruled the seas from their magical island home of Ulthuan. They faced long millennia of strife: near defeat during the first great war against Chaos, and then friendship, betrayal, and eventual defeat to the Dwarfs in the War of the Beard.
And though they are unwelcome in the Old World itself in this era, they have yet to retreat all the way home to Ulthuan, and maintain a healthy presence in fortresses and garrisons situated on islands all along the coast, from Bretonnia in the north to the southern tip of Estalia.
So with their return to the tabletop imminent, we once again climbed the 9,999 steps to the Silver Tower at Warhammer HQ to speak to the Changers of the Rules, those mischievous imps JTY and Danny.
JTY: This Arcane Journal is all about the High Elf presence in the Old World. The theme? The power the Elves wield over their distant colonies and the influence they still hold over the Old World. It is not about Ulthuan – everything we’re doing in this game comes back to the Old World. We examine the Empire, the Border Princes, Norsca, Bretonnia and the rest, but we don’t look beyond this area. So this book takes a look at the Elven coastal outposts that surround it, and the troops garrisoned within.
Long ago, the Elves suffered a great loss at the hands of the Dwarfs during the War of the Beard and got pushed out of their colonies on the mainland. They agreed not to return to the land they knew as Elthin Arvan, but that didn't mean they had to go too far. They withdrew to the islands, and that is what allows them to maintain their position as a global naval superpower. Control of the seas is what matters to the Elves, because from there they can control the lands – even if the Dwarfs might dispute their ‘control’ of the Old World…
Danny: They are heavily involved in trade and diplomacy, and it would not be unusual to find courtly High Elves in cosmopolitan cities like Marienburg, acting as diplomats, courtiers and advisers.
JTY: There’s only a couple of places where they have any presence on the mainland, in isolated corners that are as far away from Dwarfs as you can get…
Danny: They own a castle on the west coast of Bretonnia, which the Dwarfs consider to be out of sight and out of mind. They're not in open conflict, but the two cultures haven’t liked each other since the war, and they largely ignore one another these days.
They have many coastal citadels, and it’s not until they get pulled away over the next few decades that they fully retreat from the Old World. We chose to lean on this naval and military culture – and the Lothern Sea Guard in particular.
JTY: They’re the naval military, the marines. They serve the Sea Lord Aislinn, and they are by far the most common Elven military in the Old World at this time.
Danny: The storyline of the Arcane Journal focuses on an Elven diplomat captured by Beastmen for some sort of infernal ritual. The Lothern Sea Guard work alongside the woodsmen of Chrace to deploy a force onto the mainland to recover the diplomat before things turn too sour. Commander Ishaya Vess has been sent to the local Bretonnian lord to do the diplomacy and ask for permission to land, while Korhil and his warriors are already on the hunt…
JTY: The White Lions of Chrace act as bodyguards for important lords and diplomats, so it’s not unusual for such bold warriors to be found close to the shores of the Old World. Because Korhil commands the White Lions, he is responsible for this kind of close protection, and because he’s in the area when the diplomat goes missing, he takes it upon himself to set off with his troops and get stuck in.
Danny: It would have been very easy for us to return to prominent Elven characters due to their long lifespans, but we’re looking at a different period and we have a different focus. That will allow us to introduce new characters who will have been out of focus by the Era of Karl Franz, but who are pretty important to the story we’re trying to tell now. It would be weird if it was always the same handful of heroes coming back to save the day over and over again – but Korhil is certainly relevant to the time period, and he’s just as choppy as you’ll remember him!
JTY: Over eight editions of Warhammer, there were different characters at different times. Some would go away in a new edition with new heroes to take their place, and sometimes they would return. Just because they don’t have models or rules in a certain game doesn’t mean they’re not there, just that the focus is elsewhere.
We know what Teclis, Tyrion and Alarielle are up to at the current moment – that’s canon that already exists. Teclis is certainly active in the next few decades during the Great War. Are we going to look at that? You’ll have to wait and see, but we’re not in a hurry to get there.
We, as outsiders looking at the World of Legend, are in the privileged position of knowing the future, just as we do with the Horus Heresy. But while we know such things, we avoid referencing them in stories set in the past, otherwise we end up not telling the story of the time.
Ulthuan is a long way away. We will see some of the politics in the Old World as we move along, discovering the attitude of the High Elves to the other races. As much as anything, this narrative exists to show how they behave around humans. They pay lip service to diplomacy and getting permission to land – but while they're doing that, they've done it anyway. They don't really care, and that tells you what you need to know about Elves…
Thanks guys. The first wave of High Elves will be available to pre-order this Saturday. They’ll swiftly be followed by a second wave and a Made to Order release, and perhaps even a third wave down the line. And then it’s Beastmen, and then Wood Elves, and then… The Old World Almanack will return on Thursday.
