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Discussion The Seraphon rulebook has precious little info about how they actually LIVE.

Discussion in 'Fluff and Stories' started by Stormscales, Apr 12, 2017.

  1. Stormscales
    Saurus

    Stormscales Active Member

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    In the old continuity, the Lizardmen had a whole Aztec-like civilization in Lustria. They built cities. They had scribes, scholars and artisans. They recorded history, made art, manufactured weapons and other equipment, and had an economy. They had, you know, actual lives. Lives of selfless, tireless service to the Old Ones, but lives all the same.

    In the Age of Sigmar rulebook, I see nothing of the sort. There is no indication that the Seraphon even exist in any kind of physical plane until they descend from the skies to fight Chaos. All descriptions of them pertain to what they do on the battlefield. It's as if the book is written from the perspective of other races. So... do Seraphon just materialize out of nowhere to fight, then go back in a sort of inactive limbo once the battle is over, like Chaos daemons do? Or do they still have a physical realm (sort of a new Lustria in the stars) where they run a civilization? And what of their animals---are there Carnosaurs and Stegadons roaming free in the jungle, that Skinks must capture and tame like they used to?

    I admit I've read nothing about Seraphon outside the rulebook. Perhaps the Black Library has a wealth of info I'm ignorant about.
     
  2. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    There really is nothing about the seraphon outside the book. They show up fight chaos and go away. I think High Azyr was described somewhere as a Lustria 2 tyoe if thing, but we have nothing solid to go on.
     
  3. Wolfwerty33
    Cold One

    Wolfwerty33 Active Member

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    We've actually got it worse than Chaos now. At least their daemons have an existance outside of the material world. (The chaos lore mentions that Khorne daemons, at least, when not killing eveything with a pulse on the mortal plane, kill everything they can swing at on the chaos plane). While we, apparently, are just meditating slann with half-forgotten memories in among the stars whenever we're not actually deployed... :(
     
  4. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Honest question: do you guys actually enjoy the AoS fluff... or is it more of the game that you're into?

    Edit: I should clarify. I ask because I come across many passionate AoS fans, but very few of them seem to genuinely enjoy the lore.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2017
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  5. Ritual
    Skar-Veteran

    Ritual Well-Known Member

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    The fluff right now is really poor unless you like Sigmarines, nothing else is fleshed out at all.

    I've been waiting to see some new books, but everything is so focused on the current 40k stuff that AoS feels neglected.
     
  6. Stormscales
    Saurus

    Stormscales Active Member

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    Meh, that's really lame. I like imagining stories about the armies I play, and that's hard to do if they're being portrayed as automatons who only exist when a Slann calls upon them.

    I hope the GW writers give us more to go on, but they have big shoes to fill considering the wealth and complexity of the old Warhammer universe. So far I'm thoroughly unimpressed with what little fluff there is about... everything, really. It all seems so samey. "So these guys are badass warriors, and those guys are badass warriors too except they serve Chaos..."
     
  7. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    I am enjoying some of the fluff, other parts are not as fleshed out. I enjoy the game far more than the fluff, but I also enoyed playing 8th more than the old fluff as well. It turned me off the fluff seeing how pooy it melded with the crunch. Saurus especially. Bred to be the most brutal and efficient killing machines, but when you play, efficiency is not their forte. More like wait around to get slaughtered and anyone that's left can do some kinda impressive attacks.

    I am liking the open ended Seraphon for my own fluff, I can experiment and make up whatever I want to suit the situation.
     
  8. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I haven't met a single person who claims to like the Age of Sigmar fluff. I've met those who do not dislike it, but no one really likes it.

    It is neglected.

    Pre-Age of Sigmar fluff is better BUT Warhammer Fantasy never had consistently good fluff to begin with. Warhammer fluff always depended on fan writing to make it good. Fans had to fill in the many blanks. Now we have more blanks than ever to fill. Here's one:

    But we have a very active fluff community here. If for some strange reason, there isn't enough for you, Lustria-Online is not the only game in town (though Lustria-Online is the best) and I have found good pieces on every forum I explored. The Skaven are the best writers I've seen outside of our jungle and that is why I borrow-stole many of their ideas, but there are gems in every forum. Many make a strong effort to make stories easy to find and categorize (though the Lustriapedia is the best).
     
  9. Captaniser
    Carnasaur

    Captaniser Well-Known Member

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    I think the lore is okeyish right now. Some factions have very little lore, and some has little more than a few sentences.
    The only factions that have any consistent lore are the sigmarines and chaos factions, but there is one really great fluff piece, the flesheater courts. Their lore is really great and unique, something sorely lacking in current AoS.
     
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  10. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Ok, here's my stance on this whole lore thing:

    - the old WHFB lore was one of my reasons to not play the game for all those years. Holy cow, literally all that I read of it was dire. Very cheesy. Like a Manowar music video in literature form.
    - the new lore is more consistent it seems, which is good.
    - since the destruction of the world there isn't much lore unfortunately, which isn't good.
    - my favourite race is one of those that have almost no lore at all, and the one that is there is bad. I dislike big parts of it.

    I started Warhammer and looked at it, and thought: "Meh, I'll substitute it with my own." and just decided to not care. I'm in it for the game. If I stumble upon lore I like I assimilate it to the world in my brain, but most of the stuff I just ignore.

    Oh, btw: Here's my lore for the Seraphon:
    - The surviving Lizardmen travelled through space for ages, and finally (with the help of the Dragon or whatever) found a place to live. You might call it a planet if you wish, although it might be just a place between the planes or something.
    - The Slann in their great wisdom choose a place that looks as the old Lustria. They even call it Lustria. A lush jungle world.
    - The Slann can imagine/summon their stuff like in the official lore, BUT they don't like that because it makes their heads hurt or something. So they all got together and figured out some Old One's stuff. They managed to create new spawning pools!
    - Everything spawns like in old times, they built pyramids and live there.
    - They conserved DNA samples from their old homeworld, so they also could create Carnosaurs and all those other Dinosaurs. Some DNA was changed a bit by cosmic radiation, and some of the monsters adapted to their (slightly different) jungle environment, creating more diversity. They roam the jungles and - like in old times - are tamed by the Skinks if you need them.
    - There might or might not be Realmgates or something leading to New Lustria (of course there are, so I can have my friend's Orruks and/or demons and/or undead ort whatever invade)
    - When Slann summon they either really call Seraphon from their memories, OR they summon real troops, that wait in some special temple that allows them to teleport through Azyr to their destination. These supplies are limited of course. Think of it as Protoss in Starcraft warping stuff onto the battlefield.
     
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  11. thedarkfourth
    Kroxigor

    thedarkfourth Well-Known Member

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    you may be on the wrong subforum :)

    On the other hand, while you're here, why not show us something from your world? Write us a story or enter the exciting poetry comp! We'll make a fluff-head of you yet!

    PS: for everyone hating on AoS, a little bird/pteradon told me about some more fleshed out, non-sci-fi, all-new fluff that might be on its way - slowly but surely - from a certain 9th age...
     
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  12. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Oh don't get me wrong, I love fluff!
    As a D&D game master I wrote lots of stories, and I love to learn everything about a world. Sci-Fi or Fantasy books/games/movies that establish whole worlds always intrigued me. Examples: Tolkien, Wheel of Time, Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Song of Ice and Fire, Warcraft, Starcraft, and so on.
    It is just that I don't particularly like the fluff of Warhammer. Although I admit that it starts to grow on me a bit. :)
     
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  13. Captaniser
    Carnasaur

    Captaniser Well-Known Member

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    You make it sound like a bad thing.
     
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  14. Phoedinn
    Razordon

    Phoedinn Well-Known Member

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    Right now....nither. I loved the old lore and the complexity that had arrived over time, whereas the lore right now is young and very basic. However, I think AoS is doing a much better job with representing the lore that is there in the game rules(It always annoyed me that Slanns weren't the all powerful wizards the lore said they were). I'm holding out with AoS in the hope that, like with the old lore, more details will be added as more stories and campaign books come out. I'm the kind of geek that likes to know the nitty gritty details (one of the few people who like midichlorians), right now AoS is still the vauge "it's magic".

    Here's hoping it won't just end up like 40K with the other factions just being something for the Sigmarines to fight.
     
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  15. PhoenixTheCat
    Terradon

    PhoenixTheCat Well-Known Member

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    Personally I imagine the Seraphon as having a physical form all the time, and when not deployed in the Mortal Realms they have a pocket realm that they mess around in, and each Slann has a different area of the pocket realm. (The reason I called it a pocket realm is because it isn't a realm in the sense of the Realm of Beasts, for example, but instead hidden in a pocket between the realms, that is visible as the stars.)
     
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  16. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    I'd say that 40k lore is pretty good overall. If AoS fluff eventually blossomed into something like that, it wouldn't be too bad.
     
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  17. DeadlyRecluse
    Chameleon Skink

    DeadlyRecluse Well-Known Member

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    I'd say the lore for AOS is defs lacking a bit. Especially considering they haven't even gotten to either of the elves, or beastmen, or skaven, etc. And compared to 40ks release schedule for books we're definitely neglected when it comes to good fluff.

    Ps. Also I really wish they would start making things for other races like I dunno ELVES instead of making more Big Strong Gold Men, even if some of them are women(wow that makes them like so interesting and unique, you're so smart gw)
     
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  18. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Don't you mean Aelves? :p
     
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  19. Carnikang
    Carnasaur

    Carnikang Well-Known Member

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    The Lore of AoS is still.. meh. It's getting better with every release of a battletome or campaign book, but those are still few and weeks/months between. The City of Secrets book gives a great look into the life within Heldenhammer (from what I've heard, Old Fantasy Empire cities turned up to 20).

    As for Seraphon Lore.... I despise that it's left so vague and inconsequential. Our Slann dies in battle? We're supposed to disappear.
    We're just memories? Bullgak.
    Slann have out-Tzeentched the Chaos gods with a new Plan to destroy Chaos once and forever? I can get behind that.
     
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  20. Captaniser
    Carnasaur

    Captaniser Well-Known Member

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    Funny thing, in ancient mythology the word Elv was spelled and pronounced Aelv, but in later generations the 'A' became silent. Until it got removed completely.
     

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