8th Ed. The End of All Things (Spoilers from End Times)

Hello scale-brothers,

I just finished reading Part V of the End Times, Archaon. I'm here to inform those of you that are certainly dying with curiosity what happened at the end of The End.

Spoilers

Spoilers

Did I say spoilers?

Mk, so I'll be writing a full series of posts tomorrow after I sleep to explain everything that happened but I'll at least throw this much out to you this evening because I know my reaction was interesting. In the end after an insane amount of epic battles, direct intervention by the Chaos Gods multiple times, and the final efforts of the world's greatest champions, the world has ended.

Although I'll go more in depth later, Middenheim had what essentially was an Old Ones' ship buried deep beneath it which contained a mysterious artifact that when messed with basically threatened to open a new realm of chaos right smack in the middle of the Old World.

Sadly, due to a final treachery by the ultimate douchebag known as Mannfred von Carstein, whom we should pray to the Old Ones that he burns for eternity, the efforts of the Council of the Incarnates failed and this doomsday engine went off, consuming all magic in the warhammer world and eventually consuming the entire world, turning it into a terrifying realm of death and destruction. Everyone dies. Everyone.

In a strange twist of fate, so far as I'm concerned, Lileath gets her just desserts (the massive jerk) and her secret elf world appears to have been destroyed somehow (or at least it vanished from her sight), the Dwarfs in all their mountain holds are consumed by this encroaching realm of chaos, along with all the greenskins, ogres, bretonnians, empire humans, etc. etc.

So that being said...the only race in the entire Warhammer world that escaped...was the LIZARDMEN. Ha. Seriously, we're the only ones who get out in time.

So I'll be updating this thread tomorrow after I recover from my exhaustion of slamming through this book super fast. I've no idea what 9th holds, even fluffwise.

The Last page of the End Times is that after everything dies and the Chaos Gods leave, a spark of light remains in the darkness and either Sigmar or Archaon (the two of them went tumbling into the abyss wrestling for Ghal Maraz) grabs onto this spark and "causes a miracle" and essentially a new world is born...or something along those lines.

So there ya go. Chaos wins in the end, no one escapes into any altered dimensions and everyone dies, except for the fled Lizardmen and the mysterious man that exerts his will to cause a miracle that tells that it is the Beginning of something.

Enjoy

 

I have two predictions for how ninth will start.

Sigmar who is that figure carves a big portion of The Empire from chaos. The Lizardmen sense the light from Sigmar and land in that area where through battle more and more area is taken back. As they uncover lands they find remanents of the other races. Over time things go back to relative normality and all of the armies are back in the game. I think that would be awesome.

Number two: The lizardmen find a new planet. They use their magic to bring it into closer orbit to warm it and land there. There they prepare the fight against chaos. They setup that world, and somehow the other races rise and all the armies are back. The plot twist is that the Lizardmen become the new old ones for this world. The lizardmen were the "old ones" on the last planet and they survived the cycle from before that one. Time goes on and we have a new setting.

 

Looking forward to it Overlord!

 

I hope that either of your predictions will come to pass; sadly I don't foresee the Lizardmen playing any significant role in 9th edition (based off of the current rumours, but I sincerely hope that I am incorrect!)

 

Waiting with bated breath for more spoilers

 

I've read some gloom and doom spoilers, and I hope that yours will be optimistic (although after teading half of Thanquol I'm not as happy as you with GWs depicting Lizardmen)

 

I emailed Games Workshop today asking if they are removing any armies when 9th edition comes and this is the response I got: "Do not fear! No armies are being removed in 9th. All of you favourite armies you play will be nice and safe. Although we cannot say what is happening to the Warhammer world, you can have peace of mind!"

I hope they're being honest there. I think it's silly that people think any armies are being removed. That would be suicide for Games-Workshop. Sure they make some questionable decisions, but they're smart enough to know that getting rid of factions will scare people away.

 

I wouldn't invest too heavily in any armies right now, but not because they might get axed.

I have never thought GW would seriously remove armies. The absolute only argument I've heard for that theory, is that "GW doesn't care for their current customers, and want some new ones" - But here's the thing, you can't convince ANYONE to buy models, if there is even a small chance of seeing your army get scrapped. Let's say you play Diablo 3, and you have a Crusader, and suddenly the Crusader class, and by extention, your character, gets removed. No real reason is given, aside from "FLUFF!". Would you reroll another? No you wouldn't. As a new player, would you even buy the game, knowing any character you invest time into might just get deleted because Blizzard decided that certain class was getting axed for no apparent reason? And Warhammer, a game where even a box of 10 models can cost the same as Diablo 3, and you need about 50 of these? Who in their right mind would ever spend their money like this?

It's not even illogical. It's outright insane.

The only rumour that even remotely supports the removal of armies, is the "6 armies" rumour, which is, with 100% certainty, because a total rework of the base rules would invalidate ALL previous rules, and require a complete rework of all the army books as well. Even if it would have been nice to have each army book updated at launch, that's just not reasonable.

 

Rumours suggest that all armies will be playable in 9th, but that doesn't include continuing support. Time will tell.

 

That is what I heard as well, and the rumours point towards Lizardmen being one of the armies that will no longer receive any updates. So it may not be a case of an immediate death of the Lizards but rather a slow and gradual extinction. If we get no support throughout 9th, what happens when (or if) 10th edition rolls around?

 

probably what has been happening to Bretonnia for the last 12 years if you don't care too much about competitiveness, you can stay in the game without any updates for a very long time.

 

That's true. Hopefully we hold up as well as the Brets. Even after all these years the Brets can still field a decent army. I guess only time will tell.

 

Hey Overlord... I hate to sound like that impatient child... but how comes the write up?

 

If Khaine magic becomes the basic magic rules for 9th edition then we will remain very competitive for quite some time. Also if combined profiles becomes a thing that'll help our monsters immensely.

 

As a Bretonnian player who still has a 6th edition book I can tell you we'll still kick ass at tournaments and be an awesome army. I would be floored with surprise if any army got discontinues support.

Like the comparison with Diablo 3, people would be too scared to buy Warhammer if any army got removed or support was discontinued.

Back when I played Warriors of Chaos all the WOC players when we went from 6th to 8th were saying the exact same things and that didn't happen.

 

In my personal opinion, I think that Khaine magic will not transition into 9th edition. It isn't a very good system and there has been tremendous backlash against it. But this is GW of course, so stranger things have happened.

In regards to the combined profiles, it really comes down to how GW would implement it. Maybe only new releases would have combined profiles (like in the end times). There has to be some control over it, otherwise you'd see 1+ armour 3+ ward (re-rolling 1's) Chaos lords on dragons. All of a sudden our monsters wouldn't look quite so attractive.

 

So, a summary of End Times: Archaon from what I've read so far:

In Athel Loren, the Elves' civil war escalates with Hellebron and the Blood Cult, along with Drycha and anti-Elf Dyrads, dedicating themselves to Chaos. They are led by Be'Lakor in a battle against the remaining elvish population. The Elves prevail, with Alarielle killing Hellebron, and Malekith killing Drycha and Shadowblade.

In the remains of the Empire, Averheim falls, along with most of the remaining Dwarves. The Emperor et al. manage to escape, and head to Athel Loren to try and strike an alliance with the Elves. Meeting with a Khornate army, both the Empire and Elves manage to rebuff the assault and formalise their alliance - the Elven contingent also includes Tyrion, who has been reborn as Incarnate of Light.

In Sylvania, as Nagash decimates an attacking Chaos force the Skaven blow up his black pyramid. This, along with having a number of his force defect to Chaos, severely depletes his power inciting him to parlay with the Elf-Empire contingent.

Upon learning that Archaon is excavating an Old One device beneath Middenheim they realise they must reclaim the city to save the world. However, the Brettonians opt out after being informed by Be'Lakor of the truth behind their existence - their entire culture has been manipulated by the once-Elven Goddess Lileath. During this revelation, Be'lakor had also found out about the new Elf Haven and later Lileath suddenly can no longer sense it.

The Skaven sense they need to preserve Skavenblight, and it's implied they manage to warp it out of the world as a result of its warpstone-infused nature.

Upon marching on Middenheim they are joined by a WAAAGH! headed by Grimgor, Incarnate of Beasts, who Malekith convinces to help them by suggesting Archaon is all who stands between Grimgor and him being the ultimate warrior. However, the Incarnates can't enter the city due the unending tide of Daemons, so Lileath sacrifices herself to release the last shreds of divinity, which Teclis uses to teleport the Incarnates.

Entering the city, the Incarnates invade the excavated caverns below and manage to overhelm the guarding Chaos forces. However, Archaon manages to activate the device causing the creation of a new rift a la the polar warp gates. The Emperor is revealed to be Sigmar reborn: Karl Franz had died at the battle of Altdof and Sigmar, having being imprisoned by Tzeentch within the Wind of Heavens and thus trapped within the magical Vortex, had possessed Franz's body upon his death following the collapse of Vortex. Sigmar and Archaon battle - Grimgor interrupts and almost wins, but is slain after giving Archaon one last headbutt. Teclis takes on the Wind of Beasts whilst Sigmar engages and defeats Archaon, knocking Archaon into the rift. Caradryan, Incarnate of Fire, is slain by a Bloodthirster, and Teclis subsequently absorbs the Wind of Fire also.

The Incarnates almost succeed in sealing the rift, however Mannfred, angered at his thankless servitude to Nagash and seeking liberation, kills Gelt, Incarnate of Metal, and is in turn slain by Tyrion. Teclis tries to control the Wind of Metal, however fails to do so, and is incinerated as he is overwhelmed by the magic. With this, the rift absorbs the three loose winds and progresses to feed upon all of the Winds of Magic, leaving the Incarnates powerless. The rift begins to expand.

Archaon pulls himself out of the rift, and is last seen fighting Sigmar for the possession of Ghal Maraz. Malekith gets his legs crushed by falling stone in an effort to save Alarielle. Tyrion and Alarielle accept their fate and are consumed by the expanding rift. Nagash is the last to go, who manages to resist before losing the Wind of Death and disintegrating. The rift expands and consumes the entire world, meeting with the rifts at the poles. The Chaos Gods, bored, move on to play with new worlds. In the void a figure that used to be a man finds an orb of light, and something 'miraculous' occurs - assuming to be the creation of the world for 9th.

The End.

 

And all the while, the remaining Slann watch from high orbit within their temples. Some feel that they should return to help the warmbloods, but they are the minority. They watch with sorrow as the Incarnates fail in their fight against chaos, then turn their back on the consumed world and head off into the cosmos, in search of a new purpose.

 

Is it sarcasm or is there truly written something like this? Because if there is no single word about Slann and Lizardmen i would be really pissed off?

 

And thus, hopefully, the s****y writing that has plagues these last couple of editions will end and we will return to a time in the fluff and lore which makes a good story and convinces me to re-join fantasy.

Well, a man can dream...