In our last episode in the series on the End Time, we covered the rise of the forces of Chaos in the
Old World of Warhammer Fantasy Universe. Now, with Norsca firmly under the command of the Legions of
Chaos, the Vanguard of Archaon would march south towards their next target - The Realm of the Ice
Queen, a nation built upon the constant need to prepare for the inevitability of threats from
the north and over the World’s Edge Mountains. Welcome to the second episode in our series,
where we will cover Kislev’s defense against the Chaos.
"You look down on us and think we are little better than barbarians, but you should be glad
we are, for without us here, the northern tribes would be dining on the flesh of your children in
your burning homes. But for the courage that flows in our veins would your lands be theirs.
Look down on us? You should get on your knees and thank us every day!"
—Vitalia Kovash, Kislevite Winged Lancer
Kislev was ruled by a line of mighty Tzars and Tzarinas, monarchs representing the regal ancestry
of horse-warriors of the Eastern Steppes thousands and thousands of years prior. He or she is the
ultimate authority of all spiritual, military, and legal matters of their territory that has
consistently and successfully balanced the need to defend their northern border from Chaos assaults
and the requirement to cooperate with their southern siblings of humanity.
When the Tzar Boris Bokha was slain in an ambush by Chaos horse-warriors hailing from the Eastern
Steppes during a defense of Kislev’s northern border, the last and greatest Tzarina would be
crowned in 2517 IC.: Katarin the Ice Queen. Hers was a heavy burden, for she assumed a
great yoke of responsibility to her not only her people, but to the whole world, to stave
off the tide of doom from the Northern Wastes. When she was younger she was allowed to study
Ice Magic - a particularly dangerous branch of arcane mastery. Able to command the icy soul
of Kislev itself in great feats of deadly and wonderful splendor, some even began to wonder
if she was the reincarnation of the first Tzarina, Miska, also the master of Ice Magic.
Katarin rose to the throne of Kislev when her father perished. At her coronation,
she amassed her Ice Magic to create a grand Palace of Ice, where she would rule firmly and fairly.
Unlike her father, the Ice Queen governed through agents and generals, instead of
commanding from the front and would only appear on the battlefield in the most crucial times.
However, when she led the charge, she was always astride a great, glimmering steed of
winter majesty, with shining flanks of ice crystals and a breath like a winter wind.
With such power over the elements and devotion from her soldiers, there was clear proof that
she had the blood of the first Kislevite Rulers flowing strongly through her veins.
Katarin, in addition to her two gloriously frigid mounts she would bring into battle, bore two
legendary pieces of wargear. FearFrost was a blade forged by the first female ruler of Kislev, Miska,
and passed down to each succeeding Tzarina. Only a Tzarina could wield Fearfrost, and when a man
would attempt to even lift the blade he would find himself frozen to death within a heartbeat.
Infused with Ice Magic, the intense cold of the weapon turned even a single scratch
into a deadly affair. The Crystal Cloak was a cloak that Katarin wore, enveloping her with a
swirling mist of dancing ice crystals that served as the ultimate defense. Together,
they blessed Katarin with the destructive power of Deep Winter on the battlefield.
"You all know I bore no heirs. But I have all my sons and daughters
here with me today. On this rain-soaked hill, we are all one people, one land.
Today we fight for Kislev! Today we fight for her lost sons and daughters, for her proud mothers and
fathers! Kislev is people, and people are Kislev!" —Tzarina Katarin, the Ice Queen of Kislev
One of the Ice Queen’s first initiatives as Tzarina was to see the end of an incursion
of Aelfric Cyenwulf’s wolven warriors, accursed and Khorne worshiping regiments
of this Chaos Champion’s armies. Marching further inland to Urszbeya, or Ursun’s Teeth,
the Ice Queen left the capital to ensure the sacred valley would remain protected.
With this vital misstep, a Herald of Archaon saw the perfect opportunity to invade Kislev.
Vardek Crom the Conqueror marched south into the icy plains of Kislev territory.
Much to his surprise, he met with resistance, not by a great army of secret Kislev reserves, but by
a much more notorious warmonger - the legendary Grimgor Ironhide. The green-skinned warmaster
grew tired of slaughtering Skaven, and set forth to intercept Vardek’s advancing legions in a
surprise flank. Grimgor was determined to test the proclaimed might of these Chaos servants,
and charged forth to meet Vardek in single combat. Grimgor and Vardek clashed blades for hours - each
determined to prove themselves as the superior force of fury upon the world.
The orc submitted himself fully to this righteous fight against the Champion of Chaos,
and in his moment of blindness, Vardek bolstered his legions to decimate Grimgor’s supporting army.
With the mighty Greenskin now and truly alone on the battlefield,
Crom disarmed Grimgor with a final and commanding sweep of his blade.
Crom spared Grimgor in a strange gesture, perhaps of respect, or pity,
though it is likely that the Champion’s motives will never truly be known. With incomprehensible
rage boiling within the Greenskin’s soul, Grimgor retreated to Haute Passe. There,
Grimgor would set to work immediately, determined to see this personal grudge to the end.
He summoned orcs and goblins from all within his sphere of influence, who upon hearing the great
bravery of Grimgor, amassed in the largest WAAAGH! ever seen in history. Meanwhile, with Grimgor’s
antics largely unknown to Vardek Crom, the armies of Chaos advanced to the Kislevite town of Praag.
This Bastion of the North, Praag, has been granted the title of the Cursed City, forever locked in a
ceaseless cycle of rebuilding, defending onslaught after onslaught of threats from the North.
The people residing within Praag had been corrupted with mutation and madness,
remaining under the mentality of siege defense forever. Even with such constant destruction
and death among their streets, the citizens of Praag remain defiant. In times of fragile peace,
the city was blessed with prosperous trade through the river Lynsk. This made Praag a ripe target for
raiding and siege, and with head attack from the North, Chaos corruption would sink its roots into
the city and warp the health of those that lived there. Subterfuge and corruption was also common,
particularly among the Vampire agents planted among the citizens and government of Praag.
With Praag’s proximity to Troll country, the city was a tempting target for the Troll King, Throgg.
Most in the Old World know Trolls as great beasts of limited foresight and intelligence. Yet,
when the forces of Chaos closed in on the border of Troll Country,
the minds of these monsters warped into unusually cunning, grim desires. Throgg, the greatest in
stature and newfound intelligence, announces that he will usher in a new destiny for the world:
to enslave the hubris of Man, starting with the accursed wealth and defensive position of Praag.
"It is the hubris of men to see their own destiny in all things. Von Carstein. The Everchosen.
Dead men. Exalted men. In their skin they are all still men. This... will be the Age of the Beast."
—Throgg, King of the Trolls
Determined to be the first to establish a new Ice Palace for his hordes of Trolls,
Throgg began his assault on the Mountain Gate, north-most defense of the great city.
Once the gates had been destroyed, he met with a great beast hunter of Kislev,
Ilja of Murova. Astride a great bear of Kislev, he fought valiantly against the mad Troll King,
but ultimately met his demise when the Throgg crushed them both at their defense
of the broken Mountain Gate. Without the leadership of the legendary monster hunter,
Kislev’s defensive bastion fell to the Troll King, who established a palace of Ice for
himself and his kin to summon further warriors to enact the Age of the Beast.
As if losing the greatest defensive outpost against the North wasn’t damning enough,
the Kislevite port of Erengrad soon met a maritime assault by the fleet of Gutrot Spume,
who had only recently sunk the last Nordic Dwarf fleet. Erengrad, without the support of Praag’s
defiant forces to support her vulnerable port in the Starivoda Bay, sustained a massive assault
from the infamous Plague Fleet. Safely anchored in the port without a challenge from the shore,
Gutrot’s fleet fired volleys of pox-infected projectiles directly into the city. Great disease
and suffering afflicted all who dared to make a defense within the city, and soon Erengrad had
become a doomed ulcer upon the land, a diseased mockery of its once bustling life of trade.
The defensive shell around Kislev’s capital had sundered under the pressure of overwhelming
numbers from the North. The Ice Queen had still yet to return from her initiative in Ursun’s
Teeth, and her forces were still recovering from the costly defense of this region
so sacred to Kislev. Another opportunity such as this was too tempting to the Chaos Champions,
and so Mordrek the Damned rose to the challenge and besieged the heart of Kislev.
"Let Mordrek be a warning to all those who would seek fame and life eternal
from the daemon gods of Chaos, for he has both these things and yet he is damned."
—Hugo Lazzare's "Grim stories and cautionary tales.”
Mordek himself was blessed, or cursed, with true immortality. He had suffered deaths,
many violent and bloody, only to be resurrected again to serve the Chaos Gods. Underneath his
armor his body writhes and mutates, ever changing from the constant resurrection of his form.
It is rumored that his freedom from this damned state of being is to slay in the
name of his infernal masters, who will never tire of their games played upon mortal matters.
Mordek commanded three gifts of Chaos’ power.
The Sword of Change, which mutated any foe that had the misfortune of being struck into hideous
Chaos Spawn. He was often astride a Chaos Steed, a demonic mockery of a proud warrior’s companion.
With a nearly impenetrable suit of Chaos Armor, Mordek was very skilled at twisting
his enemies into his own puppets: killing beasts of chaos that rend their once-comrades to shreds.
The Damned Count assaulted the city and charged into the heart of the capital to confront the
authority of the Winged Lancers of Kislev’s Gryphon Legion. The champions of chaos crashed
like dark waves on white shores, sowing terror and destruction within the last Kislevite defenders.
Mordek drew his blade and pierced the heart of the Legion, determined to demonstrate the
might and authority over chaos. Sweeping his blade against the tide of oncoming Lancers,
his blade smited each opponent and transformed them into twisted, rabid beasts of Chaos. With
a point of his sword towards the Legion’s captain, he ordered the new swarm of Chaos Spawn to devour
their previous captain alive… The captain of the Legion was devoured in front of his men,
and with morale shattered, Kislev’s capital melted in submission to Mordek’s armies.
When the Ice Queen finally returned from her defense against Cyenwulf’s assault,
she did not find the splendor of her home to comfort her. Instead, she found the desolation of
Chaos’ touch upon the ancestral capital. Despite her best efforts to rally support in the Bokha
Palace, the net of established regiments began to strangle the palace’s limited reinforcements.
To ensure that the Ice Queen may carry on the legacy of Kislev’s defiance towards Chaos,
a sacrificial charge of Ungols, who were ancient residents of Kislev’s plains,
provided the Tzarina enough time and a clear enough route to escape past the
armies of Mordek and flee to the fallen city of Erengrad where she thought that she may find
valiant warriors to help take back the capital. "The strength of Kislev lies in you all. The land
has called you all here, and it is here that you will put that strength to the test defying Chaos.
There is power in this land, and tomorrow it will run in all your veins. Use it well."
—The Ice Queen of Kislev.[2a] Katarin marched north with speed
and with a few valiant few who still clung to hope for their destroyed homeland. When the Ice Queen
entered the port city of Erengrad, she witnessed firsthand the horror of Gutrot’s maritime siege.
The populace was sick and dying, afflicted with innumerable disgusting diseases. When it seemed
that the Ice Queen had a brief moment to guide her people towards an escape south towards the Empire,
a roaming army of Beastmen closed in to secure the death of all those remaining.
Remaining within the city alongside agents of the Empire’s Bright Order, Katarin summoned a
storm of ice and fire in a final push to loosen the foothold Chaos had secured upon the world.
From the doomed city of Kislev, and unbothered by the raging storm over Erengrad,
the Chaos hordes descended south towards the foot of Balthasar Gelt’s Golden Bastion,
eager to further their trail of apocalyptic destruction. Our series on the End Times will
continue, and we are planning to cover the battles of all major fantasy, sci-fi and
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