What is YOUR Warhammer?

LOL I totally forgot about this thread! Well, better late than never.

OK now...

As noted in the first post, I see game settings as window-dressing to give their games context and motivation for the characters and warring armies. Otherwise, I like to "sample" things like a rap artist.

My version of Warhammer was cast well before a know about the Warhammer game through the Milton Bradly board game named HeroQuest. The game had the trappings of Warhammer (Fimirs, Chaos Warriors, Chaos Warlocks, etc.), but it felt like a whole other game. While playing the game with family, I had the idea to run a dark fantasy version, were the "Heroes" dungeon-crawled to get wealth and power. When I discovered the Warhammer wargame at a game store chain at the mall, I found it neat that HeroQuest was not limited to just those game sets, but at the same time, I was underwhelmed by the generic high-fantasy elements. So I made my own, and my ideas formed and mutated over the years.

I should note that I'm not into the big Warhammer battles, instead ether playing large-force battles with a single figure in place of an entire regiment of troops (with embedded characters), or small-scale skirmishes akin to Mordhiem. With both, I prefer campaigns over one-off battles.

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My version of Warhammer centers around a tyrannical Empire, who worships the god of might, domination and male fertility named Khos. The Empire conquers and enslaves. The will of the Emperor is enforced by his Noble Lords, and the legions of Khos Warriors. (Basically "Khos" was a rearrangement of "Chaos", as these knights are agents of law.) The cult of Khos restricts sorcery to prevent Sorcerers from becoming too powerful. The Empire allows Sorcerers who are loyal to him, and their studies to be scrutinized. He enforces this with the Inquisition (as no one suspects the inquisition!). Due to this, Sorcerers operate in hidden studies or secret conclaves. As strong as the Empire is, feuded by noble houses, Machiavellian politics, holy wars by the major cults, skirmishes by competing merchants and their mercenary troops, peasant rebellion and slave revolts threaten to tare the Empire from the inside out. It is though a mix of divine right, a ruthless hand and a fear of outside invasion that hold the Empire together. Unlike the official German-themed Empire, my "Empire" has a more Masters of the Universe esthetic going for it, which is best played with classic Chaos Warlock/Warrior/Marauder/Thug figures. There are crude war-machines available, but the setting lacks steam-power engines and powdered weapons (guns and bombs).

The Emperor allows for other gods, as long as Khos is acknowledged as the superior god. The Empire is the home of a number of "lesser gods", including the wife of Khos: Estor the goddess of life and fertility. Her Priestesses are healers, worders (protectors from demons and evil spirits) and sacred-prostitutes. The "chaos gods" form Warhammer are still in my setting, but are not the embodiment of chaos, but are cults found within civilization, in the Empire and beyond. Gormesh (Khorn) is every bit a warrior god, with worshipers being proud warriors and fierce berserkers. The followers of Gormesh sees fighting as the only way of life. They see things like menial work and academics as weak and beneath them, as they can force slaves to do that. They see sorcery as a sin. They are vary much like the Spartans from 300. Dolor (Nergel) is a god of anguish and suffering. This worshipers are flagellants and doomsayers (real pleasant, upbeat folk). They are so fatalistic and fanatical, they will do suicidal things without a second thought. Talamech (Tzeentch) is a mystery cult of sorcerers. They gain power through lies and confusion. They have the most power and destructive sorcerers in all the realm, but their raw magic comes at a great price. Gigor (yeah, I named him/her after that iconic artist) is... well, Slaanesh in every way, but way more macabre (with a greater emphasis on the hermaphrodite angle that official canon been really dodging for years now). This is also Nef, who is the god of thieves, hooligans and pranksters.

Outside the Empire is lawless wilderness with lone city-states here and there. Here you'll find tribes of human barbarians, as well as savage humanoid people like the: Urk (orcs), Goblings (goblins), Gobmen (hobgoblins), Grog (Fimir), Broo (yes, I totally to that name form that other "HeroQuest" game, but they are not limited to goat, rams or bulls), Losh (lizardmen) as well as more generic creatures (ogres, trolls, giants, etc.) In most cases, they operate as small parties, but they do form into large war-parties under a powerful war-chief, that usually falls apart after the death of the war-chief. Otherwise, they do hire themselves out as cheap, but unreadable mercenaries. The human tribes are a bastardized mix of Albion, Amazon and Norse forces with an emphasis on a Frank Frazetta esthetic.

Elves, Dwarves and Merfolk are the product of nature and elemental spirits mating with, or being ravaged by, moral men to produced a race of near-immortal beings. Nymphs and dryads are the remnants of a once thriving ecosystem. At one time, the world was green and lush, with nature controlled by powerful spirits, but an ancient war ravaged the earth to a desert wasteland. The Elf people were the product of man and dryad/nymph spirits. Elves live along side nature and fight a longstanding, but loosing battle of the waning wilderness to woodsmen and poachers. Dwarves are the product of humans and earth-elemental people called Gnomes. The toughness of a Dwarf is comes from rocky bodies of the Gnomes. Were Gnomes were content with living deep within the earth, Dwarves were greedy and plundered the ground for gold and gemstones to barter with man. They accumulated so much wealth, that they were raided and plundered by other races. (In my setting, Dwarves and Elves do not have any animosity, as they rarely encounter each other long enough to from a strong opinion.) Merfolk came of seafaring humans and sea elemental-spirits. They look like blue-skin elves. (Nothing came of humans and Salamander elemental-spirits mating, as no amount of lubricant could deal with that kind of burning and chafing.)

In my setting, demons are ghost-like spirits that cannot effect the physical world without being summoned by an artifact to hold their form or to posses a human vessel. To destroy the artifact or vessel expels them back to hell. Without an artifact or vessel, they can be "word" away with protection magic like any other spirit. Demons have to find willing targets to become vessels, but some powerful demons do have success finding worshipers or willing vessels. Over time, a possessing demon destroys the host's mind and slowly mutates the body to a more and more demonic form. Most human-possessing demons brought to the earth usually find themselves on some helpless woman, which often yields a demonic creature of some sort. A few powerful demons were successful enough to form cults with enough female worshipers to spawned a race of demonic people akin to the lesser demons found in the Warhammor (and D&D) rulebooks (namely Bloodthirsters, Daemonettes, etc.). The actual forms of demon (not the demon-blooded people) tend to be more Lovecraftian than humanoid.

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So what do you guys think?