Warhammer Fantasy Battle/Characters: Difference between revisions

== The Empire ==

{{quote|''"The softest part of a castle is the belly of the man inside"''.}}

As for cultural themes, it's mainly Germanic, with a dash of the British Empire thrown in for good measure. In essence, it resembles the Holy Roman Empire, only larger and more zealous.

* [[Ancestral Weapon]]: The most famous being the nine (although many are lost) Runefangs and the Emperor's hammer Ghal-Maraz

* [[BFS]]: They're not called "Imperial Greatswords" for nothing.

== Bretonnia ==

Feudal kingdom to the west of The Empire. High Medieval France meets the [[King Arthur|Arthurian mythos]]. Their religion is implied to have been engineered by the Wood Elves in order to have the humans of Bretonnia act as a buffer against outside threats, primarily the Orcs. Brettonia fields some very nasty knights supported by hordes of cannon-fodder commoners.

* [[The Dung Ages]]: Most definitely, at least for the commoners.

* [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: [[Honor Before Reason|Gunpowder weapons are illegal]], other ranged weapons are spurned by knights.

* [[Born in the Saddle]]: Hobgoblins, with [[Horse of a Different Colour|wolves]], although they do have infantry as well.

* [[Equivalent Exchange]]: Since Dwarfs aren't supposed to use magic, Chaos Dwarf sorcerers gradually [[Taken for Granite|turn to stone]].

* [[Evil Counterpart]]: To the Dwarfs, natch.

== High Elves ==

{{quote|''"We are the chosen of Asuryan, beloved of the gods and heirs to the world. Our armies are the finest in creation; swift where our foes are lumbering, cultured where they are barbaric. Give no thought to failure, nor defeat – we are the Children of Ulthuan and we shall prevail."''}}

Calling themselves Asur, they are a dying race also similar to their Tolkien counterparts. Long-lived (more so than dwarfs), refined, strong with magic. Haughty and insular, mostly sticking to their island home of Ulthuan. The arch-mage Teclis helped the Empire found colleges of magic in order to train and regulate spellcasting in the Empire. High Elf armies tends to be diverse and precise, but lacking in staying power. The High Elf armies are based on a system of conscription which allows them to field much larger armies than their dwindling population would normally encompass: All elves are in some capacity trained in the arts of war. The baseline high elf units are very capable spearmen, but they also have a wide variety of both light and heavy cavalry, skirmishers and some warmachines.

* [[The Atoner]]: Naggarythe. The elves from Malekith's home state who refused to join his civil war.

* [[A House Divided]]: the elven civil war has pretty much doomed the elven race as a whole.

* [[Our Gryphons Are Different]]: Elven Griffons are smaller and weaker than the Empire equivalent but slightly more agile.

* [[Panthera Awesome]]: ''Lion Chariots''.

* [[Sibling Yin-Yang]]: Tyrion and Teclis: One is the greatest warrior of the High Elves, with charisma and power to beat most, the other is a sarcastic cripple who needs magical potions to even function. Oh, and he's one of the greatest magicians of the world.

* [[State Sec]]: Swordsmasters double as elite infantry and [[Secret Police]].

== Dark Elves ==

Cruel, sadistic elves descended from exiles that left Ulthuan in the wake of a civil war. Their leader Malekith is actually the original leader of the losing faction and has [[Immortality Immorality|kept himself alive and healthy for 5000 years by nefarious means]]. Their entire existence is based around raiding for goods and slaves, and they have such charming habits as making sails and cloaks from the hides of lesser races like dwarfs and humans. Unlike your typical dark elves they neither have dark skin, nor do they live underground (except for one city). Dark Elves tends to be dark mirror to the High Elves, often fielding pretty much identical units.

* [[Automatic Crossbows]]: The Dark Elves signature weapon.

* [[Base on Wheels]]: The Black Arks are actually castles kept afloat using sorcery.

== Wood Elves ==

{{quote|''"Athel Loren shall not suffer the presence of Men, nor Orcs, nor Dwarfs, nor Beastmen. If a foe takes a single step upon such sacred soil, they shall not take another."''}}

Descended from elves that refused to heed the call to return to Ulthuan from the mainland elven colonies in the wake of a devastating war with the dwarfs, these elves hide themselves in the forests on the north coast of the Old World and viciously attack any unwelcome intruders. Aside from being excellent archers, they are also allied with various nasty forest spirits, like dryads that transform themselves into walking trees in order to attack their enemies. Engineered the Bretonnian religion venerating the Lady of the Lake in order to manipulate humans for their own purposes.

* [[Defector From Decadence]]

* [[The Fair Folk]]

== Lizardmen ==

{{quote|''"Before Elves, before Dwarfs, before Men, the Old Ones arrived upon this world. Then came Chaos and the Great Plan of the Old Ones was unmade. We are the last of their servants, and only by our hand shall the Great Plan be restored, with the total defeat of the usurping younger races."''}}

Sentient [[Lizard Folk]] found in the jungles of the equivalent of South America, they are [[Mayincatec|based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures]]. The most truly ancient race in the setting, servants of the [[Precursors|Old Ones]] and archenemies of Chaos. They come in four kinds; the small, skittish Skinks, the tough and warlike Saurus, the massive and strong Kroxigor, and magical Slann overlords.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Hard-wired into the minds of Temple Guards, who will kill you if you even look at a Slann funny, even if you didn't actually have murderous intent as some Skinks have learned the hard way.

* [[Decade Dissonance]]: The Brettonnians may be medieval, but these guys are barely out of the Stone Age. Not that they let that stop them.

* [[Determinator]]: Don't get between the Lizardmen and a goal.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Sort of, the Saurus are are knowledgeable in the art of warfare, but [[Crippling Overspecialisation|lack much skill with anything else]], to the point where their dialect is entire war-related. The Kroxigor seem to play it more straight; while they're useful as both workers and shock troops, they're not known for intelligence (though they may understand more than they appear to).

* [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]]: Mounts and [[Beast of Battle|Beasts Of Battle]] include variants of Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops/Ankylosaurus, Deinonychus, and Pteranodon.

* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: Many of the targets of Lizard Men genocides were/are exceptionally evil creatures.

* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: Of [[Ancient Egypt]].

* [[The Punishment]]: The Tomb King's Curse

* [[Soul Jar]]; [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: The Casket of Souls

== Beasts of Chaos ==

{{quote|''"And in that time of darkness, Man became Beast, And Beast became Man."''}}

The Beastmen lurk in the darkest places of the world, they are the true children of chaos, monstrous, numberless and fractious, they are reviled and hated by all and the feeling is very much mutual.

* [[A Load of Bull]]: Minotaurs act as heavy infantry for the Beastmen.

* [[Beast Man]]: The [[Mooks]] start at this, and further up the chain they get more monstrous.

* [[Enfante Terrible]]: Some Beastmen are born of human mothers whose children are corrupted by Chaos in the womb. They invariably kill their mothers at birth.

* [[Fauns and Satyrs]]: Gors, bestigors, ungors, centigors, and cygors are all goat/human hybrids with varying degrees of bestial traits who run around in forests worshipping dark gods.

* [[Full Boar Action]]: Tuskgors, which are mutated boars, and Razorgors, which are GIANT mutated boars.

* [[Our Centaurs Are Different]]: The centigors are like goat-bodied centaurs with horns and clawed feet instead of hooves. The are raging alcoholics, and will [[Drunken Master|randomly receive bonuses]] according to their level of intoxication.

** Tzeentch: [[The Chessmaster]], [[Technicolour Fire|Technicolour]] [[Hellfire]]

*** There's also several minor chaos deities, like [[Dark Is Edgy|Obscuras]], or [[Enemy Civil War|Malal/Malice]].

* [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]]

* [[Our Demons Are Different]]

Vicious, cunning Ratmen found in great numbers in tunnels stretching across the Old World. Prone to infighting and considering their own troops utterly expendable. With the aid of warpstone, a highly magical mineral, they make highly advanced weapons that often blow up in the face of the user.

* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Warpstone.

* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Grey Seers and Vermin Lords can cast "the Dreaded Thirteenth Spell", which turns its targets into Skaven.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Thankfully for everyone else.

* [[The Engineer]]: The warlock engineers qualify, but the most badass of them all, Ikit Klaw, has invented a mobile hamster wheel the size of a car that can shoot lightning.

** Clan Eshin has a lot of Eastern elements as well.

* [[Fantastic Caste System]]: The Clans.