Hello Librarium >.<; I originally posted this on Warseer; but I haven't gotten much of a response there - so I'm hoping perhaps the kind folks over here could give me a hand with a small dillema I'm having!
As my first Fantasy army (Tzeentch Mortals) nears 2000pts, I am beginning to look to the future. I like to link my armies together via fluff; so for at least the first couple after this, I want to follow my main character's journey; or have a 'version' of her involved with said army.
So I see 2 basic paths I can take, which are outlined below. Its also possible to combine both; but that may be more complex than I'm wanting to go (If I'm going to write a novel's worth of text, I might as well write a good novel and not fan-fic ya know?)
So here's what I'm looking at; suggestions humbly requested!
(Note: Both of these are very patchy because well - they aren't finalized yet!)
Option 1) Yumii (a name given to her later by her patron), my Chaos Lord, was born under an auspicious conjunction of celestial bodies that, at the moment of her birth, created the sign of the 8-pointed star in the heavens. She is marked at birth on the left cheek with a Chaos star; and is born in Norsca. She follows the path of many of her people and eventually becomes a powerful lord in her own right.
In the meantime, as a follower of Tzeentch, she is exposed to a great deal of learning, both magical and mundane, and takes up a good amount of time philosophizing. Eventually she leads a raid deep into the Empire and establishes a basecamp in the Drakwald forest. She begins to believe that perhaps raiding merely for the sake of raiding is not the best way to gain the favor of the gods; indeed, what better way to bring more to the worship of Chaos than by breaking them free of the chains that bind them to their land, and showing them the glories of Chaos firsthand?
She goes on to instigate peasant revolts across the Empire and even occasionally wanders into Bretonnia when things get too hot.
This is where my Chaos army would be starting. However I want to continue her story with further Warhammer armies as I continue along...
Eventually, after years of inciting rebellions and generally unsettling the peasants; Yumii's warband is caught between Bretonnian and Empire forces. The battle is long and fierce, but eventually the Chaos warriors are forced to route, and Yumii escapes with only her closest friends and retainers.
They make a long ragged ride south and pass through Tilea, booking passage aboard a ship toward less hostile quarters. Unfortunately the ship is blown off course and the remnant warband winds up in uncharted territory. (Probably Lustria or some similar locale) By this point the remnants are rather disillusioned with the powers of Chaos, even Yumii's faith is significantly on the wane. Combined with the strange nature of their present location, their mutations and Chaos powers begin to recede somewhat. As this is happening they wander this new land, and eventually come upon a local tribe of beastmen with more feline features, instead of the goat and bull types of the Empire.
These beastmen, rather uncharacteristically,take in the survivors of the warband. I still have specifics to work out at this point - they may not be "true" beastmen at all; in fact they probably aren't; its just what I expect a former Chaos lord to see them as.
To make a very long story very short, these "beastmen" come under attack by the local savage orcs and at the same time are hard pressed against the forces of the Lizardmen as well. Yumii and her ragged band mostly join with the catpeople against these enemies.
The first stage here would be a Beasts of Chaos army (heavily converted), to show the primitive and feral people initially encountered. A second stage would be a more regimented army (possibly an Elven army) that would show the progress of these once peaceful people after many years of conflict under the tutelage of someone who's already fought with some of the world's biggest powers.
Beyond that I don't know if they story really goes much further - but that's where it ends right now.
Option 2)
Option 2 isn't nearly as long of a read; but its something else I was playing with.
It begins the same as option one, with a girl born under an auspicious star - only this time there's a cabal of sorcerers at work, trying to use her as a conduit for a ritual that would, if successful, grant them all immense power... and probably turn her into a spawn.
Unsurprisingly the ritual goes awry, and the girl is instead multiplied into 8 separate entities, 7 of which are then magically hurled throughout the known world.
At this point each separate entity grows and rises to power in the area in which they were found, gravitating naturally toward military careers until eventually two of them meet on the field of battle. They find themselves utterly unable to defeat one another as both know exactly how the other will move and fight.
Similar confrontations occur between other iterations, until one of the more magically inclined incarnations realizes precisely what has happened.
This Fluff is obviously much looser, and doesn't really have an "end" per-se; but it gives me the ability to field 8 highly customized armies with a central theme; and its a theme I can grow significantly beyond its starting point.
Basically, Option 1 is linear storytelling; while Option 2 is a bit more of a sandbox.
And I'm stuck as to which is the more interesting <-.->; because both are fairly cool; but trying to pull both off would prove... daunting.
So what do you all think? I know its a long read <x.x> my apologies for that.!
As my first Fantasy army (Tzeentch Mortals) nears 2000pts, I am beginning to look to the future. I like to link my armies together via fluff; so for at least the first couple after this, I want to follow my main character's journey; or have a 'version' of her involved with said army.
So I see 2 basic paths I can take, which are outlined below. Its also possible to combine both; but that may be more complex than I'm wanting to go (If I'm going to write a novel's worth of text, I might as well write a good novel and not fan-fic ya know?)
So here's what I'm looking at; suggestions humbly requested!
(Note: Both of these are very patchy because well - they aren't finalized yet!)
Option 1) Yumii (a name given to her later by her patron), my Chaos Lord, was born under an auspicious conjunction of celestial bodies that, at the moment of her birth, created the sign of the 8-pointed star in the heavens. She is marked at birth on the left cheek with a Chaos star; and is born in Norsca. She follows the path of many of her people and eventually becomes a powerful lord in her own right.
In the meantime, as a follower of Tzeentch, she is exposed to a great deal of learning, both magical and mundane, and takes up a good amount of time philosophizing. Eventually she leads a raid deep into the Empire and establishes a basecamp in the Drakwald forest. She begins to believe that perhaps raiding merely for the sake of raiding is not the best way to gain the favor of the gods; indeed, what better way to bring more to the worship of Chaos than by breaking them free of the chains that bind them to their land, and showing them the glories of Chaos firsthand?
She goes on to instigate peasant revolts across the Empire and even occasionally wanders into Bretonnia when things get too hot.
This is where my Chaos army would be starting. However I want to continue her story with further Warhammer armies as I continue along...
Eventually, after years of inciting rebellions and generally unsettling the peasants; Yumii's warband is caught between Bretonnian and Empire forces. The battle is long and fierce, but eventually the Chaos warriors are forced to route, and Yumii escapes with only her closest friends and retainers.
They make a long ragged ride south and pass through Tilea, booking passage aboard a ship toward less hostile quarters. Unfortunately the ship is blown off course and the remnant warband winds up in uncharted territory. (Probably Lustria or some similar locale) By this point the remnants are rather disillusioned with the powers of Chaos, even Yumii's faith is significantly on the wane. Combined with the strange nature of their present location, their mutations and Chaos powers begin to recede somewhat. As this is happening they wander this new land, and eventually come upon a local tribe of beastmen with more feline features, instead of the goat and bull types of the Empire.
These beastmen, rather uncharacteristically,take in the survivors of the warband. I still have specifics to work out at this point - they may not be "true" beastmen at all; in fact they probably aren't; its just what I expect a former Chaos lord to see them as.
To make a very long story very short, these "beastmen" come under attack by the local savage orcs and at the same time are hard pressed against the forces of the Lizardmen as well. Yumii and her ragged band mostly join with the catpeople against these enemies.
The first stage here would be a Beasts of Chaos army (heavily converted), to show the primitive and feral people initially encountered. A second stage would be a more regimented army (possibly an Elven army) that would show the progress of these once peaceful people after many years of conflict under the tutelage of someone who's already fought with some of the world's biggest powers.
Beyond that I don't know if they story really goes much further - but that's where it ends right now.
Option 2)
Option 2 isn't nearly as long of a read; but its something else I was playing with.
It begins the same as option one, with a girl born under an auspicious star - only this time there's a cabal of sorcerers at work, trying to use her as a conduit for a ritual that would, if successful, grant them all immense power... and probably turn her into a spawn.
Unsurprisingly the ritual goes awry, and the girl is instead multiplied into 8 separate entities, 7 of which are then magically hurled throughout the known world.
At this point each separate entity grows and rises to power in the area in which they were found, gravitating naturally toward military careers until eventually two of them meet on the field of battle. They find themselves utterly unable to defeat one another as both know exactly how the other will move and fight.
Similar confrontations occur between other iterations, until one of the more magically inclined incarnations realizes precisely what has happened.
This Fluff is obviously much looser, and doesn't really have an "end" per-se; but it gives me the ability to field 8 highly customized armies with a central theme; and its a theme I can grow significantly beyond its starting point.
Basically, Option 1 is linear storytelling; while Option 2 is a bit more of a sandbox.
And I'm stuck as to which is the more interesting <-.->; because both are fairly cool; but trying to pull both off would prove... daunting.
So what do you all think? I know its a long read <x.x> my apologies for that.!