Help with the fluff! - Stormcast Host ideas.

[Cèsar de Quart]

Hello all!

A friend of mine has made me a gift: some Stormcast Eternals.

I like the miniatures a lot, but I despise the setting. Since he gave me the minis I've been trying to make them my own, to make the Sigmarines into something believable and full of character. Because dead men in golden armour the weirdest mix of Space Marines and Necrons imaginable.

BUT. I like that the Stormcasts are dead heroes reborn. It has potential. I don't know why they're fighting, or what they're fighting for, but I like the concept. So I thought: why no improve upon what's there, and fix them?

Now I have three options, and I'd like to know your opinions.

- The Exiled Kings.

These are rusty (bronze-rusty, covered in verdigris and rust) stormcasts that have been forgotten somewhere after a campaign. They were supposed to retreat, but they had the task of defending a human realm, and they couldn't bear to leave those people behind. They rallied and they fought back. They managed to save the cities, and its inhabitants asked them to stay. They became the kings of a human realm, isolated in a pocket of reality, far from home, slowly getting rusty and with no access to sigmarite to repair. This is why they may have relied on less noble metals or plain human troops (enter my Empire army).

They all have names of dead historical Earth kings. This might be too silly. Nabucchedzar is ok, but at some point Napoleon or Leopold of Belgium might roll in.

- The Errant Order.

This Chamber of the Hallowed Knights are all ancient Bretonnian knights. They swore an oath to protect the innocent and the weak, and punish the unjust and the wicked. They do so now that have been reborn, and represent the youngest part of the Host. These are the newest Sigmarines of the Host, questing in the Realms, saving people and trying to prove to themselves, to their Lords and to Sigmar that they are worthy, that they have been reforged successfuly. That they remember.

They all have Bretonnian names.

- The Steaming Parade.

This is just a silly idea: convert the Stormcasts into Balthazar Gelt's Nuln army of steam and magic golems. It's just a WHFB army for Nuln. I'd love this to be a thing.



I favour the first one, but I'd like to know how likely is it in the broad context of the Age of Sigmar. Can Sigmarines live far from Sigmar? Can they even rust? (mines will, but I'd like to know anyway). Can they... not rebel... but disobey orders?

PS. Also, no women in Sigmar's Realm. Why is that?

[Rogue Star]

BUT. I like that the Stormcasts are dead heroes reborn. It has potential. I don't know why they're fighting, or what they're fighting for, but I like the concept. So I thought: why no improve upon what's there, and fix them?

In short summary? You weren't far off with the Errant Order - Stormcast Eternals were literally mortal heroes (Bretonnia, Empire, Tilea, etc) which got magically pulled away at the moment of defeat/death to be transformed into fantasy Space Marines (with Celestial magic) and have returned to find a thousand years have passed and Chaos is lording over the ruins of their empires. Now they intend to take it back...

I personally find it's best to take inspiration from WHFB, but not directly copy it if I were making the background of my AoS army (it's just respectful to leave it be). Rather than outright saying these Stormcast are elevated Bretonnian Knights, maybe just "warriors of the ancient Kingdoms of Breton" and select weapon and equipment which make them excel at monster hunting, for example?

In regards to your questions: Yes, they Sigmarines can survive isolated from Azyrheim (Celestial Realm) but upon death, they discorporate and shoot off like a reverse lightning-bolt into the heavens and return to Sigmar to be "reforged". Yes they can rust. It tends to require a magical affliction (fighting Nurgle for example) since their equipment is inherently magical, but it can be coated in soot/ash, burned by Nurgle corrosive slimes, etc.

Can they disobey orders? Possibly, but I don't think Sigmar is very specific. As an example in one of the audio books where Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights are seeking out Nagash to attempt to form an alliance, they find shelter with some human mortals who worship vampires, offering their blood in return for protection in a tomb-city in the Realm of Death... but a Chaos warband has been tracking them since a previous engagement, and the Stormcast choose to stay and defend the mortals (even if they find their behaviour repellant) when all tactical sense and their mission (reach Nagash) says they should press on and leave the humans to the Chaos warband and their fate.

Unlike Space Marines, they're essentially still "people" for the most part, and view the humans of the Realms as their lost and broken descendants.

[Cèsar de Quart]

In short summary? You weren't far off with the Errant Order - Stormcast Eternals were literally mortal heroes (Bretonnia, Empire, Tilea, etc) which got magically pulled away at the moment of defeat/death to be transformed into fantasy Space Marines (with Celestial magic) and have returned to find a thousand years have passed and Chaos is lording over the ruins of their empires. Now they intend to take it back...

OK, I though they were all heroes of the actual Eight Realms and not of the Old World.

I personally find it's best to take inspiration from WHFB, but not directly copy it if I were making the background of my AoS army (it's just respectful to leave it be). Rather than outright saying these Stormcast are elevated Bretonnian Knights, maybe just "warriors of the ancient Kingdoms of Breton" and select weapon and equipment which make them excel at monster hunting, for example?

Yes, I think I'll go for "Vaguely Bretonnian" and take inspiration in the Arthurian myth. Maybe I'll convince my Sylvaneth and Chaos friends to have some Arthurian characters. The Sylvaneth are very well adapted to Welsh mythology, and Chaos can be a stand-in for anyone who fights order.

In regards to your questions: Yes, they Sigmarines can survive isolated from Azyrheim (Celestial Realm) but upon death, they discorporate and shoot off like a reverse lightning-bolt into the heavens and return to Sigmar to be "reforged". Yes they can rust. It tends to require a magical affliction (fighting Nurgle for example) since their equipment is inherently magical, but it can be coated in soot/ash, burned by Nurgle corrosive slimes, etc.

Good to know! They can have a hard time resisting Nurgle warriors and Skaven packs.

Can they disobey orders? Possibly, but I don't think Sigmar is very specific. As an example in one of the audio books where Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights are seeking out Nagash to attempt to form an alliance, they find shelter with some human mortals who worship vampires, offering their blood in return for protection in a tomb-city in the Realm of Death... but a Chaos warband has been tracking them since a previous engagement, and the Stormcast choose to stay and defend the mortals (even if they find their behaviour repellant) when all tactical sense and their mission (reach Nagash) says they should press on and leave the humans to the Chaos warband and their fate.

Where are these bits of lore in the books?? This is what we need to see and feel the Stormcast Eternals and the Realms as real places. Why aren't there bits like those in the rulebooks? Anyway, thanks for the insight and the additional info! Really!

Unlike Space Marines, they're essentially still "people" for the most part, and view the humans of the Realms as their lost and broken descendants.

So far, even if they're mutant superhumans, I can relate more to Space Marines than I can with the Stormcasts... possiblt because of what I've said a paragraf before.

[Rogue Star]

OK, I though they were all heroes of the actual Eight Realms and not of the Old World.

They are indeed (although it gets a bit murky as the Realms are made up of bits of the World-that-was, resurrect souls, etc)! Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was using Bretonnia, Tilea, the Empire as examples as we don't really have much information on empires/cultures of the Age of Myth before everything came crashing down into the Age of Chaos. Part of what GW handled very badly in my opinion, they should have told us more of the glorious time before, especially in the Stormcast Eternals' case, so we'd get more impact from the devastation and a desire to see it restored...

Yes, I think I'll go for "Vaguely Bretonnian" and take inspiration in the Arthurian myth. Maybe I'll convince my Sylvaneth and Chaos friends to have some Arthurian characters. The Sylvaneth are very well adapted to Welsh mythology, and Chaos can be a stand-in for anyone who fights order.

Sylvaneth do suit Irish Mythology, Welsh Folklore, and Arthurian Legend - Tree-Revenants, Forest Folk bound by Alarielle's song and 'soul-pods', Drycha and the Outcasts/Spite-Revenants having comparisons with Seleigh and Unseleigh in Irish Faerie courts.

Where are these bits of lore in the books?? This is what we need to see and feel the Stormcast Eternals and the Realms as real places. Why aren't there bits like those in the rulebooks? Anyway, thanks for the insight and the additional info! Really!

GW collected it as a novel and audio books that last one is the particular episode. Another thing I think GW mishandled about the launch of AoS, they seem to have decided Black Library should handle all the lore and stripped it from the game related stuff except for the barest summary...

So far, even if they're mutant superhumans, I can relate more to Space Marines than I can with the Stormcasts... possiblt because of what I've said a paragraf before.

Yes, GW seemed to have stumbled out of the gate with how they handled presenting the lore, although they seem to have worked things out, as the "Shadows over Hammerhal" game is rife with background on the life of a newly restored city of Order in the desolation of Chaos.

[Cèsar de Quart]

Yes, GW seemed to have stumbled out of the gate with how they handled presenting the lore, although they seem to have worked things out, as the "Shadows over Hammerhal" game is rife with background on the life of a newly restored city of Order in the desolation of Chaos.

Yes, it does seem like Hammerhal is a step into the right direction. I only wish they used real world cultures a bit more heavily. After all, it worked for them before, and there's only so much toponymy you can create with "Hammer", "Sky", "Sigmar" and "Thunder"... I mean, Azyrheim was kind of a nice nod to the -heim part of many Imperial cities in WHFB, but Sigmaron and Sigmarion and Sigmarite and Sigmarabulus... come on.

If Sigmar still remember what's like to be kind-of-Sigfried, to be a Germanic mythological figure, and if he called his first city Azyrheim, he should remember to speak some German and teach them to his subjects!

[Rogue Star]

https://malignportents.com/story/the...of-apotheosis/

A fun look at part of the creation of the Stormcast Eternals...