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Stormcast Eternals lore question


robinlvalentine

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Considering getting into Stormcast with the new starter set, and it's gotten me wondering about their lore.

One thing I'm not clear on is whether the Stormcast have any kind of life outside of battle.

Do they eat? Sleep? Have time off? Can they even remove their armour, or are they sealed into it like Space Marines? Can they have children? 

Has any of this stuff been touched on in the books? 

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4 hours ago, robinlvalentine said:

Considering getting into Stormcast with the new starter set, and it's gotten me wondering about their lore.

One thing I'm not clear on is whether the Stormcast have any kind of life outside of battle.

Do they eat? Sleep? Have time off? Can they even remove their armour, or are they sealed into it like Space Marines? Can they have children? 

Has any of this stuff been touched on in the books? 

They do have lives outside of battle, but it's only been vaguely referenced to date. That's starting to change, though. 

They can take off their armour, and often do, when circumstances permit. Children...is one of those questions that probably won't be answered, really. 

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I'm curious about their armor/weapon/gear, actually. If I understand correctly, they get pulled away when they die. Do they leave their armor and such behind? What if they dropped a sword, or was beheaded? Etc.. :)

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3 minutes ago, Mayple said:

I'm curious about their armor/weapon/gear, actually. If I understand correctly, they get pulled away when they die. Do they leave their armor and such behind? What if they dropped a sword, or was beheaded? Etc.. :)

All their gear is specially crafted and returns with them for reforging.

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8 hours ago, amysrevenge said:

All their gear is specially crafted and returns with them for reforging.

Well, it's supposed to. But sometimes, it doesn't quite make it. Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork, has a collection of Stormcast helms, for instance. 

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24 minutes ago, JReynolds said:

Well, it's supposed to. But sometimes, it doesn't quite make it. Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork, has a collection of Stormcast helms, for instance. 

I think with gordrakk it’s similar to why the megaboss has a bloodletter skull, the fact they believe a skull should stay or their desire for a trophy just shifts the laws of reality to force it to remain.  There are a few cases though of fragments or bits of armour that just seem to fail to return to azyrheim without the orruk factor involved. 

I’ve been wondering to what degree does the reforging reasemble the pre-forging individual. Lets say a person (either pre stormcast or in an earlier forging) lost his eye in a battle. Would that person still have a missing eye when he is forged into a stormcast or if it was a stormcast would they recover their eye during a reforging? 

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12 minutes ago, Necroshadow said:

I’ve been wondering to what degree does the reforging reasemble the pre-forging individual. Lets say a person (either pre stormcast or in an earlier forging) lost his eye in a battle. Would that person still have a missing eye when he is forged into a stormcast or if it was a stormcast would they recover their eye during a reforging? 

I think it probably depends on who the Stormcast is and who wrote the story ?

Im sure ive read of old wounds healed etc.  but can certainly imagine the soul/character of a Stormcast being carried through re-forgings, so maybe not a physical injury but an emotional one, or an echo of an injury.  The key thing to remember is the story isnt fixed yet, so it is still open to change where a particular plot line requires (also makes creating your own character back stories fun if you are so inclined). 

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52 minutes ago, Necroshadow said:

I think with gordrakk it’s similar to why the megaboss has a bloodletter skull, the fact they believe a skull should stay or their desire for a trophy just shifts the laws of reality to force it to remain.  There are a few cases though of fragments or bits of armour that just seem to fail to return to azyrheim without the orruk factor involved.

No, no such thing as law bending believes. It's simply the rule of cool born from design choices. Same reason why there are SE weapons coming as scenery pieces, demon skulls exist and so on. When it looks cool, it will be done, no matter if there are in-world laws or not. 

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49 minutes ago, Necroshadow said:

I think with gordrakk it’s similar to why the megaboss has a bloodletter skull, the fact they believe a skull should stay or their desire for a trophy just shifts the laws of reality to force it to remain.  There are a few cases though of fragments or bits of armour that just seem to fail to return to azyrheim without the orruk factor involved. 

I’ve been wondering to what degree does the reforging reasemble the pre-forging individual. Lets say a person (either pre stormcast or in an earlier forging) lost his eye in a battle. Would that person still have a missing eye when he is forged into a stormcast or if it was a stormcast would they recover their eye during a reforging? 

See, that's an interesting question there...I'd imagine that it would have to do with the trauma associated with the wound. If it was just one wound among many, it might well be healed up. But if that missing eye was a part of their identity - a badge of honour, a mark of courage, the mark of a traumatic injury, or what have you, it might well remain. 

Imagine that...having that scar be a sort of touchstone for the Stormcast's personality, fading (healing) a bit each time they're reforged, symbolising the erasure of their personality, until finally, it fades entirely. All distinctiveness is gone, leaving a perfect automaton of war, rather than an honourable warrior. 

That's some good narrative thread there. Somebody should write that up into a story and submit it to the next BL open submission window. 

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Just now, Bloodmaster said:

No, no such thing as law bending believes. It's simply the rule of cool born from design choices. Same reason why there are SE weapons coming as scenery pieces, demon skulls exist and so on. When it looks cool, it will be done, no matter if there are in-world laws or not. 

I mean, you're not wrong. But technically, that's what rule of cool is, as far as AOS goes. The realms are basically big bags of untamed magic, and someone with a strong enough will or belief can sort of...nudge the bag a bit. Make things happen. Gordrakk wants the helmet because it's a cool trophy, so he keeps it, whatever the enchantment on it says, because he's Gordrakk and he's possibly a shard of Gork. By the same token, a  Blood Warrior trying to claim a Stormcast's skull might be eternally frustrated, because he's just not focused enough - or strong enough - to circumvent the Azyrite enchantments. 

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1 minute ago, xking said:

Healing? Can the reforging restore a stormcast personality?

I meant physical healing, but that's actually an interesting question. I've never thought about it that way, but in some cases, the Reforging might simply reinforce the strongest elements of a Stormcast's personality, if they were particularly strong-willed. Making them more themselves, so to speak. 

That'd be an interesting twist on the usual pattern...

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18 minutes ago, Bloodmaster said:

No, no such thing as law bending believes. It's simply the rule of cool born from design choices. Same reason why there are SE weapons coming as scenery pieces, demon skulls exist and so on. When it looks cool, it will be done, no matter if there are in-world laws or not. 

In the case of Orcs, traditionally in both Fantasy and 40k they've had the unique power of being able to bend reality with their beliefs. That seems to still be canon - for example, take this passage from the Faction Focus on the Bonesplitterz:

"While the weapons of the Bonesplitterz – flint-headed arrows, gigantic spears and crude, bone-bladed machetes – are simple, in the hands of the Bonesplitterz, they can punch through sigmarite and hell-forged iron with ease. Nor is the Bonesplitterz’ lack of armour an impediment – such is the force of their insane belief that their warpaint produces a magical shield that can turn aside cannonballs and sorcerous bolts alike."

So it's actually entirely in keeping with decades of lore for an Orc (Orruk) warlord to be able to will a Stormcast helmet not to disappear. 

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In that case I'll probably go forward with my idea for an eyepatch wearing lord ordinator (thinking ulrik the slayers head), just a case of polishing up his backstory to explain why the missing eye remains. 

Also to what extent do the conditions during the first forging of a stormhost effect it's overall characteristics and appearance, since the sons of mallus are described as having darker more morbid personalities due to being forged during the ascendance of the dark moon. 

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I really wonder about the child question

What is a male stormcast make a children to a female human ? or a female stormcast to a male human ? What does it do ? A normal human ? A stormcast ? Half-human, Half-Stormcast ? And if two stormcast love each other ?

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/8/2018 at 7:44 AM, JReynolds said:

Well, it's supposed to. But sometimes, it doesn't quite make it. Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork, has a collection of Stormcast helms, for instance. 

Interesting tidbit from the new battletome - it specifically mentions that, if a Stormcast is killed in such a way that their soul can't return to Azyr (i.e. it's destroyed, or stolen by the Nighthaunt, or something like that) then their armour is left behind and may be stolen by scavengers. I wonder if they slipped that in as a response to questions like this! 

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It's also worth noting that the SC battletome mentions a number of warrior-cults that seem to be springing up amongst the stormhosts, a bit like medieval saints' cults or the cult of Mithras in the Roman legions. Maybe even like the lodges in the 30k space marine legions if you are inclined that way... Regardless, it suggests some sort of life outside of battle, with the accompanying rites and rituals (not outright worship), fitting for a warrior caste.  I thought it was pretty interesting background.

The Celestial Vindicators are rumoured to venerate the gestalt spirit of the old Runefangs:  "Some say they seek to become living weapons, and that they revere a figure known as the Father of Blades – an impassive animus comprised of the steel-spirits of twelve ancient duardin runeswords that were gifted to Sigmar’s chosen chieftains in aeons long past."

The Astral Templars venerate a figure that sounds a little like old Ulric or maybe Ursun: "In their tribal rituals, the Stormhost honours Ursricht, the White Bear. Though commonly depicted as a white-haired man, it is said he is a godbeast that can take the form of a gigantic ursine monster when the season of war is at hand."

 

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On 6/8/2018 at 8:44 AM, JReynolds said:

Well, it's supposed to. But sometimes, it doesn't quite make it. Gordrakk, the Fist of Gork, has a collection of Stormcast helms, for instance. 

What if he is just a cheater and asked some ogor smiths to forge him helmets that look like SE helms?

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10 minutes ago, sandlemad said:

It's also worth noting that the SC battletome mentions a number of warrior-cults that seem to be springing up amongst the stormhosts, a bit like medieval saints' cults or the cult of Mithras in the Roman legions. Maybe even like the lodges in the 30k space marine legions if you are inclined that way... Regardless, it suggests some sort of life outside of battle, with the accompanying rites and rituals (not outright worship), fitting for a warrior caste.  I thought it was pretty interesting background.

The Celestial Vindicators are rumoured to venerate the gestalt spirit of the old Runefangs:  "Some say they seek to become living weapons, and that they revere a figure known as the Father of Blades – an impassive animus comprised of the steel-spirits of twelve ancient duardin runeswords that were gifted to Sigmar’s chosen chieftains in aeons long past."

The Astral Templars venerate a figure that sounds a little like old Ulric or maybe Ursun: "In their tribal rituals, the Stormhost honours Ursricht, the White Bear. Though commonly depicted as a white-haired man, it is said he is a godbeast that can take the form of a gigantic ursine monster when the season of war is at hand."

 

I now can't remember the context, but I remember also there being a bit about Stormcast having huge celebratory feasts, again hinting at their lives outside battle. 

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8 hours ago, robinlvalentine said:

I now can't remember the context, but I remember also there being a bit about Stormcast having huge celebratory feasts, again hinting at their lives outside battle. 

And since the OP asked about food and we're on the subject, there's a Lord-Castellant in Soul Wars that habitually eats apples as a treat. He seems to consider it an indulgence, which suggests that either A) stormcasts normally eat very bland food, or B) they don't have to eat to survive, but they can if they choose to. Actually, there's another stormcast in the book who it's implied sits studying in a library for several days without food or rest.

My 100% pure guess would be that their need for rest and sustenance is far lower than a mortal human, but they can't live without them entirely.

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7 minutes ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

Actually, there's another stormcast in the book who it's implied sits studying in a library for several days without food or rest.

Bolt of lightning every week or two, a quick reforging, then he lighting bolts back to his desk.  Hasn't moved his legs in decades.

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