The Free City of Bal'lahast: Lore
Entry posted by Knight Scáthach of Fimm
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The Free City of Bal’lahast
and
the Bal’lahast 1st Shyish Campaign Force
The City
The Free City of Bal’lahast is situated in the far north of Ghur, neighbored by the Spitewood and Spitewood Fens, home to Sylvaneth and Fimir respectively. The city stands on an open grassy plane, surrounded by five concentric rings of moats. There are no walls in Bal’lahast, only the stake laden pits of water that keep the great beasts of Ghur at bay. Only a single bridge crosses each section of the moat, and one would have to circle around having just crossed the first in order to reach the second and so on. This makes Bal’lahast a nightmare to siege without the use of flying beasts, and so the city has never fallen.
The people of Bal’lahast are of both human and duardin descent, and so are of stern demeanor, but also stand slightly shorter and are burlier than the average man. They worship the gods Grungni and Sigmar in that order, and venerate Ludwig Schwarzhelm as their patron saint, as well as Karl Franz to a lesser degree. The leader of the Bal’lahastines is called The Schwarzhelm, of which Hector Wallace is the current bearer of the mantel. He is the 21st Schwarzhelm, and like his predecessors, he strives to don the ancient saint’s supposed persona and instill his stalwart nature in all his subjects.
The icon of Bal’lahast is a simple letter R in Khazalid, in honor of the city’s founder, Robert Bal’lahast, who lived at the end of the Age of Chaos. The Bal’lahastines prefer functionality over aesthetics, and so their heraldry is often bare-bones and dull in color. The image of the Schwarzhelm upon his horse is more than enough to stir up the courage of any man. The many craftsmen and artificers of the city are duty-bound to ensure the maintenance of The Schwarzhelm’s panoply; a near perfect replica of the original worn in the World that Was, based on a single surviving manuscript found in the depths of Azyr, by a lone priest of the Devoted of Sigmar many centuries ago. This tattered ink sketch is the most prized object of the city.
The armies of Bal’lahast go to war dressed in copper-alloy armor and burgundy cloth. The region of Ghur in which the city resides is poor in metals bar copper, and so they craft most of their armor from a synthesized alloy of the metal, produced by the city’s Collegiate Arcane. Weapons of war are still crafted in steel, as the aforementioned alloy is, for the most part, inferior. Steel is otherwise reserved for the most important of tools and armor, and so only the leaders and most well paid soldiers can afford such luxury; namely the generals and Handgunners, as well as the knights who often have shields of steel. The Handgunners in particular are highly valued as they are instrumental in bringing down the rampaging beasts of Ghur, and so every kill is extra coin in their pocket.
The uniform of a Bal’lahastine soldier begins a deep green, and it is expected by the end of their first year of duty that it be stained burgundy with the blood of monsters. Some circumvent this by using artificial dyes, but this is frowned upon.
What a Bal’lahastine lacks in equipment, they make up for with physical prowess and bravery. Thanks to their ancestry, the average man is thickly built with a penchant for saying ‘no’, be it accepting a day off or fleeing the enemy.
The Bal’lahast 1st Shyish Campaign Force
The soldiers of the Bal’lahast 1st Shyish Campaign Force are a grim foe to behold. Formed during the aftermath of the Necroquake, these bedraggled yet stalwart men are a force to be reckoned with. Their steel is rusted and their armor stained with verdigris, for there are no supply lines in the land they find themselves in, and the next friend is few and far between. Shyish would suffocate most outsiders, but not them. They fight to bring an end to the death god through the sheer grit of mortal men.
Led by Hector Wallace, the Campaign Force has gained a firm foothold in the realm and intends to push ever onwards into the heart of Shyish. The only man who will return is The Schwarzhelm himself, but each and every soldier knows this. Their uniforms are already stained red on the planes of Ghur, and even though the eager recruits will never know this fighting the dead, they fight regardless. Every soldier is a willing soul.
Upon death, the soul of the fallen soldier will not be drawn to the Great Necromancer, instead it is immediately obliterated by the power of the Bal’lahastine Luminark’s scorching aura; a well-kept secret by the city’s Collegiate Arcane. This way, they feed no souls to the enemy, and let soldiers die in peace, knowing they will never return. This does however mean that Luminarks are the most prized weapon of war utilized by Bal’lahast, and they are defended as if they were The Schwarzhelm himself.
The Campaign Force is the first army of Bal’lahast to fight alongside the Stormcast Eternals. While many mortals would quiver in their shadow, the men of Bal’lahast are most vocal in their distaste for Sigmar’s chosen, seeing them as cowards in the face of true annihilation; something they willingly choose. Regardless, Wallace ensures that their alliance holds firm; after all, they need every new sword they can find, and Sigmarite doesn’t rust.
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