Could Sigmar Afford to Close the Gates to Azyr Again?

[Saturmorn Carvilli]

In attempt to steer a couple of people from dominating and deviating the thread, "So how does everyone feel about Age of Sigmar?" further, I started this thread to better allow discussion of what are the stakes in the setting of Age of Sigmar.

 

I am still rather new to AoS and still digesting much of the lore.  That said, I was under the impression that Sigmar couldn't really afford to allow Chaos to gather anymore control over the Mortal Realms without them be corrupted forever.  It was for that reason that the Stormcast Enternals are ultimately flawed immortals.  It would stand then if that is the case, that Sigmar can no longer afford to retreat back to Azyr and seal the gates since he would practically all ground gained during the Age of Sigmar, lose the element of surprise that came with initial SCE invasion and Chaos/Death/Destruction would much more easily access the now exposed relics, god-beasts, etc. further strengthening the foes of Sigmar and Grand Alliance Order.

[Neverchosen]

I am curious if that is the direction that Gordrakk's narrative is heading? I feel like Sigmar will attempt to close off Azyr and Gordrakk will find a way to smash it open denying the ability of Sigmar to close it off again in the future.  This would result in Azyr gaining a much needed vulnerability and open it up as a setting for future campaigns.

[Baron Klatz]

 It's possible that may be the direction or just a lingering threat to keep that door open. I don't see the God-king closing the Azyr gate now as that would be very extreme and reverse many fortunes in the Age of Hope when he has the power and numbers to meet Gordrakk still in open battle.

The ram might be a deterrent more than anything to goad Sigmar himself out which is what Gordrakk wants as it's his wish to have the Hammer God at his prime again as a warrior in the realms instead of a king hiding in one realm.

If Azyr does ever get opened up I feel it'll be a massive realm shift event like Malign Portents was. Probably something that makes both chaos & Azyr vulnerable*since they're mirrors of eachother (pantheons, blessed champions, daemons, worlds, dominion of one power,  crazy massive populations & creations) and expand the realmscapes rules to 9 realms.

Edit:*chaos realm becoming vulnerable by something like a realm rift so one of the pure realm magics cancel out the chaos one allowing troops to invade without madness & mutation immediately occurring.

Also yeah, the gates can't afford to be closed. Too much has changed and made the realms more dangerous, least of all that the Stormcasts don't have the element of surprise anymore. If either Archaon or Nagash got free reign over God-beasts and the stormvaults then Azyr and it's allies would be in a desperate situation and unlikely to ever turn the tables again.

Worse is Archaon would use the opportunity to fully hunt down and free Slaanesh knowing it's general location or Nagash to try to right his Pyramid ritual and growing Nadir that the centuries of siege would give them.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Baron Klatz

[LuminethMage]

I don't think that story-wise the gates will be closed again, if it at all, it likely will go in the direction of Azyr not being unassailable anymore.

That said, I think Sigmar could very well seal the gates under current conditions (eg, Azyr can't be attacked) again. Yup, he'd lose everything gained so far. But as Death is in a stronger position, Sigmar could take the stance of having Chaos and Death (and Destruction) fight it out while he optimizes the flawed process of making Stormcast. Given time, he might come up with another idea of super warriors or super weapons which could be equally surprising as the Stormcast were last time. Especially as he can decide when and where to strike again. Also Sigmar is not the smartest cooky and does stupid things regularly, so he could throw a fit because frankly none of the other gods listens much or cares much about him, and just go "****** it, let them handle it, I have Azyr" (and later feel bad about that decision). 

And while it would be a big blow to the other Order factions - they know much more about Chaos and other threats than when the Age of Chaos started. There isn't much of a surprise there anymore. They are all already fighting Chaos and Death right now, some (like the Idoneth) are stronger than before, and might survive on their own for a while.  

The other Order deities would likely be pissed (and maybe die in the long run), but besides Alarielle, no one especially likes Sigmar anyway (Grungni would be with Sigmar in Azyr again I guess). Sigmar would also face a few PR problems in Azyr at first, but as an almighty dictator with an army of fanatics and super soldiers, who can kill anyone he likes (and has shown before that he is capable of just doing that), that's a solvable problem. 

The Grand Alliance Order is more of a joke anyway, if you look at the BT. Idoneth, Lumineth, DoK, Seraphon, Sylvaneth, Kharadron and Fyreslayers all do their own thing, and give pretty much give a rats ass (although to varying degrees) about Sigmar and his cities. They all have their own plans and priorities, which often clash with Sigmar's. It's just a coalition because of common threats, but there is no real underlying culture which units them, besides "we don't want to be annihilated and reality as such ending". 

I don't think GW will go in that direction, and kind of hope the situation won't get that desperate again (I like that AoS is an slightly more optimistic setting than Warhammer Fantasy and 40K), but I don't see any lore reason in the setting preventing Sigmar from doing anything like that. Especially because in this setting the gods aren't omniscient, make mistakes all the time, and very much act like mortals.