Broken Realms: Morathi - SPOILER Discussion + Lore Summary

[Overread]

Stormcast returned toe Azure don't have nice treatment. If you read the start of Soul Wars you get a great idea for the condition souls arrive and are kept in before being reforged.

 

Basically a soul ripped from its body is almost like a wild elemental animal. They have base instincts but not really thoughts as we'd understand them. They also vary a lot, some can be raging with anger, others far more passive. They are often confused because Sigmar's methods are not natural nor normal. Souls torn away and pulled up are put in huge storm vaults where they are kept until there is time to reforge them on the anvil. 

So you can't get intel from the soul until its reforged and the violent nature of reforging means some will forget things. 

So they might escape, but it will take time before one is reforged who remembers the details in enough clarity to provide a report. Plus Sigmar can't just throw down Stormcast anywhere, so even with the information gathered from the defeat there's still a lag time. It's still a key issue, its why Morathi had to move quickly because as soon as she played her hand and stormcast were being killed, she was on a time limit before Sigmar would be aware. 

[GrimDork]

Ah, ok thanks for the info. I’ve not really read much of the lore up to now (just snippets).

Just from the way those passages are written, Morathi doesn’t want to kill any Stormcast so orders the use of toxins to paralyse so they don’t die and get help?

From what you’ve described seems like it wouldn’t be much of an issue.

[Overread]

2 minutes ago, GrimDork said:

Ah, ok thanks for the info. I’ve not really read much of the lore up to now (just snippets).

Just from the way those passages are written, Morathi doesn’t want to kill any Stormcast so orders the use of toxins to paralyse so they don’t die and get help?

From what you’ve described seems like it wouldn’t be much of an issue.

It's likely she doesn't know the full ins and outs of reforging as a process, but she certainly knows it happens and knows Stormcast can recall details. She also doesn't know exactly how Sigmar will react and until her plan is completed she's still mortal; or at least "demigod" rather than full goddess. So she's taking every precaution to ensure victory for herself. 

Also don't forget Stormcast fear reforging. Yes they get to live again, but they might forget everything of who they were before (if they remember anything) and who they are now. So its not something they will do to themselves lightly. Plus in Chaos regions there are spells and powers that can disrupt reforging and block the return of souls to Sigmar. So taking a campaign into the heart of the Eightpoints, where Chaos has perhaps its strongest hold on the Realms right now, that's a high risk something might interrupt the soul retrieval. 

 

Basically both sides are operating with a high degree of risk and thus take actions to try and minimise the risk to themselves

[Baron Klatz]

2 hours ago, Overread said:

She also doesn't know exactly how Sigmar will react and until her plan is completed she's still mortal; or at least "demigod" rather than full goddess.

Swimming through the belly of a dark god and disrupt it's prison so she can become a harder to monitor ally in the pantheon and spread her bloody sacrifice religion everywhere?

Pretty sure she predicted a mountain shattering "NO!".

To her credit though she did stop the surprise attack on Azyr and despite the coup on the cities is still a powerful ally hellbent against Chaos.

The wise move now is to keep expanding her holdings so if Gordrakk's attack blows over she'll be in a better position to negotiate her new stand in the realms and on the pantheon.

Though we'll see what happens because we already see more players moving to throw some nasty monkey wrenches into her machinations.

[EccentricCircle]

Yeah, for Morathi, th is a few chance that a soul might take a message back and be reforged fast enough and whole enough to warn sigmar. Any chance is too great a risk, so she plans against it.

For the stormcast they know that it's not a reliable way to send a distress call, so would rather fight their way out and not die. As a last ditch effort in a hopelessly impossible ssituation heroic stormcast have occasionally chisen death in the faint hope of getting a message out, but its not something they plan for.

 

In another note, how many people think Morathi actually became a god, and how many think she just pretended that the ritual worked? Personally I'm not buying it!

[Overread]

2 hours ago, EccentricCircle said:

In another note, how many people think Morathi actually became a god, and how many think she just pretended that the ritual worked? Personally I'm not buying it!

I think she's certainly different and more powerful; however we've yet to know if its full god status. Also technically her faction still prays to Khorne not to Morathi so she's still likely got to keep syphoning belief from Khaine's Iron Heart. 

Now the interesting thing will be if she tries to turn the faction toward the Daughters of Morathi so that she gets the belief. However she's also made her people into religious warriors with a powerful belief. She might not be able to turn them so easily toward herself without basically writing off huge portions of the faction (esp since they are aelves so they will live for centuries). She's not got the security in her faction to do that; she hasn't got the holdings and powerbase to allow herself the luxury of a mass scale internal war. 

 

Also she's not perfectly gone to plan, she's split in two now so we have to see how that pans out. 

[Lord of the Isle]

29 minutes ago, Overread said:

I think she's certainly different and more powerful; however we've yet to know if its full god status. Also technically her faction still prays to Khorne not to Morathi...

Call the Order of Azyr at once!!!

[EccentricCircle]

2 hours ago, Overread said:

I think she's certainly different and more powerful; however we've yet to know if its full god status. Also technically her faction still prays to Khorne not to Morathi so she's still likely got to keep syphoning belief from Khaine's Iron Heart. 

Now the interesting thing will be if she tries to turn the faction toward the Daughters of Morathi so that she gets the belief. However she's also made her people into religious warriors with a powerful belief. She might not be able to turn them so easily toward herself without basically writing off huge portions of the faction (esp since they are aelves so they will live for centuries). She's not got the security in her faction to do that; she hasn't got the holdings and powerbase to allow herself the luxury of a mass scale internal war. 

 

Also she's not perfectly gone to plan, she's split in two now so we have to see how that pans out. 

Agreed. Given what we know about belief and how gods work, I think that no apotheosis can really be complete until she can convince everyone that she is Khaine. As you say, with Khaine dead, most of that belief goes straight to Khorne, with relatively little being siphoned off from the heart. Now if she can convince her followers that she is Khaine's new Avatar, then more of that belief will go to her naturally. Get enough people to believe the con, and it becomes real.

 

[Overread]

Ack no no I meant Khaine not Khorne. 

Morathi holds Khaine's Iron Heart and that is where the worship and belief in Khaine goes. In theory Khaine might even be rebirthed if enough were directed there. Instead Morathi syphons off what she wants from it, its not ideal but it works for her so long as she has the Heart. Also as she wasn't a goddess she wasn't able to tap into the power directly and have people woreship her. Now she's changed we'll have to see how that affects her. 

Considering her physical split she might try and convince her followers that the snake form of her is Khaine reborn through his Oracle or somesuch. However she might spin it that its an incomplete rebirth as its very useful to be able to send off Temples on "fragment" hunts for Khaine's remaining parts. 

[Lord of the Isle]

Yeah what is this heresy about Khaine worship going to Khorne no no no. The chaos gods slew him they didn’t usurp him, that niche was left to Morathi

[EccentricCircle]

25 minutes ago, Lord of the Isle said:

Yeah what is this heresy about Khaine worship going to Khorne no no no. The chaos gods slew him they didn’t usurp him, that niche was left to Morathi

On the contrary. Khorne ate all of the fragments of Khaine except for the heart, so a large part of his divine essence did in fact end up with Chaos.

[Lord of the Isle]

But the worship of the D o K wouldn’t go to Khorne! That sounds like confusion with ancient outdated fantasy witch aelf stuff

[Baron Klatz]

I see Morathi-Khaine still in ascension. She's going from demigoddess to full goddess as she turns her cult into a full regulated religion with followers in multiple cities and gaining more divine power.

That's why she's gone for such a hostile takeover. She knew the gods would abject to such a power shift as she takes a bigger (and bloodier) piece of the pie. So she went with a coup instead of groveling that'd lead nowhere.

This bit from the Deepkin short story really stands out how subtle the changes are to the cult switching to a religion for her personally:

"The Daughters take their time to purge every street, screaming war-oaths around their vile cauldron. The statue atop that wheeled altar has already been subtly altered, its features made more reminiscent of the reborn Morathi-Khaine. Nemmetar sees it. He wonders if the Khainites do."
 

[Overread]

One thing to note about the DoK is that they were one of the few Order factions that, during the Age of Chaos, retained and pushed back against Chaos. They were outnumbered and thus unable to make significant gains like Sigmar did, but they did remain. 

Whilst many other factions crumbled (Humans, Dwarves, most other aelven forces); or their gods and they withdrew (Sigmar, Sylvaneth); the Daughters of Khaine remained on the front lines. It makes Morathi very bold that she can snub Sigmar and yet knows that Sigmar cannot cast her down. Not just because of her new found power, but because her forces have held the line. Unlike the Seraphon who have methods beyond the pure care of the Mortal Realms and the Sylvaneth who are somewhat unpredictable (as much likely to stand against Chaos as they are to kill you for snapping a twig and then to go into hibernation in fear of Chaos); the DoK are a bastion of war.

The only other is Malarion who, because he's not out yet, we know little of, though it seems that his forces also managed to retain lands. However he seems to be far less willing to share his factions military might with others. A powerful ally, but thus far one who has kept behind the locked doors of his realms shadows. 

 

If nothing else Morathi likely has begrudged respect from some of the other gods in how her faction, the smallest, has survived, thrived and pushed back against the forces of Chaos. An ally they cannot honestly afford to cut aside fully; even if Morathi bakstabs everyone and face stabs them too. 

 

I wonder if Morathi's new powers will make her encourage in-fighting within the faction less; with her position as a goddess more secure she might feel safer that no other can truly challenge her. Thus we might see a subtle shift toward less in-fighting and more conquest as the faction shifts into the offensive and gains territory, but also has to hold that new land. You can't breed new generations without stemming the tied of deaths and if your growth is through war then fighting at home has to ease off to allow populations to surge. 

[Grim Beasties]

Don't know if it's been mentioned here but in White Dwarf 459, on page 23, it has a small paragraph featuring Roilon Ven Brecht, one of Neferata’s devoted courtiers. It's unlikely we will see this specific Ven Brecht as it implies they where eaten by the Skitterstrand known as Boss Seven-Eyez, but this may indicated that if we see the continuation of Keiser Ven Brecht's story in BR, Neferata could be a key figure.

[Lord of the Isle]

12 minutes ago, Grim Beasties said:

Don't know if it's been mentioned here but in White Dwarf 459, on page 23, it has a small paragraph featuring Roilon Ven Brecht, one of Neferata’s devoted courtiers. It's unlikely we will see this specific Ven Brecht as it implies they where eaten by the Skitterstrand known as Boss Seven-Eyez, but this may indicated that if we see the continuation of Keiser Ven Brecht's story in BR, Neferata could be a key figure.

Great catch!

and Overread above - I’m maxed out on reacting but that was an epic Morathi essay

[elfhead]

@Overread great post! 
 

this broken realms book has got me very enthousiastic about the Daughters of khaine. I got the underworlds warband to paint to channel that feeling into something creative. The city that was overtaken and is now essentially filled with a classic dark elf army is so cool, If I had all the time in the world I’d start a full dark elf force. 
 

It also feels good that this book wasn’t followed up by the next installment to quickly. This way we can really appreciate the lore and do something with it, hobby-wise. 

[Baron Klatz]

Like the Anvilgard resistance, "Anvil Unbroken!".

23 hours ago, Overread said:

I wonder if Morathi's new powers will make her encourage in-fighting within the faction less; with her position as a goddess more secure she might feel safer that no other can truly challenge her

Yeah, I feel this was a very bloody ends to a mean that should prove more beneficial to Order.

Anvilgard while a powerful port city with multiple realmgates was being barely used as a spearhead against chaos as it was the farther end down from the God-King's empire. By becoming Morathi-Khaine's crown jewel for her new empire it means she can push Har Kuron to become a major threat to the enemies of Order again.

Doubly so as she shifts the balance of power in the Realm of Fire. Yes there will likely be Order vs Order skirmishes now as they both keep expanding there but you only need to look at the Slaves to Darkness tome or Soulbound map to see that despite Aqshy being Order's biggest expansion it's still dominated by chaos.

Morathi-Khaine can greatly help with this as not only is there tons of chaos warrior bodies for her new cities to carve into and sacrifice to empower her but the hot-blooded nature of Aqshyians that so suited Khorne can now easily turn towards this new rising goddess instead and rob them of followers.

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Baron Klatz

[Lord of the Isle]

Very good points but don’t expect Sigmar, Teclis, Tyrion or even Malerion to agree!!

[Baron Klatz]

Oh yeah, thus the skirmishes for more territory.

But in the same vein that the God-king thought it was for the good of all to twist Teclis' intelligence engines into shrouded Stormvaults behind his illuminated back or Alarielle to stay in her war-aspect to make her realm hostile despite the pantheon's objections thus is it the same here as a Order god acts on their own again to defy the enemies of Order in the long run.

[Baron Klatz]

I know it's mostly to support the new Hedonites release with hype but I hope future short stories keep getting new art for the covers.

[Jator]

After reading the book I have a question: Why do the Cythai souls ended in Slaanesh's belly? He was trapped already and couldn't hunt aelven souls. Do elven souls automatically go to Slaneesh for some reason, even with the god in prison?

[Overread]

4 minutes ago, Jator said:

After reading the book I have a question: Why do the Cythai souls ended in Slaanesh's belly? He was trapped already and couldn't hunt aelven souls. Do elven souls automatically go to Slaneesh for some reason, even with the god in prison?

I would assume its because Chaos demons are part of their god. Essentially a Chaos God isn't a singular entity but a manifestation and within Chaos this includes the demonic entities that comprise it. So the legions of deamonettes, seekers and fiends and more are all created from and by Chaos- they are as much a part of Slaanesh as Slaanesh is a part of them. 

Even those the individual demons will see themselves as individuals and will fight and battle for power and personal goals, they are still bound and part of their God. 

 

Thus when Slaanesh demons consume souls they head toward Slaanesh, even though the greater body of Slaanesh is entrapped. 

 

It's a strange, chaotic, duality in that demons are both individual and yet bound together as one. It's why even entrapping the god hasn't stilled the hunger for aelven souls nor the aelf's fear of Slaanesh as a god that hunts them more so than others. 

Remember the Chaos realm doesn't operate with sanity as we'd understand it. Time has both meaning and no meaning in the realm - Events happen and yet something like the Birth of Slaanesh is curious because Slaanesh always was and yet never was and now always is even though before he never was. It's a realm that will send you insane to try and puzzle it out.

 

 

[NinthMusketeer]

On 1/8/2021 at 3:28 PM, Jator said:

After reading the book I have a question: Why do the Cythai souls ended in Slaanesh's belly? He was trapped already and couldn't hunt aelven souls. Do elven souls automatically go to Slaneesh for some reason, even with the god in prison?

The Cythai were all pulled out of Slaanesh, presumably this is what dams them to go back if they die. Compare to subsequent generations that may have inherited the taint of Slaanesh but had never been devoured by him.

[PiotrW]

Okay, I've read the book this weekend and I have questions!

1. Who the heck is this Aenarion guy that keeps being mentioned in this thread? My knowledge of the old Warhammer setting is pretty limited...

2. Could you give me some basic on the Idoneth, the Ocarian Lantern etc.? I only know that they are fishy aelves and that Teclis isn't too fond of them for some reason.

3. Have there been any hints as to who the Sovereign is?

4. Any confirmation that the Newborn is Sigvald? I hope it's not the case - I'd prefer if we got something more... eldritch.

Aside from my questions - I rather liked the story side of the book. I could've lived without the narration painfully namechecking every unit from the game that has a model - this is supposed to be a story, not a battle report Still, I'm quite interested in where all of this is going... even though Morathi really turned out to be an awful backstabber. But I guess it's in character for her.

When it comes to predictions, judging by the story so far and the recent reveals of all these new Hedonites models, it seems obvious to me that it is Slaanesh who will be the main enemy of AOS 3.0. I'd also expect some new developments on the vampire side of things: the creature that freed Ven Brecht in the epilogue seems like a vampire to me (although it could be one of the FCE, I guess... or even a renegade Khirenai?). Considering the fact we'll quite probably be getting a vampire warbands in WHU, it all seems to be leading toward something...