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Broken Realms: Teclis - SPOILER Discussion + Lore Summary


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I don't think there's a single way they could have wrapped this up convincingly, solely because of how this story is being told. This book is the climax and resolution of an entire edition and the narrative that's carried it, but the protagonists have had nothing to do with the Soul Wars so far, and it's being told in the second book of a series that, otherwise, has nothing to do with the story it's wrapping up. That's like Return of the Jedi not existing at all and having the Emperor get destroyed by a completely new character in the second season of a spin-off TV series.

Nagash needed to be defeated. He had his time in the sun, and it's better her take a backseat now than overstay his welcome, but the way he was dealt with just feels like GW sweeping an entire edition's plotline under the rug so that they can get ready for the new antagonist.

The parts of the book that actually had Nagash in them were fun, though. He's a great character to read. I also liked the Kharadron admiral who found Neferata; it was pretty refreshing for a Warhammer character to just be some dude. She liked her maps. I can respect that.

Overall rating is 0/10 solely because they said "alacrity" more than once and that's just too many times.

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14 hours ago, Causalis said:

Biggest "wtf" moment for me was how Teclis just ended the Necroquake as if it were an afterthought. It feels like the writers ran out of time or something and just hamfisted the ending. It took Nagash millenia to craft his black pyramid and assemble everything for the ritual that would unleash the Necroquake. The skeletons carrying the gravesand walked that path for so long and so often, they literally wore down mountains! And Teclis undoes all this with a single rune, because new elves stronk. 

Again: It feels cheap. That's a good summary of the book IMO. Death losing is ok, as well as Nagash getting his boney ass kicked. But it all should come at a cost! Like in Wrath of the Everchosen, where hordes of Chaos Warriors, Priests, Sorcerers etc. were needed just to stem the tide of Bonereapers and Nighthaunt. Here too, Death didn't achieve their goal of taking the Varanspire, but it felt like a hard fought "defeat" and not just a showcase for the other army.

It’s not “just“ though, Teclis prepared this for who knows how long. It ends in the the same ways it started - with a ritual. They just didn’t put as much effort into explaining every detail, but they say Teclis planned this for a while. 

I agree partly though, it feels like they just ran out of space, and put this at the end, because they wanted to end that part of their storyline. I don’t think that has that much to do with the elves being stonk than with how they generally write sometimes. 

I do t think it feels just as a showcase for Lumineth. Ymetrica is pretty much devastated, Cities destroyed etc. And the Lumineth didn’t get anything “real.” It’s all symbolic, or just story. There is no lasting presence anywhere outside of Hysh (like in Wrath of the Everchosen, or Morathi). I don’t mean this as a complain, but saying there is no cost at all is a bit overstated. What real costs did Morathi face? Or OBR for invading Eightpoints? 

I think GW tried to include a bit too much, more focus would have been better. But there are a lot of good things in the story, and I really enjoyed the various talks between the gods. They also gave life to stuff like the Cathallar abilities and things like that. 

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3 hours ago, Envyus said:

Read BR Teclis for the first time. Really liked it (Death Player too) 

 

From reading it, what was said and the pictures. Pretty sure Arkhan is super dead and not coming back.

Anything is possible, but I find this incredibly unlikely.  Arkhan is very popular as a character, both in the wider communits and with at least a few creatives within GW.  Plus his model probably isn't going anywhere any time soon, since it's a multi kit with Neferata and Mannfred.

No, I expect Arkhan will be back.  Maybe not the same Arkhan, though.  There was an implication that AoS Arkhan might not be the same dude as Oldhammer Arkhan, but rather a shard of Nagash's power dressed up in Nagash's memories of Arkhan.  So even if the Arkhan we knew is actually irretrievably gone, which I'm nit yet convinced of, we could see Nagash will just make another once he returns, whenever that turns out to be.

As a niche & archetype, there's really no other characters positioned to replace Arkhan.  Vokmortian probably comes closest, and newly minted mortarch Vokmortian trying to live up yo Arkhan's legacy might be interesting to see, but even he foesn't quite fit the bill.  There's a need for Nagash to have a servant that is clever, loyal, and trusted for dialog & exposition purposes, and I fom't see that going away or getting filled by another character.

So while I certainly could be wrong, and Arkhan's death seems pretty conclusive (though, one might point out, no more so than Eltharion's did at Arkhan's hands), I still think that, as long as Nagash endures, there will be an Arkhan.

Edited by Sception
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image.png.f7499e8c28fd7a08d838df3d5dab51eb.png

 

Eltharion aged to death. While Arkhan was forced off the edge of the world and was turned into light. I don't think his soul survived. 

 

Also the book states that the Realm of was free of Arkhan's Curse forever more. 

 

41 minutes ago, Sception said:

Anything is possible, but I find this incredibly unlikely.  Arkhan is very popular as a character, both in the wider communits and with at least a few creatives within GW.  Plus his model probably isn't going anywhere any time soon, since it's a multi kit with Neferata and Mannfred.

 

Anvilgard was destroyed and it still has rules. A character dying in the Lore means nothing for the game or model. 

There were a large number of characters in both Fantasy and 40k that were dead in the Lore but still playable in the game. You could have Gorbad Ironclaw fight Karl-Franz, despite Gorbad having died like 400 years before Karl-Franz was born. 

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4 hours ago, novakai said:

i think Dwarfs is just one of those things that GW have historically have hard time giving Narrative significance too. it doesn't help that  both their gods where given passive roles at the start of AoS (one was  destroyed,  the other is missing) their two armies are really glorify sidekick in most narrative event to SCE or just straight up made sabotage the protagonist like Forbidden power. their one named character Brokk doesn't have much pull in the narrative .

 

the only thing they really have is just Gortrek and his current adventure.

 

Which just further highlights how bad the aelves are to have around. We all know what gets the most attention in the world; bad stuff happening. But not just the normal bad stuff, it needs to be NEW bad news to get the real attention. So which subset of gods is most commonly ****** things up in new interesting ways?

I'm not saying aelves are totally the reason the age of myth came apart or anything. Just that gods doing their thing well and not cluttering the realms with utter nonsense do not get so much attention, so it should be no surprise Grungni gets so little focus.

Edited by NinthMusketeer
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1 minute ago, NinthMusketeer said:

Which just further highlights how bad the aelves are to have around. We all know what gets the most attention in the world; bad stuff happening. But not just the normal bad stuff, it needs to be NEW bad news to get the real attention. So which subset of gods is most commonly ****** things up in new interesting ways?

I'm not saying aelves are totally the reason the age of myth came apart or anything. Just that gods doing their thing well and not cluttering the realms with utter nonsense do not get so much attention, so it should be no surprise Grungni gets so little focus.

Dwarf hands typed this post.

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4 hours ago, NinthMusketeer said:

So I mean this with no disrespect, but this just does not line up with the fluff. Fyreslayers were instrumental at several points of the Realmgate Wars, including being key to the sealing of Aqshy's Arcway and were the faction responsible for freeing the Godbeast Ignax from Archaon's control. Those are both tremendously important.

Kharadron currently act as the trade network for the free cities. Because they can readily transport large amounts of cargo by air they can ensure regular trade exists in a lot of locations where it would otherwise be impossible due to just how harsh the mortal realms tend to be. They are a critical economic and support component to the free cities. Dispossed on the other hand are a literal foundation in that they physically build much of the base structure and defenses free cities stand on, as well as their contribution to the Ironweld and construction of cogforts. They also man underground defense where it is needed.

If Lumineth up and vanished the Cities of Sigmar would survive just fine. DoK are the only elf faction/demi-faction that would be a significant loss for humanity if they suddenly dissapeared because of their strong contribution against Chaos. But if Kharadron or Dispossessed vanished? That would be massive. Sigmar's domain would be crippled and non-Chaos humans would suffer tremendously. Duardin have been far more important to humanity's existence than Aelves have. Probably because they never ran off to circle-****** around Slaanesh's bondage display.

If that wasn't enough, Sigmar does not directly forge Stormcast from human souls. The Six Smiths do. And who made the Six Smiths? Grungni.

This is a bunch of dwarves being the bridesmaids, acting entirely in support of someone else's narrative, stormcast or human. None of this is narratives driven by dwarves, maybe supported by the other races. It is almost always the other way around, while the elves very often get to have their own self driven story, and this has been a common theme in warhammer fantasy. The elves have always gotten more focus as their own race, the dwarves tend to be there to support human narratives and characters.

 

 

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By that measure, aelves are just supporting the Realms vs Nagash narrative which is still equivalent to the duardin support of the Realms vs Archaon narrative. And it isn't like aelves have even been playing a part for most of it, where as duardin were there the whole time. So they have a bit of catching up to do.

Look, I get it, you have  been victim to pro-aelven dialogue. It happens to all of us at some point, because aelves are just so willing to deceive their ostensible allies whereas duardin would not stoop to such dishonor. It happens.

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1 hour ago, NinthMusketeer said:

By that measure, aelves are just supporting the Realms vs Nagash narrative which is still equivalent to the duardin support of the Realms vs Archaon narrative. And it isn't like aelves have even been playing a part for most of it, where as duardin were there the whole time. So they have a bit of catching up to do.

Look, I get it, you have  been victim to pro-aelven dialogue. It happens to all of us at some point, because aelves are just so willing to deceive their ostensible allies whereas duardin would not stoop to such dishonor. It happens.

:P Tell me a campaign since nemesis crown (which was dwarf driven) that had dwarves as the primary faction making a move?  To be fair, nemesis crown did end up being the last of the old style of GW campaigns and came with a few years of no narrative whatsoever, but, like, you can't tell me the dwarves weren't done the dirtiest in the end time of all the good guy factions. And early AoS was all about the stormcast, guest starring some of their friends in GW's attempt to create a faction that had the same core draw that the space marines do in 40k. This didn't work out (thankfully, stormcast are fine for what they are nowadays, but if they had the same over exposure as space marines, it would be a huge bummer). Stormcast are still a prominent faction but now GW is willing to do narratives pretty much not involving them at all. But now it's a huge elf blitz and, well, elf fatigue is setting in. I just want them to give the dwarf factions the same love, and, well, I don't think they ever will

 

I would be ecstatic if GW slammed a Broken Realms: Grugni (or even Grimner, lord knows the fyreslayers could use some love, especially in models), but I don't see it. 

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2 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Bold prediction given that the guy who kicked Arkhan off the edge of Hysh is, himself, entirely composed of light.

Yeah but that is the form his soul took. Arkhan is an undead of which the Light tends to hate. 

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9 hours ago, Mutton said:

The biggest problem with the narrative is Warhammer books is that a majority of it focuses around the battles. It is a wargame, but when reading fiction, you need strong characters you can relate to, love, hate, or simply understand. You don't get much of that in Teclis. Morathi BR definitely had more interesting characters who you understood and rooted for.

Teclis is the "protagonist" of the latest BR book, but he's not relatable at all---whether intentionally or not, it makes for someone we don't particularly care about. He's too infallible; too "godly" with no personality to make up for it. The other main characters in the book are given brief histories and descriptions, but other than their grand war plans, we experience nothing, and learn nothing from them. Alarielle is probably the most interesting character in the story, and she's not even really in it, only appearing in side-blurbs with Teclis.

There are a handful of fun excerpts: The Archregent who ruined everything, Alarielle's fight against Nurgle, the lands at the edge of Hysh...

Overall, it was alright. Nagash clearly isn't actually dead, so the whole thing does feel a bit like the end of an Inspector Gadget cartoon, "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME GADGET!" Too much of it revolved around venerating the Elf-lads, even if it was their book. Not much else happens other than Lumineth v. Undead. The outcome is difficult to gauge; it's more ambiguous than the direct consequences of Morathi's ascension.

The most intriguing tidbit - What is Tyrion fighting against that's worse than Nagash? 

Slaanesh and/or the Newborn.

I finished the book, personally BR Morathi was far better written in my opinion. 

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9 hours ago, NinthMusketeer said:

Kharadron currently act as the trade network for the free cities. Because they can readily transport large amounts of cargo by air they can ensure regular trade exists in a lot of locations where it would otherwise be impossible due to just how harsh the mortal realms tend to be. They are a critical economic and support component to the free cities.

Take note Cities of Sigmar!!!

Baatar can't maintain the whole economy nor have enough fleets to defend itself. Leave that to the true masters of the sky!!! 

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Just finished reading this, overall pretty good. Couple of observations:

Some fairly niche details WFB about Teclis show up in his profile page - Teclis having walked the Paths of the Old Ones in the Gotrek and Felix novel Giantslayer (the only place they're named as that or Teclis is mentioned as having travelled them); and the Sword of Teclis having been described in Teclis' first 4th edition appearances (and never since) as being 'charged with celestial power', something I speculated in my really quite sad blog series on Teclis could be linked to Azyr, and is confirmed here, which is neat.

Teclis' AoS 'Lunar Staff' is also confirmed to be the Moon Staff of Lileath by Alarielle, and while cba to check I'm fairly sure it ran out of juice around the time Lileath herself did during the End Times. The Lumineth show Teclis is nothing if not sentimental, so maybe he repaired/charged it back up himself.

 

Nagash's whole Soul Wars storyline buildup getting unceremoniously smacked down by elves out of nowhere does feel a bit like if Craftworld Ulthwe had pulled up unprompted during the Siege of Terra and shot the Vengeful Spirit with Horus and all the traitor primarchs on it out of orbit, and feels like a big missed opportunity, but maybe it'll give the mortarchs a chance to shine without Nagash. WFB's undead characters were super compelling without Nagash around and chasing their own petty ambitions in his shadow, so bring it on I guess.

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22 minutes ago, Double Misfire said:

Just finished reading this, overall pretty good. Couple of observations:

Some fairly niche details WFB about Teclis show up in his profile page - Teclis having walked the Paths of the Old Ones in the Gotrek and Felix novel Giantslayer (the only place they're named as that or Teclis is mentioned as having travelled them); and the Sword of Teclis having been described in Teclis' first 4th edition appearances (and never since) as being 'charged with celestial power', something I speculated in my really quite sad blog series on Teclis could be linked to Azyr, and is confirmed here, which is neat.

Teclis' AoS 'Lunar Staff' is also confirmed to be the Moon Staff of Lileath by Alarielle, and while cba to check I'm fairly sure it ran out of juice around the time Lileath herself did during the End Times. The Lumineth show Teclis is nothing if not sentimental, so maybe he repaired/charged it back up himself.

 

Nagash's whole Soul Wars storyline buildup getting unceremoniously smacked down by elves out of nowhere does feel a bit like if Craftworld Ulthwe had pulled up unprompted during the Siege of Terra and shot the Vengeful Spirit with Horus and all the traitor primarchs on it out of orbit, and feels like a big missed opportunity, but maybe it'll give the mortarchs a chance to shine without Nagash. WFB's undead characters were super compelling without Nagash around and chasing their own petty ambitions in his shadow, so bring it on I guess.

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter for more obscure Teclis facts.

Love it when people go really in depth with this kind of thing.

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1 hour ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter for more obscure Teclis facts.

Love it when people go really in depth with this kind of thing.

Thanks!

Teclis was one of the few elf mages (he reckons about one in ten) skilled enough to see through the subtle glamours cast on the Everqueen compelling other elves to be nice to her.

Really should get round to finishing that series. Work got in the way and I was sort of dreading having to politely make sense of Teclis and Lileath's motivations during the End Times.

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So... the following idea is total spitball wish listing because I love Arkhan.  Since before the Soul Wars, Arkhan has been depicted as distant, measured and intelligent.  He is totally amoral, yes, but he seems "wise" compared to the other Mortarchs, and many times he seems wiser than Nagash.  In Soul Wars he talks about missing the Aliiance between Sigmar and Nagash, and how them working together was the best thing for the Realms.  He noted that Death would come to everything in the end, so why shouldn't Nagash just help the other Order gods defeat Chaos and just wait.  Obviously he still carries out Nagash's will, but he knows the natural order of things still is good for Nagash.

So... Arkhan is wise, intelligent, longed for the old order to return, and as the leader of the Null Myriad, exceptionally resistant to magic.  I only bring this all up because in the Lumineth lore, falling into the Perimeter Inimical in Hysh means either being destroyed, or finding yourself before the Spirit of the Sun itself.

Bare with me now.  Tinfoil hats on.  What happens when a wise resilient entity that longs for "order" survives Hysh's perimeter long enough to see the Sun Spirit?  Tyrion got his brother back, the pilgrims from Alumnia receive enlightenment... how interesting would it be for Arkhan to not only survive the Perimeter, but to come back enlightened, by the Sun Spirit.  The paradises are free from Arkhan "the Black".  What if they "Gandalf" Arkhan the Black to give a wiser leader to Death factions?

What could we do with that lore wise?  Ok, I submit myself for ridicule now, but I think it would be amazing to have a Death leader that is wise, patient, calculating, and willing to destroy Chaos.

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22 minutes ago, Nightseer2012 said:

So... Arkhan is wise, intelligent, longed for the old order to return, and as the leader of the Null Myriad, exceptionally resistant to magic.  I only bring this all up because in the Lumineth lore, falling into the Perimeter Inimical in Hysh means either being destroyed, or finding yourself before the Spirit of the Sun itself.

Say no more. Arkhan returns as the sun-god leader of the new Tomb Kings faction. I gotcha.

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35 minutes ago, Nightseer2012 said:

So... the following idea is total spitball wish listing because I love Arkhan.  Since before the Soul Wars, Arkhan has been depicted as distant, measured and intelligent.  He is totally amoral, yes, but he seems "wise" compared to the other Mortarchs, and many times he seems wiser than Nagash.  In Soul Wars he talks about missing the Aliiance between Sigmar and Nagash, and how them working together was the best thing for the Realms.  He noted that Death would come to everything in the end, so why shouldn't Nagash just help the other Order gods defeat Chaos and just wait.  Obviously he still carries out Nagash's will, but he knows the natural order of things still is good for Nagash.

So... Arkhan is wise, intelligent, longed for the old order to return, and as the leader of the Null Myriad, exceptionally resistant to magic.  I only bring this all up because in the Lumineth lore, falling into the Perimeter Inimical in Hysh means either being destroyed, or finding yourself before the Spirit of the Sun itself.

Bare with me now.  Tinfoil hats on.  What happens when a wise resilient entity that longs for "order" survives Hysh's perimeter long enough to see the Sun Spirit?  Tyrion got his brother back, the pilgrims from Alumnia receive enlightenment... how interesting would it be for Arkhan to not only survive the Perimeter, but to come back enlightened, by the Sun Spirit.  The paradises are free from Arkhan "the Black".  What if they "Gandalf" Arkhan the Black to give a wiser leader to Death factions?

What could we do with that lore wise?  Ok, I submit myself for ridicule now, but I think it would be amazing to have a Death leader that is wise, patient, calculating, and willing to destroy Chaos.

I hope whatever happens Arkhan's trip to the Realm's edge fixes his teeth. Gotta feel for the guy, bought back a gazillion times by Nagah with the same canonically awful teeth, and no lips to hide them behind.

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39 minutes ago, Nightseer2012 said:

So... Arkhan is wise, intelligent, longed for the old order to return, and as the leader of the Null Myriad, exceptionally resistant to magic.  I only bring this all up because in the Lumineth lore, falling into the Perimeter Inimical in Hysh means either being destroyed, or finding yourself before the Spirit of the Sun itself.

Bare with me now.  Tinfoil hats on.  What happens when a wise resilient entity that longs for "order" survives Hysh's perimeter long enough to see the Sun Spirit?  Tyrion got his brother back, the pilgrims from Alumnia receive enlightenment... how interesting would it be for Arkhan to not only survive the Perimeter, but to come back enlightened, by the Sun Spirit.  The paradises are free from Arkhan "the Black".  What if they "Gandalf" Arkhan the Black to give a wiser leader to Death factions?


What if he shows up as a sun spirit to aid Tyrion's return. Redemption is a theme we don't often see among the main cast of Warhammer that I think could be deeper explored.

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4 minutes ago, Mutton said:


What if he shows up as a sun spirit to aid Tyrion's return. Redemption is a theme we don't often see among the main cast of Warhammer that I think could be deeper explored.

Eh, not sure about that, only because I don't see them entirely dropping his model or anything as dramatic as changing Grand Alliance.  If they "change" him, I feel like the most they would do would be giving him a revised Sub-faction within Ossiarch that reflects his new status and change his warscroll a little.   If only because they JUST put him in the Ossiarch.  Story wise it would be interesting, but I am trying to temper my crack-pot theories with the knowledge of what GW would do model wise.  If they even go so far as to make him a "good" Death character, I think it would be an Ossiarch subfaction that say... fights alongside order armies against chaos, hoovering up the dead bodies of both sides to make new Ossiarch.  Basically what Death USED to do before the Pantheon broke up, which  is what Arkhan wanted to do all along. 

If I wasn't considering GW models in my thoughts, I would assume they would reboot him entirely and make a new TK faction under his sun-filled visage, but the Ossiarch are almost exactly what the TK used to be, so we wont see something like that, unless they specifically add new models to the Ossiarch range with a new "good guy" flavor in mind.  I doubt seeing new major death factions anytime in the next couple of years, not with Soulblight Gravelords being so close now.

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