Broken Realms: Be'lakor - SPOILER Discussion + Lore Summary

[Neverchosen]

6 hours ago, Dreddships said:

Belakor turned up and decided to get work done.

This not being the finale sounds insane with the implications of what has happened.

3 stormhosts almost entirely wiped out, the return of Grombindal/Grungi, a space battle (!?).

Kragnos being an old enemy of Grungi/Grombindal - Kurnothi God?

 

Yet we know Archaon will still get all the credit from the Chaos gods and Be'Lakor will get in trouble:

Be'Lakor: I have taken Chamon, allied with death and destroyed countless Stormcast possibly overturning the concept of order itself!

Khorne:  Where was Archaon?

Be'Lakor: Busy wasting time fighting against the legions of bones invading his pitiful realm.

Khorne: But he has brought me so many skulls, I say Archaon deserves further boons. (The collective gods nod in agreement)

Be'Lakor: But I brought you blood and skulls!

Slaanesh: But did you have fun?

Be'Lakor: I don't see what that has to do with. Also aren't you in pris...

Nurgle: Silence fool! You allied with ghosts and we know ghosts don't get sick! Did you at least cough on that scary Duardin captain?

BeLakor: Really?

Tzeentch: Now lets talk about my Silver Towers!

Be'Lakor: I hate Chaos!

Edited April 17, 2021 by Neverchosen

[Neverchosen]

Overall, I am surprised how much I am enjoying Broken Realms. Do the campaign books from 40K and LOTR hold up as much as this ongoing narrative? 

I heard some negative things about Psychic Awakening.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Neverchosen

[Acrozatarim]

To be fair, Tzeentch has a legit bone to pick over the Silver Towers bit of it.

[Cataphract]

Hold on. Waaaaay back in the first year of AOS. In the Search For Ghal Maraz didnt the Celestial Vindicators capture a Realmgate that could go anywhere in the Realms? 

[xking]

Also I think this guy is confusing stormhost with chambers.  I do not believe three entire stormhost were destroyed.    A single  stormhost can have dozens all the way to hundreds of chambers within it.

 

[King Under the Mountain]

2 hours ago, Neverchosen said:

Overall, I am surprised how much I am enjoying Broken Realms. Do the campaign books from 40K and LOTR hold up as much as this ongoing narrative? 

I heard some negative things about Psychic Awakening.

I did not read most of Psychic Awakening, only the two books that had factions I care about (Phoenix Rising and Blood of Baal) but from my understanding these books were percieved a lot more negatively then the last couple campaign series, mostly due to the opinion of the books ending with no clear winner and no groundbreaking changes in the lore.

 

Which is why I was nervously excited for Broken Realms and ultimately ecstatic that each book has brought along major lore ramifications. 

[novakai]

i only know traditionally Grombrindal's Nemesis and hated foe was the Black Gobbo

[Public Universal Duardin]

I'm still on #TeamGrombrindal, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong! Gosh, the idea that we could get new duardin one day...that'd be amazing!

[Neverchosen]

7 minutes ago, Public Universal Duardin said:

I'm still on #TeamGrombrindal, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong! Gosh, the idea that we could get new duardin one day...that'd be amazing!

I think Grombrindal would actually be a really cool addition to the KO who are a secular society. He could be like a lost Ancestor God who does not want reverence and thus joins a faction that will not worship him. A humble god in AOS would be a rare thing and a great change of pace. 😀

[PJetski]

Why not both? Grombrindal could be the herald of Grungni's return.

[The Red King]

15 hours ago, Kaleb Daark said:

wow. just wow.

I never realised that a stormcast needed a realmgate to go back to azyr, I thought they just did in an act of god kind of way.

Pretty sure in most lore I read before now they left in much the same way they arrived during the realmgate wars. In those wars it took a massive effort but Sigmar just threw them through the space between realms on lightning bolts and tasked them with capturing the realm gates to get the rest of them in. I don't think ever before now has it been the case that they needed a realmgate to get back for reforming. I think GW is either finally trying to make the setting a bit more grim or else realized that immortal heroes are boring and are trying to fix that. Either way I'm happy.

[xking]

15 hours ago, Kaleb Daark said:

wow. just wow.

I never realised that a stormcast needed a realmgate to go back to azyr, I thought they just did in an act of god kind of way.

And I suppose the only way you could rebuild a realm gate is with the help of a dwarf god with a massive hammer and mining pick, after all, who else would be capable of that sort of skill, magic and arcane knowledge.

The big question for me is the dynamic between Belakor and Archaon which I think by design has remained beautifully absent from the narrative - which is great as we thought it was going to be about them.  Perhaps Belakor sees his ascension in the eyes of the dark gods, (and the fall of favour of Arky) as something which perversely has nothing to do with ever involving arky, thereby making him look just like nothing more than a blown up slaves to darkness mortal.

However, I suppose it also means that the gates of azyr cannot be assaulted by Arky, which has always been number one on his to do list, thereby taking away his one great driving goal and ambition.

And will AoS 3 herald a new period of non reforging stormcast? - I'm wondering if Sigmar has a backdoor contingency to allow the stormcast to get back to azyr by another means, or at the very least the white bearded dwarf has a chat with the sulky lightning god and bangs his head against the wall  and tells him get a grip.

I'm also hoping that Belakor has double bluffed the floating bedseet woman and will take her soul apart strand by strand for her 'curse' which I hope he can undo / has undone  on the sly by the time that hourglass runs out. (I'm not a fan of floating bedsheet woman).

I'm very much looking forward to Kragnos, and I really do believe, and these previous two books have shown, that the book will be a massive curveball in terms of who he is and what faction he has sway over, as lets face it if  BR Be'Lakor is anything to go by, nobody was expecting end times lite.

 

When a Stormcast Eternal dies, their body transmutes into lightning and shoots up back to the realm of heavens. But Belakor has created a chaos storm that is blocking the lightning.  If a stormcast  Eternal  wants to go back to Azyr without dying,  they have to do it the same way as everyone else. 

[KriticalKhan]

16 hours ago, Kaleb Daark said:

I never realised that a stormcast needed a realmgate to go back to azyr, I thought they just did in an act of god kind of way.

Unless this book has a retcon, they don't. Their souls are transmuted to Azyrite energy and they travel through the void to get back to Azyr.

 

Aaaand someone already answered this. Whoops.

Edited April 18, 2021 by KriticalKhan

[Doko]

I hope be something bigger than only grombindal with kharadrons.

Its selfish but im an dwarf  lover but steampunk hater,i have dispossesed and fyreslayers but 0 kharadrons.

I wish be something for old dispossesed or a joint army of dwarfs and not only kharadrons

[Whitefang]

@xking

From what I have heard, Sigmarite Brotherhood as a stormhost is destroyed 

tbf a storm host is merely 5000-10000 strong, not a very large army at all 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Whitefang

[Whitefang]

I an guessing it’s Grungni not Grombi 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Whitefang

[Beliman]

8 hours ago, Sarouan said:

Maybe that mysterious dwarf with white beard is both Grombrindal and Grungni. Maybe Grombrindal was always Grungni from the beginning. Maybe Grungni never left his people and was always at their side whenever they were in times of need.

Grombrindal, the White Dwarf. Always hidden, always wearing many disguises, but still there when his people needs guidance the most.

And the novels in the white dwarf never state this strange duardin who's never the same isn't a god. We just have his words from time to time, but never from the point of view of the narrator - always the character. He may be simply misleading the people he's speaking to with half-truths and double meanings.

It could be, but in Spear of Shadows, Grungni talks with Grombrindal in front of Owain (and Owain only recognize Grungni as the Maker, but he was curious how a  "really old dwarf" talks with a God).

Another point is that the Theory that Snorri Whitebeard was the "living" Grombrindal, Grungni preceded him.

[Harioch]

Maybe the real Gromthi is the friends we made along the way...

[The Brotherhood of Necros]

I do wonder if it’s both of them — separately — there.

In that firstly this white-bearded stranger arrives — Grombrindal, ala the stories — then later on a second dwarf steps from the ranks with pick and hammer— Grungni, who catches Be’lakor’s eye.

Maybe they’re both there. It does sound like a huge assemblage of dawi?

Can’t wait to get my hands on this and read it for myself!

As an aside, I had kind of assumed/supposed glow-up Kroak would drop this weekend with the new book. Particularly as he seems to feature in the book and Seraphon get updated warscrolls in it already. Do you think he will drop as part of a future BR instalment or just randomly one week with a new warscroll (which would seek a little strange)?! 

[JackStreicher]

6 hours ago, Doko said:

I hope be something bigger than only grombindal with kharadrons.

Its selfish but im an dwarf  lover but steampunk hater,i have dispossesed and fyreslayers but 0 kharadrons.

I wish be something for old dispossesed or a joint army of dwarfs and not only kharadrons

+1!

I’d love AoS-ified classic dwarves with crazy mounts, pikes and cool new heavily armoured units, which has a subfaction that can build an army out of all duardin models of AoS 😍

Edited April 18, 2021 by JackStreicher

[Barkanaut]

I really want Kharadron Overlords wave 2 at this point. I love them but they feel like such a limited army to try and collect compared to the others. After that I want to see a third dwarf faction like the dwarf gollems hinted at in lore or something like that. Dwarves got too big of a shortstick in AoS at this point.  I hope this isn't some consolation prize to tide us over while they ignore us with models. This is even worse for Fyreslayers. 

[eciu]

2 hours ago, Harioch said:

Maybe the real Gromthi is the  grudges we made along the way...

FTFY

Edited April 18, 2021 by eciu

[Beliman]

20 minutes ago, Barkanaut said:

I really want Kharadron Overlords wave 2 at this point. I love them but they feel like such a limited army to try and collect compared to the others. After that I want to see a third dwarf faction like the dwarf gollems hinted at in lore or something like that. Dwarves got too big of a shortstick in AoS at this point.  I hope this isn't some consolation prize to tide us over while they ignore us with models. This is even worse for Fyreslayers. 

100% agree. Fyreslayers, Ironjawz, Idoneth, etc... feel bad to collect. Really easy to have a 2000 points, but after some games, they feel that you play the exactly the same list.

Of course you can spam the same unit and say that it plays diferent (full balloons, full gunhaulers, 80 arkanauts, etc...) but that's not what I'm saying.

A second wave could help this small factions.

[silverstu]

32 minutes ago, Barkanaut said:

I really want Kharadron Overlords wave 2 at this point. I love them but they feel like such a limited army to try and collect compared to the others. After that I want to see a third dwarf faction like the dwarf gollems hinted at in lore or something like that. Dwarves got too big of a shortstick in AoS at this point.  I hope this isn't some consolation prize to tide us over while they ignore us with models. This is even worse for Fyreslayers. 

Me too- I'm a collector rather than a gamer- I love the Kharadrons, they are such a cool faction- they would be epic if they got expanded. Bugmansson was excellent and they do seem to be very prominent in the AoS universe so I'm hopeful.

3 hours ago, Whitefang said:

I an guessing it’s Grungni not Grombi 

As long as it means more dwarfs I'm happy! 

1 hour ago, JackStreicher said:

+1!

I’d love AoS-indies classic dwarves with crazy mounts, pikes and cool new heavily armoured units, which has a subfaction that can build an army out of all duardin models of AoS 😍

Yeah, I love Kharadron but there is definitely space for a Hold based AoS dwarf faction, away for the Sigmar cities. They've gotten really good at sculpting dwarfs I'd love to see what they come up with for a fresh take on classic dwarfs. 

[silverstu]

11 hours ago, Neverchosen said:

Overall, I am surprised how much I am enjoying Broken Realms. Do the campaign books from 40K and LOTR hold up as much as this ongoing narrative? 

I heard some negative things about Psychic Awakening.

I only bought/read one Blood of Baal as I'm a Nid fan- I found the fiction very bland and limited - there where a lot of Blood Angel rules - it just felt like they used the book to introduce primaris Blood Angels, you never really got the sense of lore progression, especially from the Nid side of things. The BR books sound great- tempted to buy Belakor - the story sounds good and Dwarfs being epic in it sort of seals the deal.