Lore of the Minis (Patreon)

I'm hard at work on the April Battle Pack (new preview this week!) but I thought I'd take the time to make a post about this month's Battle Pack, specifically some of the lore material written about each mini. These characters don't exist in a vacuum, but are part of a growing narrative setting.

Wydowslayer | The Magnai

A bereaved warrior-dame of the magnai'kairn'khazak, the 'great folk from under the mountains.' The magnai live a harsh life surrounded by enemies, and the deaths of friends and loved-ones is an all-too-common occurrence.

Some who lose their beloved to the foes of the magnai are so overcome with grief and rage that they take up oaths of doom, declaring themselves to be the living dead, those who no longer take joy in life but seek only to rejoin their loved ones, and to take as many of their race's enemies with them as possible. These grief-stricken warriors become known as Wydowslayers.

Eschewing armor, for it is those who still love life that seek to preserve their own, Wydowslayers clad themselves only in their traditional burial adornments. Armed with mighty weapons marked with runes of death and vengeance, they hurl themselves into combat, seeking to drown their grief in a tide of blood - if not their own, then that of the foe.

Ironskarn War-Grunt | The Ironskarn War-Horde

The savage tribes of the Veskarn Steppes had long been regarded as backwards and barbaric by the other civilizations of the world; superstitious primitives who sought to simply dwell in balance with the wilderness rather than exploit the resources of their land to elevate themselves. Pushed further and further from their ancestral lands, the tribes of Veskarn reached a crisis point: if they were to survive, they had to find a way to fight back and destroy their  oppressors.

The shaman of the Veskarn called out to guardian spirits, the souls of their ancestors, to the elements... anything that would help them overcome their enemies. From deep below, in the burning heart of the world, something heard their call, an ancient power of fire and metal, and the tribes of Veskarn began to change...

Where once the natural order had been preserved, now the land is ripped open to be plundered of ore and oil. The way of flame and forge is in ascendance. Foundries and factories rise on every hill and cliff, and once-clear skies are black with smog and soot, as howling winds blow ash and embers across the land. The industry of war devours the steppes, and the tribes of Veskarn have a new name: Ironskarn.

Skitterkin Gutter-Blade | Clan Wyzerd

Born of ancient creation magic gone horribly wrong, the skitterkin race is a verminous blight upon the world. Deep below the world they make their lairs, in ancient sunken cities of some lost race that has vanished from memory, always scheming to rise up and destroy the hated races of the surface.

The skitterkin are a fractious race, their 'civilization' divided into many different clans and cabals. The Clan Wyzerd are a strain of the vermin-folk that have developed a predilection for blending ruinous sorcery with arcane engineering, creating fiendish machinery and technological weapons of frightening and disastrous destructive potential, often for both the skitterkin and their enemies alike.

Clan Wyzerd's wych-engineering has become so prevalent that augmentations can be found among even lowly gutter-blades, the rank and file warriors of the skitterkin race. A Wyzerd gutter-blade that proves themselves useful may earn a wychtech limb or two, the better to serve the diabolical goals of their verminous masters.

Eternal Legionnaire | The Dynasty of Nul

Rulers and monarchs of the northern lands of Uhmber, the Dynasty of Nul have reigned for thousands of years. Their eternal kingdom is fueled by necrotechnology - the art of raising the dead using magic-powered machinery.

Long ago the sorcerer-alchemists of the House of Nul learned how to distill the substance known as necrogen - an elixir that grants the imbiber immortality, at the cost of giving up their mortal form and existing as the undead. The House of Nul conquered all of their rivals with their unliving legions, laying the foundation for their eternal dynasty.

The longer the monarchs of the Dynasty endure, the more necrogen they require to prolong their undeath. With the magical resources of their own lands nearly exhausted, the Dynasty of Nul turns their attention to the outside world, readying their immortal legions for a campaign of conquest and exploitation so that their reign may truly be eternal.
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I hope you enjoyed these snippets of story. Every miniature I make has a backstory to it that will fit with the lore of others. There will be more to come!