The Pestilence, March - ?, 2520 I.C.

The Pestilence, March - ?, 2520 I. C.

It was not long after the Battle of Ueblingen in February that Nurgle himself unleashed a great Pestilence across the land.  Many fell ill and many died.  Even the mortal followers of Nurgle were not immune to the wretched machinations of the Plague God.  While deamons continued to haunt the North Coast and coastal villages and towns, all campaign activity halted for many weeks as the forces of Nurgle hoped that the Great Plague that their master had set upon the Empire would do the work their armies could not: weaken it to the point that the realms of Karl Franz would fall with little difficulty.   

While the Pestilence was indeed devastating and caused great disruption to Nordland, the people's faith in Sigmar and in Mannan increased.  In the villages, towns, and cities efforts to combat the Plague were doubled, and doubled again.  Nonetheless, the plague swept through Nordland like a wind among the grass.  Many wizened old men and women quickly were felled by the Pestilence, but it carried away even those who were young and strong.  At first only children seemed immune, but in the end many of them died too.

It was in these difficult days that a focus of hope came from an unexpected quarter.  In the weeks after her victory at Ueblingen, Finari, Justiciar of the North, consolidated her forces, buried her dead, and burned the vile corpses of the Nurgle Lord's army.  Finari then sent out scouting parties down the coast road toward Hargendorf.  By the end of March these scouts could report that the raiders had withdrawn leaving behind a ruined husk of a town that had suffered terribly under the yoke of Lord of Decay.  Desiccated remains of Imperial soldiers were strew about the town's remains as were those of the former townspeople who were unable to escape.  All was devoid of all life and not even a bird's song could be heard, and the eerie, unnatural silence was only broken by the low roar of the sea.

As Finari's scouts searched the ruins of Hargendorf they investigated a horse-barn that was one of the few structures left intact.  As the scouts moved toward the building, suddenly the doors of the barn bust open and from them came a lone young man in his teens clad in tattered rags of Nordland livery (blue and yellow), screaming in a wild rage and brandishing two Gladii, short swords of the kind that Mannan, God of the Sea, carries to protect his home deep in the fastness of the wine dark sea.  Although his voice was shrill with hoarseness and his body was rent with wounds that would have felled far more robust men, the young man set upon the scouts as if they were his mortal enemies.  While the young man's heart and soul were strong his body was weak from wounds and the clear signs of torture.  His blows were easily turned by the scout's light armor and the young man soon collapsed and sobbed inconsolably.

The scouts carried young man back to the army at Ueblingen, his wounds were tended, and his body nursed back to health.  He soon ate and drank heartily, but would not speak other than to recite one of the many Litanies of the Faith sacred to Mannan, God of the Sea.  Those who tended him in these first days after he was found said that although he was almost totally silent the young man was dutiful and kind.  In the fullness of time Martin, Theogonist of Marburg came to him. 

While many died, many more lived, and when the Pestilence burned itself out, Count Thedoric was ready again to defend against the forces of Nurgle.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Ueblingen, 15 February 2520 I.C. (Imperial Calendar). After the defeat and death of Edouard von Marburg, Chief Forester of the North at Hagendorf the week after Lord Mundfilth ordered a force of Marauder infantry and cavalry supported by two magic users & some Furies down the road to the village of Ueblingen to search for more relics this time sacred go Nurgle that had been lost in the “Everchosen’s” retreat.

News of the Edouard's defeat reached Finari, Justiciar of the North at her castle in Schlaghugel late on the Sunday evening of February 2.  She immediately ordered her domains to a war footing.  Pegasus riders were sent to Count Thedoric at Salzenmund with the news.  Riders were sent pounding down the road to the great stone span at Bridgenorth that crosses the River Demst to raise the country.  By the time these reached the common at Belien about two-and-a-half leagues from Schlaghugel on Tuesday morning February 4 the village was already in a state of alarm.  The riders found the village militia had been called to the standard and the dispirited remains of Edouard's host huddled in the Belien's hostels, inns, and barns.  Much to their surprise, Finari's riders at Belien found some of the militia and townspeople from Ueblingen who had fled their town after learning of Edouard of Marburg's defeat.  Indeed, the riders that Finari had dispatched to Ueblingen, barely two miles from the site of Edouard's defeat Hargendorf, stopped sort of the village for fear that it too had fallen to the forces of Lord Mundfilth.  The town of Hargendorf was of great importance because it not only sits at the mouth of the Demst, but also is the western terminus of the Coastal Road that begins at Norden way in the eastern part of the county on the border with Ostland.  Thus, Finari was confined to protect the towns and village of Hargendorf, Beilen, and Schlaghugel with only the forces that she could muster from the western reaches of the county.

By February 7 Finari had mustered a portion of her forces at Schlaghugel and marched them to Bridgenorth where they spent the night.  She moved on to Beilen the next day where she gathered the local militia and the remnants of Edouard's shattered host.  The presence of the Justiciar who was well-known to have years of military success behind her restored the morale of the defeated soldiers and soon they were spoiling to for a fight which they knew must come soon.  After pausing several days to collect supplies and water, Finari moved north to Beilen on February 13.  Her scouts reached Ueblingen that afternoon to find the village still free from Nurgle scum with only the heartiest of residents still in their houses.  The scouts pressed on northwards on February 14 and encountered a large force of Marauders who were moving south from Hargendorf toward Ueblingen.  Finari pressed forward with her army on the afternoon of the 14th and occupied part of a large field outside the village.  The morning of February 15 Finari occupied a line of low hills to the west of the village and she awaited the large force of Marauders. A fierce battle took place that resulted in an Imperial victory.




Finari, Justiciar of the North, & her standard bearer Jan of Altdorf lead their chosen regiment of elite Nordland Swordsmen into battle.



The Imperial line receives the Blessing of Sigmar before the battle. Finari deployed her handgunners and the mercenary Marksmen of Miragalino on the large hill to her left while the rest of the army deployed to their right.



The Nurgle line. Lots of Chaos Hounds and x 15 Marauder cavalry!!!  

 The Imperial Army received the Blessing of Sigmar from Martin,  Theogonist of Marburg.

 Townspeople came out to watch the battle.

 The Nurgle forces charged headlong to meet Finari's host hoping for another quick victory.

 But, Finari was not as impetuous as Edouard had been.  It was she who got in the first series of charges against the Nurgle foe.

A squadron of Marauder horse scattered the townsfolk and threatened the Imperial right!

Finari was all engaged to her front and had to leave her Great Cannon on its own..... 

 The artillery crew was brave, but was cut down by the cavalry.

 Ont he Imperial left a Regiment of Marauder Horse and a pack of Chaos Hounds charged the Marksmen of Miragalino and the Talabecland Handgunners.......

The contest was short and uneven.  The Handgunners saw off the Hounds and the Marksmen proved the value of the coin Finari paid them by slaughtering an entire Regiment of Marauder Horse.  

 In the center the Knights Panther and the Nordland Spearmen defeated their foes.

 But, despite the presence of Finari and the Battle Standard to bolster their leadership the Helmgeist Halberdiers proved no match for the Marauders.

 The victorious Knights Panther suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by the forces of Chaos!!!!  But these were easily defeated by the superior weaponskill and leadership of the brave Knights!

After shattering the Halberdiers, the Marauders scattered a battalion of Handgunners.

But, the Nurgle center completely gave way and the forces of Chaos retired in disarray.

Finari received a blessing of thanks from the Theogonist....

... and the thanks of the grateful townspeople....while a bard composed a song of her victory.

The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

The Battle of Hagendorf, 1 February 2520 I.C.

While Yuletide 2519 passed without incident, the January fogs of 2520 on the North Coast were particularly thick and unnerving.  Superstitious fishermen began to tell tales of Kraken from the deep awakened by the Dark Gods, some claimed to see lightning and hear thunder in snow squalls, and when some fishing vessels and merchantmen were found dashed upon the rocks or disappeared altogether terror and fear again gripped the small Nordland coastal communities.   Lord Tykel von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet plied the fogbound waters in those early winter months.  While there were sightings of both Nurgle Plagueships and Norse raiders they always disappeared into the fog and avoided battle.  von Hargelfel’s Pegasus Squadrons were often grounded by the thick fog, and when they could fly found nothing. 

Elector Count Theoderic Gausser ordered local town and city militias to be increased, trained, and properly led, and even mobilized a number of state regiments to patrol the roads.  A sure harbinger of troubled times ahead manifested itself in the last months of 2519 when significant numbers of Flagellants began making their way to the North Coast.  As Gausser’s good friend and councilor Ludwig von Gallas of Zweedorf wrote to him at Yuletide 2519, “Flagellants congregating are a sure sign of famine, war, and doom.”  

It seemed as if von Gallas spoke with prophecy, for at the end of the month a small Nurgle raiding 
party slipped past von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet in the thick winter fog and made landfall near the village of Hargendorf.  The choice of landing was not random for Hargendorf was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen.”  

The Village of Hagendorf was a little fishing village is on the North Coast and was the birthplace of Aarchon the so-called “Everchosen” whose mother had bee ravished by a Norse Marauder.  Before the Storm of Chaos the village contained fewer than 250 souls.  Aachon's incursions swelled the population to nearly 400 with an influx of refugees.  Baron Luther von Hargendorf had worked to spread these refugees who chose to stay in Nordland among is domains.  The abandoned village of Schlaghugel was repopulated with approximately 300 refugees from Ostland and Kislev, and the Elector Count fortified the stone span at Bridgenorth.  Both Hargendorf and Gausser intended Bridgenorth to be a bastion against any Norscican marauders sailing up the River Demst and the newly raised Demst River Patrol and the Nordland Rangers were based at Bridgenorth.  The Baron and the Count decided that the settlement of Schlaghugel would serve as a base of operations for the western parts of the county.  A castle was hastily built there and Gausser's Justiciar of the North, Finari, was stationed there with a strong force of troops. All seemed well as the decade of the 2510s moved forward in terms of the security of the coastal regions - especially in the western part of the county and along the River Demst.  Sadly, Baron Hargendorf fell from his horse whilst hunting boar in the forest of Laureleorn in 2018 and left only a four year old boy, Georg to succeed him. 

Lord Mundfilth received a vision from Father Nurgle that in this small village were relics of the fallen “Everchosen.”  These had been buried with his mother on her death in 2487.  They were children's toys and a baby rattle inscribed with sigils of evil and bore the favor of the Dark Gods.  Lord Mundfilth wished these gathered and destroyed as the Dark Gods commanded all their followers to do with relics of the "Everchosen." So it was that to this village Lord Mundfilth entrusted his champion Gorloth to take the village and ransack it to find the relics. He did not anticipate an Imperial force led by Edouard von Marburg, Chief Forester of the North, barred his way with a substantial force of men.

The townsfolk see the armies assemble on the plain outside the town.
 
 Brave Halberdiers and Greatswords stand against the enemy.



The forces of Nurgle were many and vile.
 
Edouard's army was strong and stalwart, but would prove no match for the Nurgle host on this day.

 

 Edouard's position was a strong one, but he soon became too anxious to get to grips with the forces of Nurgle.......

Edouard was impetuous and rushed to get to grips with the Nurgle foe.

The vile legions of Nurgle awaited the impetuous Master Forester......

The Warriors of Chaos with the Mark of Nurgle charged the Imperial Greatswordsmen and slaughtered them.

On the Imperial left the Knights Panther faced off against a group of Hounds and Marauder Horse.  The Knights easily disposed of both these vile units, but were taken completely out of the battle.

The Estalian Handgunners with Edouard leading them were caught by the Spawn......

The Halberdiers were routed by a unit of Marauders (horrid die rolling here)......

The Nordland Spearmen tried to hold the hill with a Great Cannon and Wisenmund the Grey.

But the vile forces of Nurgle slaughtered the Great Cannon Crew and Wisenmund the Grey fell victim to the Spawn!!

The Spawn and the Marauders then turned on the brave Nordlanders and butchered them like the sheep.

Edouard had succeeded in rallying his Estalian mercenaries and they made a brave last stand against the combined might of Nurglings and Marauders before they were overcome and slain.

The disaster at Hagendorf came as a great blow to Count Theodoric.  Edouard von Marburg, Master Forester of the North, was not among the survivors and his body was never recovered.  Some of the Estalians who were with him at the last rearguard and survived said that he fought to the end, till his sword was broken and his shield shivered before he was overcome by a Marauder's axe, while others say they last saw him being overwhelmed by a horde of Nurglings.  In ether event, his death was a setback to the Imperial cause and Theodoric issued orders across his realm to put the entire county on a war footing.  He also send Pegasus riders winging south to Altdorf to inform the Emperor that a new incursion of Nurgle devotees had descended on the North Coast and that he would require Imperial aid.  While all of these things were in motion news came of another battle near the coast.

Disclaimer & About My Blog

                                                     John Blanche
This is a blog dedicated to the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th Edition.  I have played every edition of WHFB from the first to the Age o'Siggy-baby when I stopped.  I think 6th edition is the ultimate expression of the game and I still play it. I have a pile of figures left over from the Glory Days of Games-Workshop & this blog is a reflection of games with friends and a narrative campaign of a chaos incursion of the province of Nordland.  The forces of Chaos are mostly Nurgle, but there are some Chaos Undivided battles in here as well.  The idea is that in the retreat from Middenheim after Archaon, the so-called "Everchosen," the various chaos forces were harried by the Forces of Light and in their haste to retire back across the Sea of Claws to the safety of Norsica and the Chaos Wastes, they left artifacts hidden in various Imperial provinces that were sacred to their respective deity.  There were three parts of Nurgle's Crown that were scattered about in Nordland and the Lord of Corruption ordered one of his most favored sons - Lord Mundfilth - to recover these sacred artifacts.

This blog also contains my version of what happened to Archaon based on my reading of the fluff.  In my opinion the Four Dark Powers would certainly not have put up with the fact that their momentary unity and singleness of purpose had been destroyed by the Forces of Light.  It is clear that Archaon had failed them utterly and I just do not see them saying to him: "Oh, it's all right Archaon!  Don't worry about it.  Let's wait a century or two and we'll have another go."  Nope.  Sorry, GW, I just don't buy it.. 

So in my opinion, Archaon was captured and then BAD things happened to him.  He then disappears from the record to wallow in some horrible end devised by the Four Dark Powers.  I also argue that the unity of the Four Powers did not long survive Archaon's defeat and they took to squabbling among themselves as they had for eons before.

Of course, this blog is only MY opinion.  If you enjoy it, great!  If not, sorry, it is just my opinion. :-)

The First Incursion of Lord Mundfilth:

An Excerpt from the Great Chronicle of Robert of Norden

  

  Map of the County of Nordland (https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Nordland)     
  
     The so-called “Everchosen” Archon’s defeat before the walls of Middenhiem in 2504 resulted in a rapid retreat of the armies of the Dark Gods to the north and east throughout the remainder of that year.  The seemingly unstoppable warbands of the spring and summer became leaderless, dispirited, and disorganized mobs streaming back from whence they had come.  Behind them, like vengeful ravening dogs pursuing deer in the hunt, came the swords and axes of Imperials, Kislevites, Elves, and Dwarves.  These forces of the Grand Alliance gave no quarter to the disheartened forces of the Dark Powers, and just as palls of black smoke from burning settlements had been the harbinger of Aarchon’s advance throughout the spring and summer, palls of black smoke from burning pyres of bodies of beastman, Skaven, and human alike served to mark the puruit of Karl Franz and his elector counts as they recovered lands in Middenland, Ostermark, and Kislev throughout the autumn and winter.    

            On the Nordland coast the grand armada of Norse raiders that had descended like a gale in the night and driven the Imperial fleet back to its base at Deitershafen, receded like a dense fog burning off in a warm autumn sun.  Without the powerful will of Archaon and the unity of the Dark Gods to hold them, the Norse once again returned to squabbling among themselves like brats struggling over a toy at Yuletide in the muck.  In the early winter of 2504 Lord Tykel von Hargelfels, Admiral of the North, led a rebuilt armada of Wolfships and Greatships to scour the North Coast.  In a matter of weeks he had swept the seas of the Norse raiders who retreated before him without giving battle.  The Elector Count of Nordland, Theodoric Guesser, had gone to the East with the Emperor to harry the retreating remnants of Archaon’s host, but Martin of Altdorf, Grand Master of the Triton Order of Knights, led many expeditions against the beasts of Chaos in the Forest of Shadows.  By Yuletide thanks could be given in Sigmarite and Mannanian temples that Martin of Altdorf and the brave men or Nordland had cleared the Great Northern Road from Middenheim to the sea.   The Great Northern Road remained free from vile children of the Dark Powers for many a year. 

    By Yule 2504 Archaon’s army had been destroyed or driven north of Kislev.  The Sea of Claws was free of Norse raiders, the Forest of Shadows was largely free of Chaos beasts, and the Elves of Laurlorn had returned to merry friendship with their Nordland neighbors.  While there were those like Frederich Weirde of Altdorf who saw only defeat in victory, many others in the Empire disagreed.  To be sure, the Yuletide Horn of Plenty in 2504 was indeed to be found wanting, the spirit of the people was merrier than it had been for many a year, and Nordlanders looked forward to the coming years with hope and satisfaction that their mettle had been tested and they had emerged stronger from that test.

            Across the next decade the Empire did as it had always done since the days of Sigmar: it rebuilt its towns and cities, roads and bridges, farms and fields.  The Emperor and his Council took stock of the Empire’s condition in the spring of 2505 and soon realized that Archaon’s incursions had been confined to a relatively small area.  To be in the path of his host meant certain destruction, but the necessity for the “Everchosen” to keep his forces close to him meant that his path of destruction was narrow and the devastated lands could be restored with less effort and money than at first many feared.  In the summer of 2505 the Emperor called a council of Elector Counts to Altdorf.  The College of Magic and the Grand Theogonist were consulted as to what had become of Archaon and asked the haunting question: "Would he rise again?"  While wizard's divined, read the stars and movement of birds, and while Theogonists sought answers in prayer, no one knew the answer to the Council’s question.   

Wild theories seemed to sprout from the ground with the crops growing in the fields that spring.  Many stories claimed that Archaon had been betrayed by the treachery of the same Skaven assassin that had slain Valten, but that the “Everchosen” had been restored to power and would again rise to power and invade the Empire that very summer.  One Prophet of Doom in Nuln told that he beheld a vision from Sigmar himself that displayed a confrontation between Archaon and the Four Dark Gods.  The Dark Powers berated Archaon for his failure and were about to tear him asunder before the “Everchosen” drew his blade “Deamon Slayer” and subdued each of the Four in turn before setting himself up as the unified Dark Lord who would come again with unconquerable power.  It was purely a Wurtbader (the capital of the province of Stirland) joke to tell of how the fickle Dark Gods stripped Archaon of his powers and turned him into an ox to serve as a beast of burden for a Stirland peasant.   These and other rumors and gossips, some amusing some intentionally terrifying, were abroad in the land in these first years after Archaon’s defeat, but trying to find the truth of the matter was as easy as trying to capture the time in a bottle.   

            Archaon’s fate greatly worried the Emperor and his Council.  Karl Franz set the most powerful Imperial magicians and the most wizened Sigmarite clergy to discover what had become of Archaon after his retreat out of Norsca into the Chaos Wastes.  While the magicians and clergy were able to definitely prove that the tide of chaos had receded through Norsca and even beyond the Sea of Chaos in the far north, they failed to divine anything about Archaon’s whereabouts or what had become of him. 

            In the spring of 2507 the Emperor himself led a large expedition into Norsca.   Karl Franz’s intentions were multifold.  He first wished to exact a measure of revenge for Archaon’s incursions on the Norse who had been so large a part of the “Everchosen’s” host.  He also feared there might be another incursion by Arcahon, and so Karl Franz hoped to move the “seat of war” from the rebuilding Imperial provinces to the Norse lands.  Last and most importantly, Karl Franz hoped he might discover the truth about Archaon’s fate.  In March the Emperor directed Lord Tykel von Hargelfels, Admiral of the North, to sweep the seas of any Norse raiders.  von Hargelfels completed his task by the middle of April after meeting meager resistance.  In May Karl Franz assembled a great fleet at Dietershafen and led an army of 20,000 across the Sea of Claws to the Bay of Blades.  The Imperial forces splashed ashore near the Altar of the Crimson Harvest, a shrine sacred to Khorne in the territory of the Skaeling tribe, and laid the area waste.  Many Skaelings are devotees of the Blood God, but they would not confront him openly with so a large and powerful an army.  Without the power of the Dark Powers their devotees in Norsca found themselves without allies, firm leadership, and powerful magic.  Nevertheless, a number of small skirmishes were fought under the leadership of aspiring Khornate champions, and while the Skaelings fought bravely, the Emperor destroyed them all and reduced the devotees in Khorne in both size and number. Karl Franz then marched to the Hall of Sneagr, where he chief of the Skaeling tribe held his seat.  Snegar, Chief of the Skelings, met the Emperor as a friend, and sought to treat with him.  Snegar also brought Beorg of the Bjornling tribe, and Alfric of the Graelings to their meeting.  The Norse chieftains threw themselves on the Emperor’s mercy.  They brought silver, gold, and ancient weapons of great power as gifts.  They brought food and wine in abundance and pledged never to make war upon the Empire again.  While pleasant words were exchanged, gifts and gold exchanged, treaties of peace sealed, and the security of Imperial merchants in Norsca assured in perpetuity, Karl Franz cared little for these things.  He knew well that all of these things would mean nothing the moment that the last Imperial lancers left Norsca.  If the promises the Norscan princes made lasted a season or more, so much the better, but the Emperor had no such expectations or even hopes for what he, his wizards, and Theoganists sought was information and they hoped that they had gleaned more of that commodity when they departed the hall of Snegar in early July than the Norscan princes wished to give.

            After feasting and spending mid-summer’s day with three Norscan chieftains, Karl Franz then moved north and west across the windswept tundra into the land of the Vargs.  The Varg tribe held lands on the south coast of the Sea of Chaos.  Surely, the Emperor thought, if any information on Archaon’s fate would be found in Norsca chances were good that it would be found among the Vargs.  His army swept up to the walls of Doomkeep in mid-July.  Like the Skaelings, the Vargs, devotees of Slaanesh, the so-called Prince of Chaos, also refused to fight Karl Franz in the open field but retreated behind the walls of Doomkeep.  The Emperor possessed neither the time nor the siege train to reduce Doomkeep and Raylon, chief of the Vargs, refused Karl Franz’s attempts at negotiation.  Thus, thus the Emperor contented himself with laying waste to the surrounding country.  Wherever his lances went wizards and theogonists went with them scouring the countryside for information regarding Archaon’s fate. 

            The shimmering lights in the northern sky heralded the coming of the brief autumn in Norsca.  Snows and bitter weather would come early.  While the powers of the Dark Gods seemed on the wane, the Emperor had no desire to be fooled into complacency and caught unawares.  In early August, the Imperial army returned to the Bay of Blades and thence back across the Sea of Claws to Deiterhafen before dispersing for the winter.  The Emperor was back in Altdorf well before Yuletide. 

            The campaign yielded little in terms of booty or diplomacy, but these things were not the true object of Karl Franz’s expedition.  News of Archaon’s fate was shrouded in story, rumor, and half-truths.  From the hushed stories, tall tales, and rumor the Emperor’s wizards and theogonists pieced together a narrative that Archaon returned to the Northern Wastes, to the very Realm of Chaos itself where time and space move in mysterious ways, where minutes may seem like an eternity and where an eon may seem like a day.   Here it was where Archaon met face-to-face with the Dark Gods.  The Four Powers berated their Everchosen for his inexplicable failure before the gates of Middenheim. 


Beset by enemies from all sides who possessed immense power, Archaon stood little chance and he was quickly captured.  

His sword, armor, and helm were all stripped from him, and his soul was left bare for the torture and pleasure of the Dark Gods themselves.   At first the Four Powers were unified in their torture and in Archaon’s ultimate fate.  All stories agreed of the depths of depravity of Slaanesh’s torture, Nurgle’s filth ridden punishments, Tzneech’s painful transformations, and Khorne’s blood lust.  But, as the powers each took their turn at the torture they began to squabble amongst themselves as to what was to be Archaon’s ultimate fate.   It was said that Tzeentch wished Archaon’s soul to be stripped from him layer by layer and piece by piece with each being cast into a different plane of oblivion so that they could never be recovered.  It was said that Khorne wished Archaon bound him to the outer walls of the Fortress of the Damned with golden chains for the sport of deamonic hordes and as a lesson to other followers of the Dark Gods that the punishment for failure would be swift and unpleasant.  It was said that Slaanesh wished Archaon imprisoned alone in the deepest dungeon of the Writhing Fortress so that he would be forgotten without even a tormentor for company; and it was said that Nurgle wished Archaon transformed into a tree standing in a swamp which would forever be in rotting decay. 

            It was not long before the disagreement between the Four Powers turned from a torture of Archaon to outbursts of violence between themselves.  The Dark Gods forgot Archaon and in their selfish wretchedness turned to rend each other without mercy or remorse and the fragile unity that had come together in the person of the Everchosen proved ephemeral.  Whatever the truth was, one thing seemed clear and this eased Karl Franz’s mind: Archaon had met an unpleasant, if deserved end, and the unity of the Dark Gods was at an end.  

            For the next decade there was peace in the Empire for those who wished it.  In Nordland the roads through the Forest of Shadows remained clear, Herring returned to the fishing grounds in abundance and fishermen grew fat and wealthy on selling the salted fish to the southern provinces.  To the Emperor’s surprise many of the Norscan tribes kept to the promises of peace and trade that they had made to him in 2507, and goods flowed across the Sea of Claws with few incidents.  Lord Tykel von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet brought what little piracy there was under control, his fleet turned the Sea of Claws into an Imperial lake.  Trade and commerce flowed easily to and from the great city of Marienburg, and even the Wood Elves of Lauelorn happily traded with Imperial and Norscan merchants alike.    

            But by 2515 rumors crept across the Sea of Claws that powerful minions of the Dark Gods was again stirring in the Chaos Wastes.  The depraved champion of Slaanesh, Lord Mundskrog, together with a mighty warband descended on the Vargs and subjugated them once again.  Lord Mundskrog’s brother, Lord Mundfilth, devoted to Grandfather Nurgle came across the Sea of Chaos spreading the foul influence of the Plague God across Norsca and subjugating the Skaelings.  In the early months of 2517 Imperial merchants in Norsca began to retire south as quickly as they could bringing with them tales of corruption and depravity.  Those Imperial subjects foolish enough to stay in Norsca after midsummer 2517 were never heard from again.  By the end of that year Plague Fleets began appeared on the Nordland coast with the coming of the winter fog.   Monsters of the deep stirred again driven by the malice of Nurgle.  The Watch Towers of the Nordland Shore were again manned, training for local militias enhanced, and Lord Tykel von Hargelfels’s Northern Fleet brought back to a wartime footing.  In October 2518 Tykel suffered his first defeat at the hands of Lord Mundfilth when the latter’s Plague Fleet descended on the Nordland fishing fleet near Mannan’s Teeth.   

Lord Mundfilth's Plagueship, "The Ark of Filth" plies the Sea of Claws looking for Imperial or Marienburger merchants to prey upon.


Tykel and his wizard councillors had sensed the Nurgle Lord’s coming on the winds of magic and moved to intercepted his fleet.  In a brief but sharp skirmish was defeated by the Nurgle Lord, but his intervention allowed the fishing fleet to scatter without loss.

 The two fleets charged at each other....

Lord Mundfilth's Plagueship, "The Ark of Filth" left a trail of putrid slime behind it! 

A general melee ensued between the two fleets.

"The Ark of Filth" plowed through the center of the Imperial line scattering the brave defenders of the Nordland coast.

While the fishing fleet was saved and the Nurgle fleet withdrew to the North across the Sea of Claws, an uneasy peace settled in over the Nordland coast.  Coastal Watchmen were set, patrols of Pegasus Squadrons were mobilized, fishermen again armed their boats with whatever missile weapons, magic spells and sigils of protection they could.  Yet, 2519 passed without incident.  Rumors came south from Norsca about power struggles among the forces of the Dark Gods.  The few Norscan merchants came to Nordland’s docks that year told only of anarchy and chaos at home, and of those Nordland merchants brave enough to venture North across the Sea of Claws few returned which encouraged those who remained to find ports of call in Ostland or the friendly docks of Marienburg to the south.