Legion 06 (january 2006).pdf

LEGION

issue six - january 2006

MORE ON THE FIMIR

HELLO

Welcome to this special issue of Legion,

dedicated to the Fimir as support for the

article in issue 25. Here are two origin myths

for the Fimir and thoughts on the lands they

inhabit. Throughout you will also find

sketches from John Keane, early ideas for the

illustrations in the final article. This page

shows an alternative border from Mike

Rooth. More sketches are found in Alfred

Nuñez Jr's Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6

stats, available separately.

considered a holding action. It was felt that a long-term,

and likely post-Slann, solution was necessary. On this

basis, P:WB was expanded into a Racial Configuration

Program: the Geno-Priests would construct a new race,

or modify an existing one, with specific abilities to

control and destroy warp entities. Once again, resource

limitations meant the Geno-Priests could not build a

wholly new race. It was decided that the new race would

be constructed from the relatively fresh racial stock of

Humans, combined with that of ourselves.

Divination Scans were targeted at larger congregations

of Human tribes, specifically looking for individuals

demonstrating warp-control techniques. A number of

suitable specimens were identified, but one stood out

as having exceptional intelligence, physical strength and

warp-control abilities. Additionally, this individual was

female, making her suitable for in-utero transformation.

The Geno-Priest in charge of the project self-modified

his glands to render his cells compatible with that of

Humans, as well as adding in sequences identified as

enhancing warp-control capabilities. It should be noted

at this point that his resources and facilities were limited,

and procedures were necessarily basic.

Record of the Old Slann

A carved crystal fragment (a significant portion is

broken off and missing), translated from the Old Slann

by Kerielle of Saphery, Librarian of the Tower of

Hoeth:

Eyes of: Blessed Tech-Priest Goolaump

Hand of: Humble Tech-Scribe Adulp

In-utero transformation involves natural coupling and

birth processes. The Geno-Priest took advantage of the

target females normal interaction with warp entities to

make himself known to her, and he was believed by her

to be a warp entity himself. As a priest (of sorts) herself,

she was to a degree isolated from others of her kind,

which facilitated the interaction. At this time, support-

Slann were withdrawn to work on other vital projects,

in the belief that the fathering Geno-Priest could oversee

the remainder of the work with a single Elf technician.

With hindsight, this was a mistake [crystal tablet

broken at this point]

Following the Catastrophic Gate Collapse and

Annihilation of the Old Ones, surviving members of

High Slann Control discussed, organised and

implemented a variety of damage-control and clean-up

projects. One of these was Project: Warp-Bane. The aim

of P:WB was to seek and destroy intruding warp entities

and limit further incursions, with a long-term goal of

complete eradication and permanent control. In the

short-term, P:WB involved specialist Slann and support

troops, but due to resource losses this could only be

Editors: The usual suspects.

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A WARPSTONE PUBLICATION

HELLO

IN THE LANDS

OF THE FIMIR

The Fimir are described as living in places casually

referred to as marsh and moor, swamp, fenland and

bog. All these words conjure up images of remote,

desolate places where earth and water meet.

Certainly, these are images we should evoke when

we talk of the Fimir, but it is wrong to assume all

these places are the same. The way the scenery is

described to players is important as it creates

atmosphere. A barren windswept moor can be

enormously atmospheric if described well, but the

same description every time the characters encounter

Fimir not only loses its freshness, it also short-

changes the Fimir and the range of landscapes they

inhabit. Think about the shape of the different

landscapes, the types of plant and animal life living

in them, the quality of the air and weather and the

different challenges characters might face when

travelling across each of them. General descriptions

of the different lands of the Fimir are given below.

Use them and play with them to develop

atmospheres of loneliness and isolation, but ones

in which the players and their characters can always

find something new to look at and think about. Play

up different aspects that might be of interest to

different characters: a hunter will notice the different

birds and animals, a herbalist may be interested in

what plants are found in the different regions, a

Dwarf may feel more comfortable with the lonely

sea cliffs than he does with the lonely open moors.

Use things like the presence of medicinal plants

(sigma-foil), spell components (wing feathers from

a bird of prey, bog octopus eyes, water beetles), and

valuable animal products (beaver pelts, rare birds

eggs) as hooks to draw the PCs to a certain region

in the first place.

mosses and lichens. The heather tends to grow on

drier ground, a fact used by knowledgeable rangers

and travellers to avoid treacherous bogs. The ground

underfoot is often springy, thanks to the thick soil

and heather, but it can be hard to run though this

coarse vegetation. Trees are scarce because the wind

tends to batter and uproot exposed saplings, but

tough and gnarly shrubs and yellow-flowered gorses

cling to exposed and weathered rock surfaces. Curlew

and grouse are common moorland birds, with foxes,

merlins and buzzards being their typical predators,

which also prey on the rabbits. Wild goats and sheep

are found wandering over the landscape, and possibly

herds of deer. Whilst upland moors are sometimes

too exposed and dry for the Fimir, they are often

suitably desolate and craggy, and when they bring

down their mists these areas become quite appealing.

Swamps: There are not too many proper swamps in

the northern Old World, and they are more

commonly found in warmer southern climes.

However, swamps are essentially flooded forests and

The Moors: Moorland is typically windswept,

perhaps gently undulating or with smooth high hills

and streams running in rocky gullies. The ground is

often completely carpeted with heather, so the late

summer landscape is coloured pink or purple or

white, with occasional rocky outcrops covered with

IN THE LANDS

there is no reason why there shouldnt be a few

swamps in low-lying regions of the heavily forested

Old World if you want them. Treat them as hidden

places, impossible to navigate on foot and best

traversed by canoe or raft, with only a few patches

of drier ground - a clan of Fimir living in crude,

rotting houseboats may provide a novel encounter

for PCs and players who think theyve seen it all.

The trees should be suitably tangled and twisted,

their branches laden with shaggy lichens and fungi

in the autumn. With few landmarks, swamps should

be places where it is dreadfully easy to get hopelessly

lost. There is a lot of life in them too, from clouds

of annoying biting flies in summer, to the fish and

the frogs, to coypu, water-voles and waterfowl.

Throw in a few snakes too, either swimming through

the water or slithering along vines and branches

above the PCs.

Bogs: Bogs are regions of ground where water

collects, but where there is no actual circulation of

fresh water. There are no rivers or streams to carry

away waste products, and they are fed only rainwater,

which lacks any nutrients. The accumulation of dead

plant material makes the still water acidic (after a

while the water stains anything in it a dark rusty

orange colour - the lighter-skinned Shearl and Fimm

Warriors often get stained this colour). This means

only plants able to cope with acidic, low nutrient

and waterlogged conditions grow there. Sphagnum

moss, or peat moss, is a dominant plant in bogs,

acid-loving and extremely water absorbent. In the

Old World this moss has two useful properties - its

absorbency makes it ideal for babies nappies and it

can also be used to treat wounds (the acidity from

the bog water it absorbs helps control infection).

Other plants of interest include the cranberry and

the carnivorous insect-eating sundew and pitcher

plant (mutant varieties of these are of obvious

interest to GMs). Perhaps because of the limited

plant life, animal life is sparser here too. Insects,

snakes, various amphibians and a few small rodents

are here, preyed upon by larger birds. Fish are not

found, as the acidity of the water is a problem for

them. The smell of marsh gas and stagnant pools

can be strong. Of all the environments the Fimir

inhabit, this is probably the harshest due to the

relative scarcity of useful plants, animals and fish.

Fimir who live in the bogs are likely to feel that they

have been forced there by the Humans who

dominate more fertile land. This resentment

combined with sheer need for resources means bog-

dwelling Fimir can be a serious scourge of the nearest

Human communities and travel routes. Nearby

Human communities often rely on digging peat for

fuel and for sale. Large holes where peat has been

dug for centuries fill with rain water and sometimes

connect with river systems, forming fertile shallow

broads, navigable by small boats.

Fens: These are also low-lying areas of land where

water collects, but there is circulating fresh water.

The eastern fens of Albion are a prime example in

the Old World. Here can be found numerous islands

of various sizes and height above the waterline, set

in a landscape of broad lakes, ponds and marshes.

The water is full of life: fish, frogs, snails, otters and

water voles. Bird life is abundant. Long grasses and

especially reeds dominate the land and shallower

waters; those in canoes or on rafts can easily hide if

they keep their heads down. As the land is flat, the

winds can be strong, and very cold in winter. The

trees are often spindly and flexible, and have a

distinctive lean indicating the dominant wind

direction. Humans have begun digging ditches to

drain parts of the fens to use the excellent dark soil

for arable farming.

Estuaries: Tidal marshes are dynamic places, where

water levels rise and fall with the tide, creating islands,

rivers and pools. For this reason, they can be

treacherous for those who lack local knowledge and

complexes, but the more nomadic clans may over-

winter in the dunes when the mists roll in off the

grey seas to settle over the hills and hollows. Dunes

are notoriously dangerous to burrow into (unless

youre a rabbit), usually collapsing onto anyone

foolish enough to try. However, an earth elemental

can stabilize a tunnel system for a time.

understanding. Here, saltwater meets fresh, and this

brings plant life that can survive the changes. As

well as fish and seabirds, there are crabs and shellfish.

Underfoot is a thick matting of dead grasses and

seaweeds, fish bones, dead crab legs and carapaces

and seashells. The smell of salt, rotting seaweed and

dead fish is strong in the air. As entry points to the

sea, estuaries are often sites of Human settlements

taking advantage of ships coming from inland out

to sea and vice versa, and this might make them a

focus of Fimir raids. However, salt marshes are of

no use for growing crops, so farming communities

do not develop here.

Cliffs: Battered by winds at the top, showered with

salt spray at the bottom and often terribly cold along

the Sea of Claws, cliffs are seemingly inhospitable

yet often covered with life. There are nesting seabirds

by the hundreds if not thousands, small snakes,

lizards (eating eggs, no doubt) and insects on the

cliff face, not to mention crabs and snails and other

sea animals in rock pools at the bottom. The rock is

often covered with lichens, tough mosses and

heathers, and other hardy flowering plants (as well

as thick masses of bird droppings which some

enterprising souls gather for fertilizer); at the base

of the cliff seaweeds of red, green and dark brown

cling in rubbery clumps, full of small snails, some

of them edible. Centuries of waves smashing into

the rock can open up crevices, working them into

passages and caves where the Fimir or worse

creatures crawling from the sea may be found. This

is another bleak landscape, but a noisy, lively one as

the winds and waves crash against the rock and the

seagulls call and screech.

Sand Dunes: Large, deeply undulating dune

complexes are fantastically atmospheric places. The

sandy dunes are often high with very steep sides.

Deep hollows (called slacks) form between the

peaks and when youre in one, it seems that youre

cut off from the outside world as the surrounding

dunes block even the sound of the wind coming in

off the sea. The silence can be terribly eerie, but the

sensation of utter isolation is enormously appealing

to the Fimir. The dunes are held together by the

deep roots of densely-growing maram grass with

its sharp-edged leaves, as well as many other grasses,

and dotted over with sea holly, yellow-flowered

evening primrose and pink-flowered sea stock. In

summer, the dunes are alive with insects,

grasshoppers, butterflies and moths. Rabbits and

nesting sea birds, lizards and even hedgehogs are

found here. Few Fimir permanently settle in dune

A Skave

n’s Tale

ale

hurried off to unblock the openings to their Skavenhold.

However, the Skaven who had been shaved by Nurgle

were in a sorry state. Bleeding, earless and with only

one eye left each, they fled from the sun, scared and

confused. Nurgles sickly touch infected them through

their wounds and changed them in many ways: their

skins changed colour, their bellies became swollen and

they all became very, very stupid. Whilst the hair grew

back on the Skaven shaved by the Horned Rat, those

held in Nurgles mucky palm remained hairless for the

rest of their days. In time, Nurgles shaven stopped being

Skaven altogether, and the real Skaven forced them out

of the Skavenhold, up into the world of men.

he Horned Rat and the Great Lord of Chaos Nurgle

have always been the best of friends. During the Time

of Chaos, they spent years together sorting and sifting

through the flotsam and jetsam of the world, trying to

outdo one another with the interesting titbits they found

lurking in its cracks. They worked together on creating

wonderful new diseases and afflictions for the Skaven

to carry through their tunnels to every known land,

laughing and smiling at each success, learning from every

failure.

One day, the two gods had nothing in particular to do,

and were on the point of becoming bored when Nurgle

suggested a game, more of a contest really: to see which

of them could shave the most Skaven in an hour. The

Horned Rat thought this an excellent idea, and the pair

went straightaway to the nearest Skavenhold. Nurgle

bunged up all but two openings with dirty old rags, and

the Horned Rat put his mouth to one opening and blew

hard until all the Skaven rolled and tumbled down the

passages and popped out the remaining hole. With the

dazed Skaven in a huge heap between them, the gods

set their hourglass and began shaving.

And that, my little ratlings, is how the Fimir came into

being.

The Horned Rat was armed with his mighty sword, its

single razor edge made of thousands of incisors pulled

from the jaws of the greatest Skaven heroes and warriors

to have passed beyond; Nurgle wielded a short, blunt

and rusty knife, its handle bound round and round with

greasy string. The Horned Rat shaved his Skaven with

finesse, Nurgle with gusto. The Horned Rats sword slid

neatly along tail and under armpit, barely leaving hint

of a nick or shaving rash, and he was soon in the lead,

piling up Skaven nude as they the day they popped from

the womb. Nurgle, despite his immense enthusiasm, had

less success with his rusty blade. He lopped off ears,

mutilated tail-ends and made such a mess of turning

each Skaven head that he always gouged out one eyeball.

sketch for unsused art

Of course, the Horned Rat won, as he always does in

the end. Nurgle was disappointed in his performance,

but the Lord of Decay has always been a good sport

and was not bitter about it. He immediately had another

suggestion for a different game to play, this time

involving rotten old vegetables, worms and any Elves

they could find.

As the gods wandered off, the shaved Skaven picked

themselves up and dusted off the furry shavings. The

Skaven shaved by the Horned Rat shivered a little, but

the sun was bright and they were not too cold as they

early draft of cover layout

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