Introduction
This chapter will go trough and present some of the basics of the human factions in both Row and Aos. Being human ourselves it is easy to see how this faction, above even the other more humanoid fractions, had been the one that authors have found the easiest to relate to and write about. Fantasy, or at least in the way that is understood is highly focused on western experiences and western cultures. This is particularly true when it comes to what kind of people and factions that the audience is meant to relate to.
WHen other cultures are used in western fantasy they are often used to describe the other or the strange na virgin. Orientalism is very much alive and well in western fantasy. In this essay will I discuss how the ways that warhammer talks about humanity has changed, and what has stayed the same. I will begin to discuss the various kinds of humans that exist in the old world, before going over to discuss those that can be found in Age of Sigmar, as one is a continuation of the other.
This is a way for the readers not familiar with the tone and setting of Warhammer to ease into the analysis, as well as a way for me to catch up on the many changes of the first since I last played myself. Understandably have the setting changed a lot during the many years it has been in production. I will do my best to point out what version of the game, and what edition of that game I am talking about in my essays. When no edition is mentioned, assume it is a topic that is overarching for all or most of the editions.
The Empire and its neighbors
The empire is highly based on germany and the holy roman empire, having german names, and being set roughly around the central northern part of europe. The architecture and the clothing style of the empire humans that we see are also clearly taken from this era and culture for inspiration and world building. It is interesting to note that a British company decided to place their fantasy world not in England, but in Germany, or rather the Holy Roman empire.
They are a parody of the late medieval and early renaissance confidence and sense of culture that was prevalent during that part of Europe’s history. The architecture, art and culture do not at all follow the high ideals of the empire which is where much of the humor comes from. The buildings of the empire for example are ramshackle and and shoddily built. Often they can easily be confused with goblin or orc settlements from other genres. To the north east lies Kislev, a clear example of the eastern European nations like Lithuania and Ukraine of the era, with stout and serious humans with cold magic and a warlike disposition.
The Border princes is another faction that is often tied to the empire and is a small collection of duchies and kingdoms that works as a bulwark between the Civilized empire and the rest of the world, to the east and south.
The empire is a land of many gods and folk traditions, with many faiths coexisting within the nation. The official faith is that of the godking Sigmar, who unified the land and drove off the hated greenskins. Mirroring many a germanic tale. The Sigmarian faith is clearly a parody of the catholic churches’ more warlike traditions under this era. With warrior priests and proclamations of doom and destruction being yelled from grand cathedrals and small churches alike.
Knights and peasants
To the east are the knightly bretton, the other major playable faction, they are knightley and popups to the extreme. they are a parody of the perceived early knightley medieval ages and the actual medieval age of feudalism and extreme class differences. The knights and church keep all but a tenth of all the income from each of the peasants under their protection, and the peasants are illiterate, weak and fearful, and under the total control of their knightley masters. They are highly devout to their lady of the lake, and are deeply built on the Arthurian legend.
The faith in the lady of the Lake is clearly an example of perhaps a more anglo saxon version of the christian faith, but a christian faith nonetheless. To the fact that there have been several crusades from Brittony to the Fantasy Middle East of Araby, One specific crusade drove the Arraby sultanates out of Estalia, the fantasy Sapin, clearly mimicking several specific historical events.
East and south
To he south are two non playable factions of Fantasy spain and italy, and while they are mentioned in the stores and lore are they not very present in the base WF game, but has had more of a presence in the smaller games, mostly as mercenaries or as a counterpoint of actual culture and art compared to the often face and uncivilised cultures of the Empire and Brettonia. It is here that the version of leonardo da vinci comes from, it is here that the renaissance inspirations spring from.
Araby, or fantasy middle east has sadly gotten much of the treatment you would expect from a 1980s british publication written by middle aged white men. Orientalism, turbans, curved swords and a lot of piracy and slavery. They have mostly exist as an antagonist for Brettonia, as well as to add more flavor to the area’s beautiful skeletons and mummies.
The far east
Likewise fantasy Japan and China are mentioned and many of the Empire’s more advanced inventions do come from Cathay or fantasy China, as a clear nod to the actual history of the period. Mostly is asia used as a way to allow asian stereotypes to be added to the game, often via the use of other factions such as the Ogres and the Skaven.
There is sadly little to say when it comes to the older versions of the franchise, other than tokenism and borderline racist depictions are as common as you would fear that they are. Ninjas, samurai, jade dragons and Kimonos are all part of the general repertoire. Later the franchise gave more respect to the cultures the area is so clearly based upon. I was for example glad to find that the warhammer roleplaying game very much treated chinese culture and traditions with a fair amount of respect.
In the tabletop game is their previously mentioned inspiration on the other races and nations. Gunpowder has for example originated in Chatay, as has the skill of rocketry. The Skaven and in some more comedic retellings, the Ogres have also learned the way of stealth from the “mysterious far east”. Clan Eshin of the Skavens has particularly adopted this stealthy way of warfare, using disguised positions and throwing stars.
The north
More interesting to this narrative deconstruction is the lands of the far north as well as the south lands of what would be real life Egypt. THe norse lands, sweden, norway and finland are in the fantasyworld a frozen hellscape controlled by demons and other monstrosities, it’s a land of violent men that worship dark gods, a reputation not dissimilar to what the real world norse lands had for a very long time. The norse and their dark gods make up one of the many antagonists of the old world.
The norselands are cold and unforgiving, and tied directly to the corrupted north pole that, depending on edition, might have been corrupted by strong magical forces, or a malfunctioning teleportation device built by a long dead alien race. The norse are described as wild, cruel and uncultured. They are brutal and violent and spend most of their time raiding or feasting. The gods too are cruel and unforgiving, and it is these gods that present the setting with its biggest threat, for if they ever manage to break free from their frozen prision will destroy the entire world.
There have been some attempts to humanise the Norsemen, claiming that only the most extreme and violent of the Norsemen follow the Chaos gods or go on raids and plunderings. A description that many modern historians would most likely agree with. Only the rich and the influential were ever allowed to travel on the real life viking boats, and only they were allowed to share in the plunder.
Undead humans
To the south in the northern part of Africa lies the land of the undead, a land of mummies and skeletons, cursed by the evil warlock NAgash to forever exist in a parody of their former self. The connections to real life Egyptian aesthetics and to some form Egyptian mythology is easy to see. Though it is interesting to note that the motivation between the mummification of real life and magical Egypt are rather the opposite, while the real life pharaohs adored life, their warhammer counterparts instead fear death.
The undead are roughly separated into two distinct facets, the Tomb kings and the Vampire counts. Tie first was primarily seen as unwilling servants, and only the most powerful of their kind were ever able to gain any real sense of sentience and agency in death. This has changed somewhat in ToW. The tomb kings have also been given more goals than simply existing and protecting their tombs as was their goal in the older editions. The Tomb Kings of ToW have empires, kingdoms and their rules have plans and wishes of their own, even human and other mortal servants to do their bidding.
The second faction of undead, the Vampire counts are as the name suggests, humans that have turned into vampires. Now these vampires has their origins within the lands of the Tomb kings in the narrative. The vampires of warhammer fantasy follow a lot of the tropes that exist within other vampire lore and fiction, but still mostly manage to create their own niece within the genre.
The Von Cerstenis being the most clear example of iteration with their obvious inspiration in Dracula as well as other gothic literature and art. being pale, handsome and dark haired, and ruling from crumbling castles decorated with gargoyles. The undead is something that I will return to later in this series, as they are worth their own spot when comparing them to their AoS counterparts.
Conclusions
Who gets to be a human, and who gets to be a monster is an interesting conundrum in many fantasy settings, Warhammer fantasy included, as while the warhammer world is filled with humanoid creatures, and most, if not all are inspired by real life human cultures. There are only a few of them that get to be humans in the setting.
As I mentioned before are there a clear that there is a western bias to the ones that gets to get to be human, but interestingly enough is the same true for the human cultures that has had a direct relationship to medical europe, China boeing a big trade partners, and the islamic middle east being a trade partner and foe during this time. While technically humans are part of the middle east turned into undead, but still defined as humans. The other factors are distinctly humanoid and still culturally compared and related to other human cultures. Next time we will look at how the humans in Aos have changed and become involved.
An Unused Frequency 