Right, after much umming and arring about themes for my new army I have decided to abandon Marienburg and Ostland in favour of something new - namely a Stirland army from a rustic province bordering Sylvania. I've never liked the all green or bright green/yellow colour scheme for Stirland but I came across a picture of an archer on the GW site done in slightly grab but very striking colours that I think would look excellent on a whole army, and give the feel of a grim little backwater.
It also means I can mix in some fluff about the Morr Cult, the archenemy of the undead, and I plan to convert all of my WPs, Knights and Flagellents to servants of the god of death.
Hopefully this theme will allow me to indulge in my fluffiness while also building a credible fighting force. Below is a brief outline of the Margraviate and the specific Morr sect that resides there, that will also explain the themed nature of several vanilla units so they can fit into my army. After this I'll probably write up some background for the Margrave, his dynasty as well as other key figures (head of the Morr Temple, leader of the Knightly Order etc.). I've even started to write some narrative stuff regarding the dynasties troubled past, particularly in relation to the Vampire Counts but we'll see how far that.
So Basic stuff but any C&C is more than welcome.
An Overview of Graumark & her Armies
The Margraves of House Steinburg have ruled Graumark since at least the times of Boris Goldgather and the Great Plague. Located along the eastern frontier of Stirland, the province is a grim place, mostly home to shepherds and poachers. The only locations of note are Ziegedorf and the Chapel of the Cleansing Pyre. Ziegedorf is the residence of the Margraves of Graumark. The only major settlement for miles around, it is little more than overgrown village, dominated by the ancient and half-ruined battlements of Castle Steinburg. Once a major stop off point along the Border Road, which connected Nuln to the eastern peripheries of the Empire, the destruction of Mordheim and coming of the Wars of the Vampire Counts left travellers wary of its highways, and the once bustling town a shadow of its former self.
Still a trickle of commerce flows through Graumark, with the wool trade of particular importance. Winding along desolate fields and through dark forests, herders and caravans on the Border Road are easy pray for bandits, ghouls and beastmen. As such the province is home to a large contingent of Road Wardens, who protect the highways from attack. When a more offensive tact is called for to purge the woods of Graumark, the Noble Company of Foresters is called upon. Bedecked in the finest armour the Margrave can provide and wielding fearsome great axes, these men spend days, even weeks searching for roving bands, both human and not, in order to pacify the forests where they make their living.
Beyond these specialist units, the Margraves maintain a conventional standing army, and one of relatively great size due to Graumark’s borders with Sylvania and the Great Forest. Subsidised by the coffers of the Electoral Count, large regiments of spearmen and halberdiers form the core of the Steinburgs’ personal army, while their personal guard consists of a company of swordsmen, trained and equipped in using the finest Estalian steel since the time of the Winter War. Far from the foundries of Nuln, the Margraves have few black powder weapons bar several ancient cannon and mortar that are tirelessly cared for in the Steinburg Castle armoury. Regardless, the marksmen of Graumark, mostly raised from the trappers and poachers of the forest, have little use for the noise and smoke created by muskets. Instead they favour the crossbow and longbow for their accuracy and silence.
The Cleansing Pyre & Morr Worship within the land of Graumark
The Chapel of the Cleansing Pyre is a temple-bastion of Morr, the god of death. Home to his cult’s dour priests and a contingent of Templar Knights, the Chapel sits atop a steep hill, providing a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. The peak is actually an man-made burial mound which predates Sigmar and once acted as a tomb for Asoborn chieftains and their Imperial successors. In 2010, when Vlad von Carstein launched his undead campaign against the Empire, Stirland and Graumark were the first lands to suffer. At the Chapel, then known simply as the Chapel of Morr, a small band of priests barred entry to Vlad, who wished to the raise the hundreds of cadavers sealed within. Despite his vast vampiric host, the citadel-like mausoleum held out for three nights, ensuring word of Vlad’s advance spread to the Elector Count at Wurtbad.
Eventually, unable to hold the gates any longer, the priests gathered the interned bodies in the lowest crypt and waited. Eager to seize his prize and enraged by the holymen’s defiance, Vlad’s finest thralls rushed down into the tomb. The priests, despite their zeal, were no match for the vampire knights. As the Morrians were cut down, the last of their number set the crypt ablaze. The priests had coated every surface with tar and holy oils. Dozens of undead warriors and the bodies of long dead nobles burned while the followers of Morr remained peaceful, accepting of their fate. Vlad ordered the Chapel destroyed in revenge but upon news of his death the Cult rebuilt it, a symbol of their god’s defiance of the necromancers.
Renamed the Chapel of the Cleansing Pyre, it is home to a small sect, somewhat at odds with mainstream Morr worship. Inspired by the priests who sacrificed themselves to deny Vlad von Carstein another undead host, its followers burn their dead, the subterranean tombs now converted into crematoria. Such an act is seen by many across the Empire as desecration but along the eastern border of Stirland and amongst the few living who still inhabit Sylvania, it is popular form of burial. The Margraves of Graumark in particular have been devoted servants of the Chapel for centuries, with over a dozen generations of the von Steinburgs committed to holy fire and interned within consecrated urns. Their support has no doubt given the Cleansing Pyre much needed legitimacy and certainly accounts for the sect’s dominance amongst the people of Graumark.
The priests of the Chapel, and the Templars of the Pyre, its small knightly order, are a common sight across eastern Stirland, overseeing fire-burials in isolated hamlets and ever watchful for evil things that lurk. Indeed one reason for toleration of the sect beyond Graumark is the willingness of the Templars to escort Electoral tax collectors into dread Sylvania, a task few would accept, let alone volunteer for. It is said they use the expeditions to hunt out and destroy the haunted barrows that litter the cursed landscape, using fire and holy scripture to cleanse restless spirits. Such rumours, mixed with the macabre goings on of Sylvania have made many a half-crazed peasant abandon their lives and dedicate it to Morr, both to battle the forces of the undead and to seek a final peace.
The Templars are weary of accepting their patronage, as such bands of crazed fanatics have been known to immolate entire graveyards without permission in the name ‘precaution’. However they do provide the Chapel with a powerbase of sorts and their zeal has seen several would-be necromancers literally stopped dead in their tracks before they could prove a threat to the Empire. As such these ‘Servants of the Pale Rider’ as they often dub themselves have often gone into battle with the Templars and armies of Graumark, something which has been led to concerned mutterings in Wurtbad, seat of the Elector Count of Stirland and the centre of Sigmarite worship in the province.
