The Story Continues
Thankyou to Mantic for providing a preview copy of Clash of Kings 2025. It’s been super fun reading content speculation on various forums and giggling to myself.
(Spoiler Warning: This is very broad strokes but don’t read beyond the history section to avoid any potential spoilers)
With each Clash of Kings book, Mantic offers us a glimpse at the world of Pannithor and the wars that rage across it. In recent years we have seen Garkan release Legions of Riftforged Orcs upon the world, watched Halfling forces defend the Shire from the threat of the Riftforged, witnessed the Twilight Kin emerge once more from the pit of Leith and marvelled at the stoicism of the Northern Alliance in the face of another incursion.
Clash of Kings 2025 is no exception. With new releases and rules refreshes for the Trident Realms of Neretica and The Forces of the Abyss it was clear two old foes would go head to head. There’s a bit of history here that’s worth going over depending on how familiar you are with the story of Pannithor. I guess I should briefly go back to the beginning and bring everyone up to speed.
In the beginning…
The gods who made Pannithor are commonly known as the Primogenitors. Depending on your faction of choice they are either really important or kinda irrelevant. The key thing to note is Bhanek the God of Life made the immortal Elves, which didn’t go down well with their twin Shobik, God of Death. When humans were created it was on the understanding Shobik would get to play with them eventually. You would think this would lead to a lot of hatred between Elves and Humans but things were mostly alright, mostly.
After a while the Elves started delving into the very fabric of reality, out into the Astral Plane. Turns out there were a bunch of super powerful creatures out there and with the Elves assistance these ‘Shining Ones’ or Celestians came to Pannithor. From then on the Primogenitors were old news and everyone was in love with the Shining Ones who shared all kinds of amazing knowledge…until one Elf (Calisor Fenulian) couldn’t take no for an answer, made a magic mirror to convince a lady to go out with him, and ended up shattering reality.
Here we get the Shining ones splitting into two parts: The mostly good half and the mostly evil half. Oskan the Celestian had lied to Calisor about the nature of the mirror. Prepared for the big split he immediately noshed down on his good half to retain his old powers. From then on things were super bad; Oskan’s black axe wounded Pannithor so deeply and mortally that the wound tore through to the Abyssal plane and formed the imaginatively named Abyss. Fortunately the combined efforts of the nice halves of the Celestians and many of the people of Pannithor eventually killed or sealed the evil halves in the Abyss. Oskan’s axe was destroyed and scattered across Pannithor. Everything was fine; sort of.
STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO LEARN THE EXCITING EVENTS OF CoK ’25
The Forces of the Abyss
As you can imagine Oskan wasn’t happy with being imprisoned at the bottom of the Abyss. If you aren’t sure what the Abyss is just imagine the Grand Canyon but grander with more ash and fewer tourists. What makes the Abyss truly unbearable is the creative drought it represents, being a Dante’s Inferno from Wish someone thought up after watching a Hellraiser marathon. There’s a whole circle of this place dedicated to sexy Succubi who torture people for their own perverse pleasure. Apparently we’re in the 90’s still, where games like Dungeon Keeper were seen as cool and subversive. This place is so twisted you have to be told how it drives people to insanity in every paragraph, just in case you forget.
I digress. Within the Abyss there is a fiend who has really made a name for himself as the Lord of Lies. I say a name for himself, so badass is the Lord of Lies that he is favoured of Oskan, the Father of Lies and serves as Oskan’s Avatar. With such patronage comes phenomenal power but all consuming obligation. Over countless centuries the Lord of Lies and his forces have searched Pannithor for each tiny speck of dust once part of Oskan’s black axe. Eventually having enough to see it reforged by the Evil One Garkan (that guy who made the Riftforged Orcs.) This was the almighty power up needed for the Lord of Lies to go find the final part of the axe, all the while hearing Oskan whisper encouragement and words of power.
Turns out, way back in the day the final part of the axe had been hidden using an age old tactic. Yeah. Someone threw it into the deepest hole in the deepest part of the ocean. Given Abyssal’s don’t need to breathe this served more to prevent mortal armies defending it than it did to prevent Abyssal armies finding it. A fortunate situation for the Lord of Lies who went about whispering half truths and scaremongering amongst the land folks. This eventually led to a breakdown in the relationship between the underwater people of the Trident Realms and the Land Folks. Meanwhile Oskan nudged the Twilight Kin into invading the North, the Lord of Lies got the Abyssal Dwarves on the move and the Trident Realms had to divert huge resources to defend their coastal holdings. Resources that were no longer guarding the deep chasm with the Macguffin inside.
Once the Trident Realm had overcommitted forces to the growing troubles on the shores or sailing overhead, the Lord of Lies struck. Using a hellish fissure deep underwater that served as portal to the Abyss the fiends, twisted abominations and terrible horrors under his command charged forth. Despite calling in forces from across the Trident Realms the battle went badly and eventually one of the Trident Kings themselves plunged into the depths of the deepest chasm in mortal combat with the unbeatable Lord of Lies. Things were looking grim for Pannithor as the reforging of the axe would finally lead to Oskan and the Wicked Ones being released from their prison.
The Trident Realms
Here is where Clash of Kings 2025 really shines. We get more information on the mysterious Trident Kings who rule the oceans as a Triumvirate and represent the three prongs of a Trident. As if that wasn’t enough we begin to peak into the abyss at the heart of… poor choice of words, erm… plumb the depths of the secrets behind the power of the Trident Realms. Like the Abyssal section we are mostly treated to a copy/paste of existing lore. Given how spoiled we have been in recent years with entirely new information for the Halflings, Riftforged Orcs and Twilight Kin, this is kind of disappointing — although Mantic currently has Warpath, Deadzone and Halo on their plate, not to mention the launch of Worms, so it’s ultimately understandable.
As previously mentioned there is a fissure beneath the waves that rends the barrier between material and abyssal realms, serving as a portal for Abyssal incursions and boiling the sea around it for miles. Known as the Infernal Vent, it has plagued the underwater Kingdom of Myrrhim and driven back its borders. Once the Lord of Lies’ plan had been set in motion the Myrrhim folk were stretched thinner and thinner, defending Riverguard allies on land or pushing back Twilight Kin fleets making incursions into their waters. Before reinforcements from the other Trident Kings could reach Myrrhim, the Abyssal hordes swarmed the great underwater fortress known as the Coral Gate.
Why was the Coral Gate so significant? It stands guard over the deepest and darkest part of the oceans. Imaginatively called the Great Deep. This chasm is of huge significance to the Trident realms, not only is it the source of the most horrific Depth Horrors it also serves as the birthplace of the Legendary Trident Kings and slumbering place of gods. Champions deemed worthy to take on the mantle of Trident King are clad in the mythical Medusan Mask, encased in enchanted armour and sent into the depths. Should they prove worthy and survive they are imbued with the powers of that which slumbers below and rise as something near divine in power and stature. It’s not stated what lies deep in the… umm… deep but it’s probably the Primogenitor Threnekka. It’s also the resting place of the last shard of the Black Axe so whatever is going on in the Great Deep it’s pretty magical and potent. If the Great Deep is lost then the entire foundation of the Trident Realms will crumble.
Anyone who has studied their history will know the huge part the Trident Realms played in defeating Oskan. Their origins hark back to the actions of the Wicked Ones. When Dark Kyron and Garkan forged the Orcs (essentially the beta version of Riftforged Orcs) they discarded many souls that had been torn from creatures of the material realm. In an act of love and mercy these souls were given hope by the Shining One known as Brave Kyron and many sought solace beneath the waves. When called on by the Green Lady and Kyron to do battle, the Trident Realms answered. The Wicked Ones imprisoned within the Abyss hold a deep hatred for these discarded souls that defeated their once tormentors.
A Conclusion
Abyssal Hordes crash with hopelessly outnumbered Trident Realm defenders at the Coral Gate. The Lord of Lies deploys ranks of Chroneas to slow time itself around the Trident Realm forces, making them easy prey. All looks lost when the Trident King of Myrrhim breaks through to confront the Lord of Lies itself. The two trade mighty blows and as the battle rages, these two near godly beings fall into the Great Deep. Down they fall, locked in battle like that cool bit in the Two Towers where you see Gandalf fight the Balrog. Unlike the Two Towers… the flamey beast that embodies evil proves victorious. When they reach the bottom of the world the Black Axe has claimed another victim. It appears nothing stands in the way of Oskan’s freedom…
I won’t ruin the end for you here. Obviously it’s a rather disappointing Deus Ex Machina but still worth the read. Perhaps ‘rather disappointing’ would be the best way to conclude a look at the lore presented in Clash of Kings 2025. Mantic have presented us with rich and exciting new narratives in the last two editions of Clash of Kings. They can, have and will continue to do so in future. To keep yourself going until the 2026 edition I can heartily recommend looking at the recent Kings fo War novel releases from Winged Hussar Publishing.
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