The minis I interacted with more often than any other before being exposed to Conquest were the Orks of Warhammer 40,000. They’re silly and they love fighting. Drop them into a dark fantasy setting in which pretty much anything goes, and one idea above any other will surely bubble to the surface as the stuff dreams are made of.
Yes, I’m talking about creating an internally coherent way to justify these fantasy orcs riding dinosaurs. I’ve ended up accidentally collecting a W’adrhŭn army (you know how that happens sometimes, don’t you?) and the fact I barely get to play with it is of no importance, because I have a literal brontosaurus with an orc rock band on its back, and this is not a joke faction. They’re fun to play and fun to paint, but their backstory is extremely cool as well.
Success from a Failed Experiment
The W’adrhŭn’s beginnings are found, as so much more of Eä is, in the Spires, who were trying to bioengineer a race bred for war by combining the adaptability and ingenuity of humans with the physical might of predatory beasts. It should have resulted in a race of warrior-slaves, but the Spires could never get enough stability in the process and experiment after experiment failed.
But one experiment lay dormant in the depths of one Spire in particular just as it was being attacked by the Dweghom, and a serendipitous combination of this distraction and a fluke in the engineering that two breeding pairs appeared at the same time meant that the W’adrhŭn’s future was secure. The biomancers put these four creations into stasis in order to investigate further, but never got the chance before the Spire was evacuated and fell.
The W’adrhŭn developed as a fledgling civilisation in a cluster around the remains of the old Spire, as it was an oasis of sorts in the desert, led by the four primes known as War, Death, Famine and Conquest. As with all of Eä the faction was influenced by the foundation of Balance, and the tension between the four proved too much, leading them all to die with the exception of Conquest, or Ukunfazane, the living goddess.
Followers of the Founders
If you’ve looked into the W’adrhŭn to any extent those four names should feel familiar, because Cults have emerged within the W’adrhŭn society behind each of them. The most popular of them is the almost exclusively female Cult of Death, which seeks at every opportunity to resist it. They protect and heal their siblings with great skill and courage.
Then there is War, the breeding partner of the Ukunfazane and most tightly linked to the roots of the W’adrhŭn. Those who follow this Cult use attack as the greatest form of defence, and are critical in establishing the W’adrhŭn as the imposing battle presence they are.
The Cult of Famine exists in reference to their extremely high metabolism, which demands a great amount of food, but in practice works itself out as a Cult of chroniclers. Those in the Cult of Famine are explorers, constantly on the move to capture news of the W’adrhŭn’s exploits and history, communicating them through poetry and song.
The Cult of Conquest reveals what allowed the Ukunfazane to survive in its embracing of Balance. Rather than revelling in defeating enemies this Cult finds its purpose in celebrating the W’adrhŭn’s overcoming of every circumstance, whether that’s on the battlefield or through a natural challenge, of which there are plenty to choose from.
Time for Tea…and T-Rexes
There are various subgroups within the W’adrhŭn, some more obvious than others, but two stand out as particularly important for the establishment of the faction.
The first is the Bound, which is the calling for the vast majority of the W’adrhŭn. The need for food means that most of the W’adrhŭn simply have the job of finding more – they are bound to their local tribe. As members of the Bound prove themselves in foraging and scouting, through killing predators and enemies, they may be recognised as being Braves, or more experienced Blooded or even Veterans, all of whom take on different responsibilities under their Tribe’s Chieftain.
The second is that of the Speakers, which is where we meet the all-important dinosaurs. The ingredients for life left abandoned by the Spires in the very place the W’adrhŭn found their beginnings provided a perfect environment to reawaken ancient creatures. In one struggle with them when the W’adrhŭn were first finding their feet, some of the faction discovered that their increased hearing abilities enabled them to literally converse with them (this is also why the W’adrhŭn can converse across the battlefield using chants). This is not a universal ability of the W’adrhŭn – only some are Speakers, and there are various tendencies within the Speakers to understand different creatures better – but the incorporation of this unique gift is increasing in importance to the W’adrhŭn.
Hierarchies and Families
The W’adrhŭn’s day-to-day experience is lived out in localised Tribes, which follow a strict governance structure. Every Tribe is led by a Council of five members, incorporating:
- A Chieftain for the warriors
- A Scion for the Cults
- A Mistress for the Bound
- A Predator for the Speakers
- A Shaman for the elders
This conscious leaning into Balance makes the W’adrhŭn faction feel right at home in Eä. With the pageantry of the Hundred Kingdoms, the ancient classical undead terror of the Old Dominion and the body horror of the Spires and race of orcs riding dinosaurs might feel like it’s skirting the edge of a gimmick, but that’s not the case at all. The Tribes, Cults and background of the faction are rich and fully aligned within the world of Conquest.
Why I Love the W’adrhŭn
Yes, like many others the reason I have a bunch of W’adrhŭn minis is because the ten year-old inside me still just wants to play with dinosaurs. But the generous vaults of lore pockets to dive into are reward enough in themselves. The structure of the Tribes and their constant pressure for sustenance, the natural tension of the Cults and the inherent secrecy of the Speakers all provide opportunities for individual stories and a narrative lens to an army.
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