When inconsiderate neighbours move into the area, the residents of the Great Parch are left wondering how to deal with the noise, smell and anti-social behaviour they bring with them. And also the rats. So many rats!
Skaventide by Gary Kloster launches us into 4th edition, accompanying the likewise-named starter box. The Skaven have burrowed their way through reality, corrupted essential ley lines and managed to manifest their inter-realm capital, Blight City, firmly into the mortal realms; bursting through the mountains of Aqshy. With it comes innumerable hoards (we’re talking billions) of mutant rat people.
The story focuses on the Halt, a fortress guarding a strategic mountain pass in the Adamantine Chain. Until now the huge wall and its guards have easily dealt with the occasional wandering warbands of orruks, Chaos cultists or gargants, but when a sudden far-off eruption is followed by billowing clouds of impenetrable, noxious gas that cover as far as the eye can see, rolling right up to the walls of the Halt, those entrusted with guarding it know instantly that this masks the arrival of something deeply sinister.
Lord Ordinator Brevin Fortis of the Hallowed Knights is entrusted with guarding the position, along with the mortal General Kant of the 27th regiment of the Golden Lions. Brevin has a special connection to the Halt, which is a mysterious arcane entity made from a core of emberstone, surrounded by defensive quartz. When the wall is damaged, its magical properties allow it heal, making it virtually impenetrable. After touching the emberstone heart stone years ago, Brevin has become inextricably linked to the wall and communicates with it at a deep level.
When the toxic mist rolls in, which we find out is the product of Blight City breaking through into the realm, Brevin starts receiving strange dreams, which compel him to take off into the smoke to investigate. A little later on, Amon Solus, a Knight-Questor, shows up on a mission from Sigmar to retrieve Brevin, who has now been gone for too long, and enlists the assistance of the Ruination Chamber to do so.
The Ruination Chamber are seldom called upon, except in times of great danger and desperation. These are the Stormcast Eternals who have been through one too many reforgings, and have lost too much of themselves in the process.
If you are new to AOS, whenever a Stormcast Eternal dies, their soul is reclaimed and taken back up to Azyr to be reforged on the Anvil of Apotheosis, so that they can be put back to work fighting for Sigmar. However, recycling takes its toll and a Stormcast will lose something of themselves with every rebirth. Sometimes they’re missing memories, or perhaps their sense of humour has gone, or their personality has been chipped away at in some other small way, gradually making them less and less human with every reforging.
For those of the Ruination Chamber, this has gone to the extreme. Their humanity clings on by the thinnest of threads. Recognising that the next reforging could be the one that finally tips them over the edge, these stormcasts are therefore taken out of circulation, to preserve what is left of their humanity.
The Ruination detachment we follow in Skaventide are of the Hallowed Knights Chamber, and now reside in seclusion in their remote fortress of Rookenval. In their little retirement village, like in any good nursing home, the residents have all kinds of stimulating activities to partake in, such as prayer, meditation, and even arts and crafts – Jocanan, a Prosecutor, scrawls paintings of her memories on the wall in an effort to recapture them.
Each one is also designated a personal carer, or memorian, who has the task of helping the Reclusion remember who they are and what they stand for. There is even a live-in representative of Dignitas in attendance. The Lord Terminos overlooks the residents of the Ruination Chamber, axe poised, ready to end it for those who are too far gone, usually at their request.
Our perspective on the Reclusions comes through the eyes of Sevora, a warren brat; someone who has been born and raised in the hopeless crime-ridden under-ground slums beneath Hallowheart. Here she has survived by her wits alone, albeit with a little help from some latent fire-magic powers she has.
She is sought out and recruited, somewhat against her will, by the Stormcasts to serve as memorian to one of the Reclusions. Memorians are usually descendants of the Stormcast they are assigned to serve, and in this case Sevora is assigned as memorian to Corus Stormshield, her great grandfather.
The choice to show us the Ruination Chamber through the eyes of a mortal memorian was absolutely the right one. The horror of the Reclusians’ plight is only amplified when we see it through the eyes of someone who is not bound to Sigmar in endless servitude and who knows what relative freedom looks like. Sevora is an independent minded individual, and reacts hard against the diminishing humanity of the Ruination Chamber, which lets the reader balk at the whole idea too.
Sevora and Crous’ story was by far the one that gripped me most. Amon and Brevin were run-of-the-mill stormcast heroes like we have seen a hundred times before; brave, stoic, faithful and resourceful. Their story line is also very typical of this kind of book; one Stomcast being captured and tortured and used against their friends, like in Soul Wars; a group of Stormcast venturing into the misty unknown against a foe that has not yet revealed itself, like in Dominion; a race to rescue a fallen comrade who is being cruelly tortured like in Plague Garden. It was still a fun read, but somewhat formulaic.
However, the plot that focused around Sevora and Corus was much more interesting and unique. Having grown up in the warrens, a hopeless and desolate place, Sevora lived by her family mantra, hope is a lie. She had also been forced to make a callous of her heart, as those who were closest to her were either evil and cruel, like her hateful mother, or had a tendency to die in brutal and horrible ways, such as her father and brother. So, we see someone who rejects both hope and care in all its forms suddenly finding herself as, essentially, a carer in a unit whose moto is hope when hope is dying.
Watching Sevora navigate all of this is an interesting journey, and definitely gives the book its heart and soul. Likewise, it is a useful vehicle for exploring the theme of hope. At this stage in the meta lore of Age of Sigmar, things have never looked quite so hopeless. Skaven have always been the setting’s most powerful faction, it is only their inability to organise and act as one that has held them back. However, does vermindoom signify that the skaven are becoming more united, does this mean that they are finally ready to reach their terrifying potential? (Probably not, and I’m looking forward to seeing them mess it up in the future.)
The book raises some interesting perspectives on hope. At times it can over-egg the theme a bit, and makes you hope that you never have to see the word ‘hope’ again. I would have liked a little more trust from the author, leaving me to follow the themes by myself without trying to spoon-feed them to me, but they were interesting nevertheless.
What was truly impactful, and probably my big takeaway from the book, was the portrayal of the Ruination Chamber. There is a great irony that Corus and the other reclusions represent stormcast who are at their most removed from humanity, yet, somehow, they also came across as far more relatable and human than any other stormcast characters I can think of.
There was a vulnerability and insecurity to them that was truly compelling; the way they clung to, relied upon and protected their memorians; the way Corus is forever asking Sevora if she is okay, like an over-protective granddad; the way they never leave a person behind and will stop and commemorate those who have fallen. They may be veteran, elite soldiers worth multiple Stormcasts on the battlefield, but there is also a frailty to them that makes the Reculsians much more sympathetic and identifiable. The new units in the game could not have had a more fitting introduction.
Oh yeah, and you probably want to know about the rats as well. Kloster handles the Skaven epically. Whereas with the Stormcast we see each of the new box-set units displayed in the storyline, we don’t get that with the Skaven. Instead, the main threat is an entirely new clan, clan Sisseris, a group of chain-whip bearing, shadow assassins (very Eshin-like), led by Skein, a Grey Seer with a taste for eyes.
I don’t think I’ve read an AOS book with more body-horror and gruesome detail than this. The Skaven monstrosities in this book, most of which you won’t find models for, are gut-churningly vile. You really get the feeling that Blight City is emptying its bowels of the very worst of Skavendom that has been festering in its deepest reaches for centuries.
Skein himself is deceitful, powerful, treacherous and cunning; everything you’d hope a Skaven antagonist to be, and offers real threat to the heroes. Throughout reading the book I really couldn’t tell whether he was going to win or not, which meant I was eagerly turning every page to find out.
Ultimately, the core of the novel was a pretty formulaic starter-box accompaniment novel in much the same vein as Soulwars and Domminion, but the flourishes around the portrayal of the Skaven and the Ruination Chamber definitely makes this book well worth reading.
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