Gameplay certainly wasn’t the only thing that has drawn me into WAR. I’ve found the lore and WAR story so far to be very refreshing. In particular, the story of Sigmar and the story of the Dark Elves. The extent of my exposure to fantasy centers mainly on the Warcraft universe, so you can imagine my surprise, and to a lesser extent – delight, when I first read about a race of evil Dark Elves.
“Elves who worship their God of Murder and War!? No way!?”
To me Elves had always been good, whether they were druids striving to keep nature in balance or arcanists learning what they can about magic. When I first tried a Dark Elf I saw elves who would just as easily kill a fellow Dark Elf (or Druchii, as they call themselves) who got in their way as they would a mortal enemy of the High Elves. These former High Elves broke away when their favored prince Malekith was denied ascension to the Phoenix Throne, despite his lineage. Malekith’s father Aenarion saved their people from destruction as the ruler of the High Elves. It was because of Aenarion and his family’s predisposition to war that Malekith was denied the Throne.
But I digress. The point is that rich history and lore is just as important to me as gameplay. It’s fulfilling to understand why my witch hunter is fighting against chaos and heresy. It’s good to know that witch hunters would rather burn a hundred innocent people than let a heretic roam free.
The story and lore offered by WAR, either in-game or not, barely scratches the surface of the world Games Workshop has created. (At least I suspect it does. I’ve not yet gone through the entire game, and I’ve got a nasty habit of not reading quest text… I know, I know, I will! That’s what alts are for!) The first and most obvious choice for delving deeper into the world of Warhammer was of course to look into the actual tabletop game itself.
Upon further investigation I found that there was actually a local Games Workshop store, in addition to third parties selling Warhammer. One terrifying truth, though possibly expected, is that there are no Witch Hunter units in the tabletop game. Though I should note that there are Witch Hunters in the Mordheim game. The Armies book for the Empire talked about the history of the Empire and the backgrounds of the various units used in the Empire army. I have to admit that with the absence of Witch Hunters in the tabletop, my original plans to build an Empire army has been pushed aside. Now while the Knight units do look fairly impressive, I have to say that the Dark Elf units just stood out that much more to me. When I do get around to starting an army, it’ll likely be Dark Elf. Again, I digress.
Now if I remember correctly, the Empire Armies book did contain lore about the Knights of the Blazing Sun, Sigmarite Priests and possibly even the Bright Wizards, but those of us looking for lore specific to the Witch Hunters are left to look elsewhere. After consulting with Google I stumbled upon a few good reads:
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8282
This thread started off as a general discussion on the background of Witch Hunters and delved a little into the Cult of Sigmar. Around page 6 of the thread is a post by who appears to be C.L. Werner, the author of the Matthias Thulmann Witch Hunter series. The discussion then ensues for several more pages.
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227691
This thread started off as a central place, though short-lived, where people could post excerpts of text from any of the Witch Hunter books and novels.
From what I’ve seen, as far books go, the following two are the ones which would seem to give the best background on Witch Hunters:
Matthias Thulmann, Witch Hunter:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/product.asp?prod=60100281055&type=Book
The Witch Hunter’s Handbook:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/product.asp?prod=60100281023&type=Book
The handbook seems to be out of print, and used copies are running in excess of $200 CAD (according to amazon.ca). The Matthias Thulmann, Witch Hunter is an omnibus which was recently released and likely available at most large book stores. My copy is hopefully in the mail as of this writing.
Hopefully this is just a starting point for delving into Witch Hunter lore. Go forth and read, my brethren! And don’t forget to hug your healers!
"Ye shall suffer not a heretic to live!"
