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#morathi
Published: 2016-04-11 17:01:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 5977; Favourites: 36; Downloads: 15
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Also, from old, and rather obscure (due to lack of reprinsts, or presence on GW sites, due to being licensed works by Hogshead Publishing ), material from "Realm of Divine Magic":
www.pm.waw.pl/~maks/rozne/real…
"Khaine Cult___________________________
"Kill a man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god."
anonymous, The Sea of Nightmares
Description: Lesser God; Dark Children pantheon; illegitimate son of the Taal and Ecaté; also known as the Mad God, Stealer of Souls, Destroyer of Worlds, Lord of Murder, Prince of the Raving Dead.
Khaine was repudiated and cast out by his father Taal and denied the status of god; Taal claimed Khaine was too power-mad and arbitrary to tolerate in the Young Gods pantheon. In revenge Khaine swore that if he would not be a god of the living, he would be the god of the dead -- but even that was denied him and given over to Morr. Khaine then connived at stealing souls from his half-brother Morr; Khaine preys on the souls of beings not protected by a cult, and also steals the souls of beings slain by ritual murder. Khaine has built an afterworld realm of power from the material of these stolen souls known as the Realm of the Raving Dead.
Khaine is depicted as a huge, grotesque, squat Daemonic being with a horned head, great-fanged jaws, and four arms, bearing a bloody dagger in each hand, and wearing a necklace of innumerable skulls. Khaine is an extravagantly insane god worshipped either by madmen or opportunistic men eager to exploit the magical powers Khaine offers in return for service. Khaine is generous to those who swell his spiritual reservoirs with offerings of blood and damned souls."
"Saints and Heroes: Of Khaine’s servants on earth, his priests and assassins are most honored and feared, but they usually conceal their identities from laymen behind ritual masks. Khaine's most faithful servants -- his fourth rank priests and most skilled assassins -- may be granted an indefinite perpetuation of their life on earth in liche-form, where the individual's spirit and body and magically bound together and preserved against the threats of mortal death.
Most revered are Khaine's servants from beyond the grave -- the undead heroes and champions who serve Khaine on the field of battle with his Legions of the Vengeful Dead. Summoned from the afterworld to work Khaine's will on the living, these heroes and champions in skeletal, ghostly, or spectral form are greatly feared by mortal men, and thus greatly respected by Khaine worshippers."
"Khaine's Undead ______________________________________
Khaine's undead are magical, physical manifestations of the deranged spirits of the deceased that populate Khaine's Realm of the Raving Dead. These undead are summoned by Khaine cultists to harvest souls on the bloody battlefields and in the dark places of the Known World. There are eight main varieties of Khaine's undead: skeletal warriors, marshlights, ghosts, skeletal champions, ghoul, carrions, wraiths, and specters."
Description: Lesser God; sole Arabian deity. Also known as Al-Alnon ("The One"), Ormazd was once the Sun God and ruler of the pantheon of Kemet (Pharaonia). While followers of the Earth Mother and the Young Gods still lived in mud huts, worshippers of Ormazd began to build the great civilization along the banks of the River Nyllus. From the union of Ormazd and his consort, Écate, came the other deities of the Kemet pantheon: Orierus, god of the night and the underworld; Besta, goddess of cats and stealth; Thebias, god of knowledge, magic, and music; Kleamanta, goddess of rivers and fertility; Horanam the Vengeful, god of war and retribution; and Nefarini, goddess of beauty and protector of the family.
The Kemet Empire grew strong and without rival until the Pharaoh Ormahkaten ("Chosen of Ormazd") placed the cult of Ormazd above all others and thereby enraged the other cults. Upon Ormahkaten's death, a Civil War erupted in Kemet which ended when the land was overrun by the Hettites. The gods of Kemet, led by Écate and her son Khaine, rebelled against Ormazd at this time. Incensed by this outrage, Ormazd baked the land for years, punishing corrupt deity and mortal alike before taking his leave of them.
Having abandoned Kemet to its fate, Ormazd found believers in the nomadic Arabian tribes of the desert. For years Ormazd tested his new worshippers to ensure their devotion and avoid the problems that plagued the now-decadent and degenerating Kemet Empire. At this time, Ormazd came across Nefarini and Horanam who pleaded for his return. Instead, Ormazd stripped his treacherous children of their powers and vowed eternal revenge against the Dark Children.
Ormazd returned to strengthening his worshippers spiritually through teachers, known as Prophets. The tenets of Arabian law developed during this time. In Kemet, Black Magic (Necromancy) became dominant and the ruling class more decrepit under the Dark Children. Their cults were soon overwhelmed when Kemet was subjugated by foreign (Old World) powers. With these new rulers, the cults of the Young Gods (chiefly, Myrmidia and Verena) came to dominate Kemet.
The last (and greatest) Prophet, Mulhaed al-Quyat began his teachings in the caravan town of Mendai. It was he who inspired the Arabian forces into a holy war which resulted in the downfall of the Constantian Empire and the conversion of the people in the lands of Araby to the worship of Ormazd.
Ormazd is never depicted in any form as to do so is a violation of his principles and doctrines."
"By the pricking of my thumbs/ something wicked this way comes."
Shakespeare, Macbeth
Description: Lesser God; Dark Children pantheon; daughter of the Earth Mother, mistress of Taal, mother of Khaine. Ecaté is the patroness of bitter truths, vengeance, dark knowledge, and black magic. The search for Mastery is the burning desire of man; Mastery is sought through acknowledgment of the dark human desires of lust, greed, and domination, ruthless weighing of greed and pain, and unflinching pursuit of the Dark Sources of Power.
Where Worshipped: Worshipped by the nomadic Romany peoples throughout the Old World, by various other barbarian cultures under other names, and by scattered secret cults and individuals. Ecaté worship is generally considered evil, and is outlawed or persecuted except in several kingdoms of the Border Princedoms.
Alignments: Neutral and Evil are preferred. Good (and Slaanesh Chaos only) are accepted. Law and Chaos (other than Slaanesh) are prohibited. (Worshippers of Ecaté are not necessarily evil, but are often the enemies of the common Old World cults and cultures. Most initiates and masters will be harmless hedgewizard-equivalents who sell modest magical services to the people. However, since the principles guiding the use of those magical powers are hardly humanistic, witches do tend to be the source of more harm than good. Witches often protest that they are just providing the weak and poor with services that normally only the rich and powerful can afford; nonetheless, those magical services are more often spiteful and greedy than compassionate and community-minded.)
Friends and Enemies: Allied with Khaine, though disdainful and wary of his madness. Wary diplomacy with Slaanesh; hostile to other Chaos Powers. Bitter hostility towards Young Gods. Rebellious but respectful of Old Faith. Neutral but sympathetic with Elder Race cults.
Cult Symbols and Dress: The symbolic correspondences of Ecaté are personal and idiosyncratic; universally associated with Ecaté worship, however, is the cauldron -- the mystical source of dark magics. Initiates and Priests of Ecaté are referred to as Masters or Mistresses of the Craft, and are popularly known as Witches and Warlocks. Advanced clerical careers in Ecaté do not perform conventional priestly duties, though they may lead worship ceremonies at religious festivals like the Sabbats. Ceremony and tradition dictates that black or dark garments be worn, but it is not obligatory. Masters who emphasize the revenge and domination principles of Ecaté wear black; Masters who seek dark knowledge and power for its own sake wear white, and are called "White Witches."
Cult Careers Available: Initiate, Priest (called Master or Mistress of the Craft; Initiate and Priest alike are commonly called Witches and Warlocks)
Distinguishing Principles and Doctrines: The mysteries of Craft must be kept secret from Outsiders -- likewise the identities of Masters of Craft.
Serve yourself, your family, your companions. Trust no Outsider; they are your enemies, and you must muster your strength to defend yourself against them.
The Outsiders are cattle. Only the strong may Master the Craft."
The fact that the monotheism in Araby is derived from Nekharan pantheon, was used latter, just that Ormazd was renamed Ptra/Ptra-Atem, written by one of the creators:
"As far as I've been told, and I've finished writing up a history of the undead and Nehekhara for Liber Necris, the Tomb Kings worship their old gods and hate Nagash. The peoples of Araby are harder to pin down as yet (no definitive answers from GW Studio, and all writing is ultimately bound to them), but I did hint in the LC series that they might worship a development from the Nehekharan religion in the form of Ptra-Atem ('tra-atem'), a kind of judgemental sun god, and also his wife Iseh ('ee-seh-hh - really pronounce that last 'h') a protective feritlity Moon Goddess, but that their religion and mysticism is also tightly bound with the existence of countless thousands of Djinn (daemons), some good some bad, some exceptionally powerful and some very weak, some to be venerated and some to be reviled."
Ecaté, seems to have been just slightly changed into Hekarti(both derived from Hecate)(and Hekate might haveen originally an Eqyptian or Semitic deity - Heqet/Heqatat), even having a connection to Khaine (although Ecate was the mother, rather than lover of Khaine)and also connected to Morathi, as Ecaté's myth, seems like a bastardized version of Morathi's story.
IE Ormazd/Ptra story seems to be inspired by a combination of the history of Asuryan, Aenarion, and Bel Shanaar(ie while in the Old World version, Taal was the father of Khaine, in the Arabyan and Nehekharan/Khemri/Kemet version it was Ptra/Ormazd), with Khaine having the role of Malekith (which has sense - Malekith impersonated Khaine up to level), with Ecate being Morathi. I guess when Nagash interviewed the Dark Elf sorceress, he learned of the history of dark elves, and wheb told it to some of his advisers, it got distorted, and mixed up with Nehekhara mythology, and latter Arabyan and Old World mythos. I guess Khaine being the creator of undead, was based on the fact Nagash learned Dark Magic from Dark Elves.
Although Khaine producing undead, was used in the End Times, as Tyrion did as the avatar of Khaine. Again, I guess just the truth got mixed up and distorted in the myth.
Iseh, the wife of Ptra among Arabyans, seems to be a version of Isha...which probably also is from the identification of the Phoenix King and Asuryan with Ormazd/Ptra.
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Ent Times was a mistake anyway.
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"although Ecate was the mother, rather than lover of Khaine", - yeah, that's a problem, - "and also connected to Morathi", - okay, there's no problem then...
Well, this version of Khaine story really seems a retelling of some elven myth in combination with elven hystory.
As far as I remember Khaine had his own Valhalla besides Ereth Khial's Mirai, so he has some dead under his command.
By the way. Had Asuryan ane power over the dead? Remember this spell Malekith used in final battle, when he summoned spirits of Phoenix Kings and great heroes of Ulthuan? He definetely felt it was Asuryan's power - actually the only case he felt it. It's strange that elves have a kind of Hell ruled by Ereth Khial and kind of Valhalla ruled by Khaine, but there's no Heaven ruled by Asuryan - Asuryan gives up on elven souls after death. But he still has power over them.
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Well, I had here a discussion from which I got Josh Raynolds wrote that Asuryan started out as a personification of the Warp/Aethyr, so it has sense he has access to the Souls of the Past Phoenix Kings, the Aethyr/Warp is the Realm of Souls after all....
With the above myth, I think it probably started out as combined distorted version of the woven myths and Druchii history learned by Nagash, and Khemri mythology. It got mixed up and combined when the milennia passed in Araby (whi are in a large part descended from the living survivors of the people of Khemri/Nehekhara). It's through a question of the Old World version (were Taal not Ptra/Ormahzd is the father of Khaine), developed independently from the Arabyan version (via contact with elves), is derived from the Arabyan version, or both are true.
Seeing Ecate is part of the Old Faith (druidic religion) in the Old World, I suspect some Wood Elf influence...
With Asuryan, the Selves worship now a entity called the God Beast Ur-Phoenix, very similar to Asuryan, but with some differences, like being female and more animalistic. Although the elves and especially eldar were allways somewhat flexible in terms of gender (ie the Young King can be an Ekdar of either sex, there are male Wyches and Howling Banshees, as well as Female Dark Reapers, and it's possible some of the Phoenix Lords occupied bodies/merged with Eldar of the opposite sex, to their original one), so I think it's possible the Ur-Phoenix is Asuryan, reborn but changed, like many other from the Old World were. In fact only Sigmar and Slann seem to have stayed relativelly the same, while all other new gods and survivors(Tyrion, Teclis, Malekith, Morathi, Lizardmen etc), seem to have changed by the end of the Old World.
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Also, I wonder if even in the newset canon, Morathi didn't worship Slaanesh. She does consider seducing him/her after all. Morathi, in the current canon, also was a worshipper, and priestes of multiple gods, some even opposed to other, like Hekarti and Atharti(and probably became an avatar of both, like Aenarion became avatar of Khaine and Asuryan), as well as bein the firs Hag Queen of Khaine.
In Defenders of Ulthuan and Sons of Ellyrion duaology, Morathi is also well conected with Slaaneshi Chaos Warriors.
And Chaos Worship, is often selfish in nature, with Chaos worshippers worshipping the 4 for their boons, not out of devotion.
Still, this is just my theory.
Another thing is, that Queen Azshara, from Warcraft, seems to be visibly inspired by Morathi, both being among the most powerful magic users in history, both being increadibly beautiful, and both being Queens connected to the fracturing of the elven race in some way etc. Of course, Warcraft does take a lot of inspiration from Warhammer....
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As for Morathi and any of Gods, in "Malekith" she told, that religion is an instrument of power. She is the first Hag Queen of Khaine not to let Hellebron to rise over her, she spreaded the cults of Atharti all over Ulthuan to destabilize Bel Shanaar power and she always used cults to keep elves of Naggaroth under control. I don't remember exactly, but it could be her idea to claim Malekith the avatar of Khaine, as Malekith has always been a bit of atheist... And she told him that it's foolish to regect the religion when one can use it in his own purpose.
And even in the new fluff she seldom summons daemons, so she still know how to use the Chaos power.
She is extremely smart and pragmatic woman, so there's no problem for her to worship as much Gods as it's necessary.
I played only Warcraft II and III, and Azshara is somewhere from WoW, so I don't know much about her. But they took insperation from Warhammer - there's no doubt. FB is a classic set and the basement for great amount of modern fantasy worlds, and I like it. I came to FB after playing Heroes V, which I'm still loving, and I like the such a fantasy style. And I hope GW will hold true to the old setting style at list a bit.
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And I also love Heroes V! The Dark Elves there are definitelly Druchii inspired.
Some dislike it, as it started a new universe compared to old Heroes/Might and Magic universe, but I like both universes quite much. Curioussly the old Heroes universe(Heroes 1-4, and Might and Magic 1 to 9), also have visible similarities to Warhammer. The setting took place on various worlds, seeded by Ancients, similary how Old Ones seeded/modified life on worlds. There also was there a colapse of interdimensinal gates, connected to demons, and Sci Fi elements, hidden under Fantasy, like in especially older versions of Warhamer Fantasy.
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The most funny thing, that when authors of HoMMV borrowed their Dark Elves from FB, they made some difference - their Dark Elves worshipped the Shadow Dragon instead of Bloody Handed God, for example... But AoS happened, and now Warhammer Dark Elves have their own Shadow God, who maybe a bit of dragon.
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Also, one thing puzzled me, was Biara and her persona of Shadya. While it's possible Shadya was just another of faces Biara took, Biara says the very ambigious: "For Shadya? I'm Shadya...", and this made me wonder if Shadya wasn't her original self, although possibly with a different backstory.
This would make her a even better foil for Raelag/Agrael.
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I believe, even if there was real dark elf Shadya, we have never saw her - in that moment, when she came to Agrael in his second mission, she already was Biara.
And Shadya looks like Dark Elf Sorceress - they are almost the same. When I was planning to buy a Sorceress for our army, I thought: now I will get thet girl, who is Shadya copied from! And some time leter I was surprise to find out, that Sorceress was made somewhere in 2011-2012, while Shadya was designed in 2006.
If they in GW were inspired by HoMM somehow, it's just very ironic.
I also never liked War Hydra from GW, and we made our army in 2012-2013, long before new War Hydra/Kharibdis appeared, so I sculptured my own War Hydra in HoMMV style: pp.vk.me/c317226/v317226970/75…
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Again as Heroes VI put it:
"Some children of Asha (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc.), having promised themselves to Urgash and the lords of Sheogh, are raised after their death as Incubi (male) or Succubi (female). As reincarnations of powerful Demon cultists, they usually have a relatively high and unusual rank in the hierarchy of Demonkind. However, though many think they have the wit, devotion, and power needed to achieve this desirable status, in reality many of the pretenders end as lesser Incubi/Succubi (servants, sex slaves, etc…).
Their “mortal” origins make them useful as spies, infiltrators, and diplomats. To support this role, they are granted powers of illusion, charm and shape-shifting, so as to appear almost as beautiful and charismatic as Angels, but in a "carnal", sensual way, which allows them to influence lesser minds. Particularly in the development of the sects of Demon Cultists, it is almost inevitable that an Incubus or a Succubus will be present."
So I guess it's possible Shadya and Biara were all ways the same, seeing Biara's comment. Sorry I'm drilling this topic, and maybe boring you, but I always considered this an interesting possibility.
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You know, I also paid a lot of attantion to Shadya qiestion, but this simple idea - that Shadya may have been her original form - has never came to my mind. Though it sounds VERY realistic. Really, great and simple version. I think it could be truth!
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To be fair, I also only really now started to think about, after you reminded how I once loved to play Heroes V(and I even re-installed), and I checked on Shadya, Raelag and other, that it also finally came to me.
And I'm happy you like this theory
Biara/Shadya is also a pretty amazing antagonist, and she continues to manipulate masterfully others in the expansions.
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Well, seeing Shadya's backstory in her description, she's of Soulscar clan, the same Raelag lead to demon worship. This, along with the comment Biara makes suggesting she allways was Shadya, make me think that maybe Shadya was her mortal form, before she became a demon, similary like Raelag. And Heroes VI shown mortal women(human, elf other) like Jezebeth can become succcubi. Biara/Shadya would just hide in plain sight, as Raelag possibly didn't know until recently her mortal self.
Of course, another option is Biara just made up Shadya's persona entirelly, or that the Shadya everyone known, was all the time Biara, even if an original ever existed. This allways something interesting and confusing with shapeshifters.
Also, fun fact, that Black Hole Entertainment, who made the sequel, Heroes VI, previously made Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and Warhammer: Battle March video games.
And the connections go further in past games, with Warhammer, as seen in Heroes III:
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Nagash
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Maleki…
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Gretch…
Although to be fair the game also makes other refernces, like to Final Fantasy VII:
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Sephin…
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Jenova
heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/Aeris
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Great looking Hydra sculp/figure, it has a really living/organic quality.
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Thank you. 
Once a newcomming player in the club saw our army and said: This FB is just copied from Heroes V, they can't invent anything original. Of course, as we made conversions for Shades from Wood Elves archers so that they look as assassin from HoMM, and I also made The Cauldron of Blood designed as Ritual Pit. I also have Dark Eldar Archon mini painted in red to "cosplay" Agrael.
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Yup, I also considered it quite funny. Maybe people at GW really liked HoMMV, and were inspired, conciously, or subconciously, when designing Age of Sigmar?
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Indeed, for Morathi, even gods are pawns in her game.
Azshara didn't appear in Warctaft III, although she was mentioned. The Highborne serving her, were transformed into Naga , who are visibly inspired by the mentioned before by me Dechala , and were a faction in Frozen Throne.
Illidan Stormwind, who worked with the Naga and Burning Legion at times(although he really worked with the Burning Legion, allways to work secretly against them, as was further proven in novels), had recently been given more similarities to Malekith, especialy that like Malekith was revealed as the true Phoenix King, Illidan revealed to be the true prophecied leader of the Army of Light.
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