WAR Coming Attractions... Maybe?

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By Brock "Brokain" Ferguson

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Ushabti

Warhammer Online is off to a rousing start with almost 750, 000 closed Beta sign ups and we haven't even made it to open beta yet! With so much steam behind it, one can't help but wonder what may be in store for the future of this game. Yes, yes. I'm fully aware the game hasn't even launched yet and it may be a wee bit early to look to the future, but you can bet that I'm not the only one doing it! That guy over there, and the guy standing by the fridge getting a soda (yeah, you. I've got my eye on you buddy!), and the young lady currently whooping your butt in PvP have all wondered about it. I mean, with 25 years of history behind the Warhammer franchise, it's not hard to look for the things they left out of the game this time around.

So with that in mind, I've decided to take a look at some of the things we probably will and probably won't be seeing in the first possible expansion or additional content. Sure, it's a long time off, but predicting the future is always fun!

What we will see:

The Tomb Kings as a playable race - I love these guys. They're the whole reason undead armies exist in the Warhammer World. One of the choices for the Warhammer miniatures game, the Tomb Kings have a long history of conquest. Led by the Priest King Settra, his armies conquered much of Nehekhara, but Settra couldn't conquer death.

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Tomb Kings

Settra's priests found a way to make him immortal, but he would have to sleep for 1000 years first. Fast forward 500 years, and enter Nagash. Nagash was a powerful necromancer, who concocted a potion from the blood of his subjects known as "The Elixer of Life" that prolonged his existence. He soon ruled Khemri as a bloodthirsty god. He was eventually overthrown, but not killed. Later, during a battle against the armies of Nehekhara, Nagash casts the Great Awakening ritual, which would raise the dead of all Nehekhara and give him command over them. This spell awakens Settra... centuries earlier than it was planned, and now the mighty Priest King has not a beautiful immortal body of a would be god-king, but the whithered corpse of a decayed man. Angered, Settra the Imperishable picks up where he left off with a solumn vow of vengence against Nagash for waking him too early and ruining his plan of immortality.

 

With mighty armies, an already established city, fell monsters such as the Tomb Scorpions and the Ushabti, the Tomb Kings could very well be a playable race. Their history plays very well into quest lines. Settra makes for a mighty foe and his kingdom of Khemri could be ripe for plunder via City Siege. However, who would be their counterpart? For all the armies in WAR have counterparts. Well, that would most likely be...

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Von Carsteins

The Vampire Counts as a playable race- You know these guys are coming. With everyone out there who wants to be a Vampire, how could they leave them out? The origins of the Vampire Counts also lie with Nagash. When Nagash was overthrown, The Queen of Lhamia, Neferata, took some of his tomes. When she tried to recreate the Elixer of Life, she was only partially successful. She could now sustain her life indefinitely, but required the blood of men to survive. Over time her entire court was cursed with vampirism. Eventually, the Vampire rulers of Lhamia learned that Nagash had returned and they sent emissaries to ally with him. However, because they were now undead, the Vampires were thralls of Nagash. Under Nagash's command, the Vampire Counts waged war against the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Not wanting to fall back under the rule of Nagash, the cities of Nehekhara united to fight the undead army. It was during this battle that Nagash cast the Great Awakening and earned the ire of Settra the Imperishable.

The Vampires have always been a powerful army choice and they have what it takes to be the same in the Age of Reckoning as well. Also, with a Vampire as the end boss of a Public Quest, it's already been established that they are indeed involved in the plights of this world.
There are seven Vampire Counts, each with his/her own empire which makes for a decent amount of choices for where to put their city. With Fell bats, Dire wolves, Wights, Zombies, their armies are primed and ready to defend whatever keep their master may choose. And with a history of war with Khemri, this could be a perfect foil to the Tomb Kings.

The only thing that they'd need to impliment would be a neutral faction, because neither one of these sides are truly order and both fit more into the destruction mold, without actually being part of Tzeentch's cause or the Witch King's plan.

Skaven - This one is kind of a give me, I'll admit it. If we don't see them in the initial game (which would kind of shock me somewhat), we will certainly see them later on... just not as a playable race. Probably more as a storyline of some sort. For those of you who don't already know, the Skaven are a race of Rat-men. These brutal and devious creatures don't have any paticular enemy that matches with them, they hate everyone equally. During the rousing time of their god, the horned rat, the Skaven wage war on anything and everything... including themselves. Above all else the Skaven crave warpstone, the name given to chunks of chaos matter that date back to time of the Old Ones. This solidified chaos energy fuels the Skaven's magics and weapons, and is the crux of thier society.

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Skaven

The Skaven would probably not make a great choice for a playable race. Their propensity to violence and almost berserker fury when the horned rat rouses (not to mention their constant infighting for supremacy over other Skaven) make them difficult to justify the race somehow banding together for any length of time. However, it is these same qualities that make the Skaven supurb enemies. Their cunning and vicious natures give them an edge that's hard to match, as well as the fact that the Skaven are underground and EVERYWHERE (and when I say everywhere, I mean they're currently underneath your house, watching you read this. No lie, you know those creaky sounds your house makes for no reason? Yeah, Skaven.)! Skavenblight, the home city of the Skaven, would make the perfect raid setting, or high level elite Public Quest. From Rat Ogres to Warp Lightning Cannons, there could be more than enough challenge to satisfy even the most hardcore of hardcores in Skavenblight.

Well, that's only part of what I think we can expect to see in future content updates or expansions. I could go on and on but the list is huge. Instead, I'll cover a few things I think we probably won't be seeing any time soon in Part II. Be sure to keep reading!

Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.