Events leading up to the War of Ostermark Succession

- 1780 The legendary city of Skavenblight is founded in the Blighted Marshes

- 1500 The high elves leave the old world

- 700 Humans begin to settle in the elven ruins in what will later be known as Tilea.

-50 Artur, chief of the Teutogen tribe, founds the city of Middenheim.

-30 The Birth of Sigmar, to the Unberogen tribe of the Reikland, heralds the beginning of what will later be known as The Empire.

-20 Marius the Fen Wolf, chief of the Juton tribe, is defeated in battle by the Teutogen tribe. He leads his people from their ancestral home, in what is now Nordland, into the Reik Marshes; there he begins a lengthy campaign to rid the area of Mist Demons (also called the 'Fimur').

-10 Marius discovers ancient elven ruins at the mouth of the River Reik, and founds his new city of Marienburg at that site. The foundations of the Rijker's Isle fortress are laid.

-8 Sigmar becomes chief of the Unberogens, and immediately begins to unite the tribes through a combination of conquest and diplomacy.

-1 Victory at the Battle of Blackfire Pass ends the threat of greenskin invasion for generations

1 The twins Lucan and Luccina found the city of Luccini. In the following centuries Remas, Sartosa and Tobaro expand massively. In the north, Sigmar is crowned as the first Emperor by the Ar-Ulric.

40 The city of Talabheim is founded in a vast crater.

50 Sigmar abdicates and vanishes into the east. The rulers of the twelve Imperial states (Averland, Drakwald, Hochland, Middenland, Ostermark, Ostland, Reikland, Solland, Stirland, Talabecland, Westerland and Wissenland) select a new Emperor from amongst themselves.

73 A new cult, proclaiming Sigmar to be a god, rapidly spreads throughout The Empire. The Cult's leader assumes the title of Grand Theogonist. The Ar-Ulric is furious and refuse to recognise the divinity of Sigmar.

100 Dwarf runesmith Alaric the Mad at last completes the twelve Runefangs, ordered one hundred years earlier for the chieftains of the twelve tribes. Each of the state rulers, now called Elector Counts, receives one of the swords.

451 Dark elves and undead pirates raid the coast of Tilea. Sartosa is destroyed.

475 Vast numbers of orcs invade Tilea, causing immense damage

491 The Tilean states unite against the orcs.

500 The king of the Jutons is defeated by Emperor Sigismund the Conqueror, and the city of Marienburg becomes part of the province of Westerland.

632 Norse tribes begin to raid the coastland around Marienburg, and the city itself is sacked and burned.

765 The treaty at the Althing of Traktatsey brings the Norse raids to an end.

936 The van Daalen family, the ruling house of Westerland, form an alliance by marriage with the Beumanoirs of Moussillon, in opposition to the Duchy of L'Anguille.

978- The last orcs are driven from Tilea.

1010 The halfling province of the Moot is formed by Imperial charter.

1017 Sartosa is resettled by Norse sailors.

1053 The reign of the notorious Emperor Boris the Incompetent begins.

1102 Manann is declared to be the patron deity of Marienburg.

1106-1110 Beastmen gather in the Drakwald. The Elector Count of Drakwald is killed, and his province left without an heir.

1109 Marienburg is captured by the Norse chieftan Snorri Half-hand. The Baron of Westland flees to the fortress on Rijker's Isle.

1111 The Black Plague sweeps across The Empire. Middenheim adopts a policy of strict isolation, saving the lives of its citizens. The Norse abandon Marienburg.

1115-1124 A period of total anarchy ends with the ascension of Emperor Mandred Skavenslayer.

1152 Mandred's assassination leads to open war between the rival states of Stirland and Talabecland.

1240 Araby invades Sartosa.

1359 The count of Stirland is elected Emperor.

1360 The Ar-Ulric backs Countess Otillia of Talabecland in her seccession from The Empire. The two declare the Cult of Sigmar to be founded on a lie, and begin the persecution of all worshipers of Sigmar, in what is later called the Sigmarite Heresy. Civil war consumes The Empire again. The Norse raid Marienburg.

1366 Tilean mercenaries fight on both side of the Empire's civil war.

1414 Middenland and Nordland sign an agreement to divide the former province of Drakwald equally. The Count of Nordland claims the Drakwald Runefang for his own.

1425 Bretonnian knights are defeated by Tileans in the Tournament of Ravola. Bretonnia pledges to never invade Tilea.

1448 Tilean mercenaries fight to free Estalia from Arabian rule. Tobaro is attacked by the Arabian sultan, but succeeds in driving him off.

1450 The Crusades against Araby begin. Many Imperial Knightly Orders are founded during this period.

1487 Dark elves raid Remas.

1492 Marco Colombo discovers the distant land of Lustria.

1501 Arabians are expelled from Sartosa by Luciano Catena of Luccini.

1547 The Ar-Ulric returns the headquarters of the Cult of Ulric to Middenheim. The Elector Count of Middenland declares the latest Imperial election a sham, and proclaims himself Emperor. This marks the start of the Age of Three Emperors.

1550 End of the Crusades.

1563 Tobaro is overrun by skaven.

1565 Meldo Marcelli drives the skaven out of Tobaro.

1699 The explorers Ricco and Robbio trek east along the silk road and visit the court of the Cathayan Emperor Wu.

1757 Sartosa becomes a haven for pirates.

1597 The Duke of L'Anguille invades Marienburg and begins a brutal five-year occupation.

1602 The Middenland Emperor sends an army to Marienburg, forcing the Bretonnians to withdraw.

1604 Baron van Buik, Elector of Westerland, forms a city council composed of the heads of important mercantile families. Marienburg begins a period of rapid growth, fuelled by a massive expansion in overseas trade.

1707 The orc warlord Gorbad Ironclaw sacks the southern Empire and destroys the province of Solland. The Elected Emperor is killed at the siege of Altdorf, but the orcs are ultimately defeated.

1812 The Red Pox sweeps through Tilea.

1850 Marienburg is sacked by the Norse for the final time.

1877 A pig is elected Prince of Tobaro, and rules for 12 years before falling off the battlements of his palace.

1948 The Year of Four Tyrannies in Tilea.

1979 Marienburg bribes a majority of the Elector Counts, resulting in the election of Baroness Magritta of Westerland to the Imperial throne. The Grand Theogonist refuses to crown the Empress, stating that the electoral system has become irredeemably corrupt. Magritta is to be the last Elected Emperor. All three Emperors now pass on their crowns by dynastic succession, and Sigmar's Glorious Empire stands in ruins.

1993 Marienburg wizards are given legal protection, under the pretext of civil defence.

1999 Mordheim, the capital of Ostermark, is destroyed by the impact of a comet said to have been sent by Sigmar. The Elector, Count Steinhardt, is killed along with his entire family. A strange new mineral is discovered in the ruins of the city, and Marienburg is among those sending expeditions to acquire it.

2000 The League of Ostermark is formed. New art, technology and prosperity reaches Tilea.

2010 Vlad von Carstein, the ruler of Sylvania, reveals himself to be a vampire. His armies ravage Ostermark and Stirland. Vlad is apparently slain several times, but always returns.

2012 The genius inventor and artist Leonardo da Miragliano leaves Tilea for the Empire.

2051 Vlad is slain while besieging Altdorf, after the theft of his magic ring makes him vulnerable. His wife Isabella kills herself, and Vlad's vampiric underlings fall to squabbling amongst themselves.

2094 Konrad von Carstein defeats the other vampires and leads his armies against The Empire.

2100 The Battle of Four Armies. The three Emperors unite to defeat Konrad, but are unable to put aside their differences. The Emperors of Middenland and Talabecland arrange each other's assassination during the battle, and Helmut of Marienburg is killed by Konrad. All four armies withdraw from the field. Emperor Helmut is raised from the dead as a zombie under Konrad's control. His son Helmar swears vengeance.

2102 The Tilean town of Lambrusco employs the famous condottiere Ennio Mordini and his mercenary army in its war with neighbouring Organzo.

2103 Mordini is betrayed by his employer, and his army is massacred by the Organzans.

2108 Mordini emerges from the Apuccini Mountains at the head of a vast, skeletal army. He burns down Lambrusco and slaughters everyone within. The town is renamed 'Mordini,' and becomes the base for the undead warlord's campaign against all living things.

2121 The Battle of Grim Moor. A combined force of humans and dwarfs defeats Konrad's army. Konrad himself is slain by Emperor Helmar and the dwarf hero Grufbad.

2132 Mannfred von Carstein, the last of the Vampire Counts, attacks the Empire by surprise in the so-called Winter War. He lays siege to Altdorf, but is driven back by the necromantic magic of Vlad's Liber Mortis, wielded by the Grand Theogonist Kurt III.

2145 Mannfred is brought to battle at Hel Fenn by a vast allied army. Graf Martin Volker of Stirland slays the vampire, and is declared a hero.

Timeline detailing the events since the War of Ostermark Succession

2146 Graf Martin, backed by the Sigmarite Church, invades the League of Ostermark under the pretext of restoring the heir of the Steinhardt family to the throne. The Otillian Empire of Talabecland also invades, as does an alliance of the Empire of Middenland and the Kislev town of Rahkov. Graf Martin is killed, the Stirland army is driven back, and the aged Grand Theogonist dies of disappointment.

2147 The Otillians and Middenlanders continue to fight over Ostermark. The Bechafen Purge, a mass-execution of suspected followers of Sigmar, leads to a popular rebellion against both Otillian and Middenlander rule.

2148 Emperor Severin I of Middenland dies of old age, and the Middenland nobles return home to determine his successor. Talabecland reaches an agreement with the Kislevites and the Ostermark rebels at the Diet of Bechafen. Ostermark becomes an independant state under the control of the restored Steinhardt dynasty, but retains strong links to the Otillian Empire. A key part of the agreement is the toleration of the Cult of Sigmar. The Tzarina of Kislev arranges for her son, Kniaz Makari of Rahkov, to marry the young Grafin Helena of Ostermark, thus ending the border skirmishes between Ostermark and Kislev. Ar-Ulric Waldemar resigns his office and disappears.

After several years in command of the army Giacomo Lomellini fights an army of ratmen to the north of Tobaro. The army is routed with little loss and largely written off as mutant beastmen.

2150 The Western Elves return to the Old World, founding a trading post in Marienburg. The elves sign an exclusive trading contract with the city, increasing its wealth enormously.

2151 Graf Erik of Stirland attempts another invasion of Ostermark, but fails spectacularly. Herzog Adalbert Richter, formerly the commander of the Middenland forces in Ostermark, seizes the throne of Middenland.

2152 The Ottilian Empire attacks Middenland, making substantial territorial gains.

2153 Stirland, in a state of total economic collapse, withdraws its troops from Ostermark forever. Nordland, incensed by the vast tax increases instituted by the tyrannous Emperor Adalbert IV, end their alliance with the Empire of Middenland. Middenland respond by invading the province.

The Doge of Tobaro dies. Giacomo Lomellini succeeds to the throne with near unanimous noble and public support.

2156 Nordland is on the brink of collapse due to the continuing war with Middenland. The Elector Count is killed at the siege of Salzenmund, and his Runefang (orignally that of Drakwald) is send to Middenheim.

2157 Assassination of Emperor Adalbert IV. Civil war in the Empire of Middenland causes a withdrawal from Nordland.

2158 The civil war in Middenland ends with the ascension of a new Emperor. The Nordland conquest is renewed, and Salzenmund falls.

2160 The Otillian Empire and their Kislevite allies send a large army to support the beleagered Nordland forces. Salzenmund is retaken.

2163 Grafin Helena and Kniaz Makari finally produce an heir to the throne of Ostermark.

2165 Middenland drives back the border with Talabecland. The Cult of Sigmar is banned throughout the Empire of Middenland as fanatical Ulricanism becomes more and more common.

2169 Hochland, previously an ally, is annexed by the Empire of Middenland.

Nearly twenty years after his first encounter, Doge Giacomo fights a second battle against the ratmen. He becomes convinced that they are the same creatures that took control of Tobaro five hundred years earlier.

2172 Middenland invades Ostland.

2175 Ostland formally becomes a part of the Empire of Middenland.

2179 At the age of twelve, Leo di Lucci is found dead, having apparently accidentally drowned in a puddle during a summer retreat.

2183 Laurence di Lucci perishes whilst inspecting the latest addition to the palace battlements. Laurence falls after moving closer to look at a newly carved rock in his image. He plummets from the side as the ornamental carving and rock face gives way under his rather substantial bulk.

Lucian di Lucci apparently slips on the edge of a grave whilst attending the funeral of his brother Laurence. Unfortunately he lands on several upturned shovels, impaling himself.

2184 Andronikos I becomes Despot of the Reman Empire.

2187 Emperor Phillip III of Marienburg marries the daughter of Joachim II Sigmarus, the Grand Count of Averland.

Lucas di Lucci, the eldest of the di Lucci males, is killed by a falling sword during an outdoor feast celebrating a summer of largely rain free days.

2189 Duke Azzone seizes control of Miragliano in a brilliantly-orchestrated plot.

Doge Giacomo's sanity begins to slip. The standing army is ordered to march to a village to protect it from imaginary enemies.

2190 The Otillian Emperor declares an end to the persecution of Sigmarites throughout his empire. The move is met by widespread rebellion among the Ulrican clergy and the more devout nobles, and huge numbers leave the Otillian Empire to settle in Middenland.

The Proxy-Elector of Wissenland, Baron Titus, borrows heavily from the merchant families of Marienburg to finance his campaign to become Emperor of Middenland. On his ascension to the throne he takes the name Titus-Artur in honour of the city's legendary founder.

The deeply unpopular Lionel di Lucci accuses his brother Leonard of conspiring against him and planning his murder. An angry mob subsequently murders Lionel for daring to impugn the honour of their favourite son.

2191 Andronikos is deposed by his uncle. Travelling to the north, he offers his sister Duccia in marriage to Emperor Titus-Artur of Middenland in exchange for military aid.

2192 Andronikos returns to Remas with his army of Middenlanders, and reclaims his throne.

2197 The Volkers of Stirland are deposed. The Electorship passes to the von Huttens. The Grand Theogonist presents the Imperial crown to the Grand Prince of Reikland (even though he technically lacks the authority to do so). This new 'Sigmarite Empire' includes Reikland, Altdorf, Nuln, Wissenland and Stirland.

Otillian Emperor Marius V marries the Grand Duchess of Nordland.

Lex di Lucci has a terrible accident. Whilst out hunting his horse is seen to spontaneously explode, killing the rider and several of his most influential companions.

2198 The Empire of Middenland defeats the army of the Norse Chieftain Thialfi Swiftaxe. The Norse agree to accept the Emperor as overlord. Titus-Artur is poisoned by a jealous rival, but survives.

Across The Empire, harvests fail. The Sigmarite Empire overruns the western part of Talabecland, but the emperor dies in a freak accident. The Grand Theogonist Fulmar offers the crown to the thirteen year old Hermann, and arranges the boy's marriage to Grand Countess Rosina von Orsbeck of Wissenland.

2199 Poor harvests lead to widespread starvation across The Empire. Marienburg forges a trade pact with Averland, Estalia and the major Tilean city-states, allowing it to control the importation of supplies to The Empire. The ships of the Marienburg Alliance, aided by those of the Western Elves, blockade the Nordland and Kislevite coast. Nordland and Kislev, backed by the Otillian Empire, form the League of Free Traders. Their aim is to break the blockade and provide food for their starving populations.

2200 Once again, the harvests fail. Heavy snowfall blocks the mountain passes, and the situation is now critical. Marienburg continues to increase the price of all imported food. The dwarfs of Barak Varr join the League of Free Traders, dispatching their iron-clad warships to the Sea of Claws. The Emperor of Middenland issues an ultimatum to Marienburg, as does the Sigmarite Emperor.

2201 The King of Bretonnia declares an errantry war to rid the land of orcs and goblins. The call is answered by almost every knight, although the Duke of L'Anguille remains behind, sending only a small part of his army to join the cause. The Sigmarite Emperor strikes a deal with the Duke: L'Anguille is offered lucrative trading rights in return for the aid of its fleet in the conquest of Marienburg. The Empire of Middenland, the Sigmarite Empire and the League of Free Traders all declare war on Marienburg.

The war is short but extremely brutal. Eventually, Marienburg falls and is divided up by the various invaders. The high elves abandon the city, Emperor Phillip III of Marienburg abdicates, and the Marienburg Alliance is dissolved. The Imperial throne of Marienburg is claimed by Joachim II Sigmarus of Averland, though his rule is nominal.

Titus-Artur of Middenland and the Grand Theogonist are both killed in palace revolts. The arch-lectors of Nuln and Altdorf both claim the position of Grand Theogonist, and each excommunicates the other. Titus-Artur's wife Duccia forces the Middenland Electors to declare her empress. Hochland and Ostland declare independence from the Empire of Middenland, forming the Northern League in close partnership with the surviving merchant families of Marienburg. Empress Duccia recognises the League and makes peace.

Leonard II di Lucci comes to power in Luccini at the age of thirty, following the death of his father Alfonso. The previous prince died in his sleep: his unfortunate habit of hugging pillows may have contributed to his death.

Pietro Tiepolo is elected as pirate prince of Sartosa.

2202 Tensions between the five most powerful Tilean states escalate as each blames the others for the collapse of the Marienburg Alliance. Remas, Miragliano, Sartosa and Luccini hire vast armies of mercenaries. Tobaro fortifies its harbour but takes no other action. The states come to the brink of war, but stop short of making an actual declaration. Bored mercenary troops engage in acts of piracy and pillage all over Tilea.

Orc pirates begin to gather along the Badlands coast while the attention of the Barak Varr dwarfs remains focused on Marienburg. The dwarfs deliver a huge bill for their services during the war to the ruling council of Nordland. Unable to pay, Nordland is forced to become a dominion of the Otillian Empire, and the League of Free Traders is dissolved.

The young Emperor Hermann of Altdorf announces the end of Sigmarite control of the law courts. The Duke of L'Anguille renounces his alliance with the Sigmarite Empire, claiming that he has been cheated by them.

2203 The Reman Despot and the Duke of Miragliano are both murdered. The four mercenary companies - the Golden Company, the Cerulean League, the Vermillion Legion, and the Tyrian Guild - renounce their respective contracts due to unpaid fees. Tilea is now in deadly danger from the four restless armies. The Imperial factions, exhausted by the war but in dire need of new sources of revenue, send their own task forces to Tilea to obtain what profit they can from the impending war.

The Mercenary War is over by winter of the same year, ending in a lengthy series of peace talks. The Prince of Sartosa, the King of Luccini and the Duchess of Miragliano are all killed during the war, and the undead monster Mordini is destroyed in a duel by the warrior-priest Hans von Knoblauch. Remas, Luccini and the Vermillion Legion declare a new Reman-Luccinian Empire, but most of Tilea remains under the control of the Cerulean League. Isaac von Siegfriedshof is appointed regent of Miragliano until the young duke comes of age. The Tyrian Guild and the Golden Company establish minor states at the southern edge of Tilea and in the Border Princes.

2204 Marienburg negotiates lucrative trade agreements with the various Tilean states. The city begins to recover from the devastation caused in the war three years earlier.

The Doge of Tobaro dies of extreme old age. His nephew is elected to replace him, and fortunately shows no sign of the insanity his father was afflicted with. Under his leadership Tobaro grows in influence.

The city of Luccini descends into civil war as the various leading families contend (inconclusively) for the throne. The late King Leonard's niece, his last surviving relative, flees to relative safety in Tobaro.

2205 Tensions between the major powers in the Cerulean League escalate, and it collapses into an array of hostile principalities. Many mercenary leaders travel north to seek employment in The Empire.

The Year of Five Kings in Luccini. Each new ruler is brutally assassinated by his replacement shortly after his coronation. King Ranoldi, the last of the five, is impaled by an angry mob on his own elaborate sceptre. The Republic of Luccini is formed in the winter when the noble families agree that enough is enough.

2206 In spring the Republic of Luccini becomes a Kingdom once again. After only two months the entire senate is put to the sword by the newly formed republican guard. Guard-General Alfonso proclaims himself king, loots the city, and dissolves the relationship with Remas.

2207 The Reman Despot's heart fails while he is engaged with prostitutes in his island villa. Empress Duccia of Middenland, the Despot's sister, illegally assumes the throne of Remas. The Despot's daughter Irene is banished to a Shallyan convent after attempting to claim the throne herself. While there she begins work on her famous history, 'The Nikephoriad'.

With Remas and Middenland now firmly under her control, Empress Duccia becomes increasingly belligerent and autocratic. From this point on, her rule is referred to by historians as 'The Long Tyranny.'

2208 The ruling council of Marienburg buy back the some of the lands around the city that were lost during the war of 2201. The city's elf quarter is finally restored.

2210 Massimiliano Pelavicino reaches maturity and becomes Duke of Miragliano.

2211 War breaks out in the Sigmarite Empire between Reyneke of Altdorf and Echard of Nuln, the rival Grand Theogonists. Emperor Hermann announces his support for Reyneke, but does not provide him with any troops.

The Empire of Middenland declares war on the Northern League. The Empire of Averland and Marienburg declares war on Middenland in support of the League. The Otillian Empire remains officially neutral, but secretly lends support to the Middenland armies.

The Middenland invasion force is defeated at Gruyden by a League army under the Grand Baron of Hochland and the Grand Prince of Ostland, though the prince is killed during the battle. The Middenlanders withdraw to Krudenwald, where they remain until reinforcements reach them in the new year.

2212 Grand Duke Conradin, Elector Count of Middenland, forms a coalition of leading noblemen opposing the war with the Northern League and the Empire of Averland and Marienburg. The coalition withdraw their armies from the field and sign a cease-fire agreement with the League Council and Emperor Joachim. Empress Duccia outlaws Conradin and grants his title to her second cousin, Ludwig von Rusdorf.

General Achatius von Tiefen recaptures Calden from the Marienburgers, and defends it against a succession of assaults.

Reyneke's army defeats that of Echard at the Battle of the Wagon, south of Wurtbad. Echard is executed, but Reyneke returns to Altdorf to find the gates closed against him. Emperor Hermann accuses Reyneke of heresy and demands his immediate surrender. After a brief siege, the Grand Theogonist withdraws his army to Grunburg.

2213 Emperor Joachim II Sigmarus of Averland and Marienburg dies after a brief illness. With his death Marienburg withdraws from the war with Middenland, the ruling council declaring a distant cousin of the deposed Phillip III as the new Emperor of Marienburg. The new Grand Count of Averland, a young favourite of Emperor Hermann, gives his allegiance to the Sigmarite Empire.

Empress Duccia sends the new Elector Count of Middenland to deal with Conradin's rebel coalition. The Elector is defeated at Eldagsen and Suderberg, and withdraws to Delberz.

Titus, son of Empress Duccia and the late Titus-Artur, comes of age and inherits the Barony of Delberz.

Wolfenburg falls to the Middenland forces under Grand Marshal Otto von Plauen. The city's walls are dismantled and its leading citizens are publicly and horribly executed.

2214 Emperor Hermann takes Grunburg and executes Reyneke. The lectors of the Church of Sigmar vote to confer supreme spiritual authority on the emperor instead of electing a new Grand Theogonist.

Baron Titus assumes command of the anti-coalition forces, capturing Suderberg, Eldagsen and Kutenholz before storming Caroburg. Grand Duke Conradin and his followers are executed. Titus is named 'Augustus' by his men.

Tobaro defeats Luccini in a grand naval battle, fought over Tobaro's refusal to hand over the last remaining Di Lucci and her young child. Luccini is forced to pay a humiliating amount of gold in reparation.

The Northern League surrenders unconditionally to the Empire of Middenland. Middenland cedes part of the League's northernmost territory to the Otillian Empire in payment for the Otillia's support. The empress also sells a part of eastern Ostland to the city of Kislev. Otto von Plauen is named Elector Count of Ostland, and Achatius von Tiefen becomes Elector Count of Hochland.

In late winter King Alfonso of Luccini tries to invade and settle the badlands to regain face after his defeat by Tobaro. Several victories against the confused and scattered orc tribes provoke a large and devastating counter-strike. The King's army returns badly mauled and the city is bankrupted. Marienburg merchant families bail out the crown in return for horrific interest rates and future land rights.

2215 Emperor Hermann's wife dies without providing him with an heir. The emperor re-marries, but it is rumoured that he has little interest in women. His frequent visits to Grand Count Albrecht in Averheim are the source of considerable scandal.

Empress Duccia substantially revises the Empire of Middenland's electoral system. The old system of 'proxy-electors' is swept away, and the title of Elector Count is abolished. Her son Titus Augustus is expected to be named as official successor in recognition for his victory over the rebels, but the empress refuses to do so.

The Norse finally renounce their fealty to the Empire of Middenland. Now lacking a coastline and a fleet, Empress Duccia is unable to prevent them.

2216 Empress Duccia negotiates with Marienburg to provide transport for a punitive expedition to Norsca. The deal falls through when the merchant assembly demand excessive payment. The Empress contacts the Otillia instead, hoping to use the Nordland fleet. The Otillia is receptive, but the negotiations continue into the new year. All the while, the nobles of Middenland hire increasing numbers of mercenary soldiers.

2217 The Long Tyranny ends with the death of Empress Duccia in a boating accident on the River Reik. The Ar-Ulric declares that an election will be held in midwinter. Immediately, the greatest lords of Middenland gather their armies and announce their intentions to ascend to the wolf-throne of Ulric.

The Empire in 2217

A brief guide to the recent and more distant history of Sigmar's Glorious Empire, in the dark days of civil war and fratricidal hatred

A revised and accurate edition of the original works by Ruprecht Breytenbach of Bechafen and Jacobus van der Tricht of Marienburg, prepared by Alexios Vement for the Averheim University Press in the year of Holy Sigmar 2419

The Empire, our mighty state forged at the dawn of history by Holy Sigmar from the twelve tribes of man, was never destined to last. For while Sigmar himself was able to control the tribal chiefs who would one day be known as Elector Counts, future Emperors were to find the task next to impossible. For centuries, Sigmar's Empire endured as a collection of independent (and often warring) territories, watched over by a mostly impotent Emperor.

But even this situation could not continue forever. Electoral and religious disputes led to war on a scale that had not been seen before, and to the foundation of first two, then three, then finally four, separate and antagonistic Empires. Only with the coming of the Blessed Magnus, at our darkest hour, would The Empire be restored. Yet in the times I write of the people had no knowledge of what was to come, and for many hundreds of lifetimes they saw the false Emperors make war, and so despaired.

On Empires and Emperors

Each of these Emperors claimed to be only legitimate heir to the throne of Sigmar. To each, their rival claimants were variously traitors and heretics. Yet as none of the 'Emperors' had been both elected by free and fair decision of their peers and crowned by the serving High Priest of Ulric or Sigmar, not one of them possessed even the shadow of a true claim. In the eyes of Holy Sigmar and Father Ulric, the Imperial Throne stood vacant.

Thus, in describing them, I could fairly call each claimant 'Emperor,' and the lands they ruled 'The Empire.' I have therefore retained the following naming conventions:

- The Emperor in Talabheim is the Otillia or the Otillian Emperor, and rules the Otillian Empire.

- The Emperor in Middenheim is the Emperor of Middenland or the Wolf-Emperor, and rules the Empire of Middenland or the Empire of Wolves.

- The Emperor in Marienburg is at times the Emperor of Marienburg, and at others the Emperor of Averland and Marienburg, with an empire named likewise.

- The Emperor in Altdorf is called the Sigmarite Emperor, and the empire named likewise.

The False God and the Wolf: The Otillian Empire, Ostermark and the Kislev connection

First to claim the title of Emperor without election was the Countess Otillia of Talabecland. A series of bitter wars had resulted in a feud between the states of Stirland and Talabecland, and Stirland's victory in the Imperial election of 1359 was the final insult. Small wonder that Otillia was so receptive to the Ar-Ulric, when he came to her with his fabricated evidence.

The Ar-Ulric had discovered proof that the Cult of Sigmar had been created by liars and demon-worshippers. The founder of the Cult was a man who later admitted (or so the Ar-Ulric's documents claimed) to have been a demonologist and a heretic. Here, at last, was a weapon for the resentful Ulrican clergy to use against the upstart Cult of the First Emperor. Here also was the excuse Otillia needed. Backed by the Ar-Ulric, she declared herself the rightful Empress, under Ulric the Father of All, and in so doing removed her province of Talabecland from Sigmar's Empire. Talabheim became the new headquarters of the Cult of Ulric.

In Otillia's domain, the Cult of Sigmar was suppressed with a determination that was as stubborn as it was bloody. Otillia's soldiers, under the direction of Ulrican priests, tortured and executed thousands of Sigmar's faithful, at times burning entire villages to the ground. In response, The Grand Theogonist of the Cult of Sigmar called for crusade against Talabecland. War after war followed.

So it continued. Otillia died and was succeeded by her daughter - who assumed the name Otillia as a mark of respect. Over time, passing by hereditary succession with female heirs taking precedence, this became the title carried by the Emperor of Talabecland and Talabheim: the Otillian Empire. In 1547, the Ar-Ulric moved the centre of Ulric's Cult back to Middenheim, and at the same time the Elector of Middenland declared himself Emperor. The Age of Three Emperors had begun. The Otillian Empire waxed and waned in size over the years, yet it prospered and endured.

In 2146, the Otillian Empire became involved in the brief but bloody struggle over ownership of the province of Ostermark. Under the able command of Marshall Huppert Gernot, the Otillians secured the capital city of Bechafen and much of the surrounding area. With Stirland routed and the Middenlanders withdrawing upon the sudden death of Severin I to elect their new Emperor, only Kniaz Makari's Kislevites remained a serious challenge to Otillian domination.

The Otillia's Ostermark campaign was more successful than she could have hoped. And yet, despite the pleas of her advisors, she could not tolerate the presence of large numbers of Sigmarites in her new possession. Empress Reinhilde sent Inquisitor-General Treitzsaur to Ostermark, with a mandate to convert every Sigmarite by one means or another. When his efforts were frustrated by Gernot, she recalled the Marshall under the pretext of defending the border with Middenland.

These actions were to cost the Otillia dearly. Treitzaur's 'spiritual crusade' cost thousands of lives: not only those who were executed by the inquisition, but also those who were killed in the violent uprising that followed, and the many more who died from hunger and exposure during that terrible winter after they were forced from their homes. For weeks, Reinhilde refused to concede, spending yet more lives for the sake of her dignity. But at last she was forced to meet with the rebels, and at the so-called Diet of Bechafen in 2148 agreed to crown the Grafin Helena as Elector Countess of Ostermark. Shortly afterward, Tzarina Tamara of Kislev persuaded the Otillia to allow Makari and Helena to marry, thus creating an understanding between Kislev and the Otillian Empire that remains strong to this day.

The terms of the agreement with the rebels also guaranteed the right of free worship for the Ostermarkers, and it was this concession that cut the Otillia most deeply. Even though Ostermark remained a vassal state of the Otillian Empire, Reinhilde could not view the situation as anything but a failure. When at last she died, in her bed at the age of eighty-three, her last words were to declare the toleration of the Sigmarite cult within her Empire to be the only regret of her long reign.

The Diet of Bechafen was to set in motion the eventual collapse of the Otillian state. Reinhilde's concessions in Ostermark weakened her iron grip on her own people. The demand for workers to aid in the reconstruction of Ostermark caused a manpower shortage in Talabecland, overcome only when a large number of Kislevites were encourage to immigrate. This change in the demographics of the population, together with the improved trading links with Kislev, brought new ideas to the Otillian Empire that overcame centuries of isolation. To begin with, this gradually increasing liberalisation came alongside military successes. Marshal Gernot's assault on the Empire of Middenland in 2152 increased Otillian holdings by nearly ten percent. In 2160, Otillian troops broke the Middenland forces in Nordland and helped to retake Salzenmund.

Yet by 2165 the tide had turned. Middenland, under yet another new Emperor, declared an end to its own toleration of the Cult of Sigmar. Buoyed up by new-found religious fervour, the Middenlanders retook their lost lands, swallowing up Hochland and Ostland in the process. As the power of the Otillian army waned, the Cult of Sigmar began to grow in Talabecland.

In 2190, the new Otillia declared a formal end to the persecution of Sigmarites. The announcement caused spontaneous rioting across the Otillian Empire. and resulted in the desertion of many of the most devoted Ulrican priests, knights and noblemen to the Empire of Middenland.

The Empire of Talabecland had been founded as an absolute monarchy, but the personality cult centred around Otillia herself was already in evidence when the first Empress died. Her crown was passed to her daughter, and thereafter, the Otillian throne was always the birthright of the eldest daughter, a unique example (in Sigmar's Empire at least) of female precedence. When the Ar-Ulricate retired from Talabheim to Middenheim in 1547, the Otillia assumed the title of 'Consort of Ulric,' and with it the primacy of the Cult of Ulric within Otillian lands. Thereafter, the Otillia was to be a focus of religious devotion, a living connection to Ulric, the Father of All.

By 2201, The Otillian Empire was a shadow of its former self. The Otillia ruled with the consent of an assembly of priests, guildmasters and lords that was similar in many ways to Marienburg's ruling council. Emperor Marius V was both loved and hated by his subjects. Ostermark, ruled by Gabriela Steinhardt, the daughter of the Grafin Helena, had become comparatively prosperous. Its workshops and foundries produced weapons for the Otillian armies, while its soldiers served alongside them as equals. Kislev, meanwhile, remained a collection of independent principalities under the nominal rule of Tzar Dmitri, a weak man who could do little to calm his squabbling nobles.

Winter's Dominion: The Empire of Middenland, Hochland and Ostland

The Imperial election in 1547 was to prove just as disastrous as that of 1359. The Grand Duke of Middenland had been led to believe that he would be the next Emperor, but instead found his life threatened by Sigmarist thugs when he attempted to cast his vote. Driven back to Middenheim, the enraged Grand Duke declared the holy elections a vile Sigmarite lie, and proclaimed himself the true and rightful Emperor.

Shortly afterward, the new Emperor of Middenland convinced the serving Ar-Ulric to depart from the Otillian Empire and renew Middenheim's position as the centre of the Cult of Ulric. The Otillia replied by declaring herself the 'Consort of Ulric,' and excommunicating the Ar-Ulric and the entire Empire of Middenland.

The Emperor of Middenland was anxious to prove that he was no usurping tyrant, and to do so he instituted a new Electoral Assembly. To fifteen prominent nobles and clergymen of Middenland he granted electoral votes, held as proxies for the treacherous Elector Counts of the other provinces. These 'Proxy-Electors' immediately voted to legitimise the rule of the new Emperor.

Later Emperors used their powers to revise the Electoral Assembly, altering the weighting of the various proxy-votes, and even creating new Electors. In each case this was done to cement their own power, and to clear the way for their sons to succeed them on the throne. Yet these rampant displays of favouritism fed into the natural rivalries of the Middenland nobility. Again and again, the Empire of Middenland collapsed into brutal civil war.

In 2086, the young Emperor Severin I took the throne. He was a foolish and headstrong boy, and quite unable to control his new dominion. In 2100, he was almost killed by Otillian assassins during the Battle of Four Armies, and subsequently lay for many months in a deep sleep.

When he emerged from that sleep, Severin was a changed man. He reformed the Electoral system, removing the system of unequal weighting of votes and creating enough new Electors to balance the Electoral Assembly in a way that had never been achieved before. Under his leadership, the Empire of Middenland ceased to tear at its own body, and began at last to prosper.

In his last years, Severin's mind drifted away from him. In 2146, he was steered into an alliance with the rogue prince Makari of Rahkov, and thence into war in Ostermark. Middenland's attempt to gain control of Ostermark was ultimately a failure, giving lasting benefit only to their Kislevite allies. By 2148, Severin was dead. The Middenland Electors were unable to agree on a successor, and civil war began.

It was in 2151 that the former commander of the Middenland forces in Ostermark, Herzog Adalbert Richter, finally overcame his rivals and crowned himself Emperor Adalbert IV. The new Emperor was a cruel and petty man. His reign saw the end of Middenland's long alliance with Nordland, and the commencement of a bitter war that still continues to this day. Middenland invaded Nordland, killing its Elector and seizing its Runefang at the third siege of Salzenmund. Adalbert's assassination in 2157 brought a brief respite, but the next Emperor was to renew the attack. Salzenmund fell the following year.

In 2160, Nordland's salvation arrived in the form of Otillian and Kislevite troops. The allied forces retook Salzenmund and drove the Middenlanders back. The defeat caused waves of panic to spread throughout Middenland. The belief in the invincibility of the Empire, forged during the reign of Severin the Great, disappeared: taking its place was a new-found religious fanaticism.

In 2165 the Emperor banned the Cult of Sigmar throughout his lands. That same year, Middenland soldiers ranged deep into Otillian territory, the standard of the White Wolf moving always before them. Hochland was absorbed by 2169, Ostland by 2175. The Empire of Middenland had become great once more.

2190 saw Emperor Marius V of the Otillian Empire proclaim an end to the persecution of the Cult of Sigmar within his lands. The result was an influx of devout Ulricans, especially priests and knights, into Middenland. First to take advantage of the situation was the young Proxy-Elector for Wissenland, Baron Titus of Delberz. Borrowing heavily from Marienburg's merchant families, Titus assembled a large army of fervent Ulricanists. Swiftly gaining control of Middenheim, largely through bribery, the baron proclaimed himself Ulric's chosen, appending the name of Middenheim's legendary founder to his own. Emperor Titus-Artur I lost no time in creating twelve new Electors, all of them leading Ulrican priests. At the vote to confirm his office, thirty-four of the forty Electors gave Titus-Artur their support. Winter that year was fearful indeed: a sure sign of Ulric's favour.

War with the North: Middenland and Norsca

Titus-Artur began a massive program of construction, regenerating the towns and cities of his empire with fine new public buildings (paying particular attention to Middenheim itself, and to Carroburg, home of his summer court). To fund this, he borrowed more and more money from Marienburg, and pushed for continual expansion of the Empire of Middenland into profitable new territories.

A fresh opportunity came from the north. The Norscans had always been a threat to the costal regions, especially to Marienburg. Now the Empire of Middenland had a substantial coast of its own, made up of land that had once belonged to Nordland. Several years of sporadic raiding led to a huge invasion in 2198 led by Thialfi Swiftaxe, uniter of the southern Norse. The Norse overcame two hastily-assembled armies sent against them, but were themselves defeated by an outnumbered army commanded by the Grandmaster of the Knights of the White Wolf, a brilliant general by the name of Lucius Wolfram. Wolfram himself slew the Norse Chieftan, thus delivering to Titus-Artur the overlordship of the southern Norscan tribes.

But Titus-Artur feared Wolfram's new-found fame and influence, and refused to reward him as was expected. Instead, he sent the Grandmaster to defend the Otillian border, appointing his most loyal courtiers as his liaisons to the Norse (appointments which would inevitably bring with them great riches).

This ungrateful move was a serious blow to the Emperor's popularity. A month later he had been poisoned, seemingly by Werner von Feuchtwangen, one of the new Electors he had himself created. Although Titus-Artur survived, he did so only at the cost of his physical strength. Thereafter, the Emperor trusted no one, commissioning an elite body of Norse Guardsmen to protect him at all times.

The Sinews of War: The Empire of Marienburg

Marienburg's history is both long and complex. Since its foundation upon the ruins of ancient elven and dwarfish settlements, its position at the mouth of the mighty River Reik has made it a source of considerable wealth. Over the centuries, the city has prospered and faltered, bringing forth Emperors and falling to conquerors.

Though the Norse have always been a serious threat to Marienburg, it was the Bretonnians of L'Anguille who succeeded in holding onto the city for the longest period. From 1597 until 1602, when the Empire of Middenland drove them out, the Duke of L'Anguille subjected Marienburg to an occupation that would be considered excessively violent and oppressive even in Bretonnia itself.

This incident was to have a tremendous impact on the social structure of Marienburg. Two years after the occupation ended, the Elector Count assembled a council of state from leading members of the city's merchant families. Before long, deregulation of trade and abolition of many of the more restrictive taxes brought about a golden age for the merchants of Marienburg. They commissioned their own fleets, raised private armies, and steadily chipped away at the powers of the Elector and the aristocracy.

In 1979, the merchant families embarked on their boldest venture yet. Working together, they bribed enough of the remaining Imperial Electors to pledge their votes to Countess Magritta, the so-called Iron Woman of Marienburg. In effect, they had bought the Imperial throne itself. The Countess arrived for her coronation in Altdorf at the head of a vast procession, only to find the gates barred to her. A brief siege followed, climaxing in the Grand Theogonist throwing the imperial crown into the river and declaring that Sigmar's Empire was at an end. Eventually, the Iron Woman retreated to Marienburg uncrowned. Yet she was Empress to her own people, and she passed on the title to her descendants.

The wars with the vampiric aristocracy of Sylvania touched Marienburg only a little. But in 2100, necessity forced the Emperor Helmut to join the alliance against Konrad von Carstein at the Battle of Four Armies. The battle is famous for the mutually-arranged assassinations of the Middenland and Otillian Emperors, and for Helmut's own death at the hands of Konrad: a death that was at least in part caused by the treachery of Helmut's brother Philip. Helmut's corpse was re-animated at the vampire's command, and paraded around for a further twenty-one years until his son Helmar hunted down and slaughtered Konrad.

Helmar died childless, possibly due to an illness contracted from the vampire, and the throne passed to his uncle's son. The emperor at the time of the Marienburg War in 2201, Philip III, was of this line. The Emperor ruled with the consent of Marienburg's council, the great merchant families (the Winklers, Koopmans, van Onderzoekers, Stegers, Starkes and van Marnixes) sharing their power with belligerent guild leaders and all-to-worldly priests. Philip was a frustrated man, given to episodes of the deepest melancholy. It was often claimed that he was haunted by the ghost of Emperor Helmut in payment for the sins of his ancestor, and that he would lead the city of Marienburg to its doom.

The Hammer Denied: The Ruin of Stirland and the Birth of The Sigmarite Empire

If the failed election in 1979 seemed to be the end of the Sigmarite Church's hope of salvation, the destruction of Mordheim twenty years later confirmed it. Ghal Maraz, held at the cathedral in Altdorf, was surrounded with a cold, angry fire that scorched any who dared set their hands upon it while the Empire lay broken. Sigmar had turned away from His children.

Beset by enemies on all sides, not least by the vampires of Sylvania, the church looked everywhere for a new champion, an Emperor who could undo the damage of centuries. The final stages of the war with the vampires produced two great heroes: the Grand Theogonist Kurt III, who drove Mannfred von Carstein from Altdorf, and Graf Martin Volker of Stirland, who slew the vampire at Hel Fenn.

Martin's victory brought new hope for the followers of Sigmar, and new opportunities. The League of Ostermark, struggling to survive after the destruction of the Vampire Wars, quickly became the focus of a tremendous power struggle. Middenland and Talabecland both laid claim to the province, but the Sigmarite Church had produced what they claimed to be the true heir to the Electorship. The Grand Theogonist gave his blessing to Martin for a new crusade against the Ulricans, a crusade that would end with Ostermark's return to the arms of Sigmar. Lurking behind Kurt's words was the implicit offer of the Imperial crown if Martin was successful.

The invasion of Ostermark in 2146 was a terrible and humiliating failure for Stirland. Worse than that, it caused a loss of life and resources that the already-faltering province could simply not bear. Martin's army was routed, and the Graf himself died (exactly how is not known). In 2151, Martin's heir Graf Erik invaded Ostermark with a new army. His failure was even more drastic than Martin's, and by 2153 Stirland retired from Ostermark forever, its economy shattered and its people starving.

With Stirland lost, the church returned their attentions to their old favourite, the Grand Prince of Reikland. Money and favour flowed both ways between the wealthy province and the church. In 2197, the same year that the Volkers were deposed by the von Huttens in Stirland, the Grand Theogonist offered the Imperial Crown to the Grand Prince. There was no election and no true legitimacy to the coronation, but no shortage of ceremony and gaudy display.

The new Sigmarite Emperor ruled over a lose confederation of states - Reikland, Wissenland, the church-controlled dominions of Altdorf and Nuln, and the remnant of Stirland. The following year, the Emperor's army invaded the Otillian Empire and gained control of a huge portion of its western territories.

Profit in Death: The Marienburg Alliance

In 2150, a strange vessel sailed close to Marienburg, and was met by four warships. Soon after, the vessel chose to dock in the city. Those aboard were alien, unfriendly, arrogant and enormously wealthy. Within a year they had established a walled trading community in the heart of the city. The elves had returned to Marienburg.

The monopoly on trade with the elves increased the prosperity of the city by an amazing amount. As the years went by, Marienburg's merchants cornered the market on more and more commodities. Averland, the only other state to recognise the Marienburg Emperor's claim, shared in this economic boom. It controlled the Black Fire Pass, and through it trade with the dwarfs and the Tileans. Averland's leading families were Marienburg's too, and in 2187 the Emperor Philip III married the daughter of Joachim II Sigmarus, the Grand Count of Averland.

In 2199, terrible weather and poor harvests meant that in many parts of The Empire, the people found themselves facing food shortages. Demand for imported food increased enormously. Suddenly, the merchants of Marienburg were in a position of unprecedented power. To begin with, they supplied food to the starving populations, only gradually increasing their prices as they made more and more journeys. But little time passed before they recognised the scale of the opportunity presented them.

Marienburg's ruling council called together a meeting with the rulers of Averland and with every one of their main trading partners: Estalia, a patchwork of petty kingdoms, was dominated by the two great (though mutually antagonistic) cities of Magritta and Bilbali; Tilea, also a mess of perpetually warring states, comprised the Despotate of Remas, the Duchy of Miragliano, the Kingdom of Luccini, the Republic of Tobarro, and the Principality of Sartosa.

In partnership with the elves, this unwieldy collaboration of former enemies set out to blockade the Sea of Claws and thus gain complete control over all food imports to The Empire. In particular, they suppressed the activities of ports in Nordland and Kislev, who responded by forming the League of Free Traders. The following year, harvests were no better and the Marienburg Alliance was able to tighten its grip yet further.

Running the Blockade: Nordland and The League of Free Traders

Nordland's many years of war with the Empire of Middenland had left it a tired fragment of its former self. The Otillian Empire had saved them, at least for the time being, but the cost was all but unbearable. Otillian troops were everywhere, acting as so-called 'defensive garrisons.' By 2197, Emperor Marius V was making overtures of marriage towards the young Grand Duchess of Nordland, the last surviving member of the old Electoral family. Nordland, had escaped Middenland only to fall by stealth to a self-proclaimed friend.

The events of 2199 threw everything into chaos again. As the harvests failed, ships from Nordland and Kislev raced to bring in imports from the fertile south of the Old World, only to find themselves blockaded by the Marienburg Alliance and attacked by its privateers. In response, the merchants and ship owners banded together to form what they called the League of Free Traders. The League was established with the aim of breaking the blockade, but the combined fleets of Nordland and Kislev, even backed by the troops and resources of the Otillian Empire and their Ostermarker allies, were simply not equal to the task.

In 2200, a bizarre metal fish surfaced in the harbour at Hargendorf and disgorged a small group of dwarfs. These dwarfs had travelled all the way from the sea hold of Barak Varr in the distant south, sailing under the blockading ships in their peculiar underwater craft. They brought a message from King Garazi Stroldreki: the dwarfs of Barak Varr would join the League of Free Traders in order to smash the commercial interests of their old enemies, the elves.

Some suspected the dwarfs of deeper motives, fearing that a terrible price would be owed in the end. Nevertheless, the League council had little choice but to agree. By the end of the year, a huge task force under Admiral Zan Nagnoli had arrived in the Sea of Claws.

The Traitor and Sigmar's Chosen: L'Anguille's pact with the Sigmarite Empire

The first Sigmarite Emperor died towards the end of 2198, during the aftermath of the invasion of Talabecland. An unfortunate lapse in communications caused the Emperor and his retinue, which included the Grand Count of Wissenland among its number, to ride into an area filled with patches of quicksand. Word of the disaster spread rapidly, and soon even the highest ranks of the church were whispering about Sigmar's judgement on the unholy.

The Grand Theogonist, Fulmar IX Cruentus, counteracted the rumours of a curse with a stirring speech from the steps of the cathedral in Altdorf - and through the ministrations of his ever-vigilant legion of inquisitors. The Emperor's heir, the thirteen-year-old Hermann, was more than ready to take the throne (or so Fulmar claimed), having been personally taught the art of statecraft by the Grand Theogonist himself. What was more, the young Emperor would immediately marry the Grand Countess Rosina von Orsbeck, widow of the Elector of Wissenland - though the marriage would of course remain unconsummated until Hermann reached the age of maturity.

Fulmar had succeeded in placing his puppet on the Imperial throne, and in binding Reikland, Altdorf and Wissenland together more closely than they had ever been before. His one remaining rival was the Arch-Lector of Nuln, an ecclesiastical inferior but in practical terms the ruler of a large city with a still larger artillery train.

The mass starvation of 2199 and 2200 hit the heavily-populated Sigmarite Empire harder than anywhere else. By 2200 the Emperor had reached the point of threatening war with Marienburg if it did not relent, but without access to the sea it seemed an empty threat.

In 2201 the King of Bretonnia sent out a call to all the knights in his realm to band together and rid the land of orcs forever. This declaration of war was met with massive enthusiasm everwhere but in the Duchy of L'Aguille, on the northern coast. Duke Henry Le Veloce, a devious, cruel man, saw the perfect opportunity to reassert his 'rightful' claim to the city of Marienburg without royal intervention. Dispatching a token force to join the Errantry War, the Duke offered an alliance to the Sigmarite Emperor: L'Anguille would supply a well-equipped war fleet to assail Marienburg by sea, while the Emperor would attack by land. The city itself would be divided between them.

Crisis in Marienburg: The War Begins

In 2201, three desperate, hungry groups of nations declared war on the Empire of Marienburg and her Averlander, Estalian, Tilean and Elvish allies. The dwarfs broke through the blockade and anchored their fleet in Hargendorf. Norse longships, flying Middenland colours, raided the Westerland coast. Bretonnian galleons swept gracefully between the lines of enemy ships, raking them with massed cannon fire.

On land, the armies of the Sigmarite Empire, the League of Free Traders and the Empire of Middenland assembled, ready to march on Marienburg. The war was swift and brutal, devastating the surrounding lands. The League broke the Marienburg Alliance at sea, while the armies of Middenland and the Sigmarite Empire broke through the city walls. The elves and many of the city's ruling elite fled by sea, while others took refuge in the stronghold on Rijker's Isle. Emperor Phillip himself took refuge in Averland, where he remained until his eventual death many years later.

For the dwarfs of Barak Varr, there was no more purpose to the League of Free Traders. Before leaving, Nagnoli sent a message to the League Council. The dwarf alliance with the humans was dissolved, and the former Fort Solace would remain dwarf territory in perpetuity. Furthermore, the message included a bill for dwarfish aid during the war: a vast sum that was to be paid over the next five years.

Even as they debated the dwarf issue, the League Council's days were numbered. The Otillian Emperor, had Nordland firmly in his pocket. His marriage to the last surviving member of the Nordland Electoral family gave legitimacy to his rule, but in purely practical terms his armies were everywhere. Otillian troops outnumbered Nordlander, and before long Otillian officers replaced the civilian rulers in every town and city. Nordland was to become a part of the Otillian Empire in every sense except the geographical. The Council was disbanded, and the League of Free Traders was no more.

While the remaining members of the Marienburg Assembly - now reduced to a handful of squabbling merchants and generals - sat uselessly in their stronghold on Rijker's Isle, the rest of the city was racked by bitter street-fighting. The eastern side was ablaze almost everywhere: only in the sealed streets of the deserted Elf Ward was there any peace. The citizens of Marienburg themselves teamed up to drive out the invaders - fighting as guilds, or neighbours, or even tavern-mates. Alongside them were the remainder of the Alliance's soldiers and mercenaries, and supporting them from the Reik was the depleted but still-potent fleet.

Yet the enemy - the forces of the Middenland Emperor - were too numerous. The soldiers of Middenland were backed by huge numbers of Hochlanders and Ostlanders. The North and East Wards remained in Middenland's grip, unassailable while the Altdorf Gate was theirs also. Soon, even the Palace Ward was lost to the invaders.

As they retreated from the Palace Ward, the Alliance forces destroyed the Hightower Bridge, and with it the only means of crossing to the western side of the city. With the Rijkspoort and the Reik itself firmly in Marienburg's hands, and two thirds of the eastern walls theirs likewise, Middenland and Marienburg had reached an impasse.

Events in Titus-Artur's own court soon changed the balance of power. A small force of Sigmarite troops crossed the Reik by night and set fire to the docks in Carroburg. The fire quickly took hold, and began to spread through the over-crowded poor quarters of the city. As the city descended into panic, Lucius Wolfram saw an opportunity. Leading his knights into the Summer Palace, he clashed with the Emperor's Norse Guards in a protracted struggle that lasted for many hours. In the end, the Norse Guards had been slain to a man, and Titus-Artur himself had vanished. But Wolfram had also been killed.

For Hochland and Ostland, the power vacuum gave them the opportunity to break free of the Empire of Middenland. Individually weak, they banded together along with several towns that had previously been part of Middenland and Nordland to form what became known as the Northern League. And it was Marienburg that was the key to the Northern League's existence. Their forces held the Northern and Eastern Wards, the Guildorveld half of the Palace Ward, and crucially, the Altdorf Gate. Middenland retained the Paleisbuurt, and the Altdorf Road. War seemed inevitable, especially after the Northern League made overtures to the leaders of the various factions that had once been the Marienburg Alliance.

In Middenland, the previous Emperor's wife, Grand Duchess Duccia, had somehow assembled a large army of supporters and had claimed the Imperial Throne. Her 'election' was ratified by the electoral assembly within months. Empress Duccia proved a highly-skilled diplomat, and her first act was to make peace with the Northern League. Surrendering all claims to Marienburg and recognising the League's independence was not popular with the nobles of Middenland, but the economic rewards were immense and enduring.

For the Sigmarite Empire, the oncoming winter promised only hunger and death. The lands they had gained around Marienburg were of little value, being poor to begin with and now much battered by the war. Worse still, their headquarters at Westen Kasteel had suffered some terrible but unknowable catastrophe that had somehow destroyed its entire garrison with neither sound nor resistance.

Yet Emperor Hermann still lived, and roused his armies for a last great assault on Marienburg. It took weeks of bloody and wasteful fighting, but at last the Sigmarites carried almost the entire western wall of the city, and surged into the South Wall Ward. To the north, they also secured Fort Reaver, one of the two citadels guarding the mouth of the Manannspoort.

In the slums of Kruiersmuur, the Sigmarites found large stocks of grain. At first, this seemed like a great blessing. Yet within days many of those who had eaten the grain fell ill with a virulent and unknown illness. The bridges to the ward were broken, but still the plague spread throughout the western side of the city, and throughout the Sigmarite army.

Though their army was forced to retreat in disarray and they had not captured the city, the Sigmarite Empire had not failed completely. Their control of half of Westerland and reduction of Marienburg's walls, together with their possession of Fort Reaver, gave them considerable leverage with Marienburg's new government. Trade was restored, and while the winter of 2201 saw vast numbers of deaths from disease and hunger, in later years the Empire grew strong again.

Hermann proved a strong Emperor, though not as fervent in his devotion to Sigmar as his father had been. Under Hermann, the Empire gradually became more secular. He appointed Arch-Lector Reyneke of Altdorf as the new Grand Theogonist, while Arch-Lector Echard of Nuln appointed himself to the same position. The two Grand Theogonists lost no time in excommunicating each other, and Altdorf and Nuln settled into a protracted and violent feud.

In Marienburg, a collection of the most powerful merchants, soldiers, guild-leaders and other leading citizens banded together with the leaders of the Northern League to form a new Marienburg Assembly. This council, assembled with the aim of reuniting the ravaged city and restoring trade links, came to a variety of arrangements with the various powers that now surrounded the city: the Sigmarite Empire, the Empire of Middenland, the Otillian Empire, the Barak Varr Dwarfs, and the Bretonnian Duchy of L'Anguille. In less than four years, even the Western Elves had returned to their old homes. Marienburg's days as the Leech of the Old World were over. Its time as the gateway to The Empire had begun.

The Mercenary War

The alliance between the Tilean city-states had always been a tenuous one, and in the aftermath of the Marienburg War it quickly disintegrated. By 2202 four of the five largest states had hired vast armies of mercenaries and come to the brink of war. Yet none of them were prepared to take the final step. The following year the Reman Despot and the Duke of Miragliano were horribly murdered, each city blaming the other (though suspicion was later to fall upon the Prince of Sartosa). Even then, the Tilean states refused to declare war, and could no longer afford to pay their mercenary armies.

As a result the four mercenary great companies - the Golden Company, the Cerulean League, the Vermillion Legion, and the Tyrian Guild - renounced their contracts of service. Before long these mercenaries invaded Tilea and made war upon the Tileans and upon each other. The Mercenary War cost countless lives and destroyed much of Tilea. Prince Pietro of Sartosa died when the Tyrian Guild took his city. Despot Nikephorus fled Remas before it was sacked by the Cerulean League, and though he regained the city with the support of the Vermillion Legion he never regained his full power. Duchess Leonora of Miragliano and King Leonard of Luccini were assassinated in the final days of the war. Only the mad Doge Giacomo of Tobaro endured the conflict without loss, though even he was to die the following year. In the peace talks that ended the war in the winter of 2203, Tilea was divided between the mercenary companies. But the new states they established did not endure.

Later scholars have put forth the theory that the Mercenary War was in fact set in motion by the manipulations of a supernatural entity: indeed, there were many strange facts in the case of the murders of the duke and the despot, and strange and radical shifts in the characters of the Duchess of Miragliano and her advisor Count Galeazzo. Some have even connected these things with the mysterious vault below Westen Kasteel, citing certain documents found in Miragliano as evidence.

It may seem fantastical to put the blame for the actions of men onto ghosts or goblins: yet the peculiar change in the character of the Empress Duccia of Middenland, to which we will return soon, is equally impossible to explain by rational methods.

The Hammer Falls

In 2211 the cold war between the two Grand Theogonists turned hot. Reyneke of Altdorf and Echard of Nuln both issued holy summons to battle to the people of the Sigmarite Empire. Thousands responded. Emperor Hermann himself declared Reyneke the rightful Grand Theogonist, calling on the people to support him, but he took no direct action.

A series of inconclusive skirmishes culminated in the massive Battle of the Wagon south of Wurbad in Stirland. While the two armies were manoeuvring for position, Echard's war wagon carrying the sacred jawbone once used by Sigmar broke its axle on the rocky ground and could not be moved. Echard made his stand around the stricken wagon, but he was surrounded by Reyneke's army in open ground. Even so, the victory was costly. Echard was taken alive but executed after a peremptory battlefield trial.

Reyneke returned to Aldorf in triumph only to find the gates closed, and an Imperial Edict nailed to them accusing him of heresy. Reyneke refused to surrender to Emperor Hermann, declaring that the Emperor had no authority over him. The Grand Theogonist laid siege to the city for nearly two weeks before the arrival of an Imperial army from Nuln forced him to retreat. He assumed control of the town of Grunburg, remaining there in virtual exile for the next two years.

In 2213 the Emperor of Averland and Marienburg died of old age, with no surviving heir. The merchant council of Marienburg took the opportunity to name Francis, a distant cousin of Phillip III, as Emperor of Marienburg only, though the boy was illiterate and barely presentable (an ideal choice for the merchant council, since he would act as a figurehead only). Averland was left without a clear ruler until Emperor Hermann suggested his close friend Baron Rupert von Hohenstaufen, allegedly of the bloodline of a previous ruling family of Averland, as the new Grand Count. Rupert was accepted by the Averland nobility, and few were surprised when the Grand Count renounced all links to the Marienburg crown to swear support to Emperor Hermann instead.

With Averland's wealth and military strength at his command, the Emperor had captured Grunburg and executed the Grand Theogonist by late 2214. At a meeting of the Lectors of the Church of Sigmar, held in Altdorf at the end of the year, Emperor Hermann was proclaimed Defender of the Faith and Supreme Father of the Church of Sigmar: effectively, the office of Grand Theogonist had been suspended and the authority granted to the Emperor.

Hermann's wife, the Grand Countess of Wissenland, died of an illness the following year. She had not provided the Emperor with an heir. Grand Count Rupert offered his own sister in marriage, a match that Hermann was only too ready to agree to. Yet the Emperor was rumoured to spend little time with his new bride. His frequent visits to Rupert's palace in Averheim, away from the prying eyes of the Imperial court, quickly became the cause of the most sordid gossip.

The Long Tyranny

When in 2207 the Reman Despot died, his sister the Empress Duccia of Middenland took the throne. Precedent should have granted the despotate to Nikephorus's daughter Irene, but Duccia had the princess banished to a Shallyan convent. When the Empress returned to Middenheim with the crown of Remas, her character had changed remarkably. While she had come to the Wolf-Throne by deceit and murder, she had ruled with equity. Now she turned her every thought to conquest.

Middenland had lost much of its strength in the Marienburg war, but the acquisition of Remas brought new revenues into the Empress's coffers.

The Empire of Wolves

With the acquisition of these new lands, the Empire of Middenland had become more powerful than ever. Empress Duccia announced the immediate reformation of the electoral system, assigning electorships to towns in the former provinces of Hochland and Ostland so as to integrate them completely with her empire. She also ended the ancient and symbolic system of proxy-electorship. No longer would her electors cast votes in the name of provinces that lay within the other empires. The Empire of Wolves no longer needed such pretences to support its legitimacy.

The Duccian system called for eleven ‘primary’ electors, who would be eligible for election as Emperor, and sixteen ‘secondary’ electors who would be allowed voting rights only. Duccia mostly bestowed primary electorships on her most fervent supporters. Only her son openly opposed her. Unable to strip him of his vote, Duccia instead denied him the status of Imperial Successor.

While the Empire consolidated at home, its Norscan vassals announced their renunciation of Middenland rule. Lacking access to the sea, the Empire could do nothing. The following year, Empress Duccia began to prepare to invade Norsca. She first tried to strike a deal with Marienburg to provide the ships she needed, but the merchant city’s fees proved impossibly high. Duccia then entered negotiations with the Otillian Empire instead.

Meanwhile, the nobles of Middenland gathered their armies and hired mercenaries, in anticipation of the coming war. But in the autumn of 2217, those plans were cast aside. While taking a trip on the River Reik near Caroburg, Empress Duccia’s boat capsized and was lost with all hands. The Empress was dead, and without a named successor.

The news spread rapidly. In Middenheim, Ar-Ulric consulted the sacred flame of Ulric, and announced that an election would be held at midwinter that year. Of the eleven primary electors, no less than nine declared their intention of seeking the Wolf-throne. Only the aged von Plauen and the foreigner Riccardi declined.

So as the first snows fell on the Empire of Wolves, the nine candidates gathered their supporters. The election was to prove a traumatic event that would decide the future of Middenland.

Note: the text ends here. For an account of the election war, the reader is directed to the works of Jonas Franck of Middenheim.