Old Ones
The Old Ones were powerful beings who arrived to the Warhammer world millennia ago and created many races[need citation]. After their polar warp gates collapsed, the Old Ones disappeared. The Lizardmen venerate the Old Ones as Gods[12a] and attempt to interpret and carry out the Great Plan of the Old Ones[7a].
Nota Bene : before 1997 and more precisely the release of the first Lizardmen army book, Old Ones were known as Old Slann. How they are depicted below is pretty the same as they were under the ancient name but their appearance was known as the one of the modern Slanns[10a]. [This change put a question about the remolding of the known world because if the Old Ones are so powerfull, why did they need Slanns to move continents ? We can explain this by considering the explained lore since 1997 is a mistake shared by humans universities that cannot understand that slaans from first spawn were just the children of the aliens they call the Old Ones who were a frog people from other planet. Slanns living in 2500 IC are just grand grand... grand children of the Old Ones and totally forgot history, technology understanding and so on of their ancestors[10d].]
Contents
History
The Arrival
According to the legends of the Elves, the Old Ones are said to have arrived on the world onboard silver ships from beyond the stars long before the ancestors of Elves and Dwarfs can speak or sing[12c]. The Old Ones are said to had been immensely powerful beings that were able to change the world, alter its environment, raise oceans or mountains, and even change the shape of the land to suit their purposes [7b]. They came at a time when the world itself was covered in an ice age near 10'000 years before men from the Old World came in Lustria [11a]. The world at these times were very different for all was only ice and poisoned ashes spat from volcanoes. Only few wet warm jungles remained[7b], hidden deep in equatorian regions[12c] and there the Old ones built their new civilization[7b]. It was only through the workings of the Old Ones that it melted whereupon they remade the world a thousand years after their arrival [11a]. To travel between stars to the known world, the Old ones used a incredible mystic machinery now only know as the gates[12c] and built two of these spectacular constructs as huge as moons above the North and South poles of the planet[10b][7b].
That's a fact that Old ones used their powers to break the former huge one continent into several more little ones while the climate gets warmer and warmer[7b] giving birth to the World pond until -5590 IC[12d]. With a climate far more pleasant to theirs needs, the Old ones landed on the world and established their capital, the now called Itza arounf -10'000 IC[7d] on the new continent of Lustria, deep into the jungles[7c]. Later, they spread all around the world and founded cities in all Lustria, South lands and Cathay, all these new settlements linked to each other by a long gone teleportation system[7c].
The swarmings of Slanns
With the Oold Ones came many servant races and among them the Slann who were their most favoured[7b]. Meanwhile, it's established that 5 Slanns swarmings happened after the arrival of Old Ones on the world[12f][7c]. If the first on happened between -15'000 and -10'000 IC, the others are later than -10'000[7c] but before the birth of the Elves and Dwarfs[12f][7c]. The Old Ones used only to deal directly with the Slann of the 1st spawning who then delivered their orders to the younger Slann [7a]. It was the Slann who, following the instructions of the Old Ones, changed and moulded the planet, bringing it closer to its sun and splitting its super continent into separate landmasses[7a]
The Creation of lesser races
During this age, it is said that the god-like Old Ones are credited for creating the Elder Races of Elves and Dwarves[5] and Saurus who probably were their first deed before they turn to other species[12e]. All these experiments had certainly began through stock of the animals living in this ancient warming world[11a]. Close to -5600 appeared the Green skins races the Old Ones seemed findind as a parasite species and attempt to eliminate them with no success[7d].
It is known that the ancient forests of Athel Loren were seeded as saplings by the servants of the Old Ones. However, it was not known whether it was them or the coming of Chaos that awoke the trees.[2] The legends of the High Elves also make mention of the Old Ones though their records have them in a competing role as being the creators of their race which conflicts with the Elvish creation myths. In Loremaster Finreir's Book of Days, the Old Ones who "came from beyond the heavens" are attributed with forming the world and creating the race of Elves which contradicts the roles of the gods Asuryan and Isha.[4a] According, to certain revisionist historians in Dwarf lore, it is claimed that Grungni decided to embark on the Long Migration after reaching an accord with the mythical Old Ones after an ancient war ended in a stalemate.[3a]
The Fall
Unfortunately, for unknown reasons the gates began to malfunction and in the end collapsed[12e]. Through them the raw power of Chaos began to affect the world[10b]. The Old Ones desperately tried their best to contain theis ennemy made of pure energy[7c] but in the end failed and disappeared around -5600 IC[n7d] or few later, probably around 7000 years before the New World settlements founding[11a]. What is certain is that their cvivilisation totally collapsed somewhere about 7000 years ago[10d] with the collapse of the dimensional gateways. At this very moment, solid shards of Chaos energy scattered around the world leading to mutations that brought about the emergence of the Beastmen[6] foul human mutations and Skavens alike[10c].
Additional information
The fall of the Old Ones came when their great gates themselves broke upon and allowed Daemons into the world which the Slann struggled to contain[5] The legends of the Asur, after the Great Gates collapsed leading to the Aethyr being released into the world, a number of great tablets of the Old Ones remained behind at the Great Pyramid. At this site, Verena uncovered the existence of Tlanxla's Sword of Judgement which, like many Old One artefacts, had fallen into the hands of the Chaos Gods. This weapon fell into the hands of Ulgu had had broken into the world through the Southern Gate where the goddess used her wit to gain the Sword before returning back to the Great Pyramid to join the defenders as the Dark God's minions surged forward.[4b] The race of Elves replaced the Slann in combating the Daemonic hordes and with the blessing of the Old Ones they they fought the darkness for five centuries. However, it was only when Aenarion emerged as the Phoenix King of Ulthuan did the tide turn in their favour when they became empowered by the energies of the Old Ones that led to them crafting a spell to deprive the Daemons of their power thus ending their invasion of the world.[5]
By later years, Father Igyori Rhyurvic of Brunmarl who was a Priest of Verena spent his entire adult life in the study of the Elder Races where he found the Old Ones to be the most mysterious of beings. Over the course of his study, he discovered the High Elves do not believe that the Book of Days contradicts the creation myths seen in The Flame Eternal. As such, this led him to conclude that the Gods of the Elves were actually Old Ones with the writings simply being variations of the same tale. However, when he took his findings to the Elven scholar Felanthian, who was told that he was incorrect and that the Old Ones were not the gods of the Elves. Further confusion was added when the Elf said that the two texts of Asur did not contradict one another leading to the Priest of Verena to wonder if his translations were wrong.[4a]
From the legends of the Asur did Magister Markus Fischer of the Grey Order learnt of the myth surrounding the ancient Sword of Judgement and how it impacted the races of the world with the servants of Verena and the Elvish followers of Hoeth both favoured the use of the sword as a weapon. This is in memory of a myth that he claimed that was probably not true.[4b]
List of Old Ones
As all the Slann of the first generation have died, no Lizardmen had first-hand contact with the Old Ones. As a result, many names and details have been lost. These Old Ones are fairly well-known:
- Sotek, Serpent God[12a], perhaps not a Old One[13a]
- Chotec, Lord of the Sun [12b]
- Itzl, god of cold-blooded beasts
- Tepok (sometimes written Tepoc[12b]), the inscrutable, god of magic and wisdom
- Xholanka, the Lost One[8a]
- Quetzl, The Protector, Warrior-Defender
Most Old Ones are actively venerated.[8]
- Axlberyn[8a]
- Caxuatn[8a]
- Conalxa[8a]
- Huanchi, Jaguar God of the earth and night. [9a]
- Inhamex[8]
- Potec[8a], he who wards against the supernatural
- Quatl[8a]
- Quetli[8a], a warrior-god, Protector of the True Way
- Rigg[8a], the Outcast, mother of Kalith, referred to as female
- Tlanxla[8a], the embodiment of the warlike nature of the Lizardmen, rides to war in a mighty sky-chariot
- Tlazcotl [9a] (possibly also called Tlaxcotl), the impassive, patient, and determined. [9c]
- Tzcalli[8a]
- Tzcatli[8a], he who grants strength to a warrior's arm
- Tzunki, lord of Water, agility, and keen eyesight
- Uxmac[8a], the messenger of the gods
- Xapati[8a]
- Xapiti, whose name is invoked before vengeance is called upon a foe
- Xhotl[8a], the chooser of those destined for greatness, also the name of a city
- Xholanka[8a]
- Xokha[8a], the spirit of stone, the giver of strength, and the Arbiter of Duty
- Xoloc[8a]
- Yuxa[8a]
See Also
Sources
- 1: Hoare, A., Warhammer : Lizardmen (7th Edition),2008.
- 1a: pg. 36
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (6th Edition)
- 3: Nunez, A., Dwarfs: Stone and Steel for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st Edition), 2002.
- 3a: pg. 3
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (2nd Edition) Tome of Salvation
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (2nd Edition) Tome of Corruption, pg. 7
- 6: Warhammer Armies: Beastmen (7th Edition), pg. 6
- 7: Reynolds, A., Warhammer : Lizardmen (6th Edition)2003.
- 8: Johnson, B., WFRP Lustria, 2023.
- 8a: Servants of the Old Ones, pg. 119
- 9: White Dwarf 300 (UK)
- 10: Haliwell, R. et al., WFRP Rulebook (1st Edition), 1986.
- 11: Halliwel, Ansell and Priestley, Battle Bestiary (2nd Edition), 1984.
- 11a: Time line for the known world, pg. 10
- 12: Stillman, N., Warhammer Armies : Lizardmen, 1997.
- 13: Hoare, A., McNeil, G., Warhammer : Lustria, 2004.
- 13a: The rise of Sotek, pg. 51
