Tzaangor

A Tzaangor

Tzaangors are the beastmen of Tzeentch. They are avian-featured and horned, covered in savage totem and wielding weapons made out of bone, iron and crystal.^[1]

Origins

Tzaangor origins are as multifarious as the plans of Tzeentch themselves. Some are Gor-Kin corrupted - or elevated, as they might say - by a Tzaangor Shaman; others might be humans who have undergone horrific rituals. Others are still beast-children, mutants born of humans parents and left to die, but instead found and raised by Arcanite Cults. Other were born as beasts that went through foul rites. Regardless of source, all recognise that they have been blessed by Tzeentch. Tzaangors are far more intelligent than other beastmen, and they look down upon their beast-kin, seeing themselves as evolved and their cousins as brute animals.^[1][2]

Senses

The strangely mutated minds of Tzaangors have become particularly attuned to magic and they are drawn to the arcane, seeking to hoard it. Tzaangors are also closely bound to the strands of fate, their animal instincts able to detect omens the way beasts scent prey upon the winds.^[2] This magical essence is capable of alerting them of a hidden presence of a god, through they are unable to discern it's true nature.^[1]

Habitat

Tzaangors can be found in every one of the Mortal Realms, where they live in the wild places, choosing locales rich in magic to raise their strongholds. In Ghyran this means near waterfalls or wellsprings, while in Aqshy this might be alongside volcanoes or fiery chasms. There, the Tzaangor Shamans tap into the magic to raise flux-cairns, which are surrounded by lesser herdstones - glyph-inscribed monoliths, made out of stagnant magic shaped in symbols sacred to Tzeentch. The longer a flux-cairn remains in place, the more the lands about it change, both honouring their god and facilitating his schemes. It is the Tzaangors' goal to use them to warp entire kingdoms, and eventually the realms themselves.^[2][1]

The places where they inhabit are filled with damnable incense and multi-coloured bonfires.^[1]

Culture

Tzeentch did not transform his chosen beastmen to seek magic alone - he has also created them to kill. Many rituals prepare Tzaangors for war, culminating in the weapon-taking Tzaanwar, an unholy rite where the rent armour and broken weapons of foes are transformed into the resplendent gear worthy of fighters of Tzeentch. In battle the Tzaangor warflocks are led by a Twistbray champion, and they fight with savage skill, stabbing and hacking with curved words or axes, as well as rending with horn and beak.^[2]

As magical creatures they draw energy from the proximity of Tzeentchian sorcery and others of their kind - the more groupings there are of nine Tzaangors, the more savage they become. Favoured Tzaangors are sometimes honoured with bearing their god's icon to war. These ornate totems can absorb the magical energies of nearby spellcasters, and are used by the Tzaangors to steal the arcane force which they use to grow their flux-cairns. Recently trapped eldritch powers can even be directed as bolts towards nearby foes.^[2]

While Kairic Acolytes seek to build libraries of forbidden knowledge, the Tzaangors do the same but eschew books, for their Shamans copy dark teachings upon beast-hide, some of which is still attached to living creatures. Many chaos beasts such as Ghorgons, Razorgors, Jabberslythes, Chimeras, Cockatrices, or Mutalith Vortex Beasts can be found alongside Tzaangor warflocks, all with dark script painted on, or carved into, their flanks.^[2]

Their music is cacophony, as the music of drummers and pipers is mixed with screeches and howls.^[1]

Miniature

• 

  A unit of Tzaangor Warriors.

• 

  A unit of Tzaangor Enlightened.

• 

  An unit of Tzaangor Skyfires.

• 

  A Tzaangor Shaman mounted on a Disc of Tzeentch.

• 

  A Tzaangor Twistbray, an Brayhorn and an Icon Bearer belonging to a Tzaangor Warriors unit.

• 

  Two Tzaangor Warriors wielding a Savage Blade and Arcanite Shield, and a two-headed Tzaangor Mutant.

• 

  One Tzaangor Warrior wielding a Savage Greatblade and two others wielding a Savage Blade and Arcanite Shield.

• 

  Three Tzaangors from the Silver Tower.

• 

  A Tzaangor from the Silver Tower wielding a Greataxe.

• 

  A Tzaangor Warrior wielding a Greataxe.

• 

  A Tzaangor Warrior wielding a Savage Blade and Arcanite Shield.

• 

  A Tzaangor Mutant wielding paired Savage Blades.

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  An Aviarch, the leaders of the Tzaangor Enlightened unit, riding atop a Disc of Tzeentch.

• 

  The Aviarch of a unit of Tzaangor Skyfires.

Sources

• 1: Hammerhal & Other Stories, Dark God's Laughter
• 2: Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch (2017) Pg. 47-48