Fozzrik's Flying Fortress

"The omens are true, my lord, the oracles are correct; after a thousand years, Fozzrik's Flying Fastness has returned to the Old World. Wrought by magical artifice long lost to scholars of the arcane and coveted by emperors and kings the world over, the Flying Fastness is a sight to behold. A castle as large as any in your lands and crowned by eight spires swirling with all the Winds of Magic, the Flying Fastness would be a marvel even if it was grounded. But the feature that gives it its name; the peculiar magical effect wrought by Fozzrik himself that makes it so desirable – the blasted thing flies, soaring far above the land, unassailable by all. Yet if the legends hold true, in a year's time the fortress will land for just one day, its gates opening and its magical wards abating long enough for a ready hero to lead his men within and seize control before the fastness takes to the skies once more. He who can claim such a treasure will dominate the skies above and rule the lands beneath its path. But mark my words – you will not be the only one to lay such a claim."

Though Fozzrik's magical aptitude led him to become a wizard, he never lost his love of architecture. Many of the Old World's cities have been built around the immaculate structures that Fozzrik created from stone and sorcery, but more prized by far are his floating fortresses – buildings that move under their own power and sprout defences to repel intruders.

Blood in the Badlands
The legend of Fozzrik is swathed in mystery. He lived long before the establishment of the Colleges of Magic, yet the few surviving historical records agree he was a powerful wielder of the arcane. How he came to be tutored in magic remains unknown.

A magus of ancient times who lived when the Empire was still young, all that is really known about the wizard is gleaned from the only grimoire Fozzrik is known to have authored. On the tome's dusty pages – which is now located within the vaults of the Grey College, where it is held as an arcane curiosity – Fozzrik wrote of his desire to create buildings that would move from place to place, cutting out the need for roads; where trade between towns would flourish when they contacted each other – in a quite literal sense – and whole cities could take to the air to traverse dense and dangerous forests or avoid rampaging armies. Even in those more unstable ancient times he was derided as a strange eccentric. Nevertheless Fozzrik's obsession with creating eldritch architecture continued unabated. The manipulation of stone and imbuing buildings with magical energy became his specialty.

What scholars of arcane history do agree on is that at the height of his power he retreated into the Badlands and there built a great fastness with Archimancy. The fortress was as imposing as it was beautiful, and impossible to conquer as a few bandit kings and marauding greenskins found out to lethal cost. But the motives for Fozzrik creating his castle had yet to be realised.

Fozzrik began to experiment, using his Archimancy to make buildings mobile, first by folding them in on themselves, to reduce their mass so they could be carried in a pouch or pocket. His real breakthrough was when he concocted a spell that made stone lighter than air, and so the floating towers of Fozzrik have been seen intermittently throughout the world ever since.

However, it was with his final Archimantic spell that he freed an entire fastness off the ground. It is said that the mage entered his castle and it took flight, never to land again... until now.

Legend states that Fozzrik's Flying Fastness has spent the last millennium soaring across the world, appearing only briefly at certain locales to gather mystical artefacts and powerful relics. The motives for doing so remain unclear, but many now suspect that the contents of the Flying Fastness are probably the greatest collection of eldritch antiquities to ever be assembled.

Whilst many have tried to plot the course of the Flying Fastness over the years, no doubt with larceny in mind, none have ever been successful. But that could be about to change. The Flying Fastness has returned to the Badlands, and it brings with it a great magical tempest. If the auguries are to be believed it is said that Fozzrik's spell is coming to an end. As the thousand-year conjuration dissipates it is creating a massive backlash in the Winds of Magic, generating violent magical storms in the castle's wake. If the seers are to be believed, the Flying Fastness must come to rest on the original ground it was built on; only then can the powerful spell be recast and the fortress take to the air once more.

This means that, for a short time at least, the Flying Fastness will be vulnerable and its treasures within reach. But where will it land? No records tell where Fozzrik originally raised his enchanted castle, only that it was somewhere within the Badlands.

And so, with a year to go, the Flying Fastness is seen circling the skies, preparing to make landfall. Armies hastily gather, invading the Badlands and laying claim to vast areas, hoping that the Flying Fastness will come to rest in their domains so they can claim the castle itself. Only time will tell – four seasons to be precise – who will come to rule the Badlands and gain the ultimate prize.

Characteristics

 * Dominance Characteristic: Great stone lists burst from the Floating Fortress' walls, squashing flat those enemies foolish enough to approach.


 * Equilibrium Characteristic: Monstrous gargoyles burst from the fortress battlements to hurl rocks at the enemy below.


 * Fozzrik's Freight-fleecing Flimflam: It was with this spell that Fozzrik was able to amass such a vast collection of arcane treasure, summoning the contents of hidden vaults or entire baggage trains to his Flying Fastness.


 * Presence Characteristic: The fortress gate warps into a leering face that breathes great gouts of fire against attackers.

Source

 * Warhammer: Blood in the Badlands
 * pg. 4
 * pg. 80

Fortaleza Flotante de Fozzrik
 * Warhammer: Storm of Magic
 * pg. 54

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