Alexis Romanoff was the Tzar of Kislev during the events of the Great War Against Chaos between 2301 and 2304 IC.[1a]
Tzar Alexis personally fought during the decisive Battle at the Gates of Kislev that ended the conflict in victory for the allied armies of Kislev, the Empire and the Dwarfs. During the climax of the siege of Kislev City the besiegers were attacked by an Imperial relief force led by future Emperor Magnus the Pious. Alexis opened the capital's gates and led a sortie against the besieging forces of Chaos. Eventually the allied armies achieved victory after the twelfth Everchosen Asavar Kul was slain during the battle.[1a]
Tzar Alexis and his troops then routed the hordes of Chaos and continued to assault the survivors until they had fled all the lands of Kislev for the north.[1a]
History[]
Origins[]
As the northernmost of the Human realms of the Old World, Kislev has always known the cruel raids of the Northmen and Warriors of Chaos, for it stands between the Chaos Wastes and the civilised lands of the south. However, in the years before the Great War Against Chaos, the raids grew more fearsome and numerous as the Chaos Gods' power waxed once more and the armies of the north gathered for the great slaughter that was to come.[1a]
In order to combat this threat, Tzar Alexis commissioned the casting of a dozen immense cannons with the request that "their roar would drown out the hordes of Chaos like the thunder of gods." While Kislev was not known for the use of massed blackpowder artillery in battle, the "Thunderers," as these cannons would come to be known, became greatly renowned.[3]
Great War Against Chaos[]
Eventually in the year 2301 IC, the twelfth Everchosen of the Chaos, Asavar Kul, led a massive Chaos invasion towards the very heart of Kislev. Tzar Alexis sent a plea for help to the Empire to aid the Kislevites against the coming horde, but only the Elector Count of Ostland answered the call.[1a]
For generations the Empire had endured a period of civil war and political instability known as the Age of Three Emperors that had left it weakened and divided, and the other Elector Counts refused to head Kislev's call for aid, consumed as they were with their own machinations. The armies of Kislev were mustered in response to the invasion, and a combined Kislevite and Ostlander host faced the forces of Chaos north of the city of Praag, but they were surrounded and massacred. Asavar Kul moved to besiege Pragg, which resisted the ruinous assault for months but finally fell in the winter of 2301 IC.[1a]
As Kul's forces marched south towards the capital, Kislev was reinforced by a throng of Dwarfs from Karaz-a-Karak led by their high king, Alriksson. Soon, like Praag before it, Kislev City itself came under siege from the forces of the Ruinous Powers in the spring of 2302 IC. However Tzar Alexis' plea to the Empire had not entirely fallen on deaf ears. An Imperial noble by the name of Magnus von Bildhofen of Nuln rose from the apathy and fear that had kept the Imperials from confronting the threat and united the Empire for the first time in centuries with the goal of aiding Kislev.[1a]
Initially hoping to break the siege of Praag, by the time Magnus and his great Imperial army arrived in the vicinity of Kislev City Asavar Kul's forces were assaulting its walls, which were desperately held by Kislevite and Dwarf warriors. Nevertheless, Magnus ordered his host to charge at the besiegers' rear in a desperate attempt to break the siege.[1a]
Just when the horde began to buckle at this sudden rear assault, the twelfth Everchosen rallied his greatest warriors and turned the tide of the battle, encircling Magnus' army in turn. Three hundred Dwarfs broke out of the gates of Kislev City and attempted to aid the Imperials but were driven back.[1a]
When all seemed lost, the Imperial cavalry which had been sent ahead by Magnus from the main Imperial force to attempt to relieve Praag appeared on the northern horizon, on the so-called "Hill of Heroes," and launched a devastating attack borne of their intense hatred for the servants of the Ruinous Powers upon the Chaos horde. Watching the enemy suddenly broken by the appearance of the Imperial reinforcements, Magnus spurred his troops on to one last herculean effort to relieve the city. Seeing that the forces of Order had gained some momentum, the gates of Kislev were opened and Tzar Alexis led the remaining Kislevite defenders and their Dwarf allies to attack the forces of the Everchosen on yet another flank.[1a]
During the bloody melee at what became known as the Battle at the Gates of Kislev, Tzar Alexis managed to mortally wound the Champion of Nurgle Valnir the Reaper, though Valnir survived the attack due to the blessings of his foul god and retreated.[2a]
Eventually this three-pronged assault culminated in the death of Asavar Kul, which caused the Chaos forces to panic and rout. The plains of around the Kislevite capital grew thick with the blood and corpse of the Northmen, as the Kislevites unleashed their savage vengeance upon those who had destroyed their beloved Motherland. The remnants of the Chaos horde fled back to the frozen north in failure.[1a]
Aftermath and Legacy[]
Magnus the Pious victorious in the Battle at the Gates of Kislev. Note the anachronistic insertion of the current Tzarina Katarin in this scene; it is an artistic tradition of the Kislevites to depict their current leaders at pivotal moments of the nation's history.[5a]
The Great War Against Chaos strengthened the relations between the Empire and Kislev. Magnus the Pious, soon elected Emperor Magnus I in the wake of the war, vowed eternal friendship with Tzar Alexis and was declared a "Hero of the People" by the Kislevites.[4a]
Even after the war ended with an allied victory and the Kislevite forces massacred the remaining invaders still on their lands, the damage caused to the Motherland by Asavar Kul's invasion would be felt for generations. Kislev was in ruins, much of its population massacred, and its cities turned to rubble. Alexis' leadership was not enough to remedy the situation, and for more than a century Kislev stagnated, largely falling into a dark age. It would not be until the reign of Tzar Boris Bokha in the late 25th century IC that the kingdom would begin to recover from the devastation of the Great War.[1a]
Despite his inability to restore Kislev to its former glory, Tzar Alexis, horrified by the care the wounded soldiers had received, immediately commissioned the construction of a hospital against the eastern wall of Kislev City. Too many Kislevite troops had died needlessly of their wounds, and Alexis was determined that Kislev would boast the finest facility for the treatment of injuries in all the Old World.[1b]
For a time, the imposing Lubjanko building served to house those wounded and traumatised by the horrors of war, but before long, it became a dumping ground for the sick, the deranged, and the crippled. Entire floors are now dedicated to the process of dying, where the mortally wounded are left to rot away the last miserable hours of their lives.[1b]
In a more positive vein, the Thunderers Alexis commisioned were used against the invading hordes of Chaos during the Great War to great effect, although most of the twelve cannons were lost during the conflict. However, the few surviving artillery pieces from that era are still in use by the Kislevite military to this day. Towed by War Bears due to their inmense size, the remaining Thunderers, affectionately nicknamed the "Little Groms", by Kislevite soldiers, still inspire the Kislevites with their sheer majesty.[3]
Trivia[]
Alexis Romanoff's surname is inspired by the real-life House of Romanov, the reigning Imperial House of Tzarist Russia from 1613 to 1917.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Realm of the Ice Queen (RPG)
- 2: Liber Chaotica: Nurgle (Background Book)
- 2a: pp. 36-37
- 3: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Kislev - The Claws of the Great Bear (RPG)
- 4a: pg. 34
- 5: The Empire at War (Background Book)
- 5a: pg. 77