"Their walls will fall... Their faith will fail... Their flesh will tear!"
Bray-Shamans are the voice of the Dark Gods among the warherds of the Beastmen.
A Bray-Shaman, also known as a Speaker of the Dark Council, is a powerful, if primitive, Chaos Sorcerer who occupies a unique and privileged position within the brutal and bitter world of the Beastmen.[1a]
They have no need to defend themselves from other members of their tribe, for none would dare assault them, for it is they who serve as the priests of the Beastmen. Not even the mightiest Beastlord would harm a Bray-Shaman, for they speak the will of the Dark Gods to the Children of Chaos, and those that defy the gods pay the highest price of all.[1a]
Bray-Shamans are most skilled at wielding the magical Lores of the Wild, Beasts, Shadow and Death.[3a]
Role
"Cloaked in the power of the beast, the Bray-Shaman uses his primal mutations to exert greater strength."
- —Description of a Bray-Shaman from Total War: Warhammer.[3]
Beastmen Bray-Shamans are born with the instinctive ability to wield the powers of Chaos Sorcery, which they deploy with terrifying capability.
Bray-Shamans are born into magic, and wield it with an instinctive ease. A palpable miasma of fell sorcery always surrounds them, and when their wrath is roused reality itself is distorted and maimed. Tree roots twist and writhe at their passing, the undergrowth boils with unholy life and repugnant parasites scurry at their feet.[1a]
A Beastman Bray-Shaman as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.[3a]
It is said that the Bray-Shamans can take the form of the beasts of the wild wood, the better to spy upon Mankind. Countless are the tales of death and war presaged by visitations of evil-eyed crows, owls or foxes. Many superstitions regarding such beasts grip the hearts of Men, particularly in the most far-flung townships and military outposts.[1a]
A Beastman Bray-Shaman as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.[3a]
As the Beastlords are the embodiment of their race's hatred for Mankind, so the Bray-Shamans embody the loathing of Humanity's gods. To blaspheme the deities of Men is to do ultimate honour to Chaos, and the Bray-Shamans enact such defilement as the greatest of their rituals.[1a]
The most blessed of all are those who have counselled their warherd's chieftains to wage unending war upon the Empire, and in so doing have burned to the ground the temples of the gods of Men. To the Bray-Shamans, the ultimate act of worship is to slay Humanity's priests upon their own altars, to defecate upon their holy ground and to trample their sacred artefacts beneath the cloven feet of the warherd.[1a]
Once the warherds are gathered into a mighty brayherd, the Bray-Shamans will lead their fellow Beastmen in a frenzied ritual celebration, their discordant bellowing audible for many miles around. They invoke the power of the Dark Gods, and infuse the assembled herds with bestial vigour. Blood sacrifices are made and the gizzards and hearts of captives are offered to the skies as the Beastmen thrash and convulse around the herdstone. All manner of unspeakable excesses are committed before the ritual reaches its climax and the horde explodes out of the forests to ravage the lands of the Old World.[1a]
The most feared and powerful Bray-Shamans of all are known as Greater Bray-Shamans.[2a]
Miniatures
.jpg "Beastmen Bray-Shaman (2).jpg (48 KB)")
.jpg "Beastmen Bray-Shaman (1).jpg (43 KB)")
.JPG "Beastmen Great Bray-Shaman (1).JPG (25 KB)")
.jpg "Beastmen Great Bray-Shaman (2).jpg (39 KB)")
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Beastmen (7th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Corruption (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 103
- 3: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)
- 3a: Bray-Shaman unit description
Gallery
![Bray-Shaman braystaffs as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.[3a]](/wiki/File:Bray_Shaman_Staff.jpg "Bray Shaman Staff.jpg (233 KB)")