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Attention, Empire Citizens!
This article or this section of the article contains information regarding the Storm of Chaos campaign and its aftermath, which is now considered a non-canon, alternate timeline. |
"I have come, as I came to you over two centuries ago. Four lifetimes in your reckoning, less than a generation in ours. Though the people of the Phoenix King have their own woes, the time has come again when our paths must cross, for the fate of the world hangs in the balance. No race can stand aside against the threat that gathers in the cold wastes of the north. Not alone will the mighty numbers of men, nor the stone walls of the dwarfs, nor the fleets of Ulthuan hold back the tide of darkness if we are divided."
- —Teclis of Ulthuan at the Conclave of Light[1c]
The Conclave of Light was a council consisting of various statesmen and leaders from the Old World and beyond, formed to combat the assault of the thirteenth Everchosen of Chaos Archaon during the campaign christened the "Storm of Chaos."
In 2522 IC, Emperor Karl Franz hosted the grand Conclave of Light at his capital of Altdorf and invited heads of state from across the Old World to a conference where he explained the situation facing the Old World in the face of Archaon's massive Chaos invasion and asked for aid. The Bretonnians, Dwarfs and High Elves pledged to assist the Empire in its time of need, as did many others, such as Katarin Bokha, the Tzarina of Kislev. At Conclave of Light, plans for the defence of the Empire were laid out, and ancient alliances between Men, Dwarfs and High Elves renewed.[2a]
History[]
With the destruction of Grand Theogonist Volkmar the Grim's army at the hands of Archaon, the Empire recoiled in horror. True fear had entered the hearts of its citizens, for it was now apparent that the coming war with the forces of Chaos was very real, and that the Empire might not be able to hold back the onslaught of the hated enemy. While the northern cities of the Empire readied themselves for the invasion, no word had come from Emperor Karl Franz.[1]
Dissidents wondered if he was paralysed with fear and did not know how to react. However, these voices were soon silenced as word came from the outlying provinces, saying that emissaries from all over the Old World and beyond were arriving within the borders of the Empire, and were making their way towards the capital at Altdorf. It seemed that Karl Franz had organised a grand council of war, a "Conclave of Light," in order to organise a defence against the coming Storm of Chaos.[1]
The Conclave itself took place in the House of Luitpold, a gothic building with a central auditorium of sufficient size to house not only the dignitaries summoned for the occasion, but also numerous aides, attendants, entourages, companions, seneschals, bureaucrats, aficionados, administrators, representatives and spokespeople who, for the most part, only spoke when spoken to.[1b]
The haughty Bretonnians swore oaths on their honour to ride to the Empire in its time of need. The Elector Counts agreed to lend their aid, and the Cults of Sigmar and Ulric agreed, in as much as they could ever agree on anything, to face the coming darkness head-on. Shrewd diplomats, politicians and businessmen were even sent to the southern realms of Tilea, Estalia and the Border Princes to employ the services of those regions' infamous mercenary armies.[1a]
Notable Participants[]
- Emperor Karl Franz - Karl Franz was the most able statesman and tactician the Empire ever had the honour to call its ruler, second only to Sigmar himself.[1b]
- Teclis - Teclis was a supreme High Elf Archmage and the co-founder of the eight Imperial Colleges of Magic over two centuries before during the reign of Magnus the Pious. He arrived from Ulthuan thirty days after the Conclave of Light had begun.[1b]
- Elector Counts Theoderic Gausser of Nordland and Marius Leitdorf of Averland - These great peers of the Empire were sometimes regarded as opponents of the emperor's rule, yet they now lent their full support to Karl Franz.
- Elector Counts Alberich Haupt-Anderssen of Stirland, Valmir von Raukov of Ostland and Wolfram Hertwig of Ostermark - These peers of the Empire were men of action who wore their provinces' Runefangs openly and would rather fight the Chaos menace than flee before it.[1b]
- Hisme Stoutheart - Stoutheart was the Elder of the Moot and an Elector in his own right, a rotund Halfling with unquenchable passions for food and amorous pursuits.[1b]
- Helmut Feuerbach - Feuerbach was the Elector Count of Talabecland, whose armies had been defeated before the start of the Conclave of Light when fighting alongside the Sigmarite forces of the late Grand Theogonist Volkmar the Grim.[1b]
- Boris Todbringer - Todbringer was the Elector Count of Middenland and the Graf of Middenheim. Though himself once a rival for the throne with Karl Franz, he was a devout worshipper of Ulric and determined to do whatever it took to defeat the Chaos invasion.[1b]
- Kurt Helborg - Helborg was the Empire's Reikmarshal, the commanding general of the Imperial armies and chief military advisor to Emperor Karl Franz.[1b]
- Delegation of Emissaries from Marienburg - The delegates from the great mercantile city-state of the Wasteland included the pompous and fat Thurk van Hasteroy. A deeply suspicious individual, he was more a merchant than a leader of men, always seeking to make a profit.[1b]
- Chief Advisor Mickelbach - Mickelbach was a youthful but wise man with close cropped black hair and a beard tinged with grey. He was a skilled tactician and stealer of cushions.[1b]
- Emissaries of Tsarina Katarin Bokha of Kislev - Kislev's emissaries were Piotr Kropotkin and Vassily Ilyenskja, fierce-eyed sons of the north, clad (somewhat surprisingly) in garish robes of office, their long, black moustaches wrapped with golden thread.[1b]
- Louis Rochelle - Court diplomat and ambassador to the Empire of King Louen Leoncoeur of Bretonnia, a perfumed, officious old statesman dressed in the finest brocade and silk with one eye permanently closed by a nasty scar. He did not journey from Bretonnia especially for the Conclave, for he had lived in Altdorf for many years as his kingdom's ambassador the Imperial court. He was rumoured to be a bit of a ladies' man.[1b]
- Johann Esmer - Esmer was the recently appointed Grand Theogonist of Sigmar who had replaced Volkmar the Grim, and many held him in ill-regard when compared to his predecessor.[1b]
- The Patriarchs of the Colleges of Magic - The leaders of the eight Imperial Colleges of Magic included Luther Flamestrike, a fiery and hot-headed wizard specialising in fire magic, the reed-thin Methuselis of the Celestial School, and the almost inhuman Balthazar Gelt, the gold-masked Magister Patriarch of the Gold Order.[1b]
- Snarri Thungrimsson - Thungrimsson was the envoy of Dwarf King Ungrim Ironfist, a Dwarf almost as wide as he was tall, but nonetheless intimidating for it. He arrived some fifteen days after the Conclave had begun.[1b]
- Ar-Ulric Emil Valgeir - The high priest of the Cult of Ulric based in Middenheim was a venerable warrior priest of Ulric, a doughty warrior, and a holy terror when his anger was roused. He was summoned late to the Conclave, and he stated aggressively that he believed this delay in his summoning was due to the emperor being a puppet of the Arch-Lectors of Sigmar, attempting to keep the Cult of Ulric out of the Conclave. Karl Franz, who was not amused by the accusation, flatly refuted Ar-Ulric contention.[1b]
- Aric Grebersson - Grebersson was an advisor to Graf Boris Todbringer of Middenheim, a man as fierce as his bristling white beard and barking voice indicated.[1b]
- Old Weirde - Old Weirde was a dashing historian and the author of the transcript of the Conclave of Light's historic meetings.[1b]