"Nearly twelve thousand Unberogen warriors were camped in the wilds of the lands of the Thuringians, ready to do battle with the painted warriors of King Otwin. Since dawn, the lunatic howls of berserk warriors had echoed through the forest, and the Unberogen men made the sign of the horns to ward off the evil spirits that were said to gather in the forests and drive men to madness."
- —A description of Thuringian Berserkers facing off against Sigmar's Unberogen army beneath the darkness of the Drakwald Forest[3a]
Drakwald was once an Electoral Province of the Empire of Man, and was the homeland of the ancient Thuringian tribe of Men who allied themselves with Sigmar to found the Empire. The province is home to its namesake Drakwald Forest, which also covers parts of Middenland and Nordland. It is a dangerous forest still inhabited by several tribes of Beastmen and other mutant beasts of Chaos.[3a] Situated between The Wasteland to the west, Middenland to the south-east and Nordland on the north, the province's government eventually collapsed due to a variety of circumstances.[7a]
Around 1110 IC, Drakwald's last leader to actually rule over the province, Elector Count Vilner, was slain and his Runefang was sent to Emperor Boris I, remembered as the infamous "Boris Goldgather," himself a Drakwalder, for safekeeping. For unknown reasons no new Elector Count of Drakwald was ever selected.[7a]
Baron Konrad Aldrech, cousin of Emperor Boris Goldgather, is recorded as the last Elector Count of Drakwald, though he never ruled, as he was executed by his cousin for being part of a revolt against the emperor in the depths of the crisis caused by the eruption of the Black Plague in 1111 IC. The title and the territory then fell to control of the emperor.[1a][6a]
After the Skaven Wars, the Drakwald Elector House was formally and permanently disinherited by the edicts of the new emperor Mandred II in 1124 IC as punishment for the incompetence of his predecessor, the Drakwald Emperor Boris Goldgather.[8a]
By 2510 IC, the rights to the defunct title had passed to Lucia Aldrech, a descendant of Baron Konrad Aldrech, who was married to Klaus von Hessler, Master of the Middenheim Chamber of Worthies and chancellor of the Society of Ulric. As Lucia Aldrech's husband, under Imperial law, the Drakwald title now belonged to von Hessler. Unfortunately, despite his influential positions, von Hessler was under investigation for heresy by Sigmarite witch hunters.[5a]
History[]
Thuringian Heritage[]
Sigmar, who managed to unite all the tribes of Men in the central region of the Old World that would one day become the Empire of Man, included even the ferocious Teutogens under his banner, though he failed to bring the Thuringians into the Imperial fold diplomatically. This was because they were a warlike people and to bow down to someone who had not earned their respect in battle was a prospect no Thuringian was willing to countenance, not even their ruler, Otwin the Berserker King.[3a]
King Otwin was a giant of a man, with piercings and scars adorning his body and a crown of golden spikes rammed into his temple. Yet Otwin was no fool and he knew he would never be able to hold his title should he bow to King Sigmar, no matter how noble his cause might be, and as such he led his tribe into battle against the combined armies of all the other tribes of Men under Sigmar's leadership in order to uphold his people's sense of their own honour.[3a]
And so the Thuringians fought a battle they knew they would lose, where King Sigmar and King Otwin soon found themselves locked in a titanic duel. With great effort, Sigmar disarmed Otwin and began to strangle the berserker rage out of him. As Otwin became lucid, Sigmar gave him an ultimatum; join the new empire and push back the darkness that assailed their lands or face merciless and total annihilation of his entire people.[3a]
Seeing in Sigmar a man he could respect and follow into battle, Otwin finally relented and the Thuringians joined with Sigmar's cause and became a proud, founding member of the newly formed Empire of Man. In time, Thuringia became an Electoral Province of the Empire known as the Drakwald with its capital at Carroburg.[3a]
Rise to Riches[]
The city of Carroburg had long been the jewel in the crown of the Drakwald. Less cramped than Altdorf, the city had been growing in prominence for nearly a century. It soon became a serious rival to Marienburg for trade on the River Reik, even going so far as to blockade the river and demand high tolls from all river traffic. This blockade only ended once the Elector Count of the Westerland agreed to support the election of a Drakwald emperor.[1a]
The rise of the Drakwald Emperors in the early second millennium IC made their home province one of the richest in the Empire. Indeed, when Boris I Hohenbach moved the Imperial capital from Nuln, many had thought it might next be Carroburg, not Altdorf.[1a]
Decline[]
A page of The History of Bernhardt the Brave, showing the heraldry of his family, the Runefang of Drakwald, Beast Slayer, the Drakwald Warhorn and his castle.[4a]
War was the first blemish upon the success of the province of Drakwald. The occupation of Marienburg by the Norscans had decimated the coffers of the merchants of Carroburg. Worse was to come when untold numbers of Beastmen began to decimate the province. The mutants even boldly laid siege to Carroburg itself before being repelled.[1a]
It was only the great leadership of Reiksmarshal Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde that saved the province from total destruction. Everhardt ingeniously laid a trap that forced the warherds onto an open plain near the village of Kriegfels. There a devastating Imperial cavalry charge annihilated the Beastmen hordes. However, nearly a third of the province was entirely destroyed in the fighting, and the Army of the Drakwald was disbanded by the emperor before the final work could be done to break the Beastmen hordes.[2a]
The Drakwald's agriculture and ranching industries were obliterated during this conflict, and this forced the province's people to become reliant on expensive food imports from the rest of the Empire. Already on the edge of destruction, the Black Death was the next disaster to ravage the province in 1111 IC. Thousands upon thousands died in the terrible plague that followed. Starvation also ran rampant as food imports into the Drakwald dried up as the plague devastated the populations of the other Imperial provinces.[1a]
A revolt soon broke out among the peasantry of the Drakwald, but this was ruthlessly crushed by the province's knights. A conspiracy to overthrow Emperor Boris I failed, and one of the members of the cabal, his cousin Baron Konrad Aldrech, the last of the line of Drakwald's rulers, was executed. Yet this death was not enough to satisfy the vengeful emperor, who ordered a hefty new tax levied on his home province.[1a]
With the execution of Konrad Aldrech, the last heir to the line, the emperor inherited the holdings of the Grand Count of Drakwald, including the immense Schloss Hohenbach.[2b]
For the next several centuries, Drakwald was left unsupported by Imperial forces and many of its settlements were destroyed by continued Beastmen and Goblin attacks. By 1414 IC, the territory of the former Drakwald province was divided between Middenland and Nordland, with Middenland receiving the lion's share of Drakwalder land.[7a]
Great War Against Chaos[]
The History of Bernhardt the Brave, map of Bernhardt expedition.[4a]
In the account of the Great War Against Chaos known as The History of Bernhardt the Brave - and his part in The Battle of Kislev Drakwald had been reestablished as a Grand Province of the Empire by 2302 IC and was ruled by an Elector Count named Bernhardt the Brave.[4a]
Bernhardt was a noble known for his courage and generosity. During the harsh winter of 2302 IC, he travelled through his lands, delivering supplies to his starving subjects. When news of an impending Chaos invasion in the north reached him, he rallied his forces and led the Knights of the Drakwald Forest to defend Kislev. He wielded the Drakwald's Runefang sword, Beast Slayer. His leadership and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds became legendary among the Men of the Empire and Kislev.[4a]
Canon Conflict[]
Bernhardt the Brave possessed both the title of Elector Count and the Runefang of Drakwald, Beast Slayer, in 2302 IC. This seems to be in conflict with the above history of the province, as technically the Electoral Province of Drakwald had already ceased to legally exist at the time of the Great War Against Chaos.[4a]
Sources[]
- 1: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 1a: Ch. 1
- 2: The Black Plague: Blighted Empire (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 3: Time of Legend: Heldenhammer (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- 3a: Ch. 16: "To be a King"
- 4: Inferno 6
- 4a: pp. 15-20
- 5: Luthor Huss (Novel) by Chris Wraight
- 5a: Ch. 4
- 6: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition)
- 7: Warhammer Armies: Beast of Chaos (6th Edition)
- 7a: pg. 10 - 11
- 8: Sigmar's Heir (2nd Edition Fantasy Roleplay)
- 8a: pg. 16
- The Life of Sigmar (Background Book), pg. 5
- The Empire at War (Background Book), pg. 80
- Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition), pg. 11
- Uniforms & Heraldry of The Empire (Background Book), pg. 4
- Warhammer Armies (4th Edition), pp. 6, 13, 14, 16