"While travelling to the lands of distant Cathay, I first passed through the strange land of Ind. What wonders I've seen! Fabulous temples, great white beasts with trunks and tusks, and that walk on four legs, birds of every colour, and the cuisine... It takes my breath away just thinking about it. Anyway, while in Ind, my company had the misfortune of being attacked by an odd race of creatures. I believe they are somehow related to our own Beastmen, as they combined the features and form of both Man and beast. But these vile creatures were different. They had the heads of great cats -- larger versions than the ones stalking the night streets of our grand Empire -- mounted on a naked Human body. Stranger still, while we fought for our lives, our native guides just dropped prostrate to the ground, ignoring our cries for help, unmindful of the beasts as they tore through us and our guides alike. Luckily, through my own skill with the sword and the pistol-fire from my companions, we beat back the rude host, sending them scurrying into the woods. After, I flogged our guides, remonstrating them for their cowardice, as any master should. Weeks later, I learned that these creatures are something akin to holy spirits to the natives, and that if we injured any, we should be on the lookout for an attack. Thankfully, I ended their service when we returned to town. It's odd though, I've been experiencing stomach distress...probably caused by this infernal fare they pass for food."
The Eastern Beastmen or Tigermen are a species of tiger-headed Beastmen from the dense jungles of the Kingdoms of Ind. Known for their noble but unpredictable nature, they can either protect or prey on Indish settlements.[1a][2a][3a]
Beastmen appear to live in the central and southwestern regions of Ind.[2a] Travellers to the Old World from the east bring stories of man-shaped beasts as equally removed from Humanity as the creatures of the Drakwald Forest. Spice merchants from Ind have spun tales of creatures with heads of the hunting cats they call tigers, which dwell in the dense jungles in the interior of their land.[2b]
The people of Ind regard these Beastmen as noble but fickle beings, as likely to fight off attackers of an Indish village as raze it to the ground. These creatures are rarely seen, and their motives are unfathomable, yet cautionary tales are told up and down the Kingdoms of Ind, and offerings of meat and rice to keep them at bay are made at roadside shrines wherever the path passes through or near the shadowy forest, in the hope of appeasing them.[2b][5a]
The bodies of the Tigermen are covered in striped orange and black fur, their heads those of tigers, but with more intelligent eyes, their hands tipped with claws, but able to grasp weapons easily. These Beastmen are nothing like those living in the Old World. Their armour is clearly handmade, little more than tooled leather straps holding flat discs of metal and stone in strategic locations, but still handsome and effective. Their weapons are hatchets and short swords, and spears with blades of glittering black stone and hafts of gleaming wood, far finer than those other Beastmen are capable of creating.[6a]
The Tigermen are served by a priestly caste that is armed with black scimitars and staffs made out of golden stone adorned with claws who are able to work magic.[6a]
Tiger-headed Beastmen are among the foes that the army of the Everqueen of Ulthuan faces every tenth year during the Eclipse Wars. As the Everqueen seeks to sacrifice her moon blood to keep Morrslieb at bay, tribes of tiger-headed Beastmen, prides of winged Celestial Lions and troops of six-armed Monkey Warriors oppose her intrusion into their lands.[7a]
The Tigermen are often found near temples dedicated to She'ar Khawn, the eight-armed Indish tiger god, who protect the sites from intruders and perform sacrifices in his honour. One of She'ar Khawn's main lairs is the Eye of the Tiger, a deep cave located at the foot of the Shambani hills, which is said to contain the lost Stone of Simba.[4a]
It is unknown if these creatures are somehow related to the Werecreatures known as Weretigers, a common form of lycanthropy found in the Far East. Weretigers may assume the shape of a tiger, a normal Human, or a hybrid, half-Human, half-tiger form. When in the shape of a true tiger, Weretigers are subject to that form's lowered intelligence.[1a]
Notable Tribes[]
- Bengal - The Bengal tribe of Tigermen has taken up residence in the Eye of the Tiger, a cave located in Ind's Shambani foothills that is also home to the relic known as the Stone of Simba.[4a]
Trivia[]
The Bengal tribe of the Tigermen is a reference to the Bengal tiger, a subspecies of tiger native to the Indian subcontinent.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer The Mass Fantasy Role-Playing Game: Vol. 1 Tabletop Battles (1st Edition)
- 1a: pg. 48
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition)
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Corruption (RPG)
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Companion (RPG)
- 4a: pp. 7-8
- 5: Warhammer: Lustria (6th Edition)
- 5a: pg. 41
- 6: Warhammer: Day of the Daemon (Novel) by Aaron Rosenberg
- 6a: Prologue
- 7: Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Rulebook (8th Edition)
- 7a: pg. 202