Map of Grand Cathay, with the Great Bastion in the north.[1a]
The Great Bastion, also called the Dragon's Spine[2a] and the Great Wall[3a], is a massive, fortified wall that stretches for hundreds of miles along the northern border of Grand Cathay's Northern Provinces. It is large enough to require a garrison of tens of thousands of Cathayan troops.[1b]
Its purpose is to protect Cathay from the raids and invasions of the Kurgan and Hung tribes and the other forces of Chaos present in the Eastern Steppes and the Northern Wastes.[5]
The Great Bastion has three primary gates -- the Turtle Gate, the Snake Gate and the Dragon Gate, but there are no more than ten bastion fortresses in existence across the entire stretch of the wall. Each bastion fortress has a massive garrison of thousands of Jade Warriors and is defended by a significant amount of Grand Cannons and Fire Rain Rocket Batteries. [5]
History[]
The Great Bastion was built in -1800 IC by Grand Cathay's ruling Dragon Emperor, who united the entire civilisation of Cathay in this great task in order to change the destiny of his empire forever. The massive fortification was completed in under a century, and is an impenetrable fortress wall, a quarter of a mile high from Nan Gau in the west to Wei-jin in the east[1a], that spans league upon league across the northern border of Cathay. In this way Cathay protects itself from Chaos invasion.[2a]
It is said that each brick of the Great Bastion was shaped by the Jade Dragon, tempered by the Fire Dragon and blessed by the Iron Dragon to give it strength.[5]
Less than three centuries after its construction, the Worlds Edge Mountains were riven by earthquakes, jeopardising much of the Dwarf empire. Sections of the Great Bastion collapsed as well, allowing the rampaging tribes of the Northmen to spill into Cathay.[2a]
In the year 1310 IC, another series of earthquakes caused a portion of the Great Bastion to collapse. A truly colossal Chaos invasion then ensued as scores of battle-hungry Kurgan tribes that roamed the Eastern Steppes flooded into the rich and ancient Celestial Empire.[3a]
Hordes of Chaos Warriors battled legions of Cathayan terracotta automatons attempting to shore up the Great Wall with their own clay bodies, mutated War Mammoths gored and trampled whole regiments of one-horned Ogres, and in the skies above Daemon Princes duelled with bejewelled Gold Dragons. The Cathayans ultimately blunted the invasion, but not before the Chaos horde had carved a bloody path into the heartland of the Far East.[3a]
The Tower of Ashshair is a Cathayan outpost to the northeast of the Great Bastion that overlooks the Silk Road and the mountain passes coming down from the Mountains of Mourn. From this jade-green tower of magical stone the servants of the Dragon Emperor survey the great trade road to the west and keep watch for signs and portents of woe and threats from distant lands.[4a]
End Times[]
During the End Times, the Great Bastion was levelled by the Waaagh! of Grimgor Ironhide in the wake of his conquest of the Far East.[6a]
Trivia[]
The Great Bastion of Grand Cathay is based on the Great Wall of China, a series of fortifications built on the then-northern borders of China by the Chinese states of the Warring States period and later by the various dynasties of Imperial China as protection against raids and invasion by the various nomadic groups from the steppes of Central Asia.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Rulebook (7th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos (7th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 38
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Rulebook (8th Edition)
- 3a: pg. 219
- 4: Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 4a: pg. 25
- 5: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 6: The Lord of the End Times (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
- 6a: Ch. 15