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Morkar, also called "Morkar the Uniter," was the first Everchosen of Chaos Undivided. A tribal chieftain of the Norsii, Morkar received the blessings of the Chaos Gods and launched an invasion of the early Empire of Man in 1 IC but was ultimately slain in single combat by Sigmar himself.[4a][5a]

History[]

Origins[]

Born of the Taalos Tribe of southern Norsca, Morkar bore witness to the complete destruction of his home village when Sigmar, then the king of the Unberogens, in retaliation for the Norsii's invasions of his own peoples' territory a few years prior, led a genocidal campaign to stamp out the threat of the Norsii once and for all, as well as to seek out the traitor Gerreon who had fled to the north. After many villages were razed to the ground, Morkar's tribe was the last to face Sigmar's wrath.[1a]

It was with great irony then that the last Norsii village Sigmar and his warriors put to the torch was home to the man he had long sought after. Yet, due to the king's hesitation to slay his former friend, Gerreon escaped once more. With him went a young boy, the only other survivor of the village, who would in his later years become a greater warrior than Gerreon would ever be during his mortal life, before his later ascension to become the Slaaneshi Daemon Prince Azazel. This boy was named Morkar. Had his friend Wolfgart not pushed Sigmar to abandon the chase of the pair, perhaps the greatest threat Sigmar ever faced could have been averted.[1a]

First Everchosen of Chaos[]

Realm of Chaos by Geoff Taylor Warriors of Chaos

Morkar the Uniter, the first Everchosen of Chaos Undivided

Morkar eventually rose to ascendancy in the eyes of the Chaos Gods as the first of their ultimate champions, the Everchosen of Chaos Undivided, and led an invasion of the Empire in 1 IC, just a year after Sigmar's coronation as the first emperor of the newly proclaimed Empire of Man.[5a] Morkar was charged by his divine patrons with transforming the mortal world into the Kingdom of Chaos. Morkar also thirsted for vengeance against Sigmar for the deaths of his clansmen during the reprisal campaign Sigmar had led against the north and the banishment of the Norsii to the frigid lands that became known as Norsca. Having gathered a great army from amongst the Norsii and other Northmen sworn to Chaos, Morkar, now called "the Uniter," led his host of warriors south.[4a][5a]

Little is known of the invasion, but it is clear that it was one of the most earth-shattering in all the Empire's ancient history. Few of the wars of the present age can possibly compare to its scale of devastation and destruction. With Morkar's victories, the power of Chaos surged from the north, bathing the Old World in the breath of the Dark Gods. With the rising ambient tide of Chaos energies, the Daemons of the Realm of Chaos materialised in the mortal world, and marched alongside the ranks of the Northmen. With each Imperial city that fell, Morkar avenged the long-dead of his fallen tribe, thirsting only to cross blades with he who had led the charge.[3a][4a]

Eventually, Sigmar rallied the Imperial armies and faced Morkar and his Norsii. Once more did the Men of the south do battle against the indomitable warriors of the north. In the battle, Sigmar faced the terrible Khornate Daemon and Herald of Khorne known as U'Zhul the Skulltaker, and dealt a terrible blow upon the thing's vile head that saw it destroyed and banished back to Khorne's domain. Thus was the Skulltaker defeated, for the first and last time, and would forever after carry the legacy of his humiliation at Sigmar's hand upon his scarred horns. But this battle was but a small thing next to the titanic duel between Sigmar and Morkar, and the mortal world has never before nor since seen the equal of that cataclysmic clash of titans.[4a][5a]

For a day and a night did Sigmar duel the Everchosen of the Dark Gods, in a battle likened by others to that of a conflict between the gods themselves. The fury of their combat did rend apart the sky and split the ground asunder with peals of thunder, strikes of lightning and raging torrents of fire.[4a][5a]

The two avatars of the gods matched their arms in glorious contest, for at last had they found their equals. Regardless, the Everchosen, though he had come closer than all others to ending Sigmar's life, was nonetheless defeated and struck down by the first emperor's mighty warhammer Ghal Maraz. The destruction caused by this first of the great Chaos incursions into the Empire was thus ended with Morkar's downfall, and his mighty army was quickly driven back to the north, demoralised by the death of their great champion. They took his body with them and buried it in an unknown tomb somewhere in the Chaos Wastes.[4a][5a]

Archaon and the Armour of Morkar[]

Over two thousand years later, the Chaos Lord Archaon, seeking to become the thirteenth Everchosen by gathering the Six Treasures of Chaos, discovered Morkar's tomb and his suit of Chaos Armour, the Armour of Morkar, in an undiscovered realm of the Chaos Wastes populated by savage half-Humans. Archaon and the Chaos Knights of his Swords of Chaos warband gave battle to these benighted creatures for six days and six nights until their city lay in ruins.[2a]

In the depths of their necropolis, Archaon uncovered the tomb of Morkar. As Archaon reached out to claim the first Everchosen's ensorcelled plate armour, the suit came to life and attacked him, raining a relentless flurry of blows against the Chaos Lord. Only when Archaon spat a curse in the ancient language of the Unberogen did the armour's implacable assault cease for a split second, allowing Archaon to smash it asunder with a devastating counter-attack. The spirit of Morkar was banished, and Archaon took the armour for his own, claiming another milestone on the road to becoming the Dark Gods' Herald of the Apocalypse.[2a]

Canon Conflict[]

Games Workshop's original timeline stated that the High Elven Phoenix King Aenarion was the hero who slew Morkar. Around -4500 IC, during the first invasion of the Known World by Chaos in the Great Catastrophe, Morkar led a large horde of Daemons, Chaos Warriors and howling Beastmen against the island-continent of Ulthuan. Its objective was to destroy the Temple of Asuryan and extinguish its sacred flames forever. However, at that time Aenarion emerged from the temple after being blessed by Asuryan and being placed in command of the Elven army so that he might face the Chaos horde. Next to the walls of the temple, Morkar fought Aenarion, and the Phoenix King killed him with his spear. After that, Aenarion picked up Morkar's sword and used it to destroy the rest of the followers of Chaos.[3a][6a] This event is not mentioned in later editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and in current canon Sigmar fought and slew Morkar after the birth of the Empire.

Despite being the first Everchosen of Chaos, there is very little information concerning Morkar. He is only mentioned in the descriptions concerning the Armour of Morkar starting from the 5th Edition Champions of Chaos book, with a brief cameo in the Time of Legends novel God King by Graham McNeill as well as a brief mention in the timeline within the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition Rulebook.[1b][2a]

There is also an inconsistency as to when Morkar first launched his invasion of the Empire. God King never mentions Morkar's invasion, and instead a Norscan king named Cormac Bloodaxe was the one who led a Chaos invasion into the lands of the Empire sometime after Sigmar's coronation as the first emperor. However, in the 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Rulebook, on page 272, the timeline states that Morkar launched his invasion in 1 IC. This statement, made in the most current canon source, would contradict the events of the novel, as when the novel introduced Morkar, he was only a child and the razing of his village by Sigmar's forces occurred just after the siege of Middenheim by Cormac Bloodaxe.[5a]

Sources[]

  • 1: God King (Novel) by Graham McNeill
  • 2: Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos (8th Edition)
    • 2a: pg. 19
  • 3: Warhammer Armies: High Elves (5th Edition)
    • 3a: pg. 15
  • 4: White Dwarf 74
    • 4a: "Sigmar: The Old World's Greatest Hero"
  • 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Rulebook (RPG)
    • 5a: pg. 272
  • 6: Warhammer Armies: Champions of Chaos (5th Edition)
    • 6a: pg. 17
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