- "I accept your kingās sword oath, and I give mine to him. We will be as brothers in battle, and the lands of the Ostagoths will not fall. I give you my word on this, and my word is iron."
- —King Sigmar, accepting the Ostagoths pleas[2a]
Map of the Barbarian Kingdoms
The Ostagoths were an ancient war-like tribe of Human barbarians populating the lands of what would be Ostermark, and as such, they are the ancestors of the modern day Ostermarkers. Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls frequently raided the lands of the Ostagoths in the days before Sigmar founded the Empire. Stout defenders of their homes and fortified villages, the Ostagoths learned to value cooperation between the clans, realising that they were stronger together than apart.[1a]
However, despite their strong sense of unification, they were utterly helpless when a mighty Greenskin horde swept out through the Worlds Edge Mountains and invaded their tribal holdings. They had come in a green tide from the eastern mountains, burning and destroying all in their path. Entire Ostagoth settlements had been razed to the ground. No plunder had been taken and no captives hauled away, for the Greenskins had simply slaughtered the people of the east for the sheer enjoyment of the deed. Fields were burned and all the forces that King Adelhard, ruler of the Ostagoths, could muster were swept away before the might of the Orc host. Braying, chanting Orc warriors in patchwork armour offered no mercy, and the scattered Ostagoths were no match for the brutal killers. The men of the east fought on, their king rallying as many men to his banner as possible, while the survivors of the swift invasion fled into the west. Some were even camped around Taalahiem, seat of King Krugar of the Taleutens, but fearing the greenskins would drive onwards, many refugees had continued west to the lands of the Unberogen.[2a]
From there, Galin Veneva, ambassador to King Adelhard of the Ostagoths, begged King Sigmar for his aid in stopping his people from being ground into extinction. Moved by the plight of the Ostagoths, King Sigmar accepted the sword-oath of King Adelhard and went forth with a great army which smashed the Greenskins back across the mountains.[2a] So grateful were the Ostagoths that they sent a large contigent of axe-men to the First Battle of Black Fire Pass. Ever since then, the Ostagoths became a proud founding member of the Empire.[1a]
Source
- 1:Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd Edition: Sigmar's Heirs
- 2: Time of Legend: Heldenhammer (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- 2a: Chapter 18: "Skaranorak"
