Phoenix Guard

"Until one has witnessed the Phoenix Guard upon the field of battle, one cannot comprehend the power that they possess. Ranks of highly trained warriors all utterly silent. Around them the very air shimmers. They are not just the guardians of a temple, they are the chosen warriors of a mighty Elven god. No spoken word commands them, yet each knows his place within the battle plan. They do not baulk before even the vilest horrors of the world. It is said that each knows the moment he will die, and I believe it, for they face the maelstrom of battle with unflinching resolve. Who but one of utterly convinced of his survival, or demise, could face a hail of arrows, or a charge from some unspeakable monster without flinching? The horrors and the wonders they must have seen, these Phoenix Guard. How I wish they would only speak of it to mortals not gifted with such foresight."

—Extract from A Man Among the Elves, by Herwig Algnar.^[2a]

Warhammer Pheonix Guard — The Guardians of the Temple.

The Phoenix Guard are the fearsome guardians of the Shrine of Asuryan, the great pyramid-temple in the Sea of Dreams.

Overview

Deep within the Shrine of Asuryan lies the Chamber of Days. On its ancient walls, it is said, are the histories of past, present and future, etched in words of fire. Legend tells that any who behold the wall shall forever be cursed with knowledge of their own death. The Phoenix Guard do not utter a word. It is forbidden for those who have seen the secrets of time to speak of them, and all who do so take a magical vow of silence from which they can never be released.^[1a] They do, however, utilise hand-signs when communicating to outsiders.^[6a]

Viewed by many as a curse, this is but a part of a broader dedication that each Phoenix Guard makes to Asuryan; a covenant that fills the Creator God's chosen warriors with a portion of his almighty power. Thus do the Phoenix Guard benefit from divine protection that no sorcery or blade can easily breach, and know a sense of purpose that transcends their mortal origins. As the sworn warriors of Asuryan, the Phoenix Guard lie beyond the rule of nobles and princes. Only the Phoenix King, vessel of Asuryan's will, can command them.^[1a]

Indeed, they often act as the king's personal emissaries upon the battlefield, taken by many Elves as a sign that, even though the Phoenix King himself cannot be present at the battle, it is never far from his thoughts. When their lord orders them to war, the Phoenix Guard are grim and resolute, clad in ornate armour, and armed with tall ceremonial halberds that can cleave a foe from top to tail in a single well-aimed blow. While their stony quiet is unnerving, the aura of godly might that surrounds them is far more horrifying. Their eyes blaze with a fiery intensity borne of unshakeable faith in the Creator God of the Elves, and the air around a regiment of Phoenix Guard literally throbs with the raw power of Asuryan. Any who would stand in their way are assailed by an overwhelming sense of dread. Regiments of Phoenix Guard are always found where the fighting is fiercest and victory hardest won, for their gift allows them to see confluences and crux points upon his appointed hour of death, but none seek to delay that fatal moment. Whether battle brings victory or defeat, life or death, the Phoenix Guard fight on without fear.^[1a]