- When the Great Powers war, the world trembles. For nearly a thousand years, the Eternal Empire stood, its roots deep in the old Elven lands on the Tilean seaboard. This was the first kingdom of man, fractious and squalling, like a newborn child. Though the capital of its kings at Remas was a wonder of its age, the empire was barbarous and insecure.
The Blood God Khorne whispered into the ears of his followers, and they slid into the empire's heart like a stiletto. They brought false advice, illicit witness, assassination, corruption, and conceit to the government of Emperor Giovanni VII. Their foul cults spread upon the land, displacing those Powers of Hearth and Sky who had served the simple people for centuries. Finally, Khorne spoke again, and there was war.
From a deep slumber awoke Solkan, the Avenger. Though he cared little for Men, Solkan revered the temple in his name that stood in Remas. When he heard the screams of his dying priests as Remas burned to the ground, Solkan arose, magnificent in armour of blazing silver.
Before him came Fernadrang, General of Khorne's armies, a misshapen and corrupted Ogre. Fernadrang's axe spat hot blood, and a tongue slithered from its haft to lick the blades. Solkan wielded a silver scythe, and many who watched the battle were cut down by its blade. They fought for hours. So great was the hand of Khorne on Fernadrang that not even Solkan could strike him down. And, for a moment, the Great Scythe stuck, spilled upon such a weight of bodies that Solkan could not lift it. Fernadrang struck, a blow aimed mightily at the chest of Solkan.
But it did not slay him. The Sword of Fire hit an amulet that Solkan wore, breaking it into four pieces which flew off over the horizon. And Solkan was then avenged upon Fernadrang and gutted him from pelvis to larynx so that all the pestilence inside him was released to consume the corpse. Thus ended that war of Solkan and Khorne. All this have I divined by my researches.- —Extract from the last entry in the journal of Jervais-Revered in the year 2412 IC.[3a]
The Reman Empire, also called the Empire of Remas and the Eternal Empire, is described by some academics as an empire of the southern Old World, centred on the ancient Tilean city of Remas and present in both Tilea and Estalia.[1a][2b][3a]
Spears and other polearms have been used as primary weapons in Tilea since the days of the Remans.[7c]
According to the last journal entry of Jervais-Revered in the year 2412 IC, concerning research he pursued, the Eternal Empire stood for fully a thousand years, its roots deep in the old High Elven colonial lands on the coastlines touching the Tilean Sea. The Reman Empire was the first civilised realm of Men in the Old World, though it was fractious and squalling, like a small child. Though the capital of its kings at Remas was a wonder of its age, the Empire was barbarous and insecure. Khorne's followers brought corruption and war to the ancient empire. As Remas burned to the ground, Solkan appeared and defeated Khorne's general, the Chaos Ogre Fernadrang, in a battle that also left Solkan's amulet shattered, ending the war between the two gods.[3a]
Some histories maintain that the collapse of the Reman Empire in the distant past was caused by the revolt of the Estalians against Tilean rule, fuelled by the rivalry between whether Myrmidia was an Estalian deity or a Tilean one.[2b]
Professor Bartolomus Weigel of Nuln University, in his book The Empire Then and Now, says the Reman Empire's legacy would be a pedigree of sophisticated culture that Tilea would inherit, which would result in Tilea's cults of Shallya and Verena adding a veneer of civilisation to Sigmar's new Empire of Man. The Reman language would also carry over into some of the sayings and swears said and hymns sung by Reik Imperials. An old Reman road goes south out of Nuln, and the paving stones of some of its streets, laid during Reman times and likely not moved since, are very different from the cobblestones found in the Empire's more northern towns.[1a][7a][7b][12a]
The exact date of the Reman Empire's existence is unknown.
Religion[]
- Powers of Hearth and Sky - Served the simple people for centuries before being displaced by cults of Khorne.[3a]
- Solkan - God of vengeance. Had a temple in the city of Remas during the time of the Reman Empire. His most notable temple in the present-day Old World is in the city-state of Remas.[3a][4a]
Notable Ancient Remans[]
- Emperor Giovanni VII - Giovanni VII was the emperor of the Reman Empire at the time of the Chaos invasion of Fernadrang, Ogre general of Khorne.[3a]
Game History[]
The first time the Reman Empire was explored in Warhammer lore was with the game Advanced Heroquest. The concept was then mentioned in only a few official sources under this name. However, the theme of a vast empire primarily encompassing the territories of Tilea and Estalia is recurring, albeit underdeveloped. Even the release of Up in Arms, which touches on the topic, remains vague in this regard. In particular, there is no way to confirm if the mythical empire formed by Myrmidia between the years 20 and 60 IC (itself a matter of heavy in-universe historical debate) is actually the same empire, as this would conflict with dates and descriptions provided by Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd and 3rd Editions.[1a][2a][2b][3a][6b]
Canon Conflict[]
The histories and mythologies of Tilea, the Reman Empire, and Myrmidia and her cult are heavily debated and revised by in-universe sources. Several Warhammer sources on them provide conflicting details that could all potentially be considered canonical, but not necessarily true given they are in-universe sources. This section mostly covers the differences between in-universe sources on the Reman Empire, rather than differences between known truths about the Reman Empire, of which we have little to none.
The journal entry in Advanced Heroquest claims a Chaos Ogre shattered Solkan's amulet. Archives of the Empire Vol. III states that the Solkan Order of the Shattered Amulet believes the being that shattered Solkan's amulet was instead a Daemon. This Daemon was possibly the Mardagg, and it could be that Solkan sent a spirit to fight it and did not defeat it himself. In this version of the story, Solkan and the Mardagg fought, according to the Cult of Solkan, for a year and a day before a spirit of Law conquered the Daemon and imprisoned it in a bottle. Some High Elves believe that spirit was sent by another God of Law, Astasis.[3a][4b][10a]
Mark of Heresy and Mark of Damnation refer to Warhammer's Latin-equivalent language as "Old Reman", while all other sources that refer to it call it "Classical".[6a][7b][12a]
Mark of Heresy presents Nuln as having originally been a Reman colony, which likely conflicts with Weigel's account in Signs of Faith, as this would almost certainly make the Reman Empire a contemporary of Sigmar's Empire, rather than having ended long before it came into being. Mark of Heresy's perspective is possibly supported, or possibly contradicted, by Forges of Nuln, which specifies that the city of Nuln was founded by Tileans on the ruins of an Elven settlement, following an expedition led by a merchant from Miragliano through the Alimento Tunnel.[11a]
Signs of Faith and Mark of Heresy have Remas as existing before the Empire of Man was founded, with Mark of Heresy also on multiple occasions speaking of the "days of the Remans", but Dogs of War and Up in Arms say Remas was founded after 1 IC. However, the same page in Up in Arms does also note that Tilean history is rife with inaccuracy and politically-driven revisionism.[1a][2a][7a][7c][9a]
If Signs of Faith and Stone and Steel are correct, then Jervaise-Revered's account in Advanced Heroquest of a "thousand-year" empire is incorrect, assuming it was meant to be taken literally in the first place rather than merely being a poetic phrase.[1a][3a][8a]
Trivia[]
The Empire of Remas is based upon the real-world Roman Empire of classical antiquity.
"Reman" is a reference to Remus, the twin brother of Romulus, the mythical founder of the ancient city of Rome. According to legend, Romulus killed his brother in a bid to become the city's first king, naming the new city Rome after himself. Had Remus won the contest for power with his brother, it can be hypothesised that the city might have been named Remus instead. It is this alternative that Warhammer has chosen for its analogue of the Roman Empire in the Known World.
The Orc invasion of Tilea in 475 IC is a homage to the real world fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D. However, while the city-state of Remas has a prominent role in that event, it is not described as having an empire at that time.[2b]
The Reman Empire, also called the Second Empire, was a powerful empire in the fictional world of The Elder Scrolls video game series.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Signs of Faith (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 4
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Up in Arms (RPG)
- 3: Advanced Heroquest: Rules for Heroic Roleplay (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 52
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Archives of the Empire Vol. III (RPG)
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Rulebook (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 207
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Salvation (RPG)
- 7: Mark of Heresy (Novel) by James Wallis
- 8: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Dwarfs - Stone and Steel (RPG)
- 8a: pg. 108
- 9: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
- 9a: pg. 85
- 10: Brunner the Bounty Hunter - Omnibus (Omnibus Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 10a: Ch. 4: "Where Walks the Mardagg"
- 11: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Forges of Nuln (RPG)
- 11a: pg. 5
- 12: Mark of Damnation (Novel) by James Wallis
- 12a: Ch. 8