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The Anarchy

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EmpireofMan2276IC

The Empire of Man as it was during the Anarchy in ca. 2276 IC when there was no de jure emperor but multiple claimants all vying for the throne. True unity would not be restored until Magnus the Pious of Nuln became the first Emperor of Man acclaimed by all the Elector Counts in the wake of his great victory in the Great War Against Chaos in 2304 IC. The major claimants for the throne at this time included Elspeth Magritta VI of Westerland, Ludwig XII of Talabec, Sigismund Ulric of Osterlund, and Wilhelm I of Reikland.[5]

The Anarchy (1979-2304 IC)[5], also called the Dark Ages, and sometimes referred to as the Wars of the Many Emperors[4a], is an aptly named period in the history of the Empire of Man that immediately followed the end of the so-called "Age of Three Emperors" in 1979 IC, where the ideals of unity that Sigmar once upheld were largely forgotten as the Empire was drowned in a tide of recurring civil wars between the fractious rulers of its Electoral Provinces.[1a][2a][3a][4a][5]

There was no de jure Emperor of Man recognised across the realm during the Anarchy, which resulted in the total collapse of all central authority in the Empire.[1a][2a][3a][4a][5]

History[]

A Fractured Empire[]

The Empire of Man is a vast and prosperous, if oft-troubled, land. Since the time of Sigmar, when a hero who would become a god unified the twelve tribes of Men that dwelt between the Worlds Edge Mountains and the shores of the Sea of Claws, the Empire has stood defiant in the face of the encroaching darkness.[15a]

Though it has been more than two thousand years since Sigmar left his people to govern themselves, venturing into the east and passing first into legend, then into divinity, the nation he founded still persists. Since then, the Empire has survived threats unimagined in the form of rampaging Orc hordes, invading armies of Chaos-worshipping Northmen barbarians, legions of Undead and worse. It has endured plague and famine, flood and drought, its people prosperin gin times of plenty and persisting through their sense of unity and belief in their patron god's dream of empire and Human unity in times of need.[15a]

At least, that is what the priests of the Cult of Sigmar tell their congregations, and that is what Imperial ambassadors to foreign lands tell their counterparts. In truth, the Empire has long been a nation divided, its unity torn asunder by the pettiness and greed of the Elector Counts and Elector Countesses who yearn for ever greater power, its strength squandered in battles fought along borders that should not even exist, let alone be threatened by a neighbour.[15a]

For more than a thousand years, since the time of the well-remembered but seldom lamented Emperor Boris I Hohenbach who died in 1115 IC during the Skaven Wars, the Empire has suffered a great decline. Boris I was the last of the line of Drakwald Emperors, and in his cruel reign corruption and infighting became rife whilst the population suffered, growing impoverished and mean of spirit, and falling victim to regular outbreaks of plague.[15a]

Boris I had become emperor in 1059 IC because the Elector Counts, the hereditary rulers of the Empire's most powerful provinces, believed him as good and noble as his late father, the Emperor Ludwig II. In truth, Boris I was quickly revealed to be a ruthless despot who held onto power through brutality. Upon his death, the Electors met to choose his successor. Yet so great was the turmoil wrought by Boris I and so unexpected had his turn from affable young man to bloody-handed tyrant been that they stood frozen by the fear of repeating such a grave error of judgement. Thus did the nation remain leaderless.[15a]

Though they would reconvene within a score of years to elect Count Mandred von Zeldt of Middenheim as Emperor Mandred II in 1124 IC, his untimely assassination in 1152 IC was to reignite simmering tensions as the Empire divided into self-governing Grand Provinces. Those tensions erupted into open war when Grand Duchess Otillia of Talabecland declared herself Empress Ottilia I in 1360 IC without election. This state of affairs was eventually resolved by dividing the Empire in two, with two emperors, each ruling their own league of allied states and provinces, and cooperating with their rivals in the spirit of Sigmar's empire.[15a]

Unfortunately, the relative peace was to be shattered when the Elector Count of Middenland declared himself emperor and demanded recognition. Rather than bring unity to the sundered nation, this proclamation marked the beginning of the so-called Age of Three Emperors in 1547 IC, weakening the Empire and dividing the states and provinces still further.[15a]

With the Count of Middenland's declaration of himself and his heirs as emperor (remembered as the line of "Wolf Emperors" by Imperial chroniclers), the hostility between the states and provinces constituting the Empire increased, leading to a period of unease that would last four hundred years. In this time, political power shifted regularly as alliances were forged and betrayed, only to be reforged anew. Over time, such shifting allegiances caused the Great Provinces themselves to fracture, with whole portions of some states splitting away and declaring themselves part of a neighbouring state.[15a]

Throughout this time, borders were drawn and redrawn through conflict and bloodshed, leaving the common folk of the Empire in disarray. Farmers taking their goods to market would discover a town they had visited for decades now stood on the other side of an impassable border, its burgomeisters having declared independence or sworn fealty to a rival. Merchants would find the trade routes of centuries suddenly closed, diverted or, worse, subject to heavy new tolls. Worst of all, such petty politicking left the great nation vulnerable to invaders, the fracturing of provinces leading to an increasing number of ever-smaller standing State Armies, reluctant to ally with their political rivals against the Empire's common foes.[15a]

In the year 1979 of the Imperial Calendar, a year that will live long in infamy and regret, an attempt was made to reunify the fractured nation that was destined only to make matters even worse. Having manoeuvred herself into a favourable position, and supported by fully half of the Elector Counts, the Baroness of Westerland, ruler of the great commercial city of Marienburg, was declared empress. The outrage that erupted from this singular act among the rest of the Imperial nobility ended all pretence of unity within the troubled nation, and the Empire sank into outright anarchy, a state of disunity that would give its name to the following dark period of Imperial history.[15a]

Origins (1979 IC)[]

The Anarchy began after Grand Theogonist Vilgrim III of the Cult of Sigmar refused to crown Magritta of Marienburg, the infant Elector Countess and Baroness of Westerland, as empress in 1979 IC despite her having won the majority of electoral votes. The refusal was ultimately ignored by Countess Magritta and she moved to Nuln to found a new dynasty of claimants there. At the same time, sensing the growing political vacuum, the Elector Counts of Reikland also advanced their own claim for the throne.[1a][2a][3a][4a][6a][7a][7b][8a][8b]

In the wake of the disputed election, the entire Imperial system of electoral monarchy collapsed, and soon most of the Grand Provinces' Elector Counts fought among themselves, each seeking to claim the Imperial crown for their own.[1a][2a][3a][4a][6a][7a][7b][8a][8b]

During this period, petty warlords claimed titles on a whim as new kingdoms, counties, duchies, princedoms and more rose and fell as terror and violence spread across the fractured lands of the Empire.[1a] The Reikland, for example, splintered for a time into the independent kingdoms of Suden Vorbergland, Mittlevorbergland and Westen Vorbergland, who all defied the Prince of Altdorf's claim to rule the province as its traditional Grand Prince.[2a][3a]

Over the course of the next 325 years the Empire of Man was effectively divided among four major feuding Imperial pretenders:

Vampire Wars (2010-2145 IC)[]

The Anarchy also encompasses the era of the Vampire Wars from 2010 to 2145 IC, in which the blood-drinking Vampire Counts of Sylvania sought to establish their dominance over the rest of the fractured Empire.[1a]

With all semblance of unity in the Empire cast aside in favour of outrage after 1979 IC, and with the many states and Grand Provinces of the Empire thrown into renewed turmoil, new threats quickly arose. From within Sylvania, evil forces emerged, hungry for conquest. At the head of the province's armies were the Counts von Carstein, twisted and evil Vampires all. For more than a century, these foul creatures led their hosts of shambling revenants in campaigns to topple the rulers of the anarchic Empire. Yet their plans were eventually thwarted, for, when most hard-pressed by a common enemy, the rival Elector Counts did set aside their differences and fight as one in defiance of the armies of the night.[15a]

At the Battle of Hel Fenn in 2145 IC, templars and Warrior Priests of the Cults of Sigmar, Ulric and Morr joined the state armies of Stirland, Osterlund and Talabecland to defeat the Vampire Counts once and for all. Though the battle took a heavy toll upon the soldiers that fought it, with few escaping the accursed swamp alive, the defeat of an enemy that had only recently threatened to overwhelm the Empire carried powerful lessons that few amongst the rulers of the shattered nation could overlook. The Empire needed unity. It needed an Emperor of Man.[15a]

Unfortunately, or unsurprisingly, depending upon one's view of the nobility, this realisation did not lead to the reunification of the Empire under a single strong leader. Instead, the calls for unity only empowered the bickering Elector Counts to redouble hostilities with their neighbours as their demands that they be recognised as emperor by their peers went unheeded. Thus stood the Empire throughout the period of the Anarchy, riven by the actions of its rulers, but stubbornly unified by the spirit of its people and the endeavours of its more pragmatic institutions.[15a]

During the Wars of the Vampire Counts, which began in 2010 and ended in 2145 IC, the claimants to the Imperial throne were:

The Wolf Emperors and Nuln Elected Emperors seem to have relinquished their claim to the throne under unknown circumstances in this period. In the aftermath of the Vampire Wars, more claimants appeared as evidenced by the Year of Seven Emperors.[10a]

Warhammer: The Old World (ca. 2276 IC)[]

During the Anarchy, several defined regions existed within the Empire, each ruled by a claimant to the Imperial throne, yet the Empire remained very much a divided nation. Its once powerful Grand Provinces crumbled over long years of strife and turmoil into innumerable smaller states and counties.[15a]

By ca. 2276 IC, the largest unified regions within the Empire -- the Barony of Westerland, the Grand County of Osterlund, the Principality of Reikland and the Grand Duchy of Talabec -- each drew together, in whole or in part, several of the traditional seats of the Electoral College.[15a]

Westerland, for example, had grown to cover great tracts of land formerly part of Middenland and much of Nordland. Osterlund encompassed Hochland, much of Ostland and the larger portion of Middenland. Reikland at this time was the smallest of these major Imperial power blocs, its borders having expanded little, though its heritage as the ancestral realm of Sigmar and his people, the Unberogens, cemented the province's power and political and cultural significance. By contrast, the Grand Duchy of Talabec was a vast league of loosely allied states, such as Talabecland itself, Stirland, parts of Ostermark and the remnants of accursed Sylvania.[15a]

Alongside these major states were the free states of the Empire's south: Averland, Wissenland and Sudenland. Rich and fertile Grand Provinces all, they maintained good relations with the wider Empire, for their pragmatic Elector Counts preferred to trade their rich bounties in exchange for coin and military aid in their defence when needed, rather than throw their whole-bodied support behind any one of the feuding Electors and would-be emperors to their north.[15a]

In addition to these large and bombastic provinces, several independent city-states emerged within the Empire at this time. The most significant of these, great cities such as Nuln and Averheim, were joined by innumerable small towns whose burgomeisters chose to use the freedom offered by the constant conflict to secede from the Grand Provinces they occupied and govern themselves as they pleased.[15a]

With an ever-evolving political landscape and frequent border skirmishes fostering a continued state of dissolution and turmoil during the Anarchy, the difficulty of electing a single Emperor of Man to unify the shattered nation only increased, for even the Electoral College fell victim to division and confusion. By tradition, the Electoral College had always consisted of twelve Elector Counts, each the ruler of a Grand Province of the Empire founded within the borders of the ancestral lands of one of the twelve tribes of Men that swore their allegiance to Sigmar as king, and later emperor. To these hereditary Electors were added the Ar-Ulric, the chief high priest of the Cult of Ulric, and the Grand Theogonist, the high priest of the Cult of Sigmar.[15a]

Where difficulties arose was that, after 1979 IC, many claimants to the Imperial throne saw fit to elevate their cronies to the rank of Elector. In the Reikland, for example, the two Arch Lectors of the Cult of Sigmar, the chief lieutenants of the Grand Theogonist, were counted amongst the Electors. In Talabecland, the Elder of the Halfling Moot was acknowledged as having a vote in the Electoral College, whilst in Marienburg the High Priest of Manann, the god of the sea, was recognised as a legitimate Elector, to name but a few.[15a]

Obviously such appointments made it easy for a pretender to the Imperial throne to claim they held the support of a majority of Electors, especially when they refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Electors appointed by their rivals. In truth, meetings of the various Electoral Colleges during this time led to war and bloodshed on several occasions, with the armies of rivals mobilising to disrupt the meeting of Electors they considered illegitimate on many occasions.[15a]

In the final years of the Anarchy in ca. 2276 IC, the four major claimants for the Imperial throne included:

End of the Anarchy (2304 IC)[]

At the onset of the Great War Against Chaos in 2301 IC, there were seven claimants for the Imperial throne who had divided the lands of the Empire among themselves.[9a]

The Anarchy finally ended in 2304 IC with the unanimous election by the Elector Counts of the Imperial general Magnus the Pious of Nuln as Emperor Magnus I, and the reunification of the Empire under his rule after his hard-won victory in the Great War Against Chaos.[1a]

Sources[]

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