The Tong are described as some of the most horrific looking humans within the Northlands.
The Tong are one of the most infamous tribes within the North, feared by all other Northmen. They are the closest tribe to the northern center of Chaos.
Overview
The Kurgan and the Hung are just samples of the kinds of savage people that live in the Chaos Wastes. There are countless tribes of insignificant size individually, but when combined, they become a formidable force. Among them, there are those who strike fear even into the hearts of those servants of Chaos who dominate the Wastes.[1a]
Centuries ago, there emerged a great host of warriors from the distant east. They carved a bloody swathe through the lands, destroying any tribe that got in their way. Not even the Kurgan could stand against them. Those who tried were utterly destroyed. These raiders were the Tong. The reason for their success stemmed for their complete and total disregard for their own well-being. They threw themselves onto the spears and swords of their enemies to hack their way to the other side. If disarmed, they rent their foes with their bare hands.[1a] Rumors abounded that these were Daemons in human form.[2a] One by one, they cut a path through the Kurgan hordes, then, inexplicably, they stopped and turned back the way they had come. The Tong vanished, and the tribes of the Eastern Steppes regained their strength.[1a] A century or more passed before the Tong were heard from again.[2a]
While Asavar Kul defeated his rivals and gained the Crown of Domination from Be'lakor, the Tong readied a new offensive, marching forth from their distant lands once more. The Hordes of Chaos spilled out of the Chaos Wastes and invaded Kislev as recounted in dozens of tales about the Great War Against Chaos, but in their footsteps came the despoilers of the east. Thankfully, the Tong never joined the rest of the hordes. Instead, this horde turned south to slaughter the wandering tribes of Men.[1a] It was a great incursion of Chaos that went unnoticed by the records of the Empire, the dwarfs and even those in far distant Cathay, for it never crossed the mountains of the World's Edge but instead laid waste to many of the wandering tribes of men, orcs and goblins and other races that dwell in those dark lands.[2a]
None recall the champion who led it, but it is remembered that as the greater horde approached it was the banners of the Tong that were at the fore of it. Some tribesmen had heard stories of the depravations of the Tong and fled before them; others had not, and instead rode to join them - only to be cut down like wheat as they offered their hands.[2a] When they were through, they wiped out warband after warband of Hobgoblins, burning and killing everything in their path. The horde raged for five years, seeking out the greatest tribes and killing them all.[1a] After five years had passed there was not a single tribe in those lands that had not been vanquished or had not fled before them.[2a] Their bloodlust slaked, they returned, unchallenged, back to the north, vanishing into the depths of the Chaos Wastes.[1a]
Since the Great War, the Tong have never resurfaced as a horde, as it is claimed that their homeland was destroyed and the greatest of the tribes, the Tsavags, fell to the sword of a horrible daemon. From time to time, a small warband might emerge, joining the occasional Incursion, but thankfully never in the numbers they presented centuries ago.[1a] As one of the tribes closest to the pulsating heart of Chaos, the Tong peoples are one of the most mutated and hideous of the Northern tribes, and one of their most indomitable fighters. As the darkness of the North begins to swell they are the first to join the ranks of the mighty incursions and remain its central core of fierce mortal warriors.[2a]
Trivia
- The Tong are one of the few tribes that appear to be their own nation, separate from the Kurgan and Hung. One tribe, the Tsavags, was known to have subjugated lesser tribes of Kurgan and Hung under their own Empire of Chaos.
