Warmachine: Apotheosis
| Warmachine: Apotheosis | ||
|---|---|---|
| Release Date | 2004 | |
| Pages | 240 | |
| Preceded by | Warmachine: Escalation | |
| Followed by | Warmachine: Superiority | |
Contents
Contents
Apotheosis continues the story from Escalation and introduces epic warcasters, character warjacks and bonds to the game.
Story
Before the Cygnaran Royal Assembly, King Leto Raelthorne formally revokes Cygnar's protection of the Protectorate of Menoth, and declares all followers of Hierarch Garrick Voyle to be traitors and no longer citizens of Cygnar. He then promotes Coleman Stryker to the rank of Lord Commander that will answer only to Leto himself and the authority to command Cygnaran forces upon his governance, and orders the news delivered to every other commander in the kingdom. Stryker immediately requests Leto to grant amnesty to the former inquisitors who served as the secret police during the reign of Vinter Raelthorne IV. Although Leto isn't fully willing, he eventually gives in after both Scout General Bolden Rebald and Primarch Arius voice their agreement.
In Imer, when Hierarch Voyle and Grand Scrutator Severius are discussing about their plans for the Great Crusade, the Harbinger of Menoth announces to them her plan to march north to the Thornwood to confront Lich Lord Asphyxious, who has found a fount of power in the forest. She asks the Testament of Menoth to come with her, while Voyle tasks Severius with initiating the Northern Crusade to facilitate her holy trek and then to establish a northern stronghold, allowing future efforts to convert Khadoran Menites to the Protectorate.
Queen Ayn Vanar XI calls the Motherland’s elite to Korsk as she prepared to usher in a new age. Military officers, aristocrats and leaders of both the Menite and Morrowan faiths bear witness as she declares herself empress of the new Khadoran Empire.
In the ruins of Drer Drakkerung, Lich Lord Terminus meets with the members of the Witch Coven of Garlghast. Tasking Gerlak Slaughterborn with keeping the Cygnaran Army busy at Highgate, and a group of pirates to do the same to the Cygnaran navy, Terminus orders the Witch Coven to escort him to the Atramentous, which is to lead them and the bulk of his army to the Gnarls, while also avoiding attention from the other dragons.
After the conquest of Llael, Kommandant Gurvaldt Irusk prepares his army to march upon the undermanned Cygnaran city of Fellig in the Thornwood. When Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff arrives, the siege would be underway.
In Caspia, Coleman Stryker tasks Major Markus Brisbane with taking down the walls of Sul in three months when he's away at Corvis to prepare for an incoming attack on Sul itself.
In a secret tunnel in Caspia, Bolden Rebald secretly enlists Lieutenant Allister Caine in a conspiracy to track down and neutralise a secret heir of Vinter Raelthorne IV. Former inquisitors allegedly know the heir’s location, and their release to Lord Commander Stryker offers an opportunity seize them.
After having her severed arm replaced by a mechanikal prosthetic, during a war council meeting Captain Victoria Haley enthusiastically reduces the council table to splinters when they declare the Cryxian threat has been eliminated from Cygnar. Being given a leave of absence, she decides to visit her ruined hometown of Ingrane, where she discovers a blade inscribed with the sigil of the Pirate Queen Skarre Ravenmane. She immediately realises Skarre's involvement on the raid of Ingrane and the abduction of her sister, and prepares to visit Cryx.
In Corvis, Sebastian Nemo finds the sole Menite temple in the city demolished, which he immediately deduces to be the work of Coleman Stryker and the inquisitors. When he confronts Stryker on the issue, his former journeyman blames all the Cygnaran Menites for the actions of the Protectorate, considering all of them to be Protectorate collaborators. Stryker then seizes a suit of experimental warcaster armour from Nemo, disregarding Nemo's warning about its lack of safety, much to the senior warcaster's anger.
Allister Caine heads to Corvis to seek out the inquisitors accompanying Coleman Stryker. Preparing a few Protectorate firebombs to put the blame on the Menite zealots, Caine assassinates all but one of the Inquisitors, and interrogates the survivor on where he's hiding the bastard son of Vinter Raelthorne before killing him as well.
In Skarre Ravenmane's favourite tavern in the Cryxian port of Blackwater, Victoria Haley waits for her quarry. When she spots Skarre entering the tavern, Haley hires a group of bogrin to hide Skarre's weapons, then waits for her to get drunk before attacking her. Haley eventually overwhelms Skarre in their duel, but before she kills Skarre the pirate queen begs for her life in exchange for information on the plan of Lich Lord Asphyxious, Deneghra's master: beneath the soul cairn where Haley fought her sister is an Orgoth temple, which will allow Asphyxious to open a portal to Urcaen and become a godlike being.
During their march to the Thornwood, the Harbinger's army take over Fisherbrook. Since a Cygnaran army is marching upon them even now, if they continue to the Thornwood they'll be overtaken if the Cygnarans are not delayed, so the Harbinger orders the Testament to continue with her while Severius and Amon stay behind to delay the Cygnarans until an incoming Khadoran army reach the town, then they're to rejoin the Harbinger.
In the newly-unearthed Temple Garrodh, Lich Lord Asphyxious returns the soul of Warwitch Deneghra back to her body after its two pieces are sewn back together by a Cryxian necrosurgeon.
In a dark cave in southern Khador, a smith reforges the twin swords of the Tzepesci family, Skirmisher and Ruin, back to a single one, which is then taken by Zevanna Agha and given to Vladimir Tzepesci. The Old Witch then spills the sword with Vlad's blood and names it Dominion.
In Caspia, for the three weeks after Stryker's departure, Markus Brisbane and Bolden Rebald prepare for the incoming assault on Sul by capturing Protectorate agents and replacing them with counter-infiltrators. Confident their army could be positioned without harassment, Brisbane sounds the attack.
Meanwhile, in Sul, Feora, Priestess of the Flame, is instantly enraged by how she received no warning about the attack at all. When she meets Mikael Kreoss, she puts the blame on Severius for having left the city too soon and hysterically orders Kreoss to attack Caspia since it will be underdefended with the forces deployed at the river's edge. Kreoss, seeing an attack impossible, orders her to mobilise the Flameguard for defence instead. Feora calls him a coward, but with a final command Kreoss forces her to follow his order.
With the news of Fisherbrook fallen and Fellig under siege, Victoria Haley and Sebastian Nemo are summoned by the Cygnaran war council to march upon Fisherbrook and then to reinforce Fellig. They fight with the Protectorate defenders at Fisherbrook until they see the enemy suddenly retreating. Nemo sees something's wrong and is immediately proven correct when Alexander Karchev and a Khadoran army appear, seemingly unconcerned with the Menites, and their sight set only on the Cygnarans. However, the unexpected arrival of Edward Dominic Darius, who should only catch up to them in the route between Fisherbrook and Fellig, and his warjacks, helped turn the tide of the battle in favour of Cygnar.
The bombardment of Sul lasts for a total of three months. When a prison ship holding Cygnaran Menites sails past the twin cities, Feora wants to sink it and let Cygnar know they can't hold anything over the Protectorate, but Kreoss again calls her out.
Coleman Stryker returns to Caspia, satisfied at what Markus Brisbane has done. He suspects Allister Caine might know more than he's revealing about the assassination of the inquisitors, but he chooses him for the assault on Sul nonetheless.
Stryker, Brisbane and Caine lead the initial charge into Sul. Feora rushes to stem the tide of the attackers, only to find her army and warjacks overwhelmed. She considers fleeing, but when Stryker's armour malfunctions, she sees an opportunity to kill him, only to be turned back by Allister Caine and then crushed by her Devout. Mikael Kreoss stands nearby and unobstructed, but he doesn't come to her aid. Stryker attempts to turn the Devout over to kill Feora, but Brisbane discourages him since Stryker needs to save his strength.
Along the Bramblerut, the highway from Fellig to Corvis, Victoria Haley and Sebastian Nemo are joined by the dwarf mercenary Gorten Grundback and his company. Haley convinces Nemo to redirect their forces north into the Thornwood against Asphyxious instead of heading to Fellig according to the initial plan.
At the Temple Garrodh, after explaining his plan to the newly-risen Deneghra, Asphyxious surveys the incoming armies: Cygnar from the south, the Harbinger and the Protectorate from the east, and Vladimir Tzepesci with Khador from the west. When the Cygnarans fall upon the Khadorans, Zevanna Agha reminds Vlad of the true enemy in the temple, and he disengages from the fight to head into the temple.
Reaching the soul cairn in the temple, the Testament of Menoth uses the Omegus to release the souls of the faithful inside the temple and send them to the City of Man, then he and the Harbinger reach the lift at the centre of the temple - only to find Lich Lord Asphyxious in ambush.
Spotting an unexpected opportunity to crush their opposition, Irusk, Sorscha and Karchev divert their force to the Temple Garrodh and engage in battle with Protectorate forces. Briefly, Sorscha spots Vladimir Tzepesci fighting in a melee of Protectorate and Cryx forces, although she knows she can't reach him. Meanwhile, Vladimir reaches the centre of the altar, at the same time as Victoria Haley is fighting her now-undead sister.
In the meantime, Lich Lord Terminus, Skarre Ravenmane and the Witch Coven reach the entrance of the Temple. They meet up with Goreshade, who presents them with a soul cage containing Asphyxious' soul.
Models introduced
Cygnar
- Captain E. Dominic Darius
- Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane
- Major Victoria Haley
- Lord Commander Coleman Stryker
- Thunderhead
Protectorate of Menoth
- Harbinger of Menoth
- High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza
- Grand Exemplar Kreoss
- Testament of Menoth
- Avatar of Menoth
Khador
- Karchev the Terrible
- Old Witch of Khador
- Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff
- Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion
- Behemoth
