Warhammer Fantasy
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Warhammer or Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting created by Games Workshop, in which many games of that company are set, the best known ones being the Warhammer Fantasy Battle wargame, and the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay role-playing game. There is also a related science fiction setting called Warhammer 40,000.
It is notable for its "dark and gritty" aspect, and its background world, which features a culture very like Renaissance Germany crossed with Tolkien's Middle-earth---with very Lovecraftian Chaos forces just offstage or out of sight. It is populated with stock fantasy races such as humans, dark elves, high elves, dwarfs, undead, orcs, lizardmen, ogres, etc.
The setting has undergone some retcons in the recent editions of the wargame, including changing the Old Slann into the Old Ones, and omission of the Chaos God Malal. Most players of the role-playing game chose to ignore the setting changes, however, the upcoming second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay is going to be updated to fit the current version of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle world.
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Geography
The world of Warhammer is similar in climate to Earth. In fact, most of its landmasses, (human) cultures and ethnicities in the area are roughly analogous to the geography of Earth. These similarities were originally implicitly explained by reference to a race who went around the universe creating similar worlds. Correspondence between places in the Warhammer world and in the real one, with varying degrees of subtlety includes:
- The Empire and Germany or the Holy Roman Empire
- Bretonnia and France
- Albion and Britain
- Kislev and Russia
- The empire of the Hobgoblin Khans and Siberia, Mongolia and Central Asia
- Ulthuan and Atlantis
- Tilea and Italy
- Estalia and Spain
- Lustria and Central and South America
- Araby and Arabia
- Nippon and Japan
- Cathay and China
- Khemri and Egypt
- The Southlands and Africa
Warhammer games
Wargames
Role-playing games
Board games
Collectible card games
Computer games
- Warhammer: Dark Omen
- Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
- Warhammer Online (Games Workshop cancelled it, but they gave the company permission to still work on it and it will come out, though without Games Workshops support.)
Warhammer books
Outside of games, there have also been numerous novels and short stories by various authors set in the Warhammer world, the most famous of which are the Gotrek Gurnisson novels by William King.
Early in his career, Kim Newman wrote several Warhammer novels under the name 'Jack Yeovil'. Some elements from these books (in particular his heroine Genevieve Dieudonne) later reappeared in the award-winning Anno-Dracula series.
See also
External links
- Games Workshop (http://www.games-workshop.com)
- Warhammer (http://www.warhammer.net) Archives and Community
- Dysartes.com (http://www.dysartes.com) Resources for the Modern Wargamerde:Warhammer
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