WHFB Persia Concept Artwork by Matthew Klaas de Witte (WHFB)

As you all know, I'm a great fan of the artwork of DeviantArtist Matthew Klaas de Witte, who has thoroughly impressed me with his work on Albion, which has gone on to make up the basis of my fan-made army list, and now he has come up with another big idea - a Warhammer take on the once-mighty Persian civilisation, that he has dubbed Iksassan.

Here are the first of his ideas thus far:

A Champion of the Origin Flame, likely to be a hero-level character who deals in all things fire:

And the first concept artworks for a named character, again likely to be a Hero, Āraš:

@Karak Norn Clansman I've tagged you in particular, as a fellow fan of Matt's work, so you can follow the thread too.

 

To start with, where would Iksassan be located?

The Warhammer World has a lot of races and a tonne of human factions already, so there aren't many available locations in which a Warhammer Persia could be located, but one good place could be what is referred to on maps as The Plain of Bones, specifically in the marked region:


This region, as close as we can get really to Anatolia and Babylon, is often used for Warhammer Fantasy campaigns because of its lack of settlements (apart from the Chaos Dwarfs, but more on them later), and is heavily desertified, which would make it a fitting homeland for fantasy Persians, and the fact that it is a relatively small piece of the wider Dark Lands fits well with some of Matt's initial background:

You can imagine then that there was originally a vast Iksassan Empire covering all of what would become the Dark Lands, from the eastern edge of the World's Edge Mountains to the western edge of the Mountains of Mourn, probably about the time of Ancient Nehekhara, until in came the Chaos Dwarfs, who, with their superior technology, beat back the Iksassan and forced them to the very southern limits of their land, and have turned the rest of their former territory into industrial wasteland. This also presents an unusual grudge match that we haven't seen much of in Warhammer - evil Dwarfs vs good Humans. Most of the Warhammer fantasy races can be divided into 'grudge pairs' based upon their mutual hatred of one another plus particularly contrasting and similar attributes:

• Empire and Warriors of Chaos - both are factions of Germanic-style humans, one remains a bastion of relative order, the other has fully embraced the dark side, and the two are at absolute loggerheads whenever an Everchosen decides to invade the Empire.
• Dwarfs and Orcs and Goblins - Though the Skaven come a close second, the Greenskins were far and away the biggest despoiler of the Dwarf holds, and the Dwarfs hate the Orcs and Goblins above all other races - Dwarfs were only given Hatred (Skaven) in 8th Edition but have Hated Greenskins since at least 3rd Edition - because of it, not to mention that the spineless, weedy but cunning Goblins are very much the opposite of the honourable, stocky, tough Dwarfs.
• High Elves and Dark Elves - The various lore and novels regarding the Sundering will tell you all you need to know about the bloodshed between these two.
• Lizardmen and Skaven - When they weren't stealing the cities of the Dwarfs and sending diseases to plague Bretonnia and the Empire, the Skaven were doing both to the Lizardmen, and then the Lizardmen struck back by sacrificing numberless Skaven to Sotek. These two races are pretty much opposites in their physiologies and the concept that one has a grand plan to preserve the world, and the other has numberless grand plans to destroy it (all of which, if you discount the End Times as I do, go hilariously wrong ).
• Wood Elves and Beastmen - These races represent the two sides of nature; the Wood Elves represent everything wholesome and full of life and the Beastmen embody everything primal and debased, and the two fight regular secret wars in the forests of the world to achieve full control of the wild places.
• Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts - The Vampire Counts faction was an offshoot of the living Tomb Kings in lore, with their teachings having origins in two Nehekharans, Nagash the first and greatest Necromancer, and Neferata the first Vampire, and then the machinations of the former resulted in the transformation of the Nehekharans into Undead shadows of their former selves. Not to mention that they are both Undead with different aspirations for power.
• Bretonnia and Daemons of Chaos - though these two races don't have a particular grudge toward one another, they do represent opposite ends of the spectrum, with the Knights of Bretonnia being the pinnacle of purity, goodness and nobility, and Daemons representing the ultimate evil and the manifestation of every sin to exist, plus the sheer unstoppable power of the Daemons of Chaos makes them the greatest dragon for the brave knight of Bretonnia to tackle.

The Dawi-Zharr and the Iksassan make a good grudge-pair because of them both having Mesopotamian cultural elements, and both of them worshipping a fire deity. Indeed we can take inspiration from Zoroastrianism - as Matt already has done - to link the two factions further.

Very little is known as to the origins of Hashut, some believe he is the fifth Chaos God (though the Horned Rat could easily have equal claim to this title) while others believe he is just a particularly powerful fire-daemon. However, what is known is that his influence is much weaker than that of the four main Chaos Gods and he is pretty much exclusively worshipped by the Chaos Dwarfs, so it's clear to see his power is weaker than a lot of other deities in the Old World.

Zoroastrianism is one of the earliest monotheistic faiths, where the one god, Ahura Mazda (who evolved from the king of the ancient polytheistic Persian pantheon) is the creator spirit and the Lord of Wisdom, and he is opposed only by Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman (where the Thousand Son in 40K got his name from), a spirit that seems merely to have been an offshoot of Ahura Mazda, who only had the power to corrupt and twist existing things to serve him (likely the inspiration for Satan in Christianity and Melkor/Morgoth in Tolkien's religion of Middle Earth). It's not known how he was created - he could be a brother of the 7 Spenta Mainyu, who were the first seven emanations of Ahura Mazda (and presumably the inspiration for the 7 'Amesha' that Matt discusses), or a different being entirely. It's likely the explanation of his origin was lost in the destruction of Zoroastrian libraries by the Muslim Arabs as they conquered the Sassanid Empire. Nevertheless, if we adopt the idea of him being a corrupted Spenta Mainyu (which seems about right given that they are all Mainyu, i.e. Spirits), Hashut could play the role of Ahriman as a fallen Amesha in the Warhammer equivalent, and an aspiring rival to the Warhammer IIkshassan equivalent of Ahura Mazda.

But who will our Warhammer Ahura Mazda be, and how will he fit into the list of Warhammer deities?

One of my ideas in writing additional lore to accompany Matt's art, and the army list I developed from it, is that the gods of Albion are the Old Ones, in a different form that was easier for the people of Albion to comprehend and idolise. I could apply a similar idea here and propose that Warhammer Ahura Mazda be an Old One who was lord of fire, who chose to lead some of the Fourth Race to the land beyond the World's Edge mountains and encouraged them to build a civilisation based upon his teachings. The closest known Old One to fit this description is Chotec, but he is the god of the Sun. There are some other Old Ones according to the Warhammer Fantasy wiki whose purpose is as-yet unknown:

• Conalxa
• Inhamex
• Potec
• Querchi
• Xapati
• Yuxa

@Scalenex as our resident archivist for all things Lizardman, have you heard of any of these Old One names before, and if any of these were linked to fire?

Alternatively we could say that Warhammer Ahura Mazda is a physical embodiment of Aqshy, the Wind of Fire, though maybe that's treading too close to the shenanigans that we saw in the End Times for everyone's liking.

@Karak Norn Clansman perhaps it may be worth posing these ideas to Matt and see what he thinks?

 

Tagging this so I get updates.

 

You got here before me! Spreading Warhammer Persia and getting discussions rolling is still on my to-do list.

Lovely stuff. I'll read through it with greater care later, and in the meanwhile I'll forward this to Matt right away to see if he wish to share input.

Cheers!

 

Is it just me or does the Tower of Zharr Naggarund look suspiciously like a temple city? Could this be where they got some of their tech from?

 

Good day everyone! Thanks for the interesting information! I have long been looking for a site that would offer any ideas regarding the world of Warhammer FB. I apologize for my bad English, I write using Google translator. So, let's begin...)

I really like the world of Warhammer FB, but I didn’t like the AoS universe, although each universe has its fans. First of all, I liked FB because of the mixture of fantasy and cripples, allusions to our real world. Here is the prototype of the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy of the Renaissance, and France, England, Burgundy of the Arthurian Cycle, and Transylvania of Bram Stoker, and Egypt of the times of the Pharaohs in fantasy style, and much more. However, unfortunately, in my humble opinion, GW did not bother to work out the minor races, factions and peoples in more detail. This also applies to the peoples of the East, primarily the peoples who inhabited the once huge Persian Empire. In the FB world there is no Greece, Byzantium, Roman Empire, or Carthage. There is no Caucasus, no Tibet, no Korea, no peoples and states of the African continent, no indigenous Indians of two continents, no peoples of the north represented by the Eskimos, Aleuts, etc. Although there are still references. For example, in the lands of the Border Princes there are names of cities such as Lakoras, Argalis, Myrmidens, Cypris, Verdanos, although Greece itself does not exist. There is a Roman Empire in history - the Reman Empire. Why am I all this? Thank you for expressing your thoughts regarding Persia. I agree with you. I agree that we need Persia, Greece, the Caucasus, Tibet, and Southerners. Lumbria, Lemuria are references to Australia and Popua New Guinea and Oceania.

It seems to me that at the beginning of its formation. the creators of GW were free historians. who knew the history of our world very well, and at the same time were fond of fantasy. Unfortunately, GW is no longer the same, we see this in works as a focus from all over the world. moved only to the Old World and fantasy races.

I like your idea and I like your concept, but I would like to share mine, and I hope that in the future GW will still listen and complement such a beautiful and fantastic world of FB. I also really love Warhammer Total War, so I will try to clearly demonstrate my ideas on this map. Unfortunately, I don’t know Photoshop, so I apologize in advance. for what I had to demonstrate in paint.

If we are talking about Persia. More precisely about the analogue of Persia in the FB world, then one way or another we will have to touch on some aspects that, in my opinion, are missing. However, I will still stick to the main theme of Persia. As you can see on my map, the prototype of Persia is in the right place, however, I increased the landmass of the “Dark Lands”, but these are not the Dark Lands. As you can see we have a green and blue stripe in the Shadowlands - this is a mountain range called the "Mountains of Irran" (a reference to Iran). The blue stripe is also the Iraran Mountains - its eastern side, where mountain peoples known as the Bactrians live, and the peoples of the Hindu Kush. As you can see, due to the fact that the map has changed a little, you will have to remove the city of Pigbarter. In the west of Persia, yellow and blue stripes are something like Media and Cappadocia. The black stripes are the desert region of Persia known as Ashur, the Green stripes are “Mesopotamia”, where one of the ancient and great cities of Persia is located - Babilah. The purple part of Persia, which is adjacent to the borders of the Kingdom of Indus, is Sakastan (the nomads known as the Sakas/Masagetes live there). The land with yellow stripes that borders Bactria and the Hindu Kush is the Parthian Steppes, where the Parthian nomads live. The Gray Stripe that separates the lands of Cathay and Kingdom of Ind is Kitserava (analogous to Tibet). The Dragon Islands are now a little further south. You can also see other areas. So let's talk a little about them. that there was an idea of the “Full Picture” of the FB world.

A little about the world

1. Tundra. In the north, Naggaroth is the land of the “Northerners”, these are peoples with a culture similar to the Eskimos, Aleuts, Chukchi, and other peoples of northern Alaska, Canada and Kamchatka. Also living in the Tundra is an intelligent race of humanoid walruses known as the Tuskars.

2. Naggaroth. On the continent of Naggaroth itself live the "Skraeling". Skraeling let’s call them this (the name given to them by the Norscans), these are precisely people with a similar culture to the Indians of North America (Hurons, Apaches, Magicans, Iroquois, Cherokees, Comanches, and so on). They live in the Southern regions of Naggoroth. This continent is also home to an intelligent race of bird people known as the Kroot (with a North American culture and a reference straight out of 40k)

3. Lustria. New Worlders - people whose culture is very similar to the Incas, Mayans, Aztecs. Could have been vassals of the Lizardmen. They live in Lustria. These people lived back in the 3rd edition and were part of the Slann Empire.

4. Caucasus. I don’t know what to call him in the FB world. Maybe Hyrcania? Or Caucasus? In general, this region is located in the very north of the World's Edge Mountains. There are several small states there, as well as many peoples and tribes. Among such states are Armina (Armenia), Kartli, Mtskheta and Colchis (Georgia), Arran and Makran (Dagestan), Circassia, Kabarda, Alania, Abazgia. On the map, the Caucasus is marked in Pink and borders Kislev, the Dark Lands, Norsca and Karak Kadrin.

 

5. Achilea is a copy of ancient Greece with hoplites, Corinthian helmets, a phalanx of pikemen, and peltasts. Greek cataphracts, etc., etc. Southern part of the Border Princes. There are 3 regions and many cities, such as Myrmidens (ancient Macedonia, emphasis on phalanxes and pikes), Argalis (Athens), Lakoras (Sparta), Cypris (Cyprus), Verdanos, etc. - Greek pole cities. Marked in blue on the map.

6. Northern part of the Border Princes - Balkans, a sandbox where there are elements of South Slavic culture (Matorka Brovska, Vidovdan), elements of Bretonnia, Elements of exiles of the Empire, as well as the mountain people known as Beltani (Thracians). Marked on the map in yellow.

7. Basilea. Between Achilea and the Border Princes there is a small state - Basilea (in purple on the map). Once upon a time, Basileia was a very powerful state, but now only a small part of it remains. The capital of Basileia is the city of Basilicon. Basileia is Byzantium.

8. The orange part near the Caucasus in the north is Boglaria. State of the Ungols, who did not become part of the Kislevites. We'll talk about them (the Ungols) a little later.

9. Southerners. In the Southlands below the lands of the Tomb Kings are the lands of the Southerners. Southerners live in the city of Ka-Sabar, Plain of Tusks, as well as in the jungles of the Southlands. Southerners is a general term for black people in the South. The southerners are neither like the Arabs of Arabia nor like the Nehekars. Conventionally, Southerners can be divided into 4 groups. City dwellers, desert dwellers, shroud dwellers, jungle dwellers. They are different in culture, for example, like the Empire or Bretonnia or Kislev. Conventionally, these are Nubians, Sudanese, Ethiopians (in the north), as well as Zulus, Bushmen, etc.

10. In the north beyond Cathay, the Steppes are drawn in green. These Steppes of the Ungols (who do not worship the dark gods).

11. Beyond Cathay there is a Peninsula - this is the local “Korea”. I'll tell you about it a little later.

12. Next we see a huge continent - this is Lumbria. Just above Lubria is a large island - Lemuria, and even higher is the Oceania Archipelago. Lumbria is home to 4 main intelligent races. People (analogous to the tribes of Australia), the Slann Empire (humanoid intelligent frogmens and toadmens), and also there are many cities of the Hives of the intelligent race of Insectoids. And of course the Beastmen.

13. Between Lustria and Arabia there is the Great Ocean. There is an underwater kingdom of sea elves - Nautican. But I’ll tell you about them a little later.

15. On the right side of the Southlands, the large maroon island is Skull Island (Madagascar).

16. The red dot in Tilea is Remas, and the white dot near Arabia is the island where the small kingdom of Karat - Hadasht (Carthage) is located.

17. Apemens live in the jungles of Lustria, the Southlands, the Kingdoms of Ind, and Khuresh.

18. Also, as you understand, I paid attention to the marine races. There should be 4 of them: Sea Elves (idoneth deepkin), Sea Nagas, Menfish and Crabsmen

19. At the very top of the map is the Realm of the Chaos Gods.

I’ll say in advance that I’m not a board gamer, although I have all the official and unofficial armiebooks on FB, unfortunately I don’t play the board version of Warhammer, the only thing I play is Warhammer Total War (with all the parts and additions), and I think that this game is the best, at least we don’t have another (well, or there is no alternative to this). Also if you liked my ideas I will be very grateful. if you implement my thoughts in Photoshop. which I realized in my head...) This was a preface, so to speak, but now let’s move directly to the history of “Persia”

 

History of Persia

A long time ago, as many might think, Nehekhara became the first civilization of people, but this is not so. To the east, beyond the Irran mountains, was a very fertile delta. When most people still lived in a tribal system, dressed in animal skins, the first cities of people appeared on the banks of this delta, and the most beautiful and grandest was the city of Babilakh. No one knows what kind of people they were, but they were definitely neither elves nor dwarves. The city of Babilah was a very beautiful and large city. In Babilakh they didn’t know what slavery was, people dressed beautifully, made up laws, lived by these laws, built stone bridges, built libraries, had workshops. This effort began to be called Babilakhia, but the people who built it all also suddenly disappeared somewhere. Perhaps they weren't people at all? The people who built Babilakh claimed that they arrived on the ships of the star gods (ancient ones). The tribes that lived around Babilakh began to be called Babilakh people. Some time passed, the land fell into disrepair, and this attracted a younger and more aggressive people who lived in the lands that would later be known as Ashur. Meanwhile, in the city of Babilakh, a very cruel king named Gulzar came. Before the birth of Gulzar, the people of Babilakh slowly turned away from the gods of Babilakh such as Anku, Ishtar, Anlil, Ilu, and became more and more immersed in the study of the nature of Chaos. Having ascended the throne, Gulzar wanted to expand the territory of Babilakh, and the first thing he did was attack the tribes that lived in the territory of Ashur. After Gulzar's death, Ashur will be part of Babilakh for many years. However, a man was born among Ashur who united Ashur to revolt and overthrow the despotic rule of Babilah. At this time, the people of Babilakh became immersed in the study of Chaos. Ashur overthrows the rule of Babilah, and a new era begins in the history of Ashur. The Ashur conquer and enslave many peoples, and the Ashur Empire at its height begins to border the Nehekhara Empire. Wars begin between two human civilizations that last for many centuries. Until one day the Ashur civilization comes to an end. However, part of the Ashur people goes west. there they would create a new kingdom, which would be known as Murkain until its fall.

Far away to the north lived many human tribes. Among all the tribes of nomads, the strongest and most powerful were the people calling themselves Scythians. But over time, the Scythians became so strong that they began to make their campaigns against the Davi Zharr Empire, plundering several cities of Davi Zharr, part of the Scythian horde crossed the Irran mountains, and there they encountered the Ashur Empire, which at that time was at war with Nehekhara. So the Scythian horde conquered this human empire. Some of the Scythians went back to the Eastern Steppes, but there were also those who remained. Among the remaining Scythian peoples there were 2 peoples calling themselves Madai and Parsa. Over time, two kingdoms were founded on the territory of the once Empire of Ashur: the state of Madai and the state of Parsa. Then, several centuries later, a conflict arose between the two states. during which Parsa gained the upper hand. This is how the state of Parsa-Madai appeared. Over time, the word Madai disappeared from the languages and only Parsa remained. In the Old World, among the Achileans, this country was called Persia. The Parsi state grew to incredible proportions. Parsis, also known as Persians (in the Achilean version), conquered the peoples living in the Bactrian and Hindu Kush mountains. The Persians also conquered Cappadocia in the west, and took possession of the northwestern lands of the Kingdom of Indus. The borders of the power at that time extended from the borders of the country of Kitserava, Gnoblars Country, and the Kingdoms of Ind in the east, to the borders of Karak Azul in the West. But this was not enough and the kings of Persia heard about the small but rich and fragmented country of Achilea.