Drakwald was once an Electoral Province of the Empire of Man, and was the homeland of the ancient Thuringian tribe of Men who allied themselves with Sigmar.
Situated between The Wasteland to the west, Middenland to the south-east and Nordland on the north, the province's government eventually collapsed due to a variety of circumstances.
Around 1110 IC, Drakwald's last ruler, Elector Count Vilner, was slain and his Runefang was sent to Emperor Boris Goldgather, himself a Drakwalder, for safekeeping. For unknown reasons no new Elector Count of Drakwald was ever selected.
The Drakwald Elector House was formally and permanently dismantled by the edicts of the new emperor Mandred II in 1124 IC as punishment for the incompetence of his predecessor, the Drakwald Emperor Boris Goldgather, when he was ruler of the Empire.
History[]
Thuringian Heritage[]
Sigmar, who managed to unite all the tribes of Men in the central region of the Old World that would one day become the Empire of Man, included even the ferocious Teutogens under his banner, though he failed to bring the Thuringians into the Imperial fold diplomatically. This was because they were a war-driven people and to bow down to someone who had not earned their respect in battle was a prospect no Thuringian was willing to countenance, not even their ruler, King Otwin the Berserker King.
King Otwin was a giant of a man, with piercings and scars adorning his body and a crown of golden spikes rammed into his temple. Yet Otwin was no fool and he knew he would never be able to hold his title should he bow to King Sigmar, no matter how noble his cause might be, and as such he led his tribe into battle against the combined armies of all the other Human tribes under Sigmar's leadership in order to uphold his people's sense of their own honour.[3a]
And so the Thuringians fought a battle they knew they would lose, where King Sigmar and King Otwin soon found themselves locked in a titanic duel. With great effort, Sigmar disarmed Otwin and began to strangle the berserker rage out of him. As Otwin became lucid, Sigmar gave him an ultimatum; join the new empire and push back the darkness that assailed their lands or face merciless and total annihilation of their entire people. Seeing in Sigmar a man he could respect and follow into battle, Otwin finally relented and the Thuringians joined with Sigmar's cause and became a proud, founding member of the newly formed Empire of Man. In time, Thuringia became an Electoral Province of the Empire known as the Drakwald with its capital at Carroburg.[3a]
Rise to Riches[]
The city of Carroburg had long been the jewel in the crown of the Drakwald. Less cramped than Altdorf, the city had been growing in prominecne for nearly a century. It soon became a serious rival to Marienburg for trade on the River Reik, even going so far as to blockade the river and demand high tolls from all river traffic. This blockade only ended once the Elector Count of the Westerland agreed to support the election of a Drakwald emperor.[1a]
The rise of the Drakwald Emperors in the early second millenium IC made their home province one of the richest in the Empire. Indeed, when Boris I Hohenbach moved the capital from Nuln, many thought it would be Carroburg next, not Altdorf.[1a]
Decline[]
War was the first blemish upon the success of the province. The occupation of Marienburg by the Norscans had decimated the coffers of merchants of Carroburg. Worse was to come when untold numbers of Beastmen began to decimate the province. The mutants even boldly laid siege to Carroburg itself before being repelled.[1a]
It was only the great leadership of Reiksmarshal Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde that saved the province from total destruction. Everhardt ingeniously laid a trap that forced the warherds onto an open plain near the village of Kriegfels. There a devastating Imperial cavalry charge annihilated the Beastmen hordes. However, nearly a third of the province was entirely destroyed in the fighting, and the Army of the Drakwald was disbanded by the emperor before the final work could be done to break the Beastmen hordes.[2a]
The Drakwald's agriculture and ranching industries were obliterated during this conflict, and this forced the province's people to become reliant on expensive food imports from the rest of the Empire. Already on the edge of destruction, the Black Death was the next disaster to ravage the province. Thousands upon thousands died in the terrible plague that followed. Starvation also ran rampant when the food imports shrivelled up as the plague devastated the other Imperial provinces.[1a]
A revolt soon broke out among the peasantry of the Drakwald, but this was ruthlessly crushed by the province's knights. A conspiracy to overthrow Emperor Boris I failed, and one of the members of the cabal, his cousin Konrad, was executed. Yet this death was not enough to satisfy the vengeful emperor, who ordered a hefty new tax.[1a]
For the next several centuries, Drakwald was left unsupported by Imperial forces and many of its settlements were destroyed by continued Beastmen and Goblin attacks. By 1414 IC, the territory of the Drakwald was divided between Middenland and Nordland, with Middenland receiving the lion's share of Drakwalder land.
The province is home to its namesake Drakwald Forest, which also covers parts of Middenland and Nordland. It is a dangerous forest still inhabited by several tribes of Beastmen and other beasts of Chaos.
Sources[]
- 1: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 1a: Ch. 1
- 2: The Black Plague: Blighted Empire (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 2a: Ch. 2
- 3: Time of Legend: Heldenhammer (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- 3a: Ch. 16: "To be a King"
- The Life of Sigmar (Background Book), pg. 5
- The Empire at War (Background Book), pg. 80
- Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition), pg. 11
- Uniforms & Heraldry of The Empire (Background Book), pg. 4
- Warhammer Armies (4th Edition), pp. 6, 13, 14, 16
- Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition), pp. 8, 9, 21