Warhammer (Longplay/Lore) - 00584: Rite of Passage (Age of Reckoning)

Channel:

Sqotch 'Studios'

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2,990

Published on May 5, 2020 4:00:36 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn8WTc9o19k

Game:

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (2008)

Duration: 5:52:00

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The great Chaos Raven Host of Tchar'zanek unleashes itself upon the shores of Norsca, and Harrsk, Chosen of Tzeentch, must earn his namesake with blood and fury...

Norsca is a peninsula located in the far north of the Old World, lying on the doorstep of the Chaos Wastes itself. It is bordered to the south by the frigid waters of the Sea of Claws, to the north by the Kraken Sea and the Realm of Chaos, and to the east by the roving Kurgan tribes of the Steppes. Suffused with the unholy energies of Chaos by its proximity to the ruined Warp Gate that lies at the northern pole, it is a brutal realm where no one ruler holds sway. Instead, the bleak and brutal landscape is divided amongst the barbaric kingdoms and territories of many bloodthirsty and warlike tribes, ruled by dark-armoured Chaos Champions blessed by the favour of their gods, and who are thus held up as akin royalty by their brethren as a result.

Inhabited by a race of savage and ferocious humans known as the Norscans; fur-clad warriors and berserkers of hairy brawn who sail the seas in fearsome longships in order to unleash their devastating fury upon the south. Warlike and cruel, the Norse are the very epitome of the Warriors of Chaos; fanatically devoted champions of the Dark Gods and the baneful scourge of their foes. The brutality of their raids have been felt as far abroad as the Witch King's baleful domain of Naggaroth and the mysterious realm of Cathay, for the men of Norsca are reckoned to be perhaps the most adept sailors and navigators in all the world; unequaled by any in their courage and reckless thirst for conquest. The Norsemen are, without exception, great warriors, blessed with incredible strength at arms and fearsome demeanours. It is the dream of nearly every member of this fierce people to ascend to the ranks of the greatest warriors -- to become mighty Champions of Chaos and bear the dread marks of their gods' ruinous favour.

It is a savage and brutal land, plagued by lethal winters for more than half the year, and worse, lashed perpetually by raging gales of Chaos energies howling down from the ancient ruins of the fallen Warp Gate resting at the very heart of the northern Chaos Wastes. As such, no sane Human being would be able to survive in this harsh wasteland with their sanity intact. It is for this reason that most, if not all the tribes of the Norsca, are affected to some extent by the power of Chaos, causing their flesh to warp and mutate through the influences of their Gods, and their minds to be plunged into the darkest depths of the most violent insanity. The Norscans see these alterations as the "blessings" of their dreadful deities, which empower them to strive above and conquer all who oppose them. Hard-bitten and war-like, the men of Norsca are the greatest of all the warriors of the Dark Gods.

Geographically Norsca is, for the most part, a frozen boreal wasteland bereft of all trappings of civilisation, albeit one so large that it could fit the entirety of the Empire into it several times over. Stalked by all manner of gruesome monsters, the tales Old Worlders tell of it fail to fully encapsulate its brutality. Few crops grow here, for the land is hard as iron and the howling winds cut like daggers of purest cold, and it is for this scarcity that the Northmen have learned to spurn the sickle and ploughshare, instead deigning to take what they need to survive from the lands of weaker men with the axe and sword. A network of fjords and mist-clouded isles wreathes the coasts, and it is from here that the Northmen build and tether the longships with which they terrorise the shores of the known world.

Scattered coastal settlements provide some respite from the harshness of the elements, but even they are regularly assaulted by Bloodkrakens and other such horrors. Further inland however, the great fjords give way to frozen steppes where brutal tribesmen hunt their game, taking care to avoid the bone-carpeted lairs of ice drakes. It is a grim, shadowy land where the weak do not live long, and where living means a constant fight for survival, supremacy, and the chance to appease the Dark Gods. The landscape is famed chiefly for its mighty and foreboding mountain ranges; such as the Jotunheims, the Mountains of Frost and Dusk, and the Mountains of Thjazi.

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