Realm of Ghur

> "*In Ghur, you are either the feaster or the feast. And often both.*"
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>
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> —*An Azyrite's Guide to Ghur* by Carvaggian Phane

The  **Realm of Ghur**, also known simply as **Ghur** and the **Realm of Beasts**, is one of the eight Mortal Realms of the Cosmos Arcane that originally coalesced out of the magical energy of the Wind of Magic of the same name and the scattered remains of Mallus, the World-That-Was. It is a realm of beasts and untamed savagery. Only the strongest will survive.

A contiguous landscape of jagged mountains, shadowed forests and vast expanses of savannah, Ghur is a realm of primordial majesty. Predatory and feral, the lands of the realm itself literally stalk one another like beasts, surveying travellers as prey. Landmasses continuously shift and prowl, the earth ruptures causing chasms to open and swallow everything for leagues, mountains duel with glacial slowness, grinding one another down, and each land will devour its neighbors, if it can.

Is it any wonder, then, that Ghur's native fauna is unlike any other in the realms? For here, every beast is both predator and prey. Great herds of ghuroch, thundertusks and woolly shaghorns stampede across the plains, devouring the tough grasses and stripping the bark from the few trees. They, in turn, are hunted by roving packs of predators, such as rock-lions, mournfangs or brachitors. These beasts are themselves stalked and slain by roving bands of orruks, beastmen, ogors, gargants, and the barbaric human tribes that haunt the wildest reaches of the realm.

More than any of the other realms, Ghur is the homeland of the orruk. Primitive tribes of Bonesplitterz hunt great beasts in the hills and plains, as armoured Ironjawz seek battle wherever it can be found. Many of the ogor's Mawtribes also call Ghur home, and their mawpaths carry them from the Heartlands to the realm's edge and back, stripping the "Hinterlands" of life in their ravenous pilgrimage. The tribe known as the Alfrostuns are the most feared of the Beastclaw Raiders, for where they travel follows the harsh bite of the Everwinter in their wake -- a lingering season of cursed unnatural cold that can remain for centuries. Since the death of their sire, the godbeast Behemat, many of the enormous Gargants of Ghur have grown smarter, fiercer, and far more inclined to pillage.

Many tribes of men live in Ghur, with settlements and kingdoms of all shapes and sizes dotting the ever-shifting realm. The hunter-tribes of the Great Coil regularly move vast haunches of meat via daring Trade Pioneers. The Treestriders of the Gnarlwood live and hunt high amidst the deadly questing branches of their perilous forest which holds strange species without number alongside valuable medicinal plants. On
the Amber Steppes, the Vurm-Tai horse-nomads follow the great worms, plundering the detritus of the townships and cities left in their wake. The famed Crawling City rests atop the back of Shu'gohl, mightiest of the great worms, who has crawled across the Amber Steppes for generations uncounted. The folk of the Crawling City have endured the assaults of Chaos, Skaven infestations, and now, the imposition of foreign rule by newly-arrived Azyrite administrators in service to Sigmar. Despite it all, the people of the Crawling City have flourished an it has become into a prosperous mercantile hub for the realm.

The mightiest of the Cities of Sigmar in the Realm of Beasts is the great port of Excelsis, located on the Coast of Tusks. Excelsis is dominated by the massive Spear of Mallus -- a mountainous shard of sigmarite from the World-That-Was which rises from the centre of the bay the city was built around. Its currency is based on chips of the prophetic stone called "glimmerings" which can be used to glean flashes of prophetic insight and much of Excelsis' prosperity comes from reading current and future events derived from the Spear of Mallus. Excelsis and its nearest neighbouring Sigmarite city, Izalend, are both home to thriving aelven communities dominated by the Scourge Privateers. Ghur's monster-filled deeps provide excellent fodder for the corsairs to ply their bloody trade, and numerous fleets prowl the Coast of Tusks and the Clawing Sea.

The Ruinous Powers first came to Ghur at the end of the Age of Myth via the gore-hunts of human tribesfolk that worshipped masks of the Blood God. Khorne and the Great Horned Rat both found the Realm of Beasts to their liking, but the predatory realm has been far more of a challenge than either bargained for. Certainly, since the Age of Chaos, rampaging armies of Bloodbound have found blood and skulls aplenty in Ghur, with many tribes wholeheartedly turning to worshipping the Blood God. In jungles south of the Heartlands, Khornate warlords raised skull pyramids amidst the ruins of ancient kingdoms to the Blood God, and whole portions of the realm were overrun with colossal and ever-growing herds of beastmen. The Skaven of Clan Rictus, a constituent clan of Clans Verminus, established hidden military outposts in many lands, the better to launch lightning raids for plunder and slaves.

Yet, the Greenskin hordes and the other forces of Destruction, for all of their combative nature, hold savage Gorkamorka first in their feral hearts and have not, in the main, turned to the service of Khorne. Chaos stalks the plains of Ghur, but is stalked in turn by everything in the realm, and its grip is far more tenuous here than the Dark Gods would ever admit to.

The situation has grown more volatile still, for with the coming of the Necroquake, the dead of the realm became as dangerous as the living -- and Ghur can readily boast corpses in abundance. The Ossiarch Bonereaper legionnaires have set up their Ivory Citadel in the realm, but have suffered the indignity of having some of their members snatched up and taken away to become the fodder for gnawing beasts. West of the Heartlands, great, rotting flocks of corpse-birds have been spotted circling the ruins of the forgotten cities of Lendu.

As if the folk of the Beast Realm did not have enough to contend with, the predatory Endless Spells of Ghur are particularly deadly, apparently possessed of far greater sentience than such invocations show in other realms. Only the most skilled, or crazed, spell hunter wizards risk Ghur's hinterlands in search of such.

## Runemark

The runemark that is used to represent the Realm of Ghur is the Arrow of the Hunt, and it is a fitting icon for the wildest of all the Mortal Realms, straight forward and unswerving. The peoples of Ghur often carry bows or projectile weapons as their primary armament.

## Characteristics

A reality defined by titanic monsters and primordial savagery, the Realm of Ghur is a place of constant conflict and wild striving. The embodiment of the hunger, brutality and the survival of the fittest that defines the wild things of nature, Ghur is a realm of life, but not in the same way as Ghyran. Rather, it represents life in eternal competition with itself, the strong seeking to dominate the weak, predators hunting their prey and in turn being hunted themselves. For everything in nature is both predator and prey. Gargantuan beasts clash with one another for the right to mate, carnivorous flora seek to ensnare animals the size of castles and grow tall on the blood of the slain, their roots drinking deep of their prey's life fluids.

Even the lands of the realm themselves literally seek to conquer one another. Mountains slowly grind across the land, seeking to dominate the earth below, all the while the forest upon their slopes dig their roots ever deeper, in an attempt to consume the mountains. Some scholars of the Mortal Realms even believe that Ghur had already been overtaken by a bestial animus when the realms were first created.

Geographically, Ghur's realmsphere is composed of a near-endless string of jagged continents, each awe-inspiring in its primeval splendour, while above the realm hangs its two moons -- Koptus and Gnorl Half-Eaten, a moon that has been fragmented. According to legend the realm was once orbited by a third moon called Dronsor, but it was eaten by the eternal hunger of Ghur itself.

## Current Events

The ever-changing predatory lands of Ghur occasionally succeed in slaying one of their own -- such is the fate of the once-majestic mesa of fallen Donse. Crushed between the thriving land of Thondia to the north, where city-state of Excelsis lies, and the deadly lands of Andtor to the south, Carcass Donse is slowly being subsumed by its more vibrant neighbours. Legends along the Coast of Tusks indicate that the Gargants of Donse have long been dedicated foes of Chaos, but few would dare travel amidst the crumbling mesa to determine such a thing. Even so, a strange story is being told amidst the alehouses of Excelsis.

It seems that a group of lost travellers was saved from a tribe of Chaos Marauders by a titanic Mega-Gargant wrapped in brilliantly coloured rags. After stomping the followers of the Dark Gods very, very flat, the huge being waved at the astonished travellers and introduced himself as Argol Brightfist. The Mega�Gargant cast a large thumb one direction saying, "My home, Donse, that way," then pointed and stated, "little'un city with the clever glowy rock that way," before departing.

There is no way of knowing if the Mega-Gargant would be willing to accept mercenary work for the Free Cities, but the potential value of such an incredible asset cannot be ignored in these dangerous times. The Grand Conclave of Excelsis needs daring agents to venture into the heart of Carcass Donse -- the flora and fauna of which rangers say is very bizarre, ablaze with scintillant colours and strange properties, even for Ghur -- in search of Brightfist, to see if he is willing to accept a generous supply of provender and hard liquor in exchange for a bit more directed Chaos crushing.

## Sources

* *Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Core Book* (2nd Edition), pp. 174-175
* *White Dwarf* (June 2019), "The Realm of Beasts," pg. 20
* *Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Realms of Ruin* (Pc Game)