Part Five: The Beneficent Gods

What of the gods whose favour the Ubersreik Five seek? There are many deities bound to the world, divinities of varied character and purpose. To find the blessings they seek, the heroes of Taal’s Horn Keep must dedicate themselves to one being in particular - for the gods are jealous, and are little apt to share mortal worship.

SIGMAR

Unsurprisingly, Saltzpyre seeks only Sigmar’s favour, as he has his entire life. Sigmar, immortal founder of the Empire and defender of humanity, prizes strength, wisdom and above all faith from his followers. He inspires heroism in the beset, and endures as proof that any man or woman can confront the dark horrors of Chaos, if they can muster the will to do so. Saltzpyre is, of course, little lacking in will. Sigmar will surely find favour with the irascible witch hunter, if only he can reach the Citadel of Eternity and make himself heard.

MYRMIDIA

Myrmidia is a Goddess of War, as are many in the Warhammer World. But two things mark her as unusual. The first is her penchant for seemliness and beauty upon the battlefield. To Myrmidia, brutish death is uncivilised. She admires strategy, not bloodthirst, and is a patron of soldiers, rather than warriors.

Such is the foundation of her second oddity – for a god, she has a peculiar fascination with fairness. Myrmidia’s blessing is most commonly granted to those in need. The besieged and beset, the wronged and the victimised. Some worship her as a protector – and she can be, if so disposed. However, Myrmidia is more than anything a Goddess of the Blazing Sun, and sees little value in defence when a scouring will serve. 

Sienna, who cares little for gods per se, has nonetheless found a certain commonality with a goddess who treasures cleverness, hates bullies and burns things to a crisp. Odd.

VALAYA

Valaya is a goddess of healing and the patron of hearth and home. Those who bend their knee to her glory prize family and friends above all, and labour to shield their holds from the ravages of warlike races. It helps, of course, that Valaya is often portrayed as a brewmistress, forever generous with ale. If there’s something that eclipses even the most miserly dawi’s love of gromril, it’s adoration of a well-brewed draught.

None of this should be taken as proof that Valaya is a pacifist. Dwarfish existence has ever been one of strife, and no home can endure without axes to speak in its defence. Indeed, Valaya’s rune axe is named Kradskonti (or Peacegiver) in the full knowledge that sometimes peace can only be won atop the broken bodies of the foe. A sentiment Bardin agrees with only too well.

LILEATH

Lileath is a goddess much venerated by the elves, although her actual place in myth is open to interpretation. In some tales, she is an untouched maiden. In others, she is Asuryan’s wife, and the mother of all that is. In the rarest stories, she bears not one face but three – all the better to manipulate the unwary.

This goes some way to explain that while Lileath is revered, aid is sought of her priestesses only as a last resort, for it is impossible to know exactly what their mistress might bid them to do. True, Lileath seldom offers anything other than a kindly outcome, but the price is sometimes beyond the petitioner’s strength to bear. A sick child cured but a parent lost to unforeseen death? A village spared as another is razed? Nothing can be proven, of course, but some coincidences test even the most rational mind. 

Those who worship Lileath therefore are often seen as capricious themselves, so it’s little wonder that Kerillian holds the Moon Goddess dearer than any other deity.

TAAL

King Taal is the ancient human God of the Hunt and the Wilderness, a bellicose deity venerated by those who live beyond civilisation’s bounds. He represents all that is wild and destructive in nature. 

Despite being considered an outmoded and crude deity by some scholars, Taal is worshipped in some form across much of the Old World - even in Bretonnia, where the Lady of the Lake is otherwise paramount. It’s no mystery as to why. Taal encourages survival and self-sufficiency - the strength to endure in wild places and tumultuous times. All who dwell in the Empire’s cursed forests call on him for aid, and none more than soldiers and huntsmen, for whom survival carries deeper connotations. 

For Kruber, caught as he is between an Imperial present and Bretonnian heritage, there can be no better choice of patron than Taal.