Chaos Dwarfs
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The Chaos Dwarfs are a sub-breed of dwarfs found in Warhammer Fantasy Battle, and, by extension, in the world of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Blood Bowl. The Chaos Dwarfs are availably as a playable, although they no longer have their own armybook or miniature range and must instead use the Ravening Hordes rules (which is perfectly legal) and buy classic miniatures from the Games Workshop Online Store.
In the 1990s, the Chaos Dwarfs were a fully supported race but this is no longer the case due to their lack of popularity. It was for a time thought they may have been removed from the game entirely, like the Warhammer 40,000 Squats: however, recent announcements confirm that a new army will be released within the next two years. [citation needed]
[edit] Chaos Dwarf Society
Chaos Dwarfs are found to the east of the civilized lands, where their ancestors were settled long before they were caught by Chaos. The Chaos Dwarfs, or Dawi Zharr (Dwarf for "Dwarfs of Fire") as they are properly called, hate their brethren immensely. They are unlike other Warhammer dwarfs in many ways, being enthusiastic slavers with orc and goblin slaves, as well as humans, under hobgoblin overseers. Many of them are potent sorcerers, having abandoned the ancestral Dwarf rune magic in favor of more conventional sorcery. They worship Hashut, the Father of Darkness, instead of the Dwarf ancestor gods.
Chaos Dwarfs are portrayed in a semi-Assyrian/Babylonian style---their beards are arranged in vertical curls, and their armor, weapons and architecture are reminiscent of these cultures. For the most part, they are physically unaltered save for long, tusk-like lower canine teeth, but some of them have developed a centaur-like mutation, with the lower bodies of bulls. These creatures are called Bull Centaurs, and it is they who guard the Temple of Hashut in Zharr Nagrund, their capital.
Unlike most of the races in the Warhammer World, the Dawi Zharr see little need for further campaigns into distant lands to gain more land or belongings; they have all the slaves they need in the Mountains of Mourn and the Darklands, along with more material wealth than they actually need (although being dwarfs, this is never quite enough).
All of the Chaos Dwarfs slaving goes toward building and preserving their only major city, Zharr Naggrund. Zharr Naggrund is situated in the middle of the Plain of Zharr, a massive crater in the Darklands full of underground workshops and mines. The city was almost wiped out when the Chaos Dwarfs made a massive rocket called the Hammer of Hashut. It flew off course and nearly wiped out the city, but thankfully only a few goblin tribes were killed.
The city itself is a massive ziggurat, with gates larger than there's any physical need for. On the top is the Temple of Hashut, where slaves are sacrificed. The Bull Centaurs guard their charges here and gaze out on the road below.
[edit] History of the Chaos Dwarfs
The Destruction of the Goblin Kingdoms
Before the Great Disaster, the region now known as the Dark Lands was a well-watered and fertile region between the Worlds Edge Mountains and the Mountains of Mourn. Nomadic tribes of Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Goblins roamed the land as hunters and gatherers. They fought each other with weapons of stone and bone, each wanting the land for itself.
The Goblins were the more organised and numerous. They were the first to establish kingdoms on the fertile plains and trade with the Dwarf clans that had migrated from the Worlds Edge Mountains. The Hobgoblins, on the other hand, were cunning hunters, skilled at ambush and setting traps. They were also more likely to cheat Goblin traders than deal with them honestly. In contrast, the large and brutish Orcs simply took whatever they wanted and killed anyone who stood in their way. Their love of fighting one another kept their numbers low, a fact for which the more civilised but physically weaker goblins were ever grateful.
The Chaos Incursion ignored the Dark Lands until Hashut’s revolt against the Lords of Chaos. Fleeing from the Daemon Princes sent by the Blood God to destroy him, Hashut made his stand in the Dark Lands. The savage battles they fought boiled away the rivers and left the land a desiccated ruin. The servants of the Daemon Princes destroyed Goblin and Hobgoblin villages to deny Hashut any possible allies. The Goblin kingdoms crumbled under the onslaught and their people fled to the Orc villages for safety. The Hobgoblins retreated into the Mountains of Mourn to save their own skins. Only the Orcs fought back, gathering into larger tribes and joining the battle with relish.
These new (though unwitting) allies gave Hashut the opportunity to turn against his pursuers. He killed many, but Khorne always sent more. Knowing they would eventually overwhelm him, Hashut withdrew into the underground darkness to rebuild his strength. Khorne’s slaves followed and finally cornered their quarry in a large underground cavern. Suffering from their own wounds, the followers of the Blood God imprisoned Hashut behind a great door of brass and darkened iron to hold him till Khorne saw fit to exact his vengeance in person.
As the Warp winds drained into the Elf-created vortex, Khorne’s minions in the Dark Lands began to weaken. A huge Orc army descended upon the retreating Khornates and the bloody battle further devastated the land. Both sides suffered horrible losses, but the simple and brutish society of the Orcs survived the war against Chaos. The more advanced Goblin culture was destroyed, forever leaving the Goblins as slaves of the Orcs.
An argument persists among various Chaos Dwarf players and fans between adhering to the classic background appearing in Games Workshop Army Books, and the newer revisited backstory. One of the main arguments against the old background is that the dwarfs would just have killed the God Hashut, instead of worshipping him. The newer version contains a reason for this. This topic for example is debated here The Hand of Hashut and includes some of this argument.
Older Background
The Corruption of the Dwarfs, The Oath-breakers
Unlike their western brethren, the Dwarf clans of the Mountains of Mourn didn’t receive Grungni’s warning before the Warpgates collapsed and Warpdust seeped into their settlements. Yet, the eastern Dwarfs realised that something was amiss and closed their doors. A surge of Warp matter obliterated the Dwarfs’ surface entrances and entrapped them below. For hundreds of years, the Dark Lands Dwarfs were trapped underground. No matter where they tunnelled, impenetrable rock prevented them from reaching the surface. The Dwarfs burrowed ever-deeper, always seeking a way past the rock that trapped them.
They eventually tunnelled into a magnificent underground gallery with walls of obsidian. Carefully exploring the cavern, the Dwarfs found a huge sealed door made of brass and darkened iron with arcane writings inscribed on it. Rune Lord Grimdalf the Grey took it upon himself to translate the glyph learn what was beyond the door. After many years, Grimdalf successfully read the script and, as he mouthed the last syllable, the resulting blast tore him apart. The sound of it reverberated throughout the tunnels, as did the roar of whatever it was Grimdalf had set free.
The thing from behind the door was free and Dwarfs were dying. Even when they finally tunnelled out of the earth, the killings continued during the night. In time, fewer died and some Dwarfs were even allowed to return to their fellows with tales of a gigantic creature from the Darkness. With their Dwarfking dead (one of the beast’s first victims), the remaining clan leaders selected a delegation to approach the creature in its lair to learn its intent. It told them that its name was Hashut, Father of Darkness, and that he would grant them great power if they worshipped him alone. Hashut told the Dark Lands Dwarfs that their Ancestor Gods abandoned them to the onslaught of Chaos. Should they refuse, promised Hashut, their lines would come to an end and their achievements would be forgotten.
A heated argument broke out between those who saw wisdom in Hashut’s words and those who saw forsaking the Ancestor Gods as the first step to damnation. At the height of the debate, weapons were drawn and Dwarf slew Dwarf. Seeing the fight from afar, Hashut granted sorcerous power to those elders who favoured him, tipping the battle in their favour. To honour their new god, the victors sacrificed many of their brethren to Hashut, while they gave others to him as slaves. Some of these he mutated into the beasts that serve him: the Great Taurus and Lammasu. Hashut also took the most ferocious fighters for his cause and shaped them into the Bull Centaurs, his distinguished servants. Lastly, the victorious clan elders were permanently rewarded with powerful sorcerous abilities, which they used to Hashut’s glory.
In a final desperate act against their now debased rulers, the remaining Runesmiths revolted against Hashut’s new order. But, the corruption of the Dark Lands Dwarfs had even affected the power of the Runesmiths. The battle raged for months, but the Sorcerer-Priests were too strong. The Runesmiths were broken and enslaved, while the more powerful among them were sacrificed to Hashut after several days of ritual torture. With the last vestiges of their former culture removed, the corruption of the Dark Lands Dwarfs was completed. Hashut rewarded them with tusks to mark them as his own, while he granted the most devout cloven hoofs and horns.
Though they remained unknown to the Dwarfs of the Old World for millennia, the Chaos Dwarfs proved to be their nemesis. The campaigns of the Dark Land denizens forced the greenskins’ western migrations that led to the ruin of several Dwarfholds and the decline of the Dwarf Kingdom of Karaz Ankor. The Old World Dwarfs never recovered from their loss.
[edit] Chaos Dwarf Armies
When the Chaos Dwarfs go to war, they usually bring a mix of Chaos Dwarfs, Bull Centaurs and Greenskins. The Dwarf army brings a mix of units such as Dwarf Warriors and Blunderbuss units. Their leaders usually consist of Dwarf Lords, and sorcerers. The Bull Centaurs are one of the strongest units in the whole game. However, with only one unit in the entire army, can be inflexible. The Greenskin Hordes include mostly Hobgoblins, sneaky gits and Black Orks.
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| Races: | Bretonnia, Chaos, Chaos Dwarfs, Dark Elves, Dogs of War, Dwarfs, The Empire, High Elves, Lizardmen, Ogres, Orcs, Skaven, Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts, Wood Elves |
| Places: | The Old World, Araby, Cathay, Lustria, Ulthuan |
