Age of Sigmar: Naked and Not Afraid – Origins of the Fyreslayers – PRIME
If less is more, these guys definitely have the most. Let’s look at the real-life origins of Age of Sigmar’s Fyreslayers.
The Mortal Realms are full of tough customers, from the disgustingly resilient followers of Nurgle to the massive warriors of the Sons of Behemat. However, it takes a special breed of grit to not only rush into battle clad in nothing but phenomenal facial hair and a bad attitude but also to hammer forge-hot gold runes into your body and barely flinch. That is exactly what the berserker warriors of the Fyreslayers do, and it’s marked them out as one of the most iconic factions in the Realms. Of course, as with every other army, the angry gingers have their roots in several parts of the real world, and even though no warriors were hammering molten armor into their skeleton (that we know of) there were many warriors of old that bear a striking resemblance to the Sons of Grimnir.
Old World Origins – Slayers
The Fyreslayers themselves are not exactly a “new” faction, and their Warhammer roots stretch all the way back to fantasy. In the Old World, a dwarf that suffered a horrific loss or slighted their honor or the honor of their family in some way would sometimes devote themselves to a life of battle. Dying their hair bright orange to make themselves more intimidating and also easier targets on the battlefield, they would spend their every waking hour seeking a glorious death in battle to atone for their dishonor. These mighty warriors were known as Slayers, and were rightfully feared by the enemies of the dwarven holds, as they knew no fear of death and would happily chase down (and usually defeat) the largest and deadliest of enemy creatures.
Giants, Dragons, even massive Greater Daemons were no match for the massive axes of the Slayer, and even if they were defeated, thanks to their Slayer’s oath they still viewed it as a personal victory. Though Slayers are thankfully few in number, the Slayer King Ungrim Ironfist led an entire army of the deadly warriors, and perhaps the most famous hero of the Old World, Gotrek, was a prolific and long-lived Slayer, so angry that he even survived the apocalypse.
Into the Mortal Realms
The Fyreslayers take all that rage and turn it right past 11 and on to 12. They try to emulate the fiery god Grimnir, who assisted Sigmar in ridding the world of the Godbeasts and died in battle against the massive fire beast Vulcatrix. They seek a mystical substance known as ur-gold, a golden ingot believe to contain part of the shattered essence of their god, and they will go to any lengths to retrieve it, even fighting for the forces of Chaos or Destruction if the price is high enough. Their Auric Runemasters are able to smelt and mold this metal into empowering runes, which are then hammered into the bodies of the Fyreslayer warriors. Just because they aren’t the rage monsters they once were doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten their roots, however, and the deadly Grimwrath Berserkers are a testament to the Slayers of old, nigh-indestructible forces of mayhem on the battlefield with several of the powered runes hammered into their bodies.
Nordic Bear-Shirts
Several real-life cultures have a similar style of fighting, and the idea of a warrior throwing themselves into a fit of battle fury is certainly not a unique one. Even the word berserker is adapted from the Old Norse word berserkir, which translates roughly to “bear-shirt”, and refers to a warrior that wears a cloak made from bear skin. However, these fanatical warriors were not just related to bears, and it is believed that three distinct clans existed, each honoring a warrior animal totem: the bear, the wolf, and the boar. These warriors were semi-religious in their approach to battle, and believed that wearing the skin of their totem animal would give them their strength and ferocity. On top of the skins, the warriors would imbibe strong alcholic drinks or hallucenogic plants and fungi to work themselves into a mad frenzy, allowing them to ignore otherwise crippling injuries and strike back with reckless abandon.
The Celts
Another culture of wild warriors was the Celts, the warriors of Briton and the Iberian peninsula. Though their style of fighting was perhaps closer to the Wardancers of the old Wood Elves or the savage Bonesplitterz, their proclivity to charge into battle in bright paint and little else echos the Slayer style of fighting. Though the Celts were not the most successful military engine, they impressed several armies that stood against them with their tenacity and ferocity, and they produced incredible heroes such as the legendary Queen Boudicca. Like the berserkers, the Celts were believed to revere totem spirits to give them power, and courage and honor were built deeply into their culture. Like the Norse cultures, the Celts believed that honor in battle would carry over into the afterlife, and they fought to their last breath to ensure they protected their way of life. While not a direct parallel to the warriors of the Hearths, the honor system and wild abandon they fought with is at least tangentially related.
~Any cultures we missed?
