Warhammer Falling Stars

Chapter 1 Preview

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-Altdorf Capital of the Empire, Imperial Palace-

The capital of the Empire was in near uproar. A little over an hour ago, the people of Altdorf were going about their daily business, be they high ranking nobles of the Imperial Court or simple traveling merchants peddling their wares. It was a day just like any other in Altdorf. Then something happened, something that no one who was outdoors that day would ever have a single chance of forgetting, whether they wanted to or not. Even those who were stuck inside and didn't see the event themselves would have heard what had happened either from the event or from the complete and utter mayhem that ensued in its wake.

It started with a loud 'boom' like a sound of thunder coming from upwards in the endlessly clear blue skies. There were many in the city who were very surprised to say the absolute least at the sound. In fact many literally jumped upwards in bewilderment. At first there were those that thought that maybe one of the colleges of magic had performed some kind of magical experiment that had gone wrong but that theory promptly went out the window when people started looking upwards to the sky.

Three truly massive comets appeared in the skies above Altdorf. They burned a trio of fiery contrails across the sky and they seemed to be heading west, in the general direction of the merchant city of Marienburg. The three comets were only in view for a minute or two but it was long enough for most of the city to witness the spectacle. It was strange for a city that was so full of noise to become completely and utterly silent for so long. Of course the instant that the three comets disappeared over the western horizon, all pandemonium broke loose.

The many people of the city of Altdorf began swarming into the Temple of Sigmar, hoping that the priests of the God-King may have answers. In fact there were even a select few individuals who tried to make it into the Colleges of Magic. Each and every one of them hoping that maybe just maybe, one of them might have some kind of answer to what they just witnessed.

Inside the Imperial Palace, there was an emergency meeting of the Council of States. The Council of States was an unofficial council for Emperor Karl Franz. While the Council of States held no official authority but controlled access to the Emperor and thus what information he received. In a sense they both held no power and held great power at the same time.

Currently they were all arguing amongst one another about the three comets and the uproar they had caused in the City of Altdorf and likely across the various villages and possibly even other cities that had seen the comets streak overhead and to the west and what was to be done about it. The only one who seemed to be relatively quiet during the entire cacophony of raised voices was the Emperor himself and was currently starting to lose patience with his council. Eventually though, Karl Franz looked to his Champion, Ludwig Schwarzhelm and a seemingly unspoken communication passed between the two of them.

The Emperor's Champion cleared his throat for a moment or two before shouting "SILENCE!" at such a volume that immediately the squabbling councilors ceased their arguments. Instead the councilors turned their attention directly to Emperor Franz and waited for him to address them "I know that the last few hours have been trying on everyone in Altdorf. But we must remain calm and reasonable, I will not allow the fear and panic that has gripped this city to infest my council as well."

Several members of Karl Franz's council looked more than just somewhat embarrassed at the admonishment from their emperor. "Now then, perhaps we can go over this like rational men. Shall we." It wasn't a request. The council took the obvious hint and began to act in a more civil manner as they calmed down and remained seated.

The first one to speak up was Count Siegfried von Walfen, the Chancellor of the Reikland and the Imperial Spymaster; "All three of those…'comets' were heading to the west, if I were to make a wager, I would say that it fell somewhere close to the Wasteland but more than likely they landed in the Wasteland, likely close to the border to Reikland."

Already the Grand Theogonist Volkmar the Grimm looked at the Emperor with an expression that exhibited his namesake "My Emperor we must send a force to the Wasteland immediately, whatever this is we must ascertain what these 'comets' are. We can ill afford what happened to Mordheim to happen again here."

The assembled councilors all shared a grimace or a horrified look amongst one another at the thought of such an event occurring once again. It had been over five centuries since the once wealthy capital of the province of Ostermark Mordheim had become more akin to rotting corpse. Five-hundred years ago a twin-tailed comet was spotted by Imperial astronomers. It was prophesized that the comet would land near the Imperial City of Mordheim and usher in the return of the God-King Sigmar.

Many pilgrims flocked to the city months in advance of the comet, hoping to be there when it finally landed and see for themselves the God King in the flesh, returned to his people once more. However the city soon filled well beyond its own capacity and soon the city became an overflowing chalice of vice and sin as people sought to fulfill their own desires as they waited for the great comet's arrival. When the day that the comet was finally set to arrive the city had completely degenerated into a den of depravity, and on that day, Sigmar had rendered his judgment upon Mordheim. A comet of pure warpstone had struck the city, rendering it all but uninhabitable, save for those that went there to harvest the substance.

That could not happen here, not so close to the very heart of the Empire.

"Emperor Franz, we cannot send a large army into the wasteland, it could very well be a breach of the treaty with Marienburg, and the resulting political fallout could very well bring repercussions from the Elector Counts and other nobles." Declared Baron Amadeus Mencken, the Chamberlain of the Seal and advisor on Foreign Relations. Agatha von Bohrn also took this time to agree with the baron "It could be seen as a breach of the severance treaty signed with Marienburg and the people of the Wasteland. Other nations may see it as our Emperor being untrustworthy."

That was true, however there were many nobles in the Empire that wished to bring the merchant city back into the fold, mainly in the hope that they might be the ones that would be placed in charge of the extremely wealthy province. Emperor Franz had lost count of how many petitions he had gone over to see to it that the Wasteland was brought back into the Empire, by whatever means necessary. Each of which of course ended with how the particular noble family that sent said letter would be in charge of the wealthy city by the end.

Karl Franz brought himself out of those thoughts and refocused his attention back on the meeting at hand. At this point Franz turned to look at Balthazar Gelt, Supreme Patriarch of the Empire's Colleges of Magic and counselor on all matters magical "Supreme Patriarch Gelt, you have been very quiet throughout this meeting. What is your opinion on the matter? Were you or any of the other members of the College able to sense anything in regards to these…comets?"

For a moment Gelt didn't say a word, as he was more than likely trying to figure out how to best answer the questions. "For the time being…I am uncertain. I could sense nothing of the wind of Chamon in any of the comets, nor could any of the other colleges sense any of the other winds in them." Several of the councilors seemed somewhat relieved by this news.

Unfortunately for them though, Gelt was not finished "However I will say that every magister, journeyman and apprentice in the Gold Order could sense massive amounts of metal from each of those comets."

Everyone in the room looked at one another and wondered how that could be. The voices of the councilors began to pick up again, as they either asked the Supreme Patriarch more questions or demanded to know more about what he and the other schools had sensed. Fortunately though, it wasn't nearly as heated as it was earlier and this time Emperor Franz didn't need to have his champion raise his voice to get everyone's attention once again. Instead though he simply had to raise his hand to attain everyone's attention.

When the Council ceased speaking to one another the Emperor looked at them directly "I have reached a decision in regards to this matter." By the way Karl Franz spoke it was clear that whatever decision he was about to make would be the final word on the matter.

He then turned his head to look directly at Helborg and Gelt "Reiksmarshal Helborg, take your best knights and the fastest horses you can muster and find where those comets landed and ascertain what they are and what they may mean for the Empire. Gelt, I want you to accompany them, your skills may prove invaluable. Take whomever you wish from the colleges but do so quickly. If we do not hear word from you within a week, we shall muster a much larger force to deal with whatever has come to the Empire's borders."

With Emperor Franz having made his decision on the matter, those that had been selected for the journey began to gather what forces they could muster.

Preview end.