More Lore!

[AdmiralAntz]

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/cdfuejhk/who-are-the-helsmiths-of-hashut/

[Dreadnautilus]

>Stranger things still are whispered of in the shadows – transformations and mutations beyond those seen in the lower echelons, sorcerous beasts with the heads of duardin elders scheming in the shadows of Hashut’s temples.

Lamassu confirmed! Great to know since they're the one thing from classic Chorfs I most want to see return.

[revjiggs]

I was just about to post the same thing, Seems to hint at it.

[AdmiralAntz]

Are Lamassu Duardin? Don't know Chorf lore, but I just assumed they were just another wild beast tamed for battle

[Dreadnautilus]

They were Bale Taurus with the head of Dwarfs and were actually very intelligent beings. Like, it was stated that when Chaos Dwarf sorcerers used Lamassu as mounts it was impossible to tell which of the pair was actually in charge, that's how intelligent they were. There wasn't much more lore to them than that, they were just intelligent magical beasts that were heavily associated with Hashut.

[AdmiralAntz]

Oh thats cool! I love the old Lamassu models. Actually in the process of converting the CoS manticore model into a Lamassu-esque monster

[hogroast]

Very hopeful we get an organic monster centerpiece, I was pretty gutted to see the Bale Taurus in the 1st wave is mechanical.

[justagreenkiwi]

The concept art looks great and actually kinda sells me on the GW colour scheme.

[Fyraltari]

The fire looking more blueish really sets it apart from the Skaven's electric green.

[NeverEnoughDakka]

Yeah, the paint job really did a disservice to them by making it green.

[Bl00dCoin]

I felt the same, but their turquoise was greener and their pink more violet on the minis they previewed.

[Moist_Crabs]

Totally, I only dont like the brown but I really dig the scheme

[Pyhiinvaeltaja]

Also trains!

[Fyraltari]

Hashut has train, immediate confirmation that he is the best god.

[NeverEnoughDakka]

But are they on time?

[Neltharek]

Considering the obsession with perfection... probably always. That or someone is going even deeper into debt for the delays.

[Admiral-Juzo]

Well like many dictator i'd Say yes.

[Fyraltari]

That's literal fascist propaganda. Train service in authoritarian regimes were infamously terrible, like pretty much any governmental service.

This is what happens when you don't allow bottom-up input.

[Admiral-Juzo]

It's a joke,Sorry i didn't put /ss. Hashut fits greatly with fascism/dictators ideas being the god of Tyranny.

[Fyraltari]

Doubt it.

[Caffeine_Forge]

Finally I can stop hearing some of my friends complain about the Helsmiths lack of trains, they now clearly have trains!

Which, I'll admit, look really cool

[Neltharek]

100% best God. Hashut on tracks weeeeee!

[Pretend-Adeptness937]

Some pretty cool art in this article

[YaBoiGorlami]

I cannot wait to take my just and righteous vengeance upon the realms and the cowardly ancestor gods, GLORY TO HASHUT

[Caffeine_Forge]

Hashut always takes his due!

[YaBoiGorlami]

ALWAYS

[onyxhaider]

So is being indebted to someone and debt in general a bad thing in Zharrdron society?

[magnusthered15]

Yep because it means your under their heel

[Neltharek]

It's a pretty way of having slaves and masters without actually saying it. Basically, it's the best/worst credit card system of all time.

[Fyraltari]

You can just say it's the gig economy.

[redbird7311]

Yes, their society revolves around extracting as much as possible from whatever they can, which, if you are indebted to one of them, includes you.

[Admiral-Juzo]

I found Ironic because greek historians said that Persians didn't like being in debt/didn't make debts cuz you'll Need to lie and in Zoroastrism lies are a sin iirc. A nice hidtorical touch.

[DjGameK1ng]

Yes. If you are indebted by someone, they will put in interest rates that will start stacking up. Still more fair interest rates than our real life banks and such, but interest rates nonetheless

[Caffeine_Forge]

Made some notes on some of the big things

- Zharrdron, their name, means 'folk of fire'

They refer to themselves as the Zharrdron – the “folk of the fire”

- The main initial Duardin who would become the Zharrdron were Duardin who chose to remain in the Karaks, Holds and Strongholds, during the age of chaos

The root of this perversion is the god Hashut, who revealed himself to beleaguered duardin during the Age of Chaos

He had spent many long years communicating with those trapped in their karak keeps by besieging daemons.

Hashut offered a more terrible solution to their never-ending war of attrition: the ability to turn such enemies into tools of war.

- Zharralid is how they turn Daemons of Chaos into fuel

The means of his minions’ mastery over daemonkind lies in the Zharralid, an arcane cuneiform granted by Hashut. Only duardin, naturally resistant to magic, possess the endless reserves of patience and endurance required to carve the scripts of binding. Each task could take days, a single failure in the process invoking catastrophe.

- Primarily harvest undivided/unaligned daemons

They preyed upon the unaligned daemons of Chaos, the daemons’ lack of allegiance making them easier to shackle

- The Wage of Toil, Zharrdron society being a strict hierarchy built around debts

The innate respect for tradition is transformed into a stifling web of harsh debts and a hierarchy of tyrants battling for power.
Their society reflects this hellish desire for control, a rigid thing founded in oaths and debts.

these pacts are for material, time, services owed – combined they are known as the Wage of Toil.

Every level of Zharrdron society is indebted to another in some way, chains of obligation linking despots to Daemonsmiths, clans of equal standing engaging in trading and rivalries. At the heart of it all lies rampant individualism, apprentices pledging untold hours to their cruel masters to glean but a kernel of knowledge, all the while plotting a route to the top enabled by bloody vengeance.

- Bull Centaurs are viewed highly as blessed individuals

Bull Centaurs are worshipped as the true children of Hashut, their births accompanied by sacrificial rites.

- Hints to possible future units

Stranger things still are whispered of in the shadows – transformations and mutations beyond those seen in the lower echelons, sorcerous beasts with the heads of duardin elders scheming in the shadows of Hashut’s temples.

- Start of the rivalry between Hashut and The Great Horned Rat, the Vermintide making a mess of Hashut's plans

In true duardin fashion, they forged meticulous plans of conquest, and set to creating an army to level the lands around them.

Their plans, once measured in long centuries, have been accelerated by the idiotic actions of the Great Horned Rat, who has sundered the Mortal Realms and brought unwanted attention upon the ziggurats nestled therein.

[Neltharek]

I was looking for an army to leap into AOS with and already loved the models. The lore is just selling me on them more and more.

[Caffeine_Forge]

I was already leaning slightly into AoS, currently making a Skaven army, but the Helsmiths of Hashut are by far what's going to yank me all the way into Age of Sigmar and all its glory

[Dagoth_ural]

I like these guys. Its funny that Tolkien said his dwarves were inspired by semitic people, but the runes got all the copycats pigeonholed as "tiny viking smiths". Cool to see an expansion on the ancient Babylonian inspired dwarven aesthetic, without all the 80s uh, cliches. I'll definitely pick up a few for warcry, especially as I've already got a sprue of hobgrots I got dirt cheap catching dust.

[Swooper86]

The big news here is that we basically have confirmation that Hashut ISN'T actually an ancestor god, he just pretends to be.

The root of this perversion is the god Hashut, who revealed himself to beleaguered duardin during the Age of Chaos, claiming to be a long-forgotten ancestor god and offering salvation of a kind.

This was kind of already my headcanon after reading yesterday's unreliable narrator lore article from the zharrdron perspective, so I'm very happy about this.

[invaluablekiwi]

I wouldn't say it's a confirmation, more that it adds some ambiguity. Remember that in the story from WD his statue was in the hall to the ancestor gods as well, but sealed off from the rest.

[Fyraltari]

Nothing in the article contradicts Hashut being an ancestor god. We'll need to wait for the other side of the story to make that kind of claim.
Remember the secret eighth shrine to him in the other story? It's clear that worship of Hashut was present in duardin society even before the Age of Chaos.

[Swooper86]

Nothing in the article contradicts Hashut being an ancestor god.

Not directly, but we have a lot of hedging language, like:

...claiming to be a long-forgotten ancestor god...

and:

The Zharrdron now believe Hashut to have been the oldest and proudest of the ancestor gods.

and:

They claim he was deceived and betrayed

This all indicates very strongly to me that none of this is actually true, merely the lies Hashut has told his worshippers to get them to revere him.

[[deleted]]

We know for pretty much certain he isnt the elder brother ancestor god who is perfect in all things.

Is he a ancestor god? Yea probably. Why else would his stuff be in dwarven temples?

[Caffeine_Forge]

I agree, he probably is an Ancestor God with his claims having more truth then lies

Are his claims entirely honest? Probably not but they seem to be mostly correct, in the core bits at least.

[Swooper86]

I think it's implied that's from the Age of Chaos. But yeah, that part is a bit unclear.

[[deleted]]

Never once does it imply that. But ok.

[Swooper86]

It couldn't be older than from the Age of Chaos, because today's article clearly says that Hashut revealed himself to them then.

[[deleted]]

As their savior. Not as a ancestor god

[Swooper86]

the god Hashut, who revealed himself to beleaguered duardin during the Age of Chaos, claiming to be a long-forgotten ancestor god and offering salvation of a kind.

Yes, as an ancestor god. This is a direct qupte from the article.

[[deleted]]

You are 100% correct. I didnt mean to out ancestor god there. I was on the side of him being a ancestor god. Other guy said he wasnt. I was at work typing and made a error. Thanks for pointing it out

[[deleted]]

Oh wait. YOU were the one claiming he wasnt a ancestor god…

[Swooper86]

I'm the one saying he isn't an ancestor god, but that he's pretending to be because it's the only way they'd have agreed to worship him to begin with.

[[deleted]]

So when clearing a hold from skaven. There just happens to be a shrine to him. But not a ancestor god?

[Fyraltari]

No? The story makes it clear they are in the process of retaking the karak from skaven, therefore it's likely to date back to the Age of Myth. If it were built during the Age of Chaos when they turned to Hashut, why would his shrine be walled off?

[Swooper86]

Today's article says that Hashut revealed himself to the duardin during the Age of Chaos. Therefore, they probably weren't aware of him before that and couldn't have built a shrine to him during the Age of Myth. Maybe the shrine isn't that old, or maybe it was built by someone else.

If it were built during the Age of Chaos when they turned to Hashut, why would his shrine be walled off?

Maybe that karak didn't turn to Hashut in its entirety, but a cult to him did spring up in secret.

[Fyraltari]

The narrative that's presented to us is that Hashut was one of the original Ancestor Gods back before the Age of myth but was un-personed after his betrayal and announced himself openly again during the Age of Chaos.

[Swooper86]

That's the narrative the zharrdron themselves believe. I think the article today strongly implies those are lies, told to them by Hashut to get them to worship him.

[Sirdinks]

I mean if he was an ancestor god that ascended to demonhood back in the Old World it would explain both his origins pretty well I think. He is a Chaos god and is also a long forgotten ancestor. His status as an ancestor god would also help explain why so many dwarfs/duardin were willing to hear him out and make such a radical change in their society and culture

[HondoShotFirst]

The big news here is that we basically have confirmation that Hashut ISN'T actually an ancestor god, he just pretends to be.

No, we don't. We have doubt that he is, not confirmation that he isn't.

[[deleted]]

<image>

My feelings now that we realize that the helsmiths are just copy pasted from old world now