WARHAMMER® ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONINGTM
Zone Overview - The Grand Principality of Ostland

With its back pressed hard against the Middle Mountains to the south and west, the Grand Principality of Ostland is a province dominated by the dark and forbidding Forest of Shadows. Hulking and ancient, the trees of this vast woodland realm shroud the land in a perpetual green dusk, broken only by the occasional clearing or settlement hacked from the dense undergrowth. Ostland is a realm of damp, creeping mists and shifting shadows that conceal the remnants of millennia of civilization and conflict behind an impenetrable veil of foliage.

The people of Ostland are loyal citizens and devout followers of Sigmar. For generations, they have carved lives from the rugged land, and they are well known throughout the Empire for their steadfast and stubborn nature. Time and again over the centuries, the famed Ostlander stubbornness has been tested and proved true in the face of invasion from the forces of Chaos. The Forest of Shadows conceals the remnants of a thousand battles, and the province has been ransacked by invaders dozens of times. On each occasion the people of Ostland have fought to defend their land with enviable resilience.

Even when such attacks are repulsed, there is a lingering danger. Each invasion brings with it the taint of Chaos and some remnants are inevitably left behind, lost in the vast overgrowth. The wooded darkness harbors innumerable minions of the Ruinous Powers, and even the most experienced scout moves through the forest deeps with caution, lest he stumble upon a lost tribe of Beastmen or a Daemonic servant of the Dark Gods.

Ostland seems ripe for the picking but may prove to be bitter fruit. Sparsely defended at the best of times, the province could hardly appear more vulnerable, but the ferocious Ostlanders are primed to hold their land to the last living soul. With a force of skirmishers and raiding parties, the Chaos warhost faces the daunting task of conquering a land that is itself as much an obstacle as its staunch defenders. And yet conquer it they must, for deep within Ostland is one of four forgotten relics of power that holds the key to Tchar'zanek's master plan.

To accomplish his goals in Ostland, the Raven God's Champion will turn to the methods he knows best: corrupt the strong, destroy the weak, and sow the fields of battle with terror until no resistance remains. In the woods and dales of Ostland, the enemy infiltrates and raids, striking at random, sacking farms and villages without warning and leaving just enough alive to spread the panic they carry. In the cities and towns, Tzeentch's subtle minions twist the minds of men, raising up cults and converting secret sympathizers to their unholy cause.

As confusion and anarchy spread throughout the province, Tchar'zanek dispatches his elite, handpicked warriors, the Raven Host, to carry out a secret mission behind enemy lines. Success will bring the dark Warlord that much closer to his ultimate goal of destroying the Empire forever.

The men of Ostland resist, as they always have, fighting with relentless tenacity, seeking out those who have turned to the ways of ruin and meeting the stark terror of bloody battle with uncommon valor. Their cause seems a lost one - the Empire cannot afford to offer them support, and their numbers dwindle day by day - but in every tavern and shrine the rallying cry is raised, calling upon men to keep their faith, hold their ground, and let no foul thing shake their courage.

In Bohsenfels and Wolfenburg, refugees come day by day, reporting invaders in all directions. Local leaders struggle to muster troops for the defense of outlying territories. Witch Hunters and vigilantes torture and burn so-called heretics on the vaguest suspicion of collusion with the Ruinous Powers, while men of faith preach repentance to the huddled masses. The future of Ostland is a bleak one, win or lose, but the people find solace in their faith and courage in their stubbornness and zeal.

The folk of Ostland have weathered many assaults in the past, and perhaps that provides them a glimmer of hope, but as with every invasion the threat of annihilation is all too real. The subtle claws of Tzeentch have struck at the heart of the Ostlander people, and the spears of his warriors have bled the land of its best and bravest. Without the intervention of forces from elsewhere in the Empire, it seems Ostland will die a slow death, sacrificed on the altar of battle, in the name of the Raven God and his dread Champion.