Editing Cities of Sigmar (section)

==History==

===Origins===
The story of how humans, Duardin (dwarves) and Aelves (elves) of various allegiances and creeds are somehow living together in massive cities without murderising each other is a long and expansive story that traces its way back to the closing days of the Age of Myth. Right before Chaos kicked in the proverbial door and began running rough shod across the Realms, the various mortal races lived in their respective golden ages. With the help of primarily Grungni, Teclis and Alarielle, Sigmar established countless human kingdoms and cities, with innovation, learning and cultural development blossoming at an exponential rate. The Duardin had a healthy relationship with humans as always, with a portion living alongside them, but most still taking up residence in their mountain fortresses or splitting off as the newly emerged children of Grimnir, the Fyreslayers. The Aelves enjoyed a resurgence from their initially minuscule numbers when discovered by Sigmar and began to slowly thrive once again when the various Aelven gods joined the pantheon and began the work to restore their race to its former glory.

Of course, all of this was not to last once Chaos got wise to what was going on in the Mortal Realms. The Gods of Chaos began to secretly bore their way into the kingdoms, cities and tribes across the Realms, slowly influencing portions of the population with promises of power and immortality, and piece by piece sowing discord. When the time came to strike, the Mortal Realms were taken completely by surprise and nearly buckled under the sudden upheaval. However, the armies of Order managed to rally and held the forces of Chaos at bay for a time...That is until Archaon made his entrance into the Realms. The forces of Order began to falter and little by little they gave ground to the ever-intensifying onslaught. The final blow for Order came at the Allpoints, at the disastrous confrontation that became known as the Battle of the Burning Sky. Here, the gods of Order fractured through betrayal, panic and mistrust and by the end of the slaughter Sigmar had lost Ghal Maraz, his pantheon and the most strategically important location in all the Mortal Realms. Thus, the Age of Myth came to a catastrophic end, bringing forth the Age of Chaos.

===Exodus===
With the Allpoints granting the armies of Chaos access to all of the Mortal Realms save Azyr, it did not take long for their ravenous hordes to overrun the land. The following collapse of civilization across the Realms can only be described as not falling apart but disintegrating in its own terror.

The last of the Duardin Karaks in Chamon were overrun as the forces of Tzeentch swept across the land, the survivors reluctantly fleeing to the Gates of Azyr, with a small contingent escaping to the highest peaks of the Realm of Metal to an [[Kharadron Overlords|uncertain fate]]. Many Duardin Kings, prideful and stubborn in their sense of honor, refused to evacuate and chose to remain in their Holds, sealing their fate when the doors to Azyr were finally sealed. It is said that Grungni cried tears of molten lead when he saw how few of his children had managed to escape. Thus, the Dispossessed came to be.

The Aelven devotees of Alarielle desperately held on with their Sylvaneth comrades as Nurgle's rot and pestilence began to seep into Ghyran. However, as the Sylvaneth groves outside the Realm of Life began to be wiped out, their numbers and their reinforcements began to dwindle. As their defenses reached the breaking point, the Aelves had to make a choice; either stay with their beloved Goddess and her children and face almost certain annihilation, or abandon them in their direst hour and try to flee to Azyr before the gates closed. They chose the latter, and from that day the Sylvaneth have never fully forgiven the Wanderers for their abandonment.

All the remaining human, duardin and aelf empires that were not already destroyed or besieged made a beeline toward any realmgates to Azyr that were still open. Many didn't survive the journey, being butchered by chaos armies along the way. Many others however managed to reach Azyr and safety, others were unfortunately stranded in the other realms when Sigmar finally closed the gates as the forces of Chaos were getting too close to breaching them. These unfortunate souls either [[Slaves to Darkness|swore fealty to Chaos in return for their lives]], died fighting against the marauding hordes or were forced to adopt a nomadic lifestyle for the remainder of the Age of Chaos, always on the run or in hiding from the legions of Chaos. This wasn't the end of tribulations for the survivors who have reached Azyr however. Chaos cultists and double agents had managed to slip into Azyrheim among the refugees, forcing Sigmar's witch hunters to root them out (lethally, and often with collateral damage). Around this time the Aelven order of the Shadowblades is believed to have first become active, systematically purging Azyr further of potential threats to Sigmar's rule.

Sigmar realized that many of the refugees themselves, having malice or deception in their hearts, could be susceptible of falling to Chaos in the future. This moved the God-King to take the uneasy task of leading a mass purge of many of the peoples that had fled to Azyr. Countless supposedly innocent souls that Sigmar deemed corruptible were slaughtered by the agents of Azyr, even those that could be suspected of treachery were not spared. Only after this extermination campaign did Sigmar deem that Azyr was safe from further corruption. Whether he did the right thing or not is up for debate, but the fluff continuously mentions that Azyr was the only Mortal Realm free from the taint of Chaos.

For the next 500 or so years the peoples of Azyr went along with their lives, but whether they be from the various cultures of the armies of the Free Guilds or the Sinister Knights of the Order Serpentis, they now all shared a united goal: rebuild their forces for a counter-invasion against Chaos. After centuries of preparation and having the Stormcast Eternal infrastructure mostly finished, the various armies of Azyr were ready to reopen the realmgates and retake their ancient territories. For many this was indeed almost a relief, as while Azyr was definitely a better place to live than any of the other Mortal Realms, life under Sigmar's rule wasn't all perfect. Sigmar, fearing potential Chaos infiltration, kept a rather draconian amount of control on the various cities and settlements in Azyr. From constant fear of the Order of Azyr and potential knives in backs from the Shadowblades, not to mention strict legal codes, many of the peoples from the other realms chafed somewhat in this highly ordered society so when offered a chance to retake their old homes, many were happy to give it a try.

===Reconquest===
With Sigmar's Tempest opening the Gates of Azyr, what followed was a massive undertaking as the combined might of all the peoples of Azyr began preparations for Sigmar's reconquest of the Realms. The sheer level of planning, logistics, training and dealmaking that went down in this period cannot be understated. Whether it was noble families looking to reclaim their ancestral homelands, outcasts going to wherever offered for a fresh start, or perhaps a deal made between various parties for certain benefits in the reclaimed territories in exchange for assistance. The Regiments of the Freeguild were raised and assigned to accompany settlers to their new homes in the Realms. Duardin of the Ironweld Guilds and the Dispossessed Clans offered up their expertise in engineering as well as firepower, often in exchange for trading or mining rights in the charted territories. Wanderer Enclaves saw much demand for their knowledge of scouting the wilderness, and in turn requested territory to settle and roam freely in.

The initial areas for the first cities formed around the Stormkeeps established by the Stormcast Eternals after the Realmgate Wars. From these initial settlements cities began to form around them. One obvious example being Hammerhal, which would go on to be the largest city and defacto capital of Sigmar’s growing empire. Other cities were subsequently founded usually near realmgates or areas of great strategic/economic importance (i.e. Hallowheart, Tempest's Eye, Excelsior and Vindicarum). The Living City was established sometime later by Allarielle herself after great victories against Nurgle’s forces and stands as a testeament to her renewed alliance with Sigmar. Later would come the establishment of industrial hub Greywater Fastness would become a seat for many of the Ironweld and Disspossesed clans, and Phoenicium, one of few Aelf dominated Cities of Sigmar. These expansions did not come easy however. Millions gave their lives in their foundation and the subsequent wars to maintain these great bastions.

Roughly 100 years after the Stormcast Eternals first set down in the Realms, these initial cities have greatly expanded upon themselves, managing to carve out their own territories in the Realms. However even with all this, much of the realms have not yet been liberated. It is estimated barely a tenth of the pre-Age of Chaos territory has been reclaimed thus far, with the rest either unclaimed wild lands, heavily contested or held by the forces of Chaos, Destruction or Death. Due to this, the cities must fight hard for any territorial gains they can manage, along with sending colonists (both willing and otherwise) out to found new cities.

These cities tend to be on frontier zones, forcing them to often deal with heavier chaos, death or destruction incursions, along with the deadly native wildlife or even native peoples who aren't necessarily happy with newcomers trying to colonize their ancestral lands that they defended all through the Age of Chaos. In fact, an unfortunate result of this has been the occasional Stormcast or Freeguild force having to do the uncomfortable task of subjugating or even wiping out native tribes that refuse to compromise on these cities’ foundings. Some examples of these frontier cities include Anvilgard in Aqshy, which has quickly amassed a dark reputation from its internal dealings, or Izalend in Ghur which has to be on constant alert due to the dangerous area it inhabits. Not all of these frontier cities survive, most are either destroyed from invaders or some other calamity and must be abandoned. More than one city has suffered this fate since the first cities were established.

However many others continue to prosper and continue to expand their territory to slowly retake the realms from Chaos' grasp. Due to the dangerous nature of the realms, the mere act of traveling can be dangerous. Thus while all cities are nominally under Sigmar’s domain, many often have to rely on governing themselves for the most part, as communication with the capital Hammerhal can be slow and unreliable and Stormcast sometimes not being able to lend assistance due to being stretched thin expanding the God-King’s borders. Many have to establish their own form of government and trade zones. All cities follow the government structure laid out by Azyrheim, however many make variations to how a city’s government is made up and how they conduct warfare due to local stigmas and situations. This leads to each city developing unique cultural identities, and since not all cities actively coordinate with each other, entire wars and new city foundings can occur without some nations even being aware of it, even if they are technically on the same faction. This is why organizations such as the Swifthawk Agents are so important to the cities, as speedy communication can often mean the difference between annihilation and salvation for threatened cities.

===Broken Realms===
Two free cities played an important part in [[Morathi]]’s ploy for godhood. Misthåvn lent its Black Ark fleets to defend the High Oracle from retaliating Idoneth Deepkin and Hedonites of Slaanesh while she enacted her ritual to reach godhood. As expected though, the Scourge Privateers were merely pawns to Morathi, and to their credit they recognized this and split the second things looked dire. The second city was Anvilgard, where the now goddess Morathi-Khaine made her appearance to the ruling council of the city. She coerced the local Darkling Covens and other “dark aelves” to overthrow their masters, leading to Morathi’s annexation of the city and renaming it to Har Kuron. Sigmar did of course learn about this deceit and was just about to besiege the city and reclaim it when Morathi parlayed with the Celestant-Prime, who was leading this effort. What they agreed upon is unclear, but the conquest was not reversed, forcing the remnants of Anvilgard's forces to flee as their city became Morathi's new kingdom.

In Hysh, Settler’s Gain was ground zero for Nagash’s assault against the Lumineth Realm-Lords, sending spectral waves of Nighthaunt to crash against the city’s defenses. They were only saved when [[Teclis]] arrived and restored life to the Nighthaunt while they were flying [[Grimdark|so they would die again when they fell back down.]] Later on, the city supplied a battery of Luminarks and Hurricanums in the final duel between Teclis and Nagash, their magical attacks distracting the great necromancer just enough for the mage god and his mountain spirit allies to win the day and reverse the effects of the Necroquake.

Vindicarum was besieged by the forces of [[Be'lakor]] shortly after the First Prince collapsed every Realmgate in Chamon and released dark storms of chaos energy. The siege was a brutal affair that decimated the Hallowed Knights and Celestial Vindicators stormhosts, which was exactly what [[Be'lakor]] wanted. He didn’t want to conquer the city, but to raze it and send its occupants’ souls into the Realm of Chaos where eternal torture awaited them. That's right, the main-character Sigmarines had their effective immortality stripped away. It took the combined fleets of every Kharadron skyport led by the mysterious white-bearded Duardin called Gromthi. The First Prince was repelled...but at a heavy cost. Vindicarum’s population was obliterated, Chamon is now separated from the other Realms, and the dark chaos storms that loomed over the lands were growing.

The Ghurish city of Excelsis suffered a Tzeentchian demonic plot which inspired anti-magical sentiment and gave rise to a magic-hating Sigmarite cult. Then the Newborn twins of Slaanesh subverted the cult by playing on its leader's personal hatred of elves, culminating in a pogrom against elves that caused the survivors to leave Excelsis, while the slaughtered elves unwittingly became sacrifices to summon the two Newborn and an army of Slaanesh daemons into the city. The twins also got the Skaven to set up the sacrifices and undermine the city further. And then the newly awakened god of Earthquakes [[Kragnos]] coerced [[Godrakk]] into his service and led an entire army of Destruction towards the city. The only thing that stopped them from stomping the city flat is the arrival of Lord Kroak, the banishment of the demonic twins and the unexpected arrival of a Black Ark with the newly ascended goddess [[Morathi]]. She tracked down [[Lord Kroak]] while he tried to help the city with his magic and the two of them managed to trick Kragnos into going through a portal that drops him on the far side of Ghur and allowed the defenders to finally force the besiegers out of the city.

===Era of the Beast===
Kragnos’ awakening sent shockwaves of bestial energy all across the Mortal Realms, spurring equally violent reactions as well. Tempest’s Eye is besieged by the haphazard warp-blimps and lightning barges of Skaven [[Clan Shyvik]]. The sheer scale of this attack destroyed two levels of the city’s infrastructure as war is continually waged on rubble strewn streets and smoke filled sky.