Kragnos

Kragnos, the god of earthquakes and a central leader for the warmongering tribes of destruction.

History

Age of Myth

Before Sigmar estalished himself as ruler of Azyr, Kragnos was born a mortal member of a race of centaurs living in Ghur called the Drogrukh. The Drogrukh carved caves and made a nation of mountain-sized cities called Donse. They were a fierce yet honorable people, only taking what they needed, and while proclaiming themselves the lords of Ghur, they got along with the Draconith (originally a race of reptilian humanoids, retconned to be GW's patent-friendly name for dragons), who worshipped Dracothion and had powerful magic. Together, the Draconith and the Drogrukh won a war that drove the Dragon Ogors out of Ghur before going their separate ways peacefully.

Kragnos was the son of the Drogrukh elder Gorgos and a greedy, short-tempered guy; unusual among the utilitarian yet honorable Drogrugk. One day Kragnos beat up his brother because they both wanted the same Drogrukh mare. When the Drogrukh elders reprimanded him for it, Kragnos got fed up and decided to strike out with his four best bros (likely not including the aforementioned brother), and thus began his violent path that unintentionally led to godhood.

Over the years he accomplished many legendary tasks, some by himself, some with his companions. Among them were crafting the Dread Mace out of the heart of a mountain (which knowing all the living mountains that are in Ghur is probably literal), climbing the Beastgrave peak and claiming the legendary Shield Involatile, which he made from a disc of rock that Gorkamorka himself had broken a tusk on, leaving it with the power to eat spells. His actions earned him the attention and admiration of the Orruks, who named Kragnos "Da Boss Trampla" and his shield "Tuskbreaker". As Kragnos and co. wandered Ghur, he also started killing and eating every big and tough critter he encountered and wiped out any of the nascent Empires that were starting to emerge in Ghur, thus earning him the title of "The End of Empires".

The few local human tribes who survived his rampage began to see him as a god of Earthquakes, while the numerous races of Destruction quickly decided he was a pretty cool guy and began worshipping him in addition to Gorkamorka (aided by the fact that Gorkamorka himself developed a healthy respect for the guy after Kragnos' attack on the Draconine Empire, see below). Given how the power of belief works where Orruks are concerned, Kragnos being the god of Earthquakes became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Humans and Orruks started killing monsters and leaving them as sacrificial offerings to Kragnos - which he happily accepted, as Kragnos actually absorbed more strength from eating the remains of beasts along with offerings of Amberstone. He was happy to be worshipped as a god and co-exist with the greenskins, because the greenskins like him believed that "might makes right". The fact that this stopped the greenskins from attacking his kin back in Donse was lost on Kragnos.

Kragnos and his companions later arrived at the Draconine empire. While they'd never made an alliance following the defeat of the Dragon Ogors, there was a non-aggression pact between them and Gorgos along with mutual respect.

But at that point the proud and headstrong Kragnos didn't care about the accord anymore. He saw the Draconith as a challenging foe worthy of his new power. He and his four companions waged war on them, the act of aggression winning the approval of the belligerent god Gorkamorka. The war waged on, with many Draconith dying and Kragnos and his companions taking many wounds. Eventually the Draconith fell back before Kragnos' might... but they gathered their remaining strength to kill Kragnos' four companions, then withdrew from the ruins of their empire to wipe out the Drogrukh cities of Donse in revenge. Ignorant of the destruction of Donse, Kragnos was devastated and enraged by the deaths of his four companions and destroyed everything he could find of the Draconith, determined to erase them from history for the deaths of his friends. This reached such a boiling point that he even smashed Draconith eggs into scrambled abortion.

Kragnos' attempted genocide of the Draconith was the last straw for the forces of Order. Several Draconith sorcerers, including the brothers Krondys and Karazai, made contact with the legendary Lord Kroak. In exchange for giving Kroak the last of their eggs, Lord Kroak helped them deal with Kragnos. Kragnos was sealed away in a mountain, which was then isolated from the flow of time by an alliance of sorcerers led by Kroak himself. They had the backing of the godbeast Dracothion as well, who personally restrained Kragnos in his coils as the sorcerers and Kroak wove their spell.

Soul Wars

The only notable thing that happened at this time was that Nagash's Necroquake left residual energies that, when combined with their opposite in life, would have devestating consequences on Kragnos' prison.

Broken Realms

During the Broken Realms crisis, the energies of Alarielle's Rite of Life reacted with the energy of the Necroquake. It also made the roots of trees on the mountain grow until they pierced the rock encasing Kragnos. These two things unintentionally broke the spell of Kragnos' prison, allowing him to gradually smash his way free.

Unaware that any time had passed since his imprisonment, Kragnos began a rampage across Ghur fueled by his anger at captivity and the desire to reunite with his people ASAP.

Along the way, Kragnos encountered a tribe of five Mega-Gargants, the two immediately attacking each other; the first of several Mega-Gargants to join Kragnos did so after he killed the other four. When Kragnos reached Donse, he found it a lifeless run and got a major sad. This turned to rage when he saw Gordrakk's WAAAGH! and the city of Excelsis in the distance... but first he and his Mega-Gargant groupies had to deal with Gordrakk's army. Both sides fought for a bit, with Kragnos fighting Gordrakk and his Maw-Krusha Bigteef before Kragnos triggered a rockslide that buried the three of them. After fighting their way out, Kragnos - after a distraction from Skragrott and a timely appearance of the Bad Moon, shrugged and invited the Orruks to help him destroy Excelsis...something they were more than happy to do given they were already on their way to do just that when they ran into him.

Kragnos charged the Southern Wall of the city and tore down a large chunk of it while the defenders were distracted by Gordrakk's attack on the North Wall. After Gordrakk's battering ram was shattered by Lord Kroak's enchantment, Kragnos reached the main gate, reared up and hit it with all his might using his front hooves and club simultaneously. Lord Kroak's enchantments couldn't withstand Kragnos' raw might, and the gate shattered with explosive force on impact. This combined with the city’s Ogor mercenaries revealing themselves to be agents of the Loonking and turning on the defenders allowed the Orruk's and their allies to flood into the city.

After Morathi's reinforcements dealt with Kragnos' Mega-Gargant supporters attacking the city docks, Morathi sicced her big serpentine body on Kragnos to distract him while her elven body sought Lord Kroak. But Kragnos was too powerful for any of them to kill, his shielding letting him harmlessly tank Kroak's spells while he beat down Morathi's serpent body. Barely saving herself from death at Kragnos' club, Morathi convinced Kroak to send Kragnos away where he can be someone else's problem. Kroak opened a massive portal which Morathi cast an illusion on to trick Kragnos into thinking it was a city of his sworn foes, the Draconith Empire (who Morathi knew about from studying their ruins in the Age of Myth). Being about as dumb as he is big, Kragnos fell for the illusion and - after promising to finish off Morathi and/or Excelsis - charged through the portal, which proceeded to drop him on the far side of Ghur. Without his presence in the city, the Orruk lines begin to crumble, allowing the defenders to push them back.

Meanwhile Kragnos, upon realizing he'd been duped, proceeded to take out his frustration on the local Chaos fortress while a bunch of local Kruleboyz Orruks, who happened to be an isolated tribe of Kragnos worshippers, looked on in awe at the spectacle. Shortly after finally quelling his rage, he was approached by an Orruk shaman who called himself Gobsprakk, the Voice of Mork. Surprisingly not only could the orruk speak his language but said that he had foreseen his arrival. Gobsprakk went on to say that he foresaw Kragnos at the front of a great army that would crush the realms under his hooves, and offered to be his intermediary and advisor in this endeavor. Kragnos, not immune to flattery and able to see the value in a strategist and translator, accepted the offer.

Following this Kragnos and his new herald Gobsprakk has taken up cause with other orruk waaaghs and is whipping up as many of them as he can to create a mighty horde. With Gobsrakk acting as an intermediary, Kragnos can actually command his followers as a functioning army, rather than them just following him like bunch of groupies. With more and more followers of Destruction flocking to his banner, Kragnos is shaping to be a true threat to the greater realms.

Worship

All the Destruction races have a reverence for Kragnos, some bordering on full on worship. The easy explanation for this being Gorkamorka’s own respect for the End of Empires, which flows down to his children. However each subculture/faction will have additional reasons for following him.

• Orruks of all breeds are the most common followers of Kragnos, who love getting into a good scrap alongside him. Ironjawz in particular follow him as the dead ‘ardest warboss around. The feral Bonesplitterz venerate his beastial appearance and how his godhood was attained via eating the bones of great monsters, literally the cornerstone of their own faith. The Kruleboyz meanwhile are an opportunistic lot who revel in the madness and chaos that ensue following Kragnos’ rampages. A perfect chance for their own sneaky schemes.
• The Grots of the Gloomspite Gitz have a similar mindset like the Kruleboyz; capitalizing on the insanity of Kragnos’ murder spree to pillage and backstab everything in their way.
• Troggoth minds are simple. They see Kragnos, and they know there’s gonna be food wherever he goes. Thus they follow him.
• Ogors of all sorts respect Kragnos’ “eating till you become a god” feat, especially the Gutbusters. The Beastclaw Raiders however focus on his many hunts of great beasts and draconic monsters.
• Gargants respect size above all else. Kragnos towers over Gargants, and although most Mega-Gargants are still head and shoulders taller than Kragnos, they recognize his ability to break their bones pretty easily. However not all Mega-Gargants respect him, chief among them King Brodd.

Tabletop

Kragnos can be taken by any DESTRUCTION aligned army.

This big boy is the epitome of the term "mighty glacier", moving only "10 but... read on. He has a 2+ save, 18 wounds and his shield Tuskbreaker to keep himself alive. Tuskbreaker makes it so if he beats the spells casting value on a 3D6, the spell won't work on him. Note, that’s casting value, not casting roll, so Teclis, Nagash, Kroak? None of their bonuses matter.

Despite his slow speed he hits like a runaway train, fitting for the god of earthquakes. His weapon, The Dread Mace, hits harder than Ghal Maraz itself, wounding on 2's, -3 rend and does 4 damage with each attack, and he has six attacks which doesn't diminish if he takes damage. He can also bash enemies with his shield for three Rend -2, D3 damage hits and hit with his hooves for 2 damage at -1 rend up to six times. He also re-rolls charges and hit rolls against units with the Stardrakes, Drakes, Dracoths and Dracolines keyword due to his hatred of dragons (but somehow not Zombie Dragons).

And then there's his ultimate ability "Rampaging Destruction". After the charge, roll a dice for each enemy unit within 1" or an enemy monster within 1"; if the former is chosen, on a 2+ each unit suffers D6 Mortal Wounds, but monsters get it worse if you choose a the latter. On a roll of 7 nothing happens, otherwise the monster suffers a number of mortal wounds equal to the numbers rolled on the dice multiplied... meaning a monster could potentially suffer 36 MORTAL WOUNDS, AND THAT'S BEFORE KRAGNOS ATTACKS IN COMBAT!

As the god of earthquakes, he has a roar that can burst eardrums, level buildings and make Bloodthristers look like they have laryngitis. Whenever he suffers wounds, roll a dice for each unit and defensible terrain feature within 6". If the number is equal to or greater than the score on the table (the required score decreasing as Kragnos takes wounds), enemy units within 6" suffer D3 Mortal Wounds and that defensible terrain feature is demolished and no longer defensible (any models garrisoning it are slain if they roll a dice roll of 1).

He also buffs the bravery of all DESTRUCTION units within 12" by 1, which is always welcome the cowardly Grot and Hobgrot hordes.

The Grand Pantheon of Age of Sigmar
Alarielle - Gorkamorka (Gork + Mork) - Grimnir - Grungni - Malerion - Nagash - Sigmar - Teclis - Tyrion