Araby

This article or section is about something oldschool - and awesome. Make sure your rose-tinted glasses are on nice and tight, and prepare for a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

Araby was an area in the Warhammer World based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those Tomb King guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like Kislev, they had an army all the way back in Warmaster, which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon djinni. Oh and they had Elephant Cavalry. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

In Total War: Warhammer II, no Arabyan faction or subfaction showed up, leaving the empty lands of Araby to be contested between Bretonnians to the west, Dwarfs to the west and southeast, and Tomb Kings to the east. The only possible Arabyan character in the game is Khaled Al-Muntasir, who rules the Lahmian Sisterhood in the Dark Lands. He was an Arabyan Vampire in lore (heavily implied to be the original identity of Mannfred von Carstein), and even then he is represented by a typical Vampire lord.

History

Early history

Two thousand years before the reign of Sigmar, Mullah Aklan'd of the island of Fyrus led a war against the High Elves, who raided his people's ports and cities. He became the founder of Araby as a nation, being its first Great Sultan. Then, Araby had to deal with later assaults by Nehekhara, Arkhan the Black, and the Skaven.

Centuries later, Ibn Jellaba went south to explore the Lizardmen of Zlatan, and returned as a very wealthy man after establishing the first trade agreement with humans and Lizardmen.

Araby was later doomed to Chaos corruption, no thanks to a cultist of Tzeentch, Mahik al'Rak, who influenced Arabyan sorcerers to inadvertantly serve Tzeentch after being possessed by a Lord of Change.

Sultan Jaffar

Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in Bretonnian history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil sorcerer Jaffar unified Araby as one of its Great Sultans, with his pacts with the Djinn devolving into service to Kairos Fateweaver. He got tricked by the Skaven into believing that Estalia was going to invade, and he launched a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since.

Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

So much lost potential

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

Future

The northern coast of Araby was invaded by Luthor Harkon and his Vampire Coast pirates.

Araby, like Estalia, Tilea, and the other nations to the north, was ruined by the massive Skaven invasions during the End Times.

Geography and Politics

Unsurprisingly, Araby is mostly a vast desert with almost no life in the interior. Most of the cities are situated in the north where rivers from the Atalan Mountains provides fertile soil and the seashores allows the Arabyans dominate trade with other countries, while desert inland territories are inhabited by nomads. Araby only borders Nehekhara to the east and Southlands to the south (duh).

The country is nominally ruled by Great Sultan from the city Al-Haikk, but he really only controls the capital (so, like in real life, or the Empire further in the north), with other Sheikhs, Emirs and Princes being pretty independent. Same goes for nomadic tribes. Here is the list of notable cities:

• Al-Haikk - as it was said earlier, the nominal capital of Araby, where Great Sultan resides.
• Copher - the most independent city, known for its wizards and pirates that are pain in the ass for the Old Worlders.
• Djambiya - only notable for being the closest one to the realm of undead Egyptians.
• Sorcerer's Islands - not a city, but an archipelago that resembles Azores, which is situated to the west of Araby. Here be College of Sorcerers.
• Lashiek - Arabyan fleet is located here.
• Sanaá - is only interesting as a birthplace of Abdul Alhazred aka GW's most shameless Lovecraft rip-off.
• Teshert - Arabyan colony in Badlands that guards the only passable road between the Sultanate and Border Princes.
• Bel-Aliad - previous capital that was completely destroyed by Arkhan the Black more than three thousand years ago.
• Sudenburg - An Imperial Colony in the Southwest.
• Ka-Sabar - The southernmost city in Araby, once Nehekharan. Is occasionally attacked by angry Tomb Kings or suffers raids by Forest Goblins and Apemen from the Southlands directly to the south. The inhabitants are mostly black Southlanders, who adopted Arabyan culture.

Religion

Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. (Thankfully) Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Another belief in Araby is a sect formed by Mullah Aklan'd, who claimed to venerate deities older than the Nehekharan gods. He led an army of Arabyans against the High Elves, being his people's first Great Sultan. Among his followers were the "Death Commandos", who guard the Great Sacred Books of Mullah Aklan'd, which describe his accounts about Araby's history, society, government, and warfare, and the secrets of St'oec.

Djinn-worship and the risk of Chaos

Nathan Long implies in The Two Crowns of Ras Karim that Arabyans worship Djinns as their gods, by going to temples to leave offerings to them at sunset. In the lore, Djinns are described as some sort of Chaos Daemons ... which would make Araby a Chaos-aligned nation, in spite of the prohibition of direct worship of the Chaos Gods.

Even worse was that all this Chaos corruption was stuck by Mahik al'Rak, an insane sorcerer who built the Portal of Twilight in the ruins of Bel Aliad. His influence of other Arabyan sorcerers into the service of Tzeentch made sure that the land will never be free from Chaos corruption.

One tragic result of Arabyan obsession of Djinn was Jaffar, a sorcerer who united Araby as its Sultan to wage war on the Old World, up to the point that he even made a pact with Kairos Fateweaver, a Daemon of Tzeentch!

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. The Prophet of Law emerged long after Sultan Jaffar's misrule and dark pacts, but not even his attempted purge of Araby would stop the inevitable ruin of it and the Warhammer world. Not that it would have, anyways, as that would have been just as evil, slaying all nonhumans would include the Dwarfs, Halflings, and Elves, and would have made the Arabyans just as evil as the Imperium of Man is when it destroys a non-Chaos Abhuman or Xenos civilization which means no harm to it.

Society

Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts.

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (Warhammer already HAVING analogs for the Turks and Tatars). The actual armies of the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates still had had a lot of Greek and Roman influence in their equipment, with a preference for spear formations supported by archer auxiliaries, although with more mail armor.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.

Relations

• The Empire - While the empires knightly orders are wary of arabyan traders the imperial colony of Sudenburg inside the Gulf of Medes has become a very important enclave for business dealing with the rest of the Old World.

• Bretonnia - Some Bretonnian Nobles chose to remain in Araby as lords of newly conquered lands their usual treatment of peasants led to distrust and hatred between them and their arabyan vassals. However Warriors such as Repanse & el Syf have earned the respect of arabyans.

• Estalia - Most Estalians remember the arabyan invasion of their lands with dread but they have undeniably been influenced by Araby leading to mixed heritage families.

• Tilea - While at the time of invasion Tileans fought against araby the city states are an important trade partner of Araby and have friendly relations with modern arabyans. The Arabyans love to trade with the Tilean merchants, with whom they have an excellent relationship. In Copher, the City of Spices, there is now a Tilean neighborhood.

• Marienburg - They do not dominate trade in Araby mostly because of the emirs, sheikhs and caliphs distrust of Marienburg's "government by usury". In contrast adventurous Arabyan traders use Marienburg as a place to sell rare spices and develop their careers thus over the centuries a small but thriving Arabyan community has grown in Marienburg.

• Vampires - While Abhorash trained arabyan tribes to defend against desert raiders his heroic efforts are sadly surpassed by Khaled al-Muntasir being a traitorous wretch and reviving neferata causing a long civil war that plagued the nation. In Araby, knowledge of necromancy is not suppressed, and so they do not suffer from the ignorance that allows Vampires to gain footholds amongst them as in the Empire. Only the Blood Dragons have a presence there, and that is in the western desert.

• The Southlands - The Southlanders who live along the border of Araby were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with Arabyans. Aside from these, much of their cultures were unknown, but presumably primitive due to their isolation these tribes suffered raids by slavers. In contrast the Apemen are mentioned to occasionally go north into the savannahs surrounding the southernmost city of Araby, Ka-Sabar, to make raids.

• Nehekhara - Most arabyans are terrified of the undead some venture into the land of the dead to seek the knowledge of their ancestors former masters but few return alive.

Notable Characters

• Abdul Ben Raschid - Arabyan Prince of the Ka-Sabar Sultanate. Famous for capturing some Nagash manuscripts.
• Al Muktar - Born Werner Glook of Marienburg he became the leader of a band of Dogs of War mercenaries.
• Fatandira - She served as a soldier and mercenary, eventually becoming one of the many border princes.
• Golden Magus - Calls himself the "Sultan of the Seas", due to his absurd wealth he is also secretly a tzeentchian sorcerer.
• Ibn Jellaba - Trader of Araby he tried opening a trade route into the Southlands and met the lizardmen of Zlatlan.
• Khaled al-Muntasir - A traitor even before becoming a vampire, the worst thing to come from Araby.
• Khar-mel the Djinn - A female genie armed with a scimitar, her apparitions are usually a cloud of dust or fire.
• Mehmed-bey - One of Jaffar's top generals, he is widely believed to have been slain in combat by the Red Duke.
• Suliman the Saracen - Friend of Baron Odo of Outremer they fought in opposite sides but became best bro's later.
• Sultan Jaffar - The tyrant king of Araby, a sorcerer & a slaver still less evil than Khaled for obvious reasons.
• Shihab Ibn Alim - Arabyan sorcerer in the service of the Sultan of Copher he can control genies.

Local Flora and Fauna

Older lore stated a Minor Chaos God named Atagro's rise to godhood involved having to slay a Sandworm like something out of Frank Herbert's "Dune" within the depths of the deserts of Araby at the behest of another Minor Chaos God named Shagraunt. Arabyan Horses are a native breed, and ostriches may be found here, presumably in the savannah closer to the jungles of the Southlands. Panthers apparently live in the area near the Southlands, too. Camels and War Elephants have been mentioned, too.

Collecting Araby

While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north African fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, though such a thing remains doubtful as they're not exactly easy to trademark Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant.

"Controversy"

The fantastic portrayal of Arabyans is theorized as one of the reasons for the lack of more recent araby related content but in a setting where "totally not romanians" are literal vampires and the Norse are demon worshipping, mass murdering, backwards cavemen, and Frangland has a 90% tax rate, subtlety is a rare thing to ask for.

The Death(?) of Araby

In 2021, it was officially stated by Creative Assembly designers that there were no plans to add Araby to Total Warhammer, nor were there ever likely to be plans to do so. It was even stated that Games Workshop itself wanted to stay as far away from Araby as possible with its new tabletop game releases, meaning that the faction has effectively come as close as you can get to being squatted without actively being killed off in the lore. With how contentious discussions about the Middle East and Islam have been these past two decades, GW is probably trying their best to sidestep the issues presented with the old lore short of retconning it altogether. In order to prevent offending their audience they threw Araby into the closet making southern realms fans even more pissed off.

Fans immediately erupted in protest at this news, and the skub about why Games Workshop would do this to one of the more requested and actually fleshed-out human factions...

Which turned out to be (only partially) bullshit.

New WFRP book, which mainly deals with knightly orders, adds a little bit more information about Araby. First of all, it mentions enigmatic Black Scimitar Guard as a thing that existed at least during the Crusades, which may be a new Tzar Guard-ish type of unit in... something. While the references are quite small, and Roleplay is known to be essentially a lore dump to which GW writers add some ideas that can be potentially brought to Old World or TWW3, it is still some glimmer of hope.

Now, we can only wait...

Gallery

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  Arabyans.

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Links

• Arabyan fandex

Regions and Areas of the Warhammer World
Areas of The Old World:	The Empire of Man - Bretonnia - Albion - Estalia - Tilea - Kislev - Norsca - Border Princes - Worlds Edge Mountains - Karak Eight-Peaks
Areas of The New World:	Naggaroth - Lustria
Areas of The Eastern Lands:	Cathay - Nippon - Ogre Kingdoms - Dark Lands - Kingdoms of Ind - Khuresh - Eastern Steppes
Areas of The Southlands:	Nehekhara - Araby - Badlands - Marshes of Madness
Other Areas of the world:	Ulthuan - Athel Loren - Chaos Wastes - Skavenblight - Lost Isles of Elithis
Main bodies of Water:	The Great Ocean - The Far Sea - The Sea of Dread - Inner Sea of Ulthuan