4. The first great war against Chaos, or: “The Great Catastrophe”
Very early in the history of Warhammer, “the Ancients” protected the world. Little is known about this people, other than that they created portals to tap into the power of the Warp, enabling great journeys – very similar to Warp travel in Warhammer 40,000.
By the way: the whole race is quite similar to the “Ancients” with whom the Necrontyr from Warhammer 40,000 waged war. There are many parallels, even if the worlds are not officially connected.
Around the year -5600, however, these gates collapsed and allowed Chaos into the world. The Lizardmen, guardians of the Great Plan and protectors against Chaos, call this time “the Great Catastrophe.” This event had several consequences:
- permanent portals between the Warp and the Old World were created
- demons were able to invade the world
- Warp comets crashed, tearing the world and parts of reality itself apart – thus creating the Chaos moon Morrslieb
- wild animals mutated, leading to the emergence of Beastmen
- the winds of magic blew across the world, enabling the use of sorcery
For several centuries, the mortal races – foremost the Lizardmen – fought against the Chaos invasion until the High Elves finally managed to channel the magic from the world back into the Great Maelstrom, making it impossible for demons to exist permanently in this reality.
