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Now available in handy omnibus form |
Undaunted, King chooses to seamlessly add to and enrich the existing Daemons of Chaos plot, using it as a foundation for a sweeping novel, showcasing his visions of Teclis, Tyrion, N'kari and Ulthuan. As an aside, it's a little odd as a long time Warhammer reader to see King adapt the work of a later background writer in Matt Ward; a little like if Arthur Conan Doyle wrote tie-in fiction for one of the innumerable subsequent movies or tv shows staring Sherlock Holmes.
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Any excuse to get this Karl Kopinski piece out again really |
While his brother greater daemons are conventionally murdered back into the Realm of Chaos, N'kari finds himself vastly weakened and cast into the newly born Great Vortex itself, where he remains trapped for thousands of years, sustaining himself on dreams of inflicting sensuous vengeance on Aenarion and his prodigy. As a passing note, the Lord of Change present is revealed as Kairos Fateweaver (he of automatic priority fame), for reasons only apparent to Tzeentch I'm sure.
It's explained that elven twins are incredibly uncommon, with only 315 pairs in recorded High Elf history (something that raises more questions than it answers about the twin courtesans in Giantslayer...), and that Teclis and Tyrion share a loose mental link, sensing each other's emotions when apart, and sharing dreams. Tyrion's introduced as having buoyantly raised himself on tales of great battles and treatises on strategy, able, and carried along by an easy charm, eager to find his place in the world; Teclis is very sick indeed, first shown bedridden, and entirely dependent on potions made my Arathion to survive, with Tyrion genuinely fearful for his prolonged life expectancy. Somehow Teclis is Arathion's favourite, the twins' father possessing a shared interest in magic (though not letting Teclis practice it), and not really knowing what to make of or do with Tyrion.
Growing up in Tyrion's shadow has left Teclis embittered towards well... everyone who isn't Tyrion, backtalking and critiquing every elf and thing he comes into contact with, though with the most ire reserved for himself, who he describes as 'ugly and a cripple'. Physically Teclis is described as distinctly unattractive by the standards of his own race (I'm sure he'd be a hard human 10), and having pale skin and dark hair (probably diametric the the Asur idea if Tyrion's blond tan is anything to go by). Following the trend set by the twins physical and social disparities is the pagetime given to each, with the majority of the novel's plots and perspective awarded to Tyrion, who's characteristics and personality lend themselves a lot better to being a protagonist, while Teclis spends and awful lot of the book practicing magic and/or in bed.
Scene set, the twins have just turned 16, and this means that as descendants of Aenarion they're to be shipped off to Lothern to be presented before Finubar the Seafarer, the then recently crowned Phoenix King. This being a thing has completely slipped Arathion's mind, and he's a little surprised when a troop of House Emeraldsea knights lead by Lady Malene, the twins' aunt, trained mage and right hand of the family firm, and Korhain Ironglaive, the White Lion captain who first showed up, to quickly die at the hands of Malekith's favourite commander Urian Poisonblade in King's original White Dwarf 156 story, reprinted in every subsequent High Elf army book.
Korhain is an old comrade of Arathion's, becomes fast friends with Tyrion, who he begins to mentor, showing him how to use a sword and sharing an appreciation of chess with. Teclis on the other hand is far less impressed with Lady Malene, indeed the whole venture
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