The lives of the Fyreslayers revolve around battle, for these grizzled duardin mercenaries will fight on behalf of any who meet their price in gold. Renowned for their fearsome tempers and unrivalled martial skills, the Fyreslayers seek treasure to gather the essence of their long-lost deity, Grimnir. Inspired by Battlesmiths bellowing the deeds of their forebears, stalwart Hearthguard warriors and unyielding Vulkite Berzerkers charge into battle, craving glory and gold alike.

The Idoneth Deepkin are a mysterious race of aelves who dwell within the oceans of the Mortal Realms, emerging from their watery seclusion to plunder the souls of land-dwellers. Guided by the eldritch insight and tidal magics of a Soulscryer, the eyeless Namarti advance into battle, cutting a path for arrogant Akhelian nobles mounted atop deadly aquatic beasts that swim through the air on phantasmal currents.

From Shyish, the Realm of Death, come the ethereal Nighthaunt – terrifying spectres driven to murder by their bitter hatred for the living. These undead are the terror weapon of the Great Necromancer, united under the cruelest and most tortured rulers ever to die. Their cold grasp reaches across the Mortal Realms, spreading a paralysis of fear amongst the living souls they once called kin, a howling host that will leave only an endless landscape of corpses and wailing spirits remains.

As deadly as they are graceful, the warlike aelves of the Daughters of Khaine seek to spill gushing torrents of blood in the name of their violent deity. From humble origins, the cult of the Bloody-Handed One has come to dominate vast swathes of the Mortal Realms. Guided by the cruel genius of the newly risen goddess Morathi-Khaine, these merciless aelves surge forth on gore-soaked campaigns of conquest, overwhelming their foes in a whirlwind of blades and lashing whips. With every drop of blood that splashes across their skin, their murderous power reaches new and terrifying heights.

Auric Runesmiters are war priests of unrivalled power and renown amongst the Fyreslayers, channeling the spirit of Grimnir into the lodge's warriors through ur-gold runes. Mounted atop a fearsome Magmadroth, a Runesmiter tears their way into the heart of battle in a wave of sacred flame, incinerating gathered foes even as they imbue their kin with uncanny strength and resilience.

In his mortal life, Awlrach promised aid and safe transport to desperate travellers, only to send his victims to a grisly death in the briny deeps. When Awlrach’s spirit made its way to Nagash, the reward for his treachery was an eternity of service. Now this sinister boatman dredges up wayward souls to bolster the Nighthaunt hosts, and ferries them through the ethereal plane to wherever they will cause the most terror.

The Craventhrone Guard serve Kurdoss Valentian and any who share his aims. Bitter and spiteful even compared to other Nighthaunt, these spectral sharpshooters relish lining up enemy champions in their sights, sending them to an early grave without fanfare or mercy. Though they enforced Valentian's will in life, the Craventhrone Guard are now are cursed to torment him, shooting down his prey before he can truly claim the glory of the kill.

In the tainted wastes of the Eightpoints, a bitter struggle rages for control of varanite – a mysterious substance infused with the liquid power of Chaos. Bubbling seams of this transmutative realmstone are dredged up from the depths within sweltering mines, where desperate workers operate tireless machinery infused with a hungry daemonic intelligence. In these places of infernal industry, warbands devoted to the Ruinous Powers fight to claim hauls of varanite, using the hellish environment itself as a weapon with which to annihilate their rivals and claim victory.

In the tainted wastes of the Eightpoints, a bitter struggle rages for control of varanite – a mysterious substance infused with the liquid power of Chaos. Bubbling seams of this transmutative realmstone are dredged up from the depths within sweltering mines, where desperate workers operate tireless machinery infused with a hungry daemonic intelligence. In these places of infernal industry, warbands devoted to the Ruinous Powers fight to claim hauls of varanite, using the hellish environment itself as a weapon with which to annihilate their rivals and claim victory.

When the verminous skaven make a daring raid on the innocent Sylvaneth enclave of Neos, Grey Seer Skrittat's successful theft of priceless soulpods sets in motion a devastating counterstrike – for the Lady of Vines and her hand-picked Sylvaneth warriors have a thirst for vengeance that can only be quenched by a lake of spilled skaven blood…

Season of War: Thondia is the first in a new series of expansion books for Warhammer Age of Sigmar, containing a mixture of detailed background lore, gripping story, and immersive rules for the conflicts shaping the narrative of the Mortal Realms.

As the Era of The Beast rages on, the savage Realm of Ghur awakens. A wellspring of primordial energy has burst its banks, and the bone-strewn plains and blood-soaked swamps of Thondia are consumed by war. Rival powers battle over arid wastes littered with the ruins of forgotten kingdoms, wary expeditions navigate murky, shifting marshes that echo with monstrous roars, and armies fight for dominance around the skeletons of massive beasts and half-built outposts. Yet all this pales before the rise of a fierce new force in the cosmos: the mystical incarnates, the essence of the realms made manifest.