Moving like a ghostly cyclone, the creatures known as Bladegheist Revenants spin in a frenetic fashion. They are souls taken from those who met particularly tormenting ends – those sealed in spike-riddled encasements, choked beneath water or buried alive. Their last living thoughts were a frenzy of desperation, a last flurry of defiance in an attempt to break free. Thanks to Nagash’s terrible curse, that horrible ending moment has been preserved forever in the Bladegheist Revenants.

The Kharadron Overlords are peerless traders and dauntless explorers, sailing through the skies on marvels of technology, armed with powerful weapons unlike anything else found in the Mortal Realms. They search for aether-gold, the key to their unusual engines and the most prized commodity in the Kharadron empire.

The Kharadron Overlords rule the skies, masters of a trading empire built by grand fleets of cloud-faring vessels. Crewed by ambitious duardin who value profit above all, these wonders of artifice boast enough raw firepower to level fortresses and cripple nations – when diplomacy is found wanting, of course. Kharadron technology is fuelled by aether‑gold, and their daily lives are built around amassing as much of that arcane substance as possible. Even now, as the long-absent ancestor god Grungni reveals himself to unite the duardin races, the question remains: how can the Kharadron profit most?

Codewrights know every artycle, every amendment, and every footnote of the Kharadron Code by heart, and have a canny eye for profitable legal improvisation. These skyfaring lawyers are valued by crew and captains alike for their ability to cite obscure sections of the Code that might expedite their airfleet’s current objectives – and for their skill at concocting helpful ‘clarifications’ on the fly.

The Scriptors Mortis record the rise of Nagash’s empire and punish any who would stand against it. With a mere flick of a quill, they sentence souls to be dragged to the underworlds, condemning them to an eternity of torment. It is said that the quill is mightier than the sword – in the spiteful scribblings of the Scriptors Mortis, this metaphor is made real.

From Shyish, the Realm of Death, come the ethereal Nighthaunt – incorporeal spirits driven to murder by their bitter hatred for the living. These spectres are the terror weapon of the Great Necromancer, united under the cruelest and most tortured rulers ever to die. At the command of a wretched Knight of Shrouds, swirling hordes of vicious Chainrasps drag down enemies for the cold scythes of maddened Grimghast Reapers, while Spirit Hosts of damned souls turn blood to ice with a touch.

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.

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.

The jewel in the crown of the fleet, the Arkanaut Ironclad is a majestic airship. Bristling with weaponry, its deep cargo holds can be laden with aether-gold or it can be loaded to the gunwales with Arkanaut Companies or Grundstok Thunderers.

When it comes to feet on the ground, the Arkanaut Companies form the Kharadron Overlords’ main fighting forces. Descending swiftly via a Frigate’s grav-ladders or suspension ropes, an Arkanaut Company can deploy rapidly into the fray.

The Grundstok Thunderers are militarised formations employed by the fleet to help defend it.