What is Warhammer Online?

In Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the two factions of Order and Destruction are at war against each other. They each have three armies that break down into several different career choices. Some of careers are gender specific and can only played as a female or a male character.

The Order armies consist of Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire

Dwarfs
The Dwarfs are surrounded by Skaven rat-men, hordes of Goblins and Orcs, and other armies of destruction. The glory days of the Dwarf empire are long gone. They are an enduring, tenacious, and productive folk – Dwarfs, know to be the ultimate craftsmen of the Old World, build war mechanisms and artifacts of unrivaled complexity, strength and grandeur. Dwarfs can live up to several hundred years, much longer than any human. There holds, built in mountains where they make there homes, are often being attacked by the armies of destruction. The Dwarfs are know to hold great grudges over long periods of time and have taken a strong liking to explosives and cannons. Thorgrim Grudgebearer, the present High King, rules from Karaz-a-Karak, the dwarf capital. The Greenskins, Orcs and Goblins, are pitted against the Dwarfs and are long time bitter enemies.

High Elves
Skilled in the arts of magic and one of the oldest civilized cultures in the Warhammer world, the ancient and dying Elven race has taken up arms against the forces of disorder by coming to the Empire’s aid. The High Elves live on a large island continent called Ulthuan and are makers of fine art, music, and weapons of war unsurpassed by the other races, with the exception of the Dwarfs. Elves live for thousands of years and are usually extremely proficient at their given role. They are grudgingly fighting alongside the Dwarfs, as the two races put aside their long-standing animosity to combat the greater threat. Many thousands of years ago, Malekith, the son of the High Elves’ first Phoenix King Aenarion, was denied the throne. This led to a cataclysmic civil war the elves call the Sundering which destroyed the landmass of much of Ulthuan. Following the Sundering, Malekith and his supporters exiled themselves from Ulthuan and became the Dark Elves. The current Phoenix King is Finubar the Seafarer who resides in the High Elf Capital, Lothern. In WAR, The High Elves are pitted against their dark kin, the Dark Elves.

Empire
The Empire was established by Sigmar, their first emperor and now patron god. Having the largest human population, the empire has been around for over 2000 years. Having gone through times of seperation, it was recently brought together by Emperor Magnus the Pious. Karl Franz stands as the Emperor today and lives in Altdorf, the capital of the Empire. While their magic and craftsmanship are inferior to the Elves and Dwarfs, they are not bound by tradition as the others are and have not fallen to any threats from within or from the outside. Having already defeated the Kislev, the armies of Chaos advance from the north to face off against the Empire.

The Destruction armies consist of Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos

Greenskins (Orcs and Goblins)
The Greenskins are the only army in WAR that consist of two races, Orcs and Goblins. There are three career choices for the Greenskins. Orcs, a large humanoid type, bred for fighting, live in tribes and are lead by the strongest amongst the tribe. Much Smaller than Orcs, Goblins are usually intimidated by their bigger kin. Because of this, Goblins have developed into underhanded, dangerous, and more sophisticated beings in order to protect themselves from the Orcs. A “WAAAGH!!!” is a gathering of several tribes, brought together by a very powerful Greenskin. As WAR begins, a new “WAAAGH!!!” is being assembled, as the Orcs look to eliminate their racial enemies, the Dwarfs. There are no gender choices in the character creation process, as all Greenskins resemble males and are believed to be a gender less race.

Chaos
Set on demolishing all that stands in their way, the forces of Chaos idolize several gods. Slaanesh, the god of excess pleasure and hedonism, Nurgle, the god of despair, disease and decay, Khorne, the god of fury and conflict, and Tzeentch, the god of manipulation, change and hope. The gods are usually in disagreement and do not often work with each other. In the very north part of the world lies the Chaos Wastes, where followers of Chaos tend to live. In this tribal like community, these human followers are often followed into war by daemons from the realm of chaos. The Chaos are set against the Empire in WAR.

Dark Elves
The Dark Elves at one time used to be High Elves and are in a nasty quarrel with their equivalents of old. Malekith, the “Witch King”, king of the Dark Elves, believes he has a right to the throne of the Phoenix King and determined to take it. Of all the Elven Gods, the only one worshipped by the Dark Elves is the Elven God of war, Khaine. After being removed from Ulthuan, the High Elves home, after the Sundering, the Dark Elves settled in a bitter, barren land to the north west called Naggaroth. As the High Elves armies are off battling the armies of Chaos, the Dark Elves take the opening to attack Ulthuan. Goblin Shaman Gahzbag and Black Orc Warboss Grumlok have been given great power by Malekith, which helped them form a WAAAGH! that defeated Karak Eight-Peaks, the first capital of the Dwarfs. Dark Elves and High Elves, naturally, are pitted against each other in WAR.