The Rise of Warhead

The Age of Warhead was the first major time period following the few years of relative peace after the foundation of the Empire. The instigator behind these events was a renegade Majistik by the name of Malekim, who decided to return to Northeros after the War of Unification. This action violated the pact of neutrality that the Majistik wizards had sworn. Nobody knows why Malekim went rogue, though it is presumed that he was motivated by personal lust for power. The Purple Majistik (the head of the order) assigned Majisto (a blue wizard of the order) to follow the wayward Malekim and subdue him. However Majisto underestimated Malekim and because of that, he lost to his renegade brother, who sealed the blue wizard away in a stasis orb.

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows, Part 1 (wiki version)

Battle: Dark Shadows

In order to become a force to be reckoned with, Malekim turned to the dark arts of necromancy to raise an army. He needed tremendous amounts of magikal power to accomplish this, which he located in Direwood: a northern imperial province, governed by the Wolfsbane family. It was here where Malekim summoned Skull Mountain, a mystical rock that was bristling with magik. The wizard used this mountain as a focus to amplify his own powers and cast a great dark spell known as ‘the Awakening’. The Awakening caused a massive surge of necrotic energy that swept through Direwood and reanimated all dead minifigs as skeletons in the area almost immediately. This sudden legion of the damned quickly overwhelmed imperial defenses and the province has fallen within days. Wolfsbane Manor itself was overrun, and the majority of the Wolfsbane family was eradicated. Direwood became Malekim’s seat of power.

To distract the Empire from his actions, Malekim reached out to the orks of the western wastelands, and offered them an alliance. The orks accepted this, since it finally allowed them to assault the borderlands of the Empire. Even though their initial attempts were thwarted by Lord Konrad Lionmane, the orks, bolstered by the undead, eventually broke past border outposts and marched into Imperial lands.

Siege of Castle Awesome

Battle: Siege of Castle Awesome

The invading orkish forces, along with Malekim's undead eventually reached one of the major Imperial strongholds, Castle Awesome. They laid siege to it, but the defenders managed to fend off the attack, albeit suffering heavy losses. This was when the Empire decided to act.

Green Crusade

Battle: Green Crusade

Under the leadership of Niol Crowclaw, the united Imperial army marched against the orkish horde, which at the time was separated from their undead allies. In a rather fortunate turn of events, the Imperial army crushed the horde’s leader, causing the orks to flee in disarray. However Niol’s victory was short-lived, as news from Direwood finally reached the Imperial Capitol. The army was to be deployed there in order to stop the undead menace.

Castle Awesome: The return

Battle: Castle Awesome, the return

The recall of the Imperial army presented a golden opportunity for the scattered orks to reunite; under the leadership of Kensai, an ork with a somewhat uncharacteristic moral side, the green horde attacked Castle Awesome once again: this time they successfully took it over.

Skull Mountain

Battle: Skull Mountain

Eventually, the forces of the Empire and Malekim clashed under the dreaded Skull Mountain. Both sides received somewhat unexpected support: Kensai and his orks decided to join in the fight and wreak havoc, while the Imperials were aided by the lord of the land, Arthel Wolfsbane, presumed to be the last surviving member of the Wolfsbane family after the undead uprising. Arthel, along with his dwarven friend Flint Quickstride, rallied a rag-tag group of mercenaries and waged his own private guerilla war before Niol arrived to Direwood. Together they vanquished Malekim’s army and killed the dark wizard.

Without their master, the undead horde perished and Direwood has been liberated. But with the death of Malekim, something far worse has been set loose upon the lands of Northeros.

The Rise of Warhead

Originally, Skull Mountain was created as an eternal prison to contain the essence of Warhead; one of its splinters, at least. However, Malekim’s tamperings caused Warhead’s shackles to significantly weaken, and with the wizard’s death, nothing could stop Warhead’s spirit to break loose from the mountain. Warhead used the corpse of Malekim to create a new body for himself; he also gained some of the Majistik’s fleeting powers. However he was significantly weakened by Malekim draining him in order to cast the Awakening, so Warhead decided to go into hiding, and raise his very own dark horde after creating the Fortress of Evil, his hidden headquarters that has not been found even to this day.

Tides of Darkness

Battle: Tides of Darkness

After a few months of recuperating, all warring sides have clashed once again at Castle Awesome. The Imperial army wanted to reclaim the castle from the orks: to accomplish this they convinced the Engineer’s guild to lend them some equipment. Warhead saw a golden opportunity to crush both sides with his dark army that consisted of various undead and corrupted cultists led by Ezra the mad scientist. Many smaller forces have joined in later, including elves, angry local mobs, the remnants of Arthels’ mercenaries and even a prototype Majistik titan.

This gigantic clash weakened all sides, and in the end all of them had to withdraw because the prototype titan initiated self-destruct and turned the battlefield into a charred, barren wasteland, leveling everything to the ground, including Castle Awesome. The ork leader Kensai gained new mystical powers during the fight, and Warhead got critically injured by one of the head engineers, Karl von Bragstein.

Immortals

Battle: The Immortal Incident on Medivo

Warhead, being a splinter of the original, started to regain memories of his past, including a fragment about a certain force known as ‘the Immortals’. After using one of his last named death knights to reforge his broken body, Warhead entered a deep trance and reached out with his psyche to the stars. His whispers were eventually answered, and the Immortals decided to send some of their agents to Northeros, who would test the splinter and ally with him if he was proven worthy. The three Immortal agents were Deadlock, a sorcerer with incredible powers, Fink, a zombie thug and Ghoul, a stealthy undead. They used Warhead’s forces in a small skirmish for certain chemical supplies that Ezra’s cultists lost to the orks. A small Imperial team was sent out to intercept them, led by commander Fabio DuMont, a charismatic noble from a wealthy family. Despite his best efforts, he was no match for the Immortal-led undead forces and local ork raiders, resulting in him having to flee the battle. The Immortals emerged victorious, and thus considered Warhead worthy enough to ally themselves with him.