'It is curious how little thought has been given to the nature of the Greenskin, given our shared tumultuous history. Their motivations, their behaviours, would appear of vital importance for us to understand. And yet, all we are told is that they are our enemy, and that they must be destroyed.

Whilst I have no doubt that, where Greenskin and Human meet, there shall be blood, I cannot help but reflect on this curiosity. Perhaps there is something we are not meant to know. Perhaps there is something it would be inconventient to learn...' 

Reimagining: Greenskins in Warhammer

Greenskins are something of a... well, I can't really tell you what they're something of, because they've been so many different things throughout the generations of the Warhammer setting, that their style, tone, and purpose are largely confused.

Greenskins first played the role of "Ultimate Enemies of Humanity." Which has largely been usurped by the hordes of Chaos.

Then, Greenskins played the role of "Comedic Inhuman Foe." Which has largely been usurped by Skaven.

Then again, Greenskins played the role of "Unbeatable Primeval Tide." Which has largely been usurped by Beastmen.

After that they played the role of... The Other Bad Guys to Watch Out For. Which is fine, in a fantasy wargame where lore doesn't matter too much, and where more armies means more options and variety. But in a setting-sense, it's confusing. And we got the greatest example of that with the old Storm of Chaos campaign. The Greenskins won the ultimate campaign, but that didn't actually mean anything because the Greenskins don't mean anything.

Oh, there's also the incredibly fucked up comparisons between the Greenskins and indigenous cultures — most noticable among the Goblin Spider Riders — which is likewise based into their very name. That's an aspect that I definitely want to de-emphasise, as it's... well... lazy, at the least, and extremely Not OK any way you look at it.

So let's change all that, shall we? Let's have a look at what they could be.

Greenskins: The Known, Unknown, and Half-Known

We know that the Greenskins are an intrinsically violent species. Normally I am not one for having intrinsic moral truths about a whole species, but in the case of the Greenskins (based on my later working) I actually think this makes sense. Theirs is a society not just built around violence, but almost entirely fuelled by it.

We know that the Greenskins have multiple different types: Snotlings, Goblins, Orcs, even Squigs seem to be genetically linked somehow. This seems to be a static thing: a Greenskin is 'born' (how?) as one form, but doesn't shift later in life. They undergo no metamorphosis... except, they get bigger. They seemingly grow indefinitely, in proportion to the violence they commit.

But we don't really know how they propagate. Older Editions featured "half-orcs" and references to breeding, and Blood Bowl had "female orcs" as cheerleaders (*sigh*). But then during the 40K & WFB are the Same Setting boom, the Greenskins of Warhammer Fantasy got linked with fungus. These links remain, what with the focus on mad cap mushrooms, mushroom-shaped iconography, and other aspects of the Greenskin lore, but the nature of their breeding has fallen away. So we don't really know how they spread. We just know that they seem to breed a lot.

We also know that they're scavengers of a sort, but also capable of making their own industry (of a fashion). They loot from others and then reforge things they find into new forms more befitting their own sizes and shapes. They modify buildings to become fortresses. Despite their animosity and near-constant violence, they must have some level of co-operation to build, forge, and fortify. They do, indeed, have industry.

Lastly, we don't really know where the Greenskins came from. There have been mentions that they arrived as 'spores' in prior lore — linked to the 40K-WFB era — that probably were attached to some Old One crafts or something. But it's not clear where they stand now. They seem like a wholly failed experiment if they were created by the gene-editing Old Ones (who liked ORDER and having enslaved, controllable servants). They also seem like an absolute blunder if they were introduced accidently, which whilst possible, seems like the wrong kind of oversight for the Old Ones to commit (they were arrogant and hyper logical, and should fall to hubris, not neglect). So where did they come from?

And what does all of this add up to? Well, to my mind, the Greenskins sound like the fit the same niche as the Tyranids in 40K, but inverted.

Greenskins: An Alternate Reading

My thinking is that the Greenskins are, like the Dragons, true native creatures to the Warhammer world. Before the Old Ones arrived and magically moved the planet closer to the sun to create a perfect testing ground for their genetic experiments, the Greenskins existed as a sort of semi-sentient fungus / algae. Like fungus on our planet, the Greenskins' function in the native ecology was to consume dead or dying organic matter, helping in the decomposition cycle. This was done in a violent way, of course, much like any scavenger. But it wasn't evil. Vultures and cheetahs are no more evil than any other animal. They just eat things that are dying or have died.

However, when the Old Ones moved the planet to be warmer, the Greenskin-algae bloomed massively. Like a fish tank that suddenly rises a few degrees, the Warhammer world was quickly awash with Greenskins which were suddenly far stronger and more aggressive than they were before. They blossomed over the Warhammer world, and the first great struggle for the Old Ones on the planet had begun. The Old Ones created the Saurus to combat them, and it worked for the most part. But the shift in the Greenskins was done. Their battle lust, fuelled by their instinctual desire to decompose the world, but engorged by the closeness of the sun, meant their numbers couldn't be contained.

Greenskins work together, not as 'societies', but as colonies of algae. Or ants. They work together out of an instinct to further their purpose. They attack a building, kill the inhabitants, and then — almost mechanically — begin to fortify it. Sure, a particularly clever Orc might rise up and take more charge than this — directing specific fortifications, and instructing in the construction of specific weapons and deployment of specific tactics — but the Greenskins instinctually spread and reclaim.

And, in the end, that's what they evolved to do. The planet is theirs originally. It's not their fault they've been altered inadvertently by the Old Ones, any more than it is the fault of Humans and Elves and Dwarves for being introduced to the world and mutated just the same. Warhammer is a petri dish, and the scientists are long dead.

Reimagining: High & Dark Elves in Warhammer

Neither High Elves nor Dark Elves have ever received a proper in depth sociological look in the Warhammer setting, mostly due to the fact neither have received their own sourcebooks in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which has always been the driving force behind Warhammer's cultures. Therefore, I'm going to have a look at the architypes underpinning both cultures, and attempt to form a mood for them that goes beyond what we see in the tabletop game, and what we've seen shreds of before.

Talking Architypes

To figure out who these two peoples are — or rather, who they're supposed to be — it's worth going back to roots and looking at what architypes they evoke. All sorts of real-world peoples have been used as 'inspiration' in Warhammer for the Human nations, so why not do the same to the Elves?

The Elves represent a significant architype in the Warhammer setting: a progenitor species of faded glory that is entirely self-serving. They represent the height of culture and sophistication... so long as your definitions of those terms fit in with outdated ideals by a few millennia. They are, in many respects, an Ancient Greece / Ancient Rome analogue for the rest of the Old World nations: their ruins pop up here and there, and their wisdom underpins many tenants of higher learning still. 

That's the Elves as a whole, in general (the Wood Elves are a different matter, but a subject for another day). Individually, the two cultures represent quite different ideals, however.

High Elves in Brief

In foreign affairs, the High Elves are a naval juggernaut who dominate seaborne trade from their island kingdom, with a strangehold over negotiating power, specifically in the (Warhammer) global south. Trade with Araby and the Southlands, and by extension, Cathay and the eastern nations, is largely at the whim of Ulthuan-born High Elves. This strangehold is controlled by colonial-esque satellite colonies which dot the coastlines of the Southlands (an analogue of Africa), and Ind (an analogue of India). Which is all sounding rather English around the era of their maritime supremacy.

High Elven internal politics and outlook are more 'civilised', focused around idealistic and pragmatic social control, with great oligarchic houses forming the foundations of society. In essence, we see a mixture of Imperial Rome and the Athenian city-state post the Persian Wars. Whilst holding to ideals of justice and fairness, what actually eventuates is a highly structured society based around saving face and reputation, with a thin veneer of personal freedom enforced by exploitation of subject nations and naval supremacy.

High Elves, put very loosely, could be considered Athens/Rome + Age of Sail England.

Dark Elves in Brief

Dark Elves, on the other hand, treat the outside world — when they do venture beyond their borders — as a field of wheat to be harvested. They scour the coastlines of Norsca and Nordland for folk to enslave, whilst reaving ships and causing suffering for their own resource gain. But even though these acts of aggression are the mainstay of the Dark Elves' foreign policy, it should be noted that the vast majority of their time seems to be spent on internal wars and the suppression of their vast enslaved populations.

To account for this, much of Dark Elf society revolves around militarism, with Dark Elf armies made up of primarily wealthy individuals who maintain their wealth via their estates run by enslaved peoples. They in turn keep their enslaved population in line by being highly militarised. It's a chicken and egg situation.

When not making war on and enslaving Indigenous Naggarothi, and the Human tribes from the colder climates to their north and east, the Dark Elves occupy themselves with overindulgences of essentially every kind. Their society is based around a terrible individualism that priorities one's own "freedoms" whilst simultaneously making social mobility almost impossible, and any freedom that can be had by those who aren't exceedingly wealthy is only possible by oppressing others. 

This play at individualism is all whilst near worshipping Malekith their eternal god-king.

What does this all sound like, especially when compared to the High Elf reflections and roots? To me, at least, they sound like a combination of Spartans (highly militarised to enforce order over a massive population of helots, and mostly insular focused because of that) with the worst excesses of Imperialism undertaken by the United States of America (subjugation of an Indigenous population, mixed with constant resource wars to fuel an economy of mass over consumption and greed, over a thin veneer of individualism which keeps the majority of people struggling to survive in a cult of propaganda dedicated to a nearly deified ruler (or series of dead rulers)).

Dark Elves, put just as loosely as before, could be considered Sparta + Imperialist USA.

Scratching the Surface

This is merely scratching the surface, and doesn't go deep into either culture. But this Reimagining should serve as a way of thinking about High and Dark Elves, rather than a full in depth look. Maybe one of those will come from Liber Etcetera, another day. But for now, I'm going to use these combinations as inspiration when thinking about High and Dark Elves, and how they might manifest in the Warhammer World.

'Imagination. That was our greatest gift. Where an animal can observe and learn, it must act according to what is. We, however, can dream of that which isn't, and draw from reality to form the previously unreal.

Of course, this gift, as with all others, could be turned into a curse. Where imagination exists, lies can creep in. The truth can be imagined differently. The truth can be changed.

But likewise, this curse, as with all others, could become once more a gift. Nothing is written in stone, and the sins of the past can be fixed for the future to come.'

 

Reimagining: A New Series!

Welcome, all, to Reimagining, a new series on Liber Etcetera which looks to reimagine parts of our favourite fictional worlds. These reimaginings could be for many (or any) reason: focusing on outdated content, conflicting canons, questionable (or confusing) messages / morals / ethics / politics, or simply just because the author thought something wasn't as cool as it could have been.

The Reimagining series will primarily be focused on Warhammer Fantasy as a setting, but may also touch on other settings, such as Warhammer 40,000, Star Wars, Middle Earth, and any others that take my fancy. Each addition to the series will focus on a different topic within that setting (for example, I'm working on Reimagining: Orcs in Warhammer Fantasy and Reimagining: A Lost Legion in 40K), giving my views, working, and world building on it.

I'm looking forward to this new chapter of Liber Etcetera, but don't worry: my other series aren't going anywhere! More Warhammer Cultures, Little Liber, and Core Releases are on the horizon!