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"Face me if you dare, stunted whelp, or do you lack even an Elven maid's courage? I thought the Sons of Grungni were great warriors, but perhaps you are no true Dwarf. Indeed, maybe you are instead some breed of bearded goblin, though in truth, I have seen a finer beard on a Troll's back-side."

—Wulfrik the Wanderer to the Dwarf King Thurbad Stonebeard, in perfect Khazalid[1a]
Wulfrik

The Norscan Chaos Lord Wulfrik the Wanderer, in all his barbaric glory.

Wulfrik the Wanderer, also known as the "Eternal Challenger," the "Inescapable One" and the "World Walker," is the ultimate sea-faring Norscan warrior, Chaos Champion and Chaos Lord.[1a]

A mighty giant of a man, clad in hulking Chaos Armour and bedecked in the trophies of his many kills, Wulfrik travels the four corners of the Known World in his enchanted longship Seafang. It is capable of crossing vast distances through the Realm of Chaos using its Daemon-enchanted figurehead, allowing the World Walker to seek out and bring to battle across the world the most deadly warriors and beasts as demanded by the Chaos Gods.[1a]

One of the most devoted followers of Chaos to walk the earth, Wulfrik has made offerings of lords, kings, sea-serpents and Dragons to his masters. To Khorne he offers up their skulls, to Nurgle the contents of their slit bellies, to Slaanesh their still-beating hearts, and to Tzeentch their dying breath.[1a]

History

Champion of Chaos

"Dogs of Norsca, the bones of your brothers lie buried in the snow, far from the halls of their ancestors! The beasts who visited such craven death upon your comrades come now to feast upon their still-warm flesh! You run when I tell you to run, now fight when I tell you to fight!"

—Wulfrik, Champion of the Sarl[2b]
Wulfrik

Wulfrik prepares to unleash his fury in battle.

In his former life, Wulfrik was a Chaos Champion of the Sarl tribe of southern Norsca. A warrior-born who bore the Mark of Chaos upon his flesh; he was ever renowned throughout the holdings of his tribe and beyond as a superlative warrior, feared for his prodigious strength and unmatched skill at arms.[2b]

Wulfrik forged his infamy by taking the heads of every rival Chaos Champion who crossed his path, proudly displaying them for all to see as a declaration of his power and the folly of challenging him. In the violent societies of Norsca, Wulfrik was famed, and many sagas were sung to his glory by the skald-chanters of the Sarls. Pride proved the Chosen's downfall, however.[2b]

It was in 2519 IC that a tribal conflict had erupted between the Sarls and their traditional rivals, the Aeslings of the north. The Aeslings were led by their king, a terrible Chaos Lord known as Torgald. Outnumbered and outmatched, it seemed doom had come for the Sarls, with only bloody death awaiting them at the hands of their merciless cousins.[2c]

However, the Sarls themselves were not entirely without means. Their king, a Chosen of Tzeentch known as Viglundr, was a cunning war-leader, who possessed great wealth as a result of many profitable raids, and thus was able to procure the services of legions of mercenaries from across the length and breadth of the Norscan realms and even as far abroad as the Kurgan tribes.[2c]

Recognizing Wulfrik's skill at arms, Viglundr also offered the Chaos Champion untold wealth and the hand of his daughter, and thus, the status of king of the Sarls by inheritance if he would gain victory for the tribe. Wulfrik, though looking down upon Viglundr as a pathetic shadow of his predecessors, nonetheless grasped at the chance for power and led the hosts of the Sarls to war.[2c]

Unbeknownst to Wulfrik, the Sarl, or the Aeslings at the time, the entire war was nothing more than a highly complex, Machiavellian scheme enacted by Viglundr to eliminate Torgald, thus allowing his more pliable son, Sveinbjorn, to take the throne of the Aeslings. This would have then engendered an alliance between the Sarls and the northern tribe that would see Viglundr's power, and that of the Sarls, increased by the aid of the bloodthirsty, Khornate Aeslings. Indeed, the Raven God had chosen the Sarl king well.[2c]

World Walkers

Sigil of Wulfrik and his Norscan World Walkers army in Total War: Warhammer.

At the now legendary Battle of Thousand Skulls, the Sarls and Aeslings clashed. Amidst the carnage, Wulfrik fought the mighty Aesling king. Wulfrik slew the Chaos Lord, decapitating him and holding his head high for his tribesmen to see. With the death of their king, the Aeslings quit the field and victory was claimed by the Sarls.[2c]

That night, as was the custom of the northern tribes, a great feast was held in Wulfrik's honour. No man or beast, Wulfrik proclaimed, had fought more fiercely in battle than he, and none, he swore, would outdrink him in victory. Using the skull of King Torgald as his drinking vessel, Wulfrik had matched words with deeds. It had taken 8 entire barrels of mead to put him under the table, a feat that had impressed even the Ogres who fought alongside him.[2c] 

Before the mead completely overwhelmed him however, the drunken Wulfrik began to boast of his exploits. Before he was done, he had slain every beast of the Chaos Wastes twice and personally boxed the ears of the emperors of the Empire, Nippon and Grand Cathay. However, it was the champion's final boast that brought the doom upon his head. He claimed he was the equal of any warrior of the realms of the mortal world or in the realms beyond flesh.[2c]

World Walker

"Glory and horror to the Blood God, whose rage shall devour the world! An offering to honour my debt!"

—Wulfrik, offering the skull of a Yhetee chieftain to Khorne.[2b]
Norsca 04

The terrible enchanted longship known as the Seafang allows Wulfrik to mercilessly chase his prey wherever they seek to run.

That night, Wulfrik was visited by an emissary of the Dark Gods. In his dreams, the Daemon led him to paradises, necropolises and fantastic netherworlds. He saw the gleaming towers of the High Elves, the gilded halls of the Dwarfs and the ramshackle fortresses of Orc kings.[2c]

And everywhere he passed was drowned in great tides of blood. The Daemonic emissary spoke of how Wulfrik's brazen words had offended his gods, but had also intrigued them enough to challenge their champion to prove his proud words. He was now charged to travel the four corners of the worlds, and to seek out the fiercest challengers, the most monstrous creatures, and the most ferocious adversaries and slay them in single combat to prove his might.[2c]

If he failed, the emissary explained, then his soul would be forever cursed by the gods, and deemed unworthy to join them in their halls. He then spoke with relish of how Daemons would take great pleasure in torturing Wulfrik's soul for all eternity should that come to pass. When Wulfrik awoke, he found himself speaking in a thousand languages and his tongue had been twisted into a sharp, fluted shape like that of a bird's.

A shaman of the Kurgan tribes recognised this as the Dark Gods' Gift of Tongues and enthusiastically pronounced Wulfrik as blessed. Wulfrik, a short-tempered man by any standard, with little patience for others, made certain the Kurgan died slowly. Even as he began burning the Kurgan's toes from his feet, the shaman was incapable of telling the Chaos Champion where the thoughts were coming from, nor how to make them stop.[2c]

The first test offered by the Chaos Gods was to hunt down the Tomb Lord Khareops and offer up its shrivelled entrails to Nurgle, the god of diesease and decay. Thus, Wulfrik was charged to travel to the baking deserts of Khemri -- a voyage undertaken by only the boldest of Northmen, for the desert lay many leagues south of the far north where the Norscans made their home.[2c]

In order to accomplish his newfound duty, Wulfrik required transport beyond the abilities of a mere longship. In the end, it was Sigvatr, a grizzled Chaos Marauder and long-time comrade, who solved the conundrum. For he had heard tales of a ship blessed by the Dark Gods with the power to circumvent the greatest distances in the blink of an eye, which was in the keeping of a Chaos Sorceress: the Skaeling witch Baga Yar, who dwelt in a vast fortress garrisoned by hordes of Daemons.[2c]

It had taken all the treasure he had seized from King Torgald, as well as all the silver Viglundr had paid him, in order to assemble an army large and fierce enough to overcome the unholy defences of the sorceress. In a battle worthy of the sagas, the Norscan Chaos Champion had triumphed over the Daemons; proving his strength to the Dark Gods.[2c]

In the end, Wulfrik hunted down the sorceress and hacked off her limbs before boiling her alive in her own cauldron. Almost 200 of his men had been slain facing her Daemonic army, but Wulfrik and his warband had triumphed. The treasures and artefacts aside from the ship he had left to his warriors to plunder -- he had come only for the witch's longship, which he then named the Seafang.[2c]

The Seafang was indeed no ordinary ship. For its legendary mobility was not the result of flight, but instead the vessel would fade from the mortal world into the Realm of Chaos, travelling upon the Winds of Magic, past the hunting grounds of Daemons and the nightmares of Men. The magical longship would sail upon phantom tides known only to the Dark Gods and appear again where Wulfrik willed. With such power at his command, the Wanderer was inescapable. Even the men of Norsca, so used to the unnatural influence of Chaos, could not help but feel awed and reverent whenever the power of the Seafang was unleashed.[2c]

Indeed, with every invocation of the ship's magic, the Daemons bound within it demanded an offering of blood before they would ferry the Norscans through the ethereal Realm of Chaos. The only offering it had the taste for was Wulfrik's own blood -- perhaps because he had been the one to slay Baga Yar. Despite this, Wulfrik made certain that with each new addition to his crew he would feed the new warrior's blood to the Dragon-head prow. No ship could serve two captains, and this was more true of the Seafang than any other.[2c]

With his Daemonic prize in tow, Wulfrik travelled to the Land of the Dead, the home of the Undead Tomb Kings, laying low the offering demanded of him by the gods and holding the Tomb Lord's shrivelled innards high for the pleasure of Nurgle. Over time, his legend grew yet more fearsome as he stalked and slaughtered fell beings in service to the Chaos Gods.[2c]

It was Wulfrik who faced a Giant in battle, slew it and then scalped its hairy head for a cloak. It was Wulfrik who travelled deep into the Troll Country and slaughtered the monsters there like sheep and cattle, and it was Wulfrik who journeyed to the ancient cairn of Jarl Unfir, who arose as an armoured Wight only to have its bony back broken over the champion's knee.[2c]

Men journeyed from all over the north to fight at the side of one so favoured by the Dark Gods, in the hope that they might catch some of his greatness. Tales of a hulking champion, clad in black steel and bones wielding a dark sword had spread so far as to be spoken in awed whispers by Kurgan nomads, as well as in the bloody halls of Norscan barbarians. Thus, the fame of Wulfrik grew to gargantuan proportions, and his name lived well in the sagas of the north and the nightmares of the south.[2c]

Executioner of the Gods

"You have achieved that which kings and warlords squander armies and slaughter whole nations to achieve! The gods gaze down upon you! Your flesh bears the mark of their favour! Bah, what are women and offspring and thrones? Dust and less than dust! The rewards of the gods; these a man keeps with him forever. The rewards of love, greed and jealousy; these rot with a man in his grave."

—Agnarr, Chaos Sorcerer of the Sarl[2c]
Wulfrik Total War Warhammer Concept Art

Concept art of Wulfrik the Wanderer for Total War: Warhammer.

Wulfrik, cursed to an eternity of unending battle, hunted down and slew the offerings demanded of him by the Chaos Gods. He journeyed to the holds of the Dwarf Lords and took from them both glory and gold, killed mighty Dragons and even slew the unworthy Chaos Champions of the Dark Gods from amongst the tribes of the Kurgan and the Hung. All the Men of the North honoured Wulfrik's name and envied the favour the Dark Hods had shown him, but deep within his cold heart Wulfrik despised his curse, and despised even more those who thought it a blessing. His wish, for a time at least, was to break it and return to his own quest for power and glory.[2e]

Upon returning from one of his hunts to the Sarl city of Ormskaro, Wulfrik was approached by yet another Kurgan sorcerer-shaman: Zarnath of the Tokmars. The sorcerer told Wulfrik of how he could lift the curse of the Chaos Gods from him, using an ancient artefact of Chaos. In return, he asked for the Seafang.[2e]

Wulfrik, despite the protests of his comrades not to trifle with the will of the Dark Gods, agreed. For he sought to once again pursue his ambitions for lordship of the Sarls, a position he could not claim were he forever shackled to the hunt. In addition, Wulfrik had long desired to make the Sarl princess whose hand he had been promised his woman, just as Hjordis herself lusted after the mighty Chaos Champion in her own right.[2e]

Zarnath explained that in order to enact the ritual to free Wulfrik, he would require an ancient artefact of the Hung sorcerer-kings, the Smile of Sardiss. The artefact lay in one of the enclaves of the Chaos Dwarfs of the Dark Lands, who sometimes had dealings with the Norscans. Using theSeafang as their Daemonic transportation, Wulfrik and his warriors journeyed to the foul lands of the Chaos Dwarfs. There, they journeyed to the great fortress of Dronangkul, the "Fortress of Iron" in the debased Khazalid of the Chaos Dwarfs, where the Kurgan claimed the Chaos Dwarf lord Khorakk and the Smile of Sardiss in his possession could be found.[2e]  

Into the Dark Lands

Wulfrik Render 1

Wulfrik the Wanderer as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.

As was their way, the Norscans slaughtered their way through the defences of the Chaos Dwarfs; the blessings of their minor Chaos God Hashut proving no match for the unending fury of the major Dark Gods.[2f] By any standards, the Norscans had utterly annihilated the Chaos Dwarf hold, an impressive feat, given their relatively small numbers. Wulfrik himself had slain a Bull Centaur Lord, as well as Khorakk himself in that raid; overpowering the former in a contest of strength and burning the latter alive in one of his own mechanical contraptions before claiming the Smile of Sardiss from him.[2g] 

However, some of the Norscans fell in the battle, including Wulfrik's old friend Sigvatr. Wulfrik knelt beside his comrade to hear his final words and afford him the honour he was due as a great warrior, such was the respect and camaraderie between the two. However, no man amongst Wulfrik's band could guess how foul the circumstances were that led to the great warrior's death, nor of the fell consequences it would herald.[2j]

With that, the Norscans returned home to Ormskaro to rest and replenish their ranks. In his lengthy absence, the Sarls, as well as their king, Viglundr, believed that the Kurgan had led Wulfrik the Wanderer to his end. Viglundr had continued in Wulfrik's absence his attempt to forge a new alliance with the Aeslings.[2k]

The arrival of Wulfrik, alive after all, notably put a dent in this plan. For as the slayer of their king, the Aeslings both despised as well as admired the Inescapable One. But Sveinbjorn, a mere mortal, could not hope to match a warrior blessed with the Mark of Chaos, and so refrained from challenging Wulfrik to battle, even with all his hersirs backing him. Realising that he could not overcome Wulfrik in an honest contest of arms, Sveinbjorn instead resolved to find someone else who could.[2k]

The next day, Sveinbjorn challenged Wulfrik to personal combat within the Wolf Forest, a great arena the Sarls had built in his honour, and where he screened potential recruits for his warband through lethal combat trials. However, when Wulfrik arrived, he found that he was not to do battle with Sveinbjorn himself, but a fellow Champion of Chaos. This was a warrior who towered over even Wulfrik. He was Troll-like in stature, clad in blackened steel and bearing a massive Daemon-axe encrusted with hissing runes of the Dark Tongue, the language of Daemons and sorcerers.[2l]

Yet despite the apparent favour of the gods, the warrior was more akin to a maddened hound than a man, and Wulfrik was appalled to learn that this creature jad once been Fraener, a mighty Chaos Champion and the war-chief of the Aeslings, who, as was the custom of the Aeslings, led his fellow tribesmen to slaughter the Kurgan tribes of the Eastern Steppes, and even pillaged and plundered the dolmens of the Beastmen. A hero throughout all of Norsca, Wulfrik could not believe that the animal before him was the same man when he roared his name in a bestial battlecry.[2l]

The former Chaos Champion, who had been transformed into one of the Forsaken, was a daunting foe, but Wulfrik had slain Giants and Daemons like cattle, and no man set against him could ever be his equal in battle. Wulfrik hacked off one of Fraener's arms, but from the bloody stump a great spike of bone and meat erupted. When the Wanderer struck Fraener again, tentacles slithered out rather than blood.[2l]

The hero's sword clashed with the mutant's great claws, locked in a terrible battle until Wulfrik drove the Forsaken off the platform of the Wolf Forest down upon the spikes below and then clove through his black war helm and split his skull in two. No man amongst Sveinbjorn's hersirs troubled Wulfrik after that, for all of them had borne witness to Fraener's monstrous ability in battle many times before, and the prospect of facing a warrior powerful enough to defeat that fallen Chaos Champion was nothing short of suicide.[2l]

Ulthuan

Wulfrik Render 2

Wulfrik the Wanderer as rendered for Total War: Warhammer

Their newest plan to slay the Champion having failed, Viglundr and Sveinbjorn conspired to instead kill Wulfrik with craft and cunning. Viglundr had manipulated Wulfrik into killing the Chaos Lord Torgald to pave the way for his new Sarl-Aesling alliance, but the warrior persisted as a thorn in his side. To accomplish this, Viglundr enticed one of Wulfrik's warriors, a Chaos Marauder known as Broendulf, to slay the Chaos Champion when he least expected.[2m]

Meanwhile, Wulfrik and the rest of his followers readied themselves to journey to the far-off land of the High Elves, known as Ulthuan in the lands of civilized Men, but as Alfheim in the tongue of the Norsca. A voyage only attempted by the boldest Northmen, such as Erik Redaxe or Magnus the Mad, and always ending in ruin, even for them. Still, the World Walker would not be denied, and led his Chaos Warriors to the shores of that enchanted place. Only there, the Shaman-Sorcerer Zarnath claimed, could he summon the magical might necessary to free Wulfrik from his curse. However, the Kurgan's true nature would be revealed in that place.[2m]

When Wulfrik's warband made landfall on the shores of the Ulthuani kingdom of Cothique, Wulfrik and his followers happened upon a group of High Elf maidens praying at a monolith. Zarnath warned the Norscans that the maids were actually witches, and were calling upon strange, arcane forces to smite the invaders. With the dark abandon of their people, the Norscans fell upon the defenceless High Elves and slaughtered them gleefully.[2m]

As the carnage abated, Zarnath mocked the barbarians for their bloodthirsty ways, revealing that the High Elf women were not mages, but merely wives who had come to pray to Isha, the Elven goddess of nature, for fertility. He gloated at the horrible vengeance the menfolk of Ulthuan would visit upon the Norscans for this act.[2m]

Zarnath revealed that he had never intended to free Wulfrik from his curse, and had only intended to see him dead either in the lands of the Chaos Dwarfs or the High Elves. The deceitful sorcerer disappeared from the scene before the Wanderer could make him suffer for his betrayal, but not before he had alerted almost every warrior in Cothique to their presence.[2m]

The Norscans were then set upon by the Silver Helms and High Elf Archers. Outnumbered, the Norscans nonetheless stood their ground and drove the High Elves back, denying them vengeance for a time. The High Elves had thought that Wulfrik and his warriors would be as easily vanquished as the Norscan horde of Erik Redaxe; but the World Walker was made of sterner stuff than the vanquished king.[2m]

Wulfrik even defeated one of the great pale Merwyrms of Ulthuan, bloodying it and causing it retreat back into the deeps. However, the Seafang was smashed to kindling, but the true power of the ship had never been in its oars or hull, but in the Dragon figurehead where the Daemon-magic bound to the longship was kept.[2m]

Using the power of the figure-head, Wulfrik and the only survivor of his band, Broendulf, managed to escape Ulthuan. Whilst travelling the Border-Realm, Broendulf revealed to Wulfrik the scale of Viglundr's treachery and confessed his part in his plans. Incensed, the Chaos Champion nonetheless offered a truce to Broendulf until their mutual enemies, the treacherous sorcerer Zarnath chief among them, were slain.[2m]

Vengeance

"‘Khorne!’ they roared, invoking the sacred battle-name of Kharnath the Blood God, Lord of Battles. ‘Khorne!’ they howled until it seemed the walls must fall from the violence in their voices alone. ‘Khorne!’ they shrieked as they gnashed their teeth and bit their shields."

—Description of Chaos Marauders during the Siege of Wisborg[2q]
Wulfrik Accessories

The wargear of Wulfrik the Wanderer, as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.

When the mists parted, the Norscans found themselves in the Empire, for that is where the Shaman-Sorcerer Zarnath had fled. He was in fact no Kurgan tribesman of the Easteran Steppes as he had claimed, but rather a wizard of one of the Imperial Colleges of Magic! With the true nature of his enemy revealed, Wulfrik travelled back to Ormskaro, to muster a fleet that would destroy the city Zarnath had fled to.[2p]

When he reached the great tower of Ormfell, Wulfrik cornered Sveinbjorn and brutally beat the Aesling prince within an inch of death for his part in the deceit and trickery that had cost the Wanderer his warriors, and also for forcing himself upon the Sarl Princess Hjordis, whom Wulfrik then repudiated for her weakness in allowing herself to be forced by any man.[2p]

As Wulfrik prepared to slit Sveinbjorn's throat, King Viglundr of the Sarls arrived with a retinue of plate armour-clad warriors and begged Wulfrik to spare Sveinbjorn's life, fearing the retribution the Aeslings would mete out upon the Sarls should one of their chieftains die. Wulfrik, now possessing leverage over the the Sarl king, told Viglundr of his plan to plunder far into the Empire, using the Seafang to magically transport the Norscans beyond the defences of Marienburg and Nordland.[2p]

Intrigued by the proposal, Viglundr agreed, though under the stipulation that Wulfrik would abandon all designs on the kingship of the Sarls. Wulfrik agreed, swearing his loath upon the Axe of Khorne, and the Norscans set about rebuilding the Seafang using the wood of the ancient Trolltree, a horrific remnant of the age from before Norsca's settling by the tribe of the Norsii in the time of Sigmar. With the Seafang rebuilt into perhaps one of the mightiest artefacts of Chaos, Norscans mustered from every tribe to join in this great raid.[2p]

The Norscans ultimately arrived in Reikland, at the city of Wisborg where Zarnath, actually the wizard Ludwig Stossel of the Celestial Order, had fled. Ludwig had foreseen his own demise at the hands of Wulfrik through the use of his astromancy, and thus had gone to great lengths to ensure the death of the Chaos Champion in his stead. Yet, in every place Stossel had connived to send Wulfrik to his death, the Norscan had only returned stronger then ever.[2q]

Howling the name of Khorne, the Norscan god of war, the Norscan warriors butchered their way through the meagre defences of the southling city in a berserk rage. Wulfrik did battle with and defeated a powerful Warrior Priest of Sigmar in the siege, thus proving the supremacy of the Dark Gods of the north over the gods of the Old World Pantheon of the south.[2q]

The baron of Wisborg was also slain, as was his wife, and the entire city was put to the torch and plundered of riches. Wulfrik cornered Stossel in his tower, recognising the azure glow of his eyes, and fought through all his arcane constructs in order to reach him. The Norscan then subjected Stossel to the torturous death of the Blood Raven, originally introduced by the Daemon Princess Valkia the Bloody, in retribution for the scale of his deceit. His vengeance against the treacherous wizard reaped, it was time to call in all of Wulfrik's remaining debts.[2q]

Unfinished Business

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Wulfrik the Wanderer, ready to slay the foes of the Chaos Gods in Chaos and Conquest.

Wulfrik saw to Prince Sveinbjorn second. The Aesling had attempted to bribe Wulfrik's warriors into betraying him, promising them a portion of the captured treasure from the south. Wulfrik, having no need for gold, promised his warriors everything in the hold of the Seafang if they would aid him in his own deceit.[2s]

Wulfrik explained to the trembling prince how he would cut off the chain links connecting most of the other longships to the Seafang, abandoning them to be overwhelmed and slain in the Empire while the Seafang took to the Realm of Chaos. Flying Sveinbjorn's banner on the ship, the tribes would blame Sveinbjorn, not Wulfrik, for the betrayal, thus damning the prince's name for all eternity. Sveinbjorn begged Wulfrik to leave him his honour, accepting whatever tortures Wulfrik sought to inflict on him, but the Chaos Champion refused.[2s]

To cap off his revenge, Wulfrik utilised another torture to kill the prince, putting a snake down his throat while he screamed for mercy. When Wulfrik returned to Ormskaro, he threw Sveinbjorn's severed head at the Sarl King Viglundr's feet, his features swollen by the venom of the snake. Wulfrik spoke of how Sveinbjorn had left his fellow Norscan warriors in the lands of the Empire due to his cowardice.[2s]

Viglundr was shocked, and fearful, for the tribes would now surely descend upon him and the Sarls demanding vengeance for the death and betrayal of their kinsmen. The king pleaded with Wulfrik to aid him again, begging forgiveness for trying to cheat him. Wulfrik laughed at the king's pathetic mewling and strode from the hall, his imagination swimming with the sight of Ormskaro burning and Viglundr dying a terrible death at the hands of the chieftains of the other tribes. In one final attempt to sway the vengeful Chaos Champion, Viglundr desperately reminded Wulfrik of his love for Hjordis, but to no avail. Even Viglundr could not have fathomed the reality that Wulfrik had already butchered his former love before speaking to her father.[2s]

Thus did Ormskaro, legendary seat of the Sarl tribes, fall into ruin and destruction. Ironically, that destruction at the hand of one of their own, the man that the Sarls had reckoned as one of their greatest heroes. These events had also served to reveal to Wulfrik the truth of his fate: his curse by the Dark Gods was in fact a blessing.[2s]

Without the power of the Seafang, he could not have entrapped schemers such as Viglundr and Sveinbjorn. Without his fame as the World Walker, he could not have gained the loyalty of so many warriors. Without the lies of Zarnath, he would have been denied the opportiunities to eliminate his enemies.

The Chaos Gods had helped him exact his vengeance, and with his faith in them restored, he would serve the Ruinous Powers for all eternity as their huntsman. There would be no more attempts to escape his doom as Wulfrik the Wanderer travelled the mortal world, laying low the offerings demanded of him by his gods. Now he truly became the Chaos Gods' most devout servant, and felt their power coursing through his veins as never before.[2s]

To Kill A Skaven

During one of his journeys, Wulfrik was sent by the Chaos Gods deep within the Blighted Marshes of Tilea to kill a chief of the Skaven. There he discovered a Grey Seer who had chewed upon a piece of warpstone. Immediately the ratman was consumed with sorcerous power, and unleashed such devastating spells that he brought the entire cavern crashing down upon them.[2h]

The Wanderer

"Throughout our lives, we are each of us many men. At times, the gods conspire to destroy one of these selves without killing the body. When that happens, a new self arises to command the flesh."

—Agnarr, Chaos Sorcerer[2d]

Wulfrik has embraced his exile, accepting the honourable charge the Chaos Gods have given him. He ranges throughout the Known World as their will directs him, and continues to challenge the mightiest beings of the Old World to battle. Throughout his unending hunt, Wulfrik has never been bested in battle, and many are the Men of Norsca and the Kurgan who eagerly come to his banner, eager to fight alongside him to catch a measure of his glory.[1a]

Wulfrik has fought many times in the armies of Chaos, for at times the offering he is commanded to strike down may be found amidst the ranks of the hosts of the faithless peoples of the south. Lords and paupers alike cannot escape the World Walker, for he is merciless, killing without compunction, and taking pride in all his kills. As the Chaos Gods have decreed, thus it shall ever be.[1a]

On at least two separate occasions, Wulfrik fought and killed Mordrek the Damned. [3]

End Times

During the End Times, Wulfrik was one of many Chaos Champions who followed the banner of the thirteenth Everchosen Archaon to bring about the final destruction of the Known World. He, alongside Valnir the Reaper and Sigvald the Magnificent, fought his way to the Temple of Verena at Middenheim to await the coming of Valten, the Herald of Sigmar.[3]

To earn the honour of claiming the head of Sigmar's Champion, who had already defeated score upon score of storied Chaos Lords, such as Engra Deathsword and Ragnar Painbringer, Wulfrik challenged Valnir the Reaper to single combat, the Sword of Torgald proving the only weapon mighty enough to at last fell Nurgle's deathless Champion.[3]

Fresh from this victory, Wulfrik faced off against Valten, and though he came closer than most, it was not within the World Walker's fate to defeat the Sigmarite, who struck him down with Ghal Maraz, though not before Wulfrik foretold that Valten's death would be a dishonourable one.[3]

Personality

"If it is a choice between arrows in my belly or a knife in my back, I charge the bowmen and damn their sires with my dying breath!"

—Wulfrik the Wanderer[2a]

When Wulfrik first received the Gift of Tongues, he was a jaded, blasphemous Norscan warrior. He resented the Chaos Gods he had once honoured for forcibly tearing him away from the pleasures of the world of Men. After he slew all his enemies and claimed his vengeance, however, Wulfrik gradually came to better understand the gods' will and realised, as the other Men of Norsca had said, that the favour they had bestowed upon him was for his betterment. Realising at last that the gods had only aided him throughout his life, Wulfrik dedicated himself solely to their service in the forme of Chaos Undivided, fully embracing his role as the Inescapable One.[2e]

Wulfrik, as befits a Chaos Champion and a powerful Chaos Lord, is a bloodthirsty savage, who delights in suffering and destruction and is infuriated by the weakness and cowardice of lesser men. Barbarous, war-like, and devoted to Chaos in all its forms, Wulfrik holds those who do not bend knee to the Dark Gods in contempt and enjoys annihilating them and obliterating all that they hold dear.[1a]

The Wanderer is cruel and does not forget slights against his honour, but is possessed of a savage code of conduct and forms a rough sort of brotherhood with those he finds worthy. To those who earn such brotherhood, Wulfrik is a heroic and inspirational leader, and none can deny his keen tactical sense, nor the fire of leadership that burns in his hooded eyes. Wulfrik possesses a caustic wit, and a gift for wordplay. He is an unforgivable boaster, but to his credit, the majority of his boasts are mostly the unvarnished truth.[1a]

Abilities

"Many men would envy the favour the gods have given you."

—Sigvatr, Chaos Marauder[2b]
WoCWulfrik

The mighty Wulfrik, Wanderer and World Walker

Wulfrik is perhaps one of the mightiest warriors in all the Old World, with unsurpassed strength and incredible skill at swordplay, as the many hideous trophies he displays no doubt indicate. His skills are such that he can match almost any warrior in the Known World in a contest of arms.[1a]

Wulfrik's agility and dexterity are also comparable to his raw physical power, and he is able to move and strike at lightning speeds. A highly experienced combatant, his instincts and tactical mastery have been forged in the crucible of a thousand battles. He has overcome countless monstrosities in contests of brute strength and warrior skill, such as a Chaos Dwarf Bull Centaur Lord, a Yhetee chieftain, rival Chaos Champions, a debased Forsaken, several Giants and a Merwyrm.[1a]

Wulfrik possesses the mutational Gift of Tongues by the will of the Ruinous Powers, which allows him to issue an irrefusable challenge to any creature in their own language. The gift does not merely allow Wulfrik to speak any language, but allows his words to strike into a creature's very being and compel them to fight him.[1a]

Combined with the well-known Norscan aptitude for biting, albeit unsubtle, insults, Wulfrik is able to goad his enemies into a reckless fury where they are more likely to make fatal mistakes for him exploit, thus ensuring his victory in battle all the more.[1a]

Like many Chaos Champions, Wulfrik is clad in an unholy and near-impenetrable suit of Chaos Armour.[1a]

Sources

  • 1: Warhammer Armies: Warriors of Chaos (8th Edition)
    • 1a: pg. 49
  • 2: Wulfrik (Novel) by C.L. Werner
    • 2a: Prologue
    • 2b: Ch. 1
    • 2c: Ch. 2
    • 2d: Ch. 3
    • 2e: Ch. 4
    • 2f: Ch. 5
    • 2g: Ch. 6
    • 2h: Ch. 7
    • 2i: Ch. 8
    • 2j: Ch. 9
    • 2k: Ch. 10
    • 2l: Ch. 11
    • 2m: Ch. 12
    • 2n: Ch. 13
    • 2o: Ch. 14
    • 2p: Ch. 15
    • 2q: Ch. 16
    • 2r: Ch. 17
    • 2s: Ch. 18
  • 3: Warhammer: The End Times Compilation (8th Edition)
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