The Founding of the Empire

The Founding of the Empire began with a single mortal man: Sigmar Heldenhammer, chieftain's son of the Unberogen. In an age when the human tribes of the Reik basin warred endlessly among themselves and cowered before orc and goblin hordes, Sigmar dreamed of unity, and possessed the strength of will and arm to forge it.

His great alliance was sealed in blood and gratitude. When Sigmar rescued the High King Kurgan Ironbeard from greenskin captors, the dwarfs gifted him the warhammer Ghal Maraz, and an enduring pact between men and dwarfs was struck. United under Sigmar's banner, the tribes met the great greenskin invasion at the Battle of Black Fire Pass and there broke the horde utterly, securing the future of mankind in the Old World.

Upon that victory the Empire of Man was raised. Sigmar was crowned its first Emperor, and the scattered tribes became the founding provinces of a single realm, bound by law, faith, and the memory of a shared triumph. For fifty years he ruled, laying the foundations of roads, cities, and cults that would endure for millennia.

Then, his work complete, Sigmar laid down his crown and walked east into the mountains, never to be seen again. In his passing he became something greater than a king: a god, worshipped ever after by the nation he had forged from nothing but will and a warhammer.