Knights of Bretonnia (Warhammer Omnibus)

Product Information

The royarch's rule is sovereign and absolute, with no laws made within the kingdom having any hold upon the actions of the king. The Bretonnian feudal system is based upon oaths of loyalty and military assistance sworn between aristocrats, usually members of the realm's hereditary military caste, within an overwhelmingly agrarian society in which there is little to no direct form of centralised government.

Bretonnian chefs are famous for their culinary skills, and the wine produced in the vineyards of the country is renowned throughout the world. Flocks of sheep are attractive to predators, starting from wolves and climbing through goblins, orcs, beastmen, and the like.

Despite noble Sigmar's goal of pan-human unity, the cultural differences between the Bretonni and his people were apparently too large to overcome, thus his offer was quickly rebuffed, unable to accept a foreigner as their leader. At such times, a young Knight Errant may earn the title of Knight of the Realm through brave deeds and daring exploits on the field of battle. As a reward for his heroism, Gaston was allowed to sup from the true Grail, and became the new King of Bretonnia. Even so, every now and again a peasant on the coast near Pirates' Grave will plough up another set of bones or a couple of tarnished copper coins from some chest of treasure.

Retreating back to Araby, but leaving a token force of troops around the important city of Magritta, Jaffar's armies were hounded by the Bretonnians, who pursued them tirelessly. At the very top of this social pyramid is the king or " royarch" as he is known in the Bretonnian tongue. When Sigmar founded the Empire, he extended an invitation unto all the Bretonni warlords to join him in his new confederation. Despite being mostly waged at sea, there were also some land-based engagements during the conflict, as Marienburg's merchant fleets sought to put to the torch the pirate towns that clustered in the marshes and moors of the Westerland and Nordland. The pirates were not a conventional force to be defeated, and new pirates simply emerged to replace the old.

One such threat coincided with the deadly Red Pox that swept through southern Bretonnia and decimated the populations of peasants living in the sinking slums and hovel villages. Circa fifteen hundred years before the time of Sigmar, an agricultural tribe of people arrived on the western edge of Axe Bite Pass. These primitive tribes had little knowledge of metalwork or warfare, and relied heavily on agriculture and flint-crafted weapons to survive in the harsh wilderness. Towns and villages burn by the score, their defenders slaughtered, and their peasants shipped north to slave in Naggaroth. All the knights of Bretonnia, however, put their faith in the Fay Enchantress and the Grail knights, who denounced him.

Elemental spirits of the deep deserts were summoned to fight alongside Jaffar's armies, and with their numerical superiority, they overwhelmed the outnumbered crusaders on all sides. In the heat of battle, the Fay Enchantress appeared from the shadows and lent her aid towards the Knights, with the very trees of the forest rising up to meet the Greenskin invaders.

The skirmishes mainly took place in the foothills of the Iranna Mountains, near the small town of Ravola which is famed for its vineyards. Bretonnia is now the only nation of Men in the Old World to still employ a rigid system of feudalism in its original form as its system of government and economy.