Lorehammer: the Southlands

The Southlands are very different to the other three lands in the forthcoming Total War: Warhammer 2. The area was never fully fleshed out in the game world to the extent that the Old World or Naggaroth were.

However, looking at the map above there is a clear presence for the Lizardmen and for the High Elves. The Southlands and Lustria were once once landmass so the stories say, until they were sundered by the Lizardmen in their desperate fight to hold back the forces of Chaos. Now separated by and ocean, the Lizardmen cities of the Southlands have become self-sufficient.

The High Elf presence is more recent and more practical. To facilitate their global trade routes, fortresses provide a safe harbour for High Elf ships. These can be seen at the southern tip of the Southlands and also further east.

Going north the jungles give way to plains, and the plains to desert. Go any further north and you’ll enter the Land of the Dead, generally not a good idea. Before that though you’ll find the town of Sudenburg, and Empire colony, and the lost Dwarf hold of Karak Zorn, separated long ago from their northern kin by the rise of Nehekhara. No doubt there are Skaven lairs here and there, if you believe in that sort of thing.

A gap in the map

The Southlands don’t connect directly to the Badlands. Looking at this map, you can see why:

The lands of Araby and the lands of the dead both lie between the Southlands and the southern reach of the Badlands, currently the southern extent of the game map. How will the second game treat this? It could be an impassably, misty area, like Athel Loren prior to the Wood Elf expansion. Or it could be something else.

Don’t mess with the Zlatlan

Unlike Naggaroth, Ulthuan, or Lustria, the Southlands are not associated uniquely with any one faction. The Lizardmen are the main power, but other factions, from the first game and the second, have a presence here. It should make for some interesting campaign play.