Where do Terrorgheists come from?

[Scalenex]

Zombies and skeletons are magically animated corpses. Ghouls are former cannibals or their infected victims. Crypt Horrors are ghouls fed vampire blood. Vargheists are degenerate vampires starved into madness. Vargulfs are vampires who give in to their predator urges completely. Black Coaches are powered with the remains of dead vampire lords. Mortis Engines are powered with the remains of dead master necromancers....


Terrorgheists are undead, but they don't seem to have a living base creature or a established process to shape a weaker undead into them. They just seemed shoehorned in. That seems like a fluff hole since Terrogheists are pretty much the iconic monsters of the WHF Vampire Counts army.

 

[TMS]

It actually says in the flavour text that Terrorgheists are the remains of titanic bats that hunt by using their trademark screech, but that the process of undeadening makes it much more powerful.

The titanic bats themselves did come out of nowhere, though. I don't think there had ever been any mention of them before but I suppose it wouldn't be very strange for them to exist in the world of Warhammer.

 

[najo]

I've got this..

...well, when a mommy terrorgiest loves a daddy terrorgiest....

 

[Count Vashra]

Well, the response to that is where did the parents come from? It only shifts the problem back a generation.

Although I'm quite satisfied with the idea that they're giant bats.

 

[Infernal Skull]

In the real world there are many, many species of bat, all ranging in various sizes. It is likely that "fell" bats are only one species of bat in The Old World, and larger bats exist. Those are the "titanic" bats that go on to become "terrorgheists."

 

[Martin15]

Let's be honest, giant bats are one of the more believable beasties that populate the warhammer world (yes Jabberslythe, I'm looking at you...)

 

[Scalenex]

Yes and no. Jabberslythes at least have the warping power of Chaos to credit with them. I was just curious if there was a single instance of a living titanic bat in any GW fluff piece.

 

[Martin15]

I vaguely remember one of the VC army book entries for Fell Bats stating that sylvania was host to bats of all sizes (or similar), that's the closest I can think of.

All the best

Martin

 

[Melle]

Let's be honest, giant bats are one of the more believable beasties that populate the warhammer world (yes Jabberslythe, I'm looking at you...)

I saw a jabberslyth when i was down at the pub a few weeks ago....She even dragged someone back to her lair

On a more serious note i have a faint memory of little more fluff on tbats were in WD when they were introduced into the warhammer world

 

[Scalenex]

Okay I guess I'll have to work titanic bats into my fluff somewhere. Maybe figure out a Lustrian equivalent.

 

[Count Vashra]

Hm. A huge winged lizard-dinosaur creature would be quite impressive. Or terrifying.

 

[Scalenex]

Agreed, but it's a very fine line between "flying dinosaur creature" and "weird looking dragon," so this will take some looking or conversion work.

 

[Shareya]

Giant bats are probably quite common in some areas and I would not be surprised if the Nekrah have something to do with the fuckers. They do adore to experiment and often enough on still living creatures.

Not to mention there is a bazilion reasons in Warhammer why something grew extra large. Usually "magic did it".

 

[Dragonet]

I have to say, I've never been a fan of the Terrorgheist, or the Fell Bat for that matter, in the fluff. Thank goodness we can now field Carrion, the loss of which frankly was the reason we got Fell Bats in the Vampire Counts list in the first place; as for the Terrorgheist I just refer to it as an Abyssal Terror, I can get along with diverse stats for my pet Necromancer's menagerie of disturbing experiments far better than Yet More Bats in my army... Bat swarm's plenty for me.

 

[LordTobiothan]

I have to say, I've never been a fan of the Terrorgheist, or the Fell Bat for that matter, in the fluff. Thank goodness we can now field Carrion, the loss of which frankly was the reason we got Fell Bats in the Vampire Counts list in the first place; as for the Terrorgheist I just refer to it as an Abyssal Terror, I can get along with diverse stats for my pet Necromancer's menagerie of disturbing experiments far better than Yet More Bats in my army... Bat swarm's plenty for me.

Vampire armies without all manner of bats available seems silly too me. What the hell are carrion even doing hanging around things so rotted it isn't even meat, skeletons, and the freshly dead that are still moving and too hard to eat. If anything giant bats make far more sense.

I like to think since vampires emanate dark energy and hang around dark energy and attract bats around them in swarms that eventually they mutate in size. The longer one lives the bigger it gets.

 

[Dragonet]

That's pretty cool Lord Tobiothan. To be fair, GW's current vampires all have deformed faces that resemble bats more, and you also have the Varghulfs and Vargheists, I think someone decided to go all in and make bats a strong central theme for the army. Bat wing helmets, bat shields, heck even the current army book's got a bunch of them on the front cover! They've got a long-standing association with vampires, and of course as you say in the Warhammer world we have the warping force of Chaos ever present, so anything's possible, especially around Vampires, which drink in those dark forces daily and defy nature in so many ways.
For me I just find it a little two dimensional and samey; I have to concede that my army and fantasy lacks such a powerful central theme but I love the idea of the Undead legions' strength through diversity and innovation, like the Persian army depicted in 300, or even a faceless corporation, teeming with expendable chaff from every corner of the world backed up by elites, mercenaries and specialists who are held in check not by respect or integrity, but by an oppressive and indominable will. To me the creatures of the night are more of a sideshow; the fact that bats can grow to a size where they play any meaningful battlefield role at all is enough fantasy for me.
As for the Carrion, I guess back in the early days where there was a greater Chaos affiliation these birds may have feasted on the flesh of the zombies - reanimated but still dead, rotting flesh? - alongside the Ghouls, reflecting the cannibalistic, self-destructive nature of the corporate structure and indeed of Dark Magic? I prefer to treat them as dead Carrion birds, or reanimated Great Eagles, and leave the Ghouls to do the feeding!

 

[LordTobiothan]

Carrion won't eat anything moving even if it looks and smells dead. They are the laziest hunters ever. That's why it seemed silly to me they'd hang around the undead.

 

[Dragonet]

Interesting... Shame the models look like vultures as well, maybe I can play them as killer turkeys!

 

[LordTobiothan]

Interesting... Shame the models look like vultures as well, maybe I can play them as killer turkeys!

Now that I can get behind. The undead don't have thanksgiving. We are friend to the noble turkey.

 

[Dragonet]

Hopefully Bernard Matthews isn't as litigious as GW, I could even see a change of battle standard, Quality Control uniforms for the necromancers, and best of all a turkey dinner every time I play!

I need sleep...

 

[Menkeroth]

I like to think since vampires emanate dark energy and hang around dark energy and attract bats around them in swarms that eventually they mutate in size. The longer one lives the bigger it gets.

This. With thousands of thousands bats in Sylvania (including quite big ones) it's no wonder there can be a few gigantic bats. Mannfred, for one, had three. Why not? Dark Magic and good diet on caravans and pegasi do their part. It's fantasy world after all.