As the most contemporary of Games Workshop’s world-building efforts, the Mortal Realms of Age of Sigmar tend to echo themes and anxieties relevant to its own time. Much like Warhammer 40,000 reflected the politics of the 1980s, in the global world of the 2010s and 2020s, Age of Sigmar reflects the polycrisis (Morin, 1993, Lähde, 2023) that we are currently experiencing. This is evident in both the causal narrative of the setting as well as in the narrative underpinnings of the Stormcast Eternals. Born from human souls and remade to fight, Stormcast reflect humanity through their transformed state, and continue to do so after each reforging, where, after death, they are made anew, yet fractured. Stormcasts are thus an instrumentalized form of human existence (Mbembe, 2019).
By examining Stormcast Eternals through a lens of simulacra (Baudrillard, 1971) and necropolitics (Mbembe, 2019), this paper explores how Age of Sigmar transmedia reflects the emotional toll of living through a polycrisis. This is done by applying reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) to selected literature from the Age of Sigmar transmedia that showcases the toll of reforging, and examining it through the lens of simulacra and as a form of necropolitics.
While studies on Warhammer 40,000 political dimensions and satire are starting to gain traction, Age of Sigmar has been sidelined in this nascent field of research concerning Warhammer. Age of Sigmar represents Warhammer’s attempts to comment on modern issues, particularly the polycrisis we are living through. This paper initiates an expansion into studies concerning Age of Sigmar, while also providing a glimpse into how games comment on our current political and cultural landscape through the use of fantastic (Op de Beke et al. 2024).
Author bio
Aasa Timonen (MA) is a Doctoral Researcher and PhD candidate at Tampere University Game Research Lab. Her dissertation work is concerned with transmedia worldbuilding and its development in the Warhammer franchise. She is also a long-time Warhammer hobbyist and a former LGBTQIA+ journalist.
