Whfb/aos Thus Spoke Xarathustra pt7

Whom can you trust?

Do not trust the orc. His might excels his mind and he knows not what is good for him. He will tear the lash from masters hand, even if it means his demise. He will always give in to his instinct to fight. Send him to the mines. Let his anger and strength be taken out upon the rock.

Do not trust the mutant nor the beastman. Who knows what diseases or curses they carry within their veins? Their very presence corrupts the order and civilisation we have endeavoured to build over the centuries. Let the northern tribes put their faith in such blunt instruments. Clad them in irons and work them to death far from sight of our cities.

Do not trust the goblin. His cowardice may be your downfall. Many a foolish Dawi , whose shame is now hidden behind an iron mask, has previously put his faith in a legion of these creatures only to see them rout at the first sight of blood. Send him to the workshops and factories. He is small and he may toil within the inner workings of the machines. Keep him far from the sword or spear he fears so.

Do not trust the elf. He may appear frail in body but his mind is sharper than a hellforged blade. And those spindly limbs contain an unseen strength and agility that we underestimate at our peril. Send him to the daemonsmith. Draw his blood from his body and burn his corpse.

Do not trust the man. The man can be trained but never truly broken. Ideals of freedom and fairness burn within his soul that no amount of oppression can put out. Work him to death. Do not give him time to dwell upon such philosophies.

Do not trust the rat-man. His uses are few and treachery is the only language he speaks. Kill him on sight.

Do not trust the ogre. His might is great but his wit is lacking. Simple language may help him achieve a goal. Yet do not expect the ogre to adapt or make decisions on his own. Treat him as you would a machine. Feed him as you would feed the fires of engine, and he will perform the simple tasks you require.

So whom can you trust?

Trust the hobgoblin. Trust his cruelty. Trust his malice. Trust his willingness to survive.

Trust in the fact that he will hate you and fear you in equal measure. He will fear you and follow your orders. He will hate you, and only ever dare to express this anger to those beneath his whip.

Trust in the fact that he knows that you know he cannot be trusted. He will not dare to make a move against you.

And trust in the fact, that no matter how much he hates you, the orc, the beastman, the goblin, the elf, the man, the rat-man and the ogre hate him more.

You are hidden behind walls of stone. You do not dirty your hands with the taming of slaves. So the hobgoblin is the face of the oppressor.

Trust in the fact that for better or worse, he has made his choice. He can never go back.

Thus spoke Xarathustra.

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Great read

I enjoy in particular that if you read that as a fan of any races being described it speaks as much to their strengths as it does our reason to hate them, very cleverly written

I also never thought that of course the other races won’t hate or even think about Chaos Dwarfs that much, it’s the hobbies that they’ll despise the most, the face of the company :grin:

Nice work @Oxymandias

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Love this!

I think it chimes with my favourite thing about the hobgoblins of the Dark Lands - from the moment of the betrayal, they are in a suicide pact with the Chaos Dwarfs.

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Great piece! This perfectly depicts the bargain with the devil that the Hobgoblins have entered into.

Also, it reminds a little of this Chaos Dwarf’s list of despicable lesser races of mortals, although you have cleverly worked in the strengths of the various creatures as traits scorned by the Dawi Zharr.

Hobgoblins truly are the hated middlemen. And Skaven are indeed killed on sight.

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And let’s not forget that during the great slave revolt, the Chaos Dwarfs were overrun and pushed back, literally retreating to the upper levels of their temples and were at the very brink of annihilation.
They were saved at the last minute by the Hobgoblins who switched sides.
Hashut didn’t save the Dawi Zharr.
The Hobgoblins did.

Hobgoblin treachery and Hobgoblin strategy go hand in hand, forever cementing themselves at the top of the greenskin hierarchy.
Watch your back, because you owe your existence to the Hobgoblin.

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Besides, forgot to mention that I love how every race is described in such accurate detail. Everything is spot-on, not least for their use. Great going with humans in particular, we are a troublesome pesky pest as slaves, aren’t we?

Just fantastic piece, @Oxymandias. I await more wisdoms from Xarathustra, and nice artworks to go along with it, with patient eagerness. :smiley:

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I’m always in awe with how much of the old forum you have indexed in your head. Like… if I say some random words about chaos dwarfs you could probably link it to a post on the old forum that would be somewhat related… very nice!

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Yes @Admiral is definitely our remembrancer

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@Oxymandias this is truly one of the greatest non-canon/fan representations of a fantasy IP I’ve ever seen. I’ve enjoyed this series of posts so much and hope that you find the time to write more.

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@Ihsan997 mate that’s very flattering! Nothing compared to what some of the veteran narrative writers do here. I have a background in poetry so I’m used to rambling about whatever pops in my head without too much care about whether or not it makes sense haha.

And Yeah Xarathustra will speak again do not fear!

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