Slann

The Slann are creatures which appear in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar settings.

Description
Bloated toad-like beings, the Slann are a dying breed, but nevertheless the most powerful magic users in the Warhammer World. They sit upon their floating palanquins unmoving, sometimes for decades on end, contemplating the mysteries which the Old Ones left in their wake, and how best to fulfil the plans which these indecipherable creatures had for the world and it’s many races.

History
The very first species which the Old Ones created upon coming to the Warhammer World, the Slann were intended to be the guides of the younger races which the Old Ones would design to populate this fresh planet. Gifted with intelligence beyond belief, the Slann would be the means through which these celestial creatures would nurture and instruct the younger races.

However, what the Old Ones had not anticipated was that with their coming would arrive the armies of Chaos, a primordial force which was directly opposed to their vision of order, and would fight them at every opportunity. At some point, a great catastrophe occurred which destroyed the Old Ones, and laid waste to the cosmic Gates which they had created at the poles of the world as both a means of transport, and to hold back the forces of Chaos. When this happened, Chaos entered the world in force, and the Slann who had survived the apocalypse were left alone to fight back the hordes of warped, evil creatures which poured through the ruined Gates unchecked.

Luckily for the Slann, the Old Ones had constructed several species of creature, known today as Lizardmen, whose express purpose was to aid the Slann in their endeavours. Had this not been the case, the world would long ago have fallen to the predations of the Chaos powers.

Since that time, there has never been another spawning of Slann, and those few that remain are composed entirely of the younger - yet still ancient by any reckoning - spawnings, who never had direct contact with the Old Ones. As a result, the surviving Slann spend their years in deep contemplation of the writings left behind by the Old Ones, trying to decipher a pattern which may yet rid the world of the scourge of Chaos. A point of note is that a Slann’s connection to the world of the living is so strong that even death will not sever it completely. Slain Slann are often able to communicate with their living relatives, and able to impart at least some of their knowledge to their surviving kin.

On the Battlefield
On the rare occasions that Slann deign to take part in battle, they ride mystical floating palanquins, believing that to tread on the now-tainted ground would upset their harmony with the universe. Nevertheless, they are magicians without peer, and are capable of destroying entire armies with nothing more than a flick of the wrist. They are accompanied to war by specialised cohorts of Saurus, known as Temple Guards, who defend their masters with fanatical zeal.