Old One (Warhammer)

The Old Ones are entities which feature in the creation lore of Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy setting.

Description
Although suspected to have been reptilian in nature, the actual appearance of the Old Ones is unknown, as the only creatures still living who may know of them are the Slann, and they are not given to talking on the subject.

History
Beings of unimaginable power, to the Old Ones technology and magic were indistinguishable. Masters of an intergalactic empire said to not only traverse space but also time, they came to the Warhammer World when it was in a much different shape than today, flying vast silvered ships through the void.

Seeing a world with great possibilities, the Old Ones first used their abilities to move the entire planet closer to its sun in order to create a more hospitable environment for their projects. Their next act was to spawn the first of the Slann, creatures who were to be the voice of the Old Ones on this new world, followed by the creation of the Saurus and other Lizardman species as an army who would cleanse the world of the abominations which had lived there from the dawn of time.

Building massive dimensional gateways at each of the poles from which they could access other parts of their empire, the Old Ones then went on to evolve and enhance the denizens into many of the races which inhabit the Warhammer World to this day, seemingly looking for some specific property in their new creations. What this was may never be known, as a calamity of galaxy-shattering magnitude overtook the race before their experiments could come to fruition.

The Great Catastrophe
What happened to the Old Ones can only be guessed at, but what is known is that at some point something catastrophic happened to their race. The polar gates crashed down, and a wave of Chaos Daemons and other fell beasts poured into the world from their wreckage at the same time as the Old Ones simply disappeared. Only the magical mastery of the Slann and the might of the Lizardman armies prevented the Warhammer World from being overrun in waves of foul sorcery and hordes of mutated monsters, and even then the effort was enough to wipe out fully half of the Lizardman population.

To this day, the Slann ponder over what the Old Ones’ plan may actually have been, seeking hints in the tablets left behind by their creators, and attempting to carry on with whatever knowledge they can glean from them.

Trivia

 * Although it has never been explicitly stated, the true purpose of the Old Ones’ experiments has been heavily hinted to have been the creation of a race which could stand strong against the forces of Chaos, and that their last - unfinished - project, that of Mankind, was to have been the successful culmination of that endeavour.