Bretonnia

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KNIGHTS KNIGHTS CHIVALRY HORSES KNIGHTS

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; that is your oath."

– Godfrey of Ibelin, Kingdom of Heaven

"We have political systems like this in the Empire. We call them 'protection rackets'."

– Matthias von Pfeildorf, former Imperial Envoy to Couronne.

"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

– Dennis the Constitutional Peasant, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"I'm French! Why do you zink I 'ave zis outrageous accent?!"

– also Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Bretonnia is one of the main factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. It is a human nation roughly modelled on a combination of medieval France, a tiny pinch of England and every medieval tale of chivalry ever (especially the legends of King Arthur). At a glance, they could easily be Games Workshop's least creative race, in any game, ever. And yes, that includes Judge Dredd Adeptus Arbites. One of their special characters is called The Green Knight, and their goddess is the Lady of the Lake (later revealed to also be part of the Elven pantheon). Even the name of the kingdom is derived from Britannia (Roman Empire-ruled Britain) and Brittany (part of northwestern France, spelled "Bretagne" in French). It's pretty lazy, all things considered.

However, it is still inventive in one way: In Bretonnia, the ideals of medieval chivalry and high honour is presented side-by-side with horrible, almost hilarious black-comedy level of oppressive government. The greatest heroic knights could also at the same time be the sort of charmer who worries about soiling their poulaines while stepping over starving peasant orphans, and your armies will be made of equal parts saintly knightly warriors and wretched peasants who get sent to die in droves in the name of feudal responsibilities. It's gotten to the point where a large part of the charm of Bretonnia is in its black comedy value, in terms of social commentary.

At least for some people anyway, and in a particular edition. Like with most Warhammer lore post-End Times, there's a significant fan divide between which "version" of lore is best, with the main contenders for Bretonnia being 5th edition - written by Nigel Stillman - and 6th edition - written by Anthony Reynolds. Stillman's take on Bretonnia was significantly lighter than that of Reynolds, with a more generic Arthurian kingdom but lacking in what many called grimderp lore decisions by Reynolds; on the other hand, defenders of the latter say Stillman's was lacking in realism, and Reynolds' is more interesting. Basically, 5th edition fans argue 6th's tone is too dark and that's bad, while 6th edition fans argue 5th's tone is too bright and that's bad. It's an argument that's went on for over 15 years, until the entire army and country was eliminated in The End Times, paving the way for Age of Sigmar. However, as of 2023, we now know that Bretonnia is due for a range re-fresh for The Old World.

Bretonnian armies basically consist of knights. Lots and lots of knights. And everyone, from the lowliest Knight Errant to the living-god Grail Knights, rides the same. Damn. Horse. Except for the ones that ride Pegasi. There are also some lowly, filthy peasants that support the knights (by which we mean they're very cost-effective meatshields).

The army is currently very old and very out of date, although still readily available, there are some rumours concerning them though. This is unfortunate since WFB 8th edition nerfed cavalry pretty hard. They're still workable, but they're hurting pretty badly. Some denizens of /tg/ argue that Bretonnia should just be squatted, as they don't have anything over any other army. Seriously, the Empire (ostensibly an infantry-based army) has better cavalry than these guys.

For what it's worth, they're still a major player in the fluff, arguably sharing the "protagonist" stage with the Empire (or at least being the co-star) in the Glottkin End Times book, though the plot material of "Thanquol" seems to have finally done in the nation as an independent entity.

On March 26th, 2016, the entire Bretonnian range was added to Games Workshop's 'Last Chance to Buy' section, so it seemed like the Brets are finally gone for good. Though due to the aforementioned fading relevance as an army, lack of creativity and stand-out characters, some actually arguing for squatting, and all that even before the End Times and Age of Sigmar, few can honestly say they didn’t see this coming. Compared to Tomb Kings, outrage over the loss seemed to be rather lukewarm. But they were later un-'Last Chance to Buy'ed and the entire range returned 8 years later as part of GW's resurrection of Warhammer Fantasy in Warhammer: The Old World, being one of the starter factions alongside the Tomb Kings. And the returned Bretonnia was very popular and the best selling range when the game released, more or less disproving that it had been a good idea to get rid of them (or the Tomb Kings) to begin with.

History

Long before the land now known as Bretonnia was founded, it was inhabited by the Lizardmen, but they were driven back by Chaos; later, the High Elves from Ulthuan created a vortex to keep the demons at bay, and settled on most of the non-mountainous regions in the Old World. Since the region of soon-to-be-Bretonnian is the only Old World region closest to Ulthuan(that and because the Elves' favorite tree friend lives in that region as well), it was colonized the most, and its capital city in the Old World: Tor Alessi (soon to be L'Anguille) was built there for the Elves to govern their other Old World's settlements from there. But then the War of the Beard War of Vengeance happened, and the land became a major battlefield between the Dwarves and High Elves. The conflict weakened the High Elves so much that Caradryel, the successor Phoenix King, ordered the retreat of all High Elves back to Ulthuan. Some High Elves refused, and moved in to live with their aforementioned tree friends' forest and became the Wood Elves. With no Elves in sight, humans began to settle the land. It was first inhabited by some pagan hippies who play with rocks(aka pacifist tribe who worships Rhya). Then the Bretonnian's ancestor: The Bretonni tribe, arrived to their future homeland after fighting through the Worlds Edge Mountains against a bunch of Greenskins and other rival human tribes, and conquered the aforementioned pansy-pacifist tribe. These Bretonni were of similar martial prowess to the Unberogen (Sigmar's tribe), who fought both humans and orcs on daily basis and managed to avoid going extinct. Like every human tribe, the Bretonni were given an invitation by Sigmar to be united as a whole, but they refused and chose to keep to themselves because they were pretty much a mockery of the real-life French stereotype and believed through sheer arrogance that their culture was inherently superior. Seriously, the Bretonni are a backward medieval stasis tribe that couldn't even evolve to use metalwork without consulting Dwarves who lived in nearby mountains.

The Bretonni were later raided by a clusterfuck of nearby Orc WAAARGH, in addition to Tomb kings led by Settra(who was after the lost shiny bling stolen from his kingdom). Unable to properly unite to face the threats, the Bretonnis were facing annihilation (much thanks to the sheer arrogance towards Sigmar that led to their doom). But an awesome guy named Giles Le Breton rallied every Bretonni warrior he could find, including his best friends Duke Thierulf d'Lyonesse and Duke Landuin d'Mousillon, to fight the Orc menace. Still, they failed due to the horde's size and were forced to retreat to a nearby forest. Wandering wearily in the forest, Giles stopped to drink from a lake and found himself watched over by a strange woman of ethereal form: the Lady of the Lake. Le Breton, facing desperation and madness, asked this Lady to bless him with strength and he was fully restored. Duke Thierulf d'Lyonesse and Duke Landuin d'Mousillon did the same thing, and the three of them became Lileath's puppet the first three Grail Knights.

With the power to finally pull some awesome ass-kicking, Giles and his tribe kicked the shit out of the Orcs, returned to their settlement, united the Bretonni tribesmen under one banner, and founded "Bretonnia," with their benefactor the Lady of the Lake as the centre of their newly created society.

After the unification, Breton was dubbed the "Uniter" and became the first Royarch. Unfortunately, Breton was killed (or we thought) by a cunning git with SpearChukas in one of his many campaigns against the Greenskin. His son Louis the Rash was then crowned the king, and founded the Questing Knight tradition. Many evils like the Tomb Kings and Greenskins were pushed out of the borders of Bretonnia during this time.

There were invasions from Araby where they invaded Estalia. Estalia were desperate, so they sought help from Bretonnia and many Empire provinces. A combined holy crusade of Bretonnia and the Empire was formed to kick them back to their sandy home.

After that, a joint army of undead led by Heinrich Kemmler and Krell plus the Skaven invaded but was crushed after the Skaven ran away with their tails between their legs in the middle of the fight.

During the End Times, it was revealed that the Lady of the Lake was indeed the elven goddess Lileath. The Bretonnians present during this revelation abandoned her, but through some convoluted nonsense all Grail Knights and Damsels are saved in a new World, the "Haven" and probably live untainted from chaos as immortal rulers of a new Bretonnia (HURRAH!). BUT Bel'akor found out and smothered it in its crib, dooming everyone in there (hurroo...). It was later mentioned that they may have simply lost contact with this Haven, as the Warhammer World was becoming increasingly saturated with Chaos.

Geography

The Kingdom of Bretonnia is located to the West of the Empire with the Grey Mountains acting as a natural border between the two. Located to the East of Bretonnia and West of the Grey Mountains lies the forest of Athel Loren, inhabited by the Wood Elves. They enjoy coming and murdering peasants in Quenelles every Springtime. South of Bretonnia is Estalia and the Vaults Mountain Range. To the West of Bretonnia is the Great Ocean and Ulthuan. To the North is the Island of Albion and Norsca.

Within the Kingdom itself lie multiple dukedoms. These are each ruled by a Duke, who has to have at least become a Knight of the Realm.

Couronne

Literally named "crown", which makes sense in the "modern era" of Warhammer but not so much in earlier eras (like the one The Old World is set in) since the capital and home of the king is basically just the Dukedom of the Duke who became the current king.

The furthest northern Dukedom, and pretty miserable by the standards of Bretonnians and the other non-Empire peoples of The Old World. The southern border is defined by the River Sannez which separates it from L'Anguille, and the northern is the Sea Of Claws AKA where Norscans cross to raid from. The coastline is walkable...technically, and leads to Marienburg in the east past the Pale Sisters mountains. Marienburg has a frosty relationship with Bretonnia (no pun intended) though it still trades, and past that is Nordland in the Empire as well as the friendly(ish) Wood Elves of the Eonir. Before reaching other humans though travelers have to cross the Wasteland, more specifically the most inhospitable part of it called the Bitter Moors; once known as the province of Westerland, populated by Elves, Dwarfs, and humans before Skaven and Fimir fought the human tribes in a three-way war resulting in a desolate lifeless wasteland constantly blanketed in fog and full of monstrous creatures that prey on any attempt at building a settlement between Bretonnia and Marienburg to say nothing of lingering magics from Nagash's war against the Empire of Sigmar and sporadic attempts by brigands, outlaws, and Norscans to create a base to raid from; needless to say, travel is hard for merchants and diplomats though armies can usually push through. Most trade actually goes through the Gisoreux Road to, well, Gisoreux. The lesser taken route called The Coast Road literally follows the coastline, made up of ancient white Elven stones that form a path a that flows organically with the landscape and are dotted by ruins of settlements from various eras and races along with a few sparsely populated towns though primarily the independent fishing village of Broekwater which has an official population of only 84...but is rumored to be the front for smugglers, pirate dens, the patron city of the hidden Cult Of Stromfels, and so on (its implied to be a situation where there's a LOT more people than you see around doing respectable work, bordering almost on an Innsmouth or "inns that only exist to collect information on travelers" type front). The Coast Road leads to the Marches Of Couronne, though Orc presence leads traders to continue on and visit the port city of Castle L'Anguille rather than make the overland route to Couronne.

The Marches are the space of land between the northern tip of the mountains and the coast, too dry for much agriculture but with plenty of wide-open space and grass for raising horses. Its not exactly a stereotype to say all of Couronne has ridden a horse at least once, and its the predominant feature in their culture. Its also infested with Greenskins, who breed in the mountains and come down to the lowlands to attack. Horses are so common that even peasants can OWN a horse rather than just be assigned one as Yoemen, and the Greenskins swap out their boars for a carnivorous horse that can climb mountains like goats (note: they may actually be goats and the peasants are just that stupid, though its noted that the Bretonnians have failed to tame these horses for themselves on the rare times they've been captured so...maybe?). The frequent presence of Greenskins has made the settlements of the region all ready for their own defense, from Peasant levies that will self-organize and deal with their own defense to stop small WAAGHs without having to wait for knights to muster to all coastal settlements being fortified with walls from all sides as fortresses. A number of defensive towers dot the countryside, built and maintained by the peasants to counter the Goblin invasions. There is also a curious undead presence from the site known as Landrel Barrow, from which every few years (though not in a predictable pattern) exactly 4,373 skeletons and zombies march out, follow the same route, and return to the barrow; they don't interact with anything or anyone that doesn't bother them and quickly eliminate any foolish enough to attempt to, so the citizenry and nobles leave them alone. Explorations of Landrel Barrow when the undead aren't active reveal it to be supernaturally dark and cold and full of underground tunnels, but strangely empty aside from one report of a Wight that guarded treasure somewhere in the twisting depths.

Couronnians are strange to other peoples even in Bretonnia (though to be fair every Dukedom tends to be), with their obsession with horses and generally good manners leading to the expression 'Brionnian would fight you to the death over his wife but cheerfully lend you his horse, whilst Couronnians are the other way around.' They use horses, the highest quality they can, for trips where it is unnecessary such as lowborn nobles riding warhorses to the market within reasonable walking distance. Basically anyone, peasant or knight, who doesn't care for horses becomes an adventurer either as a brigand or Errant. Horse racing is preferred to jousting or other forms of entertainment, and sabotage or intrigue relating to the races may as well be the global politics of the High Elven court for all the importance on it. King Louen Leoncoeur ironically tends to skip the racing season, being the rare king to see his duties as more important while previous kings tended to attend. That said, the pinnacle of Couronne competition is the Tournament Celestial, a race between Pegasus riders. The 80 knights of the Skyhost, which the king himself leads personally, draw from the victors of this competition as much as the Pegasus Knights of Parravon.

In the "modern day" the primary plot hook is Earl Adalbert, lord of the Marches, who is pushing to rise through society by deed, reputation, and alliance to see Louen renounce his Dukeship (since Louen was Duke and king at the same time) and appoint Adalbert to the position. To that end he is gathering an army of adventurers and mercenaries in order to invade the Wasteland and take Marienburg, something that Nordland is ALSO doing; this plot hook as you imagine went abso-fucking-lutely nowhere in End Times. Meanwhile Roland the Marshal is the protector in charge of the borderlands between the Marches and the Bitter Moors, which he expands quietly by establishing new forts, castles, and towns to support them with the goal of establishing a new Dukedom. Agilulf of Couronne is one of the most famous Grail Knights to ever have lived, and needless to say where he hailed from. Best known for his shining magical armor, the Armour of Brilliance which caused agony to evil beings that even looked at it, he killed literally thousands of enemies personally in his long life of questing to the degree that the peasantry believed that it was the armor that was self-aware and merely used a long string of mortal knights as vessels. He simply disappeared one day, and eventually a group of knights returning from Crusade brought his armor back to the king whereupon the Damsels instructed Louen Leoncoeur to have a master smith reforge it to its previous holy power and wear it himself. Less valiant is Ronsard, Gentleman Highwayman. Just a peasant robber who made a mocking show out of being excessively polite, he overheard his victim talking about how interesting the encounter was in an inn and since then has manufactured an entire mythology for himself as a mysterious being of unknown noble quality. He's even begun only taking a small portion of the victim's money and lending aid in battles with Greenskins. The Dukedom also produced the champion of the Lost Sons, Landuin of Couronne. The Lady and her Fey (read: Wood Elf) servants take the children of Bretonnia with magical aptitude, returning the girls as Damsels while keeping the boys. It was unknown what happened to them until young Louen was almost killed by a Necromancer's forces, when he was rescued and brought beneath the magical waters where The Lady dwells. There he was given a sip of the cup which made him a Grail Knight and allowed to accompany the Lost Sons against the Necromancer. Landuin was the son of Brocard the Bold, Louen's best friend who had just been killed by that same Necromancer. The Sons purged the undead, and Louen was set on his path to kingship. The people of Couronne also have a recent reason to strongly dislike the men of the Empire, as during a border dispute Viscount d'Alembençon brokered an agreement with Kurt Helborg that instead of clashing armies between Couronne and Reikland they would settle the dispute with a duel; d'Alembencon defeated Helborg fairly only for the Empire forces to open fire on the Bretonnians, having used the duel to buy time to move into position, and Helborg killing d'Alembencon before he could return to take command. Also of note is Laudyricus of Couronne, a Grail Knight so blessed that literally touching Daemons and the Undead destroyed them; its not said if he is a hero from the past or is still alive.

During the The Old World era the plot is threadbare; a woman named Chambray D’Axauex was the Duchess, and she was proud of the martial strength of the Dukedom. That's it.

The heraldry of Couronne comes from its first Duke and companion to Gilles, same as the others. Carleond and his brother Thierulf (first Duke of Lyonesse) were attacked by (allegedly) the last surviving lion in Bretonnia (presumably some descendant of the Chracian White Lions left behind from the War Of The Beard) and both managed to kill it and skin its pelt to wear, both taking different variations of a lion for their heraldry. Since the original king of the independant Couronne had been killed before Gilles and the Companions arrived and Thierulf took their homeland of Lyonesse, Carleond was given Couronne.

A special military force called the Chevaliers de Couronne made up of Realm Knights of the Dukedom answers directly to the Duke, at present Louen, and are tasked specifically with defending sites of The Lady although they were also in the past sent on Crusade to Araby against Sultan Jaffar; otherwise they just defend the city of Couronne.

The River Sannez is wide enough to use for ocean-faring sized ships and connects the city of Couronne to the city of L'Anguille, encouraging prosperous trade. Its also home to a number of natural (and presumably some unnatural, this is Warhammer after all) springs that cause the river to be warm and mineral-rich and boost the fertility of the southern fields. More importantly it never freezes, allowing shipping and trade all year round.

• Castle Couronne: The namesake city. Located in the southwest of the Dukedom, it spans both sides of the Sannez with a bridge connecting it; the eastern side is idyllic and homes are even built on small springs ensuring each home has a source of warm water. The western side is a gigantic slum that the city guard doesn't even bother entering and is simply called 'The Cesspit' and treated as if its another part of the world entirely. Its famous for being the capital and seat of power of Louen Leoncoeur, current Royarch of Bretonnia. Also host to Bretonnia's most famous tournament grounds, The Lion Ring, where nobles race their horses and participate in jousts and melee. Also home to the largest temple of Shallya, which houses a healing spring inside and is the end point for the Road to Couronne, a pilgrimage beginning in the Shallyan temple at Altdorf and ending in the Shallyan temple here; those who set out are the elderly, diseased, and crippled hoping for healing and 1/3 of those who begin never leave Altdorf, one in ten actually reach Couronne, and one in a hundred actually make the return trip that completes the pilgrimage; of those who do leave half do seemingly have their injuries or maladies magically healed (the fact that the Tears of Shallaya, phials of water from the temple which cure any poison, come from the city lends credence to the healing magic). The many crossings along the way mostly waive fees for the pilgrims, the Emperors of the Empire and kings of the kingdom set aside funds for inns to give free lodging for the, and the Grail Knight Sir Chroderis has protected the Bretonnian side of the path for as long as its been undertaken, in addition to prayers offered for two years or until confirmation of death of those along the trip. The plot hook secret of the city is that the entire castle structure is more or less the defenses for a gigantic Elf Waystone, making the High Elves EXTREMELY invested if not in the survival of Bretonnia, at least in the survival of the city which Prince Imrik in the past has taken an army to demonstrate when Beastmen threatened to eliminate the settlement.
• Reaver's Point: A network of towers along the coast, built and manned by the peasants with no lordly involvement. Defend the coastline against invasion as well as any Greenskins trying to speed into the kingdom via The Coast Road.
• Tancred Castle: Earl Adalbert's estate.
• Castle Brilloinne: Founded by the great Grail Knight Lucus of Brilloinne, the fortress supported a Grail Chapel inside which was housed many dark relics for safekeeping he'd discovered in his travels. His grandson Lucus the Younger defended it from Archaon, and he could have defeated him had he not been baited into a direct confrontation on an open field where the forces of Chaos didn't exactly fight fair. A Slaughterbrute used by one of Archaon's minions killed him when Archaon failed to best him in a duel, and when Archaon was nearly killed by the residual power of the grandfather that same Slaughterbrute saved him by destroying the foundations of the structure, leaving a smoking wreck with no survivors. Archaon claims his as a great victory despite it being his second most humiliating moments (the first that didn't include a green forehead to his little Be'lakors).

L'Anguille

Bordering Couronne and Lyonesse, it is one of the smallest Dukedoms. Known primarily for coastal trade, since its just as miserable as the rest of Bretonnia's coastline but protected by cliffs. That keeps the entire land temperate and fantastic for crops year-round. Sea monsters patrol the coast and all but the most skilled mariners shipwreck there, with small coves hosting smuggler dens and various kinds of criminals that keep away from the rest of the Dukedom. Within the lands its the most peaceful place in Bretonnia; the northernmost tip of the Forest Of Arden in the south is the only source of monsters as the forests have largely been long cleared away aside from thin strips less than 100 feet across that provide places for renewable lumber and pig foraging. When Beastmen do invade they for unknown reasons consist entirely of deer-headed ones.

Originally the region was the territory of the High Elf city Tor Alessi, a massive fortress built by Tiranoc as a trade center in the Old World. Dwarfs laid siege to it in the War Of The Beard fourteen times, with their worst defeats and biggest losses of men and equipment there with many Dwarfs dying in disgrace, taking the Oath, or being renamed by the High King into shameful titles. This is where Caledor II was finally killed, and after his successor Caradryel commanded the Elves to abandon the Old World the Dwarfs finally took the city...once there was no Elves to defend it. They dismantled the three defensive towers to construct a vault to keep their Oath-avenging plunder in the form of the Elf crown and left the city for human tribals to later move into.

The founding Duke Corduin had a life of tragedy. His wife Theralind and their children were transformed into monsters by a hag, serpents with two arms and the head of a reptilian horse who can survive on land for up to an hour and leap onto the decks of ships; the purity of Therlind let her keep her mind and to this day she guards her former home while the children and their descendants called Therlind's Brood are more feral; they don't attack the port or ships bound for the channel and up the Sannez, but otherwise anything is fair game. When Gilles and his Companions came to the castle they found it under siege from Norscans and butchered the invaders, recruiting Corduin to their brotherhood. After securing Bretonnia he became a Hermit Knight, the very first, and the Virtue Of The Penitent is patterned after him. Theralind herself is the heraldry of the Dukedom.

The folk are split between the coastal village/city types who are adventurous, and the countryside that just want to live safe and pastoral. Not happy where you were born, you migrate between the two.

There are no major cities in the Dukedom beyond Castle L'Anguille, as both Castle L'Anguille and Castle Couronne are so close there's not much space for other markets. A number of small castles and many towns and villages do dot the countryside however, supporting the two city centers.

The "modern day" plot mainly revolves around Duke Taubert, who was a renowned mariner until 15 years ago when he returned and has refused to go near the coasts since. He's positioned himself instead in Grasgar Castle, expanding both the grounds and garrison in preparation for one purge to end the Beastmen threat in Arden forever. In the meantime a series of watchtowers have been established all around, allowing message to immediately reach Grasgar and allow his forces to sally out and end any Beastmen invasions before they get far. His successes have made him a paragon to the country L'Anguillians, and the Beastmen have largely stopped bothering going north which has caused the nobles of Lyonesse and Artois as well as Couronne to believe his plan is just driving the Beastmen into their lands, causing them to oppose L'Anguille on all political matters in revenge. Meanwhile his complete absence from the city has resulted in a rotating list of stewards being appointed, the current one Godemar Fitzgodric even planning a rebellion to create a free state (note: this is basically here to be the Oldhammer Bretonnia that's foppish and nearer the French Revolution plus with some Arthurian knights hanging around because its fun, rather than the more consistent Arthurian and Pythonian version from later generations). There is also a site called the Dragon's Maw halfway between the capital and Lyonesse; its one of the most storm-wracked places in the world, hit by a severe one every week and beyond that is literally jagged rocks, some of which move, sticking up out of the water with nowhere to even land nearby. Any ship that got near obviously sank, but now travelers going anywhere nearby on the shore have also begun disappearing including the Lord of the area. His ten year old son was given authority, and has offered a reward for anyone who can bring his father home as the Duke has refused to engage with the situation since he no longer acknowledges anything near the coast. Rodrik de L'Anguille obviously hails from the region, a Questing Knight sent by his hateful father to find death in Lustria; the rest of his army were killed by Lizardmen after they looted one of their temples but Rodrik survived, joining an Empire expedition in Total War: Warhammer. Balderin Beastslayer is one of the more famous modern heroes of the Dukedom, who eschewed the protection of the province to bait a Dark Elf force that had been raiding the peasant villages of the other Dukedoms into making landfall and attacking his castle. The day they arrived an army of Wood Elves and the Green Knight also appeared, and the force crippled the Dark Elf attack to the degree the other Dukes were able to send forces to end the threat before they reached further inland.

• Castle L'Anguille: Mostly just called L'Anguille since the site is WAY more than just the castle and its grounds, and also the lack of other major cities you could be referring to. The primary notable structure that remains from the High Elf days is the lighthouse, a GIGANTIC structure rising 300 feet tall that looks like it was carved from a single piece of stone and is wide enough that ten knights can ride side by side around the top. It connects directly to the remaining High Elf walls which are sixty feel tall and gradually give way to the Bretonnian extensions. The first structure the humans erected is a castle sitting on an island right in the middle of the harbor with siege equipment that can fire in all directions were the port gates ever breached or the city ever occupied. That said, the primary city intrigue comes from the Brethren of the Lighthouse, the merchants and lower classes of the city who feel that Revolutionary itch and have begun stockpiling blackpowder weapons as well as having built four towers in the city proper with cannons that not only enhance the defense of the city but could exchange fire with the castle in the event of a civil war. They've also expanded the wall fortifications to include places for gunners. The Castellan is still on the side of the Duke, but the Steward is one of the leaders of the Brotherhood. At present they don't have a lot of reason to rebel though, since Taubert really just does not give a shit about anything near the coast and has basically given them the freedom to do as they please, and open rebellion could bring a Crusade down on them. If this all seems a bit of an odd plot, this faction basically exists in case players wanted to make an army like the Oldhammer Bretonnia when the Brets had better guns and cannons than the Empire and rivaling Dwarfs, as well as prestigious academies of learning.
• Grasgar Castle: Taubert's base of operations, a large garrison with increasingly large grounds and more troops, with a watchtower network all along the southern border.
• Ora Lamae: There's no info on this settlement in the modern lore since it relies heavily on pre-4e canon where Bretonnia was more pre-Revolutionary France with some Arthurian elements for the sake of fantasy and less 100% diet Arthurian. The lord of the city is Bayard Solon, who has refused to acknowledge king Charles de la Tête d'Or III (current king of Bretonnia in the old lore) and rules as if Charlies II was still alive. The walls aren't suitable for defense and the city guard is complacent since its been ten years since pirates came inland and they have nothing else to fear. The castle has one high dark tower with no windows towards the sea, and the living quarters are decorated and furnished like a royal palace. The main street is a row of shrines to various gods, and the Cult Of Solkan openly preaches.
• Serrac: The village consists of around 300 peasants in very poor health squeezed into around 12 hovels that are falling apart, while Castle Serrac is a grand bastion in the shape of a triangle keep with a tower at each corner on a hill with a grand courtyard and a palisade with a stone gatehouse and construction indicating stone walls are intended in the longterm. The fields lay in the south while a forest lies in all other directions, the Beastmen largely having been eradicated but Herrimaults having moved in instead. Here's your Nottingham.

Lyonesse

This Dukedom lies upon the north-western shores of Bretonnia with L'Anguille in the north, Artois in the east, and Mousillon in the south...kinda. In the modern day era of WFB its one of the larger Dukedoms following its annexation of Mousillon several centuries earlier though this hasn't happened yet in the TOW era, and this article will treat them as distinct (Mousillon never integrated with Lyonesse anyway). The wide coastline leaves the Dukedom particularly at risk from attacks from the sea be they pirates, Norscans, or Dark Elves. Its also an especially wet region, with many peasant villages on small islands off the coast which can vanish due to hostile raiding without any message being able to reach the shore, many underground and above ground rivers, and lakes which become more and more just giant swamps and marshes the further south you go; as one might expect of a fantasy setting, swamps and marshes are places of evil magic and undead and monsters and other dangers.

The entire region was once an extension of the High Elf city of Athel Menya, though surprisingly the capital wasn't built on the ruins.

It was founded by Duke Thierulf the Lionhearted, brother of the founder of Couronne. Despite being the younger brother he inherited their homeland, likely due to his marriage to Gilles' sister Rosalind of Bastonne. His heraldry was also a lion, albeit with a different design and also due to the incident of killing a feral lion as children. Thierulf and Landuin of Mousillon were the two first Companions of Gilles and encountered the Lady together while fighting Orcs. His ultimate fate isn't known, only that in their older years he and Landuin had some kind of grudge possibly involving Rosalind which resulted in a duel which Landuin won, Thierulf getting a scar across his face from it.

The lands of Lyonesse are infamously known for their rivalry with not other Bretonnian realms, but amongst their own nobility. The geography of the land in the north forms into natural Mottes (as in the mound you build before you start on a castle) with fresh water accessible under almost all of them along with existing cave systems, meaning building a fortress is half-done. In the south (both the original border and the later expanded one) are full of lakes connected to each other by rivers with resource-full islands in most which ALSO are perfectly suited for castles. So yeah, basically most of Lyonesse is either castles or ruins of castles. As a result its full of old blood families that can't do much against each other if they really want to take their toys and go home then lock the door behind them, and nobody else in Bretonnia has an appetite for trying to invade no matter how much the Lyonessians piss them off; so you get a bunch of arrogant old bloods who hold grudges like Dwarfs hold Grudges and just impotently insult each other. Only a bit of the Forest Of Arden reaches into the territory in the south, but even in the forest there's rivers and lakes. Peasant settlements are abundant there where they have some freedom from raids by nobles trying to piss each other off and hit targets outside the castles, but these villages as a result have to contend with Beastmen and very little blue blood support. To make matters worse a special breed of Beastmen called Lakemen who are amphibious work alongside the others in their raids...or at least that's what the Bretonnians think. The truth is the Beastmen, ever the racist villainous bastards, can't get along with the Lakemen and the two fight any time they can and the seeming staggered attacks are the groups avoiding each other rather than any cooperative coordination.

High amounts of Norscan ancestry contributes to the belligerence of the Lyonessians, though they're just as fond of complex intrigue and subtle Elf-like insults; whatever they can do to feel like they won a victory. The schemes extend to all walks of society as peasants are recruited as agents or involved directly in court affairs due to a lack of loyal and uninvolved parties, while merchants are pressed into the schemes when the usual knightly language of the nobles can't be applied meaningfully in any way. Some families even follow complex schemes that Tzeentch or the oldest Dwarf clans would chart out, ancestors coming up with incomplete or partially lost schemes to advance goals that no longer apply against dead rivals or merged families; an example given is a lord who, following the old family plan, wound up accidentally ordering the assassination of his wife them himself to avenge her and had to flee the Dukedom to untangle his family from the mess. Expats, noble and peasant, largely stem from that exact desire to just start over free from the nonsense as Lyonesse's bullshit doesn't spill outside its borders often.

The main divide in Lyonen politics is that between the Lyonessian castle-happy north and the swampy former-Mousillon south. The southern nobles were happy to be free from the bullshit of Mousillon's many problems ranging from crazy Dukes to undead hordes, the Lyonessians weren't going to expand the politics they already had to contend with to the “Old Mousillese” and snatched up the best fiefs while keeping them out of any actual power structure of note. While one might expect them to band together to make a difference or even petition for a new Dukedom, they ALSO are full of old rivalries and grudges that keep them from doing so; despite that they're still far more friendly with each other than the Lyonessians are so its not the least likely future (were it not for End Times anyway).

The current tea is mainly about Adalhard, current Duke and a man so massive its generally believed he has Norscan parentage and so bloodthirsty for battle that its rumored he holds Ulric in higher regard than The Lady. He has absolutely no chill, and if you're coming in from Warhammer 40k and want to play a Primarch in Fantasy he's one of the top contenders with his massive body, golden magic armor, glowing Elf sword, lion pelt cloak, mane of magnificent hair, and a response to politics that begins and ends with "krump everyone arguing, take all their shit, that's what you get for bothering me" and with the regal bearing that all those around him stand at attention and listen. If it sounds like a setup for him to turn into a villain, you're half-right; in End Times he sided with Mallobaude against Louen, but in defeat he swore fealty and apologized for his mistake. He was forgiven, and went through End Times otherwise a hero. Adalhard's son Aldrad is far less impressive, being a reckless drunkard solely interested in partying with friends. To teach him some competency Aldrad was sent to garrison in La Maisontaal Abbey (away from his childhood friends in the pub) to serve under Duke Theodoric of Brionne, a womanizer who managed to put duty first between his fun. Unfortunately Aldrad merely found new drinking friends among the Errants of the garrison, renaming themselves the Aldrad's Lance and proceeding to learn basically nothing of value. Adalhard's predecessor was also a bit of a shit disturber, as Duke Francois le Noir managed to get a delegation of High Elves into war with him after his son Edward lost at a tournament. In the end the Bretonnians fared so well at the tournament and battle that the Elves, ever the tsun for the Brets, informed him they'd be back in a year for another tournament and duel (and probably battle) but also gifting the Bretonnians with a chest of jewels and a magic sword (likely the one Adalhard uses). During the invasions of Egil Styrbjorn the region suffered greatly, every peasant settlement the Khorne horde encountered was razed and the capital itself severely damaged. In The Old World the Duke is Gaulthiere LeGrand, who's stated to be known for this "laissez-faire approach to the wider issues within his dukedom." We don't know anything else about him, though the personality certainly fits his predecessor and successors. There's also the Lyonesse expat Julien Pontenne, who rules a Border Prince kingdom.

Of course, none of those are probably the names you'd first associate with Lyonesse. Repanse originates from here, as you would expect. To make a long story short; shepherdess, Chaos invasion, vision from The Lady, take up the armor of a dead knight with a lost warhorse and a sacred sword in a chapel plus a fancy banner, rallied the knights, saved Couronne and the kingdom, avenged the murdered Louis the Brave and put his son Louis the Young on the throne. Made a knight and appointed as Duke of Lyonesse. Now it should be noted retcons between editions have made her story shift in detail, such as the alteration of it being harder and eventually impossible for peasants other than her and one other to become knights, and the retcon of women being banned from knighthood to that being just a normal thing (so the two swapped places in uniqueness). Also she doesn't die young like her counterpart, instead presumably is an ancestor of Adalhard. It should also be noted she's always been a historical figure, long dead by the time of the modern day of the game and even in The Old World may or may not be dead since she was never a Grail Knight in the text; that being said, in the Total War: Warhammer timeline The Lady specifically made Repanse her Champion and basically made her immune to aging alongside her knightly companion Henri le Massif, a giant of a man also native to Lyonesse and one of her first followers. Her army, the Chevaliers de Lyonesse, is literally blessed and where they march small flowers in the shape of the fleurs de lis grow even in the lifeless desert of Nehekhara. That said, her other companions the Damsel Chantelle de la Nuit, the Errant Pierre d'Arden, the Archer Jean Claude Sartre, and the Man-At-Arms Rene de Cartes aren't mentioned. She also gave up her status as Duke at some point since she instead leads holy Crusades against The Lady's current greatest foe (the Tomb Kings in the TWW present day). Its not impossible that she still is alive in TOW or even WFB since her death isn't mentioned anywhere, but presently is only a thing in TWW canonically unless you want to use her for your own army. Another character who's story was altered by the retcon allowing women to be knights in TOW is Redemund AKA Mathilde of Lyonesse, a woman who wanted nothing but to be a knight and when an Errantry War was called she pulled a Mulan and stole her father's armor and pretended to be his son. Since she can't ever return home once the war was over she just continued on as a full-time warrior, fighting Greenskins and anything else a Bretonnian knight should. In theory her story is entirely implausible now, but there's still the idea she just wasn't allowed to be a knight due to obligation to continue the family line or simply command of her father. Stealing the armor certainly makes her possibly unable to return home, but there's no reason for her to have adopted a different name or pretended to be a man. Lets...just say she's Trans and call it good?

The Knights of the Lionhearted also hail from Lyonesse, an order of Knights Of The Realm who are full-time soldiers bearing holy lances and armor.

• Castle Lyonnesse: One of the smallest Ducal Capitals in Bretonnia, it is built into the walls of the very coast itself on an island. According to folk tales, the inhabitants angered Mannan, who proceeded to flood the city leaving only the castle of the virtuous lord intact. Whatever the truth held in the story, adventurers have found ruins and golden items on the surrounding coast. During high tide small ships can sail right over the outer walls and reach the outer courtyard and during low tide it resembles the top of a Motte seen throughout the rest of Lyonesse with the added feature of a road leading into the water...when Adalhard hosts a feast (which is often) the entire city can hear it from the keep. Despite the small size of it, the city walls were made by Dwarfs and its repelled attacks from everything from Mousillon to Skaven, Greenskins to Dark Elves, the Empire to Daemons. It was badly damaged during the invasions of Egil Styrbjorn, the walls blasted apart and city ransacked during the brief occupation.
• D'Ason: Located on the northern coast. A village around a Grail Chapel built by Adelhard the Second (not the Duke named AdALhard, AdELhrd). There, MANY years ago, a peasant bastard child prone to fits (so someone less than a domestic pig in social standing) and known for piety began constructing strange devices, allegedly guided by The Lady and using broken chunks of the Chapel. For some reason he was left alone to his work, and when a Chaos invasion came he fired his devices sending huge chunks of the chapel as projectiles sinking the ships. The king of that time commanded his designs be spread throughout the kingdom, and for his heroism he was rewarded with...one pig and two copper coins, more wealth than he'd have ever expected to achieve. Its one of the more cited stories about how Bretonnia treats peasants. The boy's name is lost to history, but somehow he managed to fire many of the trebuchets by himself despite it taking a team of four in the present.
• Athel Menya: The former capital city in the Elf colony days, it was abandoned during the War Of The Beard. Presumably early enough in the war that it wasn't under siege given the Dwarfs didn't plunder the site, with a recent High Elf Prince named Aenur (possibly the same Aenur the Sword of Twilight from Mordheim fame, in which case he was a very dark figure intent on killing Be'lakor and allegedly the former head of the Swordmasters Of Hoeth) coming to reclaim the relics; his inability to not offend anyone he spoke to resulted in an argument with the Duke, resulting in a tournament in which the Bretonnians accused the Elves of cheating for using magic items and the Elves claiming all tournaments should allow it, resulting in a battle, resulting in Aenur leaving to return the relics of Athel Menya to the Phoenix Court and come right back in a year for another tournament.
• Barley Motte: Dolorous Gard in Warhammer form. Founded by the noble House D'ayvle, who fell to Chaos God worship. Ever since then its needed to be cleared periodically by adventurers or armies, being occupied by everything from Daemons to Greenskins to bandits to the undead.
• Sigmarsheim: An odd settlement populated entirely by Sigmarites of the Empire. Located in the Forest Of Arden on a lake island, an Errant who had adventured through the Empire brought back his friends and petitioned a charter to establish a township there. Although technically the lord and them as his peasants, he copies the social order of the Empire and aside from his keep it looks like exactly that. The citizens themselves now fifty years on (remember Bretonnians live longer than the Sigmarites usually) have made a practice of pilgrimage to the Empire for spouses.
• Barfleur: A small town in the north notable only for its Village Elder, a former Witch Hunter who specialized in the undead named Liudver. Nearby villages bring their cases for him to rule on, and he sees to it that a network keeps him informed on potential undead activity. Outsiders (read: adventurers) are brought to him on false or exaggerated charges so he can send them to kill monsters, and he's planning on discrediting nearby Elders to unite the nearby settlements under his control.
• Landri: One of the largest islands in the northwest, and the site for the invasion of Egil Styrbjorn and his staging area. He initially planned to camp there to raise his son, who was to destroy all of Bretonnia, but after a failed attempt to avert fate the Norscans left.
• Cordon Sanitaire: A series of 12 towers, all patrolled heavily between, serving to isolate Mousillon from Lyonesse to prevent the spread of disease, mutation, and undeath. Most notable Red Pox, the Skaven-spread plague that ravaged Bretonnia so terribly. Each tower is a self-sufficient fortress able to withstand a siege and supporting a garrison, each commanded by a noble Castellan from the ranks of the knights who's job is to detain and question any peasants attempting to leave Mousillon, though their job is mostly dealing with smugglers and bandits among far more dangerous threats. Every three weeks they receive a resupply and soldiers are rotated in and out of service. Louen Leoncoeur prioritized it in his reign, basically predicting his bastard son pulling a Mordred, and encouraged any hero like Questing Knights or even Grail Knights to put in time there. It was rendered ineffective since nobles were just allowed to pass on good faith, peasants with clearance from any noble in any other region could pass, and those not carrying cargo and seemingly in good health merely needed to undergo questioning. Sir Auferic commands the primary tower on the primary crossing, making him the authority on Mousillon that isn't loyal to it and talking to more adventurers than most folks do in the world.

Mousillon

A former Dukedom that has now been mostly absorbed into Lyonesse. It is the smallest and poorest of Bretonnia's Dukedoms. It is filled with swamps and bogs, and the inhabitants are mainly inbred mutants. The Dukedom has become a haven for Vampires, witches, and other ne'er-do-wells who prey on the remaining peasantry. Currently unofficially ruled by Mallobaude.

Artois

Folger is the founder Duke among the Companions of Gilles, and unfortunately we don't really know much about him. Artois is kinda the forgotten Bret faction, and likewise the founder just kinda...shows up during Mousillon's part in the spotlight helping defend Castle Mousillon against Beastmen and the undead (though to be fair, just kinda showing up to fight shit is on-brand). During all celebrations for the Companions in later years they did gather in Folger's home and he would always go out and slay something big to roast. For the first he killed a giant albino boar named Morthanok and adopted it's appearance as his heraldry and thus that of all Artois. What his previous heraldry was is unknown.

The only Dukedom to be completely covered in forest, Artois has a bit of a Beastmen problem. Found entirely in the Forest of Arden, which is also connected to the surrounding Dukedoms of Couronne, Lyonesse, L'Anguille, Mousillon, and Gisoreux. Both man and Beast...man consider the other to be a hostile occupying force in their territory. What little land is outside the forest, basically just in the northwest plus presumably some clearings or logged areas, is where most of the human population lives and farms. Those who do dwell inside the woods are often in settlements typically founded and run the same way; newly anointed Knights of the Realm are given a large portion of land in Artois, usually the eastern side, though in reality that's more just the expanse they're allowed to attempt to build a village. They begin by constructing a keep that usually serves as the gate for the town and a stockade all around, then a bank with a ditch beyond it. The settler brings livestock since farmland is basically just free food for monsters and Beastmen while livestock can be brought into the walls when the alarm is raised. If they manage to survive and drive away the local Beastmen tribes then the land is settled and a new Artois noble line is established, and if not then its just another in the many overgrown ruins in the woods.

A special kind of boar lives in the woods, literally called the Artois Boars. They're stable Chaos mutated boars, not dissimilar to the White Lions Of Chrace, another Chaos-mutated but stable species. Unfortunately the menfolk either show little interest or ability to tame them the way the High Elves do the White Lions, likely due to the belligerent nature of swine being amplified by their Dire nature. They're huge, deadly, and at the top of the food chain (aside from big Chaos beasties anyway) and like to kill loudly and prolong the life of their meal as long as possible. Peasants say that keeping silent makes them go away, but it only provides the Artois Boar a less satisfying meal while Beastmen are just as much in danger of them as the humans. The people of the region consider them a delicacy, while those from other regions avoid it as much as possible due to the logic of eating Chaos mutated monsters that feed mostly on people and other Chaos creatures.

At least once a year almost every settlement is attacked, and the Beastmen of the forest have access to an extremely large amount of Brays (hornless and most human) that the Gors (the more beastlike and stronger) use to test defenses; a settlement that buckles gets the full brunt of a Beastmen attack, and if not there's always more Brays...if you notice the humans are a lot like the Beastmen here, congratulations; you get the theme. As for why there's more Brays, the forest in general is touched by Chaos for unknown reasons with frequent mutations among the citizenry, stable Chaos creatures as normal fauna, and Daemons not really needing a more elaborate explanation if spotted than "its the Arden". Despite the talking up of Lyonesse as the Norscan-like folk, Artois is the place where giant men are hardened by Chaos exposure into grim badasses that like to kill and party.

There's an east/west divide in the Dukedom culturally, though neither sees themselves with a strong identity as an Artoisan. The western ones travel frequently between L'Anguille and Lyonesse, the eastern ones are barely recognizable as Bretonnian. Some villages are so isolated that any peasant who leaves is just treated as undead and if they return are considered a new person or undead, though the nobles are expected to visit the capital yearly.

The Warhammer modern day Duke, Duke Chilfroy, is perfectly suited for his home. He's a giant of a man, and very simple; hates Beastmen, hates talking to men, loves his trophies, simple as. His home is decorated in pelts and heads, horns and teeth. When petitioners come before him the one with the higher rank in society immediately is the winner and the loser is punished gravely as if bothering the Duke with the duties of a Duke was a crime committed. As far as military strategy is concerned, he inspires his warband and hits the enemy head-on. Honestly, it wouldn't have ever been that shocking if he was revealed to have always been a Beastman himself who just shaved his full body frequently. He barely acknowledges a world outside his Dukedom exists, only showing up to the king's court if summoned directly and having a "no help asked, so return the favor" relationship with his neighbors. As one might expect he's almost exclusively found in the eastern half of the Dukedom and barely acknowledges the western side. Said western side is loyal almost entirely just to Earl Larret, a sophisticated man of a very prestigious and culturally significant family who is alleged to have spent his Errantry as a wandering bard rather than fighting as a knight, though he does conduct himself every bit as a Knight Of The Realm is expected to (despite getting on in age and becoming slightly obese) and is expected to eventually petition the king for advancement as a Baron and presumably one day Duke while having plans to see his son Fredemund become king (though pushing Fredemund to become a Grail Knight has so far mostly resulted in a Questing Knight son that's been saved by his father's mercenaries more than once). Adalhard of Lyonesse is known to have made attempts to bring Larret into his court which would see western Artois become part of Lyonesse if he accepted, though Larret's ambition has caused him to refuse. Meanwhile a Grail Knight named Baron Chlodegar had specifically requested territory in northeastern Artois, establishing a massive (for Artois) territory of three successful villages complete with large Grail Chapels that are designed to serve as small fortresses if the walls of the settlements are ever breached. Every year he leads peasants from his three holdings to visit L'Anguille and see civilization; his goals aren't known. Reynard le Chasseur AKA Reynard the Hunter is one of the other most famous residents, leading a full peasant army on his hunts or in his defense of the region. His hunting hawk and two hunting dogs are always with him, and he prefers a boar-hunting spear to the lance. Since he prefers Greenskins as game to Beastmen he's seen in other Dukedoms going good works for the foreign Dukes.

In the TOW era the Duke is away, dealing with Orcs in the Marches Of Couronne. We also don't know who he/she is...

• Castle Artois: Notable for being the only Ducal Capital without an accompanying city/village surrounding it. The building is simply a large fortress surrounded by a large walled courtyard, used as a staging post by the Duke to return to after hunting Beastmen. Its large and stocked enough to support a massive force and he maintains a large presence of Yoemen so he can rotate his entourage out as he perpetually rides out to kill more shit, beyond the ability of anyone else to keep up. The massive burden means constant supply trains are needed to restock from the west (so losing western Artois would really fuck him over, and a clever attack by a large Chaos or undead force would take him out of commission). The Duke dislikes outsiders but employs adventurers as Scouts since he sees their lives as disposable and perfect for the most dangerous task.
• Larret: Earl Larret's home. Located in the southwest between Mousillon and Lyonesse. Its an unusual place for Bretonnia in general, especially in Artois. Its a large city with paved streets, working sewers, constant city watch, places of research and study as well as sites for patronage of the arts from street performers to more refined talents. That said, they all live on the Earl's generosity so anyone unproductive is exiled, as well as any poor. When finances are tight the lower ranks of society are rounded up and driven off as well. He's very forgiving of many things most in the world of Warhammer let alone Bretonnia aren't, such as satire mocking subjects like religion and himself, and even tolerates study of taboo topics so long as one isn't literally a vampire running around killing people or a Chaos Cultist. Criminals are rehabilitated when there's enough funds to support it, and he detests punishments like scarring or removing limbs and will the punishment round up or down to execution or labor. He is also a patron of mercenaries, one of the few in Bretonnia outside Castle L'Anguille, which is where a not insubstantial amount of his funds go.
• Brandywyne: Mostly defined by a large stone and alabaster castle on the edge of the forest surrounded by vineyards. Hunters from the west as well as other Dukedoms enter the forest and usually return from it (if they can) through this location. The current owner is Jean-Luc Brandywyne who rides a horse named Sauvignon and is never seen without his hound Merlot (if you're not great at naming your OCs, just remember choices like this are totally fine in the setting). Known for the best wine in the region, as you'd expect, the old master was killed while hunting by a knight disguising his identity by wearing all black (not super uncommon in Bretonnian culture, since it either means an evil knight or just someone using paint to temporarily or permanently hide their past). Now he seeks to become a Grail Knight since he thinks The Lady will guide him to his father's killer. In the meantime, the estate is without its lord...
• Uesin: A village made up entirely of Mutants. Skaven poisoned the well with Warpstone, hoping to make one of the few successful eastern towns into a target for the others and weaken them all, but the ruler Sir Madregang purged them valiantly despite turning blue and growing horns. Since then he's attempted to shepherd any Mutants wandering the woods to his home, claiming them before the forces of Chaos and the Beastmen do. He still prays to The Lady and adheres to his Virtues, and must routinely hold court and evaluation of those living in his home; those too insane or evil to contribute to the good of Uesin and Bretonnia are executed. The present population is 300 and he's now evaluating whether to expand the site into a proper city or construct a second village.

Gisoreux

Were you sensing a pattern in how Bretonnian Dukedoms tend to have a split between two culture due to two different geographic qualities? Well, Gisoreux takes that concept and dials it way up with four entries. You've got your mountain Gisoreuxans, your forest Gisoreuxans, and your plains Gisoreuxans. Throw in water and fire and you've got your typical fantasy setting all in one convenient place (did we mention there's lakes and a volcano?).

The founder is primarily known for a story from his youth; Duke Beren was ambushed in the Arden in his youth, his entire warband being slaughtered. A magical white deer found him and he followed it safely out of the forest (so the White Hart from Arthurian myth). Since then the White Hart is a symbol of the Dukedom. He was one of the last added to the Companions, his castle under siege having been liberated by Gilles and his men. He himself sallied out and pulled a Doomguy against the attacking Greenskins with the Virtue of the Knightly Temper being his own. Despite that tradition of ultraviolence, one of the Bretonnian kings and Grail Knights descended from him named Jules the Just was the one to outlaw duels to the death in the nation, and with the backing of the Fay Enchantress ruled that all conflict made between Bretonnian nobles in peacetime must be with blunted weapons and any knight who disobeys be stripped of honor and exiled unless undertaking the Grail Quest (presumably this also includes Grail Knights having to seek The Lady a second time, but may also mean they can kill whoever they want in duels). Thanks to this the techniques of lance combat were refined and expanded on so that knights were both trained and capable of using a lance without killing foes, which entirely changed the popular tournament scene to the largely jousting-based ones of the present. He died in a mutual-kill on a beach duel with a Chaos Champion, and since he had no male heir (this being the older lore where women couldn't be knights) his daughter was left to regulate which Duke would replace him; this lead to the False Grail conspiracy, and Mousillon's great dishonor. His successor, Gaston de Beau Geste, put an end to the affair by rescuing the Fey Enchantress and laying siege to Mousillon, revoking its status as a Dukedom after seeing the atrocities committed there. He also married the daughter of the previous king...despite coming from the same noble house. Consanguinity, anyone?

The northern woods of the Forest of Arden used to to right up to the Sannez and Pale Mountains in the north, but its since been entirely clear-cut by the family of Earl Baldhelm of Harran over the course of a thousand years resulting in decent safe plains farmland and a quarter the total population of the Dukedom. The people there are known for their generosity to strangers and willingness to provide meals and lodging, though the people also expect reciprocation by work on day two of your stay.

In the east is the edge of the Forest of Arden, representing basically the future of Artois as settlements are walled and Beastmen attacks come sometimes, but the lands are mostly peaceful and the nobles and patrols of Men-At-Arms prevent large groups from gathering, though its still too dangerous for travelers to go alone into the woods. The plains folk generosity exists here too, but with one added detail; the Chaos mutations prevalent among Artois and travelers through the Arden have resulted in a demand that anyone in the area takes a bath in view of Men-At-Arms, the unspoken test to make sure you're not some Chaos monster in a cloak and peasants even force it on nobility. The lore mentions the eagerness that the men have to inflict it onto traveling ladies, but the lore also blatantly states that women pretending to be men in order to travel safely or be knights are respected with their chosen identity and pronouns so long as they don't have tentacles or extra faces hidden anywhere.

To the south is the bulk of the Pale Sisters Mountains (aside from the northernmost which are in Couronne) which are made up of white stone rounded peaks, steep cliffs, and lots of high valleys separated from the lowlands by steep cliff faces. Between them is the Gisoroux Gap trail leading into the Empire where the bulk of trade and various religious pilgrims goes through, and past that is the start of the Grey Mountains which are predictably made of far darker grey rock with sharp terrain, narrow peaks and ridges, and very difficult passes. This is why the Bretonnians largely dwell in the Sisters while the Dwarfs and Empire prefer the Greys, which defines the cultures as well; the Sisters folk are more amiable and the Greylings are extremely dour people. The mountainfolk of Gisoreux are so isolated they're barely aware of the rest of Bretonnia, with geographic isolation and constant dangers from Chaos, undead, and Greenskins keeping them wary, to say nothing of the severe winters. Most communities are made of stone buildings, each one radically different in customs and culture, though still friendly since the rare stranger is usually more the like of a Questing Knight, Dwarf Slayer, or Witch Hunter than a bandit or Cultist bothering such risk to reach such remote places. The few people who live in the Greys on the other hand are nomadic, guiding travelers but being quick to leave and advise them to follow (and not caring if they do or don't) if signs of the gigantic monsters or sudden dangers are detected. There are a number of fortresses maintained by the nobility of the lower regions that both protected the Gap pass and stop monsters from coming down, and those sites represent places of safety to rest and sell any catches or finds and resupply.

Finally in the west is the deepest parts of the Forest Of Arden. Far more dangerous than any part Artois occupies, all attempts to settle have been abandoned and even guarded loggers rarely ever return. That part of the forest is almost Fey, though not enough survivors have come to reliably pass any stories about how Wood Elfy it may be. For all intents and purposes, its no-man's land there (fitting given the name). The few hunters and scouts who live here are all wary sorts, accustomed to the land and dangerous to cross though also friendly in their own way as they will take risks on their own safety to warn other Gisoreuxans of attacks and dangers; they're well-liked and respected throughout the Dukedom as a result, though they're very wary of Artoisans and specifically will take periodic trips to sell their catches and spend coin in the capital city to ensure they don't go too native in the Arden.

Despite the four-way split and the general vibe of camaraderie there's still intrigue in the present era of Warhammer Fantasy. Like other Dukedoms there was a north/south divide, though the two were extremely amiable and it was more about the ability of the traditionally southern-based Duke to maintain control. The current Duke, Duke Hagen, has upended things by moving to Couronne. While initially due to his close friendship with Louen Leoncoeur, it has enabled him closer access to the northern side of Gisoreux than any previous Duke. Hagen is one of the most devoutly virtuous knights out there, the most committed to the concept of knighthood and The Lady and the Grail and the Virtues and...look, he's Warhammer Fantasy Rogal Dorn, okay? He serves as Louen's advisor, telling him the most morally simple thing to do...on paper. Louen however sometimes has to act unchivalrously in order to spare thousands of lives over things like petty insults, monsters that will migrate away in time, and issues of supplying Crusades and having troops away from home. Now that Hagen can directly oversee the north of his Dukedom he's found them...lacking. Many have local traditions that he finds un-Gisoreuxan, unbecoming of Bretonnians, nobles with peasant customs and peasants acting outside the chain of society in their behavior. Most of these traditions are very old, some as old as Bretonnia, and they're not gonna stop just because Buzz Knightyear shacked up with his BFF (just TRY and make them stop watching people take baths!) and Earl Baldhelm of Harran isn't that fond of his family's thousand year project getting a Duke from the south in his face. To make matters worse the south of Gisoreux has taken to the lack of a Duke to start making political grabs of their own. Bastonne in the south has Gisoruex nobles eyeing their lands, some swearing fealty to the Dukedom there and now owning land in both Dukedoms, others making landgrabs without the consent of either Duke; the border is now nebulous between both on the southern bank of the river, being unclear who exactly "owns" or actually owns what and which Dukedom it belongs to.

Hagen himself has gotten in trouble in the past, such as when a simple pursuit of a Vampire named Malvous who he had heard was in Mousillon; heedless of his right to do so he invaded the city, chased the Vampire across the countryside into the forbidden hills of the pre-Lady ancestors of Bretonnia, then decided to enter a burial Cairn because "fuck the undead and fuck them Pagans", using the sheer force of his conviction to undo the magic he felt and...awakened a MASSIVE ARMY OF PISSED OFF UNDEAD WHO WERE MINDING THEIR FUCKING BUSINESS SLEEPING BEFORE HE GOT THERE. Despite the Fey Enchantress being there with her own retinue he was badly outmatched, made all the worse when all his holy smiting (and Malvous trying to escape and getting lost in the Arden) resulted in the forgotten hateful nightmares and beasts swarming out, trapping him between two unholy armies (which, again, were minding their business before he got involved). Only when barely surviving against the two groups he'd already pissed off did a family of Manticores, a flock of Harpies, and one of the largest Giants to ever live in Bretonnia appear, chasing Malvous and his own undead army. In all the chaos (and Chaos) Hagen simply offered a prayer and kept fighting, only for the Wood Elves to show up and the will of the Lady, only for almost all of them to be slaughtered by a fucking Chimera appearing. All that saved him was three Elf sorceresses at his side, one teleporting a confused Malvous directly into solo combat with Hagen and the rest undoing the magics all around them with song; at the end of the battle he collapsed, waking up having been tended to by the Sorceresses and Malvous's skull left in his hand (though curiously the rest of the body had been taken). None of this story is apparently all that unusual for his life. Yeah, he's basically one of the neurodivergent loyalist Primarchs that got lost and thinks he's a knight.

Rhodegang the Black is one of the named Arden nomads, a man who LOATHES Beastmen and...kinda looks like one, and is one of the foremost experts in them outside possibly the Wood Elves. He mostly just operates as a guide for small groups to travel through the forest but joins warbands, but avoids melee combat and knows its better to out-ambush and retreat than ever fight a prolonged engagement. He's also notably friendly to non-humans, basically anyone not connected to Chaos or a mutant. One of the most famous Gisoreux characters is Huebald of Gisoreux, AKA the only peasant who became a knight other than Repanse after the Oldhammer lore was retconned (previously anyone who won a tournament could become a knight, and successful ones became nobility). His story is told blatantly in the Ten-Tailed Cat comics in White Dwarf, although later versions in Army Books made it more vague; after rescuing Lady Ariadne, wife of the Duke at the time, he was knighted and given a suit of shoddy armor and a rusted sword plus a lame horse. He rode in battle with the other Errantry against Beastmen, but one of his resentful fellows had paid his squire to shoot him in the back and passed the rumor that he was shot by a Beastmen while fleeing in shame on foot; for that the squire was given a gold coin, five times the lifetime pay a peasant squire could ever hope to receive and he promptly fled Bretonnia to the Empire where that coin payed for enough time and ale in the titular inn to tell his story. The nobility later referenced him as evidence of the subhuman nature of peasants, and the peasants tell the story true or even more grand to support their claims of respectability. An earlier knightly character, Gaston Rossereux, was also a peasant who became a knight and came from Gisoreux, though his story is more relevant to Montfort since that's where he was landed.

There's also the band of performers called the Rosae Theatrum, a traveling band of writers, poets, actors, and artists that's loosely based on multiple historical and fictional figures. They...don't get brought up much anymore, since the descriptions of the company are comedic and the result is a mix of soap opera and homophobia, namely its leader Steffan Braten who's litearlly described as a "flamboyant and overdramatic homosexual fop". Also Gianessa Antoniola, a Tilean woman who's basically Esmerelda from Hunchback Of Notre Dame.

Percival of Gisoreux was the representative of Bretonnia in Albion, leading a Crusade against the forces of Chaos there. He...gets dropped from the story. A Grail Knight known for his acts in the name of justice, he swore not to leave Albion until the evil was cleaned and basically wiped Beastmen and Orcs from the campaign. The Lizardmen won in the end and the mists that protect the island were restored, so presumably he either won and went home or made himself busy continuing to purge the island of the forces of destruction.

In the Old World era the Duke is Gwynael The Brash. We currently don't know anything about him. Given the founding Duke and Hagen though, he's probably got a bit of Dorn to him.

• Castle Gisoreux: The city of Gisoreux is a busy place filled with traders and travellers. There are more Imperial merchants in Gisoreux than in any other city in Bretonnia, and it may be the only place in the world where people do not immediately think of sailors when they think of Marienburg; a number of land traders come from the Wasteland through the Gisoreux Gap and ships sail the River Ois through various bridges. The city has fine merchant houses pressed right up against decaying slums, many of which used to be fine merchant houses. For some reason, merchant families in Gisoreux rarely maintain their prosperity for more than one generation. The castle itself is currently almost entirely abandoned, as the ruling Duke spends most of his time in Couronne. Only one wing is currently inhabited by the Duke's Steward Lord Hinemar. Over five hundred years ago the city was under constant nightly attack by monsters that avoid light called Nightravens requiring every building to have a lit torch outside maintained all night, but a valiant knight named Sir Thopas wiped them out; both by outdated law and tradition unlit torches remain outside every building. Its protected by three layers of walls, and due to surviving many severe attacks from basically all of the foes of Bretonnia throughout its history the knights there are particularly respected. Unfortunately it went out with a whimper in End Times, with a Nurgle-tainted bishop (apparently those exist in Bretonnia) contaminating the fountain of The Lady in the grand cathedral which caused a plague that wiped out the population.
• The Gisoreux Gap (Castle Desfleuve): One of only three locations within the entire Grey Mountains that allow passage between Bretonnia and the Empire. It is the dominion of the minorly aristocratic Desfleuve family, who rule from the simply titled Castle Desfleuve, which lies at the very center of the pass. Its current occupant is the young, handsome and beloved Marquis Frederique Desfleuve, widely respected as a true Knight of the Realm and already talking of undertaking the Grail Quest, who has just one tiny little problem... he is actually a she. See, the old Marquis's wife died birthing young Freddie, and the old Marquis was such a romantic that he swore never to stain the memory of his beloved wife by remarrying. But, not wanting some pissant boy from outside of the Gap to take over his family's ancestral home, he decided to do the only rational thing he could: raise his daughter as his son. To her credit, Frederique has turned out to be very, very good at her knightly duties. But that doesn't solve her biggest problem: how the fuck is she supposed to produce a true heir to the Desfleuve family name when everybody expects her to marry another woman? If only she could find somebody trustworthy and capable to help her solve this conundrum...though given The Old World retconned female knights being banned, its unclear what would happen to his plotline. Most wars between the Empire and Bretonnia take place with one army or the other marching through the region, in Oldhammer the Bretonnians were plotting an invasion and in modernhammer the Empire is more the aggressor. The River Ois begins though here from various streams and waterfalls in the Greys and Pales.
• Fort Bergbres: Between Castle Desfleuve and Castle Gisoreux and sitting atop the River Ois in a gap between the cliffs of the Greys and cliffs of the Pales called the Ois Gap. It was originally established by the Empire during one of their invasions, and is now jointly-owned by the Directorate of Marienburg and the Duke. It only has 200 residents, and mostly just serves as a place to rest and buy supplies for the Coast Road and Bitter Moors trip. Troops paid for by Marienburg called Roadwardens and Excise men are supposed to guard the roads against smugglers and bandits, but extort protection money from travelers instead resulting in the nickname Fort Beg-Bribe.
• Valle Florida: (The people are called Floridens, not Floridians; the American Florida reference is light since Floridian wine is connected to the Spanish, and the French settlement was wiped out before the first grapes were planted.) A large valley in the Pale Sisters, a relatively safe place given its geographically isolated by three cliff faces and a straight drop on the fourth side. Heat from the day gets trapped by those cliff faces, resulting in a place that's warm at all points of the year and only gets settled snow in the absolute dead of the worst winters. If it sounds like a rare heaven in the Warhammer setting, there's...surprisingly no twist. Its just a nice place. It does have a bad reputation since an insane Witch Hunter who drank Floriden wine became suspicious it was tainted with Warpstone and came to the place to investigate; it was discovered that not only were his findings false, he himself had poisoned some barrels with Warpstone and had even grown gills as a result which let him survive their ironic punishment of drowning him in his own tainted wine, resulting in them burning him at the stake. Since then the place has had a bad reputation to the outside world, and within its borders the population is as cheerfully accommodating as any other Gisoreuxan but prefer any visitors leave after a brief holiday rather than stick around. The wine itself has suffered a hit in reputation thanks to the Witch Hunter, but its extremely popular among the wealthy throughout the world since it has a unique taste and requires adventurers or Dwarfs to bring down large quantities for trade.
• Oisillon: The original Oldhammer capital city of Bretonnia. Its literally Versailles, a gigantic castle city containing the Great Palace where a court of fops party with King Charles de la Tete d'Or III, doing all the standard foppish things like being drunk at all times, eating gigantic cakes, and pissing in the hallways. There's an unusually large number of non-fop knights around as the king was planning on invading the Empire and seizing parts of Altdorf, mainly the Reik River. None of this is canon anymore obviously, though presumably the Great Palace is still a thing.

Bordeleaux

Its harder to find a better place in the Warhammer world to live. You have the protection of the massive cliffs on most of the Bretonnian coast but without the suicidal nightmare that L'Anguille has with currents and (possibly supernatural) rock formations and sea monsters, forests that aren't mutagenic and full of horrors beyond mortal comprehension (and crazy backwoods hunters), plenty of decent farmland without batshit insane nobles and murderous cannibal peasants, and pastoral lands to build a nice estate on and go about your petty dramas. Sure, its still the Warhammer world so there's of course Greenskins, bandits, vampires, the occasional Tomb King invasion, poverty, asshole nobility, Norscan raiders, and Chaos mutants but...less so. When an enemy army does invade the people band together quickly, the Duke not even needing to give the call before legions of knights and a mass of peasants descend with fury on any force of Greenskins or Beastmen daring to threaten the harvest.

Bordeleaux basically is at the border of all the problems. In the north is the swamps of Mousillon, but the River Grismerie serves as a natural barrier between the two and although that river is so infested with beasts such as Dracoleeches (exactly what the sound like) its basically a wall as far as concerns like fishing and trade are concerned, it also does a decent enough job keeping the beasties away with half of it being higher on the Bordeleaux end and the other half higher on the Mousillon end to prevent easy crossing that it doesn't take that many knights to deal with what does manage to wade through. In the southeast is part of the Forest of Châlons, but that part is mostly tamed as a number of fortified settlements and many Hermit Grail Knights defending their chapels serve as deterrent for Greenskins. In the west is a serene coastline, with high cliffs containing built-in fishing villages to both protect from invaders and still give a steady supply of fresh seafood, while the lowlands contain large fortresses protecting the inland from invaders while enabling a thriving mercantile empire to exist within the Dukedom that creates a mutual economic relationship with the other southern Dukedoms lacking such a prosperous means of safe trade. The Dukedoms worst relations are with L'Anguille, and exclusively as a trade rival; there's no actual hostility, no border disagreements, no cultural stigmas of any kind. Being a Bordelen means being a friend.

Best of all, acres and acres of vineyards and wineries to support them all. Even peasants, peasants lucky to ever hold coinage of any kind, can afford decent wines and no matter the quality anything domestic can be found at 1/3 the price or more! Its given the people a reputation, not unearned, as drunks the world over. That said, wine from any other region is primarily there for trade so if its not grown at home its even more expensive than it would be as far away as the Empire even if produced merely a days walk away across the border. In particular the lands along the River Morceaux produce sweeter wine, and it provides easy shipping down to the capital. As if that wasn't enough it produces more apples than anywhere else in the world, with a cider industry just as robust.

At this point you're probably expecting some divide within the nation between two groups and some intrigue relating to it, but...no. People on the coast consider Manaan as important as the Lady while those inland don't, but that's it. Nobles on the coast involve sending their sons and daughters on a ship as important as sending them on their Errantry, but that's not really a point of contention. The most noteworthy mystery is the Sea Maid of Bordeleaux, a woman who literally emerged from the sea and entered a temple of Manaan where she lived for many years, singing to the sailors as they left port, never aged despite spending many years there, and one day simply walked back into the sea. No curse, no ominous meanings, no accusations of evil, just an interesting thing that happened once. While poisonings at wine tasting events do occur and there is intrigue as vintners compete and release artificially rare selections, its basically just contained to the merchant caste and doesn't affect the wargame side. The merchants DO heavily resent the nobility and peasants, and are found in great abundance, but unlike in L'Anguille they don't have a distant Duke nor any real complaints from administration or unaddressed enemies to give them a reason to act outside their station. House Agnew however does have broader ambitions, being a noble house that's more or less willingly sunk into the merchant class, producing both noble knights but also funding foreign conflicts like the Marienburg succession from the Empire.

Bordeleaux even has friendly relations with other nations, something rare for Bretonnians. From Tilea to Barak Varr, Marienburg to Kislev, Ulthuan to the far east, any who sail and trade have a friendly port to reside in...so long as they don't have too unchivilrous a reputation, as piracy has no tolerance in Bordeleaux.

The real life inspiration for the Dukedom is pretty damn close to reality, Bordeaux and the River Garonne.

Marcus of Bordeleaux is the founding Duke, a man said to have fought alongside the avatar of Manaan himself at some point, with Manaan's trident serving as his heraldry. As the third to join Gilles he was basically present for all the important events but is most noteworthy for what he did in L'Anguille during their siege against the Norscans. To end the battle he challenged their Champion Svengar to a duel, which they fought atop the lighthouse of the city. After a long fight Marcus won and Svengar was cast into the waves, and the Norscans willingly left in peace out of respect (at least according to the story anyway). Gundehar of Raisol was one of the most famous knights from Bordeleaux until his death, a feral-looking man of impeccable honor spending many years as a Questing Knight winning victory after victory in many wars against the enemies of Bretonnia until one day meeting his end against a Chaos Giant in battle; his presence inspired a generation of young knights who each went on to become great heroes. Saint Gilles of Bordeleaux is another of the more famous past residents, who slew a Dragon and used its entire horde to construct the First Chapel (note, not actually the first Gail Chapel) which is the holiest site in Bretonnia (aside from the fact it holds no noteworthy holy relics, and is basically just a really fancy expensive church that most people like to visit). He was labeled a martyr in death despite not actually being a martyr for anything or dying of violence. The merchants detest the legacy that the nobles and peasants ascribe to him. For residents more famous among players of the game there's Tristan the Troubadour and Jules the Jester. Tristan with his seemingly magical talent for singing and Jules being, well, a peasant jester made them famous throughout the courts of Bretonnia as Tristan wandered on his Grail Quest, paying for lodging with their performances even if payment was unnecessary. Even in battle he sings, while Jules...loots the bodies mostly. Tristan follows the dreams sent by The Lady and has had many adventures, but he's not impatient for the Grail and enjoys his life and many friendships. Despite being among the better known characters he was given a very anticlimactic death in End Times, simply taking an axe to the face while Jules simply disappears from the narrative. A slightly more roguish resident is Florin d'Artaud with his servant Lorenzo Gaston, of the Adventures of Florin & Lorenzo novels. A card shark nobleman who never even bothered attempting knighthood, he fled the city to escape loan collectors by posing as a military commander on a ship bound for Lustria. His brother Bastien d'Artaud on the other hand is dutifully respectable and chivalrous. Pierre d'Artaud, another relative of Florin, notably leads the Duke's forces against Greenskin invasions and his brutally cunning tactics have seen him through with few casualties over the years. Though he resents them, he depends on the poachers who depopulate his own estate and forgives their crimes after the battles. As a result his Bowmen are of particular skill.

Theuderic was a past Duke, one of the very first to invade Nehekhara. He was killed alongside almost all of the rest of his army by King Kerathop II of Zandri, with only the Damsel Lady Aliette spared. His great-grandson Lord Benabbil de Bordeleaux was interested in Nehekhara for more scholarly reasons (this is more Oldhammer, foppish nobility type lore) and sent scholars and mercenaries to take rubbings of the obelisks without disturbing the undead. Said rubbings were sent to the Museum Of Altdorf and translated by the curator Allun Gartner, setting off a chain of events in which a number of archeologists based on real life people plus pop culture ones like Lara Croft and Indiana Jones invaded Nehekhara, kidnapping the (living mummy) of the infant son of Queen Rasut Of Khemri; she's NOT happy about it, meaning Theuderic might have caused some human trafficking that may result in the destruction of Altdorf (at least if End Times hadn't basically made all plots irrelevant anyway).

Lord Savaric is a less pleasant hero, at least in his past. An elderly man who has the strength and vigor of a young knight still, with a stunning reputation for heroism at sea who spent his Errantry aboard ships doing battle with the foes of Bretonnia, who claims to have visited every port in the Old World and many beyond which is far closer to the truth than not. Unfortunately, he's actually cursed and his Errantry was spent doing piracy rather than chivalrous acts. What exactly his curse does is unknown, he simply has agents seeking for clues to it and plans to recruit mercenaries or knights for his one last voyage to cure himself once he knows what to do.

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: Alberic de Bordeleaux is the Duke in the "modern day", basically unlike anything else connected to Bordeleaux. A man of absolute discipline, absolute strictness, and absolute expectations. He drills his troops harshly, tolerates no misbehavior of any kind even if nothing that another chivalrous knight would consider an offense, and dismisses any who fail to meet his expectations from service and let them wander and find a new army to march in. A man of absolute Dwarf-like honor who had to put aside his ambitions to become a Grail Knight due to the early death of his father and the decision to continue to be the responsible one so his own son could pursue his own dreams of seeing The Lady. While he's considered a Steward, Alberic is too dutiful to abandon his Dukedom. He bears a weapon allegedly wielded by Manaan himself as well as a lock of the god's hair that can grant divine power to those who grasp it, passed down the family from Duke Marcus himself. His army is disciplined and unyielding, and thanks to his wise administration the land of drunks has little issues with unrest or unreliability where it matters.

In the Storm of Chaos campaign the forces of Bordelaux formed the bulk of Leoncour's crusade for the Nemesis Crown, bashing down the forces of Chaos and ultimately preventing Settra from attacking the Dwarfs as they secured the cursed relic. The great Questing Knight Philippe d'Artaud, who had refused his inheritance to go on a lifelong quest for the Grail and refused another horse after his first perished of old age, lead the army while the old foe of the Tomb Kings Sir Beoveld gave his life leading from the front to defeat Settra.

In The Old World the Duke is D’Andellyon IIX. We...don't know anything else.

Cylostra Direfin, the ghostly Bretonnian pirate captain, also originated in Bordeleaux. Originally a famous opera singer who performed for the King of Bretonnia in her time, she was invited to sing in the Phoenix Court of Ulthuan, an honor never granted to any other human. Unfortunately her ship sank in the waves, in her madness believing she could survive if she outsang the wind, and all aboard drowned; but Cylostra was approached by the dark alter ego of Manaan, Stromfels, and resurrected as his champion. In death she's more than a little insane, a destructive force wreaking havoc everywhere from Naggaroth to Ulthuan to her former homeland, singing all the while. Her crew of mostly the Bretonnians lost at sea over the centuries crew her ship, The Lamprey, and make up her faction simply called The Drowned.

• Castle Bordeleaux: A vast and rich city filled with almost every nationality in the Old World, though each are isolated to their own district with peasants forbidden to enter for fear of foreign influence corrupting their simple minds. The nobles on the other hand get to basically experience the entire world, as trade goods and profitable restaurants (including a Halfling chain called 'Gunter's Pork Knuckle Paradise') and places to drink create a swirling cloud of smells and chorus of happy sounds throughout the streets, while prostitutes openly ply their trade and beggars generally go unharassed by guards. Most buildings have slanted roofs and plenty of sheltered outdoor areas and ample chimneys with roaring fires making the place a comfort anywhere you go. As a result its become the largest port in all of Bretonnia. The siege engines (note: not just trebuchets) are positioned on the castle so that any part of the city and far beyond it can be struck by them, making potential occupations EXTREMELY difficult, and the Engineers are the finest in the land and so practiced that they can accurately hit very small targets anywhere in the harbor. It contains the First Chapel, the holiest of sites in the cult of the Lady with a gigantic golden statue of her that the sunset illuminates like a painting in a holy book. However, the most important temple to the Bordeliens is that of Manann, which is not exactly in the city. Rather, it is housed in an enormous ship, permanently moored near the entrance to the harbour. It is exposed to storms, but the priests say that Manann protects it, and it has survived for many years. Worshippers travel out by boat, and if possible they are supposed to help row or sail across. The most devout of The Lady including Grail Knights, Damsels and Prophetesses are forbidden to set foot on board. Duke Alberic, the current Duke, is the first Duke of Bordeleaux in generations to visit the temple.
• Silent Isle: An island off the coast where no sound can be made for unknown reasons. There used to be a city with a harbor and noble house there, but the day the silence came all evidence of the settlement disappeared. Those who have investigated have left quickly out of fear or never been seen again, though that hasn't stopped investigators from coming.
• Turris Vigilans: A temple of Verana which also serves as a lighthouse. Since Verana has been retconned to be the Chaos God of Law Daora, this has some additional potential intrigue. The priests there have the semi-secret mission of keeping an eye on Mousillon, refusing to enter under any circumstance and using their magic to scry on it and to other unknown effect. Since they have made the lighthouse the most reliable and effective in the entire world they're left to their own devices. The priesthood is very popular among adventurers, offering services ranging from tutorship to resupply including offering rare books, and even hold lotteries which seem to grant the adventurers things that will be useful in the future...they also tend to offer useful advice, and every so often become particularly insistent that a particular adventurer travel to Mousillon to do something ranging from heroic to confusingly innocuous.
• Rachard: Gundehar killed some unknown beast here.
• Raisol: Gundehar's place of origin.
• Lacrimora: Its not outright stated, but by process of elimination in the "western Forest of Châlons" that the most sacred of all lakes, the one where Gilles first encountered The Lady, is here. Nobody has found it since, though many MANY knights try.
• Isle de Lys: One of the homes of the Fey Enchantress, a structure on an island in a lake surrounded by impassible mist (remember, Lileath was also the goddess Ladrielle AKA the goddess of mist). Allegedly this is the actual site of Lake Lacrimora, or at least connected to it.

Aquitaine

A pretty peaceful kingdom in the big scheme of things, and actually a pretty nice place to live in the Warhammer world. It is nothing but rolling hills and farms, punctuated with small woods and small castles of the nobility. It hasn't got any internal invaders like Orcs or Beastmen, and as such on the whole is a pretty nice place. But because we can't have nice things (outside Bordeleaux) this lack of external enemies has caused the leading nobility to turn to internal division, with small battles and wars being constant with the feuding of the leading knights. Sorry, did we say nobility? We meant absolutely everyone since the peasants are in revolution, the merchants are hiring mercenaries for wars, and even the faith is infighting between chapels for prestige. While the land itself is beautiful and anyone not involved directly in affairs can easily travel peacefully through like its the American midwest as there's not much between massive fields of wheat, the charnel pits and battlefields full of broken bodies and metal are as easy to find as an inn or cathedral.

The River Gilleau separates the north from Bordeleaux and there's no skirmishes between the two over land as a result, and as an added bonus the river keeps the beasties from the Forest of Châlons away. While the entire western coastline is sandy beaches and calm water there's no good place for defensible large ports, so the coastline is primarily just small fishing villages that are largely to their own devices when Dark Elves come to raid, though said villages are small and poor enough that aside from slaves there's no real reason to waste time stopping either. While the numerous coves and generally unscrutinized settlements have made the land a hub of piracy and smuggling its not really negatively affecting Aquitaine, so nobody really cares. That sentiment partially continues inland since the lack of rivers, natural hills, rocky ground, or any other impassible geographic feature has made the area difficult to actually defend from invaders, so settlements remain small and in the orbit of a castle where the citizens can flee to, the bigger the castle the more prosperous the towns, leading to encouragement from the Dukes for the nobles to build grander and grander citadels. Despite this even the capital city is on the small side compared to the other Dukedoms. Unfortunately the success rate of the buildup strategy is low, since Aquitaine doesn't have much in the way of especially valuable goods to trade and primarily is the breadbasket of the nation, so taxable trade doesn't grow at the same rate as population once there's enough hands to work the fields; industry hasn't seen much investment in the region and because it doesn't do its own trading the bigger ports (particularly Bordeleaux) get to set the prices. When a noble house builds too high, gets wiped out or merges with another family, or other misfortune then they abandon part of the castle due to the upkeep outpacing income and people migrate to another town in the Dukedom, creating a doomspiral until you have an abandoned fortress and towns basically just growing enough to support themselves as they wait for another nobleman to move in and reclaim a fragment of the old fortress or begin building a new one. The one valuable trade good that Aquitaine does produce is a special wine, said to have aphrodisiac properties and is popular throughout the rest of Bretonnia among women.

The old castles that are abandoned become a unique danger, explaining why they are left to rot usually rather than be reclaimed or reconstructed for parts; a unique form of Fey creature found mostly only in the region called a Derelich exists. Dereliches aren't Undead or Chaos creatures, but do behave somewhat like a ghost; they use illusion magic to make a settlement appear populated. They're territorial but can coexist, each one appearing as a living person and occupying a different room in a castle or hovel in the village. They kill and feed on the life energy of their target once said target is vulnerable, such as resting or distracted, but deaths are also likely to occur as victims lean against seemingly strong pillars that are actually rotted and cause the roof to collapse on them or fall through missing floors that appear to be solid. As a result most folks who travel frequently through the region are careful, cautious, and suspicious, though the fact there's so few bandits because there's so little places to hide and not enough to steal from citizenry means staying in or near your cart just outside the village or castle isn't the worst idea. That said, the land isn't completely without danger. Its just that hell is other people as murderers stalk settlements, revolutionaries can recruit you at swordpoint, paranoid nobles can take you prisoner, and the bandits who do exist are particularly well-organized to the point of being factions rather than gangs. Barfights are common and can spill into blood feuds, Dwarfs are more forgiving since they'll usually inform you if they're marking down a Grudge before a duel is declared (you might not necessarily be given time to draw your weapon before they consider it to have started), Lyonessians at least have their internal politics make sense and be contained to ineffectual noble plots while in Aquitaine its just about not losing face, and death or murder is preferable to admitting one is wrong and chivalry be damned if that's the choice. Just about any disagreement can snowball quickly into a war, and anyone who is sick of their village being burned down because two merchants on the other side of the Dukedom disagreed on what shade of blue the sky is will migrate anywhere else and nobles who want to be known for valor rather than gutting Damsels in their Grail Chapel because some peasant tried to sell another one rotten taters on the coast likewise spends their Errantry somewhere that there's monsters.

An especially noteworthy feud is the unending one between the houses of D'Elbiq and Du Maisne. So long ago that nobody remembers a son from one house wa accused of raping the daughter of the other, though nobody can recall which was which only that both sides went to war over it, and now they feud until one wipes the other out. So many rules and customs have been established that the two sides actually make appointments for battles, mutually agreed-upon in advance, and the battles are so contained that spectators come to picnic and watch the battles play out (this is actually a thing that happened in real life in various points in history, though usually only for the first battles in a war rather than something going on for a millennia).

Another feud which has not yet resulted in war is that between the Earl of Desroches and the Earl of Fluvia. The two were best friends in their youth but in old age for unknown reasons have decided they hate each other. The main issue is both are tremendously powerful, with Desroches controlling the west and Fluvia the north with a full third of the Dukedom in their influence between them, and with how the folk of Aquitaine are it'd involve the entire nation before too long as minor feuds merge with the greater ones and sort them into opposite sides; although other Dukedoms entirely avoid Aquitaine politics, internally it would become a civil war that would devastate the entire Dukedom as a miniature knightly World War 1. We, uh, know that doesn't happen thanks to End Times, but would probably have been a far more interesting story.

The people are stout and courageous, though mostly because its pretty likely that most citizens have seen the dead and dying. Between how dangerous being involved in Aquitaine politics is, how prone the people are to throwing the first punch and blaming your family for hurting their knuckles, and the risk that the friendly village or warm castle is just Dereliches about to kill you, the folk of Aquitaine are mostly avoided resulting in an even more insular culture, though that's not to say that they are actually unfriendly; think of it like unfriendly stereotypes of the Irish. Good but depressing people, say the wrong thing and they're likely to club you with a brick or cane and call your mother a hoor then tell everyone in their family you called their mother a sloot despite being unconscious in the mud for hours, and die from famine because civil war or taxation. The nobles are very pragmatic and stick to essentials, wearing their armor more often than not including to sleep, having less ornamentation and preferring austere dwellings, and in tournaments are absolutely brutal and come closer than anywhere else to violating the "no killing other nobles outside war" rules. On the other hand any time anyone else in Bretonnia goes to war they can count on some Aquitaine knights of varying ranks showing up unexpectedly in their army, something Aquitainians are proud of.

In case you didn't figure it out the real life place that Aquitaine is based on is...Aquitaine. Most noteworthy in medieval history for being that place that the British kept holding onto via the Angevin claims of Queen Eleanor Of Aquitaine until King John (you know, the thumb-sucking lion in Disney's Robin Hood) lost it to the French. So if the squabbling didn't make sense before, its the English and French fighting.

Fredemund was the Companion who became the founding Duke. He was disdainful of ranged combat even before Gilles was hit by an arrow, so he's likely more the reason its considered unchivalrous and pushed his agenda once he had an excuse. For an unknown reason birds of prey supernaturally obeyed and followed him, and with the sound of his horn they would attack any foes in the skies and ground them; his heraldry is literally just the talon of a bird of prey. After the first Companions drove the Greenskins out of Aquitaine and Bordeleaux he joined them. At Brionne he demonstrated the use of his famous horn (the bane of many The Old World players) and tooted a note that drug down the Greenskin Wyverns, focusing on the hated monsters themselves while the other Companions dealt with something so simple and inoffensively ground-based as "Orc Warbosses". His Virtue is the one of Noble-Disdain, AKA "duel me motherfucker, put that dakka down and see what happens bitch". He became the first king after Gilles by marrying Gilles' sister Annabel.

As far as Dramatic Personae go, King Louis the Righteous and his brother The Red Duke are the most famous to players. The Duke was a great man, killer of many Dragons and Greenskins and who trained young knights, rescued ladies and peasants and foolish young knights alike, and offered a bag of gold to any who could successfully scratch him in a duel. During the Crusade against Araby that Louis declared the Duke became particularly feared by the Arabyans, being dubbed El Syf ash-Shml or 'The Northern Sword' due to his cunningly brutal campaign. One of his Barons and a far more cruel man, Gui de Gavaudan who wanted the Dukedom for himself, conspired with the Arabyans to assassinate him, but the Blood Knight Vampire founder Abhorash (always fond of the Arabyans) witnessed him almost survive them all and granted him Vampirism. He awoke and since Vampirism twists the mind of the Vampire to the extreme of its personality traits he became wickedly cruel with a "with me or against me, and you'd better have justified being worthy of being with me again today" attitude, which included taking revenge on de Gavaudan by making him a Thrall to torture like a stress toy. The Duke's wife, having just given birth, threw herself from the top tower of their castle in grief and left their son nameless to be cared for by dwindling staff. Though the King killed him with the blessing of The Lady, he refused to destroy the body despite the pleading and visions from her Prophetesses and instead placed him in a magical tomb. Five hundred years later a cabal of various kinds of villains and evil magic users freed him planning to resurrect him, but he'd already regenerated and spent all that time going feral without blood. He renewed his war with vigor, refusing to hear any news of how long he'd been imprisoned and becoming far more bloodthirsty, but after desecrating the tomb of a powerful Grail Knight and butchering the elderly Duke of that time he finally calmed down enough to realize he'd desecrated the body of his beloved heroic son Galand who had spent his life atoning for being the Red Duke's child, and the living Duke he'd just killed was his own wise and beloved descendant Gilon. He abandoned his army to fall apart or be destroyed and ran screaming into the woods where he could not be found. Both the knight Leodegar of the Golden Hart who faced him in his resurrection and much later Gotrek & Felix fought him, as well as many other countless knights throughout the years, but he always survived and though he had access to a horde of Undead he never invaded again. He returned in End Times, albeit basically as a cameo when the last of the loyal knights of Bretonnia stood up against the final darkness of the end of the world having joined them and finally redeemed himself. It should be noted that the lineage is very inbred, with all Dukes having been from this same family and RD's son Galand having married Louis's daughter. It should also be noted that the Red Duke faced off against Sir Richemont, son of Gilon, and he took over as Duke and made hunting the Red Duke down a family duty (so a plot that End Times prevented). You know, in case this entire thing wasn't Castlevania enough as it was...Today the modern Bretonnians have forgotten most of his story, including his link to the Dukes of Aquitaine and king, and even believe there's been multiple Red Dukes (an easy way to handwave contradictions in his story from various editions). His real life inspiration is Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar AKA El Cid, so if you're a fan of that era of history then Aquitaine is a good theme for your army since that's the Duke lineage. Also, for some reason RD was made the leader of Mousillon in Total War: Warhammer.

The current day Duke is Armand d'Aquitaine, a man who never expected to inherit anything. His older brother took the Dukedom so he went on Errantry. He refused all land grants in favor of adventuring until Louen himself asked him to take a fief and sit on the royal council. His did as he was asked, and after killing the Bestiger Darmal the Crooked he sidestepped the likely path from being granted Baron to Marquis to instead take the Gail Vow and set off on more adventures. He spent his adventures in disguise and declined to explain it, merely returning once he'd become a Grail Knight and had no alternatives. He was immediatley made Standard Bearer of the king, spending all of his time from that point on day and night within the Grail Chapel guarding the banner when not hoisting it alongside the royal host aside from participation in the Tournament of Couronne which he easily won. When his brother unexpectedly died Louen appointed him Duke of Aquitaine, and since then he's struggled with his duty by actively attempting to resolve all the feuds in his homeland, an uphill battle as once he leaves an area pacified the nobles realize there's no past obligations to pursue and can actively piss each other off fresh. He's a man who easily attained everything a man of Bretonnia could ever want with little challenge, neither seeking it nor pouting and being ungrateful; every honor is another duty, and while he chooses another path if its an option he never shirks his duties or dishonors himself or those who seek to give him credit. Possibly the most boring Duke, but likewise one of the most forthright and unironically heroic Warhammer characters.

Relevant to The Old World is Leodegar of the Golden Hart, a Grail Knight who was present at the battle where the Red Duke fled into the woods. He'd dedicated his life to fighting the undead, and in his devotion had lived to the age of three hundred which took a devastating toll on his mental state as he began seeing the living merely as the step before being dead. He was followed everywhere by an especially unhinged procession of Grail Pilgrims called the Carnival of the Blood-Kissed Duke wearing Leodegar's colors of green and yellow with his hart heraldry on their bodies, painting their faces horizontally white from the nose up and red below. They were made up partially of performers like jugglers, fire-breathers, mummers, and other kinds of entertainment while their more elite were more disfigured, large imposing figures such as their leader Roatta who had antlers pounded with nails into his skull and was covered in flagellation scars and briars with the flag of Aquitaine pinned into his skin. During the campaign against the Tomb Kings at the start of TOW as the Bretonnians attempted to eliminate Settra's subordinates and blunt his invasion of the Border Princes Leodegar was killed, and his body resurrected by Liche Priests. He was sent to kill his former allies and almost killed the young Corentin Varo, but the Grail Damsel Alisende simply touched his chest and reignited The Lady's magic in him, giving him full control over his body again like a Tomb King and allowing him to kill the Liche Priest who had reanimated him, ending the undead army and giving a salute before surrendering control of the corpse to the fading death magic and taking his promised reward at The Lady's side instead.

• Castle Aquitaine: Small for a city let alone a capital, its not even the original capital; like the rest of Aquitaine the capital city is a new structure built twelve miles from the original, which the Red Duke had filled with death magic merely by his presence. The new capital is of...dubious quality, in particular a giant tower called the Lace Tower (AKA the Leaning Tower Of Pisa) that's more window than wall. Its basically useless because people are forbidden from ever entering it and anyone leaning against it, including a Duke's daughter once, is whipped. Dwarfs are quite unimpressed by it as well. The same pattern of abandonment also followed the expansion of the city, as it was originally populated west of the castle keep but since then its been expanded to the east and the western section is simply abandoned; knights, adventurers, and mercenaries have to be sent to clear out anything unsavory periodically and the Dukes run campaigns to encourage resettlement there which are rarely taken up.
• Derrevin Libre: Located in the east. If you remember that joke from the peasants in Monty Python (not the sword distribution bit, the exchange about how the village is run) this is that. This is the site of the only successful peasant rebellion in Bretonnian history, coinciding with a number of fortunes such as the noble they overthrew being so atrocious a man that even the other nobility abandoned him to his fate, the peasants revealing him as a Nurgle cultist, and being perfectly in the center of a three-way feud between noble houses. By the time the nobles agreed to send a nominal gathering of knights to sally out and rout the rabble they'd attracted some Merry Men, Herrimaults, and the charge of the horses into spike traps followed by a glut of arrows routed them and the complex politics of the situation prevent any of the three noble families from speaking out about what happened or trying again. The Herrimault leader named Carlomax, who loathed nobility after his brother was executed for smiling at a noblewoman and his mother beaten until crippled for daring to mourn him, is skilled and tactically-minded enough to pose a genuine threat and plans to continue expanding his territory and attracting Herrimaults and disenfranchised peasant alike until he can withstand the full brunt of a Crusade. The lore is that he has a genuine shot at this (except fuck that because End Times, do not pass Go, do not collect $200). Carlomax is far from a cruel man, with his original plan having been to kidnap and torture the woman who his brother had smiled at, only to let her go thanks to her innocence in the affair and his disinterest in cruelty. This moral character has served him well in gathering warriors to his side.
• Chateau D'Epee: Located in the exact center of Aquitaine. The great-grandfather of the current Lord D'Epee managed to actually resolve many feuds and build a network of allies and a substantial purse in his time and built the grandest and most defensible fortress possible given the geography of Aquitaine; multiple moats between multiple gatehouses each situated between high walls, with killing fields between them where small battles can take place, ending in three keeps which each can be fallen back to and each able to sustain the occupants for a month during a siege. The current D'Epee house only live in the outermost gatehouse. Fifteen years ago the patriarch attempted to each the first keep, and since then nobody the family has sent has returned sane. Ten years ago nobody ever came back at all. He offers substantial financial reward as well as basically anything you want past the first gatehouse so long as you enter the first keep and bring back a stuffed stag's head for unknown reasons. Darkest Dungeon anyone?
• Tower of Wizardry: An ancient Elven tower built atop a leyline. The keeper was Iselda, a Prophetess of The Lady who also studied magic in Altdorf, an advisor to the Duke who had taken the rare duty of administering to the peasantry first and foremost. The Red Duke send a banshee and an army to kill her, and in the end ended up having to do the deed himself; she was the one who revealed to him the truth of who he fought and what tomb he'd desecrated. Its unclear what happened to the tower, but it sits near a sacred lake to The Lady so no doubt another Damsel took it up afterwards.
• Mercal: The former home of Marquis Maraulf of Aquitaine. After his original home was devastated by plague he became a Questing Knight, and was drawn by The Lady to defend Mercal. He accepted it was not his destiny to become a Grail Knight and instead retired as Custodian of Chapel Sereine, forming a retinue of Grail Pilgrims to defend the village who honored him as if he was a Grail Knight. When the Red Duke was freed his first target was the village, wiping out out and though Maraulf defeated the old evil Wight Sir Corbinian, the Red Duke converted him into a Vampire instead and dubbed him the Dark Knight for the aura of enchanted darkness his former sacred light had become. Mercal presumably is now just ruins occupied by Dereliches.
• Lake Tranquil: A lake where The Lady appeared before Galand. The waters are serene and retain a sense of her divine presence. Those who drink from the lake pray first, and any peasants dumb enough to fish from it are hung.

Bastonne

Bastonne folk act like they're the posterboy of the faction despite that being Couronne; that carries through to the rest of their lore. It was the home of Gilles le Breton and from where he and his son Louis the Rash ruled, it houses relics such as the original Code Of Chivalry that Louis wrote, the Great Cathedral lies here, and despite holding a small fragment of the Forest of Châlons they insist the sacred lake where The Lady approached Gilles and the first Companions is within their borders. They're the most stereotypical (read: Elf-like) of the Bretonnians, looking down on their kinsmen the way that other Dukedoms would regard the Border Princes, Empire, or Dwarfs. Bastonnian nobility are eager and self-assured, and that has resulted in a higher than average number of Grail Knights compared to other kingdoms and thus Bastonne has produced most of the great heroes of Bretonnian history.

Geographically the Dukedom is very simple. Farmland in the west and cut off by the territory of Gisoreux (which also protects them from having to deal with Mousillon), pastoral land in the east (ending in a way that leaves the Greenskin-infested land to Quenelles). The northernmost tip of the Forest of Châlons spills over in the southern territory, as does the easternmost tip of the Massif Orcal beside it, and though the Dukedom doesn't get the hordes of Beastmen or Greenskins their neighbors have to deal with the Bastonnians would have you believe they're the Kislev of the south as a bulwark against the forces of evil. The River Grismerie basically defines the entire northern border and the Gilleau River in the south. The Dukedom is frequented by pilgrimages of peasants and Errants looking to pay their respects to the first king by visiting sites he allegedly rested or camped at, though many of these sites are likely just tourist traps given Gilles traveled the entirety of Bretonnia in his lifetime.

The nobility of Bastonne is particularly known for a lack of corruption or moral failings despite their arrogance, but they're also known for relative inability to coordinate together under their own leadership; in a nation of adventurers every man wants to be General, and were they more prone to invasion they'd be stricken from the map. Even worse, they have a higher than average corruption count among their middle management such as Stewards and Bailiffs, ranging from merely draining funds and selling favors to outright Chaos Cult activity that the nobles are incapable of addressing. The lower classes are absolutely loyal however, their faith in The Lady being so zealous that every farmer is practically already a Grail Peasant just waiting for the call to service. The nobles don't condone the severe oppression their underlings enact, but the frequent real life medieval (and Nazi, for a more modern portrayal) belief that all failures of the system is the result of the virtuous leaders merely not knowing about it is entirely true in Bastonne. But the ignorance of the nobility and faith of the peasantry doesn't change the fact that its possibly the most oppressive place in all of Bretonnia for the lower classes nor does it excuse the inability of the knights to actually respond to a Chaos or Greenskin invasion without relying either on an uncommonly brilliant and charismatic or merely foreign leader to take charge (seriously, its all the Bret stereotypes dialed up to 11).

Among their neighbors the people of Corounne in the time of the "modern day" struggle to remind the Bastonnians that they have royal authority over them. Bastonne and Bordeleaux have always had good relations, as Bastonne benefits from trade and shipping while providing no competition or feeling abused by the tariffs. Quenelles has bigger problems than dealing with the Bastonnians as they're always on the verge of collapse from the threats that Bastonne thinks it deals with, but Gisoreux and Montfort are in a constant state of war with Bastonne over farmland as Bastonne has ample and neither of them have ever had enough, though despite that Bastonne is always eager to try and push its borders. The Dukes of these nations have always refused to participate in these conflicts, leaving them to noble houses to sort out amongst each other for the benefit of their Dukedoms.

A particularly cursed relic always seems to return to Bastonne when it disappears from history; the Perilous Dart, the object which killed Gilles. Those who bear it cause things around them to fall to ruin and crisis, from which they either derive a grand golden age or cause severe ruin and suffering. Obviously not an object of those who spurn ambition in favor of The Lady, its basically the Warhammer Spear of Longinus.

While Gilles is technically the founding Duke, his son Louis the Rash took over after his death and thus was the first to actually rule once it had become Bretonnia. Gilles' shield bore the wild iconography that would certainly give a hint to his later identity as the Green Knight, while Louis adopted the red dragon representing Gilles' first heroic kill, the Dragon Smearghus, and it has become the symbol of the Dukedom. It was rumored he was the son of Gilles and The Lady herself (which if true would make him Half-Elf and also a demigod). All Errants present at the final battle of Gilles were knighted, and thus the first reign was one without Errants for some time. With the death of Gilles the council decided only a Grail Knight should be eligible for king, and Louis earned his nickname when he became the first Questing Knight and asked those who had petitioned to be king, the Companions Landuin, Thierulf and Marcus, to instead act as regents which they agreed to. Louis' journey was made by traveling from lake to lake beginning where The Lady had appeared to his father, and along the way he chose to right wrongs and slay monsters. When she finally did appear she gifted him not only with a sip from the Grail, but also magic weapons and a strange crown. After a celebration with the Companions at the Midwinter Feast in the halls of Artois the Companions and Louis approached the Fey Enchantress to ask her to explain The Lady's gifts. The Fey Enchantress explained they were the divinely blessed relics that would belong to the true king of Bretonnia, and crowned Louis as king. He codified the Code Of Chivalry, greatly influenced by his father and the Companions, and the tradition of Questing Knights began among the Realm Knights who had been present for the death of Gilles and first Grail Knights replaced the Companions as champions of Bretonnia.

Guillaume was the third king, Louis' son. He basically went on the Grail Quest long before the actual Grail Quest, with a VERY long story (we don't have it, its just long in-universe so don't worry) with many parts that differ region to region. His is one of the most popular stories in all of Bretonnia to recite for the winter season. The actual verse is even unfinished, his life being so long that the most skilled writers usually die of old age before they can actually finish transcribing real events into an entertaining and rhyming story (so basically King Arthur's story). The most important is the 332nd verse where he saves a band of Wood Elves from a Greenskin attack, befriending the prince Eoth and being given the horse Oriel who was practically a demigod among horses. The already superior Bretonnian horses have since mixed lines with Oriel, resulting in a higher and more noble tier of white stallion for the royal nobility. At the Battle of Armandur, which happened late enough in his story that it never makes it into verse, he drove out the last Greenskins outside the mountains from northern Bretonnia.

A far later king, Baudoin the Dragonslayer, is known for...well, killing a Dragon named Mergaste.

Bohemond Beastslayer is the Duke in the "modern" era. A Grail Knight and direct descendant of Gilles wielding a giant mace made from the thigh bone of a Dragon he killed before being granted a sip from the Grail and was later further upgraded by Dwarf Runesmiths using meteoric iron (this being a fantasy setting means super magic super metal instead of, you know, just plain iron). The Lady instructed him to wash the Dragon's blood off his shield at the lake beneath her which granted it some of her holy magic. His original plan was to continue his Monster Hunter career as a Hermit Knight based in the Grail Chapel of Bastonne but the previous king requested instead that he instead reclaim the land he'd given up to go on the Grail Quest, allowing him to travel the world and lead armies. He became basically the Order version of Wulfrik The Wanderer, though he refuses to fight any opponent he deems as inferior and simply stuns them for another knight to deal with if he is attacked. Despite his arrogance he has some respect for the peasantry, leading his men in a fight against a mere warband of Beastmen and accepting the favor of a dirty commoner woman that had been cowering in the Grail Chapel doorway to be attached to his sword with the same respect as if she was a king's daughter and Damsel. He has no ambition and no desire for kingship, merely doing his duty and seeking out foes of Bretonnia. The issue is that like other men of Bastonne he's plagued with corrupt stewards and justicars, though unlike most he's capable of realizing when they have failed him and replaces them with a rotating cast of men of ill intent. In Storm Of Chaos he was appointed to lead King Leoncoeur’s Vanguard, the Bretonnian army that marched to save the world at Middenheim. The Bretonnians didn't bother to parley with the Empire, and attacked Archaon's forces where they saw fit; were it not for Games Workshop cheating Archaon ahead despite him being a pathetic loser that couldn't win a single battle the unending forces of darkness they would have likely bested the loser Everchosen himself and gone home with a sneer of contempt on every man. In End Times his participation was almost entirely offscreen, though he stood alongside his ancestor Gilles as well as the Vampire Knights of the world and fought while the world ended (fuck End Times). His personal Foot Knights/Foot Squires are called the Beastslayers of Bastonne and bear halberds and heavy armor, mopping up what Bohemond is too good to kill.

Louen Orc-Slayer is the king in the Old World era, who hails and rules from Bastonne. He declared the great Errantry War against the Greenskins, leading from the front while dispatching the Dukes to deal with other threats like Settra's invasion of the Border Princes and the invasion of Chaos that preceded the Everchosen of his era. Most Greenskins were eradicated from the land in his lifetime, aside from those in the Grey and Pale Mountains and Massif Orcal. Every place that was cleared was granted to knights in his service, and settlements were built where Orc villages once were.

Also in the Old World era is Cecil Gastonne The Wyrmslayer, who slew a Dragon but was angered when his feeling of entitlement to The Lady's favor resulted in no visions. While drunk afterwards he challenged a Grail Knight to a duel and after being disarmed carefully to spare his reputation he retrieved his blade and tried to attack the knight from behind only to be stopped by Élisse Duchaard. Sentenced to penance by Duke Gastille Of Brionne, he instead forsook his Grail Quest and left in self-imposed exile to found a kingdom for himself in the Border Princes. He had not forsaken The Lady herself, hoping that she was personally deem him forgiven and accept him eventually as a Grail Knight. His lands fell under attack by Settra, and he found himself alongside Bretonnians once again as an Errantry Crusade was dispatched to his aid.

Jasperre le Beau is one of the greatest living heroes in Bretonnia in the "modern day", one of the most successful monster killers in their people's history. Though only a Questing Knight he seeks the Grail while he pulls a Doomguy from the back of his Pegasus, killing everything from Harpy to Hippogryph to Hydra (and other letters too) though he specializes in Dragons. He even rescued Louen's daughter Isabeau from the Dragon Malgrimace, who's claw was preserved and inscribed by the Damsel Ellabeau and enchanted by a coven of Damsels to protect him from flame. Its a "coincidence" his chosen heraldry is nearly identical to that of Louen Orc-Slayer. In End Times he died a meaningless death, pulled off his mount by common Beastmen and torn to pieces (fuck End Times).

Anara of Garamont and Calard of Garamont as well as their evil half-brother Bertelis of Garamont also hail from the region, being possibly three of the most famous Bretonnian characters to the fanbase. Anara saved Lyonesse from alongside her lover Reolus of Quenelles ended Egil Styrbjorn's first invasion. Calard is the famous cover of the 6th edition Army Book and the main character of THE Black Library series, each book titled after Calard's rank at the time and it was he who killed Egil's half-Daemon son (presumably, since the story ends on a cliffhanger but he was around in End Times despite it being a duel to the death). Bertelis on the other hand is the example of a knight who fell to corruption and became a Blood Knight in Mousillon. Their story is...a bit too long to recount here (even a summary is a short story).

The other most famous characters are those based on Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Bertrand The Brigand and his Bowmen. Baron de Bergerac went off on Grail Quest and never returned, allowing his namesake fief to be pillaged by Greenskins while the Baron's selfish son shut the nobles in the castle Chateau Mal safely. Bertrand the Bowman, who had long ago captured the gaze of the Baron's daughter, organized the peasants and trained all of them in combat then lead them to slaughter the shocked Orcs. The nobles responded with cruel taxes, and eventually suspicions that the Baroness was a Chaos Cultist (mainly because of her cruelty and heritage as a noble of Mousillon) spread. Whatever the truth a gigantic 100 foot tall one-eyed bat-like monster emerged from the castle not long later as if it was an egg, the corpses of the Baroness and her son hanging from its mouth. It slurped the bodies up then attacked the remaining castle tower where the Baron's daughter had been sequestered. Bertrand shot out its eye then fired flaming arrows into the rubble of the castle which had pinned it, while his companion Hugo le Petit carried away the Baron's daughter. The Baroness's daughter married Bertrand, uplifting him into the nobility though not making him a knight as there was no castle to rule and the land was now tainted by Chaos and the flames of the castle was drawing Greenskins; the peasants removed the relics from the Grail Chapel and Bertrand lead them from danger. Now a wandering warband that does good, he's been marked for death by half of Bretonnia and is seen as something akin to a wandering knight by the rest. For his part he has little interest in becoming the third ever peasant knight because he refuses to abandon his bow or tax his peasant retinue. King Louen Leoncoeur has invited him to an audience, though its unclear where he falls on the question of hero or heretic. Any nobleman who wants his services must agree to relax the feudal taxes for a full year, and his Bowmen have saved Dukedoms countless times as well as provide some wine for the warband (mostly Gui le Gros, the rotund provisioner of the Bowmen). In End Times he got a surprisingly decent death (but still fuck End Times). His Bowmen and bride were slain to the last in defense of Parravon, but after the Keeper Of Secrets Amin'Hrith the Soulflayer collapsed the ramparts he managed to climb out of the rubble and fire a single arrow into its skull that killed it; the ghosts of the Dwarfs of Karak Vlag that had lain in its belly as part of its vore fetish to bring it power from their pain burst out of the corpse, rampaging through the Chaos warhost and saving what was left of the city as the peasant noble died.

Darrepin the Furious is an Errant knight in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, an NPC for the DM to introduce basically anywhere in the world to join the party. He's arrogant and vain, convinced in the superiority of Bretonnia to all other peoples and Bastonne to all other Bretonnians, but is otherwise friendly to anyone (assuming he doesn't cause a Dwarf or Elf, maybe both at once, to take a swing at him). Despite being convinced he's the heir to the legacy of the Companions he's the fourth son of a houseknight serving a very small landowner in northwest Bastonne near the border.

• Sinelle: The original home of Gilles. After the Dragon Smearghus attacked the village Gilles rode out from the Keep, which was the size of the Dragon, and saw it had herded the population of his fief into the market square with flame and claw where it could feast at its leisure. He charged through the flames and began his duel with the monster, inspiring the population into fighting back. Though Bretonnia would later disdain ranged combat, it was a peasant's arrow that saved the future king when the nearly indestructible Dragon was revealed to have a weakness when its killing blow against Gilles was stopped by an arrow piercing its eye. Gilles struck there, killing it and beginning his legend. A section of its pelt was made into his cloak, which later Dukes sometimes wear and otherwise lies protected by a group of Damsels.
• Castle Bastonne: Basically a giant tourist trap, and the most popular site in the kingdom for any pilgrimage to include be they noble or peasant. The city is full of bones, allegedly from great defeated enemies or great heroes that killed them, though the most certain relic is the skull of Smearghus. The city is made up of small castles from various ages, vacated and made into crumbling tourist locations while newer castles are built beyond to continue serving to protect the city. Foreigners are largely forbidden from most sites of the city. Peasants are mostly kept to the taverns or exterior of lesser sites, while nobles are brought to the castles themselves on personal tours and given time to pray. All nobles stop at Gilles' personal Grail Chapel and almost every Grail Knight has visited once. The most important site is the Water Tower, allegedly the personal residence of Gilles. Very few nobles are even allowed beyond the entrance lobby and peasants can be whipped if noticed staring for too long at it.
• Black Chasm: A giant hole in the ground, from which mysterious vapours rise periodically. Home to the Skaven of Clan Pestilens, it is here that they released the Red Pox onto the kingdom of Bretonnia. Currently, the Skaven are stuck in a war between Clan Pestilens and Clan Flem against Clans Eshin and Moulder for control of the pit and any treasures that lay within. Eshin's fortresses keep them well entrenched, and all others are basically devoted to trying to dislodge them. Strange froglike creatures called Chasm Spawn sometimes leave the site, wandering around Bastonne and even into Castle Bastonne itself giving knights the treat of something to fight for the crowd. Despite the name the Bretonnians don't believe they're related to Chaos (clearly meant to imply Pestilens somehow replicated a Slann Spawning Pool, but not a plot that was explored because Fuck End Times).
• Bergerac: Basically the only settlement in the Bastonnian Forest Of Chalons, or at least it was before it was abandoned. The castle Chateau Mal was partially demolished by the emergence of the Flapping Monster, and peasants collapsed what was left on its corpse. The Grail Chapel in theory stands, but its relics were carried off by the former citizens to form their portable Chapel.
• Castle Sangasse: A fortification protecting Garamont, built on a rocky fortification and staffed by Bowmen and Men-At-Arms as well as numerous trebuchets. Its the seat of power for the Sangasse family who are the traditional rivals of the Garamont family, the Earl being appointed by the Duke to protect against invaders. The Sangasse are politically very powerful and in the Warhmamer "modern day" Maloric is the Earl who is the "friendly" rival of Calard. Sangasse are connected by marriage to the more powerful families in Bretonnia.
• Castle Garamont: Just north of the Forest of Chalons, with a Gatehouse keeping anything contained within and stationed by peasants training to become Men-At-Arms for the main castle and beyond. Seat of power to the Garamont family, rivals of the Sangasse. If the contradiction of the two being so close and also hostile is strange, the two are not engaged in active battle so much as mutual one-upsmanship pushing both families to greater heights. Being more successful in war the Garamonts are the Castellans of Bastonne, charged with defense of the entire Dukedom though in practice this usually means being dispatched to join other Dukedoms in defense of the nation itself. Carved from pale stone that reflects the glow of morning and dusk at the top of a rocky bluff, overlooking the entire region. The path to the castle lies opposite the cliff with its namesake village being at the bottom, though not in its shadow. The fortress was built in the first century of Bretonnia but generations ago the seventh tower collapsed and severe distasters each time it was attempted to be reconstructed as well as a nest of ravens have lead it to be dubbed Morr's Rest. Calard is the current Castellan in the "modern day".
• Humble Chapel: Despite the name, its an ornate structure and is the oldest remaining Grail Chapel at over 1,000 years old. It was built by peasants and is entirely maintained by them, and Damsels come here to preach when traveling or The Lady bids it. Offerings from peasants at Chapels throughout Bretonnia often flow to this site and its grandeur increases every generation with a humble stonework and ornate metalwork as well as stained glass and a stunning amount of statuary including golden pieces that even visiting Dwarfs and Elves scoff at less than other examples of Bretonnian, or indeed human at all, architecture. A peasant named Gademar even was visited by The Lady and she allowed him to touch the Grail itself which empowered him, though nobility consider the story to be borderline heresy and refuse to give it consideration. Nobles never enter the Humble Chapel, by their own choice with only a handful of exceptions all of whom were Grail Knights. Its Warhammer Notre Dame.
• Malmont: A large peak that overlooks the rest of Massif Orcal, home to a lone Grail Chapel where a Grail Knight known as the Hermit Knight of Malmont lives. His original name is forgotten, and on foot every day he wanders the mountain slaying every Greenskin and Dragon he meets; he's managed to pacify the mountains to a degree its never previously been, doing more than Crusades in his long life. Dragons still kidnap but never survive long enough to actually eat Maidens in the region. The bones of his kills line the path to the rest of the Dukedom, but no Necromancer would be dumb enough to test him for a Dragon skeleton. Every day Peasants make pilgrimage to bring him wine, cheese, and venison. In particular the peasants who live in safety at the base of the mountain brew a special wine they provide him with that magically enhances the strength of those who drink it called Sangdragon. He never rides a mount, and warns against mockery of those who walk among the people.
• Sancerre: A location of a Grail Chapel from which Jasperre le Beau took his favored weapon, the Virtuous Lance which has since been adorned by many, MANY favors from the ladies he has rescued.
• Chambourt: Ruled by a family of the same name. It lies near the center of Bastonne, and was cursed after the sister of Baron de Chambourt fell to Chaos via the seduction of a (male) Cultist witch (he's basically Warhammer Charles Manson) and lead a tribe of Beastmen to desecrate the grounds of the Grail Shrine while she skinned the Damsel alive and tainted the pews with rotting corpses of farm animals. The Grail Knight Gilles Ettringer who served the family slaughtered the Beastmen present and drug the Baron's sister and witch to face judgement, where he was tortured in hopes of convincing her to forsake Chaos though she died fighting their captors and the Cultist escaped after telling Ettringer the land was cursed. Many years later Ettringer and the young de Chambourt were ambushed by hundreds of Beastmen, who took them captive. The Cultist witch sacrificed the captives of Chambourt in a ritual focused on the Baron's son while Ettringer escaped and slaughtered the Beastmen, his injuries becoming fatal as he strained his already ancient body. With the boy attending him back at Castle Chambourt he watched the execution of the Cultist from burning at the stake, only realizing too late the man was screaming for his father while looking at the Baron; the boy threw him to the ground and taunted him that the ritual to switch bodies was successful, and the old Grail Knight died on the cold floor desperate in prayer for The Lady to save the de Chambourts and Bastonne from the plot of The Omen ruin.
• Castle Baldemar: Run by Baldemar of Bastonne, his Bowmen fled into the Forest Of Chalons after being inspired by Bertrand's story. After barely surviving their first encounter with a warband of Beastmen (which is itself impressive) they returned and begged for mercy. Amused, Baldemar accepted them back but dubbed them Ennar's Outlaws. They all died at La Maisontaal in End Times (fuck End Times).

Montfort

If you had a vibe that Bretonnia could be a bit more grimdark without being Vampires, here's the Dukedom for you. Xenophobia, precarious position constantly at war with monsters and under threat of invasion from other Order factions, lack of resources and envious of their neighbors, and white and black colors.

The founding Companion, Martrud of Montfort, defended the region in his time the same as all who followed him did. He joined Gilles once the Companions relieved his people from Greenskin siege then followed them into the caves of the mountains to kill their united kings and scatter the Night Goblin tribes. In the peace that followed he built the castle that the Dukedom is named for, and that same castle has been the heraldry ever since. His is the Virtue of Empathy, and the peasantry of Montfort are as loyal to the nobles as the nobles are to them.

Montfort is almost entirely in the Grey Mountains with almost no farmable land, right next to Dukedoms with plenty. It lies between two passes, Gisoreux Gap in the north and Axe Bite Pass in the south. What little land it has is dedicated entirely to producing as much food as possible since even a good season isn't sufficient for supporting the population, and the natural border in the west is the notoriously monster-filled River Grismerie. All it takes is one Greenskin invasion, one Chaos Cult, one undead horde to create famine.

Thankfully the region has decent alternative sources of income, and semi-reliable trade partners. Despite the name the Gisoreux Gap is Montfort's (Gisoreux is the destination at the end), wide enough in a V-shaped valley for two caravans to travel side-by-side and plenty of places for inns along the path, with the route so guarded that said inns actually will open after dark (a rarity even our real world at the equivalent time period). After only a few days travelers can pass from the Empire to Bretonnia with whatever goods, basically giving Montfort access to the markets of Reikland and Gisoreux. Montfort can collect a second toll from traders who board barges to take the Grismerie to Parravon, Bastonne, Mousillon, or Bordeleaux.

Axe Bite Pass is another story. This valley is wide enough for armies, and is the primary point of conflict between Bretonnia and the Empire. The capital city of Castle Montfort lies on the Bretonnian end while the fortified trade city of Helmgart lies on the other end. Greenskins are common attackers when the two nations are not at war, ensuring that no matter the politics there's going to be a war in the pass soon if not currently. Trolls and Giants among other monsters are also common lurkers of the chasms and caves, and the region known as Ludwig's Nose receives only an hour of sunlight a day which is often overcast which makes the area safer for Vampires like the Strigoi. The Bretonnian side is policed mainly by appointing sections of the road as a fief to worthy families, with inns and industry replacing farms as the predominant source of income for the estate. Trade still occurs, but caravans must be larger and better defended, and many simply disappear between the outposts and are never heard from again.

One additional trade route exists. Crooked Corridor was once primarily only known to, and used by, smugglers and is dangerous to even enter in any but the hottest times of the year due to its heavy snowfall though after a Goblin invasion of the Empire made the route better known Blackstone Tower was built, made of reflective blue-black stone quarried locally; if that sounds ominous its because the entire project is a Tzeentch plot as the Reikland spent a great deal on it and the nobility expected a place of prestige to send their sons to, only for the Dwarfs of Karak Ziflin to claim that since it was built slightly on their land according to ancient records the Empire didn't have access to that it belongs to them, only for Bretonnia to become increasingly nervous as an ever-increasing garrison of Dwarfs and Reikland soldiers staff the fortress and force a third crossing for Montfort to have to assert control over regardless of whether King Rorek Granitebeard of Karak Ziflin or Margrave Manegold von Geetburg continue sharing the site or one gives the other the boot.

Beyond that there's a fair number of mining communities in Montfort, with houses built directly into the mountain walls or slopes and any actual flat land being reserved for anything that will grow or livestock to ensure the community survives between caravan visits. Somewhere in the center of Montford is a Greenskin fortress called Garban Hold, though the Bretonnians have been unable to locate it; if they do they hope to rid the region of Greenskins entirely and focus on defense against man and Dwarf.

The people of Montfort are complicated. They live lives of extremes, as the constant danger and struggle to stay alive have lead them to take life seriously and not plan too far ahead beyond surviving the day, month, season, year, and hopefully generation. Their celebrations are raucous and feuds intense to the degree settlements can be destroyed by a particularly wild occasion or town-wide civil war, leaving supply caravans to pick apart whatever is left of value on their next visit and mark another site off the map, but any settlement that endures is hardy and far more able to withstand attack. The nobility are also very alert, quick to respond to threats to the peasants and provide relief to each other regardless of personal grudges in times of hardship. Montfortians are xenophobic though usually not hateful once one gets past their SEVERE ignorance; the lack of exposure to other communities leads them to believe anything they see is a type of Orc or Goblin or other monster be it Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, even other humans that just don't look Montfortian enough. Once they stop poking visitors with spears and demanding to know the location of Garban Hold however they show the same hospitality other Bretonnians are known for, and those who want to join their communities find themselves ground to the breaking point by the hard life or as much kin as if they'd lived there all their lives. The few Montfortians who leave tend not to either have become outcast from their communities or are merely the survivors of a village that had a population too badly decimated by Greenskin attack to continue to feed itself.

Duke Folcard is the Duke in the "modern era" of the game. He's among the least described of all the Dukes, which is fitting because he's almost entirely devoted all his time to fighting Greenskins and countering the troop movements of the Empire and Dwarfs all while still relying on smaller Greenskin groups to pit his men against in hopes they'll be ready for a WAAGH and not offending his Order neighbors since his army is funded by trade with them. He ignores the concerns of the other Bretonnian Dukes when they complain his people are settling on their lands but is quick to punish any who think they're going to settle on Empire or Dwarf territory; other than Blackstone Tower, he sees himself as purely a defender and never an aggressor. He's well-loved by the peasants as almost all of his life has been spent personally riding to their defense, and before leaving a site he holds court to address any concerns great or small before leaving which has maintained the peace of the people and eliminated all but the most well-guarded corruption within Montfort. His frequent visits to certain sites have seen him establish new forts, watchtowers, and a complex network of beacons which allow him to always be where he needs to be when he needs to be there to keep the lands safe, though he's limited because Montfort geographically is poor for horses and thus both he and most of his army fight and travel on foot. Folcard was badly hurt in the war against the Empire lead by Magnus Von Abresicht, though the battle resulted in a Bretonnian win and the Empire so thoroughly shamed with so many dead that they refuse to speak of the war and it exists as a scar on the Empire psyche (for more on this, read about German and French history, spoilers: it ties into World War 2 in a big way).

One of the men in Folcard's retinue is Heinrich Jakersdorf, the son of an Empire expat who had planned to establish a merchant house connecting Montfort and Altdorf to centralize trade; instead he dedicated himself to a military life when, serving as a Man-at-Arms for startup funds when chosen by Folcard, he witnessed an Orc charge and spear a young peasant woman. Once the bloodlust cleared he found she was alive, paid his wages for her to be nursed back to health, then married her. Currently he's a Sergeant who leads one of Folcard's Man-At-Arms companies.

The Wardens of Montfort are a famous company of Mounted Yoemen bearing poisoned arrows who skirmish with forces who march on Montfort through the passes.

Among Montfortian expats abroad is Hugo the Antique Knight, a hermit knight (not a Grail Knight) who was imprisoned in the internment camp warehouse in Ubersreik during one of the Empire wars against Bretonnia. The citizens were especially cruel and many civilians died, with those who still breathed carving the walls until the former warehouse became a Grail Chapel. The skulls of those who died in that era still decorate the place and it has become a place of pilgrimage for those who visit (and serving as a reminder that the Reiklanders aren't honorable), and Hugo would fight any who would invade it today.

Teudric of Montfort is the rare Bretonnian who has earned the friendship of the Dwarfs, and the unbreakable longsword Karaz Gift is a symbol of that; though in End Times he disappeared, his sword remained.

Montfort is also home to the Rossereux dynasty, the lords of Christofains. It should be noted that this story relies on old lore where peasants could become knights more easily, and is effectively retconned by not being mentioned in the lore regarding peasants and knights (or alternatively that detail has been lost to history to the peasants and the nobility of Bretonnia pretends it was a lie). The story begins with Gaston Rossereux, squire to Sir Guillame d'Abois. Scouting out the Forest Morlaix for d'Abois' hunt that day he chanced on the bandit Grim Gaspard, beating the man with a staff before stabbing him with the broken end. For that d'Abois knighted him, and the ambitious young man immediately set out for a nearby fief of Christofains which had been taken over by the Greenskin warlord Ormscar Windhowl. Gaston acted as a one-man army, slaughtering all the Greenskins and returning to surprise d'Abois with the Warboss's head on his lance. Barely a day from peasant to knight and, though unrecognizable, he'd completed his Errantry. Gaston married d'Abois' daughter Mirabelle and rebuilt Christofains. Once his firstborn reached the age of ten he went on a quest to retrieve a holy relic, an amulet called the Mortaise Amulet which had been dipped into the Grail by the Grail Knight Sir Algernon de Mortaise and had been stolen from his tomb. He returned years later dying from injuries, and bequeathed the quest to return the amulet to his descendants though in reality he had found it and it was buried with him, as a scheme between him and Mirabelle to ensure their family legacy would grow forever. His son Edouard spent his Errantry under the most harsh taskmaster in Bretonnia, Duke Antoine Dupont de l'Etang of Carcassonne. After becoming the only man to best the Duke in a duel he rescued the maiden Coralie from the Ogre Hurgastt, and she had barely given birth to his son when he announced he was going on his father's quest. For thirty eight years he quested, slaying many foes and leading Questing Knights in battle against Greenskin armies and rescuing the common folk, but eventually disease took him and he was buried next to this father. Thierry was next, the fame his father won having secured his place in Montfort as one of the Duke's own Errants, though he'd not been fond of taking up the family quest. A villainous knight named Hervé de Malpassant had been challenging knights to duels, killing them, and taking their lands and his ambition had been to kill the Duke and become the new Duke of Montfort; Thierry accepted the duel on the Duke's behalf as the man was in advanced age, and upon killing the wicked knight he was granted the hand of the king's cousin Gwendolyn and status as Castellan of the Dukedom and the castle Petitmonte. Though he was eager for a quiet life he'd been mocked louder and louder with each passing year he did not take up the family quest, and after being barred from the court of Montfort due to whispers of cowardice he finally went questing into the Forest of Arden to pursue a great hoarder of relics, the Dragon Sheonat. He barely survived killing the creature due to his age, liberating its hoard but not finding the amulet. He was bedridden with his injuries for a year, not helped when the young Duke passed Petitmonte onto a knight capable of defending it. Plague swept Christofains and Gwendolyn died while the sickness ensured he would never recover from his injuries and his son Mathieu, the only Rossereux to grow up with his father, cared for him in his final months. Mathieu became the greatest of the family, slaying the Giant Guistom, the Vampire the Red Knight, and took down a Wyvern all while still an Errant. When Baron Gaspard le Maida lead 300 knights into Skavenblight itself Mathieu was one of the Valiant Thirty-Two who returned and had destroyed the Plague Monk monastery of Skreek and killed Stormvermin Warlord Snattermurk, with the raid claiming two thousand Skaven lives and setting back their plans against Bretonnia for ages. Scandalously he had a son with Duke Poinardy of L'Anguille's daughter Fleurisse before marriage, but was ultimately able to legitimize his son Gaston II before his death; the Stormvermin of Clan Pestilens lured him to The Vaults mountains with rumors of the location of the amulet, but they collapsed the ground and plunged him into their Warrens. While he was able to defeat a LITERAL ARMY to the point he climbed the corpses out, he'd been nicked by a poisoned blade and died soon after. The final Rossereux, ironically given his name, was an absolute failure; he failed to complete his Errantry due to starting it as soon as his father died, too young. He was brutally beaten and barely survived an Orc ambush on his Errant cadre and entered a tournament as soon as he felt able where he was beaten in the very first round. In a tantrum he entered the tomb of his ancestors and broke his sword on his namesake's sarcophagus, revealing the amulet. Inscribed on the back was the words "We must search and take risks, because the greatest danger in life is not to risk anything. The Knight who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing." While he was hailed as a hero for finally completing the quest it felt hollow to him, and he rejected the alleged "honor" and his own knighthood. He became a monk, and now in the modern day of Warhammer he seeks to become something far more than any other member of his family; he seeks the Grail and the favor of The Lady, though as a scholar rather than a warrior, and he has spread the story of his family to ensure the nobility ask themselves the question of what their societal idea of honor really is, and what value it has.

In The Old World era Bragans De Montfort III is the Duke, though we don't know anything about him other than his version of the heraldry has red instead of white and a gold cross on it reminiscent of the Empire, which may explain the other thing we know about him which is that he's dedicated to keeping Axe Bite safe for the Reiklanders to travel.

Any nobility with a fief not on the passes in and out of Bretonnia likely has their home within sight of a mine as its the only other source of revenue. Montfortian families continually try to settle on the other side of the Grismerie and respond to complaint by Bastonne and Quenelles with a defiant dare to force them out, which usually eventually happens. They also attempt to push into the Wasteland near Marienburg on the other side of the mountains, but as life in the wastes is so nightmarishly difficult and Marienburg not all that concerned the Duke also ignores them, and inevitably those settlements also fail.

• Castle Montfort: A massive city that takes up the entirety of the end of Axe Bite Pass, though technically most of it is just fortifications against the various eastern foes of Bretonnia and the actual settlement is split between the well defended Inner Montfort which lies at the opening of the pass and the more visitor-friendly Outer Montfort which is outside the shadow of the cliff walls, though there's very little actual travel between the two as a toll must be paid crossing the gates and the observation that more Inner Montfortians have been to Altdorf than Outer Montfort is true. The former is home to the finest smiths in Bretonnia and the latter its greatest inns. The castle walls are sixty feet fall in five separate tiers which each can be defended independently of the others, making it all but unbreachable. At the lowest tier a pair of double walls lead to another castle, which is considered part of the same "Castle Montfort" and is treated as essentially a massive garrison. Even a massive Daemon army at the command of Kairos Fateweaver couldn't breach it, though his magic was able to melt the eastern part of the walls; the Daemons were able to infiltrate and steal the relic they sought, but the city could not be taken no matter his strategy despite inflicting severe losses on the defenders and he abandoned the battle. Unlike the rest of Bretonnia, Castle Montfort's foundations are said to be Dwarfen instead of Elven and the craftsmen are unusually skilled in the creation of armor and structure for mere humans. Despite the severe treatment the Bretonnians living in the Empire suffer any time the two nations go to war, the largest population of Empire citizens in Bretonnia lives in Inner Montfort including having a large cathedral to Sigmar, and they are not subjected to any discrimination while at war with their kin (though to be fair there's little they could do against the might of the fortress). The water well of the keep lies one thousand feet deep, safe from poisoning (probably) and it can withstand just about any invader.
• Tharravil: Allegedly a village sitting atop the single richest gold mine in the entire world, far surpassing any belonging to the Tomb Kings of Nehekhara, Elves of Naggaroth, Dragons of Cathay, or Dwarfs of the Ankor. Even the roof tiles are made of gold as are their utensils, and its farmland is the only really self-sufficient place in Montfort due to its constantly pleasant weather being situated far enough up a pale mountain to escape cloud cover without being freezing and covered in snow. The rumors of the place are well known, and some explorers have claimed to have found it with one even having stolen a rooftop tile, but they're inevitably robbed for the gold before revealing the location. The Duke of Montfort keeps its location secret, collecting the gold with a caravan made up of the most loyal warriors available.
• Christofains: An estate with particularly harsh weather in the colder months, formerly ruled by the prestigious Rossereux dynasty. It now lies lordless, Gaston II having abandoned his noble station for the life of a monk and his pursuit of becoming worthy of the Grail without being a knight. His glorious and tragic family history lies on tablets before the tomb for visitors to learn from.
• Petitmonte: A luxurious castle with grand grounds for hunting, reserved for the Castellan of Montfort.

Parravon

Found at the southern end of the Grey Mountains, it shares much in common with its northern neighbor in Montfort, though is subject to far less Greenskin activity and has only the Grey Lady Pass to defend which is far from a good route for invasions. The castles of Parravon tend to be built higher into the mountains themselves since the jagged and hilly nature of the peaks lessens outside Montfort, and as a result the nobles have access to the Pegasi which are found more in abundance than anywhere else in the world. Any castle in the region has high towers, either housing stables for Pegasi or allowing the nobles to survey the peaks for invaders and over the forest top for the view (since its too dense to actually see what's happening within). The bulk of the population resides within the Parravon Vale, a highly fertile valley nestled in a bowl surrounded by the Grey Mountains, pastoral on the edges and arable in the center leading to the River Grismerie, with houses built into slopes to avoid wasting fertile land. The further south along the mountain edge one travels the less fertile the land and the more houses are built looking like the rest of Bretonnia.

Like Gisoreux the bulk of its non-mountainous terrain is forestland, though a far more dangerous one; just as full of Chaos creatures, but also the Fey and the very darkest depths of the world as it is the northeastern tip of Athel Loren. A very, VERY small part of that forest is granted to the Bretonnians as part of their territory but eventually a literal wall of trees, branches as hard as steel and woven together, bars further entry with the River Grismerie flowing beneath. The Fey stay out of Parravon, and the Bretonnians never venture past the tree wall. The Bretonnians log their allowed trees and use them for the Grail Chapels found throughout Bretonnia, though there's almost no farmland because they don't clear-cut the woods. Foraging and small livestock are used to feed the Dukedom, and the peasant villages near the forest construct their houses as extensions of the trees and attach platforms to the large branches from which they can escape, or fire on, Greenskin invaders.

The Grey Lady Pass connects the Empire valley Teufeltal and its town of Tallerhof as well as the rest of the Empire beginning in Ubersreik via the Teufel River. Though less inhospitable than Crooked Corridor, snow still closes down the pass in the colder months and its far more narrow than either Axe Bite or the Gap, albeit with far less monsters as the small fort called Schluesselschloss on an island in the river is enough to defend the Empire side, while Dwarfs defend the section of road that leads to Karak Azgaraz and Bretonnian patrols keep the Bretonnian side safe; of the four passes through the Grey Mountains, Grey Lady Pass is the safest and thus preferred for non-merchant travelers taking coaches between the three peoples for business, immigration, and diplomacy. Despite not actually controlling it, the warriors of Parravon share duty protecting Axe Bite Pass with Montfort and one of the most famous battles in Parravonese history was their reliving army smashing the Empire invasion that the Montfortians had ground to a standstill.

The Parravonese are...strange. The rest of Bretonnia suspects them of all being part Elf in heritage, which is (likely mostly) untrue, though they do have an innate connection to Athel Loren that most humans don't have. This has made them the only humans the Wood Elves (other than the Eonir of Laurelorn anyway) actually tolerate and show mercy to, though both sides know any man who scrapes the bark off the wrong tree will have only their entrails hanging from a branch seen by their kin again. Despite the oddness, Parravonese are the least inbred in all of Bretonnia as both peasant and noble are expected to leave their village upon reaching adulthood, and summers are times of great celebration and reunions between kinfolk. This encouragement to freely travel makes them the foremost Bretonnian adventurers in the world, peasants being far more likely to reach other nations and Errants seeking glory outside Bretonnia itself without a specific cause. The region is also surprisingly peaceful, with only an odd nobleman from Montfort suddenly "forgetting" what side of the river he built his castle on. The only major conflict is two lords, Sir Liutpol and Sir Fredergar, feuding over who gets to collect the toll for passing by their section of the river and even then its only made a minor headache for trade barges rather than some existential conflict that could cost the lives of thousands. Though a nobleman named Sir Chloderic in the southernmost section of the mountains has plans to build a mining village in the mountain just south of his fief, which is owned by the Empire; despite being remote if they ever found out it would likely mean war (so a problem for Montfort).

Parravon is not fond of Ogres; during one of the wars with the Empire the general Graf Haldebrand used Mercenary Ogres to push though the Bretonnian defenses and lay siege to Castle Parravon before the Empire troops were routed and the Ogres dispersed. When the Parravonese Duke Amoux later hired the same warband in a brief civil war within Parravon they ate 19 of his horses, leading Parravon nobles to avoid hiring Ogres ever again (though that's not true for the rest of Bretonnia by implication).

Parravon also has a large Dwarf population compared to the rest of Bretonnia, being the only Dukedom to boast it; somehow this hasn't made the Wood Elves hate them.

The Skyhost, the grand army of around 90 Pegasus Knights that directly serve the king of Bretonnia, are made up mostly of the victors of the Skyjoust Tournaments of Parravon, with some admitted in who win the Tournament Celestial of Couronne.

The founding Duke Companion was Agilgar, who at some point had befriended the greatest of all Pegasi, Glorfinial, and made the creature's likeness his personal heraldry. The Companions found him stuck in a two-front war between a Greenskin invasion he had to hold off while Giants in the mountains threw boulders to destroy his city. The Companions dealt with the Greenskins which allowed him to personally slay the Giants. He took out the forces in the skies in the future battles after he joined them, particularly the bat monsters in the skies above Mousillon. His mount would be the ancestor to all Royal Pegasi, the premium version of Pegasi only found in Bretonnian stables, but the Companion and creature would both die young after fighting a pair of Wyverns in the mountains with Glorfinial dying in flight and Agilgar when he hit the ground.

During the Red Pox era the Duke of the time named Escargot (yes, you knew GW would use that at some point) rode to relieve Brionne and Quenelles from invasion by the Skaven, who had assumed most Dukedoms would be too busy to aid each other and what little could be spared wouldn't turn the tide. The Wood Elves were the surprise that disrupted the Skaven equation, having ignored the inevitable destruction of Quenelles until the Parravonese gave a chance for saving their buffer state.

At an unknown point was Machevort the Merciless, known for fighting among the peasants from horseback despite being a Parravonese Duke, and that he primarily fought Greenskins. His retinue constantly patrolled the lands without him in search of Greenskin threats, riding only black or grey ordinary horses (as opposed to Pegusi) and wearing unpainted armor and never removing their armor or revealing their faces. The mystery of why was never answered.

The reigning Duke in the "modern era" is Duke Cassyon (also known as the Margrave of Parravon which is how he's referred to in print and letters rather than in speech and in person), known for his youth; when most Dukes are either storied knights or Grail Pilgrims with some pushing into their second century of life, Cassyon is still in his 20's. His father died during his Grail Quest which was mercifully short, leaving him having had little time to experience the outside world or get the itch to fight out of his system. As a result he acts a lot like Duke Adalhard of Lyonesse or Duke Folcard of Montfort in that he assumes any problem can be dealt with personally by riding out to the site and either coming up with a clever solution to immediately solve the problem or killing something; this has lead to issues with a severe backlog of administering justice, taxation, and other administrative duties that can be handled in a stack of paperwork one after the other without needing to personally see the site in question. Despite this he's become very popular with the peasantry, who call him the true heir to Companion Agilgar. During End Times he sided with the loyalists to Louen and personally fought Mallobaude, and in one of the pivotal moments that could have prevented the apocalypse he was woken up by noticing a huge host of Wood Elves marching; in an uncharacteristic moment he went back to bed, figuring that Parravon needed his strength more than the Fey (who were on their way to attempt to rescue Aliathra which would have prevented the rise of Nagash).

In The Old World the Duke is Cassvon Pavanne IV, who fought against both Greenskins and the Empire who invaded through the pass and he confiscated the shield of the knight Mathadric the Grim who had attempted to infiltrate his court by pretending to be a Parravonian when he was really from Mousillon (this lore coming from an item in Vermintide 2).

The Parravonese Grail Knight Tristan de la Tour and the Realm Knight Bertrand le Grande were Bretonnia's representation in the Grudgebringers mercenary company which fought against the Black Grail Knights of the Dread King of Nagash among other foes.

In the distant past was Foricarl de Mandelot, a knight who slew a Dragon and became one of the most popular nobles in Parravon; the Duke at the time had a son named Willibald, a dedicated slayer of Beastmen who was outraged when his father considered making Foricarl his heir (to be fair the Duke HATED Dragons since he'd lost his arm and Willibald's sister to one) and he assassinated him, for which Foricarl was implicated and went on the run before the Fay Enchantress personally arrived to accuse Willibald of the murder and transformed him into a frog for it. Foricarl never returned to Bretonnia, having gone on as a Hermit Knight slaying monsters in the Empire instead and had a prestigious family there; in End Times The Lady sent a vision to his descendant Markus de Mandelot, formerly a Greatsword, and anointed him as a Grail Knight to stem the invasions of the Skaven among other monsters.

During the Nemesis Crown campaign the Bretonnian presence was lead by King Louen Leoncoeur personally, but Henri of Parravon was the main character. Louen lead his Crusade to first to wipe Settra's Tomb King invasion then clear the Great Forest of Talabecland, Middenland, Stirland, and Ostermark of monsters. After the Empire folk became suspicious of the Bretonnians looking to grab land or plunder their homes Louen commanded the men to focus on honor, and Henri received a vision telling him to lead the men of the Crusade with no greed in their hearts to purge the land of all evil.

Less impressive was Laudethaire of Parravon, a companion of Calard of Garamont; a famous and famously arrogant tournament winner and slayer of monsters, during the battle against Egil Styrbjorn he killed a Spawn which ended his Pegasus then a Norscan warrior. While hanging from a ledge outside a broken window his lifetime of arrogance and vanity came back as he insulted the peasant companion of Calard, the thief Chlod, who kicked him into the sea.

Marcel of Parravon is one of the more worldly figures, having established the massive port colony of Bregonne on Lustria, near Tlaxtlan and the Amaxon River. He'd set out after inheriting his father's estate and, having spent his childhood dreaming of Lustria, decided to set sail using a Norscan map. The Lizardmen had initially chosen to ignore them, but the nobility of the growing settlement had become bored without monsters to slay and found the climate unpleasant enough to avoid entertaining themselves with tournaments, so they took to plundering instead. Again the Lizardmen ignored them until they found the tomb of the Slann Lord Klaqulxol and promptly carted off everything not nailed down, including golden plates left by the Old Ones. Even then the Lizardmen were uncharacteristically merciful, choosing to send a small force and retain their main one in reserve in case of Dark Elf attack. The Saurus warlord Quatl chose to infiltrate the keep, only killing the Men-At-Arms guarding the treasury and looting only the important artifacts before leaving. Marcel was outraged however, and ordered the village peasants to assemble to try to halt the Lizardmen on their retreat so his knights could ride them down; likewise Quatl ordered the Skinks to serve as a living roadblock to the cavalry. The result of the battle is left unknown, but its likely the settlement still stands even if Marcel's survival isn't clear.

Perhaps the most famous figure of all however is Genevieve Sandrine du Pointe du Lac Dieudonné, the only Vampire openly tolerated in the Empire and the slayer of Drachenfels twice, as well as her Vampiric "relatives". Her story is long, but the brief version is that her father was a minister to the Duke at the time and when Drachenfels took over the city for a brief slaughter he was among the dead. When she was 16 she was turned into a Vampire by a rare male Lahmian named Chandagnac and inducted into the Bretonnian branch of the Lahmian spy network. She traveled first to Araby then to Cathay and finally to Nippon. While in Cathay she was trained to control her bloodlust with zen techniques by the rather open-minded monk Master Po, then returned to the Old World and wound up participating in the Great War Against Chaos (this is the Old World era, she very well could appear in the game) and becoming a favored royal guest in the lands of men. After being disillusioned when the elderly "great" Magnus The Pious sexually assaulted her while at a party (yes, really) she retired into the lower classes as a barmaid before being drawn into a plot to defeat Drachenfels. After that she retired again to the lower classes, becoming a prostitute for the Temple Of Ulric (yes, really) before being kidnapped by Sigmarite puritans who were secretly part of a Tzeentch plot to destroy the Empire (yes, really). Sick of mortals, she retired to the Order of Eternal Night and Solace in Talabheim where Vampires of the Lahmian bloodline (especially the Dwarf ones, yes really) go to retreat and relax, and update their personas with the times if they've become noticeably archaic. She returned to Altdorf to see a play about her own victory over Drachenfels which was actually a plot by the resurrected Drachenfels to kill her (yes, really) during which time she fell in love with the man who wrote the play about her (yes, really), she saved Karl Franz and his son (yes, really), and was filled with holy light of Sigmar himself proving her to be not just some evil undead monster to the public of the current Empire (yes, really). She traveled to Tilea, barely surviving a political revolution plot, then was blackmailed by the head of the banks of the Empire into assassinating an important (but also viciously misogynistic) Empire nobleman while he was hunting a unicorn in preparation for hunting down his runaway wife who he caught cheating, all to calm the populace and prevent literal class warfare between the nobility and commoners (yes, really). After saving one of the most prominent Witch Hunters, Antiochus Bland, she was once again granted clemency within the Empire and married her playwright lover. In End Times she performed the jobs of diplomacy between the Empire and Nagash's forces, though in the final days she abandoned the last great army in order to finally return home to Parravon to die there...only to survive into Age Of Sigmar. What she did between the destruction of the former world and new multi-planar universe isn't known, though she's notably far more feral and talks about committing acts of evil.

Chandagnac was a flamboyant Parravonese Bretonnian fop who turned Genevieve, and who's other creation Kattarin proceeded to claim the throne of Kislev for a time before she was killed and her own creations became the Lahmian network of Kislev based in Praag. Chandagnac also was killed, though his flamboyance gave him away to the mob rather than actual Vampiric traits. His own sire was Lady Melissa d'Acques. Melissa has the appearance of a twelve year old girl and runs the entirety of the Bretonnian Lahmian network as well as maintains her connections to the Kislevite branch, and favors turning men while being highly selective of women (she was against Chandagnac's choices). Lahmians primarily control almost every society in the world via subtle manipulation and coexistence with humans, usually finding lovers or business partners amongst the humans, and manipulates those societies against other Vampiric Bloodlines; Bretonnia being a hotbed of Vampiric activity of various kinds, primarily the Blood Dragons plus the Mousillon situation and plenty of rogue Necromancers, they have their work cut out for them and with what we know in End Times (Lileath manipulating the Undead into resurrecting Nagash, and instilling a Vampire Elf Princess as a new god of death in her planned world) its likely that the Lahmians act with The Lady's quiet approval. As for Melissa's origin, she was related to both the royal families of Bretonnia and the Empire and is likely also Parravonese (or Montfortian), and when traveling with her parents a bandit Vampire who was the abandoned creation of the rogue and mad Vampire Belda the Melancholy killed her parents, turned her, then left her there. As for Belda, she was turned directly by Neferata but is unlikely to be Bretonnian since Bretonnia wasn't part of her travels; her story and fate isn't known other than she was on the bad side of the Lahmians and turned many Bretonnians who conducted a reign of terror throughout the land, and might be the source of some of the Mousillon monsters.

Possibly the worst rogue in the entirety of Bretonnia is actually a Dark Elf living in Parravon; Dralaith, also known as the Black Prince, was a mere corsair at one point who stole an object called the Eye of Tchar from a Chaos Shaman that let him see the future. Converting to worship the Chaos Gods and brutally torturing a Wood Elf ambassador to death to announce his presence to the world, he earned the ire of Bretonnia, Athel Loren, and Naggaroth all at once. He conducted a reign of terror within Bretonnia that hasn't ended to this day, and most bandits answer to him one way or another. He's also conducted attacks on Wood Elves, attempting to worsen relations between the two groups though his efforts have been largely unsuccessful, and some Dark Elf attacks on Bretonnia are merely there to assassinate him and their doom a result of his manipulations. Most Bretonnians believe he's some undead bastard son of a past king. Brunner the Bounty Hunter almost killed him which is finally how he figured out the weakness of the Eye that had caused the deaths of its previous owners; just because it shows a vision doesn't mean that's the entire truth, something he was able to manipulate when he witnessed his death and ensured it was merely a look-alike. He's since reclaimed his base of operations in Parravon.

Back to heroism, Estrebert the Grail Pilgrim is one of the most famous (read; few named) members of that group. He is obsessed with Grail Knights and has the personal theory that valiant peasants are reincarnated as nobles by The Lady. He has an almost Slayer-like desire to find glorious death in battle. He followed the Grail Knight Sir Letour for twenty years, and after seeing Letour almost killed by a warband of Beastmen he went into a rage and slaughtered far more than any peasant, or even a non-Grail knight, should theoretically be capable of. He collapsed in exhaustion next to Letour ready to die of his injuries and be reborn but Letour personally cared for him during his time unconscious. When Estrebert began to stir from his coma Letour readied to leave, leaving his sacred helmet beside him. Estrebert now wears the helmet, leading a warband of Grail Pilgrims as loyal to him as if he were a knight, continuing to do valiant deeds like any knight would and hoping The Lady will know and uplift him.

Of the more tragic is Duke Lavaillier and the Green Skulls; he was taken to be a lover of Neferata, but when she became tired of him she drained his life and enslaved him as a Wight while having his family slaughtered and all those soldiers loyal to him tortured to death; now her ex lover and his troops, their eyes filled with green fire, obey her whims among her many other legions of victims.

Possibly far more tragic is Madame Kalfon, a child who's peasant parents abandoned her in the woods rather than turn her over to the Feyfolk when her magical talen manifested. They were hoping some kindly forest creature from fairy tales would rescue her, and instead it was a band of Chaos Mutants and Beastmen who protected and cared for her as an outcast until she was the age of twelve when a Necrarch Vampire named Chigaru found her then turned her into a Vampire, hoping to have a grand and easy to control apprentice. However once she saw how he had mutated her caregivers into Chaos Spawn or stitched them into undead aberrations she threw him out a window, leaving him impaled on the stone spikes below his tower for the sun to destroy him. She took on the Madame title to feel more adult than her form would ever allow, and the emotionally stunted Necrach took to learning her creator's secrets from the tomes and experiments. She surpassed him immensely, even figuring out how to preserve the normally semi-intangible forms of the Fey spirits to sew into undead monsters (she loathes the Fey since she learned of her origins, and the dissected fairy artwork in many later Vampire Counts books is probably her handiwork as she's the sole being able to preserve their spirit and body in a way that neither dissipate back into the forest). Despite this she has no desire for power. Her "army" is merely an increasing number of friends and protectors, her undead fairies called her "Spites" protecting the inside of her isolated mountain fortress.

• Castle Parravon: With a very high Dwarf population it shouldn't be surprising to have been exquisitely carved directly from a mountain that serves as an outcrop from the Greys, though that's surprisingly not the city origin; it was originally a High Elf colony fort, which is where its grand spires that rise and allow the rare view between the trees of Athel Loren and at the mountain passes of the Grey Mountain Dwarfs come from as well as its single and very defensible bridge into the city between deep chasms and the River Grismerie. A small dock makes the city technically a port along the river for trade and the easternmost destination for most barges. The Dwarfs have taken to expanding the city as the population grew however, and improving the walls. Said Dwarf population gets along with the Bretonnians, but surprisingly never integrated culturally the way Imperial Dwarfs did in the Empire. The Duke's estate is the bulk of the original Elven fort, making it very much a castle within a castle city. While the laws of Bretonnia regarding peasants being banned from using stones in home construction have only ever been loosely enforced (based on artwork as well as cardstock terrain from Games Workshop in the past) they were completely ignored in Parravon City as the nobles loathed the idea of wooden structures existing in their otherwise stonework city; thus the Dwarfs were contracted to shape what are essentially caves in the lower reaches of the city, which the Parravonese argue circumvents the law. The nobles of other Dukedoms disagree, and it sours their otherwise grand appreciation of the city. The nobility are proud of their gardens, though extra care and constant gardener work is needed since flocks of birds are attracted to such greenery at such heights and can ruin garden parties or any manicured shrubbery. Massive chunks of the city lie underground, and almost every building has a lower structure which connects to underground roads giving most folks two different paths which can have radically different travel times on their daily errands or visitations; some tunnels go so deep they've been abandoned and claimed by monsters however.
• The Glade of Children: Deep in the woods near the furthest point humans are allowed, a clean and still pond surrounded by dolls left as offerings by the people of Bretonnia for the sons and daughters taken by the Damsels. The area is visited often, since sometimes children are mysteriously returned from either the tributes or children who got lost in the woods and for some reason weren't left dangling by their entrails from tree branches by the Wood Elves and Wood...people.
• Sanglac Castle: A grand abandoned castle. It tempts nobles to settle it, despite the alleged curse on the site; in reality its just in a REALLY bad spot for Greenskin migration, and the occupants are inevitably killed without much of a siege needed since they never seem to expect it. During periods without settlers, the Orcs seem to destroy themselves infighting every time.
• Castle Drachenfels: While it lies in Parravon territory its generally been more often the problem of the Empire aside from one invasion and sacking of Castle Parravon. The evil castle of Drachenfels, somehow appearing within the course of months upon his awakening in the long distant past and since has only grown. Its been razed many times, and each time seems to be rebuilt showing damage but being stronger than ever if not larger yet; almost as if it regenerates by consuming the mountain its in. Outside Naggaroth no place is more evil, being a hotbed of undead, Greenskin, and Chaos activity by the great immortal evil who bullied the Chaos Gods into giving him Daemon slaves.
• La Maisontaal: A grand abbey, constructed by Abhorash for Gilles and completed before the latter's death. Though originally built to Taal, its just as sacred to The Lady and her protections keep the site safe. Its located deep in the Grey Mountains, and is isolated from almost anything else for as far as the eye can see. Twice in history Heinrich Kemmler and Skaven allies laid siege to it, the first resulting in their defeat and the second in End Times resulting in the complete destruction of the site as they found what they came for; the staff of Nagash, housed there since its construction (among many MANY other dark artifacts plus a fuckload of Warpstone). The abbey is staffed and defended by the Holy Wardens of La Maisontaal, Grail Pilgrims bearing actual holy relics. Grail Knights often travel in defense of the abbey, and those who leave customarily gift the mere peasant defenders with their Grail-infused holy weapons and armor.
• Marrennes: The fief of a family of the same name who produce the single rarest and (allegedly, since Elves and Dwarfs would likely disagree and a Kislevite would shrug and ask about the alcohol content) booze in the world; Parravon Crown Reserve. Only around twelve bottles are sold in a year, plus two given as tithe to the current king of Bretonnia, an exquisite perk indeed. The bottles are rarely ever sold for money, given how outrageously expensive it would be. Instead unique favors are required.

Quenelles

Quenelles is the largest Dukedom, but not originally; shortly before the time of Gilles and the formation of Bretonnia it was split between the southwest and northeast sections with the small mountain range of Massif Orcal in the center which is known for its unending Greenskin and Wyvern infestation. The southwest section called Cuileux was invaded by a Greenskin horde, and the entirety of the mustered horse warriors were killed; the alleged battlefield to this day is not farmed, and the rulership of the land was settled by a duel between the then-lords of Brionne and Quenelles.

The story of Cuilex is of massive importance to the people culturally; being so close to Athel Loren (just south of Parravon, but Parravon gets a pass for some reason while the Quenellesians get the Fey shit to deal with) causes plenty of supernatural bullshit to occur constantly and the Bretonnians like to say it starts with a curse, or the still-remaining ghosts, or some other unknown legacy of Cuilex. There's also something of a scar on the psyche of the descendants of the survivors of Cuilex on the Quenelles culture as they have an EXTREME LOATHING of any invasion to any Dukedom in Bretonnia despite Quenelles not generally having much to fear from Norscans, the Empire, or Dark Elves. The name of the Orc that lead the WAAGH against Cuilex, Gragabad, serves somewhat as the name of the devil for the locals as well. Despite this there isn't a lot of actual difference culturally or geographically between Cuilex and old Quenelles, the north of both is pastoral though largely dominated by Massif Orcal, and the south of both is arable farmland.

Massif Orcal sees frequent settlement due to the encouragement of the Dukes of Quenelles in an effort to push out the Greenskins or at least provide buffers that smaller armies can throw themselves at and diminish potential WAAGHs. A lot end in ruin, with rubble and destroyed castles dotting the range, but when a settlement does succeed they gain investment from the Dukedom to become fortresses, armed well and even the peasants all trained to fight valiantly like a lesser knight of the lowlands. The low height, gentle slopes, and fair amount of caves make actual attempts to wipe out the Greenskins with an army and keep them gone fairly ineffective, resulting in a longtime survival strategy.

Despite bordering the most Dukedoms (due to its size) it has the least dealings with any of them; even Artois has more contact with its neighbors. Montfort and Parravon share a northern border and are separated by the River Grismerie from them, with the former starting landgrabs that the locals are left to deal with. Gilleau divides most of Bordeleaux from northwest Quenelles, but technically Quenelles owns the river and a strip of the far bank so the land border is more a technicality than truth. Brionne and Aquitaine are on the western land border. The River Brienne divides Carcassonne from south Quenelles. Basically any threat to Bretonnia from the outside world hits someone else first aside from the Greenskins who's attacks sometimes originate from Quenelles.

Between Massif Orcal and the River Gilleau on the western border is the eastern end of the Forest of Châlons, and is subject to a strange phenomena; the forest is almost entirely devoid of Beastmen and Orcs except in very small groups, but any Bretonnian settlement that is started disappears overnight leaving only an impression in the dirt behind and no other sign it was once there. The implication is this may be the actual site of the last battle of Cuilex and the destruction is from the ghosts, but either way small groups with small camps can safely utilize the forest for economic reasons.

The Barrows of Cuileux form a thinner strip within the same area, beginning in the Massif Orcal mountains themselves and going through the forest before ending on the banks of Gilleau. They're the hollows where the Cuileux dead were buried (another reason the battle site was likely the forest), many still protected by the undead former warriors and joined by attempted interlopers. Those which were less inclined to reanimation or simply smaller were looted by Greenskins and unscrupulous Quenellesians ages ago, while one the size of an entire city full of undead lies somewhere; even great undead like Necromancers or Vampires who ordinarily would find such a site a place of recruitment are driven off by the hostile warriors of the lost nation.

Then on the eastern border...Athel Loren. All who enter die, time-distorted place, entrails hanging from the trees, strange magic, Chaos taint, you know the shtick. Quenelles has the strongest love/hate relationship with the Wood Elves, since it was here that their connection was forged when Gilles and the first half of the Companions slaughtered the Greenskins who were burning their way through the forest while the surviving Elves rallied and slaughtered them from the not-yet burning trees; from the moment he encountered The Lady each Companion had been guided by visions to that exact point after all, and her patronage continued even past their point of direct usefulness to saving her people (don't worry, Lileath always loved the Brets WAY more than the Elves). One of the few places in the world Wood Elves of Athel Loren can be found outside their home (other than Ubersreik during End Times of course) is the lands of Quenelles, fighting alongside knights and doing odd missions the peasants are smart enough not to bother them about (likely Waystone-related). The issue is that also comes with the Wild Hunt, which Quenelles almost always suffers; every year the forest demigod and king of the Wood Elves named Orion (the physical avatar of their god Kurnous) wakes up and summons all the pissed off forest spirits (just kinda their natural resting state since Athel Loren is connected to every forest as well as the core of the world so all the fucked up shit happening everywhere is sorta visible in their spiritual peripheral and pisses them off) plus takes all the young and randy Elves to go...murder the absolute fuck out of everything in their path. Technically they're supposed to vent themselves on enemies of Athel Loren be it Beastmen, Dwarfs looking to clear Grudges or nab cheap wood from next door, Greenskins, or some other kind of invader like Daemons, but usually this just means a yearly slaughter of Bretonnians. The villages along the border lock their doors tight and hope the Elves either haven't gotten done with their warmup march or enough neighbors didn't make it inside in time that the bloodlust will be sated and they'll move on, and depopulated regions aren't uncommon. The miseries the Wood Elves heap on the Bretonnians would make the Dark Elves consider them rivals, both in the brutal sacrifices of men, women, and children on altars to the Fey spirits and merciless pointless murder. The carnage ends when Orion calls for it to, and he returns home to Athel Loren with his trophies/sacrifices to spend the rest of the year with his wife Ariel (manifestation of Isha) before ending the warm months by walking into a fucking fire (having more balls than Malekith, and showing the extreme of old people who hate the cold). In one year Orion resurrected somewhat damaged either by a failure in the ritual or insanity in the mind of the Elf sacrificed to form his new body and he managed to kill the Duke and most of the army of Quenelles before wiping out most of the population of the capital; only the appearance of a "strange mist-bringing thin woman" (so The Lady/Lileath) managed to calm him the fuck down and lead to him killing himself months before he's supposed to that year, with implications she simply mind-controlled him to do it rather than actually being able to calm him down. Thing is, if Wood Elves don't conduct the Wild Hunt then the forest creatures turn on them instead and swarm out across Bretonnia anyway, this time with no control or clear end to the slaughter, so its more a controlled burn than intended cruelty (not like its much consolation to the Quenellesians). Despite this, and their general ABSOLUTE HATRED of invaders, they don't seem to hold a particular grudge against the Wood Elves and for the most part the nobility simply pretends they can't reach the attackers in time and likewise sacrifice the Peasants to their fate; the aforementioned madness of Orion is the one time the Duke tried to stop it, and it was an army badly wasted. Not that its the only time a Duke died to the Wild Hunt, as at one point a group of Peasants captured a Wood Elf emissary and burned her entourage alive thinking they were Daemons (Montfort doesn't have the monopoly on dumbass tier xenophobia), and not long after the Wild Hunt that year targeted the Duke specifically by ending his entire bloodline while one surviving daughter was taken alive and given to the Dryads (meaning her intestines and skull were probably turned into Wood Elf Christmas tree decorations).

Out of all the Dukedoms, Quenelles is the most friendly to the Dwarfs despite having almost no Dwarf population; Errants and other knights as well as Peasant adventurers sometimes volunteer to aid Dwarfs on their various missions, or even attack lost Dwarf Holds which weakens the Greenskins enough to make retaking feasible; think a reverse The Hobbit. The constant attacks by Heinrich Kemmler have also resulted in a high Witch Hunter population, and some degree of tolerance for Sigmarites as a result.

Its also the founding site of the Companions of Quenelles, who were originally just a group of Questing Knights from Quenelles but over time became something of a Bretonnia-wide knightly order containing knights from Errant to Grail from every Dukedom. Basically Bretonnian The Avengers. They likely first gathered, and continue to swell ranks, because Quenelles has one of the grandest stadiums and a very popular tri-yearly tournament scene that attracts the most Questing Knights of any other Dukedom as well as a very large amount of Errants.

During the Red Pox unleashed by the Skaven Quenelles suffered the worst, being almost entirely eradicated alongside Brionne before Mousillon came to rescue them. That...didn't really end well for Mousillon in the end given it was Duke Merovech right before he started a schism.

Quenelles was founded by Rademund the Pure (interesting name for the guy who killed the pre-Gilles lord of Brionne over a land dispute but whatever), later called Rademund of Quenelles. He joined the Companions after they drove the Greenskins that had been laying siege to his castle towards their kin busy burning Athel Loren, with the rallied Wood Elves and Companions surrounding and slaughtering the WAAGH. For that act the Wood Elves gave him lifelong permission to travel anywhere in Athel Loren, and he took the image of a unicorn representing the mounts of the highest lords of Athel Loren as his heraldry which endures as the heraldry of the successive Dukes and Dukedom. Later in his life after becoming a Grail Knight he carried the Prayer Icon of Quenelles, a triptych depicting The Lady.

Duke Melmon fell prey to the Fey, disappearing into Athel Loren then reappearing 1,100 years later without having changed by aged into dust over the course of the day.

Rademund III of Qunelles was the Duke during The Old World, and like his ancestor has a decent relationship with the Wood Elves. He hosts a delegation of their kingdoms, and his court is very popular for visitors for its decadence and fine wine as well as frequent tournaments.

During the events of the Old World era Baron Cyricus Carrard of Quenelles lead the Bretonnian forces to invade Nehekhara and kill Spethah the Amaranthine. He was killed, but so was Spethah.

Tancred I of Quenelles was Duke during Heinrich Kemmler's rise, and one of his fiercest opponents. He perished in the Battle of Montfort Bridge, driving Kemmler into hiding for a generation.

Tancred II of Quenelles was the Duke in the "modern era" of WFB. Despite being Duke he preferred another title that came with the position, Earl of Cuileux, both when addressed and on paper. Throughout his life he continued to oppose Kemmler, being gifted with a set of magical relics by Louen Leoncour upon becoming Duke and managing to slay Krell with them which extended the time he was dead and kept Kemmler inactive. While a Grail Knight, he did begin to show his age. Of his four sons the oldest died fighting a Wight that arose in Castle Quenelles itself, the second killed by Kemmler, the third a drunk who died young, and his youngest Einhard of Quenelles went off on the Grail Quest and never returned. After ten years it is expected that Grail Knights be declared dead without any news of them, but Tancred II held out hope his son was still alive and didn't consider another alternative.

Prior to End Times just abandoning the plot, there is a succession crisis brewing in Quenelles as the next male in line for the throne if Tancred II dies before his son returns is Lord Therevault and grandson of the Duke's younger brother, who's not even 20 years old and became a Realm Knight upon the death of his father in a hunting accident and has the backing of most of the nobles who see him as potentially a puppet for their own ambitions, while the son of Tancred II's oldest sister Earl Hincmar has the ambition to press a claim and especially warlike given he's lord of a large estate around Massif Orcal who deals with both his own Peasants/subordinates and the Greenskins with exceptional cruelty. It'd be Louen's choice between the two, but a civil war could break out either from Hincmar or the supporters of Therevault not wanting to be subject to the same mistreatment Hincmar inflicts on those beneath him. Its not entirely clear how the sexism retcon would affect this plot since presumably Hincmar's mother would be the one with the claim rather than him as would any other sisters and their own children.

Yves du Auvergne is a Quenelles Exile knight in the TOW era, who wears green heraldry and fights on foot.

Cyricus Carrard was a Bretonnian Baron who owed a favor to the Exiled Border Prince Baron Lothar Aquilena, which was called when Lothar's son was kidnapped. The mixed Bretonnian and Bretonnian Exile armies wound up in Nehekhara where they attempted to stop the resurrection of Septhah the Amaranthine. Cyricus was killed by Septhah personally, but the survivors baited him into attacking further north and defeated him there.

Guillaume de Grenouille is the current Castellan of Quenelles in the "modern era" of Warhammer Fantasy. A giant man with a triple-headed morningstar (AKA a flail) and with a very identifiable castle decoration on his helmet and gate for his heraldry. While hosting the Tourney of Quenelles an entourage of Wood Elves arrived, lead by Prince Athelwyn, to compete and earn a number of treasures on offer to knights who won the tourney. Though the Wood Elves lost the entire purpose was distraction while their men attacked the prize tent and stole a sacred artifact called the Chalice of Chanterelle (which, it should be noted, was found by Peasant fishermen in the River Brienne having washed out from Athel Loren, originally belonging to a Bretonnian woman named Chanterelle who's companions had been slaughtered and her kidnapped by Wood Elves long in the past, having gotten free and discarding her jewelry and the chalice before drinking poison and being left in an abandoned Grail Chapel). The huge knight slaughtered the small force sent to stall the Bretonnian retrieval while the Elves spirited away the chalice on Warhawks, and his request to pursue them was denied in favor of sending the Grail Knight Aloys de Montjoie, of a similar temper to Guillaume but more specialized in retrieving artifacts. Rather than trying to retrieve the lost object they instead demanded access to a Grail Chapel established long ago within Athel Loren itself, the Challot Grail Chapel (who the fuck was so stupid to build a Chapel there and how the Peasants managed to survive long enough to isn't clear). The Elves refused, with the Wizard Yolath warning them they'd only find doom in the forest. When they came to the Chapel the Wood Elves threw the chalice in their direction though it fell and sunk into the muck. They explained that the site was sacred to them, with the Tree of Shields having grown over the place which they hung with the shields of the knights they lured there as sacrifices. The entourage faced off against the best the noble house of that part of the forest had to offer, butchering Treekin and ancient Elf warriors alike. During the fighting Aloys met a Questing Knight named Agravain de Beau Quest, and left leadership of their forces to him while Aloys went with his Grail Knight retinue to face off against the Wood Elf leaders. They faced and killed Prince Athelwyn as well as the bulk of the elites of the Elves at the cost of their own lives, leaving Agravain to claim the glory for having also defeated a Wood Elf prince named Gyferth. Agravain for his part had been guided by visions of a woman casting a grail into the water of a river, leading to him having participating in the tournament then after declining to go with Aloys having been guided there by further visions anyway. He met with the Duke's daughter and Damsel Eleanor de Quenelles fresh off her defeat of the Treeman Gwercus, and after the Tree Of Sheilds was hacked down they found The Lady waiting for them and offering the grail to Agravain. The two of them remained, Grail Damsel and Grail Knight, keeping the Chapel safe and ensuring safe travel to and from Quenelles to the site (but good fucking luck if you go any further or off the path).

A less savory, though no less heroic, figure is Hugo Dorshield. One of the Peasant rangers on the fringe of Athel Loren who managed to cultivate not only a friendship, but romance with a Wood Elf maiden. Sadly she was killed by the Elf-hating Baron Henri de Findrais, who saw Elves as inherently tainted and consorting with them a pathway to Chaos, and Hugo swore vengeance. Becoming a Herrimault, a vigilante Merry Man, he has since spent time harassing the Duke's guests with arrows and kidnapping his retinue in an effort to lure the Baron into the forest where the Elves want to "ask" about all their own disappeared kin...

A far less savory figure is Laskar Noircouer, a Quenellesian Necromancer who is Skeletor looks like a skeleton after the harsh years when he learned his trade in the Vaults mountaints. He returned home to gather an army of the dead and followers via a cult of death to conquer Bretonnia, but the local Witch Hunters destroyed his cult however, forcing him to flee. His next target was the burial cairns of the Wood Elves of Athel Loren, bringing him to conflict with Medb the Wood Witch who watches over them to keep out pesky Necromancers since her father was killed by the undead of Sylvania.

An even less savory figure, though far more tragic, is Sir Panteleon. He was aboard the Lamprey when it was escorting Cylostra Direfin to Ulthuah when it sunk, and although he managed to survive to shore in Lustria he wound up on the Vampire Coast ruled by Vampire pirate Luthor Harkon, where he fought a massive horde of Rotting Prometheans (giant undead hermit crabs) and was eventually killed and wound up back on the Lamprey. Now as a ghostly knight in service to Direfin his family heirloom, a magical piece of rare amber from Athel Loren itself, is used to resurrect other dead Bretonnian knights as fellow slaves bound to the ship.

Tybalt of Quenelles is one of the primary knights settling the land of Albion. He recieved visions from the long dead second Duke of Mousillon (AKA before it was all evil and shit) Laroche of Mousillon, and was encouraged by his father Baron de Sude of Quenelles to obey them. First he freed the town of Moreux from a Necromancer before being guided to Albion and watched over by his father's old friend Urien. Tybalt encountered a Truthsayer named Charl, and despite not being able to speak a word of each other's language he followed Charl into the mists where he fought a Dark Emissary (AKA Truthsayers who follow Be'lakor) and his minion Duke Morlant. They fought (like a Truthsayer Pokemon battle) but Morlant surrendered upon defeat and was incinerated by the Dark Emissary who fled back into the mists, though Tybalt tracked him down and lance'd him. Currently Tybalt is establishing a new settlement, taking in more and more knights and pilgrims eager to aid his quest, and obeying the ghost in his head and the Truthsayer Charl who still can't get anything past the language barrier, presumably creating an ulcer the size of the islands in Urien.

The great hero Reolus of Quenelles comes from...well, Quenelles and is an important character in Calard of Garemont's story. One of the most famous Grail Knights who ever lived, having fought alongside many knights of the previous generation. He killed monsters that had plagued the land for ages like the dragon Grelmalarch, the Devil Troll of Carcassone, the Necromancer Merogant of Mousillon at the Bodkin Moor, the Cockatrice of Yorvale, the River Trolls of the Bridge of Tears, and the Blood-Beast of Orcals. He basically had an entire army of male and female Grail Pilgrims following him everywhere he went as well. The Grail Damsel Anara, sister of Calard of Garemont, became his lover and together they continued on heroics including wiping out most of a Beastmen army himself including two Chaos Giants. He continued the Doomguy shtick against the armies of Egil Styrbjorn at the Siege of Lyonesse, slaughtering his way through Norscans and destroying Hellcannons. He accepted a duel with Egil and despite the dishonorable conduct of the Champion by using throwing axes and mortal wounds inflicted on him, Khorne refused to allow his Champion to die and prevented him from dying; by attrition Egil eventually won, beheading the knight, but agreeing to abide by his oath to withdraw his army. Anara died in the battle as well, giving her life to give advantage to the fighters, and their grave is a sacred site in Lyonesse.

Sir Notker is a curious character, mostly serving as a potential companion in Warhammer Fantasy RPG. His family money came from owning multiple inns, townhouses, and brothels throughout the city and when he was old enough to understand what that meant he felt ashamed and swore to restore honor to the family name. To that end he rose through the knightly ranks and slaughtered many, MANY Greenskins though ultimately The Lady appeared to him on a return to Castle Quenelles itself within sight of the place he was born. Taking it as a sign to move back in with his parents the new Grail Knight now spends his days praying at the various Chapels throughout the city and waiting for a higher calling.

Leofric Carrard, descendant of the Old World era hero Baron Cyricus Carrard, is the famous knight who managed to visit Cathay and befriend the Dragon Emperor (this was basically Cathay's only real significance in Warhammer Fantasy until Total War: Warhammer). After winning the Tournament of Couronne and managing to beat the seemingly unbeatable Duke Chilfroy of Artois he met and married Lady Helene, having a child with her. Still being an Errant, he was summoned by Louen Leoncour to fight against Archaon during Storm Of Chaos. He and the king were the sole survivors, though they managed to slaughter Archaon's most elite Chaos Knights, and he was declared a Realm Knight. He and his wife and child took to the nomadic lifestyle, competing on the tournament circuit and doing good where he went until one day when visiting home his family was kidnapped by Wood Elves. He pursued them deep into Athel Loren, and they explained they had been taken to secure his alliance against the Beastmen. After receiving visions from The Lady he joined the fight. His journeys saw him help cleanse Athel Loren of the post-Storm Of Chaos taint of, well, Chaos, and visit many wonderful places in the far east. He discovered the secrets of the ancient beings (presumably Old Ones) in Ind, rescued the concubines of the Emperor of Cathay (this was definitely retconned as he only has one wife and multiple daughters) and took the image of a jade dragon as his heraldry, and upon returning to Athel Loren and finding his way into the Worldroots he was granted a sip from the Grail to become a Grail Knight. While there he exists in a place out of time, even encountering his younger self, clearing the monsters throughout the timeline that would threaten the World Tree and searching for his family. Much like Rademund there is no place in Athel Loren forbidden to him, and he walks all its paths in all its time. Unfortunately, his story was wiped away. Say it with us, FUCK END TIMES. FUCK. END. TIMES.

In End Times Quenelles suffered the death of Tancred II at the hands of Krell during Kemmler and Arkhan while they were gathering corpses for an attack on La Maisontaal Abbey to retrieve Nagash's staff. His cousin Anthelme of Austray, Tancred's cousin, took the throne and lead the armies of Quenelles abroad in (entirely offscreen) valiant battles against the various foes of End Times until meeting his own end from a Nurgle Champion in the Siege Of Altdorf. Jerrod of Asareux, also cousin of Tancred II and Anthelme, took the Dukedom afterwards and became Bretonnia's main character in the end. He lead the defense at Battle of La Maisontaal but was forced to call a retreat against the overwhelming undead forces. Before long he was leading the entirety of Bretonnia's remaining forces in defense of the Empire. At the Siege of Averheim he fought alongside Ungrim Ironfist and the reborn Sigmar himself, and killed Skarr Bloodwrath. Later, in Athel Loren, Lileath revealed her identity as The Lady to him and despite being enraged at her using his people as tools in her plans he chose to turn his anger on her attacker and far worse schemer, Be'lakor. He shattered Jerrod's leg and took an eye but he gave Be'lakor a blessed blade through the back which caused him to flee for his life. After being healed by Wood Elves he told the assembled Bretonnians the truth of The Lady. Many abandoned the final stand, choosing to die in Bretonnia and forsaking their faith while Jerrod lead those who remained loyal either to her or simply the concept of chivalry when divorced from religious faith to make a final stand alongside Sigmar and the Vampires. Sigmar for his part saluted Jerrod (as cool as Jerrod is, FUCK END TIMES). Jerrod is also found in Total War: Warhammer as a random army being a pain in the ass to Chaos factions.

• Castle Quenelles: A surprisingly modest settlement for the kingdom given its lack of austere economy, though no less comfortable. The city is built directly on the border with Athel Loren and its modest castle lies on the northern end. The walls of the castle used to end directly at the treeline but the Wood Elves demanded they be torn down and the Duke at the time agreed; thus the city is technically open to the forest for invasions, though only in the most dire times of madness does the Wild Hunt attack. The former site of the eastern wall is now a stone road made up of its foundations. The local Grail Chapel, the Chapel of the Enchantress, depicts the Fey Enchantress rather than The Lady and its not known today why. The city hosts a grand stadium for tournaments, located between the city walls and the River Brienne. One side of the stands holds the platform the Duke and his family plus honored guests of his court watch from and below are where the ladies of the city watch, opposite it is reserved for the Peasants who are actually allowed to watch, while the other two sides are for the noblemen and a hoarding platform for spectators to watch closer is over the middle of the field. Tournaments feature holy relics as prizes to aid the victor in their endeavors for Bretonnia, and are held mid-winter, mid-summer and harvest time during holidays. During this time of the year the largest regular number of Questing Knights gather as do Errants looking to more quickly attain both wealth, Realm Knight status, and potentially a wife (or husband as of the TOW retcon) from among the spectators.
• Massif Orcal: A decent sized mountain range entirely within the borders of Quenelles that begins at the eastern end of the Forest Of Chalons and the Barrows of Cuileux, taking up most of northern Quenelles. It gets almost no rain, resulting in a dry and barren place where only scant pine trees can be found in the upper reaches and brambles in the lower slopes. There's almost no minerals of any kind worth mining (explaining the lack of a Dwarf Hold) and no major prosperous settlements remain since generations of Crusades have reduced the Greenskin population down to almost nothing and the old fortresses and towers are no longer maintained, making any settlement that does spring up reliant on their own production and the Duke's support plus the lord's own wallet to succeed past the point when the small Goblin warbands could delete it; economic failure is the main threat after that point. In the TOW era it'd have more Greenskin presence. Its surrounded by a number of villages since the relative safety of the area, aside from attacks by giant flying beasts, allow farming of the unique soil. Said monsters seem to favor abducting women rather than general widespread destruction.
• Malmont: The largest peak in Massif Orcal, home to the Hermit Knight of Malmont. A Grail Knight dedicated to keeping the mountains as clear as possible of threats to Bretonnia, the Greenskins mostly avoid him and he's lined the road leading to his Grail Chapel with the skulls of the monsters he's killed. Every day the Peasants of the villages around the mountains send food and wine for him, and he sallies out to kill any monster who attacks peasants or abducts maidens. He has no horse since they wouldn't be useful on the mountain paths he travels, but he carries a magic strength-boosting wine called Sangdragon that is only made by the villages he protects around the mountains.
• Viefin: A small town that managed to survive in Massif Orcal, with gigantic walls and towers VERY disproportionate to the meager village within. It sits at the start of the road that leads eventually to Axe Bite Pass and eventually the Empire and Reikland and many roads beyond.
• Beaumarchais: Home of the knight Agravain de Beau. Formerly ruled by the de Beau family, after the death of the Baron while fighting Skaven and the death of his wife from grief not long after, there was two candidates to replace him; his son Agravain or a Peasant shepherd named Jaques who had been knighted by Baron de Beau. Lady Isabelle de Beau, who'd fallen in love with Jaques, set them both a fair task; neither could be Baron until they were a Knight Of The Realm, and there was a dragon terrorizing villages nearby called Drogo le Mal; killing it would end their Errantry immediately. Despite going different paths Agravain and Jaques met up again at the dragon's lair, Agravain wounding it severely with his lance and Jaques delivering the killing blow with his own as it struggled. Both knights considered the other the victor, and Isabelle judged that both had officially completed their Errantry but the duel could decide normally decide the victor was unnecessary and that Jaques would rule as both she and Agravain were in agreement on it. Jaques married Isabelle, added the dragon to his heraldry, and became the new Baron (how the hell the nobility of Bretonnia spins that story to not consider him formerly a Peasant isn't clear; the story is presumably still canon).
• Dinan: A small village that was attacked by the dragon Drogo le Mal. Near Athel Loren.
• Payens: A village with a castle in the region that had been under attack by Drogo le Mal. Near Athel Loren.
• Bellay: A small village that was deserted after an attack by Drogo le Mal. Near Athel Loren.
• Challot Grail Chapel: Technically deep in Athel Loren and past some Waystones, but protected by the Grail Knight Agravain de Beau Quest and Grail Damsel Isabelle de Quenelles. The way to and from the site is protected and pilgrims are able to visit, the Bretonnians having won the right by slaying the Elf nobles who had claim to that section of the woods after being guided there by The Lady (seriously, she's an Elf but Lileath sure as hell loves her human worshipers way more than her Elf ones).
• Castle Brenache: A meeting place for the Companions of Quenelles.
• Moreux: A small town that was harassed by a Necromancer, honing his craft by resurrecting the dead each night. Tybalt of Quenelles killed him and freed them (while dual-wielding swords and punching a skeleton into dust as seen in the artwork).
• Braquiron: A town that lies in a valley. One day a wall of fire suddenly appeared, cutting it off from the rest of Bretonnia and two Daemon armies of Khorne appeared on the two valley ends and began a march towards each other, killing everything in their path. The local garrison was mustered and Baron Callard charged them, but his horse was overcome with fear and by the time he'd regained control his army had been cut down to the last. The civilians were evacuated to the keep and it was sealed, with the two Bloodthirsters locked in a duel as their armies met. Eventually only the two army generals were left, fighting near a Grail Chapel where a magic sword named Perilous was located. Callard charged out by himself, charging one of the two Bloodthirsters and being knocked from his horse while it was decapitated by its rival. Callard claimed the sword then attacked the remaining Bloodthirster, cutting off its left hand and shredding its wings. While the Daemon tried to strangle him he dealt a fatal blow, and in a sudden burst of flame Khorne claimed him as the victor, leaving only the sword laying on the ground.

Brionne

The posterboy faction in The Old World. Unlike in the WFB present where the posterboy is the Dukedom that hosts the current king, Brionne gets the right by being the most directly involved in the main plot of the launch pitting Bretonnia against the Tomb Kings. It works well however, since Brionne exemplifies the modern (as in "current vibe" vs "early Games Workshop concepts") Bretonnia best out of all the kingdoms; its extremely peaceful, the nobles think they're demigods and have the power to back it up, the Peasants are oppressed to a literally comedic degree, everything is beautiful and poets are writing about the knights literally while the knights are doing the things they'll be famous for by observing it at a safe distance unless the knights are doing it themselves about each other. Despite having the most aggressive-looking heraldry, Brionne kinda crumbles when breathed on funny and would understandably be deleted mostly offscreen or by a character the narrative needed to have big impressive wins quickly in an apocalypse. Its worth noting that despite representing the modern shiny Grimdark Bretonnia best, it also retains a lot more of the early Warhammer pre-French Revolution fop and Tudor vibes that otherwise only exist among the Castle L'Anguille merchants and Bretonnian Exiles in the Border Princes (just without the guns).

Its the southernmost Dukedom (though there's settlements owned by Bretonnia further south) though not by much as it lies alongside Carcassonne and its territory is further simply due to the mountains beginning further south. Aquitaine lies in the north, with nothing in particular geographically causing the border and the two are extremely similar to each other aside from a lack of naval focus in Brionne, access to the mountains as well as other nations by land, and the abandoned castle/Derelich problem not continuing due to the different culture. There's ports and calm water with few hazards, and large groupings of peasants, castles that are more for show than any actual ability to defend, and if this is giving you anxiety about the idea of being invaded then you get what the lore tries to sell you; Brionne only exists because nobody really has made a major effort to change that.

Brionne is relatively safe from any hostile forces, far from anyplace Greenskins commonly come from, not a juicy or accessible target for Dark Elf or Norscan raiders, far from the on-again off-again allies/enemies in the Empire or Athel Loren, no big forests for Beastmen and general monsters, nor expansive battlefields and cairns for the Undead, and not much contact with Dwarfs. As a result the people from peasant to noble have more been able to devote time to the humanities, being able to play instruments and sing, write songs and poems, craft fine art and such to a degree the connection between Elves and Bretonnians is well apparent. Despite this, they ARE still human complete with the shallow ignorance and shortsightedness that conflicts with the needs and wants a human would have, and constructing a building entirely for aesthetic has resulted in castles that barely work defensively; they're placed where they'll look nice rather than in a way that provides any form of defensive advantage, their ramparts are made for leaning on or gazing over from a chair rather than firing arrows and repelling invaders from, massive windows with ornate glass that are at threat from hail let alone siege fire, towers made for gazing over the landscape rather than holding siege weapons or giving Wizards line of sight to an actual enemy position, and so on. Even the villages are poorly made, with nobles inflicting such severe standards for care on the people allegedly intended to live in them that shanty towns out of sight of roads and castles spring up instead as the alleged "village" is merely beautiful ornate buildings they're expected to keep clean with the illusion of habitation and lie vacant otherwise like the entire Dukedom is a giant Thomas Kincade painting.

As a direct result of that the peasants suffer more than other Dukedoms, their already meager existence being used to pay for the construction, refurbishment, and even complete teardowns then reconstructions in a new style of homes they're not able to live in all while plague outbreaks spread in the shanties and their short lives and worsened by the longer distance needed to travel and the extra tasks which require vigilant self-grooming before being able to conduct. Skaven and Nurgle devotees are the source of some of the disease outbreaks, but most are just things that happens as a natural result of the lifestyle inflicted on them. That's not to say the nobility are just fops though, as they're known to be as deadly and heroic as those of any other Dukedom; they're just especially ignorant about the lower classes. The fleet of Brionne is also fairly massive, and is technically responsible for the protection of the rest of the Bretonnian coast which has unfortunately had the effect of making them a bit too far to respond in time to attacks from the biggest naval threats to the most threatened kingdoms in the north, so as a result they mostly fight with Estalia both on land and shore, though the two don't exactly hate each other as much as see each other as rivals given they share way more in common regarding concepts of nobility and honor than Bretonnia does with the Empire.

Much like Aquitaine and Lyonesse the people are beset by constant feuds and rivalries, but unlike those nations the feuds are personal rather than family affairs. The land of poets is also the land of lack of imagination, with the same flowery prose and exact words used constantly for basically the same poetic structures and plots. The most famous of which in particular is that of Courtly Love, but with a happy ending for the lovers. For those versed in Arthurian canon this means a direct and intentional juxtaposition between Chrétien de Troyes's emphasis on the protagonist nature of Lancelot/Guinevere's love affair, and the Vulgate/Pseudo-Map Cycle+Le Morte d'Arthur version where its a bad thing that causes Camelot to fall. For those who aren't, the youth of the kingdom love the many, many, MANY poems where a young heroic knight falls in love with a young woman who's married to an older heroic knight but they can't be together because it'd be dishonorable, so the young knight goes off to be a hero and comes back as a Grail Knight and thus superior objectively to the old man knight who conveniently died of old age so now they can be together, with the juicy part of the story being the excitement of the non-physical edging of the love affair by coded words and rendevous surrounded by the court before the young knight leaves. This also means a lot of young men hooking up with the wives, both young and old, of older men meaning a lot of guys heading off to adventure and coming back not having achieved much or finding the husband of their lover is still alive, or getting caught because they're far less clever than they think they are and the older men obviously heard and probably wrote or were protagonists of some of those same stories too. A lot of dishonorable assassination attempts/successes, duels to the death, suicides, and grudges occur which can sometimes spill out into entire families but unlike in Lyonesse and Aquitaine are more likely to result in a lot of blood being spilled now rather than a longterm and possibly multigenerational feud. That's to say nothing of multiple men or multiple women looking to court a single individual (no, you can't just make this a harem/polyarmoryamory plot), all before getting into the fact that in a land where everyone is an artist that means everyone is a rival and also a critic. Civil war unlikely, murder in the street very much so.

The plus side of all that is that wealth flows quickly (not from noble to peasant, you know better than that) so bigger conflicts about inheritance and splitting the holdings or ambition getting in the way of neighborly love are even less likely.

• Castle Brionne: Unlike the rest of Brionne, the architects of this castle combined beauty with functionality, being incredibly aesthetically pleasing whilst also good at its job of being a fort. It also contains the Hall of Minstrels, a building with perfect acoustics that always has minstrels performing no matter the time of day or night.
• Chateau Frontiere: A castle with an especially large Grail Chapel in the keep which has famous rumors about holding a grand treasure (thanks, poets). Alaron the Intrepid, the player Bretonnian Grail Knight in Warhammer Quest, was there when a Norscan Bjorn Irongrim and an army of mercenaries (rather than your normal Chaos warband) arrived to plunder it and rallied the peasants who had begun to surrender once the siege began (Brionne castles are shit, remember) leading to the defeat of the enemy army.

Carcassone

A highly marshalled Dukedom, even in comparison to other Bretonnian Dukedoms, Carcassonne is a heavily militarized land that focuses its efforts on eradication of the Greenskin tribes that infest the Irrana Mountains in its southern border, especially the Iron Orcs, a subspecies of Orc even tougher than Black Orcs but stupider than Savage Orcs, who have iron armor as a part of their body.

• • Castle Carcassone: Castle Carcassonne stands on an island surrounded by the River Songez, the westernmost of the tributaries of the River Brienne that lie wholly within the Dukedom. The attached town is small and exists to provide services to a large number of "shepherd" companies who come to the castle to take jobs with the Duke.

Culture

KNIGHTS. Want something besides knights? BETTER KNIGHTS. Seriously. If there was a culture in the Old World that was more of a one-trick pony, (HA!) then the Bretonnians would probably declare a crusade for cramping their style. Bretonnian culture is all about fancy soldiers on fancy horses making fancy war. Based on the WHFRPG splatbook on the place, Bretonnia loves horses more than is strictly sane. Even peasants at least know how to ride and there's an entire sub-breed of horses designed to be easily ridden and cheaply fed, like a medieval Honda Civic. One of the most common punishments for nobles who manage to commit a crime serious enough for anyone to care is to be forced to ride in a carriage rather than on a horse like a manly man.

Outside of horses and the people with sharp metal that ride them, pretty much any French stereotype you can think of will probably be accurate aside from surrendering (something the French really only did in WWII because they were so fucking spent from WWI; blame pissy Americans who didn't like the French objecting to their adventures in Iraq, and remember there's a reason Captain America in the comics REALLY hates that joke). They like fancy cheese, they like wine, big on romantic themes and they never use one vowel when five will work. The splatbook also says they like truffles. So much so that they breed a special truffle hound for finding them. There's a highly suspect bit (from the 2e Warhammer RPG sourcebook on Bretonnia) that says that once a Bretonnian truffle hound gets a taste of some, he'll go psycho-territorial and try to bite off the junk of anyone nearby. Sadly no game rules exist (yet) to allow Emperor Karl Franz to lose his Sausage of Sigmar to a horny dog.

Ironically, Bretonnians actually changed quite drastically between editions before being all but abandoned. The original rendition of Bretonnians, before they became the "Chivalric Romance Knights In Shining Armor" faction was basically the French under Louis XVI - incredibly corrupt, self-centred aristocrats (with a massive problem with Slaanesh cults) ruling over dirty, downtrodden peasants. And, well, the abysmal lot of the peasants remained, but the aristocrats themselves got polished up brighter, to try and present a more sympathetic/heroic interpretation of them. Further, with the introduction of the Herrimault (aka Merrymen), you essentially have men in tights [TIGHT tights] hoodies running around fucking the more tyrannical nobles, that is, except when Chaos comes around, at which point Robin Hood fights alongside King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Just long enough to avoid execution, presumably by truffle hound.

Aside from being strictly feudal, the biggest difference between Bretonnians and the Empire is that the Bretons worship mainly a single deity; the Lady of the Lake, a mystical woman who gave their first ruler the power to forge the united kingdom of Bretonnia. They do pay homage to other gods and in fact, have the seat of power of the cult of Shallya, it's just that those gods are significantly less important and are only called upon when the Bretonnians need something from them. Editions have insinuated to varying degrees that the Lady of the Lake may, in fact, actually be a Wood Elf mage and that the Wood Elves are secretly manipulating the entire Bretonnian culture to use them as expendable pawns. This is why, for example, they are subtly biased against the higher technologies used in the Empire, which would make them more inclined to cut down Athel Loren for firewood.

Their honor code has been used against them many times in battle one example is how in contrast to their neighbors they cannot under any circumstances use mercenaries (though Carcassonne nobles in particular are known for hiring entire regiments of "shepherds" to protect a single sheep...). And how promises done in a duel must be kept. One example of the duel rule backfiring on them is the story of Calard of Garamont long story short his fiance was defiled by a Norscan warlord and in arrogance the knights bet on who would keep the half norscan child. The knights lost and they gave away the child to the norscans granting the slaves of chaos a claim on bretonnian lands.

Knightly Hierarchy

• Knights Errant: You thought you started your career as being a squire? Nope. Nobles who are old enough to wear their armour and sit on a horse are designated as Knights Errant and told to go off and earn glory however they can. Usually by dying. Of course, a few Knights Errant manage to survive, which earns them the rank of...
• Knights of the Realm: Your basic knight. Someone who's gotten some combat experience and respect already, they're given a bit of land to look after and some peasants to work it. This is often as far as anyone will go, unless they're obscenely rich or lucky, in which case they become...
  • Pegasus Knights: Though not technically higher in rank than Knights of the Realm, these guys are fuck-off rich/batshit crazy enough to afford/find and tame a giant, bloodthirsty flying horse instead of your garden variety land-bound kind. Bretonnians are not known to be exactly healthy when it comes to their love of horses, but it gets really insane with the winged ones: peasants can't even touch the animals, and one of the dukes actually killed any peasant that looked at his steed. Ferrari's owner bullshit all around, gentlemen!
• Questing Knights: For any number of reasons, a knight may give up all his lands and titles (like a Slayer), lay down his lance, vow to seek honour and greatness above all else (like a Slayer), and become a Questing Knight. These guys spend the next 10 years or so wandering around the world (like a Slayer), looking for the Lady of the Lake while slaying big, nasty stuff along the way (like a Slayer). Most die. Horribly, alone, and far from home (like a Slayer). Fortunately, they all carry giant weapons, mostly greatswords, so their death is guaranteed to have a minimum amount of win (like a Slayer). But, if they are skilled, heroic, and lucky enough, they can succeed in their quest (unlike a Slayer); they find the correct Lake and meet the Green Knight. If they manage to defeat him (okay, he's holding back a lot), they get to see the Lady, drink some Powerthirst from the grail, and if they genuinely believe in the knightly ideals they claim to follow (drinking kills you otherwise), become...
• Grail Knights: The living gods of Bretonnia, they get to live for several hundred years and kick all kinds of ass. All kings have to drink from the grail, which means that unlike in other nations there is always a badass in charge. In fluff Grail knights can have all sorts of awesome powers, from killing evil creatures with a touch to healing wounds almost instantly, but on the table, all they get is magical attacks (except for the king, he also gets regeneration). Apparently, even their rotten and dried out corpses keeps some sort of magical powers and divine protection, considering that grail reliquae are a thing.

Questing Knights and Grail Knights are technically outside the usual hierarchy (with the exception of the Grail Knights who decide to regain all their titles after completing their quest, as all kings do) but, especially in the case of the latter, their word carries great weight, because they are closer to the Lady of the Lake than all others (with the exception of damsels and prophetesses of the lady, the magic-users of Bretonnia). Knights also tend to have a superiority complex that would put most high elves to shame, which means that no Questing Knight would allow himself to be directly led by a Knight of the Realm and Grail Knights only accept other Grail Knights as leaders (usually the king or a duke). Knights that actually deign to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with peasants are so rare they are considered exemplars of empathy.

Incidentally, there's only one restriction on being a Duke or lord of Bretonnia: you have to have proved yourself first. That is, you have to be at least a Knight of the Realm, but after that, it really doesn't matter. It's worth mentioning, too, that you don't inherit solely based on your parentage. If you're at least slightly capable, you'll inherit, but if a lord's son is a complete pussy, someone else will take over. This at least prevents the similar issues faced by planetary lords in the Imperium in 40k then, as this acts to weed out at least the worst of the worst (if not all the worst).

Peasants

A reward for the best of the best

"Thou shalt give unto thine glorious liege the taxes that he requires. Thou shalt labour all but feast days, and no more than a tenth-share shall you keep for kith and kin. Rejoice! For a knight of Bretonnia provides your shield..."

– The Peasant's Duty

It's not easy being a peasant in Bretonnia. Peasants can only ever keep one-tenth of what they earn, which means that either peasants earn a lot or they are all, in fact, undead, which would explain their lack of skill at arms; otherwise they wouldn't have enough to sustain themselves. The other 90% goes to the Knights and Nobles, and any leftovers they have go back to the peasants. The splatbook for playing the first edition of the WHFB RPG in Bretonnia would go on to clarify this a little: as a peasant, your lord does indeed take 90% of your harvest, but then redistributes part of it back to you so you can survive (sort of). It's also said that some lords classify the harvest as 'weeding' meaning the peasants get to keep the 'weeds'. He's probably still going to give you just enough to survive and don't think just because you grew something really nice he's not just going to give you a bag of low-quality grain and some knight spit to cook it in. So basically feudalism with a nice big flavouring of Stalin-era socialism. The reason for this "Giving nine-tenths of everything you grow to your lord" lore error actually comes from a myth of the real-life Medieval peasantry (the reality was closer to one-tenth, and even that still left people mostly starving), which has been perpetuated by people who don't fucking check their sources, or bother to apply logic or reason to anything they read.

If you are a peasant, you also live in complete filth with other peasants in disgusting holdings and you can't ever change your miserable position. But hey, things are not so bad, you can always join your Lord's men-at-arms and receive enough shinies to set you for life! Or so they told you at the time, but they forgot to mention that you had to pay for all your equipment, so you were left with squat. Still, if you work hard enough, you might become a yeoman, which may earn you the privilege of riding the retarded/maimed horses no noble would dare to look at.

Naturally, under such conditions, many peasants simply snap. Some become bandits, but those who do not wish to be hunted down for the rest of their likely short lives instead find a ragtag band of other loonies, a dead grail knight and a pointy stick to become pilgrims, hoping to earn the blessing of the Lady (usually reserved only for nobles) by fighting for truth, justice and the Bretonnian way while carrying the dead knight around. If there is no dead grail knight around, I am sure that one over there won't recover from his wounds... (don't confound them for flagellants though. Pilgrims are known to cause unrest and be coward enough to run when things look really bad, so they are not as fanatical as they want for you to believe).

The 2nd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay splatbook dedicated to Bretonnia, "Knights of the Grail", provides a lot more of a look at the peasant lifestyle, and expands upon the details a lot. In particular, because peasants (often quite rightly) don't trust their local lords not to resolve peasant disputes in the most brutally expedient manner possible, they tend to cover up their problems and try to resolve them purely amongst themselves. This usually works, but it also reinforces the fiction that the peasants actually are a happy, contented lot who live idyllic lives... aka, the complete rubbish that the vast majority of Bretonnian nobles genuinely believe because they've been spoonfed that crap their whole lives. When peasant revolts do happen, and we're told they're not that rare, this contributes to why the nobles put them down so harshly; because the uprising only happens as a last resort when the peasants just can't take it anymore, the nobles usually have no idea why it's happening - to them, it just sees to come out of nowhere, and this supports their narrative that peasant uprisings are caused by greed or base ingratitude.

Ironically, although the nobles typically blame foreign agitators for these outbursts of revolutionary sentiment, the truth is that the most common cause (other than just the nobles being assholes) is... nobles stirring up the peasants of a rival noble's land to distract their forces so the agitating noble can more easily conquer their rival. It's actually noted that foreign powers who do want to weaken Bretonnia have far more effective means than just agitating a bunch of feeble peasants. Chaos likes to stick a tentacle in when it has the opportunity, and Chaos-backed revolts are noted as extremely dangerous, far more so than usual - ordinary peasants may easily fall before the armoured might of Bretonnian knights, but a vengeful horde of mutants, often supplemented by beastmen and warlocks? That's a whole different story! Undead invaders use armies, magic, turn peasants and nobles into vampires or "recruit" dead Bretonnians to fight for them.

Technically the King or the Fay Enchantress, the hot female pope of the Lady, can raise you to nobility, but this has only happened thrice in all history of Bretonnia and your children will still be peasants. The first was a peasant named Huebald who saved a noblewoman from Beastmen; he was killed in his first battle because pretentious nobles will dislike the upstart and arranged him to die. The second was Repanse de Lyonesse AKA Joan of Ark. The third was a farmer's son named Geg, who avoided Huebald's fate by being the only peasant to ever drink from the Lady’s Grail to become a Grail Knight, making other nobles know when to quit.

Suddenly, Total War

"When the clarion call is sounded, I will ride out and fight in the name of Liege and Lady. Whilst I draw breath the lands bequeathed unto me will remain untainted by evil. Honor is all, chivalry is all. Rejoice, for we, the Knights of Bretonnia, will be your shield."

– Knight's vow

"I set down my lance, symbol of duty. I spurn those I love. I relinquish all and take up the tools of my quest. No obstacle will stand before me. No plea of help shall find me waiting. No moon will look upon me twice lest I be judged idle. I give my body, heart and soul to the Lady whom I seek."

– Questing vow

"That which is sacrosanct I shall preserve. That which is sublime I will protect. That which threatens I will destroy. For my holy wrath will know no bounds."

– Grail vow

Damn good writing.

Ahem, although the Bretonnians got squatted twice over (first by being removed from the game, and then by the entire game being removed from the game), they've recently got a new lease on life from their appearance in Total War: WARHAMMER, where they're not only playable, but also get entirely new units that they never had in tabletop, including Hippogryph Knights, Blessed Trebuchets loaded with holy water, and Foot Squires. Even better, they have an awesome campaign that discourages mindless empire-building and instead rewards you with points of Chivalry for being a gallant Lady-fearing crusader. Every non-legendary lord must take up one by one all the aforementioned vows if they want the Grail. Want immortality, perfect vigor and your nifty divine powers? Earn it.

UNSQUATTED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD

FOR ZE LADY WE RIDE AGAIN!

After an update, it has been confirmed that Bretonnia will be making its glorious return in Warhammer: The Old World. The setting will be taking place during the time of King Louen Orc Slayer, who ruled around the time of The Age of Three Emperors. Knights and dirty peasantry rejoice for the lands of Bretonnia are making their glorious comeback!

In a recent (and long overdue) update for The Old World some pieces of art were shown off, and among them was a picture of a dirty peasant bowman and a less dirty Knight of the Realm, both wearing the heraldry of Lord Gastille who seems to have been duke of Brionne at some point during the last 100(ish) years of the Age of the Three Emperors (you can see his heraldry on the Bretonnia map). The artwork looks pretty good and shows that Bretonnia is staying true to it's chivalrous roots and aesthetic.

Of Knights, Lore, And Major Retcons

For all that recent lore has Bretonnia as a place where being a peasant means you exist at the pleasure of the local nobility and can never hope to rise higher in life, this wasn't always the case. The 5th Edition Army Book, in addition to introducing the Lady Of The Lake, described becoming a knight as something that anyone could do provided they followed the ancient Bretonnian custom by which they earned it. Any area that needed a knight to protect it would designate a "perilous task" that the would-be knight had to complete, most likely involving the death of some local monster that had been eating people and causing a ruckus.

This task was traditionally chosen by "the fairest maiden in the village", who was destined to marry the one who succeeded at her task. Any brave or reckless youth was allowed to attempt it, with the volunteer being dubbed a Knight Errant and equipping themselves as best they can with whatever arms and armour they can beg, borrow, or scrounge. If they succeeded they were made a Knight of the Realm, gifted with the best armour and finest warhorse the village could afford (which, judging by the models, would make any Bretonnian village ridiculously rich by real-life Medieval standards), along with lordship over the village itself and whatever lands and castle were considered part of it to defend as their own property.

There are several interesting details about this system, such as how Knights Errant are not technically knights; a Knight Errant is not a true knight, but an aspirant, the title meaning they're trying to become a knight by accepting an errand to complete. This leads directly to the tradition of the Errantry War when the king declares open season on a particular enemy and the war itself becomes an errand. Because you usually only get the chance to become a knight when your village doesn't currently have a knight, an Errantry War is a great opportunity for ambitious peasants and noble scions alike to seek knighthood, as well as a good way to raise a big army very quickly.

Of course, this also makes an Errantry War into a double-edged sword, because you have to give out the knighthoods afterwards. If you haven't conquered enough land to go around...well, you're in a lot of trouble. So kings don't declare Errantry Wars very often. And, of course, to make sure there are “openings” for knighthood the peasants aren’t going to miss the fact there are too many knights already...

Another interesting detail is that the Bretonnian system of knighthood was functionally meritocratic, with knighthood something you achieved by completing an errand rather than inheriting the position. A lord's sons start out as Knights Errant and have an advantage over most peasants because they probably have access to much better training and equipment, but even so, they still have to follow the rule. No errand means no knighthood and no domain.

The system essentially worked from the bottom up, with the village as the basic unit of social organisation, and in many ways, you became a knight through social consensus. The person who succeeds at the errand is probably going to be the person with community support because the village provided the weapons, equipment, and other essential aid he needed to complete his errand. A knight was essentially a village champion, with the next level up being a champion chosen from among the knights, then you build another champion on top of them, and so on until you reached the King.

In this sense it would probably be fair to characterise 5th edition Bretonnia as a meritocratic aristocracy. You ascend to the aristocracy by performing errands, and if you were born to a noble family but fail to complete an errand then sorry, son, you're not a noble. While not perfect, the close association of the knight with the village probably helped to safeguard against abusive knights as well.

After all, who sets the errand? Who decides who the 'fairest maiden' is, and how does she decide what to do? What stops a village from agreeing to set a suicidal task if they hated the foremost candidates for knighthood, waited for those candidates to get killed and then set an easier one for the guy they liked?

Even the identification of a particular maiden as 'the fairest' had to do with social consensus. It's entirely possible that the potential knight and the maiden are already a couple and the system is gamed ahead of time. You don't get knighted by an existing knight, a lord, or the king, the whole system hinged on the local community.

Lastly, the knightly errand system made Bretonnia into what is essentially a land of D&D adventurers with a culture that puts a strong emphasis on individual heroism, serving as a nice contrast to the Empire. If you want social success, then you just had to go kill a monster! There were also no rules about how the errand is completed or any judges watching you, so it's entirely possible to complete the errand through cleverness.

Of course, Games Workshop didn't think that was grimdark enough, and for Sixth Edition decided to flip the system on its head so that instead of rising from the bottom up, it hangs down and drips faeces all over everyone unlucky enough to live at the bottom. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's Knights of the Grail follows the 6th edition model and provided a strict legal definition of nobility codified by Louis the Rash, the second king of Bretonnia. He made a big list of names called the Peer List: if your family name was on the list you were noble, and if all your ancestors in three generations were nobles then you were a noble, but even one peasant would disqualify you. That means that even if ennobled peasant marries a noble, their children would still be peasants. In theory, all Bretonnian nobles should be able to trace their lineage back to the List, and while the king has the power to add a name to the List, he has only done so three times in all of Bretonnia's recorded history. No word on how exactly Bretonnia has even survived to this day considering how dangerous a life of a knight is. In stark opposition to the egalitarian system of 5E based on deeds, 6E Bretonnian nobility is purely a matter of ancestry. Nobles then claim fiefs and rule over villages, but are not required to interact with them in any way, and the village has no power over them.

In 5E, the knight springs from the people. In 6E, the knight dominates the people. Aren't retcons nice?

As things stand, it mostly depends on whoever is the Lord who holds suzerainty over the village in question and in most cases it's somewhere in-between. It's also very likely that at least some people dodged the Peer List requirement over the years (it's not like anyone can tell perfectly after all the time that has passed) and got nobility and it just doesn't get exposed because not everyone is inclined to become a Questing Knight (Grail Knighthood cannot be loopholed, the Lady knows whether you are a true noble son of Bretonnia or not).

That said, looking at the 2e supplement for the RPG shows a more nuanced take. While greedy or corrupt nobles absolutely exist, most Duke are fairly reasonable, and anyone that completed the Grail Vow is a nice person who genuinly wants what's best for the peasantry... but cannot relate to them and treat them with paternalistic condescending compassion.

Oldhammer Oddities

Bretonnia debuted for the very first time in the 3rd edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, making them one of the youngest human factions - for comparion's sake, the Amazons and Cathay debuted in 2nd edition, whilst Norsca, Araby and Nippon all hailed back to 1st edition. The only other human factions to debut this late in the game where Tilea and Estalia.

At this point, Bretonnia had something of a dichotomy. The lore presented in the corebook presents them as something of a pre-French Revolution hellhole, where a spoiled and vainglorious king rules over decadent aristocrats whilst the benighted peasantry struggles to survive - this is the lore that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition would also include, though it never visited the region.

The Grand Army of Bretonnia in Warhammer Armies, on the other hand, is almost like something out of the Arthurian Mythos, being made up of knights and peasants. A female Bretonnian hero could ride a Unicorn and any Bretonnian hero could ride a dragon (either flightless or winged), but apart from those and the presence of war altars and cannons, it was basically just knights and peasants with very, very French names. They could supplement their armies by taking Halflings, Old Worlders and Wood Elves as allies and Dwarfs, Half-Orcs, Norse, Ogres and Old Worlders as mercenaries, as well as take a monstrous host containing a dragon, giant frogs, giant leeches, giant snails, and swarms of frogs and toads, though. though.

This interpretation didn't last long. Bretonnia went unvisited in 4th edition, but when it returned in 5th edition, it abandoned its corrupt and jaded lore for something far closer to the Arthurian Mythos its army had been built around. Whilst 6th edition would grimdark it back up, it'd still build from the 5e version of the lore, rather than the 3e version.

Special Characters

Whilst Bretonnia was introduced with a fairly sizable list of special characters in its 5th edition sourcebook, most of them didn't make it into subsequent editions.

• Louen Leoncoeur, the Lionhearted
• Repanse de Lyonesse
• Baron Odo d'Outremer, avec Suliman le Saracen
• Roland le Marechal
• Tancred, Duc De Quenelles
• Betrand the Brigand and the Bowmen of Bergerac
• The Knight of the Perilous Lance
• Tristran le Troubadour avec Jules le Joungleur
• Reynard le Chasseur
• Armand D'Aquitaine
• Jasperre le Beau, Dragonslayer
• Bohemond Beastslayer, Duke of Bastonne
• The Green Knight
• Morgiana le Fay, Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia

Unique Fauna and Flora

• Hagranyms
• Derelich
• Preyton
• Giant Snail
• Dracoleech
• Chasm Spawn
• Lakemen
• Iron Orcs
• Bretonnian Truffle Hound

Army Lists Through The Ages

3rd Edition

A 3e Bretonnia army list can take Human Heroes and Human Wizards as its characters. These can ride horses, warhorses, flightless dragons, winged dragons, or, if female, a unicorn! Bretonnian wizards are identical to Imperial wizards of the time; they can use Battle Magic, Illusionist Magic, and Elemental Magic (or any combination thereof), and may take 1 Necromantic and/or Daemonic spell.

• 5-20 Chevaliers d'Honneur (the most elite knights)
• 5-80 Noblesse d'Epee (rural provincial warrior knights)
• 0-40 Chevaliers de Notre Dame de Bataille (an order of knights who carry a sacred banner devoted to "Our Lady of Battle")
• 0-40 Chevaliers Rampants (young, glory-seeking knights)
• 0-80 Chasseurs de la Mort (mounted men-at-arms and knightly retainers)
• 0-40 Villains (Bretonnian city militia)
• 0-20 Arblastiers (crossbow-armed militia)
• 0-60 Rapscallions (longbow-armed militia)
• 0-20 Ribalds (foot-slogging knightly retinues)
• 0-20 Brigands (Bretonnian bandits pressed into service)
• 20-160 Rascals (Peasant levy)
• 0-1 Bretonnian War Altar
• 0-4 L'ordonnance (cannons with a 3-man firing team)

As Allies, a Bretonnian army can take Halflings, Old Worlders (the proto-Empire), and Wood Elves.

As Mercenaries, a Bretonnian army can field Dwarfs, Half-Orcs, Norse, Ogres, and Old Worlders.

Finally, a Bretonnian Army can field a Monstrous Host containing 0-1 Dragon, 0-30 Giant Frogs, 0-30 Giant Leeches, 0-20 Giant Snails, and 0-1 Swarm of Frogs and Toads.

5th Edition

The second iteration of the Bretonnian army debuted in 5e, a full edition after their Imperial rivals did. Due to 5e sharing 4e's approach to army list layouts, the 5e Bretonnian army configuration was thus:

• Characters: 0-75%
• Knights: 25%+
• Commoners: 0-50%
• War Machines: 0% - Bretonnians cannot use war machines, as this is against the code of chivalry!
• Monsters: 0-25% (Monstrous Steeds count towards your Character Points allotment)
• Allies: 0-25% (Empire, Dwarf, High Elf, Wood Elf)

Characters

• General of Bretonnia
• 0-1 Battle Standard Bearer
• Bretonnian Hero
• Bretonnian Champion
• Bretonnian Wizard

Knights

• 0-1 Grail Knights
• 0-1 Questing Knights
• Knights of the Realm
• Knights Errant

Commoners

• Mounted Squires (1 Regiment per Regiment of Knights)
• Squires (1 Regiment per Regiment of Knights)
• Men-at-Arms
• Bowmen

Monsters

• Dragon (Regular, Great, Emperor)
• Griffon
• Hippogriff
• Manticore
• Pegasus
• Swarm (Rats, Frogs, Lizards, Bats, Serpents, Insects, Spiders, Scorpions)
• Wyvern

Special Characters

• Louen Leoncoeur, the Lionhearted
• Repanse de Lyonesse
• Baron Odo d' Outremer avec Suliman le Saracen
• Roland le Marechal
• Tancred, Duc de Quenelles
• Bertrand the Brigand and the Bowmen of Bergerac
• The Knight of the Perilous Lance
• Tristran le Troubadour avec Jules le Jongleur
• Reynard le Chasseur
• Armand d'Aquitaine
• Jasperre le Beau, Dragonslayer
• Bohemond 'Beastslayer', Duke of Bastonne
• The Green Knight
• Morgiana le Fay, the Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia

6th Edition

6th edition saw the final version of the Bretonnian army come into being. This was when the Bretonnian/Empire rivalry took its peculiar element of the Bretonnians riding hippogriffs and the Empire riding griffons, although both armies still could ride pegasuses.

Lords

• Bretonnian Lord
• Prophetess of the Lady

Heroes

• 1+ Paladin
• Damsel of the Lady

Core Units

• Knights Errant
• 1+ Knights of the Realm
• Men-at-Arms
• Peasant Bowmen

Special Units

• Questing Knights
• 0-1 Pegasus Knights (unit restriction voided if led by Bretonnian Lord on Pegasus)
• 0-1 Grail Reliquae and Battle Pilgrims
• Mounted Yeomen

Rare Units

• 0-1 Grail Knights
• Field Trebuchets

Special Characters

• Louen Leoncoeur, the Lionhearted
• The Green Knight
• Morgiana le Fay, the Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia

Gallery

• 
  RIP Bretonnia, the Sisters shall never Forget
• 
  SUDDENLY
• 
  SUDDENLY alternate
• 
  You Are Here
• 
  one of those Grail Pilgrims looks scruffier than the rest...It's the one holding the Lance.
• 
• 

See Also

• Old World Tactics
• 8th Edition Tactics, in which we explain to you how to best bash skulls in, chaos warrior style, only from a horse.
• 6th Edition Tactics

Links

• Court of Bretonnia - a tumblrfaggot with a new, but good blog on Bretonnia.
• FUCK YEAH BRETONNIA - tumblrfaggot redeems self with a decent topical blog about Bretonnia.
• The Roundtable of Bretonnia
• Warhammer Wiki - Bretonnia - Dah Wikis
• Total War: Warhammer Bretonnia Trailer

Regions and Areas of the Warhammer World
Areas of The Old World:	The Empire of Man - Bretonnia - Albion - Estalia - Tilea - Kislev - Norsca - Border Princes - Worlds Edge Mountains - Karak Eight-Peaks
Areas of The New World:	Naggaroth - Lustria
Areas of The Eastern Lands:	Cathay - Nippon - Ogre Kingdoms - Dark Lands - Kingdoms of Ind - Khuresh - Eastern Steppes
Areas of The Southlands:	Nehekhara - Araby - Badlands - Marshes of Madness
Other Areas of the world:	Ulthuan - Athel Loren - Chaos Wastes - Skavenblight - Lost Isles of Elithis
Main bodies of Water:	The Great Ocean - The Far Sea - The Sea of Dread - Inner Sea of Ulthuan

Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Human Kingdoms:	The Empire of Man - Bretonnia
Elves:	High Elves - Dark Elves - Wood Elves
Dwarven:	Dwarfs - Chaos Dwarfs
Undead:	Tomb Kings - Vampire Counts
Heirs of the Old Ones:	Lizardmen
Greenskins	Orcs - Goblins
Ogrekind	Ogre Kingdoms
Servants of Chaos	Warriors of Chaos - Daemons of Chaos - Beastmen
Skavenkind	Skaven