As the release of Immortal Empires for Total War: Warhammer 3 draws nearer, Creative Assembly has been slowly revealing more info about the free-DLC campaign presenting an epic free-for-all war for domination. There was the beta version of its map, which will be the biggest in any Total War, roughly twice the size of Warhammer 2's Mortal Empires map. It'll need to be, since it has to have room for almost 100 more starting factions (Mortal Empires had 183, Immortal Empires will have around 278, subject to change during the beta), and 12 more legendary lords. As of the latest blog, we know where some of those lords will begin their wars for domination.
While a few are obvious, with Emperor Karl Franz calling the Imperial capital of Altdorf home as always, a few choices should make for more varied and interesting campaigns. Another Imperial legendary lord, Volkmar the Grim, will begin in a settlement called Sudenburg in the Southern Realms. As the leader of the Church of Sigmar, apparently Volkmar is off leading a crusade. Since he'll be neighbours with the Tomb Kings in the Land of the Dead, they'll be an obvious target.
As well as the Empire's rulers, the five lords of Chaos added in Warhammer 3 have had their starting positions revealed too. Tzeentch's servant Kairos Fateweaver will also be setting up in the Southlands, having conquered its southmost tip at the Fortress of Dawn, while Khornate exile Skarbrand will be charging down from the other direction, pitting himself against orcs in the Badlands from a base in Deff Gorge. That should make things in the bottom half of the map a bit more intersting.
Nurgle's chosen Ku'gath Plaguefather has settled Dragon Fang Mount in the east, while Slaanesh's N'kari will be taking on his ancient enemies the high elves directly in their home of Ulthuan to the west, having taken over the Shrine of Kurnous. Only one of Warhammer 3's Chaos choices will stay in the north, and that's the Daemon Prince, though even he has hopped over to the Forest of Decay.
The implication is that room's being made at the top end of the map for future additions as well as characters from the first game. It'll also make Immortal Empires feel meaningfully different from the default Realm of Chaos campaign, with characters getting to test themselves against new threats. The Badlands, traditionally a slightly boring arena home to just orcs and dwarfs, should be revitalized by having the Wrathful Reaper Skarbrand dropped slap in the middle of it.
The starting positions for other factions will continue being revealed by Creative Assembly, one per day over the next 17 days as confirmed on Reddit. The beta of Immortal Empires will arrive in August.
