Since there's no way in hell we're ever getting anything concrete on Araby, what's your personal favorite headcanon/vision of it?

>>96012981 (OP)
Real life Arabia with anything interesting sandpapered out of it in order to not offend the miuslim overlords. Also some Jinn monstrous creatures or something.

With modern sensibilities? Full with "yas, we are full of strong woman and are actually so much more civilized than bretonnia and the empire. We also removed every single even slighty offensive thing and made then generic and gay"

favorite vision? Just like all old warhammer factions, take every stereotype and dial it up to 11. Guy riding flying carpets and sultans with tigers and djinns, some arch vizier Jaffar scheming uber wizard, slavers and alchemy and riches and everything else that sounds cool for a 12 year old kid thinking about Alladin

>>96012981 (OP)
I genuinely like the concept of Arabian elementalists that can capture and control spirits like Djinn.
My head canon is it's their connection with spirits that are directly tied to the world around them that makes chaos a non-issue for them, compared to the Old World.
I also head-canon that it's entirely a human made magical discipline that didn't come from the Elves, which was part of the reason why the Arabs expelled the Elves out of Araby so effectively, since they were unfamiliar with the magic being used against them.

>>96012981 (OP)

Historical stuff taken to their extremes:

Slave soldiers taken from subjugated peoples, from jungles, steppes and the north. The death of a sultan leads to either mass assassinations as half-siblings figure out who's gonna be the new sultan, or devastating civil wars. Mute harem slaves strangling royal heirs with silk cords because its forbidden to spill royal blood. Djinns and alchemists. Naphtha bombs and war elephants. Vassal kingdoms whose economy is based on slave raids both on land and sea. Mobile camel artillery.

I dunno maybe we should take this to the general

>>96013136
This motherfucker gets it.
>Camel Artillery
Brother inshallah I will not rest until we have Flying Carpet Zamburaks raining shells on the foes of our mighty Sultan (pbuh)

>>96012981 (OP)
Something properly grimdark and not a perfect Suetopia like Cathay ended up being.

>>96013179
....why the fuck didn't they do flying carpet bombers actually? It's so obvious in hindsight.

>>96013244
They lack our vision, brother.
>can be equipped with a hand mortar, hackbut, firepots, firework rockets, or grenades
Carpet Bombers and a magician /wizard on carpet escorted by carpet archers would be metal as hell.

>>96013109
IIRC it either is or at least at one point used to be canon that it's somewhat like that; due to Araby's distance from the polar warp gates, the winds of magic blow rather weakly so on the one hand chaos manifestations are rarer (which can also be a drawback because it means Arabyans aren't as wary of/more laissez-faire about dealing with chaos) but on the other hand Imperial/elf style magic is heavily penalized, the Arabyans had to create a method of magic use which makes heavy use of focusing implements and jinni contracts to counteract this.

>>96013196
Jesus don't remind of that fucking atrocity. All the little blurbs from the margins of the IP about Cathay fired my imagination as a kid, I went on a Chinese history kick for about three months and it was awesome imagining how you'd translate all that into that same Warhammery mix of cynicism, anachronism, and a little light Pythonesque humour. Then GW come along and go
>Oh yeah um the Dragon Emperor is a literal actual dragon and his kingdom is perfect and flawless and everything works great and peasants have great lives and there's no real social problems oh and they're basically immune to chaos and they're the bestetest human realm EVAR
and it's fucking disgusting.

>>96012981 (OP)
Did they say anything about Araby?

>>96013179
Afghan air force?

>>96013090
>>96013136
Essentially this.

As for army composition, I think it's better not to stray too far from what Warmaster already showed: a medieval army with present but limited gunpowder, cavalry in horse and camel versions, and then big ass elephants. On the fantasy side, there's already archers on flying carpets which I find pretty neat, and of course the basic humanoid Djinn, ideally with elemental variants in the spirit of how the Terracota sentinel can be made of different material.

Only thing I'd like to see is more creative designs for Djinn stuff besides the classic humanoid. The total war video game has an Araby mod with with a lot of questionable design choices, but pic related always stuck with me.

>>96012981 (OP)
I envision them as being mostly like their Warmaster rendition, but with the more up to date fluff where they have 72" jezzail snipers, harem girl elite infantry, they're a unified nation rather than loose collection of independent city-states, and every town has a genie guardian like the place is Sequin Land outta Shantae.
Also slavery everywhere.

Araby should have hatred (undead) because their history is full of the kangs starting shit with them, complete with a thousand year war of death.

>>96013136
/thread

In the style of that old 19th century mystical orient romanticism and it would be kino.

>>96012981 (OP)
That it doesn't exist and south of Tilea there is just the desert with Tomb Kings.
This way there is an actual faction there and not some early lore filler.

Which is the more interesting basis for the Evil Sultan-Wizard Jafar; the Jafar from Prince of Persia or the Jafar from Disney's Aladdin?

>>96013136
Why not mutated war-elephants who can spew naphtha from their trunks like biological tanks?

Why was Araby a thing when Calimshan existed? Or does it predate it?

>>96012981 (OP)
It was wiped out by repeated magical strikes from the neighboring reclusive region of Jewby

>>96021875
Warhammer not Forgotten Realms

>>96021895
Karaz Ankor?

>>96012981 (OP)
We might still get Araby for The Old World.

Since a lot of the early alchemists came from the Muslim world, maybe something focusing on that. Lots of units that use explosives and chemical weapons but also buffs and healing potions. Maybe some kind of tension or outright sectarian conflict within the region between the alchemists and magic users. >>96013109
A magic system revolving around trapping spirits in various vessels would be a neat take on the genie in a lamp/bottle trope. Using a army with both them and alchemists you could have djinn and tonics

>>96012981 (OP)
Anyone remember rise of legends game? The desert faction was pretty cool there.

>>96013374
CARPET BOMBERS

>>96023669
hehe

>>96021895
Lahmia is gone and trying to bring it back is madness.

>>96023600
Checked

>>96012981 (OP)
I wrote a first draft for an Araby army list for 8e before TOW came out, based on the old Warmaster models and general Arabian Nights lore. I lost interest until this thread reminded me of it. So I spent some time today rewriting it for TOW.
>https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSVcvr8tl_PT3vm1_cugyjJYTTZ9eyRBc5J2WuA7Vk_iDyWXgpumkaQJoxRfmstaA/pub
There's probably a bunch of errors in there, but it might be a start on how to make an actual army list.
>>96013374
>Carpet Bombers and a magician /wizard on carpet escorted by carpet archers would be metal as hell.
Yes
>>96023643
>Anyone remember rise of legends game? The desert faction was pretty cool there.
Fucking loved that game as a kid. Good idea for some really weird inspiration. >>96023600
>Since a lot of the early alchemists came from the Muslim world, maybe something focusing on that. Lots of units that use explosives and chemical weapons but also buffs and healing potions. Maybe some kind of tension or outright sectarian conflict within the region between the alchemists and magic users. >>96013109
I agree. You could do a whole sub-system of alchemical potions, not unlike elven honors. I like the idea of a whole army that's stoned out of their minds on magical potions and just tearing through the enemy - like slaught in Necromunda.

>>96019473
They use spirits and djinn to bind to stuff, like their magic carpits, to make them work right? It'd be cool if they expanded on that, like having djinn bound to armored statues to make Golems/Mechs, and have huge carpets that are basically flying fortresses equipped with cannons and hwatcha.
Also The Middle East had their own knights, Furūsiyya which is their own form of Chivalry. We already have Imperial knights and Breton knights, can't go wrong with more knights.

>>96019779
That would be based, you could even build on it by having Arab not!paladins whose whole thing is vehemently stamping down on the undead, like an eternal Jihad.

>>96015136
Accurate. Chinese history is extremely interesting and we ended up with the most sanitised version of it imaginable.

The dragon Emperor himself isn't even a terrible idea if he behaved like every other ancient dragon and actually slept. Cathayan culture could have operated on cyclic phases of draconic activity that last generations.

Instead him and his kids are always active, shit sucks. At least most of his kids are kinda interesting and have conflict even if GW never let's it go anywhere.

>>96021544

Hadn't thought about that honestly. I prefer my fantasy a bit more grounded. How about some jinns as depicted in the shahnameh instead?

>>96012981 (OP)
They'd never do it but Buraqs would be awesome

>>96013136
They should just go full ninja wizard assassin for the inevitable Hashashin unit, idk secret worshippers of Khaine who live in a hidden fortress or special sons of the Sultan or something. Basically do everything Battle Brothers did.

>>96024328
I hate it whenever someone does a token fantasy China and then real China ends up being more interesting, fucking hell man real life China is more Warhammer than Warhammer China

>>96021544
Disney's Alladin.
That Jafar basically stole every scene he was in, to the point where I would have believed it was on purpose, but you have the Scar example.

>>96012981 (OP)
Nuked and instead of arabs is full of ogres, orcs and other goblinoids.
The only cool arabs are the iranian anyway, and they are after all no arab at all.

>>96025814

Battle brothers has great aesthetics, a lot to emulate there for sure. Assassins would be an obvious unit option, shame for me not mentioning them earlier.

>>96026110
They honestly have the best army comp for Araby.

>Squishy Slave fodder
>Slightly better armed conscript backline
>Heavily armed officers
>Gunners plus mortars on the backlines
>Assassins on the flanks

Include nomads then you get
>Nimbler Nomad warriors, decent with bows
>Blade dancers

Including the monsters from BB, you get:
>Rabid hyena packs
>Armies of ifrits (though i think that's a thing in Araby unit roster already)
>Ancient Dead

If they made Araby I'd definitely want them to be culturally (and therefore army-wise) integrated with the rest of the setting.
By that I mean:
>They invaded Estalia for some reason; how did they succeed and what effect has it left on them?
>Bretonnia counter invaded and fucked their shit up hard; is there any remnant of this? Like do they favour more heavy cavalry since experiencing it's effectiveness?
>Khemri is a nightmare zone so the majority of their history would have been "how to keep out undead holy shit I hate undead so fucking much"
>Like old High Elf colonies filled the role of Rome & ancient Greece in influencing the 'European' factions, Araby would have High and Dark Elf influences in their background due to being so exposed to the sea

And then there's the fact WH Araby is detached from WH Asia, so they have no way to get WH Eurasian steppe nomad (Hobgoblin) or Iran (Chaos Dwarf) influences like the real middle east did. So they could be sort of alt-history versions of Arabs without eastern influence.

>>96024328
>>96025834
>real China ends up being more interesting
This is the most concise answer to the Cathay problem

>>96029736
If you want to "tie" Araby to the setting you have to remember they've always been in contact with the high elves, being the one nation from the continent the Asur kept in contact with after the war of the beard, which does bring the notion of them having elven steeds as being more plausible.
If anything, where the empire was influenced by a long standing alliance with the dwarves, Araby could be likewise with the elves.
As for why they invaded Estalia and got counterinvaded it's just historical references to the Reconquista and the Crusades, not that deep. Especially since the west actually won and didn't actually do anything aftwards.

>>96029756
>the one nation from the continent the Asur kept in contact with after the war of the beard
I did not know that.
I was liking the idea that Araby got cultural exposure from Elves instead of Asia. So their horse and archery traditions from HElves, maybe they even saw Ellyrian Reavers and got horse archers from that concept.

>it's just historical references
Yeah I know but I want it to be Warhammerised. But maybe it was simply a greedy sultan.

>>96029856
That's from Warmaster, who knows how much of it is still canon.

>>96025184
>Giganigga (pale) Rostam mounting a doomguy rescue mission to the demon country of the south to rescue his people while killing a shitload of legendary demons
>Blacksmith hero raises rebellion against king with demonic snakes on his shoulders that must feed on the brains of wise men or else they will eat his own
>White haired badass raised by a simorgh meets and falls in love with a girl (possibly snake-like) descended from the demon snake king mentioned above
>Long line of wise sorcerer-hero-kings who keep the white fire lit and guard civilization
>Hashishin so skilled it comes across as inhuman and sorcerous
>Immortal shock troopers
>Cyrus the Great
>constant alchemical advances
>zoroastrian views on chaos, referring to it as druj (one of the most similar concepts in an irl religion to warhammer chaos) with unique magic based on weird white fire bullshit and will to power that melts demons with the light of ahura mazda
>heavy parthian cavalry based on heroes of the shanahmeh, wearing steel masks resembling human faces and wielding gigantic lances

Iran alone would be a god tier and extremely unique faction, but if Araby ever did happen, all this would probably be mixed in with Arabic folklore.

>>96012981 (OP)
Ind

>>96029981

Yeah I honestly don't know anything at all about the shahnameh, I've just looked at the illustrations from different editions of it to get an idea how middle eastern/central Asian arms and armour developed over time.

>>96026684

But there's a glaring lack of cavalry in the list you mentioned.

What characters does Araby have? I remember there was one religious leader in modern times but that's it.

>>96030074
Golden magus, Kar'mel the genie, the Sultan(Jaffar in the crusade era, current one is unamed), the wizard Caliph if that's still canon, Aklan'd the mad mullah, Suleiman le Saracen, and the noble guy that follows Al-Muktar around.

>>96030047
It's got a very epic and sometimes high-adventure feel. On it's own it would probably make for a good tabletop-setting for the sheer amount of stuff going on in mythical Persia.

https://archive.org/details/shahnameh-the-persian-book-of-kings/mode/1up

>>96029981
>>96030047
>>96030226
Seconding that Shahnameh would work perfectly as a setting. Characters like Zal in particular are straight out of a fantasy novel or anime.

>>96012981 (OP)
Slannesh cults.

>>96030776
The place where chaos is so weak the people casually enslave demons and magic revolves around misdirection rather than blowing shit up.

>>96012981 (OP)
I'm pretty sure you made this thread because Andy Law(wanker) did a stream on Araby yesterday.

>>96030800
This thread was started on Friday, soI kinda doubt it was a response to a shitty live stream by Andy Law

>>96030789
I mean, I guess it's the kind of place where a Sultan could reasonably bind Slannesh demons into his harem and not lose his cock from it.
But yeah I don't see an actual Chaos Cult having much sway in Araby. Mostly it'd just look really pathetic to the locals.

>>96030800
>yesterday
>Thread was made almost 3 days ago.
anon...

>>96030853
Do not underestimate anon's mastery of the blue wind of Azyr

>>96030800
Did he make the proper supplications before the official White Guilt Committee, declare his Privilege, and properly advocate for removing all tropes, mystique, intrigue, interest, and fun from the faction so as to make sure nobody suffers the greatest sin, crime, and atrocity of all; offense?

>>96030888
I say this as an Arabian Muslim: I would be genuinely fucking pissed if they did that.
Warhammer Fantasy is all stereotypes and tropes taken to 11. I'd want Araby to be chock full of Arabian Nights/Middle Eastern style mysticism with Jaffar style wizards, and djinn and genies, and Mumluks, and Bedouin, and Furusiyya, and curved swords, and all that cool shit.
Every faction gets eggs on their face, every faction has cool shit and stupid shit and memorable characters to carry them. That's how Warhammer is supposed to be.

>>96012981 (OP)
>genies not as a rarity in a lamp but a very numerous allied race living near humans with their own cities and society
>weaponized flying carpets
>floating gardens acting as moving oasis
>dune style enormous antlions

>>96030906
>Every faction gets eggs on their face,
Shame Cathay didn't get this treatment, but yes, this is how it should be, but we know it won't if GW ever bothered to make an Araby Faction.

>>96030800
What would Andy Law even have to say about Araby? He's doing Warhammer stuff now?

>>96013090
>favorite vision? Just like all old warhammer factions, take every stereotype and dial it up to 11. Guy riding flying carpets and sultans with tigers and djinns, some arch vizier Jaffar scheming uber wizard, slavers and alchemy and riches and everything else that sounds cool for a 12 year old kid thinking about Alladin
those aren't stereotypes, Arab countries really are like this

>>96030952
he just does a livestream with some American lefty neckbeard about random Warhammer Topics and does a realplay of his homebrew version of WFRP.
it's probably his main source of income these days, as I can't imagine his indie Tabletop company makes a lot of money.
And he still complains about "quitting" C7 to this day

>>96013149
ryj pedale

>>96023643
>Anyone remember rise of legends game? The desert faction was pretty cool there.
Oh yeah, that and HoMM5's Academy had the vibes I'd expect from Araby

>>96031014
>>96023643
Both were a little too "high fantasy" for my flavor (e.g. flying cities). When Cathay appeared with all those flying islands and living statues and stuff, you guys called shenanigans.

>>96030970
>those aren't stereotypes, Arab countries really are like this
So you're telling me we went into Iraq for their hidden supply of demon possessed magic carpets? I thought it was just Big Oil interests. Now I know better.

>>96030906
They had a commitee of chinamen tell them not to put any skulls on the chinese figures so you know the way the wind would blow on any new armies

>>96030906
Yeah obviously, I wasn't mocking muzzies, I was mocking Andy Law who has form.

>>96031585
No worries bro, I was just adding my two cents, not attacking you.

>>96030059
Battle Brothers only has one instance of Cavalry, and that is Goblin wolf riders, this is because the devs mentioned that they could not figure out how the Battle Brothers "pawns" should look while riding horses lol. So cavalry is only in lore.

>>96030658
Honestly i never realized how much anime and comics really pulled from classic and mythic literature till i read about Sir Percival from Arthurian myth. The guy's basically had your average Shonen character arc in a way.

>>96013109
I thought the issue with Araby for elves is the Winds just don't really blow over Araby, and the Arabian wizard class learned work around that others don't know (basically enslaving djinns and sheit)

>>96031029
>So you're telling me we went into Iraq for their hidden supply of demon possessed magic carpets?
Woven Mats of Destruction

>>96012981 (OP)
Is there a modern canonical answer as for what Araby’s religion is? I feel like this is one of the main obstacles to including them.

>>96036777
Pretty sure that it is still Allah/the One God, or at least they didn't bother to retcon it beyond just changing his name in the re-released novels.

>>96012981 (OP)
They should put those Magi guy from the mummy as carbine cavalry, and then Hashashin cavalry being poison horse archers or something

>>96012981 (OP)
A cross between Ottoman Empire (Elite core of musket wielding janissaries with large canons) and more old school Bedouin troops. All supplemented with Djinns, flying Carpets, and scheming Viziers that are also wizards.

Gameplay wise they would mostly be a jack of all traits(Similar to the Empire, Cathay, and debatably Bretonnia) but with more focus on speed and light cavalry/infantry. Somewhat of a finesse glass cannon, though with decent enough infantry in the form of a few elite options.

>>96036777
I just tried to pull together all the facts myself for improving the Araby article on 1d6chan:

2e literally says they worship Allah in the corebook, although Mad Mullah Aklan'd supposedly reveres a "distorted" reinterpretation of the ancient faiths of the desert tribes, the only details of which we know is that a glorious death in battle guarantees your spirit ascends to St'oec, the highest of the 7 Heavens.

Bill King made mention of a "Prophet of the Law" taking over Araby and leading it on a xenocidal anti-Chaos crusade in one of his Gotrek & Felix book, being a clear pastiche of either Mohammed or the Ayatollah Kohmeni.

Brian Crag's "Zaragoz" describes Araby as worshipping a monotheistic faith they describe simply as "The One God".

The Two Crowns of Ras Karim, by Nathan Long, says that there are temples to genies and that the Araby make offerings to them for divine favor.

The Tomb Kings 6e armybook says that the Araby still practice some of the festivals and rites that originally celebrated Nehekhara's gods, particularly the death god Djaf.

Chaos cults are a thing; Sultan Jaffar was a powerful daemonologist, with Storm of Magic from 8e saying he had a pact with Kairos Fateweaver, whilst the 8e Daemons army book says that Araby's native magical colleges have been subtly manipulated/corrupted by a Lord of Change that possessed one mad mage named Mahik al'Rak.

In short: no, there's no modern canonical answer, it's one giant mess, and the fact that the original canon answer was literally "they're Islamic" is probably one of the things holding Araby back.

>>96037881
I quite like the idea of combining all of these into one. Yes the Arabyans have a One God, but it's more complicated than that. Arabyans recongnize the existence of beings that other civilizations know as gods, they just consider them lsubservient to the One God, like how all chaos gods are ultimately servants of the same entity that is Chaos Undivided (in some variations of the lore).
Like a kind of Law Undivided god that they refer to as 'The One God'. Rites might have been adopted from earlier Khemrian worship of their Law-aligned gods, while djinns are considered the servant of the One God and revered like saints in a way that might resemble worship to outsiders.

>>96038246
As an addendum, there's an unpublished supplement "Realms of Divine Magic" that would have touched upon the Arabyan patron. The draft of the book still exists, and Awesome Lies did a pretty great article on its conception.
>https://awesomeliesblog.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/lost-warhammer-realms-of-divine-magic/

>>96038246
Maybe have a mix of Zoroastrianism and God vs Satan vibes by having the One God be the ultimate for of Order and Chaos Undivided be represented by the Satan/Shaitan?
It wouldn't even really contradict with their pre-established lore, since Devils are only a subgroup of Djinn in Islam, Satan's followers.
That means you can have abundant daemonologists and have One God not!paladins who abhor demon cults and undead.
Other gods of men could be seen as yazatas or angels, lesser divine beings that can be acknowledged and even ok to make bargains with, but heretical to outright worship.

>>96037881
Sounds like something that could be explained as a case of Not-Islam, but with hidden Chaos worshippers and older religious traditions still surviving either in secrecy or in a form that has been co-opted by the Not-Islam. If I had to make a coherent religion out of that, I’d claim that Araby’s One God is what Ptra evolved into among the people of Araby over the centuries, as he gradually absorbed more and more aspects of the other Nehekharan deities. Eventually, the Arabyan religion would have developed from Nehekharan polytheism (with local deities mixed in), to henotheistic Ptraism, and finally to strict monotheism. Maybe keep Djinn worship as a form of borderline heretical mystery cult that is only tolerated because Djinns are just that useful.

>>96038246
>while djinns are considered the servant of the One God and revered like saints
I'd argue that they should be consider Djinn (and all other Aethyric entities) not only subservient to the One, but also to his human worshippers. There is no practice of reference to the Djinn, they are the slaves and the wizards controlling them their slave masters. This also opens the door to daemonology. It's fine to summon daemons to do your bidding as that is their place, they are tools for the faithful. Now you have stories of crusaders invading and coming back with stories of Daemon worship.

>>96038350
I'd agree with this, I prefer the idea that the Araby magic users don't worship or honor the spirits they gain their magic from, but rather see them as tools to bargain and control. "To naively treat a djinn or demon with respect is to court death like a naive fool, they are slaves to be chained to your will" and all that.
I like the contrast from the usual spirit users in media who are generally characterized by harmonizing with nature as hippy druids or some shit.
Araby wizards should be the opposite of this, vehemently and greedily abusing the shur out of the natural resource that is the sentient magical batteries all over the place.
It'd be like having a rich vein of ore, or a vast forest of trees. Why the hell wouldn't you get everything you could out of them? That's just a natural thing men do!

>>96038350
>>96038380
That's actually better. Binding jinn to your will and treating them arrogantly, with disastrous consequences if they rebel, is very Warhammer.
It's very reminiscint of Dreadfleet's Golden Magus, who had elemental jinns bound to his ship.

>>96038398
It can also add to the conflict between the East and the West during the crusades.
>Breton and Imperial troops:"they're dirty demon cultists!"
>Araby:"Demon cultists? What kind of absolute pussy worships literal property?"

>>96038398
Wasn't he secretly a Tzeentch cultist?

>>96038770
yes

>>96038770
Chaos cults should thrive in Araby.
Where does undead-worship fall on the spectrum of cahos-worship? There's already Numas where Scythan nomads live side by side the undead.
Also ghuls, or ghouls, are a big part of irl arabian lore and they are described as a kind of jinn who likes to hang around in cemetaries and eat the dead. There should be something similar in Araby. Maybe a kind of demonic undead that is despised by both Kangs and Arabyans?

>>96038246
Cool got a whole Early Christianity plus Zoroastrian Devas thing going on

>>96038887
>>96037881
I personally think Khainite cults should be a relatively "large" (as in not enough to be a part of or known by society as a whole, but like.. if you know them then you know them) a thing in Araby. Consisdering their trade with Elves for centuries. It would be cool to have a flavor of Araby Hashashin that are worshippers of Khaine.

>>96038925
If getting high and murdering people isn't Khaine worship I don't know what is.
The whole idea of Araby being influenced by the elves in all sorts of ways is a really cool concept. Maybe they originally relied heavily on light cavalry, inspired by elves like >>96029856 suggested. Only after Brets btfo of Jafar with their heavy cavalry did knights come into fashion in Araby, so a recent invention.
It could mirror the surges of islamic civilization in our own world. A period of expansion fueled by contact with the elves, then stagnation and fragmentation during the cursades, which in turn leads to contact with the Old World. Interest in new tactics, alchemy and gunpowder explodes (he) as a result and there's a resurgence.

>>96012981 (OP)
I would like a main royal army with immortals (me lee range unit with terrible status but high discipline), royal mages who sea demons on lamps/bottles, generals on largue chariots that look like throne rooms being pulled by slaves (poe2 dreadnought). And lot of tribes with different themes, like african raiders, living khemrians, assassins cults, etc.

Oh yeah and sword dancers Girls showing their tummies.

>>96042906
>royal mages who sea demons on lamps/bottles
It'd be neat if they sealed them in more than just lamps and carpets, like cannons. Have the Araby use their own flavor of daemon engines but with Djinn and Spirits.
>generals on largue chariots that look like throne rooms being pulled by slaves
Like you could have a version of this unit but the Chariot has a daemon or Djinn bound to it, and chained to the General's will.
Maybe have slaves less pulling and more running the artillery on it so it's like a mix of throne room and land ship.

>>96043025
Yeah slave demons, humans, elfs. Be the chad slave dark elves but smarter. Why make your slaves fight to death when they can serve the sultan? Why make them work to death when they can be loyal dogs willing to die for the sultan?

Same shit for demons. Why fear them when they are bounded to your property and if they dont do what you tell them you will bound them with another demons on a bottle.

Aso bound them to swords that fly around your champion protection them. Have them some cool african/muslim un its like arambi cavalary, mamluks or shotel warriors

They can keep the good parts about them being more benevolent to mutants, having surgeries for them and better medicine. But also make them Ruth less and cool.

>>96043025
>daemon engines
I have an image in my head, something pulling from depictions of Phoenician Moloch, the brazen bull torture device, and Arabic coffee makers. An animated war machine powered by an inner fire (the bound daemon) that constantly screams as it emits steam. Can melt the flesh off of men's bones in an instant.

>>96038340
The One God, a being of order and life, and his great Enemy the Swirling Chaos to which the Four are but minor aspects of.
To defeat the Swirling Chaos, it requires an eternal struggle(jihad) with yourself in a personal quest for inner balance and peace.
To add to this, it can be that the winds of magic aren't weak because of the distance to the poles, but because of Arabyan ideology itself.

>>96038887
Considering the Arabyans deviced tools to seek out and kill vampires, as well as their history of war with the tomb kings, the undead may be the most hated and pressing enemy to them more than chaos.

>>96044475
I'm all for this, there needs to be more factional rivalries. Everything revolves around Chaos nowadays and it's shitty.

>>96044460
If you want a version of this stuff that sucks Islam's cock to that extent just wait for GW's version and they'll get the Cathay treatment.

>>96042906
I'm sorry but Immortals are too persian in concept, and thus are Chaos Dwarf territory. Jannisaries are likewise forbidden (too Turkic aka Hobgoblinoid). They are allowed Mamelukes, however.
Warhammer geography doesn't really make sense.

>>96044475
They have a dualist/monotheist religion with the One God of Law, but djinn servants (and other such light daemon trafficking) is considered by some to be allowed because it's an attempt by servants of Law to impose order onto lesser forms of Chaos; they believe being Lawful enough gives you the right and power to trying and order Chaos when possible. Other Arabyans think this is impure and arrogant.

But due to their close exposure to undead they don't have such allowances for necromancy. Undead is considered to be something off the axis of Law-Chaos, a perverse and corrupted from of Law that makes it especially insidious.

>>96045885
I don't really see how it sucks off Islam, the Abrahamic faiths are a pretty integral part of ME history and Allah is blatantly name dropped in the earlier editions.
Plus it'd just be the Arabyans' take on the world around them, it's not necessarily objectively correct. The same Imperials and Norscans have very different views despite sharing some gods and traditions.

>>96023681
That’s what (((they))) want you to think.

>>96045885
Cathay problems are mostly just being written in third person out-of-universe perspective or God Voice in the AJ, all you need to say is that this comes from some in-universe source, it how C7 says they would retcon older Lore if they got the chance to do an araby book for WFRP is that all the current lore comes from biesed brettonian and Empire sources that really disliked it.

>>96053939
I think there were some claims back when Warhammer Total War 3 first released that Cathay "actually" has a hidden dark side that will be explored later and the Mary Sue-ish initial presentation is just an introduction, but I don't know whatever came of that or if that was to try to have their cake and eat it by appeasing angry fans whilst also sucking up to potential Chinese audiences.

>>96053959
TWW3 building descriptions for Cathay have some comments about Mind Control and indoctrination.

>>96054017
Yeah but you can't exactly press that on when you're counting on getting those Delicious Yuans

>>96054017
>Arabyan merchant, why are your slaves so obedient? Not once have they taken up arms against you
>old magic from the survivors of Karak Zorn, forbidden by other dawi, taught to us in friendship

>>96037511
Medjay. Makes perfect sense as well sense Araby is constantly dealing with Tomb King bullshit.

>>96053959
I really wish there was more fucked up Ancient Chinese Nobility shit going on in Cathay. Not "LMAO DIRTY CHINKS" retardation, but the actual constant assassinations among eunuchs, nobles, royal bloodline heirs, within and around the harems, and frequently to those who would insult the kings/emperors throughout time(and sometimes just because of a degenerate fuckhead who was in charge). The knowledge that their lineage are actually formed of dragons could easily lay credence to one of the lesser dragons devouring rebellious citizenry or having their spawn murdered in their youth before they can become as vicious and unstoppable as they wind up in their adulthood.

It'd even give a lot of weight to the backstories of why the present leadership are such unflappable badasses; If they got to that point through trials of blades and misery and having to both avoid being murdered by and also commit murder of their blood relatives, the concept of laying waste to marauding savages from within and without would be child's play. Hell you could even go so far as to show that the TWW3 leaders only got as far as they did by working together through all of that internal bloodshed in their youth to turn their experiences into weapons to slaughter their enemies, and even justify why some of the lesser factions might be resentful and potentially rebel.

>>96054017
>Mind control and Indoctrination
Woooow so craazy, meanwhile some people in the Empire are tossing babies off cliffs or some shit because they were born as mutant beastmen rapists.

>>96057052
I agree, it would be cool to have a idk social/political darwinist Cathay where the current rule is strong because they spent thousands of years murdering each other.

>>96057075
That's just the dark elves.

>>96012981 (OP)
>Since there's no way in hell we're ever getting anything concrete on Araby, what's your personal favorite headcanon/vision of it?
Never say never. As long as there is demand for it, it will be delivered.

>>96012981 (OP)
I want a focus on skirmishers. The core infantry can be melee skirmishers that get a rank bonus of half the normal, rounded down. All cavalry are fast cavalry. Camels that cause Fear in cavalry. Elephants that cause Fear in fucking everyone, with a special mechanic for running amok.

Genies, obviously. I like the idea of summoning djinn, as well as of characters having magic items that can provide a wish from a short list (+2 strength next round, ignore next hit, immediately attack adjacent enemy, etc).

Roc!

Maybe some sort of alchemist, though I'm not sure how those rules would work.

>>96059094
Not when it's commercial suicide for the company

>>96062487
Oh yes. There are totally no Arabs in Arabic countries who want to play Araby because it's all HARAM to them...or people globally because it would be politically incorrect.

Hell no. There is a ton of groups who would play the shit out of Araby. Nobody simply realized it yet.

>>96012981 (OP)
A mix of various Arabic cultures + Arabian Nights stuff.
From mundane soldiers to specialized cavalry, with elite exotic troops, various gunpowder units with alchemically-made weapons, various war elephants and ending it with supernatural stuff like djinns and various minor elementals, giant scorpions (taking them from the older Greenskin incarnations), various types of flying carpets...and even their own form of clockwork creations (yes, those do exist in Arabian Nights).

>>96058397
Yes, but in a classier way with less overt slavery and shiet.

>>96062500
It's probably more GW scared that they or their staff will be killed by some extremist than a lack of interest in foreign markets

>>96068215
There is ZERO reason for this since.
1. Araby is not a 1:1 of Arabic countries.
2. Araby does not have their equivalent of Islam, have no not!Muhammad and not!Allah.
3. Because this is a work of fiction, it doesn't have to be completely identical to the real deal.

So not even extremists will touch GW because there is literally nothing Islamic about Araby.
Just jinns and magic carpets.

>>96068242
Anon obviously didn't mean muslim extremists, he meant western anti-racism extremists.
A collection of entertainment/culture "journalists" turning their gaze towards a new business venture, then dogpiling it with constant bad press and hyperbolistic claims of perpetuating violence will prevent any company from getting a return of their investment.

There probably won't be any new non-white human cultures released in Warhammer fantasy because western diversity advocates will hate anything that isn't 100% compliant with their concept of purity. But they all have a different concept of course.
The difference with Cathay is that the Chinese government forms a centralised authority that can give clear, achievable ways to be 100% compliant with their concept of purity and then has the resources to police other people who differ in opinions of how 'chinese people' should be depicted in fiction.

No other ethnic group has such an ethnonationalist bureaucracy to regulate race compliance. This is probably PART of the trend of fantasy settings showing ethnically diverse societies based on western cultures, but never non-western cultures: you need to show non-white people, but no "white company" has the moral right to take agency away from non-whites by depicting them.

>>96030970
>those aren't stereotypes, Arab countries really are like this
idk, I've never seen a Djinn or Flying carpet in an Arab country

>>96031029
>So you're telling me we went into Iraq for their hidden supply of demon possessed magic carpets? I thought it was just Big Oil interests. Now I know better.
He doesn't know about Gilgamesh Resurrection Device

>>96070783
>A collection of entertainment/culture "journalists" turning their gaze towards a new business venture, then dogpiling it with constant bad press and hyperbolistic claims of perpetuating violence will prevent any company from getting a return of their investment
This is fanfiction.
Otherwise explain all the crusade period historical games that no one bothers.

>>96053939
Cathay problems are due to being written by a bunch of bluehaired faggots who think possibly offending someone is a heckin warcrimerino, overseen by soul-sucking corpo-suits who's only objective is extracting money from a new market and will happily see the entire core foundational premises of Warhammer washed away if that goal is achieved. They *want* to express nuCathay from the omniscient narrator's perspective because they want their new audience - Chinese people and gormless fuckwits who get confoozled when confronted by complex narrative themes or rules with more than two options to choose from - to understand in no uncertain terms that Warhammer Is For Everyone and there'll be no more of that nasty stinky British Humour making fun of anybody oh no sir not on your nelly.

>>96050850
Fundamentally changing one of the few key aspects of the region - the reason why the Winds work the way they do and why the Arabyans need to work magic through Djinn pacts and bindings - to make their heckin goodboy turbanoid beliefs look more powerful and betterer is why it's sucking off Islam(the clear subject of the allegory).

>>96072679
Been a lot of whining on this topic recently.

>>96071118
Nobody cares about historicals.

>>96031339
Fuck the CCP and so forth, but this represents a legitimate cultural taboo in China. In this context, it's the right move both commercially and as an accurate depiction of Chinese mythology.

>>96046825
Too much historical accuracy will ruin it. Throw in janissaries, throw in whatever another faction hasn't gotten already. I think they could use more gunpowder anyway.

>>96078313
Fuck it, throw in shit other factions have. Don't pretend like most armies don't step on each other's feet.

>>96078313
Araby should absolutely have gunpowder. Guns are a distinguishing feature of Warhammer as a fantasy setting: most other settings people know of don't have them, aside from the very notable warcraft.
It'd be a waste of potential to not give them guns, you'd end up with a fantasy middle-east faction that could exist in any other pretend world.
I think the Empire has had gunpowder since around 2000IC (~300 before TOW) because they're available in Mordheim which is set then, but there's contradictory lore. So even if the Empire got a leg up in gunpowder technology due to contact with Dwarves, Araby would have had plenty of time to learn via trade.

Anyway, you don't call them Janissaries you call the elite professional slave soldiers Mamlukes. Janissaries don't have much of a real distinguishing feature from Mamlukes aside from stupid hats and inviting roach obsession.

>>96080016
Jannisaries could be Bretonnian slaves instead?

I think mamlukes were a specific ethnic group

>>96085642
Mamelukes were not a specific ethnic group.
It's just different linguistics for the same thing.
>Ghulam / Ghilman was a term used across the Islamic world, meaning 'young virgin boy'
>Mameluke is a Romance derivative of Mamluk, meaning 'owned' - this only became anything resembling ethnic because the Mamluks in Egypt overthrow their faggy enslavers and became the ruling class there, so since they were generally white slaves it became associated with ghulams who were white and / or in Egypt
>Janissary is a Romance derivative of Yeniçeri which literally means 'new soldier' in Ottoman Turkish, this term exclusively referred to ghulams drawn from the Devşirme blood tax - literally meaning 'collecting' the devşirme involved seizing the young sons of Christian subjects (especially in the Balkans and Greece) to serve as ghulams for the Sultan
Suffice to say that military slavery was quite evolved and well thought out in the Islamic world. Now, all three words are fun names for a unit - and it's Warhammer so it's not like we need total realism - but the three were associated with different things:
>Ghulams are either more early / generic or associated Turkish slaves in Persia & Khorasan or Africans (Zanj) in Baggdad and the Levant
>Mamluks are primarily associated with Egypt and with cavalry
>Janissaries are primarily associated with infantry and in particular with the use of polearms & firearms
All three are also associated with palace intrigue, with 'slave soldiers finally get sick of their master's shit and mutiny' as well as 'slave soldiers become fat, lazy, and entitled over time so their master secretly raises a new army (sometimes of other, different slaves) to slaughter them (usually at a party or other violation of sacred hospitality)' is a recurring theme in Islamic history.

>>96085642
Mamluks were also slave soldiers like Janissaries. The latter were however focused on being elite infantry musketeers and occasional heavy infantry while mamluks as we most understand them from Egypt and Syria were heavy cavalry.
You therefore could have Circassian mamluks, Turkish mamluks, European mamluks, etc.

>>96080016
According to the rpg books Araby has guns, they're the ones who developed the flintlock and jezzail with the empire learning that from them.

>>96080016
Wouldn't he need a musket rather than that spear?

>>96088332
Not for charging people on horseback, no. That's what his lance, pistols, and sword are for.

>>96085934

> Spearmen/Bowmen light infantry
> Janissaries as gun-toting heavy infantry

> Arabyan Knights core cavalry
> Mamluk Inner Circle equivalent

> Camel Riders as medium cavalry
> Zamburak as camel-mounted artillery

Araby should have plenty of guns, but perhaps not in the Core slot. That's sufficiently less-technological than the Empire IMO.

>>96089532
They're not to the point of making robot horses or tanks, but guns shouldn't be limited. Artillery should though, since they don't have access to a gunnery school, dwarven engineers, and a factory town so a single cannon per thousand points fits. Like say, a town might have one and a city will probably have more than one but they're not the empire that can garrison multiple volleyguns in a fort in the road.

>>96089703
Wouldn't they have gigantic Turkish bombards?

Also IIRC the Golden Magus' ship is described as having ornate bronze cannons which are Arabyan in origin

>>96024167
>spirits and djinn
Would these be connected to chaos?
A slow, corrupting influence?

>>96090067
No, they're much closer to elementals.

>>96090039
Yeah but they don't have the means to mass produce them. If they have a giant bombard it should be a special character.

>>96090067
Nah that just makes the world a bit smaller and adds in more chaos wank. Spirits, Djinn, and Daemons should all be seperate things that share a some characteristics but ultimately come from different sources. The same way you have different flavors of sentient bipedals.

I just think they're neat.

>>96091418
Would camels cause fear in horses? What about other mounts?

>>96090067
No Spirits in Warhammer Fantasy are more like Genus Loci and are tied to a specific area, woodland, stream etc.
Elementals are just near mindless beings tied to a specific Wind of Magic