Sigmar

Sigmar Heldenhammer is a fictional deity in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. He is the patron deity of The Empire. Before he became a god, Sigmar was a man, albeit an exceptional, perhaps even superhuman one. The young chieftain of the Unberogens who lived 2,500 years before the present day of the Warhammer universe, he united the barbarian human tribes into what would become the mightiest human nation – the Empire. His sign is a twin-tailed comet or a war hammer.

Sigmar appears to be inspired by a series of heroes from myth, fantasy literature, especially Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian, as well as historical figures, particularly Charlemagne and Charles Martel. An image of a hammer-wielding barbarian appeared on early versions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle fighting Orcs and Goblins.

The Imperial Calendar (the calendar now used by the Empire Sigmar founded) takes as its starting date his coronation as Emperor by the high priest of Ulric after having united the tribes under his leadership. This calendar places his birth in the year −30, in the Reikland area in the southwest of the Empire, to the Unberogen tribe (one of the most powerful pre-Empire tribes). The night of his birth was marked with the appearance of a twin-tailed comet, which the human tribes took as a sign of great portent from the gods.

In the year −15, Sigmar is believed to have helped drive off a Goblin invasion of his village – showing exceptional martial powers for a boy of only 15. In the same year, Sigmar led a punitive expedition against an Orc war-party that was holding Kurgan Ironbeard, a king of the Dwarf people, prisoner. In gratitude, Kurgan presented the boy warrior with a magical rune-enchanted war hammer called "Ghal-Maraz" ('Skull-splitter,' in the Khazalid [Dwarven] tongue). Sigmar then went on a campaign to unite the disparate tribes of the future Empire, and one by one they submitted, either by conquest or diplomacy. The most famous incident was his subjugation of the belligerent Teutogens, the largest and most powerful of the tribes, who lived near the Middle Mountains in the north central Empire, near the current location of the Middenheim City-State (Freistadt). Their chieftain, Artur, was defeated by Sigmar in single combat, and this is commonly held to have been the point at which Sigmar gained control of the tribes of the Empire.

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