abstract
| - The Chaos Dwarfs have not been slow to take note of the power and military potential of Giants, as they have often encountered them as foes within the ranks of the Orc and Goblin hordes that infest the Dark Lands, and the southern Mountains of Mourn that border their empire have long been inhabited by a unusually high number of the creatures. It is said this is because it once was the home of a great kingdom of giant-kind in elder days, now shattered into ruin and desolation. As a result Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers have long had the idea of bringing Giants that they were able to capture or enslave through trickery or trade with the Ogres under their will, and in doing so have been unable to resist 'improving' upon them in order to make them living weapons.[1a] The most common result of these modifications is the Chaos Siege Giant, a mutilated, half-insane creature whose body has been armoured against attack by layer upon layer of heavy iron and bronze plates. These are firmly secured to the unwilling Giant by heat-fusing, riveting and nailing them deep into the Giant's flesh, and in some cases in bolting them directly into its massive skeleton. The end result is a towering, iron-clad monster, even more clumsy and unwieldy than before, but now all but impervious to arrows and shot thanks to its armoured shroud. Likewise suitable weapons such as immense hooked blades, steel pick-axes the size of carts and even massive weighted chain-flails are lashed or implanted directly to the Giant's arms to enable it to scale or tear down fortifications and slaughter the largest monsters. Some even are further fitted with scaling hooks and chains, enabling the creature's dead carcass to be used as a scaling platform should it fall, while the most unfortunate have the burning runes of Hashut branded into their armour and flesh, driving them to ever greater heights of savagery at their masters' command.[1a] Not all such 'improvements' prove survivable for the creature forced to undergo them, and so Chaos Siege Giants are scarce and highly prized commodities, both within the Chaos Dwarf empire and as weapons bartered in trade with the Chaos-worshipping tribes of the north, who often lack the means or patience to build conventional siege weapons. A living siege engine that merely requires a steady diet of carcasses and spirits is therefore for them ideal.[1a]
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