~~~~ Beastmen & Wood Elves ~~~~

Beastmen are a completely wasted faction in vanilla. Almost all beastmen LL's are dead by turn 20. There are 4 beastmen hordes in Naggarond, which is completely anti-lore and makes no sense from a gameplay perspective, while the home of beastmen in the southlands has one beastman LL (Malagor). Meanwhile Cathay gets off easy with just one minor beastman horde.

Beastmen also lacked any sort of purpose. According to lore they want to raze all magical forests and wood elves, yet they are barely at war with them. Living World fixes that.

– Taurox moved to Southlands, starts at war with a minor lizardmen faction and the Bowmen of Oreon (WE) to the north.
– Khazrak One-Eye no longer starts at war with Empire, but he does start at war with Laurelforest instead. Still at war with Middenland of course.
– Malagor starts at war with Gyphon Wood, in addition to his minor vamp faction.
– A minor beastmen horde (Ripper-Horn) was taken from Naggarond and moved to Cathay, and starts at war with Drycha.
– Another Naggarond minor beastman horde (Manblight) was moved up more north to Karond Kar.
– The last Naggarond minor beastman horde (Shadowgor) starts at war with the Sisters of Twlight.
– Drycha swapped positions with the Spirits of Shalin and is moved to Cathay, and starts at war with Ripper-Horn tribe.

**By taking Drycha out of the Empire, it helps reduce the LL spam inside of the Empire while making use of the huge amount of empty space in Southern Cathay. Additionally, Nakai generally has a natural ally with Drycha, but there is still a chance they will go to war with each other. They create a powerful zone of neutrality that is hostile to both Order and Chaos inside of Cathay which can cause headaches for everyone and prevent an Order or Chaos tide from forming inside of Cathay. Finally, the Cathay magical forest gives big bonuses to tree spirit units, of which Drycha benefits heavily from. As one of the weakest Wood Elf factions, she needs this buff.

The beastmen are now more spread out across the world and can be found in even proportion in all continents except for Lustria, and every magical forest that is Wood Elf controlled is now threatened by a beastman horde at the start of the game. Some of them will die, which makes playing a Wood Elf faction more interesting and difficult.

Taurox in particular needed a move because he generally just destroyed Dark Elves to the point where there was barely any threat to Ulthuan from Dark Elves. His placement in Naggarond is from WH2 where map constraints were tighter, and it only resulted in more Ordertide. In the Southlands, he seriously hurts Elves (all kinds equally), Lizards, and maybe some Empire or Tomb Kings. Taurox in the southlands helps prevents a massive Teclis/Lizardman Ordertide.

Finally, Khazrak One-Eye no longer starts at war with the Empire, which had little basis in lore and is a holdover from Warhammer 1, because it just resulted in Khazrak AI doing suicide runs into Karl and dying before turn 20. Now he's a menace that will be destroying the Empire and tanking your Imperial Authority.**

~~~~ High Elves and Dark Elves ~~~~

High elves received no updates from WH2 to account for the larger WH3 world. Still the same old boring routine of fighting other High Elves for 50 turns on Ulthuan if you play as Tyrion (as much as Chaos do), zero interaction between Naggarond and Ulthuan, Imrik starting in a weird position in a solo war against Dwarves (and not hunting Dragons), and virtually no Dark elf presence anywhere in the Southland seas even though it is full of weak High Elf colonies ripe for the plunder.

– Imirk now starts at the tip of the Dragon Isles hunting DRAGONS!!! Shocking idea! Credit to True World mod for doing it first.
– Anith starts in Cloystra's vanilla position at war with the Forgebound.
– Malus starts at the Temple Avenue of Gold, north of Teclis, at war with minor skaven faction. Malus's treaty with Malekith downgraded from military alliance to defensive alliance, because Malus AI could break with a military alliance.
– Blood Hall Coven is moved Lustria to Tower of the Stars in the Eastern Colonies, waging war against Tor Elasor on the high seas for control of the Sea of Dread.
– Imrik, Malus, Blood Hall Coven, and Tor Eelasor all have vision of each other. So if any of these factions feel ready, they will sail out to wage war on their enemies.
– Bleak Holds now starts at war with Whitefire Tor. Whitefire Tor no longer starts at war with Ellyrion, but they still hate each other.
– Morathi starts at war with Caledor. She has diplomatic contact with Blood Hall Coven and high affinity towards them.

** Imirk in the Dragon Isles plays out as one of the best campaigns in the game now. Not only does he get to start with a port, like every Elf is supposed to since both High and Dark Elves are sea faring races, but it also lets Imrik have a really free campaign to go as he pleases after conquering the Isles. The Dragon Isles help AI Imrik survive into the mid game and do some serious damage in the Badlands. However, Imrik has to watch his back because if the Eastern Colonies fall then Dark Elves will be sailing up to sack his Dragon colonies.

Since there are less threats from inside of Naggarond to Dark Elves, Anith now will have a much more difficult time achieving victory. At the same time, without Malus in the North, it takes a bit more time for Malekith to win, and, also, the Dark Elves can still lose to Valkia.

Morathi starting at war with Caledor doesn't threaten Caledor, but it does make civil war between Caledor and Tyrion not guaranteed. It also gives Morathi a bit of unpredictability, she may decide to attack Ulthuan early.

Blood Hall Coven, according to lore, are thralls in service to Morathi, which is why they start with a high affinity for Morathi.

Bleak Holds is no longer just a minor faction that is barely interacted with, but instead launches naval assaults into Ulthuan and does serious damage. He works in conjuction with Cloystra, who does the suicide charges in the front and into the gates.

Finally, Karond Kar, who no longer starts at war with anyone if both Cloystra and Anith are moved south, has been placed at war with Tyrion and given a defensive pact with the minor Dark Elf faction Scourge of Khaine. There is a solid chance Karond Kar will invade Ulthuan, especially if Anith isn't threatening them.**

~~~~ Vampire Coast & Tomb Kings ~~~~

Vampire Coast is basically an anti-lore faction, so gameplay considerations was all I cared about for them. The only point of tenuous lore there is that Arkhan the Black has highly positive relations with VCoast, and it is barely utilized in vanilla.

– Cloystra now starts in Arnheim, at war with Tiranoc.
– Noctilus now starts in Araby, at war with the Rakaph Dynasty.
– Arkhan the Black is given diplomatic contact with all VCoast factions.

** Starting Cloystra at war with Ulthuan makes the donut far more interesting, as well as reduce the endless civil wars between elves. Plus, it doesn't matter if she lives or dies, which makes her the perfect faction to do a kamikaze with.

With Cloystra providng a heavy VCoast presence in Ulthuan, this frees up Noctilus, who has one of the most open and free campaigns in the game. I didn't want him too far from the Galleon's Graveyard, to stay somewhat thematic, and I noticed that the Southlands has no VCoast presence. So by placing him not far from Arkhan the Black, in the coast of Araby, he can help support the war against Khemri as well as provide a power anti-Ordertide force in the region. Arkhan normally gets deleted very fast in vanilla, but with an ally can survive far longer and even win, which I've never seen in a single campaign until I made this mod.

To further enrich Akrhan's campaign, I gave him diplomatic contact with every VCoast faction, allowing them to trade or form treaties, which can have unusual results and can get the VCoast to travel between continents and actually act like pirates.**

~~~~ Bretonnia ~~~~

- Moved Bordeleaux south to the Volcanic Isles at the Star Tower.

** Moving Borderleaux south makes it so the humans do not merely join forces to eradicate the Lizards, Dark Elves, and Demons in Northern Lustria, before they themselves get wiped out from the Lizardtide in the south. It was way too predictable and boring. Now Bordeleaux starts south of Luthor Harkon, yet at war with lizards in the north, which results in both AI sailing around VCoast to attack each other, resulting in ambushes and unpredictable outcomes from the VCoast.**

~~~~ Lizardmen ~~~~

Lizardmen were mostly fine in Vanilla, but I noticed too much of an Ordertide out of Lustria, and Nakai's start in Cathay didn't have much impact on the region.

-- Nakai now starts a bit lost and confused, north of Wyrmkins, in the territory of Eastern River Lords, racking up huge trespass penalties.
– Cult of Sotek starts at war with the minor Tomb King faction along the coast of Lustria in addition to the minor Skaven faction.
– The empty space created by moving Blood Hall Coven and Bordeleaux have now been filled up by minor Lizard factions, Sentinels of Xeti and Tlaxtlan.

** Nakai's improper start positon was found to really mix things up in Cathay. The Eastern River Lords may declare war on him for his trespasses, or they may forgive. Depending on these actions it will either cause Cathay to be destroyed from below or potentially saved, because Nakai may be slow and stupid but he kills anyone dumb enough to fight him. So by using Nakai like this, every game in Cathay happens differently. Nakai can also ally or go to war with Drycha, creating more possibilities.

The Cult of Sotek had the easiest early game in the entire game, often killing their minor Skaven opponent in the first turn. Afterwards they would go help Itza kill Lord Skralk, and there would be Ordertide throughout Lustria. Living World fixes this, and now the Cult has declared the entire coast line to be purged, which puts him at odds with the Tomb Kings and then Rakarth. By doing this Clan Pestelins can focus on Itza, the Southern Sentinels, and the minor elf faction at the tip of Lustria, and actually win.

Finally, adding more minor Lizardmen presence in Northern Lustria makes Lustria feel Lustrian again, and Huntsmarshal Wulfurt can actually hunt Lizards again.**


~~~ Ogres ~~~~

Skragg's starting position in the Empire is a waste of a LL. He usually gets deleted before turn 20 surrounded by hostile enemies with no allies. It's also extremely anti-lore, because Skragg is all about the Maw, he has no reason to be near humans. Ogre presence outside of the badlands is also extremely scarce to nonexistent even though they are supposed to be scattered everywhere.

– Moved Skragg to Yahtee's Peak, starts at war with minor Ogre faction.
– Flamgullets, minor Ogre faction who live in Naggarond's mountains, now start with two regions under their control, and at war with Clar Karond.
– Fulg now starts with a large diplomatic bonus and contact with Clan Moulder.
– Sabreskin now starts in Skragg's old position in a lv. 3 settlement.
– Blood Guzzlers are moved north to occupy the ruins between Kislev, the northern Wastes, and the Badlands at Karak Vlag and Tribeslaughter.

** Ogres in general get deleted in Vanilla. It was very rare to see any Ogres survive past turn 50. This was because the mountains of mourn only had one LL, and it's also because they aren't very good in AR. Placing Skragg in the mountains greatly increases Ogre survival rate, although they can still easily get wiped out by many different enemies.

Flamegullets were given more power so they could present a bit of a wildcard threat (or friend) in Naggarond, but also to help out Anith a bit by keeping Clar Karond occupied in the early game. It also makes sense lorewise because Clar Karond likes to capture beasts and therefore has an interest in capturing Ogres.

Fulg, according to lore, are friends with Clan Moulder and even purchase beasts from them, so I gave them friendship to represent this. It barely matters but it can be a nice touch.

Sabreskin were moved to Skragg's old position because they are, according to lore, the home of the Maneaters, and the most interested in men Ogre tribe in the world. It made perfect sense to place them at the base of the Empire, where they can be friends and foes to large numbers of factions down there. However, it was also easy for them to get ganged up on, so I gave them a Lv. 3 settlement to ensure their survival as a neutral faction.

Blood Guzzlers have the lore of being spider hunters, which is meaningless, and generally would just get auto-deleted in the first 20 turns of the game. So by placing them at the crossroads between Kislev, Badlands, and Northern Wastes, they served an important role of a neutral buffer zone between all the hostile factions. Ogres work good as buffer zones.**


Feel free to tell me your thoughts on these changes below!