Spoilers: Tamurkhan’s identity, host body and followers; no campaign ending.
The creature inside the warlord
The hulking warrior called Tamurkhan is a host for the corpse maggot that gives the Maggot Lord his name. Nurgle's blessing lets the creature occupy other bodies. The Ogre Tyrant Karaka Breakmountain became his favoured host, giving the parasite a formidable physical presence.
His identity lies in the creature directing that body. The Ogre's bulk and strength help explain why Tamurkhan values this particular form. Bubebolos, his Toad Dragon mount, adds another monstrous presence to his portrayal in Total War: Warhammer III.
The Maggot Host and Kayzk
Tamurkhan gathers warriors from different cultures into his host. Kayzk the Befouled, a Kurgan champion of Nurgle, is among the first to join him. His ruined flesh and lost voice show the bodily cost of the god's favour.
In the campaign, the chieftain system expresses Tamurkhan's drive to bind followers to his cause. Dominance and Fealty organise their recruitment and loyalty. The player chooses which ambitions to pursue as the host grows.
Tamurkhan in Immortal Empires
Thrones of Decay places Tamurkhan at the head of the Nurgle faction called the Maggot Host. Immortal Empires begins his campaign in the Plains of Zanbaijin, in K'datha. His wars and alliances then follow the player's choices.
Master of Hosts
Thrones of Decay introduces Tamurkhan as one of Nurgle’s greatest champions: the infested Master of Hosts, the Bringer of Desolation, the Maggot Lord. The same introduction says the tales disagree, and then lists what they disagree about. He is called a monstrous warlord, an arrogant commander with Nurgle’s favour, and a hideous mutated corpse-maggot of giant size. The campaign picks up the maggot in the Ogre’s body and lets the host do the rest.
Kayzk the Befouled comes with the paid Tamurkhan pack. He is a Kurgan champion already in the host, not a separate Nurgle start. Ku'gath and Epidemius remain available on their own terms. Ku'gath brews. Epidemius counts. Tamurkhan collects chieftains and rides Bubebolos. Dominance and Fealty are the game’s names for that collecting. They organise loyalty. They do not write the player’s victories into the older rumours.
Zanbaijin and the Writhing Fortress
Immortal Empires begins the Maggot Host in the Plains of Zanbaijin, in K'datha. The Realm of Chaos begins at the Writhing Fortress in the Blood Marshes, with objectives that are not the Ursun story. Two maps, two openings, one lord. A plan written for the Chaos Wastes does not survive unchanged on the combined map, and the other way around.
Update 9.0 lets Archaon subjugate Tamurkhan after a defeat and pass the Maggot Host’s regions to a Nurgle vassal. The chieftains he has already gathered are a campaign question of their own. The rule does not turn the maggot into a Warrior of Chaos, and it does not retell whatever end the older host met.
Tamurkhan: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Thrones of Decay: Introducing Tamurkhan — Creative Assembly — community.creative-assembly.com
- Update 9.0 release notes — Total War — totalwar.com
- Thrones of Decay: Introducing Tamurkhan — Creative Assembly — community.creative-assembly.com
- Tamurkhan – Thrones of Decay — official Steam listing — store.steampowered.com
- Tamurkhan starting positions — Creative Assembly — community.creative-assembly.com