Spoilers: The 2022 pilgrimage and the later rule for the Books as possessions. No sealing outcome and no campaign ending.
Who he is in Total War
Volkmar leads the Cult of Sigmar. The Grim and the Grave unlocks him. He is a battle priest in close combat, and his War Altar of Sigmar is the centre of that religious role: he stays near troops who can use his presence, with the rest of the army covering a line, missiles, and artillery.
The July 2022 dedicated-factions article gives him a campaign of his own. He abandons the squabbles of the Elector Counts and resides in the lower Southlands, on a pilgrimage to seal the Books of Nagash. Sealing a book raises his Zeal and strengthens the boons granted to him. The books themselves are not a menu of separate effects in that account, which is the line drawn there against the Tomb Kings and against Mannfred von Carstein.
Zeal, then possessions
Update 9.0, years after that pilgrimage design, turns the Books of Nagash into possessions. A lord can carry one, or a settlement can hold one, and defeat can move them. The Cult of Sigmar lord page follows that later rule and tells the player to track the current holder. The 2022 Zeal account and the 9.0 possession account are two dated campaign rules. A sandbox that uses the later rule is not a retelling of the pilgrimage article.
Boris Todbringer's Middenland is the Ulrican Elector campaign, with Ar-Ulric Emil Valgeir as its legendary hero. Volkmar's office is the Cult of Sigmar. Theodore Bruckner is Nuln's judicial champion in Elspeth's pack. Those heroes do not start Volkmar's faction.
The Grand Theogonist beside the Emperor
In the game's presentation Volkmar is the Empire's high priest of Sigmar while Karl Franz is Emperor, Prince of Altdorf, and Elector of Reikland. The pilgrimage is a campaign choice that steps away from Elector business. It does not remove Franz from Reikland on the same map, and it does not decide the End Times novel about Altdorf.
The Fall of Altdorf is indexed for Karl Franz. Its jacket is not used here as a Volkmar plot. The Cult's wars in a player's Southlands expedition stay inside that campaign.
Volkmar the Grim: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — SEGA — support.sega.com
- Immortal Empires dedicated factions — Total War — totalwar.com
- Update 9.0 release notes — Total War — totalwar.com
- Update 9.0 Release Notes — Creative Assembly — community.creative-assembly.com