Who is Ku’gath Plaguefather: An Interview with Lead Writer, Andy Hall
Ku’gath is a tinkerer in his own way, endlessly fascinated by the inner workings of life itself and the intricate damage he can inflict on mortals. He has long preferred lurking on the outskirts of mortal kingdoms, where he can keep a closer eye on the effects of his contagions and pathogens. Thus we find him in the campaign, up to no good slap-bang in the middle of the map.
We sat down with Lead Writer, Andy Hall, to talk everything relevant—in this case: the rot, the stench, the Nurglings, and much more.
HELLO ANDY – WHAT SETS KU’GATH APART FROM HIS FELLOW GREAT UNCLEAN ONES?
He’s a creative; an artist if you will, although his chosen canvas happens to be a bit of a biohazard! While his fellow Great Uncle Anon(e)s are more focused on spreading Nurgle’s gifts that already exist, Ku’gath wishes to tinker, tweak and experiment. Such a view has brought him into conflict with more than one of his corpulent kin, who believe that it is only the Urfather himself that should create contagion, while a Daemon’s role is solely as heralds and spreaders of infection.
One such sect, led by three Great Unclean Ones, known as The Afflicted Shroud, took it upon themselves to prevent Ku’gath from concocting anymore diseases. They cornered him, upon the mortal plane, in the Dragon Isles. Ku’gath was on the hunt for another rare ingredient, deep down in the sunbaked chasms.
To say they underestimated the Plagueweaver would be an understatement. As the Afflicted Shroud made their threats and demands, Ku’gath looked on amused. The Shroud’s self-designated leader, Grand Paraoxus, was delivering his final demands when Ku’gath briefly looked up with a wide grin. Grand Paraoxus was too involved in his sonorous delivery to notice, but the two other Unclean Ones – standing just behind their leader – did follow Brewmaster’s gaze and saw upon the top of the sheer sides of chasms, countless Nurglings looking down upon them. These were the Brewmaster’s children, and they fell gleefully upon The Afflicted Shroud every one of them infected with Ku’gath’s latest virus – one created specially to render down his own kin; a disease even the infamous constitution of a Great Unclean One would fail to halt!
Yet, Grand Paraoxus survived the Nurgling avalanche and fled across the sea, to Grand Cathay. Ku’gath followed.
SO, KU’GATH IS KNOWN IN THE CELESTIAL DRAGON EMPIRE?
Yes, he is known as Zin-Fa the Ever-Pustulent. A name that sends shivers across all the Grand Courts of Cathay. As Zin-Fa chased his prey he took great delight in visiting the many sights and cities of Grand Cathay and showed his appreciation by reciprocating with the many gifts he had created. In the southern and western provinces, crops withered, rice paddies were blighted, and the people took ill.
But the Ever-Pustulent was in a rush and so could not stop and admire his work, for he sought the remnants of the Afflicted Shroud. He caught up with Grand Paraoxus in the Central Provinces, close to the city of Shang-Wu. Yueyin, the white moon, glowed bright that night. A sign, that the Moon Empress was angered at this trespass. As the Great Unclean Ones sized each other up, a triumvirate of Dragons arrowed down from the sky. Led by Yuan Bo, the Jade Dragon, who rarely takes to the battlefield, and at his side was Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, who howled in joy at the thought of skewering fat daemons in front of his brothers! (He knew that Yuan would find that particularly distasteful). The final Dragon was wreathed in fire, Li Dao, ruler of the Southern Provinces who was outraged at the carnage Nurgle’s daemons had wrought!
So it was the Fire Dragon that delivered the killing blow. Yuan Bo, and Zhao Ming hemmed the daemons in… Zhao taunting Grand Paraoxus in his human form. Then Li Dao marshalled the Burning Winds to its fullest extent, both Daemons were set aflame and purged from the mortal plane. The smile never left Zin-Fa’s face as he knew he would soon return. Grand Paraoxus was not so content, for he would now feel the full weight of Ku’gath’s jovial wrath in the Realm of Chaos.
I ASSUME THAT KU’GATH HAS HAD RUN-INS WITH MANY OTHERS UPON THE MORTAL WORLD?
Oh, yes, he is a regular visitor and actually prefers the real world to the Realm of Chaos, although he has a secret laboratory under the Plague Lord’s manse, where he stashes his accoutrements and most promising experiments. But it’s the mortal plane where he is his most efficacious – assuming he can sustain himself. It is during such forays that the Brewmaster has encountered one race above all others that have penetrated through his scientific detachment to bring forth pure rage, and that is the Dwarfs. On a professional level he hates the bearded creatures for their resilience to disease. But on a more personal level the Plaguefather has suffered two shameful defeats against the Dwarfs that have earned a rare displeasure from his master.
The first was against the walls of Karaz-a-Karak, the Dwarf Capital held firm. The tenacity of the Dwarfs proves too much for his most prized plagues. The Daemons, under the Brewmaster’s direction, breach three layers of defences but four remained unsullied. The Dwarfs rally forth their throngs and Ku’gath is banished by the strong arm of King Stromni Axehand.
WHAT WAS THE SECOND TIME?
To compound Ku’gath’s hatred further, he suffered an even greater defeat. Three Dwarfholds—Karak Mar, Karak Nal and Dok Duraz are lost to rampaging Daemons. Zhufbar should have fallen too, it is due to the iron resolve of its defenders. Zhufbar’s fall was tasked to Ku’gath. His failure to conquer while three rival Greater Daemons succeeded, lost Father Nurgle a wager against his rival gods and status in the Great Game. Ku’gath is banished to the Forge of Souls for his failure.
DOES THAT MEAN KU’GATH IS EXILED, LIKE SKARBRAND?
No, Nurgle seems to be a more forgiving god than Khorne. And so only spent a few centuries within the Forge. But as long as Ku’gath keeps creating his poxes and plagues then he will remain one of Nurgle’s most favoured servants even if he keeps failing to crack open those Karaks! Perhaps the player can help with that when we release the game!
Thanks, Andy!
Does Ku’gath appeal to you? The slow, inexorable victory of a rolling tide of Plaguebearers and Nurglings. The joy of laughter and drone of Nurgle’s incoming gifts, all backed by a master plague artificer and one of the deadliest beings there is. Join him now in Total War: WARHAMMER III.
Total War: WARHAMMER III Worldwide Release Times
It's almost here! Total War: WARHAMMER III releases this Thursday, February 17th, and we want to be sure you're ready to step up and command your armies the moment they arrive! To that end, we've created this helpful map to give you an idea of when the game arrives in a time zone near you:
Haven't pre-ordered the game yet...?
Players who have will not only have the opportunity to pre-load the game early, but will automatically unlock access to the Ogre Kingdoms faction! Make sure to pre-order your copy:
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
To ensure you're ready to play on day one, we're excited to announce that anyone who has pre-purchased the game will be able to pre-download it starting February 15th on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and Game Pass.
Want to find out when it’s released in your area?Click here for a handy time zone conversion for cities all around the world.
Steam Pre-Installation Instructions
Open your Steam client.
Find Total War: WARHAMMER III in your library.
Click the INSTALL button.
Steam will begin the pre-load the game, which you can follow in the ‘DOWNLOADS’ area. If you encounter any problems starting the download, try fully exiting and restarting Steam to see if that helps. If you unable to begin the download after several hours, please contact Steam support for assistance.
Total War: WARHAMMER III File Size
The approximate installation size is ~120 GB, so we recommend starting early. Please also make sure there is enough space available on your drive to install the game. There will also be at least one more patch prior to playing, so you'll want to have a majority of the files ready-to-go if you want to play on day one!
We look forward to seeing you leading your favourite Warhammer force on the battlefield and will see you later this month with more Total War: WARHAMMER III news!
—The Total War Team
CONNECT WITH US!
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
Join us for the CHAOS CLASH Tournament Finals this Weekend!
It’s nearly time! With the arrival of Total War: WARHAMMER III to the big stage of battle in less than a week, the search for the greatest champions and commanders of the game has begun!
With Turin and ItalianSparticus overseeing the competition, fifty of the strongest WARHAMMMER III players joined the preliminary stages of the CHAOS CLASH tournament to vie for supremacy. Now, this coming Saturday, February 12th, our final 10 champions will battle it out in the game’s Domination Mode to see who emerges as the victor.
Join us this weekend on the official Total War and Xbox Twitch channel, on YouTube, or right here on the Steam Store page to catch every moment of the action:
The winner of the tournament will not only take home the crown and glory as WARHAMMER III's first esteemed champion, but will receive a brand-new, custom-built PC ready to take on the live battlefield—courtesy of our friends at Novatech and Intel!
Excited yet? Come tune in to see the best players in the world take on the competition, command their armies, and master the battlefield!
We'll see you there! ⚔
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
In case you missed it, we're sharing our recent Soul Grinder spotlight with everyone along for the ride up to the launch of Total War: WARHAMMER III. In this spotlight, we're introducing the SOUL GRINDER: a horrifying Daemon Engine you can unleash upon the battlefield to crush and consume your enemies!
[previewyoutube="g7eMzjY-kuE;full"] For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
An Intro to the Co-Op Campaigns in Total War: WARHAMMER III
In Total War: WARHAMMER III, multiplayer is bigger than ever: with more players and more modes available than any previous entry in the Total War series. Three unique campaigns are available to explore by up to eight players:
Realm of Chaos (8 Players): Warhammer 3’s standard campaign, where up to eight players can join forces or battle for surpremacy.
Darkness & Disharmony (8 Players): Play to bring about Grand Cathay's salvation...or its destruction.
Something Rotten in Kiselv (3 Players): A smaller adventure with higher stakes for each player!
Each campaign was designed with multiplayer in mind, and aim to provide a more focused campaign that can be completed in a shorter amount of time. For an in-depth look at the campaigns and new multiplayer features coming to Total War: WARHAMMER III, check out our special preview here:
[previewyoutube="cFGT5MKWofE;full"] Here's the tl;dr list of features you can look forward to as you join the battlefield:
All players may take their turns simultaneously—act fast to outrun your opponents!
Enjoy a slower, more thoughtful pace? You can choose to take sequential turns in the options.
Players enter as spectators during battles, where they can be granted forces to control of their own!
Hold no allegiances to either side? Play the mercenary and commandeer troops from either army. (Imposters and traitors are most welcome!)
Gift regions of the map to your allies to keep them in the fight!
We can't wait to join you on the battlefield, and hope you enjoy all the excitement, treachery, and triumph of Total War: WARHAMMER III!
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
Meet The Daemon Prince—a Legendary Lord risen in the name of Chaos Undivided—in our recent cinematic trailer:
[previewyoutube="Uebto73ZUFQ;full"]
Then check out the customization options available to the Daemon Prince as you play and grow in power. Will you conquer your daemons...or become one?
[previewyoutube="ijPptriPR4o;full"]
Finally, go hands-on with the Daemon Prince in this exclusive Let's Play with gameplay footage from Total War: WARHAMMER IIII!
[previewyoutube="CWiAFapYcCI;full"]
For the latest news and announcements, don't forget to visit our social channels. You can also join the ongoing conversation over on the official Total War Discord server!
