Total War: Warhammer III - Noob's Guide To Be'lakor
Welcome to a noob's guide to Bellacor This is Bellacor. He's a dark and brooding figure that towers over others with a voice like thunder and abs of steel. And that's just his voice actor, a playable legendary lord in Total War Warhammer 3. Bellacor is both a reward for completing the realms of Chaos narrative campaign and his own faction on the big immortal empire sandbox map.
In Bellacor, he casts a malignant shadow across the darkness of time. He's the first mortal ever to become a demon prince, came within an elf's hair of conquering the known world, and is the only being to ever look at Volkmar the Grim and think yes, that could be a hood ornament. What Bellacor's mortal name was and whether he was a man, elf, dwarf, or some other race has long been forgotten by history, but when the great polar gates collapsed to demons, magic flowed into the world unchecked.
Bellacor was the first guy to realize that in the chaos wasteland, you're either the one tied to the front of the wagon or the guy driving it, so he stopped fighting the baddies and joined them. What unspeakable acts he committed to draw the attention of all four chaos gods aren't remembered, but they must have been especially vile as the ruinous powers lured him into the chaos wastes, where he sauntered directly into the realms of chaos.
They rewarded his courage by blowing up his body and reassembling it in their own image. Adam by excruciating. Adam Bellicore was gifted the cunning of Zinh, the pride of Slaanesh, the strength of corn, and the ever-shifting cloud of toxic gas that Nurgle leaves behind in any room, but even this wasn't enough for Bellacor.
As the first and only demon prince, his soul was a prize each god coveted. This escalated into a bidding war for Bellacor's soul. With Bellacor demanding ever more power from each as they competed to get into that boy's hole, I feel like you're saying boys whole, and it's clearly soul. In a move of brilliance, he had all the gods bestow their gifts on him at the same time, then excused himself to the mortal realms to clean up out of their reach and with all their gifted powers still intact.
As you'd expect in the game. Bellacor is a champion of chaos undivided and can draw on the powers of all four gods, starting the game with access to all four of the chaos gifts unlocked and providing a quick way to bankrupt yourself on turn 1 if you try and spend all your souls to fill those slots.
Call on the powers of each as well, with the most notable being the curser's boon from Zinh. It permanently opens a chaos rift in whatever province Bellacor is located in when he casts it, allowing you to instantly traverse between chaos rifts all across the map. Bellacor's armies likewise have access to the rosters of all four gods, giving him a ludicrous selection of demons to pick from.
His faction was called the demonic legions in sixth edition Warhammer, for a reason. With a faction ability that reduces their upkeep so you can keep more of them at a time, as well as double down on their strengths. Bellacor also has extra authority for each chaos god in his armies, which helps him to recruit and upkeep all of their units for less and to ensure he fields the full gamut available to him add the new champions of chaos dlc, where he can also dedicate any warrior to any god.
He's got over a hundred potential units to recruit in his campaign. It's enough to leave you spoiled for choice, but it also makes Bellacor's campaign difficult for beginners or anyone that's not more intimately familiar with the new warriors of chaos update than they are with their own hands, as there are so many choices.
It's easy to get lost in his options and awesomeness, which is exactly what happened to Bellacor eons ago. Cities fell in his path, armies were trampled to dust, and after a few hundred years, he'd nearly conquered the entire world, but Bellacor no longer wanted to just command mortals. He wanted to be worshipped as a fifth god of chaos.
For further empowerment. Bellacore would stand naked atop dark towers that reached into the stratosphere where the winds of magic blew, letting the raw energies of chaos caress his abs as he became a creature of living shadow, tangible only when he wished to be a master of terror and illusion who feasted upon mortal fears, but like so many hippie sunbathers, he attracted the attention of the authorities.
For only the second time in their entire existence, the ruinous pantheon agreed on something. Gods of chaos, have I not fed you souls? Have I not given you the world? Give me more power. They were going to teach that sorry son of a biscuit eater. Bellacor, a lesson. Destroying Bellacor's body and leaving him insubstantial.
Shadows drifting between the worlds Bellacor's essence floated around in the realms of chaos for thousands of years, begging any god that would listen for another chance to set foot on the mortal world again, but your average dark god is as forgiving as Eldon's ring. He wanted to conquer the world fine, but then from now on Bellacor would only be let out to crown the next ever chosen, reducing him to a delivery boy for the crown of domination, and leaving this hate-filled spirit a permanent bridesmaid but never a bride, twelve times.
Belacore has fulfilled that role as the harbinger and advisor of the ever-chosen. He's been forced to lead the demonic legions in someone else's name, always looking for a way to stay out on bail but inevitably getting thrown back in the pokey when these lesser mortals fail between sanctioned visits.
Bellicore sneaks into the bedrooms of unsuspecting aspirants and whispers promises of glory and power into their dreams. Anyone dumb enough to actually summon him then curses Bellacor's sudden yet inevitable betrayal, as he kills them and takes over their armies. This corrupting influence is Bellagore's unique faction mechanic in the game, as any human he beats in battle or performs hero actions against can be turned into a recruitable demon prince a few turns later.
It's too bad at launch; the parameters for it to work are so narrow it's like a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. It ain't going to happen. Well, I guess it could, but it would require a sausage grinder in a 10-foot splash zone. His immense ego means his ambitions. His abilities always outstrip his, as he just can't stop himself from trying to take over the world one more time.
This inevitably draws the attention of the chaos gods, who then put him back in chains once they get wind of his escape, leaving him another great mind perpetually held down by the man. He's up to these same old tricks again as the antagonist of the realms of chaos campaign. Our boy Yuri is tempted into killing the bear god Ursin so Bellacor can take his power and ascend to godhood, but as this campaign is confusingly a prequel to the total war Warhammer timeline, clearly it didn't work out for the immortal empires map.
