What Is the Necroquake?

What Is the Necroquake? — Nagash’s Great Ritual

The Necroquake was a cataclysmic magical shockwave caused by Nagash’s Great Ritual, his attempt to claim dominion over every soul in the Mortal Realms. The ritual was sabotaged and did not give him the total victory he wanted. Instead it unleashed a wave of death magic that swept across every realm, raised the dead in their multitudes, sent the Nighthaunt processions out to wage the Soul Wars and gave birth to Endless Spells, changing the nature of magic throughout the Mortal Realms.

The Necroquake is one of the most significant events in Age of Sigmar’s timeline. It reshaped the political, military and magical landscape of the Mortal Realms, ended the period that followed the Realmgate Wars and ushered in an era of unprecedented magical danger. Its consequences still shape the setting today.

What Was Nagash’s Plan?

To understand the Necroquake, you must first understand Nagash’s ambition. Nagash, the Supreme Lord of the Undead and god of death in the Mortal Realms, has always wanted absolute dominion over every soul in existence. In his view every soul belongs to him by right, and every living being is simply a future servant. He has long resented Sigmar in particular for taking souls from Shyish to forge his Stormcast Eternals.

The Great Ritual was his answer. At Nagashizzar in the Realm of Shyish (the Realm of Death), Nagash raised the Black Pyramid, a colossal necromantic structure built from realmstone — the grave-sand and death-magic-laden stone of Shyish. His undead legions hauled vast quantities of this realmstone from the edges of the realm towards its centre. The aim was to reverse the flow of Shyish’s magic so that it drained inwards to Nagashizzar, drawing the souls of the dead — and ultimately the living — to Nagash alone.

If the ritual had succeeded as planned, Nagash would have become the undisputed master of death energy, and the other gods would have been cut off from the souls of their followers. The preparations took a long time and involved his Mortarchs, but the precise roles each one played vary between sources, so we won’t speculate here.

Why Did the Ritual Fail?

The ritual was sabotaged by the Skaven. In the Malign Portents and Soul Wars background, Skaven tunnelled beneath Nagashizzar and corrupted the Black Pyramid with warpstone. The Skaven had no wish to see any single power claim the realms’ souls, and they thrive on the chaos that followed.

The warpstone tainted the carefully balanced magic of the ritual. Rather than flowing smoothly through the Black Pyramid into Nagash’s control, the gathered death magic erupted outwards in an uncontrolled wave — the Necroquake — that radiated from Shyish across all the Mortal Realms. The ritual was not a total failure, though: the realmstone dragged to the centre of Shyish still caused the realm’s magic to collapse inwards, creating the Shyish Nadir.

The Mortal Realms’ other gods also had every reason to oppose Nagash monopolising death, so the ritual would likely have faced resistance in any case. The Skaven sabotage simply ensured it failed in the most destructive way possible.

What Happened When the Necroquake Hit?

The Necroquake’s effects were felt across every Mortal Realm, though they varied from realm to realm. It was not merely a physical shockwave — it was a wave of death magic that altered reality wherever it passed.

The Dead Rose

The most immediate and visible effect was the mass reanimation of the dead. Across the realms, graves burst open, tombs cracked and the dead clawed their way back into the world of the living. Battlefields where thousands had fallen became nightmares, and cities built on ancient catacombs found themselves besieged from below.

The Necroquake also empowered the spirits of the dead. Nagash’s Nighthaunt — vast processions of ghosts, wraiths, banshees and spectral horrors — swept across the realms in what became known as the Soul Wars. These were not mindless undead but organised forces, led by powerful spirit commanders and driven by hatred of the living. They became one of the most dangerous threats in the Mortal Realms, attacking without warning and passing through walls and armour that would stop physical enemies.

Magic Changed

The Necroquake saturated the Mortal Realms with magical energy and changed how magic worked. The most significant result was the creation of Endless Spells — magical phenomena that take on a life of their own and persist after they are cast, sometimes slipping beyond the control of the wizard who summoned them.

Wild magic became more common and more dangerous. Wizards found their spells more potent but harder to control, and uncontrolled magical phenomena became a regular hazard across the realms.

The Shyish Nadir

In Shyish itself, the effects were most extreme. As the realm’s magic was drawn inwards, the centre of the realm became the Shyish Nadir — a vast vortex of death magic that warped everything around it and pulled at the underworlds of Shyish. The Nadir became an ongoing source of necromantic power, ensuring the Necroquake’s effects would not simply fade away.

How Did the Factions Respond to the Necroquake?

The Necroquake forced every faction in the Mortal Realms to adapt to a changed world.

Sigmar and the Stormcast Eternals: The Stormcast Eternals bore the brunt of the Nighthaunt offensives. Sigmar answered the new magical threat with the Sacrosanct Chambers, Stormcast warrior-mages led by Lords-Arcanum, and the Nighthaunt’s assault on the Stormcast city of Glymmsforge became one of the defining battles of the Soul Wars.

Nagash and the Undead: Despite the sabotage, Nagash emerged from the Necroquake with his armies vastly reinforced. The Nighthaunt became his spearhead, and the ongoing effects of the Nadir continued to strengthen undead forces across the realms. He did not achieve the total dominion he sought, but his power grew considerably.

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The Forces of Chaos: The Chaos Gods also depend on mortal souls, so Nagash’s growing power made him a rival to them as well as to Order. The Skaven, of course, had been at the heart of the sabotage.

The Forces of Destruction: The Orruk Warclans and other Destruction factions largely saw the aftermath as more enemies to fight — and more fighting was always welcome.

The Necroquake’s Lasting Legacy

The Necroquake did not simply happen and pass. Endless Spells remain part of the setting and the game, the Shyish Nadir still shapes the Realm of Death, and the Nighthaunt remain a major faction. Nagash’s increased power forced every other faction to treat the undead as a major strategic threat — in the Broken Realms storyline, Teclis led an assault on Nagashizzar itself, and by the end of that campaign the Necroquake had been halted and the Soul Wars brought to a close, although the changes it made to the realms remain.

The Necroquake also shattered any sense of security that had settled over the realms after the Realmgate Wars. It showed that no faction, not even the gods themselves, could afford to ignore Nagash, and that sense of danger continues to drive the conflicts of the Age of Sigmar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Nagash survive the Necroquake?

Yes. The sabotage denied Nagash the total victory he wanted, but it did not destroy him. The aftermath arguably left him stronger than before: the Nadir feeds death magic into Shyish and his undead armies were vastly reinforced. Nagash remains one of the most powerful beings in the Mortal Realms.

Who sabotaged Nagash’s ritual?

The Skaven. They tunnelled beneath Nagashizzar and corrupted the Black Pyramid with warpstone, which is why the ritual went wrong and released the Necroquake. You will sometimes see claims that one of Nagash’s own Mortarchs, such as Mannfred von Carstein, sabotaged it — Mannfred is famously untrustworthy, but the published background credits the Skaven.

Can the Necroquake’s effects be reversed?

Partly. In Broken Realms: Teclis, Teclis’s war against Nagash ended with the Necroquake halted and the Soul Wars brought to a close. Its consequences were not undone, though: Endless Spells, the empowered Nighthaunt and the changed Realm of Death remain part of the setting.

Did the Necroquake affect the Chaos Realms?

The Necroquake’s effects are described mainly in terms of the Mortal Realms. Its main impact on Chaos was indirect: Nagash’s growing hold over the dead makes him a competitor for the souls that the Dark Gods also hunger for.

Is the Necroquake the biggest magical event in Age of Sigmar?

It is one of the most significant, but the Mortal Realms have seen several reality-altering cataclysms, from the destruction of the world-that-was to the Realmgate Wars. The Necroquake’s unique significance lies in how it changed the nature of magic itself, creating an entirely new kind of magical phenomenon in Endless Spells.

When did the Necroquake happen in Age of Sigmar?

The Necroquake took place after the Realmgate Wars and was the event that launched Age of Sigmar’s 2nd Edition in 2018, an era known as the Soul Wars. The Malign Portents narrative led up to it, and the Soul Wars starter set and the Malign Sorcery expansion introduced its consequences, including Endless Spells and the newly empowered Nighthaunt.

Which book covers Nagash’s Great Ritual?

The Great Ritual and the Necroquake are covered in the Age of Sigmar 2nd Edition core book, the Malign Sorcery supplement and the Soul Wars narrative, with the build-up told through Malign Portents. Josh Reynolds’ novel Soul Wars follows the aftermath, with Nagash’s Nighthaunt assaulting the Stormcast Eternals’ city of Glymmsforge.

Is the Necroquake still relevant in Age of Sigmar 4th Edition?

Yes. Its consequences are baked into the setting: Endless Spells still exist because of the magic it unleashed, the Shyish Nadir still shapes the Realm of Death and Nighthaunt remain a major faction. Later storylines such as Broken Realms, the Era of the Beast and the Skaventide war of 4th Edition have built on the world the Necroquake created.

What Is the Necroquake? — Nagash’s Great Ritual