Family Matters

Something’s going on with Bardin. He’s not saying what. In fact, he’s not saying anything at all, which is unusual. Looks like we’ll have to turn to Lohner to find out what’s going on.

I bet you’ve all noticed that our stout, comradely dwarf – while stout as ever – ain’t exactly been as comradely of late. Locked himself up in his room. All kinds of weird banging and the like coming from within. Also been a bit, well, short with everyone, hasn’t he? And Olesya says he’s even stopped eating her candles. Not exactly the Bardin Gorreksson we’ve come to know and love. Well, I’ve done a bit of asking around, and I think I know why.

I don’t have to remind any of you that our recent trip to Castle Drachenfels, while a roaring success – and thanks for that – stirred the pot, shall we say? Old memories dredged up, and all that. Never mind how I know, I just know, all right? Let’s just say that Cousin Okri told me.

…you can put that sneer away, Kerillian. Okri’s real enough…

Anyway, you’ve all been a bit off since you got back, and Bardin more than most. It’s all to do with family, as it happens. Turns out that Bardin’s uncle – one Drakki Dagsson – was something of an iconoclast back in Karak Norn. Obsessed with new-fangled inventions and mechanisms more than runes and good stonework, that sort of thing. Simple enough, you might think. Dwarfs are cunning buggers, we all know it. I marvel at their technology, truth be told.

But dwarfs are also traditionalists, and some don’t take well to change.

Bardin’s old dad – Gorrek Dagsson – was as traditional as they come. Steam power? What’s wrong with a bit of good old dawi muscle? Cogwork? Use a block and tackle! Black powder? That’s just filthy muck, used by lazy beardlings in a hurry. In other words, the brothers Dagsson didn’t see eye to eye on much… Which was a pity, because Bardin worshipped his Uncle Drakki, and spent every hour he could learning everything the crazy old dwarf had to teach.

Can’t imagine Gorrek was too pleased when he found out. Much less when Bardin declared he was seeking an apprenticeship in the Engineer’s Guild instead of following his old dad into the clan throngs.


… Steam power? What’s wrong with a bit of good old dawi muscle? Cogwork? Use a block and tackle! Black powder? That’s just filthy muck, used by lazy beardlings in a hurry …

Now, I don’t know what happened exactly. Getting secrets out of a dwarf hold ain’t exactly easy at the best of times, and there’s a whiff of dishonour floating around the whole business.

Turns out that at about the same time our Bardin was about to be apprenticed to Karak Norn’s Engineer’s Guild there was some kind of mining accident. Hundreds dead, and old man Gorrek among them. Drakki departed the hold the next day, head shaved and Slayer Oath on his lips – not a life he was cut out for, from what I hear. Certainly proved that way. According to the annals of Karak Norn, Drakki’s bones – and his steam-axe – lie mouldering in a troll lair somewhere on the slopes of Zarak Karn.

As we know, Bardin never made it to the Engineer’s Guild. Instead, he took up his father’s axe and served with distinction in the clan throngs, eventually earning a place among King Brokk’s ironbreakers. Even became a father himself, though I hear that young Mordin Bardinsson met a tragic end – don’t ask, because it’s not my story to tell – and soon after Hedda Bardinsdottir left Karak Norn for the salt air and steamships of Barak Varr. Took after the great uncle she never knew, it seems.

…as for his wife, for those who were wondering, the name Grelda Thrangsdottir strikes terror into the hearts of every greenskin who approaches the Karak Norn-Grimhold road. No idea if she and Bardin parted on good terms, exactly. Some matters are best left private…

Anyway, what does this have to do with Bardin locking himself up, I hear you ask? Well, you’ve all had regrets stirred up by old Drachenfels, ain’t you? Bardin’s, I reckon, lie squarely on the road not taken – about how life might have worked out different had he stuck to his passions instead of honouring his father’s dry traditions. Might still have a family, instead of memories of the same.


… Past few weeks, Bardin’s had me running ragged, chasing down all manner of alloys and ores. Trading shillings we ain’t got with those penny-pinchers at Karak Ziflin …

Past few weeks, Bardin’s had me running ragged, chasing down all manner of alloys and ores. Trading shillings we ain’t got with those penny-pinchers at Karak Ziflin. Fifty-two different types of cogs and gears, would you believe? High grade black powder that the Imperial Engineer’s School would kill to get a look at, much less get their charred and mangled hands on. Precision lenses. Tools whose names I didn’t know, and couldn’t begin to pronounce.

For my money, all this toil is Bardin’s way of honouring his uncle Drakki, and maybe making some sort of amends with young Hedda. A confession, of sorts.

…so that should please you, eh Victor? You’ve always been a big admirer of confessions…

Either way, I reckon we’re in for a sight when he finally emerges from that room of his. In the meantime, I wouldn’t let on that I’ve told you even a speck of this. Shame’s a private matter for dwarfs. Drengbarazi you may be, but you’re still nardawi, and that matters more than it should. And certainly don’t tell Catrinne – she’ll want to immortalise the whole sorry saga in oils, and I can’t imagine Bardin taking kindly to that.

As to the rest? Bardin Gorreksson will come out when he’s good and ready, and I reckon we’ll be in for a treat when he does…

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Damn that cracked me up. Bravo :rofl:

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Great explanation, it’s simple, well written, lore-friendly and fitting. Good job FS! :partying_face:

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So this is were all of our shillings went… damn you Bardin.

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So he not only has a son but also a daughter O.o That’s a lot of exposition at once.

Still doesn’t explain the grey beard and I was totally promised an explanation for that >.<

Also, technically we shouldn’t be able to play Drachenfels as Engineer as it is clearly previously in timeline :stuck_out_tongue: As for Helmgart it is hard to say since we NEVER got information on the timeline concerning the two quests ….

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@Fatshark_Hedge HOW CAN YOU JUST DROP BOMBS LIKE THIS ON US!? He has living family left!?:scream:

Hold up a second, some of this stuff does not match the lore we got with the enchanters lair dialogue?

For one, wasnt his hold massacred or at least decimated and Bardin exiled by one “King Rorek Granitehand” as well as the remaining clansmen?

Now i am just waiting for Witchunter to gain a voiceline on his ult that goes “Confess! Confess!! CONFESS!!!”

As well as a video of the voice actor trying to keep a straight face recording that :rofl:

That’s just because he found a tastier treat

Brushes!

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i believe they said it was because of stress

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So patch notes? With how Engineer is out now? Did somebody made big uff with that or ?

I looked it up (for my own research purposes).
King Rorek Granitehand is the King of Karak Ziflin, and the slaughter Bardin could/couldn’t have prevented was in the ‘Ziflin Deeps’. As a Ranger he was watching over the whole mountain range of the Grey Mountains (or at least between both holds). Brokk Ironpick is the king of Karak Norn, so he would be Bardin’s king, but doing wrong to fellow dawi of a ‘neighbouring’ hold is most likely equally punishable and may not even need affirmation of the direct liege.

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What’s in Hedge’s post doesn’t contradict any of the established lore. Timeline based on above post and Drachenfels info would go something like this:

Bardin wanted to be Engineer, but before he joined the guild an incident happens where, amongst others, Bardin’s father died, and after which his uncle exiled himself and died as Slayer. → Thus Bardin became an Ironbreaker instead, and starts a family. → Years later a new incident happens where Skaven slaughter Dwarves (including Bardin’s son), possibly because of Bardin’s fault, or at least in a way that made Bardin feel he was at fault, and he does or does not get banned by the king (unclear). → Bardin’s daughter goes away to work on steamships, Bardin leaves the hold as a Ranger to look for a lost hold, or at least uses that as an excuse to leave the hold. → Bardin meets up with the rest of the Ü5 and Vermintide 1 & 2 happen.

EDIT:
Only just saw @JayJay 's post. Interesting information. Maybe Bardin left his hold as a Ranger before the incident in which his son also died? But why did he leave the Ironbreakers to become a Ranger then?

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ah,in the heat of the moment i did honestly not consider the possibility of him moving to another hold, it felt especially unlikely given the fact that he had a established family somehow. But he did and then that “something” involving him getting pounced by a runner happened.

Given that the voice pokes him about calling himself a seeker rather than exile i get a feeling it was probably something that the general dawi would consider bad such as slacking off on his watchpost which is how the runner got to him and enabled/helped the to massacre occur. This he then confesses to the other Dawi which understandably earns their ire but not an outright execution given…multiple things most likely.

That would certainly explain him roasting Kruber so uncharacteristically hard about slacking on watch if nothing else.

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I love how all this lore was incorporated into the game via dialogue between Outcast Engineer Bardin and the other heroes inside the Keep. Wish we could’ve gotten the same for Grail Knight.

Outcast Engineer is amazing, really. Bardin’s lore is incredible, I love this lorenerd part of Vermintide.

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I think this would have been more impactful if it was posted a day earlier, as a sort of teaser.
But still good! Beautiful lore insertion.

Still nothing about his beard?
My theory is that he kept dyeing it, and he just stopped. Goes to show he’s more old and weathered than the U4 thought.

Well, if Bardin has grey beard in its natural color. Then the chance is that we’ll get the Longbeard career in the future. :smiley:

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Stop reading my mind.