So for the longest time I've had this thought of adding in a brand new faction-unique lore that could be added to the kingdom of chivalry.

The name is taken from The Old World Lore that Handmaidens of the Lady can take, but the Total War Warhammer III version I have in mind would actually be inspired by older material: the 5th edition spells of the Fay Enchantress.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, back in 5th edition Morgiana had access to a variety of spells she could use in addition to the unique benefits offered to her by her equipment like the Chalice of Potions (which had multiple colored mist-based effects), Morgiana's Mirror, Girdle of Gold, Power Familiar (Toad), and of course her beloved unicorn mount Silvaron. These spells all followed a very classic Medieval Fairytale & Arthurian Legend theme that I thought was awesome:

Spiteful Glance - "It is unwise to annoy the Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia, for she may turn you into a frog! It is a widely held belief among Bretonnian peasants that many of the frogs lurking in the lakes and ponds around her abode are Questing Knights who failed to perform a task for her. The only way to save these unfortunates from languishing as frogs until eaten by a fish or a heron is for the fairest damsel in the village to kiss them. Needless to say few if any Knights have been saved in this way!"

The Mist of Châlons - "White mist, like that which rises from the places sacred to the Lady of the Lake, gathers around a unit in range from the Fay Enchantress. The mist enshrouds the unit so that it can barely be seen so long as it does not fire ranged weapons."

The Doom of Dol - "The Fay Enchantress pronounces the doom of a single person or monster on the opposing side, and a Bretonnian on her own side who will slay the "doomed" target. So, for example, in the midst of battle, the Fay Enchantress may suddenly declare something like "Sir Jehan Maldemer! The Dwarf king is doomed to perish by your sword!" Naturally, this inspires the named Knight to go all out to accomplish that very deed of valour and fulfil the prophecy."

The Beguilement of Blondel - "The target unit is beguiled with visions of verdant meadows full of wild flowers and beautiful maidens, or whatever alternative paradise exists in their imagination! They may even believe they have already been slain in battle and gone to heaven."

Source: Page 81 of the 5th ed. Bretonnia army book:

https://kupdf.net/download/warhammer-5th-edition-bretonnia-1996_58bb17f7e12e89e648add377_pdf

The Mist of Châlons spell is also inspired by Anara of Garamont's magic which you can read about here:

https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Calard_of_Garamont#The_Rescue

This kind of thing just spoke to me: "What if we expanded these into a full lore?" and apparently I wasn't the only one as a while back a modder by the name of MDavid had the same idea and created his own from it:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2895541874

Unfortunately it hasn't been updated in a little over half a year, but I enjoyed it a lot while it was still active. Honestly it's a pretty good blueprint for how to translate the Enchantress' Tabletop spells. Here's how he laid them out, along with some original spells he made to fill in the gaps:

The Lore of the Lady

Lore Passive:

Protection of Piety

The lore passive adds +25% missile resistance and

+10 melee damage reflection to the army when any spell is cast.

Spells

The Doom of Dol

"The caster pronounces an enemy unit to be doomed, incapacitating their means to defend themselves."

This is a hex that reduces a single enemy unit's armour and melee defense.

* Overcasting it also reduces target enemy missile resistance, physical resistance and ward save stats.

Guinevere's Inspiring Prophecy

"A vision of glorious victory floods the minds of the spellcaster's allies, making them forget about their fatigue and encouraging them to strike the enemy all the more bravely."

The targeted friendly unit gets their melee attack and charge speed and bonus increased, as well as Immune to Psychology and a chance to Rampage to represent reckless bravery.

* Overcasting the spell adds an increase to melee damage.

The Mist of Châlons

"The spellcaster summons a magical mist around their allies, rendering them invisible to the enemy for a period of time."

Hides a single friendly unit, making them extremely useful for surprise attacks and flanking maneuvers.

* Overcasting adds an area of effect.

Spiteful Glance

"A single glance of spite from the Enchantress is enough to make the enemy suffer a terrible fate: they turn into a frog."

This is a very potent but also costly direct damage spell which you can use for character sniping or to nuke an elite enemy unit.

* It has no overcast option.

The Beguilement of Blondel

"The enemy is beguiled by visions of whatever paradise exists in their imagination, becoming languid and entranced, unable to move, fight or make any use of their skills."

This hex reduces a single enemy target's melee attack and renders them incapable to move for a short while and increases their ability recharge times.

* Overcasting the spell increases the duration of all these debuffs.

Crushing Tide of the Lady's Wrath

The caster summons a globe of holy water, then lets the enemy be crushed under the weight of the waves as punishment for their sins against the Lady. A potent explosion spell more or less similar to Nurgle's Blight Boil and Foot of Gork.

* The overcast version deals greater damage.

I would be ecstatic to see an official CA-created take/version of this kind of lore with the quality work of cool animations behind it.

I mean I can already imagine a few thoughts on them:

The Mist of Châlons

The shimmering hand of the Lady reaches a noble blade up through a pond that appears on the battlefield in defiance of the enemy, as a thick, white mist rolls across the field from it.

The Beguilement of Blondel

A radiant and beautiful meadow appears, perhaps accompanied by dancing naiads, peaceful animals, or fay creatures. (Similar to the Slaanesh demons from Phantasmagoria or the Kislev monsters from Vengeance of Spirits and Malediction of Madness.)

Spiteful Glance

This could be made into the game's first Polymorph spell (should the technology ever be coded for it or other spells like Final Transmutation), but as a damage spell it isn't a bad concept either. I could see the animation having a maiden's face/eye staring the enemy down maybe.

Guinevere's Inspiring Prophecy

A maiden appears (or perhaps just her hands) and lifts the grail above the targeted unit's head.

The Doom of Dol

A large sword appears and stabs downward toward the enemy unit from above as judgement is pronounced on it.

Crushing Tide of the Lady's Wrath

A shimmering globe of water emerges from a lake that forms on the battlefield and then bursts, showering everyone nearby in waves.

Besides MDavid's ideas, there are other options as well: a summoning spell for fay creatures or spirits of some kind should they one day feature into the game comes to mind particularly. (Perhaps similar to the Hag Witch's Koldunja's Spirit) But what do you all think? Would you like to see a lore like this added to the game someday? Would you have your own ideas as far as spells or their precise effects? I'd love to hear them as this is something I think could make for a very fun and thematic addition to this game we enjoy so dearly.

Cheers!
For ze Lady!