Deep in the valleys of the Mountains of Mourn, an Ogre Tyrant boasts of his conquests. Dozens of captives, from caravan guards to peasant farmers, are lined up in his camp. Some will be subjected to backbreaking labor, while others will be the main course for the evening. Among these hapless folk are the broken bodies of humanoid tigers, once proud fighters brought low by the ransacking army. Just then, a lone figure emerges from the hills. It is none other than Bhashiva, the White Tiger, who vows a swift death for those who defiled her kin.

Bhashiva is the latest legendary lord to join the fray in Total War: Warhammer 3, the capstone of Creative Assembly’s hugely successful strategy game trilogy, which in itself is based on Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Bhashiva is not just any legendary lord, mind you. She’s a completely original character, one that senior game director Richard Aldridge and designer Josh King are particularly proud of.

“Bhashiva and her Tiger Warriors are a type of content that I can only dream of as a Warhammer fan,” says Aldridge. The sub-faction itself, part of the Bhashiva Character Pack DLC, is steeped in the mysticism and lore of Grand Cathay.

Bhashiva’s forces in the game

In Total War: Warhammer 3, Bhashiva leads a Grand Cathay sub-faction known as the Claws of the White Tiger. She primarily recruits her cadre of Tiger Warriors that have anti-infantry, anti-large, and hybrid variants, as well as a new hero type known as a Clawspeaker.

Lore-wise, the tale of the Tiger Warriors began centuries prior, when they were led by the first White Tiger from the jungles of Ind to the hinterlands of Cathay. “Cathay is where they eventually settled and allied with Zhao Ming, the Iron Dragon, " notes Aldridge. “Now, the current White Tiger, Bhashiva, still abides by that unbreakable oath.”

This bond is depicted in the Immortal Empires campaign with Bhashiva acting as a bulwark at the western marches of Zhao Ming’s domains. As further proof of her loyalty, she has several treaties with Zhao Ming right from the start. That said, she’s unable to declare war on him and she can only field a limited number of human Cathay units.

“She definitely doesn’t play like the other Cathay lords,” says King. “When you consider the Tiger Warriors, you would look at them and think, ‘Oh, they’re very bestial, but are they not feral by nature?’ No, they’re actually quite civilized. You might even say that they’re the antithesis, if not the polar opposites, of the ogres. They’re more righteous. They believe in good and honor, and they have this particular warrior code and moral ethos [as evidenced by Bhashiva’s oath to Zhao Ming].”

Bhashiva’s characterization fits right in with the rest of Warhammer’s eclectic cast, from the most “noblebright” hero to the most sinister of manflayers and everchosens. Still, it’s worth noting that the nation that she’s part of, Grand Cathay, was hardly mentioned in the setting for decades.

A fantasy flashback

To fully understand how this whole process came about, we have to look at Warhammer Fantasy Battle, which was originally published by Games Workshop in 1983. The tabletop’s setting has familiar themes and tropes, including elves, dwarfs (not dwarves), vampires, dragons, malformed cultists, and scheming gods. Some nations are analogous to real-world counterparts, such as The Empire and its elector counts (the Holy Roman Empire), Bretonnia’s chivalric knights (Medieval France), and the Tomb Kings’ mummified soldiers (Ancient Egypt).

Unfortunately, Warhammer barely had representation for the eastern hemisphere. Indeed, stories about Ind, Nippon, and Cathay, regions comparable to modern-day India, Japan, and China, respectively, were only mentioned in passing in Warhammer lore. They didn’t even have detailed novels, let alone complete armies.

Then came 2015 and 2016, two busy years for Games Workshop and Creative Assembly. For the former, it was because Warhammer Fantasy Battle’s in-universe setting was destroyed in a cataclysmic event known as The End Times. For the latter, it’s due to the release of Total War: Warhammer, which subsequently became the fastest-selling game in the series at the time.

The game’s success further enlivened the collaborative efforts of both teams, which then led to a meeting between Creative Assembly and Games Workshop. As shared in the Warhammer Community website, Creative Assembly wanted to have more factions for the third game in the series. In 2019, the studio asked if they could include Cathay (the Warhammer world’s version of China). Games Workshop’s team then put a lot of effort into the project, from scouring old army books for any reference to Cathay to figuring out how the mythology, such as the tales about the Dragon Emperor, fit the overarching narrative.

Aldridge and the team played key roles in the trilogy’s continued development as they worked hand-in-hand with Games Workshop.

“When we set out to develop Total War: Warhammer, we wanted to celebrate iconic characters like Karl Franz, Grimgor Ironhide, Thorgrim Grudgebearer, and the rest,” says Aldridge. “Years passed and, when we got to Grand Cathay, our goal was to create the most epic version of the faction that it could be for the Warhammer world. We wanted to make Grand Cathay feel complete, and we had to think of something new and different.”

From footnote to full-fledged force

From a mere footnote in the books, Grand Cathay’s lore was expanded upon through the continued work of hard-working directors, designers, and writers from both companies. This led to Grand Cathay having a full army roster when Total War: Warhammer 3 launched in 2022. It initially had two playable Dragon Lords–the Storm Dragon Miao Ying and the Iron Dragon Zhao Ming–followed by the Jade Dragon Yuan Bo as DLC.

Eventually, these efforts culminated in Games Workshop’s relaunch of the Warhammer Fantasy Battle setting with Warhammer: The Old World, where Grand Cathay became an official army in 2025. Fans marveled at miniatures of heavily armored Jade Warriors and the imposing Terracotta Sentinel, as well as Miao Ying, whose miniatures include both her human and dragon forms previously seen in the game.

That brings us to Bhashiva who, as mentioned earlier, is a completely original creation. A humanoid tiger general wearing ornate armor and wielding two blades, her design is inspired by China’s rich mythology and folktales. For instance, the White Tiger (Baihu) is one of the Four Auspicious Beasts. With Baihu situated in the west, perhaps it’s only fitting that Bhashiva herself guards the western borders of Cathay. In the same vein, Journey to the West, one of the pillars of Chinese literature, tells of a battle between Sun Wukong’s group and the fierce Tiger Vanguard.

Similarly, Bhashiva's inclusion in Total War: Warhammer 3 further encapsulates the region’s in-universe diversity. “Cathay isn’t just dragons and humans,” says Aldridge. “There are other types of beings, like ogres to the west, monkeys to the south, and giant terracotta constructs everywhere. That’s what we want to celebrate: It is a very diverse place and one that we’re very proud to bring to life for the first time, thanks to Bhashiva.”

Outstanding originals

Bhashiva is just the latest in a long line of original characters in the Total War: Warhammer series. In the past, we’ve seen minor characters like High Elf lord Alastar the White Lion, conceived as part of the Make a Wish program. There’s also Cavill, a Loremaster of Hoeth, a nod to Hollywood star Henry Cavill who happens to be a huge fan of Warhammer. (Cavill himself is producing a big-budget Warhammer series for Amazon MGM Studios.)

Meanwhile, the Curse of the Vampire Coast DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 saw the inclusion of Cylostra Direfin, a spectral siren who will probably remind you of Ursula from The Little Mermaid. (It’s also worth noting that other Vampire Coast leaders, such as Count Noctilus and Aranessa Saltspite, were from a different Warhammer board game called Dreadfleet.)

Then, Total War: Warhammer 3 introduced Kostaltyn, a Kislevite leader based on Grigori Rasputin. Kislev also received the “full roster” treatment in Warhammer 3 though, unlike Grand Cathay, it’s yet to have a full range of miniatures for The Old World tabletop setting.

“With Bhashiva and other original characters that we’ve done–like Cylostra and Kostaltyn–Games Workshop was always at the forefront. They’re that reassuring hand that allows us to create something that’s befitting of the IP,” says Aldridge. “Sure, we get to have fun, because we’re painting those grey areas, we’re coming up with something new and fresh, and we also suggest how something could work for our game. But they give us that initial steer. They give us that direction and we can riff off of that. And the end result is that we have characters that are steeped in so much lore and history and, from another standpoint, they’re still totally new as well.”

From tabletop to video game

Trying to adapt something that already exists in the tabletop is no easy feat. Original legendary lords like Bhashiva, however, present a different set of challenges. “When you come up with original lore, you still have to find a way for it to fit in the game world with the pre-established material,” opines King. “So you’ve already got the ruleset, but with Bhashiva the challenge is to ensure that she and her Tiger Warriors complement Cathay.”

In terms of in-game systems, Bhashiva’s aforementioned allegiance to Zhao Ming might be perceived as a restriction, but this concept is actually tied to her Armies of Shang-Yang mechanic. As Bhashiva completes missions, she can gain rewards like the ability to hire better troops, such as Celestial Dragon Crossbows and Fire Rain Rocket Batteries. The resource she earns also allows her to increase the unit capacity of regular Cathay troops, as well as buy insignias that provide buffs.

“The Tiger Warriors themselves are quite mobile when you compare them to regular foot infantry,” adds King. “They’re very fast on the battlefield and they’ve got a particular playstyle about them which helps set them apart. We do look at things like that, such as their role. We have to see what fits with Cathay, what works with Cathay, and how the Tiger Warriors complement that makeup.”

Moreover, Bhashiva’s Tiger Warrior units acquire boosts from Relics that you collect. The more Relics you devote to a particular path, the better the bonuses. Imagine a passive faction-wide trait that enables replenishment in enemy territory, while also nullifying diplomatic penalties when you trespass, or a battle modifier that removes an enemy army’s spell resistance, while also nullifying their magic.

This concept where factions use multiple resources and interconnected systems is actually rooted on player feedback that the studio received after they released the Realm of the Wood Elves DLC for Total War: Warhammer. “In the past, Total War was mostly about treasury, public order, and the like. Then, with the Wood Elves’ Amber resource, we took feedback about ‘being bold, being big, being brash’ and we just went for it,” cites Aldridge. “We have this fantasy world and we had to live it. That paved the way and I’ve pushed for that asymmetric design more and more. To add to that, as a fan of strategy/RTS games, I saw the value of resources–things that you could go and collect–which lead you to different goals and different challenges.

Aldridge then chuckles and says, “We’ve got more complicated DLCs like the Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs where, every turn, you’re sort of scratching your head thinking ‘Do I want to do this? Do I want to do that?’–and Bhashiva’s got an element of that, too.”

It’s quite clear that Creative Assembly and Games Workshop put a lot of thought into making Bhashiva and Grand Cathay as a whole. That passion can be seen in her design and mechanics, as well as the faction’s rich lore. “Warhammer is a franchise that spans several decades. To work on something like that and something so new, it’s a privilege and an honor,” says King. “For a lot of people, this is more than just a hobby. And when you love something so much, you want to see it respected.”

The Total War: Warhammer 3 Bhashiva Character Pack, which includes Bhashiva as a legendary lord, the Tiger Sawai lord, the Clawspeaker hero, and three types of Tiger Warrior units, will be available starting May 21 on the Epic Games Store. A legendary hero, Taoyan the Merciless, will also be available for free as part of a content update.