Hol’ up, finna respond to this. Peeps already said this is Warcraft, not Warhammer. But let’s carefully inspect each Warhammer race.
Humans, well. Which one? There’s several nations of men alone, are we talking of the Empire? Or perhaps Kislev? Maybe the Border Princes? Or Tilea, Estalia and Ind? Perhaps Nippon or Cathay or Araby? Marienburg or Nehekhara? Let’s take a look on them and see what historical time period they were based on.
Kislev, well. The Kislevites are based on late Muscovite Russia / early Tsardom of Russia, so no, I’m sorry. That’s a few years ((read a lot)) after the Medieval Age ended.
The Empire? Well, that’s obvious. It’s the Holy Roman Empire of the Renaissance, from roughly around the period of the Thirty Years’ War if you want an exact-ish date, but it depends where in the Empire you are. Still, no province in the Empire is Medieval.
The Border Princes, Estalia and Tilea? Well, they’re all based on Italy and Spain from the Renaissance, so the same time period as the Empire. Sorry, that isn’t Medieval either.
Ind? Well, we don’t know much about the Kingdoms of Ind beyond the fact it is based on India, with very spiritual people with splendid rulers. Well known for their spices, as well. But they are noted as having talwar swords, though they’re named tulwar in Warhammer, which would suggest that they are within the time frame of the middle and later Middle Ages, yes.
Nippon? Well, that’s literally just Japan during the Shogunate. They changed so little until the yanks went in and did some gunboat diplomacy, but unlike Japan, Nippon is still noted as being a massive military threat to Cathay, Warhammer’s Chinese Empire. So they are probably more advanced than Japan ever was until 1853.
Now, as for Cathay. It’s the Chinese Empire, but it’s a Chinese Empire well beyond the limitations of the Middle-Ages. They have blackpowder weaponry and lots of it.
Araby, that’s a lot easier to pintpoint. They’re based largely on the European perspective of Islam and the Arab world. So they’re Medieval.
Marienburg, well. That’s from the same timeperiod as the Empire of Man, but Dutch instead of German.
Nehekhara is also very easy, they are based ancient Egypt. So they aren’t Medieval either, because they are based on something that came much earlier than the start of the Medieval Age. Now, fun fact though, they’d often buy blackpowder weapons from Cathay. So they were in many ways more technologically advanced than a lot of Medieval nations.
Norsca, well, that’s just Scandinavia during the Viking Age.
Perhaps the Amazons or Albions? No, they aren’t Medieval either. Both are based on something that existed well before the establishment of the Medieval Ages - respectively the mythological Amazons of Greek myth and the ancient celts of Britannia before the Roman Invasion.
Now, you might have seen that I left one out. And that’s Bretonnia, and it’s fairly obvious why. With their overwhelmingly Arthurian inspired mythos, they are the posterboys of the Medieval Age in Warhammer Fantasy. But that’s my point. A single nation ((three, in this case - Bretonnia, Nippon and Araby; possibly four with Ind)) doesn’t make the entire world Medieval.
The dwarfs? Last time I checked, helicopters, tanks, ironclad ships, trains and the beginnings of steam cars aren’t Medieval at all. They are steam punk through and through. And that’s without looking at the Chaos Dwarfs, who are even more nutters and wild with anything they have made simply because they don’t suffer from the overwhelmingly conservative mindset of the Engineers’ Guild of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, if it ain’t old, it ain’t good.”
The elves? Sure, they are more Medieval than the dwarfs and humans; more so than Bretonnia in some cases, given the fact that Bretonnia does use blackpowder weaponry. But last time I checked, amazingly powerful casters with long, pointed ears and basically infinite lifespans did not exist in the Medieval Age. Technological level = / = Medieval.
