Editing Nagash (section)

==Early life==
Nagash was the firstborn son of King Khetep of Khemri. Unlike most places, in Nehekhara the firstborn sons of the royal family were given to the temples and the second sons became kings. Before he was forced to joined the Mortuary Cult, Nagash joined a Nehekharan war against Lizardmen who were attacking Lybaras. The Khemrian army was led by his father Khetep, but after Khetep fell ill during the campaign Nagash took command. He relentlessly pursued his father's campaign until the Lizardmen leader was finally killed in action. After that, Nagash ruled the city of [[Rasetra]] (which Khetep had used as a strategic point against the Lizardmen) as a king for 6 months while his father recovered. At which point Khetep left the city of Rasetra to one of his generals and gave Nagash to the Mortuary Cult. For unknown reasons, Khetep covered up Nagash's brief period of rulership, rewriting history to call Nagash a "brave warrior" and nothing more. It was Nagash first taste of rulership, and the first time he had it ripped from his grasp.

As a Mortuary Priest, Nagash was brilliant and quickly rose to become its High Priest. Nagash at that time was able to accurately predicted Morrslieb's sighting, a feat no other priests were able to accomplish. Like all Mortuary Priests, he was searching for a means to achieve immortality at the command of the by then (oh irony!) long-dead [[Settra the Imperishable]]. Unlike most Mortuary Priests, Nagash hated his job and craved greater magical power and king, lamenting that in every other nation he knew of firstborn sons took the throne. One day he saw the hot chick his brother was betrothed to, feeling sexual attraction for the first time in his life. He sought to steal her from his brother (note: Nagash merely saw her as a trophy, not a person to adore or treasure), and failed horribly. Knowing she would've been his if not for the royal traditions and priests' traditional celibacy, Nagash decided enough was enough for him. It was time to act (read: scheme)! 

When King Khetep died horribly in battle against Zandri's army, Nagash's younger brother Thutep took the throne and became the ruler of Khemri. Nagash seethed under Thutep's weak rule, a perception which was only reinforced by Thutep's diplomatic concessions and Khemri's dwindling prestige. While tending to his father's body, the only thing Nagash felt about his father's death (which was the first red flag for the uninitiated that something was wrong with the guy) was interest in what killed him, for his corpse bore the marks of powerful dark magic. While extracting Khetep's organs for mummification, Nagash saw they had been blackened and twisted together by unknown foul magic; a power unlike that of any Nehekaran Mortuary Priest or the blessings of their gods. 

Unfortunately for the Khemrians, and the world as a whole, Nagash found the source of this magic. During his father's burial ceremony, a Zandrian diplomat arrived and offered [[Dark Elves|three unidentified humanoids with snow white hair, pale skin and pointy ears]] as sacrificial slaves. This immediately drew Nagash's attention, and he speculated that they may have been used by the Zandrian army as slaves/mercenaries against his father, but had become so feared thanks to their dark magic that the Zandrians chose to betray them. His suspicions were proven correct when he sensed a weak and cold power from one of the female captives, who was quietly channeling her power (Note: the three of them were all drugged up to make them easier to subdue). Nagash, quick to an seize opportunity when he saw one, ostensibly agreed and took custody of the three elves. Although they were supposed to be poisoned and entombed along with his father, he ordered his assistant priest to drug them with sleeping medicines instead and had them imprisoned somewhere else.

This brings in two interesting pieces of trivia. The first that this trio of Dark Elves were the leaders of the covert-op unit that was killing Dwarf caravans to start the [[War of the Beard]]. So we can place Nagash in the timeline properly; the first Nagash novel occurs approximately just after the second War of Vengeance novel and demonstrates another way the Dark Elves have helped fuck up the world. The second is that, before being put under, the male captive spoke to the Nehekharan crowd in their language saying that [[Irony|whoever killed them would have their flesh slough from their bones and their land would fall to ruin]], [[Tomb Kings|which would come true, just not in the way anyone would've predicted]]. Apparently, the Dark Elves had a natural talent at unknowingly predicting other's doom, just like how they predicted Malekith's.

===Invention of Necromancy===

[[File:Wallpaper-nagash-sorcerer.jpg||thumb|right|400px|Nagash; once was human, always was an asshole.]]
But back to Nagash: he trapped the three magic-users in his father's pyramid full of lethal traps, and forced them to barter their sorcerous knowledge for him revealing what and where the traps were. Despite this, they were far from subdued, demanding whatever they could from Nagash, from silk pillows to books (particularly ones about tomb construction, architecture and escapology...). From the trio, Nagash learned of the Chaos Gate in the far north and the Winds of Magic that blew from it, and how they could be harnessed by a careful practitioner. Unlike the magics of Khemri, which relied on the intercession of the Nehekaran gods, Nagash learned that mortals could manipulate magic for themselves. He learned of Dark Magic and of how it coagulated into warpstone.

Although the Dark Elves withheld their juiciest secrets, Nagash still managed to reach an unparalleled (in humans) mastery of dark magic, because he was still an extremely intelligent member of the Mortuary Cult. However, Nagash very quickly deduced that his very human nature limited his ability to draw and channel magical energy (the reason why [[Teclis]] would create the Imperial Schools of Magic drawing on a single aspect instead of the full raw power like High/Dark magic does). He performed many experiments of his own along with other evil magic-y things; combining what he could use of the Dark Elves' craft with ways to call upon power as a human (all of which invariably involved mass human sacrifices, which was how the Dark Elves showed him the limits of his power, but Nagash didn't give a single fuck about human life besides his own and only did the bare minimum to remain discreet).

Eventually the Dark Elves read enough Harry Houdini books to escape the tomb. Near the exit, they found Nagash standing in their path to freedom, who told them their freedom rested upon them beating him in a magical battle. Although the Dark Elves outnumbered Nagash, one had been crippled by a poison dart from the tomb's traps and the rest still underestimated Nagash, so he still ended up brutally killing them and consuming their souls (you know that when someone can out-evil and out-betray '''Dark Elves''', they're cold mothafuckas).

Taking everything he’d learnt, Nagash created an elixir out of human blood which allowed him to stay alive through death (although the body degenerated, becoming essentially a lich without a Phylactery). He wandered the Necropolis of Khemri, summoning spirits of the departed and daemons with his new power, and learned great secrets. He penned nine different [[Necronomicon]]s/Books of Vile Darkness which contain all of his work and experiments (which nobody to date has ever managed to attain the same degree of working knowledge of; because Nagash took a leaf from [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]] and infused part of himself in each of his artefacts so no one but him could master them). The books explain the details and use of Necromancy, a form of magic that Nagash had codified from death magic along with the rituals of the Tomb Kings and the various Dark Magic tidbits his Dark Elf tutors gave him (He was not the first to attempt this, but he was the first to be so unequivocally successful). Necromancy, although usable by the forces of Chaos, also repels it; in a way the Undead are artificial Daemons made of equal amount of magic and material which flips the middle finger at the laws (as much as Chaos can be said to have such laws anyway) of both.

===King of Khemri===
During his studies Nagash also planned to overthrow his brother, scheming with several disgruntled military officers and nobles ([[Arkhan the Black|including a certain wastrel called Arkhan who would go on to become his infamous right-hand man]]). He gave them all a sip of his elixir, with Arkhan being the first to take it. When Thutep learned (warned by his vizier) of Nagash's experiments with dark magic via investigating the disappearances of the people he sacrificed, he took some royal guards and confronted Nagash. While many of Nagash's followers died, his inner circle didn't and Nagash used his dark magic to kill all but Thutep. Nagash then killed his brother by entombing him alive in their father’s pyramid.

The next morning, Nagash claimed the throne of Khemri for himself along with Thutep’s wife, Neferem (finally gotten that squared away). Despite being the only woman he's ever been attracted to, Nagash was a terrible husband to her. It's all but stated he abused her, used her as a sex object with no care for her pleasure (she later then cut off his penis for revenge), her handmaidens were terrified of him and his murder of Thutep was about as secret as [[A Song of Ice and Fire|the incestuous habits of the Lannister twins]]. To secure his throne, he secretly murdered her son (also his nephew) and used his body and soul to make a variant of the elixir to make her his sort of undead sex-slave (bruh). Nagash assembled the largest pyramid in Nehekhara (a big feat) made entirely out of black marble. However, doing so was expensive, and Nagash demanded such a large tribute of building materials and slaves that he nearly bankrupted Nehekhara; the fabulously wealthy kingdom became as poor as Detroit. During this time, his unholy work had become an open secret, and many others in Khemri flocked to his promises of immortality and power as well as a third of the Priests of Khemri (the rest of the priests were killed when they rebelled). 
 
However, the other Kings of Nehekhara were utterly appalled at Nagash's reign of terror. Enraged at the corruption he had brought, and in fear of the wrath of the gods, the kings from seven other lesser cities formed an alliance to force Nagash from his throne. A powerful army was raised against Khemri. 

Nagash, in turn, used the Black Pyramid to channel the energies of his Necromancy and raise an army of the undead - a horde of skeletons to destroy the attacking armies. [[Just as planned]]. Such a thing was unheard of, and in the death-obsessed culture of Nehekhara, it was recognised as the greatest of obscenities. Hundreds fled, terrified by the thoughts of battle against the departed. Things got even worse when Nagash had his undead wife killed, ending her bloodline and breaking the covenant between the Nehekharans and their gods. However, all was not lost. Although many did flee the sight of the dead army, the forces of the other kings rallied; Lybaras brought with them new technologies (including [[Awesome|steam-powered hot air balloons]]). Rasetra bought their Lizardmen mercenaries as well as their hardened soldiers that fights them on daily basis. The Lahmian, led by Lamashizzar, brought his famed '''Dragon Force''' soldiers who wields "dragon staff" (guns) that was bought from Cathay (which they made a deal with the Cathayan by giving them their city if they couldn't pay them). With the awesome new tech, they managed to push the undead back to Khemri and after a final battle at Maharak, they defeated Nagash. 

There were TWO crucial details about Nagash's defeat. First was that his undead army suffered months of brutal attrition during the siege of Mahrak. The city of hope had the most powerful of the gods blessings and the most powerful Ushabti (not statues, actual demi-god soldiers) garrisoned in the city as well as magic defences like a high temperature death field and a force field that blocked catapult shots. By the time Nagash had figured out that killing Neferem was the only way to take away Nehekharan's blessing from the gods and thus neutralize Mahrak's defences, his army was already in tatters. The second was the surprise attack from Lamashizzar's dragon staff troops. Lamashizzar had so long desired Nagash's elixir of longevity that he went to pledge Nagash his allegiance prior the final siege. Little did Nagash knew Lamashizzar ended up betraying him just as Nagash reached the heart of the city where the many temples of the gods resided. The ranged firepower coming from Lamashizzar's Dragon Force mortally wounded Nagash and shattered his skeleton army. For some reason, the gunfire left an incurable wound on his left shoulder which he was unable to regenerate, even with the power of his elixir or with the pyramid's power. His resulting loss of consciousness from the injury meant that his followers, including Arkhan, and what remained of his undead army had to cover his retreat to his sarcophagus within the Black Pyramid.

After the battle, it was generally decided at that time that all that Nagash had wrought during his accursed reign should be destroyed: the cabal of twisted followers he had ensnared to his ghastly practices were put to the sword, the Black Pyramid was sealed and great fires consumed much of what Nagash had done and written — even his precious Nine tomes were believed to be among the ashes...