Editing Soulblight Gravelords (section)

==History==
===Age of Myth===
After the arrival of Nagash in the Mortal Realms and his tenuous alliance with Sigmar, Nagash's first aim was the conquering of the Realm of Shysish for his own. At this time many other Gods of Death existed that actively challenged Nagash for dominance with some even actively looking to bring death to all other gods and the living (an idea Nagash himself would take interest in later on). Nagash's supreme skill in summoning the Legions of the Dead proved invaluable as underworld after underworld fell to his control. Eventually almost all the other Death Gods that could challenge him were either killed, imprisoned, or fled into hiding (in the case of Morrda), leaving Nagash the supreme ruler of the realm.

During these conquests, Nagash begrudgingly conceded that he could not marshal all his forces at once nor be on every battlefront simultaneously, and his vizier Arkan the Black just wasn't enough. He needed generals, spies, and confidants that still had what Nagash loathed in other beings: free will. Thus, he started actively courting Necromancers, Wight Kings and generals among the living to lead his armies. At this time as well he decided to revive the long-destroyed race of vampires, having remembered their use in the world-that-was. Retrieving the lost soul fragments of Neferata, Mannfred and Ushoran, he brought them back into existence to serve him once again as Mortarches.

Eventually Ushoran displeased Nagash and was imprisoned for his troubles (to see how that story ended up check out the [[Flesh-Eater Courts]]), but Neferata and Mannfred would go on to sire the first Vampires of the Mortal Realms who would serve Nagash's (and their) wills, with Neferata founding her personal kingdom of Neferatia and Mannfredd in Carstinia (though he would go on to despise the place). These initial Vampires served directly under the the newly established Legions of Blood and Legions of Night, but as the Soulblight Vampire empires spread throughout the realms and new vampires were sired, subcultures and new dynasties began to form. All vampires, being very independent by nature, eventually led to branch-off bloodlines forming and going off on their own to establish their own bloodlines and empires. These took many different forms, from kingdoms of the living and dead, to alliances with Wight Kings and Deathrattle kingdoms, or simply as roaming marauders who preyed on the living and dead alike. Nagash and the Mortarchs for the most part paid them little mind unless they conflicted with their own agendas, with these branch-offs eventually becoming the first soulblight dynasties (one of the most prominent being the Vyrkos).

Unfortunately for Nagash, internal rivalries between dynasties and individual Soulblight Vampires began to form, the biggest being the renewed conflicts between Neferata and Mannfred for dominance and Nagash's favour. The two Mortarchs often utilizing the new Dynasties as proxies in their squabbles. Though both had to be more wary, as new generations of Soulblight began to take sights on the two founding vampires and potential ways to claim their positions as Nagash's elite. All vampires in one way or another also looked secretly for ways to free themselves permanently from Nagash's dominion (Mannfred especially), as on some level all the Soulblight realized that their very existence as free-minded individuals was something Nagash ultimately wished to purge from reality, and dreaded the day he decided he no longer needed them.

===Age of Chaos===
During the invasion of Chaos the Soulblight Gravelords did what they could to push back the chaos hordes. At the very beginning atleast they had common cause with the rest of Sigmars Pantheon. The Legion of Blood and Legion of Night were the main spearhead against the chaos hordes. With Neferatas spy network usually staying ahead of enemy movements and Mannfreds clever tactics reaping a heavy toll of the chaos armies. However this momentum began to stall as the various Dynasties and Soulblight empires began to lose cohesion as they could not coordinate properly. As many Vampire lords and Wight Kings would only really listen to Nagash or the Mortarchs, and they couldn't be everywhere at once. Leading to various forces to either fend only for themselves or abandon elsewhere allies.

To make matters worse Nagash decided to abandon Sigmar's forces in trying to control the Allgate to Shyish. A betrayal that cost Sigmar dearly and led him to launch a crusade into Shyish to punish Nagash. Which led to a great deal of calamities to occur; with Sigmar's siege leading to the freeing of Ushoran, Katakros (Nagash greatest general) to be struck down and led to the raizing of countless undead armies and Dynasties. Eventaully Sigmar recalled his forces to partake in the Battle of the Burning Skies that ultimately led to Sigmar abandoning the war to close of Azyr. Unfortuantely this meant that Nagash was alone in facing the full force of Chaos. A vast army spearheaded by Archaon himself eventually besieged Nagashizar itself leading to the defeat of Nagash and the nuking of the Realm of Death capital.

After this event the Mortarchs spearheaded by Arkhan the Black managed to steal back Nagash's remains before he could be destroyed permanently (in additon to stopping an attempted betrayal by Prince Vhordrai of permantly destroying Nagash's remains) and went into hiding so Nagash could recover. Following this any remaining cohesion between the various Soulblight Dynasties collapsed with every Vampire, Wight King and Necromancer essentially out for themselves simply trying to survive the chaos hordes. Ultimately Neferata would go into hiding in her capital in Nualamia and Mannfred would begin a centuries long guerilla war against the chaos invaders as they conquered the realm of Shyish virtually unchallenged. Most other Soulblight forces (such as the Vyrkos) spent the next few centuries hiding and striking at the chaos forces as best they could with most of the underworlds falling to chaos control.

===Age of Sigmar===

With the coming of Sigmar's tempest the various Soulblight Forces used the confusion from the Stormcast Eternals invasion to push back against the Chaos forces where ever they could. In some rare examples Sigmar's forces even attempted to forge alliances with the Soulblight forces where the could, since they shared a common enemy. Prominent examples include The Anvils of the Heldenhammer attempting to aid Neferata's nation of Neferatia as her capital of Nulahmia was being besieged by Slaaneshi chaos forces. Or Manfred making several temporary alliances with the Hallowed Knights stormhost (with one time even assisting them in freeing an old ally who has since become a Stormcast). While fruitful around this time, Nagash had finally recovered from his defeat by Archaon and set about forbidding any of his minions forming alliances with Sigmar; who he openly accused of Soul-theivery (among other imagined slights). Beyond this the forces of death mostly kept to themselves, neither supporting nor antagonizing most new settlers from Azyr. This would change eventually.

====Soul Wars====
Unbenouced to most (in fact even few among the Soulblight themselves), Nagash had over a period of thousands of years been working on enancting a grand ritual that would leave him dominant among all reality. Since the age of Myth Arkhan the Black had been directing vast skelatal legions to bring the gravesand (Shyish realmstone) from the edges of the realm to its center to enact a grand ritual that would alter the effects of magic in the Realm of Shyish to make the center the most infused with magic rather than the edges, in addition this grand ritual would also send out so much death magic throughout the other realms it would instantly kill all living beings and revive them all as undead, rendering Nagash the supreme ruler of all the realms and allow him to finally drive back chaos.

Which would have been great for him except his plans being leaked to the other great powers through prophetic visions leading to his capital being besieged, which Arkhan himself defended against, all of which served as the perfect distraction for a group of skaven to infiltrate his pyramid at the center of the ritual and mess it up. Causing death magic to instead spread throughout the other realms in an event known as the "Necroquake". It didn't wipe out the living as intended, but it did cause mass summoning of undead forces throughout all the realms along with causing magic to become highly unstable (leading to the dawn of endless spells). Legions of Zombies rose instantly, and Nighthaunt legions became more common than ever before. Nagash also mangaed to still harness a substantial amonunt of death magic from the newly created Shyish Nadir at the center of the realm and began his campaign of conquest. The various Soulblight commanders quickly acted to take control of these newly risen forces for both Nagash's and their own ends.

The Soulblight legions themselves were also greatly empowered from the vast increase in death magic throughout the realms, with their armies and power swelling like never before. Using this the various dynasties began encroaching on both rival and living kingdoms as Nagash had officially declared war on Sigmars burgeoning empires. After so long they could finally war and prey upon whoever they so choose, with blood and plunder in abundance as never before, indeed this was a time of death. Nagash even released Prince Vhordrai from his imprisonment to lead the Kastelai dynasty against Sigmar, though bond eternally to his keep. However things wern't all going great for them. The newly formed Nighthaunt legions had quickly taken the Soulbligts place as both shocktroops and terror weapons. And during the course of the soul wars Katakros, Nagsh general from centuries had been released from a Stormvault in one of the campaigns of the war. Now in control of the newly released Ossiarch Bonereapers that had now taken the place as Nagash vanguard elite. The various Soulblight armies soon found themselves regulated to auxiliary allies and garrisons in Nagash's overall campaign against the living. Worse still the Ossairchs vary existence as free-thinking individuals that were also completely loyal to Nagash created a existential fear in the Vampires especially (were they allies or replacements?).

This all eventually culminated with Nagash finally overreaching and attempting to plunge multiple realms into the Shyish Nadir by corrupting several realmgates leading to it. Manfred and Neferata played along though neither truly was committed to the task (Mannfred even intending for his attempt to fail). This caused Teclis and his Lumineth legions to directly confront Nagash leading to a major war that led to the devestation of the Ossiarch Legions and Nagash personally being cast down by Teclis who had lured him into a trap in Hysh were he was set upon by Teclis, Celenar and the armies of Settlers Gain. His body was shattered and banished to Shyish. And though exhausted Teclis wove a grand spell that finally ended the Necroquake and the rampant death magic thorughout the realms. The Soul Wars had ended.

====Era of the Beast====
With the dawning of the Era of the Beast from the return of [[Kragnos]] and the forces of Destruction on the ascendant, the Soulblight lords acutally had a cause for celebration. Though the death magics of the Necroquake had ended it did have some benefits for them. Without the rampant magics of Nagash's ritual, the Nighthaunt Processions were greatly weakened as Nighthaunt require large amounts of Amethyst magic to maintain their forms, and thus more restricted on targets they can assault, slowing their advances. The Ossiarch legions were greatly depleted in the wars against Chaos worshippers and the Lumineth Realm-lords. And since the Flesh-Eater Courts were less organized, the Soulblight Gravelords now were on the rise once again in Shyish and beyond. Even better, Nagash was once again crippled and regenerating, meaning he wasn't directly overseeing their actions. The vampires who didn't want Nagash's oversight mockingly gave praise and toasts to Teclis for getting him out of their hair (if only temporarily).

The various Soulblight dynasties seek to keep up the momentum they had during the Soul Wars and continue the growth of their empires; the rise in Ghyrish beast magic that is spreading throughout the realms from Kragnos return and Alarielle's Rite of Life has impeded this somewhat. The beast magic caused many vampires to become feral and monstrous (some who took the brunt of the Ghurish magic even mutating into savage monsters), and threatening to erode the control they desperately seek to maintain. This a major issue for many vampires as if they cannot control these urges they risk devolving into Vargiests or worse. The Avengorii Dynasty in particular was hit very hard by this malignancy, as many of its members are already Vargiests or Vengorian lords and teetering on the brink of outright savagery. Now their Matriarch Lauka Vai is trying the best she can to keep them in line, and not turning on themselves. These efforts are woven from practicality; [[Grimdark|she doesn't want to become a complete and utter monster only living for the sweet taste of flesh]].

With Nagash's perishable absence, Arkhan disappeared along with Katakros and Olynder indifference to their politics, the various Soulblight armies have lost all internal cohesion. With every Lord and dynasty all vying for territory and power. Even Mannfred and Neferata have renewed their power struggle with each other and are the verge of full-out war. And Prince Vhordrai is again contemplating making another attempt to free himself from Nagash's curse, along with many wiser vampires using this opportunity to again look for ways to free themselves from Nagash permanently.