Abhorash

This article is awesome. Do not fuck it up.

You wish you were this badass.

"The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art."

– Helen DeWitt

"Only one who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible."

– Miguel de Unamuno scholar of the works of estalian warrior poet Miguel de Cervantes.

Abhorash (AKA: The gigachad of fantasy himself) is fucking awesome. One of the most badass of Vampire Counts characters; debatably the most badass since Ushoran and Vlad von Carstein who are also strong contenders. He is everything awesome about the faction distilled into one guy. The only vampire that didnt bow to Nagash, A hero older than Sigmar & Gilles le Breton "who might be an imitator of him", even Khorne sees this guy and his exploits, and he sheds a single, manly tear and yells; That is my son! and commands his Khornate followers to be like him. Read on, friends.

The Legend

Abhorash was once the champion of the king of Lahmia and a man who held honor above all. Though uninterested in eternal life, he joined king Lamashizzar's necromancer cabal regardless. When they caught Neferata double-dealing them with Arkhan, Neferata got Lamashizzar's cabal to side with her with a show of her abilities and playing on their desires (of which she was informed by Arkhan). Even Abhorash was swayed when Neferata appealed to his greatest desire, which was perfection in martial prowess (one of the reasons Abhorash became the king's champion) and despite his anger, he joined Neferata.

It was Abhorash who executed Arkhan the Black (his first actual death) after he assassinated Lamashizzar with his own dragon staff (cathay gun). Being the noble warrior he is, Abhorash wanted Arkhan cremated, but Neferata and Ankhat disagreed, secretly burying Arkhan's body in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia. Abhorash was presented when Neferata was negotiating with the Cathayan ambassador Prince Xian Ha Feng. When the prince's retainers and were having an outburst over Neferata's unreasonable refusal over their demands, Abhorash being the boss pointed his blade tip at a bureaucrats that was about to raise his fist at Neferata. When Neferata dueled Khalida, beforehand Abhorash recommended a bronze sword over a metal sword due to its superior speed and her own vampiric strength.

When it came to vampirisim, despite joining the cabal Abhorash's noble morality meant he had to be tricked into drinking the Elixir of Damnation by Queen Neferata. As a vampire, he initially refused to feed upon his own people - instead choosing to violently fight his own fury, until his thirst grew so great that he slaughtered a dozen people in a single-night orgy of violence. When he realized what he did, Abhorash shed manly tears for the fallen he had killed to save himself. He left the city to prey only on bandits and great warriors - not the people of his homeland, nor the people of the homelands of Lahmia's neighbors. Before he left, he attempted to convince his fellow vampires to do the same, since he worried that if they did not, it would turn the citizenry and the neighboring kingdoms against them. But they disregarded him, and after Abhorash left they assumed he sought death, but would return when he realized how invulnerable he was.

But Abhorash's warning to not prey on local or foreign civilians might as well have been a prophecy, because they didn't listen and guess what the fuck happened.

The evidence of Lahmia's vampiric corruption was found by Alcadizzar and a large coalition army was formed to siege Lahmia. Abhorash, despite his opposition to what the court had caused, arrived just in time to save the vampires' asses. He led from the front, wielding only two Khopeshes and wearing nothing but ragged clothing. He single-handed slew hundreds, and even PARRIED HUNDREDS OF ARROWS FLYING STRAIGHT AT HIM LIKE SOME KIND OF ULTIMATE BEING. He and four brave warriors held the line so the other vampires could retreat, Abhorash going on to turn them into vampires as well. But, as powerful and peerless as he was, he couldn't be everywhere at once and Lahmia was destroyed. He gave a great cry of pain and rage as the royal palace collapsed.

As the Vampires fled Lahmia, Abhorash vilified them for their arrogance and provoking the other nations to sack Lahmia. Abhorash took nothing but his weapons and armor into exile and was accompanied only by his four closest Vampire retainers. Like the other vampires, he was cursed by Nagash for the failure of the vampires to defend him to be weak to the sun, be unable to swim across running water, having no reflection, and whatever other random shit came to mind. Abhorash taught his followers that skill-at-arms and honor in combat were the only measures of greatness, and that they would feed, from this point on, only on the blood of skilled fighters or dangerous creatures, as only the unworthy fed upon the weak. They then traveled, seeking worthy foes to vanquish. As he wandered, he gained a few followers such as Lutr, Walak and Varison the Blade. They were all turned to Vampires and adopted his creed of skill-at-arms and only feeding on the strong or wicked.

In the siege of Magritta Abhorash slew W'soran who was then known in the southern realms as Nourgul the Wamphyro inside the Temple of Myrmidia of Magritta in Estalia. He and some of his companions were disguised as members of the long-forgotten order of the Myrmidons. How W'soran managed to survive, and why he attacked the south of the Old World and Araby under the name of one of his old mates remains a mystery.

Currently Nourgul the Wamphyro was the name used by Arabyans, Estalians, and Tileans for W'soran while in "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Night's Dark Masters", Nourgul is described as an entirely different Vampire who was an ally of Nagash and W'soran. This could be intentional as W'soran seems to be able to possess other individuals' bodies.

Later Abhorash came upon the lair of a great dragon, and, against all advice, entered it, engaging the beast in battle by himself. After days of battle, Abhorash was triumphant, and drank deeply from the dragon's blood. To his surprise, it cured his vampiric thirst - he maintained his Vampiric form and power, but had no need to drink blood any further. He threw the dragon's corpse down from the mountain and exulted in being free from his bloodthirst. Abhorash told his followers that his search had ended: He found his answer. He commanded his followers to go into the world and master the arts of combat, and seek the blood of the strongest of foes, so they too, might overcome their thirst (because that was his creed, and while the cure itself was dragon blood, they needed to be hardcore to be able to kill a dragon in the first place). When they had all succeeded, then, and only then, would Abhorash call them back to him - and only then would their real war begin.

This gentlemen, is how you Lawful Evil, or possibly Lawful Neutral, as his exact goals beyond becoming the greatest warrior are left vague. The mere fact that he at least tried to be decent places him above pretty much every single Vampire except possibly Vlad and Ushoran. One has to wonder, how a fight between Abhorash and Gotrek Motherfucking Gurnisson would have ended.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, it seems that the end of the World could not stop the most Badass vampire that ever lived. In the novel "Neferata: Mortarch of Blood" Neferata manages to convince an old vampire in a mountain that goes by the name "Blood Dragon" to train her army, we all know who this person is and given the tendency of AoS to bring back characters from the old World is not surprising that he is back, also Nagash would be an absolute idiot to bring back Mannfred but not the most powerful vampire that ever lived. Then again, Abhorash was not exactly inclined to bend the knee to a usurper and schemer like Nagash, God of Death or not. That, and since it was never confirmed that Abhorash fell in the End Times, he could've pulled a Gotrek and somehow made it to the Mortal Realms on his own, possibly alongside his bro-for-life Gilles le Breton.

On the Tabletop

It is notable that the Blood Dragons, who are Vampiric Knights, field-able as a Rare option for the Vampire Counts, are arguably the fucking strongest CQC unit in Warhammer Fantasy. This is a universe where acid-puking trolls, giant dinosaur-men and literal war daemons exist. Be afraid. Be very fucking afraid. With high initiative, S7 on the charge standard, frenzy, 2+ armor and good weapon skill these guys are a big-ass hammer waiting to be used.

Sadly the very complex and badass Blood Knight models are $99 for a mere five models. Chances are good if you're using them, you're using as many as possible so you'll need 5+ models. Solution? Either nut up and slay the strongest motherfucker on your street to feast upon his blood so you can throw your food money at Games Workshop, or buy Bretonnian Knights at $35 for 8 and use up your leftover bitz from the rest of your Vampire Counts on them. A good compromise you can buy 5 Dragon Princes for $35, which look very similar to the Blood Knights.

With the recent anouncement of the Soulblight Gravelords, A.K.A Vampire Counts 2.0, it was revealed a new pack of Blood Knights, (giving further evidence that Abhorash is back in some form), with gorgeous new models IN PLASTIC, goodbye failcast.