Alcadizzar

The only picture of the last and greatest king of Khemri and Nehekhara. Sporting a mighty trumpet helmet forged by the Dwarfs.

Alcadizzar, also known as Alcadizaar the Conqueror, was a ruler of Nehekhara as well as a priest king of Khemri. He was well known for being the last priest king of Khemri, killed Nagash, being the greatest king on par with Settra, as well as doomed the entirely of Nehekhara (more on that later). Although fluff texts from the 8th edition of both vampire and tomb kings details little about Alcadizzar's personal life nor on how he achieved victory, it was completely fleshed out in the novel "Nagash Immortal" of the Time of Legend series.

In the older fluff, it stated that Alcadizzar conquered Lahmia after he slew Vashanesh (aka Vlad) whereas in the later retcon, Vashanesh was changed to Ankhat and he is but a noble attendant to Neferata instead of being her husband as well as being Nagash's distant relative and a general in black fire pass. Not much about his upbringing was known nor fleshed out however.

In the novel, he was born to a Rasetran royal bloodline, is a distant descendant of Settra, lived for over 200 years with the power of Neferata's elixir and had a strong relationship with the desert tribes.

Also his name for some reasons was refered to as Alcadizaar sometimes with an extra A instead of Z.

Commonly known facts about Alcadizzar

-He was named the Conqueror after the war against Lahmia.

-He was the greatest king of Nehekhara since Settra and Nehekhara's last living king.

-Under his leadership, his army defeated Nagash's invasion force and routed them.

-He wept on his throne for not being able to save his people from Nagash's plague.

-He slew Nagash with the Fellblade.

-He went mad afterwards and took Nagash's crown with him where the shaman named Kadon found it along with his corpse.

Background

This article contains spoilers! You have been warned.

After Neferata has became a vampire and triumphed over her own cousin Khalida in a duel, she was viewed as Asaph's reincarnation by the public. Under W'soran's suggestion, she created her own cult of personality for PR and to harvest blood safely. The cult's influence attracted many Nehekharans to Lahmia. Since the Nehekharans no longer had any direct blessing from their gods due to Nagash breaking the ancient covenant, having a temple and an incarnation of their gods was a comforting tradition.

The Queen of Rasetra (who was never given a name) was one of the Nehekharans who traveled to the temple, hoping she could get help there to overcome her difficult pregnancy. Since Neferata gave Khemri to the Rasetran King Khept-am-shepret (due to him being descended from one of Settra's sons) over two centuries ago, this meant if the child of her and the current Rasetran King - Aten-Heru - was a boy, he would inherit the throne of Khemri... if only he survived the pregnancy.

The death of Khalida had Neferata realize she'd been living in a cage her entire life (Being trapped inside the female palace ever since she was born and all). Being an immortal blood drinker was no different, as she had to hide her vampiric nature and activities from the public or they'd purge her and everything she'd built on Nagash's works.

When she suddenly told her vampire cabal she'd save the queen's child, everyone was stunned. Her plan was giving the queen a vial of elixir distilled from her own blood, not only saving the child, but also letting other great city knew the greatness of Nefereta's miracle that is totally unlike Nagash's dark magic. By using her fame and some tax deductions, she also decided to open an academy in Lahmia for the priest kings' children (think of it as junior Harvard or Yale in Egypt) and have them stay there (aka kept as political hostages) until adulthood. The cabal saw through her bullshit and knew the whole plan was but an excuse for Neferata to find a replacement for Khalida as her life partner and openly rule the entirely of Nekhehara for eternity.

The queen's child shall be known as Alcadizzar.

Rise of a Gigachad

After Alcadizzar was born, he was immediately placed in Neferata's care with the former Viziar Ubaid (Neferata’s chief vampire thrall, unknown to Alcadizzar) acting as his servant. His mother died giving birth to him, removing that family tie, and Alcadizzar's father was unable to see him until he completed his training, according to Neferata.

He received the best education a Nehekharan prince could get and, due to the elixir's effect, grew into a man of incredible height, musculature and tactical intellect even for his age (think of him as the warhammer's equivalent of Jonathan Joestar). He beat four armored instructors in a mock battle using only a rope and his fists. His tactical skills were sharpened by games with a wise war veteran called Jabbari, developing Alcadizzar's wit and helping him learn from his mistakes.

Despite the greatness he had shown, Alcadizzar was not permitted to graduate or leave his training (or Neferata) by age 18, which upset him when he saw others being allowed to graduate but not him. He had a dream of enjoying a good life in a mansion with a family of his own while ruling a kingdom, yet his graduation was held back year after year. Little did poor Alcadizzar know that it was all part of Neferata's wife husbandry plan for him.

By the time Alcadizzar was 30 years old (at -1320 Imperial Reckoning), his uncle Khenti, a powerful yet pissed off Rasetra noble came to Lahmia and demanded Neferata to hand over Alcadizzar. Upon reunion, Alcadizzar greeted his uncle joyfully; even Kenti's dour bodyguards were moved by the prince's chadness for Alcadizzar treated them as his equals just like everyone he has met, without discrimination nor any of the polite social arts and royal manners bullcrap that were drilled into Alcadizzar, and that attitude got him a crowd of admirers.

Neferata was unable to grasp his behaviors as well as reasons for his warm greeting despite being a vampire who specialized in reading people's hearts. The salty bitch in fact looked down on Alcadizzar's action as "degrading and mysterious". After, Neferata gave a short lesson on how Alcadizzar's ancestry leading to Settra's disgraced fifth son Amenophis, she suggested to him to take another DECADES of training session at her temple of blood to truly unite Lahmia and Khemri in spirit (just as the sacred treaty demands on how the king of Khemri and the priestess of Lahmia should wed), and had Alcadizzar decide if he wanted to follow this insane suggestion or go rule Khemri just as he always wanted. It was all up to him.

Despite Khenti's attempts to persuade him to leave while being clueless to the schemes Neferata has cooked up in her sleeves, Alcadizzar naively accepted her training course, for he believed it is ultimately for the good of Khemri and it should survive another decade without him. And so 25 years later, Alcadizzar became the high priest of the blood temple and has been doing nothing but unknowingly drinking Neferata's elixir and playing with live snakes to show the fake Asaph aka Neferata his devotion.

Due to the elixir's effect, Alcadizzar appeared young despite being 55 years old and yet he was still preparing to be a king and he had so many things he wished to implement in Khemri, his very own city. Neferata told him to not worry however, for she will grant him as many year as he needed to make Khemri and Nehekhara great again.

While strolling at the garden of the temple's inner sanctum, Naaima (Neferata's cathayan courtsan vampire friend) appeared out of blue and delivered a dreadful message for Alcadizzar. His father, the king of Rasetra whom he never met has died (for 55 fucking years, seriously). Rasetra was now ruled by his younger brother Asar, who was begging Alcadizzar to come back and attend his father's funeral. Ironically, Alcadizzar didn't seem to know how to react since he never personally knew his dad, just like his mother who had died after his birth, and was therefore unable to feel a shred of saddness. Angered by Naaima's clam jam, Neferata told him to go pray to the snek goddess for his father's passing. Alcadizzar remained clueless to the scheme Neferata had for him.

5 years later Alcadizzar finally faced his last trial. He had to prove his utmost sacrifice and devotion to "Asaph" (aka Neferata), by surviving 7 days and 7 nights without water and food while being tormented with lashes. Kinda similar to the buddhist six cleansings but with more bdsm play and Neferata had probably copied the training doctrine from either the Cathayan or the Inds (being a Lahmian, the Nehekharan weeaboo, this seems fitting). Thanks to the elixir's power as well as his own strong will, Alcadizzar survived these painful and inhumane trials. On the last part, Alcadizzar needed to survive a dagger to the heart, and he did (plot armor and all) but lost his consciousness.

When he woke up however, he found Neferata without her mask on, showing her true vampiric nature in a frightening display (take note Twilight). For the first time in his life, Alcadizzar was scared and realized he had been tricked by an abomination created by Nagash. Using her unnatural strength, Neferata forced Alcadizzar to drink up the final elixir that would turn him into a vampire. But Ubaid saved him by furiously attacking Neferata before the transformation could occur, telling Alcadizzar to run.

Despite being a vampire and under Neffy's control for some time, Ubaid was always moved by Alcadizzar's charisma even when he was young (which allowed him to break away from Neffy's control fo a while), especially just seconds ago when Alcadizzar had criticized Neferata for not putting the poor Ubaid to rest and claiming he should have joined his ancestors long ago.

With Ubaid's sacrifice, Alcadizzar escaped. Neferata was so furious she not only tore Ubaid apart with her fangs like a crazed beast, she also swore vengeance and that she would do everything in her power to find Alcadizzar, even if it meant turning her city into a roach hotel.

Lonesome Road

Using the training and knowledge he acquired from the academy as well as the power of elixir, Alcadizzar escaped the palace guards and hid in the commoner quarter like a main character in a stealth game. He knew he had to survive so he could get to Rasetra and warn everyone about the vampires in Lahmia. For eight months, Alcadizzar took Ubaid's name as an alias while living the thug life for the first free period of his life (not because he chose it, but it chose him).

He stole, got drunk and even killed (albeit a member of a group of sailors who tried to press gang him into joining them). He even worked in a brothel in the infamous red light silk district as hired muscle for security. At one point he worked with a gang of jewel thieves whom were planning to rob an old wealthy family, only to ended in betrayal and blood in one night. Alcadizzar also knew his first love and had his first kiss stolen during this time. When his appearance was finally different enough from Neferata's description of him, he escaped Lahmia without having the guards recognize him. But worse was to come.

He tried to hitch a ride on the caravans in order to avoid the outlaws and bandits on the golden plain, but the master and the guards refused, fearing he might be a spy for the caravan raiders. For the next few months as he struggled his way across the plain, forced to fight for his life on more than one occasion, but his training and the lasting potency of Neferata’s elixir saw him through. He eventually reached Lybaras, greatly diminished due to Neferata's political actions, and hoped to share his information with the king, but was met with refusal as even his vizier refused to answer him.

A full year and a half has passed after he escaped Lahmia when he finally made it to Rasetra. He united with his uncle Khenti, by now an elderly man, and helped arrange a secret meeting between Alcadizzar and his brother Asar. Despite the horrifying tale Alcadizzar told, his brother demanded proof before any action could be taken.

This was because to war with Lahmia and win would require a coalition army of the great cities, something unfeasible for many reasons. Firstly, wars cost a lot of manpower and gold, which are still scarce thanks to Nagash's regime. Neferata took up where Nagash left off by manipulating the great cities into bickering among themselves, weakening them so that none were able to stand up against Lahmia directly. Even Rasetra, which had clawed its way back from the brink of ruin and rebuilt its powerful army, still lacked the resources for a protracted war against the Lahmians. And though many of the great cities now possessed iron weapons and armour that were the equal of Lahmia’s, none of them had a counter for the fearsome dragon staffs they wielded (and were unaware the staffs didn't work anymore thanks to the Lahmians' bluff). Other than that, there was too much ambition and too little trust among the other cities to make such an alliance possible. Of the great cities, only three were strong enough to present themselves as possible rivals to Lahmia’s power: Rasetra, Zandri and Ka-Sabar, but none were willing to take the first step and risk standing alone in the face of Lahmian reprisal. Evidence of Nagash's dark arts were needed to persuade the rival kings to put aside their ambitions and come together in a common cause against Lahmia.

Knowing how well Lahmia guarded their vampiric secret and the lethality of her vampire agents, Alcadizzar has to risk himself to get the proof. With some supplies from his uncle and some planning, Alcadizzar once again ventured into the lawless desert, alone.

Alcadizzar Muad'Dib Ubaid

Realizing the capability of the desert tribe's (otherwise known as the fallen Bhagarian, whom were defeated and enslaved by Arkhan's forces during Nagash's reign) skill at archery and horse riding, Alcadizzar decided to befriend them to survive and gain a powerful ally against the Lahmians. It was no easy task however, since the tribe at the time were secretive and clannish, making it really hard to earn their trust. Alcadizzar eventually made some progress by befriended one of its young chieftain named Faisr al-Hashim, of the bani-al-Hashim after he saved him from a caravan raid gone bad.

As a reward for saving his life, Faisr adopted Alcadizzar into his tribe for 20 years (a crucial custom for any outsiders to join their tribe) where during that time, Alcadizzar being the badass he is saved Faisr's dirty arse three times and killed fitty men (literalry). During a tribal gathering, many chieftains from other tribes called out Alcadizzar for being an outsider or worse, a Lahmian spy. That is until an old woman with blue within blue leonine yellow eye advocated for him and allowed Alcadizzar to become part of their tribe.

This old woman was named Suleima, a Reverend Mother Daughter of the Sands, the bride of Khsar as well as his chosen, whom has the highest authority among the tribe. Her kind was born once in every generation and they have the power Truthsaying to see a man's future through their soul. Suleima was always accompanied by her successor Ophiria, a young girl of 14 year old who shared the same leonine yellow eye and Alcadizzar had already notice Ophiria's gaze towards him beforehand, meaning they already knew about Alcadizzar's plan.

25 years later, Alcadizzar led his raiders to raid a Lahmian watch-fort. He was dismayed by the decline of the Lahmian military, whose soldiers are lacking leadership and were willing to surrendered their fully secured fort with many garrisoned soldiers without a fight, which would be considered unacceptable 40 years ago.

After that, Alcadizzar and the raiders were greeted with Suleima's passing. Alcadizzar spent the entire afternoon at his tent after Suleima's funeral, being irritating about the amount of duties he has to accomplish and the years he has to sacrificed before he could retired to the life he has always dreamed of. Just then, Ophiria, now a 39 years old woman barged into his tent. In one conversation, Alcadizzar told her everything (being truthful with her since she can read people's minds). However for Ophiria, being a daughter of the sand, she saw far more than just Alcadizzar's identity, but his future as well and knew he is going to be a king of Khemri. Ophiria then began a to express her sorrow about her people being oathbreakers, who had broken the ancient promise they had made with their god Khsar and Settra after their shameful display during the war with Nagash and are now being punished for it. She hopes Alcadizzar, as the future king of Nehekhara could forgive their sin by remade a new sacred oath with them. Without any delay, Alcadizzar sworn a new blood oath by holding Ophiria's hand with his bloodied one. As a reward, Ophiria told him of a prophecy that would led to his goal...

40 years later, Alcadizzar prepared an ambush at the north of Lahmia to finally obtain the proof of dark art he was so eager to obtain. Another sign from Ophiria's prophecy was a frigging twin-tailed comet on the sky. To many scholar and any warhammer races, it is the harbingers of conflict (as well as other important symbolism like the birth of great ruler, hope or Tzeentch's meddling). A group of six men in black cloak on steed was passing by at that point and the desert raiders made short work of them with their arrows.

Hilariously, this group was lead by Zurhas to act as envoy in order to form an alliance with Nagash at Nagashizzar. Around that time, W'soran had discovered Nagash's location being north of Lahmia, which gave Ushoran an idea to allied themselves with the undying king in order take over Lahmia, as well as the rest of Nehekhara. In order to allow himself to not be suspect by Neferata and her underling, he met Zurhas (who was but a phantom member of the cabal that had spent his immortality on gambling) and manipulate the lowlife into doing his dirty work for him. Since traveling on sea was too noticeable, Zhuras had to travel overland north with a few companion (whose job is to help him find shelters to prevent him burning under the sun). Ushoran even thought about getting rid of Zurhas after he had rid of Neferata and the Nehekharans, and he is definitely going to be disappointed since his action might've doomed himself as well as the entirely of Lahmia.

As soon as every black cloaks were shot down, Zurhas shown himself as a pale clawed monster under the comet's light. Zurhas had killed six raiders that was charging at him with swords (not a single spear were used. Do they play Total War: WARHAMMER at all?) and tried to run away, but Alcadizzar and his horseman managed to stall him long enough for Faisr to stake the vampire with a barbed javelin in the heart. In the most glorious or perhaps the most iconic moment of his life, Alcadizzar confessed everything to Faisr under the comet's light.

Oh and turns out Zurhas had a lot evidence. The scrolls and letters he bought contained information about the vampires in Lahmia and Nagash's still alive, walking and kicking in the northern part of Lahmia.

The Siege of Lahmia & Alcadizzar's enthronement

Six month after the evidence and Alcadizzar's personnel letter being delivered to Rasetra, a coalition army of the great cities was formed on the great plain within a week. Each great city bought their flavors of army:

From Rasetra, its army, lead by Prince Heru (Asar's heir), brought ten thousand heavy infantry, plus two thousand cold one chariots.

From Lybaras, its army lead by King Ahmenefret, brought mostly artillery managed by their scholar warrior. Their artillery were a dozen huge catapults, eight ballistae and four armoured fire-throwers, all were transported on a train pulled by teams of oxens.

From the desert tribes, its army lead by the newly elected leader Fasir (who had won the competition to get the role), brought eight thousand of the finest light cavalry in the land, clad in burnished armour and billowing silk robes.

From Mahrak, its army's commander were not specified, but they brought five thousand priestly warriors. These head shaved warrior priest are called the Hurusanni, or Devoted, patterned their weapons and training on the legendary Ushabti of ancient times. They are known to pray and meditate while traveling, are fanatical and desires nothing but the destruction of Lahmia's abominations, as well as anything created by Nagash's dark magic.

From Quatar, its army lead by king Nebunefre, the Lord of the Tombs, brought five thousand of their fabled Tomb Guard of Quatar. They are heavy infantry who march in silence, wears lacquered armour that glimmer in the moonlight (which makes them look like white ghostly figures from a far) and their helms were fashioned in the shape of jackals’ heads, the sacred visage of Djaf, god of the dead.

From Numas, its army lead by Queen Omorose, brought ten thousand proud Numasi cavalry, whose horse were famously known breed among the Nehekharans. Their larger size horse tend to picking on and bickering with the much smaller horse breed ridden by the desert tribe riders, whom were marching side by side.

From Zandri, its army lead by King Rakh-an-atum, brought two thousand archers, four thousand spearmen and another five thousand Northlander mercenaries.

From Ka-Sabar, its army lead by Aten-sefu, brought their famed Iron Legion; fifteen thousand heavily-armoured spearmen and four thousand archers, who march in thunders of heavy kettledrums.

Then finally from Khemri, its army lead by none other than the hero of this article: Alcadizzar! Khemri has been managed by generations of viziers over the last four hundred years and yet, it's still looking like Rasetra in is colony state (all thanks to the interventions from Numas and Zandri, but mostly Nagash), meaning it has a small army. They however making up for their lack of military strength by throwing the fanciest and the most expensive parade. Two hundred chariots, each one manned by the lord of one of Khemri’s noble houses. The noble lords and their retainers were not armed and armoured for war, but instead were clad in their finest feast garments, tossing handfuls of coins to the dumbfounded soldiers, laughing and chanting “Alcadizzar! Alcadizzar!” at the top of their lungs. Six thousand infantry in total were sighted. From spearmans to javelin-wielding light infantry, clad in pristine white tunics and polished leather armour, plus another two thousand slave auxiliaries armed with slings and short swords. Despite its small size, the soldiers marched with their head held high and proud, cheering Alcadizzar’s name.

Alcadizzar too finally making his debut at Khemri as its official ruler. Despite Fasir had already forgiven Alcadizzar for keeping his real name a secret and using his tribesman as his tool for his own gains, its act had already created a rift between the two that could never heal. Still Alcadizzar, no longer using Ubaid as his alias, treat the Fasir and his desert tribe like his own family, even wanting to marry one of its members as his queen. Tradition required him to marry a Lahmian, but the city's corruption and the impending war was more than enough reason to cancel that.

Neferata called every vampire she knew to fight the invaders. W'soran was freed from his imprisonment and given Nagash's book to stall the Nehekharans with summoned zombie fodder. Ushoran and Ankhat were on the frontline where they inhumanly tore apart the Nehekharans with their supernatural strength. Neferata too was on the field with her vampire handmaiden who has the power of seduction to manipulate the Nekeharans, as well as their usual inhuman strength and agility to kill and chase down even cavalry. Despite fighting such monstrosities and lost many man, the Nehekharans pressed on with Alcadizzar leading them with great courage.

While Ushoran was enjoying bathing in Nehekharans blood, the swift horse archers of the desert tribe shot him with arrows embedded with asphalt clay flask. The arrows were specifically shot at the lord of the mask's places like feet that it rendered him immobilized, and some are even shot dangerously close to his heart. Once Ushoran was soak in flammable liquid and unable to move, the horseman lit him on fire.

Ankhat easily slaughtered a company of Northlander barbarians as well as many Nehekharans spearman through the use of his fabulous display of swordsmanship combine with his inhumane vampiric power. Despite doing so well, the warriors he was put in charge of commanding it were inexperienced, weak, and were easily routed by the overwhelming Nehekharans forces.

W'soran has been doing well stalling the Nehekharans with zombie summons. Just as he was about to find a spell from his book to attack the newly reinforced Nehekharans, the tower he resides was hit by catapult shots, forcing him to run in terror (so much for a vampire's fearless mentality), cancelled out his ritual and putting all the zombies to rest.

It fell to Neferata and her vamprie handmaidens being the only threatening thing left in the Lahmian force. Their seduction power worked on anyone that looked them in the eye. Calvaries and elite infantries alike were easily controlled and were dealt with by the handmaidens' claws. Still, the handmaidens were reckless enough to get trampled by chariots and stroke down by dozens of arrow shot from the desert tribe archer. Neferata was able to slaughter the most elite warriors of Khemri forces, even the fanatical Mahrak warriors (whom were not immune to her seduction despite being so fanatical), pushed so far into the Nehekharans' army and reached out to Alcadizzar. Alcadizzar, depsite with great strength and will was unable to stood against Neferata's inhuman strength and her vampire mind trick. Between the two, Neferata tried to convince Alcadizzar to come back to her but was met with his strong refusal instead. Neferata then answered his rejection with a furious claw strike, knocking him down. Just as she was about to suck his blood (to have him "give back" all the "gift" she had given him), Alcadizzar struck her heart with a hidden dagger, and thus defeated her.

As soon as Neferata was defeated, Ankhat desperately ordered every military personnel to rescue her ass before she is captured. Just as the Nehekharan forces is about to swarm Neferata, Abhorash appeared in time, slaughtered many Nehekharans and allowed the vampires to escape. After that, the Nehekharans began sacking Lahmia. For seven days and seven nights, every bit of Lahmia was looted then razed to the bone and its citizens enslaved. Despite the glorious treasury the Nehekharans looted and happily celebrated over it, Alcadizzar's dismay however. Not a single vampire were found and captured nor were the books of Nagash was found (W'soran took it with him to Nagashizzar). To Alcadizzar, this battle is a total loss.

Also there were mentioning of constructs according to the rulebook, but were not mentioned in the novel. And if it were, it could kick a huge amount of vampire asses to the point of resulting the battle into a one sided slaughter.

The King of Khemri

Finally 37 years later, Alcadizzar began to rule Khemri as well as the entirely of Nehekhara. Under his reign, every great cities return wealthy (since they no longer have Lahmian fucking with them on trades and taxes every year) and peace were restored. However, all the wealth he has accumulated were spent on military and defenses for the eventual return of Nagash. He also wed a girl who shared the same name as the Lybaras Queen Khalida 37 years ago, who just so happend to be Ophiria's niece and is now somewhat 67 years-ish old, ruling Khemri with him as a wise queen. They bore two sons together, named Asar and Ubaid (once again, Alcadizzar named after his former servant and his brother).

Although he is now king, he still couldn't catch a break as he had to work his ass off at every single moment in order to ensure the prosperity of Nehekhara. At one time, he had to travel to Numas to oversee the problem with their parched grain field. By the time he had returned, he needs to worry about the planned trade negotiations. 5 years ago, Zandri just had to be a fucking dick and wage war against Khemri. After getting their asses kicked, the Zandri king and all of their nobles fucked off to the southern region of the old world (probably soon to be southern realm, Tilea or Border Princes) and leaving all his citizens starving. Alcadizzar had to care the city for some times without spending time with his family at Khemri. Despite his elixir enhanced body, Alcadizzar was beyond stressful and was made worse by the pain coming from his irreparable broken rib done by Neferata.

Interestingly, one of his explorer named Rahotep he had sent north had an encountered with annu-horesh (also known as the Dwarfs) whom at that time were ruled by Morgrim Blackbeard (by the time the explorer had came back, the year was -1163 Imperial Reckoning and Blackbeard was known for started a troll war at -1245). The Dwarves had treated Rahotep with respect and hospitality for the entire winter, even promised a chance of trading and friendship. To show their respect, they gifted Alcadizzar with mastercrafted armor and a huge two-handed khopesh, golden, enchanted with magic, warm like the sun which could hurt dark foes and were quite lightweight, all the while it was made out of iron (note that it was not even enchanted with runes like Sigmar's hammer (a weapon meant to be forged for a Dwarf King and was master-crafted when comparing to what Alcadizzar was gifted with)).

Other than the Dwarven crafts, Rahotep also bought knowledge about magic from the north (whether he received them from some old world shaman, northlander or Elves is unknown) which Alcadizzar had use its knowledge and founded sorcerer’s collegium in Khemri in order for their kins to master its power (without the help of some arrogant pointy ears too. Take that Empire!). The rest of great cities too will follow Alcadizzar and began learning magic in order to cope without their gods' blessing (also so they could show off their superiority like every Nehekharan rulers would do). Notably, Ka-Sabar has began using its knowledge to create a small amount of enchanted gears every year. Mahrak was quite butthurt about all of this. Its Hieratic Council had suspected Alcadizzar had decided to abandoned their faith for some heretical power and thus refused to cooperate with the rest.

Despite Morgrim Blackbeard had sent his warmest invitation to the Nehekharan king, welcome him to their hold and discuss relations between their kingdoms, Alcadizzar had to object for Nagash has to be dealt with first.

Nagash's Second Invasion (also known as the war of three stooges)

Due to the founding of sorcerer’s collegium, there were wizards employed in each great city but Mahrak for obvious reasons. They act as telephone by telepathically sending their local ruler's messages to Alcadizzar without wasting any time with envoys. With Nagash's invasion forces were sighted, they proved vital in quickly sending orders and reports, but it was still a monumental effort that took its toll on Alcadizzar with him overthinking and second-guessing his plans often. But it ultimately paid off, as it made the Nehekharans one step ahead of Nagash's forces, and they prepared for them with siege defenses and armies.

Due to the position of Nagashizzar just north of Lahmia across the sour sea, Nagash's ten armies led by Arkhan and W'soran took over the ruins of Lahmia as soon as they arrived. In response, the closest armies from Lybaras and Rasetra formed a vanguard to challenge them. Thanks to their enchanted weaponry and magic, the Nehekharans gave W'soran and his army a very hard time. But despite putting up a very good fight, the undead legion won through sheer numbers and replenishing its losses with dead Nehekharans. Realizing the Nehekharans were too well prepared, Arkhan sent one third of the army to siege Lybaras and Rasetra to prevent them from reinforcing western Nehekhara.

Mahrak was the next target for the undead legion. The news of Lybaras and Rasetra armies' defeat had reach Mahrak and its fanatical warriors were prepared to defend the city to the death. Without the use of gods' blessing nor Alcadizzar's magic improvements, all Mahrak had was fanatical white robe warriors, basic archers and shield infantry. Although Neferata's ancient policy has allowed Mahrak to recovered themselves, restoring their walls and army to full strength, it is but a easy picking for Arkhan, who proceeds to devastate the defenders with hordes of skeleton warriors, arrow rain from skeleton archers, bone giants and catapult that batters the wall, tomb scorpions and scarab constructs that are able to crawl over walls, and his own dark magic.

Although the Mahrakan warriors' faith made themselves unbreakable, most of them had no ways to deal with the constructs, the bone giants, or Arkhan's magic, not to mentioned the undeads are expendable and tireless, which some of the skeleton warriors would drag off the defenders from the wall to commit mutual death. And just like that, the city that had once held off Nagash's army for months was razed within in five days.

Alcadizzar had hoped the Hieratic Council would evacuate behind the thick wall he had fortified at the eastern end of the Valley of Kings to hold against the undead for many weeks and give their non-combatants enough time to reach Quatar. But that was not to be and Alcadizzar and other great cities had to go on without them.

The aforementioned walls were three very strong, thick walls made from granite, built by the finest smith at Ka-Sabar. In addition,, the walls were equipped with weaponry effective against the undead: fire arrows, flaming tar catapults, manned by heavily armored infantries... all that good stuff. What's more, each wall was taller than the one in front of it and not even ladders could reach the top of the third wall, nor could the bone giants or Arkhan's magic hope to breach it.

Just as the third wall was about to be cleared, Alcadizzar came just in time, riding on his chariot with Khalida besides him followed by a host of cavalry. They flanked the undead army and dealt it a serious blow. W'soran managed to blast Alcadizzar off his chariot and had two of his vampire servants ambush him. Dazed, Alcadizzar was saved by his chief wizard Suleiman and an archer who attacked the vampire and brought Alcadizzar time to recover and kill them.

W'soran then blasted the dead vampire and Alcadizzar with his magic, only for Alcadizzar's Dwarven forged armor to protect him and render the spell harmless, to W'soran's surprise. As W'soran advanced on Alcadizzar, Khalida saved him with an arrow shot straight into W'soran eye, the vampire howling and breaking a clay jar to unleash a swarm of scarabs that carried him to safety. With W'soran's retreat the clouds disspated and the undead army was thwarted.

Nagash: I'm About to End This Man's Whole Career

The chariot problem

Two weeks after Nagash's army had fled from Nehekhara, Alcadizzar and the rest of the Nehekhara armies gathered at Lahmia's docks. Despite his injuries from war AND the fact he is now 189 years old, Alcadizzar decided to give chase to the undead legion on sea and hopefully be rid of them once and for all.

Just then, however, Ophiria came to greet Alcadizzar and after some cajoling, tearfully informed him of his fate: if he went to Nagashizzar, he would kill Nagash but he will die (the actual text was he will not return, so same meaning). Initially, Ophiria didn't want to tell Alcadizzar anything other than to send her niece Khalida back to Khemri and have the king leading the army alone, but Alcadizzar convinced Ophiria to tell him everything when he saw her and knew she had bad news for him.

Alcadizzar, who was already so tired and old, wanted to enjoy good retirement life (in a big mansion with his family, just like he's always dreamed of), as did his wife. With Nagash's invasion force broken and not wanting to trigger Ophiria's prophecy, they decided to abandon the chase and enjoy rebuilding and ruling their city. Ophiria was never seen again after that. But just like the tale of Oedipus, Alcadizzar ended up fulfilling the prophecy and doomed his kingdom when Nagash, unbeknownst to any of the Nehekharans, cooked up a deadly genocide spell that would make Alcadizzar rue his decision.

Six years later, a horrible plague appeared. Crops began to wither and fail, livestock died, commoners began to fall ill and water turned red. Alcadizzar summoned his chirurgeons and wizards to find a cure, but without success. The lack of food led to citizens rioting or turning to banditry, despite Alcadizzar's best efforts in using all his power to maintain order among his vassal kings, rationed every clean food so everyone could eat, and quarantine the infected in tents outside the city. Worse came as Alcadizzar's two sons, Asar and Ubaid, fell ill. Ubaid died in agony, constantly asking his father to end him. Asar was sent away to live with the desert tribe, Alcadizzar hoped the plague wouldn't reach them but it did. One night, Asar, now consumed by the illness' madness, left his tent to wander in the desert and was never seen again. Devastated over losing his two sons, he began falling to despair as he watched his empire crumble with people either begging their powerless king to save them, or curse him for unable to save them while somehow not getting sick himself. Then, Khalida finally fell ill; her illness had begun long ago, but she hid it from Alcadizzar and lasted months longer than her two sons. She merely postponed the inevitable, for her stubbornness meant the diseased damaged her body to point that she was unable to recognize her husband. Alcadizzar eventually caved in and perform a mercy kill on Khalida. Since Alcadizzar shared Khalida's belief against tombs, there was never a pyramid built for his family, despite him being the greatest priest king since Settra. Few attended the funeral for though Khalida was well-loved, many were sick or dead and the king himself had to be pallbearer for his wife. Alcadizzar ultimately couldn't bring himself to let her corpse be cremated, and entombed her at the local necropolis, hoping one day a Morturary priest could resurrect her and give her a golden body.

Alcadizzar thought about killing himself to join his family, but news of a new undead army invading Rastera made him gear up mustered what remained of his weakened soldiers. Many citizens that had strength to travel fled to Zandri where they would board its ship and migrate to the Old World. With the remaining forces, weak and sick soldiers who could barely hold a Khopesh, Alcadizzar and his men bravely fought the undead tide in order to buy time for every citizen to escape. Alcadizzar knew it was a battle he cannot win, but gave it his all with his golden blade nonetheless, also hoping one of them could kill him. Then Arkhan came and made short work of the king by parrying all his attacks and capturing him.

The Death of Nehekhara, Nagash and Alcadizzar

Alcadizzar was stripped of his gear and chained up in a cage for the long journey back to Nagashizzar. While traveling, Alcadizzar was half awake. The cart carried him through the ruins of the great cities, only stopping to occasionally force-feed Alcadizzar a warpstone-laced (or so called because the liquid gives out a fiery sensation) elixir to keep him alive. Eventually reaching the cursed dock where Ophiria had told him of his fate, where they boarded a ship of bone that carried them to Nagashizzar.

At Nagashizzar, he was dragged out of his cage by Nagash himself. Amused by Alcadizzar's weak and malnourished appearance, Nagash took great pleasure in mocking him, claiming that he only sent his army to destroy Nehekhara because he wanted the great cities to know that it was he who had brought them to ruin (leaving out Nagash only used the plague in a temper tantrum after the defeat of his first army. Hypocrite manchild lich...). Alcadizzar remained defiant, telling bone daddy that he would die before betraying his people.

Dismissing his claim, Nagash began his new ritual by paralyzing and painfully carving arcane symbols into Alcadizzar. Nagash explaining how Alcadizzar was the symbol he needed for this ritual, that Nagash had deliberately made the plague to spare Alcadizzar and had not killed him for that reason. That this spell would channel Nagash's magic, kill the last few people living in Nehekhara and bind them to his will. Nagash capped this off by taunting Alcadizzar that he might see his family again and possibly taking Khalida as his consort if he liked her enough, leaving Alcadizzar helpless to do anything but howl in rage.

For the entirety of the ritual, Alcadizzar could only kneel, locked in place by paralyzing needles and the power of the great ritual. The great ritual caused a swirling wind tunnel to form in the sky with green light in it's depth, as if it was a gateway to the underworld. The dead Nehekharans had gathered behind the greenlight gate, drawn by the bond of fealty they owed to Alcadizzar in life. Nagash could sense the spirits gathering behind the greenlight, as could Alcadizzar, who only searched for his dead family.

And just like that, the great ritual summoned up all the undead of Nehekhara. The ancient kings, dead commoners, soldiers. Not even dead wildlife were safe from Nagash's control. Unbeknownst to them, only the occupants of Settra's tomb hadn't risen.

After the ritual, Nagash was throughly drained but still mighty. He took out the needles from Alcadizzar and had his minions throw Alcadizzar into a dungeon, for Nagash planned to regain a bit of strength then entertain himself by torturing Alcadizzar.

In his cell, Alcadizzar was consumed by the pain and bad memories tormenting him, and could only think of how much he wished to die. That is until a figure of white light touched his cheek. It was the ghost of Neferem, the long dead queen of Khemri whom Nagash had tormented and killed long ago. Alcadizzar mistook her as his wife Khalida and so he followed her to the cell door. The door opened and two short furry rat like creatures entered the room with a huge lead box. These were the Skaven Eekrit and Eshreegar of Clan Rikek, both business partners and bitter rivals of Nagash. Knowing about Nagash's plan and a prophecy from their Grey Seer about who would kill him, they made the Fellblade: a weapon so deadly it drains the life force of those who wields it, and gave it to Alcadizzar, the Council of Thirteen protecting the wielder.

Confused and desperate, Alcadizzar opened the box and the light of Fellblade filled the entire room. Being in its presence hurt him, and Alcadizzar knew it radiated death, the kind of weapon kill a god... or an undying king. In his delusions, Alcadizzar thought this was Khalida telling him to make things right before it is too late. So he took up the Fellblade blade, which burned him and filled his body with the strength necessary to go where Nagash is and stab the fucker with it.

(It's like the main character from the Gladiator movie, he had lost everything to a tyrant and is about to kill him with the backing of traitorous allies).

Neferem's ghost approached Nagash to distract him. When Neferem disappeared, she left a white smoke, from which Alcadizzar charged. Nagash tried to block the blade with his armored hand, but the blade cut through armor and limb like they were butter. In retaliation, Nagash fired a magic bolt at Alcadizzar, but he was unharmed due to the protection rune carved on the blade (the rune enabled the spellcasters of the Council of Thirteen to protect the wielder, but some of them died from the effort). Alcadizzar then sliced Nagash's spine, which caused Nagash to feel actual pain and leech away his power with each strike. In desperation, Nagash grabbed Alcadizzar's throat and planned to crush his spine. But just as Alcadizzar was about to fall unconscious, he freed himself by severing Nagash's other arm, then went into a frenzy and decapitated Nagash.

As his head was severed Nagash let out a hideous scream and his spell came undone. Freed from Nagash's control, the mummy kings began seizing the undead soldiers to serve them, became the Tomb Kings we know and love. The dead that were slain most recently (that being Alcadizzar's people) were instead crumbled and their soul went back to purgatory.

Frenzied, Alcadizzar hacked up Nagash's body and his throne before finally stopping. The last king of Khemri, now dying and insane, took Nagash's crown and the blade and wandered off trying to find Khalida and show her he'd solved the problem. Eventually he found his way out of Nagashizzar and went into the wasteland where he was never seen again.

Legend says he is still searching for redemption.

Legacy

Although Alcadizzar and his people were dead, he did not die without leaving any legacy behind. The man himself wandered the ruins of Nehekhara until he died and fell into the River Vitae/Mortis and his corpse washed up on a distant shore. The Skaven tracked the Fellblade's magic and recovered the sword, but left Alcadizzar's corpse and crown alone. His body was eventually discovered by a shaman named Kadon, who could recognize the corpse as a Nehekharan king and ordered the construction of a large barrow for him. In an unfortunate move, Kadon decided to wear Nagash's crown and was corrupted by Nagash for it. Under Nagash's influence, he had a walled city called Mourkhain constructed around Alcadizzar's barrow and had the king's spirit bound to the city's stone for all eternity. Guess Nagash still had the last laugh though since Alcadizzar will be stuck there forever... or not.

According to Neferata's novel, part of Alcadizzar's soul was bond to Nagash's crown and prevented the vampires from unleashing its true potentials by giving them some sort of mental attack, which caused the unlucky vampires to experience PTSD from Alcadizzar's memories. Kadon had tried to unbind Alcadizzar's soul to Mourkin's wall, but was nearly killed in the process, with only half of Alcadizzar's soul bound to the wall. Due to her connection with him, it was Neferata that suffered the most from his PTSD attack, as she could relive Lahmia's burning and Alcadizzar's dagger stab to her heart. In order to use the crown for their own gains, W'soran and Ushoran recruited Neferata's help to remove the king's soul using The Nine Tomes of Nagash. After collecting the nine tomes, Neferata used its power to force Alcadizzar's soul back to his old, dead body. Although Neferata hated Alcadizzar, she sympathized with his suffering despite herself (due to raising him as a child, and having developed some kind of maternal love for him), something like sadness could be felt by her emotionless immortal mind. Just before his spirit was about to return back to his old body, Alcadizzar asked Neferata to give in, but Neferata was like Daga Kotowaru and roasted Alcadizzar so hard he howled in anguish and turned into a powerful wight. Upon regaining his old, dead body, the first thing he did was bitch slapp Ushoran onto the ground and began choking him. Although Alcadizzar was a powerful and agonizing piece of work, he was still but one undead, fighting against multiple vampires nearby that were just about to gang up on him (including: Khaled al Muntasir). In the end, Alcadizzar was decapitated by Ushoran and subsequently torn to pieces. "Long live the king" said Ushoran, as he held Alcadizzar's bone head high and softly cheered for his death. So it is safe to say Alcadizzar's soul was either freed, stuck in purgatory like every other Nehekharan, or somehow in Nagash's grip after this.

Nagash's crown would eventually get passed down to other people, all of whom would get corrupted by it and become a necromancer (except for Sigmar himself), before it was finally taken away by a whiny vampire where he would use the crown to resurrect Nagash in The End Times.

In the Sigmar novel, Sigmar had called upon every scribe to gather any information about Nagash after Khaled al Muntasir (who was forced to work for Nagash after Neferata offered him to Arkhan) came to threaten and parley for Nagash's crown (which Sigmar being a fucking boss, simply tells the vampire to GTFO). One of the scribes named Eoforth came across many manuscripts regarding the ancient Nehekharan (which was found in a burning gallery near some shore alongside with many treasures from Nehekhara, for unknown reasons of plot). One of the manuscripts telling the tale of how Al-Khadizzar (not Alcadizzar or Alcadizaar, who was erroneously referred to as a warrior, not a king. Nehekharan probably doesn't translate well into Old Reikspiel) slew Nagash with "a dreadful sword of fell power". Many other manuscripts also referenced how Nagash destroyed Nehekhara in a single night. Just how or whom was able to witness these event and documented these manuscripts, when EVERYONE WAS FUCKING DEAD at that time is anyone's guess. Even the events of Neferata and the Skaven alliance with Nagash were mentioned (though it also said Neferata was a consort of Nagash, which is false as she hates Nagash and wanted to rule her own kingdom. Guess whomever made that manuscript didn't know a lot about Neferata). Were they all written by some undead scribes under the order of a tomb king? Did a seer have a vision and and write it? Did Ophiria write it? Arkhan? Surely the Nehekharan survivors boarding the refugee ship at Zandri should've been able to remember the tale of Neferata, but not the Skaven or Alcadizzar. So many questions...

Still, Alcadizaar received no mention in The End Times despite showing a lot of other dead characters coming back to life. However, Nagash had bound the winds of Shyish to himself and controlled every dead spirit of the world and it is possible Alcadizzar's among those unfortunate souls. Even if he wasn't controlled by Nagash, he would still be freed in the end though, when the Chaos gods managed to emerge from the warp rift caused by Archaon's doomsday device and destroy the world. It is also possible for him to be become a Stormcast Eternals in Age of Sigmar. Who knows.

An alternative point of view

So what if Alcadizzar decided to go after Nagash? could things go differently? with all his forces equipping with rune weaponry, the use of wizard against the pathetic numbers of undead army leftover from the invasion, there might be a chance. Not even Nagash had could simply fight them off despite being hulk up on warpstones and wearing new gears.

Even if Alcadizzar had chose to fight Nagash at full strength but died, Nehekhara might enter a new golden age with the Dwarfs, where they would demolish the greenskins in the wasteland and hunt down the remaining vampire menance together. Nehekharan Empire would be so big that by the time Sigmar was born, he would be worshipping Ptra instead (Although it is unknown if Nehekharan allow the worship of foreign human god like Ulric).

Still, all that promises died the moment Alcadizzar made his decision. Perhaps it was part of Khsar's test? It is a merciless deity who only give challenges and the reward often has to do with what the mortal has gained from his challenges, yet Alcadizzar has failed, which has robbed him of his everything. Could Tzeentch also be involved in his suffering too? afterall, there were a twin tailed comet shining above Alcadizzar. Could this be part of his grand plan to see him suffer? along with the entirely of Nehekhara?

Such is the way of the warhammer's grimdark nature, for every great achievements like technologies or civilizations are ruined just one step before their completion, and results in sending the entire race responsible into the dark age, or worse (this is why the development of the Primaris Project were secretly developed for ten millennia without anyone knowing as to prevent the chaos gods from ruin them; why the Dwarfs would accept an invention only if its blueprint has been stubbornly worked on for multiple generations before a prototype is considered). While The big four are often responsible for those atrocities in order to provide themselves some enjoyments, many were caused by large scale civil war or treasons. In Alcadizzar's case however, he failed simply because did not know the kind of world he lives in.

There's a popular saying for this: No good deed goes unpunished, a common theme in the warhammer franchise. It means those whom were rescued by the good guys were ungrateful. In Alcadizzar's case, what he rescued was was not his people in this case, but rather the culture of Nehekhara, its gods and the land itself from poverty, oppression and death threatening invasion. Yet in the land, he lost everything he had rescued just because he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself. Not even his last redeeming act of slaying Nagash could redeem it, for it had results in the rise of Tomb Kings, Alcadizzar's fore-bearers whom were forced to wander the land as rotten undead beings for all eternity. So indeed No good deed goes unpunished.

However, the phase also has a second part: and let no evil deed go unrewarded, meaning the villains will not be rewarded for their evil acts, which kind of applied to Nagash for being slaying by Alcadizzar prevent him from controlling the entirely living deads of Nehekhara which he would use for world domination. So at least Alcadizzar did something to prevent evils from destroying this world. Such is the way of the Warhammer world.

In other media

Though he does not make a direct appearance in Total War: Warhammer II, a couple of events involving the Tomb Kings do make mention of Nehekara's last king. The first event has you locating the remains of his army, and deciding whether to harvest them for canopic jars or give them a proper burial. The second event, and arguably the most important, is that the Tomb Kings apparently located Alcadizzar's remains (which is canonically located at Mourkhain, but Tomb Kings DLC came out before the marsh of madness province was added so there weren't any conquest there to claim his remain), and you can build a great pyramid for him in Bhagar, providing some nifty bonuses to your forces. For all their arrogance, even the Tomb Kings knew damn well they owe him one. His wife and two children weren't mentioned however, for the queen was buried in the commoner necropolis (probably with young Ubaid too) and Asar went missing in the great desert.