Mengil Manhide's Manflayers

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"Nothing personal, kid."

"You misunderstand. I don't do it for the money. I do it because I enjoy it."

– Mengil himself

Mengil Manhide's Manflayers are one of the Regiments of Renown from Warhammer Fantasy. They are a Dark Elf mercenary band, consisting of guerilla style warriors led by the noble turned mercenary captain, who in later editions would be retconned into a cruel fiend even by Druchii standards.

Fluff

First Edition lore

The first edition lore was a bit scant. During the spring of his last year, a forest-dwelling Dark Elf leader named Kraal the Hearteater - an elf version of Charles Manson - gathered all the young men of his immediate family. Spells were cast, sacrifices were made, and these elves were initiated into the family cult. At the completion of the ceremony, Kraal carried out a family tradition: expelling the newly initiated men from the forest and forbidding them from returning until each had slain a human warrior or died in the attempt.

Mengil, Kraal's son, quickly acclimatized to his new social role despite never having left his forested home before. He found a huge Norse champion, killed him, skinned him, and fashioned the skin into a cloak. Mengil found that he liked the marauding life so much that he decided against returning to his father's people and set out on a life of banditry and mayhem.

He founded a company of Dark Elves and modelled their style after his, establishing both the dress code of flayed skin over armor for of his followers and giving himself a new name - Mengil Manhide. The company was further strengthened when Mengil joined forces with the Dark Elf renegade Champion, Ean Hawkbane, who had a large trained owl which served both in combat and as a scout.

Fifth Edition lore

Numerous changes were made, greatly expanding on the lore and this is where Mengil got really edgy.

Origins

Here, Kraal the Hearteater was instead a powerful and cruel lord from Clar Karond who set his sons grueling tests to see who was worthy to carry on the bloodline; the "worthy" succeeded, the "unworthy" failed. Mengil's test was to hunt down an armed slave, a powerful Norseman, that Kraal had released into the forest around Clar Karond; Mengil wouldn't be allowed back into the city until he killed the Norseman and returned with proof of the deed.

Mengil tracked down and killed his quarry, and when he overcame his foe he rejoiced in the thrill of the kill. Now here's where he starts to get edgy: Mengil smeared blood across his face, drank deeply from the Norseman's heart before skinning the Norseman and eating his flesh, and wore the bloodied skin as a cloak. Unlike First Edition lore, Mengil returned to his old man wearing the cloak of flayed skin as he walked back into Clar Karond, earning him the respect of his father and the honorific title 'Manhide'.

Mengil became Kraal's favorite son, which made his brothers try to go all "Cain and Abel" on him. Mengil killed two of his murderous siblings in one night, skinned them and had their bloodied, skinless corpses delivered to his remaining brother as a warning.

Rise to Power

When he was old enough, Mengil joined the ranks of the Corsairs of Clar Karond, his rapid rise only tarnished by his increasing viciousness (coming from Dark Elves, that's saying something) and unpredictability. His superiors had him conduct lightning raids, slaughtering any defenders and retreating with what captives he could before a counter-attack could be formed. But Mengil would more often stubbornly refuse to retreat and strike at the larger defensive force.

While his skill, ferocity and leadership often ensured he was victorious, he generally returned with few slaves, for Mengil took perverse pleasure in killing. Not only did he slay even those who surrendered, he'd continue to hack and cut up their bodies long after life was gone. He continued his practice of skinning (and at times eating) his defeated foes, and his father's halls in Clar Karond were bedecked with savage trophies reaped from all over the world. He also had a cannibalistic taste for Dark Elves who got on his bad side, which made his comrades and subordinates even more afraid of him.

Within half a century, Mengil led the majority of raids launched from the Black Ark known as the Citadel of Spite. Over the next two decades, the Citadel of Spite became hated by the High Elves, synonymous with despair and grief as it raided Ulthuan's coast and shipping lanes, along with those of Norsca, Bretonnia, Araby and Estalia. Though the Black Ark did not often return with living slaves once Mengil was done with them, his superiors were satisfied with the terror sown by his brutal raids.

Career Change

For a time, the Citadel of Spite controlled the entrance to the Tilean Sea, preying on merchants, smugglers, and pirates, as well as routinely slaughtering villages around Remas and Sartosa. However, during one such raid, the Black Ark was attacked by High Elf warships and forced to retreat back to deeper water, leaving many of its warriors, including Mengil, trapped ashore. The Black Ark's captain, who'd seen three predecessors of his murdered in a mad rage by Mengil, chose not to return for the vicious warrior, claiming instead that he was dead.

Stranded in Tilea, Mengil and his men made their way inland under the cover of darkness, moving through the forests and then into the southern Apuccini Mountains. After a season of preying indiscriminately on passing merchants and their hired guards, Mengil was approached by a wealthy warrior-merchant from Verezzo. The pair struck a deal, and thus began the Dark Elf's new career as a paid killer.

Throughout the lands of the Old World, Mengil plied his trade, and he and the band of Dark Elf warriors who follow him, known as the Manflayers, are rightly feared. They are employed as assassins and murderers, often used to eliminate rivals. He is particularly used by those who wish to make an example of the target, for Mengil takes savage pleasure in skinning his foes, often leaving the skinless bodies of his victims hanging from the trees or impaled on spikes in the ground. Mengil even returned to Naggaroth several times, where Dark Elf lords readily employed him to eliminate their rivals. On one such occasion, Mengil repaid the Citadel of Spite's captain for abandoning him, his gruesome fate becoming a cautionary tale against double-crossing the Manflayer. On occasion, Mengil's Manflayers will take to the battlefield, employed to infiltrate deep into enemy territory to spread terror and confusion.

The Manflayers go into battle armed with greatswords, repeater crossbows and festooned with an array of knives and various other blades. They prefer to maim and cripple rather than kill outright, for they will often stop in the heat of battle to acquire new trophies, flaying the dead and the dying they leave in their wake. They march to war under the Banner of Kalad, named for the Dark Elf whose skin the banner is made from; Kalad was one of Mengil's brothers who Mengil killed for practicing sorcery in defiance of the Witch King's decree forbidding any but his appointed Sorceresses from doing so. The banner is enchanted, creating a nimbus of shadow around Mengil and his warriors, making them even more difficult to spot and able to approach their prey even more closely before they strike.

Like the previous version, Mengil met a Dark Elf champion named Ean Hawkbane who became his right-hand man. Unlike the previous version, this arrangement ended after several years when Mengil gutted, skinned and ate him after a disagreement.