Empire of Dust

Empire of Dust was the second undead army to be released for Kings of War. It was one of the nine new armies added in the Uncharted Empires supplement for second edition, intended to represent a Tomb Kings army from Warhammer Fantasy. Of the new armies, they play the smallest role in the fluff, being located entirely off continent from the other factions.

Background

Long ago before the arrival of the Celestians on Mantica, an ancient human civilization existed far to the south of the Infant Sea. These people were known as the Ahmunites. Their lands were suffering the effects of desertification, prompting them to migrate to the northeast, settling east of the Twilight Glades and west of modern Ophidia. These people soon resettled and rebuilt into a grand trade empire.

The Ahmunites had a religion focused on the death and the afterlife. This led to an obsession with both among the elite, prompting their sorcerers and scientists to begin to dabble in ways of reconnecting with the dead. Necromancy was thus born. At first the Ahmunite aristocracy used this art to reanimate their elite soldiers and bodyguards, but as time wore on they began to use it to raise large slave work forces.

Soon enough the demand for undead soldiers and slaves expanded. The ancient tombs and burial grounds were raided for more sources of corpses. The major cities soon were overflowing with undead, turned into necropolises where the living cowered in fear. The princes of the various noble houses waged war on one another with their large hosts, ravaging the land and devastating agriculture sources. Madness, it seemed, had consumed the country.

The princes of the northernmost cities realized that things were out of control. Fearing for what remained of their people, these princes led any among the living who would follow them to the east. These fleeing princes and their people would soon become known as the Ophidians, but at first they were simply hailed as the God-Kings who saved their people. The other princes, for their part, were too consumed raising their undead armies and warring upon one another to take much notice.

The newly formed Ophidia numbered in only the tens of thousands and lacked resources. Realizing that their former masters could come calling, the God-Kings decreed that the use of undead soldiers would resume, but under the strict and watchful eye of their most trusted Magi. These forces would be used to protect the new realm from their fellow Ahmunites. This was not enough however, so the God-Kings instructed their Magi to summon the most powerful spells and fell creatures they could.

Soon plagues of insects descended upon the Ahmunite realms. Spiteful djinn struck at the undead hordes. Raging sandstorms beat upon the necropolis cities. Flesh was stripped from the bones of those still living among the Ahmunites. Sand buried their cities, driving the now skeleton princes and their undead slaves further south. The Ahmunites were no more, either killed outright or reduced to the same undead existence as their soldiers and slaves. These decadent nobles and their forces were no longer a prosperous trade empire, but merely a shattered testament to their former glory; an empire of dust.

On the Tabletop

Tactics can be found here: Kings of War/Tactics/Empire of Dust

Empire of Dust is a more elite version of the regular undead army for Kings of War.