Queen Neferata

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"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

– Eleanor Roosevelt

"Behind every great man, there is a great woman. Behind those great women, there is me!"

– Neferata

The very first fucking vampire in a setting where vampires are still cool, which is a product of her own creation rather than a Biblical curse or demonic possession. She's something of a Cleopatra expy who's been in a lot of positions of leadership-no pun intended-then found she preferred to run things behind the scenes.

The Legend

During the war against Nagash, there was a young princess of Lahmia in the Egypt analogue of the Warhammer setting, Nehekhara, named Neferatem (Neferata was the name she went by outside of Nehekhara, although later writers forgot about it and had her always called Neferata). While her cousin wore pants, rode horses, shot arrows, and prayed to the snake god, Neferata spent her time getting wasted on black lotus wine while her father lead the forces of Nekeharans against Nagash. After her pappy died, she was put in charge of the kingdom. Her brother took command of the forces of Nehekhara and made a deal with Arkhan the Black to become necromancer bros by looting Nagash's house. Her brother Lamashizzar won the backstabbing competition and took Nagash's books home with a crippled and (re)dying Arkhan to give cliffnotes along the way. Since Neferata like pretty much every girl in her palace has completed the training require of being priestess of Neru (reading incantation, making elixir), he threw the books at her and told her to get to work as he took over the job of ordering cooks to suck face with stablehands.

Now it's well known that in order to have a fictional culture based on Egypt, you have to be obsessed with immortality. While Lamashizzar is busy studying Nagash's power to become immortal, Neferata was tasked by her brother to maintain court affair and greet their trading partner from Cathay. During one of the conversation with one of the Celestial Emperor's son ambassador Prince Xian Ha Feng, he announced an outrageous news where their homeland had recently discovered a large resource of gold mine, forcing Lahmia require to further paying even more gold. What's more, is that the trade agreement was signed by her father Lamasheptra, whose sister Neferem was held as hostage by Nagash at the time that out of desperation, he signed the trade agreement of paying Cathay a bunch of gold every year in exchange of getting his hands on Cathay's military secret: dragon staffs (gun) and dragon powder (gun powder with some Cathyan secret ingredient), and if Lahmian couldn't pay them, the land of Lahmia will belong to Cathay. Neferata realized her home city is in deep shit, not only she had to dealt with this alone, her brother is but an incompetent necromancy obsessed nerd who does not gave a shit about their city. Having enough, she decided to turned to her brother's secret tutor Arkhan for help. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Instead of taking notes and translating shit for Lahmia to gain an army of Level 1 Mages, she started experimenting, and actually managed to improve on Nagash's techniques.

When Lamashizzar and his cabal members (Ushoran, W'soran, Ankhat, Abhorash, Zhuras, Adio, Khenti, Ubaid) found out, Nefereta convinced them to join her using Arkhan's knowledge of each cabal members as reference, combining with her charisma and a bit of demonstrating from her elixir (she knocked her brother far away with but a simple push using her new found inhuman strength). Most of the cabal member immediately jumped from the sinking ship that is Lamashizzar and followed Nefereta, leaving the incompetent king with his vizir Ubaid, as well as the incompetent Adio and Khenti, whom are but your typical spoiled young nobles that does nothing but drink and gamble. Arkhan was set free afterwards under Neferata's demand.

To prevent his sister from usurp his power, Lamashizzar ordered his vizier Ubaid to assassinate his sister Neferata with the mythical sphinx venom. Arkhan (who had fought and killed Adio and Khenti sent by the king to kill him) desperately carried the unconscious Neferata to the female palace in order to save her. Arkhan's presence has alert many frightened yet pissed off female servants who were chasing after him, all but one female servant name Aiyah, who just happened to be young Khalida's former female attendant, stood out from the crowd and guided Arkhan to the queen's room. Arkhan had tried to save Neferata using any sort of knowledge contained in the tome of Nagash which required Aiyah's co-operation. After five days of horrible dark ritual and chanting, Arkhan thought he failed to save Neferata and went to kill Lamashizzar himself. As for Aiyah, she fled to Lybaras where Khalida lives.

Neferata of course turns out to be alive and had become the first vampire after Arkhan's ritual. What's more important is that Arkhan had killed Lamashizzar which making her the official ruler of Lahmia!! which was the most important city at that time (thanks to Nagash for fucking up Khemri) that the news of Lamashizzar's death caught the attentions of every Nehekhara rulers and they attend Lamashizzar's funeral jsut so they could discuss politics. The good ol' cousin Khalida is suspecting Neferata after she was informed by a frightened escaped servant named Aiyah (who used to be her former servant in Lahmia), where she told Khalida that she helped Arkhan to save Neferata from venom using dark magic.

Even though Khalida has ruled Lybaras sometimed ago, Neferata hoping she could use this chance to once again reunite with Khalida and strengthen their relationship.

After a feast of Cathayan seafood Malatang (seafood boiled using various chili spices from Cathay, so close enough) at Lahmian garden, Neferata tried to control her fellow Nehekharan kings and queens with the promise to rebuilt their destroyed cities and temples (thank you Nagash) by offering of 10000 gold for them each year as well as offer the Rasetra King Shepret the ruined city of Khemri (because their bloodline has connection to Amenophis, a son of Settra whom was disowned by the later) with the gold needed to rebuilt it. While every other rulers were busy drooling over Neferata's wonderful promises, Khalida suddenly called out her bullshit for embracing Nagash's dark power.

Neferata of course rejected such an outrageous accusation, accepted Khalida's challenge to a duel, and ended up killing Khalida with her surprising vampire strength during the duel. There is also a hilarious scene where Abhorash is concerning whether Neferata had any sword training at all, as well as telling her the importance of using a metal sword or bronze sword in a duel.

Although Khalida hates Neferata, Neferata did not. Neferata was saddened by the sight of dying Khalida that she tried to turn her into a vampire using the blood on her lips, but Khalida was too far gone to turned into one.

After the people around her used the rare skill of common sense and realized she wasn't aging and was going through more servants than most, she realized she'd need some meatshields that weren't mooks. She picked the captain of the guard and all around badass Abhorash (whom Neferata tricked to become one because he was prideful and stubborn. He self exiled in shame upon his transformation), former vizir Ubaid (whom is now royal to Neferata after she had "tamed" him with her new found vampire seduction power) her high priest W'soran, her younger brother Ushoran, Maatmeses (unknown, went to Ind or retcon?), Naamia (a former Cathay noble courtesan whom has the power of shapeshifting), Prince Xian Ha Feng, Ankhat (Neferata's husband Vashanesh). She also planted puppets figure heads in the Lahmia court named King Sothis and Queen Ammanura in order to rule behind the scene.

Vlad von Carstein hints in his own novels that Vashanesh is the father of his Bloodline but all other Bloodlines said such a person never existed. Later it turned out they were full of it, as Vlad was revealed to be Vashanesh himself. (There is a canon conflict here, since the novels set in and shortly after this period never mention him.) Neferata also selected another seven. Each of them was given some of Nef's home brew, and she filled them in on their new strengths and one minor recurring habit.

Prince Xian Ha Feng took some vials of the Elixir to Cathay as payment (then rebelled against his dragon father and probably died). The vampire bloodline in Cathay remain alive still.

Neferata later founded the Lahmian cult under W'soran's suggestion. It is a clever way to not only acquire more blood unnoticed, as well as recruiting more vampire underling (especially female), whom were indoctrinate into believing Neferata is the incarnation of the goddess Asaph. The cult even serves a good purpose as a political tool that made the Lahmia ruler look divine, in an age where the Nehekhara kings are no longer protect by the god's blessing.

Such cult attracted the attentions of Queen of Rasetra, who came to the temple to pray for her difficult pregnancy. When she suddenly tell her vampire cabal that she is going to save the queen's child, everyone was stunned. Her plan was giving the queen a vial of elxiir distilled from her own blood, saving the child and letting every priest kings knew the greatness of Nefereta's miracle that is unlike Nagash's dark magic. By using her fame and some taxation deductions as bribe to the great city, she decided to open an academy in Lahmia for every priest king's children (think of it as junior Harvard or Yale in Egypt) and have them staying there (aka kept as political hostage) until adulthood.

Such an outrageous plan made the members of cabal believe Neferata has lost her mind after Khalida died, but they have no power to oppose her. The other kings would have some disapproval initially, except they were under heavy taxation by Lahmia at that time and would to do anything to decrease their tax, especially after they've heard how the Lahmian cult saved the Queen of Rasetra's child.

Knowing that if the child is male, he will be the next king of Khemri. Neferata gave the Rasetra queen her elixir and when the boy was born, she claimed him as her own saying he would stay in Lahmia until he came of age and took his throne. This child was named Alcadizaar.

Because of Khalida's death, Neferata grew to believe that Alcadizaar would become her partner, eventually he could become a vampire and joined with her to rule the entire Nehekahra in Khemri and started practicing wife husbandry on him (some hardcore vampire pedophilia action here...), training him in every aspect of war and statehood (while also making sure he didn't get with any other woman). Even though Alcadizaar was sick of doing the preparation past the age of 18 years old (his other classmate/prince friend had already left Lahmia and began their ruling), Neferata insisted him to stay for further training at the Lahmian cult. Kenti, Alcadizaar's uncle was there where he insist Alcadizaar to do the opposite because of how fucking long the time has passed and even his dad, the king of Rastra is worried. To the uncle's surprise and just as planned for Neferata, Alcadizaar chose to stay for further education because he believe it is for the good of Khemri and its people.

Naamia appeared in front of Neferata multiple times to warn her that Alcadizaar will never become a vampire, nor will he ever join them, but Neferata chose to ignore her.

Just like that, Alcadizaar spent the next 30 year of his life training at the temple of blood, where he did nothing but praise Asaph while being unknowingly fed Neferata's life elixir. When he was like 60 fucking years old (he began his training at the age of 30, precisely at -1320 imperial reckoning, ended in -1290 imperial reckoning), he was met with a final trial where he must endure the pain of whips and survive a stab in the heart (which he was made unconscious). When Alcadizaar woke up, he finally discovered the truth of Neferata's undead nature. Neferata then tried to force fed the poor and terrify Alcadizaar her final elixir to become a vampire. But Ubaid, the former vizier (whom Neferata has entrusted to assist Alcadizzar many years ago) sacrificed himself to save Alcadizzar, allows him to fled into the wild, where he went back to his home in Rasetra but has to prove to his family and other kings the evidence of Lahmian's vampire problem, and eventually he was welcomed into a nomadic desert tribe after perform a heroic action to buy their trust.

After Alcadizaar's escape, Neferata turned towards vengeance where all she cares about is to have Ushoran and his spies to find her dear fuck boy. Her court is now filled with torture tools that were used to interrogate civilians to spit out Alcadizzar's location. Lahmia suffered greatly under her wrath, where kidnapping became common, everyone who used to party at the dark street of Lahmia decided to stay at home, traders are now coming less often, the street and building now looking worsen and dirtier, armies are poorly trained, equiped and are poorly motivated (for an army captain, having their men dying to the enemies is punishable) and the city is no longer as rich as it was. Lahmia is now truly the shadow of its former self.

Her Cabal member is sick of her behavior of course and started to do their own thing. W'soran had tried to summon Nagash and found out he is still alive, then got staked for it. Ushoran planning to defect to Nagash after W'soran revealed the bone daddy's location. Zhuras has been living in depression since he couldn't prove useful for Lamashizzar when he was alive, but he was encourage by Ushoran to form an alliance with him and Nagash. Aborhash is still nowhere to be found since his exile. Every vampire in the cabal wanted to jump out the sinking ship, all but Ankhat who is still loyal.

Alcadizzar's tribe eventually killed Zhuras who was traveling northward to Nagashizzar to act as an envoy. His head and his letter was bought as proofs to the other kings (note: the god damned twin tailed comet was there when Alcadizzar killed the vampire, so even Tzeentch knew whats up). After this, the Nehekharans realized how dangerously close things were to becoming Twilight, so they gathered their forces into a vast army and laid siege to Lahmia.

Despite being outnumbered, Neferata did her best of defend her city. She gathered every vampire she knew: from the royal Lord Ankhat, the treacherous Ushoran (whom Neferata and Ankhat had caught right just before he was about to escape), W'soran (whom Neferata had freed to serve them with his undead summoning in battle) and her female vampire cultist.

In battle, Neferata and her cultists demonstrate their ability of seduction upon the Nekheharan invaders, charmed them with their pale beauty and gaze to the point of frightening them, then culled them down with their sharp claws. Every Nekheharan met with their gaze eye to eye were controlled instantly, turning them into nothing but their slaves whom would block arrows for them or fighting with their closest comrade with false sense of jealousy. Despite facing such supernatural enemy, Alcadizzar's tribal desert horse archer were able to bought down some cultists with but arrow shots (since vampire can't move if they were stake in the heart, shooting a mass number of arrows will surely have high chances for them to stuck in their heart). Neferata then faced Alcadizaar in a duel. Alcadizaar, despite being strong and well trained is none the less frightened by Neferata's seduction, and she is able to regenerate every wound he had struck. Having enough of Alcadizzar's antic, Neferata struck him down with her inhuman strength, then proceed to suck the blood from the neck of the poor immobilized Alcadizaar, as a way to recover every "gift" she has given to Alcadizzar. Unfortunately for her, Alcadizaar had hidden a dagger which he used it to stake Neferata's heart.

As soon as Neferata fell, Ankhat desperately went to her rescue, ordering the royals guards to her aid. Despite doing everything he could the Nekheharan's cavalry and soldiers kept pouring into Neferata's position. Just as they are about to catch up, Abhorash appeared, wielding a pair of huge, dripping khopeshes while wearing nothing but ragged clothing while slaughtered the shit out of the cavalries and other Nekheharan stood his way.

After every vampires has escaped to the palace, Neferata decided to die with Lahmia until Ankhat reminded her that they are fucking immortals and should've started to murderhobo on the entire world instead of wasting time in Lahmia. Having heard of Ankhat's suggestion, Neferata had a change of mind and decided to board the ship at the harbor where Naamia awaits, and sail to the east.

The entire city is reduced to rubbles and most of it's vampiric aristocracy were destroyed. The city fell, despite major losses on the side of Nekeharans.

Exile

Of Neferata's Eleven, only seven survived. Abhorash and Neferata separately took their minions and headed north, both finding passes through the supposedly impassible mountains and reaching the Badlands, greenskin-infested no man's land. Due to this she avoided the final war between Nagash and Alcadizaar that saw the rest of Nehekhara join Lahmia in becoming a lifeless ruin. She did however experience it's consequences when the newly risen Tomb Kings began to hunt down vampires. In particular her cousin Khalida, returned from the dead and filled with rage, chased her across the world.

In the absence of their leaders the vampires were left in a panic. They went their own ways along the same route Nef and Ab had taken, founding different bloodlines. When Nagash cursed the vampires with weaknesses to the sun, running water (like all old people), garlic, and other random things. Neferata and her minions caught the curse too despite not being there (although there's also the suggestion this was Sigmar's doing).

Then a fuckton of time passed while Neferata traveled the world. During that time she became a misandrist, espousing the belief that men are blood farms without worthwhile thoughts or emotions unless they kowtow to women (being effeminate, watching Sex and the City, be unthinking Sugar Daddies, that sort of thing). Eventually Neferata found herself compelled to come to the capital of the Strigoi empire, Mourkain. Here she found a kingdom that was a pale reflection of her long lost Lahmia, ruled once again by a vampiric aristocracy. It's king was her former Lord of Masks Ushoran and his vizier W'soran, who together she blamed for the destruction of her home. She had been drawn by the Crown of Nagash which was buried at the heart of the capital as had most of the others of her kind.

Queen of Mysteries

A group of Dorfs investigating the douchebaggery of the other vampire bloodlines eventually uncovered her ~~lesbian love den~~ SERIOUS GROUP OF VAMPIRE LADIES DOING NOTHING WRONG. In response she had her minions slaughter the Dawi and turn them into zombies before gathering an invasion force and making their Dwarf Fortress her new ~~love-den~~ MANLY BASTION OF BADASSERY. The undead Dwarfs rebuilt the mines, crafted with Granite and menacing with spikes of Onyx, into an Egyptian-style palace.

Nowadays the zombies are soaked in perfume and drum while skeletons do the skeleton dance (2spooky!) to entertain her court. Eventually Ghouls showed up to serve her, which she spent several generations trying to exterminate before confining them to the sewers when she realized they would be great for garbage disposal. She bathes in blood (because nobody has ever made vampires do that before!) of young men, then heads off to the war room an organizes her femvamps and shotavamps (all vouched for by femvamps as their subordinates) to spy on the civilizations of the world and manipulate them into getting into wars with each other (Skaven also do this, but more capably), or rooting out rival bloodlines and wiping them out (the VonCarsteins also do this, but less capably).

Queen Neferata had one goal: make the ~~women~~ worthy mortals of the world into Lahmian vampires and the ~~men~~ unworthy mortals cattle or pampered pets. Meanwhile, her cousin Khalida (who's such a badass not even Settra wants to fuck with her) was a Tomb ~~King~~ Queen and wanted to purge the world of vampires and their homoerotic heresy, with Neferata at the top of her list.

Neferata's cat is her Cathayan concubine shape shifter Naamia who is in love with her (at least in the novel Neferata by Josh Reynolds, in all other sources the cat is simply an undead familiar named Bastet).

End times

Neferata was recruited to rejoin Arkhan the Black (who was still in love with her after thousands of years) and Mannfred von Carstein in their plans to resurrect Nagash. Nef followed the plan, sending one of her minions (who may be fan favourite the Vampire Genevieve) to Balthazar Gelt to manipulate him into building an anti-Chaos wall protecting the humans of the Old World (in theory so Nagash could have them all to himself). Realizing that Nagash's return meant either her servitude or destruction, Neferata sent no further aid at first. However, Neferata grew concerned that if she didn't have something to offer Nagash might destroy her out of spite. She was also antsy due to lack of knowledge about Nagash's other servants, because her spies on them were dead or trapped in Sylvania and Arkhan rarely called.

After daemons attacked her fortress Neferata decided to try and get shit done, massing the forces of the Silver Pinnacle to get a re-birthday present for Nagash; the magic power of the Dwarf gods themselves (which Neferata had accidentally discovered while backpacking across the world). Fighting her way through various greenskin tribes at Skull Chasm, she led her army to the Lost Pass of the dwarfs, a long lost treasure trove of the ancestor gods. There at the Battle of Valaya's Gate her army, supported by the Wight King Krell (who had been sent by Arkhan as a precaution), their forces defeated the throng of Karak Azul leading to the deaths of both the venerable runelord Thorek Ironbrow and the mighty King Kazador. Having secured a source of power for the returned but weakened Nagash she was inducted into the ranks of his Mortarchs, becoming the Mortarch of Blood.

Once Nagash fed on Valaya's magic, he used the power to shroud Nehekhara in darkness so the vampires wouldn't burn in the sun (no such thing as sunblock in the Warhammer world). The assembled Mortarchs then waged war on the Tomb Kings. When Nagash led his forces south into Nehekhara Neferata was given permission to lead a force to the ruins of her long lost Lahmia. There she was once more met by Khalida and the army of Lybaras. As the two armies clashed the two undead queens dueled in the Temple of Blood in the heart of the city itself. Once more Neferata was forced to flee before her vengeful cousin. Though she failed to secure the city Neferata's expedition had performed all Nagash required of it which was to lure troops away from his main target- Khemri and his Black Pyramid there. In the end defeated the Nehekharans, bringing their skulls under Nagash's boot. In a spectacular twist of irony, Neferata and Khalida were charged to work together. As a result, they basically dropped out of End Times until the very end when Mannfred managed to completely fuck up the last chance at stopping Chaos and the world was slowly drawn into the Warp as a third Warpgate was activated in the Empire despite every non-Chaos group from Orcs to Wood Elves all working together (yeah, ET was a complete fucking mess).

Neferata and Arkhan were present at the end of the final battle, with the latter promising to fight to the last to give the former a chance to outrun the encroaching wall of solid Daemonic blackness despite her Abyssal being injured. After a parting kiss with Arkhan (who she still had some feelings for) Neferata only just made it back to the fortress in the Moot that she and Khalida had established offscreen. The Halflings and remaining humans of the Empire fled there for protection, and the undead under Khalida's command allowed them in. Neferata arrived and immediately shouted to make preparations to repel Chaos, before Khalida told her there was no point; Chaos won. Neferata instead convinced her to fight together, as Nehekharan Queens, and their assembled forces readied their weapons as the Warp overtook them.

Age of Sigmar

... Then Age of Sigmar happened. Nagash is an immortal god of the afterlife and gets all souls Chaos doesn't, barring the Stormcast Eternals. Since Games Workhop undid their complete reboot with identical factions reappearing, Vampires came back too. Neferata was shown alongside the other Mortarchs meaning that the entire End Times story meant jack. But since Khalida hasn't been shown and the Tomb Kings were revealed to have been Squatted, Nef at least outlived her. Neferata got her own part of the realm of death and "creatively" named it Nulahmia while also basing it's fashion and architecture off of Nehekhara's. She built an even bigger spy network and ensured that she was the top vampire. Mannfred, Ushoran, and possibly Vhordai (and definitely Abhorash if he is still alive or "alive" at any rate), are the only ones who don't pay homage to her, and Neferata and Mannfred have clashed several times. She's also gotten over her misandry, as she employs male and female vampires depending on their abilities.

Later, Nulahmia came under attack from an army of mortal followers of Chaos of Slaanesh, because a Slaaneshi Chaos Lord wants her for himself, not caring that she's undead. Quite a thing to sneak past the kiddies, Geedubs! (In the novel Lords of Death, the same lord kills a beastman who tried to stop him raping it). Her forces are aided by the Stormcast Eternals and together they defeat the forces of Slaanesh. Neferata later tries to make a secret alliance with the Stormcast right under Nagash's nasal bones. After the battle (where Neferata's obsessed fan Chaos Lord falls into a pit of skeletons), Neferata is disappointed that Nagash was just dicking with the Stormcast but had to go along with it. During Malign Portents, Neferata used her manipulations and spy network to keep Tzeentch's forces occupied, undermine Sigmar's forces and spread Nagash's influence across the realms.

Not too long after, Neferata's double dealing causes Nagash to punish her by putting half her city under Arkhan's rulership; Arkhan himself doesn't really want the city, but "when Nagash says 'jump'..." so Arkhan left a vampiric vassal of his to rule in his stead. She also has to contend with rebellious nobles who want to kill her rallying under a noble she turned into a vampire and an invading Khornate army led by the Chaos Lord Ruhok. Neferata uses her powers and schemes to play them all against each other, and ends up destroying the Khornates, rebels and much of her realm by temporarily releasing the black hole in the center of Shyish (and a clever ploy involving said noble being a Manchurian Agent). As a result Nagash gives full rule of Nulahmia back to Neferata and she rebuilds it.

Fast forward a few centuries and Neferata begins to wage war against the Khornate forces of Angaria (a name that rivals Angron in creativity) and its daemon prince ruler Graunos. The prince is oddly cunning for a daemon of Khorne, and is aided by the nearly-as-cunning deathbringer Kathag - one of the few survivors from Lord Ruhok's forces. They refuse to play Neferata’s game of manipulations and spying, unknowingly playing right into the Mortarch of Blood’s hands. Through a series of infiltrations and convoluted schemes that’d make Tzeentch orgasm with joy, she managed to wipe out the entirety of Angaria by dropping an entire underworld on top of the city, wiping them out just like the Skaven did to the Lizardmen. She followed up by duelling Graunos, and defeated the Daemon Prince by slashing his eyes, triggering the scotomaphobia Graunos still had from his mortal origins, which made him destroy himself when he desperately tried to use purging fire to restore his sight.

One interesting part of her character hasn't been extrapolated upon yet; whether or not she still has a thing for Arkhan the Black. Some parts hints that Arkhan isn't the same as he was in the World-That-Was and may not remember Nef at all, but we don't know how Nef herself feels about this - if she cares at all, that is. Maybe the coming apocalypse brought the sweetheart out of her for a short while.

Lahmians

Main article: Lahmian.

Neferata's Bloodline, mostly female and in varying degrees of control of most of the factions of the world.

Nagadron The Adevore

The Dread Abyssal given to Neferata by Nagash in End Times. In the times of the Nehekharan gods, Nagadron resided with the other Dread Abyssals in the afterlife of men. Nagadron's job was to punish the gluttonous, ambushing selfish souls and chewing on them for all eternity. In Neferata's service, Nagadron now consumes the souls he eats, vomiting them up in smaller and smaller chunks as he gorges himself on flesh and spirit alike and eating them again (so yeah, Neferata's giant undead dragon demon is predictably a giant cat on the inside).

According to the team that produced the model, the hooded eyes are supposed to resemble a predatory snek.

Nagadron was last seen in End Times re-dying from mortal wounds with its last act being carrying Neferata and the unconscious Isabella back to the fortress of Nef and Khalida, but was resurrected alongside his (apparently its a he despite always being an undead skeleton monster) master in Age of Sigmar.

On the Tabletop

Old Editions

Queen Neferata used to have a model in the game, but she suffered from Alarielle the Everqueen syndrome and had a badass model you wanted to use for fluff reasons, but it was pretty crap on the field and thus was unlikely to ever be used. So GW removed it, leaving the von Carsteins as the only models in Vampire Counts until the latter part of 8th edition. The original model came with a cat, who was originally a ghost cat named Bastet, referencing the aforementioned story about felinid vampires.

The End Times

With the addition of Nagash's campaign, Neferata makes a triumphant return to the field as a mounted model with an on-foot option (although GW makes her share a kit with Mannfred von Carstein and Arkhan the Black, the thrill of her return far outshines the insult).

Since bloodlines are gone, Lahmians are represented by gearing out your Lord and Hero vampires with Beguile and similar abilities as well as ample spellcasting. Use skeletons, ghosts, and similar minions that can be handwaved as unwanted hauntings or the bones of ancestors when the Witch Hunters come calling. Feel free to use proxies of living models from any faction you want as servants to a mortal lover/manipulated army but statted as zombies, ghouls, skeletons, or whatever. Finally, Coven Thrones. The only two bloodlines that should be using Coven Thrones are von Carsteins and Lahmians, and you better not let those lower class fuckers put more on the tabletop then you or Neferata will want to have a private chat with you...

Lahmian armies will do very well against low LD armies, and poorly against armies like High Elves with 9's across the board in Leadership.

As for the Queen of Mysteries herself, her latest incarnation hits hard and can debuff the enemy ten ways from town. She has eight Strength 5 attacks that Always Strike First at Inititative 9. Eight Strength 5 attacks are rough but always striking first takes it to another level, then you have Thunderstomp. With a combined profile with her mount, that's D6 Strength 5 hits at Initiative 9 since ASF and ASL cancel each other out. As for the Debuffs, Neferata can debuff to a level that even her boss can't. Her Dagger of Jetl minuses 1- to the Strength, Initiative and Attack of a model that suffers an unsaved wound for the rest of the game. There's also Twilight Allure making all shooting and close combat attacks are at -1 to hit, so even a Chaos Lord will be hitting her on 5's. She also has a fun little trick of being able to, once per game, turn a character she slays in a challenge into a Vampire. If they get to keep all their gear (come on FAQ!) imagine turning Korhil or, even better, Kurt Helborg, into a Vampire.

Age Of Sigmar

As with the rest of the Mortarchs with fancy new models, Neferata was also reincarnated in the Mortal Realms, complete with her giant ghost-thingy mount. This leads her to a total of 11 wounds with a 4+ save and a respectable 16" flying move, though this decays as she suffers damage. She's very much at home in close combat, as all of her attacks are in 1" range. First off is Akmet-har, the Dagger of Jet, a fairly unremarkable but fast weapon that has the chance to outright murder her opponent if she deals damage (but not enough to kill them) and you roll a d6 higher than their remaining wounds. Second is Aken-Seth, a staff with considerably fewer attacks, but each one deals 2 damage with -2 Rend. Her steed can lash out with its own melee attacks, each as dangerous as the staff and with a good quantity (declining as she suffers wounds). The last weapon to be displayed is the weaponry of the various ghosts surrounding Neffy, all piddly compared to the rest, but if they roll a 6+ to hit, they deal a Mortal Wound.The rest of her rules all supplement this preference in melee - the ability to heal 2 wounds when she kills a model with her weapons, a command ability that forces enemies to rake a penalty to hit her, and a spell that lets its target ignore the rend of any weapons that hit them. As a bonus, if she kills a hero, she can also raise them as a Vampire Lord and then make them eat their former associates.

Gallery

Neferata's original model, looking like Elvira.
Neferata's new model. Note that the Hat principle is still in effect.
This is what she looks like while casting.
This is what she looks like a minute later in melee.
What Neferata wears on weekends. (and when with Arkhan)
Even after an apocalypse she's still got it.
And Iiiiii will always love youuuuuuu...