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Tomb Kings

2019-12-19T15:26:56Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1562:2FC0:A56B:7557: /* Death of an Era */

[[File:Liche Priest.png|thumb|right|315px|Welcome to Nehekhara]]
{{Topquote|Lightning shall sunder the skies, the rivers will flow with blood and war will come to the land. The legions of long-dead kings shall once more rise eternal in conquest, and death shall ride beside them.|Settra the Imperishable}}

{{Topquote|To have died once is enough.|Virgil}}

{{Topquote|So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.| Ezekiel 37:7-8}}

The not-Egyptians of [[Warhammer Fantasy]], if every single thing in Egypt died and was mummified but maintained the lifestyle as if still alive for several thousand years before pesky [[Old World|Europeans]] came to steal gold and use the corpses of historical rulers as skin cream (the latter is not a joke, they really did that).

One of the more underpowered groups on the tabletop due to powercreep in other factions not being fairly distributed around and being structured around [[Star Wars|Death Star-like]] massive weaknesses, although not without their strengths. This has resulted in their having a reputation as the single hardest faction in the game to play due to their needing to be played well to achieve victory, which puts them in the category of expert difficulty.

Players of the [[Warhammer 40,000|"Other Warhammer"]] know them as the original basis of the [[Necrons]]. In fact, whereas Necrons were originally the soulless and mostly unthinking, Terminator-like ("Terminator" as in the robots from the Schwarzenegger movies, 40k-fag) the rank and file troops of the Tomb Kings, later editions made the Necrons almost entirely just Tomb Kings IIIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE by giving the Necron leaders eccentric personalities and rivalries.

== History ==
[[File:Tomb_Kings_Ushabit.jpg|thumb|right|200px|I think that statue just moved...]]
After the [[Old Ones]] created the various races, but before [[Chaos]] came and destroyed the [[Warp Gates]], humans (rejected as a failure by the Old Ones due to short lifespans and Chaos corruptibility) expanded throughout the world. The exact direction mankind went is unclear; the Old Ones notoriously created special environments for their creations in order to observe them, and the fact the bulk of Warhammer Africa is one giant bowl called [[Nehekhara]] suggests Warhammer Africa really is the cradle of life in the setting as much as it is real life. At any rate, the ancient being known as [[Drachenfels]] noted that before Chaos came to the world a race of dark-skinned peoples who he hated had entered his territory as they spread northwards.

Nehekharans were a dark-skinned people, as you would expect, with a pantheon of animal-headed gods and goddesses, as you would expect, had a massive fetish for triangles in architecture, as you would expect, who used gold in everything they did and believed that it belonged to the divine royalty, as you would expect, and were absolutely fascinated by death, which you may have predicted. On the other hand their civilization reached a level of sofistication which could rival the future Empire, with magitech allowing them to build battle automatas and flying machines, they also imported firearms from Cathay, sadly this is only seen in the Time of Legends novels, most of these advancements where lost or replaced by mortuory rites, but more of that later. For many, MANY years the Nehekharans waged wars on each other, built small empires that didn't last long outside their own lifespan, and were entombed in great monuments. During the collapse of the Warp Gates and the ensuing invasions by Chaos, Nehekhara was left completely untouched due to the MASSIVE and almost impossible to traverse mountains that circled most of the subcontinent. What didn't stop however is the flow of magic through the world, in particular the [[Shyish|Wind of Death]] which empowered the priesthood of the Nehekharan pantheon to suddenly be able to produce actual miracles.

Not long after, centuries before the start of the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elf]] and [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elf]] civil war, the greatest Nehekharan to have ever lived was born. [[Settra the Imperishable|Settra]], who immediately set out on a mission of conquest to become the singular ruler of the entirety of Nehekhara, as well as solidify a single organized religion. Over time his name gained many titles, The Imperishable being the most notorious although its telling that the main job of his greatest warrior was to list them. While most Nehekharan kings before him had been simply spoiled inbred inept brutal dictators who managed to keep even the most prosperous kingdom in a state of constant poverty, Settra built the infrastructure of every land he claimed and spared any who swore loyalty to him while punishing those who did not in unspeakable ways. After doing the unthinkable and uniting his people, he followed it up with a second inconceivable feat; becoming the first Nehekharan king truly loved by his people, and feared only by those with disloyalty in their hearts.

As he neared middle age he came to the realization even the greatest king must die, something he refused to accept. The temples of Nehekhara, now called the Priesthood of Awakening, were appointed to use their connections to the Nehekharan gods (implied in some lore to be the same death gods for all races, notably [[Morr]]) and their magic to keep him alive forever. The Grand Hierophant (Nehekharan Pope), Khatep, promised him eternal skin made of pure gold, of endless rule, of the pleasures his position of [[Meme|Da Best]] came with. Instead, they only managed to come up with a way to extend the lives of wealthy Nehekharans to around 300 years or so, and preserve Settra's soul inside his aging body so that future generations could deliver on their promises. Settra sacrificed his children to form a pact with his gods, then allowed the Priests of Nehekhara to mummify and entomb him in his great palace tomb, the Pyramid of Eternity at his capital city of Khemri.

It took very little time for the Nehekharans to break up Settra's dynasty and factions battled for dominance again, although now there was an extra incentive: eternal life and a body of gold for paying into the promises of the priests, not to mention the dick-measuring contest of having the biggest and most elaborate tomb (to the point that some were cities for the living before, sometimes even after, the intended occupant died). The only unspoken rule was that nobody's could be taller than Settra's, for even thousands of years after his death the man was feared and loved.

The next major event would come five hundred years after Settra's reign, the birth of the OTHER greatest Nehekharan. [[Nagash]]. By that point, the tradition was that firstborn sons were given to the priesthood to train, the second born inherits the throne. Nagash had the misfortune of desiring power and respect but being the firstborn, and fostered a deep hatred of his brother (and healthy amount of lust for his brother's wife) and the systems the Nehekharans had developed. One day, Dark Elves were captured and brought to the palace. Nagash was put in charge of interrogating them, and discovering not only what they were but why they had come. Instead, Nagash tortured the female in their number (as only female Dark Elves are allowed to learn magic as their leader [[Malekith]] fears a prophesy involving a male Elf wizard killing him) until she spilled the secrets of true magic to him. Rather than mastering an existing Lore of magic, Nagash managed to do something no other being in Elflands, [[Lizardmen|South America]], or The [[Warp]] had done; invent [[Necromancy]], recording all of his discoveries in nine books called the Nine Books Of Nagash (title needed a bit of work). Nagash promptly killed his brother and assumed the throne, making his co-conspirators part of his royal court and making [[Arkhan the Black]] his Vizier. The he got Arkhan to lead a massive army of the Undead and become Settra 2.0. During the war Nagash built a pyramid made of pure [[Warpstone]], the [[Black Pyramid]], which dwarfed Settra's pyramid by a great deal.

Regardless of the immensely powerful magics used by Nagash and Arkhan, they were defeated by the son of a man named Lahmizzar from the kingdom of Lahmia that had united all other Nehekharans against the Undead, and Nagash was driven into the desert as man older than a century while Arkhan led a suicide attack to buy his master time to escape. Nagash wandered through the desert until he simply died, then got back up as his Elixir of Longevity proved to be a success and continued moving as the very first free-willed Undead. Arkhan in the meantime had been taken prisoner, and given to the descendants of Lahmizzar. The brother, a warlord with no interest in the more complex natures of what they were dealing with, left his power-hungry sister named [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] in charge of interrogating Arkhan. With his help, she entered the Black Pyramid and stole one of Nagash's books. Neferata developed a crush on Arkhan as both were semi-hedonistic nobility that craved independence that their circumstances kept them from possessing.

Neferata pored over the recipe for the Elixir of Longevity and eventually sampled her own perfected version which would keep her youthful and fleshy in contrast with Nagash's extremely anorexic look. The unfortunate cost of Neferata's elixir was a need to drink blood for all nourishment, although the powerful queen kept herself fed on the slaves of her kingdom easily. Some time later she shared the elixir with her favorite people including [[Vlad von Carstein|her husband]], [[Abhorash|the Captain of the Guard]], [[W'soran|her local priest]], [[Ushoran|her cousin]], and others. Lahmia quickly became a den of the very first [[Vampire Counts|Vampires]] in the setting, and after the death of her brother Neferata took control of the kingdom.

However, Neferata couldn't keep the horrifying rumors of her people secret and word spread throughout Nehekhara that the Lahmian court had become Nagash-worshiping monsters (not untrue). Neferata's solution was to accuse her cousin, [[High Queen Khalida]] who was essentially a [[Paladin]] queen of the nearby kingdom of Lybaras, of being a bloodsucking Undead. The already stupid plan failed when Neferata's duel for honor with Khalida resulted in both receiving mortal wounds despite Neferata's immense power. In desperation she sucked Khalida's blood in front of the assembled nobility who fled in horror to alert Nehekhara that the Undead had returned. Neferata attempted to turn Khalida into a Vampire, but Khalida's dying prayers to her snake goddess Asaph turned her blood to venom and purged the Vampiric taint. Khalida's body was recovered and her people buried her as the greatest Nehekharan monarch after Settra ("greatest ever" is a theme with Nehekharan royalty) while the rest of their people gathered in a massive army.

The Vampires fled to the Black Pyramid where they found Nagash waiting for them, eager to take these new generals to lead the Undead against the living once more. The battle raged for some time, and the leader of the living was captured and held while Nagash used the break in the fighting to begin casting a spell that would kill all life in Nehekhara for use as his animated skeleton army to march on the rest of the world. Unbeknownst to all beings involved, the [[Skaven]] had been watching the conflict and were horrified at what Nagash could do to the world if left undefeated. They forged the ultimate weapon made of pure Warpstone, a dagger so dangerous that upon touching it the bearer was doomed to a horrible and painful death and gave it to the leader of the living, who killed Nagash with it before perishing himself and falling into the ocean where he turned up later bearing Nagash's [[Crown Of Command]]. Nagash, as one last "FUCK YOU" to the living, repurposed his spell to simply kill everything in Nehekhara. Although always a desert with ample skulls (it IS a [[Games Workshop]] IP afterall), the spell rendered the entire land devoid of water or vegetation while the ground layer immediately below the sand is made up of solid skeletons. Animals, merely animated bones, still wander the desert looking for living flesh to tear.

The Vampires began to fight over whose fault the defeat was before making their way north to find more living beings. Some among their number had already fled previously, with Neferata and her husband having deserted even before the battle out of disdain for having to potentially follow Nagash as their leader, while the Captain of the Guard had left immediately after the battle in shame.

The most drastic effect of the spell was the effect it had on the dead; those killed by the spell immediately stood back up, bewildered at their new state. Desert winds stripped the dead flesh from the Nehekharans, leaving only bleached and animated bones remaining. As they returned to their homes they found that the kings of old, now called Tomb Kings, had awoken as well as those Nehekharans who had been entombed in their great tomb cities over the centuries. The commoners were content to reenact their living ways by maintaining the buildings, and shifting from buying, harvesting, and selling food to buying, crafting, "harvesting", and selling rocks and bones shaped like food. This however was not enough for the Tomb Kings. As hundreds upon thousands of generations in the same family line awoke, they immediately came into conflict with one another. For example, great great great great grandpa was enraged at how everyone had forgotten his name and accomplishments, great great great grandpa was shocked that his own son had taken his tomb and shoved the old man's body in a slave's casket in the entrance, great great grandpa demanded explanation for why his son had signed a peace treaty with the king who killed him in a war rather than avenge his father, great grandpa signed the peace treaty so he would be allowed to peacefully marry his own sister, grandpa revealed his son was a bastard that washed up on shore because his own sister/wife had miscarried every babby, dad died at the age of 14 after conceiving a child and demanding a prom be thrown in his honor, son had changed the main faith of the kingdom to another god and pissed off everyone else in the line, and grandson had failed to stop Nagash. Every single one of them wants to be in charge, and sit in the throne that every single one of them sat at during their reign, and every single one has a big enough and infinitely respawning army of skeletons to use to demand they get their way. Fueling the frustration was the relatively poor upkeep many of the early tombs had seen, on top of the worst offense at all; no body of gold, less blessings from the gods, no immortal flesh, only brittle bone and wrappings with the odd scarab or two scuttling around the hollow places inside.

The only exception to the dusty carnage was Khalida, who strode past her warring ancestors who fought over the palace to her own palace which had been located inside the Temple of Asaph, wearing the golden armor and death mask her people had made for her and resembling the promised skin no other Tomb King had received, and took her throne to usher in the only peace to be found in the lands of the dead.

The priesthood, now mummies themselves, found they had absolutely no power over the enraged entirety of the Nehekharan existence. Without option, Khatep (who had reclaimed his Grand Hierophant role) chose to seek out the only Nehekharan who had ever brought peace to the land; Settra, the only Tomb King who had not awoken with Nagash's spell.

Settra's first order of business was to banish Khatep to seek a way to give Settra his promised golden skin. Second, beat the shit out of EVERY Tomb King and secure oaths of loyalty from them. Settra's masterful tactics and general ferocity in battle allowed him to capture each king and end what would otherwise have been eternal wars. Those who bowed and sent tribute were released and allowed to fight over territory with their fellows if they so fit, so long as they knew who the true king was. Those who refused were granted horrible fates even for the undying, including being spread piece by piece into the desert and having their skull used as replenishing artillery ammo for catapults, while on fire. This thinned out the ranks enough to have enough kings able to claim at least a portion of the empires they had while alive. Settra respected Khalida, and secured her oath without need for conflict.

After Settra reestablished the Tomb Kings, he set his sights on eliminating the threat of Nagash as the first Lich was just as undying as the Tomb Kings, and would return in time. Arkhan became a Tomb King mercenary, working for anyone and everyone (even once creating a giant magical bridge for a Tomb King to ride chariots to other lands on) while not-so secretly working on Nagash's resurrection. Khatep wanders the world, looking for a way to give the Tomb Kings solid gold cocks again. Khalida attempts to wipe out all Vampires, everywhere because fuck Vampires and fuck Neferata. Many Tomb Kings and their architects awoke to find their temples desecrated and/or looted, sometimes even by non-Nehekharans! Oftentimes [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] or [[Warriors of Chaos]] were to blame, and any Tomb King worth anything will slaughter a genocidal path through the descendants of the thieving fucks while retrieving every single last fleck of gold dust. Other Tomb Kings have taken to enjoying their respawning nature to hunt [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskins]] or even [[Daemons]] like animals for sport. Beyond that even, some wish to emulate what they had in life and will trade or raid other parts of the world to gather anything from real food to slaves for unnecessary harems to fine silks to weave the emblems that otherwise only exist within their own memory on.

Tomb Kings have absolutely no consistent alignment. Some destroy the living out of envy, others like Khalida work willingly with the living, still others like Settra give no fucks as long as you're their underling. Even on the tabletop, the Tomb Kings army is completely Neutral and can work with any other faction.

== Heroes ==
[[File:Image002-1.jpg|200px|thumb|left'''|The Bob Marley of Warhammer''']]
* '''[[Settra the Imperishable]]:''' Settra is like an undead spellcasting Chuck Norris. He's got a weapon skill of 7 and a strength of 6 and eats lesser characters for breakfast. He also has the best beard in the whole Warhammer Realm, this alone making him worth his points. Some claim that Settra is in fact a rastaman, judging by both the length of his beard and the amount of spells he can dish out each turn. He is also made out of an intense amount of cheese. He was nerfed in the more recent edition, but in return you can use him in a 2000pt army. Rides a pimped-out ride called the Chariot Of The Gods.

* '''[[Queen Khalida|High Queen Khalida]]:''' [[Pelor]] can fuck right off, Khalida is responsible for more dead Vampires than little Mr. Sunshine will ever be. Unique among Tomb Kings in that you can actually see what she looked like while alive since she wears armor cast against her corpse although half the face of the mask is gone. Rules a devoutly religious kingdom that hails the goddess of phallic imagery and has the most giant magic robots made of gold out of all the Tomb Kings. Makes your ranged attacks so unbelievably OP you'd think she's a [[Shadowsun|tsun]] [[Tau|alien]].

* '''[[Grand Hierophant Khatep]]:''' The supreme alpha-pope of the Tomb Kings, forbidden from coming home and relaxing until he finds a way to give everyone golden bodies with living sensation.

* '''[[The Herald Nekaph]]''' Nekaph is the best buddy of the undead spellcasting Chuck Norris. He is NOT nice in challenges. He will mangle any Hero he thinks smells a bit off, and can munch some Lords for breakfast too. And so will his flail, since it's comprised of perpetually gnawing skulls. Whether its artificers consulted Khorne about the design of this weapon is anyone's guess.

* '''[[Arkhan the Black]]:''' Nagash's second in command, works with anyone still loyal to Nagash and does odd jobs for just about anyone willing to pay him. Has a crush on the queen of the Vampires, only gets to reveal it to her and have one kiss before the world ends. As a young man, fucked everything that moved and took so little care of himself his nickname refers to his teeth...as a young man.

* '''[[Prince Apophas]]:'''-- He was an evil asshole, so he was put into a crypt to be eaten by beetles. He made a deal with a god though, and now he can fly and barf insects on people. He's a super-powerful warmachine killer. Beyond that, he's not entirely worth it when you consider all the heroes you can choose from. He is also "resembles" but is legally distinct from a similarly named character in an Egyptian themed sci-fi tv show, the titular character from The Mummy and the Egyptian god of evil and chaos and stuff (though you can't copyright ancient mythology) Terrible.

* '''[[Rahmhotep the Visionary]]:'''-- Nehekhara's best architect and most merciless taskmaster. In return for building monuments, the ancient architects would be sacrificed so their ideas couldn't be shared with other kings than the ones who commissioned them, so the man got his fellow architects wasted and then he'd disguise himself as them and go around building monuments. Yeah, how many people can say they escaped sacrifice several times and walk around like nothing was new. He's pretty pissed that everything is falling apart, so he's caught between a murderous rage that is the stuff of legend and playing a one-man game of [[Minecraft]] after a Creeper apocalypse.

* '''Prince Tutankhanut:''' King Tutankhamun expy. Died young, had a golden body that was artificially made for him until he gets his fleshy gold from Khatep.

* '''King Phar:''' In life, absolutely HATED greenskins and was the only man able to defeat Settra in a single battle. Died of old age while fighting him, allowing Settra to claim his kingdom of Mahrak. After rising, he was angered beyond words that his descendants had sworn loyalty to Settra and destroyed their bodies which left him the only ruler of Mahrak. Returned to being Settra's rival and destroying any greenskins in or near Nehekhara. Uses a skull flail that puts those of any Khornate to shame, made from Orc Warboss skulls. In the End Times he was retconned to be from Numas, not Mahrak.

* '''Sehenesmet:''' King of Quatar, a king with the skills of a Necrotect. Perfected the process of animating living statues, and towards the end of his life put himself in one.

* '''Amanhotep:''' The primary Tomb King of Zandri. Taken by [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] Knights who thought he was their ancestor and woke up buried in Bretonnian regalia and sealed in a Bretonnian tomb. Woke up, ran amok through the region, then <strike>marched</strike> walked angrily back home while nursing a grudge against not-Frenchmen ever since. Had a special part to play in the [[Dreadfleet]] campaign where once again humans come and wreck his shit, in this case a thief named Jaego Roth from [[Sartosa]] who stole a literal boatload of gold in order to pay mercenaries to sail with him to kill the vampire who killed his family. Amanhotep immediately went to his ship, the ''Curse Of Zandri'', which was a pyramid on a very large Solar Barge with a tail like a [[Warsphinx]] that fired a powerful laser armed with catapults and crewed by Ushabti.

* '''Behedesh:''' Hates greenskins as much as Phar, takes the fight outside Nehekhara to the Old World.

* '''Setep:''' Seeks to make a kingdom in the nearly impassible mountains around northern Nehekhara, the [[Border Princes]]. Rivals include greenskins, Vampires, Dwarfs, and living humans. Made a magical golden sword with a blue edge that slices through normal armor effortlessly and shatters magical armor.

* '''Alkharad:''' A Tomb King in eternal war with [[Slayer]]s over a golden disk stolen by one of their ancestors and set in a hammer. Dwarfs barely recognize humans as having property rights, Undead humans are less than nothing so no crime was committed in their eyes. Alkharad gave them a chance, now the Dwarf race is forfeit and will pay for their dishonor one dead Slayer at a time.

* '''Pharakh:''' Killed by [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|the Empire]]. Going to blitz the FUCK out of not-Germany once he gets back from resurrection.

==Religion==

* '''Ptra''' The not-Ra sun god and heavily implied to be the god Settra worshipped the most.
* '''Neru''' The Nehekharan goddess of the moon and paramour/love interest of Ptra.
* '''Djaf''' The not-Anubis god of death.
* '''Usirian'''. The not-Osiris god of the Nehekharn underworld.
* '''[[Asaph]]:''' Snake goddess, primary temple in Lybaras and used as the palace of her champion, High Queen Khalida. Favors ranged combat and tips arrows in magic poison while guiding their path into enemies. Domains are beauty, vengeance, and magic.

==Army Composition==
[[File:Skeletalchariots.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Hit and run]]

To make an appropriately fluffy army rather than a superior army tactically (which has its own page below), the best route is to do like GW and copy non-fictional history.

Although the Mortuary Cult began with Settra, and thus he would logically be the oldest and first Tomb King, it wouldn't be lore breaking to come from an older generation as the Mortuary Cult could have had a less-organized predecessor.

Settra is known for his amazing Chariot Of The Gods, something that indicates his era parallels real-life Egyptian New Kingdom military, where the Egyptians had been introduced to the composite bow and horses, with chariots coming soon after. As a result early Tomb Kings should have ample Horsemen, some Chariots, and Skeleton Archers. The New Kingdom saw the rise of professional armies meaning Settra would have introduced the Tomb Guard.

Any older than Settra would likely be similar to the Egyptian Old Kingdom, made up of large peasant levies armed only with simple bows and basic weapons like clubs. Such a force should have no Chariots, and the oldest would have no cavalry at all. Old Kingdom Egypt relied heavily on its navy for protection, so your Tomb Guard would be marines rather than palace guard.

Constructs were a later invention of the Tomb Kings, and thus only the younger generations should have them in large numbers unless your Tomb King is the sort to be diplomatic and trade (or draw Necrotects away from their rivals with promises and bribes). Likewise, Horsemen should be totally abandoned for Chariots alone. Lybaras had the most complex Constructs among the Tomb Kings, and older Lybaras Tomb Kings may have had access to them earlier than their peers.

All Egyptians regardless of era used heavy ranged support, so feel free to stock up on Catapults, Archers, and whatever else.
Spears remained an uncommon weapon which was normally used by cavalry more than infantry. Most Egyptian forces favored shields.

Egyptians were reliant on mercenary armies and rarely innovated new equipment or tactics, relying instead on applying what successful enemies utilized against them. The only hint of this in the Tomb Kings is Khalida being extremely open to hiring Gotrek and Felix to slay vampires in her name, although with this as a precedent players could field forces from another army as a proxy. Egyptian mercenaries were citizens and used Egyptian colors and symbols rather than those of their own people, so any mercs should be matching the rest of your force (there's also a snippet of lore about living humans cohabiting with the undead Nehekharans in a city, but that lore said that the military was exclusively undead and the living are drafted after they die; their corpses reduced to skeletons then inducted into their ranks). Remember that since Nehekhara is devoid of much life or sources of drinking water that living subjects and forces would be rare and only for Tomb Kings capable of keeping them alive via control of an oasis, coastline, or mountain pass.

==Death of an Era==

In Age of Sigmar, as of February 2016, [[FAIL|the entire Tomb Kings faction was squatted, with the entire model range being moved to the "Last Chance to Buy" section, including Settra]]. Tomb Kings players everywhere cried manly tears of pain and rage. Unconfirmed reports state the only thing that stopped them from marching on Nottingham and laying siege to Games Workshop HQ is a shortage of bones for the catapults, and the Bretonnian players began sharpening their swords waiting for the inevitable. To add insult to injury, the pdf rules for the Tomb Kings were removed from the Games Workshop website.

If you want to get into the army these days, buy the models second-hand or convert some Tomb Kings. As GW has managed to do repeatedly since End Times, they replaced their former iron grip on the market with a void that third parties have filled with various Tomb King replacement model lines from various sculptors and various companies.

RIP Tomb Kings. May your rotting corpse be forever restless. (See Geheimisnacht where they fuck everything over even today.)

This ended up being the harbinger of the future; just as Nehekhara was the first nation destroyed in the End Times (based on the End Times: Nagash armybook being released before the End Times: Khaine armybook), so were the Tomb Kings the first faction to get the axe but not the last. Not long after the Bretonnians got the axe as well and several other product lines took massive hits early on in the life of Age Of <strike>Shitmar</strike> Sigmar, and with each year more and more of the old models were squatted as well as some that weren't even five years old. To date, almost all of the Dwarfs and High Elves ranges have been squatted, with the survivors being combined with the unsurprisingly still thriving Empire range into one faction alongside all the Dark Elves. Goblins were largely removed as well, showing a lack of respect for the past at the time with the most iconic factions and armies as dead as non-Nehekharan skeletons.

==[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o_UIkS5m9gc I Don't Wanna Die, I'm A God, Why Can't I Live On?]==
New life was breathed into the Warhammer Fantasy fanbase with [[The 9th Age]], a fan-run successor to 8th Edition and Warhammer Fantasy. Using totes not-copyright violating renames, the game managed to become the most balanced edition of Warhammer Fantasy that has ever existed.

As popularity for the game grew, model manufacturers reached out to make proxies for the Warhammer Fantasy models, replacing that which Games Workshop gave the axe and providing non-Games Workshop alternatives to the rest. The first model range to be replaced? Delicious irony and dried salty tears, it was the Undying Dynasties AKA the not-Tomb Kings.

These come from TMS ([[Tabletop Miniatures Solutions]]) via an Indiegogo campaign (found [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tms-undying-dynasties-army-release#/ here]) and will be available to purchase on their store page (found [https://tabletop-miniatures-solutions.com here]).

[[Mantic Games]], GW's upstart young rival, has recently made Tomb Kings fans' lives a lot easier. They've released a line of miniatures for their not-Tomb Kings army, the Empire of Dust, that more or less covers everything you need. The cheeky SOBs stock their models [http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/kings-of-war/empire-of-dust.html here], and you should give it at least a look if you're considering a walk on the other side.

Old kings don't die, they just fade away...then come back to life to break their foot off on your ass again.

As of 2019, GW announced they are going to bring back Warhammer Fantasy in some form! Though they also said it wont be ready for a long time, and we don't know what form that will take, so...

==Return in Age of Sigmar!==

In the third page of The Blood of Centuries section from The Realmgates Wars: Godbeasts (pag. 14 if you have the PDF), there is an entry titled Wrath of the Obsidian Monarchy which talks about the Crimson Monarchy (that's GW editors for you),a dynasty of undying kings living in the Voidglass Desert which fight with chariots and skeletal legions, now, you may say these could be vampires, but so far as we can recall they only have coachs, not chariots, only the Tomb Kings fit this image, is quite a small entry, but leaves open a chance to see some Tomb Kings-like Death factions coming to Age of Sigmar. What with Shysh being now an entire plane of existance for different aftelife realms and undead civilizations thriving. And we have seen [[Gotrek & Felix|other things coming back]] [[Squats|despite being declared dead.]]

Hopes were raised (no pun intended) in a Necropolis video from Warhammer TV on Youtube which seemed to be about an ancient king returning...unfortunately, the faction was revealed to be a faction of OCs of artificially manufactured undead, with their "king" just being a Mortarch. While it has a bone motif, priests, and catapults hurling flaming skulls, it also only resembles the Tomb Kings in the sense that they visually match Nagash and the Morghasts from End Times rather than the '''actual''' Tomb Kings.

Whether it was a giant unpleasant tease or ''"close enough"'' is subjective. But objectively, the Tomb Kings have not returned and the only promise that it could happen is future Made To Order releases. That being said, Settra did eventually returned in Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods, as Lord Celestant Setrus of the Imperishables warrior chamber.

==Total Warhammer==

The Tomb Kings have arisen again in Total War: WARHAMMER it seems. With Hierotitans capable of shooting eye laser beams no less. Even more, [[Awesome|Settra has a voice actor!]]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs| Say it with me now!]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Tomb_Kings_6th.jpg|The 6e/first Army Book.
Image:TombKingsBook_873x627.jpg|The 8e Army Book.
Image:Bone_giant2.jpg|Bone Giants and Bone Catapults; the final word in "GET OFF MY LAWN!"
Image:Tomb_Kings_warsphinx.JPG|Wouldn't be an Egypt-expy without sphinxes.
Image:Destruction_of_nehekhara.png|Fuck you, Nagash and GW
Image:Tomb Kings Squatted.jpg|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOJB6wTo2wM| Farewell, Tomb Kings] This was the true fall of Nehekhara
</gallery>

==See Also==
* [[Warhammer/Tactics/Tomb Kings|Tactics/Tomb Kings]]
* [[Tomb King Dynasty Creation Tables]]
* [[Necrons]] - With their recent 6th edition fluff update, Necrons are now the TOMB KINGS IN SPEHSS of the 41st millennia.
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3vhpk7DhZM Tomb Kings themesong
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ7BOeCpkY&feature=player_embedded#! Tomb Kings better themesong
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icwd9HYIuq8&feature=player_embedded#! A rather more serious themesong, done by [[Awesome|Egyptian Death Metal]] band Nile.
*http://theendlessdeserts.blogspot.com A fan website dedicated to Tomb Kings in Age of Sigmar, with unofficial rules and lore.

{{Playable Factions in Warhammer Fantasy Battle}}

{{Template:Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Tomb Kings]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-12-19T15:21:33Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1562:2FC0:A56B:7557: /* Gallery */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the [[Stormcast Eternals|fuckboys]]!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}
{{topquote|Debt, an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.|Ambrose Bierce}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes (designed and sculpted by [[Maxime Corbeil]], a former dentist), the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

They also carry out the Bone Tithe; in addition to going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements they encounter a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Being unable to pay or even being rude to them also provokes a slaughter.

Visually-speaking, they're what happens when Games Workshop decides to mix [[Tyranids]], [[Tomb Kings]], and [[Dark Eldar]] into one army.

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Society==
[[File:Bonereaper city.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Welcome to Necrotopia. Please remember to remove all skin and flesh before you reach customs.]]

All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath him and various ranks beneath that.

While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of crafters, like the Ossifact, or preachers, like those in the Priad caste. There is movement between castes, but only downwards, as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider. If the offense was major, they might get remade as a steed. The lowest caste are the exiles collectively referred to as Parrha, consisting of the worst offenders who get broken and remade into warped skeletal aberrations incapable of fighting and the Bonereapers value them less than the Imperial Guard values the life of its rank and file soldiers (for the uninitiated, that's really saying something).

The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the main factions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories.

The Ossiarch Bonereapers build according to principles laid down in the Principia Necrotopia, a set of guidelines that ensure optimal construction:

In the first stages of colonizing a new region, the Ossiarchs will establish tithing sites. Presumably, this involves mapping out surrounding settlements and segments of the region into their own tributaries, with each section's inhabitants made to sign a contract to begin paying the Tithe. They contruct shrines known as Bone-Tithe Nexus, which act as locations for vassals to dump their bones and are enchanted to give out powerful curses to ward off any scavengers seeking to steal from it.

Next, they will fortify key territories with small fortifications, following up with a number of Mortisan workshops to fuel the next stage of their expansion. These small holdings will eventually develop into vast and imposing fortresses, growing ever upward as the Bonereapers’ numbers grow. These are not just barracks, but places of culture for the Ossiarchs.

Ossiarch scholars will endlessly study scrolls in charnel libraries, recording the details of cultures in the Mortal Realms they have subjugated and those they seek to subjugate. These vast citadel-states eventually resemble Nagashizzar itself.

To elaborate on the Bone Tithe, it is instrumental to their society and Nagash's way of setting himself up as mob boss of the realms. A representative approaches the settlement and states the terms. Where the bones come from and the required condition and amount depends on the situation and Bonereaper legion in question. Human bone is the most widely used; dwarf bones aren't common enough, elf bones don't replenish fast enough with elves slow birthrates and orc bones are too porous and prone to spontaneous fungal growth. While animal bones may be needed, such as to repair Kavalos steeds, that's not always the case and it depends on what animal they're from. While Rhinoxen or bleaklake crocodile bones are used in Kavalos steeds, in one case a Bonereaper Legion slaughtered a human town because the inhabitants cheated the tithe by mixing pig bones in with human bones.

Sometimes things are even worse. A particularly war-horny leader, most often from the Stalliarch Lords (more on them below), will give impossible demands. Examples include detailed records on the city's family lineage going back to its founders and the condition of every bone still inside the living, or one tonne of bones ''every day''. They might instead, or also, [[That Guy|arrive early to extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it]]. Ultimately, they have a term related to the Bone Tithe called the Terminus Concept; the point where a society can't provide enough bones so they get slaughtered and their bones are taken, meaning the Bone Tithe is unsustainable for the payers in the long term and the Bonereapers know it. This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Bonereaper army.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, they have the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons. Their primary role is to create massive shield walls to protect their leaders.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was now served as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but with more armor. These are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Four-armed skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters with four faces, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly. Their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other. Like the Morghasts, Immortis are the bodyguard bois to the Stalkers' chargey bois.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant. For added creep factor, these guys normally walk at a slow and ominous trot, only sprinting when going into a headlong charge.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. In addition to flaming skulls, it can also hurl a cauldron of Death Magic that works based on bravery or a cursed stone that gets more powerful the more damage the Crawler takes. It's also powered by a bone-made hamster wheel and multiple legs.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:''' Your offensive caster for the Bonereapers with a scythe that doesn't like hordes.
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers/builders of the Bonereapers. Formed from the souls of artists, they’re in charge of building the extravagant bone cities and other architecture of the legions. They all possess a friendly rivalry with each other that pushes them to one up another’s artwork.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans with four arms who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The 10,000 strong personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life. [[Ultramarines|The poster boys who are a jack-of-all-trades, big on tactics and led by an ancient leader who was the basis for future generations]]. They also have the only two Bonereapers with a single original soul; Katakros himself and Zandtos.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Made up of nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, they are known for being slow-moving and a near impenetrable wall of bone. While fossilized bone tends to be fragile, the Petrifex Elite enchant them to be tough and also include already supernaturally tough bones among them (ie; the bones of godbeasts). [[Necrons|They only exist to slay and find ancient bones to build more of themselves and make themselves even deadlier]]. They have forgotten why Nagash wants them to do this, and their leaders eschew personal identity (or so their most senior member says...).
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion; so loyal to him that they defer to Arkhan even over Katakros himself. Their resistance to magic extends to the power of Chaos, so they're used to inhabit the most inhospitable parts of the realms. Recently Arkhan made an alliance with Katakros, and the Null Myriad's job is to secure locations in the realms so Katakros can control the sources of their magic.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slavering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones. Tasked by Nagash to conquer Ghur, they overcompensate for their bestial anger by being as clean and making everything of theirs as much of a work of art as possible. Also known for [[Tomb Kings|being the only Ossiarchs who build ships, use the color gold regularly in their attire and are led by a monarch]].
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who are [[Creed|skillful tacticians]] and like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities and slaughter people (on the rare occasion that someone meets their outrageous demands they keep their word... but remember the Terminus Concept). They even force the Bone Tithe on other death factions, as was the case when they subjected a keep of Blood Knights to it and offered them a way out if their leader defeated a Liege-Kavalos in a duel to the death (he didn't), so in addition to being [[Kharn|psychopaths with zero regard for life, they're also team-killing douchebags]]. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that. In fact, their leaders [[Noblebright|have made pacts of friendship to repair each other if any of them are destroyed and the chief Liege-Kavalos scours the libraries of everyone they encounter in the hopes of finding a way to undo their fiery curse]].

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants; the Liege-Immortis, the Aviarch Spymaster, the Gnosis Scrollbearer, and the Prime Necrophoros.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos has been Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. In life he was a refined, death-obsessed assassin who treated killing as a sacred art and hated the butchery of battle. In undeath, through the manipulations of Nagash and Katakros, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle. Though officially he’s under Katakros in the OBR hierarchy, he’ll only receive/carry out orders from Big Bone Daddy himself.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bonereaper vs Kharadron.jpg|Sky Pirates vs Bone Golems.
File:Cavalry-bonereapers.jpg|As if Blood Knights weren't bad enough, Bone Daddy brings out Kavalos Deathriders too.
</gallery>

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-12-19T15:20:57Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:1562:2FC0:A56B:7557: /* Famous Legions */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the [[Stormcast Eternals|fuckboys]]!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}
{{topquote|Debt, an ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.|Ambrose Bierce}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes (designed and sculpted by [[Maxime Corbeil]], a former dentist), the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

They also carry out the Bone Tithe; in addition to going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements they encounter a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Being unable to pay or even being rude to them also provokes a slaughter.

Visually-speaking, they're what happens when Games Workshop decides to mix [[Tyranids]], [[Tomb Kings]], and [[Dark Eldar]] into one army.

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Society==
[[File:Bonereaper city.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Welcome to Necrotopia. Please remember to remove all skin and flesh before you reach customs.]]

All Ossiarch Bonereapers are built for a specific purpose and assigned a role based on the souls from which they’re formed. This is codified through a caste system, with Nagash at the top, the highest ranking Ossiarchs underneath him and various ranks beneath that.

While many Ossiarch Bonereapers are warriors, there are castes of crafters, like the Ossifact, or preachers, like those in the Priad caste. There is movement between castes, but only downwards, as a punishment for failure. A Liege Kavalos who fails in their mission, for example, may be remade as a Kavalos Deathrider. If the offense was major, they might get remade as a steed. The lowest caste are the exiles collectively referred to as Parrha, consisting of the worst offenders who get broken and remade into warped skeletal aberrations incapable of fighting and the Bonereapers value them less than the Imperial Guard values the life of its rank and file soldiers (for the uninitiated, that's really saying something).

The Ossiarch Bonereapers can be found all across the Mortal Realms, aiming to conquer everything from Azyr to the Eightpoints. At present, the main factions of the Ossiarch Bonereapers are concentrated in Shyish, inhabiting the nations that surround the Shyish Nadir. This allows them easy access to a vast source of magical power and establishes them as a permanent garrison around this most valuable of territories.

The Ossiarch Bonereapers build according to principles laid down in the Principia Necrotopia, a set of guidelines that ensure optimal construction:

In the first stages of colonizing a new region, the Ossiarchs will establish tithing sites. Presumably, this involves mapping out surrounding settlements and segments of the region into their own tributaries, with each section's inhabitants made to sign a contract to begin paying the Tithe. They contruct shrines known as Bone-Tithe Nexus, which act as locations for vassals to dump their bones and are enchanted to give out powerful curses to ward off any scavengers seeking to steal from it.

Next, they will fortify key territories with small fortifications, following up with a number of Mortisan workshops to fuel the next stage of their expansion. These small holdings will eventually develop into vast and imposing fortresses, growing ever upward as the Bonereapers’ numbers grow. These are not just barracks, but places of culture for the Ossiarchs.

Ossiarch scholars will endlessly study scrolls in charnel libraries, recording the details of cultures in the Mortal Realms they have subjugated and those they seek to subjugate. These vast citadel-states eventually resemble Nagashizzar itself.

To elaborate on the Bone Tithe, it is instrumental to their society and Nagash's way of setting himself up as mob boss of the realms. A representative approaches the settlement and states the terms. Where the bones come from and the required condition and amount depends on the situation and Bonereaper legion in question. Human bone is the most widely used; dwarf bones aren't common enough, elf bones don't replenish fast enough with elves slow birthrates and orc bones are too porous and prone to spontaneous fungal growth. While animal bones may be needed, such as to repair Kavalos steeds, that's not always the case and it depends on what animal they're from. While Rhinoxen or bleaklake crocodile bones are used in Kavalos steeds, in one case a Bonereaper Legion slaughtered a human town because the inhabitants cheated the tithe by mixing pig bones in with human bones.

Sometimes things are even worse. A particularly war-horny leader, most often from the Stalliarch Lords (more on them below), will give impossible demands. Examples include detailed records on the city's family lineage going back to its founders and the condition of every bone still inside the living, or one tonne of bones ''every day''. They might instead, or also, [[That Guy|arrive early to extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it]]. Ultimately, they have a term related to the Bone Tithe called the Terminus Concept; the point where a society can't provide enough bones so they get slaughtered and their bones are taken, meaning the Bone Tithe is unsustainable for the payers in the long term and the Bonereapers know it. This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Bonereaper army.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, they have the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons. Their primary role is to create massive shield walls to protect their leaders.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was now served as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but with more armor. These are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Four-armed skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters with four faces, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly. Their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other. Like the Morghasts, Immortis are the bodyguard bois to the Stalkers' chargey bois.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant. For added creep factor, these guys normally walk at a slow and ominous trot, only sprinting when going into a headlong charge.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. In addition to flaming skulls, it can also hurl a cauldron of Death Magic that works based on bravery or a cursed stone that gets more powerful the more damage the Crawler takes. It's also powered by a bone-made hamster wheel and multiple legs.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:''' Your offensive caster for the Bonereapers with a scythe that doesn't like hordes.
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers/builders of the Bonereapers. Formed from the souls of artists, they’re in charge of building the extravagant bone cities and other architecture of the legions. They all possess a friendly rivalry with each other that pushes them to one up another’s artwork.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans with four arms who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The 10,000 strong personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life. [[Ultramarines|The poster boys who are a jack-of-all-trades, big on tactics and led by an ancient leader who was the basis for future generations]]. They also have the only two Bonereapers with a single original soul; Katakros himself and Zandtos.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Made up of nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, they are known for being slow-moving and a near impenetrable wall of bone. While fossilized bone tends to be fragile, the Petrifex Elite enchant them to be tough and also include already supernaturally tough bones among them (ie; the bones of godbeasts). [[Necrons|They only exist to slay and find ancient bones to build more of themselves and make themselves even deadlier]]. They have forgotten why Nagash wants them to do this, and their leaders eschew personal identity (or so their most senior member says...).
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion; so loyal to him that they defer to Arkhan even over Katakros himself. Their resistance to magic extends to the power of Chaos, so they're used to inhabit the most inhospitable parts of the realms. Recently Arkhan made an alliance with Katakros, and the Null Myriad's job is to secure locations in the realms so Katakros can control the sources of their magic.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slavering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones. Tasked by Nagash to conquer Ghur, they overcompensate for their bestial anger by being as clean and making everything of theirs as much of a work of art as possible. Also known for [[Tomb Kings|being the only Ossiarchs who build ships, use the color gold regularly in their attire and are led by a monarch]].
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who are [[Creed|skillful tacticians]] and like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities and slaughter people (on the rare occasion that someone meets their outrageous demands they keep their word... but remember the Terminus Concept). They even force the Bone Tithe on other death factions, as was the case when they subjected a keep of Blood Knights to it and offered them a way out if their leader defeated a Liege-Kavalos in a duel to the death (he didn't), so in addition to being [[Kharn|psychopaths with zero regard for life, they're also team-killing douchebags]]. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that. In fact, their leaders [[Noblebright|have made pacts of friendship to repair each other if any of them are destroyed and the chief Liege-Kavalos scours the libraries of everyone they encounter in the hopes of finding a way to undo their fiery curse]].

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants; the Liege-Immortis, the Aviarch Spymaster, the Gnosis Scrollbearer, and the Prime Necrophoros.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos has been Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. In life he was a refined, death-obsessed assassin who treated killing as a sacred art and hated the butchery of battle. In undeath, through the manipulations of Nagash and Katakros, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle. Though officially he’s under Katakros in the OBR hierarchy, he’ll only receive/carry out orders from Big Bone Daddy himself.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Bonereaper vs Kharadron.jpg|Sky Pirates vs Bone Golems.
File:Cavalry-bonereapers.jpg|As if Blood Knights weren't bad enough, Bone Daddy brings out these guys too.
</gallery>

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]