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Blizzard

2021-09-06T11:33:44Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Scandals */

{{/vg/}}
{{topquote|Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.|Charles C. Colton, ''Lacon: Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those Who Think''}}

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Blizzard
|Symbol = [[File:Fluff Accurate.jpg|300px]]
|Alignment = Stupid Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = AAA
|Pantheon = Activision
|Portfolio =
|Domains = Greed, Falls From Grace, Bad Ideas, Terrible Writing (Formerly: Polish, Execution, Unoriginality)
|Home Plane = California
|Worshippers = Gamers,
|Favoured Weapon = Exploit worker, Union Breaker, Retcons, Virtue Signal, Weinsteinian culture, IP theft
}}

__NOTOC__
'''Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.''' is an American-owned servant of the PRC and [[/v/|video game]] developer founded in 1991. Consumed by corporate merger shenanigans in 2008, they are now a subsidiary of parent company Activision Blizzard. They are well known in the gaming community for rising to prominence by shamelessly ripping off a long list of things, the most pertinent to [[/tg/]] being the similarity between its flagship franchises and ''[[Warhammer 40k]]''. Blizzard is akin to Apple Inc.: they never ''really'' did anything original, and instead took inspiration/borrowed/stole content from other sources, marketing it as though they're pretty much posterboys of the brand, and took the credit for being "pioneers of said genre". [[Games Workshop|Let it not be said they didn't steal their business/creative practices from the best]].

While not as skubtastic as [[Kaldor Draigo|the]] [[Matt Ward|other]] [[Grey Knights|things]] [[Ultramarines|present]], it still does cause tensions in /tg/ when brought up. Especially if it concerns one of their games' [[fluff]].

While Blizzard does [[Blood Ravens|"borrow"]] other people's ideas, there's no denying marketing spends a lot of time and effort studying those ideas, figuring why they are successful, and what parts of these ideas should be improved or removed to make them better. This leads to creating a few extremely well done and successful games, in turn earning a [[Profit|LOT of money]]. While other studios may create revolutionary content, Blizzard is more about ''evolution,'' with their games becoming golden standards of quality, and "easy to learn, hard to master" learning curves. They are also responsible for creating the game-dev meme ''"when it's done,"'' which means they could literally spend a decade on mismanagement one game, probably spending too much time doing drugs in the office, and another decade to force the dev team into crunch with a shit-ton of balance patches, while management pisses off to GDC but it's to be expected, given all other major game developers are the same, if not [[EA|much, much worse]].

[[Skub|There's contention]] between the legions of GW and the hordes of Blizzard in regards to copyrights, who invented which idea first, and whether any ripping-off in fact occurred. Facts seem to lean in the direction of yes, actually. Blizzard's co founder Allen Adham wanted to get the license to the Warhammer Universe however the [https://kotaku.com/how-warcraft-was-almost-a-warhammer-game-and-how-that-5929161 business side of the deal fell through], and the team wasn't keen on working for someone else. The exaggerated features and painted art style of the table top minis was adapted for low poly games. It boggles the mind that there still hasn't been legal trouble for this, and leads many to speculate that there's an off the books deal. Fa/tg/uys tend to accuse Blizzard of ripping off most of [[Games Workshop]]'s content, and they're right. They often write long angry posts about why Blizzard an evil company, what was stolen from their precious settings, and why Blizzard games sucks so much. But this is normal operating procedure for khornporation, Ip for the Ip throne after all. This sounds hilarious when you think about Games Workshop, who does steal '''all''' of its content from other settings. Blizzard only concentrates what's awesome about James Workshop and repackages it after doing minimal rework.

If you ever meet a raging fan, crying about plagiarism, <s>ignore the fucking troll</s> [[lulz|throw oil on the fire and get a-trolling]]. Alternatively, keep raging about [[The Ultimate Necron Cheese List|Necron Flyer Lists]]/[[rage|Terran Hellion Drop]] imbalance.

'''TL;DR''': Good [[crunch]], meh fluff (their memorable humor is arguably the best part of it), they are the [[Tzeentch]]/[[Slaanesh]] to GW's [[Nurgle]].

==Scandals==

From the late 2010's onwards, the company has experienced a steadily worsening fall from grace; whereas Blizzard was usually the universally beloved grand-daddy of the gaming world, albeit with one skubby exception in the form of Diablo 3, a number of PR-fuckups, shallow cashgrabs, [[Communism|grievances of the developers that actually make the games]] and the revelation of pervasive sexual harassment of staff have all but crushed their reputation. In a funny twist of fate, when it comes to their products, Blizzard is currently making a lot of the mistakes Geedubs made before [[Kevin Rountree]] took over. Here are some of the biggest failures and crimes - yes, really - in recent times;

'''November 3, 2018:''' During Blizcon, Diablo Immortals was announced as a mobile game. Gamers were livid, with one asking if it was an out of season April fools joke. The Gamer rage made an notable impact on stock price, taking months to recover afterwards.

'''Feburary 12, 2019:''' Blizzard fired 800 employees after reporting record earning.

'''October 6, 2019:''' During a tournament, Chinese [[Hearthstone]] pro-player Blitzchung appeared wearing a gas mask and goggles in a live stream and showed support to the Hong Kong Protests. Near the end of the live stream he said “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age”, a recognized slogan in the Hong Kong protest. After the interview Blizzard disqualified Blitzchung and stripped him of his prize money, and banned him for a year. Backlash was immediate, users deleted Blizzard accounts and destroyed games while #BoycottBlizzard trended with thousands retweeting.

'''October 28, 2019:''' Blizzard announced a $660,000 prize pool for their annual arena/mythic dungeon world tournaments, after previously releasing a set of promotional in-game toys, promising 1/4 of the sales would go towards said prize pool. Most fans believed the money made from the sales would be added to the $500,000 minimum that Blizzard had promised. However, after competing players confronted Blizzard officials, it was revealed that Blizzard had instead chosen to rely entirely on the sales profit for the prize pool, making off with ~$2 million themselves from the other 3/4 of the sales and contributing nothing out of their own pockets. Nerd rage ensued.

'''January 28th, 2020:''' Blizzard released the remastered version of Warcraft 3. The game came out in a notoriously unfinished, buggy and featureless state and used advertisement that borders on being fraudulent (Australian and EU authorities actually filed a lawsuit against Blizzard for misleading advertisements), was missing features the original game had ''13 years ago'', [[RAGE|'''claimed ownership of any custom content created for the game in the ToS in a really, really stupid move that is also illegal under US and EU law''' - especially since Blizzard is a US company]] and even refused to offer refunds, which prompted another lawsuit by EU authorities against them. The game also completely replaced the original Warcraft 3 on the launcher, locking players out of the original unless they have the physical discs plus disc ports and instead prompting them to download the "improved" version.

'''August 4, 2020:''' Employees shared a spreadsheet of salaries and recent pay increases showing that few were given raises after crunch, and overtime. Many employees, despite working at one of the biggest video game companies were struggling to pay rent and using the company's free coffee as an appetite suppressant as they cut meals. Apparently that 5 year service sword does not also pay rent.

'''October 16th, 2020:''' Blizzard announced that they would put Starcraft 2 into maintenance mode, ceasing any content updates in the future. This has left a lot of players angry and sad, especially since Starcraft 2 is one of the very last remaining RTS with a decently sized playerbase and competitive scene.

'''July 22nd, 2021:''' California's Department of Fair Employment filed a civil lawsuit against Activision/Blizzard for sexual harassment of numerous employees - especially female employees, some of the incidents going back years. The final catalyst was the suicide of a female employee who was one of the victims of said harassment. According to the lawsuit, the culprits are from several levels in the company (former Senior Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi and former CTO Ben Kilgore are among them), the charges include unwanted groping and posting intimate pictures without their consent, and that other execs knew of the abuses but did nothing. The situation wasn't helped when several Blizzard employees lashed out at several high-profile WoW commentators and streamers such as Asmongold for criticizing them, trying to shift blame onto them despite those streamers having nothing to do with the company or the abuse. With morale at an all-time low and widespread stress, the development of new projects (or at least World of Warcraft) has been stopped until the situation is resolved. Sponsors have started to turn on Blizzard and executive-level employees, such as J. Allen Brack and Jesse Meschuk, have been leaving the company (unclear whether it's voluntary resignations or firings as per the standard sugar-coated dismissals for top level business execs).
* '''July 28, 2021:''' After delivering a open letter to the upper management, a portion of Blizzard staff staged a walkout protest that gained considerable news coverage. There has been increasing support for staff to unionize, with Blizzard's Board of Directors responding by consulting the same legal firm whose lawyers prevented Amazon's staff from unionizing.
* '''August 3rd, 2021''' J. Allen Brack is succeeded by "co-leaders" Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra following his departure (with accusations being leveled that Brack left to deliberately avoid being confronted over knowing about the abuses but not stopping them).
* '''August 25th, 2021''' The California Department of Fair Employment leveled charges of obstruction via witness tampering - requiring employees to speak with Activision Blizzard execcs ahead of contacting the DFEH, amending the complaint and even destroying evidence by shredding records from the HR archives. This was added to the lawsuit, and could take the case from a civil lawsuit to a criminal lawsuit.

==Franchises relevant to /tg/==

*'''''[[Warcraft|WarCraft]]:''''' A real-time strategy (RTS) series; initially [[Orc]]s vs [[Human]]s but then later games added more races. Then it became a [[MMORPG]] with [[World of Warcraft|all kinds of crazy shit]]. Particularly notable to /tg/ because it spilled over into multiple genres: There were [[World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game|two separate editions of a ''D&D'' campaign setting]], a physical [[Card_Game#Collectible_Card_Games|trading card game]] and has its own board games too.
*'''''[[StarCraft]]:''''' RTS IN SPHESSSSS! <s>[[Space Marines]]</s> [[Imperial Guard|Terrans]] vs [[Tyranids|Zerg]] vs [[Eldar|Protoss]]. Beyond being the national sport of Korea, the ''StarCraft'' franchise has its own board game and has its own unique version of ''[[Risk]]'' which alters the rules just enough so that it isn't merely a re-skinned version of ''Risk''.
*'''''[[Diablo]]:''''' [[Grimdark]] [[Dark Fantasy]] setting involving the wars between [[Angel]]s and [[Demon]]s, and also not actually made by Blizzard. It was made instead by an outfit named Condor, which got bought out by Davidson & Associates, which also bought out a little outfit named Chaos Studios. Then, Chaos Studios got renamed '''Blizzard''', and Condor was renamed '''Blizzard North''', which is why Diablo ended up being playable on battle.net. Meanwhile, another group of guys named Synergistic Software got bought out by Sierra On-Line, which was in turn acquired by CUC International, which gobbled up Davidson & Associates, which was how the job of making Diablo's expansion pack, Hellfire, got farmed out to Synergistic. However, Condor and Blizzard both had veto power over Synergistic's ideas, and Condor, which was already working on Diablo II, didn't want anything to be in Hellfire that was also going to be in D2, which is why the Barbarian and secret cow quest had to be cut and why Hellfire couldn't be played over Battle.net even though the code totally worked. There was a [[fail|short-lived]] attempt to port the Diablo franchise into both [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons#AD&D 2nd Edition|2nd Edition]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3rd Edition]] ''Dungeons and Dragons'', though the results were not particularly successful or well-remembered.
*'''''Hearthstone:''''' A digital collectible card game. Think ''[[Magic: The Gathering|MtG]]'' but all the depth and complexity got replaced with RNG bullshit. Also it only costs you one kidney to gather a good card collection rather than [[Forgeworld|both, one leg, one testicle, and the soul of your firstborn child]] , but Blizzard seems dedicated to catch back on that missed profit by adding more content that cannot be bought with in-game currency (gold) and going the way of the battlepass...wait, what do you mean they have two passes?

==Blizzard things that aren't (/tg/ related) rip-offs==
In 1992, they made ''Battle Chess'' for the Commodore 64 & MS-DOS, and also a ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' [[RPG]] for the Amiga. The ''LotR'' game was supposed to be just the first book, with two sequels, but they never got around to finishing it. They made ''RPM Racing'' (allegedly the first American-made SNES game) and ''Rock n' Roll Racing'' for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Megadrive but that's [[/v/]] shit. They also made a side-scrolling Superman beat 'em up and a shitty Justice League fighting game for a dose of [[/co/]] crap too. There's also their game ''The Lost Vikings'', a platforming puzzle game where you control three [[vikings]], each of them with their own special abilities (Erik the Swift can run faster and jump higher than the other two and also bash through walls with his horned helmet, Baleog the Fierce can shoot an arrow and kill enemies with his sword and Olaf the Stout can block with shield which he can also use like a hang-glider.) Since the game has vikings in it, /tg/ might be interested in it due to their [[Warriors of Chaos|viking fetish]]. A sequel was also made, ''The Lost Vikings 2'', which added two more characters, a [[werewolf]] named Fang and Scorch the [[dragon]], but it's kind of a rarity. Fast forward to more recent times, trying to cash in on the growing MOBA-craze, Blizzard developed ''Heroes of the Storm'' by throwing all their decent franchises into a blender to make one mediocre new game, which is ironic considering highly customized user-made ''StarCraft'' and ''WarCraft III'' maps pretty much spawned the MOBA genre in the first place. Blizz's most recent success is the first-person shooter ''Overwatch''. Though hilariously similar to ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and [[Blood Ravens|drawing upon]] various sci-fi and fantasy sources, it presents a somewhat unique (albeit poorly fleshed-out) [[noblebright]] setting and characters that are mostly [[/d/|fapbait/schlickbait]].

==[[Skub|Legitimately unbiased comparison]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Both of the companies' products have a bevy of similarities and differences that can be factually assessed without any real bias. Beginning here is a <s>comprehensive</s> tiny list of the comparisons between popular topics of much [[RAGE|debate]].

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
===[[Orks]] vs. [[Orc#Warcraft|Orcs]]===

While it is true that the light green skin, angry porcine face with lots of tusks, and heavyset jawlines are traits shared across the two species of Orcoids, that's about where the similarities end. While [[Orks]] are brutal, fun-loving omnicidal maniacs who love the [[Dakka]] and only momentarily hesitate to shoot something if it's sufficiently green and orky, [[orcs]] in Blizzard's universe actually eventually filled the unique role of being good guys. For the most part, anyway, back when they were first through the portals they were extremely bloodthirsty but as time has gone on they've settled down nicely. This is actually a first, as no other universe is really known for having Orcs who can be described as friendly (''[[Strike Legion]]'' is a good example though as well as the elder scrolls). In fact the Orcs of Blizzard's universe are the glue of their faction, serving as the lynch-pin by which the other races come together as one Horde.

Similarly, Orkzes iz da biggest an' da strongest., with the lowly boy far more buff than your standard human and only getting taller and taller as they age. Orcs, while significantly physically imposing, are roughly the same height as average humans, and are dwarfed by their [[Minotaur|Tauren]] allies.

Though it should be noted, that at current state Orcs spawned a total of three [[BBEG]]s of the setting, including the first Lich King himself, while most other races, except dragons and (technically) draenei, have their count on one or zero. The Orks, on the other hand, ''are'' the BBEGs.

===Terran Marines vs Space Marines===

This should be somewhat obvious. Space Marines, as deigned by [[GW]], are one-man armies, raised from a young age to be killing machines and then augmented to become superhuman monstrosities. Terran Marines, by comparison, are pitiful. If we're being very generous, they're an analogue for the [[Stormtrooper|Tempestus corps.]], but with a worse track record. They are literally a case of the government or rebel faction finding every hick and criminal they can and shoving them in a brainwashing tank, slapping power armor on them, pumping them with drugs, handing them a gun, and telling them to [[Tarpit|keep shooting until it stops moving]]. And, considering everything in the ''StarCraft'' universe can pierce through tanks and [[/m/|giant mechs]], not to mention some power armor, those marines aren't likely to survive their first deployment. So, to put it simply, Terran Marines are really closer to Guardsmen or Penal Legionnaires, except with better guns and even more drugs. And like the Guard, they have really nice tanks and fantastic artillery.

===Zergs vs [[Tyranids]]===

Both are races of ravenous, rapidly evolving beasts under the control of a distant supreme intelligence, both use biotechnology instead of tools, most of their units are fast, deadly, fragile and numerous, and they even look almost the same. The last part is actually to GW's shame, since they all but copy-pasted the Zerg appearance into Tyranids in 3rd edition, mostly to capitalize on the ''StarCraft'' financial success (yes, they were that greedy and shameless even back then).

Secondly, while the Tyranids' hive mind is their collective consciousness, the Zerg have actual physical entities with emotions and personalities to rule them - from the lowly Overlords, to the Cerebrates, to the Overmind itself (or Overlords - Hive Queens - Broodmothers - The Queen of Blades after Kerrigan took over control), and with that they also get some actual character development and political struggles in their ranks - something 'Nids solely lack as their only real agenda revolves around planet-hopping towards that psychic light known as the [[Golden Throne]], all the while eating everything on the way. Even though most Cerebrates merged into the new Overmind and were killed by Kerrigan (and her puppets) during Brood War, the real reason that they never showed up again was that their hierarchy was similar enough to the 'Nids that the Cerebrates were killed off off-screen and cut from ''StarCraft II'' as a way of [http://comments.deviantart.com/1/359035454/2977652201 Blizzard playing nice with Games Workshop].

Zergs also do not eat worlds like Tyranids do - only conquer and colonize them, which automatically lowers their Eldritch Unstoppable Evil level by half.

There's also a variant of Zerg called the Primal Zerg, which have a strictly more reptilian/mammalian aesthetic and are notably individuals that operate in Packs. Despite being individuals, some with marked intelligence, they're all basically just focused on eating strong prey and surviving and have no ambitions or desires beyond that one dimension.

===Burning Legion vs [[Daemon#Warhammer_40,000|Daemons of Chaos]]===
Both are evil demons, who came from the [[Eye of Terror|dimension of magic]] and want to [[Exterminatus|destroy everything]]. The Burning Legion, however, is everything but chaotic, and is highly organized and structured, and even after their dark god Sargeras got himself killed, they managed to keep their shit together. Moreover, unlike Chaos Daemons, who are the manifestations of emotions and magic, creatures of the Legion are mostly normal sapient biological beings, transformed through overuse of fel magic, or artificial constructs, enlivened by said fel magic. Unlike [[Chaos Gods]], who want the eternal conflict just for the sake of it (which makes sense, given they are empowered by emotions, and conflicts stimulate more emotions), the Burning Legion have clear goals, which are: 1) Gather all the magic, 2) Use it to destroy the Creation, 3) Hope a new, better one comes along. 4) [[Meme|???]], 5) [[Profit|PROFIT]]!

===Protoss vs [[Eldar]]===
You fucking kidding me? OK, both are psychic race with small numbers and long lifespan, both have tech, superior to everything in their setting (save Necrons and Xel'Naga respectively), and both are quite arrogant about their superiority. And that's it. Protoss are tough as adamantium bunkers, can warp in infantry almost instantly any place with an energy field, are fast as a slime, hit like every fucking one of them is armed with a tank cannon or a [[Power Fist]] and tend to move in big unkillable all-destroying deathballs of doom, while Eldar are fast as hell, can be killed by a mean look, and tend to zoom around in small groups at mind-blowing speed, surgically shooting/cutting down priority targets before retreating to the safety of cover. Culture-wise Protoss are closer to [[Tau]] than to Eldar, with a rigid caste system and hierarchy, and the highly collectivist ideology of the Khala, which is actually almost the same as the Tau's Greater Good. From this perspective Dark Templar are basically the Farsight enclave, who told the Khala and its Ethe... I meant Judicators to fuck off and left to build their new home without that brainwashing <s>pheromones</s> psi-internet bullshit. Oh, wait, the Tau Empire was introduced 3 years after the release of ''StarCraft''... OOPS!

Both the Protoss and Eldar also fell out of their golden ages pretty hard, though that's about where the similarities end. The Eldar caused their empire's fall entirely on their own, between all the murder-fucking and general debauchery that was getting out of hand, to such a point that not only did it reduce their species' population to a pitiful fraction of what it once was, but also damned each and every Eldar soul that exists (or has yet to exist) by creating one of the four Chaos Gods responsible for a shit ton of the Grimdark in 40k. Even though the Eldar are fighting against all odds, and making ''some'' progress with the birth of Ynnead, the chance of them actually ever returning to a semblance of their former glory is about as likely as the God-Emperor of Mankind leaping from the Golden Throne and declaring the Imperium of Man a Xenos-inclusive democracy. The Protoss, on the otherhand, are only partially responsible for their fall from power, as the internal strife between the Judicator Caste and Templar Caste didn't exactly help prepare them for when the Zerg invaded their homeworld of Aiur. The surviving Protoss as a whole had to evacuate to Shakuras, where their Dark Templar kin granted them sanctuary (in that kind of arrogant "look at how cool and caring we are ''despite'' you exiling our kind" mindset). Also unlike the Eldar, the Protoss are notably reclaiming their former glory. Having made buddies with the Dark Templar, Purifiers (sentient Protoss AI), Tal'Darim (to the Protoss the way Dark Eldar are to the Craftworlders), the collective Protoss race took back Aiur and is currently rebuilding a unified homeworld for all Protoss.

</div>
</div>

'''TL;DR''': A game company with an emphasis on quality (usually), responsible for both awesome and terrible things. If you really want to know what's what, go look it up yourself from a better source than 1d4chan.

Tomb Banshee

2021-09-06T11:29:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4:

{{whfb-stub}}{{AoS-Stub}}
<div style="text-align:left;font-size:1.00em;font-family:Papyrus;font-weight:italic;font-style:italic;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em">
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!" 
"Go "aaaaaaaahh" yourself!" 
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
"Uh oh." - Free City Guildsman, Samuel the Serious, encountering a tomb banshee.</div>

{{Topquote|You hear laughter, cracking through the walls 
it sends you spinning 
you have no choice 
following the footsteps 
of a ragdoll dance 
we are entranced, spellbound!|Siouxsie And The Banshees - Spellbound}}
[[File:Tombbanshee.webp|thumb|"Nag nag nag, all you do is nag, don't you have anything interesting to say?"]]

'''Tomb Banshees''' are a unit within the armies of the [[Nighthaunt]] and the legions of [[Nagash]], they are the classic stereotypical banshee, women who were at the peak of their life, suddenly killed either by someone jealous of them or someone who thought that maybe this horrible horrible person needs to die, either way, after stewing in pure bitterness and hatred enough to make a skaven queasy, these undead gals latched themselves upon Nagash's promises of mortals upon which to take out their frustrations. With a single scream a banshee can turn the ichor in even the most hot-blooded warriors veins to ice, stopping them in their tracks or outright killing them.
==On the Tabletop==

{{Vampire Count Troops}}
{{Nighthaunt-Units}}
[[Category: Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Legions of Nagash]]

Bladegheist Revenant

2021-09-06T11:26:38Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4:

[[File:BladegheistRevenantModel.jpeg|thumb]]

Behold; when you all thought [[Nagash]] could not be any more of an asshole, when you all thought he reached peak dickery when he fucked up the balance of magic in the realms, he went and surpassed himself, pulling these poor suckers out of some awful, skeletal hole somewhere in [[Shyish]]. The Bladegheist Revenants are the [[Nighthaunt]]’s answer to sword-wielding infantry, whirling around the battlefield like they just snorted a pile of warp dust. This isn’t without reason. In fact, this flailing around is the exact reason why they are such a fucked up concept.

They are the souls of people who, when they died, were in an exceptional amount of stress. This encompasses very pleasant scenarios such as being stabbed with spikes, drowning, burning, etc. And because the deceased presumably writhed with agony, Nagash, in all his wisdom, perceives this as trying to stop themselves from dying, and thereby they earn his ire. So when they finally do pop their clogs, that awful moment of panic? That’s your new eternity. The Bladegheists are given their swords, [[Grimdark|are uniformly blinded and essentially left to spin and flail with pain across the battlefield for eternity, cutting down others in a maddened frenzy]]. Needless to say, them and the Dreadscythes were GW’s way of saying that AoS isn’t entirely Noblebright anymore.

{{Nighthaunt-Units}}

Dreadscythe Harridan

2021-09-06T11:21:31Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Why? */

{{Grimdark}}

We all know the stereotypical [[Healer]], right? Altruistic, kind, always putting themself above others? Generally kind souls to a fault. You'd surely expect for them to be treated as well in death as they treated others in life, right? Wrong. Oh, you are so wrong. The '''Dreadscythe Harridan''' is possibly one of the most tragic and cruel units in [[Age of Sigmar]].

==Why?==
In life, as mentioned they were healers, druids, and doctors that dedicated themselves to saving lives. Sounds good right? No bueno - at least, in the mind of [[Nagash|bone daddy]]. You see, he sees this as a massive slight, because in his fucked up roundabout logic, they are preventing souls from coming to him at their appointed time, and thus are transgressing. To us this is obviously utterly insane, but such opinions are trite to him.

So upon death, to punish them for their "crimes", they are stripped of all control of themselves (a standard issue amongst [[Nighthaunt]]) and fuelled with an unquenchable bloodlust, with their hands being replaced with cruel, wicked scythes. They're also rendered unable to speak, they can only scream. This would usually be enough for the Nighthaunt, but there's one more terrible detail - they are afflicted with the "Harridan Curse" which means that ''they are fully aware and conscious of what they are doing, but unable to stop it''. [[Grimdark|Yeah]].

Now keep in mind, this doesn't happen to EVERY healer in the realms. In fact, it only really happens when Nagash personally gets his hands on their souls. But it can happen to ANY healer, and Nagash has many servants bringing him souls from all over the place, meaning that every person who decides to take up the job of a healer runs the risk of condemning themselves to an eternity of being trapped as a blade-handed killing machine of a spirit. Yikes.

==On the Tabletop==

{{Nighthaunt-Units}}

Dreadblade Harrow

2021-09-06T11:20:30Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4:

[[File:DreadbladeHarrows.jpeg|thumb|This is what happens when you refuse to be proactive, kids.]]
{{topquote|In seeking to make no enemies, I've succeeded in making no friends,|The title character from "The Dilemma of the Bat", Aesop's Fables}}

The Dreadblade Harrows (what do these names even mean anymore?) are the Lieutenants of the [[Nighthaunt]] processions. They’re what happens to you when you decide to sit on the fence about one too many a thing. That’s right, you can now be condemned to an awful afterlife for... being neutral on things. Cheers [[Nagash]].

However, there’s no need to panic. You won’t be made into a Harrow for something incredibly small like not preferring Coke or Pepsi, or larger like not being able to be have a full-time job. No, those who become Harrows are only so because they saw the signs of a betrayal (often from a future [[Knight of Shrouds]]) and decided not to do anything about it. Because of their selfish fence-sitting, their forms are some of the most ethereal of all the Nighthaunt, their very beings flickering in and out of reality.

In battle, they act as outriders and scouts, disappearing and reappearing at will to perform tasks that no [[Flesh-Eater Courts|honourable knight]] would ever do (ie, culling the weak, attacking retreaters, kicking puppy dogs in the shin, etc).

{{Nighthaunt-Units}}

Kurdoss Valentian

2021-09-06T11:15:00Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* A Million and One Punishments */

[[File:Kurdoss.jpeg|thumb|The ultimate beta.]]
{{topquote|If you're not her priority, you're only an option.|common wisdom for men in dating}}

Behold, the spooky love child of Scar from the Lion King, the Scriptural first murderer Cain (the real-life namesake for this [[Khaine]]), and Bob Cratchet from a Christmas Carol! '''Kurdoss Valentian''' (also known as "The <strike> Cuckold </strike> Craven King") is a [[Nighthaunt]] character and Husband to [[Lady Olynder]].

==History==
In life, he was a ruthless deceiver and a master tactician that backstabbed and betrayed his way to the throne of his country to a degree that even [[Tzeentch]] would applaud. He even killed his own brothers to secure his rise to power. But, he made the ultimate mistake any monarch that lived in/around the Age of Myth could do; he did this AND chose [[Sigmar]] as his patron. And [[Nagash|Old Bonesy-boy]] did NOT like this at all.

So, to punish Kurdoss, he was struck dead just before he could ascend to the throne - literally at his own coronation ceremony - sending Kurdoss' soul screeching down to the underworld as an angry wraith. But even then, he kept his nasty streak and was as deadly as ever. Nagash, ever the utilitarian was impressed, but still salty about Kurdoss' perceived betrayal. Remember, this IS Nagash we're talking about, he doesn't recover from [[Butthurt]] that easily. So, Nagash condemned him with further punishment. The first was he was forced to marry Lady Olynder. One might initially think that being betrothed to the Mortarch of Grief would be a boon, if anything, until one remembers that Olynder is canonically the literal ''most whiny and miserable spirit in the realms''. This marriage is so depressing that even ''Mannfred'' nearly pitied him. It's also another joke at their expenses from Nagash; in addition to Olynder's misery, being married to Olynder puts him as close to rulership as possible without actually having it, cementing his title as the Craven King. [[Troll|Amazing]].

Naturally, he isn't too happy. He is literally so bitter about his fate, that he exudes an aura of bitterness so potent that it makes the words of ACTUAL generals and such choke commands in their mouths. [[Perturabo]] is suddenly feeling inadequate in terms of bitterness levels.

And he has even more of a reason to feel bitter as of late; when he and wifey went on a road trip to the Eightpoints to help their family friend [[Katakros]], he got temporarily destroyed and left to reform, presumably whilst Olynder worked with [[Be'lakor]].

==A Million and One Punishments==
About those extra punishments; what Nagash did was condemn Kurdoss to never be allowed true rulership. To that effect - and to rub salt in the wound, because y'know, why not - Nagash cursed him;

* He is forced to obey Olynder, no matter what, meaning that she is most definitely the one who wears the ethereal pants in this relationship.
* He cannot raise his voice above a whisper, so no epic or inspiring speeches from Kurdy.
* He was graciously given several gifts which are actually further mockery. These include a Scepter exclusively for BONKing, a [[Lumineth Realm Lords|comically oversized Crown]], a big floating throne and a pair of ghost "heralds" that loudly mock him in a manner similar to Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets (Herald 1: "I wouldn't say we're like Statler and Waldorf." Herald 2: "Yeah, why's that?" Herald 1: "I think that sometimes those guys got to see actual kings." Both: "DoHOHOHOHO!").

In addition, every day at 5PM sharp he receives a sharp kick to the ghost-testicles from the nearest [[Tomb Banshee|Tomb]] or [[Myrmourn Banshee]] - sometimes from Olynder herself, if he's extra unlucky.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image: Kurdoss_screenshot.jpeg|Basically Kurdoss' entire (un)life.
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}

Kurdoss Valentian

2021-09-06T11:14:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* A Million and One Punishments */

[[File:Kurdoss.jpeg|thumb|The ultimate beta.]]
{{topquote|If you're not her priority, you're only an option.|common wisdom for men in dating}}

Behold, the spooky love child of Scar from the Lion King, the Scriptural first murderer Cain (the real-life namesake for this [[Khaine]]), and Bob Cratchet from a Christmas Carol! '''Kurdoss Valentian''' (also known as "The <strike> Cuckold </strike> Craven King") is a [[Nighthaunt]] character and Husband to [[Lady Olynder]].

==History==
In life, he was a ruthless deceiver and a master tactician that backstabbed and betrayed his way to the throne of his country to a degree that even [[Tzeentch]] would applaud. He even killed his own brothers to secure his rise to power. But, he made the ultimate mistake any monarch that lived in/around the Age of Myth could do; he did this AND chose [[Sigmar]] as his patron. And [[Nagash|Old Bonesy-boy]] did NOT like this at all.

So, to punish Kurdoss, he was struck dead just before he could ascend to the throne - literally at his own coronation ceremony - sending Kurdoss' soul screeching down to the underworld as an angry wraith. But even then, he kept his nasty streak and was as deadly as ever. Nagash, ever the utilitarian was impressed, but still salty about Kurdoss' perceived betrayal. Remember, this IS Nagash we're talking about, he doesn't recover from [[Butthurt]] that easily. So, Nagash condemned him with further punishment. The first was he was forced to marry Lady Olynder. One might initially think that being betrothed to the Mortarch of Grief would be a boon, if anything, until one remembers that Olynder is canonically the literal ''most whiny and miserable spirit in the realms''. This marriage is so depressing that even ''Mannfred'' nearly pitied him. It's also another joke at their expenses from Nagash; in addition to Olynder's misery, being married to Olynder puts him as close to rulership as possible without actually having it, cementing his title as the Craven King. [[Troll|Amazing]].

Naturally, he isn't too happy. He is literally so bitter about his fate, that he exudes an aura of bitterness so potent that it makes the words of ACTUAL generals and such choke commands in their mouths. [[Perturabo]] is suddenly feeling inadequate in terms of bitterness levels.

And he has even more of a reason to feel bitter as of late; when he and wifey went on a road trip to the Eightpoints to help their family friend [[Katakros]], he got temporarily destroyed and left to reform, presumably whilst Olynder worked with [[Be'lakor]].

==A Million and One Punishments==
About those extra punishments; what Nagash did was condemn Kurdoss to never be allowed true rulership. To that effect - and to rub salt in the wound, because y'know, why not - Nagash cursed him;

* He is forced to obey Olynder, no matter what, meaning that she is most definitely the one who wears the ethereal pants (and strap-on) in this relationship.
* He cannot raise his voice above a whisper, so no epic or inspiring speeches from Kurdy.
* He was graciously given several gifts which are actually further mockery. These include a Scepter exclusively for BONKing, a [[Lumineth Realm Lords|comically oversized Crown]], a big floating throne and a pair of ghost "heralds" that loudly mock him in a manner similar to Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets (Herald 1: "I wouldn't say we're like Statler and Waldorf." Herald 2: "Yeah, why's that?" Herald 1: "I think that sometimes those guys got to see actual kings." Both: "DoHOHOHOHO!").

In addition, every day at 5PM sharp he receives a sharp kick to the ghost-testicles from the nearest [[Tomb Banshee|Tomb]] or [[Myrmourn Banshee]] - sometimes from Olynder herself, if he's extra unlucky.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image: Kurdoss_screenshot.jpeg|Basically Kurdoss' entire (un)life.
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}

Kurdoss Valentian

2021-09-06T11:12:07Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* History */

[[File:Kurdoss.jpeg|thumb|The ultimate beta.]]
{{topquote|If you're not her priority, you're only an option.|common wisdom for men in dating}}

Behold, the spooky love child of Scar from the Lion King, the Scriptural first murderer Cain (the real-life namesake for this [[Khaine]]), and Bob Cratchet from a Christmas Carol! '''Kurdoss Valentian''' (also known as "The <strike> Cuckold </strike> Craven King") is a [[Nighthaunt]] character and Husband to [[Lady Olynder]].

==History==
In life, he was a ruthless deceiver and a master tactician that backstabbed and betrayed his way to the throne of his country to a degree that even [[Tzeentch]] would applaud. He even killed his own brothers to secure his rise to power. But, he made the ultimate mistake any monarch that lived in/around the Age of Myth could do; he did this AND chose [[Sigmar]] as his patron. And [[Nagash|Old Bonesy-boy]] did NOT like this at all.

So, to punish Kurdoss, he was struck dead just before he could ascend to the throne - literally at his own coronation ceremony - sending Kurdoss' soul screeching down to the underworld as an angry wraith. But even then, he kept his nasty streak and was as deadly as ever. Nagash, ever the utilitarian was impressed, but still salty about Kurdoss' perceived betrayal. Remember, this IS Nagash we're talking about, he doesn't recover from [[Butthurt]] that easily. So, Nagash condemned him with further punishment. The first was he was forced to marry Lady Olynder. One might initially think that being betrothed to the Mortarch of Grief would be a boon, if anything, until one remembers that Olynder is canonically the literal ''most whiny and miserable spirit in the realms''. This marriage is so depressing that even ''Mannfred'' nearly pitied him. It's also another joke at their expenses from Nagash; in addition to Olynder's misery, being married to Olynder puts him as close to rulership as possible without actually having it, cementing his title as the Craven King. [[Troll|Amazing]].

Naturally, he isn't too happy. He is literally so bitter about his fate, that he exudes an aura of bitterness so potent that it makes the words of ACTUAL generals and such choke commands in their mouths. [[Perturabo]] is suddenly feeling inadequate in terms of bitterness levels.

And he has even more of a reason to feel bitter as of late; when he and wifey went on a road trip to the Eightpoints to help their family friend [[Katakros]], he got temporarily destroyed and left to reform, presumably whilst Olynder worked with [[Be'lakor]].

==A Million and One Punishments==
About those extra punishments; what Nagash did was condemn Kurdoss to never be allowed true rulership. To that effect - and to rub salt in the wound, because y'know, why not - Nagash cursed him;

* He is forced to obey Olynder, no matter what, meaning that she is most definitely the one who wears the ethereal pants (and strap-on) in this relationship.
* He cannot raise his voice above a whisper, so no epic or inspiring speeches from Kurdy.
* He was graciously given several gifts which serve solely to take the piss. These include a Scepter exclusively for BONKing, a [[Lumineth Realm Lords|comically oversized Crown]], a big floating throne and a pair of ghost "heralds" that loudly mock him in a manner similar to Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets (Herald 1: "I wouldn't say we're like Statler and Waldorf." Herald 2: "Yeah, why's that?" Herald 1: "I think in a few plays, those guys got to see actual kings." Both: "DoHOHOHOHO!").

In addition, every day at 5PM sharp he receives a sharp kick to the ghost-testicles from the nearest [[Tomb Banshee|Tomb]] or [[Myrmourn Banshee]] - sometimes from Olynder herself, if he's extra unlucky.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image: Kurdoss_screenshot.jpeg|Basically Kurdoss' entire (un)life.
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}

Lady Olynder

2021-09-06T11:06:03Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* History */

[[File:Lady Olynder.jpeg|thumb|Ghost Boob]]
{{topquote|Do not resist – death is inevitable. The more quickly you succumb, the sooner your suffering will be over. Come to me, and be mine for evermore…|Lady Olynder, still trying to charm people despite losing her good looks.}}
{{topquote|You think a woman like that's sniffing around because she likes your personality? Your mother was beautiful, they're all beautiful... until they're snarling after your trust fund like a pack of ravening wolves.|Norman Osborn - Spider-Man (the 2002 Sam Rami film)}}

The new girl on the skeletal block, Lady Olynder is the [[Mortarch|Mortarch of Grief]], and leader of the [[Nighthaunt]] Processions. Carrying all the despair in the realms due to her complete and utter apathy to the misery of others in life, she reeeeally hates the living.

If she had a voice, it would be Debbie from Addams Family Values.

==History==
In life, she was one of the most [[Hot Chicks|beautiful women]] in the empire Dolorum. But Olynder was also a Gold Digger's Gold Digger, scheming, sleeping and slaying her way to the top. Such was Olynder's charm that she married the son of Dolorum's King before both promptly "disappeared", leaving Olynder in charge. Olynder wore a veil and cried a lot about their loss in public Victoria-style, yet the veil hid her self-satisfied grin over how smart she was. Some [[knights]] had figured out her evil scheme and planned to overthrow her, but she thwarted them by seducing one of their members, Gharest Malcor, into ratting out his fellow conspirators. Malcor himself would end up assassinated shortly thereafter for being too stupid to realize what happens to anybody Olynder marries or says she's going to marry. She ruled Dolorum as queen for a few years and among other things stopped honoring Nagash (this would really come back to haunt Olynder - pun intended), until the Age of Chaos came-a-knocking.

The forces of [[Nurgle]] quickly invaded Dolorum. Olynder cried more crocodile tears for the realm while she was all safe in her tower, partying away like the Masque of the Red Death. Olynder was so selfish that when the forces of Nurgle kicked down the doors to her throne room, she tried to parley with them to save her own life. This was the final straw for everyone's favorite [[Nagash|Skele-Pope]]; Nagash had been watching Olynder, and she'd been angering him for a while, so now he was really going to make her pay for it. Nagash seized her soul and doomed her to haunt the ruins of her kingdom for all eternity, feeling all the misery in the Mortal Realms as revenge for the fake tears she cried in life (<s>one of the few times where </s> ''Just another example of how'' the victims of Nagash's special brand of karma indisputably deserved it).

Naggy then proceeded to forget about her, until the Necroquake unleashed the Nighthaunt on the realms. He realized how spooky they were, but they needed direction to be truly efficient. He then hosted a Death equivalent of Celebrity Apprentice to decide on who would be the new [[Mortarch]]. Lo and behold, he stumbled upon the ruins of Dolorum, finding that Olynder had organized a huge Ghost-Kingdom while he wasn't looking. And so, she became the Mortarch of Grief, marshaling the ghosties into the processions we all know and love. Nagash also gifted her a personal army called the Emerald Host, consisting of the ghosts of all the knights who plotted against her in life, now forced to forever serve the woman they hated, and led by Gharest Malcor who'd been <s>friend-zoned</s> turned into a <s>simp</s> <s>beta orbiter</s> Knight of Shrouds.

Since then Olynder actually proved to be a good general. She defeated the forces of the [[Chaos]] Warlord Thur and destroyed the [[Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast]] defenders at the siege of Morlaix - even defeating their Lord-Celestant in single combat. Despite this, Olynder had a knack for going LEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOY. During a battle against her old foe Thur to liberate Underworld of Lyria, this over-extending nearly got Olynder killed by the [[Bloodthirster]] Khazkhan until Nagash and Arkhan bailed her out.

Nagash decided to give her an adviser and to that end she was married to [[Kurdoss Valentian]], which Nagash also used as a joke at both of their expenses (for her, it's because marrying for power, murdering her husbands, and then playing the victim was how she earned her punishment). Her biggest achievement happened during the siege of Lethis, where she managed to actually [[Awesome|kill the Celestant-Prime with her hourglass, who until then had proven to be a deus ex machina in every situation, and free an ancient evil]]. What's more, this ancient evil that was locked away is revealed to be Katakros, who would go on to be made leader of the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] (though from their track records, Olynder seems like a better general than Katakros). At some point, Lady Olynder also started to terrorize the Sons of Behemat, single-handedly killing a Mega-gargant and showing the foot-obsessed lummoxes that ghosts can't be stomped on but they can easily kill gargants. This lasted until a combined Mawtribe and Warclan showed them a way that ghosts can be destroyed through physical force.

===Wrath of the Everchosen===
Lady O worked with Katakros in the attack on the Eightpoints, leading the the Legion of Grief as a vanguard through the Endgate and personally killing the [[Chaos Lord]] Namos Saskarid. She proceeded to lead the Legion of Grief across the Eightpoints, slaughtering Chaos followers and leaving their bodies and souls as raw materials for the Ossiarch Bonereapers. However, once [[Archaon]] came home, the Death armies were quickly routed, with both Olynder herself (and her husband) being slain by [[Be'lakor]] and her soul sent screaming back to [[Shyish]]. Little did the First Prince know though that by slaying Olynder, he had a curse placed upon him. A curse that would permakill him once the sands of Olynder’s hourglass were gone, and only the Mortarch could remove it.

===Broken Realms===
Olynder’s role/defeat in the Eightpoints assault meant she wasn’t available to assist Nagash when he got his boney face smashed by [[Teclis]] and locked away in his capital city Nagashizzar. The Mortarch of Grief took the loss of her master pretty well, content to continue ruling over her Nighthaunt legions like she did prior to Nagash finding her.

Be'lakor rather rudely barged into Olynder’s inner sanctum and tried to make her undo the curse by threatening to destroy her corpse, which would destroy her permanently. Olynder refused, so the two were forced to strike a bargain. Lady Olynder would claim the souls of slain Stormcast, in exchange she'd remove the curse. The two led armies to a city in Chamon to defeat them, the Stormcast Eternals' souls rendered unable to return to [[Azyr]] thanks to Be'lakor’s chaos storms. The Sigmarite Brotherhood Stormhost was wiped out, and their souls taken as payment by Lady Olynder, who removed her curse from Be'lakor and left him to his own machinations. Her involvement with the First Prince became a point of contention with her fellow Mortarchs, Neferata condemning her since her assistance had led to Be'lakor furthering his assaults in Shyish, while [[Katakros]] disregarded it as she did strike a severe blow against Sigmar’s forces. Unfortunately for Olynder, Nagash shares the view of the former and hold Olynder's collaboration with Be'lakor against her.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File: Olynder Art.jpeg
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}

Nighthaunt

2021-09-06T10:53:47Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Why They're Scary */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Nighthaunt|Logo=LadyOlynderMortarch.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=Wooo!! I'm a ghosty!}}

{{topquote|Welcome, foolish mortals, to the haunted mansion!|Ghost Host}}

{{topquote|As those who believe in the visibility of ghosts can easily see them, so it is always easy to see repulsive qualities in those we despise and hate.|Frederick Douglass}}

{{topquote|A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night.|J.M. Barrie}}

The '''Nighthaunt''' are a faction in [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]. They are an army of ghosts who hate and envy the living. Like all undead, they're part of Grand Alliance: Death, and thus owe their allegiance to [[Nagash]]. Previously a minor faction, Age of Sigmar second edition promotes them to new heights of relevance with them even being in the starter set.

Most of the Nighthaunt have forms that reflect their past crimes, and said crimes range from actual wrong-doing to something Nagash doesn't like; an example of the latter are the Nighthaunts called Dreadscythe Harridans, the spirits of healers [[Grimdark|who Nagash turned into tormented killing machines for the 'crime' of saving people from dying and thus preventing their souls from coming to Shyish, and he left them aware of their actions but unable to control themselves]]. This was done as either a kind of an ironic punishment or Nagash's idea of a joke, which just goes to show how much of a hypocrite he is, since all of his power came from scheming, theft, sacrilege, murder, genocide, and a Warpstone drug addiction.

==History==
Nighthaunts have always been around in some form, some artificially created by necromancers, others naturally arose by powerful winds of Amethyst Magic. The first all-Nighthaunt army was created by Nagash during the beginning of the Age of Chaos, when he turned the spirits of valiant warriors who swore oaths to fight for noble causes and never for coin into mercenaries who killed in exchange for payments of souls, also establishing his firm love for ironic torture. They only became a true big player during the Necroquake caused by Nagash's Black Pyramid, where vast waves of Shyish energy caused the reanimation of millions of Nighthaunts. Unfortunately for Nagash, the hordes had no leadership and didn't know anything about tactics or strategy, and the force that could've ushered in his ultimate victory mostly just got sidetracked.

Seeing that these hordes needed a leader, he appointed Lady Olynder to be the Mortarch in charge of the Nighthaunt. She quickly went around organizing them into actual armies, called Processions, and appointing generals to lead them in the form of the Knights of Shrouds. Olynder's first task as Mortarch was to eradicate the Chaos forces occupying the Underworld of Lyria, and although she was succesful, her near-death at the hands of a [[Bloodthirster]] caused Nagash to realize that she needed a lieutenant to prevent her from making another such mistake, resulting in him arranging her marriage to Kurdoss Valentian. Sadly there are no details about how the wedding went, so we just have to imagine a giant Nagash saying "YOU'RE MARRIED, NOW KISS".

Since then they've been rampaging across the realms, [[Shyish]] most of all. The Processions have been incorporated into the Legion of Grief, which was formed to besiege the City of Lethis and free Katakros, an ally of Nagash, from a Stormvault. Word on the streets is that Kurdoss referred to this outing as a "honeymoon" whilst Olynder spent most the trip there whining about how far away it was.

After freeing Katakros, as a favour Lady O and her hubby decided to lend a helping hand in his endeavours to besiege the [[Eightpoints]], leading the initial assault. This didn't go wholly to plan, however - whilst they initially broke the chaos forces and Olynder managed to infect [[Be'lakor]] with supernatural rectal cancer, chaos quickly overwhelmed them, leading to Kurdoss being temporarily shattered (much to his annoyance) and Olynder calling for a retreat.

==The Processions==
Prior to the soulwars, it was rare to see masses of Nighthaunt gathered together in large armies, partly due to their unreliable nature as ghosts. This changed following the crowning of Lady Olynder as Mortarch of Grief, as she ruthlessly gathered the spirits and formed them into armies known as Processions. The goals of each Procession are mostly centered around specific curses or leaders. Some Processions might be formed of a empires worth of spirits, called forth from the underworld, while others may be spirits long imprisoned by Nagash, freed and twisted by the Necroquake.

The Processions employ the various spirits dredged up from the bowels of Shyish, meaning that they can be pretty varied. However, the same group of archetypes tend to pop up more often than others;

*'''Knight of Shrouds''': In life, these guys were generals that sold out to Nagash and are cursed in the afterlife to lead his hosts. They are cursed to ''always'' have a small sliver of doubt that worms through their hearts, meaning they suffer from a perpetual Macbeth-type guilt.
*'''Guardian of Souls''': The wannabe Necromancers that thought they could outrun death are now (un)living nexuses of Death Magic. They summon more Nighthaunt into battle.
*'''Spirit Torment''': AKA the ones that got off easy. Sadistic Jailers in life now get to be even more sadistic jailers in the afterlife!
*'''Lord Executioner''': The ones who got the second best deal after Spirit Torments. Executioners who knowingly killed the innocent in life or enjoyed their work too much are now sent after heroes to execute them in unlife. They are constantly harassed by the spirits of the people they wrongfully executed, but those same spirits also can be used to preserve the Executioner's unlife.
*'''Dreadblade Harrow''': The lieutenants of the Knights that watched on as they betrayed and did nothing. Their half-measures in life make them especially incorporeal.
*'''Krulghast Cruciator''': Formerly mortals who were tortured to death, the Krulghast Cruciators now gain power by inflicting torment upon others. When harvesting the pain of their opponents they turn into beacons of death magic that make other Nighthaunt harder to banish.
*'''Cairn Wraith''': Mass murderers and serial killers that can't rest due to their hatred. Often Lone Wolves among the Processions.
*'''Tomb Banshee''': The betrayed and tormented women, who in unlife have become obsessed with revenge.
*'''Spirit Hosts''': Formless, identity-less packs of spirits that are all bound together, often found in mass graves or battlefields.
*'''Chainrasps''': The average criminal scum that died in chains, now forever grasping and begging for light in the afterlife.
*'''Grimghast Reapers''': When someone has too much [[Just as Planned]] they are blinded and forced to kill with no subtlety whatsoever.
*'''Hexwraiths''': The proud and cruel [[Bretonnia|Knights that decided to shit on the peasants]] too much are stuck forever riding their ethereal horses.
*'''Glaivewrath Stalkers''': The guys that enjoyed hunting too much are now melded with their mounts, their weapons always point towards their victims like compasses but they literally cannot feel any joy in the hunt anymore.
*'''Myrmourn Banshees''': People who sought knowledge of magic in life (specifically death magic) and didn't pay proper reverence to Nagash are forced to feed on nothing BUT magic, devouring spells and wizards.
*'''Chainghasts''': The Spirit Torment's assistants but without the better deal. They're formed from people who died in captivity and didn't pray to Nagash for help. For this "crime" they're put into iron harnesses, forced to carry heavy locks enchanted to fill them with hopelessness and forced to act as enforcers for Spirit Torments. Still better off than Bladegheists and Dreadscythes.
*'''Bladegheist Revenants''': Those who died screeching and thrashing are blinded and are forced to flail around with unmatched frenzy whilst holding swords forever. Really cruel, since the classification for these can include innocent people who drowned or were buried alive. The second most unfortunate Nighthaunts after the ones below.
*'''Dreadscythe Harridans''': The ones with the most cruel fate. Former healers that stopped souls from going to Nagash by saving people from fatal injuries are forced into committing wanton slaughter with scythes for hands, and a few even have two arms split into four. As a further "fuck you" from Nagash, their minds and memories are wholly intact, but they are unable to control their actions.
*'''Black Coach''': The particularly powerful [[Necromancer]]s and Vampires are coached around by a Cairn Wraith in these, so that they can absorb the Death Magic and regenerate.

==Why They're Scary==
Well, aside from the fact that they're called [[Konrad Curze|Nighthaunt]], they pose a very real and genuinely terrifying threat to the realms; Nighthaunt are literally the tortured ghosts of the dearly departed rising from the grave to drag you down to meet the same fate. You never know when they're coming, you can't fortify against them, and you can't even wound them most of the time because they're ghosts. At any given moment, your shitty little hamlet in the middle of nowhere could get swamped by a tide of them, and there would be very little you could do to stop them. And even if you should repel them, they can always come back - see the fates of Westreach and Eastdale in the Lady of Sorrows novel.

What hammers the fear factor home even further is the cruel - and frankly unfair - ironies they face. Did you heal people in life? You're gonna scythes for hands, uncontrollably murdering people, as your incorporeal eyes are used as a camera as you look on helplessly. Die drowning or flailing around? Then you're gonna blindly flail around for all eternity, never knowing peace. Die in prison? Oops, looks like you're gonna be groping around for the light of day for the rest of your miserable existence! Hell, if your jailer was abusive, then THEY might become a Nighthaunt too, and STILL have power over you!

Tl:dr, if they want to get you, then they will. And when they do, the best possible outcome is death, and the worst is dying horribly and becoming one yourself.

==Notable Nighthaunts==

*'''[[Lady Olynder|Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief]]:''' In life, Olynder was a scheming gold digger who married high-ranking men then arranged the deaths of her husbands, afterwards crying crocodile tears about how she's a widow after each one died. Upon her death, Nagash punished her for her crimes by making her feel all the grief in the Mortal Realms, so now she's a genuine sobbing wreck. However, that didn't stop Olynder for long; using her own sorrows as a irresistible bait for other Nighthaunt, she forged one of the first entirely Nighthaunt empires. With the arrival of more Nighthaunts after the Necroquake, Nagash needed someone to manage them, and thus promoted her to be his newest Mortarch.

*'''[[Kurdoss Valentian|Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King]]:''' Another noble who schemed his way into power, killing many including his own brothers, but was struck down by Nagash just before his coronation as King (Not for his betrayals and murders, but because he praised and prayed to Sigmar). He is constantly followed by spectral heralds who mock him for not being able to become a true king (basically Statler and Waldorf) and is also cursed to be unable to raise his voice above the level of a whisper. He was married to Lady Olynder by Nagash to become the second-in-command of the Nighthaunt, but further cursed to be forced to obey her every order so as to deny him any kind of rulership even in his new position of power.

*'''[[Reikenor|Reikenor the Grimhailer]]:''' Once a mighty sorcerer from Hysh who attempted to become immortal. [[Warhammer Underworlds|And we all know what Nagash does to people who try to cheat death]]. Now Nagash tasks him with hunting down and killing those who would seek to steal souls from him and Necromancers who refuse to serve him.

*'''The Briar Queen:''' A former mage of Death. Notable for looking suspiciously similar to Olynder and being stuck in the Nightvault of Shadespire.

*'''Gharest Malcor''': A knight who was part of a rebellion against Lady Olynder after figuring out she'd murdered their previous king and the prince to get power. However Olynder seduced him into betraying the rebellion to her, by bribing him with money, riches, and presumably [[/d/|feet pics]]. This was all for nought however, as she murdered him as well. As a Nighthaunt she enslaved him to be <s>her main simp</s> <s>pay piggy</s> <s>a beta orbiter</s> a Knight of Shrouds who leads her personal army detachment, The Emerald Host.

*'''The [[Konrad Curze|Night Haunter]]:''' C'mon, it's in the name.

==Spooky Melodies for Haunting==
As any good [[Ork]]/[[Imperial Guard]]/[[Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast]]/[[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Skelebob]] player knows, fitting music for your army is necessary for lowering enemy morale, so you'll need to have a couple of ghastly tunes ready to give your opponent (and the rest of your [[FLGS]]) a real fright!

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSaqSVi--Ms Grim Bitter Haunts - Make sure to play this when you bring both Lady Olynder, Valentian and Reikenor in a game!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaFjmhIeezU Now I know it's N-N-N-N-NIGHTHAUNT!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUtOezg__g For the Vidya lovers among us.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n65xmQApjFY For Metal lovers.]

==See Also==
*[[Nagash]], their God and the dickbag that doomed them to their crappy existences.
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Nighthaunt|Tactics/Nighthaunt]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File: Nighthaunt Art 1.jpeg|"OoooooOooOOOOOo... I really fucking hate my unlife... OOOOooooOoo"
File: Soul Wars.jpeg|Who you gonna call? SIG-MARINES!
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}
{{Nighthaunt-Units}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
[[Category:Legions of Nagash]]

Nighthaunt

2021-09-06T10:53:23Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Why They're Scary */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Nighthaunt|Logo=LadyOlynderMortarch.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=Wooo!! I'm a ghosty!}}

{{topquote|Welcome, foolish mortals, to the haunted mansion!|Ghost Host}}

{{topquote|As those who believe in the visibility of ghosts can easily see them, so it is always easy to see repulsive qualities in those we despise and hate.|Frederick Douglass}}

{{topquote|A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night.|J.M. Barrie}}

The '''Nighthaunt''' are a faction in [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]. They are an army of ghosts who hate and envy the living. Like all undead, they're part of Grand Alliance: Death, and thus owe their allegiance to [[Nagash]]. Previously a minor faction, Age of Sigmar second edition promotes them to new heights of relevance with them even being in the starter set.

Most of the Nighthaunt have forms that reflect their past crimes, and said crimes range from actual wrong-doing to something Nagash doesn't like; an example of the latter are the Nighthaunts called Dreadscythe Harridans, the spirits of healers [[Grimdark|who Nagash turned into tormented killing machines for the 'crime' of saving people from dying and thus preventing their souls from coming to Shyish, and he left them aware of their actions but unable to control themselves]]. This was done as either a kind of an ironic punishment or Nagash's idea of a joke, which just goes to show how much of a hypocrite he is, since all of his power came from scheming, theft, sacrilege, murder, genocide, and a Warpstone drug addiction.

==History==
Nighthaunts have always been around in some form, some artificially created by necromancers, others naturally arose by powerful winds of Amethyst Magic. The first all-Nighthaunt army was created by Nagash during the beginning of the Age of Chaos, when he turned the spirits of valiant warriors who swore oaths to fight for noble causes and never for coin into mercenaries who killed in exchange for payments of souls, also establishing his firm love for ironic torture. They only became a true big player during the Necroquake caused by Nagash's Black Pyramid, where vast waves of Shyish energy caused the reanimation of millions of Nighthaunts. Unfortunately for Nagash, the hordes had no leadership and didn't know anything about tactics or strategy, and the force that could've ushered in his ultimate victory mostly just got sidetracked.

Seeing that these hordes needed a leader, he appointed Lady Olynder to be the Mortarch in charge of the Nighthaunt. She quickly went around organizing them into actual armies, called Processions, and appointing generals to lead them in the form of the Knights of Shrouds. Olynder's first task as Mortarch was to eradicate the Chaos forces occupying the Underworld of Lyria, and although she was succesful, her near-death at the hands of a [[Bloodthirster]] caused Nagash to realize that she needed a lieutenant to prevent her from making another such mistake, resulting in him arranging her marriage to Kurdoss Valentian. Sadly there are no details about how the wedding went, so we just have to imagine a giant Nagash saying "YOU'RE MARRIED, NOW KISS".

Since then they've been rampaging across the realms, [[Shyish]] most of all. The Processions have been incorporated into the Legion of Grief, which was formed to besiege the City of Lethis and free Katakros, an ally of Nagash, from a Stormvault. Word on the streets is that Kurdoss referred to this outing as a "honeymoon" whilst Olynder spent most the trip there whining about how far away it was.

After freeing Katakros, as a favour Lady O and her hubby decided to lend a helping hand in his endeavours to besiege the [[Eightpoints]], leading the initial assault. This didn't go wholly to plan, however - whilst they initially broke the chaos forces and Olynder managed to infect [[Be'lakor]] with supernatural rectal cancer, chaos quickly overwhelmed them, leading to Kurdoss being temporarily shattered (much to his annoyance) and Olynder calling for a retreat.

==The Processions==
Prior to the soulwars, it was rare to see masses of Nighthaunt gathered together in large armies, partly due to their unreliable nature as ghosts. This changed following the crowning of Lady Olynder as Mortarch of Grief, as she ruthlessly gathered the spirits and formed them into armies known as Processions. The goals of each Procession are mostly centered around specific curses or leaders. Some Processions might be formed of a empires worth of spirits, called forth from the underworld, while others may be spirits long imprisoned by Nagash, freed and twisted by the Necroquake.

The Processions employ the various spirits dredged up from the bowels of Shyish, meaning that they can be pretty varied. However, the same group of archetypes tend to pop up more often than others;

*'''Knight of Shrouds''': In life, these guys were generals that sold out to Nagash and are cursed in the afterlife to lead his hosts. They are cursed to ''always'' have a small sliver of doubt that worms through their hearts, meaning they suffer from a perpetual Macbeth-type guilt.
*'''Guardian of Souls''': The wannabe Necromancers that thought they could outrun death are now (un)living nexuses of Death Magic. They summon more Nighthaunt into battle.
*'''Spirit Torment''': AKA the ones that got off easy. Sadistic Jailers in life now get to be even more sadistic jailers in the afterlife!
*'''Lord Executioner''': The ones who got the second best deal after Spirit Torments. Executioners who knowingly killed the innocent in life or enjoyed their work too much are now sent after heroes to execute them in unlife. They are constantly harassed by the spirits of the people they wrongfully executed, but those same spirits also can be used to preserve the Executioner's unlife.
*'''Dreadblade Harrow''': The lieutenants of the Knights that watched on as they betrayed and did nothing. Their half-measures in life make them especially incorporeal.
*'''Krulghast Cruciator''': Formerly mortals who were tortured to death, the Krulghast Cruciators now gain power by inflicting torment upon others. When harvesting the pain of their opponents they turn into beacons of death magic that make other Nighthaunt harder to banish.
*'''Cairn Wraith''': Mass murderers and serial killers that can't rest due to their hatred. Often Lone Wolves among the Processions.
*'''Tomb Banshee''': The betrayed and tormented women, who in unlife have become obsessed with revenge.
*'''Spirit Hosts''': Formless, identity-less packs of spirits that are all bound together, often found in mass graves or battlefields.
*'''Chainrasps''': The average criminal scum that died in chains, now forever grasping and begging for light in the afterlife.
*'''Grimghast Reapers''': When someone has too much [[Just as Planned]] they are blinded and forced to kill with no subtlety whatsoever.
*'''Hexwraiths''': The proud and cruel [[Bretonnia|Knights that decided to shit on the peasants]] too much are stuck forever riding their ethereal horses.
*'''Glaivewrath Stalkers''': The guys that enjoyed hunting too much are now melded with their mounts, their weapons always point towards their victims like compasses but they literally cannot feel any joy in the hunt anymore.
*'''Myrmourn Banshees''': People who sought knowledge of magic in life (specifically death magic) and didn't pay proper reverence to Nagash are forced to feed on nothing BUT magic, devouring spells and wizards.
*'''Chainghasts''': The Spirit Torment's assistants but without the better deal. They're formed from people who died in captivity and didn't pray to Nagash for help. For this "crime" they're put into iron harnesses, forced to carry heavy locks enchanted to fill them with hopelessness and forced to act as enforcers for Spirit Torments. Still better off than Bladegheists and Dreadscythes.
*'''Bladegheist Revenants''': Those who died screeching and thrashing are blinded and are forced to flail around with unmatched frenzy whilst holding swords forever. Really cruel, since the classification for these can include innocent people who drowned or were buried alive. The second most unfortunate Nighthaunts after the ones below.
*'''Dreadscythe Harridans''': The ones with the most cruel fate. Former healers that stopped souls from going to Nagash by saving people from fatal injuries are forced into committing wanton slaughter with scythes for hands, and a few even have two arms split into four. As a further "fuck you" from Nagash, their minds and memories are wholly intact, but they are unable to control their actions.
*'''Black Coach''': The particularly powerful [[Necromancer]]s and Vampires are coached around by a Cairn Wraith in these, so that they can absorb the Death Magic and regenerate.

==Why They're Scary==
Well, aside from the fact that they're called [[Konrad Curze|Nighthaunt]], they pose a very real and genuinely terrifying threat to the realms; Nighthaunt are literally the tortured ghosts of the dearly departed rising from the grave to drag you down to meet the same fate. You never know when they're coming, you can't fortify against them, and you can't even wound them most of the time because they're ghosts. At any given moment, your shitty little hamlet in the middle of nowhere could get swamped by a tide of them, and there would be very little you could do to stop them. And even if you should repel them, they can always come back - see the fates of Westreach and Eastdale in the Lady of Sorrows novel.

What hammers the fear factor home even further is the cruel - and frankly unfair - ironies they face. Did you heal people in life? You're gonna scythes for hands, uncontrollably murdering people, as your incorporeal eyes are used as a camera as you look on helplessly. Die drowning or flailing around? Then you're gonna blindly flail around for all eternity, never knowing peace. Die in prison? Oops, looks like you're gonna be groping around for the light of day for the rest of your miserable existence! Hell, if your jailer was abusive, then THEY might become a Nighthaunt too, and STILL have power over you!

Tl:dr, if they want to get you, then they will. And when they do, the best possible outcome is death, and the worst is becoming one yourself.

==Notable Nighthaunts==

*'''[[Lady Olynder|Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief]]:''' In life, Olynder was a scheming gold digger who married high-ranking men then arranged the deaths of her husbands, afterwards crying crocodile tears about how she's a widow after each one died. Upon her death, Nagash punished her for her crimes by making her feel all the grief in the Mortal Realms, so now she's a genuine sobbing wreck. However, that didn't stop Olynder for long; using her own sorrows as a irresistible bait for other Nighthaunt, she forged one of the first entirely Nighthaunt empires. With the arrival of more Nighthaunts after the Necroquake, Nagash needed someone to manage them, and thus promoted her to be his newest Mortarch.

*'''[[Kurdoss Valentian|Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King]]:''' Another noble who schemed his way into power, killing many including his own brothers, but was struck down by Nagash just before his coronation as King (Not for his betrayals and murders, but because he praised and prayed to Sigmar). He is constantly followed by spectral heralds who mock him for not being able to become a true king (basically Statler and Waldorf) and is also cursed to be unable to raise his voice above the level of a whisper. He was married to Lady Olynder by Nagash to become the second-in-command of the Nighthaunt, but further cursed to be forced to obey her every order so as to deny him any kind of rulership even in his new position of power.

*'''[[Reikenor|Reikenor the Grimhailer]]:''' Once a mighty sorcerer from Hysh who attempted to become immortal. [[Warhammer Underworlds|And we all know what Nagash does to people who try to cheat death]]. Now Nagash tasks him with hunting down and killing those who would seek to steal souls from him and Necromancers who refuse to serve him.

*'''The Briar Queen:''' A former mage of Death. Notable for looking suspiciously similar to Olynder and being stuck in the Nightvault of Shadespire.

*'''Gharest Malcor''': A knight who was part of a rebellion against Lady Olynder after figuring out she'd murdered their previous king and the prince to get power. However Olynder seduced him into betraying the rebellion to her, by bribing him with money, riches, and presumably [[/d/|feet pics]]. This was all for nought however, as she murdered him as well. As a Nighthaunt she enslaved him to be <s>her main simp</s> <s>pay piggy</s> <s>a beta orbiter</s> a Knight of Shrouds who leads her personal army detachment, The Emerald Host.

*'''The [[Konrad Curze|Night Haunter]]:''' C'mon, it's in the name.

==Spooky Melodies for Haunting==
As any good [[Ork]]/[[Imperial Guard]]/[[Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast]]/[[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Skelebob]] player knows, fitting music for your army is necessary for lowering enemy morale, so you'll need to have a couple of ghastly tunes ready to give your opponent (and the rest of your [[FLGS]]) a real fright!

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSaqSVi--Ms Grim Bitter Haunts - Make sure to play this when you bring both Lady Olynder, Valentian and Reikenor in a game!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaFjmhIeezU Now I know it's N-N-N-N-NIGHTHAUNT!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUtOezg__g For the Vidya lovers among us.]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n65xmQApjFY For Metal lovers.]

==See Also==
*[[Nagash]], their God and the dickbag that doomed them to their crappy existences.
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Nighthaunt|Tactics/Nighthaunt]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File: Nighthaunt Art 1.jpeg|"OoooooOooOOOOOo... I really fucking hate my unlife... OOOOooooOoo"
File: Soul Wars.jpeg|Who you gonna call? SIG-MARINES!
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}
{{Nighthaunt-Units}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}
[[Category:Legions of Nagash]]

Shyish

2021-09-06T10:48:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Age of Myth */

{{AoS-Stub}}

{{Topquote|In the land of the dead! Heck boy ain’t it grand? I’m the overlord of the underworld, cause I hold horror’s hand. In the land of the dead! I’m dark side royalty! I’m far renowned in the underground, and you can’t take that from me!|Aurelio Voltaire}}

Shyish was originally the wind of magic related to all things to do with death. In the [[Age of Sigmar]] it has become the realm of [[Nagash]]. Shyish serves as the afterlife for the mortal realms: underworlds containing the souls of the dead are formed based on the beliefs of various cultures and they are presided over by various gods with various origins. Although stereotypically seen as a spooky graveyard wasteland, Shyish is also home to pleasant heavens and terrible hells.

== Warhammer Fantasy Battle==

In the Old World, Shyish was the Amethyst Wind of death and endings. As such, the magisters of Shyish have the ability to drain away life and commune with spirits. Amethyst wizards are often shunned for the resemblance of their powers to Necromancy. However, the two are completely different: where Shyish is about embracing endings, Necromancy is about defying them. Amethyst magic also completely lacks the mental and physical degredation that Necromancy brings on its participants. The Libre Necris describes Necromancy as essentially using the Winds of Shyish as "tongs" to grasp Dhar or Dark Magic and channel it through the remains of the dead.

== The Realm of Shyish ==

Shyish is a realm of entropy. The individual underworlds are created by the beliefs of a civilization, and whenever a religions or belief system is made a new afterlife emerges and if they fade away (whether this takes centuries, millennia or even longer) so does the afterlife centered around them. The souls are gradually reabsorbed into Shyish proper and can either be reborn or get taken by other beings.

The core of Shyish is apparently a huge, magical black hole and anything that would get sucked into it dies forever and never comes back, including Nagash himself. Shyish forms around it like a pearl forms around a grain of sand in an oyster, and while the black hole eats away at Shyish, Shyish regenerates keeping the black hole contained.

=== Age of Myth ===

Originally Nagash was buried in a crypt in a place out of time. Sigmar found him and freed him, trusting the sociopathic skeleton for some unknown reason. Nagash took one look at Shyish, with all its afterlives and gods and immediately decided to take over. He used his magic to control some of the dead, and with their help he nommed all the gods and annexed the afterlives he could find. At some point he rebuild Nagashizzar in the center of Shyish and brought back Arkhan, Neferata, Mannfred and Ushoran. Nagash also encountered Katakros in one of the afterlives and made Katakros his general, but didn't give him the position of Mortarch.

During this time Nagash also reconstructed the Morghasts and came up with a pet project of super skeleton warriors (that would go on to become the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]], these ones in particular would become the magic-resistant Null Myriad Legion). However, his allies weren't too keen on them, so he kept them out of sight on the edge of Shyish. However Nagash put some other proto-Bonereapers in crypts under the cities of the Forces of Order, and they went undiscovered because... plot.

=== Age of Chaos ===

Nagash fled back to Shyish after backstabbing Sigmar's forces. However Sigmar, mad about the betrayal, kicked down Nagash's door and hunted him across Shyish. They fought twice with Nagash fleeing both times before Sigmar could beat him. At one point, Nagash ordered Katakros to marshall and army and take down Sigmar, but Sigmar defeated them all and locked Katakros in a Stormvault. Eventually Sigmar left Shyish when he saw that the forces of Chaos had used this opportunity to gain a lot of ground.

Rather than make the most of Sigmar's departure, Nagash found himself and his forces taking on the forces of Chaos alone. It was a hard fight in the realm of Shyish, but Nagash and the undead were slowly ground down. It took Archaon himself to strike down Nagash. The Vampire Lord Prince Vhordrai tried to dispose of Nagash's remains to ensure the Chaos Gods consumed him, but he was thwarted by Arkhan the Black. Arkhan and Neferata later took Nagash's remains to the underworld of Stygyx where he would reform.

=== Age of Sigmar===

Sigmar sent his forces to parley with Nagash, with predictable results both times. First Nagash threw Sigmar's offer back in his face and attacked the Stormcast, killing them all and keeping the soul of the Lord-Celestant for interrogation. The second time Nagash put them through a series of gruelling tests (as part of some experiment, unbeknownst to the Stormcast), then double-crossed them and left them to die in battle against Chaos.

Nagash made a master plan where his forces gathered Shyishian realmstone (''gathering magical rocks, this sounds familiar'') and using it to build a giant black pyramid that could fly (''Déjà vu''). He planned to absorb all the energy in Shyish and become super powerful (''if at first you don't succeed...'') to the point that he would raise the dead everywhere and use them as an undead army to conquer everyone else (''heard that one before''). However he overlooked the Skaven (''not the first time he did that'') and they messed up his plans (''yet again''). This did have a different outcome, creating a void in the center of Shyish and raising armies of ghosts across the realms, creating the Nighthaunt faction who have a major hatred for Sigmar and friends.

This void also slowly sucks in all the afterlives, so now everyone who dies is sucked into the void where their souls exist in a state of insanity before being destroyed. Nagash can enter it and draw power from it, but he's the only one who can do so and even for him it means destruction if he stays there too long.

==Notable Locations in Shyish==

===The Nadir===

A vortex of death magic at the center of Shyish, which is slowly dragging in and consuming all other underworlds. Although Nagashizzar, the capital of Shyish, is located here, the energies there are so dangerous that not even Nagash himself can stay indefinitely. Due to the presence of the Skaven contaminating the Black Pyramid with the essence of Chaos, the Nadir has become a place of insanity as well as death.

===The Prime Innerlands===

The area north of the Nadir, and the area of Shyish we know the most about. Notable areas include Stygxx, said to be the Underworld for dead gods where Nagash recovered from his battle with Archaon and Katakros was imprisoned in a Stormvault, and Neferatia and Carstinia, the kingdoms of two of the Mortarchs (guess which ones).

===The Ossiarch Empire===

Located to the east of the Prime Innerlands, the Ossiarch Empire is the empire of Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis, and the homeland of the Ossiarch Bonereapers. It’s a collection of various islands and underworlds all connected by massive spinal column bridges and numerous Bonereaper fortresses.

===The Evercrawl===

A dank and gloomy place said to be the lair of the [[Spider-god]]. As you'd expect, its absolutely covered in spiders and spiderwebs, most famously the soul-eating Skitterstrand Arachnoroks who use the webs of the Evercrawl to travel between the Realms and attack anywhere they see fit.

==Forces of Shyish==

=== Legions of Nagash ===

Nagash's endless hordes of vampires, necromancers, skelebois and zombinonos.

=== [[Flesh-Eater Courts]] ===
Nagash's red headed step children. BASE warriors still considered "alive" but so drenched in death magic that they are considered under his rule. A bunch of half naked cannibals and vampires who think they are actually [[Bretonnia|noble men and women of honor.]]

=== [[Nighthaunt]] ===
A bunch of spooky ghosts. Collectively, they did bad things in life, offended Nagash in one way or another, or simply died in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they all serve as the phantasmal thralls for the God of the Dead. Most of them have a massive hateboner for the living, especially living who worship Sigmar, and Ol' Naggy uses this eternal bitterness to sick them onto his foes. They have a big shroud/scythe/ironic punishment fetish to emphasize their relation to the realm/concept of Death and servile nature to Nagash, and lots are big on chains and weights and locks and keys that even Jacob Marley would call excessive.

=== [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] ===
A bunch of scary skellingtons. Unlike ordinary skeletons, these are made from the reforged bones of multiple skeletons and with multiple souls in each warrior, these guys are Nagash's answer to the Stormcast Eternals. They have their own empire inside Shyish.

{{AoS-Realms}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]][[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]]

Shyish

2021-09-06T10:47:02Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Age of Myth */

{{AoS-Stub}}

{{Topquote|In the land of the dead! Heck boy ain’t it grand? I’m the overlord of the underworld, cause I hold horror’s hand. In the land of the dead! I’m dark side royalty! I’m far renowned in the underground, and you can’t take that from me!|Aurelio Voltaire}}

Shyish was originally the wind of magic related to all things to do with death. In the [[Age of Sigmar]] it has become the realm of [[Nagash]]. Shyish serves as the afterlife for the mortal realms: underworlds containing the souls of the dead are formed based on the beliefs of various cultures and they are presided over by various gods with various origins. Although stereotypically seen as a spooky graveyard wasteland, Shyish is also home to pleasant heavens and terrible hells.

== Warhammer Fantasy Battle==

In the Old World, Shyish was the Amethyst Wind of death and endings. As such, the magisters of Shyish have the ability to drain away life and commune with spirits. Amethyst wizards are often shunned for the resemblance of their powers to Necromancy. However, the two are completely different: where Shyish is about embracing endings, Necromancy is about defying them. Amethyst magic also completely lacks the mental and physical degredation that Necromancy brings on its participants. The Libre Necris describes Necromancy as essentially using the Winds of Shyish as "tongs" to grasp Dhar or Dark Magic and channel it through the remains of the dead.

== The Realm of Shyish ==

Shyish is a realm of entropy. The individual underworlds are created by the beliefs of a civilization, and whenever a religions or belief system is made a new afterlife emerges and if they fade away (whether this takes centuries, millennia or even longer) so does the afterlife centered around them. The souls are gradually reabsorbed into Shyish proper and can either be reborn or get taken by other beings.

The core of Shyish is apparently a huge, magical black hole and anything that would get sucked into it dies forever and never comes back, including Nagash himself. Shyish forms around it like a pearl forms around a grain of sand in an oyster, and while the black hole eats away at Shyish, Shyish regenerates keeping the black hole contained.

=== Age of Myth ===

Originally Nagash was buried in a crypt in a place out of time. Sigmar found him and freed him, trusting the sociopathic skeleton for some unknown reason. Nagash took one look at Shyish, with all its afterlives and gods and immediately decided to take over. He used his magic to control some of the dead, and with their help he nommed all the gods and annexed the afterlives he could find. At some point he rebuild Nagashizzar in the center of Shyish and brought back Arkhan, Neferata, Mannfred and Ushoran. Nagash also encountered Katakros in one of the afterlives and made Katakros his general, but didn't give him the position of Mortarch.

In more new lore, during this time Nagash also came with a pet project of super skeleton warriors (that would go on to become the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]], these ones in particular would become the magic-resistant Null Myriad Legion). However, his allies weren't too keen on them, so he kept them out of sight. However Nagash did put these proto-Bonereapers in crypts under the cities of the Forces of Order, and they went undiscovered because... plot.

=== Age of Chaos ===

Nagash fled back to Shyish after backstabbing Sigmar's forces. However Sigmar, mad about the betrayal, kicked down Nagash's door and hunted him across Shyish. They fought twice with Nagash fleeing both times before Sigmar could beat him. At one point, Nagash ordered Katakros to marshall and army and take down Sigmar, but Sigmar defeated them all and locked Katakros in a Stormvault. Eventually Sigmar left Shyish when he saw that the forces of Chaos had used this opportunity to gain a lot of ground.

Rather than make the most of Sigmar's departure, Nagash found himself and his forces taking on the forces of Chaos alone. It was a hard fight in the realm of Shyish, but Nagash and the undead were slowly ground down. It took Archaon himself to strike down Nagash. The Vampire Lord Prince Vhordrai tried to dispose of Nagash's remains to ensure the Chaos Gods consumed him, but he was thwarted by Arkhan the Black. Arkhan and Neferata later took Nagash's remains to the underworld of Stygyx where he would reform.

=== Age of Sigmar===

Sigmar sent his forces to parley with Nagash, with predictable results both times. First Nagash threw Sigmar's offer back in his face and attacked the Stormcast, killing them all and keeping the soul of the Lord-Celestant for interrogation. The second time Nagash put them through a series of gruelling tests (as part of some experiment, unbeknownst to the Stormcast), then double-crossed them and left them to die in battle against Chaos.

Nagash made a master plan where his forces gathered Shyishian realmstone (''gathering magical rocks, this sounds familiar'') and using it to build a giant black pyramid that could fly (''Déjà vu''). He planned to absorb all the energy in Shyish and become super powerful (''if at first you don't succeed...'') to the point that he would raise the dead everywhere and use them as an undead army to conquer everyone else (''heard that one before''). However he overlooked the Skaven (''not the first time he did that'') and they messed up his plans (''yet again''). This did have a different outcome, creating a void in the center of Shyish and raising armies of ghosts across the realms, creating the Nighthaunt faction who have a major hatred for Sigmar and friends.

This void also slowly sucks in all the afterlives, so now everyone who dies is sucked into the void where their souls exist in a state of insanity before being destroyed. Nagash can enter it and draw power from it, but he's the only one who can do so and even for him it means destruction if he stays there too long.

==Notable Locations in Shyish==

===The Nadir===

A vortex of death magic at the center of Shyish, which is slowly dragging in and consuming all other underworlds. Although Nagashizzar, the capital of Shyish, is located here, the energies there are so dangerous that not even Nagash himself can stay indefinitely. Due to the presence of the Skaven contaminating the Black Pyramid with the essence of Chaos, the Nadir has become a place of insanity as well as death.

===The Prime Innerlands===

The area north of the Nadir, and the area of Shyish we know the most about. Notable areas include Stygxx, said to be the Underworld for dead gods where Nagash recovered from his battle with Archaon and Katakros was imprisoned in a Stormvault, and Neferatia and Carstinia, the kingdoms of two of the Mortarchs (guess which ones).

===The Ossiarch Empire===

Located to the east of the Prime Innerlands, the Ossiarch Empire is the empire of Katakros, Mortarch of the Necropolis, and the homeland of the Ossiarch Bonereapers. It’s a collection of various islands and underworlds all connected by massive spinal column bridges and numerous Bonereaper fortresses.

===The Evercrawl===

A dank and gloomy place said to be the lair of the [[Spider-god]]. As you'd expect, its absolutely covered in spiders and spiderwebs, most famously the soul-eating Skitterstrand Arachnoroks who use the webs of the Evercrawl to travel between the Realms and attack anywhere they see fit.

==Forces of Shyish==

=== Legions of Nagash ===

Nagash's endless hordes of vampires, necromancers, skelebois and zombinonos.

=== [[Flesh-Eater Courts]] ===
Nagash's red headed step children. BASE warriors still considered "alive" but so drenched in death magic that they are considered under his rule. A bunch of half naked cannibals and vampires who think they are actually [[Bretonnia|noble men and women of honor.]]

=== [[Nighthaunt]] ===
A bunch of spooky ghosts. Collectively, they did bad things in life, offended Nagash in one way or another, or simply died in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they all serve as the phantasmal thralls for the God of the Dead. Most of them have a massive hateboner for the living, especially living who worship Sigmar, and Ol' Naggy uses this eternal bitterness to sick them onto his foes. They have a big shroud/scythe/ironic punishment fetish to emphasize their relation to the realm/concept of Death and servile nature to Nagash, and lots are big on chains and weights and locks and keys that even Jacob Marley would call excessive.

=== [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] ===
A bunch of scary skellingtons. Unlike ordinary skeletons, these are made from the reforged bones of multiple skeletons and with multiple souls in each warrior, these guys are Nagash's answer to the Stormcast Eternals. They have their own empire inside Shyish.

{{AoS-Realms}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]][[Category:40k and Fantasy Gods]]

Ushoran

2021-09-06T10:45:02Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[Image:Ancient-Blood.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Ushoran on the cover of his own [[Black Library]] book.]]
Originally a [[Bard|clever bastard]], later the head of the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]]. He's about as unlucky as they come, and were it not for the forces of the universe conspiring to make his life hell he could have succeeded where [[Mannfred von Carstein|other pathetic failures hadn't]] and conquered humanity.

==The Legend==
[[Image:1287907031625.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Young Ushoran in a nutshell.]]
Like the other Bloodline pat/matriarchs '''Ushoran''' was originally a nobleman from the province of Lahmia in [[Nehekhara]], the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] analogue to ancient Egypt. Cousin to both '''[[Queen Neferata]]''' and her older brother '''Lamashizzar''',

Ushoran, like [[Vlad von Carstein|Ankhat]] and [[W'soran]], was born to an ancient noble bloodline. Despite being a distant relative to the Lahmia's royal family, he did not receive Asaph's blessing of looking beautiful and handsome, looking rather like a plain commoner (which is a useful trait that allows him to shake off his pursuers by blending himself with street crowds). He is also an incredibly smart and a cunning schemer who do not leaves any deep impression of himself to others, making him a natural born spy when combined with his aforementioned trait. He put his talents to use by covering up his cabal's little activities from leaking out to the public, and had never risk them into his own scheme.

Ushoran too, like other members, grew tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence and switched sides when Neferata revealed her superior mastery of the dark arts over her brother.

After Neferata became a vampire and took the throne, Ushoran became her spymaster and was given the title of '''Lord of Masks'''. His spy network stretched far and wide, extended to every great city in Nehekhara, even in Cathay where their vampire agents has made a firm contact with its [[Jade-Blooded|local vampire]] for decades. Upon turned into a vampire, Ushoran became even more unpredictable than before, so much that Neferata noticed minor changes on his face, as if he could physically alter it at will.

Hilariously, Neferata once had a carpenter who was skillful enough to craft a forgery of the original throne, but the carpenter was never seen again after the throne was finished (since no corpse was left behind), and Neferata never asked about the carpenter's fate. She hinted Ushoran might've made him "disappeared" to ensure no such throne will ever be made.

Despite achieved immortality, he shared the same sentiments with the other members about Neferata's new husbandry obsession with the Rasetran prince, which they believe will led to Lahmia's destruction.

Being the scheming bastard he is, he made a secret contact with W'soran, who was busy isolating himself in the library to study the Book of Nagash. After Ushoran passed his charisma check and made W'soran confess his big plan to summon Nagash (with which he was having trouble) and how he felt about Neferata's obsession (as well as his own critique about Neferata as a ruler), Ushoran agreed to help him in exchange to work together and overthrow Neferata before she doomed Lahmia.

To help W'soran, Ushoran put on a disguise (using some makeup as well as a little bit of his talent) and hired a tomb raider to obtain Thutep's remains, only to kill the raider afterward in a display of vampire ninja assassination. Ushoran gave Thutep's remains to W'soran but W'soran's ritual did not succeed (at first).

After '''Alcadizzar''' escaped, Neferata ordered the cabal and her soldiers to find him. Ushoran was specifically assigned for this task (being a a spymaster and all), and had to interrogate many innocent Lahmians at the Temple of Blood (now with its own torture chamber and tools). Ushoran was permitted, even encouraged, to abduct people freely from the street to interrogate them about Alcadizzar's whereabouts. He tracked his living prey like a vampire Spiderman, jumping from street to building and using his vampiric senses. When convinced his victims didn't know anything, they were not released, [[grimdark|but instead imprisoned inside his private torture dungeon for his own entertainment]], [[Slaanesh|Ushoran using torture methods he'd learned from Nagash's book, which Nagash himself had learnt from the Dark Elves]]. Ushoran came to enjoy hunting and torturing people so much he stopped caring about Alcadizzar and hoped he'd never appear again.

Ushorn was there when W'soran finally made contact with Nagash and confirmed his survival, but unfortunately for them they were caught unawares by Ankhat and Neferata. After W'soran was staked and put inside a casket, Neferata angrily question Ushoran was and once again ordered to find Alcadizzar, threatening to inflict worse suffering on him than what W'soran got him if he failed.

Realizing Neferata had finally lost patience with him, Ushoran secretly met with '''Zhuras''', one of Lamashizzar's cousin and the loser of the cabal who had spent his immortality on gambling in the slums. Using promises of becoming royalty and gaining power, Ushoran drew him into a plan to destroy Neferata with Nagash's assistance. To do so, however, Zhuras had to act as an envoy to Nagash at '''Nagashizzar''' by crossing the northern plain, aided by six elite bodyguards while avoiding travel by boat (because Ankhat's agent patrolled the harbor). Ushoran also secretly planned to get rid of Zhuras after Nagash dealt with Neferata....[[not as planned|which didn't work out how he hoped]].

Due to a prophetess revealing where Alcadizzar would get the evidence he required to start a war against Lahmia, Zhuras and his bodyguards were ambushed there and killed. Zhuras' head, along with important documents he carried about Lahmia's vampires and Nagash's whereabouts, was sent to the Rasetran king and led to the formation of a coalition army of the great cities.

[[Irony|So yes. Ushoran's little scheme was the final nail in the coffin to finish off Lahmia. He had tried to overthrow Neferata but instead ended up securing her reign and destroying the city.]]

Although Ushoran had tried to escape, Ankhat caught him since he had his own agents watching Ushoran at all times. Neferata was also there and forced him defend Lahmia alongside the released W'soran.

On the battlefield, Ushoran hopped around slashing Nehekharan soldiers with his claw like a sadistic animal. His appetite and bloodlust, further stoked by the years of torture he'd perpetrated, made him go on an uncontrolled rampage.

His rampage ended when a group of desert horse archers shot him with barbed arrows dipped in flammable oil to immobilize him and set him alight. Ushoran could do nothing but howled in pain until his death.

But Abhorash's arrival gave the vampires time to escape and the fire died out before it could finish off Ushoran. As he slowly regenerated he limped to the top of a hill in time to see Lahmia's final moments and wondered if any of his fellow cabal members had survived.

===Mourkain: Rise and Fall===
Meanwhile a Necromancer called Kadon, who was the son of the chieftain and the shaman of the Lodringen tribe (which had been neglected by Sigmar's unification), found Nagash's Crown of Sorcery in the hands of the corpse of [[Alcadizaar]] washed up on the shore of a river. The crown instantly filled his mind with knowledge, and he used his newfound necromantic powers to reanimate the corpses of the dead to serve the living. A massive tomb was built for the body of Alcadizaar which also doubled as Kadon's palace and a place of burial for the Lodringen. Mourkain (known as "Morgheim" to the Empire) became the name of the capital city, while Strygos became the name of the people.

Ushoran and his followers at this point crossed the impassible mountains separating the land of the [[Tomb Kings]] from the [[Old World]] and after arriving in Mourkain, Ushoran immediately used his charm to become the main adviser to Kadon. The two of them made a powerful and expanding empire that rivaled that of the [[Empire]] of the time, and Kadon worked with Ushoran's more arcane-minded Vampire servants to create many powerful magical items as well as refine the magic of Nagash (giving rise to the Lore of Vampires used by the Vampire Count army).
[[Image:Mourkain palace.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Mourkain palace.]]

In the meantime, Ushoran rebuilt his Bloodline from the loyal citizens of Stygos. At some point after Kadon's death, Ushoran then channeled the most dangerous power in any Warhammer settings (common sense!) and instituted laws prohibiting his vampire minions from feeding on the general populace: they only drained the blood from willing servants, or criminals, prisoners of war and slaves. The protection of the Vampires combined with the growing power and luxury provided by the wise rulership made the people of Strygos very loyal to their rulers in a way that rivals that of current [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Peasantry]].

Once the kingdom had grown enough in power, Ushoran sent messengers to the other Bloodline leaders with plans for a united Vampire race. Only [[W'soran/Melkhior|W'soran]] answered his invitations. The two of them further refined the Lore of Vampires and created many more magical objects, eventually unlocking the full power of the Crown of Sorcery for Ushoran's use.

So at this point, things were going fantastically for Ushoran and the Strygos. As one might expect, this is the point in the story where everything went to hell.

Neferata took the invitation of Ushoran as an implication that she was to serve him (and she might have been right). She was so incensed by the idea that another Vampire would rule over her like she had all of them only a short time ago (by Vampire reckoning), and that Ushoran was making such an offer after his role in the fall of Lahmia, she manipulated the young [[Empire]] into gathering an army and attacking Strygos. While he could have easily beaten them and added the Empire to his ranks, an [[Orcs and Goblins|Orc]] WAAAGH had gathered both due to Abhorash and the first Blood Dragons nearly wiping them out in the nearby mountains and the slow encroachment of the Strygos on their lands. The greenskins destroyed a straight path to the foot of Mourkain itself.

While Ushoran and Kadon devastated both armies, Kadon was slain and the Strygos and Strigoi forces took massive casualties to the point that the greenskins and Warboss that remained were able to smash through the city gates and destroy it. Ushoran and his remaining Bloodline held the line near the rear of the city so that the human population, fanatically loyal to him, could flee to the distant hills. At this point W'soran and his followers betrayed the Strigoi (according to the Necrarch account because the Crown of Sorcery had begun to take control of Ushoran and W'soran wanted to save the only man he had ever considered a friend, although this would hardly have been a bad end for them as he had worshiped Nagash as a god shortly before draws the story into doubt). W'soran weakened the Strigoi until they could no longer stand against the WAAAGH, and after being beaten by Ushoran fled for his life to the mountains.

The kingdom of Strigos fell and became know as the Badlands to the people of the [[Old World]].

Ushoran was separated from his kin during their retreat and seemingly crushed under a sea of green, so the remaining Strigoi Vampires broke ranks and fled in different directions. Without leadership, the Bloodline degenerated and most gave into their animalistic urges. Where before they had been restrained to non-lethal blood drinking or to consuming the dregs of society, they indulged themselves to the point that a single Strigoi was capable of consuming all living creatures from mice to giants for miles before rest.

The other Bloodlines became exceedingly hostile to the Strigoi. The appearance of a Strigoi in the midst of an area controlled by Lahmians brought Witch Hunters on their heads, so Lahmians were quick to personally kill them or hire mercenaries to put them out of their (their meaning the Lahmian's) misery. The von Carsteins saw them as beggars, and did to them as the inspiration for their Bloodline did (hint: it involves fire and impalement). The traitorous Necrarchs saw them as a source of crafting materials with which to make new monsters and dissected them with glee (although they DO still trade with them and make deals with them, as Necrarchs are smart not to burn their bridges entirely). The Blood Dragons saw them as mere beasts to slay and drink the blood of for a challenge. As a result, Strigoi Vampires became more and more a group of loners.

During the early centuries of the Empire, the threat of Vampires was considered very real. The first [[Witch Hunters]] relentlessly pursued the Strigoi Vampires, despite the ineffective forces knowing very little about them. More often they attacked the people of Strigos, who had since become Warhammer's gypsy analogue and lived on the outskirts of most towns and cities in the Empire.
As the years went on, the mistreatment of the Strigos grew until many (often those in positions of political clout amongst the isolated clans) began to behave as the Witch Hunters believed them to have always been: witches, necromancers, and seekers of Vampirism. Ironically, the attacks of the von Carsteins under Vlad made the Witch Hunters far less focused on Strigos, but FAR more effective at hunting the Vampires themselves. But the damage had been done, and the Strigos are oftentimes the allies of Vampires who in turn usually treat them with a degree of respect (to the point that a Strigoi Vampire may literally ONLY restrain his urges from preying upon the gypsy Strigos bands...and instead consuming every man, woman, child, and animal in the nearby Empire town then fleeing resulting in the Strigos moving in to loot and live, benefiting the still loyal Strigos greatly).

For his part, Ushoran did NOT die. He has lived primarily in isolation, learning that his kin from other Bloodlines were far less loyal than ordinary mortal humans and that his own Bloodline, however loyal when he was around, were weak willed without him.

During the time of the Three Emperors of the Empire, the Strigos were persecuted more than they ever were, to the point that when the (then) Elector Count of Averland formed a group to genocide the Strigos, much of the Empire considered him a hero. Needless to say, Ushoran was NOT impressed when he found out. He wiped out an entire greenskin WAAAGH that threatened the Strigany who had returned to Mourkain, then single-handedly wiped out the forces and leaders who had sought the destruction of his gypsy followers.

The Elector Count of Averland was turned and made one of the Strigoi Bloodline: Ushoran enjoyed watching the former tormentor struggle with his Vampirism, with the man only capable of restraining himself out of fear of becoming like the other Strigoi. Ushoran returned to Mourkain and sent a call for his Strigoi Vampire family and the Strigany humans to return to the city to rebuild.

As the [[Storm of Magic]] (or [[Warhammer Online|Age of Reckoning]] grew in strength, the body of Kadon became reanimated as a [[Lich]] and sought to rebuild his former kingdom and reclaim the Crown of Sorcery.

===[[Age of Sigmar]]===

{{topquote|They say I'm crazy, HA! I'LL SHOW THEM, I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! Won't I, Mister Sqeaky-Bones?! FILTHY FUCKING BARBARIANS, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!|possibly Ushoran, upon escaping the Shroudcage.}}

Ushoran did not survive the complete destruction of the Old World, but since he was undead and Nagash had become a god, Ushoran was brought bac in the new setting. Then [[Nagash]] had him trapped in something called the Shroudcage, like a fancy parrot you torment for a week before forgetting of their existence. But when bone daddy got uppity and tossed a wrench in [[Sigmar|everyone's favorite golden idiot]]'s plans, the Fantasy God Emperor personally came down to [[Shyish]] to smash his skull, and in attempting to do so he accidentally toppled the Shroudcage over.

Ushoran escaped, but after being locked up for so long there, he has gone completely mad and sees himself as a sophisticated king traveling the Realms with a court of majestic gold, noble men and women joining him as impeccable courtiers everywhere he goes, which quickly lead to an impressive list of new names and titles his followers come up with.

Needless to say, this isn't quite the case.

[[Grimdark|What in his eyes are brave paladins and diligent men-at-arms are in truth filthy, frenzied, mishappen creatures feasting not on elaborate banquets but on the corpses of their foes, who are more often than not scared peasants and city guards rather than horrible monsters needing to taste the blade of a knight.]]

The thing is, his madness is contagious. Everyone in Ushoran's court and the ones he infected with his vampirism and later left to form their own bands (called Abhorrent Ghoul Kings) suffer these delusions as if they saw everything through their "kings'" warped perspectives, and consume anyone who may be disagreeable to their madness.

These "noble courts" join all sides, draw from all sides, and war against all sides in an unpredictable clusterfuck that messes with everyone equally. Nobody likes them, though Nagash considers them under his rule due to all the Death magic permeating them, but is unable to really control them and has promised great rewards for anyone who comes to a Mortarch with any information on Ushoran (said reward likely being some form of undeath, but not necessarily a comfy seat in Nagash's forces).

==Strigoi==
Unlike other Vampire Bloodlines, the Strigoi mostly lack central leadership. During the seclusion of Ushoran they spread out throughout the Old World, giving in to their base natures and degenerating into hulking brutes. Initially they ate solid food out of inability to restrain themselves and often vomited it up as Warhammer Vampires are mostly incapable of consuming anything but blood without conditioning. Strigoi Vampires eventually overcame their weakness, becoming almost as capable of digesting anything as an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]].

Strigoi rarely find themselves in the company of others for long, although Ghouls being the human equivalent to themselves are the company they are found in more than anything else. Rare is the Strigoi capable of much advanced thought, but those that are (for various reasons like being only given to periodic indulgence rather than constant, regaining some level of self control after a traumatic event, almost starving to death and returning to rational thought, conditioning by another intelligent being, or the rare guidance of Ushoran) will seek out Strigos Necromancers, resurrect Zombies (who despite being slower than molasses running uphill to the frustration of feral Strigoi, are simple enough to animate and useful as minions), then advance the goals of Ushoran or join the von Carsteins. The most intelligent (or the most feral and powerful) can easily find themselves beasts to tame or packs to join amongst the various monsters of the world. The Necrarchs can be quite helpful at assisting them in both cases.

==On the Tabletop==
Ushoran has never had a model. Only released in 6e where Vampire Counts saw a trimming of their named characters rather than additions, he remains something that can only be emulated on the tabletop.

If you want to use him, it's tempting to use a Strigoi Ghoul King. Remember though, Ushoran never gave into his primal nature.* Although he somehow came to resemble his Bloodline (unless this is an illusion of his to inspire kinship amongst them anyway), he still retains his intelligence. Being a manipulative bastard, he should be used as a Vampire Lord kitted out like a Lahmian with abilities like Beguile. He should also have Necromancers, representing his loyal Strigany followers.

*EDIT: Not exactly true. Ushoran is noted in ''Ancient Blood'' to have been feral for some time, and only came back to his senses and return to sapient life after receiving the blood of a specific strigany boy and then going on a serial killer rampage through the Western Empire in revenge for the aforementioned Strigany. So if you played a pre-blood Ushoran, you could field a Ghoul King (or an Archregent if you're playing AoS, as he's so insane in that that just being near him drives you insane too).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Strigoi.jpg
Image:Strigoi 2.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Flesh-Eater Courts]]

Ushoran

2021-09-06T10:42:30Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* Mourkain: Rise and Fall */

[[Image:Ancient-Blood.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Ushoran on the cover of his own [[Black Library]] book.]]
Originally a [[Bard|clever bastard]], later the head of the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]]. He's about as unlucky as they come, and were it not for the forces of the universe conspiring to make his life hell he could have succeeded where [[Mannfred von Carstein|other pathetic failures hadn't]] and conquered humanity.

==The Legend==
[[Image:1287907031625.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Young Ushoran in a nutshell.]]
Like the other Bloodline pat/matriarchs '''Ushoran''' was originally a nobleman from the province of Lahmia in [[Nehekhara]], the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] analogue to ancient Egypt. Cousin to both '''[[Queen Neferata]]''' and her older brother '''Lamashizzar''',

Ushoran, like [[Vlad von Carstein|Ankhat]] and [[W'soran]], was born to an ancient noble bloodline. Despite being a distant relative to the Lahmia's royal family, he did not receive Asaph's blessing of looking beautiful and handsome, looking rather like a plain commoner (which is a useful trait that allows him to shake off his pursuers by blending himself with street crowds). He is also an incredibly smart and a cunning schemer who do not leaves any deep impression of himself to others, making him a natural born spy when combined with his aforementioned trait. He put his talents to use by covering up his cabal's little activities from leaking out to the public, and had never risk them into his own scheme.

Ushoran too, like other members, grew tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence and switched sides when Neferata revealed her superior mastery of the dark arts over her brother.

After Neferata became a vampire and took the throne, Ushoran became her spymaster and was given the title of '''Lord of Masks'''. His spy network stretched far and wide, extended to every great city in Nehekhara, even in Cathay where their vampire agents has made a firm contact with its [[Jade-Blooded|local vampire]] for decades. Upon turned into a vampire, Ushoran became even more unpredictable than before, so much that Neferata noticed minor changes on his face, as if he could physically alter it at will.

Hilariously, Neferata once had a carpenter who was skillful enough to craft a forgery of the original throne, but the carpenter was never seen again after the throne was finished (since no corpse was left behind), and Neferata never asked about the carpenter's fate. She hinted Ushoran might've made him "disappeared" to ensure no such throne will ever be made.

Despite achieved immortality, he shared the same sentiments with the other members about Neferata's new husbandry obsession with the Rasetran prince, which they believe will led to Lahmia's destruction.

Being the scheming bastard he is, he made a secret contact with W'soran, who was busy isolating himself in the library to study the Book of Nagash. After Ushoran passed his charisma check and made W'soran confess his big plan to summon Nagash (with which he was having trouble) and how he felt about Neferata's obsession (as well as his own critique about Neferata as a ruler), Ushoran agreed to help him in exchange to work together and overthrow Neferata before she doomed Lahmia.

To help W'soran, Ushoran put on a disguise (using some makeup as well as a little bit of his talent) and hired a tomb raider to obtain Thutep's remains, only to kill the raider afterward in a display of vampire ninja assassination. Ushoran gave Thutep's remains to W'soran but W'soran's ritual did not succeed (at first).

After '''Alcadizzar''' escaped, Neferata ordered the cabal and her soldiers to find him. Ushoran was specifically assigned for this task (being a a spymaster and all), and had to interrogate many innocent Lahmians at the Temple of Blood (now with its own torture chamber and tools). Ushoran was permitted, even encouraged, to abduct people freely from the street to interrogate them about Alcadizzar's whereabouts. He tracked his living prey like a vampire Spiderman, jumping from street to building and using his vampiric senses. When convinced his victims didn't know anything, they were not released, [[grimdark|but instead imprisoned inside his private torture dungeon for his own entertainment]], [[Slaanesh|Ushoran using torture methods he'd learned from Nagash's book, which Nagash himself had learnt from the Dark Elves]]. Ushoran came to enjoy hunting and torturing people so much he stopped caring about Alcadizzar and hoped he'd never appear again.

Ushorn was there when W'soran finally made contact with Nagash and confirmed his survival, but unfortunately for them they were caught unawares by Ankhat and Neferata. After W'soran was staked and put inside a casket, Neferata angrily question Ushoran was and once again ordered to find Alcadizzar, threatening to inflict worse suffering on him than what W'soran got him if he failed.

Realizing Neferata had finally lost patience with him, Ushoran secretly met with '''Zhuras''', one of Lamashizzar's cousin and the loser of the cabal who had spent his immortality on gambling in the slums. Using promises of becoming royalty and gaining power, Ushoran drew him into a plan to destroy Neferata with Nagash's assistance. To do so, however, Zhuras had to act as an envoy to Nagash at '''Nagashizzar''' by crossing the northern plain, aided by six elite bodyguards while avoiding travel by boat (because Ankhat's agent patrolled the harbor). Ushoran also secretly planned to get rid of Zhuras after Nagash dealt with Neferata....[[not as planned|which didn't work out how he hoped]].

Due to a prophetess revealing where Alcadizzar would get the evidence he required to start a war against Lahmia, Zhuras and his bodyguards were ambushed there and killed. Zhuras' head, along with important documents he carried about Lahmia's vampires and Nagash's whereabouts, was sent to the Rasetran king and led to the formation of a coalition army of the great cities.

[[Irony|So yes. Ushoran's little scheme was the final nail in the coffin to finish off Lahmia. He had tried to overthrow Neferata but instead ended up securing her reign and destroying the city.]]

Although Ushoran had tried to escape, Ankhat caught him since he had his own agents watching Ushoran at all times. Neferata was also there and forced him defend Lahmia alongside the released W'soran.

On the battlefield, Ushoran hopped around slashing Nehekharan soldiers with his claw like a sadistic animal. His appetite and bloodlust, further stoked by the years of torture he'd perpetrated, made him go on an uncontrolled rampage.

His rampage ended when a group of desert horse archers shot him with barbed arrows dipped in flammable oil to immobilize him and set him alight. Ushoran could do nothing but howled in pain until his death.

But Abhorash's arrival gave the vampires time to escape and the fire died out before it could finish off Ushoran. As he slowly regenerated he limped to the top of a hill in time to see Lahmia's final moments and wondered if any of his fellow cabal members had survived.

===Mourkain: Rise and Fall===
Meanwhile a Necromancer called Kadon, who was the son of the chieftain and the shaman of the Lodringen tribe (which had been neglected by Sigmar's unification), found Nagash's Crown of Sorcery in the hands of the corpse of [[Alcadizaar]] washed up on the shore of a river. The crown instantly filled his mind with knowledge, and he used his newfound necromantic powers to reanimate the corpses of the dead to serve the living. A massive tomb was built for the body of Alcadizaar which also doubled as Kadon's palace and a place of burial for the Lodringen. Mourkain (known as "Morgheim" to the Empire) became the name of the capital city, while Strygos became the name of the people.

Ushoran and his followers at this point crossed the impassible mountains separating the land of the [[Tomb Kings]] from the [[Old World]] and after arriving in Mourkain, Ushoran immediately used his charm to become the main adviser to Kadon. The two of them made a powerful and expanding empire that rivaled that of the [[Empire]] of the time, and Kadon worked with Ushoran's more arcane-minded Vampire servants to create many powerful magical items as well as refine the magic of Nagash (giving rise to the Lore of Vampires used by the Vampire Count army).
[[Image:Mourkain palace.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Mourkain palace.]]

In the meantime, Ushoran rebuilt his Bloodline from the loyal citizens of Stygos. At some point after Kadon's death, Ushoran then channeled the most dangerous power in any Warhammer settings (common sense!) and instituted laws prohibiting his vampire minions from feeding on the general populace: they only drained the blood from willing servants, or criminals, prisoners of war and slaves. The protection of the Vampires combined with the growing power and luxury provided by the wise rulership made the people of Strygos very loyal to their rulers in a way that rivals that of current [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Peasantry]].

Once the kingdom had grown enough in power, Ushoran sent messengers to the other Bloodline leaders with plans for a united Vampire race. Only [[W'soran/Melkhior|W'soran]] answered his invitations. The two of them further refined the Lore of Vampires and created many more magical objects, eventually unlocking the full power of the Crown of Sorcery for Ushoran's use.

So at this point, things were going fantastically for Ushoran and the Strygos. As one might expect, this is the point in the story where everything went to hell.

Neferata took the invitation of Ushoran as an implication that she was to serve him (and she might have been right). She was so incensed by the idea that another Vampire would rule over her like she had all of them only a short time ago (by Vampire reckoning), and that Ushoran was making such an offer after his role in the fall of Lahmia, she manipulated the young [[Empire]] into gathering an army and attacking Strygos. While he could have easily beaten them and added the Empire to his ranks, an [[Orcs and Goblins|Orc]] WAAAGH had gathered both due to Abhorash and the first Blood Dragons nearly wiping them out in the nearby mountains and the slow encroachment of the Strygos on their lands. The greenskins destroyed a straight path to the foot of Mourkain itself.

While Ushoran and Kadon devastated both armies, Kadon was slain and the Strygos and Strigoi forces took massive casualties to the point that the greenskins and Warboss that remained were able to smash through the city gates and destroy it. Ushoran and his remaining Bloodline held the line near the rear of the city so that the human population, fanatically loyal to him, could flee to the distant hills. At this point W'soran and his followers betrayed the Strigoi (according to the Necrarch account because the Crown of Sorcery had begun to take control of Ushoran and W'soran wanted to save the only man he had ever considered a friend, although this would hardly have been a bad end for them as he had worshiped Nagash as a god shortly before draws the story into doubt). W'soran weakened the Strigoi until they could no longer stand against the WAAAGH, and after being beaten by Ushoran fled for his life to the mountains.

The kingdom of Strigos fell and became know as the Badlands to the people of the [[Old World]].

Ushoran was separated from his kin during their retreat and seemingly crushed under a sea of green, so the remaining Strigoi Vampires broke ranks and fled in different directions. Without leadership, the Bloodline degenerated and most gave into their animalistic urges. Where before they had been restrained to non-lethal blood drinking or to consuming the dregs of society, they indulged themselves to the point that a single Strigoi was capable of consuming all living creatures from mice to giants for miles before rest.

The other Bloodlines became exceedingly hostile to the Strigoi. The appearance of a Strigoi in the midst of an area controlled by Lahmians brought Witch Hunters on their heads, so Lahmians were quick to personally kill them or hire mercenaries to put them out of their (their meaning the Lahmian's) misery. The von Carsteins saw them as beggars, and did to them as the inspiration for their Bloodline did (hint: it involves fire and impalement). The traitorous Necrarchs saw them as a source of crafting materials with which to make new monsters and dissected them with glee (although they DO still trade with them and make deals with them, as Necrarchs are smart not to burn their bridges entirely). The Blood Dragons saw them as mere beasts to slay and drink the blood of for a challenge. As a result, Strigoi Vampires became more and more a group of loners.

During the early centuries of the Empire, the threat of Vampires was considered very real. The first [[Witch Hunters]] relentlessly pursued the Strigoi Vampires, despite the ineffective forces knowing very little about them. More often they attacked the people of Strigos, who had since become Warhammer's gypsy analogue and lived on the outskirts of most towns and cities in the Empire.
As the years went on, the mistreatment of the Strigos grew until many (often those in positions of political clout amongst the isolated clans) began to behave as the Witch Hunters believed them to have always been: witches, necromancers, and seekers of Vampirism. Ironically, the attacks of the von Carsteins under Vlad made the Witch Hunters far less focused on Strigos, but FAR more effective at hunting the Vampires themselves. But the damage had been done, and the Strigos are oftentimes the allies of Vampires who in turn usually treat them with a degree of respect (to the point that a Strigoi Vampire may literally ONLY restrain his urges from preying upon the gypsy Strigos bands...and instead consuming every man, woman, child, and animal in the nearby Empire town then fleeing resulting in the Strigos moving in to loot and live, benefiting the still loyal Strigos greatly).

For his part, Ushoran did NOT die. He has lived primarily in isolation, learning that his kin from other Bloodlines were far less loyal than ordinary mortal humans and that his own Bloodline, however loyal when he was around, were weak willed without him.

During the time of the Three Emperors of the Empire, the Strigos were persecuted more than they ever were, to the point that when the (then) Elector Count of Averland formed a group to genocide the Strigos, much of the Empire considered him a hero. Needless to say, Ushoran was NOT impressed when he found out. He wiped out an entire greenskin WAAAGH that threatened the Strigany who had returned to Mourkain, then single-handedly wiped out the forces and leaders who had sought the destruction of his gypsy followers.

The Elector Count of Averland was turned and made one of the Strigoi Bloodline: Ushoran enjoyed watching the former tormentor struggle with his Vampirism, with the man only capable of restraining himself out of fear of becoming like the other Strigoi. Ushoran returned to Mourkain and sent a call for his Strigoi Vampire family and the Strigany humans to return to the city to rebuild.

As the [[Storm of Magic]] (or [[Warhammer Online|Age of Reckoning]] grew in strength, the body of Kadon became reanimated as a [[Lich]] and sought to rebuild his former kingdom and reclaim the Crown of Sorcery.

===[[Age of Sigmar]]===

{{topquote|They say I'm crazy, HA! I'LL SHOW THEM, I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! Won't I, Mister Sqeaky-Bones?! FILTHY FUCKING BARBARIANS, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!|possibly Ushoran, upon escaping the Shroudcage.}}

Ushoran somehow managed to survive the complete destruction of the Old World and reached the new setting, or reincarnated there. Initially, [[Nagash]] had him trapped in something called the Shroudcage, like a fancy parrot you torment for a week before forgetting of their existence.
But when bone daddy got uppity and tossed a wrench in [[Sigmar|everyone's favorite golden idiot]]'s plans, the Fantasy God Emperor personally came down to [[Shyish]] to smash his face, and in doing so, he toppled the Shroudcage over.

Ushoran escaped, but after being locked up for so long by someone who didn't really like him a lot, he has gone completely mad and sees himself as a sophisticated king traveling the Realms with a court of majestic gold, noble men and women joining him as impeccable courtiers everywhere he goes, which quickly lead to an impressive list of new names and titles his followers come up with.
Needless to say, this isn't quite the case.
[[Grimdark|What in his eyes are brave paladins and diligent men-at-arms are in truth filthy, frenzied, mishappen creatures feasting not on elaborate banquets but on the corpses of their foes, who are more often than not scared peasants and city guards rather than horrible monsters needing to taste the blade of a knight.]]

The thing is, his madness is contagious. Everyone in Ushoran's court and the ones he infected with his vampirism and later left to form their own bands (called Abhorrent Ghoul Kings) suffer these delusions as if they saw everything through their "kings'" warped perspectives, and consume anyone who may be disagreeable to their madness.
These "noble courts" join all sides, draw from all sides, and war against all sides in an unpredictable clusterfuck that messes with everyone equally. Nobody likes them, though Nagash considers them under his rule due to all the Death magic permeating them, but is unable to really control them and has promised great rewards for anyone who comes to a Mortarch with any information on Ushoran (said reward likely being some form of undeath, but not necessarily a comfy seat in Nagash's forces).

Allegedly, when he survived the End Times he somehow got a make over and looked handsome [[Derp|until he started insulting Neferata,]] who cursed him to look hideous which in turn is what caused him to flip his shit.

==Strigoi==
Unlike other Vampire Bloodlines, the Strigoi mostly lack central leadership. During the seclusion of Ushoran they spread out throughout the Old World, giving in to their base natures and degenerating into hulking brutes. Initially they ate solid food out of inability to restrain themselves and often vomited it up as Warhammer Vampires are mostly incapable of consuming anything but blood without conditioning. Strigoi Vampires eventually overcame their weakness, becoming almost as capable of digesting anything as an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]].

Strigoi rarely find themselves in the company of others for long, although Ghouls being the human equivalent to themselves are the company they are found in more than anything else. Rare is the Strigoi capable of much advanced thought, but those that are (for various reasons like being only given to periodic indulgence rather than constant, regaining some level of self control after a traumatic event, almost starving to death and returning to rational thought, conditioning by another intelligent being, or the rare guidance of Ushoran) will seek out Strigos Necromancers, resurrect Zombies (who despite being slower than molasses running uphill to the frustration of feral Strigoi, are simple enough to animate and useful as minions), then advance the goals of Ushoran or join the von Carsteins. The most intelligent (or the most feral and powerful) can easily find themselves beasts to tame or packs to join amongst the various monsters of the world. The Necrarchs can be quite helpful at assisting them in both cases.

==On the Tabletop==
Ushoran has never had a model. Only released in 6e where Vampire Counts saw a trimming of their named characters rather than additions, he remains something that can only be emulated on the tabletop.

If you want to use him, it's tempting to use a Strigoi Ghoul King. Remember though, Ushoran never gave into his primal nature.* Although he somehow came to resemble his Bloodline (unless this is an illusion of his to inspire kinship amongst them anyway), he still retains his intelligence. Being a manipulative bastard, he should be used as a Vampire Lord kitted out like a Lahmian with abilities like Beguile. He should also have Necromancers, representing his loyal Strigany followers.

*EDIT: Not exactly true. Ushoran is noted in ''Ancient Blood'' to have been feral for some time, and only came back to his senses and return to sapient life after receiving the blood of a specific strigany boy and then going on a serial killer rampage through the Western Empire in revenge for the aforementioned Strigany. So if you played a pre-blood Ushoran, you could field a Ghoul King (or an Archregent if you're playing AoS, as he's so insane in that that just being near him drives you insane too).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Strigoi.jpg
Image:Strigoi 2.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Flesh-Eater Courts]]

Ushoran

2021-09-06T10:31:26Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* The Legend */

[[Image:Ancient-Blood.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Ushoran on the cover of his own [[Black Library]] book.]]
Originally a [[Bard|clever bastard]], later the head of the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]]. He's about as unlucky as they come, and were it not for the forces of the universe conspiring to make his life hell he could have succeeded where [[Mannfred von Carstein|other pathetic failures hadn't]] and conquered humanity.

==The Legend==
[[Image:1287907031625.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Young Ushoran in a nutshell.]]
Like the other Bloodline pat/matriarchs '''Ushoran''' was originally a nobleman from the province of Lahmia in [[Nehekhara]], the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] analogue to ancient Egypt. Cousin to both '''[[Queen Neferata]]''' and her older brother '''Lamashizzar''',

Ushoran, like [[Vlad von Carstein|Ankhat]] and [[W'soran]], was born to an ancient noble bloodline. Despite being a distant relative to the Lahmia's royal family, he did not receive Asaph's blessing of looking beautiful and handsome, looking rather like a plain commoner (which is a useful trait that allows him to shake off his pursuers by blending himself with street crowds). He is also an incredibly smart and a cunning schemer who do not leaves any deep impression of himself to others, making him a natural born spy when combined with his aforementioned trait. He put his talents to use by covering up his cabal's little activities from leaking out to the public, and had never risk them into his own scheme.

Ushoran too, like other members, grew tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence and switched sides when Neferata revealed her superior mastery of the dark arts over her brother.

After Neferata became a vampire and took the throne, Ushoran became her spymaster and was given the title of '''Lord of Masks'''. His spy network stretched far and wide, extended to every great city in Nehekhara, even in Cathay where their vampire agents has made a firm contact with its [[Jade-Blooded|local vampire]] for decades. Upon turned into a vampire, Ushoran became even more unpredictable than before, so much that Neferata noticed minor changes on his face, as if he could physically alter it at will.

Hilariously, Neferata once had a carpenter who was skillful enough to craft a forgery of the original throne, but the carpenter was never seen again after the throne was finished (since no corpse was left behind), and Neferata never asked about the carpenter's fate. She hinted Ushoran might've made him "disappeared" to ensure no such throne will ever be made.

Despite achieved immortality, he shared the same sentiments with the other members about Neferata's new husbandry obsession with the Rasetran prince, which they believe will led to Lahmia's destruction.

Being the scheming bastard he is, he made a secret contact with W'soran, who was busy isolating himself in the library to study the Book of Nagash. After Ushoran passed his charisma check and made W'soran confess his big plan to summon Nagash (with which he was having trouble) and how he felt about Neferata's obsession (as well as his own critique about Neferata as a ruler), Ushoran agreed to help him in exchange to work together and overthrow Neferata before she doomed Lahmia.

To help W'soran, Ushoran put on a disguise (using some makeup as well as a little bit of his talent) and hired a tomb raider to obtain Thutep's remains, only to kill the raider afterward in a display of vampire ninja assassination. Ushoran gave Thutep's remains to W'soran but W'soran's ritual did not succeed (at first).

After '''Alcadizzar''' escaped, Neferata ordered the cabal and her soldiers to find him. Ushoran was specifically assigned for this task (being a a spymaster and all), and had to interrogate many innocent Lahmians at the Temple of Blood (now with its own torture chamber and tools). Ushoran was permitted, even encouraged, to abduct people freely from the street to interrogate them about Alcadizzar's whereabouts. He tracked his living prey like a vampire Spiderman, jumping from street to building and using his vampiric senses. When convinced his victims didn't know anything, they were not released, [[grimdark|but instead imprisoned inside his private torture dungeon for his own entertainment]], [[Slaanesh|Ushoran using torture methods he'd learned from Nagash's book, which Nagash himself had learnt from the Dark Elves]]. Ushoran came to enjoy hunting and torturing people so much he stopped caring about Alcadizzar and hoped he'd never appear again.

Ushorn was there when W'soran finally made contact with Nagash and confirmed his survival, but unfortunately for them they were caught unawares by Ankhat and Neferata. After W'soran was staked and put inside a casket, Neferata angrily question Ushoran was and once again ordered to find Alcadizzar, threatening to inflict worse suffering on him than what W'soran got him if he failed.

Realizing Neferata had finally lost patience with him, Ushoran secretly met with '''Zhuras''', one of Lamashizzar's cousin and the loser of the cabal who had spent his immortality on gambling in the slums. Using promises of becoming royalty and gaining power, Ushoran drew him into a plan to destroy Neferata with Nagash's assistance. To do so, however, Zhuras had to act as an envoy to Nagash at '''Nagashizzar''' by crossing the northern plain, aided by six elite bodyguards while avoiding travel by boat (because Ankhat's agent patrolled the harbor). Ushoran also secretly planned to get rid of Zhuras after Nagash dealt with Neferata....[[not as planned|which didn't work out how he hoped]].

Due to a prophetess revealing where Alcadizzar would get the evidence he required to start a war against Lahmia, Zhuras and his bodyguards were ambushed there and killed. Zhuras' head, along with important documents he carried about Lahmia's vampires and Nagash's whereabouts, was sent to the Rasetran king and led to the formation of a coalition army of the great cities.

[[Irony|So yes. Ushoran's little scheme was the final nail in the coffin to finish off Lahmia. He had tried to overthrow Neferata but instead ended up securing her reign and destroying the city.]]

Although Ushoran had tried to escape, Ankhat caught him since he had his own agents watching Ushoran at all times. Neferata was also there and forced him defend Lahmia alongside the released W'soran.

On the battlefield, Ushoran hopped around slashing Nehekharan soldiers with his claw like a sadistic animal. His appetite and bloodlust, further stoked by the years of torture he'd perpetrated, made him go on an uncontrolled rampage.

His rampage ended when a group of desert horse archers shot him with barbed arrows dipped in flammable oil to immobilize him and set him alight. Ushoran could do nothing but howled in pain until his death.

But Abhorash's arrival gave the vampires time to escape and the fire died out before it could finish off Ushoran. As he slowly regenerated he limped to the top of a hill in time to see Lahmia's final moments and wondered if any of his fellow cabal members had survived.

===Mourkain: Rise and Fall===
Meanwhile a Necromancer called Kadon, who was the son of the chieftain as well as being the shaman of the Lodringen tribe (which had been neglected by Sigmar's unification), had found Nagash's Crown of Sorcery in the hands of the corpse of [[Alcadizaar]] washed up on the shore of a river. The crown instantly filled his mind with knowledge, and he used his newfound necromantic powers to reanimate the corpses of the dead to serve the living. A massive tomb was built for the body of Alcadizaar which also doubled as Kadon's palace and a place of burial for the Lodringen. Mourkain (known as "Morgheim" to the Empire) became the name of the capital city, while Strygos became the name of the people. Ushoran and his followers at this point crossed the impassible mountains separating the land of the [[Tomb Kings]] from the [[Old World]] and immediately used his charm to become the main adviser to Kadon. The two of them made a powerful and expanding empire that rivaled that of THE [[Empire]] of the time, and Kadon worked with Ushoran's more arcane-minded Vampire servants to create many powerful magical items as well as refine the magic of Nagash into the current Lore of Vampires used by the Vampire Count army.
[[Image:Mourkain palace.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Mourkain palace.]]
In the meantime, Ushoran rebuilt his Bloodline from the loyal citizens of Stygos then channeled the most dangerous power in the two Warhammer settings (common sense!) and instituted laws prohibiting his minions from feeding on the populace: they drained the blood only of the willing, or of criminals, prisoners, and slaves. The protection of the Vampires combined with the growing power and luxury provided by the wise rulership of Kadon made the people of Strygos very loyal to their rulers in a way that rivals that of current [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Peasantry]].
Once the kingdom had grown enough in power, Ushoran sent messengers to the other Bloodline leaders with plans for a united Vampire race. Only [[W'soran/Melkhior|W'soran]] answered his invitations. The two of them further refined the Lore of Vampires and created many more magical objects, eventually unlocking the full power of the Crown of Sorcery for Ushoran's use.

So at this point, things were going fantastically for Ushoran and the Strygos. As one might expect, this is the point in the story where everything went to hell.

Neferata had taken the invitation of Ushoran as an implication that she was to serve him. She was so incensed by the idea that another Vampire would rule over her like she had all of them only a short time (by Vampire reckoning) ago that she manipulated the young [[Empire]] into gathering an army and attacking Strygos. While he could have easily beaten them and added the Empire to his ranks, an [[Orcs and Goblins|Orc]] WAAAGH had gathered both due to Abhorash and the first Blood Dragons nearly wiping them out in the nearby mountains and the slow encroachment of the Strygos on their lands. The greenskins destroyed a straight path to the foot of Mourkain itself. While Ushoran and Kadon devastated both armies, Kadon was slain and the Strygos and Strigoi forces took massive casualties to the point that the greenskins and Warboss that remained were able to smash through the city gates and destroy it. Ushoran and his remaining Bloodline held the line near the rear of the city so that the human population, fanatically loyal to him, could flee to the distant hills. At this point W'soran and his followers betrayed the Strigoi (according to the Necrarch account because the Crown of Sorcery had begun to take control of Ushoran and W'soran wanted to save the only man he had ever considered a friend, although this would hardly have been a bad end for them as he had worshiped Nagash as a god shortly before draws the story into doubt). W'soran weakened the Strigoi until they could no longer stand against the WAAAGH, and after being beaten by Ushoran fled for his life to the mountains.
The kingdom of Strigos fell and became know as the Badlands to the people of the [[Old World]].

Ushoran was separated from his kin during their retreat and seemingly crushed under a sea of green, so the remaining Strigoi Vampires broke ranks and fled in different directions. Without leadership, the Bloodline degenerated and most gave into their animalistic urges. Where before they had been restrained to non-lethal blood drinking or to consuming the dregs of society, they indulged themselves to the point that a single Strigoi was capable of consuming all living creatures from mice to giants for miles before rest.
The other Bloodlines became exceedingly hostile to the Strigoi. The appearance of a Strigoi in the midst of an area controlled by Lahmians brought Witch Hunters on their heads, so Lahmians were quick to personally kill them or hire mercenaries to put them out of their (their meaning the Lahmian's) misery. The von Carsteins saw them as beggars, and did to them as the inspiration for their Bloodline did (hint: it involves fire and impalement). The traitorous Necrarchs saw them as a source of crafting materials with which to make new monsters and dissected them with glee (although they DO still trade with them and make deals with them, as Necrarchs are smart not to burn their bridges entirely). The Blood Dragons saw them as mere beasts to slay and drink the blood of for a challenge. As a result, Strigoi Vampires became more and more a group of loners.

During the early centuries of the Empire, the threat of Vampires was considered very real. The first [[Witch Hunters]] relentlessly pursued the Strigoi Vampires, despite the ineffective forces knowing very little about them. More often they attacked the people of Strigos, who has since become Warhammers gypsy analogue and lived on the outskirts of most towns and cities in the Empire.
As the years went on, the mistreatment of the Strigos grew until many (often those in positions of political clout amongst the isolated clans) began to behave as the Witch Hunters believed them to have always been: witches, necromancers, and seekers of Vampirism. Ironically, the attacks of the von Carsteins under Vlad made the Witch Hunters far less focused on Strigos, but FAR more effective at hunting the Vampires themselves. But the damage had been done, and the Strigos are oftentimes the allies of Vampires who in turn usually treat them with a degree of respect (to the point that a Strigoi Vampire may literally ONLY restrain his urges from preying upon the gypsy Strigos bands...and instead consuming every man, woman, child, and animal in the nearby Empire town then fleeing resulting in the Strigos moving in to loot and live, benefiting the still loyal Strigos greatly).

For his part, Ushoran did NOT die. He has lived primarily in isolation, learning that his kin from other Bloodlines were far less loyal than ordinary mortal humans and that his own Bloodline, however loyal when he was around, were weak willed without him.

During the time of the Three Emperors of the Empire, the Strigos were persecuted more than they ever were to the point that genocide of their race made one of the Elector Counts more eligible in the eyes of the Empire. Needless to say, Ushoran was NOT impressed. He wiped out an entire greenskin WAAAGH that threatened the Strigany who had returned to the city of Mourkain, then single-handedly wiped out the forces and leaders who had sought the destruction of his gypsy followers. The leader of the group, the Elector Count of Averland, was turned and made one of the Strigoi Bloodline: Ushoran enjoyed watching the former tormentor struggle with his Vampirism, with the man only capable of restraining himself out of fear of becoming like the other Strigoi. Ushoran returned to Mourkain and sent a call for his Strigoi Vampire family and his Strigany human one to return to the city to rebuild.

As the [[Storm of Magic]] (or [[Warhammer Online|Age of Reckoning]] grew in strength, the body of Kadon became reanimated as a [[Lich]] and sought to rebuild his former kingdom and reclaim the Crown of Sorcery.

===[[Age of Sigmar]]===

{{topquote|They say I'm crazy, HA! I'LL SHOW THEM, I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! Won't I, Mister Sqeaky-Bones?! FILTHY FUCKING BARBARIANS, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!|possibly Ushoran, upon escaping the Shroudcage.}}

Ushoran somehow managed to survive the complete destruction of the Old World and reached the new setting, or reincarnated there. Initially, [[Nagash]] had him trapped in something called the Shroudcage, like a fancy parrot you torment for a week before forgetting of their existence.
But when bone daddy got uppity and tossed a wrench in [[Sigmar|everyone's favorite golden idiot]]'s plans, the Fantasy God Emperor personally came down to [[Shyish]] to smash his face, and in doing so, he toppled the Shroudcage over.

Ushoran escaped, but after being locked up for so long by someone who didn't really like him a lot, he has gone completely mad and sees himself as a sophisticated king traveling the Realms with a court of majestic gold, noble men and women joining him as impeccable courtiers everywhere he goes, which quickly lead to an impressive list of new names and titles his followers come up with.
Needless to say, this isn't quite the case.
[[Grimdark|What in his eyes are brave paladins and diligent men-at-arms are in truth filthy, frenzied, mishappen creatures feasting not on elaborate banquets but on the corpses of their foes, who are more often than not scared peasants and city guards rather than horrible monsters needing to taste the blade of a knight.]]

The thing is, his madness is contagious. Everyone in Ushoran's court and the ones he infected with his vampirism and later left to form their own bands (called Abhorrent Ghoul Kings) suffer these delusions as if they saw everything through their "kings'" warped perspectives, and consume anyone who may be disagreeable to their madness.
These "noble courts" join all sides, draw from all sides, and war against all sides in an unpredictable clusterfuck that messes with everyone equally. Nobody likes them, though Nagash considers them under his rule due to all the Death magic permeating them, but is unable to really control them and has promised great rewards for anyone who comes to a Mortarch with any information on Ushoran (said reward likely being some form of undeath, but not necessarily a comfy seat in Nagash's forces).

Allegedly, when he survived the End Times he somehow got a make over and looked handsome [[Derp|until he started insulting Neferata,]] who cursed him to look hideous which in turn is what caused him to flip his shit.

==Strigoi==
Unlike other Vampire Bloodlines, the Strigoi mostly lack central leadership. During the seclusion of Ushoran they spread out throughout the Old World, giving in to their base natures and degenerating into hulking brutes. Initially they ate solid food out of inability to restrain themselves and often vomited it up as Warhammer Vampires are mostly incapable of consuming anything but blood without conditioning. Strigoi Vampires eventually overcame their weakness, becoming almost as capable of digesting anything as an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]].

Strigoi rarely find themselves in the company of others for long, although Ghouls being the human equivalent to themselves are the company they are found in more than anything else. Rare is the Strigoi capable of much advanced thought, but those that are (for various reasons like being only given to periodic indulgence rather than constant, regaining some level of self control after a traumatic event, almost starving to death and returning to rational thought, conditioning by another intelligent being, or the rare guidance of Ushoran) will seek out Strigos Necromancers, resurrect Zombies (who despite being slower than molasses running uphill to the frustration of feral Strigoi, are simple enough to animate and useful as minions), then advance the goals of Ushoran or join the von Carsteins. The most intelligent (or the most feral and powerful) can easily find themselves beasts to tame or packs to join amongst the various monsters of the world. The Necrarchs can be quite helpful at assisting them in both cases.

==On the Tabletop==
Ushoran has never had a model. Only released in 6e where Vampire Counts saw a trimming of their named characters rather than additions, he remains something that can only be emulated on the tabletop.

If you want to use him, it's tempting to use a Strigoi Ghoul King. Remember though, Ushoran never gave into his primal nature.* Although he somehow came to resemble his Bloodline (unless this is an illusion of his to inspire kinship amongst them anyway), he still retains his intelligence. Being a manipulative bastard, he should be used as a Vampire Lord kitted out like a Lahmian with abilities like Beguile. He should also have Necromancers, representing his loyal Strigany followers.

*EDIT: Not exactly true. Ushoran is noted in ''Ancient Blood'' to have been feral for some time, and only came back to his senses and return to sapient life after receiving the blood of a specific strigany boy and then going on a serial killer rampage through the Western Empire in revenge for the aforementioned Strigany. So if you played a pre-blood Ushoran, you could field a Ghoul King (or an Archregent if you're playing AoS, as he's so insane in that that just being near him drives you insane too).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Strigoi.jpg
Image:Strigoi 2.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Flesh-Eater Courts]]

Ushoran

2021-09-06T10:31:09Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* The Legend */

[[Image:Ancient-Blood.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Ushoran on the cover of his own [[Black Library]] book.]]
Originally a [[Bard|clever bastard]], later the head of the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]]. He's about as unlucky as they come, and were it not for the forces of the universe conspiring to make his life hell he could have succeeded where [[Mannfred von Carstein|other pathetic failures hadn't]] and conquered humanity.

==The Legend==
[[Image:1287907031625.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Young Ushoran in a nutshell.]]
Like the other Bloodline pat/matriarchs '''Ushoran''' was originally a nobleman from the province of Lahmia in [[Nehekhara]], the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] analogue to ancient Egypt. Cousin to both '''[[Queen Neferata]]''' and her older brother '''Lamashizzar''',

Ushoran, like [[Vlad von Carstein|Ankhat]] and [[W'soran]], was born to an ancient noble bloodline. Despite being a distant relative to the Lahmia's royal family, he did not receive Asaph's blessing of looking beautiful and handsome, looking rather like a plain commoner (which is a useful trait that allows him to shake off his pursuers by blending himself with street crowds). He is also an incredibly smart and a cunning schemer who do not leaves any deep impression of himself to others, making him a natural born spy when combined with his aforementioned trait. He put his talents to use by covering up his cabal's little activities from leaking out to the public, and had never risk them into his own scheme.

Ushoran too, like other members, grew tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence and switched sides when Neferata revealed her superior mastery of the dark arts over her brother.

After Neferata became a vampire and took the throne, Ushoran became her spymaster and was given the title of '''Lord of Mask'''. His spy network stretched far and wide, extended to every great city in Nehekhara, even in Cathay where their vampire agents has made a firm contact with its [[Jade-Blooded|local vampire]] for decades. Upon turned into a vampire, Ushoran became even more unpredictable than before, so much that Neferata noticed minor changes on his face, as if he could physically alter it at will.

Hilariously, Neferata once had a carpenter who was skillful enough to craft a forgery of the original throne, but the carpenter was never seen again after the throne was finished (since no corpse was left behind), and Neferata never asked about the carpenter's fate. She hinted Ushoran might've made him "disappeared" to ensure no such throne will ever be made.

Despite achieved immortality, he shared the same sentiments with the other members about Neferata's new husbandry obsession with the Rasetran prince, which they believe will led to Lahmia's destruction.

Being the scheming bastard he is, he made a secret contact with W'soran, who was busy isolating himself in the library to study the Book of Nagash. After Ushoran passed his charisma check and made W'soran confess his big plan to summon Nagash (with which he was having trouble) and how he felt about Neferata's obsession (as well as his own critique about Neferata as a ruler), Ushoran agreed to help him in exchange to work together and overthrow Neferata before she doomed Lahmia.

To help W'soran, Ushoran put on a disguise (using some makeup as well as a little bit of his talent) and hired a tomb raider to obtain Thutep's remains, only to kill the raider afterward in a display of vampire ninja assassination. Ushoran gave Thutep's remains to W'soran but W'soran's ritual did not succeed (at first).

After '''Alcadizzar''' escaped, Neferata ordered the cabal and her soldiers to find him. Ushoran was specifically assigned for this task (being a a spymaster and all), and had to interrogate many innocent Lahmians at the Temple of Blood (now with its own torture chamber and tools). Ushoran was permitted, even encouraged, to abduct people freely from the street to interrogate them about Alcadizzar's whereabouts. He tracked his living prey like a vampire Spiderman, jumping from street to building and using his vampiric senses. When convinced his victims didn't know anything, they were not released, [[grimdark|but instead imprisoned inside his private torture dungeon for his own entertainment]], [[Slaanesh|Ushoran using torture methods he'd learned from Nagash's book, which Nagash himself had learnt from the Dark Elves]]. Ushoran came to enjoy hunting and torturing people so much he stopped caring about Alcadizzar and hoped he'd never appear again.

Ushorn was there when W'soran finally made contact with Nagash and confirmed his survival, but unfortunately for them they were caught unawares by Ankhat and Neferata. After W'soran was staked and put inside a casket, Neferata angrily question Ushoran was and once again ordered to find Alcadizzar, threatening to inflict worse suffering on him than what W'soran got him if he failed.

Realizing Neferata had finally lost patience with him, Ushoran secretly met with '''Zhuras''', one of Lamashizzar's cousin and the loser of the cabal who had spent his immortality on gambling in the slums. Using promises of becoming royalty and gaining power, Ushoran drew him into a plan to destroy Neferata with Nagash's assistance. To do so, however, Zhuras had to act as an envoy to Nagash at '''Nagashizzar''' by crossing the northern plain, aided by six elite bodyguards while avoiding travel by boat (because Ankhat's agent patrolled the harbor). Ushoran also secretly planned to get rid of Zhuras after Nagash dealt with Neferata....[[not as planned|which didn't work out how he hoped]].

Due to a prophetess revealing where Alcadizzar would get the evidence he required to start a war against Lahmia, Zhuras and his bodyguards were ambushed there and killed. Zhuras' head, along with important documents he carried about Lahmia's vampires and Nagash's whereabouts, was sent to the Rasetran king and led to the formation of a coalition army of the great cities.

[[Irony|So yes. Ushoran's little scheme was the final nail in the coffin to finish off Lahmia. He had tried to overthrow Neferata but instead ended up securing her reign and destroying the city.]]

Although Ushoran had tried to escape, Ankhat caught him since he had his own agents watching Ushoran at all times. Neferata was also there and forced him defend Lahmia alongside the released W'soran.

On the battlefield, Ushoran hopped around slashing Nehekharan soldiers with his claw like a sadistic animal. His appetite and bloodlust, further stoked by the years of torture he'd perpetrated, made him go on an uncontrolled rampage.

His rampage ended when a group of desert horse archers shot him with barbed arrows dipped in flammable oil to immobilize him and set him alight. Ushoran could do nothing but howled in pain until his death.

But Abhorash's arrival gave the vampires time to escape and the fire died out before it could finish off Ushoran. As he slowly regenerated he limped to the top of a hill in time to see Lahmia's final moments and wondered if any of his fellow cabal members had survived.

===Mourkain: Rise and Fall===
Meanwhile a Necromancer called Kadon, who was the son of the chieftain as well as being the shaman of the Lodringen tribe (which had been neglected by Sigmar's unification), had found Nagash's Crown of Sorcery in the hands of the corpse of [[Alcadizaar]] washed up on the shore of a river. The crown instantly filled his mind with knowledge, and he used his newfound necromantic powers to reanimate the corpses of the dead to serve the living. A massive tomb was built for the body of Alcadizaar which also doubled as Kadon's palace and a place of burial for the Lodringen. Mourkain (known as "Morgheim" to the Empire) became the name of the capital city, while Strygos became the name of the people. Ushoran and his followers at this point crossed the impassible mountains separating the land of the [[Tomb Kings]] from the [[Old World]] and immediately used his charm to become the main adviser to Kadon. The two of them made a powerful and expanding empire that rivaled that of THE [[Empire]] of the time, and Kadon worked with Ushoran's more arcane-minded Vampire servants to create many powerful magical items as well as refine the magic of Nagash into the current Lore of Vampires used by the Vampire Count army.
[[Image:Mourkain palace.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Mourkain palace.]]
In the meantime, Ushoran rebuilt his Bloodline from the loyal citizens of Stygos then channeled the most dangerous power in the two Warhammer settings (common sense!) and instituted laws prohibiting his minions from feeding on the populace: they drained the blood only of the willing, or of criminals, prisoners, and slaves. The protection of the Vampires combined with the growing power and luxury provided by the wise rulership of Kadon made the people of Strygos very loyal to their rulers in a way that rivals that of current [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian Peasantry]].
Once the kingdom had grown enough in power, Ushoran sent messengers to the other Bloodline leaders with plans for a united Vampire race. Only [[W'soran/Melkhior|W'soran]] answered his invitations. The two of them further refined the Lore of Vampires and created many more magical objects, eventually unlocking the full power of the Crown of Sorcery for Ushoran's use.

So at this point, things were going fantastically for Ushoran and the Strygos. As one might expect, this is the point in the story where everything went to hell.

Neferata had taken the invitation of Ushoran as an implication that she was to serve him. She was so incensed by the idea that another Vampire would rule over her like she had all of them only a short time (by Vampire reckoning) ago that she manipulated the young [[Empire]] into gathering an army and attacking Strygos. While he could have easily beaten them and added the Empire to his ranks, an [[Orcs and Goblins|Orc]] WAAAGH had gathered both due to Abhorash and the first Blood Dragons nearly wiping them out in the nearby mountains and the slow encroachment of the Strygos on their lands. The greenskins destroyed a straight path to the foot of Mourkain itself. While Ushoran and Kadon devastated both armies, Kadon was slain and the Strygos and Strigoi forces took massive casualties to the point that the greenskins and Warboss that remained were able to smash through the city gates and destroy it. Ushoran and his remaining Bloodline held the line near the rear of the city so that the human population, fanatically loyal to him, could flee to the distant hills. At this point W'soran and his followers betrayed the Strigoi (according to the Necrarch account because the Crown of Sorcery had begun to take control of Ushoran and W'soran wanted to save the only man he had ever considered a friend, although this would hardly have been a bad end for them as he had worshiped Nagash as a god shortly before draws the story into doubt). W'soran weakened the Strigoi until they could no longer stand against the WAAAGH, and after being beaten by Ushoran fled for his life to the mountains.
The kingdom of Strigos fell and became know as the Badlands to the people of the [[Old World]].

Ushoran was separated from his kin during their retreat and seemingly crushed under a sea of green, so the remaining Strigoi Vampires broke ranks and fled in different directions. Without leadership, the Bloodline degenerated and most gave into their animalistic urges. Where before they had been restrained to non-lethal blood drinking or to consuming the dregs of society, they indulged themselves to the point that a single Strigoi was capable of consuming all living creatures from mice to giants for miles before rest.
The other Bloodlines became exceedingly hostile to the Strigoi. The appearance of a Strigoi in the midst of an area controlled by Lahmians brought Witch Hunters on their heads, so Lahmians were quick to personally kill them or hire mercenaries to put them out of their (their meaning the Lahmian's) misery. The von Carsteins saw them as beggars, and did to them as the inspiration for their Bloodline did (hint: it involves fire and impalement). The traitorous Necrarchs saw them as a source of crafting materials with which to make new monsters and dissected them with glee (although they DO still trade with them and make deals with them, as Necrarchs are smart not to burn their bridges entirely). The Blood Dragons saw them as mere beasts to slay and drink the blood of for a challenge. As a result, Strigoi Vampires became more and more a group of loners.

During the early centuries of the Empire, the threat of Vampires was considered very real. The first [[Witch Hunters]] relentlessly pursued the Strigoi Vampires, despite the ineffective forces knowing very little about them. More often they attacked the people of Strigos, who has since become Warhammers gypsy analogue and lived on the outskirts of most towns and cities in the Empire.
As the years went on, the mistreatment of the Strigos grew until many (often those in positions of political clout amongst the isolated clans) began to behave as the Witch Hunters believed them to have always been: witches, necromancers, and seekers of Vampirism. Ironically, the attacks of the von Carsteins under Vlad made the Witch Hunters far less focused on Strigos, but FAR more effective at hunting the Vampires themselves. But the damage had been done, and the Strigos are oftentimes the allies of Vampires who in turn usually treat them with a degree of respect (to the point that a Strigoi Vampire may literally ONLY restrain his urges from preying upon the gypsy Strigos bands...and instead consuming every man, woman, child, and animal in the nearby Empire town then fleeing resulting in the Strigos moving in to loot and live, benefiting the still loyal Strigos greatly).

For his part, Ushoran did NOT die. He has lived primarily in isolation, learning that his kin from other Bloodlines were far less loyal than ordinary mortal humans and that his own Bloodline, however loyal when he was around, were weak willed without him.

During the time of the Three Emperors of the Empire, the Strigos were persecuted more than they ever were to the point that genocide of their race made one of the Elector Counts more eligible in the eyes of the Empire. Needless to say, Ushoran was NOT impressed. He wiped out an entire greenskin WAAAGH that threatened the Strigany who had returned to the city of Mourkain, then single-handedly wiped out the forces and leaders who had sought the destruction of his gypsy followers. The leader of the group, the Elector Count of Averland, was turned and made one of the Strigoi Bloodline: Ushoran enjoyed watching the former tormentor struggle with his Vampirism, with the man only capable of restraining himself out of fear of becoming like the other Strigoi. Ushoran returned to Mourkain and sent a call for his Strigoi Vampire family and his Strigany human one to return to the city to rebuild.

As the [[Storm of Magic]] (or [[Warhammer Online|Age of Reckoning]] grew in strength, the body of Kadon became reanimated as a [[Lich]] and sought to rebuild his former kingdom and reclaim the Crown of Sorcery.

===[[Age of Sigmar]]===

{{topquote|They say I'm crazy, HA! I'LL SHOW THEM, I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! Won't I, Mister Sqeaky-Bones?! FILTHY FUCKING BARBARIANS, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!|possibly Ushoran, upon escaping the Shroudcage.}}

Ushoran somehow managed to survive the complete destruction of the Old World and reached the new setting, or reincarnated there. Initially, [[Nagash]] had him trapped in something called the Shroudcage, like a fancy parrot you torment for a week before forgetting of their existence.
But when bone daddy got uppity and tossed a wrench in [[Sigmar|everyone's favorite golden idiot]]'s plans, the Fantasy God Emperor personally came down to [[Shyish]] to smash his face, and in doing so, he toppled the Shroudcage over.

Ushoran escaped, but after being locked up for so long by someone who didn't really like him a lot, he has gone completely mad and sees himself as a sophisticated king traveling the Realms with a court of majestic gold, noble men and women joining him as impeccable courtiers everywhere he goes, which quickly lead to an impressive list of new names and titles his followers come up with.
Needless to say, this isn't quite the case.
[[Grimdark|What in his eyes are brave paladins and diligent men-at-arms are in truth filthy, frenzied, mishappen creatures feasting not on elaborate banquets but on the corpses of their foes, who are more often than not scared peasants and city guards rather than horrible monsters needing to taste the blade of a knight.]]

The thing is, his madness is contagious. Everyone in Ushoran's court and the ones he infected with his vampirism and later left to form their own bands (called Abhorrent Ghoul Kings) suffer these delusions as if they saw everything through their "kings'" warped perspectives, and consume anyone who may be disagreeable to their madness.
These "noble courts" join all sides, draw from all sides, and war against all sides in an unpredictable clusterfuck that messes with everyone equally. Nobody likes them, though Nagash considers them under his rule due to all the Death magic permeating them, but is unable to really control them and has promised great rewards for anyone who comes to a Mortarch with any information on Ushoran (said reward likely being some form of undeath, but not necessarily a comfy seat in Nagash's forces).

Allegedly, when he survived the End Times he somehow got a make over and looked handsome [[Derp|until he started insulting Neferata,]] who cursed him to look hideous which in turn is what caused him to flip his shit.

==Strigoi==
Unlike other Vampire Bloodlines, the Strigoi mostly lack central leadership. During the seclusion of Ushoran they spread out throughout the Old World, giving in to their base natures and degenerating into hulking brutes. Initially they ate solid food out of inability to restrain themselves and often vomited it up as Warhammer Vampires are mostly incapable of consuming anything but blood without conditioning. Strigoi Vampires eventually overcame their weakness, becoming almost as capable of digesting anything as an [[Ogre Kingdoms|Ogre]].

Strigoi rarely find themselves in the company of others for long, although Ghouls being the human equivalent to themselves are the company they are found in more than anything else. Rare is the Strigoi capable of much advanced thought, but those that are (for various reasons like being only given to periodic indulgence rather than constant, regaining some level of self control after a traumatic event, almost starving to death and returning to rational thought, conditioning by another intelligent being, or the rare guidance of Ushoran) will seek out Strigos Necromancers, resurrect Zombies (who despite being slower than molasses running uphill to the frustration of feral Strigoi, are simple enough to animate and useful as minions), then advance the goals of Ushoran or join the von Carsteins. The most intelligent (or the most feral and powerful) can easily find themselves beasts to tame or packs to join amongst the various monsters of the world. The Necrarchs can be quite helpful at assisting them in both cases.

==On the Tabletop==
Ushoran has never had a model. Only released in 6e where Vampire Counts saw a trimming of their named characters rather than additions, he remains something that can only be emulated on the tabletop.

If you want to use him, it's tempting to use a Strigoi Ghoul King. Remember though, Ushoran never gave into his primal nature.* Although he somehow came to resemble his Bloodline (unless this is an illusion of his to inspire kinship amongst them anyway), he still retains his intelligence. Being a manipulative bastard, he should be used as a Vampire Lord kitted out like a Lahmian with abilities like Beguile. He should also have Necromancers, representing his loyal Strigany followers.

*EDIT: Not exactly true. Ushoran is noted in ''Ancient Blood'' to have been feral for some time, and only came back to his senses and return to sapient life after receiving the blood of a specific strigany boy and then going on a serial killer rampage through the Western Empire in revenge for the aforementioned Strigany. So if you played a pre-blood Ushoran, you could field a Ghoul King (or an Archregent if you're playing AoS, as he's so insane in that that just being near him drives you insane too).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Strigoi.jpg
Image:Strigoi 2.jpg
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Flesh-Eater Courts]]

Flesh-Eater Courts

2021-09-06T10:13:04Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* The Grand Courts */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Flesh-Eater Courts|Logo=Flesh-Eater 01.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Noble Sir Marrowslurp charging into battle! Huzzah!}}
{{topquote|All earth was but one thought—and that was death Immediate and inglorious; and the pang Of famine fed upon all entrails—men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meager by the meager were devoured.|Lord Byron, ''Darkness''}}

{{topquote|"How it brightens my soul to meet another chivalrous fellow on this day!" "Truly it is a blessing to have met another defender of the weak!" "What the fuck is that?" "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"|What a Flesh-Eater Count sees when he meets a Stormcast vs what is ''really'' happening}}

The '''Flesh-Eater Courts''' are what has become of many of the mortals of the realms after the Age of Chaos. [[Ghoul|Flesh-eaters]] are all delusional and believe themselves to be [[Stormcast Eternals|servants of a mighty King on a golden throne]], when in reality they are all dirty naked homeless cannibals. In a sense they are a mixture of Don Quixote and cockroaches for the [[Age of Sigmar]]. They also see themselves as what can only be described as "Bretonnians", rejoice brothers! We are not forgotten!

==History==
The source of the Flesh-Eater madness comes from one initial progenitor; none other than [[Ushoran]] from the Old World. Since vampires didn't exist in the realms initially, Nagash brought back Mannfred, Neferata and Ushoran after being freed by Sigmar to introduce vampirism to the new setting (how's that for "gratitude"?). At some point lost to history, the latter fell out of Bonedaddy's favor, and was punished.

For opposing him in the World-That-Was and this one, Nagash inflicted a hideous transformation on Ushoran and locked him in a tower known as the shroud cage. Now this doesn't sound too bad on its own, but the interior of the shroud cage was basically a giant mirror that reflected every mistake and promise Ushoran had ever made, as well as his actual mutated physical form (basically the world's worst funhouse mirror). This drove him ''insane'', cursed to wallow in the worst aspects of himself.

That was, until the Age of Chaos, where Nagash betrayed Sigmar. During Sigmar's bullish charge into Shyish to bitchslap Nagash for betrayal, he knocked over Ushoran's cage, allowing him to escape. Unfortunately, he was completely mad at that point, causing him to now see himself as a benevolent and beautiful Warrior King, when in reality he was a reeeeeally ugly ghoul king vampire.

This madness became contagious due to his great power, and desperate mortals (who basically lost everything) began to buy into this delusion too, becoming the first Flesh-Eaters. People turned into Vampires by him also have this power and madness, as do any vampires they sire, and so on. Since then, Ushoran (now known as the Carrion King, among many other titles) has gone missing whilst his progeny prosper, with Bonedaddy having put a huge price on his head.

==The Delusions of the Ghoul Kings==
The court is built upon the fact that every ghoul king is fucking insane and believes himself into being an glorious king atop a giant noble dragon riding into battle against invading barbarians. So pretty much King Lear if Lear was also a cannibalistic freak. The unique thing about this madness is that the illusion is shared with every follower of the king and vice-versa, so that what the king sees the court see as well. an example of this is if the king saw a [[Daemonette]] as a monstrous creature, the court would as well, if he saw another Ghoul King, he and his followers would see it as a fellow King, etc.

It should be noted that this is not a complete process. Rival Ghoul Kings that possess equal levels of delusion and grandeur can sometimes butt heads, usually ending with one of the two being killed and the losing court being absorbed by the victor. Though in some delusions, it’s also appropriate for such rebellious kings to be kept around for some “political intrigue”, however said kings are usually relegated to menial tasks or even stationed in far off places purposely to die.

This “warping delusion” aspect gets even weirder when the ghoul king has the ability to use an imaginary telescope and for the king [[What|IT JUST WORKS!]] Yes, much like a [[Orks|certain green skinned race]], whatever the ghoul king believes the universe says "fuck this" and lets it happen. This also works with the weapons they wield; in the kings eyes they're swords made of the finest steel, whilst in reality they're just a random bone or rock or skull they picked up. The same could be said for their armour, medals, and basically anything they have.,

On the rare occasion the delusion does waver or dissipate for the individual, though usually in the presence of very powerful beings (such as Nagash's Mortarchs or the gods). However, being freed is almost never a happy ending. More often than not, the formerly insane person is so horrified when they realize they've degenerated into a troglodytic cannibal, [[Grimdark|they go insane and slip right back into the delusion to continue their insane, atavistic existence]].

==Their Views on Nagash==
The flesh-eater opinion on the big, bad boneman himself is generally quite split and almost always nonsensical. Some Courts see him as a benevolent and shiny God, that brings forth bountiful harvests and opposes the wicked. Some, however, shit their pants whenever he's mentioned, due to either his sheer amount of power or the way he managed to imprison [[Ushoran|The Carrion King]] that spawned them. Others still can't even tell the difference between him and Sigmar. Nagash himself views them as his property (and has even cursed a kingdom in Chamon to become a Flesh-Eater court on purpose), even though he is unable to dominate them due to them technically not being undead. It works on Abhorrants because they're vampires, but even then that has the problem that their madness makes them often misinterpret his orders.

His servants, however, may not be so kind. The [[Nighthaunt]] may slaughter a Court just like most other life, though the delusional flesh eaters convince themselves that those poor, heavenly Angels were manipulated by the EEEEEEVIL [[Sigmar]]. The [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] seem to treat the ghouls with the same pragmatic indifference that they view most other death factions, though a noteworthy event between the two factions is the Charnel War, where Ossiarch forces started enforcing the Bone-Tithe onto the Flesh-Eater Courts of Hysh with rapidly increasing quotas as a means of fueling their war effort against the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]]. While some ghoul kings bowed to these demands (seeing the Bonereapers as divine heralds of Nagash), others revolted and led spiteful counter strikes against the Bonereapers.

==The Grand Courts==
Like most factions, there are many different subfactions of Flesh Eaters. Each is ruled by an Abhorrant Archregent, a [[Ghoul|Ghoul King]] whose delusion has grown so strong that it encompasses other Courts, making them essentially Emperors of massive swathes of Flesh-Eaters. There are four major Grand Courts:

*'''Morgaunt:''' The posterboys of the Flesh-Eaters. They used to be a [[Brettonia|kingdom of chivalry and honour]] in [[Shyish]], with noble Knights and loyal armies that serve their benevolent King. Sounds nice, right? And then the Age of Chaos happened. Both Sigmarite and Chaotic armies swept through their lands, ruining everything and driving them to the brink of annihilation. They turned to cannibalism, [[Grimdark|becoming debased and slavering monsters that soaked their homeland in gore]]. They've spread all throughout the realms now, and see [[Nagash|bone-daddy]] as a bright and noble God, and [[Sigmar]] as an usurper responsible for the Age of Chaos. They have lots and lots of "Serfs" (which are actually [[Ghoul|Crypt Ghouls]]).

*'''Hollowmourne:''' The Hollowmourne came from an empire that spanned across all the realms. Their King, who's name we don't know, was generally a swell guy, who discovered lots of mysterious relics. Some were too dangerous for mortal use, so he scattered them away until the time that they'd be needed. Nobody really knew about this, except for an Order of Royal Families from [[Chamon]] called the Knights of Hollowmourne. They protected the relics until Chaos came, where they decided to go on a Crusade, clad in the finest armours of Chamon. They were so confident that things would go well, that they swore oaths that their duty wouldn't go unfulfilled. [[Fail|It went about as well as expected]]. Rations ran out, they ate the peasants first, and even their mounts. Now, they're mostly [[Ghoul#Warhammer Fantasy|Crypt Horrors]], while believing that they're still Noble Knights on their steeds out on a crusade for the relics. A notable offshoot of this grand court is the Vertigon Court, found in the Vertiginous Peaks of Hysh and currently ruled by Archregent Gorstane Mortevell, the self-styled “Bright Emperor” and a fanatical Nagash worshipper. He has a rebellious sycophant called Varshorn, who led his own mini-court called the Deadwatch against the Ossiarch Bonereapers’ attempts to tithe the Flesh-Eaters.

*'''Blisterskin:''' When sunburn goes extreme. They came from an Order of Priests that worshiped the sun, which is actually [[Hysh]] for some reason. These Priesthoods were dotted around [[Aqshy]], with the commoners and royals alike going indoors when the sunlight was hottest. They actively sought out others to convert to their weird sun-worship religion, sending missionaries Jehovah's Witness-style to other nearby nations. But, as Chaos does, it came and took a massive shit over everything and left the sun-worshippers without home, harvest, or anything that wasn't burnt. Their descent into madness was pretty quick, as they soon decided to no longer humble themselves by hiding away from their God, but instead [[Grimdark|chose to let their flesh cook and peel in its glory]]. The most pious grew wings and became [[Crypt Flayer]]s, to get closer to their God. They still send "missionaries" to other nations, but instead of handing out pamphlets or knocking at people's doors and pestering them, they just attack them. Moral of the story here is to always bring your suncream.

*'''Gristlegore:''' The Gristlegore used to be a load of hippies that were really, really chill and at peace with the land they lived on. Normally, this wouldn't be too big a deal, except this specific kingdom was in [[Ghur]]. Yes, '''Ghur''', the place where literally ''everything'' is trying to eat each other, including the realm itself. The fact that they practiced hunting and killing only when necessary and treated the bigass monsters and plants around them with respect really says a lot about how peaceful they were. Sadly, when Chaos came it absolutely wrecked them. Anarchy came, everyone collectively shat their pants, and the royals, (who were previously pretty skilled in combat) had to watch their people burn. That is, until they became Ghoul Kings! Now, they prowl Ghur like a pack of Alpha predators, still seeking to be one with their surroundings, by piercing their flesh with realmstone and becoming reeeeeally bestial. They predictably have loads of [[Zombie Dragon]]s and [[Terrorgheist]]s.

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

Flesh-Eater Courts

2021-09-06T10:07:40Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* The Delusions of the Ghoul Kings */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Flesh-Eater Courts|Logo=Flesh-Eater 01.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Noble Sir Marrowslurp charging into battle! Huzzah!}}
{{topquote|All earth was but one thought—and that was death Immediate and inglorious; and the pang Of famine fed upon all entrails—men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meager by the meager were devoured.|Lord Byron, ''Darkness''}}

{{topquote|"How it brightens my soul to meet another chivalrous fellow on this day!" "Truly it is a blessing to have met another defender of the weak!" "What the fuck is that?" "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"|What a Flesh-Eater Count sees when he meets a Stormcast vs what is ''really'' happening}}

The '''Flesh-Eater Courts''' are what has become of many of the mortals of the realms after the Age of Chaos. [[Ghoul|Flesh-eaters]] are all delusional and believe themselves to be [[Stormcast Eternals|servants of a mighty King on a golden throne]], when in reality they are all dirty naked homeless cannibals. In a sense they are a mixture of Don Quixote and cockroaches for the [[Age of Sigmar]]. They also see themselves as what can only be described as "Bretonnians", rejoice brothers! We are not forgotten!

==History==
The source of the Flesh-Eater madness comes from one initial progenitor; none other than [[Ushoran]] from the Old World. Since vampires didn't exist in the realms initially, Nagash brought back Mannfred, Neferata and Ushoran after being freed by Sigmar to introduce vampirism to the new setting (how's that for "gratitude"?). At some point lost to history, the latter fell out of Bonedaddy's favor, and was punished.

For opposing him in the World-That-Was and this one, Nagash inflicted a hideous transformation on Ushoran and locked him in a tower known as the shroud cage. Now this doesn't sound too bad on its own, but the interior of the shroud cage was basically a giant mirror that reflected every mistake and promise Ushoran had ever made, as well as his actual mutated physical form (basically the world's worst funhouse mirror). This drove him ''insane'', cursed to wallow in the worst aspects of himself.

That was, until the Age of Chaos, where Nagash betrayed Sigmar. During Sigmar's bullish charge into Shyish to bitchslap Nagash for betrayal, he knocked over Ushoran's cage, allowing him to escape. Unfortunately, he was completely mad at that point, causing him to now see himself as a benevolent and beautiful Warrior King, when in reality he was a reeeeeally ugly ghoul king vampire.

This madness became contagious due to his great power, and desperate mortals (who basically lost everything) began to buy into this delusion too, becoming the first Flesh-Eaters. People turned into Vampires by him also have this power and madness, as do any vampires they sire, and so on. Since then, Ushoran (now known as the Carrion King, among many other titles) has gone missing whilst his progeny prosper, with Bonedaddy having put a huge price on his head.

==The Delusions of the Ghoul Kings==
The court is built upon the fact that every ghoul king is fucking insane and believes himself into being an glorious king atop a giant noble dragon riding into battle against invading barbarians. So pretty much King Lear if Lear was also a cannibalistic freak. The unique thing about this madness is that the illusion is shared with every follower of the king and vice-versa, so that what the king sees the court see as well. an example of this is if the king saw a [[Daemonette]] as a monstrous creature, the court would as well, if he saw another Ghoul King, he and his followers would see it as a fellow King, etc.

It should be noted that this is not a complete process. Rival Ghoul Kings that possess equal levels of delusion and grandeur can sometimes butt heads, usually ending with one of the two being killed and the losing court being absorbed by the victor. Though in some delusions, it’s also appropriate for such rebellious kings to be kept around for some “political intrigue”, however said kings are usually relegated to menial tasks or even stationed in far off places purposely to die.

This “warping delusion” aspect gets even weirder when the ghoul king has the ability to use an imaginary telescope and for the king [[What|IT JUST WORKS!]] Yes, much like a [[Orks|certain green skinned race]], whatever the ghoul king believes the universe says "fuck this" and lets it happen. This also works with the weapons they wield; in the kings eyes they're swords made of the finest steel, whilst in reality they're just a random bone or rock or skull they picked up. The same could be said for their armour, medals, and basically anything they have.,

On the rare occasion the delusion does waver or dissipate for the individual, though usually in the presence of very powerful beings (such as Nagash's Mortarchs or the gods). However, being freed is almost never a happy ending. More often than not, the formerly insane person is so horrified when they realize they've degenerated into a troglodytic cannibal, [[Grimdark|they go insane and slip right back into the delusion to continue their insane, atavistic existence]].

==Their Views on Nagash==
The flesh-eater opinion on the big, bad boneman himself is generally quite split and almost always nonsensical. Some Courts see him as a benevolent and shiny God, that brings forth bountiful harvests and opposes the wicked. Some, however, shit their pants whenever he's mentioned, due to either his sheer amount of power or the way he managed to imprison [[Ushoran|The Carrion King]] that spawned them. Others still can't even tell the difference between him and Sigmar. Nagash himself views them as his property (and has even cursed a kingdom in Chamon to become a Flesh-Eater court on purpose), even though he is unable to dominate them due to them technically not being undead. It works on Abhorrants because they're vampires, but even then that has the problem that their madness makes them often misinterpret his orders.

His servants, however, may not be so kind. The [[Nighthaunt]] may slaughter a Court just like most other life, though the delusional flesh eaters convince themselves that those poor, heavenly Angels were manipulated by the EEEEEEVIL [[Sigmar]]. The [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] seem to treat the ghouls with the same pragmatic indifference that they view most other death factions, though a noteworthy event between the two factions is the Charnel War, where Ossiarch forces started enforcing the Bone-Tithe onto the Flesh-Eater Courts of Hysh with rapidly increasing quotas as a means of fueling their war effort against the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]]. While some ghoul kings bowed to these demands (seeing the Bonereapers as divine heralds of Nagash), others revolted and led spiteful counter strikes against the Bonereapers.

==The Grand Courts==
Like most factions, there are many different subfactions of Flesh Eaters. Each is ruled by an Abhorrant Archregent, a [[Ghoul|Ghoul King]] whose delusion has grown so strong that it encompasses other Courts, making them essentially Emperors of massive swathes of Flesh-Eaters. There are four major Grand Courts:

*'''Morgaunt:''' The posterboys of the Flesh-Eaters. They used to be a [[Brettonia|kingdom of chivalry and honour]] in [[Shyish]], with noble Knights and loyal armies that serve their benevolent King. Sounds nice, right? And then the Age of Chaos happened. Both Sigmarite and Chaotic armies swept through their lands, ruining everything and driving them to the brink of annihilation. They turned to cannibalism, [[Grimdark|becoming debased and slavering monsters that soaked their homeland in gore]]. They've spread all throughout the realms now, and see [[Nagash|bone-daddy]] as a bright and noble God, and [[Sigmar]] as an usurper responsible for the Age of Chaos. They have lots and lots of "Serfs" (which are actually [[Ghoul|Crypt Ghouls]]).

*'''Hollowmourne:''' The Hollowmourne came from an empire that spanned across all the realms. Their King, who's name we don't know, was generally a swell guy, who discovered lots of mysterious relics. Some were too dangerous for mortal use, so he scattered them away until the time that they'd be needed. Nobody really knew about this, except for an Order of Royal Families from [[Chamon]] called the Knights of Hollowmourne. They protected the relics until Chaos came, where they decided to go on a Crusade, clad in the finest armours of Chamon. They were so confident that things would go well, that they swore oaths that their duty wouldn't go unfulfilled. [[Fail|It went about as well as expected]]. Rations ran out, they ate the peasants first, and even their mounts. Now, they're mostly [[Ghoul#Warhammer Fantasy|Crypt Horrors]], while believing that they're still Noble Knights on their steeds out on a crusade for the relics. A notable offshoot of this grand court is the Vertigon Court, found in the Vertiginous Peaks of Hysh and currently ruled by Archregent Gorstane Mortevell, the self-styled “Bright Emperor” and a fanatical Nagash worshipper. He has a rebellious sycophant called Varshorn, who led his own mini-court called the Deadwatch against the Ossiarch Bonereapers’ attempts to tithe the Flesh-Eaters.

*'''Blisterskin:''' When sunburn goes extreme. They came from an Order of Priests that worshiped the sun, which is actually [[Hysh]] for some reason. These Priesthoods were dotted around [[Aqshy]], with the commoners and royals alike going indoors when the sunlight was hottest. They actively sought out others to convert to their weird sun-worship religion, sending missionaries Jehovah's Witness-style to other nearby nations. But, as Chaos does, it came and took a massive shit over everything and left the sun-worshippers without home, harvest, or anything that wasn't burnt. Their descent into madness was pretty quick, as they soon decided to no longer humble themselves by hiding away from their God, but instead [[Grimdark|chose to let their flesh cook and peel in its glory]]. The most pious grew wings and became [[Crypt Flayer]]s, to get closer to their God. They still send "missionaries" to other nations, but instead of knocking at people's doors and pestering them, they just attack them, which is arguably a much better treat than your usual interaction with regular missionaries. Moral of the story here is to always bring your suncream.

*'''Gristlegore:''' The Gristlegore used to be a load of hippies that were really, really chill and at peace with the land they lived on. Normally, this wouldn't be too big a deal, except this specific kingdom was in [[Ghur]]. Yes, '''Ghur''', the place where literally ''everything'' is trying to eat each other, including the realm itself. The fact that they practiced hunting and killing only when necessary and treated the bigass monsters and plants around them with respect really says a lot about how peaceful they were. Sadly, when Chaos came it absolutely wrecked them. Anarchy came, everyone collectively shat their pants, and the royals, (who were previously pretty skilled in combat) had to watch their people burn. That is, until they became Ghoul Kings! Now, they prowl Ghur like a pack of Alpha predators, still seeking to be one with their surroundings, by piercing their flesh with realmstone and becoming reeeeeally bestial. They predictably have loads of [[Zombie Dragon]]s and [[Terrorgheist]]s.

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

Flesh-Eater Courts

2021-09-06T10:07:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C17:D52B:EA9:ACF4: /* The Delusions of the Ghoul Kings */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Flesh-Eater Courts|Logo=Flesh-Eater 01.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Noble Sir Marrowslurp charging into battle! Huzzah!}}
{{topquote|All earth was but one thought—and that was death Immediate and inglorious; and the pang Of famine fed upon all entrails—men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meager by the meager were devoured.|Lord Byron, ''Darkness''}}

{{topquote|"How it brightens my soul to meet another chivalrous fellow on this day!" "Truly it is a blessing to have met another defender of the weak!" "What the fuck is that?" "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"|What a Flesh-Eater Count sees when he meets a Stormcast vs what is ''really'' happening}}

The '''Flesh-Eater Courts''' are what has become of many of the mortals of the realms after the Age of Chaos. [[Ghoul|Flesh-eaters]] are all delusional and believe themselves to be [[Stormcast Eternals|servants of a mighty King on a golden throne]], when in reality they are all dirty naked homeless cannibals. In a sense they are a mixture of Don Quixote and cockroaches for the [[Age of Sigmar]]. They also see themselves as what can only be described as "Bretonnians", rejoice brothers! We are not forgotten!

==History==
The source of the Flesh-Eater madness comes from one initial progenitor; none other than [[Ushoran]] from the Old World. Since vampires didn't exist in the realms initially, Nagash brought back Mannfred, Neferata and Ushoran after being freed by Sigmar to introduce vampirism to the new setting (how's that for "gratitude"?). At some point lost to history, the latter fell out of Bonedaddy's favor, and was punished.

For opposing him in the World-That-Was and this one, Nagash inflicted a hideous transformation on Ushoran and locked him in a tower known as the shroud cage. Now this doesn't sound too bad on its own, but the interior of the shroud cage was basically a giant mirror that reflected every mistake and promise Ushoran had ever made, as well as his actual mutated physical form (basically the world's worst funhouse mirror). This drove him ''insane'', cursed to wallow in the worst aspects of himself.

That was, until the Age of Chaos, where Nagash betrayed Sigmar. During Sigmar's bullish charge into Shyish to bitchslap Nagash for betrayal, he knocked over Ushoran's cage, allowing him to escape. Unfortunately, he was completely mad at that point, causing him to now see himself as a benevolent and beautiful Warrior King, when in reality he was a reeeeeally ugly ghoul king vampire.

This madness became contagious due to his great power, and desperate mortals (who basically lost everything) began to buy into this delusion too, becoming the first Flesh-Eaters. People turned into Vampires by him also have this power and madness, as do any vampires they sire, and so on. Since then, Ushoran (now known as the Carrion King, among many other titles) has gone missing whilst his progeny prosper, with Bonedaddy having put a huge price on his head.

==The Delusions of the Ghoul Kings==
The court is built upon the fact that every ghoul king is fucking insane and believes himself into being an glorious king atop a giant noble dragon riding into battle against invading barbarians. So pretty much King Lear if Lear was also a cannibalistic freak. The unique thing about this madness is that the illusion is shared with every follower of the king and vice-versa, so that what the king sees the court see as well. an example of this is if the king saw a [[Daemonette]] as a monstrous creature, the court would as well, if he saw another Ghoul King, he and his followers would see it as a fellow King, etc.

It should be noted that this is not a complete process. Rival Ghoul Kings that possess equal levels of delusion and grandeur can sometimes butt heads, usually ending with one of the two being killed and the losing court being absorbed by the victor. Though in some delusions, it’s also appropriate for such rebellious kings to be kept around for some “political intrigue”, however said kings are usually relegated to menial tasks or even stationed in far off places purposely to die.

This “warping delusion” aspect gets even weirder when the ghoul king has the ability to use an imaginary telescope and for the king [[What|IT JUST WORKS!]] Yes, much like a [[Orks|certain green skinned race]], whatever the ghoul king believes the universe says "fuck this" and lets it happen. This also works with the weapons they wield; in the kings eyes they're swords made of the finest steel, whilst in reality they're just a random bone or rock or skull they picked up. The same could be said for their armour, medals, and basically anything they have.,

On the rare occasion the delusion does waver or dissipate for the individual, though usually in the presence of very powerful beings (such as Nagash's Mortarchs or the gods). However, being freed is almost never a happy ending. More often than not, the formerly insane person is so horrified when they realize they've degenerated into a troglodytic cannibal, [[Grimdark|they go insane and slip right into the delusion and continue their insane, atavistic existence]].

==Their Views on Nagash==
The flesh-eater opinion on the big, bad boneman himself is generally quite split and almost always nonsensical. Some Courts see him as a benevolent and shiny God, that brings forth bountiful harvests and opposes the wicked. Some, however, shit their pants whenever he's mentioned, due to either his sheer amount of power or the way he managed to imprison [[Ushoran|The Carrion King]] that spawned them. Others still can't even tell the difference between him and Sigmar. Nagash himself views them as his property (and has even cursed a kingdom in Chamon to become a Flesh-Eater court on purpose), even though he is unable to dominate them due to them technically not being undead. It works on Abhorrants because they're vampires, but even then that has the problem that their madness makes them often misinterpret his orders.

His servants, however, may not be so kind. The [[Nighthaunt]] may slaughter a Court just like most other life, though the delusional flesh eaters convince themselves that those poor, heavenly Angels were manipulated by the EEEEEEVIL [[Sigmar]]. The [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]] seem to treat the ghouls with the same pragmatic indifference that they view most other death factions, though a noteworthy event between the two factions is the Charnel War, where Ossiarch forces started enforcing the Bone-Tithe onto the Flesh-Eater Courts of Hysh with rapidly increasing quotas as a means of fueling their war effort against the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords]]. While some ghoul kings bowed to these demands (seeing the Bonereapers as divine heralds of Nagash), others revolted and led spiteful counter strikes against the Bonereapers.

==The Grand Courts==
Like most factions, there are many different subfactions of Flesh Eaters. Each is ruled by an Abhorrant Archregent, a [[Ghoul|Ghoul King]] whose delusion has grown so strong that it encompasses other Courts, making them essentially Emperors of massive swathes of Flesh-Eaters. There are four major Grand Courts:

*'''Morgaunt:''' The posterboys of the Flesh-Eaters. They used to be a [[Brettonia|kingdom of chivalry and honour]] in [[Shyish]], with noble Knights and loyal armies that serve their benevolent King. Sounds nice, right? And then the Age of Chaos happened. Both Sigmarite and Chaotic armies swept through their lands, ruining everything and driving them to the brink of annihilation. They turned to cannibalism, [[Grimdark|becoming debased and slavering monsters that soaked their homeland in gore]]. They've spread all throughout the realms now, and see [[Nagash|bone-daddy]] as a bright and noble God, and [[Sigmar]] as an usurper responsible for the Age of Chaos. They have lots and lots of "Serfs" (which are actually [[Ghoul|Crypt Ghouls]]).

*'''Hollowmourne:''' The Hollowmourne came from an empire that spanned across all the realms. Their King, who's name we don't know, was generally a swell guy, who discovered lots of mysterious relics. Some were too dangerous for mortal use, so he scattered them away until the time that they'd be needed. Nobody really knew about this, except for an Order of Royal Families from [[Chamon]] called the Knights of Hollowmourne. They protected the relics until Chaos came, where they decided to go on a Crusade, clad in the finest armours of Chamon. They were so confident that things would go well, that they swore oaths that their duty wouldn't go unfulfilled. [[Fail|It went about as well as expected]]. Rations ran out, they ate the peasants first, and even their mounts. Now, they're mostly [[Ghoul#Warhammer Fantasy|Crypt Horrors]], while believing that they're still Noble Knights on their steeds out on a crusade for the relics. A notable offshoot of this grand court is the Vertigon Court, found in the Vertiginous Peaks of Hysh and currently ruled by Archregent Gorstane Mortevell, the self-styled “Bright Emperor” and a fanatical Nagash worshipper. He has a rebellious sycophant called Varshorn, who led his own mini-court called the Deadwatch against the Ossiarch Bonereapers’ attempts to tithe the Flesh-Eaters.

*'''Blisterskin:''' When sunburn goes extreme. They came from an Order of Priests that worshiped the sun, which is actually [[Hysh]] for some reason. These Priesthoods were dotted around [[Aqshy]], with the commoners and royals alike going indoors when the sunlight was hottest. They actively sought out others to convert to their weird sun-worship religion, sending missionaries Jehovah's Witness-style to other nearby nations. But, as Chaos does, it came and took a massive shit over everything and left the sun-worshippers without home, harvest, or anything that wasn't burnt. Their descent into madness was pretty quick, as they soon decided to no longer humble themselves by hiding away from their God, but instead [[Grimdark|chose to let their flesh cook and peel in its glory]]. The most pious grew wings and became [[Crypt Flayer]]s, to get closer to their God. They still send "missionaries" to other nations, but instead of knocking at people's doors and pestering them, they just attack them, which is arguably a much better treat than your usual interaction with regular missionaries. Moral of the story here is to always bring your suncream.

*'''Gristlegore:''' The Gristlegore used to be a load of hippies that were really, really chill and at peace with the land they lived on. Normally, this wouldn't be too big a deal, except this specific kingdom was in [[Ghur]]. Yes, '''Ghur''', the place where literally ''everything'' is trying to eat each other, including the realm itself. The fact that they practiced hunting and killing only when necessary and treated the bigass monsters and plants around them with respect really says a lot about how peaceful they were. Sadly, when Chaos came it absolutely wrecked them. Anarchy came, everyone collectively shat their pants, and the royals, (who were previously pretty skilled in combat) had to watch their people burn. That is, until they became Ghoul Kings! Now, they prowl Ghur like a pack of Alpha predators, still seeking to be one with their surroundings, by piercing their flesh with realmstone and becoming reeeeeally bestial. They predictably have loads of [[Zombie Dragon]]s and [[Terrorgheist]]s.

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