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Arkhan the Black

2021-05-29T12:20:47Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A9B6:C3A5:A493:9356: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|You underestimate the power of The Dark Side. I must obey my master.|Darth Vader}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it, following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition WFB Arkhan had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich and was only playable in the original 4th Edition "Warhammer Armies: Undead" armybook. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the only new lore being Arkhan became a warlord-for-hire and his newest plan to restore Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). He's also Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer, being the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters (starting with Warhammer Fantasy's first, Heinrich Kemmler).

Before the audio books and video game, Vincent Price was considered by a few fans as a good choice to voice him. As of now, he's voiced by Ramon Tikaram in the audio books and an unknown VA in the Total War video games. While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, they do a good job. See below for more.

==Warhammer Fantasy==
===Early History===
Arkhan was born into a noble family of Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage, Arkhan was the black sheep (geddit!) of the family because he often forsook his duties for gambling, drugs, back-alley brawls and whore-mongering (the temple of Asaph did ritual prostitution at the time, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him).

He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, giving him the ancient equivalent of meth mouth; his teeth were reduced to black shards, and he probably had bad breath too. However, all official art depicting his skeleton form has normal (except for one piece with fangs) bone-white teeth. <strike>Mabye Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why Arkhan's so loyal to him</strike> [https://occultdetectives.tumblr.com/post/187823103997/how-did-arkhans-tooth-turn-from-black-to-white A later retcon made it so neither the teeth nor the skull were originally his - Arkhan's first true death was retconned into being from decapitation].

===Vizier of Khemri===
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. They were convinced by a demonstration of Nagash's newly created art of necromancy, and first supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the streets to both supply Nagash with test subjects and undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of Nagash's elixir, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. Arkhan carried out Nagash's orders with a loyalty and alacrity he'd never shown before due to Nagash giving Arkhan everything he wanted and relying on Nagash for more of the elixir. This tyrannical regime led the Priest Kings of Nehekhara to form an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed, putting his newfound necromantic talents to use helping maintain Nagash's undead armies. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

In the battle for Khemri, Arkhan led the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding off his foes with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before he fell. There are different acounts of Arkhan's defeat across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan died, his body consumed by black flames and leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand they didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "spear thrown into the heart by an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

===Imprisonment in Lahmia===

After his defeat, Arkhan and one of the Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There, Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and his cabal buddies (including Ushoran, W'soran and Abhorash - the latter wasn't interested in immortality and is only there to protect his king) to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons (because she is a priestess of the moon goddess and they have knowledge on potion making).

Neferata, caught between this and trying to prevent their [[Cathay|Cathayan]] trade partners from screwing Lahmia over, visited Arkhan to seek out his dark knowledge. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To their mutual surprise, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic, and when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night; Arkhan despaired of captivity and greatly appreciated any freedom he got. Eventually Arkhan's tutelage (and knowledge he gave Neferata about her brother's cabal members) led to Neferata overthrowing Lamashizzar, reducing him to a figurehead under her thumb, and taking the throne for herself. Neferata kept her word to Arkhan and granted his request right down to the silver bells.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still with many supporters, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. At the time Arkhan had come back from a nighttime excursion on the outskirts, and only learned about this after two of the least intelligent members of the cabal tried to assassinate him. Although Arkhan manage to slay them, he realized they'd gone after Neferata too, and by the time he reached Neferata it was already too late.

Arkhan tried to save Neferata, roping a random servant girl named Aiyah into helping him with the ritual, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar with the king's own Cathayan gun (the state he was in caused Arkhan to overlook Aiyah, who fled to Lybaras and spilled the beans to Khalida). The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan, his magic had in fact saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. With her brother dead, Neferata took over the throne and then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis, despite Abhorash recommending that she cremate Arkhan.

===The Liche King===
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar and more powerful than before, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again, he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings alongside W'soran. The two became bitter rivals, with Arkhan considering W'soran reckless and W'soran considering Arkhan cowardly, and argued often; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague-riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army when the second part of the ritual raised all of Nehekhara's dead, Arkhan was instead put on the backfoot when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower and later forced to flee when Settra returned. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for Nagash's death or becoming an undead ruler in his own right to relish his newfound freedom (depending which lore you follow), Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) and left with a few of Nagash's most important books. He then marshalled an army and attacked Araby, battering its kingdoms for generations in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts. At some point Arkhan made himself a sweet new ride; a [[Awesome|flying]] chariot made from the body, wings and still beating heart of a Manticore and pulled by four skeleton horses.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortress of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly, Settra was be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command, their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted, but Settra was too proud to ask for their help (and writer's bias ensured he forgot he could just order them to help him) and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's tactical and strategic skills through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar. When not doing something for Nagash or providing military aid to certain Tomb Kings, Arkhan stayed in his tower practicing magic or losing himself in years or even decades of introspection and reminiscing.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and after The Night of the Restless Dead fiasco, Nagash fast-tracked his latest restoration plan by several centuries and told Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash, Arkhan needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing two of his nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions and killed his libido, Arkhan still loved [[Queen Neferata]] for all that time.

===The End Times===
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup which resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]].

At Khemri, he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests was a mole for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, trading in his old chariot for the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash traveled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan is the one who speaks to the Incarnates on Nagash's behalf because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim.

Hilariously enough, while becoming the undead turns a person into an insufferable ass 99 times out of 100, it seems that it had reverse effect on Arkhan, who transformed from a degenerate wastrel and womanizer into a more-or-less decent human being, with actual standards and pragmatic thought. Too bad that his sovereign was a sociopathic retard... For example, when they launched an invasion to the north to capture chaos-infested Middenheim, they encountered captive soldiers and civilians. Arkhan suggested to free and arm them, and use them as auxiliary army, and this would also be a PR move aimed at the living, with message being "See? Being undead doesn't necessarily mean that you're a malevolent cretin." Of course, Nagash being [[Fail|Nagash]], just killed them and turned them into zombies.

Arkhan then helps to co-ordinate Nagash's army, just as Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him (to Arkhan's consternation in the gamebook, but his relief in the novel). Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos.

Arkhan tried to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars, and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead, Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]].

With the completion of [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Nagash's latest pet project]], Arkhan has been given an entire legion of Bonereapers for his use, the magic-resistant Null Myriad. His most recent mission has been to invade Hysh at the head of a Bonereaper army and (forcibly) enlist some local [[Flesh-Eater Courts|Mordant Courts]] to conquer the Great Nation of Ymetrica. While Mannfred and Neferata brought living captives as sacrifices to power their spells, such is Arkhan's sorcerous might, he didn't need sacrifices, just his own power.

Arkhan tried to corrupt a realmgate leading to Hysh, but was repelled by the Lumineth. He fled to a second realmgate at the edge of Hysh and attempted to corrupt that one, only to be thwarted by a Lumineth army led by the Light of Eltharion looking for some payback. Arkhan remembered Eltharion and why he'd come before the two engaged in a short but vicious fight, which ended with Arkhan being hurled from the edge of Hysh and him and his steed disappearing in a burst of Light magic.

It's heavily implied Arkhan will return, especially since he returned despite the destruction of the World-That-Was and lore hinting he will exist as long as Nagash does. Mannfred even indicated he's certain Arkhan will be back, and Mannfred both hates Arkhan and would relish him being killed once and for all. But its unknown when it will happen or how Neferata took the news.

==On the Tabletop==
===As a Tomb King===
Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

===As Mortarch of Sacrament===
So, how does Arkhan change in the [[Undead Legion]]? He costs 650 points, loses Flammable, loses the Curse, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this makes him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While [[Nagash]] is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, although still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want [[Nagash]] to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties (possibly the aforementioned manticore chariot), and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]). Seems to wear a commissar cap and sport the 8-pointed Icon of Chaos on his staff.
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Posing for his End Times photo.
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Ossiarch Bonereapers]]

Lumineth Realm-Lords

2021-05-29T12:10:56Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A9B6:C3A5:A493:9356: /* Broken Realms */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Lumineth Realm-Lords|Logo=Eltharion's essence.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=FOR <s>ULTHUAN</s> HYSH!!!!!}}
{{Topquote|The phoenix must burn to emerge.|Janet Fitch}}
{{Topquote|Have you heard of the High Elves?|LaFave Bros Oblivion youtube video}}
{{Topquote|We must be swift as the coursing river. With all the force of a great typhoon. With all the strength of a raging fire. Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!|Be <s>a Man</s> an Aelf}}
{{Topquote|MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!|Avalenor, the Stoneheart King}}
The Lumineth Realm-lords (also known as '''High Elves 2.0''', '''Lu-methheads''' and '''Loony Meth-Heads'''. Officially "Realm-lords", without the second capital.) are a bunch of stone and crystal obsessed elves residing in the Realm of [[Hysh]] and led by Teclis. Forced onto the defensive by Chaos, they harness the magic of their realm and refuse to go down without a fight... just like the High Elves of old, but without the "dying race" element (and the accompanying lore inconsistencies) and a surprising amount of Dorfiness, given their love of hammers, runic magic and elementals.

With a heavy Greek aesthetic, new model and the return of [[Eltharion]], good times are abound if you were a fan of the High Elves back in the world that was.

==History==
===Origins/Age of Myth===
Once upon a time, [[Teclis]], [[Tyrion]], and [[Malekith|Malerion]] found a previously assumed dead [[Morathi]] who was very much alive, who then led the odd trio to the morbidly obese [[Slaanesh]] in a cave where they beat the shit out of him until he coughed up all of the Elven souls he had consumed after [[The End Times]]. A good chunk of these souls were given to Teclis, in order to recreate the High Elves of old and bring their race back to their former glory. The initial race that came from Teclis's attempts were the [[Idoneth Deepkin]] and, well... [[FAIL|He tried]].

This new batch of Aelves seem to have come out of the oven much better, far more sane and stable than any other Aelf so far. Given the Idoneth's hostile estrangement from Teclis while the Lumineth worship and fight side-by-side with him, relations between the two are... strange. In the Lumineth Battletome the Idoneth Deepkin are their only ally option, while in the Allegiance Matrix for multiplayer games in the General's Handbook they are listed as a Desperate Coalition (to put that in perspective, that's worse than the relationship between Khorne/Slaanesh or Tzeentch/Nurgle and is the only Desperate Coalition that isn't between factions from two entirely seperate Grand Alliances. Even Drycha the crazy, genocidal racist can act nicer to other factions). Best explanation is that they do utterly despise each other, but realize there are WAY bigger threats to their own societies, so they grudgingly tolerate each other for now.

Anyways after their initial inception they went on to colonize all parts of the realm of Hysh. After learning how to utilize the native realmstone Aetherquartz to Lumineth society grew to be one of if not the most advanced and grand civilization in all the realms. With art, architecture and learning being the envy of many other civilizations. Lumineth society was built on self-improvement, absurdly impractical headgear and the accumulation of wisdom, fueled by the power of Aetherquartz to amplify their bodies and minds. They however, in the typical elven arrogance, assumed that because Slaanesh was imprisoned they no longer had to worry about Chaos and decided to abuse the Aetherquartz like [[Skaven]] to [[Warpstone]], leading them to be the butt of many jokes about drugs.

===Age of Chaos===
Unfortunately for the Lumineth, in conjunction with the elves' own hubris, Tyrion and Teclis were very hands-off about godhood after the civilization was built. As a result, the subtle whispers of the Dark Gods entered their minds, causing envy and bitter rivalry. The subsequent campaigns of defamation and sabotage culminated in a massive civil war called the Ocari Dara, or Spirefall. The entire realm of Hysh was devastated, as the Lumineth had a habit of inventing uber-spells and doomsday devices just to see if they could, justifying it by claiming they were too enlightened to ever use such weapons for evil (which they obviously weren't). To make matters worse, the overflow of passion, pride and obsession from the war became a beacon for Slaaneshi daemons, who then invaded Hysh and would've wiped them out if Tyrion hadn't personally intervened to save the last survivors.

Teclis searched for some way to save his race from themselves, and found it when he managed to commune with Celennar, the spirit of Hysh's moon. He taught the Lumineth a new way of self-discipline, where they would bond with the elemental spirits to gain their power and wisdom. This rearrangement of Lumineth society was called the Reinvention Wars, which lasted the remaining years of the Age of Chaos and is widely credited with preventing them from becoming extinct altogether.

===Age of Sigmar===
The Lumineth were mostly unseen during the Age of Sigmar, being too focused on rebuilding their own realm in order to care about the other races.

During the Time of Tribulations, Teclis predicted the upcoming Necroquake, and ordered the construction of Aetherquartz towers in order to mitigate its effects. While this helped protect the Lumineth cities from undead invasion, Teclis failed to predict the arrival of Endless Spells, which would become a common plague upon the already magically battered landscape of Hysh.

During a meeting between Teclis and the other Aelven gods, Morathi started claiming that Slaanesh will inevitably escape. While the other Aelven gods dismissed this as the rantings of a madwoman, Teclis took this seriously and decided that the Lumineth must end their isolationism in order to purge Chaos from other realms. This hasn't endeared them well with the other races of Order, as they tend to deploy their legions without permission or warning out of the arrogant assumption that the lesser races can't be trusted to solve their own problems (arrogant ''and'' hypocritical coming from the Lumineth, who [[Eldar|nearly caused their own extinction through selfish obsessions]]). Adding to the fact that they have no problem with killing civilians and allies if they view it as necessary to cleanse Chaos, it’s understandable why some people don’t like it when they arrive unannounced. While the Stormcast have also used this approach, unlike them the Lumineth haven't earned a good reputation beforehand, and are a bunch of Johnny-Come-Latelys compared to the Stormcast's Big Damn Heroes.

At some point, Teclis had found the remnants of [[Eltharion]]'s spirit as he was way too badass to be claimed by Nagash. After putting his soul back together, Teclis ordered armor and weapons made in the Yvressian style, found a dude who looked near identical to Eltharion, created a soulless clone of that guy's body and tried to shove our old boy's soul right in. Sadly, [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] evidently cursed Eltharion so bad that any body his soul is put in crumples to dust, starting with the aforementioned souless clone. As Teclis cried like a bitch, he noticed that Eltharion's soul was able to inhabit the armor, turning him into [[Thousand Sons|a hollow suit of armor powered by light]]. Since then, Eltharion became one of the leaders of the Lumineth, as Teclis tries to figure out how to give him a normal body.

===Broken Realms===

As Morathi attempted to gain godhood and accidentally loosened the chains of Slaanesh, Teclis started pushing his army against the forces of the undead and [[Nagash]]. He planned on bringing an end to The Soul Wars and clapping Nagash's boney cheeks for unleashing the Necroquake. Of course, bone daddy won't take this laying down...only to take it standing, as Eltharion freaking killed Arkhan, Teclis destroyed the Nine Books of Nagash, and then sealed Nagash in his city. The price? Teclis was cursed by some sort of Death magic. The Necroquake has been undone!

==Society==

The Lumineth themselves are split between numerous different kingdoms within Hysh, known as the Ten Paradises. These Kingdoms each reside on a separate Island, which used to be one landmass before it was sundered in the Age of Chaos. The center Island is Xintil, where Teclis awoke in the Age of Myth and where most of the Sigmar worshiping mortals of Hysh live. Xintil is surrounded by eight islands, each ruled by a separate kingdom. Syar, Iliatha, Ymetrica and Zaitrec are known as the Teclian nations, essentially the Athens compared to the more Spartan Oultrai, Aurathrai, Helon and Alumnia who emulate Tyrion. Each has their own culture, such as Iliatha being matriarchal and doing some cloning shit.

These Lumineth have also come to treasure Aetherquartz, a crystal mineral native to their realm. These crystals gave their wearers great knowledge and power, but it also involves [[Eldar|sucking out their emotions and personalities - a sacrifice they consider worthwhile since unfettered emotions are the Dark Prince's favorite snack]]. In this way, they're similar to [[Stormcast Eternals|Sigmar's golden bois]] in that they're constantly approaching that point where they become effectively logic-driven, uncreative and unfeeling automatons except these guys see it as an acceptable ending compared to the Stormcast's mad search to end the flaw. The emotions drained into the Aetherquartz are used as a source of power by the mages known as Scinari <s>Crack Whores</s> Cathallars, weaponizing their suppressed negative emotions to spread terror and despair among their enemies.

After the Reinvention Wars, an important part of their society has become the Aelementari Temples, cults dedicated to bonding with the landscape of Hysh, in the form of the rivers, winds, mountains or even the light of Hysh's sky (Zenith). To join these cults is extremely difficult; first one must abandon all worldly possessions, then spend years meditating and seeking oneness with the spirit of their chosen location. The final trial is fatal if the spirit deems the aspirant unworthy: those dedicated to the rivers must weigh themselves down and jump into the water, while those dedicated to the mountains must let themselves get buried alive. Yet if they survive, they gain new powers ([[Avatar: The Last Airbender|please tell me there is some legendary Aelf who has the powers of all the Aelementari.]]) While the mages get elemental magic, the warriors get more subtle powers, like the Stoneguard who can enter the "mountain stance" to become immovable bulwarks in battle. The Aelementari can also be petitioned to possess a construct body and directly fight with their disciples.

The only Aelementari temple initially playable on tabletop were the mountain worshippers of the Alarith, who have taken a mountain yak called the "Ymetrican Longhorn" as their symbol, resulting in them being the butt of many cow jokes. The second temple to be officially revealed is the Wind Temple, known as the Hurakan; get it, Hurakan = Hurricane, GET IT!). They too were met with a barrage of memery due to their troops riding on creatures known as the Treerunners which very closely resembled Kangaroos. Aelementari Temples were intended to teach the Lumineth humility, and it half-worked; although their civilization no longer has the unchecked hubris that led to the Spirefall, many Lumineth have become humblebraggers under the impression that after the Reinvention they have successfully overcome all their flaws and created a perfect society. It seems that the arrogance of the (A)elves is the one flaw they can never overcome.

In terms of combat strategies and tactics, their design and combat is heavily reminiscent of Ancient Greek warfare combined with a bit of Roman. The traditional Spearmen, called the Vanari Auralan Wardens, are essentially hoplites, who form phalanxes to hold the enemy in place while the archers, mages and cavalry get set up to do their stuff. Each of these phalanxes are lead by a High Warden, essentially a Lochagos, who stands at the rear to make sure shit isn't going wrong. Most of these hoplites also adorn their shields with runes. These runes represent learning and enlightenment for the Realm Lords, but seem to be more for decoration than serving an actual battlefield purpose. These Wardens are also capable of forming into phalanxes called Shining Legions, difficult to harm but also slow. These legions are also present among their brethren who wield swords and bows. The Battletome also mentions unseen chariot and scout units, so they’re probably going to show up in a future release. Other major leaders include the Loreseekers, a mix of mage and warrior who are tasked with [[Blood Ravens|recovering ancient artefacts from the other races, allies or not, and bringing them back home where they belong]]

==Great Nations==

*'''Ymetrica:''' A mountainous kingdom with a great dedication to the Alarith Temple. Were the first Lumineth kingdom to succesfully discover how to bond with the Aelementari, which they won't hesistate to remind you at any moment. Form the vanguard of Teclis' campaign to purify the Mortal Realms. Recently endured a massive [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|boning]] from Arkhan's army. Essentially Caledor, but replace Dragons with bovine-headed earth elementals.
*'''Syar:''' The greatest craftsmen of the Lumineth, and the richest nation too. Created a lot of horrible weapons for the Ocari Dara, and swore to never create weapons again...until Teclis persuaded them that Chaos would win without their help. Just when they thought they were out, Chaos pulled them back in. Most likely suppose to resemble Eataine due to the focus on wealth, though instead of trade they got it through weapon dealing and trade so it's Eataine + the Anvil of Vaul.
*'''Zaitrec:''' The land of master wizards, and thus the place where Teclis likes to hang out most. They worship Celennar even more than Teclis though, and if they ever get to meet Teclis they're more interested in what the spirit has to say, claiming "it is better to learn from the source". Teclis is secretly [[butthurt]] over this having learned from an older source himself in the World-That-Was, much to Tyrion's amusement. For if you miss Saphery, with Celennar filling in for Lileath.
*'''Iliatha:''' This <s>simp</s> matriarchal kingdom revered women due to their belief that creating life was holy. However, they decided that the traditional method of childbirth was too gross for them, and invented a method to create clones by splitting souls. This lead to horrible excesses during the Ocari Dara, which were so dark that the other nations refuse to speak about it. Afterwards the technology was strictly regulated so that only one copy could be created per person, resulting in Iliatha having the largest population of the nations, the majority of whom are soul-bound twins. Avelorn, only with magic cloning.
*'''Alumnia:''' A land of explorers and pioneers who wish to explore the most dangerous parts of the Mortal Realms just to say that they can. They believe that they must spread to the rest of the Realms and spread the light on enlightenment to the darkest parts of the Mortal Realms. This usually means a LOT of them end up as snacks for hungry monsters and those who don't are disliked as colonial Imperialists, but that doesn't stop them. Many seek to replicate Tyrion's adventure across Haixiah, which is often considered a one way trip but those who make it back are revered highly. Acts as outriders and scouts for the Lumineth armies. (Tiranoc pre Sundering.)
*'''Helon:''' A widely open country that has winds so strong they can straight up send you flying. Now while normal people would view this as dangerous or horrifying, The Aelves here do it for fun! These guys have gotten so good at controlling winds that they can outright carve shit with wind and erosion. To no one's surprise, this place has the largest amount of Hurakan Temples of all of the nations. Their favorite battle strategies involve using the winds to help their archers fire off more shots and get out of danger when needed. (Ellyrion, only SUPER windy.)

==Named Characters==
*'''[[Teclis]]:''' The <s>a</s>elf, the myth, the literal legend, everyone's favourite (former!) anaemic cripple is back as one of the two gods of light (the other being his brother Tyrion). He now rides along a giant sphinx that's the literal spirit of Hysh's moon.
*'''[[Eltharion|The Light of Eltharion]]:''' The soul of Eltharion himself, now in a sick looking [[Thousand Sons|hollow suit of armour.]]
*'''Avalenor:''' The Aelementiri spirit of the largest mountain in Hysh, Avalenor is a mystery as instead of being bound into a war-form by a temple he just kinda showed up by himself one day.
*'''Sevireth:''' The "Lord of the Seventh Wind", the manifestation of one of the seven great gales that blow throughout all of Hysh. He used to hang out in a desert until he got baited into a Slaaneshi BDSM chamber and got roughed up. After he broke out, he became more of a merciless warrior, striking down the enemies of Hysh and all manner of tyranny.
*'''Lyrior Uthralle:''' Warden of Ymetrica, and quite martially-inclined for someone from a realm on the Teclican half of Hysh. He also acts as Tyrion's right-hand man and - apart from some major angst issues behind closed doors - look like he's being set up to inherit Tyrion's mantle of being the Big Damn Hero for Aelfkind.
*'''Ellania & Ellathor:''' A pair of twins, one a powerful sorceress, the other a skilled warrior, who fight on the battlefield as a single unit like the Sisters of Twilight. Seeing the similarities to themselves, Tyrion and Teclis have taken them on as proteges. One big difference between them and the original twins is that they both seem to agree that helping out the Non-Lumineth is a benefit in the fight against Chaos, where as Tyrion and Teclis always argued over it.

==Soulbound==
Released with the ''Champions of Order'' supplement in 2021.

As it turns out, the whole Soulbinding thing is a rather familiar matter to them. After all, the aelementeiri (those aelves who serve in the temples of elemental spirits, so the Alarith and Hurakan characters thus far) already bind their souls to become part of a greater whole and it was in this way that the people of Hysh clawed their ways out of the messes of the Age of Chaos. That said, there are those Lumineth that hesitate to do so because it would require them to sever their ties to Hysh and instead spread their elitist philosophies and knowledge to the lesser-fortunate peoples of the mortal realms. Doing so actually teaches them far more about the other realms than they would otherwise have learnt within their education-prisms, as well as teaching them about all the Saturday-morning ideals of cooperation and teamwork.

The following great nations are available for Lumineth heroes to hail from:
*'''Iliatha:''' Knowing how valuable knowledge is, many of their number seek to sire children to inherit what they have learned and surpass them. This urge is so strong that some even undertake an unsettling ritual that sees them split their soul among two bodies. Aelves in such a situation do not enter the same Soulbound. Indeed, knowing the price of the Soul-binding gives them a further drive to to do more for their comrades than they would ever have done raising a child. Heroes from Iliatha have a separate twin, one who will take their place should they die. This twin may start with the same starting stats, skills, and talents as their original, but may otherwise spend the rest of their XP as you wish.
*'''Syar:''' More than any other nation, Syar is a nation that takes their humility to heart. As a nation of artisans, they have a perfectionist's eye of their craft. Even as Soulbound, Lumineth from this nation see only ways that the world around them can be improved and how other viewpoints can improve them. Heroes from Syar add a special trait to a single weapon or set of armor they begin with. Whenever they undertake an endeavor to make something, they double any dice they get from their training in Crafting.
*'''Ymetrica:''' Residing the great peaks of Hysh, Ymetrica is considered the birthplace of the Alarith and legend has it that it was here that Teclis taught the aelfs in the art of binding their souls to the mountains. They take on the slow and contemplative sureness of the mountains, never acting in haste. Even the matters of the Soulbound are only undertaking after considerable contemplation, for they are hesitant to adapt to the hot-blooded and impulsive natures of their colleagues. Heroes from Ymetrica always act last in the first round of combat but can always act first in any round afterward unless someone else seizes the initiative. Additionally, the Thoughtful talent is available to all archetypes.
*'''Zaitrec:''' Lumineth from this realm house an irrepressible curiosity and seek questions from any source, including from the moons of Hysh. It is because of this that they tend to heed the spirit of Celennar, the lunasphinx representative of the greatest of Hysh's moons, more frequently than those of Teclis. It is because of this curiosity that they often join the Soulbound as they see all sorts of knowledge as equal. Heroes from Zaitrec add the Spellcasting talent to all archetypes, even allowing them to learn spells from lores that are otherwise inaccessible to them. When undertaking the Learn Spell endeavor, they can learn an additional common spell on top of everything else.

The archetypes available are '''Alarith Stoneguard''', '''Alarith Stonemage''', '''Scinari Cathallar''', and '''Vanari Warrior'''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Aelve Spearmen.jpg|AELVES, WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION!?
File:Aelve Cav.jpg|Gee, I wonder what ancient civilization these guys where based on.
File:Elf_elite_guard.jpg|Heavy armor, hammers and a stone motif... [[Dwarfs (WFB)|where have I seen this before?]]
File:Eltharion AOS.jpg|I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, ARKHAN!
File:Befriending furries.jpg|'''Asserting dominance'''
File:Realm Lord Runes.jpg|No one tell the Dwarfs that the Elgi figured out how runes work....
File:Sitting Bull.jpg|An Alarith Stonemage. I wonder how Dwarfs would react to an elf controlling stone with magic.
File:Alarith.png|Alarith, Spirit of the Mountain. And you thought [[Settra the Imperishable|Settra]] had a lot of titles/aliases.
File:Scinari.jpg|A Scinari Cathallar. That's pronounced SIN-ar-ee CATH-ull-arr, according Geedubs themselves.
File:Sad Lady.jpg|She feels your pain.
File:Lumineth vs Khorne.jpg|A fun game of Whack-a-reaver
File:Minotaur mountain.jpg|Avalenor in all his red, stony glory.
File:Elf with heavy burden.jpg|[[Snowflame|Weaponized magic Crystal Meth]] (Doomrider approves).
File:Lumineth Box.jpg|Available now (quartz not accepted as an alternative to money)
</gallery>

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Games Workshop]]

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