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Ghur

2020-09-26T15:02:10Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* Overview */

{{AoS-Stub}}

G’day mates. Welcome to the Australia of the Mortal Realms. Ghur is the Realm of Beasts and one of the most dead ‘ard places you’ll ever find.

Fun note; the name Ghur likely originates from the onomatopoeia for growling, which is "grrrr!"

==Overview==
On the surface, it appears to be absolutely pristine. Clear blue skies. Wide open savannas. Clean water. And herds upon herds of creatures and other magnificent fauna. But that’s only the physical attributes. In actuality, Ghur is what you get if you throw [[Fenris]], [[Flesh Tearers|Cretacia]], [[Nocturne]], and [[Catachan]] together in a foul bowl, add a small dosage of [[Chaos]], mix it together, then eat the whole fucking thing and shit it out.

It is a ''brutal, brutal'' realm, resulting in the creation of equally brutal inhabitants, from Humans and Orruks to creatures almost analogous to [[Tyranids]], even the land may want to get on the action. Mountains will shake to create avalanches in order to destroy a forest that took root there. Rivers slowly chip away at the land around it for more room to flow. Tectonic plates will grind against each other to produce rough and uneven terrain to prevent roaming warbands from traveling across them. Everything here is part of a giant food chain, and everything is simultaneously predator and prey.

The (crazy) people who live in Ghur are master survivalists, typically living in nomadic societies or building small easily movable structures. The few traditional cities tend to build massive spike-traps as moats around their city in order to skewer any giant monster that tries to renact a Godzilla film. If these traps work, the city typically gets enough meat to feed itself for a month. Might makes right is the defining law of the Realm and you’d be a fool not to follow it. Expectedly, the forces of Destruction are the most prevalent here, being the birthplace of the Ironjawz Orruks, and the home base for the largest [[Ogor Mawtribes]]. Another noteworthy faction are the [[Beasts Of Chaos|Beastmen]] of the Allherd Greatfray, whose herds are spread to every corner of Ghur and beyond. On each continent of Ghur can be found herdstones or other ruinous glyphs depicting the conquests of the Beastmen, reminding everyone just how far their influence is.

Gorkamorka is in charge of this realm, but in this case it's less because of a harmonious bond - though Gorkamorka's primal nature resonates with Ghur - but due to the fact that Gorkamorka is the strongest being native to the realm.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of Stormcasts in the tribal and barbaric Astral Templars trace their former mortal lives to this Realm.

==History==
While the other Realms had near existential crises over the Age of Chaos, Ghur basically looked at the incoming Chaos hordes and said “Fuck yeah! Christmas came early!” The natives of Ghur were ecstatic to have fresh bodies to fight against and new food to hunt. Over time and numerous Chaos Vanguards, the people become stronger and hardier. This is best exemplified with the Orruks, who would become so strong and big that they would eventually become the very first [[Ironjawz]].

==Notable Locations/Regions==
===[[Warhammer Underworlds|Beastgrave]]===
A colossal and ominous living mountain made from the corpses of (presumably) dead god beasts. Those who gaze upon its looming visage are filled with mixed feelings of curiosity and repulsion. It’s described as a Lovecraftian nightmare; an eldritch place with a will of its own that calls to many people far and wide through dreams/visions, beckoning them to come to Beastgrave to claim fame, fortune, or whatever it is that person wants most. Those hapless few that do heed the call will find themselves wandering endlessly in its cavernous interior, either killed by other adventurers or by Beastgrave itself and consumed. It’s kind of like FB’s [[Ogre Kingdoms|Great Maw]] in a sense, the comparisons becoming more apparent when you meet the primitive tribe of Neanderthals that live at the base of Beastgrave and regularly offer live sacrifices to the mountain. Most recently, the mountain has become even more treacherous when Nagash’s Necroquake shook the Realms and caused the cursed city of Shadespire to meld with Beastgrave. Now the immortal denizens of the Shyish city stalk the mountain, rousing long dead corpses within Beastgrave itself and drawing more potential prey into its insatiable insides.

==Bestiary==
*'''Vulture-stings''': Named by Herdchief Groth the Rootcutter, these dog-sized bees will inject venom into live prey and then follow them until the prey expires. Then the droning insects feast upon the corpse. Additionally, like real insects, they are fond of sweet nectar like substances, like the blood-sap of [[Sylvaneth]]. They have some instinctive form of ‘honor’, as when a vulture-sting chooses/stings a target, no other scavenger will attempt to steal its prize.
*'''Snarlfangs''': Large wolves with venomous saliva they use to enfeeble prey. The Gitmob Grots have started stealing newborn snarlfangs and using them as savage mounts. Each wolf and rider are bound together when the snarlfang pup first meets its Grot rider. However this won’t stop the snarlfangs from turning on the grots should they be provoked enough.
{{AoS-Realms}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ghur

2020-09-26T15:01:43Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* Overview */

{{AoS-Stub}}

G’day mates. Welcome to the Australia of the Mortal Realms. Ghur is the Realm of Beasts and one of the most dead ‘ard places you’ll ever find.

Fun note; the name Ghur likely originates from the onomatopoeia for growling, which is "grrrr!"

==Overview==
On the surface, it appears to be absolutely pristine. Clear blue skies. Wide open savannas. Clean water. And herds upon herds of creatures and other magnificent fauna. But that’s only the physical attributes. In actuality, Ghur is what you get if you throw [[Fenris]], [[Flesh Tearers|Cretacia]], [[Nocturne]], and [[Catachan]] together in a foul bowl, add a small dosage of [[Chaos]], mix it together, then eat the whole fucking thing and shit it out.

It is a ''brutal, brutal'' realm, resulting in the creation of equally brutal inhabitants, from Humans and Orruks to creatures almost analogous to [[Tyranids]], even the land may want to get on the action. Mountains will shake to create avalanches in order to destroy a forest that took root there. Rivers slowly chip away at the land around it for more room to flow. Tectonic plates will grind against each other to produce rough and uneven terrain to prevent roaming warbands from traveling across them. Everything here is part of a giant food chain, and everything is simultaneously predator and prey.

The (crazy) people who live in Ghur are master survivalists, typically living in nomadic societies or building small easily movable structures. The few traditional cities tend to build massive spike-traps as moats around their city in order to skewer any giant monster that tries to renact a Godzilla film. If these traps work, the city typically gets enough meat to feed itself for a month. Might makes right is the defining law of the Realm and you’d be a fool not to follow it. Expectedly, the forces of Destruction are the most prevalent here, being the birthplace of the Ironjawz Orruks, and the home base for the largest [[Ogor Mawtribes]]. Another noteworthy faction are the [[Beasts Of Chaos|Beastmen]] of the Allherd Greatfray, whose herds are spread to every corner of Ghur and beyond. On each continent of Ghur can be found herdstones or other ruinous glyphs depicting the conquests of the Beastmen, reminding everyone just how far their influence is.

Gorkamorka is in charge of this realm, but in this case it's less because of a harmonious bond - though Gorkamorka's primal nature resonates with Ghur, but due to Gorkamorka being the strongest being native to the realm.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of Stormcasts in the tribal and barbaric Astral Templars trace their former mortal lives to this Realm.

==History==
While the other Realms had near existential crises over the Age of Chaos, Ghur basically looked at the incoming Chaos hordes and said “Fuck yeah! Christmas came early!” The natives of Ghur were ecstatic to have fresh bodies to fight against and new food to hunt. Over time and numerous Chaos Vanguards, the people become stronger and hardier. This is best exemplified with the Orruks, who would become so strong and big that they would eventually become the very first [[Ironjawz]].

==Notable Locations/Regions==
===[[Warhammer Underworlds|Beastgrave]]===
A colossal and ominous living mountain made from the corpses of (presumably) dead god beasts. Those who gaze upon its looming visage are filled with mixed feelings of curiosity and repulsion. It’s described as a Lovecraftian nightmare; an eldritch place with a will of its own that calls to many people far and wide through dreams/visions, beckoning them to come to Beastgrave to claim fame, fortune, or whatever it is that person wants most. Those hapless few that do heed the call will find themselves wandering endlessly in its cavernous interior, either killed by other adventurers or by Beastgrave itself and consumed. It’s kind of like FB’s [[Ogre Kingdoms|Great Maw]] in a sense, the comparisons becoming more apparent when you meet the primitive tribe of Neanderthals that live at the base of Beastgrave and regularly offer live sacrifices to the mountain. Most recently, the mountain has become even more treacherous when Nagash’s Necroquake shook the Realms and caused the cursed city of Shadespire to meld with Beastgrave. Now the immortal denizens of the Shyish city stalk the mountain, rousing long dead corpses within Beastgrave itself and drawing more potential prey into its insatiable insides.

==Bestiary==
*'''Vulture-stings''': Named by Herdchief Groth the Rootcutter, these dog-sized bees will inject venom into live prey and then follow them until the prey expires. Then the droning insects feast upon the corpse. Additionally, like real insects, they are fond of sweet nectar like substances, like the blood-sap of [[Sylvaneth]]. They have some instinctive form of ‘honor’, as when a vulture-sting chooses/stings a target, no other scavenger will attempt to steal its prize.
*'''Snarlfangs''': Large wolves with venomous saliva they use to enfeeble prey. The Gitmob Grots have started stealing newborn snarlfangs and using them as savage mounts. Each wolf and rider are bound together when the snarlfang pup first meets its Grot rider. However this won’t stop the snarlfangs from turning on the grots should they be provoked enough.
{{AoS-Realms}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Vlad von Carstein

2020-09-26T14:03:42Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* As Vlad */

[[Image:VladCarstein.jpg|500x|thumb|right|Think what you want, he's badass and not as mean as many think.]]
{{Topquote|Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.|Vlad von Carstein}}
{{Topquote|Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.|Harry Day}}

The [[Von Carstein]] Vampire, the first king (or Pharaoh anyway) of the Vampires.

==Appearance and Personality==
Vlad von Carstein (Aka Chad von Carstein) was described as a very tall, darkly handsome pale man, with "...a mane of black hair and piercing eyes." He was often well dressed, and went to war in some badass-looking armor, though what kept him alive was the Carstein Ring.

As described by "...those who met him and survived the encounter", Vlad was very intelligent (he manipulated his way into controlling Sylvania through a [[Just as Planned|cunning series of events]]) with a "feral charm", but had an evil temper. He would get so mad if his plans were thwarted only his wife could calm him without blood being spilt. They went on to create a big vampire family (they had more offspring than Mannfred and Konrad, those two are just the most infamous).

Vlad was also able to single-handedly track down and understand one of the Books of [[Nagash]]. He accomplished this by tracking it to a temple where some humans were hiding from a Chaos army and, after the book was found, persuaded them to give it to him (with words, not violence i know weird isn't it). This indicates he has some skill at persuasion and he's not a total murderer.

Aside from all this he was a devoted husband. He came to love his wife [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]], and turned her into a vampire so she wouldn't die of illness. After the turning, Vlad gave her the standard talk he gave all his "gets" (people he turned into vampires). Yet he went even further had all reflective objects removed from the castle in case she was traumatized by no longer having a reflection. There was even a painting of her commissioned as a wedding gift so she'd always look the way she wanted.

Vlad is notable for actually giving a shit about the peasants under his banner. By protecting them from the dark things that lurk Sylvania's wastelands and putting bandits and invaders to the sword, Vlad ingratiated himself upon the people of his land. By sheparding the commoners, Vlad did more than simply guarantee a source of nourishment; his actions led to extensive loyalty from the populace, and his rulership is widely regarded as the best Sylvania ever had (which speaks volumes as to how badly the Sylvanians in general have it).

This, along with his actual giving a shit about the opinions of the other races in the End Times: Archaon, means that he is basically the one actually likeable creature in all of Warhammer fantasy battle (aside from Thorgrim, naturally). Period. And he's a badass.

==History==
Like the Joker, he has a multiple-choice past. Unlike the Joker, he's sane enough to remember it, but he never told anyone about it for a long time until he met Isabella. With the End Times and the tie-in novels, Vlad's past has been (retcons aside) somewhat revealed;

Vlad was originally a Nehekharan noble. However there is still divergence in the lore. In one version his name was Vashanesh and was Neferata's husband but they grew apart. The other version, according to the Time of Legends books, is that he was named Ankhat and was a noble attendant of Neferata. After the destruction of Lahmia he laid low for awhile. Nothing is known of this time except he occasionally married human women, somehow got Nagash to make him The Carstein Ring, looked down on Strigoi vampires and chased down necromantic artifacts until he arrived at Drakenhof.

=== As Lord Ankhat ===
In Lahmia, the man who was yet Vlad von Cartstein was a noble named Ankhat. He was born to an ancient and sacred bloodline, on par with W'soran's. Although he is shorter than the average Nehekharans in height (but definitely taller than a Dwarf and humans from the Empire), he was cunning and perceptive, yet both were hindered by his well known impatience. He was also a well known hunter, known for training and breeding hawks, hounds and steeds for hunting. He was part of Lamashizzar's cabal where they strive to achieve power over the Nehekharans through immortality by mastering Nagash's dark art, learing directly from one of his stolen books and interrogating one of his captured lieutenants, [[Arkhan the Black]].

Like many Lahmian nobles, Anhkat was so sick and tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence in the dark arts that he jumped ship and followed [[Neferata]] when she revealed her mastery of the dark arts. After Lamashizzar was assassinated by [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] and [[Neferata]] took over the throne, Ankhat became her noble attendant.

To [[Neferata]], Ankhat was a reliable servant, a man who gets the job done. For example, to covered up the news where [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] assassinated Lamashizzar, Ankhat made up a story where a priest of Sokth (Nehekharan god of thieves and scorpion) exacted vengeance upon the ruler of Lahmia for mistreating the refugees from Mahrak by assassinated the queen and the king with a poison needle and killed some of the female servants in the female palace along the way. In reality, it was but [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] tried to resurrect neffy with dark magic, then went straight to kill the king, only to be decapitated by his champion [[Abhorash]]. The dead female servants were killed by Neferata upon her first awakening as a vampire (and Abhorash was in Neferata's pocket at the time, so he wouldn't spill the beans).

The story of [[Neferata]]'s resurrection was covered up as a miracle instead, to prove she has the divine bloodline flowing in her vein, allowing her reappearance to be accepted by the public. Ankhat also secretly arranged the corpse of [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] to be buried in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia (despite [[Abhorash]]'s suggestion for cremation).

After Ankhat became a vampire, his charisma and his other attribute received a major boost, so much that his charisma is comparable to [[Neferata]]'s vampiric beauty. Still, Anhkhat remained royal to [[Neferata]], perhaps even as close to her as Naamia. Also despite being royal, Ankhat was still shocked at [[Neferata]] wanting to open an academy for the Nehekharan kings children, especially wanting to save Queen Rastraian from her pregnancy just so [[Neferata]] could perform wife husbandry on the Rastraian's son Alcadizzar. Ankhat rejected the idea, since he and other members knew it would risk uniting the other cities against Lahmia in a war that Lahmia would lose.

As Alcadizzar's grew, Ankhat repeatedly warned Neferata to give Alcadizzar back to his father and kingdom. Each time, and often angrily, Neferata rejected Ankhat's warnings.

When Alcadizzar finally escaped, [[Neferata]] vengefully ordered the cabal (especially Ushoran because he is a spy master) to search for him. Lahmia was turned into a roach hotel in such a short time most of the members decided abandon the sinking ship, except this time they were on their own since the only ways out were to serve Nagash or leave Nehekhara. Ankhat wished to leave Lahmia and explore the world with his immortality, but he had no power to do so and knew Neferata and her vampire servants could hunt him down, and so he remained. Ankhat had his own vampire agent to observe Ushoran's every movement to ensure he remained loyal, which he didn't and was caught just before he ran away.

When Alcadizzar led a coalition army from other great cities and his own desert tribes to raze Lahmia, [[Neferata]] gathered every vampire she knew to fight back. Due to his strategic skill, Ankhat was in charge of the Lahmian living troops. Since Lahmian armies were inexperienced and weak, Ankhat had to personally take the fight to the frontline with his inhuman strength and agility.

Despite not achieving the same martial mastery as Abhorash, Ankhat's vampiric nature gave him a supernatural advantage against the living. Every warriors, be it Nehekharans or Northlanders, faced the same fate when they challenged him and he made short work of them, sometimes even killing them with his bare hands, or he just terrified them with his Vampiric appearence.

Despite doing well himself, his army did not and thus his line crumbled. Worst came when [[Neferata]] fell in a duel against Alcadizzar and Ankhat had to ordered every soldiers to her. Abhorash however came at the right time, killing the livings like flies and allowing every other vampires evacuate to the palace. When [[Neferata]] said she wanted to die with Lahmia, Ankhat was like "fuck ya, I ain't gonna die by these sons of bitches, I'm going to the north to be worshiped like a fucking god" then immediately reminded her that they are fucking immortal, have all the time in the world, and that he should've explored the world a long time ago, rather than staying Lahmia, a place Anhkat intended never to return to. After that, Ankhat left without a sound just before [[Neferata]] could leave him with a farewell.

=== As Vlad ===
Sylvania was a dangerous place, with the majority of the land covered in dark and ominous forests. Although it was an Imperial province, it was already reputed as a barbaric place where the dead did not rest easily and a refuge for evil necromancers and sorcerers (probably because the rough terrain and large forests provided plenty of hiding spaces). Many of its great castles and towers were built in places where dark magic was most abundant. To make things even worse for the Sylvanians, they were ruled over by the evil von Drak family, the ruler at the time of Vlad's arrival being Otto von Drak, father of Vlad's future wife Isabella. He was a deranged man that would order the execution of peasants simply to prove a point, and demanded unbelievably high taxes when he remembered to have it done in between bouts of violent madness. Fortunately he had as much influence over his realm as one of the peasants he terrorized as the petty nobles ignored his authority. Unfortunately they were nearly as bad as he was; his brother Leopold wanted to marry his daughter Isabella so he could get the province. Because nothing solves hereditary insanity quite like incest! However Otto hated his brother (and was likely disgusted by that Idea) So he wanted to marry Isabella off as quickly as possible. However he wouldn't marry her off to any Sylvanian Noble and no one outside the province wanted anything to do with her.

In the year 1797, on a dark and stormy night (cliche or not, got to respect the classics), Vlad arrived [[Just As Planned|right on time]] to ask for Isabella's hand in marriage while Otto was on his deathbed. Desperate to stop his rivals seizing his land on his death, Otto agreed, and Vlad and Isabella were married minutes before Otto died. Vlad thus seized the province; his first act ripping out Leopold von Drak's heart and hurling him from Drakenhof's battlements (at Isabella's request). Most of the other noble families objected to the thought of having an outsider rule them, but they were either won over by his charm or silenced. Under Vlad's iron grip the province of Sylvania prospered. The other Counts of the Empire looked on with indifference at the changes, since Vlad was a far better ruler than the old von Drak family even if they'd set the bar so low a dog would've been better.

Though Vlad had married Isabella for power, what had started between them as a marriage of convenience swiftly blossomed into unholy love. The pair had become confidants in each other and all but inseparable. Isabella begged Vlad to give her the Blood Kiss so they could be together for eternity, but Vlad was aware to the downsides of vampirism and loved her too much to subject her to that. When she lay dying of wasting sickness (Consumption, which is rarely called by that name and is known today as tuberculosis), Vlad made her a vampire so he wouldn't lose her. For two hundred years, Vlad ruled over Sylvania with Isabella by his side, using different names to avoid suspicion. However, Drakenhof's oldest woman found out his real name and figured out his age; she spread the word that her grandmother had been a little girl when Vlad came into power, upon which even the dimmest Sylvanian realized something unnatural was happening.

When Mordheim was struck by a comet, Vlad sent some of his agents to collect Warpstone. On the night of Gehinsnacht he threw a party for all the nobles in Sylvania, human and vampire (with fancy food for the human nobles, while the humans themselves were on the menu for the vampires) while not telling the human nobles they were on the menu. After his vampires slaughtered the nobles, he used a recovered book of Nagash to start a ritual to summon the dead of Sylvania in a giant army to fight the Empire and appoint himself emperor. However something that even vampires found unnatural happened with Vlad during the war; every time Vlad was killed he came back. He was first decapitated with his own sword by captured enemy general Hans Schiffen, but came back and violently reasserted control of the vampires that same night. The second time he had his head smashed in by the hammer of the Templar Grand Master of Middenheim's knights, Jerek Kruger, only to return to attack Midddenheim a year later and drain Jerek of blood (while also turning him into a vampire in the novel). At another siege he was impaled by five lances and took a Runefang through the heart, but was back to normal and overseeing the crucifixion of his killers the next day. At a battle for a river crossing, a lucky cannon shot decapitated him, yet within the hour he was back on his feet and slaughtering the cannon's crew. This was because of his ring, a magical ring called The Carstein Ring that allowed him to come back from wounds that would otherwise permanently kill even a vampire.

In 2051, Vlad laid siege to Altdorf, his armies swollen during the long years of fighting Imperial armies. The siege lasted for many months. Though the emperor at the time was a pussy, Grand Theogonist Wilhelm the Third actually had some balls and refused to surrender, spurring the soldiers on for one more battle. The second last night of the siege, Wilhelm dispatched Felix Mann, the greatest thief of the age, to steal Vlad's fabled ring and source of his immortality (he had been covertly tipped off about the ring by a traitor within Vlad's own camp - [[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred]]). After slipping by the guards, Mann stole the ring, leaving Vlad vulnerable. When he woke the next day and found the ring gone, Vlad furiously ordered a final, full-scale assault on the walls. As the vampires swept aside all who stood against them, Wilhelm confronted the Vampire Lord atop the very walls of Altdorf. Vlad swiftly gained the upper hand, fatally wounding Wilhelm. The priest saw Sigmar's people beginning to waiver in the face of evil, and the Vampire before him howling with triumph. With a prayer to Sigmar on his lips, Wilhelm used the last of his strength to charge Von Carstein, resolving to destroy Von Carstein by sacrificing himself. Even as Wilhelm took Vlad's blade through his chest again, he seized Von Carstein and bore him over the ramparts. Man and vampire were impaled on the stakes placed below the battlements, Vlad landing first, Wilhelm landing on top, driving the vampire down further. With a terrible scream, the Count died, unable to come back without his magic ring.

Vlad's Undead army crumbled without his power to guide them, and the few surviving vampires apart from Isabella fled quickly to Sylvania. The casualties the vampires had inflicted on the forces of Altdorf were so horrific the Empire's forces couldn't pursue them. Vlad's camp was looted by the Imperials, and among the remains were found Vlad's copies of the Liber Mortis and the Book of Nagash that he had: these were taken by the Temple of Sigmar and locked away in the temple's deepest vaults (though Mannfred made off with a page of Nagash's book in the novel, and the ring, after taking them from Felix along with Felix's hands). The last casualty of the Siege of Altdorf was a distraught Isabella, who chose to kill herself with a stake rather than carry on through eternity without her beloved husband.

Vlad's corpse was found and put through all the treatments believed to keep vampires dead to make sure he wouldn't come back; breaking his knees, tying his corpse up with silver wire, garlic in the mouth and buried on sacred ground. Vlad was even buried under Wilhelm's corpse as an extra guarantee against his return. In the second Vampire Wars novel, the vampire Jerek Kruger - now Jerek von Carstein - strong-armed a human gravedigger into exhuming Vlad's remains to try and find The Carstein Ring. But it wasn't there, so Jerek abandoned the grave and the terrified gravedigger with no word on what happened to Vlad's remains.

==The End Times==
During End Times: Nagash, Vlad is resurrected by [[Nagash|big bone daddy himself]] shortly after the latter's return. Vlad's first act is kicking the ass out of Mannfred when the latter tried to Sindri him again, only sparing his life under direct order of Nagash, who still has use for Mannfred. Vlad only agrees to work for Nagash on the condition that Nagash will bring back his wife Isabella. While the rest of Nagash's forces and his Mortarchs march on Nehekhara, Vlad and the Nameless are charged with fighting the forces of Chaos. Despite the situation, Vlad still has his eyes on becoming Emperor so he covertly tried to ingratiate himself with the Empire. At first he tries to work with Balthazar, gifting him a copy of one of Nagash's nine books and even making Gelt his apprentice for a time. He allies with the forces of Altdorf when the Glottkin and their forces attack while Kurt Helborg is the regent of the Empire with Karl Franz missing. Vlad even gets Kurt to make him the legitimized elector count of Sylvania in exchange for the alliance. Vlad is killed again by Festus the Leechlord, but his ring does its thing and a fully-healed Vlad kills the near daemon prince Festus. He later fights Otto Glott but gets infected with a disease harmful even to Vampires after drinking some of Otto Glott's blood. Sickened and puking, Vlad turned into a swarm of bats and flew away, fortunately for him before Karl-Sigmar's rebirth purges evil magic from Altdorf.

Later the Empire, in a fit of desperation, sent emissaries to Nagash (who had just conquered and enslaved the Tomb Kings) to seek his help against the forces of Chaos. Nagash heard them out, killed them and forbade any of the undead from helping. Vlad, still struggling with the disease, heard the message since he was the one to bring the emissaries to Nagash (Nagash doesn't grant sick leave). When the latter was snoozing and Arkhan was buried in paperwork, Vlad disobeyed the order, summoned some undead troops went to help the Empire in the battle for Averheim. He got there just in time to see the forces of Chaos overwhelm Ungrim. Vlad gave them a moment's silence before turning his army around to rush back to Sylvania before Nagash finished his power nap. During this time, a combined force of undead led by the Nameless and nurgle daemons attacked Sylvania.

When he got back, he was forced to fight then force invading Sylvania alongside Mannfred and Luthor Harkon at Arkhan's orders. After a vicious fight he was reunited with Isabella, who had been brought back by the big 'N'. Unfortunately for him, then big 'N' this time wasn't [[Nagash]], but [[Nurgle]]. In revenge for how Vlad saved her from tuberculosis and out of his hatred for the sterility of the undead, she had been possessed by a daemon that convinced her that Vlad had never loved her in the first place and was given powers that were meant specifically to be used against Undead. She killed him, and Vlad swore revenge on Nurgle for what he did to her with his dying breath. His ring did its work, bringing him back now free of the Nurglite disease. Isabella's state understandably left Vlad upset, but he soldiered on regardless. When Nagash allied with the living he lived up to his Mortarch title and stays in the background, only emerging to fight, chide Mannfred or trade witty banter with Arkhan.

While staying in Athel Loren with the rest of the order side, Vlad bother both Tyrion and Emperor Karl Franz while the two of them were discussing the future of their kind. He sarcastic mocked Franz that both of them are now the only elector counts left, and should Franz fall in battle, he would surely be the Emperor. However, Karl coldly reply to him that is true only elector counts has the power to vote someone to become the Emperor, [[derp|only if the elector count is alive, and dead people can't vote]].

Vlad then introduce an Elven vampire princess to Tyrion as a form of sarcastic mocking against his kind. This former Elven Princess was named Eldyra of Tiranoc, who was one of Tyrion's squire's daughter as well as the same Princess that led the counter attack against [[Sigvald]]'s invasion force. She followed Eltharion to prevent against Nagash's resurrection, which they failed and the princess was turned to Vampire afterwards, an outcome she was unhappy with.

Afterwards, Tyrion took Eldyra at distance then mercy killed the vampire princess by her request, chopped off her head with his Sunfang, something Vlad is not happy with since he was going to sired her into a Vampire lord.

He heads to Middenheim with Nagash's forces and encounters Isabella telling Mannfred to go sit in a corner. Upon noticing Vlad's arrival Isabella immediately turns to face him and the two of them square off. Possibly inspired by his own rebirth purging the disease, Vlad gave up his ring to her before killing them both, knowing that the resurrection process would free his beloved wife from the Plaguefather's clutches. His body was last seen impaled on a spike with no sign of Isabella; she was rescued by Neferata but the world ended before she regained consciousness.

As his model has been renamed as a generic Vampire Lord, it looks like [[FAIL|Vlad will not be in Age of Sigmar]]. A moment's silence for one of the coolest vampires in the game.

==On The Tabletop==
As a Vampire Count, Vlad could be an effective special character if he was cheaper. His current incarnation gives him strength 6, 4+ ward, 4+ chance to heal a wound for every unsaved wound he deals and a chance to come back from being killed on a 2+.

As Mortarch of Shadow, Vlad is the one most likely to survive a battle despite only having 3 Wounds (though as a Vampire he can heal those and gets a bonus to do so). His ring still gives him the chance to pop back to life, and thanks to the fact he's not on a ghost horse/dragon thing he can get Look Out Sir! rolls from a Unit. He's got Mortarch of Shadow special rule which gives everything a -1 To Hit (both shooting and in melee) against him [[Awesome|and his unit]] and a -1 to the Leadership of all models nearby him, and as a Terror-causer this can be beneficial when facing low Leadership armies. The -1 To Hit makes him even better in combat which, combined with his sword makes him the hardest to kill Mortarch. Aside from his equipment and Mortarch rule he's really just a generic Wizard lvl 3 Vampire Lord, with the added bonus of picking spells like Nagash from Death, Shadow, Vampire, or Undeath (this access to multiple Lores makes him a FAR superior choice to the generic Master Vampire when using Khaine magic rules). As a Vampire, he can restore Wounds lost if he deals an Unsaved Wound against an enemy, but thanks to his Magic Weapon (which also grants him +1 Strength) he gets that Wound on a 4+ instead of a 6+. He also has a 4+ Ward Save, and a 83-84% chance to come back to life with one Wound in a Unit 12 inches near him if he's killed. So is he worth it compared to the generic? ...Yeah. The problem is he's not a level 4 caster, which isn't terrible, and he isn't Red Fury, which also isn't terrible. The generic can be kitted out to either be a best possible spellcaster or have better damage, but Vlad mixes them in an acceptable way. The primary way to use Vlad is to kit him out fully in Lore of Death, since he'll be able to survive in the range that puts the lore to the best use.

Thanks to the buffs he confers to the unit he is with he can be a total nightmare on the battlefield: he isn't a magic monster like Nagash, Mannfred or Arkhan, nor a killing machine like Neferata, but he is intended to be more of a support character, and he is one of the best in the game. Add Vlad's spells to it (Miasma, Invocation of Nehek and Soul Leech are what you're guaranteed to have, and what great spells they are indeed!) and you have just doubled the fun.

== Total War: Warhammer ==
Confirmed as free downloadable content for the September 1st patch for Total War: Warhammer, Vlad returns as a legendary lord choice for the <strike>Vampire Counts; sharing that distinction with his son Mannfred, Heinrich Kemmler, and Helman Ghorst.</strike> (As of the Bretonnia DLC, Vlad and Isabella now form a seperate vampire faction to the immediate west) Of the five, he's the most dangerous melee lord with a tremendous potential for regeneration (though as of the current patch regeneration is hard capped at 60% of a unit's health it's easily modded out) and the best damage per second out of the four in close quarters. His spellcasting ability is of course, inferior to Mannfred's as Mannfred gets an additional lore and a special ability to boost his winds of magic recharge rate, and he isn't quite the army healing machine that Kemmler or Ghorst are; and lacks Ghorst's ability to summon high end units, but his magic is entirely serviceable and the lore of vampires is well worth investing into. He of course, trashes the two Necromancers (no surprise there given that they're inferior to some heroes in melee) in close combat and comes out on top against Mannfred quite handily and in singleplayer, you'd feel much safer committing Vlad into melee than the others; though of course he can't fly like Mannfred can, he does get a speed boosting skill that allows him to run down most infantry.

The most notable thing about him though; is his ability to have literally the entire army use the vanguard deployment status even if they're the last thing you'd ever think of when you hear the words "fast" and "stealthy", letting your enormous shrieking hordes of undead large and small pop up within spitting distance of the enemy army before they realize you're even there. Not just to Vlad's own army, but to *every* army you have, turning many quest battles into absolute jokes (the sword of unholy power in particular as the reinforcements the quest battle is balanced around will never arrive before you rout all the shamans) and letting you completely surround the enemy before the battle even starts. Or you can have troops camp the side of the map enemy reinforcements were supposed to come in through and slaughter them piecemeal; and since they're on the edge of the map any routed troops are instantly gone. He can also immediately attack a city without waiting for siege equipment, allowing you to conquer the world that much faster. In other words, he's gone and somehow learned [[Creed]]'s tricks, using his skill as an UNPARALLELED PRACTITIONER of necromancy instead of Creed's mastery of his TACTICAL GENIUS when commanding the legions of mankind.

It's recommended that you use him as your starting lord, not only because of his monstrously powerful traits if picked as leader, not only because he gets fucking Vargheists and ''Blood Knights'' as starting units, but also because he's the hardest Vampire Counts lord to unlock if not chosen to begin with. Mannfred and Ghorst are trivial to unlock; only needing the conquest of Sylvania (only two provinces and since they already have maxed out vampiric corruption you should conquer them first anyway) and choosing the dominate option after a victory ten times (basically just fighting ten battles, and since this replenishes losses you'll do it anyway) for Mannfred and Ghorst respectively. Kemmler's a bit more annoying as he needs an expensive late game structure in the Forbidden library but it's something you'd build anyway and shouldn't take too long. Vlad though, Vlad requires you to sack or raze (not conquer) Altdorf, which requires taking the Empire's capital (and if you want Vlad before chaos arrives; within a hundred or so turns), and not conquering a high level city or even having to rebuild it from scratch. Starting with Vlad is really just the most efficient option. This is no longer the case now that he and Isabella are their own faction; whichever you start with the other is available from the beginning of the game, at a discount no less. It's generally a good idea to have both as early as possible, since they give each other a significant buff when one is reinforcing the other.

"When did that entire undead army get there while I was looking away for five minutes? The commander of this army must be some unparalleled practitioner of the dark ar-VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

=== Tales of Vlad ===

==== Franz's bad day ====
Emperor Karl Franz was having a bad day. Middenheim so recently brought back into the fold of the empire still grumbled, albeit now only when they thought his spies weren't looking. Rumors of Chaos stirring in the North were confirmed as valid from Karl's most noble allies in Kislev, Vlad Von Carstein the Tactical Genius of Sylvania had returned and now; it was time for his absolutely loathed weekly psychiatric appointment.

"It's just insane!" Bellowed Franz to his psychologist as he went on about the stresses of being Emperor of a empire constantly under threat. "I mean, the orcs were right there! Why did Marienburg attack us? I mean sure we would have to bring Marienburg into the fold eventually anyway, but what good is your independence when the orcs are literally on your door step!".

His psychologist was unusually quiet, ordinarily by this time he'd be telling Franz about the wonderful job he is doing as Emperor and how all of the empires lands would've been butchered by one foe or another if it weren't for him. While a benefit to his ego it hardly lowered Karls stress. Nevertheless Franz took the silence as indication to keep going.

"Oh and Thogrim contacted me, he broke our alliance. For no reason! Oh hey nevermind this ancient pact from before our Empire was even founded and forget the symbol of eternal friendship we gave you. We're done, don't wana be around you anymore. Nope. I mean isn't Grimgor ironhide enough of a uniting force to demonstrate the need of our alliance?"

It was at this point when his psychologist still hadn't responded that Franz began to grow suspicious. He looked and saw that his psychologist had suddenly been replaced with a full 20 stack of units, causing Franz to yell

"VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Volkmar's fall ====
The Battle was nearly over. All around him, Vlad's puppets crumble. "FOR THE EMPEROR!" Volkmar the Grim cries, as he brings his mighty Warhammer down upon a crypt ghoul, spraying bloody viscera in all directions. With Sigmar's guidance, the Grand Theogonist thought, today would ring the final death knell for the wretched Von Carstein line. Through the din of battle, barely in his peripheral vision, Volkmar notices a pebble move, and a branch fall. Then, the soft sound of a moan is carried across his ears. Pausing for a moment to contemplate this happenstance, when all of the sudden, the shrieks of the Grand Theogonist's men breaks the air. "No. This is not possible!", he Roared. Volkmar jerked his head up, and gazing around him he saw that his victory had been denied. Hordes of tens of thousands of zombies poured down the slopes of the valley where he had been fighting. All the Grand Theogonist could get out in his rage before being swallowed by the rotting wave was, "VLAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Mannfred gets reminded who's the boss ====

The high tower's balcony afforded Mannfred a view far beyond the walls of Castle Drakenhof, across the newly created plains and into the mist-shrouded forests beyond. In the courtyard below, his undead armies waited silently for their master's orders, looking none the worse for the hasty forced march he'd imposed. That was the advantage of the tireless dead and no sooner had they arrived, he had them clear out and prepare the forest surrounding the castle to grant him forewarning of the enemy approach.

And this was neither petty necromancer nor thin-blooded whelp who marched against him. It seemed that whilst the stirring of Shyish had enabled his awakening, it had also awakened his challenger, a particularly powerful vampire count, so his mortal sources told him. And this opponent was cunning, taking advantage of his conflict with the Templehof weaklings to cross his borders.

No matter, he thought, idly skimming a finger over the cover of the Liber Necromonica. The unholy pages had granted him the plethora of devastating magical traps he'd laid scattered around the new clearings, from the Black Pyramid itself. A sinister smile spread across his face, as he imagined his rival’s army torn to shreds before even reaching the walls, and as he begged for his life at Mannfred’s feet he would-Movement caught his eyes at the main gate, and the colourless orbs widened as the towering doors shook with a muffled boom. Far below, two figures dressed in ornate vampire armour struck the gate again as a host of zombies and skeletons advanced. Fell bats and snarling vargheists circled overhead, and a flash of crimson armour betrayed a squadron of Blood Knights at the rear.

Mortar cracked as he slammed his fist against the balcony wall. Impossible! How did they get past his wards and traps? Only an unparalleled practitioner of the dark arts could overco-He froze, supernatural eyesight giving him a clear view of the lead vampire as it returned his gaze. It was unmistakeable, the sword, the ring, the wrathful eyes; the face of his sire. A terrible roar tore itself from his throat, “VLAAAAAAAAAD!”

== Gallery ==
<Gallery>
Image:Vlad Isabella Old.jpg|The old models of momma and dadda Von Carstein. Works well as their "posing as human" forms.
Image:Vlad New Model.jpg|His new model. The metal version had an extra ghost coming off the cape that the Failcast lacks.
Image:C7f54fc10ea0e963e2fe16a382fb642a.jpg| Vlad, you marvellous bastard.
Image:Vlad1.jpg|Vlad when the shit hits the fan
Image:Bigdaddyv.jpg|Now THAT is a real fucking vampire. [[Awesome|Note how he's killing an enemy soldier with his empty hand while fending off two others with his sword]].
Image:Sylvania Court.jpg|Vlad putting down uppity nobles. Only Isabella prevents him from slaughtering the room.
File:Vlad von Carstein end times.png
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]]

Vlad von Carstein

2020-09-26T13:59:26Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* As Lord Ankhat */

[[Image:VladCarstein.jpg|500x|thumb|right|Think what you want, he's badass and not as mean as many think.]]
{{Topquote|Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.|Vlad von Carstein}}
{{Topquote|Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.|Harry Day}}

The [[Von Carstein]] Vampire, the first king (or Pharaoh anyway) of the Vampires.

==Appearance and Personality==
Vlad von Carstein (Aka Chad von Carstein) was described as a very tall, darkly handsome pale man, with "...a mane of black hair and piercing eyes." He was often well dressed, and went to war in some badass-looking armor, though what kept him alive was the Carstein Ring.

As described by "...those who met him and survived the encounter", Vlad was very intelligent (he manipulated his way into controlling Sylvania through a [[Just as Planned|cunning series of events]]) with a "feral charm", but had an evil temper. He would get so mad if his plans were thwarted only his wife could calm him without blood being spilt. They went on to create a big vampire family (they had more offspring than Mannfred and Konrad, those two are just the most infamous).

Vlad was also able to single-handedly track down and understand one of the Books of [[Nagash]]. He accomplished this by tracking it to a temple where some humans were hiding from a Chaos army and, after the book was found, persuaded them to give it to him (with words, not violence i know weird isn't it). This indicates he has some skill at persuasion and he's not a total murderer.

Aside from all this he was a devoted husband. He came to love his wife [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]], and turned her into a vampire so she wouldn't die of illness. After the turning, Vlad gave her the standard talk he gave all his "gets" (people he turned into vampires). Yet he went even further had all reflective objects removed from the castle in case she was traumatized by no longer having a reflection. There was even a painting of her commissioned as a wedding gift so she'd always look the way she wanted.

Vlad is notable for actually giving a shit about the peasants under his banner. By protecting them from the dark things that lurk Sylvania's wastelands and putting bandits and invaders to the sword, Vlad ingratiated himself upon the people of his land. By sheparding the commoners, Vlad did more than simply guarantee a source of nourishment; his actions led to extensive loyalty from the populace, and his rulership is widely regarded as the best Sylvania ever had (which speaks volumes as to how badly the Sylvanians in general have it).

This, along with his actual giving a shit about the opinions of the other races in the End Times: Archaon, means that he is basically the one actually likeable creature in all of Warhammer fantasy battle (aside from Thorgrim, naturally). Period. And he's a badass.

==History==
Like the Joker, he has a multiple-choice past. Unlike the Joker, he's sane enough to remember it, but he never told anyone about it for a long time until he met Isabella. With the End Times and the tie-in novels, Vlad's past has been (retcons aside) somewhat revealed;

Vlad was originally a Nehekharan noble. However there is still divergence in the lore. In one version his name was Vashanesh and was Neferata's husband but they grew apart. The other version, according to the Time of Legends books, is that he was named Ankhat and was a noble attendant of Neferata. After the destruction of Lahmia he laid low for awhile. Nothing is known of this time except he occasionally married human women, somehow got Nagash to make him The Carstein Ring, looked down on Strigoi vampires and chased down necromantic artifacts until he arrived at Drakenhof.

=== As Lord Ankhat ===
In Lahmia, the man who was yet Vlad von Cartstein was a noble named Ankhat. He was born to an ancient and sacred bloodline, on par with W'soran's. Although he is shorter than the average Nehekharans in height (but definitely taller than a Dwarf and humans from the Empire), he was cunning and perceptive, yet both were hindered by his well known impatience. He was also a well known hunter, known for training and breeding hawks, hounds and steeds for hunting. He was part of Lamashizzar's cabal where they strive to achieve power over the Nehekharans through immortality by mastering Nagash's dark art, learing directly from one of his stolen books and interrogating one of his captured lieutenants, [[Arkhan the Black]].

Like many Lahmian nobles, Anhkat was so sick and tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence in the dark arts that he jumped ship and followed [[Neferata]] when she revealed her mastery of the dark arts. After Lamashizzar was assassinated by [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] and [[Neferata]] took over the throne, Ankhat became her noble attendant.

To [[Neferata]], Ankhat was a reliable servant, a man who gets the job done. For example, to covered up the news where [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] assassinated Lamashizzar, Ankhat made up a story where a priest of Sokth (Nehekharan god of thieves and scorpion) exacted vengeance upon the ruler of Lahmia for mistreating the refugees from Mahrak by assassinated the queen and the king with a poison needle and killed some of the female servants in the female palace along the way. In reality, it was but [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] tried to resurrect neffy with dark magic, then went straight to kill the king, only to be decapitated by his champion [[Abhorash]]. The dead female servants were killed by Neferata upon her first awakening as a vampire (and Abhorash was in Neferata's pocket at the time, so he wouldn't spill the beans).

The story of [[Neferata]]'s resurrection was covered up as a miracle instead, to prove she has the divine bloodline flowing in her vein, allowing her reappearance to be accepted by the public. Ankhat also secretly arranged the corpse of [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] to be buried in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia (despite [[Abhorash]]'s suggestion for cremation).

After Ankhat became a vampire, his charisma and his other attribute received a major boost, so much that his charisma is comparable to [[Neferata]]'s vampiric beauty. Still, Anhkhat remained royal to [[Neferata]], perhaps even as close to her as Naamia. Also despite being royal, Ankhat was still shocked at [[Neferata]] wanting to open an academy for the Nehekharan kings children, especially wanting to save Queen Rastraian from her pregnancy just so [[Neferata]] could perform wife husbandry on the Rastraian's son Alcadizzar. Ankhat rejected the idea, since he and other members knew it would risk uniting the other cities against Lahmia in a war that Lahmia would lose.

As Alcadizzar's grew, Ankhat repeatedly warned Neferata to give Alcadizzar back to his father and kingdom. Each time, and often angrily, Neferata rejected Ankhat's warnings.

When Alcadizzar finally escaped, [[Neferata]] vengefully ordered the cabal (especially Ushoran because he is a spy master) to search for him. Lahmia was turned into a roach hotel in such a short time most of the members decided abandon the sinking ship, except this time they were on their own since the only ways out were to serve Nagash or leave Nehekhara. Ankhat wished to leave Lahmia and explore the world with his immortality, but he had no power to do so and knew Neferata and her vampire servants could hunt him down, and so he remained. Ankhat had his own vampire agent to observe Ushoran's every movement to ensure he remained loyal, which he didn't and was caught just before he ran away.

When Alcadizzar led a coalition army from other great cities and his own desert tribes to raze Lahmia, [[Neferata]] gathered every vampire she knew to fight back. Due to his strategic skill, Ankhat was in charge of the Lahmian living troops. Since Lahmian armies were inexperienced and weak, Ankhat had to personally take the fight to the frontline with his inhuman strength and agility.

Despite not achieving the same martial mastery as Abhorash, Ankhat's vampiric nature gave him a supernatural advantage against the living. Every warriors, be it Nehekharans or Northlanders, faced the same fate when they challenged him and he made short work of them, sometimes even killing them with his bare hands, or he just terrified them with his Vampiric appearence.

Despite doing well himself, his army did not and thus his line crumbled. Worst came when [[Neferata]] fell in a duel against Alcadizzar and Ankhat had to ordered every soldiers to her. Abhorash however came at the right time, killing the livings like flies and allowing every other vampires evacuate to the palace. When [[Neferata]] said she wanted to die with Lahmia, Ankhat was like "fuck ya, I ain't gonna die by these sons of bitches, I'm going to the north to be worshiped like a fucking god" then immediately reminded her that they are fucking immortal, have all the time in the world, and that he should've explored the world a long time ago, rather than staying Lahmia, a place Anhkat intended never to return to. After that, Ankhat left without a sound just before [[Neferata]] could leave him with a farewell.

=== As Vlad ===
Sylvania was a dangerous place, with the majority of the land covered in dark and ominous forests. Although it was an Imperial province, it was already reputed as a barbaric place where the dead did not rest easily and a refuge for evil necromancers and sorcerers (probably because the rough terrain and large forests provided plenty of hiding spaces). Many of its great castles and towers were built in places where dark magic was most abundant. To make things even worse for the Sylvanians, they were ruled over by the evil von Drak family, the ruler at the time of Vlad's arrival being Otto von Drak, father of Vlad's future wife Isabella. He was a deranged man that would order the execution of peasants simply to prove a point, and demanded unbelievably high taxes when he remembered to have it done in between bouts of violent madness. Fortunately he had as much influence over his realm as one of the peasants he terrorized as the petty nobles ignored his authority. Unfortunately they were nearly as bad as he was; his brother Leopold wanted to marry his daughter Isabella so he could get the province. Because nothing solves hereditary insanity quite like incest! However Otto hated his brother (and was likely disgusted by that Idea) So he wanted to marry Isabella off as quickly as possible. However he wouldn't marry her off to any Sylvanian Noble and no one outside the province wanted anything to do with her.

In the year 1797, on a dark and stormy night (cliche or not, got to respect the classics), Vlad arrived [[Just As Planned|right on time]] to ask for Isabella's hand in marriage while Otto was on his deathbed. Desperate to stop his rivals seizing his land on his death, Otto agreed, and Vlad and Isabella were married minutes before Otto died. Vlad thus seized the province; his first act ripping out Leopold von Drak's heart and hurling him from Drakenhof's battlements (at Isabella's request). Most of the other noble families objected to the thought of having an outsider rule them, but they were either won over by his charm or silenced. Under Vlad's iron grip the province of Sylvania prospered. The other Counts of the Empire looked on with indifference at the changes, since Vlad was a far better ruler than the old von Drak family even if they'd set the bar so low a dog would've been better.

Though Vlad had married Isabella for power, what had started between them as a marriage of convenience swiftly blossomed into unholy love. The pair had become confidants in each other and all but inseparable. Isabella begged Vlad to give her the Blood Kiss so they could be together for eternity, but Vlad was aware to the downsides of vampirism and loved her too much to subject her to that. When she lay dying of wasting sickness (Consumption, which is rarely called by that name and is known today as tuberculosis), Vlad made her a vampire so he wouldn't lose her. For two hundred years, Vlad ruled over Sylvania with Isabella by his side, using different names to avoid suspicion. However, Drakenhof's oldest woman found out his real name and figured out his age; she spread the word that her grandmother had been a little girl when Vlad came into power, upon which even the dimmest Sylvanian realized something unnatural was happening.

When Mordheim was struck by a comet, Vlad sent some of his agents to collect Warpstone. On the night of Gehinsnacht he threw a party for all the nobles in Sylvania, human and vampire, while not telling the human nobles they were on the menu. After his vampires slaughtered the nobles, he used a recovered book of Nagash to start a ritual to summon the dead of Sylvania in a giant army to fight the Empire and appoint himself emperor. However something that even vampires found unnatural happened with Vlad during the war; every time Vlad was killed he came back. He was first decapitated with his own sword by captured enemy general Hans Schiffen, but came back and violently reasserted control of the vampires that same night. The second time he had his head smashed in by the hammer of the Templar Grand Master of Middenheim's knights, Jerek Kruger, only to return to attack Midddenheim a year later and drain Jerek of blood (while also turning him into a vampire in the novel). At another siege he was impaled by five lances and took a Runefang through the heart, but was back to normal and overseeing the crucifixion of his killers the next day. At a battle for a river crossing, a lucky cannon shot decapitated him, yet within the hour he was back on his feet and slaughtering the cannon's crew. This was because of his ring, a magical ring called The Carstein Ring that allowed him to come back from wounds that would otherwise permanently kill even a vampire.

In 2051, Vlad laid siege to Altdorf, his armies swollen during the long years of fighting Imperial armies. The siege lasted for many months. Though the emperor at the time was a pussy, Grand Theogonist Wilhelm the Third actually had some balls and refused to surrender, spurring the soldiers on for one more battle. The second last night of the siege, Wilhelm dispatched Felix Mann, the greatest thief of the age, to steal Vlad's fabled ring and source of his immortality (he had been covertly tipped off about the ring by a traitor within Vlad's own camp - [[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred]]). After slipping by the guards, Mann stole the ring, leaving Vlad vulnerable. When he woke the next day and found the ring gone, Vlad furiously ordered a final, full-scale assault on the walls. As the vampires swept aside all who stood against them, Wilhelm confronted the Vampire Lord atop the very walls of Altdorf. Vlad swiftly gained the upper hand, fatally wounding Wilhelm. The priest saw Sigmar's people beginning to waiver in the face of evil, and the Vampire before him howling with triumph. With a prayer to Sigmar on his lips, Wilhelm used the last of his strength to charge Von Carstein, resolving to destroy Von Carstein by sacrificing himself. Even as Wilhelm took Vlad's blade through his chest again, he seized Von Carstein and bore him over the ramparts. Man and vampire were impaled on the stakes placed below the battlements, Vlad landing first, Wilhelm landing on top, driving the vampire down further. With a terrible scream, the Count died, unable to come back without his magic ring.

Vlad's Undead army crumbled without his power to guide them, and the few surviving vampires apart from Isabella fled quickly to Sylvania. The casualties the vampires had inflicted on the forces of Altdorf were so horrific the Empire's forces couldn't pursue them. Vlad's camp was looted by the Imperials, and among the remains were found Vlad's copies of the Liber Mortis and the Book of Nagash that he had: these were taken by the Temple of Sigmar and locked away in the temple's deepest vaults (though Mannfred made off with a page of Nagash's book in the novel, and the ring, after taking them from Felix along with Felix's hands). The last casualty of the Siege of Altdorf was a distraught Isabella, who chose to kill herself with a stake rather than carry on through eternity without her beloved husband.

Vlad's corpse was found and put through all the treatments believed to keep vampires dead to make sure he wouldn't come back; breaking his knees, tying his corpse up with silver wire, garlic in the mouth and buried on sacred ground. Vlad was even buried under Wilhelm's corpse as an extra guarantee against his return. In the second Vampire Wars novel, the vampire Jerek Kruger - now Jerek von Carstein - strong-armed a human gravedigger into exhuming Vlad's remains to try and find The Carstein Ring. But it wasn't there, so Jerek abandoned the grave and the terrified gravedigger with no word on what happened to Vlad's remains.

==The End Times==
During End Times: Nagash, Vlad is resurrected by [[Nagash|big bone daddy himself]] shortly after the latter's return. Vlad's first act is kicking the ass out of Mannfred when the latter tried to Sindri him again, only sparing his life under direct order of Nagash, who still has use for Mannfred. Vlad only agrees to work for Nagash on the condition that Nagash will bring back his wife Isabella. While the rest of Nagash's forces and his Mortarchs march on Nehekhara, Vlad and the Nameless are charged with fighting the forces of Chaos. Despite the situation, Vlad still has his eyes on becoming Emperor so he covertly tried to ingratiate himself with the Empire. At first he tries to work with Balthazar, gifting him a copy of one of Nagash's nine books and even making Gelt his apprentice for a time. He allies with the forces of Altdorf when the Glottkin and their forces attack while Kurt Helborg is the regent of the Empire with Karl Franz missing. Vlad even gets Kurt to make him the legitimized elector count of Sylvania in exchange for the alliance. Vlad is killed again by Festus the Leechlord, but his ring does its thing and a fully-healed Vlad kills the near daemon prince Festus. He later fights Otto Glott but gets infected with a disease harmful even to Vampires after drinking some of Otto Glott's blood. Sickened and puking, Vlad turned into a swarm of bats and flew away, fortunately for him before Karl-Sigmar's rebirth purges evil magic from Altdorf.

Later the Empire, in a fit of desperation, sent emissaries to Nagash (who had just conquered and enslaved the Tomb Kings) to seek his help against the forces of Chaos. Nagash heard them out, killed them and forbade any of the undead from helping. Vlad, still struggling with the disease, heard the message since he was the one to bring the emissaries to Nagash (Nagash doesn't grant sick leave). When the latter was snoozing and Arkhan was buried in paperwork, Vlad disobeyed the order, summoned some undead troops went to help the Empire in the battle for Averheim. He got there just in time to see the forces of Chaos overwhelm Ungrim. Vlad gave them a moment's silence before turning his army around to rush back to Sylvania before Nagash finished his power nap. During this time, a combined force of undead led by the Nameless and nurgle daemons attacked Sylvania.

When he got back, he was forced to fight then force invading Sylvania alongside Mannfred and Luthor Harkon at Arkhan's orders. After a vicious fight he was reunited with Isabella, who had been brought back by the big 'N'. Unfortunately for him, then big 'N' this time wasn't [[Nagash]], but [[Nurgle]]. In revenge for how Vlad saved her from tuberculosis and out of his hatred for the sterility of the undead, she had been possessed by a daemon that convinced her that Vlad had never loved her in the first place and was given powers that were meant specifically to be used against Undead. She killed him, and Vlad swore revenge on Nurgle for what he did to her with his dying breath. His ring did its work, bringing him back now free of the Nurglite disease. Isabella's state understandably left Vlad upset, but he soldiered on regardless. When Nagash allied with the living he lived up to his Mortarch title and stays in the background, only emerging to fight, chide Mannfred or trade witty banter with Arkhan.

While staying in Athel Loren with the rest of the order side, Vlad bother both Tyrion and Emperor Karl Franz while the two of them were discussing the future of their kind. He sarcastic mocked Franz that both of them are now the only elector counts left, and should Franz fall in battle, he would surely be the Emperor. However, Karl coldly reply to him that is true only elector counts has the power to vote someone to become the Emperor, [[derp|only if the elector count is alive, and dead people can't vote]].

Vlad then introduce an Elven vampire princess to Tyrion as a form of sarcastic mocking against his kind. This former Elven Princess was named Eldyra of Tiranoc, who was one of Tyrion's squire's daughter as well as the same Princess that led the counter attack against [[Sigvald]]'s invasion force. She followed Eltharion to prevent against Nagash's resurrection, which they failed and the princess was turned to Vampire afterwards, an outcome she was unhappy with.

Afterwards, Tyrion took Eldyra at distance then mercy killed the vampire princess by her request, chopped off her head with his Sunfang, something Vlad is not happy with since he was going to sired her into a Vampire lord.

He heads to Middenheim with Nagash's forces and encounters Isabella telling Mannfred to go sit in a corner. Upon noticing Vlad's arrival Isabella immediately turns to face him and the two of them square off. Possibly inspired by his own rebirth purging the disease, Vlad gave up his ring to her before killing them both, knowing that the resurrection process would free his beloved wife from the Plaguefather's clutches. His body was last seen impaled on a spike with no sign of Isabella; she was rescued by Neferata but the world ended before she regained consciousness.

As his model has been renamed as a generic Vampire Lord, it looks like [[FAIL|Vlad will not be in Age of Sigmar]]. A moment's silence for one of the coolest vampires in the game.

==On The Tabletop==
As a Vampire Count, Vlad could be an effective special character if he was cheaper. His current incarnation gives him strength 6, 4+ ward, 4+ chance to heal a wound for every unsaved wound he deals and a chance to come back from being killed on a 2+.

As Mortarch of Shadow, Vlad is the one most likely to survive a battle despite only having 3 Wounds (though as a Vampire he can heal those and gets a bonus to do so). His ring still gives him the chance to pop back to life, and thanks to the fact he's not on a ghost horse/dragon thing he can get Look Out Sir! rolls from a Unit. He's got Mortarch of Shadow special rule which gives everything a -1 To Hit (both shooting and in melee) against him [[Awesome|and his unit]] and a -1 to the Leadership of all models nearby him, and as a Terror-causer this can be beneficial when facing low Leadership armies. The -1 To Hit makes him even better in combat which, combined with his sword makes him the hardest to kill Mortarch. Aside from his equipment and Mortarch rule he's really just a generic Wizard lvl 3 Vampire Lord, with the added bonus of picking spells like Nagash from Death, Shadow, Vampire, or Undeath (this access to multiple Lores makes him a FAR superior choice to the generic Master Vampire when using Khaine magic rules). As a Vampire, he can restore Wounds lost if he deals an Unsaved Wound against an enemy, but thanks to his Magic Weapon (which also grants him +1 Strength) he gets that Wound on a 4+ instead of a 6+. He also has a 4+ Ward Save, and a 83-84% chance to come back to life with one Wound in a Unit 12 inches near him if he's killed. So is he worth it compared to the generic? ...Yeah. The problem is he's not a level 4 caster, which isn't terrible, and he isn't Red Fury, which also isn't terrible. The generic can be kitted out to either be a best possible spellcaster or have better damage, but Vlad mixes them in an acceptable way. The primary way to use Vlad is to kit him out fully in Lore of Death, since he'll be able to survive in the range that puts the lore to the best use.

Thanks to the buffs he confers to the unit he is with he can be a total nightmare on the battlefield: he isn't a magic monster like Nagash, Mannfred or Arkhan, nor a killing machine like Neferata, but he is intended to be more of a support character, and he is one of the best in the game. Add Vlad's spells to it (Miasma, Invocation of Nehek and Soul Leech are what you're guaranteed to have, and what great spells they are indeed!) and you have just doubled the fun.

== Total War: Warhammer ==
Confirmed as free downloadable content for the September 1st patch for Total War: Warhammer, Vlad returns as a legendary lord choice for the <strike>Vampire Counts; sharing that distinction with his son Mannfred, Heinrich Kemmler, and Helman Ghorst.</strike> (As of the Bretonnia DLC, Vlad and Isabella now form a seperate vampire faction to the immediate west) Of the five, he's the most dangerous melee lord with a tremendous potential for regeneration (though as of the current patch regeneration is hard capped at 60% of a unit's health it's easily modded out) and the best damage per second out of the four in close quarters. His spellcasting ability is of course, inferior to Mannfred's as Mannfred gets an additional lore and a special ability to boost his winds of magic recharge rate, and he isn't quite the army healing machine that Kemmler or Ghorst are; and lacks Ghorst's ability to summon high end units, but his magic is entirely serviceable and the lore of vampires is well worth investing into. He of course, trashes the two Necromancers (no surprise there given that they're inferior to some heroes in melee) in close combat and comes out on top against Mannfred quite handily and in singleplayer, you'd feel much safer committing Vlad into melee than the others; though of course he can't fly like Mannfred can, he does get a speed boosting skill that allows him to run down most infantry.

The most notable thing about him though; is his ability to have literally the entire army use the vanguard deployment status even if they're the last thing you'd ever think of when you hear the words "fast" and "stealthy", letting your enormous shrieking hordes of undead large and small pop up within spitting distance of the enemy army before they realize you're even there. Not just to Vlad's own army, but to *every* army you have, turning many quest battles into absolute jokes (the sword of unholy power in particular as the reinforcements the quest battle is balanced around will never arrive before you rout all the shamans) and letting you completely surround the enemy before the battle even starts. Or you can have troops camp the side of the map enemy reinforcements were supposed to come in through and slaughter them piecemeal; and since they're on the edge of the map any routed troops are instantly gone. He can also immediately attack a city without waiting for siege equipment, allowing you to conquer the world that much faster. In other words, he's gone and somehow learned [[Creed]]'s tricks, using his skill as an UNPARALLELED PRACTITIONER of necromancy instead of Creed's mastery of his TACTICAL GENIUS when commanding the legions of mankind.

It's recommended that you use him as your starting lord, not only because of his monstrously powerful traits if picked as leader, not only because he gets fucking Vargheists and ''Blood Knights'' as starting units, but also because he's the hardest Vampire Counts lord to unlock if not chosen to begin with. Mannfred and Ghorst are trivial to unlock; only needing the conquest of Sylvania (only two provinces and since they already have maxed out vampiric corruption you should conquer them first anyway) and choosing the dominate option after a victory ten times (basically just fighting ten battles, and since this replenishes losses you'll do it anyway) for Mannfred and Ghorst respectively. Kemmler's a bit more annoying as he needs an expensive late game structure in the Forbidden library but it's something you'd build anyway and shouldn't take too long. Vlad though, Vlad requires you to sack or raze (not conquer) Altdorf, which requires taking the Empire's capital (and if you want Vlad before chaos arrives; within a hundred or so turns), and not conquering a high level city or even having to rebuild it from scratch. Starting with Vlad is really just the most efficient option. This is no longer the case now that he and Isabella are their own faction; whichever you start with the other is available from the beginning of the game, at a discount no less. It's generally a good idea to have both as early as possible, since they give each other a significant buff when one is reinforcing the other.

"When did that entire undead army get there while I was looking away for five minutes? The commander of this army must be some unparalleled practitioner of the dark ar-VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

=== Tales of Vlad ===

==== Franz's bad day ====
Emperor Karl Franz was having a bad day. Middenheim so recently brought back into the fold of the empire still grumbled, albeit now only when they thought his spies weren't looking. Rumors of Chaos stirring in the North were confirmed as valid from Karl's most noble allies in Kislev, Vlad Von Carstein the Tactical Genius of Sylvania had returned and now; it was time for his absolutely loathed weekly psychiatric appointment.

"It's just insane!" Bellowed Franz to his psychologist as he went on about the stresses of being Emperor of a empire constantly under threat. "I mean, the orcs were right there! Why did Marienburg attack us? I mean sure we would have to bring Marienburg into the fold eventually anyway, but what good is your independence when the orcs are literally on your door step!".

His psychologist was unusually quiet, ordinarily by this time he'd be telling Franz about the wonderful job he is doing as Emperor and how all of the empires lands would've been butchered by one foe or another if it weren't for him. While a benefit to his ego it hardly lowered Karls stress. Nevertheless Franz took the silence as indication to keep going.

"Oh and Thogrim contacted me, he broke our alliance. For no reason! Oh hey nevermind this ancient pact from before our Empire was even founded and forget the symbol of eternal friendship we gave you. We're done, don't wana be around you anymore. Nope. I mean isn't Grimgor ironhide enough of a uniting force to demonstrate the need of our alliance?"

It was at this point when his psychologist still hadn't responded that Franz began to grow suspicious. He looked and saw that his psychologist had suddenly been replaced with a full 20 stack of units, causing Franz to yell

"VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Volkmar's fall ====
The Battle was nearly over. All around him, Vlad's puppets crumble. "FOR THE EMPEROR!" Volkmar the Grim cries, as he brings his mighty Warhammer down upon a crypt ghoul, spraying bloody viscera in all directions. With Sigmar's guidance, the Grand Theogonist thought, today would ring the final death knell for the wretched Von Carstein line. Through the din of battle, barely in his peripheral vision, Volkmar notices a pebble move, and a branch fall. Then, the soft sound of a moan is carried across his ears. Pausing for a moment to contemplate this happenstance, when all of the sudden, the shrieks of the Grand Theogonist's men breaks the air. "No. This is not possible!", he Roared. Volkmar jerked his head up, and gazing around him he saw that his victory had been denied. Hordes of tens of thousands of zombies poured down the slopes of the valley where he had been fighting. All the Grand Theogonist could get out in his rage before being swallowed by the rotting wave was, "VLAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Mannfred gets reminded who's the boss ====

The high tower's balcony afforded Mannfred a view far beyond the walls of Castle Drakenhof, across the newly created plains and into the mist-shrouded forests beyond. In the courtyard below, his undead armies waited silently for their master's orders, looking none the worse for the hasty forced march he'd imposed. That was the advantage of the tireless dead and no sooner had they arrived, he had them clear out and prepare the forest surrounding the castle to grant him forewarning of the enemy approach.

And this was neither petty necromancer nor thin-blooded whelp who marched against him. It seemed that whilst the stirring of Shyish had enabled his awakening, it had also awakened his challenger, a particularly powerful vampire count, so his mortal sources told him. And this opponent was cunning, taking advantage of his conflict with the Templehof weaklings to cross his borders.

No matter, he thought, idly skimming a finger over the cover of the Liber Necromonica. The unholy pages had granted him the plethora of devastating magical traps he'd laid scattered around the new clearings, from the Black Pyramid itself. A sinister smile spread across his face, as he imagined his rival’s army torn to shreds before even reaching the walls, and as he begged for his life at Mannfred’s feet he would-Movement caught his eyes at the main gate, and the colourless orbs widened as the towering doors shook with a muffled boom. Far below, two figures dressed in ornate vampire armour struck the gate again as a host of zombies and skeletons advanced. Fell bats and snarling vargheists circled overhead, and a flash of crimson armour betrayed a squadron of Blood Knights at the rear.

Mortar cracked as he slammed his fist against the balcony wall. Impossible! How did they get past his wards and traps? Only an unparalleled practitioner of the dark arts could overco-He froze, supernatural eyesight giving him a clear view of the lead vampire as it returned his gaze. It was unmistakeable, the sword, the ring, the wrathful eyes; the face of his sire. A terrible roar tore itself from his throat, “VLAAAAAAAAAD!”

== Gallery ==
<Gallery>
Image:Vlad Isabella Old.jpg|The old models of momma and dadda Von Carstein. Works well as their "posing as human" forms.
Image:Vlad New Model.jpg|His new model. The metal version had an extra ghost coming off the cape that the Failcast lacks.
Image:C7f54fc10ea0e963e2fe16a382fb642a.jpg| Vlad, you marvellous bastard.
Image:Vlad1.jpg|Vlad when the shit hits the fan
Image:Bigdaddyv.jpg|Now THAT is a real fucking vampire. [[Awesome|Note how he's killing an enemy soldier with his empty hand while fending off two others with his sword]].
Image:Sylvania Court.jpg|Vlad putting down uppity nobles. Only Isabella prevents him from slaughtering the room.
File:Vlad von Carstein end times.png
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]]

Vlad von Carstein

2020-09-26T13:59:06Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* As Lord Ankhat */

[[Image:VladCarstein.jpg|500x|thumb|right|Think what you want, he's badass and not as mean as many think.]]
{{Topquote|Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death.|Vlad von Carstein}}
{{Topquote|Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.|Harry Day}}

The [[Von Carstein]] Vampire, the first king (or Pharaoh anyway) of the Vampires.

==Appearance and Personality==
Vlad von Carstein (Aka Chad von Carstein) was described as a very tall, darkly handsome pale man, with "...a mane of black hair and piercing eyes." He was often well dressed, and went to war in some badass-looking armor, though what kept him alive was the Carstein Ring.

As described by "...those who met him and survived the encounter", Vlad was very intelligent (he manipulated his way into controlling Sylvania through a [[Just as Planned|cunning series of events]]) with a "feral charm", but had an evil temper. He would get so mad if his plans were thwarted only his wife could calm him without blood being spilt. They went on to create a big vampire family (they had more offspring than Mannfred and Konrad, those two are just the most infamous).

Vlad was also able to single-handedly track down and understand one of the Books of [[Nagash]]. He accomplished this by tracking it to a temple where some humans were hiding from a Chaos army and, after the book was found, persuaded them to give it to him (with words, not violence i know weird isn't it). This indicates he has some skill at persuasion and he's not a total murderer.

Aside from all this he was a devoted husband. He came to love his wife [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]], and turned her into a vampire so she wouldn't die of illness. After the turning, Vlad gave her the standard talk he gave all his "gets" (people he turned into vampires). Yet he went even further had all reflective objects removed from the castle in case she was traumatized by no longer having a reflection. There was even a painting of her commissioned as a wedding gift so she'd always look the way she wanted.

Vlad is notable for actually giving a shit about the peasants under his banner. By protecting them from the dark things that lurk Sylvania's wastelands and putting bandits and invaders to the sword, Vlad ingratiated himself upon the people of his land. By sheparding the commoners, Vlad did more than simply guarantee a source of nourishment; his actions led to extensive loyalty from the populace, and his rulership is widely regarded as the best Sylvania ever had (which speaks volumes as to how badly the Sylvanians in general have it).

This, along with his actual giving a shit about the opinions of the other races in the End Times: Archaon, means that he is basically the one actually likeable creature in all of Warhammer fantasy battle (aside from Thorgrim, naturally). Period. And he's a badass.

==History==
Like the Joker, he has a multiple-choice past. Unlike the Joker, he's sane enough to remember it, but he never told anyone about it for a long time until he met Isabella. With the End Times and the tie-in novels, Vlad's past has been (retcons aside) somewhat revealed;

Vlad was originally a Nehekharan noble. However there is still divergence in the lore. In one version his name was Vashanesh and was Neferata's husband but they grew apart. The other version, according to the Time of Legends books, is that he was named Ankhat and was a noble attendant of Neferata. After the destruction of Lahmia he laid low for awhile. Nothing is known of this time except he occasionally married human women, somehow got Nagash to make him The Carstein Ring, looked down on Strigoi vampires and chased down necromantic artifacts until he arrived at Drakenhof.

=== As Lord Ankhat ===
In Lahmia, the man who was yet Vlad von Cartstein was a noble named Ankhat. He was born to an ancient and sacred bloodline, on par with W'soran's. Although he is shorter than the average Nehekharans in height (but definitely taller than a Dwarf and humans from the Empire), he was cunning and perceptive, yet both were hindered by his well known impatience. He was also a well known hunter, known for training and breeding hawks, hounds and steeds for hunting. He was part of Lamashizzar's cabal where they strive to achieve power over the Nehekharans through immortality by mastering Nagash's dark art, learing directly from one of his stolen books and interrogating one of his captured lieutenants, [[Arkhan the Black]].

Like many Lahmian nobles, Anhkat was so sick and tired of Lamashizzar's incompetence in the dark arts that he jumped ship and followed [[Neferata]] when she revealed her mastery of the dark arts.

After Lamashizzar was assassinated by [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] and [[Neferata]] took over the throne, Ankhat became her noble attendant.

To [[Neferata]], Ankhat was a reliable servant, a man who gets the job done. For example, to covered up the news where [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] assassinated Lamashizzar, Ankhat made up a story where a priest of Sokth (Nehekharan god of thieves and scorpion) exacted vengeance upon the ruler of Lahmia for mistreating the refugees from Mahrak by assassinated the queen and the king with a poison needle and killed some of the female servants in the female palace along the way. In reality, it was but [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] tried to resurrect neffy with dark magic, then went straight to kill the king, only to be decapitated by his champion [[Abhorash]]. The dead female servants were killed by Neferata upon her first awakening as a vampire (and Abhorash was in Neferata's pocket at the time, so he wouldn't spill the beans).

The story of [[Neferata]]'s resurrection was covered up as a miracle instead, to prove she has the divine bloodline flowing in her vein, allowing her reappearance to be accepted by the public. Ankhat also secretly arranged the corpse of [[Arkhan the Black|Arkhan]] to be buried in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia (despite [[Abhorash]]'s suggestion for cremation).

After Ankhat became a vampire, his charisma and his other attribute received a major boost, so much that his charisma is comparable to [[Neferata]]'s vampiric beauty. Still, Anhkhat remained royal to [[Neferata]], perhaps even as close to her as Naamia. Also despite being royal, Ankhat was still shocked at [[Neferata]] wanting to open an academy for the Nehekharan kings children, especially wanting to save Queen Rastraian from her pregnancy just so [[Neferata]] could perform wife husbandry on the Rastraian's son Alcadizzar. Ankhat rejected the idea, since he and other members knew it would risk uniting the other cities against Lahmia in a war that Lahmia would lose.

As Alcadizzar's grew, Ankhat repeatedly warned Neferata to give Alcadizzar back to his father and kingdom. Each time, and often angrily, Neferata rejected Ankhat's warnings.

When Alcadizzar finally escaped, [[Neferata]] vengefully ordered the cabal (especially Ushoran because he is a spy master) to search for him. Lahmia was turned into a roach hotel in such a short time most of the members decided abandon the sinking ship, except this time they were on their own since the only ways out were to serve Nagash or leave Nehekhara. Ankhat wished to leave Lahmia and explore the world with his immortality, but he had no power to do so and knew Neferata and her vampire servants could hunt him down, and so he remained. Ankhat had his own vampire agent to observe Ushoran's every movement to ensure he remained loyal, which he didn't and was caught just before he ran away.

When Alcadizzar led a coalition army from other great cities and his own desert tribes to raze Lahmia, [[Neferata]] gathered every vampire she knew to fight back. Due to his strategic skill, Ankhat was in charge of the Lahmian living troops. Since Lahmian armies were inexperienced and weak, Ankhat had to personally take the fight to the frontline with his inhuman strength and agility.

Despite not achieving the same martial mastery as Abhorash, Ankhat's vampiric nature gave him a supernatural advantage against the living. Every warriors, be it Nehekharans or Northlanders, faced the same fate when they challenged him and he made short work of them, sometimes even killing them with his bare hands, or he just terrified them with his Vampiric appearence.

Despite doing well himself, his army did not and thus his line crumbled. Worst came when [[Neferata]] fell in a duel against Alcadizzar and Ankhat had to ordered every soldiers to her. Abhorash however came at the right time, killing the livings like flies and allowing every other vampires evacuate to the palace. When [[Neferata]] said she wanted to die with Lahmia, Ankhat was like "fuck ya, I ain't gonna die by these sons of bitches, I'm going to the north to be worshiped like a fucking god" then immediately reminded her that they are fucking immortal, have all the time in the world, and that he should've explored the world a long time ago, rather than staying Lahmia, a place Anhkat intended never to return to. After that, Ankhat left without a sound just before [[Neferata]] could leave him with a farewell.

=== As Vlad ===
Sylvania was a dangerous place, with the majority of the land covered in dark and ominous forests. Although it was an Imperial province, it was already reputed as a barbaric place where the dead did not rest easily and a refuge for evil necromancers and sorcerers (probably because the rough terrain and large forests provided plenty of hiding spaces). Many of its great castles and towers were built in places where dark magic was most abundant. To make things even worse for the Sylvanians, they were ruled over by the evil von Drak family, the ruler at the time of Vlad's arrival being Otto von Drak, father of Vlad's future wife Isabella. He was a deranged man that would order the execution of peasants simply to prove a point, and demanded unbelievably high taxes when he remembered to have it done in between bouts of violent madness. Fortunately he had as much influence over his realm as one of the peasants he terrorized as the petty nobles ignored his authority. Unfortunately they were nearly as bad as he was; his brother Leopold wanted to marry his daughter Isabella so he could get the province. Because nothing solves hereditary insanity quite like incest! However Otto hated his brother (and was likely disgusted by that Idea) So he wanted to marry Isabella off as quickly as possible. However he wouldn't marry her off to any Sylvanian Noble and no one outside the province wanted anything to do with her.

In the year 1797, on a dark and stormy night (cliche or not, got to respect the classics), Vlad arrived [[Just As Planned|right on time]] to ask for Isabella's hand in marriage while Otto was on his deathbed. Desperate to stop his rivals seizing his land on his death, Otto agreed, and Vlad and Isabella were married minutes before Otto died. Vlad thus seized the province; his first act ripping out Leopold von Drak's heart and hurling him from Drakenhof's battlements (at Isabella's request). Most of the other noble families objected to the thought of having an outsider rule them, but they were either won over by his charm or silenced. Under Vlad's iron grip the province of Sylvania prospered. The other Counts of the Empire looked on with indifference at the changes, since Vlad was a far better ruler than the old von Drak family even if they'd set the bar so low a dog would've been better.

Though Vlad had married Isabella for power, what had started between them as a marriage of convenience swiftly blossomed into unholy love. The pair had become confidants in each other and all but inseparable. Isabella begged Vlad to give her the Blood Kiss so they could be together for eternity, but Vlad was aware to the downsides of vampirism and loved her too much to subject her to that. When she lay dying of wasting sickness (Consumption, which is rarely called by that name and is known today as tuberculosis), Vlad made her a vampire so he wouldn't lose her. For two hundred years, Vlad ruled over Sylvania with Isabella by his side, using different names to avoid suspicion. However, Drakenhof's oldest woman found out his real name and figured out his age; she spread the word that her grandmother had been a little girl when Vlad came into power, upon which even the dimmest Sylvanian realized something unnatural was happening.

When Mordheim was struck by a comet, Vlad sent some of his agents to collect Warpstone. On the night of Gehinsnacht he threw a party for all the nobles in Sylvania, human and vampire, while not telling the human nobles they were on the menu. After his vampires slaughtered the nobles, he used a recovered book of Nagash to start a ritual to summon the dead of Sylvania in a giant army to fight the Empire and appoint himself emperor. However something that even vampires found unnatural happened with Vlad during the war; every time Vlad was killed he came back. He was first decapitated with his own sword by captured enemy general Hans Schiffen, but came back and violently reasserted control of the vampires that same night. The second time he had his head smashed in by the hammer of the Templar Grand Master of Middenheim's knights, Jerek Kruger, only to return to attack Midddenheim a year later and drain Jerek of blood (while also turning him into a vampire in the novel). At another siege he was impaled by five lances and took a Runefang through the heart, but was back to normal and overseeing the crucifixion of his killers the next day. At a battle for a river crossing, a lucky cannon shot decapitated him, yet within the hour he was back on his feet and slaughtering the cannon's crew. This was because of his ring, a magical ring called The Carstein Ring that allowed him to come back from wounds that would otherwise permanently kill even a vampire.

In 2051, Vlad laid siege to Altdorf, his armies swollen during the long years of fighting Imperial armies. The siege lasted for many months. Though the emperor at the time was a pussy, Grand Theogonist Wilhelm the Third actually had some balls and refused to surrender, spurring the soldiers on for one more battle. The second last night of the siege, Wilhelm dispatched Felix Mann, the greatest thief of the age, to steal Vlad's fabled ring and source of his immortality (he had been covertly tipped off about the ring by a traitor within Vlad's own camp - [[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred]]). After slipping by the guards, Mann stole the ring, leaving Vlad vulnerable. When he woke the next day and found the ring gone, Vlad furiously ordered a final, full-scale assault on the walls. As the vampires swept aside all who stood against them, Wilhelm confronted the Vampire Lord atop the very walls of Altdorf. Vlad swiftly gained the upper hand, fatally wounding Wilhelm. The priest saw Sigmar's people beginning to waiver in the face of evil, and the Vampire before him howling with triumph. With a prayer to Sigmar on his lips, Wilhelm used the last of his strength to charge Von Carstein, resolving to destroy Von Carstein by sacrificing himself. Even as Wilhelm took Vlad's blade through his chest again, he seized Von Carstein and bore him over the ramparts. Man and vampire were impaled on the stakes placed below the battlements, Vlad landing first, Wilhelm landing on top, driving the vampire down further. With a terrible scream, the Count died, unable to come back without his magic ring.

Vlad's Undead army crumbled without his power to guide them, and the few surviving vampires apart from Isabella fled quickly to Sylvania. The casualties the vampires had inflicted on the forces of Altdorf were so horrific the Empire's forces couldn't pursue them. Vlad's camp was looted by the Imperials, and among the remains were found Vlad's copies of the Liber Mortis and the Book of Nagash that he had: these were taken by the Temple of Sigmar and locked away in the temple's deepest vaults (though Mannfred made off with a page of Nagash's book in the novel, and the ring, after taking them from Felix along with Felix's hands). The last casualty of the Siege of Altdorf was a distraught Isabella, who chose to kill herself with a stake rather than carry on through eternity without her beloved husband.

Vlad's corpse was found and put through all the treatments believed to keep vampires dead to make sure he wouldn't come back; breaking his knees, tying his corpse up with silver wire, garlic in the mouth and buried on sacred ground. Vlad was even buried under Wilhelm's corpse as an extra guarantee against his return. In the second Vampire Wars novel, the vampire Jerek Kruger - now Jerek von Carstein - strong-armed a human gravedigger into exhuming Vlad's remains to try and find The Carstein Ring. But it wasn't there, so Jerek abandoned the grave and the terrified gravedigger with no word on what happened to Vlad's remains.

==The End Times==
During End Times: Nagash, Vlad is resurrected by [[Nagash|big bone daddy himself]] shortly after the latter's return. Vlad's first act is kicking the ass out of Mannfred when the latter tried to Sindri him again, only sparing his life under direct order of Nagash, who still has use for Mannfred. Vlad only agrees to work for Nagash on the condition that Nagash will bring back his wife Isabella. While the rest of Nagash's forces and his Mortarchs march on Nehekhara, Vlad and the Nameless are charged with fighting the forces of Chaos. Despite the situation, Vlad still has his eyes on becoming Emperor so he covertly tried to ingratiate himself with the Empire. At first he tries to work with Balthazar, gifting him a copy of one of Nagash's nine books and even making Gelt his apprentice for a time. He allies with the forces of Altdorf when the Glottkin and their forces attack while Kurt Helborg is the regent of the Empire with Karl Franz missing. Vlad even gets Kurt to make him the legitimized elector count of Sylvania in exchange for the alliance. Vlad is killed again by Festus the Leechlord, but his ring does its thing and a fully-healed Vlad kills the near daemon prince Festus. He later fights Otto Glott but gets infected with a disease harmful even to Vampires after drinking some of Otto Glott's blood. Sickened and puking, Vlad turned into a swarm of bats and flew away, fortunately for him before Karl-Sigmar's rebirth purges evil magic from Altdorf.

Later the Empire, in a fit of desperation, sent emissaries to Nagash (who had just conquered and enslaved the Tomb Kings) to seek his help against the forces of Chaos. Nagash heard them out, killed them and forbade any of the undead from helping. Vlad, still struggling with the disease, heard the message since he was the one to bring the emissaries to Nagash (Nagash doesn't grant sick leave). When the latter was snoozing and Arkhan was buried in paperwork, Vlad disobeyed the order, summoned some undead troops went to help the Empire in the battle for Averheim. He got there just in time to see the forces of Chaos overwhelm Ungrim. Vlad gave them a moment's silence before turning his army around to rush back to Sylvania before Nagash finished his power nap. During this time, a combined force of undead led by the Nameless and nurgle daemons attacked Sylvania.

When he got back, he was forced to fight then force invading Sylvania alongside Mannfred and Luthor Harkon at Arkhan's orders. After a vicious fight he was reunited with Isabella, who had been brought back by the big 'N'. Unfortunately for him, then big 'N' this time wasn't [[Nagash]], but [[Nurgle]]. In revenge for how Vlad saved her from tuberculosis and out of his hatred for the sterility of the undead, she had been possessed by a daemon that convinced her that Vlad had never loved her in the first place and was given powers that were meant specifically to be used against Undead. She killed him, and Vlad swore revenge on Nurgle for what he did to her with his dying breath. His ring did its work, bringing him back now free of the Nurglite disease. Isabella's state understandably left Vlad upset, but he soldiered on regardless. When Nagash allied with the living he lived up to his Mortarch title and stays in the background, only emerging to fight, chide Mannfred or trade witty banter with Arkhan.

While staying in Athel Loren with the rest of the order side, Vlad bother both Tyrion and Emperor Karl Franz while the two of them were discussing the future of their kind. He sarcastic mocked Franz that both of them are now the only elector counts left, and should Franz fall in battle, he would surely be the Emperor. However, Karl coldly reply to him that is true only elector counts has the power to vote someone to become the Emperor, [[derp|only if the elector count is alive, and dead people can't vote]].

Vlad then introduce an Elven vampire princess to Tyrion as a form of sarcastic mocking against his kind. This former Elven Princess was named Eldyra of Tiranoc, who was one of Tyrion's squire's daughter as well as the same Princess that led the counter attack against [[Sigvald]]'s invasion force. She followed Eltharion to prevent against Nagash's resurrection, which they failed and the princess was turned to Vampire afterwards, an outcome she was unhappy with.

Afterwards, Tyrion took Eldyra at distance then mercy killed the vampire princess by her request, chopped off her head with his Sunfang, something Vlad is not happy with since he was going to sired her into a Vampire lord.

He heads to Middenheim with Nagash's forces and encounters Isabella telling Mannfred to go sit in a corner. Upon noticing Vlad's arrival Isabella immediately turns to face him and the two of them square off. Possibly inspired by his own rebirth purging the disease, Vlad gave up his ring to her before killing them both, knowing that the resurrection process would free his beloved wife from the Plaguefather's clutches. His body was last seen impaled on a spike with no sign of Isabella; she was rescued by Neferata but the world ended before she regained consciousness.

As his model has been renamed as a generic Vampire Lord, it looks like [[FAIL|Vlad will not be in Age of Sigmar]]. A moment's silence for one of the coolest vampires in the game.

==On The Tabletop==
As a Vampire Count, Vlad could be an effective special character if he was cheaper. His current incarnation gives him strength 6, 4+ ward, 4+ chance to heal a wound for every unsaved wound he deals and a chance to come back from being killed on a 2+.

As Mortarch of Shadow, Vlad is the one most likely to survive a battle despite only having 3 Wounds (though as a Vampire he can heal those and gets a bonus to do so). His ring still gives him the chance to pop back to life, and thanks to the fact he's not on a ghost horse/dragon thing he can get Look Out Sir! rolls from a Unit. He's got Mortarch of Shadow special rule which gives everything a -1 To Hit (both shooting and in melee) against him [[Awesome|and his unit]] and a -1 to the Leadership of all models nearby him, and as a Terror-causer this can be beneficial when facing low Leadership armies. The -1 To Hit makes him even better in combat which, combined with his sword makes him the hardest to kill Mortarch. Aside from his equipment and Mortarch rule he's really just a generic Wizard lvl 3 Vampire Lord, with the added bonus of picking spells like Nagash from Death, Shadow, Vampire, or Undeath (this access to multiple Lores makes him a FAR superior choice to the generic Master Vampire when using Khaine magic rules). As a Vampire, he can restore Wounds lost if he deals an Unsaved Wound against an enemy, but thanks to his Magic Weapon (which also grants him +1 Strength) he gets that Wound on a 4+ instead of a 6+. He also has a 4+ Ward Save, and a 83-84% chance to come back to life with one Wound in a Unit 12 inches near him if he's killed. So is he worth it compared to the generic? ...Yeah. The problem is he's not a level 4 caster, which isn't terrible, and he isn't Red Fury, which also isn't terrible. The generic can be kitted out to either be a best possible spellcaster or have better damage, but Vlad mixes them in an acceptable way. The primary way to use Vlad is to kit him out fully in Lore of Death, since he'll be able to survive in the range that puts the lore to the best use.

Thanks to the buffs he confers to the unit he is with he can be a total nightmare on the battlefield: he isn't a magic monster like Nagash, Mannfred or Arkhan, nor a killing machine like Neferata, but he is intended to be more of a support character, and he is one of the best in the game. Add Vlad's spells to it (Miasma, Invocation of Nehek and Soul Leech are what you're guaranteed to have, and what great spells they are indeed!) and you have just doubled the fun.

== Total War: Warhammer ==
Confirmed as free downloadable content for the September 1st patch for Total War: Warhammer, Vlad returns as a legendary lord choice for the <strike>Vampire Counts; sharing that distinction with his son Mannfred, Heinrich Kemmler, and Helman Ghorst.</strike> (As of the Bretonnia DLC, Vlad and Isabella now form a seperate vampire faction to the immediate west) Of the five, he's the most dangerous melee lord with a tremendous potential for regeneration (though as of the current patch regeneration is hard capped at 60% of a unit's health it's easily modded out) and the best damage per second out of the four in close quarters. His spellcasting ability is of course, inferior to Mannfred's as Mannfred gets an additional lore and a special ability to boost his winds of magic recharge rate, and he isn't quite the army healing machine that Kemmler or Ghorst are; and lacks Ghorst's ability to summon high end units, but his magic is entirely serviceable and the lore of vampires is well worth investing into. He of course, trashes the two Necromancers (no surprise there given that they're inferior to some heroes in melee) in close combat and comes out on top against Mannfred quite handily and in singleplayer, you'd feel much safer committing Vlad into melee than the others; though of course he can't fly like Mannfred can, he does get a speed boosting skill that allows him to run down most infantry.

The most notable thing about him though; is his ability to have literally the entire army use the vanguard deployment status even if they're the last thing you'd ever think of when you hear the words "fast" and "stealthy", letting your enormous shrieking hordes of undead large and small pop up within spitting distance of the enemy army before they realize you're even there. Not just to Vlad's own army, but to *every* army you have, turning many quest battles into absolute jokes (the sword of unholy power in particular as the reinforcements the quest battle is balanced around will never arrive before you rout all the shamans) and letting you completely surround the enemy before the battle even starts. Or you can have troops camp the side of the map enemy reinforcements were supposed to come in through and slaughter them piecemeal; and since they're on the edge of the map any routed troops are instantly gone. He can also immediately attack a city without waiting for siege equipment, allowing you to conquer the world that much faster. In other words, he's gone and somehow learned [[Creed]]'s tricks, using his skill as an UNPARALLELED PRACTITIONER of necromancy instead of Creed's mastery of his TACTICAL GENIUS when commanding the legions of mankind.

It's recommended that you use him as your starting lord, not only because of his monstrously powerful traits if picked as leader, not only because he gets fucking Vargheists and ''Blood Knights'' as starting units, but also because he's the hardest Vampire Counts lord to unlock if not chosen to begin with. Mannfred and Ghorst are trivial to unlock; only needing the conquest of Sylvania (only two provinces and since they already have maxed out vampiric corruption you should conquer them first anyway) and choosing the dominate option after a victory ten times (basically just fighting ten battles, and since this replenishes losses you'll do it anyway) for Mannfred and Ghorst respectively. Kemmler's a bit more annoying as he needs an expensive late game structure in the Forbidden library but it's something you'd build anyway and shouldn't take too long. Vlad though, Vlad requires you to sack or raze (not conquer) Altdorf, which requires taking the Empire's capital (and if you want Vlad before chaos arrives; within a hundred or so turns), and not conquering a high level city or even having to rebuild it from scratch. Starting with Vlad is really just the most efficient option. This is no longer the case now that he and Isabella are their own faction; whichever you start with the other is available from the beginning of the game, at a discount no less. It's generally a good idea to have both as early as possible, since they give each other a significant buff when one is reinforcing the other.

"When did that entire undead army get there while I was looking away for five minutes? The commander of this army must be some unparalleled practitioner of the dark ar-VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

=== Tales of Vlad ===

==== Franz's bad day ====
Emperor Karl Franz was having a bad day. Middenheim so recently brought back into the fold of the empire still grumbled, albeit now only when they thought his spies weren't looking. Rumors of Chaos stirring in the North were confirmed as valid from Karl's most noble allies in Kislev, Vlad Von Carstein the Tactical Genius of Sylvania had returned and now; it was time for his absolutely loathed weekly psychiatric appointment.

"It's just insane!" Bellowed Franz to his psychologist as he went on about the stresses of being Emperor of a empire constantly under threat. "I mean, the orcs were right there! Why did Marienburg attack us? I mean sure we would have to bring Marienburg into the fold eventually anyway, but what good is your independence when the orcs are literally on your door step!".

His psychologist was unusually quiet, ordinarily by this time he'd be telling Franz about the wonderful job he is doing as Emperor and how all of the empires lands would've been butchered by one foe or another if it weren't for him. While a benefit to his ego it hardly lowered Karls stress. Nevertheless Franz took the silence as indication to keep going.

"Oh and Thogrim contacted me, he broke our alliance. For no reason! Oh hey nevermind this ancient pact from before our Empire was even founded and forget the symbol of eternal friendship we gave you. We're done, don't wana be around you anymore. Nope. I mean isn't Grimgor ironhide enough of a uniting force to demonstrate the need of our alliance?"

It was at this point when his psychologist still hadn't responded that Franz began to grow suspicious. He looked and saw that his psychologist had suddenly been replaced with a full 20 stack of units, causing Franz to yell

"VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Volkmar's fall ====
The Battle was nearly over. All around him, Vlad's puppets crumble. "FOR THE EMPEROR!" Volkmar the Grim cries, as he brings his mighty Warhammer down upon a crypt ghoul, spraying bloody viscera in all directions. With Sigmar's guidance, the Grand Theogonist thought, today would ring the final death knell for the wretched Von Carstein line. Through the din of battle, barely in his peripheral vision, Volkmar notices a pebble move, and a branch fall. Then, the soft sound of a moan is carried across his ears. Pausing for a moment to contemplate this happenstance, when all of the sudden, the shrieks of the Grand Theogonist's men breaks the air. "No. This is not possible!", he Roared. Volkmar jerked his head up, and gazing around him he saw that his victory had been denied. Hordes of tens of thousands of zombies poured down the slopes of the valley where he had been fighting. All the Grand Theogonist could get out in his rage before being swallowed by the rotting wave was, "VLAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

==== Mannfred gets reminded who's the boss ====

The high tower's balcony afforded Mannfred a view far beyond the walls of Castle Drakenhof, across the newly created plains and into the mist-shrouded forests beyond. In the courtyard below, his undead armies waited silently for their master's orders, looking none the worse for the hasty forced march he'd imposed. That was the advantage of the tireless dead and no sooner had they arrived, he had them clear out and prepare the forest surrounding the castle to grant him forewarning of the enemy approach.

And this was neither petty necromancer nor thin-blooded whelp who marched against him. It seemed that whilst the stirring of Shyish had enabled his awakening, it had also awakened his challenger, a particularly powerful vampire count, so his mortal sources told him. And this opponent was cunning, taking advantage of his conflict with the Templehof weaklings to cross his borders.

No matter, he thought, idly skimming a finger over the cover of the Liber Necromonica. The unholy pages had granted him the plethora of devastating magical traps he'd laid scattered around the new clearings, from the Black Pyramid itself. A sinister smile spread across his face, as he imagined his rival’s army torn to shreds before even reaching the walls, and as he begged for his life at Mannfred’s feet he would-Movement caught his eyes at the main gate, and the colourless orbs widened as the towering doors shook with a muffled boom. Far below, two figures dressed in ornate vampire armour struck the gate again as a host of zombies and skeletons advanced. Fell bats and snarling vargheists circled overhead, and a flash of crimson armour betrayed a squadron of Blood Knights at the rear.

Mortar cracked as he slammed his fist against the balcony wall. Impossible! How did they get past his wards and traps? Only an unparalleled practitioner of the dark arts could overco-He froze, supernatural eyesight giving him a clear view of the lead vampire as it returned his gaze. It was unmistakeable, the sword, the ring, the wrathful eyes; the face of his sire. A terrible roar tore itself from his throat, “VLAAAAAAAAAD!”

== Gallery ==
<Gallery>
Image:Vlad Isabella Old.jpg|The old models of momma and dadda Von Carstein. Works well as their "posing as human" forms.
Image:Vlad New Model.jpg|His new model. The metal version had an extra ghost coming off the cape that the Failcast lacks.
Image:C7f54fc10ea0e963e2fe16a382fb642a.jpg| Vlad, you marvellous bastard.
Image:Vlad1.jpg|Vlad when the shit hits the fan
Image:Bigdaddyv.jpg|Now THAT is a real fucking vampire. [[Awesome|Note how he's killing an enemy soldier with his empty hand while fending off two others with his sword]].
Image:Sylvania Court.jpg|Vlad putting down uppity nobles. Only Isabella prevents him from slaughtering the room.
File:Vlad von Carstein end times.png
</gallery>

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]]

Mannfred von Carstein

2020-09-26T13:40:47Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* The Legend */

[[Image:Mannfred.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Common sense has never been more frightening.]]
{{topquote|Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.|David Mame}}
{{topquote|The dark is my realm! The grave, my throne!|Mannfred Von Cumstain}}

The only surviving major von Carstein in the fluff (barring Vlad's resurrection in the End Times) and thus the leader of the Bloodline. He is also a whiny traitorous asshole responsible for the death of the Warhammer world.

We all know the von Carsteins. Parodies of nobility, the Dracula Bloodline of the [[Vampire Counts]], origins that aren't exactly clear as it goes back to the origins of all the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] vampires (making them the nouveau riche Bloodline, with Lahmians being the Old Money bloodline). During the time that [[Vlad von Carstein|Vlad]] was consolidating his power by turning the nobles of Sylvania into vampires and bringing them under his thumb, he and [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]] took a few in as an adopted "family". Konrad and Mannfred were their two "sons" and mostly stayed at home during the first vampire campaign against the Empire. While [[Konrad von Carstein|Konrad]] was the rambunctious son, always dissecting maids in the backyard and pulling the arms off elves in his room, Mannfred spent his time poring over books and compensating for his physical frailties (for a vampire that is, he can still tear armored knights to pieces with his bare hands). Basically evil [[Tyrion]] and [[Teclis]].

==The Legend==
There are two versions of Mannfred's origin story, but both agree that he was a man of noble descent turned into a vampire thousands of years go. The first is that he was the first vampire that Vlad sired and traveled with him for awhile. The second version is that Mannfred used to be Khaled al Muntasir, a former vampiric retainer of Neferata. Khaled was the eldest child of an Arabyan nobleman and had a younger sister called Anmar. When Neferata tried to take control of Araby, she was taken down by Abhorash and her staked body put under heavy guard. Despite being staked, Neferata didn't truly die and was able to sway Khaled and Anmar with her vampiric charm and promises of power and revenge. After they freed her, Neferata turned them into vampires and they became her retainers for a time. When Neferata rebelled against Ushoran, Khaled tried to stage a coup of his own against Neferata but accidentally killed Anmar when she tried to stop him. Neferata defeated Khaled, who was inconsolable with grief, and as punishment forced him to watch Anmar decompose then imprisoned him after taking control of the Silver Pinnacle. Neferata proceeded to give the imprisoned vampire to Arkhan, and then Khaled somehow found his way into the service of Vlad and instead went by the name of Mannfred.

Wanting to overthrow Vlad, Mannfred covertly informed the Grand Theogonist, Wilhelm III, about the secret of the Count's immortality - The Carstein Ring. The priest then set out an elaborate trap to catch the best thief of this very age: Felix Mann. When they finally caught him robbing the Imperial Counting House, they gave Felix a simple choice: to rob Vlad von Carstein's signet ring, or to be hanged for his crimes. In reward for the theft, he would be paid enough to start a living elsewhere. Felix accepted the theft and, with Mannfred covertly helping Felix by shrouding him from the sentries' attention, robbed Vlad of The Carstein Ring. Mannfred later caught up with Felix, who was trying to abscond with the ring and Vlad's book of Nagash because there was no proof of the deal and he felt double-crossed, and repaid Felix by cutting off his hands and stealing the ring and book for himself.

With poppa vamp killed by the [[Empire]] pope of the time and momma killing herself because she couldn't have unlife without him, Konrad took control of the armies of the von Carsteins and raged about causing a shitload of civil wars within the Bloodline that usually ended with Konrad pulling a Strigoi and drinking the blood of another vamp's lifeless body. Mannfred on the other hand saw this as a good time to get the fuck out of Dodge and become a wizard. Leaving a young vampire ally named Jon Skellan with Konrad to stoke Konrad's paranoia and undermine his rule, Mannfred explored the world, mainly seeking haunted places and necromantic circles. He visited Nehekhara and studied the Tomb Kings as they slumbered, and was able to do this mainly because he was smart enough to not steal their stuff and fled when they did notice him; wearing more clothes than a woman in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan to keep the sun off him. He managed to find the Books of the Dead that [[Queen Neferata]] had studied long ago, and became her equal as a necromancer. He entered [[Nagash|Nagash's]] Black Pyramid and communed with Nagash's spirit. After Konrad died like a jackass, Mannfred returned and took command of all the roaming undead in Sylvania, returning stability to the region once again and allowing the [[Empire]] to think they'd won peace. He manipulated the new nobles into being under his power, as well as vampires from all Bloodlines everywhere in the [[Old World]] he could find them.

Once Mannfred had gained a large enough army by nabbing all the undead beasties he could, he shed his handsome teenager disguise and revealed his true face: that of a corpse mummified partially from exposure to the elements with a huge jaw and fangs to match, and bathed at all times in magical currents. He surprised the Empire at a time when it was unprepared for invasion, and set out to succeed where Vlad had failed by becoming the Emperor. Mannfred von Carstein's Undead legions crossed the Sylvanian border in the depths of winter, as freezing cold means squat to the flesh of the dead. With the summer campaigning season over, the armies of the Elector Counts were already disbanded and wholly unprepared for the sudden assault. Mannfred's armies marched through the snow towards Altdorf, putting to the sword any living people they met and raising the corpses to swell the ranks of Mannfred's horde. He got his ass kicked by priests, and from that point on he kept sending his army against every city in the Empire only to lose, badly, and retreat. Since his army was fairly self-replenishing this didn't mean much to him however, except to frustrate him. Mannfred was finally pushed back into swamps of Sylvania, where he decimated the Empire and [[Dwarf]] army sent after him but was defeated none the less.

The war managed to spread vampirism to most of the Old World, from man to Dwarf, and the various Bloodlines saw a huge surge in young vampire recruits. Mannfred, who had survived his defeat, began to re-consolidate his power and make new plans. The Empire was ravaged by [[Warriors of Chaos|Kurgan]] and the [[High Elves]] and Dwarfs saved them. Mannfred took his time hiding and studying the battles, learning about the three armies, and decided his next invasion would require the three to be at war with each other.

Once again Mannfred traveled the world and learned more magic, this time outright swearing himself to Nagash to bring him back into the world. This became the main goal of the von Carstein Bloodline, which led them to partially annex the Necrach bloodline, and those not interested defected to other Bloodlines or were killed. Mannfred enlisted [[Heinrich Kemmler]] and his servant [[Krell]] to aid him. When [[Everqueen|Aliathra]], the princess of the High Elves, went on a diplomatic trip to increase relations between Dwarfs and High Elves Kemmler manipulated [[Orcs & Goblins]] into attacking the fortress. When the Elves and Dwarfs defeated the greenskins, Kemmler raised the corpses of the fallen and sent his own army after them. The two armies were decimated, with the Dwarf King slain and the bodies of the defenders shambling after Kemmler as his new servants. The lover of Aliathra was badly injured by Mannfred himself during the battle, and Aliathra was knocked out and taken in the claws of a Terrorgheist. Mannfred took her far from the lands of the Dwarfs into the heart of Sylvania where she was locked away while Mannfred prepared a resurrection ritual.

He expected the Dwarfs and High Elves to go to war, thinking they'd blame each other. Indeed, nobles in [[Ulthuan]] and Dwarf whitebeards called for war to redeem their honor. However, [[Finubar|Phoenix King Finubar]] and [[Thorgrim Grudgebearer|High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer]] were decidedly less fucking retarded than those around them. Finubar was a diplomat at heart and knew that the Dwarfs were badasses who'd fight for a lady to their last breath, and as the keeper of the [[Book of Grudges]] Thorgrim knew when a grudge was warranted and when it wasn't. Alarielle the Radiant of the High Elves sensed that Aliathra was still alive (not a vampire, vampires magically detect as "dead") and thus she called upon her past and present lovers, Finubar and [[Tyrion]] respectively, to get her baby back!

Finubar immediately went to the Dwarfs to secure an alliance against the vampires (see the eventual Dwarf army book update for a continuation on that plot), and Tyrion gathered a fucking glorious all-cavalry army to ride against Mannfred. Mannfred himself was preparing a Frank Frazetta style place to sacrifice Aliathra to complete a resurrection ritual (to bring back Nagash. Sure, the sacrifice is one elf, but that one elf IS the future [[Everqueen]]. And the fluff clearly says it's to bring back Nagash). Tyrion broke into his castle, found the unresponsive Aliathra, and rode out with her. As his men were leaving they witnessed a fucking enormous Undead army popping up out of the ground from all directions as far as the eye could see around them. Tyrion leads the elves as they try and fight their way out before some unexpected help comes.

According to the new Dwarves codex, High King Thorgrim didn't really care about elves (which is weird since he gave Aliathra a whole Dwarf honor guard in the Vampire Counts version of the story), but since it was a matter of honor he gathered an army and followed Mannfred all the way to Nagashizzar (though the story neglects to mention how they were able to track him since he was flying away on a zombie dragon after the battle). The Dwarves hit the rear of Mannfred's army just as the elves hit the front. They killed the necromancers that keep bringing back the undead but Mannfred recaptured Aliathra when Tyrion was distracted and used his magic to flee with her. Tyrion met Thorgrim and insulted him like crazy, blaming the Dwarves for the loss of Aliathra. In a surprising show of tolerance and peackeeping, Thorgrim doesn't get grudge-happy and tells the other Dwarves who are itching to restart the War of Vengance to chill the fuck out, knowing that the Dwarves have the moral high ground and that fighting the elves would create more grudges. He then tells Tyrion that next time he tries to rescue Aliathra, the Dwarves won't be there to bail his ungrateful ass out and marches off with his army to retake Karak Eight-Peaks like a boss.

Mannfred gets new fluff in the new [[Sigmar's Blood]] book where a third reincarnation of [[Sigmar]] will fight Mannfred's armies. Spoiler alert, that ends on a cliffhanger too; The current Empire Pope Volkmar thwarts Mannfred's plan, and the book ends with Mannfred lunging, fangs bared, at Volkmar's throat. Then the just knocks Volkmar out and goes home. See, he saw a guy named Boris Todbringer and remembered that a similar nobody killed papa Vlad. Then he reveals that he needed some powerful people to sacrifice to bring Nagash back, and Volkmar is the last one needed. As it turns out, new papa Nagash sent him a message saying it's time to make step-daddy proud!

==The End Times==
Mannfred returned once again in a second campaign revolving around Nagash. He made in-roads to resurrect Nagash, travelling across the world to get the necessary artifacts and sacrifices (except for the Faye Enchantress, who was given to him by Drycha, who Mannfred only made a token attempt to kill in return, and Volkmar who was captured while he attempted to purge Sylvania). This continued until Balthazar turned Sylvania in a roach motel, but for undead, with the Wall of Faith (unknowingly due to the manipulation of Tzeentch, through the Changeling). This is a setback for Mannfred's plans, but help arrived from an unexpected quarter. Mannfred's plan meant his agenda overlapped with that of Nagash's right hand lich, Arkhan the Black. Arkhan came to Sylvania to help Mannfred or take over and spearhead the Nagash's Comeback project. Mannfred took exception and the two dueled, resulting in a stalemate before settling on a truce. After Arkhan found a way through the Wall of Faith, they divided the work to retrieve the remaining artifacts willingly. After interference from the Bretonnians, Elves, Beastmen and several bouts of treachery, they succeeded and Nagash walked the world again, stronger than ever before.

Having helped resurrect Nagash, Mannfred got rewarded with more power, the title of Mortarch and a new ride in the Dread Abyssal steed called Ashigorath. But for the thoughtcrime of traitorous ideas against Nagash, he was punished with the resurrection of Vlad von Carstein. Vlad's return caused nearly all of Mannfred's supporters jump ship when they found out Vlad's back. Vlad is also made a Mortarch, and is dispatched by Nagash to keep [[Archaon]] [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|occupied]] while Nagash enacts his own plan to conquer the world, enter the Warp and become the only god in existence. When Nagash launched his invasion of Nehekhara, Mannfred joined forces with Luthor Harkon, attacking Zandri. Mannfred leading the ground troops to attack Zandri's land army while Luthor attacked its navy. Mannfred dueled the Tomb King Behedesh and was nearly killed, but his vampire lieutenant saved him twice over, killing Behedesh before the latter killed Mannfred and ensuring he rather than Mannfred got struck down by the Tomb King's curse. Mannfred took a backseat for the rest of the war, but was horrified when Nagash practically reached godhood and conquered the Tomb Kings at Khemri; he mused that if he'd allied with Settra, he could've stopped Nagash AND the Chaos Gods (as if Settra would ally with Mannfred).

Things kept going downhill for Mannfred as he chafed under Nagash's rule. When Vlad disobeyed Nagash to help Averheim and the forces of Nurgle invade Sylvania, he tried to steal Vlad's power behind his back. When Arkhan named Mannfred (acting) commander, he tried to fight the Nurglites but they proved too strong for him. Even when Vlad returned and they were forced to work together it was not enough and Mannfred fled, booting Luthor off when he tried to hitch a ride with Mannfred. As the forces of Nurgle approached the Black Pyramid, Mannfred was ordered/blackmailed by Arkhan to be his errand boy. He personally sent a message to Neferata from Arkhan and she accepted Arkhan's terms; help defend the Black Pyramid and you will get Khalida. He fought when the Black Pyramid itself was under attack, but deviates from Arkhan's battle plan and moved to the edge of the battle to ensure his own survival. After the Black Pyramid was destroyed and Nagash magic-nuked the forces of Nurgle, Mannfred got epic lulz and headed to ground zero. He hoped that Nagash was gone and that he'd get a chance to take full command of the Undead Legions, not factoring in Neferata had the same plan. Unfortunately for both of them, Nagash was still standing and calling the shots (to add insult to injury for Mannfred, Nagash resurrected Arkhan and Krell, who were slain defending the Black Pyramid).

At Nagash's command the undead marshalled their forces and headed to Athel Loren to ally with the surviving elves, humans and dwarves. Mannfred was demoted further as Sylvania was given to Neferata with Vlad's death because the Tomb Kings were less willing to serve Nagash than the vampires,outnumbered the vampires and practically everyone knew Mannfred would arse up trying to lead them. When they reached Athel Loren, Mannfred delivered Nagash's terms in lolspeak until Malekith glared him into submission. At the meeting to determine what to do about Nagash, Mannfred sat there laughing behind his sleeve at everyone. His mood only got better when he sees an outburst and deduced that the elven goddess Lileath has been turning the Bretonnians into an hero with her sockpuppet goddess, the Lady of the Lake. When Nagash offered the one responsible for Aliathra's death as a token of goodwill [[Just As Planned|Mannfred practically celebrated that Arkhan was getting thrown under the bus]]. Until Nagash handed Mannfred over to them instead, with Mannfred realizing too late [[Not As Planned|that he, not Arkhan, was going under the bus; few knew of Arkhan's involvement in the Everchild's death but everyone knew of his]]. He got locked away by the elves in a magical prison with his essence slowly vampirized (oh the irony) to feed Athel Loren. Vlad, once again back from the dead, visited him to to troll him and give some parting words before leaving him to die.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end. Bea'lakor, fresh of his first defeat, sneaks around in Athel Loren to cause mischief. He encountered Mannfred, who says "fuck it" and took a level in jerkass by making a deal with the devil, selling out Lileath to Bea'lakor in exchange for the daemon freeing him. After getting a bite to eat/killing his guards, he decided to join with someone he thought would appreciate him and to save his own skin - Archaon. But not before trolling the forces of order as revenge for imprisoning him by telling the Bretonnians the truth about the Lady/Lileath. Somehow retaking his Dread Abyssal, he flew to Middenheim and became one of Archaon's motley band of auxiliary turncoats.

However, even Archaon wouldn't take Mannfred's sass and Mannfred betrayed Archaon too, sitting on the fence when the Incarnates arrived, intending to join the winning side or step in and take charge after the dust settled. However he had no idea of Archaon's plan to destroy the world. In the end, Mannfred continued a string of betrayal and arrogance that would disgust a [[Skaven]] and doomed the world by stabbing Balthazar in the back when the Incarnates were trying to stop the world-destroying rift. The magical backlash depowered the other Incarnates, drove Mannfred insane and, most importantly for Mannfred, killed Teclis. Importantly because Tyrion sees this; Tyrion, whose daughter Mannfred (supposedly) killed and who had now lost a brother due to Mannfred's actions.

Mannfred followed this up by touching the Vortex, either arrogantly trying to take control of the magic or being misled by the machinations of the Chaos Gods. Either way, the magical backlash put Mannfred's mind in a similar state to Konrad's. During this time, Tyrion slew Mannfred for all that he'd done - running Mannfred through with Sunfang and then using its fire to burn him from the inside out. Despite Warhammer-Starscream's death, the damage was done and the Incarnates lost control the rift, which spiraled out of control, consuming the world and everyone in it.

tl;dr: This whiny, selfish vampire is the one responsible for the destruction of the Warhammer world in-universe. He brought Nagash back which screwed over many people, the Tomb Kings most of all. He played a major role in Aliathra's abudction and death, which influenced Tyrion to draw the Sword of Khaine and exacerbated the elven civil war. He drove a wedge between the Incarnates forces by telling the Bretonnians about Lileath. He indirectly caused the loss of Lileath's haven since telling Bea'lakor about Lileath lead to the daemon overhearing Lileath mention the Haven which it which brought it to the attention of the Chaos Gods who destroyed it. He capped this off by stabbing Balthazar which stopped them from diffusing the magic that ended up destroying the world. Damnit Mannfred!

==Age of Sigmar==
[[File:Afmcox5u6kl21.jpg|right|500px]]
Despite the above, Mannfred is the winner of the Von Carsteins, since he made it to Age of Sigmar but Vlad and most (if not all) of the other Von Carsteins did not (yet?).

However it wasn't an easy road to victory.

Like the other Mortarchs Mannfred founds his own nation, Carstinia, In the Realm of Death, which is essentially a sad recreation of Sylvania. He filled with undead simulacra of the other Von Carsteins, but as his slavering lapdogs instead. Although he created it to stroke his ego, he quickly grew to despise his realm due to it reminding him of his failures in the Old World, and thus he spends as little time as possible there.

Nagash, rightfully pissed over Mannferd backstabbing him (figuratively, by literally backstabbing Balthazar) and enabling the Chaos Gods to destroy the Warhammer world (revealed to have been called Mallus), exiled him to a land where everything decays including himself. Note: while Nagash may have gained godhood and a planet/realm of his own after the loss of Mallus, there are seven other realms. This means at least seven other Incarnates are there who can challenge him; with at least two, Tyrion and Alarielle, wanting to kick his skeletal ass. From there Mannfred engaged in a cycle of finding himself in and out of Nagash's good graces. Nagash is fully aware that Mannfred is treacherous but keeps him around partly because a treacherous minion helps keep him stay sharp and alert, acts as a motivator for loyal Arkhan, a stumbling block for conceited Neferata and partly because he takes pleasure in finding new ways to torture him whenever he fails him. So Mannfred pulls double-duty as lieutenant and whipping boy for Nagash.

So Mannfred languished in this magical version of super-Detroit until Chaos invaded. He led his forces of undead and some allied living against an army of Khornates. However they proved too much and at the battle for Helstone Mannfred fled with his tail between his legs, abandoning his allies to die. While searching for a gateway to Stygxx, he was captured and tortured by Taka Woebringer and his army of Bloodbound. He was found by the Bull-Hearts Warrior Chamber of Hallowed Knights under Tarsus Bull-Heart who rescued him and defeated Taka and his Bloodbound. In return Mannfred promised to guide them to the underworld of Stygxx to bring their message to Nagash. During this time it's revealed that their leader Tarsus was one of Mannfred's living allies, a man called Tarsem, and he eventually remembered who Mannfred was but made no moves against him.

The meeting with Nagash goes as well as one would expect. Mannfred fled a second time after some final words from Tarsus (who surprisingly didn't hold Mannfred's treachery against him), but later appealed to Nagash to free Tarsus' soul, which he did since Nagash claimed to be done with him.

He currently serves as one of Nagash's Mortarchs again. In the leadup to the Necroquake, Nagash charged Mannfred with leading armies in campaigns of terror across the realms to keep them distracted from his plans.

==On The Tabletop==
Mannfred comes in three variations: Mannfred the Accolyte, who is a Hero level option and represents the version of him when he wasn't the last fucking von Carstein who gets a name in the fluff. Count Mannfred, in all his horrifying glory and his most current iteration pre-End Times as a Lords choice. The last iteration is Mannfred von Carstein, [[Mortarch]] of Night, which sees Count Mannfred mounted on an Abyssal Terror, sharing a kit with fellow Mortarchs [[Queen Neferata]] and [[Arkhan the Black]].

Of the first two, Mannfred the Acolyte is better to field crunch-wise. He provides Loremaster, which is what you mainly take him for. You want him fighting chaff and nothing but chaff since he needs to actually kill things in CC in order to be used to his full potential, the weaker the enemy the better. You don't really want to bring him to fight [[Warriors of Chaos]].
The older version is a MUCH more badass spellcaster, but he sucks up a Lord slot and consumes a lot of points. That being said, in an edition dominated by horde armies this is the guy to bring to cleave his way through half a unit, then in the magic phase use the power he gets from that carnage to blow apart enemy spellcasters and similar easy targets in the distance.

As far as armies go, Mannfred has the distinct honor of being the most von Carstein of the von Carsteins. It's literally in the fluff that he takes every option in the entire [[Vampire Counts]] army. He has defectors from all different Bloodlines serving under him, he employs all manner of undead, and he pulls his armies from the ENTIRE WORLD. A Tomb King skeleton draped in animal hide alongside a [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] Man At Arms zombie alongside a Dwarf zombie alongside a WoC zombie works fucking gloriously. Any character in any army other than the named leaders of the other Bloodlines can be found with him, from Vlad to Krell. It's no wonder he's the new Vampire Count <strike>posterboy</strike> scrollboy.

==Total War: WARHAMMER==
As the faction leader of the Vampire Counts, Mannfred got something of a buff. Like all Vampire Lords, he has access to Lore of Vampires, but also Lore of Death, thus making him a magic powerhouse if you give him the Loremaster traits for both schools. Also, unlike his canon self, he is awesome in this game.

Yet those are not the things you choose him for, the spells are worthless without the winds of magic to use them, and mannfred with his sword has the most in the game. Not mazdamundi, not teclis nor anyone else can match Mannfred in raw spell output. Mannfred needs to be in melee to do this however and his very capable melee stats and, armor and lvl 25 zombie dragon will help him stay alive so he can spam those spells.

All this comes together to make mannfred a highly capable hybrid melee/caster Lord, without any real special abilities but with raw casting power and two of the best lores of magic he is easily one of the strongest Lords in the game.

= Gallery =
<gallery>
Image:Manfred.jpg|Mannfred's old model, best represents him as Vlad's little boy back home.
Image:Mannfredd acolyte.png|Mannfred the Acolyte model. Somewhere between Mannfred leaving to explore the world, and his first defeat.
Image:Count mannfred.png|Count Mannfred. Somewhere between his first defeat and the current point in the fluff.
Image:Mannfred Mount.jpg|Mannfred, after Nagash hooked him up with a new model.
Image:Mannfred_von_Carstein_on Ashigaroth.png|Mannfred strutting in Nehekhara
Image:23-18.jpg|Mannfred in the Warhammer Trading Card Game.
Image:That_meddling_vampire.png|Mannfred's defining moment; the vampire who fucked the world.
File:Rsz 700px-mannfred poster.jpg|Mannfred goes digital.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Mannfred von Carstein

2020-09-26T13:40:02Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5: /* The Legend */

[[Image:Mannfred.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Common sense has never been more frightening.]]
{{topquote|Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.|David Mame}}
{{topquote|The dark is my realm! The grave, my throne!|Mannfred Von Cumstain}}

The only surviving major von Carstein in the fluff (barring Vlad's resurrection in the End Times) and thus the leader of the Bloodline. He is also a whiny traitorous asshole responsible for the death of the Warhammer world.

We all know the von Carsteins. Parodies of nobility, the Dracula Bloodline of the [[Vampire Counts]], origins that aren't exactly clear as it goes back to the origins of all the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] vampires (making them the nouveau riche Bloodline, with Lahmians being the Old Money bloodline). During the time that [[Vlad von Carstein|Vlad]] was consolidating his power by turning the nobles of Sylvania into vampires and bringing them under his thumb, he and [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]] took a few in as an adopted "family". Konrad and Mannfred were their two "sons" and mostly stayed at home during the first vampire campaign against the Empire. While [[Konrad von Carstein|Konrad]] was the rambunctious son, always dissecting maids in the backyard and pulling the arms off elves in his room, Mannfred spent his time poring over books and compensating for his physical frailties (for a vampire that is, he can still tear armored knights to pieces with his bare hands). Basically evil [[Tyrion]] and [[Teclis]].

==The Legend==
There are two versions of Mannfred's origin story, but both agree that he was a man of noble descent turned into a vampire thousands of years go. The first is that he was the first vampire that Vlad sired and traveled with him for awhile. The second version is that Mannfred used to be Khaled al Muntasir, a former vampiric retainer of Neferata. Khaled was the eldest child of an Arabyan nobleman and had a younger sister called Anmar. When Neferata tried to take control of Araby, she was taken down by Abhorash and her staked body put under heavy guard. Despite being staked, Neferata didn't truly die and was able to sway Khaled and Anmar with her vampiric charm and promises of power and revenge. After they freed her, Neferata turned them into vampires and they became her retainers for a time. When Neferata rebelled against Ushoran, Khaled tried to stage a coup of his own against Neferata but accidentally killed Anmar when she tried to stop him. Neferata defeated Khaled, who was inconsolable with grief, and as punishment forced him to watch Anmar decompose then imprisoned him after taking control of the Silver Pinnacle. Neferata proceeded to give the imprisoned vampire to Arkhan, and then Khaled somehow found his way into the service of Vlad and instead went by the name of Mannfred.

Wanting to overthrow Vlad, Mannfred covertly informed the Grand Theogonist, Wilhelm III, about the secret of the Count's immortality - The Carstein Ring. The priest then set out an elaborate trap to catch the best thief of this very age: Felix Mann. When they finally caught him robbing the Imperial Counting House, they gave Felix a simple choice: to rob Vlad von Carstein's signet ring, or to be hanged for his crimes. In reward for the theft, he would be paid enough to start a living elsewhere. Felix accepted the theft and, with Mannfred covertly helping Felix by shrouding him from the sentries' attention, robbed Vlad of The Carstein Ring. Mannfred later caught up with Felix, who was trying to abscond with the ring and Vlad's book of Nagash because there was no proof of the deal and he felt double-crossed, and repaid Felix by cutting off his hands and stealing the ring and book for himself.

With poppa vamp killed by the [[Empire]] pope of the time and momma killing herself because she couldn't have unlife without him, Konrad took control of the armies of the von Carsteins and raged about causing a shitload of civil wars within the Bloodline that usually ended with Konrad pulling a Strigoi and drinking the blood of another vamp's lifeless body. Mannfred on the other hand saw this as a good time to get the fuck out of Dodge and become a wizard. Leaving a young vampire ally named Jon Skellan with Konrad to stoke Konrad's paranoia and undermine his rule, Mannfred explored the world, mainly seeking haunted places and necromantic circles. He visited Nehekhara and studied the Tomb Kings as they slumbered, and was able to do this mainly because he was smart enough to not steal their stuff and fled when they did notice him; wearing more clothes than a woman in Mecca on the ninth day of Hajj to keep the sun off him. He managed to find the Books of the Dead that [[Queen Neferata]] had studied long ago, and became her equal as a necromancer. He entered [[Nagash|Nagash's]] Black Pyramid and communed with Nagash's spirit. After Konrad died like a jackass, Mannfred returned and took command of all the roaming undead in Sylvania, returning stability to the region once again and allowing the [[Empire]] to think they'd won peace. He manipulated the new nobles into being under his power, as well as vampires from all Bloodlines everywhere in the [[Old World]] he could find them.

Once Mannfred had gained a large enough army by nabbing all the undead beasties he could, he shed his handsome teenager disguise and revealed his true face: that of a corpse mummified partially from exposure to the elements with a huge jaw and fangs to match, and bathed at all times in magical currents. He surprised the Empire at a time when it was unprepared for invasion, and set out to succeed where Vlad had failed by becoming the Emperor. Mannfred von Carstein's Undead legions crossed the Sylvanian border in the depths of winter, as freezing cold means squat to the flesh of the dead. With the summer campaigning season over, the armies of the Elector Counts were already disbanded and wholly unprepared for the sudden assault. Mannfred's armies marched through the snow towards Altdorf, putting to the sword any living people they met and raising the corpses to swell the ranks of Mannfred's horde. He got his ass kicked by priests, and from that point on he kept sending his army against every city in the Empire only to lose, badly, and retreat. Since his army was fairly self-replenishing this didn't mean much to him however, except to frustrate him. Mannfred was finally pushed back into swamps of Sylvania, where he decimated the Empire and [[Dwarf]] army sent after him but was defeated none the less.

The war managed to spread vampirism to most of the Old World, from man to Dwarf, and the various Bloodlines saw a huge surge in young vampire recruits. Mannfred, who had survived his defeat, began to re-consolidate his power and make new plans. The Empire was ravaged by [[Warriors of Chaos|Kurgan]] and the [[High Elves]] and Dwarfs saved them. Mannfred took his time hiding and studying the battles, learning about the three armies, and decided his next invasion would require the three to be at war with each other.

Once again Mannfred traveled the world and learned more magic, this time outright swearing himself to Nagash to bring him back into the world. This became the main goal of the von Carstein Bloodline, which led them to partially annex the Necrach bloodline, and those not interested defected to other Bloodlines or were killed. Mannfred enlisted [[Heinrich Kemmler]] and his servant [[Krell]] to aid him. When [[Everqueen|Aliathra]], the princess of the High Elves, went on a diplomatic trip to increase relations between Dwarfs and High Elves Kemmler manipulated [[Orcs & Goblins]] into attacking the fortress. When the Elves and Dwarfs defeated the greenskins, Kemmler raised the corpses of the fallen and sent his own army after them. The two armies were decimated, with the Dwarf King slain and the bodies of the defenders shambling after Kemmler as his new servants. The lover of Aliathra was badly injured by Mannfred himself during the battle, and Aliathra was knocked out and taken in the claws of a Terrorgheist. Mannfred took her far from the lands of the Dwarfs into the heart of Sylvania where she was locked away while Mannfred prepared a resurrection ritual.

He expected the Dwarfs and High Elves to go to war, thinking they'd blame each other. Indeed, nobles in [[Ulthuan]] and Dwarf whitebeards called for war to redeem their honor. However, [[Finubar|Phoenix King Finubar]] and [[Thorgrim Grudgebearer|High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer]] were decidedly less fucking retarded than those around them. Finubar was a diplomat at heart and knew that the Dwarfs were badasses who'd fight for a lady to their last breath, and as the keeper of the [[Book of Grudges]] Thorgrim knew when a grudge was warranted and when it wasn't. Alarielle the Radiant of the High Elves sensed that Aliathra was still alive (not a vampire, vampires magically detect as "dead") and thus she called upon her past and present lovers, Finubar and [[Tyrion]] respectively, to get her baby back!

Finubar immediately went to the Dwarfs to secure an alliance against the vampires (see the eventual Dwarf army book update for a continuation on that plot), and Tyrion gathered a fucking glorious all-cavalry army to ride against Mannfred. Mannfred himself was preparing a Frank Frazetta style place to sacrifice Aliathra to complete a resurrection ritual (to bring back Nagash. Sure, the sacrifice is one elf, but that one elf IS the future [[Everqueen]]. And the fluff clearly says it's to bring back Nagash). Tyrion broke into his castle, found the unresponsive Aliathra, and rode out with her. As his men were leaving they witnessed a fucking enormous Undead army popping up out of the ground from all directions as far as the eye could see around them. Tyrion leads the elves as they try and fight their way out before some unexpected help comes.

According to the new Dwarves codex, High King Thorgrim didn't really care about elves (which is weird since he gave Aliathra a whole Dwarf honor guard in the Vampire Counts version of the story), but since it was a matter of honor he gathered an army and followed Mannfred all the way to Nagashizzar (though the story neglects to mention how they were able to track him since he was flying away on a zombie dragon after the battle). The Dwarves hit the rear of Mannfred's army just as the elves hit the front. They killed the necromancers that keep bringing back the undead but Mannfred recaptured Aliathra when Tyrion was distracted and used his magic to flee with her. Tyrion met Thorgrim and insulted him like crazy, blaming the Dwarves for the loss of Aliathra. In a surprising show of tolerance and peackeeping, Thorgrim doesn't get grudge-happy and tells the other Dwarves who are itching to restart the War of Vengance to chill the fuck out, knowing that the Dwarves have the moral high ground and that fighting the elves would create more grudges. He then tells Tyrion that next time he tries to rescue Aliathra, the Dwarves won't be there to bail his ungrateful ass out and marches off with his army to retake Karak Eight-Peaks like a boss.

Mannfred gets new fluff in the new [[Sigmar's Blood]] book where a third reincarnation of [[Sigmar]] will fight Mannfred's armies. Spoiler alert, that ends on a cliffhanger too; The current Empire Pope Volkmar thwarts Mannfred's plan, and the book ends with Mannfred lunging, fangs bared, at Volkmar's throat. Then the just knocks Volkmar out and goes home. See, he saw a guy named Boris Todbringer and remembered that a similar nobody killed papa Vlad. Then he reveals that he needed some powerful people to sacrifice to bring Nagash back, and Volkmar is the last one needed. As it turns out, new papa Nagash sent him a message saying it's time to make step-daddy proud!

==The End Times==
Mannfred returned once again in a second campaign revolving around Nagash. He made in-roads to resurrect Nagash, travelling across the world to get the necessary artifacts and sacrifices (except for the Faye Enchantress, who was given to him by Drycha, who Mannfred only made a token attempt to kill in return, and Volkmar who was captured while he attempted to purge Sylvania). This continued until Balthazar turned Sylvania in a roach motel, but for undead, with the Wall of Faith (unknowingly due to the manipulation of Tzeentch, through the Changeling). This is a setback for Mannfred's plans, but help arrived from an unexpected quarter. Mannfred's plan meant his agenda overlapped with that of Nagash's right hand lich, Arkhan the Black. Arkhan came to Sylvania to help Mannfred or take over and spearhead the Nagash's Comeback project. Mannfred took exception and the two dueled, resulting in a stalemate before settling on a truce. After Arkhan found a way through the Wall of Faith, they divided the work to retrieve the remaining artifacts willingly. After interference from the Bretonnians, Elves, Beastmen and several bouts of treachery, they succeeded and Nagash walked the world again, stronger than ever before.

Having helped resurrect Nagash, Mannfred got rewarded with more power, the title of Mortarch and a new ride in the Dread Abyssal steed called Ashigorath. But for the thoughtcrime of traitorous ideas against Nagash, he was punished with the resurrection of Vlad von Carstein. Vlad's return caused nearly all of Mannfred's supporters jump ship when they found out Vlad's back. Vlad is also made a Mortarch, and is dispatched by Nagash to keep [[Archaon]] [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|occupied]] while Nagash enacts his own plan to conquer the world, enter the Warp and become the only god in existence. When Nagash launched his invasion of Nehekhara, Mannfred joined forces with Luthor Harkon, attacking Zandri. Mannfred leading the ground troops to attack Zandri's land army while Luthor attacked its navy. Mannfred dueled the Tomb King Behedesh and was nearly killed, but his vampire lieutenant saved him twice over, killing Behedesh before the latter killed Mannfred and ensuring he rather than Mannfred got struck down by the Tomb King's curse. Mannfred took a backseat for the rest of the war, but was horrified when Nagash practically reached godhood and conquered the Tomb Kings at Khemri; he mused that if he'd allied with Settra, he could've stopped Nagash AND the Chaos Gods (as if Settra would ally with Mannfred).

Things kept going downhill for Mannfred as he chafed under Nagash's rule. When Vlad disobeyed Nagash to help Averheim and the forces of Nurgle invade Sylvania, he tried to steal Vlad's power behind his back. When Arkhan named Mannfred (acting) commander, he tried to fight the Nurglites but they proved too strong for him. Even when Vlad returned and they were forced to work together it was not enough and Mannfred fled, booting Luthor off when he tried to hitch a ride with Mannfred. As the forces of Nurgle approached the Black Pyramid, Mannfred was ordered/blackmailed by Arkhan to be his errand boy. He personally sent a message to Neferata from Arkhan and she accepted Arkhan's terms; help defend the Black Pyramid and you will get Khalida. He fought when the Black Pyramid itself was under attack, but deviates from Arkhan's battle plan and moved to the edge of the battle to ensure his own survival. After the Black Pyramid was destroyed and Nagash magic-nuked the forces of Nurgle, Mannfred got epic lulz and headed to ground zero. He hoped that Nagash was gone and that he'd get a chance to take full command of the Undead Legions, not factoring in Neferata had the same plan. Unfortunately for both of them, Nagash was still standing and calling the shots (to add insult to injury for Mannfred, Nagash resurrected Arkhan and Krell, who were slain defending the Black Pyramid).

At Nagash's command the undead marshalled their forces and headed to Athel Loren to ally with the surviving elves, humans and dwarves. Mannfred was demoted further as Sylvania was given to Neferata with Vlad's death because the Tomb Kings were less willing to serve Nagash than the vampires,outnumbered the vampires and practically everyone knew Mannfred would arse up trying to lead them. When they reached Athel Loren, Mannfred delivered Nagash's terms in lolspeak until Malekith glared him into submission. At the meeting to determine what to do about Nagash, Mannfred sat there laughing behind his sleeve at everyone. His mood only got better when he sees an outburst and deduced that the elven goddess Lileath has been turning the Bretonnians into an hero with her sockpuppet goddess, the Lady of the Lake. When Nagash offered the one responsible for Aliathra's death as a token of goodwill [[Just As Planned|Mannfred practically celebrated that Arkhan was getting thrown under the bus]]. Until Nagash handed Mannfred over to them instead, with Mannfred realizing too late [[Not As Planned|that he, not Arkhan, was going under the bus; few knew of Arkhan's involvement in the Everchild's death but everyone knew of his]]. He got locked away by the elves in a magical prison with his essence slowly vampirized (oh the irony) to feed Athel Loren. Vlad, once again back from the dead, visited him to to troll him and give some parting words before leaving him to die.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end. Bea'lakor, fresh of his first defeat, sneaks around in Athel Loren to cause mischief. He encountered Mannfred, who says "fuck it" and took a level in jerkass by making a deal with the devil, selling out Lileath to Bea'lakor in exchange for the daemon freeing him. After getting a bite to eat/killing his guards, he decided to join with someone he thought would appreciate him and to save his own skin - Archaon. But not before trolling the forces of order as revenge for imprisoning him by telling the Bretonnians the truth about the Lady/Lileath. Somehow retaking his Dread Abyssal, he flew to Middenheim and became one of Archaon's motley band of auxiliary turncoats.

However, even Archaon wouldn't take Mannfred's sass and Mannfred betrayed Archaon too, sitting on the fence when the Incarnates arrived, intending to join the winning side or step in and take charge after the dust settled. However he had no idea of Archaon's plan to destroy the world. In the end, Mannfred continued a string of betrayal and arrogance that would disgust a [[Skaven]] and doomed the world by stabbing Balthazar in the back when the Incarnates were trying to stop the world-destroying rift. The magical backlash depowered the other Incarnates, drove Mannfred insane and, most importantly for Mannfred, killed Teclis. Importantly because Tyrion sees this; Tyrion, whose daughter Mannfred (supposedly) killed and who had now lost a brother due to Mannfred's actions.

Mannfred followed this up by touching the Vortex, either arrogantly trying to take control of the magic or being misled by the machinations of the Chaos Gods. Either way, the magical backlash put Mannfred's mind in a similar state to Konrad's. During this time, Tyrion slew Mannfred for all that he'd done - running Mannfred through with Sunfang and then using its fire to burn him from the inside out. Despite Warhammer-Starscream's death, the damage was done and the Incarnates lost control the rift, which spiraled out of control, consuming the world and everyone in it.

tl;dr: This whiny, selfish vampire is the one responsible for the destruction of the Warhammer world in-universe. He brought Nagash back which screwed over many people, the Tomb Kings most of all. He played a major role in Aliathra's abudction and death, which influenced Tyrion to draw the Sword of Khaine and exacerbated the elven civil war. He drove a wedge between the Incarnates forces by telling the Bretonnians about Lileath. He indirectly caused the loss of Lileath's haven since telling Bea'lakor about Lileath lead to the daemon overhearing Lileath mention the Haven which it which brought it to the attention of the Chaos Gods who destroyed it. He capped this off by stabbing Balthazar which stopped them from diffusing the magic that ended up destroying the world. Damnit Mannfred!

==Age of Sigmar==
[[File:Afmcox5u6kl21.jpg|right|500px]]
Despite the above, Mannfred is the winner of the Von Carsteins, since he made it to Age of Sigmar but Vlad and most (if not all) of the other Von Carsteins did not (yet?).

However it wasn't an easy road to victory.

Like the other Mortarchs Mannfred founds his own nation, Carstinia, In the Realm of Death, which is essentially a sad recreation of Sylvania. He filled with undead simulacra of the other Von Carsteins, but as his slavering lapdogs instead. Although he created it to stroke his ego, he quickly grew to despise his realm due to it reminding him of his failures in the Old World, and thus he spends as little time as possible there.

Nagash, rightfully pissed over Mannferd backstabbing him (figuratively, by literally backstabbing Balthazar) and enabling the Chaos Gods to destroy the Warhammer world (revealed to have been called Mallus), exiled him to a land where everything decays including himself. Note: while Nagash may have gained godhood and a planet/realm of his own after the loss of Mallus, there are seven other realms. This means at least seven other Incarnates are there who can challenge him; with at least two, Tyrion and Alarielle, wanting to kick his skeletal ass. From there Mannfred engaged in a cycle of finding himself in and out of Nagash's good graces. Nagash is fully aware that Mannfred is treacherous but keeps him around partly because a treacherous minion helps keep him stay sharp and alert, acts as a motivator for loyal Arkhan, a stumbling block for conceited Neferata and partly because he takes pleasure in finding new ways to torture him whenever he fails him. So Mannfred pulls double-duty as lieutenant and whipping boy for Nagash.

So Mannfred languished in this magical version of super-Detroit until Chaos invaded. He led his forces of undead and some allied living against an army of Khornates. However they proved too much and at the battle for Helstone Mannfred fled with his tail between his legs, abandoning his allies to die. While searching for a gateway to Stygxx, he was captured and tortured by Taka Woebringer and his army of Bloodbound. He was found by the Bull-Hearts Warrior Chamber of Hallowed Knights under Tarsus Bull-Heart who rescued him and defeated Taka and his Bloodbound. In return Mannfred promised to guide them to the underworld of Stygxx to bring their message to Nagash. During this time it's revealed that their leader Tarsus was one of Mannfred's living allies, a man called Tarsem, and he eventually remembered who Mannfred was but made no moves against him.

The meeting with Nagash goes as well as one would expect. Mannfred fled a second time after some final words from Tarsus (who surprisingly didn't hold Mannfred's treachery against him), but later appealed to Nagash to free Tarsus' soul, which he did since Nagash claimed to be done with him.

He currently serves as one of Nagash's Mortarchs again. In the leadup to the Necroquake, Nagash charged Mannfred with leading armies in campaigns of terror across the realms to keep them distracted from his plans.

==On The Tabletop==
Mannfred comes in three variations: Mannfred the Accolyte, who is a Hero level option and represents the version of him when he wasn't the last fucking von Carstein who gets a name in the fluff. Count Mannfred, in all his horrifying glory and his most current iteration pre-End Times as a Lords choice. The last iteration is Mannfred von Carstein, [[Mortarch]] of Night, which sees Count Mannfred mounted on an Abyssal Terror, sharing a kit with fellow Mortarchs [[Queen Neferata]] and [[Arkhan the Black]].

Of the first two, Mannfred the Acolyte is better to field crunch-wise. He provides Loremaster, which is what you mainly take him for. You want him fighting chaff and nothing but chaff since he needs to actually kill things in CC in order to be used to his full potential, the weaker the enemy the better. You don't really want to bring him to fight [[Warriors of Chaos]].
The older version is a MUCH more badass spellcaster, but he sucks up a Lord slot and consumes a lot of points. That being said, in an edition dominated by horde armies this is the guy to bring to cleave his way through half a unit, then in the magic phase use the power he gets from that carnage to blow apart enemy spellcasters and similar easy targets in the distance.

As far as armies go, Mannfred has the distinct honor of being the most von Carstein of the von Carsteins. It's literally in the fluff that he takes every option in the entire [[Vampire Counts]] army. He has defectors from all different Bloodlines serving under him, he employs all manner of undead, and he pulls his armies from the ENTIRE WORLD. A Tomb King skeleton draped in animal hide alongside a [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] Man At Arms zombie alongside a Dwarf zombie alongside a WoC zombie works fucking gloriously. Any character in any army other than the named leaders of the other Bloodlines can be found with him, from Vlad to Krell. It's no wonder he's the new Vampire Count <strike>posterboy</strike> scrollboy.

==Total War: WARHAMMER==
As the faction leader of the Vampire Counts, Mannfred got something of a buff. Like all Vampire Lords, he has access to Lore of Vampires, but also Lore of Death, thus making him a magic powerhouse if you give him the Loremaster traits for both schools. Also, unlike his canon self, he is awesome in this game.

Yet those are not the things you choose him for, the spells are worthless without the winds of magic to use them, and mannfred with his sword has the most in the game. Not mazdamundi, not teclis nor anyone else can match Mannfred in raw spell output. Mannfred needs to be in melee to do this however and his very capable melee stats and, armor and lvl 25 zombie dragon will help him stay alive so he can spam those spells.

All this comes together to make mannfred a highly capable hybrid melee/caster Lord, without any real special abilities but with raw casting power and two of the best lores of magic he is easily one of the strongest Lords in the game.

= Gallery =
<gallery>
Image:Manfred.jpg|Mannfred's old model, best represents him as Vlad's little boy back home.
Image:Mannfredd acolyte.png|Mannfred the Acolyte model. Somewhere between Mannfred leaving to explore the world, and his first defeat.
Image:Count mannfred.png|Count Mannfred. Somewhere between his first defeat and the current point in the fluff.
Image:Mannfred Mount.jpg|Mannfred, after Nagash hooked him up with a new model.
Image:Mannfred_von_Carstein_on Ashigaroth.png|Mannfred strutting in Nehekhara
Image:23-18.jpg|Mannfred in the Warhammer Trading Card Game.
Image:That_meddling_vampire.png|Mannfred's defining moment; the vampire who fucked the world.
File:Rsz 700px-mannfred poster.jpg|Mannfred goes digital.
</gallery>

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Sigvald

2020-09-26T13:22:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:C4B0:143D:478:E8B5:

[[image:SIGVALD.jpg|450px|thumb|Don't be fooled by the nice appearance - this guy is pure evil, and a colossal asshole.]]
{{topquote|The definition of the true savage does not concern itself even with how much more he hurts strangers or captives than do the other tribes of men. The definition of the true savage is that he laughs when he hurts you; and howls when you hurt him.|G. K. Chesterton}}
{{topquote|[[Tl;dr|Sickly, sinful, spectacles stand, shuffle, shamble and saunter shamelessly in mine scandalized sight! I suggest a solution... Surely such sedition should sour and succumb to Sigvald - the salacious, scandalous and sensational servant of Slaanesh! Son of Succubi, scion of sordid acts and slayer of squalid serfs!<br>See how I stroll, stride, swagger and swirl, spin, and slash and stab at stupid, senseless scum! Soon they shall swoon, shall seek solace and death from sundry and torments wrought on them by my strategic, severing, scintillating shower of shimmering strikes!<br>Send for the sword - summon Sliverslash!]]|Sigvald the Magnificent, alliterating like a boss during [[Total War: WARHAMMER|the Sliverslash quest battle]]}}

Imagine [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Joffrey Baratheon]] growing up, and gaining the favor of the god(dess) of being a colossal narcissistic asshole FOR being a colossal narcissistic asshole, along with getting demigod powers and an army of sick fucks. That's who's the Sigvald is. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVE-mncKFsA He's also a pithy wordsmith.] (Magnifissscchent!)

Sigvald was born from an incestuous relationship between a powerful warlord and his sister. Sigvald was beautiful from birth, save for a horned birthmark on the back of his neck, and was spoiled by his father until expelled from his tribe by his father due to his [[Flesh_Eaters|"fondness for human flesh"]]. Sigvald proceeded to murder his father in his sleep and departed for the [[Chaos Wastes]], earning [[Slaanesh]] as his patron. Now, Sigvald marches at the head of an army devoted to himself, eradicating anyone he deems to be ugly, crude or irritating.

Sigvald has burned down cities on a whim; one story suggests that he destroyed the town of Chamburg because the wine there was not to his taste. Other exploits include declaring war on a province of the Empire because he once broke a nail on a warrior priest's armor during a previous battle and heading to Ulthuan to scalp as many High Elves as he could because their hair was prettier than his/they were more renowned for pretty hair than he was.

He is spoiled by Slaanesh and is described as being extremely self-centered: his body-guards bear mirrored shields so that he may preen himself in the midst of battle. His gifts from Slaanesh have left him beautiful on the outside, but rotten inside. The ground literally reshapes itself for him and his feet float an inch above the world's surface. He wears an armor of ensorcelled gold that never rusts or gets dirty and fights with Silverslash: a rapier of silver forged from the sword of Slaanesh.

He appears a few times in the end times, first ravaging [[Kislev]]. After this he makes his way to Bretonnia where he heads the siege of Parravon. His forces overwhelm the Grail Knights and forcing Gilles to retreat, but not before he kills Sigvald's right hand man. Chaos Joffrey then goes on to take a break from fighting and turns Parravon into his own personal paradise, feasting on the finest flesh Bretonnia has to offer. Much to his dismay, the Chaos Gods pick him up and put him in Middenheim, where he is one of the few chaos champions worth a name still living. He throws a hissy fit about not having his mirror eunuchs, and offers [[Mannfred von Carstein|Mannfred]] a spot as a replacement. He was one of the warriors tasked with killing [[Valten]] before he reached [[Archaon]], alongside [[Valnir]] and [[Wulfrik the Wanderer|Wulfrik]], but lounges on the stairs preening himself while the other 2 duel. He makes an excuse that he doesn't want to fight Valten because he deserves to fight the real Sigmar, and prances off to parts unknown.

He is still alive during the final battle, leading forces of [[daemonette|daemonettes]] against [[Nagash]]'s army. Archaon had ordered him to fight alongside the troll king [[Throgg]], a prospect that horrified Sigvald due to Throgg's hideous appearance (with Throgg teasing Sigvald over his foppishness and squeamishness). So he tried to kill Throgg and split their forces up. Sigvald fought [[Krell]] in a badass battle, and was doing badly at first since Krell is stronger (despite Sigvald being S5 while Krell is S4, though Krell's axe gives him +2S, never mind) and more durable. Then Krell cut his pretty face and broke his sword. Sigvald saw his reflection with the one eye Krell didn't ruin and went absolutely berserk, beating Krell down with his bare fists and mangling his perfect hands in the process. After stabbing Krell through the eye with the remains of his sword and killing him, Sigvald's rage was spent. In that moment of clarity Sigvald saw in his mirrored shield that his face was ripped to shreds and his hands were mangled to the point where he couldn't use a weapon (though Sigvald's armor meant that his injuries would heal, all Sigvald cared about was that at the present moment he wasn't pretty) While Sigvald sat next to Krell crying over his temporarily ruined beauty, Throgg approached. He had survived Sigvald's attempt on his life and he wasn't happy.

Throgg the Evertrollsen snuck up and took his revenge by smashing in Sigvald's skull with his club and pissing on Sigvald's corpse. KING OF TROLLS, BITCH!

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sigald Total War.jpg| I am Sigvald, the Scion of Slaanesh.
File:Sigvald 8ª.png| KILL ALL PLEBEIAN!! I AM BEATIFUL AND THEY ARE NOT!!!
File:Sigvald vs Krell.png| ME KRELL CRUSH WEAK PINK SISSY WITH MY AXE!!!
</gallery>

{{Chaos-Champions}}