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Estalia

2023-01-27T07:07:15Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Economy and demography */

{{Topquote|Estalia is different.|Slogan frequently used by the tourism board of many of the Estalian kingdoms.}}

{{Topquote|Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen. I will not lie, the chances of your survival are small - some may even turn against your friends as living corpses... But you have my word that I will use my arcane gifts to ensure your bodies are given unto Morr's garden. This is the greatest reward, more than even gold, for the fate of your soul is an eternal concern! Now, come. Follow me, strike down the Undead that rise against us, allow me to find this eldritch amulet. I ask not for my own selfish studies, but for the good of the Empire!| [[Balthasar Gelt]] doing his 3rd tour of duty.}}

Estalia is (or [[The End Times|was]]) one of the regions of the [[Old World]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] universe. Situated on the southwest side of the continent, it is the equivalent of the Iberian Peninsula, with most of its history, geography and politics closely resembling those of Iberia.

==Geography==
Estalia is located in the Southern Old World, a very mountainous peninsula to the southwest of Bretonnia. The Peninsula borders the Great Western Ocean to the north and west and the Southern Sea to the south (duh). Most of its surface is occupied by mountains, with the Irrana and Abasko Mountains to the north-centre and the east respectively. Going even further into the north, we find the two small mountain systems of Cefiro and Feroz Hills, and part of the western side of the peninsula is occupied by Miramar hills. The Irrana Mountains is the source for many of the rivers of Estalia, with Tagos, Eboro, Guadariz and Tamos being some of the most important, having quite a number of pòpulations around them. Most of the forests also grow close to the Irrana Mountains, most likely profiting from the high levels of humidity left by the winds that collide with the mountain ranges. The southern part of the Peninsula is full of plains that have allowed the growth of many important docks and sea cities around the coast.

Due to the extreme isolation of the Estalian Peninsula (it is geographically far away from threats such as Chaos), it enjoyed a lot of relief from most of the major threats of the Old World, which would come and bite the Estalians in their asses during the End Times.

==Economy and demography==
The population of Estalia is quite different depending on their location. By general rule, Estalians were hardy people, and many of their tales and legends say that they were the first humans to have settled in the Old World, a claim that is mostly ignored by the rest of humanity. The northern kingdoms of the Irrana mountains are hill-fighters, used to defend themselves from Bretonnia's attacks, the occasional Skaven plague and the frequent in-fighting between estalian kingdoms. As such, it is very frequent to see solid fortresses guarding the mountain passes pop up here and there.

The southern part of the Peninsula is much less militarized, although that doesn't mean infighting is less common there. Due to the conditions of the land, many cities were able to develop an economy based on craft, fishing and trade. Some of their cities have managed to grow enough to create colonies on Lustria, in the search of gold and conquest.

Estalians have had a long-lived rivalry with the Tileans, and it is considered a great offence to call an Estalian a Tilean, or address them in the Tilean tongue, and vice-versa. This isn't helped by the fact that both Tileans and Estalians affirm that they're the chosen people of the goddess Myrmidia & that she was born in one of their nations. The rivalry is deepened as Tileans claim to have not only their own birthlplace of Myrmidia but that Estalia is nothing more than a colonial extension of Tilea. Outside of their comedic rivalry with Tilea Estalia is renowned for its Diestros, skilled duellists & mercenaries who sold their services across the Old World.

==Politics and History==
The kingdoms of Estalia have been fighting each other for a long time. The biggest cities of the region, Bilbali and Magritta, have a long and extended history of conflict between them, with Bilbali dominating a good portion of the northern peninsula and Magritta a good portion of the southern peninsula. Estalia was briefly conquered by the sorcerer Jaffar, who was trying to conquer the Old World from Araby, although it was ultimately driven back by a coalition of the Empire, Bretonnia and the Estalian and Tilean powers (who were also under threat of conquest).

During the End Times, the massive Skaven invasion utterly steamrolled the Estalian Estates, basically profiting from the chaos of the world at the time and the political divisions of the Estalian Estates.

==Notable Estalians==
*'''Sienna Fuegonasus:''' Vermintide playable character, a Bright Wizard who has traveled the world and now finds herself as part of the Ubersreik 5.
*'''Sofia Fuegonasus:''' Sienna's sister, and a Necromancer.

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Araby

2023-01-27T06:58:03Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* "Controversy" */

{{Whfb-stub}}
[[File:Araby Map.jpg|right|300px]]
'''Araby''' was an area in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer World]] based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those [[Tomb Kings|Tomb King]] guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like [[Kislev]], they had an army all the way back in [[Warmaster]], which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon [[Genie|djinni]]. Oh and they had [[Awesome|Elephant Cavalry]]. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

In [[Total War: Warhammer II]], [[RAGE|no Arabyan faction or subfaction showed up]], leaving the empty lands of Araby to be contested between Bretonnians to the west, Dwarfs to the west and southeast, and Tomb Kings to the east. The only possible Arabyan character in the game is Khaled Al-Muntasir, who rules the Lahmian Sisterhood in the Dark Lands. He was an Arabyan Vampire in lore (heavily implied to be the original identity of Mannfred von Carstein), and even then he is represented by a typical Vampire lord.

== History ==
=== Early history ===
Two thousand years before the reign of Sigmar, Mullah Aklan'd of the island of Fyrus led a war against the High Elves, who raided his people's ports and cities. He became the founder of Araby as a nation, being its first Great Sultan. Then, Araby had to deal with later assaults by Nehekhara, [[Arkhan the Black]], and the Skaven.

Centuries later, Ibn Jellaba went south to explore the Lizardmen of Zlatan, and returned as a very wealthy man after establishing the first trade agreement with humans and Lizardmen.

Araby was later doomed to Chaos corruption, no thanks to a cultist of Tzeentch, Mahik al'Rak, who influenced Arabyan sorcerers to inadvertantly serve Tzeentch after being possessed by a Lord of Change.

=== Sultan Jaffar ===
Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in [[Bretonnia]]n history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil sorcerer Jaffar unified Araby as one of its Great Sultans, with his pacts with the Djinn devolving into service to Kairos Fateweaver. He got tricked by the [[Skaven]] into believing that Estalia was going to invade, and he launched a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since.

Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

=== So much lost potential ===

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

=== Future ===
The northern coast of Araby was invaded by Luthor Harkon and his Vampire Coast pirates.

Araby, like Estalia, Tilea, and the other nations to the north, was ruined by the massive Skaven invasions during the End Times.

== Geography and Politics ==
Unsurprisingly, Araby is mostly a vast desert with almost no life in the interior. Most of the cities are situated in the north where rivers from the Atalan Mountains provides fertile soil and the seashores allows the Arabyans dominate trade with other countries, while desert inland territories are inhabited by nomads. Araby only borders [[Nehekhara]] to the east and [[Southlands]] to the south (duh).

The country is nominally ruled by Great Sultan from the city Al-Haikk, but he really only controls the capital (so, like in real life, or the Empire [[Elector Count|further in the north]]), with other Sheikhs, Emirs and Princes being pretty independent. Same goes for nomadic tribes. Here is the list of notable cities:

* '''Al-Haikk''' - as it was said earlier, the nominal capital of Araby, where Great Sultan resides.
* '''Copher''' - the most independent city, known for its wizards and pirates that are pain in the ass for the Old Worlders.
* '''Djambiya''' - only notable for being the closest one to the realm of undead Egyptians.
* '''Sorcerer's Islands''' - not a city, but an archipelago that resembles Azores, which is situated to the west of Araby. Here be College of Sorcerers.
* '''Lashiek''' - Arabyan fleet is located here.
* '''Sanaá''' - is only interesting as a birthplace of Abdul Alhazred aka [[Games Workshop|GW's]] most shameless [[Lovecraft]] rip-off.
* '''Teshert''' - Arabyan colony in [[Badlands]] that guards the only passable road between the Sultanate and [[Border Princes]].
* '''Bel-Aliad''' - previous capital that was completely destroyed by [[Arkhan the Black]] more than three thousand years ago.
* '''Sudenburg''' - An Imperial Colony in the Southwest.
*'''Ka-Sabar''' - The southernmost city in Araby, once Nehekharan. Is occasionally attacked by angry Tomb Kings or suffers raids by Forest Goblins and Apemen from the Southlands directly to the south. The inhabitants are mostly black Southlanders, who adopted Arabyan culture.

== Religion==
Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. (Thankfully) Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Another belief in Araby is a sect formed by Mullah Aklan'd, who claimed to venerate deities older than the Nehekharan gods. He led an army of Arabyans against the High Elves, being his people's first Great Sultan. Among his followers were the "Death Commandos", who guard the Great Sacred Books of Mullah Aklan'd, which describe his accounts about Araby's history, society, government, and warfare, and the secrets of St'oec.

=== Djinn-worship and the risk of Chaos ===
Nathan Long implies in ''The Two Crowns of Ras Karim'' that Arabyans worship Djinns as their gods, by going to temples to leave offerings to them at sunset. In the lore, Djinns are described as some sort of [[Daemons of Chaos|Chaos Daemons]] ... which would make Araby a Chaos-aligned nation, in spite of the prohibition of ''direct'' worship of the Chaos Gods.

Even worse was that all this Chaos corruption was stuck by Mahik al'Rak, an insane sorcerer who built the Portal of Twilight in the ruins of Bel Aliad. His influence of other Arabyan sorcerers into the service of Tzeentch made sure that the land will never be free from Chaos corruption.

One tragic result of Arabyan obsession of Djinn was Jaffar, a sorcerer who united Araby as its Sultan to wage war on the Old World, up to the point that he even made a pact with [[Kairos Fateweaver]], a Daemon of Tzeentch!

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. The Prophet of Law emerged long after Sultan Jaffar's misrule and dark pacts, but not even his attempted purge of Araby would stop the inevitable [[The End Times|ruin of it and the Warhammer world]]. Not that it would have, anyways, as that would have been just as evil, slaying all nonhuman would include the Dwarfs, Halflings, and Elves, and would have made the Arabyans just as evil as the Imperium of Man is when it destroys a non-Chaos Abhuman or Xenos civilization which means no harm to it.

== Society ==
Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts.

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (one of the Arabyan characters from a recent BL novel is called Mehmed Bey, 'Bey' being a Turkic title, with a Mongolian cognate, no less). This wouldn't be that great a problem, except for the fact that the Warhammer World already has several local equivalents to Turks and Tatars.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.

== Local Flora and Fauna ==
Older lore stated a Minor Chaos God named Atagro's rise to godhood involved having to slay a Sandworm like something out of Frank Herbert's "Dune" within the depths of the deserts of Araby at the behest of another Minor Chaos God named Shagraunt. Arabyan Horses are a native breed, and ostriches may be found here, presumably in the savannah closer to the jungles of the Southlands. Panthers apparently live in the area near the Southlands, too. Camels and War Elephants have been mentioned, too.

== Collecting Araby ==
While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north African fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, <s>though such a thing remains doubtful as [[ChapterHouse Studios|they're not exactly easy to trademark]]</s> Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant.

== "Controversy" ==

The fantastic portrayal of arabyans is theorized as one of the reasons for the lack of more recent araby related content but in a setting where [[Sylvania|"totally not romanians"]] are literal vampires the [[Norsca|Norse]] are demon worshipping mass murdering backward cavemen and [[Brettonia|frangland has a 90% tax rate]] subtlety is a rare thing to ask for.

==The Death(?) of Araby==
In 2021, it was officially stated by Creative Assembly designers that there were no plans to add Araby to Total Warhammer, nor were there ever likely to be plans to do so. It was even stated that Games Workshop itself wanted to stay as far away from Araby as possible with its new tabletop game releases, meaning that the faction has effectively come as close as you can get to being [[squatted]] without actively being killed off in the lore.

Fans immediately erupted in protest at this news, and the [[skub]] about why Games Workshop would do this to one of the more requested and actually fleshed-out human factions...

Which turned out to be (partially) bullshit.

New WFRP book, which mainly deals with knightly orders, adds a little bit more information about Araby. First of all, it mentions enigmatic Black Scimitar Guard as a thing that existed at least during the Crusades, which may be a new Tzar Guard-ish type of unit in... something. It also mentions Arabyan panthers that gave a name to Knights Panther, their own unique horse breed and ostriches. While the references are quite small, and Roleplay is known to be essentially a lore dump to which GW writers add some ideas that can be potentially brought to Old World or TWW3, it is still some glimmer of hope. Now, we can only wait.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Arabyan People.png|Arabyans.
Orfeo and Alkadi Nasreen.jpg
</gallery>

==Links==
* [[Warhammer_Army_Project/Araby|Arabyan fandex]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}

Araby

2023-01-27T06:51:55Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Collecting Araby */

{{Whfb-stub}}
[[File:Araby Map.jpg|right|300px]]
'''Araby''' was an area in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer World]] based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those [[Tomb Kings|Tomb King]] guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like [[Kislev]], they had an army all the way back in [[Warmaster]], which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon [[Genie|djinni]]. Oh and they had [[Awesome|Elephant Cavalry]]. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

In [[Total War: Warhammer II]], [[RAGE|no Arabyan faction or subfaction showed up]], leaving the empty lands of Araby to be contested between Bretonnians to the west, Dwarfs to the west and southeast, and Tomb Kings to the east. The only possible Arabyan character in the game is Khaled Al-Muntasir, who rules the Lahmian Sisterhood in the Dark Lands. He was an Arabyan Vampire in lore (heavily implied to be the original identity of Mannfred von Carstein), and even then he is represented by a typical Vampire lord.

== History ==
=== Early history ===
Two thousand years before the reign of Sigmar, Mullah Aklan'd of the island of Fyrus led a war against the High Elves, who raided his people's ports and cities. He became the founder of Araby as a nation, being its first Great Sultan. Then, Araby had to deal with later assaults by Nehekhara, [[Arkhan the Black]], and the Skaven.

Centuries later, Ibn Jellaba went south to explore the Lizardmen of Zlatan, and returned as a very wealthy man after establishing the first trade agreement with humans and Lizardmen.

Araby was later doomed to Chaos corruption, no thanks to a cultist of Tzeentch, Mahik al'Rak, who influenced Arabyan sorcerers to inadvertantly serve Tzeentch after being possessed by a Lord of Change.

=== Sultan Jaffar ===
Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in [[Bretonnia]]n history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil sorcerer Jaffar unified Araby as one of its Great Sultans, with his pacts with the Djinn devolving into service to Kairos Fateweaver. He got tricked by the [[Skaven]] into believing that Estalia was going to invade, and he launched a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since.

Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

=== So much lost potential ===

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

=== Future ===
The northern coast of Araby was invaded by Luthor Harkon and his Vampire Coast pirates.

Araby, like Estalia, Tilea, and the other nations to the north, was ruined by the massive Skaven invasions during the End Times.

== Geography and Politics ==
Unsurprisingly, Araby is mostly a vast desert with almost no life in the interior. Most of the cities are situated in the north where rivers from the Atalan Mountains provides fertile soil and the seashores allows the Arabyans dominate trade with other countries, while desert inland territories are inhabited by nomads. Araby only borders [[Nehekhara]] to the east and [[Southlands]] to the south (duh).

The country is nominally ruled by Great Sultan from the city Al-Haikk, but he really only controls the capital (so, like in real life, or the Empire [[Elector Count|further in the north]]), with other Sheikhs, Emirs and Princes being pretty independent. Same goes for nomadic tribes. Here is the list of notable cities:

* '''Al-Haikk''' - as it was said earlier, the nominal capital of Araby, where Great Sultan resides.
* '''Copher''' - the most independent city, known for its wizards and pirates that are pain in the ass for the Old Worlders.
* '''Djambiya''' - only notable for being the closest one to the realm of undead Egyptians.
* '''Sorcerer's Islands''' - not a city, but an archipelago that resembles Azores, which is situated to the west of Araby. Here be College of Sorcerers.
* '''Lashiek''' - Arabyan fleet is located here.
* '''Sanaá''' - is only interesting as a birthplace of Abdul Alhazred aka [[Games Workshop|GW's]] most shameless [[Lovecraft]] rip-off.
* '''Teshert''' - Arabyan colony in [[Badlands]] that guards the only passable road between the Sultanate and [[Border Princes]].
* '''Bel-Aliad''' - previous capital that was completely destroyed by [[Arkhan the Black]] more than three thousand years ago.
* '''Sudenburg''' - An Imperial Colony in the Southwest.
*'''Ka-Sabar''' - The southernmost city in Araby, once Nehekharan. Is occasionally attacked by angry Tomb Kings or suffers raids by Forest Goblins and Apemen from the Southlands directly to the south. The inhabitants are mostly black Southlanders, who adopted Arabyan culture.

== Religion==
Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. (Thankfully) Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Another belief in Araby is a sect formed by Mullah Aklan'd, who claimed to venerate deities older than the Nehekharan gods. He led an army of Arabyans against the High Elves, being his people's first Great Sultan. Among his followers were the "Death Commandos", who guard the Great Sacred Books of Mullah Aklan'd, which describe his accounts about Araby's history, society, government, and warfare, and the secrets of St'oec.

=== Djinn-worship and the risk of Chaos ===
Nathan Long implies in ''The Two Crowns of Ras Karim'' that Arabyans worship Djinns as their gods, by going to temples to leave offerings to them at sunset. In the lore, Djinns are described as some sort of [[Daemons of Chaos|Chaos Daemons]] ... which would make Araby a Chaos-aligned nation, in spite of the prohibition of ''direct'' worship of the Chaos Gods.

Even worse was that all this Chaos corruption was stuck by Mahik al'Rak, an insane sorcerer who built the Portal of Twilight in the ruins of Bel Aliad. His influence of other Arabyan sorcerers into the service of Tzeentch made sure that the land will never be free from Chaos corruption.

One tragic result of Arabyan obsession of Djinn was Jaffar, a sorcerer who united Araby as its Sultan to wage war on the Old World, up to the point that he even made a pact with [[Kairos Fateweaver]], a Daemon of Tzeentch!

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. The Prophet of Law emerged long after Sultan Jaffar's misrule and dark pacts, but not even his attempted purge of Araby would stop the inevitable [[The End Times|ruin of it and the Warhammer world]]. Not that it would have, anyways, as that would have been just as evil, slaying all nonhuman would include the Dwarfs, Halflings, and Elves, and would have made the Arabyans just as evil as the Imperium of Man is when it destroys a non-Chaos Abhuman or Xenos civilization which means no harm to it.

== Society ==
Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts.

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (one of the Arabyan characters from a recent BL novel is called Mehmed Bey, 'Bey' being a Turkic title, with a Mongolian cognate, no less). This wouldn't be that great a problem, except for the fact that the Warhammer World already has several local equivalents to Turks and Tatars.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.

== Local Flora and Fauna ==
Older lore stated a Minor Chaos God named Atagro's rise to godhood involved having to slay a Sandworm like something out of Frank Herbert's "Dune" within the depths of the deserts of Araby at the behest of another Minor Chaos God named Shagraunt. Arabyan Horses are a native breed, and ostriches may be found here, presumably in the savannah closer to the jungles of the Southlands. Panthers apparently live in the area near the Southlands, too. Camels and War Elephants have been mentioned, too.

== Collecting Araby ==
While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north African fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, <s>though such a thing remains doubtful as [[ChapterHouse Studios|they're not exactly easy to trademark]]</s> Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant.

== "Controversy" ==

The fantastic portrayal of arabyans is theorized as one of the reasons for the lack of more recent araby related content but in a setting where [[Sylvania|"totally not romanians"]] are literal vampires the [[Norsca|Norse]] are demon worshipping mass murdering backward cavemen and [[Brettonia|frangnland has a 90% tax rate]] subtlety is a rare thing to ask for.

==The Death(?) of Araby==
In 2021, it was officially stated by Creative Assembly designers that there were no plans to add Araby to Total Warhammer, nor were there ever likely to be plans to do so. It was even stated that Games Workshop itself wanted to stay as far away from Araby as possible with its new tabletop game releases, meaning that the faction has effectively come as close as you can get to being [[squatted]] without actively being killed off in the lore.

Fans immediately erupted in protest at this news, and the [[skub]] about why Games Workshop would do this to one of the more requested and actually fleshed-out human factions...

Which turned out to be (partially) bullshit.

New WFRP book, which mainly deals with knightly orders, adds a little bit more information about Araby. First of all, it mentions enigmatic Black Scimitar Guard as a thing that existed at least during the Crusades, which may be a new Tzar Guard-ish type of unit in... something. It also mentions Arabyan panthers that gave a name to Knights Panther, their own unique horse breed and ostriches. While the references are quite small, and Roleplay is known to be essentially a lore dump to which GW writers add some ideas that can be potentially brought to Old World or TWW3, it is still some glimmer of hope. Now, we can only wait.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Arabyan People.png|Arabyans.
Orfeo and Alkadi Nasreen.jpg
</gallery>

==Links==
* [[Warhammer_Army_Project/Araby|Arabyan fandex]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}

Mannfred von Carstein

2023-01-27T06:25:36Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[Image:Mannfred.jpg|right|thumb|400px| Before his male pattern baldness.]]
{{topquote|Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.|David Mame}}
{{topquote|The dark is my realm! The grave, my throne!|Mannchild 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]], with origins that aren't exactly clear as it goes back to the origins of all the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] vampires. 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]] also took in a few older vampires 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 [[Araby|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 the Black|Arkhan]], and from there Khaled somehow escaped and found his way into the service of Vlad where he changed his name to 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)| Empire's]] 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|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]].

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 but it did frustrate the hell out of him. Eventually, Mannfred was finally pushed back into swamps of Sylvania, where he was defeated but not before he decimated the Empire and [[Dawi|Dwarf]] army sent after him.

Needless to say, this victory was a bittersweet one for the Empire and it would only continue to grow more bitter as it was soon discovered that the war had 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 weakened Empire meanwhile would find itself ravaged by [[Warriors of Chaos|Kurgan]] in its aftermath and the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]] and Dwarfs were forced to step in to save the Empire. Mannfred meanwhile 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, [[High Elves (Warhammer)|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 peacekeeping, 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 the 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 later got new fluff in the new Sigmar's Blood book where a third reincarnation of [[Sigmar]] fights Mannfred's armies. Spoiler alert, that ends on a cliffhanger too; The current Empire Pope [[Volkmar the Grim]] thwarts Mannfred's plan, and the book ends with Mannfred lunging, fangs bared, at Volkmar's throat...only for him to stop and instead just knock Volkmar out before going 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 Gelt]] turned Sylvania into 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. Mannfred planned to use Nagash as a pawn but as soon as he saw Nagash [[not as planned|he realized just how fucked he is]] and submitted.

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 thought crime 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 the Imperishable |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 [[Bretonnia]] into a nation of wanna be heroes for her own ends via 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 troll him and give some parting words before leaving him to die.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end. [[Be'lakor]], fresh off 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 Be'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, in his defense 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 literally stabbing Balthazar in the back when the Incarnates were trying to stop the world-destroying rift. The magical backlash depowered the other Incarnates, 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 drove Mannfred as batshit insane as Konrad had been. 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 of the rift, which spiraled out of control, consuming the world and everyone in it.

Thus did Mannfred destroy the Warhammer world. He brought Nagash back which screwed over many people, the Tomb Kings most of all. He played a major role in Aliathra's 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 Be'lakor about Lileath lead to the daemon overhearing Lileath mention the Haven 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.

tl;dr: This whiny, selfish vampire is the one most responsible for the destruction of the Warhammer world in-universe. Damnit Mannfred!

==Age of Sigmar==
[[File:Afmcox5u6kl21.jpg|right|500px]]
Despite the above, Mannfred has been chosen by the plot armor gods as the winner of the Von Carsteins because GW loves rewarding their [[Big Bad Evil Guy| evil douchebag]] characters, he made it to Age of Sigmar but Vlad and most (if not all) of the other Von Carsteins did not (yet?).

He did not learn from nor mourn the world he helped destroy matter of fact like the other Mortarchs, Mannfred founded 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 Mannfred 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 after feeling guilty for the first time in his wretched life 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. After the Necroquake and the emergence of the Nighthaunt, Mannfred's Legion became outdated at terror missions, so Mannfred repurposed them as [[Creed|strategic undead forces]] - especially since tactical undead armies fell under the purview of the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]]. Mannfred took advantage of Arkhan culling the ranks of the Black Disciples to create Bonereaper Mortisans by taking the survivors into his own Legion of Night, both for their necromantic skills and dirt on Arkhan.

With Arkhan's and Nagash's defeats in Hysh, Mannfred was jubilant, having planned around his own mission to Ghyran failing. He currently believes Nagash to be blind and broken and - despite being certain Arkhan will return - looks forward to trolling Arkhan about his defeat. Mannfred took the time from his early defeat to annex some of Neferata's territory, a move that provoked countermoves from her and will set them at war with each other.

==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 leader of the main Vampire Counts faction, later renamed Sylvania, 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.
Image:TWWH2_-_j1vgni48sv651.png|What happens when you combine the most hated Warhammer character with the most hated cartoon character? You get THIS abomination.
File:Mannfred Others Should Fail.png|Mannfred When Asked Why He Stabed Balthazar Gelt in the Back
File:Vlad_vs_Mannfred.png|Facts
</gallery>

{{Template:Soulblight Gravelords Characters}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Mannfred von Carstein

2023-01-27T06:21:06Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: Mannfred always takes the easy way out he's a dick

[[Image:Mannfred.jpg|right|thumb|400px| Before his male pattern baldness.]]
{{topquote|Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.|David Mame}}
{{topquote|The dark is my realm! The grave, my throne!|Mannchild 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]], with origins that aren't exactly clear as it goes back to the origins of all the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] vampires. 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]] also took in a few older vampires 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 [[Araby|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 the Black|Arkhan]], and from there Khaled somehow escaped and found his way into the service of Vlad where he changed his name to 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)| Empire's]] 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|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]].

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 but it did frustrate the hell out of him. Eventually, Mannfred was finally pushed back into swamps of Sylvania, where he was defeated but not before he decimated the Empire and [[Dawi|Dwarf]] army sent after him.

Needless to say, this victory was a bittersweet one for the Empire and it would only continue to grow more bitter as it was soon discovered that the war had 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 weakened Empire meanwhile would find itself ravaged by [[Warriors of Chaos|Kurgan]] in its aftermath and the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]] and Dwarfs were forced to step in to save the Empire. Mannfred meanwhile 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, [[High Elves (Warhammer)|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 peacekeeping, 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 the 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 later got new fluff in the new Sigmar's Blood book where a third reincarnation of [[Sigmar]] fights Mannfred's armies. Spoiler alert, that ends on a cliffhanger too; The current Empire Pope [[Volkmar the Grim]] thwarts Mannfred's plan, and the book ends with Mannfred lunging, fangs bared, at Volkmar's throat...only for him to stop and instead just knock Volkmar out before going 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 Gelt]] turned Sylvania into 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. Mannfred planned to use Nagash as a pawn but as soon as he saw Nagash [[not as planned|he realized just how fucked he is]] and submitted.

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 thought crime 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 the Imperishable |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 [[Bretonnia]] into a nation of wanna be heroes for her own ends via 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 troll him and give some parting words before leaving him to die.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end. [[Be'lakor]], fresh off 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 Be'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, in his defense 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 literally stabbing Balthazar in the back when the Incarnates were trying to stop the world-destroying rift. The magical backlash depowered the other Incarnates, 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 drove Mannfred as batshit insane as Konrad had been. 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 of the rift, which spiraled out of control, consuming the world and everyone in it.

Thus did Mannfred destroy the Warhammer world. He brought Nagash back which screwed over many people, the Tomb Kings most of all. He played a major role in Aliathra's 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 Be'lakor about Lileath lead to the daemon overhearing Lileath mention the Haven 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.

tl;dr: This whiny, selfish vampire is the one most responsible for the destruction of the Warhammer world in-universe. Damnit Mannfred!

==Age of Sigmar==
[[File:Afmcox5u6kl21.jpg|right|500px]]
Despite the above, Mannfred has been chosen by the plot armor gods as the winner of the Von Carsteins because GW loves rewarding their [[Big Bad Evil Guy| evil douchebag]] characters, he made it to Age of Sigmar but Vlad and most (if not all) of the other Von Carsteins did not (yet?).

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 Mannfred 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 after feeling guilty for the first time in his wretched life 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. After the Necroquake and the emergence of the Nighthaunt, Mannfred's Legion became outdated at terror missions, so Mannfred repurposed them as [[Creed|strategic undead forces]] - especially since tactical undead armies fell under the purview of the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]]. Mannfred took advantage of Arkhan culling the ranks of the Black Disciples to create Bonereaper Mortisans by taking the survivors into his own Legion of Night, both for their necromantic skills and dirt on Arkhan.

With Arkhan's and Nagash's defeats in Hysh, Mannfred was jubilant, having planned around his own mission to Ghyran failing. He currently believes Nagash to be blind and broken and - despite being certain Arkhan will return - looks forward to trolling Arkhan about his defeat. Mannfred took the time from his early defeat to annex some of Neferata's territory, a move that provoked countermoves from her and will set them at war with each other.

==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 leader of the main Vampire Counts faction, later renamed Sylvania, 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.
Image:TWWH2_-_j1vgni48sv651.png|What happens when you combine the most hated Warhammer character with the most hated cartoon character? You get THIS abomination.
File:Mannfred Others Should Fail.png|Mannfred When Asked Why He Stabed Balthazar Gelt in the Back
File:Vlad_vs_Mannfred.png|Facts
</gallery>

{{Template:Soulblight Gravelords Characters}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Mannfred von Carstein

2023-01-27T06:18:34Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[Image:Mannfred.jpg|right|thumb|400px| Before his male pattern baldness.]]
{{topquote|Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.|David Mame}}
{{topquote|The dark is my realm! The grave, my throne!|Mannchild 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]], with origins that aren't exactly clear as it goes back to the origins of all the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] vampires. 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]] also took in a few older vampires 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 [[Araby|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 the Black|Arkhan]], and from there Khaled somehow escaped and found his way into the service of Vlad where he changed his name to 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)| Empire's]] 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 [[the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|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]].

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 but it did frustrate the hell out of him. Eventually, Mannfred was finally pushed back into swamps of Sylvania, where he was defeated but not before he decimated the Empire and [[Dawi|Dwarf]] army sent after him.

Needless to say, this victory was a bittersweet one for the Empire and it would only continue to grow more bitter as it was soon discovered that the war had 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 weakened Empire meanwhile would find itself ravaged by [[Warriors of Chaos|Kurgan]] in its aftermath and the [[High Elves (Warhammer)|High Elves]] and Dwarfs were forced to step in to save the Empire. Mannfred meanwhile 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, [[High Elves (Warhammer)|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 peacekeeping, 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 the 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 later got new fluff in the new Sigmar's Blood book where a third reincarnation of [[Sigmar]] fights Mannfred's armies. Spoiler alert, that ends on a cliffhanger too; The current Empire Pope [[Volkmar the Grim]] thwarts Mannfred's plan, and the book ends with Mannfred lunging, fangs bared, at Volkmar's throat...only for him to stop and instead just knock Volkmar out before going 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 Gelt]] turned Sylvania into 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. Mannfred planned to use Nagash as a pawn but as soon as he saw Nagash [[not as planned|he realized just how fucked he is]] and submitted.

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 thought crime 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 the Imperishable |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 [[Bretonnia]] into a nation of wanna be heroes for her own ends via 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 troll him and give some parting words before leaving him to die.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end. [[Be'lakor]], fresh off 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 Be'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, in his defense 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 literally stabbing Balthazar in the back when the Incarnates were trying to stop the world-destroying rift. The magical backlash depowered the other Incarnates, 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 drove Mannfred as batshit insane as Konrad had been. 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 of the rift, which spiraled out of control, consuming the world and everyone in it.

Thus did Mannfred destroy the Warhammer world. He brought Nagash back which screwed over many people, the Tomb Kings most of all. He played a major role in Aliathra's 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 Be'lakor about Lileath lead to the daemon overhearing Lileath mention the Haven 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.

tl;dr: This whiny, selfish vampire is the one most responsible for the destruction of the Warhammer world in-universe. Damnit Mannfred!

==Age of Sigmar==
[[File:Afmcox5u6kl21.jpg|right|500px]]
Despite the above, Mannfred has been chosen by the plot armor gods as the winner of the Von Carsteins because GW loves rewarding their [[Big Bad Evil Guy| evil douchebag]] characters, 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 Mannfred 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 after feeling guilty for the first time in his wretched life 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. After the Necroquake and the emergence of the Nighthaunt, Mannfred's Legion became outdated at terror missions, so Mannfred repurposed them as [[Creed|strategic undead forces]] - especially since tactical undead armies fell under the purview of the [[Ossiarch Bonereapers]]. Mannfred took advantage of Arkhan culling the ranks of the Black Disciples to create Bonereaper Mortisans by taking the survivors into his own Legion of Night, both for their necromantic skills and dirt on Arkhan.

With Arkhan's and Nagash's defeats in Hysh, Mannfred was jubilant, having planned around his own mission to Ghyran failing. He currently believes Nagash to be blind and broken and - despite being certain Arkhan will return - looks forward to trolling Arkhan about his defeat. Mannfred took the time from his early defeat to annex some of Neferata's territory, a move that provoked countermoves from her and will set them at war with each other.

==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 leader of the main Vampire Counts faction, later renamed Sylvania, 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.
Image:TWWH2_-_j1vgni48sv651.png|What happens when you combine the most hated Warhammer character with the most hated cartoon character? You get THIS abomination.
File:Mannfred Others Should Fail.png|Mannfred When Asked Why He Stabed Balthazar Gelt in the Back
File:Vlad_vs_Mannfred.png|Facts
</gallery>

{{Template:Soulblight Gravelords Characters}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]
[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Strigoi

2023-01-27T06:06:46Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Named Characters */

{{stub}}
Strigoi is an old Romanian word derived from Latin referring to a supernatural creature, usually a vampire. In tabletop gaming context it refers the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

If the Von Carsteins are the Warhammer version of Bela Legosi, the Strigois are the Nosferatus, at least after Count Orlok hit the gym. They're hulking, bald (baring the occasional quill), taloned jagged fanged feral predators. Despite this they still retain considerable intelligence.
==History==
The Strigoi are mutant vampires descended from [[Ushoran]], the younger brother of bitch [[Queen Neferata]]. Old lore had it that she would bully him and deliberately didn't make him a vampire so she had someone to look down on, he in turn stole the partial recipe of her elixir of immortality and the result made him the bestial mutant vampire we know. New lore has it that she willingly made him a vampire and he served as a diplomat prior to being cursed as a more monstrous type of vampire. However, in both versions it ended with Ushoran leaving his sister to realize his ambitions and carve out his own kingdom.

After many years of wandering, Ushoran found Mourkain, a small vampire kingdom created by a barbarian shaman Kadon, who wore the Crown of Nagash and worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god. He easily couped Kadon and changed some of his laws, such as removing the worship of Nagash and restoring [[Abhorash|Abhorash's]] principle to feed only on a criminals. Those reforms were pretty successful, and even non-vampires started to respect Ushoran as their leader. Meanwhile, his newly acquired fame insulted Neferata, and she became jealous. Extremely jealous.

She waged a war against Mourkain, and while Ushoran managed to eventually defeat her armies, the [[Greenskin|Greenskins]] knocked on the door and turned the unprepared kingdom into a literal wasteland. With the death of their King and the total annihilation of their country, most of the Strigoi degenerated, turned into a wild predators that prey in a dark and secret places, hunting on the hermits and Ghouls. But they still have memories about Mourkain, and they are slowly preparing to rise again and restore the empire....
== Strigany ==
If you're wandering what happened to the non-dead population of Mourkain, it fled to the north, in the lands of the future Empire, which proved to be a great mistake. Most of the human tribes already hated them as a Vampire slaves, and the hate only strengthened when they arrive to their land. Having nowhere to run (seriously, other choices are [[Nehekhara]] and [[Dark Lands]]), they stayed there.

Several thousand years have passed, and nothing really changed. Everyone hates them (with some exceptions like the [[Kislev|northern kislevites]]), and '''especially''' the Witch Hunters, who have little to no mercy to those people. They travel in caravans or small barges and call themselves Strigany (Warhammer Gypsies, huh...), have a little knowledge of fortune telling, and <s>overall are pretty good guys, even if some of them are extremely necrofiliac and still worship Vampires</s>{{BLAM|BLAM! THEY'RE STILL VAMPIRE SLAVES YOU IDIOT!}}

==Relations==

*[[Neferata|Neferata's Fanclub]]: Sir Witchunter the recent deaths in the province are due to freakish wildlife attacks theyre causing quite a ruckus i urge you to endeavor to rid civilized society of these beasts.

*'''[[Blood Dragon|Blood Dragons]]''': They hate the Strigoi and hunt them like an animals, calling them a dishonorable fucks [[Derp|"Ironically Abhorash himself grew to hate the schemes of Neferata & fought to defend Strygos"]]

*[[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)| Most Humans]] : Strigoi whats that? all i heard of were bout them giant ugly monsters who ate Hans's cattle farm we had a famine that winter.

*[[Strigany|Strigany]] : Strygos will rise again!! milord why are you chewing on that animal carcass?

==Named Characters==
NOTE: Characters unique to the Age Of Sigmar [[Flesh-eater Courts]] are not counted as Strigoi, and will not be listed since the term “Abhorrant” has replaced Strigoi as a signifier of Ghoul King allegiance.

* Ushoran
Progenitor of the Bloodline. Canon splits into what happened to him at Mourkain, some sources saying he simply died and others that he survived. It was generally thought the former was canon since it was in army books and the latter in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] supplements until his own book [[Ancient Blood]] was released, showing him saving some Strigany from a Nazi-like Gypsy purge and leading them to rebuild their empire. Although he was one of the dropped plots for [[End Times]], [[Josh Reynolds]] attempted to give fans closure on many things (before GW ordered him to stop and declare them fanfiction) with Ushoran actually gathering the loyalist Strigoi, before it all vanishes into the dark of the final battle. Despite that, Games Workshop made Josh’s story canon with Ushoran confirmed alive and surviving into [[Age Of Sigmar]] where the madness of the Bloodline finally claimed him as he delusionally believes himself to be ruling the rebuilt Mourkain when in reality he’s a wandering monster that infects everything around him with madness turning men into similarly-deluded Ghouls faster than if they had participated in cannibalism. Meanwhile, in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] Ushoran simply rules some of his Bloodline who have returned to Nehekhara; although not present in the game, he is still the faction leader.

* [[Vorag Bloodytooth]]
Ushoran was the first Strigoi, but Vorag was the first Strigoi Ghoul King since Ushoran prefers mostly to live with the Strigany. He encountered Ghouls while fleeing the fall of Mourkain and a Von Carstein hunting party pursuing him for sport. His newfound friends slaughtered the Vampires before he set out to return to Mourkain. He destroyed every Greenskin in his path until finally being killed. Somehow all other Strigoi heard of him and seek to follow his example...or just luck into it like he did.

* [[Urzen The Unrelenting]]
Took Vorag’s basic idea, only with vengeance on his mind. As Mourkain’s top military advisor he learned not only how to conduct war, but also Ushoran’s spymaster ways. Urzen wants to destroy the Lahmians and does so in a manner far more befitting one than a Strigoi. Urzen is responsible for humanity’s effectiveness in fighting Vampires as he uses agents to teach them Vampire secrets, lead gifted warriors to magical items, and baits Witch Hunters to Lahmian covens. He’s stated to hate Lahmians exclusively, steering mankind away from other Bloodlines. He also still a little nuts, since he tries to instill military discipline into both Ghouls and Zombies in his fucking massive army via drills and parades.

* [[Gashnag The Black Prince]]
One of the offspring of Vorag, Gashnag is the single most successful post-Mourkain Strigoi. Ruling an unnamed kingdom in the Border Princes, Gashnag paid bards and spread rumors that he’s simply an amazing genius heroic nobleman that was cursed to look like a monster. His trusted human advisors know his true nature, and help keep the illusion. Whenever something threatens his kingdom he rides out under cover of darkness as well as the more literal cover of a black cloak to butcher the unsuspecting foes, returning to plant their heads on spikes in the town square then return to his castle.

* [[Mad Orlock]]
One of the big players of [[The Thousand Thrones]] supplement for WFRP. Strigoi interpreted prophesies about of a young boy named Karl who was supposedly Sigmar reborn to have involved Nagash turning Sigmar into a Vampire before he became a god. Orlock believes the Bloodlines have become too weak and mixed for any true Vampire hero to be born of being turned, so he decided to kidnap Karl and have all the Bloodlines infect him. He simply assumes each Bloodline will be present on (un)holy ground aside from the Blood Dragons who he figured would ignore the call , leading him to kidnap one. Soon he intends to turn Karl into the God Emperor Of Vampkind...or rather he would, if it weren’t for the truth of it. The Black Witch, an Undivided Chaos Champion who became a ghost, sent out a fake prophesy to all the Bloodlines. In reality she needs Karl, a Chaos mutant with a nonstop natural Jedi Mind Trick, to be brought to Kislev where she can possess him then feed on one of each of the Bloodlines to take over his body and bring about a Charisma-based End Times. The final layer of intrigue is that its all a plan by Nagash for his fourth resurrection.
Ignoring the idea that the disconnect between the wargame and RPG canons is too vast, then we have several options for Orlock’s ultimate fate; either he was killed, one of the other Vampires was killed, or Karl died or was convinced to banish the Black Witch to the void; its an option to have one of the Vampire prophesies true and given we know (or do we?) Sigmar wasn’t a Vampire then Orlock was for sure wrong. The ending options suggests successful parties may have one of the Vampires take an interest in them, possibly allow/force them to join that Bloodline.

* [[Nanosh]]
A Strigoi Ghoul King pirate. Secretly taken aboard the ship Unternehmung when the captain hired Strigany crewmen. When the ship rations “mysteriously” went rotten the Strigany lead a mutiny. The captain and those loyal to him were cooked and fed to the traitors until they became Ghouls, whereupon Nanosh went above deck and assumed captainship. They’ve become one of the most feared crews of pirates, raiding ships and towns at night for living meat instead of treasure or slaves.

* Karkanoth
A [[Nosantra]], more specifically a Ghoul King who betrayed the Strigoi to become one of the few lieutenants of [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to survive his first defeat. Introduced in End Times.

* Druthor
Another Strigoi expatriate, this time in service to [[Krell]] in End Times. Formerly “ruled” the “kingdom” of Grimbarrow, a forgotten charnel pit for a forgotten dead populace. Has a Terrorgheist. The Bloodbeasts are three [[Varghulf]] who began following him as he raided sites to sate his thirst, and he kept them as pets on chain leashes until needed. The Graveclaws are his Ghouls, who were the residents of Grimbarrow before Druthor came that began worshiping him as a god.

* Anhurit
A female Strigoi from a WFRP supplement blurb intended to show how Vampires see the world. She waits for a grave robber to dig up a serial killer’s body while she sits hidden in the shadows and watches the Death magic interact with the environment as well as the invisible ghosts, those who know they’re dead and those that don’t (like said murderer trying to stab him over and over). Once the corpse is exhumed and the robber claims the corpse’s ring Anhurit jumps into the grave and cuts off the hands of the corpse with her claws. After the grave robber shits himself she tells him he is spared because he’s a good digger and leaves. We don’t know what she needed the hands for.

* Yudas The Shadow King
Terrorized Wissenland, butchering women because in his madness he thought they were his cheating wife.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
<gallery>
Image: Strigoi Ghoul King Naked.jpeg|The blood runs cold, if you know what we mean...
Image: Strigoi Ghoul Queen Naked.jpeg|We’re torn between “meat on her bones” and “coccyx” jokes.
</gallery>

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

==D&D Strigoi==
{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
Strigoi were added to [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. They used to be common [[stirge]]s, but were transformed by magic into humanoid stirges. With the increased size came formidable new strength and a monstrously augmented appetite; a strigoi doesn't simply suck blood like its lesser kin, but instead liquifies the entirety of the bodily contents - blood, bones, tissue, organs, everything - and then sucks it out like a giant tick, leaving behind nothing but a hollow, deflated skin. Which might rise as a [[boneless]].

[[Category: Monsters]]

Strigoi

2023-01-27T05:57:12Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Relations */

{{stub}}
Strigoi is an old Romanian word derived from Latin referring to a supernatural creature, usually a vampire. In tabletop gaming context it refers the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

If the Von Carsteins are the Warhammer version of Bela Legosi, the Strigois are the Nosferatus, at least after Count Orlok hit the gym. They're hulking, bald (baring the occasional quill), taloned jagged fanged feral predators. Despite this they still retain considerable intelligence.
==History==
The Strigoi are mutant vampires descended from [[Ushoran]], the younger brother of bitch [[Queen Neferata]]. Old lore had it that she would bully him and deliberately didn't make him a vampire so she had someone to look down on, he in turn stole the partial recipe of her elixir of immortality and the result made him the bestial mutant vampire we know. New lore has it that she willingly made him a vampire and he served as a diplomat prior to being cursed as a more monstrous type of vampire. However, in both versions it ended with Ushoran leaving his sister to realize his ambitions and carve out his own kingdom.

After many years of wandering, Ushoran found Mourkain, a small vampire kingdom created by a barbarian shaman Kadon, who wore the Crown of Nagash and worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god. He easily couped Kadon and changed some of his laws, such as removing the worship of Nagash and restoring [[Abhorash|Abhorash's]] principle to feed only on a criminals. Those reforms were pretty successful, and even non-vampires started to respect Ushoran as their leader. Meanwhile, his newly acquired fame insulted Neferata, and she became jealous. Extremely jealous.

She waged a war against Mourkain, and while Ushoran managed to eventually defeat her armies, the [[Greenskin|Greenskins]] knocked on the door and turned the unprepared kingdom into a literal wasteland. With the death of their King and the total annihilation of their country, most of the Strigoi degenerated, turned into a wild predators that prey in a dark and secret places, hunting on the hermits and Ghouls. But they still have memories about Mourkain, and they are slowly preparing to rise again and restore the empire....
== Strigany ==
If you're wandering what happened to the non-dead population of Mourkain, it fled to the north, in the lands of the future Empire, which proved to be a great mistake. Most of the human tribes already hated them as a Vampire slaves, and the hate only strengthened when they arrive to their land. Having nowhere to run (seriously, other choices are [[Nehekhara]] and [[Dark Lands]]), they stayed there.

Several thousand years have passed, and nothing really changed. Everyone hates them (with some exceptions like the [[Kislev|northern kislevites]]), and '''especially''' the Witch Hunters, who have little to no mercy to those people. They travel in caravans or small barges and call themselves Strigany (Warhammer Gypsies, huh...), have a little knowledge of fortune telling, and <s>overall are pretty good guys, even if some of them are extremely necrofiliac and still worship Vampires</s>{{BLAM|BLAM! THEY'RE STILL VAMPIRE SLAVES YOU IDIOT!}}

==Relations==

*[[Neferata|Neferata's Fanclub]]: Sir Witchunter the recent deaths in the province are due to freakish wildlife attacks theyre causing quite a ruckus i urge you to endeavor to rid civilized society of these beasts.

*'''[[Blood Dragon|Blood Dragons]]''': They hate the Strigoi and hunt them like an animals, calling them a dishonorable fucks [[Derp|"Ironically Abhorash himself grew to hate the schemes of Neferata & fought to defend Strygos"]]

*[[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)| Most Humans]] : Strigoi whats that? all i heard of were bout them giant ugly monsters who ate Hans's cattle farm we had a famine that winter.

*[[Strigany|Strigany]] : Strygos will rise again!! milord why are you chewing on that animal carcass?

==Named Characters==
NOTE: Characters unique to the Age Of Sigmar [[Flesh-eater Courts]] are not counted as Strigoi, and will not be listed since the term “Abhorrant” has replaced Strigoi as a signifier of Ghoul King allegiance.

* Ushoran
Progenitor of the Bloodline. Canon splits into what happened to him at Mourkain, some sources saying he simply died and others that he survived. It was generally thought the former was canon since it was in army books and the latter in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] supplements until his own book [[Ancient Blood]] was released, showing him saving some Strigany from a Nazi-like Gypsy purge and leading them to rebuild their empire. Although he was one of the dropped plots for [[End Times]], [[Josh Reynolds]] attempted to give fans closure on many things (before GW ordered him to stop and declare them fanfiction) with Ushoran actually gathering the loyalist Strigoi, before it all vanishes into the dark of the final battle. Despite that, Games Workshop made Josh’s story canon with Ushoran confirmed alive and surviving into [[Age Of Sigmar]] where the madness of the Bloodline finally claimed him as he delusionally believes himself to be ruling the rebuilt Mourkain when in reality he’s a wandering monster that infects everything around him with madness turning men into similarly-deluded Ghouls faster than if they had participated in cannibalism. Meanwhile, in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] Ushoran simply rules some of his Bloodline who have returned to Nehekhara; although not present in the game, he is still the faction leader.

* [[Vorag Bloodytooth]]
Ushoran was the first Strigoi, but Vorag was the first Strigoi Ghoul King since Ushoran prefers mostly to live with the Strigany. He encountered Ghouls while fleeing the fall of Mourkain and a Von Carstein hunting party pursuing him for sport. His newfound friends slaughtered the Vampires before he set out to return to Mourkain. He destroyed every Greenskin in his path until finally being killed. Somehow all other Strigoi heard of him and seek to follow his example...or just luck into it like he did.

* [[Urzen The Unrelenting]]
Took Vorag’s basic idea, only with vengeance on his mind. As Mourkain’s top military advisor he learned not only how to conduct war, but also Ushoran’s spymaster ways. Urzen wants to destroy the Lahmians and does so in a manner far more befitting one than a Strigoi. Urzen is responsible for humanity’s effectiveness in fighting Vampires as he uses agents to teach them Vampire secrets, lead gifted warriors to magical items, and baits Witch Hunters to Lahmian covens. He’s stated to hate Lahmians exclusively, steering mankind away from other Bloodlines. He also still a little nuts, since he tries to instill military discipline into both Ghouls and Zombies in his fucking massive army via drills and parades.

* [[Gashnag The Black Prince]]
One of the offspring of Vorag, Gashnag is the single most successful post-Mourkain Strigoi. Ruling an unnamed kingdom in the Border Princes, Gashnag paid bards and spread rumors that he’s simply an amazing genius heroic nobleman that was cursed to look like a monster. His trusted human advisors know his true nature, and help keep the illusion. Whenever something threatens his kingdom he rides out under cover of darkness as well as the more literal cover of a black cloak to butcher the unsuspecting foes, returning to plant their heads on spikes in the town square then return to his castle.

* [[Mad Orlock]]
One of the big players of [[The Thousand Thrones]] supplement for WFRP. Strigoi interpreted prophesies about of a young boy named Karl who was supposedly Sigmar reborn to have involved Nagash turning Sigmar into a Vampire before he became a god. Orlock believes the Bloodlines have become too weak and mixed for any true Vampire hero to be born of being turned, so he decided to kidnap Karl and have all the Bloodlines infect him. He simply assumes each Bloodline will be present on (un)holy ground aside from the Blood Dragons who he figured would ignore the call , leading him to kidnap one. Soon he intends to turn Karl into the God Emperor Of Vampkind...or rather he would, if it weren’t for the truth of it. The Black Witch, an Undivided Chaos Champion who became a ghost, sent out a fake prophesy to all the Bloodlines. In reality she needs Karl, a Chaos mutant with a nonstop natural Jedi Mind Trick, to be brought to Kislev where she can possess him then feed on one of each of the Bloodlines to take over his body and bring about a Charisma-based End Times. The final layer of intrigue is that its all a plan by Nagash for his fourth resurrection.
Ignoring the idea that the disconnect between the wargame and RPG canons is too vast, then we have several options for Orlock’s ultimate fate; either he was killed, one of the other Vampires was killed, or Karl died or was convinced to banish the Black Witch to the void; its an option to have one of the Vampire prophesies true and given we know (or do we?) Sigmar wasn’t a Vampire then Orlock was for sure wrong. The ending options suggests successful parties may have one of the Vampires take an interest in them, possibly allow/force them to join that Bloodline.

* [[Nanosh]]
A Strigoi Ghoul King pirate. Secretly taken aboard the ship Unternehmung when the captain hired Strigany crewmen. When the ship rations “mysteriously” went rotten the Strigany lead a mutiny. The captain and those loyal to him were cooked and fed to the traitors until they became Ghouls, whereupon Nanosh went above deck and assumed captainship. They’ve become one of the most feared crews of pirates, raiding ships and towns at night for living meat instead of treasure or slaves.

* Karkanoth
A [[Nosantra]], more specifically a Ghoul King who betrayed the Strigoi to become one of the few lieutenants of [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to survive his first defeat. Introduced in End Times.

* Druthor
Another Strigoi expatriate, this time in service to [[Krell]] in End Times. Formerly “ruled” the “kingdom” of Grimbarrow, a forgotten charnel pit for a forgotten dead populace. Has a Terrorgheist. The Bloodbeasts are three [[Varghulf]] who began following him as he raided sites to sate his thirst, and he kept them as pets on chain leashes until needed. The Graveclaws are his Ghouls, who were the residents of Grimbarrow before Druthor came that began worshiping him as a god.

* Anhurit
A female Strigoi from a WFRP supplement blurb intended to show how Vampires see the world. She waits for a grave robber to dig up a serial killer’s body while she sits hidden in the shadows and watches the Death magic interact with the environment as well as the invisible ghosts, those who know they’re dead and those that don’t (like said murderer trying to stab him over and over). Once the corpse is exhumed and the robber claims the corpse’s ring Anhurit jumps into the grave and cuts off the hands of the corpse with her claws. After the grave robber shits himself she tells him he is spared bevause he’s a good digger and leaves. We don’t know what she needed the hands for.

* Yudas The Shadow King
Terrorized Wissenland, butchering women because in his madness he thought they were his cheating wife.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
<gallery>
Image: Strigoi Ghoul King Naked.jpeg|The blood runs cold, if you know what we mean...
Image: Strigoi Ghoul Queen Naked.jpeg|We’re torn between “meat on her bones” and “coccyx” jokes.
</gallery>

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

==D&D Strigoi==
{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
Strigoi were added to [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. They used to be common [[stirge]]s, but were transformed by magic into humanoid stirges. With the increased size came formidable new strength and a monstrously augmented appetite; a strigoi doesn't simply suck blood like its lesser kin, but instead liquifies the entirety of the bodily contents - blood, bones, tissue, organs, everything - and then sucks it out like a giant tick, leaving behind nothing but a hollow, deflated skin. Which might rise as a [[boneless]].

[[Category: Monsters]]

Strigoi

2023-01-27T05:32:13Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Strigany */

{{stub}}
Strigoi is an old Romanian word derived from Latin referring to a supernatural creature, usually a vampire. In tabletop gaming context it refers the Strigoi Bloodline of [[Vampire Counts]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]].

If the Von Carsteins are the Warhammer version of Bela Legosi, the Strigois are the Nosferatus, at least after Count Orlok hit the gym. They're hulking, bald (baring the occasional quill), taloned jagged fanged feral predators. Despite this they still retain considerable intelligence.
==History==
The Strigoi are mutant vampires descended from [[Ushoran]], the younger brother of bitch [[Queen Neferata]]. Old lore had it that she would bully him and deliberately didn't make him a vampire so she had someone to look down on, he in turn stole the partial recipe of her elixir of immortality and the result made him the bestial mutant vampire we know. New lore has it that she willingly made him a vampire and he served as a diplomat prior to being cursed as a more monstrous type of vampire. However, in both versions it ended with Ushoran leaving his sister to realize his ambitions and carve out his own kingdom.

After many years of wandering, Ushoran found Mourkain, a small vampire kingdom created by a barbarian shaman Kadon, who wore the Crown of Nagash and worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god. He easily couped Kadon and changed some of his laws, such as removing the worship of Nagash and restoring [[Abhorash|Abhorash's]] principle to feed only on a criminals. Those reforms were pretty successful, and even non-vampires started to respect Ushoran as their leader. Meanwhile, his newly acquired fame insulted Neferata, and she became jealous. Extremely jealous.

She waged a war against Mourkain, and while Ushoran managed to eventually defeat her armies, the [[Greenskin|Greenskins]] knocked on the door and turned the unprepared kingdom into a literal wasteland. With the death of their King and the total annihilation of their country, most of the Strigoi degenerated, turned into a wild predators that prey in a dark and secret places, hunting on the hermits and Ghouls. But they still have memories about Mourkain, and they are slowly preparing to rise again and restore the empire....
== Strigany ==
If you're wandering what happened to the non-dead population of Mourkain, it fled to the north, in the lands of the future Empire, which proved to be a great mistake. Most of the human tribes already hated them as a Vampire slaves, and the hate only strengthened when they arrive to their land. Having nowhere to run (seriously, other choices are [[Nehekhara]] and [[Dark Lands]]), they stayed there.

Several thousand years have passed, and nothing really changed. Everyone hates them (with some exceptions like the [[Kislev|northern kislevites]]), and '''especially''' the Witch Hunters, who have little to no mercy to those people. They travel in caravans or small barges and call themselves Strigany (Warhammer Gypsies, huh...), have a little knowledge of fortune telling, and <s>overall are pretty good guys, even if some of them are extremely necrofiliac and still worship Vampires</s>{{BLAM|BLAM! THEY'RE STILL VAMPIRE SLAVES YOU IDIOT!}}

==Relations==
*'''[[Blood Dragon|Blood Dragons]]''': They hate the Strigoi and hunt them like an animals, calling them a dishonorable fucks.

==Named Characters==
NOTE: Characters unique to the Age Of Sigmar [[Flesh-eater Courts]] are not counted as Strigoi, and will not be listed since the term “Abhorrant” has replaced Strigoi as a signifier of Ghoul King allegiance.

* Ushoran
Progenitor of the Bloodline. Canon splits into what happened to him at Mourkain, some sources saying he simply died and others that he survived. It was generally thought the former was canon since it was in army books and the latter in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] supplements until his own book [[Ancient Blood]] was released, showing him saving some Strigany from a Nazi-like Gypsy purge and leading them to rebuild their empire. Although he was one of the dropped plots for [[End Times]], [[Josh Reynolds]] attempted to give fans closure on many things (before GW ordered him to stop and declare them fanfiction) with Ushoran actually gathering the loyalist Strigoi, before it all vanishes into the dark of the final battle. Despite that, Games Workshop made Josh’s story canon with Ushoran confirmed alive and surviving into [[Age Of Sigmar]] where the madness of the Bloodline finally claimed him as he delusionally believes himself to be ruling the rebuilt Mourkain when in reality he’s a wandering monster that infects everything around him with madness turning men into similarly-deluded Ghouls faster than if they had participated in cannibalism. Meanwhile, in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] Ushoran simply rules some of his Bloodline who have returned to Nehekhara; although not present in the game, he is still the faction leader.

* [[Vorag Bloodytooth]]
Ushoran was the first Strigoi, but Vorag was the first Strigoi Ghoul King since Ushoran prefers mostly to live with the Strigany. He encountered Ghouls while fleeing the fall of Mourkain and a Von Carstein hunting party pursuing him for sport. His newfound friends slaughtered the Vampires before he set out to return to Mourkain. He destroyed every Greenskin in his path until finally being killed. Somehow all other Strigoi heard of him and seek to follow his example...or just luck into it like he did.

* [[Urzen The Unrelenting]]
Took Vorag’s basic idea, only with vengeance on his mind. As Mourkain’s top military advisor he learned not only how to conduct war, but also Ushoran’s spymaster ways. Urzen wants to destroy the Lahmians and does so in a manner far more befitting one than a Strigoi. Urzen is responsible for humanity’s effectiveness in fighting Vampires as he uses agents to teach them Vampire secrets, lead gifted warriors to magical items, and baits Witch Hunters to Lahmian covens. He’s stated to hate Lahmians exclusively, steering mankind away from other Bloodlines. He also still a little nuts, since he tries to instill military discipline into both Ghouls and Zombies in his fucking massive army via drills and parades.

* [[Gashnag The Black Prince]]
One of the offspring of Vorag, Gashnag is the single most successful post-Mourkain Strigoi. Ruling an unnamed kingdom in the Border Princes, Gashnag paid bards and spread rumors that he’s simply an amazing genius heroic nobleman that was cursed to look like a monster. His trusted human advisors know his true nature, and help keep the illusion. Whenever something threatens his kingdom he rides out under cover of darkness as well as the more literal cover of a black cloak to butcher the unsuspecting foes, returning to plant their heads on spikes in the town square then return to his castle.

* [[Mad Orlock]]
One of the big players of [[The Thousand Thrones]] supplement for WFRP. Strigoi interpreted prophesies about of a young boy named Karl who was supposedly Sigmar reborn to have involved Nagash turning Sigmar into a Vampire before he became a god. Orlock believes the Bloodlines have become too weak and mixed for any true Vampire hero to be born of being turned, so he decided to kidnap Karl and have all the Bloodlines infect him. He simply assumes each Bloodline will be present on (un)holy ground aside from the Blood Dragons who he figured would ignore the call , leading him to kidnap one. Soon he intends to turn Karl into the God Emperor Of Vampkind...or rather he would, if it weren’t for the truth of it. The Black Witch, an Undivided Chaos Champion who became a ghost, sent out a fake prophesy to all the Bloodlines. In reality she needs Karl, a Chaos mutant with a nonstop natural Jedi Mind Trick, to be brought to Kislev where she can possess him then feed on one of each of the Bloodlines to take over his body and bring about a Charisma-based End Times. The final layer of intrigue is that its all a plan by Nagash for his fourth resurrection.
Ignoring the idea that the disconnect between the wargame and RPG canons is too vast, then we have several options for Orlock’s ultimate fate; either he was killed, one of the other Vampires was killed, or Karl died or was convinced to banish the Black Witch to the void; its an option to have one of the Vampire prophesies true and given we know (or do we?) Sigmar wasn’t a Vampire then Orlock was for sure wrong. The ending options suggests successful parties may have one of the Vampires take an interest in them, possibly allow/force them to join that Bloodline.

* [[Nanosh]]
A Strigoi Ghoul King pirate. Secretly taken aboard the ship Unternehmung when the captain hired Strigany crewmen. When the ship rations “mysteriously” went rotten the Strigany lead a mutiny. The captain and those loyal to him were cooked and fed to the traitors until they became Ghouls, whereupon Nanosh went above deck and assumed captainship. They’ve become one of the most feared crews of pirates, raiding ships and towns at night for living meat instead of treasure or slaves.

* Karkanoth
A [[Nosantra]], more specifically a Ghoul King who betrayed the Strigoi to become one of the few lieutenants of [[Mannfred von Carstein]] to survive his first defeat. Introduced in End Times.

* Druthor
Another Strigoi expatriate, this time in service to [[Krell]] in End Times. Formerly “ruled” the “kingdom” of Grimbarrow, a forgotten charnel pit for a forgotten dead populace. Has a Terrorgheist. The Bloodbeasts are three [[Varghulf]] who began following him as he raided sites to sate his thirst, and he kept them as pets on chain leashes until needed. The Graveclaws are his Ghouls, who were the residents of Grimbarrow before Druthor came that began worshiping him as a god.

* Anhurit
A female Strigoi from a WFRP supplement blurb intended to show how Vampires see the world. She waits for a grave robber to dig up a serial killer’s body while she sits hidden in the shadows and watches the Death magic interact with the environment as well as the invisible ghosts, those who know they’re dead and those that don’t (like said murderer trying to stab him over and over). Once the corpse is exhumed and the robber claims the corpse’s ring Anhurit jumps into the grave and cuts off the hands of the corpse with her claws. After the grave robber shits himself she tells him he is spared bevause he’s a good digger and leaves. We don’t know what she needed the hands for.

* Yudas The Shadow King
Terrorized Wissenland, butchering women because in his madness he thought they were his cheating wife.

==Gallery==
{{promotions}}
<gallery>
Image: Strigoi Ghoul King Naked.jpeg|The blood runs cold, if you know what we mean...
Image: Strigoi Ghoul Queen Naked.jpeg|We’re torn between “meat on her bones” and “coccyx” jokes.
</gallery>

{{Vampire-Counts-Bloodlines}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Vampire Counts]]

==D&D Strigoi==
{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}
Strigoi were added to [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. They used to be common [[stirge]]s, but were transformed by magic into humanoid stirges. With the increased size came formidable new strength and a monstrously augmented appetite; a strigoi doesn't simply suck blood like its lesser kin, but instead liquifies the entirety of the bodily contents - blood, bones, tissue, organs, everything - and then sucks it out like a giant tick, leaving behind nothing but a hollow, deflated skin. Which might rise as a [[boneless]].

[[Category: Monsters]]

Sorcerer-King

2023-01-27T03:39:59Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* The Kings and Their Territories */

{{dnd-stub}}
{{NeedsImages}}

The '''Sorcerer-Kings''' are the tyrannical rulers of the last known city-states in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] setting of [[Dark Sun]]. Ancient, theoretically immortal [[multiclassing|dual-classed]] [[Wizard]]/[[Psion]]icists, the Sorcerer-Kings were the servants of [[Rajaat]] during his bloody Cleansing Wars that burned the life from Athas, only to betray their master and rule over the ashes. Thus, each of them has at least begun the process of transforming into an [[Athasian Dragon]]. Because of this, they're considered extremely powerful, pretty much the [[BBEG]]s of the setting because each one is an insufferable prick.

Ironically, despite being ''the'' most important NPCs of the setting, [[TSR]] largely resisted the urge to tell you about these cool bad guys, so their [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] lore and statistics are sparse and scattered like seeds throughout several [[splatbook]]s and adventure modules - it wasn't until [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] that [[Wizards of the Coast]] gave all of the Sorcerer-Kings a coherent, easily referenced statblock and lore writeup in a single splatbook, and even that was building on the efforts of the fans from the Burnt World of Athas fansite during the 3e era!

==The Kings and Their Territories==
*'''Abalach-re''' - The queen bitch of the City-State of Raam, this paranoid schizo cunt makes [[Skaven|your average Skaven]] look like Ghandi. Also universally loathed and held in contempt by both her own people and all the other Sorcerer Kings. Whether her neurotic paranoia is the result or the cause of this is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question.
*'''Andropinis''' - He had egg shaped nostrils. He wore a toga and ruled over the Greek inspired City-State of Balic. Unique for being the only Lawful Neutral sorcerer-king (All the others are listed as Lawful Evil, naturally), and for running a state that actually somewhat functions, in a democracy-turned-dictatorial-sham kind of way.
*'''Hamanu''' - Mr. Lionface. Not one of the original 13 Champions, he was the ruler of Urik and a blatant homage to Hammurabi. Evil and cruel, with his draconic transformation halted rather than reversed, but his devotion to order, justice, rationality, and his father's dream of a green and peaceful land make him one of the best of a terrible lot.
*'''Kalak''' - You know your old, shriveled, power-hungry, slave-master of a grandfather? That's this guy. Ruler of Tyr before his plan to get jacked up quick on dragonsauce was discovered and foiled by a bunch of meddling kids and one talking dog. The 4e reboot explicitly starts every game with him being overthrown and Tyr being established as a Free City, before letting the PCs see where things go from there.
*'''Kalid-Ma''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kalidnay, currently trapped in a near-death coma in [[Ravenloft|a completely different campaign setting]] thanks to his head honchessa's cruel betrayal of everything good in her life in favor of her freaky, possessive stalker crush on him. Probably not coming back, regardless of what the deluded cultists rifling through his garbage think.
*'''Lalali-Puy''' - The hottest Sorcerer-Queen, and ruler of the barely civilized Jungle-Town of Gulg. Also one of the less-evil Sorcerer Kings by virtue of not doing much to actively hurt the people who adore her, with some liner notes specifically calling her the most likely King to make a face turn who hasn't already, though her current rule over Gulg is cemented by brutal enslavement of nature spirits, one of whom she's masquerading as.
*'''Nibenay''' - Called the Shadow King. Either he really, really hated people and being seen, or he was too stupid to cast a simple glamour to NOT MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A DRAGON around his superstitious subjects. Ruler of the largest City-State of the same name, which was locked in a perpetual war with Gulg for some crazy strong blue balls. Or blue wood. Whatever. His templars are all female, and are forced to mate with him for the job, which is frankly par for the course for evil at this point. Even considering his hideous, part-dragon/part-man appearance.
*'''Tectuktitlay''' - He's a ladykiller, he'll rip your heart out and throw it down the fucking ziggurat. Bird like in appearance, he was the Aztec inspired ruler of Drag. Drek. Er, Draj. Smart, despite his insanity and cruelty. He indoctrinates his subjecs with the idea that he was born a god and genuinely believes in his own self fabricated mythology.
*'''Oronis''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kurn. Kinda. Oronis is a special case. He started to feel bad about... you know exterminating all the lizard-men, especially when he saw that it was all for a lie, and he and his comrades were turning the world into a ruin rather than a paradise. So, he took his vitamins, drank his milk, and managed to put the brakes on the whole "morph into a dragon through genocide" thing... and go the other direction into becoming an avangion. Kurn is dying, but it's just a facade for New Kurn now anyway, and he's withdrawn from politics to pursue further experiments into avangion-hood while leaving behind a "true" democracy. Literally the only Sorcerer-King actively trying to make his shithole of a world a better place.
*'''Daskinor''' - Kim Jong Il's Dark Sun doppelganger. Ruler of Eldaarich, this <strike>paranoid asshat</strike> omnipotent and benevolent God King keeps his city <strike>on permanent lockdown</strike> safe and protected from all the evils of Athas. Literally built massive walls to close off his city from the outside world <strike>thanks to his insanity starting to leak into the city as a whole</strike> because it is totally self-sufficient and wants for nothing the outside world has to offer. Especially not water and food.
*'''Dregoth''' - The undead dragon sorcerer-king, ruler of Giustenal. This dude got ganked by a bunch of the other Sorcerer-Kings who were tired of him bragging about the size of his <strike>cock</strike> book of spells a couple thousand years ago, but his loyal Templars brought him back as a Lich, and he's just been chilling underground unbeknownst to every else, for quite some time now. Created the [[dray]] race, which he hopes will one day completely replace humanity as the new "master race."

[[Category: Dark Sun]]

Dark Sun

2023-01-27T02:10:51Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Controversies */

[[Image:DSlogo.gif|center]]
{{Grimdark}}
[[File:Dark Sun 3e PHB.png|400px|thumb|right|The cover of the 3e [[PHB]].]]
{{Topquote|For thousands of years, the Tablelands have remained untouched: its politics frozen in a delicate stalemate, its life in a balance even more delicate. It is true that the Dragon Kings amused themselves with their petty wars, rattling sabers to punctuate the passing of ages. It is true that, occasionally, another city would be swallowed by the wastes.

''But there were no surprises. The Dragon Kings steered everything from their omnipotent perches, content in their superiority, but ever thirsting for challenge. All that has changed. The Tablelands have been thrown into turmoil, the likes of which have not been seen since times forgotten. The Dragon Kings have been thrown into confusion, grasping for the tedium they so recently lamented.

''And yet I fear the worst is yet to come. Change is in the air, and change has never come gently to Athas.|[[Avangion| Oronis]], sorcerer‐king of Kurn}}

'''Dark Sun''' is a campaign setting made for AD&D 2nd edition back in '90; there are [[3e]] conversions approved by [[WotC]], but we had to wait until 2010 and [[4e]] for an updated official version. Dark Sun is essentially a playable [[grimdark]] post-apocalyptic mix of Mad Max, Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars series, Stargate (the movie), and [[Dune]]; it's pretty [[awesome]], but immediately proceeds to eschew common sense (unlike Dune).

==Setting==
[[File:Dark Sun World Map 4E.png|thumb|right|350px|Map of the Tyr Region, as depicted in [[4E|4th edition]]]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3qHkTmJpq4 Some music to help set the mood.]

The game is set in the world of Athas, a dying planet. Once full of happiness and sunshine, the planet was drained of all resources during the long and rich history the creators came up with. All magic is parasitic and destructive. There is no water, no minerals, and no hope: only cannibal halflings, a lot of sand and a dying sun.

The world is so fucked up it makes Mad Max's setting look like a hippie paradise. Kinda looks like Barsoom on massive grimdark crack. Everyone wears [[Female Fantasy Armor]] (yes, even the dudes), and according to the developers, this was the entire reason they picked a hot climate for the setting instead of an icy one, [[Derp|despite the fact that wearing Female Fantasy Armor in the desert would result in a quick death from sunstroke and dehydration]]; if they wanted everyone to wear [[Female Fantasy Armor]] then a hot ''and humid'' environment like a jungle or a tropical place, such as the setting for the comics series [https://comicvine.gamespot.com/shanna/4005-4579/ Shanna the She-Devil], is the ideal choice (less clothes keeps you cool when it's hot and humid, means less things to get caught in foliage or get pulled by predators or rivals).

The only few realms remaining are fascist police city-states ruled by wizards (all of them varying shades of evil) whose environmentally-unfriendly magic is responsible for fucking up the planet in the first place, and who're slowly losing their humanity as they turn more and more into dragons. Beyond civilized lands everything eats everything. The best weapon you can find is the femur of your party's cleric after being eaten by something that looked like a rock and the best armor is mostly the remains of a giant cockroach. There are no gnomes, orcs, kobolds, or furries because all of them were exterminated by some jerks with psychic brains and magic hands. They were the Champions of Rajaat, and they and the Sorcerer-Kings are by-and-large one-and-the-same.

The original ''Dark Sun'' setting got pretty harshly wrecked by advancing novel continuity. Once a buncha [[Mary Sue|tie-in protagonists]] have already killed all the iconic villains and started fixing the setting's problems, what's there left for ''you'' to do? In response, [[4e]] went full-reboot and adopted an [[Eberron]]-style anti-continuity system: every campaign begins in exactly the same time and place, and the story never advances. It was, especially for a 4e idea, incredibly well-received, and will probably carry over into any attempts to adapt the setting for [[5e]].

Thus far, the closest Wizards of the Coast has come to actually ''adapting'' the setting over to 5e is a few ideas about how to change over any adventuring paths to Athas, though the design team has repeatedly mentioned they intend to try in the future. Co-creator of 5th Edition and creative lead designer [[Mike Mearls]] has stated that he's pretty much converted Dark Sun to 5th, even if only for an office campaign.

===Races===
What really made Dark Sun stand out compared to some of TSR's other offerings was the very distinct and weird playable racial assortment on offer for prospective PCs, which made Dark Sun stand on the level with [[Planescape]] and [[Spelljammer]] as ''the'' setting to play if you wanted to get away from the bog-standard neo-Tolkien brigade. (Although the fact characters used a 4d4+4 [[Ability Scores]] system compared to the 3d6 one, meaning Athasian characters had an '''8-20''' AS range vs. the 3-18 range of regular D&D characters, didn't hurt!)

...At least, that's how it's remembered ''in hindsight''. In actual execution it's a little more... topsy-turvy than that. Let us try and break it down for you.

First and foremost, of course, we have the '''[[Human]]s''', because do you really think [[TSR]] would ever do a setting without them? Standard dominant race stuff, nothing particularly noteworthy here.

Then there's the [[Demihuman]]s of Athas. You'll notice there's no [[gnome]]s here; that's because they are one of several races officially exterminate in Athas' ancient past, which is often regarded as the first reason why this setting is full of win. Here, you get:
*'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Almost typical dorfs, except taller, waaay more muscular, bald with Klingon-like head plates and are even more fixated on their stuff than the hairier, stuntier variety. So fixated, in fact, that if they died without completing the shit they were obsessing over, they came back from the dead as banshees (sentient zombies that looked like a dwarf without skin).
*'''[[Elf]]''' - No forests for them, ha! They are desert nomads with tendencies of mental instability, thieving and grieving all the time. Finally, straight players can consider playing an elf. Again foreshadowing ''Time of the Dragon''.
*'''[[Halfling]]''' - Cannibals who live in the Ringing Mountains, one of the last remaining strips of forest. Despite [[Troy Denning]]'s initial fuckup in ''The Verdant Passage'', where he has the dragonfly riding midgets flinging spells hither and thither, no they cannot use arcane magic. Tries to retcon this in ''The Cerulean Storm'' but it doesn't quite work. MAJOR PLOT LOOPHOLE. Actually (spoilers!) the origin of all other demi-human races on Athas, as theirs was the high civilization of the Blue Age.
* '''[[Half-Elf]]''' - Basically the exact same as half-elves in every other TSR setting of the time; miserable little shits that nobody likes.
*'''[[Mul]]''' - [[Half-dwarf]]! Second reason why this setting is full of win and awesome! Bred for size and strength, but without the lack of agility of the typical stunty dorf, no slave was worth more than a Mul. Except a better Mul. Very prized as gladiators. Suck it, Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, like real-life hybrids tend to be, Muls are sterile, and they also tend to be [[Grimdark|born into slavery and kill their mums on the way out]].
*'''[[Half-Giant]]''' - Big dumb muscle, with a ''lolrandom'' alignment because they're ''so'' impressionable. Usually really fucking stupid. 3e shrank them down to "Medium-Plus" sized. 4e reinterpreted them as a local term for [[goliath]]s mechanically and made them smarter and less lolrandom in their fluff.
*'''[[Pyreen]]''' - A non-player (though 4e made them an epic destiny) race of ancient guardians from before the world was burned to shit, [[Rajaat]] was one of these guys before he went screaming off the deep end. Looks like a prettier version of how 3.5's [[Mongrelman|Mongrelfolk]] are supposed to look based on fluff; a harmonious blending of human, halfling, dwarf and elf. This mysterious & mystical mongrelfolk nature is strange, considering that halflings were the original inhabitants, and it also ignores several now-extinct but previously prominent (or at least "normal" non-monstrous) races, such as orcs. Epic-level immortal multiclassed druid/psions attempting to fix the world. Not getting very far.

Now we move on to the ''weirder'' races, which for some reason basically means [[beastfolk]]:
* '''[[Thri-Kreen]]''' - Pack-hunting giant mantis-folk. Actually debuted in the [[Forgotten Realms]] a whopping ''15 years'' before Dark Sun existed, but this was the first time they got PC stats. In the Original Boxed Set, they were the last of the playable races after the aforementioned humans and demihumans. Most known for their four arms, which gave them inherent multiple attacks in 2e, a trait that was steadily stripped from them over the edition. Also known for seeing nothing wrong with cannibalism - elf is considered a delicacy.
* '''[[Aarakocra]]''' - Tribal bird-people. Unlike their counterparts on other settings, Athasian aarakocrach look like humanoid vultures, are prone to raiding and theft, and have [[psionics]]... but then, few races ''don't'' have psionics in Athas!
* '''[[Pterran]]''' - Shamanistic flightless humanoid pterodactyls that wandered into Athas from somewhere beyond the tablelands.

The "Official" 3e update in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319 added:
*'''[[Elan]]''' - An experiment in creating human uber-psychics by a psionicist order that went wrong due to being too powerful
*'''[[Maenad]]''' - Alien berserker-psion emos that Andropinus recruited from somewhere beyond "The Black", then turned loose to die in the wasteland after they helped him get his city-state back. Rather pissed at that.

4th edition added these races to the canon:
*'''[[Eladrin]]''' - The dwindling remnants of the ur-elf race that once ruled the [[Feywild]], which on Athas has literally dissolved into nothing, leaving only a scattering of extradimensional oases as a result of defiling.
*'''[[Genasi]]''' - They claim they were originally set up as rulers over Athas by the [[Archomental|Primordials]] once they killed all of the gods... but they became decadent and indolent, so the other races drove them off the thrones. And then they blew Athas all to fuck, which the genasi are still gloating about. Now they're starting to emerge from the wastes because they believe it's their job to take command again and fix this shit. Known subraces: Earth, Fire, Wind, Ember, Magma, Sand and Sun.
*'''[[Tiefling]]''' - Brutal raiders from the most hostile and barren regions of the desert, descendants of people who turned to fiend-worship for the strength to survive in the wasteland.

Now, you might think that the above list is pretty decent already, right? Well, it's technically incomplete!

First of all, the original boxed set mentions that '''[[kenku]]''' and '''[[yuan-ti]]''' both exist on Athas, though it doesn't flesh them out much - most fans even forget that Athasian yuan-ti are canon, despite their prominent role in the [[CRPG]] [[Wake of the Ravager]], a game nobody remembered until GOG.com began selling many (most?) of the SSI AD&D modules of the 80s and 90s. Now that WotR is readily available, the thing people remember most about that game is the numerous, game-breaking bugs. (But you should still buy it, as workarounds to the bugs do exist.) Anyway, since both races are playable depending on your base edition, they should be legitimate options in your Dark Sun campaigns.

Secondly, the adventure [[City by the Silt Sea]] introduced the '''[[Dray]]''', a race of dragon-men engineered by Athas' sole [[dracolich]], as both monsters and an optionally playable race. 4th edition promoted these guys to a fullly fledged mainstream race in the setting, although they did just recommend they use [[dragonborn]] stats for them.

Thirdly, the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Guide notes you could justify [[minotaur]]s as the "[[Half-Giant]]" counterpart to [[Beasthead Giant]]s.

Finally, the Monstrous Compendium Appendixes for Dark Sun, especially the second one, detailed a number of species who live on Athas who are sapient but non-playable - the "humanoids" of Athas, essentially. Since Dark Sun coincided with the release of the internet, fans took matters into their own hands and converted a good number of these races to be playable in either 2nd edition ("The Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids") or 3rd edition ("Terrors of Athas"), with the latter in particular promoting a fair number of [[giant]]s and Monstrous Humanoids. Admittedly, some of these are more likely to make you go "what the fuck were they smoking?!" than others.
* '''[[Anakore]] ''' - Sand-burrowing carnivorous predators. Basicall Athasian mole-people.
* '''[[B'rohg]]''' - Four-armed [[giant]]s who are really good at hitting stuff, but not much good at anything else.
* '''[[Baazrag]]''' - Camel-humped sloth-man with a really convoluted history.
* '''[[Belgoi]]''' - Desert-wandering cannibals who use psy-boosted bells to lure suckers into the wastes for dinner.
* '''[[Braxat]]''' - Hulking, armor-plated, acid-spitting [[lizardfolk]] with genius IQs, telepathy, psychoportation, and a sadistic streak.
* '''[[Bvanen]]''' - Armor-plated frog-people from the last surviving swamp on Athas.
* '''[[Drik|High Drik]]''' - Giant, spell-casting [[lizardfolk]] magically engineered as super-soldiers.
* '''[[Feylaar]]''' - Four-armed gorillas with genius intellects and [[psionics]].
* '''[[Giant]] ([[Beasthead Giant]], [[Crag Giant]], [[Desert Giant]], [[Plains Giant]])''' - The last surviving giant species of Athas.
* '''[[Gith|Athasian Gith]]''' - The degenerate descendants of a [[githyanki]] army which was mindblasted into madness by a [[githzerai]] psy-bomb.
* '''[[Hej-kin]]''' - Cannibalistic burrowing creatures that resemble a cross between a [[gnome]] and a mole.
* '''[[Jozhal]]''' - [[Dinosaur|Little raptors]] that have a natural affinity for preserver magic.
* '''[[Lask]]''' - A weird race of reptilian humanoids newly emergent from the spellwarped wastelands of Athas.
* '''[[Lizardfolk|Athasian Lizardfolk]]''' - The last surviving lizardfolk of Athas, who inhabit its last surviving sea.
* '''[[Magera]]''' - Literally just Athasian [[ogre]]s.
* '''[[Mindhome Folk]]''' - Telepathic, pacifist, [[Underdark]]-dwelling little humanoids.
* '''[[Nikaal]]''' - Acid-spitting reptilian humanoids who travel Athas in great trading caravans.
* '''[[Reggelid]]''' - Mad elf-like beings obsesed with defiler magic and who have a bitter enmity against Athasian halflings.
* '''[[Scrab]]''' - Hive-dwelling sapient centipedes with arms.
* '''[[Silt Runner]]''' - [[Kobold]]-like little lizard-people that inhabit the silt sea and its surrounds.
* '''[[Slig]]''' - Perpetually hungry carnivorous humanoids.
*'''[[Ssurran]]''' - 2-legged sentient komodo dragons. Lives in the desert and loves them some lava. Very resistant towards heat and the Dark Sun, these guys enjoy worshiping Fire and Magma.
*'''[[Tarek]]''' - Earth-worshipping, hulking, ape-like humanoids from the mountains. Pretty obviously an "evolved" strain of Athasian [[Orc]]s, like how Ssurrans are Athasian [[lizardfolk]]. Take obvious inspiration from the ape-men of popular pulp novels and Frazetta/Vallejo paintings the same way the rest of the setting does.
* '''[[Tari]]''' - The [[ratfolk]] of Athas. Supposedly nobody in the modern city-states knows they're sapient, despite the fact they had their own empire in the southern regions a couple centuries ago.
* '''[[Trin]]''' - The more primitive and savage cousins of the thri-kreen. Because thri-kreen aren't already mantis-y enough. Have four legs instead of four arms, so they run really, really fast.
* '''[[Tul'k]]''' - Descendants of a tribe of elfs warped into brutish giant ape-men by magic run amuck.
* '''[[Amazon|Villichi]]''' - [[Abhuman|A emergent human subspecies]] consisting of albino psychic women.

We gotta talk dragons now.

*'''[[Athasian Dragon|Athasian]]''' - Only "playable" by a very technical definition of the term, since it was an epic-level class for level 21+ characters with nastily-difficult requirements, though 4e made it an epic destiny. Not at all like the normal ''D&D'' variety, which don't exist on Athas, Athasian Dragons are horrible monsters that embody the corrupted nature of arcane magic in the setting: rapacious, violent, and filled with rage and a lust to dominate or destroy. Depending on source, there's either many or only one being that has ever successfully completed the transformation, and he's the ''other'' [[BBEG]] of the setting, as mentioned above, but almost all of the Sorcerer-Kings are at least part of the way there.
*'''[[Avangion]]''' - The opposite version of an Athasian dragon, being the life-nurturing embodiment of what arcane magic ''should'' be. Looks like a bizarre glowing manta ray-dragonfly, with a huge wingspan. Not as much balls-out murder power as a dragon, but able to no-sell many of its abilities, actually support its party, and not be an insane rage-cauldron the DM could take over whenever he felt like it. Just as hard to qualify for though, and also a 4e epic destiny. No one in the Tyr region has ever successfully become one, though one NPC as far down the process as most of the Sorcerer-Kings are to being dragons, and unlike many of them is actively trying to advance.

===Classes===
*'''[[Cleric]]s''' - There are no real gods in the setting (according to 4e, this is because the Primordials drove them off in the [[Dawn War]]), so most clerics [[elementalist|worship elements or quasi-elements]] - the game implies there ''were'' gods at one point, however, because an [[undead]] monster unique to the setting is a '''Raaig''', the pissed-off [[ghost]] of a long-dead [[cleric]] or [[paladin]]. In a desert world, summoning water elementals will get you pussy until you realize that if you level up to much you become a true elemental yourself too. And it is not a nice way to go when you croak after a bunch of people [[cannibalism|consumed your body]] because they were thirsty and you're a water elemental now. The way they are described, they are more "elemental shamans" than archetypical clerics. Other types are insinuated to exist, such as a 'sun cleric' featured in the novels, representing the aspect and domain of the sun as a natural force rather than a deity.
*'''[[Druid]]s''' - Druids serve spirits of the land. They have a guarded lands that they are responsible to look after, which unfortunately could conflict with adventuring time.
*'''[[Gladiator]]s''' - You know. Like the movie. Also one of the most overpowered classes in the times of AD&D, a low level gladiator could be the personification of a certain Frank Frazzeta's illustration entitled "The Destroyer". Essentially, they were [[Barbarian]]s before Barbarians as 3e made them a thing.
*'''Dune Traders''' - lol that's actually a class? Was more on the role-playing side of things, could get loads of handy contacts and power within tradehouses. Took care of diplomacy, trading, and generally any situation that could be resolved without a weapon.
*'''[[Fighter]]s''' - Not as good as a Gladiator in personal combat, but who is? Really excelled at attracting and leading armies at higher levels.
*'''[[Bard]]s''' - Most bards sing songs and boost the other party members' rolls. Dark Sun bards will poison and kill you, and maybe fuck you. Maybe even in that order, too.
*'''[[Paladin]]s''' - lol nope. Honor and virtue fell by the wayside a long time ago on Athas, but what else would you expect from a planet this Darwinian?
*'''[[Templar]]s''' - Replace Paladins thematically, but more on the police side of things to the point they are essentially the Sorcerer-Kings's [[Nazi|Gestapo]]. Ability-wise, they're more like Clerics with slower spell-progression but more spellslots and the ability to use any weapon. Worship the Sorcerer King who rules their city.
*'''[[Psion]]icists''' - Psionicists are considered accepted and normal in this setting. In fact, every PC is guaranteed to have ''at least'' one psionic power! OMGWTF! (Well, this sounds nice, until you realize pretty much everyone does, especially monsters.) Think Jedis, kind of. Wanna move shit with your mind without casting a spell like some bitch ass looking wizard? Check. Mindrape? Check. ''Fucking Time Travel?'' Double Check. Unfortunately suffered from the fact that psionics in 2e were a horrible mess, and with a few notable exceptions, most of your powers are either incredibly niche or use clunky subsystems.
*'''[[Ranger]]s''' - Same old shit. Think Aragorn in the desert.
*'''[[Rogue]]s''' - Pretty similar to the non-Athasian kind. Attracted a Patron at level 10, aka you work for me now bitch.
*'''[[Wizard]]s''' - Two types exist in the setting, but everyone hates them both:
** [[Defiler]] - Evil mages, who suck out the life force of things. When they level up enough, they usually have an allergic reaction called dragon metamorphosis.
** [[Preserver]] - Mages who are not manly enough to steal huge amounts of life force, so they sacrifice efficiency to keep the stuff around them alive. Unfortunately for them, the commoners think all wizards are the same "technically true btw". Fortunately for them, most of their shit can be passed off as psionics. When they grow up enough to be considered bad ass they turn into the manta ray like aliens from ''Abyss''.
** [[Cerulean_Storm#Cerulean_Wizards|Cerulean Mages]] were added after the [[Prism Pentad]] novels caused the whole series to be rewritten, and are basically neutral mages who try to use the giant raging storm elemental now stranded on Athas as a battery.
** [[Necromancer]]s were retconned into the setting as wizards who draw power from the realm of the dead, which slowly turns them into undead beings. Ironically, they're actually neutral aligned, and technically even potentially good aligned because their powers don't require them to hurt the planet and undeath isn't hungering for life any worse than magic itself does.
** [[Shadow Magic|Shadow Mages]] are like Necromancers, but they draw from the [[Plane of Shadow]] instead of the Gray.

===Sorcerer-Kings===
The [[Sorcerer-King]]s were the jerks chosen by [[Rajaat]] with the deepest reservoirs of hatred (read:racists) for everything. Except halflings. Or was it humans. SPOILER! These were usually the big bad dudes that Dark Sun campaigns revolved around killing. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning killed off most of them in the series ''The Prism Pentad'', thus giving the campaign setting nothing left to live for. TSR brought out a small post-novel supplement entitled "Beyond the Prism Pentad", which also included references to a product called "Dark Sun: ''A New Age''" that was never released, to try and save what little scraps of the setting was left after [[skub|Denning's]] royal buttfuck of it all. It didn't work. As a result, TSR brought it out back and shot it while you cried in your mother's arms. When it came back for a 4E splat, this killing spree was effectively retconned under the same anti-continuity clause that Eberron held to.

Most/all Sorcerer-kings were/are in various stages of Dragon metamorphosis -- i.e. turning into a Dragon, you idiot -- as a result of their addiction to Defiling. "Real" dragons don't exist on Athas, and only the most powerful Wizard/Psionicists with the help of handy [[Necronomicon|forbidden lore]] could start on this journey to REAL ULTIMATE POWER. Side effects include deepening of voice, a bad case of scaly skin, and the desire to FUCKING KILL EVERYTHING. Which gave rise to the most stupid/common-sense ''Dark Sun'' rule ever, via the rulebook ''Dragonkings'', where a 25th level Dragon, if you were lucky/good enough to make it that far and survive a series of spells that ''had an outright chance to kill you'', WAS COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER BY THE DM UNTIL LEVEL 30. How fun is that shit. The reasoning being the Dragon entered a period of Animalistic Rage. And of course, only the DM could properly portray that shit, moron. Go sit on the couch and shut up. (Granted, it was better than giving players literal dragon-god-like power, given the tendencies of the sorts of player willing to commit the atrocities necessary to become a dragon to [[Murderhobo|steal, fuck and kill everything they see including their fellow PCs.]] Remember how all the other Dragon Kings were literally fueled by genocide?)

Originally, just one of the Dragon-Kings was an actual '''dragon''', formerly Borys of Ur-Draxa. PCs could confront him in '''[[DSR4: Valley of Dust and Fire]]''', which is a strong contender for the title of "hardest official module ever made," and which ''itself'' cautioned that it was meant for ''Dragon Kings'' parties over level 21. Wonder how those "[[Mary Sue|Prism Pentad]]" dipshits managed it... Especially since not a single one of them were even level 20 (their stats are given in "Beyond the Prism Pentad") , much less a full 5-man party of level 21+ characters.

To expand their use as a plot device, each Sorcerer-King/Queen ruled a City-State, up until they were slain by Denning like it was a bodily function:

*'''Abalach-re''' - The queen bitch of the City-State of Raam, this paranoid schizo cunt makes [[Skaven|your average Skaven]] look like Ghandi. Also universally loathed and held in contempt by both her own people and all the other Sorcerer Kings. Whether her neurotic paranoia is the result or the cause of this is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question.
*'''Andropinis''' - He had egg shaped nostrils. He wore a toga and ruled over the Greek inspired City-State of Balic. Unique for being the only Lawful Neutral sorcerer-king (All the others are listed as Lawful Evil, naturally), and for running a state that actually somewhat functions, in a democracy-turned-dictatorial-sham kind of way.
*'''Hamanu''' - Mr. Lionface. Not one of the original 13 Champions, he was the ruler of Urik and a blatant homage to Hammurabi. Evil and cruel, with his draconic transformation halted rather than reversed, but his devotion to order, justice, rationality, and his father's dream of a green and peaceful land make him one of the best of a terrible lot.
*'''Kalak''' - You know your old, shriveled, power-hungry, slave-master of a grandfather? That's this guy. Ruler of Tyr before his plan to get jacked up quick on dragonsauce was discovered and foiled by a bunch of meddling kids and one talking dog. The 4e reboot explicitly starts every game with him being overthrown and Tyr being established as a Free City, before letting the PCs see where things go from there.
*'''Kalid-Ma''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kalidnay, currently trapped in a near-death coma in [[Ravenloft|a completely different campaign setting]] thanks to his head honchessa's cruel betrayal of everything good in her life in favor of her freaky, possessive stalker crush on him. Probably not coming back, regardless of what the deluded cultists rifling through his garbage think.
*'''Lalali-Puy''' - The hottest Sorcerer-Queen, and ruler of the barely civilized Jungle-Town of Gulg. Also one of the less-evil Sorcerer Kings by virtue of not doing much to actively hurt the people who adore her, with some liner notes specifically calling her the most likely King to make a face turn who hasn't already, though her current rule over Gulg is cemented by brutal enslavement of nature spirits, one of whom she's masquerading as.
*'''Nibenay''' - Called the Shadow King. Either he really, really hated people and being seen, or he was too stupid to cast a simple glamour to NOT MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A DRAGON around his superstitious subjects. Ruler of the largest City-State of the same name, which was locked in a perpetual war with Gulg for some crazy strong blue balls. Or blue wood. Whatever. His templars are all female, and are forced to mate with him for the job, which is frankly par for the course for evil at this point. Even considering his hideous, part-dragon/part-man appearance.
*'''Tectuktitlay''' - He's a ladykiller, he'll rip your heart out and throw it down the fucking ziggurat. Bird like in appearance, he was the Aztec inspired ruler of Drag. Drek. Er, Draj. Smart, despite his insanity and cruelty.
*'''Oronis''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kurn. Kinda. Oronis is a special case. He started to feel bad about... you know exterminating all the lizard-men, especially when he saw that it was all for a lie, and he and his comrades were turning the world into a ruin rather than a paradise. So, he took his vitamins, drank his milk, and managed to put the brakes on the whole "morph into a dragon through genocide" thing... and go the other direction into becoming an avangion. Kurn is dying, but it's just a facade for New Kurn now anyway, and he's withdrawn from politics to pursue further experiments into avangion-hood while leaving behind a "true" democracy. Literally the only Sorcerer-King actively trying to make his shithole of a world a better place.
*'''Daskinor''' - Kim Jong Il's Dark Sun doppelganger. Ruler of Eldaarich, this <strike>paranoid asshat</strike> omnipotent and benevolent God King keeps his city <strike>on permanent lockdown</strike> safe and protected from all the evils of Athas. Literally built massive walls to close off his city from the outside world <strike>thanks to his insanity starting to leak into the city as a whole</strike> because it is totally self-sufficient and wants for nothing the outside world has to offer. Especially not water and food.
*'''Dregoth''' - The undead dragon sorcerer-king, ruler of Giustenal. This dude got ganked by a bunch of the other Sorcerer-Kings who were tired of him bragging about the size of his <strike>cock</strike> book of spells a couple thousand years ago, but his loyal Templars brought him back as a Lich, and he's just been chilling underground unbeknownst to every else, for quite some time now. Created the [[dray]] race, which he hopes will one day completely replace humanity as the new "master race."

===Cosmology===
Athas is... ''different'' to the standard realm in the [[Great Wheel]]. Looking across various sources (most prominently "Defilers & Preservers" and "Earth, Air, Fire & Water" for Dark Sun itself) reveals that Athas is connected to only a small handful of planes; the Gray, the Black, and the [[Elemental Planes]]. Further differentiating its cosmology, whilst Athas retains connections to the four standard "True" Elemental Planes (Earth/Air/Water/Fire), it only has four Paraelemental Planes consisting of Magma, Rain, Silt and Sun.

The Gray is essentially the afterlife of Athas; a dreary, endless limbo realm of dismal mists, which serves to blockade Athas from both the [[Ethereal Plane]] proper and the [[Astral Plane]]. Depending on who you ask, it's either Athas's "Border Ethereal" or an analogue region for the Astral Plane.

The Black is analogous to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and mostly serves as a prison for Rajaat.

It's noted that Athas is unusually close to the [[Elemental Planes]], and this is, in part, why the world is so screwed up.

Athas can actually interact with the [[Great Wheel]], and be reached by [[Spelljammer]]s, but it's extremely difficult to do so - the whole thing is effectively a sealed zone, as if something trapped the entire pocket of reality inside a locked room.
* The [[Githyanki]] are known to have opened a portal to Athas and tried to invade... then they ran home with their tails between their legs and closed up the portal, before leaving behind the proverbial sign saying "Do not open this fucking door!" Athasian [[Gith]] are believed to be the degenerate remnants of githyanki stranded here as a result of the failed invasion.
* The Mists of [[Ravenloft]] can also reach into Athas and pluck victims into its embrace. There's even an Athasian [[Domain of Dread]] called "Kalid-Ma". It says something about life on Athas that being stuck in the [[Demiplane of Dread]] is actually perceived by most Athasians as a step up.
* The [[World Serpent Inn]] hosts at least one known two-way portal to Athas.

==Controversies==
As beloved as it is by the fandom, Dark Sun has... its share of base-breaking lore. Here's a list of a few major things that tend to be either loved or hated by fans of the game.

===The Halfling Conspiracy===
A lot of people are less than impressed with the revelation that [[halfling]]s were the precursor race and that Dark Sun became such a fucked up world because one psycho wanted to go back to the days when halflings (and technically thri-kreen) were the only extant race.

===Beyond the Prism Pentad===
As mentioned above, the changes of the Prism Pentad tie-in novels really messed up with the status quo of Dark Sun. Beyond killing off a bunch of Sorcerer-Kings, it also created the Cerulean Storm, an enormous perpetual rain storm wandering randomly across Athas, bringing water back to the planet but at the same time doing so with such violence that it's almost as bad as the original drought.

===Isolated Universe===
Players have debated whether the isolation of Athas from divine entities extends to dimensional travel hardcore survival GM'S like to keep Athas isolated to prevent players from scheming ways to import water or metal with magic while imaginative players like combining other universes into their gameplay depending on your GM and group of players will you see the full brutality of athas with several of your mary sues dying or go on a classic d&d power trip.

===Mind Lords of the Last Sea===
This module, which reveals there is one last sea on Athas, is pretty controversial for various different reasons. Such as the existence of a place where a secretive bunch of psion-lords use telepathy to force people to comply with social standards, the existence of a large body of water on Athas, the fact that it retcons that [[lizardfolk]] aren't extinct (but then, ssurans were basically fireproof lizardfolk under a different name all along and nobody batted an eye at them), or the fact that it has actual telepathic dolphins and surfing rules in it.

On the other hand, some people like the idea of doing ''The Prisoner'' by way of ''Mad Max'', and the actual content isn't quite as stupid and poorly-written as its reputation suggests, with lots of discussion of how many Athasians would react to seeing the titular Last Sea when enough water to fill a bathtub is wealth beyond measure.

==3e Dark Sun==
While by [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|third edition]] official support for non-[[Forgotten Realms]], non-[[Greyhawk]] settings had largely been dropped, two separate updates for Dark Sun material exist.

In a surprisingly cool move by Hasbro, fan groups were given official permission to update several [[Planescape|orphaned]] [[Spelljammer|settings]] to 3rd edition for free ([[Ravenloft|or one not so free in exchange for a check]]). In Dark Sun's case this spawned Athas dot org and its several PDFs updating the setting.

A separate update was published in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319. This one is far more divergent than the fan conversion, setting the timeline forward 300 years to restore the status quo after the Prism Pentad fuckup. This update uses the standard 3rd edition class lineup, making Templars just Clerics of their respective Dragon King instead of their own class and having [[Paladin]]s actually exist. Since the psioncs book was already needed for psionics, Half-Giant and Thri-Keen, the other races from that book have been thrown in for the hell of it. One unusual mechanical change is how it adapted the higher than average ability score generation Dark Sun used and that several of its races were already printed with [[Level Adjustment]]: The conversion decided to give ''everyone'' [[Level Adjustment]] +1, giving the non-LA races (like [[Human]]) extra stuff to bring them up to LA +1.

The Dragon version of Dark Sun was accompanied by two articles in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #110 and #111; the former provides the "official" 'Dark Su 3.5 DM's Guide', with a basic run down of the setting's lore as well as 20 monsters updated to 3rd edition, whilst the latter provided a second batch of monsters.

==4e Dark Sun==
Surprisingly, when Dark Sun made it into 4th edition, it was welcomed with great warmth and enthusiasm. This might be because WoTC had learned from the mistakes of Forgotten Realms and so whilst there were changes to 4e, none of them were as setting-breaking as the Spellplague, and many actually regarded these changes as being for the better.

What changed? Well...

'''Cosmology''': Athas is now a world where, during the [[Dawn War]], the [[Archomental|Primordials]] won and killed the [[God]]s. The [[Elemental Chaos]] replaces the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Gray is still around, and is the local name for the [[Shadowfell]], but the Black isn't mentioned. If one makes it through the Gray into the [[Astral Sea]], it's empty; the Gods are dead, their halls are abandoned, and there's nothing but ancient celestial ruins and cosmic battlefields to scavenge through. The [[Feywild]] exists, but has been almost completely destroyed by defiling and its remaining pockets are zealously guarded by the Eladrin. The moons of Ral and Guthay are rich, verdant worlds in their own right, according to astrologers, but beyond the rumored existence of unpredictable "moongates" that allow access to them, nothing more is mentioned.

'''Races''': [[Half-Giant]]s lost their ADHD and are now a reflavoring of [[Goliath]]s, mechanically. [[Dray]] went from an obscure race hidden in one module to being mentioned in the core, although mechanically they're just reskinned [[Dragonborn]]. [[Eladrin]] and [[Tiefling]]s are in the setting now, as the bitter survivors of the nearly-destroyed [[Feywild]] and fiend-worshipping cannibal raiders from the depths of the wastelands respectively. A [[Dragon Magazine]] article states that there are [[Genasi]] on Athas who were originally created to rule the mortal races for the Primordials after they fucked off, but they screwed up so badly they were overthrown and then Rajaat came along. Some races (and horses) previously stated to be extinct are present.

'''Classes''': All Divine classes are officially Not Present Here, although there is a sidebar for being The Last Cleric In The World if you really must. [[Shaman]]s, [[Ardent]]s, [[Bard]]s and [[Warlord]]s take up the healer's niche. A new pair of themes, the Elemental Cleric and the Primal Guardian, fill the niches of the Elemental Cleric and the Athasian Druid from AD&D. Defiling is no longer a variant [[Wizard]], but a power that any Arcane caster can risk using. [[Templar]]s went from their own class to being your choice of either a theme or a subclass for the [[Warlock]].

'''History''': The halflings as precursors is no longer explicit fact.

'''Timeline Reset''': The "default setting" in Dark Sun is now just after the Sorcerer-King of Tyr was assassinated by unknown parties. There is NO metaplot, no timeline advancements, nothing; officially, all Dark Sun 4e material is set at this starting point and it's up to the individual DM to decide what, if anything, has happened since Kalak was killed. And there was Much Rejoicing.

==Plot Holes==
Hey, you remember that bit up at the top where Elemental Shamans summon water elementals for people to drink, since there's (supposed to be) no water left on the planet? Well the thing is, assuming everyone's bladders and sweat glands are functioning properly, this by itself should logically be enough to gradually repair Athas.

That said, as bodies of water would gradually start to form and grow more accessible (and these would be bodies of actual ''water'', not urine and sweat, as there's a reason Earth's oceans are still composed of water and not prehistoric dinosaur urine), there'd be less and less reason to keep an elemental-summoning shaman around. "Why should I pay that shaman for a glass when I can walk to the lake for free?" So the rate of repair would get slower and slower as time went on, possibly completely plateauing before the job was finished.

Of course plugging this hole is as simple as positing a route for water to be lost from the environment. Maybe sandtrout are sequestering it underground. Maybe the Primordials are taking some to be dicks. Maybe water from elementals eventually drifts back to the Elemental Chaos.

A tougher plot hole to work out is, how has no one figured out that full body robes are much better protection in the desert than going borderline-naked? Do the locals all have inherited UV protection? Does the sun not shine in the UV spectrum so sunstroke isn’t a thing? <strike>Should we even care since amazon girls in bikini armor is great?</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} <br>

==External links==
[http://darksun.wikia.com/ Darksun Wiki] - <strike>a wiki almost as empty as this one</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} <br>
[http://athas.org Athas.org] - conversion for 3.5, <strike>scheduled to be complete just after 5e comes out.</strike> Sweet shit, it's actually finished!

{{D&D-Settings}}

[[Category:Dark Sun]]

Dark Sun

2023-01-27T02:10:23Z

2605:BA00:6208:64B:A9BD:58E7:451A:102C: /* Controversies */

[[Image:DSlogo.gif|center]]
{{Grimdark}}
[[File:Dark Sun 3e PHB.png|400px|thumb|right|The cover of the 3e [[PHB]].]]
{{Topquote|For thousands of years, the Tablelands have remained untouched: its politics frozen in a delicate stalemate, its life in a balance even more delicate. It is true that the Dragon Kings amused themselves with their petty wars, rattling sabers to punctuate the passing of ages. It is true that, occasionally, another city would be swallowed by the wastes.

''But there were no surprises. The Dragon Kings steered everything from their omnipotent perches, content in their superiority, but ever thirsting for challenge. All that has changed. The Tablelands have been thrown into turmoil, the likes of which have not been seen since times forgotten. The Dragon Kings have been thrown into confusion, grasping for the tedium they so recently lamented.

''And yet I fear the worst is yet to come. Change is in the air, and change has never come gently to Athas.|[[Avangion| Oronis]], sorcerer‐king of Kurn}}

'''Dark Sun''' is a campaign setting made for AD&D 2nd edition back in '90; there are [[3e]] conversions approved by [[WotC]], but we had to wait until 2010 and [[4e]] for an updated official version. Dark Sun is essentially a playable [[grimdark]] post-apocalyptic mix of Mad Max, Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars series, Stargate (the movie), and [[Dune]]; it's pretty [[awesome]], but immediately proceeds to eschew common sense (unlike Dune).

==Setting==
[[File:Dark Sun World Map 4E.png|thumb|right|350px|Map of the Tyr Region, as depicted in [[4E|4th edition]]]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3qHkTmJpq4 Some music to help set the mood.]

The game is set in the world of Athas, a dying planet. Once full of happiness and sunshine, the planet was drained of all resources during the long and rich history the creators came up with. All magic is parasitic and destructive. There is no water, no minerals, and no hope: only cannibal halflings, a lot of sand and a dying sun.

The world is so fucked up it makes Mad Max's setting look like a hippie paradise. Kinda looks like Barsoom on massive grimdark crack. Everyone wears [[Female Fantasy Armor]] (yes, even the dudes), and according to the developers, this was the entire reason they picked a hot climate for the setting instead of an icy one, [[Derp|despite the fact that wearing Female Fantasy Armor in the desert would result in a quick death from sunstroke and dehydration]]; if they wanted everyone to wear [[Female Fantasy Armor]] then a hot ''and humid'' environment like a jungle or a tropical place, such as the setting for the comics series [https://comicvine.gamespot.com/shanna/4005-4579/ Shanna the She-Devil], is the ideal choice (less clothes keeps you cool when it's hot and humid, means less things to get caught in foliage or get pulled by predators or rivals).

The only few realms remaining are fascist police city-states ruled by wizards (all of them varying shades of evil) whose environmentally-unfriendly magic is responsible for fucking up the planet in the first place, and who're slowly losing their humanity as they turn more and more into dragons. Beyond civilized lands everything eats everything. The best weapon you can find is the femur of your party's cleric after being eaten by something that looked like a rock and the best armor is mostly the remains of a giant cockroach. There are no gnomes, orcs, kobolds, or furries because all of them were exterminated by some jerks with psychic brains and magic hands. They were the Champions of Rajaat, and they and the Sorcerer-Kings are by-and-large one-and-the-same.

The original ''Dark Sun'' setting got pretty harshly wrecked by advancing novel continuity. Once a buncha [[Mary Sue|tie-in protagonists]] have already killed all the iconic villains and started fixing the setting's problems, what's there left for ''you'' to do? In response, [[4e]] went full-reboot and adopted an [[Eberron]]-style anti-continuity system: every campaign begins in exactly the same time and place, and the story never advances. It was, especially for a 4e idea, incredibly well-received, and will probably carry over into any attempts to adapt the setting for [[5e]].

Thus far, the closest Wizards of the Coast has come to actually ''adapting'' the setting over to 5e is a few ideas about how to change over any adventuring paths to Athas, though the design team has repeatedly mentioned they intend to try in the future. Co-creator of 5th Edition and creative lead designer [[Mike Mearls]] has stated that he's pretty much converted Dark Sun to 5th, even if only for an office campaign.

===Races===
What really made Dark Sun stand out compared to some of TSR's other offerings was the very distinct and weird playable racial assortment on offer for prospective PCs, which made Dark Sun stand on the level with [[Planescape]] and [[Spelljammer]] as ''the'' setting to play if you wanted to get away from the bog-standard neo-Tolkien brigade. (Although the fact characters used a 4d4+4 [[Ability Scores]] system compared to the 3d6 one, meaning Athasian characters had an '''8-20''' AS range vs. the 3-18 range of regular D&D characters, didn't hurt!)

...At least, that's how it's remembered ''in hindsight''. In actual execution it's a little more... topsy-turvy than that. Let us try and break it down for you.

First and foremost, of course, we have the '''[[Human]]s''', because do you really think [[TSR]] would ever do a setting without them? Standard dominant race stuff, nothing particularly noteworthy here.

Then there's the [[Demihuman]]s of Athas. You'll notice there's no [[gnome]]s here; that's because they are one of several races officially exterminate in Athas' ancient past, which is often regarded as the first reason why this setting is full of win. Here, you get:
*'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Almost typical dorfs, except taller, waaay more muscular, bald with Klingon-like head plates and are even more fixated on their stuff than the hairier, stuntier variety. So fixated, in fact, that if they died without completing the shit they were obsessing over, they came back from the dead as banshees (sentient zombies that looked like a dwarf without skin).
*'''[[Elf]]''' - No forests for them, ha! They are desert nomads with tendencies of mental instability, thieving and grieving all the time. Finally, straight players can consider playing an elf. Again foreshadowing ''Time of the Dragon''.
*'''[[Halfling]]''' - Cannibals who live in the Ringing Mountains, one of the last remaining strips of forest. Despite [[Troy Denning]]'s initial fuckup in ''The Verdant Passage'', where he has the dragonfly riding midgets flinging spells hither and thither, no they cannot use arcane magic. Tries to retcon this in ''The Cerulean Storm'' but it doesn't quite work. MAJOR PLOT LOOPHOLE. Actually (spoilers!) the origin of all other demi-human races on Athas, as theirs was the high civilization of the Blue Age.
* '''[[Half-Elf]]''' - Basically the exact same as half-elves in every other TSR setting of the time; miserable little shits that nobody likes.
*'''[[Mul]]''' - [[Half-dwarf]]! Second reason why this setting is full of win and awesome! Bred for size and strength, but without the lack of agility of the typical stunty dorf, no slave was worth more than a Mul. Except a better Mul. Very prized as gladiators. Suck it, Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, like real-life hybrids tend to be, Muls are sterile, and they also tend to be [[Grimdark|born into slavery and kill their mums on the way out]].
*'''[[Half-Giant]]''' - Big dumb muscle, with a ''lolrandom'' alignment because they're ''so'' impressionable. Usually really fucking stupid. 3e shrank them down to "Medium-Plus" sized. 4e reinterpreted them as a local term for [[goliath]]s mechanically and made them smarter and less lolrandom in their fluff.
*'''[[Pyreen]]''' - A non-player (though 4e made them an epic destiny) race of ancient guardians from before the world was burned to shit, [[Rajaat]] was one of these guys before he went screaming off the deep end. Looks like a prettier version of how 3.5's [[Mongrelman|Mongrelfolk]] are supposed to look based on fluff; a harmonious blending of human, halfling, dwarf and elf. This mysterious & mystical mongrelfolk nature is strange, considering that halflings were the original inhabitants, and it also ignores several now-extinct but previously prominent (or at least "normal" non-monstrous) races, such as orcs. Epic-level immortal multiclassed druid/psions attempting to fix the world. Not getting very far.

Now we move on to the ''weirder'' races, which for some reason basically means [[beastfolk]]:
* '''[[Thri-Kreen]]''' - Pack-hunting giant mantis-folk. Actually debuted in the [[Forgotten Realms]] a whopping ''15 years'' before Dark Sun existed, but this was the first time they got PC stats. In the Original Boxed Set, they were the last of the playable races after the aforementioned humans and demihumans. Most known for their four arms, which gave them inherent multiple attacks in 2e, a trait that was steadily stripped from them over the edition. Also known for seeing nothing wrong with cannibalism - elf is considered a delicacy.
* '''[[Aarakocra]]''' - Tribal bird-people. Unlike their counterparts on other settings, Athasian aarakocrach look like humanoid vultures, are prone to raiding and theft, and have [[psionics]]... but then, few races ''don't'' have psionics in Athas!
* '''[[Pterran]]''' - Shamanistic flightless humanoid pterodactyls that wandered into Athas from somewhere beyond the tablelands.

The "Official" 3e update in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319 added:
*'''[[Elan]]''' - An experiment in creating human uber-psychics by a psionicist order that went wrong due to being too powerful
*'''[[Maenad]]''' - Alien berserker-psion emos that Andropinus recruited from somewhere beyond "The Black", then turned loose to die in the wasteland after they helped him get his city-state back. Rather pissed at that.

4th edition added these races to the canon:
*'''[[Eladrin]]''' - The dwindling remnants of the ur-elf race that once ruled the [[Feywild]], which on Athas has literally dissolved into nothing, leaving only a scattering of extradimensional oases as a result of defiling.
*'''[[Genasi]]''' - They claim they were originally set up as rulers over Athas by the [[Archomental|Primordials]] once they killed all of the gods... but they became decadent and indolent, so the other races drove them off the thrones. And then they blew Athas all to fuck, which the genasi are still gloating about. Now they're starting to emerge from the wastes because they believe it's their job to take command again and fix this shit. Known subraces: Earth, Fire, Wind, Ember, Magma, Sand and Sun.
*'''[[Tiefling]]''' - Brutal raiders from the most hostile and barren regions of the desert, descendants of people who turned to fiend-worship for the strength to survive in the wasteland.

Now, you might think that the above list is pretty decent already, right? Well, it's technically incomplete!

First of all, the original boxed set mentions that '''[[kenku]]''' and '''[[yuan-ti]]''' both exist on Athas, though it doesn't flesh them out much - most fans even forget that Athasian yuan-ti are canon, despite their prominent role in the [[CRPG]] [[Wake of the Ravager]], a game nobody remembered until GOG.com began selling many (most?) of the SSI AD&D modules of the 80s and 90s. Now that WotR is readily available, the thing people remember most about that game is the numerous, game-breaking bugs. (But you should still buy it, as workarounds to the bugs do exist.) Anyway, since both races are playable depending on your base edition, they should be legitimate options in your Dark Sun campaigns.

Secondly, the adventure [[City by the Silt Sea]] introduced the '''[[Dray]]''', a race of dragon-men engineered by Athas' sole [[dracolich]], as both monsters and an optionally playable race. 4th edition promoted these guys to a fullly fledged mainstream race in the setting, although they did just recommend they use [[dragonborn]] stats for them.

Thirdly, the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Guide notes you could justify [[minotaur]]s as the "[[Half-Giant]]" counterpart to [[Beasthead Giant]]s.

Finally, the Monstrous Compendium Appendixes for Dark Sun, especially the second one, detailed a number of species who live on Athas who are sapient but non-playable - the "humanoids" of Athas, essentially. Since Dark Sun coincided with the release of the internet, fans took matters into their own hands and converted a good number of these races to be playable in either 2nd edition ("The Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids") or 3rd edition ("Terrors of Athas"), with the latter in particular promoting a fair number of [[giant]]s and Monstrous Humanoids. Admittedly, some of these are more likely to make you go "what the fuck were they smoking?!" than others.
* '''[[Anakore]] ''' - Sand-burrowing carnivorous predators. Basicall Athasian mole-people.
* '''[[B'rohg]]''' - Four-armed [[giant]]s who are really good at hitting stuff, but not much good at anything else.
* '''[[Baazrag]]''' - Camel-humped sloth-man with a really convoluted history.
* '''[[Belgoi]]''' - Desert-wandering cannibals who use psy-boosted bells to lure suckers into the wastes for dinner.
* '''[[Braxat]]''' - Hulking, armor-plated, acid-spitting [[lizardfolk]] with genius IQs, telepathy, psychoportation, and a sadistic streak.
* '''[[Bvanen]]''' - Armor-plated frog-people from the last surviving swamp on Athas.
* '''[[Drik|High Drik]]''' - Giant, spell-casting [[lizardfolk]] magically engineered as super-soldiers.
* '''[[Feylaar]]''' - Four-armed gorillas with genius intellects and [[psionics]].
* '''[[Giant]] ([[Beasthead Giant]], [[Crag Giant]], [[Desert Giant]], [[Plains Giant]])''' - The last surviving giant species of Athas.
* '''[[Gith|Athasian Gith]]''' - The degenerate descendants of a [[githyanki]] army which was mindblasted into madness by a [[githzerai]] psy-bomb.
* '''[[Hej-kin]]''' - Cannibalistic burrowing creatures that resemble a cross between a [[gnome]] and a mole.
* '''[[Jozhal]]''' - [[Dinosaur|Little raptors]] that have a natural affinity for preserver magic.
* '''[[Lask]]''' - A weird race of reptilian humanoids newly emergent from the spellwarped wastelands of Athas.
* '''[[Lizardfolk|Athasian Lizardfolk]]''' - The last surviving lizardfolk of Athas, who inhabit its last surviving sea.
* '''[[Magera]]''' - Literally just Athasian [[ogre]]s.
* '''[[Mindhome Folk]]''' - Telepathic, pacifist, [[Underdark]]-dwelling little humanoids.
* '''[[Nikaal]]''' - Acid-spitting reptilian humanoids who travel Athas in great trading caravans.
* '''[[Reggelid]]''' - Mad elf-like beings obsesed with defiler magic and who have a bitter enmity against Athasian halflings.
* '''[[Scrab]]''' - Hive-dwelling sapient centipedes with arms.
* '''[[Silt Runner]]''' - [[Kobold]]-like little lizard-people that inhabit the silt sea and its surrounds.
* '''[[Slig]]''' - Perpetually hungry carnivorous humanoids.
*'''[[Ssurran]]''' - 2-legged sentient komodo dragons. Lives in the desert and loves them some lava. Very resistant towards heat and the Dark Sun, these guys enjoy worshiping Fire and Magma.
*'''[[Tarek]]''' - Earth-worshipping, hulking, ape-like humanoids from the mountains. Pretty obviously an "evolved" strain of Athasian [[Orc]]s, like how Ssurrans are Athasian [[lizardfolk]]. Take obvious inspiration from the ape-men of popular pulp novels and Frazetta/Vallejo paintings the same way the rest of the setting does.
* '''[[Tari]]''' - The [[ratfolk]] of Athas. Supposedly nobody in the modern city-states knows they're sapient, despite the fact they had their own empire in the southern regions a couple centuries ago.
* '''[[Trin]]''' - The more primitive and savage cousins of the thri-kreen. Because thri-kreen aren't already mantis-y enough. Have four legs instead of four arms, so they run really, really fast.
* '''[[Tul'k]]''' - Descendants of a tribe of elfs warped into brutish giant ape-men by magic run amuck.
* '''[[Amazon|Villichi]]''' - [[Abhuman|A emergent human subspecies]] consisting of albino psychic women.

We gotta talk dragons now.

*'''[[Athasian Dragon|Athasian]]''' - Only "playable" by a very technical definition of the term, since it was an epic-level class for level 21+ characters with nastily-difficult requirements, though 4e made it an epic destiny. Not at all like the normal ''D&D'' variety, which don't exist on Athas, Athasian Dragons are horrible monsters that embody the corrupted nature of arcane magic in the setting: rapacious, violent, and filled with rage and a lust to dominate or destroy. Depending on source, there's either many or only one being that has ever successfully completed the transformation, and he's the ''other'' [[BBEG]] of the setting, as mentioned above, but almost all of the Sorcerer-Kings are at least part of the way there.
*'''[[Avangion]]''' - The opposite version of an Athasian dragon, being the life-nurturing embodiment of what arcane magic ''should'' be. Looks like a bizarre glowing manta ray-dragonfly, with a huge wingspan. Not as much balls-out murder power as a dragon, but able to no-sell many of its abilities, actually support its party, and not be an insane rage-cauldron the DM could take over whenever he felt like it. Just as hard to qualify for though, and also a 4e epic destiny. No one in the Tyr region has ever successfully become one, though one NPC as far down the process as most of the Sorcerer-Kings are to being dragons, and unlike many of them is actively trying to advance.

===Classes===
*'''[[Cleric]]s''' - There are no real gods in the setting (according to 4e, this is because the Primordials drove them off in the [[Dawn War]]), so most clerics [[elementalist|worship elements or quasi-elements]] - the game implies there ''were'' gods at one point, however, because an [[undead]] monster unique to the setting is a '''Raaig''', the pissed-off [[ghost]] of a long-dead [[cleric]] or [[paladin]]. In a desert world, summoning water elementals will get you pussy until you realize that if you level up to much you become a true elemental yourself too. And it is not a nice way to go when you croak after a bunch of people [[cannibalism|consumed your body]] because they were thirsty and you're a water elemental now. The way they are described, they are more "elemental shamans" than archetypical clerics. Other types are insinuated to exist, such as a 'sun cleric' featured in the novels, representing the aspect and domain of the sun as a natural force rather than a deity.
*'''[[Druid]]s''' - Druids serve spirits of the land. They have a guarded lands that they are responsible to look after, which unfortunately could conflict with adventuring time.
*'''[[Gladiator]]s''' - You know. Like the movie. Also one of the most overpowered classes in the times of AD&D, a low level gladiator could be the personification of a certain Frank Frazzeta's illustration entitled "The Destroyer". Essentially, they were [[Barbarian]]s before Barbarians as 3e made them a thing.
*'''Dune Traders''' - lol that's actually a class? Was more on the role-playing side of things, could get loads of handy contacts and power within tradehouses. Took care of diplomacy, trading, and generally any situation that could be resolved without a weapon.
*'''[[Fighter]]s''' - Not as good as a Gladiator in personal combat, but who is? Really excelled at attracting and leading armies at higher levels.
*'''[[Bard]]s''' - Most bards sing songs and boost the other party members' rolls. Dark Sun bards will poison and kill you, and maybe fuck you. Maybe even in that order, too.
*'''[[Paladin]]s''' - lol nope. Honor and virtue fell by the wayside a long time ago on Athas, but what else would you expect from a planet this Darwinian?
*'''[[Templar]]s''' - Replace Paladins thematically, but more on the police side of things to the point they are essentially the Sorcerer-Kings's [[Nazi|Gestapo]]. Ability-wise, they're more like Clerics with slower spell-progression but more spellslots and the ability to use any weapon. Worship the Sorcerer King who rules their city.
*'''[[Psion]]icists''' - Psionicists are considered accepted and normal in this setting. In fact, every PC is guaranteed to have ''at least'' one psionic power! OMGWTF! (Well, this sounds nice, until you realize pretty much everyone does, especially monsters.) Think Jedis, kind of. Wanna move shit with your mind without casting a spell like some bitch ass looking wizard? Check. Mindrape? Check. ''Fucking Time Travel?'' Double Check. Unfortunately suffered from the fact that psionics in 2e were a horrible mess, and with a few notable exceptions, most of your powers are either incredibly niche or use clunky subsystems.
*'''[[Ranger]]s''' - Same old shit. Think Aragorn in the desert.
*'''[[Rogue]]s''' - Pretty similar to the non-Athasian kind. Attracted a Patron at level 10, aka you work for me now bitch.
*'''[[Wizard]]s''' - Two types exist in the setting, but everyone hates them both:
** [[Defiler]] - Evil mages, who suck out the life force of things. When they level up enough, they usually have an allergic reaction called dragon metamorphosis.
** [[Preserver]] - Mages who are not manly enough to steal huge amounts of life force, so they sacrifice efficiency to keep the stuff around them alive. Unfortunately for them, the commoners think all wizards are the same "technically true btw". Fortunately for them, most of their shit can be passed off as psionics. When they grow up enough to be considered bad ass they turn into the manta ray like aliens from ''Abyss''.
** [[Cerulean_Storm#Cerulean_Wizards|Cerulean Mages]] were added after the [[Prism Pentad]] novels caused the whole series to be rewritten, and are basically neutral mages who try to use the giant raging storm elemental now stranded on Athas as a battery.
** [[Necromancer]]s were retconned into the setting as wizards who draw power from the realm of the dead, which slowly turns them into undead beings. Ironically, they're actually neutral aligned, and technically even potentially good aligned because their powers don't require them to hurt the planet and undeath isn't hungering for life any worse than magic itself does.
** [[Shadow Magic|Shadow Mages]] are like Necromancers, but they draw from the [[Plane of Shadow]] instead of the Gray.

===Sorcerer-Kings===
The [[Sorcerer-King]]s were the jerks chosen by [[Rajaat]] with the deepest reservoirs of hatred (read:racists) for everything. Except halflings. Or was it humans. SPOILER! These were usually the big bad dudes that Dark Sun campaigns revolved around killing. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning killed off most of them in the series ''The Prism Pentad'', thus giving the campaign setting nothing left to live for. TSR brought out a small post-novel supplement entitled "Beyond the Prism Pentad", which also included references to a product called "Dark Sun: ''A New Age''" that was never released, to try and save what little scraps of the setting was left after [[skub|Denning's]] royal buttfuck of it all. It didn't work. As a result, TSR brought it out back and shot it while you cried in your mother's arms. When it came back for a 4E splat, this killing spree was effectively retconned under the same anti-continuity clause that Eberron held to.

Most/all Sorcerer-kings were/are in various stages of Dragon metamorphosis -- i.e. turning into a Dragon, you idiot -- as a result of their addiction to Defiling. "Real" dragons don't exist on Athas, and only the most powerful Wizard/Psionicists with the help of handy [[Necronomicon|forbidden lore]] could start on this journey to REAL ULTIMATE POWER. Side effects include deepening of voice, a bad case of scaly skin, and the desire to FUCKING KILL EVERYTHING. Which gave rise to the most stupid/common-sense ''Dark Sun'' rule ever, via the rulebook ''Dragonkings'', where a 25th level Dragon, if you were lucky/good enough to make it that far and survive a series of spells that ''had an outright chance to kill you'', WAS COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER BY THE DM UNTIL LEVEL 30. How fun is that shit. The reasoning being the Dragon entered a period of Animalistic Rage. And of course, only the DM could properly portray that shit, moron. Go sit on the couch and shut up. (Granted, it was better than giving players literal dragon-god-like power, given the tendencies of the sorts of player willing to commit the atrocities necessary to become a dragon to [[Murderhobo|steal, fuck and kill everything they see including their fellow PCs.]] Remember how all the other Dragon Kings were literally fueled by genocide?)

Originally, just one of the Dragon-Kings was an actual '''dragon''', formerly Borys of Ur-Draxa. PCs could confront him in '''[[DSR4: Valley of Dust and Fire]]''', which is a strong contender for the title of "hardest official module ever made," and which ''itself'' cautioned that it was meant for ''Dragon Kings'' parties over level 21. Wonder how those "[[Mary Sue|Prism Pentad]]" dipshits managed it... Especially since not a single one of them were even level 20 (their stats are given in "Beyond the Prism Pentad") , much less a full 5-man party of level 21+ characters.

To expand their use as a plot device, each Sorcerer-King/Queen ruled a City-State, up until they were slain by Denning like it was a bodily function:

*'''Abalach-re''' - The queen bitch of the City-State of Raam, this paranoid schizo cunt makes [[Skaven|your average Skaven]] look like Ghandi. Also universally loathed and held in contempt by both her own people and all the other Sorcerer Kings. Whether her neurotic paranoia is the result or the cause of this is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question.
*'''Andropinis''' - He had egg shaped nostrils. He wore a toga and ruled over the Greek inspired City-State of Balic. Unique for being the only Lawful Neutral sorcerer-king (All the others are listed as Lawful Evil, naturally), and for running a state that actually somewhat functions, in a democracy-turned-dictatorial-sham kind of way.
*'''Hamanu''' - Mr. Lionface. Not one of the original 13 Champions, he was the ruler of Urik and a blatant homage to Hammurabi. Evil and cruel, with his draconic transformation halted rather than reversed, but his devotion to order, justice, rationality, and his father's dream of a green and peaceful land make him one of the best of a terrible lot.
*'''Kalak''' - You know your old, shriveled, power-hungry, slave-master of a grandfather? That's this guy. Ruler of Tyr before his plan to get jacked up quick on dragonsauce was discovered and foiled by a bunch of meddling kids and one talking dog. The 4e reboot explicitly starts every game with him being overthrown and Tyr being established as a Free City, before letting the PCs see where things go from there.
*'''Kalid-Ma''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kalidnay, currently trapped in a near-death coma in [[Ravenloft|a completely different campaign setting]] thanks to his head honchessa's cruel betrayal of everything good in her life in favor of her freaky, possessive stalker crush on him. Probably not coming back, regardless of what the deluded cultists rifling through his garbage think.
*'''Lalali-Puy''' - The hottest Sorcerer-Queen, and ruler of the barely civilized Jungle-Town of Gulg. Also one of the less-evil Sorcerer Kings by virtue of not doing much to actively hurt the people who adore her, with some liner notes specifically calling her the most likely King to make a face turn who hasn't already, though her current rule over Gulg is cemented by brutal enslavement of nature spirits, one of whom she's masquerading as.
*'''Nibenay''' - Called the Shadow King. Either he really, really hated people and being seen, or he was too stupid to cast a simple glamour to NOT MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A DRAGON around his superstitious subjects. Ruler of the largest City-State of the same name, which was locked in a perpetual war with Gulg for some crazy strong blue balls. Or blue wood. Whatever. His templars are all female, and are forced to mate with him for the job, which is frankly par for the course for evil at this point. Even considering his hideous, part-dragon/part-man appearance.
*'''Tectuktitlay''' - He's a ladykiller, he'll rip your heart out and throw it down the fucking ziggurat. Bird like in appearance, he was the Aztec inspired ruler of Drag. Drek. Er, Draj. Smart, despite his insanity and cruelty.
*'''Oronis''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kurn. Kinda. Oronis is a special case. He started to feel bad about... you know exterminating all the lizard-men, especially when he saw that it was all for a lie, and he and his comrades were turning the world into a ruin rather than a paradise. So, he took his vitamins, drank his milk, and managed to put the brakes on the whole "morph into a dragon through genocide" thing... and go the other direction into becoming an avangion. Kurn is dying, but it's just a facade for New Kurn now anyway, and he's withdrawn from politics to pursue further experiments into avangion-hood while leaving behind a "true" democracy. Literally the only Sorcerer-King actively trying to make his shithole of a world a better place.
*'''Daskinor''' - Kim Jong Il's Dark Sun doppelganger. Ruler of Eldaarich, this <strike>paranoid asshat</strike> omnipotent and benevolent God King keeps his city <strike>on permanent lockdown</strike> safe and protected from all the evils of Athas. Literally built massive walls to close off his city from the outside world <strike>thanks to his insanity starting to leak into the city as a whole</strike> because it is totally self-sufficient and wants for nothing the outside world has to offer. Especially not water and food.
*'''Dregoth''' - The undead dragon sorcerer-king, ruler of Giustenal. This dude got ganked by a bunch of the other Sorcerer-Kings who were tired of him bragging about the size of his <strike>cock</strike> book of spells a couple thousand years ago, but his loyal Templars brought him back as a Lich, and he's just been chilling underground unbeknownst to every else, for quite some time now. Created the [[dray]] race, which he hopes will one day completely replace humanity as the new "master race."

===Cosmology===
Athas is... ''different'' to the standard realm in the [[Great Wheel]]. Looking across various sources (most prominently "Defilers & Preservers" and "Earth, Air, Fire & Water" for Dark Sun itself) reveals that Athas is connected to only a small handful of planes; the Gray, the Black, and the [[Elemental Planes]]. Further differentiating its cosmology, whilst Athas retains connections to the four standard "True" Elemental Planes (Earth/Air/Water/Fire), it only has four Paraelemental Planes consisting of Magma, Rain, Silt and Sun.

The Gray is essentially the afterlife of Athas; a dreary, endless limbo realm of dismal mists, which serves to blockade Athas from both the [[Ethereal Plane]] proper and the [[Astral Plane]]. Depending on who you ask, it's either Athas's "Border Ethereal" or an analogue region for the Astral Plane.

The Black is analogous to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and mostly serves as a prison for Rajaat.

It's noted that Athas is unusually close to the [[Elemental Planes]], and this is, in part, why the world is so screwed up.

Athas can actually interact with the [[Great Wheel]], and be reached by [[Spelljammer]]s, but it's extremely difficult to do so - the whole thing is effectively a sealed zone, as if something trapped the entire pocket of reality inside a locked room.
* The [[Githyanki]] are known to have opened a portal to Athas and tried to invade... then they ran home with their tails between their legs and closed up the portal, before leaving behind the proverbial sign saying "Do not open this fucking door!" Athasian [[Gith]] are believed to be the degenerate remnants of githyanki stranded here as a result of the failed invasion.
* The Mists of [[Ravenloft]] can also reach into Athas and pluck victims into its embrace. There's even an Athasian [[Domain of Dread]] called "Kalid-Ma". It says something about life on Athas that being stuck in the [[Demiplane of Dread]] is actually perceived by most Athasians as a step up.
* The [[World Serpent Inn]] hosts at least one known two-way portal to Athas.

==Controversies==
As beloved as it is by the fandom, Dark Sun has... its share of base-breaking lore. Here's a list of a few major things tend to be either loved or hated by fans of the game.

===The Halfling Conspiracy===
A lot of people are less than impressed with the revelation that [[halfling]]s were the precursor race and that Dark Sun became such a fucked up world because one psycho wanted to go back to the days when halflings (and technically thri-kreen) were the only extant race.

===Beyond the Prism Pentad===
As mentioned above, the changes of the Prism Pentad tie-in novels really messed up with the status quo of Dark Sun. Beyond killing off a bunch of Sorcerer-Kings, it also created the Cerulean Storm, an enormous perpetual rain storm wandering randomly across Athas, bringing water back to the planet but at the same time doing so with such violence that it's almost as bad as the original drought.

===Isolated Universe===
Players have debated whether the isolation of Athas from divine entities extends to dimensional travel hardcore survival GM'S like to keep Athas isolated to prevent players from scheming ways to import water or metal with magic while imaginative players like combining other universes into their gameplay depending on your GM and group of players will you see the full brutality of athas with several of your mary sues dying or go on a classic d&d power trip.

===Mind Lords of the Last Sea===
This module, which reveals there is one last sea on Athas, is pretty controversial for various different reasons. Such as the existence of a place where a secretive bunch of psion-lords use telepathy to force people to comply with social standards, the existence of a large body of water on Athas, the fact that it retcons that [[lizardfolk]] aren't extinct (but then, ssurans were basically fireproof lizardfolk under a different name all along and nobody batted an eye at them), or the fact that it has actual telepathic dolphins and surfing rules in it.

On the other hand, some people like the idea of doing ''The Prisoner'' by way of ''Mad Max'', and the actual content isn't quite as stupid and poorly-written as its reputation suggests, with lots of discussion of how many Athasians would react to seeing the titular Last Sea when enough water to fill a bathtub is wealth beyond measure.

==3e Dark Sun==
While by [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|third edition]] official support for non-[[Forgotten Realms]], non-[[Greyhawk]] settings had largely been dropped, two separate updates for Dark Sun material exist.

In a surprisingly cool move by Hasbro, fan groups were given official permission to update several [[Planescape|orphaned]] [[Spelljammer|settings]] to 3rd edition for free ([[Ravenloft|or one not so free in exchange for a check]]). In Dark Sun's case this spawned Athas dot org and its several PDFs updating the setting.

A separate update was published in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319. This one is far more divergent than the fan conversion, setting the timeline forward 300 years to restore the status quo after the Prism Pentad fuckup. This update uses the standard 3rd edition class lineup, making Templars just Clerics of their respective Dragon King instead of their own class and having [[Paladin]]s actually exist. Since the psioncs book was already needed for psionics, Half-Giant and Thri-Keen, the other races from that book have been thrown in for the hell of it. One unusual mechanical change is how it adapted the higher than average ability score generation Dark Sun used and that several of its races were already printed with [[Level Adjustment]]: The conversion decided to give ''everyone'' [[Level Adjustment]] +1, giving the non-LA races (like [[Human]]) extra stuff to bring them up to LA +1.

The Dragon version of Dark Sun was accompanied by two articles in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #110 and #111; the former provides the "official" 'Dark Su 3.5 DM's Guide', with a basic run down of the setting's lore as well as 20 monsters updated to 3rd edition, whilst the latter provided a second batch of monsters.

==4e Dark Sun==
Surprisingly, when Dark Sun made it into 4th edition, it was welcomed with great warmth and enthusiasm. This might be because WoTC had learned from the mistakes of Forgotten Realms and so whilst there were changes to 4e, none of them were as setting-breaking as the Spellplague, and many actually regarded these changes as being for the better.

What changed? Well...

'''Cosmology''': Athas is now a world where, during the [[Dawn War]], the [[Archomental|Primordials]] won and killed the [[God]]s. The [[Elemental Chaos]] replaces the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Gray is still around, and is the local name for the [[Shadowfell]], but the Black isn't mentioned. If one makes it through the Gray into the [[Astral Sea]], it's empty; the Gods are dead, their halls are abandoned, and there's nothing but ancient celestial ruins and cosmic battlefields to scavenge through. The [[Feywild]] exists, but has been almost completely destroyed by defiling and its remaining pockets are zealously guarded by the Eladrin. The moons of Ral and Guthay are rich, verdant worlds in their own right, according to astrologers, but beyond the rumored existence of unpredictable "moongates" that allow access to them, nothing more is mentioned.

'''Races''': [[Half-Giant]]s lost their ADHD and are now a reflavoring of [[Goliath]]s, mechanically. [[Dray]] went from an obscure race hidden in one module to being mentioned in the core, although mechanically they're just reskinned [[Dragonborn]]. [[Eladrin]] and [[Tiefling]]s are in the setting now, as the bitter survivors of the nearly-destroyed [[Feywild]] and fiend-worshipping cannibal raiders from the depths of the wastelands respectively. A [[Dragon Magazine]] article states that there are [[Genasi]] on Athas who were originally created to rule the mortal races for the Primordials after they fucked off, but they screwed up so badly they were overthrown and then Rajaat came along. Some races (and horses) previously stated to be extinct are present.

'''Classes''': All Divine classes are officially Not Present Here, although there is a sidebar for being The Last Cleric In The World if you really must. [[Shaman]]s, [[Ardent]]s, [[Bard]]s and [[Warlord]]s take up the healer's niche. A new pair of themes, the Elemental Cleric and the Primal Guardian, fill the niches of the Elemental Cleric and the Athasian Druid from AD&D. Defiling is no longer a variant [[Wizard]], but a power that any Arcane caster can risk using. [[Templar]]s went from their own class to being your choice of either a theme or a subclass for the [[Warlock]].

'''History''': The halflings as precursors is no longer explicit fact.

'''Timeline Reset''': The "default setting" in Dark Sun is now just after the Sorcerer-King of Tyr was assassinated by unknown parties. There is NO metaplot, no timeline advancements, nothing; officially, all Dark Sun 4e material is set at this starting point and it's up to the individual DM to decide what, if anything, has happened since Kalak was killed. And there was Much Rejoicing.

==Plot Holes==
Hey, you remember that bit up at the top where Elemental Shamans summon water elementals for people to drink, since there's (supposed to be) no water left on the planet? Well the thing is, assuming everyone's bladders and sweat glands are functioning properly, this by itself should logically be enough to gradually repair Athas.

That said, as bodies of water would gradually start to form and grow more accessible (and these would be bodies of actual ''water'', not urine and sweat, as there's a reason Earth's oceans are still composed of water and not prehistoric dinosaur urine), there'd be less and less reason to keep an elemental-summoning shaman around. "Why should I pay that shaman for a glass when I can walk to the lake for free?" So the rate of repair would get slower and slower as time went on, possibly completely plateauing before the job was finished.

Of course plugging this hole is as simple as positing a route for water to be lost from the environment. Maybe sandtrout are sequestering it underground. Maybe the Primordials are taking some to be dicks. Maybe water from elementals eventually drifts back to the Elemental Chaos.

A tougher plot hole to work out is, how has no one figured out that full body robes are much better protection in the desert than going borderline-naked? Do the locals all have inherited UV protection? Does the sun not shine in the UV spectrum so sunstroke isn’t a thing? <strike>Should we even care since amazon girls in bikini armor is great?</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} <br>

==External links==
[http://darksun.wikia.com/ Darksun Wiki] - <strike>a wiki almost as empty as this one</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} <br>
[http://athas.org Athas.org] - conversion for 3.5, <strike>scheduled to be complete just after 5e comes out.</strike> Sweet shit, it's actually finished!

{{D&D-Settings}}

[[Category:Dark Sun]]