Editing Mannfred von Carstein (section)

==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!