Editing Von Carstein (section)

==History==
===Vashanesh===
The original Von Carstein is not really named Von Carstein; [[Vlad von Carstein]] is the made up name of Vashanesh, ex-husband of the first vampire [[Queen Neferata]]. Neferata's idiot brother ruled their kingdom of Lahmia, although due to his ineffectual rule the real power behind the throne was his sister. He along with the rest of her royal court in Lahmia shared her Elixer which she and [[Arkhan the Black]] perfected using the Books of [[Nagash]]. After an..."accident" (probably involving blood loss, maybe a bit of mutilation and castration) Neferata took the throne; despite being the Pharaoh of a kingdom described as highly sexist (contrast with Neferata's [[High Queen Khalida|cousin's]] kingdom which was fine with a female monarch) Vashanesh is barely mentioned as even being important among the vampires themselves meaning he was most likely a relaxed political puppet for his wife. After some overly opulent living leading to some [[Fail|badly botched efforts to keep the secret of Vampirism under wraps]] the Vampires were attacked and defeated by other Nehekharans, forcing them to flee to the side of the guy who invented Necromancy, Nagash himself.

After the defeat of the Vampires and Nagash and during the death of [[Nehekhara]]/birth of the [[Tomb Kings]], Vlad and all but two of the other Vampires who had stood with Nagash's forces fought and blamed each other for the loss (Neferata had left before the battle occurred, and [[Abhorash]] had fought until defeat before leaving without a word to the others). Nagash's EXTREMELY angry spirit cursed all Vampires with the assorted mythological weaknesses like inability to cross running water and not having reflections (the latter because by nature Vampires are extremely vain) causing the embittered Vampires to flee his wrath by making their own ways through the apparently quite passable "impassible" mountains separating Nehekhara from the [[Old World]]. 
Vlad avoided the entanglements of [[Orcs & Goblins|greenskins]] that hindered the others and found his own way to [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|The Empire Of Sigmar]]. Vampires were still mostly an unknown to the humans of Warhammer Europe, despite [[Sigmar]] himself having fought them and there being a minor matter of the Empire marching to destroy Mourkain during the story of [[W'soran]] and [[Ushoran]]. Thanks to the status quo-enforcing policies of Neferata's web of international sexy spies the common folk knew little of Vampires and feared them only among the various other things that are probably lurking in the night.

According to a later retcon Vashanesh never existed. In the new version Vlad's old identity was a noble ally of Neferata's named Ankhat who mostly managed the day to day operations of the city, and Neferata never remarried after her brother was killed. As of The End Times the rulebook confirms he was Vashanesh... while the novel never mentions the name and says Neferata only ever loved Arkhan. At this point, pick a canon you like.

===Vlad and Isabella===
After spending some time gathering information Vashanesh found that he had come to a land called Sylvania. Sylvania was poor and ruled primarily by corrupt leaders who were hated and feared by the populace. The magic Wind Of Death blew strongly through Sylvania, causing madness in much of its inbred nobility and giving the land a cursed and barren landscape. He also discovered that the leader of the region, the mad count Otto Von Drak, had an inheritance crisis due to having no son to inherit and an intense hatred of his brother Leopold Von Drak. Vashanesh invented the name Vlad Von Carstein, obtained some nice clothes, and presented himself as the handsome nobleman to the court of Castle Drakenhof interested in joining the family. Otto, on his deathbed in the year of 1797, almost immediately gave "Vlad" his daughter [[Isabella von Carstein|Isabella]] as a wife and died soon after that. Leopold had an "accident" of falling off a tower (possibly involving blood loss, most likely due to Vlad literally tearing his heart out of his chest for Isabella) and the Sigmarite priest vanished (blood AND body loss!).

Vlad began a network operation of discovering who's who among Sylvanian nobility, greatly aided by Isabella. Although loyal in concept to the Von Drak line she had a great deal of hatred for her father and those of the court, and eagerly made herself more than just a pawn to her new husband. She accepted his Vampiric nature and fell in love, slowly creeping her way into his heart as well. With her guidance Vlad turned the most loyal (read: least batshit fucking insane) nobles into Vampires while making sure the rest met with various "accidents" (probably involving blood loss and the complete removal of their family name from all records and tombstones). While Vlad was prone to great bouts of rage at any slight (like all Nehekharans) Isabella was of a calm temperament, able to calm her husband and lead him back to reason which ensured that only those who truly deserved his anger received it (cruelly, in front of an assembled gathering of the nobility). The common folk of Sylvania, always oppressed and downtrodden, fearing at any moment that a new burst of the local lord's madness would lead to a fresh purge of their friends and family, actually benefited from Vlad's rule; excessive cruelty was not tolerated, and Vlad GREATLY encouraged acting as if they were still mortal which necessitated living servants and workers on the Sylvanian estates. Taxes were more fair and suddenly being killed by a lord was due to their need for sustenance rather than just because said nobleman found them annoying. Vlad eliminated the bandits and corrupt mercenaries, as well as Chaos worship (Sigmar worship suddenly and inexplicably dropped as well after). Most nobles who were turned gladly renamed themselves Von Carstein in Vlad and Isabella's honor (most were related already anyway).

Isabella wanted to remain with Vlad forever, but knew that soon she would start to fall to age, but Vlad refused to make her a Vampire. While Vlad was away she became deathly ill (AKA poisoned herself, which backfired when she got tuberculosis) and he rushed home to save her. Upon arriving home he found that she was dead, but after sending away the healers and mortician he spent three days alone in her room after which she was suddenly perfectly okay (the doctors may have been confused due to sudden inexplicable blood loss).

===Age Of The Three Emperors (First War of the Vampire Counts\First Vampire War)===
During the events of [[Mordheim]] in 1999 on the Imperial Calendar Vlad managed to woo one of his ex's servants, [[Baroness Katherina von Dernsbach]], and sent her to the city to lead Vampire forces in stealing as much [[Warpstone]] as possible.

Long before Vlad reached the Empire, the Age of Three Emperors started due to an election crisis following the [[Fail|assassination of Mandred Skavenslayer]] by [[Skaven]] in 1152. A successor was not appointed until 1359 when (through accused bribery) the Count of Stirland became Emperor leading to the Countess of Ottilia deciding SHE was Empress, causing a war which raged on and off until 1547 when the Count of Middenland declared himself Emperor due to a conflict with the Sigmar and Ulric churches. After the infant Countess of Marienburg won the election for Emperor, the Church of Sigmar rejected her rulership. By the time that Vlad had decided the time was right to fight to become Emperor, his rivals were the Countess of Talabecland, the Count of Reikland, and the Count of Marienburg and the Empire was a complete fucking mess.

In 2010, on Geheimnisnacht (AKA Halloween, when [[Morrslieb]] is closest to <strike>Mallus</strike> the Warhammer World) Vlad invited the nobility of Sylvania to a feast where the Vampire nobles fed on the remaining mortal nobility after which he consumed all of the gathered Warpstone and read an incantation of Nagash straight from one of the nine Books Of Nagash which caused the undead of Sylvania to rise and march.

Throughout the wars, Vlad was continually killed and to the amazement of all initially, and to his enemies afterwards (the first time one of his subordinates named Herman Posner tried to take over the faction), he returned every night (or within the hour if it was already night) as if nothing happened. This was due to his ring, the Von Carstein Ring, given to him by Nagash at some point which allowed him to return to life as long as he was still wearing it.

First he attacked Talabheim, killing Ottilia, followed by taking Stirland and Ostermark. To end the war in 2051 he laid siege to Altdorf in order to take Reikland and thus the Empire itself. The Grand Theogonist claimed to have received a vision from Sigmar revealing that Vlad's ring was the source of his resurrection in order to prevent the Empire from bowing to Vlad. The greatest thief of the time, Felix Mann (no, not THAT [[Gotrek & Felix|Felix]]) was sent to steal the ring which was easy due to <strike>rebellious Vampires</strike> Vlad's army believing they had nothing to fear; he ran off with it, and was later caught by Mannfred, who took the ring and his hands before leaving him in a cathedral to die whereupon he was saved by a Dwarf and...the writers forgot about him. Vlad attacked in a rage once he woke up the next night and found the ring gone and wound up in melee combat with the Grand Theogonist on the walls of Altdorf [[Fail|(because getting into a duel during a battle is the perfect reaction to finding out your get out of death free card is missing)]]. Vlad fatally stabbed the Sig-pope, who tackled him straight off the walls and onto the stakes below while Vlad's magic bloodsucking sword filled him with pope-blood (remember, holy burns undead). The combination, without the ring, killed him and prevented resurrection. Isabella, who was in the middle of claiming the Empire with the Reikland claimant at her mercy, killed herself instead in order to be with Vlad. The Vampires retreated to Sylvania and the Empire focused on ending the succession crisis...which didn't happen until 2145.

===Age Of The Three Emperors (Second War of the Vampire Counts\Second Vampire War)===
After the deaths of the Von Carstein patriarch and matriarch, the bulk of the invading undead army were destroyed by humans or loss of the magic animating them.

The primary contenders for rulership of the Von Carsteins were [[Mannfred von Carstein]], Fritz Von Carstein, Pieter Von Carstein, Hans Von Carstein, and [[Konrad von Carstein]]. Mannfred, being [[Magnus the Red|a non-confrontational nerd]], figured it was a good time for a world tour=. Before this he freed a vampire named Jon Skellan, and the two did the vampiric equivalent of going on a bender by hunting, (sensually) feeding on then killing the most beautiful women they could find across Stirland. After going on this (surprisingly rapey) killing spree, Mannfred charged Jon with undermining whichever brother rose to power, then left for parts unknown. During this time, Fritz attempted to restart Vlad's invasion of the Empire and was killed in Middenheim. Pieter attacked a town where he was killed by Helmut van Hal, one of the Witch Hunter descendants of [[Frederick van Hal]]. Hans and Konrad engaged each other in a duel over who was the strongest Vampire, which Konrad won by tearing Hans apart and burning the pieces. When the dust settled, Konrad was in charge.

This was unfortunate for the Von Carsteins. Konrad was one of the last Vampires turned by Vlad and for unknown reasons; he was ridiculously insane even by Sylvanian standards, having depopulated towns in mass executions on a whim (specifically, "they smelled bad") and executed his mother for giving birth to him without prior permission by him. He had no talent in magic, insulting and killing Necromancers assigned to him and anyone he thought was mocking his lack of magic ability.

Although inept at leadership, combat tactics, politics, and just about anything else not directly related to inflicting violence on people, he managed to intimidate a record number of Necromancers and Vampires into his service and put them into one giant army which steamrolled through the Empire with a record number of Undead. This slowly advancing wave was only capable of destruction, rather than establishing a chain of command and rulership like Vlad had done. Konrad was defeated in 2100 in the Battle of Four Armies (surprisingly not a reference to [[Tolkien]]) by the combined armies of Altdorf, Talabheim and Marienburg, but still "won" since the election crisis resulted in the Count of Altdorf and the Ottilia of Talabheim assassinating each other while the count of Marienburg was killed by Konrad, then sent as a Zombie to try and claim the Empire in Konrad's name (which canonically only failed because the Necromancers puppeting him had done a bad job of hiding his decomposition).

In 2121 Konrad was defeated by an army of the Empire and Dwarfs, but only due to Konrad's Necromancers all abandoning him at once after finally getting sick of his bullshit (this is canon). Most of the army crumbled, and after attempting to control them regardless Konrad's already scrambled brain was reheated and pitched out the window resulting in him wandering around in the woods until Thane Grufbad of the Dwarf army and the son of the Count of Marienburg wrestled him to the ground and beheaded him (to put this in context, Vampires can backhand a fucking Ogre or a Chaos Champion, but some random human and Dwarf managed to get him on his back).

===Age Of The Three Emperors (Third War of the Vampire Counts\Third Vampire War)===
During Konrad's bullshit crusade, Manny had managed to explore Nehekhara, reclaimed some of the Books of Nagash (there's a lore snarl where he apparently claimed all of them despite them all being in multiple places at once and being lost to the sands of time). He managed to commune with Nagash, swearing allegiance, learned from [[Arkhan the Black]], set up ties with the [[Necrarch]] Bloodline, and returned just in time to restore order after Konrad got a <strike>Game Of Thrones</strike> Walking Dead side character death.

Mannfred returned to Altdorf to lay siege, but the Church of Sigmar had learned how to effectively deal with Undead and Mannfred's army was crushed. He used ambushes and raiding to put pressure on the Empire until the Battle Of Hel Fen in 2145, where, despite dealing with disease and the sicknesses of the swamps resulting in a massive amount of casualties, Mannfred's largely Zombie-based army was destroyed and his lifeless body sunk into the muck. Thus ended the last Vampire War, and the succession crisis FINALLY ended after nearly going on longer than the Empire itself.

===Mannfred's Resurrection===
Felix (yes, THAT Felix) saw and wrote about the resurrection of Mannfred during his travels with the God Emperor Of Murderhobos Gotrek. In fact they unintentionally made it possible. Felix and Gotrek were staying at an inn, having been recruited to rescue the innkeeper's adult daughter, Elsa (not a reference to Frozen), who had been captured by a necromancer. They find the Necromancer trying to use her as a virgin sacrifice to resurrect a vampire. Gotrek cuts him in half and they rescue the woman. However the necromancer's blood leaked through the ground onto Mannfred's body and revived him (revealing the necromancer to have been a virgin, which provoked some amusement from Mannfred).

After nearly abusing the innkeeper's hospitality (Gotrek nearly drinking all the booze and Felix attempting to seduce Elsa), a servant of Mannfred's burns down the inn. Deprived of their vices (the booze is burned up and Elsa has too much of a revenge-boner to care about Felix's literal one) and mad at the wanton destruction, they track down the perpetrator. During this time Mannfred had commandeered a ship and put the crew under his thrall (through a mix of vampire charm and the threat of gruesome death) and sailed to a hidden base. Gotrek and Felix track him down to his lair twice. First time he flees after getting a small cut from Gotrek's axe. The second time Gotrek temporarily loses the axe and forced Mannfred to flee by beating him with a pair of silver candlesticks. Mannfred goes into hiding while Gotrek and Felix go to do their thing in later books.

===[[Blood Of Sigmar]]===
Despite the interference of Gotrek and Felix, Mannfred kept his resurrection under wraps in the same manner as the Skaven keep their existence. He actively recruited all Vampires from any Bloodline, assassinating or sabotaging any who didn't sign up with him while avoiding direct conflict with the other Bloodlines. Von Carsteins were bullied back into the chain of command, and Mannfred began his war by attacking the Dwarfs and kidnapping [[Everqueen|Aliathra]], Everqueen heir to the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]] using a prodded force of greenskins and [[Heinrich Kemmler]].

The sun stopped rising in Sylvania and Vampires became openly active again. Mannfred openly seceded Sylvania from the Empire in 2522 by sending a letter to Karl Franz - [[Grimdark|a letter written in blood on human skin, stuffed down the throat of a Witch Hunter's corpse which was dropped into parliament hall by a Terrorgheist]] - where he declared himself leader of Sylvania at the same time as he stole the Crown Of Sorcery AKA Nagash's favorite tiara. [[Volkmar The Grim]] attempted a crusade against Sylvania, but the force was defeated and he was taken captive. [[Balthasar Gelt]] created a giant magical wall trapping the Undead within Sylvania. Mannfred responded by using the blood of Volkmar, the [[Fey Enchantress]], and Aliathra to create a giant wall of bones inside Sylvania preventing the living from entering or leaving.

===[[The End Times]]===
(Fuck this shit, I'm not writing it.)

Short version: Arkhan and Mannfred broke through Gelt's wall and successfully brought Nagash back. Nagash brought Vlad back, which was awesome. Vlad took over Sylvania from Mannfred, which is even better. But then the world ended, everyone died and it was Mannfred's fault.

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

Technically speaking the Von Carsteins “exist” in the sense that Mannfred is still around and his newly turned minions make up his “Legion of Night”. It’s unlikely humans would survive there making it a Bloodline of one at the time, but he has since sided with anyone against Nagash and any mortals he turns are now part of the Von Carsteins. Since Games Workshop has not committed to which specific characters didn't survive the ET, any character can and sporadically has returned so Vlad, Isabella, Konrad, even the named redshirts from past obscure lore, could all be brought back into the story at any time.

After getting out of his punishment Mannfred founded a realm called Carstinia, which was similar to Sylvania in environment and architecture. At his castle, he was served by vampiric servants made or conditioned into being yes-men and made to look like all the other von Carsteins including Vlad, Isabella and Konrad. However Mannfred eventually accepted how hollow his fantasy was and saw it as a reminder of his past failures, so rarely spends time in Carstinia anymore.

Following Nagash’s house arrest thanks to Teclis, the vampires are now free to run amuck. After deliberately doing a sloppy job of spreading the Nadir to Ghyran, Mannfred was eager to do some conquering of his own by immediately invaded some of Neferata’s land with his armies.