Tomb King Dynasty Creation Tables

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In the grim darkness of vaguely medieval Europe, there is an unending battle between the forces of destruction, Chaos, and order (REGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYONE SAYS). Far, FAR from that lies another kind of battle; death vs death, which ironically never results in death (of the primary contenders, anyone who blunders into the fight is fair game).

In the Egypt-expy land of Nehekhara lies the Tomb Kings, a race of skeletons. Billions and billions of skeletons.

Long ago, before Chaos invaded the world, lived a human king named Settra. Settra believed he was the greatest and set out to prove it by doing the impossible and uniting the entirety of Nehekhara all other kings to kneel to him. Settra was successful, and realized that now death was the last opponent to defeat. He charged the priesthood of Nehekhara to find a way for him to live forever, and they transformed into the Mortuary Cult to fulfill his desire. They failed, and instead preserved his body, treasures, and an entire generation of his slaves and warriors with him for future resurrection. After the death of Settra, work on immortality continued while his united kingdom broke back apart into individual kingdoms. Each generation since Settra was preserved like him, until the day when a priest named Nagash decided that being part of the Mortuary Cult while his brother became a king was unfair. Nagash created Necromancy using Dark Elf magics and created an army of the dead; he was defeated. He returned, now with an army of Vampires and even more undead, and was defeated again (Skaven were involved). This time however he was in the middle of casting a spell which would destroy all life in Nehekhara, resurrecting them as undead slaves; this spell was half-complete, managing to render all of Nehekhara into a gigantic lifeless desert (barring the rare oasis) and all Nehekharans into the living dead.

Suddenly, every single generation of every single kingdom awoke at once. Each Pharaoh who had ever sat on a throne suddenly was fighting their ancestors and descendants for control of it. Every political marriage that cemented an alliance was a betrayal of ancestors, every war from the past broke treaties that came after. Each and every Tomb King was LIVID with anger that the promised immortality, with skin of gold that can experience every pleasure from life, only resulted in desiccated and unfeeling bone. Tomb Kings are truly immortal in their present state, able to resurrect in Nehekhara from the sands regardless of how and why they fall, so the wars went on without any conceivable end. In a panic, the now-undead members of the Mortuary Cult (somehow being above the clusterfuck of politics that had stricken the Tomb Kings) realized that the only Tomb King who could end the (half-literal) metaphorical bonestorm was the only king that had not awoken, Settra himself.

Settra, after banishing the first leader of the Mortuary Cult for failing him, Grand Hierophant Khatep, promptly set out and did what he did in the first place; kicked the ass of every king who refused to bow to him. Now unable to simply kill them, Settra's punishment is to separate the offender from their head and leaving the skull to rant endlessly in the desert by itself, or else fire it from a catapult as ammunition. Settra allowed the clusterfuck war to continue between any kings who saw fit, so long as they all acknowledged that the only TRUE king is Settra. Many dynasties have since managed to figure out who among ancestors and descendants fit in the hierarchy, though some still fight. Many Tomb Kings have returned to rest while the Mortuary Cult tries to deliver on its promise, as Khatep wanders the world trying to find a new magic to grant true perfect immortality.

Every Tomb King has entirely different motives. They have entirely different allegiances. The politics are complex, and any outsider blundering into the situation is sure to piss off several hundred factions at once. Several hundred factions with each a generation of eternal unresting soldiers under their command...

Inspired by Fantasy Flight Games' Deathwatch Role-playing Game's Space Marine Chapter Creation Tables.