The Necromancer

The story of the Vampires began thousands of years ago in the ancient lands of Nekekhara. Long before the reign of Emperor Karl Franz I., long before the Incursion of Chaos and even long before the birth of the legendary Sigmar Heldenhammer. In those ancient times the lands of Nekekhara were reigned by powerful Priest-kings who lived in their mighty cities and ruled over a vast army of priests, scholars, magicians, soldiers and slaves while the ordinary folk worshipped them as if they were gods. The greatest, brightest and most powerful of this cities was Khemri and it was ruled by the Priest-king Nagash, a cruel and merciless ruler and practitioner of the dark arts. Nagash, second in line as successor to the throne of Khemri, killed his brother to access the throne himself. It is said that he accomplished this only because he struck a deal with dark powers. With his dark magic he was able to rise the death from their graves and command them like marionettes. But all his dark powers were not enough to stop his body from growing older and older. For years he searched for a way to stop the decay of his torn body. During this time, he wrote the foul "Nine books of Nagash", tomes full with ancient and forbidden knowledge about necromancy and worse. As his body became weaker because of age, Nagash though that he had found a way to immortality. He ordered his subordinates to built a Pyramid made of black stone. This Pyramid should concentrate the dark powers to preserve his body from further decay. Thousands of slaves died when building this Pyramid, but the cruel Nagash didn't allow them to get peace in death: he raised them to serve him even in death. At the same time the other priest kings of Nekekhara became more and more nervous about the longevity of Nagash and his powers in the dark arts. Alarmed by the rumours about the dead walking through the streets of Khemri, they realized that Nagash was to powerful and that it was just a matter of time until he would become a threat for them. The Priest-kings formed an alliance against the dark ruler of Khemri and started a campaign against him and his undead minions. When Nagash realized the danger, he withdrew into his black pyramid and by chanting a powerful spell he raised a huge army of undead warriors which he sent against his adversaries. But the troops of the alliance advanced into the very heart of the Necropolis of Khemri, led by the Nekekharian prince Lhamizaar . The alliance got assistance from the frightened citizens of Khemri, who revolted against their cruel ruler. Eventually they managed to fight the unliving soldiers back. Finally Lhamizaar and his son stand before the Necromancer and in a mighty battle they overwhelmed the foul priest king, although Lhamizaar lost his live. When Nagash fell to the ground, hit by the spear of Lhamizaars son, the Undead troops under his command crumbled to dust. The alliance-troops looted the pyramid and many of the dark artifacts found there were destroyed.

The bloody Queen

After the defeat of the great Necromancer the Nekekharian princess Neferata ascended to the throne of Khemri. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman and ruled Khemri with wisdom. It was said that she was the most beautiful woman in the know world. But she had a drawback: her vanity. Her greatest fear was the knowledge that she will become older and her attractiveness would vanish at one day. This knowledge made her embittered and she invited scholars, healers and magicians from all over the world to search for a way to prevent her body from ageing. Somehow Neferata was always fascinated by the Black Pyramid of Nagash, which still stood in the center of the city of Khemri. Attracted by the monument, one day she decided to explore the secrets of the floors and rooms that lied within. So she found one of the nine books of the great Necromancer and following the will an inner voice, she took it with her and began it to read. Although her intentions were good in the beginning, as she tried to use the knowledge within the book to fight against the evil, soon she became more and more fascinated by the experiments Nagash described in his books. Neferata realized, that she had found the key for eterneal life. No longer she would have to live in fear of becoming old and loosing the beauty of her youth. Long nights she experimented with unspoken, forbidden rituals from the book in the search for a elixir of live. And her efforts were not useless: in a stormy night she created a black elixir, ignorant that she had created something that even the great Nagash himself was unable to find. Neferata drank greedily from the black potion of life. Horrible pain came over her, and she nearly lost consciousness, but soon the pain became a pleasure. Her heart stopped to beat, but she still was alive, filled with a unnatural thirst for warm blood of the living: she became the first Vampire on the World, a being cursed by the gods, not dead but also not alive.

The Ancestors

Although she got great power through the change into a vampire, she soon realized that her uncontrollable thirst for blood of the living was a handicap. In the beginning she ambushed servants and handmaidens in the dark hallways of her palace and fed on their blood, but she knew that sooner or later her dark doings would be discovered. If she had allies, everything would be easier. Therefore Neferata granted the power to eleven individuals, who she considered worthy and gave them a sip of the elixir of life. Intrigued by the illusion of power and eternal life they were more than willing to accept the dark mistress' gift. They became the first of their kind and were to be known as Master Vampires or Ancestors. So it came that once again an elite of unliving Priest Kings and Queens ruled over Nehekhara. Only the Captain of the Palaceguard, Abhorash, wanted to refuse the elixir, but he was tricked by the Queen and became a vampire against his own will. For a long time he tried to fight the strong desire for blood but finally he succumbed. In a single night he slew twelve men and women and drained them of blood to quench his red thirst. It is said that Abhorash wept tears of blood for his victims when he realized what he had done and he vowed to learn a discipline to keep his raging thirst under control.

In the meantime the other Vampires who got the gift from Neferata enjoyed their new acquired powers. Being able to confer the kiss to willing mortals, the number of the Vampires in Lhamia increased dramatically and soon an immortal aristocracy of blood-sucking Undead ruled over the lands.