Loremasters, as we speak we delve into the historical past of Nagash who was as soon as a mortal and who grew to become the god of demise.

Nagash is the primary necromancer and Lich, some of the highly effective mages of all time. He triggered the destruction of the civilization of Nehekhara and created the Undead. He grew to become the Incarnate of Shyish in the course of the End Times. He now’s the self-proclaimed ruling god of the Realm of Shyish of the Mortal Realms and the god of demise of Sigmar‘s Pantheon.

But he wasn’t all the time the God of Death. This is the historical past of the Great Necromancer from the Old World.

Early Life

Nagash was the firstborn son of King Khetep of Khemri. He joined the Nehekharan Mortuary Cult and shortly rose to turn out to be High Priest. Like all Mortuary Priests, he was trying to find a way of attaining immortality. But regardless of his exalted rank of High Priest, he coveted even larger energy.

Though Nagash was already nicely versed within the magical embalming arts of Nehekhara, it’s mentioned {that a} group of Dark Elf captives proved important to his quest for immortality. One amongst their quantity was a sorceress, and she or he grudgingly revealed a few of her magical data to the High Priest of Khemri.

Nagash discovered of the Chaos Gate within the far north and the Winds of Magic that blew from it, and the way they could be harnessed by a cautious practitioner. Unlike the sorceries of Khemri, which relied on the intercession of gods, Nagash discovered that mortals might manipulate magic for themselves. Under the tutelage of the Dark Elves he found learn how to harness a sufferer’s ache to energy spells, unlocking a department of darkish magic beforehand unknown to humanity.

The sorceress and her companions made ceaseless efforts to flee from their jail over time, and ultimately Nagash gained sufficient energy by his personal necromantic experiments to confront them. Though wounded within the ensuing magical duel, Nagash succeeded in overcoming and killing all three darkish elves.

Nagash Becomes King

After the demise of their father, Nagash’s brother Thutep took to the throne, changing into the ruler of Khemri. But Nagash was now decided to strive a bid for absolute energy.

One night time, as clouds lined the sky, Nagash usurped his personal brother, burying him alive of their father’s tomb. The subsequent morning, Nagash claimed the throne of Khemri for himself. As there was none different to gainsay him, the ascension was not contested. Soon after, town of Zandri rose in opposition to Nagash, however he used the River Vitae to bypass their military and brutally sacked Zandri itself, an unprecedented tactic within the ordered warfare of Nehekhara. The forces of Khemri then caught the Zandri military in a lure, totally defeating them and cementing Nagash’s tyrannical rule. It was on the eve of that battle that Nagash first found learn how to create the Elixir of Life.

Nagash dominated Khemri with worry, and gathered round him a coterie of dissolute nobles who acted as underlings and co-conspirators in his necromantic experiments, chief amongst them Arkhan the Black. He pressured numerous slaves to labour for 50 years to construct the best pyramid in Khemri from black stone, an edifice which might come to be often called the Black Pyramid of Nagash. On the day it was accomplished, the aged architect got here to the palace to announce its completion and Nagash thanked him earlier than having Arkhan slit his throat. Nagash used the Elixir to increase his and his underlings’ lives and penned all of his data and findings inside a number of tomes product of human flesh and flourished with human blood, works which grew to become often called the Nine Books of Nagash.

After surviving an assassination try, Nagash lashed out at his can be assassins and forged a horrible spell which slew each priest in Nehekhara who was not protect by stone. This horrible act was what galvanized the opposite Kings of Nehekhara to rise in opposition to him.

Nagash’s War Against the Nehekharan Kings

The first to rise in opposition to Nagash was King Akhmen-hotep of Ka-Sabar. The Bronze Host of Ka-Sabar met Nagash’s military in battle on the Oasis of Zedri, the place the troopers of Ka-Sabar have been horrified to face an enemy pressure made partially of haunted, emaciated males and partially of reanimated corpses. Worse, all those that fell rose once more to show in opposition to their former comrades. Still, with the blessings of their god Geheb and the help of the desert tribesmen of Bhagar, the Bronze Host was virtually victorious. Only when the tents of Nagash himself and his immortals got here underneath menace did the necromancer-king stir, unleashing a plague of black locusts which ravaged the lads of Ka-Sabar and compelled Akhmen-hotep to retreat.

Elsewhere in Nehekhara, the kings of Rasetra and Lybaras had shaped an alliance in opposition to Nagash, backed by the excessive priesthood of Mahrak. Marching by the Valley of Kings, the mixed military defeated the Nagash-loyalists of Quatar and occupied town, arresting Quatar’s king. Thus positioned, they posed a direct menace to Khemri. Returning to his capital, Nagash summoned his allies, the kings of Zandri and Numas, who pleaded that they didn’t have sufficient time to boost a military in opposition to Rasetra and Lybaras. Nagash promised to purchase them the time they wanted. Drawing upon the demise energies of a horrible bloodbath Arkhan and his horsemen had perpetrated in opposition to the desert tribesmen of Bhagar in retribution for opposing him, Nagash triggered a rain of blood to fall upon Quatar, spreading a horrible plague which diminished town to a depopulated spoil and compelled the kings of Rasetra and Lybaras to retreat house and rebuild their ravaged armies.

The last battle of the warfare occurred at Mahrak, which Nagash’s military besieged for a decade with out conquering. Lahmia had remained uncommitted all through the warfare, however with Nagash’s victory at hand younger prince Lamashizzar led the military of Lahmia to affix the necromancer. However, by this time Arkhan had turned in opposition to his grasp and satisfied Lamashizzar to betray Nagash, whereas the armies of Numas and Zandri additionally contemplated turning. In the ultimate battle all of Nagash’s allies save his personal undead turned on him, whereas reinforcements from Rasetra and Lybaras arrived to carve into his flanks. Though Mahrak fell, Nagash’s military was obliterated and the necromancer-king himself was mortally wounded in a storm of primitive gunfire. His essence fled again to the Black Pyramid in Khemri, which was quickly besieged by his enemies. When they opened the lid of his tomb, nonetheless, they didn’t comprehend the swarm of beetles that flew out for what it was and Nagash escaped, his thoughts and physique damaged, into the wastelands north-east of Nehekhara.

It was usually determined at the moment that every one that Nagash had wrought throughout his accursed reign ought to be destroyed: the cabal of twisted followers he had ensnared to his ghastly practices have been put to the sword, and nice fires consumed a lot of what Nagash had achieved and written – his valuable Nine tomes have been believed to be among the many ashes, although in truth they have been stolen by Lamashizzar, who used Arkhan to steer him to the tomes then betrayed and captured the immortal. That all the tomes weren’t destroyed would ultimately come again to hang-out Khemri and Nehekhara, simply because the shadow of the Black Pyramid haunted it continuously.

The Great Necromancer Rises

During this time, wandering within the waste and haunted by the spirits of his foes, Nagash got here to the very level of demise – solely to cheat it by pure probability after overpowering a skaven patrol carrying warpstone and being reworked by its energy right into a Liche, the best of his variety, a lot totally different of the traditional Liche Priests of the Mortuary Cult. He got here to Cripple Peak and found there a secret deposit of warpstone which was worshipped by primitive tribes.

Within the mountain he constructed his abode, a fortress-city to encourage terror and awe the world over – Nagashizzar. He waged an extended warfare in opposition to the tribes, utilizing their very own barrows to boost a brand new military and ultimately conquering their whole race, within the course of creating the primary ghouls. Nagash discovered learn how to manipulate the warpstone, and at Nagashizzar he cast lots of his famed artifacts of energy together with his wretched sword Mortis, his Crown of Sorcery, and his Black Armour. Prolonged publicity to the mutagenic warpstone twisted Nagash right into a hideous monster, not recognisably human. It elevated his measurement and energy however left him little greater than a strolling skeleton wreathed in spirits and flame.

Such a considerable amount of warpstone drew different creatures, particularly skaven, who fought a large warfare in opposition to Nagash for management of Cripple Peak. The skaven armies have been huge, however Nagash’s magic skills have been additionally huge, as have been his armies of undead. After years of warfare led to a bitter stalemate, Nagash supplied the skaven a truce: he would give them warpstone in change for ore and slaves. The Skaven, cautious of his plans however coveting the warpstone, agreed.

Many years later, Lahmia had risen to prominence as essentially the most highly effective metropolis in Nehekhara underneath Neferata’s secret management. She adopted the younger prince Alcadizzar of Rasetra, who had obtained elixir comprised of her personal blood within the womb, into her secret blood cult and deliberate to make use of him to create a brand new Nehekharan empire. However, Alcadizzar rebelled upon studying Neferata’s true nature and fled into hiding with the desert tribes, ultimately uniting all of the kings of Nehekhara in opposition to Lahmia with proof that town was dominated by vampires. Lahmia was destroyed and Neferata and her allies pushed into exile.

Nagash Seeks His Old Throne

Some of the vampires who fled made their approach to meet by Nagash within the mountains of the north, and he embraced them as spawns of his personal corrupt magic. These vampires grew to become his captains. Nagash despatched these timeless warriors to make warfare with Nehekhara on the head of a mighty military of skeletons.

But Nagash had underestimated his former countrymen. Alcadizzar the Conqueror was the best normal of his age, and a few argue the best King to ever rule Khemri. He led a unified military in opposition to the undead invaders, outmaneuvering Arkhan (resurrected from his tomb in Lahmia by Nagash) and the vampire W’soran to lure them within the Valley of Kings and totally defeat them.

So bitter and evil was Nagash that he determined that if he was not allowed to rule all of Nehekhara then no-one might. He concluded that it was higher to slay every part in Nehekhara than see it dominated by another person. The first a part of his plan was to get his skaven allies to pollute the River Vitae, whose life-giving water the folks depended upon. After he had tainted the river it grew to become black and foul, and has since been renamed the River Mortis. Soon after the corruption of the Vitae pestilence ravaged the lands of Nehekhara, claiming Alcadizzar’s spouse and sons amongst hundreds of others. When a brand new military of the undead invaded Nehekhara, there have been barely any left to oppose it. Alcadizzar himself was captured and thrown right into a cell in Nagashizzar.

It was now, with Alcadizaar imprisoned and Nehekhara on its knees, that Nagash revealed the conclusion of his evil plans. He started to weave some of the highly effective spells ever to be tried, utilizing tortured Alcadizzar because the fulcrum. At the top of his energy Nagash unleashed a mighty wave of sorcerous power which washed over the land for lots of of miles, inflicting every part that was dwelling to decay and die, and all that was lifeless to rise once more. Nagash deliberate to make use of his necromantic powers to boost the complete inhabitants of Nehekhara as an unstoppable military, which he would use to beat the complete world, and there’s little doubt he would have succeeded, had a wierd flip of occasions not taken place.

Betrayed By The Skaven

The skaven leaders, watching Nagash’s energy develop, realised the menace posed by this newest improvement. Still looking forward to management of the massive deposit of warpstone at Cripple Peak, and conscious that they’d be amongst the primary to endure Nagash’s wrath, the skaven carried out a plan to assassinate the necromancer. Rather than threat their very own lives in an try to slay him, they as an alternative freed Alcadizzar and supplied him with a strong blade made out of pure warpstone, so lethal and unstable that even the wielder would ultimately succumb to its effects-the Fellblade. Infiltrating Nagashizzar, hooded skaven brokers freed Alcadizzar from his captivity and gave him the blade, departing with no phrase or a backward look.

Still weak from the facility he had exerted casting his immensely highly effective spell, Nagash was recovering when Alcadizzar stumbled into his throne room. Surprising Nagash in his second of weak point, Alcadizzar lower off considered one of Nagash’s palms. He then bisected the necromancer, who felt the worry of demise for the primary time in centuries and seized the tormented once-king by the throat. Nagash virtually succeeded in throttling Alcadizzar, however with the final of his energy Alcadizzar lower off considered one of Nagash’s arms, adopted by his head. The Great Necromancer was slain.

The Return of Nagash

Nagash didn’t keep lifeless. Using the facility of his Black Pyramid, he was in a position to knit his physique again collectively, piece by tiny piece, over 1,111 years. The subsequent time he rose, he discovered the lands of Nehekhara defended by many jealous undead kings with their mixed armies of skeletons equal to something he might muster. Nagash challenged the reigning king of Khemri, the primary King Settra, for the rule of Nehekhara. Settra and the opposite Kings, livid at what Nagash had achieved, chased him from Nehekhara. They had no worry of his monstrous type or the undead hordes he commanded, for they commanded skeletal legions of their very own and had turn out to be simply as monstrous in look as him.

Returning to his fortress, Nagash discovered the skaven had mined a lot of the warpstone away. Nevertheless, in a single night time, he drove all of the skaven from Cripple Peak. The skaven made many makes an attempt at regaining Cripple Peak, however having been defeated by Arkhan who as soon as once more joined his grasp, they ultimately determined that that they had gathered sufficient of the warpstone, and left Cripple Peak for good.

Nagash Faces Sigmar

Nagash, nonetheless weak from his demise, realised that he wanted his previous magical artefacts to reassert his energy, together with his stolen crown. He cast a brand new hand out of warpstone alloy and went trying to find his crown. Kadon, the human shaman who had found the crown on Alcadizzar’s corpse, had taken it north into the Badlands and underneath its affect based the civilization of Mourkain, a grim, death-worshipping kingdom which was nonetheless however a shadow of Nehekhara underneath Nagash. Mourkain’s existence attracted highly effective vampires like Neferata, W’soran and Ushoran who fought one another for management, however the civilization was ultimately swept away by an Orc invasion and diminished to ruins.

Nagash’s crown was rescued from the destruction by a necromancer named Morath who took it additional north, into the lands the place a nascent human Empire was rising underneath the rule of a younger tribal king named Sigmar. Sigmar led a military into the Middle Mountains and defeated and slew Morath, however then took the Crown of Nagash for himself, unaware of its darkish powers and provenance. Under the crown’s affect Sigmar grew to become gaunt and harsh, turning on his personal allies till his pal Wolfgart knocked it from his head, restoring Sigmar’s thoughts. Enraged that his try to seize management of the Empire by Sigmar had failed, Nagash led a fantastic military into the nascent Empire to reclaim his crown however was defeated and slain on the Battle of the River Reik, his cranium smashed in by Sigmar’s mighty hammer Ghal-Maraz.

The Dead Don’t Die

Nagash as soon as once more returned to life, 1,666 years after his demise by the hands of Sigmar, within the night time often called the Night of the Restless Dead.

After that, he started enacting his will on the earth by the manipulation of others, specifically Lichmaster Heinrich Kemmler and his henchman Krell, and even Mannfred von Carstein, who had a talisman of Khemri origin that Nagash beforehand owned, and which was used to provide him full management over the undead.

The End Times

Nagash’s return was lastly led to in 2524 by an unholy alliance of Arkhan the Black and Mannfred von Carstein. However, it was inperfect. The resurrection ritual required 9 sacrifices of holy blood. One of them was Aliathra, the everchild. However, unbeknownst to each Mannfred and Arkhan, Aliathra was not really the daughter of Finubar the Phoenix King. Her actual father was Tyrion. This meant not solely that her blood didn’t comprise Asuryan’s blessing, but it surely additionally pulsed with Aenarion’s curse. This was a significant drawback for Nagash. However, shortly after his resurrection, he did handle to bind the Wind of Death to his will, inflicting him to turn out to be a dwelling avatar of Shyish.

There is MUCH extra to Nagash’s story and if you wish to study much more then take a look at the Lexicanum!

Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and Austinite for 15+ years, Adam covers all issues Tabletop Gaming. Which consists of Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and every part else that entails cube, boards, playing cards and a desk.
A hobbyist, participant, and collector of miniatures and video games, Adam’s present obsession are his Death Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, and his ever rising Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.

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