Vampire Counts

"Awake O Dead, for there can be no rest for ye beneath the earth. Let the splintered bones burrow from the grave pall. Let cold fingers grip time-worn blades, and unseeing eyes survey the fields of slaughter. For your time has come once more. And the dead shall walk again."

- Motto of the Sylvania Press



The Vampire Counts are amongst the most notorious faction of Vampires to have ever terrorized the civilized lands of the Old World, whom are all known to be the bearer of the unholy blood of the Von Carstein bloodline. The Vampire Counts are fiends without equal. They seek only to topple the civilizations of the living and supplant them with an Undead Empire that shall reign forever as Lords of the Night. The Vampire Counts are powerful necromancers as well as warriors, unnaturally powerful in both strength, cunning, beauty and ambition. However, these Vampires, for all their power and cunning, is ultimately a base, selfish creature driven by the same motivations of the mortals they deem themselves superior to. They are remorseless in their advance, killing without thoughts of mercy or compassion, and whose motive is entirely bent on ones own selfish desire.

Indeed, the entire structure of the Vampire Counts are built by the selfish desires of the individual, whether it be for the pettiness of greed, glory, beauty or power. To the Vampire Counts, they simply want it all, for they consider themselves above the living, and would stop at nothing to delude themselves about their cursed and lonely existence within a world that shows only death or cruelty to such a foul and unloved race. For all of their refinement, in the honest truth, these Vampires are nothing but rotting corpses held together by Dark Magic and the horrific consumption of mortal blood.

From their powerbase within the former Imperial province of Sylvania, the descendants of the Von Carstein bloodline have vied time and again to topple the authority of the Empire of Man. Since the time of Vlad von Carstein, it is the sole purpose of the Von Carstein family to inherit the Realm of Sigmar in their failed attempts of legitimacy, assassination and outright invasion. Yet time and again they've been pushed back towards their tombs and hunted ceaselessly for their horrific origins. Yet no matter how many Von Carsteins fall, there always seems to be another willing to take its place, disturbing the graves of the dead and plotting to finally plunge the Empire into their cruel tyranny.

History
The Origins of the Vampire Counts can be tied together with the origins of the entire Vampire race. From the deserts of the far south, there once laid an ancient and powerful Human kingdom that once ruled unchallenged for many long millenium. This ancient and beautiful civilization once held the name of Nehekhara, a mighty human civilization that was once the pinnacle of Mankinds achievements. Within those once verdant plains, the people of Nehekhara had lived a prosperous life admist the many rival cities that dot its landscape. Massive pyramids were built to honor the many long-dead Priest Kings that once ruled this ancient kingdom, and whose obsession to immortality has lead to dark pursuit of eternal life. Eventually, this obsession with achieving immortality would bring about Nehekhara's demise and, from its death throes, the birth of the first Vampire.

The Rise of Nagash: The Quest for Immortality
Some two and a half thousand years before the birth of Sigmar, the ancient civilization of Nehekhara dwelt along the banks of the great River Vitae. Of all the Kings of Nehekhara, none could match the splendor, cruelty and arrogance of Settra, the First Priest-King of the city-state of Khemri. Under his inspired leadership and unparalleled ruthlessness, the many Priest Kings of Nehekhara's other city-states were conquered and forced to pay tribute and acknowledge Khemri as the greatest city of the land. But Settra was unsatisfied, knowing that one day death would rob him of all he had accomplished.

In his arrogance, he vowed that the grave would not claim him and proclaimed that he would cheat death, setting his wisest and most powerful priests towards working on a means of preventing his passing. Soon, all of Nehekhara became preoccupied with death and the afterlife, building many huge temples and monuments to the dead. These huge tombs became so frequent and huge that the rulers blocked them all into a single massive city known as a Necropoli. In the end however, Settra could never evade death for long, and after living out the last fleeting years of his extended life, he was eventually entombed within a vast pyramid.

It was into this culture that Nagash was born, brother of the currently reigning Priest King of Khemri that has ruled the city many dynasty's following the death of Settra. Nagash was the first son of the former Priest King and was given to the Mortuary Cult as tradition demanded. He soon rose to the position of High Priest, where he observed the Morticians as they prepared the dead for internment and learned all of their ancient death magic, but because Nehekhara was so far south from the norhtern Winds of Magic, he was too weak to cast them. Nagash went to great lengths to increase his knowledge of Death magic, to such an extent that he took to unspeakable experiments in his quest for immortality. When word about this spread, nearly all the citizens of Khemri shunned him. But then, a group of Dark Elves was blown off-course and captured by the Zandri navy, whom are then given to Khemri as a gift to be sealed in with Nagash's father in his tomb. When Nagash heard from a Dark Elven Priestess that she can reveal all her knowledge of Magic, Nagash then proceeded to fake the Dark Elves death and kept them sealed in his father's pyramid as a bargain.

If the Dark Elves willingly reveal and teach Nagash all they know about magic, he would release them from their prison. During his tutoring, the Dark Elves taught Nagash how to reap souls and use their energy to cast spells of his own without the need to channel the Winds of Magic. With this knowledge, after long years of research and experimentations, he created a new form of sorcery which he named Necromancy. Nagash's experiments met with limited success: he was able to prolong his life and forestall the effects of aging, but he still could not stop the slow decaying of his flesh. He shared his elixir with depraved noblemen, building support for himself before he finally killed his own brother before he seized power in Khemri. He and his immortal supporters were tyrannical rulers, slaughtering many of the citizens of Khemri with no provocation or reason. With their newfound power, they constructed the Black Pyramid, the largest structure ever built by Mankind. Nagash supervised the construction of the Black Pyramid, and although it cost a great many lives to built, the blood, sweat and souls of those that died only served the purpose of its construction, for the pyramid was meant to attract as much Dark Magic into Kemri as possible. For the Priest Kings of the other cities, long disturbed by events in Khemri, this was the final blasphemy.



Slowly, the other Priest Kings gathered their innumerable armies and formed a coalition to stop Nagash's tyranny once and for all. A bloody war broke out, where waves of dark magic spread out from the Black Pyramid and blasted the lands of Nehekhara. Once verdant plains of wheat slowly became tainted and the life-giving waters of the lands many oasis grew sickly and killed all which drank from it. After nearly a century of warfare, the armies of the Priest Kings shattered Nagash's power and sacked the capital city of Khemri.

As Nagash fled the burning city into the cold depths of his pyramid, the Great Necromancer swore to the Priest Kings that he shall return and enact his dire revenge upon their descendants. To the Priest Kings, they considered this an empty threat, and laughed as their acolytes found Nagash's disciples within the pyramid and dragged them screaming to be burned and beheaded in the daylight sun. All of the morbid statues and monuments to Nagash's glory were toppled into the sands. The sanctums of the Necromancer's disciples were plundered and dispoiled, and the practice of Dark Magic was outlawed under the pain of death. Yet the agents of the Priest Kings could not find the renegade himself. Although his disciples claimed to have seen Nagash enter his sarcophagus, the coffin itself was mysteriously empty.

Unbeknownst to the Priest Kings, Nagash escaped and rebuilt his power once more. To the far north, he constructed a vast citadel, which became known as Nagashizzar, in the mountain known as Cripple Peak, seeking to take advantage of the huge reserves of warpstone buried beneath its roots. The Skaven, also desiring the warpstone, tried many times to sack Nagashizzar and take Cripple Peak for their own. After nearly a century of attrition warfare, the war ended in a stalemate, for the Skavens could not take the formidable fortress; however, neither could Nagash drive them away. Recognizing the potential for mutual cooperation, Nagash negotiated an alliance with the Skaven, supplying them with warpstone in exchange for their aid with his plans.

The Damnation of Lahmia (-1200 to -1170 IC)
In defiance of the laws imposed by the Priest Kings, Neferata, Queen of Lahmia stole the most potent of Nagash's books and pursued her own studies of the dark arts. She attempted to replicate the Elixir of Life, a feat that she succeeded where even the great Nagash before had failed. Neferata no long seemed to age, but was possessed of a terrible thirst for blood. She then proceeded to turn the rest of her court, consisting of Lord Ushoran, W'soran, Naaima, Lord Ankhat, Zurhas, Abhorash and several others, into Vampires. This transformation led to the creation of the original Vampire Bloodlines, of which the Lahmian Bloodline being one of the first in existence. More cautious than Nagash, they took pains to conceal their nature from the other Priest Kings. The Vampires feigned their own deaths, using the Cult of Asaph as a cover for their operations. The first Vampires reigned liked Gods over Lahmia, governed by their undying Queen and hidden from the ire of the Priest Kings.

Gradually, the Vampire Cabal of Lahmia began to grow in confidence, and their excesses began to increase. They would not submit to walk the earth like commoners and insisted upon being borne upon ornate thrones at all times. Hundreds of slaves entered the palace daily to be used as servants or drained for their blood. Once these Vampires have learned about Nagash's powerbase within Nagashizzar, they sent out envoys to make contact with him. Bound by the powers of the Elixir of Life, the Vampires slowly became the thralls to Nagash's will.

However, agents of the Priest Kings have managed to intercept these heralds, whom upon capture and interrogation, revealed the entirety of the hidden cult directly to the Priest Kings. Enraged beyond measure, the Priest Kings once more amassed a grand army and made war upon the city-state of Lahmia. The fight for Lahmia was long and bloody, with the Vampires using all of their supernatural strength, cunning and sorcerers ability to hold back the unrelenting armies of all Nehekhara.

In response, the Priest Kings sent forth magical spellcasters of their own, and with their armies numbering in the tens of thousands, the Vampires of Lahmia were slowly backed into a corner. Eventually, the Vampires lost the battle. The population of Lahmia was enslaved, the pyramids were toppled to the ground, and the Vampires were hunted down. Most fled northwards, one-by-one arriving within the court of Nagashizzar where they were welcomed by the Great Necromancer. Nagash looked upon the corrupted immortals and was pleased, for now he had worthy champions to lead his new Undead legions.

The Curse of the Vampire (-1163 to 1152 IC)
Nagash had not been idle and had learned much about the art of necromancy and animating the dead during his time within Nagashizzar, conceiving of a mad and deadly master plan that would turn the entire world into a necropolis filled only by the unquiet dead, where no action would be performed, no deed done save when he willed it. Nagash would be the Lord over it all.

The first step on Nagash's road to utter dominion was the elimination of his former homeland, for he wished to fufill the bitter vengeance he has vowed upon the Priest Kings for what they've done to him in the distant past. At his command, the Vampires led his legions forth to war. On ships made of fused bone, the Undead horde made its way from the Sour Sea, down what future generations would call the Straits of Nagash, and finally back into the Bitter Sea of Nehekhara's shores. The Undead legions made landfall within the ruined ports of Lahmia and surged towards the Priest Kings domains, the exiled Vampires spearheading the assault.

However, Nagash had seriously underestimated his former countrymen. In the time of his absence, the Lands of the Great Vitae River had become a mighty Empire ruled by a single Priest King, known by his people as Alcadizaar the Conqueror. Alcadizaar was the greatest general of his age and his Empire was at the zenith of its power. When the Undead came, they found themselves opposed by a massive, unified, and highly marshaled grand armies of warriors, legions of chariots and hordes of cavalry. Moreover, the enchanters of the Great Kingdom had made progress in the arts of magic, particularly in the creation of animated war-constructs. No easy victory was possible against them.

The ensuing Wars stained the sands of Nekehara red for many years. The Vampires were mighty sorcerers and fell warriors, and they were determined to reclaim their kingdom. Wherever they appeared, terror and dread came upon the enemy, yet the Vampires, for all their claims of power and immortal, can still be cast down to the cold furrow of death. The war swayed backwards and forwards for a decade. At first, the legions of the Undead had the upper hand, then the armies of Alcadizaar struck back with displays of tactical genius. Battle after battle was fought until finally, all of Nagash's legions were destroyed. The defeated Vampires fled across the deserts to Nagashizzar to bring their dark master the reports of their failure.

Great was Nagash's rage that he cursed his vampiric captains, making all those bearing Vampiric blood unable to bear the rays of the sun. Ever afterward, they would know constant pain from their unforgiving Master as their howling cries would carry the knowledge of their misery to all men. The remaining Vampires fled Nagashizzar by night, dispersing in all directions to confuse pursuit. Even after Nagash's death at the hands of Alcadizaar, the Vampires bore his curse. Thus, the first Vampires disappeared across the world, each founding their own bloodthirsty dynasty that would endure and grow through the centuries, terrorising the living to the present day.

The Vampire Wars: The Reign of the Von Carsteins
When the Vampires fled the wrath of Nagash, the majority of the surviving Vampires all fled northwards into the lands of what would be the Old World. Once there, the seven surviving Vampire Lords all went on their own seperate journey. One went to the far East, perhaps to the distant lands of Cathay, whilst another disappeared into the howling Northern Waste. The last four all stayed within different parts of the Old World. Queen Neferata took residence within a large peak within the World's Edge Mountain that was known by the Dwarfs as the Silver Pinnacle, where she still resides today as the leader of the Lahmian bloodline. The cursed yet honorable Abhorash fled to the northern regions of the Old World, where it is said that the Vampire Lord defeated and drunk the blood of a mighty dragon and removed the loathsome curse of blood consumption. With the curse lifted, Abhorash formed the first of the Blood Dragon bloodline. The scholarly Wsoran flung himself to all corners of the Old World, where he continues to this very day, gathering as much knowledge of Necromancy as he possibly can, during which time he founded the Necrarch Bloodline. The cunning Ushoran founded the Strigoi bloodline after he helped a Necromancer named Kadon establish the ancient human kingdom of Strygos, and its capital city of Mourkain long before the rise founding of the Empire of Man. However, when the Greenskins began to invade the Old World, the ancient civilization of Strygos was invaded and crumbled into ruin. As of now, Lord Ushoran is currently leading and preserving what was left of the ancient Strigany people. But perhaps the greatest and most dangerous of the bloodline to have ever plagued the greatest Human Realm in the Old World is one that had also started with one Man and his ambition grew so great that it had the potential to conquer an entire Empire.

Vashanesh was once a former noblemen of Nehekhara and the former husband of the vamperic Queen Neferata herself before they eventually grew apart. Following the fall of Lahmia, Vashanesh did not partake in the Great Necromancers scheme but instead laid low for the following centuries as he continued to seek artifacts of nercomatic power. Eventually, Vashanesh ambitious nature eventually lead the Vampire him on a path that would haunt the lands of Sylvania for the rest of eternity.

The Madness of Otto von Drak ( 1797 to 2000 IC)
It all began on a storm-lashed night when Otto von Drak, the last of the mad von Drak Counts, lay on his death bed within the capital of Drakenhof, cursing the gods that he was without a male heir to continue on his legacy. Otto was a cruel, gluttonous and selfish man, and his authority over the land was met with little respect and little love by both the commonry and nobility alike. In his deathbed, the lands of Sylvania was seething with civil strife. As his family awaited his final breath, Otto swore to all the Gods that he would rather marry his only daughter Isabella, to a daemon rather than to let his hated brother Leopold inherit the throne. To the dying Count, he refused all those that requested her daughters hand in marriage, for in his heart, he despise them all. And so it was that Isabella von Drak knelt at her fathers death bed, still without a husband and child to carry on the family estate.

As if a dark power had answered the Mad Counts plea, outside the castle, thunder rumbled and lightning split the storm-black darkness. Victor Guttman, the aged priest of Sigmar who had been called to shrive the old Count, fainted instantly. Then, from out of the storm came the sound of wheels and pounding hooves. A dark coach pulled by four mighty black steeds drew up outside the keep. In the following silence, somebody knocked on the door. A trembling servant introduced an unknown noble to the Count. The stranger introduced himself to the dying Count and his daughter with respect, utterly ignoring Leopold and only answering his questions of his origins by stating his name as Vlad von Carstein, the eldest of the von Carstein family, a family he didn't expect Leopold to know. Leopold protested, but the stranger silenced him, stating he had come only to offer his services to the "current" Count von Drak, being in the vicinity whilst traveling to a wedding.

Completely oblivious to his true intentions, Otto's face lit up, and he proposes the stranger to become the husband of his daughter, thus effectively obliterating Leopold's claim to the title of Count. Vlad then turned to Isabella, claiming that at some point of the ceremony, it was usual for the bride to accept. Isabella, wanting the power she sensed in Vlad, accepts, but asks him in a whisper for a token of his love. Vlad then faces Leopold and tears his heart out of his chest with his bare hands before tossing him out of a window. He then presents Isabella the heart of her now dead uncle, upon which she coldly states she has no use of it, seeing it no longer beats. The priest Guttman was revived from his swoon and brought to the chambers of Otto, where the marriage ceremony was performed before the dying count's bed. Almost as soon as the last of the ritual words were spoken, Otto von Drak finally passed away, leaving his daughter and his entire estate in the charge of Vlad von Carstein. Thus the wedding ceremony had ended, and the two lovers were together ever since.

Vlad von Carstein had married Isabella for power, and used his charm to control her at times. To their mutual surprise, what had started between them as a marriage of convenience swiftly blossomed into true love, and the pair had become confidants in each other and all but inseparable. Isabella begged Vlad to give her the Blood Kiss so they could be together for eternity, but Vlad was aware to the downsides of vampirism and loved her too much to subject her to that. Scant days later, word reached Drakenhof that Isabella had fallen sick with an incurable illness. One of the physicians who tended her claimed her heart had stopped. The new Count insisted this was not so. He dismissed the learned doctors, claiming he would care for her with his own hands. Three days later she appeared in front of her folk, saying she was fully recovered. She was ever afterwards pale and wan, however, and never left her chambers save by moonlight.

After several months following Vlad's coronation, however, dark events have begun to appear across the lands. Young men and woman from neighboring villages have began to disapear overnight. Sightings of the dead sturing beneath their graves have begun to pop up within every cemetery within Sylvania. For whatever reason, these walking dead only attack those that were defying the Counts authority. Those dissidents that continue to escape them were found dead by strange accidents. All over Sylvania, this dark event occurs day by day, with only those whom sworn their alligiance to Vlad von Carstien seemed immune to this horrific purge.

Within ten years, Vlad was more firmly in control of unruly Sylvania that any other ruler within the Empire. Some remarked that such was Vlad's achievement as a ruler he should in fact sit upon the Imperial Throne as well. To his naive subjects, the von Carsteins were, after all, an ancient family that could trace their lineage back to the founding of the Empire.

Generations later, Vlad and Isabella still presided over the lands of Sylvania, unchanged in all these years. At first, few paid attention to their longevity. The lives of the peasants had always been squalid and short, and so they paid little heed, however it was the longer-living nobility that begun to notice this strange revelation. This revelation all began when the oldest woman within Drakenhof have remarked how her great grandmother was still a girl when Vlad von Carstein came into the throne, and in time these rumors began to spread, leading to even the most dull-witted peasant realizing something odd is amidst. In time, Witch Hunters by the dozens have begun to flock into the lands of Sylvania like a flood, hunting down evil like hounds upon a hare. Yet, to those that tried to investigate the von Carstein family, none have returned.

Vlad and the First Vampire War ( 2010 to 2051 IC)
In his former life, Vlad was not a cruel Man by heart, but the curse and selfish pride that is usually brought about by Vampirism has corrupted him both in body, mind and soul. As with all Vampires, the new Count of Sylvania was ambitious beyond mortal needs, and so he sought to instill his rule to not just Sylvania but the whole of the Empire of Man. At first, none of the feuding nobles of Sylvania paid any heed to the commands of this new Count. If this bothered Vlad, he gave no sign of it. To the Vampire, Vlad cherished his subjects the same way a peasant family would cherish a beast that they are fattening up for the Midsummer feast. After decades of harsh rule by the incompetent Count Otto, this new authority was welcomed by all save perhaps the most paranoid, or perhaps the most knowing.

The first signs that someone big is drawing nearer came when the disease that first took Isabella now took the rest of Sylvanian nobility. Soon, every castle within Sylvania was home to a family of long-living noctural Vampires, pallid of aspect and merciless in their rule. In time, the number people who went missing grew to exponential numbers. A mysterious sickness, not unlike the one that had killed Otto van Drak, had filled the graveyard's of Sylvania, pushing her people to their limits and forcing the majority of the peasants to turn their backs on the gods who couldn't help them, and into the arms of the Cult of the Wiederauferstanden, known by many as "The Cult of the Arisen Dead".

The holy temples of the Old World Pantheons were desecrated and closed, with the Priest of Morr being driven out. Without the Morr Priest to allow the proper burial rites to bring the long deceased into their tombs and towards the afterlife, the bodies of the dead were simply piling up at the sides of the road and their tormented spirits forced to live without rest. But probably the greatest and final sign of this impeding darkness came when the Ostermark capital of Mordhiem was destroyed by a massive warpstone meteorite in the year 2000 IC.

The city of Mordheim was once a city that brought the faithful and pious in flocks to witness the coming of Sigmar following the arrival of the twin-tailed comet upon the night sky. But after some time, the city grew into a cesspit of decadence, greed, and widespread corruption. When the city was obliterated in 2000 IC, shards of Warpstone were found all over the ruins of the city. Unbeknowst to its chaotic origins, claimants of the Imperial Throne sent mercenary companies into the city to gather as much Warpstone as they possibly can, hoping to use its false properties such as healing the sick or turning lead into gold into their own agenda. Vlad followed up on this as well, sending in his dark minions to gather as much of these shards as he possibly can.

Finally, on Geheimnisnacht Eve of the Imperial year of 2010 IC, Vlad von Carstein thought the time ripe for the next step in his master plan. It was then, at the start of the winter, that the count called forth all the nobles of the province to pledge loyalty to him during a festivity called the Totentanz, or the "Dance of the Dead". The dance was to be held at Drakenhof Castle, on the eve of Geheimnisnacht. The Totentanz was actually a huge coy, invented by the vampire count to assemble the remaining living aristocracy in one place. At the height of the ball, he gave an order to his minions, which closed off all the entrandces to the throne room and started to kill all living beings inside. Only two people left the throne room alive: Alten Ganz, loyal human servant of Vlad which had suspected the true nature of his master plan, and Stefan Fischer, a witch hunter who had been chasing one of von Carstein's vampires for the murder of his wife together with another Witch Hunter Jon Skellan, his brother in law. Skellan was killed and turned into a Vampire, but Fischer managed to hide below a pile of dead corpses without being caught.

With his deed enacted, the Count of Sylvania stood upon the battlements of Castle Drakenhof and intoned a terrible incantation from one of the Nine Books of Nagash. Fuelled by the Warpstone recovered from Mordheim, the necromancy spell flowed over now unguarded cemeteries of the Gardens of Morr and in an instant, all throughout the province, the dead began to stir. Slowly, every single cadaver in Sylvania began to move to answer the call of the Vampire Count. While the dead nobles started to emerge from the throne room, Stefan Fisher acted as a zombie and escaped Drakenhof with only one single taught in mind: "they are coming". Fischer finally escaped the deadly trap Sylvania had become, only to fall into the hand of a small band of Vampires travelling through the Empire. Accepting his fate, even feeling joy for being soon reunited with his wife, Fischer was suddenly saved by a small detachment of Countess Otilla's army, sent to investigate reports of Undead activity along the Sylvanian border. Fischer thus related the truth behind the Vampire Count's true nature. Feeling all sense had fled his life, he stayed with Otilla's army which would try to fend of the undead army at the Battle of Essen Ford, which would be the first conflict of the Vampire Wars.

The battle at Essen Ford would be a disaster. Knee deep in the mud and overwhelmed by impossible odds, the human army was swept away. At the end of the battle, Fisher came across an old friend: Jon Skellan, now a vampire. When the prisoners were lined up before the Vampire count, Vlad showed them the extent of his power. While discussing with the leader of the army detachment, he invited first Ganz, then three vampires, including Skellan to choose and kill a prisoner. Skellan choose Fischer, and bled him dry, thus reuniting him with his dead wife. Vlad reanimated each of the dead Imperials each time. Then he asked the still-living Imperial Commander of this battle to choose one of his men to live. The later refused, not wanting to decide about the life or the death of his own. The Vampire Count thus chose the youngest of the prisoners and announced him that he alone would live, to spread the fear of the Vampire's throughout the Empire. He then freed the prisoner, who ran for his life. In this moment of distraction, the Imperial Cmmander took Vlad's sword and beheaded the count with a swift stroke. Herman Prosner severed the Commanders wrists, but it was too late, the Vampire Count was no more.

But, when Prosner had finished giving orders regarding the torture of the man who had slayed the Vampire Count, he suddenly remarked that the body of the count had disappeared. Dismissing it as trivial, Prosner started a brutal rise to power, slaying everyone opposing him. It had been the loyal servant Ganz who had taken the body away, incapable of realizing the death of his beloved Count, who had been the center of his life. At the end of the night, Prosner had obtained control of the undead army, and was going to get the last thing which would truly cement his power: the widow Isabella. The latter, totally hysteric, was smiling when Herman Prosner entered her tent. She claimed that her beloved wasn't dead and that he would come back to get her. Gently, Herman Prosner led her out the tent and claimed her before the whole army as his bride, by right of strength.

Then the most unpredictable of things happened: from the back of the crowd, someone awnsered the challenge. The Undead all stepped away from the one who had spoken, and there stood Vlad von Carstein. He had been saved by a family heritage, an old signet ring, which granted the wielder true immortality. In the following duel, Vlad defeated Prosner, and laid him low. Seeing his death inevitable, Prosner hurled his sword away, killing loyal Ganz in the process. The Count then prepared to strike him down, but was stopped by Isabella, who claimed that right for herself. The Count gave his sword to her, and she killed Herman Prosner with cold blood.

The war continued after the events of Essen Ford. For more than 40 years, the dark shades of the Count put an aura of terror above the Empire. Countless times, he was killed in battle, and each time he rose again to kill those who had defeated him; at the Battle of Bluthof, he fell impaled by five lances with the Count of Ostland's Runefang buried to the hilt in his heart, yet reappeared three days later, overseeing the execution of prisoners. Whilst at the town of Bogenhafen, he led his undead army to victory after being decapitated by a cannon only an hour before. When in the spring of 2050 IC, the city of Middenheim was attacked and the Grand Master of the Knights of the White Wolf, Jerek Kruger, was turned into a vampire because he had dared to kill the count at the Battle of Schwartzhafen a year before. All hope seemed lost to the Imperials, and eventually the Undead army now marched towards the last thing between them and victory: The Imperial Capital of Altdorf.

When the Undead army arrived before the walls of Altdorf, they found the city was well prepared: the Reik had been diverted to surround the city, harvests had been entered and the walls had been manned. However, the powers of Vlad proved enormous. In a shocking display of cabalistic power, he covered the sky in clouds and awoke every dead beneath the plains surrounding Altdorf. Huge siege engines formed of zombies where thrown against the city walls. There was no hope of victory for mankind. In search of divine aid, the Grand Theogonist Wilhelm III retreated into the catacombs of the Cathedral of Altdorf to pray. It was in that holy place that he received the visit of Manfred von Carstein, the eldest thrall of Vlad.

Manfred wanted the power of the Vampire Count for himself, but he knew that he wasn't strong enough to challenge Vlad in combat. So he informed Wilhelm III about the secret of the Count's immortality. The priest then set out an elaborated trap to catch the best thief of this very age: Felix Mann. When they finally caught him robbing the Imperial Counting House, they gave him a simple choice: to rob Vlad von Carstein's signet ring, or to be hung for his crimes. In reward of the theft, he would be paid enough to start a living elsewhere. Felix accepted the theft and, with a little aid from Mannfred von Carstien, robbed the count of his most precious belonging.

When the Count awakened, his anger was uncontrollable. In one frenetic attack, Vlad threw everything he had against Altdorf. There on the battlements, he confronted Wilhelm III and eventually, overcame him. However, with his last breath, the Great Theogonist threw himself against the Undead Count, and both fell off the walls. While the fall wouldn't have killed a vampire as powerful as Vlad, they both fell on a wooden stake, the Vampire trapped beneath the corpse of the holy man. With the death of Vlad, his army dissolved and the Altdorfers rejoiced, as the First Vampire War has come to a close.

Konrad and the Second Vampire War ( 2058 to 2121 IC)
The war had ended, and the von Carstein's kingdom of the dead was no more. The horrors perpetuated by him and his unholy campaign would still stalk mankind's worst nightmares for the centuries to come. The Vampire threat hadn't been routed either. Surely the vampires had fled into the woods and were returning to Sylvania, but still two of Vlad's lieutenants where alive, and enough direct descendants to assure the continuation of his line. The Vampire named Kruger, being a warrior with experience about commanding, have managed to shepherd the surviving Vampires back to Sylvania. He would, however, never try to obtain the position of Count. Another Vampire by the name of Skellan had been captured by the Altdorfers and was imprisoned in a crypt underneath the Cathedral of Altdorf, where they kept him as a prisoner for many years afterwards.

Felix Mann, wanting to claim his reward, discovered that with no physical proof of the deal he had with the Grand Theogonist, nobody would believe he had committed a theft on behalf of a holy man. Wronged and angered, Felix stole one of Vlad's Books of Nagash. However, while fleeing from the Sigmarites, he became conscious he was being stalked by a stranger who seemed able to walk inside the shadows. When was finally culled by the stranger in a back alley, he tried to buy him off with the dead Count's signet ring. The stranger, who was in fact Manfred von Carstein, severed the two wrists of the thief, took the ring and the book and left Felix to die. Thus, Vlad's artefacts passed on to a Vampire and Necromancer of almost equal potential power. Isabella von Carstein would be taken captive the next night, while she tried to find her husband's body, which had been buried beneath the Theogonist's grave. She was completely hysterical and had lost all touch with reality. She would commit suicide eventually, when the Lector of Sigmar, in an attempt at pity, told her Vlad was really dead and wouldn't come back.

After their leader, Vlad von Carstein was killed by Grand Theogonist Wilhelm the Third at the siege of Altdorf, the surviving vampires fled back to Sylvania. Five vampires claimed to be the heir of Vlad: Fritz, Hans, Pieter, Konrad and Mannfred von Carstein. For more than forty years afterwards, the Vampires of the von Carstein line have fought a vicious power struggle, giving the Empire vital time to recover from the desolation brought about by Vlad's invasion. In time, Fritz von Carstein was killed on the field of battle while foolishly attempting to besiege the mile-high fortress-city of Middenheim. Hans von Carstein perished when Konrad instigated a quarrel with him over who was the toughest amongst them. Pieter was slain in his coffin by a vengeful Witch Hunter by the name of Helmut van Hal, a distant descendant of the infamous Necromancer himself. It is said that Mannfred von Carstein had also aided in his death. After Pieter's death, Mannfred von Carstein dissapeared from Sylvania, leaving Konrad as the new undisputed ruler of all Sylvania. In time, Konrad had purposefully enacted the Second Vampire Wars.

Whilst Vlad von Carstein was patient yet ambitious, Konrad von Carstein was simply a mad butcher; evil, merciless and insanely violent. Lacking the necromatic skills of his predecessor, Konrad was forced to enslave any magicians he could capture and forced them to do his bidding as powerful Necromancers. Once more, the Vampire Counts of Sylvania rampaged across the lands of the Empire, bloodthirsty in their advance and showing no mercy. Indeed, Konrad is beyond bloodthirsty, even amongst his own kind. Whilst Vlad offered his opponents a choice between life and death, Konrad offered them a choice between dying quickly or dying slowly. Whilst Vlad's ambition was to rule as the Vampire Emperor of the Empire, Konrad's motive was to simply endulge himself in blood slaughter.

His warmongering nature took his army far to the south, where he came into contact with the Knights of the Blood Keep, and the bearers of the Blood Dragon bloodline. With these Knights folding into his ranks, Konrad was able to destroy all those who would dare to oppose him, despite Konrads complete lack of strategic planning, hysteria and grave tactical errors. At Kleiberstorf however, Konrad faced a powerful Averlander army that contains a massive wagon-train of long-range artillery. When battle commenced, the Averlander artillery rain down barrage after barrage against the slow-moving Sylvanian army. In desperation, Konrad both threatened, bribed and pleaded with his Necromancers to keep his army moving forward. He offered power and riches to his captive wizards and they acceded, combing their powers to unleash a scourging wind on the Averland army. Dark magic swept across the Imperial ranks, and in short time, the Imperial soldiers began to feel their souls being clawed from ethereal hands. Panic began to spread as the unnatural gale began to slay more and more soldiers.

In a moment of rare clarity, Konrad saw that the moment was ripe and send foward his elite force of Blood Knights and Drakenhof Templars into the fray. Faced with insubstantial terrors and armored Vampires, the Averland army broke and fled. Konrad like the bloodthirsty creatue he is, hounded the Imperial soldiers for five days and five nights, ensuring that all those that participated on the battle were hunted down and killed to the last. In his overzealous pride and need to draw more blood, the Vampire Count had instigated a bloody war with the Dwarfs against the cautious advice of his few counsellors. Attacking isolated villages and surface settlements at the foothills of the mountain stronghold of Zufbar, the King of the Hold itself had finally had enough and mustered a grand army to punish the Vampire once and for all. Seeing a new challenge, the Vampire met the Dwarf army at the town of Nachthafen.

In the battle, the Dwarfen Runesmiths countered the necromatic spells of Konrads enslaved Necromancers with ease. Robbed of their substaining power, the Skeleton warriors and Zombies of Konrads army lay where they fell, blasted by a horrific barrage of cannons and mortar artillery. Konrad remained confident despite the setbacks and launched a all-out assault on the Dwarfs right flank. Leading the assault himself, the Vampire drove directly into the cadre of Runesmiths whilst his Blood Knights smashed into the disciplined ranks of Dwarf warriors. Konrad slew the Runesmiths personally, drinking their spilt blood and giving his captive Necromancers the time they needed to resurrect the fallen. It was a hopeless battle, but the Dwarfs still fought stubbornly until the very end. Their own King had challenged the Blood Count in personal combat, but instead, Konrad despatched Walach Harkon, the Grand Master of the Blood Knights to fight as his champion. Though the duel was bitter close, the Grand Master finally killed the Dwarf King and gorged himself on royal blood. Within the next hour, the Dwarfs were all dead.

Konrad was so unwaveringly vicious in his Undead assault that, confronted with a common enemy, the three claimants to the Imperial Throne had put aside their differences and combined their armies into one mighty force. At the Battle of the Four Armies, the three Imperial Grand Armies united their forces against the Undead army of Konrad just outside the fortress-city of Middenheim. This battle became infamously known for the great betrayal enacted by the three Imperial leaders. Emperor Lutwik and Emperess Ottila IV vied to assassinate each otehr during the battle, a disgusting gesture that forced the other Imperial nobles to select another candidate to lead this new coalition. A conclave of the Elector Counts assembled themselves within Averheim where they decided that Helmut of Marienburg would be a prime candidate to be the new Emperor. Even as support for him grew within the council hall, Helmut began to act errantically, struck dumb and vacant at a critical time. In an infamous event, Helmut's skin began to peel off and his eye suddenly popped out of his own skull. Even Helmut's son, Helmar, refused his father's claim to the throne once it was discovered that his father was killed and turned into a zombie under Konrads control.

With his ploy failing, Konrad threw into a rage and slaughtered his way from Averheim into the Howling Hills, putting to the torch every town and village that stood in his way. Finally, having enough of Konrad's sadistic invasion, all of the remaining Elector Counts and Dwarf Lords joined forces once more upon the Battle of Grim Morr during the spring of 2121 IC. Arrogantly, Konrad once more attacked in a headlong charge against the fully-arrayed armies of all the Elector Counts and the Dwarf warriors under the Dwarf hero Grufbad. Although his Blood Knights have managed to endure the punishment, a strange event began to occur. In that instant, the regiments of the Undead began to falter, with the magic that bound them togather being seeped away as Konrad's Necromancers had enough of Konrad's cruel rulership and betrayed him in that most critical of time. Seeing the battle as lost, the terrified Blood Knights fled the battlefield as well. In desperation, the magically inept Konrad tried to hold the Undead army together, but the effort proved too much to bear and in an instant, Konrad finally snapped.

In a mad fit, Konrad wandered away from the battle as his Undead army began to disintegrate, shouting maniacally as this most cruelest of jokes. As Konrad wandered the forest aimlessly, Grufbad captured Konrad and held him down while Elector Count Helmar impaled his father's killer with his Runefang. With Konrads death, the Second Vampire War was finally over, and in time, the Elector Counts began to squabble amongst themselves once more.

Mannfred and the Third Vampire War ( 2124 to 2145 IC)
With the death of Konrad, the last contender for Vlad's position was Mannfred von Carstein. Whilst Vlad was the most magically gifted and Konrad was the most violent and bloodthirsty, Mannfred was by far the most cunning of the entire bloodline. During the time of the Second Vampire Wars, Mannfred had left Sylvania and travelled to the dead lands of Nehekhara to seek out necromatic artifacts of great power. As he spent the next century reading through forbidden books, by the time Mannfred returned to Castle Drakenhof, he soon possessed an entire library of dark lore. With the last of the first von Carstein bloodline dead, Mannfred became the undisputed ruler of Sylvania.

For a full decade, Mannfred von Carstein had bid his time wisely and allowed the Imperial contenders to believe that the threat of Sylvania was over. Where Vlad had ruled through his iron will and raw power, and Konrad reigned with fear, Mannfred used his necromantic prowess and devious manipulations to forge his new Undead armies. He sought out Vampires from beyond the borders of Sylvania and bribed, coerced and flattered them into joining his new retinue. He spent many long months in the wilderness of the Empire, rousing spirits and Wights from their decrepit tombs. When vicious civil war again wracked the Empire, Mannfred deemed it was time to finally strike.

Mannfred von Carstein's Undead legions crossed the Sylvanian border in the depths of winter, as the cold does little harm to the flesh of the dead. With the summer campaigning season over, the armies of the Elector Counts were unprepared for the sudden assault. Mannfred's armies marched through the snows towards Altdorf, putting to the sword any living men they met and raising the corpses to swell the ranks of Mannfred's horde. In the infamous Winter War of 2132, Mannfred defeated several hastily assembled Imperial armies that attempted to block his path. Victory followed victory and, soon, the dark rumour of Mannfred's coming was enough to send villagers fleeing from their homes only to freeze to death in the snow. When Mannfred's massive legions reached Altdorf, they found the city seemingly undefended.

Triumph filled Mannfred. He looked set to become not a Vampire Count but a Va mpire Emperor, achieving what Vlad and Konrad had failed to do. Then the Grand Theogonist, Kurt III, appeared on the battlements of the city. The Sigmarite high priest had brought forth the evil Liber Mortis from the deepest locked vaults of his temple, and he began to recite the Great Spell of Unbinding from its pages. As the incantation continued, Mannfred's power over his minions began to weaken. Seeing his followers crumbling to dust, Mannfred ordered a hasty retreat, for the hidden Imperial armies within Altdorf were mobilizing for a massive counter-attack.

Unperturbed, Mannfred marched his army along the River Reik downstream and into the port-city Marienburg, capturing several large vessels along the way and manning them with the raised corpses of their crews. Mannfreds initial plan was the lay siege to the port-city, and then sail his Zombie fleet through Marienburg's primary rivers and canals that splits the city in half and attack from the river ports. In desperation, the entire city was roused to the defence, and in time, the first Undead assault upon the ports were repulsed. Unable to make a beachead within the riverways, Mannfred began construction of massive siege towers and catapults within the outskirts of the city. However, scouts have reported to Mannfred that a massive Imperial army was hounding them all the way from the city of Altdorf. Realising he can't win this siege, Mannfred promptly retreated.

So began a long cat-and-mouse chase that encircled the entire Empire of Man, with neither side entirely sure which one was the cat. At Horstenbad, the army of Ostermark was able to surround and ambush Mannfred as his army wound its way along the forest road, destroying nearly half of his forces. Yet Mannfred escaped the slaughter and within the month had siezed the town of Felph and created a new army. On and on the campaign raged, with neither side able to secure the ultimate victory. Twice, Mannfred was forced to retreat to Sylvania in order to escape pursuit from his relentless enemies.

Determined not to make the same mistakes as they had before, all the nobility of the Empire has sworn a truce among themselves to finally rid the Empire of Man of the Vampire threat once and for all. United under a rightous cause, the entire military might of the Empire was brought to full swing and in time, army after army was being mustered from all the Grand Provinces for the inevitable Sylavnian campaign. To repay themselves for lost grudges, the High King of the Dwarfs have also mustered also sent in armies of heavily armored warriors into the fighting. Wave after wave of Imperial armies are streaming into the Sylvanian borders like a massive flood, and soon the relentless Imperials had forced Mannfred into a pitch battle known famously as the Battle of Hel Fenn.

Mannfred's army was vast, his necromatic power having raised a legion of Zombies from the muddy depths of Hel Fenn itself. Mannfred's unliving host continued to retreat deeper into the swamps, drawing the exhausted Imperial armies onwards into the filth and gloom. Yet Mannfred had not reckoned on the determination of their foes. Tirelessly, the Imperial and Dwarfen armies hounded Mannfred like bloodthirsty hounds until finally he was brough into battle at the eastern reachs of the marshlands, where the warriors of the Empire and the Dwarfs fought with grim resolve.

Mannfred saw that victory was beyond him and attempted to flee. The Elector Count of Stirland, mounted upon a majestic Griffon, gave chase and caught Mannfred at the very edge of the swamps. Though the Elector Count was wounded badly, his Runefang cleaved great gouges into Mannfred's flesh and the Vampire's mangled corpse sank into the depths of the swamp. Despite a long search, neither Man nor Dwarf ever located Mannfred's body. Thus ended the reign of Mannfred, the last of the von Carsteins and the final end of the Vampires Wars once and for all.

Biology
"I say you can find out the servants of Death by their marks. No man is born so unnatural that his body does not revolt at the foul pollution of Undead blood. And by these marks you can tell them: by the fangs of the predator, for their thirst for blood is like that of a foul beast; by their porcelain white skin, cold to the touch and unnatural to the eye; the glow of their eyes, behind which lives the terrible Hunger."

- Witch Hunter von Ingeheim



The Vampire Counts, as their name suggest, consist almost entirely of Vampires from a wide variety of different bloodlines. Although the original Vampire Counts had consisted entirely of the von Carstein bloodline, many different bloodlines of Vampires have since given their services to the current reigning Vampire Count of Sylavnia. Vampires are immortal beings that have spread the loathsome curse of Undeath across the realms of Men for centuries. Though many lineages of this foul race now live in the rain-swept forests of the far north, their true origins lie within the once great civilization of Nehekhara. The true masters of Undeath; they retain much of their original intelligence and capabilities despite their curse, and hence retain their ambition and desire. This makes them very dangerous indeed, for Vampires, due to their immortality, have an extensive period of time in which to hone their skills and refine their schemes to utter perfection. Since the downfall of Nagash, the only remaining power-faction of Vampires still currently dwelling within the Old World is that of the Vampire Counts, which is supposedly led by Mannfred von Carstein, last of the Sylvannian royal blood-line.

The Vampire, for all its power and cunning, is ultimately a base, selfish creature driven by the same motivations of the mortals they deem themselves superior to. For instance, the Brotherhood of Necrarchs strives to attain perfect knowledge of Necromancy and unsurpassed magical power, whereas the Lahmians possess luxury and decadence beyond any dream of avarice. Vampires share no uniform physical appearance, aside from the fact that most of them have basically humanoid dimensions - most can pass as human at a distance, and hide their ungodly natures behind charm and magical glamour - but for all their refinement, they are but rotting corpses held together by Dark Magic, and only those who feed well can maintain the illusion of beauty. Some Vampires do not even care to do that, and cast aside anything that disguises their true natures, appearing as rotting cadavers that glory in their inhumanity.

The greatest curse of Queen Neferata's legacy is that they cannot subsist on normal food and drink; in order to survive, the Vampire must feast upon the very lifeblood of mortal creatures, and it is only through this imbibing of fresh blood that they are able to preserve their power and their very unlife. For the youngest Vampires, this is a terrible affliction that consumes their every thought and drives their actions, smothering all sense of rationality and reasoning, causing them to become rash, animalistic creatures that are easily caught and destroyed by Witch Hunters and other dedicated foes of the Night. However, most older Vampires are far more subtle, and have learned to subsist on less and less fresh blood, until finally only needing to feed once every number of years. Regardless, none can totally outrun the primal instincts that now govern their evil existence. Due to their unholy nature, and the Empire's Witch Hunters, Vampires are fewer in numbers then they were during the Time of Nagash or the first few Vampire Wars. Indeed, since the downfall of Vlad and Konrad von Carstein, the Vampire race as a whole is divided and often hides amongst the human population. Some Vampires, such as Countess Gabriella, are trying their best to prevent the start of another Vampire War, knowing full well that it would only lead to the unveiling and possible deaths of the last few Vampires in existence.

Vampire Bloodline
There are five distinct families of vampires, each descending from one of the "first vampires" or original ones created Neferata, these families are called "Bloodlines", each with different characteristics that affect the way the armies of each operate, although the more powerful members of any vampire bloodline can cast spells, and that all vampires are formidable in combat. Games Workshop has removed the bloodlines from the new edition of the Vampire Counts Armies book; replacing them with selectable skills associated with the original bloodlines (yet mixable as though having aspects of many bloodlines).
 * Von Carsteins - The Von Carsteins are the descendants of Vashanesh, Neferata's husband. However, most of the history of the bloodline is lost: specifically, everything between Vashanesh becoming a vampire and the resurgence of Vlad. Some claim that Vlad and Vashanesh are one and the same, but none can confirm this. These vampires are somewhat stereotypical vampires, modeled very much in the manner of Dracula. They are seen as having close bonds with animals such as wolves and bats. These vampires have no particular modifications and several of their bloodline powers emphasize their ties with animals. They are hereditary rulers of Sylvania.


 * Blood Dragons - Blood Dragons are fallen Knights, usually from the realm of Bretonnia; they are portrayed as souls in suffering, neither good nor evil. They desire skill in military combat, but do not particularly wish to become rulers or land owners, thus making them undead Knights Errant. Their goal is to not find the Grail as a Bretonnian Knight would, but rather succeed in mastering combat, and obtaining the same ability of permanently suppressing the need to drink human blood to survive as their leader, Abhorash did.


 * Lahmians - This bloodline is (almost) entirely female. They are descended from Neferata, the original vampire. They emphasize the seductive nature of vampires and many of their bloodline powers center around influencing the behavior of enemy heroes. Neferata was queen of the city-state of Lahmia and the first of all the Vampires. After the city was destroyed by the Kings of Nehekara, she fled with her minions to the mountain known as 'The Silver Pinnacle'. After driving out the mountain's Dwarf inhabitants, Neferata established a new court, where she rules as the leader of a Sisterhood of enchantingly beautiful vampires who use secrecy, cunning and intrigue where others would use brute strength, to sway the political powers of the human kingdoms to do their will.


 * Necrarch - Necrarch vampires appear monstrous and wizened, thus they are weaker in combat but have much greater magical potential than the other vampire bloodlines. Overall they are still vastly more dangerous than an equivalent level wizard in close combat, and on par with the more dangerous of melee fighters. They are described as solitary researchers, working on ever more terrible spells as they live out their undying centuries. Because of their studies the Necrarch armies field large numbers of necromantic constructs, spell casters, and zombie dragons.


 * Strigoi - In appearance they are even more monstrous than the Necrarchs and are huge and heavily built. They are the descendants of Ushoran who with his followers fled north to what is now the Badlands and built a great empire; when it was destroyed by Orcs the Strigoi were scattered and eventually degenerated to what they are today. The Strigoi are animalistic, half-mad and barely intelligent. They have similar combat ability to the Blood Dragons, but in terms of strength and bestial fury rather than skill-at-arms.

Source

 * Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (6th Edition)
 * Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (8th Edition)
 * Gotrek and Felix: Vampireslayer (Novel) by William King


 * Dominion (Novel) by Steven Saville
 * Retribution (Novel) by Steven Saville


 * Inheritance (Novel) by Steven Savile
 * Vampire Wars (Omnibus Novel) by Steven Savile
 * Warhammer: Mordheim Rulebook
 * Warhammer Armies: Undead (4th Edition)