Cripple Peak is a mountain within the southern range of the Worlds Edge Mountains, near the shores of the Sour Sea. It is infamous for housing Nagashizzar, the fortress of the Great Necromancer and Liche Lord Nagash that was built within it.
In ages past, the mountain was called Ur-Haamash, "the Hearth-stone", by the nomadic herders of Men that took shelter on its eastern slope during the winter. As their culture developed, the mountain became known instead as Agha-Dakum, the "Place of Justice", where the tribes settled grievances in trials of blood.[4a]
As the unnamed Human culture grew over a thousand years, the mountain was called Agha-Rhul, the "Place of Oaths", where kings were crowned and a crude settlement was founded that served as their capital.[4a]
One terrible night, a gigantic warpstone meteorite hit the mountain, the largest ever encountered in the world of Mallus,[1c] devastating the tribe and leaving a great wound in the mountain's flank. The frightened people began to worship the meteorite as a god and the mountain was now called Khad-tur-Maghran, the "Throne of the Heavens".[4a] Warpstone dust was carried from Cripple Peak over years of wind, rain and erosion, corrupting the land, poisoning the Crystal Sea which fed into the Sour Sea and mutating the surrounding vegetation and wildlife.[1b]
The tribe named itself the Yaghur and a great civilisation of Men grew around the mountain that used the power of the warpstone as fuel for their sorcery. After a hundred years, war erupted when some of the Yaghur rebelled against the priesthood of the mountain, dedicating themselves instead to Malakh, the four-faced god. The temple was sealed and the mountain now became known as Agha-Nahmad, the "Place of Sorrows".[4a]
In -1600 IC, the Great Necromancer Nagash first reached the mountain, and experimented with the reserves of warpstone found there, using its power to enhance his own and further develop the arts of necromancy.[1c] In -1599 IC, he began to plunder the barrows at the foot of Cripple Peak and dig for further traces of warpstone.[3a] Nagash inadvertently breached the inner sanctum of the god of the Yaghur and found the remains of the great warpstone meteorite, resolving to take its power for himself.[3b]
Nagash's victory caused a schism among the priests of the Yaghur. Some saw him as an usurper, who had defiled the eye of the god, others regarded him as a prophesied saviour, who would lead them back to the glory they once had possessed.[3c] Those worshipping Nagash were victorious, becoming the first Nagashi, the cult who worshipped the Great Necromancer as a god.[3d]
Nagash commanded his new servants to build him a fortress, and they dug into the mountain, ever expanding its mines and spires.[3e] Nagash named the fortress Nagashizzar, "Glory of Nagash" in High Nehekharan, and in time, the fortress overtook the mountain, having been constructed from its living rock, with the former mountaintop becoming its highest spire.[1a]
After Nagash's death at the hands of Alcadizaar the Conqueror, armed with the Fellblade, the Skaven who had provided the Human king with the weapon preceisely in the hope that he could kill Nagash, claimed the mountain for themselves. Clan Rikek was installed as Cripple Peak's new masters, tasked with mining the remaining warpstone for the Under-Empire.[2a]