"Yes, my son... Tilea is where you must go! For from the city of Miragliano, the famous freebooter El Cadavo sets sail this very week upon a voyage to the west, to win new kingdoms, explore new lands, and boldly go where no man has gone before."
- —From Memoirs of a Lustrian Adventurer. A personal account by Fleugweiner Sonderblitz, Vol. I: The Wilderheim Years[1b]
El Cadavo on his warhorse barded with bones and treasures of the Lizardmen.[1e]
El Cadavo was a Tilean disgraced noble from Trantio,[4a][Note 1] turned adventurer, mercenary captain and pirate lord that led several expeditions into the jungles of Lustria and the Southlands.[1b][1c][1d][2a][3a][4a][5a] He founded the New World colony of Cadavo and rebuilt it several times until his third attempt in 1944 IC.[2a][3a][4a][5a]
History[]
Origins[]
Not much is known about where El Cadavo came from. His first known action of the war was to raze the orchards around the town of Alcatani, which had been rich with apples, citrus, vines and olive trees. This threw the formerly wealthy landowner Roderigo Delmonte into poverty, pushing him to become a mercenary along with his workforce, thus forming the renowned Alcatani Fellowship.[1a]
Expeditions in the South[]
"Dear Heidric, Sorry for lateness of letter - Have been very busy indeed as there is ready work and all at a good price too. Empire soldiery is much in demand here - the native Tileans have little stomach for a real fight - and as for the poxy greenskins that seem to infest the place... well they're even worse. Me and the lads are living it up like counts I can tell you! Anyway to the meat of my news. El Cadavo, my good friend as you'll remember, is getting together a big expedition to the Southlands, whilst that rogue Emelio Cornelius is organising a rival expedition under the patronage of the notorious usurer Belisimo Topolino. Between the two of them they've hired every galley that'll float and every man that can hold a sword. Prices have gone through the roof! I've signed my lads up with El Cadavo for a crown a day, but between you and me Cornelius has already promised twice that plus a share of the plunder. I'm ready to break camp and go with the best deal on the day! I'd suggest you get the boys together and come on down the price is right! Your loving cousin, Fleugweiner P.S. Lodging at the Sell-Sword Inn in Miragliano until the 21st."
- —Fleugweiner Sonderblitz to his cousin Heidric[1d]
At an unknown date, El Cadavo opened a land route along the coast of the Badlands, from Barak Varr to Zandri and Araby. Currently, the Orcs of the Blue Face Tribe toll traders that take this path at both ends of the Dragonback Mountains.[6a]
According to Imperial mercenary and adventurer Fleugweiner Sonderblitz who joined El Cadavo at Miragliano[1c], the freebooter general became embroiled in a rivalry with the Emelio Cornelius over a planned expedition to the Southlands, and both commanders hired every galley and hired-sword they could find.[1d]
First Expeditions into Lustria[]
"Skink Attendant: Greetings most glorious master-of-warriors, most noble of travelers on the World Pond. My lord Xtinki bids me welcome you to the hospitality of our sun-kissed shores. Did you have a nice trip?"
El Cadavo: "Greetings to your noble lord. I have come from across these wide waters to bestow wondrous gifts upon you. Such valuables are plentiful where we come from. Behold! Riches to decorate your... er... majestic brow. And these looking glasses. Their like has never been seen on these shores. All I ask in return is that we be allowed to march inland unmolested and perhaps collect a few mementos to remind us of our visit."
Skink Attendant: "My lord Xtinki instructs me to thank you for your most generous gifts, but is afraid that he cannot possibly accept offerings of such... quality."
El Cadavo: "Why, you ungrateful wretches! Enrico, bring up the cannon. That'll impress them. I'm sorry you dislike my gifts. Perhaps this will be more persuasive. There. That is the power we bring with us. Why don't you take your stone spears and feather skirts and run along now. I promise you shan't be hurt if you stay out of our way."
Skink Attendant: "You have insulted our gods. To show his displeasure, Lord Sotek will swallow the sun. All will be in darkness and the world will fall into perpetual night."
El Cadavo: "Alright lads, enough of these primitive savages..."
Tilean soldier: "Look! The sun!"
Lizardmen: "Sotek, Sotek"
Tileans: "Aaaaaaaagh! Save us! Help! Disaster! The end of the world has come!"
El Cadavo: "Ye gods! What have we done... Back to the boats!"
- —First encounter between El Cadavo and the Lizardmen[5b]
At another unknown date, El Cadavo led his first expedition to the shores of Lustria in search of plunder. Being less wise than his predecessor Marco Colombo, he decided to bring only cheap glass beads and broken mirrors to try and impress the local Lizardmen, taking them for simple savages.[1b]
When these offerings were unceremoniously rejected, El Cadavo resorted to open threats and ordered a cannon to be fired as a show of force. The Lizardmen were unimpressed and proclaimed Sotek would swallow the sun as punishment for their offenses. Before the Tilean army could stop laughing, a solar eclipse began, and the mercenaries ran away to the boats in full disarray.[1b]
El Cadavo returned the following year, having been convinced by a Hedge Witch that the darkening of the sun was an astronomical quirk and mere coincidence. He and his followers remained long enough to build permanent dwellings, upon the coast of the Isthmus of Pahuax[2b], and they named the settlement Cadavo after their leader. No sooner had the rude town of rickety wooden shacks been marked on the map than it was destroyed by a series of massive earthquakes.[8a][4a][5a]
The Last Expedition[]
The location of Cadavo at the Isthmus of Pahuax.
"The gods must have revised their opinions of our expedition, for surely they were with us this day. We are joined by a guide, a native it seems of this very jungle. She is a woman of tremendous presence and beauty and she knows the jungle intricately. I only hope I can control the men, for their sake more than hers, for she is a devil with the spear..."
- —El Cadavo, during his third and final expedition to the Obsidian Column[3a]
El Cadavo made his way back to Tilea and dug himself deep into debt raising a third expedition. In 1944 IC made landfall at the ruined site of Cadavo and set about reconstructing the colony. Desperate for his misadventures to start paying dividends, El Cadavo led a force of mercenaries to the nearby Obsidian Column, a massive monument located some 500 miles into the interior.[4a][4b][5a][5b][3a] They succeded thanks to the help of a native Amazon warrior, proving that the tales of precious stones set within the monolith were true. The raiders loaded their wagons with chests overflowing with riches, but in their greed, they lingered too long.[3a] However, where the Norse settlers of Skeggi had learned how to avoid the retribution of the Lizardmen, El Cadavo and his followers showed only a foolish lack of caution.[4a] The raiders loaded their wagons with plunder, but in their greed, they lingered too long. The Lizardmen attacked before Cadavo could form his army into a defensive line. El Cadavo’s men fought bravely to defend their treasure, but they were slowly ground down by the mighty Saurus.[5a][8a]
El Cadavo himself escaped the slaughter and made his way back to the coast. He was a ruined man, bitterly raving that the bodies of his men had been hung from the sides of the Obsidian Column and that the jewels they had attempted to plunder had been set inside their gouged eye sockets as a warning against incurring the wrath of the Lizardmen.
No sooner had he returned to the port that bore his name than it was once again leveled by great tremors.[8a] In fact Lord Mazdamundi further determined that he would see the port of Cadavo destroyed once and for all, as a warning to all of those who would invade the realm of the Lizardmen. Invoking the names of the Old Ones, Lord Mazdamundi unleashed the immense power of the tectonic plates, bringing about a terrible earthquake that reduced the settlement to shattered ruins. When the dust had finally settled, not one of the town's stones stood upon another, and all its defenders were crushed to a bloody pulp.[4a][5a] In doing so, he proved to be the one spoken of in the Prophecy of Querchi, 'he who rides the Horned Beast'.[4b] Satisfied that the troublesome warmbloods would trouble him no more, Lord Mazdamundi returned to Hexoatl, with a mind to resume his contemplation of the great mysteries of the universe once again. Yet his blood was stirred, and his slumbers were not again so deep.[4a][5a]
El Cadavo and the surviving colonists labored to make their sole remaining ship seaworthy. They sailed to Port Reaver and begged for supplies before returning to Tilea, but as soon as they left, an unseasonal typhoon lashed the shores of Lustria. What became of El Cadavo no one knows.[2a][8a] Some say his ship full of Lustrian treasures was swallowed with him by the ocean.[3b]
Notable Crew Members[]
- Enrico - A subordinate of El Cadavo, who accompanied him during his first journey to the continent of Lustria.[5b]
Canon Conflict[]
It's unclear how many times El Cadavo founded his settlement in Lustria. Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition) says it was "destroyed [...] three times, each time being rebuilt" before "a devastating earthquake ensures that the town is finally abandoned".[2a] This is supported by the subsequent revisions of this book from 7th[4a] and 8th Editions.[5a] Warhammer Campaigns: Lustria however says there were only "two failed attempts"[3a], and both the 7th and 8th Edition armybooks state Lord Mazdamundi had been "disturbed three times in a decade".[4a][5a]
Also, Warhammer Campaigns: Lustria says Lord Mazdamundi razed his port with earthquakes the first two times it was established[3a], while the Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen books from 6th, 7th, and 8th Editions insist Lord Mazdamundi had his armies tear it down until he invoked the final earthquake in 1944.[2a][4a][4b][5a][5b]
Notes[]
Note 1: The reason for the grievance between citizens of Alcatani against Trantines is not directly stated, but this leads to the only conclusion that El Cadavo was from Trantio or that his mercenary army was at the pay of the city-state.[7a]
Trivia[]
His name is a "fake Spanish" deformation of the word "cadaver".
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition)
- 3: Warhammer Campaigns: Lustria (6th Edition)
- 4: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (7th Edition)
- 5: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (8th Edition)
- 6: Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins (6th Edition)
- 6a: pp. 4-5
- 7: Up in Arms Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition (RPG)
- 7a: pp. 53
- 8: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Lustria (RPG)
- 8a: pg. 17