"Pride is a wasteful thing. The braggart is the lowest form of erudite. For those who truly understand, there is no need to boast. Accomplishment is the end in itself."
- —Vanhal the Necromancer[3c]
Frederick van Hal raising the Undead during the time of the Black Plague and Skaven Wars.
Frederick van Hal, later known as Vanhal, Van Hels[6a], or Vanhel, was both an infamous necromancer of Sylvania at the time of the Black Plague and the Skaven Wars in the 12th century IC and the progenitor of the Van Hel family of witch hunters.[2a]
Vanhal developed the spell called Danse Macabre,[4b] which is also known as Vanhal's Danse Macabre in homage to its creator.
Later generations of the Vanhal family line, the van Hels, took up the oath of the witch hunter in an attempt to atone for the sins of their heretical ancestor.[2a]
Quick Answers
What infamous title did Frederick van Hal later become known by?
What significant spell did Vanhal develop?
What family of witch hunters did Vanhal originate?
What is Vanhal's view on pride and boasting?
History[]
The different sources offer two contradictory origins for van Hal.
Black Plague[]
Originally from the Westerland, Frederick van Hal was a priest of Morr. Born as the son of a sailor, Frederick's brother Rutger van Hal became a merchant, while Frederick was chosen for the priesthood. He received tutorship in the Theatre of Ravens of Luccini, the oldest temple of Morr in the Old World.[1b] The family was forced to leave Westerland during the Norscan invasion of Snagr Half-nose, and also because Frederick discovered the fraudulent book-keeping of a patron of his brother.[1a]
Van Hal lived in the Sylvanian hamlet of Bylorhof when the Skaven unleashed the Black Plague in 1111 IC. He had been sent there by the temple after the previous priest, Arisztid Olt, had been discovered to be a student of the dark art of necromancy. While Olt was slain by the Black Guard, his library had remained hidden. Frederick van Hal found it, but chose to study its contents instead of burning it, believing that knowing more about the motivations and lore of the heretics would allow him to combat them more effectively.[1b]
In time, the rest of the temple succumbed to the Black Plague, leaving van Hal the only priest of Morr remaining. The people of Bylorhof, abandoned by their nobility and with the priesthood apparently unable to aid them against the disease, turned to darker gods that were once worshipped by the Fennonen, including the cyclopean swamp god Bylorak. Van Hal tried to convince the manic peasants that Bylorak did not offer them protection, but was shunned.[1a]
When the Black Plague infected van Hal's family, his brother turned to a wandering doctor to cure them. The "scientific" methods of the doctor, however, proved far more lethal than the plague it was supposed to cure and the constant bloodletting killed Frederick's nephew Johan van Hal. In despair, his sister-in-law committed suicide.[1c] Driven to despair, Frederick drew upon the forbidden knowledge he had gained through Olt's library to communicate with her spirit. During her talk, the spirit revealed to him that his brother had been slain by the doctor after having confronted him about his false cures.[1d]
The act of violating the spirit realm had permanently changed Frederick van Hal. Being able to see the decay and entropy that had engulfed Sylvania more clearly, he was also able to see the restless spirits of the unburied dead lament their fate. Furthermore, his act of necromancy had also caused a ripple effect that caused the dead to rise, seeking out van Hal to be given commands.[1e]
Van Hal was powerful enough to raise the dead without any conscious effort, and after he had discovered the limits of his power, he decided to punish the doctor and the corrupt nobility of Sylvania that had abandoned its people to the plague. He killed the doctor with his Undead minions and fashioned his victim's skull into a mask for himself, beginning his conquest of Sylvania, renaming himself "Vanhal."[1f]
Vanhal marched through Sylvania, seeing the killing and raising of the living as Undead as a mercy compared to the slow wasting wrought by the Black Plague. Likewise, he found himself compelled by a will not entirely his own. When the Skaven arose from the Under-Empire to Sylvania to harvest the warpstone that they had ritually summoned down to rain upon the land from the Chaos Moon of Morrslieb, Vanhal moved to exterminate them, driven in part by the will of the Great Necromancer Nagash who sought vengeance for their betrayal of him in ages past.[3a]
In the struggle against the Skaven, Vanhal was confronted by the ambitious necromancer Lothar von Diehl. He managed to overpower the man and took him as his apprentice, in return for a copy of De Arcanis Kadon, one of the tomes penned by Kadon in recreation of the original Nine Books of Nagash.[3b] The further Vanhal delved into the dark art, the more he lost his empathy and the memory of the death of his family became something alien and aloof to him, as the influence of the First Necromancer began to assert itself upont him.[3c]
When the Skaven of Clan Mordkin challenged him, Vanhal raised an army of Zombie Dragons to destroy them, using the power of the Vanhaldenschlosse to conjure a Storm of Magic that allowed him to magically cause time to pass more quickly, causing Hexenstag to take place several months earlier and allowing him to cast a ritual of enormous power.[3d] The ritual, while bringing Vanhal victory over the ratmen, left him weakened and in a trance-like state, during which his soul visited the netherworld, and was haunted by visions of Nagash's glory and of necromantic power that revealed themselves to him on the Winds of Magic.[4a]
When his apprentice Lothar showed him forged evidence that Stirland was mobilising against him, Vanhal raised his Undead armies again, sending them to punish the living, using the body of Lothar von Diehl as a vehicle for his own weakened form. He raised the dead Styrigen from their tombs to conquer the lands of Stirland, but was resisted by the newly arrived army of Mandred von Zelt, Elector Count of Middenland who had ridden with his forces to support Stirland, and of the remaining living Sylvanians.[4b]
At the same time, the Skaven, seeking revenge for their prior defeat at the necromancer's hands, sought to strike against both forces while they were engaged, leading to the Battle of Fellwald, which saw Vanhal's defeat and retreat back into his body in the Vanhaldenschlosse, leaving Lothar von Diehl to die.[4c]
Yet, unknown to Vanhal, his apprentice had survived the battle. Stealing back into the castle of his lord, Lothar von Diehl killed his master with the Fellblade wielded by an Undead servant -- the same weapon that had once slain Nagash. With his dying breath, Vanhal cursed his apprentice, promising to claim his flesh for his own when he died.[4d]
Liber Mortis[]
The second story concerning the origin of Vanhal is very different.
Baron Frederick van Hal was the original ruler of the province of Sylvania. Having come to power in 1106 IC, his ambition had been to purge the province of the corruption and decadence of the nobility that had spread during to the reign of Emperor Boris Goldgather.[5a] During the Skaven Wars, the land was polluted by warpstone that rained from the sky, causing the dead of the plague to rise of their own volition and mindlessly attack everyone, Men and Skaven alike.
Help came in the form of a stranger named Vladimir, who offered van Hal the means to defeat the Skaven and turn the tide of the Undead.[5a] Giving Van Hal access to the Nine Books of Nagash, Vladimir tutored the man in necromancy, which van Hal used to direct the swarming Undead to destroy the Skaven.[5a]
Compiling the Nine Books into his own translation, the Liber Mortis, the necromancer underwent a pilgrimage to the ruins of ancient Nehekhara, where he unearthed more lore concerning the First Necromancer that he also wrote down, offering the Old World the first account of the infamous Liche who had once battled Sigmar Heldenhammer.[5a] In the end, van Hal was assassinated by his apprentice Lothar von Diehl, who was soon himself slain by a group of knights allegedly driven by his former master's ghost.[5b]
Grimoire Necris[]
The Grimoire Necris is another ancient tome written by the necromancer Frederick van Hal. Should anyone dare to read this volume, one of many written by the dark wizard during his life, they would hear whispers of conquest and greatness. Their demeanour would become more bleak and they would lose all interest in other matters. This outcome was experienced by Gunther Laranscheld a necromancer and former wizard of the Celestial Order.[6a]
Sources[]
- 1: The Black Plague: Dead Winter (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (8th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 41
- 3: The Black Plague: Blighted Empire (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 4: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 5: Liber Necris (Background Book)
- 6: Warhammer Quest: Catacombs of Terror (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 7