The location of the Jiangshi Rebels faction of Jade Vampires in the Nongchang Basin region of Grand Cathay on the Immortal Empires campaign map of Total War: Warhammer III.[4b]
The Jade-Blooded[4a], also known as the Jade Vampires, are a bloodline of Far Eastern Vampires located in Grand Cathay who primarily reside in the Nongchang Basin region around the city of Nongchang where they led a rebellion against Cathayan authority and also comprise a band of pirates known as the Dead Flag Fleet.[4b]
History[]
Icon of the faction of Jade Vampires known as the Jiangshi Rebels as depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.[4b]
The Jade Vampires are the descendants of Harakhte, the brilliant and sinister court vizier of the First Vampire Neferata, the queen of the ancient Nehekharan city-state of Lahmia. Harakhte was one of the "First Children," those amongst Neferata's court who became Vampires when they drank from her flawed version of the Elixir of Life.[4a]
After the fall of Lahmia, Harakhte came to the service of Nagash, the creator of necromancy, in his war against the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. This was until Vashanesh, another of the first Vampires, allowed King Alcadizaar the Conqueror to kill him in order to break the Great Necromancer's magical control over the Vampires, and they deserted Nagash's cause.[4a]
Icon of the faction of Jade Vampire pirates known as the Dead Flag Fleet depicted in Total War: Warhammer III.[4b]
Harakhte fled east to Grand Cathay, creating the first Jade-Blooded Vampires.[4a] The specifics as to why and how he travelled to Cathay and the founding of the bloodline are unknown, but it is known that Nehekhara and ancient Cathay had some commercial contact prior to the fall of the former, mostly centered in Lahmia.
While not much is known about the presence of Vampires in the Far East, when the Tilean explorer and trader, Marco Polare, reached Grand Cathay in ca. 1247 IC, he wrote about the legends of immortal eunuch sorcerers that drank the souls of Men and there are tales from the jungles of Ind and the Southlands about mad priests who tear out men's hearts to feed to their dark gods.[1a][2a][3a]
Non-canon Background[]
While there is little canon lore concerning the Jade Vampires there is an unofficial publication about them which contains many more details published by Trinstar Games, the company that authored an earlier edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, titled Lost Bloodlines.[6a]
Trivia[]
The name of the Jade Vampire pirates in Total War: Warhammer III -- the Dead Flag Fleet -- as well as the name of its faction leader Zheng Shih, is a reference to the real world Chinese pirate admiral Zheng Yi Sao, who led the Guangdong Pirate Confederation -- also known as the "Red Flag Fleet" -- and terrorised the Chinese coast in the nineteenth century; threatening naval superpowers at the time such as Great Britain, Portugal and the Qing dynasty with a fleet of over 1,800 junks and more than 70,000 pirate crew.[4b]
The icon used by the Jade Vampire faction in Total War: Warhammer III is likely based on the Chinese myth of the jiangshi or Chinese hopping vampire. The jiangshi is a qi (life energy), corpse- or blood-consuming undead creature often depicted in Chinese legends as having a greenish, corpse-like appearance and a paper talisman upon its head. Due to the influence of Hong Kong cinema, it is typically depicted in modern popular culture as a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing dynasty.
In popular culture, it is commonly represented as hopping or leaping. In folkloric accounts, however, it is more formidable, capable of giving chase by running, and if sufficiently ancient or if it has absorbed sufficient yang energy, capable also of flight. According to folkloric understandings, "jiangshi came from the hills, soaring through the air, to devour the infants of the people."
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 35
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Night's Dark Masters (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 44
- 3: The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin (Background Book)
- 3a: pg. 63
- 4: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 4a: Full Interview With Warhammer 3's Lead Writer Andy Hall - Total War Warhammer 3 - Lorebeards Podcast
- 4b: Total War: Warhammer III Immortal Empires campaign map
- 5: Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 6: Lost Bloodlines (Non-Canon Background Book)