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"He had welded together a coalition of desert tribes and minor caliphates without any help, daemonic or otherwise. He’d turned his own small kingdom into a vigorous empire within a few short years. That’s when the trouble started. Heading north, Jaffar’s army had crashed into Estalia like a thunderbolt and subsequently provoked the Crusades..."

Hector Goetz, Knight of the Blazing Sun, about the origin of Jaffar, Sultan of Araby.[4a]

Jaffar known in the past as Sultan of All Araby was a powerful sorcerer who, in 1435 IC, united Araby and ruled as its undisputed sultan for fifteen years.[3a] He was known to have been in prolonged contact with some of the mightiest Djinn, although many surmise that their lies led to his downfall.[3a][6a]

Few Sultans would be so bold as to take to the field personally yet Jaffar led a powerful army into Estalia and besieged the Tilean city of Tobaro thus triggering the events that would lead to the disastrous Crusades Against Araby.[7a]

His Palace Guard fell during the battle of Al-Haikk, defeated by the Chevaliers de Couronne a regiment of Knights of the Realm.[8a]

History[]

Originally the lord of a small city-state, Jaffar managed to unite the nomadic tribes of the desert using charisma and his ability to summon powerful beings known as Djinn. Soon he had conquered the cities of Al-Haikk, CopherMartek and Lashiek and formed the Sultanate of Araby.[1][2][3a]

During his reign, slowly but inexorably, the presence of Nagash's spirit corrupted the lands around Cripple Peak further and evil creatures once more flocked to his lair, drawn by his unwholesome presence. Such gatherings could not go unnoticed forever and soon tales came to the ears of the Sultan Jaffar that a great evil now dwelt once more in the Desolation around Cripple Peak.[9a]

The Skaven soon allied themselves with the new Sultan of All Araby and traded services of espionage and assassination in exchange for warpstone. After several years of this arrangement, the Skaven managed to convince Jaffar that Estalia planned an attack on Araby. He then decided to invade Estalia, conquering Magritta and then laying an unsuccessful siege to the Tilean city of Tobaro. In what would become known as the Crusades, thousands of knights from the Empire and Bretonnia, as well as mercenaries from Tilea, came to support the Estalians. In a year, Jaffar's army had been driven from Estalia and the Sultan fought a slow battle against the pursuing crusaders as tribe after tribe grew tired of his tyranny and retreated into the desert. In 1451, Jaffar's forces were defeated by the armies of King Louis the Righteous in the Battle of Al Haikk and the Sultanate fell apart. Jaffar himself died that day, pierced through the back by a Bretonnian lance as he attempted to flee.[1][2][3a]

Conference of Brass[]

After his demise, the Sultan's tale was forever immortalized upon a tapestry by the Order of the Blazing Sun, the infamous (at least among members of the Order) Conference of Brass, where the sultan-sorcerer Jaffar made his dark compact with the powers of Chaos. As with all art commissioned or created by members of the Order, the known facts have been stuck to with almost religious rigidity. Jaffar, rather than being demonized, is depicted upon the tapestry as the handsome if rather an ordinary man he had reportedly been. Clad in colorful silks and armor wrought of the black iron favored by the daemon-worshippers of the desert, he is shown in the center of a ruined arena, raising his hands in awe at the sight of the daemonic throng watching him from the stands. Whether he did, in fact, summon daemons to his banner is a matter of some conjecture among Imperial scholars. Even the historians of the Order of the Blazing Sun aren't entirely positive that Jaffar hadn’t been, in the end, simply an excellent strategist and politician.[4a]

Alas, even if no mortal can remember it, Jaffar truly entered into a desperate pact with the daemon Kairos Fateweaver, and unleashed a tumult of terror upon the battlefield. As the noble host of Knights Errant met with the Sultan's forces, the skies rained blood, living whirlwinds of sand emerged to wreak havoc and vast daemonic pylons thrust out of the whirling dunes.[5a]

Canon Conflicts[]

In White Dwarf Issue 305, the author somehow managed to mistakenly refer to him as an unnamed Prince of Araby from Jaffar.[10a]

Trivia[]

His name and status could be a play about Sultan Jafar in the Aladdin movies. He could also be reminiscent of the character it was based on, a 1790s Indian general named Mir Jafar, who was particularly infamous for selling out the then-reigning Nawab (leader) of Bengal to the English in order to usurp the title, which was similar to Jafar's plot to overthrow the Sultan in the movie, although, unlike Mir Jafar, Jafar failed.

Sources[]

  • 1: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (5th Edition), pg. 22
  • 2: Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (5th Edition), pgs. 13, 33
  • 3: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
    • 3a: pg. 89
  • 4: Warhammer: Knight of the Blazing Sun (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
  • 5: Storm of Magic (8th Edition)
    • 5a: pg. 21
  • 6: Town Cryer 21
    • 6a: pg. 17
  • 7: Warmaster: Armies (Specialist Game)
    • 7a: pg. 49
  • 8: White Dwarf 205 (Magazine)
    • 8a: pg. 59
  • 9: White Dwarf 362 (Magazine)
    • 9a: pg. 127
  • 10: White Dwarf 305 (Magazine)
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