"Hidden amongst the drifting sand dunes of the Great Sandy Desert lies the city of Ka-Sabar, its tumbled towers covered in strange glyphs carved by a forgotten race."
- —Description of Ka-Sabar in Warhammer: The Old World.[1a]
Icon of Ka-Sabar as depicted in Warhammer: The Old World[1a]
Ka-Sabar, also spelled Ka Sabar, once known as the "City of Bronze" and now called the "Temple of Sorrow," was an ancient Nehekharan city-state hidden amongst the drifting sand dunes of the Great Sandy Desert. Later it was settled by Arabyans and became a well-known city-state of that people.[1a][2c][10c][3a]
Ka-Sabar is said to be covered in glyphs carved by a forgotten race older than Nehekhara itself.[1a][10c]
Ka-Sabar lies outside the Barrier Idols, which demark the traditional core territory of Nehekhara. It is connected with the rest of the Nehekharan city-states solely through the Broken Road running through Bhagar.[12a]
History[]
Origins[]
One of the most ancient city-states of Nehekhara, Ka-Sabar is said to have been founded before even Khemri.[1a] Before the ritual of Nagash awakened the Tomb Kings from the sleep of death, the City of Bronze was afflicted by the eastern wind called Enmesh-na Geheb, ("The Breath of Geheb") for it was the eastern quarter of the city that contained the majority of Ka-Sabar's complex of great bronze foundries.[2c]
The Breath of Geheb reeked of cinders and the smell of scorched copper, as ingots of ore carved from the Brittle Peaks were melted in great crucibles and combined with bars of nickel to produce high-quality bronze.[2c]
Millennia ago, Ka-Sabar was known as a city of industry and had made its wealth by trading everything from bronze belt buckles and wheel rims to fine swords and scale armor. In the dark days of the -18th century IC the demand for her goods was greater than ever. The city's furnaces lit the eastern skies by night, and her smithies were shrouded in a perpetual mantle of acrid smoke. Heavily armed caravans made their way down the trade road from Quatar bearing chests of gold and silver, and returned laden with swords and axes, scale armour shirts and shields, bronze-tipped spears and baskets of arrowheads.[2c]
Ka-Sabar is located in the Great Sandy Desert in the Land of the Dead, outside of ancient Nehekhara's traditional boundaries.
The people of Ka-Sabar were known for their great size, as many stood nearly seven feet tall. These warriors were assembled into the formidable army of Ka-Sabar, called the "Bronze Host."[2b]
Ka-Sabar was one of the Nehekharan cities that opposed the Great Necromancer Nagash and his minions, fighting under the leadership of the priest-king Akhmen-hotep.[2a]
Despite suffering a burning defeat against Nagash's forces in the battle at Zedri in -1750 IC,[2d] seven years later King Akhmen-hotep won against the forces of Bel-Aliad led by Prince Suhedir al-Khazem.[2e]
Akhmen-hotep's forces were ultimately betrayed by his brother Memnet, the Grand Hierophant of Ka-Sabar,[2a] and were subsequently destroyed by Arkhan the Black. Memnet proceeded to rule Ka-Sabar as a Vampire in Nagash's name. His was a nightmarish rule over the City of Bronze.[2f]
But Rakh-amn-hotep, priest-king of Rasetra, intended to march on Ka-Sabar to end his dominion of the city.[2g]
Alcadizaar the Conqueror[]
In ca. -1200 IC Alcadizaar the Conqueror was crowned Priest-King of Khemri. He united the entire land of Nehekhara under his charismatic rule and conquered the ancient city of Ka-Sabar from the desert tribes. Nehekhara began to prosper once more.[10a]
In -917 IC, Nehekhara was invaded by Lizardmen from the Southlands who were searching for lost treasures taken from their temple-cities that were now hidden within the ancient ruins of the priest-kings. The reptilian warriors advanced on both Ka-Sabar and Bhagar as they delved deeper into the heart of the desert lands.[10a]
They were finally defeated in Khemri where Liche Priests focused the rays of the sun through the mirrored prisms atop Khemri's gold-capped pyramids to destroy the Lizardmen armies with beams of blazing sunlight.[10a]
At some point in its long history, Ka-Sabar was subjugated by Imrathepis the Crimson King.[10b]
Under The Reign of Araby[]
Ka-Sabar in later centuries was settled by the people of the desert tribes of Araby.[3a]
At some point in its history, Ka-Sabar became an Arabyan city, settled by the desert tribes of that land.[3a]
Ibn Jellaba's Expedition[]
The Arabyan merchant and explorer Ibn Jellaba departed in ca. 1150 IC to open a trade route into the Southlands in search of spices and gold but discovered the city of Zlatlan by accident in the process.[8a]
When he returned from his mission, he reached Ka-Sabar and reported that there was no practical overland route to the southern seas. He also told the Sultan of Araby about the powerful armies of the lost realm of the Al-Sunim who controlled the hinterland and that they had no interest in opening up trade links with anyone.[8a]
Great Crusade Against Araby[]
Ka-Sabar's allegiance during the Great Crusade Against Araby is unknown.[5a] But at the end of that conflict, a crusader took from the city the Black Skull of the Caliph and carried it back to the Old World.[4a]
Among the spoils the crusaders brought back from their campaign there were also copies of the Book of the Dead, a tome written by Prince Abdul ben Raschid. The Arabyan had travelled to the Land of the Dead and, driven mad by his experience in the land of the Tomb Kings, wrote his blasphemous masterpiece. He did not live to see the widespread public revulsion for his work, or the great pyre where the Caliph of Ka-Sabar burned all the copies of it he could lay his hands on.[6a][7a]
End Times[]
During the End Times, portions of Ka-Sabar were in Nehekharan hands again. When the armies of the Great Necromancer Nagash sought to conquer the Tomb Kings, Ushabti from the temple of the crocodile god in Ka-Sabar joined the defence as part of the War Statues of Ramhotep.[11a]
Geography[]
Ka-Sabar was one of the southernmost cities in Araby. The nearby Arabyan tribes, the Athiopos and the Zamesi, lived in the desert which surrounds the city.[8a]
Ka-Sabar Medical School[]
If the accounts of the Imperial physician Drexler are true, Ka-Sabar is renowned for the existence of a school in the city that specialises in medical education and attracted students from all over the Known World, including those from the Empire. Unlike universities in other regions, Ka-Sabar does not award diplomas. The philosophy at Ka-Sabar is straightforward: when a student completes their studies there, they are either a healer or they are not.[9a]
Arabyan medicine is advanced due to its innovative and effective approach to healing, which contrasts with traditional methods prevalent in the Empire. Arabyan physicians don't rely on outdated practices like bloodletting, rather they prioritise scientifically-validated methods that are proven to be effective. Yet the common scholars of the medical arts in the Empire would consider them little more than charlatans.[9a]
Notable Inhabitants[]
- Akhmen-hotep - Priest-King of Ka-Sabar in -1750 IC.[2a]
- Suseb the Lion - The king's champion in -1750 IC.[2a]
- Pakh-amn - A general in the army who bore the title of "Master of Horse" who was accounted as one of the greatest living warriors in all Nehekhara in -1750 IC.[2a]
- Hashepra - High Priest of Geheb in in in Ka-Sabar in -1750 IC.[2a]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer: The Old World website
- 1a: Explore the Old World (Interactive Map)
- 2: Time of Legend: Nagash The Sorcerer (Novel) by Mike Lee
- 3: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition)
- 3a: pp. 16-17 (Map)
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Realm of Sorcery (RPG)
- 4a: pg. 204
- 5: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (4th Edition)
- 5a: pg. 22
- 6: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (5th Edition)
- 6a: pg. 8
- 7: Liber Necris (Background Book)
- 7a: pg. 5
- 8: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (5th Edition)
- 8a: pp. 6-8
- 9: Gotrek and Felix: Skavenslayer (Novel) by William King
- 9a: "Plague Monks of Pestilence"
- 10: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (8th Edition)
- 11: The End Times Vol I: Nagash (8th Edition)
- 11a: pg. 421
- 12: Warhammer: The Old World - Arcane Journal: Tomb Kings of Khemri (Specialist Game)
- 12a: p. 6