"All that evil needs to flourish is for good men to do nothing. Every fight is my fight. "
- —Kallad Stormwarden[1f]
Kallad Stormwarden was the last survivor of Karak Sadra, after that Dwarf hold fell to the armies of the Undead in the First Vampire War. A Dwarf hero during the Second and Third Vampire Wars, he was the only person living that knew the true fate of the Carstein Ring.
History[]
Son of King Kellus Ironhand, Kallad had been despatched with a Dwarf throng to come to the aid of the Men of the Imperial town of Grünburg against the von Carstein Vampires during the First Vampire War. When the Undead threatened to overwhelm the town, King Kellus commanded his son to lead the women and children to safety, while he would make a last stand to guard his retreat. As his father was cut down by the Vampire Lord Konrad von Carstein, Kallad swore an oath of vengeance against all Undead.[1a]
While his remaining throng led the survivors to the mines at Axe Bite Pass, Kallad made his way to Altdorf, having learned that the Vampire Count Vlad von Carstein had found his death there. [1b] He was present when the Vampire Jon Skellan escaped his confinement beneath the Holy Temple of Sigmar. Kallad offered to hunt the Vampire down, demanding the service of a warlock to track the stink of the beast through the Winds of Magic. The Cult of Sigmar offered him the service of Nevin Kantor, accompanied by the Templar Witch Hunter Helmut van Hal.[1c]
After discovering Mannfred von Carstein by tracking the trail of massacres that had been committed in Kemperbad and Nuln, the Vampire killed most of Kallad's retinue and left the Dwarf for dead.[1d] Kallad survived, but badly wouunded, and was brought to the village of Vierstein at the border of Sylvania. There, he learned that Konrad von Carstein was supposedly collecting witches with Black Coaches from all around Sylvania, herding them to Castle Drakenhof. Believing that Kantor might be among those, he decided to head into Sylvania.[1e]
Upon reaching Drakenhof, Kallad, along with his companion Lothar du Bek, found that the inhabitants of the inn they sought to spend the night in were tyrannised by Vampires, in this case members of their own families who had been given the Blood Kiss and sought to drag them out of the safety of their homes into the darkness. Instead of hiding, Kallad decided to carry the fight to the Undead, slaying them.[1f] He further attempted to rouse the villagers to fight against their oppressors, but the Humans were too cowed by the constant terror from the Undead that lorded over them.[1g]
Spending a month in the shadow of Castle Drakenhof trying to find a way to rescue Kantor, Kallad and Lothar were finally cornered by seven Vampires lead by Jon Skellan, as well as the missing Kantor. The warlock had embraced the ways of the necromancer and joined the Vampire Counts. The Dwarf was overwhelmed while his companion van Hal was slain and he was taken to the dungeons of Castle Drakenhof.[1g]
Kallad was forced to fight in the arena that Konrad von Carstein had constructed in the tunnels below the castle. As he sought to liberate the other prisoners to defeat the Vampires, he again faced Jon Skellan, as well as the Hamaya bodyguards of Konrad. As the Dwarf prepared to fight in the arena, Skellan turned against his fellow Vampires. Once his fellow Undead had met their final end, Skellan told Kallad that Konrad planned to turn the entire mortal world into a kingdom of the dead and that the Dwarf had to warn the pretender emperors of the warring Imperial Grand Provinces so that they would be prepared to face the Undead onslaught. Despite guessing that the Vampire was trying to manipulate him, Kallad agreed.[1g]
Leading the survivors of Konrad's arena through the tunnels, Kallad reached an outpost of the Dwarf hold Karak Raziak, manned by Grufbad Steelfist. Telling his fellow Dwarfs of the threat that had grown in Sylvania, the destruction of Karak Sadra and other crimes the Undead had committed against all Dawi, Grufbad decided to bring him before King Razzak, to bring warning to Karak Kadrin, Zhufbar and Karak Varn and to join their armies to the forces of the Empire.[1h]
During the Second Vampire War, Kallad Stormwarden fought at the side of the armies of Karak Raziak, carrying the banner of fallen Karak Sadra. He rejected the call from the kings of Karak Norn and Karak Hirn to declare himself king of the lost hold, stating that his father had been the last true king of Karak Sadra and that all that remained were ghosts and rubble.[1i]
During the Battle of Four Armies, Kallad witnessed Konrad cut down Helmut of Marienburg and resurrect him as a Zombie.[1i] Kallad restrained Helmar, the son of Helmut, from taking vengeance, urging him to instead take leadership of the tattered army upon himself while Kallad would face the Vampire Count. That did not happen, for Jon Skellan betrayed and attacked the Dwarf as Kallad had suspected he would, though the Vampire was thankful that the Dwarf had played his part and had drawn all the enemies of his master Konrad von Carstein to one place where they could be more easily eliminated. Before the treacherous Vampire could kill Kallad, he was stopped by Jerek von Carstein. The former knight had turned against his bloodline and pummelled his traitorous blood-cousin to the ground.[1j]
When Kallad asked Jerek why he had done this, the Vampire knight answered that he searched for the Carstein Ring, to prevent it from falling into the hands of his bloodline ever again. In exchange for Kallad's help in finding it, Jerek promised to slay the necromancers that animated the Undead army Konrad von Carstein commanded. Kallad agreed to the bargain, but demanded that it had to be him who slew Konrad.[1j]
The Dwarf, along with Helmar of Marienburg and Grufbad Steelfist, joined the force at the Battle of Grim Moor that cornered the second Vampire Count and ended him for good.[1k]
Following the Battle of Grim Moor, Kallad became a guest of honour in Karak Raziak. Yet he discovered that he could not fit among the Dwarfs of the hold, being tormented by dreams of the atrocities he had witnessed and discovering thjat he no longer had any taste for smithing, mining or ranging.[2a]
Upon discovering that Mannfred von Carstein, the last of Vlad von Carstein's direct blood-children, had retaken control of Sylvania, Kallad decided to leave Karak Raziak. King Razzak warned him against going alone and instead entrusted him seven other Dwarfs that had lost their kin to the Vampires. To these, Kallad revealed the nature of his pact with Jerek von Carstein and his intention of walking the tunnel again to assault Castle Drakenhof from below.[2a]
Kallad and his Dwarfs managed to take the castle by surprise, slaying many Vampires as well as Rasul, one of Mannfred's blood-sons who had acted as his regent, mistakenly believing him to be the true Vampire Count.[2b]
Kallad was then warned by Jerek von Carstein that he had merely felled a decoy and that the real Mannfred had withdrawn to Hel Fenn. Thus warned, Kallad led his Dwarfs to ambush the Undead and joined the Battle of Hel Fenn. He came face-to-face with Mannfred again and managed to deal him a grievous wound with his magical Rune Axe Ruinthorn, forcing the Vampire Lord to flee the field.[2c]
In the aftermath of the Third Vampire War, Kallad built a prison to hold Jerek von Carstein and the Carstein Ring at an unknown place in the Old World, in an old ruin in wastelands far from Imperial civilisation. The Vampire knight had promised to guard it and prevent another Vampire Count from claiming it and threatening the Old World again.[2d]
Wargear[]
- Ruinthorn – Ruinthorn was the magical Rune Axe of the kings of Karak Sadra.[1a]