"Everything a man loves dies. Everything he values must turn to dust. It is only the things inside a man that he can keep with him always. Things like loyalty and honour."
- —The Red Duke[2g]
The Red Duke, also known as the "Scourge of Aquitaine," the "Blood-kissed Duke" and El Syf ash-Shml (lit. "The North Sword") by the Arabyans,[2c]was a former Bretonnian Duke of Aquitaine during his mortal life, later transformed into a mighty Vampiric Blood Knight and Vampire Lord.
In modern Bretonnia, it is believed by many that the title of the "Red Duke" belongs to multiple Vampires, for it is the firm belief of the people that evil, vanquished by a King of Bretonnia, does not stir from its grave.[2a]
History[]
A mighty warrior and peerless swordsman, the Duke of Aquitaine was a renowned hero of Bretonnia, famed across the land as the slayer of the Dragon Nerluc. His skills were such that he made it a practice that any man of any station, noble or peasant, might cross swords with him at any hour. If they could but scratch him, a purse of gold would belong to the challenger. Many came to test the duke, but the purse of gold was never claimed.[2c]
From a young age, he had been groomed as his father's successor, forsaking the Grail Quest to instead dedicate himself to his dukedom.[2i] His brother Louis, two years younger than him, instead dedicated himself to the Grail Quest.[2q] The Duke of Aquitaine was not just a mighty warrior, but an honourable and selfless leader of men. He would often set out on perilous quests, coming to the aid of lands and dukedoms that were not his own.[2n]
He had campaigned alongside Duke Chararic against the Orcs that had raided his lands along the River Grismerie, and joined Duke Arnulf to hunt down the great Dragon Gundovald. He had even spent an entire month within the Lyonen court of Duke Ballomer, lending them his wisdom.[2n]
El Syf[]
"Before us marches the enemy, wicked and abominable, arrogant in his strength, proud of his tyranny and evil. In the mind of the heathen, the war is already over. With a host of slaves who have never known any life but war, the Butcher would break our righteous cause. He would save the corrupt throne of Jaffar and extend to the lands of Bretonnia and Estalia and Tilea and the Empire the same cruel chains that imprison the men of Araby. He would make of our sons and daughters, of the sons and daughters of all free men, a legion of slaves to feed the cruelty of his sultan."
By the year 1449 IC, the duke had become known as El Syf ash-Shml, for the Arabyans had named him in the crude dialect of their nomadic tribes, the "Northern Sword", often shorted simply to El Syf, "the sword". It was a title he had earned through a year of bloody fighting to liberate the kingdoms of Estalia from the Sultan Jaffar. It was a name the Arabyans had come to whisper in terror after the Bretonnian armies came to the deserts of Araby to take the Crusade into the sultan's own lands.
The Duke of Aquitaine famously engaged the forces of Mehmed the Butcher, one of Jaffar's most cruel and efficient generals.[2h] His forces crushed the Arabyan army in a wadi, leaving them no way to escape.[2j] The duke's archers sent volley after volley into the wadi, breaking the Arabyans' charge and then crushing them with a second cavalry charge lead by the duke himself.[2s]
After the siege of Lashiek, the Duke of Aquitaine was assailed by Arabyan assassins in the desert. As he fought for his life, the duke noticed that one of the conspirators was not Arabyan at all, as he spoke Bretonnian with an Aquitainian accent. Enraged, the duke slaughtered his assailants and the sheikh that had led them, before turning on the traitorous knight.[2c]
To his shock, he discovered that the knight was Sir Bertric, a vassal of Baron Gui de Gavaudan, father of Queen Aregund. Lost in shock over the revelation that the wife of his brother apparently had plotted his death, the duke did not notice when one of the defeated Arabyans stabbed him in the back with a poisoned knife.[2c]
Transformation[]
"The warrior spirit inside you will fight to survive, even if your mind begs for death. Even for one who has lived since the days of Alcadizaar and Lahmizzash, I have seldom seen a warrior with a greater affinity for the sword. You were destined to ascend from the frailty of mortal flesh and become something greater. To become the get of Abhorash."
- —Abhorash, upon granting the Duke of Aquitaine the Blood Kiss.[2t]
As the duke lay dying, an armoured stranger arrived, having witnessed the battle. The creature cast no shadow and identified him as one of the Bretonni. The stranger commended the duke on his prowess in battle and stated that losing such skill upon the knives of cowards would be a pity.[2t]
He gave the wounded duke his own blood to drink and told him that he did not know whether the duke would survive, that it might be that the poison had already done its work or that he would shrivel under the light of the sun. But he also told him that within him, he saw a spirit greater than his wish for death and that he would prove worthy to ascend.[2t]
For eight months, the duke struggled against the effects of the poison.[2d] His tormented half-dead form was found by Durand du Maisne, who disobeyed his duke's command to let him die and instead carried his body back to camp.[2i] Against the counsel of Gui de Gavaudan, King Louis the Righteous commanded that his brother be brought back to Aquitaine, to die on his native soil if that was his fate.[2k]
El-Syf remained catatonic, only once rising when a tribe of Greenskins attacked his convoy in Estalia. The duke tore through them and fought the bloodthirst, managing to resist gorging himself on them. He again fell into a catatonic state.[2p] Despite the poison raging through him and the Blood Kiss working its vile necromantic magic through him, the Red Duke remained conscious.[2f] Marquis Galafre d'Elbiq later saved the duke from drowning when the carrack that was to transport him back to Aquitaine was sinking. Galafre had originally been an accomplice of de Gavaudan, but had found his underhanded tactics unchivalrous.[2l]
Upon his return, the Red Duke was informed that his wife had committed suicide, news having reached her that her husband had died in battle. The duke, still unable to move, was lost in despair and rage. As he lay paralysed, he could listen to de Gavaudan and d'Elbiq accusing each other of treachery and learned of the plot hatched against him. Blaming them for being responsible for the lie that had caused his wife's death, the duke focused his rage on his brother Louis, who had been the one to gain the most from his death.[2o]
Gui de Gavaudan, having been installed as steward of Aquitaine, grew impatient with the time it apparently took the duke to die. In secret, he sent an assassin to finish El Syf off, certain that the sick man wouldn't be able to offer any resistance. Yet when de Gavaudan entered the bedchamber of the duke, he found the assassin in the bed and the duke assaulting him, draining him of blood.[2d] The Red Duke proceeded to attack de Gavaudan and transformed him into one of his Vampire Thralls. The Red Duke tortured de Gavaudan until he learned who had been involved in the conspiracy to see him dead. He came to see the king as responsible, believing Louis had conspired to take the land of his brother for himself.[2g]
The Red Duke became a terrible tyrant, instituting a blood tax as well as the droit du seigneur, an ancient right that allowed the duke to "examine" the qualities of a subordinate noble's wife upon their wedding within his fief.[2b] He also exacted vicious purges of the families of those nobles that had abandoned him.[2f] Enslaved subjects whom the Red Duke blamed for the death of his wife were sent to construct him a new fortress, the Crac de Sang.[2g] He came to be called the "Red Duke", after the blood that soaked his clothes and deeds.[8a]
Within his new fortress, the Red Duke constructed a shrine to his dead wife, to remember how she had looked in life. He felt the memories of her fleeing from his mind and the thought that he would have one day forgotten her at all tormented him.[2g] Many of Aquitaine's nobles remained loyal to him and other knights flocked to his banner, drawn by legends of his martial prowess and how he had been wronged when jealous courtiers tried to steal his dukedom. Others were outlaws, brigands and mercenaries.[2g]
First War Against the Red Duke[]
"You could not content yourself to be king. You had to be Duke of Aquitaine as well. Now, you will be neither."
- —The Red Duke challenges King Louis the Righteous.[2a]
In the Bretonnian year 476 (1454 IC),[3b] as the reputation of the fell warrior spread, King Louis, his brother, immediately raised an army to stop him. While the Red Duke engaged the armies of Bretonnia, Crac de Sang was sacked.[2g]
The Red Duke recognised the danger posed by the servants of the Lady of the Lake and laid siege to the Tower of Wizardry, wanting to force the Prophetess Isabeau to bestow upon him the Blessing of the Lady.[2m] While his main army was away, the d'Elbiqs betrayed him and allowed the Duke of Quenelles to invade from the south. Castle Aquitaine was razed and the forces of the king marched from the north. Nearly all of western Aquitaine was soon occupied by forces loyal to the royarch.[2j]
The Red Duke, planning to capitalise on the royarch's compassion for the peasants, sent his servants to massacre the population of Mercal, a village close by, intending to draw the forces of King Louis and then engage them from the rear.[2j] In a great battle at Ceren Field, the Red Duke encountered his younger sibling. Seeing the king fighting alone against enemies on all sides, the Vampire commanded his minions to cease their efforts against Louis, who parted to create a clear path between him and his prey.[2a]
The Red Duke announced to Louis that the king had betrayed him, for he could not be content simply as king, but had to become Duke of Aquitaine as well. With that, the final chapter of what would become known as the Battle of Ceren Field began. The Red Duke charged the Grail Knight, borne atop a spectral steed of bone and witch-fire, its corruption swathed in a black caparison, and lowered his lance, a barbed thorn of steel soaked in the blood of Bretonnian knights.[2a] King Louis defeated the Vampire by transfixing him with his own lance through the heart. Without their master's will, his Undead army crumbled to dust.[6a]
Upon his apparent destruction, the works of the Red Duke were cast down. Castle Aquitaine was torn down, the ground ploughed with salt blessed by Grail Knights.[6a] The grief-stricken King Louis refused to believe that his brother could rise again, and did not want to destroy his body out of respect for the man he had once been. Despite the pleas of the priestesses of the Lady of the Lake and even his own lords, the king's will was law in Bretonnia.[2e]
The body of the Red Duke was not consigned to the flames, as had first been ordered, but was instead borne from the field of battle. A great tower of marble was erected upon the hill overlooking Ceren Field and into this pillar the Vampire's body was placed. A bronze statue depicting the Duke of Aquitaine at the height of his heroic glory was set atop the pillar and rich engravings chronicled the life of the noble warrior before he had descended into darkness.[2e]
A Prophetess, Isabeau, had warned against honouring a thing that had turned to evil and visited such wickedness upon the land, but her words fell upon unheeding ears. The king's grief at his brother's death was great; only by paying tribute to his dead enemy could he ease the burden of his heart.[2e]
The Prophetess did prevail upon King Louis to allow her to place enchantments upon the monument, spells that would protect the tomb and hold it inviolate against all manner of evil. Her spells would safeguard the tomb from the ravages of wind and rain, but they would also protect the land from that which lay within the tomb.[2e]
The Red Duke eventually awoke, tearing the broken lance tip from his heart and attempted to leave his tomb. An unseen power drove him back. He found it impossible to even approach the walls of his crypt, repulsed by the enchantments that saturated the marble column. The Red Duke could only turn within the small interior of his prison and curse at the walls that confined him, the walls he couldn't even touch.[2e]
Alone in the eternal darkness of his own tomb, the Red Duke passed the long years, tormented by the bloodlust that consumed his corrupt body. Hour by hour, his ravenous hunger swelled, torturing him with pangs of longing he was powerless to satisfy. Vainly he cast his thoughts upon the past, trying to forget his hunger by reflecting upon his deeds, losing himself in moments heroic and infamous with equal abandon.[2e]
In the Bretonnian year 496 (1474 IC), King Louis the Righteous died. Upon his death, the Prophetess Isabeau ordered all traces of the Red Duke's name upon the monument to be effaced, to prevent the tomb from becoming a shrine.[2e]
Second War Against the Red Duke[]
"I fought on that day, yes," said Leodegar, his voice taking on a forlorn, distant quality. "A day of glory and infamy all in one. Would that we had finished that fight with El Syf's body consigned to the flames. But, alas, he escaped us, while so many of our fellow knights fell."
- —Sir Leodegar of the Golden Hart, reflecting on the Second Battle of Ceren Field.[9]
Almost five centuries later, on a fateful night, the witch Jacquetta, her coven of Chaos Cultists, and the necromancer Renar were hired by Earl Gaubert d'Elbiq to evoke the warrior-spirit of the Red Duke, hoping to channel his martial prowess into the earl to allow him to take his vengeance on a rival noble family. They broke the magical seals surrounding the tomb and unintentionally released the Red Duke back into the mortal world once more.[2e]
The freed Vampire Lord killed the Chaos Cultists and drained the knights of Gaubert of their blood to regain his strength.[2e] The necromancer, Renar of Gisoreux, he enslaved to his will.[2f] Yet the Red Duke's mind had been broken in his long imprisonment and he believed he was fighting against enemies long-vanquished, sometimes against foes from the Crusades,[2h] sometimes against his enemies during his first reign.[2i] In his moments of sanity, he sought to transform Bretonnia into a kingdom of blood, with himself as an immortal god-king and served by Undead knights whose loyalty was eternal.[8c]
The Red Duke first rode against Chateau du Maisne. Duke Gilon would at first not believe that the legendary Scourge of Aquitaine had returned, believing it a trick of the d'Elbiqs to justify an assault against their rivals.[2h] The Red Duke stormed the fortress, believing the earl to be Durand de Maisne, whom he intended to punish for saving him against his will.[2i]
In the aftermath, he led his Undead legions to Mercal, seeking to reclaim his Vampire Thrall de Gevaudan who had been imprisoned beneath the local Grail Chapel as well as part of his original army that had lain sealed beneath it. Massacring the peasants, the Red Duke and his necromancer Renal defiled the chapel and reanimated the Red Duke's servants. The reanimated de Gavaudan was resealed in the chapel as punishment for his failure.[2k]
In the aftermath, Renar tried to convince the Red Duke to turn to the barrow mounds of the ancient horse lords, to reanimate them as Barrow Kings. With such powerful lieutenants, they could even expand to Quenelles and Brionne, reanimate the tombs of the ancient Cuileux and have a force at hand that could bring all of Bretonnia to its knees.[2n]
But the Red Duke refused, instead wanting to force the Prophetess of the Tower of Wizardry to proclaim him the true Duke of Aquitaine, unaware that the Prophetess he wanted to convince had been dead for three hundred years.[2l] On his way, the Red Duke commanded villages razed that hadn't been resettled since his first campaign.[2n]
Once Duke Gilon of Aquitaine had uncovered the madness of the Vampire, he used the banner of Louis the Righteous to draw the Vampire into a frenzy, trapping him in his past and drawing him back to Ceren Field instead of reanimating the Barrow Kings.[2q] At the Second Battle of Ceren Field, the Red Duke cut down his own Undead servants, in a reenactment of his army slaying the Men-at-Arms that had accompanied him during the First Battle at Ceren Field to raise them as Undead.[2r]
During the fight, the Red Duke proved the superior tactician, easily outmanoeuvring the Bretonnians. Lady Iselda of Aquitaine transformed the Blessing of the Lady that lay upon the tomb of the Grail Knight Galand of Aquitaine into a beacon of holiness, repulsing the Undead and forcing the Red Duke to deal with her himself.[2s]
The Red Duke overpowered Iselda and threatened to give her the Blood Kiss when Duke Gilon arrived to protect the servant of the Lady of the Lake. Gilon used the madness of the Vampire to his advantage, yet it didn't protect him in their duel. The Vampire skewered the duke and proceeded to attempt to raise the Grail Knight as his servant.[2t]
It was then that Iselda revealed to him that Galand was his kin. His wife Martinga had borne him a son before her death, but had hidden him to protect the child from the schemes of de Gavaudan. King Louis ensured that Galand would become a good and noble knight and once he had supped from the Holy Grail, he agreed that Galand would marry his daughter, thus restoring the line of El Syf to rule over Aquitaine.[2t]
Unwilling to believe her, the Red Duke cut down the Prophetess and entered the tomb of Galand and called upon his spirit to enslave him. An instant later, he was fleeing from the tomb, his eyes wide with horror. His Undead forces collapsed and the Bretonnians were victorious.[2t]
Riding into the wilderness, the Red Duke was pursued by many brave knights, but never discovered.[1a] Many different tales are still told of his whereabouts, stories that he continues to haunt the Forest of Châlons, having been driven into exile there by the Grail Knight Leodegar of the Golden Hart. There he remains hidden in the shadows, awaiting his chance for revenge against the people of Aquitaine.[9]
Other Activities[]
At some point after his return, the Red Duke encountered the famed adventuring duo Gotrek and Felix, who had travelled to Bretonnia to hunt him down. Ultimately, the Vampire survived the encounter, escaping the pair and leaving them trapped in a Grail Shrine surrounded by a legion of the Undead commanded by Banshees.[5a]
End Times[]
Rumours of the Red Duke's continued existence persisted, but the last confirmed sighting of him was made in the closing days of the End Times. When Duke Jerrod d'Quenelles, leader of the Bretonnian contingent at the Council of Incarnates, was exposed to the truth of the Lady of the Lake, who was revealed to be the Elven goddess Lileath, he was determined to take his troops and march back into Bretonnia to see out the end of the mortal world there.[10a]
The Vampire Count Vlad von Carstein told Jerrod that a small group of warriors, led by Gilles le Breton and an immortal warrior implied to be Abhorash, still fought in Bretonnia. He summoned the Red Duke to act as a guide and escort Jerrod's knights to an ancient monastery, where the forces of Bretonnia were making their last stand. Vlad sent his remaining Vampires, led by Elize von Carstein and Erikan Crowfiend, with Jerrod and his knights. The group departed to fight together as uneasy allies against the forces of Chaos.[10a]
Folklore of the Red Duke[]
Several different versions of the story of the Red Duke exist in Bretonnian folklore, some painting him as a heartless villain, others as a tragic figure.[8a] In Aquitaine, the myth of the Red Duke is told to every child before they leave the cradle, used by mothers and nursemaids to frighten naughty children.[2a]
The legend of the Red Duke is kept alive by the tales of troubadours and minstrels, the most famous being the Last Lamentation of the Red Duke by Jacques le Thorand.[2a] Le Thorand allegedly met the Red Duke himself, who told him his story and corrected some of the common misconceptions.[2u]
People in Bretonnia do not know that the legendary knight El Syf and the Red Duke are one and the same. In their tales, El Syf returned from the Crusades and fought at King Louis the Righteous' side against the Red Duke, perishing at last at Ceren Field. Only a handful knew the truth.[2c]
A determined effort has since been made by the lords of Aquitaine to efface the name of the Red Duke from all histories, monuments and records, such that it has become impossible to verify if he was indeed the brother of King Louis the Righteous. The idea that he was also the father of Duke Galand of Aquitaine is one that is violently rejected by the knights of that land -- often at the point of a sword. The thought that the ruling family of a Bretonnian dukedom could share their heritage with the infamous Vampire would be akin to claiming Emperor Karl Franz was descended from the Reikerbahn Butcher.[2u]
As the Red Duke was never officially destroyed, folklore continues to tell stories of a dark knight who stalks moonless nights and feeds on the living.[6b] Others claim he is the dark counterpart of the Green Knight, the Champion of the Fay. Many Questing Knights take the quest of seeking the Red Duke out and destroying him once and for all. Those few who find him never return. [3d]
Vampiric Powers[]
One of the main abilities of the Red Duke was his unusually strong resistance to the sun.[2j]
The Red Duke was able to move faster than any living man, and his physical strength was enough to crumple steel with but a blow of his fist.[2e] He was further skilled enough in necromancy to raise himself an army of the Undead after his release.[2f] He also commanded swarms of bats,[2i] and had the ability to summon clouds that darkened the day.[2r]
The Red Duke demonstrated above extraordinary willpower when he managed to resist the bloodthirst for eight months after receiving the Blood Kiss,[2p] whereas most Vampire Thralls immediately succumb.
One of the Red Duke's Vampiric weaknesses was that he cast no reflection in mirrors, relying on portraits from his time as a mortal to remember what he looked like.[2g]
Upon his second return, the Red Duke was also afflicted by a peculiar madness that made him see his Undead servants as mortal peasants, see other mortals and Ghouls as drinking vessels and believe that his long-dead allies and enemies were still alive.[2g] His insanity served to cloak him from the divinations of the Prophetesses of the Lady of the Lake, making it difficult to foretell his actions.[2h]
Wargear[]
- Blade of Leaping Gold - The Blade of Leaping Gold is a sword taken from an emir of Araby the Red Duke had defeated in single combat during the Crusades. It carried a powerful enchantment that allowed it to attack with the power of three furious strikes instead of one.[8f]
- Armour of Blood - A crimson suit of jagged, strong plate armour imbued with mystical properties.[8f]
- El Morzillo - The loyal steed that carried the Red Duke into battle during the Crusades in Araby, having been gifted to him by the King of Magritta.[2c] The Estalian warhorse had died in Araby, his bones left bleaching in the desert sun. He would eventually be conjured from the shadow world beyond death to serve the Vampiric Red Duke. El Morzillo was a grisly nightmare of its former self, composed entirely of bone and sinew, with balefire burning in the depths of its skull, and smoke flaring from its unholy jaws.[2g]
Aside from his magical sword, plate armour and Undead steed, the Red Duke possessed a red jewel that allowed him to return to Unlife should he ever be destroyed, so long as it was charged with the lifeblood of innocents.[8b]
Canon Conflict[]
The events detailed in Warhammer: Circle of Blood (5th Edition) and the novel The Red Duke differ at several points, most notably the death of Iselda during the siege of the Tower of Wizardry and the successful assault of Sir Richemont of Aquitaine which broke the Red Duke's armies. The epilogue of the novel addresses this, stating that the story of Circle of Blood is the official version of events surrounding the Red Duke's life known by historians of the Known World, while the novel depicts the truth of his life.[2u]
Trivia[]
For the novel The Red Duke, C.L. Werner may have taken some inspiration from the life of the Spanish knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known by the Moors as El Cid, a famous Castilian knight during the Reconquista who fought for Christians and Muslims alike. El Syf, the name often used by the Arabyans to refer to the Red Duke, bares a striking resemblance to Rodrigo's own real-world alias.
The Red Duke appears in Total War: Warhammer as a unique lord leading his own non-playable Vampire Count faction. However, despite his lore placing him in and around the Forest of Châlons, he instead resides in the city of Mousillon, the most infamous focal point for the Undead in Bretonnia.[7]
Miniatures[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Knights of the Grail (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 20
- 2: The Red Duke (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Night's Dark Masters (RPG)
- 5: Gotrek and Felix: Serpent Queen (Novel), by Josh Reynolds
- 5a: Ch. 19
- 6: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (7th Edition)
- 7: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)
- 8: Warhammer: Circle of Blood (5th Edition)
- 9: Lords of the Lance (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- 10: Lord of the End Times (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
- 10a: Ch. 12