"Anybody can make plans. Anybody can give orders. A leader must do more than this. A leader must give hope, and he must give it even when he has none himself. After all, how can there be endurance without hope? How can there be courage? How can there be victory?"
Ushoran, called the "Lord of Masks" during his time at the court of the Nehekharan city-state of Lahmia [1a]and later ruling as the "Undying King"[3c] and "Great Lord of Mourkain,"[12d] is a Vampire Lord who had been a prince of Lahmia and is also one of the twelve original Trueborn Vampires, as well as one of the seven that survived the fall of Lahmia.
Ushoran is the progenitor of the Vampiric bloodline known as the Strigoi, the former king of the ancient Vampire-ruled kingdom of Strygos and commonly believed to have been the first Strigoi Ghoul King. He is worshipped as a patron god by the itinerant Strigany people of the Old World.
History[]
The different sources offer two, mutually contradictory tales of the life of Ushoran.
Common Story[]
During his life as a prince in the ancient Nehekharan city-state of Lahmia, Ushoran had a unique skill with diplomacy and was a fine warrior, whose lack of skill at swordsmanship was more than made up for by his immense physical strength and finely-honed strategic mind.[5a]
His one weakness was that despite all of his talents, he remained a petty and insecure man. As a child, he had never excelled at anything, except contests of strength, and as an adult, he discovered that no noble would associate with him, despite the fact that he was the brother of the city-state's queen, Neferata.[6a]
Throughout his childhood, Ushoran's feelings of inferiority had expressed themselves in his perpetual bullying of his sister Neferatem, who would later be called Neferata.[6a] Out of spite, Neferata withheld the flawed Elixir of Life she had created using Nagash's knowledge from him, and Ushoran instead stole a dose of it to enter the state of unlife and the inner circle of Lahmia's Trueborn Vampires without her help.[1a] He called the great general of Lahmia Vashanesh his favoured brother.[1c]
Ushoran's position in Lahmia's hierarchy was that of the Lord of Masks, the official responsible for planning and presiding over the great festivals and revelries indulged in by the city-state's nobility at court. Yet this only added to his sense that he was looked down upon, for regardless of how all of the court truly enjoyed his festivities, they never took him seriously.[6a]
Ushoran was among the few that survived the sack of Lahmia by the other city-states of Nehekhara and managed to flee north to Nagashizzar, the fortress of the Great Necromancer Nagash.[6c] Being tutored in necromancy by the Nagash himself, Ushoran, along with the other Trueborn Vampires, prepared for a new war against Nehekhara.[6d] When Vashanesh allowed himself to be decapitated by the Nehekharan King Alcadizaar of Khemri, largely to flee himself and his fellow Vampires from Nagash's control, Ushoran fled north, along with Neferata and Abhorash.[6e]
After their flight, Ushoran challenged the other Trueborn Vampires for supremacy. They resisted and decided that none among their numbers should rule over the others. Ushoran was furious, spitefully rejected them, cursed them all and then left.[4a]
Having no fear of Nagash, he desired a kingdom of his own, where the dream of Lahmia could be realised anew.[1b] He came upon the city of Mourkain, where the mortal necromancer Kadon ruled. Kadon possessed artefacts that Ushoran recognised as having originally belonged to Nagash, and he soon realised that this meant that Nagash must have died. With no fear of retaliation from the first necromancer for his betrayal, this meant that Ushoran could take Kadon's kingdom and rule it as his own.[6b]
Ushoran revealed himself to Kadon, claiming to be Nagash himself.[6b] He soon seeded the court of Mourkain with his own get, with his Vampiric thralls holding many positions of importance in the capital. With his position secured, Ushoran struck, killing Kadon and taking his crown for himself. With Nagash's artefacts, he hoped to yoke the other Firstborn Vampires to his will.[6b]
The people welcomed Ushoran's rule. Kadon had been a cruel and vacillating king, while Ushoran brought order and prosperity.[1b] Worshipped in a manner similar to the way the Cult of Blood of old Lahmia had essentially made deities of the Trueborn Vampires, Ushoran instituted Abhorash's laws that had prevailed in Lahmia that only criminals, slaves and captured enemies were to be fed upon by the Vampires. Thus, the people never felt threatened by their terrible, Undead masters.[4a]
Feeling secure, Ushoran extended an invitation to the other remaining Trueborn Vampires to join his kingdom, now called Strygos. [2a] But Neferata had another vision, one of secrecy for her kind to ensure their survival in a world of hostile mortals, [2a] and was furious that her younger brother would dare to presume his empire greater than her own (though it certainly was) or that he might ever rule over her.[1b]
Her agents among the other Vampiric bloodlines assured their leaders that Ushoran meant to enslave them all, or worse, sell them out to the reborn Nagash,[1b] and she used her influence to incite the Men of the surrounding nations to attack Strygos.[2a]
Men from the lands that would one day become Tilea, Estalia and Bretonnia were goaded into war, yet they lacked the unity, allies or organisation to defeat Ushoran's armies. Yet the fact that the barbarians harried its towns and villages left Ushoran's kingdom open to another invasion.[6c]
Greenskins marched north in a gigantic Waaagh!, seeking a fight against the blood-drinkers who had slaughtered so many of them.[5b] Rumours remain that the Greenskins, too, were set into motion by Neferata's agents.[1c] Ushoran's tired and depleted army met the Waaagh! at the Battle of the Plain of Dust, yet was defeated and had to retreat to the Strygosian capital at Mourkain. [4a]
At the final battle at the city's gate, Ushoran ripped the head of the warboss from his shoulders with his bare hands, yet the King of Mourkain was laid low when an Orc Shaman called upon the Greenskin gods Gork and Mork and blasted him with Waaagh! magic, reducing his form to ash.[5c] Ushoran's dying scream is still said to echo at night in the sinister ruins of the great city of Mourkain.[4a]
Time of Legends[]
The second story of Ushoran's life is drastically different from the former iteration.
According to this version, Ushoran was originally a confidant of Lamashizzar, the King of Lahmia, and was one of his oldest allies. A cousin of the royal family of Lahmia, Ushoran had come from one of the oldest noble lines of the city-state and was infamous for his intrigues. It was his duty to ensure that the secret cabal of Lahmian nobles headed by Lamashizzar that experimented with a version of Nagash's Elixir of Life, remained guided by an enslaved Arkhan the Black. Arkhan was Nagash's most favored lieutenant, who remained hidden from public view.[7a] It also was Ushoran who recruited the renegade Mortuary Cult priest from the city-state of Mahrak named W'Soran into the Lahmian cabal.[10b] When Neferata usurped control over the conspiracy and became the new Queen of Lahmia by marrying her brother Lamashizzar, Ushoran pledged himself to her service.[7b]
After Lamashizzar's death at the hands of Arkhan the Black and Neferata's transformation into the first true Vampire at his hands, Ushoran worked as her spymaster, informing her about the plans of the other priest-kings of Nehekhara.[7c] In secret, Ushoran conspired with W'soran to bring back Nagash's spirit, in order to lead Lahmia to greatness rather than hiding in the shadows. In order for the ritual to work, Ushoran defiled the grave of King Thutep of Khemri, Nagash's brother, and brought the mummified corpse of Thutep to W'soran to be used as a way to provide a mystical, sympathetic connection to the spirit of the Great Necromancer.[7e]
Though he did not consider himself truly a scholar, mysteries and secrets intrigued Ushoran and thus he was present when W'soran attempted to call Nagash's spirit from the Underworld. The attempt failed despite the ritual having been prepared perfectly, leaving both to ruminate upon its meaning.[8a]
When Neferata started to lose control of herself following the escape of Prince Alcadizaar from her temple and the treason of Ubaid, one of the members of the original conspiracy, Ushoran was tasked with finding the prince. For five years, the search continued, with no success. The only consequence was that the people of Lahmia slowly turned away from the Vampires' Cult of Blood and sought solace in the faith of the gods of Nehekhara again. At the same time, the other Trueborn Vampires began to question Neferata's rule.[8b]
When the queen discovered W'soran's attempts to contact Nagash, Ushoran deceived her by claiming that he had only joined with W'soran because he wanted to discover what the necromancer had been up to. The queen gave Ushoran an ultimatum -- find Alcadizaar or be punished alongside W'soran.[8c]
Seeing Neferata's obsession with Alcadizaar having reached a breaking point, Ushoran conspired with Zurhas, another of the original Trueborn Vampires, to defeat her by contacting Nagash, promising him aid against the rest of Nehekhara if he would depose Neferata from the throne of Lahmia. Zurhas, however, was captured by Alcadizaar and his followers among Nehekhara's nomads, revealing the treason of the Cult of Blood to the whole of Nehekhara and setting the events in motion that led to the city's fall at the hands of the combined armies of the desert kingdom's city-states.[8d]
When Ushoran tried to flee Lahmia after his failure had become public, he was captured by Neferata and her seneschal Ankhat. Under duress, Ushoran proposed to free W'soran from his punishment and use his necromantic knowledge to defend Lahmia from the coming Nehekharan siege. With no other course of action, Neferata grudgingly agreed.[8e] Ushoran himself fought in the defence of Lahmia, glad to finally be able to reveal the true strength of his Vampiric powers, leading the assault against the warriors from the city-state of Rasetra.[8f]
Following the ultimate defeat of the Vampires at Lahmia and their dispersal across the Known World, Ushoran found his way to Nagash's fortress at Nagashizzar and entered the service of the Great Necromancer, the first of the original Vampires to do so, although he had become little more than a blood-ravening beast by then.[9e]
Nearly insane, he took command of the Ghouls that dwelled beneath Nagashizzar and had to be brought to heel. Though Nagash saw no value in his continued existence, W'soran convinced the Liche Lord to let Ushoran live.[10b] In the aftermath of Nagash's Great Ritual and subsequent death, Ushoran saved W'Soran from the vengeance of the now reanimated Tomb King Ptar of Numas.[10d] The Lord of Masks claimed to have given the Skaven hints to find Alcadizaar's prison and free him, as Nagash had become too dangerous to the Vampires.[10e]
Going his own way after Nagash death at Alcadizaar's hands, Ushoran was attracted to the barbarian city of Mourkain, which was ruled over by the necromancer Kadon. Feeding mainly on the Ghouls that also dwelled beneath Mourkain, he spied on the Human city as it grew above him.[9b] When Ushoran finally made his move to claim the city as his own, Kadon already awaited him, telling him that the sentient Crown of Sorcery he wore desired Ushoran to wield it. The two struggled, with Ushoran proving victorious.[11]
As King of Mourkain, and later of the larger kingdom of Strygos that grew up around it, Ushoran gathered the remaining Trueborn Vampires around him, including Abhorash, W'soran and eventually even Neferata.[9a] Ushoran forced them to put aside their old grudges and to coexist and serve at his court: Neferata was made the Lady of Mysteries, who would act as his spymaster, while W'soran spread knowledge of necromancy and created more potent Undead beasts to defend the kingdom, such as the first Crypt Horrors.[9b]
During Ushoran's reign, negotiations with the Dwarf karak of Karaz Bryn were undertaken, with Razek Silverfoot, son of King Borri Silverfoot, serving as an ambassador to Mourkain.[9a] Mourkain also expanded northwards, bringing the Human tribes of the Draesca, Walds, Drakas and Fennonens under their influence.[9d]
Yet the other Firstborn Vampires undermined Ushoran's reign -- Neferata was jealous of Mourkain's power and sought to bring it low just as Lahmia had been. She spread intrigues that divided the court of Strygos, while at the same time inciting the Greenskins to abandon their conflicts against the Dwarfs of the Worlds Edge Mountains to instead focus on Strygos.[9c]
She openly betrayed Ushoran and Strygos when instead of seeking diplomatic aid from the Dwarfs, she and her coven of Lahmian Vampires attacked them and overtook their hold.[9f] Civil war followed between Vorag Bloodytooth and his followers and the loyalists of Ushoran, after Vorag tried to secede the territories he had conquered from Ushoran's kingdom and rule them for his own. W'soran joined with the rebels.[10a]
As the kingdom of Strygos disintegrated, the Human tribes rebelled, wandering northwards or turning to assault Mourkain.[10c] A large Orc Waaagh! of the Red Eye tribe finally besieged Mourkain, even as W'soran led troops of his own to claim the Crown of Sorcery for himself. [10f]
During all this time, the fragment of Nagash's soul trapped within the Crown of Sorcery grew stronger. Ushoran was certain that he could control it and avoid the mistakes of the Great Necromancer that had cut his eternal reign short, yet the Crown also whispered to the other Firstborn Vampires.[9e]
The artefact ultimately proved itself too powerful -- it cost Ushoran all of his strength to prevent the fragment of Nagash within from killing everything in Mourkain and riding to war against all the living of the mortal world. When W'soran finally found his former friend, Ushoran had become but a shadow of himself, begging W'soran to kill him.[10g] In the end, Ushoran allowed W'Soran to flee.[10h]
Possible Return[]
During the Age of Three Emperors,[12a] the Elector Count of Averland, supported by the Elector Count of Stirland, initiated a pogrom against the Strigany in their realms.[12b] During this time, an ancient Strigoi Vampire awoke in the Black Mountains, one who recalled the glory days of the Vampire-ruled kingdom of Strygos.[12d] This Vampire called himself "Ushoran" and he sought to gather the persecuted Strigany to his side to rebuild the city of Mourkain,[12f] after slaying the Elector Count responsible for their persecution and granting him the Blood Kiss.[12h]
However, Strigoi Vampires are given to grand delusions about themselves, so it is unclear if the old Vampire really was Ushoran, as the Firstborn of that bloodline had, by all accounts, perished, or just suffered from insanity.
In the 26th century IC, rumours rose again that the Strigoi were uniting under one leader.[2b]
Legacy[]
"Ushoran's legions are all-seeing and everywhere: in the shadows of your wagons, in the secrecy of your thoughts, and, here, among us, waiting to judge."
Among the Strigany, the wandering Human survivors of the lost kingdom of Strygos, Ushoran was still worshipped as a god. Strigany myths and legends tell of a golden age when the "Undying King" ruled over a rich and powerful Strygos and they prophesize that one day, he will return and guide his people to reclaim their ancient land and rebuild its splendour.[4a]
Among the Strigany, Ushoran is revered as a divine protector, who watches his mortal children from hiding and whose judgement expresses itself through tests such as trials by combat.[12e] To most unaware of Vampiric lore, Ushoran is just another of the multitude of deities worshipped in the Old World.
The vast majority of the Strigany have no contact with the Strigoi bloodline of Vampires and would deny any complicity with them.[4b] But the domnus and petrus of the various Strigany caravans keep the secret of how to contact and even control Ghouls and some may even parley with a Ghoul King, trading their blood for favours.[12c]
Vampiric Powers[]
Upon becoming a Vampire, Neferata's blood changed Ushoran, making his features more chimerical than before and allowing him to appear as someone else.[7d] He further gained the ability to cloud a mortal's perceptions by placing any image within their mind that suited him.[8a] This was a necessity when dealing openly with mortals, for Ushoran's true Vampiric form was monstrous, covered in so much muscle that he was forced to stoop over.[9b]
Ushoran had also developed the ability to command the creatures of the night, being able to call upon large numbers of bats,[10d] as well as to mold his own flesh, flowing like water when it met with a blade. He could transform into a wolf and even into a fine mist at will.[11]
Game History[]
Ushoran had never been graphically depicted nor officially released as a miniature by Games Workshop until his addition to Warhammer Age of Sigmar, where both were finally realised.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Night's Dark Masters (RPG)
- 2: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (8th Edition)
- 3: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (7th Edition)
- 4: Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (6th Edition)
- 5: White Dwarf 257 (UK)
- 6: Liber Necris (Background Book)
- 7: Nagash the Unbroken (Novel) by Mike Lee
- 8: Nagash Immortal (Novel) by Mike Lee
- 9: Neferata (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
- 10: Master of Death (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
- 11: Master of Mourkain (Short story) by Josh Reynolds
- 12: Ancient Blood (Novel) by Robert Earl