A Strigoi vampire.
It was not enough for Neferata and her brethren to simply be the lords of the great city of Lahmia. It was not enough they had drunk the Elixir of Life and became immortal. They still had to find more ways to feel superior over others, to exclude their equals from their little cult. It was this childishness of the queen that led her to prevent her younger brother, Prince Ushoran, Lord of Masques, Celebrations, and Festivities, from drinking the Elixir and joining the True Blooded—her petty need to keep somebody out of her elite cadre. In order to teach her a lesson, and claim only what he was due, Ushoran stole her precious Elixir and entered into that same state of great un-life without her help, becoming the first of the Strigoi.[1a]
Of course, this incensed the queen, and she spent the following centuries seething at the insult and planning her revenge. She would get her chance, but not until long after the vampires had betrayed Nagash and scattered to the wind.[1a][1b]
History
Just as Ushoran cared not for the exclusivity of the vampire cult, he also did not share their fear of Nagash. Whilst the other First Children ran far away to the north and hid from the world, the courageous Ushoran sought out a place to build a new kingdom where he could make manifest the dream of Lahmia, but free from petty squabbling and foolish politics. His dreams were realised when he came upon the valley of Strigos and its capital of Mourkain, where Kadon already ruled as priest-king and had taught the people to worship Nagash as a god. It was a simple matter to replace Kadon with himself and to replace their worship of Nagash with worship of his vampire line. Kadon had been a cruel and vacillating king; Ushoran brought his people order and prosperity, and they welcomed him for it. He even restored Abhorash’s principle of the vampires only feeding upon criminals and enemy captives, so once again, the people would have nothing to fear from their immortal masters.[1b]
Soon, the kingdom of Strigos was vast and powerful. Ushoran then sent word to his four other brethren, welcoming them to his new vampire state, where they would be free to feed and live luxuriously, just as they had back in Nehekhara, safe from the hand of Nagash. To Neferata, this seemed yet another insult. Her interloper brother would dare to presume his empire greater than her own (though it certainly was) or that he might ever rule over her. As well, the queen saw at last her chance to get her revenge. She slaughtered Ushoran’s messenger and at once spread rumours to the other bloodlines, assuring them that Ushoran either meant to enslave them all, or worse, sell them out to the reborn Nagash.[1b]
After two hundred years of living with their guilt over abandoning their master and their fear of his revenge, the vampires had grown bitter and insular. Each bloodline blamed the others for their betrayal and scattering but was prevented from acting on this because of the taboo against harming their own kind. When Neferata gave them a target and a reason to break this pact, the pent-up fury of the other bloodlines exploded in an orgy of violence. They sent mortal armies and vampire assassins to that kingdom to destroy the interloper once and for all.[1b]
The human armies sent against Ushoran’s kingdom were a rabble, but they came from all sides and with an unceasing dedication fuelled by Neferata’s get. Strigos was beset, and in turning back the tide, the prince was distracted at a critical time, allowing his kingdom to be ravaged by an immense tide of greenskins, no doubt also instigated by Neferata’s agents. The prince rushed back to defend his capital, and the battle raged at those gates for days on end. Strigos was beginning to turn the tide when the orc shaman broke through Ushoran’s wards and slew the great prince with a terrible magical blast.[1b][1c]
