Vorag Bloodytooth, the first Strigoi Ghoul King, was a gigantic creature whose hatred for the living and for other Vampires was matched only by his urge to rebuild the lost kingdom of Strygos.[1a] In -600 IC[2b], four hundred years after the fall of Strygos, he attempted to reclaim the kingdom's lands.[2a]
History[]
Legends say that Vorag was once pursued into the woods of southern Sylvania by a hunting party led by Franz von Carstein. Vorag defeated the Vampire Count in single combat and drank his blood, thereby increasing his already considerable powers. Around him rallied the many tribes of deranged men inhabiting the forbidding place known as Ghoul Wood in southern Sylvania, and soon he ruled over a huge horde of scavengers.[1a]
This unruly force Vorag took south, crossing the mountains at Black Fire Pass and carving a red trail across the Border Princes. When he reached the Badlands his army counted many Undead minions as well. Orc and Goblin tribes were slaughtered in their thousands as Vorag made his way towards the ruins of ancient Mourkain, but many more Greenskins descended from the Worlds Edge Mountains to attack the Undead.[1a]
Playing on his kind's kinship with the Crypt Ghouls[2a], he united the scattered tribes of Ghouls that lurked below Cripple Peak and became the first Ghoul King. His army almost destroyed the Red Cloud Goblin tribe. The survivors were enslaved and forced to build the Fortress of Vorag, east of the Plain of Bones.[2b]
Next, Vorag turned his rag-tag army of carrion-eaters on the Grey Hag tribe of Goblins. It was in battle against them that a missile launched from a Goblin bolt thrower pierced his heart and ended the reign of Vorag Bloodytooth.[2a] His fortress was forgotten and fell into ruin...[2b]
Legacy[]
Yet the efforts of Vorag the Ghoul King remain an inspiration to the Vampires of the Strigoi bloodline.[2c] He was the first of their bloodline to rise up after the massacre that destroyed their kingdom of Strygos and attempt to take back what was once theirs.[2d]
They still dream of rebuilding their great Vampire empire, and they have learnt much from the mistakes of Vorag. He did create a new capital deep in the Plain of Bones, but his rage was then directed at the Greenskins rather than his fellow Vampires. Once again, fighting that endless angry tide proved deadly, both to him and to his dreams, and his empire fell as Strygos before it.[2c]
Although his plans failed, his methods were sound -- he took strength from the powers of the Strigoi and applied them far from the realms of the other Vampires -- deep in the Badlands. The other bloodlines, as much as the Strigoi, cling tightly to their lordship over Men. They care far less about areas where Humans cannot or will not go.[2d]
Thus, the Strigoi have survived in graveyards, ruins, and dark forests, and it is why Vorag Bloodytooth's efforts in the south went unnoticed and were not opposed. Vorag also showed the strength that can be gained from commanding an army of Ghouls, and these creatures are always the foot soldiers and servants of the Strigoi.[2d]