W'soran leading his Undead armies against the Orcs.
W'soran, originally a prince of Rasetra and high priest of Lahmia, was a follower of Nagash and became one of the first Vampires, founding the Necrarch Clan.
History
W'soran, prince of Rasetra, was a spy of Nagash that held the position of high priest of Lahmia. From this vantage point he began to corrupt the then-princess Neferata's mind as he instructed her in the magical arts he had learnt from Nagash. This manipulation drove Neferata to recover some of the Great Necromancer's treatises when he was defeated by the Priest-Kings, saving them from destruction and bringing them to Lahmia, where she started studying the dark arts on her own.
With W'soran's aid, Neferata concocted an almost perfect copy of Nagash's Elixir of Life, and by drinking it she became the first Vampire. Neferata tried at first to hide her dark condition, but realising that couldn't last for long, she gave the rest of the Elixir to several members of her royal court -- and W'soran was one of the first to drink it. W'soran and the rest of the Undead Court created the Temple of Blood, ruling the city of Lahmia as gods and hunting down its inhabitants to feed. However, they were all unwittingly manipulated by W'soran, who in turn received instructions from Nagash.
Eventually the secret of the Lahmian court was discovered and the rest of the cities of Nehekhara launched their armies against the Vampires. After a determined defence, the city fell and the surviving Vampires fled to Nagashizzar, where they joined Nagash's hosts as army commanders when he tried to exact revenge on Nehekhara and reconquer the kingdoms. This invasion failed, however, and most of the Vampires fled again to escape the Great Necromancer's wrath. Only W'soran remained at his side, and during the time he spent in Nagash's company he learnt a lot about the netherworld beyond life.
Unfortunately for him, Alcadizaar killed his master only a year later, and somehow W'soran made his escape with many works of Nagash. Unlike the other Vampire lords, who dreamed of creating a new, great nation of their own, W'soran chose some of the most intelligent priests of Nagash, turned them into his Vampire pupils and taught them the dark arts of Necromancy.
W'soran studied many of his master's scriptures, and with the help of his acolytes transcripted his notes in the Grimorium Necronium, which not only included a distillated version of Nagash's magic, but also a series of prophecies that showed W'soran a vision of the future -- a world covered in bones, populated only by the dead and ruled by his vampiric clan. But his dream of a corpse empire had a flaw: it lacked blood.
Because of this, he started using Dark Magic in order to permanently sate the Thirst that all Vampires suffer. Although his powerful Necromancy allowed him to depend less and less on blood to survive, his abusing of the raw Dark Magic began to warp his body and mind, and he grew horrible and ghastly. When W'soran gave the Blood Kiss to his acolytes, he passed this curse on to them as well, and in time many of them succumbed to madness.
Little is known of the place where W'soran hid after Nagash's defeat. He stayed away from the rest of the world for centuries as he studied the art of Necromancy. Using the knowledge from the Book of Nagash, he spent most of the time walking through the spirit world of the dead, and this would be his doom. In order to cross the barrier that separates the world of the living from that of the dead, his body fell in long trances, while his soul travelled freely through the realms of the deceased.
It was his best student, Melkhior, who took advantage of this to put a stake through his heart and devour his body. It is unknown whether this was due to manipulation from the Book of Nagash or simply an act of madness. Be that as it may, after W'soran's death the Necrarchs disseminated and spread throughout the world.
Sources
- Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (8th Edition).
- Warhammer RPG: Lords of the Night (2nd RPG Edition).
- White Dwarf 74.