Nagash (Warhammer)
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Nagash is a fictional character from Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting. Within the setting he is known and worshipped as the Father of Necromancy, a corrupted form of Amethyst Magic which grants dominion over the dead. Nagash is arguably the most powerful mage ever to have walked the Warhammer world, having single-handedly caused the utter destruction of the kingdom of Nehekhara. Nagash resides in his lair of Nagashizzar at the top of Cripple Peak, and because his great Black Pyramid remains intact to this day, Nagash cannot be killed. The reason for this is that the pyramid offers a sanctuary for Nagash's spirit to regenerate every time he is cut down. Nagash is now so old that his flesh has decayed and fallen from his bones--he is a liche of terrible power, and the mention of his name is enough to cause terror even among other Undead.
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[edit] Early life
Nagash rose from the ranks of the ancient order of Mortuary Priests of Khemri. He was a man of great magical aptitude, obsessed with the search for immortality. Despite his rank of High Priest in the order of the Mortuary Priests and being well versed in the sorceries of Nehekara, he lacked the necessary knowledge to achieve eternal life. It is said that a group of Dark Elf captives changed this. One among their kind was a sorceress. She revealed everything she knew about Dark Magic to the High Priest of Khemri, and with this knowledge Nagash began to fashion his own twisted branch of magic.
Nagash learned of the Chaos Gate in the far North and the Winds of Magic that blew from it, and how they could be harnessed by a careful practitioner. Unlike the sorceries of Khemri, which relied on the intercession of gods, Nagash learned that mortals could manipulate magic for themselves into spells or to create magical items. In particular he learned of Dhar, the wind of Dark Magic, and of how it sometimes coagulated into warpstone.
Nagash became one of the few humans to truly master Dark Magic. When the Dark Elf sorceress had outlived her usefulness, Nagash defeated her in a magical duel, blinded her, removed her tongue, arms and feet and buried her alive within his Black Pyramid. He continued to live uprightly by day, but secretly he was dealing with daemons and summoning spirits to aid him in further research. In so doing he learned many great secrets.
After the death of their father, Khetep (first of the 3rd dynasty of rulers in great Nehekhara), Nagash's brother Thutep took to the throne, becoming the ruler of all Nehekhara. But Nagash had other plans. One night, as the clouds smothered the sky, Nagash slew his own brother, entombing him with their father. The next morning, his hands still covered with the blood of his brother, Nagash claimed the throne of Nehekhara for himself. As there was none other to gainsay him, the ascension was not contested.
Nagash started perfecting his own branch of Dark Magic, which he called Necromancy. This magic gave him great power over death, allowing him to extend his lifespan and reanimate the bodies of the dead. Nagash ruled Khemri with fear, and forced countless slaves to labour for fifty years to build the greatest pyramid in Khemri from black stone, which would come to be known as the Black Pyramid of Nagash - a beacon to attract the winds of black magic to Nehekhara.
Nagash penned all of his knowledge and findings within nine tomes bound in human flesh and flourished with human blood. These works became known as the Nine Books of Nagash, and though they are lost today, they have reappeared at various times throughout history, always in the employ of notorious beings. Zacharias the Everliving, the great vampire lord of the Necrarch bloodline, is said to carry one, and it seems likely Mannfred Von Carstein possessed one. It is likely, though not known, that Queen Lahmia has one in her lair in the World's Edge Mountains, and others still could be circulating undetected within the world.
With his promises of immortality and great power, Nagash was able to lead many of the people of Nehekhara away from their old ways to follow him instead. Most notable among these was Arkhan the Black, Nagash's chief lieutenant, and nearly a third of the Priests of Khemri. The other Kings of Nehekhara however were aghast at the reign of terror which Nagash had begun. Enraged at the corruption which he had created, and in fear of the wrath of the gods, the kings from seven other, lesser cities allied themselves in order to remove Nagash from his throne. A powerful army was raised to march on the legions of Khemri.
But Nagash was not to be so easily defeated. Using his Necromancy, he raised an army of the undead, a horde of skeletons to destroy the attacking armies. Such a thing was unheard of, and in the death obsessed culture of Nehekhara, it was recognized as the greatest of obscenities. Hundreds fled, terrified by the thoughts of battle versus the departed, however all was not lost. Although many did flee the sight of the dead army, the forces of the other kings rallied and Nagash was ultimately defeated, but not slain.
As Arkhan, the greatest swordsman of his time, gave his life to protect his master, Nagash fled to the northeast to plot his revenge against the lands of his birth in the Cursed Pit of Nagashizaar. It was generally decided at that time that all that Nagash had wrought during his accursed reign should be destroyed. Great fires consumed much of what Nagash had done and written--his precious Nine tomes were believed to be among the ashes, though a very few copies managed to escape the wreckage. That all of his tomes were not destroyed would eventually come back to haunt Khemri and Nehekhara, just as the shadow of the Black Pyramid, which could not by any means be unmade, haunted it constantly.
[edit] The Great Necromancer
During his time of exile in the desert, it is thought Nagash came to the very point of death - only to cheat it and emerge as a Liche, the greatest of his kind, greater than even the most ancient Liche Priests of the Mortuary Cult. He came to Cripple Peak and discovered there a secret deposit of warpstone. It was here that he began to perfect the art later known as Necromancy.
Within the mountain, Nagash's Undead minions built his abode, a fortress-city to inspire terror and awe the world over--Nagashizzar. The mountain's highest peak was its tower. Nagash learned how to manipulate the warpstone, and forged many of his famed artifacts of power, including his wretched sword Mortis, the Crown of Sorcery, and his Black Armour. Prolonged exposure to the mutagenic warp stone warped Nagash's body into a hideous monster, no longer human. It increased his size and his strength, but left him little more than a walking skeleton wrapped in black armour.
Such a large amount of warpstone drew other creatures, namely Skaven, who fought a massive war against Nagash for control of Cripple Peak. The Skaven armies were vast, but Nagash's almost perfected magic was unstoppable, as were his armies of Undead. Nagash eventually forged a truce with the Skaven though: he would give them warpstone if they would lure several orc tribes into the pits beneath his fortress. Wary of his plans, the Skaven agreed.
For hundreds of years the kings continued to rule Nehekhara much as they had before. In Lahmia the reigning Queen Neferata came across a copy of one of the Books of Nagash. She was captivated by the dark lore contained within and begun studying Necromancy.
Finally driven, by her quest for immortality, to make a pact with Nagash, she took an elixir distilled from his own blood. The moment the elixir reached her lips, Neferata's fate was sealed. She had chosen damnation and exile--as had her predecessor and mentor, Nagash. Her heart stopped beating, and she became more than human while also becoming something less than human. She became the first true vampire. Neferata gathered to her the eleven greatest minds and champions of Lahmia, and gave to them each a portion of this elixir. They were the Master Vampires, from whom all other vampires in the world are descended.
Fearful of the wrath of the Gods, the famed King Alcadizaar of Khemri gathered together all the armies of Nehekhara and waged war on the twisted queen. Despite the powerful magics unleashed by the vampires, the threat of Lahmia was crushed by a huge army mustered by Alcadizaar. The queen fled Lahmia with a retinue of the six remaining Master Vampires she had created. Those who fled were met by Nagash in the mountains of the north, and he embraced them as spawns of his own corrupt magic. These vampires became his captains. Nagash sent these undying warriors to make war with Nehekhara at the head of a mighty army of skeletons.
But Nagash had underestimated his former countrymen. Alcadizaar the Conqueror was the greatest general of his age (the 6th dynasty of Nehekhara) -- and some argue the greatest King to ever rule Khemri -- and led a unified army against the Undead invaders. After many years of bloody war the hordes of Nagash were pushed back. As such the Vampire Masters decided to flee, with only W'soran remaining at Nagash's side eager for more necromantic lore. Nagash was furious and cursed all vampire kind to forever more burn in the rays of the sun.
So bitter and evil was Nagash that he decided that if he was not allowed to rule all of Nehekhara then no-one would. He concluded that it was better to slay everything in Nehekhara than see it ruled by someone else. The first part of his plan was to get his Skaven allies to pollute the river Vitae, whose life-giving water the people depended upon. After he had tainted the river it became black and foul, and has since been renamed the River Mortis. Soon after the corruption of the Vitae pestilence ravaged the lands of Nehekhara.
Alcadizaar was forced to watch as first those he loved died, including his wife and children and then watched his beloved kingdom crumble before him. When a new army of the undead invaded Nehekhara, it was led by W'soran and Arkhan, whom Nagash had resurrected as a powerful Liche. The meek defences put up to stop the invasion were easily thwarted and Alcadizaar himself was captured by the fell beasts. He was not executed, but instead he was thrown into a cell in Nagashizzar to await torture.
It was now, with Alcadizaar imprisoned and Nehekhara on its knees, that Nagash incepted his evil plan. He began to weave one of the most powerful spells ever attempted. At the pinnacle of his power, Nagash unleashed a tidal wave of sorcerous energy which washed over the land for hundreds of miles, causing everything that was living to decay and die, and all that was dead to rise again. Nagash planned to use his necromantic powers to raise the entire population of Nehekhara as an unstoppable army, which he would use to conquer the entire world. Had it not been for the treachery of his allies, there is little doubt he would have succeeded.
The Skaven leaders, the Council of Thirteen, watching from afar, realized the threat posed by this latest development. With the armies of all the dead of Nehekhara, they knew Nagash would become invincible, and immediately moved to protect themselves. A powerful blade was forged from stolen gromril ore and pure warpstone, a blade so lethal it would eventually prove as fatal to the the wielder as to the target. This was the Fellblade. Infiltrating Nagashizzar, the hooded Skaven agents freed Alcadizaar from his captivity and handed him the blade, before departing without a word.
Still weak from the power he had exerted casting his immensely powerful spell, Nagash was recovering when Alcadizaar stumbled into his throne room. Surprising Nagash in his moment of weakness, Alcadizaar severed Nagash's right hand. Stumbling back, Nagash unleashed deadly magics at Alcadizaar. As he did so, his hand ran off into the shadows, crawling like a huge spider. However fatigued, Nagash drew himself to full height and a titanic battle between the two kings ensued.
The Council of Thirteen, watching the battle unfold, joined their magic powers together to protect their pawn from Nagash's onslaught, even as they died to thwart it. Finally Alcadizaar prevailed, breaking Nagash's spine, and chopping the Great Necomancer into a pile of shattered bone and dust. The Skaven agents returned, gathered Nagash's remains and burnt them in the fires he had built, scattering his ashes across the world. Nagash's hand escaped unnoticed--the dreaded Claw of Nagash.
Looking out across the land at his destroyed people, Alcadizaar fell into despair. He took Nagash's crown and stumbled around his empty kingdom being driven mad by his ordeal and the warpstone blade of the Skaven. He tossed the blade into the landscape, fell into the river, and drowned.
[edit] Nagash's return
One of the also unforeseen effects of Nagash's spell was that the old, long dead kings of Nehekhara were brought back to life. However without the Great Necromancer's will to command them, they retained their free will, and were tended to by the Priests who it seems had finally reached their prophesied immortality. Thus, ironically through Nagash's attempt to destroy the lands of Nehekhara, he had given them a cruel mockery of life, creating the realms of the tomb kings.
Though his body was broken and destroyed, Nagash's spirit endured. Drawn along with the winds of Dark Magic to his Black Pyramid, the remains of Nagash's body, speck by tiny speck was eventually recovered 1,111 years later. When he rose, he found the lands of Nehekhara defended by jealous undead kings with armies of skeletons equal to anything he could muster. Nagash challenged the reigning king of Khemri, the first King Settra, for the rule of Nehekhara. Settra and the other Kings, furious at what Nagash had done, drove Nagash from his own country. They were no longer afraid of the skeletons which he could summon, for they had all become equally frightening.
Returning to his fortress, Nagash found the Skaven had mined most of the warpstone away. Nevertheless, in one night, he drove all the Skaven from Cripple Peak. The Skaven made many attempts at regaining Cripple Peak. After a crippling defeat at the hands of Arkhan the Black, the Skaven left Cripple Peak for good.
Nagash, still weak from his death, realised he needed his old magical artifacts to reassert his power, including his stolen crown. So Nagash forged a new hand to replace his missing one out of a warpstone alloy. The crown had been taken north into the Badlands, where it fell into the hands of orcs who raided across the Black Mountains and seemingly disappeared. Nagash led a great army into the nascent Empire to reclaim it but was defeated and slain by Sigmar at the Battle of the River Reik. According to Mannfred von Carstein, Nagash's defeat at the hands of Sigmar resulted in a curse laid upon all vampires: for their refusal to come to his aid, they would forever be driven back against the power of Sigmar.
In IC2515 (two and a half millennia after the formation of the Empire) The powerful Orc Warlord Azhag the Slaughterer was killed in combat with Seneschal Kessler of the Knights Panther. His crown, which gave him sorcerous powers as well as nightmarish visions , was taken to Altdorf and sealed in the Imperial vaults, where it remains to the present day. It is something of an open secret among readers of the background that this item is the crown of Nagash.
[edit] Modern times
Nagash once again returned to life, 1,666 years after his death at the hands of Sigmar, in the night known as the Night of the Restless Dead. It is thought he is again re-building his power. Though only a fraction of his former self, he is still one of the most powerful beings in existence, worshipped by some as the god of Necromancy. He knows he cannot be reckless again, so he bides his time until he can once more take on the world.
Its believed that he is currently enacting his will in the world through the manipulation of others, in particular Lichmaster Heinrich Kemmlar and his henchman Krell, and even Mannfred Von Carstein, who had a talisman from Khemri origin that Nagash previously used to have complete control over the undead.
For more information on this subject, look at: Tomb Kings, Khemri or Vampire Counts
[edit] References
Johnson, J., King, B., Blanche, J., Gibbons, M. 1994. Warhammer Armies: Undead. Nottingham: Games Workshop Ltd. ISBN 1-872372-67-8
Von Staufer, Marijan. 2006. Liber Necris: The Book of Death in the Old World. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-338-5
