Countless centuries ago in the land of Nehekhara, far to the south of the Old World, there rose a mighty civilisation of Man. It was at its most powerful two and a half millennia before the coming of the barbaric hero-deity Sigmar, a time when the other Men of the world were still primitive and savage. The ancient myths and legends of these people, carved on the tombs and monuments of their cities, say that the Nehekharans were so favoured by the heavens that the first of them were nurtured and taught by the gods themselves. Greatest of the cities of Nehekhara was Khemri. The other cities were each ruled and governed by their own kings, though they all were loyal and paid tribute to the kings of Khemri itself. Together, these kings conquered the tribes in the surrounding lands, drove back the Greenskins and ruled from the western desert to the eastern sea. At the height of their power they had expanded and conquered lands as far north as what is now the Empire, far south into the steaming jungle of the Southlands as well as to the north and east into the Dark Lands. Their fleets of war galleys terrorised the Great Ocean, raiding up and down the coast and causing terror wherever they went.[2a]
Age of Kings
- c.-2500 -- The Rise of Nehekhara. During this time there were many kings and their names are not remembered, save for Nehek, who founded the city of Khemri. Thereafter, other cities were raised, but these kings warred upon each other and there was much strife in the land.[1a]
- -2500 -- Settra is crowned as the first of the Priest Kings and conquers the entirety of Nehekhara. With his coming, the great rulership of Khemri becomes law, and Nehekhara enters an unprecedented era of prosperity and expansion.[1a]
- c.-2460 -- Following his victory over the Orcs of the Bloody Fang tribe, Settra becomes vexed that he will one day grow old and die. Settra founds the Mortuary Cult and commands its priests to discover the secrets of immortality.[1a]
- -2390 -- Settra names Nekaph as his personal champion. Over the following decades Nekaph secures the unconditional surrender of over a dozen foreign cities. Scores more refuse to submit to Settra's rule and are subsequently destroyed.[1a]
- -2383 -- The King of Bhagar revolts against Settra's rule. order is quickly restored when the Herald Nekaph travels to the city and slays the rebellious king.[1a]
- -2350 -- Settra perishes, and his body is interred within a magnificent pyramid in preparation for a time when he will arise to his Reign of Millions of Years.[1a]
- -2350 to -1950 -- The Time of Kings. Dozens of kings come and pass following the death of Settra. Upon their deaths, they are mummified and entombed in ever more elaborate pyramids along with the still-living soldiery of their legions.[1a]
- -2000 -- The Birth of Nagash.[1a]
- -1968 -- A cabal of Dark Elves are driven off course by storms and are shipwrecked in Nehekhara. Nagash captures and imprisons the pale-skinned foreigners and learns the secrets of Dark Magic from them.[1a]
- -1950 to -1600 -- The Reign of Terror. Nagash murders his brother and seizes the throne of Khemri. He creates the Elixir of Life to prolong his fading youth and rules his kingdom through dread and fear. During this time, Nagash develops his mastery of sorcery and instructs the building of the Black Pyramid. Following its construction, Nagash and his vizier, Arkhan, raise armies of Skeletons to war against the Priest Kings.[1a]
- -1600 -- Nagash is overthrown by the Army of the Seven Kings. Khemri is besieged and then sacked. Arkhan is killed covering his master's retreat. Nagash flees north to plot his revenge.[1a]
- -1600 to -1200 -- Dynasties rise and fall, each trying to rebuild their lands following the treachery of Nagash. Nehekhara reverts to a feudal state.[1a]
- -1563 -- The royal line of Numas is murdered by Prince Apophas. The populace rebels and Apophas is executed, his bones cursed to the depths of the Underworld.[1a]
- -1520 -- Neferatam Queen of Lahmia, recreates the Elixer of Life, birthing the race of Vampires. Neferata's cousin, Queen Khalida of Lybaras, grows suspicious of the Lahmian court, but is slain before she can expose their dark secret.[1a]
- c.-1200 -- Alcadizaar the Conqueror is crowned King of Khemri. He binds the entire land of Nehekhara under his charismatic rule and conquers the ancient city of Ka-Sabar from the desert tribes. Nehekhara begins to prosper once more.[1a]
- c.-1185 -- Ramhotep, the greatest Necrotect of Nehekhara, finishes construction of the Sepulchre of the Heavens in Quatar. As a reward, the master artisan is mummified alive and interred within this magnificent monument.[1a]
- -1170 -- The taint of vampirism is discovered in Lahmia. The entire cursed city is reduced to ruins by Alcadizaar's forces, and the Vampires are forced to flee north to Nagashizzar.[1a]
- -1163 -- Nagash returns. He resurrects Arkhan the Black who joins the Vampires in leading a vast army of the dead against the Priest Kings but, led by Alcadizaar, the living prevail against them.[1a]
- -1152 -- Plague besets Nehekhara. Nagash comes forth for a second time and the Priest Kings are unable to stop him. Alcadizaar is imprisoned and Nagash sits upon the throne of Khemri.[1a]
- -1151 -- The Great Ritual. After consuming vast amounts of warpstone, Nagash casts the great spell of awakening and curses the realm of Nehekhara to Undeath. Before the ritual's completion, Nagash is slain by Alcadizaar, mysteriously freed from captivity. The great spell spirals out of control and the Tomb Kings stir from their slumber. Alcadizaar vanishes from history. So ends the living line of Khemrian kings.[1a]
- c.-1151 -- The War of the Kings. Bitter fighting wracks Nehekhara as the Tomb Kings battle each other for supremacy. Khatep opens the Great Pyramid of Khemri and awakens Settra, who smites his rivals and brings all under his rule. So begins Settra's Reign of Millions of Years.[1a]
- -1149 -- Arkhan the Black, repelled from Khemri by Settra, attacks the city of Bel-Aliad, beginning what Arabyan chroniclers will later call the Wars of Death. For the next thousand years Arkhan raids the lands of the living across the world.[1a]
- -975 -- Apophas is reborn as the Cursed Scarab Lord and begins to roam the world in search for the one soul that will release him from his eternal torment.[1a]
- -917 -- Nehekhara is invaded by Lizardmen from the Southlands who are searching for lost plaques looted from their temple-cities in ages past. The reptilian warhost smashes aside skeletal armies at both Ka-Sabar and Bhagar as they continue to march ever deeper into the Land of the Dead. They are finally defeated at the City of Kings when Liche Priests focus the rays of the sun through the mirrored prisms atop Khemri's gold-capped pyramids.[1a]
- -642 -- The Black Maw tribe of Ogres descends upon the city of Quatar, intent on a feast of bread made from the ground bones of ancient kings. Several tombs are demolished and countless hundreds of Skeleton Warriors are smashed asunder by the Ogre horde, before an army of statues marches out of the Charnel Valley and utterly destroys the invaders.[1a]
- -455 -- King Qu'a of Zandri and King Rapesh of Numas form an alliance and attempt to overthrow Settra. The King of Khemri is only saved from an assassin's magical blade by the intervention of his bodyguard, Nekaph. The rebel kings battle against Khemri's legions for seven days and seven nights, but Settra prevails, and the defeated kings slink back to their tombs. Settra orders their pyramids toppled and commands his Tomb Guard to drag their mummified corpses from their resting places whereupon they are set ablaze, and their charred skeletons are shattered beneath the heavy wheels of Settra's golden chariot.[1b]
- -236 to -241 -- The Chariot Wars. King Behedesh of Zandri utterly destroys both the Black Wolves Goblins and the Gouging Tusks Orcs in a merciless campaign that concludes in the heart of the Badlands with an epic battle involving over seven thousand chariots.[1b]
- -40 to 15 -- Nagash is reborn exactly 1,111 years after he was destroyed. He attempts to force the Tomb Kings to obey his orders, but under Settra's leadership, they force him to retreat back to Nagashizzar. Over the following decades, Nagash rebuilds his Undead realm and preys on the barbarian men of what will alter be called the Empire until he is defeated in an epic duel by the warrior-Emperor Sigmar.[1b]
- 101 -- The War Fleets Sail Forth -- Settra seeks to restore his dominance of the oceans as well as the lands, and he instructs that his war fleets be raised and made sea worthy once more.[1b]
- 111 -- Arkhan the Black returns to Nehekhara. He reclaims the Black Tower and carves out a realm of his own, establishing an uneasy truce with the other Tomb Kings.[1b]
*Under Construction*