Neferata
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Neferata, Queen of Lahmia, first of the Vampires, founder of the Lahmian Sisterhood, is at present the Night Queen who rules from the Silver Pinnacle over her secret network of exquisitely beautiful, female vampires that stretch out into the kingdoms of men. Plotting and weaving a web of intrigue, she dreams of once ruling all the vampires and returning to rebuild the Temple of Blood and reign from the throne in Lahmia.She is cousin of Queen Khalida.
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[edit] Overview
Neferata, meaning "she who is beautiful in death" in the ancient tongue of Nehekhara, is said to be of exquisite beauty.
[edit] Queen of Lahmia
Prince Lahmizzar of Lahmia, then a province in Nehekhara enclosed by the Worlds Edge Mountains to the west and the Bitter Sea to the east, led the rebellion of the Priest Kings against Nagash of Khemri and was killed in -1750 IC. Lahmizzash, his first son succeeded Nagash, who was thought dead but had actually fled, and seated the throne of Khemri. Neferata, some say Lahmizzash’s wife, others Lahmizzar’s daughter (she might be both), became the Queen of Lahmia, in favour of her (other) brother, Ushoran.
Nagash, the Great Necromancer, had written down his knowledge in nine volumes, also known as the "Nine Books of Nagash", and "Liber Mortis". They were found by the rebels in the Black Pyramid. Some say it was Neferata who found them and secretly took them, others that she persuaded her husband (or brother) Lahmizzash to give them to her, whatever the case, Neferata came in the possession of some of the scrolls containing Nagash’s studies on Necromancy.
Neferata, a notable Spellcaster, set to study these works in the hope of fighting the evil Nagash had unleashed, but was slowly corrupted and not only learned how to animate the dead, thus becoming a necromancer, but, like many in Nehekhara, obsessed by the secret of immortality, she tried to create an elixir to that purpose. Nagash had succeeded in so far as to protect his soul from death but had not been able to halt the aging of his body. Neferata, in her experiments, found a way of keeping her body young but was taken by an urge for fresh human blood. It is said that she stroke a pact with dark forces and, upon drinking her "Elixir of Life" (or "Elixir of Damnation" as some call it), her heart stopped beating and her soul travelled to the land of the death where she was attacked by Spirits. When she woke, one such spirit shared her body and was thirsting for the warm blood of the living. So was born the first vampire.
At first she tried to hide her secret, but as time passed and people aged and died, the Queen remained that same youthful beauty she must have been and suspicion arose. It also became more and more difficult to contain her thirst and she began to feed on courtiers she invited to her chambers. Neferata realised she was vulnerable on her own, and so she led other people take the elixir and join her in her immortality. Eleven were so blessed, among them Ushoran, her brother, Wsoran, her High Priest and Abhorash, a captain of the guard.
The Eternal Queen and the Deathless Court reigned over Lahmia and a new cult arose. The Temple of Blood (or the Vampires’ Temple) was built and statues of Nagash were installed. Neferata was the high priestess and it is said that she only drank from the blood of men in the bloom of their youth, from chalices as if containing wine. The people of Lahmia forgot their old religion and instead worshipped the Deathless Court.
As time passed, Neferata and her first line vampires changed physically to fit their way of life. She grew pale, fangs and sharp teeth. The sun hurt her and during the day time she either stayed in her crypt in the necropolis or commanded the dust to shroud them. She grew strong, no disease or blade could harm her. When they discovered the Blood Kiss, a way of creating lesser vampires through their blood, it was not long or a host of lesser vampires was born.
It was in -1200 IC that war broke out. King Alcadizaar, successor of Setep who had thrown the Lahmian dynasty out of Khemri, had united the Priest Kings and crossed the Worlds Edge Mountains, invading Lahmia. The reason behind this invasion are unclear, some say Alcadizaar just sought an excuse to conquer Lahmia and found one in the heretic and dangerous Nagasite cult -they might try to resurrect Nagash- others say that vampires had preyed upon the population of neighbouring kingdoms and they reacted to protect their inhabitants, some speak of the fact that the return of Nagash at Nagashizzar was rumoured and nobles of Lahmia sought to ally with him to execute Nagash’s revenge on the rest of Nehekhara and Alcadizaar reacted against this by pre-emptively attacking Lahmia.
Abhorash, by now supreme commander of the Lahmian armies, led the defences and Wsoran rose a undead army to help him. Records are again unclear about who defeated the Lahmian army, the Khemrians of Alcadizaar or some other force (possibly the people of Lahmia who rebelled against their ghastly leaders), but defeated they were. Neferata and her sisterhood however had fled long before Alcadizaar arrived in the necropolis, her crypt was found empty.
The vampires who escaped, seven of the first line and some of their minions, went (except for Abhorash) to the god of their cult: Nagash, who resided in Nagashizzar where he was building an army of undead to invade Nehekhara. (One source speaks of Nagash being resurrected by the necromantic spells of the vampires, though most say Nagash never really died). Whether it was the charm of Neferata or Nagash's will to revenge himself which led to Nagash unleashing his army is disputable, but the vampires and Arkhan the Black, Nagash’s commander, possibly together with the Great Necromancer himself, set out to invade Nehekhara in -1163 IC. Sailing a fleet through the Straits of Nagash, they landed on the shores of Lahmia where they rose those dead whom had not been destroyed by the Khemrians.
But Alcadizaar feared not and beat back the unholy armies and Nagash finally retreated to Nagashizzar. Here the first line vampires disputed, blaming each other for the defeat. Neferata wanted to ally with Nagash and return to rebuilt Lahmia but was opposed in this by the others. The argument ended in a fight which lasted the whole night. At dawn no-one was victorious and each vampire went his own way. Other sources say that Nagash was furious about the defeat and the vampires whom he held responsible and had commanded the attack, fled before his rage. Neferata and her sisterhood went north.
[edit] Night Queen
What Neferata did afterwards is unknown, until one day many centuries later she turned up at some Dwarf mines named the Silver Pinnacle. The dwarfs were attacked and slaughtered by Zombies and Skeletons. Here, building the "Palace of the Night Queen", Neferata set up residence.
There is not a comprehensive history of what she did there, but there are many tales. Most who travel to the Silver Pinnacle never return, probably drained from their blood, some are unlucky enough to be given the Blood Kiss, but only few leave to tell their story.
It is said the palace is not a place of horror but of splendour in the fashion of ancient Lahmia. Treasures are here. Neferata baths in the blood of young men and drinks their blood while undead play music. The sun, however, never lights the halls and corridors. Neferata herself is never seen, but remains behind seven veils and communicates through handmaidens of exquisite beauty. From here she sends out her servants to the land of men, including the Empire, Tilea, Araby, Kislev and especially Bretonnia since she has a fancy for its knights whose chivalry code she likes to abuse. One tale tells of a merchant who was given a cat which after a time metamorphosed into a beautiful lady. As foolish men fall for these beauties, the Lahmian Sisterhood occupy more and more positions as companions of dukes, barons, consorts and advisors to rich merchants and military leaders and thus Neferata builds out a network to convey her plotting and intrigues. One such intrigue led to the invasion of Mourkain after Ushoran had sent a messenger Thrall to her sister to ask her to come over and work together. The messenger was imprisoned and its bloodied fangs sent back to Ushoran. Neferata dreams of enslaving all the vampires and returning to Lahmia to reclaim her throne and rebuild the Temple of Blood.
[edit] Sources
- White Dwarf No. 237, Games Workshop
- Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts, Games Workshop, 2001
- White Dwarf No. 256 en 257, Games Workshop
- Warhammer Armies: Undead, Games Workshop, 1994
- Dates: White Dwarf No. 276, Games Workshop
