Ushoran
From HammerWiki
Ushoran, first of the Strigoi Vampires and brother to Neferata, Queen of Lahmia, an eastern province of ancient Nehekhara, tried to rule the other first Vampires but failed and fled north to end up in the city Mourkain in the Kingdom of Strigos. Centuries he ruled the kingdom, but eventually a human force attacked from the north and at the same time a large Waaagh! descended upon it from the east. Ushoran and his kingdom fell that day. Ushoran was a diplomat and strategist with an enormous strength rather than a cunning swordman.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
[edit] Early History
Ushoran was brother to Neferata, who some say was the daughter of King Lahmizzar of Lahmia, others wife to of Lahmizzar's son, Lahmizzash. When Lahmizzar united the Priest Kings of Nehekhara to lead a rebellion against the undying King of Khemri and whole Nehekhara, Nagash, he was killed by Nagash and Lahmizzash succeeded him as the new ruler of Nehekhara. Lahmia fell into the hands of Ushoran's sister Neferata, who, in her search for immortality, produced an elixir that turned her into the first Vampire. Suspicious of his sister's long lasting youth, Ushoran began to ask questions until at last Neferata initiated him in her secret and let him drink from the elixir. Ushoran became a first line Vampire.
Decades passed as Ushoran lived in Lahmia together with the Eternal Queen and her Deathless Court, for many other of Lahmia's nobles were turned into either first line Vampires or lesser Vampires (who had received the Blood Kiss rather than drinking from the elixir). However, in the year -1200, the Kings of Nehekhara unite under Alcadizaar and attack Lahmia to drive out the evil that was festering there. The people of Lahmia, stalked for centuries by blood drinking aristocracy, rebelled. Ushoran fled, together with the rest of the surviving vampires, to Nagashizzar and met Nagash there who was preparing a huge Undead force to launch an attack on Nehekhara. Ushoran, together with the other vampires and Arkhan the Black led this army into Nehekhara, but they were defeated by the forces of Alcadizaar. They retreated to Nagashizzar. Here the vampires blamed each other for the defeat. Ushoran tried to unite the vampires under his command to rebel against Nagash and take control of what remained of the army, but was met with resistance from the other vampires. Eventually it came to a fight and they battle all night but no-one won. The next day, Ushoran left them and travelled north.
[edit] Later Years
Ushoran (and according to some sources he had companions) came across the human city Mourkain in the Kingdom of Strigos in the Western foothills of the World's Edge Mountains, where the Blind River reaches the plains. Mourkain was at that time ruled by the Necromancer Kadon. Ushoran allied with him and in a few decades he assembled a court of Thralls, or lesser vampires, to rule the kingdom with him. Hoping to avoid a repetition of the rebellion in Lahmia, he prayed his vampire court to drink only from those that deserved to die. For a time, the kingdom florished.
One day, Ushoran sent out Thrall messengers to seek other vampires and bid them to come to his realm and unite under his leadership. Neferata, Ushoran sister who by now had set her court in the Silver Pinnacle, imprisoned the messenger and sent back its fangs as a sign of her contempt. She then drew the attention of the kings of the land that would later become the Empire on the evil that was building in Strigos. They gathered an army and marched south against Ushoran. But Ushoran was well prepared and marched north to intercept the oncomng army. Unfortunately for him, at the same time Orc Warboss Garsnag Craktoof (in other sources it was Dork Redeye) and his Shaman Fuzzgig led a massive Greenskin Waaagh! north to seek vengeance for those Orcs that had been slaughtered during the passing of Abhorash, one of the other first vampires.
Ushoran defestated the human forces, but before he could finish the job, he turned south to defend his capital against the coming Greenskin tide. The human pursuit and destroyed Ushoran's rearguard. The tired and diminished forces of Ushoran set there defences behind the walls of Mourkain and drove back the first assault of the Orcs. Ushoran himself killed Craktoof. But Fuzzgig called upon the mighty powers of Waaagh! and struck down Ushoran with his magics. Other sources say that Ushoran came too late and met the Waaagh! on the plains in front of the city but was losing the battle upon which the gates were opened to let the retreating forces retreat to the city. The Orcs, with two Wyverns, focussed there attack on the open gates and broke through.
The battle was lost, the city destroyed and the remaining Strigoi fled.
However, Ushoran would later resurface during the time of the Three Emperors and rise to the defence of the Strigany, the descendants of the Mourkain humans who had fled the greenskin onslaught. After murdering the ones reponsible (which included the elector count of Averland, whom he supposedly turned instead of killed) for the persecutions of the Strigany, Ushoran seemingly set out to rebuild his empire of Mourkain. But by the time of the Age of Reckoning, there is no evidence that suggests he was succesful. Wether he still lives is a mystery (but given his undead neature, it is highly probable)
[edit] Sources
- Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts, Games Workshop, 2001
- White Dwarf No. 256, Games Workshop
- White Dwarf No. 257, games Workshop
