Constant Drachenfels, the Great Enchanter
"Drachenfels. The Great Enchanter. A devil in human form, who cheated Death for centuries unknown; a man with appetites so base they lay beyond satiation; a necromancer, torturer of the dead, dismemberer of spirits; a vileness made flesh; a wizard, a scholar, a monster. Untold are the reaches of his barbarities, uncounted the number of his treacheries, beyond belief the depravities of his practices. Was ever such a vileness born of mortal flesh?"
- —Lives of the Depraved, by Konrad Steinhoff (Talabheim, Schnuffler & Son Publishers, 2099
Constant Drachenfels, the Great Enchanter is an infamous daemonologist and necromancer.[1a][1b]
History
The Enduring Nightmare
Drachenfels, the Great Enchanter, is dead. The very embodiment of horror and evil, he was slain by a Vampire and a humble mortal man (possessed by a force anything but mortal) in a way still sung by minstrels and extolled by poets and playwrights. A life of unknown thousands of years, if legends are true, is over. Man, beast or daemon, Drachenfels lies mouldering in a filthy sepulchre. The nightmare of his existence has come to an end.[1a]
But Castle Drachenfels still stands, shunned even by the most desperate and corrupt inhabitants of the Grey Mountains. Its seven towers claw toward the grey skies like the fingers of a mutated hand, and the bitter mountain winds howl around them like souls damned to torment by the foul sorceries of the Great Enchanter...[1a]
Beyond the winds, beyond the cawing of the unclean birds along the crags, beyond the scrabbling of a rock lizard or other hopeful, hungry brute, beyond any sound a mortal's hearing might detect, there is something else. Sensed somewhere below the thinking mind, somehow older and wiser than consciousness, there is...[1a]
...Something. A noiseless sound, an odourless smell, an unseen sight, and indefinable Something. While the conscious mind looks in vain for the source of the unease, neck-hairs rise in response to it, and the stomach churns and flutters.[1a]
Something is stirring.[1a]
Drachenfels is dead. So long live... Castle Drachenfels?[1a]
Castle Drachenfels
Constant Drachenfels, the Great Enchanter, is well over six feet tall and a physically imposing man - if, of course, he actually is a man. His face is hidden behind a mask, his hands covered by soft gloves and his body draped with fine robes. No one has seen his face and lived long enough - or remained sane long enough - to tell of it.[1b]
The Enchanter is a creature of living legend. He has lived, so rumour has it, forever. Certainly, for as long as anyone can remember - and for as long as histories have been written and folk tales told - there has been Constant Drachenfels in his Castle. He is a dark figure who stalks the dark corners of history, emerging into the light and committing some gratuitous, bohemian atrocity, almost as a reminder to Men that he exists and should be feared.[1b]
By any human standards, Drachenfels is evil given physical form. His actions have never been kind, just or noble, although they have a quality that some might consider purity. For example, his plots have a certain directness about them. When he allegedly 'repented his sins' before the court of Emperor Carolus, a less trusting man than the Emperor would have seen through his new-found goodness, or at least have had the sense to listen to those who did have such doubts. Drachenfels 'repented' only so that he could strike down his unwary, trusting enemies. But beyond such whimsies, he has killed, crippled and driven men insane, plotted and destroyed nations in a calculating fashion and in the heat of terrible rages.[1b]
Behind all his evil actions, Drachenfels has only his own dark motives which some men claim have little to do with 'evil'. He is the ultimate pragmatist, it is said: any act can be contemplated and carried out if it serves his survival. Continued existence is his ultimate purpose, beyond any moral consideration. 'Good' and 'Evil', such men say, are latecomers to human affairs, and Drachenfels dates from a time before such niceties had meaning. But it is what Drachenfels does when his existence is not at stake which marks him out, and his indulgence in atrocity and carnage marks him out as unquestionably evil.[1b]
He has grown arrogant and powerful with the passing of time. Only once has he been humbled, by Sigmar Heldenhammer. But even Sigmar could not break the power of the Great Enchanter. Drachenfels was reduced for a thousand years, his body ruined beyond repair, but he was not destroyed. Eventually, as he had done before, he took another body.[1b]
Drachenfels' body is slowly, slowly being regenerated by the magic of Castle Drachenfels itself, a process that sped up upon the arrival of new adventurers to attempt to defeat him once more.[1b]
Drachenfels is capable of using the magic of Battle Magic, Daemonology, Illusion, and Necromancy.[1c]
The Nameless
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Attention, Empire Citizens!
This article contains information regarding The End Times, the final campaign that ended with the destruction of the world, which is considered canon by Games Workshop.
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Deep within the Grey Mountains lurked the spirit of a once-great enchanter. This creature was of raw power, its mind shattered by a recent defeat, and vowed its service to the recently resurrected Great Necromancer on the condition that he would see its memory restored, and that it would be Nameless no more. He went forth with Vlad von Carstein, Walach Harkon and the Knights of Blood Keep to fight the Chaos forces moving across the border of Sylvania from Kislev.[2a][2b]
The Defense of Alderfen
At the Auric Bastion, Vlad and the Nameless took a section of the wall to defend, quickly making it one of the strongest points on the Bastion. However the Nameless, frustrated with Vlad's refusal to tell it its name, spent its time invading the minds of the Imperial soldiery such as Captain Harald Dreist, forcing them to butcher their compatriots a degree that they were misconstrued for the machinations of a daemon or beastmen, but far too civilised for the latter, being slit throats, cracked skulls and the like. Upon the end of the Battle of Alderfen, the Nameless left with Vlad and his allies, not having given away their true identities nor allegiances.[2c][2d][2e]
At an area of the Bastion known to Ostermarkers as the Helreach, the Nameless continued its machinations, dominating the minds of every soldier and ritualist for a twenty-league span of the wall while Vlad controlled the Rackspire garrison. Due to their direct control of the soldiery to prevent routing and their necromancy, the area became the strongest defended along the entire Bastion.[2f][2g]
Over time, the Nameless had taken to increasingly vile tortures. Some fought their fellows to the death in makeshift arenas, spurred to the bloodsport by the cruel whispers in their minds. Others had gnawed at their own flesh, for no other reason than because the Nameless wished to sample the experience through his borrowed senses. One day it'd have them flay their compatriots skins to make banners, the next the Nameless would change its mind, have the banners torn down and totems built using the soldier's bones. Despite his desire to kill Supreme Patriarch Balthasar Gelt when he found out about the disturbances at Helreach, Vlad intercepted the Magister before he could land his blow.[2h]
After the fall of the Bastion due to the revelation of Gelt as a burgeoning necromancer, Vlad von Carstein gave the Nameless the task of maintaining the Empire-Kislev border whilst he himself traveled away.[2i]
Dead and Buried
Constant Drachenfels, the Nameless, in the body of Luthor Huss
The Nameless was delighted at the turn of events. An army of the dead was at his command, and three of Nagash's five remaining Mortarchs were his for the taking. The Nameless had visions of challenging Nagash, once the power of three Mortarchs was added to his own. The spirit had all but forgotten about Luthor Huss, thinking the warrior priest’s mind completely smothered beneath his own dark will. However, Huss was a meal that had lost its flavour, and the Nameless wanted the battle done so he could seek out another living host. Glory awaited, of that he was sure.[3g]
Source
- 2: The End Times Vol I: Nagash