Imrathepis, the Crimson King of Numas, was an aggressive and brilliant general. His stalwart legions were easily recognised by their blood-red banners and shields, and Imrathepis himself rode to war atop a magnificent Khemrian Warsphinx whose flanks were deep scarlet. In his mortal lifetime, King Imrathepis fought beside Alcadizaar the Conqueror, and he was one of the great ruler's chief lieutenants. The Crimson King was present during many pivotal battles, including the subjugation of Ka-Sabar, the pacification of the Black Boar Orc tribes and the sacking of cursed Lahmia, where Imrathepis bested several Vampires in personal combat.[1a]
In undeath, King Imrathepis' thirst for battle was no longer tempered by the wisdom of Alcadizaar. Upon awakening from his sacred sarcophagus, the Crimson King immediately set about reclaiming the lands he had conquered in centuries past. Imrathepis and his legions swept north through the Badlands like a hurricane of blood. From atop the armoured platform of his Khemrian Warsphinx, the Crimson King slew scores of greenskin savages. Imrathepis would lead every charge from the front, driving his curved, golden-edged blade deep into the flesh of his enemies as his Khemrian Warsphinx, dripping with the blood of the slaughetered, waded through the hordes of Orcs and pulped their bodies underfoot. The impetuous Tomb King then drove his Undead legions eastwards into the Mountains of Mourn, forging through the wind-swept passes in search of more foes to vanquish.[1a]
King Imrathepis' arrogance was to be his undoing, and he was finally defeated by the Ogres of the Thunderfoot Tribe. Imrathepis mistakenly believed the Ogres to be nothing more than simple brutes. The Crimson King was therefore completely unprepared when the Ogres ambushed the Undead by unleashing a herd of stampeding Rhinoxen within the narrow confines of Daggertooth Valley. The skeletal warriors of the Crimson King's legions were crushed to powered bone by the great beasts, and only Imrathepis, standing atop his carmine Warsphinx, survived. Though his mount had been buffeted and its stone body was cracked, the great Khemrian Warsphinx did not yield. Alas, Imrathepis was now alone and surrounded by the entire Ogre tribe. Howling a curse, the Crimson King and his battered mount drove on regardless, smiting a score of Ogres before finally succumbing to the hammer-blows of the tribe's Ironguts. After the battle, the Ogres' Tyrant, Folgut the Corpulent, snapped the Tomb King's leg off and fashioned it into a toothpick before returning to his mountain lair.[1a]
However, the royal line of King Imrathepis did not end there, and Prince Rakaph III, dynastic heir to the Crimson King, set off from Numas a mere decade later to enact his father's revenge. Rakaph III led not one, but a dozen Khemrian Warsphinxes into the Mountains of Mourn to destroy the Thunderhoof Ogres. The hulking leonine statues trekked to the summit of Cragg Rock, which overlooked the Ogres' lair, before battering their stone limbs into the mountainside, causing a titanic avalanche that buried the entire Thunderfoot Tribe beneath several thousand tons of rock and ice.[1a]