"My dream is a bold one. It is a vision that speaks for all men. It is a vision of lands fractured by divisions of greed and heritage brought together by shared hope and shared dignity. It is a vision built not upon the thrill of conquest and the desires of dominance, but one founded upon the pride that burns inside all men, be they noble or base."
- —Mandred II "Skavenslayer" [3b]
Mandred II von Zelt, sometimes enumerated as Emperor Mandred II, and called during his lifetime "Mandred Skavenslayer", "Mandred Ratslayer," the "Wolf of Sigmar" and the "Howl of Ulric," and remembered among the Skaven who feared and hated him as "Man-Dread," was a legendary general and emperor of the Empire of Man who ruled from 1124 IC until his assassination by Skaven Deathmaster Nartik Blackblade in 1152 IC.
Mandred II was best known for defeating the Skaven who assaulted the Empire in the aftermath of the Black Death during the horrific Skaven Wars. Unfortunately, over a thousand years later, the Skaven Wars are considered to be children's stories by the people of the Empire, who no longer believe in the existence of the ratmen.
History[]
Early Life[]
Mandred von Zelt was born sometime early in the 12th century IC. His father was the Graf of Middenheim, Gunthar von Zelt. He had a close relationship with his father and his ever-present bodyguard Franz. In time, he quickly grew into a handsome young man with deep blue eyes. His father made it an obligation to train with the sword, and Mandred studied under the tutelage of van Cleeve.[1a]
Black Death[]
During the fall of 1111 IC, Mandred spied on the meeting of several very important Middenheim nobles debating a rebellion against the emperor's new tax. Emperor Boris Hohenbach, commonly called "Boris Goldgather" for his intense avarice and gluttony, had declared that the low-born soldiers who served the Elector Counts had lost their formerly tax free status and the Elector Counts were now required to pay taxes to the Imperial throne for each soldier in their employ.[1a]
The court of Graf von Zelt was almost unanimous in agreeing on the course of rejecting this unfair tax, knowing it would leave them militarily more vulnerable and poorer. To this end, Gunthar ordered that food be stockpiled. Reports of plague were also brought. To this, the graf decreed that the gates must be shut and the city quarantined from the outside world. Upon hearing his father reject the plight of the plague victims, Mandred von Zelt swore to himself that he would be a fair and compassionate ruler, unlike his despotic father.[1a]
As Middenheim closed its gates to the masses of refugees, the compassionate and feisty young prince found the actions of his father to be despicable. Travelling with his bodyguard Franz, Mandred rode for the city-state's gates to provide aid for the needy, only for his father to arrive right as he was to leave the drawbridge. Mandred stubbornly resisted his father's determination to to stop him and was slapped across the face and told to return to the palace in no uncertain terms.[1b]
Mandred enjoyed being in the presence of the common people, even though Franz usually gave him away by bowing and saluting in his presence. During Ulriczeit in 1111 IC, Mandred encountered a group of several brigands attacking a group of foreigners. Noticing their Reikland accents, Mandred jumped in and helped fight them off and learned the name of the foreigners' leader was Othmar, one of the few Reiksnect who had escaped the massacre of that knightly order in Atldorf. [1c]
Mandred attempted to sneak back to the palace of Middenheim with the Reiklander, but the group was confronted by several mutant smugglers who were also members of a Chaos Cult. The chief smuggler threatened to hold Manfred hostage and sacrifice him to Nurgle, the Chaos God of disease and despair. With the combined help of Franz, a wallwarden, and Othmar, Mandred fought the mutants. One of them, a Skaven who was mistaken for a Beastman by Mandred, tried to grapple with him, but the Mandred's superior strength launched the ratman off a cliff. The basket that the smugglers had been using to ferry people up to Middenheim was cut by the head cultist while it still contained passengers. Roaring a cry of anguish for the deaths of the innocent refugees, Mandred smashed a halberd into the cultist's skull. [1d]
Mandred brought the knight Othmar before his father and was upset at the graf's lack of courage in standing up to the tyrannical emperor. Mandred went to the walls to watch the comings-and-goings at the growing refugee camp at the base of the Fauschlag. Beastmen had begun to raid the tents, snatching up children and the elderly to devour in the woods. Mandred knew that a small group of warriors could easily smash through the skittish raiders. [1e]
Mandred and Grand Master Arnor convinced fifty brave knights to ride out as the Beastmen sallied forth in mass. Warhammers smashed skulls as the barded warhorses crushed the Beastmen horde attacking the camp. For violating the quarantine order, the knights and their grand master were exiled. However, the graf could not bring himself to exile his son. [1f]
In 1115 IC, Mandred became infatuated with Sofia von Defenfeld, a beautiful Burggraefin with forest-green eyes. Despite their love for each other, they knew it was likely that they would never be together. Both of them were of high birth, and marriages among the nobility were based on the dynastic needs of politics and power, not romantic love. However, this merely inflamed their passion for each other.[2d]
Mandred continued to serve as prince of Middenheim for several more years. The young man served in Drakwald patrols as the ever-hateful Beastmen continued to launch raids on travellers. In Sigmarzeit 1118 IC, during one of these rides, a massive white wolf, the sacred animal of Ulric, the god of winter, wolves and war, appeared before Manfred. Amazingly, nobody else seemed to be able to see the animal even as it ran right in front of them.[2a][2b]
The huntsmen and soldiers continued their advance, but Mandred ordered a stop when he smelled the scent of burning meat. The knights dismounted and crept up alongside the experienced hunters. Mandred noticed two Humans, one a man, the other a women, stripped down and imprisoned inside cages as a legendary Beastman known as the "Kineater" approached them with a butcher knife, his cannibalistic intentions clear. Mandred also spotted two Skaven, which he considered to be ratlike Beastmen, among them. As the monster crept closer to the woman, the Imperials unleashed a withering volley that cut through many of the mutants, pinning them in a crossfire.[2a][2b]
Mandred rushed out, shooting four arrows into the Kineater, but this only managed to slow its advance. The prince sliced through one of its arms with his sword, but its horribly mutated claw grabbed his sword arm and began to squeeze. Mandred punched it in the face and sliced it down the back before joining the others in their fight.[2a][2b]
The battle was over quickly, with most of the Beastmen dead or fleeing. Two of the Imperials had fallen, and all had sustained some kind of injury. The woman and the man were freed from their bonds, and Mandred offered the woman a cloak, but she stubbornly refused, choosing to endure the cold. Mandred correctly guessed based on their accents that the two were Reiklanders. The two prisoners introduced themselves as Friar Richter, a Sigmarite priest, and Lady Mirella von Wittmar. They claimed to need to speak to the graf immediately, and hurried along with the riders, with Mirella blushing as she rode with Mandred.[2a][2b]
Mandred quietly watched as the court evaluated their propositions. They explained that one of the knights in possession of Sigmar's legendary warhammer Ghal Maraz from the attempted conspiracy to overthrow the emperor had been hiding out in the Reikwald Forest and hoped to return it to an Elector Count so that they might declare themselves the new emperor. Several of the court threw accusations at the pair, claiming that they should have brought the artefact straight there if that was their plan. Mandred stood silently, knowing the consequences of talking out of line. Thane Hardin, the representative of Middenheim's Imperial Dwarfs, claimed that even if Ghal Maraz was returned, it might not unite the Empire, given the deep divisions that now existed.[2c]
Mandred then returned to his love Sofia von Defenfeld who happened to be in one of her fits of jealous rage. She claimed that he was an adulterer by riding with Lady Mirella and broke down sobbing as the angry Mandred left for the Middenplatz. There, he met with Mirella and walked with her to a sacred garden. It had been replanted with wheat to feed the city during the plague, a reality that hurt Mandred every time he thought about it. Mirella consoled him, saying nothing lives forever. Mandred told her about the Middenheim Dwarfs and their temple to Grungni. Mandred knew they couldn't go there but took her to the Ulricsmund, the temple of Ulric, instead. Beck and Richter, who had accompanied them, also journeyed upwards into the great temple of the god of winter, wolves and war.[2d]
Mandred toured the temple with Mirella before finally acknowledging that his honour demanded that he only be with Sofia. He explained that he certainly had engaged in minor dalliances before, but a relationship with her would truly violate his oath to Sofia. He left Mirella then and returned to Sofia's residence. The door warden told him that she was feeling unwell, but Mandred was unconvinced and forced his way inside. There, Beck horrifically discovered that Sofia had contracted the Black Death. An alchemist from Nordland brought by Beck into the residence later confirmed their suspicions after examining Sofia. A former plague victim himself, the man claimed that nothing more could be done. Sofia would live or die as the course of the disease dictated.[2e]
Mandred next went at the request of a local physician to inspect Kurgaz, a wounded Dwarf hero. The Dwarf had been shot with a warpstone bullet from a Warplock Jezzail. His desperate comrades had taken him to a Human specialist, something unheard of for the stubborn Dawi. The physician managed to get the bullet out, and Mandred questioned the warrior about his foes. Kurgaz claimed that the Dwarfs of his hold had fought a pack of the ratmen they called Skaven down below, cutting through hundreds of them. Even as Mandred inquired into the appearance of these so-called "Skaven," a group of Skaven assassins barged in, attempting to murder everyone present to stop the Imperials from learning of their existence.[2f]
Mandred cut the bindings of the wounded Dwarf and barely fended off a slice from a ratman. Grabbing ahold of its arm, Mandred twisted until he heard the ratman's lighter bones break. The Skaven then jumped back as Mandred managed to expertly duel two of them at once. The Dwarf killed one as Mandred did the same before the rest of the ratmen fled in terror at the superior swordsmanship of the prince of Middenheim. The old Dwarf warrior darkly joked that Mandred now knew what the Skaven looked like.[2f]
After reporting to the thane of Middenheim's Imperial Dwarfs, Mandred was selected to lead an elite contingent of warriors into the darkness inside the mountain. There, with a small company of Dwarfs, his troops set up a chokepoint as hundreds of Skaven rushed them. The savagery of the ratmen took down many of the Imperial troops in the initial charge, but the discipline of the Middenheimers ultimately defeated the Skaven assault. Hundreds upon hundreds of ratmen died as they began to flee. The knights and foot soldiers prepared to pursue their beaten foes, but Kurgaz and the rest of the Dwarfs in the Imperial party barred the way. Kurgaz even knocked over a man who tried to push past him. The Dawi's advice to not quickly follow retreating Skaven showed itself sound when the exit from the subterranean maze collapsed as part of a Skaven booby-trap, which resulted, due to the Dwarfs' caution, in only crushing yet more Skaven.[2g]
The column of soldiers quickly moved to another area of the Dwarf hold under siege from the Skaven, the fourth level. There, hundreds of Skaven attacked the few dozen Dawi guarding the entrance. Warhammers and axes carved clear through the horde of ratmen as the Human warriors slammed into their flank. A few brawny Stormvermin put up a little bit of a fight, but the ratmen were quickly routed. Mandred then received dire news: the city itself was under attack by the ratmen. Unending numbers of Skaven emerged from the city's gutters and began a campaign of terror throughout Middenheim. The ratmen's Warplock Jezzails easily annihilated the troops on the city's walls as the vanguard rushed to secure the palace of the graf. Thankfully, Graf Gunthar von Zelt, Mandred's father, had rallied some of his forces and led the defence of his city.[2h]
Mandred rushed his column up to Middenheim and the East Gate. There, the graf's forces had over-stretched their pursuit, now completely surrounded as Skaven emerged from every entrance. Mandred and his forces carved a bloody path to their ruler, being careful not to become overstretched themselves. To cries of "For Wolf and Graf!", Mandred's soldiers hacked their way to their entrapped allies. However, the elite Verminguard advanced into their path, blocking the way with a crack line of halberd-wielding ratmen. Warlord Vrrmik sought out Mandred personally but was unprepared for the young man's martial skill. Mandred was gashed by one of the ratman's claws but fought through the pain to impale the warlord. Vrrmik stumbled backwards, wounded. He had been perceived as invincible by his troops, and his fear scent quickly shattered the morale of his army. Vrrmik was caught up in the terror and fled as well.[2h]
Graf Gunthar met his son and smiled, proud of the child, now a skilled warrior, he had raised. Suddenly, a lone sniper blasted through the graf's chestplate before scampering away. Knowing the only chance his father had to survive was the grace of the gods, Mandred carried him up to the Sacred Flame of Ulric, begging for Ulric's divine assistance. Suddenly, three Skaven assassins attacked him at once. Two were cut down, but a third grappled with him, and they both fell into the Sacred Flame. Miraculously, Mandred emerged with his cuts and bruises healed as the assassin disintegrated in the flames, a sure sign that he had received the divine grace of Ulric. Though his father had been slain during the ascento the sacred Flame when he willingly sacrificed himself to take a sword slash intended for his son, Mandred had gained a new title by his great deeds that day: "The Wolf of Sigmar." [2h]
Skaven Wars[]
After the great victory of the Imperial forces at Middenheim, Mandred, now the newly succeeded Graf of Middenheim, rallied his army and liberated the city of Carroburg in 1119 IC. Utilizing the Dwarf sappers that came with him from Middenheim, the imposing Schloss Hochenbach, where the Skaven had finally overrrun the court of Boris Goldgather, collapsed into the river. However, with victory came questions. The officers of the Imperial army and Mandred debated the fate of the province. Some wished to annex the region into Middenland, while others wished to restore the Drakwald as a Grand Province of the Empire.[3a]
To clear his mind, Mandred rode out into the forest. There he spotted the great white wolf that had guided him to rescue Lady Mirell and the arch lector the previous year. The wolf's appearance scared his mount and the horse bucked him off. Mandred followed the wolf at a sprint, quickly becoming lost in the tangled woods. Once he lost sight of the wolf, Mandred found a cave with signs of occupation. A witch of Rhya emerged and claimed to be Hulda. Mandred was immediately suspicious, even more so when she listed his name and accomplishments. Mandred accused her of being a servant of the Ruinous Powers, but Hulda revealed her breasts, showing a tattoo of Ulric imprinted upon her flesh. Mandred still regarded her with suspicion and left soon after, and was found by a worried contingent of knights and rangers.[3a]
When Mandred returned to his camp near Carroburg, he found two of the Empire's Elector Counts waiting for him, Count Van de Dujin of the Westerland and Baroness Carin of Nordland. Like the rest of the Empire, their provinces had suffered greatly. Westerland had been occupied by Norscan barbarians while plague and Skaven had ravaged the coastal province of Nordland. Both Electors pleaded for Mandred to mobilise his army to aid their provinces. In a sign of desperation, they promised to swear fealty to him as the new emperor if his army liberated their provinces. Mandred rejected their fealty but did promise to send his army to eliminate their shared enemies. After giving his speech to the Electors, Mandred found his lover Mirella waiting in the Temple of Myrmidia. There, they passionately embraced while she comforted him about the difficult decisions he had been forced to make.[3b]
Leaving the temple for his personal tent, mandred found Baroness Carin waiting for him. Her outfit was much more revealing than the one she had previously worn when she requested his military aid. Realising her intent immediately, Mandred turned to leave, but Carin requested that he stay and listen. Though irritated at her attempted seduction, Mandred agreed to listen to her request. The baroness' plan required a march into Nordland. Dietershafen would be taken so its shipyards could be used to construct a new Imperial fleet. From there, the combined Imperial army would sail to Marienburg. The Baroness of Westerland assumed that the barbarians would not expect an assault from sea, only by land. Mandred found the plan compelling[3c]
The Imperial army moved northwards and away from the desolation of the Drakwald. The army was ready at a moment's notice to fight, as all knew the deceptive tendencies of the Skaven by this time. A large group of scouts had been conducting reconnaissance ahead of the main force of the army when some of the horses began to panic. The entire column stopped marching as Mandred moved forwards to investigate. It was then that Hulda, the witch Mandred had met in the Drakwald, stepped out and said, "Hail to you, Howl of Ulric!" The sight of the witch so far from where he had last met her sent shivers up Mandred's spine.[3d]
The Ar-Ulric, apparently aware of her nature, furiously denounced her as a witch. Mandred told her that the army was marching to Salzemund, but she claimed that a Skaven army was spying on them and knew of their plans. Hulda offered a suggestion: travel through the Laurelorn Forest and hit Dieterschafen while the Skaven were away. Giving a rousing speech to steel his troops for such a risky course, Mandred agreed to march through the enchanted forest.[3d]
After the previous emperor, Boris Goldgather, had been assassinated, no new monarch was elected to replace him on the Imperial throne. With the Black Death still rampant across the land and without a functioning central government, the Empire had now been plunged into anarchy, making it the most opportune time for the Skaven to launch their first colossal invasion of the surface world.
And that meant that the only Imperial noble in a position to fight back against the Skaven swarms that were suddenly unleashed on the surface of the Old World was Graf Mandred von Zelt of the city of Middenheim. He began a crusade against the Skaven in 1122 IC and broke their power in 1124 IC at the Battle of Averheim and the Battle of the Howling Hills. At the latter, Mandred beheaded the Skaven Supreme Warlord Vrrmik, a member of the Council of Thirteen with one swing of Ghal Maraz, the warhammer of Sigmar himself. The skull of the dead Skaven warlord was fitted onto a helm still in the Imperial vaults today, known by a great many scholars as the legendary Helm of the Skavenslayer.
Due to his great popularity in the wake of his victory against the ratmen, Mandred was elected the new emperor by the Elector Counts by majority vote in 1124 IC. Mandred spent the next 25 years as a stern yet wise ruler, enabling the Empire to begin a massive campaign of reconstruction from the Skaven assault.
However, thirty years after the invasion of the Skaven, in 1152 IC, on the cursed and haunted night of Geheimnisnacht Eve, the emperor was assassinated by a Clan Eshin assassin, in revenge for his spoiling of the plans of the Skaven race.
After Mandred II's death, the next meeting of the Elector Counts to choose a new emperor ended in stalemate. Upon returning to his palace, the Grand Duke of Talabecland mustered his armies and invaded Stirland, setting off yet another series of Imperial civil wars over the crown. No emperor was elected for the next few centuries.
Today, however, most citizens of the Empire do not believe in the existence of the Skaven and Mandred II's legacy has been rewritten and diminished. The Skaven Wars of the 12th century IC have been reduced to an outbreak of very large rats in the wake of the Black Death, and "Mandred Skavenslayer" is now considered to be a hero of children's stories, an almost comic character chasing rats in the streets rather than the saviour of the Empire he was in life.
Sources[]
- 1: The Black Plague: Dead Winter (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 2: The Black Plague: Blighted Empire (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 3: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition), pp. 8-7,9,62
- Warhammer Rulebook (8th Edition), pg. 172
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Sigmar's Heirs (RPG), pp. 16, 22
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG), pg. 32
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: The Enemy Within (RPG), pg. 10
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Rulebook (RPG), pg. 272