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Not to be confused with the Zombie Pirates


Vampire Coast Lustria Map1

A map of the east coast of Lustria, including the Vampire Coast.

The Vampire Coast is the Undead realm of the mad Vampire Pirate King Luthor Harkon located on the north-eastern coastline of the continent of Lustria.[1a][2b][3a][4a][5a][6a][7b]

In the PC game Total War: Warhammer II by Creative Assembly, a DLC was released called Curse of the Vampire Coast. The DLC added 4 playable Zombie Pirates factions which, other than Luthor Harkon, are not directly linked geographically to this region but are collectively known as the "Vampire Coast."[9]

History

In 876 IC, a Norscan longship boarded an Imperial trade ship. During the raid, the Norscan raiders stole a precious antique coffin not knowing that the Vampire Luthor Harkon resided within. When the Norse vessel finally washed ashore on the coasts of Lustria, all aboard had already drowned or starved to death.[8a]

The crew had risen as members of the Undead through the Vampire's dark magic. With his newly raised Zombie hordes, Harkon began the conquest of the deep jungle and pyramid cities of the Lizardmen.[8a]

Zombie Pirates

The Zombie Pirates of Luthor Harkon subdue a giant reptilian beast of Lustria.

Defeated in 930 IC near the Temple City of Oyxl by the Kroxigor Nakai during the Battle of the Eclipse, Harkon retreated to rebuild his army of Undead pirates with the hope of taking revenge on the Lizardmen. Decades later in 1011 IC, Luthor Harkon orchestrated a dread enchantment to draw vessels sailing the Great Ocean off course with its Siren-wail to be shipwrecked on the Vampire Coast. Over the course of several centuries, he amassed a sizeable horde of Undead warriors by reanimating the corpses of his victims.[8a]

Finally, in 1351 IC Harkon marched south on the Lizardmen's City of Axlotl, slaughtering any Skink that stood in the way of his Undead army and razing the city to the ground. Although the Lizardmen were able to save some of the most important artefacts from the Undead assault, Harkon managed to take many magical items back into his dread realm.[8a]

Geography

The Vampire Coast is located on the north-eastern shore of Lustria facing the Great Ocean, between the ruined Lizardmen temple-cities of Huatl to the north and Axlotl to the south and[2a][6b][7a] from Cape Ruin at the continent's easternmost point to the mouth of the River Qurveza to the southwest.[10a] The land is described as a region of foggy[3a], pestilent jungle[2b] and foetid swamps.[4a]

Indeed for over 1,000 miles, the visitor sees an almost unbroken length of mangrove swamp, the tangled roots daring an explorer to pick out a way within. Between Cape Ruin and the mouth of the River Querveza, the mouths of five smaller rivers pierce the jungle to empty into the sea, so evenly spaced from one another that some have speculated they were dug in some unknowable project of the Old Ones. Around their mouths -- from north to south the smaller rivers are the Xingo, Pacutl, Tieto, Aboxi, and Cahuatl -- sandy shores have pushed away the swamps and created beaches where shore parties can make their camps before striking inland.[10a]

The haven they provide is illusory, however. Not only is each mouth guarded by a grim stone fort whose occupants must either be conquered or placated, but the swamps and the river mouths are home to the Pliodon, a huge and vicious predatory crocodile at home both in river and sea.[10a] The Qurveza's estuary is the "heart" of the Vampire Coast -- the Straits of Tlaxot, the Volcanic Isles, and the "capital" at New Bechafen.[10b]

Nearby areas include the Pox Marsh, the Jungle of Webs, the Blood Swamps, the estuary of the River Qurveza and the volcanic islands of the Fuming Serpent and the Spitting Serpent, although it is not clear how much political control Luthor Harkon actually exerts over all of these lands.[7a]

The winds and currents along this coast are incredibly treacherous to unwary vessels[3a][5a], which has allowed Luthor's army to become swollen with the raised corpses of all manner of unfortunate mariners.[5a]

This stretch of coastline became infamous as the "Vampire Coast" because any High Elven ship which passed too close was destined to meet a dire fate.[2b] High Elf naval captains also report ghostly ships in the fog, and a siren-wail that lures sailors to their doom.[3a]

Government

The Vampire Coast – landscape by Andreas von Cotta-Schønberg

The Vampire Coast – landscape by Andreas von Cotta-Schønberg[10a]

When the Vampire Lord Luthor Harkon launched his conquest of what would become the Vampire Coast, he knew he would need to govern it. Even a sorcerer and Vampire as powerful as he could not be everywhere at once, making every decision. While Zombies made for ideal peasants, an "emperor" needed vassals who could carry out his brilliant plans. There have to be commanders for his armies and nobles to keep watch for enemies -- or targets of opportunity. And an emperor needs courtiers to offer advice, praise him, and rule when he is "indisposed" with his bouts of insanity.[10c]

Thus, Harkon drew on the best model he knew: the Empire.[10c]

To maintain control, Harkon divided his realm into six "provinces:" five based around the mouths of the smaller rivers between Cape Ruin and the Straits, and the sixth comprising the Blood Swamps and New Bechafen as an "imperial district."[10d]

Each province takes its name from the river that runs through it to the sea. Each is a "county," and the "count" of each is a trustworthy Vampire or Ghoul (trusted, in that they know Harkon will destroy them at the least hint of treachery). They rule their provinces from crude stone forts that sit at the river mouths, sited to provide a watch over the sea and to serve as gathering points for expeditions against the Lizardmen.[10d]

The northernmost "county," at the mouth of the River Xingo, has no formal count. After the Brine Wife slaughtered the last half-dozen, Harkon came to an arrangement with the Syreen giving him access, but acknowledging her as sole power in the area.[10d]

The imperial district, named the "County of the River Qurvesa and the Interior" to reflect Harkon's ambitions for conquest, is ruled by Harkon directly to prevent the rise of a powerful rival.[10d]

Notable Personalities

  • Black Jens - Black Jens is a Ghoul and the chief courtier and chancellor of the Vampire Lord Luthor Harkon. Once the captain of the ship that originally conveyed Harkon to Lustria, Jens chose to forsake his soul and became the Vampire's willing slave.[10c]
  • The Brine Wife - A Syreen who was a witch killed by Harkon in life, the Brine Wife rules her own island off Cape Ruin, drawing nearby ships near with her song.[10d]

Sources

  • 1: Warhammer Armies: Undead (4th Edition)
    • 1a: pg. 31
  • 2: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (5th Edition)
    • 2a: pg. 11
    • 2b: pg. 13
  • 3: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (6th Edition)
  • 4: Conquest of the New World (6th Edition)
  • 5: White Dwarf 306 (UK)
  • 6: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (7th Edition)
    • 6a: pg. 24
    • 6b: pg. 27
  • 7: Warhammer Armies: Lizardmen (8th Edition)
    • 7a: pg. 25
    • 7b: pg. 26
  • 8: White Dwarf 305 (UK)
    • 8a: pg. 22
  • 9: Total War: Warhammer II - Curse of the Vampire Coast DLC (PC Game)
  • 10: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Lustria (RPG)
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