"Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death."
- —Vladimir von Carstein, Count of Sylvania
Vlad von Carstein, first of his blood-line and former Count of Sylvania
Vlad von Carstein, known in his former life as Vashanesh of Nehekhara,[1a] was the first Vampire Count of Sylvania, and the founder of the Von Carstein bloodline.[2a] He was dreaded by many as the monster that has brought the darkness upon the lands of Sylvania after his marriage with Isabella von Drak, daughter of the late Imperial Count Otto von Drak.[2a] His bid for power, and the desire to rule the whole Empire as his own has ensured the total collapse of the Imperial province, as well as to herald the beginning of the first of the Vampire Wars from 2010 IC and onwards.[2c]
Though his death signaled the end of the grueling conflict in 2051 IC, the lands of Sylvania have been forever cursed with the powers of the undead, becoming breeding grounds for a multitude of necromancers, vampires, and other dark creatures.[2d] As the years go by, the land will forever be shunned by the other Imperial provinces, and every other century, another one of Vlad's own bloodline would rise up and challenge the Empire in hopes of fulfilling that which Vlad could not.
History
The creature that would take up the name of Vlad von Carstein was originally born as an ancient Nehekharan military tactician and blood-relative of Nagash himself. When Lahmia fell into darkness following Neferata's transformation into a vampire, General Setep of Khemri, whose legion had conquered lands as far away as the south of what would later become the Empire, was foremost amongst this coalition. Amongst his soldiers was the masterful tactician Vashanesh, who was of Nagash's own blood. Betraying Setep, Vashanesh travelled to Lahmia to warn them of this planned attack.[1a]
The Damnation of Lahmia (-1200 to -1170 IC)
Queen Neferatem, the first of the Vampires
Vashanesh so impressed Neferata she gave him the last of the Elixir of Life, which none have been able to recreate since and made him her husband, King of Lahmia and co-ruler of its growing population of vampires. Together they plotted to keep the other cities of Nehekhara distant from each other, creating a network of spies that split the nation for centuries, disrupting all attempts to unify the people against them. After centuries of uncontested rule, it was King Alcadizaar the Conqueror who finally managed to mobilise the disparate armies and bring war to Lahmia by invoking the names of the old gods of Nehekhara. He laid siege to the city at the head of an army composed of warriors from all of the cities, as well as the territories he had added to the realm, carved out of Araby and the Southlands.[1a]
Arriving at the city, they were horrified to be met not only by the military of Lahmia but also by an army of the dead raised from their rest by W'soran. Fighting back their fear, Alcadizaar’s troops brought battle to the undead. Though outnumbered, the army of Lahmia could be continually replenished, the dead rising as soon as they fell. Their mortal followers proved less reliable, and traitors amongst them turned against their masters and allowed the Nehekharans to storm the city. The chariots of the Jackal Squadron of Marhak coated the streets with blood, and those vampires who did not flee were forced to do battle on the steps of the temple. Abhorash lead the defence for a full week, withstanding the spells of Zandri’s high priests and the alchemical fire of their war machines.[1a]
Finally, the temple was burned to the ground, and Abhorash was forced to flee with several of his sons-in-darkness, the last of his compassion for the living finally burned out of him. They travelled far, and their slaughter of the orcs of what later became the badlands is still famed. The other surviving vampires, including Neferata, W’soran, Ushoran, Maatmeses, and Harakhte fled to the north where they came across a reborn Nagash in the midst of raising an undead army of his own.[1a]
The Curse of the Vampire (-1163 to 1152 IC)
Neferata as she fought for the great Nagash
It was no coincidence that the vampires came across Nagash. Through his agent, W’soran, Nagash had manipulated them from the first and lent them his magical aid from a distance during the siege of Lahmia. When Neferata learned the full extent of W’soran’s manipulation, she was furious, even more so when Nagash passed her over to offer his distant relative Vashanesh a position as leader of his forces.[1a]
Nagash had crafted a ring that would allow the vampire who wore it to return from the dead even more easily than they already could, but through that ring, Nagash would control all of vampirekind. Vashanesh accepted the ring, and at Nagash’s command, the vampires led his army to Khemri. Although at first the vampires were eager to serve as Nagash’s lieutenants to gain revenge on Alcadizaar and regain Lahmia, it became apparent their survival was irrelevant to Nagash. He hurled them carelessly against the enemy as he would his mindless undead troops, and he cared not for rebuilding Lahmia and sought, instead, to destroy all of Nehekhara.[1a]
Bound by the power of the ring Vashanesh wore, they were unable to disobey Nagash or even his second-in-command, Arkhan the Black. Vashanesh hit on an ingenious solution to the problem. Suspecting the control Nagash exerted relied on a living vampire wearing the ring, and believing the Great Necromancer’s assurance it would return him from the grave, Vashanesh allowed Alcadizaar to cut him down at the height of a battle. The vampires were freed from their control, and only W’soran remained; the others scattered to the winds after bickering over where to go and who deserved to lead them. Maatmeses and Harakhte vanished out of history, though there are rumours of vampires in far Cathay and the Southlands who may be of their lost bloodlines.[1a]
Ushoran settled in Strigos. Neferata travelled widely, influencing the nations of man from their foundings and inserting her daughters in privileged positions amongst them. W’soran stayed by Nagash’s side whilst he cursed and ranted at the fickleness of vampires. Upon Nagash’s defeat, W’soran took many of his master’s writings and studied them with the aid of his acolytes and his apprentice, Melkhior, transcribing his notes in the dread Grimoire Necronium. His mastery of necromancy grew so profoundly that he was able to limit the red thirst that drove vampires to live dangerously close to mankind, though the effect of this change was to hideously twist his line’s physical form. His reward for this feat was death at Melkhior’s hand.[1a]
Vashanesh eventually returned as Nagash had promised he would, and he spent the next few centuries testing the limits of the ring. Even if Nagash had truly died after being abandoned by the vampires, which seemed unlikely, the ring had allowed Arkhan to control them as well. Vashanesh set about mastering certain magical arts to make the ring his slave, rather than vice versa. During this time, he'd spent much of his time within the lands of Kislev, where he took up the name of Vladmir. Almost unnoticed in the annals of history, Vashanesh traveled to the land of Sylvania that he had first seen as a soldier in the legions of Setep, and calling himself “Prince Vladimir,” he aided Vanhel in crafting an undead host to defeat the Skaven who threatened the land in the wake of the Black Death. Content with this change he had wrought in history, he returned to hiding for another 700 years. When he came back, it was under the name Vlad von Carstein.[1a]
The Madness of Otto von Drak (1797 to 2000 IC)
Drakenhof Castle, the dark halls from which Vlad ruled
It began on a storm-lashed night when Otto, last of the mad von Drak counts, lay on his death bed in Castle Drakenhof, cursing the gods that he was without a male heir to continue his legacy. Otto was a cruel man, fond of putting the heads of peasants on spikes at the slightest provocation, and when crazed with drink he was convinced he was Sigmar reincarnated. The nobles of his court had no respect for his authority, and paid no attention to his commands. Sylvania seethed with strife.[2a]
As his family keenly awaited his final breath, Otto swore he would marry his daughter Isabella to a daemon rather than let his hated brother Leopold inherit. Otto had already refused his daughter's hand to every noble in Sylvania, for he despised them all. No man of breeding from beyond the borders of von Drak's realm wanted to marry a Sylvanian heiress, and so it was that when Isabella von Drak knelt at Otto's death bed, she was still without a husband. Outside, thunder rumbled and lightning split the stormblack darkness. Victor Guttman, the aged priest of Sigmar who had been called to shrive the old count, fainted away. Then, from out of the storm came the sound of wheels and pounding hooves. A dark coach pulled by four mighty black steeds drew up outside the keep. A heavy hand smote the door a ringing blow, and a proud voice demanded entry.[2a]
The castle gate swung open on its hinges before any man-at-arms could touch it. The visitor was revealed and, as one, the baying guard dogs ceased to howl and slunk away. The stranger was tall, darkly handsome, and of noble bearing and aspect. No-one stayed his entry as he marched directly to the count's chamber. The newcomer's accent was foreign, perhaps from Kislev, or even further afield. He named himself as Vlad von Carstein, and recited his noble antecedents to the count. He then claimed the wide-eyed Isabella's hand in marriage. Looking into the stranger's cold, dead eyes, the count perhaps regretted his rash oath, but before he knew it, he had given his blessing nonetheless. The priest Guttman was revived from his swoon and brought to the chambers of Otto, where the marriage ceremony was performed before the dying count's bed. Almost as soon as the last of the ritual words were spoken, Otto von Drak died, leaving his daughter and his entire estate in the charge of Vlad von Carstein. The new count's first act was to hurl Isabella's uncle Leopold through the window of the highest tower of Castle Drakenhof.[2a]
Vlad seemed as eccentric as old Otto. He never ate in the servants' presence. He never walked abroad by day. He dismissed the elderly Sigmarite priest and sent him from the town. No one ever saw Victor Guttman again. Soon, many of the old servants at the keep were dismissed and mysterious, swarthy strangers took their place. However, the new count seemed less oppressive than the old one, and so the folk of Sylvania got on with their daily business, ignoring the hooded and cloaked foreigners that often visited the castle. Years of punitive von Drak rule had taught them not to question the deeds of their betters. All that concerned the lower classes was that at least the new count didn't order senseless executions or demand exorbitant taxes at a whim. No one doubted the count's prowess in battle either. When the famed company of Bernhoff the Butcher rode into town and demanded tribute, Vlad cut the veteran mercenary down as if he were a stripling. The count then proceeded to slaughter the entire mercenary band while his bodyguard watched, picking their teeth and making smug comments. The count's popularity was assured. Within his realm, the laws were kept, and the guilty were punished without mercy.[2a]
As the months passed, however, what had started out as a marriage of convenience developed into something far more. When it became clear that Isabella could not be merely seduced by his charms and rebelled against his will for the first time, Vlad fell instantly in love with her. Once in love, Isabella wished for the Blood Kiss, but Vlad knew the true suffering of the Vampires and loved her too much for her to endure that. Scant days later, word reached Drakenhof that Isabella had fallen sick with an incurable illness. One of the physicians who tended her claimed her heart had stopped. The new count insisted this was not so. He dismissed the learned doctors, claiming he would care for her with his own hands. Three days later she appeared in front of her folk, saying she was fully recovered. She was ever afterwards pale and wan, however, and never left her chambers save by moonlight. At first, none of the feuding nobles of Sylvania paid any heed to the commands of the new count. If this bothered Vlad, he gave no sign of it. The count cherished his tenants as a peasant family cherishes a beast they are fattening for the Midsummer feast. After decades of rule by mad Otto, this new order was welcomed by all save the most paranoid.[2a]
After several months, however, dark things began to happen. Young men and women from the villages began to disappear. The living dead gathered at the borders of each settlement in growing numbers. These were small forces at first, and they name after only those who disobeyed the count's authority. If any rebellious Sylvanians escaped the clutches of the Undead, then they quickly fell victim to strange accidents. Only those who had sworn allegiance to Vlad von Carstein seemed immune to these depredations. Soon, the renegade nobles of Sylvania were queuing up to swear fealty to him. Within ten years, Vlad was more firmly in control of unruly Sylvania than the Elector Counts were of the largest states in the Empire. Some remarked that such was Vlad's success as a ruler he should in fact sit upon the Imperial throne. After all, the von Carsteins were an ancient family that could trace their lineage back to the founding of the Empire. Generations later, Vlad and Isabella still presided over the lands, unchanged by the years. At first, few paid attention to their longevity. The lives of peasants had always been squalid and short, and nobles had always enjoyed vastly longer lifespans. However, when the oldest woman of Drakenhof insisted that her grandmother had been a girl when Vlad von Carstein came to the throne, even the most dim-witted peasantry began to surmise that all was not as it seemed. The spreading rumours drew more and more Witch Hunters to Sylvania.[2b]
Those who chose to investigate the von Carsteins were never seen again. Yet worse was to come. The mysterious disease that had first laid low Isabella von Carstein struck other noble families allied with the count. Soon, every castle in Sylvania was home to long-lived, nocturnal folk, pallid of aspect and merciless in their rule. The number of the living who went missing became more and more noticeable. The temples to Sigmar, Taal and Ulric were closed, the Priests of Morr were driven from the region and the dead were left untended to pile up at the sides of the roads. Grim watch posts were set up along the border, and few were allowed to cross either into, or out, of Sylvania. When catastrophe struck the Ostermark capital of Mordheim in the year 2000, Vlad was swift to act. A great meteor of warpstone had destroyed half the city, and shards of raw magic littered the ruins. As the claimants to the Imperial throne sent mercenary forces to seize this new source of power, so too did Vlad send dark minions forth into the ruins. It would be another decade before the strange seeds harvested from that blighted city would bear fruit.[2b]
Vlad and the First Vampire Wars ( 2010 to 2051 IC)
In his former life, Vlad was not a cruel Man by heart, but the curse and selfish pride that is usually brought about by Vampirism has corrupted him in body, mind and soul. As with all Vampires, the new Count of Sylvania was ambitious beyond mortal needs, and so he sought to instill his rule to not just Sylvania but the whole of the Empire of Man. At first, none of the feuding nobles of Sylvania paid any heed to the commands of this new Count. If this bothered Vlad, he gave no sign of it. To the Vampire Count, Vlad cherished his subjects the same way a peasant family would cherish a beast that they are fattening up for the Midsummer feast. After decades of harsh rule by the incompetent Count Otto, this new authority was welcomed by all save perhaps the most paranoid, or perhaps the most knowing. The first signs that someone big is coming came about when the disease that first took Isabella now took the rest of Sylvanian nobility. Soon, every major castle within Sylvania was home to a family of long-living noctural Vampires, pallid of aspect and arrogant in their rule. In time, the number of people who went missing grew to exponential numbers. A mysterious sickness, not unlike the one that had killed Otto van Drak, had filled the graveyard's of Sylvania as well, pushing the people to their limits and forcing the majority of the peasantry to turn their backs on the gods who couldn't help them, and into the arms of the Cult of the Wiederauferstanden, known by many as "The Cult of the Arisen Dead".[3b][2c]
The holy temples of the Old World Pantheons were desecrated and closed, with the Priest of Morr being driven out. Without the Morr Priest to perform the proper burial rites to bring the long deceased into their tombs and towards the afterlife, the bodies of the dead were simply piling up at the sides of the road and their tormented spirits forced to live without rest. But probably the greatest and final sign of this impeding darkness came when the Ostermark capital of Mordhiem was destroyed by a massive Warpstone meteorite in the year 2000 IC. The city of Mordheim was once the capital of the Imperial province of Ostermark, where the faithful and pious come to gather to witness the second coming of Sigmar Heldemhammer. But after some time, the city grew into a cesspit of decadence, greed, and widespread corruption. When the city was obliterated in 2000 IC by a massive meteorite, shards of Warpstone were found all over the ruins of the city. Unbeknowst to its chaotic origins, claimants of the Imperial Throne sent mercenary companies into the city to gather as much Warpstone as they possibly can, hoping to manipulate its false properties of healing the sick or turning lead into gold into their own personal uses.[3b][2c]
Vlad followed up on this as well, sending in his dark minions to gather as much of these shards as he possibly can. Finally, on Geheimnisnacht Eve of the Imperial year of 2010 IC, Vlad von Carstein thought the time ripe for the next step in his master plan. It was then, at the start of the winter, that the count called forth all the nobles of the province to pledge loyalty to him during a festivity called the Totentanz, or the "Dance of the Dead". The dance was to be held at Drakenhof Castle, on the eve of Geheimnisnacht. The Totentanz was actually a huge coy, invented by Vlad to assemble the remaining living aristocracy into one place. At the height of the ball, he gave an order to his minions to close off the entrance and kill every living thing inside. Only two people left the throne room alive: Alten Ganz, loyal human servant of Vlad which had suspected the true nature of his master plan, and Stefan Fischer, a witch hunter who had been chasing one of von Carstein's vampires for the murder of his wife alongside another Witch Hunter, Jon Skellan, his brother in law. During this event, Skellan was killed and turned into a Vampire, but Fischer managed to hide below a pile of dead corpses without being caught.[3b][2c]
With his deed enacted, the Count of Sylvania stood upon the battlements of Castle Drakenhof and intoned a terrible incantation from one of the Nine Books of Nagash. Fueled by the magic-saturated Warpstones recovered from Mordheim, the necromancy spell flowed over the unguarded cemeteries of the Gardens of Morr and in an instant, all throughout the province, the dead began to stir. Slowly, every single cadaver in Sylvania began to move towards Drakenhof to answer the call of the Vampire Count. As the dead nobles started to emerge from the throne room, Stefan Fisher acted as a zombie and escaped Drakenhof with only one single taught in mind: "they are coming". Fischer finally escaped the deadly trap Sylvania had become, only to fall into the claws of a small band of Vampires travelling through the Empire. Accepting his fate, even feeling joy for being soon reunited with his wife, Fischer was contempt to finally meet his end when suddenly he was saved by a small detachment of Countess Otilla's army, sent to investigate reports of Undead activity along the Sylvanian border.[3b][2c]
Fischer thus relayed the truth behind the Vampire Count's true nature. Feeling all sense had fled his life, he stayed with Otilla's army as they try to fend of the Undead army at the Battle of Essen Ford, which would be the first conflict of the Vampire Wars. The Battle at Essen Ford was considered a total Imperial massacre. Knee deep in the mud and overwhelmed by impossible odds, the human army was easily swept away. At the end of the battle, Fisher came across his brother-in-law, Jon Skellan. When the prisoners were lined up before the Vampire count, Vlad showed them the extent of his power. While discussing with the leader of the army detachment, he invited first Ganz, then three vampires, including Skellan to choose and kill a prisoner of their choosing. Skellan choose Fischer, and bled him dry, thus reuniting him with his dead wife. Vlad reanimated each of the dead Imperials, then asked the still-living Imperial Commander of this defeated army to choose one of his men to live. The later refused, not wanting to decide about the life or death of his own. The Vampire Count thus chose the youngest of the prisoners and announced him that he alone would live, to spread the fear of the Vampire's throughout the Empire.[3b][2c]
He then freed the prisoner, who ran for his life away from the Undead army. In this moment of distraction, the Imperial Cmmander took Vlad's sword and beheaded the count with a swift stroke. Herman Prosner severed the Commanders in an instant afterwards, but it was too late, for the Vampire Count was no more. However, just as Prosner had finished giving orders regarding the torture of the Imperial commander who had slayed the Vampire Count, he suddenly remarked that the body of the count had disappeared. Dismissing it as trivial, Prosner started a brutal rise to power, slaying everyone opposing him. It had been the loyal servant Ganz who had taken the body away, incapable of realizing the death of his beloved Count. At the end of the night, Prosner had obtained control of the Undead army, and was going to get the last thing which would truly cement his power; the widow Isabella. The latter, totally hysteric, was smiling when Herman Prosner entered her tent. She claimed that her beloved wasn't dead and that he would come back to get her. Gently, Herman Prosner led Isabella out the tent and claimed her before the whole army as his bride, by right of strength. Then the most unpredictable of things happened, for from the back of the crowd, someone answered the challenge. The Undead all stepped away from the one who had spoken, and there stood Vlad von Carstein.[3b][2c]
He had been saved by a family heritage, an old signet ring obtained in his earlier life, which granted the wielder true immortality from death. In the following duel, Vlad defeated Prosner, and laid him low. Seeing his death inevitable, Prosner hurled his sword away, killing loyal Ganz in the process. The Count then prepared to strike him down, but was stopped by Isabella, who claimed that right for herself. The Count gave his sword to her, and she killed Herman Prosner with cold blood. The war continued after the events of Essen Ford. For more than 40 years, the dark shades of the Count put an aura of terror above the Empire. Countless times, he was killed in battle, and each time he rose again to kill those who had defeated him; at the Battle of Bluthof, he fell impaled by five lances with the Count of Ostland's Runefang buried to the hilt in his heart, yet reappeared three days later, overseeing the execution of prisoners. Whilst at the town of Bogenhafen, he led his undead army to victory after being decapitated by a cannon only an hour before. When in the spring of 2050 IC, the city of Middenheim was attacked and the Grand Master of the Knights of the White Wolf, Jerek Kruger, was turned into a vampire because he had dared to kill the count at the Battle of Schwartzhafen a year before. All hope seemed lost to the Imperials, and eventually the Undead army now marched towards the last thing between them and victory: The Imperial Capital of Altdorf.[3b][2c]
Siege of Altdorf (2051 IC)
When the Undead army arrived before the walls of Altdorf, they found the city was well prepared: the Reik had been diverted to surround the city, harvests had been entered and the walls had been manned. However, the powers of Vlad proved enormous. In a shocking display of cabalistic power, he covered the sky in clouds and awoke every dead beneath the plains surrounding Altdorf. Huge siege engines formed of zombies where thrown against the city walls, and in time, the number of dead soon outnumbered those of the living. There was no hope of victory for mankind. In search of divine aid, the Grand Theogonist Wilhelm III retreated into the catacombs of the Cathedral of Altdorf to pray. It was in that holy place that he received a visit from Mannfred von Carstein, the eldest thrall of Vlad. Mannfred wanted the power of the Vampire Count for himself, but he knew that he wasn't strong enough to challenge Vlad in combat. So he informed Wilhelm III about the secret of the Count's immortality.[3b][2d]
The priest then set out an elaborated trap to catch the best thief of this very age: Felix Mann. When they finally caught him robbing the Imperial Counting House, they gave him a simple choice: to rob Vlad von Carstein's signet ring, or to be hung for his crimes. In reward of the theft, he would be paid enough to start a living elsewhere. Felix accepted the theft and, with a little aid from Mannfred von Carstein, robbed the count of his most precious belonging. When the Count awakened, his anger was uncontrollable. In one frenetic attack, Vlad threw everything he had against Altdorf. There on the battlements, he confronted Wilhelm III and eventually, overcame him. However, with his last breath, the Great Theogonist threw himself against the Undead Count, and both fell off the walls. While the fall wouldn't have killed a vampire as powerful as Vlad, they both fell on a wooden stake, the Vampire trapped beneath the corpse of the holy man. With the death of Vlad, his army dissolved and the Altdorfers rejoiced, for finally the horrors of the First Vampire War were finally over.[3b][2d]
Characteristics
"I fell in love with him the moment I met him. There was something about him—his eyes, the way he carried himself, as if he were something more than Human— even when he was still mortal"
- —Queen Neferata, on Vashanesh
Vlad von Carstein, first of his Blood-line
Vlad von Carstein was the first and greatest of the Vampire Counts of Sylvania. A master swordsman and skilled general with no small aptitude in the magical arts, it was he who tainted the aristocracy of Sylvania with the curse of vampirism, and in so doing, created an Undead kingdom in the heart of the Empire.[2e]
Count Vlad was a towering figure, with a mane of long hair and piercing eyes. Those who met him and survived described him as possessed of a feral charm, but with an evil temper that could turn into a berserk fury if he was thwarted in his endeavours. It was said that at such times, only his wife, Isabella, could calm him without blood being spilt. No records tell of the origins of Vlad before his coming to Sylvania. Even the Vampires of that realm know nothing of Vlad's life before that fateful night in Drakenhof, and Vlad certainly never recounted or wrote down his personal history. That he knew much about the workings of the Empire, and its internal division at the time of his arrival, attests to knowledge of the dealings of mortal men for many years, if not centuries.[2e]
Vlad was not the first Vampire to have been encountered in the Empire, but before his rise to power, these Undead creatures had been solitary predators. A few had perhaps amassed small forces and carved out far-flung domains, but it was Vlad's usurpation of Sylvania, and his ascendancy to the position of Count, that marked a new era of bloodshed. As the first true Vampire Count, Vlad had designs not only to create a realm of the dead, but also to secure dominion over the living. Vlad waged his war in order to become Emperor, for he truly believed he had a legitimate claim to the throne.[2e]
With the might of the Empire at his command, and Isabella at his side, he would have become one of the most powerful rulers in the world. That he came so close to achieving his ambition should have been a dire warning to the other Elector Counts, but they forgot the lessons of the first war and fell to bickering amongst themselves again, paving the way for Vlad's unholy successors, who assail the Empire to this day.[2e]
Wargear
- Blood Drinker (Magical Sword) - When this sword draws blood, the life force of the victim is used to revitalise the blade's master.[2e]
- Carstein Ring (Magical Ring) - This ancient heirloom of the twisted house of Sylvania makes the Vampire carrying it almost impossible to kill.[2e]
