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"And he did smite and destroy his enemies with great vengeance and furious anger."

—Translations from inscriptions in the tomb of King Amenemhetum of Zandri[2b]

Zandri, the "Fleetport of Terror," once known as "The City of the Waves," its still one of the largest and greatest port cities of the Land of the Dead,[5b] once the ancient realm of Nehekhara and at present the realm of the Undead Tomb Kings. It commands the waters off the Great Mortis Delta. Qu'aph, the god of serpents and subtlety in the Nehekharan Pantheon, is the patron god of the city.[5a]

In the city's harbour at the mouth of the Great Mortis River, ancient barges still float, writhing with dark magical energy and crewed by skeletons who bend their backs at the oars to the resonant boom of drums and the cracks of their taskmaster's whips.[6a]

Along the waters of the miles-wide Great Mortis River, and across the Charnel Deeps,[6a] and the Great Ocean to the north, the Tomb Fleets bring the terror of lost Nehekhara to distant realms. These imposing Undead armadas set out laden with skeletal legions and vengeful rulers thirsty for conquest, and return with blood-slick weapons and recovered treasures, plundered from Nehekhara in ages past.[1a]

History[]

Warhammer Zandri

Map of Zandri

One of Zandri's greatest rulers was King Amenemhetum. During his reign he built a vast fleet of warships and sailed the oceans of the Old World, conquering the lands across the seas in the name of Ualatep, the vulture god.

His kingdom extended deep into the lands of what is now Tilea and Araby, then his skeletal legions had marched east and north, killing all who stood against them. Even today people still spoke of the Wars of Death in hushed whispers, despite the oceans of time that stretched between those battles and the present day.[4a]

Under his rule Zandri became a fabulous and wealthy place. Now the city is all but destroyed, and the streets are quiet, but the seas still stir with unnatural life.

When Nagash awoke the Tomb Kings, they waged war on each other. In death, as he had in life, Amenemhetum was content to be ruler of the oceans, ancient vessels, still as glorious as they were when the king still lived, ply the waters once more.

Even in death it is said he continues to raid the mortal world, his ships ceaselessly sailing the seas, rowed by skeleton slaves doomed to an eternity at the oars. No coast is safe and even the most experienced captains know to steer clear when they sight his fleet.

The coast around the Mortis Delta is filled with the sunken wrecks of pirate ships that have foolishly attacked his fleet in search of treasure.[2a]

Sack of Zandri[]

Khemri Nehekhara WAR Online

The city of Zandri as depicted in concept art for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

When Captain Jaego Roth was in search of the bounty he needed to muster the sea-lords of Sartosa to his cause, he undertook a daring raid into the southern seas, fighting his way through the perilous Nehekharan waters and making landfall on the borders of the coastal city of Zandri. Using the Heldenhammer as a sea-going fortress, Captain Roth mounted a lightning raid upon the tomb-structures that clustered around the walls of the city of Zandri itself.[3a]

Though these tombs were the resting places of lesser nobles, they contained enough treasure to make a merchant prince weep -- treasure to which the audacious Roth and his men helped themselves, narrowly escaping the desert revenants and animated statuary that rose to block their escape.[3a]

Roth was not fool enough to believe he could escape retribution entirely, but in seeking to recruit more allies to his cause with stolen gold, he had earned himself a powerful and determined enemy. King Amanhotep, a miser in life and a madman in death, knew the location of every gold coin and jewel in his empire. Vowing revenge, he summoned the mightiest war barque in his navy, the Curse of Zandri, and commanded that the tombs that Roth had raided be taken apart, stone by stone, and rebuilt into the warship itself.[3a]

Thousands of Skeleton Warriors and unliving Ushabti statues laboured night and day to build pyramids, obelisks and Necrolith Colossi into the war barque's hull. The hooded Necrosphinx of Zandri was torn down and reconstructed as the Curse of Zandri's figurehead, and the four Necrolith Colossi of the city walls were built into its hull, ready to power the warship forward or sweep the decks of enemy vessels clear with massive ritual halberds when the time of battle came. The Liche Priests and Necrotects of Zandri used their ancient magic to bind the animated titans to the vessel's sides, and King Amanhotep himself oversaw the mounting of the Great Blade of Kharpesh upon its prow.[3a]

LandoftheDead1

The Land of the Dead, formerly Nehekhara

Finally, the arching stricture that rose above the mighty warship's deck was rebuilt to hold a gigantic sapphire -- the fabled Jewel of the River Mortis, heirloom of the sun god Ptra himself. By channelling the solar energies harvested by King Amanhotep's pyramidal tomb into the Jewel, the Curse of Zandri could direct a great beam of burning light from its arcing stern into an enemy vessel.[3a]

The Curse was complete -- a warship built specifically to locate and destroy the impudent mortals who had raided Zandrian property. Amanhotep vowed that for every ounce of gold stolen, he would consume a Human pirate's soul. Under the blinding sun he swore an oath that he would find Roth and destroy him utterly as a lesson to the upstart civilisations of the north.[3a]

Through the divinations of his Liche High Priests, Amanhotep learned that Captain Roth was on a quest of his own. The mortal sought to destroy one of the Vampire Counts who had once roamed the Land of the Dead. Using the ancient star magic of Nehekhara, Amanhotep journeyed through the stormy seas to the Galleon's Graveyard. There he made a pact with the piratical Vampire Lord Noctilus, intending to use him as bait until his quarry revealed himself.[3a]

Notable Zandrians[]

  • Amn-nasir - Nekumet's son.[5b]
  • Nekumet - Nekumet was the priest-king of Zandri in ca. -1950 IC.[5b] He battled Khetep, Grand Hierophant of Khemri,[5c] father of Nagash,[5b] for control of his city with swift and decisive victories, thanks in no small part to Zandri's large force of northern mercenary troops.[5c]

Trivia[]

Zandri may be based on Alexandria, a great seaport in northern Egypt well-known throughout the ancient Mediterranean. Before its founding by Alexander the Great following his conquest of Egypt, it was a small fishing village named Rakotis.

Sources[]

  • 1: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (8th Edition)
    • 1a: pg. 19
  • 2: Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (8th Edition)
    • 2a: pg. 15
    • 2b: pg. 78
  • 3: Dreadfleet Rulebook (Specialty Game)
    • 3a: pp. 60-61
  • 4: Gotrek and Felix: The Serpent Queen (Novel) by Josh Reynolds
  • 5: Nagash the Sorcerer (Novel) by Mike Lee
    • 5a: "The Nehekharan Pantheon"
    • 5b: "Dramatis Personae"
    • 5c: Ch. 24
  • 6: Warhammer: The Old World website
    • 6a: Explore the Old World (Interactive Map)
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