NEHEKHARA


Land of the Tomb Kings

Overview For thousands of years they have lain within their mighty burial monuments. Called from their deathly slumber, the ancient Kings of Nehekhara march forth from their tombs to seek vengeance on those who would disturb the dead. Loyal even in death, the armies of the Tomb Kings march at the side of their undead lords, seeking to reclaim the kingdoms that were once their own.

At first glance, Tomb King troops seem, slow, and it might be thouth not very good in combat. However, when bolstered by the considerable fighting abilities of the Tomb Kings themselves and animated by the incantations of the Lich Priests, Tomb King troops can often be used in devastating combinations to shatter the enemy.

The armies of the Tomb Kings hail from the desert lands far south of the Empire of the Old World. Reanimated by the undying Liche Priests, the skeletal warriors of the Tomb Kings march forth to reclaim the lands they once defended in life and to exact vengeance from those who have wronged them in the past.

Long before the Old World was civilized, an ancient civilization known as Nehekhara came to power. The land was divided into city-states, each ruled by its own King and defended by its own army. Over the centuries, the power-hungry Kings, frustrated by their short mortal lifespans, sought ways to prolong their lives. Although true immortality eluded them, the rulers of Nehekhara came to believe that if they preserved their bodies after death, powerful magic could one day revive them and they could return to power. Elaborate tombs and pyramids were constructed to protect the remains of these dead monarchs and to house the many treasures and warriors that were buried with the Kings to serve them when they were reborn.

The plans of the Nehekharan monarchs would one day be twisted by an ambitious Priest-King of Nehekhara known as Nagash. Nagash raised an army of long-dead warriors to expand his lands and increase his power. It was the first time the dead were ever made to walk. Although Nagash’s mighty army was eventually defeated by a coalition of other Nehekharan kings, the mighty priest escaped to plot his revenge.

Nagash travelled to the lands of the Iskar, a vile race of lizardmen and taught them necromancy in return for the services of an army to lead in the conquest of his homeland. The Ishkar agreed, so Nagash returned and united all Nehekharan under his rule, or so he thought...once the Iskar defeated the other kings and gained control, they allowed Nagash the illusion of rule, but while they were mastering the necromantic arts and all the dark secrets of the Nehekharans, the Iskar were plundering the treasures as well as shipping all the strong healthy Nehekharans back to their homeland as slaves, slaying all the rest of either sex, young and old alike.

After twenty years or so, of Iskar rule, Nagash dicovered the crimes against his race and homeland, that the Iksar had turned the civilization of Nehekhara into a dead land, leading the population away in bondage, then salting the farmlands and posioning the pools, lakes and rivers. To this day, the land once known as Nehekhara is a barren, sun-blasted desert where only the dead stir.

In rage and anger, Nagash secretly worked powerful magics and unleashed and animated the Kings in their tombs and pyramids, along with the vast armies that had been buried with these rulers came to life once again, ready to defend their King in undeath and take revenge upon the Iksar. However, the Tomb Kings and their armies were not reborn as flesh and blood as they had expected. Instead, they were returned to life as skeletal, mummified parodies of men.

In a short, brutal campaign the Tomb Kings drove the Iksar from their homeland, but it was not the lush land they remembered, but it was their home. They guard their ruined cities and raid the lands of the living, raising those foreigner they have slain as skeletal troops to fill their ranks. So it has been for at least the last 2500 years in Nehekharan, Land of the Tomb Kings.

The Army of the Tomb Kings Today

The Tomb Kings, assisted by the magically adept Lich Priests, lead a variety of skeletal and mummified troops into battle. Skeletal infantry, cavalry, and charioteers constitute the bulk of the Tomb King forces. More specialized forces include, the mummified Royal Guard, Tomb Swarms of undead scarab beetles, the enormous living statues known as Ushabti, great undead birds called Carrion, giant Tomb Scorpions, catapults that can hurl skulls or shoot bone sprears at the enemy, and the terrifying and destructive Giant Bone Crocs. The Tomb Kings are a relentless, magically potent army that is resplendent on the field of battle.

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