RED ELF
LAHMIA

It all began at the dawn of human civilisation, about four and a half thousand years before present time. South of the Old World, in the land between Araby and the Badlands, was the rich kingdom of Nehekhara. Priest Kings ruled this realm from their capital city of Khemri and upon their death they were mummified and entombed in great pyramids.

One of the most important priests, who the ancient texts name as Nagash, is said to have learned the secrets of dark magic from a captive Dark Elf sorceress. He then started to study this vilest of magic for a way to achieve his greatest desire: immortality. Nagash had a powerful intellect and implacable willpower and, after long years of research and experimentation, he created a new form of sorcery, which he named necromancy. Eventually he could reanimate dead bodies and prolong his own life indefinitely. This knowledge gave him the key to ultimate power and he soon became the kingdom's sole ruler. Unfortunately, though he discovered a way to force the spirit not to abandon the body, still he could find no way of stopping the flesh from succumbing to the vagaries of time. At first Nagash tried to preserve his body with the secret oils and balms that the priests used to mummify the most important among them. After two centuries, however, he could not hide the decay of his body and eventually he was driven insane by what was happening to him. Soon Nagash's rule become intolerable and the Priest Kings of neighbouring cities rebelled against him. After a bitter war, Nagash was defeated and fled towards the Worlds Edge Mountains with a few acolytes. Many are the dread stories told about the Great Necromancer, the Ritual of Summoning and his wars of vengeance against the kingdom of Nehekhara and the rest of Mankind, but they are to be told elsewhere.

Nagash recorded all his knowledge in nine huge tomes of parchment made from human skin and written in blood. These books were not destroyed as some of the priests wished; some of them were lost, and one was secretly taken to the city of Lahmia, the second most powerful city in Nehekhara. There the ruling Queen was seduced by the promise of immortality which she found in this evil grimoire and once again the search for eternal life began. Soon the Queen learned the dark spells to animate and command the dead, and she too became a powerful necromancer.

Eventually she succeeded where Nagash before had failed and she found something that could stop her immortal body from ageing: the elixir of life. It is said that she received the secret of the elixir after striking a pact with a dark force whose name is better left unspoken. After drinking this magical potion the Queen's heart stopped beating forever but, as long as she could feed regularly on the warm blood of the living, her mortal shell would still look deceptively young. The first Vampire had been created. The Queen then chose eleven individuals who she considered worthy and gave them a sip of the elixir of life. They were the first of their kind and were to be known as Master Vampires. Once again unliving Priest Kings and Queens ruled over Nehekhara. Soon they found that they could make living men and women into lesser Vampires, by making them drink part of their own tainted blood, the so-called Blood Kiss.

These new Vampires could themselves confer the Blood Kiss onto other willing (and sometimes unwilling) mortals and in this way the number of Undead increased, but with each new generation the powers of the Vampires were reduced. The Masters were creatures of astonishing speed and strength, extremely resilient and gifted with great necromantic skills, but the ones they created were far less powerful. The Vampires reigned over Lahmia for centuries and they surrounded themselves with an immortal aristocracy who preyed on the unlucky citizens of Lahmia. Eventually, as it had happened with Nagash, the Priest Kings of Nehekhara united to fight this evil tyranny. After a long and bitter war the Lahmian dynasty was defeated and the city of Lahmia was razed to the ground.

Of the original Vampires, seven Masters survived the sacking of Lahmia. They fled north, and when they reached the Old World they separated. One went east, perhaps to the distant lands of Cathay, one disappeared in the northern Chaos wastes and four remained in different parts of the Old World. The tragic story of the seventh Vampire, Ushoran of Strigos, is recorded elsewhere in this book. Each of these Masters was gifted with different powers and these distinctive traits are reflected in all other Vampires of their Bloodline.

Of these lines, the one that to this day remains closest to the Vampires' ancient origins is the one descending from Neferata, high priestess and Queen of Lahmia. Neferata, together with her sisters in the Cult of Blood, was already far to the north and safe from the purging wrath of the kings of Nehekhara when their attack struck the city of Lahmia.

Nothing was heard of them for many centuries until, at a place called the Silver Pinnacle by the Dwarfs, a strange event took place. The Dwarfs had been mining in this remotest part of the Worlds Edge Mountains for silver and precious gems, and had built a small stronghold there. One night an invading horde somehow broke into the mountain, taking the defenders by surprise. These were not Goblins or Skaven, but Zombies and Skeletons. The event is still recorded in the Book of Grudges. The entry describes their leader as the 'Queen of Evil'. Many centuries have passed since that time. The Dwarfs have long gone from the area and now only travellers from the lands of Men tread within sight of the place. Strange as it may seem, there are some who have visited the Silver Pinnacle and returned alive to tell the tale. Their tales do not speak of horror as one might think. Instead they tell of a splendid court, arrayed in the fashions of some ancient civilisation and of a palace cut out of the rock with statues and walls adorned with strange inscriptions, yet it is a place of darkness, where die light of day is not permitted to enter. The queen who rules here is said to be of exquisite beauty, attended by handmaidens any man would die for. Little do they know that this is literally true!

Stories of the Palace of the Night Queen have been told for centuries, and can be found in the ballads of Bretonnia, the writings of the Empire and the poems of Tilea. Even in the kasbahs of Araby and in the sweat lodges of Kislev can similar rumours be heard.

The guards of the Silver Pinnacle are said to be swathed in black and show not their faces. They shuffle and handle their weapons jerkily. The interior of the palace is described as dark, lit as if by moonlight. The queen of the mountain is never seen or spoken to directly. She conducts business from behind seven veils, and her voice is beguiling. It is related that she breeds cats. There is a tale of a Tilean merchant who was given a black cat. Halfway to Tilea the cat was gone, but sitting in his wagon was a beautiful lady. He had no idea where she had appeared from, but took her on to Tilea, asking no questions. There she paid him for the journey, bade him farewell and entered the monastery of a female religious order. There is another tale, told in Bretonnia, of a knight errant who returned with a lady of exquisite beauty and a pale complexion, praised by Bretonnian troubadours. He made her his wife and lady of his castle. Guests at the castle commented that the lady only showed herself at banquets in the night, and that she drank goblets of red wine and ate no other food.

These and the many other similar tales reveal, to those wise enough to see, how the bloodline of Neferata has spread over many centuries into many lands.

In truth all the Vampires of the Lahmian sisterhood descend from the Queen of Lahmia. She is said to despise men and consequently very few Lahmians are males. Instead, enchantingly beautiful maidens are chosen from amongst the most noble families ,of Bretonnia and the Empire and granted the Blood Kiss. They then strive to gain control of the humans around them with cunning and intrigue. No other Vampires excel in infiltrating human society in the same way as this shadowy sisterhood.

The presence of the Lahmians is seldom noticed, but their hand is certainly felt. They may lack the brute strength of many other Vampires, but in subtlety and cunning they are unmatched. They can achieve their aims with politics and plotting instead of direct action. They are hedonistic, self-indulgent creatures who love splendour and wealth and will stop at nothing to get what they desire.

Yet they cannot taste food or enjoy the warmth of the sun. Their cold hearts can feel no love and though their youth and beauty is eternal, they are abhorred by people once they are discovered. All this means that no matter how much wealth they gather or how many pleasures they taste, their joys are always hollow.

Lahmian Vampires are as fast as quicksilver and their Vampiric powers allow them to melt into the shadows and vanish from the eyes of mortals. They can move so quickly that they are virtually invisible to the eye. The talons of the Lahmians reach to all levels of human society. They take an active interest in human affairs and no one can guess how many powerful eccentric noblewomen, widows of princes and dukes, and high-born ladies who shun the light of day and lock themselves in tall towers and opulent palaces, are in truth of the Undead. They have a great talent for art and statesmanship and their powerful personalities hold an irresistible charm for mortals. However, their temper matches the quickness of their bodies and they are easy to anger, but hard to appease.

In the most remote corners of the Old World, whole towns have fallen under the dominion of the Lahmians. There Zombies guard the gates so none can escape and Vampires form the female aristocracy that feeds on mortal cattle each night. Such places must be purged with sword and fire, often only after a bitter battle against the Vampires and their servants.

The Lahmians, unlike other Vampires of the Old World, keep in contact with each other and with their mysterious Queen, Neferata. What the Lahmians' true motives and final purposes are, none can fathom.