Like all Vampires, the origin of the Necrarchs can be raced to the ancient city of Lahmia, where they once ruled as undying overlords of that distant land. It is thqught that Necrarchs claim descent from W`soran, who they revere as the father of Vampires. Perhaps he was a scholar and alchemist in the forgotten time when the Nehekharans studied the black arts in their quest to cheat death. No one knows for sure, as so little is known about these ancient times.

With the fall of Lahmia the kingdom of Vampires came to an end and the Great Library of Lahmia was burned to the ground. The accumulated knowledge of ancient Nehekhara was destroyed and many of the disciples of Wsoran died in the flames, reluctant to abandon their work. Unfortunately for the world, a handful of Necrarchs fled and survived the pursuit of the armies of the kings of Numas and Zandri, taking with them books, scrolls and other fragments of the dark lore that Nagash had created. They scattered all over the world and hid themselves to patiently wait for the death of their enemies and continue their studies. They built tall towers from where they could study the stars and defend themselves if attacked.

From their towers, the Necrarchs cast great spells during the dark nights of Geheimnisnacht. The purpose of these sorceries is always the same: to kill all living things within the reach of the Necrarch magic. From their dark abodes corruption slowly spreads, poisoning rivers, withering forests and causing animals and men to sicken and die. It seems that the Necrarchs are determined to strangle all life from the known world.

Those who study such things suspect the hand of the Great Necromancer, Nagash the Black himself, behind the slow, corrupting work of the Necrarchs. It is known that this dread Necromancer desires to turn the whole world into a kingdom of the dead in which no living creature walks under the sun, and only Undead eternally bound to his service remain. Such a world would have an eternal order without change, growth or life. This is why the witch hunters revile the Necrarchs above all other Vampires, and spare no effort trying to eradicate them. Finding these elusive creatures is the most difficult task a Vampire slayer can set himself.

Only very rarely do the Necrarchs openly march to war, but at such times they are perhaps more dangerous than any other lords of Undeath, for with their necromantic lore the Necrarchs can raise huge armies of Undead. Such wars are fought not for earthly gain or temporal power, but rather for acquiring knowledge and magical lore. The folk of Estalia still shudder when they remember the Wars of Death when Nourgul, the terrible Wamphyro of Estalia, marched against them. His Undead armies, marshalled over long millennia, numbered in tens of thousands and crushed the proud condottieri of Estalia, leaving thousands dead: The whole war was fought over the possession of a single book: the Tome of Wisdom, which was kept in the temple of Myrmidia. Luckily for the world, the Vampire Lord was killed in the temple just as he acquired the book, but it took decades for Estalia to recover.

Necrarchs are incomprehensible even to their own Undead brethren, and most seem utterly insane. Their madness is tempered by their undeniable genius and mastery of alchemy and necromantic magic. Whereas many Vampires seek dominion over the kingdoms of Men either by cunning or might of arms, the Necrarchs wish to see the end of all living things. They differ from their immortal brothers in many other aspects. The most obvious is their appearance: they are reeking, rotting wizards, and few men can gaze at their horrifying visage without trembling. Necrarchs are as horrible to behold as the enchanting Lahmians are beautiful. The other differences are subtler, but perhaps more important.

Of all the Vampires, the Necrarchs can resist extremely long periods of time without the blood of Men to sustain themselves. How they defy that which dominates the existence of all other Vampires is unknown, but their secret has probably something to do with their mastery of the necromantic arts. While most Vampires must continually hunt for the blood of men with the risk of being revealed for what they are, Necrarchs can hide far from prying eyes and concentrate upon their study of black magic.

The Necrarchs do not see the world as do other Vampires. To them the world of the living is but a blurred image, while the world of the dead, the bodies in their graves, the corpses and overflowing charnel houses, are crystal clear and far more real than the mortal world filled with life. Necrarchs are loners. They are alchemists and sorcerers whom few can match. In the arts of black sorcery they have no equals amongst Vampires, and this more than compensates for their fighting skills, which are poor in comparison with those of other Vampires. Hidden in secluded towers and dens, protected by sorcerous wards and guarded by their Undead servants, the Necrarchs devote their eternal lives to the study of Necromantic magic.

Witch hunters and Knights Errant seek these abodes and, when they uncover the den of a Necrarch, bitter battle ensues. Often those who would slay the Vampires end up serving their enemies in a ghastly unlife. Necrarchs value their privacy above all else. Still, even Necrarchs at times need blood or the bodies of living creatures to sacrifice in their magical rituals and experiments. This means that they need agents in human society. As physical beauty has little value to the Necrarchs, they accept the services of those who others scorn: the diseased, the mad, the disfigured and mutated. The Necrarchs show false pity to these outcasts, and in return their servants are fanatically faithful and are capable of performing tasks which the Vampires would find difficult. During daylight hours these dregs rob graveyards and plague pits in order to find raw materials for their masters' experiments. The most intelligent of these, the Necrarchs' school in the art of necromancy. Rarest of all are those who the Necrarchs decide to initiate into their own ranks as new Thralls.

Because of their rarity, many scholars doubt whether the Necrarchs really exist. But in the dark places of the world, hidden from the eyes of men, the Necrarchs continue their slow, insidious work. One day their labours will, bear fruit, and the world will know horror unlike anv before.