Dark Alchemy: The Necrarchs

Dark Alchemy: The Necrarchs
by Thanis Ianakussis

A Necrarch Vampire The Necrarchs are the rarest and most inhuman sect of the Undead creatures which men call Vampires. Legends name Wsoran, the prince of Rasetra, as their forefather. He is now long gone, slain in the rock tombs of Lahmia, yet his foul legacy still lives on. Necrarchs are mainly shunned, even by their own undead brethren, for they are incomprehensible creatures, and most seem utterly insane. Their madness is tempered by their undeniable genius and mastery of alchemy and Necromantic magics. Of all vampires, Necrarchs are the least human. Whereas those of other bloodlines seek dominion over the kingdoms of men, dwarfs and elves, either by cunning, seduction or force of arms, the Necrarchs simply wish to see the end of all living things.

Fortunately for the Worlds, Necrarchs are the rarest of the known vampire bloodlines, and differ from their immortal brothers and sisters in many respects. The most obvious is their appearance: they are reeking, rotting horrors, and few can gaze at their horrifying visage without shuddering. Necrarchs are as horrible to behold as the proud Carsteins and enchanting Lahmians are beautiful. More importantly, however, the Necrarchs alone do not need blood to sustain themselves. How they avoid this side of the curse of Vampirism is unknown. What is known is that while most vampires must hunt for the blood of living things, the Necrarchs can hide away from the eyes of the Witch Hunters, and concentrate on their study of black magic. Necrarchs do not see the world as do other vampires. To them, the worlds of the living are but blurred images, while in the world of the dead, the bodies in their tombs and graves, the corpses and over-flowing charnel houses, are crystal clear, and far more real than the breathing mortal world.

The Science Of Life And Death

These deranged scientists live in secluded towers and dens, far away from human cities or towns. Hidden by sorcerous wards and guarded by their undead servants, the Necrarchs devote their eternal lives to the study of magic. Witch Hunters frantically seek out these abodes and when they uncover the den of Necrarch, bitter battle ensues. Often those who would slay and burn the vampires end up serving their hated enemies in a ghastly unlife. Necrarchs value their privacy above all else.

Even so, the Necrarchs often have need for bodies or living sacrifices for their magical rituals and experiments. This means that they need agents and contacts in human society. As physical beauty has little value to the Necrarchs, they accept the services of those who other scorn: the diseased, the madmen, the disfigured and mutilated. For some reason the Necrarchs appear to pity those whom men scorn, and in return their servants are fanatically faithful, and they are capable of performing tasks which the vampires would find difficult or dangerous. During the daylight, these dregs rob graveyards and plague pits, 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 deem worthy enough to initiate into their own ranks as full-blooded vampire thralls.

As with all vampires, the Necrarchs can trace their origin to the ancient city of Lahmia, where they once ruled as undying overords of that distant land. Necrarchs claim that they are descended from Wsoran, who they (the Necrarchs) 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 the kingdom of vampires, and Necrarchs themselves are unwilling to divulge any information of their past, even to one another.

When the fall of Lahmia occurred, and the kingdom of vampires came to an end, 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 perished in the flames, reluctant to abandon their work. Unfortunately for the Worlds, a handful of Necrarchs fled, and survived the pursuit of the armies of the Numas and Zhandri.

The Necrarchs scattered all over the Warhammer World, and hid themselves away, to patiently wait for the fall of their enemies, and the continuation of their studies. They built tall towers in which to do their work, and to defend themselves from attack. From these towers, the Necrarchs cast great spells during the dark nights of Geheimnisnacht. The purpose of these sorceries is solely to kill all living things within the magic's reach. From their dark abodes corruption slowly spreads, poisoning rivers, withering forests, and unleashing sickness on men, elves, dwarfs and beasts alike. The Necrarchs appear determined to strangle all life from the known world.

Those who study such matters suspect the hand of the Great Necromancer, Nagash the Black, behind the slow, corrupting work of the Necrarchs. It is known that this dread Necromancer wished the whole world into a kingdom of the dead, where no living creature walks under the sun, and only undead loyal to Nagash himself to remain. Such a world would have an eternal order without change, growth or life. This is why the Witch Hunters and Templars revile the Necrarchs above all other vampires, and spare no effort in their attempt to eradicate them. Unfortunately, finding these elusive creatures is perhaps the most difficult tast a vampire slayer can ask of himself.

Only very rarely do the Necrarchs openly march to war, but at such times are perhaps more dangerous then any other lords of Undeath, for with their Necromantic lore, they can raise and sustain huge armies of undead. Such wars are most often fought not for earthly gain or temporal power, but for the acquisition of knowledge and magical lore. The folk of Estalia still shudder at the memory of the Wars of Death, where Nourgul, the terrible Wamphyri of Estalia, marched against them. His undead armies, marshalled over long millennia, numbered in tens of thousands, and they crushed the proud condottieri of Estalia, leaving entire populations destroyed. This whole war was fought for possession of a single book: the Tome of Wisdom, which was kept in the temple of Myrmidia. Luckily for the world, Nourgul was killed in the temple just as he seized the book from its plinth. Estalia took decades to recover.

Some scholars, in their ignorance, scorn the very idea of the existance of Necrarch vampires, because of their rarity. But in the dark places of the Worlds, hidden from the eyes of authority and the Ordo Malleus, the Necrarchs are very real. They continue their slow, insidious work. One day their labours will bear fruit, and the world will know horror unlike any before.

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