Ghoul-kings: The Strigoi

Ghoul-kings: The Strigoi
compiled by Thanis Ianakussis

Stigoi vampire; image copyright © 2002 Games Workshop. When the surviving Master Vampires escaped the destruction of Lahmia and fled to the Old World, Ushoran, the Lord of Masks, was amongst their number. A most powerful and proud vampire, he challenged the rest for supremacy, seeking to command the rest and leading them to win back their former glories. The others resisted, choosing instead to go further north, and decided that they would eventually part company, each Master following their own seperate paths to damnation. Ushoran was furious, spitefully rejecting his fellows, cursing them all for their foolishness.

He guided his few remaining minions to the west, towards a small realm of men. Strigos was the name of this land, in the western foothills of the World's Edge Mountains, where the Blind River meets the plains. The capital was Mourkain (which can be found on older maps under the Imperial name of Morgheim). Ushoran and his followers infiltrated the city and subdued the aristocracy, quickly gaining many positions of power within the realm. A mere century passed, and Ushoran was worshipped as a divinity by the people of Strigos, in a fashion reminiscent of the old Cult of Blood in ancient Lahmia. A few men, chosen from the nobility, were given eternal life as sired vampires, and these formed Ushoran's ministers and high priests of his cult. Once more, in the tradition of the Cult of Blood, human sacrifices were consumed in moonless nights, but Ushoran wisely chose victims from pools of captured enemires, slaves and criminals, and the people of Strigos never felt threatened by their terrible masters.

To rule in peace, however, was not to be the final destiny of Ushoran's line. It was when the armies of Strigos were engaged in the east of the kingdom, fighting off a raid from a neighbouring human kingdom, that disaster struck. Out of the World's Edge Mountains, a massive horde of greenskins appeared, orcs and hobgoblins in their thousands. The ravening warband engulfed the rich pastures of Strigos, annihilated the border patrols, and soon laid siege to Mourkain instead. When news of the attack reached Ushoran, who was east with the rest of the Strigoi, he immediately turned back to defend his capital.

In a bloody battle, the already depleted army of Strigos clashed with the uncountable greenskins besieging its walls. The Strigoi were defeated, and retreated in desperation towards the city gates. When the orcs saw that the gates opened to save the remnants of the routed Strigoi armies, they seized this opportunity and launched a full-scale attack on the gate defences. A massive orc chieftan shouldered his way forward, and the fate of Mourkain was sealed as Ushoran accepted the greenskin's challenge. Their duel was epic, but eventually Ushoran succumbed to the orc's axe and was destroyed, his ancient body crumbling to dast following a final, dying scream - a sound which is still said to echo at night in the sinister ruins of the city.

The orcs turned on the capital, and razed it to the ground, butchering or enslaving all the population. This once proud and prosperous kingdom was struck from history, and now the area that it occupied is simply part of the barren Badlands. The few survivors which escaped the orcs' devastation are now a scattered nomadic people, known as Strigany, travelling through the human and dwarfen kingdoms in small caravans, and living off experiences. Their myths and tales still remember the golden age when the 'undying king' was reigning over a rich and powerful Strigos, and they prophesise that one day he will return, and guide his adoring people to reclaim their ancient land and rebuild its splendour.

Not all the Strigoi vampires were slain with Ushoran. Some survived, and fled north. In need of help, they searched for their own kind, and eventually found them in the forests of Sylvania. The proud Count von Carstein however, remembered the spiteful arrogance of Ushoran, and turned on his minions, having them hunted down like animals. Following that episode of betrayal, the Strigoi scattered across the Old World. Vampires of other bloodlines shunned them, for the same reason as the von Carsteins, and the Strigoi were more at risk from their own kin than from the Templars of Sigmar. They turned to a life of scavenging at the borders of human society. From the darkness of gutters, woods, and abandoned buildings they would spy on the Lahmians and the von Carsteins at the balls and the banquets of the aristocracy. Their beauty, nobility and wealth reminded the despairing Strigoi of their own previous luxury, and hatred and envy began to devour their minds. They began to feel the same towards the martial Blood Dragons, and the experimenting Necrarchs, who regarded the children of Ushoran respectively as a challening enemy to slay, or as an interesting specimen to dissect in their dungeon-laboratories.

The Strigoi became desperate creatures, and in their desolation many lost their minds, becoming solitary, pathetic creatures, afraid of feeding on human men and women for fear of attracting the attention of the Templars, or, even worse, of other vampires. They hid in graveyards, digging out recently buried corpses to drink their cold blood, and hiding during the day in dank crypts and sewers. Their physical appearance soon reflected their miserable condition, as they turned to be hunched, grotesque monstrosities. The more bestial traits of their race, and their contact with the animals of the forest helped the bestial trait of vampirism prevail, and any semblance of human appearance or thought was eradicated.

Ghoul-kings

Even if most have, to some degree, lost their minds, Strigoi vampires still possess their inate powers. Their authority over the undead and the myriad creatures of the night is still strong. Their magic is weak and their minds simple, but their bodies are hardened to their harsh living conditions, and they have grown great claws in place of hands and feet. They scuttle with ease across tangled woodland and complex sewer networks, their vampiric agility and speed not having deserted them. Some have been known to climb vertical walls, digging into the brickwork with their talons and moving with frightening quickness.

Packs of flesh-eating ghouls are attracted to these lonely creatures, and form gruesome courts around them. Grave robbers and those vile enough to steal from the bodies of fallen warriors on deserted battlefields have learned, fatally in some cases, that they must do their foul deeds before nightfall. With darkness, scavengers of another sort fall on these places of death in a frenzy of hunger: swarms of ghouls and their savage, vampiric masters. This has earned the Strigoi vampires the title of 'ghoul-kings'.

Superstitious folk accuse the wandering Strigany of being in contact with these creatures, and of worshipping and serving them. It is said that the nomads sometimes kidnap children to offer to the ghoul-kings in a parody of ancient Strigoi ritual. Others are sure that the Strigany help the vampires move from town to town in their caravans, contributing to spread this evil plague. These rumours, often completely untrue, have cost the Strigany dear, and they are often rejected, driven away, or even killed for this very reputation.

Strigoi vampires are rare, and are found mostly in the southern provinces of the Empire, in Tilea and the Border Princes. They seem to be attracted towards the areas surrounding the Badlands, possibly towards Strigos of old. At times, powerful Strigoi have gathered massive droves of ghouls, ghasts and other horrors, and have led them in savage attacks against small towns and villages, but have always been stopped.

Vorag, the first Ghoul-king

Tales also tell of Vorag, a particularly monstrous Strigoi, whose hatred for the living and other vampires was matched only by his desire to rebuild the lost kingdom of Ushoran. According to these stories, Vorag was hunted by Franz von Carstein in southern Sylvania. When they caught up with him, Vorag slew the von Carstein in single combat, drinking his opponent's blood as his would-be pursuers fled. Around him rallied the scavengers of the forbidding place Vorag had escaped to, known as Ghoul Wood.

This unruly force, made up of ghouls and ghasts and even more unspeakable horrors, he took south, crossing the mountains at Black Fire Pass and carving a red trail across the Border Princes. When he reached the Badlands, his army counted many undead creatures as well. Orcs, goblins, men and dwarfs were slaughtered by these masses, as Vorag struck out for the ruins of ancient Mourkain, but it is said that even more greenskins descended from the World's Edge Mountains to attack the horde. Vorag's fate is unknown, but according to Strigany folklore he reached the remains of Strigos' former capital, and rules over the ruins to this day.

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