Blood Dragon Bloodline

–1520 IC: The Captain of Lahmia​

Abhorash was once Champion of Lahmashizzar, King of Lahmia, and instructor to the royal household, counted even as the tutor of Neferata herself. A man of iron will and unmatched martial discipline, he was famed across Nehekhara for his unbroken code of honour and mastery of arms.

When Neferata and her cult brewed the Elixir of Life from Nagash’s dark lore, Abhorash refused to drink, desiring no unnatural immortality. Instead, he accepted only a weaker draught to prolong his years. Yet Neferata deceived him. By trickery he consumed the true elixir, and with it came the curse of vampirism. Consumed by the Thirst, he slew twelve innocents in a frenzy, among them a child. Stricken with shame, he exiled himself from Lahmia, the stain of blood forever upon his honour.

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–1200 to –1170 IC: The Fall of Lahmia​

When the armies of Nehekhara marched upon Lahmia to purge its corruption, Abhorash returned from exile to stand upon the walls. For years he held the breaches, crimson-armoured and unyielding, cutting down warriors, beasts, and kings alike. Chroniclers record that without him, Neferata would never have escaped, for it was Abhorash who guarded her retreat even as the city fell to fire and ruin.

At Lahmia’s destruction, Abhorash departed westward, joined by four disciples who had bound themselves utterly to him: Lutr of the Harkoni, Mangari of the Southlands, Varis of Rasetra, and Walak of the Harkoni. These warriors — his Hand — followed their master into exile. Thus was forged the foundation of a lineage: not bound by court or throne, but by oath, blade, and the martial example of their Captain.

–1152 IC: The Refusal at Bel Aliad​

When Nagash rose again and summoned all his progeny to his banner, Abhorash travelled as far as Bel Aliad. There he defied the call. In some accounts he struck down Neferata herself rather than see her carried to Nagashizzar; in others he merely turned his back. Whatever the truth, he would not kneel.

This refusal marked the bloodline he had unwittingly founded. Where other Vampires bound themselves to Nagash, Abhorash and his disciples swore they would serve no master save the strength proven by combat. In Bel Aliad was set the eternal precedent: that the curse of undeath must be borne with discipline, never surrendered to tyranny or indulgence.

c. –800 IC: The Oath in Mourkain​

Abhorash and his Hand came at length to Mourkain, the citadel of Ushoran’s new realm of Strigos. There they lent their blades to the kingdom’s defence, and Abhorash remade its cavalry in the manner of the steppes and Araby. In battle he was executioner and champion, dragging the corpses of Orc chieftains, ogre warlords, and beast-kings before the gates of Mourkain.

In these centuries he became renowned even among his peers. While Neferata whispered in shadows and W’soran delved into necromantic arts, Abhorash perfected the way of the sword. His disciples followed him as lieutenants, but none could equal his skill. Among the people of Strigos, he was remembered as both protector and terror, a knight of crimson whose duel none could survive.

c. –210 IC: The Departure from Strigos​

Though his fame was great, Abhorash grew weary of Strigos. Ushoran’s dream of a kingdom frayed under intrigue; Neferata’s venomous manipulations returned, and Ushoran himself darkened into paranoia. The court of Mourkain began to mirror Lahmia in its corruption, and Abhorash, who had once fled such decadence, would not suffer it again.

In time he withdrew, turning even from his own Hand. They had become mighty in their own right, but his path demanded solitude. He departed Mourkain and set out alone, wandering the world in search of truth and mastery. From this moment his legend diverged: where others sought thrones and dominion, Abhorash sought only perfection of will and blade.

253 IC: The Dragon’s Blood​

Abhorash’s wanderings brought him to the heights of the Worlds Edge Mountains, where he confronted an ancient Dragon, a relic of elder days. For three nights they fought, the clash of steel and fang echoing like thunder across the peaks.

At last, Abhorash struck the beast down. He drank of its blood, and in that act freed himself from the Thirst that chained all others of his kind. No longer did he hunger for mortal blood. Thus he became the only Vampire unshackled from the curse, though none of his disciples shared this gift. From that moment his creed was clear: only those who proved themselves in strength and honour might hope to stand where he had stood.

876 IC: Luthor Harkon and the Vampire Coast​

Of Abhorash’s Hand, Lutr of the Harkoni — now known as Luthor Harkon — was carried by fate across the seas. Trapped in his coffin, borne away by Norse raiders, he awoke upon the shores of Lustria. There he raised the drowned as his thralls and carved out the Vampire Coast, a kingdom of salt and storm.

Though a mockery of his master’s code, Luthor bore the same indomitable spirit, directing it into madness and plunder. The seas of the south became his battlefield, his fleets a terror whispered from Marienburg to Tilea. In him the mark of Abhorash endured, but twisted into a spectre of piracy and ruin.

c. 1450 IC: The Duke of Aquitaine​

During the Great Crusade against Araby, the Duke of Aquitaine, brother to King Louis the Righteous of Bretonnia, was grievously wounded by assassins. Yet even poisoned and bleeding, he slew his foes in a storm of courage. Abhorash, witnessing the knight’s valour, could not let such strength perish. For the first time in centuries he bestowed the Blood Kiss, raising the Duke to undeath. Yet true to his creed, he bound him with no command, departing and leaving the knight to his own fate.

1454 IC: The Red Duke’s Rebellion​

The Duke returned to Bretonnia not as a saviour, but as a monster. Known thereafter as the Red Duke, he roused the dead from their graves and carved a path of terror across the duchies. Though still a knight in bearing, he was stripped of Abhorash’s restraint, his chivalry curdled into arrogance and cruelty. He cared nothing for honour, only for blood and conquest.

At Ceren Field he was at last defeated by the massed hosts of Bretonnia, his body entombed by sorcery. Yet his name lingered as a curse, and in time his tomb would break, loosing him again upon the land.

1887 IC: The Blood Keep​

Walach Harkon, once of the Hand, seized the Imperial fortress of Blood Keep in the Grey Mountains. There he founded the Ordo Draconis, a brotherhood of crimson-armoured knights who dedicated themselves to war and the duel. Unlike Abhorash, Walach sought to gather followers, and many of noble birth came willingly to his banner.

Yet the Ordo Draconis were no paragons of chivalry. They rode forth clad in blood-red plate, crushing villages beneath their hooves, slaying peasants as readily as knights. Their duels were not confined to champions but extended to whole towns, whose slaughter was deemed but another proof of their strength. To Bretonnia they were a nightmare made flesh: a travesty of their own orders, wielding Abhorash’s code stripped of its honour.

1932 IC: The Red Duke Unbound​

The seals of the Red Duke’s tomb broke, and once more he brought devastation to Bretonnia. Again he returned to Ceren Field, and again the knights of Bretonnia fell before him. Though defeated once more, he could not be destroyed, fleeing into the Forest of Châlons, a spectre of eternal rebellion, forever unrepentant.

1946 IC: The Fall of the Blood Keep​

The Ordo Draconis did not reign forever. In 1946 IC, Imperial forces laid siege to the Blood Keep. After a merciless battle the fortress was shattered, its halls broken and its knights scattered. Yet Walach Harkon escaped with a core of his disciples, bearing the crimson creed into the shadows.

From this time the warriors of Abhorash were named the Blood Dragons. No longer bound to fortress or crown, they wandered the Old World as crimson knights-errant of undeath, seeking out war, challenge, and slaughter. Where they rode, villages burned and armies trembled, for each bore the same oath: to hone their strength until the day they might stand before their master and prove themselves worthy of the redemption he had claimed in Dragon’s blood.