Alright, I finished the fluff for the Mortuary Priest. Excuse any spelling mistakes, as I haven't had a chance to proofread the piece yet. So, if it's okay with you Disciple of Nagash, I'm going to do Arkhan next. Also, feel free to tell me what you think guys, a little constructive criticism never hurts.
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In ancient days, in the long-forgotten lands of Nehekhara, lived a people obsessed with death and eternal life. At the centre of all of this were their lords, the kings of Nehekhara, who desired to reign eternal in the undying splendour of the afterlife. However, Settra, first and greatest of the kings of Nehekhara, resented terribly his role in the great scheme of things and he wished to escape death altogether, so that he could forever be master of great temporal power, of the kingdom of Nehekhara. To this end he commanded that his priests should find a way to stave off death forever, so that he could become an immortal, and rule for an eternity. Thus was founded the Mortuary Cult. Each successive generation of priests took up the quest for immortality, and their combined knowledge pooled, so that it grew ever greater over the ages. Eventually the later generations of priests did achieve immortality, although Settra was long dead by this time, so that they became liches, little more than preserved corpses, but maintaining the entirety of their intelligence and freedom of will.
Then came the birth of Nagash, now infamous and feared throughout the Known World as the Great Necromancer, the one who spawned the evils of the Black Arts and the fiendish undead created through them. Even more-so than most of Nehekhara’s people, Nagash had a morbid fascination with death in his youth, and joined the Mortuary Cult of his native city of Khemri at an early age. He eventually resolved that he would not allow death to steal existence from him, although he did not settle for the half-life of lichedom, at least not initially. Of course, Nagash eventually seized the throne from his brother, King Thutep, and, with the help of a captive Dark Elf sorceress brought to Khemri as a slave by chance; he learned much of Dark Magic. Now high priest and king of Khemri, Nagash distilled an elixir from human blood that perfectly restored and maintained the imbiber’s youth. Many ambitious and corrupt priests of Khemri’s Mortuary Cult sought favour with Nagash in order that they might partake of his Elixir of Life. The other kings of the various city-states of Nehekhara were disturbed by the happenings in Khemri and waged war against Nagash, crushing his armies and slaying his myriad followers and forcing him to flee into the desert-wildernesses of Nehekhara.
This was not the end for Nagash’s followers, however, for in time Nagash returned, having crafted his own magical lore and mastered it. He had become the Great Necromancer and achieved true immortality independent of the gods of his people. His followers he raised up once more, as liches preserved not by the power of the Nehekharan gods, but rather through the dire potency of Nagash’s formidable Necromancy. Now resurrected, the undead Mortuary Priests who had served Nagash in life gave up the ritualistic incantations of their folk in favour of the unholy magic of their master. As such the practices and tenets of the Mortuary Cult, which they had once abided by, were warped and twisted into the worship of the god-like Nagash, and the near deification of the state of undeath. These Mortuary Priests followed Nagash and served him in all of his wars, becoming masters of Necromancy in their own right. In modern times, most of the Mortuary Priests reside with the Great Necromancer in Nagashizzar, forever studying the Black Arts under the direction of the most powerful of their number, the Disciples of Nagash, in preparation for the day their master sends all his vast armies forth once more to conquer and despoil the lands of the living.
Though most of the Mortuary Priests are ancient beyond reckoning, it is not unknown for new members to be inducted into their ranks, for many aspiring necromancers of great promise are drawn by the lure of the libraries of lore held within Nagashizzar and by the notion of being taught by one of the mighty and learned liches that serve under Nagash himself.
