https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomb_kings.jpg

Imhotep? No. MUCH worse!

"And behold, the almighty god-king Settra did awaken from his sleep of blessed oblivion. His legions, long buried beneath the sands, did arise and stand to attention, awaiting his order. And he did say 'War', and the world did tremble..."

—Grand Hierophant Khatep

South of the Old World lies the lifeless Nehekharan desert, the territory of the Tomb Kings. Nehekhara was an ancient flourishing human civilization, centered around the cult of the dead and its nobility preparing for immortality, their corpses mummified and blessed to preserve them until the priests of the Mortuary Cult found the formula for eternal life and youth. However, Nagash the Great Necromancer cursed the entire land, killing everything and everyone inside it while awakening the Tomb Kings, who now fiercely protect their former kingdom and try to regain their former glory. Nehekhara's founder and current ruler is Settra the Imperishable.

The Tomb Kings are an unconventional army of undead centered around the mummified Tomb Kings and the Liche Priests who respectively lead and keep their cohorts of undead skeleton soldiers animate, many of their units a more mediocre but much more numerous and ultimately reliable reflection of conventional armies with skeleton infantry, cavalry and chariots. Alongside the skeletons march bone and stone constructs filling the roles of shock troops and specialized units, from the Ushabti to the towering Warsphinx, as well as magical artillery. Reliable and enduring in all aspects, as well possessing omnipresent Fear, the Tomb King will outlast their opponents.

The Tomb Kings are a Non-aligned faction, and mostly keep to themselves in Nehekhara. The only time they interact with the outside is when would-be invaders or thieves threaten their prized treasures, and some Nehekharan armies have occasionally traveled to inflict retribution for any trespasser. However, their most abhorred enemies are the Vampires, and Nagash who cursed them to their undead fate.

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General Tropes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nehekara_symbol.png

Age Without Youth: Centuries ago, the Liche Priests of the Nehekharan Mortuary Cult used their magic to permanently bind their souls to their bodies. While this ritual gave the Liche Priests a measure of immortality, it did not stop the decay of their bodies so that, after millennia of existence, their physical forms are now those of withered and partially mummified corpses.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Tomb Princes and Kings are naturally the leaders of Nehekhara and thanks to their blessed undead bodies, are the most powerful infantry models of the army with few in the way of other Lords and Heroes who could best them in natural stats.
Ballistic Bone: Screaming Skulls Catapults are no mere stone throwers as they throw the screaming, Flaming Skulls of the captured enemies back at their comrades, causing Panic across their ranks.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Tomb Scorpions are built out of wood, metal and bones to resemble giant scorpions.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Necrosphinx possess giant arm blades made for killing other giant monsters.
Blessed with Suck: The Tomb Kings ultimately resent their status. They are now more powerful than ever and immortal but they hate looking like dry corpses and being unable to enjoy stuff like the taste of fruit.
Bling of War: The Tomb King decorate their whole armies with sumptuous armor, sometimes even covered in gold.
Buried Alive: The soldiers of the Tomb Kings were buried alive in sand when their kings died, committing their lives to the eternal protection of their masters.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Mortuary Cult used their privileged position to protect themselves, making it so they were the only subjects exempt of execution. Even when he discovered his undeath and was seething with rage, Settra merely banished the Grand Hierophant Khatep from Nehekara with a directive to fix the Tomb Kings' undead condition instead of outright killing him.
Curse: Whoever slays a member of the Tomb Kings' royalty will be assailed by nasty curses such as a swarm of scarabs devouring him or a spell turning his blood into sand.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being undead, the Tomb Kings aren't really evil — they prefer to leave others be as long their lands are left alone. Most of their rulers are on the ruthless side, but in that they're no nastier than those of the Empire or Bretonnia. Of course, this does not apply to Nagash or his minions. There's one short story from a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement that shows this off wonderfully. An Imperial scholar braves the burning sands and undead hordes to travel to the city of Bel Aliad. He gets caught by Tomb King forces when his guide decides to pilfer the tombs, and the two are escorted by skeleton warriors to a chamber where a mummified prince sits on a throne, flanked by a priest who speaks in fluent Reikspiel. The prince, through the priest, asks why the scholar had come to Bel Aliad to steal his possessions, and the scholar explains that he hadn't come here looking for treasure — he was searching for a cure to the poison killing his wife, inflicted by a jealous rival. The prince pauses for a moment, and then gestures for his guards to chop off the thieving guide's head and to release the scholar. With that, the prince smiles, gets up out of his chair and speaks to the priest one last time before exiting the chamber with his skeletal retinue. The priest steps down and says to the scholar: "My lord commands me to tell you that he, too, loved once. He too would've traveled to the ends of the world to save his love. I am to show you the wisdom you seek." He then guides the scholar to a secret chamber and shows him the knowledge that he needed to save his wife.
Deadly Gaze: The Sepulchral Stalkers, statues shaped like Snake People, can turn anyone looking at their eyes into sand. However, the Stalkers themselves aren't immune to their own abilities.
Death World: Nehekhara is particularly inhospitable even by the standards of Warhammer. Case in point, nothing lives there, only the undead. The land is a great Thirsty Desert, its waters poisoned by the war with Nagash. But then, the vindictive forces of the Tomb Kings are already hunting you down since you've trespassed into their lands.
Dem Bones:
- Every Nehekharan citizen became sun-bleached skeletons and the bulk of the Nehekharan armies are Cannon Fodder skeleton warriors. Not only that but some constructs like the Tomb Scorpions or Screaming Skulls Catapults are entirely made of bones, and the Necrosphinx is occasionally sporting a skull for a head mask.
- Aesthetically this is the important divider between Tomb King undead and those of the Vampire Counts; Tomb Kings are almost exclusively bone-based undead, with very few miniatures showing flesh, which contrasts the "rotting flesh" look that the Vampire Counts undead have.
Disproportionate Retribution: They're known to declare war if any of their treasure — even the smallest bit of copper — is taken from their tombs. One Tomb King is in the middle of a centuries-long "War of the Hammer" with dwarfs; the catalyst was their reclaiming of a dwarf-smithed hammer with a single bronze disc from the King's tomb in the centerpiece.
Dracolich: Necrolith Bone Dragons are the reanimated skeletons of dragons, used as war mounts by Tomb Kings and High Priests of the Mortuary Cult.
The Dragon: The Tomb Heralds are the personal champions, bodyguards and standard-bearers of their respective Kings. As such they speak with the authority of the Kings themselves and are generally their greatest enforcers.
Dragon Rider: Necrolith Bone Dragons are sand-blasted dragon skeletons reanimated by the Mortuary Cult to serve as mounts for Tomb Kings and Liche High Priests.
Elite Mook: The Tomb Guard were the Kings' elite warriors, entombed with their liege when he died. Despite their elite status, their awful natural stats will require buffs to bring them to their full potential. In game they have usually better stats than the average Skeleton Warrior and possess the Killing Blow rule, giving them a slight edge in combat.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of Ancient Egypt, given their desertic land, the mummies in their pyramids, the worship of humanoid gods with beast heads and so on.
Fantasy Counterpart Religion: Several of the Nehekaran gods are based fairly directly on ancient Egyptian deities, such as Ptra, the sun god and ruler of the pantheon (Ra), and Usirian, the ruler of the Underworld (Osiris).
Feathered Fiend: Carrions are giant vultures bigger than a grown man. They are the only units that can fly and suited for hunting war machines or outflanking enemies.
God of the Dead: Usirian, the lord of the underworld, is a faceless god who judged the souls of the dead and decided whether they would be permitted to enter paradise or condemned to eternal suffering. He was revered by the Mortuary Cult, and the increasing Nehekaran obsession with death made him one of the empire's most important deities.
God of Light: Ptra, an Expy of the Egyptian god Ra, is the Nehekaran god of the sun and the king of the gods. He was the most highly-revered deity in the kingdom until the Nehekarans' increasing preoccupation with death and the afterlife caused them to begin favoring Ushoran, the God of the Dead.
God of the Moon: Nehekara has two lunar goddesses. Neru is the goddess of Mannslieb, the silver moon; she's the wife of the sun god Ptra, the mother of the stars, and the welcomer of the dead into the afterlife. Sakhmet is the goddess of Morrslieb the Chaos Moon, and is instead characterized as a jealous concubine seeking to usurp Neru's place.
Godzilla Threshold: During the War of the Kings, when the newly awakened Tomb Kings were warring among themselves for supremacy, Nehekhara was under real threat of disappearing forever in the pointless and internecine conflict. As such, they awakened Settra to bring back order despite his express command to only be awakened once his paradise was available and his notorious Hair-Trigger Temper.
Horse of a Different Color: Necropolis Knights ride Necroserpents, snake-shaped stone statues that can spit venom.
Immortality Seeker: Everyone of note in Nehekhara wanted to live forever and the Liche Priests were responsible for the magic research to find the formula for immortality.
Immortal Genius: The Liche Priests of Nehekhara were charged with devising a means of guaranteeing the immortality of the kings they served, and to that end made themselves effectively immortal — or at least unable to die of old age. As such, their expertise is put to use in preserving the enchantments used to protect the tombs of their masters and resurrecting these ancient kings when the time comes. For good measure, the magic they practice is extremely complicated and can only be used by those old enough to have mastered their intricate arts.
Imperial Storm Trooper Marksmanship Academy: The skeleton archers have a rather weak BS2 stat, meaning they statistically only hit one in three times their mark. The Arrows of the Asp rule protects them from further debuffs like moving and firing but will deny them any buff too.
Insufferable Genius: The Necrotects were skilled architects responsible for the prestigious task of building the Kings' pyramids. They are prideful beyond measure and now extremely moody since their great works are in ruins (case in point, they have the Hatred rule naturally). They used to be extremely Bad Boss too given their liberal use of the lash and execution.
Keystone Army: Any Tomb King force losing its Hierophant (the character who in lore is the one ensuring the piles of bones become and remain animated soldiers) will immediately crumble into nothing, taking Leadership tests and losing wounds for every point above the generally pitiful leadership of the units.
Kill It with Fire: The embalming process used to preserve the bodies of Nehekharan nobles, and their favoured servants, has left their desiccated corpses particularly vulnerable to fire. In-game this is represented by most characters having the 'Flammable' special rule that means they take extra damage from fire attacks.
Light Is Not Good: The Liche Priests have access to Hysh, the wind of magic associated with light, as well as some sun worshipping going on.
Living Statue: The Tomb Kings make ample use of golems given life through incantations, forming what is without doubt the toughest and most dangerous troops at their disposition. Many like the Ushabti or Necroserpents are sculpted in one of their gods' likeness.
Morton's Fork: A common trial used in ancient Nehekara to determine whether someone was guilty of murder was to throw them in a pit of scorpions and see if they were able to survive long enough to climb back out. If they did, they were judged to enjoy the favor of Sokth, the scorpion god of treachery and murderers, and to thus be guilty of the crime — and were thus swiftly put to death by being thrown in a pit of snakes.
Mummy: The Titular Tomb Kings are pretty much stereotypical mummies, being covered in bandages and regal jewels, looking like wights beneath the clothe and being undead.
The Necrocracy: Unusually for the setting, largely Total Necrocacy (undead Tomb Kings with undead subjects). In times of peace, the Tomb Kings have nothing to do but order the skeletons in the vicinity to perform pointless tasks since an undead doesn't really need anything. The city of Numas is a Half-and-Half (both living and undead subjects) example, with the nomadic Scythan tribe who worship the ruler of the city as a manifestation of their God and serve as scouts in it's army.
Our Liches Are Different: The Liches Priest of the Mortuary Cult fit the description of Undead sorcerers although they worked for the Kings and actually sought immortality for their rulers and kingdom, the Priests generally being content with Age Without Youth.
Our Sphinxes Are Different: Sphinxes don't exist as a race of actual creatures, but are the guardians of the Underworld in Nehekharan mythology and a popular motif in their architecture. The Tomb Kings consequently use two types of war constructs modeled after sphinxes. Khemrian Warsphinxes resemble enormous skeletal lions carved out of stone, and are used as both war monsters and steeds by Nehekharan rulers. Necropshinxes are centauroid statues with the bodies of lions, the upper bodies and heads of men, a pair of giant blades for arms and (non-functional) wings, and are used chiefly as monster-killers.
Pet the Dog: As vicious and ruthless as they're capable of being, as long as you haven't actually wronged them they have a surprising number of moments like this. See Dark Is Not Evil for a particularly good example. They'll also generally leave you alone as long as you in turn don't bother them, which is more than a lot of the factions in this setting.
Pyramid Power: Each Tomb King and Prince had a great pyramid built for them both as a symbol of power and refuge for their corpse and treasures in death. The two greatest pyramids in Nehekhara are the Great Pyramid of Settra and the Black Pyramid of Nagash, the latest of which is made of warpstone and serves as a giant magic conduit for Nagash.
Raising the Steaks:
- Carrions are the reanimated bodies of vultures the size of a grown man, which are mostly used as scouts and high-flying sentries and to harry ranged units and the enemies' flanks.
- Tomb swarms are formed from the desiccated husks and shed exoskeletons of the immense numbers of scarabs, scorpions and other arthropods that have lived and died in Nehekaran tombs over the ages, which are animated en masse by liche priests to serve as guards for the tombs and as chaff in times of war.
Religious Bruiser: Unlike his contemporaries, Settra chose to honor the gods in order to have the population back him while he conquered cities left and right. He later was named the Priest King of Khemri. In fact, every following King of Nehekhara was a Priest King.
Resurrective Immortality: The mummified kings can be slain, but Usirian's blessing enables them to magically reform in their sarcophagi.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: All of the royals in the history of Nehekhara were raised as warleaders, a tradition they continue even in death with all the more impact thanks to their unnaturally strong mummy bodies.
Sand Is Water: The Nehekharan have a habit of burying their forces and move them beneath the sand to perform ambushes despite the open ground.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The dreaded Necrosphinx are said to be one badly cast spell of subjugation away from breaking free of the Priests' control and wreaking havoc on the country, possessing unnatural bloodthirst said to come from malicious gods.
Skeleton Motif: The Tomb Kings extensively use skulls as decorating motif for everything, from battle standards to their statues.
Soul Jar: The Casket of Souls was once used to contain the souls of any one who incurred the wrath of their king. Nowadays, it can be summoned into the battlefield to unleash said souls on the enemy, stealing their own souls to add it to the Casket.
Top God: The head of the Nehekaran pantheon is Ptra, the king of the gods and ruler of the sun.
The Undead: Anything that was once alive in Nehekhara is now undead because of Nagash's curse over the land.
Undying Loyalty: Literally. Every single skeleton soldier in Nehekhara is infused with the soul of the man it once was, said soul having kept the loyalty it felt toward its King (every other emotion having had a much lesser impact on the soldier's life and thus having been erased with time) and thus fighting on his own volition.
Warrior Undead: Tomb guards were once the personal guards of their monarchs, which required them to be the most skilled and elite warriors in their armies and further granted them the honor of better preservation after death. As undead soldiers, tomb guard are stronger and tougher than common skeletons, armed with high-quality swords and tower shields, clad in heavy armor and provided with greater martial skill than rank-and-file troops.
Whip of Dominance: In life, Necrotects were ruthless and stern taskmasters who oversaw thousands of Nehekharans slaves as they toiled under the blazing sun, and if the workers even so much as faltered, it was the Necrotect's duty to whip them to motivate and force them to keep working. As Tomb Kings, the Necrotect now work as army overseers and wield those whips as their personal weapon. They still whip some of their troops to discipline them, and despite the fact these soldiers are now skeletons, it still seems to work.

The Honored Rulers of Nehekhara

Settra the Imperishable

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/settra_0.png

Settra Does Not Serve!

"There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it — let none dare oppose my will."

First and mightiest of all Tomb Kings, the Great King of Nehekhara was the founder of the Mortuary Cult... and indirectly responsible for the downfall of Nehekhara... due to his rage at the prospect of dying and no longer being able to maintain his empire. Now awoken, he seeks to crack skulls until all of the Tomb Kings fall into line, and then rebuild his empire once more.

The Ace: Settra was almost universally regarded as the greatest leader Nehekhara ever had, thanks to his extreme devotion to his people, his awe-inspiring charisma, dedication to his kingdom, being adept in diplomacy and courtesy for his subjects, and being a great fighter and frontline general whenever he had to engage in battle. The only leaders in the Warhammer world to have been just as talented and influential as he were Aenarion and Sigmar.
Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Scarab Brooch of Usirian focuses the energy of the god of death around Settra to protect him. It gives the High King a 4+ ward and 1 Magic Resistance.
Arch-Enemy: He is one to Nagash, whom Settra hates more than anything else due to his role in destroying Nehekhara. Settra's anger is one-sided, however, as Nagash admits that Settra is one of the very few beings he has any respect for.
Be Careful What You Wish For: He died naturally of old age, lamenting the fact that he was not immortal and thus, could oversee the future of Nehekhara personally, despite his best efforts with the Mortuary Cult. Thousands of years later, he would come back to life, finally immortal, but to his dismay and anger, he discovered that he was a Tomb King, his body was now an animated skeleton that didn't preserve his looks, and that Nehekhara had been long since destroyed.
Berserk Button:
- Do NOT suggest him to serve anyone or any other thing.
- This applies to the Tomb Kings collectively but even by that standard, do not ever steal from Settra. The Norscans discovered this after Settra responded to their raiding and pillaging by completely devastating the Norscan lands.
The Big Guy: His basic strength in the game is 6, making him the strongest infantry-sized model of all factions. For perspective, Chaos Lords and Ogres have strength 5, while a creature just as strong using the game profile is a DRAGON. He also has the tallest Tomb King model.
Came Back Wrong: The ritual that was to make him immortal should have given him a beautiful body made of immaculate golden flesh. He was revived well ahead of schedule, trapping him in a rotted corpse, and he is not happy.
The Chosen One: Viewed as such by everyone when after the sacrifice of his own children, Settra is greeted by a river flood which washed away the populace's disease and resulted in a bountiful harvest.
Complete Immortality: It doesn't matter how you kill him, his body will always break into an infinite number of scarab beetles and go back to his tomb, whereupon it will reassemble. In game terms, killing him counts for kill points (he's still forced to leave the field), but that wave of beetles will do serious damage to anyone in the region before it heads back to the tomb.
Cool Car: Not a car, but a chariot in this case. The Chariot of the Gods is a massive flaming Nehekharan chariot pulled by four skeleton horses equipped with massive blades on the wheels to better mow down enemies.
Cool Crown: The Crown of Nehekhara consists of a tiara decorated with a hissing golden cobra. As the symbol of his authority, it enhances the range of Settra's My Will Be Done ability.
Deal with the Devil: After being defeated and dismembered by Nagash, the Chaos Gods restore his body and offer him the opportunity to take his revenge on Nagash and conquer entire worlds in exchange for serving them. But of course, Settra does not serve.
Defiant to the End: Why he was Forced to Watch. Nagash swarmed him with spirits and offered him to join his Mortarchs, Settra replied "SETTRA DOES NOT SERVE! SETTRA RULES!", to which Nagash then exploded everything about him aside from his head.
Determinator: Settra would do anything to ensure the prosperity and legacy of Nehekhara would live on, even if it meant waging war against rival nations and having to adopt a high-and-mighty attitude towards everyone else in an effort to get his people to see him as the greatest leader of his nation.
Detrimental Determination: This is ultimately Zig-Zagged. Settra's extreme devotion to the Nehekharian Gods and the safety of his lands and people, coupled with the harsh nature of his homeland, forced him into committing acts that would normally be considered inhumane and horrifying, including sacrificing his sons to his gods. However, the sacrifice paid off, with Settra and his people being granted rain and crops, allowing them to thrive, and while he involved himself in countless bloody battles and inspired fear, he still managed to remain popular and influential for his people thanks to his achievements, pride, and determination. His obsessive desire for immortality, while selfish, was still seen as inspiring enough for the Mortuary Cult to continue on, even after Settra died. Too bad by the time the Mortuary Cult had created immortality, it was under the leadership of Nagash,
I Did What I Had to Do: His rationale for sacrificing his sons. Settra didn't enjoy the deed, but the Nehekharian gods demanded a loved one as the price for receiving bountiful crops and water and given Nehekhara's harsh and unforgiving climate, it's not like Settra had much of a choice as far as he was concerned.
Expy: Of the conquerors Qin Shi Huangdi because of his latter obsession with attaining immortality and Alexander the Great, with Settra having been described to have once stood at the edge of his domain, seen all the lands he couldn't conquer because of his advancing age, and cried in frustration.
Fantastic Racism: Settra despises any and all vampires and refuses to seek any sort of diplomacy or alliance with them. The fact that the vampires were created by Nagash in his attempt to find immortality doesn't help matters.
Forced to Watch: After defeating him, Nagash forces Settra's disembodied head to watch him destroy Khemri.
Founder of the Kingdom: Founded Khemri and created the kingdom by unifying the cities of Nehekhara.
Four-Star Badass: Settra was most distinguished as a general. He is said to have never lost a war in all his life, although he wasn't so invincible he didn't lose the occasional battle.
Good Is Not Nice: A matter of perspective; Settra is seen as a heroic figure by his followers and allies, but even they are aware of his anger at failure and being denied something. That, and there's his extreme arrogance and pride.
A Hero to His Hometown: Settra may be seen as a brutal tyrant and a fearsome warmonger by those either unfamiliar with him or oppose him, but to the populace of Nehekhara and most of the Tomb Kings, he's their greatest hero and the ultimate inspiration for their lands. Settra reciprocates this back with his strong devotion to Nehekhara and its people and being an ardent believer of the Nehekharian Gods.
High Collar of Doom: Goes with his Badass Cape.
The High King: Settra was so powerful that the Kings of each of Nehekhara's cities swore fealty to Settra after he conquered them, both in life and undeath. In-game, it means that he is always the General if he is fielded, and he possesses a larger zone for his Inspiring Presence but also My Will Be Done.
Immortality Seeker: Downplayed, but while the Mortuary Cult did all the research and work, it was Settra's will to live forever who pushed their efforts and made them an official Nehekaran institution. Settra inspired all subsequent Kings to also seek to live forever.
It's All About Me: He was said to have been a vain and egotistical man. It was his outrage at the idea of dying and having to give over his empire that led to the foundation of the Mortuary Cult.
Knight Templar: Settra was willing to do anything for his kingdom; though ruthless with dissenters he was generous when people came through for him. For bonus points, like the trope namers, he was religious (different religion though).
Large and in Charge: Settra's the strongest man in the Warhammer world; he has a basic strength of 6, meaning he could beat a Chaos Lord or an Ogre Tyrant in an arm-wrestling match! He also has the biggest Tomb King model.
Losing Your Head: Was reduced to a head once during the End Times.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His founding of the Mortuary Cult eventually led to the rise of Nagash, the discovery of necromancy, the destruction of Nehekhara, and the reanimation of the Nehekharans as the Tomb Kings.
Offing the Offspring: He sacrificed his children to the gods to prove his dedication to them.
Our Founder: See Founder of the Kingdom above. He also had a giant gold statue of himself in Khemri which Nagash melted down in the End Times.
Pride: Warhammer's ultimate example, which really says something considering the setting's knack of having over-the-top characters. Almost everything Settra says is about just how awesome, influential, and powerful he is, to the extent that reciting his absurd number of titles is a task for one of his royal advisors. These proclamations are not unwarranted.
Religious Bruiser: Revered the gods of Nehekhara, and was responsible for reviving their worship of them throughout the kingdom.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Settra certainly doesn't have the combat ability of a ruler who prefers leading from the war room — he killed Kholek Suneater, which is one of the largest Dragon Ogres ever who was capable of busting down a fortress' walls on his own.
Smug Super: Settra is extremely arrogant and constantly likes to boast about himself. However, he can actually back up his claims and achievements, as his subjects and followers can attest, and his being the most powerful Tomb King outside of Nagash adds to that merit.
Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Settra the Imperishable, King of Nehekhara, Lord of the Earth, He Who Holds the Sceptre, Ruler of the Four Horizons, Mighty Lion of the Infinite Desert, Great Hawk of the Heavens, Majestic Emperor of the Shifting Sands... in-lore, the full list of Settra's titles takes "two hours" to recite!
Well-Intentioned Extremist: A more generous interpretation of his actions.
"...though he was a tyrannical ruler, Nehekhara entered into a golden age of prosperity like never before."
Worthy Opponent: Settra is one of the very few beings that Nagash has any respect for. This is one-sided as Settra instead hates Nagash for destroying Nehekhara.

Nagash the Great Necromancer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warhammer_nagash.png

The Supreme Lord of Undeath

"The dead do not squabble as this land's rulers do. The dead do not fight one another. The dead have no desires, no petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace..."

The creator of Necromancy and one of the most powerful magic users to ever walk the world. He's responsible for the destruction of the ancient civilization of Nehekhara and the creation of the undead.

For more about Nagash, see his character page here.

The Herald Nekaph

"Kneel before the might of Settra the Imperishable, Khemrikhara, King of Nehekhara, Lord of the Earth, Monarch of the Sky, Ruler of the Four Horizons, Mighty Lion of the Infinite Desert, Great Hawk of the Heavens, Majestic Emperor of the Shifting Sands, Eternal Sovereign of Khemri's Legions."

The Emissary of Settra, Nekaph was Settra's Tomb Herald in life, acting as Settra's emissary and champion. Now that Settra has returned from the grave, so too has Nekaph.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Nekaph was an ordinary soldier, but his ability to crush skulls enabled him to steadily rise the ranks of Nehekhara's armies until he became the Herald of Settra himself.
Bodyguarding a Badass: Nekaph supposedly bodyguards Settra, although in undeath, Settra is immensely more powerful than the former.
The Champion: He is this for Settra, and he is noted to have fought best when the honor of Settra was in play.
Epic Flail: Carries the Flail of Skulls, the heads of which are the gilded skulls of kings that Nekaph slew. It gives Nekaph a short +2 Strength and the Multiple Wounds rule.
Genius Bruiser: As a mortal, Nekaph had to be both incredibly strong and incredibly smart; being able to stove a man's skull in with one blow of his fist was good, but he also had to be able to remember the many elaborate titles that his master held to be worthy of being a Tomb Herald. It takes Nekaph almost two hours to recite every title that Settra carries.
Honor Before Reason: Expected as a bodyguard of Settra, but even by their standards Nekaph was exemplary.
Lightning Bruiser: When fighting for Settra's honour.
Praetorian Guard: As a Tomb Herald, Nekaph is the chief of Settra's bodyguards.
Token Minority: Nekaph is not of Nehekharan origin but was the son of a Nordic barbarian. He is notably the one character from the Tomb Kings to be noted as a foreigner by blood, which doesn't stop him from being utterly loyal to Settra.
Undying Loyalty: Literally. When Settra died Nekaph was the first to commit the customary ritual suicide and when Settra was brought back Nekaph had already risen and ready to do his will.

High Queen Khalida Neferher

High Queen Khalida Neferher, Warrior-Queen of Lybaras

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warhammer_khalida.png

"One hundred and thirty-six of her followers have raised armies, fleets and beasts to hurl themselves against my walls. Sometimes they come north, sometimes east, or south. They come from the sea, and the sky and Great Desert, from the jungles and the mountains. They pour forth in a limitless tide and they are broken on my walls."

Queen of the city of Lybaras and formerly a cousin of Neferata, the Queen of Lahmia and the first vampire, Khalida was the first to realise her cousin had been corrupted and, when she refused to join Neferata, she was slain for it. Poisoned with some of Neferata's foul vampiric blood, she called upon Asaph to purify her, an act that slew her in the process. Now raised from the dead, she yearns to destroy all of her cousin's vile spawn and eradicate vampires from the face of the world.

Cool Mask: Khalida sports a magnificent death mask of white stone which reproduces her mortal face, hiding her withered one beneath.
Dying as Yourself: While dying, Khalida pleaded with Asaph to prevent her from becoming a Vampire. Asaph heard her prayer and purged the vampiric taint from Khalida's veins, by turning her blood into virulent poison. It killed her, but she avoided a vampiric fate.
Fantastic Racism: Against vampires, though it's not without reason (see It's Personal below).
Healing Factor: Had this in 6th edition due to Asaph's blessing.
The High Queen: Under Khalida's rule Lybaras became a bastion of learning and faith, with the citizens building the first and greatest animated statues and clockwork servants as well as utilizing airships for travel. While most Ushtabi are merely robotic emotionless slaves or parodies of past rulers or gods, Khalida's were as intelligent and eccentric as any court sycophant. Khalida's leading style was apparently that of a paladin, being a wise judge who lived according to a strict code of conduct and had at some point made a name for herself on the battlefield.
Improbable Aiming Skills: An Informed Ability for tabletop, her presence supposedly blesses the arrows fired near her to land into the enemy, but it only translated as the Skeleton Archers near her gaining a mere Ballistic Skill 3.
It's Personal: She holds a grudge against her cousin, Neferata, for restoring Nagash's black magic, using it to create vampires and killing her.
I Was Quite the Looker: Noted to have been very beautiful in life. Her death-mask is indeed somewhat-pretty, but cracked.
Lightning Bruiser: In life she was fast but in undeath where most mummies are slow, Khalida is faster than elves. Her stats indicate that she is Initiative 9, one of the highest stats possible where 10 is the absolute maximum.
Meaningful Name: "Khalida" is an Arabic name meaning "immortal" or "everlasting".
Reasonable Authority Figure: She's much more willing to deal with the living on equitable terms than most of her peers, including once employing Gotrek & Felix when they stumbled into her territory. She's also one of the few who doesn't start wars out of boredom.
The Sacred Darkness: She is blessed by Asaph, the Asp Goddess, but this actually makes her one of the more respected and benevolent Tomb Queens.
Serpent Staff: She wields the Venom Staff of Asaph, an animated snake-headed stave that can strike out at her enemies and spit venom.
Vampire Hunter: Khalida is dedicated to hunting the Vampires responsible for Lybaras' fall, and is stated to dearly hate them.

Grand Hierophant Khatep

The Liche Lord of Khemri, oldest and most powerful of the liche-priests of Nehekhara, he who awoke Settra the Imperishable in hopes of restoring order after Nagash's Great Ritual.

The Archmage: Khatep is the greatest and most experienced practitioner of the Lore of Nehekhara, being a level 4 Wizard and Loremaster of it.
Badass Bookworm: Comes with being a Liche Priest. Khatep is exceptionally well versed in matters of death magic.
The Drifter: Since he was banished from stepping inside any Nehekaran city's outskirts, Khatep walks the earth.
The Exile: Exiled from Nehekhara by Settra after failing to deliver his promise of immortality.
High Priest: The Grand Hierophant of the Mortuary Cult. Prior to his banishment he was one of the most influential individuals in Nehekhara.
Limited-Use Magical Device: The Scroll of the Cursing Words enables Khatep to either stop an enemy wizard from using spell by lightly distracting him in the form of invoking dung beetles in said wizard's lungs, or outright kill him.
Magic Staff: Khatep's Liche Staff allows him to reroll the dices whenever he casts a spell.
Our Liches Are Different: The most ancient Liche Priest of them all at that.
Time Abyss: Khatep is the first Liche Priest to have become really immortal, and he is nowadays several thousands of years old.

Arkhan the Black

Arkhan the Black, the Liche King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arkhan.jpg

The Loyal Servant

"You have read the signs as clearly as I. The growing power of Chaos makes no distinction between the living and the dead. Nagash must rise, or our realms of silence will fall."

First and most loyal follower of Nagash, Arkhan the Black is the lord of the Black Tower and a grudgingly accepted presence in the deserts of Nehekhara.

Badass Bookworm: He may be a wizard, but that doesn't stop him from being able to chop down people in hand to hand. Furthermore, he's mystically strong enough that he can hold out against the entirety of Settra's legions thanks to the power of his dark sorcery, having forced a stalemate in battle over a dozen times.
British Teeth: When he was human, Arkhan consumed so many sweetmeats and drugs that he ruined his teeth; they are described as "black" and "splintered". It's the original source of his title.
Brown Note Being: Arkhan's very being is so suffused with necromantic magic that some vampires feel physical pain from his presence, and few are comfortable looking at him.
The Chessmaster: Very capable at manipulating events to his advantage.
Cool Sword: The Tomb Blades of Arkhan, and it turns victims into skeleton. In close quarters, every unsaved wounds translated as another Skeleton soldier raised to add to his ranks.
Deadpan Snarker: Has shades of it in the game books, but in the novels, even back when he was human Arkhan was a smartass.
The Dragon: Arkhan is Nagash's longest serving and most loyal follower, having served the Great Necromancer since they were both amongst the living. Second only to Nagash himself in necromantic ability, Arkhan was the first of the nine Dark Lords of Nagash^note, his greatest general and most trusted advisor.
Dragon Their Feet: Arkhan's master Nagash has been slain several times over the millenia, always leaving Arkhan to survive, flee and hide, then plan the first necromancer's eventual return.
Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Tower of Arkhan, where he experiments with magic and his fortress against his enemies. It can also somehow teleport across the desert.

Hero Killer: Killed several Nehekharan heroes during the War of the Seven Kings.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he died the first time. He did get better thanks to Nagash.
I Surrender, Suckers: Whenever Settra feels like he doesn't want Arkhan alive anymore, a war ensues ending in a stalemate and Arkhan falsely pleading mercy and offering insincere vows of servitude with treasures to temporarily calm Settra.
Magic Staff: The Staff of Nagash allows Arkhan to stores unused power dice so he can use them for the next turn.
Manipulative Bastard: Arkhan has developed a talent for this, playing people off against each other to achieve his aims.
My Master, Right or Wrong: Despite sometimes despising Nagash and relishing his freedom while his master is indisposed, he still conspires to see Nagash's return and serves him loyally.
Named After the Injury: It's long-forgotten by now by any but his fellow Nehekharan undead, but Arkhan the Black actually had that nickname in life due to his teeth being rotted from his overindulgence in sweets. Now that he's one of the most powerful necromancers around, it has a different connotation.
Necromancer: Actually, the best one currently alive in the world. Arkhan is naturally a Level 4 wizard using the Lore of Death.
From Nobody to Nightmare: According to the Black Library's Nagash trilogy, Arkhan used to be a wastrel nobleman known as "the Black" because his addiction to sweetmeats had blackened his teeth. He's come a long way since then.
Old Flame: His feelings towards Neferata.
Spell Book: Arkhan's most precious possession is the Liber Mortis, one of Nagash's nine spell books and which is seeping with so much foul power Arkhan is counted as a Level 5 Wizard, knowing 5 spells, as long as he has the book.
Red Baron: His title "the Black" eventually became this. It's actually an Appropriated Appellation; people first started calling him that to make fun of his teeth.
Sweet Tooth: When he was still alive, he had a distinct fondness for sweets and ended up rotting out his teeth due to his overindulgence.
Teacher/Student Romance: Had one with Neferata when he tutored her on necromancy.
Token Evil Teammate: Despite being Nagash's servant and a necromancer that everyone in Nehekara fears and reviles, he is nonetheless included in the Tomb Kings army book and thus can be fielded with conventional Tomb Kings and even Settra.
Undying Loyalty: Arkhan is the first and most loyal servant of Nagash — he spends centuries planning for his master's return, and Nagash himself never has to be concerned with Arkhan's loyalty.
Villainous Friendship: At one point with Neferata before it became a Relationship Upgrade on his part.

Prince Apophas

Prince Apophas, the Cursed Scarab Lord

A jealous Prince of the City of Numas whose ambitions led him to murder all of his family in their sleep in order to claim the throne. His outraged people responded by rebelling, dragging him to the temple to be executed. Buried alive inside a coffin filled with flesh-eating scarabs, when the coffin was eventually opened, only a picked-clean skull remained, which was etched with a single magical hieroglyph condemning his soul to torment before it was hurled into the desert. In the underworld, the Cursed Scarab Lord was able to barter with Usirian, God of the Dead, promising to trade the soul of a perfect match to the God in exchange for being allowed respite from his curse. But his efforts are in vain, for no two souls are ever equal, and instead he will merely roam the land forever.

Ambition Is Evil: He wanted the throne so badly he killed his family. It overlaps with Cain and Abel and Self-Made Orphan, turning Apophas into a regicide punished by the gods.
Balancing Death's Books: Required to do this as part of the deal he made with Usirian to escape damnation.
The Evil Prince: Apophas was a prince of Numas who murdered his entire family in order to take the throne. Apophas' reign was short-lived however as he was soon deposed by his citizens and executed for regicide, something considered to be one of the most heinous crimes in Nehekharan law.
Exact Words: The deal stipulates that he must find another soul of equal value to give to Usirian in exchange for his passage into paradise. What Usirian didn't mention to him was that no two souls were ever created alike, hence Apophas can never hope to complete this deal.
Fate Worse than Death: Buried alive inside a coffin filled with carnivorous scarab beetles and condemned to an eternity of torment in the afterlife.
The Punishment: Kept from the afterlife — and also an eternity of torment — by allowing to roam the world as an undead spirit manifesting through a swarm of carnivorous scarab beetles while allowed to search for a soul of equal value to his own that can be used to take his place and allow him to enter paradise whilst it is tortured instead.
Shout-Out: His background is quite similar to Imhotep.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Being of noble blood allowed him to make a bargain with Usirian, allowing him to trade being tortured in the underworld forever with instead being allowed to roam the world as an undead monster, preying on the living in search of a soul that will allow him to enter paradise instead when he brings it to Usirian.
Snipe Hunt: He was initially unaware that no two souls are ever equal, hence Usirian's deal can never be completed.
Unwitting Pawn: Since no two souls are equal, Apophas has unknowingly doomed himself to collect souls for Usirian forever.
The Worm That Walks: Is made of a seemingly endless swarm of carnivorous scarabs.

Ramhotep the Visionary

Once the most brilliant of the Necrotects of Nehekhara, Ramhotep worked in the shadows so that he might continue to share his genius with the world, instead of being buried alive after his masterpiece was completed as was tradition. Only when old age loomed and convinced him that mummification was his only hope for continuing to build did he step forward and openly completed his final masterpiece. To his horror upon awakening, none of the things he built have survived the passing of ages unscathed, and he labors ceaselessly to restore them.

Bad Boss: Even by Nehekharan standards he was brutal towards his underlings, and would think nothing of working thousands of men to death for the sake of his masterpieces.
Bastard Understudy: He had this relationship with the architects he worked under.
Berserk Button: Harming, or in any way compromising, his masterpieces. Seeing his best works in shambles sent him round the bend, and he is permanently left with the Frenzy rule.
Best Served Cold: One story relates how an army from the Empire damaged a wall of his making, and Ramhotep spent the best part of two centuries sculpting an army of constructs to destroy the towns that the army hailed from, although every soldier of that army was long dead by the time Ramhotep invaded.
Doppelgänger: After drugging his current boss into idiocy and hiding him, Ramhotep would wear a perfect mask of said boss to design the palaces, temples and pyramids to then leave the execution to the poor drugged Necrotect.
Mad Artist: He's insanely fixated on restoring all of his former masterpieces and despises all other races for ruining them over the centuries since he died. His ultimate ambition is to wipe out all of the "youngling" civilisations and erect mausoleum-cities built over the ruins of their own cities.
The Man Behind the Man: Convinced of his own architectural genius with good reason, he was horrified by the prospect of being buried alive after completing just one masterpiece. So, he would apprentice himself to various lesser architects and subtly steal their personas, keeping them drugged and hidden away whilst he took their place and completed his current masterpiece, only to change places back again so that they would be sacrificed instead of him.
Obfuscating Stupidity: To reveal himself as the true architect of his many masterpieces would mean being ritually executed before he could build another pyramid, so he posed as an apprentice or assistant all his life while secretly impersonating the chief Necrotect.
Shoot the Builder: He constantly worked to avoid this, managing to create several buildings for different Tomb Kings by assuming a false identity during the construction and quietly leave when it was time for the Tomb Kings to kill the Necrotect responsible for it.
Shout-Out: He shares the same name as one of Ancient Egypt's most famous architects.
Whip of Dominance: Like most Necrotects, it was his duty to mercilessly whip the Nehekaran workers, and he is described as being "quick with the lash" in life. Now he uses it as his personal armament and is skilled enough with it to make it a deadly weapon.

Alcadizaar the Conqueror

The last human king of Nehekhara, he rose from obscurity to unify the disparate cities for the first time in centuries against the undead threat. He exposed the city of Lahmia as a nest of vampires and led a campaign to exterminate the creatures. When surviving vampires informed Nagash of Alcadizaar's rise to power, he led a unified Nehekhara against Nagash's invading army, only to be defeated when Nagash used his dark magic to spitefully destroy Nehekhara for defying him. Kept alive for Nagash's spiteful pleasure, unexpected allies gave Alcadizaar the power to take his revenge upon the Great Necromancer.

Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He was the King of a unified Nehekhara and one of the finest warriors and generals the nation had ever seen.
Battle Couple: With his wife Khalida during the battles against Nagash's invading armies.
Broken Tears: Reputedly wept in despair on his throne as plague and famine ravaged Nehekhara, knowing this was an enemy he couldn't physically fight.
Cruel Mercy: He survived the famine and plague Nagash unleashed upon Nehekhara, but at the cost of losing his family, friends and seeing his entire nation collapse into ruin. When taken prisoner and brought before Nagash, the Great Necromancer even admitted he'd deliberately engineered the plague to spare Alcadizaar so he had to watch everything he'd done fall into ruin as punishment for defying Nagash.
The Good King: He's considered the best king since Settra (and in some ways, even better).
Happily Married: To his wife, Khalida, daughter of a desert-dwelling chieftain whose tribe had sheltered Alcadizaar while he was hiding from Neferata. The marriage was required by an ancient treaty but the couple had clearly been in love long before the wedding.
The Last Dance: The Skaven predicted that only a man who was already dead had a chance to kill Nagash. When they realised Alcadizaar fit the bill, they gave him the means to do it.
Let's You and Him Fight: The Skaven wanted Nagash dead, but were too afraid to risk their own lives in an assassination attempt...so their agents freed Alcadizaar from his cell in Nagash's fortress, gave him a weapon that could kill the Great Necromancer, and pointed him in the direction of Nagash's throne room.
Mercy Kill: When his wife fell ill from Nagash's plague, to the point she became bedridden and no longer recognised her husband, Alcadizaar helped her drink a cup of poisoned wine to end her suffering.
No Kill like Overkill: In his final battle with Nagash, Alcadizaar cut off one of Nagash's hands, cut him in half and finally beheaded him. Even after Nagash was dead, Alcadizaar kept hacking at the body until Nagash was nothing but rags and broken bones.
Outliving One's Offspring: Both of his and Khalida's sons died in the plague Nagash unleashed.
Posthumous Character: Long dead by the current timeline.
Puppet King: Neferata initially wanted to do this with him to rule over a united Nehekhara, with her pulling the strings.
"Rashomon"-Style: After killing Nagash, Alcadizaar found his way out into the desert and disappeared from history; one account claims the exertions of his battle with Nagash and the cursed influence of the Fellblade finally broke him — too weak to carry on, he fell into the River Mortis and drowned. Another claims he deliberately chose to commit suicide by drowning in the river so he could be reunited with his family.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Alcadizaar lost everything he ever cared about to Nagash... so when the Skaven offered him the opportunity to get revenge, he seized it with both hands.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Fled Lahmia when he realised the city was a nest of vampires and Neferata wanted him to join her.
Wife Husbandry: Neferata raised him with the idea of making him her immortal consort to rule a unified Nehekhara for all eternity. A multitude of her advisors (whose warnings Neferata ignored) repeatedly explained why it was a bad idea; Neferata had raised Alcadizaar to be a perfect king, and men like that tend to disapprove of blood-drinking monsters feeding on their subjects.
Younger Than They Look: Due to Neferata feeding him potions infused with her vampiric blood; at the age of 50, Alcadizaar still looked like a youth of 25.

Characters / Warhammer: Tomb Kings

The Honored Rulers of Nehekhara

High Queen Khalida Neferher, Warrior-Queen of Lybaras

Arkhan the Black, the Liche King

Prince Apophas, the Cursed Scarab Lord

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Characters / Warhammer: Tomb Kings

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The Honored Rulers of Nehekhara

High Queen Khalida Neferher, Warrior-Queen of Lybaras

Arkhan the Black, the Liche King

Prince Apophas, the Cursed Scarab Lord

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