Tomb Kings (Warhammer)

In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe, Tomb Kings is an army in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle game. Up until and including the fifth edition of Warhammer, there was an all-inclusive Undead army, with the skeletons and mummies being the predecessor to what would be known as the Tomb Kings. During the 5th edition, in 1999, the Vampire Counts were split off into their own army, and at the start of 6th edition Tomb Kings were included in the ravening hordes supplement. In 2002 the first Tomb Kings army book was released, with an expanded back-story that details the rift between the two Undead factions. The current Army Book of the Tomb Kings was released in May 2011 for the Eighth Edition of Warhammer Fantasy.

History

The Tomb Kings were once rulers of Nehekhara, a vast, fertile kingdom analogous to ancient Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilizations, but not identical to them. Nehekhara was a land of many war-torn kingdoms. The divided land was eventually unified by the First King of Nehekhara, King Settra. King Settra was a beloved ruler that led Nehekhara into a golden age, yet time was not on his side. As Settra grew older he began to turn his gaze towards extending his rule into the afterlife. He charged his priests of the 'Mortuary Cult', who tended the mummified remains of the past rulers, to use their magics to develop a spell for everlasting life. After many years the priests were able to develop two spells: the first was one that would simply prolong life, the user would still age indefinitely, and the other would allow for the resurrection of the user. With promises that they would find a spell for true eternal life, the priests cast the magics that would allow them to reanimate the dead onto King Settra as he died. It would be this spell that would cause the eventual damnation of all of Nehekhara.