Warhammer
Shadow Warriors
The shadowland of Nagarythe was once amongst the most prosperous of the Elven lands. It was also the most decadent and became the focus for the worship of the new and exotic gods. This culminated in the dangerous Cult of Pleasure and the growth in power to the Lady Morathi, mother to Lord Malekith who at that time was still held as a model of Elven honesty and virtue. Not all the people of the Shadowlands succumbed to the new religion of blood-sacrifice and self-indulgence, but many did, and soon the whole realm had degenerated into anarchy and bloodshed.
War followed the death of the Phoenix King Bel-Shanaar, driven to take poison by the evil accusations of Malekith. Soon the whole of Ulthuan had taken up arms either for Malekith or for Caledor the rightful successor to Bel-Shanaar. It was a period of great destruction and much uncertainty. Malekith and his followers fought from their strongholds in Nagarythe where countless hitherto secretive adherents of the Cult of Pleasure gathered to oppose the Phoenix King.
After the defeat of Malekith’s armies on the field of Maledor, the Witch King conceived of a final battle, a battle fought in the realm of magic, in which the very gods of Chaos would be invoked to bring death and destruction upon the land. That battle was a long and hard one, and though Malekith did not succeed, Ulthuan was torn apart in the conflict and the land of Nagarythe was sunk beneath the waves along with a large part of Tiranoc. Afterwards the Dark Elves fled northwards to Naggaroth where they founded their cold realm in exile.
Through that long and terrible war some of the Nagarythe, the most strong-willed of that warrior race, continued to resist Malekith. They threw in their lot with Caledor but remained in the land that they loved, fighting a desperate ‘shadow war’ from the forests and mountains. When Nagarythe was destroyed many of these gallant fighters were drowned under the waves, but enough survived to remember their once beautiful realm.
The Nagarythe became a restless wandering people, never staying for long in one place and if truth can be known, never really welcomed by other Elves. For the Nagarythe were always proud and warlike people, said to be cruel and merciless in the way of Aenarion in his madness.
Though much that is said of the Nagarythe is undoubtedly untrue, it is the case that they have a brooding intensity and a disturbing darkness about their eyes that makes other Elves shudder. They remain a tainted and homeless people, ‘touched by the Witch King’ as the Elf wives say, outcasts, many of whom have been driven to a life perilous adventure beyond the borders of Ulthuan itself.
| Profile | M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld |
| Shadow Warrior | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 |
The above information was taken from the Warhammer Armies book on High Elves. All of this information here has been copyrighted to Games Workshop Ltd.
