Arkhan
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Arkhan the Black is a great Liche, who was one of Nagash's foremost and earliest servants in the ancient city of Khemri in Nehekhara. Both in life and now in death, he is the most able and trusted of Nagash's lieutenants.
His mortal life ended millennia ago in combat with an army led by Lahmizzash, the Priest King of Lahmia.
Early life
Growing up in the city of Khemri, Arkhan gained a bad reputation as a criminal and a serial gambler, but with a rich, aristocratic family. He earned the nickname "the Black" from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing the juseh root, meaning his teeth had been turned into hideous shards. Most of his ill-gotten gains were spent on "favours" at Asaph's temple in Khemri, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him.
Arkhan and Nagash
Arkhan was the first and foremost follower of Nagash, becoming Nagash's vizier. He was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of the elixir which granted eternal life.Arkhan helped lead the coup which brought Nagash to power. When the Priest Kings of Nehekhara formed an alliance against Nagash, Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.
When the city finally fell, Arkhan lead a suicidal counter attack in order to allow Nagash to escape. Arkhan's guard fell one by one, until only Arkhan remained. It cost the Priest Kings the lives of many men, but Arkhan finally fell, to a spear thrown by an unknown soldier. The spear pierced the heart of Arkhan, who stared in disbelief at the spear shaft, before collapsing dead among the great pile of the slain. Within seconds, Arkhan decomposed into a blackened skeleton.
In his death, Arkhan was honoured by his enemies, being buried, along with all those who he had slain, under a rough cairn formed by a pile of stones. The rest of Nagash's followers were beheaded and burnt, and their ashes scattered to the winds.
When Nagash returned to defeat the Priest Kings, although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. In a spell that raised all the dead warriors of Nehekhara, Arkhan arose too in unlife. Arkhan fought alongside W'soran, a member of the Lahmian Court. Just hours later however, Nagash was slain by Alcadizaar, the last Priest King.
Arkhan assumed command of Nagash's undead army with intent of wreaking vengeance on the living for the death of his master, turned the army towards Araby, and for generations battered its kingdoms in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts.
When Nagash was reborn, Arkhan rejoined him as his foremost lieutenant and favoured general.
Sources
- Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition)
- White Dwarf 169, Arkhan the Black: The Liche King, pp. 18-20 / Warhammer Armies: Undead (4th Edition)
- Nagash the Sorcerer, pg 150
