Elixir of Life

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The Elixir of Life is a magic potion discovered by Nagash. Through trial and error, and after numerous failures, he successfully distilled human blood into an elixir which extends the life of its consumer. He shared his potion with his closest friends and followers, reinforcing their loyalty towards him.

Nagash would later be defeated and expelled from Khemri but the recipe of his greatest achievement fell into the hands of Lamashizzar, the priest king of Lahmia. With the assistance of Arkhan the Black, Nagash's chief lieutenant, Lamashizzar was able to replicate the elixir, and granted it to his queen Neferata and his closest confidants amongst the Lahmian court. With their immortality, the court of Lahmia ruled all of Nehekhara.

The 'Poisoned Cup'

Dissatisfied with Lamashizzar's complacency, Neferata staged a coup that placed her in charge of the Lahmian court. She governed Lahmia in secret using Lamashizzar as a puppet king until he attempted to assassinate her. He sent his most trusted aid Ubaid who poisoned her usual dose of the Elixir of Life with the venom from the Sphinx. However Arkhan, deep in the sway of Neferata's influence, had learned of the plot and arrived to intervene. The Elixir and the venom fought against each other within Neferata, while Arkhan called on all his knowledge of Necromancy to try to save the queen's life. Eventually, the venom seemed to win out and Neferata was declared dead. However, a few days later, as her body was being tended to for its internment, she rose again, as the first of the vampires. Using the notes Arkhan had taken during his desperate attempts to save her life, Neferata was able to create the new Elixir which she dubbed 'The Poisoned Cup' and gave it to all the surviving members of the Cabal, turning them into the first Vampires. The new elixir allowed them to take life from blood directly, without having to refine it using Nagash's methods. While it was more potent than Nagash's elixir, the effects were much shorter-lived and the elixir had profound mutating effects, which seemed to vary according to the nature of the drinker. Neferata was gifted with an otherworldly grace and beauty, befitting her manipulative nature, where the scholarly W'soran became shriveled and gaunt but saw an increase in his Necromantic power.

Sources

• Warhammer Armies: Undead (4th Edition), pgs. 13, 16
• Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (5th Edition), pg. 10
• Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (6th Edition), pg. 4
• Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition), pg. 7
• Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts (7th Edition), pg. 10
• Nagash the Unbroken (Novel) by Mike Lee, ^{Needs Citation}