The Flesh-eater Courts have been unveiled, and this weekend you can pre-order a new army box containing 25 brand-new miniatures and a special edition of Battletome: Flesh-eater Courts. These deluded cannibals have some of the most evocative lore in all of the Mortal Realms, so we sat down with Flesh-eater scholar and Warhammer Age of Sigmar background writer Jordan to get the full digest on all the latest royal gossip.
Warhammer Community: Battletome: Flesh Eater-Courts continues the story of these scions of nobility. What have they been up to in the Era of the Beast?
Jordan: When Nagash fell at the climax of the Soul Wars and Alarielle’s Rite of Life surged across the realms, most undead were sent reeling. The Flesh-Eaters Courts, however, were a different story. The majority of their serf hordes aren’t truly dead, and so the bountiful magics of Ghyran weren’t as inimical to them as they would be to a Nighthaunt gheist or a true vampire.
Couple that with the Era of the Beast stoking their frenzied ferocity, and so-called “Dawnbringers” – ruffians and bandits, more like – marching across their kingdoms, and it’s little wonder that the ghouls are going on the offensive.
Most undead have always sneered down whatever passes for their noses at the cannibal throngs. They might think better of it, though, after glimpsing the domain of New Summercourt high in the Ghyranite mountains – not to mention its regal master. The Carrion King is in state once more, and even as he revels with his courtiers, he squats at the centre of a deadly plot, one orchestrated by Nagash and his fellow Mortarchs.
But Ushoran isn’t blind to the calamities rocking the realms, nor deaf to the tales babbled by those who come seeking succour from the Lord of High Summer. In response, he has declared the War of Red Errantry – a gallant crusade against the darkness, to be taken up by all chivalrous souls! It’s really not the ghouls’ fault that those they set out to save often look so appetising…
WarCom: How does the infectious madness of the Flesh-eater Courts spread? Is it passed on by blood, magical means, or mere proximity?
Jordan: It’s a little of all the above. Ushoran is the ultimate font of their madness, and no bloodline of vampires was as close to their sire as those who would become the Abhorrants. When delusion seized the Mortarch, it seized them too. Abhorrants radiate a magical insanity, and the most powerful enforce their delusion through presence alone. But to properly become a mordant ghoul – or to join the ranks of the accursed vampires themselves – usually requires the ingestion of tainted blood, willingly or otherwise.
Relics of the Carrion King are another vector of “contagion”, being suffused with his particularly potent strain of eldritch mania. Hence the Marrowscroll Heralds, who bear splinters from his osseous throne – sorry, I mean, regal missives hand-penned by their monarch…
WarCom: When last we heard of him, Ushoran had been twisted and transformed by Nagash's torments, only to escape the Shroudcage as a mad monster. Now he seems to be back in the Great Necromancer's good graces – what happened? Is the Summerking quite as loyal as he now seems?
Jordan: It’s true that Ushoran and Nagash have had a tumultuous relationship. Long ago, the vampire was hailed as the virtuous Sombre Paladin, who safeguarded the laws of life and death and encouraged those he protected to worship the Great Necromancer.
Was Ushoran ever a true hero, or was this just another guise adopted by the Lord of Masks? The truth is obscured, as is the reason why he eventually rebelled. When Sigmar unintentionally freed Ushoran during his rampage across Shyish, the Carrion King slipped through the cracks of his god’s notice. Ages of Chaos tend to shift one’s priorities.
Until centuries later, that is, when spectral agents of Neferata uncovered his massive lair, New Summercourt. Ushoran appeared to profess his renewed fealty to the God of Undeath in jubilant and sincere tones – and if you’re Nagash, suddenly you have a dilemma. You despise disloyalty, but you’re also not fool enough to throw away such a powerful servant, not when fighting a realm-spanning war. What do you do?
Well, you seal him and his court within a great palisade of necromantic bone – keeping enemies out, but more importantly, leaving Ushoran cut off from the wider realms, and under your control. Let him claim the title and authority of a Mortarch if he wishes – your most cunning and diplomatic minions can ensure he once again serves your ambitions, while being denied any chance to run amok. That was the plan, at least. Alas, when the Rite of Life hit, that necromantic barricade started to crumble…
The Lord of Masks is now free, but at least Ushoran’s madness keeps him loyal and true. And he is entirely, completely mad – no doubt about that. If that weren’t the case, imagine what he might be getting up to, when your back was turned?
WarCom: What's his relationship with his peers? Ushoran and Neferata have a long and unpleasant history...
Jordan: Ushoran was one of the original vampiric Mortarchs, summoned alongside Neferata and Mannfred to spread the Soulblight curse and assist Nagash’s conquest of Shyish. It’s fair to say that their relations have never been great – his pretensions to nobility back in the Age of Myth thoroughly irritated his rivals, and these days his table manners are sorely lacking! While the Mortarchs might want to dismiss him as the black sheep, Ushoran’s talent for unorthodox strategising is a boon, given how predictable many undead can become.
Neferata in particular recognises the lethality of her brother-in-darkness. As much as she might want to be rid of him, the Queen of Nulahmia knows it wouldn’t be such a simple task. Besides, rendering Ushoran into a pliant asset appeals to her controlling nature. Her agents have wormed their way into New Summercourt, gritting their fangs as they humour the chivalric delusions of the Carrion King, all while facilitating the plots of their mistress… and Nagash, of course.
WarCom: There are all kinds of delusions enjoyed by the different Flesh-eater Courts, spiralling off Ushoran's original madness. What's the strangest or funniest ghoul-narrative that you've come up with?
Jordan: There’s a fine line to writing the Flesh-Eaters, because it's tempting to play the same joke – an image of knightly splendour punctuated with gruesome snapshots of reality – over and over.
The Gristlegore Grand Court, for example, perceive themselves as monastic pacifists who have achieved a spiritual harmony with the Realm of Beasts – quite unaware of how they tear through enemies from atop nightmare beasts. Over in the Gnarlwood we have Peregrin the Choleric, pursuing his nemesis, the evil warlock Zaragul. The minor detail that Zaragul doesn’t actually exist hasn’t stopped the Flaymaster from causing all sorts of havoc.
My favourite is probably Varshorn, the renegade lord of Starfang Mont. Eagle-eyed fans might recognise that name from Broken Realms: Teclis, where the Abhorrant led a rebellion against Ossiarch tithemasters and shifted the balance of power in Ymetrica at a critical moment. He’s still out in the Hyshian deserts, fighting the good fight against the Bonereaper Legions, and only occasionally mangling any Lumineth who get too close.
WarCom: How do you strike a balance between "regal knightly honours" and "horrible grisly ghoul-speak" when coming up with names for characters or titles?
Jordan: Mostly it’s about developing a sense – a taste, if you will – for mashing together gory elements or grisly functions of human anatomy. Maggotkin names also do this, but ghouls are more about chewing and ripping than oozing and rotting.
One trick is to think about what the knightly equivalent would originally have been, as the titles adopted by the ghouls are often perversions of Ushoran’s original courtiers. The moniker of the devoted steward Livbelcé has been denigrated over the years into the odious Lord Liverbelch. Crakmarrow? Never heard of him; surely you’re referring to the noble Duke Krakmarra, one of our liege’s most worthy hunting companions?
Thanks Jordan – your insights are both welcome and frankly quite terrifying. There’s plenty more to learn about the Carrion Kingdoms in Battletome: Flesh Eater Courts, which you’ll first find in the Flesh-eater Courts Army Set – available for pre-order on Saturday.