House Drazkharov faces down enemies

The stability of the HSE was on the brink in 535PC. House Drazkharov had long been growing in power and the rest of the HSE had long suspected their strength lay in dark magic. Rumours of the dead rising from battlefields and terrible beasts spotted in the skies over the pine forests near Mallenstein, mixed with whispered tales that the lords of Drazkharov had been alive for centuries. Even Elven ambassadors from Mellvellon had protested the dark heart of the HSE, but the old Empress was adamant that nothing untoward was taking place in her lands.

Meanwhile the power of the Church of Sigmar had been waning as Drazkharov, Pellenar and other factions rose in prominence. It was finding it increasingly hard to attract new members to its ranks, as more and more people forgot the old ways of Sigmar - commonly seen as a god of the Old World, not Palurin. Pope Gregerious I knew that the church needed to make its mark, to be seen as powerful as it used to be. In a bold move he ordered the Church’s contingent of Ogre mercenaries to attack house Drazkharov, denouncing the house as witches and heretics.

As soon as House Drazkharov realised what was happening they sent word of protest to the Empress, but by that time the army had reached Mallenstein. As the ogres prepared to march into the city the fears of the Church seemed realised. Corpses clawed their way from the ground to oppose the Ogres, and a contingent of skeletal riders upon ethereal steeds rode from the city gates. At their head rode a dark figure with blood dripping from his swords, and they held aloft the banner of a flayed man.

Ogres are not the type to be afraid of such things and with a roar charged into battle. The cleaved through wolves and bats, ghoulish men and the living dead faster than the evil necromancers could summon them. At the centre of the battle was a great clash between the vampiric lord who lead the knights and the Ogre sorcerer and his bodyguard. Such was the carnage it was not clear who had the upper hand until finally the vampire lord emerged alone, his horse scrabbling up the pile of dead. But the Ogres had brought with them a great war machine - the ironblaster - which sighted itself upon the triumphant vampire and blew him to smithereens with its cannonballs.

The Ogres - and hence the church - had won a great victory, but the army was recalled by the Empress before it could take Mallenstein itself. Pope Gregerious was furious, but the Drazkharovs claimed this was an isolated incident of vampirism, and thanked the church for bringing it to their attention and dealing so well with the problem. A few days later Gregerious fell down the stairs at his home and broke his neck. His successor, who took the name Gregerious II, promised friendly relations between the church and House Drazkharov.

So what was the truth about House Drazkharovs? They seemed little affected by what had happened. Only a few years later they were sent to battle against attacking Domovoi forces in the Flachland gap. The chaos raiders were destroyed, and there are almost no impartial eyewitnesses to the battle, but rumour continues that the commander of the force looked eerily similar to the one blown apart by the Ogre cannons four years earlier.