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Vampires are the lords of the dead, and all the Vampires
in the Old World are descendants of one of the great
Masters. Men dread these mighty creatures, for Vampires
are immortals with great powers who require only blood
to sustain themselves. They are physically stronger
than any living man and can endure wounds that would
slay a mortal in an instant. They have a natural ability
to command necromantic magic and to bind Undead to their
will. The greatest among them are also able to command
the skies, so that when their armies march to battle,
the skies darken with heavy storm clouds. This ability casts
dismay in the hearts of the mortals facing the Undead
and protects the the Vampires and their minions from
the touch of the sunlight, which is the bane of their
kind.
 When
the Vampire Lords of old escaped the destruction of
Lahmia and fled north, Ushoran, the Lord of Masks, was
among them. A most powerful and proud Vampire Lord,
he soon challenged the other Lords for supremacy. However,
they resisted him and preferred to go further north
and then divide, free to follow their own different
paths
to damnation.
Ushoran guided his few remaining minions to the west,
toward Strigos, a small kingdom of men in the western
foothills of the Worlds Edge Mountains. In a few centuries,
the children of the Lord of Masks were holding positions
of importance in the capital city of Mourkain, and Ushoran
eventually took of the kingdom and ruled over the Strigoi
for many centuries.
But to rule in peace was not to be the final destiny
of this line of Vampires. It was when the armies of
Strigos were engaged in the north of the kingdom that
disaster struck. Out of the Worlds Edge Mountains erupted
a huge greenskin Waaagh! The ravening Orcs engulfed
the rich plains of Strigos, annihilated the border patrols,
and soon laid siege to Mourkain itself.
 When
news of the attack reached Ushoran, he immediately turned
back to defend his capital, but the Strigoi were defeated
and retreated in desperation towards the city walls.
At the gates of Mourkain, Ushoran made his last stand.
The duel between the Orcs and the Vampire Lord was epic,
but eventually Ushoran succumbed and was destroyed.
The Orcs razed the capital and enslaved the population,
and the once proud kingdom was completely wiped from
history.
Not all of the Strigoi Vampires were destroyed with
Ushoran. Some survived and fled to the north. In need
of help, they searched for others of their kind in the
forests of Sylvania, but Count von Carstein sill remembered
the spiteful arrogance of Ushoran and turned on the Strigoi,
hunting them down like animals. The few remaining Strigoi
scattered across the Old World, receiving the same treatment
from Vampires of other lines.
 The
Strigoi slowly transformed into desperate creatures,
hated by both the living and the undead. They dared
not feed on humans for fear of attracting the attention
of witch hunters or other Vampires. For this reason,
they hid in graveyards, living on the cold blood of
recently buried corpses. Their physical appearance started
to reflect their miserable condition, as they turned
into hunched, grotesque monstrosities. The more bestial
traits of their race soon prevailed and eradicated any
semblance of human appearance.
Packs of flesh-eating Ghouls are attracted to these
lonely creatures and often form grotesque courts around
them. Grave robbers have learned all too well that they
must do their deeds before nightfall and then leave.
With darkness, different kinds of scavengers fall on
these places of death: swarms of Ghouls led by massive,
fast, and deadly night hunters. It is little wonder that
the peoples of the Old World refer to the Strigoi as
the "Ghoul Kings."
A Strigoi may be included in your Vampire Counts army
as a Vampire Lord (as both a Lord and a Hero choice),
a Vampire Count (as a Lord choice), or a Vampire Thrall
(as a Hero choice).
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