Warhammer Wednesday: The Necromancer of Drakenmoor

 

My previous post for Warhammer Wednesday dealt with some of the background (non-canon) for Darkenmoor.  One of the rumors mentioned on the WFRP 2E Refugee G+ Group was that Drakenmoor was a necromancer.  How does this necromancer tie into the story of Siegfried the Damned? There were rumors that some of Siegfried's advisers were corrupted by the taint of Chaos, indeed, that they might have been active cultists. Unfortunately, those rumors were true, and the ringleader was Anton von Bruk.

 

Young Anton before leaving home

The young scion of an up and coming merchant house, young Anton initially travelled to Altdorf to study at the university, but while on his journey thither, he was approached by a wizard who felt the spark of magic within him. Therefore, rather than follow a course of study that would have terminated in young Anton becoming a lawyer as his father wished, Anton instead became a wizard's apprentice, his father and family be damned! Even as a young man, Anton had realized that merchants, despite their wealth and standing, were held in contempt by the nobility who wielded the true power of government in the Empire. Magic was a power only the gifted could wield and it was pure in his magnificence.

 

Anton progressed well in his studies and was a fledgling wizard when the call to colonize Drakenmoor went out. Seeing the chance for power and glory, he quickly made his way into Siegfried's inner circle. When they entered the wastes, the subtle, corrupting influence of Chaos slowly wormed its way into his psyche. The one master that all men fear is death; if Anton could control death, ah, then he would have the ultimate power. Working with an unscrupulous physician and a grave robber, Anton began performing secret experiments of his own on the corpses of the dead. By the time the final Chaotic assault on the castle came, Bernhardt was attuned to the plane of death and had fallen deep into the depths of insanity. Since Siegfried and his incompent noble friends could not save Drakenmoor, Anton declared himself the Master of the Wastes. Calling forth the corpses of both humans and goblin-kind, Anton created even more havoc in the fight to save "his" kingdom. This happened at almost exactly the same moment that Siegfried accepted the bonds of Malal.

 

It is said that the necromancer, even now haunts the blasted land of Drakenmoor, sometimes at the castle and at other times near the bodies of the newly slain. It is even possible that he is the one that keeps the degenerate inhabitants of the hamlet of Totentanz alive for his own warped ends and projects. It is also unexplained how Anton came by his necromantic knowledge without a mentor. It is possible that he was merely a gifted, if unstable, prodigy, or perhaps his mind was tounched by the Corruptor, Nurgle. It is also unknown if he truly survives to this present day. If so, he must be a Liche or an extremely persistent ghost. No one knows for sure.