Nekhret the Great

Of all the Undead, few bear a reputation for martial excellence or battlefield ruthlessness quite like Nekhret the Great. He is known by a host of titles – the Deathless Eagle, the Falcon of Eternity, the King of Bone and Iron, and many others besides. He has ruled a fiefdom within the barren Krokhan Desert for centuries. Down the ages, he has had many challengers, from barbaric Human chieftains and tribal Nomads to righteous paladins of the Church of Lumaya, not to mention rivals in Undeath. He has defeated them all. All lie crushed, their bones ground to powder, or resurrected to serve Nekhret for eternity. In life, Nekhret was a warrior-king, a Deadlander of the Akar peoples and a founder of a great war-tribe that went on to establish a kingdom in the Krokhan Desert. According to Peltas’ many legends, he single-handedly fought a great and terrible sand wyrm, battling on to slay it even after it had ripped away part of his jaw. The wound proved fatal, but such was Nekhret’s determination that he swore even death would not end his reign. A year to the day after his passing, he broke free from his sarcophagus, slew the ‘usurper’ who had taken his place, and declared himself the eternal overlord of Krokhan. Whether this was because his relentless determination bested death itself, or whether the ground where he first perished fighting the sand wyrm was cursed, and transmuted itself into his bones, none can say. Be it in generalship and grand strategy, single combat in a whirling melee, or clashing against a monstrous or beastly foe, Nekhret delights in all forms of warfare. Rarely does an enemy best him and even then, their victory is fleeting, for Nekhret always returns. He is relentless in seeking to settle old scores, and will hunt rivals and heroes across Peltas and beyond, before accepting that any are his superior. In battle, Nekhret fights in a panoply befitting an immortal warrior-king. Upon his broken skull sits the carrion helm, the raggedy crimson feathers of its crest bleeding dark energies that disturb the dead wherever he walks. Strapped across one arm is the Shield of the Mortis Eagle, once part of the lid of his sarcophagus and, to the Nomads of the Krokhan, a potent omen of the inevitability of death. Nekhret’s unyielding gauntlet is eternally clenched around the Tomb Glaive, a mighty weapon so potent with necromantic magics that as soon as a mortal falls to its bitter bight, their corpse is resurrected again in Nekhret’s service. With such arms and armor already augmenting his fearsome abilities, this great champion of undeath is all-but unstoppable on the field of battle. Nekhret is bold and boastful, and despises weakness above all things. He views mortals as inherently inferior to the Undead, those he sees as having mastered death, and never hesitates to dispatch a foe, whether he deems the challenge they have offered up as worthy or not. Other Corrupted he only truly respects if they have shown martial worth of their own, and he expects all fellow Undead to be subservient to him should they wish to fight by his side. It is believed that Nekhret holds particular contempt for Siroth, whose overweening control is anathema to such a proud king. This dislike extends to Siroth’s vampiric spawn. As far as Nekhret is concerned, vampires are little more than parasitic vermin masquerading as true Undead. It is an unusual battle indeed where he accepts being on the same side as a vampire, whether mighty and ancient or just freshly-turned. Nekhret’s ultimate goals are known only to him. Some believe he seeks to expand his grip beyond the Krokhan dunes and seize either the legendary arena city of Velyzar or the corrupted settlement of Ireth, both of which he claims fall within his realm. This would certainly be a step on the road to claiming the whole of Peltas, and maybe even beyond. Others are convinced Nekhret the Great simply seeks a worthy challenge in his continual quest to become the ultimate warrior. Whatever his true goal, Nekhret can be confident of one thing – he has eternity with which to achieve it.