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Malign Portents


Will Myers

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I think that she is specifically mentioned as pale skinned. I didn't draw the comparison at first however on reading the comment I think it fits best. Also she seems unaffected by the nurgle infestation. Any precedence that grandfather nurgles blessings can only effect the living?

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6 minutes ago, Teuchter said:

I think that she is specifically mentioned as pale skinned. I didn't draw the comparison at first however on reading the comment I think it fits best. Also she seems unaffected by the nurgle infestation. Any precedence that grandfather nurgles blessings can only effect the living?

Isabella Von Carstein was corrupted by Nurgle during the end times. 

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"Sigmar has forsaken this place, but Nagash sees your struggles."

Nice story and it's a lesson if they all worshipped nagash through the start they would not be dying in the beds in the first place.:P 

To be more serious this clearly shows the power of nagash and the necromancy is the antithesis of nurgle. Also she is a mortal practising the art of nagash it makes one's complexion pale or ashen or even a combination of the two. Plus you get to live longer but you end up looking like a prune as the years go by.

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2 minutes ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

Yeah could be a vampire or just a necromancer. Grubbing about in plague victims at the town hospital sounds like poor work for a Vampire though. If I was a vampire i would send someone else to do that job!

 

Exactly, a vampire is waaay too upper class to be doing such work. I think this story is to show how a mortal nagashite in a city operates. This story is meant to make you think the perhaps nagash is not all that bad? 

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4 minutes ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

@shinros yeah I think some of the background writers are really playing the alternate morality theme quite hard - Order is harsh and unyielding, Plague and disease are joyful bringers of life, death is a merciful protector...

 

 

 

Yup I recall in spear of shadows they discuss nagash actually has an aspect that ushers people into the underworld peacefully.  What I like with Nagash is that there is certainty in his actions and considering how he likes to ramble that he is the best at everything is most likely why his priests are so chill. xD

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37 minutes ago, shinros said:

Exactly, a vampire is waaay too upper class to be doing such work. I think this story is to show how a mortal nagashite in a city operates. This story is meant to make you think the perhaps nagash is not all that bad? 

I think it actually depends on how important the people in that village are to the grand scheme of things. If they have something special about them, I'd absolutely be sending a vampire for recruitment.

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7 minutes ago, Redmanphill said:

Assuming there are mortal cults of Nagash

There are spear of shadows clearly shows this(a mortal nagash cult help a vampire infiltrate a city along with offering themselves as a snack) and the legion of nagash will go into detail about the living who live with the dead in shyish. The undying king novel also shows an example of it. 

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I think it's almost definitely a vampire due to the description and the way the plague/maggots don't seem to affect her. We have to remember that we don't really know what vampires are in AoS yet. We know a little that has been written about them, but they aren't necessarily the aristocratic vampires of the Old World anymore. This woman/vampire might also be a very minor example, a low ranking servant to a more powerful being, and/or a member of a Nagash cult dedicated to converting others.

I guess she could be just a mortal cultist that has some power due to her worship of death magic/power, and actually I would find that intriguing, but ultimately I think they've given us too many clues that say vampire to not think that's exactly what she is. If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, well....

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25 minutes ago, Yeled said:

I think it's almost definitely a vampire due to the description and the way the plague/maggots don't seem to affect her. We have to remember that we don't really know what vampires are in AoS yet. We know a little that has been written about them, but they aren't necessarily the aristocratic vampires of the Old World anymore. This woman/vampire might also be a very minor example, a low ranking servant to a more powerful being, and/or a member of a Nagash cult dedicated to converting others.

I guess she could be just a mortal cultist that has some power due to her worship of death magic/power, and actually I would find that intriguing, but ultimately I think they've given us too many clues that say vampire to not think that's exactly what she is. If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, well....

They talk about vampires in AOS in the January the white dwarf, Mannfred's vampires look macabre and view mortals like cattle aka dracula. Neferata's vampires are pretty much aristocratic nobles that try and retain an air of civility. Considering the woman in the story is simply wearing a purple and black robe, along with the fact they are clearly in a sigmarite city and it's well known in spear of shadows nagashite's hang around. Even the mortal's features are quite ashen or pale plus the fact it's clear she is practising Nagash's art. 

I think what this story is showing us if you sign up with the skeleton pope you can get protection from nurgle's nasty diseases.   

The soulblighted(if you read liber necris the name fits like a glove vamprism is a curse of the soul not the body)

The greatest warriors of Nagash's legions are the Soulblight vampires. Immortal, inhumanly strong and cursed with an insatiable thrist for blood, the most powerful of their kind can be often found leading undead legions at Nagash's behest, while other vampires ride in the vanguard of his armies on monstrous steeds and skeletal dragons. All vampires can trace their lineage back to Neferata the first vampire, who in her quest for immortality, drank of Nagash's tainted blood and gained not only a portion of his power, but was cursed to obey him for all time - traits she passed on to the vampires she sired. (the elixir from whfb) 

Many vampires attempt to emulate the noble courts of ancient times, deluding themselves that they are aristocrats and not blood-hungry monsters. Some vampires of Nulahmia - those closest to neferata - maintain some semblance of civility, while those sired by more twisted vampires such as Mannfred tend towards the macabre, treating their mortal subjects as little more than cattle. 

"Many vampires attempt to emulate the noble courts of ancient times, deluding themselves that they are aristocrats and note blood-hungry monsters. Some are more successful than others." 

Now what is going on in the story is essentially in my eyes grunt work, something a vampire a champion of nagash would not be doing. Now a mortal or necromancer? They fit the description black/purple robes and a  pale face. (since according to necromancers entry they cease to be truly living beings the longer they go down that path) Plus shifting around the dying bringing Nagash's "peace".  This story is meant to show us how Nagash can effect the normal citizen on the ground level(we know they are in the cities going by spear of shadows). Making the character a vampire somewhat goes against that in my opinion. Of course people are free to have their own interpretations. 

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22 minutes ago, Captain Marius said:

Last year we saw the full kharadron range in january and it wasnt all out til may! GW like to spread their releases!

Well we saw them the 15th of March, (in Las Vegas ! There will be a preview seminar in Las Vegas in 10 days ;) ) https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/03/15/a-new-race-descends-on-the-mortal-realms/

And they were released one month later (mid April)... https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/04/09/sky-fleets-inbound/

But hopefully @Sete we'll have this kind of BIG reveal between the LA Open (26th Jan), the countdown on the MP website (17th Feb), and at the AOS Open day (3rd March)...

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3 hours ago, shinros said:

They talk about vampires in AOS in the January the white dwarf, Mannfred's vampires look macabre and view mortals like cattle aka dracula. Neferata's vampires are pretty much aristocratic nobles that try and retain an air of civility. Considering the woman in the story is simply wearing a purple and black robe, along with the fact they are clearly in a sigmarite city and it's well known in spear of shadows nagashite's hang around. Even the mortal's features are quite ashen or pale plus the fact it's clear she is practising Nagash's art. 

I think what this story is showing us if you sign up with the skeleton pope you can get protection from nurgle's nasty diseases.   

The soulblighted(if you read liber necris the name fits like a glove vamprism is a curse of the soul not the body)

The greatest warriors of Nagash's legions are the Soulblight vampires. Immortal, inhumanly strong and cursed with an insatiable thrist for blood, the most powerful of their kind can be often found leading undead legions at Nagash's behest, while other vampires ride in the vanguard of his armies on monstrous steeds and skeletal dragons. All vampires can trace their lineage back to Neferata the first vampire, who in her quest for immortality, drank of Nagash's tainted blood and gained not only a portion of his power, but was cursed to obey him for all time - traits she passed on to the vampires she sired. (the elixir from whfb) 

Many vampires attempt to emulate the noble courts of ancient times, deluding themselves that they are aristocrats and not blood-hungry monsters. Some vampires of Nulahmia - those closest to neferata - maintain some semblance of civility, while those sired by more twisted vampires such as Mannfred tend towards the macabre, treating their mortal subjects as little more than cattle. 

"Many vampires attempt to emulate the noble courts of ancient times, deluding themselves that they are aristocrats and note blood-hungry monsters. Some are more successful than others." 

Now what is going on in the story is essentially in my eyes grunt work, something a vampire a champion of nagash would not be doing. Now a mortal or necromancer? They fit the description black/purple robes and a  pale face. (since according to necromancers entry they cease to be truly living beings the longer they go down that path) Plus shifting around the dying bringing Nagash's "peace".  This story is meant to show us how Nagash can effect the normal citizen on the ground level(we know they are in the cities going by spear of shadows). Making the character a vampire somewhat goes against that in my opinion. Of course people are free to have their own interpretations. 

Yes, I'm aware of that passage from WD, and I maintain we know very little of vampires in AoS. What you have is a story that really uses the themes and descriptive language common to vampire fiction, but because the vampire is doing "grunt work" you want to dismiss this common language even though the evidence is quite strong.

For example the end of the story reads:

"'Will you accept Nagash’s help?’ asked the pale woman, her hand still outstretched. Gosma took hold of the woman’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the ground.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Just tell me what I need to do.’

Gosma felt a grave chill spreading throughout her body.

‘There is nothing you need do,’ said the pale woman, her lips curving into a thin smile. ‘Be still, sister, and your end will come.’"

 

Now, this is almost certainly a reference to turning. The vampire or Nagash cultist is turning the woman into another being like her, ie, a vampire. If not, then what is happening here? If it's something else then we as the reader are really left in the dark. We can speculate or guess, but I would argue that is not the author's intention. The author expects us to know exactly what is happening, because we've seen it a hundred times. The same is true about other aspects of the story, such as the vampire being unaffected by disease. There is no need to speculate here because the author is doing everything in his/her power to tell us exactly what the woman is.

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1 hour ago, Yeled said:

Yes, I'm aware of that passage from WD, and I maintain we know very little of vampires in AoS. What you have is a story that really uses the themes and descriptive language common to vampire fiction, but because the vampire is doing "grunt work" you want to dismiss this common language even though the evidence is quite strong.

For example the end of the story reads:

"'Will you accept Nagash’s help?’ asked the pale woman, her hand still outstretched. Gosma took hold of the woman’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the ground.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Just tell me what I need to do.’

Gosma felt a grave chill spreading throughout her body.

‘There is nothing you need do,’ said the pale woman, her lips curving into a thin smile. ‘Be still, sister, and your end will come.’"

 

Now, this is almost certainly a reference to turning. The vampire or Nagash cultist is turning the woman into another being like her, ie, a vampire. If not, then what is happening here? If it's something else then we as the reader are really left in the dark. We can speculate or guess, but I would argue that is not the author's intention. The author expects us to know exactly what is happening, because we've seen it a hundred times. The same is true about other aspects of the story, such as the vampire being unaffected by disease. There is no need to speculate here because the author is doing everything in his/her power to tell us exactly what the woman is.

It's like I said earlier, whether or not it makes sense for a Vampire to have been sent out instead of just a necromancer(in universe, the writers could have done anything tbf) depends on the importance of the VILLAGE not on the work being done.

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1 hour ago, Yeled said:

Yes, I'm aware of that passage from WD, and I maintain we know very little of vampires in AoS. What you have is a story that really uses the themes and descriptive language common to vampire fiction, but because the vampire is doing "grunt work" you want to dismiss this common language even though the evidence is quite strong.

For example the end of the story reads:

"'Will you accept Nagash’s help?’ asked the pale woman, her hand still outstretched. Gosma took hold of the woman’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the ground.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Just tell me what I need to do.’

Gosma felt a grave chill spreading throughout her body.

‘There is nothing you need do,’ said the pale woman, her lips curving into a thin smile. ‘Be still, sister, and your end will come.’"

 

Now, this is almost certainly a reference to turning. The vampire or Nagash cultist is turning the woman into another being like her, ie, a vampire. If not, then what is happening here? If it's something else then we as the reader are really left in the dark. We can speculate or guess, but I would argue that is not the author's intention. The author expects us to know exactly what is happening, because we've seen it a hundred times. The same is true about other aspects of the story, such as the vampire being unaffected by disease. There is no need to speculate here because the author is doing everything in his/her power to tell us exactly what the woman is.

Very well but at that point near the end they could of stated she spotted a flash of a fang. Her clothing and what she is doing there personally seems strange to me if she is a vampire  considering how they are normally described and act considering what we have seen on them in AOS novels. As BURF said perhaps the village is important rather than the work being done there. 

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5 hours ago, Yeled said:

I think it's almost definitely a vampire due to the description and the way the plague/maggots don't seem to affect her. We have to remember that we don't really know what vampires are in AoS yet. 

So  while it's definitely a description of a vampire, we also don't know what a vampire is in AoS?

2 hours ago, Yeled said:

There is nothing you need do,’ said the pale woman, her lips curving into a thin smile. ‘Be still, sister, and your end will come.’"

 

Now, this is almost certainly a reference to turning.

 Nope. Could  easily be a reference to a mortal who worships Nagash or even an immortal who worships Nagash. But there's nothing to sugggest  it's "certainly" wampyri

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8 minutes ago, Carnelian said:

So  while it's definitely a description of a vampire, we also don't know what a vampire is in AoS?

 Nope. Could  easily be a reference to a mortal who worships Nagash or even an immortal who worships Nagash. But there's nothing to sugggest  it's "certainly" wampyri

We know what a vampire is. We don't know specifically what they will be like as they get fleshed out in AoS. To dismiss them based on "this woman is doing grunt work" is premature. Maybe vampires do this kind of thing in AoS. My point is that these aren't necessarily the vampires of WFB. The sentence you deleted that followed what you quoted basically said that.

As for the second comment, what is happening at the end of the story if she is not being turned? Why would the author use language like that if her life wasn't ending, and if she weren't becoming one of the undead? 

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