Flesh-Eater Courts

Flesh-Eater Courts
An Abhorrant Archregent
Grand alliance	Death
Main grouping	Grand Court
Major characters	Ushoran
Allies	Nighthaunt Soulblight Gravelords
Races	Mordant Vampire
Mounts	Zombie Dragon Terrorgheist
Creatures	Royal Terrorgheist Royal Zombie Dragon
Spell lores	Lore of Madness
Endless spells	Cadaverous Barricade Chalice of Ushoran Corpsemare Stampede
Scenery	Charnel Throne
Archetypes	Crypt Ghast Courtier Crypt Haunter Courtier Crypt Infernal Courtier
Warbands	Grymwatch

Hidden among the ruins of the Mortal Realms thrive the Flesh-eater Courts. Bound by the madness of their Abhorrant Ghoul Kings, throngs of mordants live out their pitiful lives feasting upon the corpses provided by the endless war and strife of kingdom after kingdom. - Age of Sigmar faction guide.

Flesh-Eater Courts are the courts of madness that serve and are bound to the vampires known as the Abhorrant Ghoul Kings. Most of them are Mordants, former mortals starved by famine and desolation that trapped themselves within a horrific delusion. They are utterly convinced that their cannibalistic feasts are splendid and grandiose visions of nobility.^[1] Their job is to gather feasts made from the flesh of the living and the dead and prepare such flesh to be fit for their lord's culinary pleasure.^[2]

Leadership

A Flesh-Eater Court is usually led by an Abhorrant Ghoul King, who is the absolute monarch of a deranged nation. Sometimes, he might create other abhorrants known as sycophants to share in his delusions. An Abhorrant King or Queen who slays another may, by sheer force of will, join a defeated rivals court to his own. Occasionally, a council of like-minded or delusional vampires may command a court together.^[3a][4d]

Members of the court with royal vampire blood take on gruesomely appropriate titles such as the Offal Queen or Lord Marrowbroth. Some are true vampires, whilst others are ghouls who have tasted that immortal ichor and grown strong and powerful upon it. In all of them the madness of the Carrion King still runs strong, and its only mercy is the delusions which the court believes in their collective madness.^[3a][4d]

All swear allegiance to the Carrion King, and in his absence the mightiest of all abhorrants see his will fulfilled across the realms and they are the Abhorrant Archregents who rule over vast empires of many separate courts. They collect flesh-tithes from the Ghoul Kings and deliver insane proclamations; some allow Ghoul Kings to act autonomously as long as they provide worthy gifts while others oversee all matters within their empires. To a sane mind the empires of Archregents are like continent-sized abattoirs and in them the air itself seethes with madness.^[4d]

Courtly Titles

While the exact titles and hierarchy varies from court to court, they often reflect twisted memories of Ushoran's First Court. Below are some common titles.^[3a][3b]

• Carrion King, Sovereign of the Court: The abhorrant ruler is heir to the Carrion King, and the delusions of the court are splinters of Ushoran's madness filtered through the ruler. Often, the monarch takes on an appropriately grand title; for example, the archregent of the Vertigon Court in Hysh calls himself the Bright Emperor.^[3b][5]
• Sycophants, The Royal Family: The closest abhorrant members of the court to the monarch usually take on the role of the royal family. Their titles are even more diverse than the rest of the court's, but often the Giblet Prince is the heir apparent with a coterie of Sweetbread Princeling courtiers of his own, while the Offal Queen takes on the role of dutiful spouse and overseer of the nurseries. There are a great many dark tales of the fates of Ushoran's original family, and the titles may be twisted memories of their deaths.^[3a][3b]
• Lord Chamberslough, Vizier of the Attendants, The Iron Chamberlain: Lord Chamberslough is usually head of the various attendants and courtiers, maintaining order in the court and ensuring the monarch is appropriately praised and fawned upon. The legends of Ushoran's original chamberlain tell of someone far less loyal, vying for control of the empire and once even tried to take the throne by force; now, the position is ironically twisted to master of the Lickspittles.^[3b]
• Lord Marrowbroth, First Knight of the Deadwatch: Lord Marrowbroth is the king's champion and commander of his elite bodyguard, the Deadwatch. Legends say that Ushoran's bodyguard, the Harrow Wrath, earned the title Watches of the Dead in the wars against Nagash and the Mortarchs.^[3b]
• Lord Liverbelch, Master of the Abattoir: Chief taster and master of banquets, Lord Liverbelch is responsible for selecting the food for his liege. According to legend, Ushoran's court in the Age of Myth had a Lord Riverblood whose discerning tastes made the court's blood-feasts were renowned throughout Shyish.^[3b]
• Marquis Gruelsop, Commander of the Royal Mordants: The Marquis is the greatest and most loyal of the court's courtiers, and the one responsible for gathering and training the peasantry for war. Stories tell of Ushoran's brother who the Summerking, in a fit of paranoia, sent away to watch over slaves and prisoners. Desperate to prove his loyalty, the brother trained these dregs into some of the finest and most loyal soldiers in the empire.^[3b]
• Baron Gizzard, Chief Ranger: The scouting ghoul patrols of the court are led by Baron Gizzard, the keenest hunter among the mordants. Legends of Ushoran's court tell of a lowborn ranger of the Helfrost Empires who earned Ushoran's favour; some of the stories say he was affectionately called the Baron of Blizzards in recognition of his icy homelands, though he never officially received a noble title. Now, however, those named in his memory have.^[3b]
• Marquis Retchbile, Lord of the King's Ghouls: Marquis Retchbile, a skilled mordant general, commands the main force of ghouls in the royal armies. It is likely that this title is a conflation of the various marshals and warriors who fought with distinction alongside Ushoran in the Age of Myth like Lord Rilegloom, Prince Retter, and Captain Bilgoth, among others.^[3b]

Religion

Some of the courts still revere Nagash as their god and seek to please him in any way that they can, raising great churches and monuments to his glory such as the famed Corpsefane of the Nightlands. Others distrust and hate the Great Necromancer and it is these that are most often found beyond the Realm of Shyish and are usually regarded a plague upon those lands. The greatest of these is Highhaven and Nagash now looks upon it as a great prize to be taken, but the courts of that domain are determined to stay out of his reach, warding their Realmgates against the undead.^[3c]

Recruitment

Mordants are created from cannibals, starved mortals that turn on their own kind and eat them. These cannibal cults quickly devolve into hideous parodies of their societies. But only when these cannibals eat from the feast of an abhorrant king do they fully complete their transformation into ghouls, becoming fully engulfed in the king's madness of noble courts and benevolent monarchies, standing tall armoured in their own delusion.^[2]

What makes the courts even more terrifying is that the madness of the king or queen and their court is infectious and those who linger too long may well succumb to the delusions themselves until they see the world (and the court) as the ruler does. The court itself operate like any other, so plots and schemes abound and ones standing can rise or fall in moments with a badly chosen word or deed.^[3]

Promotions

Some mordants are blessed to drink a cup of the king's blood - which their minds understand as drinking wine from their master's table - transforming them further into more powerful, more loyal and less sane variants of mordants. Some even get further blessings allowing them to eventually turn into vampires and join the ranks of the abhorrants ghoul king, allowing them to eventually found their own courts and further spread the Flesh-eating madness.^[2]

History

It is said that the first Abhorrant Ghoul King arose during the Age of Myth, originally a fair and favoured servant of Nagash. He fell from favour for reasons long forgotten and was transformed into a mockery of his once handsome form and condemned to prowl the Nightlands of the Realm of Shyish. However such was his rage, that he cut a swath through the lands and cities of that realm until his master imprisoned him in the Shroudcage.^[3d]

It was not until the Age of Chaos that he would be unwittingly released by Sigmar during his war with Nagash. Fleeing to the shadows, the Carrion King found the first Mordants, depraved mortal cannibals, some of whom he then gifted with his blood and so the Flesh-eater Courts were born in their bloody glory. It is said that Nagash still seeks him so that he might gain true control over the courts.^[3d]

Known Courts

• Blisterskin: A Grand Court from the Realm of Aqshy that seek to spread their twisted beliefs on the Realm of Hysh.^[4c]
• Carnedine Cortege: Saved the remaining population of the Twilos Expanse from Chaos by transforming them into mordants.^[3e]
• Clatterbone Court: Led by King Greth the Decrepit, a descendant of the First Court. ^[4b]
• Crookfang Kingdom: Slew the Arcanite Shardfane and saved the Hammers of Sigmar who quickly retired to the upper levels whilst the court ate its fill.^[3e]
• Dreamgheist: Their madness was so potent, that when the Slann Starmaster Lord Tesolesalak went to war against them, even he began to fall victim to it, his conjured warriors becoming ever more monstrous. ^[4a]
• Fallow Court: They betrayed the One-Eyed King who swore vengeance on all mortals, especially ghouls.^[3e]
• Gibbering Courts: The legendary first asylum cities created by the Carrion King, full of the insane and depraved.^[3e]
• Gluttonous Carnival: Vast corpse caravans travel constantly, heavy with scavenged meat.^[3e]
• Gristlegore: Grand Court. ^[4a]
• Halfblood Courts: A successful alliance with the Swillgor Ogors only fell apart after they destroyed the Fireslayer holds of Vulkanum and began to argue over the bloody spoils.^[3]
• Hollowmourne: A Grand Court that fell upon a force of Bloodreavers who they consider loathsome cannibals. ^[4a]
• Morgaunt: In the Age of Chaos they eradicated the Slatehorns Greatfray who had themselves wiped out the dragons of the Betrayers Barrier.^[4a]
• Sanguine Court: They discovered the Fields of Dracothion, a vast dragon graveyard that granted them many Zombie Dragons.^[3e]
• Suppurating Court: Rules the vast kingdom of Voldyr. Defeated the invading Anvils of the Heldenhammer.^[3e]
• Sunderborne Court: Destroyed the Ratchet Tombs and their defenders, but the courtiers acquired a dangerous taste for vampire blood.^[3e]
• Witherclaw: Safe within the fortress of the same name they defend it against all who enter their lands, especially the servants of Nagash.^[3e]

Sources

• 1: Battletome: Flesh-Eater Courts product description
• 2: Age of Sigmar faction guide
• 3: Battletome: Flesh-Eater Courts (2016)
  • 3a: Courts of Delusion, pg. 10-11
  • 3b: Dark Legacies, pg. 22-23
  • 3c: Desolate Domains, pg. 46-47
  • 3d: The Carrion King, pg. 8-9
  • 3e: Tales of Madness, pg. 16-17
• 4: Battletome: Flesh-Eater Courts (2019)
  • 4a: Tales of Madness, pg. 18-19
  • 4b: Deranged Kingdoms, pg. 20-21
  • 4c:, pg. 64
  • 4d: Courts of Delusion, pg. 10
• 5: Broken Realms: Teclis: Dramatis Personae, pg. 3