Mourkain (WAR Lore)
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Overview
To the south of the Badlands lie the long forgotten ruins of an ancient cursed city. Mourkain was once the capital of the civilization of Strygos which thrived long before the time of Sigmar Heldenhammer. At some point the leaders of Mourkain were corrupted by vampirism, and the taint of undead spread through their civilization. The destruction of Mourkain came at the hands of a massive Greenskin Waaagh! which swept out of the World's Edge Mountains, destroying Strygos entirely and razing the city of Mourkain to the ground.
History
The culture of the Mourkain was heavily steeped in death and decay, destined for an unsavory end from the moment that a young human shaman and leader of the Lodringen tribe named Kadon first discovered the corpse of King Alcadizaar of Khemri along the banks of the Blind River. The fallen king still gripped the sorcerous Crown of Nagash tightly in his hand. Drawn by the power that emanated from the crown, Kadon took it and placed it upon his own head. Almost immediately, the corrupting influence of the crown effected a change in the young Shaman. Kadon became obsessed with death and the magic of Necromancy. He commanded his people to build a magnificent tomb for Alcadizaar and around that tomb, their settlement evolved into a city that came to be called Mourkain. With the covert assistance of Ushoran - first of the Strigoi bloodline of vampires - Kadon saw the city grow over the years into an empire which, at its height, stretched from the Marshes of Madness all the way to the Black Gulf.
The rapid expansion of the Mourkain civilization drove many greenskins out of their settlements in the Badlands and into the World's Edge Mountains. It was an injury the bellicose Orcs would not forget. In retaliation, the Orc tribes united in a massive Waaagh! under the warboss Dork Redeye and marched upon the city of Mourkain. Despite being well-schooled in the Necromantic arts, Kadon's people were no match for the amassed might of the fearsome greenskins and were slaughtered wholesale, their cities and villages burned to the ground.
The ruins of this once powerful empire remain abandoned and desolate, haunted by the tormented spirits of its former citizens. It is said that the dark heart of the ruined city of Mourkain is inhabited by the fabled Ghoul King, who surrounds himself with undead minions in a twisted parody of the ancient court of Strygos.