Spoilers: The ritual and the novel’s hunt. No campaign ending.
Who he is in Total War
Noctilus is one of the four admirals in Curse of the Vampire Coast. He leads The Dreadfleet. The Academy gives him war-declaration missions with their own rewards, faster recruitment for the pirate crew, and a shorter wait for Necrofex Colossi. His lord effects cut the upkeep on those colossi and raise the weapon strength of monstrous units. He rides a Necrofex Colossus often enough that the mount is part of the portrait.
The Galleon’s Graveyard is the published start in that Academy account. A curse tied to the Graveyard can be turned, on the same page, toward leadership and melee defence for Depth Guard, Deck Droppers, and Terrorgheists. Harkon’s Awakened, Aranessa’s living Sartosans, and Cylostra’s Drowned share the race and not this harbour.
Nyklaus, the maelstrom, and the Bloody Reaver
The Academy gives him a past the roster reveal shortens. He was Nyklaus von Carstein of Sylvania, drawn to the maelstrom to feast on its dark magic. A ritual moved him, his castle, and his undead minions to the Galleon’s Graveyard, where wrecks are drawn. Reborn as Count Noctilus, he raised sunken warships into the hull of the Bloody Reaver. The roster reveal tells the ritual and the Reaver and leaves the von Carstein name to the Academy page. Both are Creative Assembly’s account of the same admiral.
Of the Von Carstein Line is a skill on the lord, and it belongs to that origin. It does not make his campaign a Sylvania start. Vlad and Mannfred are the von Carstein legendary lords on the Vampire Counts race. Noctilus is the one who left for the maelstrom.
Dreadfleet, the novel
Phil Kelly’s Dreadfleet is the Black Library tale of the high seas. Jaego Roth, captain of the Heldenhammer, tracks Count Noctilus to the Galleon’s Graveyard. Noctilus is admiral of the Dreadfleet and lord of the Maelstrom. Roth is not a lord in this guide. The jacket sets the hunt and leaves the battle to the book.
That novel is one voyage. An Immortal Empires war declared from the Graveyard is another. Aranessa’s Swordfysh and Harkon’s Lustrian shore are not the plot of this jacket. Read the book page for the edition, and the lord page for the fleet you recruit.
Count Noctilus: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Curse of the Vampire Coast — Total War Academy — academy.totalwar.com
- Curse of the Vampire Coast roster reveal — Total War — totalwar.com
- Dreadfleet — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — SEGA — support.sega.com