Spoilers: Character origins and relationships; no campaign ending.
Power through forbidden study
Mannfred’s search for necromancy took him to Nehekhara and Lahmia. He studied ancient writings while other vampires contested their dynasty’s power. He also travelled in the guise of an Imperial noble, concealing what he was.
That combination of scholarship and deception explains his character’s interest in power that can be acquired and controlled. He is both a vampire ruler and a student of the magic sustaining undeath.
Mannfred and Nagash
CA’s Lords of the End Times background places Mannfred alongside Arkhan the Black in bringing Nagash back. Nagash in turn seeks to command the undead and bring his chosen Mortarchs into service. Mannfred belongs within that larger struggle for authority.
Play The Drakenhof Conclave
In Immortal Empires, Mannfred leads The Drakenhof Conclave. Use his gameplay guide to follow faction access, his spellcasting role and the Books of Nagash.
Your campaign determines which wars he fights and how far his plans reach. Keep his background in mind when choosing a goal, then assess the armies and borders in front of you before pursuing it.
Three different Mannfreds in print
The Total War Wiki biography adds the temper to the pilgrimages already on this page. While other von Carsteins bickered and nearly broke the dynasty, Mannfred studied. The pilgrimages to Nehekhara and Lahmia are in that biography, as is the travel in the guise of an Imperial lord, and the changed face when he revealed himself again. Retribution, Steven Savile’s third von Carstein novel, is the Old World book of his return as lord of Sylvania. The omnibus asks whether the Empire can meet that threat and leaves the answer in the novel.
The Return of Nagash is a later and separate book: End Times volume 1, with Arkhan, a ritual in Sylvania, and the resurrection left unfinished on the jacket. The Bone Cage is Phil Kelly’s short story between Sigmar’s Blood and that novel. Mannfred leads a procession through Sylvania. The prisoners include the Fay Enchantress and the Grand Theogonist of the Sigmarite church. The short story does not give that priest the name Volkmar. Vampire Wars reprints Inheritance, Dominion, and Retribution only.
The Mortal Realms, labeled as themselves
On 12 May 2021 Warhammer Community introduced the Legion of Night for Age of Sigmar. Mannfred is Mortarch of Night. The Vaults of Carstinia are the Legion’s artefacts. The next day’s article gives Neferata the Legion of Blood and calls her the original vampire. Those are recruiting essays for the Mortal Realms. The jokes in the headlines are the articles’ voice. The titles are the fact used here.
Mortarch of Night, book 9 of The Realmgate Wars, sends Lord-Celestant Tarsus and the Hallowed Knights into Shyish to treat with Nagash. The page spells the vampire guide Manfred von Carstein. Rulers of the Dead is Neferata’s omnibus more than his. None of these is a prologue to the Drakenhof Conclave, and none of them is Retribution.
Mannfred von Carstein: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Lords of the End Times: Meet Nagash — CA — community.creative-assembly.com
- Patch 6.3: Books of Nagash — CA — community.creative-assembly.com
- Mannfred von Carstein — Total War Wiki — wiki.totalwar.com
- Retribution — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- The Bone Cage — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- 5 Reasons To Pledge Your Allegiance to Mannfred von Carstein — Warhammer Community — warhammer-community.com
- Mortarch of Night — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — SEGA — support.sega.com
- Update 9.0 release notes — CA — community.creative-assembly.com