Konrad von Carstein: Successor to the infamous and original Lord of Sylvania, Vlad von Carstein. Konrad's exact relationship to Vlad, like his date of birth or even country of origin, are lost to the mists of history. It is likely that he had no actual blood tie to Vlad von Carstein in the human sense, and was merely Vlad's child-in-darkness.
What is known about Konrad is that he was a dangerously unbalanced man. When Vlad von Carstein died, there were five claimants to the von Carstein title: Mannfred, Konrad, Pieter, Fritz and Hans. Konrad is known to have slain Hans von Carstein over an argument as to which was the greater warrior. The others had fates of their own, and Mannfred faded from sight, leaving Konrad to take mantle of Count von Carstein.
But it was not the curse of vampirism or being one of the Truly Dead that made Konrad von Carstein a vicious madman. Even when he lived and breathed his cruelty was legend. Once, he had ordered his archers to shoot cats anywhere they were to be found in his domain. Peasant villages had been burned to the ground, simply for offending his noble nostrils with their unsavoury scents. He tried his mother for having given birth to him without his consent, and bricked her up in a tower when he found her guilty.
Konrad had no natural ability for necromancy and no aptitude for its study. His solution: enslave necromancers and force them to do his bidding. Where Vlad von Carstein had offered a choice between life under his rule or death, Konrad offered quick death or slow death. Where Vlad had viewed humans as a resource to husbanded, cared for as a farmer would his crop, Konrad viewed as playthings; animals for his sport and nothing more.
This was to be his downfall. His inability to command his own Undead armies, combined with a lack of rational tactics lead his downfall and ultimate death at the hands of the Dwarf Grufbad and the Marienburgher Prince Helmut at the Battle of Grim Moor in the spring of 2121.
Unlike his predecessor, Vlad von Carstein, or his successor, Mannfred, no tales tell of Konrad von Carstein's return from the grave.
Source: Warhammer Armies: Undead, 4th Edition by various
Submitter: Simguinus
Hive World Terra