History Characters / TotalWarWarhammerTheVampireCounts

* AllYourPowersCombined: A minor example but he can take both the agressive black knight and the defensive grave guard trees when picking skills, which are mutually exclusive on a regular Blood Dragon.

* EliteArmy: As he shares his skill tree with the Blood Dragon bloodline lords, the Red Duke's unlockable traits in the campaign incentivize the use of Black Knights, Blood Knights and Grave Guard in his army by reducing their recruitment prices and upkeep.

* PaletteSwap: In the first game, there wasn't much differentiating him from a regular Vampire Lord outside of better stats and a unique hex. The ''Aye Aye!'' patch for ''Total War: Warhammer 2'' instead turned the Red Duke into a palette swap of the Blood Dragon lords acquired through the Ancient Bloodlines mechanic, giving him all of their otherwise unique skills.

Introduced in the ''Old Friend'' Free-LC, Krell is a Legendary Hero that can be summoned by Heinrich Kemmler as a special ability in singleplayer and multiplayer battles.

* BlackKnight: He has the appearance of one, as do all wights, but he gets the look even better, as unlike other wights Krell [[StillWearingTheOldColors wears ancient, yet expertly forged, Chaos Warrior plate armor]] which has been modified to sport Vampire Count iconography and colors rather than symbols of the Ruinous Powers.

* EnigmaticMinion: Krell rarely speaks, and usually carries out Heinrich's orders with brutal efficiency, with a certain coldness that contrasts with his status as a Norscan Champion of Khorne. He seemingly has little personal loyalty to the Lichemaster, barring some gratitude for raising him so he can slaughter once more, it's just convenient to serve him. His summon spell's FlavorText reveals that his ultimate loyalty is to [[GreaterScopeVillain Nagash, the First Necromancer]].

* HeroKiller: Despite being an excellent source of crowd control with his HerdHittingAttack, Krell is very adapt at fighting other heroes. Any other hero who tries to face Krell in a straight fight, will be subjected to a CurbStompBattle. In the background, Krell holds the honor of being the one who almost felled Gotrek Gurnisson, a legendary slayer, and inspired an aura of dread that almost made [[DeathSeeker Gotrek]] ''fear'' him.

* ClassicVillain: Kemmler was one of the first named villains in tablet Warhammer's history, first appearing in 1986.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Kemmler had a bad case of this in the first game, which only got worse with the release of Vlad, Isabella and Ghorst. With the release of Krell in the ''Old Friend'' FLC Kemmler got an unique factor back, and as of ''Mortal Empires'' he's now in possession of his own faction and immunity to attrition.

* SquishyWizard: Especially when compared to [[MagicKnight Mannfred]]. Heinrich's statline is actually slightly ''worse'' than a generic Master Necromancer at the beginning of the campaign, and he cannot ride mounts; making him extremely vulnerable and requiring constant protection. Fortunately, he has [[MightyGlacier Krell]] to offset this weakness.
* TookALevelInBadass: Meta example, and one of the most shining examples in the series so far. Kemmler in the ''Warhammer 1'' days was basically the [[MemeticLoser laughingstock of the entire fanbase]]; an absolutely ''garbage'' Legendary Lord that was never picked in single player or multiplayer, didn't feel like his lore incarnation at all, mocked for being an underling of Mannfred, and had worse stats than the ''generic'' Necromancer Lord! The Old Friend FLC, however, gave him his own little niche as TheMinionMaster, but even then, people were far more afraid of Krell than Kemmler. ''Mortal Empires'', however, not only gives him a host of ''very'' powerful buffs, such as a mount, a bunch of way more useful campaign bonuses, proper abilities that reflect his lore, ''alongside'' the powerhouse that is Krell, it finally made him his legitimate power in his own right, no longer a subordinate to the Vampires. Kemmer has gone a very long way.

* WildCard: Kemmler explicitly serves no-one but himself, and has only aligned himself with the Midnight Aristocracy out of convenience... which as Mortal Empires has ''ended'', and has Kemmler striking out on his own.

* BatOutOfHell: Fittingly for a Vampiric army they have access to no less then four different bat-esque units.

** ''Warhammer'' Ghouls are {{Technically Living Zombie}}s that feed on carrion and carry large bones as clubs. They actually have a lot in common with trolls--besides a visual similarity, both types of units regenerate damage over time and have an acid spit attack. There are also Crypt Horrors, monster-sized Ghouls who are given a dosage of Vampire blood to make them physically much more stronger then a regular Ghoul.

** Corpse Carts themselves are very similar, which are rickety carts stuffed with fresh corpses, that are pulled along the Vampire Counts lines to give certain magical auras. There's no less then three variants. The normal one which provides regeneration to undead units around them. The second, which has a balefire brazier attached, which makes spellcasting more difficult for enemy wizards. And the third, which holds an Unholy Lodestone, ''doubles'' the regeneration undead receive.

* TookALevelInBadass: Meta example, and one of the most shining examples in the series so far. Kemmler in the ''Warhammer 1'' days was basically the [[MemeticLoser laughingstock of the entire fanbase]]; an absolutely ''garbage'' Legendary Lord that was never picked in single player or multiplayer, didn't feel like his lore incarnation at all, mocked for being an underling of Mannfred, and had worse stats than the ''generic'' Necromancer Lord! The Old Friend FLC, however, gave him his own little niche as TheMinionMaster, but even then, people were far more afraid of Krell then Kemmler. ''Mortal Empires'', however, not only gives him a host of ''very'' powerful buffs, such as a mount, a bunch of way more useful campaign bonuses, proper abilities that reflect his lore, ''alongside'' the powerhouse that is Krell, it finally made him his legitimate power in his own right, no longer a subordinate to the Vampires. Kemmer has gone a very long way.

* TheBerserker: Krell's undeath has changed little when it comes to fighting style, which is relentlessly powerful strikes with his axe until his victim is nothing more then a bloody pulp.

Among the unholy ranks of the Undead, none inspire more dread than the Vampire. Immortal, parasitic beings that retain all of the devious cunning, personality and ambition they had in life, Vampires are the true masters of Undeath, endowed with superhuman strength and speed and the innate ability to wield necromantic magic and command lesser Undead. The terrible price to pay for this cursed existence is the burning, everlasting thirst to feast upon blood of the living in order to maintain their power and sanity.

None of these have proved more infamous than the Vampire Counts of Sylvania. Though technically still part of the Empire, the province of Sylvania has long been in thrall to the von Carstein bloodline, a forsaken land of dingy copses, desolate moorlands and almost perpetual night where the dead outnumber the living. Thrice have the von Carsteins struck out from Sylvania and waged war upon the Empire, in a series of devastating conflicts known as the Vampire Wars that almost brought the Empire to its knees, the Undead only barely held at bay through great sacrifice.

None of these have proved more infamous than the Vampire Counts of Sylvania. Though technically still part of the Empire, the province of Sylvania has long been in thrall to the von Carstein bloodline, a forsaken land of encroaching mists, desolate moorlands and almost perpetual night where the dead walk among the living. Thrice have the von Carsteins struck out from Sylvania and waged war upon the Empire, in a series of devastating conflicts known as the Vampire Wars that almost brought the Empire to its knees, the Undead only held at bay through great sacrifice.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves are forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, corpses stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The dead walk again, and this time, no one might be able to stand in their way.

The first of the Vampires was Neferata, the beautiful and ambitious Queen of Lahmia, who in ages past studied the Books of Nagash, the Great Necromancer, in an attempt to replicate the Elixir of Life that had granted him immortality. She succeeded, but only partially, for her creation instead transformed Neferata and her courtiers into blood-drinking creatures of the night. After the fall of Lahmia and the final defeat of Nagash, the Vampires fled into the world, spreading the loathsome curse of Undeath across the realms of Men and establishing new lineages and bloodlines.

The first of the Vampires was Neferata, the beautiful, cunning and ambitious Queen of Lahmia, who in ages past studied the Books of Nagash, the Great Necromancer, in an attempt to replicate the Elixir of Life that had granted him immortality. She succeeded, but only partially, for her creation instead transformed Neferata and her courtiers into blood-drinking creatures of the night. After the fall of Lahmia and the final defeat of Nagash, the Vampires fled, spreading the loathsome curse of Undeath across the realms of Men and establishing new lineages and bloodlines.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, corpses stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The dead walk again, and this time, no one might be able to stand in their way.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, corpses stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The dead will walk again, and this time, no one might be able to stand in their way.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, corpses stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The dead will walk again, and this time, no one might be able to stop them.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, the dead stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The legions of the Vampire Counts gather once more, and this time, no one might be able to stop them.

The morbid lords of the Midnight Aristocracy are a blasphemy against nature and reason, their ultimate ambition being to topple the civilisations of the living and supplant them with an empire of death, where legions of mindless, unliving slaves forever ruled over by the iron will of their Vampiric masters. Rumours abound that darkness once again gathers in Sylvania, the dead stirring in their graves as wordless moans and the clank of rusted armour emerge from age-worn mausoleums. The dead walk again, and this time, no one might be able to stop them.