The Avengorii Dynasty - Soulblight Lore

[@Nekorook]

“Getting blasted with death magic.” I just imagine the person sitting there and getting blasted with death metal until they transform.

[@floriannarratio8062]

Their warcry is not the typical vampiric "Blaaaaaah" but instead "Uuuuuuwahahaha" by Disturbed.

[@Eastsider81]

GW Vampires: I hate my reflection. Non GW Vampires: You guys have reflections?

[@tyronechamp]

Love how the avengorii are the most bestial of the soulblights, but are the least likely to murder innocents due to Lauka Vai’s leadership

[@Dreadnautilus]

Lauka Vai is the best named character in the Gravelords book, and I really hope Dynasty of Monsters is good.

[@sitnam9054]

I haven't read Annandales AoS stuff, but he does very well when you let him just do his own thing. His Horror stuff, Yarrick, Black Dragons, is all great

[@salva4777]

Just. Realized.

[@veermudambi5795]

It is! Definitely one of the better written of recent Black Library books

[@subzero47pl]

Reading and lerning about Lauka Vai make me like her more even she has a sad and tragic story that makes me "Aww thats sad" but still a blood thirsty vampire :P and I like that duality :)

[@herostrate]

Comments for the algorithm god! But also to say I love spending a hobby night listening to your lore breakdowns. Great listening, and your passion for story really comes through.

[@gregorygreenwood-nimmo4954]

It is an interesting approach to the Avengorii the writers have taken here, going for the tragic monster angle facilitated by the way the physicality of the Soulblight vampires can reflect their mental and moral state, and playing up the idea that somewhere, deep down, all Soulblight vampires understand that they are abominations; unnatural monstrosities that shouldn't exist and are an affront to life itself. The Vengorian Lords embody an aspect of that vampiric duality especially well, both glorying in their power and simultaneously hating themselves for their degeneration into a monster, so much so that they cannot bear seeing their reflection at all and will go to extreme, obsessive ends to destroy all reflective surfaces around them by means of magic, which is a nice nod to the old myths surrounding vampires and reflections. The 'no reflection at all' vampire attribute (that is supposed to symbolically reflect their inhuman, unliving, even soul-less nature) that is so common in vampire fiction today is actually only one of several vampire myths about reflections. In some mythology, silver backed mirrors supposedly are 'pure' and show a 'true' reflection of a person or being as it really is, and so can cut through glamours or illusions and show the monstrous truth of a vampire rather than their artificial veneer of humanity (they can do the same for other shape shifters and beings of deceit as well in those myths). In still other myths, mirrors reflect the human being a vampire once was rather than the monster they are, and they hate mirrors because it reminds them of all they have lost in pursuit of dark power and immortality. The Vengroian Lords cover all those themes in one way or another. The fact that it can all happen by accident and condemn a vampire who doesn't want to become a Vengorian to this fate just adds another layer or tragic pathos to it. With regard to their place among the broader Soulblight Midnight Aristocracy, I especially appreciate the way that the Avengorii, by their nature, confront the other Dynasties with the uncomfortable truth of their beast within - their inherently monstrous and corrupted nature - and that, rather than the Avengorii's monstrous forms, is the real reason the other Dynasties despise them.

[@silencia08]

Lauka Vai gives off RE Village Tall Mommy Vampire vibes. 😍😂

[@auroralee]

I need to see someone convert her with the wide-brimmed hat and paint her in white, like immediately.

[@gregorygreenwood-nimmo4954]

@@auroralee Someone is definitely going to do that at some point. I think it is inevitable given the fact that this model and Resident Evil; Village came out so close to one another.

[@mattschaning9697]

What a lovely week this has been with Doug talking about vampires every day. Thank you for having something for me to look forward to each day.

[@blighboy1]

Really love (and surprised) that Soulblight contains named characters for literally every subfaction. Hope this indicates a trend.

[@GecktronLP]

GW also moved some Lumineth Characters out of the Poster Boy subfaction via FAQ. So it seems like GW is moving away from limiting Characters to just one subfaction.

[@thecandlemaker1329]

@@GecktronLP Don't forget Gardus "Boris Yeltsin" Steelsoul.

[@danielmcelwain6841]

Favorite Dynasty. “Dynasty of Monsters” by David Annandale was great!

[@andrewpepper-parsons9630]

An accidental leader is very interesting, and moving if Lauka Vai is looking for a sense of community. Does that make her the Brian from Monty Python's Life of Brian in the Soul Blight faction?

[@TJBHorror]

Damnnn, when you were chatting about the warrens/hives filled with crawling, misshapen vampires (I'm imagining serpentine and insectoid as much as bat/dragon!) you REALLY got my imagination going!

[@gregorygreenwood-nimmo4954]

Sounds like a good idea to me. The physical forms of Soulblight vampires are unstable by nature - just look at the Vyrkos and the way some of them have lupine features, but others have more bat or rat like attributes. Given the even more extreme mutations of the Avengorii, why shouldn't some of them be serpentine, their fangs elongated and venomous, their jaws able to distend to swallow a human victim whole like a snake would eat a mouse? Or how about a vampire with spider like attributes, with additional limbs, the ability to entrap victims in webs, and a tendency to use venoms to reduce a victim's body to slurry within their skin that the vampire then sucks out, blood, organs, and all, with oversized fangs, leaving only partially articulated skeletons behind? A vampiric centipede creature is its own kind of nightmare unto itself too. The options are vast and incredibly creepy.

[@thecandlemaker1329]

I instantly imagined the troll cave from Berserk (RIP Miura). Google it.

[@WargamerShawn]

I agree the lore nailed it and sold me on them more than I thought I would like them. Cavalry has always been big for me, I love skeletons and werewolves so I was initially for two other factions but this one got me too Great set of videos.... Cheers.

[@rybo0072]

I've already started to collect my avengorii dynesty because I've already got 3 terrorgheists from my flesh eater courts and I'm so excited!!!

[@joan500x]

Hey in the trailer reel about the animation projects, in the minute 1:20 you can spot the new enemies who will fight the stormcast in AoS 3.0, just in case you want to do a video about it!! love your content

[@doominator4072]

This dynasty sounds like it’s a dream come true for converters.

[@tomeknowik2050]

I'm considering slapping blood knights torsos on melusai bodies to make avengori knights but the cost of that would kill me

[@etinarcadiaego7424]

This progenitor and clan give me a very Lilith Mother of Monsters feel and that's awesome. I revere Mother Lilith and I'd totally go this direction if I were a vampire. It also reminds me of my favorite Vampire the Masquerade clan the Nosferatu. Ghur also happens to be my favorite of the Mortal Realms.

[@azethechamp]

So Vampires have a reflection now?

[@ShurilVolari]

The best dynasty by miles badass as hell and the truest showing of the vampiric scales. Between humanity and Vampirism

[@lukebell7463]

I gotta agree , but personally vyrkos is a tie for no 1 , the duality between the 2 dynasties is rly interesting, both are beastial but the vyrkos use it but try to keep the noble facade , the avengorii use it in a more primal way and abandon the noble facade , but where the vyrkos don’t discriminate in prey the avengorii feel no pride in slaughter of the weak

[@chaostear13]

TBH. "Avengorii, shaken not stirred" is the next army I gonna build.

[@frederickflores8152]

Been wanting a proper vampire army but sigmar was lacking until now. Now that I've got a copy of cursed city I'm definitely going to. Do you know the source for the female vampire art at around the 12:00 mark?

[@JamesTillmanjimthegray]

Great video, do you have any wight ones?

[@drkrazykid]

Does it state radukar transformed of his own choice? I figured he transformed as a reaction to almost dying

[@dragothromak6261]

Some really interesting parallels to the beasts of chaos in regards to mutation.

[@JohnnieGrooves]

When I saw Lauka Vai being revealed and learning that her dynasty might be leaning more towards Vargheist and monster side of vampires I was really afraid they wouldn't be able to differentiate the lore of the Avengorii and the FEC enough to make them two separate entities who draw from different aspects of their vampire origin, but thankfully after watching your video I think they did a good enough job to distingue them from one another.

[@lordkroak8457]

I love these guys and how there a mix between beast and vampire

[@LeoxandarMagnus]

I want to convert a vengori lord out of the Hydra kit

[@ziggman13]

Are there any more lorebooks with Lauka Vai in it? Or the Askurga Renkai? Or even her as a human? I have a dynasty of monsters but really want to dive more in het history and find here complete background story. Can you help me find the more obscure pieces of lore about her?

[@MisterDragon]

I knew I'd like these most and I wasn't disappointed. Currently, gun to my head, force me to pick a death army to collect: Avengorii all the way.

[@virisman]

Now I’m super excited to start my new Soul Blights Army!

[@booousername]

I came into this week thinking the faction sized blood knights would be my guys, but I was so wrong. These Avengorii all the way at this point

[@BaranzarCobralLIVE]

was not so sure on them at first but their lore is cool and I may pick up Lauka Vai, her story alone has changed my mine on them quite a bit

[@dank_smirk2ndchannel200]

Lauka just wants some friends. Best girl of 2021.

[@KamenRiderGreed]

Once all the stuff you want to do with Soulblight is done. Do you plan on doing that part 2 of Soulbound character creation?

[@E123OMEGArobot]

I would love a Black Library story about these vampires fighting/befriending the Ivory Host of the Ossiarch Bonereapers.

[@Dreadnautilus]

In the battletome's timeline there's actually a bit where Lauka Vai invades the Ivory Host because she's offended that they would bone tithe civillians instead of fighting the monsters of Ghur (the way the battletome writes it, it seemed she did this less out of compassion and more because she thought it was cowardly). Eventually Vokmortian has to come down to negotiate a truce.

[@placeholdername3818]

Sounds like the Vaingory Lords are AoS's version of Warhammer Fantasy's Ghoul Kings.

[@weltenspiel9218]

I dont even play AOS, but your video are just too interesting! 👌

[@tysonwollas235]

Love your videos

[@jonathancampbell7798]

Vampires have reflections?

[@LordOmnissiah]

Some of them do yes. In Warhammer not all vampires have the same traits or weaknesses, it’s been that way since the Old World. Some are weak to silver, some aren’t, some of them cast reflections and others don’t etc. In the old RPG based off the Warhammer tabletop game you used to have a weakness chart you would have to roll on when you made a vampire character and each bloodline had a slightly different one. Depending on what you rolled you got different weaknesses.

[@gregorygreenwood-nimmo4954]

LordOmnissiah is right (blessed be the Machine and the Motive Force, blessed be Cog and Gear and Sacred Algorithm). In the lore of the vampires for Warhammer, it is stated that each vampire is unique in its abilities and weaknesses, and in no small part the effect is psychosomatic - different vampires have powers and vulnerabilities consistent with the sorts of powers and weaknesses they expect to have due to the cultural beliefs about vampires their people harbour. All Soulblight vampires can command creatures of death and the night to some degree and have an affinity for death magic, some can also perform necromancy and vampiric blood magic, but not all. All of them are strong and fast and are generally more physically powerful than a human, but exactly how fast, strong and resilient they are varies. As an example, some vampires can run as fast as a peak human athlete without tiring, others can run as fast as a horse can gallop, and some can move so fast the eye can't follow them, giving the impression they just disappear from one location and immediately teleport to another by magic, and this variation can be found even within the same vampire bloodline. Some of them can do the classic vampire tricks of shape shifting into a bat, a wolf, or mist, others can't. Some have the strength of a dozen strong men, which is nothing to sniff at but much less than some others who can crush granite to powder in their fist with ease. Some can seduce and control minds with unnatural charisma, others radiate fear and horror like an aura, and some appear entirely mundane and normal until they attack. Some burn in sunlight, others have reduced powers in sunlight but are otherwise unharmed, and some are totally unaffected by sunlight. Some have near werewolf levels of vulnerability to silver, others habitually wear silver jewellery or carry a silver handled cane with no ill effects. It is one of the things that makes vampires hard to fight in the Warhammer lore - a would be vampire hunter is never entirely sure what they will be facing, what its powers will be, or what it will be vulnerable to, so it is best to come loaded for boar and prepared for almost anything, which is why the Order of Azyr hunters like the Van Densts are so heavily armed.

[@theDackjanielz]

I had no interest in vampires zombies or skelebums what so ever but lately i am genuinely tempted actually. This bloodline i am confident hasn't even started yet, i bet GW has real plans for insane models in this direction later on, with phase 2 probably. Little bit confused why this dynasty has the same "mutation" concept as the wolf one and yet they are different? But never mind, who cares really honestly! Hoping to see some genuine Dark souls/Silent hill horror models come out of this.

[@drkrazykid]

The mutation is different by the origin of the vampire dynasty, avengorri relate to nagash, the vyrkos are related to hrunspuul the godbeast

[@theDackjanielz]

@@drkrazykid oooo ok thanks! Cool stuffs!

[@elmirBDS]

The Avengorii is the one rule set that disappointed me the most... Nothing to do with powerlevel, but rather that they did not gave them Vargheists as battle line options. It feels thematically wrong. The bloodline was even first mentioned in the Vargheist bestiary in the old LoN book. But they went for the very uncreative route of giving them zombie dragons and/or terrorgheists. There already is an army that does that... It's called the grisstlegore in FEC.

[@ChaosStruck]

So no more bloodlines? Or are bloodlines still a thing, but dynasties take the focal point and determine societal structures? Cuz... dynasties aren't better than bloodlines imo even though this is a fascinating addition to vampire types. I was hoping that they would expand on bloodlines and that would ultimately predetermine "dynasties" and sub factions. Well what do I know, I don't even play the game (insert troll face).

[@kiesminis]

Thanks for covering them, really don't appeal to aesthetically, that's just my opinion on them. Their back story seems cool, but yeah they're still not for me.

[@niilofriden4465]

.

[@Hawkens4k]

so basically if furries ruled over a dynasty?

[@DocBravo]

Love the lore, but the models of the monster vampires looks really disproportionate and odd. Huge menacing body...tiny connection at hips to a sexy body.

[@ArkBlanc]

Vampire centaur = One of the worst designs that ever came out of GW.

[@Fratnip]

Cool story but the model looks dumb IMO

[@jeannefrenken3284]

Lauka was 'my' model from the time they showed her. I am definitely making this my first full army.

[@DarkYoshiya]

It's interesting how learning the lore made you like them more because for me it made me like them a lot less. They just seem so generic and boring for creatures of Ghur. No real exploration of that realm at all just "they're bestial and crazy, rawwwr!". The ritual for making the lords makes no sense to me either to be honest. If all it takes to turn a vampire into something like that is to get second hand magic from Shyish for ten days then why aren't all the vampires in Shyish instantly turned into them?