The legions of Waiqar the Undying inspire dread in all who face them. Reanimates shamble into battle while skeleton archers rain blighted arrows down from the sky—and all the while, fallen warriors rise from the ground and rejoin the ranks of their unit. Some have even seen undead soldiers riding on the backs on carrion worms, spreading disease and corruption with every writhing movement. [1]
Waiqar the Undying was once the top general in the army of the great wizard Timorran. But in Timorran's fight against the Uthuk Y'Llan in the First Darkness, Waiqar was captured and tortured by the Uthuk. While Timorran eventually rescued him, Waiqar had changed. Whether he had been corrupted by the demonic influence of the Uthuk, or if he was simply broken by the torture, nobody knows.
At the end of the 100 year peace that followed the First Darkness and the Scourging of the Wastes, Timorran knew his life was nearing its end. So he channeled all his powers into an object he called the "Orb of the Sky", so as to keep his peace alive forever. This proved to be his undoing, for his most trusted general, Waiqar Sumarion, launched an assault on the tower where the orb was kept.
Broken and defeated, Timorran was forced to shatter the Orb. He then used the power of one of the shards to transform his most trusted acolyte, Lumii Tamar, into a raven. He then told Tamar to take the shards and spread them across Terrinoth. When Waiqar reached the top of the tower and saw what Timorran had done, he was furious. He killed Timorran with one blow, and then took the shard from the dead body of the great wizard.
Clasping the shard, Waiqar made a dark oath. He vowed never to rest until he had all of the shards. The enormous hatred within this oath produced an unexpected result. Waiqar vowed to never rest, so never rest he did. [2]
With his old friend’s lifeblood still hot on his hands, Waiqar strode from the tower. Under the gathering storm, Waiqar swore that until he possessed Timmorran’s power, he would never rest. As Waiqar made this vow, the skies above Wizard’s Vale curdled with ancient, malignant power. So it was that Waiqar cursed himself to undeath.
But the curse was not satisfied with Waiqar alone. One by one his soldiers fell dead. The rain turned black and became a poisonous, torrential downpour, rendering flesh from bone as easily as boiling acid. A thunderous wail of suffering echoed through Wizard’s Vale in a gruesome cacophony.
In the clamor, Waiqar held his arms out to the rain, and the deadly drops slid off his white skin without effect. It is said that every child in the realm woke at that moment, lending their frightened cries to those of the damned trapped in Wizard’s Vale. Only Waiqar remained standing as the rain stopped. As he lowered his arms, the clouds broke, and the moon revealed the grotesque scene upon the valley floor. What had been a living army hours before was a silent field of bones and liquefied flesh. Thousands upon thousands of armored skeletons lay before him, each twisted by the pain inflicted upon them in their final moments. Wet armor and fallen weapons glistened in the moonlight like shining stones in a black lake. The feathers of crows flurried across the ground, fallen leaves from the tree of death.
Suddenly compelled, Waiqar begin to chant in a voice that was not his own. Though he did not know his words, he knew their meaning. They spoke of dust and the grave, of dirt and worms, of rotten sinew and cold earth. As his chant rose, an icy wind blew across the valley floor. The wet armor of the dead bloomed with frost. And the dead began to rise. Slowly, one by one, the soldiers stood, their eyes vacant except for the tiniest violet sparks. These were proud warriors who in life had been ensnared by lies and usurped by an unholy rite. Alas, as they rose in the death, they were as fiercely loyal to their general as they had been while breathing…[3]
Death had no hold on him any longer. He took his army and fled to the Ru Steppes to the west of the Free Cities to plot his return. Waiqar then brought the most skilled Necromancers to his lands, and the undead army began to form.
Waiqar then launched an attack on Terrinoth, known as the Second Darkness, but was repelled by the King Daqan, and later, the Council.
Waiqar also caused the Third Darkness, the revolt of the DragonLords. He spoke to the powerful Zir the Black in her dreams, and when she learned of the shards, she and the other DragonLords set out to find them, tearing Terrinoth apart in the process. When the dragons found a shard, they carved their own runes onto them, amplifying their power. Some dragons split the shards into smaller pieces, giving them to their mortal allies. These are the minor runes used by spellcasters today. Two things stopped the DragonLords and Waiqar's plot. First, the Orcs of the Broken Plains joined the fight alongside the Elves, Dwarves, and Men, laying aside old hatreds. The second was that one of the dragons killed Zir.
Now Waiqar plots again to take the shards, and this time he won't rely on Dragons to do it. Waiqar is the one who started the Fourth Darkness, commonly known as the Rune Wars.
Waiqar's army consists of Reanimates, who are the remains of his original army. When their skeleton body is killed, the soul simply finds a new skeleton. The Reanimate Archers are are also his original soldiers. Necromancers create new soldiers every day for Waiqar. Bone Horrors are quickly cobbled together creatures made out of any bones the Necromancers could find. Death Knights are the bound spirits of mortals who swore allegiance to Waiqar at some point in time. They are mounted on undead horses, and wear black armor.
Barghests are undead creatures similar to lycanthropes, and Wraiths are spirits bound to Waiqar. Banshees are typical Banshees, and occasionally a Barrow Wyrm, or undead dragon, can be found in an army. Carrion Lancers are giant worms that spread disease and corruption with each horrifying undulation.[2]
Waiqar Units available in Runewars: The Miniatures Game