The Dreadfleet

The origins of the Undead pirates said to ravage the coasts of Lustria are steeped in mystery. Legend has it that a Norscan longship took on a precious cargo during a raid – an ancient coffin containing, unbeknownst to the crew, the Vampire Luthor Harkon. When the vessel floundered off the Volcanic Islands, the drowned crew were raised as zombies through the Vampire's Dark Magic.

The stretch of coastline known as the Vampire Coast has become infamous amongst seafarers, with countless ships wrecked and raised up from the depths to bolster the fleets of the Unliving. Luthor was but the first. In the years since, more Undead pirates ply the seas for bounty and fresh crews.

Faction Name The Dreadfleet

Campaign wh3_main_combi

Culture wh2_dlc11_cst_vampire_coast

Subculture wh2_dlc11_sc_cst_vampire_coast

Military Group wh2_dlc11_group_vampire_coast

Faction Group wh2_dlc11_fact_group_vampire_coast

Faction Group Name Vampire Coast

• (wh2_dlc11_political_party_cst_noctilus_ruler)
  Count Noctilus sails to Ulthuan's western shores from the ethereal depths of Galleon's Graveyard to ravage the world once more. The immortal Vampire Counts of Sylvania – known to most as the Midnight Aristocracy – seldom venture from the comfort of their dank castles and certainly very few have been known to leave their fell feeding grounds for the uncertain life of the sea-borne adventurer. Nyklaus von Carstein, therefore, is something of an anomaly among his kind…
  
  The infamous fleet commander now known as Count Noctilus is leader of the Dreadfleet – a malevolent gathering of dissolute (and desiccated) Undead warship captains, including notorious privateers such as the Shadewraith, the Skabrus, the Black Kraken and the Curse of Zandri, among others, who bring abject ruin to the high seas and damnation to living seafarers. Although once a member of Sylvania’s aristocratic Vampire dynasty, he had a markedly different vision from his squabbling peers of how he would achieve Necromantic supremacy. After studying the countless charts which map the ebb and flow of magic across the world, von Carstein realised that by mastering the art of seafaring he would be able to harness the magical gales that whirl and cascade across the oceans.
  
  This newfound route to power eventually led him to translocate himself and his Undead minions to the bone-choked morass of the Galleon’s Graveyard, a fell sea-based realm of the Unliving between the tangible and intangible worlds that entraps shipwrecked vessels from across the Great Ocean. It was in this mysterious place that Nyklaus von Carstein founded his darkling empire and renamed himself Count Noctilus.
  
  At the centre of the Galleon’s Graveyard, Noctilus has feasted upon the magic of a sentient whirlpool known as the Maelstrom – a skull-strewn tempest of magic that sucks in shipwrecks, plunder, and drowned sailors from beyond the veil like a giant lodestone. By using the whirlpool’s raw power to draw in the shattered remains of dead warships, he has forged a grotesque seafaring vessel of his own – the Bloody Reaver, an amalgam of rotting galleons and eldritch power upon which sits the dark and jagged crag of his floating castle, standing proudly like a conqueror’s statue!
  
  As the clock strikes midnight, the Dreadfleet heads out to sea, its Undead captains eager to slake their unholy thirsts. Their warships of the damned emerge from banks of sulphurous fog, illuminated only by flickering, pallid ghostlights, drawing closer with the sickening slowness of a recurring nightmare before the silence is broken by the thunderous roar of their lethal broadsides! After each raid, the Dreadfleet disappears back into its watery lair as quickly and silently as it first appeared, far from the reach of the living.
  
  Master of the Bloody Reaver
  Count Noctilus moved his castle in Sylvania to the Maelstrom known as Galleon's Graveyard, from there he wages war on all the living that dare sail his seas.
  
  Recruitment duration: -1 turn for Necrofex Colossus units (minimum 1) (faction_to_force_own_unseen)
  Diplomatic relations: +60 with Followers of Nagash (faction_to_faction_own_unseen)
  Gain war-declaration missions with unique rewards (faction_to_faction_own_unseen)
  Horde recruitment capacity +2 (faction_to_force_own_unseen)
  

Infamy & Loyalty: Destroy, sack and raid to build a reputation at sea, whilst keeping ambitious commanders loyal and trustworthy by imparting riches and wealth to them.
Pirate Coves: Gain Infamy and leech wealth from unsuspecting settlement owners where these hideouts have been formed.
Extra Powder: Boosts the firepower missile units can output in battle while they have high levels of ammunition at their disposal.

Faction Group

wh2_dlc09_effect_increase_army_capacity_hidden (faction_to_faction_own_unseen)
[HIDDEN] Building set used when a new Vampire Coast horde spawns (faction_to_faction_own_unseen)
Battering rams: +1 per siege item constructed (all armies)
Siege towers: +2 per siege item constructed (all armies)
Sea Lanes journey duration: -1 turns (factionwide)
Underworld Sea travel time: -1 (factionwide)
Income from post-battle loot: -50% (faction_to_faction_own_unseen)