The War of Sand and Snow was a bloody battle that lasted for five years, from 2281 to 2285 in the Imperial Calendar. It was one of the countless blood lessons that warned the world that they should stay away from the cursed Southland.
The War Begins: The War of the Vultures (of the )
When an army of barbarian tribesmen from the cold north landed on the hot coast of Nehekhara, the Immortal Emperor Settra had ruled over all of Nehekhara as the undying king for more than a thousand years. These savage warriors sacked several tombs before the skeletal warriors of Settra's Immortal Legion began to crawl out of the desert to prevent their escape. Just as the looters were preparing to face the undead who came to reckon with them, the sky suddenly fell into darkness. The Norscans stared at the ominous sky. In just one heartbeat, a hail of arrows fell in the middle of their ranks, killing hundreds of warriors. They were followed by a swarm of carrion vultures, which swooped down on the wounded and dying, tearing out their throats and bellies with their sharp beaks. The leader of the tribe, Vargar the Butcher, ordered a savage counterattack, unleashing a pack of bloodthirsty Chaos warhounds who tore the wight vultures apart with a frenzied bite. Varga then adjusted the ranks of surviving warriors to prepare for the coming skeleton army.
As the two armies collided, axes and spears clashed, but wherever Vargar fought, the undead that came near were slain by his axes or crushed by the hooves of his demonic steeds. Despite Vargar's formidable fighting prowess, his armies were still outnumbered, and his own warriors were growing tired, their strength eroded by the blinding desert sun. In the distance, Varga could see a figure emerging from the heat haze, a majestic warrior riding a golden chariot forward. Valgar raised his ax covered in unholy runes into the air and roared a challenge to the new uninvited guest – a plea that was met with thunderous response.
This uninvited guest was the immortal emperor Settra, who with the fury of the ancient gods struck at the invaders, carving a bloody path to the chieftain's seat. As the two commanders fought, Settra swung his magical blade in a huge arc, decapitating Vargar's demonic mount with a single blow. Just as Vargar's horse was slain by it, the chief's ax emitted evil energy and was suddenly surrounded by magical flames. The ax struck deep into Settra's chest, setting her body on fire. Before Vargar could enjoy his victory, Settra's body suddenly exploded into a swarm of ravenous beetles that ripped the chieftain's flesh from his bones and flew back to the Great Pyramid, allowing the Tomb King's immortal form to be reborn once again . During the carnage, Vargar's lieutenant, Khgul the Bloodfist, bent down to pick up Settra's crown, then gathered the surviving tribesmen and fought their way back to the coast from the skeleton army. Only a dozen of the raiders survived and fled back to their icy kingdom, covered in blood but with riches that made them richer than they could have ever imagined.
Settra's Revenge: ('s)
Ten years later, Settra awoke from her sarcophagus again. Although its body had recovered, its soul burned with a desire for revenge. Not only did the barbarians of the north dare to enter its territory and defile the desert with their savage feet, they also dared to fight it and even knock it to the ground. The most heinous of all crimes, however, was the audacity of their base hands upon the Crown of Nehekhara – a crime of disrespect that could only be paid for with death. The immortal Settra will punish the barbarians for their arrogance – their blood will dye the snows of their homeland red.
Nehekhara's Immortal Emperor summons its lich-priests and orders them to awaken its vassals; the Khemri's legions prepare for war. Settra's fleet, laden with legions of undead warriors and war constructs, sailed north toward the frozen wastes. Nehekhara's rulers swore that it would return to Khemri only when all the stolen gold coins were recovered and all the barbarians who escaped its wrath ten years ago were slain.
Those Norscans who escaped the wrath of the Immortal Emperor became chieftains in their own right, and the wealth they brought back from the Land of the Dead gave them greater power and legions of followers. A few have even become Champions of Chaos, and now lead entire tribes of ruthless warriors and countless mutant monsters.
Settra's armies battled across the northern continent with heavily armored warriors of Chaos. Colossal statues marched relentlessly through the fierce blizzard, and whole regiments of skeleton chariots tirelessly searched for the guilty in the snowdrifts. Thousands were slain by swords and spears by Settra's armies, and tribe after tribe was utterly razed by the tomb army. The dragon demon was destroyed by the powerful Ushabit, the troll turned into a pillar of sand under the gaze of the ghost walker, and the ferocious giant was torn apart by the claws of the vicious undead sphinx. Driven by Settra's unyielding will, Nehekhara's expeditionary legions were unstoppable. Within five years, only one of the dozens of escaped raiders was still alive, and only one treasure—the Crown of Nehekhara—had yet to be returned to its rightful owner. Settra's revenge is at hand.
Finale: The Dead and the Damned
After a long journey across the Hell Demon Glacier ( ), Settra's legions fought against the army of Kagur Bloodfist – Kagur Bloodfist was the last and most powerful of the marauders who escaped that year. The same one who stole Settra's crown years ago. In the intervening years, Kagur's victories have made him a powerful Chaos Lord, imbued with the power of dark gods whose names no one dares to speak. Kagur commanded a vast Chaos Horde, and his fame was so great that the tribes and armies of the surrounding Alliance flocked to his blood-stained banner. It wasn't just the Chaos Gods who took note of the warrior's deeds, for Prince Apophas ( ), the Cursed Scarab Prince, saw in Kagur a soul that might be his equal; one that could free him from Ni. Souls redeemed from years of torture in Hekara's underground kingdom. So as Settra led the legions of Nehekhara into battle against the gathering Chaos hordes, cutting their way through their heavily armored ranks, Apophas ambushed the unsuspecting Khajur.
The Chaos Lord had just finished dismembering a giant tomb scorpion when he was suddenly surrounded by a large group of black beetles. These black beetles blurred his vision and finally turned into human shapes. The figure holds a dagger in one hand, its leering skull seeming to stare into Kagur's soul. Kajur's bodyguards rushed towards the assassin without pause, but the assassin opened his mouth and spit out a large number of beetles, drowning them under the wave of beetles. Apophas strode towards his target, Kagur readying his axe. The Chaos Lord punched the figure wildly, but to no avail. Each time Kargul sliced into Apophas' body, a wave of fast-swimming scarabs flowed over the wound and repaired it. In desperation, he raised the ax above his head and prepared to chop off the assassin's head, but before he could do so, Apophas pierced the champion's throat with his dagger. Kajul's blood spurted from his arteries and he fell to his knees. Apophas extracted the warrior's soul from his body, captured it, and dragged it into Nehekhara's realm of the dead, never to rise again.
With Kagur's fall, the cohesion of the Chaos Legions collapsed. The northern tribesmen reverted to their primitive, violent nature, and they were easily routed by Settra's disciplined legions. Again and again the King of Nehekhara drove the chariot of the gods into the ranks of mortals, leaving a trail of fire and death in his wake. Faced with this onslaught, the morale of the northerners was shaken, and the barbarian tribesmen turned and fled, only to be pursued by the skeleton cavalry legions set up by Settra to prevent anyone from escaping. Only the armored warriors of the Chaos Legions stood, fighting in a clash of steel and stone with Khemri's war statues, but they too were slaughtered mercilessly as Settra's chariot legions crashed into the Chaos Legion's flanks. . Two days later, the last Chaos hordes were slaughtered by Settra's legions, and the bloody battle ended, during which Settra himself walked through the hail and killed an ancient dragon demon wrapped in lightning energy. The snow was littered with corpses, and Settra found the bloody Crown of Nehekhara among them. The treasures of Settra are now restored to their rightful owners, and those who once desecrated it and its kingdom now lie at its feet. Such is the fate of anyone who dares stand against the Immortal Emperor Settra.
(This is also the prototype of the artifact mission in the game)