[X]Pay them(-400 gold per turn for as long as you continue to pay them)
Making Araby great again, a Sultan quest(Warhammer Fantasy)
- Thread starter guyfromtheplace1
- Start date
GhostKing 666
Bringing Nightmares to life evey minute
Blame Arabyan culture, while guns do exist in Araby(they aren't as bad as Bretonnia), they are rare and never really caught on the way they did in the Empire, Tilea and Estalia(mainly because Araby is basically Fantasy Middle East ala 1001 Arabian Nights and widespread guns wouldn't fit the aesthetic), heck even Kislev makes more use of gunpowder weapons with the coming invention of the Streltsi.
It's possible to change this and get Araby to actually modernize and start to make more use of guns or even cannons, but we'd have to deal with whatever religious dogma was preventing such in otl first.
Actually no, Arabyan Jezzail are described as being the RL type, the model was just a Warmaster model and all Warmaster models were funny looking like that, GW didn't really have that much skill in making nicely detailed and cool looking models back then.
What I meant by engineering is things like the Imperial College of Engineers or Leonardo da Miragliano. I specifically mentioned that architecture was one of Araby's strong points but Araby isn't known for it's mechanical engineering(which gunpowder weapons qualify under). Unlike Tilea it doesn't have things like Galloper Guns or actual flying suits, and unlike the Empire it doesn't have things like Steam Tanks, Repeater Guns, grenade launchers, volley guns, rocket batteries, pigeon bombs and mechanical horses.
What Araby does have is some of the best cavalry in the Old World(elephants, camels and horses descendent from elven stock) and an older history of magic(including access to rare and unique magical creatures such as the Radiant Pegasus). Sure Arabyan sorcerer's aren't all that skilled when it comes to directly manipulating the Winds like the wizards of the Colleges, they lack elven tutelage and live to far south to have an easy time developing native skills in such areas(like the various druids in the Empire or Cathay's astromancers) nor does Araby's native religion grant them such skills like Bretonnian Damsels or Nehekharan Liche Priests, but there aren't any human magicians in the entire world(with the possible exception of chaos worshippers in the far north) that can match their skills in capturing spirits, djinn and possibly even daemons and binding them into objects(such as the classic flying carpet or enchanted rope, various magical weapons and even channeling a djinn's power through their own bodies to cast spells).
Heck you can see this disparity in style in their Dreadfleet ships. Compare the Imperial Heldenhammer with the Golden Magus's Flaming Scimitar. The Heldenhammer is a gigantic three-mast Galleon with over a hundred cannons and guns, capped off with a big ass steam powered statue of Sigmar on the prow capable of smashing anything in front of it. While the Scimitar is an Arabyan pleasure barge that uses bind djinn for propulsion and attack.
Araby's aesthetic is Fantasy Middle East ala the 1001 Arabian Nights, like Aladdin, Prince of Persia or the Alin from Rise of Legends.
Wouldn't a temple in Araby be called a Mosque rather then cathedral? What with being Fantasy Middle East and all.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm, to pay or not to pay, given the situation...
- Location
- Denmark
[x] Pay them less than what they're asking (diplomacy roll, ???)
- Location
- nz
[X]Pay them(-400 gold per turn for as long as you continue to pay them)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X]Pay them(-400 gold per turn for as long as you continue to pay them)
ThatGuyWithIdeas
Treize died for our sins
- Location
- Romania
[X]Pay them(-400 gold per turn for as long as you continue to pay them)
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
It needs some more editing.
edit: Also I'm flat out not sure if I'll make the Arabyans more like the Islamics or the immediately post escape from Egypt Jews.
One one hand Islamic stuff fits better with them aesthetically, on the other hand there appears to be something that leads them to not proselytize as much as they could, most likely the idea that their god is for them only, and the whole epic of escaping slaves from Egypt would translate pretty well into Warhammer.
edit 2: also some of those references will be really useful. Thanks.
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But isn't it also mostly isolation? I mean they have tried to expand before which brought on the crusades from the Knightly Orders
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Nah they've tried to proselytize before it just didn't work out so they went isolationist. When your in a setting where the gods are as active as the warhammer world pushing your religion is a lot harder. If you wanna keep the ran away from Egypt bit though that's fine but keep it Islamic mostly.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
Eh, sure. I was already mostly leaning in that direction
GhostKing 666
Bringing Nightmares to life evey minute
Keep in mind that a lot of that Imperial and Tilean stuff hasn't been invented yet, the Empire at this point should have Steam Tanks, Great Cannons, Mortars and simple handguns like the Arquebus and Blunderbuss and maybe the Hochland Long-Rifle if it's been invented yet.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
Yeah, I was trying for that, I thought having the politics more complicated would give the whole thing a greater feeling of depth.
There's also a whole lot going on in the background that I have notes for, but I need to better develop some characters in order to show any of it.
edit: That said, the nation is entering a period of consolidation that will simplify what I have to keep track of.
always_confused
Perpetually unwanted
- Location
- SEA
As minor as it is, I just have to ask. Once Araby is unified...Padishah or Shahenshah?
On a more serious note, I hope the other human polities won't interfere in our unification efforts? The more united powers there are, the better the chance against Chaos and all that.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
*Waggles hand uncertainly*As minor as it is, I just have to ask. Once Araby is unified...Padishah or Shahenshah?
On a more serious note, I hope the other human polities won't interfere in our unification efforts? The more united powers there are, the better the chance against Chaos and all that.
It depends on rolls, it should be noted that some Bretonnians(and Tomb Kings) view Arabyans essentially as a type of gribble, mostly due to the piracy and pirate slave raiding in the Bretonnians case, the other nations have negative stereotypes against you, and some Estalialian families and organizations would like to see the crusades restarted.
Both the Estalians and the Tileans will view you demonstrating increased unification as a bad thing for mercantile reasons, but may be otherwise occupied, and the Bretonnians might be set off at any point by you knocking out a different foe, or just by your people continuing to occupy the Emirate of Lugash, but may be otherwise occupied.
One thing that I'm going to try to capture about the setting is the sheer amount of bullheaded warmongering that goes on. It's set up to be able to excuse any faction fighting any other faction, or even their own faction.
I once read a fanfic(I think it was Gatehammer) where Karl Franz sends some troops after some Dwarves that had taken a conflict over some mines too far, and didn't expect this to escalate out of control, his thoughts were that Thorgrim would understand, and I assume he planned on settling grudges in some way that wouldn't permanently sour relations with nearby Dwarves, as an example of the setting supporting a scenario that someone could take advantage of if they wanted to fight an Empire and Dwarf army against each other without the scenario seeming entirely out of character for the setting.(And even a causal check shows there were also plenty of cannon scenarios where nominally allied factions would fight)
So, you're not amazingly likely to see push back from another power over unification on it's own, but they might try to split you up or tear you down for unrelated reasons, and you might end up with a reason to fight them or they might have a reason to fight you, this combined with a fail at using diplomacy to get past the problem could lead to a small war, followed by one or both sides deciding they have better things to put effort into and losing interest, or further diplomacy to sooth ruffled feathers.
But treaties are still an effective tool for creating nominal alliances or at least making sure that when you're both on the same battlefield you will target each other last, and knowing how other nations negotiating traditions work can allow meetings to settle specific issues without it coming to violence.
edit: Also serious moment on the Padishah or Shahenshah issue. I have no clue yet, do you have a preference?
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GhostKing 666
Bringing Nightmares to life evey minute
The only ones who would care are Estalia and Tilea, both of whom are if anything even less unified then Araby(especially Estalia, Tilea is at least divided along city-state lines but in Estalia even individual villages can have massive feuds with each other). The idea that either could unify enough to send forces that could seriously threaten Araby is outright hilarious. Bretonnia is a bigger threat but Araby is far enough away that we are pretty out of mind as long we don't do anything to attract their attention such as attacking Antoch or invading another nation, and even then this is a time period before the creation of the famous Bretonnia navy(during the Crusades Bretonnia and Imperial forces required Tilean ships to reach Araby).
As for the Empire, we are at the tail end of the of the Time of Three Emperors, where the very idea of a unified Empire is a distant memory. Granted sometime soon the Great War Against Chaos will happen, Magnus will show up and reunite the Empire and crush the Everchosen outside of Kislev city. We could invade and conquer Sudenburg(the colony city established by Imperials during the Crusades) and there isn't anything anyone could or would do about it and even after Magnus shows up the Empire will be in no condition to do anything about it for years if not decades.
Araby is so far away that by some standards we aren't even a part of the Old World, even the Great War Against Chaos should pass us by without any major issues. We don't really have much to worry about when it comes to foreign intervention from other human nations(Skaven are another story but that's Skaven for you).
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
Mostly true, but Antoch's already been destroyed by the Lizardmen, then the territory incorporated into the Emirate of Lugash.(Yes I nearly missed that it existed, but caught it before the last update and now that it's in an update that's cannon for this quest) There are Bretonnians with what they view as an ancestral claim on the territory but they don't have the political support to muster enough forces to take back the land.
Also I roll for the generation of things like Crusades and Errantry Wars, while the Empire religions are all targeting each other, and Araby isn't on the table of possible targets for an Errantry War, it is technically possible(if unlikely right now) for the Myrmidians to declare a crusade against you.
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- Location
- California, USA
Like Nehekhara, is slavery an important part of the Araby religion?
GhostKing 666
Bringing Nightmares to life evey minute
Bretonnia doesn't have a decent navy right now, in order for them to invade us they would first have to convince either Estalia or Tilea to help them, or rather convince one of the Tilean or Estalian city-states and merchant princes to help them.
And as I mentioned Estalia and Tilea are the worst countries for a Crusade to form from do to how disunited they are. Even the Empire is only divided along province lines, Tilea's pretty much nothing but city-states who constantly fight each other(and the Estalians) using mercenary armies(think Renaissance Italy) and Estalia's even more disunited(only has two major city-states on par with Tilea's, Bilbali in the north and Magritta in the south, plus a bunch of minor kingdoms, republics and villages to small to warrant mentioning) and whom quarrel amongst each other just as much as they do with the Tileans. Myrmidia and a shared cultural ancestry are their unifying factors but it's no exaggeration to say that the last time they were actually unified was when Myrmidia incarnated as a mortal and conquered both countries(and that unity ended pretty much the moment Myrmidia got assassinated by Skaven during her coronation).
Heck the Knights of Margritta found themselves exiled from Estalia because their constant warmongering with Araby even a hundred years after Jafar's death pissed off the merchants of Margritta who were building a strong trading empire in Araby. Sure a full-blown Myrmidian Crusade is technically possible, but it pretty much requires a massive political change in either Estalia or Tilea just for the foundation of such to even form. Realistically the most we should have to worry from either direction is some Tilean Merchant Prince or Estalian kingdom sending the same type of mercenary army attack force against us that they do against each other, dangerous to us right now but also something that would be less and less of a threat the more of Araby we manage to unify behind us. And Araby is more then rich enough to hire a few of those mercenary armies for ourselves as well.
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- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
Honestly didn't know it was important to Tomb King religion, I just thought it was part of their culture.(also damn I should have bought the Rise of Nagash Omnibus when I had the opportunity) Can you cite a source with more detail?
There are religious laws regarding slavery in Araby(duh, all the laws are either very local or backed by religion and consistent across the entire land), but it isn't a prerequisite for anything religiously important, however it is politically and economically important, as slaves fill positions that require trust in every government division across the peninsula, and work both the mines and the farms of the big landowners.
There are restrictions on enslaving people of the same religion, and circumstances where any slave can be freed, some where it's legally required, some where it's viewed as good sense, and some where it's considered honorable, virtuous, or a display of wealth to free them, but chattel slavery is still a thing.
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- Location
- California, USA
I think the slaves help provide the Nehekhara sacrifices to the gods. Still trying to brush up my Warhammer lore. *Shrug* I'm not the most reliable of sources.
- Location
- Pennsylvania
On slavery in Nehekhara, it's not directly stated in most places, but can be extrapolated from various context clues.
King Khutep spent 25 years and 1 million slaves to build his Great Pyramid. Wikis, Army Book, Etc. source this. This is religious-related, because he was a Khemri Priest-King, and the Mortuary Cult was a part of the religion, but also cultural. I will expand on this below.
The Mortuary Cult's preparation rituals for the Day of Awakening - preparations which literally lasted for thousands of years - involved regular sacrifice and incantations to nurture and nourish Settra's spirit while interred in his own burial chamber. The same is extremely likely to be true for any later Priest-King of Khemri, for them to not try to match or exceed Settra would make very little sense considering the greater cultural importance of pride which doesn't just include those of Khemri, but every city-state of Nehekhara. The simple fact of the matter is, human souls are far greater sources of energy/power/strength than animals. Settra sacrificed his entire current line of children at the time to the Gods, which in turn caused quantifiable effects, the most visible of which was the Great Vitae River flooded for the first time in decades, literally washing away disease from Khemri and causing a great and bountiful harvest upon their fields. All the priesthoods of Khemri declared Settra blessed by the Gods - and considering how in Warhammer you can actually talk to the Gods, or at least have them send you absolute signs of favor - this isn't necessarily something that can be said as simple political posturing. That's certainly part of it, but yeah, in Warhammer, if all the priests say someone is blessed, there is a not insignificant chance that they know what they're talking about.
One of the most involved Gods was probably Usirian, mostly because of how regularly the Mortuary Cult pissed him off, pulling souls back up from beyond to fill statuary or their old bones. He did not enjoy that, and actually has beasts and creatures which fulfill his will, and very bad side effects for the Liche Priests if they screw up even slightly during their rituals. One of the most notable of these is the Dread Abyssals, of which there were hundreds to thousands, each dedicated to devouring a specific kind of sinner's soul in the Underworld of Nehekhara. And we know that these definitely exist, because once Nehekhara died, their food sources dwindled, and Usirian weakened, necromancers could if powerful enough drag them up from that place. It is there, it is regulated, and it can be conditionally affected. Such is the strength of the Nehekharan Pantheon to have such open and physical forms of their disfavor and favor built up over time, that continue even in the times of 'canon'.
Really, the closest sort of situation is that with Bretonnia, where if you follow the rituals, do the things, then it is practically undeniable that the Gods - or Lady, in their case - favors this person, is doing something with this person, or has done something to this person. The ignorant and overly superstitious might see even more signs that are just, like, leaves moving, but the better informed will just sort of know. In Nehekhara, you know that the Gods have done something. Or, knew, I suppose. When you pulled a soul to inherit Ushatabi, or Hierotitans, you knew you were angering Usirian, and he could tangibly make his unhappiness known, through nightmares, signs, etc. As such, the Gods of Nehekhara, and those who worship them, really do know that souls are powerful and worth much. It is, as gauche as it might sound, and identified, quantifiable, quality-specific resource. Only the greatest of souls can inhabit the Hierotitans, while treasured warriors can inhabit others. Other things, like the Necrosphinxes are monstrous dark amalgams with no nobility in them, but are driven by souls.
Wikis and Army Book are the sources for this as well. Thus, I highly doubt that Settra, the most arrogant and prideful of all the Tomb Kings - or at least matching the most prideful other dynasties - would accept anything less than premium sacrifices, and the Mortuary Cult would likely concede to this considering how it was by his patronage that they were granted the foundation to which they would expand later across all of Nehekhara.
Sacrifice to the Gods of Nehekhara has visible results, and considering how, culturally, the people of Nehekhara were all about refining what has been proven - going from steam powered Ushtabi to hero-soul powered stone guardians with ever smoother grace, strength, and durability - or in the case of the generations of the Mortuary Cult developing actual immortality through practice, incantation, and centuries to thousands of years - I personally find it incredibly unlikely that people aren't going to go 'this worked, really well' and then just abandoning it.
And where are you going to get the most amount of sacrifices, such that you don't have to utterly ruin your own population base? Slavery. Who is going to perform the back-breaking labor of creating the great lavish monuments to the Gods, who in dying during the process more likely than not feed the Gods their very life-force as part of the greater metaphysical act? Slaves. But that is not to say that the Nehekharans were useless without them, they were warriors and lavish livers even without all of that stuff, some of them probably ran their own small farms, while others like the Necrotects spent their entire lives directing the building, organizing it, and all that required. Were there regular Nehekahrans doing the stuff too? The building, the farming? Absolutely. Same with regular crafting stuff, like baking or smithing or whatever. At the time of Nehekhara, literally no other human civilization could quite match them, or was too far away to be a full on rival - i.e. Cathay, who they bought fancy stone from. Araby wasn't capable of resisting, and all to the North were all barbarians, literally all of them, in comparison, and couldn't stand up to Nehekhara. It's a cultural thing, and religious thing, because culture and religion are the same thing in many cases, but especially in Nehekhara.
There is a reason they are called the Priest-Kings of Khemri, and that they were regularly and consistently the greatest of all Nehekhara's rulers, to the point of often uniting the nation under them, conquering the nation again under them, etc. And it is, more likely than not, partly because the Gods giving them the greatest favor, and they the greatest sacrifices and monuments to the Gods.
And, and I will note this is important, the minute the Tomb Kings arose, they set about re-building every monument and temple they could find. Because the Gods are important to them. Very much so. And sacrifice, by virtue of Settra, and all those that came after them, whether in living or in dying, is something that is still valued. Only then, they could do it with unliving servants, who could toil longer and somewhat better than slaves. It doesn't mean that, while a realm of living, slaves filled that niche, and filled it well.
Nehekhara was a very cruel, arrogant, and powerful nation, the first and for a long time greatest human civilization in the Old World. With only one peer, in turn, as Cathay in the East. Not that either would consider the other a 'peer', but it is what it is. Cathay is a bountiful and lush land, top to bottom practically, while Nehekhara was, even at the height of its power, kind of desert heavy. Very desert heavy, really. They relied, strongly, on the rivers, and of them the greatest was the Great Vitae River - now the Great Mortis River now that it's been poisoned. They simply couldn't produce the sheer self-population that Cathay or other places like the Empire could in the future, so they had to range out and find more for themselves. On the other hand, they could produce quite the people themselves. Like the people of Ka-Sabar, who in Nagash the Sorcerer and 8th Edition are noted to have been as a whole near 7ft tall, and of whose soldiers had skin hard enough to just bounce arrows. Potentially referring to armor, but who knows, really.
TLDR: Chaos can do crazy shit with enough sacrifices. One Order Faction figured that part out, and used it for themselves, to pretty great effect. Then they died, rose up again, and switched over to simply being able to continuously re-inhabit the bodies of their dead with the souls of their armies, doing stuff with the Mortuary Cult, other such things, etc.
EDIT: Also note that some of this is merely my headcanon, fitting together bits and bobs from lore, extrapolating from what clues one can get on what living Nehekhara was like. So, as with anything, take it with a grain of salt.
King Khutep spent 25 years and 1 million slaves to build his Great Pyramid. Wikis, Army Book, Etc. source this. This is religious-related, because he was a Khemri Priest-King, and the Mortuary Cult was a part of the religion, but also cultural. I will expand on this below.
The Mortuary Cult's preparation rituals for the Day of Awakening - preparations which literally lasted for thousands of years - involved regular sacrifice and incantations to nurture and nourish Settra's spirit while interred in his own burial chamber. The same is extremely likely to be true for any later Priest-King of Khemri, for them to not try to match or exceed Settra would make very little sense considering the greater cultural importance of pride which doesn't just include those of Khemri, but every city-state of Nehekhara. The simple fact of the matter is, human souls are far greater sources of energy/power/strength than animals. Settra sacrificed his entire current line of children at the time to the Gods, which in turn caused quantifiable effects, the most visible of which was the Great Vitae River flooded for the first time in decades, literally washing away disease from Khemri and causing a great and bountiful harvest upon their fields. All the priesthoods of Khemri declared Settra blessed by the Gods - and considering how in Warhammer you can actually talk to the Gods, or at least have them send you absolute signs of favor - this isn't necessarily something that can be said as simple political posturing. That's certainly part of it, but yeah, in Warhammer, if all the priests say someone is blessed, there is a not insignificant chance that they know what they're talking about.
One of the most involved Gods was probably Usirian, mostly because of how regularly the Mortuary Cult pissed him off, pulling souls back up from beyond to fill statuary or their old bones. He did not enjoy that, and actually has beasts and creatures which fulfill his will, and very bad side effects for the Liche Priests if they screw up even slightly during their rituals. One of the most notable of these is the Dread Abyssals, of which there were hundreds to thousands, each dedicated to devouring a specific kind of sinner's soul in the Underworld of Nehekhara. And we know that these definitely exist, because once Nehekhara died, their food sources dwindled, and Usirian weakened, necromancers could if powerful enough drag them up from that place. It is there, it is regulated, and it can be conditionally affected. Such is the strength of the Nehekharan Pantheon to have such open and physical forms of their disfavor and favor built up over time, that continue even in the times of 'canon'.
Really, the closest sort of situation is that with Bretonnia, where if you follow the rituals, do the things, then it is practically undeniable that the Gods - or Lady, in their case - favors this person, is doing something with this person, or has done something to this person. The ignorant and overly superstitious might see even more signs that are just, like, leaves moving, but the better informed will just sort of know. In Nehekhara, you know that the Gods have done something. Or, knew, I suppose. When you pulled a soul to inherit Ushatabi, or Hierotitans, you knew you were angering Usirian, and he could tangibly make his unhappiness known, through nightmares, signs, etc. As such, the Gods of Nehekhara, and those who worship them, really do know that souls are powerful and worth much. It is, as gauche as it might sound, and identified, quantifiable, quality-specific resource. Only the greatest of souls can inhabit the Hierotitans, while treasured warriors can inhabit others. Other things, like the Necrosphinxes are monstrous dark amalgams with no nobility in them, but are driven by souls.
Wikis and Army Book are the sources for this as well. Thus, I highly doubt that Settra, the most arrogant and prideful of all the Tomb Kings - or at least matching the most prideful other dynasties - would accept anything less than premium sacrifices, and the Mortuary Cult would likely concede to this considering how it was by his patronage that they were granted the foundation to which they would expand later across all of Nehekhara.
Sacrifice to the Gods of Nehekhara has visible results, and considering how, culturally, the people of Nehekhara were all about refining what has been proven - going from steam powered Ushtabi to hero-soul powered stone guardians with ever smoother grace, strength, and durability - or in the case of the generations of the Mortuary Cult developing actual immortality through practice, incantation, and centuries to thousands of years - I personally find it incredibly unlikely that people aren't going to go 'this worked, really well' and then just abandoning it.
And where are you going to get the most amount of sacrifices, such that you don't have to utterly ruin your own population base? Slavery. Who is going to perform the back-breaking labor of creating the great lavish monuments to the Gods, who in dying during the process more likely than not feed the Gods their very life-force as part of the greater metaphysical act? Slaves. But that is not to say that the Nehekharans were useless without them, they were warriors and lavish livers even without all of that stuff, some of them probably ran their own small farms, while others like the Necrotects spent their entire lives directing the building, organizing it, and all that required. Were there regular Nehekahrans doing the stuff too? The building, the farming? Absolutely. Same with regular crafting stuff, like baking or smithing or whatever. At the time of Nehekhara, literally no other human civilization could quite match them, or was too far away to be a full on rival - i.e. Cathay, who they bought fancy stone from. Araby wasn't capable of resisting, and all to the North were all barbarians, literally all of them, in comparison, and couldn't stand up to Nehekhara. It's a cultural thing, and religious thing, because culture and religion are the same thing in many cases, but especially in Nehekhara.
There is a reason they are called the Priest-Kings of Khemri, and that they were regularly and consistently the greatest of all Nehekhara's rulers, to the point of often uniting the nation under them, conquering the nation again under them, etc. And it is, more likely than not, partly because the Gods giving them the greatest favor, and they the greatest sacrifices and monuments to the Gods.
And, and I will note this is important, the minute the Tomb Kings arose, they set about re-building every monument and temple they could find. Because the Gods are important to them. Very much so. And sacrifice, by virtue of Settra, and all those that came after them, whether in living or in dying, is something that is still valued. Only then, they could do it with unliving servants, who could toil longer and somewhat better than slaves. It doesn't mean that, while a realm of living, slaves filled that niche, and filled it well.
Nehekhara was a very cruel, arrogant, and powerful nation, the first and for a long time greatest human civilization in the Old World. With only one peer, in turn, as Cathay in the East. Not that either would consider the other a 'peer', but it is what it is. Cathay is a bountiful and lush land, top to bottom practically, while Nehekhara was, even at the height of its power, kind of desert heavy. Very desert heavy, really. They relied, strongly, on the rivers, and of them the greatest was the Great Vitae River - now the Great Mortis River now that it's been poisoned. They simply couldn't produce the sheer self-population that Cathay or other places like the Empire could in the future, so they had to range out and find more for themselves. On the other hand, they could produce quite the people themselves. Like the people of Ka-Sabar, who in Nagash the Sorcerer and 8th Edition are noted to have been as a whole near 7ft tall, and of whose soldiers had skin hard enough to just bounce arrows. Potentially referring to armor, but who knows, really.
TLDR: Chaos can do crazy shit with enough sacrifices. One Order Faction figured that part out, and used it for themselves, to pretty great effect. Then they died, rose up again, and switched over to simply being able to continuously re-inhabit the bodies of their dead with the souls of their armies, doing stuff with the Mortuary Cult, other such things, etc.
EDIT: Also note that some of this is merely my headcanon, fitting together bits and bobs from lore, extrapolating from what clues one can get on what living Nehekhara was like. So, as with anything, take it with a grain of salt.
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