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Mahrak Teams

Hello Garion

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Skeletons

Blitz-Ra

Jackal Runner

Golden Host


Background

Mahrak was once known as the City of Hope. Located on the eastern side of the World Edge Mountains, the only way to reach it reliably has always been the Charnel Valley. As such, it is an ancient city that is somewhat isolationist. In ancient times, the priest council of Nehekhara resided here.

Just like all of Khemri, the living were wiped out long ago, with the skeletal remains stalking the lands in a parody of their former lives. In Mahrak's case, however, Phar, the greatest ruler in Mahrak's history, destroyed all other tomb kings and tomb guardians in the region, mimicking the desire he had in life to be the greatest and only king of all.

After Lybaras became involved in Blood Bowl (in its current form), Mahrak's teams followed only some time later, after explorers made it through the Charnel Valley.

Mahrak teams are known for not having any Tomb Guardians. When early opposing teams learned of this, they laughed and dismissed Mahrak as a team not to be fearful of. When they then met them on the pitch, they did not realize that Mahrak has other tricks in their locker. In fact, as soon as one witnessed the dim golden hue around the fearsome Golden Host blockers on the Line of Scrimmage - they quickly realized their mistake.

When the ancient cataclysm hit the lands of Khemri, it is theorized that this resulted in certain seismic activity around Mahrak, which opened up seams of gold in the area. A certain segment of Mahrak's population fell in those molten pools of gold, from which the fearsome, gleaming strikers emerged. In addition, Mahrak's teams are not given helms of Thro-Ra, as this old Khemri god was not revered around Mahrak, but instead are presented with helms of Run-Ra, the old local jackal-headed Khemri god. The Jackal Runners are fearsome sweepers on the Blood Bowl pitch.

Rationale

Mahrak's concept was clear from the beginning, as Mahrak was one of the Khemri city states which did not have a team yet, but which almost cried out for it when I studied its fluff. As Mahrak lacks Tomb Guardians - eliminating Tomb Guardians was clear starting point. Instead the tean would have fearsome, unique skeletal positionals.

I quickly found references to the Golden Host, which were ideal to fit in the Tomb Guardian slot. This means Mahrak lacks the power that Khemri has, but gains some more flexibility and movement instead. In addition, as Mahrak served as the home of the priest council of Nehekhara, this clearly pointed towards an interesting unique positional, which made sense in place of the traditional Thro-Ra. Mahrak also has clear references to jackals - all in all resulting in the Jackal Runner positional.

All in all, compared to the standard Khemri roster, some raw power and some ball reliability is exchanged for some more speed, some more flexibility, and a touch of finesse and relative agility with the runner positional.

Team design rationale and background by Calthor, feedback by Burnalot, Szieberthadam and Garion
Icons by misterlonestar