Naram-Sin

Naram-Sin, King of the Four Quarters, King of the Universe, was one of the rulers of the ancient Akkadian Empire and a powerful necromancer. He is widely accepted as the first 'Dark Lord' in human history due to his use of necromancy in empire-building, and is also thought to be the first ruler in history to claim divinity.
== Biography ==
Naram-Sin is often mistakenly labelled as the first human necromancer, while in fact necromancy existed long before Naram-Sin was born. However, necromancy then was done solely for the purpose of communicating with the dead or bringing them back to the physical world in some capacity.
Prince Naram-Sin, while communicating with his deceased grandfather King Sargon of Akkad, made the realization that the bodies of the dead alone were great weapons, perhaps even more so than living soldiers, who could be cowardly, disloyal, or overly merciful. He proposed this idea to his father King Manishtushu, who rejected it as he believed it was disrespectful to the deceased to use their bodies for war. The idea attracted the attention of various members of Manishtushu's court, who assassinated the king so Naram-Sin could succeed him and enact his plans.
With armies of the dead, the Akkadian Empire reached its height under the rule of Naram-Sin. As such, Naram-Sin is more accurately the first 'Dark Lord' since he was the first human to use necromancy to expand the power of his empire. He raised his dead enemies to join the ranks of his army and remorselessly conquered tribe after tribe.
Naram-Sin's methods were not popular with all Akkadians, and he was most fiercely opposed by many priests who thought what he did was blasphemy against the gods. As a result, he had the high priests killed, then reanimated as his puppets. They proclaimed him as a god on Earth, the 'God of Akkad,' and claimed that his methods were holy as the bodies of the dead were being used to serve a god.
Having devoted his studies to raising his armies and making them strong, Naram-Sin did little to extend his own life and eventually died a natural death. He was succeeded by his son, Shar-Kali-Sharri.
== Legacy ==
King Shar-Kali-Sharri did not have as tight a grip over either the priesthood or the army as his father, and as a result the priests imbued the undead soldiers with spirits of actual people to please the gods and undo what had been done. The altered warriors refused to fight for the Akkadians, some going as far as staging revolts. It did not take long for the empire as it was under Naram-Sin to fall apart.
Naram-Sin's work lived on and was instrumental to many developments in necromancy. His idea of using the dead only as weapons spread despite the priesthood's attempts to quell it, and undead soldiers became a common form of infantry in the wars of the Age of Chaos.