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Description
“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!”

Khorne The Chaos God of War, Hatred, Wrath, Rage, Murder, Blood, Strength, Courage, and Martial Honor.

The Blood God, The Lord of Murder, The Lord of Skulls, Hunter of Souls, and The Hound.

Khorne is the second eldest of the major Ruinous Powers and his waxing strength in this time of constant conflict often renders him the mightiest of the Chaos Gods in his effect on the world and in the Great Game between the gods. His domain encompasses the most basic and brutal of sentient emotions -- hate, anger, rage, the desire for destruction and the joy of killing one's enemies. Every act of killing or murder in the mortal world feeds and empowers Khorne; the more senseless, vicious and bloodthirsty, the better.

However, though Khorne is the god of bloody slaughter, he is also the god of martial pride and honour, of those who set themselves against the most dangerous foes and earn victory against the odds. His warriors, though gore-maddened berserkers all, take no artful approach to killing, for such indulgent displays serve only to empower Slaanesh, the honourless adversary of Khorne amongst the company of the gods.

Khorne is known by a thousand, thousand names in the northern lands of the Chaos Wastes. The Blood God is worshipped by almost every tribe of Men in the North, for the Northmen are warrior-peoples who exalt in the contest of arms, particularly those of Norsca, who most eagerly of all embrace Khorne's call to eternal warfare.

A man that has put his faith in Khorne, however, is just as likely to be a blood-crazed killer as he is an honourable warrior, and oftentimes he will be both at the same time. Khorne at the same time is the embodiment of martial honour and courage, said to smile upon all feats of valour, strength, and blood-drenched warrior skill. He is also the divine patron of proud warriors who set themselves against the odds and emerge triumphant through the display of these traits. Khorne is said to exalt the brave of both sides of a battle, while at the same time laying his terrible vengeance upon the cowardly and craven.

According to the warrior-code of his devotees, it is the solemn right of every warrior to die an honourable death in battle, with sword and axe in hand.

No mortal man would be able to lay their eyes upon Khorne and survive, but various heretical writers have suggested that the Blood God looks somewhat like one of his mighty Bloodthirster Greater Daemons, only infinitely more terrifying, his eyes burning with endless fury in the centre of his dog-like face. Khorne is said to have mighty forges and armouries that run for leagues, belching sooty filth into the lightning-cracked air, yet he will forever favour a single combination of arms. He is encased in his brass armour, capable of deflecting any blow, and clutches his colossal sword that could carve continents into pieces.

Khorne's mighty throne room, built atop of his great brass tower, is supported by eight gigantic brass pillars in honour of the sacred number of the Blood God. The Blood God, sits resplendent in his rage upon his brass throne, resting atop a mountain of bloody skulls, built from the countless heads of great champions his followers have slain over an immeasurable number of eons. The tower itself rises leagues into the blackened sky, surrounded by a moat of molten blood, filled with the screaming enemies of Khorne, whilst the blackened brass walls are filled with monstrous carvings that depict the endless rage of the occupant within.

The room itself is filled with his favoured flesh hounds, including the mighty Karanak, blessed with three heads and far more powerful than the rest of his kin. Some have described these loyal beasts as a bodyguard to Khorne, but to him they are but pets, as the Blood God has never been bested in mortal combat and thus needs no protection. Even if another of the Ruinous Powers were to enter the brass tower, Khorne knows that he alone would prove triumphant, such is his infinite strength and skill.

Khorne is the least subtle of the Chaos Gods. He puts none of his will into any endeavour that does not cause bloodshed. His lands in the Realm of Chaos are barren, cracked and dry save for the ceaseless rivers of blood fuelled by endless combat. Throughout his realm, legions of warriors fling themselves into combat purely for the sake of battle.

It is not uncommon to see the warriors and champions of Khorne fighting amongst themselves, duelling and battling to prove their skill in combat and rise higher in the eyes of their Lord. Khorne cares not from where blood flows and skulls are sacrificed so long as it is done in his name. Only bloodletting through physical combat is acceptable however, for Khorne disdains magic. None of his followers are permitted to be sorcerers, although some will carry magic-imbued weapons or armour in order to augment their killing ability.

All of Khorne's Daemons are built to kill quickly and efficiently. While the troops of the other Ruinous Powers may fall back to recover or bring other talents into play, the Daemons of Khorne always fight to the death. Cursing their enemies, their mounds of sinewy muscle carving their last steps through the front lines, Khorne's Daemons continue to spill blood and claim skulls until the last roar of defiance and rage from their gaping maws has been silenced. Then their bodies, further sacrifices to the Lord they served so faithfully, are crushed to dust and ash by the next wave of his blood-crazed troops, all screaming endlessly "Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Throne of Khorne!" as they pour into glorious combat.

The Ruinous Powers often spend more time concerned with besting their rival gods than trying to implement their carefully crafted plans upon the Old World. The conflicting desires and ideologies of Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch are so opposed that it becomes clearer why these immense powers spend so much of their energies in conflict with each other. Khorne, however, has an understandably difficult relationship with the other powers in that his philosophy so different that the others find it difficult to understand him. The Blood God loathes magic, for example, and yet all of the other powers are wielders of powerful magic, this alone marking Khorne apart from his peers.

Nurgle is abhorrent to Khorne. The Lord of Decay sits and waits in his pestilence, and if it were his way, would wait for eons for his plans to come slowly to fruition. Nurgle is quite happy for his followers to avoid direct combat, instead allowing them to simply spread disease and plague. To Khorne, this approach does not have the honour of bloody combat. Khorne revels in direct action and the passive approach of Nurgle is totally at odds with the Blood God's principles. Nurgle is a God who believes that his goals will be achieved through careful building and stewardship of his blessings, whereas Khorne only cares for destruction.

Tzeentch delights in baiting Khorne. The Changer of Ways is the most confusing, subtle and maddening of the Ruinous Powers. Khorne is not unintelligent, but he has no time for subtlety, and his rage consumes more complicated emotions. Tzeentch therefore plays tricks upon Khorne for his own amusement, which Khorne responds to in the only way he knows how: violence. The Changer of Ways is also the greatest source of magic amongst the Chaos Gods and Khorne does not look kindly upon this fact. Tzeentch, in Khorne's estimation, is a coward cringing behind a wall of trickery and simple conjuring instead of having any real power. He is a weakling, sustained only by the Aethyr. If his source of power were to diminish, then Khorne would raise his forces and crush the home of the Changer of Ways – the Impossible Fortress.

One might imagine that Slaanesh, being the Prince of Pleasure and of Pain, possesses the ideology closest to Khorne's. However, while no one can deny that Khorne's legions cause unbelievable pain, Khorne does not actually aim to cause suffering. Indeed, of all the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh is the most diametrically opposed to Khorne, a patron of the arts and lover of aesthetically pleasing objects. Slaanesh's focus is inward, acting on his followers through their taste for decadent pleasures. He ingratiates them slowly, their taste for pleasure or pain becoming harder to satiate and requiring more and more perverse acts in order to feel anything at all. Decadence begets perversion, which begets abomination and utter depravity.

And it is this methodology that is alien to Khorne. The Blood God has no time for pleasure or eroticism; indeed all feelings are wasted except rage, hate, and vengeance. Slaanesh corrupts people from within, building on their inner thoughts and desires, while Khorne always builds from without, focusing on outer strength and power. Slaanesh would delight in a grotesquely obese follower gorging himself upon expensive delicacies, but Khorne cares only for muscle and sinew to give strength in battle. Slaanesh lets his followers enjoy life to the fullest, fulfilling their most perverse desires; Khorne simply seeks to cause death. These two Gods are constantly at war with one another, each believing that they have the upper hand, or can soon gain it, in their endless struggle.

Khorne may not be the subtlest of the Ruinous Powers but that is not to say that he does not have goals and ambitions to fulfill beyond seeing blood spilled in his name. His rage may be endless, his fury immutable, but Khorne has a savage intelligence, seeing the need to lay seeds for his destructive plans to pay off in the future.

Khorne revels in a man who seeks glory; for in Old World society, this leads frequently to feelings of anger at one's enemies and a need to see them dead. Others may turn over to the Ruinous Powers in order to have their ambitions fulfilled. Examples include the militiaman who simply dreams of having the strength to repel his foes in order to see his wife and young child again, or the aging knight who wishes the strength of his youth still coursed through his veins.

At the same time, many despair at their fate, and whilst Khorne finds this pathetic, he may still bestow blessings upon these wretched souls. Sometimes, there is no better servant than one who is picked up at the lowest ebb and given his wish. The hearts of this kind of man often burn most fiercely for Khorne.

Some servants of Khorne come willingly; others are slowly drawn in. There is a fine line between justice and vengeance, and in seeking revenge many people cannot control the nihilism and anger within themselves, which spills over into a fury that cannot be purged from their body. This leads them into direct exposure to the principles Khorne espouses and far too often the wrath has so consumed the person that inevitably the Blood God then consumes their very soul.

Khorne requires blood. Khorne requires skulls. Khorne requires violence, destruction, and utter subservience to this cause. His blessings are not a sign of kindness, love, devotion, or even care. They are a means to an end, designed to increase the efficiency of his killing machines, driving them on to greater acts of ferocity. If Khorne does not care about the lives of his minions, the minions themselves seem to care even less. The hate that fills them eventually dominates their every thought. Driven onwards in battle, Khorne's followers eagerly sacrifice themselves to the blade and retreat is never an option.

The Blood God himself sits impassively; he simply seeks out destruction and bloodshed and cares not from where it comes. His indifference does, however, mean that Khorne is always in need of new champions. There is a dual purpose to this need. When a warrior falls, a new one is needed to step into the breach, to take his place so that Khorne can gain the upper hand in his struggle against the other Ruinous Powers. Secondly, fresh blood can test his existing champions. If they meet in a challenge, then Khorne can only benefit. If the existing champion emerges victorious, then he will have learned something from the warrior he has just defeated, increasing his already impressive skills with his chosen weaponry. If the challenger walks away alive from the combat, then the defeated warrior was a weakling and unfit to serve Khorne. His body will make a meagre sacrifice, but no more.

Through this brutal and bloody system, Khorne slowly builds up the strength and power of his forces, waiting for the moment he can unleash them upon the unknowing world. Khorne does have more minor plans than defeating his rival gods and destroying civilisation, however. Khorne realises that it is unlikely that the world will fall in one swift motion and so he looks to build his influence, spreading destruction, anarchy, and death wherever possible. The Blood God's marauders and warriors look to test the boundaries of the Empire and Kislev, probing for weaknesses and identifying suitable invasion points. These raids gradually weaken the defences of the two nations, which take time to rebuild, whereas Khorne has an endless supply of eager warriors.

The greatest of Khorne's servants sometimes ascend to Daemonhood. While some will not have the physical or mental strength to accept such an abundance of gifts, devolving into mindless, gibbering chaos spawn, others will gradually take on a more impressive stature, growing free of their mortal shackles. For instance, the mortal body of Valkia the Bloody, consort of Khorne, has been almost totally transformed; her upper body has grown horns and wings while her lower torso resembles that of a Bloodletter more than that of a woman. Whatever gifts are bestowed, those with the Mark of Khorne look to seek out and challenge others worthy of combat, especially other devoted Khorne worshippers.

The Blood God favours those who sacrifice friends, allies, and enemies alike to him, and there is no greater trial than to destroy another Khornate warrior in mortal combat. Any beast of Chaos can be gifted with a Mark of Khorne, a symbol of the god's blessing, although this special gift is most often given to the strongest and most ferocious among them. Additionally, Khorne can also bestow his gift upon certain chosen warriors and marauders. These mighty warriors are filled with a mere portion of Khorne's rage and yet it propels them into battle like they have been possessed. Warriors bearing the Mark of Khorne are more muscled than their comrades and have some other outward sign of the blessing they have received, such as red eyes, tears of blood, or great brands burned into their chests and arms.

Certain groups are often attracted to one of the Chaos Gods in particular. Acolytes, hedge wizards, and sorcerers may be drawn to Tzeentch, the wealthy and pleasure-seekers to Slaanesh, doctors, alchemists and barber-surgeons to Nurgle, and warriors to Khorne. Khorne, however, draws fewer true cultists than the other Chaos Gods. Tzeentch can provide great magical prowess, Slaanesh can bestow gifts of intense pleasure or pain, and Nurgle can provide mastery over plague and disease. Khorne provides less subtle gifts than the other three but the strength and power that he can bequeath make him an obvious temptation for warriors.

Of course, many of his followers do not realize the true corrupting power of Chaos, and have no idea that eventually they will be fully consumed by the gift of rage that the Blood God provides. Some people can resist longer than others, but weaker minds are quickly overcome by the strength writhing within them and become mindless killing machines. The weakest succumb to the Realm of Chaos completely, warping into a mere parody of their former selves as slavering chaos spawn. If a warrior pleases Khorne, he has been known to continue to bless his chosen so he might better carry out the will of the Blood God. While one cultist in a million may eventually step upon the path to becoming a Daemon Prince, the rest will, at some point, have their bodies fail to accept the changes thrust upon them.

Khorne's power to transform and recreate flesh should not be underestimated, as the story of his consort, Valkia the Bloody, demonstrates. Once a great warrior queen of the North, Khorne looked upon her with something almost approaching fondness until she perished in battle. Wracked with a rage that could have carved nations in two, Khorne set about rebuilding Valkia's broken body. He raised her from death and made her part Daemon Prince, so that she would never fall again. Her body now sprouts great leathery wings, and from her forehead burst forth two massive horns, adding to her already considerable might. She now stays with her lord, master and consort, often commanding his armies within the Realm of Chaos. The day she flies against mankind will be a day untold thousands breathe their final breath, such is the power Khorne has infused in her.

The Daemons of Khorne are their god in microcosm: raging, bloodthirsty, and incomparably deadly, unrelenting embodiments of fury and bloodthirsty, martial honour. Even the least of their number is a truly terrible foe, whether this is down to their being skilled warriors, raging beasts, or even both. Despite being creatures fundamentally of arcane origins, as all Daemons are, the creatures of Khorne utilise no sorcery, keeping in with the Blood God's teachings of martial honour. Most, if not all of them, also possess an impressive resistance to assaults of arcane nature.

It is a terrible fate for a mortal man to face a Daemon in battle, even moreso when the Daemon is of Khorne's vile pantheon, for their overriding purpose as dealers of violent death is all too obvious. They are the most physically powerful and single-mindedly vicious of all Daemonic creatures. They are beyond any bargaining, are possessed of the keen martial intellects to rival those of great generals and cunning huntsmen, and bear colossal martial prides that do not easily suffer wounding.

Flesh Hounds are rapacious wolf-like Daemons, with heavily jawed heads both vaguely reptilian as well as savagely lupine. Their razor-sharp teeth and sword-like claws can tear apart both armour and flesh with ease. They are lithe, yet powerful, able to dart aside from a swordsman's strike and pull a rider off his saddle in the same motion. The hide of a Flesh Hound is tough and ruddy, with rows of iron plates run into their flesh by iron rivulets in the shape of Khorne's rune. Each Flesh Hound bears a brass circlet about its neck, forged in the heat of Khorne's rage at the great forge that lies in the shadow of the eaves of his great hall. Thus empowered, the Flesh Hounds of Khorne are immune to the effects of hostile magic, for Khorne is loathe to see his servants felled by the perfidious practices of the arcane.

Khorne's Chosen, the Naked Slayers, the Takers of Skulls. Bloodletters, These are the lesser Daemonic creatures of the Khornate pantheon, deadly warriors believed to have been the foremost of Khorne's mortal warriors in life and whose will is as implacable and blood-hungry as Khorne himself. Sharp, needle-like teeth stud the Daemon's slavering jaws, and rippling muscles lay barely concealed under its scaly red hide, knotted sinews that give the Daemon enough strength in its jet black claws to rend apart even the strongest armour. Their might is guided by a killer instinct that surpasses that of mortal men, for a Bloodletter's thoughts are free of any compunction other than to slay Khorne's foes and reap skulls for their lord. Each Bloodletter bears a jagged steel blade known as a Hellblade, a weapon eternally wreathed in fire and said to be able to feed on the souls of mortals.

Greatest and most fearsome of the Bloodletters are the Heralds, vicious specimens of their kind driven on by their overwhelming, perpetual need for slaughter. The Heralds are the leaders of the Bloodletter hordes, who have gained that position by dint of raw strength and skill in battle. They attack their foes with a fury that eclipses that of lesser Bloodletters, and as their battle-rage grows, those around them become gripped in the throes of berserker frenzy that lends even greater strength to their blows. They hack and cleave their foes until naught remains a mound of corpses and limbs lying adrift a pool of blood, and another victory in the name of Blood God.

Description
“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!”

Khorne The Chaos God of War, Hatred, Wrath, Rage, Murder, Blood, Strength, Courage, and Martial Honor.

The Blood God, The Lord of Murder, The Lord of Skulls, Hunter of Souls, and The Hound.

Khorne is the second eldest of the major Ruinous Powers and his waxing strength in this time of constant conflict often renders him the mightiest of the Chaos Gods in his effect on the world and in the Great Game between the gods. His domain encompasses the most basic and brutal of sentient emotions -- hate, anger, rage, the desire for destruction and the joy of killing one's enemies. Every act of killing or murder in the mortal world feeds and empowers Khorne; the more senseless, vicious and bloodthirsty, the better.

However, though Khorne is the god of bloody slaughter, he is also the god of martial pride and honour, of those who set themselves against the most dangerous foes and earn victory against the odds. His warriors, though gore-maddened berserkers all, take no artful approach to killing, for such indulgent displays serve only to empower Slaanesh, the honourless adversary of Khorne amongst the company of the gods.

Khorne is known by a thousand, thousand names in the northern lands of the Chaos Wastes. The Blood God is worshipped by almost every tribe of Men in the North, for the Northmen are warrior-peoples who exalt in the contest of arms, particularly those of Norsca, who most eagerly of all embrace Khorne's call to eternal warfare.

A man that has put his faith in Khorne, however, is just as likely to be a blood-crazed killer as he is an honourable warrior, and oftentimes he will be both at the same time. Khorne at the same time is the embodiment of martial honour and courage, said to smile upon all feats of valour, strength, and blood-drenched warrior skill. He is also the divine patron of proud warriors who set themselves against the odds and emerge triumphant through the display of these traits. Khorne is said to exalt the brave of both sides of a battle, while at the same time laying his terrible vengeance upon the cowardly and craven.

According to the warrior-code of his devotees, it is the solemn right of every warrior to die an honourable death in battle, with sword and axe in hand.

No mortal man would be able to lay their eyes upon Khorne and survive, but various heretical writers have suggested that the Blood God looks somewhat like one of his mighty Bloodthirster Greater Daemons, only infinitely more terrifying, his eyes burning with endless fury in the centre of his dog-like face. Khorne is said to have mighty forges and armouries that run for leagues, belching sooty filth into the lightning-cracked air, yet he will forever favour a single combination of arms. He is encased in his brass armour, capable of deflecting any blow, and clutches his colossal sword that could carve continents into pieces.

Khorne's mighty throne room, built atop of his great brass tower, is supported by eight gigantic brass pillars in honour of the sacred number of the Blood God. The Blood God, sits resplendent in his rage upon his brass throne, resting atop a mountain of bloody skulls, built from the countless heads of great champions his followers have slain over an immeasurable number of eons. The tower itself rises leagues into the blackened sky, surrounded by a moat of molten blood, filled with the screaming enemies of Khorne, whilst the blackened brass walls are filled with monstrous carvings that depict the endless rage of the occupant within.

The room itself is filled with his favoured flesh hounds, including the mighty Karanak, blessed with three heads and far more powerful than the rest of his kin. Some have described these loyal beasts as a bodyguard to Khorne, but to him they are but pets, as the Blood God has never been bested in mortal combat and thus needs no protection. Even if another of the Ruinous Powers were to enter the brass tower, Khorne knows that he alone would prove triumphant, such is his infinite strength and skill.

Khorne is the least subtle of the Chaos Gods. He puts none of his will into any endeavour that does not cause bloodshed. His lands in the Realm of Chaos are barren, cracked and dry save for the ceaseless rivers of blood fuelled by endless combat. Throughout his realm, legions of warriors fling themselves into combat purely for the sake of battle.

It is not uncommon to see the warriors and champions of Khorne fighting amongst themselves, duelling and battling to prove their skill in combat and rise higher in the eyes of their Lord. Khorne cares not from where blood flows and skulls are sacrificed so long as it is done in his name. Only bloodletting through physical combat is acceptable however, for Khorne disdains magic. None of his followers are permitted to be sorcerers, although some will carry magic-imbued weapons or armour in order to augment their killing ability.

All of Khorne's Daemons are built to kill quickly and efficiently. While the troops of the other Ruinous Powers may fall back to recover or bring other talents into play, the Daemons of Khorne always fight to the death. Cursing their enemies, their mounds of sinewy muscle carving their last steps through the front lines, Khorne's Daemons continue to spill blood and claim skulls until the last roar of defiance and rage from their gaping maws has been silenced. Then their bodies, further sacrifices to the Lord they served so faithfully, are crushed to dust and ash by the next wave of his blood-crazed troops, all screaming endlessly "Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Throne of Khorne!" as they pour into glorious combat.

The Ruinous Powers often spend more time concerned with besting their rival gods than trying to implement their carefully crafted plans upon the Old World. The conflicting desires and ideologies of Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch are so opposed that it becomes clearer why these immense powers spend so much of their energies in conflict with each other. Khorne, however, has an understandably difficult relationship with the other powers in that his philosophy so different that the others find it difficult to understand him. The Blood God loathes magic, for example, and yet all of the other powers are wielders of powerful magic, this alone marking Khorne apart from his peers.

Nurgle is abhorrent to Khorne. The Lord of Decay sits and waits in his pestilence, and if it were his way, would wait for eons for his plans to come slowly to fruition. Nurgle is quite happy for his followers to avoid direct combat, instead allowing them to simply spread disease and plague. To Khorne, this approach does not have the honour of bloody combat. Khorne revels in direct action and the passive approach of Nurgle is totally at odds with the Blood God's principles. Nurgle is a God who believes that his goals will be achieved through careful building and stewardship of his blessings, whereas Khorne only cares for destruction.

Tzeentch delights in baiting Khorne. The Changer of Ways is the most confusing, subtle and maddening of the Ruinous Powers. Khorne is not unintelligent, but he has no time for subtlety, and his rage consumes more complicated emotions. Tzeentch therefore plays tricks upon Khorne for his own amusement, which Khorne responds to in the only way he knows how: violence. The Changer of Ways is also the greatest source of magic amongst the Chaos Gods and Khorne does not look kindly upon this fact. Tzeentch, in Khorne's estimation, is a coward cringing behind a wall of trickery and simple conjuring instead of having any real power. He is a weakling, sustained only by the Aethyr. If his source of power were to diminish, then Khorne would raise his forces and crush the home of the Changer of Ways – the Impossible Fortress.

One might imagine that Slaanesh, being the Prince of Pleasure and of Pain, possesses the ideology closest to Khorne's. However, while no one can deny that Khorne's legions cause unbelievable pain, Khorne does not actually aim to cause suffering. Indeed, of all the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh is the most diametrically opposed to Khorne, a patron of the arts and lover of aesthetically pleasing objects. Slaanesh's focus is inward, acting on his followers through their taste for decadent pleasures. He ingratiates them slowly, their taste for pleasure or pain becoming harder to satiate and requiring more and more perverse acts in order to feel anything at all. Decadence begets perversion, which begets abomination and utter depravity.

And it is this methodology that is alien to Khorne. The Blood God has no time for pleasure or eroticism; indeed all feelings are wasted except rage, hate, and vengeance. Slaanesh corrupts people from within, building on their inner thoughts and desires, while Khorne always builds from without, focusing on outer strength and power. Slaanesh would delight in a grotesquely obese follower gorging himself upon expensive delicacies, but Khorne cares only for muscle and sinew to give strength in battle. Slaanesh lets his followers enjoy life to the fullest, fulfilling their most perverse desires; Khorne simply seeks to cause death. These two Gods are constantly at war with one another, each believing that they have the upper hand, or can soon gain it, in their endless struggle.

Khorne may not be the subtlest of the Ruinous Powers but that is not to say that he does not have goals and ambitions to fulfill beyond seeing blood spilled in his name. His rage may be endless, his fury immutable, but Khorne has a savage intelligence, seeing the need to lay seeds for his destructive plans to pay off in the future.

Khorne revels in a man who seeks glory; for in Old World society, this leads frequently to feelings of anger at one's enemies and a need to see them dead. Others may turn over to the Ruinous Powers in order to have their ambitions fulfilled. Examples include the militiaman who simply dreams of having the strength to repel his foes in order to see his wife and young child again, or the aging knight who wishes the strength of his youth still coursed through his veins.

At the same time, many despair at their fate, and whilst Khorne finds this pathetic, he may still bestow blessings upon these wretched souls. Sometimes, there is no better servant than one who is picked up at the lowest ebb and given his wish. The hearts of this kind of man often burn most fiercely for Khorne.

Some servants of Khorne come willingly; others are slowly drawn in. There is a fine line between justice and vengeance, and in seeking revenge many people cannot control the nihilism and anger within themselves, which spills over into a fury that cannot be purged from their body. This leads them into direct exposure to the principles Khorne espouses and far too often the wrath has so consumed the person that inevitably the Blood God then consumes their very soul.

Khorne requires blood. Khorne requires skulls. Khorne requires violence, destruction, and utter subservience to this cause. His blessings are not a sign of kindness, love, devotion, or even care. They are a means to an end, designed to increase the efficiency of his killing machines, driving them on to greater acts of ferocity. If Khorne does not care about the lives of his minions, the minions themselves seem to care even less. The hate that fills them eventually dominates their every thought. Driven onwards in battle, Khorne's followers eagerly sacrifice themselves to the blade and retreat is never an option.

The Blood God himself sits impassively; he simply seeks out destruction and bloodshed and cares not from where it comes. His indifference does, however, mean that Khorne is always in need of new champions. There is a dual purpose to this need. When a warrior falls, a new one is needed to step into the breach, to take his place so that Khorne can gain the upper hand in his struggle against the other Ruinous Powers. Secondly, fresh blood can test his existing champions. If they meet in a challenge, then Khorne can only benefit. If the existing champion emerges victorious, then he will have learned something from the warrior he has just defeated, increasing his already impressive skills with his chosen weaponry. If the challenger walks away alive from the combat, then the defeated warrior was a weakling and unfit to serve Khorne. His body will make a meagre sacrifice, but no more.

Through this brutal and bloody system, Khorne slowly builds up the strength and power of his forces, waiting for the moment he can unleash them upon the unknowing world. Khorne does have more minor plans than defeating his rival gods and destroying civilisation, however. Khorne realises that it is unlikely that the world will fall in one swift motion and so he looks to build his influence, spreading destruction, anarchy, and death wherever possible. The Blood God's marauders and warriors look to test the boundaries of the Empire and Kislev, probing for weaknesses and identifying suitable invasion points. These raids gradually weaken the defences of the two nations, which take time to rebuild, whereas Khorne has an endless supply of eager warriors.

The greatest of Khorne's servants sometimes ascend to Daemonhood. While some will not have the physical or mental strength to accept such an abundance of gifts, devolving into mindless, gibbering chaos spawn, others will gradually take on a more impressive stature, growing free of their mortal shackles. For instance, the mortal body of Valkia the Bloody, consort of Khorne, has been almost totally transformed; her upper body has grown horns and wings while her lower torso resembles that of a Bloodletter more than that of a woman. Whatever gifts are bestowed, those with the Mark of Khorne look to seek out and challenge others worthy of combat, especially other devoted Khorne worshippers.

The Blood God favours those who sacrifice friends, allies, and enemies alike to him, and there is no greater trial than to destroy another Khornate warrior in mortal combat. Any beast of Chaos can be gifted with a Mark of Khorne, a symbol of the god's blessing, although this special gift is most often given to the strongest and most ferocious among them. Additionally, Khorne can also bestow his gift upon certain chosen warriors and marauders. These mighty warriors are filled with a mere portion of Khorne's rage and yet it propels them into battle like they have been possessed. Warriors bearing the Mark of Khorne are more muscled than their comrades and have some other outward sign of the blessing they have received, such as red eyes, tears of blood, or great brands burned into their chests and arms.

Certain groups are often attracted to one of the Chaos Gods in particular. Acolytes, hedge wizards, and sorcerers may be drawn to Tzeentch, the wealthy and pleasure-seekers to Slaanesh, doctors, alchemists and barber-surgeons to Nurgle, and warriors to Khorne. Khorne, however, draws fewer true cultists than the other Chaos Gods. Tzeentch can provide great magical prowess, Slaanesh can bestow gifts of intense pleasure or pain, and Nurgle can provide mastery over plague and disease. Khorne provides less subtle gifts than the other three but the strength and power that he can bequeath make him an obvious temptation for warriors.

Of course, many of his followers do not realize the true corrupting power of Chaos, and have no idea that eventually they will be fully consumed by the gift of rage that the Blood God provides. Some people can resist longer than others, but weaker minds are quickly overcome by the strength writhing within them and become mindless killing machines. The weakest succumb to the Realm of Chaos completely, warping into a mere parody of their former selves as slavering chaos spawn. If a warrior pleases Khorne, he has been known to continue to bless his chosen so he might better carry out the will of the Blood God. While one cultist in a million may eventually step upon the path to becoming a Daemon Prince, the rest will, at some point, have their bodies fail to accept the changes thrust upon them.

Khorne's power to transform and recreate flesh should not be underestimated, as the story of his consort, Valkia the Bloody, demonstrates. Once a great warrior queen of the North, Khorne looked upon her with something almost approaching fondness until she perished in battle. Wracked with a rage that could have carved nations in two, Khorne set about rebuilding Valkia's broken body. He raised her from death and made her part Daemon Prince, so that she would never fall again. Her body now sprouts great leathery wings, and from her forehead burst forth two massive horns, adding to her already considerable might. She now stays with her lord, master and consort, often commanding his armies within the Realm of Chaos. The day she flies against mankind will be a day untold thousands breathe their final breath, such is the power Khorne has infused in her.

The Daemons of Khorne are their god in microcosm: raging, bloodthirsty, and incomparably deadly, unrelenting embodiments of fury and bloodthirsty, martial honour. Even the least of their number is a truly terrible foe, whether this is down to their being skilled warriors, raging beasts, or even both. Despite being creatures fundamentally of arcane origins, as all Daemons are, the creatures of Khorne utilise no sorcery, keeping in with the Blood God's teachings of martial honour. Most, if not all of them, also possess an impressive resistance to assaults of arcane nature.

It is a terrible fate for a mortal man to face a Daemon in battle, even moreso when the Daemon is of Khorne's vile pantheon, for their overriding purpose as dealers of violent death is all too obvious. They are the most physically powerful and single-mindedly vicious of all Daemonic creatures. They are beyond any bargaining, are possessed of the keen martial intellects to rival those of great generals and cunning huntsmen, and bear colossal martial prides that do not easily suffer wounding.

Flesh Hounds are rapacious wolf-like Daemons, with heavily jawed heads both vaguely reptilian as well as savagely lupine. Their razor-sharp teeth and sword-like claws can tear apart both armour and flesh with ease. They are lithe, yet powerful, able to dart aside from a swordsman's strike and pull a rider off his saddle in the same motion. The hide of a Flesh Hound is tough and ruddy, with rows of iron plates run into their flesh by iron rivulets in the shape of Khorne's rune. Each Flesh Hound bears a brass circlet about its neck, forged in the heat of Khorne's rage at the great forge that lies in the shadow of the eaves of his great hall. Thus empowered, the Flesh Hounds of Khorne are immune to the effects of hostile magic, for Khorne is loathe to see his servants felled by the perfidious practices of the arcane.

Khorne's Chosen, the Naked Slayers, the Takers of Skulls. Bloodletters, These are the lesser Daemonic creatures of the Khornate pantheon, deadly warriors believed to have been the foremost of Khorne's mortal warriors in life and whose will is as implacable and blood-hungry as Khorne himself. Sharp, needle-like teeth stud the Daemon's slavering jaws, and rippling muscles lay barely concealed under its scaly red hide, knotted sinews that give the Daemon enough strength in its jet black claws to rend apart even the strongest armour. Their might is guided by a killer instinct that surpasses that of mortal men, for a Bloodletter's thoughts are free of any compunction other than to slay Khorne's foes and reap skulls for their lord. Each Bloodletter bears a jagged steel blade known as a Hellblade, a weapon eternally wreathed in fire and said to be able to feed on the souls of mortals.

Greatest and most fearsome of the Bloodletters are the Heralds, vicious specimens of their kind driven on by their overwhelming, perpetual need for slaughter. The Heralds are the leaders of the Bloodletter hordes, who have gained that position by dint of raw strength and skill in battle. They attack their foes with a fury that eclipses that of lesser Bloodletters, and as their battle-rage grows, those around them become gripped in the throes of berserker frenzy that lends even greater strength to their blows. They hack and cleave their foes until naught remains a mound of corpses and limbs lying adrift a pool of blood, and another victory in the name of Blood God.