Daemons of Khorne
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| Grand alliance | Chaos |
| Associated factions | Blades of Khrone Daemons of Chaos |
| Major characters | Karanak Mazarall Skarbrand Skulltaker |
| Races | Bloodletter Bloodthirster Daemon Prince |
| Mounts | Juggernaut |
| Vehicles | Bloodthrone Skull Cannon |
| Creatures | Flesh Hound |
| Scenery | Skull Altar |
Daemons of Khorne are a faction of Chaos Daemons given form by Khorne. They are his deadly foot soldiers, entities whose existence is only to destroy and are a threat to all life.[1]
Nature
Daemons of Khorne are not living creatures but are projections of Khorne's infinite rage. They arise from the violent roil of Khorne’s Domain and are drawn into existence and given form by his unfettered will, they are fractured shards of his hateful essence, born of anger and consumed by barbaric impulses and empowered with a portion of Khorne’s martial prowess. Each daemon is given energy for the singular purpose of slaughter and lack compassion or mercy. To them to simply kill is not enough and must reduce their opponents to piles of rent flesh. Like all daemons they never tire and Khornate daemons gain in strength during the conflict, their insatiable bloodlust invigorated by the bloodshed on the field. Each daemon heeds the will of their creator but no commands are needed as slaughter is their sole purpose and their only obsession. They even fight amongst one another and at times entire legions will engage in battles against others of their kind. This is a common occurrence in the Realm of Chaos as the daemons vie for higher ranking. This is pleasing to Khorne and his champions often challenge each other in the blood pits that litter his domain to attain greater glory before him.[4a]
When slain, a daemon's fate will depend upon whether it was felled in the Realm of Chaos or in the Mortal Realms. They are functionally immortal, but their physical forms are not and after suffering enough damage the creature’s energy is returned to its maker. In the Realm of Chaos it is nearly instantaneous, but when slain in the Mortal Realms the daemon’s spirit travels a perilous journey that exposes them to the soul-predators of the Skull Lands. Eventually they appear before the Brass Citadel but the defeated are not allowed through the main gates and travel through the Gates of the Vanquished into which they enter after revealing their true names to the gatekeeper, as well as the circumstances of their defeat. Then they travel down the fiery nether-tunnels below the base of Khorne’s skull mountain. In the flames of Helbrass, a furnace fuelled by the Blood God’s boundless hate they must face blasting heat and spirit-battles and those that survive are gifted a new physical form and placed in a legion while others are agonisingly pulled apart, their names forever forgotten and their energies returned to Khorne.[4a]
Summoning
There are several known methods for Daemons to cross between the Realm of Chaos and reality. The most reliable method is through a corrupted Realmgate. and the most common method is by summoning . While other ruinous powers use sorcery his followers instead praise their god with murder, using gruesome and gore-soaked rituals to weaken the barrier enough for the Blood God’s daemons to claw and hack their way through and if they draw the eye of Khorne the intensity of his gaze will further enable his daemons to manifest themselves in reality. There are many rituals like the Heartseeker Tribe which eat the hearts of their foes while the Axeclan Tribe stack skulls to create crude icons of Khorne. If they deem the summoner worthy they will fight by their side and if not they will fall upon the mortals in a frenzy of violence. After entering the Mortal Realms they cannot return unless either Khorne summons them back, they find a corrupted Realmgate or they are slain.[4a]
Sources
- 1: Start Collecting! Daemons of Khorne
- 2: Warscrolls
- 3: Skarbrand product description
- 4: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2019)
- 4a: Daemons of Khorne, pg. 10-11
