Gorechosen
Those who survive through the lifestyle of trial and combat that is a Bloodbound Warband, arise as Gorechosen, the lieutenants united around a Lord of Khorne. All of the Gorechosen aim at taking the control of a Bloodbound host, by slaying their Lord of Khorne. This is one of the most paradoxical aspect of Khorne's belligerent worshippers, serving as an elite guard for their Lord, but as soon as the occasion of a slaughter or an opportunity to slay the lord, the gorechosen will jump on it to ascend.[1a]
Contents
Aspiring Deathbringers
Aspiring Deathbringers are Deathbringers that aspire to become Exalted Deathbringers.[3b]
Some are gore-drenched fell champions scream praises to the Blood God and urge their fellow Bloodbound to destroy the foe in the name of Khorne. They wield Wrath-hammers and Bloodaxes into battle and have an insatiable thirst for glory.[3b][4c]
Other are the merciless hunters of the weak, striding through battlefields in search of hesitant or fearful foes that infuriates them so much. Once one is found they immediately smash them with their fury, leaving them to rot on the battlefield. These personifications of the Blood God's contempt for cowards are marked by the Khornate Skull Helm, a death's head mask that hide their twisted snarls, and the Goreaxe and Skullhammer they wield, designed to strike fear into their victims.[41][3f]
Exalted Deathbringers
Exalted Deathbringers are some of Khorne's mightiest Bloodbound followers, leading them into battle and second only to the Mighty Lords of Khorne. Most of Khorne's mortal followers die to his violent and destructive path, replaced with new devotees. Only those that survive the ordeal of endless war, using brute force and raw power, can become his Exalted Deathbringers.[4b][3a][5]
They are whirling torrents of rage, madness and bloodlust, killing, without hesitation or mercy, to reach ever higher panes of glory in the name of their god. Like other Khornate followers they wear little armor, showing off their scarred and mutated bodies to strike fear into their enemies. Their daemonic visage is reinforced by a pair of curved horns sprouting from their head, undoubtedly a show of favour from Khorne, which they can use as a weapon. Runes of Khorne are usually carved on their bodies or found on talismans they carry around.[4b][3a][5]
In addition to being a Lord of Khorne's foremost lieutenants, the exalted deathbringers are also their most dangerous enemy. They are but one skull away from the mantle of lord. If the Lord of Khorne should be slain, a deathbringer will attempt to claim leadership and butcher all challenger to the title.[13a]
Some of them are armed with Ruinous Axes, a gigantic axe with a blade wider than a Ogor's torso, and Skullgougers, horrific bucklers designed to destroy weapons and disarm opponents and usually used to strike into the eye sockets like it's name suggests. Others wield Bloodbite axes and Runemarked Shields.[3a][5] There are also those that wield a massive Impaling Spear intended to skewer their opponents and lift them from the ground to impale them as the slide along the shaft.[13c]
Bloodsecrators
Bloodsecrators are the icon bearers for the Khorne Bloodbound and a conduit for the fury of Khorne.[4f] They carry massive standards adorned with skulls and the rune mark of Khorne into battle. Through these they channel the raw fury of the blood good to empower and enrage the faithful. The hole these banner rip into reality disrupts any magic brought as Khorne's contempt for the magical arts rolls across the battlefield.[13a]
A Bloodsecrator is the least ambitious of the Gorechosen. Simply content with killing in his lords name. Khorne himself savors the pure, undiluted and elemental rage that fuels the bloodsecrator greatly.[13a]
Bloodstokers
Bloodstokers are champions of the Khorne Bloodbound that have mastered the use of others, encouraging and punishing them with lash and torture blade, to reap more skulls for Khorne.[2a] Their role in the Bloodbound tribes is to keep order within its unruly ranks. But it is on the battlefield that their true skill with the whip is displayed as they crack their blood whips to remind the followers of Khorne of their bloody dues.[13a][13b]
As is befitting of a champion of Khorne, a bloodstoker is a very capable fighter by himself. Wielding whip and torture blade, he carves his way through his foes with the same precision as he wields the battle-frenzy of his subservients.[13a][13b]
Skullgrinders
Skullgrinders are hulking warrior-smiths who command awe even amongst the most lunatic of the Bloodbound. They wield sacrificial, burning anvils at the end of long brass chains and their arcing, swinging attacks can burst the heads of their opponents instantly, leaving nothing but a faint red mist and some shattered, splintered bone. Each skull dispatched in this way causes the the anvil to burn ever brighter.[4e]
No one knows where the Skullgrinders first came from. At the start of the Age of Chaos, the Bloodbound tribes were gifted Anvils of Khorne to forge their brutal weapons and sacrifice their captives. In each of these tribes, one approached this burning altar of sacrifice and forged a bond with it. This bond marked by chains appearing out of thin air, still glowing as if freshly forged. [13a]
Slaughterpriests
Slaughterpriests are the demagogues of the Khorne Bloodbound, the priests of the Blood God and beacons to his power. They command their fellow Khornates into battle following the visions sent by Khorne himself. Their prayers can boil the blood of their enemies in their veins and their booming chants can fill everything around them, enemy and foe, with a powerful berserker rage that forces them to completely disregard their sense of self-preservation for a suicidal battlelust. They gain their powers by drinking the blood of fallen foes, giving them stretched limbs and hardened bones.[3d][3e][4g][4h]
Some wield Bloodbathed Axes into battles while others arm themselves with a Wrath-Hammer and a Hackblade, with the hammer pulling in those that it doesn't kill so they can be decapitated by the blade. These priests are often mutated and carry many metallic restraints embedded in their flesh. Their scorn for sorcery, a trait shared with their blood god, gives them the ability to unbind spells and are able to call upon Bloodfuelled Prayers like Blood Boil and Blood Bind.[3d][3e][4g][4h]
Notable
Deathbringers
Bloodsecrators
Skullgrinders
Slaughterpriests
- Marokh Skullsight
- Kordrok
- Dromm (Gorechosen of Dromm)
- Lakshar Bloodspeaker
- Rakhan the Red
- Drane
- Akhagor
- Therekal
- Skarku
Miniatures
An Aspiring Deathbringer armed with a Goreaxe and Skullhammer.
An Aspiring Deathbringer armed with a Bloodaxe and a Wrath-hammer.
An Exalted Deathbringer armed with a Ruinous Axe and a Skullgouger.
An Exalted Deathbringer armed with an Impaling Spear.
An Exalted Deathbringer armed with a Bloodbite Axe and a Runemarked Shield.
A Bloodsecrator.
A Bloodstoker.
A Skullgrinder.
A Slaughterpriest armed with a Bloodbathed Axe.
A Slaughterpriest armed with a Hackblade and a Wrath-Hammer.
Sources
- 1: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2017)
- 1a: The Chosen of Khorne, pg. 28-29
- 2: Battletome: Khorne Bloodbound (2015)
- 3: Warscrolls
- 4: Games Workshop Webstore
- 4a: Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Starter Set product description
- 4b: Exalted Deathbringer product description
- 4c: Aspiring Deathbringer product description
- 4d: Exalted Deathbringer Axe and Shield product description
- 4e: Skullgrinder product description
- 4f: Korghos Khul and Bloodsecrator product description
- 4g: Slaughterpriest product description
- 4h: Slaughterpriest with Hackblade and Wrath-Hammer product description
- 4i: Aspiring Deathbringer with Goreaxe and Skullhammer product description
- 5: What's New Today: 2015/08/17
- 6: Spear of Shadows
- 7: The Unending Storm
- 8: The Prodigal
- 9: Gorechosen
- 10: The Eighth Victory by Graeme Lyon
- 11: White Dwarf Issue 75, the Khorne Goretide, page 16-19
- 12: Neferata: Mortarch of Blood (novel)
- 13: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2019)
