Khorne Bloodbound

Khorne Bloodbound
The Goretide.
Grand alliance	Chaos
Associated factions	Blades of Khorne
Major characters	Korghos Khul Mazarall Scylla Anfingrimm Skaloc Skarr Bloodwrath Valkia Vorgaroth
Races	Daemon Prince Human
Mounts	Juggernaut
Creatures	Flesh Hound Khorgorath
Prayers	Blood Blessings of Khorne
Invocations	Bleeding Icon Hexgorger Skull Wrath Axe
Scenery	Skull Altar
Warbands	Garrek's Reavers Magore's Fiends

Khorne Bloodbound or Khorne's Legions^[4] are the warriors of the most powerful of the ruinous deities, Khorne, lord of rage, violence and bloodshed. They swarm across the Mortal Realms, enslaving or killing it's inhabitants in order to spill blood and claims skulls for their bloodthirsty patron.^[1][2] Their lords are blessed with hideously violent mutations and gifted with weapons from Khorne's own forges.^[3]

Overview

Unlike any other army where camaraderie leads the men to fight together, the Bloodhounds are not united by any other bond than Khorne's will. In fact all Bloodhounds hate each other and will never hesitate to back stab or to murder each other. A warrior of Khorne gains prestige through slaughter but only by slaying powerful enemies can the Aspiring Champions hope of gaining the Blood God's favour. When his killing and exploits become too noticeable, the warrior will be the target of others' ambition since he is now a powerful foe. Many promising champions have fallen with an axe gutting them open or a flail smashing their skull as there were no other warrior alive than the Bloodhounds themselves. Many Aspiring Champions challenges other rising warriors in the arenas.^[15]

Origin

Bloodbound may originate from various sources, born into tribes of blood culture or seeing Khorne’s bloodlust as the precept by which great power and dominance over the Mortal Realms are achieved or even unwillingly devote themselves o Khorne after being overtaken by an insatiable love of bloodshed while seeking vengeance for murdered loved ones or engage in violence for some other just cause. In an age of constant war within just a few generations and without overt signs of Chaos corruption, a tribe can move from taking simple pride in the ability of its warriors to defend its lands, to lauding its military above all eventually becoming a brutal, savage culture in which might determines right and no quarter is asked for or given. Regardless of reason, a mortal who becomes a follower of Khorne has stepped onto the path of skulls and only has a future filled with carnage. It is an avenue to immortality that is crowded with hopefuls, but only the strongest and most selfish survive to the end. ^[17a]

Only the most dedicated of these Slaves to Darkness follow that path of brutality even further and undertake the eight archaic Trials of Khorne. The survivors of the trials are made Bloodbound, one of Khorne’s chosen warriors and are bestowed with daemonic gifts of strength and martial prowess, their veins quake with rage, and the iron smell of fresh blood becomes to them like the sweet scent of air to a drowning man. Those who are greatly blessed will find their fingers growing into claws, their mouth filling with rows of jagged fangs, or immense horns erupting from the sides of their skull. They must continue killing in his name until every last shred of their mortality is abandoned and are transformed into a monstrous Daemon Prince or meet a violent, bloody death. ^[17a]

Organisation

A Lord of Khorne command an entire Bloodbound Warhorde and under their banners are hordes of Bloodreavers, packs of hulking Skullreapers and droves of thundering Skullcrushers but even the most powerful lords rarely hold their followers together for more than a few campaigns. Directly beneath the Lord of Khorne are his Gorechosen, his eight mightiest and most favoured champions. They are the Lord of Khorne’s personal guard, and they are also the most likely to bury a serrated axe blade in the back of his skull, so he keeps them close at hand, where their seething ambitions can be observed. A Warhorde is typically divided into eight distinct groups. In smaller armies, these eight formations might each be a single pack, but in larger groups each of the eight is a battle force in its own right . So great is the fury manifested in such a gathering that, when they start reaping their gory tributes, the veil between realms begins to tear. ^[17b]

When gathered together and not in battle, groups of warriors may sing Arbaal's Lament - a hymn to uncompleted slaughter and skulls that will never be taken. ^[18a]

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.^[19a]

• Deathbringer
  • Aspiring Deathbringer
  • Exalted Deathbringer
• Bloodsecrator
• Bloodstoker
• Skullgrinder
• Slaughterpriest

Warbands of Khorne

For more information see Bloodbound warband.

Khorne has many blood-blessed legions, both vast and numerous, that leave a destruction in their wake that's sickening to behold.^[4] They do not fight for honour wealth or victory, they fight for bloodshed and the favour of their god.^[10]

• Goretide: One of Khorne's favourite legions, a battle-hungry horde of cannibals, butchers and berserker led by Korghos Khul,^[4] that has subjugated the Realm of Aqshy, many years before the start of the Age of Sigmar. ^[10]
• Lord Khuldrak's Reapers: They have yet to met a foe they could not slaughter and responsible for the slaying the last of the rift tribes and defeated the orruks at the Beastgates.^[10]
• Brazen Butchers: A warband of murdered that aim for indiscriminate killing and spilling as much blood as possible.^[10]
• Warmongers: Once part of the Gyr tribes, they gained Khorne's favour by betraying their comrades in bloody fashion.^[10]
• Ravagers of Khur: This warband is distinguished by their black axes and the Khorgoraths that follow them. They are known too well in the ruined provinces.^[10]
• Skullfiend Tribe: This tribe slay for the single-minded purpose of collecting and offering skulls to their patron.^[10]
• Grimskulls: The most feared and brutal of Khorne's warbands, that commonly fight at the side of his Daemons.^[10]
• Brass Skulls: This warband knows all too well that Khorne is worshipped in the battlefield and that his tithe is blood.^[10]
• Blackspikes: A Warband know to enter in battle chanting "skulls", growing faster and louder as it grows more violent.^[10]
• Axes of Skarbrand: A warband that worships the mighty Bloodthirster Skarbrand, seeing it as the physical incarnation of rage and fight alongside his red-skinned hosts.^[10]
• Iron Horde: Led by the Daemon Prince Balghor, elevated after the massacre at Gnawdwell.^[10]
• Crimson Fury: These black-hearted killers are so affected by their berserker fury that they slay enemy and ally alike.^[10]
• Bloodwrought: A Bloodbound warband lead by the khornate champion Ghaar'eth. ^[15]

Allied Creatures

• Khorgoraths:Former mortals whose bodies have been corrupted into hulking beasts with puny minds consumed by rage and destruction.^[3]
• Flesh Hounds: They are beasts capable of tearing a man in half with their fangs and ward off spells and conjurations. They are gifts to Khorne's most bloodthirsty vassals^[2] and are usually chained to the armour of the Lords of Khorne.^[1]
• Juggernauts of Khorne: These daemon mounts of Khorne are ridden by Lords of Khorne and Mighty Skullcrushers into battle.^[8c][8f]

Sources

• 1: What's News Today: 2015/07/05
• 2: What's News Today: 2015/07/08
• 3: What's News Today: 2015/07/10
• 4: White Dwarf Issue 75, the Khorne Goretide, page 16-19
• 5: Assault on the Mandrake Bastion product description
• 6: Assault on the Mandrake Bastion by Josh Reynolds
• 7: Exalted Deathbringer product description
• 8: Warscrolls
  • 8a: Bloodreavers arscroll
  • 8b: Blood Warriors warscrolls
  • 8c: Mighty Skullcrushers warscrolls
  • 8d: Wrathmongers warscrolls
  • 8e: Skullreapers warscrolls
  • 8f: Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut warscrolls
  • 8g: Slaughterpriest warscrolls
  • 8h: Skullgrinder warscrolls
  • 8i: Aspiring Deathbringer warscrolls
  • 8j: Valkia the Bloody warscrolls
  • 8k: Skarr Bloodwrath warscrolls
  • 8l: Scyla Anfingrimm warscrolls
• 9: Blood Warriors product description
• 10: Mighty Battles, Warbands of Khorne
• 11: The Solace of Rage by Guy Haley
• 12: The Trial of the Chosen by Guy Haley
• 13: Blood and Plague by David Annandale
• 14: The Eight Victory by Graeme Lyon
• 15: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2017) - The Chosen of Khorne, pg. 28-29
• 16: The Unending Storm by Nick Kyme
• 17: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2019)
  • 17a: The Path of Skulls, pg. 12-13
  • 17b: Warhordes of Khorne, pg. 32
• 18: Shadespire: The Mirrored City (novel) by Josh Reynolds
  • 18a: Chapter Eight, pg. 134
• 19: Battletome: Blades of Khorne (2017)
  • 19a: The Chosen of Khorne, pg. 28-29