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Khorne Bloodbound

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Khorne-Symbol

The Mark of Khorne, the Blood God, emblem of the Bloodbound

The Khorne Bloodbound, also called Khorne's Legions, are the mortal warriors who serve the interests of the Blood God Khorne, the Chaos God of rage, murder and slaughter.

They swarm across the Mortal Realms, enslaving or killing their inhabitants in order to spill blood and claim skulls for their bloodthirsty patron. Their lords are blessed with hideously violent mutations and gifted with weapons crafted from Khorne's own forges in the Realm of Chaos.

The Mortal Realms are sundered, corrupted by howling, blood-mad beasts; it is a time of morbid horror and absolute madness. The murderous champions of the Chaos Gods fight furiously to extinguish the last lights of hope, and none fight harder, or command more fear than the savage hordes of Khorne's Bloodbound.

Daubed with the Blood God's rune, muscular beyond belief and foaming with rage, these warriors descend upon their enemies screaming and leave nothing alive. Since the Age of Chaos began, the Bloodbound have plagued every realm, rarely knowing defeat and unstoppably rolling over all in their path. But now begins the Age of Sigmar -- and the Bloodbound are pleased to meet this new challenge.[1]

Like a headsman's blade, the Bloodbound sweep down upon their foes with terrifying violence. The ground shudders at their onset, for they come in numbers fit to flood the land. The harsh blare of bone warhorns and the savage chant of war cries roll before them, mingled with the reek of spilt blood.

The Bloodbound charge on through clouds of arrows and blasts of sorcerous power, trampling their own fallen in their eagerness to kill. When they smash headlong into their foes they do so with a mighty, rending crash. Axes rise and fall, blood gushes, and those who stand against the Blood God are slaughtered wholesale.[1a]

Throughout the Mortal Realms, voices beyond count scream praise to Khorne. Everywhere, ragged knights and tribal warriors daub themselves with the Blood God's rune, fighting and killing in his name. However, though any warrior may offer up his soul to Khorne, only those who prove worthy are chosen by their god in return.

These are the Bloodbound, the most powerful, belligerent and murderous of Khorne's devotees, and they are a curse upon the Mortal Realms greater than any other. Tribes, cities and nations have been toppled by these brutal reavers, and oceans of blood have been shed in Khorne's name.[1a]

The Bloodbound's ferocity is almost unstoppable, and over the centuries they have rendered extinct all those mighty enough to oppose them.

Yet, even as Sigmar's Stormcast Eternals launch their first devastating strikes against the forces of Chaos as the Age of Sigmar dawns, the Bloodbound are far from dismayed.

Here, at last, is a new foe that can challenge them in battle. Against the Stormcasts, every head hacked off is tribute fit to earn Khorne's deadly favour. Now begins the true war for the realms, and the Bloodbound welcome it readily with axes in hand.[1a]

History[]

As the Age of Chaos raged on, howling hordes of Bloodbound burst from the Eightpoints, descending upon the Mortal Realms at the head of the Chaos hosts. With Sigmar's alliance among the Pantheon of Order in tatters and the God-King's forces locked in a fruitless war against the forces of Nagash, the god of death, the peoples of the realms were forced to look to their own defence.

Mighty gates rumbled closed, enchantments binding them tight. Arcane engines hummed to life, giving power to protective wards. City guards and militia hosts in their millions closed ranks and readied blades. They didn’t stand a chance.[1b]

With the servants of the other Dark Gods close on their heels, the Bloodbound smashed their foes' defences asunder without a second thought. Gates crashed down. Cities burned in hellish pyres. Corpses piled higher and higher until blood-soaked mountains of carrion loomed over the land.

And so it continued, for years, then decades, then centuries, with no end in sight. Civilisations beyond number fell beneath the axes of Khorne's chosen. Time and again some proud chieftain or shining hero declared himself the scourge of these rampaging murderers. Time and again, his skull found its place at the Blood God's feet.

So terrible were the conquests of the Bloodbound that Khorne rose to prominence amongst the other Chaos Gods, and even his dark brothers shuddered at his might.[1b]

The Great Slaughter[]

Amid the Valleys of Dawn, a swathe of shattered crystal and glass spreads for a hundred miles where once stood the Sanctum of Stars. Tribal legends tell that here the Brotherhood of Sacred Radiance guarded the Spark of Knowledge for a thousand years. Then came the Bloodbound. The Warhorde known as the Brass Skulls burst from the Realmgate at the Sanctum’s heart, falling upon the Brotherhood with wild fury. Though the priests fought back with sorcerous powers, they were slaughtered mercilessly, and the Sanctum of Stars toppled in ruin.[1c]

Amid the labyrinthine caves of Echoing Rock in Ghur, crude cave paintings wind through the tunnels for leagues on end. They tell of a time when the orruks of the Irontusk Rampage made common cause with a seraphon host to battle the Bloodbound and their skaven lackeys. For three days and nights the orruks and the seraphon fought side by side against the Warhorde known as the Red Butchers. For a time, it seemed the Chaos forces would be hurled back in defeat. Yet hope failed when the whirring cogs of an Arcanabulum rose from the earth, the mechanism’s strange powers spurring the Bloodbound on. A terrible slaughter ensued, the death toll so great that the Bloodbound were able to raise the bastions of bone that still surround Echoing Rock to this day.[1c]

Wherever the Bloodbound rampaged across the Mortal Realms, death and destruction followed. It was they who overcame the Boneshard Behemoths of Hollow’s Reach and sacked the cities that festooned their megalithic forms. It was the Bloodbound who felled the chronohydrion amid the Nightwoods, following a trail of rebirth to its cavernlair and hacking off its horned heads.The Bloodbound even crushed the Beastclaw ogors of Mournful Valley, along with the rotted warband of Pustus Phlobb who sought to claim the ogors’ lives for Nurgle. A thousand such tales abound, bellowed with pride by the dark seers of the Bloodbound, the Slaughterpriests, even as they are whispered by the folk of the realms.[1c]

Tides of Blood[]

The Age of Chaos was a time of perpetual war, an endless maelstrom of battle and butchery. Khorne’s followers revelled in the slaughter, carving thei rway through one foe after another. Always a new and worthy challenge waited beyond the horizon. While the killing continued apace, Khorne’s power swelled until he dominated much of the Realm of Chaos. However, with Sigmar’s retreat into Azyr, the Bloodbound lost a worthy foe, for the God-King had resisted them like no other. Many mortal tribes still heldout across the realms, and Khorne’s followers overran them, but it was increasingly poor sport.[1d]

Eventually, the Gods of Chaos stood ascendant, with only pockets of hardy or well-hidden foes left to resist them.Truly great battles became scarce, and it soon became clear that Khorne’s infernal brothers were gaining power once more. Nurgle’s followers grew strong as sickness and rot took holdacross the Mortal Realms. Tzeentch saw ever more of his long, windings chemes come to fruition as the very fabric of the realms began to warp beneath the mutative powers of Chaos. By comparison, the Bloodbound were reduced to conquests akin to turning over rocks and stamping on the insects that scuttled from beneath.[1d]

Accordingly, the Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch and the fecund Garden of Nurgle grew strong, though the realm of vanished Slaanesh remained eerily static and silent. The Blood God raged, for if Chaos was to secure final victory over the Mortal Realms, it would be he, and no other, who claimed it. Thus, even as the vast and terrible hosts of Chaos pounded upon the gates of Azyr, the Bloodbound turned upon their allies with axes in hand. So began a new and treacherous time of slaughter, in which Khorne’s worshippers hacked down those alongside whom they had so recently fought. Sorcerous champions of Tzeentch fell, their horned heads severed even as mutating energies crackled from their raised claws. The corpulent worshippers of Nurgle and the screeching vermin of the Horned Rat banded together against this new foe, yet still they were driven back. The perverse followers of Slaanesh, already weakened by the disappearance of their hedonistic god, were scattered before the Bloodbound like chaff upon the wind.[1d]

Where once the worshippers of all the Dark Gods had besieged the Realm of Heavens, now only Khornate banners remained before the Realmgates that led to the golden lands of Azyr. So desperate for worthy skulls had the Bloodbound become that, even as their towering monsters and brazen engines pounded upon the Heavengates, their champions fought amongst one another.[1d]

Such is the way of Khorne, for he must always have bloodshed and violence no matter the price. Yet here the cost to Chaos had been great indeed, for the Dark Gods’ alliance in the Mortal Realms – which had lasted since the Age of Chaos began – was no more. All of the dark siblings, even the Blood God, had been significantly weakened by their sudden and brutal civil war.[1e]

The Realm of Heavens remained as impregnable as ever, its gates resisting all attempts to smash them asunder. Worse still, what prey remained within the other Mortal Realms had become elusive and troublesome to pursue. It seemed as though the final victory of the Dark Gods – so long presumed inevitable – might now drag out into a grinding and dissatisfying stalemate that threatened to last for centuries to come.[1e]

Present day[]

Across the Mortal Realms, the shadows stretched long. Where once myriad peoples prospered, now their scattered bones stretched for miles. Where once great miracles of magic lit the lands with their glory, now skull-clad fortresses of brass and iron squatted amidst the ruins. Around the Gates of Azyr, vast Khornate hordes bayed for blood, their siege engines battering relentlessly at the last true stronghold of their foes. The Dark Gods looked on, thirsting for those glories left to claim. Soon, Azyr’s gates must surely fall, and when they did the last light of hope would be snuffed out forever.[1g]

Yet before those mighty gates could be breached, the Storm of Sigmar broke. Across the realms, from Ulgu to Shyish,from Ghyran to Aqshy, the skies tore open with a furious glow. Down from the storms came rank after rank of Stormcast Eternals, Sigmar’s great army of retribution striking thefirst blows of a whole new war. Within his infernal throne room, Khorne rose to his feet and roared in fury as he saw victory – long presumed certain – slipping from his grasp. Yet even as he raged, the Blood God rejoiced, for here, at last, was a foe worthy of him. As one, the Bloodbound bellowed their war cries and surged into battle once more. The Age of Sigmar had begun, and the slaughter that followed would make all that had come before seem but a pale echo.[1g]

Timeline[]

The Bloodbound Unleashed[]

From amid the crashing horror of the Nexus Wars, the Bloodbound poured into the Mortal Realms to desecrate and murder. After breaching the Tower of Wrath, Khorgos Khul seized leadership of the Goretide and cast Aqsharya down in flames. So began his grandiose quest to conquer the whole Realm of Fire for Khorne.[1h]

  • A Mighty Clash - Across the Acidbite Dunes in Chamon, Lord Vorax of the Bloodied Oath led a Brass Stampede against the massed Mournfang riders of the Rustgut Tribe, soaking the dunes red with gore.
  • Before the Guns - Beneath the Luminary Spires of Daedenrill, the Crimson Fury charged headlong through the legendary Cannonade of Korsh. Thousands fell gladly in bloody tribute to Khorne, eventually choking the guns with their mangled bodies.[1h]
  • Slaughter in the Skydomes - The visionary Slaughterpriest Rakhan the Red orchestrated a brutalinvasion of the fabled Skydomes of Djeb’dah. He and several Warhordesof Bloodbound led a vast host through the domes, fighting grot andduardin alike across soaring bridgeways and over crystal plateaux veiledin glowing mists. It was a war of nations that lasted for over a century,and by its end, the Skydomes had become charnel slaughterhouses strewn with corpses beyond count.[1h]
  • Rampage of the Exiled One - Led by their patron daemon, the Axes ofSkarbrand embarked on a hideous rampagethrough the Shellwoods of Persiphone. WholeWargroves fell to frenzied slaughter before greatmagics were loosed to end the killing.[1h]
  • Last Stand at Slaughterpoint - The orruks of Badstomp’s Tribe were trapped atop the crags ofSlaughterpoint by Valkia’s Bloodbound. The greenskins held out forthree turns of the chiming moon, but were finally massacred after acombined charge of Blood Warriors, Skullreapers and Chaos Knightssmashed their stockade to splinters.[1h]

Blood Times[]

Believing that victory over the Mortal Realms was assured, Khorne turned upon his infernal siblings. Skullreapers and Bloodreavers cut a path through panicked hordes of skaven. Wrathmongers and Mighty Skullcrushers hacked down Tzeentchian warrior-mages and bloated Nurgle daemons by the score. From end to end, the Mortal Realms rang with the clangour of warfare as Khorne asserted his might and mastery over all.[1i]

The Bloodstorm[]

A host of seraphon descended upon the Jade Reach in an attempt to stop a Khornate rite. Driven back by a howlingmass of Wrathmongers, the seraphon were powerless to prevent a trio of Bloodsecrators resurrecting Skarr Bloodwrath from amidan ocean of gore. Skarr and the surviving Wrathmongers summoned a hideous storm of blood from the heavens, drowning those seraphon who had not been hacked to death.[1i]

  • Doom of the Direbrands - In Aqshy, the people of the Direbrand Tribe were savagely slaughtered by Khorgos Khul’s Goretide, who fell upon them with thirsting blades. It was after that hideously bloody battle that Khul was rewarded by Khorne with the prowling Flesh Hound Grizzlemaw.[1i]
  • A Matter of Mastery - Exalted Deathbringer Dravek Daemonfist challenged Lord Korox Tyrantscorn for mastery of the Prophets of Blood. After a savage three-day battle, Daemonfist struck down his erstwhile master, only to receive an axe in the back from Aspiring Deathbringer Selkhara the Black. So began the horrifying reign of the Empress of Blood.[1i]
  • Into the Void - Riding upon a city-sized mechanical scorpion, the Iron Horde and their allies breached the Sanctified Stair. Flowing from the flanks of their city-steed, the Bloodbound fought their way up into the very stars, butchering so many of Tzeentch’s servants that bloody rain fell upon the lands for a month.[1i]
  • The Worlds Below - Following the visions of their Slaughterpriests, warriors of the Crimson Fury and several other Warhordes assailed the Weeping Wall. They left the festering heads of a thousand Rotbringers impaled atop their own suppurating fastness.[1i]
  • Skurrowdirge - In the subterranean halls of Skurrowdirge, the Bloodbound met skaven and Slaaneshi daemons in such savage battle that the vaults themselves came crashing down.[1i]
  • The Name of Evil - Rumour swept the Iron Plains of a Skullgrinder known only as the Beast, who appeared at the head of a thousand armoured berserkers whenever his name was spoken aloud. None could confirm this baleful being’s existence, but a string of horrific massacres among the Iron Plains tribes hinted at the truth of the matter.[1j]
  • Glory to Khul - Khorgos Khul and his Goretide toppled Scorched Keep, the last true bastion of resistance in the Brimstone Peninsula. In the wake of the fortress’ fall, Khul led his warriors on a triumphal rampage that saw Blisterfell Peak and the Carbidium run red with the blood of their peoples.[1j]
  • Amid the FLames - In the Flamefields, Lord Skuldrak the Destroyer slew the Tzeentch-worshipping Brimstone gargants,adding their blazing skulls to his vas thorde of bone trophies.[1j]
  • The Bloody Snares - Skarr Bloodwrath exploded into being in the heart of Knifespire Keep. The defenders were massacred wholesale, trapped inside their own walls with the berserk killer.[1j]
  • Skullbrand's Glory - Valkia and her Gorechosen fought through the halls of the duardin king, Stromnir. At the heartof the ice-locked hold, they fought five hundred duardin warriors, holding them at bay long enough to summon a daemon horde into reality and turn the battle into a slaughter.[1j]
  • The Fall of Gorgahul - Crashing through the wilds of the Ulgulands with the Bloodbound charging at his heels, Scyla Anfingrimm hunted down the ur-hydra Gorgahul. In a mighty eight day battle amid the Quicksilver Swamp, the ur-hydra and all her monstrous brood were torn bloodily apart, though they took a mighty toll before they fell.[1j]

Battle at the Beastgates[]

A vast orruk Waaagh! swept through the Cragtusk Mountains and seized the towering Beastgates. Scenting fresh skulls, Lord Khul drakled his Bloodbound in a savage counterattack.The battle that followed would live in legend for its sheer brutality, ye tfinally Khuldrak hacked down the orruk warlord and claimed his victory.[1j]

The War Raged on...[]

Across the Mortal Realms, the Stormcast Eternals struck from the heavens with sudden, crackling fury. As more and more Realmgates were seized by Sigmar’s warriors, the heavenly offensive gathered pace, until a war of retribution raged across the realms. The Bloodbound chanted Khorne’s praises louder than ever, welcoming the challenge these mighty new foes offered, and relishing the skulls they would soon claim.[1k]

  • The Dying Light - Beneath the gloaming canopy of the Stovinyan Shadowforest, the Skullfiend Tribe and their allies met the Astral Templars and a great host of seraphon in a frantic battle for the seven stones of Rhael.[1k]
  • On the Winds - The Seed Cities of the Golden Gulf rangwith the sounds of battle as Sigmar’swarriors fought the Bloodboundof Khorne for each of those vast,spinning cityplants.[1k]
  • Reality Crumbles - Amid cataclysmic lightning storms, the Blackspikes fought the Arrows of Azyr across the Drowned Mountains for the mighty prize of the Bleakstone Blade.[1k]
  • Rising Fury - Given hope by the onset of Sigmar’s Storm, those long oppressed by the tyrannical rule of Chaos took up arms once more. All across the Igneous Delta, the Bloodbound found themselves beset by the peoples they thought had been already crushed.[1k]
  • Chaos from Order - Led by the Daemon Prince Balghor, the Iron Horde and a host of lesser warbands challenged the Blades of Dawn for possession of the Hazereach Realmgate. As battle raged, the strangely shifting Symboline Paths rearranged themselves over and again. The two forces were plunged into an anarchic, disordered melee in which the savagery of Balghor and his horde of Blood Warriors saw them carve down their foes and seize the gate for Khorne.[1k]
  • Battle at the Whispering Gate - When the Anvils of the Heldenhammer attacked the Whispering Gate in Chamon, they were met by the ferocity of the Grimskulls. Supported by the waves of daemons that poured from the corrupted Realmgate, the Bloodbound easily drove the Stormcasts back. However, the very ferocity of the Grimskulls proved their ultimate undoing, as they dashed themselves to pieces against the Anvils’ unbreakable shield wall. Great bloodshed was wrought in Khorne’s name that day, yet ultimately the Stormcasts succeeded in sealing the Realmgate and preventing a major daemon incursion, much to the Blood God’s anger.[1k]

Military[]

To worship Khorne is to lose oneself forever amid a storm of indiscriminate killing. No devotee of the Blood God knows loyalty to another, for when all is said and done, all mortals are merely skulls yet to be claimed in Khorne’s name. Because of this, the greatest champions of the Blood God bind their armies together not through common cause, but with the shackles of hate.[1l]

The warriors of Khorne band together with others of their kind in order to better wreak destruction upon their foes. However, even within the tribal structures of the Bloodreavers and the strange, pseudo-daemonic packs of the Wrathmongers, cooperation lasts only so long as there are sufficient foes against whom to win personal glory. When a Mighty Lord of Khorne gathers a warband of Bloodbound around him, this same phenomenon is writ large. Each band of Bloodbound eyes their fellows with open hostility, waiting for any excuse to do violence in Khorne’s name. By finding sufficiently challenging foes to slaughter, the lord hold his frenzied followers together, giving them common purpose beyond tearing each other apart. Only the greatest champions of Khorne can hold their followers together for more than a few battles or campaigns.[1l]

For those who succeed, a successfully marshalled Bloodbound Warhorde is a terrifying force. Beneath the Mighty Lord of Khorne fight his Gorechosen – the eight champions highest in theirlord’s favour – and beneath them thewarbands. Each of these sprawlinghordes is led by further champions –eager to kill their way to a place amongthe Gorechosen – and consists of killersbeyond count. Together, Warbands,Brass Stampedes and more form abloody tide that sweeps away all before it. When vast numbers of Bloodbound come together their ferocity is almost unstoppable, as countless enemies have discovered to their cost.[1l]

Known Bloodbound warbands[]

Main Formations[]

  • Bloodbound Warband - Bloodbound Warbands are the backbone of any Warhorde, massed forces of Khornate warriors fighting beneath the furious leadership of an Aspiring Deathbringer of Khorne.[1Ak]
  • Goreblade Warband - The lords of Khorne surround themselves with those devoted to the Blood God’s creed. When a Goreblade Warband joins the fray, each retinue strives to outdo the others in the slaughter.[1Al]
  • Bloodbound Warhorde - Massed into a single mighty horde, the Bloodbound surge across the battlefield with blades held high,their rage and hatred rolling like a tidal wave before them to drive the foe to their knees in terror.[1Am]
  • The Gorechosen - The greatest champions of each Mighty Lord of Khorne ascend to join his Gorechosen, a circle ofsupreme warriors who vie furiously for power even as they enforce the lord’s bloody will upon the foe.[1Af]
  • Brass Stampede - The ground shakes beneath the hoof beats of the Brass Stampede. These gathered bands of Mighty Skullcrushers smash all who stand in their path.[1Ag]
  • Bloodstorm - Wrathmongers are berserk killers who spread madness and death wherever they tread. In the Bloodstorm, this destructive power is magnified a hundredfold.[1An]
  • Dark Feast - Gathered in the Dark Feast, the cannibalistic Bloodreavers are exhorted by their Slaughterpriest andgoaded by their Bloodstoker to acts of horrific violence.[1Ah]
  • Skulltake - Like macabre harvestmen, the Skullreapers of the Skulltake lop off the heads of the foe. The worthy they keep – the chaff is flung to the monstrous Khorgoraths that lope alongside them.[1Ai]
  • Red Headsmen - Even a single Blood Warrior is a terrifying foe. When bands of these warriors gather to hunt down the worthiest enemies, they become more dangerous still.[1Aj]
  • Vengeful Skullhunt - Rage and hatred drive the warriors of the Vengeful Skullhunt into battle, each vicious killer eager to butcher the one who has given the Lord of Khorne personal insult.[2a]

Main Units[]

Notable Bloodbound[]

Sources[]

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