Khorne

Khorne is a literary deity who features in Warhammer.

Biography

Fantasy

Khorne was a powerful deity who stood as the youngest member of the Ruinous Powers of the four Chaos Gods.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Khorne is described as an extremely well-muscled, hundreds of feet tall beast-headed monster sitting on a brass throne atop a mountain of skulls in the middle of a sea of blood. Like his brother gods, Khorne grew from a single survivalist emotion; in his case, the emotion was rage. Khorne is the Chaos god of hate, war, violence, killing and happiness. For this reason he bears sobriquets such as Blood God and Lord of Skulls.

Khorne was commonly depicted as a muscular humanoid figure hundreds of feet tall, sitting on a vast and weirdly-carved throne of brass, which in turn rested on a mountain of blood-stained bones. He was dressed in plate armour of a strange and alien design, elaborately carved and worked with a repeating skull motif. His head was covered by his huge winged helmet, with only a portion of his bestial, snarling face showing beneath the helm. (Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness)

It was for this that he came to be referred to as the Blood-God. (Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness)

Khorne the Blood God was identified as the angry and murderous deity of Chaos and one of the four great Powers. (Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness)

Khorne was seen as the Power of Chaos in its aspect of mindless and absolute violence, destroying everything and everyone within its reach, slaying both friend and foe alike. He was known as the Huntsman of Souls who drove the great armies of Chaos before him; his horn sounded in the depths of the Chaos Wastes, urging his followers ever onwards in search of fresh prey. The gore-maddened followers of Khorne harried beyond the edges of the Known World, delighting in slaughter by the tainted light of a blood-stained moon. Khorne watched the wild destruction wrought in his name, and his bellows of rage and delight could be heard echoing across the void between worlds. (Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness)

The skulls are described as belonging to both his victims and his worshippers alike, as Khorne cares not whose blood flows, as long as it flows. Due to the immense amount of violence and killing occurring throughout the universe, Khorne is the strongest of the Chaos gods. The colours associated with him are red, brass and black, and these colours feature prominently in his demonic hordes and are usually adopted by his followers. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Khornate". Khorne acts outwardly by seeking the deaths of others, preferring close combat over ranged weaponry, and the only thing he respects is strength. As such, he is completely opposed to the hedonistic Slaanesh, an inwardly acting god who seeks pleasure in every act and experience. He has a strong distrust of wizards and sorcerers, whom he sees as cowards; this means he is also highly suspicious of Tzeentch, although they are not archenemies. In Warhammer Fantasy, these relationships affect the makeup of an army which is dedicated to Khorne.

Powers and abilities

As the god of martial pride, honour, and a warrior's love for battle (as well as mindless rage and slaughter), Khorne's mortal followers in both settings are nearly uncontrollable warriors of exceptional martial skill. Khorne's followers share their god's straightforward philosophy on combat, preferring to run directly at their foes in order to engage and defeat them in hand to hand combat.

Within the setting there are a number of daemons that are specifically associated with Khorne and may be included as part of a Khorne related force:

• Bloodletters : were ugly, stooped, horned humanoid daemons with cloven hooves who wield blood-drinking battleaxes or swords known as Hellblades, which are forged at the foot of the Throne of Skulls, and wear armour of daemonic brass. They enter horrific frenzies in battle, where they will destroy everyone and everything in their path. A Bloodletter can be mounted on a Juggernaut, and a Bloodletter mounted in this manner is called a Bloodcrusher. Their Hellblades radiate so much daemonic energies that they are able to cleave through any armor.
• Flesh Hounds : were monstrous and ferocious canine creatures, looking like a combination of wolf and lizard in that they resemble a wolf or dog in size and shape but are covered in scales and have lizard-like spines and crests. They are notorious for their ability to track down their chosen prey. They bear enchanted collars that make them highly resistant to magic or psychic influences.
• Bloodthirsters : were the greater daemons of Khorne. Of all the Daemons, they bear the greatest resemblance to stereotypical Western demons, having a human body, cloven hooves instead of feet, leathery bat-like wings and horned dog-like or humanoid heads. They wield a whip and a massive two-headed battle axe simultaneously in battle. As the greatest manifestation of the blood god, the dreaded Bloodthirster is one of the most powerful warriors that can be found on the battlefields of both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000.
• Juggernauts : were massive four-legged creatures made of living metal whose blood is liquid fire. They are generally given as steeds to favoured champions of Khorne. They are also ridden into battle by Bloodletters.

His great brass throne sat upon a mountainous pile of bones, which were the remains of his followers who had died in battle and of the many they had killed in his name. This growing bone pile reflected the success of his worshippers, feeding his glory but never quenching his thirst for blood and death. (Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness)

Notes

• Khorne was created by Games Workshop and featured in the setting of Warhammer along with its spin-off universes.
• In Citadel Miniatures Catalog (1983), the first known printed mention of Khorne was for a miniature titled "Cormanti of Khorne: Evil High Priest," appearing in early Citadel catalogs shortly after the launch of Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
• In the Knights of Chaos Boxed Set (Spring 1984), an insert included with this miniature set provided one of the first descriptive references to the "War God Khorne".
• In Forces of Fantasy (1984), the expansion for the 1st edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle mentioned Khorne in passing alongside the other major Chaos powers, though it lacked deep lore.

Appearances

• Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness:
• Warhammer Fantasy:
• Warhammer 40,000:
• Warhammer: Age of Sigmar:

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