Khorne

> "*Blood for the Blood God!*"
>
>
>
> —Rakh

**Khorne**, also called the "**Blood God**," the "**Lord of Skulls**," the "**Lord of Rage**," the "**Lord of Blood**," "**Taker of Skulls**," and "**Kharneth**" among many other titles, is the Chaos God of war, hatred, rage, wrath, blood, martial honour, strength and murder. His portfolio of interest covers the most basic and brutal of sentient emotions and actions, such as hate, anger, rage, the desire for destruction and the joy of killing one's enemies.

Every act of killing or murder in the Cosmos Arcane feeds and empowers Khorne; the more senseless and destructive, the better. However, though Khorne is the god of bloody slaughter, he is also the god of martial pride and honour, of those who set themselves against the most dangerous foes and earn victory against the odds.

Khorne's mortal followers and his legions of Daemons carve gruesome paths across the Mortal Realms. For the glory of their god, they spill the blood of all who stand before them and reap mountains of skulls for the Blood God's Skull Throne.

There is no room for beauty or compassion in the black heart of Khorne, for his only desire is to see the realms burn in the fires of war. The Blood God’s volcanic wrath cannot be tempered, and his favour can only be gained through ceaseless slaughter and a worthy tribute of skulls.

Khorne's kingdom is in the Realm of Chaos, where for an endless expanse of time the five major Chaos Gods have battled for supremacy in the Great Game. Although the dark powers of these hellish deities have ever ebbed and flowed, mighty Khorne has remained dominant. Khorne is paid tribute with every drop of blood that is spilt in battle, and whenever great wars are waged, Khorne's immortal being is greatly strengthened. The unending battles that consume the Mortal Realms only serve to empower the Blood God. Whether the fallen are the heroes of just causes or the servants of evil, Khorne cares not -- all that matters is that the blood continues to flow.

Within the Realm of Chaos, Khorne’s domain is a blood-stained, volcanic wasteland at the centre of which is the Brass Citadel. Here Khorne resides, enthroned atop a mountain of skulls, his baleful gaze scouring the Mortal Realms as he looks for worthy foes against whom he can unleash his followers. Where his wrath is drawn, daemonic legions spill from the void and his chosen mortal armies -- the Bloodbound -- drown the lands in gore.

Amongst mortals Khorne is described in infinite fearsome ways, though most Khorne worshippers depict their deity as having the head of a monstrous war-hound. He is covered in baroque armour and with immensely muscled arms he wields his favoured blade. This ornate sword -- which has been called *Ender of Worlds*, *Allslaughter*, and countless other titles -- can cut through armies with a single hateful swing, and when imbued with the entirety of Khorne's wrath it can rend reality itself.

## Rivalries

Like the Realm of Chaos itself, alliances between the Chaos Gods are in constant flux. Infernal bonds are formed and then broken as Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch and the newly ascended Great Horned Rat constantly vie for supremacy and domination of the Mortal Realms, while the fate of Slaanesh remains unknown.

It is the missing Dark Prince that most stokes the ire of the Blood God, as he represents the antithesis of all that Khorne stands for. Where the followers of Khorne are spurred by his infinite wrath to acts of ever-greater carnage, the sycophants of the Dark Prince are intoxicated to the point of stupor by their debauchery, gorging themselves on the pursuit of pain rather than spilling the blood of untold masses. Where Khorne commands strength, Slaanesh inspires decadence, and where the Blood God bellows his rage, Slaanesh would wallow in the cacophony of his own excess.

## The Blood God's Realm

Khorne's dominion in the Realm of Chaos is a blasted wasteland that echoes to the deafening clangour of industry and the tramp of marching legions. It is a pitiless realm, a place of only violence and toil inhabited by creatures of primal and malevolent rage.

The Realm of Chaos is a world of nightmares. In this warped plane of existence, deepest horrors and mortal fears are given form, and time and space twist insanely in upon themselves. Where the eight Mortal Realms are divided and defined by their features, so too is the Realm of Chaos carved into separate domains ruled over by the four Chaos Gods. The kingdom of Tzeentch is a crystalline maze of contradiction, the Garden of Nurgle is a vast composting cesspool, the lands of Slaanesh are filled with hypnotic horrors, and the empire of Khorne is an endless, blood-stained battlefield.

The desolate landscape of the Blood God’s domain contains nothing that could be considered beautiful or harmonious. Such things have no meaning in an existence born from hatred, and in Khorne’s reality there is naught but martial contests and unending war. In brutal fighting pits gouged into rocky plains, the greatest daemonic champions battle to gain favour with their deity. Where the largest monstrosities have been felled in battle, enormous craters serve as monuments to their ignominious defeat. The barren wastes are covered in fine sand formed of rock and bone that has been ground by the trampling marches of countless armies, and the carmine-coloured earth hints at the oceans of blood that it has absorbed. On occasion, a mighty mortal is brought to battle in Khorne’s domain. Most are butchered in moments – those who survive the trial are placed on the path of daemonhood, whether or not it is their wish.

Surrounding this domain is a serpentine spine of jagged volcanoes. Thousands of forges harness the roaring hellfire within and use it to create daemon blades and graven armour for Khorne’s greatest champions. When the Blood God’s fury is roused, this mountainous ring erupts; ash clouds blacken the sky and boulders the size of cities are hurled through the firmament. When Khorne rages, his bellows are heard throughout his kingdom, signalling the onset of war.

At the dark heart of Khorne’s hellish domain is the Brass Citadel. Built in a time before time, the unfathomable scale of the Blood God’s fortress makes a mockery of mountains and evinces the enormity of his power. Its colossal walls are spattered with gore and topped with crenulated spikes that claw through the dark clouds belched forth from Khorne’s foundries. Vast arrays of braziers hang from cruel hooks, shedding their burning glow on the surrounding wasteland. The remains of champions slain in Khorne’s fighting pits are strung, skinned and bleeding, from countless iron gibbets that jut from the highest fortifications. Their drippings streak down the burnished walls and collect in the moat of boiling blood that encircles this dread stronghold.

In the central keep is Khorne’s enormous throne room. The air here has the coppery scent of a thousand abattoirs and the visceral humidity stains armour crimson. Around the perimeter stand eight titanic pillars which rise from a carpet of bone to the vaulted obsidian ceiling. Around these columns prowls Karanak, Khorne’s three-headed hound, and from the chamber’s rear comes the clang of furnace-daemons working at Khorne’s anvil.

At the room’s centre is a mountain of skulls that grows higher with each offering from Khorne’s mighty legions. On the summit of this grisly mound is a great throne of brass. It is here that the Blood God sits and oversees the endless wars in the Mortal Realms.

## Sources

* *Battletome: Blades of Khorne* (1st Edition)