Hellskret Skraal

Blood Captain **Hellskret Skraal**, known to his battle-brothers as 'The Gorehand', is the current commander of the 12th Assault Company of the bellicose and savage Flesh Rippers Space Marine Chapter.

## Background

Captain of the 12th Company and a hulking Primaris Astartes, Skraal is a warrior born -- a killer whose skill with Bolter and blade have always stood out, even amongst his superhuman brethren. His martial prowess is almost second to none, even as a Neophyte, none but the finest warriors of the Chapter could best him in practice, and he has earned the respect of the Blood Reaver a dozen times over, but when in the grip of the Blood Rage he, like all his Brothers he will descend to the same Blood-Soaked depths as his Brothers becoming little more than a frothing psychopathic berserker living only for thrill of battle, rampaging across the battlefield in his overwhelming urge to destroy his foes.

## Youth

Born sometime in the waning years of the 41st Millennium, Hellskret Skraal grew up in a galaxy riven by war and terror, his exact origins are shrouded in mystery, what world he hailed from and when exactly he was inducted into the Flesh Rippers is not known. The infamous Rogue Trader Leona Romelail von Kurg claimed to have encountered the enigmatic Chapter in the later years of the first century of the 42nd Millennium during which she gleaned some information from the merciless master of the 12th Company, despite her many questionable actions and suspect criminality, her claims regarding the Flesh Rippers and Hellskret Skraal remain one of the few first-hand reports of this terrifying force.

Von Kurg stated that Skraal had told her of his youth and how he came to be inducted into the Flesh Rippers, she claimed he told her he was born on the world of Ghedortras, a world beyond the Emperors light, Ghedortras was a hellish death world of vast and dense jungles and steamy swamps that harboured many vicious reptilian, amphibious and insectoid forms of life from insects as big as men with sharpened proboscises that could penetrate Power Armour to huge reptilian predators, almost as large as Scout Titans. These dense jungles were inhabited by primitive nomadic tribes constantly in conflict with each other and with the merciless highborn tyrants that ruled the ancient cities that doted the landscape. Born of the Heleradon tribe, headhunters and reavers of the highest order who inhabited the harsh southern reaches, Hellskret was but a child when his tribe came under attack from the armies of the largest city. Although the Heleradon took a horrific toll on the highborn, they were eventually cut down to a man by the superior technology of the raiders.

Taken as a slave, he joined the hundreds of others taken and began the journey back to the city, during the long journey back, he bonded with a fellow slave of the same age, Vorias and the two became as close as brothers. Upon arrival, they and the others were taken to the great fighting pits within the depths of the city, forced to learn how to fight as soon as they were able to walk, Hellskret and Vorias became ferocious fighters and by their twelfth year they had become legendary throughout the region, Hellskret in particular had become a proud warrior of fearsome skill and an even stronger sense of honour. He killed hundreds of other gladiators, but those who fought well he always spared. Tall and muscular despite their youth and with alabaster skin they were the finest warriors the gladiator pits had ever produced, in battle Vorias is composed, focusing his rage and fighting with controlled fury while Hellskret is filled with rage and anger, fighting with wild abandon, forever charging forward, despite their differing styles, in battle they were undefeated, although Vorias had begun to exhibit psychic powers, a death sentence in the harsh city.

Knowing that to stay in the city meant death, Hellskret and Vorias along with many other gladiators were able to escape and returned to the southern reaches where they carved out their own territory within the twisted jungles, Hellskret becoming the tribes' chieftain despite his youth, he and his followers began to plunder the southern wastes, becoming renowned headhunters and reavers. The highborn sent several armies after them but each army was destroyed in a series of great battles, the highborn unable to compete with the battle-hardened gladiators and Hellskret's ingrained grasp of tactics. For two years the gladiators and the highborn battled for supremacy, how the war would have concluded will never be known as new force was coming and nothing would be the same again.

When exactly the Flesh Rippers descended upon Ghedortras is unknown as are the events that transpired but Von Kurg would claim that the high-born rulers, convinced of their own superiority sent their combined armies against the Astartes but the Flesh Rippers are a foe unlike any other and descended upon the highborn, tearing them limb from limb before destroying every city upon the world. Following the destruction of the highborn the Flesh Rippers systematically rounded up the youth of every tribe upon the world, many would resist, among them Hellskret and Vorias. Armed only with their primitive weapons they charged the towering Astartes, Hellskret and Vorias leading the charge, facing the overwhelming power of the Flesh Rippers they never faltered, Hellskret getting within 10 yards of the Blood Reaver himself, impressed by the fearless young warrior, Erhlen would personally fight Hellskert in single combat, Hellskret fought with honour, courage, tenacity and fury and in the end he was beaten, the Blood Reaver battering him into unconsciousness within a solar minute.

As for the rest, for all their suicidal courage they were slaughtered in droves without killing a single Astartes but the Flesh Rippers saw great strength in these warriors and rounding up those gladiators that still lived, they began their Blood-Tithe and soon the Gladiator pits once more echoed to the sounds of combat as the youth were forced to battle for the right to be inducted into the Flesh Rippers. Hellskret and Vorias once more competed as gladiators but this time there was purpose rather than just mere entertainment.

As before Hellskret and Vorias were often paired in the bouts, during the bouts Hellskret fought with uncompromising savagery and fury and was victorious in every bout he fought including a blood drenched bout alongside Vorias against other recruits that left the recruits lying dead in the sand. At the end of the trials only Hellskret, Vorias, Strath, Sevorax, Drave and a dozen others were selected, with the tithe complete the Flesh Rippers returned with their neophytes back to their fleet to begin the year of trials, challenges and training that culminated in the implantation of the Flesh Rippers Gene-seed and their transformation into Astartes.

## A New Destiny

The Battle of Traekaos was a military campaign against the Orks of WAAAGH! Urdgrog which had invaded the Derdedrar System, though their intervention was unsought, the Flesh Rippers committed themselves to the fight and Hellskrets actions during the cleansing of Traekaos would enter his name into the legends of the Chapter though his and his Chapters actions during the battle have also become infamous.

Located within the Segmentum Pacificus, the Dededra system comprised a total of 3 inhabited worlds, in 043.M42 (although the exact date is not certain as reports of the battle only reached the Imperium some 40 years after the events), the Orks led by Urdgrog, having ravaged the neighbouring systems began a headlong assault into the Dededra system. Easily sweeping aside the defenders of the outlying planets, the Orks had soon brought Dededra IV under siege, landing in their thousands, the Orks launched an all-out assault, the defenders simply could not withstand the onslaught and the Orks swiftly took over several of the Cities, subjecting the populace within to unheard-of levels of cruelty and malice, it seemed certain that the planet would soon full and would have done if not for the intervention of a portion of the Flesh Rippers Chapter.

Five full companies of Flesh Rippers participated in the defence of Dededra IV though the Chapter stayed apart from other Imperial forces, attacking Ork forces as they saw fit, their actions during the battle became infamous, the Chapter was nearly declared Excommunicate Traitoris and subjected to investigation by the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus after they had in several incidents, in a fit of the Blood Rage, slaughtered Imperial citizen militia once they had run out of Orks to kill. Amongst the Orks of WAAAGH! Urdgrog, the Chapter became known as the "Eaters of the Dead". During the latter parts of the campaign, the Orks were known to have retreated when the Flesh Rippers attacked or faced them on the battlefield, a display of fear virtually unheard-of amongst the Greenskins.

During the final Battle of Traekaos, Urdgrog Killshokk, infuriated by the failure of his war bands to capture the city, launched a massive attack against the defences, the citizens of which had formed an irregular militia to aid the Imperial forces in their defence. The Flesh Rippers attacked the Orks as they breached the defence line, after slaughtering the Orks to a Greenskin, the uncontrollable Flesh Rippers assaulted Traekaos themselves and killed every member of the mortal militia. At his point Urdgrog Billhook arrived at the field along with his veteran Nobz and Boyz, the crazed Astartes charged headlong into the fray, smashing into the vile Xenos they slaughtered them in droves and at the climax Brother of the Blood Hellskret duelled the Warlord in single combat, battering aside Urdgrog attacks he systematically dismantled him, first disarming him and smashing his windpipe, he forced him to kneel and to the howls of his Brothers and the scream of his chainsword he took the creatures head from his shoulders and in doing, so he earned their eternal respect and the sobriquet 'Gorehand'

In the aftermath many in the Chapter felt that he had earned command of the 12th Company whose Blood Captain had been inducted into the Crimson Butchers, but command in the Flesh Rippers does not come from mere promotion, it comes from force and others of the Chapter felt they deserved it more. In all 5 Flesh Rippers including Hellskret and vied for the honour of commanding the 12th, only in the Blood Pits could it decided, the Blood Reaver himself would determine the nature of the bout, stating that the five would face off together, the last one standing would claim victory. Combat in the Blood Pits usually went to first blood, with more acrimonious disagreements going to mortis but for this bout Erhlen decreed that death could be the only outcome. Naked save a loincloth and carrying only a simple combat knife the combatants entered the Blood Pits and the bout began, each of the five were superlative warriors with decades of combat experience and the fight hard and brutal with each sustaining a dozen wounds that would kill a non Astartes but in the end Hellskret was victorious and left the pit to the howls of brothers.

Later he would command his Company during the Hades Crusade and the Slaughter at Hel, further enhancing his reputation.

## Appearance & Personality

Possessing alabaster skin and intricate face tattoos, like many of his brothers Hellskret possesses an unhinged appearance along with connectors implanted into his skull. His voice has been described as having an iron quality to it.

Like all Flesh Ripper officers, Hellskret is a formidable warrior, possessing a savage aspect in battle and who battles constantly with his berserker lusts. Before he became an Astartes, he was infamous for his rage but that was nothing compared to what he would become, the implantation of the Flesh Rippers gene-seed amplified his rage to inhuman levels and he now possesses an near infinite pool of rage that he unleashes in combat, this inborn trait has enabled him to become a superlative close-combat warrior of extraordinary abilities. Those that have witnessed him in combat and lived to tell the tale speak of him as a blood-splattered killing machine moving almost too fast for the eye to see and leaving nothing but mangled and shredded corpses in his wake.

Hellskret is a brash, blunt and fearless leader, in battle he leads his Company from the front, landing in the van of the Flesh Rippers assaults as his massive two-handed Eviscerator, 'Gorehead', scythes through his foes in vivid crimson arcs. Close to the centre of the action and knee-deep in the dead, Hellskret can better command his Battle-Brothers but this does mean that when the Black Rage takes him he will not stop until everyone he considers an enemy is dead.

## Wargear

* ***Gorehead*** - A relic of an ancient world now lost to the Imperium, Hellskret Skraal wields *Gorehead*, one of his Chapter's most deadly relic weapons, which is a massive two-handed Eviscerator that is almost twice the size of the standard variant used by his fellow Astartes. Never was a weapon so aptly named as Hellskret's massive chainsword. Armed with this ruinous blade, Hellskret can carve even the most heavily armoured opponents into welters of gore. Gorehead is every bit as unsubtle and savage as its owner. Forged with teeth ripped from the skull of a Mica Dragon, Gorehead serves as both armament and banner, its guttural roar a rally cry to the enduring nature of the Flesh Rippers and the violence they will inflict on those before them.
* ***Gerralus* (Volkite Pistol)** - Hellskret favours the immensely powerful Neo-Volkite pistol over the Heavy Bolt Pistol thanks to sheer damage it causes. Volkite weapons are a type of thermal ray weapon, little understood by the Mechanicum, Volkite weapons had become ever scarcer over the millennia but the technology behind the Volkite weapons has been rediscovered by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and are now seen in greater numbers than at any time since the Heresy.
* ***Apsamaeor* (Artificer Mk X Tacitus Armour)** - An exquisite suit of Astartes war-plate, *Apsamaeor*, as it is known to it's owner is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, an Artificer suit of Mk X Tacitus armour, hand-crafted by the armour-smiths of Mars at the dawn of the Indomitus Crusade, how it came to be in the possession of the Flesh Rippers is unknown. It was gifted to Hellskret by the Blood Reaver himself in honour of Hellskret's actions during the Battle of Traekaos, it's masterwork plates have saved Hellskret more times than can be counted.
* ***Halo of Thorns* (Iron Halo)**
* **Frag Grenades**
* **Krak Grenades**