Morito

"*I have slain cosmic beasts and Warp-born monsters beyond your comprehension, mortal, yet you dare challenge me? Ha! I applaud your courage, at least!*"
—Morito
**Morito**, also known to the barely-surviving denizens of his homeworld as the **Demon Shogun**, is a Daemon Prince of the Blood God, Khorne. Both his prowess in combat and his unceasing dedication to seeking out great foes has won him the favour of the Blood God for millennia.

While most servants of the Blood God prize strength above all, Morito considers himself to be a representation of his master's supreme martial skill, treating brute force largely with disdain. This is not to say that Morito is not incredibly strong - after all, he is a Daemon Prince of Khorne - but he does not rely on it, instead cutting down his foes with his mastery of the martial arts.

Morito has experimented with all manner of weapons - such as spears, glaives, hammers, axes, maces and flails - but none he favours so much as the first gift the Blood God ever bestowed upon him; a single-edged, slightly curved two-handed blade wrought of a supernaturally hard yet flexible metal, a sword known as an *uchigatana* on his homeworld. The exotic material of the blade is capable of cleaving straight through the toughest armour, and it is said that Morito wields it with such decisive speed that his fastest swings cause a thunderous sonic boom as the blade crushes through the sound barrier. The rumoured name of the sword, the *Judgement of Heaven*, is thought to refer to the fact that Morito may believe himself to be a judge of sorts, seeking out great foes in an attempt to find those worthy of joining his master's legions.

## Early Life

Only vague information exists about the life of Morito whilst he was still mortal. It is known that Morito is not his real name, but rather the name of a mythological figure from his homeworld of Hanayama, which he chose upon his ascension to daemonhood - clearly, he knew the obvious risks of brandishing his true name. Hanayama was a feudal world frequently beset by violence between its competing clans, which gave Morito his first taste of war. It is unknown which clan he hailed from, but it is said that he rapidly rose to become the clan's most favoured warrior; his speed, agility and skill with the blade were unmatched, and he had an uncanny ability to predict his opponent's moves based on the slightest of tells.

Accounts of his tale differ on the matter of Morito's wife. He was married, that much is unquestionable, but some versions of the story depict this marriage as a loveless political union, whereas others say that Morito truly loved his wife. Those Inquisitors who know the tale - who are, as it happens, the only Imperial scholars allowed to know this information - tend to believe the latter, given that his wife's murder at the hands of his clan's enemies spurred him into a savage rampage that eventually led him to massacre every last man, woman and child of the rival clan almost single-handedly. His ferocity was said to be unnatural, fighting tirelessly for hours on end in a night attack.

It was this act which first caught the attention of the Blood God. Though Morito was far from a candidate for ascension and only of minor interest, Khorne still decided to test the warrior's mettle to see if he was worthy of further consideration, as he could become a valuable cultist. To this end, he sent upon Hanayama a plague of rage, inciting all the clans into a furious war with a maddening presence. It is said that even Morito's own clan-brothers came to be disturbed and horrified by his monstrous savagery, butchering without concern for who he killed and remaining completely undefeated in combat. Rage consumed every facet of his being, and he slowly disconnected himself from the civilised world and all of his relationships as he found that bloodshed was the only thing that gave him purpose any longer.

According to some, it was at this time that a pair of Slaaneshi cultists intervened, attempting to seduce Morito to their own side. This was of particular interest to Khorne, who wanted to see how the warrior would interact with his most hated foe. The cultists appealed to his sense of pride and vainglory, heaping praise upon him and naming him the greatest warrior on Hanayama, but offering to give him the chance to become the greatest warrior in the galaxy - and listing off all the indulgent and sensuous rewards he could win. Khorne was greatly amused and pleased that Morito drew his blade and decapitated the two cultists, spitting on their corpses and cursing them as "deceiving whores".

Khorne decided, after then, that Morito had the makings of a champion. He sent unto the warrior a great gift, and a command. The gift was a corrupted blade, an evil thing of some exotic metal that could bite straight through armour. The command was but a single word: Kill. Morito obeyed.

Morito could feel his reasoning slip away as he butchered, but he did not care. His mind fell into the depths of rage and hatred, no longer even truly knowing why, and these emotions which had consumed him for months were joined by a new feeling: joy. Joy at the thrill of battle, at seeing the spectacle of death and gore. It took him several weeks to admit to himself that despite the horrific carnage he was wreaking even upon clans who had never wronged him, he was having *fun*. How much of this was his own insanity and how much was the corruptive force of Khorne's gift is hard to say for certain.

The longer Morito spilt blood with the Khornate sword, the more his mind swirled with only one word: Kill. He soon found that he literally could not help himself; the only ones he could restrain himself from attacking were those who fought alongside him, who were all also being corrupted by the Blood God in their own way. The order came again and again; Kill, Kill, Kill. It kept on coming until Morito and his bloodthirsty warband had bested every foe they could find and could no longer find any others to murder. Empowered by the will of Khorne, they had slaughtered entire armies and entire clans, and had run out of enemies to kill. Yet the message came again: Kill. And so, they turned on each other - but there was never any doubt as to who would win.

Khorne decided it was time to reach out more openly, and sent a servant to meet with the last warrior of Hanayama. He took the offer with only a moment's hesitation, realising that there was nothing else left for him, and Khorne smiled as he gained a new servant - one who was mighty indeed, and destined to only grow stronger as his eager slave.

Morito's history from then becomes sketchy and difficult to track. Scattered references exist across the galaxy of a Khornate warrior in exotic armour, bearing a long, curved sword empowered by some foul means. Frustratingly for Inquisitorial scholars, very little solid information exists about him until his first appearance after his ascension, when his form had become twisted and monstrous and his sword had grown into a gigantic thing capable of cleaving tanks in two.