Blood Pact - History: The exact origin of the Blood Pact remains unknown to Imperial historians, but fragmentary evidence and the legends of the Sabbat Worlds themselves indicate that the Pact originated approximately 3,000 standard years ago on the world of Ghourra at the edge of the sector.At that time, Ghourra was a feral planet whose tribesmen were ruled by a feudal overlord called the Gaur. The Gaur led a priesthood dedicated to the Chaos God Khorne. This priesthood eventually became a martial force that served as the Gaur's elite bodyguard and transformed its savage sacrificial rites into a highly effective tradition of martial discipline.Over time, the Gaur's people gained access to spaceflight technology and began to spread his influence across other planets in the Sabbat Worlds. As the Gaur's rule spread it became a mark of nobility to have entered into the "blood pact" with the Gaur and become part of his elite troops. Eventually, this group of Khornate warriors grew until it had achieved the size of an army in its own right and became known as the "Blood Pact."Imperial intelligence now estimates that there may be as many as 750,000 warriors currently in the Blood Pact, an unprecedented size for a Khornate Cult and every member has been inducted into the Pact personally by the current Gaur. Imperial forces first learned of the Blood Pact's existence when the Sabbat Worlds Crusade was launched in 755.M41 to retake control of that sector from the forces of Chaos.The Sabbat Worlds were a relatively new acquisition of the Imperium of Man, having only been colonised in the 35th Millennium when the forces of Chaos had first been driven from the sector by an Imperial Crusade led by Saint Sabbat, a woman said to have been blessed by the Emperor and for whom the sector was later named.Around 600.M41, a large Chaos army commanded by the warlord known as Archon Nadzybar had conquered the Sabbat Worlds. Nadzybar's forces were not a single army, but an alliance of many different Chaos warbands drawn from across the sector, each led by its own warlord who was known as a Magister.These Magisters served as Nadzybar's lieutenants and their names still ring in the ears of those who suffered at the hands of Chaos in the Sabbat Worlds, including Anakwanar Sek, Enok Innokenti, Sholen Skara, Heritor Asphodel, Nokad the Blighted and Urlock Gaur, the Gaur of the Blood Pact.In 755.M41, the High Lords of Terra granted the Lord Militant Slaydo the rank of Warmaster and ordered him to raise an army of the Imperial Guard to undertake a new Imperial Crusade to liberate the Sabbat Worlds Sector from the control of Chaos. Slaydo went about the task diligently and eventually his massive and well-equipped Imperial army faced the forces of Chaos on the world of Balhaut.Though the battle cost Slaydo his life, he went to meet the Emperor with the knowledge that the Chaos troops had been routed from the field and Archon Nadzybar had been slain. After protracted and bloody infighting among the surviving Chaos Magisters, a new archon emerged from the ranks of the various warlords to lead the forces of Chaos in the Sabbat Worlds, Urlock Gaur of the Blood Pact.Under the new archon, the Blood Pact soon became the heart of the Chaos forces, greatly enlarging its numbers and expanding its capabilities as many smaller Chaos warbands chose to undertake the pact with Gaur to garner his favour and share in his spoils.Only a few years after the Battle of Balhaut, Imperial intelligence recognised the Blood Pact as the most elite of the Chaos formations they faced in the sector as the Crusade ground on.The Blood Pact demonstrated its unusual effectiveness as a disciplined military unit for a Khornate Cult during its victory at the Battle of the Akkorite Peninsula on the world of Belshiir Binary in 771.M41. Belshiir was a vital world for both sides in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade because of its status as the primary source and refiner of promethium fuel in the stellar neighbourhood.A force composed of 200 Blood Pact warriors, supported by 4 stalk-tanks and 2 of the Loxatl xenos' brood groups, succeeded at cutting off and destroying a much larger force of 3,000 Imperial Guardsmen. Led by the Pact officer named Vesh Etogaur (Etogaur was his rank, equivalent to Colonel), the Chaos forces had lain in stifling heat for three full solar days without breaking their cover until the Imperial Guardsmen had moved into the optimal position for their ambush to succeed.The resulting slaughter of the Imperials had taken only 22 minutes. As a result of this Blood Pact victory, the crucial promethium refineries of the Akkorite Peninsula remained under the control of the forces of Chaos for a further fifteen standard months.