Defiler - To Bind A Daemon: Much of the war engine's actual construction remains incomprehensible to Imperial scholars. The only true knowledge that exists of its construction is of the vile ritual performed to infuse the metal shell with a Daemon. Binding a warp-horror to a Defiler is a complex process. To summon a Daemon, or even a trapped soul, from deep within the Immaterium requires a flesh sacrifice. Offerings can come in many forms, but for a sufficiently brutal Defiler to be manufactured, a victim of profound might is necessary.It is a warrior of the Adeptus Astartes that a Warpsmith most frequently demands is brought into his hellish foundry, for the Ruinous Powers value these offerings more highly than sacrifices of mere mortals. A prize of such strength is not easily won, and many followers of the Dark Gods will fall before a living Space Marine can be brought in captivity from the slaughter fields and into the dark heart of the soul forges.After a Warpsmith has constructed the physical shell of the Defiler, the barely breathing Space Marine, stripped of his Power Armour, is bound with runic-chains to the war engine. In the red glow of magma-furnaces and the fug of toxic fumes, the Space Marine's Black Carapace is violated by arcane weaponry and his blood oozes across the chassis of the inert Defiler.Base litanies are chanted, forbidden sorceries set free upon the victim; the loyalist’s hearts are stopped according to the whims of the Warpsmith. The death of the Space Marine heralds the birth of the Defiler.The summoning of a daemon is a precise art, but it is not unknown for a ritual to go disastrously wrong. A misplaced vowel within a litany can result not only in the instant death of the sacrifice, but of those around him.The infamous Warpsmith Draxar once invited a particularly powerful daemon into the soul forge on the Daemon World of Phanomia, but failed to speak the words of binding correctly. The summoned Warp-horror materialised within the flesh of its Space Marine offering, and burst free from its sorcerous restraints.It then proceeded to slaughter Draxar as well as dozens of menials with the Warpsmith's own Power Axe, before vanishing back into the Immaterium.A Warpsmith will know that his ritual is complete when the war engine rises from its dormant state and snags against its glowing chains like a primordial beast. The Defiler's exhausts roar with defiance. The machine beast thirsts for slaughter.But the Daemon Engine remains bound by its runic reins, kept captive to the Warpsmith amidst the smoke of the forge-citadels, waiting to be used in a dark bargain or in dark corners of Chaos battleships.The Defiler is never dormant. Chaos fiends continue to goad it, riling the daemon within into a heightened state of fury, until finally it is time for the Defiler to stampede into combat alongside the forces of Chaos. Only then can it quench its thirst for carnage.No matter which warband or Legion the Defiler fights alongside, each Daemon Engine becomes an integral part of that force. Irrespective of the different fighting styles of the various forces of Chaos, the Defiler is much sought after by Chaos Lords and Sorcerers, and is found in significant numbers among the Traitor ranks.Those who fight for Khorne's favour, such as the World Eaters, are ever keen to harvest more skulls for the Blood God, and they frequently take advantage of the Defiler's hideous blood lust.The Iron Warriors fortify their dark frontiers with many Daemon Engines, and among them are numerous Defilers, always thirsting for the counter-attack.The Death Guard, too, deploy Defilers across the galaxy, each Daemon Engine capable of quickly eliminating obstacles that deny the spread of Nurgle's maladies.Out of a curious respect for the Warp-horror within a war engine, the Traitor Legions and warbands may choose to issue Defilers with a name. Sometimes this is based upon the daemon who inhabits the machine, or some archaic ritual within the ranks of Chaos, but more commonly it is a base declaration of what the Daemon Engine does.In other instances, an Astra Militarum regiment who face the Defiler's onslaught will have given it a designation. Inquisitorial records detail atrocities conducted by Defilers throughout the ages, which are attributed to an eclectic array of names, including the Alpha Legion's Hellpincer, The Purge's Rot Crusher and the infamous Red Corsairs' Engine of Mael.