Possessed - Daemonkin Warbands: The warbands of the Daemonkin seek to gain true power by melding their flesh and souls with nightmarish denizens of the Warp. Their ranks contain both monstrous, half-Daemonic champions and sentient, hate-filled war machines.All those who embrace the path of Chaos risk the taint of daemonic entities seeping into their soul, but the Daemonkin actively seek such profane corruption. They roam the galaxy in hunting packs, committing all manner of atrocities in order to draw the eye of creatures that swim the roiling madness of the Immaterium. The bodies of Daemonkin warriors become blazing crucibles into which daemonic spirits are slowly drawn, twisting and mutating their hosts' physical forms as they begin to manifest.This process is long and utterly excruciating, but the Daemonkin embrace the constant torment, believing that only through the willing sacrifice of one's mortal flesh can true power -- the goal of every true Heretic Astartes -- be attained.In their quest for infernal ascension, the Daemonkin seek out troves of profane lore, Warp-touched relics and sites of dark power. In time they come to better understand the beings they worship, learning the names of Greater Daemons that might grant them patronage, and perfecting rituals of binding and sacrifice.It might take many Terran years, perhaps even centuries, to perform an act worthy enough to secure the attention of one of these unholy beings. When this finally occurs, the veil between realspace and the immaterium stretches thin enough to break. All manner of twisted horrors claw their way into reality, and into the bodies of their faithful worshippers.The collective devotion of a Daemonkin warband anchors the ephemeral forms of their daemonic allies, allowing them to linger in realspace far longer than they might otherwise be able to.All four of the major Dark Gods have Daemonkin devoted to their worship. Khorne Daemonkin are crazed killers who seek to drown the stars in blood, and gladly abandon both reason and control in their desperation to sate the Blood God's endless thirst.Those who embrace the lies and sorcery of Tzeentch seek to unlock the mysteries of fate, believing that they can balance both the daemonic and mortal aspects of their soul. This belief is inevitably shown to be deluded, the supplicant ultimately becoming little more than an eternal plaything for the Changer of the Ways.Nurgle Daemonkin delight in being infested by the gifts of their generous god, and become living vectors for all manner of hideous supernatural diseases.Those sworn to Slaanesh seek new and forbidden pleasures, believing that hosting a Daemon of the Dark Prince of Chaos will open their minds to infinite pleasures and unimaginable excess.At first, Daemonkin warbands are populated with mortal warriors. Heretic Astartes form the iron heart of their battle line. Clad in age-old ceramite and wielding the same weapons they once employed in service of the hated Emperor of Mankind, Chaos Space Marines are themselves fearsome foes. All have sworn their lives and souls to the Chaos Gods, the first step upon a path that will lead them to glory or annihilation.Swollen by dark Warp energy and filled with a malicious zeal, they march into battle with Bolters spitting death at their enemies, uncaring of the returning fire that ricochets from their ancient Power Armour. Each act of slaughter or depravity they commit sends a ripple through the Warp, and its ever-hungry denizens are drawn to the carnage like sharks are to blood.Each Chaos Space Marine in a Daemonkin warband seeks to commit atrocities of such infamy that he will be chosen as a host by one of these daemonic entities. When such an unholy pact has been formed, it will be sealed through dark rituals. Slowly, agonisingly, the Daemon will bleed through the veil between realities and into the Chaos Space Marine's physical form, melding with his hateful soul to become something greater and infinitely more horrifying.Over time the ranks of these warbands become packed with malformed abominations. Teeth elongate into serrated blades. Horns curve from malformed skulls, skin peels loose to reveal patches of blood-slick muscle. Flesh and armour become one, leering mouths and clusters of black-orbed eyes protruding from hardened ceramite. These are the gifts of the Possessed, who make up the mightiest warriors of the Daemonkin warbands. They have damned their souls and embraced daemonic corruption, and in return have been granted fearsome strength and hideous resilience. Their misshapen hides repel blows that would rend mortal bodies to bloody chunks, and their claws tear through tank hulls and metal exoskeletons.Those warriors who commit the most notable acts of monstrosity attract the attention of more powerful beings still -- those Daemons named as Heralds by the Dark Gods. Towering over even their fearsome kin, these so-called "Greater Possessed" are not only stronger and far more savage, but radiate an unholy charisma that even pure creatures of the Warp recognise.Fellow Daemonkin look upon these deformed champions with great reverence, for they are living proof of the ultimate ascension that awaits them all. With gigantic pincer-claws and scythe-like talons of Warp-twisted bone, these malformed abominations slash and tear their prey apart, delighting in the gory carnage they wreak. Both mortal and daemonic warriors are driven to an exultant frenzy when they fight alongside the Greater Possessed, desperate to claim such eternal honour for themselves with a worthy display of brutality.If the Possessed are abominations against nature, then Obliterators are an equally monstrous affront to the Machine God. The bodies of these towering creatures have entirely meshed with their weapons and tools of war, forming an unholy union of arcane technology and biological adaptation. Not only can the Obliterators consume weaponry and fuel, absorbing power into their twisted bodies, but they can also manifest munitions at will.The Obliterator's titanium-laced flesh splits and yawns open, and a plasma-spitting turret or many-barrelled Autocannon protrudes from the nightmarish fusion of cables, meat and cybernetic organs. With a bellow of bloodlust, the Obliterator unleashes its freshly spawned arsenal, letting loose with deadly salvoes that pulverise infantry and light vehicles alike. Obliterators are most commonly sighted in the company of Warpsmiths, for they feel a kinship for these machine-obsessed souls, yet they often partake in a Daemonkin warband's crusades of desolation.Not only does the endless carnage satisfy an Obliterator's raging battle-lust, but the warriors that fight alongside these deranged arcano-cyborgs see them as yet another example of the Chaos Gods' bountiful gifts.Leading the Daemonkin warbands in their pursuit of untold power are the Chaos Sorcerers called Masters of Possession. These sorcerous figures have mastered the darkest and most blasphemous lore: the art of using hosts of living flesh to house daemonic spirits. It is they who perform the profane ceremonies of binding that imbue the Daemonkin with their Warp-born power. Gouging a breach in the fabric of realspace, the Master of Possession draws a willing entity from the Immaterium, channelling its terrible energies into the body of a supplicant or the chassis of a war machine.So thoroughly are these dread figures steeped in blasphemous sorcery that where they walk, reality itself recoils. In battle they bolster their Daemon-possessed followers, stitching together rents in fleshmetal carcasses, or imbuing their creations with a demented, predatory fury. Enemies are dispatched with bolts of searing warpflame, or with precise shots from a Bolt Pistol sidearm.With a touch from their corrupted staves, Masters of Possession can even blast asunder the souls of their foes, spilling daemonic energy into the now hollow shell. This hideous act can cause mortal frames to erupt with hellish energies, transforming the unfortunate victim into a slavering Chaos Spawn, or even a towering Possessed.Pounding forwards upon bladed limbs come the horrors known as Venomcrawlers, following their Daemonkin masters to battle. These towering, spider-like Daemon Engines are host to parasitic entities that infest the tides of the Warp, preying upon stray souls and lesser Daemons alike. Dragged into realspace and bound to swollen frames of metal, they haunt the cavernous halls of the flesh-factories. Their lashing fore-tendrils taste the air for the scent of daemonic entities that have escaped the forging process or somehow managed to burst free from their host.Venomcrawlers hunt down these rogue entities with relentless ferocity, devouring them whole and storing the raging spirits within their bulbous bodies. This daemonic energy can be used to power the Venomcrawlers' formidable weaponry. An ear-splitting screech of pure hatred and rage splits the air as the Venomcrawler vents energy to its excruciator cannon pods, which open up with armour-shredding potency.Masters of Possession and Warpsmiths alike value these monstrosities greatly, for their repositories of stored Warp energy can be siphoned in order to create fresh Daemon Engines. When the masters of the flesh-factories march to war, they often do so accompanied by a number of these nightmares, which skitter forwards upon arachnid limbs, their cannons blasting all before them into bloody chunks.