"I have seen the face of Khorne on the battlefield. Even the berserkers of Norsca seem like feeble children when compared to the fury of his warriors. The only fear they have is to displease their foul God by not spilling enough blood. If you’re captured, it’s best to fall on your own blade rather than wait to see what they have in store for you."
- —Captain Hans Adelberg, Hochland Long Gun Regiment[1b]
A Champion of Khorne clad in Chaos Armour
A Champion of Khorne is a Chaos Champion or Chaos Lord who has chosen to dedicate their mind, body and soul to the service of Khorne, the Chaos God of war and murder.
Champions of Khorne are varied in appearance, hailing from many different lands and cultures, but all are first and foremost murderous and bloodthirsty warriors. They wield massive greatswords, axes or cudgels to crush their foes, and don the Daemonic plate armour known as Chaos Armour that heightens their savage appearance, decorated with trophies taken from their battles and their victims. These mortals are terrifying sights to behold, and are believed to be amongst the strongest of all Chaos Champions in battle.[1a]
Above all else, Champions of Khorne are the greatest and most brutal of the Warriors of Chaos. They are often blessed with strength and bloodlust beyond the limits of normal Men and are masters of brutal melee combat.[1a]
These Chaos Warriors must prove themselves in battle, tithing skulls to their bloody master. They are berserk and savage fighters, reckless in their thirst for death, who lust after the spilling of blood and the roar of battle to satisfy the unquenchable wrath of the Blood God.[1a]
Role[]
"Courage is not always born from the grace of the soul, but from an unwholesome bloodlust."
- —Description of a Chaos Champion of Khorne from Total War: Warhammer III.[3]
Sketch of a Champion of Khorne from the Liber Chaotica, a journal entry of the priest Richter Kless, later declared insane.
For all their single-minded purpose, the origins of a Chaos Champion of Khorne can be just as varied as that of the heroes of any of the mortal races. Many of them rise from the ranks of the northern barbaric tribes known as the Kurgan, as the simple, battle-centred lifestyle of a Khornate worshipper appeals to those bred in a culture already dependent upon constant movement, violence and blood sacrifice. The Hung of the Far East also have many devotees to the Blood God among the ranks of their people.[2a]
Certain explorers have shown that the Norscans are less well-represented among the Champions of Khorne, and of those, most hail from tribes in the northern and eastern extremes of that land, where the people are less civilised and their lives are an everyday struggle against the harshest elements of nature. What they lack in numbers, however, they make up for in ferocity. The blood-crazed Norscan Berserkers are fearsome opponents indeed, and many have been undone by their hand.[2a]
Yet, bloody Khorne, as with all the Chaos Gods, is not limited to these followers only. His grasp can reach for the heart of every soldier, every warrior, every life-taker. He is the god of war and blood and violence, and all that fight in some way subscribe to his religion.[2a]
When a noble knight of Bretonnia or a righteous Templar of the Empire falls to Khorne's worship it is because they forget why they kill. To change from killing for the common good to killing only because an individual wants to, because the act pleases them, is when a righteous mortal has faltered from the path.[2a]
These are the mortal champions that Khorne embraces, never to release. These are the champions, the converts, that Khorne and every Chaos God particularly savour. They do not come to the worship of Chaos merely because that is what is done, or what is accepted in their culture, as is true for the Human tribes of Norsca and the Northern Wastes.[2a]
They have rebelled against the grain, and they have proved strong and brutal enough to survive the wrath of their allies. They have killed, and enjoyed killing, and courted their masters' disapproval. And they have survived; survived the wrath of their allies, survived the blood-soaked path to the Chaos Wastes of their chosen gods. They have purpose and ambition, they have a thirst that needs sating and they are strong enough to have gone to extraordinary means to satisfy it.[2a]
Khornate Champions are varied in their appearance but most share certain qualities, if that is the right word. These murderous knights adorn their plate armour and wargear with trophies and gruesome objects won on the battlefield. The plate armour, usually magical Chaos Armour, that they wear is wrought in such a fashion as to lend their wearer a brutal aspect, and inspire fear in all who behold them. As for weapons, their armoury is almost infinite in its variety, but greatswords and cudgels are especially favoured.[2a]
The Champions of Khorne are not practitioners of a subtle art of war. They use tools only to spill blood and split bone. It is always with fear and sheer brutality that Khorne wins the field. Fallen knights from Bretonnia, deconsecrated Templars from the Empire, savage mercenaries from Tilea, cruel bandits of the Border Princes, renegades of the Druchii, crazed Dwarfs from beyond the Great Skull Land; these are all mortals who have heard the call of the Blood God and stand together in the Khornate battleline.[2a]
Notable Khornate Champions[]
A Champion of Khorne mounted atop a Daemonic Juggernaut.
- Abrax the Bloody - Abrax was an insane Chaos Lord of Khorne hailing from the tribes of Norsca. He gained the favour of Khorne by falling into violent madness from constant warfare during the Blackened Months. While still an aspriring Champion of Chaos, he fought the Daemon Prince of Khorne known as the Goreprince, and slaughtered him with his own Daemon Blade, Y'Khggan. Abrax was also known for his apocalyptic, world-spanning rivalry with Varesh Warptongue, a sorcerer Chaos Lord of Tzeentch.
- Arbaal the Undefeated - Arbaal was Khorne's most favoured mortal champion, an ancient warrior who has fought for millennia.
- Cormac Bloodaxe - Cormac Bloodaxe was a mighty and cunning Khornate Chaos Lord and Norsii leader who led a massive invasion of the early Empire during the time of Sigmar over two millennia ago. He is notable primarily for being one of the few beings in history to have defeated Sigmar Heldenhammer in a pitched battle. His flaming Daemonaxe went on to become a powerful Chaos artefact among the present-day Norscans.
- Egil Styrbjorn - Egil Styrbjorn was the high jarl of the Skaelings and a superlatively skilled warrior, wielder of the twin Daemonaxes Garmr and Gormr. Styrbjorn defeated the Bretonnians in several pitched battles and defeated the Grail Knight Reolus of Quenelles in single combat.
- Garmr Hrodvitnir - Garmr Hrodvitnir was a favoured Chaos Lord of Khorne, who attempted to engulf all the mortal world in the unending battle of the Blood God's Domain.
- Gorath the Ravager - Gorath was the son of the Khornate Daemon Princess Valkia the Bloody. He attempted to become the Everchosen, but was slain before reaching the Altar of Ultimate Darkness.
- Grimjack the Hunter - Grimjack the Hunter is a Champion of Khorne who haunts the ruins of castles and fortresses abandoned by the forces of Chaos. He loves to hunt those who seek to loot the ruins of Chaos for riches or magical treasures. He particularly relishes slaying those who come to him hoping to dedicate themselves to Khorne, for the Blood God does not care from whence the blood flows, only that it does.
- Hrothgar Daemonaxe - Hrothgar was a Chaos Lord of Khorne who later ascended to become a Daemon Prince. He was famed for incredible strength equalled only by that of a Bloodthirster. He was also notable as the founder of the Norscan tribe known as the Vargs, and led them to their present homeland in northern Norsca.
- Haargroth the Blooded - Haargoth was the most bloodthirsty and martial of Archaon's Lieutenants.
- Mord Huk - Mord Huk was blessed with the head of a ferocious hound by the will of the Blood God. Huk was the avowed enemy of the Champion of Slaanesh, Sigvald the Magnificent.
- Ograx - Ograx was a Beastfiend sired by a fearsome Bloodthirster and was the leader of the Skullfest Herd, a tribe of Beastfiends dedicated to the Blood God.
- Skarr Bloodwrath - Skarr was the fearsome, near-immortal Chaos Champion of the Khorne-blessed Skaramor Tribe of Norsca.
- Thorgar the Blooded One - Thorgar was a hero of the Great War Against Chaos who later ascended to daemonhood.
- Vorgaroth - Vorgaroth was a hulking Chaos Champion and Chaos Lord of Khorne, who was blessed with great size and rippling muscles of unholy power.
- Slaurith - Slaurith was once a knight of the Order of the Blazing Sun who commanded a doomed expedition to seal the Chaos gate at the heart of the Bastion Stair. He strayed from the expedition and was eventually transformed into a Champion of Khorne when he was corrupted by the Blood God.
Miniatures[]
.jpg "Chaos Exhalted Hero of Khorne (2).jpg (118 KB)")
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.jpg "Chaos Champion of Khorne (1).jpg (103 KB)")
.jpg "Chaos Champion of Khorne (3).jpg (84 KB)")
.jpg "Chaos Champion of Khorne (2).jpg (91 KB)")
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