Khorne, The Blood God[]
Description[]
Khorne is the Blood God, the angry and murderous god of Chaos, one of the great four Powers. His great brass throne sits upon a mountainous pile of bones - the remains of his followers who have died in battle and of the many they have killed in his name. The growing bone pile reflects the success of his worshippers, feeding his glory, but never quite quenching his thirst for blood and death.
Khorne is the Power of Chaos in its aspect of mindless and absolute violence, destroying everything and everyone within its reach, slaying both friend and foe alike. He is the Huntsman of Souls who drives the great armies of Chaos before him. His horn sounds in the depths of the Chaos Wastes, urging his followers ever onwards in search of fresh prey. The gore-maddened followers of Khorne harry beyond the edges of the Known World, delighting in slaughter by the tainted light of a blood-stained moon. Khorne watches the wild destruction wrought in his name and his bellows of rage and delight can be heard echoing across the void between worlds.
Khorne is commonly depicted as a muscular humanoid figure hundreds of feet tall, sitting on a vast and weirdly-carved throne of brass, which in turn rests on a mountain of blood-stained bones. He is dressed in plate armour of a strange and alien design, elaborately carved and worked with a repeating skull motif. His head is covered by his huge winged helmet, with only a portion of his bestial, snarling face showing beneath the helm.
Symbol[]
The symbol of Khorne is a skull, the symbol of death. This is often rendered as an X-shaped rune with a bar across the bottom. His followers favour red, black, and brass in their dress and armour, the hues of blood, death, and Khorne's own armour respectively.
Number[]
The number eight is also associated with Khorne and this is reflected in the organisation of his daemonic armies and followers. It is also echoed in smaller matters, such as the number of syllables in a Daemon's name or the potential number of mutations that it might have.
Worship[]
Khorne is worshipped by both dreaded Chaos Warriors and the foul Beastmen which follow them. He has no temples as such, since he is worshipped on the battlefield. Furthermore, his followers believe that they would displease him by wasting valuable time building temples and worshipping in them when they could be slaying in Khorne's name.
Every life taken by a follower of Khorne increases the Blood God's power. He looks with particular favour upon those who take the lives of their friends and allies and, the more death and destruction a creature has caused, the more welcome it is as a sacrifice to Khorne. Any follower who lets a day pass without contributing to the bloody-handed slaughter by which Khorne is worshipped will incur the god's great disfavour.
In addition to his Human followers, Khorne is worshipped by a number of Chaos Dwarfs and Goblin Fanatics. His thirst for blood and slaughter appeals particularly to the Goblinoid mentality and, in some cases, entire tribes of Orcs and their kin have turned their backs on their own gods to follow Khorne's bloody paths.
Subtlety has never been one of the strong points of the followers of Khorne, who tend to go in for wholesale slaughter. Not surprisingly, then, followers of the Blood God are fairly easy to spot and the few that ever penetrated The Empire's borders did not survive long enough to establish any underground cults. However, many of those mutants and Beastmen that still survive within the depths of The Empire's forests worship Khorne and indulge in orgies of slaying whenever the mood takes them.
Friends And Enemies[]
Followers of Khorne have no friends and few long-term acquaintances - all are soon-to-be sacrifices to Khorne. Even another follower of Khorne may try at any time to offer their lives to the Blood God! Followers of Khorne may have allies for a short time, but they are always aware that any other intelligent beings fear and hate them and will seek to destroy them at any opportunity.
The followers of Khorne treat Slaanesh worshippers as particular enemies. The two Powers personify entirely opposing concepts of the nature of Chaos.
Cult Requirements And Tenets[]
The followers of Khorne are all Warriors. There are few organised cults of Khorne-worshippers. He is worshipped only in the act of killing and his followers often fight as individuals, ignoring bonds of alliance and common faith when it suits them to do so.
The code of Khorne is simple: blood and more blood. The use of spells or similar powers to cause death and destruction is abhorrent to him and he is unlikely to deal with any creature that has ever used magic.
The only way to gain favour with him is by killing - enemies or friends, all the dead are equal in the eyes of Khorne. The only way to incur his displeasure is by not killing.
Spell Use[]
Khorne is opposed to the use of any form of magic and does not grant spells to his followers under any circumstances. There are no wizards dedicated to the service of Khorne.
The prohibition against magic does not extend to magical weapons, which aid Khorne's followers in doing his work.