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Martial/Honourable Khorne


Draakur

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What are some of the more interesting ways people have gone about this concept of the less bloodthirsty, more idealistic and warrior-code style Khorne warband?

 

What cultures are people drawing from, what aesthetics have we tried? I'm wanting to explore this more and was hoping for some input and inspiration if people have any :)

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In a way, the Blood Pact and the Sons of Sek.

 

They sure are bloodthirsty but value other, more honorable stuff. For instance, for the Blood Pact one of the top sin is killing another member of the Pact. If you do, you get hunted down by the freaking Arnogaur. Serious business.

 

It isn't the most covered facet of the followers of the blood god, but it sure is an awesome one.

 

For old times' sake, from Epic 40k.

 

"Khorne is the god of anger and destruction, the warrior god of Chaos whose bellows of rage echo throughout time and space. He sits upon a great throne of brass atop a mountainous pile of bleached skulls. Whenever a champion of Khorne is slain in battle his skull is added to the pile, which slowly grows higher and higher. Khorne is a fighting god and his daemons and mortal Champions are amongst the most potent warriors of all. Khorne is a noble warrior who respects strength and bravery, who takes no joy in destroying the weak, and considers the helpless unworthy of his wrath. It is said that fate will spare any brave warrior who calls upon Khorne's name and pledges his soul to the blood god. It is also said that Khorne's daemons will hunt down and destroy any warrior who betrays his honour by killing a helpless innocent or murdering in cold blood. Khorne's great delight is battle and the spilling of blood".

Agree with Vesper about the Blood Pact, etc.

 

Astartes-wise, I could imagine a "reasonable / honorable" Khorne warband as well, made of some rational Marines.

 

Iron Hands and Iron Warriors came to my mind. The Iron Hand's favor of cold logic could temper the sheer bloodshed of Khornes minions, while the IW would spill the blood of their foes from the distance through precise usage of artillery.

 

Most of the Legions / chapters have a savage node, thus making it a bit difficult reshaping them into a honorable Khorne band. BUT that would be a great opportunity of development. Imagine such a World Eater warlord, having not received the Butcher's Nails. Very unlikely but still a good way to go with.

 

Other suggestions:

 

Space Wolves = Ragnar Lothbrok from the VIking series

Salamanders = slowly advancing, scorching and butchering everything in their wake, the bloody smiths of Khorne

SIlver Skulls = Stannis Baratheon from Games of Thrones

 

and so on

@Vesper: Looked into those two now, cheers. Lacking some of the detail I was hoping for of what a strict warrior culture and honour-code might look like in a Chaos Marine warband, but lots of good general direction. That quote (and especially your bolded part) are exactly what I'm getting at and hoping to find cool inspiration on, yep. Thanks!

 

@ Kelborn: I'm afraid I'm not up to date on any of the WE HH stuff - is World Eaters without the nails even possible/a thing? This is intriguing!

 

@Oberonkhan: yep all over this thread, he certainly writes a less berserk/mindless frothing Khorne type, which I definitely enjoy and would like to look at further :)

The Spartacus theme is a bit obvious, but I'm finding that you can use it as a springboard for all kinds of cool stuff that's only been somewhat alluded to in the fluff and will be drawing very heavily from it when I get around to actually writing up my warband's fluff. I think to your point, their use of fairly sophisticated tactics to defeat often numerically superior opponents is very applicable. After all, if the gladiators had simply charged the Romans like gibbering maniacs (i.e., the more popular concept of Khorne Berzerkers) instead of actually putting thought into their fights, their rebellion would have been over fairly quickly.

In a way, the Blood Pact and the Sons of Sek.

They sure are bloodthirsty but value other, more honorable stuff. For instance, for the Blood Pact one of the top sin is killing another member of the Pact. If you do, you get hunted down by the freaking Arnogaur. Serious business.

It isn't the most covered facet of the followers of the blood god, but it sure is an awesome one.

For old times' sake, from Epic 40k.

"Khorne is the god of anger and destruction, the warrior god of Chaos whose bellows of rage echo throughout time and space. He sits upon a great throne of brass atop a mountainous pile of bleached skulls. Whenever a champion of Khorne is slain in battle his skull is added to the pile, which slowly grows higher and higher. Khorne is a fighting god and his daemons and mortal Champions are amongst the most potent warriors of all. Khorne is a noble warrior who respects strength and bravery, who takes no joy in destroying the weak, and considers the helpless unworthy of his wrath. It is said that fate will spare any brave warrior who calls upon Khorne's name and pledges his soul to the blood god. It is also said that Khorne's daemons will hunt down and destroy any warrior who betrays his honour by killing a helpless innocent or murdering in cold blood. Khorne's great delight is battle and the spilling of blood".

This is the side of Khorne that I have always preferred, has so much more nuance than "raaargh kill" that tends to be associated with Khorne these days.

Do you have the Epic 40k paragraphs for the other gods, as I would be most interested in seeing how they used to be presented (if so, you can PM me to save this going off-topic).

What are some of the more interesting ways people have gone about this concept of the less bloodthirsty, more idealistic and warrior-code style Khorne warband?

What cultures are people drawing from, what aesthetics have we tried? I'm wanting to explore this more and was hoping for some input and inspiration if people have any smile.png

I wonder if you could draw from Samurai culture? In the old "How to Paint Space Marines" book, on the inside of the back cover is a lightly converted Marine squad, the ideas of which could easily be applied to a Chaos force (in fact, replacing the stretched cloth with flayed skin and it is oh-so Chaos) to complement the ideas you could draw on. They're The Emperor's Shadows by Victoria Lamb, in case there are any photos on the web.

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