Index Astartes: Skull Brethren

[BrassClaw]

The Skull Brethren

Legion Origin: XII Legion – World Eaters
Allegiance: Khorne
Warband Strength: Estimated 600–800 Astartes, plus mortal cultists and daemon engines
Flagship: Apocalypse Imminent (Space Hulk)
Current Warlord: Daemon Prince Khraklash Skullsplitter
Mortal Commander: Juggernaut Lord Draxxigor Bloodhowler
 

Origins

The Skull Brethren trace their lineage to the shattered remnants of the XII Legion after the Horus Heresy. Once gladiators and warriors in the service of Angron, these men were scattered across the galaxy in the millennia following the Scouring. The warband coalesced in M37 under the leadership of the once captain, now champion Khraklash Skullsplitter, who earned his epithet Skullsplitter during the Purge of the Veydrath Cluster, where his warband carved a path through three regiments in a single night, leaving only a mound of skulls as a marker of their passing.

Over centuries of slaughter, Khraklash’s devotion to Khorne drew the gaze of the Blood God himself. In M41, during the Siege of the Iron Maw, Khraklash ascended to daemonhood, his mortal form bursting into a towering, brass armored monstrosity crowned with horns and wreathed in warp-fire.

The Mortal Fist of Draxxigor Bloodhowler

While Khraklash commands the warband’s daemonic elements and is the overall commander, the mortal and Astartes forces of the Skull Brethren are led by Draxxigor Bloodhowler, a Chaos Lord mounted upon a Juggernaut of Khorne. Draxxigor is famed for his ability to drive mortal cultists into suicidal frenzies, using his booming, vox-amplified war howls to whip entire regiments into bloodlust. His mortal warriors are often the first wave in any assault, softening enemy lines for the berserkers to follow.

The Apocalypse Imminent

The Skull Brethren’s means of transport and homebase is the Apocalypse Imminent, a colossal Space Hulk formed from the fused wreckage of Imperial battleships, Chaos cruisers, and alien craft. The vessel drifts in and out of the warp unpredictably, often materializing without warning in the skies above doomed worlds.In 012.M42, The Apocalypse Imminent materialized in the Dengamar System via a ritual cast by The Bloodspeakers Witch Coven. 

Combat Doctrine

The Skull Brethren favor shock, brutality, and psychological warfare. Their goal is to break enemy cohesion quickly through overwhelming close-quarters violence while using daemons and cultist sacrificial tactics to deny the foe safe recovery. Their operations emphasize tempo, attrition, and spectacle to funnel enemies into kill zones where World Eaters excel.

 

Deploying  cultists in layered waves to exhaust enemy fire and force use of limited heavy weapons, this means preserving elite Astartes. Another effect is timed mass sacrificial rites so that cultist deaths trigger area daemonic effects immediately. Then Skull Brethren use assault pods dropping Khorne Berserkers, Eightbound and Helbrutes in order to break the enemy.  

Notable Engagements

M37 – The Veydrath Cluster Purge

The warband first emerges as a coherent force under the command of Khraklash Skullsplitter. In a month-long campaign of slaughter, they annihilate three Imperial frontier worlds in the Veydrath Cluster. Khraklash earns his title when he leads a berserker assault that carves through the enemy’s command lines, leaving a pyramid of skulls at the gates of the governor’s palace.

M39 – The Shattering of the Black Maw

In a rare alliance with the Iron Warriors, the Skull Brethren spearhead the boarding of the Imperial battleship Black Maw. The ship’s crew is butchered in ritual combat, and its plasma drives are detonated in-system, annihilating an entire Imperial Navy battlegroup. The Apocalypse Imminent absorbs the wreckage into its growing mass.

M40 – The Eightfold Arena of Legeria

Khraklash declares a “Great Offering” to Khorne, capturing the agri-world of Legeria intact. Over the course of a year, the planet is transformed into a gladiatorial arena where entire regiments are pitted against each other for the warband’s amusement. The final “champion” is sacrificed in a mass ritual that births Draxxigor Bloodhowler’s Juggernaut steed.

M41 – The Red Harvest of Tania Alpha
The Skull Brethren descend upon the forge world Tania Alpha during its annual pilgrimage festival. Disguised cultists detonate the planetary defense grid from within, allowing the Apocalypse Imminent to breach orbit. Over three days, the warband slaughters over ten million pilgrims, turning the planet’s sacred forges into altars of blood.

012.M42 – The Invasion of Dengamar Prime

Drawn by the psychic beacon of the Bloodspeakers’ ritual, the Apocalypse Imminent tears into realspace above Dengamar Prime. The Skull Brethren descend in a storm of drop-pods and assault craft, carving a path toward the Palace of Glass. The siege of Hydris City, already raging between loyalists and the Bloody Greys, Skull Brethren join the fray.