Bloodthirster

"Khorne, we beseech thee. We offer you our very lifeblood! Send unto your faithful servants the means of this world’s deliverance!"

- Last words of Venerati Lhorgh

A Bloodthirster is the Greater Daemon of Khorne, and each is a manifestation of the unreasoning rage and savagery of total war. It is said that there are no more powerful masters of battle in the entire galaxy than the Greater Daemons of the Blood God and that none may stand before them. They are the very essence of brutality, every blow ever struck and life ever taken in anger distilled into a single, towering form of iron and sinew.

As the living embodiments of war, rage and murder, Bloodthirsters represent the bloodiest side of warfare and are renowned as the greatest warriors amongst daemonkind. Only the boldest and most heroic of mortal champions would even stand the slimmest chance of survival in combat with a Bloodthirster, and an even smaller chance of victory. In appearance, Bloodthirsters are the embodiments of fear and terror long-expressed in the ancient Terran legends of daemons that hungered for the souls of Mankind. Most of these creatures stand nearly ten metres tall, whilst the mightiest of their kind are the size of a Scout Titan. Their skin is the deep red of encrusted blood. Their gore-flecked hides are covered in crimson fur the colour of spilt blood and their eyes are milky white without visible iris or pupil. Their feet are cloven and the ground burns at their passing. Their bodies are impossibly muscled and covered in iron-tipped barbs. From their backs sprout a pair of gigantic, membranous, bat-like wings, enabling them to soar over the battlefield before diving into the fiercest and bloodiest areas of battle, striking at will. Most hideous of all are their faces, which are bestial, almost canine, the visage of Khorne's most favoured beings in the universe. Their snarling maws are filled with fangs the size of mortal swords.

Role
Bloodthirsters wear ancient, ornamented armour. Sections of their armour are adorned with the glowing skull Mark of the Blood God as a sign of his blessing. The panoply of this armour is ruddy bronze or iron black, upon which the glowing-red runes of Khorne are proof against the most fearsome of psychic attacks, a fact that strikes utter horror into the hearts of the most accomplished of battle-psykers. A Bloodthirster's armour is also proof against the ranged weapons of the cowardly that would dare attempt to strike them down from a distance rather than engaging in righteous close combat.

As well as their razor-sharp claws, the Greater Daemons of Khorne are known to carry two primary weapons which epitomise murder. The first is a massive daemonic battleaxe which is the iconic weapon of Khorne, forged in the heat of the rage of the Lord of War and imbued with the essence of caged Greater Daemons. The keen-edged blade is at least the height of a Space Marine, and its haft several times longer. Perhaps the most powerful weapons ever created, these gigantic battleaxes can cleave an armoured main battle tank in half. These fearful weapons not only destroy a foe's physical body, but often consume their souls as well as an offering to the Blood God. The second weapon a Bloodthirster carries is a long barbed whip which is capable of dealing death at range. Since Bloodthirsters are obsessed with spreading death and destruction, the use of such a weapon enables them to strike down a distant foe with the shattering power of their deafening bellow. Though not as satisfying as cleaving apart a foe with a sweep of their axe, they do allow a Bloodthirster to reach and destroy even the fastest and most agile of their foes.

But the Bloodthirsters of Khorne are not simply mindless berserker engines of war. They are the generals and ultimate champions of the daemonic legions of the Blood God. Countless Lesser Daemons march beneath them in unstoppable assaults against the enemies of their master and his chosen mortal servants. Bloodthirsters are masters of every tactic that leads to the spilling of blood. They eschew stealth and guile as the coward’s way and direct their forces towards the total defeat of their enemies with stunning brutality. Against such a combination of rage and leadership, none can stand.

Notable Bloodthirsters

 * An'ggrath the Unbound
 * Skarbrand the Exiled One
 * Anarkh'ad'nron
 * An'kha'arak
 * Bellanoth - Bellanoth was a Greater Daemon of Khorne who was sealed within the Damnation Cache on the world of Pythos after the Horus Heresy. He was released by the Forces of Chaos in the latter 41st Millennium and was soon banished afterwards by the Catachan Jungle Fighters.
 * Gore Lord
 * Ka'bandha
 * Ka'jagga'nath, the Unbound, Lord of the Bloodtide
 * Kar'voth
 * Kha Ak-Lash Kha-Aksha, the Usurper
 * Vangash'hagash, the Ever-Bloody