Battle of Skalathrax

"Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn! Kill! Maim! Burn!"

- Khârn the Betrayer

Battle of Skalathrax was the final campaign of the World Eaters Traitor Legion fought as a unified Legion against their hated rivals the Emperor's Children on the Daemon World of Skalathrax located deep within the Eye of Terror. Due to the actions of the former World Eaters Captain Khârn the Betrayer the Legion all but consumed itself in a bitter internecine conflict that saw it fractured into countless smaller warbands.

History
In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, the World Eaters descended to new depths of bloodlust and destruction, reaving across the already shattered Imperium before plunging into the twisted depths of the Eye of Terror. The story of the World Eaters' search for a homeworld is a defining point in their Legion's history. Shortly after the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, when the Traitor Legions had fled into the Eye of Terror, Khârn, the former Equerry of Primarch Angron and an Khornate Berserker, would earn the enmity of his Legion for his infamous actions upon the Daemon World of Skalathrax. At the Battle of Skalathrax, Khârn became both legendary and infamous amongst the berserk warriors of his Legion. The World Eaters and the Chaos Space Marines of the Emperor's Children Legion fought one another amidst the bone chilling cold of the frigid Daemon World. After a full day of vicious fighting, the terribly frigid Skalathrax night began. Horrified by the conditions that affected even their superhuman metabolisms, the Astartes of the Emperor's Children and the World Eaters agreed to a temporary ceasefire, and both sides took to their shelters, for the freezing night brought conditions so severe that they could kill even a Chaos Space Marine in a matter of mere moments during the deepest portion of the night. Khârn fell into a terrible rage over the idea of being delayed from his slaughter for even a single night. Enraged when he saw his fellow Legionaries creeping back to their shelters like cowards, he took up a Flamer and burned them to ash, slaying with his Chain Axe Gorechild any who tried to stand against him.

During the ensuing chaos, Khârn was assaulted by three unknown assailants. Undeterred, the berserker lept at his foes. A stray Bolter round struck Khârn in his breastplate, sending his leap wide, forcing him to despatch the concealed warrior with an improvised backhand strike of his Chain Axe. He then whirled around and clove through the boltgun of the third assailant before slamming him insensible to the ground. He then quickly hurled Gorechild to his left. The Chain Axe bit deep into the throat of the last Astartes, arterial blood spraying into the air. Standing over the prone warrior as he attempted to scrabble for his weapon, Khârn recognised the face of his assailant -- it was his old Centurion Gruner. Backed into a corner amongst the bodies of their fallen brethren, Gruner spoke of madness and betrayal, cursing Khârn for daring to strike down the Battle-Brothers of his own Legion.

As the foremost berserker champion of the XII Legion, Khârn had stood upon the walls of the Imperial Palace. He was the last to be borne away from Terra, his body broken after he had slain one million of the False Emperor's lackeys through the breach at the Lion's Gate. None would ever surpass his tally of kills. "The Contest" was finally over, and he had been its victor. Khârn believed that the weakness of his fellow Chaos Space Marines was the reason that they were defeated during the Battle of Terra -- the weakness of the other Traitor Legions as well the weakness found amongst his own brethren in the World Eaters. Filled with disgust for his fellow Astartes' weakness, the Chosen of Khorne continued to slay Emperor's Children and World Eaters alike, earning him the title of "the Betrayer," and ultimately shattering his Legion's unity and reducing it to scattered, individual war bands of Khornate Berserkers.

The Blood God was pleased with the slaughter, for Angron was raised up to a Daemon Prince, even as his Legion ceased to exist as a coherent whole. Though the Daemon Primarch would periodically gather the disparate warbands into something resembling the glory of the old Legion, the World Eaters were condemned to roam the battlefields of the galaxy in search of war, individual squads and warbands joining other forces and fighting for nothing more than the opportunity to spill blood and take skulls.