Bloodborn Wolves

"It matters not how high your walls soar, It matters not how many will answer your call, It matters not how keen your blade glimmers, Nor how bright burns your hearth fire, The wolf waits, The wolf waits in darkness for us all."

- From the 'Lay of Grimnr Cold-Tongue', The Fenrisian Sagas

The Bloodborn Wolves are an infamous Chaos Warband comprised of former Space Wolves Astartes that fell to the worship of the Chaos Blood God, Khorne. Renaming themselves the Bloodborn Wolves, these Heretic Astartes have given themselves over to the beast within, revelling in bloodletting and beastial fury. Now, as Khorne's chosen, they have turned on the Emperor, whom they see as the 'Arch-Sorcerer'. They slaughter all in their path, taking skulls and trophies from their fallen opponents for the glory of the Blood God.

The Bloodborn Wolves are split into two faction which are divided into two major sections. They perfectly represent Khorne's dual nature, with some of the group, known simply as "The Bloodborn" - representing martial prowess and honour - while the other side, known as "The Bloodied" - represent corruption, anger and bloodshed.

Warband History
The Bloodied Wolves have 2 very distinct sections, each with their own sagas, but they each start at the same time. They were a group of Space Wolves, sent into the fringes of a warp storm to search for a cabal of Thousand Sons sorcerers, not long after the end of the Heresy and the introduction of the Codex Astartes. When they were there, the warp denied them again, hiding their hated foe right as they believed their trek complete. In the end, a small group of the force, around 150 marines, believed they had been betrayed by their chapter, and indeed, the Imperium of Man. These group of traitors included the Wolf Lord Olaf Asmundsen, later known as Olaf the Foolish. The soon-to-be heretics ambushed the loyalist forces, taking out a much larger force fuelled by their rage and with the advantage of superior tactics. Less than 300 of over 800 loyal marines were left alive, as by some miracle they were allowed to flee. These traitors fell into the worship of Khorne, becoming perfect embodiments of his more noble side. This is where their story splits.

The Bloodborn
The Bloodborn were the original traitors, and still revelling in their huge victory, they worked on setting up a following within realspace, turning cults and Imperial Guard regiments to worship of them, and indirectly, Khorne. The Bloodborn see physical corruption as a weakness, and so many of them are almost untouched over the millennia, bar from a few notable exceptions and the frenzied removal of all symbols of allegiance.

The Anarchy of the Bloodborn
After 3 millennia of rule by Olaf Asmundsen, and many victories in his name, he turned to a Daemon Prince, the ultimate sign of being unworthy in the eyes of his men. He was given the nickname "the Foolish" for having accepted the gifts of the Gods instead of using them, and was cast out, left as an outcast and a cheat. A huge power vacuum was left, with 3 contenders to the privilege of leading the group. These were the Terminator Sergeant Balder Redcoat, the Wolf Priest Eerik the Insane and the ex-Moritat Sven Bloodfisted. Eerik was the first to die, as him and his weak-minded followers were driven mad by the Blood God's wrath, and hunted by daemons for their usage of cowardly warp magiks. Balder was next to go, as his followers were brutally murdered by Sven, and as Balder bent his knee to his new lord, his head was blown off by a plasma blast. With that Sven Bloodfisted had taken control of the warband and lead them to many a great victory.

Warband Combat Doctrine
On the field of battle, the Bloodborn Wolves throw themselves madly towards the enemy. In their desire to fight, these young marines, often transform into bestial Wulfen, losing all thought of tactics or stealth. The more mature Astartes use their years of experience to work their way into position, ready to attack the enemy in its vulnerable flanks. The psychological effect of this cannot be overestimated. Even the most disciplined gun-line has faltered and broken on the realisation that they face not only an onrushing tide of claws and teeth, but that the enemy is already behind them and slaughtering its way towards them.

While the Bloodborn Wolves do not intentionally summon daemons, such acts being much too akin to sorcery for their liking, the entities are drawn to the sites of their butchery anyway. Lesser daemons have been observed to burst from corpses or exude themselves from pools of freshly spilled blood to aid in the slaughter. After the fight has been won, and befitting their nomadic nature, the legion and its assorted hangers-on descend to pick the battlefield clean. Guided by scent the battle-brothers return to the sites of their kills to take trophies from worthy enemies. In the case of other Astartes this can include weapons and pieces of armour to replace the damage that inevitably occurs. They rarely repaint it, preferring that it remain as a reminder of their battles, and as a taunting sign to their enemies of their previous defeats.

In their wake come the Choosers of the Slain - the warband's chirurgeons. They stalk the battlefield selecting skulls adjudged to be particularly prized by Khorne. They also claim the gene-seed of fallen Bloodborn Wolves and select those enemies who fought well enough to be saved from the brink of death and forcibly initiated into the legion. Under the direction of the Hell-Priests of Iron (fallen Techmarines), the warband's bondsmen are sent out to scour the area for anything of use. As the Bloodborn Wolves have little manufacturing capacity, and even less interest in settling down to use it, almost everything they have has to be scavenged, ranging from bolt-rounds to entire armoured vehicles. Only when their Chaos-corrupted Fenrisian wolves companions have returned from chasing down and glutting themselves upon enemies that fled in cowardice from the battlefield does the Bloodborn Wolves start its journey to the next battle.

Warband Gene-Seed
After their fall from grace, the application of the Canis Helix has become even more brutal than before. On the battlefield, this warband slaughters indiscriminately, dedicating their kills to Khorne, their God of Blood and Skulls. Stalking through the carnage like cadaverous wraiths are the Choosers of the Slain. Part apothecary, part acolyte of Khorne, they minister to their fallen brethren, deciding if they are worthy to live on, or to yield up their gene-seed and skulls to their god's throne. The Choosers also select those enemies that have fought with sufficient valour and ferocity, and proved worthy of joining Khorne's legion. They are touched by the will of the Blood God himself, with skills that far exceed the wit of even the most skilled chiurgeon. Under their ministrations, and with the application of the Canis Helix, even a mortal wound may be averted.

Once marked by Khorne in this way, the beast within is released, and the long, agonising process of transforming their bodies and minds into those of the fallen sons of Russ can proceed. While traditional gene-seed implantation processes require that the aspirant be no older than early puberty, it appears that the ministrations of the corrupted Canis Helix can allow this process even in full grown adult candidates. It has even been suggested that it can even be used to forcibly corrupt Astartes of other legions to serve Khorne. Though none of the loyal Adeptus Astartes Chapters of the 'Arch-Sorcerer' have ever admitted this has occurred with any of their brothers, it would certainly bring a new danger to the prospect of fighting against the Bloodborn Wolves; that in doing so they risk a fate worse than death.

In addition to the bestial nature of the Canis Helix, the Russ gene-line has always exhibited certain quirks, such as their uncannily sharp senses and how their incisors grow long and tusk-like with age. Over the millennia, the warping power of Chaos has bestowed further beneficial changes which boost their already considerable strength and brutality. Under the watchful eyes of the Choosers of the Slain this process has been guided to bring them ever-closer to their ideal of the perfect killer.

Warband Colours
When these former Space Wolves gave into their bloodlust and fell to the corrupting influence of the Blood God, their gunmetal grey battle-plate and totemic heraldry gave way to blood red and brass, the favored colours of Khorne, although one can often find some pieces of the Space Wolves' original heraldry in individual pieces of their armour. While most Space Wolves retain their original Legion badge, the Mark of Khorne, as well as other Chaos icons and symbols like the Octed (the eight-pointed Star of Chaos), often supplement it. In battle, the Space Wolves almost exclusively employ chainaxes, chainswords and frostblades to maximise blood spillage, although some of the most powerful warriors of the warband use arcane power or daemonic Khornate weapons infused with the power of a daemon of the Blood God. What was once an example of the most effective shock assault force in the galaxy is now a terrifying collection of savage berserkers and insane, psychotic killing machines that live only to spill blood and take skulls for their master Khorne.

Warband Badge
The Bloodborn Wolves badge was once a stylised, snarling red wolf's head. After their corruption, many of these fallen Space Wolves Heretic Astartes began incorporating Khorne's stylized skull-rune which is either painted or carved onto their battle-plate. The Bloodborn Wolves Khornate Berserkers are also sometimes seen wearing a variant of their original Legion iconography of a snarling wolf's head superimposed over the eight-pointed Octed (Star of Chaos).

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