Khârn the Betrayer

Khârn was born on Terra and inducted into the XII Legion when it was still known as the War Hounds. He rose to command the 8th Assault Company and had already become one of the Legion’s most respected warriors when Angron was reunited with his sons. The Primarch rejected the Legion and killed the officers sent to approach him aboard the Conqueror. Khârn volunteered to face him next and succeeded where the others had failed. He became Angron’s equerry and one of the few World Eaters capable of speaking frankly to their Primarch. When Angron demanded that his sons receive copies of the Butcher’s Nails implanted within his own skull Khârn underwent the procedure with the rest of the Legion. The Nails intensified his aggression and gradually eroded the restraint that had once made him an unusually thoughtful officer.

Khârn followed Angron when the World Eaters joined Horus against the Emperor. He fought through the Heresy and remained close to his Primarch even as the Legion descended further into uncontrolled slaughter. During this period he formed a strong friendship with Argel Tal of the Word Bearers. After Erebus murdered Argel Tal Khârn confronted the Dark Apostle in the fighting pits and savagely defeated him until Erebus escaped through sorcery. Khârn later fought at the Siege of Terra and drove deep into the Imperial defenses. His advance eventually brought him against Sigismund. The Imperial Fist defeated him in single combat and left his body upon Terra. The World Eaters recovered him during their retreat and discovered that some power had preserved a spark of life within him.

Khârn eventually awakened during the years after the Heresy. At Skalathrax the World Eaters fought the Emperor’s Children across a freezing world and attempted to shelter from the lethal night. Khârn regarded their withdrawal as cowardice. He took up a flamer and burned his own warriors from their shelters before attacking anyone who refused to continue the battle. The resulting slaughter shattered what remained of the World Eaters as a unified Legion and earned him the name Betrayer. Since then Khârn has wandered from war to war as Khorne’s greatest mortal champion. He sometimes joins Chaos warlords when their campaigns promise worthy slaughter but no commander can truly control him. Once battle consumes him there is little distinction between ally and enemy.

Appearance: Khârn the Betrayer has pale scarred skin and an enormous heavily muscular build. His visible arm is bare from shoulder to wrist with thick muscle and several old scars. Most of his head is enclosed by a red and brass helmet with glowing green lenses and a ribbed respirator mask.

He wears massive red power armor edged in worn brass. Large shoulder plates carry skull trophies and horned ornaments. Two towering black and brass structures rise from his backpack and are lined with spikes and mounted skulls. Thick hoses run across his chest and connect into the helmet. Bright blue tassels hang beneath the respirator.

His torso and legs are covered by layered red plates with dark flexible sections between them. A large skull ornament with glowing green lenses sits over his abdomen. Heavy chains wrap around his exposed forearm. His armored gauntlet carries additional brass edging and spikes.

Personality: Khârn was once disciplined and surprisingly capable of patience for a World Eater. He could reason with Angron when other officers could not and retained enough control to understand what the Butcher’s Nails were doing to his Legion. That man has been buried beneath millennia of violence. Khârn now lives for battle and offers every life he takes to Khorne. He has little interest in political power or kingdoms and does not seek daemonhood. War itself is sufficient. His fury is not the same as mindless incompetence. Outside the deepest grip of the Nails he can still speak clearly and understand strategy. Once the bloodshed begins that remaining restraint can disappear completely.

Angron was once Khârn’s Primarch and the center of his loyalty. Khârn endured the Nails partly because Angron demanded that his sons share his suffering and remained beside him through the Legion’s collapse. Argel Tal became one of Khârn’s closest friends despite belonging to the Word Bearers. His murder left Khârn with a personal hatred of Erebus that survived even the wider madness of the Heresy. The surviving World Eaters regard Khârn with a mixture of reverence and fear. He embodies everything their Legion became after surrendering itself to Khorne but Skalathrax proved that brotherhood means nothing once he decides the Blood God has been denied his due.

Khârn possesses the transhuman strength and durability of an ancient Space Marine enhanced further by thousands of years of warfare and the blessings of Khorne. The Butcher’s Nails drive him into states of extreme aggression while allowing pain and violence to push him deeper into combat rather than slow him. He is among the deadliest close-combat warriors still active and can tear through squads of lesser fighters without breaking his advance. Khorne’s favor also protects him from hostile psychic powers. His corrupted presence can produce a haze of blood around him that weakens the minds of lesser beings and creates conditions favorable to daemonic manifestations.

His principal weapon is Gorechild. The enormous chainaxe was once wielded by Angron alongside its twin Gorefather and is fitted with the teeth of a Mica Dragon. In Khârn’s hands it can rip through heavy armour and transhuman bodies with brutal ease. He also carries a plasma pistol for close-range fire and wears ancient World Eaters power armour marked by centuries of battle. Khârn once wielded a chainaxe called the Cutter and remains proficient with many weapons but Gorechild has become inseparable from his reputation as the Betrayer.