Khaine, God of Murder

By Alfred Nunez

Description: Khaine is the dread Lord of Murder -- the patron of assassins and murderers -- and God of the Undead. It is said that he is jealous of his elder brother Morr's rule over the world of the dead. Khaine steals the souls of those unprotected by a cult and those murdered or sacrificed in his name. With these souls he builds his own dark realm, a realm from where Necromancers call forth some of the Undead spirits.

Khaine is depicted as a grotesque, squatting daemonic being with a huge, leering fanged mouth, a great horned head, and four arms, each holding a bloody dagger. He also wears a necklace of innumerable skulls. Khaine is an insane god worshipped either by murderous men or would-be Necromancers eager to wield the powers Khaine offers in return for service. Khaine is generous to those who add to his dark realm with offerings of blood and murdered souls.

Alignment: Evil.

Symbol: Khaine's symbols are a scorpion poised to strike and a human bone carved in the likeness of Khaine. In secret rituals and ceremonies, Initiates and Clerics wear black robes or other outer garments trimmed with red and yellow, and elaborate masks depicting the horned, fang-jawed face of Khaine. Additionally, they bear staves carved from human bone which feature the fanged skull motif.

Area of Worship: A secret cult proscribed and actively persecuted in the Old World and Araby. The cult of Khaine originally found followers in ancient Nehekhara which worshipped a large pantheon of decadent gods. Khaine is still worshipped openly in isolated areas in the Badlands and the Dark Lands. Worship in the Old World is rare and followers remain few.

Temples: There are no obvious temples nor shrines to Khaine in the Old World or Araby. Instead, his worship is pursued in secret temples and shrines hidden in basements, caves, remote areas, etc. There is no common architecture to these places of worship, except for blood stained altar before a statue of Khaine.

Participants in ceremonies and rituals take mind-altering drugs which facilitate communion with the Lord of Murder and Undeath. Primarily, these rituals consist of consecrating souls in ritual sacrifices to Khaine. In other cases, these rituals may be conducted as a petition to Khaine to grant participants Unlife so they can better serve his will.

Friends and Enemies: Friends to no one, not even to the Chaos cults as the cult of Khaine tends to be treacherous, unpredictable, and highly unreliable. Eternal enemy of cults of Old World, Morr and Ormazd in particular.

Holy Days: Khaine has no holy days. Khaine will always accept a soul dedicated to him. If the sacrifice pleases Khaine, he may bestow a blessing. At times, Initiates and Clerics may be directed by Khaine to undertake more aggressive programs of murder and assassination or more ritual sacrifices. Failure to perform to Khaine's pleasure will usually result in an insanity point or two. After all, his followers may be able to perform better if a little more unhinged.

Cult Requirements: None. However, Khaine does not permit cultist to renounce his worship at a later date. Any attempt to do so guarantees a horrible death which sends the soul to his dark realm for eternal torture.

Strictures: Followers of Khaine must abide by the following strictures:

• Serve Khaine by feeding his power through sacrifice and populate his dark realm.
• Never permit an opponent to live as their deaths -- preferably as a ritualized sacrifice -- better serve Khaine.
• By advancing his cause and performing required tasks, one will can power and eternal (un)life.
• Failure to perform a task requires a death, even one's own, to atone for that failure.
• Those souls populating Khaine's dark realm may be called forth to perform specific tasks in the Land of the Living. These tasks must involve additional deaths so that Khaine's cause is advanced.

Spell Use: Clerics of Khaine may use any Petty Magic, Battle Magic, and Necromantic Magic spells.

Skills: In addition to the skills normally available to Initiate and Clerics, followers of Khaine may pick one extra skill at each level, from the following list: Arcane Language: Necromancy, Concealment Rural, Concealment Urban, Disguise, Frenzied Attack, Herb Lore, Hypnotize, Prepare Poison, Shadowing, Silent Move Rural, Silent Move Urban, Street Fighting.

Trials: Trials set by Khaine typically involve the capture and ritualistic murder of a cult enemy.

Blessings: Khaine favors the skills listed above. Favored tests include fear and terror so that the servant of Khaine can retain some control in their dealings with the more powerful of the Undead. A blessing from Khaine may include a temporary increase in Will Power and Cool, as well as a permanent increase in the number of Insanity Points, so that his cultist may better serve Khaine.

Claycle's Comments Khaine is closely related to ghouls, who are degenerated inhuman cannibals in a state between life and undeath. A human who engages in cannibalistic Khaine worship may gain the attention of the Ghoul God himself, and slowly metamorphose into a ghoul. This is not a chaotic process, but an evil one! Priests of Khaine may learn the spell Bind Headghost. Bind Headghost Spell Level: 1 Magic Points: 10 Range: Self Duration: Permanent Ingredients: A ritually sacrificed and consumed victim A priest of Khaine may use this spell to gain control over a victim's soul. The priest must ritually murder the victim, then consume the victim's body. The priest may spend as long as he wants eating the victim and must eat the entire body himself, with the exception of the head. The process is so vile, the priest gains 1D6 Insanity points doing so. Once the victim's body is eaten, the priest casts the Bind Headghost spell over the head. The victim's soul gets a WP test to resist (+10 per level if a priest of any other god). If the victim's soul fails, it is bound into the rotting head. Once bound, the ghost must obey the commands of the priest. It will obey the priest without fail, answer any question or perform any duty within its means. The headghost retains the knowledge and skills it had in life and the priest can use the headghost as a tutor. Sadly, the headghosts' torment is such that it gains 1D6 Insanity points per month. Eventually, the headghost is driven completely mad and less capable of answering the priest's questions coherently. The headghost becomes so mad that it can only howl and gibber. The headghost will never attack the priest who created it, but the priest can order the headghost to attack others. Headghosts are ghosts in every way (WFRP, pg. 252), but they also have a physical form. In addition to the normal ghost abilities (immunity to non-magical weapons, touch causes fear), a headghost may bite once per round, (WS 25, S 1). Headghosts can speak (though they tend to gibber mostly) and they move by flying/levitating (as swoopers). Seeing a headghost for the first time causes Terror in living creatures.

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