The Children of Chaos

     The Old World is saturated with the mutating power of magic. It leaks through the inter-dimensional gate in the far north and permeates the entire world. The power is strongest in the immediate area around the shattered gateway. Further away the mutating magic weakens as the distance from the gate increases.

     The far north of the Old World is home to many strange creatures distorted by the power of Chaos . All manner of shapeless beasts and unrecognizable monstrosities can be found in htese regions: heinous things with bloated and horrible bodies that writhe with tentacles, cretures whose maws dribble and gape in their unending hunger for blood, and other beasts of every concieveable terrifying form stalk the lands searching for the weak and febble. These monsters depend upon the strength of the local magic field to survive. Fortunatly they cannot wander too far south, for the power of Chaos becomes too weak to sustain them and they perish.

     Many lesser Chaos monsters thrive in the Old World, beings that do not need as much invigorating power to sustain them as the more heavily mutated things of the far north. The most common are Beastmen and theirs cousins, creatures possesing something of the intelligance and form of men. Other creatures of this kind include the fearsome Minotaurs, vast bull headed monsters that often ally with the Beastmen. All these creatures , an more besides, are called the Children of Chaos. The are marked with mutations and their evil souls belong indiputably to the Chaos gods.

Beastmen

     Beastmen are wild and brutish creatures who care little for other beings and despise humans above all else. They have bodies that are half-man and half-beast, usually with the horned head of a goat. In battle they combine ferocity with a savage lack of discipline, fighting and battleing amongst themselves in their eagerness to get at the enemy. There are several types of Beastmen, but they can be divided into two rough catergories: Ungors, who are the more numerous, twisted creatures that combine the worst qualities of a man and a beast, and Gors, a gigantic breed of Beastmen, a mix of some powerful animal and a man. Beatsmen are the Children of Chaos itself, and their mutated forms and twisted minds are in the service of Chaos from birth. There is no need for the Dark Gods to corrupt them.

     Beastmen willingly embrace their heritage of Chaos, for although they have the intelligence of a man, they employ it with the base cunning of a wild animal. Beastmen arew not natural creatures: they first came intto existance when the polar gateway of the Old Ones collapsed, showering the world with mutating warpstone dust. It worked a dreadful change on many ancestors of humans, causing severe mutations. Hence, Beastmen were created : half-man, half-animal, wholly chaotic

     Beastmen live in roaming warbands led by the strongest among them. They infest the forests and the wastelands of the Old World and beyond, being most numerous in the far north and the Forests of Shadows. But even in the relatively safe lands of the south, in chivalrous Bretonnia and the bright lands of Tilea, the ancient forests harbour hidden Beastmen camps.

     Beastmen are the most numerous of the creatures of Chaos. Their numbers can only be guessed at, but many scholars fear that they outnumber mankind. They pose an unavoidable threat to the travellers on forest roads and to small villages and farmsteads. Often homes or hamlets are raided in the night, their inhabitants slain, the buildings burned down, and the animals carried away to be consumed by the Beastmen.

     Beastmen hordes are extremly dangerous in battle; a ferious mass of brutish warriors, greatlumbering chariots, packs of slavering Chaos Hounds and nnumerous bands of Ungors eagerly tear apart any enemies that dare to stand in their way. Towering above the Beastmen come belloing Minotaurs and ahead of the horde fly Harpies, anticipating the battle, ready to feast on the carrion. The Beastmen pour from their forests in endless masses, of blood thirsty beasts , stretching across the horizon. Often the horde breaks quikly into warring faction, for the Beastmen are the Children of Chaos and organisation and order is an alien consept to them.

     Only the very strongest Beastlords with a will of iron can hold together hordes for long enough to pose a serious threat to Humans, Elves Dwarves, or Orcs and Goblins. But when this happens the mortal lands are in dire peril.

Beastmen Ungors

     Ungors (called Bray in the Dark Tongue), or Un-men, are the most common breed of Beastmen. Ungors may have one horn, or many, but it won't be very recognizable as that of a goat's horns. They may have the hindquarters of a goat, and they are roughly the same size as humans, though they are tougher and more resistant to injury than men.

     Ungors are the warriors of the Beastmen warbands. They often wield crude spears and carry wooden shields with hides from animals that they have mutilated stretched over them. They are extremly cruel beasts, full of spite, anger, and hatred, and are easily recognized by the braying sounds that they make in the anticipation of battle. Ungors band together in huge warbands, overwhelming any enemy with their sheer power and multiplying numbers, that at times may seem unstopable.

     The youngest Ungors fight in lose packs, acting as scouts and skirmishers (slaves) for the Gors. This is considered a rite of passage whereby a young Ungor will win his place in the warrior band of his kind.

Beastmen Gors

     The Beastmen battle leaders and best warriors are always mighty Gors. Gors are much bigger, stronger, and more intelligant than their lesser cousins: the Ungors, and treat all who are weaker than themselves with disdain. Amongst a group of Beastmen, the mightiest Gor will be the leader, who has to maintain his positions by fighting off chalenges from other power-hungry Gors. Such a Chieftan makes his banner from the pelts of those he has mangled, so his standered becomes a gory record of his conquest.

     The Beastmen Chieftans often ride to battle on great chariots pulled by beasts called Tuskgors. Tuskgors are creatures of Chaos themselves, hideous crossbreed between great horned beasts like ramsand great wild boars of the forests. The chariots are decorated with skulls and banners, and often have wooden spikeson theirs frames and wheels.,/p>

     Gors take great pride in their horns and often polish, paint, or decorate them to enhance their natural lustre or shape. Gors sharpen their horns in anticipation of battle, and often coat ethem with poison to make them even more deadly.

     The largest and best-equipped Beastmen warriors, second in power only to the Chieftan, are called Beastigors. These are extremly powerful warriors, and often serve as leaders of smaller raiding parties.

Beastmen Shamans

     Beastmen Shamans are a very special kind of Beastmen for they have magical powers, although they do not study magic. Beastmen Shamans are born with the gift of sorcery. It is a boon from the Chaos Gods, and Beastmen Shamans know their spells intuitively.

     It is said that they can "spirit walk" in the Realm of Chaos itself, communing with the Daemons of the Chaos Gods. Shamans can seek advice and portents of future events, and can relay the orders of the Chaos Gods to the Beastmen.

     No other Beastmen will harm a Shaman, even if he is from a rival warband. Slaying a Shaman is believed to bring the wraith of the Chaos upon the killer, and that is one of the few things that even the brutish Beastmen fear. Even on the battlefield Shamans can walk freely, their brethren making way for the mighty prophets of Chaos.

Beastmen at War

     Rival Beastmen warbands are fighting against each other all the time, be it over disrupted territory, booty, or just for the sake of it! But equally often the Beastmen band together in strength, either to attack a common foe or defend themselves against and attack.

     Beastmen gather around their holy herdstones, attracked by the bonfires lit by a Beastmen Chieftan who wishes to call the scattered warbands together. The Chieftan will explain why he has gathered them, which usually involves a plan to fight somebody, whether it is the hatred humans, the pitiful Dwarves or some other foe. Often the Chieftan is guided by a portent or dream of his warband's Shaman, and thus he is doiing the bidding of the Chaos Gods themselves.

     If the assembled warbands are in favor of the plan, all the Beastmen cheiftans present fight each other, the strongest emerging as the leader of the horde. The Cheiftans fight unarmed, often with their hands tied behind their backs. This is done so that the warbands will not lose their leaders, but even so the great horns and sharp teeth of the Beastmen are often enough to cause fatal injuries. The winner is given an honorary title of Beastlord, or Gorlord. He will now lead the Beastmen horde. If plan of the Beastmen serves the cause of Chaos, the Minotaurs guarding the herdstone will join the horde as well, lending their formidable aid to the Beastmen army.

     The best warriors chosen by the Beastmen from amongst the Beastmen Gors will band together into one horde. They will be equipped with weapons and armor stored in the treasure trove of the herdstone. These hand-picked warriors are called Bestigors, which in the Dark Tongue of Chaos means Battlelords. They wear the heaviest armor available and cover their faces with hoods, often made of chainmail. They carry heavy hafted weapons like halberds, often looted from humans and laid at the herdstone as offerings to the Dark Gods. This is a high honor, and the Bestigors pledge to fight to the death for the Beastlord.