Designer Notes

Creation

The Blood Host was created in late 04 in the misted of 4th addition of Warhammer 40k. Latter additional undivided factions would be added in late 05 and 06, in the form of the Gore Fangs, Cult of Enlightenment, and the Death Right. This would be my fifth World Eater army since i started playing 40k in early 95 although the current story arch only reflects my 4th World Eater army in its pre history.

Over the years I have had a number of influences, from the most obvious being from Games Work Shop, history and armies of antiquity, to some more minor but no any less influential social relationships and every day life.

From my earliest  battles with the Eldar, Gemini Legion, and the infamous Commander Cruger of the Ultra Marines to my most later battles of the war torn Gothimos Sector and Triton. Every game I have played has set in motion the over all story that I have been working on for years.

Many a time I would spend hours on the phone with my friends talking about plots that my dark hero's were embarking on as well as wars that will be waged in their names. At times I would even let out of town opponents know that the battle we were about to play would be would form a part of my story line.



The Blood Host

The Blood Host was named by my dear friend Chris P. At this point I cant remember if he coined the phrase on the battle field of in a story that he had written, but it stuck. I never did ask him why he had picked the name, but one thing is for sure it had a rig to it.

What I like about the name/title  "The Blood Host" is that it provided a broad unwritten definition that I have been able to fill in over the years. When i think of a  "Host" I think of vast legions bound together by common course. I think of the "Host of Mordor" or more notable the apocalyptic "Hosts" from the Bible. "The" or "The Blood" give the title a real primal punctuation at the beginning of the term instead of the end. "The Blood - Host" I could almost hear World Eaters in a tribal way referring to them selves as "The Blood", but only when combined with all factions would the "Host " be added.

In my Story the Blood Host is first founded on the war torn world of Armageddon shorty after the fall of Angron. A number of Lords of Khorne would rally around the founder of the legion Lord Hannron. Those lords and their war bands would end up either being subjugated or absorbed with in the Blood Host till only three factions of World Eaters remained, the Legion of Hannron, the Legion of Rex and the Legion of Vauk.

Of the three legions only one had been a previous army, and the was the legion of Kalverous Rex, The legion of Vauk being my current army and the legion of Hannron being a story driven force to add depth to my on going story and also for explanation for cross over event with a game group from So Cal. Although at this time i have added a model for Lord Hanneron and happen to be working on his Terminator body guard.


Legion of Vauk

As the Blood Host expanded the name soon out grew the World Eaters with in it. It wasn't till I started this blog that I realized that the World Eaters would not be able to keep the name The Blood Host. I have always wanted my army to be a legion, to even be bigger then my World Eaters. Once I started to take all my scattered notes and organize them on this blog I was for the first time able to see how the flow and organisation was going to play out. The Blood Host would still be my legion name in which those within could still refer to them selves as "The Blood", but the The World Eaters with in would take one there own name much like the other factions within the host. That name would be The Legion of Vauk.

The name "Legion of Vauk" comes from a name I quit often associate with the Blood Host and that is "The Legions of Vauk". At on point I had thought I would change the title of the Blood Host to, "The Legions of Vauk", to show that Killion is at the lead of a newly revitalized formation. Soon that was not necessary with the title, "Blood Host", being elevated above the World Eater cohort.

What I like about the term the Legion of Vauk is that it makes the formation of the World Eater Cohort sound vast, and for me it is! I see Killion expanding his formation past the levels it was at the End of Armageddon. I see a complex structure in which Killion recruits out of any force, such as the Gore Fangs, when deemed worthy into the ranks of his world eater. I have went as fare as to actually added the Gore Fang symbol to the armour of a few World Eaters here and there to show that they had been Gore Fangs to start out with.

The Gore Fangs 

The name, "Gore Fangs", came about from wanting a feral sounding name that went with the idea of being scouts and scavengers that the World Eaters were not. It would fall to the Gore Fangs to locate enemy formations, trail blaze routs and safe guard key installations and shrines dedicated to the overlords.

I soon saw the Gore Fangs as a renegade war band that was not above using lesser carrion creatures and spawn to augment their numbers. I could easy see them herding creatures into a expecting enemy only to launch a ambush or flank the from a unsuspecting quarter.

In my mind they Gore Fangs would have to come up with ways to keep the World Eaters at bay. It wouldn't be above wayward legionnaires to duel or even sacrifice Gore Fangs they came across if given the opportunity. To safe guard their security the Gore Fangs would use the lesser creatures they have enslaved to create a buffer between them and the World Eaters. These creature would be bound furriers, chaos hounds and spawn.

In time the Gore Fangs would even help create a renegade mortal force that was under their direct control. The Gore Fangs being more recent converts to chaos in my mind would still retain modern imperial ideology and military structure. This knowledge would be instrumental when the Gore Fangs encounter in my story arch a warrior priesthood that worships chaos through the practicing of death through conflict. This latest formation would be known as the "Death Rite".


The Death Rite

The Death right came about around the time that Forge World released the chaos Renegade Militia. There should be no doubt that they are heavily influenced by the Guants Ghost, and more over the Blood Pact. They have the look, they are militant and they have the structure of a modern guard army in 4Ok.

When I was trying to come up with a name for the "Death Rite", I want a name that had a hook, like the Blood pact. it took me along while to come up with something along the same lines but obviously different. When I finally said "Death Rite" out loud I knew that I had the name.

Once i had the name "Death Rite" I started to build a mythos that went with the name. I wanted them to have their own identity and still have them in line with my undivided units that i had all ready painted. In turn i used there uniforms and armour to tie them in with the "Gore Fangs".

Knowing how they function in the present has always been a easy part of me. the Death Rite had been trained by the Gore Fangs, and a officer defector from the imperial guard placed by the Gore Fangs to solidify the training given to them by the Gore Fangs.

in the past of the Death Rite i have changed things greatly. I had them be every thing from a trader guard unit, to a priesthood that found a ancient tomb of the imperial army and warped it by applying the text to chaos. I feel in time i will have it all worked out and i look Forward to that day when they are flushed out as much as any formation in my Legion.


The Cult of Enlightenment and Galactic Purification

The Cult of Enlightenment started the before the creation of the Gore Fangs. But like all formations in my legion there development is still evolving. I had painted a number of them to embedded in my World Eater units. At the time I could field chaos hounds as equipment for my aspiring champions. I looked at them as warped squires, bring the World Eaters ammo and weapons that they may need. I also thought of them sacrificing them selves to earn the favor from the World Eaters.

The name "Cult of Enlightenment and Galactic Purification" I came up with was kinda a joke between my friend Chris P. I wanted a obnoxious name that was fare to much to be said over and over. The though that a chaos cult was on a mission to enlighten the galaxy was the butt of more then one joke.

But the name stuck and in time they would be as insidious as any chaos cult before or after them. I soon saw them as flagellating Pilgrims that would wash up on the shores of worlds to put the unfaithful to the torch. this mind set came from a History Chanel special about the dark ages. I was drawn in by the flagellants that would descend on villages and kill all they deemed unworthy in order to stop the spread of the plague.

The nature of the "Cult of Enlightenment",would soon be even more flushed out through talks with my buddy Scott W. Scott started to work on a Xenos campaign with in the Gothimose story arc that he had greatly contributed to. Soon after talking with him I came up with the idea of the Cult of Enlightenment paraded as a anti Xenos cult.

Scotts campaign was going to be taking place on the Western fringe of Gothimos. this region was going to be under constant plague from Xenos. I Began to add in home my cult could of got a foot hold in this region and then would eventual spread throughout the sector. I say the Cult of Enlightenment having members all through planetary structures in this region. but it isn't till a planet is invaded by Orks that the cult came to the fore.


The Obliterator King

"Balthor the Castilian of Weapons Horrific, The Obliterator king", was an early concept for a faction of the "Blood Host". I had always wanted a representative of the "Drak Mechanicus" in my back story. I had always like the idea of the "Imperial Cult Mechanicus". I remembered having long talks with my good friend Aaron P. about how the "Cult Mechanicus" reminded us of the "Guild" in on of my favorite fiction books "Dune."

Naturally over time, i would find my self making trader "Tech Marines to be apart of my "World Eater" armies. this has stuck to this day. With this current army for the first time i took it a step further.

On of the new units that came out of the 3rd addition chaos codex was the "Obliterators". These vile deamon machines had the ability to use the warp to trans-mutate weapons that suited their needs. latter Gw writing would tell of Obliterators forming cults and sharing salvaged tech with each other. It seemed only a mater of time that GW authors would be telling how tech priest would infect them selves with the now widely known "Obliterator Virus".

In my back story my "Obliterator King Balthor" would reside in the "Infurnal Abbys" Deep in the hear of the space hulk Know as the "Skull Thrown" the flage ship of the "Blood Host'.This kindom is seen in my mind as a techo hell pit were flesh and machin are bound by the deamonic forces of the warp. it is this daralict forge ship baried deep inside of the space hulk that is the armory and forge of the "Blood Host".

I would see "Balthor" early on being quit a powerful member of the "Blood Host", but he would use his power as a strong ally to "Lord Killion Vauk" his origins at the time are unknown and i have always thought that his alliance with "Killion" at first was out of necessity and latter came out of mutual respect. At the time when i see "Killion" coming into contact with "Balthor" is when he first enters the space hulk he names the skull thrown. shortly after his legion begins to purge the hulk section by bloody section of all xenos taint, be comes across a region within the hulk that has been under constant siege from the xenos creatures that reside within the hulk. "Killion" and his legion lift the siege and "Balthor" allies himself and his adpets to the "Blood Host".

I see the Adrpts that form "Balthors" cohort to have had no choice but to unlock the darkness in the warp to survive. Forbidden knowledge has always been the crack in the steel of the "Cult Mechanicus". At some point see a forge ship being lost in the warp and the survivors selling their souls to survive. A mellennia latter when this ship drops out of the warp is is part of a tangled mass that plunges right into the heart of a swarm tendral of the "Great Devouer".