The Tormentors

Maulhowl The Torturer

Maulhowl is the sinister and powerful entity that guides the legions of Chaos who have invaded this region. It is one of the dread Daemon Princes; awesome creatures of the warp. It was Maulhowl that manipulated the Tormentors Legions and the Beastmen of the Dark Forest into their unholy alliance, Maulhowl that guided them to the heart of the magical forest of Yoretul, Maulhowl that broke through the mystical enchantments to reveal the Emerald Glade. Then his titanic physical form manifested fully; a towering, winged and horned monster of Slaanesh with hideous desires. It was Maulhowl that slew Lord Gyuiman, general of the armies of Yoretul and plunged the kindred into crisis.

But then the mage princess Vanissa stepped forwards, offering herself to Maulhowl so that the Wood Elves could escape. This is when the Daemon made its almost fatal mistake. Greedily seizing Vanissa, sensing the magical powers that ran through her body and recognising a truly delicious feast, Maulhowl did not notice that she was already silently chanting the words of a powerful spell. Only as the Daemon bent to take his first exquisite bite from her neck did it notice the swell of magical energies around them. But by then it was too late. The cataclysmic blast took the life of Vanissa and banished Maulhowl to become an eerie half-essence, trapped between the material world and the warp, but unable to return to either.

The entity remains within a hidden chamber in Dragonfang Castle, where only Kelek has access to consult it, and requires a constant supply of living souls to maintain even this shadow of existence. From here the monstrous creature plots its revenge...

Kelek, the Sorcerer King

Kelek is a Chaos Sorcerer and disciple of Slaanesh. With each victory as leader of the Tormentors legion his heinous diety gifted him with greater and greater magical powers until he now has unrivalled energies roiling at his fingertips. The Chaos energies have withered his body yet also sustain him. He appears as a stooped old man, swathed in rich black cloaks, his face a white skull as if all the life had been drained from it. But none of his followers dare underestimate his power or his cruelty or his intelligence. He is a master plotter and sees all threats before they come to pass. With the fall of the Emerald Glade and the breaking of the Wood Elf reign of Yoretul Forest, Kelek declared himself the Sorcerer King. He rules from the unassailable Dragonfang Castle and it is only he that may consult with the Daemon Prince Maulhowl. The entity feeds on souls to maintain its slim grasp on reality, and most needs the pain and despair of the tortured. Kelek has both the willingness and talent to supply this, relishing the suffering he is expert at causing to his prisoners.

Anphiston, Warlord of Slaanesh

Anphiston is an exalted Champion of Slaanesh and the brutal enforcer of Kelek's rule. He is a truly mighty warrior, encased forever within his suit of Chaos armour and the arcane protection its numerous carved sigils afford. His face has never been seen, known only as a black shadow and a pair of piercing red glowing eyes that watch from within his faceless helm. And many a foe has withered before that powerful gaze; the pure power and malice of Anphiston able to reduce those who oppose him to gibbering wrecks. He may ride a massive steed as black as night into battle, leading his elite dreaded Knights of Torment, or he may take his place upon a nightmarish monster called the Fiend, spawned from the hellish imagination of the Chaos god Slaanesh; a hideous slug-like beast bigger than an ox, yet with flailing tentacular limbs that propel it across the battlefield with impossible and unnatural speed. Always he carries a terrible magical broadsword that seems to suck in the light around it into its blackness.

The Tormentors

The Tormentors are a cult of Slaanesh that, led by Kelek and Anphiston, has grown into an army. They were once men, but have been swelled by the unnatural energies of Chaos so that they have become far more powerful warriors. Their uniform is the black armour of Chaos, tinted purple and edged with the silver sigils of their patron diety. They have sold their souls to Chaos, so that only the desire to torture and torment in the name of Slaanesh fills their hearts now.

Amongst the ranks of these formidable warriors, two champions have come to the fore as lieutenants to Warlord Anphiston. Accordingly, they have been marked by Slaanesh as being favoured by the Chaos god. Ssslyther has been warped by Chaos so that his head is now that of a horrific snake, complete with a tongue like a lashing whip. The arms of Klorn have swollen and mutated with the plates of Chaos armour into two massive crab-like pincers, their chitinous plating impervious to the heaviest and sharpest of attacks.

The Tormentors make their base in a terrible fortress known as Dragonfang Castle, deep in the barren Blightland. This evil place was said once to be a huge black-stone mountain; and that the powers of Chaos carved the twisted spires and maw-like entrance from the harsh rock itself. From here their rule stretches across the land like a shadow, and all shudder to think what horrors lay in its dungeons.

The Beastmen

Allied to the Tormentors and under the rule of Kelek the Sorcerer King are the foul beastmen; monsters malformed by the warping influence of Chaos. The beastmen roam the wild lands, constantly in search of the rebel Wood Elves, hoping to scourge them entirely from Yoretul Forest. They delight in taking the Elves alive, dragging them away to an unknown fate...

Zorgar

Zorgar is the brutal leader, or Wargor, of the Beastmen tribes. He is a massive monster, a match even for the Minotaurs that would try to take control of the tribes from him by ritual combat. He leads the dreaded Slaangors; the biggest and toughest of the beastmen. The Slaangors wear suits of armour pieced together by the spoils of war grabbed by the beastmen. They also wear sinister hoods, said to hide the "gifts" of their Chaos god for only the worthy to experience. It is being caught by the Slaangors that many fear most.

The beastmen worship and give ritual sacrifices to a huge monolith erected in their sacred place in the Dark Forest; a tower of rock that contains a sinister entity said to speak to the tribe's shaman, Dhurg.

Dhurg

Dhurg is the shaman of the Beastmen tribes; a hideous bloated monster that shuffles beneath stinking layers of hoods and animal hides and leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes. He is touched by the Chaos gods, however, and his feral magics are revered by the beastmen. He is often the emissary between Kelek and Zorgar, and though he respects and rightly fears the power of the Sorcerer King, he secretly wishes to usurp the power for the pure Children of Chaos.