Marauder Berserkers

""Khorne!" they roared, invoking the sacred battle-name of Kharnath, the Blood God, Lord of Battles. "Khorne!" they howled until it seemed the walls must fall from the violence of their voices alone. "Khorne!" they shrieked as they gnashed their teeth and bit their shields.""

- A description of Sarl berserkers at the destruction of Wisborg

Norse Berserkers are a brutal sect of warriors hailing from the frozen wastelands of Norsca. They are known chiefly for being subject to terrifying battle-frenzies that render them immune to pain and which transform them into unstoppable juggernauts on the field of battle. Their feats fill the songs of the Skalds and loom large in the sagas of the North and the nightmares of Imperial soldiers who have faced them on the battlefield. Bred from the hardiest stock of an already hardy folk in the grim northlands, the berserkers of Norsca are a rightly feared warrior-cult. Though most berserkers wear armour, others purposely go into battle without protection in order to display the bravery to the foe, to their kinsmen, and to the Dark Gods. They are possessed of a dark, brutal madness which compels them to fight on until they have slaughtered all about them, or are themselves slain.

Berserkers are devotees of the Blood God Khorne, which is apt given Khorne's status as the Norse god of war and battle-frenzy. Indeed, in order to will themselves into the rage, the berserkers bellow the sacred battle-names of the Lord of Battles, invoking him and thus gaining a measure of his fury that they might destroy all who oppose them on the battlefield. In addition, many, if not all berserkers tend to become champions of the Blood God, receiving his Mark and blessings that they might become even deadlier on the field. Indeed it is so that the blood-drenched berserkers of Norsca are amongst Khorne's most ferocious servitors, and many have been undone by their psychotic fury. However, while they are most often associated with Khorne, there are some berserkers who do not worship the Lord of Battles exclusively, instead deigning to worship each of their dark gods in a pantheon.

Notable Berserkers

 * Knut the Bloody: A legendary berserker and champion of the Blood God Khorne who fought alongside the Everchosen Asavar Kul, slaying thousands by his side, and also under the command of Engra Deathsword during the Fall of Praag during the Great War Against Chaos. When Kul and his allies fell at the Battle of Kislev at the climax of the war, Knut, glutted on bloodshed and slaughter, journeyed back to the north in search of greater adventure. He eventually came to wander the Chaos Wastes, and eventually fought a mighty Bloodthirster of Khorne, triumphing over the daemon when he lifted the monstrosity over his head and broke its spine over its knee. Impressed by the champion's valour, Khorne himself came before the berserker and elevated him then and there to daemonhood. To this day, Knut's tale remains a popular one amongst his people, the Skaelings.


 * Hrolf Wyrdulf: A champion of the Blood God Khorne. Prince of the Vargs, Ulfwerener and lieutenant to the legendary Chaos Lord Garmr Hrodvitnir, Hrolf and his pack fought under their lord's command during Garmr's battles against the Dwarfen hold of Karak Kadrin, in his quest to establish the Road of Skulls and bathe the world in the sanguine majesty of Khorne's Halls. Hrolf was slain by the Dwarf Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson.


 * Njarvord: A Baersonling and sword-brother of Wulfrik the Wanderer, Njarvord was a particularly brutal warrior who fought while clad in heavy steel plate and using a massive double-bitted axe. He fought valorously on many of Wulfrik's raids, but was eventually slain during an incursion into Ulthuan by a High Elf noble, having been impaled on the elf's pike. Njarvord's final act, however, was to pull himself down the noble's pike, much to his horror, and with a mighty bellow, strike a terrible blow that beheaded the lord's horse, crushing him underneath it and allowing Wulfrik to finish him off, thus avenging the berserker's death.