Beastlord

"Yes, we resemble beasts. Yes, we are savage. Neither of those things makes us stupid. That often comes as a surprise to Humans. Invariably it is the last thing that ever surprises them."

—Beastlord Grakkle, as translated from the Beast Tongue by Keldar Mouth-of-Chen^[2a]

A Beastlord , called a Ghurgor in the Beast Tongue^[3a], is the physically strongest and most skilled warrior of a Beastmen tribe or "warherd" who rules over it as its chieftain and absolute tyrant. Most Beastlords are Bestigors or Gors.^[1a]

All Beastlords are large, hairy, musclebound Beastmen brutes possessed of a raw and savage might that far outshadows the rest of their savage kin.^[1a]

Who is Beastlord Grakkle? toggle section

Beastlord Grakkle, a powerful Beastmen tribe leader, is renowned for his strength and savagery. His intellect often surprises humans, despite his beast-like demeanor. His victories over adversaries are notable, and his words are interpreted from the Beast Tongue by Keldar Mouth-of-Chen.

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What is the role of a Beastlord in a Beastmen tribe? toggle section

In a Beastmen tribe, a Beastlord represents the pinnacle of tribal authority. These leaders are characterized by their raw strength and bestial nature, surpassing their kin in might. Their rule is absolute, maintained through constant battles against power-hungry subordinates. Beastlords also create totems from the pelts of defeated challengers as proof of their dominance. Their leadership extends beyond combat prowess, as they command obedience and loyalty from their herd, enhancing the effectiveness of a Beastmen army.

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What is the common characteristic of most Beastlords? toggle section

Beastlords are the most powerful and bestial leaders of their warherds, holding the highest tribal authority. They rule by strength, constantly defending their position from ambitious subordinates. They are distinguished by their thick, horned skulls, robust bodies covered in scars and tattoos, and their ability to command multiple warherds.

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What is the Beast Tongue? toggle section

The Beast Tongue, used by Beastmen and the Beastlord, is a crude blend of the Dark Tongue, body movements, and various animalistic sounds. It's characterized by growls, grunts, clicks, and pops, and is often punctuated with shrieks and howls. Beastmen use simplified Dark Tongue runes to communicate with their herd. However, this language is beyond human comprehension and articulation.

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Role

"Savage masters of the battlefield, Beastlords join the fray with axes in hand and death in mind."

—Description of Beastlords in Total War: Warhammer.^[4]

Beastlords carry themselves with swaggering confidence, revelling in their own superiority over lesser beasts. Their thick, hairy skulls are crowned with magnificent sets of horns as sharp and hard as any blade, and their robust and heavily-thewed bodies are covered with scar tissue and crudely-rendered tattoos.^[1a]

Many of these Beastmen champions bear a reward or Mark of Chaos granted by the Dark Gods, setting them apart from the rest of the warherd as Champions of Chaos. The threat of violence is implicit in their every gesture. A Beastlord commands such an impressive aura that he often commands not one, but several warherds under his command as a brayherd, for it is a common ritual for all Wargors to compete with each other in deadly duels to see who shall lead the herd on the warpath.^[1a]

When battle is joined, the Beastlords lead their warherd from the front, usually accompanied by a retinue of their most vicious Bestigors. Experts in single combat, they seek out the leaders of the enemy armies, taking brutal satisfaction in smashing the warriors of lesser races into the dirt and taking their heads as grisly trophies. By slaying the leaders of the foe, the Beastlords not only prove their supremacy over the civilised peoples of Mallus but also gain the notice of the Ruinous Powers themselves.^[1a]

Notable Beastlords

Khazrak One-Eye - Khazrak is a powerful Beastlord whose forces have plagued the Drakwald region of the Empire for several years, descending without warning and then slipping away into the shadows once more. Khazrak has a unique ability to control and harness the unruly spirit of the warherd and devise simple but effective battle plans. He is unlike most Beastmen, with a patient and cunning mind at odds with the normal headstrong nature of his kind. Khazrak's warband roams the Drakwald, terrorising the townships and roads, and never before has a Beastman leader proven so elusive to retribution. No one is spared in Khazrak's attacks, his superbly trained Chaos Warhounds chasing down the few who manage to escape the warherd itself. Khazrak One-Eye is the arch-nemesis of Elector Count Boris Todbringer of Middenland.

Malagor the Dark Omen - Where Malagor treads, mayhem and destruction follow. The Beastmen believe that he is the doom of Mankind personified. A powerful Beastlord and Great Bray-Shaman who has been blessed with mutant wings as gifts from the Dark Gods he serves, it is Malagor's whisperings that steer the course of the entire Beastmen race. The sight alone of Malagor, wings spread on high, has caused stout defenders to abandon otherwise impregnable walls and the mightiest of warriors to fall to their knees in abject defeat.

Morghur, Master of Skulls, the Shadowgave - Reborn into the mortal world almost three centuries ago sometime in the twenty-third century IC, the heavily mutated Beastlord and Bray-Shaman known as Morghur was far from a Human child. With tooth and horn, he ripped his mother apart in his gory entrance to the world of Mallus, while her features mutated horribly. Her distraught husband reached forwards to strangle the twisted abomination, yet as his hands touched the foul creature, his body also was wracked with hideous mutation. Morghur is now an ancient and wholly unkillable Beastlord who has terrorised the forested woodlands of the Old World for centuries. Beastmen revere Morghur, believing that his spirit walked the mortal world even before the birth of their race; the incarnation of disorder and pure Chaos. They set out from thousands of miles away to stand in his presence, drawn to him by urges they do not question; a tainted pilgrimage that often destroys them. The bodies of most are wracked by fatal change. Only the strongest-willed survive such an encounter, though their minds are usually shattered and plagued by visions ever after. Those few that do live on with minds intact return to their warherds where they are regarded with awe and respect, and invariably rise to become powerful Wargors and Beastlords. The Bray-Shamans claim that if the physical body of Morghur is cut down, his spirit is reborn elsewhere. Indeed, creatures of similar description have been recorded all across the Known World, and darkness and taint has always followed in his wake. Legends within the Empire claim that in ages long past Morghur, known as the "Shadow-Gave," made the Drakwald Forest the dark and twisted place it is today. The Dwarfs know this being as the Gor-Dum and amongst Elves he is Cyanathair, which means "the Corrupter." Nevertheless, the only one to perhaps understand the true horror and revulsion that is Morghur is Ariel, the Queen in the Woods of the Wood Elves. It is she alone who truly perceives the black and expansive essence of Morghur, too powerful a spirit to be contained in a single physical form. A silent, unseen war rages in the dark forests of the Old World between the Asrai and the Beastmen. While Ariel seeks a way to destroy Morghur forever, every passing year ever more Beastmen are drawn to his distorted realm.

Rargarth - Rargarth was a powerful Beastlord who fought against a young Valten, the Chosen of Sigmar.

Taurox - Known as the "Brass Bull," Taurox is a monstrous engine of destruction, formed of living brass in the shape of a terrible Minotaur Doombull and Champion of Khorne, dedicated solely to the spilling of blood in Khorne's name. Taurox is the Beastlord who was responsible for laying a trail of destruction all across the lands of the Great Forest of Talabecland. It is not just the warherds of the Gors and Ungors that are rising up in greater numbers than ever before. All across Talabecland there spread legends of this giant, bullheaded fiend with a body of living brass. It is told that this monstrous warrior marches at the head of a column of armoured Minotaurs fully a mile long, and that whenever the scent of flesh is carried upon the wind, whether it be Greenskin tribes, Human towns, or other Beastmen warherds, the column breaks into a frenzied stampede to seek and destroy them. The tales are corroborated by sentries across the Old World who have seen the forests scarred and torn down by the Minotaur army's rampage as it passes below. Riders following this trail of devastation on the swiftest of horses have reported its passage through and over market towns, armoured barracks, flagellant camps, sacred temples and riverside wharfs, leaving nothing but ruin and great smears of blood that extend out of the other side of each site for many leagues. Of the inhabitants of these unfortunate locales there is invariably no sign other than the odd scattered boot or broken sword. Most disturbing of all, the outriders swear that the Brass Bull's army is heading directly for Talabheim, and growing larger with each passing week. Taurox is an unstoppable force; a roaring, snorting engine of destruction virtually impervious to physical harm. Cast in the form of a grotesquely muscled Doombull, Taurox looms over his followers, a mountain of living brass with curving, bladed horns and a gnashing metal maw that constantly drools with gore.

Gorthor - Gorthor is one of the most powerful Beastlords to have ever lived.

Shadeflench - Shadeflench was a ferocious Beastlord beheaded by Amalric of Gaudaron.

Khorok Manripper - Manripper was an infamous Beastlord of the Forest of Arden who was hunted by scores of Bretonnian Knights Errant.

Skarr Blackhorn - Blackhorn was the Gor who committed great atrocities against the Dwarfs of Karak Hirn during the event remembered as the Dark Night of Karak Hirn.

Miniatures

Sources

1: Warhammer Armies: Beastmen (7th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 34
2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Old World Bestiary (RPG)
- 2a: pg. 14
3: Liber Chaotica (Background Book)
- 3a: pg. 258
4: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)

Beastlord

Contents

Quick Answers

Role

Notable Beastlords

Miniatures

Sources

Gallery