"I see it in your eyes, Valkia of the Schwarzvolf. You have touched of the ecstasy of Kharneth. Once the Blood God has caught you in his embrace, he will not let you go. And you will not want him to."
- —Deron, recognising Valkia's bloodlust
Deron[1a] was the son of Kalir, leader of the Bloody Hand, a Norscan tribe known for sacking and pillaging farms and villages, who became the lover and husband of the future Daemon Prince of Khorne Valkia the Bloody while she was still a mortal.
History[]
Meeting Valkia[]
Deron was a young man around twenty-five years of age. He was large and muscled, as most Bloody Hand tribesmen were known to be, with green eyes roiling with insanity and madness. Valkia, for her part, found him exotic and his large frame and strangeness awoke a hunger in her that she had not felt, not even with the beloved warspeaker of her own tribe, Radek. [1a]
Deron had a low, rumbling voice and a strange accent that suggested he spoke a different language from that of Valkia's people, the Schwarzvolf. Upon their first meeting, Deron had taken note of how bored Valkia was with the diplomatic proceedings between his own tribe and the warspeaker. To dispel this boredom and gauge her strength, Deron challenged Valkia to a fight to First Blood. [1a]
Valkia won this duel by using her greater speed and agility, drawing first blood and threatening to kill Deron for his insults against her during the battle. However, Deron bade her not to, for he could see that she was chosen by the Blood God, even if she knew little of that entity yet. Deron revealed that the god of the Schwarzvolf, whom they called the Axefather, and his own, Kharneth, were the same deity. However, Deron left Valkia with more questions than answers, promising to return and formally cement the alliance between the Schwarzvolf and the Bloody Hand in the spring.[1a]
Marrying the Gorequeen[]
Deron and Valkia eventually married before the eyes of the four Ruinous Powers and in doing so combined the power and virility of the Bloody Hand tribe with the strength and ferocity of the Schwarzvolf. Shortly afterward, Valkia raped Deron at knife-point after getting him extremely intoxicated; Valkia's twin daughters were the result of the union.[1b]
Valkia named them Eris and Bellona, after her late mother and Deron's own mother, respectively. However, the birth of daughters disappointed Deron, who had hoped for a son to continue his lineage. This proved to be a point of contention in the marriage, along with the constant clash between both spouses' strong personalities.[1a]
The birth of the couple's daughters, and all they stood to inherit, proved a constant irritant to Deron's male pride and Valkia took great pleasure in his anger and discomfort. Deron stubbornly continued to hold out hope that Valkia would bear him a son, but Valkia informed him that they would have no further offspring, largely due to the damage that the birth of the twins had wreaked upon her body. Deron would have no son to inherit his legacy. [1b]
Death[]
Valkia entreated Deron to be grateful that their daughters were healthy and strong, and for a moment Deron softened to the idea of the twins leading the united forces of the Bloody Hand and Schwarzvolf tribes, but he found it difficult to acccept that it would be his daughters leading that host rather than a son. He felt no fatherly pride for his children.[1b]
Later, the twins received the ritual blessing of the Chaos Gods, but Deron threatened to disrupt the ceremony. Valkia confronted him, lest he invite the wrath of the Dark Gods down upon their daughters, but Deron claimed not to fear them. He claimed the gods were beneath him and the only god worthy of his worship was Kharneth; the others were weaklings cowering in his shadow.[1b]
In a rage at his words, Valkia killed her husband for this blasphemy, driving a dagger into his eye. She later beheaded Deron's corpse, claiming that no man equaled the gods and in death Deron could meet them. Then, and only then, would he see who was truly greater.[1b]