Hashut (pronounced "Hah-SHOOT"), called the "Father of Darkness," is the god of fire, greed and tyranny, the patron deity of the Chaos Dwarfs. A grim and malignant being, often represented as a great, blazing bull wreathed in smoke and shadow, Hashut is most often believed to be a minor Chaos God; some scholars of the arcane would, however, label him as an Archdaemon rather than a Dark God, and others insist he is some other foul entity let loose upon the mortal world during the coming of Chaos in the Great Catastrophe. Whatever the case may be, Hashut is closely associated with tyranny, greed, fire, and hatred, and is a being whose gift of great power comes at a terrible price.[2a]
As with much of their origins, just how the Dwarfs of the Far East came to seal their pact with Hashut remains shrouded in the dark times of the great sundering of the Known World by Chaos, and in truth the Chaos Dwarfs themselves may have only a dim and warped understanding of how they became bound to their nightmarish god.[2a]
The twisted runic cartouches that adorn their fire-temples do however speak of the abandonment of the Dwarfs of Zorn Uzkul by their Ancestor Gods during the Great Catastrophe, their finding of salvation and succour with their new god, and the thirst of Hashut for sacrifice and subjugation in return for his divine patronage. Through the Chaos Dwarfs' bloody devotion, he would ward them from mutation and suffering.[2a]
Over the centuries, in return for the sacrifice of flesh and blood, homage and devotion, Hashut has gifted the Chaos Dwarfs with malign secrets and powerful sorcery that merged with their innate mastery of industry and forgecraft to create many Daemon-fused machineries and monstrous engines of war, dominion over the fires of the earth and arcane and malevolent lore that has brutalised their sanity and souls. These masters of sorcery and technology are known as the "Daemonsmiths," who also serve as the priesthood of their vile god, and the greatest of their number are the sorcerer-prophets of Hashut, the Father of Darkness' high priests.[2a]
Yet those who accept the gifts of the Father of Darkness pay a terrible price. The Daemonsmiths are strange and tortured beings, greatly skilled at the blending of magic into their ingenious engineering, but cursed. Dwarfs were never meant to wield the Winds of Magic outside the strict confines and limitations imposed by Rune Magic, and the cost they must pay for such power is known as the "Curse of Stone."[3a]
Each Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer will, inevitably, one day slowly transform into an immobile, stone statue. The change starts with their feet, which turn grey and useless, before progressing throughout the rest of their body. Many of them, such as Astragoth Ironhand, the greatest and oldest of the sorcerer-prophets, use their sorcerous engineering to construct new steam-driven bodies for a time, but they too eventually succumb to the curse. Their immobile forms now line the road leading to the capital of their mighty empire, Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation.[3a]
Yet despite this, the ancient, infernal pact between the Chaos Dwarfs and their dark god has only deepened over time and grown to the point where the tendrils of Hashut's malevolence and the Chaos Dwarfs' own bitter souls have become one.[2a]
Temple of Hashut in Zharr-Naggrund[]
At the pinnacle of the Tower of Zharr-Naggrund, the capital city of the empire of the Chaos Dwarfs in the Dark Lands, is the great Temple of Hashut, the bull-shaped god of the Dawi-Zharr, who they call the "Father of Darkness."[1a]
His temple is guarded by Bull Centaurs, monstrosities that were mutated from Chaos Dwarfs long ago. They have the body of a bull but the torso of a Chaos Dwarf, with long, snaggly tusks and exotically curled beards. Inside the temple its guardians perform bloodthirsty rites, throwing captives into cauldrons of molten metal to the echoing laughter of the assembled Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers, who meet there in a great conclave of evil to make their plans of domination.[1a]
On top of the temple stands the iron statue of Hashut. Its hollow iron belly contains a furnace heated by coals so that the statue glows red hot and anyone who touches its surface suffers searing wounds. The god is the embodiment of the Chaos Dwarf city, its deity and its master, whose power flows through the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers, and for whom thousands of slaves are sacrificed by fire and furnace.[1a]
Lore of Hashut[]
The Lore of Hashut is the unique lore of Divine Magic taught by Hashut only to his Daemonsmiths among the Chaos Dwarfs. It is a potent magical lore which expresses Hashut's command over the power of fire, tyranny and technology. The flame of the Father of Darkness kindles best in living flesh, and hungers to destroy.[2b][4a]
Notable Spells[]
A[]
- Ash Cloud - The sorcerer summons up a cloud of hot volcanic ash which appears under any unit.[5e]
- Ash Storm - Choking, scolding, blinding, superheated ash streams across the battlefield whenever this nasty little spell is cast by a Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer, scalding and blinding anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.[2b][4a]
B[]
- Breath of Hatred - The sorcerer's malice infects his chosen allies like an insidious malady, spurring them on to ever-greater depths of cruelty and savagery.[2b]
- Burning Wrath - The Daemonsmith calls forth the fires of the deep earth to send a torrent of white hot molten lava to immolate the foe.[4a]
C[]
- Curse of Hashut - Channelling the malediction that inflicts his own twisted body, slowly transforming it into stone, the Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer turns the dark curse of Hashut on others, causing their bones to petrify and their flesh to grow brittle and crumble to dust.[2b][4a]
D[]
- Dark Subjugation - The Father of Darkness is the god of fire, greed and tyranny, whose malignant force utterly crushes the will of his adepts' enemies, eroding their will to fight and their ability to defend themselves from the assaults of Hashut's Dawi-Zharr worshippers.[2b][4a]
- Doomroar - The sorcerer's eyes blaze with power and their head slowly begins to transform, taking on the aspect of the mighty Bull-God Hashut. Massive, twisted horns spout from their temples and large, flared nostrils belch forth smoke and fire. The transformed sorcerer lifts their bull-head and bellows forth a deafening roar across the battlefield. Friends hearing it are filled with courage, while enemies suffer a feeling of doom and dread.[5c]
E[]
- Eruption - The sorcerer chants words of power and smashes their staff on the ground. There is a low rumbling, then the ground erupts, spewing forth molten lava and clouds of hot ash.[5e]
F[]
- Fist of Fire - The sorcerer's hands are enwrapped with glowing bands of magical fire that snake out and envelope hand-to-hand-combat opponents.[5d]
- Flames of Azgorh - Fire leaps from the sorcerer's eyes and mouth as they call upon the most terrible incantations of fire and destruction, the ground cracking open and boiling magma exploding forth in a devastating eruption beneath the very feet of the Daemonsmith's foes at their word.[5c][2b][4a]
- Flaming Hide - The sorcerer may cast this spell upon themself or a single, nearby person. The skin of the afflicted begins to glow red hot and flickers with sparks, limiting the effectiveness of wounding the afflicted.[5e]
H[]
- Hell Hammer - The sorcerer manifests the power of Hashut as a thunderous ram of roiling energy in the shape of an immense, burning, black warhammer or a monstrous bull's head, which they can unleash across the battlefield with crushing force. Needless to say, anyone in its path is going to be flattened and reduced to ash.[2b][4a]
L[]
- Lava Storm - With a sweep of the sorcerer's arm the air fills with balls of molten lava.[5d]
K[]
- Killing Fire - Practicioners of the Lore of Hashut are always able to unleash a nimbus of flame around themselves at will that can burn any nearby foes to ash.[4a]
M[]
- Magma Pool - The sorcerer begins to melt into molten lava which flows away into the ground. The sorcerer reappears in another part of the battlefield, slowly seeping through the ground, then gradually re-forming and solidifying.[5e]
S[]
- Shadows of Hashut - The air around the sorcerer grows cold and a shadowy form begins to coalesce next to them. It forms into a visage of Hashut, the mighty Chaos God of the Chaos Dwarfs. With a deafening roar, the shadow bull charges forward, smashing everything out of its way.Template:Fn51c
- Sorcerer's Curse - The sorcerer motions towards an enemy and instils them with the curse that afflicts all Chaos Dwarf sorcerers. The victim slowly begins to turn to stone from the feet upwards.[5d]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Chaos Dwarfs (4th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 5
- 2: Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos (8th Edition)
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Old World Bestiary (RPG)
- 3a: pp. 18-19
- 4: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 4a: Lore of Hashut Description
- 5: White Dwarf Presents Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs