The Mark of Slaanesh
Issyk Kul is a Northman Chaos Sorcerer of Shornaal, an aspect of Slaanesh, the Chaos God of pleasure and pain, who is at least three hundred years old. Kul serves as a well-known torturer within the Dark Elf city of Naggarond under the auspices of the Witch King Malekith himself.[1a]
Though his origins remain largely unknown, Issyk Kul may hail from the Kul tribe of the Kurgan, just like his namesake Asavar Kul, the twelfth Everchosen of Chaos. On the other hand, he is blonde-haired, a quality more often associated with the Norscans, where the Kurgan are almost uniformly raven-haired. Additionally Shornaal is a name for Slaanesh, more common among the Norscans than the Kurgan.
Issyk sees the Elves as far superior subjects for his tortures than the poor specimens of the Men of the Northern Wastes. To those used to a life of misery and hardship like the Northmen, torture means little, but to the effete souls raised in a land of plenty, who have never known the brutality of life beyond their pampered existence, it is a nightmare that enhances Kul's pleasures tenfold.
For all his wickedness, Issyk Kul believes no warrior should die without a blade in their hand. In this regard, it is the only thing that both he and the worshippers of Khorne agree on.[2a]
In the Frostback Mountains, Issyk Kul slew a mighty beast within its Dragon Caves, gaining the favour of Shornaal as he dragged its monstrous skull down onto a spike of solid ice.[2b]
Appearance[]
Though he has forsaken all bonds with his own species, the Human appears youthful, broad and muscular, made iron-hard by his time in the Old World and a life of war and excess. Leather coils hold a patchwork of contoured plates tightly against his tanned flesh, armour glistening and undulating like raw pink meat and his skin gleaming with scented oils.[1a]
Lustrous golden hair tops a libertine, full-featured face handsome to the point of beauty, only to end with cruel wide eyes that know only wicked indulgence and the obsession of a wanton fetishist. Issyk Kul stands almost a foot taller than Kouran Darkhand, the captain of Malekith's elite Black Guard, and possesses sharpened teeth.[1a][1c]
Wargear[]
Issyk Kul wields a glorious and elaborate sword of sweeping curves and cruel spikes, whose quillions of bone prickle at the hand whilst a razor worked into the handle scores the palm, even as Kul spins the blade into a rippling sheath across his back.[1a]
Kul owns a towering mutant steed of red flesh and heaving flanks that glistens with blood and exposed musculature. A saddle of literal silver has been sewn onto its back, and the creature's sapphire eyes blaze with ecstasy when its bodily viscera is exposed to saltwater.[1b]
Trivia[]
Issyk Kul's name is a reference to Issyk-Kul, a lake in Kyrgyzstan.