A Skin Wolf[1b]
Skin Wolves are Werecreatures of Chaos that transform under the right circumstances into savage lycanthropes. Many are Norscans who serve with the armies of their Chaos Marauders.
Role[]
Many are the foul Chaos Cults and many are the dark horrors of twisted flesh and nightmares made real that the Ruinous Powers have visited upon the mortal world. Few, though, are as strange as the Skin Wolves of legend. In the far north, among those who dwell in the shadow of Chaos, be they Norscan, Kurgan or Hung, as well as the shunned corners of the world where degenerates root and fester such as the Bone Hills of Estalia or the dire fens south of the Badlands, myths and bloody tales speak of the Skin Wolves. Witch-cursed or Chaos-tainted, these men and women, half-feral and subject to savage appetites, carry within them a taint in the blood, a mutation that shows not readily as stigmata on their flesh, but slumbers within, a beast waiting to be unleashed by blood and unspeakable ritual.[1a]
A Skin Wolf as rendered for Total War: Warhammer.
When this horror is released, no mere transformation of man into beast is effected. Instead the humanoid wolf-thing, lean and half-insane with insatiable hunger, rips its way fully-formed from the body of the man, which is left little more than shredded flaps of skin and chunks of bloody gristle by the freeing monster. It is the clinging shrouds of skin that give the beasts their common name.[1a]
The frenzied creatures, whose packs are formed by kinship ties of blood and slaughter, care not what they kill in their bloodlust and bear no loyalty to any master, save the Dark Gods themselves. As such, only the most unscrupulous wizard would seek to bind them to their will by Kadon's magic, and some that have done so have had cause to lament their choice of ally.[1a]
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The Doom of Duke Belogue at the hands of a pack of Skin Wolves.[1c]
Only once battle is spent and a Skin Wolf has glutted itself on the raw and dripping gore of its enemies will the terrible transformation be reversed and the bubbling and overworked flesh of the Skin Wolf collapse. Then, like a newborn, the Human within must tear its way out of the monster it once was. All Skin Wolves have the ability to regenerate their horrid forms and they may carry the particular favour of one of the major Chaos Gods.[1a]
Notable Skin Wolves[]
- Maws of Savagery - Armoured carapaces brindled with bloody gristle cover these truly voracious killers of frightening appearance.[2]
Miniatures[]
Werekin[]
Concept art for a Werekin from Total War: Warhammer.
Werekin are former Norscan champions afflicted by feral mutations, whom the Chaos Gods deem not yet worthy to join them as immortals. Although feared by the local tribes where they dwell, they are not hated and indeed, they are respected. For the Northmen believe that even those cast down have been chosen, and it is better to be chosen than to live your whole life beyond the sight of the gods.[3]
Werekin are much larger and more distorted in body than the lesser Skin Wolves, living in caves deep within the frozen wastes. In times when they are not being brought to war by the raiding tribes, they feed on offerings from the locals, or otherwise devour unknowing passersby who happen to carelessly dwell too near to their dens.[3]
Videos[]
Sources[]
- 1: Monstrous Arcanum (8th Edition)
- 2: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)
- 3: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)
Gallery[]
