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Berserk

2021-10-24T17:30:30Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A976:5AB4:1E3F:36F8: /* Grievances */

{{Grimdark}}
{{Awesome}}
[[Image:Guts haet fatso.png|300px|thumb|right|[[awesome|''"That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron."'']]]]

{{Topquote|Things you have now, things you've lost. People who're near by, people who've gone far away. No matter what you choose, truth is, both regret and reluctance are going to follow you around. You just have to make sure you don't make excuses to yourself down the road.| Kentaro Miura, Berserk, Vol. 38}}

'''Berserk''' is (probably) the most [[Grimdark]] of all [[manga]], written and illustrated by Miura Kentaro. It has seen two [[anime]] adaptations of the same name. (Three if you count the absolute shitshow which was the 2017 edition, earning Berserk the title of best manga but worst anime)

The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Guts, who does battle against the forces of darkness with a really, REALLY big sword. In fact, it's probably the only anime/manga in existence where the other characters actually notice that someone's sword is unrealistically large, often pointing out "Fuck me, that's a big swoOH GOD IT CUT ME IN HALF BLARGH". It is, in fact, so large that it cannot actually be used while mounted because swinging it makes the horse fall over. Guts himself can only use it by virtue of training with man-sized swords since he was a small child and scaling upwards as he grew, in combination with his titanic (and ''possibly'' supernatural) strength.

Chronologically, the story's beginnings are simple gritty medieval violence, following the exploits of a band of mercenaries as they make a name for themselves in the world and acquire power and glory. It swiftly descends into Oh-God-What-the-Fuck-Horror when [[Chaos|Eldritch Abominations]] [[Warp|from Hell]] and their monstrous "apostles" get in on the action, and via a roundabout series of events Guts ends up hunting down his old companion now ascended to godhood, determined to get revenge for his betrayal.

Just to add to the grimdarkness he has a waifu that got raped by his best friend who'd turned into a demon. His waifu then had a miscarriage from all the trauma and his kid's fetus comes back to haunt him every day. Later in the series his kid comes back looking about the age of 3-8 years old and saves him and his friends by using terrifyingly effective abilities on par with [[lofn]]. Then said kid disappears again leaving a puzzled Guts and a slightly distressed but still insane waifu.

The series has a massive following both in Japan and in the west and has been running for almost two decades. The author, Miura, is well known for taking extended breaks from production, and given his advancing age and his recent statement that he considers the series about two-thirds complete, has led to fears by many that he will kick the bucket long before he actually finishes the series. A fear, that, as of May 6th, 2021, has come to pass. Miura passed away due to acute aortic dissection, leaving his work unfinished.

According to some fa/tg/uys Guts is one of the lost [[Primarchs]]. Some actually speculate that Guts is Angron's son. Or even [[Angron]] himself back in the day or some shit.

/tg/ greatly enjoys it because it's essentially a fucked-up mix of [[Warhammer Fantasy]], [[WARMACHINE]], [[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D 3.5]] and [[Exalted]]. Furthermore, Guts does display some vestige of humanity, despite all the traumatizing shit that's happened to him he still displays empathy for other people. Where thugs, corrupt guards, and thieves all get chopped to bits in seconds, Guts at least attempts to avoid killing innocents. Insofar as it wont hurt him. For the most part he is an amoral
badass/cuntbag, yet there's still a bit of a caring dude in there. Somewhere.

==CHARACTERS==

===Guts===

Our favorite protagonist. Fights with a FUCKHUGE sword, eat your heart out Cloud (Sephiroth's is still <s>Bigger</s> Longer?). He is as badass as [[Eliphas]] and as manly as [[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro]]. Has an impossibly depressing past that began before his birth;
* Guts' past: Guts was born [[Grimdark|from the corpse of his lynched mother under a hanging tree, put there by bandits who decided to string up the pregnant woman after destroying her hometown. Guts himself only survived the fall because heavy rain had made the ground soft. He was soon found by a mercenary band led by Gambino, and was presumed dead until he cried. Gambino's girlfriend Shisu raised Guts, only to die of a plague before Guts' eyes when he was three. From there Gambino made him fight as a child soldier, with Guts making his first kill when he was nine... and getting raped by one of Gambino's men that same night. Gambino started abusing Guts even more as time went on, culminating in Gambino admitting that he'd always hated Guts, blamed Guts for everything bad in his life and that the rape occurred because he'd sold Guts as a sex slave. This made Guts snap and kill his asshole of an adopted father... only to be chased out of the group by Gambino's vengeful men]]. All while Guts was a child.
Wow... that's dark, even for us. Moving on, when Guts first encounters Griffith, he loses to him in a sword battle ((and his fuckhuge sword manages to lose to a ''rapier''. What?) Happens Because Griffith is the first enemy to use actual tactics beyond "throw yourself against the FUCKHUGE sword-wielding sociopath and hope you win" also, it was a SABER) and then goes on to fight with Griffith's band of mercenaries. Things happen, he gets the hots for Casca, then all his life went to shit with the Eclipse, [[Grimdark|where his waifu got raped by his former best friend while he was forced to watch]] and lost his left forearm and right eye. Then he gets new companions and things become a bit less grimdark.

===Griffith===

[[Fulgrim|Token pretty boy]]. Very, very gay for Guts. Still a sword-fighting badass and a [[Creed]]-level general. Leads the Band of the Hawk, a mercenary group. His goal is ambition but he manages to fuck it up (literally) by boning his king's daughter because Guts left him. The king (who also wants to fuck his daughter) goes to torture him horrifically and he is broken. After that he goes to sacrifice the whole Band of the Hawk (except some kid, and Guts/Casca who manage to survive) to the local equivalent of the [[Chaos Gods]] and [[Daemon Prince|he becomes a god]]. By raping Casca. While making Guts watch. And it is shown in detail, YAY. Then he goes all mary-sue by going to lead Midland, still under the appearance of Griffith and the local inhabitants fail to get anything. He then transforms the world into a [[Daemon world]] save for the FUCKHUGE city of bling he built himself, in which all of humanity (those who survived at least) are hidden away from the [[Daemons]] that roam the land; as any good inquisitor would say, this is highly fucking suspicious: could he be gathering victims for another more massive sacrifice? More like he is trying to become the God Emperor of mankind as everyone there is worshiping him as their god. Also, the guy who [[Meme|did nothing wrong]].

===Casca===

Chocolate-skinned short-haired tomboy warrior. What's not to love?

Guts's love interest and the greatest rape-bait in all the manga. Seriously, try to count how many times the girl got rape threats... (Hint: About as many as a woman playing on a public Call of Duty server) Still, a pretty badass fighter before the Eclipse and Griffith's second in command. Pretty tsundere for Guts. Then the Eclipse (and rape) happens, and she becomes insane. After the Eclipse, she becomes Guts's protégé, as he really wants to fu- for her to love him again and Guts seeks a cure for her. UPDATE : He's done it. It only took more than an actual decade, no big deal. Unfortunately she has PTSD from hell (literally!) and the very sight of Guts triggers screaming flashbacks in her... never a fucking joy in Guts's life.

===Zodd===

A Khornate [[Bloodthirster]], except oldschool and honorable. He sought to become an [[Daemon|Apostle]] because he wanted to continue to fight and kill. [[Ork|Still murders lots of people but doesn't have any fun unless they can fight back]]. He seems to like Guts as an enemy, and even Guts tolerates him more than the other apostles (even though they're trying to kill each other). Also is tsundere for the Skull Knight because they have fought for centuries. Equal of Guts in combat and generally pretty damn bad-ass. Doesn't even need weapons in Bloodthirster-mode, in fact both times he's used against Guts was because the fights broke his sword. Has only outright lost to the Skull Knight and Griffith.

===The Skull Knight===

A bad-ass [[Awesome|undead knight with a skeleton's head]]. He is actually a good guy, despite being just as evil looking as the monsters he fights, as he saved Guts and Casca from the Eclipse. Zodd's rival since a few hundred years. Has a pretty impressive sword, two of them in fact, though he is more sensible than Guts as his is not FUCKHUGE and he carries a shield and it is ''heavily'' implied throughout the manga that he is King Gaiseric. (Even though a longsword isn't the best weapon on horseback, who cares, he looks awesome anyway.) He is also the undead embodiment of Deus ex Machina, seeing how many times he shows up to save a character and then promptly disappear. Something which Griffith exploited to cause the world to become a shitfest, using the sword he forged from Behelits when he tried to cut him into pieces.

===Slan===

One of the God Hand, aka the local [[Chaos Gods]]. Not to be associated with the [[Slann|fat frog men from Warhammer Fantasy]]. A sick fuck who thrives on rape, [[Slaanesh|doesn't her name remind you of something anyways?]]

==/TG/'s RATING==
FIGHTING - 10: Actual varied fighting styles and the main character waving a fuckhuge sword around. HEMA if you're familiar with it does appear in one short arch. Though given Guts wielding a sword that weighs likely more than a ton this one small section of the arch is all you get concerning historically grounded medieval combat. Then you've got the monster fights.

GURO - 9001: As one youtuber put it, "GORE!!! GORE!!! BLOOD, TITS GORE!!! GIANT ASS SWORD!!! YOU SEE THAT DEMON? WELL NO YOU DON'T BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING DEAD!!! AGH BLOOD GORE!!! AAAAUUUGHHH!!!" To be more specific you get to see people and creatures get dismembered and mutilated in all kind of fun ways.

[[Gay]]ness - 9001: As is mandatory for all animu reviewed by /tg/. You've got gay rapists everywhere; Guts was even raped by one as a child, although he killed him later (charming). And then there's Griffith, who, while he isn't gay himself, appears so effeminate it's impossible not to think this. Also he fucks a rich old guy to fund his mercenary band, not to mention the movies have him thinking of Guts while he fucks a hot woman. So he's most likely bisexual.

Moraldickotry - 0.00001: Unbelievably Grimdark, and miraculously is not [[Edgy]]. Guts is shown almost without any form of moral compass, and it is glorious. Oh, a bunch of innocent little children got turned into monsters through no fault of their own? Don't care, kill 'em all and use their bodily fluids to make myself fireproof. An innocent man being beheaded to get me to come out of hiding? Watch and laugh while he dies. Wound an apostle, fill him full of crossbow bolts... slowly, and then drop a burning building on him and laugh while he burns to death? You bet! However, that's all only on the surface. Guts only acts like an asshole because the last people he cared about all got horribly killed, and most of those things are done out of pure pragmatism rather than maliciousness, since he doesn't murder people with no reason, the fairy children themselves bordered on eldritch abominations. Notably, at one point, after a girl loses her Apostle father thanks to him, he mocks her then gives her a dagger, telling her to one day come and kill him... but when he's walking away, he's shown crying, to the shock of Puck and readers. Later he gets some new friends and lightens up to place the morality more at a 5 or 8.

Lulz - 10: So many innocents die in this series, in truly hilarious manners, from completely unneeded torture by the [[Inquisition]] to mass-murder-orgy-fuckfest-massacres done by chaos-worshipping pagans. So do many villains. So do many random background people, as well as inanimate objects and plants. Even main characters aren't safe. This only begs the question: how many people still live in Midland?

[[Rape]] - 9999: Oh God, OH GOD with the rape! If there's one thing that Miura has drilled in our heads for damn sure, it's that nobody is safe from rape in this series. In fact, rape is so prevalent that you can even consider it a theme. Hell, Guts' waifu is such rape bait that three out of five guys are going to try to rape her. Most monsters will try to rape you, most people will try to rape you. In general, most things will try to rape most other things. Even Rape Horse? ''Especially'' Rape Horse (lovely).

Sickfuckery - 9001: The kingdom has a mercenary band of demonic men who march with impaled nude women as banners. You read that right. Also, remember the [[Daemonculaba]]? Guess what, someone in the Berserk Verse had a similar idea. Take a pregnant woman, dunk her inside the womb of a giant womb-demon, cue demon baby clawing its way out of her stomach so it can quickly grow into a shock trooper for the army. Repeat with entire city population.

[[category:weeaboo]]

== Grievances ==
[[File:Haters_gonna_hate_berserk.jpeg‎|200px|thumb|left|Haters gonna hate]]
The author, having realized it's too boring to continue the story with only Guts, his tinkle fairy and his mentally ill waifu, decided to "soften" up the manga a little bit by introducing a loli witch name Schierke and another tinkle fairy from Peter Pan. This causes rage among the fanbase, since they believe Berserk is no longer about [[Awesome|a manly, badass mercenary with his vengeance against his former comrade]], but instead adding side stories about the loli and the shota, even making Schierke naked in front of Guts for some fan service. But since we have seen mutated children rape each other to death with wasp stingers  and countless instances of rape and Casca tentacle porn, we can say the author is also a rule 34 fanboy. Besides, it's not like Guts lost his manliness anyway, since he's still the only one who gets shit done most of the time. And it's not like Schierke isn't a help, given she can stop Guts from losing his mind when using the Berserk armor.

The manga is shifting its tone from low fantasy grim dark to high fantasy Nobledark over time. This is made obvious by the tone shift after Puck reintroduction, Peekaf shit, Tower of Doom and culminating in him acquiring the broken-as-shit Chaos-tainted Power Armor. He slowly opens his heart to his new comrades, possibly ending the story in DBZesque 6-volume fighting scene. Basically Miura is moving up from Riddle of Steel, to oWoD, DnD 3.5 and finally finished in Exalted (presumably so Guts can stand a chance in the penultimate fight against the Godhand). Please remember, of course, that in Berserk, just because things are Nobledark doesn't mean things still aren't screwed for everyone, as now the world is populated by magical monsters like giants who will destroy/rape everything in their path. Mainly humans. (Anyway, remember what happened when we got attached to guts's friends, only to see them being horribly teared apart. Never get attach on berserk, is the first rule.)

It should be noted that Miura is a long time fan of shoujo (manga and anime aimed for girls) and his writing and art often uses the shoujo style so this really isn't a surprise to anyone.

Of course, none of these other grievances even compare with the biggest one: The long hiatuses or otherwise long periods of time between chapters. As it turns out, this is because Miura was training an entire studio of artists to take over production for him and compiling the series end notes, as Miura had a rare heart condition so he was making contingency plans in case he didn't live to finish his work.

==The death of Miura==
[[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-|On the 6th of May 2021 (announced on the 20th of May), Miura tragically passed away.]] [[Not as planned|Berserk release schedule is going to be slightly slower now.]]

Miura died of acute aortic dissection, meaning the inner layer of his most important bloodvessel had sheered off, allowing blood to leak inbetween the walls until the artery ruptured. The condition itself is most prevelant in those 60 and older, Miura himself being only 54.

Berserk

2021-10-24T17:29:55Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A976:5AB4:1E3F:36F8: /* Grievances */

{{Grimdark}}
{{Awesome}}
[[Image:Guts haet fatso.png|300px|thumb|right|[[awesome|''"That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron."'']]]]

{{Topquote|Things you have now, things you've lost. People who're near by, people who've gone far away. No matter what you choose, truth is, both regret and reluctance are going to follow you around. You just have to make sure you don't make excuses to yourself down the road.| Kentaro Miura, Berserk, Vol. 38}}

'''Berserk''' is (probably) the most [[Grimdark]] of all [[manga]], written and illustrated by Miura Kentaro. It has seen two [[anime]] adaptations of the same name. (Three if you count the absolute shitshow which was the 2017 edition, earning Berserk the title of best manga but worst anime)

The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Guts, who does battle against the forces of darkness with a really, REALLY big sword. In fact, it's probably the only anime/manga in existence where the other characters actually notice that someone's sword is unrealistically large, often pointing out "Fuck me, that's a big swoOH GOD IT CUT ME IN HALF BLARGH". It is, in fact, so large that it cannot actually be used while mounted because swinging it makes the horse fall over. Guts himself can only use it by virtue of training with man-sized swords since he was a small child and scaling upwards as he grew, in combination with his titanic (and ''possibly'' supernatural) strength.

Chronologically, the story's beginnings are simple gritty medieval violence, following the exploits of a band of mercenaries as they make a name for themselves in the world and acquire power and glory. It swiftly descends into Oh-God-What-the-Fuck-Horror when [[Chaos|Eldritch Abominations]] [[Warp|from Hell]] and their monstrous "apostles" get in on the action, and via a roundabout series of events Guts ends up hunting down his old companion now ascended to godhood, determined to get revenge for his betrayal.

Just to add to the grimdarkness he has a waifu that got raped by his best friend who'd turned into a demon. His waifu then had a miscarriage from all the trauma and his kid's fetus comes back to haunt him every day. Later in the series his kid comes back looking about the age of 3-8 years old and saves him and his friends by using terrifyingly effective abilities on par with [[lofn]]. Then said kid disappears again leaving a puzzled Guts and a slightly distressed but still insane waifu.

The series has a massive following both in Japan and in the west and has been running for almost two decades. The author, Miura, is well known for taking extended breaks from production, and given his advancing age and his recent statement that he considers the series about two-thirds complete, has led to fears by many that he will kick the bucket long before he actually finishes the series. A fear, that, as of May 6th, 2021, has come to pass. Miura passed away due to acute aortic dissection, leaving his work unfinished.

According to some fa/tg/uys Guts is one of the lost [[Primarchs]]. Some actually speculate that Guts is Angron's son. Or even [[Angron]] himself back in the day or some shit.

/tg/ greatly enjoys it because it's essentially a fucked-up mix of [[Warhammer Fantasy]], [[WARMACHINE]], [[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D 3.5]] and [[Exalted]]. Furthermore, Guts does display some vestige of humanity, despite all the traumatizing shit that's happened to him he still displays empathy for other people. Where thugs, corrupt guards, and thieves all get chopped to bits in seconds, Guts at least attempts to avoid killing innocents. Insofar as it wont hurt him. For the most part he is an amoral
badass/cuntbag, yet there's still a bit of a caring dude in there. Somewhere.

==CHARACTERS==

===Guts===

Our favorite protagonist. Fights with a FUCKHUGE sword, eat your heart out Cloud (Sephiroth's is still <s>Bigger</s> Longer?). He is as badass as [[Eliphas]] and as manly as [[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro]]. Has an impossibly depressing past that began before his birth;
* Guts' past: Guts was born [[Grimdark|from the corpse of his lynched mother under a hanging tree, put there by bandits who decided to string up the pregnant woman after destroying her hometown. Guts himself only survived the fall because heavy rain had made the ground soft. He was soon found by a mercenary band led by Gambino, and was presumed dead until he cried. Gambino's girlfriend Shisu raised Guts, only to die of a plague before Guts' eyes when he was three. From there Gambino made him fight as a child soldier, with Guts making his first kill when he was nine... and getting raped by one of Gambino's men that same night. Gambino started abusing Guts even more as time went on, culminating in Gambino admitting that he'd always hated Guts, blamed Guts for everything bad in his life and that the rape occurred because he'd sold Guts as a sex slave. This made Guts snap and kill his asshole of an adopted father... only to be chased out of the group by Gambino's vengeful men]]. All while Guts was a child.
Wow... that's dark, even for us. Moving on, when Guts first encounters Griffith, he loses to him in a sword battle ((and his fuckhuge sword manages to lose to a ''rapier''. What?) Happens Because Griffith is the first enemy to use actual tactics beyond "throw yourself against the FUCKHUGE sword-wielding sociopath and hope you win" also, it was a SABER) and then goes on to fight with Griffith's band of mercenaries. Things happen, he gets the hots for Casca, then all his life went to shit with the Eclipse, [[Grimdark|where his waifu got raped by his former best friend while he was forced to watch]] and lost his left forearm and right eye. Then he gets new companions and things become a bit less grimdark.

===Griffith===

[[Fulgrim|Token pretty boy]]. Very, very gay for Guts. Still a sword-fighting badass and a [[Creed]]-level general. Leads the Band of the Hawk, a mercenary group. His goal is ambition but he manages to fuck it up (literally) by boning his king's daughter because Guts left him. The king (who also wants to fuck his daughter) goes to torture him horrifically and he is broken. After that he goes to sacrifice the whole Band of the Hawk (except some kid, and Guts/Casca who manage to survive) to the local equivalent of the [[Chaos Gods]] and [[Daemon Prince|he becomes a god]]. By raping Casca. While making Guts watch. And it is shown in detail, YAY. Then he goes all mary-sue by going to lead Midland, still under the appearance of Griffith and the local inhabitants fail to get anything. He then transforms the world into a [[Daemon world]] save for the FUCKHUGE city of bling he built himself, in which all of humanity (those who survived at least) are hidden away from the [[Daemons]] that roam the land; as any good inquisitor would say, this is highly fucking suspicious: could he be gathering victims for another more massive sacrifice? More like he is trying to become the God Emperor of mankind as everyone there is worshiping him as their god. Also, the guy who [[Meme|did nothing wrong]].

===Casca===

Chocolate-skinned short-haired tomboy warrior. What's not to love?

Guts's love interest and the greatest rape-bait in all the manga. Seriously, try to count how many times the girl got rape threats... (Hint: About as many as a woman playing on a public Call of Duty server) Still, a pretty badass fighter before the Eclipse and Griffith's second in command. Pretty tsundere for Guts. Then the Eclipse (and rape) happens, and she becomes insane. After the Eclipse, she becomes Guts's protégé, as he really wants to fu- for her to love him again and Guts seeks a cure for her. UPDATE : He's done it. It only took more than an actual decade, no big deal. Unfortunately she has PTSD from hell (literally!) and the very sight of Guts triggers screaming flashbacks in her... never a fucking joy in Guts's life.

===Zodd===

A Khornate [[Bloodthirster]], except oldschool and honorable. He sought to become an [[Daemon|Apostle]] because he wanted to continue to fight and kill. [[Ork|Still murders lots of people but doesn't have any fun unless they can fight back]]. He seems to like Guts as an enemy, and even Guts tolerates him more than the other apostles (even though they're trying to kill each other). Also is tsundere for the Skull Knight because they have fought for centuries. Equal of Guts in combat and generally pretty damn bad-ass. Doesn't even need weapons in Bloodthirster-mode, in fact both times he's used against Guts was because the fights broke his sword. Has only outright lost to the Skull Knight and Griffith.

===The Skull Knight===

A bad-ass [[Awesome|undead knight with a skeleton's head]]. He is actually a good guy, despite being just as evil looking as the monsters he fights, as he saved Guts and Casca from the Eclipse. Zodd's rival since a few hundred years. Has a pretty impressive sword, two of them in fact, though he is more sensible than Guts as his is not FUCKHUGE and he carries a shield and it is ''heavily'' implied throughout the manga that he is King Gaiseric. (Even though a longsword isn't the best weapon on horseback, who cares, he looks awesome anyway.) He is also the undead embodiment of Deus ex Machina, seeing how many times he shows up to save a character and then promptly disappear. Something which Griffith exploited to cause the world to become a shitfest, using the sword he forged from Behelits when he tried to cut him into pieces.

===Slan===

One of the God Hand, aka the local [[Chaos Gods]]. Not to be associated with the [[Slann|fat frog men from Warhammer Fantasy]]. A sick fuck who thrives on rape, [[Slaanesh|doesn't her name remind you of something anyways?]]

==/TG/'s RATING==
FIGHTING - 10: Actual varied fighting styles and the main character waving a fuckhuge sword around. HEMA if you're familiar with it does appear in one short arch. Though given Guts wielding a sword that weighs likely more than a ton this one small section of the arch is all you get concerning historically grounded medieval combat. Then you've got the monster fights.

GURO - 9001: As one youtuber put it, "GORE!!! GORE!!! BLOOD, TITS GORE!!! GIANT ASS SWORD!!! YOU SEE THAT DEMON? WELL NO YOU DON'T BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING DEAD!!! AGH BLOOD GORE!!! AAAAUUUGHHH!!!" To be more specific you get to see people and creatures get dismembered and mutilated in all kind of fun ways.

[[Gay]]ness - 9001: As is mandatory for all animu reviewed by /tg/. You've got gay rapists everywhere; Guts was even raped by one as a child, although he killed him later (charming). And then there's Griffith, who, while he isn't gay himself, appears so effeminate it's impossible not to think this. Also he fucks a rich old guy to fund his mercenary band, not to mention the movies have him thinking of Guts while he fucks a hot woman. So he's most likely bisexual.

Moraldickotry - 0.00001: Unbelievably Grimdark, and miraculously is not [[Edgy]]. Guts is shown almost without any form of moral compass, and it is glorious. Oh, a bunch of innocent little children got turned into monsters through no fault of their own? Don't care, kill 'em all and use their bodily fluids to make myself fireproof. An innocent man being beheaded to get me to come out of hiding? Watch and laugh while he dies. Wound an apostle, fill him full of crossbow bolts... slowly, and then drop a burning building on him and laugh while he burns to death? You bet! However, that's all only on the surface. Guts only acts like an asshole because the last people he cared about all got horribly killed, and most of those things are done out of pure pragmatism rather than maliciousness, since he doesn't murder people with no reason, the fairy children themselves bordered on eldritch abominations. Notably, at one point, after a girl loses her Apostle father thanks to him, he mocks her then gives her a dagger, telling her to one day come and kill him... but when he's walking away, he's shown crying, to the shock of Puck and readers. Later he gets some new friends and lightens up to place the morality more at a 5 or 8.

Lulz - 10: So many innocents die in this series, in truly hilarious manners, from completely unneeded torture by the [[Inquisition]] to mass-murder-orgy-fuckfest-massacres done by chaos-worshipping pagans. So do many villains. So do many random background people, as well as inanimate objects and plants. Even main characters aren't safe. This only begs the question: how many people still live in Midland?

[[Rape]] - 9999: Oh God, OH GOD with the rape! If there's one thing that Miura has drilled in our heads for damn sure, it's that nobody is safe from rape in this series. In fact, rape is so prevalent that you can even consider it a theme. Hell, Guts' waifu is such rape bait that three out of five guys are going to try to rape her. Most monsters will try to rape you, most people will try to rape you. In general, most things will try to rape most other things. Even Rape Horse? ''Especially'' Rape Horse (lovely).

Sickfuckery - 9001: The kingdom has a mercenary band of demonic men who march with impaled nude women as banners. You read that right. Also, remember the [[Daemonculaba]]? Guess what, someone in the Berserk Verse had a similar idea. Take a pregnant woman, dunk her inside the womb of a giant womb-demon, cue demon baby clawing its way out of her stomach so it can quickly grow into a shock trooper for the army. Repeat with entire city population.

[[category:weeaboo]]

== Grievances ==
[[File:Haters_gonna_hate_berserk.jpeg‎|200px|thumb|left|Haters gonna hate]]
The author, having realized it's too boring to continue the story with only Guts, his tinkle fairy and his mentally ill waifu, decided to "soften" up the manga a little bit by introducing a loli witch name Schierke and another tinkle fairy from Peter Pan. This causes rage among the fanbase, since they believe Berserk is no longer about [[Awesome|a manly, badass mercenary with his vengeance against his former comrade]], but instead adding side stories about the loli and the shota, even making Schierke naked in front of Guts for some fan service. But since we have seen mutated children rape each other to death with wasp stingers  and countless instances of rape and Casca tentacle porn, we can say the author is also a rule 34 fanboy. Besides, it's not like Guts lost his manliness anyway, since he's still the only one who gets shit done most of the time. And it's not like Schierke isn't a help, given she can stop Guts from losing his mind when using the Berserk armor.

The manga is shifting its tone from low fantasy grim dark to high fantasy Nobledark over time. This is made obvious by the tone shift after Puck reintroduction, Peekaf shit, Tower of Doom and culminating in him acquiring the broken-as-shit Chaos-tainted Power Armor. He slowly opens his heart to his new comrades, possibly ending the story in DBZesque 6-volume fighting scene. Basically Miura is moving up from Riddle of Steel, to oWoD, DnD 3.5 and finally finished in Exalted (presumably so Guts can stand a chance in the penultimate fight against the Godhand). Please remember, of course, that in Berserk, just because things are Nobledark doesn't mean things still aren't screwed for everyone, as now the world is populated by magical monsters like giants who will destroy/rape everything in their path. Mainly humans. (Anyway, remember what happened when we got attached to guts's friends, only to see them being horribly teared apart. Never get attach on berserk, is the first rule.)

It should be noted that Miura is a long time fan of shoujo (manga and anime aimed for girls) and his writing and art often uses the shoujo style so this really isn't a surprise to anyone.

Of course, none of these other grievances even compare with the biggest one: The long hiatuses or otherwise long periods of time between chapters. As it turns out, this is because Miura was training an entire studio of artists to take over production for him and compiling the series end notes, as Miura had a rare and often deadly heart condition so he was making contingency plans in case he didn't live to finish his work.

==The death of Miura==
[[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-|On the 6th of May 2021 (announced on the 20th of May), Miura tragically passed away.]] [[Not as planned|Berserk release schedule is going to be slightly slower now.]]

Miura died of acute aortic dissection, meaning the inner layer of his most important bloodvessel had sheered off, allowing blood to leak inbetween the walls until the artery ruptured. The condition itself is most prevelant in those 60 and older, Miura himself being only 54.

Daughters of Khaine

2021-10-24T16:53:12Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A976:5AB4:1E3F:36F8: /* Broken Realms */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Daughters of Khaine|Logo=Daughters_of_Khaine_battletome_art.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Much bloodier and less NSFW than it appears.}}
{{topquote|She could never take an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The weak and flaccid parity would make her nearly puke. She wants an eye for a tooth, and a life for an eye.|Helen Zahavi - Dirty Weekend}}
{{topquote|Let's show the gutless pigs how the warriors of Pah-Dishah can fight! By Tarim, we'll give the devils scarlet wine to drink this dawn...|Red Sonja}}

The '''Daughters of Khaine''' are a nation of aelves (though closer to a collection of scattered religious communes than a nation) led by Morathi who combine the Khainite religion with shadow magic.

They are an army, with a few exceptions, of [[PROMOTIONS|armed aelven women and monstergirls in bikinis]]. As they worship Khaine, to them the clash of arms is the height of their religion, holy rites practiced and perfected with all the high-level skill and grace of aelf-kind. As blades flash, they shed their visage of cold and distant beauty, how they tend to be when not in battle, their ecstatic faces lighting up with each fresh kill. In contrast to even other aelves, especially the Idoneth Deepkin, many Daughters of Khaine have lived far beyond the average aelf lifespan, which is already longer than that of other races (except the males - see below).

==History==
===Age of Myth===
Being a theocracy founded by [[Morathi]] and given her character, Morathi is behind or involved in every pivotal moment of the Daughters of Khaine in history. After leaving the Great Alliance because [[Nagash]] outed her true monstrous form, Morathi sought to establish her own dwellings in Ulgu. Her son Malerion cruelly rejected her suggestion of splitting the rule of the thirteen Dominions, for he claimed of all Ulgu as his own. Morathi persisted until, as either a joke or a plot to get rid of her, Malerion granted his mother a small parcel of land in the middle of the Umbral Veil. This was the darkest and most impenetrable region in all Ulgu, so dangerous that only Malerion himself had ever returned from those cloying mists with their sanity intact. Morathi went there and exceeded her son's expectations. She bent the shadows into a protective shroud around her new land and led settlers there.

Her only followers were the aelven witch-cults that had maintained their worship of [[Khaine]]. While Morathi knew Khaine was dead, since the blood rituals no longer rejuvenated her, she supported the religion to get people to help her. To ensure their loyalty, Morathi built a temple to Khaine, naming it Hagg Nar, and over time a city grew up around it. Morathi taught them the secrets of navigating the murky currents. Hagg Nar began as a pitiful kingdom, and Morathi brooded over her mean existence.

As she sought power, she soon found a hint of Khaine's power in her dreams while scrying. Though Khaine was dead, she knew the elven gods were cyclial and could be reborn given enough power. Morathi began a secret quest that was long and difficult, but eventually brought her to the literal heart of Khaine himself. The heart was intact and throbbing with resurgent power, but it was guarded by Kharbytr, the godbeast father of Kharibdysses. Morathi suspected Kharbytr would be resistant to sorcery, and was despearte to claim the heart before anyone else could, so she used seduction instead (yes, really), but angered Kharbytr when she tried to grab the heart. The fight between them was an epic clash that lasted thirteen days and ended when Morathi constricted Kharbytr in her coils. The godbeast dealt her a lethal blow before losing consciousness, but Morathi survived by drawing energies from Khaine's heart to sustain herself.

Heading back to Hagg Nar with her prize, Morathi declared herself Khaine's High Oracle, claiming that she spoke for the god of murder and that she was his voice in this world. With that she solidified her hold over the Khainites and reshaped the society into the Daughters of Khaine. The Daughters of Khaine would often be sent out to hunt for fragments of their missing deity on Morathi's orders (unbeknownst to them, these were snipe hunts for the most part).

She continued this way for a time until Malerion arrived. He said that he and the other aelf gods had had, at last, found the lost aelf-souls from the world-that-was, and they needed her shadow magic and knowledge of Slaanesh in their grand plan. For the first and only time, Morathi spoke of the unspeakable horrors inside Slaanesh and how she'd escaped. Using this knowledge and themselves as bait, the four lured Slaanesh into a trap and started extracting elven souls from the deity.

For her role, Morathi was allowed to take souls for herself to shape into elves, who went into swelling the numbers of the Daughters of Khaine. However, some of them had been [[monstergirls|altered by their time with Slaanesh]]. There were those with [[Lamia|serpentine mutations akin to Morathi]], these became the [[Medusa|Melusae]]. Others had bat-like wings and long tails, these became the [[Harpy|Khinerai]]. Around this time Morathi reintroduced the Cauldrons of Blood and created the Mathcoir, the master cauldron, in Hagg Nar. Secretly, she made it as a repository of power only she could access. To start this, Morathi [[Drow|cursed every male born to the Daughters of Khaine to have part of their soul siphoned away and stored in the Mathcoir]].

Unbeknownst to her erstwhile allies, Morathi had added her own deceptive magics to the undertaking, so that the soul division was skewed slightly out of the agreed proportions, with extra spirits siphoned to Hagg Nar. This subterfuge was subtle, but slowly, inevitably, [[Not as Planned|altered the eldritch balance that kept the Dark Prince perfectly imprisoned between Hysh and Ulgu]].

===Age of Chaos===
As Chaos invaded the Mortal Realms, the Daughters of Khaine marched out from Hagg Nar to ambush them, using shadowshifting magics to reach Realmgates to travel anywhere the forces of Order needed them. Although Morathi and her followers weren't liked, beggars could not be choosers and they were one of the few allies the Sigmarites had during this time. To keep the more mutated members of her coven secret, the spellcasters and priestesses of the Khainites used shadow glamors to make them look like ordinary elves (how this worked when the Khinerai were flying is anybody's guess).

The Daughters of Khaine were bold and fearless in battle - willing to cross blades with any enemy, no matter how numerous or monstrous. Despite heroics by Khainite forces at many battles, the forces of Order were on the backfoot, the final retreat happening after Nagash betrayed Sigmar at the Battle of Burning Skies.

As the Chaos invasions set about their task of destroying and enslaving entire civilisations, the Shadowlands of Ulgu suffered the least after Azyr. Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch all devoted the greater portion of their forces to different realms, the minions that were sent into Ulgu boasted none of the most fearful greater daemon commanders and Malerion himself sent Archaon packing with his tail between his legs. This gave the Daughters of Khaine plenty of time to prey on the Chaos forces that made it to their realm; reavers of Khorne, magic-seeking conclaves of Tzeentch or followers of Slaanesh tracking calls from their god that only they could sense. They reaped a large harvest of Chaos minions, leaving mass graves from all the sacrifices (this would come back to haunt them - pun intended - in the Soul Wars, see below).

But Morathi's trickery with the soul extraction came back to bite her. Taking too many souls caused Slaanesh's prison to drift towards Ulgu and weaken it. This enabled Slaanesh's most faithful servants catch the scent of their missing god/dess. More and more Slaaneshi armies penetrated the Shadowlands searching for their lost god. So began what the aelves of Ulgu named the Cathtrar Dhule - the War of Shadows.

For the major battles of the War of Shadows, Morathi led the Daughters of Khaine from the front. She cast down the Keeper of Secrets Glittus and his Legion of Excess, and the whip-handed Krulla Sha'vhr and her Flayerhost. Battle was not her only recourse, however, for against the unbeatable six warhosts of the betentacled Bovaxx the Despoiler, Morathi's coven of Medusae summoned a gaiste-maze - a shadow labyrinth that still covers part of the Umbral Veil, a dark cloud in which those hordes presumably still wander.

Yet the Daughters of Khaine did not win every battle. As larger and more-powerful armies invaded, Morathi called the first of the Caillich Covens - the gathering of forces from all the sects. This was required to defeat Luxcious, a Keeper of Secrets so powerful that many Slaaneshi considered her a replacement for the missing Dark Prince. The daemon was defeated, but not until after the exalted fiend destroyed the Temple of Druchxar.

===Age of Sigmar===
Luxcious may well have continued her scouring search of Ulgu had Sigmar not begun his war to reclaim the Mortal Realms, drawing off many Chaos forces. The Cathtrar Dhule paused, before once more erupting anew in the bitterly fought War of the Shadowpaths.

The Daughters of Khaine win more allies during this time, for despite their brutality in battle (and occasional team-killing among their allies) they're just ''that'' good at kicking Chaos. The Stormcast, Idoneth and Sylvaneth to name a few ally with the Daughters of Khaine.

During this time, some elves start to [[Heresy|worship Morathi alongside Khaine, which causes dissent]] (an uncommon case of a heresy charge in a warhammer setting that fits the actual definition). Ironically, those who disapprove get [[Blam|quickly silenced]] by Morathi or the Medusae as [[Heresy|heretics]] (usually by a knife in the vitals or getting turned into living crystal by a Melusai).

===Soul Wars===
Prior to the Soul Wars there are increasing build-ups of death magic. Whenever there is a large gathering of Scathborn, the spirits of the dead rise up and attack them. Also, remember those mass graves full of sacrificed Chaos worshippers? Now they're fodder for armies of vengeful skeleton warriors and/or ghosts who attacked the Khainites. When Nagash sent vampires and necromancers into Ulgu as a diversion tactic, they were all too happy to exploit these mass graves for armies.

The Daughters of Khaine were also called on by the forces of Order in other realms to help fight off the increasing undead attacks. Morathi herself extolled the Daughters of Khaine to greater zeal, for she remembers the taste of Nagash's pimp hand and is eager to avenge the slight.

===Broken Realms===
The Daughters of Khaine worked with Scourge privateers to get information about the Idoneth Deepkin the same way as their kin in the World-That-Was; lots of torture and mind-invading magic. From this they learn the location of a valued Deepkin artifact, the Ocarian Lantern; made by - and stolen from - Teclis, it acted as a lure for souls. Morathi sent sixty of her best soldiers to get it from its heavily guarded underwater temple; two survived, one as an Idoneth prisoner and the other returned to Morathi with the lantern.

She fused with Khaine's heart and became the goddess Morathi-Khaine. Thus Khaine as he was is gone forever, and Morathi - now Morathi-Khaine - is their goddess instead of just their High Oracle (albeit now split into two bodies, Morathi-Khaine and the Shadow Queen after [[Aenarion|her hubby's soul]] [[Rip and Tear|took exception]] to Morathi's plan while in Slaanesh).

Morathi's first action was to broker an alliance with the [[Idoneth Deepkin]], offering Volturnos the souls of his fellow Cythai elves to sweeten the deal. She then ended her alliance with Sigmar by launching a coup that brought Anvilgard under her rule and renaming it Har Kuron. The Daughters of Khaine/Morathi-Khaine now fight with a newfound zeal as they launched a <s>crusade</s> <s>jihad</s> holy war to expand Morathi's empire. When Sigmar found out, he sent a Stormcast army to re-take Har Kuron, the fighting raging until the Celestant-Prime arrived and offered to parley with Morathi. The two disappear for a night, and when they returned an agreement had been reached. Morathi was allowed to keep the city, and what she promised in return is unknown. Following her ascension, Morathi also began [[1984|slowly re-writing the Daughters' scriptures and records of history, plus remodeling their religious iconography, to put herself at the center of everything]].

Morathi subsequently led her forces in alliance with a group of Scourge Privateers to help lift the siege at Excelcius, which was close to being overrun by [[Gordrakk]] Waaagh. With her Shadowqueen form at the forefront Morathi and her army did well in pushing back the forces of destruction in the city, with her Shadowqueen form having little trouble taking out lowly Orruks. That was until she came face-to-face with [[Kragnos]] himself. The earthquake god had made common quase with Gordrakk and attack her Shadowqueen form head on. Morathi-Khaine managed to track down lord [[Kroak]] who had also arrived to defend the city and proposed that they needed to divert Kragno's from the city before he killed them all, as he was far too powerful for either of them too defeat. Just as Kragnos was preparing to finish Morathi off, they managed to lure Kragnos through a portal and led him away from the city. The destruction army subsequently dispersing after a lengthy battle.

Following the battle, Morathi was put on trail, overseen by the Celestant-Prime himself on Sigmar's behalf. She was a little annoyed Sigmar himself was not present (and the not so subtle implication that it meant dealing with her was beneath his time). Morathi was charged with treason for her coup in Anvilgard. She defended her actions as the as Anvilgard was technically never Sigmar's alone, and that the city prior to her annexation was barely staying alive to begin with and would have fallen eventually, now under her rule it will survive outside Chaos control. When the Celestant-Prime rejected this, Morathi retorted that as a god she wasn't answerable to Sigmar. At this, winged Stormcast and the Celestant-Prime took up their weapons and were about to sentence Morathi to death before Grungni entered the room. He announced his prescence by calling for clemency for Morathi before joining them.

Following this, the tentative alliance between Morathi and Sigmar was maintained, though with much more animosity than before. Morathi maintains Anvilgard for the moment, but cracks are beginning to form in her rule. Many of Anvilgard's original population did not survive the coup, and of the survivors many were Sigmar loyalists, even among their former Scourge Privateer allies. That, combined with the Daughters and their Idoneth allies continuing to purge the surrounding countryside and coastal regions of dissenters, has led an ever growing resentment amongst Humans and Aelves against Morathi's authority. These once disparate groups of Freeguild soldiers, Wanderer Aelves and even Scourge Privateers have formed resistance movements who try to undermine or completely sabotage her rule.

On top of this, her taking the mantle of Khaine has not been universally accepted by her followers. Many devout Daughters of Khaine have started to see her as a usurper trying to claim the mantle of Khaine himself (the rewriting of history might have been a giveaway). Even among her loyalists, some consider taking Anvilgard to be too costly in the long run. And then members of both groups don't approve of her alliance with the Idoneth Deepkin, who many Daughters of Khaine distrust (and the feeling's mutual), and see their soul-tithe as too extreme even for them. The amount of Khainites working against Morathi has been steadily growing. Ironically, her ascending to godhood has actually caused a greater fissure in her control than when she was mortal. And it's possible Sigmar still plans to make her answer for what she did to Anvilgard...

==Religion==
[[File:Morathi,_the_Shadow_Queen_from_DaughtersofKhaine_.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"Charge, Daughters of Khaine! For my...uh, I mean, for Khaine's glory!"]]
Unlike some other factions within Age of Sigmar, but very much like others, the Daughters of Khaine are a theocracy. There are many sects of Daughters of Khaine, each worshiping a different aspect of the aelf god of battle and bloodshed. Although the rites and rituals might differ, all the Khainites follow a strict hierarchy in their organisation. They worship Khaine and Morathi is his High Oracle, the one who discerns his will and their overall leader. Though they know about the other gods of Order, they pay no homage to them. Beneath Morathi are the High Priestesses, which include the Slaughter Queens, Hag Queens and Bloodwrack Medusae. They are the keepers of each shrine’s most sacred artefacts, and commanders of the Sisterhood of Blood. The degree of authority held by each of these figures, along with their specific title, varies between the sects, but a single word from Morathi can alter the influence of any other ranking.

Of all the warriors of the temples, the Scáthborn – the Melusai and Khinerai – are closest to Morathi herself, yet they often remain hidden from those outside the cult. The Medusae are made from Aelves converted by Morathi herself; though this is seen as an immense honor Morathi binds them with the most binding of magical oaths, but none among the Khainites would dare question her in this. This is partially due to their forms resulting from daemonic taint which would cause negative sentiment among their allies and the fact that Morathi uses them as something of a secret police. The most public-facing Khainites are the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter. Their most important shrines are the Cauldrons of Blood, gifts from Khaine himself (at least, what Morathi’s claims each time she gifts one of the great iron cauldrons to the temple of a newly founded Khainite sect). The covenites see it as a sign of their god’s favour that the cauldrons never seem to overflow, no matter how much blood is poured within them following a battle – all assume Khaine himself takes the surplus as an offering.

War covens are the most important organisations to the Daughters of Khaine, their structure laid out by Morathi herself. It is through violence that the Khainites expand their territories, defend their temples and worship their god. Weapons practice and mock duels take up the majority of their daily lives, yet these are not mere military drills, but religious ceremonies, treated with all the gravitas that others might use when reading their most holy of tomes or offering prayers to their god. From their temples in various realms, the Daughters of Khaine scour the Mortal Realms for blood sacrifices. At Morathi's edict, they also search for the shards of their god, scattered across the Realms. They do this for the glory of Khaine and to see him reborn.

[[Just As Planned|But they are nearly all of them deceived]].

Morathi claims to speak for Khaine, and she does wield his unbreakable iron heart, but none know that Morathi’s power is a lie and that Khaine is dead. While their devotions to Khaine could one day lead to his rebirth, Morathi is deliberately preventing that. The reason for this is that she is siphoning the power - either by co-opting it before it reaches the heart or pulling it from Khaine's heart - to reach godhood herself. The prayers that her daughters scream and the ritual offerings they make only serve to enhance her own power, not Khaine’s. Outside Morathi herself, only a handful of the "altered" members of the Daughters of Khaine are aware of this deception, and they, willingly or otherwise, are bound by the most binding of oaths and magic to serve Morathi and keep this secret. Also, the blood surplus poured into the Cauldron's doesn't go to Khaine. It flows back to Hagg Nar through Morathi’s magics, to the Mother of all Cauldrons, the Máthcoir, from which The High Oracle absorbs and repurposes the blood’s energies for her own nefarious gain. Which came to fruition when she used the energies and the Máthcoir in a ritual to merge with Khaine's essence to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine. However, the Máthcoir was broken by the energies of the ritual and Volturnos' actions, and Morathi has secretly been trying to repair it, but has yet to succceed.

==Society==
Their society is brutal, especially given that it's leader is [[Morathi]] and they worship [[Khaine]]. They serve Khaine with fanatical devotion, which is especially problematic considering that Khaine is the god of murder. While the Daughters of Khaine crave bloodshed and murder, they serve alongside the forces of Order – albeit tenuously. Given their tendency towards collateral damage (and rumors of kidnapping innocents and gruesome rituals), they are less respected allies and more tolerated because they're useful. Their views on the other major groups are varied. As builders of cities and civilizations, the Daughters of Khaine are at odds with the forces of Destruction. While it is said that they have an aversion to the Death faction because of a dislike for anything death-related since they nearly went extinct, it's more likely that this due to Morathi's personal grudge against Nagash for striking her and outing her true from to the rest of the pantheon. Despite their distaste for the other two, the one faction they truly hate is Chaos; they could give the Stormcast Eternals a run for their money in hating Chaos, and prosecute their crusades with particular violence against the servants of Slaanesh.

If you're wondering why Morathi is mentioned so often that's deliberate; Morathi keeps as much of a stranglehold on Khainite society as she can. It would be out-of-character for her to do anything less (she kind of a control freak). All Khainites are either warriors that serve in their religious order, or they are leathanam (see below). Temples are found only in some realms; confirmed realms are Ulgu, Azyr and Ghyran. When they are not fighting, the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter usually participate in ritualized gladiator matches or shady pit fights. They also partake of a form of bladed dancing for the entertainment of others. Despite being a theocratic society, the Daughters of Khaine don't proselytize or win converts; the adherents are themselves the result of a breeding program, choosing their partners in line with the aims and desires of their leaders.

The women outnumber the men here, but this is not the paradise [[/d/|some]] think it would be. "Where are the men? The 'Daughters' have to reproduce somehow", well... remember that leathanam class mentioned earlier? Apart from the Doomfire Warlocks, this class is made up exclusively of '''all''' the males in this faction; disregard menials, worker drones who do the non-fighting stuff that keeps society going in a literal gender-based [[Slavery|slavery]] system (we know what you're thinking. Something, something, feminist fantasy... and we know how [[SJW|certain groups]] would react if the genders were swapped).

Morathi deliberately made only a few male aelves, and then only from the weakest and most broken of souls retrieved from Slaanesh. Even male aelves a Daughter of Khaine gives birth to are literally cursed with weakness as Morathi siphons part of their souls to power the Cauldrons of Blood... and yes, Morathi instituted the rule that the males are slaves. Surprisingly, the women are usually not misandrists or female supremacists in general when dealing with outsiders or allies; as a society, the Daughters of Khaine respect strength above all else and a lot of the mistreatment of their own males is based on their innate weakness. But on the other hand, their males are weak because Morathi deliberately handicapped and enslaved them, so female supremacy and/or misandry could still be at work at least as far as Morathi herself. While in theory they worship Khaine, who is male, this is superficial; all information about "Khaine's will" comes from Morathi alone, while Khaine himself is actually limited to his heart and has no say over their actions. With Morathi merging to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine, he might be gone for good.

Among the men, the Doomfire Warlocks and male Khainite Shadowstalkers are interesting cases. They're stronger due to their mastery of shadow magic, but receive limited training, and Morathi has them branded with mind-control runes ([[Grimdark|while deceiving them into thinking they're protection against Slaanesh]]). They are treated far better than other leathanam and actually join the females in battle. Despite this, they are still lower status purely because they're male, and are rarely seen by - or acknowledged to - non-Khainites. Their status is somewhere between skilled slave-soliders and auxiliary allies, with only females as true members of the Daughters of Khaine. Individual Daughters of Khaine generally see them as highly useful servents but also show them a healthy level of respect/wariness due to their sinister powers (they know its unwise to antagonize even a servant that can instantly summon shadow magic). While they hold ranks among themselves, no man may outrank a woman among the Daughters of Khaine (with possible cognitive dissonance given the god they think they worship is male).

The Daughters of Khaine also a rare example of a Warhammer society whose attitude towards sex is actually fleshed out (ironic, since Slaanesh is their greatest foe), all from the anthology novel ''Covens of Blood''. Contrary to expectations, they're mostly open about it. They can "mingle", are also fine with bisexuality, polyamory and homosexuality, marriage isn't required - in fact it's strongly implied they don't do marriage - plus rank's not an issue. There are a few caveats; sex can't interfere with their duties, males can neither proposition nor reject a female on pain of death, and if two women want the same man/men, they bargain or duel each other. Naturally, this gives females near-complete choice over who fathers their children. The women can even fuck outsiders and captives if they choose ([[Grimdark|the captives don't get a choice]]), but affection towards them or having a child with them is considered shameful (the novella also heavily imply human/elf hybrids are possible in Age of Sigmar). Plus, sex is a popular way to celebrate or spend their downtime.

The female aelves tend to dye their hair with blood and, in a throwback to Warhammer Fantasy, have rituals of rebirth keep the covenite sisters youthful in appearance and supple in body. Even among their ranks, there are some who are considered extremists; the Sisters of Slaughters' are members who graft masks of living metal to their faces with boiling blood. While the aelven members are accepted by others, the Melusae and Khinerai are not. When fighting alongside, they are concealed by a glamour so they too appear to be aelves; attempts to keep the existence of these mutated elves secret is part of the reason for their teamkilling tendencies among alliances with other Order factions. After Morathi's apotheosis, the Melusai and Khinerai have openly appeared, and are touted as proof of Morathi's divinity. With some of them even making a point to approach non-khainites or allies in Morathi controlled territory un-glamored, simply to dare them to say anything about their appearance.

However Morathi's apotheosis did not come without its own share of problems. Her open proclamation and display of godhood caused a crisis of faith among some of her subjects. Some still blindly support her see her as Khaine reborn, and a bringer of fortune for her people. However, many are also starting to wise up to the fact that she seems more interested in bringing power to herself rather than Khaine, and are beginning to whisper of her as a usurper. Some khainites have even begun actively conspiring against Morathi directly and joining resistance movements against her. This had led to conflict and could result in future consequences including a full-blown schism.

tl;dr: They're a scheming, ruthless, misandric, theocratic elven matriarchy originating from a dark realm whose ultimate leader sometimes mutates her followers to resemble her. [[Drow|Sound familiar]]? (especially since Morathi successfully became a goddess).

One interesting contrast to the [[drow]], though, is that Morathi actually does have some semblance of a reason for all this, instead of just "dominatrixes + spiders = profit". Since Morathi is a psychopath who has, in her mind, been screwed over by the men in her life multiple times - every Phoenix King, then Malekith, then Tyrion and Teclis - it makes sense she'd hold a grudge and, as part of setting herself up as a creator-goddess, she'd vent that grudge by screwing over the male population. Given that some snakes are capable of parthenogenesis (reproducing without men) and that one of the random effects of [[Ghyran]] magic is spontaneous pregnancy without a partner, it's either to Morathi's credit that she didn't drop males altogether and recreate the dark elves under her reign as asexually reproducing [[amazon]]s... or testament that Morathi's such a misandrist she gave her people a male population just to have men to torture.

==Sects==
The Daughters of Khaine are divided into Sects (previously known as Temples in past lore), in a manner similar to Stormcast Chambers or Sylvaneth Wargroves.

* '''Hagg Nar:''' Hagg Nar lies deep in the Umbral Veil, the darkest region of the Shadowlands. The first and largest of the Daughters of Khaine temples, it was built atop the Hellelux, a geyser of shadow magic that spews shrouding mists. It is home to hundreds of warcovens that are [[Drow|always at each other’s throats for the attention of Morathi, who encourages this “rivalry” as a means of weeding out the weak]].
* '''Draichi Ganeth:''' Draichi Ganeth, which translates as ‘the bladedkillers’, are the Khainite Aelves most commonly seen by other Order factions. Their main temple is found in the northern barrens of Fuarthorn in Ulgu, but their war pilgrimages and lesser shrines can be found across the realms. Every [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] has seen or is host to a small troupe of the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sister sects. They are known to the Freeguilds as the Executioners Cult due to their blunt and forward style of combat, as well as their penchant for decapitation.
* '''The Kraith:''' The sect known as the Kraith, also called the Crimson Cult, are true disciples of slaughter, and have earned a reputation as the least compromising of all the Daughters of Khaine. Arrogant and nomadic, they have no true temple home, instead traveling from one war to the next as they believe Khaine’s one and only temple is the blood stained battlefield.
* '''Khailebron:''' This sect has learned well the arts of concealment, stealth and obfuscation. Those who worship at the temples of Khailebron revere the assassin and the unseen killer, and strive to be masters of ambushes and sudden strikes. Where these temples are is known only to Morathi and the Khailebron themselves. Otherwise, they masquerade as wandering performers who showcase an elegant “bladed-dance” for the local populace, while their top killers secretly slit the throats of their targets (including anyone who shows too much disrespect to the dancers).
*'''Khelt Nar:''' Khelt Nar has become the fastest growing of the sects established by Morathi. It began as Ironshard, a single Khainite shrine founded by the High Oracle atop a flat-topped mountain of iron known as the Rothtor. Since then it has expanded to other Realms, including a stronghold in Ghyran, and have been tasked by the High Priestess with clearing out the rampant [[Orruk Warclans|Bonesplitterz]] that plague their territories. Khelt Nar is best known for being composed of deliciously brown dark aelves.
*'''Zainthar Kai''': This reserved sect was born in the Age of Chaos when Morathi (desperate to get a leg up on the Ruinous Powers) decided to infuse a new brood of Scáthborn with three drops of Khaine’s blood. The result is a temple of veritable demi-gods who can call upon the god of murder’s strength in haze of battle, becoming the Shadow Queen’s go-to temple for making her more despised enemies disappear. The temple is mostly led by/comprised of Scáthborn, but there are contingents of Witch Aelves who function as (disposable) work horses (also maybe getting a little taste of what they put the Lethanamn through).

==Soulbound==
In [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], it's established that Daughters of Khaine are selected to become Soulbound when Morathi decides that a potentially stray from the ranks of her faithful is too dangerous or too useful to just dispose of outright. Soulbound Daughters are selected from the overly ambitious, those who secretly yearned for freedom, and even those who had begun to doubt Khaine's divinity, basically serving as a way to remove potential threats to Morathi's control over the faction. Despite their origins, though, Morathi often goes out of her way to maintain a good relationship with "her" Soulbound (in fact, the Binding actually servers the magical restrains that Morathi uses to control the Daughters as a whole), because, whatever else they may be to her, they are both useful as powerful yet neutral arbiters and as ambassadors of her "good intentions" to the other powers of Order. Of course, these allegiances may well have been severed due to her actions during the [[Broken Realms Saga]].

Normal Daughters of Khaine are unsure of how to regard their Soulbound "sisters", since they are simultaneously very dangerous, but not rivals due to being forever outside the hierarchy of the temples, apparently favored by the High Oracle but yet also deeply connected to and regularly traveling alongside "outsiders" who shouldn't be privy to the secrets of Khaine's temples. They tend to default to "respectful suspicion" when interacting with Soulbound Daughters.

The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook opens the following temples for a Daughters of Khaine hero to hail from:
*'''Hagg Nar:''' The capital of Morathi's bloody empire. It is a massive temple-nation that serves as pilgrimage destination for all sisters and home to a staggering number of war-covens who wage war in the name of their bloody god. Heroes from Hagg Nar add their training in both Devotion and Reflexes when determining their defenses. Whenever they make a Death test, they also add a number of dice equal to their training in Devotion.
*'''Draichi Ganeth:''' Perhaps the best-known of the temples, though not for any good reason. They are religiously devoted to the act of killing with a single stroke, and revel in their showmanship with the blade. Tact and stealth are foul words to them and disdainful. Heroes of Draichi Ganeth kill their non-minion enemies in spectacularly gory ways with piercing or slashing weapons. Once per combat, this can take the form of improving their Defense by one step.
*'''The Kraith:''' While others house temples of worship, the daughters of this temple believe that the only altar they should have is the battlefield. They scorn any other aspect that draws attention away from murder and thus disdain any other temple. Because of the grisly nature of their battle and rituals, there are few that can even stomach their presence. Heroes from the Kraith start with a dose of the Venom of Negendra, a poison made legendary a hero of their cult. Once per turn when they kill a non-minion enemy, they regain 1 point of Mettle.
*'''Khailebron:''' Where most daughters would balk at sucking up to the other forces of order, the Khailebron serve a double life as a troupe of blade-dancers and entertainers. Their true purpose is to act as shadowy assassins and spies for Morathi. Because of this, they are rarely in the spotlight and often even scorn those who showboat. Heroes from Khailebron add their training in Entertain when making Body (Stealth) checks and when determining Melee. In addition, the Spellcasting (Grey) talent is available to all archetypes.
*'''Khelt Nar:''' The reputation of this temple has often been hotly contested. They have been besieged several times by Chaos, but have fought back these invasions. They hold the secrets to forging weapons out of special shadow-metal and jealously guard their secrets from envious foes. They seek Morathi's sole favor, but this often puts them at odds with other temples, including Hagg Nar. Heroes from Khelt Nar start play with a magical dagger made of this special shadow-metal, and those harmed by it must make a Mind (Determination) check or else be stunned.
*'''Har Kuron:''' Only available if the game's set at a point in time after Broken Realms: Morathi, and for obvious reason. After all, this was what befell Anvilgard after Morathi (now ascended to godhood) decided to steal it from the clutches of Sigmar and burned any pretense of friendship with the forces of Order. Heroes from Har Kuron can murder enemies to inspire their foes. When they slay a non-minion enemy, they can spend a point of mettle to force their allies to snap out of the charmed or frightened conditions and improve their Melee by one step until your next turn.

The Daughters of Khaine have the fewest dedicated Archetypes in the Age of Sigmar Roleplay corebook, with only the '''Hag Priestess''' and the '''Witch Aelf''' open to them. The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook opens Khainite Shadowstalker archetype.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Medusae Shrine.jpg|<s>Boobflash</s> Bloodwrack Shrine in all its glory.
File:Temples of Khaine.jpg
File:Daughters of Khaine Slaughter.jpg
File:Daughters-of-khaine-4.jpg|Dark Elves, now with 50% more [[Snek|Sneks]].
File:I might you never know.jpg
File:Drkelf.png|A typical Khelt Nar aelf.
</gallery>

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]

Daughters of Khaine

2021-10-24T16:52:24Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:A976:5AB4:1E3F:36F8: /* Soul Wars */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Daughters of Khaine|Logo=Daughters_of_Khaine_battletome_art.jpg|Alliance=Order|Motto=Much bloodier and less NSFW than it appears.}}
{{topquote|She could never take an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The weak and flaccid parity would make her nearly puke. She wants an eye for a tooth, and a life for an eye.|Helen Zahavi - Dirty Weekend}}
{{topquote|Let's show the gutless pigs how the warriors of Pah-Dishah can fight! By Tarim, we'll give the devils scarlet wine to drink this dawn...|Red Sonja}}

The '''Daughters of Khaine''' are a nation of aelves (though closer to a collection of scattered religious communes than a nation) led by Morathi who combine the Khainite religion with shadow magic.

They are an army, with a few exceptions, of [[PROMOTIONS|armed aelven women and monstergirls in bikinis]]. As they worship Khaine, to them the clash of arms is the height of their religion, holy rites practiced and perfected with all the high-level skill and grace of aelf-kind. As blades flash, they shed their visage of cold and distant beauty, how they tend to be when not in battle, their ecstatic faces lighting up with each fresh kill. In contrast to even other aelves, especially the Idoneth Deepkin, many Daughters of Khaine have lived far beyond the average aelf lifespan, which is already longer than that of other races (except the males - see below).

==History==
===Age of Myth===
Being a theocracy founded by [[Morathi]] and given her character, Morathi is behind or involved in every pivotal moment of the Daughters of Khaine in history. After leaving the Great Alliance because [[Nagash]] outed her true monstrous form, Morathi sought to establish her own dwellings in Ulgu. Her son Malerion cruelly rejected her suggestion of splitting the rule of the thirteen Dominions, for he claimed of all Ulgu as his own. Morathi persisted until, as either a joke or a plot to get rid of her, Malerion granted his mother a small parcel of land in the middle of the Umbral Veil. This was the darkest and most impenetrable region in all Ulgu, so dangerous that only Malerion himself had ever returned from those cloying mists with their sanity intact. Morathi went there and exceeded her son's expectations. She bent the shadows into a protective shroud around her new land and led settlers there.

Her only followers were the aelven witch-cults that had maintained their worship of [[Khaine]]. While Morathi knew Khaine was dead, since the blood rituals no longer rejuvenated her, she supported the religion to get people to help her. To ensure their loyalty, Morathi built a temple to Khaine, naming it Hagg Nar, and over time a city grew up around it. Morathi taught them the secrets of navigating the murky currents. Hagg Nar began as a pitiful kingdom, and Morathi brooded over her mean existence.

As she sought power, she soon found a hint of Khaine's power in her dreams while scrying. Though Khaine was dead, she knew the elven gods were cyclial and could be reborn given enough power. Morathi began a secret quest that was long and difficult, but eventually brought her to the literal heart of Khaine himself. The heart was intact and throbbing with resurgent power, but it was guarded by Kharbytr, the godbeast father of Kharibdysses. Morathi suspected Kharbytr would be resistant to sorcery, and was despearte to claim the heart before anyone else could, so she used seduction instead (yes, really), but angered Kharbytr when she tried to grab the heart. The fight between them was an epic clash that lasted thirteen days and ended when Morathi constricted Kharbytr in her coils. The godbeast dealt her a lethal blow before losing consciousness, but Morathi survived by drawing energies from Khaine's heart to sustain herself.

Heading back to Hagg Nar with her prize, Morathi declared herself Khaine's High Oracle, claiming that she spoke for the god of murder and that she was his voice in this world. With that she solidified her hold over the Khainites and reshaped the society into the Daughters of Khaine. The Daughters of Khaine would often be sent out to hunt for fragments of their missing deity on Morathi's orders (unbeknownst to them, these were snipe hunts for the most part).

She continued this way for a time until Malerion arrived. He said that he and the other aelf gods had had, at last, found the lost aelf-souls from the world-that-was, and they needed her shadow magic and knowledge of Slaanesh in their grand plan. For the first and only time, Morathi spoke of the unspeakable horrors inside Slaanesh and how she'd escaped. Using this knowledge and themselves as bait, the four lured Slaanesh into a trap and started extracting elven souls from the deity.

For her role, Morathi was allowed to take souls for herself to shape into elves, who went into swelling the numbers of the Daughters of Khaine. However, some of them had been [[monstergirls|altered by their time with Slaanesh]]. There were those with [[Lamia|serpentine mutations akin to Morathi]], these became the [[Medusa|Melusae]]. Others had bat-like wings and long tails, these became the [[Harpy|Khinerai]]. Around this time Morathi reintroduced the Cauldrons of Blood and created the Mathcoir, the master cauldron, in Hagg Nar. Secretly, she made it as a repository of power only she could access. To start this, Morathi [[Drow|cursed every male born to the Daughters of Khaine to have part of their soul siphoned away and stored in the Mathcoir]].

Unbeknownst to her erstwhile allies, Morathi had added her own deceptive magics to the undertaking, so that the soul division was skewed slightly out of the agreed proportions, with extra spirits siphoned to Hagg Nar. This subterfuge was subtle, but slowly, inevitably, [[Not as Planned|altered the eldritch balance that kept the Dark Prince perfectly imprisoned between Hysh and Ulgu]].

===Age of Chaos===
As Chaos invaded the Mortal Realms, the Daughters of Khaine marched out from Hagg Nar to ambush them, using shadowshifting magics to reach Realmgates to travel anywhere the forces of Order needed them. Although Morathi and her followers weren't liked, beggars could not be choosers and they were one of the few allies the Sigmarites had during this time. To keep the more mutated members of her coven secret, the spellcasters and priestesses of the Khainites used shadow glamors to make them look like ordinary elves (how this worked when the Khinerai were flying is anybody's guess).

The Daughters of Khaine were bold and fearless in battle - willing to cross blades with any enemy, no matter how numerous or monstrous. Despite heroics by Khainite forces at many battles, the forces of Order were on the backfoot, the final retreat happening after Nagash betrayed Sigmar at the Battle of Burning Skies.

As the Chaos invasions set about their task of destroying and enslaving entire civilisations, the Shadowlands of Ulgu suffered the least after Azyr. Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch all devoted the greater portion of their forces to different realms, the minions that were sent into Ulgu boasted none of the most fearful greater daemon commanders and Malerion himself sent Archaon packing with his tail between his legs. This gave the Daughters of Khaine plenty of time to prey on the Chaos forces that made it to their realm; reavers of Khorne, magic-seeking conclaves of Tzeentch or followers of Slaanesh tracking calls from their god that only they could sense. They reaped a large harvest of Chaos minions, leaving mass graves from all the sacrifices (this would come back to haunt them - pun intended - in the Soul Wars, see below).

But Morathi's trickery with the soul extraction came back to bite her. Taking too many souls caused Slaanesh's prison to drift towards Ulgu and weaken it. This enabled Slaanesh's most faithful servants catch the scent of their missing god/dess. More and more Slaaneshi armies penetrated the Shadowlands searching for their lost god. So began what the aelves of Ulgu named the Cathtrar Dhule - the War of Shadows.

For the major battles of the War of Shadows, Morathi led the Daughters of Khaine from the front. She cast down the Keeper of Secrets Glittus and his Legion of Excess, and the whip-handed Krulla Sha'vhr and her Flayerhost. Battle was not her only recourse, however, for against the unbeatable six warhosts of the betentacled Bovaxx the Despoiler, Morathi's coven of Medusae summoned a gaiste-maze - a shadow labyrinth that still covers part of the Umbral Veil, a dark cloud in which those hordes presumably still wander.

Yet the Daughters of Khaine did not win every battle. As larger and more-powerful armies invaded, Morathi called the first of the Caillich Covens - the gathering of forces from all the sects. This was required to defeat Luxcious, a Keeper of Secrets so powerful that many Slaaneshi considered her a replacement for the missing Dark Prince. The daemon was defeated, but not until after the exalted fiend destroyed the Temple of Druchxar.

===Age of Sigmar===
Luxcious may well have continued her scouring search of Ulgu had Sigmar not begun his war to reclaim the Mortal Realms, drawing off many Chaos forces. The Cathtrar Dhule paused, before once more erupting anew in the bitterly fought War of the Shadowpaths.

The Daughters of Khaine win more allies during this time, for despite their brutality in battle (and occasional team-killing among their allies) they're just ''that'' good at kicking Chaos. The Stormcast, Idoneth and Sylvaneth to name a few ally with the Daughters of Khaine.

During this time, some elves start to [[Heresy|worship Morathi alongside Khaine, which causes dissent]] (an uncommon case of a heresy charge in a warhammer setting that fits the actual definition). Ironically, those who disapprove get [[Blam|quickly silenced]] by Morathi or the Medusae as [[Heresy|heretics]] (usually by a knife in the vitals or getting turned into living crystal by a Melusai).

===Soul Wars===
Prior to the Soul Wars there are increasing build-ups of death magic. Whenever there is a large gathering of Scathborn, the spirits of the dead rise up and attack them. Also, remember those mass graves full of sacrificed Chaos worshippers? Now they're fodder for armies of vengeful skeleton warriors and/or ghosts who attacked the Khainites. When Nagash sent vampires and necromancers into Ulgu as a diversion tactic, they were all too happy to exploit these mass graves for armies.

The Daughters of Khaine were also called on by the forces of Order in other realms to help fight off the increasing undead attacks. Morathi herself extolled the Daughters of Khaine to greater zeal, for she remembers the taste of Nagash's pimp hand and is eager to avenge the slight.

===Broken Realms===
The Daughters of Khaine worked with Scourge privateers to get information about the Idoneth Deepkin the same way as their kin in the World-That-Was; lots of torture and mind-invading magic. From this they learn the location of a valued Deepkin artifact, the Ocarian Lantern; made by - and stolen from - Teclis, it acted as a lure for souls. Morathi sent sixty of her best soldiers to get it from its heavily guarded underwater temple; two survived, one now an Idoneth prisoner and the other returned to Morathi with the lantern.

She fused with Khaine's heart and became the goddess Morathi-Khaine. Thus Khaine as he was is gone forever, and Morathi - now Morathi-Khaine - is their goddess instead of just their High Oracle (albeit now split into two bodies, Morathi-Khaine and the Shadow Queen after [[Aenarion|her hubby's soul]] [[Rip and Tear|took exception]] to Morathi's plan while in Slaanesh).

Morathi's first action was to broker an alliance with the [[Idoneth Deepkin]], offering Volturnos the souls of his fellow Cythai elves to sweeten the deal. She then ended her alliance with Sigmar by launching a coup that brought Anvilgard under her rule and renaming it Har Kuron. The Daughters of Khaine/Morathi-Khaine now fight with a newfound zeal as they launched a <s>crusade</s> <s>jihad</s> holy war to expand Morathi's empire. When Sigmar found out, he sent a Stormcast army to re-take Har Kuron, the fighting raging until the Celestant-Prime arrived and offered to parley with Morathi. The two disappear for a night, and when they returned an agreement had been reached. Morathi was allowed to keep the city, and what she promised in return is unknown. Following her ascension, Morathi also began [[1984|slowly re-writing the Daughters' scriptures and records of history, plus remodeling their religious iconography, to put herself at the center of everything]].

Morathi subsequently led her forces in alliance with a group of Scourge Privateers to help lift the siege at Excelcius, which was close to being overrun by [[Gordrakk]] Waaagh. With her Shadowqueen form at the forefront Morathi and her army did well in pushing back the forces of destruction in the city, with her Shadowqueen form having little trouble taking out lowly Orruks. That was until she came face-to-face with [[Kragnos]] himself. The earthquake god had made common quase with Gordrakk and attack her Shadowqueen form head on. Morathi-Khaine managed to track down lord [[Kroak]] who had also arrived to defend the city and proposed that they needed to divert Kragno's from the city before he killed them all, as he was far too powerful for either of them too defeat. Just as Kragnos was preparing to finish Morathi off, they managed to lure Kragnos through a portal and led him away from the city. The destruction army subsequently dispersing after a lengthy battle.

Following the battle, Morathi was put on trail, overseen by the Celestant-Prime himself on Sigmar's behalf. She was a little annoyed Sigmar himself was not present (and the not so subtle implication that it meant dealing with her was beneath his time). Morathi was charged with treason for her coup in Anvilgard. She defended her actions as the as Anvilgard was technically never Sigmar's alone, and that the city prior to her annexation was barely staying alive to begin with and would have fallen eventually, now under her rule it will survive outside Chaos control. When the Celestant-Prime rejected this, Morathi retorted that as a god she wasn't answerable to Sigmar. At this, winged Stormcast and the Celestant-Prime took up their weapons and were about to sentence Morathi to death before Grungni entered the room. He announced his prescence by calling for clemency for Morathi before joining them.

Following this, the tentative alliance between Morathi and Sigmar was maintained, though with much more animosity than before. Morathi maintains Anvilgard for the moment, but cracks are beginning to form in her rule. Many of Anvilgard's original population did not survive the coup, and of the survivors many were Sigmar loyalists, even among their former Scourge Privateer allies. That, combined with the Daughters and their Idoneth allies continuing to purge the surrounding countryside and coastal regions of dissenters, has led an ever growing resentment amongst Humans and Aelves against Morathi's authority. These once disparate groups of Freeguild soldiers, Wanderer Aelves and even Scourge Privateers have formed resistance movements who try to undermine or completely sabotage her rule.

On top of this, her taking the mantle of Khaine has not been universally accepted by her followers. Many devout Daughters of Khaine have started to see her as a usurper trying to claim the mantle of Khaine himself (the rewriting of history might have been a giveaway). Even among her loyalists, some consider taking Anvilgard to be too costly in the long run. And then members of both groups don't approve of her alliance with the Idoneth Deepkin, who many Daughters of Khaine distrust (and the feeling's mutual), and see their soul-tithe as too extreme even for them. The amount of Khainites working against Morathi has been steadily growing. Ironically, her ascending to godhood has actually caused a greater fissure in her control than when she was mortal. And it's possible Sigmar still plans to make her answer for what she did to Anvilgard...

==Religion==
[[File:Morathi,_the_Shadow_Queen_from_DaughtersofKhaine_.jpg|300px|thumb|right|"Charge, Daughters of Khaine! For my...uh, I mean, for Khaine's glory!"]]
Unlike some other factions within Age of Sigmar, but very much like others, the Daughters of Khaine are a theocracy. There are many sects of Daughters of Khaine, each worshiping a different aspect of the aelf god of battle and bloodshed. Although the rites and rituals might differ, all the Khainites follow a strict hierarchy in their organisation. They worship Khaine and Morathi is his High Oracle, the one who discerns his will and their overall leader. Though they know about the other gods of Order, they pay no homage to them. Beneath Morathi are the High Priestesses, which include the Slaughter Queens, Hag Queens and Bloodwrack Medusae. They are the keepers of each shrine’s most sacred artefacts, and commanders of the Sisterhood of Blood. The degree of authority held by each of these figures, along with their specific title, varies between the sects, but a single word from Morathi can alter the influence of any other ranking.

Of all the warriors of the temples, the Scáthborn – the Melusai and Khinerai – are closest to Morathi herself, yet they often remain hidden from those outside the cult. The Medusae are made from Aelves converted by Morathi herself; though this is seen as an immense honor Morathi binds them with the most binding of magical oaths, but none among the Khainites would dare question her in this. This is partially due to their forms resulting from daemonic taint which would cause negative sentiment among their allies and the fact that Morathi uses them as something of a secret police. The most public-facing Khainites are the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter. Their most important shrines are the Cauldrons of Blood, gifts from Khaine himself (at least, what Morathi’s claims each time she gifts one of the great iron cauldrons to the temple of a newly founded Khainite sect). The covenites see it as a sign of their god’s favour that the cauldrons never seem to overflow, no matter how much blood is poured within them following a battle – all assume Khaine himself takes the surplus as an offering.

War covens are the most important organisations to the Daughters of Khaine, their structure laid out by Morathi herself. It is through violence that the Khainites expand their territories, defend their temples and worship their god. Weapons practice and mock duels take up the majority of their daily lives, yet these are not mere military drills, but religious ceremonies, treated with all the gravitas that others might use when reading their most holy of tomes or offering prayers to their god. From their temples in various realms, the Daughters of Khaine scour the Mortal Realms for blood sacrifices. At Morathi's edict, they also search for the shards of their god, scattered across the Realms. They do this for the glory of Khaine and to see him reborn.

[[Just As Planned|But they are nearly all of them deceived]].

Morathi claims to speak for Khaine, and she does wield his unbreakable iron heart, but none know that Morathi’s power is a lie and that Khaine is dead. While their devotions to Khaine could one day lead to his rebirth, Morathi is deliberately preventing that. The reason for this is that she is siphoning the power - either by co-opting it before it reaches the heart or pulling it from Khaine's heart - to reach godhood herself. The prayers that her daughters scream and the ritual offerings they make only serve to enhance her own power, not Khaine’s. Outside Morathi herself, only a handful of the "altered" members of the Daughters of Khaine are aware of this deception, and they, willingly or otherwise, are bound by the most binding of oaths and magic to serve Morathi and keep this secret. Also, the blood surplus poured into the Cauldron's doesn't go to Khaine. It flows back to Hagg Nar through Morathi’s magics, to the Mother of all Cauldrons, the Máthcoir, from which The High Oracle absorbs and repurposes the blood’s energies for her own nefarious gain. Which came to fruition when she used the energies and the Máthcoir in a ritual to merge with Khaine's essence to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine. However, the Máthcoir was broken by the energies of the ritual and Volturnos' actions, and Morathi has secretly been trying to repair it, but has yet to succceed.

==Society==
Their society is brutal, especially given that it's leader is [[Morathi]] and they worship [[Khaine]]. They serve Khaine with fanatical devotion, which is especially problematic considering that Khaine is the god of murder. While the Daughters of Khaine crave bloodshed and murder, they serve alongside the forces of Order – albeit tenuously. Given their tendency towards collateral damage (and rumors of kidnapping innocents and gruesome rituals), they are less respected allies and more tolerated because they're useful. Their views on the other major groups are varied. As builders of cities and civilizations, the Daughters of Khaine are at odds with the forces of Destruction. While it is said that they have an aversion to the Death faction because of a dislike for anything death-related since they nearly went extinct, it's more likely that this due to Morathi's personal grudge against Nagash for striking her and outing her true from to the rest of the pantheon. Despite their distaste for the other two, the one faction they truly hate is Chaos; they could give the Stormcast Eternals a run for their money in hating Chaos, and prosecute their crusades with particular violence against the servants of Slaanesh.

If you're wondering why Morathi is mentioned so often that's deliberate; Morathi keeps as much of a stranglehold on Khainite society as she can. It would be out-of-character for her to do anything less (she kind of a control freak). All Khainites are either warriors that serve in their religious order, or they are leathanam (see below). Temples are found only in some realms; confirmed realms are Ulgu, Azyr and Ghyran. When they are not fighting, the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter usually participate in ritualized gladiator matches or shady pit fights. They also partake of a form of bladed dancing for the entertainment of others. Despite being a theocratic society, the Daughters of Khaine don't proselytize or win converts; the adherents are themselves the result of a breeding program, choosing their partners in line with the aims and desires of their leaders.

The women outnumber the men here, but this is not the paradise [[/d/|some]] think it would be. "Where are the men? The 'Daughters' have to reproduce somehow", well... remember that leathanam class mentioned earlier? Apart from the Doomfire Warlocks, this class is made up exclusively of '''all''' the males in this faction; disregard menials, worker drones who do the non-fighting stuff that keeps society going in a literal gender-based [[Slavery|slavery]] system (we know what you're thinking. Something, something, feminist fantasy... and we know how [[SJW|certain groups]] would react if the genders were swapped).

Morathi deliberately made only a few male aelves, and then only from the weakest and most broken of souls retrieved from Slaanesh. Even male aelves a Daughter of Khaine gives birth to are literally cursed with weakness as Morathi siphons part of their souls to power the Cauldrons of Blood... and yes, Morathi instituted the rule that the males are slaves. Surprisingly, the women are usually not misandrists or female supremacists in general when dealing with outsiders or allies; as a society, the Daughters of Khaine respect strength above all else and a lot of the mistreatment of their own males is based on their innate weakness. But on the other hand, their males are weak because Morathi deliberately handicapped and enslaved them, so female supremacy and/or misandry could still be at work at least as far as Morathi herself. While in theory they worship Khaine, who is male, this is superficial; all information about "Khaine's will" comes from Morathi alone, while Khaine himself is actually limited to his heart and has no say over their actions. With Morathi merging to become the goddess Morathi-Khaine, he might be gone for good.

Among the men, the Doomfire Warlocks and male Khainite Shadowstalkers are interesting cases. They're stronger due to their mastery of shadow magic, but receive limited training, and Morathi has them branded with mind-control runes ([[Grimdark|while deceiving them into thinking they're protection against Slaanesh]]). They are treated far better than other leathanam and actually join the females in battle. Despite this, they are still lower status purely because they're male, and are rarely seen by - or acknowledged to - non-Khainites. Their status is somewhere between skilled slave-soliders and auxiliary allies, with only females as true members of the Daughters of Khaine. Individual Daughters of Khaine generally see them as highly useful servents but also show them a healthy level of respect/wariness due to their sinister powers (they know its unwise to antagonize even a servant that can instantly summon shadow magic). While they hold ranks among themselves, no man may outrank a woman among the Daughters of Khaine (with possible cognitive dissonance given the god they think they worship is male).

The Daughters of Khaine also a rare example of a Warhammer society whose attitude towards sex is actually fleshed out (ironic, since Slaanesh is their greatest foe), all from the anthology novel ''Covens of Blood''. Contrary to expectations, they're mostly open about it. They can "mingle", are also fine with bisexuality, polyamory and homosexuality, marriage isn't required - in fact it's strongly implied they don't do marriage - plus rank's not an issue. There are a few caveats; sex can't interfere with their duties, males can neither proposition nor reject a female on pain of death, and if two women want the same man/men, they bargain or duel each other. Naturally, this gives females near-complete choice over who fathers their children. The women can even fuck outsiders and captives if they choose ([[Grimdark|the captives don't get a choice]]), but affection towards them or having a child with them is considered shameful (the novella also heavily imply human/elf hybrids are possible in Age of Sigmar). Plus, sex is a popular way to celebrate or spend their downtime.

The female aelves tend to dye their hair with blood and, in a throwback to Warhammer Fantasy, have rituals of rebirth keep the covenite sisters youthful in appearance and supple in body. Even among their ranks, there are some who are considered extremists; the Sisters of Slaughters' are members who graft masks of living metal to their faces with boiling blood. While the aelven members are accepted by others, the Melusae and Khinerai are not. When fighting alongside, they are concealed by a glamour so they too appear to be aelves; attempts to keep the existence of these mutated elves secret is part of the reason for their teamkilling tendencies among alliances with other Order factions. After Morathi's apotheosis, the Melusai and Khinerai have openly appeared, and are touted as proof of Morathi's divinity. With some of them even making a point to approach non-khainites or allies in Morathi controlled territory un-glamored, simply to dare them to say anything about their appearance.

However Morathi's apotheosis did not come without its own share of problems. Her open proclamation and display of godhood caused a crisis of faith among some of her subjects. Some still blindly support her see her as Khaine reborn, and a bringer of fortune for her people. However, many are also starting to wise up to the fact that she seems more interested in bringing power to herself rather than Khaine, and are beginning to whisper of her as a usurper. Some khainites have even begun actively conspiring against Morathi directly and joining resistance movements against her. This had led to conflict and could result in future consequences including a full-blown schism.

tl;dr: They're a scheming, ruthless, misandric, theocratic elven matriarchy originating from a dark realm whose ultimate leader sometimes mutates her followers to resemble her. [[Drow|Sound familiar]]? (especially since Morathi successfully became a goddess).

One interesting contrast to the [[drow]], though, is that Morathi actually does have some semblance of a reason for all this, instead of just "dominatrixes + spiders = profit". Since Morathi is a psychopath who has, in her mind, been screwed over by the men in her life multiple times - every Phoenix King, then Malekith, then Tyrion and Teclis - it makes sense she'd hold a grudge and, as part of setting herself up as a creator-goddess, she'd vent that grudge by screwing over the male population. Given that some snakes are capable of parthenogenesis (reproducing without men) and that one of the random effects of [[Ghyran]] magic is spontaneous pregnancy without a partner, it's either to Morathi's credit that she didn't drop males altogether and recreate the dark elves under her reign as asexually reproducing [[amazon]]s... or testament that Morathi's such a misandrist she gave her people a male population just to have men to torture.

==Sects==
The Daughters of Khaine are divided into Sects (previously known as Temples in past lore), in a manner similar to Stormcast Chambers or Sylvaneth Wargroves.

* '''Hagg Nar:''' Hagg Nar lies deep in the Umbral Veil, the darkest region of the Shadowlands. The first and largest of the Daughters of Khaine temples, it was built atop the Hellelux, a geyser of shadow magic that spews shrouding mists. It is home to hundreds of warcovens that are [[Drow|always at each other’s throats for the attention of Morathi, who encourages this “rivalry” as a means of weeding out the weak]].
* '''Draichi Ganeth:''' Draichi Ganeth, which translates as ‘the bladedkillers’, are the Khainite Aelves most commonly seen by other Order factions. Their main temple is found in the northern barrens of Fuarthorn in Ulgu, but their war pilgrimages and lesser shrines can be found across the realms. Every [[Cities of Sigmar|free city]] has seen or is host to a small troupe of the Draichi Ganeth, who look down upon the subterfuge and deception of their sister sects. They are known to the Freeguilds as the Executioners Cult due to their blunt and forward style of combat, as well as their penchant for decapitation.
* '''The Kraith:''' The sect known as the Kraith, also called the Crimson Cult, are true disciples of slaughter, and have earned a reputation as the least compromising of all the Daughters of Khaine. Arrogant and nomadic, they have no true temple home, instead traveling from one war to the next as they believe Khaine’s one and only temple is the blood stained battlefield.
* '''Khailebron:''' This sect has learned well the arts of concealment, stealth and obfuscation. Those who worship at the temples of Khailebron revere the assassin and the unseen killer, and strive to be masters of ambushes and sudden strikes. Where these temples are is known only to Morathi and the Khailebron themselves. Otherwise, they masquerade as wandering performers who showcase an elegant “bladed-dance” for the local populace, while their top killers secretly slit the throats of their targets (including anyone who shows too much disrespect to the dancers).
*'''Khelt Nar:''' Khelt Nar has become the fastest growing of the sects established by Morathi. It began as Ironshard, a single Khainite shrine founded by the High Oracle atop a flat-topped mountain of iron known as the Rothtor. Since then it has expanded to other Realms, including a stronghold in Ghyran, and have been tasked by the High Priestess with clearing out the rampant [[Orruk Warclans|Bonesplitterz]] that plague their territories. Khelt Nar is best known for being composed of deliciously brown dark aelves.
*'''Zainthar Kai''': This reserved sect was born in the Age of Chaos when Morathi (desperate to get a leg up on the Ruinous Powers) decided to infuse a new brood of Scáthborn with three drops of Khaine’s blood. The result is a temple of veritable demi-gods who can call upon the god of murder’s strength in haze of battle, becoming the Shadow Queen’s go-to temple for making her more despised enemies disappear. The temple is mostly led by/comprised of Scáthborn, but there are contingents of Witch Aelves who function as (disposable) work horses (also maybe getting a little taste of what they put the Lethanamn through).

==Soulbound==
In [[Age of Sigmar Roleplay]], it's established that Daughters of Khaine are selected to become Soulbound when Morathi decides that a potentially stray from the ranks of her faithful is too dangerous or too useful to just dispose of outright. Soulbound Daughters are selected from the overly ambitious, those who secretly yearned for freedom, and even those who had begun to doubt Khaine's divinity, basically serving as a way to remove potential threats to Morathi's control over the faction. Despite their origins, though, Morathi often goes out of her way to maintain a good relationship with "her" Soulbound (in fact, the Binding actually servers the magical restrains that Morathi uses to control the Daughters as a whole), because, whatever else they may be to her, they are both useful as powerful yet neutral arbiters and as ambassadors of her "good intentions" to the other powers of Order. Of course, these allegiances may well have been severed due to her actions during the [[Broken Realms Saga]].

Normal Daughters of Khaine are unsure of how to regard their Soulbound "sisters", since they are simultaneously very dangerous, but not rivals due to being forever outside the hierarchy of the temples, apparently favored by the High Oracle but yet also deeply connected to and regularly traveling alongside "outsiders" who shouldn't be privy to the secrets of Khaine's temples. They tend to default to "respectful suspicion" when interacting with Soulbound Daughters.

The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook opens the following temples for a Daughters of Khaine hero to hail from:
*'''Hagg Nar:''' The capital of Morathi's bloody empire. It is a massive temple-nation that serves as pilgrimage destination for all sisters and home to a staggering number of war-covens who wage war in the name of their bloody god. Heroes from Hagg Nar add their training in both Devotion and Reflexes when determining their defenses. Whenever they make a Death test, they also add a number of dice equal to their training in Devotion.
*'''Draichi Ganeth:''' Perhaps the best-known of the temples, though not for any good reason. They are religiously devoted to the act of killing with a single stroke, and revel in their showmanship with the blade. Tact and stealth are foul words to them and disdainful. Heroes of Draichi Ganeth kill their non-minion enemies in spectacularly gory ways with piercing or slashing weapons. Once per combat, this can take the form of improving their Defense by one step.
*'''The Kraith:''' While others house temples of worship, the daughters of this temple believe that the only altar they should have is the battlefield. They scorn any other aspect that draws attention away from murder and thus disdain any other temple. Because of the grisly nature of their battle and rituals, there are few that can even stomach their presence. Heroes from the Kraith start with a dose of the Venom of Negendra, a poison made legendary a hero of their cult. Once per turn when they kill a non-minion enemy, they regain 1 point of Mettle.
*'''Khailebron:''' Where most daughters would balk at sucking up to the other forces of order, the Khailebron serve a double life as a troupe of blade-dancers and entertainers. Their true purpose is to act as shadowy assassins and spies for Morathi. Because of this, they are rarely in the spotlight and often even scorn those who showboat. Heroes from Khailebron add their training in Entertain when making Body (Stealth) checks and when determining Melee. In addition, the Spellcasting (Grey) talent is available to all archetypes.
*'''Khelt Nar:''' The reputation of this temple has often been hotly contested. They have been besieged several times by Chaos, but have fought back these invasions. They hold the secrets to forging weapons out of special shadow-metal and jealously guard their secrets from envious foes. They seek Morathi's sole favor, but this often puts them at odds with other temples, including Hagg Nar. Heroes from Khelt Nar start play with a magical dagger made of this special shadow-metal, and those harmed by it must make a Mind (Determination) check or else be stunned.
*'''Har Kuron:''' Only available if the game's set at a point in time after Broken Realms: Morathi, and for obvious reason. After all, this was what befell Anvilgard after Morathi (now ascended to godhood) decided to steal it from the clutches of Sigmar and burned any pretense of friendship with the forces of Order. Heroes from Har Kuron can murder enemies to inspire their foes. When they slay a non-minion enemy, they can spend a point of mettle to force their allies to snap out of the charmed or frightened conditions and improve their Melee by one step until your next turn.

The Daughters of Khaine have the fewest dedicated Archetypes in the Age of Sigmar Roleplay corebook, with only the '''Hag Priestess''' and the '''Witch Aelf''' open to them. The ''Champions of Order'' splatbook opens Khainite Shadowstalker archetype.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Medusae Shrine.jpg|<s>Boobflash</s> Bloodwrack Shrine in all its glory.
File:Temples of Khaine.jpg
File:Daughters of Khaine Slaughter.jpg
File:Daughters-of-khaine-4.jpg|Dark Elves, now with 50% more [[Snek|Sneks]].
File:I might you never know.jpg
File:Drkelf.png|A typical Khelt Nar aelf.
</gallery>

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category:Dark Elves]]