Editing Daughters of Khaine (section)

==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. [[Angry Marines|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 mentioned earlier? They're a slave class, apart from the Doomfire Warlocks, made up exclusively of '''all''' the males in this faction. Yes really, the men are 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, [[Drow]]...).

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 when Morathi founded the society, she wove a spell that every male a Khainite births gets part of their soul siphoned to store in her personal Cauldron 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 them to siphon of their souls, 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-soldiers and auxiliary allies, with only females as true members of the Daughters of Khaine with the Warlocks technically outside the hierarchy. Individual Daughters of Khaine generally see them as highly useful servants 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). The daughters generally avoid them unless need be and they tend to congregate among themselves and 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 (sometimes to the death). 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). Though it can happen, with sometimes the child being secretly sent away to its other parent outside the cult for its safety (especially if it is male) and to avoid the embarrassment of the situation. 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. One of her most viscous rivals are the so-called Crone-Heralds, Khainite extremists who also worship Morai-heg, goddess of prophecies and are actively recruiting followers against Morathi. 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 [[Ghyran|the setting includes magic that can enable asexual reproduction]], 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.