Bloodhounds

The Bloodhounds
File:Bloodhounds Icon.jpg
Battle Cry	The hunt is on!
Number	I
Successor Chapters	Many
Primarch	Balthasar Bornhold, known as Balthasar the Bloody
Homeworld	Karach
Specialty	Total planetary extermination, expert hunters
Allegiance	Dark Imperium
Colours

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" I will chase you across the stars, my brothers. There is no deep void where you can hide, and no fortified planet can save you. I will grind your empire to dust beneath my feet and set my hounds upon them in the streets of a thousand worlds. "

Balthasar the Bloody at the conjunction of Kreteia

The Bloodhounds are the huntsmen of the Imperium. The Bloodhounds scour the planets they invade, hunting and killing everything they find. Worlds conquered by the Bloodhounds are burning wreckages where little survives. They prefer to fight up close with the enemy, tearing them limb from limb with their chain blades and feeding the pieces to their hunting dogs.

Summary of Legion I

Numeration: The Ist Legion

Primogenator: Balthasar Bornhold

Cognomen (Prior): The Bloodguard

Observed Strategic Tendencies: Close combat specialists, mass disorganized assaults with relentless force.

Noteworthy Domains: Chaos Marches

Alliegence: Traitor

Homeworld

The Feudal world of Karach had a culture and technology level akin to that of Early-Modern period Britannia on old Terra. The aristocracy of the planet ruled with extreme decadence, allowing their peasantry to live in abject poverty while they themselves lived in beautiful estates and ate luxurious imports from the southern continents. The Aristocracy spent their time primarily with sport, particularly the sport of hunting. While most merely hunted the harmless but clever groundmink or the endearingly stupid Karntalope, the proud and the mighty hunted the great beasts of the south.

When the powers of chaos stole Balthasar from his father, his long journey through the warp came to an end on Karach. His small pod crashed into the estates of Lord Bornhold, most powerful of the aristocratic lords. Lord Bornhold, lacking a male heir, secretly claimed Balthasar as his own kin, grooming him for command and luxury. Balthasar quickly took to the hunting sports of his father, and became renowned among his peers as the greatest huntsman on the planet. Often on his expeditions on the southern continent, even his native guides would balk at his deep journeys into the jungle, and his tendency to use melee weapons rather than safer firearms or traps. Other Aristocrats alternately called Balthasar Bornhold brave, insane, terrifying, and dangerous. However, even his greatest detractors found him to be a jolly, friendly man whom it was exceedingly difficult to hate.

One day as he traveled back to his father's estate from an afternoon's hunt in the woodlands, Balthasar came upon one of the peasant villages which owed fealty to his father. He had never visited such villages before, having been taught that peasants were dirty, feral, and barely human. On the contrary, he found the peasants to be welcoming and friendly, though he could see the exhaustion and fear hidden in their eyes. Over the next few weeks he met with the Peasants in secret, and they told him many things which his father had kept from him. It did not take long for Balthasar to see the oppression and injustice of aristocratic rule, and began to make plans with the peasants. Balthasar trained the peasants in the ways of war, and lead them in revolution against his father to seize the means of production. Hunting parties scoured the cities, pulling pampered women and pompous men from their homes and killing them in the streets. The peasants even took scalps and pelts from their former overlords, wearing them as trophies. Balthasar killed his false father himself, skinning him alive.

The Emperor came to Karach soon afterword. The Emperor came under the guise of an envoy, offering to welcome Karach into Imperial compliance peacefully. Having just thrown off bourgeois oppression the people of Karach were hesitant. Balthasar's keen mind, however, saw to the truth of things: his people could never defeat the soldiers of the Emperor. He proposed a contest of skill. Balthasar and the Emperor would hunt the southern jungles for Jumaal, a shadowbeast which had eluded Balthasar all his life. For five weeks, the Emperor and Balthasar scoured the jungle for tracks, scents, and trailsigns. Finally, Balthasar found Jumaal in the highlands at the center of the continent. Jumaal was a cat-like beast with a pelt of dagger-like black quills, each one capable of spearing a man to death. Balthasar wrestled with the beast for ten days, until the Emperor came upon them. Seeing that his son was slowly losing to the beast's might, the Emperor stepped in and struck down Jumaal. Balthasar was grateful, and the Emperor chose that moment to reveal to his son the truth of his nature and origins. A cloak was made from the quills of Jubaal, and the Primarch wears it even to this day.