This drawing of Skhraal “Skullface” is done by the incredibly talented @mortono78 that achieved a perfect balance of brutality and dark aesthetic.
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While most would deny it, even amongst the Warband itself, one of the main reasons the Iron Butchers managed to keep themselves alive in the last millennia is their World Eater’s Champion Skhraal, the so-called “Skullface”.
The Warsmith personal Champion and Master of the Executions is a solitary warrior, he doesn’t feel any attachment to the Warband, yet remains loyal to his Lord, true to the word he gave untold years ago.
How many times have the Iron Butchers fallen from grace, on the brink of vanishing out of the lack of resources to keep their pointless war running?
And how many times the twin, daemon blades of Skhraal have saved them?
What war cannot easily win, sometimes a single warrior could.
How do you ask?
The Koronus Expanse is a pit where the galaxy has thrown its living scum, to forever forget their existence.
Here, fighting tournaments are commonplace: some are held by bored and corrupted, planetary governors to keep their starving and violent population entertained. Others are organized by the infamous Beast House, to satisfy the deranged lust of the wealthy nobility and, lastly, the most dangerous are set within the Immaterium, in skull-ornated arenas where the blood is spilled to honor the Dark Gods.
But it makes no difference who and why they are held, there is something that they always share: prizes. And the more dangerous the tournament is, the biggest the prize will be
The Iron Butchers are lured by these tournaments as a moth to the flame, cause they know that Skhraal can and will win the prize for them.
Being ores, slaves, Throne gelts…it doesn’t matter, if is useful, they’re gonna use it. If not, they’re gonna barter it: the Koronus Expanse will always provide for a buyer, no matter what you are offering.
– from the confessions of Inmate-SRN-KL-746, captured traitor serf of the Iron Butchers
