WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Chaos Daemons of Khorne

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi,

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<v Speaker 1>my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 1>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 1>focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time.

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<v Speaker 1>In this episode, I'm beginning a four part Monster Fact

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<v Speaker 1>series on the four main demonic factions in games workshops

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<v Speaker 1>Warhammer forty thousand universe. So first a little background. The

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<v Speaker 1>fictional far future forty case setting depicts an interstellar human

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<v Speaker 1>imperium with various dark, fantasy, and medieval elements. This aggressive

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<v Speaker 1>imperium is challenged on all sides by equally warlike alien societies,

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<v Speaker 1>but they also face the threat of chaos. In the

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<v Speaker 1>forty case setting, the demons of chaos exist a psychic

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<v Speaker 1>dimension called the Warp, but they can spill over into

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<v Speaker 1>what is called real space through various methods and exploits.

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<v Speaker 1>So in this setting, demons are not the mere creation

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<v Speaker 1>of religion or occultism, but an actual spiritual and physical

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<v Speaker 1>threat to humanity. Heretical drift on a far flung planet

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<v Speaker 1>can mean far more than just mere rebellion. It can

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<v Speaker 1>lead to a demonic incursion that consumes billions of souls.

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<v Speaker 1>There are various ways to divide up demonic factions in

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<v Speaker 1>a created world like this, but forty K largely swits

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<v Speaker 1>the forces of chaos into four distinct flavors, red, blue, green,

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<v Speaker 1>and purple, representing bloodthirst, chaotic change, pestilence, and hedonism, each

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<v Speaker 1>a major conduit of mortal emotions and mortal souls in

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<v Speaker 1>the fictional forty first millennium, with each conduit accreting into

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<v Speaker 1>a powerful entity known as a chaos god. They are Corn, Zinch, Nergal,

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<v Speaker 1>and Slanesh. There are other lesser CHAOSK gods as well,

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<v Speaker 1>but these are the four main factions, and while they

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes come to a working agreement with each other, they're

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<v Speaker 1>mostly at war amongst themselves in what is referred to

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<v Speaker 1>as the Great Game. In this episode, will start with

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<v Speaker 1>Corn as the so called Blood God is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more direct. He's powered by mortal violence and war. He's

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<v Speaker 1>all about rivers of blood and pyramids of bone. His

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<v Speaker 1>favorite color is obviously red, and he's not big on subtlety.

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<v Speaker 1>His demonic hords and mortal followers dig horns and blades.

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<v Speaker 1>They spill blood for the Blood God, so really there's

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<v Speaker 1>not much to elaborate on here. However, in browsing through

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<v Speaker 1>the ninth edition Chaos Demons Codex from Games Workshop, I

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<v Speaker 1>simply couldn't let the unit known as a skull canon

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<v Speaker 1>pass without comment. There's a lot of talk of skull

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<v Speaker 1>harvesting with some of the other their corn units, and

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<v Speaker 1>this one amounts to a big honking heavy metal cannon,

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<v Speaker 1>A couple of red demons called blood Letters crew the weapon,

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<v Speaker 1>loading it up with the fresh remains of slain enemy soldiers.

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<v Speaker 1>The cannon breaks everything down and then fires flaming skulls

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<v Speaker 1>across the battlefield, again fittingly direct. Thus far, in actual

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<v Speaker 1>human warfare, skulls and heads have proven poor missiles, but

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<v Speaker 1>the presentation of decapitated heads to the enemy has a

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<v Speaker 1>long history, with plentiful examples to be found. In the

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<v Speaker 1>classical and ancient world. The heads of enemy dead might

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<v Speaker 1>be delivered directly to enemy lines, that might be placed

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<v Speaker 1>on spikes or what have you. Ruth Schuster, writing for

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<v Speaker 1>Harets in twenty eighteen, points out that Iron Age Galls

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<v Speaker 1>even developed a resin based embalming method to ensure the

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<v Speaker 1>captured heads of their enemies didn't rot too fast. As

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<v Speaker 1>Peter Franca Pant points out in his book The First Crusade,

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<v Speaker 1>The Call from the East, the Crusades saw a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of head taking on both sides, and there are Western

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<v Speaker 1>accounts of crusader heads being catapulted back into their siege

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<v Speaker 1>camps in order to hurt morale. The same terror tactics

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<v Speaker 1>were said to have been used by French crusader host

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<v Speaker 1>as well. This according to the French themselves in the

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<v Speaker 1>Old French Crusader Cycle. According to Sarah Grace Heller in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty eleven's Terror in the Old Crusade Cycle, various other

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<v Speaker 1>catapult age accounts described the launching of dead bodies into

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<v Speaker 1>camps and besieged cities as a means of terror and

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<v Speaker 1>or biological attack. The age of the cannon presented various

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<v Speaker 1>new ideas of how cannons might be used in one

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<v Speaker 1>way or another to spread human remains. None of these

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<v Speaker 1>methods use the remains as ammo against other combatants are

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<v Speaker 1>worth noting. Nonetheless, the execution method known as blowing from

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<v Speaker 1>a gun often entailed the strapping of a live victim

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<v Speaker 1>to the mouth of a cannon, resulting in partial or

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<v Speaker 1>complete scattering of the remains on the other end of

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<v Speaker 1>the spectrum, cremated ashes are on occasion spread by cannon

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<v Speaker 1>fire as a desired dramatic funerary right in modern times.

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<v Speaker 1>In a broader sense, however, the use of human remains

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<v Speaker 1>as weapons dates back to prehistory. Europeans were crafting human

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<v Speaker 1>bones into weapons at least ten thousand years ago, practice

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<v Speaker 1>that continued into recent centuries for other far flung cultures,

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<v Speaker 1>at least for symbolic and spiritual reasons. Now, as far

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<v Speaker 1>as the creation and veneration of artifacts made from human

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<v Speaker 1>bones goes, this is the kind of thing that's probably

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<v Speaker 1>lost on the chaos god Corn. All he cares about

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<v Speaker 1>is the hacking, of the stabbing, and of course the

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<v Speaker 1>occasional explosively propelled pyrotechnic human skull. We'll continue through the

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<v Speaker 1>chaos factions in this manner over the next three weeks,

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<v Speaker 1>so tune in to the Monster Fact on Wednesdays in

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<v Speaker 1>the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast fee As always,

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<v Speaker 1>you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 1>your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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