[Archive] The Great Thunderbull

Admiral:

[align=center]The Great Thunderbull[/align]

Far away, in between two great mountain ranges, there lies a vast place known as the Dark Lands, home to roaming Greenskins and monsters, ravenous Undead and the diabolical empire of Zharr-Naggrund and all her holdings. These Dark Lands are nothing short of hell on earth, and its violent inhabitants are its Daemons.

The wastes of the Dark Lands are torn by volcanic eruptions, sulphuric gases, earthquakes and ruthless Chaos Dwarf strip mining in the north. The skies of the Dark Lands are beset by the black and deadly smoke clouds created by Dawi Zharr industry, and frequently rent asunder by lightning storms that are more akin to the wrath of some hateful god than natural weather occurences. Perhaps indeed they are.

To the Blacksmiths of Chaos’ malignant minds and eyes, the thunder and lightning up in the sky are as sure a sign of high Hashut’s might as are His soaring Tauruses and Lammasus. The Father of Darkness is the supreme divinity for the Dawi Zharr, yet their cavalcade of cults and sects worship Him as a complex ultimate being of both oppression, dark forging and fire, as well as survival, cruelty and domination. For indeed it is said that the bull have more than one hoof.

One common and popular aspect of Hashut is that of the Great Thunderbull, also known under such titles as the Cleaver of Skulls, the Lightning Father, He Who Rapes the Earth, the Celestial Fire and the High Shatterer. In this aspect, Hashut is seen as both a violent god of thunder and lightning, and an inescapable destroyer of run-away slaves and fleeing foes. This is an important reason for the common use of lightning bolts and shattered skulls in Chaos Dwarf iconography. Another is the sheer power of lightning in nature, and the terror advantages of using cranial and lightning motifs to cow enemies and slaves alike.

The Dawi Zharr believes that when on high, their Dark God tramples across both the skies of the real world and the Realm of Chaos in the shape of the Great Thunderbull. Up here, His charge is thunder and His wrath is lightning, and in the Realm of Chaos he crushes everything in His path. The Thunderbull is noisy and devastating, and indiscriminating in His rampage.

This aspect of Hashut is widely believed to be echoed in the mining explosions and the artillery barrages for which the Chaos Dwarfs have become infamous. As such, the very act of detonating explosives or firing a rocket or cannon is in itself a devout act of worship, and there exists many a prayer and mantra to be recited for such occassions.

Indeed, the common Chaos Dwarf blunderbuss handgun is intentionally flared to magnify sound to obstreperous levels in honour of the Great Thunderbull and for the terror visited upon the foe. Even the overbearing noise of Iron Daemons and the machines and heavy labour of Dawi Zharr industry bears a small connection to the holy Lightning Father. The rumbling charges of Bull Centaurs and the Taurus race are likewise seen as earthly proof of the Thunderbull’s divine power, and some musical instruments used by the Chaos Dwarf empire’s Legions are designed to mimic the might of thunder or a stampeding bull.

Those slaves who cannot withstand the ear-shattering reality of toiling for the Dawi Zharr overlords will eventually turn deaf. Slaves without hearing is still of some value to the Chaos Dwarfs and their subordinate Hobgoblin taskmasters, provided those slaves still can perform their simple, menial labour and understand instructions relayed as much by whip and gesture as by voice. Yet they are believed to be marked for doom by the Great Thunderbull, for one day they will outlive their usefulness.

Every Dawi Zharr knows that a deaf slave is soon a death’s slave, yet even so the thrall who turns deaf might have glimpsed salvation from his torment when the overpowering noise of their industrial hell became lost entirely on their ragged ears. For the hell ruled by the Blacksmiths of Chaos is a realm where thunder is eternal, whether it comes from on high or from on low.

Such is the hymn of the Great Thunderbull.

Dînadan:

Nice work again Admiral :hat off

Something that came to me reading this - it gives an in for some dragon ogres to worship Hashut. :slight_smile:

Admiral:

Heresy! They can’t grow beards, right? That’s more heretical than being half dragon rather than half bull! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Other than that, yes, and certainly if they were captured by the Chaos Dwarfs, allied to and living in their empire, or even gifted to the Dawi Zharr elite as proof of alliance with a warlord or Shaggoth of the north. Or having once experienced any of those, and returned home. Perhaps some Shaggoth would place his offspring in positions of influence within the Chaos world to build a network of power and demonstrate his might and dedication by giving away his many sons and daughters.

Also, it’s conceivable that some Dragon Ogres in the far north would hold the Great Thunderbull as one of many minor deities, well below the Great Four but still of some importance to them. All Chaos worship is based upon, and twisted-grimdarkened from ancient Pagan religions, and common to all of them was a “anything goes” approach to gods and practices. If some other folks had an interesting god or ceremony it wasn’t odd in the least to import it to your pantheon. The same would probably be true within the sphere of Chaos in WHFB as well.

Thank you! :cheers

Dînadan:

Also, it's conceivable that some Dragon Ogres in the far north would hold the Great Thunderbull as one of many minor deities, well below the Great Four but still of some importance to them.

Admiral
As I recall they also worship lightning (or at least conduct 'ceremonies' during thunderstorms) so they might even import him to a place of importance using this aspect of Hashut ;)

All Chaos worship is based upon, and twisted-grimdarkened from ancient Pagan religions, and common to all of them was a "anything goes" approach to gods and practices. If some other folks had an interesting god or ceremony it wasn't odd in the least to import it to your pantheon.
Yep, this was pretty much the MO of the Romans; when they conquered a place, half the time they went "Okay you can keep worshiping your gods, as long as you don't interfere with ours and let us build our own temples" and the rest of the time they went "Ooooh, nice god - we're gonna nick it" or "Oh your god Bob - funny story, he's actually our god Joe."