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Veteran Sergeant Khorak of the Deathshroud with Power Scythe[1]

Khorak was a Veteran Sergeant of the Death Guard's Deathshroud, during the Horus Heresy. Though he initially followed his legion into rebellion,[1] Khorak turned against his Primarch Mortarion when the latter began to embrace sorcery. Believing himself the last remnant of the "true" Death Guard, Khorak was ultimately slain by the warband of ex-Death Guard Crysos Morturg.[3]

History

Serving in the honored Deathshroud, Khorak took part in the Battle of Isstvan III, slaughtering his pro-Imperial brothers with litte remorse as he believed loyalty to the Legion and Barbarus should trump any other allegiance.[3] Later, he endured numerous counter-attacks during the first wave of the Loyalists' attacks in the Drop Site Massacre. The most bitterly fought of these was against the Salamanders, whose pure Flamer weapons met the Death Guard's biological weapons that left both sides reeling with heavy casualties. Khorak's sqaud was ever at the forefront against the Salamanders, their grim Power Scythes ripping through their formations.[1]

However, Khorak became a renegade from his own Legion[2] after the Battle of Molech, as he witnessed Mortarion using witchcraft. Disgusted that the Primarch had turned against all the legion stood for, Khorak gathered a group of like-minded legionnaires and broke away from the Death Guard. Using the vessel Ghogolla as base of operations, Khorak's group fled and vowed to eventually kill their Primarch. However, his renegade faction continued to use the Death Guard's colors and symbols, regarding themselves as the only "true" remnants of the legion. After various battles, the Ghogolla encountered a Blackshield fleet which began to pursue them. Khorak and his four surviving Space Marine followers (Hesch, Urgain, Turgalla, Lyphas) left their ship at Agarvian in the Leops system, landing on the planet in a Stormbird as the Blackshield fleet destroyed the Ghogolla.[3]

On Agarvian, Khorak's group was gradually hunted down by the Blackshields until only he and his lieutenant Hesch remained. At this point, the former Deathshroud verbally challenged his hunters, prompting them to stop firing and for the Blackshield leader Crysos Morturg to step forward. Morturg announced that he was a former Death Guard as well as survivor of Isstvan III and declared that no active Deathshroud was allowed to talk. In response, Khorak admitted that he had broken his vows and turned against his Primarch. Though he considered Morturg part of the "disloyal dregs of a disloyal muster", Khorak realized that they had the same goal.[3]

However, before they could reach an accord, a mortally wounded and confused Hesch fired at Morturg, revealing that the Blackshield leader was not truly there. Suspecting witchcraft, Korak declared that he knew that none of the Death Guard loyalists had survived Isstvan III and that the Blackshield commander could only be here through unnatural means. Morturg did not deny his accusations, though cautioned that his current form had been forced upon him and reminded the ex-Deathshroud that Mortarion -the one who had made the rules against witchcraft- had betrayed them both. However, Khorak declared that "I retain this, though all else is cast aside – belief", stating that he would never accept a witch, be they his Primarch or a potential ally. He then attacked but was shot by Morturg's followers. As he died, the former Deathshroud accused his opponent of being a ghost, to which Morturg replied "As are you, brother. As are we all."[3]

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