Manskinner
The Manskinner was a Chaos Cult champion of Khorne.[1]
Biography
The Manskinner is believed to have been a Hive Worlder who was at some point incarcerated and due to be shipped off to an Imperial penal colony. While in transit, the cultist broke his bonds and sabotaged his transport ship's reactor before escaping the ship. He was the only survivor but did not escape unscathed; in the confusion of the breakout, a bulkhead door closed on him and crushed his arm.[1]
After replacing his lost arm with a set of industrial shears, he was next sighted on the planet Gathalamor, where he infiltrated one of the planet's Imperial Guard Regiments and corrupted several thousand Guardsmen. It was on Gathalamor that he earned his epithet by killing those regimental officers who remained pure and opposed him and skinning them before hanging their remains from the regimental barracks's flagpole and erecting an altar using their skulls in the barracks courtyard. From there, he went on to form an army of the Lost and the Damned that he commanded, leading them on a rampage in the name of the Blood God.[1]
He was believed by some to have the Words of Blood, allowing him to corrupt loyal Imperials and turn them to the worship of Khorne. In addition, it was said that the tides of the Warp prevented his enemies from pursuing his ships. The Ecclesiarchy tried to suppress rumours of his existence.[1]
While en route to Macharia, his ship crashed on the planet Empyrion IX. The Manskinner tried to lead his army offworld again via Empyrion IX's spaceport but he was opposed by a detachment of Black Templars. The Manskinner did not care, for he saw this as an opportunity to claim the skulls of Space Marines for Khorne. However, the Black Templars' Commander, Athellenas, refused to meet the Manskinner's army in open combat, instead engaging them in a series of fighting retreats. Each time, the cult army's vanguard was annihilated before the Templars withdrew. By the time the cultists had reached the spaceport, they were so consumed by rage and bloodlust that the Manskinner had lost control of himself and his army; the cultists turned on each other and although the Manskinner killed many of his own men, he was ultimately brought down.[1]
