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Khalan-Ghol

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Khalan-Ghol was a fortress of the Iron Warriors on Medrengard, inside the Eye of Terror.

History

The original castellan of Khalan-Ghol was Barban Falk, known to his subordinates simply as "The Warsmith." After Falk ascended to daemonhood on Hydra Cordatus, his chosen successor, Honsou, returned to Medrengard and occupied Khalan-Ghol.[1a] With a portion of the geneseed captured from Hydra Cordatus, Honsou crafted the Daemonculaba, a daemonic "factory" that created new Chaos Space Marines by combining the geneseed with captured human slaves.[1x]

The fortress was besieged by Warsmiths Toramino and Berossus, who were outraged by Honsou's refusal to share the spoils from Hydra Cordatus with them.[1a]

During the siege, the exiled Ultramarines captain, Uriel Ventris led a group of renegade space marines to infiltrate the fortress in a mission. Uriel was captured and briefly "processed" by the Daemonculaba, which harvested his genetic code and combined it with a captive slave, Samuquan, to produce "The Newborn," a twisted clone of Ventris.[1b]

When Berossus and his Grand Company succeeded in breaching the outer keep, Honsou personally defeated and killed Berossus, convincing the Chaos Dreadnought's retinue to defect to Honsou's side.[1x]

At the center of the fortress was the Heart of Blood, a Greater Daemon of Khorne, captured by the Iron Warriors which acted as a psychic barrier against enemy sorcerers. Ventris managed to destroy the Heart's fetters, and the fortress collapsed as the daemon smashed its way to freedom.[1x]

Though Khalan-Ghol was destroyed, Honsou won the war anyway. The Heart of Blood, sensing the hateful presence of sorcerers in Toramino's army, charged away to ravage it.[1x]

Khalan-Ghol's previous castellan, Falk, had been an avid collector of arcane knowledge. After the Siege, Honsou salvaged several intriguing volumes from the ruins, including a lead to the location of the Daemon Prince M'kar, a potent weapon for Honsou's mission of revenge on Ventris.[2]

After leaving Medrengard, Honsou reflected that, as mighty as Khalan-Ghol had been, its destruction had taught him the foolishness of relying on a static fortress. He was amused to realize that this was an unorthodox belief for an Iron Warrior, though his appreciation for siege warfare was undiminished.[3][4]

Sources