Valkia

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Valkia is a warrior-maiden and consort of Khorne the Blood God. She fights with the spear Slaupnir and a shield upon which is mounted the head of Locephax, a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.[1]

Born into the Schwarzvolf tribe, Valkia quickly became a mortal favourite of the Axefather, as they named Khorne. [1p] Khorne fully recognised her pure rage and has breathed life anew into her more than once.

Appearance

She was dark-haired and resembled her mother [1a] with a fine boned face and deep green, almost black eyes which many of her tribe found unsettling. [1g] When remade by Khorne, her hair was replaced by black spines and her lithe figure clad in brass and black iron baroque armour, living chains holding the skulls of those she favoured. Flayed skins of daemons were draped across the metal plates which held great power in many unholy runes whilst blood oozed out from within. [1ah]

Family

  • Anya: Younger sister who died in her first year of life. [1a]
  • Bellona: Daughter of Valkia and Deron, identical twin of Eris. Named after Derons mother. [1t]
  • Deron: Husband. [1t]
  • Edan: Step-brother, son of Merroc and Kata. [1f]
  • Eris: Mother. [1t]
  • Eris: Daughter of Valkia and Deron, identical twin of Bellona. Named after Valkia's mother. [1t]
  • Kata: Stepmother. [1f]
  • Merroc: Father. [1a]
  •  ?, half-sister, daughter of Merroc and Kata. [1f] Her marriage was arranged by Valkia. [1v]
  •  ?, half-sister, duaghter of Merroc and Kata. [1f] Her marriage was arranged by Valkia. [1v]

History

Chieftains Daughter

She was the first surviving child to be born to Merroc, Chieftain of the Schwarzvolf tribe, her parents being 16 and 14 at the time. Her father called her Lille Venn or Little Friend and she grew up as a intelligent, sharp but introspective child. Although another daughter, Anya was born to her parents, all three sons were still-born. [1a]

Eris, her mother was killed when she was nine and when she was ten years old, on the eve of battle with the enemy tribe that had killed her she told her father that not only would she someday travel to the realm of the gods but she would fight in the battle. [1a] At first he refused, but he spoke to the tribal Circle and told them that Valkia would take her mothers place as a shield maiden. [1b] She joined the shield line with other women [1c] and the pursuit of the broken enemy when the battle was won. [1d]

It was here she made her first kill after she hamstrung several enemy warriors, her father gave her one of them to finish off with a spear, plunging it into his heart without flinching. [1e] Despite growing quickly into a beautiful woman, she resisted taking a mate with a foul mouth, attitude and where necessary physical force. She continued to prove herself in war, with no fear of death, plunging into the thickest fighting. At fifteen, she encouraged her father to take Kata to wife, the two women remaining friendly for several years, Valkia gaining two half-sisters and a half-brother. [1f]

She was trained in the use of weapons by the new Warspeaker, Radek and excelled with the spear, over subsequent years becoming unsurpassed in its use. [1h] By the age of eighteen she spent little time in her father’s yurt with whom she often argued but rather spent her time with the other young warriors, her hair cut short and her body now muscled and lean. She took no husband or even a lover - another source of conflict with her remaining parent. However now her father fell ill. [1i]

Whilst out hunting, Valkia and her somewhat recovered father encountered a group of refugees, Valkia promised to look after the women and children who she escorted to her tribe, seeing them as prime breeding stock. She then returned to the refugees menfolk with twenty warriors and defing her fathers command, ordered them slaughtered. Merroc knew that his time was at an end, Valkia seeing it as a kindness to kill him, before he grew weaker. However before she could strike, Radek killed Merroc, demonstrating his love and loyalty for and to her. He further accepted that she must then kill him for his crime, which she did before the other warriors. [1j]

Hetwoman

Returning to her tribe, she claimed the mantle of leadership, immediately killing the warrior Adok who challenged her [1k] and took the title of hetwoman. [1l] Her new Warspeaker, Hepsus soon reported that the leader of the Bloody Hand tribe, Deron who had driven the refugees before them wanted to meet her. [1m] Before the meeting, she found that Kata had killed herself and considered killing her infant child but for some reason, unknown even to her, she did not. [1n]

Deron - big and and powerful with mad eyes was the first man she ever felt lust for, [1o] when they met they engaged in a fight - to first blood. Loosing, Deron offered to teach her about the Blood God who Valkia had known as the Axefather and the two leaders agreed to an alliance. Soon Valkia ensured that heads of rivals and too impudent prospective suitors were mounted on a ever growing ring around the camp, she also began to offer a reward to the warrior that took the most skulls in battle. [1p]

Saving a small subordinate tribe from raiders, she broke her spear and their blacksmith offered to make her a replacement that he said would catch the attention of the gods themselves. [1q] She sought more knowledge of the Blood God or Kharneth as Deron's tribe named him and over the next five years her tribe grew much larger and more powerful. She gained more eloborate and effective armour and the smith gifted her the masterwork spear he had promised, complete with a Rune of the Blood God forged into its silvery blade. She gave it the name Slaupnir. [1r]

Gorequeen

As she became more and more established, she became known as the Gorequeen for her bloody methods of warfare. Valkia also gave birth to twin daughters after her marriage to Deron, although she hated the weakness that came with pregnancy and had had a difficult and bloody birth. To her fury, Deron was also disappointed that his children were girls putting more strain on a increasingly difficult marriage. [1s]

Valkia called upon her Godspeaker Fydor to open the hearts of her daughters to the four gods of the tribe - the Fly Lord, the Reveller, the Trickster and most importantly the Axefather, now known as Kharneth. At the culmination of the ritual she stabbed her husband through the eye, killing him, before tearing his head off. [1u]

By the age of 30 she was in her prime as were her tribe, she arranged politically useful marriages for her half-sisters and on the death of her ally and godspeaker Fydor at the unheard-of age of seventy-five, her half-brother Edan took up the role. As her power grew, her people decided she needed a throne, wooden and adorned with skulls whose creation amused Valkia but which she extremely uncomfortable as she was used to sitting on the ground. [1v]

It was at this time that Locephax, a powerful Daemon of Slaanesh arrived, charming everyone he met, even Valkia and her two daughters. As he flirted with Eris and Bellona, she fely her anger grow and sent them away, unsure herself if she was protecting them or was jealous. He told her he had come at the behest of his lord and suggested to her that she might suit the life of a slave in his harem rather than a queen. [1w]

When she refused, he challenged her to meet him in the Circle of Blood, the prize being her soul. The Gorequeen took up her magical spear Slaupnir and attacked, the sagas tell that the two fought for days before Valkia finally felled the daemon and decapitated him. As they fought, he influenced many of her tribe to attack her, each of whom she cut down as the rage of Khorne filled her. When he taunted her that her daughters too would be his slaves she managed to break his guard and impale him with her spear, she then forced him to reveal his true form as the rune on Slaupnir ignited. They fought on until finally she dealt the winning blow. She then set the daemon’s head upon her shield as a trophy. [1x][2a]

Having pledged to cross the Chaos Wastes and set Locephax's head before he masters throne she gathered more than a thousand of the younger warriors to accompany her. They marched north, at first encountering only a few mountain lions but soon they were marching through snowy mountains but it was not until the 18th day that they met any real opposition. [1y]

A group of Trolls mauled some scouts and Valkia led a hunting party of her best against them. [1z] However it was the Daemon head that killed most of them, overcoming their will and causing many of them to kill themselves and the others to turn on each other. [1aa]

The travelled on, arriving onto a plain full of broken obelisk, often surrounded by rotting trophies, others blood-stained and surmounted by skulls which Valkia saluted. As they marched, tempers began to grow short and rations grew short with the weather constantly changing. [1ab]

A small horde of Beastmen now appraoched, ready for battle and a brutal conflict ensued, but when Valkia kiled their leader and drank his blood, they broke and fled. More than a hundred of a warriors died but Valkia was indifferent, noting to her Warspeaker Hepsus, that she had hundreds left. Hepsus did not tell her that after the battle Edean had led most of the army home, leaving her only a few hundred, many sick or wounded. [1ac]

Finally, the survivors reached the foot of eight vast green stone steps that led up into the heavens where a vast portal gaped. Locephax warned her that his kin were coming for her and that she should submit to him and his master. [1ad] As she advanced towards the steps, Hepsus held the survivors back, having been told this moment would come by Edan - only one warrior, the one armed Kormak followed the Queen as the Daemon legion charged towards them. Valkia touched him on the shoulder, recognising his loyalty and then the Daemons were upon them, flowing around the Gorequeen to first kill Kormak who died with his axe buried in an enemy skull. Valkia fought on alone but she fell at the last moment, just before the portal. [1ae]

Khorne bellowed with rage, vaporising the deamons clustered around Valkia's body and now his own daemons arrived, black blades held low in reverence. A female Bloodletter, a Herald of Khorne picked up the fallen champions shield, ordering her companions to carry Valkia into the Realm of Chaos. [1af]

Daemon Princess

Khorne took his Gorequeen in his grasp and moulded her into a form more pleasing, pulling great horns from her head, making her legs those of of a Bloodletter and pulling great bat-like wings from the muscle and skin of her shapely back. As she arose, the gathered daemons bent their knees and pressed their bloody snouts to the ground before her. [1ag] [2a]

From the Realm of her lord, she looked upon the now settled Schwarzvolf and burned with rage and desire to be revenged upon those who had failed her. [1ah] She emerged from the portal at the head of her legion of Daemons and where he had fallen looked upon the corpse of her one loyal warrior, Kormak. To her surprise, part of his soul still lingered and now she offered him the chance to join her once more. [1ai]

She cut runes into the corpse until he sat upright, molten brass and fire spewed out of the stump of his lost arm before his entire form was encased in crimson red armour, the skull rune of Khorne adorming his chest. Valkia then gifted him with a axe created from the essence of several deamons and compelled a juggernaut to serve him as a mount. [1ai]

Valkia quickly conquered a nearby Khorne worshipping tribe whose shaman had fortold her coming and had introduced worship of her whilst she was still within the Realm of Chaos. They had a single smith who she tasked with arming and armouring her mortal followers, later he would be joined by others as more and more warbands flocked to Valkia's banner. [1aj]

The army she now led south against her former tribe was made up of men, mutants and beastmen as well as monsters such Chimera. [1al] As she approached their lands, she also invaded her half-brothers dreams, filling them with terrifying images and thoughts. [1am] The first settlement they descended upon at night was shattered, turned into a charnel house and when she discivered that the women and children were hidden in the caves, she dispatched her the more bestial of her fllowers to kill them as she watched the camp burn. [1an]

Her remaining daughter, Eris led the remaining warriors of the Schwarzvolf north to meet the invaders, but she could only muster a few hundred fighters. [1ao] Despite being grwatly outnumbered, Eris led her army in the attack, fighting hard against the first wave of berserkers and beastmen, cutting them down despite their own losses. Yet they were just the weakest of their enemies as now Kormak led the Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds and the battleline was shattered. Yet Eris and others fought on. [1ap]

Finally Eris faced her mother in battle but it was painfully clear that the daughter was painfully outmatched but Valkia had no mercy now within her, only fleeting pride that Eris stood unflinching against her. In recognition of this, her death was swift and sudden, a talon piercing her heart. [1aq] Her death was in great contrast to that meeted out to Edan as she pulled his head slowly from his body. Following their deaths, Valkia watched as every man, woman and child of her tribe were killed. As she departed, she ordred Kormak to ensure everything as burned and leave nothing of the Schwarzvolf but a vague and terrible memory. [1ar]

Only her old throne was salvaged and would become lost within the many skulls that decorated it, including that of Eris which retained a prideful place of display. [1as]

In the year 1396 IC she led her army and overran the Dwarf positions guarding the stronghold of Karak Ghulg. Following her victory, she ordered her followers to carry out a grotesque practice upon their defeated foes. They unfolded their victim’s bloody red ribs, made naked their hearts and spread out their lungs. It looked like they bore strange fleshy wings and was termed the Blood Raven. [2a]

So strong was conviction of Valkia that she travelled to the Realm of Chaos to see Khorne himself. There she carved out her own kingdom - the volcanic fortress of Mount Ashenfel.

Titles

She is known as the Gorequeen, the Bringer of Glory [2a] and the Swordmaiden of the Blood God. [3a]

Weapons and Equipment

Miniatures

Quotes

Are you so foolish that you do not know our creed? It is a simple thing to decide, barbarian. Death…or glory. But I suggest you decide quickly.

~ Valkia.[1ak]

See also

Sources

  • 1: Valkia the Bloody (novel) by Sarah Cawkwell
    • 1a: Chapter One: The Schwarzvolf, pg. 7-11
    • 1b: Chapter One: The Schwarzvolf, pg. 17
    • 1c: Chapter One: The Schwarzvolf, pg. 19-20
    • 1d: Chapter One: The Schwarzvolf, pg. 25
    • 1e: Chapter One: The Schwarzvolf, pg. 28
    • 1f: Chapter Two: Ambition, pg. 31-33
    • 1g: Chapter Two: Ambition, pg. 37-38
    • 1h: Chapter Two: Ambition, pg. 46
    • 1i: Chapter Three: The Black Stag, pg. 51-53
    • 1j: Chapter Three: The Black Stag, pg. 63-72
    • 1k: Chapter Four: Chieftain's Daughter, pg. 76-77
    • 1l: Chapter Four: Chieftain's Daughter, pg. 81
    • 1m: Chapter Four: Chieftain's Daughter, pg. 94-95
    • 1n: Chapter Four: Chieftain's Daughter, pg. 99-100
    • 1o: Chapter Five: The Blood God, pg. 104
    • 1p: Chapter Five: The Blood God, pg. 109-113
    • 1q: Chapter Five: The Blood God, pg. 123-125
    • 1r: Chapter Six: The Gorequeen, pg. 133-135
    • 1s: Chapter Six: The Gorequeen, pg. 141-142
    • 1t: Chapter Six: The Gorequeen, pg. 145
    • 1u: Chapter Six: The Gorequeen, pg. 146-149
    • 1v: Chapter Seven: Locephax, pg. 151-153
    • 1w: Chapter Seven: Locephax, pg. 156-165
    • 1x: Chapter Seven: Locephax, pg. 178-187
    • 1y: Chapter Ten: The Breath before the Purge, pg. 213-218
    • 1z: Chapter Ten: The Breath before the Purge, pg. 222-225
    • 1aa: Chapter Ten: The Breath before the Purge, pg. 230-231
    • 1ab: Chapter Eleven: The Edge of Oblivion, pg. 239-241
    • 1ac: Chapter Eleven: The Edge of Oblivion, pg. 248-250
    • 1ad: Chapter Eleven: The Edge of Oblivion, pg. 254
    • 1ae: Chapter Eleven: The Edge of Oblivion, pg. 256-261
    • 1af: Chapter Twelve: Rebirth, pg. 263-266
    • 1ag: Chapter Twelve: Rebirth, pg. 272-273
    • 1ah: Chapter Fourteen: Emergence, pg. 305-307
    • 1ai: Chapter Fourteen: Emergence, pg. 309-316
    • 1aj: Chapter Fourteen: Emergence, pg. 319-320
    • 1ak: Chapter Fifteen: Death or Glory, pg. 336
    • 1al: Chapter Fifteen: Death or Glory, pg. 345
    • 1am: Chapter Sixteen: Nightmares and Dreamscapes, pg. 354
    • 1an: Chapter Sixteen: Nightmares and Dreamscapes, pg. 357
    • 1ao: Chapter Seventeen: From Whence the Blood Flows, pg. 371
    • 1ap: Chapter Sixteen: From Whence the Blood Flows, pg. 381-387
    • 1aq: Chapter Eighteen: Bringer of Glory, pg. 393-396
    • 1ar: Chapter Eighteen: Bringer of Glory, pg. 401-403
    • 1as: Epilogue, pg. 408
  • 2: Liber Carnagia
    • 2a: Minions of Carnage, pg. 23
  • 3: White Dwarf November 2012
    • 3a: Valkia the Bloody, pg. 16
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