The Empire of Thorns
“The revelation of spirit when encountering the power of Chaos is as freeing for the machine as it is for the mortal mind. It is our duty to create this blessed state of union.”
Teachings of Sayyed

Pain. Blood. Death.

The universe rewards those willing to pay its price in those three currencies. And the Empire of Thorns knows it well. Their history is long-lost to the ages, but they were once a loyal sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus. When the Age of the Fall swept the Sector, the Forge Worlds they controlled initially traded across the sector, becoming renowned as purveyors of goods and maintainers of what little bonds between worlds yet remained. Then they were ravished by warp storms and madness, surviving only through strict flesh recycling and what little trade their powerful vessels could force through the storm. Though they held steadfast at first, corruption and mutation made itself known-foremost in the one known only as Sayyed. Imperial research speaks of him being condemned for Heretek research to try and find a way to escape the Warp Storm. What occurred next is unknown, but it was under his guidance the loyalists were overthrown.

Pain. Blood. Death. It was these three that gave Sayyed the power to escape his bonds and raise the armies to break his foes. As the Empire of Thorns preaches, his Weak Flesh was scourged and given freely to the Dark Gods. Those that refused him gave their suffering, their lifeblood and their lives to power his war machines and augmetics. His followers scarred and rended their remaining flesh, turning upon the terrified menials. Wherever they went, the “Great Thorns” rose, pillars anointed in ritual spikes that fed from those unlucky enough to be placed upon them.

The Warp Storm ended but a decade later, and the Empire’s fleets spread among the stars. The Sector had completely collapsed in the interim, and the Bethorned found a sector ripe for their. Worlds were raided, populations enslaved. Countless were fed to torture forges and sacrificial engines. Above every forge tens of thousands hung impaled, their suffering lasting months as they were kept alive by the Great Thorns’ magics to fuel the mighty forges. Their goods were sold across the Sector, tempting even those fearful of their tainted nature such was the quality of their work. For time, they prospered and grew to be one of the mightiest of forces in the Sector. Some tales even suggest that the Ivory Lords were their cousins, or close partners.

Whatever the case, Selverus stamped them down. Their fleets were ravaged, their hideous tech-janissaries purged ruthlessly. Dozens of world they colonized were wiped clean, and the Empire fled to the depths of the Wyld. Had Selverus been given time, no doubt he would have pursued them in pursuit of the holy forge world, but in the end he would never have the chance. Even had other foes not become pressing, or he had not fallen a second time...The Bethorned used their sacrifices to power a 2nd Warp Storm, drowning those that sought them out.

For a time they hid, content in their research into ever more abominable works and the occasional trade with nations outside. But this isolationism did not sit well with many. Did not the gods demand blood, pain and death? Far more than the paltry amount allowed from the steadily dwindling slave populations? Had not Sayyed sacrificed his blood and flesh to free them of a Warp Storm, and now they gave birth to a second?

Did not mighty Khorne demand war?

The civil war between the Charnel Pact and the Bethorned lasted centuries and ravaged the Empire’s worlds. In the end, the Charnel Pact was forced to flee the worlds and even that had forced them to desperately destroy the conveyance generators. They fled, seeking to glorify Sayyed in the fires of war and the honoring of Khorne.

Of the Bethorned, ironically, the war forced them to look outwards once more. They took pacts with Malefactor Houses and Chaos Empires. When the Disciples of Xethos settled, the Bethorned and the Messiah himself forged an alliance bound in warp fire and daemon blood. The Disciples would shield the Empire of Thorns and offer their mastery of the warp, and in exchange the Empire’s hellspawned forges would be at their disposal. Still, they are far from the Bethorned’s only patrons, and their equipment is seen across the stars. Including warp touched rounds, Daemon-Engines and warships, but also soul fertilized agricultural formulae, transportation engines, power generators and more. All are highly effective, and all possess serrated edges, spikes and thorns to draw pain and blood from their users to aid in powering them.

Though they worship Chaos Undivided, intermixed with fell tech-Daemons and djinn and myriad minor gods, the most popular foci of their worship is of the terrible god Slaanesh in her aspects of perfection, secrets and above all else, pain. According to some legends it was the whispers of a Keeper of Secrets who taught Sayyed the power of Pain, though yet others suggest it was the spirits of T’char  who led him and fell warp magics and mutation often work their way into the Bethorned designs. Khorne is likewise honored, particularly by the Skitarii, but he has become disfavored since the rebellion of the Charnel Pact. Nurgle is little worshipped and seen predominantly as a god of death more than anything, particularly among the Thorn Warriors.

The Empire of Thorns may rely on the Disciples for protection but their own armies are significant. Favoring Skitarii over Servitors for the ability of the former to known true pain and death, the so called “Thorn Warriors” are eternally suffering with gruesomely attached augmetics that leave them in endless pain. Yet, these warriors morbidly rejoice in their suffering, sometimes letting out shrill, electronic laughter as enemy blades and shot tear into their forms. When at last they fall, it is a thing of celebration for his fellows. Along with their soldiers, the Empire hosts numerous formations of war engines, combat fleets and most fearsomely of all: the Titan Legio Sempiternus, augmented by nightmarish technology and daemon touched arcana.

The Bethorned worship the metal just as their Imperial counterparts do and consider the mortal frame weak. But not without worth, for they know that every rended part and opened vein grants power. Novitates are shockingly respected due to the flesh they have to give up, though with every sacrifice of their form they become viewed as greater. After all…

Pain. Blood. Death.
The universe rewards those willing to pay its price in those three currencies...