The Twelve Trials of the Two Bull-Spawns

Between the towering Worlds' Edge Mountains in the west and the titanic Mountains of Mourn in the east, there exists a stretch of volcanic desolation and wasteland so hostile its inhabitants are scarcely more than infighting Greenskins, roaming monsters, restless Undead and malevolent slavers hell-bent on crushing life, nature and even reality itself under their cruel yoke. These are the Dark Lands, and the only empire that have stood the test of time amidst its unforgiving landscapes and horrors is that which legend knows as the infernal realm of the Blacksmiths of Chaos.

It is an empire of immense size, yet filled with uncontrolled emptiness between the strongholds of power. It is an empire of industry, slavery and gruelling oppression. It is an empire of mysteries and heinous magic. It is a realm of cruelty and suffering, of ash and smoke, of fire and darkness.

Some claim it to be hell itself.

Such is the world of the Dawi Zharr, a world governed by the devious will of a Dark God and the decrees of His ruthless priesthood of Sorcerer-Prophets, an elite caste of rival, absolute rulers, all vying for power whilst their flesh turn to stone. This is a world of myths and secrets, of hidden truths and lying Daemons. This is the cavalcade of legends that explains this world to the Chaos Dwarfs.

And this is one of these stories.

It is said, that long ago when lightning split the sky and flames burst forth from the depths of the earth, Chaos ruled. Magic poured into the world as the weak races of old were beset by mutant beasts and Daemons alike. Chaos ruled, and the ancestors of the Dawi Zharr were close to extinction. Yet in the caves under the Great Skull Land, these lost Dwarfs of old were saved from destruction by the Bull God, Hashut, the Father of Darkness. And He made them His tribe that they might conquer creation itself for Him.

This was to be achieved through ages of neverending toil and war, and thus Hashut in His wisdom granted His servants the gift of magic and the gift of the bull. Not only did the Great Tauruses and their Lammasu offspring come to the Chaos Dwarfs, but the bull entered the very blood of the Dawi Zharr, and they were marked for greatness.

Those marked most strongly by this blessing were born two-thirds bull and one-third Chaos Dwarf. Thus were born the first Bull Centaurs and Minotaurs of Dawi Zharr stock. Yet Hashut soon tested these two bull-spawns by pitting the strongest and most devout Bull Centaur, Bhaal, against the most prominent Minotaur, Karul-Hizzar, in a contest to prove who was the better servant of the Father of Darkness.

This was to be a trial of twelve tests.

First, Hashut laid out a vast banquet, and ordered the bull-spawns to consume as much as they could stomach. They both set about it with great fervour, yet in the end the Minotaur Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of appetite.

Second, Hashut ordered the bull-spawns to prove their piety by fasting, praying and singing hymns. The Bull Centaur Bhaal was awake day and night and rambled through the holy verses, over and over again before the shrine, yet the bestial nature of the Minotaur betrayed Karul-Hizzar, who fell asleep and jumbled the verses. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of piety.

Third, Hashut took the bull-spawns to two gigantic boulders, and ordered them to shatter the rocks with a single hit. Bhaal charged across the whole Dark Lands to ram his boulder and managed to crack it severely. The Minotaur, on the other hand, charged just as long as Bhaal did, but succeeded in pulverizing his boulder entirely. Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of strength.

Fourth, Hashut led forth a female of the bull-spawns' respective kind, shackled them to the ground and ordered the contestants to remain chaste for sixty times sixty nights in the females' presence. Bhaal's devotion carried him through the ordeal to the end, yet the Minotaur's beastly nature betrayed Karul-Hizzar, and he fathered a whole race of illegitimate offspring. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of obedience.

Fifth, Hashut placed the rivals at the bottom of a chasm shaped like an inverted cone, and ordered them to make the world tremble with their voices. The Bull Centaur yelled and made landslides crash down slopes all across the world, crushing everything in their path. The Minotaur, on the other hand, roared like the Dark Gods themselves and scarred the face of the earth as the land cracked open and swallowed the living. Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of voice.

Sixth, Hashut rent open a gate to the Great Realm Beyond, and declared the Daemon Prince Kharr'zixya to be His enemy. The bull-spawns trekked the Realm of Chaos far and wide for years, slaying Daemon and hunting their fickle prey. Eventually they found Kharr'zixya, a lithe Slaaneshi being with the speed of a viper. Bhaal attacked and fought for weeks without rest, yet the skill with blades of his enemy was superior to that of any mortal being and carried Kharr'zixya through unharmed. Bhaal did not give in to the Daemon's taunts. The Minotaur, on the other hand, became enraged by the Daemon Prince's barbed words, and charged straight through the sweep of Kharr'zixya's razor-sharp blades. He received horrendous wounds all over his bovine body, yet slew the Slaaneshi foe and limped back to the mortal realm. Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of hatred, and had thus won two tests more than his opponent had.

Seventh, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to race each other from the northern Polar Gate to the Ash Ridge mountains. Great were their stamina, yet in the end the Bull Centaur won out as the Minotaur's two legs proved futile against his four. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of speed.

Eighth, Hashut named two Orc warleaders who had soiled his mighty idols, and ordered the

bull-spawns to dispatch of them in as terrific a way as was possible. Bhaal stormed into the warcamp of the Orc Gurnak, scattered his followers and trampled Gurnak into nothing but a gory mess. The Minotaur, on the other hand, caught the Orc Magg when out riding his prized boar, gouged out the Greenskin's eyes, flayed him with horns and claws, made whips of the green hide and whipped the bleeding body before feeding Magg alive to the warboar. He then ate the boar. Karul-Hizzar was victorious once again, this time by virtue of cruelty, and laughed Bhaal in his grizzled face.

Ninth, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to build a mighty fortress each. The Bull Centaur climbed the dead volcano Azgorh and laboured without sleep for twelve years to build, with his bare hands, what would one day become the core citadel of the Tower of Gorgoth. Yet the Minotaur's bestial nature betrayed Karul-Hizzar, who piled a small mound of stones and bones atop Crookback Mountain, before lazily strolling off to sleep and hunt whenever he felt like it. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of toil.

Tenth, Hashut chose His best warrior from amongst the Chaos Dwarfs, Azharkul the Slaughterer, and told the two bull-spawns that they must endure pain. Blessed by the Sorcerer-Prophets, Azharkul went over to Bhaal and cut his gut wide open with a massive axe swipe. Bhaal stood stony-faced without uttering a sound or blinking his eyes as Azharkul the Slaughterer then went over to the Minotaur, whose beastly nature betrayed him. Azharkul heaved mightily into Karul-Hizzar's right shoulder, and the Minotaur roared with pain as he reached out and devoured Azharkul whole. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of endurance, and the score was even.

Eleventh, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to capture and shackle the cowardly Gryphon twins Dhar and Vhar, who rather flew away than face danger. Fearing divine wrath, Karul-Hizzar stalked the more cunning Bhaal and learnt from the Bull Centaur's ways how to track and ambush his prey. Bhaal waited for the winds to blow against him, and then jumped the craven Dhar from a precipice, crashing the creature to the ground before chaining him. Yet the beastly nature of the Minotaur betrayed him, and he charged off his precipice before the wind turned, thus failing to capture the alarmed Vhar. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of self-restraint.

Twelfth, Hashut tasked the two bull-spawns with performing a flawless sacrifice to Him. Bhaal tortured a Human as per ritual, stringent in every detail, then flayed the man and tossed him into a cauldron of molten gold. Yet the beastly nature of the Minotaur betrayed Karul-Hizzar. Hungry from the previous hunt, he would not offer the Father of Darkness His due, but instead ate the sacrifice raw, goring himself on Human blood and shaming his kin for all eternity. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of sacrifice.

And thus Hashut recognized the sacred qualities of Bhaal and his Bull Centaur race, and declared them His rightful sons and temple guardians. Wise of Chaos, however, the fiery Bull God did neither curse, nor strike down Karul-Hizzar nor order a final duel to take place between the two bull-spawns, but instead denied his parentage and cast out the Minotaur and his race to roam the wilderness of the world as Chaos willed it.

And to this day, no mortal knows the number of Minotaurs with drops of Chaos Dwarf blood running in their veins.