The Butcher's Return

Aye the stories claim Kurzan was slain, but 'is body was nae recovered, nor confirmed ta be admist the dead. Some think the beast survived, but nae I feel that be unlikely. Ta many witnesses ta the death. Nae, I think the body died. I think the creature was pulled ta serve its dark masters for eternity in the Void. I think the ogre became a nightmare because o' our collective fear o' 'im. One day it'll be back, and when that happens, Suranth will bleed, an' bleed heavily. It will be a time o' terror, death, violence an' blood.

This myth is not a story or legend in the classic sense, not well told or written down, but more a word of mouth fear passed along by soldiers and other violence traumatized individuals with historical knowledge when in their cups or otherwise afflicted with sour moods. The idea that the scourge known as Kurzan the Butcher could return, that his death was not 'finished' properly, or the idea that perhaps the Void-Blessed ogre was not dead, merely laid low, and his followers carried him off, is a prevalent one even now, decades later. That fear remains culturally within the Suranthi people.

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The truth is far more sinister. Kurzan's essence was pulled forth into the Void, to the endless arenas of Iracundia, and a new Nightmare of Wrath was born from his twisted soul. His weapon, Spine-Seeker, shattered and splintered about the battlefield, dormant trophys taken by some of the victors. The three shards hold some of the beast's essence within, a tangible and permanent link to the Materium that, if they were reunited and bonded back togther once more, the beast could use to manifest itself with some stability upon the Materium to once again drown the lands of the Suranthi in blood and skulls.