The Asylumists

Butchers

Deep within the Asylum Cities, the endless hordes of Asylumists fought.

From the moment they emerged into the world, their waking lives were consumed by a lust for slaughter. They would kill or be killed, with only the most savage able to fight their way out from the heart of the machines that had brought them into existence. Beyond, they could seek more worthy prey.

The Asylum Cities descended into a hellish landscape of blood and war. Bodies clogged the streets as fighting raged across this realm of the dead. The Blood Engines watched as their kin tore one another to pieces, learning to wield weapons with frightening speed and adapting relentlessly to their quarry.

Although the Blood Engines could enslave vast numbers to serve them—such as the Death Squads and Heavies—there would never be enough. The same unending waves that tore through the planet’s other races would eventually set their sights on them.

Power was needed. Stronger, more destructive weapons and machines had to be deployed to keep the horde—and any other would-be attackers—at bay.

The Blood Engines devised a way to access an abundant power source for their endeavours: the endless mass of bodies piling up among the buildings. Soon, gigantic machines drilled and tunnelled through skyscraper-tall mounds of the dead, spewing blood and pus. In some areas of the Asylum Cities, it literally rained blood as these gargantuan machines mashed biological waste into usable biofuel.

With their fuel source secured, the Blood Engines entered the old factories of the Asylum Cities’ former residents and set their production lines to work. Glowing factories sprang up across the cities, billowing black smoke into the air. The grinding of machinery and the roar of forges echoed across the plains, carried alongside the screams of murder.

Although they now possessed an abundant power supply for their experiments, the Blood Engines knew the Horde would attack their Grinders mercilessly to reach the pilots. And so, a bodyguard was created.

Butchers rode atop the enormous, caterpillar-like Grinders, ensuring that any hitchhikers intent on killing the drivers were swiftly dealt with. Pumped full of chemicals that made them hardier, stronger and capable of regeneration, they served alongside the Blood Engines’ machines—and, in some cases, ventured onto the battlefield in service of their masters.