Once a Bloodletter enters combat, it transforms into a whirlwind of death, spinning and turning its weapons faster than the eye can follow. Only the best-trained troops could ever hope to match a Bloodletter in close quarters, and the skulls that pile around Khorne’s throne are a testament to all who have failed in the attempt.
Each Bloodletter collects skulls for its master through the use of their mighty Hellblades. These terrible swords glow with runes of slaughter and screech like cooling steel when drenched with the blood of the fallen. These blades each harness a small portion of the Blood God’s ceaseless rage, and with each life a Bloodletter takes, the blades grow in power.
As with all of Khorne’s influence, there are very few instances of Bloodletters appearing upon the worlds of Askellon beyond the seven Crimson Incursions. The Askellian Ordo Malleus notes several cults that have had some success summoning singular or small groups of Bloodletters—always to the detriment of the summoners—but for the most part the people of the sector know nothing of their existence. The only story that persists is the “Red Men of Saint Daphon,” apparently a tale of a long-dead preacher who once won a great victory when she called eight red-clad warriors to her side. Some tell the story as if the powerful warriors were members of the Adeptus Astartes, whereas many more believe that Daphon called upon darker powers to ensure her victory. Elements of both the Ordo Malleus and the Ecclesiarchy have tried to suppress the story, but it persists among many of the Low Worlds, often as a tale to frighten children lest the terrible Red Men reappear again.