While many nefarious Daemon Princes have come and gone through the ages, none are as prolific and yet still mysterious as Be’lakor, the Dark Master. What you may not know is that, as a Daemon of Chaos, he appears in both Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000. While his schemes in the Mortal Realms will be laid bare in Broken Realms: Be’lakor, you don’t have to wait to find out what he’s been up to in the 41st Millennium.
He cuts a glorious figure, doesn’t he? You’ll be glad to know that, as a true champion of Chaos, the Dark Master continues the new tradition of displaying an unlucky Primaris Lieutenant on their base (like a certain Warmaster), and when built for Warhammer 40,000 he comes festooned with appropriate trophies around his detailed model.
The true events surrounding Be’lakor’s ascension to daemonhood are lost to the mists of time, but what is known is that, just like in the world-that-was, he somehow managed to court the favour of all four Dark Gods, who each poured a portion of their power into him to serve as their herald in the material plane.
As is often the case with the machinations of Chaos, their plan didn’t quite work perfectly. They began to squabble and fight over who got to use their new favourite toy next, all while Be’lakor himself did as he pleased. Predictably, the Chaos Gods lost interest and began to raise their own, loyal Daemon Princes instead, leaving the Dark Master to fade into the shadows.
Since then, Be’lakor has appeared in every corner of the galaxy, leading hordes of Chaos Daemons, subjugating empires, and forcing billions to worship him as their god. Once a population’s usefulness has been exhausted by his greed and malevolence, he simply moves on and finds a new race to become his playthings – a habit he clearly learned from his spiritual parents.
On the battlefield, the Dark Master is a terrifying figure cloaked in ethereal darkness. Like most Daemon Princes, he’s a powerful psyker, drawing powers from his own Noctic discipline.* But, as many unfortunate souls can no longer attest, the real thing to watch out for is his massive Blade of Shadows.
Be’lakor is so good at swinging that thing, he can neatly bisect a Land Raider in a single turn on an average day, and any lesser vehicle might as well be a child’s toy in his hands. Ancient refractor fields and preternatural agility won’t help you either – with the ability to ignore invulnerable saves at will, not even a Primarch is safe from the shadowy Daemon Prince’s wrath.
As if being a proper close-combat monster wasn’t enough, he’s deceptively hard to hit for a massive winged Daemon. Enemy fire seems to pass right through his shadowy body, which could almost make you think he wasn’t real if not for that giant sword cutting your mates in half.
You can find the full rules for Be’lakor in an upcoming supplement for Warhammer 40,000, so stay tuned to Warhammer Community to find out when you can bring the First Prince’s schemes to your tabletops.
* To learn more about that, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for his full rules coming later this year.