Sanguinary Scholarship
Header: me sitting in judgement of your story submissions
The Blood God by Neillustrate -- used with artist's permission.
This short story was written by William Burns
Journal of Murder vol. CCIV, no. 3,
a publication of the Taruoduron Scholastarium.
Abstracts:
“The Great Puzzle: Murder and Gender in the Sanguinary Utnapishtim”
by Lubulganda
Studies of murder in the Imperium and most other historically known human societies reveals a tremendous imbalance in favor of male murderers. And yet in the Sanguinary Utnapishtim, murder rates by gender are much closer, with females committing 47% of all murders. After examining various hypotheses, including the influence of Xenos races with different traditions of murder and gender, the author concludes by supporting the theory that the distinction between Mighty and Wardum has largely come to replace gender as the principal social and cultural division in the Sanguinary Utnapishtim.
“A Legendary Murderer: was the Ripper a Khornate?”
by Heltrosk Manniver
The names of few murderers from the pre-spaceflight civilization have been handed down to us. One exception is the legendary Ripper of London, a now-lost city on Terra. Separating truth from legend in the case of the Ripper is difficult, given that surviving records are often of dubious provenance. The author discusses then dismisses the popular theory that the Ripper was a demonic entity eventually slain by the legendary early spacefarer Captain Kirk, in favor of the hypothesis that the Ripper was one of the first human followers of Khorne, possibly the first. The article concludes with a discussion of a Khornate congregation that has incorporated a tribute to the Ripper in its liturgy.
“Murder and Conversion: A Case Study from Kur”
by Trid of Engala
Murder plays an important role in Khornate missionary work on Kur. This article examines the case of Brella, a housemaid on Kur, subject to both physical and psychological abuse by her employers. Missionaries identified Brella as one of the Mighty, and converted her from the worship of the Emperor to the Blood God. Brella demonstrated her Mighty status and embrace of her new faith by slaughtering every member of her employer’s family, dedicating their deaths to Khorne and witnessing to the Lord of Skulls before her execution (her eyes gazing on the River; her skull adorning the Throne). The article, based on interviews with the missionaries who converted Brella, concludes by discussing how this success can be duplicated by other missionaries of Khorne.
Submissions:
Submissions should be directed to the Journal of Murder offices at Taruoduron Scholastarium. All submissions are referred to peer review. Rejections are subject to a Trial of Might between the rejecting referee and the submittor (in case of multi-author submissions, the authors may choose a champion amongst themselves.) Referees may also challenge submittors, as in the case of work they judge so poor as to be a waste of their time or failure to be cited. The names of victors will be recorded in the reaping-season issue.