Long ago, legend has it, the ancestors of the Sherden Pact made the Great Journey from Consanguinity to the area of space now known as Sanguinary Utnapishtim. It is said that their great Etogaur, Atrahasis, was seeking the solution to the problem of death, to whit how best to inflict it upon all foes. In seeking this solution he wandered the galaxy far and wide, his most loyal retainers (known as the 'Sherden Pact') at his side. Until eventually he got word that the secret lay in the Utnapishtim, in the great cities of Uruk. There he came, he conquered, he laid waste. Great was the honour done to Khorne!

But never did Atrahasis Etogaur forget his true purpose, always amidst the holy carnage did he stick true to his vow. He would solve the problem of death, slaughter on the highest scale imaginable, and he would bring this solution back to his still remembered brothers of the Consanguinity. The Lord of Skulls blessed Atrahasis with long life, all so he could fulfil this most holy quest, and many were the years spent in contemplative massacre, and in burning down great libraries to see what wisdom may be wrought from their ashes.

After so long a search, the byproduct of his and retainers roving adventure had been the foundation of a small empire of blood unto itself; the Sanguinary Utnapishtim. Yet, while Atrahasis Etogaur was a pious man and reverent of the blood god in all his ways, even this great honour done for the skull throne was not enough. He had failed in his vow. He let out a scream of rage so loud, so mighty, it rent the galaxy in twain. His men collapsed, none able to withstand his wrath. When they awoke he was gone, though legend has it he will return when the solution to death is found, and lead his people once more. For that day the Sanguinary Utnapishtim prepares, now cut off from all contact with their long lost cousins in the Consanguinity, lost as they are on the other side of Atrahasis's wrath.

Their Empire endures, expands even, now (to their local reckoning of time) centuries after the rift isolated them. The stories you will read on here tell of their triumphs and tragedies, while below I outline some general inforation about the Sanguinary Utnapishtim.

Blue planets remain loyal to the Imperium. Indeed, Mot was targeted by the Empire for invasion, but turned out to be able to receive reinforcements from loyalist Astartes. The Sherden thus suffered a bruising defeat there, and it was only by the grace of the Skull Throne that the loyalist Space Marines were not able to trace the defeated Pactsmen back to their home. Enlil, on the other hand, has received no reinforcements, and the Sherden Pact are presently undertaking a righteous crusade to capture it. Kur, on the otherhand, saw a successful rebellion against its Imperial governor sometime after the opening of the Great Rift, but no one faction was able to achieve planetwide control. The Sanguinary Utnapishtim lacks the resources to launch a full scale invasion, for now, so maintains trade and diplomatic relations with the largest and wealthiest nations thereon, while covertly channeling resources to sympathetic native (Khornite) insurgents.

Displanit seemed a baron place, but with intuition guided by Mork (or possibly Gork) one of Warboss Morkiavelli’s mekboys had an inkling that there might be some cool gubbins down there. So along with some ladz he set down to get riflin’. The boys weren’t ‘alf pleased when dey discovered dat not only was dere cool stuff to loot, but turns out a bunch of da chromeboyz were all wakin’ from their long nap and ready to be krumped! Now there’s a right propa fight to be ‘ad!

Sanguinary Utnapishtim, in addition to the four cardinal systems (with its capital on Uruk), also controls a number of void stations. Mashu is vast and ancient, a relic of the dark age of technology, and shows clear signs of melding xenos and ancient human technology. It is warp capable. Even the smaller stations (marked in yellow) are sometimes capable of near self-sufficient continuous operation in the deep void. Geshtu especially is rich in such things, and they have proven invaluable logistical waypoints for the current slaughter-crusade to take Enlil. The discovery of one such deep void station in the Puratem Belt has made it possible to establish a slave-labour mining operation, yielding valuable metals for the forges of the moons of Erēni.

Kutha was too close to the great rift when it opened, and while it was not consumed entirely the region’s barrier between real space and the warp was utterly destroyed. Kutha thus became a daemon planet. A division of Word Bearers now maintain a significant presence thereon, and it is used as a staging ground for many dark rituals empowered by its abundant empiric energies.

At its core the Sanguinary Utnapishtim is a military theocracy, uncomfortably similar to the Imperium in many respects. Its two core organisations are hence the military, known as the Sherden Pact, and the Church, specifically the Church of the Burning Massacre. The relationship between these two organisations is not entirely harmonious, and they are actually subject to different institutional hierarchies and command structures. On the whole the Church is subordinate to the Pact. This is reflected in the fact that Uruk, the administrative centre of the Sherden, is the capital planet of the Empire; whereas Atrahasis is the spiritual centre and house to the High Magister and her bureaucracy - but distinctly subordinate to Uruk. Still, each needs the other, and on a day to day basis there is such thorough admixture of civic-military and religious-theological administration that most people think of the two as a monolithic power structure.

The Atrahasis system shows clear signs of having been witness to some ancient conflict, far predating humanity's ascent to the stars, with the remnants of shattered planets forming especially large moons and a dense asteroid field in the system halo. What is more, there are mysterious xenos artefacts to be found lying around, which are piously believed to be holy weapons by the faithful. Its major planet, now known as Atrahasis, was home to a former Imperial military academy. Quite unrelated to the ancient war which so broke the system, centuries ago a small Khornite cult briefly flourished among the conscript-cadets before being crushed by the local police. But shortly after they conquered the planet, pillaging Pactsmen found discarded sigils of Khorne in a seldom used lower level of the library that had simply been forgot about when the cult was put down. Between that and the evidence of a huge conflict having taken place here, the warriors of the Sherden came to believe that this system was holy to Khorne, that some glorious planet-shattering annihilation had taken place here, which came to be known as The Burning Massacre, and for which their Church is named. Between the symbolic awe this generated, and development of a satisfying ideology and rituals based upon an ancient terran text found in aforementioned library (they translated its title as "Beauty of Slaughter"), the Church eventually grew to such significance that its doctrines came to officially dictate the self-understanding of the Empire.

The fundamental divsion of Sanguinary Utnapishtim's society is into slaves, known as wardum, and those recognised as full persons, known as The Mighty. It is the highest good of the former to provide the means by which the latter can wage eternal war in Khorne's name, liberating their fellow Mighty persons across the galaxy from the servitude and delusion foisted upon them by the massed ranks of the weak. (For more on what they believe about these divisions see Pater Shamatii's Sermon!) This is not assumed to be a hereditory status, so trials are run from a young age wherein one is sorted into Mighty or Wardum classes.

The Church of the Burning Massacre administers those trials, which is the practical basis of much of their power within the Sanguinary Utnapishtim's society. What is more, the Mighty are then from the moment of sortition funnelled into an education system that is entirely a matter of indoctrination into Khornite fanaticism. As such, while of course no society ever has managed to get full compliace with, and uptake of, the doctrines of its religious authority; at least among those deemed Mighty and thus benefiting from this two-tier system, there tends to be deep and sincere affection for Church's doctrines, along with a pious (in many cases positively enthusiastic) desire to see them realised.

There are three core elements to their doctrines.

1. The Communal Ascent of the Mighty
2. The Greatest Slaughter of the Greatest Number
3. Might Makes Right

Re the first point, it stems from their theological interpretation of the sacred phrase "Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows" which has done so much to shape their culture. They interpret this as meaning that Khorne doesn't really have a particular preference for any individual especially. Their Lord just wants as many people as possible to be slaughtering as many people as possible. In fact since visionaries and prophets teach of an eternal battle happening beyond the veil of the warp, the best thing of all would be for all the Mighty to go join that battle, be able to do as much slaughtering as possible forever and ever. Hence their religion is about trying to create the possibility of the Mighty all acheiving daemonhood, or at least if not that then earning some sort of favoured place in Khorne's realm in the life to come.

How do the Mighty do this, one might ask? By working together to maximise - and they mean maximise - the blood spilled, the skulls taken. This is the second of their doctrines, the consequences of which shapes the Empire's activity. While they do indeed consider rage, fury, bloodlust (etc) to be sacred states of mind, higher planes of consciousness, they are wary of indulgence. They consider that to be selfish, on net a force of peace (traditionally one would spit on the ground or punch the nearest person to you upon even uttering the word "peace"), when immediate gratification of those emotions gets in the way of securing the long term slaughter of others. So much of their religious practice is dedicated to finding ways of ritually channelling warrior emotions into manageable and productive forms.

Of course, these are only broad directives. Specifics need to be worked out! Now, as discussed below, they do encourage people to take seriously the task of working out how to carry out appropriately resourced massacres. But there is no substitute for judgement, and in any case the cultural inclications carried over from the old-worlds of the Consanguinity incline them to authoritarianism and rigid hierarchical structure. Here they are more traditional Khornites; truth in any disputes about specifics is ultimately decided by strength, whoever can best the other in combat and (if needs be) kill dissenting voices, is presumed to have the Skull Throne's favour. This is how, for instance, the great theological battle concerning the place of xenos in the Empire was decided; the pro-xenos faction massacred their rivals, and this was taken to be a sign xenos must be alright. Likewise, the small band of Khornite Astartes, the Qarnu Anšar, who work with the Sanguinary Utnapishtim, are tolerated despite their evident lack of respect for the Church and its doctrines because, well, they're just so damn strong.

The Sherden Pact

For those found Mighty there are basically two paths in life. One is to become a minister for the Church of the Burning Massacre, first as a lay bretheren, then as a Pater, then if one makes it to the top one becomes the Magister. The other is to join the Sherden Pact as a warrior, become a Pactsman as they put it. (If one joins the Sherden but shows latent psychic talent one becomes a Goremage, who train with the Church but are ultimately still part of the military command structure.) These are simultaenously the military and the government of Sanguinary Utnapishtim, it being a pretty classic military dictatorship. The Etogaur of the Pact is thus the supreme leader of both the military and the Empire as a whole. Stability in the Empire requires the Magister and the Etogaur to get along, which may or may not be a given.

The Sherden Pact is on a constant crusade to liberate the Mighty from the fetters placed on them by the weak throughout the galaxy. Indeed they see the Emperor of the mankind as one example of such - the sheer extent of the slauther he organised in the Great Crusade showing that clearly he is a Mighty being who would have Khorne's favour, and the Golden Throne is the ultimate fetter to stop him ascending. To carry this crusade out they largely make use of conventional military tactics, albeit bolstered by their ability to call on Goremages and Paters of the Church of the Burning Massacre to invoke daemonic patrons' support.

Almost all wardum live fairly miserable lives as slave labourers. Now, wardum are owned by the state, not by any particular Mighty individual. Their activities are dictated by the logistician core, who essentially form a central planning division. Think of it as a system of multi-planetary war communism, but where the property in common includes slave labour. They have no rights, at all, against any Mighty individual. Ever. However, it is considered treasonous to deliberately set back the war effort, so if a Mighty does something to hinder the productivity of a region by hurting too many of its wardum to too great a degree, they will be punished for crimes against the state -- not against the wardum. That is the closest to legal protection anywardum enjoy in the Sanguinary Utnapishtim.

That said, there is something like an informal cultural degree of respect available to some wardum sometimes, which provides its own form of protection. That is, one skill which is considered possible for both wardum and Mighty to possess is logistical skill. Logistics is taken very seriously indeed by the Sherden Pact, so a high ranking logistician, even if wardum, will be afforded a measure of respect and command. What's more, a sufficiently well placed wardum might be considered so significant that harming their person itself damages the war effort, giving them a form of individualised legal protection. Indeed, by providing something to hope for even if one is a wardum it somewhat stabilises the Sanguinary Utnapishtim, by coralling talented and ambitious wardum into aspirations other than overthrowing the system. Smarter leaders of the Sherden Pact know this and make sure to be seen showing the appropriate wardum some measure of respect.

The centrality of logisticians goes further than just respect for such people. The Sanguinary Utnapishtim is probably unique among Khornite societies for having something like a professional class of economic researchers, whose task it is to work out how best to maximise the MPMr - Murders Per Moment ratio. (For some comedic short stories about the Saanguinary Utnapishtim's efforts to perfect its logistical calculation, check out the tales of the Office of Ceremonial Calculation.) It is believed that if only the Sherden can discern then implement the One True MPM Function they will complete Atrahasis Etogaur's holy task, and he will return once more. (Utilitarianism-but-for-murder is thus the state religion within Sanguinary Utnapishtim.) Whether or not it is true, perfecting the MPM function, along with reestablishing contact with the Consanguinity, are the most pious acts of service a person can perform.

So there we have the Sanguinary Utnapishtim! A realm of chaos, dedicated to Khorne in particular. Largely composed of mortal human worhsipers of the blood god, and of them the majority are wardum, slaves to the state. But it is incredibly militarised, on a constant total war footing, with the Sherden Pact forming both the government and the central economic focus of the society. It dedicates itself to waging perpetual crusade in the blood god's name, guided in its precepts by the religious teachings and ritual of the Church of the Burning Massacre. Due to their theological beliefs they take as very important the duty to not just kill but kill as much as possible, and as such try to maintain disciplined focus, as well as treating the intellectual challenges of logistical organisation fully seriously. They await the day their legendary leader, Atrahasis Etogaur, will return from his travels, satisfied that they have indeed solved the problem of death, and can then set about waging the final galactic war - arm in arm with their far away cousins in the Consanguinity once more.