The Twelve Trials of the Two Bull-Spawns

Between the towering Worlds' Edge Mountains in the west and the titanic
Mountains of Mourn in the east, there exists a stretch of volcanic desolation
and wasteland so hostile its inhabitants are scarcely more than infighting
Greenskins, roaming monsters, restless Undead and malevolent slavers hellbent on crushing life, nature and even reality itself under their cruel yoke.
These are the Dark Lands, and the only empire that have stood the test of
time amidst its unforgiving landscapes and horrors is that which legend
knows as the infernal realm of the Blacksmiths of Chaos.
It is an empire of immense size, yet filled with uncontrolled emptiness
between the strongholds of power. It is an empire of industry, slavery and
gruelling oppression. It is an empire of mysteries and heinous magic. It is a
realm of cruelty and suffering, of ash and smoke, of fire and darkness.
Some claim it to be hell itself.
Such is the world of the Dawi Zharr, a world governed by the devious will of
a Dark God and the decrees of His ruthless priesthood of Sorcerer-Prophets,
an elite caste of rival, absolute rulers, all vying for power whilst their flesh
turn to stone. This is a world of myths and secrets, of hidden truths and
lying Daemons. This is the cavalcade of legends that explains this world to
the Chaos Dwarfs.
And this is one of these stories.
It is said, that long ago when lightning split the sky and flames burst forth
from the depths of the earth, Chaos ruled. Magic poured into the world as
the weak races of old were beset by mutant beasts and Daemons alike.
Chaos ruled, and the ancestors of the Dawi Zharr were close to extinction.
Yet in the caves under the Great Skull Land, these lost Dwarfs of old were
saved from destruction by the Bull God, Hashut, the Father of Darkness. And
He made them His tribe that they might conquer creation itself for Him.
This was to be achieved through ages of neverending toil and war, and thus
Hashut in His wisdom granted His servants the gift of magic and the gift of
the bull. Not only did the Great Tauruses and their Lammasu offspring come
to the Chaos Dwarfs, but the bull entered the very blood of the Dawi Zharr,
and they were marked for greatness.
Those marked most strongly by this blessing were born two-thirds bull and
one-third Chaos Dwarf. Thus were born the first Bull Centaurs and Minotaurs
of Dawi Zharr stock. Yet Hashut soon tested these two bull-spawns by
pitting the strongest and most devout Bull Centaur, Bhaal, against the most
prominent Minotaur, Karul-Hizzar, in a contest to prove who was the better
servant of the Father of Darkness.

This was to be a trial of twelve tests.

First, Hashut laid out a vast banquet, and ordered the bull-spawns to
consume as much as they could stomach. They both set about it with great
fervour, yet in the end the Minotaur Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of
appetite.
Second, Hashut ordered the bull-spawns to prove their piety by fasting,
praying and singing hymns. The Bull Centaur Bhaal was awake day and
night and rambled through the holy verses, over and over again before the
shrine, yet the bestial nature of the Minotaur betrayed Karul-Hizzar, who fell
asleep and jumbled the verses. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of piety.
Third, Hashut took the bull-spawns to two gigantic boulders, and ordered
them to shatter the rocks with a single hit. Bhaal charged across the whole
Dark Lands to ram his boulder and managed to crack it severely. The
Minotaur, on the other hand, charged just as long as Bhaal did, but
succeeded in pulverizing his boulder entirely. Karul-Hizzar was victorious by
virtue of strength.
Fourth, Hashut led forth a female of the bull-spawns' respective kind,
shackled them to the ground and ordered the contestants to remain chaste
for sixty times sixty nights in the females' presence. Bhaal's devotion
carried him through the ordeal to the end, yet the Minotaur's beastly nature
betrayed Karul-Hizzar, and he fathered a whole race of illegitimate offspring.
Bhaal was victorious by virtue of obedience.
Fifth, Hashut placed the rivals at the bottom of a chasm shaped like an
inverted cone, and ordered them to make the world tremble with their
voices. The Bull Centaur yelled and made landslides crash down slopes all
across the world, crushing everything in their path. The Minotaur, on the
other hand, roared like the Dark Gods themselves and scarred the face of
the earth as the land cracked open and swallowed the living. Karul-Hizzar
was victorious by virtue of voice.
Sixth, Hashut rent open a gate to the Great Realm Beyond, and declared the
Daemon Prince Kharr'zixya to be His enemy. The bull-spawns trekked the
Realm of Chaos far and wide for years, slaying Daemon and hunting their
fickle prey. Eventually they found Kharr'zixya, a lithe Slaaneshi being with
the speed of a viper. Bhaal attacked and fought for weeks without rest, yet
the skill with blades of his enemy was superior to that of any mortal being
and carried Kharr'zixya through unharmed. Bhaal did not give in to the
Daemon's taunts. The Minotaur, on the other hand, became enraged by the
Daemon Prince's barbed words, and charged straight through the sweep of
Kharr'zixya's razor-sharp blades. He received horrendous wounds all over
his bovine body, yet slew the Slaaneshi foe and limped back to the mortal

realm. Karul-Hizzar was victorious by virtue of hatred, and had thus won two
tests more than his opponent had.
Seventh, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to race each other from the
northern Polar Gate to the Ash Ridge mountains. Great were their stamina,
yet in the end the Bull Centaur won out as the Minotaur's two legs proved
futile against his four. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of speed.
Eighth, Hashut named two Orc warleaders who had soiled his mighty idols,
and ordered the bull-spawns to dispatch of them in as terrific a way as was
possible. Bhaal stormed into the warcamp of the Orc Gurnak, scattered his
followers and trampled Gurnak into nothing but a gory mess. The Minotaur,
on the other hand, caught the Orc Magg when out riding his prized boar,
gouged out the Greenskin's eyes, flayed him with horns and claws, made
whips of the green hide and whipped the bleeding body before feeding
Magg alive to the warboar. He then ate the boar. Karul-Hizzar was victorious
once again, this time by virtue of cruelty, and laughed Bhaal in his grizzled
face.
Ninth, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to build a mighty fortress each.
The Bull Centaur climbed the dead volcano Azgorh and laboured without
sleep for twelve years to build, with his bare hands, what would one day
become the core citadel of the Tower of Gorgoth. Yet the Minotaur's bestial
nature betrayed Karul-Hizzar, who piled a small mound of stones and bones
atop Crookback Mountain, before lazily strolling off to sleep and hunt
whenever he felt like it. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of toil.
Tenth, Hashut chose His best warrior from amongst the Chaos Dwarfs,
Azharkul the Slaughterer, and told the two bull-spawns that they must
endure pain. Blessed by the Sorcerer-Prophets, Azharkul went over to Bhaal
and cut his gut wide open with a massive axe swipe. Bhaal stood stonyfaced without uttering a sound or blinking his eyes as Azharkul the
Slaughterer then went over to the Minotaur, whose beastly nature betrayed
him. Azharkul heaved mightily into Karul-Hizzar's right shoulder, and the
Minotaur roared with pain as he reached out and devoured Azharkul whole.
Bhaal was victorious by virtue of endurance, and the score was even.
Eleventh, Hashut ordered the two bull-spawns to capture and shackle the
cowardly Gryphon twins Dhar and Vhar, who rather flew away than face
danger. Fearing divine wrath, Karul-Hizzar stalked the more cunning Bhaal
and learnt from the Bull Centaur's ways how to track and ambush his prey.
Bhaal waited for the winds to blow against him, and then jumped the craven
Dhar from a precipice, crashing the creature to the ground before chaining
him. Yet the beastly nature of the Minotaur betrayed him, and he charged
off his precipice before the wind turned, thus failing to capture the alarmed
Vhar. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of self-restraint.

Twelfth, Hashut tasked the two bull-spawns with performing a flawless

sacrifice to Him. Bhaal tortured a Human as per ritual, stringent in every
detail, then flayed the man and tossed him into a cauldron of molten gold.
Yet the beastly nature of the Minotaur betrayed Karul-Hizzar. Hungry from
the previous hunt, he would not offer the Father of Darkness His due, but
instead ate the sacrifice raw, goring himself on Human blood and shaming
his kin for all eternity. Bhaal was victorious by virtue of sacrifice.
And thus Hashut recognized the sacred qualities of Bhaal and his Bull
Centaur race, and declared them His rightful sons and temple guardians.
Wise of Chaos, however, the fiery Bull God did neither curse, nor strike
down Karul-Hizzar nor order a final duel to take place between the two bullspawns, but instead denied his parentage and cast out the Minotaur and his
race to roam the wilderness of the world as Chaos willed it.
And to this day, no mortal knows the number of Minotaurs with drops of
Chaos Dwarf blood running in their veins.