"It was going to die there, in this foul and miserable place, the burial ground of some forsaken and wicked people who had long ceased to befoul the world. From the cairns issued a dark mist, and that mist coalesced into a form something like a man, but far bigger, indistinct, and ill-proportioned. The Dragon's blood gave it form. Three green eyes burned deep inside it, and a voice issued that was barely distinguishable from the cold hiss of the mountain winds. Its words were obscure, but its meanings were clear. It was without a body, sustained here only by the ancient hate of those who had worshipped it. The Dragon was going to die there if some supernatural force did not intercede. And between them, they were making a pact."
- —The Tale of Baudros[2a]
Baudros, corrupted two-headed Chaos Dragon, being ridden by Egrimm van Horstmann, Champion of Tzeentch.
Baudros, the Dragon formerly known as "Splinterwing," is a two-headed Chaos Dragon abomination mutated by the raw powers of Chaos. Baudros currently serves as the partner and flying steed of Egrimm van Horstmann, Champion of Tzeentch. This massive draconic monstrosity is bloated and warped beyond recognition; with folds of black-grey scaled flesh bulging over the tops of its legs, a crooked back ridged with plates of bone, and a thick tail more akin to a deadly spiky club. [2a]
One head is bestial; with a brutal under-shot jaw full of upwards-jutting fangs and tiny red eyes buried in ridges of bone. The other head is clever; its frame long and slender, a greenish tongue that lashes like a caged snake, and with eyes that are sharp as steel. With one head spouting out black fire, and the other spewing out acidic bile, Baudros is destruction incarnate, leaving naught but ruin in its wake.[2a]
During the time of the Emperor Magnus the Pious in the 24th century IC, Baudros was awoken from his slumber by the foul winds blowing south during the Great War Against Chaos. He was a threat to all of the Empire, bringing devastation and spreading the foul taint of Chaos. It was only by the efforts of the High Elf archmage Teclis, one of the most powerful wizards the world has ever known, that Baudros was defeated.[2a]
However, not even he could finish off the beast, so with no other option, Teclis imprisoned the Chaos Dragon in a magical chamber buried beneath the ground, which eventually became the location of the College of Light in Altdorf. The greatest defence against the release of Baurdos was that no mortal knew about the beast's whereabouts...no mortal except Egrimm van Horstmann.[2a]
Tzeentch, the Chaos God of sorcery, whispered to van Horstmann the location of Baudros' prison, and the corrupted sorcerer summarily released the warped Chaos Dragon. Van Horstmann made a pact with Baudros, and he escaped the College of Light, blasting through its edifice with tainted fire, and flying north towards the Chaos Wastes. [2b]
History[]
Baudros is a Dragon in the same way that a knight is a suit of armour. The flesh of the Dragon is but a shell containing the will of a being far more sinister.[2a]
Before the being that is Baudros came to be, there was only Splinterwing, a powerful Dragon whom made its home in mountains near fair Bretonnia. One day, mounted knights came to slay the Dragon in the name of their deity: the Lady of the Lake.[2a]
They were unsuccessful, and many knights died that day as they were smashed to a pulp or burned to a crisp by the Dragon's flame. However, Splinterwing was left with mortal wounds, and would soon succumb to its injuries. With the last of its strength it hauled itself up higher and higher up the mountain, almost as if guided by the large green moon in the sky known as Morrslieb.[2a]
The Dragon eventually reached a cairn of a long dead people, where live sacrifices were thrown into a pit to appease some forgotten gods. It was there in this cairn the Dragon laid, the last of its lifeblood pooling on the ground where uncountable sacrifices had taken place. Then, an indistinct figure emerged from the pooling blood of the Dragon, a figure that had three glowing green eyes and appeared to be made entirely of a dark mist.[2a]
It was a daemonic entity of Chaos, sustained and trapped in that burial ground by the pure hatred of those who sacrificed to it. It promised to save the life of the Dragon, and all it had to do was take the Daemon with it. Splinterwing agreed to the terms of the Daemon to save its life, and that foul entity eventually possessed the Dragon's body, subduing its mind and will and mutating it into a two-headed Chaos Dragon. Thus was the terror that is Baudros born.[2a]