In
Gloranthan mythology, a hideous
Chaos demon that was tamed by the
Red Goddess, and which now flies around the frontiers of the
Lunar Empire, attacking
barbarian villages and
terrorizing enemies of the Empire.
In
God Time, the Crimson Bat was
just an ordinary bat. When
Chaos invaded and corrupted the world, it was mutated into the
nightmare it is now. The Crimson Bat roamed the world freely until it was banished to
the Hero Plane by
Arkat. When the Red Goddess made her
Quest of
Apotheosis, the enemies of the young Empire converged on the
capital; when She returned, she was
riding the Crimson Bat, and
sore wroth. The Lunars kicked ass all over their enemies that day.
The Bat destroys the
spirit of the beings it consumes; like many of the other ways Chaos kills, there is no way to
resurrect a victim of the Crimson Bat.
There is a cult of the Crimson Bat. Its members cling to the 'Bat as it migrates and feeds, hunting down barbarians and farmers to feed the 'Bat. If the 'Bat starts getting hungry and its cult is not helping it find food, it eats the cult members, starting with the laity and working up through ranks of initiates, acolytes, and high priests as necessary. The Crimson Bat is associated with runes of
Chaos,
Moon, and
Beast. It radiates a "Full Moon" effect on
Lunar cyclical magic in a radius of 20km.