Chaos (Warhammer)

Realm of Chaos

''Slaves to Darkness''

''The Lost and the Damned''

Conceptual origins

Chaos Gods

• Khorne: the Chaos God of bloodlust, war, rage, blood, honour in battle, and skulls. Khorne's followers favour close combat and melee weapons, abhorring wizards or psykers, considering them to be below a true warrior and gaining undue advantages from their spells. Khorne is also the god of courage and honor, but these trappings are, more often than not, eventually discarded in favor of the primary goal of killing. While he blesses his followers by granting them strength and martial prowess, Khorne does not truly care from what or whom the blood flows, so long as the blood continues to spill. His Dark Tongue name, "Kharneth", means Lord of Blood. Khorne is a god who rules from his Skull Throne, revelling in violence and murder. He always inspires his followers to great rage and bloodlust. People may pray to Khorne for great strength but usually end up serving him as a vessel of murder and violence. His material form is a mighty, humanoid being wearing brass armor and sitting atop an enormous throne of skulls, his face twisted in an unnaturally wide smile. His holy number is 8 and his main enemy god is Slaanesh. Those who worship Khorne are strong warriors seeking to earn his favor by slaying mighty beasts and slaughtering mass populations. His main daemons are the Bloodletters, Flesh Hounds, and Juggernauts. They are led by massive Greater Daemons called Bloodthirsters. His realm is described to be a giant killing field with warriors constantly fighting and dying at his feet. His followers often use "blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!" chanted once or repeatedly as their battle cry.
• Tzeentch: the Chaos God of change, fate, ambition, planning and schemes, lies, politics, sorcery, mutation, hope, and knowledge. Tzeentch's followers are powerful sorcerers who prefer to channel the energies of the Winds of Magic, or the Warp to kill opponents at a distance rather than get close to enemies or combat them directly. Tzeentch is also the god of progress and understanding, but these principles are abandoned in his plots and plans, his only goal to control and manipulate. Tzeentch may bless his followers with multiple eyes that can see into the next plane of reality, or with avian-like wings, but he still weaves even their fates into his great webs. Tzeentch's Dark Tongue name, "Tzeeneth", means Master of Change. Tzeentch is always scheming, his every action feeding into his great, winding plots and plans that only he can comprehend. Tzeentch controls and changes the fates of all and weaves them intricately into his devious web of manipulation and greed. People might pray for sight through lies and knowledge, but when Tzeentch listens, he always grants these wishes in twisted ways. He has no material form, as it constantly shifts and changes. His holy number is 9 and his main enemy god is Nurgle. Those who worship Tzeentch are sorcerers and magicians hungry for knowledge and pursuing a greater understanding of the universe. His main daemons are the Horrors, Flamers and Screamers, and Discs. They are led by avianoid Greater Daemons called Lords of Change. His realm is described as a crystalline maze that constantly shifts and distorts, leading people who enter it into unimaginable levels of madness. His followers do not normally use a battle cry, instead muttering about "the plans" during battle.
• Nurgle: the Chaos God of decay, plague, despair, disease, endurance, tolerance, joy, acceptance, compassion, empathy, entropy, death, and rebirth. Nurgle's followers draw most of their power in combat from the deadly, putrid diseases they carry and their blights given by these diseases which quite literally energize the followers and even "blessed" sorcerous technologies they use. Nurgle is also the god of life and rebirth, but these traits are buried under decay and blight due to the War in Heaven and the horrific state of the galaxy's peoples. Nurgle gifts his followers with poxes, boils, rashes, sores and other blights and assorted diseases, but unlike his brethren, he takes pride and happiness in any who follow in his blighted footsteps. His Dark Tongue name, "Nurghleth", means the Lord of Decay. His power comes from the inevitability of death and decay, and Nurgle is often referred to as 'Grandfather Nurgle', as entropy is the most ancient of forces, and he is the only one who cares for his followers. Nurgle thrives in death and decay, growing more powerful as great plagues spread, and his servants seek only to spread disease. Nurgle also prides himself on the achievements of his followers, "gifting" them with hideous diseases while sheltering them from pain, fear, disgust, and horror and his followers rejoice in their blessings, shrugging off lethality and disfigurement in a state of rapturous undeath without dying. People in sickness might pray to Nurgle for relief, but rather than heal the sick, Nurgle helps them endure their illness by removing their pain and misery, all the while exacerbating their physical degeneration. His physical form is a large blob of putrid sickness and disease. His holy number is 7 and his main enemy god is Tzeentch. Those who worship Nurgle are those suffering and wanting freedom from sickness and pain, unaware that they are rapidly becoming more sick yet feeling less pain. His main daemons are the Plaguebearers, his Nurglings, his Beasts, and his Rot Flies. They are led by Greater Daemons known as Great Unclean Ones, which are physically manifestations of himself in the material world and so terrible that most mortals are instantly driven insane just by looking at one. His realm is described to be a massive rotting garden filled with death and decay. It is said that he has captured the Eldar goddess Isha, who whispers the cures of Nurgle's plagues to those in the material realm.
• Slaanesh: the Chaos God of excess, pleasure, pain, extremes, hedonism, desire, beauty, perfection, excellence, and love. In both settings, they are the youngest of the four gods; they are typically considered androgynous, and while they are often referred to as being male, in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Eldar races consider them to be female. Their Dark Tongue name, "Slaaneth", means the Prince of Pleasure. Their followers seek only to indulge in whatever fleeting whims and desires they feel, and they tend to become graceful, beautiful warriors who harbor selfish, cruel souls. In the Warhammer 40,000 background, they were birthed from the excesses and hedonism of the Eldar society. Their birth created a psychic shockwave that spread across the galaxy, killing most of the Eldar population and their gods; the survivors split into the various Eldar factions. It also created the largest warp storm in the Milky Way, the Eye of Terror, which later became the main residence of the scattered Chaos Space Marines. The fall of the Eldar empire paved the way for the rise of the Imperium of Man. In Warhammer Fantasy, his followers are partly responsible for the corruption of an important Elven leader named Malekith, and the subsequent schism that led to the formation of the Dark and High Elf races. His physical form is an androgynous being of the most physical beauty. His holy number is 6 and his main enemy god is Khorne. Those who worship Slaanesh are those who either wish to achieve the most popularity amongst their fellow men or the most ecstatic pleasure, pleasure beyond imaginable. His main daemons are the Daemonettes, the Fiends, and his Steeds. They are led by Greater Daemons called the Keepers of Secrets, lithe creatures with unholy beauty. His realm is described to be a massive castle in the middle of seven circles, each representing one of the classical seven deadly sins. People cannot make it through without succumbing to some type of flaw.

• Malice: the Chaos God of anarchy, also known as Malal in early Warhammer canon, is one of the most disputed and lesser known of the Chaos Gods. He represents the anarchical nature of chaos, and so seeks to displace his fellow gods completely. While he does not appear in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar or Warhammer Fantasy, there is a Chaos Space Marine warband in Warhammer 40,000 called the Sons of Malice, which are his followers. His holy number is 11.
• The Great Horned Rat: the Chaos God of blight and pestilence, is a recent addition to the Chaos Pantheon, only found in the universe of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. After the destruction of the Old World and the capture of Slaanesh, the god of the chaos race known as the Skaven, the Horned Rat, was renamed the Great Horned Rat and made a Chaos God. He longs for the destruction of civilization and desires for the respect and becoming the equal of his brother gods, who look down upon him. His physical form is a gigantic anthropomorphic rat. His holy number is 13. The only ones who worship him are the race called the Skaven, half-rat, half-man monstrosities who formerly lived under the earth of the Old World, now spread throughout the Mortal Realms. His main daemons are the Skaven themselves and their monstrous beasts and machines that they have created. They are led by "enlightened" priests called Grey Seers and large Greater Daemons called Verminlords, gigantic rats armed with armor and large weaponry.
• Hashut: the Chaos God of darkness. Known as the Father of Darkness, Hashut is the god worshiped by the Chaos Dwarfs, now stylized as the Legion of Azgorh. He is described to have a brazen bull head and rules a great city called Zharr-Naggrund, the City of Fire and Desolation. His main followers are the chaos dwarfs and he has some daemons, notably bovine-like monstrosities such as the Lammasu and the Great Taurus.

  Chaos Space Marines

Black Crusades

• 13th Black Crusade: Arguably, the thirteenth Black Crusade is the most successful Black Crusade yet, with others believing that it signals the end times for the Warhammer universe. It began during the year 999 of M41, when multiple sightings of space hulks were reported. Abaddon the Despoiler raises a vast armada from the depths of the immaterium, and initiates the largest clash between Imperial and Chaos forces since the Horus Heresy. In the end, this calamity resulted in massive casualties on both sides, with the forces of Chaos prying the powerful fortress world of Cadia out of the hands of the Imperium, a feat that had never succeeded before. Cadia is known as having the only known stable warp-route out of the Eye of Terror, and in addition to its substantial imperial military presence also contains the Cadian pylons – massive structures that are responsible for restricting the Eye of Terror's growth. These artifacts are revealed to have been built by the Necrons, and were thus strategically critical for Abaddon's forces if the crusade was to make any meaningful headway. During the final battle on Cadia, Abaddon commands that a blackstone fortress is flung to the surface of the world, destroying Cadia and creating the Great Rift, known as the Cicatrix Maledictum by the Imperium, a massive galactic-scale dimensional tear in reality to the warp which destroyed countless inhabited star systems. Social upheaval in the wake of the Great Rift also means that virtually every world of the Imperium, even Terra, is engulfed by conflict.

  Forces of the Chaos Space Marines

• Emperor's Children, once the III Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Fulgrim, was dedicated towards the pursuit of perfection and was said to have given a speech so eloquent that his legion was given the honor of bearing the Emperor's Aquila as their symbol. During one of the Emperor's Children's missions against a xenos race called the Laer, Fulgrim was possessed by a daemon trapped within his sword. He later freed himself and joined Horus as leader of one of the original traitor legions. Driven by hubris and pride, the Emperor's Children later became devotees of the Chaos God Slaanesh, making extensive use of armed with exotic sonic weaponry.
• Iron Warriors, once the IV Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Perturabo, grew increasingly jealous of his brother primarchs, particular Rogal Dorn, primarch of the Imperial Fists. Specialists of siege warfare, they often came into conflict with the Imperial Fists, who also specialized in siege warfare. After a series of unrecognized, gruelling attrition battles in which the Iron Warriors became more and more disillusioned, they turned to Chaos and willingly joined Horus against their brother marines. After a series of civil wars they have split apart into numerous warbands, with Perturabo himself achieving daemonhood and retiring to Medrengard, his personal planet filled with large metal fortresses belching smoke and fire. They possess a large number of daemon engines and Obliterators, hulking monstrosities of flesh and metal who can create any weapon they desire from their bodies.
• Night Lords, once the VIII Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Konrad Curze, grew up in the dark world of Nostramo, and took power over the planet's populace by executing and flaying all the criminals that stood in his way. The Night Lords became the most terrifying of the Space Marine legions; whole rebellious worlds surrendered at the knowledge of their arrival. Their primarch was also cursed with multiple visions, including one foreshadowing his own death, thus leading him further into insanity. After discovering that Nostramo had returned to anarchy after his campaign of terror to pacify them along with the fact that the Nostroman psychopaths who replaced the legion's losses were polluting the Night Lords, he ordered the destruction of his home world before fleeing to join Horus. After the Horus Heresy, he allowed himself to be killed by an Imperial assassin, wanting to prove that even the Emperor was willing to resort to such dishonorable actions. Unknown to the rest of his legion, Curze secretly despised his own legion, as they were made up of murderers and killers. The Night Lords currently are a united group of marines specializing in terror attacks, and so possess a large number of Raptors, chaotic versions of jet pack equipped assault marines.
• World Eaters, once the XII Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Angron, grew up in the gladiator pits of Nuceria, and plotted a mass rebellion against the planet's rulers. The Emperor rescued him at the last moment, however, leading to his army's destruction and a deep rooted resentment of the Emperor for denying him an honourable death alongside his gladiator brethren. Refusing to accept his legion, he killed the first seven captains before the eighth, Kharn, managed to earn his respect. Christened the World Eaters, Angron's legion was known for their relentless savagery in battle. Having been under Imperial pressure and already bloodthirsty thanks to the mental implants known as the Butcher's Nails, they willingly joined Horus and partook in his rebellion against the emperor. The legion's unity was shattered when their Champion Kharn attacked his comrades in a rage for accepting a ceasefire with another Chaos Legion during a civil war, leading to infighting that caused them to split into smaller warbands. Angron later achieved daemonhood, and currently resides in the Warp. The World Eaters now are devoted to the Chaos God Khorne, boasting more than any other legion.
• Death Guard, once the XIV Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Mortarion, was raised by a warlord on a planet filled with noxious fumes, before rebelling against his adoptive father and finding solace with the enslaved populace of the planet. Having been saved by the Emperor from the warlord and denying him his chance to kill him, Mortarion gained a legion who specialized in biological warfare. Having been disillusioned by the Emperor's goals and believing him nothing more than a drunken tyrant, he was brought into Horus's rebellion and joined Horus as one of the four original legions who betrayed the Emperor. Known for their incredible fortitude, the Death Guard fought across the most noxious and hazardous war zones unscathed. Having been tricked by Typhus, the First Captain, into the Warp and besieged by plagues from all sides, Mortarion swore devotion to the Chaos God Nurgle and the Death Guard became fully swollen with disease and death. Having achieved daemonhood later on in history, Mortarion retreated to the Plague Planet which he now spends his time creating new plagues for his master. The Death Guard is composed largely of, specialists in biological warfare and disease.
• Thousand Sons, once the XV Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Magnus the Red, was distrusted by all the other Space Marine legions, in particular the Space Wolves, because of his frequent use of magic and the powers of the Warp. Upon learning of Horus' corruption, Magnus sought to warn the Emperor with forbidden warp powers; only to unknowingly breach the Emperor's secret Webway portal Project. To make things worse, the Emperor refused to believe Horus turned traitor and sent the Space Wolves to apprehend the Thousand Sons for trial. Unfortunately, the Space Wolves were tricked by Horus into purging the Thousand Sons on their homeworld of Prospero. With his cities burning and his soldiers being slaughtered, Magnus had no choice but to swear fealty to the Chaos God Tzeentch, escaping into the Warp. Because of their frequent use of the Warp's magical energies, the Thousand Sons were cursed with frequent mutations, thus they historically numbered usually no more than a thousand Space Marines before Magnus' arrival. After a period of stability due to Magnus' use of warp powers, the mutations returned tenfold after turning to Chaos. In order to stop these mutations, their chief librarian Azhek Ahriman secretly cast a powerful spell which stopped the mutations while enhancing the powers of all psychic marines. However, the spell inadvertently turned the non-psychic marines into dust and bound their souls inside their Power Armors; reducing them to semi-distant automatons known as Rubric Marines. Of all Chaos Space Marine legions the Thousand Sons possesses by far the most Chaos Sorcerers.
• Black Legion, once the XVI Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Formerly the Luna Wolves, their primarch, Horus Lupercal, was the first primarch discovered by the Emperor and was raised alongside his birth father, becoming the Emperor's most trusted primarch. After all the other primarchs were discovered, Horus was named the Warmaster and was granted command of all the Space Marine legions. He renamed his own legion the Sons of Horus, but a twinge of doubt existed in him as the Emperor kept secrets from Horus regarding the reason why the Emperor left the Great Crusade. After an accident which resulted in the Word Bearers manipulating Horus to fall under Chaos's sway, Horus openly declared a rebellion against the Emperor, instigating the Horus Heresy. After a series of attacks, most notably the purging of loyalists from the traitor legions on Isstvaan III and the decimation of the loyalist legions on Isstvaan V, Horus finally faced off against his father on Horus's flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, and was killed by the Emperor. In shame, the Sons of Horus painted their armor black, renamed themselves the Black Legion, and fled back into the warp. Now Ezekyle Abaddon, the former First Captain of the Sons of Horus, has sought to reunite all the forces of chaos under him in a bid to destroy the Imperium, christening himself the Despoiler. He has launched thirteen Black Crusades against the Imperium, the most recent being the setting of the current 40K universe.
• Word Bearers, once the XVII Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. Their primarch, Lorgar Aurelian, venerated the Emperor as a god, but was censured and made an example of because the Emperor rejected religious superstition through the "Imperial Truth". Having grown disillusioned, Lorgar ventured into the Warp to seek new gods to believe in, discovering new masters in the Chaos Gods, who claimed they were vital to humanity's survival, and became the first legion to fall to Chaos. They orchestrated Horus's corruption and the entire Horus Heresy. Lorgar himself later achieved daemonhood, and the Word Bearers remain relatively intact post-heresy due to their strong belief in the dark gods and cohesive nature of the legion, but are currently split between Kor Phaeron and Erebus. Currently they make extensive use of daemons and possessed Space Marines, and possess large numbers of Dark Apostles, priests who guide the members of the Word Bearers further in to the veneration of the Chaos Gods.
• Alpha Legion, once the XX Legion of the twenty original Space Marine legions. The last primarch to be discovered, Alpharius had a secret unknown to everyone: he actually had a twin named Omegon. The Alpha Legion was primarily used for secret missions, as they were known for their use of deception and subterfuge. It is said that after being revealed the future by an alien race, Alpharius joined Horus in his betrayal of the Emperor as a secret bid to finally eradicate Chaos from the universe. After the Heresy one of the two primarchs was said to have been killed by Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines, while another may have been secretly killed by Rogal Dorn on Pluto. However, knowing the Alpha Legion's frequent lies and dissent, no one knows if one of them really survived or whether both survived. The Legion frequently uses Chaos Cultists for infiltration and sabotage, spreading throughout the universe in a web of lies and deceit.

• Red Corsairs, once the Astral Claws, their chapter master Lufgt Huron, power-hungry and seeking to create a legion-sized force of Astartes, led several other chapters in a rebellion against the Imperial into what would later been known as the infamous Badab War. After being injured and nearly killed, Huron fled to the Warp alongside his chapter and were rechristened the Red Corsairs, with their leader becoming Huron Blackheart, the Tyrant of Badab. The Red Corsairs have amassed a massive pirate fleet, becoming a force to be reckoned with, rivalling that of the ancient traitor legions.
• Crimson Slaughter, once the Crimson Sabres, their chapter master Sevastus Kranon led their chapter on a crusade in the Warp, severing all connections with other Space Marine chapters though remaining loyal to the Imperium. After a massacre on Umidia however, the chapter was cursed by the Chaos God Khorne and forced to suffer painful hallucinations of all the people they killed. Driven mad by these unending visions, the Crimson Sabres found a moment of peace in their minds when conducting genocides. Forsaking the Imperium and renaming themselves the Crimson Slaughter, this warband is featured in Warhammer 40,000's starter set, Dark Vengeance, led by the Chaos Lord Kranon the Relentless.
• The Judged. In an event that will be known as the Abyssal Crusade, thirty Space Marine chapters were sent into the Warp on a mission under the influence of an Imperial Saint named Basillius, with only one managing to return. The rest of these chapters became Chaos warbands or were completely killed. Some notable warbands are the Death Shadows, the Iconoclasts, and the Vectors of Pox.

Differences between Chaos Space Marines and Space Marines

Other tie-ins

• The death metal band Debauchery released several tracks/albums with references to the World Eaters. Most notable is the track "KILL MAIM BURN!".
• The British death metal band Bolt Thrower released a song titled "World Eater" on their album Realm of Chaos. The entire album is, in fact, themed around the Warhammer 40,000 concept of Chaos, as evidenced by the Games Workshop-produced artwork of the original printing, and song titles such as "Plague Bearer", "Dark Millennium", and "Through The Eye Of Terror".
• American Doom Metal band Cirith Ungol released the songs "Chaos Rising" and "Join the Legion" on their 1991 album Paradise Lost.

  Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer Age of Sigmar