Gods of The Old World - Chaos Gods

Chaos Gods

Worship of the Chaos Gods is strictly forbidden in virtually all of the Old World, but such worship does occur, as part of the setting’s background, to provide internal and external conflict. In brief, these gods are:

• Khorne, The Blood God, bestial god of blind rage, destruction and bloodshed. Draws upon the minds of mortals, mostly warriors, who wish for martial prowess, honour and glory on the field of battle and quickly become overwhelmed and insane of the power they are granted. Khorne is the eldest and most powerful of the Chaos Gods.
• Nurgle, the Lord of Decay, kind and fatherly god of disease, entropy and finality followed by morbid rebirth, often referred to as Father or Grandfather Nurgle. Calls to people who are afraid of death and loss, like peasants who live in poor circumstances and have little to lose except their family, crop and livestock.
• Tzeentch, The Changer of the Ways, trickster god of change, magic, and thirst for knowledge. People, often educated ones like scholars and wizards, who wish for forbidden knowledge and divine understanding are often drawn to the service of Tzeentch.
• Slaanesh, The Dark Prince, seductive god of excess, pleasure and experience. Whispers to individuals and wish for charisma, beauty and power over others or equally desire material excess like wealth or food and drink. Slaanesh alone, of all the Chaos Gods, is impossibly beautiful and attractive, and both men and women are drawn to him. He is the youngest Chaos God and seems to be the most obviously attractive in all ways, and should be able to grant anything to those in his thrall, but he is still presented as the least powerful of all the four Dark Gods.

The Chaos Gods and their symbolism can often be related to the seven deadly sins, as they many times embody qualities, thoughts and temptations that, succumbed to, inevitably leads an individual to horrible and selfish deeds, thus allowing the Gods to prey upon the individual's self-indulgent and ignorant mind and use him/her for their own ends. Most followers are aware of this and in perfect acceptance of it. The Norse of the setting worship all or some of the four chaos gods in some fashion, as the Norse live relatively near to the Chaos Wastes, but also an array of other, mostly local, gods.