Chaos (Warhammer) - The Chaos Gods

The Chaos Gods

The four Chaos Gods appear in both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy. The two settings are not actually related to each other despite their names, but in concept the Chaos Gods are the same in both.

• Khorne: bloodlust, war, death, blood, and skulls. Khorne favours close combat, abhorring wizards (in Warhammer Fantasy) or psykers (in Warhammer 40,000), considering both as cowardly. In addition to blood and war, Khorne is also the god of courage and honor- but these trappings are always 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 who spills blood, so long as the blood continues to be spilled.
• Tzeentch: change, fate, mutation, knowledge. Tzeentch's followers are powerful sorcerers who prefer to channel the energies of the Warp(Warhammer 40,000), or Winds of Magic(Warhammer fantasy) at a distance rather than get close to enemies. Tzeentch is always scheming, his every action feeding into his great plots that only he can comprehend. Tzeentch controls and manipulates the fates of all and weaves them intricately into his devious web of manipulation and hunger for power.
• Nurgle: plague, despair, disease and death. Nurgle is a warm and welcoming god who gifts his followers with poxes and boils, rashes and sores. Nurgle thrives in death and decay, growing more powerful as great plagues spread, and his servants seek only to spread disease. 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, all the while exacerbating their physical degeneration.
• Slaanesh: lust, pleasure, excess. In both settings, he is the youngest of the four gods. His 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, he was created by the excessive hedonism of the Eldar race. His birth created a psychic shockwave that spread across the galaxy, killing most of the Eldar population and their gods. The fall of the Eldar empire paved the way for the rise of the Imperium of Man. In Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000, his followers are partly responsible for the schism that led to the formation of the Dark and High Elf/Eldar races.