Editing Slaves to Darkness (section)

===Age of Chaos===
The Age of Chaos saw the chaos legions triumphant over the realms. The desperate groups of tribal warriors, cabalists and cultists alike referred to broadly as the Slaves to Darkness continued their ransacking of the realms themselves. In Shyish the Ravager hordes razed the various underworlds of Nagash before even Nagash himself was personally struck down by Archaon, leading to the dominion of Chaos over the lords of the dead. In Aqusy and Ghur the tribal peoples and Greenskin hordes clashed head on with the mortal champions of chaos in a bloodbath that would last the rest of the age, with Aqusy in particular getting devastated in the conflict. Allarielle did the best she could to safeguard her realm, but the forces of Nurgle and the horned Rat proved overwhelming with the aid of the other gods, forcing her and the Sylvaneth into hiding as they began a centuries long war of attrition against the great corruptors. Tzeench set his sights on claiming Chamon, with the ruling Duardin civiliations having either fled to Azyr or into the clouds to escape the chaos hordes (which would later become the [[Kharadron Overlords|Kharadron Overlords]]), while the forces of Slaanesh sought to butcher an already weakened Hysh (which had been devested by a bitter civil war of the [[Lumineth Realm-Lords|Lumineth Realm-Lords]]). Its twin Ulga was none the better as the chaos hordes used the shades and darkness to pounce on the peoples of the realm while Malerion and Morathi were forced to go into hiding during the age. Archaon for his part continued his campaigns against the empires of the Mortal Realms, while also setting his end goal of invading Azyr.

The Mortal peoples that were left behind had only three choices; submit, flee or hide. Those that submitted openly began worshipping one or all of the pantheon of chaos (or simply a minor chaos diety or even chaos as a concept). However, the worship of the chaos gods themselves never had to be direct, as it is the actions and emotions of mortals that strengthen the gods more than anything. The various peoples of the Slaves to Darkness often had remarkably different means of venerating the gods, in fact many did not even necessarily know of the gods they truly worshipped or their ultimate intentions. The mortal populations of the Slaves to Darkness were not all universally evil, and many had simply had their local culture and belief system twisted in a way that would benefit the chaos gods, such as a warrior culture invoking battle more than previously thus empowering Khorne, or the philosopher-sorcerers of Hysh who in their quest for power and knowledge were inadvertently empowering Tzeench and Slaanesh, or tribal groups embracing the the gifts of Nurgle as coming from their gods of nature. Regardless of their intentions or knowledge they still inevitably empowered the chaos gods with their actions and direct or indirect worship. It was these disparate and divided cultures of chaos that now dominated the mortal realms almost completely.

As for those who did not submit, these peoples were forced to hide in fortified keeps (such as the [[Fyreslayers|Fyreslayers]]) or hidden sanctuaries such as the floating cites of Battar in Aqusy or the Amethyst Princedoms in Shyish. Or become nomadic peoples, always staying just ahead of the hordes of the Slaves to Darkness. While the Slaves to Darkness had undoubtedly become the dominating force in the realms, not all was well with them however. With chaos itself inevitably looking to tear at itself the various chaos hordes began to turn on one another in the face of no true external threats. All the various champions and generals of chaos sought to gain power and prestige for themselves by gaining favor from the forces of Chaos, known collectively as the path to glory. This form of rivalry led the various champions to turn on their fellow chaos followers, which inevitably led to the chaos conquest of the realms to stall as the hordes tore at each other. While most didn't consider this a cause for concern (they had won already) this would later prove to be a grave mistake as 500 years after Azyr closed, the gates reopened and the Age of Chaos would come to an end.