Chaos Gods

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"The creatures of the Warp are just "aliens" too, but they are not life forms as we understand the term. They are not organic. They are extra-dimensional, and they influence our reality in ways that seem sorcerous to us. Supernatural, if you will. So let's use all those lost words for them... daemons, spirits, possessors, changelings. All we need to remember is that there are no gods out there, in the darkness, no great daemons and ministers of evil. There is no fundamental, immutable evil in the cosmos. It is too large and sterile for such melodrama. There are simply inhuman things that oppose us, things we were created to battle and destroy. "

Horus Lupercal, about to realize that he was wrong and that he could get great power from those "gods", and then dearly regret his casual arrogance in thinking they wouldn't fuck him over.

The Chaos Gods are the gods which rule over the Realm of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy Battles and the Warp in Warhammer 40,000. They love nothing so much as dicking with each other, except perhaps with their mortal followers, and literally each other (especially Slaanesh). Before they were gods, they were generally benevolent beings, when the Warp was a calm sea. Each one is formed by the emotions of living souls clumped together in the Warp/Realm of Chaos. Contrary to standard thought, they personify good attributes as well, and are powered as much by good as by bad. Even if said god started out entirely bad, in their eventual evolution as part of their natures, they will kill gods who represented entirely good things, and will gain not only their values, but their power by said value.

Be aware many of the gods' values will and do intersect. This is as much due to the chaotic nature of the gods as it is to the multitude of emotions that make up the living. For example: let's say you're literally obsessed with brutally murdering people and you get a real nice kick out of it. The act of spilling blood is gonna feed Khorne, while the ecstasy and obsessive sensation you get out of it will feed Slaanesh. So yeah, there's some overlap, in that an individual doing a certain thing, under specific circumstances, can simultaneously feed multiple Chaos Gods, but the God who was invoked (whether intentionally or no) upon when commuting the action will get the most power out of it (I.E: You killed someone for Khorne. While your ecstasy from the murder will feed Slaanesh a bit, your simple act of ending a life will feed Nurgle, your continued ambition to please the Blood God to earn his favor will also feed Tzeentch a bit, but Khorne gets the most since you offered that kill to him foremost).

Overview[edit]

According to the wikifans over at the Official Warhammer 40k Wiki, the Chaos gods were created and are sustained by the collective emotions of 'every sentient being of the material universe'; so not just the Milky Way, but every alien, both heretical and loyal, in the whole universe. This however probably isn't true, or rather it's just very bad wording, because if the Milky Way alone has all of these sentient races in it, then there's a safe bet that most other galaxies in the rest of the universe also have a multitude of sentient races too. And there are like, at least billions upon billions of galaxies in the observable universe, let alone the true universe which is likely many magnitudes larger. Based on what we've seen in the fluff, That many galaxies, filled with that many sentient lifeforms, all feeding only four Chaos Gods, would give said Chaos Gods so much power that they would probably have the capability to turn the entire galaxy (and many others) into massive Eyes of Terror at a simple scheming click of their heretical fingers. But of course, that hasn't happened (thank the fucking Emperor). Which probably means those wikijerks are talking complete unadulterated bullshit (or are making the common and infuriating mistake of conflating "universe" with "galaxy"). In actuality, the full range of influence the Ruinous Powers have only extends to the area of the Milky Way and not much further. After all, a specific location in the Warp corresponds with a specific location in the Materium; your thoughts and emotions will have an effect (albeit very minor) on the Warp in your specific corresponding location, and the collective thoughts and emotions of a galaxy's population will only have an effect on that specific galactic area of the overall Warp. This essentially means the four Chaos Gods are completely confined to the Milky Way galaxy, because that's where the emotions that created and feed them are currently being felt.

So what does that really mean? Well, it means the Warp in the vast, cold, empty space between galaxies is calm as fuck, absolutely nothing like the infested shitty plughole it is right now in our home galaxy, because there's no sentient life and hence no chaotic emotions there to stir it up. However, this also means that if other galaxies out there have their own interstellar sentient species with a presence in the Warp, then those galaxies will have their own Chaos Gods [likely just analogous versions of the four (point five) we have, although it's also possible that the different emotions might be allocated differently for each galactic pantheon; Andromeda might have gods based on the seven deadly sins, for example] that reside there and are also confined to the area of their own galaxy. But who knows? Maybe each warp god is a reflection of the galaxy that birthed it, and the aliens that live in other galaxies there have actually got their shit together and all get along like best buddies in a setting that just oozes noblebright from every pore, and the Chaos Gods there aren't even called that because they're all so friendly and cushy to everyone and like to play vidyagames with each other and cracking open cold ones on a warm Friday night while watching The Batchelor. Maybe the Warp gods in most galaxies actually maintain contact with those in neighbouring ones, and everyone just stays the fuck out of the Milky Way for the same reason most 21st century tourists stay out of Somalia. How sweet... I wonder what would happen if two galaxies, both with their own analogous Chaos Gods, collided. Would they just absorb each other into a new pantheon of four even-more-powerful Gods? Would they fight each other until one reigned supreme? Or would they get along like good ol' chums since they understand each other perfectly? Anyway, tangents. This fallacy is explained further in detail just right below.

Now that I say all of this, why the actual FUCK has no one decided to just up and leave the galaxy already?! It's a complete shithole! It's filled to the absolute brim with nothing but copious amounts of Grimdark and a whole host of things that want to murder, rape and eat you, not necessarily in that order. And it's still being filled up with that shit, both crawling out from under the ground and flying in from outer space to OMNOMNOMNOM the faces of everyone you both despise and adore. Even if you're lucky enough to escape the immediate crossfire, you're still likely to be part of a civilisation that completely smashes any feeling of worth or individuality out of you and treats you like just another cog in the machine of trillions of cogs. Just leave already, god dammit. What about Andromeda? I hear it's rather pleasant this time of year. At least compared to this literal hellhole. But it's probably not possible for the same reason why Big Bobby G and Lion-O couldn't simply fly over the Ruinstorm to get to Terra; if the space between galaxies is calm because there are no souls, that probably means there's no warp either, making intergalactic travel impossible. But this is just baseless speculation that contradicts the nature of the Warp's existence, specifically that the Warp is influenced by life, not created by life, and existed before even the first lifeforms did. Plus, you need to be Necron-tier to get pass the nids off galaxy. Or it could be things like the Void Dragon possibly eating a million galaxies before returning to ours where he then met the Emperor, the Tyranids consuming a thousand galaxies, and generally such things indiciate that outside of the Milky Way is worse than in the Milky Way.

But then again, It is officially stated that Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy are completely different franchises which just so happen to have the same Warp with the same Chaos Gods.

Now, where were we? Oh yes, Chaos Gods. Ahem.

On the Question of Omnipotence[edit]

One of the most talked about and hotly debated topics, especially amongst Chaos players is the question of Omnipotence. Other than massive fanwanking and colossal jerk-offs, it must be stated and stressed that the Chaos Gods for all their strength are not omnipotent, for to be omnipotent means to be all-powerful and the idea of the Great Game greatly debunks this claim. Part of the problem may lie in the fact that folks like to give examples of the power of the Chaos Gods from codexes from the Rogue Trader era and Second Edition, eras which are of dubious canonicity. You see, what they don't seem to understand is that GW, especially early GW, had a habit of making use of flowery language and hyperbole to exaggerate the grandeur of something or someone. This by itself is not a problem, as 40k runs on exaggeration. The problem is that some folks seems to lack any ability to discern nuances or critical thinking skills and proceed to extrapolate these hyperboles as true, completely ignoring the fact that the majority of these flowery examples came from either a) the viewpoint of a Chaos Cultist b) in-universe propaganda and/or c) extremely old sources where all sorts of wacky hijinks were birthed. As such, the credibility is highly suspect and should be taken with a mountain of salt.

So when sources 'claim' that the Chaos Gods could destroy 'universes' or Greater Daemons were destroying entire planets wholesale within the Warp, the validity should be scrutinized in the same way fa/tg/uys scrutinize Furries. What the Chaos Gods or their followers claim to be true (remember that they are notorious liars) does not match up with their actual abilities both in Warpspace and in Realspace. If they were truly multiversal as they claim, then, first of all, the Shadow of the Warp should not be an existential threat to them. After all, a true universal - let alone multiversal - entity should not even notice a few intergalactic bugs on the windshield. Moreover, the Necron Pylons should also not be considered a threat to the big four, for if they possess such levels of reality-warping power, they should not be dependent in letting their errand boy do all their dirty work for them in realspace. Even in the Warp, their so-called 'omnipotence' did not stop a certain Mary Sue from trashing their backyard from time to time.

The reality is the Chaos Gods, as far as deities go in Science Fiction, are pretty weak sauce. For example:

  • They are utterly dependent on the emotions of a single galaxy (if they really did not care about emotions as some may claim, then they shouldn't be that invested in the Imperium now would they?).
  • Certain critters with enough mindless psychic connections can close entire Warp-rifts and there is nothing the Chaos Gods can do about it.
  • Tzeentch's self-proclaimed omniscience is put into doubt seeing as how he and his underlings failed to predict the rise of Robo Guillitan and the following mechinations of it.
  • Their self-proclaimed reality-warping powers are self-contained in the Warp, and even then it is restricted to their own realms. Much like how a child could create and manipulate anything in a sandpit does not automatically equate to the child turning sand into gold, the same analogy applies here - seriously it is telling that the Gods of Chaos couldn't do jackshit about the Necron Pylons for 60 million years since the War in Heaven.
  • Their dreaded Chaos corruption such as Scrapcode could literally be stopped by an AdMech Priest cutting off the connections fast enough during the Fall of Mars, knowing how abysmal 40k's A.I. are, that shit ain't touching the likes of a Culture Mind, a Contendor-class A.I., and the Anti-Xeelee. To state otherwise would be a No Limit Fallacy and a False Equivalency since the idea of scrapcode would be overpowered against the likes of the Necrons, Tau and the AdMech, yet this shit has seldomly been used which suggests limitations on the behalf of Chaos.
  • The combined four of them fear one man, even after they dropped everything to successfully derail His plans.

In retrospect, the contradictions of what the Chaos Gods/followers claim and what they are actually shown to do is no different than the problems the Hive Mind has found itself in as can be read here. They are all bound by GeeDubs' status quo and the balance of power, as such their powers are restricted insofar in one galaxy to preserve the status quo. With the bombshell of Godblight, the argument of omnipotence has finally been shot down after Chaos got hit with a massive nerf bat. From the Emprah suggesting that the Daemon Primarchs can be redeemed, thereby making the threat of Chaos corruption impotent to Big-E literally shoving his Power Sword up Nurgle's ass and his garden, permanently wounding him grievously, to the outright confirmation that a Chaos God without sufficient faith would degenerate into Warp-soup and become perma-K.O. as faith is what gives Warp entities sentience. Godblight has single-handily trashed any presumption of Chaos omnipotence in but a few chapters, and let's not even get into a single Primaris Lieutenant kicking one of the strongest Nurglite Greater Daemons in the ass...somehow.

So are the Chaos Gods powerful? In the universe of Star Wars, Star Trek and Mass Effect, sure, of course they are. Are they omnipotent multiversal destroyers? Hell the fuck no. If you're honestly thinking that these guys are in the same ballpark as the Abstract Entities of Marvel and DC, the Time Lords or the motherfucking Downstreamers, then you should probably go see a doctor for a prostate exam; constant wanking is bad for ya health you know.

Tl;dr, 40k is prone to not applying the concept of Show Don't Tell, which is ironic given the reputation of 40k in general, but it happens again and again and again. A good narrative showcases its targets' capabilities and feats, a bad narrative just tells them to the viewers. If the Chaos Gods can actually pop universes like grapes, then we better fucking see them popping an actual universe. No wishy-washy flowery language, no offhand statements in the codex, no shenanigans inside the Warp which is unreliable at best. Show Don't Tell. It isn't just the Chaos Gods that are guilty of this mind you, the Men of Iron and even the War in Heaven Necrons are guilty of this as well. Sun-snuffing machines the size of Saturn's rings and Breath of the Gods asshattery means jack shit if we don't actually see them in action. Show Don't Tell.

Khorne[edit]

Main article: Khorne
Lord of RAEG, War, Butthurt, Steroids and Testosterone. Really just a grouchy puppy.

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! MILK FOR THE KHORNE FLAKES! BUTTER FOR THE POP KHORNE! Oh, sorry. In case it wasn't obvious, Khorne is the god of battle, martial honor, and oh yeah, BLOOD! Although primarily formed from hate and rage, bravery and honor are also thrown in the mix. Also in the mix are mercy (in particular, mercy for those too weak to put up a fight and be a challenge to kill. This is almost never shown in the fluff though, annoyingly), courage, regret, fear, athleticism, determination, daring, impulsiveness, and struggling onward in the face of any odds.

  • Gender - DEFINITELY A MAN, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!! I thought he was female? *BLAM!* *BLAM!* THAT'S DOUBLE HERESY!!
  • Main Enemy - Slaanesh, as he considers him/her/them to be too frilly and really doesn't care about sensations, especially when they prolong the spilling of blood, to the point fluff wise it is distinctly pointed out he hates the priss even more than tzeench, going so far as to have slaaneshi and khornates have the hatred special rule against eachother.
  • Bro god - Nurgle, although he doesn't seem to mind Khaela Mensha Khaine (they're probably the same thing, though), and he is rumored to be in a polyamorous relationship with Mork and Gork.
  • Love Interest - Gork and Mork (see above). Valkia the Bloody (Canonically - yes, your brain is now broken).
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Legion - The World Eaters, other various chapters and bands of warriors dedicated themselves to him since. Also has IG-equivalent armies like the Blood Pact.
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero"/Chaos Tribe: Arbaal the Undefeated (ANGRY VIKINGS!! FUCK YEAH!!), Valkia the Bloody, Scylla Afingrimm (former warlord turned Chaos Spawn and still kicks ass), Hrafn Untam, Haargroth the Blooded, Skarr Bloodwrath. Khorne also has an entire Norse confederation especially devoted to him known as the Aeslingr.
  • Sacred Number - 8 ("The eightfold path")
  • Adjective - Khornate

Nurgle[edit]

Main article: Nurgle
Despite his and his minion's appearances, they're actually pretty nice (for debatably self-aware boogers).

Nurgle is the god of filth, pestilence, decay, and generally being a cool dude (which are obviously related). Formed from despair and fear of death, his portfolio also includes acceptance and stoicism. Other values include inevitability, empathy, kinship, struggle, (familial) love, tradition, mercy, and memory. Nurgle is also notable for being the only Chaos god that cares for his followers whatsoever, bordering on love (in fact in 40k, he loves the Eldar goddess Isha so much that he chained her up and force feeds her his new diseases, because that's the only way he knows how to express love... yeah, love sucks sometimes all the time most of the time). Also note that one aspect of him that is played up in the End Times is that he is in fact the god of life, only for him it means unrestrained, infinite life such as with pathogens and tumors.

  • Gender - A (slob of a) man. A VERY fat, old one.
  • Main Enemy - Tzeentch, the paragon of hope and change, in opposition to Nurgle's representation of decay and inevitability.
  • Bro god - Khorne, mostly because Nurgle is the only Chaos god Khorne doesn't entirely hate.
  • Love Interest - His joy and wife, Isha. Now pines for Alarielle, since he lost Isha to her.
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Legion - The Death Guard. Has tons of other followers like the The Purge (omnicidal wackos who have no problem using chemical and virus weapons on helpless populations), Apostles of Contagion (Zombie Plague aficionados), the Lords of Decay (utterly loyal Marines sent to die in the Eye, holy fuck these guys made a direct assault on the Solar System and won Pluto), and human IG armies like the rebellion on Vraks.
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero"/Chaos Tribe: Valnir the Reaper, old school champion of Nurgle; Festus the Leechlord (this guy used to be a doctor in the Empire; he's not even a Northman). The Crow Brothers of the Björnlings are especially devoted to him also (Festus leads these guys), the Glottkin, Gutrot Spume (a Nurglite pirate barbarian), the Maggoth Lords of Icehorn Peak. It could also be possibly argued (especially considering Age of Skubmar) that the Skaven Clan Pestilens is some sort of splinter cult built on worshipping Nurgle while thinking that they're worshiping an aspect of the Horned Rat.
  • Sacred Number - 7 (though 3 is also a popular number)
  • Adjective - Nurglite
  • Please note that the above lore mixes both Warhammer fantasy lore and Warhammer 40k lore which, although the character is virtually indistinguishable, are not the same thing. Maybe.

Slaanesh[edit]

Main article: Slaanesh
The embodiment of all things PR0N.

Slaanesh is the god/dess of pain, pleasure, and perfection... or, in other words, a god of emotions formed from emotions, not all of which are bad. In 40k (WHFB didn't elaborate how Slaanesh was born, so we can only assume he/she/they manifested normally like the other Gods), an inherently psychic race called the Eldar created him/her/them by having so many damn orgies they tore space-time a new asshole (The Eye of Terror). Formed mainly from hedonism and excess, love and creativity are also attributes of Slaanesh. Other facets include perfectionism, obsessiveness, attention-whoring, jealousy, sensuality, DRUGS, empathy, self-expression, individuality, art, music, joy, and admiration (so quite literally the god of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll!).

  • Gender - Whatever you want it to be, sugar! In WH Fantasy you'll see illustrations of a lecherous old hag / old man / old bits-of-both; in WH40k depictions are of a young flamboyant hermaphrodite.
  • Main enemy - The brutish Khorne, obviously. H-he never calls...
  • Bro god - Tzeentch, although that's mostly because he's the least icky of the Chaos gods. His/her/their friendship with Nurgle is a bit questionable since he stole Isha during Slaanesh's proverbial and... literal raping of the former Eldar Empire, though it isn't shown anywhere that Slaanesh still openly detests Nurgle for that (Hell, their daemons temporarily joined forces once or twice). Generally the most open to working with the others.
  • Love Interest - All of them. Still pines for Isha, and is depressed no one ever seems to love him/her/them back. Tries to tempt Khorne into raping him/her/them. Gave up on Nurgle after he got married. For a long time has been pining for Tzeentch of all people, but she can never seem to make him think she likes him as more than just a friend. Basically, she's the hot chick who got friendzoned by the nerd. But he/she/they won't give up!
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Legion - Emperor's Children. Also has others to call on like The Flawless Host (their drugs make Emperor's Children's look like baking powder), Violators (these guys body sculpt themselves enough to make a Tzimisce well up with pride), as well as, again, various IG-equivalent armies.
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero"/Chaos Tribe: Sigvald the Magnificent (he really is quite magnificent...), Dechala the Denied one, former high elf maiden turned into near greater daemon level, Azazel, former bro of Sigmar, Styrkaar of Sortsvinear. The Varg tribes serve him. NO WE DON'T. Likely that the Hung worship him/her/them, purely judging from their nomenclature. Also, Dark Elves, pre-retcon.
  • Sacred Number - sex 6. Probably 69 and 420 as well, due to what they’re associated with.
  • Adjective - Slaaneshi

Tzeentch[edit]

Main article: Tzeentch
Change we can all believe in...

Tzeentch is the god of Just as planned, being a wishy washy nerd, and magic, arguably the coolest and most potentially powerful of the four due to being nerfed from his actual true power in the height of his age of coming from both respective canons of Warhammer and generally being the most victorious when fighting against humanity and other races as a scheming jerkass. Tzeentch is formed from paranoia and plotting, but also, amazingly enough, hope and ambition. Other values include trust, curiosity, dissatisfaction, aspiration, progress, knowledge, learning, protection, will, anarchy, and change. If the scheme isn't as convoluted as a transgender seahorse, it's not Tzeentch's. Except for when that's what he want you to think.

  • Gender - Always changing, but usually male or genderless.
  • Main Enemy - Nurgle, because he symbolizes stagnation, a.k.a. refusal towards change. Khorne as well, as the jock bullies him for his nerdiness, which is what Tzeentch wants you to believe, in truth he bullies and torments Khorne.
  • Bro god(dess) - Slaanesh, who isn't as brutal/dumb as Khorne and not as much of a lazy bastard as Nurgle. Plus, he/she/they're nice to little Tzeentch! Cegorach might have a Shonen Rival Bro Bond with him when they don't fight on different teams.
  • Love Interest - Kind of wishes that the Deceiver, Cegorach, and the Emperor were chicks. For female gods hes got an Eye for Arianka since she's a rival to his whole all play to her all work dynamic and wants her to be the Isha to his Nurgle.
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Legion - Thousand Sons, and basically no other Space Marine groups; only The Scourged are canonical non-TS-descendants who are dedicated to Tzeentch. Tzeentch also apparently doesn't have any IG-equivalent armies dedicated to him in particular (besides the Prospero Spireguard who are more like the Thousand Sons auxilia than anything else). In-universe this is most likely because if a Guardsman is going to turn to a specific Chaos god, the prospect of power and unending glorious conquest, freedom from all pain and suffering, or all the booze, drugs and whores you can handle and then some are more attractive options than being a scheming nerd. Or else Tzeentch's non-marine cultists are rarely warriors or soldiers, more often power-hungry bureaucrats, nobles, Imperial Governors, and even Inquisitors. Out of universe it's hard to make Tzeentch-focused units other than TS when their signature units are sorcerers, who only come in small quantities on the tabletop, and the Sons-specific Rubric Marines. He also offers limited knowledge of the future, represented in game with a boosted Ward save from the Mark of Tzeentch.
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero": Vilitch the Curseling Egrimm van Horstmann. No Chaos Tribe seems to revere him to any exceptional extent (well there was this Sarl tribe and it was ruled by a Tzeentch chieftian, but Wulfrik killed him as well as his son) but he pulled out some nasty tricks such as becoming the grand magister of the Order of Light and fucking said order up before flying away on top of a dragon. Also, got Cathay in a bag.
  • Sacred Number - 9
  • Adjective - Tzeentchian

Malal[edit]

Main article: Malal
Then we have this motherfucking out of place/odd one out weirdo here....

Though not as relevant as the other big four, Malal is still more notable than the other minor Gods mentioned below. He's sort of the borderline between major and minor chaos gods.

Malal is a renegade Chaos god that only appeared in one comic for Fantasy before his creators divorced and took their character with them, resulting in GW shitcanning most of the original sculptors and artists. Then he was replaced with two entirely different characters with the same basic domain before being quietly swept under the rug and forgotten, barring the odd reference that slips out here and there. He is fittingly the god of fractiousness and dissent, which means his power is parasitic: any time the four other major Milky Way Warp gods do their thing, which is to say strive to gain power at the expense of the materium and eachother, Malal grows in power as well. Because of his nature as a common enemy to the big four and thus a Warp Entity that fights the Warp, he is also sometimes a god of atheism, contradictions, and paradoxes, when he exists at all. That being said, he did have awesome champions who lived solely to hunt down the greatest champions of the other gods, which is pretty Awesome. Sadly (or not, depending on your opinion), Games Workshop idiotically lost the rights to his name, so he's been more or less retconned. Except now he might be back in 40k, with a Chaos Space Marine warband called the Sons of Malice who worship a god called Malice...who just happen to wear a color scheme of black and white, and just happen to have a symbol of a bisected skull, and whose premier Chaos weapon specializes in killing Daemons. There's also Beastmen of Malal in one of the card games. But nope, don't you dare say they worship Malal. Like Khorne, Malal has an aspect of hate, however it's more along the lines of loathing (including towards self), malice and cold contempt compared to Khorne's ragey hot-blooded variety. While a worshipper of either might shoot up a school, a malal worshipper would probably think of it like exterminating pests rather than a pleasant rampage. Beyond all that, his portfolio includes paradoxes, justice, revenge, nihilism, and the inevitability of Chaos turning upon itself. Every time the others fight or power shifts between them, he grows stronger. Just like Chaos will eventually win and consume all worlds, Malal will eventually win and consume all Chaos resulting in oblivion for all things...then if GW took the full bite off Moorcock's work and not just the parts they wanted, the whole thing starts all over again from the beginning.

  • Gender - Maleal
  • Main Enemy - EVERYONE. Because Malal's an edgy loner who doesn't play by the rules (also because he represents one of the few things GW didn't steal from Moorcock, that Chaos eventually destroys itself), although the forces of Chaos Undivided might logically be prioritized over other folk.
  • Bro God(ess) - Probably any character that has been retconned away, that is angry about not being a part of the canon anymore. A story where he temporarily joins forces with someone like Emps or the C'tan might also work.
  • Love Interest(s) - As per his nature as an edgelord, he has a tsundere love-hate relationship with chaos itself.
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Chapters - Sons of Malice. And that just about sums it up. No Imperial Guard equivalent, no daemon spawn, nothing (that we know of). So yeah, that pretty much makes him a god of hipsters too. /tg/ has made a fan-codex for Malal Daemonkin, though, so go help yourself :)
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero"/Chaos Tribe: A fellow named Kaleb Daark was Malal's first revealed servant, who swung around a pterodactyl head on a stick. The Ogre Skrag the Slaughterer fucked up dwarves in his name before pussying out to follow some shitty Ogre god thanks to retcons. There's a small tribe of Beastmen named the Claws of Malal as well.
  • Sacred Number - 11
  • Adjective - Malalic

Great Horned Rat[edit]

Main article: Horned Rat
Thinks he's better than sliced Jesus.

This otherwise-unnamed deity is patron of the Skaven, and god of... well, rats. He also infringes copyright on both Nurgle's and Tzeentch's portfolios, but it's mostly rats. The Horned Rat once appeared in material form; he's the only Chaos god to do so. Of course, in Skaven fashion, he just ate a ton of the Skaven present, gave some orders and left; the Skaven only serve him out of fear, even though their belief in him only makes him stronger. He left them with a warpstone monolith containing the Skaven equivalent of the Ten Commandments.

In Age of Sigmar he was promoted to Chaos God following the demotion of Slaanesh out of the Great Game.

  • Gender - Referred to as male.
  • Main Enemy - Everyone, backstabbing is his primary creed and portfolio. Being cowardly, he will also work with any Chaos God, mostly Nurgle. Archaon shows him the least respect, however.
  • Bro God(ess) - Nurgle, as far as his followers are concerned. They have very similar hobbies.
  • Love Interest(s) - As Skaven themselves are incapable of feeling love, it is unlikely GHR can either.
  • Dedicated Chaos Space Marine Chapters - None. Great Horned Rat does not exist in 40k. Although there are Death Guard miniatures with Skaven heads. A few people have made the case that, if GHR had existed in 40k, he probably would have snatched up the Night Lords thanks to their devious, cruel, and cowardly nature, thus making him the Great Horned Bat. That, or Curze becomes 40k Ratcatcher instead of 40k Batman.
  • Warriors of Chaos "Hero" - Clanrats. All of them. ALL OF THEM! Also apparently Thanquol, because the Great Horned Rat thinks his fuckups are hilarious.
  • Sacred Number - 13

The Other Ones[edit]

Older editions of Warhammer Fantasy and 40k mention several lesser Chaos gods. Nowadays, they only appear(ed) in WFB (and even then, only sparingly), with some (the Horned Rat and Hashut in particular) generally considered to be separate from the "main" Chaos pantheon.

Until the Horned Rat replaced Slaanesh as the Fourth Chaos god after the End Times. This change did not affect 40k (or presumably any other universe Slaanesh exists in), and Slaanesh is slowly breaking the prison walls.

Warhammer Fantasy[edit]

Ashedte'gash[edit]

A Minor Chaos God who was once an orphan on the streets of the Empire, who grew up learning that strength and cleverness are what allows one to survive, and that those who are weaker and stupider should be climbed over and killed to serve their betters. As such, he is served by only a few Greater Daemons, as the Lesser Daemons that followed him were all killed off for realsies in the Warp by their betters in an Ayn Randian survival-of-the-fittest natural selection murderfest.

Ash has only a handful of Greater Daemons serving him. All of the lesser daemons were destroyed in the ever present struggles to prove oneself to Ash. The remaining daemonic servants of Ashedte'gash are heavily armored Greater Daemons, wearing plate armor, carrying giant two handed swords. Little is known of these foul servants of Ashedte'gash. They lack wings to fly, but except from this nothing is known, but of their great strenght at arms.

His True Name is apparently Gristleskull Bloodvomit.

Atagro[edit]

Lord of Beasts, was once mortal but was risen to Minor Chaos God status by Shagraunt, another Minor Chaos God, deeds included slaying a Sandworm in Araby. Atagro is a huge vicious creature clad in glistening black armor and crowned with a fierce, horned helm atop his blackened, skeletal head. Atagro's eyes burn with a fiery luminance, and he wears a huge shroud-like cloak. Tormented, vaguely human wretches struggle and writhe to peer out from under its folds. Atagro's armor is decorated with all the symbols of chaos, as he was once their most powerful champion. His hands are filthy and rotted; capped with grim steel talons and dark metal studs. Atagro's weapon, Kagorr, is a huge tooth edged sword with a second blade extending from the handle. The mighty god wields the blade with whirling grace and deadly precision. Kagorr is the most powerful weapon of chaos ever created and less powerful blades of similar appearance are often granted to Atagro's followers.

  • Storm Lasher (also known as Serpent-Giants, Twisting Punishers, or Lashing Gargantuans): These disgusting creatures appear as bloated gray skinned giants with long flailing tentacles for heads. The creatures have thick, two fingered hands with each finger ending in huge dark tentacles. Their short opposable thumbs are their only true fingers. The storm lashers are so named due to their affinity for lightning. Lashers whip their enemies with tentacles and make a sound like thunder when they run.
  • Gull Grinder (also known as Raging Slug Men, Screaming Beasts of Frenzy',' or Atagro's Habitations): These creatures are among the more deadly of Atagro's demons. They appear as huge brown skinned strongmen with slug bodies for legs. Their enormous muscled arms end in the heads of lions and their own flat, bald heads are featureless save for beady black eyes and huge mottled beaks. The Gull Grinders attack by biting or spewing fireballs with their lion heads.
  • Corpse Render (also known as Butchers of Atagro, Beast-Lords, or The Dark Titans): The horrifying Corpse Renders are absolutely Atagro's most powerful greater demons. They look like massive 20' humanoids with black skin and the heads of rhinos. The Corpse Renders arms end in spherical masses of dark, twisted blades which spin and rotate at the will of the demons. The Renders awesome muscular legs end in flattened black hooves which they may scrape across the ground as they snort in anticipation of a coming fray.

Be'lakor[edit]

Main article: Be'lakor

The first Daemon Prince and ostensibly the only Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided, Be'lakor commands a great amount of power over the Realms. While still under the thumb of his four parents, he has been able to control a sizeable army of followers and has claimed to have even influenced Archaon. He also has great ambitions and schemes in both Fantasy and 40k to ascend as the Fifth Chaos God of Shadows, but these plots are usually foiled one way or another.

Chaos Gods of Law[edit]

Main article: Chaos Gods of Law

Alluminas, Arianka, and Solkan the Avenger. Supposedly These guys were the opposite of the big four, though you'll notice there are only three of them, there was apparently a fourth but they never popped up. They also had human worshippers. Kaleb Daark was meant to kill Arianka but he was mysteriously vanished along with her relevance. And Be'la'kor said Solkan (and implicitly the other three) was not real. Given how God's are born of belief and he had active believers it's not sure how that works out. Nevermind that Be'la'kor's version of the truth can be skewed at the best of times. These old-school dudes have their own page!

Hashut[edit]

Main article: Hashut

Hashut apparently means "Father of Darkness" in Dwarfen, which naturally means he's the god of the Chaos Dwarfs. And if his followers are any indication, he's also god of penis-compensating hats. If he ever made the jump to 40k, he would have fallen in love with the Iron Warriors.

Kka[edit]

Kka was a Chaos Godling, that is to say Minor Chaos God, although what he embodied is unknown. What is known is that he was the patron of the equally goofy-looking and sexy Harpy-turned-Chaos-Spawn named Ngaaranh, who looked like a 3 Headed Harpy with long necks and eyestalks.

Khakkek[edit]

From old-school Warhammer, was the god of the Chaos Goblins. Was only mentioned once or twice, but was described as a horned, 8-armed goblin with each of his 8 limbs holding a sacrificial dagger, his shape similar to the 8 pointed Chaos wheel, who was a god of bloodletting but unlike Khorne, allowed for magic. Described as seen as halfway between Khorne and Khaine. The picture above shows a cult of his worshippers. If you look closely, you can see the Symbol of Chaos on the Shaman's Loincloth. Apparently he joined Chaos rather soon as a young god, as being a Goblin God, Gork and Mork must have bullied the shit out of him so much, he straight-up turned traitor to Chaos. Favored Mutations for Chaos Goblins who worship him included an eagle-like face with superb vision, iron hard skin, brightly patterned skin with black and red swirls highly resistant to fire, atrophied legs which forced hopping, pointy heads, and a horrible stench wirh a following by a cloud of flies. The biggest known example of his worshippers was the Bloodied Nose Tribe of Chaos Goblins, a splinter faction of the Broken Nose Tribe, which first fell to Chaos and Khakkek worship due to Ratscrote Boggobbler, a "Blood-Wizard" who was taught about Khakkek by a Dwarf Necromancer of all people. Ironically, the Bloodied Nose Tribe seems to never experience mutations, so whether this is a sign Khakkek was pleased or displeased with his most well-known worshippers is unknown, but seeing as to how mutations are handed out as gifts by Chaos Gods to their champions, then it would seem Ratscrote and his tribe aren't doing something right to please him.

  • Greater Daemon: The Great Demons of Khakkek feature an almost Goblinoid physiognomy, so they can be easily mistaken, from afar or in poor light, for an Orc (albeit very large). On closer inspection, however, we discover glowing red eyes, Chaos armor, and an impressive number of sharp teeth and claws (including a nice pair of fangs). His face can mirror Khakkekk's, and he wields a fiery giant sword with immense skill. Its characteristics are the same as those of a standard Minor Demon.
  • Lesser Daemon: Just as the Big Demon looks like an Orc, Orc, the Little Demon looks like some kind of Goblin. He too, from afar or in poor light, can easily be mistaken for a Goblin (albeit tall), with red eyes. His face and impressive array of dangerous teeth and talons (no fangs) are also reminiscent of Khakkekk. Its characteristics are similar to those of a Minor Demon.
  • Daemonic Beast: These creatures, sociable in the manner of the Nurglings, appear as Brats (would be Snotlings in more modern editions, since Greenskins now reproduce by spores) with glowing red eyes (this is the common characteristic of the demons of Khakkekk, with sharp teeth and talons) and sport 1d4 Chaos mutations. Like other demons, each has a face that strangely recalls its master. The profile of a Demonic Creature is the same as a standard Servant Demon, or, alternatively, that of a Nurgling (if you have Realm of Chaos: the Lost and the Damned).
  • Daemonic Steed: Khakkekk's Demonic Mount appears virtually identical, at least physically, to a Large Wolf, and it may actually be. Whether or not this is the case, it is virtually identical. You can therefore use the description of the Big Wolf from the bestiary of WFRP1 or that of present in this project.

Kweethul[edit]

Kweethul Gristlegut was a Skaven who managed to become an extremely minor Chaos God in the older Warhammer editions. He was later mentioned as being a HERETIC against the Horned Rat in a later Skaven army book. The Horned Rat will suffer no challenger to its dominion over Skaven-kind! Could create his own Daemons, too.

  • The Six Eyed Slayer: Greater Daemon. He stands about 10ft in height with a pair of three eyed goats heads. It carries a Chaos Weapon with the power of mutation.
  • Floating Horror: Lesser Daemon. Appearing much as a Harpy but with the clawed feet of a Bear.
  • Fire Runner: Daemonic Steed. A partially feathered beast with burning clawed feet.
  • The Thing: Daemonic Beast.

Meneloth[edit]

An androgynous god of pleasure among the Elves, may have been a sort of proto-Slaanesh before being absorbed into the greater whole of Slaanesh upon Slaanesh's birth, either that or a toned-down aspect of Slaanesh used to lure Elves into worship of Slaanesh, like a dealer giving a watered-down needle of heroin to a kid to get them addicted before giving them the hard stuff.

Morrslieb/Lunaghast[edit]

Even the Chaos Moon of the Old World may, in itself, be a sort of Chaos God. This is supported in how it "birthed" Moonclaw, a Chaos Xeno Mutant of Morrslieb that looks like a particularly horrid Beastman, and how when Morrslieb waxes strong Moonclaw can summon a Daemon of Morrslieb, a two headed beast called Umbralok, which serves as his steed. The fact that it had its own spirit, Lunaghast, which survived its bodily destruction and came to wreak havoc upon the Mortal Realms, is further evidence of its potential Minor Chaos Godhood.

Necoho[edit]

/tg/ has recently deduced Necoho's true identity.

Necoho is the god of atheism and one of the other minor gods invented as a replacement for Malal. Stupid as it sounds, it actually works, as Chaos is a reflection of all human beliefs and emotions, including, paradoxically, disbelief. He generally works to make religious movements disappear and wears a permanent expression of comic amusement, as he fucking knows he's a walking, talking paradox.

Note that Necoho was introduced in an adventure for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition, so his current canonicity is doubtful, to say the least. That being said, he has been mentioned sporadically since then, such as the Gotrek & Felix novel Road of Skulls, which is more than can be said for Zuvassin. Has been mentioned by name in the Age of Sigmar novel Auction of Blood, along with a mention to his cult and an antitheist tract called "The Revelations of Necoho, or the Light of Doubt".

In the popular series If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device, Magnus the Red made the point that the Emperor was, perhaps unknowingly, feeding a Chaos god of unbelief by promoting his Imperial Truth.

Obscuras[edit]

Brother of Alluminas, Chaos God of Law. Was originally one of the Gods of Law but got jealous of his brother and turned to Chaos proper.

Shadowphytes (also known as Shadow Daemons) are daemons of Obscuras, standing around the height of an average man. The most dedicated of Obscuras' cultists hope to join the ranks of the Shadowphytes upon their deaths. Shadowphytes appear as black shadowy humanoids whose features are only barely visible through the inner darkness they radiate. They cannot fly but possess the ability to melt into the shadows in one place and reappear in the shadows somewhere else within their line of sight. They fear the light and it is know to cause them actually damage when not standing in full or demi-darkness.

Shadowphytes can't cause physical wounding upon their victims, but cause damage through their touch, which robs the victim of his or her strength, and they are skilled users of the magical art of their master. It's said that anyone slain by a Shadowphyte is condemned to eternal torment in Obscuras' realm of shadow.

Oubelgyr[edit]

Oubelgyr is a Daemon-Prince who sits at the cusp of just-about-to-be-but-not-quite a Minor Chaos God, who is known to be a Peddler of Knowledge, like some sort of Daemonic Informant. Whereas Tzeentch is all about learning and then coveting secrets, Oubelgyr is always trying to find secret knowledge then sell it to the highest bidder, a trait useful for Chaos Sorcerers with sacrifices to spare who wish to skip the chanciness of Tzeentch's blessings. Was imprisoned at one point, but was able to scheme a way to unlock the door to his prison, only to then decide his prison was a nice lair and pretended to still be locked in. Rather than having daemons of his own, he has multiple Daemons and Mortal slaves who he has bound with contracts, who have to do as he says and guard him. Truename: Wrackbelch Ichorspittle.

Quorn[edit]

Not to be confused with Khorne, Quorn was the Minor Chaos God of carnivorous plants, whose schtick basically was "Radical Anti-Veganism" with carnivorous plant life devouring all flesh-creatures. His name was a double-pun, meant to sound like Khorne's and the same as a vegetable-based fake-meat substitute from before Impossible Meats were a thing. (Note: Pictured above is fan artwork produced by putting Quorn's name and description into Nightcafe, an Artificial Intelligence Art Program that makes art based on text description)

Rhasneth[edit]

The Chaos God of Insanity. Must be pretty batshit insane if his brand of nutters stands out amongst the general mental sickness of the rest of the Pantheon of Chaos.

The daemons of Rhasneth are to varied to make a single name for them, the most horrible nightmares of the most twisted madmen made real, pushing their way from the realm of nightmares into the world of the living to do their master's wish. The daemons of Rhasneth are special in that not all can see them, only those who have already lost their sanity can see them while all others fail to even notice them. The madman can scream in terror when his nightmares comes for him, not only to haunt him in his dreams but to feast upon his soul, while the rest of the world remains ignorant of the creature and tells him there is nothing there. Even as the daemon slowly approch, a mad twisted snarl upon its face...

Screaming God-Child[edit]

Appearing only in the Malus Darkblade novel Lord of Ruin, and more completely in the Malus chapters in Warhammer Monthly, the God-Child is the ruler of a little corner of the Realm of Chaos known as Alterity, a massive chunk of rock on top of which lies walls in the shape of an eight-pointed star, guarded by ancient daemons who keep the locals and guests who enter from leaving Alterity. The God-Child himself takes the appearance of a young humanoid being with a near featureless face, only having a mouth, wearing robes and an amulet in the shape of the star of Chaos.

Shagraunt[edit]

A Minor Chaos God of whom even less is known of than Atagro, it was Shagraunt who ascended Atagro into the ranks of the Minor Chaos Gods.

Stromfels/Mermedus[edit]

Whilst often speculated to be Manann's edgy dark half, Stromfels' mutant cults and rumored links to Khorne in earlier editions point towards his status as a minor Chaos god. Further proof of this is his patronage of sea mutant pirate Aranessa Saltspite, and his Chaos cult in the Gotrek and Felix story "Slayer of the Storm God", featuring his avatar, the "Harbinger of Stromfels".

Another variation of Manann but Chaos exists in the form of Mermedus, the Norscan god of the sea, that's considered by some to be an even more edgy version of Stromfels. Notable that most Norscans don't even like him, because all who die at sea are claimed by him and denied entry to their patrons realm, except for the Skaelings who drown prisoners of war and animals for him after battles and raids. He's described as a ghoulish and bulbous figure that walks on the sea floor, covered in eyes and bloated like a drowned person. This is odd, as Stromfels' Avatar, Harbinger of Stromfels, looked like a Giant with a Tentacle where each of the Arms would be and the Head of a Shark.

In Total War: Warhammer II, he is also Cylostra Direfin's patron deity, having resurrected her as a vengeful ghost to wreak havoc against the High Elves and Bretonnians who rejected her singing.

In Age of Sigmar, he apparently is still worshipped by pirates in one area of Ghyran, and was worshipped by a tribe of Gargants in Azyr before Sigmar cleansed the realm of Chaos.

Tristaris[edit]

Tristaris was a Minor Chaos Goddess of Misery, with a minor interest in knowledge. Represents the misery brought about by knowledge of Chaos' ultimate victory. Sounds like Tzeentch's perfect girl, a big tiddy goth nerd GF.

  • Blissbane: (also known as Wailing Woman of Misery, Mistress of Distress, or Gaunt Spirits of Lamentation) This infernal creatures look like haggard, ghostly women with wild hair and gaunt, wrinkled bodies. They wear white shroud like clothes and are translucent to the eye. The Blissbanes emit occasional shrieks of pure misery as well as sudden bursts of maniacal laughter. They can pass through any obstacle as though they were ethereal, but are also incapable of manipulating any material objects. Often Blissbanes appear in groups of four, the number of Tristaris.
  • Sloathe: (also known as Mounts of Misery, Hunching Beasts of Suffering, or Steeds of Tristaris) The sloathes are bear sized creatures with four legs and short curved claws. The creatures have no heads and appear to be made almost entirely of layer upon layer of dark rags and shrouds. They make low grunting and grumbling sounds as they walk. The sloathes lash out with their claws in combat, and they have the ability to collapse into a pile of useless rags. The rags may be scattered by the wind or even burnt up; but unless every single one of them is destroyed the creature can return to its normal shape from any one of the pieces.
  • Humanwood Tree: (also known as Oaks of Despair, Petrified Eyes of Torment, or Roots of Evil) The humanwood trees are powerful demons that largely inhabit the groaning forests of misery in the pocket dimension that is Tristaris's realm in the chaos warp. The trees look like stubby, twisted oak trees with thick trunks and anguished human faces and bodies seemingly squirming about beneath their flexible bark. The trees speak a language that is their own and to hear it is to surely lose one's mind. All who hear the trees speaking will feel suffer from it as blood pours from their ears. The trees lash out with their branches and should the victom be caught the trees nine limbs will easily rip a held person to shreds. Strangly enough they are also immune to fire, somehting that would otherwise have been their main weakness.
  • Sade: (also known as Screaming Devils of Sorrow, Sobbing Lords of Tribulation, or Jeering Lords of Languishing) The Sades are Tristaris's greater demons. They look like gaunt red skinned men with long black beards, tiny horns from their foreheads and pointed chins. The Sades dress like nobles and their eyes are white and constantly streaming with bloody tears. Each of them carries a large, gleaming sickle. They also each carry a Lash of Lament and have long claws which they can use in close quarters. The Sades must consume twice their weight in living hearts each day that they exist in the material world if they are summoned.

Urlfdaemonkin[edit]

Urlf isn't a name. It's the last fucking death cry a guy makes when you gut him. That should tell you all you need to know. Anyway, this guy used to be a Norscan (like most of the daemon princes on this list) and was elevated to princehood by Khorne for exceptional badassery. Before his ascension, he was a massive, tall, bearded, Clint Eastwood-type Chaos Champion and was a chieftain of the Snaegr clan of Aeslingr. He's so fucking powerful that he was able to create his own lesser daemons and can bless warriors with the Mark and mutations of Khorne. Urlf has his own summoning days like most powerful daemon princes, and is usually worshiped as a lesser deity of Chaos by those who serve his master, Khorne. He has a short story in the 6th edition Chaos army book, where he muses on the fuck-you nature of time in the Warp and remarks on how the new Chieftain of the Snaegr resembles one of the sons he fathered in his mortal life. He also blesses the new chief with Khorne's mark and turns him into a monstrous cross between a Bloodletter and a Chaos Champion.

Vymnn[edit]

A Minor Chaos god who was only known as the master of the Daemon Prince Hakrii, who Atagro slayed (Hakrii, not Vymnn) in his quest for Daemon Princehood himself.

Zhedun[edit]

A Chaos God of gnawing, eternal hunger, who represents how Chaos would destroy itself if it ever won in the end, being dependent on sapient mortal thought for sustenance.

Daemons of Zhedun are known as Devouring Fiends (a.k.a. Mawed Ones, or Devourers) creatures ruled entirely by their own voracious appetite. They stands well over six feet tall, stooped, with atrophied arms but strong legs, and their heads are comprised mostly of a giant gaping jaw filled with massive teeth. Often they will stop at fallen foes, devouring their bodies in their Chaos-spawned hunger.

Zuvassin[edit]

Zuvassin is one of the two minor gods invented as a replacement for Malal. He just likes to see shit fall apart, specifically nonphysical stuff like schemes and lives - in other words, he's the god of not as planned. He's the guy who makes all the bad shit happen in infomercials. Generally, he makes sure that Murphy's Law is always enforced in the most spectacular possible ways. He doesn't have many worshippers, as he makes sure to fuck up whatever they're planning too.

Note that Zuvassin was only introduced in an adventure for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition, so his current canonicity is doubtful, to say the least.

Actually, he is still canon, at least in Warhammer Fantasy. The 2nd Edition "Tome of Salvation" lists both him and Necoho as Chaos Gods.

And the motherfucker is STILL canon in Age of Sigmar, where a short story features a Chaos Champion named "Zuvass". Hmm.. I wonder who he might be worshipping.

Makes an appearance in Total War: WARHAMMER III, where Daniel can get an event where you can communicate with him and get his blessing, as he considers you important in disrupting the balance of Chaos.

Ziraad, Thain, Blazzach and Javate[edit]

4 Minor Chaos Gods known among the people of Araby, mentioned in Atagro's backstory as the gods worshipped by 4/6 members of his BATTLE-HAREM, the last 2 being a one of Tzeentch and one of Slaanesh.

The 9th Age[edit]

The leader of the Dark Gods is a single presence called "Father Chaos", and it is only by his will that they unite. He is as Chaos to them as Chaos is to a mortal. He somehow interacted with the Titans before the other Dark Gods existed, and Chaos cultists believe all souls originate from him and will eventually return to him. His actual stated goal is to "tear away the Veil separating him from Mother Cosmos" and "despoil her". Take it as a metaphor or literal as you will.

Savar The Fallen Star: Pride (Khorne + Slaanesh). Seeks to conquer and defeat the most impressive enemies for his own glory, dismissing the weak as unworthy of attention. His Daemon colors are regal blues and purples with symbols of stars, crowns, and heraldry. His Herald is white and wears a crown. His mortal followers are those who feel entitled to more than their station grants, and his path is that of ignorant self-destruction. They are given the ability to elevate themselves and ignore the unworthy, making Savar a god of tyranny over the weak. He tempts the unrecognized, jealous, and ignored who (believe themselves to) possess positive attributes. Savar’s given origin was as a god-king of the mortal world who attempted to enforce his rule over the others (so Savar is possibly another blatant refutation of Age Of Sigmar), and was cast out of their pantheon only to join Chaos instead. He isn’t actually picky about whether or not his followers actually possess positive attributes, instead considering those who praise him as deserving of power and majesty. Those who truly are skilled are converted to him using shame and frustration to lure them into a path of arrogance and selfishness.


Kuulima The Lady Of Flies: Communism Envy, Nurgle minus the durability. Kuulima minions default to green but in truth they have no consistent color, or even form, as they are described as taking on the form and colors of those who they deceive. Her Herald is similarly without a defined form, its presence heralded by an eclipse and blood moon suddenly happening at the same time as an earthquake when it appears. Her followers are often found among the already diseased, particularly lepers since no inquisitor would bother to police them. Even among Chaos Kuulima is considered mad, and is a metaphorical “fly on the wall” on the plans of others since plots and scheming are also part of her portfolio. Her dogma is “nothing has true value unless compared to all”, and her path is a reactionary one rather than a proactive one. Kuulima tempts the jealous and ignored. Unlike Savar who elevates the worshiper, Kuulima brings enemies down to the level of the supplicant or the masses, although the message of equality is not a rule since some among them use all others as a means for ever-increasing gain. Her symbols are heraldry, armor, and weapons but unlike Savar who creates heraldry and Vanadra who creates wargear, Kuulima’s icons are stolen and mismatched in style. Use of flies as symbols marks her followers more obviously. Its implied in her Primal lore that she wasn’t originally wa Chaos God, coming to power because she desired “one of the god’s great halls”. Kuulima’s current and most active plot is a form of leprosy that infects Elves that an Elf scholar coordinated with her to create and spread before he was caught, despite being a race normally immune to disease, due to him always jealous of the superior looks of his race, and even mortal humans, to himself. She is also the only Dark God to punish the wicked in a form of afterlife by claiming the souls of those who sowed divisiveness in life, cutting them in half but keeping both parts alive, and forcing them to populate her cities full of every imaginable architecture alongside the constantly shapeshifting insectoid Daemons.


Vanadra The Adversary: Wrath, Khorne. Vanadra‘s colors are red and black, and she sends her minions to end peace wherever it is found in the mortal world in her negative side of the portfolio, but she also spreads the message of punishing traitors and righting injustices. All that matters is revenge for any sleight real or imagined, and literally all things are worthy sacrifices to that goal. Her Herald has massive wings and never strikes an opponent first, allowing them a single blow before it kills them. Vanadra’s army are vanguards of the Daemon armies of Father Chaos. She tempts the oppressed and ignored as well as those who have been wronged by others, promising either retribution or vengeance. She herself wears armor in her colors, red for fresh blood with black gauntlets as though covered in gore. She uses baboons and lions as symbols. Her origins are a “Primal spurn”, and its impled she lead the slave rebellions against the Saurians (Lizardmen).


Sugulag The Collector: Greed, Nurgle minus the diseases. His Herald is black as well as large and fat and carries Sugulag’s own weighing scale which he uses to value the souls of mortals like coins. His Daemons are the color of warm precious metals, such as brass and gold. Sugulag tempts the greedy, envious, jealous, and paranoid. Anyone with ambition to gain regardless if by wit or strength. Thieves, raiders, schemers, smugglers, merchants, and so on. Like Kuulima his posessions were taken rather than created, though by all means rather than only by stealing. Sugulag himself even collects mortal objects, claiming whatever is lost for his followers since their property is really HIS property. His symbols are coins chained together, or objects gilded with gold with Daemon iconography, always pointed outwards towards others (or more specifically what they own). Sugulag’s positive is generosity towards the loyal (insert Trump joke here). His Primal origin is as a greedy man obsessed with money, who offended the mortal realm gods by moving on to collecting and trading in souls. He’s also something of a prankster, distributing cursed coins in the mortal realm which inspire intense all-consuming insane greed in those who possess them, which can easily be passed on to another person...once they have lost everything else.


Nukuja The Sleeper: Sloth, Tzeentch with some Nurgle themes. Her Herald is described as pale (and depicted as a white bird covered in dust and cobwebs) with the face of a Strix (a mythological bird from Greek myth which heralds doom) and bears the symbol of the Eye of Nukuja which it all covers with its vulture wings (so its a Lord Of Change). It is described as merely standing and channeling great magic while watching events or showing mortals what they want to see as if they themselves were present. Her colors are dirty white and any kind of rust. Nukuja foretells doom and destruction, and she sees all things that unfold and can predict accurately the deaths of mortals. Her followers watch it unfold, surviving until it comes. She tempts the grim, hopeless, fearful, and curious. Her symbol is the locust as well as anything timeless, and her followers use antique gear which is fully functional despite the appearance of rust and neglect. Her positive trait is that she does not cause any misery, merely foretells it and watches it pass by. Her Daemons are considered amiable, granting whatever sights are requested because they rarely have need of any boon in return, and have the patience for even minor complaining if a summoner just wants someone to listen to their stories. They have immense power but rarely any reason to use it, being removed from the squabbles and politics of the rest of Chaos other than observing and providing information. She lacks a Primal origin, instead being “witness to the first awakening” implying either to have never been a mortal, or to have been a created mortal by the Titans and witness (or mother?) to the first natural birth. Her followers revere her because of her knowledge, with no implication she will share it but instead that her devoted are companions who observe what she does with the same patience.


Akaan The Devourer: Gluttony, Nurgle minus the diseases with Slaanesh's vore fetish. Akaan was somehow born disfigured and as a result he made a “Primal pledge” to consume all beautiful things. His followers preach that ugliness is a blessing, all forms of restraint to physical appetite is HERESY, and all things will eventually submit for consumption for Akaan’s satisfaction. Akaan’s Herald is a creature with a toothed mouth which has no mind, merely consuming and growing fat off its eternal feast. His followers spread hunger and sow ruin in their wake, as curses lead peasants to consume all stores of food and animals before turning on each other, the dead rapidly consumed by bacteria as if in fast-forward. Akaan’s colors are the darker shades of brown and green, the colors of rot. Tempts those of all physical appetites. They are drawn into a spiral of indulgence, twisting into new forms as they seek constant gratification. Blood, drink, and flesh; all physical hungers. They destroy all beauty in their appetites, leaving nothing behind. His followers leave their mouths exposed in armor and clothing, and are disfigured by his blessings which take the form of disease. The lamprey is his symbol.


Cibaresh The Tempter: Lust, pure Slaanesh. Cibaresh’s colors are shades of violet and blue, and her Daemons steal souls from the mortal world who’s lust and indulgence catches her attention. Her Herald is a massive golden Daemon who’s scythe hands hum and remove the cares from those it tends to, while lesser Daemons have golden cat-like eyes. While Slaanesh's Daemonettes tend to lean female while possessing an intentionally unpleasant 50/50 male/female appearance (or at least in modern art and models), Cibaresh's Daemons skew more towards one or the other while maintaining a more attractive androgyny (so basically Cibaresh is more the god of traps than Slaanesh). Cibaresh tempts sadists, masochists, the lusty, the indulgent, and any corrupters who draw others into their aberrancy, although those in need of comfort like the destitute or the oppressed are equally drawn to Cibaresh. They push the senses of their foes and the innocent to the limit until they join Cibaresh. Ordinary folk are indulged in ways their meager earnings cannot afford and their culture/lifestyle forbids, with any sort of fun and celebration being Cibaresh’s positives. Cibaresh enjoys temptation of all beings, leading them away from their convictions onto new paths. Her followers wear masks which are mostly beautiful and all unsettling, and they display lips and tongues as their iconography. Despite all the skills of Cibareshi in outmaneuvering their foes, random unthinking shrieking berserker rages can provide enough defense to survive in combat against them. Cibrash owns a place in the mortal realm, in a Shangri-La-like valley nestled in white mountains where her followers of all races indulge in their pleasure alongside Daemonic servants so long as they spend several months each year as a missionary of Cibaresh's cult. The Primal origin of Cibaresh is less clear, stated to have been born of “pure desire, the Father for the Mother” implying an asexual birth from Father Chaos. His ultimate goal is even less clear, “seeking to recreate that Primal spark, Lord of all lightning”.

Warhammer 40,000[edit]

Anathema Ultima/Alpha Pariah[edit]

The Maguffin Girl of the Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr game, and though she's not a Chaos God, the game makes it very clear that she has the potential to become one. Prophecised millions of years ago as the ultimate expression of the Pariah gene and the key to saving the galaxy from Chaos by the ancient Xenos race, the Fabricatus (a race that evolved on a derelict Necron Tombworld that allowed them to reverse-engineer, modify, and repurpose Necron bits to create their own unique tech that "defy explanation"), who would research the Pariah gene in order to aid the Alpha Pariah when they were born. A joint creation of rouge Inquisitor Uther Tiberius and Fabius Bile after being inspired by said prophecy and research, the Alpha Pariah was an artificially created Pariah that had the unique ability to not just be a powerful anti-psyker, but to also be able to absorb Daemons and permanently kill them while increasing her own power and gaining extremely powerful psyker abilities in addition to her Blank powers.

Using a special artifact known as "The Crown of Emptiness" left by the Fabricatus to help the Alpha Pariah both boost and control their powers, the goal of Uther Tiberius and the Fabricatus' prophecy was to have her enter the Warp and straight-up eat the Chaos Gods and their minions using her ability, and using their power to ascend as the Fifth and final God of Chaos before cleansing it and ruling the now-purified, Chaos-free Warp as a "God-Empress of Mankind" and saving the galaxy, while the Emperor rules in the Materium.

Many factions in Inquisitor, naturally, either want to use her or get rid of her entirely. Inquistorial forces(including yourself) either really want to kill her for being a dangerous product of a heretical Inquisitor, or don't trust her being in the same room as them, even considering her an "it" rather than a person. Various Chaos factions either want to kill her to prevent harm to their Gods, or ascend her as an evil Chaos God that will either become part of the Great Game or destroy the galaxy entirely. Fabius Bile wants to retrieve her in order to grant his New Men the ability to enslave the Chaos Gods. Some Asuryani Eldar want to use her to cure their Craftworld of a Chaos-originated disease. And the Ynnari and Harlequins, although seemingly helping the Protagonist and the Alpha Pariah in leading them to the Crown of Emptiness and helping to control her powers to fight Chaos, eventually reveal to be using you in their desire to feed the Alpha Pariah to their god Ynnead in order to wake him up.

In the end, the Alpha Pariah would sacrifice herself to travel into and close a Warp Storm known as the Dark Nexus which threatened to become the Eye of Terror 2.0, trapping her in the Warp and left to seek the Chaos Gods while letting her chose how to fulfil the final part of the prophecy: either become the final Chaos God and cleanse the Warp of Chaos and save the galaxy from their horrors, decide that the bigoted Humans that kept insulting her and trying to kill her are too far gone and become an evil Chaos God to destroy them, or decide to be nothing at all and let the galaxy sort out its own shit.

Balphomael[edit]

A minor Chaos God skirting on the edge of independent Greater Daemon, ruler of the Daemon World of Woe. Has a Christian Devil, "Let's Make a Deal" sort of vibe about him, complete with looking like classical illustrations of Demons and his name being a portmanteau of Baal, Baphomet and Samael. The art above is from a Dark Heresy book. Also of note is his cult, "The Brotherhood of Horned Darkness", which has a considerable amount of influence in the Calixis Sector and once even became the dominant economic force in the sector via a front organization. Despite multiple attempts from agents of the Ordo Malleus to destroy the cult, they have so far only been able to force them to go underground where they make preparations to return to power once more.

Eye of the Abyss[edit]

Well, to be specific, the daemon that the Eye of the Abyss was previously. Maybe. The Daemon is described in the Creatures Anathema supplement book for the Dark Heresy game. Long ago there was some great daemonic power in Hazeroth that got shattered somehow, its death creating great-warp storms that ravaged entire planets. However, a single fragment of the entity, having lost pretty much all its power and everything that it previously was, ended up attaching itself to a lost derelict ship in the warp, and after assimilating the dead crew's and the machine spirit's memories along with the ship's technology, became a new daemon lord in the shape of a warship that attacks ships travelling through the Warp near Hazeroth.

Admittedly, it is very ambiguous if this thing was a potential Chaos God, but what is certain is that it was far stronger than any normal Greater Demon. It is made clear in the entry about this daemon that this single fragment is no where near the same level of strength as its previous incarnation(which makes one wonder how the hell it died, but whatever), and that this new ship form is a "stranger, lesser power". While the Eye of the Abyss is consistently described as a daemon lord(which is basically just another way of saying a particularly notable Greater Daemon(get it, because generally, barring Daemon Primarchs, Greater Demons are above Daemon Princes in both power and rank)), the daemon it was before is only described as "a mighty daemonic power" or just a "daemon".

As already mentioned, the death of the previous entity created entire huge warp storms that ruined entire worlds, which is not something you hear happens when a Greater Daemon dies. Furthermore, this single fragment, without most of its original power, is still capable enough to leave the warp: yes, if a ship it's preying on leaves the warp, the Eye of the Abyss can manifest itself and follow it into the Materium. Admittedly, it can only stay in the Materium for a few hours, but other Greater Daemons require huge sacrificial rituals or the aid of their patron God to enter real-space, and the Eye of the Abyss can do it all by itself with only a tiny fragment of its original power.

The ship is also mentioned of having its own "court" of lesser warp-entities that hang around on its hull, similar to Chaos Gods and their own daemons, with the greater entities being giant cannon-daemons and thick-limbed hurlers several hundred meters high that launch or vomit warp matter as ammo, and thousands of lesser entities in hundreds of different forms that act as the crew when they aren't killing or fucking eachother. Oh, and that warp matter ammo the ship and cannon daemons use? Once that hits a targeted ship, that stuff become "munition daemons", short-lived manifested daemons that gleefully destroy all they can before they disappear from existence.

Neither it nor its crew is stated or even hinted to belong to any of the known Chaos Gods. And though it is definitely ambiguous if that original daemonic power could have been considered something close to a potential Ruinous Power(especially without any worship), what is almost certain is that it definitely wasn't any normal Greater Daemon.

King in Rags and Tatters[edit]

Quite possibly a Chaos God version of Hastur from the Cthulhu Mythos, may or may not be a guise of Tzeentch. Leader of the "Menagerie" a Chaos Cult that seeks to unravel reality itself. Has unique daemonic minions in the form of Warp Spectres, roiling, constantly changing masses of hideous-energy-being Daemons (like a Chaos Spawn made of gas and energy instead of fluid flesh?).

Lord of Misrule[edit]

Another minor Chaos God skirting on the edge of being an independent Greater Daemon from Dark Heresy. Also seeks to undo the veil between reality and the Warp.

Melkirth[edit]

Mentioned in older background material for Warhammer 40,000. Melkirth was a minor chaos god described as "The god of evil, malice, and wanton cruelty and suffering." While Melkirth remains a minor god, it is said that the actions of the mortal races, particularly the Dark Eldar, are causing Melkirth to grow in power until he ultimately becomes the fifth major Chaos God. The daemons of Melkirth are described as being the colour of shadow and able to take on the appearance of any daemon, be it a daemon of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, or Tzeentch. These shadow daemons could be inspiration for the shadow daemons Morathi encounters in Ulgu in Age of Sigmar, as they are also having to do with Dark Aelfs.

Mo'rcck, Phraz-Etar, and Ans'l[edit]

Puns on the last names of sci-fi and fantasy author Michael Moorcock (from whom the idea of Chaos as a fundamental force in the world was blatantly stolen/took inspiration from, and don't anyone ever say "borrow for a while" since even the author and Games Workshop have admitted it), artist Frank Frazetta (who drew a lot of movie and comic book posters, especially in sci-fi and fantasy), and Citadel Miniatures founder Bryan Ansell (who wrote several of the First Edition rulebooks). These guys helped set the tone of the early Warhammer 40,000 universe (purposefully or not), including the propensity of putting spikes on Chaos things. Games Workshop decided to pay homage in the (initial) Third Edition Codex: Chaos Space Marines, which mentioned that Chaos Space Marines often put "spiky bits" on their armour in praise of these three gods. They were never mentioned anywhere else, and probably shouldn't be considered "canonical"... not that canonicity counts for much in 40k anyway.

Some baseless fan speculation could be made that Phraz-Etar could be the Patron God of the Apemen of The Southlands, the regional Beastmen variant who are probably the equivalent of the common Gor births that plague Old World villages for the unlucky African equivalent villages in that jungle land. This is due to the existence of the popular "Frazetta Man" trope of degenerate Apemen started by Frank Frazetta himself in illustrations for Conan the Barbarian comic stories.

Pater Mutatis/Fabius Bile[edit]

Yes, turns out our little fabulously-dressed horror surgeon may or may not be a Minor Chaos God. When he was with the Haemonculi, they dissected him in an attempt to find the cause of the Blight, only to discover that it was incurable because it was actually a warp-based affliction. They speculated that because of how long he survived with it, the Blight itself was mutating into some kind of extradimensional being that will emerge out of his body like a butterfly leaving its chrysalis, and Fabius would become something like an incarnate God that takes and twists that which belongs to the other Gods. In addition, a Word Bearers diabolist working for him notes that due to all the mutants he created worshipping him as the god Pater Mutatis(and consider him the "kindest" of all the Gods they do know), Fabius Bile is beginning to leave a mark in the Warp.

And somehow, despite it being confirmed that he died for real at the Battle of Belial IV (with the kill-switches he implanted inside Saqarra going off), the "original Bile" as of the present day is now some kind of undead being spending most of his time in a life-support capsule, implying that he somehow resurrected.

The whole deal is kinda ambiguous, especially when it is unsure if the Pater Mutatis will be a seperate being to Fabius that just used him to incarnate, or if he would be Pater Mutatis himself. Though comparisons could be made between this situation and the relationship between the God-Emperor of Mankind and the Star Child.

Raptor God[edit]

The minor god worshipped by the Chaos Raptors, responsible for turning them from standard Assault Marines to the mercenaries they currently are, and maybe also the one that turns them into Warp Talons.

The Dark King[edit]

The Dark King is / was a potential Chaos God that was almost incarnated during the latter days of the Siege of Terra. In much the same way Slaanesh was born from the civilisational death of the ancient Aeldari, the Dark King would have been created from the same symbolic death of Humanity during the Heresy.

Whilst Horus was presumed to be the being who would become the Dark King, the daemon Samus also hypothesized that both the Emperor and even Erebus were potentially in the running for it, which is interesting for the former and baffling for the latter. The treacherous dickblister isn't in the same league as the other two.

Exactly what it would have been a Chaos God of is yet unknown. Slaanesh was born from a whole race's excess, whilst the conditions leading to the prospective incarnation of the Dark King was a galaxy spanning civil war. Obviously, it didn't end up happening.

Vashtorr the Arkifane[edit]

A demigod born from the desire to create and invent, given power over the Forge of Souls. He acts as the Chaos Gods' arms dealer and chief weaponsmith, making him too valuable for any of the Big Four to attack. Currently working with Abaddon to create the Arks of Omen in the hopes of expanding his influence into the Materium so he can become a true Chaos God. Many Warpsmiths and members of the Dark Mechanicus revere him, but he wants more.

After assembling an entire slew of puzzle pieces from across the galaxy, he managed to create a "key" that not only allowed him to rebuild Caliban as a daemon world but also rip open his own portal to the Webway in order to hide it from any pursuers like the entirety of the Unforgiven, who saw the unnatural recreation of their homeworld as a grave affront. Now he is in pursuit of the "lock", an ancient cache of Old Ones tech that can allow him and Abaddon to unmake all of reality while providing him the push he needs to ascend to godhood.

Ysarille the Daemon-King[edit]

According to an Eisenhorn book, Ysarille was a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch from a time before the Eldar first went to space, before Slaanesh was born, and who gained enough power that he became capable of creating his own Daemons/Daemon Princes, basically making him a lesser Chaos God. He went to battle with his former master, and after a billion-year battle, Tzeentch finally killed Ysarille. His surviving Daemons took his body and fled, setting up a Tomb world for him on the planet Ghúl, and their own Daemon Empire of 600 worlds surrounding planet Ghúl, in exile from the Warp. Cherubael, Gregor Eisenhorn's minion who takes the form of a Daemonhost by possessing the corpse of Gregor's former colleague Godwyn Fischig, was one of Ysarille's servants.

Age of Sigmar[edit]

All Warhammer Fantasy Gods, presumably. Zuvassin and Necoho are explicitly active.

Archaon[edit]

Main article: Archaon

Upon completing a new set of challenges by the Chaos Gods in AoS, he was empowered to demigod level and given free reign to do whatever he desired.

Devourer of Existence[edit]

A primitive aspect of Chaos as an apex predator, that wishes to devour all else and despises any sign of civilization, worshipped by the Untamed Beasts. Maybe a modern take on Zhedun?

Eightfold Watcher[edit]

Some sort of Chaos-Spider-Godbeast worshipped by the Tarantulos Brood. From Warcry Red Harvest. It's unknown if it has a rivalry with the Spider-God of the Spiderfang Grots.

Ever-Raging Flame[edit]

A massive fire of Chaos, said to be the Chaos personification of Aqshy itself, worshipped by the Scions of the Flame in the Realm of Fire.

The Great Gatherer[edit]

A (presumably) giant crow worshipped by tribesmen from Ulgu in the Age of Sigmar. Not much is known about him, since the only game his followers appear in isn't out yet, but we do know that the Corvus Cabal (the aforementioned tribesmen) consider Archaon to be his avatar in the Mortal Realms. Theories range from it being an aspect of Tzeentch (notable avian features, Tzeentch is known to be interested in the Realm of Shadow, maybe gathering secrets?) or Nurgle (the Crow was Nurgle's totem animal among the Norscans, maybe gathering bodies?) to being a minor, but ascending, Chaos God not so far removed from the Great Horned Rat's path to the pantheon. He even has the weird connection to both Nurgle and Tzeentch the GHR does. It has been confirmed that the Warbands from Warcry will be usable in the main game, possibly as normal units, and will have the keyword SLAVES TO DARKNESS, which means he'll have some representation in a mainline game. Not too bad for the newest kid on the block. Maybe like Great Horned Rat, he'll get his own race of worshippers someday. Chaos Kenku, anyone?

Morghur[edit]

Originally one of the most notable Beastmen, he's worshipped as a minor Chaos God of mutation and devolution in Age of Sigmar. Wait what the fuck is this??

Nagendra[edit]

Originally a Godbeast, was injured and its descendants are called Coiling Ones, worshipped by the Splintered Fang. At least that's what the Coiling Ones claim to be.

Blood Bowl[edit]

Nuffle[edit]

Main article: Nuffle

A joke Chaos God for Bloodbowl, Nuffle is a mispronunciation of NFL (as in "National Football League", the American gridiron football pro league in real life), which would be pronounced "Noofle" as in "book" if you tried pronouncing it. Nuffle explains why the Blood Bowl universe is so wacky and gridiron football obsessed. Technically the superior to the rest of Chaos, although apparently only in the Blood Bowl universe.

When Tzeentch was the best/ The Great Beast[edit]

According to recent Tzeentch Codex/Battletome Tzeentch was at one point the sole major chaos god. When chaos was first forming (just after War in Heaven for 40k) there were many chaos gods and entities competing (rather than the total domination that exists now). Tzeentch somehow became number one, and was a super god of sorts. A rebellion by all the other chaos gods forced him to break his staff as a token of surrender and to prevent the other Gods from being as strong as him, creating the Tzeentch we know today and his staff fractured into many pieces to create magic, which because of warp time fuckery, both technically already happened. In the same way that Slaanesh has always existed in 40k, the new Tzeentch has always existed the way he is without his staff. Tzeentch's new self and Slaanesh started doing that when they were created relative to the materium, while the Warp is such a mess that a contradiction like Tzeentch both having and not having a staff and having magic exist before he created it is basically nothing.

This is a variant of the backstory of The Blue Scribes. The shattered pieces of Tzeentch staff each became a different spell or incantation, creating magic across the multiverse. The Blue Scribes are tasked to go across dimensions and catalogue every spell they come across, in the hopes of restoring Tzeentch's staff and returning him to supremacy.

This actually ties in with older Warhammer Fantasy lore where insane scholars theorized that the 4 Chaos Gods were merely Aspects of a larger god of Chaos Undivided, "The Great Beast".

The Chaos Gods of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy
Four Main Chaos Gods: Khorne - Nurgle - Slaanesh - Tzeentch
Other Gods of Chaos: Archaon - Hashut - Horned Rat - Nuffle
Malal - Morghur - Necoho - Zuvassin
Chaos Gods of Law: Alluminas - Arianka - Solkan the Avenger