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Chaos Gods of Law

2021-02-13T02:09:45Z

2001:8000:1005:FA01:6DE3:571:91FF:4E59: Undo revision 745895 by 86.27.183.229 (talk) >End Times >Canon

{{topquote|Chaos is order yet undeciphered.|José Saramago}}

The Gods of Law, sometimes referred to as the Chaos Gods of Law (Chaos in the sense of being made out of the magical element of "physics and logic can go fuck themselves" like the Chaos (AKA destruction)-aligned Chaos Gods), are three (or more) Gods who were created in the first edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]]. They were referenced later in the "Apocrypha Now" supplement, and were vaguely alluded to in various Warhammer works throughout the years. The Gods of Law are separate from the other non-Chaos Gods of the world, such as those of the Empire, and seem to predate them. They may or may not be on good terms.

In the [[Black Library]] novels for [[Archaon]] published in 2014, [[Be'lakor]] informs a couple of Tilean inquistors that their God Solkan never existed, giving them the Gods of Law first mention in the modern Warhammer era. Be'lakor is not a reliable source of information either, as he only claimed once that he never lies apparently ("Trust me bro!" coming from a Daemon is never a good sign) because it makes his schemes boring, and this was in a [[Warhammer 40,000]] novel regardless.

Four Gods of Law were said to exist, though only three were named. All three identified ones are siblings. Solkan and Arianka are lovers. The fourth was never identified. Solkan, Arianka, and Alluminas seem to parallel Khorne, Tzeentch, and Nurgle but Slaanesh never had an opposite. Considering Slaanesh's disappearance and capture in [[Age of Sigmar]], this makes an interesting coincidence. Slaanesh's description as the youngest Chaos God (at least in 40k) also bears mentioning, as it could be possible the fourth Law God would be introduced one day.

The lore claims that if the Gods of Law were to become dominante, [[Advancing the Storyline|all change and development would cease]]. This is, of course, [[bullshit]] as none of their spheres of influence involve any form of stagnation. We've got light, discipline, and retribution. Yeah, real stagnant.

It is a curious and perhaps hopeful hint that just as Games Workshop stole the symbol for Chaos, the symbol for Tactical Marines is the same as the symbol for Order from the source the Chaos symbol was copy-pasted from.

==Fantasy==

===[[Solkan|Solkan the Avenger]]===
Solkan is the warrior god of Law, and thus would be [[Khorne|Khorne's]] polar opposite. He's basically The Punisher in god-form, relentlessly pursuing and destroying any creatures of disorder or those who commit heinous crimes. Unlike his sleeping incesister and unknowable brother, Solkan seems to get shit done, at least in the old [[HeroQuest]] material, where he manifests to [[Awesome|kick Khorne's ass]] when the Blood God tries to take over the Reman Empire (ancient Tilea). [[Witch Hunters]] primarily worship him and he empowers them against the Chaos Gods. It isn't stated if his worship is accepted within the [[The Empire (Warhammer Fantasy)|Empire]] like [[Morr]] or [[Shallya]], or if their worship is a heresy, though his popularity among Witch Hunters suggests it's a contended viewpoint.
The 40k equivalent however would undoubtedly be heretical, as [[Meme|just about everything is]]. He apparently has a raging rageboner for his sisterwife Arianka, similar to but less violent than Khorne's rageboner for his sisbrorival Slaanesh.

===[[Arianka]]===
[[File:Chaos God Arianka.png|thumb|right|400px|Arianka, as she appears in the comics of Kaleb Daark, Champion of [[Malal]].]]
While Solkan represents the enforcement of law, Arianka is the disciplining nature of it and thus is a patron of warriors.
[[Tzeentch]] found her to be a nuisance who could potentially unravel his designs, so he manipulated her somehow into becoming trapped inside of a coffin made of Laihtero, the rarest form of [[Gromril]] which resembles a crystal that constantly emits soft light. The keys to her prison are hidden somewhere in the mortal world. The coffin itself was hidden beneath the Empire city of Praag, capital of [[Kislev]]. Her sword Laihtendrung was also made of Laihtero. While Arianka stopped being mentioned by name after copyright issues led to Malal being removed, a "mysterious woman" is often said to be sleeping beneath Praag, empowering ice magic for Kislev's witches.

===[[Alluminas]]===
A god of the most absolute form of light, whose gaze renders other beings into unchanging unmoving light, implying he is possibly Nurgle's opposite, though his unchanging nature yet unknowable form could put him as both an equal and opposite to Tzeentch. He is not worshiped by many mortals because his portfolio is alien and incomprehensible entirely to them (well, technically all Chaos Gods are as well but Alluminas is without something simple or appealing like the others have). Note that this was before the lore that empowered the Chaos Gods by worship. The latest mention of Alluminas comes from [[Total War: Warhammer]], where Light Wizards sometimes call on him for power when casting spells.

==40K==

===[[God-Emperor of Mankind]]===
Most have regarded [[Emprah|Empy]] as WH40K's equivalent of the Chaos Gods of Law and Order, since he combines the light themes of Alluminas as well as Solkan's form of authority and being a lazy catatonic bastard like Arianka and his opposing nature of Chaos in itself. Interestingly, multiple theories suggests that if the Emperor were to die, he would instead transform into a literal Chaos God of Order which would create a stalemate or defeat the Chaos Gods once and for all and save humanity at the same time, although this may come into conflict within certain other [[Skub|theories of his demise.]] The answer still stands that he is the only 40k analogues of the fantasy counterparts.
He also embodies aspects of [[Malal]] with his status as a divine being who is a proponent of atheism and his habit of consuming Warp energy along with his status as the outsider of the group. The [[Omnissiah]] may or may not be an avatar of him, or a separate God of Law altogether with its focus on orderly machinery.
Outright stating the Emperor is a Chaos God would earn you a phosphex bath, if the enraged listeners don't beat you to death first. Either that or Khorne promotes you to Daemon Prince on the spot out of the sheer size of your balls.

===The [[Greater Good]]===
The only other equivalent of a "God of Law" is the Tau's coalesced idea of a Greater Good driving their actions, solidified by their highly regimented, orderly society and culture. Depending on the source they range from treating this concept as a god outright, to viewing it as naturally a part of nature, to being ardent atheists in general, but their collective belief in the concept is implied to have indeed created a godly entity. Even if they don't worship it, 40K abides less by the rule of "if you believe in it, it exists" and more so in "if you believe in a concept it will create it" for the Gods, so it'd make sense if one formed even if the Tau don't recognize or devote a religion to it (except it wouldn't make sense because the Tau have a very weak Warp presence; even the Eldar have to go through tons of crap and possibly all die to create a Warp god and they're all powerful psykers ''and'' know how to make a god). It's a very recent addition to the fluff however, and generates skub among some Tau and non-Tau players alike. The fluff details seem to imply it was actually created by how the non-Tau members of the Tau Empire believe in the Greater Good rather than how the Tau view it. Which in fact horrified said Tau personnel into going full exterminatus extremis on them. That said, those species are also so few that their belief wouldn't have a chance in Hell (Get it? 'Cus the Warp is literally Hell in the lore!) of creating any entity in the Warp that wouldn't just be quickly gobbled up by some random daemon.

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Chaos]]

{{ Template:ChaosGods}}

Araby

2021-02-13T02:04:55Z

2001:8000:1005:FA01:6DE3:571:91FF:4E59: Undoing sperging by someone who's insulted because people dared caricature his preferred <X> along with the rest of the setting.

{{Whfb-stub}}
[[File:Araby Map.jpg|right|300px]]
'''Araby''' was an area in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer World]] based roughly on the medieval Middle East, or at least how the average brit imagines it. The Arabyans had scimitars and jezzail muskets and used them to fight back those [[Tomb Kings|Tomb King]] guys when they came about uninvited stirring shit up. Much like [[Kislev]], they had an army all the way back in [[Warmaster]], which included flying carpets and magicians who could summon [[Genie|djinni]]. Oh and they had [[Awesome|Elephant Cavalry]]. Despite having a lot of potential when it came to introducing a new and unique faction with a slightly different tone to the usual semi-european setting, GeeDubs did, their favourite past time; nothing.

Araby’s most prominent appearance is little lore than a sidestory in [[Bretonnia]]n history, serving as the impetus of their great crusade. Long story short, the evil vizier got tricked by the [[Skaven]] into believing that Estalia was going to invade. He launches a “pre-emptive” attack, crushing and enslaving Estalia as its virtually powerless to stop the invaders. Bretonnia, meanwhile, is deeply concerned by the horrific injustice happening right next door, and proceeds to beat the shit out of Araby all the way back to the desert until the Vizier is Killed and the once-proud nation is a shadow of its former self. Those who left home brought with them booty, others decided to vassalize some of the remaining city-states. And Araby has been the punching bag of both Bretonnia and the Tomb Kings ever since. Essentially an easy way for Bretonnia fans to enjoy their Deus Vult without having to worry about arguably being the baddies. If this was a good idea is debatable, though it would have made a pretty cool starter set for a new edition, introducing Araby in the process. Alas it would not come to pass, for such a deed would have required a bit of imagination, never one of GeeDubs strong suits.

This very original, never before seen storyline may or may not be because GeeDubs, being Brits, are still salty at having lost the crusades. Particularly the eighth and ninth, where an English king actually participated.

Araby also used to be part of the Nehekharan Empire and managed to largely avoid the Necromantic corruption that overtook the rest of the Empire, having been able to have staved off Nagash and Arkhan for nearly a 1000 years. This would arguably make them the only true successors of Nehekharan civilisation as a result. A more intelligent writer than those at GW would perhaps explore this avenue, perhaps depicting Arabyans reconquering some of the old Nehekharan cities from the Tomb Kings or dealing amicably with the more rationally minded undead, or perhaps clashing with Settra the Imperishable over who is the true inheritor of the greatness of the oldest human civilisation on the planet, but no, this apparently was too much to ask for.

=== Religion and culture ===
Arabyan religion has generally been left vague. Nothing at all to do with contemporary Islamic Extremism, since their beliefs and culture were vaguely described in the 90s when they were first introduced. It should be noted that Araby's inclusion in Bretonnian lore at that point was more due to a desire to satirise the then ongoing First Gulf War, meaning that they were intended as a parody of Saddam Hussein's secular Iraqi government, which at the time was attempting to invade Kuwait, rather than a typical West-vs-Islam screed (yes, this would essentially make Bretonnia George H.W. Bush's America). This has not stopped fans from theorising that they are a society of strict monotheists, however, based off of a line from the Old World Bestiary.

In a Gotrek & Felix novel, it was written by good ol' Bill King that a 'Prophet of Law' had arisen in Araby who was dedicated to destroying all influences of Chaos, and this entailed genociding all non-human races. A sly reference to a certain warlord-turned-prophet.

Given the fact that they are descended from the Nehekharans, it's probably more logical to assume that they worship those gods.

Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting gunpowder was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of gunpowder in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts. This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (one of the Arabyan characters from a recent BL novel is called Mehmed Bey, 'Bey' being a Turkic title, with a Mongolian cognate, no less). This wouldn't be that great a problem, except for the fact that the Warhammer World already has several local equivalents to Turks and Tatars.

=== Collecting Araby ===
While interest in Araby as a faction is sadly middeling, there are some fan-made codexes out there, most of them centered around the expected middle eastern/north african fare. Historical miniatures like Victrix African War Elephant and Numidian Cavalry aswell as GBPs Arab cavalry sets should prove treasure troves for the aspiring collector of Araby. In the future there may be some hope for GeeDubs to revive Araby in their upcoming Warhammer: The Old World game, <s>though such a thing remains doubtful as [[ChapterHouse Studios|they're not exactly easy to trademark]]</s> Recently there was apparently a tweet by a Creative Assembly designer where he posted some Arabyan artwork ostensibly developed in-house by the Old World team which he promptly deleted. Given recent developments that Cathay will be a launch race both in Total War: Warhammer III and in Warhammer: The Old World, the possibility that Araby will once again see the light of the day has become more significant. Let's just hope that this time GW gets some sensitivity readers.

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}

Araby

2021-02-12T07:50:41Z

2001:8000:1005:FA01:6DE3:571:91FF:4E59: Undo revision 745398 by 86.27.183.229 (talk)