2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Dark Sun

2023-01-27T02:02:32Z

2600:387:9:3:0:0:0:4B:

[[Image:DSlogo.gif|center]]
{{Grimdark}}
[[File:Dark Sun 3e PHB.png|400px|thumb|right|The cover of the 3e [[PHB]].]]
{{Topquote|For thousands of years, the Tablelands have remained untouched: its politics frozen in a delicate stalemate, its life in a balance even more delicate. It is true that the Dragon Kings amused themselves with their petty wars, rattling sabers to punctuate the passing of ages. It is true that, occasionally, another city would be swallowed by the wastes.

''But there were no surprises. The Dragon Kings steered everything from their omnipotent perches, content in their superiority, but ever thirsting for challenge. All that has changed. The Tablelands have been thrown into turmoil, the likes of which have not been seen since times forgotten. The Dragon Kings have been thrown into confusion, grasping for the tedium they so recently lamented.

''And yet I fear the worst is yet to come. Change is in the air, and change has never come gently to Athas.|[[Avangion| Oronis]], sorcerer‐king of Kurn}}

'''Dark Sun''' is a campaign setting made for AD&D 2nd edition back in '90; there are [[3e]] conversions approved by [[WotC]], but we had to wait until 2010 and [[4e]] for an updated official version. Dark Sun is essentially a playable [[grimdark]] post-apocalyptic mix of Mad Max, Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars series, Stargate (the movie), and [[Dune]]; it's pretty [[awesome]], but immediately proceeds to eschew common sense (unlike Dune).

==Setting==
[[File:Dark Sun World Map 4E.png|thumb|right|350px|Map of the Tyr Region, as depicted in [[4E|4th edition]]]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3qHkTmJpq4 Some music to help set the mood.]

The game is set in the world of Athas, a dying planet. Once full of happiness and sunshine, the planet was drained of all resources during the long and rich history the creators came up with. All magic is parasitic and destructive. There is no water, no minerals, and no hope: only cannibal halflings, a lot of sand and a dying sun.

The world is so fucked up it makes Mad Max's setting look like a hippie paradise. Kinda looks like Barsoom on massive grimdark crack. Everyone wears [[Female Fantasy Armor]] (yes, even the dudes), and according to the developers, this was the entire reason they picked a hot climate for the setting instead of an icy one, [[Derp|despite the fact that wearing Female Fantasy Armor in the desert would result in a quick death from sunstroke and dehydration]]; if they wanted everyone to wear [[Female Fantasy Armor]] then a hot ''and humid'' environment like a jungle or a tropical place, such as the setting for the comics series [https://comicvine.gamespot.com/shanna/4005-4579/ Shanna the She-Devil], is the ideal choice (less clothes keeps you cool when it's hot and humid, means less things to get caught in foliage or get pulled by predators or rivals).

The only few realms remaining are fascist police city-states ruled by wizards (all of them varying shades of evil) whose environmentally-unfriendly magic is responsible for fucking up the planet in the first place, and who're slowly losing their humanity as they turn more and more into dragons. Beyond civilized lands everything eats everything. The best weapon you can find is the femur of your party's cleric after being eaten by something that looked like a rock and the best armor is mostly the remains of a giant cockroach. There are no gnomes, orcs, kobolds, or furries because all of them were exterminated by some jerks with psychic brains and magic hands. They were the Champions of Rajaat, and they and the Sorcerer-Kings are by-and-large one-and-the-same.

The original ''Dark Sun'' setting got pretty harshly wrecked by advancing novel continuity. Once a buncha [[Mary Sue|tie-in protagonists]] have already killed all the iconic villains and started fixing the setting's problems, what's there left for ''you'' to do? In response, [[4e]] went full-reboot and adopted an [[Eberron]]-style anti-continuity system: every campaign begins in exactly the same time and place, and the story never advances. It was, especially for a 4e idea, incredibly well-received, and will probably carry over into any attempts to adapt the setting for [[5e]].

Thus far, the closest Wizards of the Coast has come to actually ''adapting'' the setting over to 5e is a few ideas about how to change over any adventuring paths to Athas, though the design team has repeatedly mentioned they intend to try in the future. Co-creator of 5th Edition and creative lead designer [[Mike Mearls]] has stated that he's pretty much converted Dark Sun to 5th, even if only for an office campaign.

===Races===
What really made Dark Sun stand out compared to some of TSR's other offerings was the very distinct and weird playable racial assortment on offer for prospective PCs, which made Dark Sun stand on the level with [[Planescape]] and [[Spelljammer]] as ''the'' setting to play if you wanted to get away from the bog-standard neo-Tolkien brigade. (Although the fact characters used a 4d4+4 [[Ability Scores]] system compared to the 3d6 one, meaning Athasian characters had an '''8-20''' AS range vs. the 3-18 range of regular D&D characters, didn't hurt!)

...At least, that's how it's remembered ''in hindsight''. In actual execution it's a little more... topsy-turvy than that. Let us try and break it down for you.

First and foremost, of course, we have the '''[[Human]]s''', because do you really think [[TSR]] would ever do a setting without them? Standard dominant race stuff, nothing particularly noteworthy here.

Then there's the [[Demihuman]]s of Athas. You'll notice there's no [[gnome]]s here; that's because they are one of several races officially exterminate in Athas' ancient past, which is often regarded as the first reason why this setting is full of win. Here, you get:
*'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Almost typical dorfs, except taller, waaay more muscular, bald with Klingon-like head plates and are even more fixated on their stuff than the hairier, stuntier variety. So fixated, in fact, that if they died without completing the shit they were obsessing over, they came back from the dead as banshees (sentient zombies that looked like a dwarf without skin).
*'''[[Elf]]''' - No forests for them, ha! They are desert nomads with tendencies of mental instability, thieving and grieving all the time. Finally, straight players can consider playing an elf. Again foreshadowing ''Time of the Dragon''.
*'''[[Halfling]]''' - Cannibals who live in the Ringing Mountains, one of the last remaining strips of forest. Despite [[Troy Denning]]'s initial fuckup in ''The Verdant Passage'', where he has the dragonfly riding midgets flinging spells hither and thither, no they cannot use arcane magic. Tries to retcon this in ''The Cerulean Storm'' but it doesn't quite work. MAJOR PLOT LOOPHOLE. Actually (spoilers!) the origin of all other demi-human races on Athas, as theirs was the high civilization of the Blue Age.
* '''[[Half-Elf]]''' - Basically the exact same as half-elves in every other TSR setting of the time; miserable little shits that nobody likes.
*'''[[Mul]]''' - [[Half-dwarf]]! Second reason why this setting is full of win and awesome! Bred for size and strength, but without the lack of agility of the typical stunty dorf, no slave was worth more than a Mul. Except a better Mul. Very prized as gladiators. Suck it, Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, like real-life hybrids tend to be, Muls are sterile, and they also tend to be [[Grimdark|born into slavery and kill their mums on the way out]].
*'''[[Half-Giant]]''' - Big dumb muscle, with a ''lolrandom'' alignment because they're ''so'' impressionable. Usually really fucking stupid. 3e shrank them down to "Medium-Plus" sized. 4e reinterpreted them as a local term for [[goliath]]s mechanically and made them smarter and less lolrandom in their fluff.
*'''[[Pyreen]]''' - A non-player (though 4e made them an epic destiny) race of ancient guardians from before the world was burned to shit, [[Rajaat]] was one of these guys before he went screaming off the deep end. Looks like a prettier version of how 3.5's [[Mongrelman|Mongrelfolk]] are supposed to look based on fluff; a harmonious blending of human, halfling, dwarf and elf. This mysterious & mystical mongrelfolk nature is strange, considering that halflings were the original inhabitants, and it also ignores several now-extinct but previously prominent (or at least "normal" non-monstrous) races, such as orcs. Epic-level immortal multiclassed druid/psions attempting to fix the world. Not getting very far.

Now we move on to the ''weirder'' races, which for some reason basically means [[beastfolk]]:
* '''[[Thri-Kreen]]''' - Pack-hunting giant mantis-folk. Actually debuted in the [[Forgotten Realms]] a whopping ''15 years'' before Dark Sun existed, but this was the first time they got PC stats. In the Original Boxed Set, they were the last of the playable races after the aforementioned humans and demihumans. Most known for their four arms, which gave them inherent multiple attacks in 2e, a trait that was steadily stripped from them over the edition. Also known for seeing nothing wrong with cannibalism - elf is considered a delicacy.
* '''[[Aarakocra]]''' - Tribal bird-people. Unlike their counterparts on other settings, Athasian aarakocrach look like humanoid vultures, are prone to raiding and theft, and have [[psionics]]... but then, few races ''don't'' have psionics in Athas!
* '''[[Pterran]]''' - Shamanistic flightless humanoid pterodactyls that wandered into Athas from somewhere beyond the tablelands.

The "Official" 3e update in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319 added:
*'''[[Elan]]''' - An experiment in creating human uber-psychics by a psionicist order that went wrong due to being too powerful
*'''[[Maenad]]''' - Alien berserker-psion emos that Andropinus recruited from somewhere beyond "The Black", then turned loose to die in the wasteland after they helped him get his city-state back. Rather pissed at that.

4th edition added these races to the canon:
*'''[[Eladrin]]''' - The dwindling remnants of the ur-elf race that once ruled the [[Feywild]], which on Athas has literally dissolved into nothing, leaving only a scattering of extradimensional oases as a result of defiling.
*'''[[Genasi]]''' - They claim they were originally set up as rulers over Athas by the [[Archomental|Primordials]] once they killed all of the gods... but they became decadent and indolent, so the other races drove them off the thrones. And then they blew Athas all to fuck, which the genasi are still gloating about. Now they're starting to emerge from the wastes because they believe it's their job to take command again and fix this shit. Known subraces: Earth, Fire, Wind, Ember, Magma, Sand and Sun.
*'''[[Tiefling]]''' - Brutal raiders from the most hostile and barren regions of the desert, descendants of people who turned to fiend-worship for the strength to survive in the wasteland.

Now, you might think that the above list is pretty decent already, right? Well, it's technically incomplete!

First of all, the original boxed set mentions that '''[[kenku]]''' and '''[[yuan-ti]]''' both exist on Athas, though it doesn't flesh them out much - most fans even forget that Athasian yuan-ti are canon, despite their prominent role in the [[CRPG]] [[Wake of the Ravager]], a game nobody remembered until GOG.com began selling many (most?) of the SSI AD&D modules of the 80s and 90s. Now that WotR is readily available, the thing people remember most about that game is the numerous, game-breaking bugs. (But you should still buy it, as workarounds to the bugs do exist.) Anyway, since both races are playable depending on your base edition, they should be legitimate options in your Dark Sun campaigns.

Secondly, the adventure [[City by the Silt Sea]] introduced the '''[[Dray]]''', a race of dragon-men engineered by Athas' sole [[dracolich]], as both monsters and an optionally playable race. 4th edition promoted these guys to a fullly fledged mainstream race in the setting, although they did just recommend they use [[dragonborn]] stats for them.

Thirdly, the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Guide notes you could justify [[minotaur]]s as the "[[Half-Giant]]" counterpart to [[Beasthead Giant]]s.

Finally, the Monstrous Compendium Appendixes for Dark Sun, especially the second one, detailed a number of species who live on Athas who are sapient but non-playable - the "humanoids" of Athas, essentially. Since Dark Sun coincided with the release of the internet, fans took matters into their own hands and converted a good number of these races to be playable in either 2nd edition ("The Complete Book of Athasian Humanoids") or 3rd edition ("Terrors of Athas"), with the latter in particular promoting a fair number of [[giant]]s and Monstrous Humanoids. Admittedly, some of these are more likely to make you go "what the fuck were they smoking?!" than others.
* '''[[Anakore]] ''' - Sand-burrowing carnivorous predators. Basicall Athasian mole-people.
* '''[[B'rohg]]''' - Four-armed [[giant]]s who are really good at hitting stuff, but not much good at anything else.
* '''[[Baazrag]]''' - Camel-humped sloth-man with a really convoluted history.
* '''[[Belgoi]]''' - Desert-wandering cannibals who use psy-boosted bells to lure suckers into the wastes for dinner.
* '''[[Braxat]]''' - Hulking, armor-plated, acid-spitting [[lizardfolk]] with genius IQs, telepathy, psychoportation, and a sadistic streak.
* '''[[Bvanen]]''' - Armor-plated frog-people from the last surviving swamp on Athas.
* '''[[Drik|High Drik]]''' - Giant, spell-casting [[lizardfolk]] magically engineered as super-soldiers.
* '''[[Feylaar]]''' - Four-armed gorillas with genius intellects and [[psionics]].
* '''[[Giant]] ([[Beasthead Giant]], [[Crag Giant]], [[Desert Giant]], [[Plains Giant]])''' - The last surviving giant species of Athas.
* '''[[Gith|Athasian Gith]]''' - The degenerate descendants of a [[githyanki]] army which was mindblasted into madness by a [[githzerai]] psy-bomb.
* '''[[Hej-kin]]''' - Cannibalistic burrowing creatures that resemble a cross between a [[gnome]] and a mole.
* '''[[Jozhal]]''' - [[Dinosaur|Little raptors]] that have a natural affinity for preserver magic.
* '''[[Lask]]''' - A weird race of reptilian humanoids newly emergent from the spellwarped wastelands of Athas.
* '''[[Lizardfolk|Athasian Lizardfolk]]''' - The last surviving lizardfolk of Athas, who inhabit its last surviving sea.
* '''[[Magera]]''' - Literally just Athasian [[ogre]]s.
* '''[[Mindhome Folk]]''' - Telepathic, pacifist, [[Underdark]]-dwelling little humanoids.
* '''[[Nikaal]]''' - Acid-spitting reptilian humanoids who travel Athas in great trading caravans.
* '''[[Reggelid]]''' - Mad elf-like beings obsesed with defiler magic and who have a bitter enmity against Athasian halflings.
* '''[[Scrab]]''' - Hive-dwelling sapient centipedes with arms.
* '''[[Silt Runner]]''' - [[Kobold]]-like little lizard-people that inhabit the silt sea and its surrounds.
* '''[[Slig]]''' - Perpetually hungry carnivorous humanoids.
*'''[[Ssurran]]''' - 2-legged sentient komodo dragons. Lives in the desert and loves them some lava. Very resistant towards heat and the Dark Sun, these guys enjoy worshiping Fire and Magma.
*'''[[Tarek]]''' - Earth-worshipping, hulking, ape-like humanoids from the mountains. Pretty obviously an "evolved" strain of Athasian [[Orc]]s, like how Ssurrans are Athasian [[lizardfolk]]. Take obvious inspiration from the ape-men of popular pulp novels and Frazetta/Vallejo paintings the same way the rest of the setting does.
* '''[[Tari]]''' - The [[ratfolk]] of Athas. Supposedly nobody in the modern city-states knows they're sapient, despite the fact they had their own empire in the southern regions a couple centuries ago.
* '''[[Trin]]''' - The more primitive and savage cousins of the thri-kreen. Because thri-kreen aren't already mantis-y enough. Have four legs instead of four arms, so they run really, really fast.
* '''[[Tul'k]]''' - Descendants of a tribe of elfs warped into brutish giant ape-men by magic run amuck.
* '''[[Amazon|Villichi]]''' - [[Abhuman|A emergent human subspecies]] consisting of albino psychic women.

We gotta talk dragons now.

*'''[[Athasian Dragon|Athasian]]''' - Only "playable" by a very technical definition of the term, since it was an epic-level class for level 21+ characters with nastily-difficult requirements, though 4e made it an epic destiny. Not at all like the normal ''D&D'' variety, which don't exist on Athas, Athasian Dragons are horrible monsters that embody the corrupted nature of arcane magic in the setting: rapacious, violent, and filled with rage and a lust to dominate or destroy. Depending on source, there's either many or only one being that has ever successfully completed the transformation, and he's the ''other'' [[BBEG]] of the setting, as mentioned above, but almost all of the Sorcerer-Kings are at least part of the way there.
*'''[[Avangion]]''' - The opposite version of an Athasian dragon, being the life-nurturing embodiment of what arcane magic ''should'' be. Looks like a bizarre glowing manta ray-dragonfly, with a huge wingspan. Not as much balls-out murder power as a dragon, but able to no-sell many of its abilities, actually support its party, and not be an insane rage-cauldron the DM could take over whenever he felt like it. Just as hard to qualify for though, and also a 4e epic destiny. No one in the Tyr region has ever successfully become one, though one NPC as far down the process as most of the Sorcerer-Kings are to being dragons, and unlike many of them is actively trying to advance.

===Classes===
*'''[[Cleric]]s''' - There are no real gods in the setting (according to 4e, this is because the Primordials drove them off in the [[Dawn War]]), so most clerics [[elementalist|worship elements or quasi-elements]] - the game implies there ''were'' gods at one point, however, because an [[undead]] monster unique to the setting is a '''Raaig''', the pissed-off [[ghost]] of a long-dead [[cleric]] or [[paladin]]. In a desert world, summoning water elementals will get you pussy until you realize that if you level up to much you become a true elemental yourself too. And it is not a nice way to go when you croak after a bunch of people [[cannibalism|consumed your body]] because they were thirsty and you're a water elemental now. The way they are described, they are more "elemental shamans" than archetypical clerics. Other types are insinuated to exist, such as a 'sun cleric' featured in the novels, representing the aspect and domain of the sun as a natural force rather than a deity.
*'''[[Druid]]s''' - Druids serve spirits of the land. They have a guarded lands that they are responsible to look after, which unfortunately could conflict with adventuring time.
*'''[[Gladiator]]s''' - You know. Like the movie. Also one of the most overpowered classes in the times of AD&D, a low level gladiator could be the personification of a certain Frank Frazzeta's illustration entitled "The Destroyer". Essentially, they were [[Barbarian]]s before Barbarians as 3e made them a thing.
*'''Dune Traders''' - lol that's actually a class? Was more on the role-playing side of things, could get loads of handy contacts and power within tradehouses. Took care of diplomacy, trading, and generally any situation that could be resolved without a weapon.
*'''[[Fighter]]s''' - Not as good as a Gladiator in personal combat, but who is? Really excelled at attracting and leading armies at higher levels.
*'''[[Bard]]s''' - Most bards sing songs and boost the other party members' rolls. Dark Sun bards will poison and kill you, and maybe fuck you. Maybe even in that order, too.
*'''[[Paladin]]s''' - lol nope. Honor and virtue fell by the wayside a long time ago on Athas, but what else would you expect from a planet this Darwinian?
*'''[[Templar]]s''' - Replace Paladins thematically, but more on the police side of things to the point they are essentially the Sorcerer-Kings's [[Nazi|Gestapo]]. Ability-wise, they're more like Clerics with slower spell-progression but more spellslots and the ability to use any weapon. Worship the Sorcerer King who rules their city.
*'''[[Psion]]icists''' - Psionicists are considered accepted and normal in this setting. In fact, every PC is guaranteed to have ''at least'' one psionic power! OMGWTF! (Well, this sounds nice, until you realize pretty much everyone does, especially monsters.) Think Jedis, kind of. Wanna move shit with your mind without casting a spell like some bitch ass looking wizard? Check. Mindrape? Check. ''Fucking Time Travel?'' Double Check. Unfortunately suffered from the fact that psionics in 2e were a horrible mess, and with a few notable exceptions, most of your powers are either incredibly niche or use clunky subsystems.
*'''[[Ranger]]s''' - Same old shit. Think Aragorn in the desert.
*'''[[Rogue]]s''' - Pretty similar to the non-Athasian kind. Attracted a Patron at level 10, aka you work for me now bitch.
*'''[[Wizard]]s''' - Two types exist in the setting, but everyone hates them both:
** [[Defiler]] - Evil mages, who suck out the life force of things. When they level up enough, they usually have an allergic reaction called dragon metamorphosis.
** [[Preserver]] - Mages who are not manly enough to steal huge amounts of life force, so they sacrifice efficiency to keep the stuff around them alive. Unfortunately for them, the commoners think all wizards are the same "technically true btw". Fortunately for them, most of their shit can be passed off as psionics. When they grow up enough to be considered bad ass they turn into the manta ray like aliens from ''Abyss''.
** [[Cerulean_Storm#Cerulean_Wizards|Cerulean Mages]] were added after the [[Prism Pentad]] novels caused the whole series to be rewritten, and are basically neutral mages who try to use the giant raging storm elemental now stranded on Athas as a battery.
** [[Necromancer]]s were retconned into the setting as wizards who draw power from the realm of the dead, which slowly turns them into undead beings. Ironically, they're actually neutral aligned, and technically even potentially good aligned because their powers don't require them to hurt the planet and undeath isn't hungering for life any worse than magic itself does.
** [[Shadow Magic|Shadow Mages]] are like Necromancers, but they draw from the [[Plane of Shadow]] instead of the Gray.

===Sorcerer-Kings===
The [[Sorcerer-King]]s were the jerks chosen by [[Rajaat]] with the deepest reservoirs of hatred (read:racists) for everything. Except halflings. Or was it humans. SPOILER! These were usually the big bad dudes that Dark Sun campaigns revolved around killing. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning killed off most of them in the series ''The Prism Pentad'', thus giving the campaign setting nothing left to live for. TSR brought out a small post-novel supplement entitled "Beyond the Prism Pentad", which also included references to a product called "Dark Sun: ''A New Age''" that was never released, to try and save what little scraps of the setting was left after [[skub|Denning's]] royal buttfuck of it all. It didn't work. As a result, TSR brought it out back and shot it while you cried in your mother's arms. When it came back for a 4E splat, this killing spree was effectively retconned under the same anti-continuity clause that Eberron held to.

Most/all Sorcerer-kings were/are in various stages of Dragon metamorphosis -- i.e. turning into a Dragon, you idiot -- as a result of their addiction to Defiling. "Real" dragons don't exist on Athas, and only the most powerful Wizard/Psionicists with the help of handy [[Necronomicon|forbidden lore]] could start on this journey to REAL ULTIMATE POWER. Side effects include deepening of voice, a bad case of scaly skin, and the desire to FUCKING KILL EVERYTHING. Which gave rise to the most stupid/common-sense ''Dark Sun'' rule ever, via the rulebook ''Dragonkings'', where a 25th level Dragon, if you were lucky/good enough to make it that far and survive a series of spells that ''had an outright chance to kill you'', WAS COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER BY THE DM UNTIL LEVEL 30. How fun is that shit. The reasoning being the Dragon entered a period of Animalistic Rage. And of course, only the DM could properly portray that shit, moron. Go sit on the couch and shut up. (Granted, it was better than giving players literal dragon-god-like power, given the tendencies of the sorts of player willing to commit the atrocities necessary to become a dragon to [[Murderhobo|steal, fuck and kill everything they see including their fellow PCs.]] Remember how all the other Dragon Kings were literally fueled by genocide?)

Originally, just one of the Dragon-Kings was an actual '''dragon''', formerly Borys of Ur-Draxa. PCs could confront him in '''[[DSR4: Valley of Dust and Fire]]''', which is a strong contender for the title of "hardest official module ever made," and which ''itself'' cautioned that it was meant for ''Dragon Kings'' parties over level 21. Wonder how those "[[Mary Sue|Prism Pentad]]" dipshits managed it... Especially since not a single one of them were even level 20 (their stats are given in "Beyond the Prism Pentad") , much less a full 5-man party of level 21+ characters.

To expand their use as a plot device, each Sorcerer-King/Queen ruled a City-State, up until they were slain by Denning like it was a bodily function:

*'''Abalach-re''' - The queen bitch of the City-State of Raam, this paranoid schizo cunt makes [[Skaven|your average Skaven]] look like Ghandi. Also universally loathed and held in contempt by both her own people and all the other Sorcerer Kings. Whether her neurotic paranoia is the result or the cause of this is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question.
*'''Andropinis''' - He had egg shaped nostrils. He wore a toga and ruled over the Greek inspired City-State of Balic. Unique for being the only Lawful Neutral sorcerer-king (All the others are listed as Lawful Evil, naturally), and for running a state that actually somewhat functions, in a democracy-turned-dictatorial-sham kind of way.
*'''Hamanu''' - Mr. Lionface. Not one of the original 13 Champions, he was the ruler of Urik and a blatant homage to Hammurabi. Evil and cruel, with his draconic transformation halted rather than reversed, but his devotion to order, justice, rationality, and his father's dream of a green and peaceful land make him one of the best of a terrible lot.
*'''Kalak''' - You know your old, shriveled, power-hungry, slave-master of a grandfather? That's this guy. Ruler of Tyr before his plan to get jacked up quick on dragonsauce was discovered and foiled by a bunch of meddling kids and one talking dog. The 4e reboot explicitly starts every game with him being overthrown and Tyr being established as a Free City, before letting the PCs see where things go from there.
*'''Kalid-Ma''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kalidnay, currently trapped in a near-death coma in [[Ravenloft|a completely different campaign setting]] thanks to his head honchessa's cruel betrayal of everything good in her life in favor of her freaky, possessive stalker crush on him. Probably not coming back, regardless of what the deluded cultists rifling through his garbage think.
*'''Lalali-Puy''' - The hottest Sorcerer-Queen, and ruler of the barely civilized Jungle-Town of Gulg. Also one of the less-evil Sorcerer Kings by virtue of not doing much to actively hurt the people who adore her, with some liner notes specifically calling her the most likely King to make a face turn who hasn't already, though her current rule over Gulg is cemented by brutal enslavement of nature spirits, one of whom she's masquerading as.
*'''Nibenay''' - Called the Shadow King. Either he really, really hated people and being seen, or he was too stupid to cast a simple glamour to NOT MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A DRAGON around his superstitious subjects. Ruler of the largest City-State of the same name, which was locked in a perpetual war with Gulg for some crazy strong blue balls. Or blue wood. Whatever. His templars are all female, and are forced to mate with him for the job, which is frankly par for the course for evil at this point. Even considering his hideous, part-dragon/part-man appearance.
*'''Tectuktitlay''' - He's a ladykiller, he'll rip your heart out and throw it down the fucking ziggurat. Bird like in appearance, he was the Aztec inspired ruler of Drag. Drek. Er, Draj. Smart, despite his insanity and cruelty.
*'''Oronis''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kurn. Kinda. Oronis is a special case. He started to feel bad about... you know exterminating all the lizard-men, especially when he saw that it was all for a lie, and he and his comrades were turning the world into a ruin rather than a paradise. So, he took his vitamins, drank his milk, and managed to put the brakes on the whole "morph into a dragon through genocide" thing... and go the other direction into becoming an avangion. Kurn is dying, but it's just a facade for New Kurn now anyway, and he's withdrawn from politics to pursue further experiments into avangion-hood while leaving behind a "true" democracy. Literally the only Sorcerer-King actively trying to make his shithole of a world a better place.
*'''Daskinor''' - Kim Jong Il's Dark Sun doppelganger. Ruler of Eldaarich, this <strike>paranoid asshat</strike> omnipotent and benevolent God King keeps his city <strike>on permanent lockdown</strike> safe and protected from all the evils of Athas. Literally built massive walls to close off his city from the outside world <strike>thanks to his insanity starting to leak into the city as a whole</strike> because it is totally self-sufficient and wants for nothing the outside world has to offer. Especially not water and food.
*'''Dregoth''' - The undead dragon sorcerer-king, ruler of Giustenal. This dude got ganked by a bunch of the other Sorcerer-Kings who were tired of him bragging about the size of his <strike>cock</strike> book of spells a couple thousand years ago, but his loyal Templars brought him back as a Lich, and he's just been chilling underground unbeknownst to every else, for quite some time now. Created the [[dray]] race, which he hopes will one day completely replace humanity as the new "master race."

===Cosmology===
Athas is... ''different'' to the standard realm in the [[Great Wheel]]. Looking across various sources (most prominently "Defilers & Preservers" and "Earth, Air, Fire & Water" for Dark Sun itself) reveals that Athas is connected to only a small handful of planes; the Gray, the Black, and the [[Elemental Planes]]. Further differentiating its cosmology, whilst Athas retains connections to the four standard "True" Elemental Planes (Earth/Air/Water/Fire), it only has four Paraelemental Planes consisting of Magma, Rain, Silt and Sun.

The Gray is essentially the afterlife of Athas; a dreary, endless limbo realm of dismal mists, which serves to blockade Athas from both the [[Ethereal Plane]] proper and the [[Astral Plane]]. Depending on who you ask, it's either Athas's "Border Ethereal" or an analogue region for the Astral Plane.

The Black is analogous to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and mostly serves as a prison for Rajaat.

It's noted that Athas is unusually close to the [[Elemental Planes]], and this is, in part, why the world is so screwed up.

Athas can actually interact with the [[Great Wheel]], and be reached by [[Spelljammer]]s, but it's extremely difficult to do so - the whole thing is effectively a sealed zone, as if something trapped the entire pocket of reality inside a locked room.
* The [[Githyanki]] are known to have opened a portal to Athas and tried to invade... then they ran home with their tails between their legs and closed up the portal, before leaving behind the proverbial sign saying "Do not open this fucking door!" Athasian [[Gith]] are believed to be the degenerate remnants of githyanki stranded here as a result of the failed invasion.
* The Mists of [[Ravenloft]] can also reach into Athas and pluck victims into its embrace. There's even an Athasian [[Domain of Dread]] called "Kalid-Ma". It says something about life on Athas that being stuck in the [[Demiplane of Dread]] is actually perceived by most Athasians as a step up.
* The [[World Serpent Inn]] hosts at least one known two-way portal to Athas.

==Controversies==
As beloved as it is by the fandom, Dark Sun has... its share of base-breaking lore. Three major things tend to be either loved or hated by fans of the game.

===The Halfling Conspiracy===
A lot of people are less than impressed with the revelation that [[halfling]]s were the precursor race and that Dark Sun became such a fucked up world because one psycho wanted to go back to the days when halflings (and technically thri-kreen) were the only extant race.

===Beyond the Prism Pentad===
As mentioned above, the changes of the Prism Pentad tie-in novels really messed up with the status quo of Dark Sun. Beyond killing off a bunch of Sorcerer-Kings, it also created the Cerulean Storm, an enormous perpetual rain storm wandering randomly across Athas, bringing water back to the planet but at the same time doing so with such violence that it's almost as bad as the original drought.

===Isolated Universe===
Players have debated whether the isolation of Athas from divine entities extends to dimensional travel hardcore survival GM'S like to keep Athas isolated to prevent players from scheming ways to import water or metal with magic while imaginative players like combining other universes into their gameplay depending on your GM and group of players will you see the full brutality of athas with several of your mary sues dying or go on a classic d&d power trip.

===Mind Lords of the Last Sea===
This module, which reveals there is one last sea on Athas, is pretty controversial for various different reasons. Such as the existence of a place where a secretive bunch of psion-lords use telepathy to force people to comply with social standards, the existence of a large body of water on Athas, the fact that it retcons that [[lizardfolk]] aren't extinct (but then, ssurans were basically fireproof lizardfolk under a different name all along and nobody batted an eye at them), or the fact that it has actual telepathic dolphins and surfing rules in it.

On the other hand, some people like the idea of doing ''The Prisoner'' by way of ''Mad Max'', and the actual content isn't quite as stupid and poorly-written as its reputation suggests, with lots of discussion of how many Athasians would react to seeing the titular Last Sea when enough water to fill a bathtub is wealth beyond measure.

==3e Dark Sun==
While by [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|third edition]] official support for non-[[Forgotten Realms]], non-[[Greyhawk]] settings had largely been dropped, two separate updates for Dark Sun material exist.

In a surprisingly cool move by Hasbro, fan groups were given official permission to update several [[Planescape|orphaned]] [[Spelljammer|settings]] to 3rd edition for free ([[Ravenloft|or one not so free in exchange for a check]]). In Dark Sun's case this spawned Athas dot org and its several PDFs updating the setting.

A separate update was published in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319. This one is far more divergent than the fan conversion, setting the timeline forward 300 years to restore the status quo after the Prism Pentad fuckup. This update uses the standard 3rd edition class lineup, making Templars just Clerics of their respective Dragon King instead of their own class and having [[Paladin]]s actually exist. Since the psioncs book was already needed for psionics, Half-Giant and Thri-Keen, the other races from that book have been thrown in for the hell of it. One unusual mechanical change is how it adapted the higher than average ability score generation Dark Sun used and that several of its races were already printed with [[Level Adjustment]]: The conversion decided to give ''everyone'' [[Level Adjustment]] +1, giving the non-LA races (like [[Human]]) extra stuff to bring them up to LA +1.

The Dragon version of Dark Sun was accompanied by two articles in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #110 and #111; the former provides the "official" 'Dark Su 3.5 DM's Guide', with a basic run down of the setting's lore as well as 20 monsters updated to 3rd edition, whilst the latter provided a second batch of monsters.

==4e Dark Sun==
Surprisingly, when Dark Sun made it into 4th edition, it was welcomed with great warmth and enthusiasm. This might be because WoTC had learned from the mistakes of Forgotten Realms and so whilst there were changes to 4e, none of them were as setting-breaking as the Spellplague, and many actually regarded these changes as being for the better.

What changed? Well...

'''Cosmology''': Athas is now a world where, during the [[Dawn War]], the [[Archomental|Primordials]] won and killed the [[God]]s. The [[Elemental Chaos]] replaces the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Gray is still around, and is the local name for the [[Shadowfell]], but the Black isn't mentioned. If one makes it through the Gray into the [[Astral Sea]], it's empty; the Gods are dead, their halls are abandoned, and there's nothing but ancient celestial ruins and cosmic battlefields to scavenge through. The [[Feywild]] exists, but has been almost completely destroyed by defiling and its remaining pockets are zealously guarded by the Eladrin. The moons of Ral and Guthay are rich, verdant worlds in their own right, according to astrologers, but beyond the rumored existence of unpredictable "moongates" that allow access to them, nothing more is mentioned.

'''Races''': [[Half-Giant]]s lost their ADHD and are now a reflavoring of [[Goliath]]s, mechanically. [[Dray]] went from an obscure race hidden in one module to being mentioned in the core, although mechanically they're just reskinned [[Dragonborn]]. [[Eladrin]] and [[Tiefling]]s are in the setting now, as the bitter survivors of the nearly-destroyed [[Feywild]] and fiend-worshipping cannibal raiders from the depths of the wastelands respectively. A [[Dragon Magazine]] article states that there are [[Genasi]] on Athas who were originally created to rule the mortal races for the Primordials after they fucked off, but they screwed up so badly they were overthrown and then Rajaat came along. Some races (and horses) previously stated to be extinct are present.

'''Classes''': All Divine classes are officially Not Present Here, although there is a sidebar for being The Last Cleric In The World if you really must. [[Shaman]]s, [[Ardent]]s, [[Bard]]s and [[Warlord]]s take up the healer's niche. A new pair of themes, the Elemental Cleric and the Primal Guardian, fill the niches of the Elemental Cleric and the Athasian Druid from AD&D. Defiling is no longer a variant [[Wizard]], but a power that any Arcane caster can risk using. [[Templar]]s went from their own class to being your choice of either a theme or a subclass for the [[Warlock]].

'''History''': The halflings as precursors is no longer explicit fact.

'''Timeline Reset''': The "default setting" in Dark Sun is now just after the Sorcerer-King of Tyr was assassinated by unknown parties. There is NO metaplot, no timeline advancements, nothing; officially, all Dark Sun 4e material is set at this starting point and it's up to the individual DM to decide what, if anything, has happened since Kalak was killed. And there was Much Rejoicing.

==Plot Holes==
Hey, you remember that bit up at the top where Elemental Shamans summon water elementals for people to drink, since there's (supposed to be) no water left on the planet? Well the thing is, assuming everyone's bladders and sweat glands are functioning properly, this by itself should logically be enough to gradually repair Athas.

That said, as bodies of water would gradually start to form and grow more accessible (and these would be bodies of actual ''water'', not urine and sweat, as there's a reason Earth's oceans are still composed of water and not prehistoric dinosaur urine), there'd be less and less reason to keep an elemental-summoning shaman around. "Why should I pay that shaman for a glass when I can walk to the lake for free?" So the rate of repair would get slower and slower as time went on, possibly completely plateauing before the job was finished.

Of course plugging this hole is as simple as positing a route for water to be lost from the environment. Maybe sandtrout are sequestering it underground. Maybe the Primordials are taking some to be dicks. Maybe water from elementals eventually drifts back to the Elemental Chaos.

A tougher plot hole to work out is, how has no one figured out that full body robes are much better protection in the desert than going borderline-naked? Do the locals all have inherited UV protection? Does the sun not shine in the UV spectrum so sunstroke isn’t a thing? <strike>Should we even care since amazon girls in bikini armor is great?</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} 

==External links==
[http://darksun.wikia.com/ Darksun Wiki] - <strike>a wiki almost as empty as this one</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} 
[http://athas.org Athas.org] - conversion for 3.5, <strike>scheduled to be complete just after 5e comes out.</strike> Sweet shit, it's actually finished!

{{D&D-Settings}}

[[Category:Dark Sun]]

Abhorash

2023-01-26T20:28:11Z

2600:387:9:3:0:0:0:4B:

{{Awesome}}
[[Image:250px-Abhorash.jpg|left|thumb|You wish you were this badass.]]

{{Topquote|The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art.|Helen DeWitt}}

'''Abhorash''' is [[This Guy|fucking awesome]]. One of the most badass of [[Vampire Counts]] characters; debatably the most badass since [[Ushoran]] and [[Vlad von Carstein]] who are also strong contenders. He is everything awesome about the faction distilled into one guy. The only vampire that didnt bow to Nagash, A hero older than Sigmar & Gilles le Breton "who might be an imitator of him", even [[Khorne]] sees this guy and his exploits, and he sheds a single, manly tear and yells; ''That is my son!'' and commands his Khornate followers to be like him. Read on, friends.

==The Legend==
Abhorash was once the champion of the king of Lahmia and a man who held honor above all. Though uninterested in eternal life, he joined king Lamashizzar's necromancer cabal regardless. When they caught Neferata double-dealing them with Arkhan, Neferata got Lamashizzar's cabal to side with her with a show of her abilities and playing on their desires (of which she was informed by Arkhan). Even Abhorash was swayed when Neferata appealed to his greatest desire, which was perfection in martial prowess (one of the reasons Abhorash became the king's champion) and despite his anger, he joined Neferata.

It was Abhorash who executed '''[[Arkhan the Black]]''' (his first actual death) after he assassinated Lamashizzar with his own dragon staff (cathay gun). Being the noble warrior he is, Abhorash wanted Arkhan cremated, but Neferata and Ankhat disagreed, secretly burying Arkhan's body in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia. Abhorash was presented when Neferata was negotiating with the [[Cathay|Cathayan]] ambassador Prince Xian Ha Feng. When the prince's retainers and were having an outburst over Neferata's unreasonable refusal over their demands, Abhorash being the boss pointed his blade tip at a bureaucrats that was about to raise his fist at Neferata. When Neferata dueled Khalida, beforehand Abhorash recommended a bronze sword over a metal sword due to its superior speed and her own vampiric strength.

When it came to vampirisim, despite joining the cabal Abhorash's noble morality meant he had to be tricked into drinking the Elixir of Damnation by [[Queen Neferata]]. As a vampire, he initially refused to feed upon his own people - instead choosing to violently fight his own fury, until his thirst grew so great that he slaughtered a dozen people in a single-night orgy of violence. When he realized what he did, Abhorash shed [[Fist of the North Star|manly tears]] for the fallen he had killed to save himself. He left the city to prey only on bandits and great warriors - not the people of his homeland, nor the people of the homelands of Lahmia's neighbors. Before he left, he attempted to convince his fellow vampires to do the same, since he worried that if they did not, it would turn the citizenry and the neighboring kingdoms against them. But they disregarded him, and after Abhorash left they assumed he sought death, but would return when he realized how invulnerable he was.

But Abhorash's warning to not prey on local or foreign civilians might as well have been a prophecy, because they didn't listen and ''guess what the fuck happened''.

The evidence of Lahmia's vampiric corruption was found by Alcadizzar and a large coalition army was formed to siege Lahmia. Abhorash, despite his opposition to what the court had caused, arrived just in time to save the vampires' asses. He led from the front, wielding only two Khopeshes and wearing nothing but ragged clothing. He single-handed slew hundreds, and even PARRIED HUNDREDS OF ARROWS FLYING STRAIGHT AT HIM LIKE SOME KIND OF [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|ULTIMATE BEING]]. He and four brave warriors held the line so the other vampires could retreat, Abhorash going on to turn them into vampires as well. But, as powerful and peerless as he was, he couldn't be everywhere at once and Lahmia was destroyed. He gave a great cry of pain and rage as the royal palace collapsed.

As the Vampires fled Lahmia, Abhorash vilified them for their arrogance and provoking the other nations to sack Lahmia. Abhorash took nothing but his weapons and armor into exile and was accompanied only by his four closest Vampire retainers. Like the other vampires, he was cursed by [[Nagash]] for the failure of the vampires to defend him to be weak to the sun, be unable to swim across running water, having no reflection, and whatever other random shit came to mind. Abhorash taught his followers that skill-at-arms and honor in combat were the only measures of greatness, and that they would feed, from this point on, only on the blood of skilled fighters or dangerous creatures, as only the unworthy fed upon the weak. They then traveled, seeking worthy foes to vanquish. As he wandered, he gained a few followers such as [[Luthor Harkon|Lutr]], Walak and Varison the Blade. They were all turned to Vampires and adopted his creed of skill-at-arms and only feeding on the strong or wicked.

Later Abhorash came upon the lair of a great dragon, and, against all advice, entered it, engaging the beast in battle by himself. After days of battle, Abhorash was triumphant, and drank deeply from the dragon's blood. To his surprise, it cured his vampiric thirst - he maintained his Vampiric form and power, but had no need to drink blood any further. He threw the dragon's corpse down from the mountain and exulted in being free from his bloodthirst. Abhorash told his followers that his search had ended: He found his answer. He commanded his followers to go into the world and master the arts of combat, and seek the blood of the strongest of foes, so they too, might overcome their thirst (because that was his creed, and while the cure itself was dragon blood, they needed to be hardcore to be able to kill a dragon in the first place). When they had all succeeded, then, and only then, would Abhorash call them back to him - and only then would their real war begin.

This gentlemen, is how you Lawful Evil, or possibly Lawful Neutral, as his exact goals beyond becoming the greatest warrior are left vague. The mere fact that he at least tried to be decent places him above pretty much every single Vampire except possibly Vlad and Ushoran. One has to wonder, how a fight between Abhorash and [[Gotrek & Felix|Gotrek Motherfucking Gurnisson]] would have ended.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, it seems that the end of the World could not stop the most Badass vampire that ever lived. In the novel "Neferata: Mortarch of Blood" Neferata manages to convince an old vampire in a mountain that goes by the name "Blood Dragon" to train her army, we all know who this person is and given the tendency of AoS to bring back characters from the old World is not surprising that he is back, also Nagash would be an absolute idiot to bring back Mannfred but not the most powerful vampire that ever lived.

==On the Tabletop==

It is notable that the Blood Dragons, who are Vampiric Knights, field-able as a Rare option for the [[Vampire Counts]], are arguably the fucking strongest CQC unit in [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. This is a universe where acid-puking trolls, giant dinosaur-men and literal war daemons exist. Be afraid. Be very ''fucking'' afraid. With high initiative, S7 on the charge standard, frenzy, 2+ armor and good weapon skill these guys are a big-ass hammer waiting to be used.

Sadly the very complex and badass Blood Knight models are $99 for a mere five models. Chances are good if you're using them, you're using as many as possible so you'll need 5+ models. Solution? Either nut up and slay the strongest motherfucker on your street to feast upon his blood so you can throw your food money at [[GW|Games Workshop]], or buy [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] Knights at $35 for 8 and use up your leftover bitz from the rest of your Vampire Counts on them. A good compromise you can buy 5 Dragon Princes for $35, which look very similar to the Blood Knights.

With the recent anouncement of the [[Soulblight Gravelords]], A.K.A Vampire Counts 2.0, it was revealed a new pack of Blood Knights, (giving further evidence that Abhorash is back in some form), with gorgeous new models IN PLASTIC, goodbye failcast.
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]]

Abhorash

2023-01-26T20:27:24Z

2600:387:9:3:0:0:0:4B:

{{Awesome}}
[[Image:250px-Abhorash.jpg|left|thumb|You wish you were this badass.]]

{{Topquote|The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art.|Helen DeWitt}}

'''Abhorash''' is [[This Guy|fucking awesome]]. One of the most badass of [[Vampire Counts]] characters; debatably the most badass since [[Ushoran]] and [[Vlad von Carstein]] are also strong contenders. He is everything awesome about the faction distilled into one guy. The only vampire that didnt bow to Nagash, A hero older than Sigmar & Gilles le Breton "who might be an imitator of him", even [[Khorne]] sees this guy and his exploits, and he sheds a single, manly tear and yells; ''That is my son!'' and commands his Khornate followers to be like him. Read on, friends.

==The Legend==
Abhorash was once the champion of the king of Lahmia and a man who held honor above all. Though uninterested in eternal life, he joined king Lamashizzar's necromancer cabal regardless. When they caught Neferata double-dealing them with Arkhan, Neferata got Lamashizzar's cabal to side with her with a show of her abilities and playing on their desires (of which she was informed by Arkhan). Even Abhorash was swayed when Neferata appealed to his greatest desire, which was perfection in martial prowess (one of the reasons Abhorash became the king's champion) and despite his anger, he joined Neferata.

It was Abhorash who executed '''[[Arkhan the Black]]''' (his first actual death) after he assassinated Lamashizzar with his own dragon staff (cathay gun). Being the noble warrior he is, Abhorash wanted Arkhan cremated, but Neferata and Ankhat disagreed, secretly burying Arkhan's body in a nameless grave on the outskirts of Lahmia. Abhorash was presented when Neferata was negotiating with the [[Cathay|Cathayan]] ambassador Prince Xian Ha Feng. When the prince's retainers and were having an outburst over Neferata's unreasonable refusal over their demands, Abhorash being the boss pointed his blade tip at a bureaucrats that was about to raise his fist at Neferata. When Neferata dueled Khalida, beforehand Abhorash recommended a bronze sword over a metal sword due to its superior speed and her own vampiric strength.

When it came to vampirisim, despite joining the cabal Abhorash's noble morality meant he had to be tricked into drinking the Elixir of Damnation by [[Queen Neferata]]. As a vampire, he initially refused to feed upon his own people - instead choosing to violently fight his own fury, until his thirst grew so great that he slaughtered a dozen people in a single-night orgy of violence. When he realized what he did, Abhorash shed [[Fist of the North Star|manly tears]] for the fallen he had killed to save himself. He left the city to prey only on bandits and great warriors - not the people of his homeland, nor the people of the homelands of Lahmia's neighbors. Before he left, he attempted to convince his fellow vampires to do the same, since he worried that if they did not, it would turn the citizenry and the neighboring kingdoms against them. But they disregarded him, and after Abhorash left they assumed he sought death, but would return when he realized how invulnerable he was.

But Abhorash's warning to not prey on local or foreign civilians might as well have been a prophecy, because they didn't listen and ''guess what the fuck happened''.

The evidence of Lahmia's vampiric corruption was found by Alcadizzar and a large coalition army was formed to siege Lahmia. Abhorash, despite his opposition to what the court had caused, arrived just in time to save the vampires' asses. He led from the front, wielding only two Khopeshes and wearing nothing but ragged clothing. He single-handed slew hundreds, and even PARRIED HUNDREDS OF ARROWS FLYING STRAIGHT AT HIM LIKE SOME KIND OF [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|ULTIMATE BEING]]. He and four brave warriors held the line so the other vampires could retreat, Abhorash going on to turn them into vampires as well. But, as powerful and peerless as he was, he couldn't be everywhere at once and Lahmia was destroyed. He gave a great cry of pain and rage as the royal palace collapsed.

As the Vampires fled Lahmia, Abhorash vilified them for their arrogance and provoking the other nations to sack Lahmia. Abhorash took nothing but his weapons and armor into exile and was accompanied only by his four closest Vampire retainers. Like the other vampires, he was cursed by [[Nagash]] for the failure of the vampires to defend him to be weak to the sun, be unable to swim across running water, having no reflection, and whatever other random shit came to mind. Abhorash taught his followers that skill-at-arms and honor in combat were the only measures of greatness, and that they would feed, from this point on, only on the blood of skilled fighters or dangerous creatures, as only the unworthy fed upon the weak. They then traveled, seeking worthy foes to vanquish. As he wandered, he gained a few followers such as [[Luthor Harkon|Lutr]], Walak and Varison the Blade. They were all turned to Vampires and adopted his creed of skill-at-arms and only feeding on the strong or wicked.

Later Abhorash came upon the lair of a great dragon, and, against all advice, entered it, engaging the beast in battle by himself. After days of battle, Abhorash was triumphant, and drank deeply from the dragon's blood. To his surprise, it cured his vampiric thirst - he maintained his Vampiric form and power, but had no need to drink blood any further. He threw the dragon's corpse down from the mountain and exulted in being free from his bloodthirst. Abhorash told his followers that his search had ended: He found his answer. He commanded his followers to go into the world and master the arts of combat, and seek the blood of the strongest of foes, so they too, might overcome their thirst (because that was his creed, and while the cure itself was dragon blood, they needed to be hardcore to be able to kill a dragon in the first place). When they had all succeeded, then, and only then, would Abhorash call them back to him - and only then would their real war begin.

This gentlemen, is how you Lawful Evil, or possibly Lawful Neutral, as his exact goals beyond becoming the greatest warrior are left vague. The mere fact that he at least tried to be decent places him above pretty much every single Vampire except possibly Vlad and Ushoran. One has to wonder, how a fight between Abhorash and [[Gotrek & Felix|Gotrek Motherfucking Gurnisson]] would have ended.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE, it seems that the end of the World could not stop the most Badass vampire that ever lived. In the novel "Neferata: Mortarch of Blood" Neferata manages to convince an old vampire in a mountain that goes by the name "Blood Dragon" to train her army, we all know who this person is and given the tendency of AoS to bring back characters from the old World is not surprising that he is back, also Nagash would be an absolute idiot to bring back Mannfred but not the most powerful vampire that ever lived.

==On the Tabletop==

It is notable that the Blood Dragons, who are Vampiric Knights, field-able as a Rare option for the [[Vampire Counts]], are arguably the fucking strongest CQC unit in [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. This is a universe where acid-puking trolls, giant dinosaur-men and literal war daemons exist. Be afraid. Be very ''fucking'' afraid. With high initiative, S7 on the charge standard, frenzy, 2+ armor and good weapon skill these guys are a big-ass hammer waiting to be used.

Sadly the very complex and badass Blood Knight models are $99 for a mere five models. Chances are good if you're using them, you're using as many as possible so you'll need 5+ models. Solution? Either nut up and slay the strongest motherfucker on your street to feast upon his blood so you can throw your food money at [[GW|Games Workshop]], or buy [[Bretonnia|Bretonnian]] Knights at $35 for 8 and use up your leftover bitz from the rest of your Vampire Counts on them. A good compromise you can buy 5 Dragon Princes for $35, which look very similar to the Blood Knights.

With the recent anouncement of the [[Soulblight Gravelords]], A.K.A Vampire Counts 2.0, it was revealed a new pack of Blood Knights, (giving further evidence that Abhorash is back in some form), with gorgeous new models IN PLASTIC, goodbye failcast.
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]] [[Category: Vampire Counts]]

Malal

2023-01-26T20:06:40Z

2600:387:9:3:0:0:0:4B: /* Followers of Malal */

[[File:Malal-symbol.gif|center]]
{{heresy}}
[[File:Lord_malal_by_morporg-d78ectd.jpg|400px|right|thumb|topquote| The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. -Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects]]
<div style="font-size:1.10em;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;font-family:serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em">404 ERROR! PAGE NOT FOUND! THE PAGE YOU WERE LOOKING FOR WAS EITHER DELETED OR MISSING! - The Script of Malal on Himself'''</div>
{{topquote|... and he that went before now came last, and that which was white and black and all direction was thrown against itself. Grown mightily indignant at the words of the Gods, Malal did turn his heart against them and flee into the chambers of space... And no man looked to Malal then, save those that serve that which they hate, who smile upon their misfortune, and who bear no love save for the damned. At such times as a warrior's heart turns to Malal, all Gods of Chaos grow fearful, and the laughter of the Outcast God fills the tomb of space...|from The Great Book of Despair.}}
{{topquote|There is no greater evil than anarchy.|Sophocles}}

=="Chaos Divided"==
===Malal===
[[File:Malal.jpg|300px|right|thumb|What Malal ''might'' look like...if he actually wants us to believe that he exists in the first place.]]
The character Malal was created in [[The Citadel Journal]] for second edition [[Warhammer Fantasy]] by John Wagner and Alan Grant as the patron of the [[Warriors of Chaos]] character [[Kaleb Daark]], who allied with the forces of good to fight Chaos while pursuing his own goals by confronting Khornates and Skaven using his soul-drinking magic axe called the [[Daemon_Weapon#Dreadaxe|Dreadaxe]]. He was sent by Malal to assassinate one of the [[Chaos God of Law]] Arianka to prove himself worthy, a story which continued in three chapters. In 1986 Kaleb and his mount were given stats in Journal and his miniature was advertised, and it along with the fourth chapter were never released for unknown reasons ("creative differences" is all that was ever revealed). Malal was referenced in several other Games Workshop works, with the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] character Skrag the Slaughterer originally being a worshipper of him (later retconned to [[Great Maw]] instead) who was cast out from his tribe for stealing an axe made of "starmetal" (later retconned to cooking his chief's favorite [[Gnoblar]]), escaping to a [[Chaos Dwarf]] hold to force them to forge him armor before slaughtering all of them, followed up by a skirmish scenario called "The Crude, the Mad and the Rusty" where the surviving Chaos Dwarf plus two Goblin Fanatics and a golem fight against him. The first edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] states he is a rogue Chaos God who wants to destroy the Four, a Champion of Malal is killed by the protagonist in a short story found in the [[Ignorant Armies]] short story novels, and the [[Chaos Marauders]] cardgame had a card which depicted [[Beastmen]] preparing to fight other Chaos beings.

All in all, Malal was designed as an anti<s>hero</s> villain side to Chaos who is beneficial to the side of Order but is too Chaotic Evil for any being to trust, and actively drains both friend and enemy of energy to feed himself. Serving him is advancing oblivion, fighting him is to be annihilated. Any infighting on the part of Chaos resulted in Malal growing in power, essentially introducing the concept of total war to the Warp entities. Only by cooperating and shifting their attention to the mortal realm could the other Chaos Gods escape his influence, where they found his minions waiting for them. He may've been the strongest god in the setting, or at least the most dangerous, as all the other gods feared and hated him.

During the year 1987 Wagner and Grant experienced a falling out over several comics they were producing at the time including Judge Dredd and work for DC Comics as well as several works for smaller publishers. This was followed by a sudden scramble for rights earned by them during their time creating for different companies and resulted in them suing Games Workshop for total ownership of Kaleb and Malal. Games Workshop had hired them for freelance work rather than as actual employees meaning Wagner & Grant technically owned the characters they created. If Games Workshop ever used Malal again, they would either have to pay a royalty fee or enter into a lawsuit over the ownership of the character, which they surprisingly never did. Malal was only used once more, in the [[The Dying of the Light]] campaign where a Chaos sorcerer of [[Tzeentch]] named Heinrich Bors switches to Malal in order to have control over his own fate again.
[[File:Malal and Kaleb.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Malal's (only) "canon" appearance and I have to say, for something that ''technically'' doesn't exist he looks pretty good.]]
Although technically owning Malal and Kaleb, neither author has done anything with the characters, as Wagner continues to mostly write Judge Dredd while Grant now works on zombie-related stories. Despite the lengths to which /tg/ will go to bring attention to [[Pretend|evidence]] of Malal's existence in the canon, he is <strike>strictly</strike> arguably fanon for now. It's worth pointing out that Malal was "reconnected" out of Warhammer ''Fantasy,'' and that was before 40K was even a thing. He was never canon to 40K until the Sons of Malice came around (see below). That said, he still has fan popularity along with the equally oldass [[Chaos Gods of Law]], and he appeared in Hogshead Publishing material at least as late as the 1990s.

Zuvassin the Undoer and Necoho the Doubter were created by Games Workshop to replace Malal in the "The Enemy Within" adventure for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay during the "Something Rotten In Kislev" campaign.

Zuvassin and Necoho together represent the same thing that Malal did, the concept of Chaos destroying itself and Khorne, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, and Nurgle plus the Chaos Gods of Order each falling prey to the primordial nothingness they emerged from in the same way the mortals do into them.
[[File:Kaleb_Daark_CJ86.jpg|thumb|right|300px| [[Kaleb Daark]] in all his "glory." Yes, he's a brooding, basically albinistic bad-guy-who-fights-evil in the name of Chaos using a demonic sword and therefore just Elric.]]
Zuvassin and Necoho were only given a second mention, listed as Chaos Gods in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement "Tome Of Salvation".

===Zuvassin===
'''Zuvassin''' is a rogue Chaos God who undoes the plans of any being, Chaos or not, including [[Tzeentch]]. He accepts all followers for all reasons and doesn't issue instructions since his followers should technically be working to subvert them, so that anything Zuvassin gets involved in becomes a complete mess where nothing can be predicted and everything goes wrong for everyone to varying degrees. This makes him the only Chaos God who truly embodies the concept of "Chaos" - or at least "Chaos-as-anarchy".

Any time you could make a list of possible outcomes for any given thing, and then draw in Zuvassin, the [[Not as Planned|"INCONCEIVABLE"]] result will occur; a coin will fall through a portal into another dimension and land on all surfaces at once, a six-sided dice will crack in half and reveal a 7 and 8 inside, and both factions in a battle will somehow end the day with more soldiers than they began with. Interestingly in the “Something Rotten in Kislev” scenario he first appeared in Zuvassin was noted to have a special magical artifact dedicated to him in the form of a furnace that if used correctly could burn away chaos mutations and turn mutants and [[Beastmen]] into normal humans…or it would simply incinerate them if they rolled badly.

What is heavily implied to be a worshipper of Zuvassin appears in the [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]] novel "Shadespire: The Mirrored City". A Chaos Warrior named '''Zuvass''', who describes himself as a worshipper of a "minor god" when a [[Khorne]] worshipping protagonist notes he cannot "smell" the mark of any of the Four Great Gods on him despite his obvious allegiance to Chaos, is a major character in the story. Fittingly all of his schemes ultimately seem to amount to screwing over everybody else. Including quite possibly himself, as its implied he's the future version of the protagonist after a time loop.

Zuvassin also appears in [[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total War: WARHAMMER III]], specifically in [[God-Slayer|God-Slayer's]] campaign. In one event one of Daniel's cultists can help you communicate with that Rogue Chaos God and receive his blessing, as he considers you quite useful in the disrupting the balance of Chaos.

===Necoho===
Necoho is the god of contradictions and paradoxes, and represents the "Chicken or the Egg" question where the supernatural exists and doesn't. He fights against the concept of belief and faith and as a result is the enemy of all spiritual creatures and faithful worshipers. He only ever actually appears as a simple mortal being and counts everyone and nobody to be his followers.

Necoho will one day bring about the end of the Chaos Gods when nothing left will worship them and they will cease to be. In the “Something rotten in Kislev” scenario he first appeared in the locals of a small Kislevite town started revering him in order to counterbalance Zuvassin’s more negative power. The player characters actually have to opportunity to destroy his altar…which he actually congratulates the player on. He then tells them however that since he’s still technically a Chaos god he still has to punish them by ordering them to build an altar for his inspection and it doesn’t even have to be a good one. The scenario outright says there’s a 70% chance he won’t even bother coming to check it out, a 20% chance he comes but just says “good enough” and a 10% chance he shows up but gets pissed at the shoddy quality of the altar and tries to turn the player inside out with his powers.

Surprisingly he’s still canon, the Age of Sigmar short story Auction of Blood mentions an antitheist tract called "The Revelations of Necoho, or the Light of Doubt".

===Legacy of Malal===
Both players and Eavy Metal painters alike continued to use Malal even if he had gone without a mention, and was still considered to be canon. The early days of the Warhammer forums had the discovery of Malal as something of a rite of passage for Chaos players as well. Malal paintjobs continued to show up in many [[Golden Demon]] competitions and Eavy Metal showcases alike.

===[[Be'lakor]]===
With the introduction of [[Mordheim]], a Cult of Chaos faction emerged that revolved around a character called the "Shadowlord", a being who was reputed to be a Chaos God of some kind and who had caused the ruin of the city. Many players believed him to be the return of Malal, and many early paintjobs for the Cult were in Malal's white and black skull motif. The story was later revealed to actually be a plot by Be'lakor, a mere [[Daemon Prince]] of [[Chaos Undivided]] who had wanted to escape the control of the Four and had made the ruined city his domain before realizing he had only traded one cage for a much smaller one, and slunk back to the laughter of the Four with his tail between his legs and a revisionist version of the story already in his head. In many ways Be'lakor was intended to replace Malal as the non-Four alternative to Chaos, although Games Workshop writers by this point had [[Skub|made Chaos the Mary Sue faction for so long that the concept of anything being a danger to them was laughable]]. Thus the idea of the "Chaos outsider" became just a whiny petulant part of Chaos that had managed to wreak great destruction in the mortal world while attempting, and failing, to give a black eye to his masters.

===Malice===
Malice was created for 3rd edition [[Warhammer 40000]] in the [[Chaos Space Marine]] Codex. A Chaos Space Marine Chapter in Malal's colors was shown under the name "[[Sons of Malice]]", with an axe identical to Kaleb Daark's, described as being 'created to kill other beings of Chaos.' They later got a short story in [[White Dwarf]] where a Sister of Battle discovers they were a loyalist Chapter who had apparently fallen to Chaos while still fighting for the Imperium, exalting in cannibalism & blood rituals and praising 'Malice' as the god of anarchy and fear. They then proceed to cannibalize the Sister and her group, and were exiled from the Imperium for their heresy, even as they continued fighting against the other forces of Chaos. But once again, Malice was never mentioned again, although his color scheme was repeated in subsequent works.

Though his followers show up in BFG Armada II. Following the fall of Cadia the Sons later attacked a fleet of fleeing Cadians at the battle of Faith’s Anchorage as revenge for Cadia’s part in the purging of the Sons home world. They were later chased off when a second Cadian fleet showed up backed by a [[Space Wolf]] strike cruiser.

===Canon/Archaon===
Malal/Zuvassin/Necoho/Malice have existed in a sort of limbo in canon for quite a long time. Technically they were never retconned, and "non-canon by exclusion" is a weak accusation as that would mean every character and every event must be mentioned every edition for them to remain canon. Many statements have been given saying the Chaos Gods only exist in the Four, although this was said both before and after each "Chaos God of Piss Off" was written meaning the statement has always been a false one anyway (this isn't even going into the huge clusterfuck that [[Age of Sigmar]] has made in trying to figure out who actually matters in Chaos, not counting [[Khorne|the one who gets all the new models]]).
Some people have taken on the perspective that the "Chaos God of Go Fuck Yourself" is a continually shifting being, more in flux than Tzeentch and that each incarnation is comparable to [[Doctor Who]] incarnations. In this interpretation, Malal is Zuvassin is Necoho is Malice, and there's more to come still (of course Peter Capaldi is the best one. No, Paul McGann is the best. <strike>''They're all the best. PREPARE FOR [[Skub|SKUB]]!''</strike>)

[[End Times]] and [[Age of Sigmar]] for [[Warhammer Fantasy]] both suggest that the concept of a fifth Chaos God is over with as in the leadup to the event Be'lakor snarked that the Chaos Gods of Law never existed and that only the Four exist, with everything belonging to them in the end. But his truthfulness is in doubt partially because even though he is the character who "never lies", this is only stated once in the 40k universe and that the reason he never lies is "because its boring", so as a result he's never been proven to really be a reliable narrator. It is also dubious because of the proven disconnect between [[Black Library]] and the actual army books, evidenced by massive contradictions during the event and the casual attitude of the writers, means that anything in said books must be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Regardless, during the event when every character (that Games Workshop remembered existed) played a part, no fifth Chaos God other than [[Horned Rat]] did anything which means he and his other selves may truly be non-canon.

[[Vermintide 2]]'s Chaos Wastes game mode has dialogue of Kruber mentioning he once heard that there are actually five Chaos Gods, which he heard from someone Saltzpyre "wouldn't know about". Saltzpyre shuts this down as being agreed upon by scholars at large as being nothing more than whimsy or falsehood.

In Age of Sigmar, [[Archaon]] is promoted to a Chaos God (remember that Fantasy and 40k share the same Warp which exists outside of time, so Archaon is now a Chaos God by technicality in 40k as well) representing the combined strength of the other Chaos Gods as the embodiment of [[Chaos Undivided]] (with the exception of Slaanesh's replacement in the Great Game, Horned Rat, whom he rejects) and his Black Library novel life goal is to destroy all gods and kings to let men control their own destiny and exalt in their own achievements in a spectacularly Ayn Rand way. Due to his rejection of the pretender [[Keeper of Secrets]] trying to take Slaanesh's position, Archaon himself wound up being the target of worship by former Slaaneshi who in turn are empowered by him as if Slaanesh was still around (which is not gameplay/story segregation as they still have their powers in the narrative as well) meaning that he's 1/4 of the way to his goal.
Although the actual army books state he is loyal to Chaos, the Black Library sources have his goals falling very much in line with the ideals of Malal, and in an accidental bit of extra-meta story extrapolation his contradiction in goal even fits into Necoho's sphere. Beyond that, Be'lakor (who styles himself as Archaon's creator and father) manipulated Archaon's entire early life, from a Warrior of Chaos raping his Empire mother and him becoming a devout priest of [[Sigmar]], to him losing his faith and becoming a being of pure evil who rejects both Sigmar's light and Be'lakor's blackness. This blend of light and dark fits quite well into Malal's scheme.

So it may be possible that Archaon is the latest incarnation of the Malal concept, albeit as a German rapeviking this time rather than a giant boar...thing or a fat old <strike>fedora</strike>trilby-tipper.

Archaon's endgame in Age is to somehow remove the new pantheon of Order (which includes Death and Destruction by technicality) from their Realms, which is very difficult because the "near infinite" planets that are the Realms are literally made of the old Winds of Magic (making them very chaotic and only really willing to obey the will of beings of a similar nature) with the very souls of those new gods at the cores. As a result Archaon is facing an uphill battle of trying to eliminate their armies (and all civilians, because this is Lord Edgemaster after all) then trap them and figure out a way to remove them without destroying the Realm itself all while battling against the rest of Chaos which periodically tries to backstab him despite them being his only supporters. If he achieves his goal, he will rule over all of reality (including whatever the fuck the Warp can fairly be called) as the sole being of any concept of power. It's likely that the Chaos Gods caught on to this and are using him in such a way that he will never make any gains in the grand strategic scale and thus sustain the Chaos Gods for eternity in an eternal stalemate as they amuse themselves at a greater scale than the Old World could.

===Malign===
[[Tony Ackland]] was one of the artists employed by early Games Workshop to create the illustrations for their supplements and books, and they tasked him to design the Daemons that would be the models for Malal's eventual inclusion into Warhammer Fantasy as an army. The Wagner/Grant debacle left Malal in limbo with Games Workshop having never produced a model, and as a result Ackland was technically the owner of the designs he created since, just like Wagner and Grant, he was only a freelancer who owned what he made.

Not knowing about the boar appearance decided on in the comics nor the white/black color scheme, Ackland's idea for Malal combined insects with a general Chaos mutant themes (as he was the artist to quite a bit of the original Chaos Mutant and [[Chaos Spawn]] images) to produce extremely surrealist combinations of man and beast in a lean and segmented nature, featuring skeletal motifs coincidentally.

He eventually released his designs to the public (seen below in the Gallery section), then created new versions which he assigned to an unknown being called "Malign" in order to have them produced by third-party companies for sale.

According to Ackland, his version of Malal was going to be very similar to Khorne in that the two were extremely violent and focused mainly on sending warriors into combat rather than any politicking. But his version of Malal was much more elite and fanatical than Khorne, describing Khorne as the Wehrmacht (German army) and Malal as the Nazi SS. Yes you read that right, Malal's troops would basically be [[Commissar|BLAMMMING]] [[Bloodletters]] for cowardice or harboring Elves.

===Malice (Pantheon Of Chaos)===
Ackland has proceeded to partner with various people including sculptor Diego Serrate Pinilla to create a new model range and eventual wargame, [[Pantheon Of Chaos]], which brings not only all of the Malal Daemons into production, but also all of Ackland's Warhammer Fantasy artwork he has ownership of.
Malal is known as Malice (because that's a public domain name), and is exactly as originally imagined.

So players who for years have wanted their very own Malal army now can have exactly that.

===Malal and the [[Tyranids|Tyranids]]===

When [[Rogue Trader]] was being devised and the creatures that would later form the [[Tyranid]] Hive Fleets with it, Malal was originally going to have (as had been conceived for WHFB) armies of insectoid and beast-like chimeras that would consume everything in their path, including themselves. This bought Malal's very special form of true-chaos to each game system as well as possibly the most horrific and alien of all 40K fauna.

After the planned narrative for the other four Chaos Gods to conspire to remove Malal from the warp in M36, all of them fearful that Malal was too powerful in the Great Game, Malal was to in fact be "killed" by being booted from the warp and into the material realm.

When Malal appeared in the material realm he moved into the void between galaxies, hidden from view to everyone, from the populations of the infinite galaxies of the universe that now surrounded him to the other Chaos gods themselves who were busy enjoying their assumed victory and continuing the great game. From this dark and empty space Malal devised a plan; he would create a new form of life, one that was capable of consuming all life in the material realm whilst feeding his own power. This life would then consume itself returning it's life-energy to the renegade god. In turn the Hive Fleets were born and Malal braved a sly smile.

Malal sent the fleets across the universe, entering galaxies and consuming all life and matter within; each galaxy consumed giving even more strength to the lost god hidden in the void.

Just before the 41st Millenium (Though the exact date varies throughout RT lore), Malal sent the Hive fleets into the Milky Way; slamming into the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy. Since this initial conflict two other major hive fleets have also attacked and as the clock races rapidly towards the 42nd Millenium the galaxy finds itself assaulted from all sides by Malal's creatures.

If the Hive fleets succeed Malal will be boosted in his objective of re-ascending to the Immaterium as the most powerful god of the warp. Whether the renegade god will succeed is left open, but as the Hive Fleets continue to spread amongst the galaxies and worlds that make up the 40K universe, things do not look good for anyone, including the other Chaos Gods.

Sadly as Malal has gone from lore due to legal issues, so have the plans for his Tyranid organisms. They remain without a clear origin story. The last hint GW gave for Malal still being behind the tyranids was in 5th Ed when the tyranids were described as being "guided by a hidden intelligence far more powerful than even the norn-queens". Since then nothing, if anything, has really been said on the matter.

==/tg/ Fluff==
[[File:Painted Malice Guardian of Contradictions.jpg|400px|left|thumb|We have a painted model of a <s>Malal</s> <s>Malign</s> Malice Greater Daemon! Praise the true atheist god!]]
Followers of Malal are kind of like [[Chaos]] Agnostics. They doubt that anything exists, including the [[Emperor]], Chaos itself, and you. ''Especially '''you'''''. The Chaos Space Marines chapter known as the "Sons of Malice", with their alternating black/white colour scheme are as likely to kill Chaos Forces as anyone else on the field, except for each other.

Malal, when he was actually canon (the very fact that He's non-canon [[Not as Planned|makes him canon]]), was the Chaos God of Fear, Darkness, Anarchy, and batshit loony self-destructive urges; Chaos battling Chaos. This also made him the God of paradoxes, Radical Inquisitors and the like trying to turn Chaos against itself, and the outcast god since he was trying to buttfuck every other Chaos God and their followers. The thing about Malal was that even though he was one of the biggest personifications of Chaos there could be, he constantly tried to destroy Chaos and if he were ever successful in ending Chaos he could be destroyed as well. Not that this pants-on head crazy a-hole cared, as suicidal tendencies and teamkilling just became part of his portfolio instead. When Malal gets involved, the [[Great Game]] turns from [[Risk]] to [[Call of Cthulhu]] with [[Old Man Henderson]] as the head cultist.

Since Malal was supposed to be the antitheses of Chaos he had only a few champions, all of whom were supposed to be [[Cheese|STUPIDLY powerful]] and would go around bitch-slapping other Chaos champions with their anti-daemon daemon-axes of doom while wearing warp-resistant warp armor. The servants of Malal fight in utter silence, but that makes them way more badass than the rest of chaos. So yeah. They work with the forces of Order, but are fairly likely to engage in teamkilling to the degree that [[Orks]] are shocked by their sudden but inevitable betrayals.
Because of this followers of Malal have to already be balls to the wall nuts and have superhuman will. Malal's trademarks were black and white bisecting armor and a horned skull equally bisected black and white. His sacred number was 11. His signature weapon was the Dreadaxe which was a daemon weapon made out of a [[derp|Daemon that hates Daemons]], and it looked like a pterodactyl head on a stick. You can still find examples of this weapon in the CSM 3.5 dex and in Your [[Matt Ward|Spiritual Liege]]'s wonderful fluff assassin of a Codex: [[Grey Knights]].

Malal has a fortress in the Chaos Wastes in Warhammer Fantasy where he captures and [[trolls]] Greater Daemons by trapping them for all eternity unable to do whatever it is that they embody. This one [[Keeper of Secrets]] he has, for example, is caught in a field that nullifies all sensation so it can't indulge in cocaine fueled sex parties with [[Doomrider]], thus eternally pissing off said daemon forever in the only way that works. He also put a [[Great Unclean One]] in a vat of disinfectant; blinded and binded a [[Lord of Change]] and put him in a stasis-field; and locked a [[Bloodthirster]] in an indestructible zen garden.

Unlike his brother gods he is capable of entering the materium/Warhammer World through demonic possession if his followers had enough sacrifices, but since his followers rarely manage to not kill each other long enough to make headway towards any particular goal it mostly falls to his Champions to get shit done.

In Age of Sigmar, Malal actually controls the space between the Realms and decides when the Realmgates will function and when they will not, plucking those he desires from the space between spaces and doing with them as he wills. Since Chaos no longer fights itself he has weakened to a degree, and must now rely on his plan to turn Archaon to his will and take the massive powers the Four invested in him which will mark the beginning of the end of Chaos.

(''In 40k, Malal is actually THE ELEVENTH PRIMARCH!! Think about it: Malal's sacred number is 11, the Renegade warband [[Sons of Malice]] worship the god Malal, and the Sons of Malice also center their rituals and trophies around the number XI. And what is the number of one of the missing legions? ELEVEN. And their warband contain a large amount of unknown (Read: ANCIENT) suits of Power Armour that predate even the [[Great Crusade]]. Also, apparently, they called themselves the Sons of Malice BEFORE being declared renegades. Additionally, Horus (during the end of the Great Crusade) fucking straight says the name of one of his lost brothers is Malal!!! This could mean that The [[Sons of Malice]] are actually serious possibilities as candidates of the XI Legion! '''*Mind Blown*''''')

Not actually confirmed, as Horus only says “Mal” before being cut off and considering he was being mind-strangled by Malcador at the time, it is wholly possible he was saying Malcador’s name in an attempt to get him to stop. There are coincidences, but it is not a certainty, and while the possession of Great Crusade-era weaponry and armor can be seen as damning evidence, due to the nature of the Warp and all the bullshit it pulls with time on a regular basis, we can’t rule out a more mundane explanation like a portion of a Legion (maybe even the XI) being lost and corrupted. Additionally, the way the [[Lost legions|missing primarchs]] are refereed to suggests their elimination, which rules out the entirety of a Legion up and leaving, though it does not preclude a few survivors booking it for the Eye of Terror after a purge. Additionally, the missing brothers are shown to be still honored by their survivors, and considering the universal hatred the Primarchs we know ‘did’ fall to worship were given afterwards, that puts even the fact that a Primarchs and their legion did fall to Chaos in doubt.

At one point in the 36th Millennium (though of course time is a nebulous concept in the warp), the other four gods got really sick of Malal's constant interference in their plans. While Malal was at the time the strongest individual god, the other four knew that he couldn't deal with them all at once. [[Elder Scrolls|So Tzeentch gathered the other gods and]] [[Just As Planned|formulated a plan]] [[Elder Scrolls|to deal with Malal once and for all.]] So one day Nurgle knocked on Malal's door and asked Malal to step outside, at this point Tzeentch signaled the others to attack and the other Chaos Gods jumped out from behind their cover and beat Malal to death. It required about a century of constant beating, but eventually Malal died. Upon his death the other Four Chaos gods celebrated for one thousand years now that the cheese lord was out of the way.
Sadly Malal's bastard offspring Malice and Zuvassin managed to slip away.
'''However, it might be possible that Malal/Malice may just be an Alias for the Emperor, working incognito, looking into ways he can ultimately end the four-fold scourge of the Warp. It might be possible he would use "Malal/Malice", using the powers of the Dark Gods against them. That includes using the Sons of Malice(Grey Knights?). Just as soon as Kaldor stops sniffin' Warp Dust.'''
A final theory is that he's become a sneaky git and painted himself [[Ork Kommando|purple]] to wait out until the time is right to hit the big four just hard enough to finish them (considering the current state of Daemons on the tabletop, that might not be too far off), and in the meantime manipulates Orks into fighting each other by pretending to be Gork, then Mork (or Mork then Gork?) to draw them into arguments while causing the Imperium to weaken itself by BLAMMING everyone capable of uplifting the condition of man. He probably got the idea sometime after he left a giant sword for Farsight to eventually find, but before he altered Macha's biochemistry to amp up her hormone output.
In fact, the truth is much more terrifying. Malal in fact managed to travel back through time to the present, where he is now trying to manifest. This is the source of the Zalgo legends across the internet.

In Warhammer Fantasy he still exists, and is secretly sponsoring [[Nagash|Nagash's]] recent [[The End Times|rise to power]]. He hasn't been seen or mentioned because he's been crashing on the [[Horned Rat|Horned Rat's]] couch after burning his own house down.

===Getting Malal on the Table===
[[File:Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-art-красивые-картинки-681896.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Sons of Malice gives thumbs up on [[/tg/ Gets Shit Done|/tg/ getting shit done!]]]]
As Games Workshop have proven themselves to be a bunch of IP abusing assholes, it once again falls to /tg/ [[/tg/ gets shit done|to get anything done.]]
====Humans====
To field rapevikings of Malal in Warhammer Fantasy, run Warriors of Chaos models on Skaven bases. Nothing like blowing yourself AND the enemy up to say "It doesn't matter".
Ironically (or appropriately depending on how you look at it) one of the best ways to represent 40k Malal dedicated Chaos Marines would be to use the Grey Knights codex. Think about it; elite marine units with sick powers and a plethora of daemon killing hardware, small army sizes, and more. Take an Unbound Dreadknight spam list and use Chaos bitz for a nasty Chaos smashing elite warband of Malal followers and lolstomp your opponents into the ground. Alternatively you can use C:CSM if you aren't a cheesed-out 12 year old or Daemonhunters vet.

====Daemons of Malal====
Have you ever lamented how you always wanted to put together a Malal themed army, but you didn't, because it wouldn't be worth it without the proper daemons? Well, now you no longer have a fucking excuse. Grown mightily indignant at Malal's lack of presence on the tabletop, several anons conspired together to bring you this. [http://www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk/CP%20Models%2028mm%20Night%20Terrors%20Demons.htm We even found models for it]; they're at the bottom, listed as Hook Horrors. Play-testing would be very much appreciated.

Alternatively, modification to existing Daemon models using their original stats is fine too (a popular idea for example is a gleeful white and black Daemon Prince tearing itself in half along the color separation).

====Malal Homebrew====
Due to the fact that there is little concrete information about Malal content, especially in 40k where he is essentially non-existent, there are a number of ways to interpret the lore into a whole. Here is the link to the fan-created rule set: [[Malal Daemonkin]]

====Forces of Malal====
Here is some fanfluff of Malal/Malice due to how little proper fluff there is. Information is subject to change of course: [[Forces of Malal]]

====Daemons of the Ruinstorm====
Book Eight – Malevolence of the Horus heresy books added a new set of rules for daemon armies with a much, much wider set of options to build from, these include 6 army wide themes called Aetheric dominions to represent the four main gods and chaos undivided, along with one called "mirror of hate" which which grants you hatred for daemons and psykers, 1 VP for each unit of the aforementioned you kill and costs you a victory point for each unit you lose, you also win automatically if you end with 0VP. Unfortunately this option doesn't give you any of the nifty extras that the others get like unique emanations and the option is literally an instant lose against a non-psyker army due to you losing VP for every unit you lose, however this fits nicely in with the fluff.

===Dirges of Malal===
Take the rot, to make it flesh. 
Take the skull, the soul to rest. 
Take their mind and give them peace. 
Take their will. Sensations cease. 
--------------------
"We shall deny Nurgle their flesh to fester and rot" 
"We shall deny Khorne their blood and skulls" 
"We shall deny Tzeentch their destinies and fates" 
"We shall deny Slaanesh their pleasure and pain" 
"Death to the Dark Gods" 
"For the Renegade God" 
"Let the galaxy burn!" 
--------------------
To the Skin, Ice 
To the Rot, Fire 
To the Skull, Steel 
To the Mind, Night 
--------------------
"We are the flames that scorch the garden of rot." 
"We are the waves that erode the mountain of skulls." 
"We are the quakes that shatter the labyrinth of lies." 
"We are the storms that rend the palace of perfection." 
"We are Malice." 

===Followers of Malal===
*The [[Sons of Malice]]

*Kaleb Daark

*<s>The Alpha Legion and their two primarchs</s> <s>{{BLAM|No such legion nor primarchs exist!}}</s> Of course Alpha Legion exists, but it has only one primarch: [[Alpharius|Omegon]]

*Suicidal people who don't want to die

*Scottish Koreans

*Jumbo shrimp

*Military intelligence

*The two missing primarchs

*[[Farsight|Tau assault units]]

*The living dead

*<s>You</s>

*<s>Me</s>

*<s>Us and them</s>

*Anarchist dictators

*Hypocrites

*Dead [[Sly Marbo]]

*Atheist preachers

*John Constantine

*Your girlfriend and the guy you shouldn't worry about

*You if you actually had a girlfriend

*Full semi-automatic gun owners

*[[Lofn|Domesticated Tyranids]]

*Tall midgets

*Black albinos

*Grey Knights

*Billy Mays

*<s>Honest politicians</s> It's so nonexisting term, that even Malal derps on it

*Gabe Newell

*C.S.Gotohell

*<s>Chris-chan's</s> He-who-shall-not-be-named's long-lost perfect, popular brother

*Josef Fritzl

*Eldar units that aren't utterly overpowered

*Screaming Mimes

*Uncle Ruckus

*Ork snipers

*Assurances that don't leave Lord Bale cold

*Vladimir Putin's estranged twin brother.

*Atheist Word Bearers

*Ronald McDonald

*[[Captain Titus|Ultramarines that deserve to live]]

*Vegemonster

*[[Sorcerers of Khorne|Khornate Sorcerers]]/[[Azariah Kyras|Librarians]]

*Tzeentch Berserkers

*[[Plague Surgeon |Nurglite Doctors]]/[[Festus the Leechlord |medics]]

*Slaanesh Automatons

*Bill Gates

*Blinker fluid salesmen

*[[Genestealer Cult|Tyranid allies]] (7th edition anyone?)

*Ork mathematicians (a.k.a. Mathboyz)

*Matt ward Fans (Newfags)

*Chaos centurions and knights (Forge world made them)

*Pacifist Marines

*Black Templar Librarians

*[[Nerdmonette|Celibate and Sober Slaanesh Daemon]] (The 5th deamonette creation)

*[[Planescape: Torment|Fall-from-Grace]]

*Cheap GW models

*Loyalist Dark Angels

*Egalitarian Eldar

*Sorcerers that can light water on fire

*Asexual and Altruistic Dark Eldar

*Industrial Exodites

*Led Zeppelin

*Germophobic Plaguebearers

*Ahzek Ahriman {{BLAM|DOUBLE HERESY!}}{{BLAM}}

*Two-Face

*Cool people wearing crocs

*Mikhail Bakunin

*People who finish gobstoppers/jawbreakers

*Justin Bieber's popular twin brother

*The Deceiver

*Necrons in flesh bodies

*Pacifist army ants

*Abstinent Daemonettes

*[[Ciaphas Cain|Commissars that don't {{BLAM}} their own troops.]]

*Virgin Bards

*Cuddly Night Lords

*Loving, compassionate Iron Warriors

*[[DOOM: Repercussions of Evil|People who don't worship Malal]]

*[[Everyone Is John|John]]

*[[Derp|People that aren't John]]

*DC Comics editorial and writer staff

*Kid friendly [[Lovecraft|Lovecraftian]] authors

*Safe for work pornography photographers

*Carnivorous gorillas

*Your mom

*Gay Pirates

*Manly douches

*Half-necron organisms

*Eskimo cactus farmers

*Vegan sharks

*Jewish Nazis (ashkenatzis)

*Malal

*Space Jesus

*Matt Ward (himself)

*Remleiz (40k theories)

*Capitalist Tau

*Old people (after all, dying of old age is just dying of not dying)

*Black KKK members

*Chinese factory workers

*Old-fags

*New-fags

*Handicapped Dreadnoughts

*George Soros...is this [[Tzeentch]]'s thing?

*[[Commander Puretide]] of the Tau, [[Grimdark|as his brain was being chewed out by computer chips to preserve his]] [[tactical genius]]

*/m/ after 2013

*Libertarians
*Acraphobic birds

*Transgender Seahorses

*UNDERCROFT MALICE

*Straight guys who have sex with men

*People who like mustard-flavoured ice cream

*Crimes Man

*The population cold shoulder

==Malal's Favorite Pastimes==

*No-scoping Khorne in [[/v/|FPSes]].

*Reverting Tzeench's edits.

*putting band-aids on Nurgle's sores in his sleep and replacing his morning coffee creamer with ointment.

*<s>hacking onto Slaanesh's computer and censoring all their porn.</s>
**"Uh, Sir? Slaanesh developed a censor bar fetish."
***Hacking onto Slaanesh's computer and deleting all their porn.
****"Oh, Sir... Slaanesh has somehow developed a fetish for that, too..."
***** "AH, A CONTRADICTION! [[JUST AS PLANNED]]! WAIT, NO! SHIT!! GET OUT OF HERE, TZEENTCH!!"

*Re-blogging old adages like "less is more," "opposites attract," and "the more things change, the more they <s>don't</s> stay the same".

*Counting eggs before they've <s>hatched</s> been layed.

*Directing Mormons to the addresses of Jehovah's Witnesses, and vice versa.

*bringing spoons to gunfights.
**Winning said gunfights

*Suing his Lawyer.
**Suing his Lawyer's Lawyer

*Punching himself in the face.

*Committing identity theft and proceeding to raise the victim's credit score and pay off their mortgage.

*Driving to Schrodinger's house to play with his cat.

*Claiming to be Rule 34's exception.

*Dividing by zero.

*You know how every single awesome video on Youtube always has a few dislikes? At least five of those are always him.
**Yes, even if there are fewer than five dislikes.
**Now that dislikes are hidden, you'll never know which ones are his. [[Just as planned]]...

*You know how every single godawful video on Youtube always has a few likes? At least five of those are always him.
**Yes, even if there are fewer than five likes.

*Just enjoying his state of semi-canonical limbo.

==Dungeons The Dragoning==

For those of you who want to roleplay with Malal, [[Dungeons: the Dragoning 40,000 7th Edition]] has Malal as a Chaos God, because of course it does. In DtD, he's the Chaos God of Teamkilling Fucktards; nobody gets along with him or his followers.

==Gallery==
{{Promotions}}
<gallery>
Image:Malal Feasts.jpg|Malal himself about to devour an unfortunate [[Keeper of Secrets]]
Image:Lesser_Daemon_of_Malal.jpg|One of Malal's canon Daemon designs from Tony Ackland.This would either be a Lesser or Greater Daemon.
Image:Malal Daemon Sale.jpg|This model was actually produced by a third party company called [[C-P Models]] and is available for sale [https://cpmodels.co.uk/product/ntd13-hook-horror-demon/ here.]
Image:Greater_Daemon_of_Malal.jpg|Another Ackland Malal Daemon. This would have either been a Lesser or Greater Daemon.
Image:Beast_of_Malal.jpg|Another Ackland Malal Daemon. Ackland said this would have been one of Malal's monsters.
Image:Steed_of_Malal.jpg|Another Ackland Malal Daemon. Identified as what would have been a mount.
Image:Son of malice.png|A Son of Malice.
Image:Malal Hipster Cultistchan.jpg|Cultist offending Malal by not wearing his colours nor the number 11. Frequently posted Meme every-time someone mentions the true god of Chaos.
Image:Malal Warriors.jpg|Prototypes for mortal worshipers of Malal, created in cooperation with Ackland which will be eventually available [http://easternfront-studios.net/ here.]
Image:Malal Lesser New.jpg|Ackland's newer rendition, which he called a "Lesser Daemon of Malign".
Image:Malal Greater New.jpg|Ackland's "Greater Daemon of Malign".
Image:Malal Chaos Steed 1.jpg|Ackland's "Steed of Malign".
Image:Malal Chaos Steed 2.jpg|Ackland's second version of a "Steed of Malign".
Image:Kaleb Daark Battle.gif|Kaleb Daark single-handedly slaughters an entire Khornate warband on the hour before its otherwise assured victory over Praag.
Image:Malalette.png|Because /tg/.
Image:Malal_Daemonette.png|Also because /tg/.
Image:Malal_Daemonette_NSFW.png|Because Rule 34. Also /tg/.
Image:MalalPossessed.jpg|Malal Possessed
Image:MalalHerald.jpg|Herald of Malal
Image:Doomrider.png|[[Doomrider|Not that Doomrider]].Demonic cavalry
</gallery>

==See also==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZI0ZX1DrRw| His greatest champion. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all...]

{{Template:ChaosGods}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Age of Sigmar]][[Category:Malal]]