Why Slaanesh?

[Dammeron]

Or, more appropriately I suppose, why not? 

 

For me, Slaanesh is emblematic of a certain metaphysics; the acknowledgement that transcendence is transgression; the two synonymous with one another. One cannot evolve on an abstract level whilst bounded by parameters of dogma, ideology, morality et al. He/She also represents the dangers inherent in that acknowledgement; the potential abandoning of all definition to eternal flux, which, it seems, is where the point of transcendence comes for those who manage to attain immortality in the Dark Prince's service. To embrace Slaanesh is to throw away any notion of restraint or consideration; to glory in all things, and to acknowledge the sublime joke of existence; the ceaseless, shifting carnival that is being. 

 

Everything can be tasted, tested and abandoned; parameters are not ignored, but acknowledged and deliberately violated; negotiated or dissolved, as per the subject's preference. Through the deliberate pursuit of violation, fresh contexts blossom; new parameters by which to experience consciousness, personality, experience, before these too are violated and abandoned, resulting in a condition where even personality itself becomes frippery and ornament; a matter of art rather imposition. 

 

There is something uniquely attractive in that pursuit; to be able to write or paint one's own condition, both in terms of abstractions such as personality, philosophy etc, but also in terms of ostensibly more immutable factors such as anatomy and/or biology. 

 

This is the spectrum that Slaanesh personifies; the base and the ascended become necessary proponents of one another, existing not in conflict, but as essential factors in the wider process; components of the celestial engine. Pain, pleasure; carnality and philosophy, all one; elements of a music so intensely profound, it shatters souls, upsets the fabric of reality itself. 

 

Slaanesh is living art; inspiration lent form and volition, all that exists -from stars to excreta, from fire to flesh- mediums through which it might express itself. In His/Her service, the enlightened might realise a measure of the same condition, becoming masters of themselves in ways that few even amongst servants of the other Dark Powers can boast; inspiration informing form and nature, thought and action. 

 

Speaking personally, that's where the true, unspoken seduction of Slaanesh lies, and it is a powerful temptation She Who Thirsts exercises. 

 

 

[the jeske]

 

Why Slaanesh?

 

there is already 4 nurgle/khorn csm players in your shop and you cant/wont play an identical list as those two or other option , didnt read/own the 6th ed csm codex [that is including post faq].

[Brother Ambroz]

Uh huh sure Dammeron........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding. Slaanesh unique among the other gods is the most realistic I think. It's really easy to see a society or cult that embraces hedonism and slowly becomes more Slaaneshi. If you've ever watched Sparticus the series, the Romans in that really reminded me of a Slaaneshi cult.

[Bongfu]

I think that Slaanesh is the Chaos God I can most relate with. Though the notion of gods and the supernatural escape me in real life, I suppose I could see myself being a Slaaneshi worshiper if I was trapped in the 40k universe. It most fits my lifestyle and personal beliefs. 

 

So for me, choosing a Slaanesh themed army allows me to not only express own taste more so than any other army, but to also explore my own depravity in its deepest, darkest chasms. 

 

 

Glory to the Prince of Excess!

[Visitor13]

Or, more appropriately I suppose, why not? 

 

For me, Slaanesh is emblematic of a certain metaphysics; the acknowledgement that transcendence is transgression; the two synonymous with one another. One cannot evolve on an abstract level whilst bounded by parameters of dogma, ideology, morality et al. He/She also represents the dangers inherent in that acknowledgement; the potential abandoning of all definition to eternal flux, which, it seems, is where the point of transcendence comes for those who manage to attain immortality in the Dark Prince's service. To embrace Slaanesh is to throw away any notion of restraint or consideration; to glory in all things, and to acknowledge the sublime joke of existence; the ceaseless, shifting carnival that is being. 

 

Everything can be tasted, tested and abandoned; parameters are not ignored, but acknowledged and deliberately violated; negotiated or dissolved, as per the subject's preference. Through the deliberate pursuit of violation, fresh contexts blossom; new parameters by which to experience consciousness, personality, experience, before these too are violated and abandoned, resulting in a condition where even personality itself becomes frippery and ornament; a matter of art rather imposition. 

 

There is something uniquely attractive in that pursuit; to be able to write or paint one's own condition, both in terms of abstractions such as personality, philosophy etc, but also in terms of ostensibly more immutable factors such as anatomy and/or biology. 

 

This is the spectrum that Slaanesh personifies; the base and the ascended become necessary proponents of one another, existing not in conflict, but as essential factors in the wider process; components of the celestial engine. Pain, pleasure; carnality and philosophy, all one; elements of a music so intensely profound, it shatters souls, upsets the fabric of reality itself. 

 

Slaanesh is living art; inspiration lent form and volition, all that exists -from stars to excreta, from fire to flesh- mediums through which it might express itself. In His/Her service, the enlightened might realise a measure of the same condition, becoming masters of themselves in ways that few even amongst servants of the other Dark Powers can boast; inspiration informing form and nature, thought and action. 

 

Speaking personally, that's where the true, unspoken seduction of Slaanesh lies, and it is a powerful temptation She Who Thirsts exercises. 

 

Someone give this man the opportunity to write a Slaanesh novel for BL.

[Gargantuan]

I like Slaanesh because he/she is basically super Satan.

[Iron_Within]

I like Slaanesh because he/she is basically super Satan.

Does he look like this?

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/kA3zkiNQ/lOVErz%20aNN%20fRiENDZ/superdevil.jpg

 

Slaanesh is the deepest corruption on that classics, freedom, personal choice, love. He twists it into something terrible slowly but surely.

[k0k0z]

Honestly, I play Slaanesh due to the amount of Nurgle/Khorne players, besides from all four gods he is the most "on time".

 

I see it this way:

 

Papa nurgle - worship of nature, its process and "flow" - the first primal culture of human beeings always began with worshiping spirits and nature.

 

Blood God - worship of war and blood, era of conquest huge armies clashing with eachother Alexander the Great and hordes of barbarians in Europe.

 

Tzeentch - worship of knowledge, basically the last couple of hundred years, the rapid development of science and technology.

 

Prince of Pleasure - basically what is happening now, all other are past now, no one worships nature, wars are less and less bloody there are no more huge breakthroughs in science or technology (for example the concept of a PC has not changed since its early years now it is only miniaturisation and performance increase which becomes slower and slower each year, or the cure for cancer has not been found since we know of its existence). It is now all about MONEY, the pleaseure it brings, the stuff you can buy, the things you are allowed to do. With todays world as it is I bet Slaanesh could become a mainstream God in our universe.

[GenEngineer]

Way I see it, Slaanesh is about the realization of a simple fact; that the purest demonstration of freedom comes from doing whatever you want, with nobody able to stop you. Furthermore, it also carries with it that while others aren't able to stop you, they too are free to try. All of existence becomes a struggle between souls striving between what they want, an relishing in the bet act of competition to prove their freedom to themselves and the universe.

 

Such freedom is a heavy brew though, and enough to drive a man mad. This is why Slaaneshi cultist eventually become the crazy people we see today; as people come to learn more and more to test the boundaries of their freedom, they slowly forget the joy of a little transgression. What does it matter that you can steal a penny when you are equally free to steal a million dollars? But most of us would still flinch much more at stealing the large amount then the small. That is why Slaanesh is a series of small deals. From nothing to a penny is small, then from a penny to a nickel, and so on until you fully realize how free you truly are.

 

The more self-harming nature of Slaanesh comes from the realization that others are also free if the choose to realize it. And while you cannot allow them to stop you, you also don't have to begrudge their attempts, they are simply exercising their freedom as their soul dictates, much like you are. In time, your interest moves from bemusement to curiosity to what they will do next, to a kind of reverse schadenfreude (coupled with normal schadenfreude) where you take joy in their efforts as much as you would take in your own.

 

In essence, Slaanesh is the glory of a soul made truly free, and the corruption that the absolute power of absolute freedom brings.

[ChaosLord Leon Enaek]

Slaanesh is, to my mind, the scariest of the Chaos Gods because it is so easy to see how you might be seduced and how quickly it might escalate. An example of the power of Slaanesh I always use is this:

 

You've been drinking at a certain up-market bar for quite some time - you enjoy it, you know the staff and the regulars. Then one day one of the regulars comes up to you and invites you to a club he goes to - its a religious meeting, he says, but you shouldn't feel put out: there's no prayer, and all that happens is that you do what you do in the bar - you go, you enjoy yourself, and you are encouraged to drink a bit more than usual. It was fun, so you decide to make it a regular thing.

However as time goes on you drink more and more whilst you're there and before you know it it's no fun being there if you're not wrecked. It's around this time that a member of the club asks if you'd like a girl 'on the house'. Drunk you thinks that's a great idea and so you get carnal and think - sex and alcohol: what a combo! It too becomes a regular thing and when it starts to get dull and repetitive a member of the club suggests some new drug. Now you never would have tried drugs back in your bar, but all the ideas this club has had have been great, and you are getting bored of the same routine. So try them and they are fantastic.

It's about now that you start to realise that you are truly into trying any new sensation and you think "great" - you throw yourself into every avenue of sensation that you can think of because you know that one of them will feel as comfortable and as right as drinking with your friends used to. You experiment with homosexuality, self-harm, machosicm, screamo, flower arranging, theft - anything new in the hope of finding that one comfortable sensation.

As your quest continues you find that you can't really focus unless you're feeling something and so even after they become old and boring you self harm, torture others and take drugs just to stay focused. The sensations at the end if each act also start to melt into one - seeing a fine painting, sexual arousal, pain - they are all producing the same response.

This is the point at which many will realise that they are a Slaaneshii - their morality and inhibitions are gone, replaced by a need for excess in the name of The Lord of Pain and Pleasure.

[Forté]

Because everything and everyone in 40k does.

 

Khorne is obsessed with bloodletting.

Nurgle is obsessed with creating and destroying through his creations.

Tzeentch thirsts for knowledge.

The Tau want everything for the greater good (the greater good).

Tyranids want to consume everything.

The Imperium want to own everything.

Eldar want to preserve their own existence.

Dark Eldar want to enslave everyone else.

Orks want to fight everything.

Etc, etc, etc...

 

Why fight it any longer. Embrace it and move on with your cravings. Slaanesh has such sights to show you.

[Tenebris]

I usually favor the obsession with perfection that the Slaaneshi embody. It is by its very definition an unobtainable goal but what a goal. Martial perfection, physical perfection, artistic perfection, all this are enrolled into a Slaaneshi marine. While they would experience many sexual and artistic pleasures nothing would come even closer to their main calling, the mastery of war as an art and as a pursuit. Every blade strike, every shot, every tactic must be mastered until war itself becomes a dance of death, control and martial grace. While I see an EC marine indulge in many dubious pastimes nothing comes even close to that for which his very being was created, war and martial might. So it is not a far call to see Slaaneshi marines master every weapon, every tactic and every glimpse of strategy until they become true artists of death and war. To me the EC marines, devious and cruel as they might be, always appeared as warrior poets, as philosophers of war, as blade dancers and inspiring commanders. That is why I am all the more inclined to field a Slaaneshi army. 

[Capt_Darius]

I always considered Slaanesh to be the most powerful god, at least he would be if he cared about such things. It feels a bit like every chaos god shares grey area with Slaanesh. I could see Slaanesh followers who were eager to feel what it's like to get Nurgle's kiss, so they'd be Slaaneshi plague marines or the like. I could also see sorcerers obsessed with the feel of the horrible powers of magic that Tzeench traffics in, to the point where wielding the power becomes less important than simply having more of it. Likewise, a Khorne devotee becoming so obsessed with blood letting that his blood lust becomes ACTUAL lust for blood and he gets a serious murder boner. Any devotion that becomes a ridiculously unhealthy obsession falls under the realm of Slaanesh.

 

And besides, even the purest of warriors can fall for Slaanesh's innocent-looking wiles. ::cou-Draigo-gh::

[GenEngineer]

I always considered Slaanesh to be the most powerful god, at least he would be if he cared about such things. It feels a bit like every chaos god shares grey area with Slaanesh. I could see Slaanesh followers who were eager to feel what it's like to get Nurgle's kiss, so they'd be Slaaneshi plague marines or the like. I could also see sorcerers obsessed with the feel of the horrible powers of magic that Tzeench traffics in, to the point where wielding the power becomes less important than simply having more of it. Likewise, a Khorne devotee becoming so obsessed with blood letting that his blood lust becomes ACTUAL lust for blood and he gets a serious murder boner. Any devotion that becomes a ridiculously unhealthy obsession falls under the realm of Slaanesh.

 

And besides, even the purest of warriors can fall for Slaanesh's innocent-looking wiles. ::cou-Draigo-gh::

Of course, all the other gods know this, which is why their followers quickly become insane to make sure they keep feeding the right god ;).

 

Unfortunately, current standing has the most powerful god as either Khorne or Tzeentch, depending on how you define it. (Strongest and largest forces? Khorne. Most dangerous to anyone? Tzeentch.)