How do you see your Chaos God(s)?

[Loesh]

A sort of follow up to the 'How do you see your legion?' thread, one of things I noticed when talking about Chaos Legions is the popularity of mono-god organizations, even within legions that historically are undivided or not religious at all. In Warhammer: Eternal Crusade one of the most requested things is mono-god equipment on the Chaos forums and full god dedication post launch, one of the fatal flaws for the Chaos faction in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning according to many was the fact that Tzeentch was the only available Chaos faction to play, and it didn't stop mono-god guilds for the other from popping up anyway.

 

I think this is because the Chaos Gods are such a unique set of characters in the franchise, people are sometimes extremely protective of their Chaos God(s) of choice because they really identify with the archetypes they represent. Where the Lovecraft mythos has incomprehensible Elder Things from beyond the stars, the Chaos Gods improve upon the concept by making them unimaginable horrors that are very close to home, we still cannot fathom them, cannot truly understand them, but the scariest part of them is that they aren't some distant alien...they are all very much a part of us and in many ways we have become the cosmic horror.

 

Like last time, I suppose I should start first: My favorite Chaos God has always been Slaanesh, at least in most places i'v seen she tends to be the most unpopular of the Chaos Gods being the 'weakest' of them. I never really saw him that way though, in fact I often say that Slaanesh tends to get the most done. In Warhammer 40k Slaanesh is responsible for the Age of Strife that would eventually break apart to begin the great crusades, and of course she was directly responsible for destroying the Eldar pantheon and arguably the Emperors Children and Fulgrim were the first to become 'real' Chaos Space Marines and downed the first Loyalist Primarch of the Heresy. In fantasy Slaanesh was the one who split the Elven people in a similar fashion, and it was her champion Azazel who both betrayed Sigmar and eventually raised Mokar the Uniter after his parents were killed by the Empire, eventually leading to the Chaos tribes we know today.

 

For these reasons I always felt it sort of strange to see Slaanesh as the 'weakest' of the Chaos Gods even compared to her rival Khorne, she seems to play such pivotal roles in Warhammer history but I suppose one could chalk that up to the contradictions inherent in the nature of Chaos. I also always viewed Slaanesh as closer to a Satanic figure then a Lovecraftion one, perhaps less madness inducing initially, but very, very tempting. That's what Chaos should be all about in my eyes, temptation and the wage of mortal sin, that's what makes them truly frighting...that they twist and change us, and yet are part and parcel of our being. Destroying them is like trying to destroy our own shadow, and perhaps the universe would somehow be worse without what they represent, within Slaanesh is the power to bring the champions of the Imperium low, or alternatively to make them embrace their humanity, in the many guises she takes he can tempt the Sisters of Battle and recently was able to corrupt a Grey Knight simply by taking on the form of pure innocence.

 

That's the other thing I like too: Slaanesh isn't completely about sex, drums, and rock'n'roll as some people say, she also can represent the best parts of humanity: It's culture, it's art, the very same beauty of innocence before she tarnishes it, and that's what makes Slaanesh so dangerous to the Imperium. She can corrupt the strong of will as easily as the weak, because she can play on their best, the most noble goals like love or peace can be turned by the Darkling Prince into something worth following Chaos for.

 

 

[incinerator950]

It's complicated. I'm foodshopping with a coworker and I can write wn essay on the metaphysical definition of the Aspects of the Chaos gods, demons, and warp entities.

 

One of the reasons I'm so invested into making a Prophet Lord.

[Tenebris]

It is no secret here on the board that I am a Tzeentchian to the core. I revere the God of Magic, the Changer of Ways, He Who Knows All... well you get the idea. How do I see Tzeentch. Well personally I think that the Raven God is perhaps the most hard to understand, to fathom or to embrace. It is clear why one should devote himself to Khorne, to Slaanesh or to Nurgle, their gifts are usually direct, the emotions that feed them quite mundane, as for the god of sorcery and deceit, well things are not that clear. 

 

Why should a person devote himself to Tzeentch? Some would argue power, the power of magic, the power of lies, the power of command and above all the power to change things. But is this all that there is to Tzeentch? Hardly. When I say that Tzeentch is hard to grasp it is because his followers are very hard to understand. Some are wizened scholars, some are generals, others are mutants and degenerates who crave change, change of mind, change of flesh and change of life... indeed Tzeentch is hard to understand. 

 

On the scale of power he is indeed the most powerful of the gods but also the most controversial. Unlike his brothers he/it/she is willing to share power, he is the one who brokers alliances but he is also the first to break them, to him the known and the unknown universe are a chess board and all play to his tune. This leads him to be a very dangerous patron to his mortal hosts. Mutation is rife among his followers, deceit and lies are endemic, devastating magic power is given freely and irresponsibly and corruption of mind is the norm. At one time his followers are some of the most cunning and vicious warriors when on the other they are little more than lunatics. I think he inspires marvel in the mortals but also a great dread, the dread of constant change.

 

Tzeentch is also controversial because he often mimics his brothers, he sponsors covens of the other gods, he manipulates the daemonic legions of his brothers for his own benefit and of all the gods he is the most likely to betray or curse a follower. Again one has to ask himself why worship Tzeentch? Well because the Lord of Change is the most direct route to temporal power. Sorcery is itself a reward, the knowledge of shaping the reality at your whim is your greatest act of veneration of your god. But there is more, there is always more with Tzeentch. Your words will sway entire legions, your whisper will curse entire planets, your knowledge will be the doom of entire civilizations. Tzeentch is the craving of power deified. He is there to hear your whispers and answer them, he it there to embrace your weak flesh and remake you. 

 

Personally I prefer Tzeentch to all other gods because he is Chaos made manifest. He is order in chaos and chaos in order, he is controversy and fact but he is also a patron which awards his followers with knowledge, the insane, dire and dangerous kind of knowledge and this is why I like him the most. 

[Loesh]

Reading your write up is pretty interesting Tenebris, partially because some of the things you mention I tend to assocate with Slaanesh...Just As Planned, heh.

 

Then again one of the other cool things about Chaos is there's quite a bit of overlay between each other, because Chaos is...well...Chaos, and the gods are really what our feeble mortal minds interpret them as, giving them forms we're more comfortable with. That's why I kind of liked the idea that, back in the day, some groups of Chaos Undivided saw Chaos as one big multi-headed hydra, all different aspects of one gigantic colossal being forged in the formless wastes between the Gods domains.

[Forté]

For me personally, Slaanesh is easily the most dangerous. Pretty much every race can be influenced by him/her. Taking an obsession that step too far. Having that limit that you push could lead to his attention.

 

I remember reading a good topic which connected the typical "7 Sins" when talking about her. Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. All can be found in most races (barring Nids and Crons) so could potentially be the start of a deeper journey.

 

The current "noise" route GW took doesn't completely sit with me as I miss the old ideas involving combat drugs and extreme paint schemes. But I do understand why it happened.

 

Be interesting to see others views too.

[Loesh]

For me personally, Slaanesh is easily the most dangerous. Pretty much every race can be influenced by him/her. Taking an obsession that step too far. Having that limit that you push could lead to his attention.

 

I remember reading a good topic which connected the typical "7 Sins" when talking about her. Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. All can be found in most races (barring Nids and Crons) so could potentially be the start of a deeper journey.

 

The current "noise" route GW took doesn't completely sit with me as I miss the old ideas involving combat drugs and extreme paint schemes. But I do understand why it happened.

 

Be interesting to see others views too.

 

Did you read the semi-recent Tome of Excess Forte? they actually go over the seven sins there, or rather six as Wrath was given to Khorne. One of the more interesting characters in that book was a pirate king who had mastered all six of his vices without succumbing to any one of them, and with six advisers who provided trials for the campaign.

 

Also: It has a lot of Slaaneshi drugs, foods, and extreme colors, my personal favorite? Sweetmeats, which were prognoid glands slowly roasted in front of a dying marine, and eaten.

[Forté]

I've had a skim through but got distracted but small plastic models that demanded I paint them. Will give it another go though.

[Chaeron]

For Nurgle, it's a capricious, loving Grandfather - who, despite the physical blights that often occur, cares more than any of the other Gods, and has significantly more depth as a character and father figure, rather than just abstract decay. His blessings are preventative, to stave off death, as opposed to near mindless violence. There's a plan, a goal, similar to how I would picture Tzeentch, but his design is to outlast everyone - and that's something I like. I like the fact that Nurglings exist, and that they're cute but deliciously evil - and alone are the coolest Daemons around. It's that very playful nature that I think grants a depth that perhaps the other Gods do not always show, or perhaps do not have. 

[Wade Garrett]

"Man is a hunter, a predator. We may build great cities, but we live just like the wolf. Oh, we may call our alphas kings, or generals, but the nature of the pack is the same. War, therefore, becomes inevitable. So forsake your empty pleasures and set aside your useless learning, for that may be taken from you by those with swords. But your courage...that is yours alone. The Grandfather says all things die, and that is so. What of it, then? Far better to die well, than to linger for eons dreading the dark. And so I charge you to raise your weapons and follow me. Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!"

[Kol Saresk]

In a way, I fully understand the concept of Chaos Undivided.

 

On one hand, there are four beings of unimaginable power, each asking for certain ways of doing things and then rewarding and punishing those who do or do not follow their ways, their laws. Of course, the great irony is that other than one or two simple concepts(fighting with rage for Khorne, for example), its pretty much Rule 1.)there are no rules and 2.)see rule number one. So instead you get weird things like Khorne, the patron of those who would defend their homes and family, those who seek the bloodiest of justices and those who kill because it fills the emptiness inside. Slaanesh, you get the kid from the Giver as well as the Libertine. Nurgle, you get the dying old man who simply wants to stay with his family just a little longer as well as the nihilist who wants to destroy all life. Tzeentch, you get everyone from the Riddler and Brainiac to Little Finger to Albert Wesker to Lelouch. And many other examples besides.

 

But then there are times when the warp acts as a single entity. And I don't mean the gods are in alignment. I mean it acts as a single entity that has its emotions warring with each other. We've all experienced situations where we've been angry, sad, afraid and excited all at the same time. And that is how the warp acts sometimes, like it is one being acting as four separate beings who are still individual parts of a greater whole. The closest analogy would be(if the mods and admins are okay with me doing this), would be Christiantiy. You get God. One God. Who is singular. But that singular being, also exists as three, the Father, the Word and the Spirit. But those three are still one.

 

And I think that is how Undivided works. You still have Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch. But they are all the Primordial Annihilator, or the Great Song as I've taken to calling it. Actually, that'd be a better, more rules appropriate analogy. Think of a symphony. You have woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings. All are individual groups further broken down into individual instrument sections, but they are all a part of one, great whole.

 

And honestly, that's not even all of it. I've always had trouble putting concepts and ideas into words. It's one reason I think my writing absolutely sucks and why I am always surprised people like it. So, its a bit difficult for me to go a bit further. If I can find the time between two overnight jobs, community obligations and sleep, I'll definitely get a more expanded view up here.

[Tenebris]

I think that at this stage Talon of Horus provides many, many answers. I especially liked the citation of Khayon when he says that the true gods are the mortals, who shape their surroundings and will them to take form. The mortal mind echoes, the Warp answers. I have managed to read only to chapter 16 but in due time I will provide a full dissection of the book for I think that the true worth of Talon of Horus is not in the story itself nor in its characters but in the dozens of minute and obscure phrases, citations and hits which speak ample about the "metaphysics of Chaos".

[Wade Garrett]

Well...I'm not sure about that. To me, the idea that the Warp is just a canvas mortal minds paint on, that's what got the Thousand Sons and the Crusade era Imperium in trouble to start with.

 

"It's only a giant morass of bubbling emotions. There are no archdevils, no great malign intelligences scheming within its depths..."

 

Well then.

[Kol Saresk]

Well...I'm not sure about that. To me, the idea that the Warp is just a canvas mortal minds paint on, that's what got the Thousand Sons and the Crusade era Imperium in trouble to start with.

 

"It's only a giant morass of bubbling emotions. There are no archdevils, no great malign intelligences scheming within its depths..."

 

Well then.

What Khayon says is a bit of both. The warp is its own thing. It does have great, malign, scheming entities. But those entities have to rely on Humanity to get anywhere. There are some who worship them as gods. But at the same time, it is the mortal who defines the relationship. For example, I stated the great irony is that the Chaos Gods really have no rules on how one worships them. But we do know that if a Khorne Berzerker who believes in honor decides to violate that honor, he will be punished by Khorne. Why? Is Khorne, the same being some people look to as a god of murder, all of a sudden an advocate of honor? No. When that Berzerker defined Khorne as a god who had martial honor, he became bound by the very rules and definition of worship he defined Khorne as. He defined Khorne as a martial being, so in turn, he became bound to the rules of a martial god. And when he broke those rules, broke his rules, Khorne punished him in the appropriate manner as defined by the worship.

 

Khorne is still Khorne, the Blood God. But whether or not he is just the god who demands blood, or the god who demands martial honor in righteous battle against the strong, is determined by the mortal.

[Loesh]

 

Well...I'm not sure about that. To me, the idea that the Warp is just a canvas mortal minds paint on, that's what got the Thousand Sons and the Crusade era Imperium in trouble to start with.

 

"It's only a giant morass of bubbling emotions. There are no archdevils, no great malign intelligences scheming within its depths..."

 

Well then.

What Khayon says is a bit of both. The warp is its own thing. It does have great, malign, scheming entities. But those entities have to rely on Humanity to get anywhere. There are some who worship them as gods. But at the same time, it is the mortal who defines the relationship. For example, I stated the great irony is that the Chaos Gods really have no rules on how one worships them. But we do know that if a Khorne Berzerker who believes in honor decides to violate that honor, he will be punished by Khorne. Why? Is Khorne, the same being some people look to as a god of murder, all of a sudden an advocate of honor? No. When that Berzerker defined Khorne as a god who had martial honor, he became bound by the very rules and definition of worship he defined Khorne as. He defined Khorne as a martial being, so in turn, he became bound to the rules of a martial god. And when he broke those rules, broke his rules, Khorne punished him in the appropriate manner as defined by the worship.

 

Khorne is still Khorne, the Blood God. But whether or not he is just the god who demands blood, or the god who demands martial honor in righteous battle against the strong, is determined by the mortal.

 

 

I really like this actually, as it explains a lot of canon difficulties when talking about god legions and warbands. Some Slaaneshi warbands could be about sex, drums, and rock'n'roll yes...but if my Slaaneshi wants to be about culture, nobility, and intellectualism of a different breed then Tzeentch's then it's equally valid. You define what you are to your god, not reverse.

[incinerator950]

 

 

 

Well...I'm not sure about that. To me, the idea that the Warp is just a canvas mortal minds paint on, that's what got the Thousand Sons and the Crusade era Imperium in trouble to start with.

 

"It's only a giant morass of bubbling emotions. There are no archdevils, no great malign intelligences scheming within its depths..."

 

Well then.

What Khayon says is a bit of both. The warp is its own thing. It does have great, malign, scheming entities. But those entities have to rely on Humanity to get anywhere. There are some who worship them as gods. But at the same time, it is the mortal who defines the relationship. For example, I stated the great irony is that the Chaos Gods really have no rules on how one worships them. But we do know that if a Khorne Berzerker who believes in honor decides to violate that honor, he will be punished by Khorne. Why? Is Khorne, the same being some people look to as a god of murder, all of a sudden an advocate of honor? No. When that Berzerker defined Khorne as a god who had martial honor, he became bound by the very rules and definition of worship he defined Khorne as. He defined Khorne as a martial being, so in turn, he became bound to the rules of a martial god. And when he broke those rules, broke his rules, Khorne punished him in the appropriate manner as defined by the worship.

 

Khorne is still Khorne, the Blood God. But whether or not he is just the god who demands blood, or the god who demands martial honor in righteous battle against the strong, is determined by the mortal.

I really like this actually, as it explains a lot of canon difficulties when talking about god legions and warbands. Some Slaaneshi warbands could be about sex, drums, and rock'n'roll yes...but if my Slaaneshi wants to be about culture, nobility, and intellectualism of a different breed then Tzeentch's then it's equally valid. You define what you are to your god, not reverse.

Well, to be fair, the Warp reflects on mortals as a cracked mirror. Enslavers and Warp entities spilling forth on their own will may be viewed symbiotically, but to say they need mortals, as spiritual beings that reach the point they can physically destroy worlds and rip armies of souls in a scream is stretching the lucidity of ones importance to another.

 

The other point is the Great game. While conquering and ensnaring mortal souls is important, it is not the major goal of it.

[Kol Saresk]

With no souls, there is no warp. The Gods would never have reached sentience if there was no life. As it stands, their power comes from the mortal realm and is wielded in the warp, the very stuff of creation.

 

As for the Great Game, all that does is determine the waxing and waning of the Gods. Who is on top for now and who will be on bottom tomorrow. It also determines when the Gods decide to barter with one another and join into alignment and harmony for those few occasions that they happen. The Great Game is why Abaddon has the Mark of Chaos Ascendant, but all Horus got was warp-steroids.

[incinerator950]

I'm divising my own Dragon God. Unfortunately images and words bounce in my head because of the exception limitations in the setting and community that are rather fluid, so I leave it low in my brainmonsooning.

[Dammeron]

Slaanesh? As misrepresented and misinterpreted, largely. There is a tendency for most to focus on the carnality and physical aspects of the God rather than what it represents, which is transcrendence through transgression: Slaanesh represents the natural inclination of conscious entities to break their own parameters; to aspire to other states of both mind and body, be that philosophically, ideologically or in terms of how they self define; it is, in fact, the corrosion and abandonment of definition and the acceptance of what, interestingly, one of itas closer brothers represents, which is flux; the inevitability of change. In that, there is significant overlap between Tzeentch and Slaanesh. Slaanesh is inspiration and the will to break through whatever parameters that might be imposed on the individual, be they cultural, political; physical or behavioural; followers of Slaanesh, at least those who become highest and deepest in his core philosophy, abandon notions of personality, as such parameters and definition are antithetical to what the God desires and demands; they shift and change from day to day, from hour to hour; thought to thought. Everything is potential; from base bodily functions to the most abstract and ascended of arts; flesh and thought both simply become mediums through which to express their pure, inspired abandon; things to be sculpted, altered; endlessly, endlessly refined to standards of beauty that themselves shift and change constantly. The followers of Slaanesh, despite being ostensibly slaved to the God they worship, are the very definition of freedom in the universe in which they operate, since the God itself imposes no parameters on its followers or its own operation; in fact, demands that they operate contrary to whatever might be imposed upon or demanded of them. Only that they continue to experience, and through experience, evolve into every more baroque and ambiguous contexts; a state that never ends, not even with the adherent's death.

 

Slaanesh represents the potential for paradise in Hell; for God to fall in love with the Devil and for humanity to eat itself and cry ecstasies at every mouthful. It is art and beauty and sex and violence and everything in between, everything beyond.

[Loesh]

So. i'v been thinking a lot lately about god duality going off of Kol's post.

 

With Khorne for example, one way to see him is as an honorable as Kol said, some people think him stupid but he also represents a sort of brutal honesty and simplicity, he has no desire for political scheming or any sort of trickery, he's the most likely to 'fight fair' and he can be seen as a way of empowering men.

 

The other side of the coin is that while Khorne may not be stupid, he is extremely base. He tears down social structures that hold humanity together, he may never lie but if he perceives you weak he may stab you in the back anyway, humanity is about ingenuity and social structure, the sort of primal honesty that Khorne offers forgoes what makes human great, and sometimes...well...the universe just need weak people to keep going, together weak men have toppled empires, in my own countries history the barbaric Mongolian hordes and the Yuan Empire were stopped by 200,000 'weak' peasants, a strong leader, and good old fashioned trickery and underhandedness.

 

But then I got to thinking about Nurgle, what I find interesting with him is that his followers are in many ways the same, his daemons really just facsimiles of him, and going off the Tome of Decay I came to realize that...interestingly...he has no coin, it's not two sided, it's the same face. The decay and rot he brings is what feeds the life and rejuvenation that comes after, this is why his followers are so happy and so extraordinarily tough despite being rotting corpses, they are more alive 'dead' then they ever used to be,

[Kol Saresk]

Kin of yes and no. Nurgle himself is mostly a carefree entity that seeks to stagnate, to keep things as they are, which leads to its eventual decay. In the case of the human body, this is disease, mold and viruses. On the one hand, he does this to strengthen the weak by making them strong in death. On the other hand, he seeks the total destruction of life as life can only survive by adapting to its everchanging reality. Some call it evolution, others call it progression. Two ways of arguing the same goal.

 

For example, if we look at two warbands of Renegades, the Purge and the Cleaved. The Purge are a group that totally seeks the destruction of all life, to "purge" it from the galaxy. The Cleaved on the other hand, are noted for responding to the aid of mortals in their most dire moments, an act that is very uncommon amongst the Chaos Marines who traditionally believe in a very "survival of the strong" type society. One emphasizes hi hatred for life. The other epitomizes his love for the weak.

[Loesh]

Kin of yes and no. Nurgle himself is mostly a carefree entity that seeks to stagnate, to keep things as they are, which leads to its eventual decay. In the case of the human body, this is disease, mold and viruses. On the one hand, he does this to strengthen the weak by making them strong in death. On the other hand, he seeks the total destruction of life as life can only survive by adapting to its everchanging reality. Some call it evolution, others call it progression. Two ways of arguing the same goal.

 

For example, if we look at two warbands of Renegades, the Purge and the Cleaved. The Purge are a group that totally seeks the destruction of all life, to "purge" it from the galaxy. The Cleaved on the other hand, are noted for responding to the aid of mortals in their most dire moments, an act that is very uncommon amongst the Chaos Marines who traditionally believe in a very "survival of the strong" type society. One emphasizes hi hatred for life. The other epitomizes his love for the weak.

 

There's also the entities known as the Vile Savants who are a bit of both, they annihilate *almost* all life on a planet, leaving just enough for it to regrow again.

[incinerator950]

I personally wish there would be more screen time of neutral or spontaneus warp entities that fit outside the Chaos gods.

 

And of course space monsters like Void Krakens.

[Loesh]

I personally wish there would be more screen time of neutral or spontaneus warp entities that fit outside the Chaos gods.

 

And of course space monsters like Void Krakens.

 

I can't remember where, but I remember there being a Neverborn devoted to giving the suffering a peaceful death, also: I really liked the 'Angels' in the Word Bearer Omnibus that would posses and rip themselves out of people. More weird creatures like that would be cool.

[refuse]

Each of the four powers is an expression of an idiosyncratic emotion created by sentient minds. They are the representation of extreme aspects of the traits shown by the living as emotions are created, and souls empowered with their energy, so is the warp affected by the emotions. Ripples of energy are stirred in the warp with each emotion, the more extreme the emotion, the larger the effect. Death severs the psychic link of the material body, releasing the stored energies, the soul, into the warp, where much of the energy is freed into the warp, but many of the extreme traits maintain cohesion, and are drawn to like traits. This cause eddies and currents within the warp and pools of like traits. The largest of these pools are the Chaos powers.

My opinion is that each Power/or lack there of expresses one baser emotions. Something that drove the living beings during their life, enough that the emotions and motivations continued to exist even after the living had died. The Chaos Powers absorbed this energy and it has given them purpose through the ages. It is these baser emotions that give power through the Warp.

Chaos it self can be considered a sentient being, a living thing composed of warp energy, but as with most living beings, it uses power in its existence, creating daemons to do its bidding, maintaining its cohesion in the warp. So it must have a method of gaining power to maintain its existence. So while daemons and warp creatures may seem to be favored of all by the chaos power, it is the mortal creatures that create and ultimately add to the chaos power who are its main source of psychic food. The chaos powers do this by promoting character traits it embodies among mortals, and feeding on the underlying psychic emanations of all living things. An example is that all beings who kill, no matter what their conscious feelings, are contributing at least a little of themselves to the body of Khorne. If the being is devoted to Khorne, then more is contributed, if they are dedicated then the whole of the beings energies feed Khorne. In this way we see why mortals are given domain of daemons, for it is the mortals who empower Chaos.

But becoming favored or a champion of a power really requires the mortal to focus their being to the aims of the Chaos power, or more correctly, one whose actions promote the emotions which feed the chaos power. As the psyche aligns with the traits of the warp power, it may then feed energy into the mortal being to empower them. This empowering will usually be rewarded back to the Chaos power many times over as those around the "champion" see the favor they may gain, and renew their efforts. The initial motives for aligning with a power are usually as varied as the normal motivations of mortal beings, hate, revenge, personal ambition, but in the end, they are all feeding the chaos powers.

When a mortal becomes a champion, they will usually attempt to strike a bargain with the chaos power. This bargain really isn't a bargain as mortals understand it. What happens is the chaos power consumes the mortal's shadow self, or the part of the mortal which lives in the warp. The warp power and the mortal are not united, with the warp power directly feeding off the mortal's psychic energies. In this way the chaos power gains an initial burst of energy when it consumes the mortal's shadow self, and gains the ability to harvest the emotions directly from the host instead of waiting for the energies to filter through the warp. The mortal will see an increase the ability to tap the warp, initially gaining power. But over time the mortal will see that it takes more emotion to bring themselves enjoyment then it use to, as the warp power consumes much of the direct emotion. So a Slaanesh Champion may find that they are driven to deeper and darker experiences to bring pleasure to themselves, as the Slaanesh is consuming most of their experiences.

And with the bonding of the chaos power to the individual and the consumption of the shadow self; the mortal may never free themselves from the warp power. As with their death, they are wholly the warp powers, to do with as they will. In addition, if the mortal champion falters in their belief, the feedback from the chaos power will turn them into a spawn, a creature that only lives to feed the warp entity.

The ultimate reward the mortal seek is immortality, one of the main reasons for starting down the path of Chaos. The achievement of this is usually when the mortal champion has attuned themselves with the chaos power to the point where the chaos power has free reign from the warp to the mortal. The warp power may then expend an amount of energy to invest the mortal with an immortal shell. This process is usually referred to as obtaining daemon prince status. As the mortal elevates to daemon prince status, they may still generate energy for their patron warp power. It is this reason why daemon princes are favored over Greater Daemons, the Daemon Prince is contributing energy to the warp power, while the Greater Daemons are expending it.

Daemons of the warp are another aspect of the warp power. Some are stand alone daemons, smaller "quasy" powers who have gained some sentience and enough power to manifest in the physical world. Others are aspects of a greater power, independent minions of a warp power. And the last groups are daemons who were once mortals. The quasy powers seek to obtain more power for themselves to prolong their lives, and grow. The aspect daemons, seek to acquire power for their master so that the master power will continue their existence. The mortal daemons are the eternal slaves of the chaos power, but they have an advantage over the others. They create power through their existence, so are usually favored amongst a powers minion. Champions, who did not reach the lofty position of daemon prince, may be "kept" as minor daemons. Their souls having enough power to be worthy of not being consumed, and having the chaos power invest energy to preserve them.  With the chaos power assuming that they will be rewarded with more energy from their new minion. Some lesser mortal daemons rise through the ranks of daemon hood as they find additional mortals to sponsor their warp power. A once mortal Plague Bearer of Nurgle may infest a city with a terrible disease bringing Nurgle many converts, and Nurgle rewards them with more freedom, and possibly daemon prince status, though the limited freedom given to mortal daemons will usually assure that none gain the freedom to achieve this.

So we see the link between chaos and mortals, and the driving force for Chaos' active recruitment of mortals.

[refuse]

I remember reading a good topic which connected the typical "7 Sins" when talking about her. Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. All can be found in most races (barring Nids and Crons) so could potentially be the start of a deeper journey.

 

A really old discussion that was had on B&C and I saved:

http://29thgreatcompany.home.comcast.net/~29thgreatcompany/ideas/7_sins.htm