Multimarked Champions

[Kol Saresk]

Now, this is mostly a fluff discussion. And I encourage all to voice their views and why they have them. In fact, if there is one thing I would say is mandatory for posting other than following the forum rules, it would be strongly suggested that you explain your views so that other know where you are coming from. One liners unfortunately do so little to explain things. In fact, they usually tend to be frustrating and cause more confusion rather than removing it and I would like it if the goal of this topic was to remove confusion.

 

That unpleasantness aside, the topic seems obvious. Why would one ever receive Marks from more than one God? How would one go about doing this? Should this be a common trope that any Blue Collar Joe can achieve?

 

In my opinion, a Mark isn't just a symbol of allegiance to a specific power. The Mark is a two-way street. It is a symbol that the Warp Power is saying "This mortal is mine. I support them in all things and everything they do is to further my goals."

 

And so when two Powers Mark an individual, both aren't just saying this individual supports them, but they support them together, that they have come into alignment. And so on when it comes three, or even the rarer four Powers all coming into alignment.

 

Because that's the thing. A Mark is a symbol of ownership, that a specific power is claiming to own that mortal. So when two or more lay claim to the same individual, a choice must be made: either the powers will fight each other to see who deserves sole ownership(which either results in the death of the mortal, or a mono-Mark) or they come into alignment and share ownership. Which is a thing rare beyond degree since the Gods agree on very little.

 

Now, why do I have this view?

 

In the Night Lords trilogy, we are introduced to Uzas and Cyrion. Both have been Marked. In the case of Uzas, he was willingly Marked by entering a very Faustian deal of trading his soul for power. What he didn't realize is that for the strength to survive great wounds and becoming a melee monster, he not only traded his soul, but his sanity as well. Which meant that he only became a useful tool to Khorne as there was very little he could do that would garner the attention of the other Gods.

 

In the case of Cyrion, here we see a conniving, self-serving sadist who probably sold his own mother for the chance to save his skin. And that's if he didn't torture and kill her. But he has entered into no deals with the Gods. He doesn't even mention their names and talks very little about their existence. In fact, he almost seems to be a Puritan Night Lord with the exception of his being mutated into a psyker. And yet when Talos is talking to Avatars of the Gods, Slaanesh says that he has Marked Cyrion as his own. Because while Cyrion does not even acknowledge the Gods, his actions are supportive of Tzeentch and Slaanesh, but Slaanesh got there first.

 

Now, for individuals who are Marked by more than one God. To my knowledge, there are only three such individuals: Archaon in WHF(which excludes him from all further conversation) and then Horus and Abaddon.

 

Now, a case can be made that while Horus was fueled by all the Gods, he was not actually Marked by any of them. After all, his support only came from the fact he was meant to kill the Emperor and bring about an eventual decay to the universe that would see the Gods eventually take over. The Sacrificed King as the daemons and even some of the other Traitor Legions have begun to call him. He was supported until he fulfilled his purpose and then they withdrew that support, allowing him to be destroyed.

 

In the case of Abaddon, we have the "arch-heretic". I would say antichrist but modern understanding of the word is a tragic misuse of its original use and well, it offends some of my beliefs to misuse it as such. If one wishes to discuss it, my PM Inbox is open. But nonetheless, Abaddon is the big bad, the unstoppable evil. You might push him back here and there, but he just keeps coming back, stronger and better than before. Sort of like the Daleks. Just when you think you killed them all, somehow one survives and rebuilds. Well Abaddon is worse.

 

And that's the thing. All Four Gods have claimed ownership. True, as a mortal he could care less about that ownership because he has his sights on the material realm. Their support is a means to an end. But that support is what's so curious. All Four Chaos Gods have not only agreed to support Abaddon, but they have also agreed to not fight over him. And that is a big deal. He is so valuable to their goals that they don't even want to risk destroying him. And so, all four Mark become one, the Mark of Chaos Ascendant.

 

But of course, all of this rambling is just my opinion. So come brothers and sisters, let me hear your views. For there are many ways of thinking and the truth usually lies in a combination of them all. So come and let us all discover the truth behind the veils.

[Brother Tyler]

See this topic (which is ongoing).