Legions Devoted To One Of The Four

[Julgolax]

When the situation arises, be it a Black Crusade, a Daemonic Incursion, a planetary rebellion orchestrated by Chaos Cults, or the coming of a warp storm into realspace, whole worlds tremble in terror. These events that bring about the apocalypse to continents, planets, sectors, and even whole quadrants or segmentums, are unlike anything since the Horus Heresy, the coming of the Tyranids, and the rise of the Necrons (in the old lore).

 

I'm wondering in turn what really happens when those exceptional evils arise to lead fleets and armies under a single god. Abaddon leads the terrible Black Crusades but even in those events, there are Legions dedicated to a single god that take their own campaign.

 

• Who's really the leader when say a massive invasion from followers of Tzeentch occurs?

 

• Is it always basically the same formula, like a Tyranid invasion? (Where it's cultists of some kind, be they rebels, freedom fighters, psyker cabals, or what have you who draw the gaze of their patron. Then someone, be it a daemon, chaos space marine champion, or renegade general, hears of this and seeks opportunity for glory, plunder, and power. If the target it truly worthy, multiple forces converge and either through a fleet, warp portal, space hulk, or warp storm brings a massive force to bear down on the first planet, and from then on it's just a matter of momentum.)

 

• If such a thing does happen, does another god of chaos always respond to put a dampener on things as part of the Great Game or does it simply run it's course until Imperial or Alien forces combine arms to stop it?

 

• Another question is, when psykers of the Imperium and the Eldar feel the gathering of one of these proverbial storms of Chaos, how do they get the word out quick enough to assemble fleets, arm their forces and manage to arrive in time? Put another way, with how slow the Imperium seems to be to act on a crisis, usually fleets take months or years to reach a destination at full warp speed, and the Eldar who do not have the forces enough to stop an attack on this scale, what really stops these momentous events? (same could be asked of Ork WAAAGH!, Tyranid invasions and Necron reapings.)

 

• To go along with the previous question, when the warp is in such a tumult as it blooms into realspace, how do psykers manage to do or divine anything when warp travel, astropathy and realspace itself is so hindered? 

[Father Mehman]

I may be a stalwart defender of the Imperium but I know a fair few things about Chaos and the Chaotic Powers. It pays to know, right? Am I right? Moving on... This humble priest shall endeavour to answer your questions in a numbered format for ease of reading and because I like lists.

1- So a massive invasion of Pink Horrors and the like are spilling out into the plain of existence? To take a page from the Imperial Guard's The Imperial Infantryman's Handbook, shoot for the big one. Now, he might not be the leader, but I'll bet that he's got a lot of potential psychic energy in him that feeds the leader of the incursion. I've always thought of Tzeentchians as this: dangerous alone, run away if in large numbers. To me, they seem to feed off of and use each others' psychic energy or even their cohorts' psychic potential energy. Those are some bad [EXPLETIVE DELETED]...but I'm talking about Shaft!

Really, I would say it depends on how the portal to hell was opened. If by cultists, they could possibly work in unison to destroy everything around them. If by Chaos Sorcerers, the leader of the Sorcerers would probably fit the bill. Maybe Tzeentch doesn't dig on that plan and he instead sends a piece of himself (ie; a Greater Daemon) to do the job. The Grey Knights are always on the lookout for some Greater Daemon or Daemon Prince to come back to corporeal form. Really, any and all of that could be true and false. It's Tzeentch we're talking about so maybe even a Daemon Primarch could be leading the invasion.

2- No Plausible. Well, I would say some aspects are the same each time but even that could change. I mean...maybe? We'll write this one down as Plausible. Take a Greater Daemon that has been banished by the Grey Knights. That guy/girl/it is banished for 10,000 years, but, and here's the thing, he'll/she'll/it'll be coming back. The Prognosticators know for a fact that (let's just use the masculine pronouns?) this bad boy is coming, they just don't know where yet. He could show up in a ring from a scavenged battle (here's looking at you Sanctus Reach people ), enough of the ash from his bones could have finally coalesced together under the scorched ground after ten thousand years for him to form a new, or you could have a doctor who has already cast his lot in with Nurgle feel utterly compelled to make a similar strain of virus that awoke a Great Unclean One. The bonus on the last example is that we get Nurglings and aren't they just the cutest things !

3- If heads are rolling and blood is spilt, Khorne cares not from where or whence it comes- only that it flows freely. At least that's always been my interpretation on his end. If you have a full scale invasion going on with one god leading the charge, not much is going to stop them. Yeah, Khorne could get his feelings hurt because all the blood is virus-laden but, again, he cares not how, where, or why that blood is spilt. Tzeentch will have seen the invasion coming and would have probably already woven it in to his plans long before the first mortal in the invasion has been born. Slaanesh? He/she is fine. LIttle baby.

Could the other gods get a little testy and decide to throw some shenanigans in the plan? Maybe. If it serves them well to do so then they will. Otherwise, I see them taking a backseat and start to plan other incursions, plagues, and cabals for another massive incursion. Hey, just because an incursion is happening doesn't mean business isn't getting done. You could see a very large Daemonic incursion in the Galactic North whilst there's a fairly large Plague of Unbelief happening elsewhere. Chaos doesn't have a day off.

4- Even the Grey Knights' Prognosticators can only tell you where the incursion or Greater Daemon will appear, and they're the best of the best. The thing is, you don't always have that grey and red Strike Cruiser waiting in the exact coordinates all the time. This means that, yeah, planets get overrun by Daemons. Whole Sectors will be covered in Warp Storms with no way in to help the populations or to get the precious technology and minerals out of there. Sometimes it does take a WAAAGH! to break through and into the sector. By then, everyone's dead, the technology is most likely been converted to running DOS, and Daemons are still afoot.

5- Only your absurdly powerful ones can do any of that you mentioned. When the Warp is crashing, nothing is coming out, especially not messages for aid. This is why our 40k universe is so grim-dark. You open your mouth and yet you cannot scream.

[Carrack]

I view a warp storm as exactly that, a storm in the warp, a tempest in the Sea of Souls. It may be perilous for ships to travel through, and impossible to shout a message across, but psykers know it is their, they can sense the turmoil, and they know what that brings.

 

Against a massive incursion of chaos, and the turmoil in the warp that goes along with it, I think the Inperium, ever callous, is prepared to sacrifice some of its territory in order to organize a defense.

 

As far as the cultist initiated incursion, that's a useful strategy. The Alpha Legion seems favor that tactic, but it's not the only strategy. As Abaddon demonstrates at Cadia, sometimes a strictly conventional invasion is more appropriate than using unconventional forces like cultist rebels.

[Grand Master Belial]

As I recall, Tzeentch and Khorne do not get along - at all! Those two are constantly warring between each other. Nurgle and Slaanesh also seem to be at odds with each other but could be made to team up if the mood strikes them. Each of the Four have a Space Marine Legion loyal to them and each have a primarch living.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

They retconned it, Khorne and Slaanesh don't get on now. Why would the god who hates psykers hate the god of psykers?

 

I guess Slaanesh borrowed Khorne's lashes and hasn't returned them yet.

[Hellrender]

Khorne, ever angry, hates both slaanesh and tzeentch. He hates slaanesh because he doesnt care for the kill, just the way its done in. Tzeentch is rather obvious..

 

Tzeentch and nurgle had each other too. As nurgle stagnates, but tzeentch is ever changing.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Again, why would the god of perfection have reason to hate the god of corruption?

 

GW, y u no make sense?

[Slaanbull]

I believe calling Nurgle and Slaanesh the gods of corruption and perfection is both wrong and too simple put. Corruption of the mind and body is something all the gods share, chaos itself is the epitome of corruption.

And it is certainly not perfect to put yourself above others, slaughtering millions to sate your hunger for new, rare and more extreme pleasures. The lure of Slaanesh might be enticing and intoxicating, but you will soon find that the taste turns sour.

 

Nurgle despises Tzeentch for being the everchanging god, the god of scheming, the rise of the weak and downfall of those in power. This is a direct opposition to stagnation, decay and loss of hope.

[Tenebris]

Imagine everything about Chaos as a vast ocean with its tides and continent-shattering waves. It is not just a portal, a summoning, a corrupted psyker or a hefty prize to lure the legions of Chaos forward. It is the very Game and the very Long War which is the reason why Chaos in never idle and always, always on the offensive. 

 

You have hosts of warbands and coalitions fighting over territory, territory to feed their mighty forces, territory to reap and crush for resources and territory to consolidate their power bare. Then you have hosts of piratical warbands who attack everything and everyone at a whim but as in all things Chaos one soon realizes that is neither whim or need to guide their action but the influence of the Dark Gods, patrons who do nothing if it does not benefit them. All is done to secure an advantage in the Game, the very Game which translates in the Long War. 

 

When these apocalyptic events happen every man, woman and child, every xeno, weapon and ship are needed to stop such an invasion. Even just a single Chaos Space Marine stepping on a planet is cause enough for Exterminatus, why? Because Chaos is unrelenting and once it takes foothold it cannot be removed, only excised but then there is usually so little left spared that it is the death of entire races and civilizations. 

 

What help is to throw countless men toward the Chaos lines when the very corpses of the dead are a weapon against you, the very righteous rage your holy warriors feel is the chink in their armor making them vulnerable to Chaos. What is the pride in the history of ones own regiment, bloodline and race when those very things are the reason of your downfall. What are all the strategies and plots, tactics and lures when even thinking a scheme puts you at the mercy of Tzeentch and someone is out there already placed to act as a chess piece against you. The Necrons have the right of it, only complete and utter obliteration of everything and everyone, organic or material, is the solution to Chaos, nothing else. 

 

As for leaders, for Chaos it is simple, only a competent leader lives for long enough to see his plan through. Chaos has no incompetent leaders. They die before their uselessness can harm those capable and strong enough. There are no weak links in Chaos, those die as soon as it is practicable, often at the hands of their most trusted comrades. Chaos can abide many things but weakness is not one of them. You are weak, you die. You die in order to place one stronger on the throne. Far, far stronger than you ever were. 

 

As for psykers... most of them either die in the very first moments that Chaos gazes upon their world, or are driven into insanity, given power beyond anything a mortal can dream and are usually the ones paving the road for a Chaos invasion. In simple terms, when the Eye gazes upon a world many things considered myth come to life. Statues weep blood, ghosts haunt, spells considered mere esoteric curiosities reveal to be the real thing, killings become common and many, many people feel empowered. And it is this freely given power that is usually the reason for the downfall of a planet or the extinction of a race, not the blades and bolters of the Chaos warbands.

 

It is the very victim itself which engineers its own downfall and destruction. Chaos merely needs to make an offer.