Chaos Spawn - Why no Daemon keyword?

[Zodd1888]

I get they have their own with Beast, but I've always seen these things as man fallen to Daemon through the warp. Any ideas as to why this is the case? More curious than anything if there is a fluff reason out there.

[Panzer]

Because they are a bunch of mutated flesh and twisted mind, but no Daemon?

[Xenith]

Because they're mortal.

 

Mortal champions of the gods mutated beyond recognition.

[Kaldoth]

Aye, Spawn aren't demons. They've just been mutated recognition by whatever God, be it through failure or too many successes. The pantheon is fickle :P 

[Marshal Loss]

Just to add to the above, you'll see in pretty much every WHFB/40k source ever that mortal champions walk a fine line between 'Daemonhood or Spawndom' - the two are very distinct.

[the jeske]

well there are spawn that are demons, on the flesh planet for example. But in general I think it is A because they never had demon rules and GW likes to copy stuff B there is strong inertia to not give units with multiple rules more rules, when they are no one [aka not a named character] C it maybe imbalanced somehow, who knows GW was testing 8th for supposed years, so they should know it better.

[Prot]

Many of them are failed mortal champions who aspired to greatness and fell quite short. Or some have been punished.... they are not Daemons in any way that I can remember in any edition. They've never been summoned, or had an aspect of daemonhood. Just failed mortals turned into mewling whelps for your lowliest of duties.

[Azekai]

Many of them are failed mortal champions who aspired to greatness and fell quite short. Or some have been punished.... they are not Daemons in any way that I can remember in any edition. They've never been summoned, or had an aspect of daemonhood. Just failed mortals turned into mewling whelps for your lowliest of duties.

In the Eye I think such delineations are a lot more... fluid. What happens if a possessed champion reverts to spawndom? Are they simply exorcised? Or does the daemon reign unopposed over the mewling flesh?

[Panzer]

Daemonhood is the gift of immortality many seek. Giving that as punishment for failing their gods would be ridiculous (tho quite fitting for the twisted mind of Tzeentch I guess :D ).

[Kol Saresk]

 

 

Many of them are failed mortal champions who aspired to greatness and fell quite short. Or some have been punished.... they are not Daemons in any way that I can remember in any edition. They've never been summoned, or had an aspect of daemonhood. Just failed mortals turned into mewling whelps for your lowliest of duties.

In the Eye I think such delineations are a lot more... fluid. What happens if a possessed champion reverts to spawndom? Are they simply exorcised? Or does the daemon reign unopposed over the mewling flesh?

Actually, funnily enough, they'd still just be possessed. If a Possessed Champion lost the battle of wills, the daemon would just take over and shape the body to its needs. So it would either become a possessed with the daemon in control(basically a daemonhost with none of the imprisoning wards), or it would just become a summoned daemon(like Malefax from the BA series).

 

Spawns don't have to be champions of Chaos. Remember Bolt of Change? And the rampant mutations the pre-Chaos Thousand Sons used to have to deal with? Spawndom is either punishment by the gods, loss of control by someone filled with warp energy, or a purposeful "curse" for want of a better descriptor.

[Azekai]

Daemonhood is the gift of immortality many seek. Giving that as punishment for failing their gods would be ridiculous (tho quite fitting for the twisted mind of Tzeentch I guess ).

Not all daemons are created equal. It isn't just the daemonic state that is the reward- failed souls can become furies, and if you die of Nurgle's Rot you become a plaguebearer. Being a mutated daemonic spawn-like thing would *not* be a reward, it would be a curse.  Becoming a powerful and immortal prince among daemons is what traitor astartes (and I guess most heretics) want; specifically, an elevated position among the creatures of a warp.

 

In the rules, spawn aren't daemons, of course. If we are more generally talking about the fiction, I think daemonic gribbly spawn-like things make a lot of sense. Given the chaotic nature of the Empyrean and its deities, I think it is sort of silly to say 'no, that is not how it is done.' In the universe of 40k and with Chaos in particular, nothing is ever so clear cut. 

 

 

[Doom Herald]

Its my understanding that Daemonhood is a facet of the soul, whereas mutations are a facet of the body. I dont see why one could not be mutated to the point of being unrecognizable and even to insanity without the soul being converted to Daemonhood.

[Paradigm]

Sometimes spawn are just a collection of incompatible rewards. It isn't punishment or failure. Slaanesh may believe having thirty pound pair of little fingers is amusing, and so in turn think it obviously desirable. While most marines would cut a blessing like that off, over time more subtle rewards add up. Each champion has a threshold, upon which their sanity and martial prowess rests. Once broken it takes little to reduce them to mindlessly-raging lumps of flesh and spines and eyestalks.