Chaos Novel suggestions

[SyNidus]

I'm going full swing with my Night Lords project and i'd like more material to work with in terms of the background.

 

I've read Lord of the Night and ADB's trilogy. Also read prince of crows & value of fear. But one thing i'm having trouble with is getting into the mind set of a chaos space marine.

 

Perhaps it's my personal world view & understanding that makes me see that everything about the striving of the chaos space marines as inherently pointless...thus the only motivation i can find for my chaos lord other than turning altruistic is nihilistic self-destruction.

 

I'd like some suggestions for books which might give better insight into the workings of the CSM.

 

Rather than just painting them as moustache twirling baddies, i want to see their characters. Their desires. I want to see more than a caricature.

[hushrong]

Talon of Horus.

[DaisyDuke]

The ariman trilogy ?

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

Ahriman Trilogy, Talon of Horus/Black Legion are probably the best ones that you haven't mentioned.

 

I personally very much enjoyed Fabius Bile: Primogenitor, Khârn: Eater of Worlds, Shroud of Night, Storm of Iron, and the Word Bearers trilogy, although these titles can get mixed reviews.

[DaisyDuke]

Word bearers trilogy is very much a vision of CHAOS space marines doing chaos stuff.

The soul drinkers is an interesting fall to chaos from doing the "right thing".

[Scammel]

Traitor General provides extensive insight into civillian life under the yoke of Chaos. That said, I fear Abnett was so eager to demonstrate how Chaos 'worked' in day-to-day life that he defanged the concept a bit.

[Azekai]

It isn't like the forces of Chaos have a lock on nihilism. The setting as a whole is rife with it.

I would look at Fantasy Flight's Black Crusade sourcebooks. Chaos is often portrayed from the Imperial point of view, in that they only exist as reavers and killers intent on despoiling the worlds of the Emperor. The Screaming Vortex is not a friendly or happy place, but it does describe what life is like for those living beyond the borders of the Imperium of Man.

[THUNDERFISTS]

Storm of Iron is my favorite 40k novel so far, read it over a dozen times at this points. It focuses on both sides, with a good insight into several Iron Warriors characters, and the end is never clear until the last couple chapters. 

[Marshal Loss]

Talon of Horus & The Black Legion, hands down.

[Vorenus]

In addition to those already mentioned, I would add LEGION, by Dan Abnett.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I honestly think that the codex has the best wording on this issue, Sy.  From the most recent C:CSM:

 

 

When a Space Marine falls from grace he falls further than any other man.  A lifetime of deprivation and selflessness is thrown aside, and the Space Marine indulges his newfound independence to its fullest extent.  Freed from the shackles of tradition and responsibility, this newly-fallen heretic can exercise his every whim, whether it is for bloodshed, sensual pleasure, ambition, love or hatred.  Given full rein, his incredible physical prowess and mental strength can be turned to the most despicable acts without any sense of mercy or shame.  Like a dam holding back a flood, when a Space Marine's will finally breaks, the result is catastrophic.

 

 

Having long been subservient to the lords of Imperium and the distant Emperor, a Chaos Space Marine relishes the opportunity to the master rather than the servant, enslaving nations, and even worlds, to his creed.  Others may feel free to pursue other avenues, such as the study of illicit texts, or a passion for forbidden knowledge.  Some Chaos Space Marines seek to inflict pain and pleasure upon themselves, pushing their bodies and minds to the uttermost limits as they search for a sensual reward they were never intended to enjoy.

 

 

Which, as I'm typing it out, occurs to me that a Chaos Marine is really much closer to a regular human than a loyalist Space Marine is in terms of mindset.  Loyal Marines are by and large the epitome of the "self-less soldier" trope, willing to give their lives in the service to their nation and their cause.  They answer just about any call to war, and will fight against just about any odds because that is their sole purpose for existing.  In short, they are programmed with the answer to the age-old question "Why are we here?"  A Space Marine knows, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he exists to fight and to die so that humanity, via the Imperium, can survive.

 

A Chaos Marine has broken that particular chain and must ask himself that question the same way that any regular human must.  The answer for them will vary just as much as it does for so many of us in our teeming millions.  Some people think the answer is to spread a divine truth.  Others want to amass wealth or personal power.  Most just want to live a long and happy life.  Some Chaos Marines find their personal meaning in that divine truth, some in the massing of personal power (though the nature of power will vary from Marine to Marine).  I'm sure that some also just want to enjoy a life of leisure, free from shouted orders and the roar of combat, but we don't hear much about them because this is a universe built around a war game and the headline "Renegade Space Marine builds a hut on the beach and contents himself with getting a tan and fishing for sharks" doesn't make for a very exciting story.

 

Ezekyle Abaddon feels betrayed by the Emperor and the Imperium; tearing it down brick and brick, with Chaos as his chosen weapon, is what gives his life meaning.  At the end, Talos Valcoran wanted something similar, though before that revelation his only real concern was the survival of his particular splinter of the Legion.  Kernax Voldorius was building his own empire, conquering Imperial world and enslaving their populace to his will.  The Word Bearers want to convert all humanity to the worship of the only gods they feel are worthy of it, and meet any resistance to their desire with blade and bolter.  World Eaters just want to kill.  The one unifying thread here is violence: again, mostly because this is a war game, but really the codices do have a point when they say that a Chaos Marine's "superhuman bodies and military skills remain undiminished."  When all you know is warfare, when all you're good at is warfare, when everything you are and everything you've ever done in your life is wage unrelenting, merciless war. . . it's not hard to imagine that the first thing you'll do when achieving your freedom is wage war.

 

In any case, I've waxed poetic longer than I intended.  Hope it helps.

[Kol Saresk]

A Chaos Space Marine is basically a person who had a well-sheltered childhood and is now getting to experience the world as seen by Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and John Wayne Gacy after being raised by Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.

[Sgt. Blank]

Both Talon of Horus and Storm of Iron are good reads and get at the motives of individuals and groups of Chaos marines. I'd say Storm of Iron is my favorite book from Black Library.

 

I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the Horus Heresy series either. While its not 40k, books like the First Heretic (Wordbearers,) Betrayer (Worldeaters and Word Bearers) Fulgrim (Emperor's Children) or A Thousand Sons all give a view of how some of the legions turned from the Emperor's service.