Chaos Cult fluff and information?

[General Strike]

I plan to do some fluff writing for a characterful chaos cult, a mixed group of rogue traders, Nobles, a Knight pilot, and many more. I want to focus on writing them as a black legion esque cult, with leaders of the cult from each of the Major gods, all answering to a Alpha Legion Chaos lord. They control the day to day operations of a chaos controlled planet, providing foodstuffs and more to the warband. They also send put operatives to spread the cult at the orders of the Chaos lord. My decision is whether this planet is openly controlled by chaos, with the population enjoying relative freedom under this cult as they creative goods for them and fight for them. Or maybe the cult is contained to the Nobles and leadership of the planet and the PDF and such follow orders. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

[Panzer]

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway. ^^

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway. ^^

Considering the Imperium has been cut in half by a giant warp storm and thousands of systems have been overrun, I'd say an openly Chaos-controlled planet is pretty viable now...

[Panzer]

 

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway. ^^

Considering the Imperium has been cut in half by a giant warp storm and thousands of systems have been overrun, I'd say an openly Chaos-controlled planet is pretty viable now...

 

We still have to see how things are for planets on the other side of the rift now. Without new stories and Codexes talking about how life on the other side is we can't really say one or the other to be honest.

Especially because the other side still contains imperial forces as well. Hell the Blood Angels home planet is there (barely survived Hive Fleet Leviathan, but they are alive and kicking).

[OPTIMVSCHRISTVS]

 

 

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway. ^^

Considering the Imperium has been cut in half by a giant warp storm and thousands of systems have been overrun, I'd say an openly Chaos-controlled planet is pretty viable now...

 

We still have to see how things are for planets on the other side of the rift now. Without new stories and Codexes talking about how life on the other side is we can't really say one or the other to be honest.

Especially because the other side still contains imperial forces as well. Hell the Blood Angels home planet is there (barely survived Hive Fleet Leviathan, but they are alive and kicking).

 

There is a bit of fluff within the Codex (I think it was the codex- might have been the index or rulebook, I'd have to look again) mentioning that tons of petty fiefdoms have been established by various warbands in Imperial space after the rift opened. That certainly seems to support the idea of a openly held Chaos planet.

[Commander Dawnstar]

 

We still have to see how things are for planets on the other side of the rift now. Without new stories and Codexes talking about how life on the other side is we can't really say one or the other to be honest.

Especially because the other side still contains imperial forces as well. Hell the Blood Angels home planet is there (barely survived Hive Fleet Leviathan, but they are alive and kicking).

 

Well there is Shroud of Night:

 

Which depicts the fall of the world of Tsadrekha to the combined assault of a number of warbands from the big name Legions, all despite the presence of a force of Imperial Fists (including Primaris) and the Convent Prioris of a Minor Order of Battle Sisters. Tsadrekha was the lynchpin of a group of systems - The Tsadrekhan Unity - who had been brought together by the presence of a 'beacon' on Tsadrekha that essentially acted as a localised Astronomicon in the wake of the Great Rift. Naturally that meant that things were left looking rather dicey for those other systems in the aftermath of the story.

Edited September 23, 2017 by Commander Dawnstar

[Azekai]

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway.

The explanation can be as simple as 'they can't.' Vraks was retaken because it was important. Small or far-flung worlds can slide into rebellion unnoticed for decades or centuries. Large, important planets may not be retaken simply by dint of them being too powerful; perhaps they already defeated the nearest Imperial forces, or maybe the warpstorms are just too strong. Some, like Xana II, are whisked away through the warp and spirited into the Eye of Terror.

 

In any case, there are lots of examples of worlds that have fallen to chaos and not been successfully retaken or exterminated. The Imperium is not all knowing or all powerful. M'Laar and Urskas Sol Tetra are examples of planets where chaos literally reigns. A more recent example would be the Scourge Stars, taken and reforged by Mortarion into a small, plague-ridden empire.

 

If you want a society of mortals worshiping chaos but not being actively ruled by daemonic overlords, there are locations where that occurs, usually at the edge of the Astronomican's light or beyond. Places like the Laanath Rifts or the Gloaming Worlds are dense with human-dominated planets that hate the Imperium of Man.

 

 

[Goreshed]

At the end of the day the galaxy as it is now at the dawn of the 42nd is more of a wasteland of war zones than ever before. With the key planets all being fought over (Khorne attacking Terra directly comes to mind...) smaller or less important systems will largely by left to themselves for their defenses. That is just plain tactical sense. Even with Girlyman's new crusade to counter the Chaos literally seeping into everything, the galaxy is a huge place. Take that fact and combine it with the warp that is barely stable to travel through if you are a follower of the corpse god and it is entirely plausible that a planet or system would be taken into the fold of chaos and held there.

 

Let us also not forget that travel within the warp is fickle as well, ships coming and going at random times, and it wouldn't be unthinkable for some task force sent to reinforce or take back a planet become lost within the warp or just never show up in time, potentially centuries late.

 

If you really want inspiration I would suggest reading Traitor General of the Gaunt's Ghost series. It really gives a great take on just one of the ways that Chaos could rule the planet. Where the warp is there but the day to day activities are relatively the same. At the same time (cant remember the name of the next book, where they go back and liberate the planet from Traitor General) we see what happens over the prolonged use of a planet that Chaos has taken control over.

[General Strike]

It's mostly for writing fun, I might bring like a Patrol Detachment with a CSM squad, Chaos Terminators, and a Terminator Lord or Sorceror alongside some Renegades and Heretics. For now, I just liked the idea of a competent chaos cult that exists for more than cannon fodder. Mortal worshippers that gain favor and dark power, I know the Chaos Gods favorite playthings are Astartes but this is cooler for me. I already have my DG fluff I am working on, want to write some human fluff for a bit.

[the jeske]

Well an openly chaos dedicated planet would need a pretty good explanation why it's not under attack by the imperium so I'd probably go and make it a mostly hidden cult. Would fit an Alpha Legion Lord better anyway. ^^

As long as you don't put up the really mutated or diseased people out in the open, it really isn't that hard to worship chaos [on a planet/sector scale] within the imperial cult . Just go for the good old emperorworshiped through his 4 aspectes and your golden[the seer, the warrior, the dance and the father]. you could even make up a 10k year old story how this was a slow evolution in the imperial cult style started by some marine ages ago. You could even have an in system marine chapter that was AL infiltrated[happened in the past]. Most people wouldn't know that what they worship is chaos, but you would have ranks of initiation. your local ad mecha could be dark [or they could be hidden, and your planet could be pretending it is low tech] etc.

you would of course need a dual goverment system. one the official one,mirroring what other imperial worlds have to have and the enlighted, who would be the real power behind everything.

In fact being a space marine recruitment lower tech [and by lower I mean no hive cities, not runing around in loin cloths] world would be nice, because it would lower the chance of Inq coming to check anything.