5th Chaos God (other than Malal)

[Beren]

 

 

 

 

 

SNIP

 

Yeah but any negative emotions felt by the Imperium would just bolster the gods, plus all that xenophobia etc. has fed the Chaos gods. Yes there is so much evil in the Imperium but there is also so much good and when you are talking about trillions of people in a galaxy that is bigger geographically as the Eldars then that is going to do something. Plus there are worlds in the Imperium that are paradise worlds and even in the most chaotic hive worlds there is still a lot of good. I mean you can't say that there is only evil and badness in the Imperium, during the Inquistion and the 100 years war there was still a lot of good. Negative emotions are stronger but that isn't going to negate the emotions created in the name of good. Slaanesh is the weakest god, but she'he isn't being subsumed by the other gods.

Tell me, why exactly would the God-Emperor get to 'cherry-pick' which emotions feed him and which don't?

Besides, its arguable that whatever good there is in the Imperium is a reflection of the better parts of human nature rather than the Imperium possessing good in itself, just as Chaos is a reflection of the worst parts of nature, existing prior to and inspite of the Imperium.

I wasn't attempting to say that the "God-Emperor" got to cherry pick what was fed to him. .

That comment was directed at Torvald actually.

Why exactly would the Emperor have to cherry pick the emotions that feed him?  If the chaos gods don't fed on positive emotions than some other entity would, the chaos gods pretty much just feed on negative emotions now.  To say that you'd have to be saying that the Chaos gods 'actively' choose the emotions they feed on, but they don't they came into being because of the emotions, like Slaanesh.  They don't have a choice in the matter.

You're talking about an entity that regularly has worlds burned, civilisations turned to ash, people tortured and countless lives wasted in their name and you seriously don't see a disconnect in them being the God of Altruisim? Even when your examples, such as a soldier throwing themselves on a grenade, are things that humans have done long before He rose into ascendancy? Why wouldn't such 'good' emotions, if they were going to attach themselves to a God at all, form into and empower a fully benign entity rather than one which encourages good part of the time and cruelty the rest?

 

Even if the Emperor were to become a God, it wouldn't a fundamental one like the Chaos Gods, whose influence reaches over most races both human and xenos. It would be a God for humanity alone, just as Mork and Gork are for the Orks and the Eldar Gods were/are for them.

[sairence]

40k is a lot more original Lovecraftian, where everything is just a different kind of evil to varying degrees, than that it would aim for balance between good and evil. There is no overwhelming good in 40k, there is only survival. In more political terms, it's all about "right or wrong, my country", with all the pitfalls that come with that concept.

 

To suggest that the Emperor Ascended would be a "good" Chaos god is therefore just not all that plausible to me. He wouldn't be good, he'd just be opposed to the other Chaos gods and helping and protecting his worshippers while having no qualms about wiping out anything that stands in the way of that goal. So basically the same thing he founded the Imperium on in the first place.

[Wulf Vengis]

I've always believed that the chaos gods are all pretty much the same, the only difference being the observer. What people tend to forget is that the chaos gods were, are and will be. They've taken on different guises and names over the infinity of time but they were there before the beginning, they're here now and they'll be here after the end.

 

For example: the Eldar god of war, the bloody-handed god Khaine is just Khorne but from the perspective of a different race. With the fall of the Eldar and the dawn of humanity the god took on a new form and name, it became Khorne.

 

Now I'll confess that my knowledge of other races ancient religions is not thorough in any way but it seemed to me like the 4 have been at a stalemate since the dawn of time. Constantly exchanging power and identities. (I need to crack open my 5th edition Eldar Codex again. Good bit of Eldar religious history in there.)

 

Of course there are holdouts and leftovers that don't fit into the great game or don't stand a chance against the big four without help from other entities like Gork and Mork and the laughing god. But there are still others playing the game who are not recognized as part of the big four, some competing with the four like the Emperor (or at least his shadow in the warp) and Ynnead (*who may just be the Eldar perspective on Nurgle*).

 

*Ynnead being the Eldar god/goddess of life and rebirth begs the question is/was Nurgle once known by the Eldar as Ynnead before the fall? After the spiritual and physical corruption of the Eldar and the subsequent birth of Slaanesh their gods too would have become warped and corrupted. Their noble war god Khaine becoming Khorne, Ynnead becoming Nurgle and so on. These new corrupted versions being deformed mirror images of what they once were and stood for, existing forever in a weakened state (Khaine) or trapped by their new overwhelming identity (Ynnead). Khaine and Ynnead as we know them being the all but forgotten nobler sides to Khorne and Nurgles respective coins.

 

TLDR: The gods as we know them are the same as the Eldar gods just under new names, and the Eldar gods may be the almost forgotten noble sides of the chaos gods.

 

EDIT: Clarity and spelling.

 

EDIT 2: The primordial annihilator: Isn't the primordial annihilator just the name of the chaos gods unified into one all powerful warp being? A being that has been hinted at in the fluff as slowly awakening with the big 4 being the first aspects of its ending slumber?

Edited September 16, 2019 by Wulf Vengis

[TorvaldTheMild]

 

 

 

 

 

 

SNIP

Yeah but any negative emotions felt by the Imperium would just bolster the gods, plus all that xenophobia etc. has fed the Chaos gods. Yes there is so much evil in the Imperium but there is also so much good and when you are talking about trillions of people in a galaxy that is bigger geographically as the Eldars then that is going to do something. Plus there are worlds in the Imperium that are paradise worlds and even in the most chaotic hive worlds there is still a lot of good. I mean you can't say that there is only evil and badness in the Imperium, during the Inquistion and the 100 years war there was still a lot of good. Negative emotions are stronger but that isn't going to negate the emotions created in the name of good. Slaanesh is the weakest god, but she'he isn't being subsumed by the other gods.

Tell me, why exactly would the God-Emperor get to 'cherry-pick' which emotions feed him and which don't?

Besides, its arguable that whatever good there is in the Imperium is a reflection of the better parts of human nature rather than the Imperium possessing good in itself, just as Chaos is a reflection of the worst parts of nature, existing prior to and inspite of the Imperium.

I wasn't attempting to say that the "God-Emperor" got to cherry pick what was fed to him. .

That comment was directed at Torvald actually.

Why exactly would the Emperor have to cherry pick the emotions that feed him?  If the chaos gods don't fed on positive emotions than some other entity would, the chaos gods pretty much just feed on negative emotions now.  To say that you'd have to be saying that the Chaos gods 'actively' choose the emotions they feed on, but they don't they came into being because of the emotions, like Slaanesh.  They don't have a choice in the matter.

You're talking about an entity that regularly has worlds burned, civilisations turned to ash, people tortured and countless lives wasted in their name and you seriously don't see a disconnect in them being the God of Altruisim? Even when your examples, such as a soldier throwing themselves on a grenade, are things that humans have done long before He rose into ascendancy? Why wouldn't such 'good' emotions, if they were going to attach themselves to a God at all, form into and empower a fully benign entity rather than one which encourages good part of the time and cruelty the rest?

 

Even if the Emperor were to become a God, it wouldn't a fundamental one like the Chaos Gods, whose influence reaches over most races both human and xenos. It would be a God for humanity alone, just as Mork and Gork are for the Orks and the Eldar Gods were/are for them.

 

Well he doesn't cause the horrors of the Imperium after the HH, he's interred on the throne but everything he's done is to protect the species.  Plus If he has to kill billions to save the species he would.  Life isn't fair and if he was completely benevolent he'd have never conquered the galaxy, I think you are ignoring a very important piece of information, he's the anathema of chaos.  He is diametrically apposed to them and seeing that their MO is suffering then doesn't take a genius to assume what he is.  How can you be positive that he would not be a fundamental one like the Chaos gods, because he became one late, by that logic Slaanesh isn't one either.  If he's a god of certain emotions then he would be a fundamental god as those emotions are fundamental to the universe.  Excess is fundamental and Slaanesh came after it, as did the rest of the Gods, without fundamental emotions they don't exist. 

Edited September 16, 2019 by TorvaldTheMild

[Beren]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SNIP

 

Yeah but any negative emotions felt by the Imperium would just bolster the gods, plus all that xenophobia etc. has fed the Chaos gods. Yes there is so much evil in the Imperium but there is also so much good and when you are talking about trillions of people in a galaxy that is bigger geographically as the Eldars then that is going to do something. Plus there are worlds in the Imperium that are paradise worlds and even in the most chaotic hive worlds there is still a lot of good. I mean you can't say that there is only evil and badness in the Imperium, during the Inquistion and the 100 years war there was still a lot of good. Negative emotions are stronger but that isn't going to negate the emotions created in the name of good. Slaanesh is the weakest god, but she'he isn't being subsumed by the other gods.

Tell me, why exactly would the God-Emperor get to 'cherry-pick' which emotions feed him and which don't?

Besides, its arguable that whatever good there is in the Imperium is a reflection of the better parts of human nature rather than the Imperium possessing good in itself, just as Chaos is a reflection of the worst parts of nature, existing prior to and inspite of the Imperium.

I wasn't attempting to say that the "God-Emperor" got to cherry pick what was fed to him. .

That comment was directed at Torvald actually.

Why exactly would the Emperor have to cherry pick the emotions that feed him? If the chaos gods don't fed on positive emotions than some other entity would, the chaos gods pretty much just feed on negative emotions now. To say that you'd have to be saying that the Chaos gods 'actively' choose the emotions they feed on, but they don't they came into being because of the emotions, like Slaanesh. They don't have a choice in the matter.

You're talking about an entity that regularly has worlds burned, civilisations turned to ash, people tortured and countless lives wasted in their name and you seriously don't see a disconnect in them being the God of Altruisim? Even when your examples, such as a soldier throwing themselves on a grenade, are things that humans have done long before He rose into ascendancy? Why wouldn't such 'good' emotions, if they were going to attach themselves to a God at all, form into and empower a fully benign entity rather than one which encourages good part of the time and cruelty the rest?

Even if the Emperor were to become a God, it wouldn't a fundamental one like the Chaos Gods, whose influence reaches over most races both human and xenos. It would be a God for humanity alone, just as Mork and Gork are for the Orks and the Eldar Gods were/are for them.

Well he doesn't cause the horrors of the Imperium after the HH, he's interred on the throne but everything he's done is to protect the species. Plus If he has to kill billions to save the species he would. Life isn't fair and if he was completely benevolent he'd have never conquered the galaxy, I think you are ignoring a very important piece of information, he's the anathema of chaos. He is diametrically apposed to them and seeing that their MO is suffering then doesn't take a genius to assume what he is. How can you be positive that he would not be a fundamental one like the Chaos gods, because he became one late, by that logic Slaanesh isn't one either. If he's a god of certain emotions then he would be a fundamental god as those emotions are fundamental to the universe. Excess is fundamental and Slaanesh came after it, as did the rest of the Gods, without fundamental emotions they don't exist.

What, so the countless genocides and subjugations he caused before the HH don't count all of a sudden? No to mention that the Imperial Cult is still fully inspired by him and does everything they do in his name?

 

So, you admit that the God-Emperor cannot be fullfy benevolent. In which case, what exactly are you arguing here? Before you were arguing that the God-Emperor must be the God of altruism.

 

Saying that he is the 'anathaema' doesn't help at all. For one, it doesn' t mean opppsite, it means something that is extremely distasteful or hateful to someone. The God-Emperor is a being capable of attempting to challenge the Chaos Gods and upset their plans, which is worthy of their hatred regardless of what he actually is.

 

I don't recall if the terminology of 'diametrically opposite' was used in the books, but even if it was it still doesn't act anything like a god of altruism in practice. Nor do many of his worshippers.

 

As for the last part, it reads like you have entirely misunderstood my point. Him being a 'fundamental' god has absolutely nothing to do with the timing of his alleged 'becoming a God', nor did I say that it did. It is to do with the fact that he can only appeal to a single species. To a xenos race of any kind he is certainly not the god of altruism. He is the god whose followers will murder them, murder their descendents, cast down their cities, destroy their worlds and erase them from existence. The Chaos Gods appeal to and gain worshippers from many species, because they are the gods of emotions and don't particularly care what's making them. Again, the God-Emperor - if he was to be counted as a god - would be the god of species just as the Eldar and Ork ones are. His strength and worship is tied to the fate of a single species, while Chaos attempts to claim all that make an impression in the warp.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Beren

[TorvaldTheMild]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SNIP

Yeah but any negative emotions felt by the Imperium would just bolster the gods, plus all that xenophobia etc. has fed the Chaos gods. Yes there is so much evil in the Imperium but there is also so much good and when you are talking about trillions of people in a galaxy that is bigger geographically as the Eldars then that is going to do something. Plus there are worlds in the Imperium that are paradise worlds and even in the most chaotic hive worlds there is still a lot of good. I mean you can't say that there is only evil and badness in the Imperium, during the Inquistion and the 100 years war there was still a lot of good. Negative emotions are stronger but that isn't going to negate the emotions created in the name of good. Slaanesh is the weakest god, but she'he isn't being subsumed by the other gods.

Tell me, why exactly would the God-Emperor get to 'cherry-pick' which emotions feed him and which don't?

Besides, its arguable that whatever good there is in the Imperium is a reflection of the better parts of human nature rather than the Imperium possessing good in itself, just as Chaos is a reflection of the worst parts of nature, existing prior to and inspite of the Imperium.

I wasn't attempting to say that the "God-Emperor" got to cherry pick what was fed to him. .

That comment was directed at Torvald actually.

Why exactly would the Emperor have to cherry pick the emotions that feed him? If the chaos gods don't fed on positive emotions than some other entity would, the chaos gods pretty much just feed on negative emotions now. To say that you'd have to be saying that the Chaos gods 'actively' choose the emotions they feed on, but they don't they came into being because of the emotions, like Slaanesh. They don't have a choice in the matter.

You're talking about an entity that regularly has worlds burned, civilisations turned to ash, people tortured and countless lives wasted in their name and you seriously don't see a disconnect in them being the God of Altruisim? Even when your examples, such as a soldier throwing themselves on a grenade, are things that humans have done long before He rose into ascendancy? Why wouldn't such 'good' emotions, if they were going to attach themselves to a God at all, form into and empower a fully benign entity rather than one which encourages good part of the time and cruelty the rest?

Even if the Emperor were to become a God, it wouldn't a fundamental one like the Chaos Gods, whose influence reaches over most races both human and xenos. It would be a God for humanity alone, just as Mork and Gork are for the Orks and the Eldar Gods were/are for them.

Well he doesn't cause the horrors of the Imperium after the HH, he's interred on the throne but everything he's done is to protect the species. Plus If he has to kill billions to save the species he would. Life isn't fair and if he was completely benevolent he'd have never conquered the galaxy, I think you are ignoring a very important piece of information, he's the anathema of chaos. He is diametrically apposed to them and seeing that their MO is suffering then doesn't take a genius to assume what he is. How can you be positive that he would not be a fundamental one like the Chaos gods, because he became one late, by that logic Slaanesh isn't one either. If he's a god of certain emotions then he would be a fundamental god as those emotions are fundamental to the universe. Excess is fundamental and Slaanesh came after it, as did the rest of the Gods, without fundamental emotions they don't exist.

What, so the countless genocides and subjugations he caused before the HH don't count all of a sudden? No to mention that the Imperial Cult is still fully inspired by him and does everything they do in his name?

 

So, you admit that the God-Emperor cannot be fullfy benevolent. In which case, what exactly are you arguing here? Before you were arguing that the God-Emperor must be the God of altruism.

 

Saying that he is the 'anathaema' doesn't help at all. For one, it doesn' t mean opppsite, it means something that is extremely distasteful or hateful to someone. The God-Emperor is a being capable of attempting to challenge the Chaos Gods and upset their plans, which is worthy of their hatred regardless of what he actually is.

 

I don't recall if the terminology of 'diametrically opposite' was used in the books, but even if it was it still doesn't act anything like a god of altruism in practice. Nor do many of his worshippers.

 

As for the last part, it reads like you have entirely misunderstood my point. Him being a 'fundamental' god has absolutely nothing to do with the timing of his alleged 'becoming a God', nor did I say that it did. It is to do with the fact that he can only appeal to a single species. To a xenos race of any kind he is certainly not the god of altruism. He is the god whose followers will murder them, murder their descendents, cast down their cities, destroy their worlds and erase them from existence. The Chaos Gods appeal to and gain worshippers from many species, because they are the gods of emotions and don't particularly care what's making them. Again, the God-Emperor - if he was to be counted as a god - would be the god of species just as the Eldar and Ork ones are. His strength and worship is tied to the fate of a single species, while Chaos attempts to claim all that make an impression in the warp.

 

Chaos are not benevolent but they have to act so, they have to save their champions from dying, which they do all the time and if they can't stop them from dying they give them immortality, these are benevolent acts but that doesn't mean they have to be benevolent by doing so and there are other examples like when Ingethel was kind to Argel tal and she didn't want him to fell unnecessary pain.  Same is true for the Emperor, also its like the trolley problem in philosophy are you going to kill 1 person to save 40, if you do that you aren't exactly evil.  The Emperor can be a god of benevolence and still  cause horrors for the greater good, life is more complicated than that, if he only did benevolent acts he'd be useless as saving mankind.  Yes he could be fully benevolent and still cause atrocities if they are in the greater good, but that depends on your philosophical outlook on morality.  The Christian god is considered benevolent yet he does some messed up evil things.  Appealing to a single god has nothing to do with said god being fundamental, he could still feed on the other races and be exclusive to humanity, the Chaos gods feed off everyone but only appeals to humanity, humanity is their sole army in the materium.  He's the anathema because his agenda is completely apposed to Chaos, that's why they call him that.

Edited September 17, 2019 by TorvaldTheMild

[Beren]

Okay, I'm just going to call it quits here since I,m doubtful that either one of us is going tp convince the other, and this thread shouldn't become a two way argument between us that buries the insightful posts from other members.

 

That said, I can state that the chaos gods 'only appealing to humanity' is factually wrong, the Eldar and the Laer coming to mind. The subject of chaos worshipping xenos is perhaps better saved for another thread however.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Chaos acts to save its champions from dying "all the time"? Since when? Khorne actively encourages inter-faction killing. Khârn's whole schtick is how much team-killing he's done. The Chaos Gods turn their followers into Spawn all the time, far, far more often than they create daemon princes. The number of people the Chaos Gods have directly saved is infinitesimally small, which is why they're special characters (Khârn and Lucius). The only other examples I can think of of the Chaos Gods "saving" their followers directly, rather than escaping via their own sorcery (Magnus/Erebus) would maybe be the Gal Vorbak, if you call that "saving", given it was Chaos that directly killed them in the first place.

[Schurge]

Chaos acts to save its champions from dying "all the time"? Since when? Khorne actively encourages inter-faction killing. Khârn's whole schtick is how much team-killing he's done. The Chaos Gods turn their followers into Spawn all the time, far, far more often than they create daemon princes. The number of people the Chaos Gods have directly saved is infinitesimally small, which is why they're special characters (Khârn and Lucius). The only other examples I can think of of the Chaos Gods "saving" their followers directly, rather than escaping via their own sorcery (Magnus/Erebus) would maybe be the Gal Vorbak, if you call that "saving", given it was Chaos that directly killed them in the first place.

 

It is mentioned in every Chaos codex that the Chaos Gods protect their followers. Their support is just fickle. One minute plasma shots are dissipating into thin air right before hitting you in the face and the next a random lasgun shot pierces through your helmet's viewing lens and goes straight into your brain.

 

Spawndom *generally* occurs because your body can no longer contain all the gifts the gods have given you or due to warp exposure. The Chaos gods particularly favor the Astartes because their bodies can handle so much more then regular humans and the other races that Chaos is able to manipulate. It is less that you have displeased the Gods directly and more that spawndom happens on its own.

 

If we are looking at Khorne in particular we have a specific example in the 8th edition codex (though its been around a lot longer) where a bunch of berzerkers got lost in the webway and wandered into a wych cult arena (might have been captured...). They killed the wych cult but died to a man, and then Khorne resurrected both the wyches and the berserkers and they relatively amicably parted ways without further bloodshed.

 

That is just one example but Khorne - as do the other gods - plays fast and loose with his rules. Khorne despises magic as cowardly and dishonorable but also encourages the wholesale slaughter of helpless women and children. It wasn't long ago that he was a martial god (he still technically is on backwater planets) that cared about *worthy* skulls. While he has also always been fine with betrayal it is relatively recently that GW started to focus on "Khorne cares not" to the exclusion of all of his other facets (in 40k at least).

 

Of course, I would also be remiss if I didn't point at Papa Nurgle.... who actually prioritizes protecting his followers by spraying disease down their throats and in turn making them infinitely more hardy then they had been. Even many of his daemons are friendly... most notably the beasts of Nurgle who are basically overgrown lap dogs.

[Moonreaper666]

What about a 40k equivalent to Hashut, the Chaos God of the Chaos Dwarves?

 

One way to introduce a Dark Mechanicum Codex Army and separate them from their Loyalist counterparts and other Chaos subfactions

 

-Fabius Bile and Uriel Rankath can be used by the DM and get special rules

 

-DM units can cannibalize flesh and metal from dead opponents gaining extra wounds (or regenerate them) or extra damage, respectively

 

-DM units are more expensive than Mechanicus but less expensive than Loyalist Marines. Their units are more versatile and more shooty than either Mechanicus or Eldar (Think Vampire Coast units from Total War Warhammer)

 

-Their Minor Chaos God lets them boost/mutate one unit/squad. You can choose which mutation (each comes with pros and cons) AT ANYTIME, even in the enemy's turn!

 

-Killing the leader deals huge morale and combat debuffs to the entire army. Might as well copy from both Chaos Dwarves and Vampire Coast

 

This way the DM won't come off as a cheap knockoff

[Closet Skeleton]

No I've been collecting since 2nd edition, but that's old lore, If GW are pushing it to be evil then the lore goes with that.  SM's used to feel fear, doesn't mean they do now and in 2nd edition the gods were pretty evil, looking back on the Chaos codex I can't find any of that which you are stating.

 

The Chaos gods were pretty evil in first edition too while the Emperor was way more explicitly good and is stated to be able to weild 'anti-chaos' psychic energy that could potentially kill the chaos gods if they dared to challenge him directly.

 

First edition was pretty explicit that chaos is created by psychic immaturity, which is why the angst free violence of the Orks makes them so immune to chaos they can start worshipping Khorne to rebel against the older generation and then give it up as a 'phase'. There's a whole thing about how the only chance for humanity's survival is for them to evolve into a 'mature' race that doesn't have the psychic angst that gives rise to chaos.

 

First ed was also explicit that the chaos 'gods' were just the most powerful daemons and that any daemon prince could hand out chaos marks just like the big 4 while later editions clearly state that there's a difference between chaos gods and chaos daemons and that daemons are just fragments of the god.

 

40k is a lot more original Lovecraftian, where everything is just a different kind of evil to varying degrees, than that it would aim for balance between good and evil. There is no overwhelming good in 40k, there is only survival. In more political terms, it's all about "right or wrong, my country", with all the pitfalls that come with that concept.

 

There's no 'evil' in Lovecraft, most of the gods are just human misunderstandings of aliens and the few true gods like Yog Sothoth and Azathoth are completely mindless.

 

40k is a human centric universe where subconsious emotions make things real, that's the complete opposite of Lovecraft where human concepts are insufficient to understand anything that's going on.

[LameBeard]

I like the idea that the warp is the sea of souls, the psychic reflection of the material universe, and beyond the “big 4” other forces can rise and coalesce and sometimes achieve “godhood” even if temporarily. Some slumber in a state ready to be born. This is supported in some of the older fluff: read about “the Star Child” in the Lost and the Damned. Also in some more recent stuff, like the Horus Heresy series, when Keeler’s (?) faith literally fights against the daemon, the implication is that human worship of the Emperor has created an emotional reflection in the warp, and this then bends back into the material universe. In that sense humanity creates its own Gods, as do the Eldar and Orks. This is what Lorgar learns, that Gods are real, but they aren’t what we thought they were. This is 40k. There are no good guys.

[Doom Herald]

Theres a lot to read through, so I'm sorry if anything I say was already mentioned. The 8th edition CSM Codex, atleast the first one and maybe the second, mentions a warband that is rumored to worship other deities of the Emyrean aside from the big 4. This implies that lesser chaos gods do exist in 40k, they just havent been named. Also, the second book of the Soul Drinkers series has a being that was on the cusp of ascending to god-hood before being slain. Edited February 12, 2020 by Doom Herald

[NoLifeKing]

The Emperor isnt altruistic, he is a cruel and uncompromising entity that has the singular purpose to ensure the survival and supremacy of mankind as a species. The warp gods, their nature and the state of the immarerium as the psychic reflection of the materium, is entirely based on the general psyche and the state of affairs among the psychic races of the galaxy. Their aspects are neither good or evil, they are simply the many forms of strife in the galaxy given form.

 

They are the only gods that the galaxy contains, and they are the gods of "chaos" only because the galaxy is in chaos.

[angrom]

As far as my knowledge of the deep lore of 40k goes, the emperor cannot be a hidden chaos god as he received some of his knowledge and powers from the chaos god themsleves making a pact with them. Pact that he didnt honored in the end and used for his own benefit by creating the primarchs. The chaos gods beside slanesh were all created indirectly by the necrons doing during the war in heavens and are the echo of the different races suffering from the war. Hence why their attributes are all linked to causes and consequences of wars. Bloodshed and massacre(khorne), disease and pandemia(nurgle), political discordance and treatchery(tzench). When it come to the humans the necron and eldars are quite puzzled as they aknowledge that they have a weird connection to the warp (quite unstable one at that)

[The_son_of_Dorn]

The Emperor is a collection of self aware individuals who merged their own essences to save being devoured in the warp. It stands to reason he could be considered a "God" who abides in the physical realm because he is more a form of human evolution that opted to merge together. The Warp being however seem to be horrifically mashed together entities  of the worst aspects of though and negativity that somehow gains sentience and by some horrible turn of events is actually able to "function" as self aware beings.

 

Difference here however is that the Chaos god's power is both added to and yet systematically taken away dependent on the state of the galaxy. The dumb thing with chaos is, the harder you fight it the stronger it become.

[Doom Herald]

Unlikely (not serious) new theory:

What if "The Shadow in the Warp" is the god of xenophobia created by the Imperium?