Slaanesh and the 7 sins.

[refuse]

Here is my take from the Emperor's Children.net on Slaanesh and the seven deadly sins.  I had done this in the past, and figured I would dig up some newer opinions.  

 

Kind of like a color wheel, each aspect of the sin is a color.  Adding or subtracting depending on how you look at it the color of the sin.  There are 3 Axes to the chart, with opposing sins on each side.

The three opposing axes

Lust ↔ Envy
Lust says: I must be desired.
Envy says: I must possess what is desired in another.
They mirror each other through craving. Lust pulls others inward; envy reaches outward toward what it lacks.

 

Gluttony ↔ Greed
Gluttony says: I must consume everything.
Greed says: I must own everything.
One destroys through devouring; the other destroys through hoarding. Both refuse limits.

 

Wrath ↔ Sloth
Wrath says: I must act, strike, break, and release.
Sloth says: I must withdraw, recline, refuse, and dissolve.
Wrath is an excess of action. Sloth is the excess of inaction.

Pride as the center

Pride belongs in the middle because each path can be justified by the self:

• Lust: “I deserve to be desired.”
• Envy: “I deserve what they have.”
• Gluttony: “I deserve every sensation.”
• Greed: “I deserve to possess it all.”
• Wrath: “I deserve vengeance.”
• Sloth: “I deserve release from duty.”
•  

So the full Slaaneshi structure becomes:

Pride is the throne.
The other six sins are the roads leading to it.

 

Six gardens to the throne that is pride.

 

Now, about each sin.

 

A devotee of Slaanesh usually does not begin by saying, “I worship Chaos.” They begin by wanting something harmless, even admirable: beauty, excellence, justice, rest, wealth, pleasure, admiration. Slaanesh enters when the desire stops serving life and life begins serving the desire.

 

The pattern is:

 

desire → refinement → obsession → sacrifice → worship

 

This is how people fall to the seven Slaaneshi paths, each shaped by one of the deadly sins.

 

 

Pride — The Cult of the Perfect Self
How it begins

Pride begins as self-improvement. The devotee wants to be better: stronger, more beautiful, more disciplined, more admired, more flawless. A noble, artist, duelist, officer, preacher, or Space Marine might begin by believing they are simply pursuing excellence.

 

They polish their armor longer than others. They perfect their stance. They correct the flaws of those around them. They begin to feel that ordinary people are crude, weak, and unworthy.

 

How it progresses

 

Eventually, admiration becomes necessary. They do not merely want to be good; they need to be seen as superior. Criticism becomes intolerable. Rivals become insults merely by existing.

They begin altering themselves: ornate armor, ritual scars, cosmetic surgery, exquisite clothing, impossible posture, perfect voice, perfect gestures. Every surface becomes a mirror. Every conversation becomes a performance.

 

Their corruption deepens when they decide that morality is for lesser beings. If they are perfect, then whatever they desire must also be perfect.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A pride-devotee worships through self-glorification. Their shrines are mirrors, portraits, statues, polished blades, and jeweled masks. They recite their own victories as hymns. They surround themselves with admirers, servants, and broken rivals.

 

Their offerings are humiliation and adoration. They may force defeated enemies to praise them, carve their triumphs into marble or flesh, or build entire courts where every act exists to affirm their perfection.

 

To them, Slaanesh is not merely the Prince of Pleasure. Slaanesh is the only god refined enough to appreciate them.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

Chaos Lord.  His armor is the best, immaculate; he could have slaves cleaning his armor as he walks the battlefield, or their pride keeps their armor clean.  A trophy rack showing the kills that they are most Proud of.  Make them look like a living idol, weilding a deamon blade (the deaemon they bested), dueling swords (they came up through wrath).  Lucius the Eternal stands out as a great example of Pride.

 

Lust — The Cult of Desire

How it begins

 

Lust begins with attraction, fascination, intimacy, beauty, or longing. The devotee wants closeness, admiration, romance, control, or the thrill of being desired.  This path is not limited to physical desire. It can be the lust for attention, for emotional possession, for forbidden closeness or knowledge, for charisma, for the power to make others want.

 

How it progresses

 

Desire becomes manipulation. The devotee learns how to become irresistible: perfect voice, perfect scent, perfect clothing, perfect posture, perfect timing. They study weakness, loneliness, vanity, and longing.

 

They begin collecting admirers and dependents. They blur love with control, intimacy with ownership, and affection with hunger. They may ruin marriages, cults, military units, noble houses, or entire courts simply by becoming the object everyone wants and no one can possess safely.

 

Eventually, the devotee no longer desires people as people. They desire the act of desire itself: the moment someone gives in, betrays a vow, abandons reason, or chooses obsession over duty.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A lust-cult worships through temptation, seduction, and surrender of restraint. Their rites may involve masks, dances, perfumes, music, whispered vows, and symbolic unions of beauty and danger.

 

Their offerings are broken oaths, corrupted loyalties, surrendered secrets, and the collapse of self-control. A pure-hearted knight, a faithful servant, or a disciplined warrior is more precious than a willing libertine because the fall is sweeter.

 

To them, Slaanesh is the voice that says: You deserve what you desire.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

Serpents of desire!  Snake-bodied marines.  It doesn't have to be crude; lust isn't just physical; it is the manifestation of want, betrayal, and surrender.    Tormmentor models are consumed by ego and desire.  They are looking for new experiences, corrupting, destroying, and breaking down the opponents.

 

 

 

 

Wrath — The Cult of the Perfect Violation

How it begins

 

Wrath begins as righteous anger. The devotee has been wronged. Their family was betrayed. Their commander was incompetent. Their enemies are cruel. The Imperium is unjust. The weak are irritating. The strong are obstacles.  At first, violence feels necessary. Then it feels satisfying. Then it feels honest. This isn't about killing; this is about the anger and emotion.

 

How it progresses

 

The devotee begins to refine anger into art. They no longer strike in rage alone; they study the moment of impact, the sound of fear, the expression before defeat. A warrior might seek the perfect killing stroke. A torturer might seek the perfect scream. A commander might arrange battles not for victory, but for spectacle.   Wrath under Slaanesh is not mindless berserker fury like Khorne. It is curated, aesthetic, and theatrical. The devotee wants rage to be beautiful. They want destruction to have rhythm, shape, and emotional intensity.

 

Eventually, they provoke conflict merely to feel the rising heat of it. Peace becomes unbearable.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A wrath-devotee worships through exquisite violence. Their temples may be arenas, dueling chambers, execution galleries, or battlefields arranged like stages.  They offer Slaanesh the emotional peak of conflict: fury, terror, triumph, panic, vengeance, humiliation. They may compose music from battlefield recordings, paint murals with the aftermath of duels, or turn vendettas into sacred liturgies.  

 

To them, Slaanesh is worshipped in the instant when restraint breaks, and every hidden hatred becomes action.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

Violence that is still Slaanesh.  They kill in a moment of exquisite theatrics.   Flawless Blades dancing through the battlefield, striking down enemies, and savoiring the battle.  A dreadnought or defiler that is enraged and only feels the anger, but never the release from a kill, would be another great example

 

 

Sloth — The Cult of Perfect Surrender

How it begins

 

Sloth begins as exhaustion. The devotee is tired of duty, war, grief, prayer, work, obedience, vigilance. They want rest. They want silence. They want to be free from expectation.

This can begin innocently: one missed obligation, one indulgent evening, one refusal to care.

 

How it progresses

 

Slaanesh does not make sloth merely lazy. It makes passivity luxurious. The devotee learns to savor inaction. They avoid pain, responsibility, consequence, and decision. They become connoisseurs of stillness.  Their rooms grow darker and softer. Perfumes, narcotic incense, music, cushions, dream-engines, sensory veils, and psychic illusions surround them. They stop acting in the real world and retreat into curated sensation.  Eventually, they may become like a living idol: carried by servants, fed by attendants, lost in dreams while others destroy themselves to preserve their comfort.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A sloth-cult worships through surrender to sensation and refusal of duty. Their rites are slow, dreamlike, and suffocating. They may lie in perfumed chambers for days, listening to music designed to dissolve the will.  Their offerings are abandoned responsibilities: guards leaving their posts, priests abandoning their vows, commanders refusing to give orders, parents forgetting their children, warriors laying down their weapons.  

 

To them, Slaanesh says: You have suffered enough. Let the world burn softly around you.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

Cloth wrapped with incense bearers.  They languish on the field listening to the screams of the fallen.  Perhaps carried on a palaquin, they enjoy the sensations as much as the smells of their incense.  Possibly a Sorcerer or Librarian that is floating on the palaquin, or a Dreadnought that doesn't create pain, but withholds the pleasures while they are on the battlefield.  Perhaps they ride upon a Rhino or Land Raider delivering the troops to the battle while enjoying the sensations.

 

 

 

Greed — The Cult of Possession

How it begins

 

Greed begins with ambition and security. The devotee wants enough: enough wealth, enough weapons, enough influence, enough favors, enough secrets, enough bodies, enough land, enough souls. They tell themselves accumulation is wisdom. They are preparing. They are protecting what is theirs.

 

How it progresses

 

Soon, ownership becomes pleasure. The devotee does not need what they hoard; they need the act of having. A coin is not a coin. It is proof that something in the world has been conquered and made theirs.  They collect rare art, forbidden books, exotic poisons, living servants, relics, titles, memories, secrets, genetic samples, and daemonic pacts. Their vaults become shrines. Their contracts become prayers.  Eventually, they cannot tolerate anything existing outside their grasp. Even people become possessions: followers, lovers, rivals, enemies, all catalogued and claimed.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A greed-devotee worships through acquisition and hoarding. Their temples are vaults, galleries, treasure chambers, reliquaries, slave markets, and private museums.

They make offerings by taking what others value most. A noble might steal a family heirloom. A warlord might conquer a city only to lock its art away unseen. A sorcerer might trade in names, true memories, or stolen emotions.

 

To them, Slaanesh is the divine right to possess every exquisite thing.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

A walking vault, maybe trophies on their back.  They have multiple options for fighting, like a Lord Kakophonist, with all the possibilities they can have.  Maybe a chaos beast that absorbs those it kills, and like Lucius, comes back when it is killed.  Possibly a Terminator Squad that is armed with a variety of weapons, collected from their foes, dragging boxes of their prizes behind them.  Or a daemon prince that has exquisite armor covered in chains, jewels, and relics, and the ground is covered with coins

 

 

Gluttony — The Cult of Endless Consumption

How it begins

 

Gluttony begins with appetite. Food, drink, sensation, praise, pain, music, color, experience — the devotee wants more of what feels good.  At first, they simply indulge. They seek better meals, stronger wines, louder music, richer perfumes, stranger dreams, sharper stimulants, rarer sensations.

 

How it progresses

 

The appetite widens. Gluttony is not only about eating. It is the consumption of experience. The devotee devours novelty, art, gossip, bodies, drugs, battles, memories, and spiritual experiences. They become unable to enjoy anything twice unless it is made stronger, stranger, or more extreme.

Soon, excess becomes identity. They are no longer satisfied by pleasure; they are defined by the ability to consume what others cannot endure.

At the deepest stage, they become a black hole of sensation. Everything around them is reduced to fuel for the next indulgence.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

A gluttony-cult worships through banquets of excess. Their feasts may include impossible foods, hallucinogenic wines, music, perfumes, psychic stimuli, and staged spectacles. Each course is designed to overwhelm a different sense.  Their offerings are abundance wasted or consumed beyond reason. Entire harvests, rare beasts, priceless vintages, sacred relics, and living memories might be devoured in a single rite.

 

To them, Slaanesh is the hunger that proves there is always another sensation beyond the last.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

It isn't just food; it means consuming every sensation.  Noise Marines are the obvious answer here.  Sound, pain, color, memory, Praise, fear, and violence.  They are overloaded with sensory apparatus.  It could be Flawless blades with their drug injectors, or Chaos Terminators that are cut off from the outside perceptions.  It could be a Dreadnought that is more organic, or a defiler.

 

 

Envy — The Cult of the Unpossessed

How it begins

 

Envy starts with comparison. Someone else has what the devotee deserves: beauty, rank, talent, love, wealth, psychic power, fame, attention, divine favor.

At first, the feeling is private. They smile at a rival’s success while quietly resenting it. They tell themselves they only want fairness. They study those they envy, learning their habits, their weaknesses, their charms.

 

How it progresses

 

The devotee becomes consumed by the lives of others. They no longer know what they want for themselves; they only know what they cannot bear another person possessing.

They copy voices, clothing, fighting styles, gestures, even scars. They steal trophies not for value, but because someone else cherished them. They ruin reputations, sabotage alliances, and poison relationships.  The final stage of envy is not merely wanting what another has. It is wanting to erase the difference between self and rival. They may impersonate, mutilate, replace, or spiritually consume the object of envy.

 

How they worship Slaanesh

 

An envy-cult worships through coveting and theft of identity. Their altars are covered in stolen objects: locks of hair, medals, love letters, weapons, titles, faces painted on masks.

They may hold ceremonies where devotees confess what they desire from others, then compete to take it. A cult of envy might not kill its victims quickly. It might first strip them of reputation, beauty, status, friends, and selfhood.

 

To them, Slaanesh whispers: Everything beautiful should have been yours.

 

How to represent them in your Slaanesh 40k Army:

 

Mixed armor, maybe from Pre-heresy to MK X armor both loyalists and other chaos legions.  Stolen pieces from Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks, and Tau.   Mismatched trophies from the various races.  Green glowing eyes, heraldry from the fallen enmies covering their armor.   A robe covered with purity seals, or things they find special.  A defiler that has take parts from dreadnoughts, Wraithguard or integrated parts of Tyranids.