Grand Alliance of Chaos
The Grand Alliance of Chaos, also called the "Forces of Chaos" or simply Chaos, consists of all mortal worshipers and demons of the metaphysical power of Chaos and the five great Chaos Gods, who are their embodiments. It is made up of many different intelligent races that band together in warbands powerful enough to conquer entire nations.
Though the tyrannical lords who lead the armored hordes believe themselves to be warrior-kings born to rule the mortal realms with an iron fist, they are bound in turn to higher powers. In truth, every killer, monster, and mutant in their armies is but a slave to the darkness and a puppet of the Dark Gods.
The greatest followers of the Chaos Gods are the Blades of Khorne, the Disciples of Tzeentch, the Maggotkin of Nurgle and the Hedonites of Slannesh.
The followers of the Great Horned Rat are the humanoid rat-men known as the Skaven or Skaventid, and all of the great Chaos Gods are aided by the Beasts of Chaos and the Legion of Chaos Ascendant.
Power of Chaos
Chaos is the universal and usually malevolent metaphysical force embodied by the intelligent entities composed of pure magical energy that reside in the infernal dimension beyond the confines of the arcane cosmos known as the Realm of Chaos.
The entities that embody Chaos are most often demons, but the term also encompasses the mortals of many intelligent races that have joined Chaos, forming what is known as the "Great Alliance of Chaos". The term "chaos" is also synonymous with the turbulent magical or empyreal energy that gives shape to the nightmare domains of the individual chaos gods, collectively referred to by scholars of the Mortal Realms as the "Realm of Chaos".
A great and raw force of change and power, chaos is physically, mentally, and spiritually corrupting, though not necessarily "evil" in and of itself. While his followers and servants often act maliciously, some followers of Chaos are more dedicated to the service of freedom and change than to the sheer selfishness that humans and most other intelligent species of the Mortal Realms consider nefarious.
More often than not, however, the Chaos Gods reward individual achievement in such a way that the end justifies the means, and the lack of hierarchy and emphasis on individual freedom leads to the pursuit of excess and personal aggrandizement that can only be described as damnation.
Mages can harness and shape chaos energy, which laymen refer to as "magic," empowering them with abilities beyond the standard physical laws of the Mortal Realms as understood by humans, aelves, and duardin. However, the malevolent power of Chaos can gradually corrupt a mage, corrupting their mind and body and making them slaves to the corrupting forces.
The most powerful entities of Chaos are the five major Chaos Gods, also known as the Ruinous Powers or the Dark Gods, each embodying an aspect of the greater power of Chaos and can be worshiped individually or as a whole pantheon known as the Chaos Ascendant ."
The iconic symbol of Chaos is the eight-pointed star, which represents the infinite possibilities of Chaos.
Ultimately, Chaos and its entities seek nothing less than the utter destruction of the Mortal Realms, as they once did to the world-that-was, so that the entire arcane cosmos may once again be consumed by the primal and unsustainable energies of Chaos .
While Chaos can reward success with power, even Chaos' mightiest servant becomes Chaos' slave, never its master. Most who serve Chaos fail in their quest for power, eventually ending up as a possessed demon host, a mindless Chaosspawn, or just another corpse on the heap, a pawn rendered useless to the forces of doom .
Chaos Gods
Also called "Dark Gods" or "Ruinous Forces", the Chaos Gods are powerful, self-aware entities composed entirely of raw magical and emotional energy that inhabit and control the infernal dimension known as the Realm of Chaos, the true one Source of all magical energies.
These entities, belonging to a class of deities known as Elemental Gods, are instead created and sustained by the emotions and collective desires of all sentient beings of the Cosmos Arcane. When an emotion or belief in the Mortal Realms grows strong or far enough among large numbers of mortals, it is embodied as one of the sentient denizens of the Realm of Chaos.
The most powerful and evil of these beings have become the Gods of Chaos. Despite being god-like beings, the Dark Gods are inherently monomaniac and utterly single-minded, being composed entirely of a single emotion or concept.
The Chaos Gods depend on the emotions of intelligent mortal creatures, particularly humans, aelves, duardin, and skaven, for their power and continued existence. At the same time, however, they possess the power to warp the minds, bodies, and souls of those mortals they make their patrons.
Due to their dependence, the Chaos Gods seek to convert all mortals to their worship and service, so that they can ultimately rule the cosmos. However, if they achieved this dark victory, it would likely shatter all of reality as the dimensional divide between the Mortal Realms and the Realm of Chaos crumbles with their entourage.
It was just such an apocalypse that consumed the world-that-was so long ago.
Khorne, the Blood God
“Servants of the Lord of Murder stood from horizon to horizon, filling the air with their screams, chatter and howls of blood. Their banners of battle stretched in the coppery wind that blew across the ranks. It was a banner of the deepest, darkest red, with only a single rune and a legend of simple devotion: Blood for the Blood God. At a secret signal they all fell silent, and then there was a single cry of dark and bloody loyalty, a pact of hate and death. It echoed off leathery hides and grew to shake the clouds... and far above the demon ranks came a return roar of bloody approval, torn from Khorne's brazen throat."
Tome of Blood
Khorne is the blood god, the god of war, murder and violent death. It draws its power from the blood and skulls collected from its followers for the Blood God. The sheer amount of bloodshed and death in the Mortal Realms has made Khorne the most powerful Chaos God to date.
In the Realm of Chaos, Khorne sits on a brass throne resting on a massive mountain of skulls, each taken by a devotee in the name of the Blood God. In every direction as far as Khorne can see, the ground is littered with shattered bones and decomposed corpses.
As the god of battle, Khorne bestows his favor on those who demonstrate martial prowess. Great warriors are often the subject of Khorne's interest. The followers of Khorne are almost all uncontrollable fighters, excelling in the art of killing.
Khorne is a war god who acts outwardly, seeking the deaths of others and preferring melee combat to ranged weapons. as such it is in complete contrast to the hedonistic Slaanesh, an inwardly acting god who seeks pleasure in every action and experience.
Khorne has a strong distrust of wizards and magicians, whom he views as cowards; This means that the Blood God is also very suspicious of Tzeentch, although they are not sworn enemies.
Depictions of Khorne often depict the god as a titanic, armored figure, covered from head to toe in armored plates of strange and alien designs. The figure's armor is usually intricately carved and features a repeating skull motif, while her head is covered by a large winged helmet revealing a bestial, snarling face beneath.
In most images, Khorne wields a runed sword or axe, although in more primitive cultures the blood god is often depicted with only fists or claw-like hands.
Nurgle, the Plague Lord
„Indeed, the process of construction and creation foreshadows destruction and decay. Today's palace is tomorrow's ruin, the morning's maiden is the night's woman, and a moment's hope is but the cornerstone of eternal regret.“
The Lost and the Damned
Nurgle is one of the five great Chaos Gods and the god of disease, despair and decay, born of the mortal fear of every mortal.
The Plaguelord is the embodiment of the hungry earth, the carrion crow, whose smallpox and plagues are inflicted on all. Nurgle's power waxes and wanes over time as his "gifts" are distributed to the realms, healing, or simply killing everything in sight.
Many of Nurgle's victims will eventually turn to his worship in hopes that it will ward off or ease the agony they are suffering at the hands of the plaguelord. For entertainment, Nurgle will orchestrate plagues and new diseases, and watch in amusement as mortals struggle to fight the disease and develop a cure.
Many of Nurgle's wars are indirectly won simply by the plagues plaguing this land before his armies. Of particular note is Nurgle's Rot, which gradually turns a victim into a Plaguebearer.
Nurgle's followers tend to have a keen interest in the spread of disease. His worshipers contract horrible diseases that make them appear as loathsome, bloated and rotting masses of barely discernible flesh, with many wounds closed and open where infection and decay are rampant. Occasionally, Nurgle's followers can appear wrinkled, sickly thin, and pale, while still wielding great power over disease.
The Plaguelord's Lords of Nurgle become so mutated and lazy that they are impervious to pain and almost impossible to harm. While Nurgle's power is as strong as Khorne and Tzeentch, it is much less stable. At times his forces are limitless and unbeatable, countless rotting armies scouring the lands of the living.
At others, the Lord of Decay's followers are scattered and weak, hiding in fetid corners of the universe. Nurgle's strength lies in stagnation and decay, as well as the emotion of despair, which sets him in direct contrast to Tzeentch, who embodies hope, ambition and change.
Slaanesh, the Dark Prince of Chaos
Slaanesh is the Dark Prince of Chaos, the god of joy and pain in excess. Slaanesh is the beguiling water, the Great Serpent that lives for pleasure and to experience the sensations of life and death.
All who pursue pleasure are in danger of falling under the deceptive magic of this god. Slaanesh is the youngest of the Chaos Gods and is referred to as the Prince of Chaos by the other corrupt forces.
Seductive as only an immortal being can be, Slaanesh is the Chaos God of Pleasure, Passion, Luxury, Art and Indulgence. Slaanesh is the manifestation of all the hidden vices, cruel passions, and secret temptations that mortals fear to hide in their hearts.
Although he is not interested in Khorne's dirty warfare as Khorne and Slaanesh are mortal enemies as Slaanesh inwardly affects the mortal psyche by seeking selfish pleasure while Khorne acts outwardly to kill others, Slaanesh enjoys the artistic combat and rewards those whose struggle is transformed from a means to an end into an art form in its own right.
Slaanesh's followers seek pleasure in every experience and quickly adapt to more mundane things, including sounds and colors; As a result, they often wear garish, colorful armor or clothing that is extravagantly decorated. Worshipers of Slaanesh are known for their total lack of fear, as they view losing a battle as a new experience to be savored.
Slaanesh is the youngest and, until the rise of the Great Horned Rat, the weakest of the great Chaos Gods. However, Slaanesh is constantly gaining power due to the corrupt and dark nature that all sentient beings, but especially humanity, try to keep hidden in their hearts, for even the mere thought of such dark acts of pleasure and vice is enough to give Slaanesh spiritual Power.
It won't be long before Slaanesh equals the other three original Ruinous Powers, and may even rise above Khorne, given the time and the ceaseless quest through the Mortal Realms for pleasure.
Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways
Tzeentch is the changer of ways, the god of change and dark knowledge. Tzeentch is the fickle air, the great eagle that pulls the strings of fate as it pleases.
Manipulating the magical power of the Cosmos Arcane in its crudest form, Tzeentch's minions and followers often know the minds and fates of their enemies before they know it. Not interested in brute strength, Tzeentch bestows his favor on those who use their intelligence to defeat their enemies.
Mortal worshipers of Tzeentch tend to be sorcerers, mages, scholars, and other learned elites seeking greater knowledge and power. Some of these worshipers become very powerful wizards, but Tzeentch tends to mutate his followers, and the highest levels of power are said to be difficult for his followers to attain, as they are often mutated into mindless beasts like Chaos Spawn.
However, those who attain great power in the service of the Tzeentch are extremely powerful foes, often being powerful sorcerers as well as great warriors. Tzeentch is just as powerful as Khorne in his own way, but with a different power style, controlling sorcery and magical power instead of murderous armies.
Tzeentch's schemes are countless, and whenever there is an alliance between the great Chaos Gods, Tzeentch is undoubtedly the cause, direct or indirect. Tzeentch also represents optimism, hope and a willingness to change, making Nurgle, the embodiment of despair, his nemesis.
The Great Horned Rat
The Great Horned Rat, deity of the Skaven, was once just a minor Chaos god, paranoid and vile, who rose to greater status recently after the destruction of the world-that-was.
It seeks the destruction of the Mortal Realms, not only for its own sake, but to gain primacy among the other great Chaos Gods. The Great Horned Rat sees them as rivals and believes that eliminating their worshipers will weaken them, setting the stage for the Horned One to become the supreme power of the pantheon himself.
To this end, it uses its children, the skaven, to bring destruction upon all surface dweller societies. The Great Horned Rat's love of doom is not limited to its enemies, however; it also enjoys watching its own rat-men children tear each other apart, orchestrating conspiracy after conspiracy and committing atrocity after atrocity.
But in true Skaven fashion, this Skaven vs. Skaven conflict also has a purpose, and not just for the pleasure of the Great Horned Rat. The deity has prepared the minds of her children so that the society they create is brutal and merciless. Only the most depraved, cunning, and deadly ratmen can survive, much less thrive.
The weak are forbidden to procreate, are worked to the death and barely survive day after day, and that is the invention of the Great Horned One.
She believes that the true proving ground of Skaven society will only, in the long run, make the Skaven stronger and thus more capable of conducting their Lord's Great Ascension to domination of the Chaos pantheon.
Factions
Beasts of Chaos - The Beasts of Chaos are the beastly and mutated children of Chaos whose sole purpose is the destruction of civilization itself. Their ranks include numerous Brayherds and Warherds, as well as fearsome monsters like Thunderscorn and even towering Chaos Gargants.
Blades of Khorne - Mortal and demonic, Khorne's followers are fierce warriors who wage constant battles in the name of the Blood God.
Disciples of Tzeentch - Twisted in mind and body, but powerful in the lores of magic, the followers of Tzeentch enact labyrinthine schemes in the Mortal Realms in the name of their terrible and unknown god, the Changer of Ways.
Hedonites of Slaanesh - Slaanesh has vanished from the Realm of Chaos and no one can say what became of the god, but still many of the Dark Prince's followers are mortal and demon alike, seeking either the return of the Chaos Prince or simply their own amoral desires pursue at the expense of others unfortunate enough to cross their path.
Maggotkin of Nurgle - The Maggotkin are the followers of the Plague God who seek to spread Nurgle's plagues and the despair they cause across the Mortal Realms.
Skaven - The Skaven are a race of foul, sentient, humanoid ratmen who worship the Great Horned Rat, a plague-like deity that has finally taken its place in the pantheon of great Chaos gods.
Legion of Chaos Ascendant - The Legion of Chaos Ascendant is a vast assemblage of Chaos Daemons who fight under the united banners of the Dark Gods as the Chaos Ascendant. A force of pure devastation, the Legion is only unleashed upon the enemies of Chaos on the rare occasions when the Ruinous Powers join forces.