The Forces of Chaos

10–13 minutes

The Realm of Chaos is an otherworldly place of pure energy, which interacts with the
Warhammer World in the form of the Winds of Magic. It was through the Realm of Chaos
that, millennia ago, came the powerful beings known as the Old Ones. They built great
portals at the two poles in order to travel from one world to another, but eventually these
gates collapsed under the pressure of the Realm of Chaos, allowing its energy to leak into
the world.

The essence of Chaos doesn’t follow the rules of nature: anything that enters in contact with
it is twisted and changed in unpredictable ways: as one travels closer to the gates the
environment becomes more and more bizarre and alien, the ground is cracked and bursting
with fire, flames and blood rain from the sky and rivers of pure magical energy flow through
the land. Only the strongest and weirdest creatures can survive in such a strange
environment, and they suffer the touch of Chaos too, as it alters the living both in body and
mind. Men that live in the northern wastes see these mutations as gifts, a sign that the Gods
of Chaos have set their gaze upon them.

In places where the energy of Chaos is highly concentrated, it can manifest physically into
the world, sometimes taking a form of sentience of its own. The embodiment of mortals’
emotions, fears and desires Daemons are one of such manifestations, their grotesque
shapes reflecting the thoughts and feelings that created them. Some of these entities draw
so much power from the darker emotions of mortals that they have acquire godlike status.
There are countless of them but four are universally known and worshipped: the Four Great
Powers, Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh.

As the Great Powers are always at war with one another, very few
mortals are found worthy enough to gain the benevolence of all four of them. After
recovering the six great artifacts of Chaos, Archaon, the Lord of the End Times, has
become the current Everchosen, according to many the most ruthless and powerful that ever
lived. Gathering an immense host of Daemons and Marauders, he is ready to unleash upon
the Old World the largest incursion after the Great War Against Chaos.
 In the desolate regions north of the Old World live tribes of savage
barbarians, collectively known by the name of Chaos Marauders. As a consequence of the
harsh climate and scarcity of fertile land, life in the northern wastes is a constant fight, where
only the strong survive. That’s why Marauders look with contempt at more civilized nations,
that they perceive as weak, and raid them whenever they can. Due to the proximity of the
Chaos Gates to their land, it was inevitable that these hardened warriors turned to the
worship of the Chaos Gods, whose tenets fit almost perfectly with their lifestyle.

Khorne, the Blood God, is the most powerful of the Chaos Gods, for he feeds on any act of
violence, whether committed by his followers or not. His worshippers bring war and slaughter
to the world, and praise acts of strength, courage and bloodlust. Khorne despises cowards
and anyone who uses tricks – magic in particular – to defeat his enemies.

Once the queen of a northern tribe, Valkia the Bloody was famous for
decapitating anyone who was foolish enough to question her right to rule. When the
perverse Daemon Prince of Slaanesh Locephax, intrigued by her beauty, came to her hall
demanding that she left her throne and became his slave, she took her spear and killed it for
the insult. She then vowed to take the Daemon’s skull at the feet of Khorne’s throne with her
own hands, and left a trail of blood on her journeys to the far North. Eventually, she was
killed, but the Lord of Skulls was so pleased with her devotion that raised her from the dead,
granting her a form that was more pleasing to him so that she could continue to slaughter
enemies in his name.
 Daemons of Khorne exist for just one purpose: to slay the
living and take their skulls back at the Blood God’s feet. The mightiest of Daemons, the
Bloodthirster is a colossal winged beast whose thick hide is covered by a coat of iron and
brass armor and whose fury in battle is unmatched. Armed with the deadliest of weapons –
usually a massive axe and a whip – this powerful daemons bring carnage wherever they go,
never retreating from a fight and taking down scores of enemies at once. Magic is almost
useless against these beasts, as they bear the Blood God’s blessing and they are highly
resistant to its effects.

Bloodletters are the most common Daemons of Khorne, armed

with the dreadful Hellblades, whose touch is capable of draining the life force of even the
toughest creature. Some of them, known as Bloodcrushers, ride into battle atop of mighty
Juggernauts, daemonic beings part beast, part construct, whose flesh is made of metal and
whose blood is pure fire. Though lacking the speed of other cavalry, once they launched a
charge they are impossible to stop they can wreak havoc through enemy ranks, goring and
trampling without care. Though devastating, they can sometimes be unpredictable, as they
won’t often keep formation when charging, each Daemon going on its own wanting to take
down the strongest enemies alone.

The strangest and most mysterious of the Chaos Gods, Tzeentch, the Changer of the ways,
feeds on the mortals’ secrets, ambitions and desire of knowledge. Known also as the Grate
Sorcerer, he is the master of fate and magic, able to manipulate the winds of magic and the
strands of destiny with ease. He and his followers are consummated and patient schemers
who prefer secrecy, deception and convoluted plots to direct confrontation.
 Deep into the Realm of Chaos, in the heart of Tzeentch’s citadel,
the Impossible Fortress, lies the Well of Eternity, a vast receptacle of knowledge even the
Chaos God himself dares to enter. Puzzled by a mystery he couldn’t solve, Tzeentch hurled
the powerful Lord of Change Kairos Fateweaver into the Well. After emerging from its
depth, Kairos has acquired the power to see things hidden to the Great Sorcerer himself, his
knowledge allowing to be always one step ahead of Tzeentch’s enemies. This power has
come with a price though, as one of his heads can only see the future and the other only the
past, both blind to the present.

As Tzeentch is master of magic and mutation, it is no surprise his

Daemons take the most bizarre of forms. One example of this peculiar beings are the
Flamers, legless creatures with numerous gaping maws on their torso and arms who
constantly erupt Warpflames, a concentrate of unstable Chaos energy able to warp reality
and consume everything on their path.

Screamers are strange, ray-like creatures that are able to glide

upon the Winds of Magic. Though not entirely intelligent, they possess a cunning feral
instinct that renders them very dangerous. Their name comes from the frightening
high-pitched scream they produce when swooping on their prey, which gets torn to pieces
from their lamprey-like jaws, which are able to pierce through the hardest of armors.
 Many mortal wizards that fall to the corruption of Chaos turn to
Tzeentch in order to gain power and learn the darkest secrets of magic. These Sorcerers
often bind daemons to their will and are commonly seen on the battlefield atop magically
tamed Screamers – known as Discs of Tzeentch – unleashing devastating yet unpredictable
bolts of chaotic energies on their enemies.

Nurgle, the Plague Lord, is the god of disease, decay and death. He is unique amongst the
Chaos Gods as he is the only one who doesn’t thinks his followers are just means to an end,
but actually cares about them. Many of those who follow him do it in order to overcome the
fear of death, or to endure and become strong. To them, Nurgle grants gifts in the form of
infectious diseases, sending them as vessels to spread his touch to the world, and granting
those he favours immunity to the pestilences they carry.

The deadliest creation of the Lord of Decay is known as Nurgle’s Rot.

Those who contract this disease are doomed to die in the most horrible and disfiguring way.
Their skin rotting away and their bodies covered with blisters, they will raise again as
Plaguebearers, the most numerous of Nurgle’s daemons. Ridden with all sort of diseases,
they carry swords whose blade continuously secretes a thick venomous slime. Even veteran
soldiers find it difficult to fight Plaguebearers because of their stench and the thick cloud of
flies that buzz around them.

The younger of the Four Great Powers, Slaanesh, the Dark Prince, is the god of pleasure,
passion and excess. He lures mortals with the promise of power and satisfaction of their
darkest desires, feeding on their emotions and forcing them to crave for more. Though the
lesser of the Great Powers, his true limits only lie in the ambitions of his followers, for there’s
no pervert desire he could not fulfil.

Daemons of Slaanesh are hideous yet alluring, surrounded with magic

that bestows perverse beauty to their monstrous features. Daemonettes are the most
common of them, swift, agile creatures who revel in bringing pain to their enemies with their
sharp claws. After the battle is over, they carry the souls of the fallen to Slaanesh’s palace,
where those who amused the Prince of Chaos are rewarded and those who displeased him
will be forever damned.

Slaanesh finds amusement in the desperation of mortals,

especially those who don’t possess neither the strength nor the cunning to succeed. To
these individuals he send gifts, granting them immediate power in return for a later price.
Hellstriders are weak warriors to whom the Dark Prince gifted a Steed of Slaanesh,
granting them the strength to prove themselves in battle. In exchange, he only asks the
souls of the slain enemies to be sacrificed to his name. It is only after they accept the
bargain that the unfortunate warriors learn they have been tricked, for they will never be able
to dismount from their steeds and, unless they continuously slay enemies, Slaanesh will
slowly drain their own soul.

Dwarfs are naturally resistant to the corrupting power of

Chaos, but not completely immune. Combining the great crafting abilities of their kin with
malign intentions, the Chaos Dwarfs have devised vicious engines of destruction.The
Hellcannon is one of such creations, a colossal weapon that is part Daemon, part machine.
Loaded with the corpses of fallen enemy warriors, the daemonic core of the Hellcannon
consumes their remains, unleashing their tortured soul in a storm of magical destruction.
This war machine is as dangerous to its enemies as it is to its creators, as the Daemon
bound within its core longing for freedom, and will from time to time take control of the
machine on its own, devouring its own crew or lunging forward to crush anything within sight
under its massive wheels.