This segment is reserved to explaining things in Warhammer40000. Here, I be a nerd and explain to you these imaginary things as if they were real.
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| Writer's mugshot |
Let's talk about Chaos and Warp in the grim darkness. Ready your flashlights.
Disclaimers:
Disclaimers:
This segment includes lots of old canon and uses speculative reasoning, so if you rather have it by-the-book you would do better to read a newly released Codex instead of this.
This is lay-man level lore so you can indulge in the finer points even if you never read anything about Warhammer40K beforehand.
This guide ignores any stupid fuck-up made by the Gamesworkshop and preserves the 40K in it's thematic form.
Not everything here might be canon and cause hallucinations, delirium, flamewar and insanity. Read at your own risk.
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| What is warp? |
Warp is a parallel dimension that is made out of pure energy, which forms the Chaos. Chaos itself is a blanket term in 40K universe.
It might signify the cult/religion of Chaos where people worship Chaos Gods.
It's also the everchanging/evershifting nature of the Warp. Warp is always in flux, hence Chaos.
The term actually blurs into one another and form the Chaos as we know it.
Let the galaxy burn.
Warp is made out of pure energy and contains all the souls that exist. Yes, it also includes your soul. This is why the warp is also called the "Sea of Souls."
It might signify the cult/religion of Chaos where people worship Chaos Gods.
It's also the everchanging/evershifting nature of the Warp. Warp is always in flux, hence Chaos.
The term actually blurs into one another and form the Chaos as we know it.
Let the galaxy burn.
Warp is made out of pure energy and contains all the souls that exist. Yes, it also includes your soul. This is why the warp is also called the "Sea of Souls."
Your physical body acts as an anchor to your soul so that it won't drift off and dissolve into the background essence of the warp. Your mind is the bond between your body and your soul.
If you die then your soul is released and the predators of the warp feed on it.
There are three known fates that an un-anchored soul might go through.
I - Dissolve into the background energy of the warp and become nothing.
II - Get sucked into a whirlpool of emotions and become part of it, hence dissolve.
III - Get devoured by other concious beings(daemons), hence dissolve.
So it sucks to be you.
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| Whirlpools of Emotion & Chaos Gods |
There is one known phenomenon within the warp and that is the whirlpools. Each emotion that was lived in the real world creates a ripple in the warp by using your soul as medium.
You got angry? A ripple.
You got depressed? A ripple.
You ejaculated? A ripple.
You betrayed? A ripple.
If there was enough recurring ripples in the warp these similar emotions collect into a whirlpool and grow ever larger as more ripples come in.
Once amassed enough energy the whirlpool explode outwards in a great birth-cry.
Thus a Chaos God is born. A being of pure emotion.
Here are some example of historical events that might created the major Chaos Gods.
Black Death : Nurgle
Nero's Reign : Tzeentch
Slaughters of Genghis Khan : Khorne
21st Cent. Liberalism : Slannesh
and so on... |
| Physics & Warp |
Warp itself does not contain the physical rules that dominate the material realm.
Warp fluxes and shifts forever but there are also rules that bound it in some shape and form.
Thus the warp is called Chaos because of it's evershifting nature.
These rules that govern the warp bent and manipulate it to create semi-physical forms. Without concious the warp is just meaningless energy floating around. With the emotions comes the ripples and the ripples create phenomenon that we humans can recognize. You can manipulate the warp energies by the soul of the living. Psykers can consume these energies and turn them into physical phenomenon that can be used in the physical world.
However it is easier said than done.
Warp itself is not dead and contains concious beings of it's own. These are the Chaos Gods.
Chaos Gods also give birth to lesser concious beings called the Daemons of Chaos.
If you happen to use your psychic powers these daemons might be attracted to the rift you just opened between the warp and the reality and cause you harm.
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| Four Gods of Chaos |
Four gods embody the major whirlpools of emotions rule over their own dominions within the warp. All the gods are created by mortal beings and hence are bound to the souls of the living to get more powerful. That is why they are on the constant hunt for souls.
Khorne : Blood God
Affiliations : Blood, gore, war, murder, rage, skulls.
Tzeentch : Change God
Affiliations : Betrayal, conspiracy, treason, change, power.
Nurgle : Life God
Affiliations : Death, rot, sickness, plague, depression, time.
Slannesh : Pleasure God
Affiliations : Ecstasy, sex, obsessions, addiction, expression, art.
Nurgle usually seems controvertial as a life god, as often people say "How can something that brings death can be related to life.". Well the answer is, your death means life for many others.
Bacteria infesting your body and killing you. Bugs and maggots that eat your corpse. Carrion birds that pick your bones clean. Canines eating the bones. Lot's of life. One dies to feed millions.
Keep in mind that you are a plaything of the Chaos Gods, so they don't care what you want or think. You are merely fuck-toys that they can do whatever they want with.
Glory to chaos!
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| Visual Representation of the Warp |
Warp cannot be shown in any physical way. Seeing is the interpretation that your brain makes using the light. Naked warp probably creates light and other effects when the barrier between the real and unreal breaks, but that is just a mere glimpse of the horror within.
Warp cannot be 'seen', it can only be experienced. Through your psyche and your soul you can look into it. But beware, for it looks back.
And it's gaze is fatal if not insane.
Warp is abstraction made manifest. It contains all the psyche that exists, whether it be human, alien...or other things.
Warp itself is a meaningless canvas of pure energy so seeing it through your eyes is meaningless. It swirls in patterns that are totally random.
Only the mind brings meaning to the warp, emotions drive it and the souls fuel it.
So keep pumping those babies, ladies.
A Geller field is a shield that protect a human ship when it moves within the warp so the denizens of it cannot harm the passengers.
If you were to look into warp from the protective bubble of a Geller field then you would see swirling colours that take no form or shape. It would be just looking at an abstract painting that is eternally changing. That is the essence of Chaos. The order of the disorder.
Without the Geller field however, daemons would feed on your soul.
A lot of ends in 40K include daemons feeding on your soul. So don't keep your hopes up.
Warp cannot be 'seen', it can only be experienced. Through your psyche and your soul you can look into it. But beware, for it looks back.
And it's gaze is fatal if not insane.
Warp is abstraction made manifest. It contains all the psyche that exists, whether it be human, alien...or other things.
Warp itself is a meaningless canvas of pure energy so seeing it through your eyes is meaningless. It swirls in patterns that are totally random.
Only the mind brings meaning to the warp, emotions drive it and the souls fuel it.
So keep pumping those babies, ladies.
A Geller field is a shield that protect a human ship when it moves within the warp so the denizens of it cannot harm the passengers.
If you were to look into warp from the protective bubble of a Geller field then you would see swirling colours that take no form or shape. It would be just looking at an abstract painting that is eternally changing. That is the essence of Chaos. The order of the disorder.
Without the Geller field however, daemons would feed on your soul.
A lot of ends in 40K include daemons feeding on your soul. So don't keep your hopes up.
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| Time in the Warp |
Time in the warp does not follow a linear and constant timeframe like in the material realm. It changes, it breaks, it mends and can even go reverse.
So, you might enter warp for five seconds but travel for five thousand years.
Or you might travel for five thousand years but came out ten seconds before you enter it.
Welcome to Chaos 101, rule of thumb is: IT MAKES NO SENSE!
Welcome to Chaos 101, rule of thumb is: IT MAKES NO SENSE!
This phenomenon is used to shorten the great distances between the galactic celestial bodies.
Five thousand light years isn't far when you travel it in two months.
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| Khorne |
Khorne is violence made manifest. Anger and hate gave birth to it and feeds it.
Obviously this one is the easiest to explain and write so every medium uses Khorne as the default Chaos God. Especially in the video games, Khorne is featured more than any other god because of his simplicity to write and relate to.
Obviously this one is the easiest to explain and write so every medium uses Khorne as the default Chaos God. Especially in the video games, Khorne is featured more than any other god because of his simplicity to write and relate to.
Did you ever got so angry that you punched something? Did it hurt? Did it bleed? Khorne is pleased.
Some think that Khorne itself might be war made manifest but I don't think it is.
Khorne is wanton slaughter, he is the drunk guy who butchers his wife and kid with a bread knife,
he is the teenager who walks into his high school with a machine gun,
he is African warlords firing their AKs into a helpless village.
Khorne is wanton slaughter, he is the drunk guy who butchers his wife and kid with a bread knife,
he is the teenager who walks into his high school with a machine gun,
he is African warlords firing their AKs into a helpless village.
Khorne is not war, he is violence. And keep in might that it also means ANY violence.
So it also pleases Khorne when you bleed.
So it also pleases Khorne when you bleed.
Let the blood flow for the blood god.
Stereotypes: Warriors, murderers, mercenaries, gang members.
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| Tzeentch |
God of Change they call him. He is the one who makes plans deeper and darker than any other. Tzeentch is probably the hardest Chaos God to write about so stories featuring him always end up with 'All according to my plan.' cliché.
Tzeentch is the tactician, the one who backstabs and schemes. He is the great general who outmanoeuvres his enemies, he is the wife who tricks his husband and steals all his money, he is the con-man who tricks stupid people into buying his shit quality products.
Tzeentch knows all the magic and he knows a lot about everything, so he can outsmart you even when he is not trying.
And remember the only thing that does not change is the change itself.
Stereotypes: Politicians, generals, con-people, traders.
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| Nurgle |
God of life, wait what? Wiki page says he makes sickness so how can he be God of life? If you think about it bacteria and viruses are also living things they have the same goals like any other organism that is considered 'living'.
He gives you life and he does not care if you like the growing tumour in your brain or not. However these are called 'sickness' by the living. Humans fight against these sicknesses with medical science.
However, servants of the plague god does not want to pop their pills and be healthy. They undermine the society and further spread their disease. Eventually they might turn into zombies, so fighting against nurgle also means putting a shotgun to a zombie's head and blowing it open. Remember to burn the corpse afterwards.
Also the influence of Nurgle reaches beyond the physical and into mental. If you think about it psychological problems are sickness of the mind.
Have you ever felt so depressed that you actually felt your chest being crushed? Have you ever had anxiety and stress so intensely that you are rendered useless?
Nurgle is the sick guy next to you in the bus. He is the hobos who live in their own filth. He is the people who don't wash their hands after a horrible visit. Getting disgusted yet? Yeah, me neither.
Nurgle is the second easier chaos god to write about because we all been sick at one point or another.
Stereotypes: People with weak genetics, women and their damn babies, black people and their ebola, gay people and their AIDS.
Also doctors allow people to live longer and reproduce more, Modern population has increased greatly thanks to agricultural improvements and antibiotics.
No medicine = less people. Hence less sickness.
Our own remedies are the double edged blade on our throats, we kill millions of insignificant bacteria to produce more humans. Nurgle must be waiting to unleash a zombie apocalypse.
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| Slannesh |
God of masturba...I mean ecstasy. Drugs and sex, my good friends. Drugs and sex. Well actually that's not the whole extend of Slannesh. Obviously those two are the most common themes of Slannesh.
Poor Slannesh was never GW's favourite any ways.
They even removed the nipples from the newer models since nipples are only for sex-crazed-rapists and not for children-we-wish-to-sell-our-plastic-toys-to.
Slannesh is best know by the general audience for his Noise Marines in Retribution. They're depicted as Techno-Bass marines but the story of Noise Marines are much more than that.
Initially noise marines were 80's metal-rock bands.
Then with the newer model releases and lore writing they became sort of Orchestral musicians.
Retribution clearly portrays them as Techno-Bass players.
Actually I'm fine with all three.
Rock, Orchestral and Techno-Bass. They all have their fine points and I appreciate the music in general. But it's just my opinion on this one.
The extend of slannesh is more than just music, sex and drugs.
Slannesh is about the experience of senses. A touch, a caress, a choke. There are all sorts of combinations of senses one can achieve. And the followers of Slannesh also known to follow a near-insane obsessive search for perfection. What perfection means and how it is defined is left to one's senses rather than discipline and order as most of us understand it.
For instance if you ever come across Sonichu comics on the internet, they're monuments of perfection to Slannesh.
Chris-chan obviously takes masturbatory pleasure from those perfect creations of his.
To you and me(faithful Imperial citizens) the drawings of Chris-chan are insane and heretical but in Chris-chan's mind he has achieved the perfection of perversion that the Slannesh bids him to do. It is so disgusting and bizarre that you should bow in glory of how Slannesh made this art of perversion into a reality.
-Let's mix things up-
Chaos Gods are not this clear-cut in the general lore of things. If you think hard about it you seem to realise dents in this well established lore. Emotions are a complex structure so you can't just clear-cut everything. So what is to be done with these overlaps of emotions? Some instances 40K lore pointed out that there are minor chaos gods that exists in the warp. This piece of lore is kicked-out by GW after they established their range of Chaos Daemons miniatures.
Even before the daemons army the daemons of the major powers were well established but the older books include generic daemons and even generic greater daemons. Also there are undivided daemons like Be'lakor and furies. So if daemons are created by the chaos gods how are these undivided daemons exist? Answer is we don't know. GW was never big on the whole endless-possibilities-kind-of-warp thing and kicked out the minor chaos gods in the first chance they got. Obviously the infinite variety of daemons and gods in the warp cannot be modelled on the tabletop and they had to limit the number of daemons to their own range of miniatures.
Also there are other anomalies in the warp, I'm just gonna list them real quick;
Legion of the Damned: Daemons marines that live in warp.
Draigo: Grey Knight who roams in warp and kicks every ass he could find
Leman Russ: Inside the warp or something.
Sanguinator: Angel-daemons that comes out of warp.
Wulfens: Werewolf Space wolfs that were mutated or something.
Writer of this stupid ass essay: Seriously don't this guy has a job or anything?
So the conclusion is that the warp has endless insane possibilities for daemons and gods as far as I care.
-Question of Malal-
There is a fifth Chaos God that is non-canon by GW because of legal issues. Search this one on the web if you wish, its a long story and I don't care.
Malal is okay though. He is anarchy made manifest. He is the negative of all Chaos. He is the end.
-God of War-
So where is Ares? In a universe of eternal war where is the god of war. My idea is that the five chaos gods together is the war itself.
Khorne is the troopers who bludgeon each other till their brain leaks all over the place.
Tzeentch is the skilful general who makes a coup to gain power.
Nurgle is the feeding rats and crows from the dead and the festering worms in the corpses. Sickness in the trenches.
Slannesh is the joy of firing a GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling autocannon onto your helpless enemies BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Malal is the general destruction of war.
There are two things in this universe that never change, war and chaos.
-In addition-
I also wanted to add the following;
-Magic and Chaos Gods-
Nurgle is a well versed mage himself. He makes terrible spells and causes havoc among his enemies.
Tzeentch is the master of magic and said to know every spell there is. This even extends to dimension shattering time magic.
Khorne detest magic and declares it a weakness. He looks for martial prowess in his champions. He has defenses against magic but does not utilize it himself, although if we ask that he could, I have no clear answer, either Khorne is dumb in magic and cannot use it or will not use it because magic sucks.
Slannesh is the least powerful in magic compared to his brethren. He uses magic but relies more on the vices of mortals to conduct his business. His magic includes enhancing follower senses or diminishing enemy senses. He can also induce super powerful orgasms that can kill.
Magic in 40K is different than in Fantasy so this is only approved for 40K, for Fantasy magic you need to read those damned armybooks or wait for me to actually care enough to write. Actually magic in Fantasy is more complex than in 40K, 40K magic is simplified Fantasy magic.
-Minor Chaos gods that exist or existed at some point in time-
Jahova:
The first Abrahamic god that declares open war on every other god there is. His disdain for other gods signify a strong pull towards hate and hence Khorne. But his will to overthrow all other pagan gods and rule eternal is reminiscent of Tzeentch. At some point he calls upon a massive flood that encompasses the entire planet so he knows his fucking magic well and hence drawn towards Tzeentch in aspects of magic. He can also divide a giant sea in half so its some serious world altering magic we are talking about. His commandments are anti-pleasure and anti-murder, he is strictly anti-Khorne and anti-Slannesh. His method of mass murder is drowning and not shedding blood, which is also anti-Khorne. However he does cause frog infestations and bug infestations in Egypt which is life related and hence Nurgle.
Disposition:
%70 Tzeentch
%20 Nurgle
%5 Khorne
%5 Slannesh
Jesus:
Disposition:
%40 Khorne
%30 Nurgle
%20 Slannesh
%10 Tzeentch
Allah:
The moon god of ancient arabia rose to power by destruction of his enemy gods, particularly the iconoclast of the pagan idols in Mecca. His warriors started a conquest that encompassed from Chinese borders to French borders, in this particular episode Allah is reminiscent of Tzeentch since he makes and breaks alliances to rose in power. But he also demands bloodletting of animals on a yearly basis, that's obviously Khornish. Also we know his followers like to behead people, Khorne needs new skulls for his throne. Allah also demands yearly control of emotions through feasting which is anti-Slannesh. Also the worldly pleasures and especially sexual desires are forbidden. Paintings and sculpture as well as alcohol is also forbidden. Allah might seem anti-Slannesh in this instance but also its cults just like Jesus' followers lose themselves in music so both gods have their arm on Slannesh in some sense. Allah is the weakest Abrahamic god in the matters of magic. He is either weak or he doesn't care about magic. Anyway his desire for blood and skulls and his weak magic makes him the closest Khornate god in the Abrahamic trio.
Disposition:
%80 Khorne
%10 Tzeentch
%5 Nurgle
%5 Slannesh
Dispositions are general pull rather than perfectly calculated results, so it's open ended.
Also keep in mind that these minor gods are weak and can evolve into different dispositions over short periods of just a few thousand years. And even gods can die.
Pagan Gods:
Pagan gods are the weakest of the minor gods because they heavily depend on the environment their worshippers live. For instance once the ancient Egypt is fallen to ruin those gods are forgotten and the survivor gods are eventually devoured by Abrahamic gods.
Same thing applies to celtic-romanic-greek-nordic gods. Gods devour one another to gain power and pagan gods are just an instance up from a lame nature spirit. Spirits are either daemons or souls, in either a pagan god never grows more powerful than his geographic and political power.
There is however one type of pagan god that traversed the ages and took many shaped over the ages and eventually evaded total obliteration by the Abrahamic gods.
I'm talking about Mars. Because war never changes and Mars gave a new definition to war in the west with the Roman legions. He devoured his predecessor Ares and other war gods to become the dominant war god that conquered Europe as Rome grew. Eventually however he was overthrown by Jesus and Allah, but he endured the banishment and returned to power whenever he can. He also rose to great power through industrialization. He orchestrated two great wars that seen untold destruction and death in the history till M2. After M2 he continued his rampage in many wars and survived in one form or another when all other pagan gods were vanished and scared of the overlords of chaos. Today he resides in this war-torn universe and even the aliens such as Eldar call him to war and Orks worship him in their crude machines of war. Even mankind worship him calling upon their 'Emperor' for victory.
Pagan gods include; Aztec, Inca, Celtic, Nordic, Egyptian, Anatolian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, African and anything else I forgot about.
Shamans, spirits and monsters:
Psykers, deamons and warp-spawns. These weak mages and beasts are nothing more than annoyance to Chaos Gods. Theoretically a spirit might rose in power to become a Chaos god of his own but this requires incredible amount of emotion and sacrifice and considering that the great four holds the key to the basic emotions of the mortals it is really hard for another chaos god to rose in ranks. So they stick to their rivers, mountains, deserts etc. instead.
Spirits include: American Indian, Asian spirits, Java and Aboriginal spirits, African spirits, Russia-Balkan region spirits and other natural or animalistic spirits.
Note: This is a broad subject and it is quite possible I made some horrible mistakes that will embarrass me greatly a day later, however do point them out and add to my shame and eventual drive to suicide. Thank you.
