The Chaos Gods explained

Where the Chaos Gods come from

Next to the normal universe lies the warp, also called the Immaterium. It isn't made of matter. It's made of thought and feeling. Every emotion felt by a living mind leaves a ripple there. Over countless ages, those ripples pooled into currents, and the strongest currents became aware. Those are the Chaos Gods.

That's why they can't be defeated in any lasting way. As long as people feel anger, fear, hope and desire, the gods are fed. In a galaxy at permanent war, they're very well fed.

Starships cross the galaxy by diving through the warp, and psykers draw their power from it. Both are vital to the Imperium, and both risk opening a door for daemons. The gods also whisper to mortals, offering power in return for worship. Many accept.

Khorne, the Blood God

Khorne is the god of rage, violence and killing. He doesn't care whose blood is spilled, only that it flows. He scorns sorcery as a coward's weapon and respects strength and skill in battle. His followers often see themselves as honorable warriors, even as they lose themselves to bloodlust.

His chief mortal servants are the World Eaters, the Legion of the Primarch Angron. Angron was a slave gladiator whose brain was fitted with implants that rewarded him for violence and punished him for everything else. He became a daemon prince of Khorne and has returned to fight in the current era.

Nurgle, the Plague Father

Nurgle is the god of disease, rot and decay. He's also the god of renewal, because everything that rots feeds something new. He grew from the despair people feel when facing death, and from their stubborn will to keep going anyway. Oddly, he's the warmest of the four. He loves his followers and showers them with gifts. The gifts are plagues.

His Legion is the Death Guard, led by Mortarion. Mortarion hated psykers and sorcery, but during the Heresy his ships were trapped in the warp and his men struck by a terrible sickness. To save them, he gave his Legion to Nurgle. In recent lore, the Death Guard waged a long Plague War against Guilliman's realm of Ultramar.

Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways

Tzeentch is the god of change, ambition, sorcery and scheming. He grew from hope, since hoping means wanting things to be different. His plans twist in so many directions that no one, maybe not even him, can say what he wants in the end. Many of his plots seem designed to undo each other.

His Legion is the Thousand Sons, led by Magnus the Red. Magnus was a gifted psyker who studied the warp despite warnings. When he tried to warn the Emperor about Horus's treachery, his spell broke the Emperor's protective wards on Terra. The punishment that followed destroyed his home world and drove his Legion into Tzeentch's arms. Later, a spell meant to save the Legion from mutation turned most of them into dust inside sealed armor.

Slaanesh, the Prince of Excess

Slaanesh is the god of pleasure, pride, obsession and perfection. Slaanesh is the youngest of the four, born shortly before the Emperor's Great Crusade, when the ancient Aeldari civilization sank into extreme indulgence. The god's birth tore a hole in space, now called the Eye of Terror, and wiped out most of the Aeldari. The survivors' souls are still hunted by Slaanesh, which is why Aeldari spend their lives guarding against it.

The Emperor's Children, led by Fulgrim, are Slaanesh's Legion. They began as perfectionists who wanted to be the best at everything. That drive slid into vanity, then into a hunt for ever stronger sensations. Fulgrim became a daemon prince.

The four gods compared

Each god has a favored number, a mortal Legion, its own daemons and a sworn rival among the other three.

The rivalries follow the themes. Khorne's raw violence despises Slaanesh's refined indulgence. Nurgle's acceptance of decay clashes with Tzeentch's endless change. Because the gods fight each other as hard as they fight anyone else, their followers rarely stay united for long.

Chaos Undivided

Some followers worship all four gods as a pantheon rather than picking one. This is called Chaos Undivided. Many traitor Legions work this way, including the Black Legion of Abaddon, who keeps his independence by refusing to bow to any single god. The Word Bearers, the first Legion to turn, preach the worship of Chaos as a whole.

There are also lesser powers in the warp, small gods and nameless entities, but the four great gods dwarf them all. Their war against reality began in earnest with the Horus Heresy and has never stopped. For the armies that serve them on the tabletop, see our factions guide.