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Chaos God Name | Chaos Marauder Tribe | Tribal God Name | Classical Element |
Khorne | Tribe of the Hound | Chron | Fire |
Tzeentch | Tribe of the Great Eagle | Tchar | Air |
Nurgle | The Crow Tribe | Nurgal | Earth |
Slaanesh | Tribe of the Mighty Serpent | Loesh | Water |
In him we can see many connections. He is undoubtedly connected with Mars and other gods of war, but also perhaps with the corn king, who is sacrificed each year so that the crops may grow. Note the similarity between the name Khorne and the word corn. Note also the tale of Cain and Abel from the bible and how Cain murders Abel. Cain remember was a grower of crops, linking back to corn.
Abel, his brother, could be said to be a sacrifice. The hound and wolfhound also draw connections to deities connected with hunting animals and pack animals, or more directly to mythological wolf beasts, werewolves etc. The Fenrir wolf of Norse tradition is one example, and it is this wolf which is responsible for the destruction of the gods and of heaven and earth. Perhaps though, it is his association with the Classical element of Fire which is most telling, Fire often being thought of as both the creator and destroyer.
Tzeentch is also the master of strategy, cunning and treachery. Magick is, because of its connection with Air, a great academic subject, only for the intelligent, in the warhammer world. It is not "natural magick" or earth magick. Nor is it truely pure octarine magick, for this would be without a bias towards an element and would be pure ether/kia/chi/matter. Perhaps it is this very interwoveness of magick into the very Air of the warhammer world that causes magick to be so much more direct and less subtle in the warhammer world.
Tzeentch could be likened to Athena, who was a warrior goddess, but more in the style of stratagy than brute force. Athena was associated with another bird of prey, the owl. He can also be likened to trickster gods, such as Loki, Jackal of the Dogon and Coyote of North America, because of his treachery, but also any deity associated with being a master of magick. Odin would be a good example, reputed to be a god that could see over all the worlds, much as Tzeentch is often attributed with the ability to do.
However, Nurgle is actually more like a Mother Earth deity, and his relationship with death is more like the saying "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" or the description of Mother Earth as "the giver and the taker".
The Tribe of the Crow see Nurgle as Nurgal, The Great Carrion Crow, a flightless skeletal bird, its rotting flesh riven with diseases and maggots writhing in its belly. Disease, when you consider our relationship to Mother Earth, as a metaphor for the abundant plant, animal and human life that adorns her body.
He said to be mysterious and exotic and his followers indulge themselves in all sorts of debauchery. He is known as the Prince of Chaos, and of all the dark gods, he alone is divinely beautiful. "Slaanesh is seductive as only an immortal can be, disarming in his innocence, utterly beguiling in his manner." It is also said that Khorne dislikes Slaanesh the most of his four brothers because his "prancing fopperies are an affront to Khorne's sense of honour and martial pride."
Slaanesh is said to appear to his followers as a young man, clean limbed and fresh with the vigours of youth, but that he can assume male, female or hermaphrodite form at will. This sex change ability likens him to Loki, who was always changing sex, and who was also a parent of the Midgard Serpent. The hermaphrodite aspect likens him to modern representations of Baphomet, who is pictured with both a phallus and two, four or even six breasts. I personally had attributed the element of earth to him, because of his preoccupation with sensuality and the enjoyment of pleasure and pain, but perhaps it is the ecstacy of feelings caused though drugs, pain and sex that really interest this god.
Certainly also his seductiveness seems to mirror Aphrodite and Venus, more than the Luna goddesses. Even so, both Nurgle and Slaanesh seem to have an Earth and Water side to them, although perhaps the elements as set out in the game itself are more appropriate when working in the mythos for the sake of accuracy.
Toumas Pirinen and Rick Priestley Realm of Chaos Games Workshop ISBN 1-872372-60-0
Rick Priestley and Bryan Ansell Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned ISBN 1-869893-52-2
Bryan Ansell, Mike Brunton and Simon Forrest Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness ISBN 1-869893-51-4
. This Page was written by Frater Mithrondal 1232 on 22 May 1998. Last updated 22/05/1998.
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