Why would anyone worship a chaos god OTHER than Nurgle?

[Inquisitor Kallus]

I'd rather be dead than a walking corpse. Maybe I'm too vain to be a Nurgle disciple. And generally you don't decide to take that step into full-fledged Chaos devotion (where you start getting gifts, as opposed to the "I'm a cultist who wears a green/red/blue/pink hat") unless you plan on being successful. Nobody goes in thinking they're going to fail.

You sound like a Slaanesh lover.... . People worship Chaos Gods to get things they want, Khorne could give martial prowess, strength and the like whilst Slaanesh looks , women/men or strong influence/charisma for example.

[DietDolphin]

Yeah its a case of them telling us one thing and showing us another but they tell us Slaanesh go for you seeking perfection. Beyond the taboo somehow i dont really understand it but sure.

Seeking Perfection in itself isn't what leads to Slaanesh, it's the pride associated with it. The quest for perfection was the initial goal of the Emperor's Children, but they began to become arrogant and prideful. Read Fulgrim and you can see the difference between those are arrogant in the Perfection and those who are humble.

It's the envy of others who are stronger and better looking than you getting what they want. Slaanesh offers poor little ugly beta males/females the opportunity to be better than everyone else, to experience anything they want, but theres always a "bigger fish" so Slaanesh Worshipers always need to get better and better just so they can be better than anyone else, not to be the best they can. There is a difference. One is is personal development, the other is ego boosting.

[Aedes]

I have to say I will have to go with Nurgle...
after I study diseases in real life and quite like dissecting YUCK.

[vladsimpaler]

Seeking Perfection in itself isn't what leads to Slaanesh, it's the pride associated with it. The quest for perfection was the initial goal of the Emperor's Children, but they began to become arrogant and prideful. Read Fulgrim and you can see the difference between those are arrogant in the Perfection and those who are humble.

It's the envy of others who are stronger and better looking than you getting what they want. Slaanesh offers poor little ugly beta males/females the opportunity to be better than everyone else, to experience anything they want, but theres always a "bigger fish" so Slaanesh Worshipers always need to get better and better just so they can be better than anyone else, not to be the best they can. There is a difference. One is is personal development, the other is ego boosting.

Emphasis mine.
Sounds like this thread should be called, why would anyone who plays Warhammer worship anyone but Slaanesh?

inb4 ban

[Spell_of_Destruction]

The GW fluff is more clever than some people give it credit for.

I think there is a clear reason as to why Slaanesh is the youngest God. Slaanesh is the product of consciousness and the manifestation of the 'self'. The other Gods are essentially naturalistic. Power, change and atrophy all pre-exist even the most basic forms of life and when life does show up it obviously has these characteristics.

Slaanesh doesn't come into the equation until the emergence of sentient life - single consciousnesses which view themselves as the center of the universe. This is why the fluff talks of Slaanesh drawing power from the other Gods. The warrior who takes pride in his prowess and the scholar who is relentless in his pursuit of knowledge - while their phsycic energy may manifest itself in Khorne and Tzeentch respectively, so far as their pursuit is motivated by the ego Slaanesh too shall draw power.

[terradax]

Khorne is the hardest I guess but i'd say martial pride

Really? Khorne is the hardest? For me it has always been Slaanesh... I don't get him/her/it.
Khornw worshippers are the often conquerors, men who wants power. With enough blessings, bloodlust just take over them I guess...

[Drasanil]

Really? Khorne is the hardest? For me it has always been Slaanesh... I don't get him/her/it.
Khornw worshippers are the often conquerors, men who wants power. With enough blessings, bloodlust just take over them I guess...

Why go for Khorne then? With Slaanesh all you have to do is flash those pearly whites and people will give you the power, no fuss, no need to put your hide on the line, hell most of them will become slavishly devoted to you. Even Tzeentch's scheming has nothing compared to the true power some one high up on Slaanesh's friend list can manage.

Also as to the question of Nurgle 'making' you follow him with Nurgle's rot, even that has an escape clause, the disease is magical but other gods can cure you if they want*. Nurgle seems to largely recruit based on desperation and ignorance. He's that last nagging doubt before your life finally gives out, giving you that split second chance to save yourself with out ever letting you realise the consequences of your choice before it is much too late. Very few people would take to him willingly and even then most of those would still be recruited under false pretenses, though this last part is not much different than the other 3.

The big difference between Nurgle and the others seems to be that the Khorne, Slaanesh and Tzeentch are the slippery slope, Nurgle on the other hand is that last desperate grab.

That said, if forced into a 'choose' situation I'd probably with Slaanesh, or if it was an option Necoho knowing that he won't bother me... at all, ever. Nurgle would be the last on my list, and if he 'picked' me, when that tiny voice at the end offers me a chance to go on, I'd probably call out to Tzeentch just to spite the bugger.


*It's curable in Warhammer, no reason it would be different in 40k.

[Awilla the Hun]

I'm having a lot of fun with this one in my sort-of-Dark-Heresy game. The King-Emperor of the remnant of a once mighty imperial power is an arch conservative in his political belief, and is convinced that the empire would fall if he perishes. (In the vein of Franz-Josef of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.) He therefore wants to live forever and guide his people, no matter what it costs him. The problem is, he has throat cancer. The solution is that he becomes a devotee of "The Mother". He lives forever. Well, in that he doesn't actually die...

I had a lot of fun with other "good" sides of Chaos Gods in my setting (an isolated world with a certain resemblance to turn of the century Europe.) Khorne started as a god of war and honour. Philosophers then interpreted this in the light of modern society to include personal excellence and vigour, in both mind and body. This has resulted in him becoming a deity worshipped by the breed of politician who emerged in the early 20th century and believed in things like futurism and social darwinism. (As well as, I must confess, some more conventional breeds of liberal and conservative.) Slaanesh is a god of fertility, pleasure and delight, inluding the firing of the imagination into wild fantasies (rather than the Khornate vigorous but formal style of intelligence- a Khornate style businessman would be superb at, say, running a factory, but not at innovating.) His/her main presence on the world is in the form of a mass of vinyards in "blessed" land where a daemon invasion was beaten off. And so on.

[El_Machinae]

Really? Khorne is the hardest? For me it has always been Slaanesh... I don't get him/her/it.
Khornw worshippers are the often conquerors, men who wants power. With enough blessings, bloodlust just take over them I guess...

I don't really see how Khorne leads into power. To get power, you need to be a leader, to have people do what you want. You need to delegate power to competent people, and have them feed you the profits of their work.

Khorne is just too killy. You cannot build an organisation if you're being motivated to kill all those who compare to you in competence. Yeah, a mobster will kill other crime bosses, but he cannot kill his bodyguards or his lieutenants frequently enough to please Khorne.

[DietDolphin]

I don't really see how Khorne leads into power. To get power, you need to be a leader, to have people do what you want. You need to delegate power to competent people, and have them feed you the profits of their work.

Khorne is just too killy. You cannot build an organisation if you're being motivated to kill all those who compare to you in competence. Yeah, a mobster will kill other crime bosses, but he cannot kill his bodyguards or his lieutenants frequently enough to please Khorne.

I don't think Khorne followers are retarded, I'm sure they can do basic math (though I sometimes wonder with Angron...)

Obviously if you have 5 khorne followers go kill 20 people, thats 100 skulls for khorne. If the leader kills his fellow Khornites and then kills 20 people, thats only 24 skulls. I'm sure every Khorne Employee gets a run down of basic killing efficiency and economics 101 before being let loose. Killing your coworkers is just not good resource management.

It's simple, the boss give out one command "Kill or be killed". If Ol' Bob down in Khorne-accounts isn't putting up killing numbers he used to, he's fired (specifically burn, maimed killed).

[Bannik]

I don't really see how Khorne leads into power. To get power, you need to be a leader, to have people do what you want. You need to delegate power to competent people, and have them feed you the profits of their work.

Khorne is just too killy. You cannot build an organisation if you're being motivated to kill all those who compare to you in competence. Yeah, a mobster will kill other crime bosses, but he cannot kill his bodyguards or his lieutenants frequently enough to please Khorne.

You don't know much about the chaos gods do you I will make it short and simple CHAOS GODS ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS they are an anthropomorphization of a emotional aspect of the living beings in the universe...they do not fight or bicker like we do, they care not for life and death AS THEY CANNOT DIE so when Khorne kills his bodyguards and lieutenants he is basically just mucking about as they cant really die...they just remanifest themselves..

[El_Machinae]

You don't know much about the chaos gods do you I will make it short and simple CHAOS GODS ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS they are an anthropomorphization of a emotional aspect of the living beings in the universe...they do not fight or bicker like we do, they care not for life and death AS THEY CANNOT DIE so when Khorne kills his bodyguards and lieutenants he is basically just mucking about as they cant really die...they just remanifest themselves..

Sure, you're correct. If you re-read and assume I'm talking about human followers of Khorne, my point is clearer.

[Dervos]

First off I'm not BASHING the other chaos gods. I love all of 'um, I think they're all freaking awesome. I am not saying Nurgle is the best in terms of cool or interesting factor.

But from a lore standpoint, wouldn't Nurgle be BY FAR the best chaos god to turn too?

I mean...

A. Grandfather Nurgle and his daemons actually care about their followers, in a fatherly way no less. All the other chaos gods would most likely use you and then toss you away like a used condemn once you served your purpose. Nurgle is essentially almost benevolent if you follow him.

B. The daemons of Nurgle don't seem all that bad (in terms of Warhammer bad... in a universe where nearly every one has a brutal violent darkside). You got the beasts of Nurgle, which are described as being like giant puppies, they just wanna play! You got the Great Unclean Ones who are paternal and careing. Then you got those cute lil' buggers who are mischievous but not evil. Plaguebearers are all business though.

C. Ya gain near immortality.

The only downside is you turn into a giant pile of decaying YUCK. Ya that sounds bad, but ultimately it's much better than the fate the vast majority of followers of the other chaos gods face.

I'm not incredibly well versed in the lore of the other chaos gods, so I am legitimately asking this question, am I missing something?

These reasons would appeal to a lot of people but those same reasons for others would not be appealing; not everyone desires the same thing.

Not everyone is looking to be loved or necessarily wants to live forever, especially in a galaxy like this one =/


Which is why Chaos is abundant with choices! Eh?

[Kevlar]

Sure, you're correct. If you re-read and assume I'm talking about human followers of Khorne, my point is clearer.

On an individual level you would be correct, but daemons and other xenos probably look at humanity like a plague or disease. They breed like rabbits. The more you kill the more they repopulate.

[Bannik]

Your point is therefore pointless as you are talking about KHORNE the god or the concept of him you also fail to realize that KHORNE is not a living creature (like we imagine), he doesn't care how his followers, daemons or humans behave, as long as you give "blood for the blood god, skulls for the skulls throne" thats all that matters, you can be organised, you can be barbaric etc as long as you feed him...

[TheDungen]

ambition is nit the providence of any one god. It cna be Khorne, to conquer by force, it can be slaanesh to rule by surpassing evryone else or it can be Tzeentch, to simly manipulate everyone else to do what you want and further your own goals. the gods overlap, and then again chaos is by its very nature a paradox.


also no chaos god could exist without the others (or well not those specific others but atleast others, the conflict is needed for their existance)

If Khorne ruled all then all mortal creatures would kill each other and ther would be no one left and khorne would disappear.

If Nurgle ruled all then the universe would decline into entropy, which would mean once again the death of every living thing and the 'death' of Nurgle (proving his own point about everything being perishable).

If Slaanesh ruled all then everyone would seek to break the taboo and there would be no taboos so none to break and Slaanesh would disappear. or rahter other concerns would be more pressing and a new gods would be born and with their coming the taboo would come again and thus slaanesh would be reborn.

If Tzeentch ruled all, he'd probably develop a split personality and start scheming against himself. Hmm maybe this is how the other chaos gods came to be (Except I think Khorne is the oldest of them)


In both the cases of Slaanesh and Tzeentch being dominant there would eventually be other gods and the struggle would begin again.

[gaoCU]

I haven't went through all the replies yet, but the very short answer to OP's question is that not everyone fears death more than any other desire they have.