ParkCungHee
Deity
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A religious poll, discussing the belief systems of real significance. Branched off from a previous thread.
C'tan
the C'tan (also called "Star Gods"; in fact, C'tan is said to translate as "Star God". The word can be pronounced in various ways - "Ka-tan", "say-tan", "si-tan" or "see-tan") are incredibly powerful, god-like entities which feed on the energy provided by stars and the bioelectrical 'life force' energy of living creatures. They were discovered by the Necrontyr, who subsequently forged bodies for the C'tan out of their unique "living metal", Necrodermis. The C'tan would later play a major role in the transformation of the Necrontyr into the race now known as the Necrons.
The C'tan feed on energy. At first, they only drank the tasteless, but sustaining, energy from stars. It is possible that this process altered the radiation output of the stars they fed on. The Nightbringer, the first C'tan discovered by the Necrontyr - and one who chose to style itself as the embodiment of death - came from the pitiless and cruel sun of the Necrontyr homeworld, perhaps indicating that it had damaged this star in some way, thus explaining the Necrontyr's poor adaptation to the radioactive emissions of their star.
When the Nightbringer was first summoned to a material body made of "living metal" called Necrodermis, it became aware of the material universe around it, and it began slaughtering the Necrontyr and feeding on the essence of their minds. They pledged servitude to the creature, offering the Nightbringer the opportunity to go to other worlds and feed on other races.
The Deceiver was originally the least powerful but most intelligent and "understandable" of the C'tan. It was capable of communing with its followers in ways they understood, and was less intimidating and awesome in its manner. For this reason, it gained the most followers, servants, and popularity among the Necrontyr, to the point where it had to send them to work for its kin for fear of arousing envy due to this popularity. It is believed by the Eldar to be the architect of the transformation of the Necrontyr from organic creatures to the nigh-imperishable Necrons. These Necrons became essentially slaves to the C'tan. It is unclear whether the Necrontyr were aware of this, given the comments of the Necron in Xenology, who seems to admire his brethren for being fully free of emotion ("they are pure, free"), unlike himself; it is therefore likely that they did know.
The C'tan used the hatred of the Necrontyr towards the Old Ones and allowed themselves to be used as weapons in the War in Heaven, unleashing their raw power to destroy entire star systems and wipe out opposing species. Now with an army of immortal soldiers, and many new technologies, including a faster-than-light drive of incredible ability, and 'godlike weapons' added to their already vast powers, the C'tan began to make war on their enemies, quickly overrunning the Old Ones and taking the mastery of the galaxy for themselves for millions of years. The Old Ones were pushed to the fringes of the galaxy and apparently allowed to remain there - the Codex: Necrons describes their last outposts as besieged, but also describes the Old Ones as having 'utter supremacy' in battle at this stage. Given the absolute dominance of the C'tan, it is likely that they allowed the Old Ones to survive- a clue is to be found elsewhere in the Codex: Necrons, where it states that the C'tan considered the essence of the Old Ones to be a delicacy; completely destroying the Old Ones would also remove this delicacy from existence.
During this time of C'tan dominance, the Deceiver led the C'tan into consuming other C'tan- according to Eldrad Ulthran, the C'tan numbered in the thousands at the beginning of their involvement in the War in Heaven. Later, the Eldar god known as The Laughing God would deceive the Outsider into consuming C'tan also, which would drive him insane. It is believed that these are two separate events, although it is possible that it was the Deceiver, posing as the Eldar Laughing God, who tricked the Outsider.
Desperate to rectify the situation, the Old Ones created new servant races to use as warriors and weapons against the C'tan; however, this was to prove their undoing. These new generations of warrior-races, including the Eldar, had stronger connections to the Warp, and because of this, as they grew in numbers, they would stir the currents of the Warp into forming creatures called daemons, which were inimical to the order the Old Ones sought. The warrior races were specifically created to be attuned to the warp and/or posess psychic powers because the C'tan had a weakness: they had no influence over the warp.
The Eldar, being one of the oldest races still in existence, record much of their role in this war; they believe that their smith-god, Vaul, created the Blackstone Fortresses as weapons to injure or destroy a C'tan, and brought them to battle against the most powerful of the C'tan, the Void Dragon. They were evidently unsuccessful, as the Dragon endured, though Eldar myth in Xenology describes the Dragon as being 'becalmed' by this or some other plan of Vaul's. These Blackstone Fortresses must have been a considerable threat to the C'tan, as upon reawakening, the Deceiver went to great lengths to destroy them, having so far destroyed between four and five (the destruction of the fifth has not been confirmed, but in the year 40,999, it disappeared, under attack by a flotilla of Necron ships) of the six fortresses, and having arranged for two to be put beyond the reach of the Eldar by causing them to fall into the hands of Abaddon the Despoiler.
Khaine, the Eldar god of war, also fought the C'tan; in Eldar myth he is recorded as doing battle with many of his mightiest champions against the Nightbringer. Khaine was able to permanently destroy one of the Nightbringer's Necrodermis bodies. However, as Khaine fought the Nightbringer he was unable to harm it, due to the fact it could phase out of the Material World. Khaine found an opening however, after recalling the advice that Cegorach (The Laughing God) gave to him. When the Nightbringer warped into the Material World to strike him, Khaine was faster and thrust the Wailing Doom into its neck, shattering it into tiny pieces. The fragments of the Nightbringer, however, ripped into Khaine, melting in his fiery blood, tainting his physical aspect forever more. Before leaving to reform, the Nightbringer instilled a fear of death into all sentient beings, save for the Orks. This inadvertently fuelled the growth of the nascent Chaos gods, as they feed upon survivalist emotions, or responses to the knowledge of death.
The Orks - the Deceiver labels them Krorks - along with other, minor races, date back to this time. But they do not record their history beyond a certain degree, living very much in the present. Somehow they remain free of the taint of the Nightbringer, meaning they have no fear of death, unlike other races who have had contact with it.
The emotions and strong warp-links of the young races created to fight the C'tan caused an unexpected problem for the Old Ones. They created conditions that made the warp amenable to unforeseen creatures, such as the aforementioned daemons. However, the creatures that were the most significant at this time were the 'Enslavers' also known as the Krell, a race which was undone by their psionic creations in a similar manner to the way the Old Ones were undone by the Enslavers.
The Enslavers and the other creatures of the warp created by the young races destroyed the Old Ones civilization, and there were few survivors, although it is possible that some Old Ones survived (the continuing activities of one such an Old One are strongly implied in Xenology, but he was effectively destroyed by the chaos god Slaanesh when this deity was born).
The Enslavers, according to the Deceiver, were not capable of harming the C'tan directly. However, they were 'killing everything else'. If the Enslavers destroyed all life, the C'tan would no longer have a source of food, beyond the unsatisfying energy of the stars. The C'tan devised a plan to construct a Great Ward, which would cut off the warp from realspace, and render their enemies helpless. They did not complete it, however, as all their slaves and 'cattle' were consumed by the overly numerous Enslavers. They left the 'great work' uncompleted, and went into stasis until such time that life had reflourished and filled the universe, so they could complete the Ward and raise a new generation of slaves. The Deceiver has indicated that he finds the attitudes of humanity in the 41st millennium promising, and that he believes they will make excellent subjects. Enslavers still exist in the 41st millennium, but in drastically reduced numbers, and are no longer considered a threat by the C'tan.
The C'tan waited for aeons, but to date, two are known to be awake in the 41st millennium. They have been awoken by various explorers and archaeologists, and have found a galaxy rich in life and bloodshed. The two C'tan which have been awoken are the Deceiver and the Nightbringer. The Nightbringer was awoken by a conspiracy of ruthless individuals who were ignorant of his true nature, some believing him to be willing to grant them immortality, and others who believed him to be a simple weapon.
It is likely that the Deceiver was awoken by Explorator Magos Dural Lavank in the thirty fifth millennium, as this was the first recorded landing on Naogeddon, where the Deceiver appeared to sleep. The Dragon and the Outsider still sleep, and where they lie is unknown. Imperial archaeologists and translators working on a tablet recovered from the excavation of an Eldar exodite world have hinted that the Dragon is hibernating on a 'Vaul Moon,' a term the translator believed implied a world similar to an Imperial forge world, or even Holy Mars itself. It is also hinted that the Adeptus Mechanicus' deity, the Machine God, is one and the same as the Void Dragon. It is possible that the Outsider is entombed on a dead world in free flight in the outer spiral of the galaxy; the world's sun having exploded and cast the planet adrift. Its course has been altered by passing near to a gravity well, now on a curving course back towards the galactic center. Both the Eldar and the Imperium have encountered this world. The Eldar believed this planet to be the shrine-world of the Culexus assassins, due to its total psychic blankness. Farseeing revealed that the destruction of this world would provoke a backlash obliterating the Eldar Craftworld Alaitoc. The investigation was abandoned. The Imperium detected the planet on long-distance scans, notably because the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan was giving the world a very wide berth, while consuming nearby systems but leaving certain planets unmolested. The avoided worlds were all noted as being documented 'dead worlds'. It is possible these planets were Necron Tomb Worlds. It has also been noted an extremely large object, possibly a Dyson Sphere, is located in the same region. The object was estimated to be some 32 million times larger than Earth. Any of these locations could house the Outsider, but it is quite certain it is residing in this region.
The C'tan have once again started their Great Work - to permanently seal off the Warp that they abhor. This would have disastrous consequences for races with psychic abilities (including all the races the Old Ones originally created to combat the Necrontyr), destroying their souls completely. It would also leave the C'tan and their Necron slaves as the sole power in the galaxy with FTL capability, since every other race uses the Warp for interstellar travel, while Necrons utilize their incredibly advanced Inertialess Drive technology.
Also, the C'tan known as the Deceiver often alters his Necrodermis shape in order to masquerade as Imperial officials; two of his aliases have been noted in the background material. Explorator Magos Prime Reston Egal was sent to the dead world Naogeddon to examine the alien structures there, and to investigate the fate of the previous expeditions to the planet. In the short story Deus Ex Mechanicus, it is revealed that the Deceiver took the shape of this man. After the expedition, Reston Egal is also noted together with the Mars Incident, where he is said to demand that the Noctis Labyrinthus (the mining complex where one of the Necron ships managed to land before being destroyed) be destroyed and sealed with ferrocrete. The Deceiver also took the shape of a "Governor Takis" for a period of time, before an assassination attempt from the Callidus Temple. Unfortunately for the Imperium, the human assassin was no match to the awesome powers of the C'tan.
Emperor of Man
The Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind is the leader of the Imperium the largest human organization in the universe. He is worshipped by the Imperial Cult, the Ecclesiarchy, and his worship is spread across the universe by the Inquisition and the Adepta Sororitas[. He is sometimes worshipped by those of the Adeptus Mechanicus as the Omnissiah, a multi-fold divine force that is united with their Machine God.
Humanity originally was aware of the Warp and coexisted with it. There were certain gifted individuals who could communicate with the Warp and use it for many purposes - the tribal healers, shamans, medicine men and other spiritual leaders of early humanity. These people's spirits could even flow through the Warp seamlessly after death and be reborn in new human bodies.
However, as humanity gained more knowledge, their secret desires for more power and pleasures grew and corruption began. The spiritual leaders began to notice the changes as their psychic gifts diminished and reincarnation became harder. They called a great council, in which the leaders decided none of them alone could stop this deterioration - but perhaps together they could. They decided that they would take their own lives in order to be reborn as a god of unimaginable power.
Almost a year after this council and the resulting suicides, a child was born - the boy who would become the Immortal God Emperor of all Mankind. He grew up in an isolated and poor rural area and it was rumoured that he had the power to stop his own aging and numerous other potent and miraculous psychic abilities.
After many years, as the Emperor grew in wisdom and focus, he intuitively knew of the spiritual corruption caused by human behaviour and set out to correct it. He always remained in the background, facilitating some of humanity’s most important changes and generally guiding and protecting the species. He bore many different names in many different eras of human history, sometimes taking on the identity of men who became great historical personages who directed humanity along a positive track. Other times, he simply took anonymous identities, prodding and pushing humanity along a path that would lead to the greatest enlightenment and happiness for all where and whenever he could.
The first mention of the Emperor in Imperial records occurs when he unified Terra after the Age of Strife (sometime in the 30th Millennium). The Emperor's use of genetically engineered warriors--the protoastartes, genowarriors, pre-Space Marines-- enabled him to reunite the people of Earth and to set his sights on the stars. With the assistance of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars, the Emperor armed his Space Marines and fleets of interstellar ships to carry his armies to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and spread the Imperium of Mankind.
The Emperor went on to create the superhuman Primarchs from his own genetic template from whom the Space Marines' gene-seed was later developed. According to Word Bearer's Chaplain Erebrus, the Emperor made a pact with the Chaos Gods to scatter the Primarchs across the galaxy, so that as each one grew up on their respective worlds, they would each dominate it, so that when the Emperor would lead his Great Crusade, the conquering of certain planets had naturally been done by his sons. The truth of this claim is highly disputed, for Erebrus, like the Word Bearers legion entire, was corrupted by Chaos and actively seeking to convert others to their cause. Erebrus reasons, however, that if the Emperor made them himself, "Why not make a thousand Horus's?"
The Emperor had a grand vision: to reunite the elements of humanity who had been scattered across the galaxy and isolated from each other during the Age of Strife. In the initial years of the Great Crusade, the Emperor was at the forefront of the fighting, leading his genetically-engineered soldiers into battle. As more worlds came under the control of the fledgling Imperium of Mankind, the Emperor rediscovered the lost Primarchs, whose genetic template was used to stabilise the creation process of the Space Marines.
Following the triumph at Ullanor the Emperor returned to his underground laboratories on Terra to work on secret projects, including the mapping of the Webway, an entrance to which he had discovered within his mountain fastness. He left his trusted 'sons', the Primarchs, in control of the Crusade, promoting the foremost of these, Horus, to the rank of Warmaster of the Imperium. Crucially he did not explain to anyone, even Horus, what he was planning to do or why he had returned to Terra; this sowed the first seeds of discontent, which would later bear deadly fruit.
The Great Crusade came to an end with the events of the Horus Heresy, when Horus turned on the Emperor. Under Horus's leadership, nine Space Marine Legions and many Imperial Army regiments turned to Chaos and started a galactic civil war.
Even as Horus' armies laid siege to Terra, the Emperor still believed that Horus could be redeemed due to his love for his son, and he maintained this belief even as he faced Horus in single combat. Due to his unwillingness to use his full power against his surrogate son, the Emperor suffered grievous injuries at Horus's hands. As Horus stood over the Emperor's shattered body, a single guard of the Adeptus Custodes entered the room. Horus flayed him alive with a single look. The guard's death galvanised the Emperor. He saw how far Horus had fallen and that there was only one way to defeat Chaos: to kill their pawn, his beloved son. The Emperor mustered a psychic lance of unparalleled power and unleashed it upon Horus. As the Chaos gods, taking immediately to self-preservation, deserted their pawn, the Emperor sensed the return of Horus's sanity. He knew Chaos might attempt to possess Horus again, and he would not be present to stop it a second time. Driving all compassion from his mind, the Emperor called on his inner reserves, and obliterated Horus's soul.
The Emperor's broken body was discovered by Rogal Dorn who, following the Emperor's instructions, oversaw the Emperor's re-connection to the Golden Throne, an arcane device to sustain his spirit. The Emperor has remained in the Golden Throne since his 'ascension' to this day, neither fully living nor wholly dead. Although initially designed as the hub of the Emperor's project to colonise the webway, the Golden Throne also functions as a complex life support device. The Golden Throne itself lies in the Sanctum Imperialis, which is guarded by the Emperor's Custodian Guard, also known as the Adeptus Custodes. The Emperor's decaying physical form is preserved and his life functions are carried out by carefully maintained machinery.
The Golden Throne is also connected to a massive Warp beacon known as the Astronomican that generates the system of signals making faster than light travel in the Imperium possible by providing a beacon with which astropaths are able to navigate The Emperor himself callibrates this signal, also known as the Ray of Hope or the Golden Path, but much of the power behind it comes from a "chorus" of ten thousand human psykers. The life force of the psykers is consumed within several months, which means that replacements must constantly be found and brought to Terra aboard the infamous Black Ships of the Inquisition.
Gork and Mork
Khaela Mensha Khaine
Khorne
Khorne is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Khorne grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was rage. Khorne is the Chaos god of hate, war, violence and killing; for this reason he bears sobriquets such as Blood God and Lord of Skulls.
Khorne is a spartan god of war who acts outwardly by seeking the death of others, preferring close combat over ranged weaponry; as such, he is completely opposed to the hedonistic Slaanesh, an inwardly acting god who seeks pleasure in every act and experience. He has a strong distrust of wizards and sorcerers, whom he sees as cowards; this means he is also highly suspicious of Tzeentch, although they are not archenemies.
He is described as an extremely well-muscled, beast-headed monster sitting on a brass throne atop a mountain of skulls in the middle of a sea of blood. The skulls are described as belonging to both his victims and his worshippers alike, as Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows. Due to the immense amount of violence and killing occurring throughout the universe, Khorne is the strongest of the Chaos gods. The colours associated with him are red, brass and black, and these colours feature prominently in his demonic hordes and are usually adopted by his followers. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Khornate".
Nurgle
Nurgle is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Nurgle grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was despair. Nurgle is the Chaos god of disease, decay, despair and destruction. Despite the nature of his influence, he takes a keen interest in his victims, caring for them in a jovial manner similar to a loving grandfather; for this reason he is frequently referred to as Grandfather Nurgle or Papa Nurgle, as well as the Lord of Decay. He is depicted as a huge, bloated humanoid, covered with boils and sores, his body completely rotten from disease. He is typically accompanied by an enveloping cloud of buzzing flies.
Like all of the four major Chaos gods, Nurgle is opposed by one of his fellows. In Nurgle's case, his anthithesis is Tzeentch, the god of change and sorcery. Where Nurgle is the deified embodiment of mortal despair; Tzeentch is the deified embodiement of mortal hope. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Nurglesque".
Slaanesh
Slaanesh is one of the four major Chaos gods. Slaanesh is as the youngest of the four major gods. Like his brother gods, Slaanesh grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was pleasure. He is the god of excess, hedonism, pride, aestheticism and self indulgence; he is also known as the Dark Prince or the Prince of Excess.
Slaanesh is described as taking many forms, be they female or male, even hermaphroditic or androgynous. In any case, he is always unnaturally beautiful, and irresistible to mortals who view him. Slaanesh is regarded by humans as being male, with the notable exception that the Eldar race who refer to Slaanesh as a female, normally referring to "her" as She Who Thirsts or the Great Enemy. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Slaaneshi".
Slaanesh the God in its original form is said to be a statuesque hermaphrodite with the right side of the body being female and the left one male. Slaanesh is depicted as being endowed with a large mane of hair from which a double set of bull-like horns (one larger and a smaller one inside the first pair) do protrude. The God is also said to wield at all time an arcane golden wand which serves as receptacle of much of its awesome power and to be its greatest treasure.
Slaanesh is opposed by the Chaos God Khorne. Slaaneshi act inwardly by enjoying every experience and every act; whereas Khornites act outwardly through rage-fuelled violence. Khorne detests Slaanesh's decadence, where Slaanesh detests Khorne as crude and deeply unsophisticated.
Tzeentch
Tzeentch (pronounced 'zeetch') is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Tzeentch grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was hope. Tzeentch is the Chaos god of change, sorcery, Machiavellian scheming and subtle manipulation; his nicknames thus include the Changer of Ways, the Grand Schemer, and the Lord of Sorcery. As a being representing change, he has no single form.
As Tzeentch represents hope, change, optimism, and adaptation, this makes him the anithesis of his brother Nurgle, god of despair, stagnation, pessimism, and destruction. The Chaos god Khorne also has a deep distrust of Tzeentch, due to the heavy use of psykers and sorcerers. When the armies of Chaos march together for war, it is usually Tzeentch who instigates these brief alliances, for whatever unfathomable goal he happens to have planned. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Tzeentchian".
The Laughing God
C'tan
Spoiler :
the C'tan (also called "Star Gods"; in fact, C'tan is said to translate as "Star God". The word can be pronounced in various ways - "Ka-tan", "say-tan", "si-tan" or "see-tan") are incredibly powerful, god-like entities which feed on the energy provided by stars and the bioelectrical 'life force' energy of living creatures. They were discovered by the Necrontyr, who subsequently forged bodies for the C'tan out of their unique "living metal", Necrodermis. The C'tan would later play a major role in the transformation of the Necrontyr into the race now known as the Necrons.
The C'tan feed on energy. At first, they only drank the tasteless, but sustaining, energy from stars. It is possible that this process altered the radiation output of the stars they fed on. The Nightbringer, the first C'tan discovered by the Necrontyr - and one who chose to style itself as the embodiment of death - came from the pitiless and cruel sun of the Necrontyr homeworld, perhaps indicating that it had damaged this star in some way, thus explaining the Necrontyr's poor adaptation to the radioactive emissions of their star.
When the Nightbringer was first summoned to a material body made of "living metal" called Necrodermis, it became aware of the material universe around it, and it began slaughtering the Necrontyr and feeding on the essence of their minds. They pledged servitude to the creature, offering the Nightbringer the opportunity to go to other worlds and feed on other races.
The Deceiver was originally the least powerful but most intelligent and "understandable" of the C'tan. It was capable of communing with its followers in ways they understood, and was less intimidating and awesome in its manner. For this reason, it gained the most followers, servants, and popularity among the Necrontyr, to the point where it had to send them to work for its kin for fear of arousing envy due to this popularity. It is believed by the Eldar to be the architect of the transformation of the Necrontyr from organic creatures to the nigh-imperishable Necrons. These Necrons became essentially slaves to the C'tan. It is unclear whether the Necrontyr were aware of this, given the comments of the Necron in Xenology, who seems to admire his brethren for being fully free of emotion ("they are pure, free"), unlike himself; it is therefore likely that they did know.
The C'tan used the hatred of the Necrontyr towards the Old Ones and allowed themselves to be used as weapons in the War in Heaven, unleashing their raw power to destroy entire star systems and wipe out opposing species. Now with an army of immortal soldiers, and many new technologies, including a faster-than-light drive of incredible ability, and 'godlike weapons' added to their already vast powers, the C'tan began to make war on their enemies, quickly overrunning the Old Ones and taking the mastery of the galaxy for themselves for millions of years. The Old Ones were pushed to the fringes of the galaxy and apparently allowed to remain there - the Codex: Necrons describes their last outposts as besieged, but also describes the Old Ones as having 'utter supremacy' in battle at this stage. Given the absolute dominance of the C'tan, it is likely that they allowed the Old Ones to survive- a clue is to be found elsewhere in the Codex: Necrons, where it states that the C'tan considered the essence of the Old Ones to be a delicacy; completely destroying the Old Ones would also remove this delicacy from existence.
During this time of C'tan dominance, the Deceiver led the C'tan into consuming other C'tan- according to Eldrad Ulthran, the C'tan numbered in the thousands at the beginning of their involvement in the War in Heaven. Later, the Eldar god known as The Laughing God would deceive the Outsider into consuming C'tan also, which would drive him insane. It is believed that these are two separate events, although it is possible that it was the Deceiver, posing as the Eldar Laughing God, who tricked the Outsider.
Desperate to rectify the situation, the Old Ones created new servant races to use as warriors and weapons against the C'tan; however, this was to prove their undoing. These new generations of warrior-races, including the Eldar, had stronger connections to the Warp, and because of this, as they grew in numbers, they would stir the currents of the Warp into forming creatures called daemons, which were inimical to the order the Old Ones sought. The warrior races were specifically created to be attuned to the warp and/or posess psychic powers because the C'tan had a weakness: they had no influence over the warp.
The Eldar, being one of the oldest races still in existence, record much of their role in this war; they believe that their smith-god, Vaul, created the Blackstone Fortresses as weapons to injure or destroy a C'tan, and brought them to battle against the most powerful of the C'tan, the Void Dragon. They were evidently unsuccessful, as the Dragon endured, though Eldar myth in Xenology describes the Dragon as being 'becalmed' by this or some other plan of Vaul's. These Blackstone Fortresses must have been a considerable threat to the C'tan, as upon reawakening, the Deceiver went to great lengths to destroy them, having so far destroyed between four and five (the destruction of the fifth has not been confirmed, but in the year 40,999, it disappeared, under attack by a flotilla of Necron ships) of the six fortresses, and having arranged for two to be put beyond the reach of the Eldar by causing them to fall into the hands of Abaddon the Despoiler.
Khaine, the Eldar god of war, also fought the C'tan; in Eldar myth he is recorded as doing battle with many of his mightiest champions against the Nightbringer. Khaine was able to permanently destroy one of the Nightbringer's Necrodermis bodies. However, as Khaine fought the Nightbringer he was unable to harm it, due to the fact it could phase out of the Material World. Khaine found an opening however, after recalling the advice that Cegorach (The Laughing God) gave to him. When the Nightbringer warped into the Material World to strike him, Khaine was faster and thrust the Wailing Doom into its neck, shattering it into tiny pieces. The fragments of the Nightbringer, however, ripped into Khaine, melting in his fiery blood, tainting his physical aspect forever more. Before leaving to reform, the Nightbringer instilled a fear of death into all sentient beings, save for the Orks. This inadvertently fuelled the growth of the nascent Chaos gods, as they feed upon survivalist emotions, or responses to the knowledge of death.
The Orks - the Deceiver labels them Krorks - along with other, minor races, date back to this time. But they do not record their history beyond a certain degree, living very much in the present. Somehow they remain free of the taint of the Nightbringer, meaning they have no fear of death, unlike other races who have had contact with it.
The emotions and strong warp-links of the young races created to fight the C'tan caused an unexpected problem for the Old Ones. They created conditions that made the warp amenable to unforeseen creatures, such as the aforementioned daemons. However, the creatures that were the most significant at this time were the 'Enslavers' also known as the Krell, a race which was undone by their psionic creations in a similar manner to the way the Old Ones were undone by the Enslavers.
The Enslavers and the other creatures of the warp created by the young races destroyed the Old Ones civilization, and there were few survivors, although it is possible that some Old Ones survived (the continuing activities of one such an Old One are strongly implied in Xenology, but he was effectively destroyed by the chaos god Slaanesh when this deity was born).
The Enslavers, according to the Deceiver, were not capable of harming the C'tan directly. However, they were 'killing everything else'. If the Enslavers destroyed all life, the C'tan would no longer have a source of food, beyond the unsatisfying energy of the stars. The C'tan devised a plan to construct a Great Ward, which would cut off the warp from realspace, and render their enemies helpless. They did not complete it, however, as all their slaves and 'cattle' were consumed by the overly numerous Enslavers. They left the 'great work' uncompleted, and went into stasis until such time that life had reflourished and filled the universe, so they could complete the Ward and raise a new generation of slaves. The Deceiver has indicated that he finds the attitudes of humanity in the 41st millennium promising, and that he believes they will make excellent subjects. Enslavers still exist in the 41st millennium, but in drastically reduced numbers, and are no longer considered a threat by the C'tan.
The C'tan waited for aeons, but to date, two are known to be awake in the 41st millennium. They have been awoken by various explorers and archaeologists, and have found a galaxy rich in life and bloodshed. The two C'tan which have been awoken are the Deceiver and the Nightbringer. The Nightbringer was awoken by a conspiracy of ruthless individuals who were ignorant of his true nature, some believing him to be willing to grant them immortality, and others who believed him to be a simple weapon.
It is likely that the Deceiver was awoken by Explorator Magos Dural Lavank in the thirty fifth millennium, as this was the first recorded landing on Naogeddon, where the Deceiver appeared to sleep. The Dragon and the Outsider still sleep, and where they lie is unknown. Imperial archaeologists and translators working on a tablet recovered from the excavation of an Eldar exodite world have hinted that the Dragon is hibernating on a 'Vaul Moon,' a term the translator believed implied a world similar to an Imperial forge world, or even Holy Mars itself. It is also hinted that the Adeptus Mechanicus' deity, the Machine God, is one and the same as the Void Dragon. It is possible that the Outsider is entombed on a dead world in free flight in the outer spiral of the galaxy; the world's sun having exploded and cast the planet adrift. Its course has been altered by passing near to a gravity well, now on a curving course back towards the galactic center. Both the Eldar and the Imperium have encountered this world. The Eldar believed this planet to be the shrine-world of the Culexus assassins, due to its total psychic blankness. Farseeing revealed that the destruction of this world would provoke a backlash obliterating the Eldar Craftworld Alaitoc. The investigation was abandoned. The Imperium detected the planet on long-distance scans, notably because the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan was giving the world a very wide berth, while consuming nearby systems but leaving certain planets unmolested. The avoided worlds were all noted as being documented 'dead worlds'. It is possible these planets were Necron Tomb Worlds. It has also been noted an extremely large object, possibly a Dyson Sphere, is located in the same region. The object was estimated to be some 32 million times larger than Earth. Any of these locations could house the Outsider, but it is quite certain it is residing in this region.
The C'tan have once again started their Great Work - to permanently seal off the Warp that they abhor. This would have disastrous consequences for races with psychic abilities (including all the races the Old Ones originally created to combat the Necrontyr), destroying their souls completely. It would also leave the C'tan and their Necron slaves as the sole power in the galaxy with FTL capability, since every other race uses the Warp for interstellar travel, while Necrons utilize their incredibly advanced Inertialess Drive technology.
Also, the C'tan known as the Deceiver often alters his Necrodermis shape in order to masquerade as Imperial officials; two of his aliases have been noted in the background material. Explorator Magos Prime Reston Egal was sent to the dead world Naogeddon to examine the alien structures there, and to investigate the fate of the previous expeditions to the planet. In the short story Deus Ex Mechanicus, it is revealed that the Deceiver took the shape of this man. After the expedition, Reston Egal is also noted together with the Mars Incident, where he is said to demand that the Noctis Labyrinthus (the mining complex where one of the Necron ships managed to land before being destroyed) be destroyed and sealed with ferrocrete. The Deceiver also took the shape of a "Governor Takis" for a period of time, before an assassination attempt from the Callidus Temple. Unfortunately for the Imperium, the human assassin was no match to the awesome powers of the C'tan.
Emperor of Man
Spoiler :
The Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind is the leader of the Imperium the largest human organization in the universe. He is worshipped by the Imperial Cult, the Ecclesiarchy, and his worship is spread across the universe by the Inquisition and the Adepta Sororitas[. He is sometimes worshipped by those of the Adeptus Mechanicus as the Omnissiah, a multi-fold divine force that is united with their Machine God.
Humanity originally was aware of the Warp and coexisted with it. There were certain gifted individuals who could communicate with the Warp and use it for many purposes - the tribal healers, shamans, medicine men and other spiritual leaders of early humanity. These people's spirits could even flow through the Warp seamlessly after death and be reborn in new human bodies.
However, as humanity gained more knowledge, their secret desires for more power and pleasures grew and corruption began. The spiritual leaders began to notice the changes as their psychic gifts diminished and reincarnation became harder. They called a great council, in which the leaders decided none of them alone could stop this deterioration - but perhaps together they could. They decided that they would take their own lives in order to be reborn as a god of unimaginable power.
Almost a year after this council and the resulting suicides, a child was born - the boy who would become the Immortal God Emperor of all Mankind. He grew up in an isolated and poor rural area and it was rumoured that he had the power to stop his own aging and numerous other potent and miraculous psychic abilities.
After many years, as the Emperor grew in wisdom and focus, he intuitively knew of the spiritual corruption caused by human behaviour and set out to correct it. He always remained in the background, facilitating some of humanity’s most important changes and generally guiding and protecting the species. He bore many different names in many different eras of human history, sometimes taking on the identity of men who became great historical personages who directed humanity along a positive track. Other times, he simply took anonymous identities, prodding and pushing humanity along a path that would lead to the greatest enlightenment and happiness for all where and whenever he could.
The first mention of the Emperor in Imperial records occurs when he unified Terra after the Age of Strife (sometime in the 30th Millennium). The Emperor's use of genetically engineered warriors--the protoastartes, genowarriors, pre-Space Marines-- enabled him to reunite the people of Earth and to set his sights on the stars. With the assistance of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars, the Emperor armed his Space Marines and fleets of interstellar ships to carry his armies to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and spread the Imperium of Mankind.
The Emperor went on to create the superhuman Primarchs from his own genetic template from whom the Space Marines' gene-seed was later developed. According to Word Bearer's Chaplain Erebrus, the Emperor made a pact with the Chaos Gods to scatter the Primarchs across the galaxy, so that as each one grew up on their respective worlds, they would each dominate it, so that when the Emperor would lead his Great Crusade, the conquering of certain planets had naturally been done by his sons. The truth of this claim is highly disputed, for Erebrus, like the Word Bearers legion entire, was corrupted by Chaos and actively seeking to convert others to their cause. Erebrus reasons, however, that if the Emperor made them himself, "Why not make a thousand Horus's?"
The Emperor had a grand vision: to reunite the elements of humanity who had been scattered across the galaxy and isolated from each other during the Age of Strife. In the initial years of the Great Crusade, the Emperor was at the forefront of the fighting, leading his genetically-engineered soldiers into battle. As more worlds came under the control of the fledgling Imperium of Mankind, the Emperor rediscovered the lost Primarchs, whose genetic template was used to stabilise the creation process of the Space Marines.
Following the triumph at Ullanor the Emperor returned to his underground laboratories on Terra to work on secret projects, including the mapping of the Webway, an entrance to which he had discovered within his mountain fastness. He left his trusted 'sons', the Primarchs, in control of the Crusade, promoting the foremost of these, Horus, to the rank of Warmaster of the Imperium. Crucially he did not explain to anyone, even Horus, what he was planning to do or why he had returned to Terra; this sowed the first seeds of discontent, which would later bear deadly fruit.
The Great Crusade came to an end with the events of the Horus Heresy, when Horus turned on the Emperor. Under Horus's leadership, nine Space Marine Legions and many Imperial Army regiments turned to Chaos and started a galactic civil war.
Even as Horus' armies laid siege to Terra, the Emperor still believed that Horus could be redeemed due to his love for his son, and he maintained this belief even as he faced Horus in single combat. Due to his unwillingness to use his full power against his surrogate son, the Emperor suffered grievous injuries at Horus's hands. As Horus stood over the Emperor's shattered body, a single guard of the Adeptus Custodes entered the room. Horus flayed him alive with a single look. The guard's death galvanised the Emperor. He saw how far Horus had fallen and that there was only one way to defeat Chaos: to kill their pawn, his beloved son. The Emperor mustered a psychic lance of unparalleled power and unleashed it upon Horus. As the Chaos gods, taking immediately to self-preservation, deserted their pawn, the Emperor sensed the return of Horus's sanity. He knew Chaos might attempt to possess Horus again, and he would not be present to stop it a second time. Driving all compassion from his mind, the Emperor called on his inner reserves, and obliterated Horus's soul.
The Emperor's broken body was discovered by Rogal Dorn who, following the Emperor's instructions, oversaw the Emperor's re-connection to the Golden Throne, an arcane device to sustain his spirit. The Emperor has remained in the Golden Throne since his 'ascension' to this day, neither fully living nor wholly dead. Although initially designed as the hub of the Emperor's project to colonise the webway, the Golden Throne also functions as a complex life support device. The Golden Throne itself lies in the Sanctum Imperialis, which is guarded by the Emperor's Custodian Guard, also known as the Adeptus Custodes. The Emperor's decaying physical form is preserved and his life functions are carried out by carefully maintained machinery.
The Golden Throne is also connected to a massive Warp beacon known as the Astronomican that generates the system of signals making faster than light travel in the Imperium possible by providing a beacon with which astropaths are able to navigate The Emperor himself callibrates this signal, also known as the Ray of Hope or the Golden Path, but much of the power behind it comes from a "chorus" of ten thousand human psykers. The life force of the psykers is consumed within several months, which means that replacements must constantly be found and brought to Terra aboard the infamous Black Ships of the Inquisition.
Gork and Mork
Spoiler :
Gork and Mork are the Gods of the Orkoid species. The differences between the two deities are slight: One hits you while you aren't looking, and one hits you while you are. They are also generally separated as follows: One is mean, and the other is meaner. Which one of the two gods is the first and the second is a source of much debate and conflict among their worshippers, and a considerable number of wars between Orks have been fought over that topic. Both Gork and Mork are believed to help individual Orks in battle, but which deity an individual Ork chooses to worship seem to be of little consequence in the larger scheme of things.
Khaela Mensha Khaine
Spoiler :
Khaine is a god of the Eldar associated with battle, war and conflict. Many scholars believe him to be a manifestation of the Eldar's racial passion as manifested in battle and warfare. "Kaela Mensha" is not technically part of Khaine's name, but is a title he bears. It roughly translates to "bloody-handed", a reference to the blood which eternally drips from his hands as a reminder of his murder of the ancient Eldar hero, Eldanesh.
During the war of heaven, Khaine fought and defeated the Nightbringer, shattering his necrodermis, although the resulting metal shards pierced his flesh, tainting his form with 'the aspect of the Reaper'. It is also said that this event precipitated the eventual fall of the Eldar: The Nightbringer planted the fear of death within all mortal creatures except the Orks, which furthered their survivalist emotions. In the depths of the warp, beings created during the turmoil of the War in Heaven would feast on these feelings and grow to sentience, setting into motion a chain of events that would close the Path of Rebirth for Eldar souls forever.
Khaine is one of the two surviving gods of the Eldar. In the old pantheon, he was second only to Asuryan himself in power, and was often shown as the enemy of Vaul. He is also the most violent and reckless of the gods. Asuryan was so appalled by his murder of Eldanesh, a mortal, that he cursed Khaine and made his hands drip eternally with the blood of Eldanesh so that everyone would remember what he had done.
Khaine is also believed to have been assaulted, defeated, and dominated by Slaanesh sometime after Slaanesh's awakening in the 29th millennium (Imperial Calendar). Following this, Khorne, Chaos God of war, battled Slaanesh for Khaine, rightly claiming the Eldar deity as his property. During their struggle, Khaine was driven into the material world, where he shattered into a thousand pieces. Each piece came to rest at the heart of an Eldar Craftworld. By sacrificing an Exarch to Khaine on the eve of battle, the Avatar becomes a fiery, animated manifestation of the god, including the blood dripping from his hand, and leads the Eldar army into battle.
Khaine's precise nature is not defined, although due to his interaction with the Chaos Gods, he appears to be an entity of the Warp, although not appearing to be as power-hungry and demonstrably evil as some others of this ilk (such as the Chaos Gods).
During the war of heaven, Khaine fought and defeated the Nightbringer, shattering his necrodermis, although the resulting metal shards pierced his flesh, tainting his form with 'the aspect of the Reaper'. It is also said that this event precipitated the eventual fall of the Eldar: The Nightbringer planted the fear of death within all mortal creatures except the Orks, which furthered their survivalist emotions. In the depths of the warp, beings created during the turmoil of the War in Heaven would feast on these feelings and grow to sentience, setting into motion a chain of events that would close the Path of Rebirth for Eldar souls forever.
Khaine is one of the two surviving gods of the Eldar. In the old pantheon, he was second only to Asuryan himself in power, and was often shown as the enemy of Vaul. He is also the most violent and reckless of the gods. Asuryan was so appalled by his murder of Eldanesh, a mortal, that he cursed Khaine and made his hands drip eternally with the blood of Eldanesh so that everyone would remember what he had done.
Khaine is also believed to have been assaulted, defeated, and dominated by Slaanesh sometime after Slaanesh's awakening in the 29th millennium (Imperial Calendar). Following this, Khorne, Chaos God of war, battled Slaanesh for Khaine, rightly claiming the Eldar deity as his property. During their struggle, Khaine was driven into the material world, where he shattered into a thousand pieces. Each piece came to rest at the heart of an Eldar Craftworld. By sacrificing an Exarch to Khaine on the eve of battle, the Avatar becomes a fiery, animated manifestation of the god, including the blood dripping from his hand, and leads the Eldar army into battle.
Khaine's precise nature is not defined, although due to his interaction with the Chaos Gods, he appears to be an entity of the Warp, although not appearing to be as power-hungry and demonstrably evil as some others of this ilk (such as the Chaos Gods).
Khorne
Spoiler :
Khorne is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Khorne grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was rage. Khorne is the Chaos god of hate, war, violence and killing; for this reason he bears sobriquets such as Blood God and Lord of Skulls.
Khorne is a spartan god of war who acts outwardly by seeking the death of others, preferring close combat over ranged weaponry; as such, he is completely opposed to the hedonistic Slaanesh, an inwardly acting god who seeks pleasure in every act and experience. He has a strong distrust of wizards and sorcerers, whom he sees as cowards; this means he is also highly suspicious of Tzeentch, although they are not archenemies.
He is described as an extremely well-muscled, beast-headed monster sitting on a brass throne atop a mountain of skulls in the middle of a sea of blood. The skulls are described as belonging to both his victims and his worshippers alike, as Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows. Due to the immense amount of violence and killing occurring throughout the universe, Khorne is the strongest of the Chaos gods. The colours associated with him are red, brass and black, and these colours feature prominently in his demonic hordes and are usually adopted by his followers. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Khornate".
Nurgle
Spoiler :
Nurgle is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Nurgle grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was despair. Nurgle is the Chaos god of disease, decay, despair and destruction. Despite the nature of his influence, he takes a keen interest in his victims, caring for them in a jovial manner similar to a loving grandfather; for this reason he is frequently referred to as Grandfather Nurgle or Papa Nurgle, as well as the Lord of Decay. He is depicted as a huge, bloated humanoid, covered with boils and sores, his body completely rotten from disease. He is typically accompanied by an enveloping cloud of buzzing flies.
Like all of the four major Chaos gods, Nurgle is opposed by one of his fellows. In Nurgle's case, his anthithesis is Tzeentch, the god of change and sorcery. Where Nurgle is the deified embodiment of mortal despair; Tzeentch is the deified embodiement of mortal hope. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Nurglesque".
Slaanesh
Spoiler :
Slaanesh is one of the four major Chaos gods. Slaanesh is as the youngest of the four major gods. Like his brother gods, Slaanesh grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was pleasure. He is the god of excess, hedonism, pride, aestheticism and self indulgence; he is also known as the Dark Prince or the Prince of Excess.
Slaanesh is described as taking many forms, be they female or male, even hermaphroditic or androgynous. In any case, he is always unnaturally beautiful, and irresistible to mortals who view him. Slaanesh is regarded by humans as being male, with the notable exception that the Eldar race who refer to Slaanesh as a female, normally referring to "her" as She Who Thirsts or the Great Enemy. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Slaaneshi".
Slaanesh the God in its original form is said to be a statuesque hermaphrodite with the right side of the body being female and the left one male. Slaanesh is depicted as being endowed with a large mane of hair from which a double set of bull-like horns (one larger and a smaller one inside the first pair) do protrude. The God is also said to wield at all time an arcane golden wand which serves as receptacle of much of its awesome power and to be its greatest treasure.
Slaanesh is opposed by the Chaos God Khorne. Slaaneshi act inwardly by enjoying every experience and every act; whereas Khornites act outwardly through rage-fuelled violence. Khorne detests Slaanesh's decadence, where Slaanesh detests Khorne as crude and deeply unsophisticated.
Tzeentch
Spoiler :
Tzeentch (pronounced 'zeetch') is one of the four major Chaos gods. Like his brother gods, Tzeentch grew from a single survivalist emotion: in his case, the emotion was hope. Tzeentch is the Chaos god of change, sorcery, Machiavellian scheming and subtle manipulation; his nicknames thus include the Changer of Ways, the Grand Schemer, and the Lord of Sorcery. As a being representing change, he has no single form.
As Tzeentch represents hope, change, optimism, and adaptation, this makes him the anithesis of his brother Nurgle, god of despair, stagnation, pessimism, and destruction. The Chaos god Khorne also has a deep distrust of Tzeentch, due to the heavy use of psykers and sorcerers. When the armies of Chaos march together for war, it is usually Tzeentch who instigates these brief alliances, for whatever unfathomable goal he happens to have planned. The correct adjective to indicate individuals and events related to this God is "Tzeentchian".
The Laughing God
Spoiler :
the Laughing God is one of only two Eldar Gods to have survived the Fall of the Eldar. It is said that during the fight between Slaanesh and Khaine the Laughing God hid behind Khaine for protection, in the aftermath of the struggle the Laughing God fled to the Webway where Slaanesh could not find him. He still resides there, and is the only known being to know exactly where every door in the webway leads.
In ancient Eldar myth it was said to be the Laughing God who tricked the Outsider into eating other C'tan. Those Eldar who follow him, known as the Harlequins, are protected from Slaanesh in a different way from their Craftworld brethren. While Craftworld Eldar wear Spirit Stones which absorb their souls when they die, Harlequins are directly protected by their God, becoming one with him on death.
In ancient Eldar myth it was said to be the Laughing God who tricked the Outsider into eating other C'tan. Those Eldar who follow him, known as the Harlequins, are protected from Slaanesh in a different way from their Craftworld brethren. While Craftworld Eldar wear Spirit Stones which absorb their souls when they die, Harlequins are directly protected by their God, becoming one with him on death.
