Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gods & Color Identity

The Blind Eternities forum

Posted on June 1, 2022, 12:34 p.m. by Coward_Token

So I've been thinking of what MTG color philosophies match the four Chaos gods from 40k. It's one of those trivialities that has been stuck in my head for a while, and I feel compelled to be rid of it by inflicting my ramblings upon the world. With the Universes Beyond product looming on the horizon, this seems like a good time to post. I'll confess that I've mostly got my WH40K lore from wikis, forums, and TTS, plus some of the actual RPG rule books, so feel extra free to dispute my interpretations of things if you're more informed.

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Blanket statement: Each of the Ruinous Powers is arguably multicolor, but their common denominator is black. I don't expect this to be controversial; they're pretty much demons who tempt mortals, and individual ambition is something they all encourage, with reference to e.g. the Aspiring Champion unit and the Infamy mechanic in the Black Crusade RPG. Now, onto the individual gods. For each one I'll make my case for why a particular color either does or doesn't fit, concluding with one or more proposed color identities for that god.

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Tzeentch Show

Pretty straightforward. Blue is obvious as he's greatly about knowledge and predicting the future, and his favor of ambition trough secrets & manipulation is well matched by dimir too. Tzeentch's more directly chaotic aspect is obviously represented by red. The fact that this is in conflict with his ambitious dimir side is a feature and not a bug, to the dismay of both his mortal and daemonic followers—it can be hard to tell if his overly complicated and often conflicting schemes are primarily a product of divine genius or self-destructive whimsy. Furthermore, I think these three colors are the most associated with personal agency, which ties in with Tzeentch's association with hope. White doesn't seem to have much in it that applies to Tzeencht, while its opposition to disorder directly distances it from him. Green is associated with fate, but seeks to accept it rather than to manipulate it, making it similarly poorly suited. All in all, Tzeentch seems like a pretty good fit for grixis to me.

Khorne Show

The Blood God's encouragement of conflict for its own sake and the stereotypical image of his followers as always angry, all the time, makes red obvious enough. However, his emphasis on arbitrary martial honor (like dismissing sorcery) and his prudish distaste for Slaanesh means that just the unfettered rakdos feels insufficient; I think white is the best complement here. You could arguably make a similar case for green's opposition to what it deems unnatural, although I think its aspects are mostly redundant to both white and red. I don't think blue has much that applies; Khorne sees knowledge and self-improvement as means for greater violence, not ends-in-of-themselves. In conclusion, I think mardu is the best fit, but jund isn't super far behind it either. Hell, you could combine the two as WotC literally identifies BRGW as "Aggression".

Nurgle Show

Papa Plague is all about the cycle of life and death (infectious diseases are biological after all), and accepting one's fate. Thus, green is a fine fit, especially as it puts Grandfather Nurgle in conflict with Tzeentch's blue aspect: All things being equal, entropy will eventually triumph and the universe will settle into heat death, yet magic promises that nothing is impossible. (Insert your Madoka reference of choice here.) Anyway, as Nurgle also has a (dysfunctionally) affectionate side to him that welcomes all, one could also make a case for the inclusion of white. While he is jolly and somewhat whimsical, I don't think those tendencies are strong enough to mark Nurgle as red. Azban is what I'd settle for, or at the very least golgari.

Slaanesh Show

She Who Thirsts is commonly associated with sex and drugs and rock & roll. Because of that, the color identity for the Rakdos Cult of Ravnica seems sufficient to describe him at first glance, and it neatly fits my characterization of Khorne as having a white aspect since it's the enemy of red and black. However, I believe things are a bit more complicated than that. Slaanesh is not just a god of pleasure, but also one of excess. Lucius, her equivalent to Khorne's Khârn, Nurgle's Typhus, and Tzeencht's Ahriman, came to be what he is today trough his obsessive enjoyment of improving his swordsmanship. Slaanesh is also associated with perfection, and blue's slogan is "Perfection trough knowledge". I believe this necessitates the inclusion of blue to her color identity, perhaps surprising since it's a color commonly associated with scientists (but see Niko Aris's article for how WotC is trying to show a less well-known side of blue). And yes, much of what I said about Tzeentch is true about Slaanesh: they're both very unpredictable, their respective followers being raised up and cast down seemingly at random, making red describe them both well. Slaanesh is similarly highly individualistic, the restrictions of white and green chafing her. However, unlike Tzeentch, I think Slaanesh prioritizes blue's striving for perfection over black's quest for power. But yes, the final verdict is still grixis.

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Hope that was not too tiresome or nonsensical. Feedback welcome.

Gleeock says... #2

Hmmm... I know 0 about Warhammer. Do you have a favorite of these?.. I feel like I would like this Slaanesh the most. I guess whatever force would revel the most into a descent into chaos would strike a chord with me.

June 1, 2022 2:24 p.m.

Abaques says... #3

Coward_Token, great work!

I think my only disagreements would be that I'd have Khorne be pure Rakdos and I'd say Nurgle is just plain old Golgari. I think the white elements of order just that you see in both Abzan and Mardu just don't fit any of the chaos gods.

Of course my knowledge of the W40K universe is similarly limited. My favorite source is probably Luetin09.

June 1, 2022 2:56 p.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #4

I know the game, but I am lacking in the lore. Just popping in to be subscribed and read future posts :3

I wonder if the Gods should all have black? Then you could have the 3-color pairings that include black in it.

Mardu, Sultai, Abzan, Jund, Esper... Grixis. Am I missing any? No I think that's all of them. Then there's Naya, Jeskai, Temur and Bant; None of which have black.

So yeah that's six options. That should be plenty to work with.

June 2, 2022 2:06 a.m. Edited.

Coward_Token says... #5

Gleeock: So my favorite faction is the Thousand Sons, who are Chaos Space Marines associated with Tzeentch. I'm not too fond of the aestetics of his daemons though, for that I prefer the Slaaneshi ones.

Abaques: That's understandable. My thinking was that the colors have many different aspects that don't necessarily have to all be present in order for their inclusion to be relevant in things exemplifying them (what's ambitious about black Zombies, or scientific about blue Rogues?). Plus, I wanted at least some MTG color enemy relations to reflect the enemy relations between the Gods; and while there's red & blue, that's mainly about emotion vs detachment, which I don't think examplifies the antagonism between Khorne & Slaanesh. (Speaking of which, I think it's kinda clumsy that Khorne seems to be more antagonistic towards Tzeentch in practice with regards to magic, with reference to e.g. the Collar of Khorne and Khârn's Blessing of the Blood God.)

TypicalTimmy: Did you miss on clicking the respective spoiler boxes for the gods? I give all of them a black-inclusive tri-color identity as at least one suggestion

June 3, 2022 4:35 p.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #6

I passively read it at work and only saw two or three colors listed at a time. For example, Tzeentch only appears to mention blue, red and green. In fact, the only one who expressly mentions black is Slaanesh. Now you do have Rakdos and Golgari mentioned as well, but just skimming through, it doesn't really showcase the true colors you are aiming for. Everything is sort of just open-minded possibilities. For example, you mention Nurgle being green, white and then you mention red. For just a passive skim, that sounds like Naya. You mention you'd be against red and settle on Abzan or Golgar - both of which have black. But again, quick skim just to see colors shows Naya.

June 3, 2022 5:37 p.m.

AceBalthazar says... #7

I'm glad I found your post as I've been thinking about this recently too. I landed close to yours with a few differences:

• Khorne - Rakdos
• Nurgle - Golgari
• Slaanesh - Grixis (Red for implulse and excess, Blue for perfectionism and deceit)
• Tzeentch - Sultai (or rather Simic with Black. I like Green here for evolution/mutation a la the Changer of Ways. I think Red is too passionate for this cold, calculating schemer)

Fun thought experiment either way - thanks for posting.

May 22, 2023 7:31 p.m.