The methodology of Khorne...

[Nabterayl]

What if he was the God of Protection? How many soldiers join the army to protect things? All of them bar the murderers. What if Khorne was originally the anthropic principle of the need to protect and defend? As more and more soldiers join up to do just that, then realise they're not defending a thing, they're just being used to maintain the parasitic empires of plutocrats and bankers, does their misery at that betray slowly distil through Khorne, until he shifts, giving up on protection because the whole idea is a lie? He just decides: "Well, if they want me to kill, then I will. I'll kill and kill and kill until they're all gone, until none of it matters any more, until I never have to think about what I've lost or how I've failed."

That'd make him pretty much the most tragic Ruinous Power of the lot. The idea that he's not truly the God of Slaughterous Rage, but the God of Impotent Powerlessness; that his rage is nothing but the mask worn by every soldier betrayed by his orders.

I don't know where this comes from, but a much older Warhammer fan than I once told me that the oldest fluff regarding the Ruinous Powers is that they were responses to the horrors of life. Essentially, life sucks, and ...

1. Tzeentch says, "That's true, but things can change!"
2. Nurgle says, "That's true, but it only hurts you if you let it."
3. Slaanesh says, "That's true, but you can still take care of yourself."
4. Khorne says, "That's true, and it's okay to get angry about it!"

I don't know if this is super old fluff or something my grognard friend made up, but I've always liked this view of Chaos because all of these are intuitively acceptable responses to the horrors of life. That's what makes Chaos so attractive, particularly when juxtaposed against an Imperial Creed that tells you that this is the best of all possible worlds, and if you think things are bad it's essentially because you lack faith. Sometimes things are broken, and it is okay to get mad about it. The tragedy of the four Ruinous Powers, in this view - the reason their most advanced disciples end up gibbering impotent idiots - is that none of them can accept any response other than the one that birthed them. It doesn't matter what the evil is; if the Chaos gods' response is the only one you have to evil, you end up a monster.

Suppose the evil you're reacting to is something as clearly evil as institutionalized racism. The Imperium tells you that there is no racism here. Khorne tells you that yes there is, and furthermore, it is right and good for you to be angry about it. But if you are only driven by your anger, you end up knee-deep in the corpses of white people, frothing at the mouth and screaming, "I AM CORRECTING INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM!!!!!!!" That's true no matter what you are responding to, be it Imperial bureaucracy, the fact that your wife left you and your dog died, or the fact that the dark eldar are raiding your settlement and there's nobody but you standing between them and your wife and kids.

The other thing I like about this "mono-response to life's horrors/evils" view is that it makes Abaddon's project seem more sensible. None of the Chaos Gods present a viable alternative philosophy by themselves, but taken together, and balanced in moderation, they pretty much are the intuitively correct response to life's horrors and evils. A sufficiently vain man could think (or be tempted into thinking) that if only a strong-willed individual could hold the philosophies of the Chaos gods in balance, he would have a humane, humanist alternative to the morally bankrupt dreck that the Ecclesiarchy and the space marine chapters peddle.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

not necessarily face to face, Cap'n. Once again, Martial Prowess and bloodletting in all its forms being the key.

Oh, I agree. It's why they still have pistols and tanks, afterall (although I expect the latter have a penchant for RAMMING SPEED!). I mean, Kharn still has his Plasma Pistol.

There's a definite preference for getting up close and personal, though. Khorne doesn't care, but he still has favourites.

[YorkNecromancer]

The other thing I like about this "mono-response to life's horrors/evils" view is that it makes Abaddon's project seem more sensible. None of the Chaos Gods present a viable alternative philosophy by themselves, but taken together, and balanced in moderation, they pretty much are the intuitively correct response to life's horrors and evils.

If Abbadon was played as being closer to a character like Bane (as envisaged by Gail Simone), that would go a long way to making Chaos cool for me. A whole shtick of refusing the Ruinous Powers because "I will bow to no will except my own." would be pretty cool. It would then neatly tie into the concept you describe above.

I've always liked the idea that the Imperium and Chaos are just Not So Different; they're both fascists, where the Imperium are slaves to faith and duty, while Chaos are slaves to ego and self.

I had a Deathwatch campaign in mind where one of the factions was a group of ultra-orthodox Inquisitors who felt that the Imperium had been consecrated to Khorne by the Emperor from its inception. Their whole justification was that in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war. Which, let's be fair, is a pretty solid argument, given that Khorne cares not where the blood flows. It was never resolved whether they were right or not (because the ambiguity is better than knowing) but that always struck me as an interesting idea.

[mathhammer]

The best answer to what is Khorne is in Liber Chaotica.

[url]http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Liber_Chaotica[/url]

This book is a must (and i mean must) for anyone that really wants to dwell into Chaos.

The second best book lately on khorne was the Horus Hersey book Betrayer, In summary long range weapons are just a way to get up and close and personal. When you consider even there space ships like to fight in hand to hand combat.

[Denzark]

That'd make him pretty much the most tragic Ruinous Power of the lot. The idea that he's not truly the God of Slaughterous Rage, but the God of Impotent Powerlessness; that his rage is nothing but the mask worn by every soldier betrayed by his orders.

I'm not convinced about this. Yes we talk about Khorne in terms of wrath and rage. But, I have seen some particularly sincere interviews with soldiers who have served in Afghanistan, that state, one of the reason they do what they do is, its fun. It is fun to drive tanks, it is fun to fire 10k of anti tank missile into a mud hut just because you took a single round of small arms fire from it. It is fun to chuck grenades at people, firing on automatic gets your juices flowing.

I think Khorne is this writ large. Its about getting your rocks off in a big bloody orgy of destruction. I see ntohing tragic about it - that is why noble blood spilling (Eldar, Khaine) is closely linked. Khorne may be socio/psychopathic - but I think he just thinks its all fun. Any rage may beself induced, but only to maximise the fun.

[YorkNecromancer]

Any rage may beself induced, but only to maximise the fun.

A reading that posits that Khorne's an emotionally illiterate manchild? That metaphor works for me too.