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 Asherian Command wrote:
Theres a difference between a Renegade and a Chaos Space Marine.

A renegade has gone rouge from the imperium and use whatever means necessary to survive and fight for what every cause they are fighting for.

While the csms are there because.... They choose to be. They weren't really ever forced into it. Lets face it the primarchs were, (with the exception of the Thousand Sons and the Iron Warriors). They choose to be evil and choose to go to the ruinous powers, they were not aware of the consequences but they became that. Chapters like the Red Corsairs, choose to go renegade which lead them to the path of damnation.

IN the world of Warhammer 40k there are no true good guys.

The Night Lords didnt choose to be evil, they just had brutal methods. They justified raping a planet to ensure quick surrender from the next 10 planets. Not exactly saints no, but all of the space marine legions were going through the galaxy bringing war to unsuspecting planets. There is no way to do that and be a saint.

Then, Things got out of hand and they knew it. To know they had gone to far they must not have really wanted to be evil.

The Imperium sent an assassin after Kurse, which with his powers of foresight he knew would happen and thus justified to him all his actions. And so he just let the assassin kill him. A primarch, just let it happen, A primarch that can see the future, could have stopped it easily, but he let it happen. He must have felt he somehow deserved it.

Even 10,000 years after the HH, many night lords do not worship chaos.


Add that and you have the Tsons, Iron Warriors, and Night Lords. All the rest, yeah they wanted to be evil, or they wanted to worship a god other than the Emperor, or they were Alpha legion and who knows. But that's 1/3 of the legions.

Have them fight the tau, everbody hates the tau.

At this point though, the 1kSons are so far beyond redemption that they might as well never have been good. They are either mindless automatons or they're remorseless sorcerers selling their soul to demons for scraps of power. Their origins make them deserve pity, but that doesn't mean that they're not evil NOW.

Well, as with everything in life or fiction its a point of view, the eye of the beholder saying. You can argue a few things with chaos being good, but you also have to take a look at the end results of what they do. Most from what I've read (Which is Slaanesh themes) tend to portray social structure with chaos as piratical, enslavement or rule by fear. In some sense it can be considered tribal even. Maybe someone has Stockholm syndrome and reflects seeing chaos marines as heroes. Maybe someone is seduced by the 'art' of Slaanesh and come to admire the work, effort and dedication. The 'hope and change' of Tzeentch, maybe some come to respect the tribal and warrior honor that which is Khorne. Anything is really possible, You just have to justify the point of view.

You also have to capitalize on what makes the Imperium bad in the stance you are writing about, show those sides in a different light so to speak. In away the write is going to be argumentative and sort of like a debate in away. Bit tricky but definitely possible. I mean an easy write in my mind would be something like tribal planet dedicated to Khorne, populus serves them of course very simply while admiring the ways that come from them even if it gets one of them killed for disobeying or being at fault for something. They haven't burned down the town or caused mass genocide not so bad. Imperium moves in, maybe kills half of the Khorne marines begins to kill off the populus and destroy settlements due to chaotic influences. While the remaining Khornites plot a counter offensive to restore their own version of 'order'. Which the general weak and apathetic enslaved people see as saviors due to shaving lives, homes etc.

I think what you'll have trouble with is pulling off the 'good guys' label and slapping it on them, they can't pull a batman(no Night Lord pun honest) best way is to have an outside source be the judgment of what is good or bad which is why you want something that is generally not considered in the war argument which is general populous. But like I said its a point of view of what you think is good or bad. How you justify the means to your end is the only thing you need to do to prove or disprove your read / argument. Good luck with it, I approve of the write find it interesting...

-Sincerely Viridian

Yes if horrible sacrifices is a good thing and unleashing hell on innocents is a good thing among other horrors they inflict. Not to me though.

Unless you are talking about renegades whom are not chaos alligned

ninja_guardsman wrote:
Yes if horrible sacrifices is a good thing and unleashing hell on innocents is a good thing among other horrors they inflict. Not to me though.

Unless you are talking about renegades whom are not chaos alligned

That could be said for the Imperium of man though..

Yes if condemning a planet or a sectors population to be nuked from orbit and unleashing atomising hell upon millions or billions of innocents is a good thing among all the suppressing fascism they inflict upon their Imperium. Not to me though..

Unless you're talking about humanitarian SM such as the Salamanders or the more reasonable humans in the Imperium like Gaunt iirc..

The thing is, its always a point of view, never as one sided as you may think..

Either way, whichever end is chosen. its not pretty..

I would say this is quite doable, considering there is a strong argument for a brighter future under Chaos.

As it stands, life for the average Imperial citizen is one of strife, hard labor, and religious oppression. Of course, daemon worlds and other Chaos worlds are also awful. But both sides have exceptions. So let's say the Astronomicon dies, the Imperium now has no meaningful navy, and CSM + Xenos can just storm Terra and wherever else they want.

1) Much of the CSM forces simply want to take over the Imperium, not destroy it. Abaddon refuses to become a DP for this exact reason.
2) There are way more CSM than the 1,000,000 loyalist space marines, if you go by the fact that not only do they have Traitor Legions, but there are untold numbers of loyalists defecting over the years and CSM make their own troops in limited quantities as well. Add cultists and corrupted IG to that, CSM forces are ridiculously strong, they just haven't #rekt Terra yet because of the whole Cadia/pylons near the Eye of Terror plot armor shenanigans.
3) Cadia falls, CSM forces pour onto Terra and the rest of the Imperium. Abaddon takes control and launches a new crusade against the Xenos to bring mankind to its "true glory" under the Chaos Gods instead of the corpse emperor. It will be tough because Xenos will predict this and try to stop it, but which faction can truly stand up to the full might of Chaos? Eldar are too few, Orkz don't even care and probably love the possibility of the even crazier new wars it brings, Tau: LOL, Nids aren't organized enough/might not even care, Necrons have little to gain in the grand scheme of things, and I haven't even factored in daemon allies for CSM yet. Even if Eldar, Tau, and Necrons teamed up while Orkz and Tyranids just happened to be in the area, I don't see them eradicating the enormous Imperium, especially one aided by the Chaos Gods and without the need for the Astronomicon.
4) The new Chaos Imperium becomes stabilized, and in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is only war. Abby staves off Xenos but probably can't completely destroy them.

Now of course all of this assumes none of the Chaos Gods pull a Just As Planned™, but that doesn't matter. If we're just talking about having CSM as the "good guys", they could use the above points to justify their actions.

And that concludes today's Heresy 101 class.

 ZultanQ wrote:
I would say this is quite doable, considering there is a strong argument for a brighter future under Chaos.

No, not really. For the average person, under the tyranny of Chaos you're just going to be tortured to death as a sacrifice for those whom the fickle Dark Gods currently favor. And the worst thing that could happen to a Chaos Cultist is for Chaos to win, because a planet overwhelmed by warp and demons becomes a hell beyond comprehension-- unless you have the fickle favor of the Chaos Gods (and the overwhelming majority of people do not), you'll just be fodder for slaughter and torment.

It isn't Hell, its just different. Hell is pure suffering, and there is nothing pure about Chaos.

All Chaos does is tear down physical limitations, to the point where the mind can conquer all. Your thoughts and emotions are tangible things. Laws don't matter. Rules don't matter. When you step onto a daemon world, the only thing that matters is how you feel.

Khorne is the God of Rage, but hatred is good. Without self-hatred, what is guilt? Without revenge, what is justice? Slaanesh is the God of Pleasure, and pleasure makes life worth living. Nurgle lets us look past death and the inevitable. Tzeentch lets us see hope in our futures.

Humans defined Chaos.

 LoneLictor wrote:
All Chaos does is tear down physical limitations, to the point where the mind can conquer all. Your thoughts and emotions are tangible things. Laws don't matter. Rules don't matter. When you step onto a daemon world, the only thing that matters is how you feel.

No, that's not how it works.

We have actual accounts of demon worlds, where demons feast eternally upon mortals, tormenting them in ways that make the Christian hell seem tame.

 Melissia wrote:

 ZultanQ wrote:
I would say this is quite doable, considering there is a strong argument for a brighter future under Chaos.

No, not really. For the average person, under the tyranny of Chaos you're just going to be tortured to death as a sacrifice for those whom the fickle Dark Gods currently favor. And the worst thing that could happen to a Chaos Cultist is for Chaos to win, because a planet overwhelmed by warp and demons becomes a hell beyond comprehension-- unless you have the fickle favor of the Chaos Gods (and the overwhelming majority of people do not), you'll just be fodder for slaughter and torment.

The book Daemon World depicts a planet overwhelmed by the Warp and daemons. It's not a hell beyond comprehension. Yes, the daemons rule, and there's violence, strife, sacrifice of enemies, mutation, and general weirdness, but there are also lots of people living their lives at a standard no worse than those on an Imperial hive world. On a hive world, most people work in a factory 18 hours a day from when they learn to walk to when they die (prematurely) and are processed and fed to their fellow workers. Let's be honest, they're SLAVES. Slaves who are given the minimum material goods to keep them going and are slowly worked to death. Sounds pretty hellish to me!

A Chaos world is more violent and dangerous in comparison, but also much more free. It's basically a meritocracy, where different factions fight to be top dog, and anyone with enough skill can make it. Personally, given the choice between the two I'd take the Chaos world. At least there's the possibility of doing something that makes a difference there. On a hive world that's completely snuffed out. The only chance at anything approaching a decent life is being born a noble (0.000001% chance) or becoming a ganger in the underhive, which really isn't all that different from living on a Chaos dominated world, lack of warp shenanigans aside. And the vast majority of Imperial citizens are hive worlders.

Are there a lot of nasty goings on on Chaos controlled worlds? Absolutely, especially if you haven't embraced Chaos, and are therefore an enemy to be used, sacrificed, or otherwise disposed of as the Chaos champions see fit. But if Chaos society really were the hyperbolic hell that is occasionally vaguely alluded to in some sources, Chaos worshipers wouldn't be able to function enough to build any armies or machines or get anything done. Ever.

 Melissia wrote:

 LoneLictor wrote:
All Chaos does is tear down physical limitations, to the point where the mind can conquer all. Your thoughts and emotions are tangible things. Laws don't matter. Rules don't matter. When you step onto a daemon world, the only thing that matters is how you feel.

No, that's not how it works.

We have actual accounts of demon worlds, where demons feast eternally upon mortals, tormenting them in ways that make the Christian hell seem tame.

We also have accounts of daemon worlds where everyone lives in harmony, dancing in honor of Nurgle.

Melissa, every other post in this thread is you saying, "No". Just because there are mentions of horrible Chaotic things doesn't mean that Chaos is inherently evil. I could argue that toasters are inherently evil because there are toaster fires, or that coconuts are inherently evil because they kill more people than sharks every year. Now, 40k isn't the most highbrow work, but there is some depth to it. Chaos is about complete freedom, and all the good and evil (mostly evil because its 40k) that comes with it. And yes, most followers will be used and then neglected, but for those lucky few Chaos can very much payoff. Laissez-faire capitalism applied to the daemonic 4th dimension.

 LoneLictor wrote:
Just because there are mentions of horrible Chaotic things doesn't mean that Chaos is inherently evil.

... you seem to be forgetting, that's what demons are. They are Horrible Chaotic Things.

And the Chaos Gods are, if anything, even more extreme, even more horrible, even more chaotic things.

And their worshipers desire to emulate them.

Khornate worshipers desire blood sacrifice, for Khorne cares not from where the blood flows, only that it does.

Nurgle worshipers desire to make everyone else as miserable as they are, for Nurgle thinks misery is happiness.

Slaaneshi worshipers desire to live massively hedonistic lives, taking everyone else as slaves to abuse, rape, and torment for the sake of their sadistic joy-- just like their god/dess.

Tzeenchian worshipers desire power and schemes, and like the god they worship, they gain power and plot against each other for the sake of doing so, not caring for waht gets destroyed and who gets harmed in the process.

The Chaos Gods do not care even one bit for the health (either physical or mental) of the humans that worship them, they have their own bizarre alien desires and it doesn't matter to them how many of us they kill in order to obtain them. The nature of all four Gods of Chaos corrupts their followers in to utter immoral and amoral monsters with the bodies (usually) of people.

Chaos is not evil, since evil is a definition. Chaos is by definition impossible to define.

They are good and evil at once.

I'll go and give "Chaos Space Marines is good" a shot....

The Imperium as is is a mechanism of survival for humanity as it currently stands. The original intent of the Emperor to usher in a new golden age for humanity is now dead, and all that remains is the corpse of that idea, and those willing to fight for it. Fight and struggle to survive. There is really no other thing that the Imperium could do as their zenith of power is long past and the threats that grow incrementally each year are not going away, but getting stronger as time progresses.

For the average human, Chaos and the Imperium could literally be interchangeable. The Imperium will work you to death; Chaos sacrifice you for their cause. In the case of Imperial ideology, all things are centered around sacrificing oneself to the glory and power of the Emperor of Mankind; you should be thankful to die for him!

For Chaos, Chaos will use you to their ends too, but this is the perspective of Chaos Space Marines, not the length and breadth of every heretic, traitor, slave, and mutant.

To a Chaos Space Marine in their myriad forms, they are fighting against the Imperium in one form or another. For the renegades fresh from expulsion from the bosom of the Emperor, they are fighting either for survival or their own form of what constitutes their vision of the Imperium. At best noble if misguided in their purpose, at worst they are already debased scoundrels and pirates.

For those who actively seek the glory of Chaos, they are your bread and butter ranks. These are marines who have chosen with their own free will to abandon the Emperor and curry favor with beings who actively partake in mortal affairs, and are more pure in their intent than the Imperium is with the mortal decrees and laws that govern the twisting and baroque mechanisms that make the Imperium lurch forward. In a sense, they are fighting for the individual aspects of humanity rather than the greater good. Of course a murdering Khorne berzerkers is not going to be fighting for good and just causes, but his intent is clear and his purpose pristine.

For the Legionaries still around since the Horus Heresy, they perhaps come closest to good guys in the Chaos Marine ranks (outside of Nurgle aligned marines who are few of the positive thinkers of the Chaos worshippers, but their gifts are certainly not righteous in and of itself).

They are looking to dismantle the oppressive regime of the Emperor who had failed them in one form or another. Whatever their original beef with the Big E, they are now your slimmest hope of upending the established order of the Imperium and ushering in an age where the Imperial mechanisms of government collapse and humanity then can choose its own destiny.

Yes if Chaos beats the forces of the Imperium, things will go bad real quick for most of the Imperium. BUT of the positives that would come out of it, it could cause some new, fresh ideas to come back into the fold. It would allow greater expansion for those who the will and intent to fight for their ideals.

I have to say I disagree with a lot of the thread.

I believe it IS possible to have a sympathetic CSM warband, but in the end Chaos itself is inherently evil.

The dark side of chaos is the end point. The lighter less evil parts are only to entice people and not scare them away as much.

Chaos does represent duality and is a two sided coin to some extent but the fluff makes it ridiculously clear that the coin is weighted to eventually land dark side up in the end every time.

 jreilly89 wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Ahahahahah-no.

Chaos Space Marines are pretty much the only faction that can be outright called evil.

jreilly your post was blank

 Melissia wrote:
And the Chaos Gods are, if anything, even more extreme, even more horrible, even more chaotic things.

The Chaos gods are also good. For example, Khorne isn't just the god of indiscriminate slaughter, it is the god of honorable combat and glory in battle. Which is the whole point of Chaos, you don't just wake up one day and decide you want to be a comic book villain, you start with good intentions, tell yourself that the ends justify the means, and eventually take it to an unhealthy extreme as you fall deeper and deeper into the lure of Chaos. Meanwhile the Imperium represents Order, committing acts of unspeakable evil in the name of maintaining its power, but holding back an (arguably) even worse fate. Reducing it to a shallow good vs. evil struggle just removes everything that makes that aspect of the setting interesting.

The Chaos Gods aren't good because while they are powered by good emotions as much as negative ones, they themselves desire only the most extreme and damaging of traits.

Khorne may be empowered by honor and martial pride, but he desires a Galaxy in which every living thing is embroiled in constant warfare, from babies to the elderly- hence the phrase "Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows".

Tzeentch may be empowered by hope, but he desires a Galaxy in which nothing is stable but constantly changing, the quicker and more spontaneous the better, and in which every living thing is constantly scheming and plotting over one another.

Nurgle may be empowered by willpower and endurance, but he desires a Galaxy in which everything is stagnant, never changing, never improving, and every living thing is bereft of hope and resigned to a meaningless, stagnant existence.

Slaanesh may be empowered by pleasure and virility, but he desires a Galaxy in which every extreme and excess is being experienced, even to the detriment of the participants. In Slaanesh' ideal galaxy, every living thing is basically a gibbering hyper-active vegetable, murdering themselves and others in their never-ending mission to experience the next big thrill.

Thus "Chaos". Chaos is evil, or at the very least it is destructive, because the beings who encompass Chaos, if unchecked, would annihilate the Galaxy and all living things in their quest to fulfill their thematic cause for existence.

 Melissia wrote:
Ahahahahah-no.

Chaos Space Marines are pretty much the only faction that can be outright called evil.

I thought the Dark Elves/Eldar were the ones described as pure evil.

Anyway, you seem to have a very strong adverse reaction to my idea, it's almost as though you're an Imperial citizen.


I'm thinking of putting the conventional description of Chaos as Imperial propaganda. The Forces of Chaos themselves have a positive view of Chaos and describe it with their own form of propaganda.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BlaxicanX wrote:
The Chaos Gods aren't good because while they are powered by good emotions as much as negative ones, they themselves desire only the most extreme and damaging of traits.

Khorne may be empowered by honor and martial pride, but he desires a Galaxy in which every living thing is embroiled in constant warfare, from babies to the elderly- hence the phrase "Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows".

Tzeentch may be empowered by hope, but he desires a Galaxy in which nothing is stable but constantly changing, the quicker and more spontaneous the better, and in which every living thing is constantly scheming and plotting over one another.

Nurgle may be empowered by willpower and endurance, but he desires a Galaxy in which everything is stagnant, never changing, never improving, and every living thing is bereft of hope and resigned to a meaningless, stagnant existence.

Slaanesh may be empowered by pleasure and virility, but he desires a Galaxy in which every extreme and excess is being experienced, even to the detriment of the participants. In Slaanesh' ideal galaxy, every living thing is basically a gibbering hyper-active vegetable, murdering themselves and others in their never-ending mission to experience the next big thrill.

Thus "Chaos". Chaos is evil, or at the very least it is destructive, because the beings who encompass Chaos, if unchecked, would annihilate the Galaxy and all living things in their quest to fulfill their thematic cause for existence.

I guess a Chaos Space Marine views Chaos, not Order, as the ultimate purpose of existence in the universe. Hence from his point of view, Chaos would be "good".

The Dark Eldar codex outright states they're the most evil faction in the intro doesn't it? Or was it just "cruelest"? Though my memory says "evil" is the word used.

By the way, Dark Eldar CHOOSE that life style. They have alternate ways of surviving but they choose not to take them(Craftworld Eldar, Harlequins, Exodites, and maaaybe Eldar Corsairs though there really isn't much difference there for Dark Eldar that choose the Corsair lifestyle). As shown by how sometimes Dark Eldar DO become some of the above, there is nothing really barring them from those alternate lifestyles besides their own greed and cruelty (all those lifestyles are much more controlled and less "fun", etc, than the DE lifestyle)

The only thing really noble about the Dark Eldar is that many of them do sincerely believe they are keeping the true culture of their race alive (and they're probably right, since that "culture" was what the Eldar was before Slaanesh popped into being. ....thanks to that hedonistic culture but eh.), as shown by Vecht's short story to that captive, Hesparax owning a museum, and several fluff pieces and even a novel where Dark Eldar team up with Eldar to save historical sites... even if for a price, as well as another where an Archon recovers several historical Eldar artifacts from before the fall which propels his status among the dark elder). Of course, while that could be noble-ish, I hardly think being a good historian in any way makes their other lifestyle choices less evil.

So yes, they have a really evil lifestyle that they actively chose over other options. The codex is probably correct in calling them the most evil faction.

As for CSM, "good" (relatively) CSM do exist kinda like the Blood Gorgans, but you won't find any really really "Wow, that guy's a saint!" altruistic cases like you would find amongst the Imperium, such as Yarrick weeping when he heard a hive's entire defense was killed to a man, or the Salamanders or things when the Crimson Fists helped that woman and her child during the Rynn World invasion. If such cases do exist, the fluff hasn't really shown them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Maximus Bitch wrote:

I guess a Chaos Space Marine views Chaos, not Order, as the ultimate purpose of existence in the universe. Hence from his point of view, Chaos would be "good".

Some of them do. Word Bearers in particular. Even then, they'd mostly fall under "Visionary Villain" more than "Good Guy", because they're still doing horrific acts to achieve what they believe is the purpose of existence. And even then, you never really see them call Chaos "Good". Instead they use terms that don't have as much moral alignment, such as "Glorious", "primordial truth", "true purpose", and "Mankind's true natural masters", but rarely "good".

Most CSM are portrayed as really only caring about themselves, though.

 Peregrine wrote:
The Chaos gods are also good. For example, Khorne isn't just the god of indiscriminate slaughter, it is the god of honorable combat

Until it gets in the way of the indiscriminate slaughter.

Khorne cares not from whom the blood flows, only that it does.

 Melissia wrote:
Khorne cares not from whom the blood flows, only that it does.

Not quite true. For example, Khorne isn't going to reward you for slaughtering a bunch of helpless babies when you could be on a proper battlefield slaughtering enemy warriors.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Khorne cares not from whom the blood flows, only that it does.

Not quite true. For example, Khorne isn't going to reward you for slaughtering a bunch of helpless babies when you could be on a proper battlefield slaughtering enemy warriors.

Khorne will certainly welcome their blood if you slaughter them on your way to the battlefield, or if there is no battlefield (yet), and you're simply slaughtering them to draw the attentions of more-powerful foes, who will raise armies in abhorrence of your actions, to oppose the might of your own armies.

That is where Khorne is worshipped.

Blood for the Blood God is all.

 Psienesis wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
Khorne cares not from whom the blood flows, only that it does.

Not quite true. For example, Khorne isn't going to reward you for slaughtering a bunch of helpless babies when you could be on a proper battlefield slaughtering enemy warriors.

Khorne will certainly welcome their blood if you slaughter them on your way to the battlefield, or if there is no battlefield (yet), and you're simply slaughtering them to draw the attentions of more-powerful foes, who will raise armies in abhorrence of your actions, to oppose the might of your own armies.

That is where Khorne is worshipped.

Blood for the Blood God is all.

If you deliberately stay out of a true battle to slay the helpless, however, it does not please Khorne.

So it is not entirely true that he won't care from where the blood flows.

Khorne is the God of hatred, including self-hatred. That's part of why he has the strictest code and his followers don't want any pleasure.

On the flipside of the coin, Slaanesh is forgiveness and acceptance. She won't be angry at you. There's a chance she'll still kill you, but its not because she's angry. She understands and forgives you, and you should forgive yourself too.

Regarding Chaos, I think that BlaxicanX has the right idea. Ultimately, these forces coming to power (and that's what they're always trying to do) would be extremely bad for the galaxy and anybody living in it. Sure,a given mortal servant of Chaos might have some sort of good streak to them, but the force behind them has no such silver linings.

 Peregrine wrote:
Not quite true. For example, Khorne isn't going to reward you for slaughtering a bunch of helpless babies when you could be on a proper battlefield slaughtering enemy warriors.

His Daemons and those corrupted by him will certainly go about slaughtering innocent non-combatents in their rampages. That he doesn't reward his servants for killing civilains doesn't really give him a good streak, just an apathetic one.

 LoneLictor wrote:
Khorne is the God of hatred, including self-hatred. That's part of why he has the strictest code and his followers don't want any pleasure.

On the flipside of the coin, Slaanesh is forgiveness and acceptance. She won't be angry at you. There's a chance she'll still kill you, but its not because she's angry. She understands and forgives you, and you should forgive yourself too.

The Prince of Perversion has no reason for forgiveness. It's not what S/He's the God/dess of. Perversion, Pleasure and Vice is Hir portfolio.

A universe freed from all laws is one that literally boils away into true anarchy, where things like form and thought abideth not. Your body ceases to exist as your mind is freed from all forms of physical shackles... and this is not a state that human minds were ever designed, or meant, to experience. This, truly, is madness on a galactic scale.

Also, once freed in such a manner into the truth of the Immaterium, you become prey to the *much* more powerful sentiences that reside within it. You are but the tiny guppy in a vast sea of planet-sized sharks.

 Psienesis wrote:
Khorne will certainly welcome their blood if you slaughter them on your way to the battlefield, or if there is no battlefield (yet), and you're simply slaughtering them to draw the attentions of more-powerful foes, who will raise armies in abhorrence of your actions, to oppose the might of your own armies.

Of course, Khorne is still the god of killing. But the point is that Khorne is also the god of combat, which includes things we normally think of as virtues, like matching your strength against the enemy's strength and winning. Which means two things:

1) Khorne transcends one-dimensional good vs. evil. It celebrates "good" killing, just as it celebrates "evil" killing. It is not bound by human concepts of morality, it simply exists.

2) It is possible to follow Khorne without being evil. In fact that's the whole point of how chaos corruption works. You don't (usually) wake up one day and decide to dedicate your life to slaughtering everything you encounter, you start off as a "good" soldier, just doing your duty. You start to value combat for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end, until the desire to perfect your combat abilities begins to define and consume you. And then Khorne has you.

 Peregrine wrote:
2) It is possible to follow Khorne without being evil. In fact that's the whole point of how chaos corruption works. You don't (usually) wake up one day and decide to dedicate your life to slaughtering everything you encounter, you start off as a "good" soldier, just doing your duty. You start to value combat for its own sake, rather than as a means to an end, until the desire to perfect your combat abilities begins to define and consume you. And then Khorne has you.

Isn't ending up bloodthirsty and full of rage a pretty evil way to be, though? Because that's what Khornate corruption leads to, sooner or later.

And this is just looking at "regular" Khornate corruption. Throughout 40K fluff, there's accounts of him using various means to instantly turn people into violent murderers. The Bloodtide, for example, made those it affected bloodily murder people. IIRC there is an account or two in FFG stuff of Khorne similarly corrupting civilians.