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Would it make any sense at all for a character to worship like 20 different Gods?
For instance:
Said character honors and prays to Tzeentch when he's trying to pull off a complex, daring plot to upset the balance of power on a world, and thereby gain control of it. Said character makes offerings to Tzeentch, and Tzeentch blesses him with minor boosts to intellect (or something like that).
AND
Said character loves having fun and making people laugh, so he goes all-out for a practical joke in order to make a close friend laugh. While doing so, he makes offerings to Cegorach to bless his jokes to give his friend true enjoyment, and Cegorach gives the character minor ideas to help to improve the joke.
AND
Said character has taken over control of the planet (behind the scenes), but the planet is about to go to be invaded by a neighboring non-Imperial human pocket Empire. He prays to Khorne to grant him strength in the coming battles, and Khorne blesses him with the ferocity of a lion; allowing him to be bold and daring enough to terrify the enemy and devastate their morale.
AND
Said character is having a unique starship constructed, and makes offerings to the Machine God that the ship will be well-designed and well-suited for his needs, and the Machine God facilitates the engineers' minds to slightly improve the design of the craft.
ANd
Said character is about to pursue a romance, and makes offerings to Nurgle, who helps him achieve true love, instead of a hormone-driven year of sex-crazed fun that ends up leaving both parties in bitter enmity when the relation falls apart in the face of actual challenges.

Would this be at all plausible? Or would the Gods just be pissed at him for not worshiping exclusively them (I'd imagine that the Chaos Gods, at least, wouldn't mind, what with Chaos Undivided, and all)? Would he end up with a Daemon showing up on his front doorstep, because he prayed to a Chaos God? I'm operating off of the assumption that his prayers and offerings are giving off Warp energy, which feeds the God that they're directed to (I could be mistaken about that), and the God would be willing to expel minor amounts of energy to assist him, as they know that he (and any children he has) will continue to venerate them throughout his long life. Would this end badly for the pious fellow?

Not really no. Chaos undivided would make sense for the chaos half, but there is a limit. You can't really worship eldar gods, the Chaos gods, and the Big E all at once.

Someone with an out of world perspective might do it, but for someone living inside the setting, their knowledge of the gods would be very limited and probably unique to their locale.

So they might believe in a smith god who has aspects of change and magic, in which case their 'belief' would be split between the Machine God and Tzeentch, but they're unlikely to even know about poor old dead Vaul.

You mean slaanesh for the last one right?

 dusara217 wrote:
Would he end up with a Daemon showing up on his front doorstep, because he prayed to a Chaos God?

Daemon? No.

Inquisition? Yes.

Thread terminated due to Heresy.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
You mean slaanesh for the last one right?

no, he means Nurgle - Slaanesh would give him the hormone-crazed sex maniac version, while Nurgle builds love that lasts forever.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 Tactical_Spam wrote:
You mean slaanesh for the last one right?

no, he means Nurgle - Slaanesh would give him the hormone-crazed sex maniac version, while Nurgle builds love that lasts forever.

Yeah, that's right. Nurgle is love, Slaanesh is crazy kinky sex that simulates love until it leaves you a pleasure-whore husk of your former self.

 dusara217 wrote:
Nurgle is love

Nurgle is life, too.

He makes more sense now.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 dusara217 wrote:
Nurgle is love

Nurgle is life, too.

He makes more sense now.

Nurgle is love. Nurgle is death

Get it? he's the God of Death, too. Ah, you didn't get it

So, the Concensus here is that the Gods themselves wouldn't have any issues with this? The character that I have in mind for this is a Rogue Trader, so he would definitely get around and hear about many gods.

I think you're missing a key fact here: the gods do not exist to serve mortals, mortals exist to serve the gods. If the gods grant you something, it is only as the first step on the path to damnation and the gift will always fail to work in a way that drives you to come back for more. Nurgle will not simply grant you true love and let you walk away until you need Nurgle's services again. Instead, you will win your true love, but on your wedding night she will receive the gifts of Nurgle that you carry. And as she lies dying in your arms you will call upon Nurgle once more, and offer your soul in service for eternity if only your true love may be granted eternal life by your side. And together you will rot away as you spread the blessings of Nurgle, and give birth to many happy Nurglings.

 dusara217 wrote:


Get it? he's the God of Death, too. Ah, you didn't get it

Actually, that's his wife, he just kind of stole the title when he beat her into marrying him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism
It would be possible. In fact, in ancient polytheistic times it used to be rather common for people to absorb deities from radically different pantheons and cultures into their own.

When the hell did nurgle become the god of love???

He is, but not the romantic kind of love. Its more a paternal/maternal caring kind of love.

 Grey Templar wrote:
He is, but not the romantic kind of love. Its more a paternal/maternal caring kind of love.

It's legit love, though, the lasting kind. No other God covers that (not even Slaanesh; kinky sex only lasts so long)

I'm not even sure 'love' is the right word for Nurgle, or that it's part of his 'portfolio'. Nurgle does have a paternalistic affection for his Nurglings (all his creatures really), and he seems to take genuine pleasure in their accomplishments. Not the same as being God of Love though.

Slaanesh certainly plays at the love game, but it's all Eros and no Psyche. I think a lover who falls to Chaos is far more likely to do so via Slaanesh than Nurgle.

Keep in mind that Chaos is always a twisted, corrupted version of something good and decent. Tzeentch is hope and change twisted to a lust for power and schemes and magic. Khorne is martial values (courage, skill, valor) twisted into selfish glory-seeking and bloodlust. Nurgle is life, fertility and natural cycles twisted into contagion and decay for it's own sake... but not necessarily death. Nurgle likes misery and wants vectors to spread his gifts, and live vectors are usually more effective at spreading plagues and poxes.

Remember, Slaanesh corrupted the Emperor's Children as much through their drive for perfection and excellence as through the Blade of the Laer.

My two cents, anyway.

 Peregrine wrote:
I think you're missing a key fact here: the gods do not exist to serve mortals, mortals exist to serve the gods. If the gods grant you something, it is only as the first step on the path to damnation and the gift will always fail to work in a way that drives you to come back for more. Nurgle will not simply grant you true love and let you walk away until you need Nurgle's services again. Instead, you will win your true love, but on your wedding night she will receive the gifts of Nurgle that you carry. And as she lies dying in your arms you will call upon Nurgle once more, and offer your soul in service for eternity if only your true love may be granted eternal life by your side. And together you will rot away as you spread the blessings of Nurgle, and give birth to many happy Nurglings.

Very much this.

Remember, Nurgle's "love" is in the form of horrific, wasting diseases that make you obviously infected with something far worse than just EbolaSARS and CancerAIDS and LeproHerpes all at the same time.

Also, many of the gods are jealous, and have absolutely no problem visiting on you the worst kinds of Smitings should you offend them or prove inconstant in your devotions to them.