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Hi so as the title says, I'm looking for a way to reason creating a night lords slaaneshii force, I would imagine it's concept would be stealthy hedonists, focusing more on the terror and less on the message, torture and the like, combined with slaaneshii demons and gifts.

Though, If anyone has extra idea's, lore or otherwise to add, or reasons this wouldn't work, please feel free to add them.

Keep in mind when replying, I do know night lords lore almost backwards, and I do realise the implications, however, I'm kind of stuck in reasoning

the night lords were pretty not into the chaos gods if i remember right(been awhile since i busted the books out)..i mean you could use the marks of slaanesh and live with it, playing chaos without useing the marks is likeing bringing a gun without bullets..if your dead set on a true fluffy night lords army then you run undivided and markless, and prey someday theyll get their legion bonuses back into their codex lol

You seem to be forgetting that the legions were all massive and post-heresy the warbands were way way more nuanced than just the little blurb in the codex. While a random Night Lords warband is unlikely to worship a particular deity, a lot goes on in the Eye of Terror in 10,000 years. To say that no Night Lords warbands ever focus their praise and adoration to Slaanesh is ridiculous.

This can not be more simple. It's a Night Lords Warband that fell more to Slannesh. You said you know the lore backwards so I'm going to assume you read Lord of the Night, where a former Night Lord Captain got himself turned into a Daemon Prince because he was just so full of the vinegar. Not everything has to be Zso Sahaal or Talos. The Galaxy is a very big place and the Night Lords are a very fractured Legion. Chuck some Raptors on a Daemon world for a thousand years or so and things change them.

A plausible story is that an Astartes Cruiser on the fringes of either the Maelstrom or Eye or other place where real space and the Warp don't have any sense of separation, was either tethered to or stranded on a planet full of corruption that Slannesh had control over. The Night Lords threw their lot in with the winner, as Renegades tend to do, and over time, centuries or millennia, they became more a cult of their own to the Prince of Pain and Pleasure. The Terror Troops of the ruling cults of Slannesh. Now they plunder the stars, spreading pain and ecstacy in equal measure in the Prince's name.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
This can not be more simple. It's a Night Lords Warband that fell more to Slannesh. You said you know the lore backwards so I'm going to assume you read Lord of the Night, where a former Night Lord Captain got himself turned into a Daemon Prince because he was just so full of the vinegar. Not everything has to be Zso Sahaal or Talos. The Galaxy is a very big place and the Night Lords are a very fractured Legion. Chuck some Raptors on a Daemon world for a thousand years or so and things change them.

A plausible story is that an Astartes Cruiser on the fringes of either the Maelstrom or Eye or other place where real space and the Warp don't have any sense of separation, was either tethered to or stranded on a planet full of corruption that Slannesh had control over. The Night Lords threw their lot in with the winner, as Renegades tend to do, and over time, centuries or millennia, they became more a cult of their own to the Prince of Pain and Pleasure. The Terror Troops of the ruling cults of Slannesh. Now they plunder the stars, spreading pain and ecstacy in equal measure in the Prince's name.

I did read a few bits on that, I'm rusty is one thing It's been a while since I've had to do any warhammer lore building of my own.

I like your idea, or possibly a cult began in one company and spread to a few during their time in the eye, they split off to form their own group a lot like the raptors became their own cult inside the legion in a way. As for the roaming terror troops, that's a brilliant idea.

Thanks for the help with reasoning guys any more ideas are more then welcome.

Well, Chaos and in particular Chaos Space Marines fall into the traps of excess. Khornate marines are excess in brutality, Nurgle Marines are excess in decay, Tzeentch Marines are excess in knowledge and undivided are generally are excess in their ambitions. Night Lords could easily fall into Slaanesh since they have a tendency to be in excess in brutality and terrorism. Perhaps they wanted to be the very best at what they do and the Dark Prince preyed on their wants.

Clearly Slaanesh favours these Night Lords due to the extreme feelings of terror and excruciating pain they subject their victims to.

The idea that Night Lords are practical Chaos atheists is a myth.

By M41, they're all tainted, and their leader is a goddamned Daemon Prince. They are certainly not pure at all, and most of their character roster is made up of cultists.

Indeed; a typical Night Lord looks down on those who are dominated by Chaos. This doesn't mean he is anti-chaos though; the Night Lord believe chaos is there for them to dominate and use as a tool.

They even use daemons; just in lesser number as they have to rely on the chaos they cause instead of their own faith to sustain the daemons.

nareik wrote:
Indeed; a typical Night Lord looks down on those who are dominated by Chaos. This doesn't mean he is anti-chaos though; the Night Lord believe chaos is there for them to dominate and use as a tool.

They even use daemons; just in lesser number as they have to rely on the chaos they cause instead of their own faith to sustain the daemons.

Well, there's also hypocrite syndrome.

"Oh look at those poor delusional Word Bearers worshipping those awful Chaos Gods. Now let me return to my castle made of living, screaming people that gets me going, along with all of those nice, friendly mutated Raptors and their nice friendly daemon pets."

I mean gak, the Night Lords are all Slaanesh. They just don't know it.

There's difference between worshipping and simply using.

Word bearers are like: "OMG! A tentacle! That's the blessing of the Gods! What did They want to tell me? Am i going the right direction, am i a worthy champion? Should i try harder or should i stay back and acknowledge the unimaginable vastness and greatness of what Chaos is? My life is dedicated to Chaos and Chaos only! And i will worship thee as long as i still draw breath! I shall gather followers! I shall bring them The Word! I shall..." etc

And Night lords go like: "Ehm. A tentacle. Got to live with it now".

There's always justifying and fluffing out the effects of the mark itself. Noise Marines minus the sonic weaponry (screaming weapons could work tho) as combat drugs giving them speed and fearlessness seems passable. I've used Non-sonic Noise Marines instead of plain Jane CSM just to get fearless for 4 points.

The Night Lords Trilogy did have that daemonically possessed Captain, the Exalted, so some Night Lords do indeed throw their lot directly in with the Chaos gods.

Could easily draw up some fluff of a Night Lords warband, whose leader (way too into the gratuitous torture and towers made out of screaming bodies) embraced Slaanesh and allowed himself to be possessed but kept it well hidden and slowly converted the rest of his Warband to the excesses of Slaanesh.

Seems like the sort of thing Slaanesh would enjoy doing...secretly corrupting a bunch that felt all this Chaos gods stuff was beneath them. Could even have the Warband constantly at odds with itself....refusing to admit what they've done and carrying on with "No...seriously...we're not into any Chaos gods!!! Stop saying that!!!!" Guessing Slaanesh would really enjoy that constant mental self-torture too.

Scream Stealer's Warband


Born of the deathly whispers left over from the scattering of the Eight Legion after the death of their Primarch, what was once almost proudly
titled the 12th company of the Night Lords Legion went their seperate ways as all the others did, taking to the stars on the wings of vessels
midnight clad. The 12th Company were a paragon example of the Eight's attention to detail when it came down to plying their trade, Infamous
for piercing the ears of hostile defenders with recorded wails and screams of their fellows from previous hunts; the 12th company earned the epithet
the "Scream Stealers". Once free of the legions structure and brotherhood, and set loose on the stars, without even the slightest hint of the tether to
sanity the legion provided, they sank lower then ever before.

Fixating on the terror filled voices of their prey, and not content unless the cusp of agony could be heard, shattered gasps before the blood curdling
scream, the 12th found them selves mired in the very essence their legion despised. Fixation lead to obsession, and slowly change to their very mind
set began. It wasn't long before the whispers began in Captain Raaltherian's mind. The honeyed tones and soft caresses at the corner of his mind, calling
him to push his warriors further and further down the list of depraved things a servant of the diety of excess demands. Resisting at first, the entire warband
felt the strain, the hunger, the need to let loose. Then slowly, one by one they succumbed.

Reborn again from the screeches of the ocean of stars, their ships brooding with silence, the Scream Stealers warband was finally unleashed,
and the prince of pleasure revelled in it. Hunting the void for the slightest whispers, like a hound tracking a scent, their proud midnight vessels now
the twisting and solemn shadowy guts of a true predator, the harsh cackles, giggles, and whispers of denizens of the warp crawling the deep dark places,
joined by stark contrast of the midnight armoured giants of the eighth, come once more for you.


Just a small piece on what I was thinking