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Isha is still "alive", though she's a prisoner in Nurgle's Garden. Khaine is... a bunch of shattered bits floating about. The rest are dead and gone.

Killing off humanity was the Cabal's way of killing the Chaos gods.

I don't think it would've worked.

 Psienesis wrote:
Isha is still "alive", though she's a prisoner in Nurgle's Garden. Khaine is... a bunch of shattered bits floating about. The rest are dead and gone.

Cegorach?

 2BlackJack1 wrote:
They certainly could be weakened, but it'd be impossible to actually get rid of the gods because of how much stuff they actually gain power from. The only race I can see actually killing them is the tyranids, because once all other life is dead, no one can worship them.

A valid point. Which would mean that it would make more sense for Chaos to fight the Tyranids rather then the Imperium.

 ChazSexington wrote:
Killing off humanity was the Cabal's way of killing the Chaos gods.

I don't think it would've worked.

 Psienesis wrote:
Isha is still "alive", though she's a prisoner in Nurgle's Garden. Khaine is... a bunch of shattered bits floating about. The rest are dead and gone.

Cegorach?

Might be dead. Might be alive. It's all for laffs anyway.

 Psienesis wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:
Killing off humanity was the Cabal's way of killing the Chaos gods.

I don't think it would've worked.

 Psienesis wrote:
Isha is still "alive", though she's a prisoner in Nurgle's Garden. Khaine is... a bunch of shattered bits floating about. The rest are dead and gone.

Cegorach?

Might be dead. Might be alive. It's all for laffs anyway.

Cegorach is plotting against Slaanesh, hidden away.
Hence why Harlequins for the most part, hunt down servants of Slannesh.

Cegorach is alive in the webway. Harlequins are his minions and he has a plan.

I've always thought of it as a cycle of gods killing gods, chaos just happens to be top dog until a new pantheon rises. Like the emperor or eldar gods reborn/ combination. They would rule as order for awhile and chaos would return

Torquar wrote:
What if the only race left was Necrons?

The Necrons are the current race's Alpha and Omega. They are the oldest "race" that exists, yet it's difficult to say that they "exist" when they are nothing but soulless automatons. Necrons, however, would unlikely be the last race that ever exists. If The Nightbringer truly wished to eradicate all life once and for all, he could do so in the blink of an eye. Hell, The Outsider might just decided to end everything once and for all just...because. In the end, Necrons are driven by an eternal hate for all life that exists, but their leaders, the C'tan, are gods that wish to prey upon the weak races and instead of ultimatively putting an end to everything, they might just as well repeat their old move of killing almost everything, then letting stuff grow again.

If they choose to do otherwise, however, and end everything, then on this day, the C'tan eradicate all life in a few seconds and the Necrons will just shut down as if millions of voices were suddenly silenced.

The more likely idea, however, is the C'tan starting a new cycle...and this time not using WIndows 98 for the Necron tombworlds.

Redseer wrote:
I've always thought of it as a cycle of gods killing gods, chaos just happens to be top dog until a new pantheon rises. Like the emperor or eldar gods reborn/ combination. They would rule as order for awhile and chaos would return

Good way to look at it, and fits closely to my own personal head-canon. Then again, I'm a big fan of both Michael Moorcock "Eternal Champion" series and H.P. Lovecraft's "Dream-Cycle".

I thought the entire reason the chaos gods scattered the primarchs threatened their very existence.

Not necessarily themselves, but from what they could lead to.

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
I thought the entire reason the chaos gods scattered the primarchs threatened their very existence.

Not necessarily themselves, but from what they could lead to.

If that were the case they would have destroyed them rather than putting them on a bunch of conveniently placed planets.

Animus wrote:

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
I thought the entire reason the chaos gods scattered the primarchs threatened their very existence.

Not necessarily themselves, but from what they could lead to.

If that were the case they would have destroyed them rather than putting them on a bunch of conveniently placed planets.

Surely if that was the case, why didn't they simply kill the Emperor themselves, instead of raising the Horus Heresy. All in all I think the Chaos Gods power is often overrated, especially outside the Warp.

Animus wrote:


If that were the case they would have destroyed them rather than putting them on a bunch of conveniently placed planets.

I think in some older background it was stated was stated that they couldn't destroy them, only move them.

a point about the timelessness of the gods... there is concrete fluff that says they each coalesced at at time in human history, nurgle coincided with the black plague, tzeench with the renaissance, khorne is far older... this might be old fluff, but I remember reading it.

 GKTiberius wrote:
a point about the timelessness of the gods... there is concrete fluff that says they each coalesced at at time in human history, nurgle coincided with the black plague, tzeench with the renaissance, khorne is far older... this might be old fluff, but I remember reading it.

The background about Slaanesh says something like while they have a "birth" point (or at least Slaanesh did) once they are "born" they have always existed and never existed. Don't ask me what that's supposed to mean because it doesn't seem like Slaanesh suddenly got to steal the souls of Eldar who died before the Fall.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 GKTiberius wrote:
a point about the timelessness of the gods... there is concrete fluff that says they each coalesced at at time in human history, nurgle coincided with the black plague, tzeench with the renaissance, khorne is far older... this might be old fluff, but I remember reading it.

The background about Slaanesh says something like while they have a "birth" point (or at least Slaanesh did) once they are "born" they have always existed and never existed. Don't ask me what that's supposed to mean because it doesn't seem like Slaanesh suddenly got to steal the souls of Eldar who died before the Fall.

The Warp is pretty much infinite, so it transcends time and space. Slaanesh exists outside of time, so he can affect time periods before his birth and after his death.

 Baldeagle91 wrote:

Animus wrote:

 Baldeagle91 wrote:
I thought the entire reason the chaos gods scattered the primarchs threatened their very existence.

Not necessarily themselves, but from what they could lead to.

If that were the case they would have destroyed them rather than putting them on a bunch of conveniently placed planets.

Surely if that was the case, why didn't they simply kill the Emperor themselves, instead of raising the Horus Heresy.

Killing the Primarchs is hardly the same things as killing the Emperor. They demonstrated clear power over the Primarchs, being able to snatch them up and place them on a bunch of inhabitable worlds. Personally I think they could have just killed the Emperor if they had really wanted to, but it's all part of a game to them.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

Animus wrote:


If that were the case they would have destroyed them rather than putting them on a bunch of conveniently placed planets.

I think in some older background it was stated was stated that they couldn't destroy them, only move them.

Even if they couldn't directly affect them for whatever reason, they could dump them into a star, or intergalactic space, or in a different universe.

Animus wrote:


Even if they couldn't directly affect them for whatever reason, they could dump them into a star, or intergalactic space, or in a different universe.

The implication was that they couldn't kill them through any method (at that point in time). Wasn't explained why. Perhaps a precaution by the Emperor? Maybe it was the only way to get around his defences. Maybe they had to be sent to an area with other humans due to some Psychic shenanigans.

there is also old fluff that says the emperor stole some power form the chaos gods... so maybe that altered the way the ruinous powers could interact with them. just an idea

No. Stagnation fuels Nurgle.

Humanity doing nothing would not kill the Chaos Gods. The basis of what they are existed before humanity, and they were birthed without humanity's assistance-- and they will continue to exist after no more humans remain. There is no easy solution to Chaos-- there is only eternal vigilance.

All I'll say is that in the Harlequin Codex it is revealed that the Harlequins activities in late M41 is due to a complex and arcane plan of Cegorach's to somehow trick Slaanesh into destroying itself. Which considering he is a similar Warp Entity to the Chaos Gods would imply he knows of a way for a Chaos God to "die" . So Slaanesh's existence now doesn't have to imply it will always exist... Otherwise I'd assume a deity of trickery/deception wouldnt bother even trying and risking the destruction of all his followers or himself on the gambit.

(Edits for grammar on phone)

OrderofCegorach wrote:
All I'll say is that in the Harlequin Codex it is revealed that the Harlequins activities in late M41 is due to a complex and arcane plan of Cegorach's to somehow trick Slaanesh into destroying itself. Which considering he is a similar Warp Entity to the Chaos Gods would imply he knows of a way for a Chaos God to "die" . So Slaanesh's existence now doesn't have to imply it will always exist... Otherwise I'd assume a deity of trickery/deception wouldnt bother even trying and risking the destruction of all his followers or himself on the gambit.

(Edits for grammar on phone)

Ehm, that is exactly what a God of Trickery and Deception would do. The question you have to ask yourself is "who is the trick being played on? Who is the one being deceived?"

 dusara217 wrote:

The Warp is pretty much infinite, so it transcends time and space. Slaanesh exists outside of time, so he can affect time periods before his birth and after his death.

That doesn't explain why the Eldar were able to reincarnate for a time though. If Slaanesh always existed their souls would have always been consumed.

GKTiberius wrote:there is also old fluff that says the emperor stole some power form the chaos gods... so maybe that altered the way the ruinous powers could interact with them. just an idea

Actually I think that's fairly new fluff. It's certainly suggested in the Horus Heresy sources (though not by reliable sources).

 Psienesis wrote:

OrderofCegorach wrote:
All I'll say is that in the Harlequin Codex it is revealed that the Harlequins activities in late M41 is due to a complex and arcane plan of Cegorach's to somehow trick Slaanesh into destroying itself. Which considering he is a similar Warp Entity to the Chaos Gods would imply he knows of a way for a Chaos God to "die" . So Slaanesh's existence now doesn't have to imply it will always exist... Otherwise I'd assume a deity of trickery/deception wouldnt bother even trying and risking the destruction of all his followers or himself on the gambit.

(Edits for grammar on phone)

Ehm, that is exactly what a God of Trickery and Deception would do. The question you have to ask yourself is "who is the trick being played on? Who is the one being deceived?"

No, I dont think the only Eldar deity to escape Slaanesh unscathed, as well as the entity who has regularly battled Slaanesh for the souls of his followers (Solitaires), whose veneration makes Harlequins safe from losing their souls, and who's a psychic manifestation of deception and trickery (versus Slaanesh being god of excess) is being decieved by Slaanesh. Of course all of this is behind the lore curtain we will probably never get to peak behind, but it does seem to imply heavily that Cegorach has a plan to be rid of She Who Thirsts and could succeed. And if you mean Cegorach is fooling the Harlequins, I'd ask why? What would be the point, and why risk injury or destruction fighting Slaanesh for Solitaire's souls or by thumbing his nose at it if there was no hope?

I'm not posing that the Laughing God is being tricked by Slaanesh. I'm suggesting that the Eldar are being tricked by their Laughing God. He's the god of trickery and deception. This is what he does.

The Eldar as a whole are not participating in Cegorach's plan, just the harlequins. It wouldnt be a very good deceit for him to trick his own servants... Kinda pointless since they believe what he tells them regardless, so it wouldn't even be much of a trick.

I don't think his plan kills Slaanesh it tricks her into expending all of her power in a way that ultimately helps the Eldar.

I believe the only Eldar prophecy about actually killing a chaos God requires their God of death to be born, which will only happen after all Eldar die.

I seem to remember in some old fantasy battle book I believe that the chaos gods also have positive emotions also tied to them. I think it was hope for Tzeentch, love? for Nurgle. honor for Khorne, and something else for Slaanesh.

Personally I believe Tzeentch and Nurgle will always be the last 2 regardless, because of their inherent nature. Since as long as the universe has a spark of energy left for change Tzeentch will have a bit of power, while Nurgle will only lose power when the universe dies.

Miradorm wrote:
I seem to remember in some old fantasy battle book I believe that the chaos gods also have positive emotions also tied to them. I think it was hope for Tzeentch, love? for Nurgle. honor for Khorne, and something else for Slaanesh.

That does raise the interesting possibility of, rather than killing a god by doing nothing, fundamentally changing its nature into a positive force by engineering society to do certain things en masse.

Rather than Tzeentch being all about trickery and plots, with hope being the minor aspect, trying to flip that balance. Making Khorne the god of honour, with violence being a minor aspect.

If the gods are reflections of mortals' behaviours, then they're dark because the galaxy is dark. Sure, they contributed a lot to it, but it is and was a pretty grim place beforehand anyway. If you could engineer a trillions-strong civilization like the Imperium to be a more hopeful, honourable, loving society, then there's a good chance the gods would follow suit.

Miradorm wrote:
I seem to remember in some old fantasy battle book I believe that the chaos gods also have positive emotions also tied to them. I think it was hope for Tzeentch, love? for Nurgle. honor for Khorne, and something else for Slaanesh.

Personally I believe Tzeentch and Nurgle will always be the last 2 regardless, because of their inherent nature. Since as long as the universe has a spark of energy left for change Tzeentch will have a bit of power, while Nurgle will only lose power when the universe dies.

Every time a Chaos God makes any action, it is expending energy. This is explicitly stated in Realms of Chaos: the Lost and the Damned. That's why they're constantly taking the souls of mortals, and yet never seeming to become more powerful; they're using up all the energy in the struggle for more. Therefore, Nurgle could (potentially) survive forever, if he were to never seek power again, and just let the souls of those mortals who are depressed and miserable (or full of love) come to him. However, this would allow other Gods the potential to get those souls to worship them, and, in so doing, gain those souls instead.