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So in the older lore of 40k, the chaos gods represent two sides of their domain. Nurgle is life and health as well as death. Khorne represents honorable combat and wonton slaughter. Tzeentch is change uncertainty and hope. Slaanesh is emotions and the psyche good and bad.

So my question is what the good (or at least less evil side) is for Malal aka Malice aka Malign?

And what would have been the other side of the god of unbelief that the emperor was fueling way back when?

I don't have the answers but these two articles about Malal might help.

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-malignancy-of-malal-solving-mystery.html

This one shows the four demons it would have.

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-malignancy-of-malal-malals-daemonic.html

That is the Star Child theory, the Emperor dies and ascends as the Chaos god of Order.
I guess that is the opposite.

So if what you're asking is what the upside of Malice is, it's the destruction of chaos and the equilibrium of the material with the immaterium. That's my best shot, at least.

Also, I've heard a quaint fan theory that since Malice is the god of self-destruction and self-loathing and Konrad Curze was essentially the primarch of self-destruction and self-loathing, that after he was killed by that assassin his soul reformed in the warp as Malice. Not sure if that'd actually change anything, fluff-wise, but there you go. Crazier things have happened in 40k.

Malal didn't have any side other than he hated the other Chaos Gods and tendency towards self destruction.
People will project a lot on him, but the fact remains that he was invented for a comic that ran all of three issues. Any planned development was not put into place.

I think much of the Malal concept made its way into the lore surrounding Tzeentch. Malal represented mutation and change, not just animosity towards the other chaos gods. Tzeentch schemes are so complext that it works against its own followers and its own self-interest.

Although, my favorite theory has always been that Malal was the warped (hah) reflection of the emperor in the immaterium before he was slain and put on the golden throne. A chaos god that sought to destroy the other chaos gods = an intentional creation or unintentional backlash of the emperor's supreme psychic power and drive to defeat the chaos gods.

 Grumblewartz wrote:
I think much of the Malal concept made its way into the lore surrounding Tzeentch. Malal represented mutation and change, not just animosity towards the other chaos gods. Tzeentch schemes are so complext that it works against its own followers and its own self-interest.

Although, my favorite theory has always been that Malal was the warped (hah) reflection of the emperor in the immaterium before he was slain and put on the golden throne. A chaos god that sought to destroy the other chaos gods = an intentional creation or unintentional backlash of the emperor's supreme psychic power and drive to defeat the chaos gods.

I think that this is accurate. Any element of Malal was already brought under the other Gods. That's why the Big 4 are the big 4, as nearly every emotion comes under their power.

Khorne is hatred, and Malal hated the Chaos Pantheon so hatred of the Chaos Pantheon goes to Khorne's power, not Malal.
Malal wants change in the universe and to see the universe balanced. Change and ambition power Tzeentch.
Malal's self-loathing aspect is quite similar to dispair and is a form of mental illness. Mental illness is still illness and despair also powers Nurgle.
Malal's self-loathing automatically involves either hatred or despair, powering Khorne and Nurgle, but on the flip side, can represent ambition and desire to be better. This represents Tzeentch and Slaanesh.

That is the issue with Malal and trying to get rid of Chaos in general: Chaos draws off the most base and powerful emotions, and so unless everyone in the galaxy was to become a happy, non-murdering, diesease free, type of guy who never wanted anything better for himself, was never jealous, had monastic self-control on pleasure, never over-indulged too much but never succumbs to the crushing depression of life being poor when everyone else is rich, never hated anything and...yeah. Basically if everyone became robots or monks.


That's the thing, Chaos is roughly based on christian depiction of Satan and sin, where everything you possibly do is a sin and damns you. And as the Satanic Bible points out, everything the Church told people not to do was stuff that comes naturally to animals. Such examples to pick out in relation to Chaos? Eating as much as possible when you can, sex, trying to get more money to have better stuff, fighting back and getting revenge, wanting to do nothing or relax instead of work, wanting the stuff other people have that you don't have, and not accepting inferiority except where smarter to.

These became known as "Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, Envy and Pride."

How does this relate to Chaos Pantheon?

Khorne = Wrath
Nurgle = Sloth
Tzeentch = Greed and Envy
Slaanesh = Gluttony, Lust and Pride


So if the seven deadly sins, the most base of mankind's objectives and desires, are sinful, and Chaos is based on this as well, the current Chaos Pantheon already covers all possible sins (Chaos aspects) and so Malal has no niche. Being anti-Chaos is nice but it doesn't fit into the raw emotions that fuel the warp like the others do.