1. Dawn Of War Daemon Prince 2

The most powerful daemonic servants are the Daemon Princes. Dawn of War units Edit Bloodthirster Daemon Prince. Dawn of War Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. Send the Daemon Prince into battle, makes a huge difference. I tried that at the start but he seems to take an abnormal amount of damage in this fight and his health regen is deathly slow for how much he has and the amount the regular guardsmen are doing to him. Im not entirely s.

For the rulers of the demonic hordes of Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, see Demon Prince.

'DESPAAAAAIR, for I am the end of days!'

– The most memorable of Daemon Prince quotes

In Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy Battle, people fall to Chaos for many reasons. Of these, the ones who desire power, sometimes called Chaos Champions, are most ambitious, and thus most likely to catch the attention of the Ruinous Powers.

When the champion earns enough of their patron god's favor, they can be rewarded with Daemon Princedom. They forfeit their souls to their god and are granted a daemonic form and name, given power beyond any mortal, heretical or otherwise, and often placed at the command of an army, or a Daemon World.

Of course, the road to Princedom is a high-stakes game with only two outcomes: success or failure, there is no middle road. Those who fail their god's expectations, find themselves on the wrong end of a Chaos God on a bad day, or they could not handle the ascension to Princedom, are 'rewarded' with Chaos Spawndo- NO WAITFSDASDAGIAJDFASHDSDFd.... The few that beat the odds and their god's expectations are rewarded with their god's personal blessing and close favor: the greatest things a mortal could possibly ask a god. Not everyone can achieve daemonhood, many will die in their quest, many more will fall short and be turned into something best not described, but for chance of immortality and near limitless power: any heretic with more ambition than common sense will rarely be able to resist such a prospect.

In the Fantasy Flight Games WH40KRPG Black Crusade (RPG), this is what happens to a player character who reaches 100 Corruption with the GM's arbitrarily selected Infamy Threshold for Princedom. Should a PC reach 100 Corruption with less, he will be transformed into a Chaos Spaa... ha caught myself on that one, don't want to end up like my previous writer!

Now, that being said, it would make a lot of fucking sense to believe that Daemon Princes are some OP motherfuckers that can pwn anything that dares to put foot on their lawn. Well...you are pretty wrong. It is usually the Daemon Princes that tend to invade Imperial Worlds and end up getting their can kicked in by mortals whom they see as inferior beings of nothingness (although if only because of the plot armor of their Imperial enemies and GW's need to make sure the status quo remains as it is.). The only perk they have is that if they get their ass chopped up they are banished to the Warp where they will derp around until they are called by the Chaos Gods once more to attempt to be useful to them.

For roughly half an edition, Warhammer Fantasy also had Exalted Daemons, which were a kind of lesser Daemon Prince created by fusing a daemon and a still-mortal human together, sort of like possession, but without necessarily killing the soul of the possessed in the bargain. This idea, like Chaos Undivided being its own power and granting its own mark, was removed with the update from Hordes of Chaos to Warriors of Chaos. Now, if your goal is just to get daemon up there aresomeotherways to do that...

• 1Famous Daemon Princes
• 2Crunch
  • 2.1Warhammer Fantasy
  • 2.2Warhammer 40k

Famous Daemon Princes[edit]

Daemon Primarchs[edit]

• Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers, really, really dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Doesn't do shit these days, but recently got off of the couch to teach Abby new techniques for summoning daemons and is rumored to be returning to lead his Legion once more.
• Perturabo, Primarch of the Iron Warriors, technically dedicated to Chaos Undivided, but mostly to himself. Doesn't do much these days, but manages to royally fuck shit up when he does.
• Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard, dedicated to Nurgle. Gets into some antics with Grey Knights once in a while. Has now appeared to have gotten off his ass and is now bringing death and decay Granddaddy's cuddles to the wider Imperium.
• Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, dedicated to Khorne. He's the only Daemon Primarch who reliably, actually does shit.
• Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons, dedicated to Tzeentch. Spent most of the last ten millennia hanging out at the top of his wizard's tower, derping out and shouting 'JUST AS PLANNED' when something happens and it can be interpreted as beneficial. Occasionally has an actual fight with the Space Puppies. Recently avenged Prospero by wrecking the Fenris system. He got banished by Logan Grimnar, which was JUST AS PLANNED, because the Space Wolves went to Cadia, leaving Fenris undefended, at which point, he brought his daemon planet into the Materium and has been fucking the Imperium up ever since. Just. As. Planned. Also notable for being the first Daemon Primarch with rules since Epic. Before his physical, 30K version got rules.
• Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor's Children, except it's actually just his body possessed by a Daemon. Or maybe not. Shit's weird at this point. Dedicated to Slaanesh. Spends his days on his Pleasure Planet getting bored with mass-daemonette-orgies. TOTALLY has nothing to do with the giant, serpent bodied monster currently fucking 11 different kinds of shit up with Lucius.

Dedicated to Khorne[edit]

• Doombreed, the first Daemon Prince of Khorne, and some sources say the first Daemon Prince ever.
• Kraxnar, his bro in the original counter-based game 'Warmaster' who was later replaced with some asshole called N'kari.
• Azariah Kyras, heretical Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens and, apparently, Khornate Sorcerer. He still gets killed in DoW II: Retribution. Since his ascension was only partly finished, he may still have been mortal, meaning he might be back eventually, though odds are that he was permakilled.
• Samus, a weird warp entity with no relation to the vidya character (he'd probably bite the gravel if he tried to fight her for the right to be called the one true Samus), who is basically just summoned by arbitrary death when the plot of the Horus Heresy calls for it. According to Forge World, he's basically a daemon prince of the Ruinstorm and fucked with the Smurfs a lot, and was also one of the first daemons encountered by Horus before he fell to Chaos (though at the time, it was assumed to be 'only an unusual xenos'). Still active in M41, though less powerful without his Ruinstorm bonuses.
• Sindri Myr, though it wasn't long before Gabriel Angelos banished him. Sindri was probably expecting to just come back, since the whole reason you become a Prince is to be immortal, but instead found himself in the belly of a Greater Daemon (he's only technically one of the K-man's princes since he ascended using a Khornate daemon's power, but he himself undivided).
• Valkia the Bloody, a daemonic equivalent of a Valkyrie, she was originally a badass viking shield maiden, killed a lot (and we mean a lot) of people for her patron God, had two children, killed her husband and a bit later defeated a Slaanesh daemon prince in close combat. She then mounted the head of said prince on her shield and went to the Chaos Wastes to present her trophy to Khorne, but tripped at the goal line. Khorne was mad as fuck and brought her back to life, turning her into the entity she is today, coated in armour that constantly bleeds and being quite literally dead sexy.

Dedicated to Slaanesh[edit]

• Some Slaaneshi asshole called N'Kari... maybe. Nowadays (s)he's apparently a Greater Daemon.
• Ax'Senaea, a power-mad lady who completely subjugated the planet of Laodomida, but wanted to control her mind (note that she is so solipsistic that these are the same to her). She was bonkers, so a sorcerer convinced her to be possessed by a Slaaneshi Keeper of Secrets, hinting that it would give her the power to do so, but in reality, the sorcerer was expecting the daemon to kill her. After all, no one but the most potent of psykers can hope to bind a greater daemon to their will without being completely possessed by the daemon instead. It backfired on him, getting himself killed in the process, as Ax'Senaea managed to subjugate the daemon through sheer arrogance and self-obsession. Yes, she managed to make a greater daemon heel by being a bitch. She eventually used her new-found psychic powers to exert even more control over Laodomida and more nearby planets, in the process, drinking up two more Keepers of Secrets after draining each of them of their power before banishing them back to the warp. When she got to the fourth one, Slaanesh had noticed her talent and turned her into a daemon princess, which was also a jab to his/her servants for being too weak to defend themselves from a human. In true Slaaneshi fashion, however, despite attaining the highest daemonic honor her god(dess), she still desires more power and control over everything, and now seeks to subjugate daemons now instead of just humans.
• Doomrider, bike riding Slaanesh prince on fire. Back in the old days he'd show up, wreck face and disappear back into the warp before the game's end. Now he's apparently a severed head in the White Scars' Fortress-Monastery.
• The Mistress of Spite, a horrifically fat daemon princess who ascended after singlehandedly eating the populations of entire worlds. Used to be one of N'Kari's girlfriends before he dumped her; she started taking over the Daemon World of Contrition to try and woo him back, but now she simply makes life there hell for the resident daemons for the sheer sake of feeding on their despair. Notable features include 6 horns, three arms (the third has a huge pincer for a hand) and horrifically vagina-like orifices on each forearm that are sheathes for razor-sharp extendable bone spurs.
• Azazel, the Prince of Damnation, literally the first Daemon Prince character to ever be playable (way back in Champions of Chaos). Said to have been the leader of the Gerreon Tribe in Warhammer Fantasy, but he betrayed Sigmar and fled to the Northern Wastes to serve Slaanesh. Looks like an incredibly beautiful angel, until one spots the horns that curl from his brow, the chitinous claw of his left hand, and the two-headed scorpion-like tail that sprouts behind him. So beautiful he can hypnotise anyone who looks at him and turn them into his slave.
• The Sapphire King, a metaphysical manifestation of the Iron Hands being really really cross at Fulgrim. He can turn Iron Hands into Chaos You-know-whats just by standing next to them. He got his shit pushed in by Ironfather Kardan Stronos.

Dedicated to Tzeentch[edit]

• Phokulozortis, a Daemon Prince residing in the Screaming Vortex. A shapeshifter who loves to answer botched summonings and bungled invocations whilst pretending to be the intended daemon, in which guise he feigns being the sorcerer's loyal minion, but secretly screws them over. In his true form, he has the many-mouthed tentacled mass of a lower body like a giant Flamer of Tzeentch, four arms, and three heads like those of a Lord of Change. Artwork vs. descriptive text contradicts each other if he has wings like a Lord of Change as well, though.
• Ghargatuloth, one of the most powerful Daemon Princes in existence, requiring over 300 Grey Knights invading a planet to kill it (there's obviously not better alternatives). His body is, in essence, a thousand-mile high erect penis with mouths and eyes all over it. Despite massive amounts of Just As Planned with a scheme taking a thousand years to fulfill, and allegedly being one of the most intelligent daemons that Tzeentch has ever created, he fails again and again because of the Grey Knights - armed with plot twists so contrived and plot armor so thick that not even the Shaper Of Ways' right hand had a chance.
• Thunderfist, originally a Tzeentch-worshipping alchemist whose cult fled after his mutation (psychadelic skin and dimensional instability) became discovered, but somehow survived long enough to lead an army of misfits and monsters. Tzeentch elevated him to daemonhood after he singlehandedly slew the Nurgle champion Festus with only his spells. One of two Chaos Champions created by Games Workshop back when they first wrote Realms of Chaos, used to highlight how the Path to Glory rules worked.

Dedicated to Nurgle[edit]

• Bubonicus, originally the sole member of his village to survive a plague thanks to his prayers to Nurgle, who led a horde of beastmen and cultists out of the forests of the Old World and into the Chaos Wastes, where after many years of hardship and struggle they reached the Glades of Nurgle, where Nurgle rewarded Lothar's faith with daemonic ascension. One of two Chaos Champions created by Games Workshop back when they first wrote Realms of Chaos, used to highlight how the Path to Glory rules worked.
• Mamon, or the 'Arch-Corruptor of Vraks,' a deacon who fell to Chaos and brought down most of Vraks and Cardinal Xaphan with him.
• Cor’bax Utterblight, a Daemon Prince of the Ruinstorm brought into the Horus Heresy by the Word Bearers. More or less a mountain of filth, Nurglings and plague.
• Ignatius Grulgor, a former Captain of the Pre-Heresy Death Guard 2nd Great Company. Famous for getting killed by Nathaniel Garro, only to be raised a Plague Marine, killed again, and eventually raised a Daemon Prince. Like a lot of Nurgle Daemon Princes, Grulgor doesn't do a lot lately, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Dedicated to Chaos Undivided[edit]

• Nemeroth, who got it even worse than Sindri: he was killed DURING his ascension rather than immediately afterward, which means he might not be back.
• M'kar, some loser from the Word Bearers whose only purpose for appearing in any fluff is get to his ass handed to him by the Space Marines. Ironically, he's taken more seriously in Grey Knights. (Mostly because he managed to troll Kaldor 'He makes it happen' Draigo. And then it sort of backfired....*)
• Eliphas the Inheritor as of the Dawn of War series, but not really. In Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, he can take it as his ultimate upgrade; since the Blood Ravens were the canon victors in that story, he instead gets mulched by an unnamed daemon prince for failure. In Dawn of War II: Retribution, the outro for the Chaos campaign gives a glimpse of a newly-daemoned-up Eliphas. Of course, with Dawn of War 3 out to verify what we already know, the Blood Ravens are the canonical winners again. That leaves Eliphas either dead again or serving penance as the bottom for Abaddon's pet Chaos SpaAARRGH. It's largely moot in the end of course, since Eliphas is so badass that becoming a Daemon Prince is a demotion for him.
  • By which we mean the playable Daemon Prince upgrade from Dark Crusade sucks (trading campaign exclusive upgrades for a daemon prince unit designed for multiplayer balance, and not a separate unit for the campaign upgrade), so you should never take it.
• Be'lakor, the very first Daemon Prince who was such a badass in life that Princehood was a demot-- wait, we just made that joke, didn't we? Shit. Well, anyway, in WFB he led the hordes of Chaos at the dawn of time, but then he became an arrogant bitch, so Tzeentch cursed him to Princehood and made him the Harbinger, who would crown the Everchosen of Chaos. In 40k, he was also the first Daemon Prince, as well as the first, last, and only Daemon Prince elevated by the joint action of all four Chaos Gods (with the exception of Lorgar and Perturabo, apparently). He was greatly involved in Abaddon's rise to power (according to him), although it's likely he plans to betray the Warmaster at some point in time (something Abaddon is fully prepared for). Quite notably, Be'lakor has shown a strong tendency to undermine the plans and ambitions of other Chaos Champions; although he himself believes this to be a product of his own free will and the desire to prove his own superiority over his potential rivals, it is in fact the result of all four Chaos Gods using him as a pawn to strike at one another. Apparently unknown to them is the fact that Be'lakor's ultimate goal is to find a way to become a Chaos God himself. Also has a pretty sick metal band named after him so maybe it not all that bad.[1] Some people suspect he was the Dark Knight's Joker, because seriously that guy didn't even need an army to turn up Gotham City into a bloody mess and before you say he is prehuman, well, the Warp is atemporal, so yeah, traitorous Agent of Chaos anyone?
• Cherubael, a daemon who is unfortunate enough to wound up bound in the mortal realm as a daemon host and controlled against his will, multiple times. Whether or not he is actually a daemon prince is up for debate as that's just what Gregor Eisenhorn called him and he never bothered to correct him. He seems to be old school as he revers a long dead daemon king that died millennia ago when he lost a war against the Four as they came to power. Whether daemon prince or greater daemon, Cherubael is unbelievably powerful, being able to obliterate other more loosely controlled daemon hosts who have greater access to their powers as a result. Currently serving as Eisenhorn's attack dog.

Crunch[edit]

Warhammer Fantasy[edit]

Since Games Workshop made its 'brilliant' decision to break up the Hordes of Chaos into Warriors of Chaos and Daemons of Chaos, the Daemon Prince has been duplicated, each in a subtly different method. As a result, they need to be looked at differently depending on which army you're looking to play out.

Warriors of Chaos[edit]

In a mortal army, Daemon Princes use up Lord slots, competing with Chaos Lords and Sorcerer Lords, plus the various special characters. A Daemon Prince costs 25 points more than a Chaos Lord, but has higher Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Wounds and Initiatives (+1 for all save BS, which is +2) - cheap, until you consider they have to also take their special equivalent of a Chaos Mark (+10 points for Khorne or Nurgle, +15 for Tzeentch, +5 for Slaanesh). Non-Khorne Daemon Princes can be Wizards (+35 points per level, max level 4), can take Chaos Armor for +20 points, can Fly for +40 points, can take 25 points of magical items, and up to 100 points of Chaos Mutations/Powers. All in all, these characters can be real point-sinks.

The big problem with Daemon Princes is that they're so expensive, but so fragile; all they get is a lousy 5+ Ward Save, and a 4+ armor save if they spend 20 points on it. Their ability to spend 25 points of a suit of magic armor can make them a little more survivable, but all in all, they're glass cannons.

Daemons of Chaos[edit]

Daemon Princes in a Daemons army get pretty unfairly gimped; they cost more than in a Warriors of Chaos army (250 vs. 235), only get 75 points of Daemonic Gifts vs their 100 Chaos Powers + 25 Magic Items, and they have to roll randomly on their Gifts instead of choosing. The only plus side is that their Marks are much cheaper (-5 points compared to their Warriors versions - yes, that means Daemon Princes of Slaanesh only cost their default 250 points).

Warhammer 40k[edit]

The Daemon Prince is considered to be an HQ in both of the Chaos Codices (Although they can also be a Heavy Support choice instead if a Greater Daemon with the same alignment is an HQ in the Daemon codex. More on that later). They both also cost the same at 145 points without upgrades, and when one looks at their stats, they will be amazed and wonder why are they so cheap? Well, here's the catch: they MUST choose a Mark (or a Daemon) of a Dark God, which will increase the point cost (with the exception of Be'lakor, who is the only Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided). Then you see it has a crappy save, albeit an invulnerable one - so you also have to spend 20pts to give it a 3+ armour. Wings aren't needed unless you're facing foes that ignore cover and/or can instant gib the Prince (again, will explain that later on), or don't want to deep strike the Prince and want to get into combat fast. To top it off, you don't have any weapons to start with. Again, not required, but you'll be missing out on the awesome toys it can take (The Black Mace, Staff of Change, Blade of Blood, etc.). Now that cheap Monstrous Creature became expensive, and sometimes close to the same cost of a Land Raider.

There's something else one must consider when taking a Daemon Prince, which is that they no longer have Eternal Warrior. This can be fixed by taking powers from the Biomancy table, but again, it increases the already expensive price tag, and the powers are random, so even if you go all out, you may end up wasting 75 points and still not get Iron Arm. A Khorne Prince can't even take psychic powers, not that you want to anyway if you worship the Blood God. This means the Toughness value is docked to 5, and there's no other way to increase it (except by buying Greater Gifts and trying to roll a one on the table, but obviously you should know the drawback to this). Some even argue that the Daemon Prince is overpriced for this reason, not just because of the needed upgrades, but the fact the damn thing can still be instant killed by Force Weapons, Railguns, and things of that nature. And given that you can take a Greater Daemon in the Chaos Daemons codex that are either equal cost or are much cheaper, why would you bother taking the Prince over their stronger counterpart?

But they do have some saving graces, and they move to Heavy Support (in the Daemon Codex) when a Greater Daemon of the same god is taken as an HQ, so this means you can take a Keeper of Secrets (cheapest MC out of the four), and then take the Daemon Prince with Wings, Warp Forged Armour, Lash of Despair, and one or two Biomancy powers. The Prince suddenly becomes an awesome anti-air MC, albeit an expensive one, that can fight against Flyers, Transports, and even horde units if you roll well. You can also run an army list around these if you want to run multiple Daemon Princes just for shits and giggles.

As for Chaos Space Marines, their Prince can wield the Black Mace. The weapon is AP4, but when a Daemon Prince takes it with him, he can dish out armour-ignoring wounds that can fuck up almost anything it comes across (thank you Monstrous Creature USR), so it makes their points cost worth it in the long run. It also comes with the extra Curse rule, which can completely remove ANYTHING that fails a toughness test in a 3' radius of the Prince (chances are low for more juicy targets, but somewhere in the grimdark future, the dice gods are laughing at your next victim)! Plus the fact that you can get lucky and turn one of your HQs/Champions into a Daemon Prince if they roll for it when they take Gift of Mutation. Gift of Mutation re-rolls both Daemonhood and Spawnhood results although a Champion of Chaos has a chance to become one when they kill a character in combat.

So in short, the Daemon Prince is considered to be an expensive (sometimes overpriced) rape train. Despite how it can get instant killed in a bad situation, and the bitching about the points cost when taking them to battle, the Daemon Prince is overall still a good choice, IF you can protect it and use them wisely.

Dawn Of War Daemon Prince 2

Warhammer 40k 8th edition[edit]

He no longer has access to the Black Mace or pretty much any of the weapon relics. Sorry, everyone who modeled one with cool weapons. He CAN take the non-relic weapons. He also MUST swear allegiance to a god; for Khorne this gives him +1 attack for a deadly and fluffy 8 attacks, while the other three make him a psyker. Yay for Smite spam! Lastly he gains the trademark 8th edition 6-inch aura of reroll 1's to hit - while initially this only affected models sworn to the same god, it was later FAQ'd to apply to any models with the same legion and any daemon models sworn to the same god, giving him much greater utility.

Age of Sigmar[edit]

Daemon princes in Age of Sigmar are hard-hitting hero/monsters, though not so much as their greater daemon counterparts. Each daemon prince can choose between Daemonic Axe (average hit/wound with 2 rend) and Hellforged Sword (slightly better to-hit with 1 less rend), in addition to Malefic Talons, with all attacks potentially doing multiple wounds each. Their other stats are 12' move (default 8' with 12' if it can fly, and there's no reason to not give it flight as of yet), 8 wounds, 4+ save, and 10 bravery. Good but not great, until your alignment choices are taken into account.

The daemon prince's alignment changes its abilities. Unlike 40k, daemon princes in AoS can be unaligned.

• Unaligned DPs heal wounds each combat phase after it kills models.

• Khorne DPs get +1 to-hit, making up for the axe's average stats, or making the sword even killier than it already is.

• Nurgle DPs get their save boosted to 3+, making them a bit more survivable.

• Tzeentch DPs are wizards who can cast and unbind one spell per turn, but only knows the two generic spells unless he is from TZEENTCH allegiance army that gives him an extra spell from the Lore of Change.

• Slaanesh DPs can be chosen to interrupt an opponent's combat activation, immediately piling in and attacking themselves, if they have not attacked already. Great for causing additional casualties to minimize your opponent's damage output.

Finally, as with all daemons, all Chaos wizards know the Summon Daemon Prince spell, casting value 8.

In the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000fictional universes, the Daemons are malevolent spirits born out of the destructive power called Chaos. The daemons found in both universes are very similar, although the precise natures of their creation and existence vary slightly.

• 3Types of Daemons
• 4Special Relationships with Mortals

Daemons in Warhammer Fantasy[edit]

Daemons in the Warhammer Fantasy world hail from the dread Hell-like place called the 'Realm of Chaos', an alternate dimension, which has giant breaches into the material plane at both poles of the world. They are used in both Warhammer and Warhammer 40000. This realm is composed of pure magical energy; this energy flows into the world through collapsed gates of the Old Ones that, by collapsing, caused the breaches into the Realm of Chaos, and powers the spells cast by wizards and sorcerers. This magical energy is affected by the subconscious minds of men; their thoughts, fears and wishes become manifest as living creatures in the Realm of Chaos. According to the Daemons of Chaos Army Book, there can also be other, smaller 'rifts' in the mortal world, caused by excesses of the emotions and magic that fuel Demonic life. The smaller the rift, the fewer and lower power the demons that pop out of it will be. Furies, winged monsters that are not linked with any god, come first, followed by small demons like Nurglings, followed by stronger and stronger demons. These demons will stay in the mortal realm until all of the magic that created them is used up. In the realms of the Empire this is usually less than a week, but demons can evidently manifest indefinitely in the warpstone-encrusted soil of the great northern Chaos wastes. This is one reason why the expansion of the Chaos Wastes that heralds an incursion of Chaos into the civilised world is very important to the success of the incursion.

Some of these entities have become immensely powerful over time, becoming the Chaos gods. Presumably these gods could manifest if there was a big enough rift, but this has not happened in recorded history. Less powerful entities became daemons; these are partly tied to the will of the Chaos Gods, but also remain tied to the thoughts of mankind. As most daemons serve one of the gods, when the armies of that god go to war, those daemons tied to it will often march alongside the army. In both of the Warhammer realms, there are four major gods of Chaos, each with its own personality and units.

Khorne is the god of war and violence. Khorne believes in honour and will not reward those who kill the weak or puny. Unlike the other gods, there are no cults to Khorne in the empire, and no holy places in his name. This is because Khorne does not see the use of building places of worship when his followers could be practicing their worship of him in battle. The only religious practices of his followers are the shouts of 'Blood for the blood god, skulls for the throne of Khorne', and the practice of skulltaking from defeated enemies. Simply put, every battlefield is a monument to the destruction that Khorne brings. He is portrayed as a large muscular form clad in armour of black and brass with a 'visage that of a fierce and snarling dog with ravaged lips'. Khorne dwells in a brass citadel, within a great vault at its black heart reclining on a throne of brass, set atop of a mountain of skulls, both those of all his champions who have died in battle and all those killed in his name. He is a master forger of armor and weapons, so much so that his armor survived an attack from the Bloodthirster Skarbrand who 'cut the smallest of chinks in the Blood god's armour'. He is constantly angry, with a mood that ranges from simmering rage to epoch-ending fury. He is also noted as being the God most willing to engage in combat inside the Realm of Chaos. Khorne's territory in the realm of chaos is a vast and hellish blood-soaked desert, where mortals and deamons fight desperately in the name of Khorne.^[1]

Tzeentch is the god of scheming, ambition and trickery. He is most commonly referred to as The Changer of Ways or The Raven God. Tzeentch is primarily worshipped by ambitious and intelligent individuals who seek to raise themselves above others by any means necessary. Tzeentch is the most weirdly formed of all his brothers. His skin crawls with ever-changing faces that leer and mock those who dare look upon him. His actual face is puckered and formed upon his upper torso, so his head and body are one and above Tzeentch's eyes sprout two sweeping horns that crackle with arcane fire. His territory in the Realm of Chaos is a great library in the Impossible Fortress at the center of a crystalline labyrinth; constantly shifting and changing, so that none who enter it will ever escape with their sanity. The Impossible fortress has no Daemons to protect it, as almost none will make it through. Only the Lords of Change, Tzeentch's greater Daemons, can safely traverse its corridors. His realm lies at the heart of chaos, connecting the realms of the other gods. Tzeentch is not above sullying his hands with the blood of war, though he much prefers to gain victory through guile, cunning and schemes rather than brute force. The Raven God perceives every event and intention and from this information his complex and vast mind can determine how each and every possibility will serve to influence the future. Only Tzeentch can see the tapestry of potential futures weaving forward in time like multicoloured threads. For Tzeentch, scheming is not a means to an end, it is the end itself. Contradictory to this, however, is that Tzeentch seeks no ultimatum for his plans, for if he were to reach a true end then what would the schemer do?^[2]

Nurgle is the god of disease, pestilence and rot. He is usually called the Lord of Decay, though his followers affectionately refer to him as Father Nurgle, Papa Nurgle or Grandfather Nurgle, as he is the only one of the Chaos Gods who actually cares about the fate of his followers. Nurgle is predominately worshipped by those who desire to cheat death or to attain immortality. Ironically, since Nurgle is a god of disease, he will afflict those who worship him with terrible infectious 'gifts', but they will become resistant to these and in turn, be all but immune to the effects of illness, pain and injury. Nurgle's territory in the Realm of Chaos is a great garden, filled with diseased, alien plants and other creatures. At the centre stands Nurgle's mansion, made of rotted wood and crumbling stone, where Nurgle resides. Under mildewed and sagging beams, Nurgle labours for untold hours at an iron cauldron, which is said to be large enough to hold all of the world's oceans. He works to create contagions and pestilence - The most basic form of life - and every so often he will cease his work to take a taste of his newest concoction. If he is pleased, he will pass the disease on and force it to a being he keeps in his room (Poxfulcrum, in the Warhammer world, a daemon blessed with the ability to heal all infections but cursed with vulnerability to them all. In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this being is the Eldar god Isha who is Nurgle's prisoner). Nurgle watches the effects of his latest pathogen and if he is pleased he will pour the contents of his cauldron down into a massive iron grate in the floor of this vast room. This then rains down into the mortal world to infect those in it.^[3]

Slaanesh is the god of pleasure, desire, hedonism and indulgence. Usually known as The Darkling Prince or The Prince of Pleasure. Slaanesh can take male, female or hermaphroditic form at will though he prefers the form of a young strikingly handsome male. All those who look upon Slaanesh lose their soul and become slaves to his slightest whim. He is worshiped by those who seek pleasure and to indulge their every whim, no matter how vile or debauched. Slaanesh's territory in the Realm of Chaos is a great castle that contains six concentric rings. Each ring, as you progress inwards, present different manners of temptation. The circle of Avidity forms the outermost circle, appealing to an intruder's sense of greed. The next circle is that of Gluttony, and any who taste a drop of wine or a bite of food from the banquets and rivers will become a bloated fool who will indulge themselves until their body gives out. The third circle is the circle of Carnality, where all manner of fleshly pleasures may be sampled. Lissome maidens walk the verdant fields, their face and form seemingly sprung from the heart's dearest desire, yet to trust such a creature is purest folly, for there are clawed hands and serpent's teeth beneath the glamour. Upon entering the next circle, the traveler is greeted by a cheering crowd where intruders are tempted with power and its application. Then is the circle of Vainglory; it is a garden with beautiful flowers and heavy thorns. Unseen voices whisper of past glories to tempt an interloper's pride . The final circle is that of Indolence, a serene domain of heavenly choirs and perfumed seas. All within this domain seek to lure the senses with level sands and scented winds. The sands are the desiccated husks of those who have succumbed and the choirs the tortured souls of those lost here. Upon making the journey through this circle, a traveler can ascend to the seat of Slaanesh's power.^[4]

Since Daemons are made of pure magical energy, they are difficult for weapons of the physical world to destroy. However, certain rituals (such as those performed by Imperial warrior-priests) can much more easily defeat them. Also, as the winds of magic fade, so do the daemons; this can even happen during a battle. If the daemons are overcome by their foes in combat, the magic binding them to the world begins to scatter, and the daemons can be banished back to the Realm of Chaos.

Daemons in Warhammer 40,000[edit]

In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, daemons are entities which live in the parallel dimension known as the Warp. Similar to the Realm of Chaos, this parallel dimension is made up of pure psychic energy, and this energy sometimes collects and forms living entities. As these entities gather more energy, they can become sentient, eventually even god-like in their powers, abilities and ambitions. Like their Fantasy counterparts, daemons are the lesser entities serving the Chaos Gods.

Warhammer 40,000 daemons are normally unable to enter into the physical world on their own; as beings of pure energy, they must be summoned to the battlefield by Chaos worshippers and cultists. Alternatively, they can enter the physical realm at overlaps of Warp and material space, such as the Eye of Terror, through certain gates between the material and Warp realms or by forcing itself into the mind of a psyker, especially untrained psykers.

Once in the physical realm, daemons are often found fighting alongside Chaos worshippers- mainly the forces of the Chaos Space Marines, but also Chaos-influenced Imperial Guard and rebels known as the Lost and the Damned. Less frequently, other races such as the Orks (it is hard to tell) or Eldar can be corrupted by the Chaos Gods. When this happens, they too can be seen fighting alongside daemons, although not necessarily those of the four major gods. Like Fantasy daemons, they are sometimes difficult for physical weapons to destroy, but certain specially prepared weapons do exist which can more easily defeat them, banishing them back to the Warp (or even obliterating them from existence); like their Fantasy counterparts, if they are defeated in combat, the power holding them in the physical universe can begin to fade, banishing them back to the warp. (On a side note, the current release of the Codex: Chaos Space Marines has removed the 'instability' rule, thus daemons are no longer in danger of dissipating in battle.)

While in the Warp, daemons are attracted to the souls of mortals, which they like to consume, and this can aid in the process of summoning them, as they will flock to a battlefield in order to devour the souls of the recently slain. Due to their hunger for mortal souls, they are known to make the use of psychic powers by so-called 'psykers' dangerous. When a mortal psyker uses his powers, he draws upon the energy of the Warp, and daemons are strongly attracted to this usage of Warp energy. Once it finds the psyker, the daemon will then attack his mind in order to devour his soul or possess his body in order to gain access to the material world. Some races' souls are more attractive to daemons, notably the psychically powerful Eldar, and these races must make use of certain rituals or equipment to protect themselves from daemonic attack. Extremely powerful psykers (on the level of the few children/grandchildren spawned by the God-Emperor) should be able to obliterate daemons from existence (both the physical body and the psychic energy). Special psykers called Blanks exist that actually block and even destroy psychic energies. In theory a daemon whose physical body is destroyed in the presence of the Blank would be permanently killed.

Lastly, some races, mainly the Imperium, are able to fly their ships into the Warp and make use of the Immaterium as a form of hyperspace in order to quickly travel across the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds. While traversing the Warp, these ships must make use of powerful protections like the Gellar Field lest they be attacked and their crews consumed by the waiting daemons.

Types of Daemons[edit]

What follows is a list of the major types of daemons, and brief description of each type. The list is not exhaustive, and where major differences exist between Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy, these will be noted. Most of the daemons shown below serve the four major Chaos Gods- Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch, although the Warhammer 40,000Daemonhunters army includes special rules to allow their opponent to field generic daemons not listed below, but similar to those listed.

Greater Daemons[edit]

Greater Daemons are the ultimate expression of the might of the Chaos Gods. They normally appear as massive monsters of incredible power, sometimes able to fight an entire enemy army on their own. Some Greater Daemons have shown a degree of personality and free will, notably one from Warhammer 40,000 named M'kachen, a Lord of Change of Tzeentch. The Greater Daemons of the other three major Chaos Gods are the Bloodthirster of Khorne, the Great Unclean One of Nurgle, and the Keeper of Secrets of Slaanesh. Except for the Bloodthirster, all of the Greater Daemons are also powerful sorcerers in either game setting.

In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, a Greater Daemon cannot easily maintain its great form in the physical universe, and must possess a Chaos worshipper's body, normally a Chaos Space Marine, in order to keep from returning to the warp. Once it has possessed the Chaos Marine's body (which is known as a Daemonvessel or sometimes as a Daemonhost), it takes full control of the body, and is able to reform the flesh in order to take on an appearance the daemon finds suitable. If the Daemonvessel's body is killed before the possession process is complete, the Greater Daemon will still be able to possess the body, but will have great difficulty maintaining itself in the corpse it is inhabiting.

Though each of the Chaos Gods have their own Greater Daemons who serve their will, there also exists countless others who do not belong to a particular god. Each god also has a champion Greater Daemon, who are much larger and more powerful than their lesser brethren.

Lesser Daemons[edit]

Lesser Daemons are the most common types of daemons that can be encountered, the rank-and-file troopers of the Chaos Gods. They are generally sized similarly to a man, but not in form; they tend to have a monstrous appearance, which will reflect the nature of their god (for example, Khorne's frenzied daemons are normally blood-red, heavily armoured, and wield powerful axes or swords; meanwhile, Tzeench's horrors are misshapen with randomly protruding limbs). They are considerably less powerful than their Greater counterparts. Examples include the Bloodletters of Khorne, the Daemonettes of Slaanesh, the Plaguebearers of Nurgle, and the Horrors of Tzeentch.

Daemon Beasts[edit]

These include more animal-like daemons. Some are used as hunting beasts by the followers of Chaos (or even the Chaos Gods themselves), and can be brought to the battlefield, where they can move quickly across the battlefield to engage their foes. These include the Fleshhounds of Khorne, the Screamers of Tzeentch, the Fiends of Slaanesh, and the Beasts of Nurgle. Also of note, there exist daemons which do not belong to a particular god; these feral, gargoyle-like beasts are known as Furies.

Other Daemons[edit]

Each god can have other daemons that do not fit the above profiles. These include minor daemons like Nurglings (of Nurgle), or cavalry-like Seekers of Slaanesh (daemonettes mounted on daemonic steeds). Some Chaos Gods also have their own particular type of mount that they can grant their worshippers; these include the Juggernaut of Khorne, the Disc of Tzeentch, and the Steed of Slaanesh or ' Chariots'.

Special Relationships with Mortals[edit]

Mortal worshippers of the Chaos Gods can interact with daemons in ways other than simply fighting alongside them.

Possessed Chaos Space Marines[edit]

In Warhammer 40,000, some Chaos Space Marines willingly allow daemons to inhabit their bodies. Rather than the daemon completely taking control, as in the case of a Greater Daemon, these lesser daemons form an amalgam of Marine and daemon commonly referred to as a Possessed Chaos Space Marine, or simply Possessed. Possessed are potent warriors, combining the abilities of a Chaos Marine with the mystical powers of a daemon.

Closely related to Possessed are Obliterators, which are mysterious, warped Chaos Marines. They have become an amalgam of Chaos Marine, daemon and heavy armor, and bear the ability to transform their bodies to form powerful weapons, making them walking gun platforms. Obliterators have their own cult, with which the Iron Warriors have a special connection. It is now known, from the latest codex, that the obliterators were once the techmarines of the traitor legions.

• In the Warhammer 40k game Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, the Daemonkin Obliterator, an honor guard for the chaos commander, is referenced as being favored by the daemons of Sicarus. According to the history of the Word Bearers, Sicarus is a daemon world.

Daemon Weapons[edit]

Some daemons can be forced into servitude by being imprisoned inside a weapon; these mighty weapons are thus called Daemon Weapons. Daemon Weapons are extremely rare, but also very powerful, often able to tear apart reality, shoot powerful sorcerous bolts of energy, grant the wielder extraordinary physical attributes, or perform other such unnatural feats. A Chaos warrior must exercise great caution with these weapons, however, as the imprisoned daemon will often try to rebel against his master, and attempt to devour the wielder's soul.

Chaos Spawn and Daemon Princes[edit]

As a mortal worshipper grows powerful with his many victories, his patron god will sometimes reward him with 'gifts'; by the same token, with each failure the god could also curse him with the same 'gifts'. However, the gods of chaos are notoriously fickle and often they bestow their gifts without rhyme or reason. These gifts can include mutations (such as extra arms, tougher skin, wings or the ability to shoot fire from his hands), equipment (such as exotic weapons or powerful armor), or even daemonic followers (such as the aforementioned cavalry mounts). With each gift, the warrior becomes partly daemonic himself, being tied more and more to his god.

As the warrior continues to distinguish himself, and his god's desires, the warrior will continue to receive gifts. These gifts can grant the receiver untold powers that will make him more powerful than any Greater Daemon. As the warrior attains more and more gifts, these gifts can lead him to one of two fates:

• If the warrior receives too many gifts and is unable to endure any more, he can become a Chaos Spawn (also known as a 'Spawn of Chaos' in Warhammer Fantasy); alternatively, a Spawn could simply be a warrior who has spent too much time in contact with the warping power of Chaos, and has mutated without direct action by a Chaos God. Some particularly powerful Sorcerers in Warhammer 40,000 have the ability to grant this dubious 'gift' to a foe, instantly mutating them into a Spawn. A Spawn is a wildly mutated beast (meaning it can take many different forms), and is generally insane or non-sentient, living the remainder of its existence at the whim of its god or its fellow warriors.
• A particularly successful warrior of Chaos who is able to withstand the 'gifts' of his god can eventually become an exalted Daemon Prince. A Daemon Prince is among the most powerful beings that can be found on the battlefields of Warhammer 40,000 or Warhammer Fantasy, some of them rivaling or even surpassing Greater Daemons. They are frequently massive in size (much larger than a man and at least 10 feet in height), are very skilled warriors with the experience of hundreds of campaigns, and have many powerful daemonic abilities. Also the daemon can use abilities such as daemon roar which has the ability to scare enemies away.

Exalted Daemons[edit]

In Warhammer Fantasy, a powerful warrior may be given the gift of possession by a daemon. As with the Possessed Chaos Space Marines, this grants him extraordinary power; but, because the daemon must expend a great deal of energy maintaining its presence within the warrior, the Exalted Daemon is not quite as powerful as a Daemon Prince. Like a Prince, the daemonic nature of the Exalted Daemon can render it vulnerable to anti-daemon weapons and powers, despite the mortal body.

Daemonhost[edit]

In Warhammer 40,000, some especially radicalInquisitors of the Ordo Malleus believe that one of the best ways to defeat the Chaos Gods is to turn their own followers against them. To this end, they will force a daemon into possessing a human body, and, using powerful psychic spells, rituals and charms, bind it to the Inquisitor's will. These enslaved daemons are called daemonhosts, and they are sometimes brought to the battlefield, where they use powerful daemonic abilities to destroy the Inquisitor's foes. However, such Inquisitors are seen as dangerous heretics by their more conservative brethren, and sometimes find themselves being hunted as though they were traitorous heretics themselves.

Cultists and Chaos Sorcerers will perform exactly the same ritual, albeit for a different purpose, in order to have daemons that are able to maintain a physical form, but still possess many of the strengths of a daemon. Certain Chaos Space Marines, notably Abbadon, will bind his daemons in such a way so that they possess little free will.

It should be noted that even in the arcane archives of the inquisition, the knowledge to create these creatures has been lost requiring the use of chaos tainted grimoires to accomplish the same ends which in some cases has been hinted to be the root cause of the radicalism of some of the offending inquisitors. Gregor Eisenhorn, for example, obtained the knowledge in a highly destructive book known as the Malus Codicium which appeared to possess an element of free will attempting to escape him or corrupt him on several occasions. The followers of chaos appear to be able to obtain the required information from the creatures of the warp, which is rather unusual as they perceive being bound in a host as a form of slavery.

Daemon Engines and Possessed Vehicles[edit]

Daemon Engines are similar in nature to Daemon Weapons; they are special tank-like machines which are forged in the realm of the Dark Gods, and controlled by an imprisoned daemon. They frequently carry powerful cannons which make them useful in sieges. The most common type of daemon engine is the Defiler of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, a large spider-like machine mounting the battlecannon typical of Imperial Guard tanks. Another example is the Hellcannon from Warhammer Fantasy, a barely controllable, part daemon, part machine creation, crewed by the Chaos Dwarfs.

It would seem, from the model of the Soul Grinder, that the daemon controlling a Daemon Engine can sometimes break free. This causes a strange combination of warp flesh and machine.

Similar to these are daemonically possessed vehicles in Warhammer 40,000, which are normal tanks and other vehicles which are sealed and a daemon is imprisoned within, allowing it to control the vehicle; this is advantageous because the daemon, unlike a normal crew, cannot be killed or stunned by enemy attacks. The difference between a possessed vehicle and a daemon engine is in the crafting - a possessed vehicle has already been built when the daemon is imprisoned; a daemon engine has the daemon imprisoned as part of the vehicle's creation. Possession also comes in two forms: a normal daemon possession like that of a Possessed Marine, and a possession that is more akin to a parasite. Where the former receives direct control of the vehicle the latter will become the vehicle. With a Parasitic possession the vehicle becomes a living being, able to regenerate lost armaments or treads just as a living creature regenerates a wound.

References[edit]

1. ^Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos
2. ^Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos
3. ^Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos
4. ^Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos

• Thorpe, Gavin; Priestley, Rick; Reynolds, Anthony; Alessio Cavatore (2002). Warhammer Armies: Hordes of Chaos (1st ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN1-84154-222-9.
• Chambers, Andy; Haines, Pete; Hoare, Andy; Kelly, Phil & McNeill, Graham (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2nd ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN1-84154-322-5.
• Chambers, Andy; Kelly, Andy; McNeill, Graham (2003). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Daemonhunters (1st ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN1-84154-361-6.
• Archaon's Horde army list, retrieved from this site 27 August 2006
• Ward, Mat (2007). Warhammer Armies: Daemons of Chaos (7th ed.). Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN978-1-84154-883-8.