Chaos (Warhammer 40,000)

In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes, Chaos refers to the malevolent entities which live in a different timespace, known as the Warp in Warhammer 40,000 and as the Realm of Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy. The term can refer to these warp entities and their influence, the servants and worshippers of these entities, or even the parallel universe in which these entities are supposed to reside. The most powerful of these warp entities are those known as the Chaos Gods, also sometimes referred to as the Dark Gods, Ruinous Powers, or the Powers of Chaos. Similarities exist between the Warhammer idea of Chaos and the concept of Chaos from Michael Moorcock's Elric saga, which also influenced D&D's alignment system. Further similarities can be seen with the godlike extradimensional Great Old Ones of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's stories.

Warhammer Fantasy, "Warhammer Age Of Sigmar," and Warhammer 40,000 depict universes that are out of spiritual balance. The concept of Chaos Gods has been more or less integral to both ever since they were first conceived. The Chaos Gods in Warhammer are essentially deities worshipped and feared by various groups and that is what makes these groups followers of Chaos. In this idea there is evidently a strong influence from the English fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. Many different Chaos Gods were named in the various early miniature catalogues released by Citadel in the early eighties. But it was never clearly explained what the fictional pantheon looked like. The idea of "Four Great Powers of Chaos", i.e. Chaos Gods, was first introduced in the two Realm of Chaos sourcebooks released 1988 and 1990 respectively. To date these remain the original and amongst the most detailed pieces of work published by Games Workshop regarding Chaos. The Black Library "artbooks" of the Liber Chaotica series (released from 2001 to 2006) and Black Industries' Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement, the Tome of Corruption: Secrets from the Realm of Chaos (published 2006) contain as much detail as the original Realms of Chaos sourcebooks (and, in the case of the Liber Chaotica, taken directly from the original books), but with the various additions and changes to the Chaos imagery that GW has introduced over the years – although these latter two books focus mainly upon Chaos as perceived through the Warhammer Fantasy imagery. A major factor in both universes about Chaos is that all four of the gods represent things that are good in moderation, but are taken to extremes. For example, Nurgle is the god of life, but the unrestrained, unwholesome life, such as a tumor.

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