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What Is Chaos?
The Chaos Gods
The Primordial Annihilator, Chaos is often talked about in Warhammer: 40K as this massive frightening thing in the universe. This baleful force has fracture worlds, damned an uncountable number of souls to torment, and had great atrocities committed in its name.
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Chaos is more than just one thing and for those new to this grimdark genre, it can be a little overwhelming to try and take all onboard. There are a lot of components like Cults, Daemons, and Dark Gods, so figuring out how it all fits together to form this big cohesive mess of terror that every 40K fan knows and loves can take quite a while. But, here’s a slimmed-down explanation of what you need to know about Chaos in Warhammer 40K.
What Is Chaos?
Chaos in most terms means complete unstructured anarchy and that’s a fitting way to describe the metaphysical, and malevolent realm of Chaos and the entities that dwell within this space of raw psychic energy. Exposure to it is highly corruptive and even the most trained Pskyer can run afoul of rampant mutation or worse. Some are unlucky enough to lose their soul to some tempting Daemon of the Warp.
This entirety of this seemingly infinite turbulent force is thankfully locked away in its alternate dimension known throughout the universe as The Immaterium. But there are huge rifts into this zone of the damned splitting realspace, the most notable of which being the Eye of Terror. Plus, it’s commonplace for tears to appear in worlds overrun with Cultists that worship this profane realm and its deities, or on battlefields where particularly brutal events happen. Either way, if you don’t encounter Chaos at some point in your life within the Universe of 40K whether within or outside of the relatively “safe” influence of the Imperium of Man then you’re considered one of the lucky ones. Its sickening influence is felt far, worshipped by many and countless planets and wars have been fought because of it. Chaos is an inevitability on the lands of the living. However, despite this, some still rage against this dying of the light.
The Immaterium
Crossing over into the Immaterium is a fate that awaits most races of the 40K universe after they pass on from the mortal plane, as their souls get torn apart and absorbed by the chittering monstrosities of the Warp. This anarchic realm is composed of a constantly roiling maelstrom of energy. Filled to its infinite brim with nightmarish entities that desire one thing, Souls upon which to feed. The Immaterium, or "Warp" as it's commonly referred to, is a dimension of anarchy where the laws of physics, time, and reality break down. Venturing in here unprepared is a fast journey to damnation or a fate worse than death and few brave this realm without sturdy Gellar Fields or powerful Sorceries to keep the madness out.
Though it may seem like no life exists that isn't demonic or other, entire planets and a range of lifeforms, unfortunately, call this place their home. Whether by choice, or not. These doomed worlds are numerous, and were either swallowed up by the opening or expansion of a Warp Rift or were dragged screaming into this Hell through machinations of the Chaos Gods and their maniacal followers. What's more horrifying is that often these planetoids are ruled over by cruel and merciless Daemon Princes. Tortured in some grotesque way or converted wholesale to their new Dark Patron's side. The populace of Chaos Worlds suffers in their unique versions of homegrown hell.
Warp Travel
The upside of having a nightmare dimension that's worryingly easily accessible is that it does make getting around in space a lot easier. Different races use their form of FTL travel, to different degrees of efficiency. But most use to travel through the Warp as their main form of vast-distance transportation. To do so requires a Psyker Navigator, a particular engine, and a reliable Gellar Field. Which for the uninitiated is a device that emits a pocket of reality around a ship, essentially forming a bubble of protection from the monsters and machinations of unreality that are screaming to get in.
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Field failure is unfortunately commonplace, and should that happen anyone unlucky enough to be on board will find their forms mutate uncontrollably as raw Warp energy flows throughout the vessel. Time and space break down, nothing makes sense anymore and anyone still left alive and unaffected by this point would probably be driven insane. Recovery of these ships is possible, but often the occupants are purged to quarantine any taint of Chaos. Plus, time moves differently in the Warp, so if a vessel that went in say five minutes ago gets lost, it may not appear again for thousands of years, if at all. Or they could even be thrown back in time and emerge at random points in prehistory. Warp travel is very risky, but it's the only way to cross the vast and dangerous reaches of space.
Chaos Manifestation
Unless you count yourself amongst one of those worlds that’s just a little bit too close to the Maelstrom, Daemonic Incursions are rare, but not too uncommon. They often occur at points in space where the fabric of reality is thin enough for them to break through from the Immaterium. Although, they can also just happen completely at random. Especially if it’s during some sort of supernatural act that has rendered the barrier between real space and unreality inert or a smidge too frail.
There have also been occasions where Daemons have possessed mortals and turned them into living portals to the Warp or some maniacal Mechanicus machinist accidentally creates a rift during an experiment. Humanity tries its best to contain these breaches, but they’re often inevitable. When a breach happens, an almost infinite army of monsters and indescribable creatures from the Warp will burst through and devour every soul they can. Whilst all that carnage is going on, the environment around this tear will become severely tainted and changed, putting the world or ship in which it opened at risk of being pulled completely into the Immaterium forever. Some of these events can last minutes, others hours and some are mere moments, making incursions as unpredictable as the raw currents of the Warp itself.
The Chaos Gods
This realm of impossibility is not rudderless, it is in fact ruled by all-powerful gods. These infinite and unknowable beings were made manifest in this psychic realm by the emotional turmoil felt in the Universe since time immemorable. They each represent some aspect of the greater galaxy as a whole. Through this, they enact a never-ending game of conquest and torment over all of the souls in the dimension next door as well as across the vast plane of their own in which each of them dwells.
No one God of Chaos is ever in true supremacy. As the Psychic energy of this realm waxes and wanes reflecting the turmoil of real space, so too does the influence of each particular Dark Patron. For example, Nurgle may find his gardens reaching new areas that once belonged to Khorne for a time, only for these rotting and diseased plants in which all sorts of foul creatures cavort to become encased in fracturous crystals and burned by mutating Warpfire as Tzeentch the Changer of Ways momentarily takes dominance. It’s a landscape that’s constantly in turmoil, but on some very rare occasions, those warring Gods turn their gaze as one to work towards a common goal. The most notable of which was during the Horus Heresy as the combined forces of Chaos tried to destroy the Emperor of Mankind and his marshaled forces on Terra.
There's also an argument to be made around a deity known as Malice, but the lore is a little patchy about that particular God and it’s not considered mainline canon by most. It’s not worth diving too deep into it other than making a passing mention of its existence. But to paint a wider picture, here is each Chaos God and what they represent in relative brevity:
Nurgle | The God Of Decay, Disease, and Death. |  |
|---|---|---|
Khorne | The God of War, Murder, Battle, and Blood. |  |
Slaanesh | The God of Excess, Desire, Pleasure, and Sensation. |  |
Tzeentch | The God of Magic, Fate, and Change. |  |
Heretics
As terrifying and malevolent as Chaos is, some choose to worship it wholeheartedly. Giving themselves and in some cases, entire worlds over to the Dark Gods through grisly uprisings created by large groups of Chaos Cults. One horrifying thing about these groups is that often these uprisings are decades or even centuries in the making. With what were once seemingly peaceful planets erupting into violence overnight. But why would one destroy their world or savage others for the will of Chaos?
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Well, for those that commit atrocities, particularly those on a mind-numbingly massive scale, boons and rewards are in store. However, they aren't always the most beneficial. As an example, they could find their power increased tenfold, be ascended to Daemonhood, or they could mutate uncontrollably and become a mindless Chaos Spawn. A beast of bent and mutated flesh that loses all awareness and will render anyone and anything nearby into a pulped and torn mess. No two gifts are the same, but all worshippers of this dark force sport some sort of permanent mark somewhere on their bodies. It makes it hard for Heretics, especially the heavily mutated ones, to hide from Inquisitorial Purge Squads, but for every cult cell that's put to the torch by the weaponry of the Imperium, another three rise in its place.
Worshippers of Chaos, known as Heretics, come in all shapes and sizes. The most notable of these damned souls are the fallen Chaos Space Marines, once noble and honorable warriors that have given themselves fully to a new Dark Patron. Twisted into new horrible forms, a mockery of their former shining selves. There's also the Hereteks, a corrupted side of the Mechanicus, uncountable Human cults on different worlds, and of course Psykers. Those with psychic abilities are sadly the most common to fall to the influence of Chaos since they have a direct line to the Immaterium thanks to their psychic abilities.
Purges
Though the Legions that follow the flag of the Ruinous Powers are innumerable, there is hope in the vast darkness of space. Various factions of the Imperium wage their particular wars on the forces of Chaos, most notably the Inquisition and the Grey Knights. Though they have mixed success, one of their most permanent options for removal of the taint of chaos is with planetwide purges known as Exterminatus.
For those living on a planet deemed unsavable from the forces of Chaos, you'll get to enjoy a brief period of terror followed by a brutal death as a range of apocalyptic-scale weaponry gets unleashed on your homeworld. From organic melting DNA Bombs and viral pathogens to atmosphere-burning bombardment, eternal irradiation, or core-cracking torpedos that break apart planets. Once the order is given, a world is doomed.
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