Codex Imperialis (1993) Chaos

PLAGUEBEARERS OF NURGLE

It is said that the fate of those who die of the foul disease Nurgle’s Rot is to serve the Lord of Decay forever in the most disgusting form of a daemon called a Plaguebearer. Huge black flies lay their filthy eggs on these foul daemons, and clumps of maggots crawl and clamber over their putrid hides, feeding upon the putrescent matter that drips from their oozing sores. When the flies hatch, they swarm around the Plaguebearer in a buzzing cloud of vileness, and will turn upon and attack his enemies. The Plaguebearer’s body is swollen with contagion, and churning innards spill from tears in their rancid skin. It has a single baleful eye and from its head sprouts a long horn. In its clawed hand the daemon carries a sword with a distorted barbed edge. This is the Plaguesword of Nurgle whose touch brings disease and death to mortal creatures.

Fear.
The foulness of the Plaguebearer overturns the mind and its indescribable stench induces nausea and fear.

Plaguesword.
The Plaguesword drips with venomous slime.

Cloud of Flies.
The Plaguebearer is surrounded by a black cloud of flies that feed upon his putrid skin. When the Plaguebearers are fighting these evil buzzing creatures fly into the eyes and mouths of their enemies, clogging their ears and crawling up their nostrils.
 
BEASTS OF NURGLE

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The head of this huge and slug-like daemon is fringed with fat tentacles from which oozes a paralysing slime. A creature overcome by this sticky slime will be collected after the battle and carried away to feed the broods of Nurgle.

Fear.
The monstrous appearance of the Beast of Nurgle is as nothing compared to the stench of its foulness.

Attacks.
The Beast of Nurgle has D6 attacks in hand-to-hand combat from its tentacles.

Slime Trail.
As the Beast moves it leaves a slime trail behind it. This makes it impossible for a large number of foes to attack the Beast without becoming caught up in the slime trail.
 
THE LORD OF CHANGE - Greater Daemon of Tzeentch

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The appearance of this daemon defies mortal comprehension. An overwhelming aura of brightness surrounds this creature, and its wings and body shimmer with colours that defy human comprehension. None who have confronted this massive and terrifying daemon will ever forget its flashing multi-coloured plumage or its claws of irridescent crystal. But most terrible of all is the gaze of the Lord of Change, which is said to penetrate the very depths of a man’s soul.

Terror.
The appearance of the Lord of Change is bewildering and terrifying.

Fly.
The Lord of Change has wings and is able to fly over the battlefield in great leaps and bounds as described above.
 
FLAMERS OF TZEENTCH

Flamers are amongst the most strange and disturbing of all daemons, their appearance is weird and extremely disturbing. Their lower portions resemble inverted mushrooms whose stalks have been transformed into muscular bodies. Flexible arms which spit searing flame sprout from the Flamer’s unnatural body. Pink warp flame dribbles constantly from orifices at the ends of the Flamer’s arms, roaring to life like living blowtorches as the Flamers attack. The daemon has no head, but its eyes and gaping maw lie between its swaying arms. In spite of its awkward appearance, the Flamer is an agile creature. Its muscular fungoid body can fly with great strength, allowing it to move by jumping and bounding across the battlefield.

Fear.
The mind wrenching form of the weird Flamer is more than most mortals can stand.

Shoot Flame.
Flamers can shoot flame in the shooting phase.

Bound.
Flamers move by bounding — they can move over any obstacles or intervening models without penalty.

Flame Attacks.
Flamers also use their flames to engulf and destroy enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
 
HORRORS OF TZEENTCH

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The survivors of daemon attacks are rarely fully sane or coherent. Scarce wonder that there are few reliable descriptions of these daemons, known only as the Horrors of Tzeentch. Victims babble incoherently about creatures made of blue and pink light. spinning, dancing monsters that bray and cackle as they whirl along dealing death with their long gangling clawed arms. As they hop and whirl into battle the daemons glow with pink fire, and as they are struck each daemon divides into two blue creatures, which continue to fight with savage ferocity until overcome.

Split.
When a Pink Horror sustains a wound it is not slain but automatically divides into two Blue Horrors. Remove the Pink Horror model and replace it with two Blue Horrors. These fight on in the place of the Pink Horror until they receive a wound and are removed.

Fear. The Horrors cause fear as described in the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook.
 
DISCS OF TZEENTCH

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The Discs are unspeakable creatures of warp space, shark-like predators that hunt the souls of mortal creatures in the endless seas of Chaos. They take the shape of flattened, plate-like creatures, with vicious teeth and sharp spines. They have no limbs and move by hovering over the ground. A Champion of Tzeentch can ride a Disc into battle, soaring above his foes and smashing through his enemies.

Fear.
The Dise causes fear as described in the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook.

Move.
The Disc moves by soaring above the ground at roughly head height.
 
CHAOS SPACE MARINES

During the terrible long wars of the Horus Heresy fully half the ancient Space Marine Legions joined the Warmaster Horus in his bid to wrest control of the Imperium from the Emperor. After many bloody battles the Warmaster’s true loyalties were revealed, and it became known to all that he had sold his soul to the Dark Gods of Chaos in return for undreamed of power. It was too late for the Space Marine Legions that had allied themselves with Horus — their souls were pledged to Chaos and for them there was no hope of forgiveness. Corruption and evil had corrupted their minds, gnawing at their unworthy ambitions, and turning them into the Emperor’s most bitter foes. After the defeat of Horus the Chaos Space Marine Legions sought unholy refuge in the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day. Of the surviving Legions of Chaos Space Marines the four which have found the especial favour of their patron gods are the World Eaters of Khorne, the Emperor’s Children of Slaanesh, the Death Guard of Nurgle and the Thousand Sons of Tzeentch. It is these foul Legions that most trouble the Imperium with their incessant raiding and wanton destruction.
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Rapid Fire.
Chaos Space Marines can employ rapid fire with storm bolters, boltguns or bolt pistols in the same way as other Space Marines.
 
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CHAOS CHAMPIONS

Although we divide Chaos Space Marine characters into Champions, Heroes and Mighty Heroes for convenience, all of these characters are termed Chaos Champions. Chaos Champions are the favoured servants of their masters, the Gods of Chaos, and their complete devotion is rewarded with numerous gifts of power. As a Champion gains favour in the eyes of his Chaos God so he becomes more powerful. There is a terrible price to pay, for the Gods of Chaos are whimsical and uncaring creatures, whose gifts often bring gross physical mutation and deformity. Horns, wildly discoloured flesh, distorted limbs, cloven hoofs and other, stranger, mutations are all too common amongst the Champions of Chaos who bravely bear their disfigurements as symbols of their divine favour.

NURGLE
Champions of Nurgle are swollen with corruption, their armour barely containing their bloated bodies. Because their bodies are dulled with disease and partly rotted away they feel little pain and can endure considerable injury without discomfort. A Chaos Champion of Nurgle always adds an extra +1 to his Toughness on account of his hugely bloated body.

SLAANESH
Slaanesh is the sensual Lord of Pleasure. His Chaos Champions live on the edge of excitement and experience, revelling in the joy of life and battle. They take a perverse pleasure in all experience, no matter how terrifying or bizarre, and are therefore not affected by the normal psychology rules. This means that they are immune to fear and terror, for example. In addition, they need never take a Break test, as death holds no fear for them, but is seen as a welcome consummation of experience. If a Champion is with a unit that is forced to flee then he is not affected and can continue to fight as normal.

KHORNE
Champions of the God Khorne are savage fighters whose body armour grows to be part of their bodies so they can never remove it. This Chaos Armour gives the Chaos Champion an armour saving throw of 2+. Chaos Champions of the World Eaters Space Marine Legion wear armour of this kind; it remains part of their bodies forever and cannot be removed.
In addition, Champions of Khorne are affected by the rules for frenzy as described in the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook. They are awesome warriors who revel in their role as the sacred destroyers of the Blood God.
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TZEENTCH
Tzeentch the Changer of the Ways is the master of arcane lore whose Champions often find themselves gifted with dark powers of sorcery. The warp flows through them and its aura protects them and wards away hostile psychic attacks. If a Chaos Champion of Tzeentch suffers a psychic attack then he may successfully nullify it by rolling a 4+ on a D6. If he is successful the psychic attack does not work and causes no harm.
 
CHAOS CULTISTS

Chaos is not only a deadly enemy that threatens the Imperium from without, it is a foe that works its insidious evil within the very heart of the Imperium, on every world, in every Imperial organisation, even within the very Adeptus Terra itself. Everywhere there are fools too weak-minded to resist the temptations of power. Their ambition and greed cannot be sated except by the ever eager Gods of Chaos. For the price of his soul a man can enjoy temporal power for a while, glory for a day, and the certainty of damnation for all eternity.

So long as there are men who do not truly believe in the horrors of the Chaos Gods there will always be those who choose to worship them. Many are renegades from Imperial justice, refugees from the Judges, or mutants whose psychic powers make life in the Imperium too dangerous for them. Others seek power within their society, dreaming of overthrowing their lord and seizing control themselves. Those who would meddle with the Chaos Gods, who would willingly call upon daemons, are sick in mind and spirit, and are the avowed enemies of the Imperium.

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BEASTMEN

Beastmen are the foul spawn of the Chaos Gods, creatures so twisted by their mutations that it is impossible to tell whether their forebears were men or beasts. There are countless worlds in the galaxy where the forces of Chaos have triumphed, and where the Beastmen reign in mankind’s stead. They are violent and low-minded creatures, loud and coarse, capable of sustaining only the most rudimentary civilisation and the most debased culture. Such beasts revel in the destruction of man, and willingly flock to fight alongside the forces of Chaos.

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CHAOS HOUNDS

Hounds of Chaos are wolf-like creatures whose ancestors may s once have been ordinary canines, but which have become twisted and mutated by the power of Chaos. They are marked with hideous mutations such as hors, massive fangs, several heads, the tails of scorpions and other unimaginable horrors.
 
It is ten thousand years since the Emperor gave his life battling to save the Earth from the Warmaster during the last terrifying days of the Horus Heresy. The Emperors mortal life ended at the moment of Horus own destruction, yet he did not die. The Emperor's body was put into stasis at the point of death, and though his physical form was crushed and maimed his spirit did not falter. A vast machine was built to sustain him, a device constructed with the long forbidden secrets of ancient technology and arcane lore: the Golden Throne. Its vast structure sustains the Emperor's spirit which watches over and guides humanity from the warp, whilst at the same time battling against the horrific psychic entities which threaten mankind's destruction. Though every day the arcane machines consume many thousands of sacrificial psykers, the ultimate suffering is that of the Emperor himself. For his agonies can never cease. He must endure an endless battle and can never be free of the burden that fate has placed upon his failing spirit. Without him there is nothing.

ADEPTUS MINISTORUM

ORIGINS
The Emperor became an object of general veneration following his incarceration within the Golden Throne. Many Imperial! cults sprang up throughout the Imperium over the following decades. Most differed in their specific practices and beliefs, but all were united by their common worship of the Emperor and by the principles of human survival he embodied. These principals had been established during the Great Crusade when the Emperor led the armies of Earth in the reconquest of the galaxy: genetic corruption was to be sought out and eradicated, psykers were to be evaluated and controlled, destructive aliens were to be rendered powerless. Indeed, anything that threatened the future of humanity would be recognised and destroyed. The civil wars that followed reconquest were widely taken as proof of the importance of these principles. The Horus Rebellion, as these wars are known, showed how fragile humanity really was. The civil wars were brought to an end when the Emperor slew Horus in hand-to-hand combat, suffering a mortal wound in return and leading to his incarceration in the Golden Throne. The redemption of humanity by the self-sacrifice of the Emperor became the central theme of the Imperial Cult. Within a few hundred years of the Emperor’s sacrifice, the multitude of smal! cults were united into a single cult known as the Ecclesiarchy after its elected leader the Ecclesiarch. This powerful body gradually absorbed the mass of cult worshippers, until in the thirty-second millennium it gained the status of official religion of the Imperium and the concomitant title of Adeptus Ministorum.

Remaining independent cults were persecuted and mostly destroyed. The only significant surviving bodies of independent worship were the Imperial cults of the Adeptus Astartes, whose Space Marine Chaplains continued to preach their own unique traditions as part of Space Marine training. This is still the case today in the forty-first millennium, although the Adeptus Astartes nominally acknowledges the Ecclesiarchy and has incorporated some of its practices into its own cults. The persistence of older and seemingly barbaric practices amongst the Space Marines makes them all the more frightening to the mass of humanity.