Gods Other than Slaanesh in WHFB and 40K

TZEENTCH, The Lord of Change
Description: Tzeentch is the greatest magician of the Chaos Powers and is the most enigmatic of the Chaos Gods. Magic is one of the most potent of all agents of change, and those who use it are amongst the most ambitious and the hungry for power. His sympathies lie directly with the Forces of Chaos as demonstrated by the distortion of natural law through the forces of mutation and magic. Tzeentch feeds upon the need and desire for change that is an essential part of human nature. All men dream of wealth, freedom and a better tomorrow. All these dreams create a powerful impetus for change, and the ambitions of nations create a force which can change history. Tzeentch is the embodiment of that force.

The skin of Tzeentch crawls with constantly changing faces, leering and mocking the onlooker. As he speaks, these faces sometimes repeat what he says with subtle but important differences, or provide commentary which throws doubt upon his words. This makes it very hard to interpret exactly what Tzeentch is saying. These lesser faces appear and disappear quite quickly, but the actual head of Tzeentch does not change. His puckered face sits low down and has no neck, so that it is hard to distinguish his head from his chest. His curving horns appear appear to spring from his shoulders rather than from his head. The firmament surrounding Tzeentch is heavy with brooding magic. It weaves like liquid smoke about his head, forming subtle and interwoven patterns. Forms of places and people appear in the smoke as Tzeentch's mind contemplates their fate.

Symbol: The colours of Tzeentch are pink, puce, and/or purple and are often used in subtle combinations, in everyday clothing. For more formal rituals and meetings, however, the robes are usually most garish and strident in both pattern and colour. The number of Tzeentch is nine and his cultists will gather in this number or multiples of it.

Worship: The Cult of Tzeentch is easily the most widespread in The Empire. He is particularly popular with mutants, but his cults are just as likely to be found in the towns and cities as they are in the forests. These groups are all committed to the subversion and overthrow of The Empire, and have an extensive network of informants and spies - some of whom occupy very high places indeed. The activities of this cult are shielded by its hostility towards the cult of Nurgle: who would suspect that those who are most zealous in the persecution of Nurgle's followers are actually Chaos cultists themselves? The size of any particular group of cultists varies from place to place, the largest ones being located in the great cities or deep in the forests. They meet wherever and whenever is expedient, being much more organised and circumspect than the followers of Slaanesh. Notable Tzeentchian cults are the Purple Hand, the Red Crown, the Withering Eye, and the Fire Grail, and the most powerful of these is the Purple Hand.

General: Tzeentch is not content to merely watch the drama of history as it unfolds. He has purposes of his own, although what they are it is impossible to say for sure. His intentions are complicated, his schemes highly sophisticated and incredibly long-term. Perhaps he has plans to overthrow the other Powers, or to extend his dominion over mortal realms. Whatever his ultimate purpose, he seeks to achieve it by manipulating the individual lives of men, thereby altering the course of history. By offering power and magic he can recruit influential people to his cause, and affect the lives many more at a single stroke. However, few of Tzeentch's plots are simple, and many may appear at first contradictory to others, or against Tzeentch's own interests. Only Tzeentch can see the threads of potential futures weaving forward in time like tangled balls of multicoloured wool.

The eternal enemy of Tzeentch is the other Chaos God called Nurgle. Because Tzeentch stands for change and the creation of new things, and life, this is the very opposite of what Nurgle stands for: decay and the defiance of despair and hopelessness.

NURGLE, God of Pestilence and Decay
Description: Nurgle is also the Lord of All because all things, no matter how solid and permanent they seem, are liable to physical corruption. Indeed, the very process of construction and creation foreshadow destruction and decay. The palace of today is tomorrow's ruin, the maiden of the morning is the crone of the night, and the hope of a moment is but the foundation stone of everlasting regret.

Nurgle is the Great Lord of Decay and the Master of Plague and Pestilence, his carcass is riddled with disease and infestation. He is a gigantic figure bloated with decay, disease and all imaginable kinds of physical corruption. His skin is greenish, necrose and leathery, its surface is covered with pockmarks, sores, and other signs of infestation. The inner organs, rank with decay, spill through the ruptured skin and hang like drapes about the girth. From these organs burst tiny creatures called Nurglings which chew and suck upon the nauseous juices within. Such foulness represents the truth of the universe, of decay and the end of all things. Yet in character Nurgle is neither deathlike nor morbid. Like his Daemons, Nurgle is motivated by all the trivial human enthusiasm which drive the living.

Symbol: Nurgle's colours are sickly greens, yellows and browns - usually worn in simple, geometric patterns. Worshippers often find it expedient to wear neither a symbol or nor the alternative badge of the silhouette of a fly, but most go hooded - either to disguise the deformities caused by Nurgle's Rot, or to inspire dread and doubt. The number of Nurgle is seven and his cultists will gather in this number or multiples of it.

Worship: Like Khorne, followers of the Plague God are relatively rare in The Empire, but a few do exist, practicing their filthy rites within the depths of the sewer systems of the major cities. Such groups rarely number more than fifty, and are largely isolated from groups in other cities. From time to time, the city or provincial authorities will mount an expedition to exterminate the depraved worshippers of Nurgle, but since such efforts must stop short of burning down their cities there are always a few who escape to replenish their numbers. Notable Nurgle cults include the Plague Chalice, The Foetid Fly, and The Maw.

General: The living know that they will die, and many know that they will live with disease or other torment, yet they drive this knowledge into a corner of their minds and keep it pinioned there with all manner of dreams and activity. Nurgle is the embodiment of that knowledge and of the unconscious response to it, of the hidden fear of disease and decay, and of the power of life which that fear generates. Nurgle is the hope born from the inevitability of death and decay.

Nurgle is the eternal enemy of Tzeentch, the Lord of Change. Nurgle and Tzeentch draw their energy from opposing beliefs. While the energy of Tzeentch comes from hope and changing fortune, that of Nurgle comes from defiance born of despair and hopelessness. The two Great Powers fight each other on the battle grounds of the Chaos Wastes and they oppose each other in more subtle ways, the complex politics and intrigues among mortal men.

Champions of Nurgle, like the Plaguebearers, find disease fascinating and when confronted with one they hastily scribble it down in a book or scrap of parchment (more to allocate a victim a disease than anything else.) Like the Plaguebearers and Great Unclean Ones they try to bring a little order to Chaos with a natural enthusiasm to organise and achieve.

KHORNE, The Blood God
Description: Khorne, known universally as the Blood God or The Harvester of Souls, is the most violent of all Chaos Gods for he epitomises anger, hate, violence and wanton destruction. To Khorne, whether they be friend or foe, all must be slain so that he may consume their souls and have more bones for his brass throne of blood. All blood that is split by his followers make Khorne more powerful. But Khorne is never satisfied, until all the bones of mortals lie beneath his brass throne.

Khorne is depicted as muscular bestial-faced humanoid, hundreds of feet tall, seated on a vast brass throne, which in turn rests on a mountain of blood-stained bones. He is clad in elaborate plate armour, adorned with skull motif patterns, and his great helm is winged with only a portion of his snarling face visible beneath.

Symbol: The symbol of Khorne is a skull, but the most popular symbol is an X-shaped rune with a bar across the bottom. His followers favour red, black and brass in their dress and armour, the hues of blood, death, and Khorne's own armour respectively. The number of Khorne is eight, or multiples of it, and this is reflected in cult meetings and the size of battlefield units.

Worship: The worship of Khorne is most popular with warriors. Most beastmen and Chaos Warriors follow the Blood God and these are some of the only Khornites to be found in the Old World because the god is not given over to subtlety and has no interest in politics. There are no temples to Khorne, the battlefield is where he is worshipped and where the most blood can be split. He is also popular among the goblinoid race, including Half-orcs, because his thirst for blood and wanton violence particularly appeals to their mentality.

Khorne looks in favour upon those who kill their friends and allies, and those who wreak the most havoc and destruction. All increases the Blood God's strength. He is displeased if one day goes by without one of his followers taking a life, as such something terrible might befall the indolent disciple.

General: Followers of Khorne are all warriors and there are few organised cults in the Old World dedicated to the Blood God's religion. He is worshipped only in the act of killing, and his followers often fight as individuals, ignoring bonds of alliance and common faith when it suits them to do so. They are some of the most zealous followers because they even see their own death as an offering to Khorne.

But there is another side to Khorne. He also epitomises the warrior's sense of honour and martial virtue. A Khornate Champion may not always be a frenzied berserker, he may just as easily be a proud warrior eager to prove himself to his god. In time, however, he will gradually see his comrades as pawns to use as he pleases as the last vestiges of his humanity begin to ebb away.

Unusually for a Chaos God, Khorne despises all forms of magic. He is a visceral god, the Chaos Power that embodies action, not thought. Slaughter in all its forms is the way of Khorne. Spellcasting is a process of the mind, not the sword's edge. The harvest of blood for the Blood God is of paramount importance, and those rituals and spells that would seek to quantify and control the forces of Chaos are an anathema to him. Khorne is a practical god of battle, not a god of effete intellectual pursuits. His 'magic', such as it is, reflects this character. Khorne followers use magical swords and Daemon Weapons to kill in Khorne's name. Khorne's unnatural marvels are his gifts to his followers; the use of such weapons is his followers' delight. Spellcasters that are found by Khorne's followers most of the time are slaughtered, but some are not and instead are taken to the Forges of Khorne where they become slaves for as long as they shall live, enchanting weapons and armour. Their eventual deaths temper the Khornate blades as they require blood for the quenching, and souls to stoke for the furnaces.

Slaanesh is my still my favorite though