Great Game
The Great Game is the constant struggle for dominance between the Chaos Gods.[1]
Contents
Overview
The Warp is not only home to the Gods, but it is also their battlefield. No God can ever win the Great Game, for if all other Warp Powers were obliterated, the Warp would become a still, unmoving mass and Chaos would no longer exist; therefore, it is an eternal conflict that takes the form of an untold number of battles, campaigns and wars. The full Great Game commands the almost complete attention of the Gods; a fraction of their attention will very rarely be fixed on the mortal realm, but only for an instant, as the Great Game is far more important.[1]
The Chaos Gods will also rarely unite (roughly every few thousand years), if there is the need to do so - e.g., to thwart a potent threat or to take advantage of a rare occurrence. The rise of the Emperor of Mankind was such a time, and so the Gods engineered the wars of the Horus Heresy to bring about His downfall, distracting them for an instant from the Great Game. The Great Conflict that is played out amongst the Gods is also mirrored by their followers and worshipers in the material realm. This is what the Daemon Primarchs and other Great Chaos Champions are occupied with, fighting for the supremacy of their God, with untold power at their fingertips.[1]
History
M30-M31
The Great Game began anew with the birth of Slaanesh in M30, at the climax of the Fall of the Eldar and dawn of the Imperium. Glutted on the souls of the majority of the Aeldari and their murdered pantheon, Slaanesh expanded their domain for a brief time. Tzeentch and Nurgle allied. Khorne was so insulted by being usurped that he flew into a rage and reclaimed his lost territory, and more besides.[2a]
- As the Imperium accumulated victories, the Dark Gods laid seeds of corruption in the Primarchs and the events of the Horus Heresy unfolded.[2a]
- The events on Tallarn that ultimately lead to the Cursus of Alganar are sown.[2a]
- The first Warp Stars emerge from the Eye of Terror.[2a]
M34-36
During the Imperium's Age of Apostasy from M34-M36, Nurgle and Tzeentch became the dominant powers in the Realm of Chaos.[2b]
- Zealot cults are nurtured within the ranks of the Ecclesiarchy's own ranks.[2b]
- Epidemius unleashed a deluge of sickness on Gaero Alphus. While Daemon-possessed, Admiral Koth bombards the Industrial World of Phalan 10 for months and Tzeentch's Scintillating Legions invade.[2b]
M38-40
In M38-M40, the constant warring of this period would see Khorne once more ascend to the First amongst the Great Game's player. Nurgle would be the primary target of Khorne during his return to prominence, and the Plague God would fall to the least amongst his brothers.[2b]
- In the Maxil Beta System, a red giant star exploded. The supernova was warp-tainted and all the worlds touched by it were also tainted by the Chaos energies or killed outright. All Imperial assets with 50 light-years mobilised for a crusade to purge the mutated and possessed left in the supernova's aftermath. It was eventually contained after uncounted billions died to do so.[2a]
- The Changeling and the Masque work together to strike at craftworld Il'saraidh and their Harlequin allies. Although the craftworld is saved, it's heart is essentially torn out.[2b]
- Khorne decapitates the agri world of Pax Veritas. On the night that the thousand-year war of Midian finally ends, a red moon rises, and every celebrating soldier suddenly loses their heads to an unseen blade.[2b]
M40-M41
The Time of Ending is marked by unpredictable warp storms and other rifts between realspace and the warp.[2c]
- Khorne's Bloodtide returns to realspace. One Blood Legion is repelled on Van Horne by the Knights of Titan, but dozens more daemonic armies spread elsewhere.[2c]
- Khorne's own blade cuts open the sky on Gheistos during the events of its daemonic incursion, escalating and ending with Exterminatus.[2c]
- On Diesos, Vhostok Pistonhand angers the Dark Gods by creating an army of Daemon Engines bound solely to the Iron Warriors Warpsmith via the forbidden rite known as the Concatechism. The Chaos Warband's sorcerer and Dark Mechanicum allies are enacted wholesale abduction of the god's servants. United in their outrage, each Chaos God send a daemonic legion and the world is conquered in a month; shattered back into squabbling fragments fighting over what remains.[2c]
- In the Fracture of Biel-Tan, the Masque masterminds an invasion of Ursulia and then the craftworld with aid from Skarbrand, whom she beguiled into assisting in the scheme.[2c]
Creation of the Great Rift
Millennia of Chaos schemes eventually lead to the creation of the Great Rift during Abbadon's ongoing 13th Black Crusade. The Chaos Gods wreaked devastation all across the galaxy as the veil between the warp and realspace was torn asunder. Had the gods worked together — rather than pursuing their own agendas — in the immediate aftermath, the Galaxy would have undoubtedly been conquered by Chaos. Instead, the Dark Gods pursued their own incongruous aims, carving out new territories or meddling with each other's new conquests, and they continue to do so.[2c]
- Blood Crusade[2c]
- Crown of Excess[2c]
- Plague Wars - Nurgle's campaign to destroy Ultramar.[2c]
- Scourge Stars - Nurgle carves out new territories in realspace.[2c]
- War in the Rift - The largest conflict of the Great Game to ever spill over into realspace. Tzeentch tricks Khorne into averting his attention from the Blood Crusade. Khorne redirects Nurgle's blooming Scourge Stars with his Blood Legions out of rage and Tzeentch follows in his wake.[2c]
- For a time, the brothers turn their baleful gaze away from the material realm completely. They decide to have a grand gladiatorial battle between their forces. Each god sets aside a portion of their realm to construct the Amalgrimm — a swirling arena of hellfire for gladiatorial battles. Each brother selected several favoured servants and legions to enter the clash of champions. Ultimately, Kairos Fateweaver emerges victorious through trickery. Khorne bellowed in fury, breaking apart Kairos' illusions, as well as blasting apart the battlefield — his rage even shook realspace. Again, the gods turned their attention to the galaxy and the never-ending battles of the Great Game.[2c]
