Lord of Change

"Understand, mortals, that every one of you, each of your so-called champions with their petty ploys, is just a piece in the Great Game of my master."

- Mith'an'driarkh, Greater Daemon of Tzeentch

A Lord of Change is an insidious Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, the Chaos God of Change and Sorcery. Lords of Change are creatures borne from some impossible nightmare, immense bird-like daemons with shimmering skin, wicked curved beaks and multi-coloured, spectrum-shattering wings. Those who gaze upon these twisted prisms of pure magic begin to feel their sanity shred and reason slip away. Faced by a being of change incarnate, bedrock beliefs crumble and twist, and the mind seeks firm purchase in vain. Treachery, deceit, capriciousness: these are the hallmarks of the Lords of Change. Tzeentch’s greatest servants weave scheme upon scheme, a dense tangle of intermingling threads, so convoluted and eon-spanning that none can grasp their true purpose. A confrontation with a Lord of Change is likely to occur when and where the creature wills it. Few have ever managed to get the drop on these servants of Tzeentch, for the Changer of Ways is the master of destiny itself, and his greatest servants possess a portion of that power.

Overview
Sorcery, deception and knowledge are particular delights for Tzeentch. His Greater Daemons, the Lords of Change, are the embodiments of all of these. They are the chief agents of the Architect of Fate and the most powerful of his daemonic minions. Despite possessing a small fragment of the immeasurable wisdom of their master, even they are unwitting pawns in Tzeentch's great and unfathomable plan, a plot of limitless complexity that will come to fruition at the end of time.

A Lord of Change's appearance is as bewildering as it is terrifying -- an ever-changing, multi-hued form that defies mortal reasoning or logic. However, his most haunting features are its eyes. Within their infinite depths lies the paradoxical wisdom of Tzeentch, and none can withstand the sustained scrutiny of a Lord of Change's gaze without losing their sanity. It is said that when a Lord of Change looks upon a man, that man's soul is opened like a book, revealing his hopes and dreams, as well as the truth of his ultimate failure or success. A Greater Daemon of Tzeentch is driven by the need to redirect the predictable course of history itself and to set it upon a new, unexpected path. Because of this, a Lord of Change revels in dashing the hopes of the ambitious upon the ground even while raising penniless nobodies to the pinnacle of power. A Lord of Change is blessed with multi-layered cunning and blazing intelligence, as well as a deep understanding of the causality that drives the galaxy in its well-worn rut. There is nothing a Lord of Change despises more than the entrapping comforts of stability and familiarity, and nothing that will please one more than to see worlds broken and made anew.

A Greater Daemon of Tzeentch delights in bringing order to ruin so that all may be reshaped and directed to a new path, before that, too, is changed. His minions move throughout realspace, undertaking whatever task he has set them: the killing of a minor mortal, a whisper in a commander's ear, the stealing of a worthless artefact and a thousand other seemingly unrelated occurrences that are mistaken for happenstance. Yet each falls into the Greater Daemon's own devious plan and furthers his labyrinthine schemes.

Combat Doctrine
Lords of Change tend to work behind the scenes, pulling puppet strings from the shadows. So subtle are these manipulations, and so skilled, that often the playthings of a Lord of Change remain unaware that they are in the thrall of a deadly daemon. Secret Chaos Cults, heresies, revolutionaries, and even Planetary Governors have all fallen under the thrall of a Lord of Change at one point or another. Even Tzeentch’s bitterest foes can be manipulated into fulfilling the Great Deceiver’s ends—under his most powerful daemons’ careful guidance, brother can be turned against brother, friend against friend, and the most zealous of Inquisitors can stumble from the path of righteousness. To confront a Lord of Change is to wander through a fog-shrouded mire of lies, ever unsure that one’s actions are correct, one false step away from sinking irrevocably.

In the rare instances that a Lord of Change is bested, its schemes sundered and its plans laid to ruin, it will fight like a cornered animal, drawing upon its incredible sorcerous powers to fell its foes directly where deceit and deception have failed. Lords of Change are the greatest Chaos Sorcerers in the galaxy, and their mastery of magic is without peer. The mightiest psychic powers and spells employed by feeble human psykers and Sorcerers are the idle cantrips of a Lord of Change, for a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch is a creature of undiluted Warp energy and the mortal world quakes at its touch. With the merest flick of an elegantly tapered claw, bodies mutate and writhe, buildings twist and melt, and beings of madness and horror spring forth, cackling, from running rivers of flesh. Nothing that is done cannot be undone; nothing that is made cannot be unmade. To prevail against a Lord of Change, one’s faith and convictions must be firmer than the foundations of the stars. The Emperor Protects...but one's faith must be ironclad in the face of such horror.

The constant appraisal of the galaxy and the interference in its progress is not always so subtle. Change can also be sudden and violent, and a Lord of Change will readily wage war to further their unknowable aims. Their most potent weapons are the magic that flows in their immortal veins and their masterful manipulation of mortal men. Though these Greater Daemons prefer to remain uncommitted in battle, it is not through lack of courage or ferocity, but because they wish to direct its forces and control the ebb and flow of the fighting. However, Lords of Change are masters of magic, amongst the most powerful sorcerers in the galaxy. With a flick of a finger, a Lord of Change can engulf a score of enemy warriors in flickering Warp flames, inflicting a fate that is as unpredictable as it is deadly. With a single word, it can transform a mighty hero into a gibbering pile of mutated Spawn-flesh. Blades and bullets are rendered worthless against such power.

Appearance
In the realm of Realspace, these Greater Daemons appear as towering beings with gangling limbs and are deceptively delicate-looking. Their long, spindly bodies are topped by a savage, cruel avian head, resting on a long, crooked neck. Their hunched shoulders are often draped with what looks like the robes of a high priest or a court wizard from ages long-past. Their bent, bird-like legs are scaly and end in vicious talons; their lank arms terminate in broad, clawed hands. Great feathered wings sprout from their shoulder blades, glittering and glinting with a thousand impossible colours. Their bones are hollow, and despite their enormous size, they barely seem capable of supporting their own weight, often leaning upon immense staffs, etched with innumerable eldritch signs and sigils. Most Lords of Change carry long ceremonial staves, which they use to channel their considerable psychic power. These powerful daemonic servants of Tzeentch carry themselves with a regal grace, though when driven to action their savagery is remarkable. Their appearance, however, is yet another ruse: Lords of Change are fearsome fighters, serpent-quick with skin like iron. They are also lore-masters, and possess a thorough knowledge of the great feints and fighting techniques of the galaxy. To fence with a Lord of Change is to invite one’s own ruin; many overzealous warriors have been felled by their vicious claws, cruel curved beaks and terrible, reaping staves, disemboweled before they could even lift their blades.

Lesser Daemon Allies
Though a Lord of Change boasts many human slaves among his infernal retinue, it can also call upon a dreadful menagerie of Lesser Daemons when its back is up against the wall. The amorphous, spindle-limbed Pink and Blue Horrors writhe with the boundless, ever-shifting energy of unbridled Chaos, warping the world around them as they gibber and shriek. The tubular Flamers of Tzeentch resemble hideous living columns, studded with still-melting mouths and faces and festooned with long, spindly arms. The gouts of magical, multi-coloured fire they spew from their mouth-like hands burn, freeze, blister, mutate and vaporise their enemies. High above, drifting on the currents of the Aethyr, sail the manta-like Screamers of Tzeentch, twisted manta rays that trail slashing tendrils below their long, flat, strangely sinuous bodies. These tentacles are razor sharp, capable of flaying the flesh from even the most heavily-armoured foe.

Notable Lords of Change

 * Aetaos'rau'keres, Slayer of Souls
 * Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch
 * Ix'thar'ganix, Slayer of Destinies
 * M'Kachen
 * Malfallax
 * Marabas
 * Sar'tir
 * Tarkh'ax