"The power of Humanity is nothing compared to the gifts of the Warp; any who deny this are blind to the torment and death that awaits them as a price of their blindness."
- — From the Proclamation of Khazant delivered by Dark Apostle Bellephrades
A Daemon Prince is a Human Champion of Chaos who has been elevated to Daemonhood as a reward for their actions on the behalf of one of the major Chaos Gods or by the will of Chaos Undivided. Daemon Princes have chosen to trade their Humanity for the god-like power and immortality of a creature of the Warp, though at the cost of their free will.
A Daemon Prince is a living extension of the force of Chaos. To ascend to the rank of Daemon Prince is the ultimate goal of the most powerful Champions of Chaos, as it gives them immortality and power beyond the reckoning of mortals. For the devotees of the Ruinous Powers, this is far from an impossible goal. Those few who climb the path of the Champion to its apex are granted the prize of eternal life.
Though thousands of lesser aspirants will fall by the wayside, a supremely talented devotee will clamber over mountains of the slain until they reach the pinnacle of their bloody craft. Over the course of Terran centuries, such Champions offer up sacrifices on a planetary scale, risking death and mutation in the hope of attracting the gaze of the Dark Gods. And yet murder alone is not enough.
Only those who further the causes of their infernal masters are given the precious gift of Daemonhood. They are raised up to become demigods, roaring their triumph into the night as their new bodies swell and bulge with the energies of the Warp.
Daemon Princes combine the brute strength of Daemons with the combat skill and tactical acumen of Space Marines. However, if the Champion fails in the eyes of their god, their lives and ambitions end as they are cast aside and instead descend into the mutant state of a Chaos Spawn.
Since Daemon Princes have been transformed into semi-autonomous extensions of the Chaos God they serve or of Chaos Undivided, they are now entities of the Warp and can never truly be killed in the material universe, only banished into the Immaterium for a specific or arbitrary amount of time, usually 1,000 standard years. One who ascends to Daemonhood can look forward to an eternity of servitude at their divine patron's behest. Even death is no respite. Essentially, Daemon Princes will exist for as long as Chaos is a force in the universe.
Daemon Princes are infernal monsters that tower over the mortals they lead to battle. These paragons of Chaos take many forms, though all exude a palpable aura of terror and power. In battle, a Daemon Prince strides through the pitiful bullets and bolts of the enemy without pause, their unnatural laughter driving mortals to the edge of fear. Warp energy sizzles from their eyes, and black flames curl from their mouth as they speak dread phrases in the Dark Tongue that kill as sure as any blade. These are creatures of nightmare -- a living expression of Chaos given form.
The galaxy is filled with tales of Daemon Princes and their vile deeds. Besides Be'lakor -- perhaps the most infamous of Daemon Princes -- the most renowned of these beings are the primarchs of the Traitor Legions, for their dark gifts were layered atop the frames of mortals already akin to demigods. Although frequent allies of the Chaos Gods' Daemonic legions, these so-called "Daemon Primarchs" prefer to lead their own corrupted Legions of Heretic Astartes against the Imperium they betrayed.
Quick Answers
What is the process of a Human Champion of Chaos becoming a Daemon Prince?
What are the powers that a Daemon Prince possesses?
What is the relationship between a Daemon Prince and the major Chaos Gods?
What is the significance of the Proclamation of Khazant in the context of Daemon Princes?
Who is Dark Apostle Bellephrades in relation to Daemon Princes?
History
In order to attract the attention of their patrons amongst the Ruinous Powers, Champions of Chaos are required to achieve dark and terrible ends. They willingly sacrifice both foes and friends in service to their ambition for power and willingly risk their lives at the hands of both the enemies of Chaos and their own fickle masters, who do not suffer failure gladly.
Few Chaos Champions avoid either death, or the mutation into Chaos Spawn that awaits all those mortal servants of Chaos who fail their dark patrons. Those who succeed at the tasks set for them by the Ruinous Powers are transformed into immortal entities of the Warp. They leave all the trappings of mortality and simple Human feelings far behind.
Daemon Princes are incredibly powerful entities of the Warp, vast and nightmarish beings whose essence is the immortal hellstuff of the Immaterium given form. No two Daemon Princes are truly alike, although many maintain a roughly humanoid shape when incarnate in the material realm. Their exact forms are fashioned from congealed horror and marked with the signs and stigmata of whichever great Chaos God they ultimately serve.
Whilst other Daemons are simply fragments of their master's psyche, a Daemon Prince retains much of their own personality and the thirst for power that drove them in their mortal existence. Eager to carve out a realm of their own, many lead the mortal armies of Chaos, the massacres unleashed in their name sustaining them in the realm of reality.
The oldest and most powerful of Daemon Princes are even worshipped as deities in their own right on some worlds. Most Daemon Princes eventually discard their material form altogether and pass beyond mortal concerns to join the ranks of their patron's Daemons, only to come back and haunt the galaxy an age later at the head of a Daemonic host.
While Daemon Princes come in as wide a variety of shapes and sizes as there are facets of Chaos, most are massive beings composed of hulking muscle and thick sinew, displaying traditionally Daemonic characteristics like horns and bat-like wings. All Daemon Princes save those of Khorne wield potent sorcerous powers that originate in the Warp's psychic energies, and that are representative of the sphere of influence of the Daemon Prince's patron Chaos God. What little that a Daemon Prince retains of his or her Humanity is usually only the caustic ambition and ruthless cunning which helped them earn their Chaos reward in the first place.
In the 41st Millennium, most of the Daemon Princes known to the Imperium hail from the ranks of the Chaos Space Marines, as these often ancient warriors possess the capability and desire needed to successfully serve the interests of Chaos well and long enough to earn Daemonhood. However, the oldest of the Daemon Princes may actually have ascended to their immortal stature during the savage age long before Mankind left Terra to explore and settle the stars.
When a Daemon Prince conquers a world in the physical universe using the mortal forces of Chaos that serve them, their patron Chaos God or the Chaos Gods as a whole if they serve Chaos Undivided bestow the world upon them as their own personal realm. The conquered planet is absorbed into the Immaterium. It becomes what the Imperial Administratum has deemed a "Daemon World," a sub-reality of the Warp in which the ruling Daemon Prince has complete control over reality, having essentially become a minor Chaos God within the boundaries of their own realm.
Like all Daemons, Daemon Princes much prefer the environment of the Warp to the physical universe, and only rarely do they deign to actually leave the Empyrean and reenter the material universe. Daemon Princes are prized by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos because unlike true Daemons or even the Chaos Gods themselves, they are former mortals.
As previous denizens of the Materium, Daemon Princes still have a deep knowledge of the material universe and how mortals think and act. Despite this, many Daemon Princes continue to crave more power and further ascent within the ranks of the forces of Chaos and so they often choose to join the retinue of a Greater Daemon of their patron Ruinous Power.
To their surprise and anger, Daemon Princes often discover that other Daemons, particularly the Greater Daemons who outrank even them amongst the servants of the Ruinous Powers, regard Daemon Princes as inferior beings because of their mortal origins, seeing them as tainted by their heritage as natives of the physical universe.
Despite this attitude, Daemon Princes are still often put to use in the Daemonic legions, leading formations of Lesser Daemons on the battlefield. As always, even Daemon Princes are no more than tools of Chaos, albeit extremely powerful ones, to be used and discarded as the situation demands it.
Daemon Primarchs
The greatest and most powerful of the current Daemon Princes were once the Traitor primarchs of the Space Marine Legions that turned against the Emperor of Mankind during the Horus Heresy.
These powerful entities, often called "Daemon Primarchs," can easily be distinguished from other Daemon Princes by their distinctive appearances, which often maintain at least some aspect of their once-noble appearances as mortals.
The Daemon Primarchs are still greatly revered by the Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines they corrupted millennia ago, even though it has become uncommon for them to personally lead these Legions in battle from their home Daemon Worlds. Instead they long preferred in the years after the Horus Heresy ended to combat their Daemonic rivals within the Eye of Terror as part of the Great Game, leaving the direction of their Legions, now broken up into individual Heretic Astartes warbands, to their subordinate Champions of Chaos.
In the Era Indomitus, however, several Daemon Primarchs have decided to take a more active hand in mortal affairs, now that Chaos' influence in the galaxy has greatly increased with the birth of the Great Rift. They have also been galvanised into action by the resurrection of the Ultramarines primarch Roboute Guilliman to lead the Imperium and the reawakening of the Dark Angels primarch Lion El'Jonson who is presently defending the worlds of the Imperium Nihilus.
The Daemon Primarchs who have returned to lead their Traitor Legions openly once more in the Era Indomitus include Mortarion of the Death Guard, Magnus the Red of the Thousand Sons and Angron of the World Eaters.
Daemon Primarchs
Angron | Khorne | World Eaters |
Fulgrim | Slaanesh | Emperor's Children |
Lorgar | Chaos Undivided | Word Bearers |
Magnus the Red | Tzeentch | Thousand Sons |
Mortarion | Nurgle | Death Guard |
Perturabo | Chaos Undivided | Iron Warriors |
Daemon Princes of Chaos
Daemon Princes of Khorne
Daemon Princes of Khorne are also known as the "Favoured of the Blood God," "Blood Princes," and "Bone Lords."
Not all of the Blood God's Daemon servants began their existence as beings of everlasting Chaos. There are those who once strode across the material universe as living creatures of weak, frail, and limited flesh but who sought to be more. These courageous souls seek to offer themselves in service to Khorne in exchange for unparalleled strength and limitless martial power. Embarking on the path of glory, such a mortal knows full well that each footfall upon it could be the last they take.
Service to the capricious Blood God is fraught with constant hazards. Twists and turns of fate cause many Champions to displease their master and end their relatively sane days as they are suddenly transformed into a mindless Chaos Spawn. There are, however, rare instances where the Chaos Champion, over time and through victory in thousands of battles, catches the more favourable eye of his or her divine master.
For these few, the life of a mortal is gladly exchanged for elevation into the ranks of Daemonhood as a powerful Daemon Prince. Those the Chaos Gods favour in this way are always rewarded because they were unwavering in their devotion and, just as importantly, unfailingly achieved all that their lord demanded of them.
Of all the Chaos Gods, discerning what Khorne requires of his Champions is the easiest and least complicated: kill. Ensure that the flow of blood is constant. Make war upon all things. These straightforward tenets speak to the basic nature of all creatures, giving their inner need for conflict a path for expression.
Khorne cares not if his Champions began as hive city scum or as Space Marines. As long as they give him an unending flow of blood, they can earn the rewards he has to bestow, and elevation to Daemonhood is the greatest reward of all.
Daemon Princes of Slaanesh
The Daemon Princes of Slaanesh are also known as the "Favoured of the Senses," "The Chosen Children," and the "Blessed of the Flesh."
The ultimate reward for any mortal follower of one of the Dark Gods of Chaos is to be granted the right to serve for eternity as a Daemon Prince. The accomplishments a mortal must achieve to receive this blessing vary from god to god. For some, the path is straight.
A follower of the brutish Khorne, for instance, must slaughter in the Blood God's name, reaping skulls and draining blood until his god takes note. It is simple, direct, and largely the same for all who serve him. For those who wish to enjoy the Lord of Excess' complete embrace, the path to greatness is less clear. Many avenues are open to be explored, many hidden pathways awaiting eager probing by the curious and dedicated Slaaneshi devotee. All they must do is select one and find a way to take it to a level of excess so sublime that Slaanesh's attention is drawn.
Once they have their divine master's eye, they must continue to push, to break through boundaries and limitations. They must amuse the Prince of Pleasure in such a way that they are judged to be not only unique, but worthy of reward, for uniqueness alone is not enough.
The Dark Prince touches many mortals in horrifying and cruel ways, warping and twisting them into mindless, unnatural forms. All of the Ruinous Powers are capricious by nature and are as likely as not to lavish mutations upon their followers, but Slaanesh's urges for indulgence make its caress especially risky. A mortal could achieve greatness worthy of notice, only to be ruined and become a mindless Chaos Spawn because the Dark Prince was in an especially wistful mood.
Those that do receive the greatest gift of all, though, realise their goal of immortality and are reborn as a Daemon Prince. It is the nature of Slaanesh, however, that even this great accomplishment is more of a beginning than an end point.
The newly transformed Daemon Prince must continue to push the edges of excess, must do more, must be more. If they were rewarded for creating an elixir so sweet to the taste that its mere scent causes people to ingest ceaselessly until they drown in it willingly, they must find a way to entice entire worlds to choose to taint their supplies of drinking water with the deadly concoction. This accomplished, they must go further with their creation, perhaps altering it to leave each victim with a yearning smile on their face. Service is unending and eternal. Failure is as well, for Chaos Spawndom or worse is always a possible punishment for disappointing Slaanesh, even for a mighty Daemon Prince.
Daemon Princes of Nurgle
The Daemon Princes of Nurgle are also known as the "Purveyors of Poxes," "Filthlords," and the "Harbingers of Rebirth."
Many mortal followers of the Chaos Gods have wrought terrible deeds in the name of their divine masters. Leaders of Chaos Cults recruit new worshippers routinely. Billions of adherents commit foul acts of devotion to their dark lords every solar day. These actions are common, and go largely unnoticed by the likes of Nurgle.
To gain the attention of the Lord of All, a follower must be willing to spread disease on a grand scale, infecting entire planets with a deadly pox. They must erode the foundations of entire cities and send their millions of inhabitants into a state of starvation, rot, and decay.
A candidate for Nurglish Daemonhood must prove their worth on a level that most mortal minds cannot even begin to contemplate. Once they have committed an act that brings a smile to Nurgle's blistered and seeping face, they can pledge themselves to unwavering service and dedication to bringing about the Great Corruption.
Few who strive for this prize actually claim it. Failure ends in a wretched death, or worse, the curse of Chaos Spawndom, eternal life as a mindless, writhing, mutant monstrosity. Still, those who worm their way into Nurgle's foul heart receive his darkest blessing: apotheosis as a Daemon Prince of Nurgle.
Daemon Princes of Tzeentch
Also known as "Dark Princelings," "Deathbringers," and "Eternal Blasphemies," and almost as powerful as their older cousins the Lords of Change, Tzeentch's Daemon Princes are among the most potent beings in the galaxy. As such, for many who knowingly and deliberately follow the path of Tzeentch, the apotheosis to Daemon Princedom represents the ultimate destination of their dark journey in service to Chaos.
While all the Ruinous Powers are fickle creatures by nature, promoting one Chaos Champion to Daemonhood after a few short Terran years of service while denying others who have fought with distinction for standard centuries, Tzeentch's promotions seem even more capricious. However, while the whims of the other Dark Gods may explain why one Champion is promoted over another, Tzeentch, the Great Schemer, elevates only those Champions whom he foresees will serve his dark will effectively and totally in the standard years, solar decades, and Terran centuries to come.
All Daemon Princes maintain a measure of the individuality and independence they enjoyed as mortals, and many Daemon Princes have more free agency than even Greater Daemons. As Tzeentch tends to select individuals who, in mortal life, displayed great ambition, creativity, intelligence, and resourcefulness, his Daemon Princes tend to be among the most independent of Warp creatures from their divine patron.
Tzeentch's Daemon Princes have characteristics that would make them admired, envied, and emulated in many mortal societies and civilisations. In fact, some Daemon Princes are even worshipped as gods in their own right by esoteric Chaos Cults that spring up in remote corners and backwater planets throughout the galaxy.
Across the pantheon of the Chaos Gods, Daemon Princes vary widely in appearance and ability. Horns, talons, lashing tails, and wings are common features, and most of Tzeentch's Daemon Princes share these attributes. Many Daemon Princes, excepting those who follow the path of Khorne, are Chaos Sorcerers. As one might expect, almost all of Tzeentch's Daemon Princes can manipulate the psychic magic of the Warp.
In addition, Tzeentchian Daemon Princes tend to share some of their dark master's visionary prescience and can see the strands of destiny as easily as mortals perceive light and shadow. As such, like Lords of Change, Daemon Princes of Tzeentch are master manipulators and strategists in the service of their god's Thousand and One Plots.
Like the Lords of Change, Daemon Princes are subject to the plots and schemes of the Changer of Ways, perhaps to an even greater degree. Tzeentch will not hesitate to sacrifice a Champion whom he has elevated to Daemonhood if it advances one of his many conspiracies.
Wargear
Daemon Princes are individuals whose wargear and abilities can vary wildly. However, at a minimum, a "generic" Daemon Prince, if such a thing can be said to exist, would be armed as follows:
- Hellforged Sword
- Daemonic Axe (Optional replacement for Hellforged Sword)
- Malefic Talons
Notable Daemon Princes
- Abraxes - Abraxes is a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch who was slain by the Soul Drinkers, a Renegade Chapter of Space Marines.
- Ax'senaea - Few beings in the Screaming Vortex can claim to have impressed the Lord of Dark Delights with their conceit, their vanity, and their hubris. Those who do typically earn the jealousy of Slaanesh, not admiration, as such things are beneath the god of indulgence and self-obsession. However, one being caught the eye of Slaanesh and received a nod of true admiration. In her struggle for self-perfection and vainglory, Ax'senaea, called the Thrice-Possessed, damned her people to eternal anguish and impressed even the Prince of Excess. Long before the days of the Angevin Crusade, while the Calixis Sector languished beyond Imperial control, the planet of Laodomida spun its lazy orbit around a star in what is now the Drusus Marches Sub-sector. A star system far from any other, Laodomida was an isolated place of planetary intrigue and politics. A world consumed with its own extravagance, the intrigues of the ruling class were usually harmless enough, occasionally devolving into dynastic assassinations and scandals, but rarely all-out warfare. Into this world was born Ax'senaea, last born child of a minor noble family. By her third decade, the woman who would end her world had spent her entire life among the courts and war-rooms of her powerful kin. Oft-ignored in favour of her more aggressive siblings, Ax'senaea was left to turn inward and ponder the darkest regions of her own soul. Seeing her position, forgotten among her rivals, as little more than a matter for self-improvement, Ax'senaea quickly rose to power by mercilessly removing her competition. In only a few years she had decimated her dynasty and seized control, while keeping its holdings intact. It was not enough for the newly-minted Executrix Primaris, though -- she still had too little control over her world, her own psyche. Believing them to be manifestations of her own skills and knowledge, she collected a court of learned sages and strategists, putting each to death after she mastered their knowledge. Among these men was a secret sorcerer of Chaos. Hoping that it would end in her death, the sorcerer taught Ax'senaea the process by which to bind a powerful servant of Slaanesh to her own soul. His plan -- that the despotic woman could not hope to command such a creature -- was foiled by her overwhelming will and self-obsession. Though the ritual was long and exhausting, Ax'senaea was able to crush the daemonic entity beneath the weight of her indomitable will. Now possessed of the power of a Keeper of Secrets, the vain woman murdered the sorcerer and slew the remainder of her cabinet. She used her newly acquired warp-sorcery to exert more direct control over her subjects and her enemies, twisting their minds to her will, driving them mad with desire or jealousy, or eviscerating them with a thought. She continued to abuse the Daemon within her for decades, draining its essence to fuel her ambitions and maintain her youth until she consumed its power, banishing it back into the Warp and binding a new Keeper of Secrets within. Over the following century she consumed a second and third Daemon entirely, and plunged her world into utter chaos and conflict. She corrupted the souls of the ruling class the world over and spurred the populace to acts of subservience and adoration, sacrifice and murder, all so that she might prove the control she had over what she saw as her own psyche, her own body and mind. When her world was entirely under her own control, she spread to the other in-system planets, conquering, dominating, and commanding the countless billions touched by her influence. When the third Daemon-soul withered and vanished within her, Ax'senaea performed the ritual yet again, hoping to devour the power of a fourth Greater Daemon. It was then that Slaanesh granted the woman daemonhood, both out of disdain for his most powerful servants and in adoration of the woman who had twisted the minds and souls of billions with her dark perfection. Pulled into the Warp by the possessive jealousy of Ax'senaea herself, its puppet-populace living out her every wicked excess, Laodomida now spins aimlessly through the Warp, a world re-formed daily by the fickle whims of its insane mistress. Despite the gifts of the Prince of Pleasure, Ax'senaea remains mad, consumed by her own self-obsession and solipsism. Her deranged mind has now turned to the beings of the Warp, and to her mad eyes they are simply rebellious aspects of her nature, needing to be controlled as much as any world in realspace.
- Azariah Kyras - Azariah Kyras was the former Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter. Kyras was tragically corrupted by Chaos following his confrontation with the Greater Daemon of Nurgle known as Ulkair, as well as the Daemon captured within the Maledictum. Five hundred standard years after his disappearance, he inexplicably returned to his Chapter and seized command of the 5th Company. His experiences within the Warp tragically corrupted the Space Marines, such that upon his return Kyras became intently focused on spreading that corruption to his battle-brothers. Over the centuries that followed, Azariah Kyras hid his corruption while spreading his taint through the Chapter. Kyras eventually openly declared his loyalty as a servant to the Ruinous Powers and was granted ascension as a Daemon Prince. He was later slain by an elite strike team of Loyalist Blood Ravens led by Captain Apollo Diomedes, Sergeant Tarkus, Scout Sergeant Cyrus, and Techmarine Martellus. He was replaced by Gabriel Angelos, commander of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company, as the Blood Ravens Chapter Master.
- Uraka Az'baramael - Once a barbarian warlord on an ancient and forgotten world before the Age of the Imperium, as a mortal man Uraka's excess of bloodshed and plunder drew the attention of his people's dark god of war. Khorne looked on pleased at this favoured son's lifetime of pitiless massacres and savage martial victories; such that when he finally fell in battle, his forfeited soul was taken to the Citadel of Brass in Khorne's Warp-realm where he fought for the right to do slaughter for all eternity. Now a Daemon Prince with a bloodlust unfettered by mortal constraints or sanity and with his own legion of hellspawn at his command, Uraka 'The Warfiend' serves now as Khorne's headsman, slaughtering his god's foes and delivering his dark master's judgement on traitors and enemies alike. He currently leads a Chaos Warband known as Uraka's Head Hunters, which is made up of veteran Bloodletters personally chosen by Uraka himself.
- Be'lakor - Ancient beyond imagining, the Daemon Prince Be'lakor was the very first of his kind. Raised up from mortality by the combined will of the Chaos Gods, he was given a portion of each of their power. Be'lakor's fate has ever been influenced by the endless struggle between the gods, as he is beholden to each of the Dark Gods equally. At first, Be'lakor used the jealousy of the Ruinous Powers to gain their favours, never completely swearing his allegiance to any one of them. For a time, the gods fought over Be'lakor as children might squabble over a favoured toy. However, they soon realised the folly of combining their might into a single vessel, as Be'lakor proved nearly uncontrollable. They soon began to raise up new Daemon Princes, each god choosing only Champions that would be loyal to them, and them alone. Be'lakor remained the strongest of the Daemon Princes, though his might was diminished as the gods spread their power among their other servants. Nevertheless, Be'lakor remains a master of shadows, moving behind the veil of history to exert the will of the Chaos Gods upon the universe.
- Bubonicus - An ancient Daemon Prince who ascended to daemonhood before the Age of the Imperium began and who now serves Nurgle.
- Goreclaw - Also known as Goreclaw the Render. The Daemon World of Crucible represents a fertile battleground for those Daemons who seek to attain greater blessings in the eyes of the Lord of Rage. Goreclaw the Render is one who has already ascended to the immortal status of Daemon Prince within that unstable locale, a success that has only made him hunger for greater opportunities to spill blood and take skulls in the name of his patron god. Legend has it that this Daemon Prince was once a Chaos Space Marine who tracked down and slew more than a hundred Loyalist Space Marines in hand to hand combat, the latest in a long path to glory that had left thousands of headless Adeptus Astartes across the galaxy. After offering up the last skull to Khorne, the Blood God transformed him into a Daemon Prince, granting him a new form in recognition of his ability to hunt down his prey. Goreclaw now resembles a humanoid Flesh Hound, and leads a pack of those Daemons in an unending hunt to find and slay Space Marines -- both Loyalists and servants of the Ruinous Powers, for Khorne cares not where the skulls come from so long as they were taken in violence and bloodshed.
- Charybdia - The dominant power on the Daemon World of Torvendis that l,ay at the very heart of the Maelstrom Warp rift was for a time Lady Charybdia, a devout devotee and Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. Her power was based on her mortal legions, disciplined warriors dedicated to the Pleasure God. They were equipped with bows and spears but also had access to some primitive firearms and artillery. They would use stimulants in battle to enhance the experience and many of their weapons were coated in poisons. Charybdia could also call upon untold numbers of Slaaneshi Chaos Cultists in times of war and put huge numbers of slaves onto the battlefield. In dire situations, her Chaos Sorcerers could call upon the Daemons of Slaanesh to aid Charybdia's armies in battle. A large number of Slaaneshi Chaos Space Marines from the Renegade Violators Chapter also fought under the banner of Lady Charybdia.
- Dhar'leth - A Daemon Prince of the Black Legion who had been an Astartes of the Night Lords Legion before pledging his loyalty to Abaddon the Despoiler. He led the vanguard of the Despoiler during the attack on Monarchive on Antecanis IV during the 9th Black Crusade.
- Doombreed - An ancient Daemon Prince who ascended to daemonhood before the Age of the Imperium began and who now serves Khorne. Doombreed led the 5th Black Crusade of the forces of Chaos against the Imperium of Man from the Eye of Terror in 723.M36.
- Doomrider - Doomrider is a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. Once a Biker of the Emperor's Children Space Marine Legion, Doomrider followed his Primarch into the service of Slaanesh, and was rewarded with ascension to daemonhood for his fell deeds.
- Esske the Scarred - Once a Human slave fighting as a gladiator in Slaanesh's gardens in the Realm of Chaos, Esske rose through the ranks when he gained the affections and patronage of a Herald of Slaanesh, Syll Lewdtounge. Through his martial prowess and Syll's guidance Esske eventually ascended to become a Daemon Prince. Yet, despite his new rank and power, he was still looked down upon by Slaanesh's daemonic courtiers for being mortal-born. He and Syll retaliated by cleaving through those who shunned them in a deadly combination of Esske's brutal strength and Syll's lithe precision until the two stood before Slaanesh's throne and made a dark pact before the Prince of Chaos. From that day forth the two became known as a singular being called "Syll'Esske." The alliance which had made them outsiders before, now paved the way for their mutual ascension in the favour of the Prince of Pleasure.
- Ghargatuloth - Ghargatuloth, also known as the "Prince of a Thousand Faces," is a Daemon Prince who serves Tzeentch.
- Ignatius Grulgor - Ignatius Grulgor was originally the Astartes who was Captain of the Death Guard's 2nd Great Company. During the massacre on Istvaan III Grulgor was posted on the Eisenstein to kill Captain Nathaniel Garro and the hundred strong company of Astartes with him. Grulgor was killed for the first time in a firefight in the gun decks of the Eisenstein, after a stray bolt pistol shot released the Life-Eater virus intended to be fired on Istvaan III. After the Escape of the Eisenstein and the following Warp journey, the body of Grulgor was reanimated by the Ruinous Powers as one of the very first Plague Marines ever encountered by the Imperium. After a desperate battle, Grulgor's mutated body was destroyed when the Eisenstein made an emergency transition back to realspace and the Plague Marines' connection to their patron Nurgle's domain was suddenly extinguished, causing their souls to be returned to the Realm of Chaos. However, it is likely that Grulgor survived these events as a newly transformed daemonic spirit, for a Nurgle Daemon Prince known as Grulgor led the forces of Chaos during the Fall of Medusa V campaign in the 41st Millennium.
- J'ian-Lo - A Daemon Prince of Nurgle, he stood over five metres tall, with a winged body devoid of flesh. He engaged Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo of the Grey Knights Chapter during the Fourth Battle of the Sunward Gap on the hull of the Emperor-class Battleship Revenge. To his dismay, fighting in the Materium made him subject to the laws of physics, and as Draigo shattered his body, the Grey Knight cast the creature of Chaos adrift in the void between the stars. It is unknown whether J'ian-Lo returned to the Immaterium or is still drifting through space.
- Kernax Voldorius - Known as "Strikemaster," Kernax was a Daemon Prince and leader of an Alpha Legion warband. He was tracked down and defeated by the combined forces of the White Scars and the Raven Guard Chapters, where Kor'sarro Khan decapitated the Daemon Prince and claimed its head on the world of Mankarra.
- Kor Megron - Kor Megron, known as the "Reaper of Rhodax," was a Daemon Prince who had once been a mighty Chaos Space Marine of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion during the Horus Heresy. In later eras, after his ascension to daemonhood, Kor Megron continued to plague the galaxy with his foul presence.
- Mamon - Known as the Arch-Corruptor of Vraks, Mamon was once an Imperial Deacon of the Ecclesiarchy, who was the principle agent provocateur behind the uprisings against the Imperium on Vraks Prime which eventually initiated the lamentable conflict known as the Siege of Vraks. He found favour within the Apostate Cardinal Xaphan's staff. It was Deacon Mamon who first sowed the seeds of corruption and turned the inexperienced Cardinal's religious ambitions against the Imperium. The Plague God granted the corrupted Deacon the "gift" of Daemonhood for all he had accomplished on Vraks, granting him the exalted rank of Daemon Prince. Mamon was soon possessed by the potent spirit of a Great Unclean One and transformed into a corpulent, festering Daemon Prince of Nurgle.
- Mephidast - The legends say he was born of mortal flesh many standard centuries ago on a vessel seeking refuge from the calamitous eruptions engulfing the planet Verronus. Ominous flickerings in the Gellar Field heralded his birth aboard the fleeing voidship, but otherwise his was a benign childhood spent amongst the agrarian folk who his familial tribes settled among. As he grew so did reports too foul to ignore of mutilated carcasses, and blighted crops. He claimed to be practising as a medicae, but these excuses met with hostility, and after he poisoned a local gathering festival, he was finally locked away in the depths of a primitive dungeon. It was there that he found what he truly desired -- an appreciative patron. Endless time passed as his soul stared inwards and grew as rancid as his cell. He had only himself to amuse, and began to scrawl diagrams on the walls from his imagination, drawing on thoughts not totally of his own. Shapes of unnatural angles and runic glyphs of profane languages were traced out in the unclean liquids and filth around him, blood and bile and other substances marking patterns that seemed just outside his comprehension. His body grew gaunt and tough as skin turned to leather, his hair falling away in straw-like threads, yet his devotion somehow began nourishing his unhealthy body. Over time, the influence of his corruptive nature rotted away the bars of his cell into decrepit rust. He was free to contaminate and blight the land at will, and he set to doing so gleefully. In a solar day, the first victims fell ill. In a solar week, the dead piled up in the streets, local medicae unable to deal with the illness. His patron was satisfied, and made him more gifts so that he could carry Nurgle's blessings across the Jericho Reach. He renamed himself Mephidast the Plaguereaver after this first successful display of power, and left the now-dead planet for greater places to bestow Nurgle's gifts. He had no need for conquest; spreading the influence of Nurgle was his goal. He nurtured infestations of ravenous insects and created scores of Plague Zombies within huddled hive-masses. He even lured a particularly critical Adeptus Ministorum preacher to his doom in a taunting ambush, where his flesh was made unclean and rendered down into new Blight Grenades. His followers grew into a massive Chaos warhost and his goals became even more ambitious, now also striking out against any who would gainsay his patron god. It was his victory deep within the Hadex Anomaly over an entire legion of Khornate Bloodadepts, their armour decaying away as their flesh weakened and muscles grew infirm, that saw his final elevation. The tide of decay fell across the enemy in unstoppable waves, dissolving them to putrescent skeletal remains. He claimed the planet as his own; this victory gaining his ascension to daemonhood. His body became bloated with Nurgle's blessings, surging in scale and power. Even the Plague Marines in his retinue fell to their knees in worship. Now immortal, Mephidast focused on plans that might take solar decades to unfold, each act growing more intricate and subtle but still with wondrously noxious effects. He has grand plans for the Jericho Reach, and the Achilus Crusade has begun to interfere with them. He is clever and patient, but his temperament is growing shorter as the time spent quenching this invasion by the servants of the Corpse Emperor reduces the time for him to achieve his true goals.
- M'kar - M'kar was once Maloq Kartho, a Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion. Kartho ascended to daemonhood after being slain by Remus Ventanus of the Ultramarines Legion during the Battle of Calth, the Word Bearers' massive surprise assault upon the XIII Legion during the Horus Heresy. Ten thousand standard years later, he would lead the Invasion of Ultramar in early 999.M41 at the head of the massive Chaos warhost allied with the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion known as the Bloodborn.
- Nemeroth - Nemeroth was the Chaos Sorcerer who led the Chosen of Nemeroth warband of Chaos Space Marines. Nemeroth ascended to daemonhood for a short time on the Forge World of Graia before being slain by Captain Titus of the Ultramarines Chapter in the 41st Millennium.
- Sindri Myr - Sindri Myr was a Chaos Sorcerer of the Alpha Legion who, along with the Chaos Lord Bale, led the Chaos assault of Tartarus in the search for the Chaotic artefact known as the Maledictum. He utilised the power of this device to undergo apotheosis and become a Daemon Prince, but his reign proved brief for he was immediately slain by Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens.
- Suvfaeras - Suvfaeras is a potent foe from the very depths of the Warp. Older than Mankind itself, it is an extremely powerful entity. The Daemon Prince finds it amusing to appear to its new Human worshippers in the grand form it took so many millennia ago, when it ruled and ultimately destroyed the former inhabitants of the Cemetery World of Thaur in the Askellon Sector.
- Horned God - The Horned God is a Daemon Prince who was slain by the Exorcists Librarian Malachite during the Aschen War.
- Tallomin - An ancient Daemon Prince often referred to in ancient texts as the "Prince of Daemon Princes." Not much else is currently known about this dreadful entity.
- Uhlevorix - A melding of coalesced fear and a mortal soul as black as pure night, Uhlevorix is a nightmarish psychic predator, whose psychic power and cold intellect allows it to use the fear of its prey as a weapon. As a powerful Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, believed to once have been a sadistic mortal, this entity has only been encountered a handful of times in the history of the Jericho Reach. This is a mercy, for the grotesque monstrosity is known to have massacred whole armies and laid waste to entire settlements purely on the power of the fear it inspires. Intangible by nature, the Eater of Dread is difficult to harm, let alone slay, and it grows stronger with every moment of terror it inspires.
- Urkanthos - Urkanthos was the Scourgemaster of the Black Fleet of Abaddon the Despoiler and the Lord of the Hounds of Abaddon. The ascension of Urkanthos to daemonhood came as the Black Fleet approached Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade. Surging in towards the Fortress World, Urkanthos faced a trio of enemy battleships whose captains had determined that -- if they could not defeat the oncoming Chaos horde -- they would at least slay the flagship of its fleet-master. Through guile, ferocity and unmatched skill did Urkanthos lead his voidcraft to victory over all three Imperial warships, blasting two to ruin before obliterating the final vessel as it turned to flee. Such a mighty tally of blood and skulls pleased Khorne greatly, and bought Urkanthos the reward of immortality that he had long sought. So did the master of the Hounds of Abaddon become more fearsome than ever before. He was killed by the Adepta Sororitas Canonesses Genevieve and Eleanor, who were resurrected by Saint Celestine.
- Ve'Meth - Daemon Prince of Nurgle, slain by the Soul Drinkers, a former Renegade Chapter of Space Marines.
- Barban Falk - A Warsmith of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion who ascended to Daemonhood after successfully assaulting the planet of Hydra Cordatus and capturing precious stocks of Imperial Fists gene-seed that could be used to create more Chaos Space Marines. He then dedicated his rare and extremely valuable prize to Chaos Undivided and was rewarded in return with Daemonic ascension.
- Melusine - Melusine was one of the Clonelord Fabius Bile's earliest creations, the first and greatest of his vat-born, created from multiple genetic templates before Fabius' experiments climaxed in the creation of the cloned Warmaster Horus at the time of the Legion Wars in the Eye of Terror. Her potential strength terrified the Emperor's Children primarch Fulgrim so much, that in the time before he ascended to Daemonhood he cast her into the Warp. After Fulgrim's ascension, Melusine sought out the Daemon Primarch within the Warp on his Daemon World of Callax. On that world of perpetual pleasure and pain, Melusine was forced to dance endlessly, lest she be devoured by the Slaaneshi Daemons who called the world home. When she finally was forced to cease her dance, Fulgrim unexpectedly saved her from the claws of the Neverborn. Since then, she successfully ascended to Daemonhood herself with the aid of Fulgrim and often appeared to Bile and his servants in dreams and visions in attempts to assist Bile's schemes with the information she provided. When Bile and his creations were being hunted by the Drukhari because Bile had stolen from the Haemonculus Hexachires of the Coven of the Thirteen Scars much of his knowledge of flesh-crafting, Melusine convinced Bile to meet with Fulgrim in order to make a deal to save himself and his creations. Bile met with his former primarch and agreed to serve Chaos in order to save himself and Melusine's fellow vat-born "siblings" from being experimented upon by the Drukhari. The deal also granted all of Bile's creations the free will to serve or deny Chaos in exchange for Bile giving up his own soul to Slaanesh and agreeing to craft twisted mutants and exquisite torture devices for the servants of Chaos. Later, in order to save her "father" from the machinations of the Slaaneshi Keeper of Secrets Kanathara, Melusine convinced a Word Bearers Heretic Astartes named Saqqara Ur-Damak Thresh to aid her in defeating the Daemon. Saqqara had originally been sent by the Dark Council of the Word Bearers to kill Bile over a dispute between the Word Bearers and Bile's warband of Chaos Space Marine Apothecaries known as the Consortium, but Bile captured him and planted a bomb in his chest to ensure he remained a slave to the Clonelord's will. In the wake of these events, Melusine remains dedicated to the service and protection of her vile creator. As she has been granted free will by Slaanesh despite her status as a Daemon Princess, Melusine has used that freedom to remain at Bile's side. Later, she saved Igori, one of her vat-born "sisters," from mortal wounds incurred during a Drukhari attack by possessing her body. This created a symbiosis between the two that had the added benefit of allowing Melusine to remain permanently in the material universe using her sister's body so that she could always remain at the side of her beloved "father."
See Also
Sources
- Black Crusade: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- Black Crusade: Tome of Blood (RPG), pp. 13, 88
- Black Crusade: Tome of Decay (RPG), pg. 13
- Black Crusade: Tome of Excess (RPG), pg. 14
- Black Crusade: Tome of Fate (RPG), pg. 17
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 1st Codex), pg. 8
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex) pg. 65
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines (4th Edition), pp. 11, 15, 32
- Codex: Chaos Daemons (4th Edition), pg. 46
- Codex: Chaos Daemons (8th Edition), pp. 70, 102
- Codex: Eye of Terror, pg. 5
- Codex Heretic Astartes - Chaos Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 56, 123
- Dark Heresy: Forgotten Gods (2nd Edition) (RPG), pg. 141
- Deathwatch: Ark of Lost Souls (RPG), pg. 134
- Deathwatch: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 96, 362
- Fabius Bile: Manflayer (Novel) by Josh Reynolds, Prologue
- Fabius Bile: Clonelord (Novel) by Josh Reynolds, Ch. 4
- The Gathering Storm - Book One - Fall of Cadia (7th Edition), pg. 37
- Hunt for Voldorius (Novel) by Andy Hoare
- Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pg. 75
- Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three, pg. 170
- Imperial Armour - Apocalypse II, pp. 69, 74
- Liber Chaotica - "Khorne: Black Crusades"
- Prodigal (Short Story) by Josh Reynolds
- Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness
- Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned
- Warhammer 40,000: Rulebook (5th Edition), pg. 148
- White Dwarf 274 (UK), "Index Malleus: Daemons of the Warp", pg. 93
- White Dwarf 368 (UK), "Chaos Daemons," "The Power of the Warp," & "Realms of Chaos"
- Chapter's Due (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- Daemon World by Ben Counter
- Grey Knights (Novel) by Ben Counter
- Storm of Iron (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- The Emperor's Gift (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- Pandorax (Novel) by C.Z. Dunn