Chaos Daemons - Chaos Daemons: Chaos Daemons, or simply Daemons (pronounced DEE-mahns), also known as a "Neverborn" amongst the forces of Chaos, are intelligent and usually malevolent entities of the Warp comprised of purely psychic energy. Daemons are both sentient and self-aware embodiments of Chaos and collectively the greatest servants of the Chaos Gods and of Chaos itself as a universal force.Daemons are created at the whim of one of the four major Chaos Gods from a fraction of the god's own power within the Immaterium and act as an extension of its will. A Daemon's appearance and intrinsic character reflect the god's own nature. These Daemons may be reabsorbed into the god's psychic signature in the Warp at their whim.The Chaos Gods are not alone in Warpspace. They have created servants from their own essences -- the creatures that mortals have named "Daemons" based on their ancient legends and religious mythologies -- who are not so closely bound to the Warp. Daemons are entities of a somewhat different nature to their masters, and are the most numerous of the creatures to be found in the Empyrean.A Daemon is "born" when a Chaos God expends a portion of its own power to create a separate being. This psychic power binds a collection of senses, thoughts and purposes together, creating a separate but closely related personality and consciousness that can move within the Warp.The Chaos God can reclaim the independence it has given to its Daemon children at any time, thus ensuring their loyalty. It is only though the loss of this power that a Daemon can truly be destroyed, its mind dissolving into the whirls and currents of Warpspace.Some worshippers of Chaos believe that the souls of mortals who most fervently worshipped the Ruinous Powers in life are transformed into Lesser Daemons upon their death and the entry of their soul into their patron god's domain in the Realm of Chaos. For instance, this belief is held especially for the Bloodletters of Khorne, who Khornates believe were once the Blood God's greatest mortal warriors, and the Plaguebearers of Nurgle, who some hold are the souls of those mortals who have been afflicted with Nurgle's Rot.As minions of the Chaos Gods, most Daemons lack self-will, at least as Humanity understands it. Instead, they serve only to spread the aims of their masters. For example, a Daemon of Khorne seeks only battle, and wages war upon other Daemons with the same fervour as it does upon mortals.Daemons seemingly spend much of their existence in conflict with other Daemons, as each of the Chaos Gods seeks to expand its power and influence as part of the Great Game. It is only when the mortal world is involved that Daemons tend to band together and cooperate, and even then, such alliances are short-lived, as each of the four Chaos powers seeks to prevent the others from gaining any sort of advantage.Daemons have no physical presence within the Warp. The Realm of Chaos is anathema to the laws of physics and the starships that navigate its depths do so by taking a skin or bubble of "reality" with them when they enter using their Warp-Drive.Instead of possessing a true physical form, Daemons project a form conjured from raw psychic energy that is essentially a lesser interpretation of their master's fundamental nature. Hence, the bizarre and inhuman appearances projected by Daemons indicate their presence, status and allegiance to a Chaos God.Though it may appear to be made of normal matter when it materialises in realspace, a Daemon's form is no more physical than it is in the Realm of Chaos. In fact, they are beings of pure Warp energy given shape and depth.When manifested in the material universe, Daemons have particular invulnerabilities and weaknesses, as well as many strange powers derived from their Warp-born nature as psychic beings. Slaying a Daemon's physical projection does not kill it, but only severs its presence in reality; its true essence in the Warp remains unharmed.As creatures of pure emotion and psychic energy that are native to the twisted mirror dimension of the Empyrean, Daemons cannot survive for long in the cold reality of the material universe. They need some manner of focal point, some channel through which they can transfer their uncanny power from the Immaterium and make themselves manifest in the worlds of flesh and blood.Over the span of the Imperium's history, the Warp rifts that have led to a Daemonic assault have usually been the result of untrained psykers opening their minds to the baleful whispers of the Warp.Such an intrusion starts with the Daemonic possession of the host, but can end with the psyker being turned body and soul into a hideous, shrieking gateway, a wound in reality that can allow hosts of Daemons to come pouring through.Such small-scale invasions usually peter out as the flow of Chaos energy dries up, the Daemons fading away to nothing. The exceptions are when the Chaos Space Marines or other servants of the Ruinous Powers, having much the same goals as the Daemons of their patron gods, summon the legions of the Warp into realspace.Through acts of voluntary possession, ritual sacrifice, psychic machination and sustained blasphemy, they weaken and shred the veil that holds the horrors of the Warp hidden from the worlds of mortals. All too often, when the Chaos Space Marines attack, hosts of Bloodletters, Horrors, Daemonettes and Plaguebearers burst from the ether to revel in the carnage.When a Daemon is "killed" in the material universe, it is banished back to the Warp. If not simply re-absorbed by its creator, it must remain there to regain its strength that it eventually might manifest itself again. Legend has it that a Daemon banished in this way cannot return for a thousand Terran years and a day, though it is of course impossible to prove such a belief through study, and the concept of time itself is meaningless within the Warp.The slight to a "slain" Daemon's pride is considerable, however, and the Daemon is forced to endure the mockery of its fellows until it can return to corporeal form and avenge itself. The most powerful Daemons will call upon any servants and tributary Lesser Daemons to help them achieve their revenge.If it has many allies, it may also request their aid, though all Daemons are cautious in doing so. Such favours must inevitably be returned, and no Daemon welcomes the dominion of another creature, be it mortal or Daemonic.Across the stars, Warp storms rage and the galaxy stands on the precipice of a new age as the 41st Millennium comes to a close. Prophets and augurs proclaim the End Times for Mankind, and the number of instances of Daemonic possession across the Imperium of Man is rising.Each psyker so accursed is granted an epiphany; in their last grasping death, the victims glimpse the horrific doom that awaits them -- an abyss of Chaos, absolute in its finality, unending in its despair. Now, across the galaxy, that same vision of ultimate torment -- of an eternity beneath the lash of Daemons -- has spread. Across untold star systems, countless life forms read the portents and prepare for the dark days ahead.Premonitions of disaster are now rife amongst the Imperium of Man, by far the largest of the galaxy's interstellar empires, but few understand the true nature of the Warp and the threat its denizens represent to all life. Yet even distant, technologically-backwards Imperial planets have marked the telltale signs of impending apocalypse -- the proliferation of mutants, the rise of Chaos Cults who worship the Dark Gods and the ever-increasing number of psykers in the Human population.The Inquisition sees the warning signs, but there are simply too many Imperial planets in peril for them to halt many of the deadly chain reactions caused by Daemonic possession. As psykers implode, small tears in the fabric of reality usher in bloody reigns of terror across thousands of planets, and in their attempts to suppress the truth and forestall mass panic, the Inquisitors adopt ever-more ruthless methods.Yet for every Warp rift sealed, more holes are opened, and the barrier between reality and the Realm of Chaos is left shattered and gaping in a dozen new locations.Should the weakness of Mankind prove too great, one only needs to look at the Fall of the Aeldari to see the consequences of failure. On their glittering craftworlds, the remnants of the Aeldari species do not need the rune-casting of their Farseers to tell them of the imminent threat.More psychically attuned than Humans, each Aeldari feels every new rent torn in realspace and cringes. Although utterly self-serving and cruel beyond Human measure, even the Drukhari shudder at the thought of realspace engulfed by raw Chaos, for if that happened, their hidden city of Commorragh within the Webway would not stay so for long.Even the horrifying alien Tyranids recognize the threat from the Warp -- several hive fleets have altered their invasion courses in order to avoid Warp Storms gaping before them. There are scattered records of splinter fleets drifting into Warp rifts, most notably after the near-destruction of Hive Fleet Kraken at the Fall of Iyanden, though the results of such a galactic accident are mercifully hard to catalogue.The Dark Gods care not, for their unknowable plans move apace, and their final victory over the defenders of Creation seems assured.