Realm of Chaos - The Great Game: The Realm of Chaos is not merely the home of the Dark Gods; it is also their battlefield, the arena for the Great Game of supremacy over Creation. The Chaos Gods are constantly at war with one another, vying for power amid the immaterial planes.Despite their myriad differences, the great Chaos Gods have the same goal: total domination of the universe. Such absolute power cannot be shared -- especially amongst the divine.With the ebb and flow of psychic energy within the Warp, the power of a Chaos God expands and contracts, and their realm will shift accordingly. For long periods, one god may dominate the others, fed by its own success, leeching its foes' psychic energy for its own growth.Ultimately, the other gods will ally against the dominant force and through combined efforts reduce it in power, until another of their number rises to prominence. This pattern is played out again and again through eternity. No Chaos God can ever truly be victorious, for without the Great Game, the Warp would become a still, unmoving emptiness, as it was before the birth of sentient life in the universe.When the gods war, the Immaterium trembles and Warp storms rage across the galaxy. Within the Realm of Chaos, hordes of Daemons are sent forth to do their masters' biddings, and the lands of the gods strain and heave at each other in physical assault.Possessed of personality and intelligence, the Daemons of a Chaos God aspire to draw favour from their master, and often launch their own attacks into the domains of rival Daemons. The armies of the Chaos Gods pour from one territory to another, and each reflects their master's nature.Khorne's Daemons advance as a great legion accompanied by blaring horns; beneath brazen banners, the whips of roaring monstrosities urge on rank upon rank of bloodthirsty footsoldiers. With raw anger and violence, the Blood Legions of Khorne cut a swathe though enemy territory, the blood spilt by their attacks polluting the realm of the enemy, turning it into Khorne's wasteland.Tzeentch is perhaps the most devious of all the gods, for he will always create a weakness to exploit before attacking. Through plotting, innuendo and magic, Tzeentch frequently sets the other gods to war with each other. He waits patiently to see how these conflicts progress and when the time is right, his cackling minions and manipulative magisters sweep forwards upon a carpet of magic, striking at the weakest of the contenders. With magical blasts and warping power, the armies of Tzeentch, the Scintillating Legions, quickly overcome all opposition and the newly claimed territory swiftly becomes part of Tzeentch's crystalline domain.When Nurgle's minions are set free, they march forth to spread disease and decay. Sonorous chanting and the rusted clangs of a thousand bells herald the attacks of the Plague Legions, while the army advances under an impenetrable swarm of bloated carrion flies. Capering Daemon-mites carpet the ground before the host, and the noxious poxes of the fleshy hulks that command them kill everything in their path, rendering all life down to mulch from which evil fungi and poisonous plants erupt.Slaanesh attacks in a more insidious manner, as might be expected of the Prince of Pleasure. The first assaults are subtle, unnoticeable to the other gods. Inside the fabric of another god's realm, the tendrils of Slaanesh's power inveigle their way into root, bone and crystal, corrupting them from within. As the land itself becomes perverted to Slaanesh's power, it dulls the senses of the enemy's Daemons, allowing the fast-moving Daemonic armies of Slaanesh, the Legions of Excess, to strike swiftly and decisively.From time to time there arises a being, place, object or event in the material universe that attracts the attention of all the Chaos Gods. So important is this new element, so desired or so dangerous, that all rivalry is temporarily put aside in order for Chaos to take advantage of this particular opportunity, or thwart the threat it presents. Then the four major Ruinous Powers work as one for a while under the banner of Chaos Undivided, and the galaxy trembles before their combined might.For Humanity, the most significant occasion of this type was the rise of the Emperor of Mankind in the late 30th Millennium. During this period, the Chaos Gods tried with all their might to bring about the Master of Mankind's downfall, culminating in their corruption of the Space Marine primarchs and the terrible civil wars of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium.Other events have led to briefer cessations of the endless conflict in the Realm of Chaos; particularly promising Black Crusades, for example, or the extermination or birth of a new intelligent starfaring species.Such interest in mortal affairs is fleeting, and treaties and armistices between the Chaos Gods do not last for long. As soon as their common objective is achieved, the gods begin to resume their Great Game. One god or another, or all four, oversteps the bounds of the previous alliance agreement and attempts to usurp his fellow gods. Once again the Realm of Chaos thunders to the march of Daemonic legions, and their age-old feuds spill over into the domains of Humanity.