Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #2

[laughing_tree]

So, it's a horror universe, but it's also a satirical and action universe. The people who take Warhammer a bit too straight clearly are working on the weird assumption they would be Space Marines when it's clear that if any of us were in the 40K universe we would be someone who was bombarded from orbit to clear out a rabid infection running through the tiny human population. It's so operatically, grim. -- Kieron Gillen

Comments

[beoweasel]

While I like Kieron's comment above, the big twist in the story here that Crixus is a Khornate worshipper bugs me for several reasons.

1) Khornate worshippers do not build secret temples or altars to Khorne. While Worshippers of Chaos Undivided might build elaborate shrines to the Blood God (along with the rest of the pantheon), Khornate Cultists treat such things with open scorn, believing that the only place you can show your devotion to the Blood God is the battlefield.

2) Likewise, Khornate Worshippers eschew religious ceremony and ritual. You give your thanks to Khorne by slaughtering your enemies and taking the skulls of worthy foes. So simply sacrificing a mere child is more likely to earn Khorne's displeasure than his approval. While Khorne wants the blood to flow, it should flow from the slaughter of open combat, not from pointless ritual.

3) Khorne is the most straight forward of the Chaos Gods, he isn't really duplicitous, unlike say, Slaanesh or Tzeentch. He's open about his demands and likewise expects the same of his cults. So the idea of a Khornate worshipper operating in secret and hiding their nature through lies and deceit would likewise invoke his displeasure.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Crixus is really bad Khorne Worshipper.

I feel like this would have worked a lot better if Crixus had been revealed to be a worshipper of Chaos Undivided, rather than specifically Khorne, but I know GW has been trying to push Undivided under the rug for years now. And this wouldn't be the first material to mangle what Khornate cults do...looking at you, Dawn of War.

[owlbrigade1]

Khorne accepts the sacrifice, blood for the blood god and skulls for the skull throne; and for being a duplicitous idiot Crixus can be rewarded with eternal torture in some suitably ironic way. If they were sane or coherent they wouldn't be Chaos Deities or worshippers thereof. I'm not sure what they would be, it is not a universe that rewards sanity or coherency, but definitely not any flavour of chaos.

[shakalooloo]

Ehhh, most Khornate worshippers may fit the Flander-ised blood-crazed, senseless berserker trope, but back in the day the Blood God was about more than simple slaughter, being a god that held martial pride and strategy under his spheres of influence. Secretive warrior lodges performing blood sacrifices totally fit his bag.

Or, you could go meta-physical, and say that since this is taking place on a planet within one of the safest regions of the Imperium, Khorne's influence is weak, and he can only inspire such timid murders, needing his followers to build in strength before they go on a rampage, lest they be wiped out too soon. Khorne is not (completely) stupid, and a little subterfuge now earns a bigger harvest later.

I mean, otherwise there should be no organised groups of Khorne dudes at all, right? As soon as there is one, he grabs an axe and goes on a killing spree, so why would he ever need any allies?

[arilou_skiff]

Fantasy rather than 40K, but this MO seems pretty much exactly like that of the cult of the Crimson Skull: https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Cult_of_the_Crimson_Skull

[arilou_skiff]

Khorne contains multitudes. There are certainly elaborate temples to Khorne (or baroque chaos-fortresses)

Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, merely that it flows, is a thing for a reason: Doesen't matter if it is done simply or ornately, in glorious combat or through simple butchery of the defenceless: The only thing that matters is that it flows.

[t209]

So anyone imagining Marneus voice based on Empeor Text to Speech.
"I Cast Fist".
https://youtu.be/eG82ruvH0jc?t=254
Also I think he's WH40k's Skinner now.