Editing Blood Gorgons (section)

==Ideology and battle doctrine (such as it is)==
[[Henry Zou#The_Books|They are described]] as having had "no limits, not physically, nor of time in their immortal age, nor of law or code to restrain them." This is described as "precisely that which made them Blood Gorgons, [raising] them above the loyalist Slave Marines [''their term for not just the Imperial Space Marines, but such Astartes as bound themselves to a God or a warlord like [[Abbadon]]''] who were no better than menials." Pretty harsh burn, and a badass attitude for a (relatively) small warband to take against hordes of Chaos fundamentalists and actual traitor ''legions'', not to mention the Imperials and just about everyone else in the galaxy from the [[Dark Eldar|drukharii]] to the [[tyranids]].

Still, the Gorgons are the closest chapter we're likely to see who look and act like Chaos [[Reasonable Marines]] - they even don't treat aligned mortals and slaves like shit (in fact, given the more martially inclined mortal slaves on their ships really quite significant "trustee" roles in terms of day-to-day security and things like that); and also, unlike [[World Eaters|some compulsively violent groups]], they pick their battles carefully. They constantly train to stay sharp, with live-fire exercises (using various captured people and creatures, in the confines of their ECKSBAWKSHUEG SPHESS HULK) pretty much constituting all their downtime (although one imagines the Slaaneshi sex slaves figure in somewhere, too...) Being nomadic space pirates, though, they never stick around too much in one place, neither putting down roots in the Eye of Terror or the Warp or any particular territory (although they took great offense when some [[Death Guard|slimy]] and [[Dark Eldar|knife-eared]] fuckers tried to mess with a planet that they used as gene-stock fodder for potential recruits and slaves).

What's more, they never placed their faith too much in one Chaos God (well, one of them did, and it didn't turn out so well, '''[[Henry Zou#The_Books|read the book]]''' (''no really, it's good''), which may not be available through [[Black Library|mainstream venues]] but is easily found in the [[Heresy|usual heretical places]]), and had a fine old piratical time. They've fought about every faction there is; Imperials of course (an episode is mentioned where they gave the [[Space Wolves]] a good licking, as well as the [[Ultramarines]], which had ought to let the heart of each and every anti-fan of the two chapters most often accused of [[Mary Sue]]-ness spring with joy.) Hell, they even got into it with [[Abaddon|good old Abby himself]] at least once (over what we don't know but they probably were just out to steal his shit.) They never shied away from getting into it with other traitor Marines, either, when it suited their purposes. All around they value their independence and perfection of the art of war above all, and seem to give a good account of themselves against anyone who fucks with their shit or has shit that they want.

To quote the man who developed the chapter and their story, they are interested "only training and fighting [with] were events in between, but those things did not matter." Going on, [[Henry Zou|he]] describes an exemplar of their chapter as "mentally sharpened to a singular focus [with] no remorse or guilt at [collateral damage]. There was no right or wrong, it had been an act of will in achieving a goal".

It's worth noting, though, that in the "losses" column, though, at least one squad, to their lasting shame, got their asses handed to them by [[Tau|some hoofed blue Asian people]] ("withdraw in good order," they said. The rest of the Gorgons wouldn't let them live it down, though eventually redemption came in dramatic form.)

Being headstrong, self-determined space pirates, they don't hold territory ''per se'', but ''do'' take it very personally when others mess with resources they consider themselves to have exclusive rights to. Also, while they generally aren't into rituals and such other than summoning their patron daemon and the occasional warpfuckery of their shamans, they're still perfectly happy to promote [[Chaos Undivided]] ideology (theology?) when it suits them, for example to recruit guerrillas for war against the Imperium on a planet with some resources that interested them. In the latter case, in a manner that would do the [[Alpha Legion]] proud, four Blood Gorgons (two "bonds", ''see below'', calling themselves the "two pairs") stealthily supported a Maoist-style insurgency <s>in an allegory for American involvement in Vietn</s>-{{BLAM|on an Imperial planet}} even turning <s>Jane Fo</s>-{{BLAM|some Imperials}} to their side (it didn't help that the <s>Ameri-</s>{{BLAM}} <s>Fren-</s>{{BLAM}} <s>Ecclesi-</s>{{BLAM}} ''wait, what were we talking about anyway?'' {{BLAM}}. Fuck it. {{BLAM}})

Okay, then. So anyway, the Gorgons get some with just about everyone (they even kept some [[Tyranids|big fuckoff 'nids]] around their Space Hulk [[Awesome|for live-fire practice sessions]]. Which as alluded to above is apparently a thing for them. They would even do things like leave a platoon of captured [[Imperial Guard]] in some nook or cranny of their ship, providing them with a couple of weeks rations and even rudimentary weaponry, then let them wander about so even the Gorgons themselves don't know their location, wait a week or so, and go hunting.

So in short, if you're looking to hear about some off-the-beaten-path [[Chaos Space Marines]], they're fuckawesome.

Whatever else can be said for them, the Gorgons who remained true to their chapter are loyal to their history and values, too even coming to defend a planet that they harvest slaves and potential recruits from, after the simple nomad folk there activated a weird 9,000 year old steampunk emergency beacon because [[Nurgle|some fat guy with a cauldron]] was fucking around with them. This got complicated, of course, by an intra-Chapter war which kicked off due to some of their chirgueon-witches getting too far into warpfuckery, but the course of events winds up showing that their cohesion and brotherhood is one of the most important things for them. This was apparently developed over millennia very purposefully, as in the beginning of their departure from the Imperial fold they did a lot of fighting amongst themselves and their leaders (or at least those who came out on top) decided to develop some structures and systems to prevent such infighting again. It didn't work perfectly (otherwise we wouldn't have their titular book to read) but it is a damn sight better than what prevails among a lot of other Chaos-aligned factions.

Sadly, after having hyped up this chapter, the writer must impart that unfortunately, their [[Meme|spiritual liege]], the former Black Library writer [[Henry Zou]], who was declared, just like his chapter, ''excommunicate traitoris'' for some arguably pretty egregious plagiarism in a passage from ''Flesh and Iron'', the book about the insurgency discussed above, so we may never know what actually befell them, or if they're still doing their thing. The especially stupid thing is that it was just one passage and not even a very compelling one, and Zou was a pretty promising writer.