Hedonites of Slaanesh

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"Everything in excess is opposed to nature"

– Hippocrates

Grand Alliance Chaos Hedonites of Slaanesh

Yes that mace is going where Hysh doesn't shine and without lube

Lore Tactics General Tactics

The Hedonites of Slaanesh are the vast armies of hedonists that follow, or once followed, Slaanesh, until the Chaos God was trapped in a realm between realms by the vengeful Aelven pantheon. Despite their patron’s fall from (relative) grace, these obsessive marauders have still made their mark on the Mortal Realms.

Background

A Godly Faction…Without a God

The new followers of the Dark Prince were faced with a unique predicament. How do you have a faction centered around a god, when that god goes missing. Initially the writers at GW didn’t care as they were content to let Slaanesh (and his minions) wallow in obscurity as they weren’t quite sure what to do with this traditionally NSFW faction in their new “market-friendly” mindset. Eventually they settled on making Slaanesh a deity of general Excess, Indulgences, and Sensations (rather than pure Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll), and released an updated line of Daemon miniatures for AoS and 40k. And with this update came our first actual look into how the hosts of Slaanesh function in the Mortal Realms.

The followers of the Dark Prince, be they daemonic or mortal, can be classified into one of three camps in regards to how they view Slaanesh’s absence.

• Invaders: The largest of the groups, most devotees simply act like “normal”, pillaging and plundering the Mortal Realms. Whether it’s in spite of Slaanesh’s disappearance or that they don’t particularly care, the Invader Hosts boast large amounts of infantry and are usually lead by several champions who bicker and squabble over who’s actually in charge.
• Pretenders: Slaanesh being gone has left a very noticeable power vacuum in the Realm of Chaos, one that some of his more megalomaniacal servants have decided to pounce on like starved animals. The Pretender Hosts are cults of personality, with a single vainglorious and charismatic champion (usually a Keeper of Secrets) at the center, their goal being to prove their worth as the lone worthy successor to their fallen god’s throne.
• Godseekers: The supplicants of the Godseeker Hosts refuse to accept Slaanesh’s disappearance and now devote their entire existence to finding his whereabouts and freeing him. Over the years, these warbands have evolved to be expert trackers and extremely quick, usually comprised of copious cavalry and chariots.

History

Age of Myth

After gorging on 99.9% of the elf souls from the Old World, Slaanesh curled up and took a nap in a pocket realm, likely feeling super bloated and lethargic. Whilst he was asleep, a partly digested/mutated Morathi clawed her way out of his gullet and fled to the Mortal Realms where she reunited with Tyrion, Teclis, and Maliketh (now called Malerion). This unlikely quartet hatched a scheme to return to Slaanesh’s hangover spot and retrieve all those souls lost in his belly. And so they captured and imprisoned Slaanesh in the sub-realm Uhl-Gysh, between the realms of Light and Shadow. Here they began pumping the Chaos God’s belly to dredge up all the souls he had consumed to remake their knife-eared race. He remains trapped due to 66 enchanted chains that bind his immense body and power, but not completely as he is still able to whisper and command some of his stronger minions.

In Slaanesh’s realm, his daemons all feel an inconceivable sense of loss in response to their master’s capture. This malaise results in the Dark Prince’s minions dividing into three major hosts; Invaders, Pretenders, and Godseekers. The other Chaos Gods for their part didn’t seem too fussed about Slaanesh’s imprisonment, but since they needed a fourth player in their “Great Game” they reluctantly allowed the Skaven’s deity the Great Horned Rat to ascend.

Age of Chaos

As their deity was missing, Slaanesh's followers took the more subtle route WHFB it came to infiltrating the Mortal Realms. As each Chaos God seemed to have a realm or two they focused on, Slaanesh's daemons spread out across the realms, all with their own goals. In Chamon, the Herald-Daemon Prince pair known as Syll'Esske manage to take the duardin city Karak Zorkai by corrupting a hedonistic dawi, turning his fellow duardin into cyborg-esque war-golems. While in Shyish, a Slaaneshi Chaos Lord fights with a savage tribe of cannibals called the Unmade.

Collectively, the Hedonites focus their greatest efforts on Ulgu and Hysh (unsurprising, given aelves are the favorite target for Slaanesh's vore fetish and they could likely smell their master’s scent wafting from between the realms). In Hysh, they subtly manipulated the Lumineth aelves with whispers like a clique of gossipy high school girls (such as telling one how much taller their rival's tower is or how much prettier their newest artwork is) until the tensions erupted into the civil war known as Spirefall. In Ulgu, their actions did not go unnoticed, because - whatever their flaws - the Daughters of Khaine were vigilant against Slaanesh and very warlike. But the Ulguites tendency for secret vices provides fertile ground for Slaanesh’s influence. So a back and forth of guerrilla warfare, dubbed the Cathtrar Dhule by the Aelves, was waves across Ulgu, continuing on into the modern day.

As for Slaanesh himself, he started to manipulate and prodded at the shackles binding him. He discovered that each chain could only be broken by a certain condition being met. One such chain could only be snapped by his greatest enemy, meaning Khorne. So Slaanesh influenced Shallaxi Hellbane to steal a skull from the Blood God’s precious skull throne. Khorne reacted thusly and sic’d his guard dog Karanak on the KoS, leading to a realm-wide Road Runner and Wily Coyote styled chase. It got so infuriating to Khorne that his roars of anger snapped one of the chains keeping Slaanesh trapped. Part is his power returned, the Dark Prince quickly weaved an illusion around where the chain was to keep his guards ignorant and began plotting more ways to break his bonds…

Age of Sigmar

The Slaaneshi Chaos Lord Lascallion uses his supernatural senses to trace the hedonism of the Mortarch of Blood, Neferata. He becomes an obsessed fanboy of Neferata, and is able to pierce the illusions she used to hide Nulahmia, seeking to claim her as his consort. His first assault is repelled by her armies, the second by the intervention of the Stormcast Eternals and the third sees him fall literally into an uncertain fate (a pit of skeletons with no confirmation that he died).

Malign Portents

The weakening of Slaanesh's prisons allows Godseeker hosts to determine that Slaanesh is close to Ulgu. As a result, they invade the realm and come into renewed conflict with the Daughters of Khaine.

Soul Wars

The Slaanesh Chaos Lord fights against the Daughters of Khaine. Though his forces are repulsed, he gets a glimpse of the resources Morathi amassed for her plan to reach godhood. He didn't know that, but he knew Morathi was planning something big.

Broken Realms

A host of Godseekers travelled to Hagg Nar following a prophecy about Slaanesh. They arrived in time to see a fraction of Slaanesh's essence erupt from the city and fly across the horizon.

They followed it to a crater where it coalesced into a form so beautiful and terrible several of the Hedonites died. Soon the Newborn coalesced into two entities; demigods called Dexcessa, the Talon of Slaanesh and Synessa, the Voice of Slaanesh, the two focused on the direct and indirect pursuits of pleasure respectively. Across the realms, followers of Slaanesh have found themselves surging with power. Dexcessa and Synessa are very good news for the Godseekers, could go either way for the Invaders and very bad news for the Pretenders (and everyone else, really).

See Also

• Tactics/Hedonites of Slaanesh