Chaos

Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy is a general term referring to the corrupting power of magic that flows from the warp-gates/portals at the poles.

Chaos can refer to the following:


 * The Warriors of Chaos and other Chaos-aligned factions.
 * Chaos Corruption which is spread by the above.
 * The Chaos Invasion that happens in campaign mode.
 * The Realm of Chaos, from the lore.
 * The Chaos Gods, from the lore.

See below for more details.

Chaos-aligned races
Chaos can refer more specifically to the races who are aligned with the power of Chaos. These races tend to be hostile to non-Chaos races, but especially hate those races which uphold civilization and order.

The main Chaos races:
 * Warriors of Chaos
 * Beastmen
 * Norsca
 * Forces of Khorne
 * Forces of Tzeentch
 * Forces of Nurgle
 * Forces of Slaanesh

Races which are sometimes considered to be Chaos-aligned:
 * Skaven
 * Chaos Dwarfs
 * Cult of Pleasure (a playable faction of the Dark Elves race, led by Morathi)

Chaos Invasion
In the Old World and Mortal Empires campaigns, there is a Chaos Invasion to provide an end-game challenge.

Chaos Corruption
Chaos Corruption is a nefarious force in Total War: Warhammer and it's sequels which affects provinces. Chaos Corruption is spread by some of the races listed above.

Realm of Chaos
The Realm of Chaos (also known as "the warp" and "the aether") is another dimension beyond the Warhammer world. The Realm of Chaos is home to gods, malevolent daemons and the souls of mortals. The Realm of Chaos does not follow the physical laws of our universe, and thus when the Realm of Chaos seeps into the Warhammer world it is perceived as magic. To put it another way, the Realm of Chaos is the source of all magic in Warhammer Fantasy. Due to the unpredictable and corrupting nature of the Realm of Chaos, all magic use (even by well-intentioned spellcasters) is tainted by Chaos and inherently dangerous. This is represented in the game as miscasts, though in the lore spellcasters will sometimes accidentally open portals to the Realm of Chaos, summon Daemons, or spontaneously explode.

The Chaos Gods
The Chaos Gods, also known as the Dark Gods or the Ruinous Powers, are powerful deities which dwell in the Realm of Chaos and command daemonic servants. The Chaos Gods represent fundamental aspects of our nature and draw power from the emotions of mortals. As such, they can never be truly defeated. However, their followers may be stopped, at least temporarily. There are four main gods :
 * Khorne, The Blood God - god of rage, hatred, slaughter, bloodshed and war
 * Tzeentch, The Changer of Ways - god of hope, ambition, change, schemes, deception and magic
 * Nurgle, The Lord of Decay - god of despair, disease, rot/decay and inevitable entropy
 * Slaanesh, The Dark Prince - androgynous god/goddess of excess, obsession, pleasure, art and hedonism

The blessings of the four main Chaos Gods are represented in TWW1 and TWW2 via Marks of Chaos. In TWW3, there are playable factions centered around each of the four gods.

The Chaos Gods are served by various horrors known as the Daemons of Chaos.

There are also two minor Chaos Gods:


 * The Horned Rat - God of the Skaven, representing the decay of civilisation, unending tide of clever and evil rats, unending hunger of rats. Clan Pestilens worship the Horned Rat in his aspect as the bringer of plagues, not unlike Nurgle.
 * Hashut - God of the Chaos Dwarfs, who represents darkness, fire, industry and cold hatred.