In the Gaunt's Ghosts series, one of the Imperial Guard squads is passing through a hive habitat which had been occupied by the enemy, and note the seemingly random destruction inflicted on everyday items and there being no clear logic as to what has been spared, or why. One particularly odd thing they discover is a large stash of coins bearing the Emperor's visage, each of which the Blood Pact have painstakingly taken time to deface despite the blazing war all around them. Shortly afterwards, they find the poignant scene where someone has taken every child's doll they could lay their hands on and crucified them on a single wall, each with a nail driven through the forehead. Then they realise that they're not dolls after all, and the vomiting begins. TLDR; Chaos is pretty ruthless. If you're not strong enough to defend yourself, or valuable enough to have a patron strong enough to protect you, then you have no choice but to submit to the whims and mercies of those who are. And the footsoldiers of Chaos aren't well-known for forgiveness towards followers of the Emperor...
It's still a fact that Chaos followers are wildly different in their belief's, motivations, and why they follow Chaos Granted, the nature of Chaos itself tends to inspire evil in it's followers, but still, the point stands
Chaos isn't actually evil, though. Its adherents just follow a different path to that dictated by the Emperor, and one which is deeply opposed by the Imperium. Abaddon in particular would dispute your final point. He's not trying to doom humanity; the entire point of the Long War is to wrestle control of its future away from the Imperium in order to save it. The Black Legion would probably reframe your question to something more like this: "What's more evil, the consumption of billions of souls to keep the Emperor alive while his Imperium crumbles and humanity faces a drawn-out death, or to open their eyes to the horrifying truth that is Chaos and drag them through hell itself so that they can use its power to conquer the galaxy and live on?" Essentially, is it better to take comfort in resisting and denying an uncomfortable truth, or to embrace it, no matter how unpalatable, and use that new understanding of reality to better achieve your goals.
I don't disagree at all. My point was merely that if you're not strong enough to impose your will on others, or prevent them imposing their will on you, you're reliant on the individual whims and motivations of whichever chaos follower(s) as to what they choose to do. There are no rules, no expectations, and no guarantee that the warrior who spares your life today won't crush you tomorrow because he's in a bad mood. Chaos is only 'evil' if you hold it up to a set of rules established by others, which claim that you can only be 'good' if you follow them. And as followers of chaos are characterised by their stubborn refusal to follow any rules with any form of consistency unless they personally choose to do so at that time, they will always be defined as evil by anyone seeking to impose any form of order upon the galaxy. Chaos is power. And with great power, comes great irresponsibility* *with apologies to Deadpool
I'm still shocked people are claiming chaos isn't evil. You have a god of filth, a deification of giving up, fear of death, and rot. The next god is literally about killing everything in a frenzy. Then we get to the worship about how overly complicated you can make a plan to backstab people. And finally, a straight up god/goddess (thing) of hedonism, of excess. Don't get me wrong, the Imperium is a bad mix of fascism and zealotry, and the eldar are rascist to the max. But seriously, chaos is quite literally made up of all the screwed up emotions that people have. The ones you highlight and circle on psych evaluations concerning serial killers and rapists.
The first got represetns decay and renewal the circle of live, the next one Honour and survival of the fittest then theres the one about Change, both for better or good depending on the viewpoint. then theres the god"ess" about feelings pain and pleasure I mean sure it all depends on your viewpoint but you cant just say tehyr overall bad and need to be purged , because humanity kind of depends on them to survive regardless of if they actively follow them or if they fight them. It is teh Warp, or Ocean of souls thats so screwed up by the Human emotions, not the gods.
