The more dedicated you get for a god such as Khorne the more you will follow their teachings in Khorne's case you would want more power to slaughter the masses even if it means giving away body and soul to a daemon...or do the nearly impossible and try to control this demonic power and become a daemon prince but if failed you would be just a lowly warp spawn what would you choose in order to please the dark gods
Who says you cant do both, unleash it to slaughter everything in a controlled environment where there is naught but blood to be shed for your benefit
The gods seem more amused by followers that have their own agenda. Hell, Tzneetch sees Ahriman as one of his greatest champions, and Ahriman doesn't even like/praise Tzeentch and actively seeks to defy fate.
Well if that's the case, then my character being based completely on comprehending and carrying out the will of Chaos Undivided is probably boring to them.
That's because Tzeentch is cray. Even Tzeentch doesn't know what Tzeentch wants. He likes Ahriman plotting against him, because he's the god of plotting and plotting gives him power. The other gods are a bit more straightforward, BUT in any case you can be corrupted by any of them without actively following or worshipping them. Most Chaos Space Marines, it's heavily implied in the codex, follow Chaos Undivided but in a vague way.
That all depends upon how you view Chaos, and how you want to use it in all honesty. To some, a daemon prince is seen as a failure rather than a reward due to its limitations and they can more actively worship their gods or carry out their plans as a mortal. Someone who, at least in some depictions, retains more free will and self control thanks to their mortal state. As often as it's used as a villain, and with good reason, Chaos does have a distinct grey area which has been focused upon more and more over the years in these certain mortal champions. It was often much more pronounced in Warhammer Fantasy, but some of that has started to bleed through at last. To stick with something core to this subject, consider Kharn the Betrayer or even Lucius the Eternal. Kharn was presented often as frothing madman for decades, a maniac determined to take every skull he could and just kill until he couldn't anymore. He was a slaughterman, demented enough to hack and kill every last hive in sight until he turned upon his comrades in his insanity. The past few stories however, have presented Kharn as being alarmingly self-controlled, almost using the battle haze and constant bite of the nails to relentlessly predict and consider how to attack anyone, but driven more by a hunt for worthy foes than everyone in sight. While he'll certainly let his axe fall upon anyone dumb enough to draw a gun on him, he's more than willing to ignore those he considers non-combatants. Hell, sometimes he's even been noted to avoid battles as they lacked worthy champions for him to claim the skulls of. The old version worshiped Khorne by sheer, raging ferocity, trapped in a perpetual haze of frenzied violence. The current one is, in many regards, more of a champion. He's a figure seeking worthy challengers to fight in single combat, to slay all who fight for them until he encounters someone whose skull Khorne will value. In the same regards, Lucius is bent more upon challenging and beheading elite warriors than dealing with chaff or getting drugged up like some Emperor's Children are depicted. In his own perverse way, he acts with a code of honour, and often is bent more by finding those worthy of his attention anything else. You could even argue that his rather unique immortality trait reflects this. That perhaps someone were truly worthy of slaying him, truly worthy, they would not celebrate his death with enough joy to ensure his return. In his case, becoming a daemon prince would ultimately offer him nothing and would likely get in the way of his true cause. Perhaps, most of all, they are relevant to this point as examples, because they slay by their own will. They worship their chosen members of the pantheon, lay tributes at their feet and fight in their name, but they are not so bound to their will that they seek ascension to escape death entirely or fight at their every last whim. To put it in the most basic terms, they retain and fight by their own will by worshiping Chaos out of choice, rather than being addicted entirely to the power it offers. At least that's my personal view upon things anyway.
" I love writing about Lucius. I had a great time telling his story in the novel Fulgrim, and when I needed a POV character for The Reflection Crack’d, there was really only one contender. Which surprised me, as I’d expected him to be one of the leaders of the charge into extreme decadence and hedonism. But as it turned out, that wasn’t the case. The very thing that made Lucius the consummate swordsman was the very thing that kept him from sliding down the path of corruption too quickly. Embracing Slaanesh too quickly would, for Lucius, represent a loss of control, and that’s something a swordsman of his skill wouldn’t allow. To be little better than a berserker with a sword would be anathema to Lucius, and bizarrely, that’s what allowed him to cleave most closely to the Legion’s original ideals. He wants to have a foot in both worlds, the one where he has total free rein to be and do whatever he wants, but also the one where there are rigid rules and discipline. That internal conflict is all that’s keeping him focused, but it’s also the thing that will eventually drive him completely insane." It certainly seemed to be Graham Mcneil's intention for Lucius at least.
I'll admit I had never read that, but it's certainly interesting to see his thoughts on the character. Many thanks for sharing that bit of inside info.
