Chaos is more than just a faction of a game. Chaos is everything that the human mind can imagine and so much more, yet we cannot fully comprehend what Chaos really is. We can write about it, talk about it, say what it can do and what we can achieve with it, but we will never truly understand the machinations of how such a complex, utterly insane and sprawling mass of a concept Chaos truly is.

Is it simply the opposite to Order? Some people may not be ones to conform, fighting against the idea of a civilised life, but what is to say that such a life is not Chaos? How can we judge what is order and not?

Some fight for Chaos just for the sake of slaughter, is it because they enjoy rebelling against what some people have spent so long in organising and making into a reality, that said followers come along with concepts of pure madness and disorder that they take a primal relish in throwing their ideals upon those who so fervently despise and war against that of Order?

Maybe people are just tired? Have they become jaded to the same old thing each day, living a life of constraints and rules? Could it just be for a change to keep our feeble minds stimulated? Yes of course, it's known that people do odd things for the reason that they simply need to do something else, or else the brain starts to stimulate itself. Down that path lies insanity, but then again, isn't insanity another word of Chaos? It's quite arguable that every path of life devolves into the tyranny that Disorder.

Is it too far-fetched that our mind must believe there to be a reason behind it? Can a person not just do something on impulse these days and not have a reason behind it? It seems not, we rationalize and believe that there must be a full, logical thought process behind it, or else it just doesn't make sense to us. Why does everything have to make sense? Are we afraid of that of which we cannot comprehend? I believe so.

So there is no simple answer to why do people join Chaos. Is it to understand the incomprehensible? Because they are too jaded and want a change? Or simply to destroy what other people love?

If you can understand the true emotions of the soul that drive people to do acts they don't understand themselves until it's far too late, then you may be on the path to barely even imagining the scale of Chaos and the eternal storm that represents what we are truly afraid of.

in the 40k universe worshiping the emperor or one of the chaos gods is 100% faith to begin with. At the start its a matter of which one an individual would put more stock in. This usually starts out as the one they're born into, but can change.

The OP centers on why would someone choose to worship chaos - meaning that they don't currently worship them. If one is born onboard a chaos warship, probably gonna end up a not so nice guy, so that leaves imperials to talk about.

In times of weakness, some will flop to save themselves "we're losing the war! emperor aint doin $#!^"
Some small portion of sin or evil may get expounded little by little by a mischievous deamon "take your buddy's stuff" - "Show up late for work" - "do this ritual to summon me" (that escalated quickly!)

It happens because man is not perfect, and neither are space marines - as proven by the traitor legions' existence

What made the primarchs fall from grace? a web of deceit and lies for some, a feeling of being undervalued for others? Simply not being allowed to do what they want to?

Bottom line, its not a 180 switch for anyone. Chaos just works with what you give it.

I'm a goddamn Eldar and it pains me that I must do it, but I shall explain Nurgle to you.

Nurgle offers a family. He accepts everyone - EVERYONE - and cares for all of them equally. In the horrific nightmare that is the 41st millenium, there is a great deal of suffering, fear, and wanting just SOMEONE to care about you. (something which the Imperium certainly does not do)

So after your 18-hour shift in the Manifactorum, you start hearing voices in your head. That it's okay. You don't need to do anything anymore. You're already perfect as you are. You might ignore them, and continue sleeping.

And the next day, your slavemaster of an Overseer abuses you again, and the voices come back. Which one, do you think, you'll start listening to after a while? The nice voices who keep telling you how they'll care about you, how they'll accept you just like you are - or the cruel bastard who whips you daily to keep the ammunitions coming?

Nurgle is the god of decay, and more importantly, apathy. This is why he doesn't want his followers constantly striving to improve themselve, hence the "I'll love you just like you are!" - part. (that would be Tzeentchian)

I think you can see my point here. Nurgle is home for those already abandoned by everyone else. His cults are usually quite benevolent, as are his Daemons - yes, your body is turned into a twisted mockery of itself - but what care you at that point? You have a loving family, and an eternal place in your God's heart.

And you wish to spread that love.

Sweet Khaine you people, step up your game! I'm an Eldar and I know your gods better than you do!

Chaos is humanity fully realized, to embrace our imperfection and make them our strengths. By turning our imperfection into strength we become perfect.

Chaos to the "typical" citizen of the Imperium would most likely represent escape. There's not many pro's to living in the Imperium as a regular resident so chaos, to many, is a better alternative. The way I think of it is ultimate freedom from the ironic tyranny of the Imperium in favor of an existence that rewards the individual.

.....Wow after reading all these comments this argument is really larger than I ever thought it was, anyway JcDent I appreciate bringing this up and putting up a good argument for your side of it, anyway I would just say for the defense of Chaos Space Marines.

As it says in the CSM Codex Space Marines fall harder than anyone when they fall to Chaos, their long lives of pure and utter loyalty and strict orders they are literally (at first) dumbfounded by this new found freedom, however when they realize this new and sensational gift they do not hesitate to take full advantage, to be a Chaos Space Marine is to feel a god-like power over other creatures and beings. Their pasts are erased by the new sensations of warfare and emotion, and to think about their future is (perhaps for the first time in their lives) to have dreams and they crave these feelings. By just simply dedicating himself to the Chaos Gods he gains someone that approves of his new life (Not just Nurgle) and rewards him for pursuing this new lifestyle, these feelings that quickly overwhelm the Chaos Space Marine can easily wipe away the feeling of first being accepted as one of the Emperor's Space Marines.

Let us not forget that "Mutation" does not happen to EVERY Chaos Space Marine(except the Thousand Sons who were turned to ash in their armor but even that can barely be called a Mutation since it was from a ritual of Ahriman), this only occurs on the path of the Champion, there are plenty of Chaos Space Marines that simply fight the bloody battles of the 41st Millennium, after all not every Space Marine is made out as a leader, that is one thing that is shared with their Traitor brothers.

Now what I just explained I am not sure if it is the same for the citizens of the Imperium, however as it is also stated in the CSM Codex but life on the Hive Worlds or Forge Worlds of the Imperium can be devastating to a person's morale, the constant work, poverty, forced worship, and even the fear can all quickly take it's toll among a mortal's spirit, now this is when fate (or Tzeentch ) separates the Loyal from the Desperate. The men or women who simply cannot handle this life anymore, be it out of hate for the Imperium or simply wanting something more look to Chaos for what to do next, promises of a better life, unlimted power, or even comfort can tempt a man (or woman) to abandon their lives and follow the Ruinous Powers to a better cause, because remember even a beating, broken, or desperate man can still barter away his soul.

Now I would simply like to say I mean NO offense by posting my defense about the 40K faction I love the most as I'm sure that is what we are all doing, however I posted this because I want to try and make things as clear as I can for my side of the argument and hopefully (if not turn you) at least try to make you understand what Chaos is.

The Iron Warriors (specifically Honsou's war host) got their hands on uncorrupted geneseed after the assault on Hydra Cordatus. Most of it was passed on to Abaddon and the Black Legion, but Honsou kept some of it back to create new chaos marines of his own - this process involved sewing up adolescents into the wombs of daemonculaba, and they would either emerge as space marines or, if their genetic template rejected the geneseed, emerge as mutants. Higher failure rate than normal implantation, but hey - he had excess geneseed and little time. The mutants were duly flushed out of a waste duct into the outside world; a few survived and restarted their own version of worshipping the Emperor. Ultimately they joined with Uriel Ventris when he was exiled by the Ultramarines and joined in the assault on Honsou's citadel, destroying the daemonculaba.

Shock news - chaos marines aren't nice and fluffy.

On the subject of why people would join chaos, most of it hinges around freedom or power. For people actively seeking it, they find that the chaos gods can give tangible rewards them for doing so and the potential rewards are great. As are the potential risks, of course. Then there's the irony that many people seeking freedom or power end up subjugated to the will of one of the chaos gods and given powers that are also, in their own way, terrible curses.

Shock news - chaos gods aren't nice and fluffy either.

Think you've slightly miscast Horus and Huron, though.

Horus genuinely believed that the Emperor had betrayed the Primarchs and the Great Crusade itself. Whether he actually did or not is a somewhat open question. In any event, the Emperor hid so much from them; the existence of chaos, the reasons for his isolation on Terra and for handing control to the Administratum, the reason for eliminating all religion, etc. So it was hardly surprising that legions and primarchs who already felt slighted would read the worst into it. When visions of the future showed the Emperor raising himself as a God, Horus ignored in Imperial history and a reminder that the Eldar empire fell to chaos when it could instead have embraced it and risen further, Horus turned. Partly from anger, partly from ambition, partly from jealousy.

Much like many of the other legions who began through disobedience. Banning the use of psychic powers was never going to go down well with the Thousand Sons - not least given that their Primarch was effectively put on trial for it at Nikaea. Also note that the ban was lifted by the loyalists once the Emperor was slowly cooling on the throne...

Then there was censuring the Night Lords and World Eaters for their brutality...a bit like censuring Russ for allowing his legion to get uproriously drunk, or Guilliman for reliance on tactical doctrine. The Emperor didn't have a problem with his legions whilst he was out on the Crusade, but did start having grumbles after returning to Terra, and took the habit of sending other Primarchs to explain his displeasure. Nothing like your dad asking your brother to tell you off for him...and any lecture from Rogal Dorn is bound to have the recipient desperate to pledge their soul to the chaos powers, if only to shut him up.


As for Huron, he was trying to defend the Imperium against the Maelstrom. He ran into corrupt administrations on planets in the area and had his Marines run them instead, similar to the Ultramarines. He then asked the Imperium to begin a new chapter founding and provide other support to shore up the defences around the Maelstrom and, ultimately, contain it. The request was denied. So he used the right of the Adeptus Astartes to defend the Imperium "by any means necessary" and stopped tithes from the worlds and of the chapter's geneseed to do it himself.

Ultimately, this led to the Administratum and lords of the local sector where the tithes had passed through going ballistic. Indeed, the Karthan sector lords were blamed for inciting the war by the Lords of Terra afterwards, along with the Fire Hawks chapter who held a grudge against Huron because he was elected leader of a combined force of space marines in a campaign where they thought one of their own should have been. Loyalist chapters are more than capable of hissy fits too...

Ultimately, the Badab sector chapters who resisted the Imperium had been backed into a corner. They'd followed what they believed was the right thing to do to defend that sector, committed no outright heresies, but still ended up on the receiving end of being branded traitors and heretics from a distance. Small surprise that rather than meekly submit to execution, they rose up to defend themselves.

Because everything inventively succumbs to Chaos. Embracing Chaos is embracing life.

From a sane standpoint no one would in their right mind follow Chaos gods for that specific reason (mutations and such). You have to understand that people turn to Chaos when they are brought up believing in the God-Emperor, and then the Imperium abandons your world to die. The majority of other times it's basically because Chaos speakers are able to mask their true intent very very well. Hardly anyone walks up and is like "yo bro join chaos we got u".

Chaos preys on the weak and desperate and those people bite at the mere chance to ascend to Daemonhood.

The majority however mess up a lot and so they are cast aside like ragdolls.
Then you have people like Abbadon who refuses to serve any of the 4 chaos gods simply because he knows what happens. Instead those people serve undivided. If you were (relatively) sane you would serve undivided as a whole seeing as how there is less of a chance to achieve spawndom.

tl;dr The reason people join Chaos is because by the time they realize what they're doing they're probably already insane/have their head filled with lies.

Besides, being a citizen of the Imperium doesn't sound all that hot either. At least with Chaos you get a chance to be free.