Many mention the legend of the Great Game – a mythical contest of war and wits fought between the four Ruinous Powers. The Dark Gods ally with one another only when it suits them, and often fight against each other for the most spurious reasons. Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle, and Khorne constantly compete to become the most powerful of the Chaos gods. They are united only in their determination to destroy the civilised world.[1a]
The Great Game is played out in three arenas. Within the Realm of Chaos, the four gods send armies of daemons and the most powerful of their mortal champions to assault each other’s domains. However, the defences surrounding their infernal kingdoms are almost impossible to breach.[1a]
The second theatre is the Chaos Wastes of the mortal world. The slaughter takes place on battlegrounds that constantly warp and change as a tempest of Dark Magic rages overhead. Battles are won and battles are lost, and no single deity ever dominates.[1a]
These battles are testing grounds for their champions, where the weak fall and the strong are prepared for the main arena of the Great Game: the civilised realms of the Old World. The Ruinous Powers try to entice mortals living in those realms to betray their birthright and worship Chaos, and command those they corrupt to sow anarchy and desecration.[1a]
The Cults of Chaos prepare the way for an invasion of Chaos hordes not seen since the Great War Against Chaos. Even in the midst of that invasion, the Ruinous Powers competed to ensure that their own forces emerged dominant. Over two hundred years later, rumours that the End Times are nigh can again be heard in the streets and taverns of the Empire.[1a]
Bands of roaming zealots loudly proclaim that doom is at hand, and the civilised nations gird for war against the north again. The countless battles fought between the Chaos armies in the Chaos Wastes have produced a mighty champion who bows to all the Ruinous Powers with equal respect. This is Archaon, whose ruthless feats have earned him the title Lord of the End Times. Under this warlord, the Ruinous Powers hope to unite their forces to finally destroy civilisation, though no doubt the Great Game will continue unabated, and the champions of the Chaos gods will challenge each other while the Old World burns around them.[1a]
Regarding Nurgle
Nurgle, obsessed with his ceaseless foetid experiments, seems to care little about the Great Game, and when he meets to parley with his brothers at the infernal Court of Covenant, he is always portrayed as a talkative buffoon. Yet his enthusiastic humour subtly undermines the plotting and politicking of the other Chaos gods – it drives Khorne to an unthinking fury, disturbs Tzeentch’s insidious train of thought, and distracts Slaanesh from his scheming. Meanwhile, Nurgle’s own intrigues spread slowly like a contagious fever.[2a]
Though the walls of Nurgle’s mansion look fit to collapse, they have never been breached; a vast garden, always vibrant in autumnal splendour, surrounds his fortress. The swampy ground sucks trespassers to their doom, and the overgrown plants form dense thickets of flesh-tearing thorns and venomous leaves. The air resonates with the drone of flies and is heavy with choking spores from slimy, misshaped fungi. Centipedes, slugs, and a thousand other poisonous pests infest the decomposing mulch. Nurgle’s leprous daemons stalk the garden, quick to necrotise the flesh of intruders with their plagueswords.[2a]
In the Chaos Wastes, savage men worship Grandfather Nurgle as a deliverer from the very diseases he inflicts upon them, for he grants loyal followers freedom from the suffering of their afflictions. Some tribes and warbands dedicate themselves to the Lord of Decay, nurture and spread his plagues, and war against those who refuse to exalt him above other deities. The Ruinous Powers play out their game among the northern wastelands, soaking it crimson with carnage. Although Nurgle’s Chaos warriors and champions are not as bloodthirsty as those of Khorne, or as cunning or agile as those of Tzeentch and Slaanesh, they are highly resilient fighters – it is difficult to kill someone whose diseased flesh shrugs off pain.[2a]
But it is in the third arena, amongst the cilivised nations, that Nurgle truly excels. Khorne's appeal is confined to those maddened by bloodlust, Tzeentch draws those addicted to magic or who thrive on cunning and lies, and Slaanesh attracts degenerates. In contrast, all mortals eventually feel Nurgle's presence. The Lord of Decay is a patient player, for it takes time to brew his plagues, but his influence gradually spreads throughout the world. Nurgle’s cults rot the Empire’s core, weakening the strength of the Emperor’s armies and the morale of his civilian subjects, by disseminating disease. A single cough can lay low an Imperial general where feats of arms have failed. A sneeze can decimate an entire town. Where subtle measures fail, cultists can rip apart the veil between reality and the Realm of Chaos, summoning Nurgle's daemons to lay waste with their contagions. As pestilence grips the world, Nurgle’s power eclipses that of his brother gods.[2a]
Regarding Tzeentch
Tzeentch will often use his Chaos Cults to thwart the plots of those who follow the rival Ruinous Powers, but cults dedicated to Tzeentch also compete among themselves to attract the eye of their god. The Great Conspirator enjoys fostering treason and deception even among his own followers.[1a]
Tzeentch’s ultimate goal is utterly unknowable. Perhaps the Great Game and even the destruction of the Old World are merely amusing diversions for the Great Schemer? The realisation of his greater plan, if he has one, is lost in the mists of the far future. His conspiracies often appear to be self-defeating and contradictory, for he has intricately planned each ineffable manoeuvre far into eternity. To even begin to unravel his intentions is to invite madness. Indeed it could be said that only the mad can truly understand the ways of the Great Schemer, for perhaps he is mad himself, and his plans are, in fact, utterly devoid of all reason.[1a]