Scrolls of Eternal Truth - The Greatest of All Eldar Lies

Another scroll of truth has been found and translated:

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Chaos is creation, the wellspring of life.

Chaos is entropy, the great destroyer.

Chaos is the eternal truth that defies explanation.

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I have their measure now, the Toad Gods of Yore. For Toads, they were. The Old Ones, the Slann of ages long past. Unaging, Godlike in power. And riddle me this: if it looks like a God, talks like a God, and wields power onto that of a God, is it not then a God?

And it wasn't just Vaul. All the Eldar 'Gods' were toads. Well, except Khaine, of course. Or should we not call him by his true name: Khorne? That's right, Khorne the Blood God. All the tragic Eldar legends, how 'their' bloody-handed god butchered the rest of the pantheon, leaving them vulnerable to Slaanesh? Sounds unlikely in the extreme... until you recognize the nature of the Beast.

The 'Fall of the Eldar' was Khorne destroying the Old Slann. While he was busy with that, Slaanesh, his old foe, came in by the back door so to speak, killed the rest of the Old Ones, and consumed a good portion of the debauched Eldar race. Enraged, Khorne attacked Slaanesh, but the Master of Excess was so bloated with power, he/she easily defeated Khaine-Khorne, shattering the avatar of the Blood God. Khorne's shout of defiant rage was what ended the Old Night.

Nurgle claimed one Old One as his own, the Goddess Isha, keeping her in his Garden as a trophy. And I sense the hand of the Architect of Fate behind it all. Who else could have engineered such a thing?

So it is written, with the True Powers as my witnesses.

- Akram the All-seeing, High Sorcerer of Q'Sal

Scrolls of Eternal Truth - The Blades of Vaul

Another scroll found and translated:

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Chaos is creation, the wellspring of life.

Chaos is entropy, the great destroyer.

Chaos is the eternal truth that defies explanation.

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There are many liars and deceivers, but none of them worse than the Xenos. All Xenos are, by their very nature, devious and dishonest. Not even a warp-crazed seer can spew forth such gibberish as they do with every breath of their inferior bodies!

The proof is there for all to see. You only have to take a quick look at any Xenos species, and you'll know. Take the 'Slann,' for example. They are not really Slann at all. If they are even related, it is only tenuously, for the Slann of old were mighty beings, ageless and godlike. Today's Slann are toadlike witches, yet they try to bluff the galaxy into believing they are heirs to the legacy of the old Slann. Foul Xenos lies. Do they even believe these things themselves?

By I digress. The Slann of Old created many artifacts of great power. One of the Old Ones made many mighty blades, ninety-nine in number, which he then passed on to an equal number of mighty warriors. Each was as powerful - or more powerful - than an ax of Khorne. Such was Vaul's skill at warp-craft and command of the forge.

Some of these blades eventually wound up in the hands of the degenerate Eldar. So impressed with these blades were the Eldar, that they promptly made Vaul part of their pantheon of 'gods,' naming his the Great Smith. One day a glorified lizard playing with fire and steel, next day a God. What irony.

So it is written, with the True Powers as my witnesses.

- Akram the All-seeing, High Sorcerer of Q'Sal

Scrolls of Eternal Truth - The Enormous Lie That is Khaine

Barotta found another scroll, once again having to do with the Eldar. There is an interesting note at the bottom.

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Chaos is creation, the wellspring of life.
Chaos is entropy, the great destroyer.
Chaos is the eternal truth that defies explanation.

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One of the biggest self-deceptions told by the degenerate Eldar species, and they tell a great many such lies, are their delusional stories about 'their' God Khaine.

Khaine is, despite any Eldar claims to the contrary, none other than Bloody-handed Khorne, Lord of Skulls. Yes, they worship their own version of him, daring not look at his true face, but this is hardly unique. Many lesser races and unlearned civilizations do this. In the case of the Eldar, they couldn't even be bothered to change his name...

If the Eldar ever worshipped true Gods of their own, and I'm not saying they did, they abandoned them long before the fall, in favor of the true Powers of Chaos. 

So it is written, with the True Powers as my witnesses.

- Akram the All-seeing, High Sorcerer of Q'Sal

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Scribbled at the bottom:

He's on to me now, the Prince of the Dark Flock. It's proof that my visions are true. They seek to silence me, but I will not be cowed!

Balphomael - the Horned Darkness

The Horned Darkness, sometimes called Balphomael, other times by different names, is a daemonic entity of immeasurable potency that has lurked in the shadows of the Calixis since long before the Angevin Crusade. It was ever the foe of the Ordo Herticus, who time and again would uncover a cult or coven, stomp it out, only to find two more had taken its place.

Balphomael is the quintessential dark prince, a power broker without peer, a liar and manipulator - and if needed, a ruthless killer. But first and foremost, the Horned Darkness craves worship and obeisance and sacrifice in the fashion of a God. In return, it grants its worshippers fell powers and unnatural long life.

Seemingly owing no direct fealty or allegiance to any other of its kind, the Horned Darkness is something greater than even the mightiest of daemon princes. Perhaps, as some members of the Ordo Calxisi believed, it is a minor Chaos God. Although, as its power is focused only in a relatively small area, it may be nearly as mighty as the Four within Calixis and surrounding areas.

Some claim that Balphomael's heavenly abode is the Screaming Vortex (it is but one of many myths regarding the 'true' nature of the Vortex). One day, soon, the Vortex will open, and the Horned Darkness will be unleashed upon the galaxy. His followers will be raised up to daemonhood, and together they will remake all of the Materium and Immaterium (sounds unlikely).

Since time immemorial, the Horned Darkness has attracted the ire of Malal, to the extent that Malal's champions (not that there are very many) will go out of their way to purge the followers of Balphomael. The reverse is not true: the Horned Darkness will hide or run, but it will not openly fight Malal.

For a time, the Prophet of Light was the enemy of the Horned Darkness, opposing it at every turn, and refusing to spread its gospel. After leaving Calixis, the Prophet seems to have put this enmity behind him, and Balphomael's brethren are allowed to set up their little shrines. According to some dark whispers, the Prophet has forced some sort of pact on Balphomael, and the Horned Darkness is bound to his will.

Malal - the Avenger

There is a name whispered quietly and with fear even by the most depraved, the most evil, and the least sane of the worshippers of Chaos. That name is Malal, the Renegade God of Chaos. In eons past Malal was cast out from the bosom of Chaos by the other Gods, or else abandoned them of his own volition, no one is sure which.

In any case, Malal's relationship to the other gods of Chaos is a strange one. All Chaos Gods pursue purposes that are wholly their own, yet only Malal occupies a position so antithetical to the success of his own unfathomable creed. To be a follower of Malal is to be a Chaos warrior bent upon shedding the blood of other Chaos creatures.

As such, Malal is both feared and hated by the other Chaos Gods. Malal's worshippers, too, are loathed by other servants of Chaos; they are outcasts beloved by neither the friends nor enemies of Chaos, dependent upon the least whim of their patron deity. Few men worship such a god; fewer still live long in his service. The bonds that tie master and servant ever drain upon the soul of the warrior, and it is a rare man or woman that can loosen the bonds of Malal once forged.

Malal isn't one of the Four Great Powers, but neither is he a minor God or a Daemon Prince. Instead, his power waxes and wanes in rythm with the influence of Chaos. If Chaos is in the ascendant, Malal will almost always rear his ugly head and try to tear down the great works of the Champions of Chaos. No wonder he is presently rumored to be at work in the Calixis sector.

In Calixis Malal is sometimes connected to the phenomenon known as the Tyrant Star. No one truly knows what it is, and perhaps its nature is to be unknowable. Appearing as a dark eclipse, the Tyrant Star brings ruin to all it touches. Malal is also somehow connected to the Horned Darkness, a particularly powerful Daemon Prince that lingers near the Calixis sector. Even more strangely, Malal is sometimes called 'the Horned God'.

The symbol of Malal is a skull, half white, half black. Sometimes it appears alone, other times superimposed over the Eight-pointed Star of Chaos. His sacred number is said to be 11, but only petty mortals would even consider assigning a number of a God of Chaos.