TBH, with a Tau, I'd try classical brainwashing techniques, rather than any form of conversion. You need to destroy what makes them Tau to get them to go chaos. Mess with their biochemistry, mess with their mind, pump them full of drugs then put them on withdrawal...the whole deal.

Also my knowledge is rather shrouded here but wasn't it about the Bloodtide? If that is the same one Voldorius used this is in fact some sort of corrupted nano-machine from the dark age. If that is still the case one might also argue that their blood was turned into a ward against that very machine and its physical effects, not its corruption.

That's not what the codex stated:

"Needing a talisman of purity to protect against the Bloodtide's taint, the Grey Knights' first act is to turn their blades upon the surviving Sisters of Battle. The innocent blood thus spilled is then mixed with blessed oils and used to anoint the Grey Knights' armour and weapons. So shielded, the Grey Knights are able to stride through the goreflood without risk of corruption."

But perhaps there is simply a contradiction between the codex and derivative material. Is the whole machine-thingie not a Black Library novel? I'm fairly certain that the studio books did not further specify the Bloodtide's nature. If so, it could simply be yet another case of different sources portraying the same incident in different ways.

Either way, if the Grey Knights believe they require additional protection to withstand this taint, then it would seem that their resilience against corruption is not just an innate perk, but at least to a degree also the forbidden knowledge of how to further augment said innate resilience with certain "unholy" acts. As you said, it's not just a Chaos thing.

It's perfectly okay to dismiss this incident or adopt a different interpretation for one's version of the setting (including one where the GKs are 100% immune against corruption and do not need such rituals), but we should be clear about which books are saying what.

So what could be a reason say, a Tau would fall?

I'm gonna throw in exposure to the Warp. The Tau are not normally exposed to it as their ships do not travel through the Immaterium, and even if a Tau is faced with "Warp radiation" (such as by standing too close to a supernatural phenomenon or even a gateway, or walking through it) they would have a certain innate resilience that would protect them ... but the longer this exposure lasts, the greater the chance that the Tau takes something back with them, if you get my drift, simply due to the way the Warp .. well, warps reality. After all, it does not corrupt only living beings, so there may be a degree of "unintentional AoE taint" that does not depend on the Tau having a bright presence in the Warp?

The same would apply to the aforementioned daemon weapons. They'd have a "reduced efficiency" to corrupt their wielder because they have trouble getting through to the Tau, but perhaps it just takes a lot longer for something to happen?

The Tau's naivety and lack of experience with daemons and the Warp may well open up unnecessary risks, such as lack of caution when wielding Chaos artifacts ...

That's just my current thoughts on the subject, mind you.

Also lets not forget that "corruption" may also be a state of mind that may not require physical taint, a link to the warp, etc.

Exposure to extreme orgies or being tortured by someone that knows his job might also lead to corruption - same goes for Tau.

It boils down to what we define as "corruption" and for some a regular heretic might be corrupted in his mind for he worships the "false" aspect of the emperor where others draw the line by being directly influenced by the warp or chaos itself.

As for the grey knights their immunity is not just a simple perk that says "you guys are immune" at last for my interpretation. It is more about the sum of all the things that are invested into them. Their aegis armor, the mind-wipe, the faith, the psyker, the rites, the whatever. This sums up and creates their immunity to fall; I view that separate that from a immunity of being corrupted. To fall means to give in, being corrupted may mean to be tainted in flesh etc. A bolt a change or other psypowers might very well mutate a grey knight (They are just resilient, not immune to such powers) and devastate his body but finally the mind that controls that body is hardened to such a degree that you have to wipe out that mind and hence kill the grey knight to break that resistance. Imho the grey knights shielded them self against the physical corruption of the tide, weather it be warp magic or twisted nano-bots. If you corrupt a knight it might finally just be a big pile of meat with no trace left of the personality and thus it is nothing special compared to other piles of meat. The knights to also die rather often, such a fate might be more cruel but nothing extraordenary.

Hmm, "the nature of corruption" ... sounds like this might need a thread/discussion on its own?

The way I see it, there is no difference between being corrupted or "falling". Or rather, falling is a prerequisite for physical corruption, as one's mind is the final protection against the manifestation of the metaphysical taint. Your shield of faith , if you will, which prevents the emotion-based psychic energies of the Warp from linking up with your corporeal form. If your willpower falters, if you allow that seed of doubt to take root, you open a gateway for the taint.

This is by no means the only possible interpretation, it's just what I got from reading stuff like the story of Rosetta Anastasia , and a lot of stuff that has been published by the GW main studio in this regard just makes sense if looked at from this point of view.

On the other hand, I also agree about a corruption of the mental state, and that this does not have to do anything with Chaos or the Warp. I think the tricky thing here is thus that there are two sorts of corruption - a twisted mind as a result of one's lifestyle or certain experiences, and the warp-based mutation of the flesh. The two can occur together (someone with a corrupted mind is easier prey for the physical corruption), but do not have to.

There really ought to be two different names for both types of corruption. Or I am simply wrong here, but it just works so nicely.

As for the grey knights their immunity is not just a simple perk that says "you guys are immune" at last for my interpretation. It is more about the sum of all the things that are invested into them. Their aegis armor, the mind-wipe, the faith, the psyker, the rites, the whatever.

On this part, I agree. I'm merely pointing to the fact that you can take some of those away, which would obviously affect their resilience. It's not an on/off switch, but "degrees of immunity" that depend on what they have available and what they are facing.

Or we'll just have to agree to disagree. As I said, the TT books are calling both the SoB and the GKs totally incorruptible, but the so-called canon allows us to deviate from those absolutes.

Yup like has been said before: Kroot are easy.

What i want to know is: how come dark eldar don't worship Khorne? They both like melee kils and bloodshed and they both hate Slaanesh. Necrons are almost impossible to corrupt. 'nids to on account of the hive mind. But there is mention of nids infected with Nurgle's rot.

Orks are also suprislingly hard to corrupt. The average ork responce to chaos gods:

Khorne: No tanx we iz gud, alredy fight fer uz an Gork (and possibly Mork)

Tzeentch: Wot?

Nurgle: Iz green. Maybe Mork? nah stil no orky enuf. Nize try doh.

Slaanesh: Ewww dat unorky.

Incase anybody was wondering who of the four is best at corrupting people?

Grand papa Nurgle: He turned Isabella Von Carstein into a walking scourge against the undead. Daium! First a, eldar/elf godess he keeps locked up in his mansion and now Vlad's ex wife! Papa is a playa!

Pappa Nurgle simply accepts everyone. He does not want to change you. He thinks you are fine. Be like you are and stay that way. He is proud of you for that. He will give you gifts without taking something in return. He does not expect anything from you and is happy for every step of yours. Everyone likes him and so does he.

As for the Dark Eldar stuff they are less about worshiping Slaanesh and more about having a quite fragile deal with it. Slaanesh wont hunt them down merciless for how tasty they are and for that they have to feed it.

Pappa Nurgle simply accepts everyone. He does not want to change you. He thinks you are fine. Be like you are and stay that way. He is proud of you for that. He will give you gifts without taking something in return. He does not expect anything from you and is happy for every step of yours. Everyone likes him and so does he.

As for the Dark Eldar stuff they are less about worshiping Slaanesh and more about having a quite fragile deal with it. Slaanesh wont hunt them down merciless for how tasty they are and for that they have to feed it.

As for Tau, its more about novelty than any real attempt to make Chaos Tau.

And Dark Eldar? I always wondered why one didn't just run to Khorne or Nurgle or....anyone else for that matter. I mean, surely someone would like to stick it to Slaanesh, right??

Lol yeah, Nurgle already saved Isha from Slaanesh' clutches... Imagine if he decides to adopt the entire eldar race aswell just to ef with Slaanesh.

Slaanesh: "NUUUUUUUUUUUURGLE!!!!"

Tzeentch: "Gesundheit!"

Nurgle: "Khorne, is that you?"

Slaanesh: "It's me Slaanesh, you idiot!"

Nurgle: Oh I didn't recongise you looking all angry like that, you know, red with anger isn't a good look for you."

Slaanesh: "Zip it you zit!"

Nurgle: "Now calm down and tell grandfather Nurgle what got your undies in a twist, girlyboy."

Slaanesh:"You **** well know what, Nurgle! You stole my Eldar!"

Nurgle: "Call me Papa. And they are my Eldar now, such frail bodies to bestow my gifts upon."

Slaanesh: "Ok thats it! Khorne, Lemme borrow your axe!"

Khorne: "NO! NO WEAK EFFEMINATE GODLING SHALL LAY HANDS-"

Slaanesh: "I said: NOW!!!"

Khorne: "okay"

Tzeentch: "Better get ready to run, Papa!"

Nurgle: "Oh shut up Tzee- uh oh."

Slaanesh: "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Its like some horrible twisted sitcom XD

I immagine them like some twisted version of The Young Ones.

"The three chaos gods and Slaanesh." from the makers of "Malcador & the Emperor" and "All my Heretics".

Watch season one now on HBO!

I would watch that so hard. But I would also wait until at least four seasons came out on DVD or Netflix so I could watch them all at once XD

What i want to know is: how come dark eldar don't worship Khorne?

One could argue they do, they just don't want to admit it.

They're scared gakless of Slaanesh, so they keep "feeding" her/him/it, foolishly believing that an entity that is not merely governed by emotion, but is the personification of it, can actually be bargained with. I just like to see the Chaos and its "gods" as a force of nature rather than gods in the traditional sense (albeit they could easily be mistaken as such, obviously, and take on this role in many culture).

In a cruel twist of irony, whatever sense of identity they have is actually just a slave to the myriad of mortal beings that sustain it with their psychic baggage they dump into the Warp, explaining why their domains in the Immaterium are said to be ever-changing, and why the Chaos Gods appear so fickle and (relatively) aimless. The saying "you reap what you sow" applies.

Incase anybody was wondering who of the four is best at corrupting people?

Probably depends on the species/civilisation, but my money is on Slaanesh. Pleasure, in any of its myriad of forms, is probably something almost anyone can relate to. The other Chaos Gods seem way more ... specific, compared to that?

On the other hand, everything dies (Everything diiiieeees everythi- ok ok enough Type-O-Negative) and decays so in the end we'll all deal with Grandfather Nurgle. (Even Necron tomb worlds corrode and fall into disrepair)

Oh yeah two things i've learned from recent GW publications regarding chaos:

1. The Laughing God and the Harlequins aparantly got some plan to trick Slaanesh into saving the Eldar.

2. Don't piss off the prettyboys. In warhammer the endtimes, Sigvald the Magnificent beats Krell to (deader than) death with his bare hands after Krell maims his face.

Best at corrupting people in the 40k setting?

Nurgle or Khorne. Hatred, murder and despair are so widespread, they have a lot of room to spread. Hell, arguably, Khorne's even managed to wiggle himself into the imperial creed in some marine chapters, death cults and one of the living saints (Basillius? Total Khorne M.O.). The rich 1% Slaanesh can target, or the occassional schemer Tzeench gets are nothing compared to the mass appeal of the other two in a galaxy this screwed.

On the other hand, everything dies (Everything diiiieeees everythi- ok ok enough Type-O-Negative) and decays so in the end we'll all deal with Grandfather Nurgle. (Even Necron tomb worlds corrode and fall into disrepair)

True, but when you're starting to rot, your soul has already left your corporeal shell long ago, so it doesn't really matter to you.

Fear of death , on the other hand, is something where I could see Nurgle getting more popular. You know, strike a deal with the devil, preferring undeath over death .. see the Death Guard . It would be a question of timing, then, though, as generally people don't tend to remain in the state of "close to death" for long.

(Basillius? Total Khorne M.O.)

Hmm, what makes you think Basilius had anything to do with Khorne? If anything, wouldn't Tzeentch be a better candidate, considering what he managed to achieve and who he managed to fool?

Also, I don't think Slaanesh would be limited to the 1%. Slaanesh can latch on to almost anything in the average citizen's life: the beauty of the local Ministorum temple's stonework, the sound of choir songs, excessive pride in the individual's own craft, the masochistic joy found in the lashes administered by the local priest during confession, the taste of emergency rations made from freshly deceased people, ... ahem.

The curious thing about the hatred within the Imperial populace seems to be that it tends to be projected outward, focused against the "enemies of the state", whereas internally the Imperial Creed preaches not just subservience, but teaches its adherents that they should find joy in their toil. Of course, not everyone will buy that crazy gak (especially in the "less spiritual" places such as an underhive), but at least as per codex fluff, a large part of the population voluntarily goes to confession knowing they'll get whipped, and actively seeking this purification out of fear for their immortal soul - obviously inspired by the flagellant movement of the real world.

This goes so far that you even have some people volunteer to become arco-flagellants ...

Mostly because amassing a gigantic army and starting a war is what fuels Khorne. Khornates have been known to be rather clever politicians and tacticians at times, and arguably, Basillius benefitted all of the chaos gods, but warmongering is something primarily attributed to champions of Khorne. Nurgle usually just sends plagues, and Nesh and Tzeench tend not to start actual large scale conflicts. It doesn't benefit them, primarily, but their rival.

But what is it that feeds Tzeentch, if not intrigue and turning the Imperium against itself? One could even go as far as saying that this "crusade" into the Eye of Terror was really just a big recruitment drive from Chaos to restock on CSM.

You know with the Golden Throne slowing failing and the death of the Emperor being near, I could see the Chaos Gods actively trying to save him. They seem fairly content with the universe the way it is and the Emperor dying would bugger that right up. Even more so, I suspect the only god who would be perfectly up front with what they were trying to do to their followers would be Khorne. The death of the Emperor by decay instead of by combat would not only piss them right off, but the Emperor's death would mean that the Imperium was finished; Without his guiding light warp travel would be impossible to normal humans and the massive armies and battles that happen between the forces of chaos and the Imperial guard would more or less cease. Sure, the planets would still be there and it will take thousands of years to get to them all but compared to the sacrifices that past wars reaped it would be thousands of years of killing tied down goats. Even worse... one day those planets would finally run out and the war would officially be over.

No true worshiper of Khorne could willing allow such a thing to happen.

Probably depends on the species/civilisation, but my money is on Slaanesh. Pleasure, in any of its myriad of forms, is probably something almost anyone can relate to. The other Chaos Gods seem way more ... specific, compared to that?

Yea, that was always problematic about that thingy. In theory you could also have pleasure in all the stuff the other chaos gods stand for so the domain of Slaanesh has been iterated the most time over the different source material with the aim to "focus" it more.

Imho I do the extremely easy and cheap way by following the offical Chaos God Quartet that states Khorne as #1, Tzeentch at #2, Nurgle on anything from #1-#3 depending on the medical situation and Slaanesh at #4. Hence Khorne has the most people influenced by his domain - though unwillingly every righteous hatred of the most noble Astartes might be still golden fuel for him. Slaanesh would be at the lower end. It might be very tempting but it lacks the appeal to the greater masses like the other ones. Of course we have to wonder how Tzeentch is so high for schemers seem rather rare but everyone with a sibling knows how scheming is part of your every day from that moment. Also I do like the big Bird being fueld by a boy that made it look like his brother had destroyed the toy.^^

To be frank though Tzeentch has always a myriad of super big plots going that nobody notices. That guy is fueled by stuff that we cant see or understand so we cant even deny that it is right there before us. Our simple human brains are just to stupid.

In theory you could also have pleasure in all the stuff the other chaos gods stand for so the domain of Slaanesh has been iterated the most time over the different source material with the aim to "focus" it more.

More focus would certainly help with this problem. That being said, it could also be a "feature" rather than a "bug", in that all the Chaos Gods are occasionally leeching power from the followers of one another, all depending on what they do (e.g. Slaanesh-follower hatching an intricate scheme, Khorne-follower taking pride in their martial skill, ...). Said followers may think all their efforts are committed to a single entity, when in reality, it all just goes into one and the same Warp puddle, of which the four Chaos Gods are merely different aspects of...

Imho I do the extremely easy and cheap way by following the offical Chaos God Quartet that states Khorne as #1, Tzeentch at #2, Nurgle on anything from #1-#3 depending on the medical situation and Slaanesh at #4.

Hmm, I can't recall any official ranking on that subject - where's that from?

I think it might be from Warhammer Fantasy, because I distinctly recall Khorne being mentioned as the most powerful and most of my tabletop stuff has been WHF 2e and 3e.

In 40k, I recall the TT rulebook and the Chaos 'dex describing the four Chaos Gods as being relatively "balanced" as far as their power is concerned - in that sometimes, one of them is at the top, and then they switch and it's another. A continuous back-and-forth in the domains they control within the Warp, reflecting the ebb and flow of "psychic support" they gain from the material plane.

I used to think that WHFB and 40k use exactly the same cosmology (I'm still a fan of the idea of the WHFB world just being a planet somewhere in 40k), but ever since I've been told that some of the gods work "differently" there (for example, apparently they do not like undead in WHF, whereas in 40k Plague Zombies etc are absolutely a thing, and WHF's Khorne seems to be more honourable than its bloodthirsty 40k counterpart) I'm not so sure anymore.

There is no definite material I could quote here but the sum of several storied made it clear for my approach on the setting.

Khorne seems to be a save bet for he stands for war, slaughter, rage and all that stuff in a galaxy that is more or less just about that. Also he was capable enough to fight slaanesh at its ultimate peak (though others softened that encounter up for him).

So he had put the wanna-be strongest chaos god of that time at its place after calling dips on khaine with a nice spanking. Showing who is boss and since then still sits on his throne with timeless style.

Also it just feels right to put the god of kick-ass at #1.

Tzeentch on the other side is hard to place though from the impact of his actions he gets **** done. Unless he does not want it to get done because it is more hilarious to watch it work. From the things he pulls off he is also an artisan and the galaxy is his piece of art he works on. Yet I dont see him as the number one but somewhat as the grey eminence of the pantheon that knows its place very well and is more about orchestrating events, rather than to dominate those.

Nurgle is as we all know fluctuating with the success of his pestilence and mostly sitting at rank 3 though there are times when papa goes into hero mode and is a good example for everyone. Take a note khorne. Also Nurgle is not realy what we call ambitious and is just happy with how things play out. Because he always is. You cant disappoint that lovely grandpa.

Slaanesh is just a wuss that got hit hard once and never really recovered from that. Some say it craves for the attention of Khorne but that shouty guy just does not get the hints, forcing poor Slaanesh into more and more perverted ways.

I've also read it somewhere, could be the Liber Chaotica.

The texts(s) puts Khorne on the nr 1 spot because "in the grimdark of the far future there is only war." Tzeentch gets second place and Nurgle third place, but it is said that when disease spreads and plagues become pandemics, his strenght waxes 'till he is more powerfull than any of the other three.

Don't underestimate Slaanesh. He may be the new kid, but he's definatly not the runt of the litter.

And bear in mind; without Slaanesh there would be no imperium.