Although I see mostly game masters by here, this is a question for players.

If you had to do your first BC character to play a game. How many of you would take a Nurgle follower?

I can imagine lots of Khornates (fighting is cool), some Tzeenchers (power is cool), some Slaaneshites (sensuality is cool). But, who would like to play his first game with a purulent infectious boy?

I think if I played several games, I would take a follower of Nurgle just to try something weird, but it would be possibly my last preference.

I wouldn't say it comes last for me.

First thing is Alpha Legionnaire, though. Too awesome to pass by.

Then...Well as you said Tzeentch. Being random is cool.

Then I'd try Nurgle. A nurglist doctor. Doctor Frank Einstein, I presume

Slanesh and Khorne feel a bit too "obvious" to me. Though they're cool, too.

Could be something akin to a "Typhoid Mary", just wandering around doing your own stuff, millions die of the horrible fevers and pox around you.

To some extent, it sounds almost like you can go the whole focused to one god, chaos undivided or bits of two or three taking what you want from them. Think we've already got someone signing up to be the slaanesh follower, being the GM I'm thinking about giving him some Super-AIDS... the gift that can keep on giving

You can't see the appeal of playing yhe unstopable inevitaabilty of death? The guy you just shot with a lascannon and is barley scratched? Who you can't get within 10 feet of without being overcome by some sort of horrible disease? And thats just if your going for a combat monster type.

I think that character would be cool as an enemy, but playing a rotting infectious body certainly have not much appeal for me, even if it is an unstoppable warrior.

Anyway, few are answering my question: for any of you would a nurgler be your first option? I really have this curiosity.

It really depends on the group, I'd have to say.

For example, the Alpha Legionnaire can't be played in any context. The Tzeentch guy can be cool, but I'd rather play it with people I know and who know me, so that they don't get too pissed if I sextuple-cross them

If those requirements are not met, Doctor Frank Einstein could be my PC of choice.

Yes a nurgle worshiper would be my first choice, I have a soft spot for the rotting man from TT anyway. Endurance above all else interests me more than pride, perfection and power. Non-CSM version would definatley be someone weakened by disease in the past turning to the Plauge Father to grant him strength from it rather than weakness. If possible.

(sung to the tune of the Dreidel song)

I give my self to chaos
and the herald of dismay.
For in the name of Nurgle
I will spread disease and slay.

Nurgle! Nurgle! Nurgle!
In his Garden I will play.
Nurgle! Nurgle! Nurgle!
He's the Lord of all Decay.

I ride for Stinky.

And to repost my character idea from the "Which chaos power are you itching to pledge yourself to" thread:

Meanwhile... On a planet near the border of Imperial Space

Calvern - The mildly gassy

Follower of Nurgie, He who Plants.
Also referred to as the Beanfather, lord of the flatulent.

Nurgle loves me, this I know.

Because the voices tell me so.

A nurgle follower could be quite fun to play. Always happy, enjoying himself, a bit of a hippy, and willing to give gifts to anyone who he thinks could use them. Even if giving the gift means a bit of self sacrifice, such as giving a loaded gun to someone who just emptied their gun shooting at him.

I would really love to be able to paste text here...

Anyway, go to games workshop and look for Fabius Vile. Nurgle is not all about death, putrefaction and rotting.

As for me, it would depend on what the rest of the group would prefer to make themselves.

Are you talking about Fabius Bile ?

This guy:

He's actually undivided.

Now, if you've found someone named Fabius Vile, that sounds interesting and I'd love to check him out.

a nurgle fallower to me would e more easy going and philisophical then outright evil to me sort of like a chaotic medium

I'm an Iron Warrior at heart, and Nurgle worshippers make great Iron Warriors. Nobody holds a bunker better than Plague Marines, and Warriors with a Mark of Nurgle are good at clearing trenches. Not to mention the whole plague warfare aspect of sieges...

Why not play as a follower of Nurgle? The obvious advantage of being nearly impervious to damage is needed considering it wont be to long before someone wearing power armor comes and kicks in your door. Aside from that Nurgle is a good option since the perks you can get are more unique than with say Khorne or Tzeentch. On top of that Papa Nurgle doesn't tend to have his followers killing each other every time you turn around. Come on can you really trust Tzeentch to not screw you over? Eventually one of your fellow Khornate 'buddies' is going to come for your head, and being a Slaaneshi you have an insane chance of dying from any number of STDs or from an overdose of cocaine. Im a cultist after all, we sort of die in the hundreds of thousands. So if I have a choice I am going to go with the guy that has at least a little interest in my health... so to speak.

What, you don't want a perpetually running nose?

A willing plague carrier for the Vile Savants would be epic.

Unscathed by disease and infection, but causing untold death and damage to everyone and everything around you, at all times..

Also, you would basically be a walking zombie factory.

A follower of nurgle isn't necessarily a pus-ridden walking corpse, at least not from day one. I think people forget that nurgle worshippers can have variances in attitude and their exact method of following nurgle, just like the worshippers of the other chaos powers. A grim mercenary who just wants to get through the nightmare of existence. A young, cheerful psyker who won't be caught by those evil men in the black ship.

I'm getting to play a crusade-era Alpha Legionnaire tactical marine (with 1.5k xp spent on the Dark Heresy scum class) so getting that concept played out.

For black crusade, I'm thinking a charismatic heretic who may or may not be a space marine. Probably chaos undivided but...

Preaching to crowds about doom and destruction but there is hope! The god and father figure will save us all! Offer worship and be strong in your faith!

nurgle will be my first choice i love the humour of papa nurgle combined with extreme ichyness , experimenting with new plagues and diseases and using them to spread the word and infection across the galaxy

Stormast said:

I don't think any of the Chaos gods is "obvious" if you don't insist on making them so... I'll give a few examples:

Imperial Cleric who wanted to be perfect in his worship of the Imperial Creed... Except perfection is pretty **** hard to achieve, especially in faith as multi-faceted as Imperial Creed is. But hey, don't worry, we in Slaanesh cult know ALL about perfection... We can make it happen

Adept of Administratum who is very competitive, always trying to be the best in his office, winning everyone else in speed and accuracy of his work. When he can't quite seem to get above his peers he asks Slaanesh for help to perfect his working methods... or, starts to ask hep from Khorne in methodically wiping out the competition.

Oh there are so many wonderfull ways to be corrupted... No need to go with the stereotypical "Khorne Psychopath Pirate", "Slaaneshi Drug-Addicted Nymphomaniac", "Tzeetch Meddling Sorcerer" and "Nurgle Deathguard Zombie" concepts...

Polaria said:

Or you have some devout person who carves statues of various holy figures. But they don't come out right, so he seeks help. Since Slaanesh covers perfection, he gets pulled into that. As his renown increases, he gets asked to build them in more high profile places. Which is helpful because, since Slaanesh is also the god of excess, he is wanting to make them bigger.

Next thing you know, he's trying to carve a planet into the shape of The Emperors head.

Vayron Rezzi looked around and was amazed once more by how improbable his allies were. He smiled: Life never failed to surprise. A few weeks ago he was still the heir of a great malfian family. A few weeks ago he was in control of his life and his future was full of hope.

Now he was exiled, fugitive, escaping with a blood soaked lunatic, a rogue psyker and an enormous pile of puss, bile and maggots. One servant for each god. Every main chaos god anyway, the cosmology of warp had proved to be more complicated than he ever dreamed when he first joined the cult years ago. Still, Khorne, Tzeench, Slaanesh and Nurgle, was that a good or a bad omen?

``Hurry up weakling! If you slow me down I’ll hack you down! ``

Vayron accelerated. Covered in blood, tall, muscular and well armed, Charrin never failed to make an impression. The Khornate was relatively collected and intelligent, for a Khornate that is. Vayron had always seen them as blood mad lunatics but the warrior seemed to have a good grasp of tactics and strategy.
A lunatic nonetheless of course.
And a mutant to boot.

Still, he felt better with him than with that ``Great Magus Ervan`` if that really was his name. At least he knew what to expect from Charrin. Tzeentch worshipers were such headaches.

Even Ervan was better than Undine though. A space marine and a traitor, that’s what this one was. The abomination never seemed to move quickly or graciously but Vayron did not fancy even Charrin’s chances against such an opponent.

For all his corruption, Undine was the tallest and the biggest of them all. He also, Vayron suspected, was the oldest, and by a long shot. Whenever he talked, maggots and flies escaped his mouth, whenever he moved, a vile slime spilled from cracks in his armour. He retained a vaguely humanoid form, which was some sort of an accomplishment for a nurglite of his rank, but that only made him more horrible and disgusting to behold.

Worst of all, in Vayron’s mind, was the knowledge that Undine had chosen to be that way. He decided, at some point, to embrace the lord of all decay. That, he could not understand. It was as alien to him as anything could be and that made the infection even harder to understand then the Magus.

``Say, Undine.`` He asked. ``Why did you join the Lord of decay? Did you know how disgusting he would make you? Did you have any choice in the matter?``

``I.. Could have… fought… too…``
The space marine talked slowly and paused often. His deep voice was as disgusting and intimidating as his appearance was.
``But I…Had to choose… And I… decided …``

He paused to spit something on the ground
``I decided… to...follow... my inner... feelings.``

The magus and the Warrior were also paying attention now.

``Hate? Vengeance?``Asked the Khornate.

``Ambition? Pride? Or could it be… ``
The magus thought for a while.
``Fear, maybe. I always suspected that was the motivation behind choices such as yours. After all, I can see why, in the face of death…``

Undine kept walking. ``Love… It was… Love.``

For a few seconds, everyone was silent.

``You? I fail to see how that could have helped in that department!``
``Hahar! You must be quite popular with that smell of yours! What a nice idea!``

Though he stayed silent, Vayron was just as surprised as the others. Love? Really? Wasn’t Nurgle the worst possible choice? Not even a blind woman could love a face like that!

``Brother… Comrades… Love can also… be meant for...these things... When my brothers turned… I…I could have stayed…true… to my vows… True to… My faith… But love held… my hand… back… And kept my… pride… in check.``

He turned around and stopped walking.

``Love had… every…`` He spat again ``everything… to do… with it. But that was… That was so…long ago.``

``Sucks to be you`` was all Vayron could manage. Maybe he would have done the same.

``Oh I am… quite… content… As I said… before… That was…``he spat `` long ago``



(I'll keep going if you want)

SlimeTheGreat said:

Please do.

Anybody ever see Moral Orel? If I were to play a Nurglite, then I think that I would play something similar to Clay Puffington. The major motive is desperation. I imagine for a lot of Imperial Citizens, they are trapped in a pretty miserable life. Imperium doesn't seem very big on the human rights and all. I'm sure most stave it off with inter-personal connections. Families and loved ones can go a long way in that. Its not a luxury that everybody has though. So some lonely Munitorium drone dutifully toiling away at making shell casings for the God Emperor's armies for 60 hours a week without anybody in the world to turn to is going to be in some pretty sorry circumstances. He's not motivated by hatred. He's a good person. He doesn't want to inflict suffering or go on a mad rampage. He wants release. He has no life to lead and nobody who needs him and nobody to even be. So when he hears about a religion exposing unconditional love he signs up.

I imagine Nurgle worshiping characters have the potential to be some of the most nuanced characters Black Crusade will offer.

SlimeTheGreat said:

you have my undivided attention.

on a side note, I think a mutant in service to Nurgle would be an interesting fit. Yeah, Mutants are typically the purview of Tzeench, but a good number of mutations are the products of disease. Perhaps a mutant doctor refuses to believe that raw chaos is the only cause of mutation, that mutation is a conventional disease, and with Nurgle's help, he can stabilize runaway mutations in existing mutants, and spread the gift of "mutually beneficial mutation" to other planets. after all, if it is a disease, it can spread like one.