Tzeentch

"Do not ask which creature screams in the night. Do not question who waits for you in the shadow. It is my cry that wakes you in the night, and my body that crouches in the shadow. I am Tzeentch and you are the puppet that dances to my tune..."

- The Book of Tzeentch

Tzeentch, known also as The Raven God, the Changer of Ways and the Great Conspirator is the Chaos God of Magic, Change, Evolution, Destiny, Lies and Trickery. He is flux embodied, a daemon-god who alone truly embodies the terrible energies and momentum of Chaos. He bears a strong claim to all who profess to worship the Northern Gods, for without transformation, a warrior cannot ascend to greatness, the gods cannot grant their blessings, and the living cannot die. Tzeentch's name is derivative from his true name in the Dark Tongue; Tzeen'neth, Lord of Change. He is the Great Sorcerer of Chaos, and Bringer of Change, for make no mistake -- endless, broiling change is the truest nature of Chaos, and Chaos is the source of the eldritch energies that mortals, in their superstition, have named 'magic'.

What mortal can dare say that he has not desired knowledge of the mysteries of destiny, or the awesome power of magic. It is Tzeentch alone who holds the true key to this terrible knowledge, and his price is steep indeed. For his worshipers are naught but pawns in his game to outflank his Brothers in Darkness and to bring about the downfall of all civilization. The Raven God rewards his followers with madness and insanity, and upon death their spirits are brought to his halls to serve him for all eternity. Yet, the Raven God does not scheme towards the accomplishment of some end, but instead, strives to create tumult and turmoil for its own sake.

Though weary scholars of daemon lore know this god by the name of Tzeentch, in truth, he exceeds all the other Ruinous Powers in his number of facets and aspects. For he is Change, said to embody every mortal creature's recognition of, and desire for and to, change. His face and form shifts and turns from eternity unto eternity. To the vicious barbarians of Norsca, he is Tchar the Raven God. In the dreaded East, he is known as Chen the Deceiver amongst the Kurgan tribes, who hold that his messengers are the great eagles of the Steppes. Yet whatever his mien and whomever his people, the Changer is ever viewed as the Great Schemer, a fickle, politicking god who should be feared as much as he should not be trusted.

In grimoires proscribed by half-sane men, the devotees of Tzeentch scribble down their respective visions of their god. No two accounts are alike. Sometimes the god is depicted as a huge mass of shifting colours, or as a mighty daemon with a vulturous beak and multi-hued wings, and other times as a gangrel giant with its monstrous head set squarely in its chest, and with two serpents writhing from its shoulders. The followers of Tzeentch hold that he rules from an Impossible Fortress deep within the Realm of Chaos. At its heart, within a crystalline labyrinth of inconceivable geometry, lies the Hidden Library, a hall of eternal dimensions that houses the collective knowledge of the entire universe. Within it lies also the fabled Well of Eternity, and into its magic waters does Tzeentch gaze for aeons uncounted, for a glimpse of the clues and conundrums that will allow him to enact his ineffable schemes.

Tzeentch possesses many sigils and symbols, though the most common is the writhing fire of change. Daemon and Champion alike are gifted with eerie bird-like beaks, claws and multi-coloured feathers. Their skin and armour is in constant flow, shifting in shape an textures, forming grotesque, cackling faces and kaleidoscopes of blazing colour that disorient all who look upon them. Those who few who succeed upon this twisting path become the most other-wordly of all Chaos Champions. For they are blessed twofold with incredible martial skill and the arcane might of the Lord of Magic. While the warrior-skill of the Chosen of Tzeentch is still second to those warriors who tread Khorne's bloody path, their potent magical abilities are still enough to empower them as formidable adversaries who lead their armies with otherwordly prescience.

Though the servitors of Tzeentch are not as directly mighty or savagely courageous as those of bloodthirsty Khorne, nor possessing the unholy resiliency of the warriors of Nurgle, the might of the Changer of Ways cannot be measured with means so crude as the physical. The skies above a Tzeentchian warband writhe and burn with untrammeled power. Their banners screech with otherwordly power and seethe and crackle with bolts of lightning that bring ruination unto the enemy. The blades and armour of a Chosen of Tzeentch glow with eldritch flame, and when the Raven is ascendant, his champions are gifted with a preternatural ability to sense and perceive the flow of time itself and instinctively react to over a dozen different outcomes, thus affording them tactical supremacy over the battlefield. Warshrines draw forth yet more arcane power into the ranks of the faithful, even as the warrior-wizards at their head unleash curses of ungodly power that mutate or immolate all they touch.

Though Tzeentch gathers fewer devotees from amongst the brute tribes of Norsca and Kurgan than the War-God Khorne, he still occupies a highly significant role in the lives of the warriors of the North. He is the patron of the shaman and soothesayers of the far north, who pray to him that he may bestow them pre-eminence over the warrior-chieftains who rule the tribes, and for fortune and glory in all magical endeavours. But it is amongst the lands of the Empire and far Cathay that Tzeentch's influence is most keen. In the land of Sigmar, the worshipers of Tzeentch gather in hidden covens by which they use every means to increase their own personal standing and spread the power of their patron. Those most vulnerable to his temptations are the mages, scholars and other educated members of society who labour after the search for knowledge, whatever the cost to their morals or sanity. Most of these cults are led by Magisters -- the most accomplished magician in the ranks, and are divided are so many layers of affiliation, each highly complex, that the only individual in the cult likely to know the identity of all its members is the Magister himself. By contrast, in Cathay, the worship of Tzeentch is an officially recognized cult, and the veneration of this Dark God is foolishly allowed to progress free and unmolested, albeit in a form more controlled and suited to civilization than the brutality of the Norse and Kurgan.

Tzeentch's favoured totem beast is the Raven, and it is in his aspect of the raven that he is worshiped amongst the Norsemen. The eagle is yet another beast sacred to Tzeentch, one by which he is honoured by Norse and Kurgan alike. Such animals are said to be his eyes in the mortal realm, and to see one is considered an omen amongst those who profess to serve him. Whether one for good or ill, none can say, for Tzeentch delights in misdirection and subterfuge, and the only limit to his capricious is his own anarchic imagination. Tzeentch's sacred number is nine, and this is reflected in the organizations of his cults and warbands, who often congregate in multiples or divisors of nine, and also in the number of syllables in a daemon's true name. His favoured colours are blue and gold, but an ever-shifting spectrum of different colours is likewise thought to honour him in his capacity as the engine of change.

One thing alone is certain, however, that whenever the Raven stirs from his reverie, madness, treachery and strife afflict creation.

The Raven God
The Dark God known as Tzeentch is perhaps the most maddening and enigmatic of all the Ruinous Powers. Indeed, his true goals are difficult to fathom -- if he seeks to control the world, then his methods are oblique, at best. The Great Conspirator seems most content in allowing his mortal slaves to further his plans. Tzeentch enjoys blessing mortals with power to great for then to bear, particularly in the case of magicians and wizards. In the case of those without magical potential, the Conspirator instead offers to reveal ancient knowledge and secret ways to bring down rivals. Ultimately however, none can hazard a guess as to Tzeentch's ultimate goal -- to do so is to invite madness. His many conspiracies often seem to be self-defeating and contradictory, for each ineffable maneuver has been intricately planned into eternity itself. Perhaps the dark schemes he uses to torment mortalkind are naught but an amusing diversion for him, perhaps only the insane can truly comprehend his infinite thoughts; for perhaps he is insane himself, and his plans, are, in fact, utterly devoid of all reason.

Amongst the tribes of the North, the shamans of Norsca and the Eastern Steppes teach that during the mythic ages of the world, where the gods of Chaos waged war against the Old Ones, it was Tzeentch who was first amongst the gods. For this was his time, a time of wild magic, where daemons and mutations ran rampant, and the world faced the most primal of all change in war and death and the overthrow of an old order. The other gods grew jealous and fearful that Tzeentch would eclipse them, and thus hatched a plan to tear him from his lofty perch. The gods faced him in battle, and in the end it was Khorne alone who remained to pit the strength of steel against sorcery. For ages uncounted did the two gods battle atop a great mountain, until Khorne caught Tzeentch by his throat and threw him from the highest peak. Tzeentch shattered upon the ground into ten thousand pieces that flew across eternity, each shard metamorphosing into an incantation of magical power, and the became the spells that trip from the tongues of practioners of magic to this day. Thus was Tzeentch's power now faded, and victorious Khorne took his place as First amongst the Dark Gods.

This myth illustrates that ultimately all magic is the product of Tzeentch, and that to cast a spell is to traffic with the very essence of the Changer of Ways. While this is an openly accepted truth in the North, the civilized realms of the Empire and Kislev are largely ignorant of this terrible fact (or actively suppress it, fearful of the consequences should the truth get out).

The god of magic favours the cunning over the strong, the manipulative over the violent. He directs the fates of mortals, and guides them down their paths in his schemes, though they often do not know that they were even players in his dark games. He is especially fond of imparting special authority upon magicians in this respect, as well as creatures and beings formed of magic. He delights in observing the politicking and conspiracies that mortals perform against each other of their own accord. And such is his skill at brokering and deception, that is often said in the tales of the Northmen that is Tzeentch who brokers the tenuous cessations in fraternal warfare between the Gods, which allows them to unite in their blessings to drive the hordes of the savage North to their incursions of untold bloodshed and annihilation.

Followers
Those that follow Tzeentch are those of great magical power, great sorcerers, magicians, and chaos lords who all follow him are bestowed with unimaginable magical might, and power. However, these "gifts" comes at a price, for those that recieve these gifts, mutant the bearers flesh, mind, and soul. These gifts, can give a warrior or sorcerer, power beyond those of mere mortals, but if one has too much of these gifts, it would alter his ownself, and will become nothing more then a mere chaos spawn. Wizards and sorcerers, are the most favored of Tzeentchs warriors, for they are the stronger and more knowledgable then all of the other sorcerers of the many other gods. Since Tzeentch is the Chaos God of Knowledge and magic, his followers, will also have great knowledge in lorecraft, witchcraft, sorcerery, and any other magical lore and teaching. Like other Chaos Gods, Tzeentch has an array of demons who are the manifestation of mortals emotions, and magic. Great hordes of Horrors, roam the lands of Tzeentch domains, while packs of Flamers stalk the dreaded lands, just as the Greater Demons of Tzeentch, the Lords of Change, forever watch, record, and scheme in the name of Tzeentch to bring is great plan into reality. .

Deamons
The Daemons of Tzeentch are inherently magical creatures, even more so than the other daemons of chaos; they appear ephemeral, transparent or as if made of light. Their very presence can alter the rules of reality, and they can leave trails of multi-coloured fire and mist behind them as they move.


 * Lords of Change - Are the greater deamons of Tzeentch. They are typically an avian-like winged humanoid Daemon of vast intelligence and massive sorcerous and psychic power, although less so in physical strength at least compared to othe Greater Daemons. However, they are the master of magic, and can conjure up many magical spells that could devastate whole armies, bring nothing but destruction in his wake.


 * Horror's - are the most common amongst Tzeentch deamonic ranks. Arguably the most bizarre of all daemons in appearance, Horrors of Tzeentch manifest as an ever changing mass of shifting, gangly limbs with a central torso that normally sports a cackling or leering face in the centre - though the Horror's face can vanish and randomly reappear elsewhere on their body. There are two classification by color, Pink Horror, and Blue Horrors.


 * Flamers -  Daemonic servants of Tzeentch with numerous gaping maws that produce the searing flames which give these daemons their name. Flamers excel at leading assaults on defensive positions, since there is no fortification that can offer protection against their magical fire. They attack by unleashing roaring gouts of alchemical fire from their arms. These fires are highly unpredictable, and can have a wide variety of effects - sometimes burning anything that they come in contact with to ashes in a multi-hued conflagration, sometimes turning them into frozen crystal, or even spraying surprised enemies with an iridescent cascade of sweet-tasting liquor.


 * Screamers -  ray-like creatures that swoop down on foes and cut them apart with their sharp claws before retreating and charging again. Screamers are very agile due to their ability of flight and possess a feral but cunning intellect. Though they are able to use magic-based attacks, their greatest weapons are their so-called Warp Jaws which allow them to chew through all kinds of solid matter, even the armor of knights.


 * Disc of Tzeentch - a meld of magic, metal, and daemon; often used as a transport for a mortal or Daemonic champion, they are said to be bound forms of Screamers. Screamers that are chosen to serve as mounts for a Champion of Tzeentch are bound in magnificent bands and blades and turned into Discs of Tzeentch. These flying Daemonic Steeds are tied to the will of their masters, combining great mobility and calculated thinking.

The Maze of Tzeentch
The Maze of Tzeentch, also known as the Crystal Labyrinth, is Tzeentch's realm within the Warp. This maze is woven from the raw fabric of magic, threaded upon deceit and conspiracy. Of all the landscapes of the Warp, this domain is by far the most bizarre and incomprehensible, for its crystalline structures force travelers to view all nine dimensions simultaneously. This effect not only distorts the senses of any who intrude, but will also pulls apart their purpose and aspirations and turns them to insanity and despair. Unlike the realms of the other Gods of Chaos, it is not defended by Daemonic warriors, allowing instead for any intruder to become inevitably lost within its confines.Interchanging, shifting avenues made of pure crystals of every colour crisscross Tzeentch's realm. Hidden pathways built from lies and schemes lead out from the maze and infiltrate the dominions of other gods, binding together the fractious Realms of Chaos. The maze itself has no daemonic defenders. Its own illusory passages are enough of a barrier to any intruder not possessed of the strongest mind imaginable. Its glittering corridors reflect not only light but also hope, misery, dreams and nightmares. The labyrinth does not merely reflect but also distorts, pulling apart hope and purpose turning them into insanity and despair. Driven by Tzeentch's unconscious schemes, the labyrinth constantly moves and rearranges. Those lost within the maze's reaches will wander for eternity with their minds shattered, their dreams broken upon the wheel of their own failed ambition. At the centre of the maze, hidden from those who have not the insane insight to find it, stands the Impossible Fortress. The architecture of the bastion is constantly replaced by new and ever more maddening spires, gates and walls. doors and other entrance points yawn open like starving mouths, before clamping for eternity moments later, barring all access. Within the Fortress time and space does not exist at all and gravity shifts and changes, or disappears all together. Lights of every colour, some even unknown in the real universe, springs from the shifting walls. For mortals, who are so locked in their physical ways, the fortress is impenetrable. Men are driven insane, while their bodies might implode or be pulled apart by the forces unleashed by Tzeentch's passing thoughts. Even immortal daemons cannot easily endure the twisted horror of the Impossible Fortress and only the Lords of Change can safely navigate its corridors, and tread the secret paths that lead to the inner sanctum of the fortress, the Hidden Library, where Tzeentch, the puppet master himself resides, eternally plotting.