The Court of Covenant is the neutral territory in the Realm of Chaos upon which the Chaos Gods meet when they have cause to parley.[1a]
The Court of Covenant is set apart from the rest of the Realm of Chaos. Each of the Dark Gods has an equal seat at this table, for the natural balance between the gods is a complex and convoluted weave. No single deity is ever powerful enough to prevail over another without aid and, for the sake of all existence, it is well that this is so. All natural order would cease if one of the gods were to triumph over their brethren, undoing the fabric of creation and destroying all that exists in the merest blink of an eye.[1a]
No matter how territory shifts in the Realm of Chaos between the major Chaos Gods as the Great Game plays out, the Court of Covenant is always accessible from the domains of all four of the major Dark Gods. It is here that truces are composed and hostilities between the gods are annulled. Such arrangements are inevitable, for the longer a conflict continues between two or more of the gods, the stronger any uncommitted parties become. Ultimately, the Chaos Gods are creatures of enlightened self-interest -- they will cease upon any course of action that serves to make another stronger in the Great Game in their stead.[1a]
Negotiations between the Chaos Gods proceed according to the character of the deity in question. Khorne always wrathfully bellows his demands -- even when his position is not a strong one. Nurgle is garrulous in the extreme, ebulliently engaging his siblings in conversation even as he plots against them and disdains their wants and desires. Golden-tongued Slaanesh speaks rarely, offering golden promises laden with beshadowed treachery, etched in well-chosen words and phrases. But it is devious Tzeentch who is truly the master of this game of bluff and bargain. To the Changer of Ways the designs of his brothers are as transparent as crystal and as manipulable as clay. It is a rare day indeed when the Great God Tzeentch is bested in the Court of Covenant, and he has more than once reversed the course of the Great Game from within its confines.[1a]