Tzeentch
 | |
| Titles | Changer of the Ways Master of Fortune Great Conspirator Architect of Fate[2] The Lord of Lies[9] The Weaver of Destinies[9] The Great Mutator[9] Lord of Flux[11a] |
| Domains | Magic Guile Schemes Plots Machinations Sorcery Deceit Anarchy[2] |
| Type | Elemental deity Chaos God |
| Status | Active |
| Aspects | Beast with Many Forms[6] Great Eagle[10a] Lord of Shifting Breeze[10a] Tchar[9] Valedactine[10a] |
| Home | Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch |
| Relatives | Khorne (brother) Nurgle (brother) Slaanesh (brother) 7 unknown siblings |
| Affiliation | Chaos |
| Followers | Disciples of Tzeentch Daemons of Tzeentch Tzeentch Arcanites Brimstone Tribe |
| Adjectives | Tzeentchian |
Tzeentch is one of the four Great Chaos Gods and represents the vitality and volatility of change.
Contents
Pronunciation
Tzeentch is pronounced Tseench, Tz as end of the word Sits, ntch as the end of the word crunch [7]
Manifestation
In his true shape, he takes the most outlandish appearance of the Dark Gods. He is ever shifting and nothing about him feels definitive. Any who gazes upon him sees his skin crawling with constantly changing faces. Each of these faces leers and mocks those who observe them and when Tzeentch speaks, they appear and disappear repeating his words with subtle different or proving mocking commentary that casts doubt upon his original words.[2] His needling mind-fingers pluck the skeins of fate like the legs of a demented arachnid. He has a multitudinous gaze.[5]
Personality
Tzeentch takes great joy in the never-ending struggle of the Chaos Gods to gain dominion over the other which he calls the Great Game. This game provides him with boundless opportunities and endless amusement, doing his best to manipulate or counteract the plans of his rivals, to great success. Not only are his plans complex, but they also appear contradictory to the few observers who can detect his influence. He revels in complication and is fickle, adding elaborate intricacies or obstacles to his own plots, rejoicing in both their construction as well as their unravelling.[2]
Tzeentch has a fractal mind spawn with countless consciousnesses competing with each other through wars, riddles, pacts and betrayals, like some cosmic kaleidoscope that refracted, contorted and folded reality into a mind-boggling profusion. Almost of Tzeentch's mind finds dystopic futures of order, predictability and stasis appalling and react with intense antipathy at them, while others see its undeniable potential.[5]
Tzeentch covets the Realm of Chamon over all the others, for its transmutative qualities. He has spent much effort in conquering its ever-changing lands, like his war with the Kharadron Overlords over its skies, the magical apocalypse that shaped the Spiral Crux and many other sinister schemes.[11a]
Power
Tzeentch can see the future by observing the threads of the future and can expertly change the state of a thousand realities with every passing second.[5]
Religion
Among the gods he is the undisputed master of the arcane arts, as it is the most potent of all agents of change. While he prefers to win battles and war through guile and sorcery he is not above using brute force. As such he favours the cunning and the manipulative over the violent and the strong.[2]
Aspects and Alternate Names
- Beast with Many Forms: Worshipped by the Twistfrays as the Dark God that reshapes the realms, devouring magic, flesh and fate and regurgitating them into forms more pleasing to beastmen.[6]
- Great Eagle: One of the gods of fate worshiped by tribes of Slaves to Darkness.[10a]
- Lord of Shifting Breeze: One of the gods of fate worshiped by tribes of Slaves to Darkness.[10a]
- Tchar: One of the gods of fate worshiped by tribes of Slaves to Darkness.[10a]
- Valedactine: One of the gods of fate worshiped by tribes of Slaves to Darkness.[10a]
History
Tzeentch was instrumental in the destruction of the World-That-Was alongside many others and has even collapsed entire realities. It was Tzeentch that beguiled Skarbrand, Khorne's greatest Bloodthirster into attacking his patron. It was his magic that crystallised the cycles of Nurgle's Garden.[2][8a]
Age of Myth
It was due to the Tzeentch's plotting that led to Slaanesh's absence.[2]
Age of Sigmar
Tzeentch began to ascend in power after Sigmar's return to the Mortal Realms and his victory over the Realmgate Wars, for his plans had long nursed to fruition. His mortal cultists had embedded themselves in the Cities of Sigmar, working in secret to advance his unknowable goals. Tzaangor tribes raid the ancient places of the realms in search of lost treasures and esoteric knowledge. And if it was ever needed Tzeentch would send his daemonic hosts to burn the land with the flames of change.[2]
Times of Tribulations
As Tzeentch was changing the state of a thousand realities he felt the threads of fate become brittle, breaking and turning to unchanging inert dust. Almost all of his minds felt intense antipathy at its prospect, seeing a far-off dystopia of order, predictability and stasis, a future with undeniable potential. Tzeentch saw a great will driving the tapestry of fate towards that future turning more stands into dust. Then he keened in a hundred thousand mortal languages and set himself to work.[5]
Forces dedicated to Tzeentch
Disciples of Tzeentch
Lurking in the shadows of civilization are the Disciples of Tzeentch, who manipulate the strands of fate to their whims. Wherever they go pandemonium and madness follow, overwhelming those that would oppose them with masterful spellcraft and manipulative schemes.[11a]
Arcanite Cults
The cults collectively known as the Tzeentch Arcanites are the chosen mortal servants of the Changer of Ways. They, more than any other cults of the Dark Gods, have prospered in the shadows of the nascent Sigmarite nations of the Age of Sigmar. From the shadows, they spread disharmony and upheaval throughout civilization.[11a]
Noteworthy amongst the Arcanites is the following cult:
- Jade Obelisk: A cult devoted to the merciless destruction of temples, monuments and false idols not dedicated to their malevolent god - the so-called Speaker in the Stone.[12a]
Changehosts
Changehosts, as the armies of the Daemons of Tzeentch are known, are madness given form. Reality comes asunder wherever they go, manifesting mutation and warpflame to plague their foes along the way. They are inescapably drawn to flux-cairns, reality-twisting beacons of sorcery.[1a]
Tzaangor Warflocks
The Warflocks are tribal groupings of Tzaangors spread across the Mortal Realms. They are guided by their Shamans to perform many fell rites and constructing flux-cairns, the herdstones of their tribes.[3a]
Twistfrays
Amongst the Greatfrays of the Beasts of Chaos there are some who embrace the worship of Tzeentch known as Twistfrays. They focus on his aspect of the Beast with Many Forms, a reshaper of the realms who devours magic, fate and flesh and regurgitates forms more pleasing to Beastmen. They are know by many names like weirdhorns, warphooves or fleshchangers and are drawn by the scent of magic, seeking to defile the enchantments of other races just as much as they want to rend flesh and spill blood. Their Herdstones are known as Flux-Cairns, growths of stagnant magic, whose constant stream of chaos energies attracts flocks of Tzaangors, winged monstrosities and half-mad scholars from nearby civilisations. [14a]
Tzeentch-Marked Warbands
The Slaves to Darkness are the mortal followers of the Chaos gods, and those who pledged their soul to Tzeentch have the Mark of Tzeentch upon their bodies. This mark gives them the ability to resist the effects of spells, and grants wizards access to the Warp Reality spell.[13a]
See Also
- For Tzeentch in the World-That-Was see: Tzeentch.
Sources
- 1: Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch product description
- 2: Age of Sigmar faction guide.
- 3: Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch (2017)
- 3a: Tzaangor Shamans, Pg. 40
- 4: Battletome: Khorne Bloodbound (2015), pg. 23-24
- 5: Malign Portents
- 6: Battletome: Beasts of Chaos (2018) - Legendary Desecrators, pg. 22-27
- 7: White Dwarf Vol 3 No 40 Worlds of Warhammer, pg. 9
- 8: Battletome: Disciples of Tzeentch (2020)
- 8a: Tzeentch Almighty, pg.8-9
- 9: Soulbound Core Rulebook, pg. 254
- 10: Battletome: Slaves to Darkness (2019)
- 10a: Endless Pantheons 14-15
- 11: Age of Sigmar: Core Book (3rd Edition)
- 11a: Disciples of Tzeentch, pg. 184-185
- 12: Warcry: Warband Tome - Stealth & Stone
- 12a: The Jade Obelisk, pg. 14-15
- 13: Battletome: Slaves to Darkness (2023)
- 13a: Marks of Chaos, pg. 70
- 14: Battletome: Beasts of Chaos (2018)
- 14a: Legendary Desecrators, pg. 22-27
