Stormcast/Space Marines

[grimmas]

But can one actually use chaos for their own ends they may think they are but in reality are they all just slaves to darkness?

Chaos characters mortality is certainly a mutable thing. Daemons have pretty much always been immortal ( all be it getting banished to the realms of chaos for 1000 years and a day for getting defeated)

[Erik Setzer]

Yeah, you'd be deluding yourself, but that's how Chaos works. Or perhaps the Chaos gods would actually (at least for a time) go along with giving someone an area to set up a new civilization, just because they think it'd be amusing to turn the members of the Grand Alliance/Crusade/whatever back on the others. They can even honor the pact for a few thousand years and then destroy it later. Time doesn't really matter to them. Heck, temporary defeat doesn't, either. They've got time, they know they'll win in the end. If they can sow more discord now, well, that's kind of the essence of Chaos, right?

[Mr Mystery]

A lot of it remains to be seen.

However, the new short story series promises to show us more.

About the 'so human', I think they've already shown they're not one to bend the knee to Chaos, or they would have done so before being snatched into Azyr and turned into walking tanks.

That their humanity currently remains is clear - but as above, the effects of repeated Reforging haven't been shown yet, so who knows? I think a lot of it will come down to just how Sigmar deploys them.

I know this thread is about how they aren't Astartes at all, but I do need to make a rough comparison. Consider how The Emperor treated the Iron Warriors - given gruelling, thankless tasks which whilst critical to the war efforts, left the glory to the Legions poised to exploit the breaches they won with blood and sweat. That's a recipe for ill-feeling straight off the bat, especially given how the other siege experts, The Imperial Fists, were seemingly treated far better in terms of recognition.

If Sigmar rotates them, that can be mitigated, even if it can't be completely avoided.

So much remains to be seen, I remain excite (even if I'm not a massive fan of Stormcast)

[Morgrim]

See, I don't think it's Chaos that a Stormcast would fall to. They're the lost souls snatched from the field of battle at the brink of death, and let's be honest: most would have been fighting chaos. And there is very, very little that chaos could truly offer them that Sigmar couldn't. Protection for their previous people/places/things? Chaos is self destructive. Revenge? That's what Sigmar offers, and Chaos tends to be more self interested than that. A cause to fight for? That could work, sure, but then why not have joined them in life?

No, I think the one Stormcast could fall to would be Nagash.

They're once-living. They don't die properly. And Nagash is already angry that the souls of the Stormcast were denied to him, and he's a both very powerful and much more united than Chaos can manage. Undeath offers both personal power and a way to eternally hold on to the ones you care for. Twisted somewhat, of course, but there none the less.

[Erik Setzer]

Well, with Chaos, they might employ tricks. Like Tzeentch using illusions to trick them. There's all kinds of possibilities.

No need to shut doors on possibilities with a game that lets you mix and match like crazy. I'd think part of AoS's fun is figuring out how various combinations could come to exist?

Hmm... another possibility might be "Fallen" Stormcast who aren't fighting for Chaos, but might ally with some guys who fell out of favor with the Chaos gods, and other "lost souls" from different factions. Done thematically, it'd be an interesting looking armor.

I know, I'm kind of going off topic, but I like thinking about different things to do with models and armies.

[grimmas]

My money is certainly on Nagash corrupting some of the Stormcast. I still wouldn't rule out chaos it does have a tendency for that sort of thing.

I wouldn't say it's drifting too much off topic Space Marines did go rogue so there's a possible comparison there.