How would YOU bring back Slaanesh?

[NoElf]

I'm not overly worried if Slaanesh doesn't come back. 

But if they did, I'd dig it if we had miniatures based off the Sigvald the Magnificent. Masque'd bards with harps, dancing beastmen (and beastwomen) strewn with vines holding aloft chalices of wine, be nice. I like the idea of vice being alluded to rather than overtly displayed a la oscar wilde's dorian grey. 

Rules well everyone seems to have it nailed with bedazzlement and psyche traits. 

Personally I don't really like the snake thing. That art of the slaanesh horde with the knights and marauders sums it up. Insane looking warriors with the corruption deep inside slowly seeping to the surface. 

Not really a huge fan of aelves getting the treatment either. Leave it with da humies  

 

[Killax]

I think the beauty of a redesigned Slaanesh with a solid focus on the dark cults, cultists within seemfully orderly civilisations and playing of the sound based mind controls also still really fits what Slaanesh is about. As there are many aspects GW has covered about Slaanesh in many years. 

Do dive way back into history (and this is also why I base my idea around Sigvald and The Mask design as the upcomming design for Slaanesh) we also have a very clear and unique description of Slaanesh Legionaires from Slaves to Darkness (1991):

Quote

The Chosen Legionnaires of Slaanesh vie with another to create amuzing and enjoyable deaths for their enemies. Their sensuous appearance bellies their underlying brutality. Often Legionnaires will dress identically, or each will chose a different colour from his fellows. However they are always clad in multi-coloured armour of the highest quality which is richly decked out in silver and gold. 

In addition to that it's quite often that the Slaanesh Daemonettes are depicted as dancing on the battlefield. The models don't really show that now. Even the Daemonettes of the last metal box from 2000-ish. The most logic route is to actually model newer models into doing just that. 

This type of festival design is also allready a very popular design in other game systems, so in that sence all GW has to do is give their own spin on it. In Malifaux many of these types of ideas are allready covered. 

Age of Sigmar also has altered Slaanesh quite a lot allready so it's return as a cult is very fitting. This means that I don't expect odd boob-worms but instead the hidden daemons and brutal warriors under plain sight (Order). 

[Double Misfire]

Seeing @elfhead's excellent swan winged daemon prince in his hobby thread (check it out if you haven't already!) last night got me thinking about Azazel and how awesome he'd be at the head of a revamped Slaanesh faction for AoS instead of the N'kari/elfwank we're inevitably going to get.

 

For those of you who've never heard of him (and I don't blame you, I think he's only ever appeared in three Black Library books after debuting in Champions of Chaos alongside Archaon), Azazel is a deamon prince, and the supreme commander of Slaanesh's daemonic legions. Possessed of impossibly white porcelain skin and impossibly whiter swan wings that ensure his taloned feet never touch the ground, those who gaze upon Azazel never forget the urges and desires his presence arouses in the depths of their souls. Azazel's preferred MO on the battlefield is to whisper to his opponents to abandon the folly of opposing Slaanesh and to submit to the Dark Prince's mercies, only to decapitate them laughing when they kneel before him.

Most notable about Azazel is that in his mortal life he was Sigmar (pre godhood)'s bff, and the brother of his fiance; after Sigmar gave the order that saw his twin brother inadvertently slain Azazel pledged he would have revenge on Sigmar and spent years plotting to undo him, eventually murdering Sigmar's fiance and almost killing Sigmar himself with poison before fleeing to the Chaos Wastes. Sigmar's enmity for Azazel (well, Azazel and Morkar), may even be why after his ascension to godhood the Sigmarite faith proved especially antithetic to daemons and creatures corrupted by Chaos, in the same way that his clashes with Nagash informed the undead's weakness to Sigmar's light and holy symbols.

I've got a hunch that why Azazel was dropped/forgotten about (his only post Champions of Chaos features are a couple of pages in Liber Chaotica: Slaanesh, the novels about Sigmar's life as a tribal chief and a cameo in the last End Times tie in novel where Sigmar bitchslaps him on his way to fight Archaon) was due to his relative genericness and inability to make himself distinct from Slaanesh's other champions and daemons in the way that the later god-specific Chaos characters like Sigvald and Skarbrand do (that said, there's nothing special about N'kari, he's literally just a Keeper of Secrets, only notable for the amount of special characters he has on speed dial, so who knows).

With Sigmar at the front and centre (and even in the title) of AoS, and as a walking, talking god who interacts with stuff and makes decisions, and not as a golden light who lives in hammers and warrior priests or whatever he was in the last setting no less, Azazel has an amazing narrative hook, and is a perfect foil for Sigmar, being exactly as ancient as him and having grown up together before Sigmar's folly caused the death of his brother and planted the seeds of his betrayal, resulting in Sigmar even untold thousands of years later being unable to forget how his friendship and trust of Azazel blinded him from saving the one he loved the most. Azazel's hatred of Sigmar and capacity for silver tongued corruption could even extend to the Stormcast, with their oaths of allegiance to Sigmar and each other being able to be poisoned and twisted against everything they stand for and were created to serve by the one who knows Sigmar best, making him a very credible and unique threat to the Mortal Realms.

 

Dude does need a new model though. Jesus Christ:

[Killax]

I'm all tumbs up for Azazel, the robe also very much fits the Roman look I still have in mind for them. In addition to it all a fantasy Dark Roman look very well would counterbalance the Dark Gladatorial Khorne look. Which I believe is some food for thought and one of the reasons why I think Slaanesh might very well end up like that again. 

In addition to the visual representation Azazel very much reflects the darkness within, the cultists and I also believe that indeed Slaanesh might very well return admist the Order Alliances (lorewise) because Order victories against Chaos can lead to Slaaneshi decadence again. In which case Azazel could return as a former Stormcast, indeed former advisor to Sigmar (again).

[Popisdead]

23 minutes ago, Killax said:

I'm all tumbs up for Azazel, the robe also very much fits the Roman look I still have in mind for them. In addition to it all a fantasy Dark Roman look v

What's funny is this is what I pictured that more for the herald at the end of the Sigvald novel.  

 

I want N'Kari.  He plays a HUGE pivotal part from last edition and a small part in 40k.  Dual kit him up GW, c'mon get at it!!!

[Killax]

10 minutes ago, Popisdead said:

What's funny is this is what I pictured that more for the herald at the end of the Sigvald novel.  

 

I want N'Kari.  He plays a HUGE pivotal part from last edition and a small part in 40k.  Dual kit him up GW, c'mon get at it!!!

The moment you see the FW Boob N'Kari dissapear you'll know what's up ;). Though the look for N'Kari can certainly be used for an upcomming Keeper of Secrets. As before, have patience though as we know that Mortarion is up the line next for 40K and I would not be suprised to see a Great Unclean One kit follow, likely making the next Chaos faction a Nurgle's Tallyman book covering Daemons, Blightnights and Clan Pestilen Skaven for AoS first.

Then if Elder have been more fleshed out for 40K and a Death, Destruction and Order have recieved their goodies again then MABY we'll see Slaanesh pop up. Though as before, I don't think it will happen before 2019 to be completely honest. GW could obviously speed things up but there is much more Nurgle, Khorne and even to some extend Tzeentch up the pipelines...

[Deowag]

I wouldn't bring it back. I'd concentrate on releasing cthulu aelves instead !! =)

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[Killax]

9 hours ago, Deowag said:

I wouldn't bring it back. I'd concentrate on releasing cthulu aelves instead !! =)

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Well that will happen also, in fact that's around the corner. Which is why my theory remains that a Slaanesh returned has little to nothing to do with Elves.

Mind you I think this allready applies for more Chaos sub-factions as some might realize. For at the moment there are no Nurgle, Khorne or Slaanesh Chaos Spawn, they are part of Tzeentch. Likewise we see that the Bloodbound model design isn't limited by former Warriors of Chaos designs whatsoever. You could even say that the model ranges visually do not blend fantastically well by themselves, just thake a look at Blightkings and Skullreapers to make a point.

What I believe GW is doing for all factions is finally putting the flavour into the models that the lore dictates. Thus we will not see a Chaos Warrior design that works with everything but instead a Chaos Warrior design that works really well within it's own sub-faction. Blood Warriors are again the perfect example and the prime reason as to why there arn't too many examples yet is because GW will slowely resolve this model change simply because 1) They still have tons of WFB stock and 2) It stops alienating former WFB even more. As a former WFB player myself I am happy I can still use my WFB models but I do not expect this to be the case forever. For when AoS 2nd edition comes out I also expect all Alliances to at least have 3 factions especially fleshed out for AoS.

In terms of model ranges it's also not too difficult to draw the line for where GW is going. The Bloodreavers and Blood Warriors for example where mass produced and designed in 2014 (before AoS even was out) I think that most of the designs that where out around that time will remain. Such as the Witch Elf and Ghoul units, they are drastically more dynamic in design and where more difficult to rank up on 20mm bases but are ideal to use for AoS.

[MacDuff]

I like your design ideas Killax. Let me push it further. Multi-colored armor is good, but make that armor be sculpted as if small writhing figures form it (Lust Demons). That would be sick.

[Double Misfire]

4 hours ago, Killax said:

Well that will happen also, in fact that's around the corner. Which is why my theory remains that a Slaanesh returned has little to nothing to do with Elves.

iirc Hastings mentioned a while ago that the new Slaanesh faction would be released after shadow aelves and have a lot of elves in it, so I'm preparing myself for the worst possible return to elfwank 

 

I made a bunch of very silly posts about how I think GW should revamp Slaanesh in a thread six months ago. Basically Slaanesh as glamrock is a dated concept. Modern Slaanesh worshippers should be narcy millennials, obsessed with 'doing good' only to boast about having done good, with Slaanesh shemself as a sort of tv reality/talent show mogul figure elevating his champions to the wildest heights, only to immediately flush them down the toilet when something shem thinks shem can sell better comes along. All revamped Slaanesh champions should wear pearl armour with images of visions of other champions deeds dancing across it in a hellish mirror of social media, and fiends and steeds of Slaanesh should have duckfaces, not anteater ones.

[Killax]

Well the links from Dark Elves and Slaanesh have been there since 1st edition, however the same can be said about Khorne. Ultimately I believe that the Chaos Gods can affect many races, much like 40K also depicts.

To draw some inspiration from where Bloodbound most certainly comes from the Liber Chaotica Slaanesh also goes very deep into Cults, Daemonic Possession and the way they have infiltrated the Empire, more than any other Dark God. Likewise we see the masked Daemonettes/Cultists, becomming a very vague blend of characters who look like they are part of Order but certainly are part of Chaos. In this vein Azazel fits incredibly well.

@MacDuff certainly will happen, we also see this in 40K Chaos and basically this is returned in every Chaos faction. BoK and DoT certainly have it. 
Some shots I think could give us good hints on what is to come:
 

So yeah I personally don't think that AoS will include Slaanesh Elves, by large because it would blend characters, which is something AoS seems to completely not do. GW could have the new Slayers more high tech to blend well in with the new Engineers, but they clearly didn't. Likewise GW could have made DoT more 'vanilla Chaos' and BoK more 'vanilla Chaos' so that a blend would not look strange, yet they clearly didn't. So the moment we will see Slaanesh I highly doubt it will have a blend with Dark Elf option, an option WFB presented to a lot of factions.

Lastly I'm fairly certain that Slaanesh will have a lot of female Daemons and in general influences like that, what I don't think will happen is that we'll see 6th full nude Daemonettes again, for obvious reasons. 
The center Daemonette is something I think would look extremely cool in AoS, thus not unlike "Crab/Cultist-Sylvant". 

Cheers,

[Killax]

For those who don't really think the flavours of the past will return, I decided to make a small board of Tzeentch designs for Liber Chaotica Tzeentch and well... It's basically exactly how Desciples of Tzeentch ended up.

 

Tzaangors, Spawn being a real Tzeentch creature, Beaked Masks and Vortex Beasts. Kinda cool to see it finally realized when you think about it  

[zedatkinszed]

I have to agree that GW will not meld Dark Elves and Slaanesh again. This is despite the fact that I'd love it if they did.

The Cult of Pleasure had a story purpose in WHFB - the Sundering. But now we already have Aelves in 2 different realms with 2 different gods/leaders - Tyrion and Malerion. The Aelfs are already split (of course I'm excluding the Azyr Aelves here because they are remnants of the old world - like the Dispossessed).

The new AOS direction for teh coming Aelf factions seems very Norse inspired - Svartalfheim and Ljosalfheim correspond to Ulgu and Hysh - there is simply no need for GW to repeat the Cult of Pleasure with Morathi. Couple this what's going on in 40K and with GW in general moving to a wider (read: American PG13) audience. Heck, I'm waiting for the day that the Witch Aelfs are dropped for being too scantily clad. Seriously these are one of THE units that GW is known for and they will sacrifice them if they need to. Just like Slaanesh.

In the absence of a Dark Elf-Slaaneshi alliance a return to the roots is the next best thing in my book. But if I had a vote I'd have more units like the Chariot of Slaanesh and its Exalted version.

 

 

[mmimzie]

You know... i just want slaannesh to ve destroyed or turned into something else. Him as a god is so vague. There is so little there which is ironic for a god of excess. He overlals to heavily with the other gods that makes it hard for him to get ubique models. 

 

I'd kill hum off and replace him with something that has a more specific and grounded meaning. The other gods have a really well defined chant/phrase based on who they are.

 

I feel like slaannesh was made as like a sex/rock god, but with gw trying to male thier games accessible to younger audiences slaannesh lost his way. Which left him just being the awkward under defined dude. 

[Killax]

@mmimzie I largely agree with you granted this was true for a lot of the Warriors of Chaos models. What you very typically saw in Warriors of Chaos is that all the units where made a Vanilla variant of themselves (Chaos Undivided in design) so that it could all mix and match with all the other vanilla models.

What finally changed this actually was End Times, which finally decided to own up to the fantastic character their artists had made up and was severly under represented for years, a lot of the hero models did pay honour to this art but unfortunatly plastic units did not (for the largest part). So it's really since AoS that we see all the characters get love.
While I personally don't think that Slaanesh was vague, the build up to him wasn't concretely represented in the armies at all. Also largely because of a lack of models but much more because by comparison there was only so much GW could draw from that wasn't clearly inspired from naked ladies.

Leading me to believe that the Hosts of Slaanesh will eventually turn towards what lore-wise is very cool to implement, the Darkness within, the Cultist and essentially the evil within. Represented through carnivals, theatre, political debates and perhaps even other houses of fun ;). 
With this GW could more clearly identify Slaanesh in WFB, while again I think GW did a great job for Slaanesh in 40K. 
The lack of clear Slaanesh character in my opinion also comes from what you get once you blend Dark Elves with them, because at that point it isn't clear to put out where Slaanesh belongs and luckily for us they put it into Chaos and Dark Elves into Order, to me quite clearly marking of that Slaanesh that is to come will not be splinter faction of Dark Elves. 

As an atagonist to (Gladiator Bloodbound) Khorne I actually think that (Dark Roman Hosts) Slaanesh would be a very unique and cool concept to implement. Unlike Khorne Slaanesh doesn't have to quickly end suffering, instead they could very well prolong this within orderly factions wearing the mask of the good guys, defeating both Khorne and Nurgle whilst easily being just as evil. 

[mmimzie]

8 hours ago, Killax said:

@mmimzie I largely agree with you granted this was true for a lot of the Warriors of Chaos models. What you very typically saw in Warriors of Chaos is that all the units where made a Vanilla variant of themselves (Chaos Undivided in design) so that it could all mix and match with all the other vanilla models.

What finally changed this actually was End Times, which finally decided to own up to the fantastic character their artists had made up and was severly under represented for years, a lot of the hero models did pay honour to this art but unfortunatly plastic units did not (for the largest part). So it's really since AoS that we see all the characters get love.
While I personally don't think that Slaanesh was vague, the build up to him wasn't concretely represented in the armies at all. Also largely because of a lack of models but much more because by comparison there was only so much GW could draw from that wasn't clearly inspired from naked ladies.

Leading me to believe that the Hosts of Slaanesh will eventually turn towards what lore-wise is very cool to implement, the Darkness within, the Cultist and essentially the evil within. Represented through carnivals, theatre, political debates and perhaps even other houses of fun ;). 
With this GW could more clearly identify Slaanesh in WFB, while again I think GW did a great job for Slaanesh in 40K. 
The lack of clear Slaanesh character in my opinion also comes from what you get once you blend Dark Elves with them, because at that point it isn't clear to put out where Slaanesh belongs and luckily for us they put it into Chaos and Dark Elves into Order, to me quite clearly marking of that Slaanesh that is to come will not be splinter faction of Dark Elves. 

As an atagonist to (Gladiator Bloodbound) Khorne I actually think that (Dark Roman Hosts) Slaanesh would be a very unique and cool concept to implement. Unlike Khorne Slaanesh doesn't have to quickly end suffering, instead they could very well prolong this within orderly factions wearing the mask of the good guys, defeating both Khorne and Nurgle whilst easily being just as evil. 

I'd like this idea kind of, but more of.... if it took a route of it's never enough. Like nothing is never enough that they themselves kind of become nothing.  making them sorta  all boring blank slates.  Though even this is kind of like tzneetch where they change themselves so much they become pink horrors shadows of what they once were.  I just think slaannesh ironicly  again just lacks definition.  So, maybe they could be dark gastly shadows to show thier emptiness inside or something. 

Again the main problem that slannesh has that the other god don't is there isn't a way to really model what they stand for with out  either making them look like the other god's stuff or with out making them look kinda silly.  I think the god just needs a dramatic redefinition of what they are and stand for. 

[BURF1]

I wouldn't. Never liked Slaanesh, never got why people did.

[Kyriakin]

deleted

[BaldoBeardo]

I wouldn't. Never liked Slaanesh, never got why people did.

Represented confidence, adoration and also well versed in matters of the flesh.
Nope, I can't see why that would appeal to wargamers at all. [emoji6]

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[Killax]

8 hours ago, mmimzie said:

I'd like this idea kind of, but more of.... if it took a route of it's never enough. Like nothing is never enough that they themselves kind of become nothing.  making them sorta  all boring blank slates.  Though even this is kind of like tzneetch where they change themselves so much they become pink horrors shadows of what they once were.  I just think slaannesh ironicly  again just lacks definition.  So, maybe they could be dark gastly shadows to show thier emptiness inside or something. 

Again the main problem that slannesh has that the other god don't is there isn't a way to really model what they stand for with out  either making them look like the other god's stuff or with out making them look kinda silly.  I think the god just needs a dramatic redefinition of what they are and stand for. 

And I honestly think that GW largely agrees, for what it stood for was mentioned but changed too much over the years by Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle comparison. Still I do think that Slaanesh works well for the hidden Darkness, indeed ghastly shadows could make a part of that but in general I also believe that masked preformers or a Cult could also represent this rather well. This at some point and time was also part of Slaanesh but blends (such that of Slaanesh in Dark Elves) usually end up making things too vague. We see that GW is completely stepping away from such blends now and the models who are still that are from WFB. 

If it will return and will be put back into PG 13 style (like most art has) I just believe that the whole sexual and bisexual aspect will have left Slaanesh, in return we could very well then see Slaanesh influence the Order nations from within, as the darkness within. Keep in mind that since the getgo this plan has also been written out for Slaanesh aswell, largely represented in Cults of Order nations and sometimes an Elf. Though as before, I doubt that the mayority of the faction will be mixed with Elfs. I wouldn't count out an Elfen character though.
 

 

[BaldoBeardo]

Uh.. Tzeentch *is* the hidden darkness within. Like, that's his whole deal.
His cults seek to engineer great plans and works, overthrowing who/whatever. To change things.
Slaanesh cults have always been about selfish indulgence or advancement. They don't overthrow, they just cause society to break down because everyone's too high/sore/hungover/happy to care about it.
Insidious maybe, but they aren't great organisations with machinations beyond how to avoid being caught getting their rocks off.

Slaanesh is easy to model in a ruleset. They have a pretty good hook - speed and mind games.
The issue is most likely presentation; there's a *lot* of snap judgements that can be made about previous Slaanesh minis right back to the start, and they aren't conducive to young adults.

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[mmimzie]

1 hour ago, BaldoBeardo said:

Uh.. Tzeentch *is* the hidden darkness within. Like, that's his whole deal.
His cults seek to engineer great plans and works, overthrowing who/whatever. To change things.
Slaanesh cults have always been about selfish indulgence or advancement. They don't overthrow, they just cause society to break down because everyone's too high/sore/hungover/happy to care about it.
Insidious maybe, but they aren't great organisations with machinations beyond how to avoid being caught getting their rocks off.

Slaanesh is easy to model in a ruleset. They have a pretty good hook - speed and mind games.
The issue is most likely presentation; there's a *lot* of snap judgements that can be made about previous Slaanesh minis right back to the start, and they aren't conducive to young adults.

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Yeah you basically hit it all on the head here.  

It's hard to see slaanesh with out having naked guys and girls running around the table top. While other aspects of slaanesh are difficult to capture without making them look like one of the other gods. 

Like when you scroll up to look at the older images of slaanesh stuff... i feel like those could easily just be khnore guys they just need more red and brass, and a little blood.  After that, you could give them a edgy name like blood takers or skull drinkers.  

[BaldoBeardo]

Fascination/allure is a big part of every version of Slaanesh. I think - in blunt terms - Slaanesh mini design needs to put the little black dress on and forget the bikini.
There's more power in what is not visible but is implied, rather than just putting it all out there.

I think thematically the other issue with Slaanesh is that he is the only truly selfish god.
I don't mean other chaos powers aren't self-serving. Every eejit who ever picked up an axe and bellowed to Khorne had subconsciously decided 'daemonhood or bust'.
What I mean is that Slaanesh's doctrine is based entirely on the self. At which point you need a baseline to start from, something to hold a dark mirror up to.
So I believe that when we get the Disciples of Slaanesh equivalent book, the overall feel to the mortal forces will be Aelven, even if it's humans. Wherever Slaanesh has been hiding and recovering, the closest mortals to hand were very likely Aelven, so his new cults will have been formed by their perversion of their extant culture.



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[VBS]

Random thought, but I always found quite odd how the simple fact of showing some ****** or sinuous tongues is considered as non-viable because it isn't appropriate for certain customers... yet decapitated heads, hanging bowels and tales of mass murder is fine. Logic = not found.

Why is the first not acceptable and the second one is? As far as I know, developped ****** is a natural thing (half of the population have those) and most kids by the age of 12 already know how "all that works", so a 6th ed daemonette wouldn't be a disturbing revelation. I think that rivers of blood, mountains of corpses and bubonic plagues corroding the flesh leading to a horrible death are notoriously worse.

I never understood this idea of "must remove sexual aspect of Slaanesh to be acceptable" as a necessary change (from a logical point of view). GW could explore other aspects of depravity without focussing just on lust, but without forcibly removing it in the name of virtuous prudence. 

[KillagoreFaceslasha]

34 minutes ago, VBS said:

Random thought, but I always found quite odd how the simple fact of showing some ****** or sinuous tongues is considered as non-viable because it isn't appropriate for certain customers... yet decapitated heads, hanging bowels and tales of mass murder is fine. Logic = not found.

Why is the first not acceptable and the second one is? As far as I know, developped ****** is a natural thing (half of the population have those) and most kids by the age of 12 already know how "all that works", so a 6th ed daemonette wouldn't be a disturbing revelation. I think that rivers of blood, mountains of corpses and bubonic plagues corroding the flesh leading to a horrible death are notoriously worse.

I never understood this idea of "must remove sexual aspect of Slaanesh to be acceptable" as a necessary change (from a logical point of view). GW could explore other aspects of depravity without focussing just on lust, but without forcibly removing it in the name of virtuous prudence. 

I think the main reason lies within our societie's moral roots. Sexuality and killing were viewed as sins but killing was then glorified and viewed as the non-plus-ultra of moral paragons if it was done for a good reason. The reason, of course, varied and was pretty vague in and itself so you had people murdering each other at the drop of a hat but shame on the ****** who dared to show her ankly or wrist!