| rdfs:comment | - While Daemon Princes come in as wide a variety of shapes and sizes as there are facets of Chaos, most are massive beings composed of hulking muscle and thick sinew, displaying traditionally daemonic characteristics like horns and bat-like wings. All Daemon Princes wield potent sorcerous powers that originate in the Warp's psychic energies, and that are representative of the sphere of influence of the Daemon Prince's patron Chaos God. What little that a Daemon Prince retains of his or her humanity is usually only the caustic ambition and ruthless cunning which helped them earn their Chaotic reward in the first place. In the 41st Millennium, most of the Daemon Princes known to the Imperium hail from the ranks of the Chaos Space Marines, as these often ancient warriors possess the capability
- Despite the fact that they were not born as Daemons, those Chaos Champions that attain the status of Daemon Prince gain immortality and become the enemy of all that is true and natural in the world. All who set foot upon the path of Chaos eventually seek this apotheosis, the glorious moment of metamorphosis where they shrug off their mortal shell and become a being of undying darkness. But for every Champion who raises his horned head and roars his triumph to the skies as a newborn Daemon Prince, untold thousands perish on the field of battle or end their lives as mewling Chaos Spawn.[2a]
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| abstract | - Despite the fact that they were not born as Daemons, those Chaos Champions that attain the status of Daemon Prince gain immortality and become the enemy of all that is true and natural in the world. All who set foot upon the path of Chaos eventually seek this apotheosis, the glorious moment of metamorphosis where they shrug off their mortal shell and become a being of undying darkness. But for every Champion who raises his horned head and roars his triumph to the skies as a newborn Daemon Prince, untold thousands perish on the field of battle or end their lives as mewling Chaos Spawn.[2a] At the point of a Chaos Champion's transformation, bat-like wings or mighty feathered pinions will sprout from his back, bearing him aloft that he might rule the skies as well as the earth. Other Daemon Princes might soar on crackling pillars of flame, arms outstretched as they cry praise to their blasphemous gods. Some are granted an ethereal beauty or hellish foulness that can freeze a man in place as the Daemon Prince descends from the skies to feed. There are even those with the ability to reshape reality itself, as skilled at manipulating the Winds of Magic as the most puissant of Sorcerers.[2a] Daemon Princes are vast in stature, their gigantic forms twisted into new shapes more pleasing to their masters. They wield unholy weapons and abilities, and are bedecked in chains and jewellery covered with the symbols of their patron. The variations between these masters of misrule are legion. Nonetheless, it is common for these Princes of Chaos to retain their intellect and their memory, the better to recall the humanity they left behind. Some Daemon Princes enter the Realm of Chaos to serve their gods on other worlds and dimensions, but most serve as commanders of the mortal armies of Chaos, waging eternal war in their patron's name. Tirelessly they hunt the enemies of their masters, for their meat is human flesh and their wine mortal souls.[2a]
- While Daemon Princes come in as wide a variety of shapes and sizes as there are facets of Chaos, most are massive beings composed of hulking muscle and thick sinew, displaying traditionally daemonic characteristics like horns and bat-like wings. All Daemon Princes wield potent sorcerous powers that originate in the Warp's psychic energies, and that are representative of the sphere of influence of the Daemon Prince's patron Chaos God. What little that a Daemon Prince retains of his or her humanity is usually only the caustic ambition and ruthless cunning which helped them earn their Chaotic reward in the first place. In the 41st Millennium, most of the Daemon Princes known to the Imperium hail from the ranks of the Chaos Space Marines, as these often ancient warriors possess the capability and desire needed to successfully serve the interests of Chaos well and long enough to earn daemonhood. However, the oldest of the Daemon Princes may actually have ascended to their immortal stature during the savage age long before Mankind left Terra to explore and settle the stars. When a Daemon Prince conquers a world in the physical universe using the mortal Forces of Chaos that serve him, his patron Chaos God or the Chaos Gods as a whole if he serves Chaos Undivided bestow the world upon him as his own personal realm. The conquered planet is absorbed into the Immaterium. It becomes what the Imperial Administratum has deemed a Daemon World, a sub-reality of the Warp in which the ruling Daemon Prince has complete control over reality, having essentially become a minor Chaos God within the boundaries of his own realm. Like all daemons, Daemon Princes much prefer the environment of the Warp to the physical universe, and only rarely do they deign to actually leave the Empyrean and reenter the material universe. Daemon Princes are prized by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos because unlike true daemons or even the Chaos Gods themselves, they are former mortals. As previous denizens of the Materium, Daemon Princes still have a deep knowledge of the material universe and how mortals think and act. Despite this, many Daemon Princes continue to crave more power and further ascent within the ranks of the Forces of Chaos and so they often choose to join the retinue of a Greater Daemon of their patron Dark Power. To their surprise and anger, Daemon Princes often discover that other daemons, particularly the Greater Daemons who outrank even them amongst the servants of the Ruinous Powers, regard Daemon Princes as inferior beings because of their mortal origins, seeing them as tainted by their heritage as natives of the physical universe. As always, even Daemon Princes are no more than tools of Chaos, albeit extremely powerful ones, to be used and discarded as the situation demands it.
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