Very much, yes! Chaos is the clearest, most stable faction in the entire lore in terms of characterisation and intent!
Honestly, I think the ambiguity behind the Imperium’s portrayal stems from a sort of pandering to the popularity of the faction itself, maybe even to blunt the sharpness a bit, make it more accessible to new inductees. Easier to sell a “slightly Theo-Fascistic” galactic empire than “we need to sacrifice literally thousands of people marked as Other to a corpse and, yes, corpse starch is exactly what it says on the tin. Oh, and we’ll need to lobotomise about 10000 of you because our biotoxin planet-wiping nukes need polishing.”
It’s a pity, because that’s exactly what drew me into 40k to begin with, that feeling of “wow, this stuff’s beyond horrific, my morbid curiosity is tickled seventy shades of pink!”
Very much, yes! Chaos is the clearest, most stable faction in the entire lore in terms of characterisation and intent!
Honestly, I think the ambiguity behind the Imperium’s portrayal stems from a sort of pandering to the popularity of the faction itself, maybe even to blunt the sharpness a bit, make it more accessible to new inductees. Easier to sell a “slightly Theo-Fascistic” galactic empire than “we need to sacrifice literally thousands of people marked as Other to a corpse and, yes, corpse starch is exactly what it says on the tin. Oh, and we’ll need to lobotomise about 10000 of you because our biotoxin planet-wiping nukes need polishing.”
It’s a pity, because that’s exactly what drew me into 40k to begin with, that feeling of “wow, this stuff’s beyond horrific, my morbid curiosity is tickled seventy shades of pink!”