Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh all awoke in the middle of an alleyway in an unknown mortal city on an unknown planet in the material realm. All four of them were confused and disoriented, not knowing what had happened. Though at first Slaanesh had assumed she was waking up in her palace in the warp after one of her countless nights of debauchery. Then all four of them remembered what had happened. The Anathema's throne had failed and he had died thus ascending to true godhood, having shed his fleeting mortal body. He had been vastly more powerful than any of them could have ever possibly anticipated.

He slaughtered their servants and daemons, destroyed their realms within the Warp, and had banished them from the Warp. There had been nothing any of them could do to stop him. Even working together his power dwarfed theirs immensely. He was as a blue giant star was to a nuclear explosion. The nuclear explosion was powerful indeed but it could never rival the immense fury of a star. They all thought the Anathema had either destroyed or consumed them, yet here they found themselves very much alive. Even stranger still, they were somehow in the materium. That was when all four of them noticed that their physical forms had changed dramatically.

Khorne was in full armor that closely resembled the armor of his previous form with only a few minor differences such as having much smaller spikes. Furthermore he now lacked the red glow his body previously had and his features underneath his armor had changed to match those of a human, he could feel it. Eternally angry red irises peered out from underneath his helmet, only having a slight glow to them, and his face underneath his helmet was locked into a furious scowl. His right hand was clutched tightly around the hilt of his large two handed sword, The End of All Things, which was still wreathed in hellish daemonic flames.

Nurgle was no longer a bloated mass of flesh and disease. Rather he now appeared to be an extremely old human man. He had oddly shaped antlers sticking out of the sides of his head, sickly green eyes, long white hair and a beard both of which were disheveled and dirty, and wore an old, tattered, and dirty robe. His face was filled with sorrow and despair at the loss of his home, his wife, and all of his beautiful children. Though his expression also showed acceptance and understanding as this loss, this despair was of his domain and he was all too familiar with it. So he put on a sorrowful smile and sadly but willingly embraced his despair and the deaths of all his beautiful children.

Tzeentch now also looked human. He had a flowing blue hooded robe, solid blue eyes that glowed with arcane energy, a clean shaven face, and perfectly straight dark blue shoulder length hair that was parted down the middle. He wielded a large wooden staff that was covered in glowing blue runes that were constantly changing and were almost impossible to decipher. If a mortal looked upon these runes their brains simply wouldn't know how to process them and would thus find them confusing and incomprehensible. As he looked around it was clear he was curious about his surroundings but was already making trillions of schemes all at once as he looked upon the threads of fate and saw what was to come to pass.

Slaanesh now appeared to be an Eldar woman. All of her features were the very definition of perfection and she had an appearance that radiated an unnaturally seductive beauty. She had long white hair, slightly glowing purple eyes, a thin lithe appearance, perfect proportions from her hips to her breasts, and wore extremely skimpy clothing though the other three supposed it was a miracle that she was wearing any clothes at all. She was currently eyeing her new form in appreciation and was eagerly exploring her new body to the point she was practically molesting herself right then and there. What else would one expect from the god of pain, pleasure, perfection, and excess?

Khorne got up off the ground, growled in hellish fury, and raised his flaming sword to cleave Slaanesh completely in half. However, a light blue barrier appeared between the two of them blocking his blade mid swing, if only barely as the barrier shattered immediately on impact. Still it took all the momentum out of the swing. "Now now, let's not be so hasty. We needn't fight. At least not yet. Though I suppose we can still do so if you insist even after hearing what I have to say. While our Great Game may be over due to the ascension of the anathema, I would like to propose a new game. One already being played by the deities of this reality." Tzeentch stated in an attempt to divert Khorne's aggression.

Khorne snorted in disdain and growled, "Why should I listen to you, you scheming, sorcerous, coward!? You speak not but lies! I will add all three of your skulls to my new throne!"

"Ooh, Khorne, you know I love it when you're so aggressive…" Slaanesh said seductively, walking over to him and stroking the cheek of his helmet. In response Khorne backhanded her so hard that it knocked her to the ground, causing her to moan in ecstasy as pain exploded through her face. "Oh yes! Hit me again! Harder! Stab me, burn me, flay me alive! I need more! Give me more!"

Khorne snarled in disgust. This was exactly why he had always hated Slaanesh the most out of any of his siblings. She disgusted him to no end. He would rather wade through the noxious rivers and oceans of Nurgle's gardens than put up with Slaanesh and her depravity.

Nurgle just sighed at the depraved spectacle and said, "Hmm… I must agree with Khorne. I'm sure this is just another one of your schemes, Tzeentch."

Tzeentch chuckled and said, "You would be correct. It is. Though in this case I will readily admit it is a scheme to allow the four of us to stay entertained while we wait out the rest of eternity. Obviously there are countless plots, schemes, and sub plots I am already planning but it's all for this next game. All the three of you need to do is follow my lead for just a few hours then we go our separate ways at which point the game will begin for us! I have looked upon the threads of fate and have already learned much about this world we find ourselves in. It may not be as large or grandiose as the Great Game which spanned the entire galaxy, but unfortunately we're stuck here and this new game should be… adequate. Not excellent but not terrible either, just adequate."

Tzeentch sighed disappointedly and said, "This game does have actual rules and restrictions, unfortunately, but it was originally created by other gods long before we arrived. Regardless, Khorne you will get to have all the warriors you wish under your command once again and have them slay truly worthy foes in your name. Nurgle, you will be able to gain many new children to replace those you lost. Slaanesh, you will be able to have hundreds if not thousands of lovers and servants and will be able to engage in as much depravity as you want, though flaying mortals alive, cannibalism, and other such things will be against the rules. Again their decision, not mine. There are too many of them for us to deal with so we have no choice but to follow their rules if we wish to participate. If I thought there was even the slimmest chance we could succeed, then I would suggest we just kill them all and have a repeat of the Great Game just on a smaller scale but there's not. We would lose almost immediately if we outright declared war on the other gods of this world as we had done with the Anathema."

Slaanesh pouted and said, "How boring… Oh well, I suppose I can make it work. Mutilation is banned but pain in general is still acceptable, correct?"

"As long as the methods in which it is inflicted aren't lethal, don't cause permanent harm, and the individual agrees to it beforehand. Though if someone attacks you first you have free reign to defend yourselves however you see fit. If that involves causing a bit more pain than is strictly necessary while the aggressor dies, torturing them may be frowned upon but they won't do anything about it… Especially if they are unable to prove anything… Think of it like a bit of added challenge." Tzeentch explained.

Slaanesh's face lit up in sadistic glee as she heard that. "Hm… I suppose a bit of extra challenge could be fun… It's still disappointing but oh well, I suppose."

"I suppose it would be nice having a family again… I do miss my children terribly after the Anathema slaughtered them all…" Nurgle said, still extremely hesitant to trust Tzeentch. It sounded like he was telling the truth but one could never be sure when it came to the Lord of Change.

Tzeentch clapped his hands together once with a large unreadable smile on his face and said, "Excellent, I'm glad the two of you agree. Khorne?"

The blood god was silent for a couple moments as he glared at the three of them. "...This had better be worth it!" He growled in cold fury. "You may keep your skulls… For now."

"Perfect! Then all three of you come with me and as I said earlier, follow my lead. If we're lucky we may be able to go our separate ways in a few hours, though if we are not then it may take a day or two. They have sensed our arrival into this realm and are more than likely already expecting us." Tzeentch said before turning and walking off to leave the alley way. None of the others asked who Tzeentch meant as they all already knew. They could already sense the presences of the other deities in this realm and had been able to from the moment they had regained their bearings after awakening.

Tzeentch led them all on a winding and extremely convoluted path through the city. Thus it took a full hour for them to reach their destination, an extremely large tower in the middle of the city. As soon as they arrived Tzeentch looked at them and said, "We got lucky. All of them are already waiting for us. Just allow me to do the talking for the moment, until we reach their meeting room. Khorne, try not to kill anyone until after the meeting." He then turned and led them inside the building. Walking ahead of them he went up to one of the individuals who were wearing strange uniforms and said something to them that none of the other three could hear.

As they got closer they heard the individual in the uniform say, "Oh! I see. It's good you came here. At the request of the other gods the Guild has put out a search order for the four of you. As soon as you were found we were to lead you here and escort you to the meeting room. If you would, please follow me."

"Of course! Thank you." Tzeentch said. The four of them then followed the Guild worker up multiple flights of stairs. After a while they finally came to a stop on a particular floor and the Guild Worker motioned to a door.

"Just go through that door. The other gods are already waiting for you inside." With that the guild worker turned and began walking back down the stairs.

A light blue flash enveloped the door handle for a moment before the door swung open on its own. Then Tzeentch proceeded to lead them into the room in which every god in the city was already waiting for them. "Greetings. I am Tzeentch and these are my siblings: Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"What are you doing in our realm? None of you belong here." One of the other gods said in a serious tone.

"Oh it's simple really. We were at war with another god, we lost, and instead of killing us he banished us here for whatever reason. I honestly expected him to destroy us, so this is just as unexpected to the four of us as it is to the rest of you. Regardless, now that we're here we are unable to leave. Thus our intentions in this realm are now the exact same as the reason all of you are in the mortal realm. Our Great Game is over and we have lost so we merely wish to pass the rest of eternity entertaining ourselves with a new game. The exact same game that all of you are already playing." Tzeentch stated.

"Hm… So you already know of it. Then I assume you all already know the rules?" Another god inquired.

"I do. My divinations have already revealed to me the nature of this game and all the rules we must follow. And before you ask, no. I did not use any sort of divine powers for my divination though I very much could have. I am a god of fate, change, knowledge, and sorcery. As well as hope, to a lesser extent. I merely used magic that any mortal could with the right skill and knowledge as magic is my domain and as such I often use it whenever I can rather than using divine powers. However, the rest of my siblings are unfamiliar with these rules. Do you wish to explain the rules to them or should I?" Tzeentch inquired. He intentionally left out the part that he was also a god of schemes and outright lied about not using any divine powers. The gods could tell when mortals were lying to them, but Tzeentch was definitely not a mortal thus they had no idea that he wasn't being honest. His siblings likely knew he was lying but he was sure that none of them really cared.

"You go ahead. Though before you do I would like to ask, if you're a god of fate, change, magic, and hope what about the rest of your siblings?" Yet another god inquired.

"A fair question. I suppose I'll let them explain. Khorne, why don't you go first?"

Khorne snorted in rage and stepped forth. "I am Khorne, the god of blood, war, rage, and hatred!" He growled furiously. Almost all of the other gods leaned away from him slightly, actually a bit intimidated by him.

Slaanesh stepped forwards next. "And I am Slaanesh, the god, or I suppose goddess of pain, pleasure, perfection, passion, decadence, and excess… How lovely it is to meet you all. After this meeting I would absolutely love to get to know you all a bit more… intimately." She said seductively, immediately drawing the full attention of every male in the room — minus her brothers — and even a few of the females.

Nurgle stepped forward last and said, "I am Nurgle, the god of nature, stagnation, death, decay, destruction, disease, and despair. I am by far the kindest out of all my siblings."

"W-wait, what? What do you mean you're the kindest—" One deity started to ask after Nurgle finished his introduction only to be cut off by Tzeentch.

"Yes, well, now that the introductions are out of the way allow me to explain the rules to you." Tzeentch stated before turning to the other three and explaining what the game was and all of the rules. It took about two hours for him to explain everything. All of them reacted about as one would expect. Nurgle sighed but accepted it without complaint, Khorne hated it but accepted the challenge, Slaanesh was extremely annoyed and disappointed by the rules and laws but still accepted it.

"Alright, well if that's all, all four of us would very much like to get started on building our Familias as soon as possible and I'm sure all of you have better things to do than sitting here all day. I am aware that our entrance into this realm must be a rather major event but it shouldn't be so major as to warrant wasting the entire day here." Tzeentch stated, looking at the other gods.

"Yeah, I agree. Now that we know they aren't gonna try anything funny here in the mortal world and they all know the rules, who cares? I'm going home." Said one of the other gods. The others quickly followed suit. Once the four of them were outside, they immediately parted ways.

[Slaanesh]

After the meeting Slaanesh was immediately approached by several of the other gods that she had apparently successfully managed to seduce. Thus she offered them her "services" in return for currency, at which point she started a massive orgy. This orgy lasted until the next afternoon. When it was over, Slaanesh left with a hefty amount of coins. She then went for a walk through the city hunting for new followers. Many mortals practically threw themselves at her but she refused each of them. She would only accept the most perfect individuals as her followers. As far as she was concerned no one else was worthy of the honor of joining her familia. Since in this realm gods had a bit closer relations to the members of their familias than she ever had with her previous followers, she was going to be quite a lot more picky about who she let join her.

Her search didn't take long. She eventually found a few young and beautiful "Amazons", as she would learn they were called, and after confirming that they weren't already part of a familia would convince them to join hers. By the end of the day she had gained six new followers, two of which were handsome muscular men while the other four were beautiful Amazons. Before letting them head off to the guild to get signed up as adventurers she made sure to have a bit of fun with each of them. She ended up starting another orgy that would last only a few hours this time, much to her disappointment.

[Nurgle]

Nurgle walked through the city taking in the sights and enjoying the company of all the nice people that lived there. He was extremely disappointed that he wouldn't be allowed to spread his gifts to them all, but that was fine. Disease was only one of his aspects and he was sure at least some of his followers would get sick eventually by contracting diseases naturally. For now he would focus on his other aspects.

Eventually, by pure chance he ended up in the slums of the city. There he found those who would become the first members of his familia. One was a young homeless man, another was a slightly older homeless woman, another was an old homeless man on his last legs, and the rest were homeless orphans of varying ages the oldest of which was sixteen and the youngest of which was seven. He took the time to ask each of their names and learn about each of them and their interests.

The young man was named Arthur. He was quite a hard worker, had a rough childhood and was forced to run away from home at a young age because of his abusive parents, and enjoyed carving random pieces of wood with an old rusty knife he had saved up to buy.

The woman's name was Julia. Like most of the orphans she had been abandoned by her parents at a young age, over the years she had tried to get into many different familias but had been rejected each and every time, Nurgle was apparently the first god to have ever approached her with an offer to join his familia, and she enjoyed maintaining a little garden she had managed to make.

The old man's name was Lucian. He apparently used to own a small shop but had gotten in major debt and lost everything and had been living on the streets ever since. He had an old violin that he managed to keep and enjoyed playing it. It was missing a couple strings but he was still able to play beautiful music with it. That was apparently how he had earned enough money to feed himself up until this point.

The orphans' names were Alice, Mark, Jack, and Elizabeth. Mark was the oldest and Elizabeth was the youngest. Apparently Jack and Alice were twins. They all enjoyed playing with each other and pretending to be adventurers.

As soon as Nurgle granted Arthur and Julia their falna, they rushed off to the guild to get themselves registered as adventurers immediately. Mark was barely old enough to join them and thus went with them. The other children wanted to join Julia, Arthur, and Mark but Lucian managed to convince them to stay behind saying the three of them were too young to be adventurers and offering to play a song for them with his violin to help pass the time until Arthur, Julia, and Mark returned. Once Lucian finished his song Nurgle offered to tell his new children a few stories. He told them about some of the more tame and entertaining exploits of his former children that he knew wouldn't scare any of them.

Nurgle was just happy to have a family again, regardless of their extremely modest living conditions.

[Khorne]

As soon as the meeting was over Khorne skipped trying to gain followers and immediately headed into the depths of the dungeon. Technically gods were not supposed to go into the dungeon, but as long as he didn't use any of his divine powers, which he wouldn't be doing anyways since it was against the rules of this new game, he knew it would be fine. He easily slaughtered his way through the 1st-17th floors and made it all the way to the 18th floor. Though when he saw that the 18th floor was a rest area for adventurers, he immediately went back up to the 17th floor and continued slaughtering whatever monsters it could throw at him.

Unfortunately he was limited to using only mortal levels of speed and strength, as per the rules of the game, but what he lacked in physical capabilities he more than made up for in raw skill, willpower, unrelenting bloodlust, and berserker fury. Plus his equipment was still extremely powerful even if their abilities were not even so much as a fraction of a shadow of what they once were. As such his sword cleaved through the monsters as easily as it cleaved through the void of space and his armor was strong enough that he couldn't even so much as feel any of their attacks on the very rare occasions that the monsters actually successfully managed to hit him just before he brutally slaughtered them.

He was infuriated that he was never able to claim any of the skulls of the monsters he killed. He knew that he could grant mortals the ability to claim the skulls of the monsters they killed if they joined his familia and he let them consume a small amount of his blood as it would grant them a "skill" that would allow them to do so. However, he himself was not mortal and didn't have any so-called talents thus for him the monsters only dropped what they usually did for any random adventurer, much to his annoyance. Still he took all the crystals they dropped and stuffed them in the small sack that the guild had provided him with before he entered the dungeon. Eventually the sack was completely full and was unable to contain any more crystals. Even so he continued killing them for several more hours, leaving the excess crystals where they fell, before he finally started making his way back to the surface. He was unsatisfied with his foes and decided that after he gained some followers he was going to plunge even deeper into the dungeon.

After turning in the crystals he had gathered in exchange for currency, he marched off to go find some potential warriors to join his familia. Unfortunately he could see into the souls of each and every mortal that crossed his path and he had yet to find any he deemed worthy of serving him. Almost all of them were either cowards or weaklings with no fighting spirit. The only individuals he found who were already warriors were those that already belonged to other familias. Thus he changed his search from powerful warriors to individuals who had the potential to become powerful warriors.

He found eight such individuals. Most were young men but there were also a couple boys in the group as well and two women who were apparently known as "amazons". All of them were old enough to fight and all of them had some level of fighting spirit and great potential within them. None were truly cowards otherwise he would never have accepted them in the first place. He could tell most would flee from the larger monsters from deeper in the dungeon in their current state, but he was going to be sure to beat that out of them in the days to come. Soon enough none of them would ever dare run away from their enemy no matter the odds or how afraid they may be. He would not abide cowardice of any sort within his ranks.

Once he found his last follower, after purchasing a goblet and having all of them drink a bit of his blood to grant them all the talent to claim skulls in his name, he led all eight of them to the guild to get them registered as adventurers then he took all of them into the dungeon. They couldn't survive the middle floors like he could, especially with the pathetic equipment the guild provided them with. So instead he led them all the way to the 8th floor. It was going to be very difficult for them to survive on this level, but that was the point. Their status would increase and they would grow in levels faster if they were exposed to greater challenges making them become even greater warriors even faster than they would otherwise. As far as he was concerned, if they were killed by the monsters on this level then they were too weak to be in his familia to begin with, especially since there were eight of them and they were all working together.

By the time all of their crystal pouches were full many were seriously injured by the monsters but none of them had died. As such Khorne decided to allow them to continue to serve him. This was merely their first test, but all of them had passed. They would continue to hunt on this level every day for a while until they grew stronger then he would give them their next test, which was going to be even harder than the first. He was going to personally drag monsters up from the depths of the middle levels and he was going to have them fight these monsters. Each individual was going to get their own monster that they had to kill, and unlike this first test in which they were all allowed to work together none of the others were going to be allowed to help them at all in any capacity during the second test. If they died they failed, if they lived they passed and likely increased in level. It was as simple as that.

[Tzeentch]

Having read the threads of fate Tzeentch already knew where to go, what to do, and what to say to earn his first few followers within this realm. He would gain nine followers this day and each of them would become excellent sorcerers. Unfortunately he had to actually teach them rather than just shoving the knowledge into their heads and being done with it but that was fine. While it would indeed be a bit tedious he could do it and it would further his plans. Well, technically he could write magic books and shove the knowledge into their heads that way but he currently didn't have any money to buy the empty book or quill and inkwell that he would need. He couldn't steal them either as every future he could see where he stole them ended up with him being caught. Thus teaching them himself was the only method that was available to him at the moment.

His first stop was a local library. Walking inside he quickly spotted his first two targets. Two young women who had come to this city to become adventurers but had been rejected by every familia they approached. They both had the potential to become great sorcerers and perhaps the best schemers out of any he would recruit today thus they were going to be crucial to his plans going forwards. One was a human while the other was an elf. The human's name was Mary while the elf's name was Autumn. It was pure coincidence that they had both ended up in this library at the same time. Tzeentch definitely didn't tug at the threads of fate a bit to make them both end up here at the same time for his own convenience. No… Of course not! That would be breaking the rules and Tzeentch would never break the rules in order to get ahead. That would be ridiculous! He was by far the most honest and trust worthy of his siblings. At least that's what he would tell others if they asked, which he knew they wouldn't since they would never find out to begin with.

Approaching them, it didn't take much to convince them both to join his familia. He had to take them elsewhere to give them their falna since he couldn't exactly ask them to remove their shirts in public. However this particular library was conveniently located near a nice Inn where one of the women was able to rent a room where they would have some measure of privacy. The process only took a few minutes. When it was done the three of them left to go find more members.

Tzeentch already knew all of the names of everyone he was going to recruit, but he still asked them anyways so as to maintain the illusion that he wasn't subtly violating the rules as he could feel the gods in the divine realm still watching him. Apparently they didn't trust him above all the rest of his siblings. He couldn't begin to fathom why that may be… It was quite the mystery, truly... Regardless, the rest of his followers were a mix of men and women of all different races and species. He honestly couldn't care less what they were, as long as they were effective tools that could further his schemes and had at least some potential to become at least half decent sorcerers. Though other than Mary and Autumn there were only a couple of the others that he viewed as significant. As far as he was concerned all the rest were completely expendable. They were useful so he didn't want to expend any of them just yet, but if they died it wouldn't have any true impact on any of his major schemes.

Regardless, once he had gathered all nine of his followers, he proceeded to get them all registered as adventurers. Though even after the guild provided them with some very basic gear he didn't send them to the dungeon just yet. Instead he brought them all somewhere private and began teaching all nine of them sorcery. Magic in this realm worked a bit differently than the sorcery in the Warp that he was used to, but he was still the god of sorcery and thus had gained an innate knowledge of this realm's magic from the very moment he and the others woke up here. He disliked the fact that most magic in this world required incantations to use and he found all of the incantations absolutely ridiculous and meaningless. Though he didn't let that stop him.

Thus the first thing he taught them was a very simple combat spell. It would allow them to hurl a relatively weak bolt of lightning from their hands. It didn't consume too much energy so they could all cast it quite a few times before needing to stop, and it would kill any of the monsters on the first few floors in one shot. Though monsters below the 4th floor would require multiple shots. Still, knowing this spell they would all be able to make it to at least the 9th floor as long as they worked in groups.

The lesson lasted about two hours. When it was over he sent all nine of them to the dungeon to practice their new spell and collect crystals to trade in for currency. When they got back he would use what currency they earned to temporarily rent a building for them all to stay in. Having looked at the threads of fate he already knew which would be the most optimal building they would be able to rent in this entire city and exactly where it was. In the meantime he would spend his time in the library where he first recruited Mary and Autumn as he waited for all of them to return.

End Notes: So, with the reposting of this story I have officially lost hope that Games Workshop will ever back down and end their bullshit animation policies. And I genuinely want to continue this story so with that in mind I can't wait an eternity for Games Workshop to either change its policies or go out of business. Thus I am finally officially continuing the story. However, I am rebooting it with a few changes and a different idea for the direction of the plot. I will be reusing a lot from the chapters of the previous version of the story, but I will be changing and updating some things.

And no, this time I will not be including the Emperor or any other gods from Warhammer 40k. This story is about the Chaos Gods and the Chaos Gods alone. If you want me to write a story about the Emperor and the Primarchs, the C'tan, or the Eldar gods then it will have to be in a completely separate story. I messed up the original story by including the Emperor and the Primarchs, I will not be repeating my mistakes.