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Correspondence of the Ruinous Powers

Nurgle is one of four major Chaos gods, a small pantheon whose members have distinct roles. This separation of attributes into four categories is a common theme amongst many classical spheres. This page lists a variety of these correspondences, allowing for new viewpoints in interpreting the ruinous powers.

The first section (down to the opposing Chaos god) is canon information derived from Games Workshop publications. The rest is speculative flufftossing, to be taken with a liberal dose of metaphorical salt; it's my own personal interpretation based on a not-insignificant understanding of the relevant underlying philosophies and the Warhammer background.

Within sections delineated by horizontal lines, the characteristics are internally related in their classical origins (for example each of the four archangels is linked to a particular cardinal direction).

An Aside on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

I tried relating the four chaos gods to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but in reading the source text I realised that the modern popular viewpoint has deviated significantly. In particular, there is no "Pestilence" in the original. So there is no appropriate mapping to make between the horsemen and the chaos gods.

Καὶ εἶδον ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὸ Ἀρνίον μίαν ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ σφραγίδων· καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ζῴων λέγοντος ὡς φωνῇ βροντῆς· ἔρχου. καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔχων τόξον· καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ στέφανος, καὶ ἐξῆλθε νικῶν καὶ ἵνα νικήσῃ. Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν δευτέραν, ἤκουσα τοῦ δευτέρου ζῴου λέγοντος· ἔρχου. καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἄλλος ἵππος πυρρός, καὶ τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἐδόθη αὐτῷ λαβεῖν τὴν εἰρήνην ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἵνα ἀλλήλους σφάξωσι, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ μάχαιρα μεγάλη. Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν τρίτην, ἤκουσα τοῦ τρίτου ζῴου λέγοντος· ἔρχου. καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος μέλας, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔχων ζυγὸν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἤκουσα ὡς φωνὴν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν τεσσάρων ζῴων λέγουσαν· χοῖνιξ σίτου δηναρίου, καὶ τρεῖς χοίνικες κριθῆς δηναρίου· καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ τὸν οἶνον μὴ ἀδικήσῃς. Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν τετάρτην, ἤκουσα φωνὴν τοῦ τετάρτου ζῴου λέγοντος· ἔρχου. καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος χλωρός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ ὄνομα αὐτῷ ὁ θάνατος, καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἠκολουθεῖ μετ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἐξουσία ἐπὶ τὸ τέταρτον τῆς γῆς, ἀποκτεῖναι ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ καὶ ἐν λιμῷ καὶ ἐν θανάτῳ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θηρίων τῆς γῆς.

Here is my own translation (keeping close to the original Greek) of the Revelations of St John the Divine, chapter 6, verses 1 to 8:

1. And I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals; and I heard one of the four animals saying in a voice of thunder; come.
2. and I looked, and I saw a white horse, and he sitting on it had a bow; and given to him a crown, and he came forth to conquer and in order to be victorious.
3. And when the second seal was opened, I heard the second animal saying; come.
4. and another fiery [red] horse came forth, and unto him sitting upon it to take the peace from the earth in order that others slaughter each other, and given to him a large knife.
5. And when the third seal was opened, I heard the third animal saying; come. And I looked, and I saw a black horse, and he sitting on it had scales in his hand.
6. and I heard as a voice in the middle of the four animals said; one pouring of wheat per denarius, and three pourings of barley per denarius; and the olive and the wine to not be treated unjustly.
7. And when the fourth seal was opened, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying; come.
8. and I looked, and I saw a pale green horse, and the name of he sitting upon it is death, and hades follows after him; and given to them was authority over one quarter of the earth, to kill by sword and by hunger and by death and via the wild beasts of the earth.

Notes:

• For comparison, popular culture labels these horsemen (in order) as Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.
• The first two horsemen are clearly conquest and conflict.
• The third horseman is more open to interpretation. In verse 6, the prices for wheat and barley given are something like eight to ten times the usual price, and are such that at these prices a working man could just afford a day's worth of grain for a day's worth of pay. The high prices on staple foods may be due to a variety of causes: swingeing taxation, crop destruction (such as through war, fire, or locust plague), or crop failure (from plant disease, drought, flooding, or other natural disaster). The result is a high food price, but still survivable, so not actual famine conditions.
  • Given the symbology of the scales and that only staple foods are affected, overtaxation seems the most fitting take to me: an onerous burden on the working class imposed by an overbearing authority. This is in keeping with the previous two horseman as it is a man-made crisis, rather than any natural disaster.
• In grammatical context, where the latter half of verse 8 refers to "them" this is Death and Hades rather than the four horsemen. While the sword and hunger do map well to the second and third horseman, and indeed death to the fourth, the wild beasts do not appear to be a match for the first horseman.
  • Again, a man-made crisis can be inferred from the fourth horseman too, considering that the deaths it causes are through the actions of an authority: careless or uncaring leadership resulting in widespread death.

dedicated to the Bringer of Plague