WEBVTT - The Monstrefact Omnibus: Chaos Daemons of Warhammer 40k

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters

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<v Speaker 2>in time. On today's special omnibus episode of Stuff to

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<v Speaker 2>Blow Your minds The Monster Fact, We're going to dive

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<v Speaker 2>into a little Chaos undivided if you will. We have

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<v Speaker 2>all four previously published episodes of The Monster Fact concerning

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<v Speaker 2>the chaos demons of Games Workshops Warhammer forty thousand Universe

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<v Speaker 2>rank and file beside each other. So upburst, let's get

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<v Speaker 2>to know the blood God Corn. In this episode, I'm

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<v Speaker 2>beginning a four part Monster Fact series on the four

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<v Speaker 2>main demonic factions in Games Workshops Warhammer for fourty thousand

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<v Speaker 2>univers So first, a little background. The fictional far future

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<v Speaker 2>forty KSE setting depicts an interstellar human imperium with various dark,

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<v Speaker 2>fantasy and medieval elements. This aggressive imperium is challenged on

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<v Speaker 2>all sides by equally warlike alien societies, but they also

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<v Speaker 2>face the threat of chaos. In the forty KSE setting,

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<v Speaker 2>the demons of chaos exist in a psychic dimension called

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<v Speaker 2>the warp, but they can spill over into what is

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<v Speaker 2>called real space through various methods and exploits, so in

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<v Speaker 2>this setting, demons are not the mere creation of religion

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<v Speaker 2>or occultism, but an actual spiritual and physical threat to humanity.

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<v Speaker 2>Heretical drift on a far flung planet can mean far

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<v Speaker 2>more than just mere rebellion. It can lead to a

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<v Speaker 2>demonic incursion that consumes billions of souls. There are various

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<v Speaker 2>ways to divide up de factions in a created world

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<v Speaker 2>like this, but forty K largely splits the forces of

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<v Speaker 2>chaos into four distinct flavors, red, blue, green, and purple,

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<v Speaker 2>representing bloodthirst, chaotic change, pestilence, and hedonism, each a major

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<v Speaker 2>conduit of mortal emotions and mortal souls in the fictional

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<v Speaker 2>forty first millennium, with each conduit accreting into a powerful

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<v Speaker 2>entity known as a chaos god. They are corn Zinch, Nurgle,

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<v Speaker 2>and Slannesh. There are other lesser chaos gods as well,

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<v Speaker 2>but these are the four main factions, and while they

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes come to a working agreement with each other, they're

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<v Speaker 2>mostly at war amongst themselves. In what is referred to

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<v Speaker 2>as the Great Game. In this episode, we'll start with

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<v Speaker 2>Corn as the so called Blood God is a lot

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<v Speaker 2>more direct. He's powered by mortal violence and war. He's

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<v Speaker 2>all about rivers of blood and pyramids of bone. His

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<v Speaker 2>favorite color is obviously red, and he's not big on subtlety.

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<v Speaker 2>His demonic Hords and mortal followers dig horns and blades.

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<v Speaker 2>They spill blood for the Blood God. So really there's

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<v Speaker 2>not much to elaborate on here. However, in browsing through

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<v Speaker 2>the ninth edition Chaos Demons Codex from Games Workshop, I

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<v Speaker 2>simply couldn't let the unit known as a skull cannon

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<v Speaker 2>pass without comment. There's a lot of talk of skull

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<v Speaker 2>harvesting with some of the other Corn units, and this

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<v Speaker 2>one amounts to a big honking heavy metal cannon. A

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<v Speaker 2>couple of red demons called blood Letters crew the weapon,

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<v Speaker 2>loading it up with the fresh remains of slain enemy soldiers.

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<v Speaker 2>The cannon breaks everything down and then fires flaming skulls

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<v Speaker 2>across the battlefield, again fittingly direct. Thus far, in actual

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<v Speaker 2>human warfare, skulls and heads have proven poor missiles, but

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<v Speaker 2>the presentation of decapitated heads to the enemy has a

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<v Speaker 2>long history with plentiful examples to be found in the

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<v Speaker 2>classical and ancient world. The heads of enemy dead might

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<v Speaker 2>be delivered directly to enemy lines. They might be placed

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<v Speaker 2>on spikes or what have you. Ruth Schuster, writing for

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<v Speaker 2>Hauritz in twenty eighteen, points out that Iron Age gauls

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<v Speaker 2>even developed a resin based embalming method to ensure the

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<v Speaker 2>captured heads of their enemies didn't rot too fast. As

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<v Speaker 2>Peter Francopin points out in his book The First Crusade

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<v Speaker 2>The Call from the East, the Crusades saw a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of head taking on both sides, and there are Western

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<v Speaker 2>accounts of crusader heads being catapulted back into their siege

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<v Speaker 2>camps in order to hurt morale. The same terror tactics

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<v Speaker 2>were said to have been used by French crusader hosts

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<v Speaker 2>as well. This according to the French themselves in the

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<v Speaker 2>Old French Crusader Cycle. According to Sarah Grace Heller in

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<v Speaker 2>twenty eleven's Terror in the Old French Crusade Cycle, Various

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<v Speaker 2>other catapult Age accounts described the launching of dead bodies

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<v Speaker 2>into camps and besieged cities as a means of terror

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<v Speaker 2>and or biological attack. The age of the cannon presented

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<v Speaker 2>various new ideas of how cannons might be used in

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<v Speaker 2>one way or another to spread human remains. None of

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<v Speaker 2>these methods use the remains as ammo against other combatants,

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<v Speaker 2>but are worth noting. Nonetheless, the execution method known as

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<v Speaker 2>blowing from a gun often entailed the strapping of a

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<v Speaker 2>live victim to the mouth of a cannon, resulting in

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<v Speaker 2>partial or complete scattering of the remains. On the other

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<v Speaker 2>end of the spectrum, cremated ashes are on occasions spread

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<v Speaker 2>by cannon fire as a desired dramatic, funerary rite in

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<v Speaker 2>modern times. In a broader sense, however, the use of

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<v Speaker 2>human remains as weapons dates back to prehistory. Europeans were

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<v Speaker 2>crafting human bones into weapons at least ten thousand years ago,

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<v Speaker 2>a practice that continued into recent centuries for other far

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<v Speaker 2>flung cultures, at least for symbolic and spiritual reasons. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>as far as the creation and veneration of artifacts made

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<v Speaker 2>from human bones goes, this is the kind of thing

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<v Speaker 2>that's probably lost on the chaos god Corn. All he

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<v Speaker 2>cares about is the hacking, of the stabbing, and of

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<v Speaker 2>course the occasional explosively propelled pyrotechnic human skull. And now

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<v Speaker 2>for something completely different, Zinch, the Changer of Ways. It's

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<v Speaker 2>time to turn our attention to the next chaos god, Zinch.

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<v Speaker 2>Now that's traditionally spelled with a silent tea, but you

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<v Speaker 2>can really spell the entity's name anyway you want to.

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<v Speaker 2>I think Zench would appreciate that, especially if you put

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<v Speaker 2>a great deal of thought into the exercise and mix

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<v Speaker 2>things up a lot. After all, he is the changer

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<v Speaker 2>of ways and the demonic master of mutation, trickery and prophees.

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<v Speaker 2>Zinch's focus on change is sometimes perplexing because, of course,

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<v Speaker 2>change is not inherently evil or ruinous. As described in

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<v Speaker 2>the ninth edition Chaos Demon Codex from Game's Workshop, change

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<v Speaker 2>is largely the bait by which the dark God draws

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<v Speaker 2>in his followers. He promises change, he promises wisdom or

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<v Speaker 2>insight into the future, but what he actually delivers is manipulation, confusion,

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<v Speaker 2>plots within plots, and ultimately more out of control transformation

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<v Speaker 2>than anyone saying or mortal can comprehend. The vice he

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<v Speaker 2>feeds upon is unchecked mortal ambition and deception. As such,

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<v Speaker 2>Zinch is one of two Chaos gods, along with Slenesh,

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<v Speaker 2>who exhibits strong fostian elements. He offers tempting immediate rewards

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<v Speaker 2>in exchange for a great cost of unimaginable nature. The

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<v Speaker 2>battle forces of Zench are, of course, bonkers, imp like

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<v Speaker 2>pink horrors swarm across an ever changing, ever recreated battlefield,

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<v Speaker 2>splitting into blue horrors upon defeat, which in turn fall

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<v Speaker 2>to become flaming brimstone horrors. Now these are the lowest

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<v Speaker 2>of Zinch's forces, but his generals are the great blue

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<v Speaker 2>Avian monstrosities known as the Lords of Change, and the

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<v Speaker 2>most dangerous of these is an individual Lord of Change

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<v Speaker 2>known as Carryos Fate Weaver. The oracle of Zinch. Carryos

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<v Speaker 2>manifests a great two headed lord of change, resplendent in

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<v Speaker 2>blue feathers, kaleidoscopic wings, and countless gleaming eyes. Fittingly, there

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<v Speaker 2>are some enthralling elements to unwrap in this entity. Beginning

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<v Speaker 2>with its name, Fate Weaver speaks for itself, but the

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<v Speaker 2>demon's first name is the ancient Greek for the right,

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<v Speaker 2>critical or opportune moment, and in modern Greek time and weather,

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<v Speaker 2>it is written that the two heads of Carryos fate

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<v Speaker 2>we are all seeing one looks backwards into the past

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<v Speaker 2>and the other forward into the future. The symbolism brings

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<v Speaker 2>to mind various concepts from real world religion and iconography,

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<v Speaker 2>such as the two faced Janus of Roman tradition, who

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<v Speaker 2>is god of beginnings and endings, of transitions and doorways.

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<v Speaker 2>The image also brings to mind Hecadi, the Greek goddess

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<v Speaker 2>who is often presented as triple faced or triple bodied.

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<v Speaker 2>She is a goddess of crossroads who presents a different

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<v Speaker 2>form to each direction, So we might easily think of

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<v Speaker 2>both Janus and Hecaday as gods of change, as well,

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<v Speaker 2>as Robert Mills points out in Jesus as Monster, published

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<v Speaker 2>in the two thousand and three book The Monstrous Middle Ages.

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<v Speaker 2>From the twelfth century onward, there is also a tradition

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<v Speaker 2>in Christian iconography of depicting Christ with three human faces

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<v Speaker 2>or three human heads, as a way of visually depicting

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<v Speaker 2>the Holy Trinity or three in one god, Christ and

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<v Speaker 2>Holy Spirit. Mills points out that this is fairly remarkable

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<v Speaker 2>because these divine images coexisted with monstrous depictions of three

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<v Speaker 2>faced creatures in medieval bestiaries, and of course we also

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<v Speaker 2>have the three faced Satan in Dante's Inferno. The bird

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<v Speaker 2>heads of Carryos, Fate Weaver, and the other lords of

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<v Speaker 2>Change are also quite interesting. Certainly, there are plenty of

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<v Speaker 2>examples of real world gods and goddesses with Avian features

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<v Speaker 2>like this, But I also can't help but think of

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<v Speaker 2>a specific medieval depiction of Jesus Christ with the head

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<v Speaker 2>and long neck of a bird. Mills discusses this as well.

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<v Speaker 2>The example he points to in the English Book of

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<v Speaker 2>Hours in Psalter circa thirteen hundred, depicts a strange human

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<v Speaker 2>bird hybrid with a long neck and long vulture like beak.

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<v Speaker 2>The creature's loincloth, philosophic air, and body positioning strongly reflect

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<v Speaker 2>depictions of Christ. Mills wonders if this perplexing creature is

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<v Speaker 2>a reference to the bird men described in the Guest

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<v Speaker 2>of Roman Arum or Deeds of the Romans from roughly

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<v Speaker 2>the same time period. In this book, birdmen with long

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<v Speaker 2>necks and beaks are described as fitting judges because of

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<v Speaker 2>the distance between their heart and their voice. By virtue

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<v Speaker 2>of their long beaks and necks see words rise up

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<v Speaker 2>from the heart through the neck to the lips and

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<v Speaker 2>the longer they have to travel, the more time we

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<v Speaker 2>have to consider them and craft them for public consumption.

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<v Speaker 2>In other words, the Avian Christ might be a commentary

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<v Speaker 2>on the holy value of contemplation and the need to

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<v Speaker 2>balance justice and mercy. So with the Lord of Change

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<v Speaker 2>and other agents of zinch, perhaps we see a similar

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<v Speaker 2>symbolic effect, only demonically perverted. The chaos God celebrates contemplation,

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<v Speaker 2>but only in the form of endless scheming and deception.

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<v Speaker 2>Words travel long between his heart and his voice, because

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<v Speaker 2>every whisper is finely tuned to ensnare, bewilder and manipulate

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<v Speaker 2>mortals to further his own labyrinthine schemes. Up next, let's

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<v Speaker 2>get uncomfortably close to the plague God Nurgle. Today we

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<v Speaker 2>turn our attention to the plague god Nurgle, the master

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<v Speaker 2>of contagion and general grossness. His demonic minions are foul

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<v Speaker 2>oozing and bloated wrecks. His mortal followers also willingly give

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<v Speaker 2>their bodies and souls over to this sort of corruption.

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<v Speaker 2>From the top of his ranks, the monstrous, great unclean one,

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<v Speaker 2>to the lowly swarms of gurglings, we see a common likeness.

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<v Speaker 2>Say to resemble Nrgyl himself, rotund toad like humanoids with

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<v Speaker 2>rupturing guts and rot toothed grins. As such, it's easy

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<v Speaker 2>to Equatenrgyl with the Christian deadly sins of sloth and gluttony,

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<v Speaker 2>but the ninth edition Chaos Demon's Codex from game's workshop

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<v Speaker 2>tells us that Nrgyl is actually empowered by mortal suffering

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<v Speaker 2>and despair. It is when famines and pestilence are at

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<v Speaker 2>their worst in the universe and vast interstellar populations lose

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<v Speaker 2>all hope that Nergyl advances on their souls and physical worlds.

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<v Speaker 2>He offers them a bit of twisted wisdom. It is

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<v Speaker 2>not courage to resist disease and corruption. It is courage

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<v Speaker 2>to give in to these forces and to embrace Nurgel's blessings.

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<v Speaker 2>Nirgele's name was of course inspired by the ancient Babylonian

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<v Speaker 2>god Nergal, a god of pestilence, famine, and war who

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<v Speaker 2>could be called upon to protect his worshippers from these

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<v Speaker 2>very forces. He also became associated with the samarro Akkadian underworld.

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<v Speaker 2>Forty K'snurgyl is in many ways a darker and more

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<v Speaker 2>twisted take on these elements on the battlefield, the demonic

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<v Speaker 2>forces of NEURGYL make for quite a grotesque horde, full

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<v Speaker 2>of humanoid plague bearers and great sluglike monstrosities. There is

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<v Speaker 2>also a dark whimsie to such units as the grand

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<v Speaker 2>cultivator Horticulus Slimus on his snail demon Mount Mulch, as

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<v Speaker 2>well as the capering blessed Nurglings. But of course we

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<v Speaker 2>have to focus in on the herald of NEURGYL, Sloppity

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<v Speaker 2>Bile Piper. Like other plague bearer demons, he's a green

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<v Speaker 2>skinned humanoid bursting with infection and decay, but he's also

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<v Speaker 2>a jolly soul full of song and twisted mirth. The

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<v Speaker 2>Kodex tells us that he prances on the battlefield infected

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<v Speaker 2>by a deadly and highly contagious laughing disease. In one hand,

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<v Speaker 2>suggesters merit, decorated with his own face, of course, as

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<v Speaker 2>well as a steaming mass of guts fashioned into a

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<v Speaker 2>set of bagpipes which he plays. His performance hastens the troops,

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<v Speaker 2>but the Kodex tells us that it's uncertain if this

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<v Speaker 2>is accomplished via inspiration or annoyance. He spreads the dancing

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<v Speaker 2>plague as he cavorts, and when he eventually falls on

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<v Speaker 2>the battlefield, his own body will turn into the next

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<v Speaker 2>set of gut pipes for the next herald to take

0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.200
<v Speaker 2>up and play. Now, there's a lot of fun gallows

0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.960
<v Speaker 2>humor to this unit, but it also may raise some

0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:40.640
<v Speaker 2>interesting questions about actual bagpipes. For starters, we should clarify

0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.040
<v Speaker 2>that while bagpipes are strongly associated with Scottish and Irish tradition,

0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.720
<v Speaker 2>some form of bagpipes have been played for centuries across

0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.560
<v Speaker 2>Europe and parts of Asia and Africa in different cultural traditions.

0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.400
<v Speaker 2>It does seem that animal stomachs were used in the

0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:58.520
<v Speaker 2>creation of bagpipes on occasion, such as the stomachs of

0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:02.280
<v Speaker 2>sheep or seals, but most bagpipes you encounter today are

0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.200
<v Speaker 2>going to be made out of synthetic materials or animal hides.

0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:08.640
<v Speaker 2>In some cases, the bagpipe may be made from a

0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.520
<v Speaker 2>largely intact skin, with the various stocks of the bagpipes

0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.520
<v Speaker 2>connecting to where the limbs and head of the animal

0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.160
<v Speaker 2>would have previously attached. So on one level, the notion

0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.520
<v Speaker 2>of bagpipes made from flesh is not that far removed

0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.960
<v Speaker 2>from their material origins. Additionally, there is something to the

0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:31.400
<v Speaker 2>way bagpipes inhale and exhale that encourages the animal comparison ohen.

0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.240
<v Speaker 2>Of course, the TV series Garth Morangi's Dark Place exploited

0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:39.440
<v Speaker 2>this quite humorously in the episode Scotch Missed, in which

0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:44.280
<v Speaker 2>an animate pair of bagpipes attacks the main character. As

0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.720
<v Speaker 2>for the comparison to be made between bagpipes and human entrails,

0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.320
<v Speaker 2>I actually found an interesting treatment of this in the

0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:55.120
<v Speaker 2>eighteen fifty humor book Memoirs of a Stomach by Sydney Whiting.

0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.440
<v Speaker 2>The author, writing as a human stomach, compares itself to

0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.000
<v Speaker 2>the bagpipe and shares a supposed origin story of the

0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.359
<v Speaker 2>musical instrument. In it, a necromancer reanimates the stomach of

0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.040
<v Speaker 2>a fallen Scottish warrior as bagpipes. Allow me to read

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.800
<v Speaker 2>a bit of it to you quote, there sat the

0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.680
<v Speaker 2>weird king wand in hand, and there lay the digestive

0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.040
<v Speaker 2>organs of the departed. At length he uttered a few

0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.159
<v Speaker 2>strange words, and, tracing some hieroglyphics in the air with

0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.679
<v Speaker 2>his royal finger, he exclaimed aloud, change thou thy form

0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.119
<v Speaker 2>a thing of mighty use When in the living clay,

0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.640
<v Speaker 2>And on thy tube, let there be stops and keynotes.

0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.639
<v Speaker 2>And in thy bag let there be wind. And let

0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.000
<v Speaker 2>the natives of this region have cunning to play upon thee.

0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.600
<v Speaker 2>And let thy tones be ever as the shrieks of

0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.000
<v Speaker 2>a tortured man, so that the ernus may be satisfied.

0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.679
<v Speaker 2>And let thou be called now and hereafter bagpipe, so

0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:58.200
<v Speaker 2>that what I spoke may come to pass, even unto

0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.440
<v Speaker 2>the letter he said, and his astonished retainers raised from

0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:06.639
<v Speaker 2>the earth the first instrument bearing that name born unto Scotland.

0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.200
<v Speaker 2>Now again, this is a work of humor and should

0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.359
<v Speaker 2>not be interpreted as Scottish lore. If anything, I detect

0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.400
<v Speaker 2>some possible anti Scottish sentiments to the work, But suffice

0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.359
<v Speaker 2>to say that grandfather Nrgul was not the first to

0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.280
<v Speaker 2>snicker at the idea of stomachs as bagpipes. It's also

0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:27.000
<v Speaker 2>worth noting that laughing plagues have occurred in the real world,

0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.080
<v Speaker 2>likely cases of mass hysteria. But this is another story

0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:37.720
<v Speaker 2>and shall be told another time. Last, but certainly not least,

0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.760
<v Speaker 2>we have a date with Slannesh, the Lord of Excess.

0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.240
<v Speaker 2>In forty k Lore, we are told that Slanesh is

0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.960
<v Speaker 2>the youngest of the chaos gods, having only truly accreted

0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.600
<v Speaker 2>out of mortal souls and emotions with the fall of

0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.560
<v Speaker 2>the decadent al Dari civilization, an event that all but

0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.240
<v Speaker 2>destroyed the Aldari and pour open a massive warp rift

0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:09.040
<v Speaker 2>known as the Eye of Terror. Slanesh's domain is that

0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:14.680
<v Speaker 2>of hedonistic excess, but also that of need, want, and obsession.

0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:20.760
<v Speaker 2>The demons that manifest in Slanesh's service are alluring contradictions

0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:25.960
<v Speaker 2>that blur the line between pleasure and pain, desire and revulsion.

0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.800
<v Speaker 2>The demonets of Slenesh make up most of the chaos

0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:34.960
<v Speaker 2>God's battle force, and they feature some favored characteristics of

0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:40.040
<v Speaker 2>Slanesh's servants. They are humanoid beings with pale flesh and

0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:45.359
<v Speaker 2>long purple hair, alluring yet also equally ghoulish. Their feet

0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.560
<v Speaker 2>and legs are reminiscent of reptiles or birds, bringing to

0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.600
<v Speaker 2>mind such real world mythic traditions as that of harpies

0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:56.840
<v Speaker 2>and succubi. Oh yes, and they also have crab claws,

0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.159
<v Speaker 2>lots of crab claws, something that doesn't really connect to

0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.320
<v Speaker 2>any mythic or folkloric traditions that I'm aware of, but

0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.199
<v Speaker 2>they absolutely make it work, and it has become a

0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:11.720
<v Speaker 2>signature aspect of their look. Demonets also appear bilaterally asymmetrical,

0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.119
<v Speaker 2>particularly in the chest region, where one side features a

0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.480
<v Speaker 2>female breast and the other a male breast. While titillation

0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.560
<v Speaker 2>is clearly part of this design, it also strongly echoes

0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:26.000
<v Speaker 2>the male female duality in the symbolism of Bathome from

0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:31.360
<v Speaker 2>occult in Western esoteric traditions. This influence is especially prevalent

0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:36.880
<v Speaker 2>in the towering Keeper of Secrets the deadly Slaneshy demon champions,

0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:41.520
<v Speaker 2>which often, especially in recent depictions, features strong goat like

0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:47.960
<v Speaker 2>characteristics such as foot and head reminiscent of Bathamet. But

0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.640
<v Speaker 2>there's another servant of Slanesh that I'd like to talk

0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:55.360
<v Speaker 2>about here, and that's the Mask of Slannesh. This purple

0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.359
<v Speaker 2>hued herald once danced in the good graces of the

0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:02.760
<v Speaker 2>Lord of Excess. To the ninth edition Chaos Demons Codex

0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.000
<v Speaker 2>from Games Workshop, the Mask fell out of favor with

0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.960
<v Speaker 2>Slenesh and is now cursed to dance and cavort forever

0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:15.240
<v Speaker 2>across strange realms and battlefields. The dance of the Mask

0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:20.640
<v Speaker 2>emboldened surrounding Sleneschi forces, but also in sourcells enemy troops

0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:25.240
<v Speaker 2>to join into its spiraling dance, where it slices them

0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.119
<v Speaker 2>to exotic ribbons of flesh. This, of course, brings to

0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:33.320
<v Speaker 2>mind a famous mania from our own history, the dancing

0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.480
<v Speaker 2>plagues of the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. It is pointed

0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.919
<v Speaker 2>out by John Waller in a Forgotten Plague, Making Sense

0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.679
<v Speaker 2>of Dancing Mania, published in two thousand and nine in

0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:47.439
<v Speaker 2>The Lancet. A certain degree of embellishment stains some of

0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.920
<v Speaker 2>these accounts, but cases in thirteen seventy four and fifteen

0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:55.600
<v Speaker 2>eighteen are pretty well documented. Most sources agree that dancing

0:21:55.720 --> 0:22:00.320
<v Speaker 2>plague incidents involved groups of individuals swept up in long

0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:04.960
<v Speaker 2>bouts of involuntary dancing. The dancers cried out in pain

0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:08.720
<v Speaker 2>or pleaded for mercy. In some accounts they danced until

0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.240
<v Speaker 2>they died. While enigmatic and certainly hard to believe from

0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.240
<v Speaker 2>a modern perspective, dancing plagues are not without skeptical explanation.

0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:20.639
<v Speaker 2>Whiler explores a few leading ideas in the paper. First,

0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.440
<v Speaker 2>there's the possibility of urgit poisoning, a topic we've discussed

0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:27.160
<v Speaker 2>in depth. Un stuff to blow your mind before. It's

0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:30.600
<v Speaker 2>caused by the consumption of fungus infected grains that can

0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:35.760
<v Speaker 2>lead to nightmarish altered states of consciousness. Wiler also discusses

0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.120
<v Speaker 2>the possibility that the dancers could have been in an

0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.280
<v Speaker 2>involuntary trance state, something people are far more susceptible to

0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:47.280
<v Speaker 2>during states of intense psychological distress, and these centuries certainly

0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:52.520
<v Speaker 2>provided plenty of stressors. This explanation also required exposure to

0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.480
<v Speaker 2>a pre existing belief about dancing plagues, and in these

0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.119
<v Speaker 2>cases the cause would be believed to be some of

0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:03.040
<v Speaker 2>a spirit or a curse, and there is evidence for

0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:06.400
<v Speaker 2>this in art, literature, and law from these time periods

0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:10.760
<v Speaker 2>in regions. So Whiler writes, quote, every so often, when

0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:15.600
<v Speaker 2>physical and mental distress rendered people more than usually suggestible,

0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:20.320
<v Speaker 2>the specter of the dancing plague could quickly return. All

0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.200
<v Speaker 2>it then took was for one or a few poor souls,

0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:26.560
<v Speaker 2>believing themselves to have been subject to the curse, to

0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:31.639
<v Speaker 2>slip into a spontaneous trance. Then they would unconsciously act

0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:36.640
<v Speaker 2>out the part of the accursed, dancing, leaping and hopping

0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:41.240
<v Speaker 2>for days on end. It's a different sort of compulsion

0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:45.520
<v Speaker 2>than that found among the followers of Slannesh, but there

0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.560
<v Speaker 2>are other examples of mass hysteria or mass psychogenic illness

0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:53.840
<v Speaker 2>to consider, such as laughing epidemics and witchcraft panics, though

0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:56.720
<v Speaker 2>of course Slanesh doesn't have to work through such real

0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:03.560
<v Speaker 2>world means to control people. I hope you enjoyed this

0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:06.480
<v Speaker 2>series and I'm always looking for new ideas to explore

0:24:06.600 --> 0:24:09.600
<v Speaker 2>on the monster fact, the Artifact, or some other spin

0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:14.000
<v Speaker 2>on the short form format. Tune in for additional episodes

0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:17.159
<v Speaker 2>each week. As always, you can email us at contact

0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:27.560
<v Speaker 2>at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:30.600
<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:33.520
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