I transcribed this interview by hand (not having a copyable PDF). Marquis Dolmance was exiled from his homeland of Brettonia when the church investigated him. He took up residence in Marrienburg where he established a sizable Chaos Cult, but was arrested by the burgomasters of Marienburg with the assistance of the Templars of Sigmar and The Witch Hunters.
Richter Kless with special dispensation granted by Theogonist Volkmar, and the authority it granted him, requested a stay of execution so that he might glean some first hand wisdom as to the psychology and disposition of a Chaos cultist.
AD: And why should you Herr Richter? After all, my misfortune is not a product of my own thoughts and acts so much as it is a product of the thoughts and acts of other ptty-minded people! I am an artist, scholar, and aesthete, and the fact that my beliefs do not match your own is no good reason for an intelligent man to give into hatred.
RK: That is true Marquis. But you must accept that this is more than just a case of religious intelorance on my part. You worship a proscribed deity, one that encourages the most horrific acts in his name.
AD: It is the crime of your own austere religion that it insits all the works of the Chaos Gods are irredeemably horrific. Clearly this cannot be the case. Am I horrific? No, dont answer. I fear that bore Sigmar has knocked too much sense out of you for you to give me a fair and reasoned reply. Think on this instead: If the Chaos Gods represented only suffering and ugliness, then they surely would gain few converts, and without the souls of converts to feed them and drive them on, their power would eventually begin to fade from our world. Why would they risk harming themselves by driving themselves away from the laity?
RK: So you believe Chaos offers more than simple damnation?
AD: Of course I do! And it is more than simple belief Richter. Much more. Chaos offers the quick fulfillment of dreams and the gratification of the Self. And of all the gods of Chaos, none make this offer more tempting than Lord Slaanesh.
RK: So you embraced evil simply for the "gratification of the Self" as you put it?
AD: You race ahead Richter. Define for me what you mean by "evil".
RK: I would think that evil, at least in the context of a Slaaneshi cultist like yourself, would mean debauchery and unutterable perversion leading to a kind of selfish and hedonistic madness.
AD: How very specific of you. Well, I'm sure some of the more exuberant of my Lord Slaanesh's followers might have appeared as debauched and unutterably perverted madmen -at least by your lights -but is it true to say that by far the majority og his mortal followers are civilised and educated people, just lke me. Just lke you.
RK: Not like me, Dolmance.
AD: You're so sure? I know many a cleric who has turned from his own dour religon to the more tangible delights of Slaanesh. What makes you think you are so different?
RK: I know that I could never find joy in the cruel perversities expected by your foul god.
AD: Foul? Is joy foul? Why do you assume that the Lord of Delight expects only perversity from His followers. Slaanesh is, amongst many other things, the personified manifestation of pleasure, and more importantly the desire to experience pleasure. How we generate that pleasure is not important to him, the fact we experience it at all is enough.
RK: You are trying to tell me that your god has no interest in debauchery? We both know that isnt true.
AD: I have no doubt that Slaanesh takes his delight from acts that gratify the senses. But, if I may say so, you are for too obsessed with what you call "debauchery". For all our apparent intelligence, we humans are creatures of nature. Every emotion and drive that we experience, and therefore every act we initiate, is a product of our natural state of being, and not somply pressed on us by some insidious external force.
RK: So you are saying that Slaanesh does not promote hedonism in his name?
AD: Not at all. I am trying to say that the gods are but reflections of our own emotions and drives, they are a product of our desires, not their own. You cannot condemn any one of them for what they are or what they do, for they are simply projections of those processes that make us human. They are us and we are they.
RK: But the Chaos Gods represent only extremes! There is no virtue in any one of them.
AD: Oh Richter, why must you Sigmarites always drone on about "virtue" as if you alone were the keepers of it? Aneducated man such as yourself must have studied history? You must have seen there is not eternal morality, but a shifting mass of beliefs that change from age to age? And as for all those things you reguard as virtues, why they are just named responses that have been conditioned by varables the world we men have constructed around ourselves, and the geography that world is built upon, and then inflicted upon us. "Virtue" is a word born from a lack of imaginaton, and a fear of experimenting with what it is to be human -or rather a fear of seeing ourselves for what we really are.
RK: You seem to froget the reality of your immortal soul, Marquis. What will happen to you when you die and your foul god comes to claim your soul? Where will your libertine sensibilities leave you then?
AD: Ah, your reasoning becomes clearer to me now. So fear of punishment in the hearafter is the driving force behind your morality? I might have guessed. Well then, I put this to you: If Slaanesh is indeed the product and personification of all delight and pleasure, then perhaps he is not sos terrifying a god as you might think. Whereas you have mentioned ad nauseam that my god is often one of sensual excess, he must also be agod of contenment, joy, and satisfaction. But you look skeptical. I understand, Richter. I felt the same as you must do now when I first learned the truth. It's so easy for us to accept that a god of Chaos is present in the "debased" acts of rape or sadism, but a far harder thing indeed for us to accept that he is also a product of the feelings generated by love and aesthetic appreciation. But it's the truth. Slaanesh's influence extends to all things that give us pleasure, in whatever way shape or form they take- including and therefore all endeavours that are passionate and creative. Though I would happily debate with you against the existence of an afterlife at all, if by some stretch of the imagination there is one waiting for us beyond the veil of death, perhaps mine will be somewhat more enjoyable than the one offered by your grey and authoritarian god.
RK: You are seeking to undermine my beliefs Domance. It wont work. I have read the reports from soldiers fighting along our northern borders. Slaanesh is a source of suffering and debasement. That is all.
AD: If it were as simple as that, why do you think so many artistic and philosphical institutions have been found to hide a cult to Slaanesh? The reason romantics, idealists, and intellectuals are attracted to Slaanesh is precisely because He is the greatest patron, and product, of beauty, love, and aestheticism - and all the sensual pleasures of art, music, and companionship empower Him. Even the contentment I assume you glean from worshipping the Heldenhammer is a form of pleasure and therefore empowering to my Lord Slaanesh.
RK: No! I…No. This a pointless conversation Dolmance. The consultation is over.
AD: How like your kind to be frightened by simple truths! Ask yourself this: Would it be so difficult to embrace a god that asks you only to take greater pleasure in the wine you drink, or the food you eat? How tempting would it be to be able to take the same enjoyment from the simplest things in life, as you would from some great achievement or intellectual endeavour? How could this not be attractive?
