Realm of Chaos is a two-part Warhammer sourcebook series, not a place. The first book, Slaves to Darkness, landed in 1988, and its companion, The Lost and the Damned, followed in 1990. Between them they cover all four Chaos Gods and the Warp, and they’re still the foundation a lot of modern Chaos lore sits on.
What the books actually are
Realm of Chaos is a pair of sourcebooks published for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the game’s first edition. They came out two years apart, in 1988 and 1990, and they were built to be used with Warhammer Fantasy too. Games Workshop was already designing Rogue Trader with that crossover in mind, so the Chaos books doubled down on it.
Each volume takes two of the four Chaos Gods and digs into them. Slaves to Darkness handles Khorne and Slaanesh. The Lost and the Damned is its companion, covering Nurgle and Tzeentch. Together they cover the whole pantheon, plus the Warp and the many faces of Chaos.
If you’ve only ever heard the term used for the gods’ domain in the Warp, that’s a different thing. The books are the product. The domain is the lore inside them.
Slaves to Darkness: Khorne and Slaanesh
Slaves to Darkness came first. It’s credited to Bryan Ansell, Mike Brunton and Simon Forrest, with extra material from Matt Connell, Graeme Davis and Rick Priestley. John Sibbick painted the cover, and the book runs to 279 pages. Its ISBN is 1 869893 51 4.
Khorne and Slaanesh get the full treatment: their daemons, their champions, their rewards, and the slow slide a follower takes from mortal to something else. The book also lays out the conventions the two games share, which is where it gets interesting for anyone trying to reconcile 40k and Fantasy.
- Authors: Bryan Ansell, Mike Brunton, Simon Forrest, with additional material from Matt Connell, Graeme Davis, Rick Priestley and others
- Cover artist: John Sibbick
- Released: 1988
- Pages: 279
- ISBN: 1 869893 51 4
The Lost and the Damned: Nurgle and Tzeentch
The Lost and the Damned picks up where the first book leaves off, covering Nurgle and Tzeentch. It also makes one of the strangest claims in early Warhammer lore: the Warhammer World sits inside the galaxy, which puts the events of Warhammer Fantasy on the same timeline as Warhammer 40,000.
The book explains that the Warhammer World is cut off by storms of magic, keeping it isolated from the rest of the human galaxy. Elsewhere, the Imperium fights Chaos constantly, so open Chaos aggression gets pushed into zones the Imperium doesn’t control. On worlds where a Chaos Champion reaches daemonhood or dies, there are monoliths to their memory, just like on the Warhammer World.
That’s a big deal. It means the two settings weren’t designed as separate universes at this point. They were contemporary, just separated by distance and a lot of Warp weather.
Shared rules between 40k and Fantasy
The books were written so you could use the same material in either game, and they spell out how. The rules use a set of conventions to avoid printing everything twice, and where the text doesn’t say otherwise, you’re meant to assume it applies to both settings.
The clearest example is the Universal Creatures table on pages 294 to 297. It lists 1,000 creatures, with entries up to 644 aimed at Warhammer Fantasy and 645 onward aimed at 40k. Even so, the book says the creatures are usable in both games. It still keeps Orc and Ork separate, and Elf separate from Eldar, so the two settings don’t blur completely.
Other conventions matter too. A Champion of Chaos is the Fantasy term, while Chaos Renegade lines up more with the later 40k idea of a Chaos Champion or Chaos Lord. The Technology Reward in Warhammer Fantasy is treated as the Daemon Weapon reward in 40k. Magic items and the Collar of Khorne are stated to work the same way as psychic powers, which fits with Warhammer Siege saying psionics takes the place of magic.
The Lost and the Damned also says armies built from its lists can fight Fantasy armies, other Chaos armies, or Warhammer 40,000 forces, in which case they represent troops from relatively primitive worlds. That’s not limited to medieval or feral worlds either.
Why the series still matters
A lot of what later editions treat as standard came out of these two books. The lore they established fed into subsequent Chaos material, and it inspired the Horus Heresy novels and the Liber Chaotica books.
They’re also a snapshot of a time when Games Workshop was happy to let 40k and Fantasy share a rulebook. Later on, the two settings drifted apart, and the Warhammer World stopped being a planet in the 40k galaxy. If you want to see how Chaos was first put together, and how the two games once fit side by side, this is where to look.
The Skaven show up in both books mostly in a Fantasy context, though you’re encouraged to use Fantasy forces, Skaven included, on primitive worlds in 40k. Kweethul appears as an independent daemon who was once a Skaven, and he turns up in a more explicit 40k context in later publications.
Key facts
- Realm of Chaos is a two-part sourcebook series for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, published in 1988 and 1990.
- Slaves to Darkness covers Khorne and Slaanesh; The Lost and the Damned covers Nurgle and Tzeentch.
- The books were designed for both 40k and Warhammer Fantasy, with shared rules and a Universal Creatures table listing 1,000 creatures.
- Slaves to Darkness runs 279 pages, with a cover by John Sibbick and ISBN 1 869893 51 4.
- The Lost and the Damned places the Warhammer World inside the galaxy, making the two settings contemporary.
- The lore in these books inspired later Chaos material, the Horus Heresy novels and Liber Chaotica.
FAQ
Is the Realm of Chaos a place or a book?
Both, depending on context. The Realm of Chaos is the Warp domain of the four Chaos Gods, but Realm of Chaos is also the name of the two-part sourcebook series from 1988 and 1990. The books cover the domain and everything in it.
Which gods does each book cover?
Slaves to Darkness covers Khorne and Slaanesh. The Lost and the Damned covers Nurgle and Tzeentch. Between them, all four Chaos Gods get a full treatment.
Can you use the books for Warhammer Fantasy as well as 40k?
Yes, that was the point. They were designed for both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy, specifically the 3rd edition rulebook and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition. The Universal Creatures table and the shared conventions exist so you can use the same material in either game.
Is the Warhammer World really inside the 40k galaxy?
The Lost and the Damned says so. It describes the Warhammer World as isolated by storms of magic but still inside the galaxy, making Warhammer Fantasy contemporary with 40k. Later editions moved away from that idea.