# Is Malice still canon?



## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

Is the Renegade Chaos God Malice still canon? I don't believe he is by GW but how about us players and lovers of 40K? I use him as my CSM worship after they turned Chaos from and left my chapter.


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

There was, 5th ed, a warband called Sons of Malice.


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

I dd read about them but I thought they were from an older edition?


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Technically I suppose Malal is... but due to a legal grey area with who owns him, he hasn't been touched since 2nd Edition I think.

Which is a pity because he's pretty cool!


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

Is it Malal or Malice or both? I can't put my fingers on it but for some reason, I like him more then the other chaos gods. I don't believe he has any other war bands following him?


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## Moonschwine (Jun 13, 2011)

The Final Frontier said:


> Is it Malal or Malice or both?


Malice is sort of an homage to Malal without using the name.

Malal first appeared in the Warhammer Fantasy role-play and a bunch of comics and fluff back in the late 80's / early 90's. Interestingly the WHFRP first edition only had 3 gods in it: Khorne, Nurgle and Malal with no mention of Tzeentch or Slaanesh; I don't know the specifics of why this was but I'll guess it was because the IP at the time was still being developed.

Then some legal stuff went down with the guys who created him after they parted ways with the company and GW tried to phase him out, he was mentioned again a few times in WHFRP adventure supplements and was earmarked under that category of things of "If we Ignore it and don't speak about it, it will go away" much like Squats were. He (Malal) was somewhat popular because he was the wild-card choice and I remember growing up around people who just liked the B/W scheme.

Malice is the 40k incarnation appeared in white dwarf which had a little article about the Sons of Malice who were described along the lines of "Chaos worshipers who specialized in fighting other chaos followers." A weapon called the Dreadaxe (Malalites "signature" weaponry) was also featured in the CSM codex of the time (3rd edition?). Sons sort of became canon when the colour scheme popped up in the 5th Edition codex.



The Final Frontier said:


> I can't put my fingers on it but for some reason, I like him more then the other chaos gods. I don't believe he has any other war bands following him?


I really like him because of his position in the chaos pantheon. In a way the idea of a Renegade god who sows chaos within chaos sounds pretty awesome. I also enjoy the idea that he syphons power from other gods to use their own weapons against them.

As far as I know though no other warband that are cannon follow him as far as I am aware, though in some fluff circles people consider that he could be a lesser god or a semi-deified daemon prince like the ones the Blood-Gorgons follow. I even know a few theorists who argue that he could be the fifth god born when the Emperor dies, though that's up for your own interpretation. If you want more info on him try get your hands on the WHFRP. There's not much, but he's depicted as sort of a dragon-like character with a goatee beard.


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

He's dicpected as a Dragon with a beard? Kinda sweet. If he draws power from all four, wouldn't that make him more powerful then the other chaos gods?


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

The Final Frontier said:


> He's dicpected as a Dragon with a beard? Kinda sweet. If he draws power from all four, wouldn't that make him more powerful then the other chaos gods?


I'd assume he draws a little power, other wise all four would gang up and beat him till he was.........what ever color chaos gods turn when they get beaten, or he would devour them.

Edit Like \/ He said but with out the use of money.


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## Silens (Dec 26, 2010)

The Final Frontier said:


> He's dicpected as a Dragon with a beard? Kinda sweet. If he draws power from all four, wouldn't that make him more powerful then the other chaos gods?


Jack, James, Jessy and Johnny all have £100 each.

Tobias steals £10 from each of them.

Tobias has £40 now!

Jack, James, Jessy and Johnny all have £90 each.

Tobias uses his £40 to create an army and wages crazy-people war against Jack, James, Jessy and Johnny regardless.


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

Silens said:


> Jack, James, Jessy and Johnny all have £100 each.
> 
> Tobias steals £10 from each of them.
> 
> ...


Makes sense to me 

Anyway...I think this Malal guy would be a tad redundant in the current 40K cosmology. I mean, the Chaos gods already fight each other 24/7 without the influence of a 5th god


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

If they all hate Malice, couldn't they just team up for once and finish him? Doesn't seem to me he's powerful enough evade that much damage.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

He's the embodiment of chaos's tendancy to destroy itself, so as well as syphoning power from the other gods (as they get more powerful so does he) he also gains power when they fight each other or him... so going by that logic the other gods would never try to destroy him as he would be feeding off it the whole time: it would be like trying to drown Khorne in blood or use biological weapons against Nurgle.

I've long loved Malal and have been thinking of doing a Sons Of Malice army for a long time (intention of doing it as a painting scheme project... but I hate painting).
I have painted my SM statue scenery piece as a Son of Malice and it looks cool and I'm tempted to paint my Bela'Cor model that way too...


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

To me he's the most Chaotic of the pantheon. The others are too structured and too calculating I feel. GW needs to buy out the rights to the guy or find a legal loophole and devise an almost identical character.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Malal was a cool invention, but ultimately he was a character in a WHfantasy comic strip way back in the 80s like Thrudd the barbarian, he was just the god pulling Kaleb Daarks strings and only lasted three strips, the writers of the comic strip didnt even finish the series because of creative differences with GW and the god was shit canned even before GW produced the realms of chaos books in 88.
there are no recorded instances of Malal after that point and he was replaced in a warhammer fantasy roleplay supplement by two other renegade chaos gods, the only slight reference of malal or malice is the sons of Malice who share the black and white colour scheme from the original comic and that they fight with ferocity against other chaos followers and there deity was never revealed.

So no he isnt canon,but he was canon for a very short period in the 80s, personally i think he no longer has a place as he was essentially replaced by tzeentch and slaanesh, as the chaos gods are at odds with each other anyway there is no need for a anti chaos god as all the chaos gods are essentially anti the others, malal was just another cool at the time concepts that wont die, along with squat,genestealer cults, human bombs, imperial robots,exodite eldar etc.


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

i remember him back when i played whfrp in the late 80;s he was cool just not much expanded on, like the law gods, although i think they have gone now, last i looked i think only Arianka remained, not sure been a while. Would be great to see him in all his uncertain glory return but like its been said could becopyright issues, legal stuff all that jargon


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

So is it illegal to use Malal themed Army in Tourements? Does Malal or Malice have a Mark like the rest of the chaos gods? There isn't much on him. Whats his signature deamon? every chaos god has one.


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

The Final Frontier said:


> So is it illegal to use Malal themed Army in Tourements? Does Malal or Malice have a Mark like the rest of the chaos gods? There isn't much on him. Whats his signature deamon? every chaos god has one.


I've seen one person use the anarchy symbol, for a Malice themed army. Demons....no clue, although he can be summoned personly with massive amounts of sacrifices. There's a short story that may help "The Labyrinth"


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

soooo.....He's a Deamon Prince then or something like that in the form of a Dragon with a Beard?


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

The Final Frontier said:


> soooo.....He's a Deamon Prince then or something like that in the form of a Dragon with a Beard?


Maybe more powerful of a DP. Or he's like the Goku of demon princes. He's weak enough to be able to exist in the real world, but strong enough to demand massive amounts of sacrifices, to be brought into the materium.


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## The Final Frontier (Oct 15, 2011)

I guess he has his own realm too or at least a deamon world to live on.


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## Moonschwine (Jun 13, 2011)

> So is it illegal to use Malal themed Army in Tourements? Does Malal or Malice have a Mark like the rest of the chaos gods? There isn't much on him. Whats his signature deamon? every chaos god has one.


I don't know of any tournaments that prohibit entry based on army-theme as long as its GW legal and it's clear what is what. I so however know alot of places that don't stand for proxies so if you were perhaps trying to run Grey-Knights using nothing but chaos models it may be more prohibitive. I do however recall Dakka Dakka had a massive debate about Nazi-marines and the negative connotations of doing said theme if used in public tournaments as the history relating to the iconography and ideology is still a hot-topic of contention.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Nazis are banned in most tournament... I've known of a couple of theme painted/modelled nazi armies thrown out of tournies. Its not a good idea for a theme if you want to use the army for more then friendly games.

I would be amased if any tourny threw out an army for fluff reasons. If its modelled well and it is clear what stuff is I would expect a chaos grey knight or grey knight chaos army would be allowed as well... but it would be worth asking the organisers, probably with photos.


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