Having quite enjoyed building the Orc Name Generator, and being prompted for more by some of the responses to the original, I've constructed a Chaos Warrior name generator out of the original Oldhammer (pre
Realms of Chaos) Chaos Warrior ranges.
As an exercise in geekness, trawling through the names themselves was very entertaining. But before we get into that, here is the result, Zhu's Patented Oldhammer Chaos Deth Spiky Name Generator of Chaos.
Warhammer Chaos Warrior Name Generator
Or if the dimensional portal
iframe above isn't working visit :
Ye Olde Oldhammer Chaos Warrior Name Generator
However, random Chaos Warrior name generators don't just grow on trees, not even chaotic twisted skull infested ones that jibber and clank in the night, full of ravens and other black feathery things that skwark and gibber endlessly. So here follows some of the arcane lore dredged up from mouldering tomes of evil regarding the early Citadel Chaos Warriors. As with the orcs, my sources are just the miniatures ranges produced by Citadel up to the end of Second Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle, not scenarios or rulebooks.
Solid Base Era Citadel Chaos Warriors
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Set One: Champion of Chaos Box Back (1982)
via |
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Set One version 2: Warriors of Chaos (1983)
From the First Citadel Compendium
via |
Some copies of SS2 Warriors of Chaos also came with a scenario, mine didn't. However, I did get
Airbornegrove to paint some up. Must get around to blogposting those, as soon as the sibilant demonic voices in my head let me stop engineering random name generators.
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| Quest for Chaos Scenario 1(via) |
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| Quest for Chaos Scenario 2 (via) |
It is well worth reading for the Swords & Sorcery background and atmosphere. The illustrations showing the warriors (and a Manfish!) in action by Tony Ackland are supurb, like spot illustrations for some unknown Moorcockian tome.
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Set Three version Two: Knights of Chaos (1984)
Second Citadel Compendium |
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| Knights of Chaos side 1 (via) |
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| Quest for Chaos side 2 (via) |
Again, these are essential reading if you want to get an idea of the dawn of the Incursion of Chaos, how it worked, who wreaked it, what it devastated, and why.
The blasphemous names of the Chaos Warriors from these sources, are as follows:
| Range | Firstname | Secondname | Honorific |
| SS1 | Arkon | Stormrider | |
| SS1 | Bloodaxe | Gutripper | |
| SS1 | Belial | Doomsword | |
| SS1 | Urlik | Bloodletter | |
| SS1 | Chronos | Foulblade | |
| SS1 | Braxus | Dwarfbane | |
| SS1 | Elrik | Darkhelm | |
| SS1 | Goron | Widowmaker | |
| SS1 | Charon | Unspeakable | |
| SS1 v2 | Ulvar | Vileblood | |
| SS1 v2 | Skathor | Skullcrusher | |
| SS1 v2 | Kardos | Bloodhelm | |
| SS1 v2 | Belmoth | Blacksword | |
| SS1 v2 | Athgul | Evilhand | |
| SS1 v2 | Drakar | Deathbringer | |
| SS1 v2 | Ogroth | Darksoul | |
| SS1 v2 | Morthog | Doomaxe | |
| SS1 v2 | Uthmog | Elvenblade | |
| SS1 v2 | Nekris | Demonblade | |
| SS3 v2 | Tomar | Spogh | Warrior of the Divine Tuluk |
| SS3 v2 | Red | Dulmoon | Dark Saint of Insane Gotd |
| SS3 v2 | Agrad | | Champion of Laughing Jokkle |
| SS3 v2 | Gindar | Milk | Disciple of Dark Zoombar |
| SS3 v2 | Doomed | Ratchragged | Priest of Wenwoch the Waylayer |
| SS3 v2 | Rechgrundle | | Priest of Wenwoch the Waylayer |
| SS3 v2 | Cursed | Doomhandle | Apostate of Heinus Suth |
| SS3 v2 | Buoophut | Bane-Arrow | Devotee of Alaman |
| SS3 v2 | Thel | | Knight of Gorth the Great Obecisty |
Don't read them out loud, Nyarlathotep is a busy fellow and doesn't like to be invoked on a whim. The forenames are a mix of the Tolkienesque - several seem based on
Morgoth, and generic fantasy sounding names, in fact they seem like they've already been randomly generated.
The structure of the secondnames in SS1 and SS2 is ver similar to that of the Orcs, a two-part name that describes some characteristic, although here it tends to be more narrative based rather than descriptive of arms and armour - as an example
Uthmog Elvenblade is wielding a hammer, not an elven blade.
There is a clear and dramatic shift in naming strategies from Speciality Set One versions 1 & 2 to SS3, where each Chaos Knight gets his own honorific title as Champion of one of Khornes divine retinue, and an ability bestowed upon him by his chosen deity - not really a mutation as later conceptions of Chaos would have it, but more a kind of super power. It was the end of a conceptual chain, where originally Citadel sold its creations as generic "Chaos Fighters", the Boxed Sets individually named each model, giving it a unique identity, through to fleshing out each identity as a unique character. Outside of the Regiments of Renown series and Scenario Packs the idea of models representing specific characters was largely abandoned - simply expecting the individual gamesmaster or players to pick models to suit their narrative or character concept or represent the character archetype or troop type.
Several of the names of these, the oldest of Oldhammer Chaos Warriors, stand out notably Arkon Stormrider.
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Hello. My name is Arkon.
I wear furry pants, jaggy boot tops and a shoulder strap
circa 1982 (via) |
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Hello. My name is Arkon.
I wear furry pants, jaggy boot tops and a shoulder strap
circa 1970 (via) |
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The best thing about Heroquest is
I look like Arkon in a dress
Chaos Sorcerer circa 1989 |
Besides
Arkon the Magnificent, with his indebtedness to Marvel comics in both name and design,
Bloodaxe Gutripper is clearly derived from 10thC Norwegian leader
Eric Bloodaxe (who, unsurprisingly for Oldhammer, appears in
Riverworld). Another familiar name is
Elrik Darkhelm, probably named after everyones favourite albinoid doomladen ex-emperor of Melniboné, but doesn't have any of Elrics trademark design queues.
Drakar is Swedish for Dragon (which, I have to admit, only know because of Paul Bonners work on Swedish RPG
Drakar och Demoner / Trudvang). Another one that struck me, but must just be an odd coincidence is that
Tomar Spogh sounds a lot like
Thomas Pugh, of Bolt-thrower miniatures fame.
After much bloodletting, belching and sacrificing skulls to the mighty overlords of chaos, I decided to drop the
-letter suffix from
SS1 Ulrik Bloodletter, as it often doesn't work well with any other prefix. It's nice to see the litany of
blood,
skull,
death,
demon was well established even then.
One of the fun things was generating the name for the SS3: Knights of Chaos style honorific, so the deities name in
Haxdar Widowrider Disciple of Bandar (for example)
is generated using the same components as the other chaotic forenames, creating an infinitely branching family tree of ascended demi-god warriors of Khorne and their doomed followers. Not that this has anything to do with
Realms of Chaos guff, ascending to godhood is pure BCEMI D&D isn't it! An alternative approach could have been to just randomise the aspect of Khorne listed in the SS3: Knights of Chaos flyer, but that seems too dogmatic, in keeping with a strictly codified version of Chaos rather than the more freewheeling attitude evidenced by the other ranges of the period. Although what unearthly powers the Insane Chaos God Bandar may bestow upon his chosen Knight will have to be devised some other way! They're also not very frequent, so if you really want a follower of named deity, the generator will need refreshing a few times.
Mid 1980s Slottabase Citadel Chaos Warriors
Chaos Warrior miniatures released during the publication era of Second Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Sculpted by Aly Morrisson, Bob Naismith and Michael and Alan Perry - an eclectic bunch of spiky deth chaos warriors if ever there was one.
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| Citadel C35 Chaos Warriors (1985) Compendium 3 |
| Range | Firstname | Secondname | Honorific | Title |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Ulrik | Giblit | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Udkar | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Nud | Spinespittle | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Fenris | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors |
| Boneracker | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Penedal | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Daethskar | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Harrowhound | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | The Iron Duke | | | Duke |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Bandog | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors |
| Metalmane | | Count |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Jagglespur | | | |
| C35 Chaos Warriors | Bezzlebound | | | |
By this point the Tolkienisms seem to have dropped all together, so no more anagrams of Morgoth. There are several canine references -
Fenris, the apocalyptic norse wolf demon, and
Udkar and
Ulrik also follow a vaguely norse bent.
Bandog may well be another canine reference to a class of English guard dog, a kind of Pitbull Mastiff.
Harrowhound, maybe a small but vicious dog hailing from Harrow? I've no idea what Jaggle or Bezzle might refer to, 1985 seems a bit soon for
bedazzle my vajazzle!
Then there is
The Iron Duke, a nickname of the Duke of Wellington, a much celebrated English military commander and English Prime Minister. Odd choice for a Warrior of Chaos, surely a Goodly Knight of Law if ever there was one. Perhaps it's ironic.
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| Duke of Wellington "The Iron Duke" |
Of course, this lead me to think that perhaps the
nicknames of prime ministers, perhaps
Dodgy Dave the Pigsticker, or
Teflon Tony B'liar (the list goes on, and on) could join the ranks of the Initiates of Khorne. It's even possible the canine references were a coded reference to Sir Winston Churchill - the Bulldog (and car insurance sales gimmick), but rather than add in external sources, I just mixed the name-parts in. As with the earlier Speciality Set Chaos Warriors, the two-part second names dominate, which lend themselves very easily to randomising.
And finally we have the consciousness devouring 1987 range of Chaos Warriors, sculpted by Jez Goodwin that would go on to form the definitive look of the Chaos Warrior throughout the bleak and dismal ages that would follow the end of Second Edition.
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CH2 Chaos Warriors advert, White Dwarf 81 (1986)
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| Range | Firstname | Secondname | Honorific |
| CH2 | Arnie | Slicernecker | |
| CH2 | Cedric | Hammerhand | |
| CH2 | Boris | Heartcleaver | |
| CH2 | Slambo | | |
| CH2 | Eric | Umbrand | Earthshaker |
| CH2 | Garog |
| the Unstoppable |
| CH2 | Haxrot | Greenpiece | |
| CH2 | Krayos | Dleth | |
| CH2 | Ivan | Edaik | |
| CH2 | Ludmilla | Loinripper | |
| CH2 | Suiyakai |
| The Inscrutable |
| CH2 | Gladstone |
| The Large |
| CH2 | Papworth | Organgrinder | |
| CH2 | Dread | Indy Babylon | |
| CH2 | Pestilens | One Eye | |
| CH2 | Chengis | Crump | |
| CH2 | Zog | Arkwright | Mighty |
| CH2 | Gigal | De Appliance | Sir |
| CH2 | Pifco | The Deliverer | |
Again certain names jump out -
Arnie Slicernecker - perhaps a loose play on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gladstone - four times heavyweight Liberal prime minister
William Gladstone - and like
The Iron Duke before him, a peculiar choice for an agent of Chaos. On a medical front
Ivan Edaik "I've an headache",
Papworth Organgrider a reference to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge that specialises in major organ transfer surgery.
Pifco "The Deliverer" is the name of a UK electrical appliance brand. We also see
Dread Indy Babylon, a reference to rastafarianism grafted on to a somewhat sumerianesque figure, and the oriental
Suiyakai which could be based on a kind of japanese noodle dish. It's tempting to think that
Pestilens One Eye is a reference to the one eyed daemons of Warhammers plague god Nurgle (which may have been in development, but unpublished at this time). Of particular interest to me is
Erc Umbrand, who seems to be distorted echo of
Umberto Eco - whose work is great, but also contains multiple layers of intertextuality and makes deliberate references through naming of characters.
And then there is
Slambo.
Slambo. Ever wondered why the entire CH1 range is regaled in green armour? Of course we know Druillet had provided the inspiration for
The Red Redemption, which were also sculpted by Jes Goodwin and released in May 1985. The design of
Slambo provides the template for the
Chaos Warrior in Heroquest (who nontheless fails to
#twoweapon). I imagined the name was a combination of Slam and Rambo, still a valid joke, and considering the reference to Arnie, not beyond reason, but the weight of evidence that Druilet was something of the power behind the throne becomes as overwhelming as a great neon green chaos warhammer crushing down on a many tentacled beast from beyond the stars.
Then there are the honorifics - 'The Appliance", "The Unstoppable" which echo back to the Marvel Comics "
The Mighty Thor" or "
The Spectacular Spiderman" as well as Wrestling and American Football (William "The Refrigerator" Perry). Again, rather than adding to the list by invoking similar names, from sport and comics The Oldhammer Chaos Deth Spiky Name Generator of Chaos hews close to the sources.
And there endeth the beleaguered and mind shattering history of Oldhammer Chaos Warrior names. But of course, all this is but a
history of a time to come!
What arcane anti-heroes of darkness has the generator summoned? What insanity hath the nominative Khaos engine wrought? What dark disciples of the infinite void are belched forth from the eternal cosmic darkness of Old Night? If the Chaos Name Generator produces something funny, or entertaining or simply soul-destroying let me know in the comments!
