A Slaanesh chaos warband I made up a while back, never have gotten around to actually making a force, but if I do it's be for 3rd edition because Chaos after 3rd sucks outside of 7th edition Khorne Daemonkin, that being said Chaos is great in the fantasy systems and in the Horus Heresy.

History: The origins of the Cacophony of Decadence can be traced to their parent legion the Emperor's Children, their offical formation occured after the Battle of Skalathrax from various elements of the 3rd legion but were able to actually form a somewhat traditional structure and have been able to sustain themselves thanks to their raids and apothecaries. Under the guidance of Carriox the Painspawned the warband was able to begin raiding on Imperial worlds, using toxins and stimulants to aid them in their vicious, fanatical attacks as they worship Slaanesh.

But major battles are also present in the warbands somewhat sporadic history, the Slaughter of the Gladious sub-sector being the biggest turning point.

DESIRE FOR REVENGE

The invasion of Gladious was different from the raids before, for this was a Black Crusade in Slaanesh's name with everything at the warbands disposal, from small cults to it's mighty fleet. To weaken the sub-sectors defenses, many solar months were spent placing cults in the Ministorum temples, Administratum offices and multiple planetary defense forces across it's worlds, consiting of three hive worlds, a desert death world and a jungle feral world around a vigorous white star, with the board set the warband launched their attack on the sub-sector.

The capitol world Gladious III was able to quickly put down the cults once they sprung up but not before the cults were able to slay their telepaths which were the cults primary targets across all worlds but the capitol world was unique in two ways, first they now had a chance to reinforce and they were also home to a space marine chapter, the Drakes of Valor, an Ultramarine successor chapter. The outer hive world Gladious V was crushed in mere solar hours thanks to the cults, mutants and the abused population, from there the jungle world of II and hive world of IV were overrun within months of the invasions start, even with help from the astartes. The Desert world of Gladious I was evacuated and subjected to exterminataus to deny a launching point for the traitors and to help buy time for the loyalists.

THE SWARM ARRIVES

Before the traitors could begin their final assault however, the xenos known as the Tyanids with this swarm hailing from Leviathan. Now the warband was effectively caught between two foes, the hated Imperium and the maw of the Great Devourer and with no way to escape the Cacophony of Decadence began to adapt their stratagy and twisted plans, the warband decided to reset their base on the now exterminated world of Gladious I to remain in striking distance of the Imperial's and readied all of their defenses as marines, cultists, renegade guard and mutants took to the field. The small hive fleet attacked both remaining worlds at once, the blasts of sonic weapons ripped into the creatures of Leviathan as champions duelled with twisted horrors and sheer weapons fire smashed through the swarms ranks, but then a mighty hive tyrant joined the charged and Carriox after defeating a horde of genestealers alongside his bodyguard of terminators enguaged the creature in solo combat. After a toll of nearly 30 solar hours of battle, the creatures of Tyranids were no more, their bodies burning in the hot worlds lava as thier blood spilled on the soil only to steam up, the warband roared in victory as Carriox stood atop the decapitated head of the hive tyrant, his axe covered in the creatures toxic, green blood. With what was left of the Tyranid swarm attacking the Imperial capital world the Cacophony of Decadence decided to try to 'resupply' from their newly defeated foes, taking and containing various deadly poisions, acids and potent gases. However their chief apothecary Trojous suggested taking and using some of the Tyranids own biomorphs and weapons and using them to bring more destruction upon their foe, this brought some debate as this reminded them of Bile's expirements but this would be far more extreme, overall Carriox aggreed and even volunteered to have the procedure done to him. While Trojous wanted to take his lord on his offer, he requested to have some time to perfect the grafting process required to make such alterations to which Carriox reluctantly agreed, to do this he had several volenteers choose numerous biomorphs of their choosing and with aid from both a sorcerer by the name of Snape and a warpsmith known as Countverse he set about trying to achieve what he wanted to do. As the imperials battled for their lives the warband slowly began to exhaust their more mortal hosts and the project that Trojous was slowly coming together as it was discovered how to adapt nerve endings and switch out vital componants for newly grown ones and soon the process was successful on both human and astartes to which the apothecary told his lord the process was ready, Carriox presented the apothecary with two genestealer arms that he wanted to have attached and even requested to have more acidic spit. After nearly six solar hours of painstaking work the three were successful in their efforts as now at either side Carriox had a new arm and his betcher's gland and preomnor were ultimatly replaced with the newly adapted xeno tissue with special muscles implated to allow him to spit the new toxic acid much like a terran snake. Ultimately many marines volunter to have this procedure done aswell, seeing it as a way of perfecting themselves and improving their methods of war.

DEATH THROES OF GLADIOUS

The remains of the Tyranids laid slain on Gladious III and it's orbit, but there was no time to reinforce as the Cacophony of Decadence made planetfall, their sight of body horror stunned their enemies as most paniced for the sight of modified biomorphs had become incorperated onto their bodies and began to use their new found limbs to slaughter their enemies. The Drakes of Valor engauged their ancient foe, but the augments, stimulants and toxins swong the battle decisivly in the favor of the Slaaneshi warband as boneswords, claws and scything talons tore through space marine armor with ease, deadly ranged biomorphs were grafted onto daemon engines and eventually only the chapters fortress remained. At rougly seven companies strong the chapters home became a battlefield as twisted marines smashed their way through, cultists slayed serfs and daemons of Slaanesh rampaged, Carriox would then duel the chapter master in single combat and eventually slay him with his new limbs as they ripped through his terminator plate.

Many of the remaining marines, realising that the most of the 1st company and elite officers were slain openly surrendered, seeking to live another day. By battles end the warband had around a quarter of a chapter added to it's numbers, this would lead to a warp storm opening thanks to efforts from the warbands sorcerers and masters of possesson and consuming the sub-sector as Gladious III became a daemon world devoted to Slaanesh. Carriox claimed the gene-seed of the now dead chapter and ordered that possible candidates were to be converted into new marines as soon as possible.

DEPRAVITY AND BUTCHERY

Given their victory and consumption of the Gladious sub-sector, the warband focused it's efforts on further carving deep into the Imperium but even with supplies from the fallen chapter the warband needed more to strike and so began to raid once more. This attracted the attention of a warband of Night Lords traitor astartes and both warbands ultimately clashed. The early victories of the sons of Curze were staggering as they only engauged raiding forces of cultists and few marines, with this came a desire for the warbands master of possession Acheron to prove to those of the eighth the error of their ways and thus launched an operation with his host of daemonkin, using an unturned cruiser as bait the daemonkin hid within it's corridors, waiting to pounce.

The Night Lords attacked the cruiser, expecting an easy target but after going deep into the ship the trap was sprung on almost the whole warband, the daemonkin shot out from the shadows, ripping into their enemies with little resistance, the ship that the warband of Night Lords were using, an old strike cruiser came under attack by launched boarding craft. Effectivly the daemonkin had trapped the warband of the 8th in a gauntlet where the lords of night were able to be dispatched. By battles end, the warbands chaos lord had fallen in single combat to Acheron and the few marines left of the lords warband were brought into the folds of the Cacophony, to aid in their slaughter.

GLAMOUR OF CRIMSON

The next major battle of such scale took place a few mere solar years during the closing of m41, the warband wished to secure an alliance with Abaddon, the Warmaster of Chaos himself. But before that could be attempted a mighty attack force struck the Gladious sector in the form of a warband of Word Bearers under the command of a powerful dark apostle that dedicated himself and his host to Khorne and sought to eradicate the Cacophony of Decadence entirely as a offering to the Blood God. The sons of Fulgrim laughed as they made ready to fight the Word Bearers, they knew that the sons of Lorgar fought to the very end and that stubborness is what made them ran wild.

The Second War for Gladious would last for mere solar weeks but it proved to be a war that was to be grinded into history. The Word Bearers had underestimated their foe as the sorcerers of the their rival had amplified the warp storm, throwing their entire fleet into smaller groups or single vessels that were either simply destroyed in transit, swept by daemons or were captured by the Cacophony after taking advantage of the confusion. The fleet and planetary engaugments faired little better as the Cacophony had reinforced every world with carefully made bastions out of wrecked voidships and hidden traps.

Daemons of Khorne were summoned and this did finally breakthrough the lines of the Cacophony but that's when the sons of Lorgar saw the full extent of the Cacophonies dealings, the gains from the Tyranids had been cloned and mass produced, bizzare bioweapons replaced or melded with bolters, bizzare creations of xeno flesh and variable technology. The Word Bearers found that any sense of creating a forward base was futile and as the Cacophony made it impossible to effectively move positions thanks to the use of the toxins and chemicals they now used.

The final hours of the enguagment saw the lowar ranks of the Bearers charge into the lines of the Cacophony as the more elite elements stormed any place they could, this only drove the Cacophony into a frenzy of pleasure as they countered. Goral the Twisted, a lord discordant challenged and slain the apostle leading the host as daemonkin rushed to overwhelm the annointed bodyguard and the remaining pockets of the attackers were wipped out. In the aftermath, the Cacophony had taken moderate losses and from the edges forces of the Black Legion arrived with the Vengeful Spirit leading it, the Cacophony quickly made contact with Abaddon who revealed that he had sent the Word Bearers as they were petetioning for becoming allies to the Black Legion but given the fallen warbands failure this was extended to the Cacophony instead.

Since that time the Cacophony of Decadence has been affiliated with the Black Legion and carried out multiple operations, fortified the assault on Cadia and maintain their own agendas.

THE RIFTS TEARS OPEN

The Great Rift brought with it great oppertunity for the Slaaneshi warband as they raided Ultima Segmentum, new slaves and spoils, new targets ripe for consumption. The warband also encountered numerous genestealer cults and spliter hive fleets, from which they could restock their supply of tissues and toxins more quickly and gain willing servants from the populations that they 'saved' to which allowed them to spread like a tainted virus and thus with the warp gripped Gladious sub-sector acting as their core words they have created a small empire out of an entire sector that is greatly fortified. Since that time only the foolish or insane venture into their territory and slowly the warp storm is engulfing the sector as sorcerers on the occupied worlds prepare to further expand the warp storm to ensure the sector remains firmly in their grasp.

Orginisation: The structure of the warband is somewhat structured like a chapter in a sense and they even maintain traditions from the original legion with a strong sense of brotherhood.

The warbands key command and support structures are in place but in terms of "companies" it varies wildly, for example the most elite are comprised of possessed, terminators, chosen and the most battle-hardend noise marines and are spread much like how those of the 1st companies are assigned to others depending on the mission and opponent. The core of these companies are made up of mostly astartes from the 3rd legion but new astartes who have been taken from other sources or joined start off with their power armor painted the same way as how that of the 3rd's original colors were or from their former warband or chapter, but quickly these colors become replaced to reflect the current state of the Emperor's Children.

Attached to these forces are wicked raptors and vindictive havocs, sonic equipped vehicles and daemon engines follow in tow and act as a brutal hammer against great defenses as the dreadnoughts smash their way to get to the thickest warzone. Aircraft are also used to deal with areial threats or to soften up certain target.

Combat Doctrine: The warband enjoys it's use of sonic weapons and the use of thudding bolter fire, booming artilley shells and the whirring buzz of chainswords, they function like a twisted parody of how they once fought in the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. However those of the Cacophony of Decadence prefer to get closer to the enemy to marval at the art of war and it's instruments, even when armed with bolters and heavy weapons the marines still try to engauge at ranges where a simple bolt pistol or even their own armored fists would be more then sufficent. Even the crews of things like land raiders, predator tanks and even those in aircraft have a tendancy to get closer then usual, having trying to stay at ranges that would be more practical and be more beneficial, this is likely because they simply don't want to just be the chorus driving the main rift, but also tring to perform their own solos aswell.

With the indroduction of grafting Tyranid biomorphs onto themselves, the warband has a very unnerving appearence even when compared to other Chaos warbands, with this came more brutal attacks at close range and even aided another aspect of how the warband fights, venoms and toxins. The use of these substances are used from coating a bladed edge to firing toxic gas and even tainting food and other supplies, proteins from certain toxins and biomorphs have been even isolated and turned into stimulants to help give the warband an edge in combat.

Mutations in the warband: The heavy mutation of Slaaneshi corruption is still very much there, but the most distinctive is that the marines, reguardless of source it seems develop a sinister voice that can cause almost any opponent to run, flee or even surrender and it isn't unheard of for a small group of noise marines causing whole platoons of battle hardend veterans to simply falter before even a single shot is fired, leaving them open to attack.

Beliefs: The Cacophony of Decadence beleives that they were betrayed by the Imperium that they once fought for, that the Imperium didn't want to remember those who built up the galactic power, even before those in the warband fell to Chaos they grew a quick hatred and resentment as they felt their lost brothers were being spit on.

Those marines that took part in Imperial Compliance after the Emperor announced his move to Terra and to introduce a council, it is noted that they began to exhibit a more fiendish approach in war and when the 3rd legion offically turned it's back on the Imperium they were finally able to release their pent up fury as they slaughtered many loyalists, both warrior and non-combatent.

Given that now they are devoted to Slaanesh, they seek to test themselves against worthy opponents to show they are the perfect warriors as they seek out to duel the champions of other forces.

The core element of the warband however is brotherhood, even among the high ranking champions and leaders and through tradition they honor the battle-brothers that fell during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy and new marines that join the ranks find themselves welcomed with open arms. All of this to make every marine feel like they matter with even ceremonies taking place for when they fall in battle.

Appearence: The warband shares it's color scheme with the Emperor's Children but it's offical badge has changed to the Imperial 'I' mixed with the symbol of Slaanesh.

Notable indviduals:

Carriox the Painspawned - Carriox is an extremely twisted Chaos Lord, having slain Chapter Masters and Champions of multiple chapters aswell as Inquisitors, he has gained an infamous dueling reputation.

Chief Apothecary Trojous - Trojous is the one who successfully began the grafting process of Tyranid tissues onto the astartes of the warband, this act has drawn the attention of the fleshcrafters of the Dark Eldar and numerous servants of the Dark Mechanicum. He is also known to have purged many worlds during the Horus Heresy.

Snape - The advisor and second in command of the Cacophony, Snape is known to have bested champions of a handful of legions during the Horus Heresy, most of which from the Ultramarines.

Countverse - Countverse is known for creating havoc among the craftworld eldar, smashing numerous spirit stones and even defeated an eldar wraithknight in single combat with the aid of his augmrntations and bionics. Many of the fallen race wish to claim the warpsmiths head.

Acheron - Acheron had corrupted an entire sector and being a powerful master of possession he summond many deamons and devoted the sector to Slaanesh.

Goral the Twisted - Goral is known for many acts of slaughter in Imperial space, both during and after the Heresy. He also brutally killed a Dark Apostle in the closing hours of a great battle.

Vizoal the Damned - A cultist turned chaos champion, Vizoal is known for slaying a loyal chapter master in single combat. This victory earned the gaze of Slaanesh and of Carriox, Slaanesh blessed the cultist by turning her sword into daemon weapon and Carriox gifted her by attaching a pair of Tyranid wings onto her back.

Homeworld: Gladious III(daemon world)

Fleet: The list of known vessels of the Cacophony of Decadence shows a great number of twisted cruisers, carriers and numerous support craft, but the most infamous are as follows.

Eye of Perfection(Battle Barge) - Flagship, Great Crusade Horus Heresy Era

Xeno's Flesh - A murder-class crusier retrofitted with Tyranid biomorphs to test combat effectiveness.

Blood of the Loyal - A repulsive grand cruiser that serves as Goral's personal ship.

Relics:

Passion of Creed - This heavily corrupted mastodon has been sighted in every major engaugment that the Cacophony has taken part in. The mastodon has received many mutations from warp exposer and modifications from the warband. The heavy flamers have been replaced with blastmasters after sustaining battle damage, the skyreaper battery had run out of ammunition and was replaced by an armored quad autocannon turret and in salvaging materials and parts, the lascannons were replaced by twin-linked lascannons off a land raider phobos that had been destroyed during the closing years of the Great Scouring, the lascannons can aim up and down from the mastadon chasis and the horizontal movement of the mounts themselves.

Cleaver of Gorgons - An ancient power axe weilded by Carriox, it's most infamous use was during the Drop Site Massacre where Carriox killed numberous elite marines and even a handful of Gorgon Terminators, this is also where he gained his title as the Painspawned due to his horrific injuries and the fact he used powerful stimulants to enhance the sensation of feeling pain. Ironically the axe was once part of the Iron Hands arsenal.