Deep Ones/Cthulhu Mythos fitting into 40K

[Elheru Aran]

Simple question associated with my ongoing 40K fic.

How would the Deep Ones fit into 40K?

Are they a Chaotic manifestation? And if so, which Chaos God would they belong to? I believe they would be Tzeentchian spawn of some ilk, though Nurgle is a possibility; or they could be merely Chaos Undivided?

And how would Great Cthulhu and any of the other mythos characters fit? Especially Nyarlathotep?

Thanks for your input, all...

[Rye]

I'd keep them how the mythos presents them. I wouldn't have them thralls of chaos, just something else entirely.

[Ted C]

The Outer Gods, like Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth, could easily be interpreted as Chaos Gods in their own right. Yog-Sothoth could conceivabley be another name for Tzeentch. Azathoth, on the other hand, wouldn't really correspond to any of the Chaos Gods; Azathoth is too mindless to care about the activities of mortals.

The Old Ones, like Cthulu and Hastur, are clearly beings of the material universe, not the Warp. While immensely powerful, they have planetary homes. They do, however, have an understanding of the universe that no mortal being could possibly match. They would be every bit as alien, implacable, and inimicable to the denizens of the 41st millenium as to the denizens of the 2nd.

Nyarlathotep would be a lesser god that serves the Outer Gods. This is an odd position to be in, since the chief of the Outer Gods, Azathoth, has no agenda and gives no instructions: it just burns fiercely at its place in the center of the universe, surrounded by a chorus of demonic musicians. Nyarlathotep sometimes seems contemptuous of his masters, but remains either loyal or bound to service all the same.

[LadyTevar]

Wasn't Cthulu a priest of the Old Ones, and not an Old One himself? Or is that a later mythos thing?

Because if he's a priest, you could have him be similar to a BloodDemon or Khaine's Avatar: something that's summoned when needed, sleeping otherwise.

After all, "Cthulu Sleeps"

[Ted C]

Wasn't Cthulu a priest of the Old Ones, and not an Old One himself? Or is that a later mythos thing?

Cthulu is an Old One, as I understand it, but he's also a sort of priest among the Old Ones, whatever that means.

I guess even hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional horrors need religion.

[Xon]

Wasn't Cthulu a priest of the Old Ones, and not an Old One himself? Or is that a later mythos thing?

Probably both depending on if you take just Lovecraft as canon or the extensions by other authors looking to make a dollar which most of the mythos stuff is actually developed.

[The Cooler King]

It's been a WHILE since I read the Necron book, and I may be wrong, but weren't the C'tan meant to be Lovecraftian terrors anyway?

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Wasn't Cthulu a priest of the Old Ones, and not an Old One himself? Or is that a later mythos thing?

Cthulu is an Old One, as I understand it, but he's also a sort of priest among the Old Ones, whatever that means.

I guess even hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional horrors need religion.

From what I've seen, Cthulhu is the high priest, and most powerful (and largest) member of the Starspawn, elevating himself to the power of the other named Old Ones, though the rest of his race aren't.

The problem we run into again with Lovecraftian deities is the lack of quantification. If I remember correctly, Groth, an Old One that takes the shape of a large, black, planetoid with a single red eye, has the ability to destroy planets, which establishes a nice lower-limit on his power. But none of the other ones have ever fully demonstrated their own power.

Nyarlathotep, I'm pretty sure, isn't a Great Old One. He's referred to, multiple times, as the Soul and Messenger of the Outer Gods, it could be reasonably inferred that he's more on their level than on the level of the Great Old Ones. On top of that, he doesn't seem to have any of the restrictions that seem to be the only shared feature among the Great Old Ones.

Anyways, Nyarlathotep seems more interested in pushing civilizations to their own downfall, often by offering them gifts and advice that eventually lead to their destruction. With the IOM's rather xenophobic attitude towards The Warp and anything seen as 'Chaos', he'd have a pretty tough time getting them to accept his offers. I could easily see him starting many cults among multiple races, though.

Nyarlathotep would be a lesser god that serves the Outer Gods. This is an odd position to be in, since the chief of the Outer Gods, Azathoth, has no agenda and gives no instructions

According to Lovecraft, Nyarlathotep is sort of an extension of Azathoth that gained its own personality and intelligence. He's a part of Azathoth, so whenever the Outer God twitches and shifts, Nyarlathotep immediately performs what he apparently interprets as the 'will' of Azathoth.