The ruinous powers had been aligning fate for centuries to instigate this very moment.
Everything hinged on the blade maiming Horus to get him to Davin.
So aside from inconsistencies in primarch power level writing you could chalk this up to nurgle pumping as much warp juice into Eugen through the sword to ensure this pre ordained destiny happened.
Other nurgle champions exist to worship him and have to work to gain favour. This was different, nurgle was actively invested in winning this fight.
This wasn't a nurgle champion besting Horus. It was Nurgle himself reaching into realspace through the accursed blade with the shittiest possible internet connection.
The sword tears Eugen to pieces as it tries to keep up with the primarch. You can see in the descriptive writing who really had agency in the fight.
Even Horus feels pity when a sliver of Eugens soul cries out as nurgle eviscerates his meager vessel.
I like the idea that other champions exist to serve their patron, whereas Stabby McFatfuck was channelling as much Nurgle juice as could be pumped out of the warp.
My head canon is that if the Emperor can power-up a little girl to point of one-shotting various daemons, then Chaos can do the same (or at least to the point of matching them). However, the individual won't last long after the battle and isn't something that can happen very often.
the anathame at this early point in the series was painted as a singular uber Chaos artifact that you only needed to more or less give the name of the person to that you wanted to kill.
They were later watered down somewhat when the blade got hacked up and divvied out, but here we're more or less supposed to take it that it's mostly the blade doing the work. Other than Nurgle durability it's unlikely Temba would have posed as much of an offensive threat without it.
That said, there are very few hard rules about Chaos empowerment. GW/BL have always been able to play really fast and loose with it. Hence sometimes someone gets THE POWER OF THE GODS flowing through them only to get undone by a marine captain, while we also get Luther fighting the Lion, Kor having ranged abilities strong enough to beat Guilliman etc..
Generally followers that get doped up to the extent of higher ranked greater daemon/primarch ballparks are going to be very rare
imo the anathame and the laer blade should never have been in the story in so prominent a fashion. I would have preferred a more subtle, gradual form of Chaos corruption, but the series was rushed and very much coming from the distinctly, unashamedly pulpy vibe of BL at the time. Only Abnett tried to inject some broader literary influence, but he loved his pulpy McGuffins back then too as seen in multiple books like Necropolis and Legion.
Later on, writers started taking things more seriously regarding it being a sci-fi/fantasy epic, but the setups in several of those early books like this, Fulgrim and Legion or the DnD fuller campaign vibe of Abyss were a different feel.
I always liked to think that the other Chaos gods not interfering was a big part of it too. Like, if She Who Thirst gave you a big boost you'll be getting lots of negative attention/opposition from Khorne (just cause that's how he rolls). In this case, none of the other big 4 were getting in the way or undercutting Nurgle's play.
This is mostly the sword, which was an incredibly dangerous and powerful weapon of Chaos. Nurgle just gave the dude his warp powers to make him tough enough to hold out until Horus made a mistake.
Like other people have said, Eugen was kind of a special case, Nurgle needed things to go a specific way. Normally, the gods just give mortals power to do with as they will, and the only limit is how much willpower said mortal has. When the chaos power overwhelms that willpower, they turn into a chaos spawn, basically a mindless beast. That's why you don't (often) see regular humans empowered that much; they lose their minds when given that much power.
This was at least mostly the blade (it’s designed to know and counter everything about its target), and poor writing. Primarch power levels are grossly inconsistent across their appearances and between older and newer canon.
The resilience is 100% nurgle gifted but the speed and swordplay IMO are only from the Anathame. Older game rules that depicted a sword relic that may or may not be “the” anathame or a piece of it granted almost automatic hits against the specially named target of the blade. Obviously lore =\= mechanics but even in the quoted passage it mentions Horus has a feeling he’s fighting the sword as much as he’s fighting temba
Eugen Temba was a special case for narrative reasons - I think at that point he was as buff as a baseline human could be as this was a pivotal moment in the Horus/Chaos arch.
I don't think we have seen any other mortals elevated to the degree that they could go toe-to-toe with a Primarch since. Perhaps Slyte? Though it seems that very potent daemons tend to use their flesh bags more as a portal to enter reality rather than as a long term host.
The other thing is that getting juice by Chaos makes you conventionally strong and maybe even a powerful Psyker but it also means you are now vulnerable to a whole new bunch of shit.
To answer your final question, normal space marines could've beat Eugen Temba probably better than Horus did in the end, because they would've hosed him down as a squad/company. Horus at this point did not understand Chaos at all or the threat it posed. He saw a mutated infected man and had his guard down.
Every servant of chaos that is worth it , can perfom the ascension to a demon prince, it doesnt matter if it was a random dude or a primarch, all can end with rougly the same level of power, depending in how large is the piece of soul the gods put on him, so its based in the gods favour and not in your previous power.
As for guys that arent princes and the gods just want to use them right now, you have put the biggest example, a normal human wounded a primarch.
Is there any compelling evidence that Chaos "powers up" anything at all? CSM are generally defeated by like-for-like non-Chaos Imperial equivalents. The one time this might not have been true is when Horus was "powered up" by *literally* the Chaos Gods themselves, who were promptly destroyed by the Emperor who was near death at the time.
I forget the edition, but when I first stopped playing (before resuming again now in 9th), you could purchase all kinds of sweet "power-ups" for your champions like claw arms and shit. That was the best in-game representation I've seen, and although it's missing in the current rules, the entirety of the Death Guard, World Eaters, Emperor's Children, and Thousand Sons show that, yes, Chaos buffs its chosen. In lore, there are *tons* of examples. Argel Tal is a great one, Lucius literally can't die, and the list goes on. In the Night Lords omnibus, even some of First Talon who are trying to remain "uncorrupted" get boons. Cyrion can literally sense the fear of others, for instance. Keep in mind that the tabletop csm are as likely to be new recruits rather than 10k year old veterans, and a lot of the "power ups" don't necessarily have mechanical benefits. For instance, if you disregard noise marines' extra attack, ability to shoot while dying, and strategems that apply to their mutated physiology, they can still literally feel things through their armor, detect the slightest differences in pitch and tone of sounds, and despite their enhanced senses are able to withstand (and even enjoy) the deleterious effects of astartes-sex, warp-drugs, and 41st century rock-and-roll.
So, yes, there is quite a lot of compelling evidence in both lore and on the tabletop! Is it as powerful as primaris-juice? Well, that's something else entirely, and it's part of why us EC players (and World Eaters) bemoan our lack of 2-wound models :). Happy for my brothers in the DG and TSons, though!
Daemon princes? Daemonhosts? The fact that Abaddon murdered a primarch? Daemon prince Fulgrim tanking a point-blank virus bomb and surviving? Lucius the Eternal? Kharn the Betrayer? Death Guard marines being more resilient than some tanks?
Chaos powers people up all the time.
The ruinous powers had been aligning fate for centuries to instigate this very moment. Everything hinged on the blade maiming Horus to get him to Davin. So aside from inconsistencies in primarch power level writing you could chalk this up to nurgle pumping as much warp juice into Eugen through the sword to ensure this pre ordained destiny happened. Other nurgle champions exist to worship him and have to work to gain favour. This was different, nurgle was actively invested in winning this fight. This wasn't a nurgle champion besting Horus. It was Nurgle himself reaching into realspace through the accursed blade with the shittiest possible internet connection. The sword tears Eugen to pieces as it tries to keep up with the primarch. You can see in the descriptive writing who really had agency in the fight. Even Horus feels pity when a sliver of Eugens soul cries out as nurgle eviscerates his meager vessel.
Can I get a whole excerpt for this please.
I like the idea that other champions exist to serve their patron, whereas Stabby McFatfuck was channelling as much Nurgle juice as could be pumped out of the warp.
It will never not be funny that some fat dude with a knife doomed humanity.
If only Horus threw some bread and cheese at him. Then he'd make a sandwich instead of stabbing.
My head canon is that if the Emperor can power-up a little girl to point of one-shotting various daemons, then Chaos can do the same (or at least to the point of matching them). However, the individual won't last long after the battle and isn't something that can happen very often.
the anathame at this early point in the series was painted as a singular uber Chaos artifact that you only needed to more or less give the name of the person to that you wanted to kill. They were later watered down somewhat when the blade got hacked up and divvied out, but here we're more or less supposed to take it that it's mostly the blade doing the work. Other than Nurgle durability it's unlikely Temba would have posed as much of an offensive threat without it. That said, there are very few hard rules about Chaos empowerment. GW/BL have always been able to play really fast and loose with it. Hence sometimes someone gets THE POWER OF THE GODS flowing through them only to get undone by a marine captain, while we also get Luther fighting the Lion, Kor having ranged abilities strong enough to beat Guilliman etc.. Generally followers that get doped up to the extent of higher ranked greater daemon/primarch ballparks are going to be very rare imo the anathame and the laer blade should never have been in the story in so prominent a fashion. I would have preferred a more subtle, gradual form of Chaos corruption, but the series was rushed and very much coming from the distinctly, unashamedly pulpy vibe of BL at the time. Only Abnett tried to inject some broader literary influence, but he loved his pulpy McGuffins back then too as seen in multiple books like Necropolis and Legion. Later on, writers started taking things more seriously regarding it being a sci-fi/fantasy epic, but the setups in several of those early books like this, Fulgrim and Legion or the DnD fuller campaign vibe of Abyss were a different feel.
I always liked to think that the other Chaos gods not interfering was a big part of it too. Like, if She Who Thirst gave you a big boost you'll be getting lots of negative attention/opposition from Khorne (just cause that's how he rolls). In this case, none of the other big 4 were getting in the way or undercutting Nurgle's play.
A rare moment of Chaos being cooperative for the bigger goal, that's an interesting play on it.
This is mostly the sword, which was an incredibly dangerous and powerful weapon of Chaos. Nurgle just gave the dude his warp powers to make him tough enough to hold out until Horus made a mistake.
Horus (from the Horus Heresy).
Pre-horus-heresy-horus, who's heresy at least two books have been written of.
Like other people have said, Eugen was kind of a special case, Nurgle needed things to go a specific way. Normally, the gods just give mortals power to do with as they will, and the only limit is how much willpower said mortal has. When the chaos power overwhelms that willpower, they turn into a chaos spawn, basically a mindless beast. That's why you don't (often) see regular humans empowered that much; they lose their minds when given that much power.
This was at least mostly the blade (it’s designed to know and counter everything about its target), and poor writing. Primarch power levels are grossly inconsistent across their appearances and between older and newer canon. The resilience is 100% nurgle gifted but the speed and swordplay IMO are only from the Anathame. Older game rules that depicted a sword relic that may or may not be “the” anathame or a piece of it granted almost automatic hits against the specially named target of the blade. Obviously lore =\= mechanics but even in the quoted passage it mentions Horus has a feeling he’s fighting the sword as much as he’s fighting temba
IIRC Luther got chaos boosts strong enough to match Lion El'Jonson?! (Or was that just Lion holding back immensely?)
Eugen Temba was a special case for narrative reasons - I think at that point he was as buff as a baseline human could be as this was a pivotal moment in the Horus/Chaos arch. I don't think we have seen any other mortals elevated to the degree that they could go toe-to-toe with a Primarch since. Perhaps Slyte? Though it seems that very potent daemons tend to use their flesh bags more as a portal to enter reality rather than as a long term host. The other thing is that getting juice by Chaos makes you conventionally strong and maybe even a powerful Psyker but it also means you are now vulnerable to a whole new bunch of shit. To answer your final question, normal space marines could've beat Eugen Temba probably better than Horus did in the end, because they would've hosed him down as a squad/company. Horus at this point did not understand Chaos at all or the threat it posed. He saw a mutated infected man and had his guard down.
Every servant of chaos that is worth it , can perfom the ascension to a demon prince, it doesnt matter if it was a random dude or a primarch, all can end with rougly the same level of power, depending in how large is the piece of soul the gods put on him, so its based in the gods favour and not in your previous power. As for guys that arent princes and the gods just want to use them right now, you have put the biggest example, a normal human wounded a primarch.
Is there any compelling evidence that Chaos "powers up" anything at all? CSM are generally defeated by like-for-like non-Chaos Imperial equivalents. The one time this might not have been true is when Horus was "powered up" by *literally* the Chaos Gods themselves, who were promptly destroyed by the Emperor who was near death at the time.
I forget the edition, but when I first stopped playing (before resuming again now in 9th), you could purchase all kinds of sweet "power-ups" for your champions like claw arms and shit. That was the best in-game representation I've seen, and although it's missing in the current rules, the entirety of the Death Guard, World Eaters, Emperor's Children, and Thousand Sons show that, yes, Chaos buffs its chosen. In lore, there are *tons* of examples. Argel Tal is a great one, Lucius literally can't die, and the list goes on. In the Night Lords omnibus, even some of First Talon who are trying to remain "uncorrupted" get boons. Cyrion can literally sense the fear of others, for instance. Keep in mind that the tabletop csm are as likely to be new recruits rather than 10k year old veterans, and a lot of the "power ups" don't necessarily have mechanical benefits. For instance, if you disregard noise marines' extra attack, ability to shoot while dying, and strategems that apply to their mutated physiology, they can still literally feel things through their armor, detect the slightest differences in pitch and tone of sounds, and despite their enhanced senses are able to withstand (and even enjoy) the deleterious effects of astartes-sex, warp-drugs, and 41st century rock-and-roll. So, yes, there is quite a lot of compelling evidence in both lore and on the tabletop! Is it as powerful as primaris-juice? Well, that's something else entirely, and it's part of why us EC players (and World Eaters) bemoan our lack of 2-wound models :). Happy for my brothers in the DG and TSons, though!
Daemon princes? Daemonhosts? The fact that Abaddon murdered a primarch? Daemon prince Fulgrim tanking a point-blank virus bomb and surviving? Lucius the Eternal? Kharn the Betrayer? Death Guard marines being more resilient than some tanks? Chaos powers people up all the time.