The Malignancy of Malal: Solving the mystery

of the 'fifth chaos god'

My recent interview with Tony Ackland got various tongues wagging across the Oldhammer
World and beyond, particularly on the subject of Malal. But who exactly is, or indeed was Malal?
All most of us know is that he (or she?) was developed out of house, was linked to Kaleb Daark
and fell victim to legalities worse that the Realm of Chaos itself.

So Realm of Chaos went in search of the mysterious 'fifth god' and uncovered a story of censure
and complaint in the process. With contributions from the great Tony Ackland and the legendary
Rick Priestley, we set about solving the mystery of the Malignancy of Malal.

RoC80s: There is much speculation about the original nature of Malal. What do you recall
of the development of this early, and abandoned due to legalities, chaos god.

Rick Priestley: Malal was invented for a comic strip without any reference to the actual Chaos gods
– I think the comic strip author just wanted to set something up that wouldn’t muddy our
background and which he could manipulate as he wanted. Whoever arranged the deal didn’t think
to make it clear that the work would be a genre piece and hence GW property – and when it came
down to it the author claimed ownership of the IP and GW had to abandon it. Clash of cultures
really – in the games industry us poor games writers are used to this kind of thing – not so in the
world of comics.

So who exactly was Malal then? Well, its seems that Malal was the embodiment of
Chaos' indiscriminate and anarchic tendency toward destruction, including itself and its own agents.
An cancer of chaos if you like. The nature of Malal's power was largely parasitic, the idea being that
the Renegade God grew in power only when the other Chaos gods did. Like the other deities, Malal
had a sacred number and this was 11. His sacred colours were black and white.

The concept behind Malal was created by comics writers John Wagner and Alan Grant, as was Malal's
champion, Kaleb Daark, for the Citadel Compendium and Journals. In the comic strip adventure,
Kaleb Daark's mission allied him temporarily with the forces of good. He fought at the siege of Praag
and confronted the followers of the Chaos God Khorne, and also found himself at odds with the
skaven. Less mutated than other followers of Chaos, he was equipped with a soul-drinking daemon
weapon, Dreadaxe, with its pterodactyl-like head on a shaft of bone. His shield was shaped in the
form of Malal's skull symbol, his armor was all-black with white while his steed was a black mutant
horse. Kaleb himself appeared pale, as the contact with Malal supposedly drained him of energy. His
battle cry was "Dreadaxe thirsts for you!"

Hmmm? Sounds a little too similar to Moorcock's Elric to be mere coincidence! But then again, most
of the Warhammer Mythos is rooted in Moorcock's Eternal champion series.
There were three installments completed of The Quest of Kaleb Daark comic:
 Part 1 : "The Quest of Kaleb Daark" - The Third Citadel Compendium 1985
 Part 2 : "The God-Slayer!" - The Citadel Journal Spring 1986
 Part 3 : "Evil of the Warpstone!" - The Citadel Journal Spring 1987
 Part 4 : "God Amok!" - Un-printed

In the Spring 1986 Journal there was also one additional page of Warhammer Fantasy Battle rules
(and a small bit of Malal background) for including Kaleb Daark and his steed in games. This issue
also saw the first advertisements for the miniature figure set including a mounted and standing Kaleb
Daark. The Spring 1987 Journal featured the miniature figure sets of the two Chaos Brothers, Jaek and
Helwud, Kaleb's main adversaries in Part 3. Part 4 "God Amok!" was also advertised in this issue, but
it never saw print. It is uncertain how much of this 4th installment was actually completed before the
legal problems began and work was halted.

What follows is the background and fluff, published for Warhammer Second Edition,
concerning Kaleb Daark:

The Ultimate Chaos Hero – Kaleb Daark:

There is a name whispered quietly and with fear even by the most depraved, the most evil, the
least sane of the worshippers of Chaos, that name is Malal the Renegade God of Chaos. Any
man who dare look within the unholy black pages of The Great Book of Despair, that foul
tome held sacred by worshippers of Chaos, would find the following words:

…and he that went before now came last, and that which was white and black and all
direction was thrown against itself. Grown mightily indignant at the words of the Gods,
Malal did turn his heart against them and flee into the chambers of space ... And no man
looked to Malal then, save those that serve which they hate, who smile upon air misfortune,
and who bear no love save for the damned. At such times as a warrior's heart turns to Malal
all Gods of Chaos grow fearful, and the laughter of the Outcast God fills the tomb of space....'

In eons past Malal was cast out from the bosom of Chaos by the other gods, or else abandoned
them of his own volition, no one is sure which. In any case Malal's relationship to the other
Gods of Chaos is strange one. All Gods of Chaos pursue purposes that are wholly their own,
yet only Malal occupies a position so resolutely parasitic upon his own unfathomable creed.
To be a follower of Malal is to be chaotic warrior bent upon shedding the blood of other
chaotic creatures. As such, Malal is both feared and hated by the other gods. Malal's
worshippers, too, are loathed by other chaotics; they are outcasts beloved by neither the
friends nor enemies of Chaos, dependent upon the least whim of their patron deity. Few men
worship such a god; fewer still live long in his service. The bonds that tie master and servant
ever drain upon the soul of the warrior, and it is a rare man that can loosen those bonds once
forged

Kaleb Daark is the greatest amongst such warriors, the Doomed Ones is what they are called
amongst men. Whereas the souls of lesser servants shrivel long before they can gain real
power, those whose service remains true may gain immeasurable benefit. Kaleb Daark enjoys
the favour of his insane god, for his resolve is incredibly strong, perhaps deriving vigour from
some dark aspect of his personality, some event hidden deep with his past or subconscious.
None would dare to inquire of the man himself. Of his origins and his initiation into the cult
of Malal, no one can do more than guess. Of his might of arms, undoubted courage and potent
unholy weaponry, however, all know at least the most horrific details.

Dreadaxe
Dreadaxe is a deadly chaotic weapon gifted to Kaleb Daark by Malal. It is a living axe, a
weapon bearing a part of the soul of some great cosmic being, a hellish demonic servant of
Malal. As the weapon strikes its jaw closes and its teeth bite deep into the soul-stuff of its
victim. As the soul of the victim is sucked from his carcass, the body shrinks, rots and shrivels
away to almost nothing.

Kaleb Daark causes a wounding blow against a creature of Chaos, Dreadaxe automatically
attempts to drain the creature's soul. The victim must make a test against its Will Power. Roll
2d6, if the score is equal to or less than the victim's Will Power characteristic score then there
is no effect. If the score is more than the victim's Will Power then the creature is
automatically killed (no matter how many wounds it has). In addition, the victim's soul feeds
Malal, Dreadaxe and Daark. The Will Power score of the now dead creature is divided by
three, any remainder is ignored. One third goes directly to Malal (and is ignored for the
purposes of the game), one third goes to Dreadaxe, and the last third goes to Kaleb Daark.
The points that go into Dreadaxe can be used in the next round of combat only as a 'to wound'
bonus. For example, if 3 points are gained this is a +3 on the next 'to wound' dice score. All
points must be used at once, and may not be carried over. The points that go to Kaleb Daark
are retained in a pool. The player should keep a record of the pool total. These points are used
to summon the god Malal, and may also be used as a dice bonus. A maximum of 1 point may
be used in any turn to modify any dice rolled by Kaleb Daark. For example, he might choose
to add one to his 'to hit' score, or even increase the 'to wound' score. The point is expended
after the dice roll.

Chaos Armour
Kaleb Daark's armour displays runes granted to him by his patron deity. These are 2 Armour
runes, a rune of protection and a of renewal (see Warhammer Battle Magic). His armour
provides a total of 3APs.

Mutant Warsteed
Kaleb Daark's mutant warsteed is a further gift from his dark master. The creature fights with
great ferocity, and is far faster than any normal horse.
Uniform details
Kaleb Daark's armour is black, bearing the motif of Malal as decoration. This takes the form
of a skull, half black and half white. The same colour scheme is repeated on his shield. Kaleb
himself is pale, a result of the constant strain of his relationship with Malal. His hair is very
pale so that it appears almost white.

Warcry
Kaleb Daark's laconic wit is often the last thing his victim's ever hear! His battle cry is
'Dreadaxe thirsts for you'.

Points
Basic points value is 215. Armour adds 44 points (2 x a modifier of 22). Dreadaxe adds an
arbitrary 100. The various runes are worth 200 points. Total 559. The chaos warsteed is worth
90 points plus a modifier of +20 totalling 110. The total value of Kaleb Daark and his
warsteed is 669.

With the introduction of Malal in the comics, it was inevitable that the deity would find its way into
the Games Workshop Chaos mythos and thereby into other products.
The renegade Ogre, Skrag the Slaughterer, was introduced as a follower of Malal. A short background
story told his story as being cast out from his tribe for stealing a "starmetal" axe, with Malal
subsequently guiding Skrag to a Chaos Dwarf hold, forcing them to forge him armour and then
slaughtering them all in the name of Malal. White Dwarf 83 featured a Warhammer Fantasy
Battle mini-scenario called 'The Crude, the Mad and the Rusty', pitting the lone Chaos Dwarf survivor
(Oxy O'Cetalyne) of this massacre, aided by two goblin fanatics and a mechanical warrior (the Tin
Man), against Skrag. I've never played it (though I own the Tin Man and Oxy) but have heard on the
'street' that it isn't up to much.
With a little investigative work, evidence for Malal can be uncovered in other places in '80s published
materials. For example, in the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in 1986, Malal has a short
paragraph along with Khorne and Nurgle and is mentioned as a renegade Chaos God dedicated to the
destruction of the other Chaos gods. Then, in the short story, The Laughter of Dark Gods, by William
King in Ignorant Armies, there is also a reference to an unnamed albino (Elric again?) Malal Chaos
Champion and his warband roaming the Chaos Wastes. Interestingly, this Champion is slain by the
novel's main character in what could be seen as an early example of what GW would later do with the
Squats! Additionally, in the card game, Chaos Marauders, published in 1987, featured the 'Claws of
Malal' card. The unit represented in the game by this card was a warband of Beastmen eager to fight,
preferably against followers of the other Chaos Gods.
Use of Malal in further Games Workshop productions ceased around 1988, the same year that Slaves
to Darkness was published, finally cementing the background of Chaos into a final form. Malal was
not referred to or mentioned at all in these products. The one notable exception to this absence of
Malal was in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplement 'The Dying of the Light', published by
Hogshead Publishing, in 1995. This book featured a Chaos Sorcerer of Malal named Heinrich Bors
who has struck a deal with Malal to escape from the Chaos God Tzeentch.
I wonder what happened here? Did this slip past the legal team of Malal's creators or was it a
wing in the dark that was not even noticed?

After all this research I was keen to hear from the 'horse's mouth' so to speak. So I began chatting to
Tony Ackland once more about his concept work on Malal and his memories of the development of
the character in the studio. Including the debate about what exactly the Malal images shared in his
previous interview represented.

RoC80s: There is some confusion over the Malal concepts. Was the image above a Malal
concept sketch or not?

Tony Ackland:'That' s my note written by it, so it would be. I seem to recall it got used as a generic
demon somewhere. Apparently it also fitted the description of a D&D beastie without resembling
any of the TSR interpretations.

RoC80s: There is a huge amount of interest from fans in the Malal design philosophy. Do
you recall how much concept work was done for the daemons and what the general feel of
the model range might have been?

TA: The Wagner, Grant, Ewins strip never went beyond one or two episodes. Saying that the
publication of the Journal/Compendium was erratic would be a massive understatement. So the
ideas behind Malal were somewhat vague. But because it had been mentioned in the strip the view
was that it should be included in the Warhammer/Realm of Chaos universe. I can't recall who was
tasked with writing the background, but I had quite a free hand in the pictorial interpretation. As I
remember it the main characteristic as one of Malevolence which gave rise to the name.
 Greater daemon of Malal, confirmed by the artist, Tony Ackland.
RoC80s: If the image we are currently discussing is a lesser daemon. Does that make the
second image the concept for a greater daemon of Malal? If so, it looks similar in many
ways to the bloodletter design doesn't it? Also, can you recall if any concept work was
done for beasts, creatures or steeds of Malal?

TA: By the second image you mean the one with MALAL written in the upper left hand corner and
the number 372 lightly pencilled by it? If so that is the greater daemon. what we were going for
was a similar feeling to Khorne but with added evil. But the copyright issue killed it off before we
got that far. Actually I'm wrong the unpublished skull headed insectoid creatures were beasts of
Malal but which is which I can't recall. It was during the process that the copyright issue surfaced.
Interesting that none of the management actually mentioned that being the reason for Malal's
removal at the time.

RoC80s: You have stated that an early concept of Malal was for a daemonic power more evil
than Khorne. With the the Blood God seeped in violence, is it really possible that a deity could
be more evil than the God of Skulls?

TA: One way to look at is that Khorne is WW2 Wehrmacht, Malal is WW2 SS.

RoC80s: Were there ever any difficulties producing such horrific and violent concepts, such as
Malal and Khorne, in the studio. Was your work ever censored in house?
TA: There was one piece I did for Realm of Chaos Slaves to Darkness, it was of a artifact of Slaanesh
which was censored. The objection being that it depicted individuals writhing around a staff having
oral sex. Actually it showed no such explicit acts. I had obviously been too successful in implying such
behaviour. I wish I still had the original. The flack over fantasy games persisted well into the nineties.
I remember walking into Harlequin miniatures and being received with a lot of humour. They
explained that the evening before a Reverend of some description had been declaiming the evils of
fantasy games on a regional TV program. He produced a miniature of a chimera to illustrate the sort
twisted minds that were behind the creation of such abominations. No prize for guessing the company
that produced the miniature or whose twisted mind created it.

RoC80s: So were religious groups an issue during the creation of Realm of Chaos? As,
around the same time that Slaves to Darkness was published, White Dwarf 102 printed
this disclaimer on their contents page:

"GW would like to make it quite clear that the Daemons referred to in the extract from Realms
of Chaos are wholly fictional creations.They have no basis in reality whatsoever, and there is no
intention to foster the belief to the contrary."

Can you recall what prompted such a statement?

TA: Back in the early days, the hysteria generated by elements of the religious community would have
been treated as free publicity. By the time of Dark Future, GW was trying to promote itself as a
serious business and was far more sensitive to a negative press. Particularly true as they were trying
to expand in the US. One thing that most people are unaware of is that Imagine, the publication put
out by TSR UK, was written and edited under the constraints of the US Comics Code.

And there we are. The story of Malal. His (or her) creation, the turbulent life of the character and
its legacy. What I find strange is all the legal fuss about the character, especially with the blatant
similarities of its champion with than of Elric ( a property that GW had rights to publish games
and miniatures for). But hey, its all history.

Big thanks to Tony Ackland and Rick Priestley (once again) for the generous use of their time
and memories.

The Malignancy of Malal: Malal's Daemonic

Pantheon Restored?
I have been talking to Tony Ackland a lot over the last few days and our conversations will soon
turn into a fresh interview with the Grandmaster himself. Readers of this blog are clearly great
admirers of his work, as his first interview is one of the most popular things I have ever put
together for this blog. I had lots of questions, as you would imagine, but I knew that the one thing
that needed further clarification was what he could recall about the Malal project. After all,
the Malignancy of Malal: Solving the Mystery of the 'Fifth' Chaos God is by far the most popular
post I have ever produced, even more so than the interview carried out with the Mighty Avenger
himself, Bryan Ansell, so I knew there was strong interest in the story, particularly the origins of
the concept material.

George Fairlamb helped stoke the fires higher with his interpretation of the lesser Malal
daemon, or Hook Horror, which is available for sale at CP Models. I know lots of people bought
these models and that at some point in the future we are promised additional heads and arms.
Mick Leach, from Eastern Front Studios, plans on producing an 'Antiqus Malleum' product line
inspired by Old School '80s miniatures and he has mentioned to me an interest in doing a range
of daemons influenced by the old Realm of Chaos books.

During the discussions I had with Tony, he pointed out that one of the images that I had
published in the first interview was in fact another concept for Malal. And, get this, that he has
another old Malal concept that I had not yet published here at Realm of Chaos 80s! Needless to
say, I got right on the case and began questioning him about what these two 'new' concepts
represented.

RoC80s: What can you tell us about the origins of Malal, the completed concepts and how
his/her pantheon was to be organised?

TA: They were concept illustrations of lesser daemons that were not used. I think that the insectoid
ones were for Malal. I think it was that one was the riding beastie, and the other one a kind of war
dog. I don't think that Malal himself was particularly insectoid though. This was probably me just
trying to give vent to my inner entomologist when I started designing the daemons. These concepts
were not only for miniature design but also to help develop future illustrations. It was accepted in
the studio that the illustrations would show the 'reality' of what the miniatures represented. So the
miniatures would have been simplified to some extent.

The problem with Malal was that by the time Wagner and Grant has contributed their bit it was
hard to pin down distinct characteristics. In comparison, the other Chaos Gods were very heavily
planned. Bryan Ansell had the original ideas, John Blanche did some sketches, and then I developed
them. I think that Ian Miller threw some ideas in too. Whereas Michael Moorcock's Elric stories
were the main source of inspiration for Bryan, I leaned more towards H P Lovecraft. Without
knowing what discussions took place when Wagner and Grant took the job on, its impossible to
know what the true origins of Malal were. I do recall that Bryan had thoughts about another Chaos
god prior to the strip.

We have known for a while that the first two images that Tony revealed in the his interview are
almost certain to represent the Greater Daemon and Lesser Daemon of Malal. Now we are pretty
sure that we have identified the two other images from the aborted range, namely the 'beast'
(like the Bloodhound of Khorne, for example) and the 'steed' (like the Juggernaut of Khorne).

Have a look at my theory.

Greater Daemon of Malal
Lesser Daemon of Malal
Steed of Malal

Beast of Malal
The passage of time has ensured that we can never truly know what was originally intended, if
indeed anything was actually intended at all! After all, the Malal project was cancelled before it
reached a suitable conclusion. But what can we glean from these images? Are there any common
traits, for instance?

Firstly, look at the heads of each of the images displayed here. Note that a skull forms the head of
each of these creatures. A bovine animal for the Greater Daemon, a bird for the Lesser Daemon, a
human for the Steed and a canine for the Beast. So its quite possible to interpret that Malal
daemons, and perhaps even Malal himself, would have a skull like visage. The skull is an almost
universal sign of death, destruction and danger and so it seems quite feasible that a daemonic
entity whose purpose is to consume and destroy chaos itself may well use this symbolically.
Malal's colour, black and white, could also be linked to the skull; white for bone and black for the
dark emptiness of eye and nasal sockets. How often is the skull shown as a black and white
image?

Secondly, we have the insectoid forms. Elements of the insect appear in three of the four images.
The Greater Daemon has some kind of mantis armed tail, the steed the body and arms of a beetle
like creature and most of the thorax and front legs of the Beast are also mantis like. At a push,
the arms of the Lesser daemon could be evolved insect legs, mutated to sickle like blades. How
could the insect forms be interpreted if Tony views Malal as not insect-like? To me, insects are
often great harvesters. Think of those jungle ants that can strip carcasses clean in hours, and
carry great weights long distances. Well, perhaps that is how Malal sustains himself? The
daemonic entities of Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle are destroyed, harvested and
carried back to Malal where-ever he exists in the immaterial realm. Perhaps his part of the warp
is fed and maintained by the dismembered parts of the other chaotic powers. I'd imagine that
independent daemons would also fall foul of this 'harvesting' which could be a tongue in cheek
way of explaining where all the other chaos gods have gone. Malal ate them! I am sure that I have
heard such an idea somewhere before, haven't you?

There are other similar themes running through the concepts. Hoofs, fur and isolated parts of
the human body. Cloven feet have long been associated with devil worship and it would only
make sense that any daemon created by the emotions of humanity would reflect their primal
fears. Talking of fear. Nothing revolts the human psyche than the appearance of insect life, so
perhaps that is another factor in Malal's creation? Perhaps that explains the human elements
away too? In a fantasy world where the true horrors of Chaos are unknown, or denied, by the
vast majority of humans it would come as no surprise that many simple human fears would find
their inspiration in humanity itself. The fear of the murderer, the thief or the rapist. All could
have parallels in the form of Malal's demonic servants.

Before moving on to other discussions. I asked Tony about the concepts he has produced for
Mick Leach's 'Antiquis Malleum' project. He explain in detail how he went about producing the
models, but I shall save that conversation, and all the others, to more appropriate posts of their
own.

I did ask him this, though.

RoC80s: Would you be interested in developing a new range of IP friendly models

inspired by the old Malal designs, much like George Fairlamb has done with the Hooked
Horror?

TA: It certainly would be fun to play with the deities of Chaos again!

Oh, and wouldn't be fun for us to collect and paint them!

Mick Leach? What are you waiting for?