Let’s be real. Most Warhammer 40k fans spend their time arguing about whether Magnus did anything wrong or if the Lion is actually a better strategist than Guilliman. But if you dig into the weird, dusty corners of the lore, you hit something much more unsettling than a standard Chaos Space Marine. You find the Sons of Malice. They aren’t your typical spike-covered villains shouting about the Blood God. Honestly, they’re weirder. They are the black-and-white nightmares of the Labyrinth, a warband that hates the Imperium just as much as they hate the Four Gods of Chaos.
They exist in a narrative limbo.
The Sons of Malice occupy a space that Games Workshop hasn't touched in a meaningful way for years, yet they remain one of the most fascinating "what if" scenarios in the entire setting. Are they still canon? Technically, yes. Are they active? In the lore, absolutely. But to understand why people are still obsessed with this specific warband, you have to look at the ritual of the Labyrinth and the god they serve—or try to summon.
Who Exactly Are the Sons of Malice?
Originally, they were the Sons of Malice. A loyalist Chapter. Reliable. Effective. But things went south during the Silken Inquisition. Depending on which Archive you believe, the Inquisitor Cyria Tyrtona witnessed the Chapter engaging in some... let's call it "gastronomic eccentricity" after a victory. Cannibalism. It’s always cannibalism with the scary chapters. Tyrtona freaked out, declared them Hereticus, and tried to purge them. It didn't work. The Sons of Malice didn't just fall to Chaos; they stayed silent, slaughtered the Inquisitorial forces, and fucked off into the Eye of Terror.
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They don't scream.
That’s the thing that gets people. Most Chaos marines are loud. They have chainsaws and dubstep cannons. The Sons of Malice fight in a terrifying, eerie silence. It’s unnerving. You’re standing in a trench on some Emperor-forsaken rock, and suddenly, eight-foot-tall superhumans in quartered black-and-white power armor are gutting your squad mates without making a single sound. No war cries. Just the wet thud of chainswords.
The Malice Problem: Is He the Fifth God?
We have to talk about Malal. Or Malice. Or whatever the legal department is calling him this week.
Back in the early days of Warhammer, there was a fifth Chaos God named Malal. He was the Renegade God. He represented the tendency of Chaos to consume itself. Because of some complicated intellectual property disputes with the original creators (Tony Gardner and John Wagner), Malal was scrubbed from the official record. But the idea of him was too cool to kill. So, he became Malice.
Malice is essentially the god of anarchy and self-destruction. He wants to wipe out the Imperium, but he also wants to delete Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh from the census. The Sons of Malice are his chosen instruments. They are the outcasts of the outcasts. Imagine being so hated that even the guys who live in a literal hellscape of blood and mutation think you're too intense. That’s the Sons.
They are essentially nihilism with a bolter.
The Ritual of the Labyrinth
Every century, the warband returns to the remains of their homeworld, Scelus. They hold a competition. It’s basically a battle royale in a shifting, warped maze called the Labyrinth. The goal? To find the eleven best warriors. These "Doomed Ones" aren't rewarded with gold or a nice retirement. They are sacrificed. They become vessels.
The whole point is to summon an avatar of Malice into realspace. In the short story The Labyrinth by Richard Williams, we see this play out. It’s gritty, it’s hopeless, and it perfectly captures why these guys are different. They aren't looking for "blessings" in the way a Word Bearer might. They are looking for the end of everything.
Why They Look the Way They Do
Their armor is iconic. Quartered black and white. It’s a nightmare to paint, ask any hobbyist who has tried to get a smooth white over a black prime. But visually, it’s a brilliant representation of their duality and their isolation. They aren't part of the "Black Legion" soup. They stand apart.
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- The Colors: Black for the void, white for the cold purity of destruction.
- The Iconography: A skull, usually halved or stylized to show the internal conflict of Chaos.
- The Vibe: High-contrast terror.
Most players who run Sons of Malice on the tabletop have to get creative. Since there aren't specific rules for them in the current 10th Edition Codex, people usually run them using the "Slaves to Darkness" or generic Chaos Space Marine rules, but they flavor it. They avoid the marks of the specific gods. You won't see a Son of Malice with a Mark of Khorne. It’s flavor-fail. They are Undivided, but in the most aggressive way possible.
The Canonicity Question
Is Malice actually real in the current 40k timeline?
It’s complicated. Games Workshop likes to leave these breadcrumbs. In the Horus Heresy series, specifically in some of the later books, there are subtle nods to "the entity that must not be named" or the "Hierarch of Anarchy." Then you have the Sons of Malice appearing in the 13th Black Crusade lore. They were there. They fought.
But then the Great Rift opened.
Since the birth of the Cicatrix Maledictum, the lore has focused heavily on the big players—Mortarion, Angron, Magnus. The "minor" powers like Malice have been pushed to the background. However, for many fans, this makes them more appealing. In a setting that sometimes feels a bit too "Marvel-ized" with big superhero-style primarchs, the Sons of Malice represent the old-school, grimdark weirdness of 40k.
They are the reminder that the Warp is infinite and contains things that even the Chaos Gods are afraid of.
How to Build a Sons of Malice Force in 2026
If you’re looking to actually put these guys on the table, you’re going to be doing some kitbashing. Honestly, that’s the fun of it. You want to avoid the overly mutated "fleshy" look of some Death Guard or World Eaters. Keep it sharp. Keep it brutal.
- Base Models: Use the standard Chaos Space Marine legionaries, but scrape off some of the more overt "Eye of Horus" symbols.
- The Paint Job: Use a high-quality white ink or a very pigment-dense white like ProAcryl. Don't try to use cheap white paint; you'll lose your mind. Use masking tape for those crisp lines between the black and white quarters.
- The Leaders: Your Chaos Lord should look like a scavenger. He’s been in the Eye of Terror for ten thousand years with no logistics chain. Give him mismatched armor pieces.
- The Silence: On the tabletop, maybe you don't use many "loud" units. Skip the Noise Marines. Focus on Chosen and Terminators—the heavy hitters who get the job done without the fanfare.
Basically, you want your army to look like it just crawled out of a hole in reality and hasn't eaten anything but hate for three centuries.
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Real-World Influence and the "Cult" Following
Why do we still talk about them? They haven't had a dedicated model kit. They don't have a novel series.
It’s the underdog factor. The Warhammer community loves a rebel. And the Sons of Malice are the ultimate rebels. They rebelled against the Emperor, then they rebelled against the guys who rebelled against the Emperor. It’s rebellion squared.
There’s also the aesthetic. In a sea of red, green, and blue armies, a black-and-white quartered army looks stunning. It pops. It’s an "expert" army. If you see someone across the table with a fully painted Sons of Malice force, you know they are a deep-lore nerd. You know they spent hours agonizing over those straight lines. It commands respect in a way that a standard "out of the box" Legion might not.
What's Next for the Renegade God?
Don't expect a dedicated "Codex: Malice" anytime soon. GW seems content to keep them as a flavor-text chapter. But with the setting getting more "cosmic" and the Warp expanding, there is always room for a third-party player to mess with the status quo.
If you're looking for a narrative campaign idea, the Sons of Malice are the perfect "wild card." They can show up, ruin everyone's day, and disappear back into the Labyrinth. They don't want to rule the galaxy. They want to turn the lights out.
Actionable Steps for the Malice Curious:
- Read the Source Material: Track down a copy of the short story The Labyrinth. It’s the definitive look at their culture.
- Test the Scheme: Paint a single test model. Seriously. The quartered scheme is a "skill check." See if you actually enjoy the process before committing to 2,000 points.
- Embrace the Narrative: If you play Crusade or narrative games, lean into their "unaligned" status. Use rules that emphasize speed and brutality over magical boons.
- Keep it Grim: Remember, these aren't the "good guys" of Chaos. They are cannibalistic nihilists. Keep your conversions dark, gritty, and silent.
The galaxy is a big place, and while the lions and wolves are fighting for the crown, the scavengers in black and white are waiting in the shadows. They aren't looking for a seat at the table. They’re looking to burn the house down.