She who Thirsts (AKA the Dark Prince)

So, (every superstitious take cover when I say the name), Slaanesh is named as "She who Thirsts", by Eldar. But Slaanesh is a Chaos God. Not goddess. And s/he is also titled "The Dark Prince", right?
...what could this mean? Something creepy? Have I missed something? (I dont have daemon codex, so I dont know anything about what it says)

It's a trap.

Slaanesh is referred to as male by the Imperium and female by Eldar, but is supposed genderless, androgynous in appearance, and able to take the form of a male, female, hermaphrodite or asexual, though prefers male.

SleepyPillow wrote:

It's a trap.

+1

In reality Slaanesh is an emotion given sentience, so it has no gender.

Wiki saves the day:

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Slaanesh

This is Slaanesh:

I wonder did the fluff writers notice this before or after this stuff was published?
Or was it left to the players to figure out that s/he is genderless

Slaanesh has always been an indulgent she-male. Since the 80's

again though, a daemon is something we cant percieve... So by putting labels such as gender on it is just a way for us to rationalize it. I dont think GW has really cared what gender Slaanesh is, they just write whatever and when the question comes up, they just say "who knows"

Slaanesh is able to take any desired form, as can any chaos god, so it is technically any and all genders; also they tend to appear as female on one side and male on the other

The Eye of Error wrote:

This is Slaanesh:
Sorry, I coudn't bring it over me, to post that picture again...

Hm, it is said, that she, who thirsts, is so beautiful, every mortal instantly looses his soul.
I have to admit, I probably would loose my soul too, when seeing that guy,
but more by accidentally barfing it out, together with my last meal...

Given that the Chaos gods are reflections of the emotions of sentient beings, Slaanesh is most likely whatever it is currently perceived to be.

As it is perceived by various races as various genders it its gender is impossible to pin down.

Tzeentch, Khorne and Nurgle are always referred to by male titles and pronouns by all races and, as such, are male.

If the Eldar were to die out the prevailing belief would be that Slaanesh was a male and the Dark Prince would become a great deal more princely.

Or at least such is my belief.

As is the nature of the Warp and the things that dwell within... yes. Your belief makes a lot of sense Name, I'm sure I've read something which had mon'keigh cultists, or scholars or something referring to She Who Thirsts by female pronouns as well - not that I can remember where it is - but as belief and emotion shapes the warp it would make sense for something of that kind to occur.

From an out of setting perspective, I've never seen anything that specified Slaanesh as anything other than hermaphroditic, so as Eye says s/he's been as such since the beginning... it was acceptable in the 80's. It was acceptable at the time.

Since the start of Warhammer, Slaanesh has been designated a male/female hermaphrodite (in the sense of having both phenotypically male and female biological characteristics), but was always originally referred to as The Dark Prince. I believe it was Gav Thorpe who started calling him She Who Thirsts in his edition of the Eldar Codex, but I don't have all the possible sources to check if it occurred elsewhere first.

This is the reason that Daemonettes and Keepers of Secrets have characteristics of both biological genders - they are striving to mirror their god and become more like him. This was also true of the worshippers of Slaanesh, who would ritually dress with one breast (or side of the chest) bare in order to honour the god.

Here is a picture of Slaanesh from that time:

In all hir glory

The information from all this came originally from Slaves to Darkness, the first part of The Lost and the Damned, sourcebooks for Chaos published by GW in the late 80s. It has been updated in the Liber Chaotica.

The Late 80s is as good an explanation for Slaanesh as any

I think this is really a two part question: is Slaanesh male or female? Answer: Yes

What does Slaanesh look like? Male or female? Answer: also yes, but this time it's dependant on what s/he feels like looking like at the time, and often on what s/he thinks the perceiver would find most tempting.

Quote :

...what could this mean? Something creepy?

Yes. Very much something creepy, since Slaanesh is not the god of "having a really nice but naughty sexy time" as some people might say, but the god of indulging in poisonous excess and unnatural lust. He's a Chaos god. Whatever Slaanesh is up to is not for anyone else's benefit.

I tend to refer to Slaanesh as s/he when I'm talking in general, and in stories to either use he (the Dark Prince) or alternate she or he almost at random, to match the earliest background. That's my preference

Slaanesh has no preference ... just whatever seems like it would bring the most pleasure to hirself a the time.

As for what sie looks like, my flippant answer is David Bowie

Mngwa wrote:

I wonder did the fluff writers notice this before or after this stuff was published?
Or was it left to the players to figure out that s/he is genderless  

Slaanesh has literally always been described like that. Ever since hir first appearance in Realms of Chaos, and in every Chaos book ever since.

As others have said though, Slaanesh doesn't really have a gender, any more than Desire has a gender. Nurgle and the other Chaos Gods tend to be portrayed as male, or at least are referred to as male, because that's how they're perceived by mortals. They aren't literally male, in the sense that a daddy Khorne and a mummy Khorne who love each other very much can make some Bloodletters :p

Slaanesh displays traits of both genders, because She/He is Desire incarnate, and so will appear as the most beguiling form to each viewer. The Eldar refer to Slaanesh as She Who Thirsts, because that's what they've named It. They probably also call It by the title "The Dark Prince", and wouldn't see any conflict between the two, because while we're using genders to refer to Slaanesh, It is essentially genderless.