Codex: Cult Mechanicus and the Advancement of the Timeline

[CommodusXIII]

Did anyone else notice that the 40K Timeline was advanced, just a little bit, in Codex: Cult Mechanicus?

The timeline ends at the same point it's been for a couple Editions now, with the Golden Throne failing and the Mechanicus scratching their heads.  However, it goes on to say that a frantic expedition was launched that resulted in some kind of Faustian deal being made with the Dark Eldar.

 

Could this be a sign that GW is beginning to relax the "hard limit" at 999.M41 again?  I know it's not much, but it gives me a glimmer of hope.

[Grand Master Laertes]

With this event we are still within the boundaries of 999.M41 (that event is 896999.M41 if I remember correctly - I don't have the Codex at hand), so we are not really advancing toward the M42.

 

However, it must be noted lately almost every codex seems to include a previously unheard of dramatic event set in 999.M41, like the Kraken eggs opening on Fenris, Ghazghkull uniting his Waaagh! with the Octarius empire and defeating the Tyranids there, the Shield of Baal campaign, the ending of Warzone:Valedor, the Phalanx disappearing into the Warp after the assault of the Iron Warriors and Be'Lakor, and so on. It is indeed possible (even if higly unlikely, in my opinion) that GW is slowly paving the road for an advancement of the background. Hopefully something less dramatic then the End Times of WHFB.

[Ordo Machinum]

Is this an echo of Blood Angels & Necrons? Adeptus Mechanicus & Dark Eldar?

Hmm,  Admech with Raiders? Heretekal!

 

Yes, I did notice the entry in the codex but I was hesitant to consider the ramifications.

[CommodusXIII]

I guess my hope lies in that, while many other Codices have new events at the end of the Timeline, this particular one is a continuation of a previous entry.  The Golden Throne failing has been at the endpoint for years, but now it's stretching just a little bit past it.

[Battybattybats]

Skitarii of course gave us a cool last point too.

But i REALLY hope GW doesn't go and do an End Times for 40k. It'd risk too much of what's good in the setting. Letting the timeline move forward a little? Sure. But then there's also tons of history already brought in in a sentence here or there across 10,000 years that would be just as cool to explore and anything moving forward can be significant without destroying any factions (or changing any of them so much that any significant number of players no longer like that faction.. i saw that too much with Battletech). Development doesn't require radical re-invention. There can be gain and loss without devastation, a loss a faction can recover from (the death of a special character, large casualties, a significant defeat) is one that encourages players to keep playing that faction, after all the background of Space Hulk was the Blood Angels having recovered after a terrible defeat and getting a chance to try again. That's the difference between building character and changing character. The later has people move to other games, the former gets them heavily invested in the game.

A Mechanicus Campaign great victory could end with an STC recovery (great excuse for releasing a new unit by the way), a loss could result in increased in-fighting inside the Imperium without having to kill the Emperor or excommunicate the Space Wolves or anything else that would lose players without gaining any. If they ever get so desperate they even start considering it then they should do a price-drop on the entire range as that would get more new players into the game than anything they could ever do to the background and wouldn't lose them one single player either.

The following contains spoilers from the Cult Mechanicus and Skitarii timelines, though if you don't want them spoiled you are likely in the wrong thread anyway

The Shadow-war between the Inquisition and Mechanicus over data-tapestries raging for thousands of years including several bouts of open war? THAT is a cool new piece of background people could build a campaign around! The extra details about the Moirae Schism and marine chapters? The extra stuff on the Blind King? The Martian Civil War and the Prophet of Cogs? Not to mention the war of the Golden Cog and the Culexus temple in the Skitarii codex. Massive cool stuff all of it, and i want to know more about each of them.

I'm ok if they move the timeline forward, but would want them on a tight enough leash that they don't stuff anything up.

[Yodhrin]

I wish GW would just make up their mind - either get on with it and transition to the spoon-fed themepark model with an ongoing storyline, or stick with the sandbox-setting model and have the guts to stand by that decision publicly, rather than trying to please both camps and just annoying both.