Pyschic Awakening: Speculation

[DeadFingers]

 

-The whole event is meant to show the effect of the Great Rift birth and the rampant psychic awakening on the various faction. Basically, what were they up to during the Great Rift formation and the Indomintus crusade. Jeeezz, it's not lore progression, it's goddamn filler!

-The way GW handles AoS and 40K storytelling differently. AoS is an episodic setting that has its lore expanded and progressed with each release. AoS follows a linear storyline. 40K storytelling revolves around creating a big backdrop and then sprinkling it with stories and also give the fans the option of using the backdrop to tell their own stories. What they did in 8th ED is just repainting the backdrop. Though there are ongoing narrative arcs, GW is not interested in telling a linear ongoing story in 40K.

I prefer to see it as sowing the seeds for future events, conflicts and narratives, should they choose to expand on them. Also a great opportunity to update many standalone models and some squads across different factions, like they've done with Jain Zar, Drazhar, the Banshees and Incubi, and Ghaz and Ragnar if the rumours turn out to be true. We'll just have to wait and see how much they take advantage of this opportunity, and what the multiple scenarios of this event are about.

-The events of the Psychic Awakening are all happening at the same time.

-The Psychic Awakening will be a big and long-running event that will be the focus of many books and content for a long while

-The Indomintus Crusade (The 100 years that it was active) will be explored ad detailed for a long time. The Horus Hersey and its 7 years was a subject for a lot of content. The 100 years of the Indomintus Crusade will keep GW and the playerbase busy for way longer. REJOICE! The Psychic Awakening is just the start of the exploration of that era.

-The way GW handles AoS and 40K storytelling differently. AoS is an episodic setting that has its lore expanded and progressed with each release. AoS follows a linear storyline. 40K storytelling revolves around creating a big backdrop and then sprinkling it with stories and also give the fans the option of using the backdrop to tell their own stories. What they did in 8th ED is just repainting the backdrop. Though there are ongoing narrative arcs, GW is not interested in telling a linear ongoing story in 40K.

Sounds like Kikasstou was right again and there'll be more than four books. So either the four maps we've got are not all of them, or we'll be seeing each more than once. Either way, it seems Sortiarius/Prospero could not be the setting for the grand finale as we initially thought, and the event will last "a long while". How long is that while we'll have to wait and see too. They compare it to the Horus Heresy lasting only 7 years while the Indomitus Crusade lasted a century. If Psychic Awakening is here to stay for that long, I'm curious to see how they'll balance releasing content, narrative and models for it while also providing the same for the time after the Indomitus Crusade. Can't really introduce Primarchs and/or Daemon Primarchs to the setting during the Indomitus Crusade if we haven't heard of them after it. At least without bending time a bit.

 

Or can they?

 

Because let's not forget, and I know this goes against some of the rumours, that Fulgrim has been active since the Gathering Storm, we just don't know exactly what he and his boys in pink have been busy with. So maybe, emphasis on maybe, Psychic Awakening could be the vehicle to explore exactly that.

[Redcomet]

40k has always added in stuff to the timeline. If say Fulgrim turned up near the end of the Indomitus crusade on the other side of the rift causing mayhem, would “we” know?

 

Also AngryRon could be at Armageddon again for all we know.

[Lord Marshal]

So we're already back to 40k being a setting and not a story, eh? That didn't take long now did it. Wonder if certain tunes will change now - assuming these rumours are true.

[Sete]

Vigilus is the new cadia.

Fulgrim will be the next primarch.

We aint seeing loyalists for a while i reckon.

[Redcomet]

So we're already back to 40k being a setting and not a story, eh? That didn't take long now did it. Wonder if certain tunes will change now - assuming these rumours are true.

it was never meant to be a story. The jump in time was them re coloring the canvas so to speak, they mentioned it in the twitch stream. 

[Panzer]

It also makes sense in context of 40k. Like old fantasy there's an 'end' set up by GW and you can get only this close to it before you have to finally do the last step. AoS on the other hand is already past that step and has a completely open future GW can explore now.

[DeadFingers]

Not only that, but AoS needs that development, whereas 40k not so much. Their idea of picking spots around the galaxy and exploring what has been going on there without having to advance the timeline for it is pretty much exactly what they need to do. If that gives them an opportunity to update more characters and units without them all having to orbit around the same conflict, even better.

 

The exception to this is of course the Primarchs. They pretty much need a step forward in the narrative to return, even if a small one. The traitor Primarchs at least have the excuse that they could show up at any moment and return to the Warp if they so desire, while the loyalists can't really do that, for the most part. The reappearance of a Primarch is nothing to sneeze at, and to make one of them reappear during the Indomitus Crusade, while we're "in the future" with stuff like Vigilus with no mention of them would be a tad strange.

 

Unless of course I've got the timeline wrong and things like Vigilus have also been happening while the Indomitus Crusade is still active. Which wouldn't surprise me because even without Warp shenanigans, the timeline is honestly a bit of a mess and/or I'm also not good at that stuff.

 

Edit: And I realize that even if Vigilus and the like are all after the Crusade there's no need for Primarchs, Daemon or not, to be mentioned even if they're active. But I'd still find it weird if any of their returns were retroactively inserted into the timeline. Except for Fulgrim, Lorgar and Perturabo, who are supposed to be active per the latest lore, they just haven't shown up in any major/explored conflicts. Also Corax, I suppose. But that's just me, we all know GW do weird things all the time.

Edited October 6, 2019 by DeadFingers

[sairence]

Any loyalist Primarch could easily appear in the Imperium Nihilus without any impact on the Indomitus Crusade.

[HandsWithLegs]

I really like the part about how the Eldar, Humanity, and Tau are different steps in development as a species. Its not a way I've thought of their dynamic before but I think it works really well and adds a lot to the setting. Hope they expand on that!

[Triszin]

I'd argue only 1 loyalist could be back and people wouldn't know.

 

Corax.

 

Since this is set during the indomitus crusade

[Tyriks]

I don't think the Lion would announce his presence immediately. Especially if he wanted to see if Guilliman was up to anything untoward. Especially since there is tactical benefit to their enemies not knowing he is back; it would be silly to give that information away for free.

[Marshal Loss]

From the designer's commentary on Phoenix Rising: A creature ("Hunter/Huntress")  is pursuing Yvraine, something sent by Slaanesh, something that will "build to an exciting crescendo during this story".

 

Almost certainly not Fulgrim of course, but still, colour me curious!

[DeadFingers]

From the designer's commentary on Phoenix Rising: A creature ("Hunter/Huntress")  is pursuing Yvraine, something sent by Slaanesh, something that will "build to an exciting crescendo during this story".

 

Almost certainly not Fulgrim of course, but still, colour me curious!

The only thing that comes to mind right now is the Pale Stalker from Vigilus Ablaze, who is described as a "huntress". But it probably isn't that either, it was just a little blurb, and whoever this character might be is probably just going to be a vehicle for the Ynnari Vs. Slaanesh narrative. What's interesting is what this might mean for the future. We all know this hunter/huntress will ultimately fail in hunting down and killing Yvraine, but they might set the stage for a larger conflict later on. There may be some nice bits in that story and its conclusion.

Edited October 6, 2019 by DeadFingers

[Kaldoth]

What I'm most curious about are how all the non-eldar xenos races are going to be affected by all this.

 

Necrons dont have psykers and they retconned pariahs/the pariah gene. Maybe they'll come back in a different form?

 

Tau also don't have psykers, so I've got no clue what these guys will get.

 

Tyranids have to have something crazy going on with their shadow in the warp. Maybe a new evolutionary chain of super command brain bugs?

 

Ok weirdboys tend to blow up when there are psychic anomalies around, so maybe we start seeing even bigger more ridiculous ork powers (up until their heads go "pop" :lol: )

 

If every faction is going to get special rules and maybe new models, I'm gonna be sitting on pins and needles for a while :D

[Panzer]

Tau also don't have psykers, so I've got no clue what these guys will get.

 

There are plenty of ways how T'au could be affected by this narrative.

They have multiple psychically active races in their Empire, including humans, so a sudden evolution jump for humans on their way to becoming a psychic race caused by the great rift will be noticed by them too. We could also finally see some psychic auxilliary race units like Kroot shamans or such.

There's also a warp entity of the greater good now that got created by the combination of the T'au teachings and the psychic potential of their auxilliary races, especially the humans.

 

However keep in mind that GW said that not every faction will receive something in form of models.

[Red_Shift]

Necrons are likely to be active both in trying to re-seal the great rift and potentially weaken the emerging psychic potential in humans and also in doing whatever the silent king has planned re the tyrannids. Necron vs nids could be quite an interesting book imo and would allow updated flayed ones for the crons and lictor for the nids.

 

Having just seen the box set approach for psychic awakening part one I'm intrigued as to whether future books will include a new unit and character for their respective factions or not. I think we are still waiting on a multi part obliterator kit and the teased chaos sorcerer and also the multi part suppressor kit so they would seem fairly obvious shoe ins for book two.

[Bryan Blaire]

And just because the storyline is about the human psychic awakening doesn't mean that other races will instantly gain psychics. It also doesn't mean the story effects of them have to be psychic in nature. The Tau may simply end up damaged, or drawn into a campaign, based on the psychic happenings, etc.

 

The Tau may end up being able to build "Warp Dampers" that can be deployed via drones or as part of the battlefield that could make it so that no one can use a psychic ability in the area (or just grenades for an area effect that disappates a turn or two later - this may even allow them to sell small grenade sprues to mark these effects for the Tau), or the Necrons could whip up some Anti-Warp Scarabs that do something similar, or are a shooting weapon that when it tags a psyker, all their Warp Charges on their powers go up by one, etc (maybe they already ave something like this).

[Triszin]

 

Tau also don't have psykers, so I've got no clue what these guys will get.

 

There are plenty of ways how T'au could be affected by this narrative.

They have multiple psychically active races in their Empire, including humans, so a sudden evolution jump for humans on their way to becoming a psychic race caused by the great rift will be noticed by them too. We could also finally see some psychic auxilliary race units like Kroot shamans or such.

There's also a warp entity of the greater good now that got created by the combination of the T'au teachings and the psychic potential of their auxilliary races, especially the humans.

 

However keep in mind that GW said that not every faction will receive something in form of models.

 

my guess, they will have made advancements in their AI. and we will see somthing akin to a AI/tech phase that works during psykic phase.

[SickSix]

Oh god... So they fast forwarded to end and now we will be stuck going back at random and watching the middle parts? WTH.

 

That's a pretty horrible way to keep people interested.

 

40k worked for so long because there was no main plot line. But with 8th it was the Indomitus crusade. And they just blitzed right to the end. Now they realize that was a mistake? or they don't and this was a poorly contrived plan all along?

 

Well maybe now we will finally see a story or two of First Born vs Primaris. There are some pretty stubborn and extreme chapters out there and I refuse to believe that there was zero bloodshed over the introduction of Primaris.

 

I am not complaining that everyone is going to get rules updates and maybe even new/updated models. But I think this is a stumble on GW's part. You released 8th by doing everything short of 'blowing up the setting" and now suddenly slam on the brakes when everyone is fully expecting to keep going.

 

Well again, called it. Super overhype again. I will wait and see if anything interesting comes for me and my armies, but I don't expect much.

Edited October 8, 2019 by SickSix

[Elzender]

I'm guessing one of the reasons why they decided to make the Indomitus Crusade reach its end before filling in the gaps was so that every Marine army had access to primaris according to the lore. I don't think GW wanted to risk limiting Primaris to some chapters: first because they are interested in everyone buying them; and second to avoid people getting angry that some armies always get the new shiny stuff while others are left out in the cold (which still happens, now just imagine some of the main chapters having no access to primaris at all. Yeah, I know GK don't have them but they are quite particular and their structure is not exactly that of a chapter). Edited October 8, 2019 by Elzender

[Lexington]

I'd argue only 1 loyalist could be back and people wouldn't know.

I dunno, Russ or Khan or someone could show up on some little speck of a world that hasn’t seen a Warp-capable ship in decades, and they’d just sorta be stuck there for ages, with no one knowing about it except a confused local populace. There’s only so much a Primarch can do.

[Doctor Perils]

Well again, called it. Super overhype again. I will wait and see if anything interesting comes for me and my armies, but I don't expect much.

For me the first book in and of itself is pretty exciting, let alone the potential for the following stuff :)

[Vermintide]

So it doesn't look likely anyone is getting their Space Dad back after all? You all jumped on me when I said that before. I'm readying my "told you so" as we speak

[SickSix]

So it doesn't look likely anyone is getting their Space Dad back after all? You all jumped on me when I said that before. I'm readying my "told you so" as we speak

Um, I mean we have only seen the first release so far. It's a bit early to declare yourself prophet. For all we know the Lion returned sometime during the Indomitus Crusade and conducted his secret war against the fallen without his brother even knowing.

 

Long shot but it's way to early to say we won't see a Primarch.

[Ishagu]

Can we not spiral into negativity before the first book has even been released? Lol