Speculation on the War of the False Primarch.

[Rogue Navigator]

I recently found an excellent blogspot detailing a fan interpretation of the oft overlooked War of the False Primarch. For those who may have forgotten, it was an eight-decade long conflict in the Segmentum Pacificus from 780.M33 to 860.M33. Little is known about this apparently highly destructive conflict, other than it saw eleven chapters that sided with the so-called Primarch eventually annhilated by five chapters dubbed 'The Pentarchy of Blood'. These five chapters were the Flesh Eaters, Carcharodons, Death Eagles, Red Talons, and the Charnel Guard.

 

So, with that limited information and perhaps some inspiration from the blogspot that I will link below, what is your personal theories on this buried war? What exactly was the False Primarch? An Abomination masquerading as the returned Son of the Emperor through psychic deception? Perhaps one of the Lost Primarchs returned to spite the Imperium that erased them one last time?

 

https://warofthefalseprimarch.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2022-06-22T14:11:00Z&max-results=18&start=11&by-date=false Here is the link to the blog that inspired this thread.

[Gamiel]

@apologist who is the main one behind the prodject created some threads here about it:

They have not been that used, most of the activity is on the Facebook group and on Discord.

 

 

 

And back in 2018 did @ShallnotGrowOld (who have not been seen here since 2019) start a narrative based on the Far of the False Primarch premise with a different spin on it. 

 

Also, suggest tagging this thread with #warofthefalseprimarch 

[Rogue Navigator]

Oh interesting, thank you for the pointers! I will correct the tags at once.

[lansalt]

Perhaps was one of Fabious Bile primarch clones that caused it. Not the Fulgrim one, though, because that one happened in later millennia.

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

Now I have not read the links but if Im remembering correctly the map in the admech codex shows 1-2 skittari crusades in the same location as the war for the false primarch. I always thought it might have been an escaped ferrus clone who caused all the false primarch ruckus. 

I can check the codex when I get home

[Rogue Navigator]

Maybe, I mean making false primarchs is something Bile likes doing, you'd think he'd of at least have mentioned that time one of his clones caused a major war within the Imperium at least once though.

2 hours ago, lansalt said:

Perhaps was one of Fabious Bile primarch clones that caused it. Not the Fulgrim one, though, because that one happened in later millennia.

 

[Felix Antipodes]

It has always been my belief that at least one, if not both, of the unknown Primarchs ended up in Pacificus.  Only Lorgar (Colchis) was recovered from that Segmentum out of the 18 found by the Emperor, which is statistically strange considering its size.

 

Because of this I’ve always headcanoned that it was one of the missing two returning that started this particular war and that it was probably instigated in large part by the Ecclesiarchy.  One of the missing Primarchs returning would likely upset their doctrinal apple cart and be viewed as as heresy of some kind.

 

On a side note, we know who made up the Pentarchy of Blood.  I’d love to know who the ten Chapters that sided with the false Primarch were.  Good way to use some of those named but never shown Chapters that litter the various publications over the years I reckon 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Felix Antipodes

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

I was NOT remembering correctly , the one in the codex is the hunt for the false omnissiah and in a whole other segmentum.
doo dee doo  nothing to see here carry on 

[Rogue Navigator]

13 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

It has always been my belief that at least one, if not both, of the unknown Primarchs ended up in Pacificus.  Only Lorgar (Colchis) was recovered from that Segmentum out of the 18 found by the Emperor, which is statistically strange considering its size.

 

Because of this I’ve always headcanoned that it was one of the missing two returning that started this particular war and that it was probably instigated in large part by the Ecclesiarchy.  One of the missing Primarchs returning would likely upset their doctrinal apple cart and be viewed as as heresy of some kind.

 

On a side note, we know who made up the Pentarchy of Blood.  I’d love to know who the ten Chapters that sided with the false Primarch were.  Good way to use some of those named but never shown Chapters that litter the various publications over the years I reckon 

The one problem I have with the idea that it was an actual Primarch is that a True Primarch would surely never be beaten by five chapters, no matter how brutal they were, even if the 11 chapters they had at their disposal were fairly mediocre.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

An imperfect clone of a Primarch courtesy of Fabius Bile?

[Felix Antipodes]

While I agree that a true Primarch wouldn’t be beaten by even 5 full Chapters, I don't recall the snippet mentioning the claimant was killed, only their supporting Chapters.  This leaves room for them to be fighting a rearguard action to allow the false Primarch to escape.  Just spitballing a theory though, not claiming any facts 

[apologist]

Ah, a thread close to my own heart!

As @Gamiel notes, the +Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten+ project (STABLF) explores one interpretation of this little hint of the 40k galaxy, and is presented through unreliable narrators and isolated scraps of (mis)information. More generally, however, when I set the project into motion, I wasn't intending to answer the mysteries so much as to explore them. After all, having a definitive answer shrinks the world. It's endlessly fun to speculate on things like the nature of the Emperor or Chaos Gods; who created the Eldar; what the Ethereal Caste are about, or – as here, who or what the False Primarch was.

 

[//Brother? Are you meant to be here?+]

 

I have always loved the shades of grey in the 40k universe, so for the STABLF project, I've deliberately tried to ensure that there are multiple interpretations possible in how the 'Primarch' is presented. I think it's key to the 40k mysteries in general that there's never a definitive answer given. Truth in 40k (at least in my interpretation of it) is highly malleable, so for every partisan who believes the Primarch to be genuine, there is a member of the orthodoxy who believes it to be a fake – whether of alien, daemonic, psychic or some other root.

 

(Not to hijack the thread, but the STABLF project is a collaborative and open one, so if you'd like to get involved, please do – there's info on how to do so in the overview of the project page here. There are no requirements or qualifications – it's intended, as far as possible, to be free, open and fun.)

 

+++

Tangent over, to come back to the original question:

 

Quote

So, with that limited information [...] what is your personal theories on this buried war? What exactly was the False Primarch? An Abomination masquerading as the returned Son of the Emperor through psychic deception? Perhaps one of the Lost Primarchs returned to spite the Imperium that erased them one last time?

 

The 'canon' info we're given is limited to a single paragraph in an Imperial Armour volume, so there's plenty of space to explore. We're told that five Chapters defeated eleven – which raises a lot of questions in itself (which are explored in STABLF). Besides the name, however, there's no direct indication that a 'Primarch' actually existed – the term could easily have been adopted by a figure like Lufgt Huron (and parallels with the Badab War are easily drawn). 

 

Personally, I've developed a set of 'anchor facts' for the figure standing in for the False Primarch in order to ensure some for of coherency for STABLF, but I don't think it's really key that the focus is on the character so much as the broader war. After all, civil war is a hugely complex and involving state of affairs, and a setting is more valuable than a single story  or figure within it. 

 

Ultimately, then, I think it's fittingly 40k that the truth of the nature of the False Primarch is largely irrelevant – in the grim darkness of the far future, people will fight to the death, regardless of whether the 'Primarch' is or isn't false :)

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by apologist

[Rogue Navigator]

Oh goodness, I didn't expect a reply from the big man himself. I'd just like to thank you for the project you started, it's occupied my imagination for a solid week now. It's safe to say the Void Barons have cemented themselves as one of my favourite fan created chapters. I can definetly sympathise with not wanting to divulge exactly what this False Primarch was. As you said part of what makes Warhammer 40,000 lore so engrossing is that so much of it HAS been forgotten and is unrecoverable. The Galaxy is ultimately vast and terrifyingly unknowable after all. Whatever Volnoscere truly was, I eargerly await to learn at least a little something about his ultimate fate. Though it'd be quite fitting for there to be multiple accounts on what happened to him at war's end.

 

I shall continue to follow the STABLF project, though it'll be a long time before I'm ever confident enough in my own skills to share anything in any project (I am also incredibly lazy).

 

[Slave to Darkness]

12 minutes ago, Rogue Navigator said:

Oh goodness, I didn't expect a reply from the big man himself.

 

Oh you cant get away from him here.  Hes like the resident hobby rockstar.

[Vazzy]

23 minutes ago, Rogue Navigator said:

Oh goodness, I didn't expect a reply from the big man himself. I'd just like to thank you for the project you started, it's occupied my imagination for a solid week now. It's safe to say the Void Barons have cemented themselves as one of my favourite fan created chapters. I can definetly sympathise with not wanting to divulge exactly what this False Primarch was. As you said part of what makes Warhammer 40,000 lore so engrossing is that so much of it HAS been forgotten and is unrecoverable. The Galaxy is ultimately vast and terrifyingly unknowable after all. Whatever Volnoscere truly was, I eargerly await to learn at least a little something about his ultimate fate. Though it'd be quite fitting for there to be multiple accounts on what happened to him at war's end.

 

I shall continue to follow the STABLF project, though it'll be a long time before I'm ever confident enough in my own skills to share anything in any project (I am also incredibly lazy).

 

Glad to hear you’re a fan of the Void Barons! They’ve been a much bigger hit than I expected them to be, so I’m a little sad that they basically get wiped out at the end of the war. 
 

I have some updates coming for them though that I’m excited to show off! 

[Rogue Navigator]

1 hour ago, Vazzy said:

Glad to hear you’re a fan of the Void Barons! They’ve been a much bigger hit than I expected them to be, so I’m a little sad that they basically get wiped out at the end of the war. 
 

I have some updates coming for them though that I’m excited to show off! 

Ah well, who DOESN'T get basically wiped out at the end a war like this eh? I'm looking forward to seeing more about them though. I'll just pretend the Void Tridents are their spiritual successors or something.

[apologist]

15 hours ago, Rogue Navigator said:

Oh goodness, I didn't expect a reply from the big man himself. I'd just like to thank you for the project you started, it's occupied my imagination for a solid week now. It's safe to say the Void Barons have cemented themselves as one of my favourite fan created chapters. I can definetly sympathise with not wanting to divulge exactly what this False Primarch was. As you said part of what makes Warhammer 40,000 lore so engrossing is that so much of it HAS been forgotten and is unrecoverable. The Galaxy is ultimately vast and terrifyingly unknowable after all. Whatever Volnoscere truly was, I eargerly await to learn at least a little something about his ultimate fate. Though it'd be quite fitting for there to be multiple accounts on what happened to him at war's end.

 

I shall continue to follow the STABLF project, though it'll be a long time before I'm ever confident enough in my own skills to share anything in any project (I am also incredibly lazy).

 

 

Thanks for the kind words, but absolutely can't take credit – the project wouldn't be anywhere without the contributions and imagination of everyone who's got involved, like the ever-talented @Vazzy and @Gamiel, to name but two. 

 

Really hope you do get involved – I've always been very keen for the STABLF to be an open invitation for anyone to explore; in whatever form they find best.