Heresy 2.0?

[DrMantisToboggan]

Hello all!

 

   So, this is probably a pretty bold post for a forum newb, but these ideas made me giddy. I sincerely hope this is the right place to put a speculative post about the near-future of the Imperium. If not, I am very sorry.

 

   To preface this I should say, I may be ignorant of some of the major points of Warhammer 40k lore. I prefer to discover things at my own pace; I am working my way through the entire Horus Heresy novel series while juggling interest in the contemporary lore, so feel free to call me  out if I am off base on anything here.

 

   To start with the obvious, it was a combination of Horus’ discovery of the existence of the Chaos Gods (or primordial warp entities) coupled with the Emperor’s insistence of their nonexistence that seemed to create the schism that became the Horus Heresy. Now, again, I haven’t quite bridged the gap between the 30th and 40th centuries, but it seems like the Emperor of Mankind is despondent due to a combination of loss during the Imperial Civil War and the strain of maintaining the Astronomican. When I got back into the game and saw Roboute Guilliman had been resurrected, I assumed it was mostly to provide a “big good” to face off against the new model of Abbadon, who seems to have taken on the “big bad” mantle. Recently, though, I’ve read through the Tyranid codex and saw the animated trailer for the new edition of 40k.

   First, the Tyranids to me seem unstoppable. Maybe containable in some parts of the galaxy, but generally unbeatable strategically. Roboute always struck me as utterly devoted to the Emperor and, by extension, the Imperium, but listening to his voice-over on the trailer gave me pause. In the trailer, Papa Smurf starts by going on and on about how the High Lords of Terra and the Ecclesiarchy of the Imperium speak of his crusade in glowing terms-that they’ve beaten back the alien and are on the cusp of victory (whatever that actually means in a universes as bleak as 40K). It all sounded like typical hype to me, until he changed his tone. In the trailer’s second half Guilliman sounds somewhat spiteful. He discounts the claims of the Imperium, and speaks of the reality of fighting on the front lines against the Tyranids (I believe it is Hive Fleet Leviathan in the trailer). It got me thinking about Horus and how civil wars start in general-a complete disconnect between the people facing danger on a daily basis on the frontier and the vocal leadership/aristocracy that are insulated by the efforts of those fighting the war.

   I am convinced Guilliman is capable of resisting the corruption of Chaos. However, I’m no longer convinced his loyalty to the Imperium as an institution is unassailable. In the trailer Guilliman sounds jaded at best. The stress of facing a foe as relentless as the Tyranids seems to weigh on him. Coupled with his disdain for the propaganda distributed by the High Lords of Terra, at what point does he buckle and decide this was not what his father envisioned? If he decides his crusade will amount to nothing, what is preventing him from attempting a coup-not against the Emperor, as Horus did, but against the current regime ruling in the Emperor’s stead? Though it is admittedly unlikely, I would love to see Guilliman pull a Sulla or a Caesar and march on Terra, ostensibly to reform the Imperium into a cohesive force that might be capable of resisting the Tyranid onslaught. So, to boil it down, the Tyranids take the place of the Chaos Gods, and the Ecclesiarchy takes the place of the Emperor. Like Horus, Guilliman would be laboring under the belief that he is saving the Imperium from itself. Unlike Horus, however, Guillaman remains uncorrupted by Chaos, and the High Lords and the Ecclesiarchy are corrupted by complacency and zealotry. This would pit him against groups like the Adepta Sororitas and the Custodes, and would likely divide the Astra Militarum throughout the Imperium.

 

Thoughts? Criticism? Ridicule?

 

Thanks for reading!

 

P.S. Apologies for any spelling mistakes, I wrote this in Notepad with auto spell check.

[Wormwoods]

They kind of did that already with the Hexarchy Crisis when he first came back, ended with a bunch of High Lords dead. Wasn't really a Heresy-level incident but did see a big shakeup of the Imperium's political orthodoxy. G-man returns, takes over a bunch of :cuss:, and the moment he's not actively keeping his boot on the neck of the High Lords a group of them make a play. Was also pretty quick, nothing like the scale of the Heresy. All within a single book, I believe. 

[DrMantisToboggan]

Ah, okay, that makes sense. I guess I was hoping for some kind of conflict between the Ecclesiarchy and Guilliman. I know the Adepta Sororitas do not particularly hold the Astartes in high esteem, viewing them as mutants, albeit loyal to the Imperium. I guess I was just taken aback by his tone in that trailer, but it was also just a single trailer meant to hype a new release. I guess I was quick to invoke the Heresy as well, in my mind his coup would be more like seizing control of worlds and sectors important to the war effort, all the while thumbing his nose at the High Lords.

 

I’m also always crossing my fingers for some Imperium on Imperium action without chaos being involved. It was just a thought and I ran with it. Thanks for hearing me out!

 

Also, can you recall which book it was? I’d be interested in reading it.

Edited July 8, 2023 by DrMantisToboggan
A couple extra notes

[Colman]

7 minutes ago, DrMantisToboggan said:

Also, can you recall which book it was? I’d be interested in reading it.

The Regent’s Shadow, second book of Wraight’s Watchers of the Throne series, which is a good one.

 

8 minutes ago, DrMantisToboggan said:

’m also always crossing my fingers for some Imperium on Imperium action without chaos being involved

Iron Kingdom is almost that,

Spoiler

with a bit of almost irrelevant chaos behind the scenes stuff to justify it. It would have worked without that though.

 

[Wormwoods]

Yeah, Regent's Shadow. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm here for more Imperium civil war stuff, that was always the most fun. If you're still new to the lore, look into the Badab War some time, it's probably the most fleshed-out bit of inter-imperium conflict in the fiction, and Chaos only really shows up in the aftermath. 

[BadgersinHills]

Hey! Interesting post, appreciate the effort behind it. 

 

Guilliman's efforts against the corruption and stagnation in the Imperium seem to be political (with enough force behind it, of course). I think it's a matter of necessity too.

 

The Dark Imperium trilogy has some good insights on Guilliman and his views on the modern Imperium as well.

Edited July 8, 2023 by BadgersinHills

[MegaVolt87]

RG was behind the breakup of old Imperial power structures post HH. I think he understands how foolish it would be to try to upend the purpose of that by consolidating power. Merely existing as a son f the Emperor is enough for vast power in the current/ modern Imperium alone. The worst he would do is bolster Ultramar, which he is already doing by stationing UM primaris successors there and granting them homeworlds. 

[EverythingIsGreat]

A very big part of the post-HH lore concerns itself with either overt or covert Imperium-on-Imperium action, including apostasies, rebellions, coups and other internecine conflict. None reached the level of the HH of course. And now we have the Imperium NIhilus/Imperium Sanctus situation. The Tyranid angle is interesting business-wise and unique lore-wise, as it is the only extensively described exo-galactic threat for the setting. That is a good ploy. None of our familiar factions have any commonality with the Tyranids. Including the Necrons who are (conceptually) apparently immune. 

Depending on the IP choices, we may have intriguing lore twists in the future.

[dalmer]

And perhaps it'll harken back to the pre-Heresy attitudes and such:  Guilliman can do the politician stuff and world build, and the Lion will be somewhat of a wild card and get things done?  Things that perhaps Big G cannot do in his position?