If you could change anything in the lore what would you change?

[Rain]

2 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

Primaris. They're fast food, shallow pulp fiction so the company could play hyperbole on the "bigger and better" and role out something for the kids.

 

Not to mention their implementation and theme doesn't match the stagnation of the Imperium and decline of humanity, holding onto relics of old night.

 

Nah, they're bigger, betterer and bestest. 

 

This is indicative of a greater Marvelification of the universe. Primarchs are superheroes in all but name, and so much of the online discourse on Reddit surrounding 40k boils down to who could beat up whom. Some of the more interesting characters in the setting like Angron and Lucius get boiled down to "lol he couldn't even conquer his home planet" or "lol he lost so many duels that his own armor makes fun of him." Meanwhile bland Mary Sue characters like Sharrowkyn are "totally badass" because the writers decided that he can, totally like, turn invisible, and not only can he beat Lucius, but he thinks it's no big deal, so he's immune to Slaanesh's curse.

 

I guess part of it is down to us getting older, but even as a kid I preferred plots with more gravity, and characters with actual flaws and failings.

[phandaal]

19 minutes ago, Captain Idaho said:

Nah, they're bigger, betterer and bestest. 

 

Have you read the Successors anthology? Most of the stories are "look at these new Primaris Marines, see how much better they are and how they are the future."

 

The Consecrators' story makes sure to spend its limited text telling us their new Primaris Marine can run up a staircase faster than normal, and ends with that Primaris Marine as the sole survivor of a mission to recover gene seed. Real subtle messaging, guys.

 

The Exorcists' story straight up has a line like "the chains would have held even a Space Marine... but he was not just a Space Marine, he was Primaris."

 

Only ebook I have ever returned.

[SvenIronhand]

Bring back Blood Axes’ human mercs and advisors.

[darkhorse0607]

1 hour ago, Rain said:

 

This is indicative of a greater Marvelification of the universe. Primarchs are superheroes in all but name, and so much of the online discourse on Reddit surrounding 40k boils down to who could beat up whom. 

 

If I see "lol Guilliman (or insert cringy play on name) has never won a fight"

 

one more time

 

I am going to turn into @Scribe

 

I can't take it anymore

[NovemberIX]

Besides the much afore mentioned Primaris. I've got a simple retcon: Razorbacks have been around since the heresy. Why? Cause they're cool! I also think from a modeling perspective the Deimos Rhino with weapons from a tarantula sentry turret would look pretty cool.

[sitnam]

3 hours ago, NovemberIX said:

Besides the much afore mentioned Primaris. I've got a simple retcon: Razorbacks have been around since the heresy. Why? Cause they're cool! I also think from a modeling perspective the Deimos Rhino with weapons from a tarantula sentry turret would look pretty cool.

 

I agree, but I think Razorbacks should have a bit more firepower, and Rhinos should of kept their pintle mounted heavy weapons from 30k. I refuse to believe that the Imperium has stagnated to the point the pintle mounts for common weaponry is lost tech. 

[Brother Tyler]

I see the Perpetuals as a retcon, but a retcon of lore from the 1st edition of the game, the Sensei. And for what it's worth, I always saw the WH40K Sensei as being inspired by the immortals of the Highlander franchise. So if my theory about the Perpetuals is correct, they are a toning down and revision of [abandoned?] lore from the '80s. This lore hasn't really been touched since the 3rd edition of the game, though you can still find some vestiges of them in the story of the Star-Child (in the Jaq Draco series).

 

ILLUMINATI, THE EMPEROR AND SENSEI

Before the Imperium was established and long before he was confined to his life-support throne, the Emperor lived in hiding among ordinary Men. During his life he fathered many families, while always taking care to vanish and start afresh whenever possible.

 

The Emperor's sons, however, proved to have unique powers all of their own. They too are immortal, but while their father is Mankind's most powerful psyker, they are the exact opposite. They are psychic blanks, who cannot be seen or sensed by psykers. As a result, they are safe from the mental interference of warp entities, and they have the power to channel and use warp energy directly. The Emperor's sons are also stronger, tougher and faster than the rest of Humanity, in many ways the genetic counterparts of the Marines of the Legiones Astartes. They are, however, infertile; the Emperor has no further descendants.

 

Over the millennia, the Sensei (as the Emperor's offspring term themselves) have become adept at hiding within the massed ranks of Humanity. Ignorant of their origins and their true heritage, they have been persecuted and vilified as 'witches' and 'devils' by normal Humans. Their only crime has been to not grow old. Their invisibility to psykers has helped them to hide in the faceless masses of Mankind. In the 41st Millennium few outside the Illuminati and the Inquisition are aware of their existence other than as folk tales of the 'Captain Eternal' or the 'Wandering Inquisitor'.

 

Even a Sensei may not be aware of his true nature until he meets another of his kind. He is simiply a man who does not age. Only when he meets, or is drawn to, another Sensei does the truth emerge. The new Sensei is taught that he has other abilities: the power to tap warpspace and channel the energy gained into combat; the power to sense Daemons and feel disturbances in the flow of the warp; the power to remain hidden from any psychic. Once trained the new Sensei is inducted into the 'Brotherhood', and burdened with the knowledge of his fate: to battle against Chaos. They gather followers and await the final, terrible battle with the forces of Chaos. Most take this as the price of their powers, a few defy their brother Sensei and flee to Chaos becoming Grey Sensei, among the cruellest servants of darkness.

 

The Emperor and the Sensei do not know of their relationship. He cannot 'see' something that does not exist to his psychic senses, and the Sensei have no reason to believe that they are related to the Emperor. As a result the Inquisition hunt Sensei down as dangerous mutants, probably in league with the forces of Chaos.

 

The Illuminati have an altogether different interest in the Sensei. Mankind will fall unless the Emperor is renewed; therefore the Illuminati are manipulating events to a point where this can happen. The Illuminati, their own existence carefully shrouded in mystery, have sought out and protect the Sensei, even helping the Sensei establish their secret 'Long Watch' of Sensei Knights who will fight in the 'last battle against Chaos'.

 

The Sensei, however, have been duped. There is to be no Armageddon, no Ragnarok, no last battle fought against the forces of Chaos. At the moment the Emperor's will breaks, the Illuminati will offer up the remaining Sensei in a sacrifice to the Golden Throne of Earth. The Emperor and the Sensei will be united, in just the same manner as the Emperor has absorbed countless psykers. The new, evolved Sensei-Emperor, father and sons, will arise to protect and lead Mankind. Such as the plan of the Illuminati.

 

The Emperor must never learn of the Illuminati's existence or plans, for pre-knowledge could easily result in his premature abdication of power. If Humanity is to be saved by the Illuminati scheme, the Emperor may see no reason to continue. Likewise, the Sensei, unaware of their heritage and destiny, must never learn the truth, or they may be unwilling to meet their appointed fate.

 

And while the Illuminati plan, plot and manipulate, the [Chaos] covens grow in number and strength, and the Imperial Inquisition is forced to extreme methods to hold the line against Chaos.