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At the end of the 42nd Millenium The Golden Throne fails and the Emperor is finally released from his state of undeath. What happens in the immediate aftermath?

Rather than focusing on the Emperor's rebirth in the Warp or otherwise I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think happens to the rest of the Imperium and the other factions.

Perhaps the Imperium has had up to a year to prepare for this event as the Throne begins to fail, small repairs are made but it only buys months or even days before it eventually fails.

Terra is engulfed by a Daemonic incursion that stems from the Imperial Palace. Grey Knights arrive from Titan, Custodes & other stationed defence forces battle to stem the tide.

So with that single point, what happens to the;

Inquisition

Ecclesiarchy & Adepta Sororitas

Mechanicus

Adeptus Astartes

Imperial Guard & Navy

Adeptus Astra Telepathica

Adeptus Arbites

How does this affect the ongoing conflicts during this time?

Black Crusade being probably the most immediately affected.

How do the other factions react?

Feel free to answer as many or little of these as you like. There's no right or wrong answer but basing it on perhaps some previous fluff examples or extrapolating it from your knowledge of a faction would probably be a better way to go about it.

No one can travel via the warp, as there no longer is a beacon of the Astronomicon, therefore the Imperium is shattered in pieces and another Age of Strife begins.

I actually forgot to put in the OP that in ADB's Night Lords books they travel through the Warp without the use of the Astronomican, so it is possible. Although perhaps more dangerous and heretical.

You do get reduced to small jumps with no guidance so the Imperium is essentially gone.

Total Chaos and clamity, no long range warp travel, no ability to mobalise and move huge forces. Custodious now wondering what to do, supplies not able to move with such ease, so entire war economy breaks, entire planets starve or die.

I've actually been thinking about this sort of thing, as a potential fan fiction.

without the Astonomican Warp travel is SLOWED not stopped, as ships need to drop out of the warp more often to check their position. Also without the Emperor the Astropaths would no longer be able to send out messages.

I also see this as the event that will Herald the return of the Primarchs, who will once again pull the successor chapters into the fold to create Space Marine Legions in order to combat the Imperium tearing itself apart.

Obviously the lords wont announce it in order to try to keep some control over everything. Warp is short hops and it basically goes on somewhat like it does at the moment, just with much slower movement.

Mars creates a new beacon out of the Machine God. Mechanium denounces the God Emperor as the Omissah and seperate from the Imperium.

To this the Ecclisiarchy enacts war upon Mars. And the Mechanicum at large. Some forge and munition worlds side with Terra leading to a schism in the Mechanicum religion.

Space Marines do battle against chaos still but without the Emperor uniting them they take control of what ever planets within their protection. Still upholding the ideals of the imperium. But al lowing their own interpretations of the Imperium way to further distance themselves from one another.

If they did this I'd like to see it fracture the Imperium into various sub-factions that are in kind of a Cold War/Civil War; that way you could finally have Marine vs. Marine or Imperial vs. Imperial without breaking the fluff or having silly "It's a training exercise" reasons.

Ultramarines split off and form a Neo-Imperium (analogous to the Byzantine Empire), Space Wolves likely become independent with mercenary warbands, Dark Angels and Blood Angels could go either way, etc.

Depending where "Phalanx" is at the time, and if we have notice that it is happening, then it is in orbit above Terra, then the Imperial Fists, specifically the third company, take their "Sentinels of Terra" moniker to heart and stick to Terra to beat back the Chaos incursions.

Should GW ever advance the fluff (unlikely, I know), don't be shocked to learn that the Big E died centuries ago, and has evolved to a full power in the Warp thanks to the belief in his divinity by the bulk of humanity, thus explaining the Astronomicon never faltering.

 Medium of Death wrote:
At the end of the 42nd Millenium The Golden Throne fails and the Emperor is finally released from his state of undeath. What happens in the immediate aftermath?

Rather than focusing on the Emperor's rebirth in the Warp or otherwise I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think happens to the rest of the Imperium and the other factions.

Perhaps the Imperium has had up to a year to prepare for this event as the Throne begins to fail, small repairs are made but it only buys months or even days before it eventually fails.

Terra is engulfed by a Daemonic incursion that stems from the Imperial Palace. Grey Knights arrive from Titan, Custodes & other stationed defence forces battle to stem the tide.

So with that single point, what happens to the;

Inquisition

Ecclesiarchy & Adepta Sororitas

Mechanicus

Adeptus Astartes

Imperial Guard & Navy

Adeptus Astra Telepathica

Adeptus Arbites

How does this affect the ongoing conflicts during this time?

Black Crusade being probably the most immediately affected.

How do the other factions react?

Feel free to answer as many or little of these as you like. There's no right or wrong answer but basing it on perhaps some previous fluff examples or extrapolating it from your knowledge of a faction would probably be a better way to go about it.

ultimately without the Emperor to guide the Astronomicon Warp travel would be lost to the Imperium expect for skimming it like the Tau do instantly cutting off it's massive supply networks, daemonic incursions would also rise rapidly throughout what was the Imperium. Terra would be stuck by a huge Daemonic incursion but would face stiff resistence in the forms of the Adeptus Custodes and all the faithful who have made the pilgrimage there: whether or not blind faith & fury could hold back the Daemons would be an interesting thing to see.

Inquisition: I feel the inquisition would splinter in that instance, some would become psuedo Governors over their own areas of space while some truly dedicated to the imperium would use this as an excuse/motivator to go full Radical even going to so far to ally themselves with various 'friendly' xenos (Tau & Eldar mainly)

Ecclesiarchy: Using the Adeptus Soriatas they would concentrate on holy/shrine worlds turning them into fortresses and installing themselves & their laws as the pure & true thing to follow to in these places, most likely becoming even more suppressive than the Imperium before with no checks & balances to hold them back from purging local populaces of "heretics" and "mutants"

mechanicus: +++Protect the God-maschine, fall back to Mars, if unable to comply make haste to the nearest forge world and assume control from any flesh still there +++ Transmission ends


Adeptus Astartes: Since they basically are their own fiefdoms already so not too much would change, Chapters like the Black Templars would go into full-on religious frenzy purging on all they consider unclean, Ultramarines would fall back on the Ultramar system and attempt to recall as many of their successors to defend Gulliman from the impending Tyranid invasion. Blood Angels would be relatively shattered, since they operate on a galaxy-wide scale the units not on or near Baal would have to fend for themselves while slowly (Due to having the warp-jump range of the Tau) making their way back to Baal to try and defend the impending chaos & Tyranid hordes. Dark angels would drop the pretence and go full-blown legion again with their successor chapters repainting their armour, what they ultimately decide to will depend if the Lion is actually just asleep or not

Guard/Navy: Some would continue to fight for the emperor and the Imperium but with all their supply chains broken the engaged battlefronts quickly being overrun, some ultimately would try and create their own fiefdoms and lots of little military states would appear. i would Imagine the Navy would fall back to their bases and try to make them defensible and turning into not much more than highly equipped pirates and corsairs

Adeptus Astra Telepathica: With the Death of the Emperor came the death of the Astronomicon. With the death of the Astronomicon came the death of all navigators flying through the warp, so died quietly, some began spouting heretical gibberish, others exploded or gave birth to daemons. The few left rarely dare engage their warp drives and only for short periods.

Adeptus Arbites: I'd imagine their role would largely remain unchanged, perhaps an increase in riots and crime but most would also receive greater remit and less oversight in the execution of their duties. Some may even start coups of their own setting up their own police states over hives, their rule being harsh but you would survive if you id not attempt to disagree with the law.

As for ongoing conflicts, without a constant supply chain to keep the men & equipment flowing to the meatgrinders most would surely end in losses for the Imperium. Cadia and the nearby worlds would be engulfed in flames as Abbadon's Crusade gained momentum, the only thing holding him back was the Imperial Navy but without the ability to vake anything other than short jumps they would be out-manoeuvred and slowly driven back or destroyed or forced to hide to make shock raids against isolated Chaos ships and outposts. Krieg could concievably becove a fortress system with their method of creating new numbers to replace the fallen.

The Orks & Tyranids would ultimately be unchanged, their goals are exactly the same as before (Fight & Feed respectively)
Eldar would find themselves without one less pawn with which to buy more time with but would then be able to exert more influence over some of the miniature empires that were born in the Imperium's death. Dark Eldar would fin it much easier to raid certain worlds but perhaps would find some of their favourites raiding grounds gone or overrun by other entities.
The Tau would be able to expand over some areas which the Imperium would evacuate although they would have to fight the impending Tyraind horde alone
Necrons would also be unchanged, they'd face less consistent resistance and be able to expand if they wanted too (I'm not great with the Newcron fluff)

Just my $0.02 anyway

I like those points man, pretty much agree with most of them.

I do think the Mechanicus would perhaps state that all it's Adepts should stay on their Forgeworlds and attempt to preserve all they know in the event that Mars falls.

One thing I wonder though was whether the Tyranid advance would slow with the Astronomican snuffed out. They perhaps wouldn't leave the galaxy but they might spread out in various directions rather than beelining straight towards Terra.

With the Emperor dead does Abaddon continue his crusade towards Terra or does he divert it towards the next seat of power... Ultramar? Although Abaddon perhaps wants to rule from Terra regardless of the Emperor being alive or dead.

Who says it hasn't...... no one seen him and he is quiet so this did happen. Do not take of your blindfold, you will not like what you see.

regarding the deamonic incursion on Terra, one thing to consider is whom that would render unavaliable for service elsewhere. ignoring the obvious ones like the custodes etc, I imagine battlefleet Solar would be busy full time with enforcing a blockade to ensure nothing got off world, the Imperial Fists if they where in the neighborhood would likely end up fully involved in the defence of Terra. and the entire grey knights chapter would commit.

this would mean most likely even ignoring the limited ability to move about, you've got most of the Imperium's largest fleet and two of it's Space Marine Chapters (proably among the top ten most important ones) essentially trapped in conflict on Terra

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 Medium of Death wrote:
At the end of the 42nd Millenium The Golden Throne fails and the Emperor is finally released from his state of undeath. What happens in the immediate aftermath?

Rather than focusing on the Emperor's rebirth in the Warp or otherwise I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think happens to the rest of the Imperium and the other factions.

Perhaps the Imperium has had up to a year to prepare for this event as the Throne begins to fail, small repairs are made but it only buys months or even days before it eventually fails.

Terra is engulfed by a Daemonic incursion that stems from the Imperial Palace. Grey Knights arrive from Titan, Custodes & other stationed defence forces battle to stem the tide.

So with that single point, what happens to the;

Inquisition

Ecclesiarchy & Adepta Sororitas

Mechanicus

Adeptus Astartes

Imperial Guard & Navy

Adeptus Astra Telepathica

Adeptus Arbites

How does this affect the ongoing conflicts during this time?

Black Crusade being probably the most immediately affected.

How do the other factions react?

Feel free to answer as many or little of these as you like. There's no right or wrong answer but basing it on perhaps some previous fluff examples or extrapolating it from your knowledge of a faction would probably be a better way to go about it.

ultimately without the Emperor to guide the Astronomicon Warp travel would be lost to the Imperium expect for skimming it like the Tau do instantly cutting off it's massive supply networks, daemonic incursions would also rise rapidly throughout what was the Imperium. Terra would be stuck by a huge Daemonic incursion but would face stiff resistence in the forms of the Adeptus Custodes and all the faithful who have made the pilgrimage there: whether or not blind faith & fury could hold back the Daemons would be an interesting thing to see.

Inquisition: I feel the inquisition would splinter in that instance, some would become psuedo Governors over their own areas of space while some truly dedicated to the imperium would use this as an excuse/motivator to go full Radical even going to so far to ally themselves with various 'friendly' xenos (Tau & Eldar mainly)

Ecclesiarchy: Using the Adeptus Soriatas they would concentrate on holy/shrine worlds turning them into fortresses and installing themselves & their laws as the pure & true thing to follow to in these places, most likely becoming even more suppressive than the Imperium before with no checks & balances to hold them back from purging local populaces of "heretics" and "mutants"

mechanicus: +++Protect the God-maschine, fall back to Mars, if unable to comply make haste to the nearest forge world and assume control from any flesh still there +++ Transmission ends


Adeptus Astartes: Since they basically are their own fiefdoms already so not too much would change, Chapters like the Black Templars would go into full-on religious frenzy purging on all they consider unclean, Ultramarines would fall back on the Ultramar system and attempt to recall as many of their successors to defend Gulliman from the impending Tyranid invasion. Blood Angels would be relatively shattered, since they operate on a galaxy-wide scale the units not on or near Baal would have to fend for themselves while slowly (Due to having the warp-jump range of the Tau) making their way back to Baal to try and defend the impending chaos & Tyranid hordes. Dark angels would drop the pretence and go full-blown legion again with their successor chapters repainting their armour, what they ultimately decide to will depend if the Lion is actually just asleep or not

Guard/Navy: Some would continue to fight for the emperor and the Imperium but with all their supply chains broken the engaged battlefronts quickly being overrun, some ultimately would try and create their own fiefdoms and lots of little military states would appear. i would Imagine the Navy would fall back to their bases and try to make them defensible and turning into not much more than highly equipped pirates and corsairs

Adeptus Astra Telepathica: With the Death of the Emperor came the death of the Astronomicon. With the death of the Astronomicon came the death of all navigators flying through the warp, so died quietly, some began spouting heretical gibberish, others exploded or gave birth to daemons. The few left rarely dare engage their warp drives and only for short periods.

Adeptus Arbites: I'd imagine their role would largely remain unchanged, perhaps an increase in riots and crime but most would also receive greater remit and less oversight in the execution of their duties. Some may even start coups of their own setting up their own police states over hives, their rule being harsh but you would survive if you id not attempt to disagree with the law.

As for ongoing conflicts, without a constant supply chain to keep the men & equipment flowing to the meatgrinders most would surely end in losses for the Imperium. Cadia and the nearby worlds would be engulfed in flames as Abbadon's Crusade gained momentum, the only thing holding him back was the Imperial Navy but without the ability to vake anything other than short jumps they would be out-manoeuvred and slowly driven back or destroyed or forced to hide to make shock raids against isolated Chaos ships and outposts. Krieg could concievably becove a fortress system with their method of creating new numbers to replace the fallen.

The Orks & Tyranids would ultimately be unchanged, their goals are exactly the same as before (Fight & Feed respectively)
Eldar would find themselves without one less pawn with which to buy more time with but would then be able to exert more influence over some of the miniature empires that were born in the Imperium's death. Dark Eldar would fin it much easier to raid certain worlds but perhaps would find some of their favourites raiding grounds gone or overrun by other entities.
The Tau would be able to expand over some areas which the Imperium would evacuate although they would have to fight the impending Tyraind horde alone
Necrons would also be unchanged, they'd face less consistent resistance and be able to expand if they wanted too (I'm not great with the Newcron fluff)

Just my $0.02 anyway

I have a feeling someone has read Lord Lucan's Fanfiction Warhammer 50/60k I honestly think his depiction is by far the best anyone could come up with, as it ties up all the loose ends AND is a extremely well written fan fiction, For anyone wondering, google Warhammer 60k: Age of Dusk, and prepare to lose your weekend.

Hive Worlds starve, unable to receive shipments of food from distant Agri Worlds that support them.

Forge Worlds fall silent, denied shipments of raw materials from other worlds that supply them.

The guns of the Imperial Guard fall silent, eventually, as they run through their stores and are unable to receive replacements for broken/destroyed armaments.

The Space Marines are stuck defending their homeworlds, if they were there, as they can only make short jumps. The Segmentum Ultima falls into a loose confederacy, as they can maintain Astropathic communications, but cannot support neighboring sub-sectors.

The Warp Gate under the Golden Throne bursts open and daemons consume Terra and, later, Mars.

 ALEXisAWESOME wrote:


I have a feeling someone has read Lord Lucan's Fanfiction Warhammer 50/60k I honestly think his depiction is by far the best anyone could come up with, as it ties up all the loose ends AND is a extremely well written fan fiction, For anyone wondering, google Warhammer 60k: Age of Dusk, and prepare to lose your weekend.

I have read the bits of the 50K stuff I have came across on 1d4chan but I've not heard of the the 60K stuff, you have my interest sir


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Medium of Death wrote:
I like those points man, pretty much agree with most of them.

I do think the Mechanicus would perhaps state that all it's Adepts should stay on their Forgeworlds and attempt to preserve all they know in the event that Mars falls.

One thing I wonder though was whether the Tyranid advance would slow with the Astronomican snuffed out. They perhaps wouldn't leave the galaxy but they might spread out in various directions rather than beelining straight towards Terra.

With the Emperor dead does Abaddon continue his crusade towards Terra or does he divert it towards the next seat of power... Ultramar? Although Abaddon perhaps wants to rule from Terra regardless of the Emperor being alive or dead.

A fair point about the Nids, without the huge watering buffet around to entice directly there they -at the very least to preserve/gain bio-mass for the next intergalatic void- have to spread out instead of the longer less "wide ranged" tendrils the galaxy has already seen.

Abaddon is still driven by the goal of more power, perhaps he will finally ascend or the gods will revoke the blessing previously bestowed upon him now his raison d'etre has been stolen away from him

Lord Lucan's fiction is incredible. Highly recommend it. And yes Alexisawesome is very correct,; prepare to lose your weekend!

FM Argos

As stated in the rulebook, without the Emperor's protection the raw stuff of Chaos will flood from the mind of every human being and the galaxy will be consumed by the warp leaving only Chaos.

The Emporer's spirit possesses Guilliman's body, snaps it out of stasis, and the Ultramarines go on a Ward-charged crusade like never before.

With the release of the Emperors soul from the Throne, The Star Child is reborn, beginning weak and requiring the protection of the Sensei but slowly growing in power. As he gains strength, the people in the Imperium that are still redeemable flock to his side in a serious of titanic wars of liberation against the puritanical and nonredeemable forces that don't believe in the Emperors return. The great irony is shown- that many of his respected supposed servants are corrupted in heart and unworthy, and must be eliminated for mankind to prosper. That they hide behind their faith as a cloak to disguise their corrupt, malevolent hearts and don't truly want to see the Emperors blessing or his return. Though they claim that the Emperors return is false and heretical, they know in their hearts that they are wrong. Man kills man, marine kills marine, and inquisitor kills inquisitor.

The forces of Chaos amass and prepare to strike at the now-divided Imperium, easily overwhelming nearby worlds (like Cadia). But then a surprising force appears- Leman Russ, leading a massive Squat warfleet. It turns out that after going into the Eye of Terror on a vision-quest, Leman Russ realized that the Squats are crucial to the fate of mankind. Ages ago he united the Brotherhoods and convinced them to leave their Homeworlds secretly and embark on massive ark-ships to prepare for the end-battle, while allowing the Tyranids to devour their Homeworlds to convince the outside world they were all dead. Leman Russ kills Abaddon, but the Warp continues to get stronger and the endless forces of Chaos begin to overwhelm the noble host.

Around the edges of the galaxy, the Tyranids prepare to devour everything in their path. But a surprising thing happens- the Brain Boyz arrive from the Fifth Dimension. Returning to their slave-castes (Orks and Gretchen) they reveal the true purpose of their creations- to destroy the Tyranid threat when it reaches our galaxy. The near-numberless Orks fight the Tyranids, and they basically both wipe each other out.

An alliance of the Eldar and Tau reinforce the now-weakened Squat Arkfleet, but it still seems hopeless. The Starchild finally comes with his followers after subduing the latent rebellions, but his power is still nascent and far inferior to the Chaos Gods. But an odd thing happens... while they eternally stand at a precipice of victory, the forces of Chaos never finish the job. While they eat whole legions alive, devour worlds, and kill great heroes, they never quite finish overwhelming the Alliance and they make seemingly-obvious mistakes again and again that gives the Alliance a glimmer of hope, despite how hopeless the conflict seems. Why?

A conclave between The Starchild, Eldrad, and the eldest of the Squat Ancestor Lords uses great magics and discovers the secret behind this- and great and sinister it is.

The omnipotent Chaos Gods were never really challenged by Mankind. They could have always killed the lesser races, consumed the galaxy, etc at any time. But the Chaos Gods themselves are far wiser than their single-minded followers. The Chaos Gods know that they exist only as parasites in the souls of the other races, and that their domination of the rest of the sentient species would lead to their downfall, for there would be no more pure souls to torment and no more to corrupt. And though they play their games and amuse themselves endlessly in myriad ways, they don't truly want to become destroyed. While they always play with the End, the destruction the the righteous and themselves, their final purpose- it seems as though their desire for self-preservation always wins out in the end and they manipulate the situation for their own defeat.

The Last Plan is created and enacted. Simultaneously, the forces of the Alliance drop their weapons, yield their psychic barriers, and power down their ships. A horde of demons, traitors, and mutants rush towards the forces eager.... the universe pauses. At the last moment, the last possible second, the Chaos gods strike against their own followers. The forces of Nurgle are made to rot and wither, dissolving into the ground. The forces of Khorne are forced to turn on their allies and friends, killing each other. The forces of Tzeenth are blasted high with almighty magics, and the forces of Slaanesh turn into unmoving crystal statues. The remaining forces, confused, rout as they're being smote. The Chaos Gods glance at the Starchild and frown. The power of Chaos retreats to the Eye of Terror and the battle ends.

The Great Era begins. The Eldar reunite and create a great empire of commerce. The Squats build mighty, gold, world-spanning civilizations. Mankind is free and many works great and powerful are created. New races evolve from the primordial soup, and Man and his brethren become an ancient race. But in his minds eye, the Starchild knows that the cycle will continue for millennia to come. That empires will fall, ideals will turn to corruption and disgrace, and the true nature of Chaos will be forgotten while people begin to succumb to it. For it is fated to pass until the Chaos Gods relinquish their claim to survival and finally choose to end the universe and themselves. It might not happen, it might happen, for there is nothing to say and nothing to truly understand about the unimaginable nature of the infinite.

-the end.

With the last link to his human body severed the Emperor's soul merges with Emperor gestalt created by all the Emperor worshipers and truly becomes the God-Emperor his birth creates massive ripples in the warp, weakening the 4 major chaos powers and extinguish a lot of smaller ones, The eye of terror reverts to normal space killing a lot of chaos worshipers on the more exotic demon worlds.

The emperor uses his new found powers to revive his loyal sons and destroys the chaos incursion that is trying to go through the Emperors "eldar" gate behind his throne. The emperor appears on earth and annihilates the high lords of Terra that try to accuse him of being a charlatan. Off course a lot of sisters of battle and other true believers had visions of the Emperor coming. So the corrupt High Lords of Terra don't stand a chance. A new Era of humanity expansion starts!

Forgemaster Argos wrote:
Lord Lucan's fiction is incredible. Highly recommend it. And yes Alexisawesome is very correct,; prepare to lose your weekend!

FM Argos

Is that the one where the Orks and Tyranids combined into a new race?

Yes, and Draigo becomes the Star Childs version of Skulltaker!

Whoops... there doesn't seem to be anything here.

The exact same as when the prince oh chaise was born.. In a single moment a new "god" would burst into the warp.

OK guys, remember Y2K? And 012.M03? And Y20K? And Y22K? Everyone since the dawn of time has been going on like 'oh noes! Da emprah is gunna die and duh sky is gunna fallz an such' but it never happens. M42 is going to roll around and nothing's going to change. So when that day comes just have a glass of Amasec, smoke a couple Lho sticks, kiss that servitor you've had your eyes on, and party like it's 969.M02. Mmm'kay?

Actually, it's unlikely that the entire Imperium would just collapse overnight. Massive organizations like that tend to linger for a while, and have lots of ideological successors. What we'd get is probably a vastly reduced Imperium, centered around Terra and Mars. The ecclesiarchy would just adopt some new dogma ("The Emperor has ascended to a higher plane of existence, and is forsaking mankind because of our sins! Return to His light!," something like that). Systems that can be reached in a few months or years by shorter warp jumps would stay a part of the Imperium. Macragge would also stay a part of the Imperium, probably as a kind of outlier colony. Many of the Imperium's forces would have to be retracted and concentrated back near its power base on Earth and Mars (including SoB's IG, Navy), including Space Marine chapters. Chapters that were resistant to relocating (cough*Space Wolves *cough) would be basically abandoned and have to face galactic threats themselves. Keeping everything closer together would be the only way the IoM could survive. The farther away systems would be on their own, and would probably succumb to various warlords, some independent, many claiming to represent the Emperor, but not actually recognized by the IoM. Lots of uprisings. In time, many of these new "border empires" would fall to Orks, Tyranids, Chaos, etc. Some of the Inquisitors in these areas would try to keep working for the good of the IoM, while others would go rogue and do anything to keep the humans from getting overrun. The human worlds near the eastern fringe would join the Tau Empire en masse, causing it to grow exponentially. It'd be messy, but not as much of an apocalypse as some people think (it's already a big mess of inevitable doom anyway).

 Mysterious Pants wrote:
With the release of the Emperors soul from the Throne, The Star Child is reborn, beginning weak and requiring the protection of the Sensei but slowly growing in power. As he gains strength, the people in the Imperium that are still redeemable flock to his side in a serious of titanic wars of liberation against the puritanical and nonredeemable forces that don't believe in the Emperors return. The great irony is shown- that many of his respected supposed servants are corrupted in heart and unworthy, and must be eliminated for mankind to prosper. That they hide behind their faith as a cloak to disguise their corrupt, malevolent hearts and don't truly want to see the Emperors blessing or his return. Though they claim that the Emperors return is false and heretical, they know in their hearts that they are wrong. Man kills man, marine kills marine, and inquisitor kills inquisitor.

The forces of Chaos amass and prepare to strike at the now-divided Imperium, easily overwhelming nearby worlds (like Cadia). But then a surprising force appears- Leman Russ, leading a massive Squat warfleet. It turns out that after going into the Eye of Terror on a vision-quest, Leman Russ realized that the Squats are crucial to the fate of mankind. Ages ago he united the Brotherhoods and convinced them to leave their Homeworlds secretly and embark on massive ark-ships to prepare for the end-battle, while allowing the Tyranids to devour their Homeworlds to convince the outside world they were all dead. Leman Russ kills Abaddon, but the Warp continues to get stronger and the endless forces of Chaos begin to overwhelm the noble host.

Around the edges of the galaxy, the Tyranids prepare to devour everything in their path. But a surprising thing happens- the Brain Boyz arrive from the Fifth Dimension. Returning to their slave-castes (Orks and Gretchen) they reveal the true purpose of their creations- to destroy the Tyranid threat when it reaches our galaxy. The near-numberless Orks fight the Tyranids, and they basically both wipe each other out.

An alliance of the Eldar and Tau reinforce the now-weakened Squat Arkfleet, but it still seems hopeless. The Starchild finally comes with his followers after subduing the latent rebellions, but his power is still nascent and far inferior to the Chaos Gods. But an odd thing happens... while they eternally stand at a precipice of victory, the forces of Chaos never finish the job. While they eat whole legions alive, devour worlds, and kill great heroes, they never quite finish overwhelming the Alliance and they make seemingly-obvious mistakes again and again that gives the Alliance a glimmer of hope, despite how hopeless the conflict seems. Why?

A conclave between The Starchild, Eldrad, and the eldest of the Squat Ancestor Lords uses great magics and discovers the secret behind this- and great and sinister it is.

The omnipotent Chaos Gods were never really challenged by Mankind. They could have always killed the lesser races, consumed the galaxy, etc at any time. But the Chaos Gods themselves are far wiser than their single-minded followers. The Chaos Gods know that they exist only as parasites in the souls of the other races, and that their domination of the rest of the sentient species would lead to their downfall, for there would be no more pure souls to torment and no more to corrupt. And though they play their games and amuse themselves endlessly in myriad ways, they don't truly want to become destroyed. While they always play with the End, the destruction the the righteous and themselves, their final purpose- it seems as though their desire for self-preservation always wins out in the end and they manipulate the situation for their own defeat.

The Last Plan is created and enacted. Simultaneously, the forces of the Alliance drop their weapons, yield their psychic barriers, and power down their ships. A horde of demons, traitors, and mutants rush towards the forces eager.... the universe pauses. At the last moment, the last possible second, the Chaos gods strike against their own followers. The forces of Nurgle are made to rot and wither, dissolving into the ground. The forces of Khorne are forced to turn on their allies and friends, killing each other. The forces of Tzeenth are blasted high with almighty magics, and the forces of Slaanesh turn into unmoving crystal statues. The remaining forces, confused, rout as they're being smote. The Chaos Gods glance at the Starchild and frown. The power of Chaos retreats to the Eye of Terror and the battle ends.

The Great Era begins. The Eldar reunite and create a great empire of commerce. The Squats build mighty, gold, world-spanning civilizations. Mankind is free and many works great and powerful are created. New races evolve from the primordial soup, and Man and his brethren become an ancient race. But in his minds eye, the Starchild knows that the cycle will continue for millennia to come. That empires will fall, ideals will turn to corruption and disgrace, and the true nature of Chaos will be forgotten while people begin to succumb to it. For it is fated to pass until the Chaos Gods relinquish their claim to survival and finally choose to end the universe and themselves. It might not happen, it might happen, for there is nothing to say and nothing to truly understand about the unimaginable nature of the infinite.

-the end.

I enjoyed every word of this.