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Ok everybody, so this is gonna be a long one, sorry. I will try and keep it short and sweet. Anyway, I'm new(ish) to 40k and do not currently possess an army. I plan on having an Ultramarines army for 40k and a pre-heresy Emperor's Children army for 30k and whatnot. I knew I wanted to write my own little narrative for one or both of these armies and I've been mulling over ideas for a while now. Then yesterday I was sitting down looking at the new galaxy map with the giant tear across it, and I was struck with a crazy idea. I was thinking about all the crazy things that are going to be leaping out of this huge rift in the galaxy and I thought to myself, what if somehow a small group of heresy-era characters(my future Emperor's Children) got sucked into a pocket of the warp by a regular warp storm ten thousand years ago and somehow didn't die or go insane and then this huge rift spat them back out in present time. There they would meet up with my Ultramarines and purge happily together for a few hundred years. Now my struggle comes down to two things: 1. Is this even a viable story? Is it too out there? and 2. If it isn't, then how did they survive in the warp for so long? I'm not so worried about the time thing, time in the warp is pretty weird anyway, but I need help in explaining how they resisted the influence of chaos, especially when the rest of their legion went off the deep end without much help. So there it is. I welcome all feedback so throw your vehement hate and cries of heresy my way if you want to. If not, I'd really appreciate some ideas on how I can continue the story if it is ok, or some ideas on how I can alter it to make it a little less heretical. Much thanks to anyone who responds.

Perfectly legit.

The Emperor's Children having learned of what happened during their absence will likely 'Rebrand' themselves away from their Brothers.. but can work

I like it! Penitent would be traitors off doing their o n thing in an unfamiliar time and setting

mild suggestion to add to it, toss an inqusitor in he army to "Watch" them

Yep neat idea. There's a lot of narrative potential for nuanced conflict when you throw in suspicious Inquisitors, Ultramarines that aren't sure if they can trust the Emperor's Children. ECs who are struggling to comprehend what's happened to both their Legion and the Imperium.

No need to explain how they survived in the warp for that long. Time doesn't function straight in the warp. It might have been 10k years outside of the warp, but 30 seconds within it.

The biggest issue is convincing the Ultras and Imperium that "we're totes reformed, honest", because the Imperium really isn't much on giving people second chances. You need to remember that all of your Ultramarines have associated 'Emperor's Children' with 'disguising, shoot on sight traitors' for 10,000 years now, you're going to need to do something amazing with it for that to not kick in.

I could definitely see the EC rescuing a small band of Ultras from the jaws of defeat, leading to a similar relationship that we saw with Guilliman and Cypher in the last edition; not a whole lot of trust when push comes to shove, but hopefully some respect.

 Aetare wrote:
I could definitely see the EC rescuing a small band of Ultras from the jaws of defeat, leading to a similar relationship that we saw with Guilliman and Cypher in the last edition; not a whole lot of trust when push comes to shove, but hopefully some respect.

I'm not sure. Cypher is an extremely unknown quantity. To Guilliman, he was just a robed Dark Angel with a band, something he knew and remembered as Loyalist. But EC? They've been been one of the clear and obvious enemies for millennia.

 curran12 wrote:

 Aetare wrote:
I could definitely see the EC rescuing a small band of Ultras from the jaws of defeat, leading to a similar relationship that we saw with Guilliman and Cypher in the last edition; not a whole lot of trust when push comes to shove, but hopefully some respect.

I'm not sure. Cypher is an extremely unknown quantity. To Guilliman, he was just a robed Dark Angel with a band, something he knew and remembered as Loyalist. But EC? They've been been one of the clear and obvious enemies for millennia.

Fair distinction, but I like to think that there's at least some unspoken code where is the EC, or any 'traitors' for that matter behave in an overwhelmingly loyalist fashion, outright hostility may fall by the wayside even if suspicion remains

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out."

How are they still alive? They were spat out near a crusade fleet, and transmitted a greeting code that, while incredibly archaic, had never actually been rescinded to the Ultramarine fleet's cogitators. Maybe Guilliman's there to recognise it, maybe not, maybe it's just that the 'fleet' they bump into was a small reconnaissance flotilla and they're packing Pre-Heresy vessels and other equipment which 1. Massively outclass the scouts and/or 2. Have caused the accompanying techpriests to need some serious Alone Time while they imagine getting their hands on them (this latter may give you options to expand into Adeptus Titanicus or even a rereleased Battlefleet Gothic should that ever come).

Honestly this would be awesome for any pre-heresy legions. I think you've come up with a really cool idea.

 MrVulcanator wrote:
Honestly this would be awesome for any pre-heresy legions. I think you've come up with a really cool idea.

Agreed. I'm considering a similar situation for a narrative based around pre-heresy Thousand Sons. Very workable base to evolve from.

Hi, yeah i used a similar story for my preheresy Deathguard. I wrote that they were stuck in the warp and when they discovered what happened to their brothers they renamed themselves the Sons of Garro.

Pilum wrote:
"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out."

How are they still alive? They were spat out near a crusade fleet, and transmitted a greeting code that, while incredibly archaic, had never actually been rescinded to the Ultramarine fleet's cogitators. Maybe Guilliman's there to recognise it, maybe not, maybe it's just that the 'fleet' they bump into was a small reconnaissance flotilla and they're packing Pre-Heresy vessels and other equipment which 1. Massively outclass the scouts and/or 2. Have caused the accompanying techpriests to need some serious Alone Time while they imagine getting their hands on them (this latter may give you options to expand into Adeptus Titanicus or even a rereleased Battlefleet Gothic should that ever come).

This is perfect

Throw into the mix a common greater enemy and you're sorted. Lets say you're Ultras are literally in the jaws of a hive fleet. Inescapable death. Then, out of nowhere, an Imperial ship is spat out of the warp and starts broadcasting archaic loyalist codes. At this point, your doomed Marines are just pleased to see Marines of any sort rather than more gribbly space bugs eating their mate's faces off. Perhaps the ship lands on the other side of the planet, so they never actually see their allies, only communicating with them via radio.

After the 'nids have been defeated, they finally meet their saviours, and cue Mexican standoff as they discover they're filthy Emperor's Children. However, both sides are so battered and battle-worn that neither of them is really capable of fighting anymore. Step up a charismatic figure from the Ultramarine's side (perhaps a Dread who doesn't necessarily remember the Heresy as only really Bjorn is that old, but remembers speaking to someone who spoke to a veteran who knew of someone from the Heresy who was a loyalist EC) speaking on the Emperor's Children's behalf.

Next chapter, Ultramarine company has bonded with the refugee Emperor's Children through their mutual ordeal. They, however, know what their fate would be if the Inquisition (or the rest of the chapter) found out. Not only would the Children be purged, but they'd be purged as well for assisting heretics. So, they set out to hide their newfound EC brothers from not only the Inquisition, but from their Chapter as well.

Cue intrigue!

I like it, and i think its totally plausible (like it matters i this fictional universe.

lets say they get caught in a warp rift and spend 30 seconds in the warp then appear in the middle of some battle between chaos emperors children and the ultramarines in the 41st millennium.

Unlikely to recognize their fallen brothers, they instantly help the Ultramarines and save their bacon. Wanting to know who their saviors are, the ultramarines hail the loyalist fleet and explanation ensues.... maybe Girlyman recognizes one of the EC officers personally from before the heresy?

Either way, love it. Have fun with it

Process wrote:
I like it, and i think its totally plausible (like it matters i this fictional universe.

Actually it does. If it's not plausible then it breaks suspension of disbelief and you end up with trash GW often makes up. Fiction!=opposite of believability. So let's figure out how this could be believable.

Biggest problem there is obviously that it's forces from legions that turned out traitors. Imperium took dim view of loyalist elements of those legions back in HH! Unlikely attitude would have improved in the 10k years...

Idea of them helping out might work but would that really buy more than pause until common enemy fought?

One idea that reeks annoyingly much of Deus Ex Guillimann GW is already throwing out too much would be to have the EC elements part of fleet that dissapeared into warp well before HH(which you could represent with the models a bit). Then Imperium gets first contact with fleet when Guilliman is present. Guillimann would know and remember them so he would know that they wouldn't have been taking part of original HH. This MIGHT be enough to buy them enough time to get into talking distance.

Some time ago I read about the Silver Skulls. It is hinted that, even though the oficial data says that they are a Successor Chapter from the Ultramarines, they actually are troops from the Iron Warriors that got lost in the Warp before their Legion joined the traitor forces. What I read said that they were in stasis all that time until their ship came out of the warp and it was rescued by the Ultramarines, which then proceeded to tell them what happened during the Heresy. Due to what they heard, they decided to reclaim the honour their Legion lost for becoming traitors and created a Successor Chapter under the Ultramarines guidance.

I gotta say that I read it some time ago, and I don't have the source for that story (I tried looking for it on a couple of wikis, but it doesn't appear in any of the Chapter's info), but I think this lore goes similar to what you're looking for, so it might help

Read up on fluff about the 'Alfa Legion'. Alpha Legion dudes who sided with the Big E in the HH and were allowed to re-brand themselves. But, they required 2 things to do this:
1. they were guaranteed by a loyalist first founding chapter, SW
2. bunch of inquisitors were tasked to watch over them

I say that the UM are your dude's guarantors and an inquisitor group are looking over them.

Also you don't need to make them jump 10K years into m.41. they couldve jumped to m.36 when the imperium was divided into 2 or something. or during the Ultramarine's fight against the Tyrannids where they managed to jump into the thick of the fighting and turned the tides of battle.
Not saying that you should change the year in which your dudes jumped back, but its a neat thing to think about.

 Novelist47 wrote:
Read up on fluff about the 'Alfa Legion'. Alpha Legion dudes who sided with the Big E in the HH and were allowed to re-brand themselves. But, they required 2 things to do this:
1. they were guaranteed by a loyalist first founding chapter, SW
2. bunch of inquisitors were tasked to watch over them

I say that the UM are your dude's guarantors and an inquisitor group are looking over them.

Also you don't need to make them jump 10K years into m.41. they couldve jumped to m.36 when the imperium was divided into 2 or something. or during the Ultramarine's fight against the Tyrannids where they managed to jump into the thick of the fighting and turned the tides of battle.
Not saying that you should change the year in which your dudes jumped back, but its a neat thing to think about.

You are aware they are totally non-canon? I mean, strike cruiser names are WUB-WUB and Björk. They lost their 6th company on Cocainia. ;p

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Novelist47 wrote:
Read up on fluff about the 'Alfa Legion'. Alpha Legion dudes who sided with the Big E in the HH and were allowed to re-brand themselves. But, they required 2 things to do this:
1. they were guaranteed by a loyalist first founding chapter, SW
2. bunch of inquisitors were tasked to watch over them

I say that the UM are your dude's guarantors and an inquisitor group are looking over them.

Also you don't need to make them jump 10K years into m.41. they couldve jumped to m.36 when the imperium was divided into 2 or something. or during the Ultramarine's fight against the Tyrannids where they managed to jump into the thick of the fighting and turned the tides of battle.
Not saying that you should change the year in which your dudes jumped back, but its a neat thing to think about.

You are aware they are totally non-canon? I mean, strike cruiser names are WUB-WUB and Björk. They lost their 6th company on Cocainia. ;p

This game is meant to blur the lines of Canon... I for one would have no problem getting lost on Cocainia.

Another question is that if they're EC, and they were in the Warp of all places, then how did Slaanesh miss them for that long?
Perhaps Tzeench had another "Just as Planned" coming along, and decided to starve its sibling from a few of its precious adopted children for the lulz (Heck, maybe these guys had Lamentors luck, so Tzeench thought it'd also be funny to see them trip on themselves as Loyalists)

Just a thought- I occasionally have some of those