Imperium Nihilus

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**goundry**

So last night with a few bears around the games table we got to discussing imperium nihilus, the bit on the far side of the rift; and what purpose it might have.

We came up with:
1) it’s no purpose at all some one just thought splitting the galaxy in half was cool.
2) it’s so players can pretend primarines and guillaman don’t exist and all there battles are all on the far side.
3) so that chaos can eventually have half the galaxy. (grimdark on steroids)
4) so a second (?) human faction can be created on the far side
5) another primarch is going to pop up on the far side

Any one else have an6 good theories

**KingGarland**

goundry wrote:
So last night with a few bears around the games table we got to discussing imperium nihilus, the bit on the far side of the rift; and what purpose it might have.

We came up with:
1) it’s no purpose at all some one just thought splitting the galaxy in half was cool.
2) it’s so players can pretend primarines and guillaman don’t exist and all there battles are all on the far side.
3) so that chaos can eventually have half the galaxy. (grimdark on steroids)
4) so a second (?) human faction can be created on the far side
5) another primarch is going to pop up on the far side

Any one else have an6 good theories

So when you say bears do you mean the animal or a large, hairy homosexual? I won't judge either way.

Anyway on to your question, The purpose was really to progress the story which had been stagnate for who knows how many years. Within the story its purpose is to create a goal for both the newly awakened Guilliman and the Primaris to fight for. If it did not happen to would mostly just be more of the same just with new marines and a primarch around. For the 5 you guys (and maybe animals) came up with;
1- It creates a interesting change in the setting but I don't think it was meaningless
2- you can do that on either side though the rift does make that easier
3- I don't think it will ever get that far but the idea of chaos getting most of that side with small pockets of resistance across that half of the galaxy is a interesting place they could go
4- I don't think there will be a completely different human faction but one theory I liked was that the imperium technology on the Terra side was going to get more advanced with Guilliman and Cawl running things and that the technology other side was going to get even more boxy and rugged.
5- I could see that happening

**fallinq**

KingGarland wrote:
goundry wrote:
So last night with a few bears around the games table we got to discussing imperium nihilus, the bit on the far side of the rift; and what purpose it might have.

So when you say bears do you mean the animal or a large, hairy homosexual? I won't judge either way.

Pretty sure he just misspelled "beers", but for entertainment's sake, let's assume he was sitting around the game table chatting with a couple of these:

**Racerguy180**

big table

**goundry**

Lol yes beers although.......

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

It's a plot device at the moment. Something new and interesting waiting to be developed and used.

If the Eye of Terror hadn't expanded, between Cawl and Guilliman there's a fair chance they could've ramped up Astartes production and invaded. Flatten one Daemon World after another, reduce the threat of Chaos Raider, job Abaddon if you're lucky.

But now, who knows? There's advantages and disadvantages to all parties.

**Ynneadwraith**

It's a potential plot hook for you to build your own narratives and armies around, and as that it does a pretty good job I think

Remember reading someone's army idea of a Guard Regiment (and attached Marines) trying to cross the Maledictum to rescue a Shrine World on the other side, and thought there's tons of options you can do with that mirroring and taking from mythology about descents into the Underworld and stuff like crossing the River Styx.

For me, it offers a little narrative around my Techno-Greeks. What I thought is that for the vast majority of planets in the Imperium Nihilus...life continues as normal. It's long-distance travel that would break up without the astronomican, but the short-distance puddle-jumps between adjacent systems are still possible.

So, what you get is a breakdown of Imperial rule which depends on redeploying vast numbers of men across vast distances, and the rise (or return) of thousands upon thousands of little human pocket-empires as small-minded people scrabble around in the power vacuum while the few remaining Inquisitors struggle to retain the unity required to face their formidable enemies.

In that context, my Techno-Greeks (a planet that owned a reasonable interstellar empire during the Age of Strife, but were conquered by the Ultramarines during the Great Crusade) have sensed their opportunity. Ranks upon ranks of gene-spliced hoplite-servitors march out through the former Imperial worlds, overwhelming the depleted Imperial defenders.

It's like the whole thing in Game of Thrones where there's this apocalyptic terrifying force coming to wipe out all humanity...and all you feel is impending dread because these little pocket empires are squabbling among themselves wasting manpower and resources fighting each other rather than the real enemy.

So yeah, it's a shake-up to the status quo which gives the opportunity to do some pretty kickass things

**goundry**

i like the pocket empires idea, the bit about the safe passage that hold a night world no seen since the crusade had me wondering about a guard army around the same idea uses STC tech but was never part of the imperium

**MrMoustaffa**

I'm basically using the rift to explain my hodgepodge IG collection with a variety of regiments.

Spoiler:

Basically a small crusade accomplishes a major victory and a few regiments are granted garrison duty (aka retirement as far as most IG is concerned)

They get set up, take up their various posts around the planet, and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. They're scarcely there a few months before the night kicks in. Cut off from the Imperium at large, as well as proper resupply, on a newly established world no less, there is little PDF to call upon. Each regiment takes it in turn to recruit replacements from the planet and train them in their respective tactics, before mobilizing to defend the system against the various threats trying to get in. Given each regiment was horribly mauled before being posted to the planet, and the spread out nature of postings, it's not uncommon to see them fighting together in small groups of platoon strength, as bases link up for safety in numbers. Before 8th revealed how crazy conscripts were, I was still running a fair amount as a reflex from 7th, so it helped explain why supposedly veteran formations had so many conscripts running around. Conscripts were new recruits being watched over by a hardened core of veterans who had a very expected investment in saving their own skin. The survivors who proved their worth would find their way into the platoon structure and eventually even be used to fill gaps in veteran squads.

Basically gives me the flexibility to see a huge variety in not just what regiments I'm running but what those regiments are made up of as well. As I own models as old as 2nd edition mixed in with modern day alternatives like Victoria Lamb and Mad Robot, you see a lot variety even in a squad. They're all clearly the same regiment in paint scheme and rough equipment, but one guy may be an old metal trooper with the old Triplex mark lasgun, while the guy next to him has a Galaxy mark, and the third may have a 3rd party weapon that's similar to a Voss. Some Catachans may be huge and muscly with Catachan Fang knives and yet there may be a trooper next to him who is clearly a normal human armed with a different pattern of lasgun. As these regiments are left to fend for themselves and are essentially forming a PDF (and ironically new IG regiments) from scratch, they're raiding every supply closet they can find and using whatever they can get their hands on, as the situation becomes so desperate they do not even have time to standardize equipment across units. Recruits are basically anyone who can survive their initial outing in combat, and some replacements are radically different in build, composition, or race from their parent regiment. Works better than you think it would on the tabletop

Essentially, the rift gives you an alternative form of storytelling. As Guilleman's grand crusade and a new age of potential prosperity dawns in the "light" half of the Imperium, the Dark Imperium allows you to crank the grimdark to 11. You have entire systems cut off from the Emperor's light and supply lines. Planets are resorting to brutal measures to survive everything from supply shortages to overflowing numbers of pyskers with the absence of the black ships. Desperate battles are being fought for simple survival and even that is no guarantee with any number of potential threats able to appear from any direction. Without the Emperor's light and cut off from Astropathic networks, planets cannot call on support either, and are left to fend for themselves.

This leads me into my theory that I think GW's plan is to "redeem" the lighter half of the Imperium. You can see it in the clean outlines of the primaris marines and the fact that Guilleman is very much against the bureaucracy and religious totalitarian state it has become. On top of that you have Cawl blatantly ignoring the laws of the Mechanicus to outright create entire lines of technology forbidden by the Admech at large. This in part gives the setting a more modern style of Sci-Fi vibe that's more in tune with what new customers would be used to. You can see this already amongst many new players who don't quite grasp just how oppressive this setting is meant to be. This new, more modern approach for the Imperium naturally clashes with the lore to a massive degree, at least as far as older players are concerned. By having a "dark" imperium, a place where none of these major shakeups are happening, it gives players far more grimdark a place to act out whatever they want and they have plenty of justification to continue on with the "One Minute to Midnight" style of storytelling.

You let new players have a cleaner, more progressive Imperium and older players have a chunk of the Imperium still in dire straits with every justification to keep acting like it always has.