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I'll confess that I'm hardly a lore-scholar, so what I'm suggesting could be pretty crazy.

Based on the 5th edition codex fluff the Blood Angels are in a pretty bad way. Hive Fleet Leviathan is threatening Baal, Ka'Bandha is hell bent of finishing the job, and the chapter are slowly getting whittled down by the thirst.

Dante is geriatric at this point, but he's determined to hang out (partly our of need, partly out of narcissism) because he's captivated by the idea that he's the chapter's savior -- which is tenuous as best.

Couple all this with Mephiston, who the inquisition would probably be all over if he wasn't an Angel.

Shouldn't it stand to reason that:
- Ka'Bandha returns from the warp and possesses Mephiston. His mind is already a little shaky, as the codex mentions 'seeds of doubt'.
- The newly resurrected deamon kills Dante, basically destroying all hope for the chapter's future with the Nids closing in.

BUT WAIT....

Remember that whole prophecy thing? Well Sanguinor drops the space mic, pulls off his helmet and lo and behold it's Azkaellon after all, just as we all thought. Now that Christ-like model makes sense, and one old geezer takes over for another as Sanguinius's right hand man is back on the case -- now as the new BA chapter master.

It would keep the game play structurally sound as Azkaellon would essentially adopt the 'SG as troops' rule, Angels players get a shiny new model or two (they'd need a new chief librarian too), getting to retire the tired old third-ed Dante and Mephie models.

It would be a huge shift for the BA HQ options, but I think it would be a really nice wait to give them a slightly new coat of paint on their 6th ED dex when it comes out in a couple of years.

Not gonna happen. GW doesn't know how to advance a clock past 11:59.

 Platuan4th wrote:
Not gonna happen. GW doesn't know how to advance a clock past 11:59.

It's not that they don't know, it's just that they don't want to. I can understand why, since it's a setting and not a story.

I kinda like the idea of mephiston being possessed by a demon to explain his strength, 'n stuff. But, the azkaellon becoming the BA chapter master is too much like drago for my taste, as the sanguinor (although i may have interpreted this part wrong) can only stay in realspace for only small amounts of time. Plus its nice not knowing everything about your army, i still like to think its the physic imprint of Sanguinius ^^

a b3ached whal3 wrote:
Plus its nice not knowing everything about your army, i still like to think its the physic imprint of Sanguinius ^^

Well, how about the Sanguinor possessing Mephiston (or Mephiston allowing it to join him) and proclaiming itself as Sanguinius resurrected? ;-)

 Troike wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:
Not gonna happen. GW doesn't know how to advance a clock past 11:59.

It's not that they don't know, it's just that they don't want to. I can understand why, since it's a setting and not a story.

Some settings advance, some don't.

GW moved into the "won't" category. After seeing how poorly people received the advancement of the forgotten realms campaign setting by WotC, I think GW's more firmly entrenched into the "won't" category than ever.

 Kain wrote:
I think GW's more firmly entrenched into the "won't" category than ever.

Just a bit.

http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/conversations-and-seminars-more-details.html

Graeme Lyon confirms that the universe will never advance to M42, and will always stay at 999.M41. If they run out of things to write about in M41, they'll look back and visit other timelines like the Badab War, the Age of Apostasy, etc.

Teetering on the verge of disaster is kinda 40K's theme, anyway.

 Troike wrote:

 Kain wrote:
I think GW's more firmly entrenched into the "won't" category than ever.

Just a bit.

http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/conversations-and-seminars-more-details.html

Graeme Lyon confirms that the universe will never advance to M42, and will always stay at 999.M41. If they run out of things to write about in M41, they'll look back and visit other timelines like the Badab War, the Age of Apostasy, etc.

Teetering on the verge of disaster is kinda 40K's theme, anyway.

Additionally, advancing the setting risks pissing a lot of people off, to a much greater degree than the muted grumbling that the current horizontal expansion (same timeline, different points in space) ever would.

They should do an expansion, Warhammer 45K, and that will solve none of the problems but will be good fun.

As the OP said, I'm no lore historian -- so forgive me if this is a dumb question.

Given the plan is to never advance the timeline, how do GW canonically justify changes from one codex to another? Is it supposed to be tabula rasa every release... i.e. we aren't supposed to think anything in the previous edition ever happened?

I'm coming to this from purely a BA perspective, there was very definitely a Calistarius model before he became Mephiston, and Tycho definitely went from being the golden child to having the black rage.

Is whatever edition we're currently in right now considered the only canon, and anything else prior is historical?

It's only in the last couple of editions that specific dates popped up on everything. Before that it was just "the 41st millennium" - so nobody really knew how many years had passed except in the biggest circumstances. Funnily enough, because Tycho's injury and later death were tied to the 2nd and 3rd Armageddon Wars, he is one of the few examples. In any case, most of the events that were "current" in previous editions are now at ~700 and ~800, allowing the timeline to advance a *little* in the way it has done.

With regards to the proposed changes to Blood Angels in particular...? ...in the nicest possible way - please take your ideas and throw them into a ditch. That would be a fluff reversal/massacre the likes of which have only been officially seen by killing off Squats, turning Grey Knights into a fully-fledged army of their own and giving Necrons proper brainpower. You'll notice people are still complaining about all three...

Us Blood Angel players love our special characters. Killing a bunch of them off would only serve to drive players into other armies. You're also proposing completely destroying the air of mystery behind the Sanguinor, which is kind of his whole *thing* really, much like Legion of the Damned and Watchers in the Dark. They're so interesting precisely *because* nobody knows the truth about them.

One thing I do agree with you on. Dante and Mephiston need new models, stat.

Don't get me wrong, I love the BA characters right now -- heck, I've been playing since the Angels of Death codex in '96. Just thinking out loud, more than anything -- even if it's bordering on fan fic.

The conspiracy theorist in me has always wondering if not re-casting Dante and Mephiston with the 5th ed Dex wasn't part of some larger plan for the characters -- which is why I thought about it in the first place. It was strange to see Lemartes get a new model (which, fwiw is my favorite in the entire army) while the two most important characters are in their old poses.

I think it's more a case of the studio choosing to put out more new models and units with each Codex rather than re-release old ones. This generates more money.
Hence, looking at Dark Angels who have similar counterparts (Azrael, Ezekiel) those characters still exist and now have Finecast releases, no less. I can only presume a new Asmodai sculpt was needed due to defects with the old or something stopping it from being moved to Finecast.

Where older units have been remade, the opportunity has been taken to work a brand new unit in the kit with them - for instance Deathwing Command Squad and Knights, Ravenwing Command Squad and Black Knights, Wraithguard now have Wraithblades...