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I have heard a lot of people in the Warhammer 40k community say that the Imperium is going to end up in a civil war. Ever since Roboute has been reawakened, people have used this to justify their fan theory about this because of how he still firmly believes in the imperial truth, rather than worshipping the eclessiarchy.

It seems like a possible thing, but honestly I don't believe game's workshop would do this because they already have too many factions in the game, and splitting the Imperium in half would only make things worse.

Given they've allowed themselves to turn 40k into a story, rather than a setting - which was a fething stupid move - many things are possible.

I doubt we'll see a civil war given the external threats at present, but we might get a story about someone (unnamed and hidden in the shadows) trying to assassinate Roboute at some stage.

But splitting the Imperium doesn't require any new factions at all. And we had too many factions already but there's Primaris and Ynnari and Harlequins and all that still getting added.

I think the coming BL novel Martyred Lady will touch a little on this sort of topic.

I think we might see an internal power struggle that borders on a civil war, but is more of a cold war with occasional flare ups. The kind of thing that would turn into a civil war if there weren't so many external existential threats. It wouldn't require adding new factions, and could be used as a fluff excuse for Imperium vs Imperium games.

If you read the Vigilus Defiant book, for example, it's clear there are already constant inter-imperium flare ups between factions.

In a way it's a constant level of civil war, just not enough to alter the sovereignty of the Imperium at large. Not exactly a functional society after all.

Did these people forget that the Imperium is still at civil war after 10000 years? Because until one side stops fighting and surrenders, or a peace treaty is signed, the Horus Heresy is still going strong.

Its hard for the church to have a rebellion against the last loyal son of their god, who has the full support of the guardians of said god.

There is no way the Eclessiarchy can challenge the right of Guilliman to rule in the Emperors name.
Sure there will be forces working against each other under the covers but that has been the case since forever.

 Ordana wrote:
Its hard for the church to have a rebellion against the last loyal son of their god, who has the full support of the guardians of said god.

There is no way the Eclessiarchy can challenge the right of Guilliman to rule in the Emperors name.
Sure there will be forces working against each other under the covers but that has been the case since forever.

Then again, Primarchs have been known to turn to Chaos, look at Fulgrim and his "Emperor's Children". The Eclessiarchy could use that as an excuse to try and get rid of him.

Dark Imperium shows that Guilliman doesn't like the religous aspects of the Imperium but is sensible enough to realise that the war against Chaos is more important than theological debate. He needs the Eclessiarchy onboard to stand any chance of winning. Plus he has seen that Faith really does repel daemons, he is not going to turn down a weapon when the circumstances are so dire.

Behind the scenes, we have seen him subtly favouring those elements of the Eclessiarchy that actually do good works, promoting those who serve on the front lines rather than hiding in their cathedrals. If religion must exist, he is doing his best to make it humane and practical. In private he suspects Lorgar is probably laughing at him.

 Karhedron wrote:
Dark Imperium shows that Guilliman doesn't like the religous aspects of the Imperium but is sensible enough to realise that the war against Chaos is more important than theological debate. He needs the Eclessiarchy onboard to stand any chance of winning. Plus he has seen that Faith really does repel daemons, he is not going to turn down a weapon when the circumstances are so dire.

Behind the scenes, we have seen him subtly favouring those elements of the Eclessiarchy that actually do good works, promoting those who serve on the front lines rather than hiding in their cathedrals. If religion must exist, he is doing his best to make it humane and practical. In private he suspects Lorgar is probably laughing at him.

He's really pragmatic in how he deals with the Eclessiarchy which as of/for now, he has a "positive" influence on.

I'm pretty sure Lorgar is beside himself with what passes for joy.

Itll be interesting to see how or if GW expands on the interactions between Guiliman and the more fanatical parts. Maybe he will take a page from Horus playbook and use them in high attrition battles to "thin the herd"?