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This may all be outdated if GW introduces more things or more Primarchs, but as of right now at least, what are people's thoughts about Guilliman's plans (if any)?

So far as we can tell, he has finished the Indomitus Crusade (as per Dark Imperium novel), distributing Primaris Marines across the galaxy. The Custodes (as per their Codex) apparently also aided him by acting as emissaries delivering Primaris Marines to Chapters he could not directly visit himself. However, after that his actions become less clear. AFAIK he seems to be doing a version of "whack a mole", by defeating one threat then dashing off to deal with another. However I don't seem him actually staying in one place long enough to consolidate or to enact any lasting reform.

I have compared him to a torch, shining apparent enlightenment and rationality in his immediate area temporarily, but the shadows close back in as soon as he leaves. I see the bureaucracy, the Inquisition, and the Ecclesiarchy opposing him, perhaps not directly but indirectly by slowing down his changes, omitting information, etc... They might not even be doing so maliciously (so far nobody has accused him of being a heretic or abomination, AFAIK), but could perhaps rationalize it to themselves as "The Lord Commander is too important to want to know this" or "He has been in stasis for a long time and doesn't know how things are properly done now, which is how we'll keep doing things."

So far the background seems to show him primarily fighting Chaos, and winning his fights but the servants of the Chaos gods are expendable. Daemons regenerate in the warp, and the mortal followers are so much chaff, even the Chaos Space Marines. It might even be possible the Chaos gods are deliberately leading him on these wild chases, to prevent him from rejuvenating the Imperium. So far we know from Gav Thorpe's short stories, that the Ynnari seem to have continued to aid Guilliman, by doing such things as stealing the Hand of Darkness away from Mortarion's plague planet and then refusing the Black Library's White Seers' offer to destroy it, instead keeping it and possibly sending it onwards to Guilliman.

Personally, IMO and headcanon pending more GW information, Guilliman is buying time while Cawl works on ways to close warp rifts, perhaps by using Necron pylon technology. Maybe at some point Cawl and Guilliman will shift focus to raiding Necron worlds for their technology and then using that to shut down some of the smaller rifts or create a more permanent navigable channel to the other half of the sundered Imperium. We already know in Watchers of the Throne that Chaos tried to use corrupted Necron tech to shut down the warp routes from Terra, to attempt (unsuccessfully) to delay Guilliman.

I wouldn't mind if the warp rifts became a lesser thing, because I think 40K risks devolving into a simple "goodie Imperium" vs "baddie Chaos" dichotomy, at the expense of the Xenos factions. My view is that any faction with a Codex is a significant 40K faction and deserves a share of the limelight. Also personally not so keen on the idea of the Ynnari fetching for Guilliman. I think it would be nice if the Eldar and Ynnari perhaps aided Guilliman to repel Chaos and shrink the rifts, but then show the Eldar are in it for themselves by doing something that greatly aids them, at the expense of the Imperium and Guilliman, thereby fracturing their alliance. Would prefer if it were not some braindead predictable betrayal destined for failure, but something that actually succeeds to a) show the reader that the Eldar are still a force to be reckoned with and b) they serve themselves foremost. The Ynnari in particular need some plot/story openings as they were written into a corner in the Gathering Storm, with 4 of the 5 Croneswords found. Obviously they cannot find the 5th and awaken Ynnead, just as the Emperor is not going to get off the Throne, but then the Ynnari need to have something to do and strive towards.

hard to say really, we have a very bare-bones picture of what has happened after the 13th black Crusade so far.

I'm actually surprised how little BL have done to flesh it out, there has only been two books set in this period so far AFAIK? (Dark Imperium and Zaisuthra craftworld book)

I think Gulliman is still in crisis mode at the moment, trying to stabilise the rump of the Imperium he now commands. I could see his long term plan involving closing warps rifts using Necron technology like you say though.

Guilliman shurely have a plan, and i agree its about shutting the warp rifts. Also in "devastation of baal" he tels Dante that now he shanges the command structure of the imperium sectors, from governors to heroes of imperium, and he says that he wandet to change the life of the imperial сitizens so they could live a good life and dont want to betray this way of life.
And again in Devastation we know that Guilliman is now on crusade throu the Dark Imperium to bring it to order, and its allready 70 years on the way (there was a time annomaly for Baal, while they were fighting leviafan for 2 mounths since the fall of cadia it was 70 years passed allready)
Eldars are helping Imperium it is they original plan from the gathering Storm. They halped to ressurect Guillinam at first place.

In Dark Imperium, Guilliman declares the end of the Indomitus Crusade, after roughly 112 years. It is a bit unclear what his long term plans are after that, as the rest of the book is taken up with him rushing to defend Ultramar (i.e. another whack a mole).

It seems GW are heading towards each of the Daemon Primarchs having their own little realm in the galaxy, so as to justify Chaos attacks all over. Fine. I would not put it past GW to bring back more loyalist Primarchs and they then also having their own little realms. Just wish however that they don't drag the whole 40K universe into just being about them. The normal human, the standard Farseer, etc... should still have a role and part to play in the stories. The problem if it gets to just Primarchs dominating the 40K scene is the lack of suspense, because we know they aren't going to be killed off. Sure the Daemon Primarchs might be temporarily banished by having their physical form destroyed but we know they'll be back too.

So far the Ynnari have aided Guilliman because they wanted the Imperium as a meat shield against Chaos and the other threats in the galaxy. This has not exactly sat well with all the Ynnari however, and in Gav Thorpe's short stories, we see the Visarch and Yvraine get into arguments over this. The Visarch was complaining about why they were doing Guilliman's bidding and stealing the Hand of Darkness instead of continuing their search for the last Cronesword...and then later having stolen the Hand of Darkness, why they were giving it to Guilliman instead of having it be destroyed by the Black Library's White Seers.

Iracundus wrote:
In Dark Imperium, Guilliman declares the end of the Indomitus Crusade, after roughly 112 years. It is a bit unclear what his long term plans are after that, as the rest of the book is taken up with him rushing to defend Ultramar (i.e. another whack a mole).

It seems GW are heading towards each of the Daemon Primarchs having their own little realm in the galaxy, so as to justify Chaos attacks all over. Fine. I would not put it past GW to bring back more loyalist Primarchs and they then also having their own little realms. Just wish however that they don't drag the whole 40K universe into just being about them. The normal human, the standard Farseer, etc... should still have a role and part to play in the stories. The problem if it gets to just Primarchs dominating the 40K scene is the lack of suspense, because we know they aren't going to be killed off. Sure the Daemon Primarchs might be temporarily banished by having their physical form destroyed but we know they'll be back too.

So far the Ynnari have aided Guilliman because they wanted the Imperium as a meat shield against Chaos and the other threats in the galaxy. This has not exactly sat well with all the Ynnari however, and in Gav Thorpe's short stories, we see the Visarch and Yvraine get into arguments over this. The Visarch was complaining about why they were doing Guilliman's bidding and stealing the Hand of Darkness instead of continuing their search for the last Cronesword...and then later having stolen the Hand of Darkness, why they were giving it to Guilliman instead of having it be destroyed by the Black Library's White Seers.

well its sound reasonably. But i think they will just replay the Horus Heresy and end it in some strange way, or the same way to make the background infinite.

Ynnary are dedicated to one only task what is to ressurect Innead and kill Slaanesh and im shure they will succeed.

Gullimans long term plans are to find slaanesh date and then marry him/her/it :p

Champion of Slaanesh wrote:
Gullimans long term plans are to find slaanesh date and then marry him/her/it :p

Like a Slaanesh episode of Snog , Marry or Avoid? Wow didn't see that one coming!

I would like to see if fleshed out further though I doubt we will see much of an advance in the plot for a while, at least not by a significant amount anyway so if he does have a plan I dont expect we will hear about for a while yet.

Looks like my theory was sort of right:

Well – the Adeptus Mechanicus has a plan. If they can gather enough blackstone (which happens to be located on many worlds already settled by these mysterious engineers – alongside awakening Necron tombs), they’re intending to build a network of new pylons along the length of the Great Rift, then switching them on – basically, like stitching a wound closed, except with a lot more chanting and potentially dooming the universe to annihilation by thirsting gods.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/03/15/blackstone-101gw-homepage-post-4/

Guilliman and Cawl talk about their plans a bit in Dark Imperium, which includes figuring out how Pylons work and stitching the wound in reality closed, including the EoT. In the mean time, its mostly about containing what they can and putting out the fires.

It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

We have Archmarysue Cawl to do that

Engrenages wrote:

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

We have Archmarysue Cawl to do that

Its fine... We will just wire a half sentiant brain in a jar, labotemized from a criminal...


What's the worst that can go wrong.
If it requires more power, we just need a few more brains.

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

good plan, bad plan, it's realisticly the ONLY plan.

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

Well that may be the general population

but cawl is probably "smart(?)"... insane enough to take a crack at it.

i mean isnt his mini me a fairly forbidden AI?

Plan wise its the only realistic path they have. otherwise the giant space vagina will destroy them all.

 Desubot wrote:

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

Well that may be the general population

but cawl is probably "smart(?)"... insane enough to take a crack at it.

i mean isnt his mini me a fairly forbidden AI?

Plan wise its the only realistic path they have. otherwise the giant space vagina will destroy them all.

It's still pretty bad. That just puts all the power in the hands of someone fairly untrustworthy.

pm713 wrote:

 Desubot wrote:

pm713 wrote:
It's such a good plan. Trying to reverse engineer technology made by the most scientifically advanced civilisation ever when you're a society that doesn't grasp how toasters work....

Well that may be the general population

but cawl is probably "smart(?)"... insane enough to take a crack at it.

i mean isnt his mini me a fairly forbidden AI?

Plan wise its the only realistic path they have. otherwise the giant space vagina will destroy them all.

It's still pretty bad. That just puts all the power in the hands of someone fairly untrustworthy.

Literally about as grim dark of a situation they could be in

and that what 40k is and what 40k people like.

i see no issues with it.

I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

BrianDavion wrote:
I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

Trusting someone who pops out of nowhere and just happens to have an army and just happens to be chill with going against the Imperiums sacred basic ruless is not something I'd do in the context of the universe.

It fits the setting but it feels like it's just more dumbness in a universe with too much of that.

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

Trusting someone who pops out of nowhere and just happens to have an army and just happens to be chill with going against the Imperiums sacred basic ruless is not something I'd do in the context of the universe.

It fits the setting but it feels like it's just more dumbness in a universe with too much of that.

except to Gulliman he 1: didn't pop out of no where. 2: tinkered with Marines at his order.

It's more like waking up from a coma after ten years and finding the guy you ordered your pizza from has just delivered your pizza, piping hot, and included a 2 litre of coke to make up for the delay.

BrianDavion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

Trusting someone who pops out of nowhere and just happens to have an army and just happens to be chill with going against the Imperiums sacred basic ruless is not something I'd do in the context of the universe.

It fits the setting but it feels like it's just more dumbness in a universe with too much of that.

except to Gulliman he 1: didn't pop out of no where. 2: tinkered with Marines at his order.

It's more like waking up from a coma after ten years and finding the guy you ordered your pizza from has just delivered your pizza, piping hot, and included a 2 litre of coke to make up for the delay.

He really did. Honestly I'd call that suspect too but whatever.

I think a better analogy is a man bursting into your home and tinkering with the wiring in your house while dribbling on their shirt and waving a gun around.

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

Trusting someone who pops out of nowhere and just happens to have an army and just happens to be chill with going against the Imperiums sacred basic ruless is not something I'd do in the context of the universe.

It fits the setting but it feels like it's just more dumbness in a universe with too much of that.

except to Gulliman he 1: didn't pop out of no where. 2: tinkered with Marines at his order.

It's more like waking up from a coma after ten years and finding the guy you ordered your pizza from has just delivered your pizza, piping hot, and included a 2 litre of coke to make up for the delay.

He really did. Honestly I'd call that suspect too but whatever.

I think a better analogy is a man bursting into your home and tinkering with the wiring in your house while dribbling on their shirt and waving a gun around.

Well the man did replace all your old incandescent light bulbs to efficient hellblaster brand LED light bulbs while he was at it at least.

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
I don't think Cawl is terriably untrustworthy, this is a guy who spent the last ten thousand years working on the Primaris project etc. if he hasn't caused trouble yet I suspect he can be counted on to be mostly reliable

Trusting someone who pops out of nowhere and just happens to have an army and just happens to be chill with going against the Imperiums sacred basic ruless is not something I'd do in the context of the universe.

It fits the setting but it feels like it's just more dumbness in a universe with too much of that.

except to Gulliman he 1: didn't pop out of no where. 2: tinkered with Marines at his order.

It's more like waking up from a coma after ten years and finding the guy you ordered your pizza from has just delivered your pizza, piping hot, and included a 2 litre of coke to make up for the delay.

He really did. Honestly I'd call that suspect too but whatever.

I think a better analogy is a man bursting into your home and tinkering with the wiring in your house while dribbling on their shirt and waving a gun around.

except that Cawl did as he was ASKED to.

Iracundus wrote:
Looks like my theory was sort of right:

Well – the Adeptus Mechanicus has a plan. If they can gather enough blackstone (which happens to be located on many worlds already settled by these mysterious engineers – alongside awakening Necron tombs), they’re intending to build a network of new pylons along the length of the Great Rift, then switching them on – basically, like stitching a wound closed, except with a lot more chanting and potentially dooming the universe to annihilation by thirsting gods.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/03/15/blackstone-101gw-homepage-post-4/

Here's a very strange thought given the above......

Not so much what Guilliman is planning, but rather the outcome of the above (which may in fact be his plan).


1.) Cue Dramatic Fighting between Primarchs
2.) Maybe one or to "die" or get Lost in the Fight
3.) Pylons Turn on.... Chaos power is reduced all over the Cosmos... (with a few spots left)

4.) Pylon System somehow Aids the Necrons and the C'tan

Cue Another Story Cycle/Year of Threats to the Imperium with the Necrons front and Center until they get rotated out in the Future for the Return of Chaos (or some other issue).

I suspect more likely it'll remain a long term plan and black stone'll be used as a mcguffin alongside potential STC remnaints as an "excuse for why fighting"

Remember that Guilliman's resurrection at the end of the Gathering Storm represents the first significant advance in the fluff since the original Eye of Terror Campaign in 2003. Since then the clock remained stuck at M40.999 for nearly 15 years. Having finally jump-started things with the Indomitus Crusade, I don't think GW will be in any hurry to rush forwards. The setting with Chaos ascendant and IoM under siege has plenty of scope for storytelling before they shake things up again.