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Or are they all just focused on destroying the Imperium, rather than ruling it?

Abaddon is all “tear it down”. I’m not sure if he’s also “then start again”.

The others? The Legions don’t have the unity and commonality of outlook they once had. So whilst I’m sure there may be elements who do want to Build Back Better, others are just insane and pursue their goal having long since forgotten why they rebelled in the first place, and everything in between.

This is Chaos’ problem, and always has been. That lack of unity and central authority. And it’s why Abaddon, and Huron, are so dangerous to The Imperium - for at least a while, they can get enough of the Chaos forces pulling in the same direction to do real damage.

I think the Word Bearers believe accepting an awful truth is better than living a comforting lie.

The Alpha Legion might have a decent goal, too bad only the Emperor knows what it is... or not.

"Better" is perspective-based.

The Word Bearers don't care that sacrificing millions of humans daily to the Chaos Pantheon is a bad thing to do.
The Pantheon are the "True Gods" and their will must be done.

-Guardsman- wrote:
Or are they all just focused on destroying the Imperium, rather than ruling it?

There are nine Traitor Legions and any number of Renegade warbands. Each has their own goals.

World Eaters really don't have a plan much beyond "KILL! MAIM BURN!"

Magnus nominally wants to create a better situation for Humanity in general and psykers in particular, Ahriman wants to fix his mistake, and the Thousand Sons in general just have plans.

Huron's trying to build his own empire.

The list goes on...

I mean technically the Emperor's Children do, in the sense that they genuinely believe whatever flavour of horrific debauchery they feel like committing at any given moment is what utopia looks like, and their victims should feel blessed to be a part of it. Overthrowing the hosts of Terra and installing themselves as the True Emperor probably has a nice ring to it, although they'd likely want to start with a bit of gentrification along the lines of warp portals on every street corner to spew out endless waves of daemonic insanity so the difference between 'rule the Imperium' and 'destroy the Imperium' is kind of a matter of perspective. Although if you ask the same Legionary twenty minutes later they might be wholly committed to just burning the entire galaxy on the off-chance that the funeral pyre of civilisation has a pleasant aroma (it might not, but you never know until you try). Whatever it is, they definitely believe it's the best outcome for everyone.

Chaos's endgame is entropy. There is no room for ruling, only "endless slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods". Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, doesnt really leave room for running anything resembling a "functional" society. They just want to get rid of the protectors of souls, its everyone for themself

Its conceivable that Heresy started off with something resembling "good intentions".. but that was over 10 millennia ago, all pretense of improvement must have been long shed by now..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol_of_Chaos

The eight-pointed star symbol of chaos precedes Warhammer by two decades, and was conceived as representing all possibilities - as opposed to the single path of Law. Chaos being organised feels fairly counter-intuitive...

Fabius bile is on a mission to secure humanities future in the galaxy. He thinks he can succeed where the emperor failed by enhancing the human genome to make them superior over the other species in the Milky Way.

But he wouldn’t rule over them, it’s just his vision.

At least that’s what he says

At least some of the Word Bearers seem to. In the Word Bearers omnibus Marduk muses about how only by uniting under Chaos can mankind have the power to fight off the tyranids, crush the other xenos and bring about a new age.

So kinda the inverted chaos version of Emp's plan to unify mankind.

Yeah but it's a "New Age" where ritual sacrifice is the word of the day to appease otherworldly monsters that mess with mortals for kicks.

I believe the Iron Warriors would be closest to this mindset. They will seize worlds and then turn them into their own fortresses with their own industries and supply lines. They also genuinely believe that mankind can only exist crushed within an iron fist. Those who survive will create a superior mankind.

The baseline here is that everyone is assuming that the Legions are even interested in taking over anymore.

Apart from the Word Bearers, the rest of the Legions just don't care about ruling the Imperium in any meaningful way.

The Iron Warriors are all bitter, jealous monsters and their philosophy applies to Astartes only, not baseline humans. They aren't interested in creating a superior humanity, they class mortals as less valuable than the entrenching tool they use to dig a trench.

The God-Aligned Legions are all deep into the Great Game as pawns of their Patrons, the Night Lords just want to kill and torture for the fun of it, and the Alpha Legion is a mess of its own making.

Even the Black Legion is purely dedicated to tearing down the old order with no indication that Abbadon cares what comes after, and he likely doesn't.
Revenge for revenge's sake is all that matters anymore.

The ideals of the rebels in the Heresy are long gone, turned to ashes the moment Horus fired the first shot thanks to the machinations of the Word Bearers.

 Gert wrote:
Yeah but it's a "New Age" where ritual sacrifice is the word of the day to appease otherworldly monsters that mess with mortals for kicks.

As opposed to feeding a corpse on a throne?

 BorderCountess wrote:

 Gert wrote:
Yeah but it's a "New Age" where ritual sacrifice is the word of the day to appease otherworldly monsters that mess with mortals for kicks.

As opposed to feeding a corpse on a throne?

Unless you plop Magnus on the golden throne, there's no one strong enough (outside of the Emperor) to light the Astronomicon.

And Warp Navigation becomes a serious issue.

There may be individuals within the legions that do, but as a whole I don't think any particular legion has a specific belief in humanity any more.

Even the word bearers are just 'truthers', believing that as chaos is the truth it's the only thing worth thinking about.

But none of them are bureaucrats, there is no chaotica administratum. They have no interest in creating a new civilisation, only in things fitting their personal beliefs.

As they are all unfettered and free to pursue whatever plans they want, none of them are trying to build a better humanity, just an existence they want for themselves that might happen to spill over onto humanity.

Abaddon does, or at least did indeed seek to rebuild the Imperium as an empire allied with the forces of Chaos. This is a quote from the Talon of Horus series, and is Abaddon speaking to one of his inner circle:

"We were born for battle, Khayon. We were made to conquer the galaxy, not to rot in Hell and die upon our brothers' blades. Who are the architects of the Imperium? Who fought to purge its territory of aliens and expand its borders? Who brought rebellious worlds to heel and slaughtered those who refused the light of progress? Who walked from one side of the galaxy to the other, marking their passage in a trail of treacherous dead? This is our Imperium. Built across the worlds we burned, over bones we broke, with the blood we shed. You see it too. You feel it now, don't you? - A new war. One not born of bitterness nor founded on revenge. - The Long War, Khayon."

Now one can argue that possibly over time that has shifted and Abaddon is just deluded by the Ruinous Powers, but this shows a glimpse of Abaddon's mindset a bit after the Heresy, which was then aiming to reclaim the Imperium, not just tear it down.