Warhammer 40,000 End Times - What would it look like?

[tiamat79]

I suppose it depends on how they deal with the heresy issue, but without spoilers so far, I think two possible primarchs could return, Roboute could heal and come out fighting, the traitor primarchs would sally forth, and it would be Imperial Chaos face off.

I think Vulkan h'stann would be wiped out, but would find Vulkan. Calgar would die, and possibly Dorn severely wounded. I think the craftworlds may come out in support of the Imperium, but suffer critical damage. I think necrons would side with chaos and stab them in the back. The orks and 'nids would take advantage, and tau would side with imperium for the greater good.

How do?

Dunno about you, but I'm currently greatly enjoying the ongoing Warhammer End Times series. For those in the dark about it, in short it's a massive advancement of the Warhammer World. We don't even know if it's going to have a defined end, or if it's simply a new and deeply groovy status quo. Either way, we already have some major shake ups, which I won't go into here. Suffice to say Archaon (Sword and Board Abaddon for all intents and purposes) is coming, and the Old World is in for a proper kicking.

And I think we might just see the same thing happen for 40k, given the apparent success of End Times in Warhammer (books selling out on day of release, good levels of enthusiasm etc).

But as the title asks - what exactly would that look like?

First up the obvious - the 13th Black Crusade breaks properly. Not Storm of Chaos 'it happened, then it didn't' 13th Black Crusade, but the sure and certain beginning of the end 13th Black Crusade.

So Chaos v Imperium, with the Eldar sticking their metaphorical oar in as suits them. But that leaves Dark Eldar, Orks, Necron, Tau and Tyranids largely out in the cold. Except.....does it? The Imperium would have to respond en masse to a Black Crusade, and that weakens them elsewhere. Opportunities abound (look at what the Tau did last time the Imperium was forced to leave off) and whole sectors could fall not just into anarchy, but entirely from Imperium control.

Right, scene set. Speculate away! And don't forget - proper, proper casualties, as in 'dead in the face' dead. Warhammer has already seen the demise of Kurt Helborg and The Grand Theogonist, not to mention the Supreme Patriarch of Magic go all Necromancer on them. Various Undead characters are now proper dead (Nagash. Him no like word 'no', and he'll boil your brain if he wants to!).

- - - Updated - - -

I suppose it depends on how they deal with the heresy issue, but without spoilers so far, I think two possible primarchs could return, Roboute could heal and come out fighting, the traitor primarchs would sally forth, and it would be Imperial Chaos face off.

I think Vulkan h'stann would be wiped out, but would find Vulkan. Calgar would die, and possibly Dorn severely wounded. I think the craftworlds may come out in support of the Imperium, but suffer critical damage. I think necrons would side with chaos and stab them in the back. The orks and 'nids would take advantage, and tau would side with imperium for the greater good.

How do?

Dunno about you, but I'm currently greatly enjoying the ongoing Warhammer End Times series. For those in the dark about it, in short it's a massive advancement of the Warhammer World. We don't even know if it's going to have a defined end, or if it's simply a new and deeply groovy status quo. Either way, we already have some major shake ups, which I won't go into here. Suffice to say Archaon (Sword and Board Abaddon for all intents and purposes) is coming, and the Old World is in for a proper kicking.

And I think we might just see the same thing happen for 40k, given the apparent success of End Times in Warhammer (books selling out on day of release, good levels of enthusiasm etc).

But as the title asks - what exactly would that look like?

First up the obvious - the 13th Black Crusade breaks properly. Not Storm of Chaos 'it happened, then it didn't' 13th Black Crusade, but the sure and certain beginning of the end 13th Black Crusade.

So Chaos v Imperium, with the Eldar sticking their metaphorical oar in as suits them. But that leaves Dark Eldar, Orks, Necron, Tau and Tyranids largely out in the cold. Except.....does it? The Imperium would have to respond en masse to a Black Crusade, and that weakens them elsewhere. Opportunities abound (look at what the Tau did last time the Imperium was forced to leave off) and whole sectors could fall not just into anarchy, but entirely from Imperium control.

Right, scene set. Speculate away! And don't forget - proper, proper casualties, as in 'dead in the face' dead. Warhammer has already seen the demise of Kurt Helborg and The Grand Theogonist, not to mention the Supreme Patriarch of Magic go all Necromancer on them. Various Undead characters are now proper dead (Nagash. Him no like word 'no', and he'll boil your brain if he wants to!).

[Mengel Miniatures]

With all the attention Tyranids have been getting for the past year now I wouldn't be surprised if they become the big bad for the 40k End Times. They can kick it off with the 13th Black Crusade and have that play out for the majority for the majority of it, but then have the bugs full invasion hit the galaxy forcing everyone to put aside their differences and fight together. Just imagine if some the loyalist Primarchs do come back too, you could get Guilliman and Lorgar having to work together...

[Mason Carroll]

The original Storm of Chaos was a joke of a failure, but the 13th Black Crusade was actually something of a success. After all, Chaos won. At the very least, it wasn't a win for the Imperium by any stretch of the imagination. But...if they're going to continue to wipe out old fluff for new (inferior) fluff, then I guess you'd start with Hive Fleet Leviathan's invasion of the Imperium.

Book one: The Leviathan

Tyranids vs Imperium/Inquisition to start, then explore the Hive Fleet's impact on any Eldar Craftworlds in the area of invasion. Maybe even some Exodite worlds. That would draw Biel'Tan and Alaitoc into the fray for sure. You could touch on the Tau, taking advantage of the Imperium's shifting priorities to expand further than they had initially planned. The Inquisition uses that device to lead the Nids away from the Imperium and into an Ork empire. Of course, this would draw the ire of the Biel’Tan so they might try to stop it. But of course it’s too late. Now the Orks and Nids are fighting it out and whoever wins will be much stronger than before.
On the minor side of things, Dark Eldar raids pick up, to the point that more heavily defended worlds are being attacked. For what reason? No one knows. Warbands of Chaos Marines are striking against the Cadian Gate with even more frequency and doing so more brazenly than ever. Major outposts begin to fall silent and a major databank/library on a well-known cardinal world is raided and then burned to the ground by Ahriman and a large group of Thousand Sons. A mysterious voce broadcasts itself over the radios (or whatever) of every world across the Cadian gate, inciting revolts and unrest and causing more distrust to be sewn against the Imperium. And demonic incursions begin to plague worlds further and further from the Eye of Terror, each day.
And to finish off, on a pollution choked, red world…something stirs. And in the Eye of Terror, Abaddon knows his time has come…


Book two: Darkness Gathers/The Dragon

Necron focus to start. Necron dynasties begin to unite under Imotekh but a new power is rising. You could make a new Necron lord who wishes to bring the C’Tan back to their former glory. He/she is uniting hundreds of C’tan shards and even has the Nightbringer back to near full strength. This gives you a huge chance to make Necron/Necron battles with the Imperium caught in between. Imperial Guard regiments are forced to scramble to protect Imperial worlds with most Space Marine chapters/Guard regiments busy against Leviathan and the rising unrest in the Eye of Terror. Eldar Craft Worlds could easily be drawn in as they hate the Necrons. And on Mars, unrest builds as Necrons begin to awaken beneath the surface and many tech priests go insane/declare the Mechanicum cult separate from the Imperium. The Machine god has awakened. With a civil war on the door step of Terra, the Imperium is thrown into a tizzy. Tech Priest radicals could start suicide bombing parts of Terra. (hidden cells or whatever) and you could even have the High Priest of the Mechanicum kill the High Lords of Terra as they get together in an emergency meeting to find out what to do. He blows himself up and them “For the Machine God”. The Imperium finds its government now broken/leaderless. This is when ish gets real. The Adeptus Custodes step in to restore order as riots, fear, and panic begin to drown Terra. You could even have one of them take over in the name of the Emperor.
On Cadia, the military is in disarray with the all that is going on. Plagues have broken out over many of the worlds around the Cadian Gate, large scale insurrections have flared up. The Dark Angels arrive but say little to anyone. They seem to follow the “voice” to whatever planet it happens to broadcast over. The Space Wolves and dozens of other Chapters are nearby but they are stuck dealing with problems that seem to crop up at every turn. It all comes to a head when the Cadias leader is assassinated. To make matters worse, the Titan legions are split by a sudden civil war. Tech Priests begin to sabotage weapons and equipment and almost at the same time, a large force of Demons and Chaos Marines invades the planet through a portal. They destroy several of the Cadian monoliths before being driven back, thanks to the inspired leadership of Creed, who now takes over the Cadian military.
To finish off…the Eye opens, and Abaddon’s black crusade begins.

Book Three: Black Crusade

This isn’t too hard to figure out. Fill in the blank here. Focus on Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines. Add rules for a combined army. Example, Space Marines/Imperial Guard and Chaos Marines/Chaos Demons.

[Death Shroud]

Start it with the death of the Emperor, the illuminati begin sacrificing the sensei to bring back the Emperor, it fails but causes a sustained flare in the astronomican which still allows navigation (something for the old time fluff fans, hey I'm sure the un-named leuitenant of Nagash is Drachenfels so old fluff returning has a prescedent set). Cypher witnesses the death of the Emperor and leaves Terra.

The Imperium fractures between The High Lords of Terra on one side and and numerous other forces and begins a civil war with multiple sides.
Lion El Jonson wakes up, Cypher returns his sword to him and earns the forgiveness of those fallen not corrupted by Chaos. The Emperor's last act was the reforging of the Lion's sword and a message for the Primarchs. Lion El Jonson forgives Luthor then executes him with the sword.
Leman Russ returns to the Space Wolves, they ally with the Dark Angels and form a faction dedicated to pre-imperial ideals based on pre-heresy Imperium. Throughout the story other Primarchs will appear and add to this.

Vulkan is found by Vulcan Hestan. The Salamanders spread around their area of space helping to stabilise their area of space, several Imperial worlds turn to him for leadership. Corax reappears, he is a mess and half insane but he tells Vulkan he has discovered the location of their brother Jaghatai. Whilst springing a trap for a large army of Dark Eldar raiders Vulkan, Corax and a contingent of Raven Guard and Salamanders disappear.

Isolated, Ultramar will become very much an Empire of it's own with many Ultramarine successor chapter amongst others flocking to protect it. It comes into conflict with forces loyal to the High Lords of Terra and a civil war breaks out.

The Tau begin another huge wave of expansion soaking up many weaker systems on it's borders including introducing many humans to a Tau Empire ready to integrate them.

Tyranids start eating big chunks of the Imperium, increasing it's fracturing.

Ghazghkull's intervention helps the defeat of the Tyranids at Octarius. There is now a vast piece of Ork territory in the galaxy. The Orks rampage around growing in strength but not really heading to Terra. Armageddon falls to the Orks forming another large pocket of Greenskin territory.

The Necrons and Eldar are attacking at specific points trying to stymie the gains the forces. The Necrons seem concerned with the Nids more than anything, the Eldar focussing on the forces of Chaos. Many new Necron worlds wake up, one area is lost to them, The C'Tan known as The Dragon and The Outsider have returned with an eye to re-uniting the C'Tan shards and putting the C'Tan in control of the Necrons.

Abaddon makes his move, Chaos strikes towards Terra but Imperial and Chaos forces find they are having to deal with a new Nid Hive Fleet that is close to Terra. The Alpha Legion start fighting for both sides. The Space Marine chapter known as The Omega Marines' leader reveals himself to be Omegon, slays his twin in single combat and begins (with the Omega marines and loyalist Alpha Legion) to create disruption amongst the chaos forces which have now broken through the Hive Fleet. They head directly for Terra. One of the largest battles in history takes place in the Sol system.
There is the largest ever muster of Imperial forces versus chaos. It is led by Commander Dante of the Blood Angels. The muster is so large that they are winning the battle against chaos. Then one of the High Lords betrays them, he has been an agent of Chaos for some time. The The Mechanicum of Mars flees as Chaos forces make planetfall on Terra. The traitor high Lord of Terra has all the remaining Sensei killed, this turns off the Astronomican. The Adeptus Custodes have escaped with some Sensei and a few important imperial dignitaries. Without the Golden Throne's powering it the wards weaken. Abaddon is triumphant! He sacrifices the High Lords (including the traitor). In doing so the wards break, Terra becomes a Daemon world and Abaddon finally accepts Daemonhood.

From out of a portal in the systems around Nocturne a ravaged band appears. There a few battered Raven Guard and Salamanders accompanied by three towering figures, it is Corax and Vulkan, between them they support a badly wounded Jaghatai who has been freed from almost 10,000 years of torment at the hands of the Dark Eldar.

Meanwhile on Ultramar a stranger stands over the stasis encased body of Guilliman. The seals on the stasis pod break open, "time to arise my son, we have a lot of work to do."

As for deaths along the way, I dunno. I think Dante and a large contingent of the Blood Angels (and all the Flesh Tearers) would give their lives for the Custodes to escape. Yarrick buying the farm against a resurgent Ghazghkull. Alpaharius (the real one this time) being killed by Omegon. A few chapter masters along the way (Azrael being replaced by Cypher under the Lion's orders would be a real shake up!). All of the High Lords. Would love to see what GW could come up with!

[ElectricPaladin]

Can my Knights of Blood get either a formal pardon from the High Lords and the Inquisition as part of the price they demand for their help in the last days, or a heroic death throwing themselves into an impossible battle and either winning, but while being slaughtered to an Astartes, or buying someone else time to do something awesome?

[Mr Mystery]

Emperor wakes up in the shower, having seen the future, decides it's not worth the effort, and just goes back to bed.

[Peter Lundgreen Hansen]

i for one would like to see Khaine's gate crumble and Commoragh feel the full impact of the warp. Urien Rakarth has foreseen this, and has been preparing for the horrors to come, and unleashes millions of new horrors upon real space. GIVE MY Dark Eldar SOME LUVIN!!!!!!!

[Faultie]

I'd like to see the Grand Provost Marshall go all Judge Death and declare that all Imperial citizens, given that they're alive, are now suspected heretics and must be executed in order to prevent their fall to Chaos. Then it's just galaxy-wide genocide.

Then, all the factions converge on Terra for the greatest battle the galaxy has seen since the fall of the Old Ones. Everyone you can name is there, from all factions, and just when it seems the carnage could not get any worse, the War Doctor shows up and uses the Moment to destroy everyone.

[ElectricPaladin]

I'd like to see the Grand Provost Marshall go all Judge Death and declare that all Imperial citizens, given that they're alive, are now suspected heretics and must be executed in order to prevent their fall to Chaos. Then it's just galaxy-wide genocide.

Then, all the factions converge on Terra for the greatest battle the galaxy has seen since the fall of the Old Ones. Everyone you can name is there, from all factions, and...

Silliness aside, I kind of like the idea of one of the plots being that the authorities on Terra finally just completely lose their **** and the Militarum, Ecclesiarchy (via the Sororitas), and Astartes have to show up and put things back together.

[Peter Lundgreen Hansen]

Khaine's gates burst open, the impending doom of Commoragh makes the Dark eldar go deeper into the webway, and Urien Rakarth smiles as the oportunity he has been waiting for in millenia reveals itself.