Elseworlds Warhammer 40,000

[YorkNecromancer]

1920's Batman fights Cthulhu:

Batman fights Dracula, is turned into a vampire, becomes literal Batman.

Elderly Batman comes out of retirement, murders Joker, Robin is female, is considered best Batman story of all time despite personal sociopathic tendencies of lunatic author.

Batman is Frankenstein; brings back father's corpse as monster. Corpse-monster turns into ludicrous giant bat-thing.

Batman meets fascist future lawman. Giggles ensue

Batman hunts Predator with baseball bat in terrible 'bat-man' pun.

Batman is Adam West.

Batman is an interesting character.

Batman is a less interesting character than his more charismatic opponent.


Bat-mite explains how Batman works:


So here's the thing. Quite a few of us on BoLS don't like the deeply regressive, hypermasculine aspects of Warhammer 40,000. We love the game, but put simply? We'd like there to be more women and people of colour involved.

[URL=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elseworlds]Elseworlds is the imprint DC uses for its 'alternative universe' stories - those that do not fit in the current canon, some of the more famous/ridiculous ones I've included above.[/url] Batman isn't one character; he's whatever the writer wants him to be, an idea to hang an infinite number of entirely valid alternate narratives on.

I propose an Elseworlds 40K for those of us who are dissatisfied with things as they are.

It's basically 40K, but with a number of key differences:
1.) Half the Primarchs are female.
2.) A minimum of one third of the Primarchs are noticeably people of colour.
3.) Any other differences people propose to increase the diversity of Warhammer 40,000 as it currently exists.

That's basically it, because everything else is just painting your dudes in different skin tones, or using Statuesque Heroic Scale heads. No changes to story events, no changes to narrative history, nothing.

We just gender flip a few of the Primarchs, and some of their Consuls/lieutenants.

So the key question I propose is this: which Primarchs are female? Who do you shift and why? Also, who gets to play them in the inevitable 'Game of Thrones'-style HBO series this idea will inevitably generate?

The only ones that are definite for me are that Horus has to become female - entirely so Natalie Dormer plays her - and Lion El'Jonson stays male, because his doomed love story with Luther is the most tragic romance in all of 40K and we can't lose it. Otherwise, the floor is open.

N.B.: OBVIOUS DISCLAIMER THAT I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M WRITING BUT GOD KNOWS I'M GOING TO NEED IT GIVEN HOW THESE THINGS HAVE GONE SO FAR EACH AND EVERY TIME THEY'RE EVER MENTIONED. This is a hypothetical thought experiment. It takes nothing away from Warhammer 40,000. We're photocopying the background, not erasing it. We're not threatening anyone's hobbies or taking away anyone's toys. We're not changing canon - this is an alternative universe with its own canon that is essentially the same apart from better diversity. If you want to explain how Space Marines aren't female, it's worth remembering that sometimes Spock has a beard: the alternate universe is a key Trope throughout sci-fi. If you don't want to join in the fun, then don't. But you should, because Natalie Dormer in Terminator Armour is totally worth it.

Not to mention I've now got the image of Mallory Archer as Peturabo in my head, and I think that might be a good idea too.



Nine Primarchs need genderflipping and all eighteen need actors. Not to mention The Emperor, Malcador the Sigilite, and every badass mentioned in those HH books. Remember: the aim is a 50:50 split - for every character you keep male, you have to flip one to female, and every third character needs to be of an ethnicity other than white.

[Kirsten]

my immediate thought is to flip some of the pairs, as it were. so where you have Dorn and Perturabo, one becomes female, same with Corax and Kurze, Angron and Russ.

I vote female Angron for starters.

[YorkNecromancer]

Is that not too obvious? They're already sort of paired up with the whole 'Chaos/Loyalist' thing.

Though female Kurze is cool as hell.

Also female Angron; get some Lucy Lawless up in that. Or Ronda Rousey. Who, yes, I have a terrible crush on at the moment.

[Kirsten]

I don't think it is too obvious, I think it makes sense personally.

Curze, Angron, Mortarion, Alpharius could possibly work.

Ferrus, Dorn, maybe the Khan...

[YorkNecromancer]

Okay. So: Kurze vs Corax - who flips and why? Dorn vs. Peturabo - who flips and why?

I'd go with flipping Kurze (because he's not an obvious choice, and as he is, he's kind of this generically dull Batman rip-off). That and Dorn, because then if Gulliman stays male, you've got your OTP.

As for actors, I call Natalia Tena for Kurze (she was terrifyingly spoggle-eyed in the 'Black Mirror' Xmas special). As for Dorn? My immediate thought would be Gwendoline Christie, but that's a little too obvious. You need someone who can radiate utterly inflexible authority at all times. Hmmm.

Cate Blanchett, assuming we haven't pegged her for The Emperor? Or Taraji P. Henson. She's amazing as an absolute moral figure/badass in 'Person of Interest'...

[Kirsten]

I can't really give you a why, it just seems to work for me. actresses are something I know nothing about really, so no idea there.

ethnicity, Vulkan and Khan are obviously none-white, some of the others could easily be as well if you think about their legion's location, even if they are not depicted as such. The Imperial Fists on Inwit for example, the Iron Warriors on Olympia could have a more Mediterranean look given the Greek leanings of the planet fluff. Prospero as well with the clear Middle Eastern vibe.

[YorkNecromancer]

Like the idea of Iron Warriors as Mediterranean; same should go for Blood Angels, what with Baal's climate.

Prospero natives have to be Arabian. Quite like the idea of making the Ultramarines of African descent, just because it's different. Not to mention, it establishes a precedent.

[Kirsten]

Prospero natives have to be Arabian.

that is what I said

African Ultramarines work, their Roman-esque influences can work for things like Carthage and later Roman occupation of North Africa as well. So Salamanders, White Scars, Thousand Sons, Ultramarines, Iron Warriors, we need one more for the ethnicity factor.

[YorkNecromancer]

Love the idea of Carthaginian Ultramarines; that one's genuinely perfect.

And I was agreeing with you when it came to Prospero, not claiming the idea for my own! *privately curses the interwebs lack of prosodic and paralinguistic features*

Maybe make the Dark Angels Asian-Chinese? Either that or maybe the Emperor's Children? You could play into a different kind of archetype - a more scholarly/artistic one, rather than the kung-fu cliche. I'm thinking of the calligraphy scenes from 'Hero'; that strikes me as a very Emperor's Children-ish art form.

[Kirsten]

Well the Deathwing are Native American of course, so that works for them