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.