Would you rather have the story of 40k progress with the big E waking up/dying/reincaranting but with the risk of an...

Will we finally get good 40k games if it does go through an End Times?

I thought one of the novels mentioned the first "miracle" performed in faith of the emperor was while he was still alive and certainly against people believing in him like that.

Would make sense for cults/sects to still exist given their faith literally has a physical impact on the galaxy around them.

They're already trying a soft reboot, as the Imperium becomes less oppressive and more noble with every book.

A gathering storm-style event that sees a projection of the Emperor appear, wreck shit, then dissipate could work.

I prefer the stagnation. I was not impressed by AoS, nor the new Ynnari waifu storyline and the softening of the Imperium. I get that it's a really, really good way to appeal to broader audiences and expand sales. I'm just not a fan, personally.

I just want him to get his deserved peace

Why not both?

Status quo all the way. I am already triggered by the returning primarchs and primaris marines. Shit has already gone far too far

user you've become the Grimdark!

>the final edition will end with the old one's returning
No it won't.

Why can't we progress the story without him? Those aren't the only two options.

The direction I wanted to see the story go in honestly was Imperium Secundus. Imagine if Guilliman had returned, and yet massive parts of the Imperium refused to side with him.

Guilliman's nu marines, and either Space Wolves or Blood angels, a couple of the codex chapters, (not to mention a bajillion successor chapters) side with Guilliman. They are joined by a Cawl led Mechanicus break away faction. The few imperial guard regiments that join with Guilliman are armed to the teeth with the deadliest weapons Cawl can create and have their doctrines drastically altered by Guilliman.

Meanwhile on the Imperium side, you have the other half of the codex space marines who stay stuck in their ways, the big =][=, the old mechanicus, the majority of guard regiments and the ecclesiarchy.

This could have been an interesting development in the story while at the same time serving to split up the gargantuan "Imperium" faction to make them more comparable with other factions. Although the Imperium got the biggest changes, the other factions wouldn't get forgotten.

The Eldar unite much as they have currently under the banner of the Ynarri, but maybe bring in exodite forces as all the Eldar start to realize the precipice they now stand on.

The Tau auxilliaries get massively bolstered as wayward regiments forgotten by either side of the shattered imperium sign up, making the tau a larger threat in the galaxy, and giving them a bigger faction as far as the game is concerned. As their empire grows wildly beyond their estimations, more and more atrocities are commited as the Tau find themselves out of their depth.

Necrons and orks are gunna keep on necroning and orking.

I would have liked to see something like this.

You got gothic armada, dawn of war 1 and 2 and space marine

I would like decent writing. If that can't be assured, status quo.

I'm perfectly fine with what is is.

Status quo. They ruined the lore way too much by now.
Would cool to see a awakened Emperor being much weaker than what the Imperial Cult says, but then they would need to erase most of the new lore.

>The direction I wanted to see the story go in honestly was Imperium Secundus. Imagine if Guilliman had returned, and yet massive parts of the Imperium refused to side with him.
Thing is, if this is Rowboat telling the Emperor to fuck off and just trying to set up his own Imperium Secundus independently, then the vast majority of Astartes are going to tell him to piss off. He'll get support from a good chunk of Segmentum Ultima and will get almost all of his own Chapters, but very little else.

If the Emperor dies, does nothing, or supports Rowboat, you'll see him get a lot more support and stuff like what you mentioned would potentially come to pass. I really don't see any Space Marines not siding with him, except for those who are bound to the Inquisition like the Exorcists and Grey Knights, or those with shady backgrounds/are loyal dogs to the high lords like the Minotaurs. The vast majority would trust in Rowboat as a direct actor of the Emperor's will.

Another AdMech schism would be pretty cool though. I'd be pretty interested in seeing a group more interested in innovation and escaping the millennia of stagnation pop up. The pact between Terra and Mars would also be pretty strained with the passing of the Emperor.

The biggest issue would be the Warp fuckery and Astronomican...

>The Eldar unite much as they have currently under the banner of the Ynarri, but maybe bring in exodite forces as all the Eldar start to realize the precipice they now stand on.
Don't the majority of Eldar mistrust if not downright despise the Ynnari and see them as an abomination? They won't be uniting under them anytime soon.

>The Tau...
The Tau are going to remain fairly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Chaos, the Necrons, and Tyranids are the big deal right now.

>Would cool to see a awakened Emperor being much weaker than what the Imperial Cult says, but then they would need to erase most of the new lore.
I don't really get this. Lore has shown the Emperor to be powerful for a pretty long time. And the way we've always known the Warp and faith/worship have only expounded this. Him being godlike isn't new lore.

And he is technically "awake" - just not outwardly active.

>Thing is, if this is Rowboat telling the Emperor to fuck off and just trying to set up his own Imperium Secundus independently, then the vast majority of Astartes are going to tell him to piss off
Horus betrayed the Emperor in a age where the Emperor was a very real being to most humans. Now it's just legend, it shouldn't be hard to trick most astartes into following him.
He can even claim to be the Emperor's true heir

Probably status quo. I just don't really trust GW to take the story in a new direction without messing it up somehow. Personally, I would say they already have, but that's just opinions.

>Him being godlike isn't new lore.
The ecclesiarchy was responsible for much of the godlike Emperor propaganda.
What the new lore did was to show that most of what was supposed to be brainwashed zealotry is actualy 100% true.

>Now it's just legend, it shouldn't be hard to trick most astartes into following him.
And the Imperium then spent 10,000 years doing everything they could to ensure a second Heresy didn't happen. To imply Astartes aren't religiously schooled about the past and brutally drilled on heresy is silly.

If Roboute openly turned on the Emperor, even a number of his own Successor Chapters would be pretty hesitant to follow him without good reason.

And no, the Emperor was a distant figure most humans knew relatively little about back during the Crusade - now he's a god they venerate several times a day.

>He can even claim to be the Emperor's true heir
Considering that the Emperor is capable of communication, even if on a limited basis, most people will get a pretty clear idea that it's bullshit once the Custodes tell everyone Roboute is Horus 2.0.

>The ecclesiarchy was responsible for much of the godlike Emperor propaganda.
It really wasn't. Him causing warp storms and doing warp related shenanigans is nothing that new. Living Saints and the like aren't that new. You could argue that the Imperial Cult is at fault for his ascension to godhood, and they most certainly embellish and overdo it, but he's still shown himself to be a counter to the Chaos Gods in terms of a lore standpoint.

Dude, what?

The Emperor has been established as a godlike being from a fluff based perspective for a good while now. Unless you're going back to some of the earlier editions where they just didn't go into him or the Heresy as much, you're off your rocker.

If anything, new lore has made him seem like more of a fake chump back in the day with the Molech and perpetual stuff.

I'm fine with him full on ascending to god hood and being replaced by someone else. Gulliman seems like a suitable candidate for the job

Honestly, this.

Big E's body dies, but after gorging on the souls of countless psykers and being worshiped for 10,000 years, his release soul turns into a God of Order or some shit like that in the Warp. Papa Smurf still becomes Regent and delegates chunks of duty onto competent leaders, like how he's done with Dante. Surviving Loyalist Primarchs start to trickle back in.

With the Emperor as a fully actualized god, holy miracles start becoming more commonplace, and we see more stuff like Saints and the Sanguinary.

>Considering that the Emperor is capable of communication
He has only spoke once

Unless it's all lies. You know, to better control the average citizen and convince the guard to fight their wars

Part of me thinks that GW is going to use Cawl to shoehorn in a Dark Mechanicus faction/model line. Guilliman appreciates what Cawl has been able to do in terms of innovation but is suspicious that he'll push the boundaries into tech heresy. Even if he doesn't fall to Chaos, his tech radicalism is going to rub the bulk of the Mechanicus faithful the wrong way. The last thing Bobby G needs is a civil war within the mechanicus since he needs their tech and crews keeping Imperial war machines moving, and their armed forces supporting the Guard and Marines. I could see Cawl getting frustrated with Bobby reining him in all the time to the point where we see that well worn tradition of "stop trying to control me, dad!" And Cawl making some deal with the Ruinous Powers - or simply going rogue.

Alternatively, Cawl could remain loyal but he's noted for using the 'Cawl Inferior' construct to simulate his behavior and reactions in liaising with Guilliman over galactic distances. Fabius Bile certainly has to be intrigued by the emergence of Primaris Marines. He could attempt capturing Cawl or (more likely) Cawl Inferior and extracting the information needed to create Chaos Primaris Marines™.

There's a number of times where he's ambiguously been hinted at speaking, such as the Age of Apostasy, and he regularly makes use of the Tarot. Plus, we honestly just don't know much, so it isn't unreasonable to assume he speaks when he has to, but that it's very rare. Plus the retconned bit with Jaq Draco.
>Unless it's all lies. You know, to better control the average citizen and convince the guard to fight their wars
I get what you're saying, but when we as readers/players know it happened, there's not much to say.
>or simply going rogue
I'd like this. I'd like it more if it involved Abominable Intelligence after the juicy tidbits we've learned about the Machine Revolt.

I want more!

Why not both? 30k, 40k and EoT. They can tell stories in these 3 sets ad nauseum, they can even go full 50k imo. I have just two rules: good write and no retcons. Every time they change the past, it sucks.

user, no, that would be the story if GeeDubs actually had good writers, a concept of where they want to go and the will to sometimes end the franchise.
In short, as beautifully sweet and cool that sounds, it will never ever happen.

You.

I like you.

I only care about the lore so fuck it, go for the end times before the decent writers leave Black Library

>Would cool to see a awakened Emperor being much weaker than what the Imperial Cult says, but then they would need to erase most of the new lore.
They would not need to. Cause reasons reasons willing one back to life is hard task that leaves emps crippled in material world.

And having crippled old emperor having to rely on others to get the shit done while being active as mastermind behind Imperium could be fun. Not every leader needs to be action hero, competent statesmen and commanders do not need to be great warriors and that is why I liked old Karl Franz better.

Grey Knights and Custodes team up, but other than that yeah.

A good piece of art doesn't stop being a good piece of art just because it doesn't change

I want to see new heroes take an Eldar soul stone, kill the Emperor, shove his soul into it. Then go to Cawl or other crazy admech, who has been working on a necrodermis body but it never worked so he scrapped it. They put the stone into the body & now the Emperor is at his full power with a functioning immortal body of metal. A true golden God. Praise the Omnissiah

As long as 40k ends and GW goes out of business, I don't care about the details.

I want an Eldar Waifu too...

We all do, son.

just wait until GW catches wind of the emerging sex bot market.

t. Settra

We're getting a stupid cafe, might as well make sexbots. They'll make billions.

The Emperor dies, Imperium thrown into Chaos. Guilliman does his best but things look grim. Other Primarchs return, saving parts of the Imperium. Guilliman has a vision of a child the Emperor has reincarnated in. Thus the race to save the Emperor begins. It culminates in a epic showdown between surviving loyalist and traitor primarchs.

Why not go full on imaculate conception? Have a new emperor (or empress) be born by a no name human girl.

High hopes for Gladius.

This-ish, he tries to get humanity progressing again and major civil war breaks. Every other empire gets the chance to really shine. Have the throne failing and the Emperor dying at the darkest grimmest point and emerge as a new warp god to reunite everyone when humanity's pushed back to one last desperate pocket.

If end times for 40k was like war in heaven 2.0 with alternate timelines thrown in then I would be okay with it.

War in heaven 2 to throw out all the insane crazy tech and plots along eith like a hundred new races and factions ripping reality apart in a bigass war, and the timelines getting revealed from like huge warp rifts getting torn in the space continuum that let older or alternate kinds of factions show up too from timelines that had like chaos triumphant, an iron man domunated universe, the emperor saved universe with golden men, and even an eternal wasteland one that is 40k stagnation to the extreme.

Metaplots usually suck as it is and it seems clear to me that GW lucked out when they were originally casting around for freelancers to originally fluff their wargame and wound up with overly talented writers looking for a quick buck who nevertheless came up with something very thematically rich.

I really don't think their current writers are competent to do anything nearly as good as what they've already got. I'm not even sure if they even understand what they've got. GW is going to kill this goose.

Well, since BL now has open submissions I think I may as well write this up and submit it. Probably won't get published but it's either that or the saga of Boss Pinkybits (which would probably be better done as a comic book tbqh)..

I was never in favour of advancing the plot in the first place. The new stuff is bad. Bring back 3rd and 4th ed fluff and ditch all the garbage that came after that

THEN we stagnate on that status quo

They can always clean up the fluff and retcon the dumb concepts later.

I would most prefer a canon result to Haarlock Legacy. While that wouldn't change how I view or run it, any canonical closure, even if badly written, would put my mind to rest.