Black Crusade - hopes and expectations
Well, it's here, or near as damn it.
What I believe to be the first book in the Black Crusade 'Traitor's Hate' is out very very soon. And given the severity of such an event (in game, IRL it's actually really cool!), it seems nothing is going to be the same again.
Some are billing this as '40k End Times' - and fear it'll lead to 40k AoS, background wise (total destruction, replaced with new and interesting setting).
Me? I hope it doesn't go that far. No death of Mr Emperor Sir M'Lord. No Slaanesh being scoffed by Ynnead. No Tyranids suddenly evolving technology, or Necrons being cleverly reprogrammed into a race of Gardener Robots. In short? I don't want to see any major shifts in the background. Wiping out the odd Chapter here and there might sound fun, but not for those who have large armies of said Chapter.
Instead, I want to see the status quo shaken up (sorry, Mr Rossi), without much of a change to the balance of power. And below, I've taken a stab at what that might mean....
1. Abaddon breaks out from the Cadian Gate, and ravages the Imperium, before ultimately snuffing it (ideally at the hands of a Primarch. Russ. I'd like to see Russ earn the nickname of 'Mr Slippyfist' on Abaddon. I don't care if you are super powered by Chaos and 10,000 years old. This is Russ. That means 'you is ded'.
2. The passing of Abaddon leaves an eternal power vacuum in the forces of Chaos - this effectively halts the Black Crusade, fragmenting the host into thousands of smaller forces, beset by internecine violence. The Imperium ultimately wins a form of pyrrhic victory...why?
3. All those Warbands? They're not heading back to the Eye of Terror. The Imperium doesn't have the resources to hunt them all down, after all. The Chapters are not the Legionnes Astartes. So Chaos remains a threat, and possibly a much bigger one than when the worst of the worst were more-or-less contained with the Eye of Terror. With them being scattered about, the Imperium is forced to reinforce it's core worlds and key worlds. Whilst, in time, the Imperium can of course recover from it's losses, time is something they don't have.
So they sacrifice mobility for a stoic defence...
4. Meanwhile, whatever Eldrad is up to happens.
5. This leads to slightly closer ties to Commoragh, but not 'buddy buddy bro-fist all the time, yo, dudebro'. Instead, with the Imperium thoroughly distracted, the Craftworld Eldar look inwards to bolstering themselves...and dark deals are done, adopting the birthing techniques of the Dark Eldar - imagine fully populated Craftworlds...imagine Iyanden reborn....Eldar become more numerous, their slow decline halted. This allows them to go on the offensive more often....
6. Orks is Orks, innit. Dey is gunna doo wot Orkses dus! Fight, an' win!
And that's what I consider the 'main players, as in they can be anywhere in the Galaxy' covered. A reduced Imperium, shattered Chaos forces, Eldar having a lamp in the darkness...
