The Radiant Shepherd - A Warhammer 40K God-Emperor Quest

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The Codex Astartes really isn't that big of a crippling of the Imperium's military.

It didn't reduce the number of Space Marines, just divide them up into smaller groups and forbid them from leading non-Astartes parts of the military. It prevents them from concentrating force under themselves for a coup or rebellion attempt, without forbidding them from working together to concentrate forces for important military endeavors, and distributes them throughout the Imperium so they're more readily available.

If anything it actually increased the amount of Space Marines in existence, since there's no hard cap on the number of Chapters that can exist while there was a limit on the number of Legions and how many marines they had.
 
Earth-Destroyer said:
legions frankly are not needed, the Space marines do more good spread out hitting a dozen problems at once, then just one. No enemy is able to muster the amount of forces that requires entire legions. At most raise the chapter numbers to 2,000.

For the High Lords we should do what was meant and, grow the numbers massively. The problem is to much power concentrated in to few hands, instead of just a dozen people at the top it should be 10,000 at a minimum.
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That apparatus already exists.


It's the imperial senate.

Guilliman after becoming regent though set up an (in his mind) interim executive board, the high lords, so as to speed up the process of the post heresy recovery. As they were never disbanded, over time they stripped more and more power and authority from the senate until it became shriveled vistigal audience to the high lords themselves (imagine the republic senate in SW, but palpatines just talking to 11 other palpatines while everyone's watching)

The development of the high lords meant that instead of individual worlds getting representation, the various powers of the imperium had to centralise into power blocks/parties.

This centralisation at least in the case of the mechanicum is why all scientific endeavours are now the domain of the mechanicus, despite during the crusade there being many, many factions/powers wholy seperate from the children of mars. Post Heresy they all combined together as the adeptus mechanicus to survive in guillimans governing body, and over time got assimilated into the culture of the mechanicum

Also regarding the necessity of legions…

The world engine…
The black crusades…
Name a tyrannid Hive Fleet…
The Damocles Gulf War… (yes it was a cake walk, but if a legion was there, they would have been able to finish the job)
Armageddon… (first and third wars… oh and every war back when it was Ullanor)
The Maelstrom…
The Eye of Terror (in general)

And that's just the few things I could think of off the cuff.

If you were asking about any other millenium, then yes the legions would be completely unnecessary. But in this current era of the galaxy, their absense is crippling.
 
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The problem is as always that the limits of FTL com, and FTL travel means that the decentralized feudal system the IOM uses is the only real option. The was a reason the Emperor wanted the ablity to create webway portals so baldly.

The best thing we could is moving most of the stuff to the segmentum level, and honestly even that is still to big. I would want to split the segmentum down to some 40-50 segmentum's, and leave Terra to oversee the movement of fleets and armies between them. This would move the vast majority of power closer to where it is actually needed.
 
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Teen Spirit said:
Far easier said then done. Keep in mind Astartes are basically mass produced compared to Custodes, most descriptions of Custodes process makes it clear they're basically hand-crafted.
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Also from all indications, they are essentially immortal. So we have no idea just how quickly they can even be 'manufactured', since a good number of known ones predate the lighting of the astronomican/unification of terra
 
Gabriel_TFA said:
So yeah...we would need to have at least avatar of Emperor or at least something that has his flame to create other Custodes.
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Your better off just making more living saints/imperial greater Daemons. Custodes are biological creations, not necessarily warp crafted weapons.

Even the traitor legions with all their cheating (warp horrors) still use geneseed (it's just loyalist material) when 'making' new chaos astartes. There's no such cheat option for Custodes


I mean in theory he could elevate someone to being a daemon prince. Likely an astartes, though someone like Cain would pass (his imposter syndrome keeping him grounded). Which could be on par, but without overseeing the procedure himself, fast tracking the Custodes just isn't possible.

More realistically finding clone Fulgrim or Horus would be better than any of the other options, as the primarchs are essentially demigods; you can make a new legion/mountains of chapters from him, and he can help run the day to day imperium.


One minor change, if female Custodes are a thing here, is if emps can make it so they can breed with each other. Then you've got a fast tracked assembly line, regardless of if they breed like eldar, as one a decade is still faster than their current rate.
 
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ImperialBriton said:
Your better off just making more living saints/imperial greater Daemons. Custodes are biological creations, not necessarily warp crafted weapons.


I mean in theory he could elevate someone to being a daemon prince. Likely an astartes, though someone like Cain would pass (his imposter syndrome keeping him grounded).

More realistically finding clone Fulgrim or Horus would be better than any of the other options, as the primarchs are essentially demigods; you can make a new legion/mountains of chapters from him, and he can help run the day to day imperium.
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Basically, he would need help of one of his sons to repair some stuff or lighten some of the burden.

But yeah, poor Cain doesn't see himself as Hero of the Imperium.
 
Gabriel_TFA said:
Basically, he would need help of one of his sons to repair some stuff or lighten some of the burden.

But yeah, poor Cain doesn't see himself as Hero of the Imperium.
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I mentioned it just now in an edit.

But the emperor could potentially fast track the production of Custodes, if there are female Custodes in this series. Mainly by making them capable of breeding with each other. Even if they act like the modern Koreans and aim for a fertility rate slightly above 0 births a year, that's more than the current rate of Custodes production.

This does lead to the issue of making a self perpetuating a superhuman species, opening a can of worms that Emps and Mal were desperately hoping to avoid. While we can trust every one of the emperors companions, we might not their descendents no matter how much loyalty to emps was engraved into their dna)
 
ImperialBriton said:
I mentioned it just now in an edit.

But the emperor could potentially fast track the production of Custodes, if there are female Custodes in this series. Mainly by making them capable of breeding with each other. Even if they act like the modern Koreans and aim for a fertility rate slightly above 0 births a year, that's more than the current rate of Custodes production.

This does lead to the issue of making a self perpetuating a superhuman species, opening a can of worms that Emps and Mal were desperately hoping to avoid. While we can trust every one of the emperors companions, we might not their descendents no matter how much loyalty to emps was engraved into their dna)
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I am split on that idea, it is good idea but like you said, it opens can of violent worms.

Regaining at least one of the Primarchs is very much long term thing that we need to plan out and influence a board enough for us to get a good results.
 
ImperialBriton said:
Also from all indications, they are essentially immortal. So we have no idea just how quickly they can even be 'manufactured', since a good number of known ones predate the lighting of the astronomican/unification of terra
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The Codex implies all Pre-Heresy Custodes are gone, not dead persay but at least not in Active service, Custodes who start to feel their age and slow down (Compartively speaking of course) basically ditch their armor and become wandering spies for rest of the Custodes, traveling the Imperium, building up spy networks and reporting on anything they think might become a threat to Terra.

We do know the Custodes who helped put an end to the Age of Apostasy is both in active service still and not in a Dreadnought. So Custodes from the 36th Millennium, who had likely been in service for thousands of years before that, are still active.
 
Custodes where the first super soldier the Emperor developed. They are super good, but basically even with all the resources possible not mass producible. Even space marines need geneseed to even make it possible to scale them effectively. Their a reason Custodes where not the go to despite being second only to actual Primarch's.
 
Gabriel_TFA said:
I am split on that idea, it is good idea but like you said, it opens can of violent worms.

Regaining at least one of the Primarchs is very much long term thing that we need to plan out and influence a board enough for us to get a good results.
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Funnily enough due to the level of censorship throughout the imperium. It's very likely you could pull of unveiling any of the traitor primsrchs outside ofHorus; and nobody but the high lords, or the ordo hereticus/Malleus would know they were even a traitor let alone a primarch.

I mean just look at Lorgar. He's revered and worshiped as a saint (what's the betting that now he's a Daemon primarch all that duel worship has given him both a heretic, and a loyalist aspect, and yet another reason he's secluded from his legion)
 
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ImperialBriton said:
I mean just look at Lorgar. He's revered and worshiped as a saint (what's the betting that now he's a Daemon primarch all that duel worship has given him both a heretic, and a loyalist aspect, and yet another reason he's secluded from his legion)
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I DID NOT FUCKING KNOW THAT! That is fucking hilarious!

Oh yeah, I kinda hope we find shards of Magnus's soul that were not destroyed or found by Thousand Sons.
 
[X] Plan: Let bless the fortunate and observe the without
-[X] Observe (3 points)
--[X] Eldrad Ulthran
--[X] Trazyn the infinite
--[X] Fabius Bile
-[X] Blessing or Curse (variable)
--[X] Bless the Valhallan 597th: May my soldiers be led by the people who care for their lives and can lead the well, and may their gratitude be the shield that protects said leaders (2 points)
--[X] Bless the officer corps of Cadia: May they act with forethought, may they promote people based on their skills, may they be protected from fickle chance ending their stories too early and may their strength of character be strengthened so they can oppose the great enemy. (2 points)
--[X] Curse the corrupt and ignorant leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May those who do not understand the basics of logistics be cursed before they cause thousands to die in vain or, worse, fall in the hands of the great enemy; may their sycophant cries fall on deaf ears; and may their misfortune be measured and dealt by the tears and blood of my faithful subjects that they harmed(1 point)
--[X] Bless the efficient and righteous leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May they retain their virtues in the face of the great struggle; may the plans of the corrupt turn into a chance for them to advance; may they be forwarned from the schemes of their enemies and have a chance to oppose them (2 points)
 
Y'all aren't thinking long terms. We need to improve our logistics and Beuracracy (however the fuck you spell it) to better supply our armies. Armies can fight and win battles yea, but they can't do it on empty stomachs or low supplies
 
Collinw105 said:
Y'all aren't thinking long terms. We need to improve our logistics and Beuracracy (however the fuck you spell it) to better supply our armies. Armies can fight and win battles yea, but they can't do it on empty stomachs or low supplies
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Yeah ut havinng the news Kraken about to pour in onn our head and Snagrod punch us in the face kind of means we are probs in some panic mode. Like, Obscurus is important, but Ultima is about to have a bad day
 
Collinw105 said:
Y'all aren't thinking long terms. We need to improve our logistics and Beuracracy (however the fuck you spell it) to better supply our armies. Armies can fight and win battles yea, but they can't do it on empty stomachs or low supplies
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But the thing is, each blessing and curse in that plan is being applied to thousands, if not millions of people for only 2 points for each group. Seems a bit too little and too wide for me to actually do much.
 
[X] Plan: Let bless the fortunate and observe the without
-[X] Observe (3 points)
--[X] Eldrad Ulthran
--[X] Trazyn the infinite
--[X] Fabius Bile
-[X] Blessing or Curse (variable)
--[X] Bless the Valhallan 597th: May my soldiers be led by the people who care for their lives and can lead the well, and may their gratitude be the shield that protects said leaders (2 points)
--[X] Bless the officer corps of Cadia: May they act with forethought, may they promote people based on their skills, may they be protected from fickle chance ending their stories too early and may their strength of character be strengthened so they can oppose the great enemy. (2 points)
--[X] Curse the corrupt and ignorant leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May those who do not understand the basics of logistics be cursed before they cause thousands to die in vain or, worse, fall in the hands of the great enemy; may their sycophant cries fall on deaf ears; and may their misfortune be measured and dealt by the tears and blood of my faithful subjects that they harmed(1 point)
--[X] Bless the efficient and righteous leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May they retain their virtues in the face of the great struggle; may the plans of the corrupt turn into a chance for them to advance; may they be forwarned from the schemes of their enemies and have a chance to oppose them (2 points)
 
Preliminary tally. Vote remains open.

Adhoc vote count started by Azel on Jul 7, 2024 at 1:26 PM, finished with 187 posts and 26 votes.
  • [X] Plan Gold and Green
    -[X] Commune (4 point)
    --[X] Trajann Valoris, Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes: Calling for him and the rest of the Custodes to resume his duty, for the Emperor is the Imperium, and to defend the Imperium is to defend the Emperor. Cancel the Edict of Restraint and let the Custodes glaives and Andrathics faces the enemy of humanity once more
    -[X] Send Visions (5 Points)
    --[X] Pedro Kantor of the Crimson Fists: A vision of Burning green beasts rise and direct their lust for war against the red fists of Dorn, their war cries echo across Rynn's World with flame and inhuman glee. Battle rages as a stray missile strikes and brings destruction to a great fortress. Victory comes with great cost, but there is no one path, and another can be taken to greater victory with less loss.
    -[X] Blessing or Curse ( 1 Points)
    --[X] Creed: Already gifted with the potential of military Genius, his fate shall be gifted with some favor of fortune to survive the coming battles. A missed bullet here, a Chimera unexpectedly sped up before an explosion there, keeping him safe from random death. So that may his path lead to salvation of many and the Death of the enemies of Mankind.
    [X] Plan: Let bless the fortunate and observe the without
    -[X] Observe (3 points)
    --[X] Eldrad Ulthran
    --[X] Trazyn the infinite
    --[X] Fabius Bile
    -[X] Blessing or Curse (variable)
    --[X] Bless the Valhallan 597th: May my soldiers be led by the people who care for their lives and can lead the well, and may their gratitude be the shield that protects said leaders (2 points)
    --[X] Bless the officer corps of Cadia: May they act with forethought, may they promote people based on their skills, may they be protected from fickle chance ending their stories too early and may their strength of character be strengthened so they can oppose the great enemy. (2 points)
    --[X] Curse the corrupt and ignorant leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May those who do not understand the basics of logistics be cursed before they cause thousands to die in vain or, worse, fall in the hands of the great enemy; may their sycophant cries fall on deaf ears; and may their misfortune be measured and dealt by the tears and blood of my faithful subjects that they harmed(1 point)
    --[X] Bless the efficient and righteous leaders of the Imperium in the Segmentum Obscurus: May they retain their virtues in the face of the great struggle; may the plans of the corrupt turn into a chance for them to advance; may they be forwarned from the schemes of their enemies and have a chance to oppose them (2 points)
    [X]Plan: Blessings and Visions
    -[X] Guide the Tarot (1 Point)
    --[X] Loki Sector, with particular focus on Rynn's World: Send visions throughout the sector of fire and unending green tide, mixed with warnings of misfortune and horrific loss due to simple errors in their defenses.
    -[X] Send Visions (5 Points)
    -- [X] Dante of The Blood Angels: Send Dante Visions of the planet Pandrax III, whisper of it's promises of salavation, for both his blood brothers and the Imperium at large, but warn of the threat that the Alaitoc Eldar might pose, that they might destory the relics upon defeat, and impress upon him the need of reclaiming Pandrax's genetech libraries over any physical victory.
    -[X] Blessing (4 Points, 2 points each): tip fortune's favor for both men, do what we can to ensure both men survive and win the battles to come.
    --[X] Ciaphas Cain
    --[X]Ursarkar E. Creed
    [X]Plan This Happened To My Buddy Eldrad
    -[X] Commune (10 points):Eldrad
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Looks like the leader could still easily change.
 
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